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 Chapter 1

    Danny looked around, unsure of what was going on. He could have sworn that he had just gotten home, but all around him was darkness. A void of black.

    Where were Sam and Tucker at? Were they here? Doing a complete 360, he doesn''t see anything. Nothing but darkness. No lights, no sounds, no anything.

    So was he here alone, or was this a dream?

    "Hello?" The only reply he got back was an echo.

    But now there was a problem. The echo didn''t stop, it kept going. As it kept going, it got distorted. Instead of his own voice, it sounded like whispers.

    Danny whipped his head around, confusion and fear coloring his face, but he relaxed when nothing was there.

    Then he heard it again, but it was uncomfortably closer now. He whipped around looking for the source of the sound but found nothing. Then it stopped.

    After the whispers came the cold. And god damn was it cold. He huddled his arms together shivering for warmth. His breath left small clouds that dissipated quickly. It almost felt like the cold was coming from him. Then he saw them.

    The eyes. A pair of glowing green eyes in the distance. They were unmoving, but he couldn''t tell how far they were. He blinked and they were gone. That scared him. He took a step back and looked around. Fear was gripping him, but he stood up to it.

    "Who''s there?! Come out!" There was no answer. But the echo was back.

    He felt like he was on a swivel. Constantly turning and looking around for the eyes, he didn''t like- There was a different pair of eyes. Closer this time, much closer. This close he should have been able to see something else, anything, but only the eyes were there.

    Danny welled his courage as he shivered. Building as he kept eye contact, before calling: "Who the hell are you?!"

    His breathing was getting faster, he needed to calm down. Suddenly there was a whisper, darkly distorted and it felt like it was right behind him.

    Danny spun on his heel, doing a 180 as he came into sight of both pairs of eyes right next to each other. They were close, too close. He yelped in fright, falling backwards onto his butt.

    He could see them much more clearly. The green eyes glowed brightly, and seemed to move around, swirling in random directions in the iris. The feeling they gave felt as toxic as the eyes looked. He could see bits of black swirling occasionally through it.

    Then he broke eye contact, moving to look at the red eyes. He heard more whispers all around him, but he kept eye contact with the red eyes. ¡®Oh fuck¡­¡¯ He really wished he wasn''t though. They felt bloody. They glowed a sinister red and he could see the slitted pupils. The first pair definitely didn''t feel human, and this, this shit felt darker.

    He sucked his breath in, digging around for courage but finding fear and anxiety instead. He kicked his leg out to get him just a little bit away. Why was it so damn cold?!

    Then the whispers stopped, startling Danny. He blinked by accident and they were gone. That wasn''t good.

    He got up, and turned around eyes scanning the darkness. Nothing.

    Danny, with shaky breaths quietly mutters: "Please stay away. Please stay away. Please-"who am I¡­?"

    Oh god, That was in his ear! He once again spun around, ready to attack whatever the hell it was when he froze. Petrified.

    The eyes were maybe an inch away, and they were still the only thing in sight, but they overlapped each other. Constantly changing back and forth from radioactive green, to blood red. The pupil dilating to a slit, and then turning back to normal.

    That single second Danny spent making eye contact felt like an eternity. He could barely hear it, but the whisper was both quiet and loud at the same time."YOU."

    ==+==

    "AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"-Danny awoke with a scream. He pushed his blanket off, trying to get away from it. It took him a couple seconds to calm down, before he sighed. Looking around, he was in his room. Nothing seems out of place, and a quick look around confirmed it.

    Just a nightmare. Smothering his face with his hands he mumbles into them: ¡°what the hell was that¡­"

    He''s suddenly not so tired anymore. Wondering the time Danny checks the alarm, to see that it''s seven in the morning. What a great day to start summer vacation! An awful nightmare and he couldn''t even sleep in.

    Danny gets up for a shower and quickly heads downstairs afterwards. Noticing nobody around, he looks out through the front window, seeing no vehicles. So nobody''s home, that''s convenient.

    Danny warmed up some leftovers and went to the living room. While he was watching a bit of TV Danny thought about what to do today. His friends were busy with their families, Tucker was on vacation for the next two weeks and Sam won''t be back for another couple of days. What were his parents doing?

    Since the RV was gone, at least one of his parents wasn''t here. Going towards and down the basement Danny turns the lights on for the lab. If the lights were off down here, then he was definitely home alone.

    It''s been awhile since he was last down here and Danny decides to take a peak. They''re pretty open about this stuff, so they probably wouldn''t mind if he snooped around a bit. Looking around Danny can already see the new editions: A few new weapons hang on the wall, one of them looks suspiciously like a rocket launcher. There¡¯s also a gauntlet/wrist guard thing on the bench in front of the weapons.

    Picking it up, it¡¯s surprisingly heavy, but not unmanageable. He sets it down and turns to the most obvious new edition in the room. A big door about ten feet in height. The open doors gave view to a large tunnel with a lot of lights, nodes and energy emitters.

    The large vials of green ectoplasm inside the thing startles Danny out of his stare when memories of the nightmare flash in his mind. His breathing increase a little but he keeps it under control. It''s just a nightmare, and that''s it.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Going up to the control desk Danny sees a stack of papers and starts looking through. Getting the gist of it Danny gets bored shortly after and tosses the papers back onto the desk.

    "So it''s not working? I wonder why?" Everything seems to be plugged in and looking at the schematics, he doesn''t understand a damn thing. It says there''s a switch on the inside that must be activated first? Why? Is that not the purpose of the control console?... Let''s see, by the¡­ spectrometer... and the ectoplasma coils?

    When did they even finish this thing? Is that why they¡¯ve been cooped up down here the last three months? They always spent a lot of time down here before, but they barely left recently. This was the first time the RV has left in a month. Maybe it¡¯s in the final stages? Danny looks around the portal, and finds that there¡¯s a bunch of tools nearby the thing as well.

    While Danny may not know what a spectrometer is, it probably wouldn''t hurt to take a gander at where those coils are. Pausing on his course of action, Danny decides wearing a protection suit would be smart.

    The silver protection suit fits a little too snug. This was probably Mom''s, since Dad''s was way too big for him.The helmet didn''t fit either, and with no replacements going without seemed to be the only option.

    The blueprints said this was a portal to the¡­ ghost zone was it? What kind of name was that? Wasn''t it called the underworld?

    While looking for the switch Danny was thinking, could they really have made a portal? That''s some advanced stuff if so, but how could someone like his dad make something so complicated. He wasn''t stupid, but he wasn''t smart either¡­ it was probably mom who made it.

    Danny stopped in thought, ''While they make impressive inventions, the idea that they could actually make a portal is too wild.''

    "Ha, There you are! And if the coils are here, then the switch is here!" *click*

    Nothing happened, and although he was excited for a second,he should have been expecting this. The notes said it wasn¡¯t working after all, they probably already tried this.

    It happened too fast. The coils lit up even brighter than they were already glowing. The toxic green making danny take a step back, and then it turned on.

    The portal opened with Danny still inside it. Immediately he felt it. The most pain he¡¯s ever experienced in his whole life. Like his molecules were being torn apart. He tried screaming, but nothing came out. His insides were melting, he could feel it. He was going to die. No. He didn¡¯t want to die. He couldn¡¯t move, his head hurt, his body hurt, why?

    As quick as it came, it stopped. The coils blew out, sending shrapnel at Danny. Nothing stabbed into him, but a few did fly past and cut him. Not that he felt it anyway. Nor did he notice that his blood was pouring out of his orifices. Red blood with glowing green came out like tears from his eye. His ringing ears burned his mind with the pain, adding onto what he already felt. The blood dripping from his ears went unnoticed as he coughed out green and red blood.

    There was a silver lining though. He could feel the pain receding. This was temporary. That thought gave Danny hope, and he focused on trying to endure it. 1 hour passed, it lessened but not much. At the 2 hour mark Danny was losing hope. Why did it hurt so damn much?

    At the third hour Danny passed out, too tired and drained from having a damn portal open inside of him. Or inside of it. Semantics didn¡¯t matter, because the pain had lessened enough for him to get away from it for a little bit. He gladly welcomed the comforting darkness; He would much rather have another one of those nightmares than deal with what he felt right now.

    ==+==

    ¡°Ohhhhhhh¡­it hurts... so-¡± *COUGH* The coughing fit hurt, but it eventually made him feel a little better. His throat was sore, but breathing was easier than before. What was he coughing up? Was he lying down? Where?

    Danny couldn¡¯t open his eyes at first, they were crusted over. How long was he out? Going to scratch his eyes, it comes off after a few seconds and it makes Danny moan in discomfort when he finds his eyes hurt too, they hurt to open, and everything still hurt damnit.

    But it was bearable. He could deal with it. Unmoving and staring at the ceiling made him recall what happened, and before he can realize what''s about to happen Danny sits up and violently throws up everything he¡¯s eaten recently.

    In a projectile stream he spews it all over the floor and a bit on the wall. That made him feel better, even if he was dry heaving a bit still. Danny takes stock of what he sees and his eyes widen when he notices his vomit glowing an oh-so familiar green. It looks like he was bleeding. His blood also had glowing green in it. That probably wasn¡¯t good.

    Deciding he needs to get up and clean this up he braces for a second before trying to get up. It took a few seconds but he eventually gets up while groaning in discomfort. It was starting to feel less like agonizing pain and more like he tried to play full-contact football with Dash.

    With shaky steps Danny gets out of the damn portal and makes his way to the control console and noticed there was a key under some of the papers. It was turned to the ¡®On¡¯ position and Danny lightly smacks his face, dragging it down at how stupid he was to not check.

    ¡°Who the fuck left this on¡­¡± Danny mumbles. "Dad¡­" Danny paused, the image of his father popping up in his mind.

    Danny feels some extra weight in his gloves and starts unzipping them. When he pulls the glove off blood pours out of it, and he takes notice that the blood also has chunks of green goo in it too. ¡°I¡¯m gonna be¡­ be sick.¡± What was happening? That was a lot of blood and¡­ ectoplasm? He didn''t want to think about it right now.

    Getting out of the protection suit was an awful ordeal. He set out a large tarp that was in one of the storage bins on the other side of the room. He grabbed some paper towels and went through with wiping as much blood as he can off himself before he went upstairs, in the nude, and hopped in the showeer.

    The shower hit the spot, relaxing him a bit, and making the aches and pains go away just a little. It wasn¡¯t terrible anymore, just dull soreness and the occasional spike of pain somewhere in his body. After the showeer Danny quickly made his way to his room and changed, grabbed a mop and bucket from the closet, and went back towards the basement. When Danny goes by the kitchen he sees a note on the dining room table that he missed before. Going to pick it up Danny reads aloud:

    ¡°Hey sweety, me and your Dad will be gone for a few days to visit Uncle Vlad. Jazz will be back tomorrow afternoon. We made some food in the fridge and left you sixty dollars for if you and your friends want any takeout. Be safe!

    -Love Mom.¡±

    Great. Really. ¡°Fan-fucking-tastic.¡± So that¡¯s what they were doing.

    That mess wasn¡¯t going to clean itself up, so Danny tossed the note back onto the table at went back downstairs. Dany walks back into the lab and takes in the scene before him. A majority of the blood that wasn¡¯t on the tarp seems to have dried, but the pile of clothes still looked pretty wet and he could see chunks of meatloaf in his vomit. Crinkling his nose in disgust at the sight, Danny is thankful that there isn¡¯t a smell yet.

    Deciding it¡¯s better to just dispose of the suit and tarp Danny goes back upstairs, grabs a few garbage bags and goes back to the lab. After stuffing all the more physical evidence into the garbage bags Danny gets to work on mopping up the rest of the blood and vomit. The blood may not have smelled much, but it stuck to the floor. In a few cases he had to use a sponge and scrub it out. The vomit was gross, but it came out easily and a bit of bleach and air freshener got rid of the smell. He also picked up the metal fragments that almost shredded him.

    Two hours later Danny looks over his work and is pleased to say the lab was looking much cleaner. He took the liberty of cleaning up the lab a bit. He would need an excuse for why he mopped down here after all, though it¡¯s a tad out of character. The place looked like a stye anyway and with the cleaner work space it might make up for Danny busting the coils. Probably not but maybe.

    Turning around to bring the bucket back upstairs, Danny suddenly doubles over. Hunching over Danny gasps, his core throwing pangs of pain through his body. It hurt so much. Danny fell to his knees and screamed. Ectoplasm started bubbling out of his body. His back had two streams constantly emitting some, it bubbled up and down like a lava lamp. The dull ache that was the pain from earlier reared its ugly self back up in full agony.

    Danny opened his eyes to stare at the ground and see the saliva drool out his mouth in bated gasps. He¡¯s barely able to process that he can see himself crying tears of ectoplasm and blood. ¡°ARRRGHHHAAA¡± The pain suddenly doubled, and Danny started seeing green.

    He brought his hand up to wipe the blood from his eyes, but was stopped when he saw his hand had started spewing ectoplasm out as well. It was bubbling, and slowly creeped up his arm. He shut his eyes and straightened his back as he turned over onto his back and it arched up in agony as he let loose another agonizing scream. He could feel it coming through his eyes, his chest, his back, everywhere.

    Slowly a black color replaced his clothes, the ectoplasm changing it to a black protection suit, form fitting to his body. The boots, gloves and belt stayed the same silver color, while everything else stayed black. It took about five minutes, and every second of it was so painful. Danny just wanted it to stop. And to his surprise it does.

    The pain starts clearing away remarkably quick, giving way to energy. Newfound strength has Danny pushing himself into a sitting position quickly after. Though a little sore Danny is grateful for the relief, but there are still some waves of pain that keep pulsing through his body.

    He gradually opened his eyes and wiped off the blood. It was glowing a solid green. Where was the red? Suddenly Danny saw his clothes. He was wearing a black protection suit now? Danny blinks in surprise when he sees that he¡¯s wearing silver gloves and boots.

    Getting up he runs to the mirror and looks upon his new form. His eyes go wide with disbelief. Has was positively glowing. Literally. He had snow white hair, and the same glowing green eyes that he saw from his nightmare. Danny shivered, thinking it might have been more than just a dream.

    He touched his face, and the mirror followed suit. Then his hand went through his face, and he quickly yanked it out with a startled yelp. The hand turned back to normal. Flexing it, the hand seemed fine. He tried to remember the feeling it had, and lo and behold his hand went see through again. ¡°Woah!¡± Then it stopped. Trying to do it again, nothing happened.

    Slowly his cloak of ectoplasm started to dissipate. Bit by bit it disappeared into nothingness until all that remained was the normal sight he was used to. Not glowing seemed pretty normal.

    His eyes were the last thing to turn back, flickering between the glowing green and his piercing blue before they finally settled on blue.

    Danny backed up a couple steps still staring at the mirror. ¡°What the fuck just happened?¡± He whispered.

    Snapping out of his stupor Danny turns to where he had been laying and saw that there was more blood on the ground. ¡°Real great! I just cleaned the floor too!¡±

 Chapter 2

    Exhausted after the day he¡¯s had, Danny decided that he was going to sleep. All the pain was just too much to deal with, and he felt physically and mentally drained. However, not everything goes as planned. Soon after falling asleep, Danny awoke with another bout of pain. The waves of pain had been coming less often, but they still came often enough to not allow him to sleep.

    And sleep is all Danny wanted to do. The longest amount of sleep he¡¯s had so far has been thirty minutes.

    Danny didn¡¯t give up on trying to sleep until about nine in the morning. Deciding that he might have to ride this out till it stops altogether, Danny gets gets up with wobbling steps and takes a shower. It seemed to freshen him up a bit, and he noticed how hungry he was. Danny put his clothes on and was ready for breakfast.

    Danny didn¡¯t take two steps out of the bathroom when he felt it again. He fell to his knees, but he didn¡¯t buckle over. He had to endure. It wasn¡¯t as bad as last time. Ectoplasm bubbled from his back and chest. It leaked from his eyes, nose and ears. Danny coughed out a chunk of green and red blood. He¡¯d have to clean that up.

    The cloak of ectoplasm made its way over his body quicker than last time. Danny wiped his eyes as he immediately felt better.¡¯What a Rush!¡¯ It felt like he had gotten a full twelve hours of sleep, and he was raring to-

    ¡°GWoah?!¡± Danny suddenly fell through the floor into the kitchen. Falling onto the kitchen table, he¡¯s grateful that it didn¡¯t break. He wasn¡¯t sure if he could explain that. ¡®Oh you know, I fell through the floor, completely normal stuff.¡¯

    It doesn¡¯t really hurt actually. He got up, and prepared himself just in case he fell through the floor again, glaring at his feet. ¡®Called it!¡¯ When he started slipping through the floor Danny was ready, but what he wasn¡¯t ready for was that now he was caught halfway through.

    For sure, this was a new experience. Being stuck halfway through the floor, that is. And it was one Danny didn¡¯t like. Danny also remembered that he didn¡¯t stay this way for long last time either. When he couldn¡¯t get out by pushing up with his arms, he tried flailing his legs to catch on to something. His face blushed green for a moment as he realized what he was doing. He wasn¡¯t sure that he was expecting to happen.

    Panic started to creep in. What if he turned back right here? Would he be cut in half, or would he have to wait here until the next time this¡­ whatever this was came back? Danny wanted none of that, he only wanted out. He grew desperate, grunting and whimpering as he delved further into panic, the whole time Danny was desperately thrashing around, trying to get out of the floor.

    He could feel it waning. The energy, the rush. Danny went into overdrive. Danny was hyperventilating and his glowing green eyes were darting all over the place. Danny pushed his hands into the floor, trying for one last push to get out.¡°Oh no, fuck no. Back up! GO BACK UP! OR DOWN! Just¡­ not¡­ HERE!¡±

    The last push did it and Danny shut his eyes as he flew right up through the ceiling, then the next one, and then he went through the roof. He kept flying up for a bit until he stopped midair. Danny opened his eyes and looked around. ¡®Holy Shit.¡¯ He was flying. He was fucking flying! Then he was falling. ¡°Uh-oh.¡±

    Looking down Danny saw his house approach rapidly. He wasn¡¯t that high up in the air, but it was high up enough for a fall to kill him. He closed his eyes and shouted: ¡°STOP, STOP, STOP, STOP¡±

    His wishes were granted right before he hit the ground. Danny peeked his eyes open to see the ground of his backyard a foot away from his face. He was still floating. He relaxed, and exhaled a breath of relief before abruptly falling face first into the ground and kissing the dirt. The ectoplasm dissipated off his body in seconds leaving a tired and disheveled Danny on the ground.

    He wasn¡¯t tired from sleep anymore, that was for sure but the last ten minutes probably shaved away a couple years off his life. Danny laid there for about ten minutes before he got up with a groan. Staggering to his feet, Danny took a damage report on his body. His face hurt, that was because he fell on it. His neck hurt, that was because he fell on his face. He didn¡¯t ache quite as much anymore, but it was still there, and the area to the right of his heart kind of stung.

    After getting through the house Danny plopped down onto the couch. ¡°Wow, this sucks so much¡­¡± Danny was beside himself with how awful his summer vacation has been.

    First, he gets electrocuted, portaled, or died; quite painfully he would add. Whatever that excruciating pain was, it was only the beginning. A night without sleep, accompanied by waves of pain both minor and intense. Then after a refreshing shower, what better than falling through his floor, almost getting bisected by it. Who could forget about the flying? And then the falling and the facebreaker he experienced. ¡°All in all, this sucks ass so far.¡± Danny grumbled into his hand. Thinking about it, there was ectoplasm coming out of him. This sucked pretty hard.

    Danny is jostled out of his thoughts by his rumbling stomach. ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ I was hungry before I started falling through floors.¡± Grumbling as he forced his tired body off the couch, Danny goes to the kitchen to make some food.

    The meal was thankfully peaceful; no pain, no falling through the floors or sudden flight either. That was nice. Or normal. At least until his hand turned invisible when he was washing the dishes. He didn¡¯t notice it at first until he looked down and saw, well, nothing where his hand was.

    ¡°Ahhh!¡± Danny dropped the plate and it broke against the floor when he stumbled back. Catching himself on the counter he looks at his hand in bewilderment. ¡®I can still feel it, and I think I¡¯m moving it.¡¯Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Danny touched his face with the invisible hand, and he could feel it. He looked at his hand in confusion before he noticed it slowly creeping up his arm. Danny couldn¡¯t really do anything about it, so he just kept watching with wide eyes as it crept over his whole body. It¡¯s not like he could run away from his own body.

    Eventually when the whole of his body is now invisible, Danny notes that he can see his body again, though it''s more like a see-through outline of his body.

    He stands up, and goes to the first floor restroom to see himself in the mirror. ¡°This is freaky¡­¡± What a surprise, he couldn¡¯t see himself in a reflection. As cool as this is, Danny didn¡¯t want to stay this way. Actually, it probably wouldn¡¯t interfere that much at the moment. ¡®I hope it goes away soon.¡¯

    Danny goes back to the kitchen and cleans up the floor. He felt like he¡¯s done that a lot recently. Was he forgetting something?

    Danny went back to the couch, turned the TV on, and kicked his feet up onto the armrest on the other side. He was about an hour through the movie he was watching, a pretty bad zombie movie, when he noticed his legs flicker back to visibility. He watched as it became invisible again, then visible, and continued the back and forth for about a minute before he was back to being visible. ¡®About time.¡¯

    His face was deadpan through the whole thing, though he exhales a sigh of relief. It still felt like it wasn¡¯t over to Danny. His chest didn¡¯t hurt as much, but it still throbbed every once in a while, but that was it. ¡°Hope I¡¯m through the worst of it¡­¡±

    -----

    It was about one oclock when Danny felt it again. The pain. It was different this time. He felt cold, colder than he¡¯s ever felt before. Danny gasped at the feeling, like liquid nitrogen was being pumped into his veins. He felt where the pain was coming from, right next to his heart where that pain from earlier was throbbing.

    Danny rolled off the couch and landed on his knees. As nice as the carpet felt he struggled to get to his feet, clutching his chest in pain. Frost was forming on his hands, and his eyes were flickering an icy blue with each wave of cold, cold pain. Danny barely made it to the kitchen before he dropped down again. ¡°Arrrgh!¡±

    Danny braced his hands against the floor, trying to get up, and failing. The pain just kept coming and he was so cold. He was shivering in pain and fright as he curled his hands, balling them into a fist. Danny didn¡¯t even notice that his fingers made scratch marks on the ceramic kitchen tiles. Unable to bear the pain anymore, Danny just flops onto his back in the middle of the kitchen. His breathing was quick as the icy pain kept going through his body. ¡®Why does this hurt so much more?!¡¯

    The frost krept from his shivering body onto the floor, slowly gaining territory over the kitchen tiles. The temperature in the room was dropping fast, and there was a constant stream of cold blue vapor exiting Danny¡¯s mouth every time he exhaled. His ears were ringing, and his teeth hurt from grinding them in pain. Soon ectoplasm started leaking from his chest again, albeit slowly, from the very same place he could feel the most pain coming from.

    ¡®Hold on! It¡¯ll be¡­ over¡­ soon!¡¯ Danny could only think of holding out till the pain ceased. He hopes it ends soon. Eventually, after ten minutes in pain, the ectoplasm covers his entire body. Danny can feel the rush coming on, slowly pushing the pain back. His breathing evened out in a matter of minutes.

    Danny looked to the clock, ¡®2 oclock¡¯ he saw. He had been in pain for an hour, and it definitely felt like it. It still hurt, but he wasn¡¯t cold anymore. Slowly, Danny sat up and got to his feet. It startled him effortless that was after what he just went through. He looked around and was startled by what he saw. His whole kitchen was frosted over. There was a thin layer of ice all over the whole kitchen, and it glowed slightly. Frozen stalactites hung from the ceiling, and he couldn¡¯t see out the windows from fog and frost. ¡°I really hope this goes away soon¡­ ¡±

    As if on cue, the ice dissipates into the air, not even leaving water marks in the kitchen. It startles Danny but he¡¯s grateful it went away so quick, that¡¯s one less thing to worry about. Danny looks down at himself, taking in his appearance. He moved to the bathroom to get another look.

    In the mirror Danny sees a similar appearance to the one from the day of the accident. ¡°Woah¡­¡± Danny whispers while touching his face. The same glowing green eyes and shaggy snow white hair, his skin was pale like snow and he was wearing a black and white version of the hazmat suit he used earlier. The suit fit more comfortably than the one he went into the portal with.

    The ectoplasm coat radiated a dull glow from Danny, and turning off the light gives him further proof that he was positively glowing. Danny knows what this is, his parents have told him and showed it to him before.

    ¡°Ectoplasm.¡±

    They get it from ghosts, and it was currently coming out of his body. So what did that make him? Was he a ghost? Did he die in that portal? Danny checked his pulse¡­ still there. It was slow though, noticeably slow. He also felt something else, a different kind of pulse. It was coming from next to his heart. The same place that hurt earlier was now sending out pulses of cold energy through his body and he could feel it. And boy, did it feel great.

    He was alive, but he was also a ghost. Half-ghost. ¡°Cool.¡± Danny mumbled. Maybe that was why he kept falling through floors and turned invisible. He also flew! Even if it was only for a bit, he still did it. Danny suddenly sports a daring smirk.

    He starts jumping up and down, and aside from getting better air than normal, nothing happens. Pausing, Danny closes his eyes and concentrates. Danny thinks of going up, like he did before, flying. Defying gravity. Then he feels it, tugging at his core. Danny''s eyes slowly open to see him floating, he looks around and down. He¡¯s two feet in the air, his feet are just dangling there under him. Thinking ¡®Higher¡¯ Danny crashes into the ceiling immediately. Danny looks up while rubbing his head, there was an indention in the ceiling. Tracing his hand across it he can tell the center is two inches deep. ¡°That¡¯s noticeable.¡±¡­But would his parents notice?

    ¡­No. No they wouldn¡¯t. They¡¯re barely up here as is, and Danny has a feeling once they get that portal up and running, they¡¯re going to be even more scarce than they are now. Danny scowles, turning away from those thoughts to focus on something that¡¯s actually amazing.

    Danny has superpowers. He¡¯s a ghost, but alive! And he can fly! Kind of! Can he get back to the ground now?

    Think and it shall be done! While he was floating in the air, Danny¡¯s knees were bent, but when he crashed into the ground, it was Danny¡¯s knees that hit first. ¡°Arrgh!¡±

    Danny rolls over, clutching his knees in pain, before it quickly fades. A little startled that the pain didn¡¯t last longer, with a face of caution, Danny warily stretches his legs, noticing nothing out of place or painful. Danny sports one last look at his ceiling crater and moves onto the next task. Intangibility!

    So far Danny has been through the floor from the lab, and all the way out through the roof. He knows he can go through walls, and fly while doing it. Knowing he can do it, and knowing how to do it are two different things though. Although Danny struggles to get the feel of his newfound power, he eventually manages to get the trick of it. He can¡¯t seem to get it to last for his whole body though. Just the hand seems fine, or a foot, but making the whole thing intentionally intangible seems like something in the future.

    Danny sticks his hand through the fridge door, and rummages around while thinking. What else can ghosts do? He turned invisible earlier, that¡¯s another place to start. But more, he knows there¡¯s more. Finding what he¡¯s looking for in the fridge, Danny fishes out a sandwich.

    After eating the sandwich, Danny tried turning his arm invisible, and to his surprise it was easier than going intangible. Happy that it¡¯s getting easier, he tries to make his whole body invisible; It was a failure, but going by how easy it felt, Danny is pretty sure he can get it down soon. Stopping and looking down Danny attempts to will his coat of ectoplasm away. Keyword being tried. Frowning, he continued attempting to turn back human, while making his way back to the lab.

    There was research to be done, research to see what ghosts could do. To see what he could do.

 Chapter 3

    Chapter 3

    In all of his excitement, Danny seemed to have forgotten exactly what his parents did, and the feeling welling up in his stomach was reminding him that he didn¡¯t just gain powers.

    He probably gained enemies as well, possibly his parents. With worry cascading his face Danny skims through the books in the lab, already on his fifth one. It¡¯s not that he bothered to actually read through them all, he was just scanning through. Many of these books were written by his parents, and Danny finds himself uncomfortable with what he¡¯s reading.

    More than just a few of these books were more like lab reports, or experiment logs. Experiments done by his parents. On ghosts. There were pictures as well, depicting dissections and showcasing the beginning and end of multiple ghosts. Make that many ghosts. Most seem like monsters, glowing green ectopi, some spectral birds that looked like skeletal vultures. Another picture of a large wolf that was chained down. It looked like it easily outsized his parents, but there was a note next to the picture. ¡®Escaped.¡¯

    So his parents could catch, and detain ghosts long enough to dissect them to death. ¡°Awesome.¡± Danny grumbled.

    So they could also, in theory, hunt him down and experiment on him as well. He thought these powers made him more free, they were superpowers after all, but these powers seemed to have come to the wrong person. He was now a human-ghost thing, and he couldn¡¯t keep it out of his head how fanatic he¡¯d seen his parents go off to hunt ghosts down. That could be him that they chase. That they hunt.

    Danny opens another book, one titled ¡®Ecto-Anatomy¡¯. Danny pauses, fear and concern flashing across his face before he growls and opens it with determination. That angry scowl quickly turns meek, and his already pale skin dips even further. The first ghost, a glowing green skeleton, similar to a human but with four arms. It was strapped to a table, glowing shackles keeping it restrained. The next page has another picture, along with familiar handwritten notes on a post-it note, his mother''s handwriting. Danny read the note in a quiet whisper: ¡°Subject SG-12 has similar reactions to what pain would be expected from a human. However, When the two left arms were removed, they quickly melted into ectoplasm. This further adds evidence to the theory that ghosts are made entirely of energy, thus unable to feel pain.¡± Danny shuddered, imagining himself strapped to a table and getting taken apart. He shakes his head, ¡®They¡¯re my parents.¡¯

    The picture depicted the same skeleton with two of its arms removed, with a new chest shackle in place to keep it still. There was a fire in it¡¯s eye sockets, literally, and they burned with hate towards his parents. Danny turned the page and read through it. He turned it again, and again and again, before he slammed it shut. He was only halfway through.

    With heavy breathing heavily and wide eyes Danny puts the book back in its original place. More and more pictures showing dissections on multiple ghosts; an iguana ghost split down the middle in vivisection, the ectoplasm was pooling in the chest cavity and spilling out onto the floor. The final result was a canister of ectoplasm, one he can see in this very room. There¡¯s weapons effects on certain types of ghosts, and so much more...

    Danny packs up everything he took out, placing everything where it was before he started searching. He nods with a strained smile, and heads up the stairs to his room. While those lab reports were disturbing and made Danny worry about his future, he did get some tips from a few of them.

    <hr>

    In hindsight, it probably wasn¡¯t a great idea to try shooting ecto-energy; a sizzling scorch mark on the wall next to his desk. An easy problem to fix by moving the desk over. Still, Danny didn¡¯t think he would get it so quick. The books said that not all ghosts are powerful enough to use ecto-energy attacks. It¡¯s surprising how easy it is. Even now, two hours in, Danny was playing with the ectoplasmic energy dancing across his hands. The energy was crackling and bubbling around back and forth from his two hands, forming very distorted shapes. The looks of glee and amazement on Danny''s face is more than enough to get his amusement across.

    Jazz will be getting back soon, so now is better to stop than later. Assuming these powers are permanent. Turning back to his normal form was easy enough: with a thought, the cloak is gone. Easy.

    Turning back wasn¡¯t as easy, it took a few minutes and it didn¡¯t last very long. Trying for a third time was a waste of thirty minutes.

    Danny went back to the kitchen, doing one final check to see if anything was out of place. Any ectoplasm or blood? Or both? The kitchen is clean, the lab is next.

    Danny checked all the books he touched, the portal and the floor and equipment. All clean! All that¡¯s left to do was watch tv; Jazz will be back soon and they can order dinner then. It feels like a pizza night.

    <hr>

    It was strange, coming home. She hadn¡¯t been gone long, but something felt different. Nothing seemed out of place; Danny was lazing around and watching TV, that¡¯s nothing unusual though he was¡­ still. Upon further realization, Jazz realized how cold it was in here. Checking the AC says that it¡¯s set to seventy, but¡­ it¡¯s at sixty?

    ¡°Hey Danny, what¡¯s with the AC?¡± Jazz asks.

    Danny turns around from the couch and giving her a confused stare. ¡°What do you mean? It feels fine to me.¡±

    ¡®Fine?¡¯ ¡°Danny it¡¯s 60¡ã in here, it¡¯s set to seventy, and I know that it¡¯s at least 90¡ã outside.¡± Jazz pauses for a moment, to look at her brother again. After a moment she walks over to him, and he shrugs and turns back to the TV.

    ¡®Is it really that cold in here?¡¯ It certainly didn¡¯t feel like it, if anything it felt comfortable. ¡®Oh shit.¡¯ When he was¡­ incapacitated, earlier. The whole kitchen was flash frozen to ice. It was just the kitchen right? It went away too quickly to actually know if it was the whole house or just the kitchen.

    Suddenly Danny feels a hand on his forehead, ¡°Ahh!¡± Startled he pulls away and shoots a confused glare at his sister.

    Jazz stares at her hand for a brief moment, ¡°Danny, you¡¯re freezing!¡± before she quickly goes to the closet and grabs a blanket and throws it on top of him ¡°Wha-¡±. She eyes her little brother while he corrects his position and proceeds to give her a dirty look. ¡°How are you feeling, Danny? Do you want some soup?¡±

    Although momentarily startled by his sisters caring attitude, Danny still smiles. ¡°Jazz, really, I feel fine. If you¡¯re insisting though, I¡¯ll have some.¡± Jazz doesn¡¯t look convinced, and feels his forehead again. He¡¯s just as cold as it was a moment ago, ¡°I don¡¯t buy it little brother. Stay here and I¡¯ll go make you something. Don¡¯t move got it?¡±

    There¡¯s no room for argument here. ¡°Alright, alright. I won¡¯t move, happy?¡± If she is, Jazz doesn¡¯t show it ¡°You better.¡± She mumbles, and continues toward the kitchen. When Jazz enters the kitchen she can instantly tell it¡¯s even worse in here. If it¡¯s sixty in the living room, it has to be fifty or below. She can see her own breath, this isn¡¯t normal. With concern maring her face, Jazz looks back to the living room, before continuing with her original goal.

    It isn¡¯t until the soups almost done does she notice something on the floor. To be more specific, Jazz notices what looks like¡­ claw marks? On the tile. Jazz walks closer to the center of the kitchen and crouches down. The marks come in a pair, about two feet away from each other. Have these always been here?

    Before she can make any more observations, the timer for the soup goes off, making Jazz jump a little. She gets up, pours it into a bowl, and goes to one of the utility drawers to grab a thermometer from it. She takes the bowl of soup and thermometer, places it on a tray, and brings to her brother who looks the same as before: completely unfazed by the temperature in the room.

    Jazz takes the thermometer, ¡°Here, say ¡®Ahh¡¯¡±. ¡°Say Ahh-Ahk?!¡± and shoves it into Danny''s mouth while he¡¯s turning his head to her. ¡°Don¡¯t take it out.¡± Danny was going to argue, but the look on his sisters face makes him meek. She hands him the tray and waits a minute for the thermometer to adjust.

    Danny looks at her with confusion and concern. Confusion for why she¡¯s doing this, then concern when he remembers that all the ice from earlier did in fact come from him. The minute passes painfully slow, with Danny slowly losing his cool.

    On the mark Jazz takes the thermometer out, which prompts Danny to move. ¡°I¡¯m gonna eat this my room, Thanks!¡± Jazz steps back in surprise and before she can say anything he¡¯s already up the stairs. She eyes the area she last saw him and then returns her attention to the thermometer. Her eyes widen, ¡°Seventy-five?¡± Really? Seventy-five degrees? The human body has an average body temperature of ninety-eight point six, seventy-five would make him a corpse in the cold.

    An incredulous look appears on her face, washing away confusion. ¡°This thing has to be broken. I¡¯ll have to pick up another one later.¡± She can¡¯t help but to send one more glance back towards her little brothers room.

    Unfortunately, Danny didn¡¯t get to enjoy that soup. When he picked up the bowl and spoon, his hand holding the bowl turned intangible, along with the bowl, and the hot soup spilled all over his lap. Why couldn''t they have just gotten pizza?

    <hr>

    Although it¡¯s been an eventful day, Danny already knows what he¡¯s doing tomorrow, and the excitement was definitely getting to him. There¡¯s also the spasms of pain that shoots through his body every once in a while, but if Danny was being honest, he was starting to get used to them. It just didn¡¯t hurt as much anymore.

    Danny had an eye to do one thing tomorrow: train his powers. There was a forest outside of town, a perfect place to get a hand on this new part of his life. Or maybe afterlife was a better term. Danny wasn¡¯t really sure what he was. A quick check gave him confirmation that he did indeed have a heartbeat. It was slow though, and there was a second pulsing in his chest as well. It calmed him down to feel it, there was a cool energy that he could feel coursing through his veins. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    Danny smiled, the feeling in his chest soothed his mind and soon he was off to sleep.

    <hr>

    Danny felt cold sweat going down his back and arms. His palms felt clammy, and his breathing was picking up in pace. His face was pale and he was biting his lips.

    ¡®How did I miss this?¡¯ Actually, a lot has been going on recently so it¡¯s not too hard to explain that. The sight in the mirror though, that wasn¡¯t something Danny was expecting to see. Nor did he want to see this. Lichtenberg Figures danced across his back, emanating from the center of his back. It seemed the scars emerged from where the pulsing in his chest was, and they reached down to his lower back, stopping at his tailbone. They spread up towards the base of his neck, and almost reached his sides, stopping before they became visible from the front. A few stray strands reached his shoulders.

    Danny shuddered. They weren¡¯t terribly noticeable, as long as he never took a shirt off. Oh, who was he kidding? One look at his back and it would be easy to tell.

    Well, Danny did get electro-portaled, and it stands to reason all that pain he felt had to have some¡­ physical repercussions. He groaned, there was no way he could ever change in the locker room again. It was going to be a while till he could go swimming in public. Or around his family. Or his frie- ¡°How do I explain this?¡±

    That was another issue entirely. His research into the lab turned him off from the idea of telling his parents. Jazz was out as well, and although she¡¯s a great sister, there¡¯s no way she wouldn¡¯t tell his parents. What about Sam and Tucker? There weren¡¯t many secrets they kept from each other, and this would be a pretty damn big secret to keep. Since he, well, died. Kind of; the heartbeat sort of contradicted that he¡¯s dead, but the ectoplasm in his blood said otherwise.

    To tell or not to tell.

    They wouldn¡¯t be back for a few days, so he had time, but was it enough time to figure this out? He just had to think this through. Would they still accept him? Tucker¡­ would probably keep his secret, but he also didn¡¯t know how to keep his mouth shut around a pretty girl. ¡®You know, my best friend has awesome superpowers, how about a double date with you and your pretty friend?¡¯ He could just imagine it. Sam, well she¡¯s a lot of things, and much more volatile. Sam¡¯s very emotional, smart, headstrong, and possessive. It¡¯s hard to convince her, putting it lightly. If she was really dead set in her ways, then there would be no convincing her. There was no guarantee that she would be okay with it, and convincing her would be a tall order even for a politician. It¡¯s debatable whe-

    ¡°Danny! Food is done!¡± Danny jumps, breaking his thoughts back into the present. That¡¯s in the future, not the now. Danny rubs his face in his hands, sighing through his fingers.

    ¡°Got it!¡± Danny puts a grey shirt on and heads downstairs for breakfast. Rolling his shoulder, he takes note of the slight pain from the scars on his back. He didn¡¯t notice it yesterday, but then again this wasn¡¯t that noticeable compared to the attacks of pain he¡¯s dealing with. He can honestly say it¡¯s just a slight discomfort, but them just being there was perturbing.

    ¡°Morning.¡±

    Jazz looks over her shoulder, spotting her brother come into the kitchen. ¡°What¡¯s for breakfast?¡±

    She refocuses her attention back towards her cooking, ¡°Eggs, bacon and toast.¡± It was almost done, just a couple more minutes for the eggs.

    ¡°How are you feeling Danny?¡± Danny pauses, looking at his sister. ¡°I¡¯m fine Jazz. Really. It was just cold in the room.¡± Danny tries to make it clear that he wants to change topics.

    ¡­ and it flies right over her head. ¡°Are you sure? You were freezing Danny, you could have gotten sick.¡± Jazz puts the pan down, and walks over to her brother. Danny glares at her, clearly tired of the topic. ¡°I said I¡¯m fine Jazz. Stop pestering this.¡± Jazz stops before her hand touches him, then she smiles and ruffles his hair. ¡°I¡¯m just worried for you little brother. I can see that you¡¯re fine, and I¡¯m sorry for overreacting.¡± She takes note that he¡¯s not cold like yesterday.

    Danny waves his hands at her, getting her hand away so he can fix his hair. A sheepish grin was on his face and a small blush tinged his cheeks. ¡°Alright, I got it, just try not to blow things out of the water anymore.¡±

    Jazz gives him an even wider smile, ¡°No promises.¡± She turns back to finish breakfast. Danny smiles, his parents tend to be absent from their lives most of the time, but at least Jazz was here with him. Even if she was a little too overbearing and overprotective at times.

    She finishes soon after and hands Danny a plate. Before he starts he gets up to grab a drink from the fridge. Danny clears his throat while as he walks back to the table. ¡°So I¡¯ll be going out after we eat.¡±

    Jazz looks up, giving him a pointed look. ¡°What time are you going to be back?¡±

    Danny puts his hand to his chin, giving it a quick thought, then shrugs his shoulders. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Whenever I¡¯m done I guess.¡± Jazz stops and raises an eyebrow at her brother, then puts her fork full of eggs down, ¡°Okay¡­ then where are you going?¡±

    Danny doesn¡¯t stop eating and continues to talk, food still in his mouth. ¡°The library probably.¡± Jazz flinches slightly, before sighing. ¡°Danny, please don¡¯t talk with food in your mouth. That¡¯s a horrible habit to pick up from dad.¡± He was the only one in the house that actually spoke with food in his mouth.

    Danny smirks. Plan successful. Jazz has always been worried that our parents would rub off on me the wrong way, and even though she¡¯s studying psychology he can still use that to distract her. Danny swallows his food, and gives a mock salute with his fork. ¡°Roger that.¡± Jazz rolls her eyes before continuing to eat her breakfast. ¡°Just make sure you¡¯re back by six alright?¡±

    <hr>

    It didn¡¯t take Danny long to find a more private place outside of his house to ¡®transform¡¯ but getting the hang of flying wasn¡¯t easy. Actually, he didn¡¯t really get the hang of it, he had problems flying the whole time. Danny would suddenly lose altitude and almost fall to his death, or he would have random bursts of speed in any direction. Any direction.

    At least he can now say that he knows what it feels like to slam into a billboard. He had a feeling he might get to know that feeling in the future.

    When Danny finally reached the woods on the outskirts of the city he transformed back and took out his phone. ¡°Ten on the dot.¡± It took about an hour of shaky and unsteady flying to get here, a little quicker than a car ride, and definitely better than walking!

    His budding excitement from last night was coming back in droves, and Danny quickly began setting up to practice. He had brought along a bag of cans and bottles, courtesy of one of the alleys he landed in. He also had his sketchbook and a notebook. He was the son of scientists after all, he wanted to record and go over everything later, and the first order on the agenda? Practicing with ectoplasm!

    It doesn¡¯t take long to set up some targets, about twenty cans and six or seven bottles. Danny sets the bottles up high on some tree branches and puts the cans down low on the ground and a fallen tree.

    Danny floats back over toward his stuff, about thirty feet away. He pauses for a moment, searching for that feeling, the one in his chest. The pulsing. ¡°There.¡±

    Suddenly Danny¡¯s hands begin to glow green, a thin layer of ectoplasm covers his hands, slowly gaining mass. Taking a deep breath Danny points his hands towards the first target. ¡°Here goes nothing.¡±

    It was immediate. A green blast of ectoplasm, about the size of a softball flew out of Danny''s hand down range, taking less than two seconds to hit. Although he misses by what seems like a generous three feet, the ectoplasmic projectile has a concussive force, and it blasts the immediate surroundings away and scorches the ground. Danny flinches, clearly unprepared for his attack to do that much damage.

    ¡°WOAH! That was awesome!¡± Danny grabs his notebook and cellphone, then he floats over toward the area of impact and hovers from left to right in quick rotations. He bobs up and down, clearly excited at the prospect of his newfound power, while taking pictures and notes of the result.

    ¡®Type: Blast, Effect: Concussive, light burns on ground indicating high heat. Accuracy: Needs refinement, off by three feet seven inches.

    Power: More than expected. Speed: Very fast, possibly only 1 or 2 seconds. Requires more testing.¡¯

    After resetting the cans that got knocked over, Danny heads back and continues his practice. The second blast was a miss, but contained more power. The third shot was also a miss, but it did hit a different can, just not the one he was aiming for. It was becoming easier to use these. The power output was increasing along with the ease of use and aim. Although technically he hasn¡¯t actually hit anything he was aiming for.

    The maniacal grin on his face was all someone needed to know to see that Danny was having the time of his life. ¡®Oh, yeah, this definitely requires more testing.¡¯

    <hr>

    Danny definitely got carried away. The once peaceful forest landscaped looked more akin to a battlefield. Scorch marks marred the area, ground and trees alike, and all his targets were destroyed, along with a few new toppled trees. The cans were melted and the glass bottles were blasted apart, glass littering the area. A few of the glass bottles lay in puddle of hardened glowing slag, tinged green by the paranormal energy that melted them to a pool of molten glass.

    Danny lays by his backpack, panting and exhausted in his human form. He practically radiated excitement and joy, despite the drain he felt. He had been here well over eight hours. Taking a quick glance at his phone he notices that its about six-forty. He groaned, Jazz was going to chew him out when he got home. Danny sends her a text, an appeasement to quell the oncoming lecture.

    Jazz[Sent]: Hey, omw home now. Sry I kinda lost track of time. And sent.

    Danny hoped that would be enough, but he knew he was still going to get an earful later. His tests had gone marvelously. The area around a testament to what he could do. His grin split his face ear to ear as he went over his training.

    He could shoot balls of ectoplasm that blew up! He fired lasers from his hands, and if he concentrated on it, from his fingers as well! The last one had zero accuracy though, his first attempt ended with him shooting himself in the face. It was clear his ¡®finger gun¡¯ had less power than the ecto-ray and ecto-blast. The ecto-ray had even bisected a few trees along with his glass targets.

    He tried shaping the ectoplasm on one of his breaks, but he was only mildly successful. He could stretch it out to make it longer, or compress it into a ball, but a square? A triangle? Too much strain. Danny also noted he had superhuman strength, easily able to lift a tree in one hand. His grip was also something else: off to the side, one of the larger trees had a hand sized hole in it, groves maring the inside, making it obvious that someone dug their fingers into it to cause the damage.

    Intangibility and invisibility were mostly the same, though he noted that it was easier than last time. He tried making ice, cryokinesis, like what had happened in the kitchen but his efforts were for naught. Not an ounce of frost or cold graced the area. Zero progress.

    That was fine though, he got more than enough practice with flight to make up for it. The trees proved to be an excellent obstacle course, and while he crashed more times than he could count it didn¡¯t matter. Flying was probably the funnest thing he¡¯s ever done, hands down. More fun, he dares to think, than the junior astronaut training.

    When Danny attempts to get up he immediately falls back down and his hands rush up to his mouth, groaning in agony. He flops onto his back again and holds his mouth with one hand while the other grips his chest, fingers attempting to dig into his chest through his shirt. His teeth were burning, his head was thumping painfully, and his chest felt like it was being melted from the inside. A dull glow radiated from his body, green ecto-energy clearly flowing through his veins under his skin, all the while making its course through his system. It was spreading, oh go- ¡°AAAARRRGH!¡± He could feel it in his spine!

    A dull cracking reverberates through his body, his bones felt like they were breaking and he couldn¡¯t stop himself from screaming. It¡¯s a good thing this happened out in the middle of nowhere, and not in his house. His sister would definitely freak out and make this worse. Actually, it felt like he was melting, it might not get worse than this.

    Danny spits out a mouthful of ectoplasm stained blood, and dully notices something white in there. His aching fingers shakily make their way to the blood, and pick out something that makes him grow cold, despite the burn he currently feels. His teeth. Two of them. He briefly fishes his tongue around his teeth, his canines. Those were the ones he spit out, and the ones in his mouth felt longer. Before Danny can reach for his phone he feels another spark of pain.

    Looking down, he can see green electricity, eerily similar to portal, literally sparking up and down his body. The emergence point is the center of his chest, it was leaving burns on his body and the ground. His shirt was smoldering where the electricity danced along, further adding to the mouthing pain. Suddenly, the energy explodes and his hair flashes from black to white. Danny¡¯s eyes dart back and forth, all the while changing colors from a glowing blue, to a radioactive green.

    The pain is too much, Danny¡¯s voice becomes hoarse and scratchy from the scream. He painfully turns on his side and chokes on his own blood, gurgling and spitting more out onto the already stained grass. The ground shakes from the raw power, several nearby trees shift from the explosive release of energy. Small rocks and twigs float up, inches off the ground.

    Blood pooled under Danny''s head, pouring from his mouth and eyes along with tears of pain. He could feel the energy coming out of every pore in his body, the energy that killed him not only days ago, and it felt like it was coming out about as well as it did when it went in.

    The old saying, how did it go? If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Danny, in his pain addled hysteria couldn¡¯t help but wonder in his mind. ¡®Am I actually in pain, if no one was around to hear it?¡¯ Another shock from his core branched off of his burned and charred skin to slice further along his chest, and then into a nearby tree, quickly answers the stray thought. Yes, he was, in fact, still in pain. A lot of pain.

    Why won''t this end?

 Chapter 4

    Chapter 4

    Danny has been finding himself in front of a mirror a lot recently. For good reason, he might add. First it was a different appearance, the whole ghost form thing. Then it was the scars lining his entire back, top to bottom. Who could forget that? Now it was this. How do you hide fangs?

    Danny pulls his mouth open wide by the sides, taking glances at his new pair of chompers. His previous canines were still in his backpack, and these new ones made him look like a damn vampire. Both the top and bottom canines had been pushed out to be replaced by these monstrous beauties.

    As if his upcoming social life wasn''t going to be hard enough, he somehow had to also keep people from seeing these new one-inch long fangs. ''What kind of bullshit is this?''

    Was this someone''s idea of a joke? To just tack on to the ever growing list of things he had to hide from people?

    Danny traced his tongue over the new teeth, flinching it away when he accidentally drew blood from his own tongue. They were apparently ridiculously sharp as well.

    Danny closed his mouth and sat down on the edge of the bathtub. He rested his elbows on his knees and sunk his face into his hands. "What the hell am I supposed to do¡­?"

    Everything else so far, he could hide. This? Every time he opened his mouth to talk or eat he''d be exposing himself. He couldn''t just suddenly become a mute. He had friends and family that would notice it the second he opened his mouth. Maybe, just maybe, he could get away with keeping his mouth as close to closed as he could get. How long would that last though? Maybe a day, two at most. He still had to eat, and there was no way was he going to skip out on meals. He would never get through the week, especially with his nosy sister. She would pry his mouth open the second she thought something was up. ''Am I hiding a cavity? Nope, just my new vampire teeth, don''t mind it Jazz.''

    Speaking of his sister, boy oh boy is she angry. Getting back three hours late all but secured that lecture. It was a miracle he could even hide his new teeth. He made up an excuse, obviously, saying that he left his phone in the library bathroom and had to run back to get it. She bought it, thankfully, but he still had to suffer through the lecture.

    It was a good thing he brought an extra pair of clothes when he went out to practice. His favorite white and red shirt? Trashed and burned. It was caked in blood, ectoplasm, and had electro-plasmic burns all throughout the damn thing. There were large burn holes on his back and side where the electricity was being grounded.

    His pants and shoes fared a bit better. Since he wasn''t standing his shoes were spared, and his pants, while crispy on a few parts were fine, mostly. He was still going to throw them out. He would''ve flown back if he could but he couldn''t change back again, and these pain attacks are getting very old very fast. If he has one of these in public he''s screwed.

    Danny was looking on the bright side though. If the pain does eventually stop, then the powers are worth it. Oh-so worth it. There was a certain feeling to flying, a truly euphoric feeling. One most people might never get to experience in the most literal definition. Freedom. This was America, the home of the free and the brave, but can those people fly? No? Well he can, and Danny was downright positive that this was what true freedom was. No machines helping him, he wasn''t jumping out of planes and free falling, and he most definitely wasn''t being shot out of a cannon. He was flying, just himself, and nothing else.

    These fangs were kind of throwing his mood right now though. Danny gets back up and moves to the mirror again. He bares his teeth, doing different facial expressions. He opens his mouth and simulates as if he was eating a sandwich. ''Yeah, that''s noticeable.'' If he opens his mouth, even just a little, these pearly piercers are in full view. Danny sighs through his nose, "Can''t they just go away?"

    Danny pushes one of the teeth up with two fingers, careful not to prick himself, and to his surprise he feels something in his face muscles. He lets go and tries for another tooth, same feeling. Going to the bottom two he can feel something under his skin, by his chin. Suddenly there''s hope, ''Maybe these things retract?'' He pushed back against the teeth again, trying to get a feel of the muscles. Not too bad, almost like there''s pressure being put on the areas.

    Although it takes a solid hour, eventually they do retract enough to look normal. Danny''s mood brightens immediately and he sighs in relief. It''s uncomfortable, but that''s not the worst he''s experienced so far, and who knows? Maybe Danny will get used to it, ''Like muscle memory.'' It''s not like it remotely compares to the last couple days, maybe that says something about his pain tolerance?

    "Oh man, what about trips to the dentist?" May as well add that onto the growing list. There''s also no more blood work, hospital visits are out, and how much ghost hunting equipment is in this house alone? Thinking about it realistically, he was kind of screwed if he wasn''t careful about this.

    The stray thought that maybe his parents could fix this flies through his head, but he dismisses it immediately. He can''t give up flying, no way, not after actually doing it. He can do so much now, there''s no way he can throw this new part of his life away so quick. Now that he''s gotten a taste of it, he wants these powers.

    Danny checks the time, eight in the morning. He definitely didn''t want a repeat of last night, so it was probably better to cut back on the time for training. Maybe five hours instead of eight.

    That''s for later though. Now? Now he''s got an hour before Jazz finishes breakfast and a Kill/Death ratio to bring up in Doomed. He''s almost beat Tuckers.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Being able to go invisible and fly at the same time makes the art of stealth so damn easy. Danny is currently hovering over the Amity Park Mall, peering down through the glass ceiling. Danny''s eyes are practically radiating anger, wisps of ectoplasm steaming off his eye. His face wore a scowl, quickly turning into a snarl. His fangs on full view and baring right down at his ''best friends''.

    They lied. They weren''t on vacation or out of town. They aren''t with their families in another state or country. They''re right here, in the mall. Out in public of all damn places, like he wouldn''t find out? Well, probably not since he never went out without his friends, but that''s beside the point. Danny''s eyes narrow; they know that too.

    What Danny sees is his best friends, Sam and Tucker, out on what looks like a double date. They''re at one of the cafes in the mall, a short walk away from the food court. He feels childish, getting angry over this, but they lied to him dammit! He feels betrayed, did they have to lie? Why? It''s not like he has a plethora of friends to go around, Sam and Tucker are quite literally his only friends. ''Wow, that''s sad.''

    Tucker''s date looks like a library wallflower. A braided brunette with large glasses, wearing a long dark blue knee length skirt. She seemed to be enjoying herself, she was laughing at what Danny assumes is another one of his corny jokes. Surprisingly he could hear them, but just barely, only half words and run-ons. Danny couldn''t help but admit that she''s cute, she looks maybe a year older than Tucker, how did he get her to agree? Under normal circumstances he''d be ecstatic for his friend.

    Danny almost had to laugh at what he saw was Sam''s date. It was almost comical, really. He has white hair hair, pushed back into spikes and he kept pushing up his sunglasses, green eyes underneath. It was like looking at a non-glowing taller and lankier version of his ghost form. He wore all white and black too, his vest and pants being the only white on him, everything else a deep satin black.

    Danny floated closer before landing on the glass. He went to press his ear up against the glass, before stopping and using his hand to wipe away the dust and grime. Satisfied, Danny resumes his spying.

    Danny pulled back, cocking his head back in laughter. "Hahahahaha, he has a fake accent!" It sounded European, but he could hear some slips with the accent, ''Sounds kinda American!'' how could anyone buy that? Danny stopped when he saw Sam''s face. She was laughing, and looked like she''s enjoying herself. She dressed up too, it wasn''t a spur of the moment thing; this was planned. She has a black short skirt on and her black ''one size too small'' shirt seemed to expose more of her midriff than normal. Her dark purple jacket matches so well with her amethyst eyes.

    Suddenly, he''s not so angry anymore. It just kind of hurt. All of it, really. First dying, then having afterlife attacks that cause excruciating pain and property damage. Now his two best friends were out having a great time, but not only did they not tell him, they lied to him. Now his crush was out on a date and she obviously wanted to dress for success. Tucker was even more confusing, as Sam was normally very personal and private, Tucker always told him everything and he, in return did as well. Danny almost never lied to Tucker.

    Danny''s hand clenched, cracking the glass. He hated this. Danny spots another familiar group of people, ones that he tends to avoid at all costs, lounging around by the food court. He stood up and looked away before an idea rears its way into his mind. He returns his gaze to the two groups while narrowing his eyes. "OK, let''s see how committed they are to this lie."

    Danny phases down through the roof while invisible, something he couldn''t do normally if he was trying to do it on purpose. Ghosts are literally, according to his parents, emotions implanted into ectoplasmic energy formed into consciousness. They are energy with feelings. An imprint of what a person once was, based off of what they were feeling at death. Danny''s current moment of emotional duress is subconsciously aiding in his control over his powers.

    He quickly finds a bathroom by one of the video games stores that him and Tucker frequent, and transforms back into his human half. The action and process of what just happened startle Danny as realization hits him, he''s never had that much control before. It''s swept away soon after. He has a plan to pull off.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    Danny quickly makes his way into the store, ''Park Playcade and finds something to buy. The store was a mixture of retro arcade and a modern game store, making it a popular place for anyone who plays games. He''s wanted a new controller and headset for a while now anyway, may as well get it now.

    After his quick purchase Danny sets off toward the food court, he has to grab the A-listers attention. They never pass up an opportunity to harass him, and with Dash there it was almost guaranteed that he would mess with Danny. The cafe isn''t far, maybe fifty or sixty feet. If he walks fast enough he can get by it before Dash catches up.

    Danny pauses before looking around, hoping to find his escape method. It doesn''t take long to find it, an old mall security guard. He looks like he''s maybe in his fifties, and if memory serves he''s helped Danny and Tucker before with Dash and his cronies. What was his name again? Mr. Daytle? Danny smiles and waves at the man to get his attention, Mr. Daytle follows suit. Danny discreetly points to the A-listers and the older guard gaze shifts to them. He looks back and gives Danny a smug smile and a thumbs up. He points to himself, then to Danny and then to his back. ''I''ve got your back.''

    Too easy.

    So, the plan begins. Danny puts his headphones in and walks by the food court, in clear view of Dash, toward the cafe. As if reading from a script, Dash sees Danny, nudges his friends and points his head in his direction. Mr. Daytle notices too and keeps his attention on Dash and Danny, but he makes no move of getting up yet. Good.

    As Danny gets closer to the cafe he takes his phone out and looks behind him. Dash is en-route with his goons. He acts startled and pulls his hood up. His friends have noticed by now and Danny sees them hiding behind their respective dates. Danny''s eye twitches, ''Really? Hiding from me?''

    He keeps walking, going past the cafe and acting like he didn''t even notice them. When he gets about twenty feet past the cafe, Dash finally catches up, Mr. Daytle lagging a fair distance behind them.

    "Hey Fenturd!" Danny flinches and turns around; Sam and Tucker readjust their hiding spots, Danny can''t see their faces but he knows they''re watching. "What do you want Dash? It''s summer break, can''t you take a break on the bullying too?" Danny is immensely pleased with his acting.

    Dash doesn''t drop it and he snarls his lip, "What was that? I didn''t ask for backtalk!" He picks Danny up by the collar. He can see the security guard picking up his pace, good. Danny goes for one last push.

    Danny waves his hands at the surrounding pedestrians. "What are you gonna do Dash? Hit me in public in front of all these people?" Danny smirks at Dash and he has to strain his new face muscles so his fangs don''t grace his face.

    The reaction is immediate. His eyes go wide and a vein goes up his neck, all the way up to his temple. Kwan tries to stop him, obviously aware of the implications that could happen, but it''s too late. Dash is already mid swing to his gut.

    Before his fist connects, Danny uses his new dentitions to shred his both sides of his cheek on the inside of his mouth. By the time Danny''s doubled over from the punch, his bag hits the floor, he has a satisfying amount pooled in his mouth and he sprays it all over Dash''s new shoes, price tag still on. ''Dumbass''. Right on que, the security guard rushes in and apprehends his assailant.

    Mr. Daytle is horrified and outraged."What do you think you''re doing?!" He takes Dash by the back of his collar and twists his arm behind his back. "Holy shit Fenton." Kwan steps back, startled by what just happened. Paulina and Star back away as well, wide eyed and faces mimicking a mix of disgust and surprise.

    "Son, are you OK?" Mr. Daytle gently asks him while still holding dash in a back arm lock. Danny nods, and Dash is taken aback in panic. "Fuck, Fenton, I- I didn''t mean to-" Danny cuts him off, spitting more blood onto the ground and glaring at the larger jock, "Save it Dash," Danny chokes out, already regretting his decision to chew on his cheeks. It takes everything in his power to stop his pointy cuspids from showing. Danny purses his lips to squash his inner cheeks back into place, gritting his teeth before reaching down to grab his bag. Maybe he overdid it, he didn''t really have to chomp on both of his cheeks.

    While he''s bent over Danny peers through his fallen hair, eyeing his friends. Both pairs of dates have wide eyes, and Sam and Tucker looked horrified. ''What''s that look for? Come help me if you mean it.'' He stares for only a second, but it''s long enough to see them stay. They aren''t going to help.

    The hit didn''t even hurt that much, nothing compared to the last few days, nothing to this. To dying. Danny has to act the part though, so with shaky movements he straightens his back and wipes the blood from his mouth. It smears on his cheek, and he notices another security guard that was nearby run up. He''s a young blond, maybe in his mid-twenties, but he''s built large enough to hold the younger quarterback in the same hold.

    Danny glares at them for a few more seconds before he notices a security camera, turning his head, he notices another one behind him further away on the underside of a walkway. ''Icing on the cake.'' Danny feels a hand touch his shoulder in a gentle grip, he looks up to see Mr. Daytle, "Let''s get you to our office. We''re gonna have to do an incident report." Danny nods, but points to the cameras. "I want the tapes. As evidence, if he denies it." Mr. Daytle raises an eyebrow, but nods. Dash and his friends are already being carted away, Danny follows suit with the older mall cop.

    Danny briefly looks down at the blood, and a small sigh escaped his lips. Good, there wasn''t any ectoplasm in it. Danny''s eyes widen, "Um, my uh- my parents are out of town for the week and my sister is the only one home." Danny pauses to clear his throat, noting that his cheeks didn''t seem to hurt that much anymore. Danny continues, "I''d appreciate it if you don''t call my home. She''s kinda fussy and naggy, if she finds out I spewed blood I wouldn''t be allowed to leave the house all summer."

    Mr. Daytle looks at Danny for a moment. It''s long enough for Danny to think he''s going to refuse. He sighs before dragging a hand down his face and rubbing his eyes. "Sure thing kid." He gives Danny a cocky smile, "You sure do ask a lot of favors."

    Danny looks down and blushes, he rubs the back of his neck with a small sheepish grin, "Sorry about that, sir." Mr. Daytle laughs and waves his hand, "Don''t worry about it. I told you two that I''d help you guys if they messed with you again." As they''re walking into the office Danny nods, "Thanks." he whispers his gratitude. Danny was starting to feel kind of bad for manipulating the situation like that, but he was happy to get Dash in trouble.

    But his friends didn''t get up to help him and that hurts. Danny winced when he gently rubbed his jaw; his cheeks hurt too.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Hopefully blasting and destroying the forest landscape isn''t going to be a regular thing. The second Danny left the mall he went to find an alley. It didn''t take long, but he kept going to get a little further away from the mall, just in case they followed him. They hadn''t. Danny had never flew so fast before, and he was grateful for it. It calmed him down and let him forget about his friends. To focus himself.

    He had blew blood all over the bully, and they definitely saw it, and they definitely did nothing. Thinking back, he definitely overdid it, but maybe this would get the A-Listers off his back for a while.

    Two birds, one stone. He got confirmation they were avoiding him, and he egged Dash into assaulting him in public; even getting video evidence of both. He had tantamount, bonafide, on the flash drive proof. Video evidence brought to him by his new favorite mall security guard. He could call them both on it, and he most definitely would.

    The sound of a large pine tree falling over brings Danny back to the present. Danny looked down at his right hand, Ectoplasmic energy rippled across his fingers, all five ectoplasmic digits in the shape of a claw. He had sliced through several trees, the fallen trunks littering the area. One of the large boulders had been sliced through with a ecto-ray. Danny shifted his sight to a smoldering tree, it''s bark blasted around it. His sight focused down to his glowing gloved left hand. Green ectoplasm fueled electricity danced across his finger tips.

    He clenched his hands, before his felt a familiar feeling of anger. "RRRAAAGH!" He whipped around, green electric fury rushed out of his fingers like a whip, smacking into a small pine tree. The bark peeled away in an explosive fashion, the inner core of the tree burning in a green glow. ''I feel like a sith lord.''

    Danny sighed and flew back over to his stuff, even if he was angry and disappointed, he wasn''t in such a blind fury that he would destroy his own stuff. He didn''t want to make himself feel worse. He flipped open his backpack looking for his cell phone. His fingers brushed across the flash drive before he found his object of interest right next to it.

    It wasn''t really anywhere close to three, but he didn''t really have it in him at the moment. He would finish the notes when he got home. He also spent a solid hour constantly using his powers, and he was surprised he could keep it up. Danny let the cloak go, turning back to regular Danny Fenton. He would have to name his other half soon.

    Danny walked through the carnage, backpack in tow. It was the same area from yesterday, it was deep enough in the woods that no one would find it for miles. If it looked like a battle took place yesterday, then today it was a war. A plethora of trees lay scattered around, and some are stabbed into large boulders and rock outcroppings. He had used and abused his powers on the poor trees, and he did feel bad about it, really, but he can''t say he wasn''t impressed with himself at the moment.

    Danny treads along a broken path, splintered and shattered wood lay around him, the remnants of his ''practice'' while under the influence of anger. He didn''t think he could get that angry. Jagged rocks litter with the wood, and the scent of burning trees and ozone enter his nose. Danny smiles, not pleased at what he had done, but pleased with what he could do.

    After an hour Danny soon gets bored of walking and transforms, pleased that he actually could after the mess he made.

    The homecoming flight made for a better mood, and when he reached home without incident he fell down onto his bed. It would be better to sleep on this.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    As Sam lays on her bed, she can''t help but be beside herself with guilt, her and Tucker both. She couldn''t believe that Danny was hurt so bad he spat out blood, and she didn''t do a damn thing to help him. She was so afraid of what he would say. Is there something wrong with him? The only damn thing they could hear was Dash''s annoying shouting.

    Danny would be furious if he found out they lied to him. He would be justified too. They didn''t want him to feel left out, but looking back it seems like such a stupid reason. They should have just told him the truth. It''s not exactly a lie that they''re going away with their families, but both of their date of departures were tomorrow.

    She had met Gregor at the Amity Park Mall in the occult shop a week ago, they hit it off and he quickly asked her out. She was flattered, and they''re so alike, both goth, both ultra-recyclo-vegetarian, and he had such a charming accent. They held many of the same interests. She was nervous and asked Tucker to go on a double date with her. Apparently Tucker met his respective date at a computer store downtown, though she didn''t know the exact details. They didn''t want him to feel left out, but looking back it seems like such a stupid reason.

    Sam groaned and as she rolled onto her side, her date went down the drain fast too after that. Gregor wanted to continue the date, but she wasn''t feeling it anymore. Her best friend, hurt right in front of her, and she didn''t do a damn thing. When they wouldn''t agree, his accent broke when Tucker annoyed him too much. He was faking it the whole time, everything, all their similar interests, being a goth, vegetarian, all of it. Gregor wasn''t even his real name, it was Elliot. He was just some spoiled little rich asshole from Michigan visiting family.

    Tuckers date seemed to end well, so at least there''s that.

    How could they have not helped though? They just watched, like it wasn''t their problem. Like a bystander. It sickened her. The whole point of her lying was gone too, now if he found out, all it would amount to is a damaged friendship for nothing. She rolled back onto her back and took the pillow from under her head, and placed it over head instead.

    Danny''s so loyal, open, and kind. He also has a temper, and the last time they lied to him it blew up big time when he found out. She doesn''t know how, but he always catches them when they lie. He always finds out. He''s so much smarter than he gives himself credit for.

    She feels like a fool, and while she didn''t think it would end their friendship, it can definitely hurt it. All for nothing. Sam mumbles into the pillow, "Today fucking sucks."

 Chapter 5

    Chapter 5

    Danny slept through the night, effectively going without lunch or dinner. Waking up the first thing he felt was hunger, then the soreness. He had overdone it, a tantrum of rage and flinging new powers with wild abandon. He had a hearty breakfast, steering clear of anything that his mother would have made. He had no intention of dealing with animated food so early in the morning.

    After a quick shower, Danny made his way out the door by nine. Jazz had already gone to one of her summer college prep classes. Extra credit for college, something Danny had zero interest in doing anytime soon, or at all for that matter. He didn''t know how Jazz could put so much effort into it, schools has always been hell for him, and it was never great for Jazz either. How could she want to keep doing that, with such enthusiasm?

    When he finally found a good alley, Danny let his cloak overshadow him. In less than two seconds stood his other half, ''Ghost Danny.'' He paused, "No, no, that sounds awful." Something for later then.

    In no time at all Danny is already back where he belongs, high in the sky, lazily flying towards his spot in the wilderness. As he watched the ectoplasm flow from his hands, dancing and sparking wildly, Danny thought over his future. This is the secret he''ll keep to the grave. If they''ll lie to him, he''ll do the same. The coming argument will wait till they ''get back''. He''s going to let it sit, and if it simmers, boils or cools, then that''ll be that.

    Reflecting on it, his decision was rash and the result could have gone in a different direction. But it didn''t. It was on the fly, but he''s surprised how well it worked. He watched the security footage on his computer, and it did have his friends on tape there. It also showed Dash hitting him, and although it''s barely visible, you can see the blood hit his assailant''s shoes and floor. Proof of both, guilty of both crimes.

    Danny didn''t really think of himself as the type of person to think up a scheme like this, much less actually go through with it. It paid off though, oh boy, how it paid off.

    Danny tried looking up some more ghost stuff, but the internet was useless. It was all supernatural and no science, and while Danny doesn''t think that it is all science, he knew for a fact that salt did nothing to him, neither did a cross, or iron, or silver. He is still in his body so there''s no burning his bones or salting the grave, and he has a heartbeat still.

    Maybe he could visit a church, see what that experience will be like. ''Possibly burst into flames?'' He chuckled, a rare occurrence lately.

    Based off of results so far, it seems that ghosts are more science than supernatural; his parents notes and research logs did actually help get some ideas rolling for his powers, as disturbing as they were, and in his anger, he had discovered a couple more. Danny groaned, doing a light spin to peer at the passing scenery below. He''s ashamed his tantrum became so destructive, but it held benefits and provided understanding on some of his capabilities. Danny could conjure ecto-electrical energy and blast it around like a wizard, he had these cool ecto-claws that were sharp enough to cut boulders and trees, and he didn''t really think his ecto-rays could be that powerful. A good cluster of trees had fallen with just a sweep of an ecto-ray.

    Danny paused mid flight, that put some things in perspective. Danny is a threat, and he could very easily kill someone. His emotions seemed to have an influence on them, at least to some degree. That held resemblance to his parents'' theory of ghosts being the ectoplasm imprinted memory of a dying organism, but what did that make him? He was human still, heartbeat and all, but blood wasn''t the only thing flowing through his veins. When he uses his power, ectoplasm is there and not in small amounts. With all the cleaning he''s had to do recently, he should know.

    Danny is also alone. His parents actively, to this day, hunt and experiment on ghosts, his other half, and Danny has zero desire to tell them at this moment in time. Not with how zealous they are about it. Jazz couldn''t be trusted to keep this secret from their parents, no matter how distanced she was from them. He was going to tell Sam and Tucker, he really was, but¡­ Danny didn''t know if he could really trust them. This was his death after all, no small moment in his half-life. And Danny didn''t really think he deserved to be lied to, not quite so blatantly. It was insulting, and after that stunt he pulled, and they didn''t help him, ''My best friends.''

    He slowly continued his flight, subconsciously gaining altitude; It feels like they aren''t the people he thought they were. They''ve always stuck together, and Danny is in no way oblivious that he''s target number one for the bullies. Tucker''s right up there, but he doesn''t have Jack and Maddie Fenton for parents. There''s a special spot on the bully bulls-eye for Danny, and he felt it every day of school, and he''s sure freshman year will be the same, if not worse. Sam is untouchable, her family too rich and with lawyers to back them. That''s something the A-Lister''s know very well, so all the flak that she gets bounces back to him, Tucker too, but mostly him.

    As long as she doesn''t get hurt, that''s fine, even now after they lied to him.

    Danny rubs his face with his hand. "If only she didn''t cause such a shit storm all the time." That''s the problem. Danny''s known Sam since second grade, a long time, and ever since he''s known her she''s been a stubborn rebel, almost impossible to convince if she was dead set in her views. The worst part is that she''s smart enough to actually get things to go her way. In middle school, somehow, she got the menu changed three separate times, got several clubs abolished, and Danny would bet money she''ll do it again in high school. Her shenanigans have gotten Tucker and Danny into hot water more times than he can count.

    His hands clenched as they tightened to balls, frustration seeping through, but the crunching of frost brought him out of his musing. "Crunching?" His hand was covered in frost, and strangely enough he felt no discomfort from it. Then Danny took in his surroundings, he was high. Higher than he''s ever been before. Danny is far above the clouds, high enough for condensation to form and then frost over him. His eyes widen, ''I gotta be twenty thousand feet up.''

    Danny laughs, "Hahahahaha," Look at him! Danny Fenton, the school loser, flying through the sky, closer to his dream than ever before. He reached his gloved hand upwards, waning his reach for the sky, further into the stars. ''So close.'' Then he''s human. Gone in a heartbeat, everything at a standstill.

    It always ends too soon.

    His glove is gone, replaced by cold frosted fingers, human fingers. A second later Danny starts plummeting toward the incoming forested crust. He still kept his hand outstretched, yearning for the last bit of freedom. Soon. Current affairs require attention, and free falling to death is not on the agenda.

    The wind rushed by, his own heartbeat drowned out as he crept ever closer to terminal velocity. He couldn''t turn, not in the physical sense, but more of the spiritual sense? He was trying, pulling at the power from his chest, but the energy moved sluggishly through his body, unable to manifest outside to clock him in his ghost form. "Come on! Go ghost!" No avail.

    Ten thousand feet. It''s getting difficult to breath, the air rushes into his lunges so fast it hurts. His face burned, the cold winds slicing into his face made him squint his eyes and his nose feels like it''s frozen. The ground was closing in fast, way too fast; he pulled on the power once more. It came into motion in his body, ectoplasm flickering over his form and the speed lowered for only a moment. The cloak flickered away almost immediately and his falling resumed.

    The sound is deafening, Danny curls into himself clutching at the power that keeps escaping, fingers digging into his chest. "COME ON!" He screams, clutching at his chest in fear. He opens his eyes, trees and mountains, closing in fast, "OH, IT''S SO MUCH WORSE THAN LAST TIME!"

    Hey, he was near his testing grounds.

    One thousand feet. The last pull, everything into it; do or die. Again. He reaches to his core, ''that''s what it is'', pulling at the vestiges of power, waiting for it to be released. Glowing green ectoplasm shoots out of his skin, bleeding from the pore. Green eyes snap back open, hair changing from black to white in an instant.

    One hundred feet. His eyes open wide. Too close. He tugs at his intangibility, hoping that it actually makes his whole body intangible. He''s rewarded when he experiences the very surreal experience of diving through the ground. Like he was diving into mist, the solid dirt and rock of the ground not parting, but going through him. It was quiet, in the earth, and a welcome change to the incessant rush of wind blowing out his eardrums.

    Danny quickly flew back out of the numb earth and landed on a branch. He patted himself down, all body parts accounted for. Backpack? No spillage of contents, although his lunch looked a bit jostled. He exhaled a shaky sigh and put his hand on the tree for support. Too close. He had gotten distracted and flown too high. His powers have always been on the fritz, he shouldn''t have gotten distracted.

    He smiled, nonetheless. He started rocking on his feet, excitement building as he leaned back and forth over the edge of the branch. How close had he gotten? He was almost there, almost gone, so close to the final frontier. If he could almost do it now, what could he do in a year, two years, more? His powers grow by the day, he didn''t even have any pain yesterday! At least from his¡­ core.

    Danny stops rocking, and places a hand to his chest. Core. It sounded right, something at the back of his mind whispering it in his ear. Core. "My core." The soft pulsing of cold energy gave Danny a different kind of comfort. His second heart, in a way. When the ectoplasm ran through his system his heart did not beat. The soft thumping of power that took its place though, came right from the center of his chest, he idly wondered if this was a ghost''s heart. Danny frowned, maybe he should finish some of those anatomy books. If there really was something tangible and physical there, then his parents would have found it by now.

    Danny let himself float higher, so he could get his bearings. He''s not far from his testing sight, maybe a five minute flight. As he makes his approach, he notices something. There''s a dull green glow coming from the area, not everywhere, just the places he had focused on as targets. Charred and debarked trees still had a smoky green wisping from the remains, rocks brittled with glowing cracks, and several places on the ground had large burns with green tinges to the edges. Walking up to the trees he found them still warm, the smell of burning pine and sterile ozone filled his nose as he scratched away at the charred tree trunk. Sure enough just under the surface there was ectoplasm, not a lot, but it was still burning into the stump.

    Maybe it was time to move to a different area, one not so¡­ contaminated. Danny shrugged his shoulders. It would do for today, then he would never come back.

    It would probably be better if he took it slow too, especially after earlier. Setting down his bag at a non-destroyed oak Danny did some stretches. Ectoplasm blazed to life in his hands, glowing eyes growing in luminescence as shapes began to form. He leaned back, but stayed midair as he slowly floated off the ground. Danny grinned, he was never going to get tired of this.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Everything was going great; practice was on schedule, he was getting pretty good at flying, and progress was being made with his ectoplasm manipulation. After about an hour of training, Danny was laying down while on a break when he felt it. A chill ran down his spine, and he gasped as a wisp of blue vapor comes from his mouth. He felt a tugging in his stomach, telling him to turn right. He gets up, following the most literal gut instinct he''s ever had.

    Scratching and echoed snarls pierce the quiet of the forest, in the direction of one of the target boulders across the destroyed field. Danny gets up, ectoplasm flaring back to afterlife and seeping from his skin. Now satisfied that he can defend himself, Danny floats up so he can get a look at whatever was making the sound.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    When Danny finally reaches a sufficient height, about seventy feet he''d guess, he catches a look at the creature. It glowed green, ghost green, and was tall, easily eight feet in height, fat and about the size of an SUV. The long snout ended with mucus covered whiskers, and its beady red eyes don''t stay in one place for longer than a second. Nasty grime caked its ears and the sickly fur was matted and tangled, with bald spots on it''s back and legs. The long hairless tail was longer than its own body, twitching nervously at anything that caught it''s eye.

    Danny''s eyes rise, and his mouth opens in a gasp of surprise. A giant rat ghost was gnawing on one of the trees that Danny had fried with ecto-electricity. "What the hell?" Danny whispered, his eyes narrow. "A rat?" Incredulity leaked through his voice, "I was scared of a rat," he laughed, relief flooding his system.

    Danny stops laughing when the the rat stops gnawing on the charred husk. He looks down, and the rat is staring right at him. "Actually, you''re kind of huge." Danny floats away from the thing when he feels the mood shift. The rat ghost growls, a faint echo tinged the warning. It only furthers his already considerable anxiety.

    That was all Danny needed to start charging ectoplasm into his hand. The rat continues to stare, letting the stalemate settle for a solid ten seconds. While thankful for the pause, Danny is nervous beyond belief. Was he seriously going to fight this monster? Him?

    Danny can feel the ectoplasm on and in his hands, begging for its destructive release. The energy hummed in the quiet forest, and the beast let out a roar at Danny before flying straight at him.

    "Oooookay! This is happening!" Danny immediately flies backwards into the air and fires both charged ecto-blasts in a panic. The left blast missed, barely grazing the rat on it''s side, but the right one makes a direct connection when the rat flinches into it. The missed blast detonates on the ground, sending dirt and splinters asunder.

    The creature stumbles back from the force of the blast, and Danny was quick to follow up with an ecto-ray to the rats back. Not enough damage. The rat recovers quickly and accelerates with surprising speed, getting within range the rat flips forward, confusing Danny before the tail follows through and smacks him into the ground.

    Danny crashes into the forest floor, the trees and bushes barely do anything to break the fall. He gasps, the wind''s been knocked out of him, and his ears are ringing. He barely has time to get back up before the beast is upon him again.

    It tackles into Danny, sending them sprawling into the underbrush. Claws pierce into Danny''s back, "AHHH," he wails as it rips a chunk out of his side. In desperation and pain ecto-electricity flares across his entire body, shocking the creature off him. Danny grabs his mauled side and flies forward to get through the treetops. When he breaks through, he turns invisible and spins around, waiting for the rat to follow.

    The rat roars from below the canopy cover and bursts through the tree crown moments later. Green smoke wafts off its body, a nasty side effect of the shocking it received. Nasty indeed, Danny gags at the smell, reminding him that this is in fact, a dead rat, and he just cooked it. His retching flares up no small amount of pain from his side, and he buckles over with tears in his eyes. God, it hurts.

    He shakes his head. Stay focused. Suck it up. Danny bites back his tears and straightens his back, ''It''s like earlier. Do or die.'' He snarls, and ectoplasm begins to form around his free hand. The rat is still floating around, searching for him. It sniffs the air, slowly turning towards him and it becomes clear to him that now is the time Do.

    Danny rockets forward, keeping his hand on his side, it was still leaking more ectoplasm than he would have liked. The spectral rodent turns as he continues smelling for him, and Danny drops invisibility at the last second. Danny''s clawed hand strikes home and tears into the rats side, he''s met with resistance, but puts more strength into the swipe and it tears through the rats hide.

    He keeps flying, to make some space and he''s intercepted by the rats tail. It catches his legs and he''s sent tumbling out of control, spinning into the treetops. He has the smarts to turn intangible, only for it to flicker off and he still crashes into the trees. Thinking fast, he swings out his hand, cutting branch and tree alike before he reorients himself onto the side of a tree.

    The ecto-claw fades as Danny glares up at the noisy monster. The rat''s rolling around in the air while screeching, a claw shaped chunk torn out of its side. "Ha! Paybacks a bitch!" Ectoplasm as blood leaks out from the rats wound, splashing across the treetops in the wild flailing.

    The SUV sized rodent snaps its attention to Danny, a hateful glare burning in return to Danny''s taunt. He''s long since been charging up ectoplasm in his hand, and when the rat does a blind rush to get to him, he promptly blasts it in the face.

    Undeterred and thoroughly annoyed, the rat blitzes through the blast, despite damage to itself, and charges through the following ecto-rays. Any calm he had before was quickly turning into panic, and he would have kept firing had he not slammed back first into a tree. He had enough time to mutter a curse before quickly turning intangible. The rat slammed through him and crashed into a tree, snapping at the point of impact. "Ole!"

    Danny takes the opportunity to fly up and back out of the trees, he could deal more damage at a distance. Besides his quickly healing wound on his abdomen, this fight could have been much worse. He could be dead, or eaten alive. The damned rat was quickly making its way back over, looking -if possible- more pissed off than it was before.

    It snaps his head at him and squeals, in all of it''s ''roided ghost rat fury. Danny grins before deciding to switch it up, green electricity sparks and crackles across his arm, and the hulking vermin takes the initiative to charge back up to Danny. His grin widens to a smirk and he throws his charged arm forward, "Taste the power of the dark side!"

    Ecto-electricity flashes from his fingers and hits the charging rat along its face. The violent energy scars along its head, from the left eye going up through its ear and down its back. The rat dips down in flight and spasms as the charge makes its way through its body.

    Taking no chances, Danny fires a second volley of electricity at the beast. It sears onto the rats left flank and cuts into its tail. The rat screeches in pain before it shakes off the effects and launches at Danny, he attempts to fire a third volley but is unable to muster enough energy before the rat crashes into him.

    Danny releases his side and uses both hands to keep the rats face away from him. It snapped with rapt abandon trying to take off Danny''s head, and its two clawed arms dig into his waist. Danny screams through grit teeth and he coats his arms in ecto energy. He grips the rats head with his left arm, and whips his fist back. The rat lurches forward and makes progress, but is held back long enough for the other fist to hit its target.

    The first punch stunned it, ectoplasm bursts through its nostrils. The second made it recoil, its jaw cracked in by a hook. The third knocked it away, another punch to its nose. The fourth never connected before the rats tail slammed into him from below. The rat rolled around while clutching its snout, mewling and snarling in pain over its broken nose.

    Danny regains control after a few seconds and rubbed his back, that was going to bruise, badly. He glares down at the rat before taking stock. It caught him at a horrible time. He had been using his powers for a while, and he didn''t get much of a chance to regain any energy. If he wasn''t on empty before, then he was on it five miles back now. He only had enough juice left for a couple more attacks, the rat looked like it was on its last legs as well though.

    If he can''t scare it off, could he kill this thing? Actually kill it, deader than undead, dead? If it meant surviving¡­ then yes, he could. He looks over his injuries, frowning at his battered body, the original claw wound on his abdomen was still bleeding. The new additions on his waste stung like a beehive, but it wasn''t very deep, and nothing vital was hit. Hopefully. There was no doubt he would be sore beyond belief tomorrow. He could feel little scratches all throughout his body, there are some on his face as well.

    Danny gasps, finally feeling everything at once, ''Holy shit, this hurts so bad.''

    He wants nothing more than to run, go home, and play some Doomed. He won''t deny that there is a part of him that gets a thrill off this, but there''s a bigger part of him that''s tired of pain, and wants to get away from it. Like now, he was definitely sick of this, and he definitely wanted to leave.

    The giant rat ghost doesn''t know when to stay out though, and glares at Danny, growling all the while. The angry spirit hesitates for a second when it sees Danny''s hand glow green from ectoplasm. Hesitation lasts only so long though and the rat pounced towards him, showing its impressive acceleration once again. Danny knew what to look out for though, and he flies down and hits the ghost in its stomach with a point blank ecto-ray.

    The rat screeches before flinging its tail at Danny again. Having seen the same trick multiple times, Danny weaves left and dodges the tail. Danny returns fire with another ecto-ray, and while it hits its mark, Danny falls out of the sky before he regains control. There''s not much left in the tank.

    Danny lowered to the ground, he could feel his energy leaving him, sweat dripped down his head and he was panting heavily. He wipes his forehead before charging up another blast, he has maybe one or two shots left at most. Danny looks back up and finds his foe gone.

    ''Where the hell is it?''

    Danny doesn''t find his enemy in the air, and before he can turn around the rat is already on him. The weight of the creature pushes Danny face first into the dirt and he loses focus on the energy he was gathering. The ghost rakes his claws across Danny''s back, eliciting a scream from the teenage ghost. He could feel each claw as they scratched through his flesh, muscle and across his bones.

    The ghost didn''t have enough time to sink its teeth into Danny before he bucked the creature off of him. Despite the extra weight it wasn''t terribly difficult to get it off him, but when the claws were ripped loose, ectoplasm splashed across the ground and poured out of his new wound.

    Danny immediately got up and turned around, the rat having recovered enough swiped its tail at him. Danny started on a sprint towards the ghost, jumped over its tail and brought his fist back. "Don''t you have anything else?!" The ghost had no time to react when Danny smashed his fist into its nose again, after which he kicked himself away; he fumbled the landing though. The rat reeled backwards covering its bleeding nose with a clawed paw.

    This is bad. He''s got one in the chamber, and despite how much damage the damn ghost has taken, he doesn''t think that he has enough in him to take it out with this last blast. He eyes the rats nose, bleeding and misshapen, chunks gouged out by his handiwork, and Danny only now realizes how bad it is. He''s really done a number on it, but how much more does he need to do?

    A ball of ectoplasm forms in Danny''s right hand. The ecto-blast charges to full, buzzing with energy, and the rat takes notice of it. It hisses at Danny, a warning, but it doesn''t attack. Danny grins, the rat''s hesitant to charge back in. Fear. Fangs bared and body primed the rat doesn''t wait any longer. It makes to leap at the half ghost, with fear not forgotten, but determined enough to keep trying.

    Danny jumps back, gaining just enough distance for him to fire the blast without hitting himself. The ecto-blast fly''s true, before exploding onto the things already broken nose. The blast destroys the front end of the rats snout and ectoplasm cakes the area while it shrieks and flails about in a pained panic, knocking over small trees and destroying the local flora.

    Danny tries to charge up another blast only for it to fizzle out. Trying again provides no results either. He''s still a ghost, but he''s not entirely sure how long that''s going to last. He cast a nervous glance at the ghost rat before he hardens it to a glare. He takes a breath before he takes a step towards the rat. Then another, and another.

    The rat notices Danny after it hears the snap of a twig. It''s beady red eyes shoot up towards the cause of its suffering, and for every ounce of hate and ire in its glare, there is just as much fear. Danny sees this and pulls on the last bit of power he has; he needs to make it fear him more than it wants to fight him. Just a bit, that''s all he needs.

    Small sparks of electricity run across his fingers, stopping when they reach his hand. The sparks themselves are dim and don''t even hold enough power to hurt the creature, but the ghost doesn''t know. He gives a mad grin, "What are you waiting for?! Come get it!"

    Despite the situation, despite how scared he is, and how much he just wants to pass out from pain, he keeps this farce going. Look tough, intimidate, show consequences. He''s made it obvious he can hurt the dumb creature, he just hopes it''s smart enough to have survival instincts.

    There''s a pregnant pause as Danny waits to see the results of his taunt. The rat is huffing and growling at him, and it''s shaking and digging its claws into the ground, but the look in its eyes is all Danny needs to know. It''s scared of him. It''s missing its nose now, so it should.

    Danny stomps one foot forward. He growls, "Run."

    The rats eyes widen before it rushes in the opposite direction, crashing through trees and bushes until it finally takes flight and leaves the young half ghost alone in a pained silence.

    With wide eyes and an aching body Danny takes a deep and shaky breath, before exhaling and limping back towards his stuff. He pulled his hand down his face and sighed into it. He almost died, again, and it could have been a lot worse than his first death. He''s almost died twice in the same damn week, and he still had the whole summer left. Can he even survive the summer at this rate?

    When Danny finally makes his way to his bag, he''s relieved to see that it''s been mostly spared from the carnage. Bending over to pick up his stuff hurts. So does zipping up the backpack. So does trying to pick up the bag. Breathing too. Everything hurts, really. Danny takes a few steady breaths before he turns to the direction his house is in and starts walking.

    He doesn''t have enough energy to fly, that''s for sure and he''s surprised that he''s still in his ghost form. Every step is difficult and he''s been dragging his feet since the ten minute mark.

    After thirty minutes of walking his form shifted and he returned to being Danny Fenton. He didn''t make it much further than that before he passed out, the pain nearly doubled when he turned human and he couldn''t even stand anymore. He was conscious enough to not land on his back, it would be bad if he landed on that injury. His clothes were ruined when they reappeared, another pair that he has to toss.

    The day had started so well too.

 Chapter 6

    Chapter 6

    Danny wasn''t home.

    She left before him, so there was no way to know when he left. Admittedly, she had gotten home later than expected, but whenever he stays past curfew, he''ll at least text her that he''s going to be late. Most of the time. She got home at nine p.m. and she stayed up for two hours waiting for him to come home.

    He didn''t. She wanted nothing more than to call the police to report him missing, but that was an overreaction and even her panicked mind could figure that out. She would have to wait at least twenty-four hours before making that call. Calling him was useless, no answer. His phone might have died. That''s what she kept thinking, but when midnight rolled around she bolted to her car and went looking.

    She drove around town for three hours looking for him. Sam and Tucker were out of town, so he wouldn''t be at their houses. Danny rarely went out, and if he did, there were few places he went to that she knew of. And all of those places were closed by this time.

    Nasty Burger? Closed hours prior. The mall? Also closed. Arcade, closed. Park, empty. Danny, nowhere.

    She would have stayed out too if she wasn''t falling asleep at the wheel. She thought about calling their parents, but decided against it. They weren''t even in town yet, she wasn''t sure when they were going to get back, and it was entirely possible that she was blowing this all up bigger than it actually was.

    She hoped he would have gotten home while she was searching; prayed to nothing in particular that her brother was safe and home.

    It fell on deaf ears; her brother wasn''t home, still, she had no idea where he was, her useless parents were gone again as well, and by the time she got back she only had enough energy to make it to her bed and pass out.

    Jazz hoped he would be home when she woke up.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Waking up to an aching body was actually something that he was used to. The bullying in middle school had escalated to physical levels, complaints of it had fallen on deaf ears and he knows it will continue in high school. Probably even get worse. But waking up to this degree of pain is something he''s only recently gotten acquainted with.

    When he initially woke up in the forest, calling it dazed and confused was an understatement. He had a head splitting migraine, his ears were ringing, and the bright light of day burned his eyes like nothing else. He was thirsty, hungry, tired, and all the above. It hurt to breath, every inhale and exhale expanding and contracting on broken ribs. He was dizzy, his wounds from yesterday hurt just as much, but he wasn''t bleeding anymore; a small victory that held little comfort.

    It took an hour to figure out where he was, and when he transformed into his ghost half, he was pleasantly surprised to find the pain lessen. It was probably because he was dead in this form. Less alive, less pain. Though it still hurt.

    Danny initially flew high up, but after yesterday''s incident he paid more attention to what he was doing, and flew with a tad more caution. It wasn''t that early unfortunately, so people were out and about and he didn''t really have enough energy to stay invisible the whole way, not that he could anyway. He felt horribly drained, probably blood loss, or in his current form, ectoplasm loss.

    When he finally reached his house, his parents were still gone; that''s a good start. Jazz was home, that wasn''t good. Reaching into his backpack he grabbed his cell phone; ten in the morning. Oh boy. Not good.

    Jazz had called a staggering sixty-two times and sent well over forty texts. She most definitely knew he wasn''t home, and judging by the awkward, no, obviously crooked angle she parked she went out looking for him. That made him feel a little guilty, she was obviously worried about him. The numerous texts, calls and voicemails made it obvious.

    Danny sighed while dragging a hand through his hair. He''s going to need an excuse, for sure, and he needed her to not be too physical with him. The last thing he needs right now is one of her monster bear hugs.

    Danny had an idea he could use, a little flimsy, but one that had worked before. Plus, he could always say his phone was dead.

    Making up his mind, he turned invisible and flew down towards his house. Luckily he could stay invisible long enough to reach his window on the second story. He fazed his hand through and unlocked the window, then pushed it open. He got in without hassle, and quickly shut the window and curtains before turning visible again.

    Maybe he really is getting the hang of this. He has better control, and even if it was only for a little bit, he can still make his whole body invisible.

    Then he came back to life, along with all the pain that he was feeling when he woke up. So, he wasn''t getting the hang of it quite yet, but progress is still progress, and Danny feels like he''s made a lot of it.

    Next up was taking a shower, and then cleaning the wounds. Danny gulped, this wasn''t going to be fun. Danny walks into his bathroom and slowly starts taking his shirt off, he could feel the dried blood and ectoplasm sticking to his skin. ''Ugh''. The shirt is stuck to his body, like it was glued on, "Oh, this is so gross."

    Danny stops when he remembers. He has ghost powers, why was he trying to peel it off if he can just ghost it off? He shakes his head before pulling on the shirt and attempting to make it intangible. Tries one through four get him partial intangibility, so failures, but try five seems to be the winning number.

    Danny takes a moment to examine the damage. It''s not good. There are two holes on his waist from when the damn rodent was trying to chomp his head off. His abdomen has four large and tightly packed claw marks. The injury has partially scabbed over in a mix of red and green, but a majority of the wound still seems raw. He turns around and grimaces at what he sees. The worst wound that, that infernal rat put on him. Starting just below his shoulder, it continues down until his midsection. This wound is still bleeding, barely, but blood does dribble down his back slowly. It''s deep. So deep it''s scary, he can see a little bit of white.

    The back of his ribs. He can see parts that are whiter than the rest, and he realizes that its bone that''s grown back. The fucking pest had clawed into his bones, and they had healed already?

    Do bones mend that quickly?

    A myriad of bruises cover his whole body, a sickening black, blue, and yellow paint his body along with small scrapes and scratches.

    Yeah, no wonder everything hurt.

    The following shower is, without a doubt, one of the most uncomfortable experiences he''s ever had the unfortunate pleasure of having. The water, whether hot or cold, burned like no tomorrow and he had to bite his lip the whole time. Even then, he spent about fifteen minutes in the shower just to make sure he was clean.

    Next came treating his injuries.

    Luckily, or unluckily, due to events in the past, his family has a large stock of medical supplies. The peroxide stung like fire on the newly formed back muscles that were still open from the damn rats clawing, and dressing the wound was a horribly uncomfortable, awkward and painful process that he never wants to do again. Pouring the fizzy alcohol into the literal holes in his abdomen, and then having to pour the pooling peroxide out of his own body is, again, not an experience he would recommend, or ever want to experience again.

    Danny didn''t notice it yesterday, possibly in the heat of battle, or maybe it was when he fell on his side and passed out, but he somehow broke his left hand pinky and ring finger. At least he thinks they''re broken. A splint is easy enough to make on the fly, but his parents actually had finger splints in stock, so there''s one win at least.

    Ibuprofen has done nothing so far for the pain, so next time he''ll have to find something stronger.

    When Danny is finally done tending to his trauma, he slowly rests himself onto his bed, before immediately getting back up to grab an ice pack from down stairs. He pauses when he goes by Jazz''s door, debating on whether to talk to her, but he decided against it. If his excuse is going to work, it''s better to act like nothing is wrong.

    It takes less than two minutes for him to get back in his room. He maneuvers the packs around while finding the least painful position to rest in. He grabs his remote and turns on the TV, idly scrolling through channels to find something to peak his interest.

    About an hour later he passes out.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Blinding sunlight peers into the room, peeking through the agape curtains. Jazz turns in her sleep, mumbling and groaning to get the accursed suns illumination out of her closed eyes.

    Eventually, she gives in flops onto her back. She cracks her eyes open slightly, before immediately regretting her decision. A few minutes later she tries again and is met with a similar result, but this time it''s tolerable.

    She turns her head to look at her alarm clock. 1:22? When was the last time she slept in that late? Elementary school?

    "1:22?!" Jazz jumps out of bed and makes for the door. She trips on her feet, tangled with her sheets. She glares at the offending snare, before giving an angry huff and kicking them off. When she''s finally up, Jazz makes a b-line to the bathroom connected to her room.

    After finally being able to relieve herself of her¡­ ''tension'', she goes to her little brothers room. He wasn''t home when she passed out, and she can only hope he''s back.

    She notices that the door is ajar, a good, no- a great sign since she left it wide open when she was looking for him. Her pace quickens and her face instantly changes from concern and anxiousness to relief. Jazz lets out a large sigh at the sight of her sleeping brother. She notes that he''s sleeping on his side in a rather uncomfortable angle. There was something on his left hand too, though she couldn''t make out what it is.

    Jazz pushes the door open just a bit, and it gives out a quiet creek in response. She herself could barely hear it, so she''s surprised when Danny''s eyes snap open. He looks around before he spots her.

    "Jazz? What''s up?" Danny asks while getting up. He groans until he''s sitting straight up, and rubs the sleep out of his eyes. He yawns before stretching his arms out, then immediately winces, something Jazz notices but doesn''t comment on.

    "Where were you Danny? I was worried sick, and looking for you all night!" The concern in her voice is obvious, and it''s something Danny wants to smile at, but decides that now is not the time. At least someone cares though.

    He narrows one of his eyes, and raises the eyebrow on another. "What? You were searching for me? Why? Did you not see my note?" He lies.

    "Note? What note?" Did she miss something?

    "That note," he points, "I was on the roof, stargazing. Sorry if you called and I missed it, my phone died." He''s almost got it. He''s playing it off pretty good, at least he thinks he is.

    Jazz walks over to his desk, and sure enough on the keyboard is a note.

    Hey, I''ll be on the roof. Yell up at me if you need me. -Danny

    Really? She missed this? Jazz tries to remember if it was here before. She''ll admit that she didn''t really bother to check for a note. She just popped her head in and didn''t see him.

    Jazz lets out a sigh and rubs her temples. She feels like a fool. She panicked and overreacted, when the answer was literally here the whole time.

    She eyes Danny before asking, "So where were you the rest of the night? I didn''t find you here even after midnight."

    Danny gives a sheepish grin and rubs the back of his neck. "Sorry, I kind of fell asleep up there. It was a long day, and it just sorta happened."

    Well, okay. It''s happened before, more than a few times actually. Jazz was almost ready to let it drop when she saw what was actually on his hand. "Is that a splint? What happened?!"

    Danny grimaced. ''Fuck, she had to see that.''

    "So, when I passed out up there," He turns his head away from her in mock embarrassment, "I may or may not have almost rolled off the roof-"

    Before he can finish his sentence, Jazz interjects: "Danny! This is why I told you to stop sleeping up there! I knew this would happen eventually!"

    Danny raises his hands up in surrender. He looks panicked, but not as much as Jazz would have thought. "It''s not that bad Jazz!" He starts, "I caught myself at the last second, my fingers are just sprained I think. They would hurt way more if they were broken. Trust me, I know."

    Jazz pauses at that. Danny would know, he''s had a few of them broken before after a particularly bad run in with Dash and his goons. If he says they''re not, then that''s¡­ still not fine. "Fine, I believe you. But! That still doesn''t change the fact that you could have gotten seriously hurt Danny. Please, you have to be more careful!"

    Danny allows a smile to bloom on his face; despite how nagging and overbearing she can be, it really is nice to have someone care for him so much. "Alright, I promise I''ll stop sleeping up there. You know I don''t do it on purpose, right?" He pauses to catch his breath, "Happy?"

    Jazz huffed in exasperation, not at all satisfied. "No, not really. And I know you don''t do it on purpose, I just don''t want to see my baby brother hurt."

    Danny rolls his eyes and opens his mouth to respond, but is cut off again. "And if you think you''re getting off scot free, then you have another thing coming. I was out all night, till the wee hours of the morning searching for you, and I''m still tired."

    Danny nods, if this can get him out of further scrutiny, then he''s fine with a punishment. He arches and eyebrow and responds, "Alright¡­ what did you have in mind?"

    "My chores, obviously. I''m going to catch up on some sleep, and you''ll do the dishes, and clean the living room. I''m assuming you have no plans right?"This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Danny frowns at the jab at his social life, but she''s not wrong. He does feel bad that she stayed out all night because of him too. He nods, "That''s fair, I guess."

    "Great! I''ll fix us some breakfast, uh- lunch, I guess. Anything you want?" Good. The conversation went to a much more comfortable subject. "How about some sandwiches. The less I have to clean later the better. Do you still have prep classes today?"

    She nods as she makes her way to down stairs, Danny following behind her. "At 4:30. I can make us lunch, get a nice nap in, and be ready to go by then." She stops for a brief second, then looks at her brother, "Wake me up if I sleep past my alarm, okay?

    Danny hums in acknowledgement, "Okay, sounds good. Do you when Mom and Dad will be back? The note said a few days, but you know how that goes."

    When they enter the kitchen, "Oh yeah!" She exclaims, then faces Danny once again. "If I remember right, they should have an x-ray machine down there in the lab. Check out your fingers just to make sure."

    Danny''s eyes widen briefly before he smiles. "Will do. Thanks for reminding me!" He completely forgot about that. His parents should have quite a bit of medical equipment down there. Maybe he could test his blood, see what''s actually going on with him. He doubts it''ll be that simple, but at least he''ll be able to see how bad the damage actually is. Hopefully there are some instructions on the Fenton Database.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    It didn''t take long to finish doing the chores, he had already cleaned the living room partially so washing the dishes took the longest. Danny waited until Jazz left before going down into the lab.

    He''s always had apprehension when it came to his parents lab. As he got older, he found that, no, it wasn''t normal to have an experimental laboratory in your basement. It''s even stranger to have explosions regularly occur in your house. As in, at least twice a month.

    Danny used to spend a decent amount of time down here actually, but when his parents began testing weapons, he was old enough to understand that he didn''t like them.

    Ecto-blasters could do a lot of damage to both inanimate objects or organic life. He''s seen multiple tests, whether on sheets of metal, lifelike target dummies, and there was even one occasion where the target was an actual ghost.

    Seeing how the weapons worked against its intended target had scarred the young boy, and it caused him to drift away from his already estranged parents. He can even remember the ghosts screams and thrashing as the condensed ectoplasm blew holes in the defenseless ghost. He remembered the smell, a metallic ozone had burned his nostrils that day. The sight of the ghost whimpering and crying in pain as it melted into a small pile of gooey ectoplasm. All of it left its mark on him.

    Danny turned the lights on and shook his head. His thoughts were straying again, something that was becoming more common as of late.

    He idly wondered why they made the lab so big, almost larger than their house. There was even an obstacle course, definitely for his mother. The whole room was covered in metal for protection, metal that didn''t always stop the explosions from the lab. The lab had a sterile smell to it, very much like cleaning chemicals. Chlorine and bleach possibly, along with the sound of ectoplasmic equipment; Ah, bittersweet, yet definitely more bitter, memories.

    Danny looked around, where was the medical equipment again? Next to the main command console there are a few observation tables. He walks over and starts looking around. Sure enough on the wall there is a table attached to it, with a large crane above it.

    Danny turns and starts up the terminal for the x-ray and waits as it boots up. He doesn''t have to wait long before its up and ready to go. Danny goes to get the lead vest before deciding against it. He has to x-ray his whole body anyway, and he didn''t want to put it on with his wounds anyway.

    It''s a little obvious that the machine won''t be able to print out a full body scan in one go, so he starts with the easiest place: his hands. For the sake of it, he scans both hands and then his arms. From his arms come his chest, his head, and then his legs and feet.

    It''s not the most comfortable thing to do by yourself, especially when you have large open wounds, but he knows it''s necessary to get a better handle on his¡­ situation.

    While the x-ray scans render and develop, Danny heads over to the main console. He places his hand on the scanner and is happy to know that it still works for him.

    "Daniel James Fenton Recognized" A synthetic voice startles Danny and he takes a step back from the computer. When did they put that in? Last he checked, actually he never checked, but he feels like he would remember something like this.

    The screen flickers on, the previously back screen is replaced by his profiles desktop. Danny smiles at the background picture: A picture of the Andromeda galaxy. When was the last time he was on this thing? He hadn''t studied the Andromeda galaxy in years.

    Despite his current situation, Danny takes the time to change the background picture to one of the more recent astronomical discoveries. The orange and black blurry photo at first glance, seemed unimpressive, but this was still the first actual picture of a black hole.

    He''s getting off topic though, and after a quick look through the built in programs Danny finds what he''s looking for. This specific DNA sequencing program was made by his uncle, Vlad Masters. It''s purpose was to test the ectoplasmic contamination levels in ones blood and DNA.

    It wasn''t hard to figure out why he made this. That accident in college, as far as he''s been told, was awful. One of his parents first attempts at creating the portal had ended up putting Vlad into a coma for two years. His blood had been tainted to lethal quantities, somehow he didn''t die and the only reason he could afford the hospital bills at the time was because his parents felt guilty about how it happened and they paid off all the hospital and treatment bills.

    How ironic that the same project would affect their son. Now all he needed to do was get a sample of his blood.

    Danny eyed the syringes on one of the tables. He has always, and always will hate needles and getting shots. Not the pain, mind you. It''s just the experience of having something so obviously foreign enter your body. Kind of like the ectoplasm in his body, though he didn''t really have control over that situation.

    By the time Danny''s filled the syringe with his blood and began having it analyzed, the x-ray images are done being processed. Now he has to wait for his blood, a process that will take roughly twenty minutes.

    Moving onto his inner images, Danny first starts with his hands. Lo and behold, his fingers are in fact, broken. They are already healing though, remarkably fast. Seeing as they were bent and a very obtuse angle when he first woke up, he expected the damage to be worse. The result he sees show that while still broken, they have partially mended.

    He checks his ribs next, and ribs six and seven are broken on his right side, while ribs five and nine are broken on his left. The ribs, similar to his fingers, are already mending.

    Danny has had both broken ribs and broken fingers before. Other bones as well, but the day after x-rays he''s gotten before have never been like this.

    He''s healing at an accelerated rate. Danny''s eyes widen as realization dawns on him. He has a healing factor.

    "Wooo!" What a useful ability. Undoubtedly from the ectoplasm; Danny wonders if his parents know of the medicinal properties of ectoplasm. Then again, he could be a special case. As far as he could remember, this stuff has never been good for humans.

    Then he notices the spherical object in his chest. Next to his heart, right in the center of his chest. It''s a small sphere about the size of a baseball, if he had to hazard a guess. It''s a thick white on the x-ray, showing that the foreign object is denser than even the bones in his body.

    What could this be? Is this what he was feeling the last few days? Is this his¡­ core? On that thought, Danny immediately goes back to the main computer and goes to work searching for his answers.

    The Fentons obviously don''t just use paper for their reports and examination logs. It makes sense that they would have it digitally as well, any self respecting scientist would be a fool to not use the wondrous tools that are DBMS''s. Recording data digitally is significantly faster, easier, and takes up less space. It reduces redundancy and increases efficiency, and if that isn''t appealing to a scientist then they''re probably an idiot and a hack.

    Oddly enough, his father preferred to use paperback and manual writing for his notes. Danny wonders how much that says about him as a researcher. His mother used both; As useful as it is to use electronic storage, there are times when one mistake can wipe everything.

    It takes no time at all to find what he''s looking for. Searching ''core'' in the ecto-anatomy files brought up instant results.

    The core is, for all intent and purposes, the heart of a ghost. A ghost needs no other organ besides a core. The core is the source of power for ghosts. Everything that is a ghost, comes from the core. Their life, intelligence, abilities, even their personalities.

    It''s also a ghosts greatest weakness. If it gets damaged, it is almost always fatal. That''s good to know.

    "Don''t get stabbed in the second heart."

    According to the information, only the more powerful ghosts can use their cores. The less intelligent animals, beasts, and monster-type ghosts can barely tap into their cores. The more powerful the core the larger it is, and if this data is going by anything, he''s got a pretty damn big core. The average size seems to be smaller, around the size of a golf ball.

    Now all that''s left is the blood work. Checking up on the progress, Danny finds he still has about ten minutes left. He frowns before shrugging his shoulders and heading upstairs to get some food. If he''s going to wait, may as well be productive about it.

    Right around the ten minute mark, Danny finds his way back down towards the lab with a half-eaten sandwich. He still has about a minute left, so he plugs a flash drive into the x-ray terminal and downloads the images. After they''re copied over he wipes the recent memory on it.

    He wants the records, but not the evidence that will be left behind.

    "Analysis complete." Ah, it''s done.

    Danny clicked on the accept prompt, and the data appeared soon after.

    Shock and confusion cover his face. What was this? His blood had a lethal amount of ectoplasm in it. Enough to kill multiple people!

    According to this, it was almost a 50/50 split. His fucking DNA was coated in the stuff! Is that how this whole thing happened? It''s become a part of him down to the molecular level!

    "This¡­ this is incurable. This is¡­" Permanent. It''s not going away. Ever.

    Danny''s breathing started to pick up and all of his wounds took that moment to remind him of their presence. He shakily got to one of the chairs and sat down in it. He placed his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands. "Fuck."

    Danny sat there in that same position for two hours. Everything is happening too fast. His death, the side-effects, the powers, almost dying again, fighting for his¡­ afterlife. It''s just too much at once.

    He got up, plugged the flash drive in and repeated what he did at the x-ray terminal. He grabbed his vial of blood and stared at it in his hands for a moment. After a couple of minutes Danny breaks his gaze away and tosses it in the air. Ectoplasm coats his form in a flash of light and with a quick swipe, ectoplasmic claws destroy the evidence. As the glass and blood is burned to ashes by the energy construct, the ectoplasm in it is reabsorbed back into his system.

    Danny takes a breath and exhales it in an attempt to relieve some stress. It doesn''t really work.

    He''s got answers. Not as many as he would like, but he''s got information on the status of his body.

    Now he''s got one more question that needs an answer, but he''ll have to wait till they get back.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    It wasn''t until two days later that his parents returned home. They didn''t even stop in to say they were back. That wasn''t unusual, but it still never felt right.

    This wasn''t going to be easy to ask. Honestly, he would have preferred a couple more days to build up his courage. Quite a bit of his future was going to be decided by this question.

    And here he was, just standing at the entrance to the lab. He was biting his lip, and his brows were furrowed in worry, fear, and anticipation. He didn''t even notice Jazz staring at him from the living room sofa. He was there for maybe five minutes just contemplating his next action before he went down the stairs.

    ''Just get it over with.'' He thought.

    Then he was in front of them. They didn''t even notice him, too engrossed in their own projects. His father, Jack, was working on what looked like a white and green Spartan Laser from Halo. No doubt, that would do some serious damage to a ghost.

    Or him.

    His mother looked like she was doing some repairs on the portal. Yeah, that was his fault.

    A sarcastic thought went through his mind. ''Sorry about dying in there, maybe next time don''t put an ''on'' button inside of it.''

    He clears his throat to get their attention. After a couple of seconds he realizes that they didn''t hear it. He tries again, a little louder than the first. Still being ignored.

    "Um- uh¡­ Mom, Dad?" His voice cracked on the first word, goddammit puberty. Awful timing. His parents turned around to look at him. His mother smiled at him, "Hi sweety, what''s going on? You never come down here." That''s because this place disturbed him, especially after the recent events.

    "I- uh, had something I wanted to ask." He starts, "I- if- how was the trip to Uncle Vlads?" He chickens out.

    His father smiles and stands up straight. "It was great! Road trips are always fun! Plus we were able to catch up with V-man. Even though he''s our best friend, he lives in another state so we don''t get too many opportunities to talk with him." Honestly, Danny would have liked to go. He liked Vlad, he always seemed welcoming and he actually paid attention to him and Jazz. He hadn''t seen his uncle in years, it would have been nice to visit.

    His father wasn''t finished though; "We even found a large area near town that had high concentrations of ectoplasm. Oh-ho, you should have seen it Danny! The whole area was glowing green with the stuff! A couple of ghosts must''ve duked it out!" Clearly he was pleased that they found it. Danny was pretty sure that was him though, hopefully there wasn''t anything that led back to him. He gulped, but continued. He was almost there.

    Danny gives an honest smile, "That''s nice. Maybe next time you go to visit him I could go too? I haven''t seen him in a while. Jazz too."

    His mother answers him, "Of course, next time we''ll tell you and Jazz before we leave. Was that all though?" He''s heard that before, unless they were leaving next week for Wisconsin, there was no way they would remember.

    Danny stiffened for a second, the involuntary action going unnoticed by his parents, before he steeled his nerves, "Mom, Dad," Danny takes a breath, "if I ever¡­ died and became¡­ a ghost," He nervously scraps his fingers with his thumb, "what would you do?"

    This was it, the deciding factor. What will they say? This answer¡­ he wasn''t even sure if he wanted to hear it.

    Maddie looked at her child, confused by the sudden question. She notices his hesitance on the subject, finding it odd, but before she can say anything Jack answers her son.

    "Don''t worry Danny-o!" The giant of a man grins, "Rest assured, if you ever become one of those disgusting things, we''ll put you out of your misery!" The Fenton patriarch glances over at his weapons in pride, not noticing how pale his son has become, before turning back to Danny, "We know that no Fenton would ever want to be subjected to that kind of fate!" The grin on his face seems friendly and loving, like a father, but it unsettles Danny to his core. That is his father, but what he just said¡­ he didn''t feel warm or comforted at all.

    That wasn''t exactly what Maddie wanted to say. There''s a huge difference between saying something, and actually being able to go through with it. And despite how estranged they were with their children, despite how much she and Jack hate ghosts, she can''t say she would actually be able to re-end her son if he came back to life as a ghost. Her and Jack despise ghosts, but this was their son they were talking about. She had never thought about this before, it''s never once crossed her mind that her children would become ghosts. Not that they would anyway.

    Danny sucks in a quick breath. ''No.'' They would kill him if he was a ghost. That is not what he wanted to hear. He turns away, and can barely mutter a response, "okay." It was quiet, but just barely loud enough for them to hear.

    Maddie notes how¡­ strained it sounded, but before she can say anything Danny was already heading up the stairs. She narrows her eyes; that was strange. Danny doesn''t often come down to the lab, she was pretty sure he found the large amount of weapons and odd gadgets uncomfortable. Jazz felt the same as well, and is very vocal about her opinion on the subject. She''s made it clear where she stands on multiple occasions.

    Maddie shook her head, how were her children so different from their parents? She would have to ask Danny why he asked that later. She would ponder that question too, maybe there was a deeper meaning to it.

    Halfway up the stairs Danny runs into Jazz, and by the look of unconstrained fury on her face, she heard everything. How could she not be angry? Their parents, more accurately her father, all but admitted to not giving what every child should have as a birthright: Unconditional love from their parents. Her mother didn''t even deny it either!

    Rage soon faded when she saw Danny''s face, he clearly understood what that meant too. He looked heartbroken, scared, ready to cry, no, he is crying. Her heart broke a little, when was the last time she saw him cry? He didn''t even cry when those nasty bullies broke some of his bones, how much did those words hurt him?

    Before Danny can go past her she wraps him in a hug. He flinches, but relaxes and starts shaking, "Shhh." She coos. Danny sniffles in response, "It''s alright." Jazz leads him upstairs to the living room. If she knew her parents, they were going to stay down there for a while.

    This didn''t just affect Danny; Jazz always knew her parents had an unhealthy obsession with ghosts. They''re ghost hunters, ecto-biologist''s and inventors, that was their job and she''ll begrudgingly admit that they are good at it. She''s seen some of their ''victims'' before, whether it was when they brought one in or when one escaped. But this was taking it too far; for them to forsake her brother, their son, for an almost xenophobic hatred was¡­ wrong and worrisome on so many levels.

    She also assumed that line of thought applied to her as well: If she died and became a ghost, they would end her.

    Mentally, she was tougher though. Danny may be able to take a beating, but his mind has always been susceptible. Danny could get knocked down and get back up, and she could take mental whiplash and shrug it off. Sticks and stones and all that¡­ Words would never hurt her, but they would hurt Danny. They did hurt him.

    This was his weakness, and he just got hit in his most vulnerable spot. She sighed and ruffled his hair in an attempt to sooth him.

    As Danny started to calm down, her anger resurfaced. How could they? They''re so pig-headed with their obsession with ghosts that they can''t even give their own son the love and reassurance he deserves.

    Well, if they won''t give it, then she will. She''s practically raised him anyway with how absent they''ve been, so she''ll just have to try harder.

    They didn''t even understand the underlying meaning in the question. She didn''t think her father would ever understand that question, he''s too much of a scatterbrained goof to. Maddie? She''s smart, scarily smart; she should have been able to see the real meaning behind that question. Was her lack of an answer her response?

    How disappointing. She''ll be having words with them later, that''s for sure.

 Chapter 7

    Chapter 7

    In the time period of a week, all of Danny''s wounds from that battle were fully healed. It''s unbelievable. It would take weeks or even months for broken bones to heal, hell, small scrapes would take days before! The wound on his back left a nasty scar, a permanent reminder of how close he was to being eaten. His wounds on his waist didn''t scar, thankfully, but the one on his abdomen left a small one. Four claw marks, they would have looked pretty cool too, if he didn''t have to feel that much pain to get them. His ribs still hurt a little, but they were not broken anymore, probably just bruised.

    Danny ended up having another one of those afterlife attacks on the fourth day. The injury on his back was almost fully healed too, but then he started vomiting and bleeding ectoplasm out of his mouth, nose, ears and eyes. The large slash across his back poured his ghostly blood out in larger amounts than what could come out of his orifices.

    It lasted for about an hour, and because he was bleeding all over the place, cleaning up was a bitch. He had to go and buy new sheets! He doesn''t even get an allowance, and he was running out of the money he had saved up. If this kept up he was going to run out of money, clothes, and bedspreads. Luckily, Jazz wasn''t home at the time, and his parents were doing what they do best: Not paying attention.

    Then there was this morning. He woke up to find himself floating five feet off of his bed. When he finally came out of his sleepy daze, it was too late and he fell down onto the bed. There was a loud thud, but his bed frame held true and didn''t break. It still knocked the wind out of him. Danny had a feeling that this was going to become a common occurrence.

    Every morning and every night he thought of the last time he talked to his parents. Their outright rejection. Danny didn''t truly understand it until Jazz explained it. It was bad enough that he was a ghost now, partly. They would kill him given the chance, whether they knew it was him or not. What Jazz said made it hurt even more. They had pretty much told him they wouldn''t love him unconditionally.

    Why? What had he done in life to deserve this? Was he some tyrant in his past incarnation? He died, keeps reliving it, his friends are liars and his parents don''t love them as much as they should, if they even loved him at all. Well, they probably loved him, they just had a horrible way of showing it.

    At least he had Jazz. If she wasn''t here, he might have just run away from home. The thought still crosses his mind actually, he could run. Get away from his freak show parents who want to end his second life. Get away from the bullies, the false friends, the bullshit education system which ignore him, the eventual dissection.

    But he couldn''t leave Jazz here.

    He has ghost powers now though. That would be enough, he could survive with them, even if they did partially get him into this mess. Then again, he wouldn''t have these if someone hadn''t put the on button inside the portal- ''WHO DOES THAT?!''

    Speaking of ghost powers-

    It''s been eight days since he''s gone for training. He''s practiced a little at his house each day, mainly invisibility and intangibility, but his parents are just downstairs. It''s more than a little risky to practice for too long or do anything too big so he''s had to bide his time with DOOMED. He''s unfortunately, still nowhere near Sams K/D ratio. He''ll beat it eventually, just to spite her for lying to him.

    Danny''s been cooped up in his house for too long, and he knew exactly what he wanted to do. Once he tasted what it was like to fly, to be free in the sky and almost reach space, he knew it was like a drug. A drug he''s been craving for, but he''s restraining himself because of his injuries.

    Well not anymore! He''s almost fully healed and there''s a sky that is just waiting to be flown through. The trees can be obstacles, the town is the course, and not even the sky''s the limit! Eventually!

    Danny gets up from the chair in his room and stretches. His stiff bones and joints give a symphony of pops and cracks. With a last roll of his should ectoplasm leaks from his body before his ghostly half is in his place. He pulled on the suit, finding it still somewhat uncomfortable. If this stuff formed onto him, why couldn''t it form with a little more room. Especially in the pants area. Maybe he should try and change into more comfortable clothes for his ghost half, if he even could.

    Danny gives one more tug for comfort before flying through his windows and turning invisible immediately after.

    It was time for a new area to train, and one of the mountains outside of town had a cave that he spotted. Once Danny was far enough away from his house to avoid suspicion, he became visible again and immediately exploded into his top speed. "Hahahahaha!"

    How much did he miss this? He had barely laughed or smiled at all in the last week, too much happening in such a short amount of time. But not even five minutes in the sky and he was having the time of his life! His core was pulsing like a heart addled with adrenaline. Despite how sad and angry he was at life at the moment, his afterlife was fun beyond words could describe and actually made him feel better.

    Danny soared higher into the sky, this time on purpose. He spun in pirouettes, barrel rolls and every once in a while he would fire low powered blasts like flares from a combat jet. They would burst in the air creating a small cloud of residual ectoplasmic energy. This was the feeling he was missing so much: freedom.

    Not burdened by his life or the uncertain near and far future, but unrestrained as he claimed the sky with nothing but his own power. No technology, no help, just him. This form of independent freedom was so intoxicating that it left him wondering why he even waited for his wounds to heal, he should have just gone out on the second day!

    Danny eventually made it to the mountain, he takes a moment to place his bag by the cave entrance before shooting back up into the sky. The rush of the flight hadn''t left him, and he only wanted to get higher. He had gotten so high up before, frost had formed! He was going to see how high up he could go. To see how far he could get. To see how close he could get.

    The towering trees and lumbering mountains soon became distant. The blue sky began to darken, and the clouds he burst through were long past him. Eventually he reached a point where he stopped.

    Danny swept his gaze over the planet Earth. Danny shivered in excitement. Oh, how good that very idea felt. It''s not how he imagined it happening, especially so soon, but it happened and he was way past cloud nine at this point. Danny opened his palms and saw frost was slowly forming over his hands.

    Danny went further than he had before, breaking past the troposphere and going even further into the stratosphere. He flew and flew, and he just didn''t want to stop.

    But Danny knew he had to. He can read himself better than anybody, except maybe Jazz. It''s just creepily annoying how good she is at it. He knew he was just running. Running from his problems and his life. That didn''t mean he couldn''t appreciate the moment though.

    Danny peered out into space with a smile so large his cheeks hurt. If he was human he would have hypothermia or would have died from asphyxiation from lack of oxygen. The earth could easily be seen curving around the edges of his vision; blue, white and green blending into what he called home. The stars above, though, have never been clearer. They shined despite the daylight, twinkled from who knows how far away, and made his body shutter in sheer excitement for the future. He was going to have to bring a telescope up here. How clear would it be without the atmosphere to block his vision?

    One day, when he could stay in his ghost form for months or years at a time, he would go out there. Into the vasts of space, the void of the ever expanding universe. He would leave and maybe never come back. Who knew how long it would take to fly to the moon? To mars, venus, mercury, all the planets. Then the rest of the galaxy. Then the universe. Danny giggled like a schoolgirl; he might not become an astronaut, but he''ll be something even better: an actual space explorer.

    Danny stayed in the stratosphere for another ten minutes, but decided not to push his luck. With great reluctance he flew back down. The comforting chill of space eventually left him to be replaced by the warm Illinois summer air. Despite going straight up and then straight down, the earth rotates on its axis and waits for no one, so Danny had to adjust his course a bit. Luckily there aren''t that many mountains that surround Amity Park, though he somehow got the wrong one on the first try.

    When Danny finally reached the cave entrance, he''s relieved that his stuff is still here, though there''s no one to take it. Danny picked up his bag and makes his way inside the cave. Oddly enough, he can see just fine in the cave even when he goes deeper and deeper. It''s not the largest cavern, or rather, it was pretty small.

    The rocky entrance gave way to a tunnel that went into the mountain. As Danny kept going, he hazards a guess that the tunnel is about forty feet long from the entrance. When he reaches the end, a large aven is revealed. Stalactites and stalagmites litter the room, along with a few stray boulders both large and small, making it an unorganized mess of craggy natural structures. The whole room is easily over a hundred feet in height. From side to side, if he had to guess¡­ "forty by sixty?"

    This place was huge! It was high enough up the mountain that only a serious rock climber would make the trek, and it wasn''t terribly far out of town or noticeable. Danny grinned, by flight at least. There were no roads anywhere near here, so by foot or bike is the only way to make it to this mountain.

    The look of wonder and curiosity soon turns to excitement and glee. Danny claps his hands. It''s decided, "Hello, secret base!"

    He needed a place to hone his powers in secret, and while he would have liked something a little closer to home, the fact that his parents tracked down his last testing grounds shook him a little. While the forest before was out in the open, it was still miles away from any trail, much less a road. That they could track the energy so far off the beaten path was startling and it unnerved him.

    Plus, he wanted a secret base. Who knows, maybe he could furnish it more one day. It wouldn''t be too hard to get find a nice couch lying around. People threw those out more often than they realized. It would be a good fallback to rely on too, if he ever had to leave¡­

    Danny sighed and sat down on one of the nearby rocks. While he definitely wanted a secret base, he knew why he was here more than anything. In case his parents found out. In case they really did pull through with trying to end his second chance. So there was a place to run to. Somewhere he could feel safe. That was the problem, ever since he had that talk he hadn''t felt safe in his own fucking home.

    Danny rubbed his tired eyes before looking down at his hands. The black hazmat gloves, despite being made of ectoplasm, felt like the reinforced rubber and plastic gloves they were when he went into that portal. It was weird, a source of energy that could burn holes through lumber and rock, could have the same texture as the materials made to resist them. Danny chuckled a bit, it almost seemed hypocritical. Maybe it was and he just wasn''t smart enough to realize it.

    Danny took his gloves off to look at his hands. They seemed the same, slightly paler than his human counterpart, but he noted that the veins on his wrist glowed that oh-so familiar green. His fingernails were slightly longer and the normal pink undertone that most nails had was also a very light shade of green. The tips of his nails were almost bone white.

    He stared in fascination at a sight he''s seen so many times before. From his very skin, ectoplasm leaked out over his hand. It crawled and oozed to make a glove, before condensing a little and sharpening into shape. It went from see through to solid in seconds. From each finger he gained an extra three inches of ecto-claw. The new limb of energy hummed and illuminated the quiet cave.

    Although Danny has never really cared for his parents work, at all, he had to admit that no matter how many times he does this it''s always so captivating. It''s funny that all it took was him dying to give a rats ass about their paranormal studies. Almost funny, since he was kind of a ghost now, and that whole experience still left him with phantom pains.

    Danny paused. Phantom? Not bad. A definite maybe.

    Danny formed a second claw on his other hand, the light intensified along with the whir of compressed ectoplasmic energy. Danny watched as the claws on both of his hands stopped just past his wrist. With a bit of concentration Danny was able to expand the energy cloak further down his arm, stopping just before the elbow. He smiled at his offensive and possibly defensive weapon, maybe like this he could have a sort of shield against attacks.

    Danny paused, a shield didn''t sound like too bad of an idea. He was working on shapes and sizes with his manipulation, maybe he could make a shield. Danny willed his claws away and formed a softball sized sphere of ectoplasm. Danny pursed his lips, what was the best way of accomplishing this?

    Flatten it out? Danny brought the ball away from his body and attempted to smooth it out flat. The ball twitched and pulsed before expanding slightly and then bouncing back. This continued for about five minutes, the shape was barely getting there, he was so close, before it popped and green goop spattered into his face and across his clothes.

    "Eughk." Danny groaned, "Ew, gross, what the fuck is this?"

    Danny tried getting it off his face, but now his hand was stuck to the very spot he tried to pull from. He tried turning intangible next, but that was a no-go as well. He paused for a moment to think over his situation. If he can''t get it off with intangibility, could he burn it off with an ecto-ray?

    Danny charged up a ray before hesitantly bringing it to his face, then he thought better of that. If this didn''t work he would just be burning his face, there was plenty of more of this goopy stuff all over his body he could test it on.

    Testing the ray on a spot on his shoulder did indeed burn it away, but the ray was too strong and quickly found its way to his flesh. "Ahhh!" He clutched his now slightly burned shoulder, did he always have to get hurt?

    Too much power, duly noted. Danny formed another ray in his hand, before allowing it to dissipate. He held up his right index and middle finger to form the ray on. It was smaller and held less power, the finger ray was the perfect size for splicing his way out of his current sticky situation.

    It was about halfway through when Danny just tried to will the goop off, and to his annoyed amazement it actually worked. Of course it worked, he made it! Danny smacked his now de-gooped forehead at his stupidity, why didn''t he try that sooner?

    Now slightly cleaner, with a few more burns on his already healing jumpsuit, Danny stares at what is left of the sticky ectoplasm. "So, I can do this too?" he questions. It wasn''t exactly something he was expecting to make or be able to do. It was odd, but if he could see the benefits if he used it on a normal human. It could restrain a human or ghost without harming them, though he won''t lie that it was annoying to try and get off. And disgusting.

    Danny experimented with the odd application of ecto-manipulation before reforming his claws. That, Danny decided, sounded pretty damn cool. He had fangs, he had claws, he was half dead, if Danny didn''t know any better he would have thought that he was a vampire.

    Shields could wait for later.

    The next order of business was reforming his hideaway to his liking. With a grin of determination Danny got to work on completing his objective. He started slicing and smoothing out the ground floor of the cavern. His claws cut through the limestone and shale stalagmites, grinding them into the floor. The leftover chunks were tossed haphazardly behind him.

    Every once in a while he would fire a laser of ecto-energy, but it wasn''t as efficient and it didn''t leave a satisfactory result. They would also needlessly scorch the walls. Ecto-rays weren''t the right tool for the job, and this one required a more¡­ hands on approach.

    He flexed his palm, "Claws in this case." Danny snickered.

    Despite the ease at which he made his way through his stony objectives, it really wasn''t that fun. He keeps going though, growing more and more tired as he gets further into his progress.

    Then he stopped. Danny remembered what happened last time he exhausted himself, and while the circumstances weren''t anywhere near the same, the experience still left him wary.

    So he stopped when he felt about half drained and looked around at his progress. Where the natural spikes once stood now left a smooth, and slightly burned mark on the ground. There was the issue of the whole floor not being even, but he could work around that eventually. The bits and pieces of the former stalagmites littered the floor, but in the end it was just adding more rocks to the ground. He could clean them up later. He was about halfway through all the drip-stones, maybe he could leave some along the walls for an aesthetic effect? There were some rather large ones that looked just way too cool to cut down.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Danny turned and started walking back towards his backpack, letting his heart come back to life. The cave seemed to dim and darken as the power receded back into his core. He could still see, just barely. Deciding to experiment a little more with his powers, he tried bringing power into his eyes while still in human form. Danny jumps in success with glowing green eyes when his previous vision returns to him, seeing the cave in full without the need to transform.

    Danny opens his backpack and takes out his phone. He gives a low whistle when he sees that it''s been almost three hours since he left his house.

    What, an hour or so of flight and admiration of the celestial bodies? Then two hours of almost non-stop menial labor? Well, he did have a small lunch break, so it wasn''t all work.

    Danny was tired after all that though, not much, but it was boring like schoolwork and he was getting sleepy. He grabbed his pack and left towards the entrance. Once there he laid his backpack down just out of sight of the entrance and used it like a pillow. It doesn''t take long for Danny to start falling asleep, and soon enough he''s out like a light.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Jack, honey, we need to talk." Maddies stern voice got Jack out of his tunnel vision. Jack knew that tone, he''s heard it numerous times. It meant he did something that his wife either didn''t like or made her have serious doubts.

    What had he done recently? He hasn''t blown anything up in over two weeks, a personal record as of recently. None of his inventions had caused harm to their children in quite a while either. Did he forget something? Their anniversary¡­ when was that again? Her birthday? No, no, not that¡­

    Jack can''t ponder forever though, so he turns around to look at his beautiful wife. "What is it Madz?"

    The look on her face shows she''s conflicted, not angry. That''s a good sign, hopefully he wouldn''t get a punishment out of this. He just got a new pack of fudge he wanted to crack open!

    Maddie sees his look and frowns. She clears her throat before beginning again, "Do you remember what Danny asked a while ago?" She pauses to let him contemplate, but the look on her face reminds her of who her husband is. Despite his selective genius, he was a borderline idiot on certain- no, many subjects.

    "Can''t say I do," He definitely looks confused. She sighed, "About a week ago. He asked us about-"

    Jack cuts her off before she can finish, "AH! Yes! Danny asked about ghosts! It''s so rare for him to take an interest in our research. I wonder if he''s finally coming around to the Fenton family business?" Jack finishes with a satisfied smile, clearly pleased with his rather skewed remembrance.

    Maddie pinches her brow before shedding more light on the point of this conversation. "Close, but no cigar, sweety. He asked us what we would do if he died and came back as a ghost, do you remember?"

    Ah, that was what he said wasn''t it? "Okay, I remember now. Why do you ask?" He felt his answer was the correct one, how could a Fenton possibly want to be stuck as a ghost? It was ludicrous, and went against everything their family stood for.

    So he hadn''t put any thought into the answer after all? "Jack, did you actually think it through? About what he said?"

    She had found it puzzling why her son asked that, and she had thought about it. More than she thought she would, honestly. Could she end her son if he died and came back? She loved her baby boy, and she would never harm a single hair on his head.

    But she knew what ghosts were. Nothing but pure evil, emotions hyped up way past insane levels of comprehension that was bound to malleable and radioactive hydrocarbons, that while similar to blood, contained enormous amounts of power in them that the very creatures comprised of the materials could manipulate. They''re malevolent, uncaring, and while some are sentient, that makes them all the more dangerous. The ones with intelligence are able to lie, plan, scheme, and use abilities far more powerful than their more rabid counterparts.

    If her son died, and came back, would he still be the same child she''s always loved? Or would he be a monster that wanted nothing more than to confuse, trick and harm them?

    "Yes, I did think it through honey." Jack sighs, so she was having doubts on this? "Maddie, how long have we been studying ghosts? We have mountains of data to support that ghosts are evil and beings of malice. Their own bodily composition makes them insane." He takes a breath, "They have no nerves, synapses, or a brain. We''ve found that out through a multitude of dissections and vivisection''s on the things. They can''t feel pain and can only feel emotions to such an extreme level that it twists and corrupts whatever it was in the first place. They''re a mistake on nature and we''re doing the world a service!" Jack seems to hesitate on the final part, before quietly speaking again. "Even if one day, it is our son or daughter." There was uncertainty in that tone though, and that it was even there meant even he wasn''t sure he could do it. It was obvious he believed in what he said, but still, if their children ever died¡­ and came back? Even Jack wasn''t sure if he could do it.

    There''s a quiet pause for a solid minute before she speaks again, "... Jazz came and talked to me the next day." She gulps, unable to get the lump out of her throat. "She overheard the conversation and said Danny didn''t care about the ghost part. There was a deeper meaning to the question." She frowns, Jazz had never told her what the meaning was. Despite asking, Jazz was beyond livid during the whole discussion, or more accurately, argument, and only told her to ''figure it out yourself!'' Yelled, not told, she noted. She had never seen her daughter so furious and beyond reason. It certainly didn''t help when she scanned her to see if she was possessed. No, if anything, that sent her over the edge.

    Jack, if at all possible, somehow looks even more confused than he did earlier. Maddie shakes her head, she should have seen it coming. Jazz was the psychology whiz, Jack could barely hold a conversation that wasn''t about ghosts, much less understand the intricacy of the human mind. And while she was smart, she was never that great at understanding people. Ghosts she could learn about through dissection and research. People took time to understand, and understanding a 14 year old is nigh impossible under normal circumstances. Much less with how alienated she is with her children.

    "Well, do you have any idea?" Jack barked out, there was no way he was going to be able to understand. Maddie frowned before saying, "If I had to guess¡­ it''s that your answer upset him. Maybe¡­" No, that was impossible. There''s no way her son would be sympathetic towards ghosts. It had to be another reason, but what? "I''m not sure honey, really, I''m not. We might just have to ask him whenever he gets home." She hated that she couldn''t figure out something about her son. They haven''t always been the closest, especially recently, but she always thought she could understand her children.

    "Maybe," he hummed, "You know I''ve only ever been good at stuff when it comes to ghosts." Despite how pathetic the actuality of that statement is, he wears it with a badge of pride evident in his voice. "I''ve tried understanding our kids, but Jazz has been more of an adult than me since she was nine, and unfortunately Danny has always been more in touch with you, Madz." It wouldn''t be a lie if he said that Jazz was his favorite, but that doesn''t mean he loves his son any less, just that he''s always been closer to his wife.

    "I guess we''ll just have to ask when he gets home." She was hoping for some insight on this incident before Danny got home, but it seems that they''re going to have to get it directly from the source. "Is he not home now?" The larger man asks.

    The Fenton matriarchs eye twitches, "Obviously not, otherwise we wouldn''t be having this conversation." Maddie sighs while rubbing her face with her hand. "How are we coming along on the portal?" She changes the subject to something more productive, getting angry at his lack of ability to notice the obvious would get them nowhere. Not that she was any better in this case.

    Jack perks up at that, already feeling more comfortable in something he has concrete knowledge in. "Those coils are specially made, so I had to call Vladdy to order some more. I got a couple extra for a good deal, just in case it blows up like that again."

    Maddie can feel her frustration mounting. The lack of progress in the previous discussion, and the mistakes of her husband which put them down a pretty penny were creeping their way into the back of her mind.

    "We wouldn''t need those extra coils if you hadn''t left it on in the first place Jack! Also, why did you put the secondary power switch inside the portal?! What if an accident happened because of it?!" That was what she was really mad about, the parts delayed them less than a week at most, nothing to the last twenty years, and they had other stuff they could work on in the meantime. The fact that one of two power switches for the portal was on the inside is what really infuriated her. The portal needed both of the switches active to function, and that one of them was on the inside was such a colossal mistake, it bordered on actual retardation.

    "Whoops," A sheepish grin forms on Jacks face, "I meant to put it next to the hand scanner, but I might have flipped it around a bit by accident." The teehee face he shows her was the final push.

    "It''s not a laughing matter, Jack." Jacks smile falters,''Uh oh''. Her tone getting this cold meant that he was going to get a punishment. He was doing so good too!

    Maddie narrows her eyes at her husband. "No fudge for the next two weeks, and we''re only working on my projects till the parts get here!" Jacks jaw slams open as he tries to find the words to respond. Eventually his body falls into place on its own. He dropped to his knees, "NOOOOOOOOO! NOT THE FUDGE!?" That was what hurt him the most, his wife''s projects were normally more successful anyway. But the fudge¡­ the fudge!

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    It wasn''t until around five p.m. that Danny got home. Clearing out a whole cave high up on the mountain wasn''t the most fun thing he''s done, especially recently, but no one ever said he wasn''t efficient. He had enough time to warm up a frozen TV dinner in the microwave and eat it before his mom came out of the lab to talk to him.

    That, in and of itself, was weird.

    His parents rarely come out to talk to him. The only time they''ve come out recently was for work or when he was in middle school.

    Actually, most of his memories from middle school with them involved punishing him for getting in trouble at school for stuff he didn''t do. They still, to this day, don''t believe that he gets bullied by his peers. Despite what he tells them, what Jazz tells them.

    Never. He''s always the liar. ''Bullshit.''

    So what could his mom possibly want now?

    His mood plummets as his mom starts the conversation. "You''re asking what I meant a week ago?" Disbelief colors his face with confusion and a slowly creeping anger. "A week ago? Really? Why are you asking me now, why not earlier?" He was hoping they would ask the day after, maybe two. But a week? Was it just a passing after thought? Couldn''t be bothered to remember till now?

    "I thought about what you said, but when Jazz and I got in an argument about our conversation, she wouldn''t tell me either." When did they do this? He was kind of out of it the first couple days after, so it''s possible he just wasn''t paying attention, or playing games. Danny''s nostrils flared and his eyes twitched, she thought of it for a week and she still couldn''t figure it out?

    "You thought about it for a week?" He cleared his throat before he raised his voice anymore, "A whole week, and Jazz dropped hints, and you still couldn''t figure it out?!" Danny was clenching his hands so hard his knuckles popped. Fingernails dug into his palms leaving crescent marks that threatened to break skin. His mom was so smart, but why was she as clueless as his dad in the worst ways?!

    Maddie winced, if it wasn''t clear before, now it was obvious this meant something more to her son. "I''ve never been good with understanding how people think honey, but even after asking Jazz, all she said was to ''figure it out myself.''" She huffs, as if her annoyance could possibly compare to his. Sure, it was a question that unintentionally had a double meaning, but after Jazz explained it, it had hurt all the more. Danny wanted to laugh; they couldn''t even figure it out.

    They could build a portal to the supposed afterlife, make a science out of the supernatural, and they invented new devices and technology that netted them enough money to fund everything, and yet they couldn''t figure out why he was upset? He still didn''t have an allowance even though they made so much!

    Sure, the possible hidden meaning of his question wasn''t even obvious to him until after Jazz explained it, and his dad was a dumbass. His mom though, was so smart and it made it even worse that she couldn''t understand. She hadn''t even refuted his father, and he had spoken without an ounce of hesitation. That she was asking showed that she cared, but if she really couldn''t figure it out, then¡­ it wasn''t enough. It just made him feel worse.

    So he exploded, "Yeah? YEAH?! Well you should, it''s not that hard!" His voice cracked but he didn''t care. She should be able to figure it out! It''s not that fucking hard! "FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF OR FORGET IT LIKE YOU GUYS ALWAYS DO, CUZ I''M NOT TELLING YOU SHIT!" He stands up from the table, knocking the chair onto the floor, before storming up to his room. His mother''s scoldings fall on deaf ears. His stomps ring out through the house, ghostly power seeping into his body in response to his anger. When he reaches his room, he winced when he slammed the door. He didn''t mean to slam it quite that hard. He couldn''t help it though, he just felt so angry! He can say with confidence, even after everything that''s happened in and out of school, he''s never felt so crossed before.

    Danny flopped onto his bed and screamed into his pillow. Green energy leaked from his eyes, he could feel it. He can see the glow on the pillow. He had to physically restrain himself from breaking anything. Punching his pillow does nothing to abate the still mounting fury.

    Why was he still getting angry? He knows they''re oblivious, his dad he never hoped for, but he truly hoped his mom would refute his claim made days prior. To say she wouldn''t end him again if he came back. To say that his father didn''t mean what he said. He did mean what he said though, and if she didn''t say anything about it, then what else can it mean, if not a silent agreement. Again, Danny feels himself seething farther along. Irate pulsing from his core seems to feed into his body, empowering it with the supernatural energy. His anger was forming into power? Danny got up from his bed as he slowly lost control of his dormant power.

    Danny stared at his hands as ectoplasm unwillingly formed across them, slowly covering his body. He tried to will it away, but the only will he had now was one led by fury. Eventually his whole body is covered and he''s now in his second form. He grits his teeth and drops to his knees. The teenage ghost grabs his head and groans in frustration. It was worse in this form, he couldn''t control his emotions. They were building too quickly and becoming almost unbearable. His breathing increases even though he doesn''t need it, a habit of the living, which currently he was not.

    Danny gets back up with shaky steps, making his way to the window and roughly opening it. There''s no way he can concentrate enough to fly through the solid glass. The second he''s opened the window enough he launches into the air. He''s hyperventilating, his vision is fuzzy, his head hurts and his heart aches with rage. Danny keeps going higher, he needed to get away before he explodes, and right now that felt more literal than he wanted.

    After a minute of solid flight he lets out a scream in the clouds high above his hometown.

    His emotions bleed through his undead vocal cords and energy blasts off his body. Flares of ectoplasm whip out from random parts of his body. An arch of electricity lashes out at the clouds, dancing through the constructs of water vapor and ice crystals.

    From the ground below it looks as if a green thunderstorm was forming, the unnatural ominous color unnerves those who witness it. Lightning isn''t supposed to be green, at least normally. The weather forecast didn''t say anything about a thunderstorm today either.

    Danny''s feelings run haywire, his power being enhanced by his negative emotions. Pain, sadness, betrayal, loneliness, isolation, annoyance, fear, despair, guilt, and finally anger. Anger just kept coming back, further pushed by his memories. The mockery and abuse by his peers, his friends lying to him, his parents inadvertently rejecting him, the pain of feeling so damn alone. His death. It all came at once and the eventual build-up came forth in a fiery outcome.

    The otherworldly energy poured from Danny''s body, lashing out at the air around him. Small explosions from ecto-blasts thundered out, he didn''t even fire them on purpose. His power was acting on its own, rays spewed from random areas on his body as green and red tears streaked his face. His screams became hoarse and his body burned at the oncoming flux of energy.

    The sudden lightning and thunderstorm gave the citizens of Amity Park pause. Literally, minutes ago the sky was clear except for the few large clouds, but they didn''t look threatening. There was no rain, no wind, but the constant stream of green electricity Danny kept giving off painted the evening sky green. Green lightning wasn''t unnatural, strange and rare, sure, but no one in this town had seen it before.

    It kept building and building until it stopped. As soon as the storm came, it was gone. Danny was able to restrain himself momentarily, he remembered the good times. The fun he had with his friends, the few good memories he shared with his parents, how comforting and understanding his sister is, his estranged but encouraging uncle, but it wasn''t enough. One final push of energy, all of it that was contained at once burst through.

    Danny curls up in an attempt to contain what''s to come, but ultimately fails. From his body came a shock wave of energy going in every direction, the almost impossibly bright light shot out with Danny''s body as the epicenter. With Danny as its source, the energy repulsed out, eviscerating the surrounding cloud coverage. The energy was loud, bright, hot, and pushed and destroyed anything within thirty feet of Danny. With him as the core of the explosive release, every emotion bled through in one final show of power.

    The unintentional show of power ended after a couple seconds, the wave of energy dispersing without actually harming anyone. It left Danny panting, barely able to stay afloat in the sky.

    That release of energy left him feeling depleted, but emotionally he felt refreshed, like he was in control again. Danny idly noticed that the clouds he used as a curtain were now gone, leaving him uncomfortably exposed for the world to see.

    And see they did. This was the modern age, everyone had a phone that had a camera in their pockets. Obviously his actions would garner the attention of more than a few, and with his enhanced eyesight he could see many people that had been and still were recording his outburst.

    Danny grimaced, this wasn''t good. It was clear that it was time to leave.

    Using the last bit of energy he had, Danny turned invisible and flew back to his home. Upon arrival he thankfully transformed back into his human form, not that he could have stayed longer as his ghostly half. Exhausted both physically and emotionally Danny fell asleep hoping that he didn''t expose himself too badly.

    The last thing he needed was his parents hunting for his ghost.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Unfortunately, both Danny''s figure and his explosive release was caught on camera, something he would learn of the next day. Hundreds of people would upload videos of him. Many that weren''t there would claim it a hoax, and a well made video, but those who lived at Amity Park knew very well that it was real, but they wouldn''t know who it was until months later.

    Jack and Maddie Fenton on the other hand, knew exactly what it was that caused it. "Holy cow! Madz, it''s a ghost, and he''s a powerful one to boot!" Jack yells.

    Maddie nods enthusiastically, all traces of her somber mood now gone. The video, this wonderful video, gave a very good display of what the ghost could do.

    She frowned, the thing was powerful. It released a constant stream of large amounts of energy, and showed an ability to manipulate electricity or lightning. Not the first time they''ve seen one use the ability, but none so far have been so powerful. "We have to capture it." She states.

    This ghost easily trumped anything they''ve come across, what marvels could they gleam into if they had it strapped to their table? It looked human, not terribly rare, but many ghosts took a misshapen form. Possible age couldn''t be determined, neither could its facial features or what exactly it was wearing. Every video they''ve seen so far wasn''t the best quality, but they have enough to know for sure it was a ghost. The ecto-sensors were going off like crazy earlier as well.

    Jack is bouncing up and down in anticipation. "Let''s suit up! Grab the best gear honey, we''ve gotta go and look for it now, before it escapes!" Maddie doesn''t have to respond, she''s already grabbing weapons from the rack. She tosses Jack a large black and white bazooka and grabs a silver and green rifle. They take some equipment as well. The currently experimental Specter-Deflector, the Jack o'' Nine Tails and the Fenton Finder.

    With everything in hand Jack bolts up the stairs, "Alright, let''s go! To the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle!" Maddie is right behind him, she would have liked to grab more but time was of the essence! If only she could have had the Fenton Thermos done, the Nine Tails was great for momentarily catching a ghost, but her designs for the thermos would make it a prime ghost catching tool.

    They would return later into the night, empty handed, but barely disheartened. They didn''t know if it left, but they had ideas to build into reality and they would be ready whenever the spook decided to show itself again!

 Chapter 8

    Chapter 8

    How could it have gotten to this? How could he have been so careless? Danny''s little episode, where his powers and emotions went beyond haywire, had somehow gotten caught on camera. Cameras actually, plural to be precise, and not just three or four. It wasn''t that he didn''t expect it, really he did. He did destroy the surrounding cloud coverage and make a noticeable scene after all. Especially when he watched the footage of it.

    Did he have to be found out so soon though?

    All eyes in Amity were probably on him at the moment. If someone was outside, then the sudden coming of a green lightning storm most definitely caught their attention. Given the current era, everyone snapped out their phones and recorded the whole damn thing. The internet was abuzz for the next week, talks about his ghostly side ranged from Facebook and Reddit to even some of the more serious news journals like The Times or the Daily Planet. As honored as he felt to have his image on such esteemed sources, all it did was fill him with dread.

    He definitely made an effort to not be seen from that moment on. He made invisibility his top priority, practicing it for a large majority of his free time training. Not that he didn''t practice his other powers, but he didn''t want that kind of publicity, especially when he''s only had the powers for less than a month. The last thing he needs is some meta snatcher or ghost hunter to come and stick their nose where it doesn''t belong. Up in his business, to be precise.

    Despite his lack of a reappearance, the videos gained in popularity, millions of views and still growing. Everyone in town, without a doubt watched it or saw it, and worst of all his parents immediately knew it was a ghost. They should have, to be fair, it was their job after all. According to his parents, the sensors indicated high amounts of ectoplasmic readings, higher than any they''ve ever seen.

    Pride may or may not have inflated Danny''s ego a bit, and it did improve his mood to know he was powerful. Now if only he could get better control, because he did not want a freak out like that again. It miffed him a bit that his parents, or rather his mother, just seemed to gloss over their last conversation. Any apparent thought or concern was gone, replaced by their damn obsession with ghosts. What happened to the concern when they talked?

    Is it ironic that it was himself that distracted her from her concern for her son, even if she didn''t know? If it is, it''s a cruel irony, and if anything it made Danny avoid interacting with them even more. They have been leaving the lab more often though, even if it is to search for his other half.

    Danny noticed that Jazz stopped calling them mom and dad. She''s been addressing them as Jack and Maddie, and he was really starting to think that he should do that as well. If just to get the point across that they should be paying more attention to their children instead of going on wild ghost chases.

    Unfortunately, no new powers have surfaced, a little disappointing, but he''s got quite a few already. He''s gotten better at using them, though they are still a tad bit finicky. Flickering on and off at random times, very inconvenient at best, and almost life threatening at worse; like when he''s flying. The ecto-goop has gotten easier to make, though it takes a minute or two of concentration to get it right.

    This morning in particular has actually been stranger than normal.

    First and foremost, Danny woke up being attacked by leftovers. Strike one. It''s not the first time it''s happened, unfortunately, but it happens once every two months or so. Reanimated sausage weenies chomping on your toes make for a horrible alarm clock, and Danny has never been much of a morning person anyway. It took all of ten seconds for him to slice through the shitty little menaces. He took great pleasure in bashing the glowing bratwursts into the floor with an ecto-infused stomp.

    For some odd cosmic reason, Danny''s parents weren''t in the lab. That was strike two, and his mother was making breakfast. Strike three. His dad was at the table, blabbing on and on about ghosts while working on some strange weapon or device. That was actually kind of normal, but it was already the third strike, and Danny wanted out.

    The device, or weapon as it turns out, made Danny more than a little uncomfortable. The last time his father was working on a weapon at the table, Danny was blasted with it by accident almost immediately after it was ''finished''. He had a sinking feeling this was going to be similar. The invention this time looked like some kind of arm mounted ray gun?

    Jazz was sitting at the table too, eyeing Jack with caution. She had a book in her hand, but it seems to have been forgotten. Looks like she remembered what happened last time too. When she noticed Danny, he gave a concerned glance at both his parents. She nodded. One parent was somehow making living food that wanted to eat its creators. The other was waving around and working on a piece of experimental weaponry that used a volatile and contaminating source of energy as its power base. At the dining room table they''re supposed to eat at.

    It was going to be one of those days.

    "Hey little brother, sleep well?" Jazz started the conversation. Subtle concern laced her voice as she kept glancing at her mother.

    "I was, but then I got woken up by some sausages of the dead." Danny shot a glare at his mother, but the sparking, close to completion weapon drew his attention away from the cause of his wake up call.

    Jazz noticed too, but attempted to keep the conversation going. "Are you okay? I know they''re not exactly dangerous but they can still hurt¡­" Danny waved it off as he walked to the fridge. "I''m fine, stomped them into the floor." He spoke with a grin.

    He hesitated on opening the fridge door. For some odd reason, his mother stored the radioactive food-things in the fridge. A stupid decision without a doubt, there was no debating that. But she wouldn''t be swayed, and he didn''t want to unleash more of them. Opening the door he quickly grabbed the milk before slamming it shut, there wasn''t anything in there but it never hurt to be careful.

    "Sweetie, don''t slam the fridge door." Danny glared at Maddie. He wouldn''t have to if there wasn''t a danger in keeping it open sometimes! Danny said nothing as he poured a glass of milk for himself. He put the milk back before sitting down across from Jazz. "What''s for breakfast?"

    His mother turned around slightly, "Eggs, bacon, sau- and pancakes." She happily replied. He was pretty sure sausage was supposed to be in that sentence, but it was obvious where that early morning food went.

    To the bottom of his foot.

    "What''cha reading?" He peered at the title that was slightly covered by her fingers. Ah, a psychology book. Why wasn''t he surprised? Jazz pepped up at the mention of her chosen interest. "It''s Advanced Psychology: Understanding Teenagers and Young Adults!" She paused to let the large title sink in, "I''m hoping it has tips on better handling the brats from school."

    As good of a reason that was, it was summer and he was pretty sure that book was for him. He gave her a knowing look, one she turned away from. He rolled his eyes before focusing on his father. "Uh-huh. Sure, whatever you say." He''s been a little distant, sure, but he''s been talking to her. Mainly about their parents and his increasing frustration with them, an opinion she shared with him. This is the longest they''ve stayed out of the lab for a while, so it''s nice to spend time with them, but the circumstances could be much better.

    Like no weapons or ecto-cookware.

    This was a Fenton family though, and by the looks of it, Jack was finishing up. He had his tongue stuck out in concentration and was squinting at the object in his hand while he slowly turned a tiny screwdriver. How was he holding that?

    His attention was drawn over to his mother when he heard some banging. She had a glowing green spatula that she was stabbing at what was probably the last of the once fresh sausage. Now the only links left in the house were undead wieners. Soon to be smashed, for sure, but still.

    ''I really could have gone for some too¡­'' He thought longingly.

    "HAHA! I did it!" Jack stands up straight, moving the table away from his large frame and spilling his and Jazz''s drinks. Danny''s eye twitched, but he held his tongue. His dad shoves his new weapon in their faces. "Look at it! Isn''t she beautiful? I call it the Fenton Wrist Ray! Cutting edge, compact ecto-tech meant for that just in-case encounter with a ghost!" He wasn''t planning on selling that was he? Didn''t you need a license to sell firearms?

    "Jack, you shouldn''t bring weapons to the table. It''s not a safe environment for a growing child!" Jack deflated a little, he wasn''t used to his daughter calling him by name, and he still didn''t like it.

    "I''m not a child Jazz." Danny''s quip is ignored.

    "Jazzy-pants, I thought we told you to call us mom and dad. We''re your parents, not strangers." The Fenton patriarch chided his child.

    Danny may have calmed down from his episode, but Jazz was still upset with them. She was also in a foul mood from this morning, and Danny could tell it just kept mounting on more and more frustration.

    Jazz flexed her hands for a moment before letting out a deep sigh. "No, Jack, I will not. I''ll call you two by mom and dad again, when you start acting more like it." Their mother was still busy cooking, otherwise she would have come to Jack''s rescue.

    She glared at her father, "A good place to start would be to put the weapon away before someone gets hurt. Again." She glanced at Danny when she said the last part.

    Maddie finished cooking and walked over with plates of food, "Jazz, sweetie, have a little more faith in your father. His projects don''t always involve an accident first." So she''s not denying it?

    Jazz has no intention of backing down, "I don''t care, there''s not a thing you can do to convince me that having an experimental weapon at the dining room table is okay!" She turns to Jack, "Have you even tested it yet, or did you literally just build it?"

    Jack puffs out his chest with pride, "Why, I just built it! I thought of this baby here this morning, and I''ve already got a working pro-" Jack never finished his sentence. The device sparked along the barrel before going off.

    "ARRGH!" Danny is suddenly blasted in the chest by the wrist ray. It''s a low powered weapon compared to the other ones he''s been hit with in the past. That doesn''t mean it''s any less painful. He sprawls back over the chair and slams his head down onto the floor. Honestly, hitting his head hurt more, but now another one of his shirts was ruined, and he might have a scar from where he was blasted.

    "Oh my god, Danny!" Jazz is the first to rush over, she carefully picks him up and brings him over to the couch. Danny is dizzy, most likely from his head bouncing off the ground.

    Jack just stands back with a sheepishly embarrassed frown on his face. He rubs the back off his head and looks down in guilt. Thinking better for once, he takes out the small energy pack and places the wrist ray in one of the kitchen drawers.

    Maddie comes back in a moment later with a med-kit, one of the many stationed throughout the house. "Sorry it took so long, I couldn''t find the kitchen med-kit." She glares at her husband, but remembers she literally, just seconds before this happened, said it was fine. She wouldn''t live that down for a while.

    She crouches next to Danny and looks at the burn, "Superficial at worst, you''re father was right. It''s very low powered, that''s good. Your shirt''s barely got a hole, and it doesn''t look like it actually left a wound." She takes out some burn cream anyway and applies some to a gauze bandage before placing it onto his wound under the shirt.

    "I''m more worried about that spill," She feels his head and pulled her hand back. "No blood, that''s good." Danny blinks away his mounting headache and adjusts his position to be a little more comfortable. "I think I just have a headache now. Great morning, really, I''ve been attacked twice in less than ten minutes. Could today get any worse?" Danny almost slapped himself for that jinx. It was definitely going to get worse.

    After learning that Danny is going to be okay, Jazz''s concern quickly changes to anger. The dial goes from three to ten as she storms over to Jack, who at this moment was eating a piece of bacon. Her eye twitches as somehow she can feel it go from ten to eleven. "What did I say?"

    "Well, I''ll admit you were right sweetie, but-"

    "WHAT DID I SAY?!" Jazz takes a breath, "This is exactly like last time! I told you to put the damn weapon away, and what happens? Danny gets blasted because you''re too self absorbed to be more careful!" The oldest daughter takes deep breaths to calm herself.

    "Jazz, language! Don''t talk to your father like that." Maddie attempts the proper parent role, but it backfires when Jazz''s glare is shifted to her. She points a finger at Maddie, "Don''t you dare defend him! I told you this would happen! I told you!" Jazz redirects her finger to Danny, "And look what happened, Danny got hurt, AGAIN! THE SAME WAY AS LAST TIME!"

    Although taken aback by her daughters outburst, Maddie holds strong. "I agree that you were right honey, and we''ll be more careful next time, but we are your parents and you will not talk to us like that!"

    Twelve. "WHAT?!" Danny winces, that almost sounded like it came from a megaphone. "I will raise my voice if it gets the point across! You''ve barely seen us in months, haven''t tried to eat with us or talk, or anything, and when you finally do, IT''S A REPEAT OF LAST TIME!"

    Jazz glares back at her father, who had the incredulity to keep eating. "And the time before that, and the time before that, and the TIME BEFORE THAT!" The harsh and quiet tone escalates once more. They can''t even deny it either, every time they stopped working in the lab for a bit, whether to spend some time together as a family for a meal or go on some ridiculous and sporadic road trip, it always, always ended the same way. With Danny or Jazz getting hurt. It didn''t happen as much in their early life, but it has gotten worse over time. They rarely see their parents anymore, always in their lab working on something, and when they do finally spend some time together, someone gets hurt.

    There''s an uncomfortable silence in the house, Jazz was right on all accounts. Jack says nothing, knowing he would make the situation worse, and Maddie can''t refute her daughter. She bites her lip to try and find something to say or salvage the situation.

    Danny has had enough though. He gets up with a wobble before he grabs his food and walks upstairs. "I''m just gonna eat in my room. Maybe I can still salvage something for today." Danny looks at his mother, "Thanks for the food mom." She nods at the show of gratitude, but the whole situation is sour now.

    Jazz sends one more frosty glare at her parents before doing the same and rushing to help Danny up the stairs.

    Maddie rubs her face and temples. She gives a deep sigh before turning to Jack. "Okay, that was horrible, and could have been avoided. So," She knows Jack will complain, but this may placate her daughter. "No more working on weapons at the dining room table or living room. She''s right, we haven''t been spending much time with them lately, and when we do it''s normally Danny that gets hurt. He shouldn''t be getting hurt at all."

    Jack makes motion to rebuke her, but he holds his tongue. It could be talked about later. "Alright, I understand. Let''s finish up breakfast and then head to the lab." Even Jack knows that attempting to talk to his kids right now would end in failure. Jazz is livid beyond anything they''ve ever seen, and Danny just looked disappointed, which seemed to hurt more than Jazz''s harsh truth and volatile fury.

    "The portals almost done, after that we can focus more on reconnecting with our family. The part arrives today right?" Jack nods to the question, he takes out his phone and opens the package tracker app. "Says it''s twelve stops away, should be here by noon or one." He grinned, their life''s work was about to be completed.

    Everything they''ve worked and striven for, sacrificed for, was coming to fruition. They were going to be proven right. They had the calculations down, the equipment was re-calibrated and checked over thrice for any possible mistakes and damages. All they needed were the specially designed DALV coils and they could start it up.

    Tomorrow was the day.

    "I want to check over anything that could go wrong tomorrow, especially after what just happened. We can''t afford any mistakes Jack, we''re going to be punching a hole in the fabric of space to create a stable and congruent inter-dimensional gateway. We have to be careful, this can blow up bigger than anything before."

    Jack stuffs his face with the rest of his eggs while nodding his head, "Don''t worry Madz, we got this! After we get the part we''ll triple check everything again and start our test tomorrow morning." He takes another bite of bacon, "Now hurry up honey, we got work to do!"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Danny, are you alright?" Jazz walks into the room almost seconds after he closed the door. The youngest Fenton sighs but shakes his head. Now that he knew he had a healing factor, awesome by the way, he knew this new wound would be gone by tomorrow. Actually, compared to some of the other stuff he''s been blasted by before, it really was low powered. The wrist ray only hurt on initial impact and even then, slamming his head against the tile hurt much more.

    "I''m fine Jazz, dad wasn''t kidding when he said it was low powered. I''ve got a headache now, but I''m just¡­ kind of tired of it." Jazz raises an eyebrow, curiosity now coupled with concern. "What do you mean?"

    Danny snaps, "Them," but he reels it back, he shouldn''t yell at her for their mistakes, "I''m tired of them. All of it- I don''t know. I''ve been thinking a lot about things recently." Danny stops, he needs to think about what he''s saying instead of just blurting it out.

    Jazz looks surprised, maybe she really did think of Danny as more a kid than he initially thought. He sees her look, the psychologist look, and rolls his eyes. "Despite what you want to believe Jazz, no, I''m not a kid. I can take care of myself and have been for a while. I''m tired of everything. Really, between bullies at school, teachers who do nothing, getting hurt by my own damn parents, and the lyi-" He cut himself off before he says too much. He''s not ready to tell her about that just yet.

    Jazz notices he stopped himself, but she is pleasantly surprised by his maturity. She knows exactly how bad his life has been, not terrible, but it shouldn''t have gotten as far as it has. Actually, certain aspects, she reasoned were terrible. That made her grimace at the realization.

    Jack and Maddie are social nightmares, any semblance of a social life is nigh impossible to come by because of the two ghost hunters who regularly cause incidents in public. Many of which involve embarrassing her or Danny, mainly Danny if she''s being honest. It was the initial cause of Danny being bullied in the first place, and to make things worse more than half the time their parents won''t believe their own son about it or that he''s being bullied. After all, no school report and all supposed eye-witnesses beside her, Sam and Tucker refused to say anything. On several occasions they even tried to have Danny apologize to the bully, something he vehemently refused, and that earned him a grounding of one month each time.

    The bullying has only escalated too. Danny is defiant to the T, despite how meek and beaten down he should be, he is still snarky and sarcastic, and kind of, no, without a doubt a smart ass to the people who keep trying to put him down. She''s afraid something in the future is going to go overboard, but Danny is resilient, and Jazz can outsmart a majority of what people throw at her. Danny''s just an easier target, and she really does worry for his high-school life.

    "I''ve thought about a couple of things I could do, but it''s honestly kind of ridiculous at this point." He huffs out an irritated exhale, "I''m just kind of¡­ over it. I mean, really, is it so bad to ask for something more normal? They''re the cause of so much of our lives going to shit, and they refuse to even believe it! Mom and Dad have practically ruined our lives Jazz, and they seem to think that a bandage and some ointment is all it takes to make it better." What Danny says is true, she can''t deny it, but she feels there''s more to it.

    Before summer started, Danny almost seemed resigned to his parents actions. Like he didn''t care anymore. Now though, he''s aware of it, more than she''s ever seen from him. He knows how odd his parents and how little contact he had with them, especially recently. And it shows in the questions he''s asked and in this conversation.

    "And, if what you said is true, then they don''t even love us as much as they should." There was almost a finality in his voice, like he knows something that she can''t put a finger on. Danny looks hurt to say it, and she can''t blame him.

    "I understand how you feel little brother, I do." Danny looks up from his plate at his sister. "They''re not the best parents, actually they''re pretty awful, but they do care for us." She thinks they do at least. "I''m not sure how to change them or get them to realize their mistakes, at this point it would take something pretty big for them to get their heads out of their asses." Danny snickers at that, it''s not often his sister curses. Also, he would wager that him dying could do it, but he wasn''t going to risk it.

    She smiles a bit, Danny''s been in a bit of a funk since the conversations with their mother and it''s been a while since she''s seen him laugh. "I''m always here if you want to talk, you know? I''m going to be studying psychology so I need all the practice I can get." Back to the usual sister he knew so well.

    Danny shook his head, "I''m fine Jazz, I just haven''t really had time to unwind since summer started. I''ve also been up for less than two hours and I''ve been attacked twice. Today''s just been a bad day. Actually, my whole summer''s kind of sucked, so I guess the ball just keeps rolling."

    "I know it''s boring without your friends," Danny frowns at the mention, something Jazz notices, "but try not to get too down on it. They should be coming back soon right?"

    Danny blinked at that, when did they get back? He''s been kind of distracted with a new hobby, so it really did slip his mind. He also felt that he had, indeed, calmed down compared to day one. He was still angry at them for lying and not helping him, but he wasn''t as¡­ raw about it.

    So he shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno, I forgot."

    It was Jazz''s turn to blink, he forgot when his only friends were coming back to town? She coupled that with the frown from earlier, but didn''t want to pry into anything. Especially when he already had plenty of reason to be in a bad mood.

    She would come back on it later though.

    Danny took the opportunity to actually start eating his breakfast. It was getting cold, and despite the atrocities that his mother could make in the kitchen, she made some damn amazing pancakes. They were chocolate chip too.

    He turned his TV on and turned back to his sister, "You gonna eat? If not, I am pretty hungry right now."

    He was going to give her a toothy grin, but it was still kind of hard to do that without his fangs popping out.

    He''d get that trick down one day.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "What''s ready?"

    The way Danny said it was strange. If Jazz had to put a finger on it, she would say that there was confusion, which was understandable. This was the big project their parents had been working on for almost twenty years. And they finished it. It was the fear that flashed across his face, and it seemed to linger in the way it was said. That''s what she found strange. It didn''t last long, maybe a second at most, but it was there.

    "It would have been done last week, but there was a delay." He looks away and shrugs his shoulders. "But now, we present to you the Fenton Ghost Zone Portal!"

    It scared him, honestly. The feeling still fresh, the experience always popping up in idle thoughts. They had done it, and the inside was alight with ectoplasm charged coils and lights. All they had to do was flip the ON switch. Obviously not the one inside, that one was probably on anyway.

    It faded soon though as her forcibly calmed himself. Rampant thoughts went through his mind. What would they do now? What security measures would be put in place? What do they know of the place the portal leads to?

    "Uh¡­ it''s safe right? Like, it''s not gonna blow up in our faces?" Trepidation was easy to express. After all, he had somehow gotten killed in the thing, what was to say his parents hadn''t screwed it up even more?

    His father chose to answer, "It''s fine son! We''ve triple checked everything, it won''t blow up!" Jack laughs it off, but it only furthers to unnerve his two children.

    Jazz turns to their mother, "So, is it going to blow up?"

    Maddie rolls her eyes at her daughters petty defiance. "Yes, Jazz, it is safe. And no, it will not blow up." Honestly, how could they have so little faith in their own parents?

    "Okay, so, I trust you guys on this, really, I do. But-uh, I''m just gonna¡­ go over here. Where there''s cover." Danny scoots back toward the stairs, he grabs his sisters arm and she eagerly follows. Like Danny, she doesn''t have the utmost¡­ confidence in her parents inventions.

    Jack visibly deflates, "Well, if you insist. On that note, Madz, if you would do the honors?" His rapid change in emotions is concerning at times.

    Maddie resumes her role as scientist and inventor. "Why thank you sweetie, here have some fudge." She tosses him a Hershey sized piece in a wrapper.

    "Woohoo!" He whoops in excitement at the small confectionery. Jazz groans in embarrassment. "Thank god they didn''t televise this." She mumbled it under her breath, but Danny catches it and snorts at the comment.

    "What do the sensors say?" All too sudden the previous mood is gone, replaced by the sobering seriousness of people about to rip the fabric of reality apart.

    Maybe at this distance he could at least save his sister.

    Actually, ripping apart reality was only half of what they were doing. The end goal is also to stabilize said tear in space, and have the gateway be self sustaining so they don''t have to power it themselves. They were going for the all in one experience right off the bat.

    "All signs green, the coils holding up?"

    It all sounds nice and dandy, but it''s all too easy to see the colossal potential for a fuck up here. Especially after he experienced it first hand.

    Maddies confident smile grows, it''s finally happening. Their life''s goal is about to be completed. "Coils running at maximum efficiency. Generators are galvanized, and ready to go. Start up packs, do we need more?"

    The machine to another dimension starts up. The outer edges begin to glow green and start spinning slowly. Arcs of energy and electricity jump from one micro-pylon to another. It spins faster and faster, and on top of the smell of ozone the machine itself sounds like a giant fan.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    "Packs are golden baby!" Jack flips a few switches and turns some dials. "Hyper-condensed ectoplasm stabilizing and growing at nominal levels. It''s all perfect!" He looks at his wife, "You ready?!" She gives a nod of affirmation. She was born ready for this.

    Danny is more than a little uncomfortable, and Jazz has paled at the realization that her parents might actually pull this off.

    Or blow them up. It''s one or the other at this point.

    Jack''s shit eating grin grows from ear to ear and he raises his hand high over his head. "LET''S GET THIS STARTED! WOOOO!" His voice rises in pitch and he slams his hand down onto the button with way more force than what was necessary.

    The machine shakes from the force of the hit, and for a solid three seconds, nothing happens. The excited atmosphere turns somber before it happens.

    A cacophony of sounds was the first thing heard. The buzzing of electricity, the rushing of air, crashing of water, the rumbling of the earth and the ripping of metal all at once made the entire family wince. It sounded horrible and it got louder as a green swirling portal began to form in the center.

    Danny stilled at the sight, only vaguely aware of the otherworldly echo the portal was giving off. Green light slowly illuminated the room, basking those present in a green glow.

    As the noise died down, Danny refocused on the portal. The thing that had killed him. He didn''t remember the sound too much, but he was also busy being electrocuted at the time. As the actual gateway between dimensions stabilized, it grew to the full size of the opening. Green swirled with black and a bit of purple here and there.

    An ectoplasmic mist poured out of the dimensional gateway and flooded the room. As it passed over Danny he shivered at the comforting touch. It was cold, but invigorating. The mere skin to ectoplasm contact gave him a collected boost that felt way better than it should have. There was a slight wind pushing it out of the now completed portal, and it made Danny wonder about weather patterns on the other side. As the portal stabilized, the ripping sounds died out to be replaced by the swirling whoosh of the portal.

    "Hey, is- uh, this stuff toxic?" Maddie turned to her daughter, "It''s fine sweety, it won''t hurt you, especially in small amounts like this." They would add a containment field later, this mist was pretty to look at, but would be bad in the long run.

    Danny really wished he could focus on something else besides the swirling vortex, but he was just so damn drawn to it. The energy on the other side called to him. Practically sang for his attention, and he was hard-pressed not to give it. It felt so familiar, so comforting, almost like-

    Home.

    And maybe it is. The home of his ghost half. Staring at the eye of the portal is almost hypnotic, and he has to fight the urge to just run and jump in. He shakes his head to clear his thoughts.

    They actually did it. Jazzes eyes widen and her breathing hitches. Holy shit, they actually did it. Her parents, two loons who made ridiculous and dangerous items and weapons that blow up constantly. How, in the name of all that is right, did they actually make a working portal to another dimension?

    Jack dropped to his knees and screamed his life''s greatest success to the heavens above. "YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEAHHHHHH! OHMYGOODLORDTHISISAMAZING!"

    Maddie jumps from her husbands outburst, but she can''t blame him. Actually, she was hopping up and down and proclaiming her success in unintelligible sounds as well.

    Everyone who said they were crazy. Loons. Crackpots. They laughed at their field of expertise, called it a fake science and mocked at them, belittled their focus matter. It had embittered them just a bit, and they worked vehemently for years to make it. And they showed them! Hah! How many can say they made a portal in their basement with no government funding? No one. No one!

    Jack and Maddie were on cloud nine, and were marching straight towards ten.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The Fenton parents were in a euphoric high the rest of the night, and Danny took advantage of his parents good mood and got them to order a pizza delivery. He wouldn''t say he loves meat as much as Tucker, but Danny definitely loves the meat lovers special.

    Despite the grand Fenton family achievement of the ghost portal, they still kept working. If anything, to the bafflement of their children, it seems the parents of the household have redoubled their efforts in a zealous new drive. It was both disappointing and expected, but hurt all the same.

    The portal though, after having time to think it through, is genuinely impressive. How did his parents do any of this, especially in a basement lab? Maybe he should give credits where they''re due; it seems even if they''re not that great of parents, they are absolutely stellar inventors and scientists.

    "A fucking portal though?" A portal to another dimension! Every intention they set forth with the thing worked too! It actually worked and didn''t blow up in their faces, it stabilized the gateway, some-fucking-how, and they even got the damn thing to sustain itself. Just, how? Seriously.

    It was a bit of a wake-up call. If his parents are anything, they''re inventors, scientists, and ghost hunters. He''s seen that they''ve been successful before with their hunts, and that just made him hope they never hunted him. If Jack and Maddie are even halfway as good at ghost hunting as they are inventors, he might be screwed.

    There was something that worried him though, before he left the lab last night, he could have sworn he heard howling coming from the portal. It made him jump and despite how loud it seemed, no one else heard it. That meant he was either going crazy, or it was a ghost thing. He felt it was rather a ghost thing, and it set him on edge the whole rest of the night, the next day, and into this morning. He felt it was prudent to be on the lookout for whatever made the noise.

    When he was home, he kept an eye on the basement in case anything came through the portal. He was glad that worry was put away, it seemed his parents actually knew what they were doing. He was worried that he was going to have to fight everything that came through the portal.

    It was when Danny was flying towards his secret base that he felt it again. That same pull he had that day, with the rat ghost. It was different this time. A large puff of blue mist burst through his mouth and the feeling in his stomach told him it was in the direction of his base. So, against better judgement, he went that way. He was going there anyway, but if this meant anything close to what it did last time, it was going to get dangerous.

    Danny was almost there anyway, so when he was getting close to his base, he took the opportunity to drop his bag off. Immediately he took to the skies again to continue his search.

    Why was he following his gut again? It almost got him killed last time, and he really hoped it wouldn''t put him in a similar situation.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    So, it was much worse than he could have hoped for. Down on the ground below him, miles out in the wilderness and a flight a bit away from his cave, he found where the pull was leading him.

    Wolves. How about no? He barely handled one big, dumb rat, how was he going to handle wolves? Plural! Weren''t they really smart? Pack animals that use tactics, and he was by himself!

    Sometimes, lady luck just doesn''t shine on him, and if anything, Danny was pretty sure she just shit on his luck. Not one, but two giant ghost wolves. They were both smaller individually than the rat, which was slightly amusing, but that there were two of them made him want to turn tail and run.

    They hadn''t noticed him yet, and he was hoping to keep it that way. He quickly turned invisible so he could¡­ study them? Or get closer.

    Maybe, just maybe, they didn''t want to fight. It was completely possible that they could be intelligent, not that he''s had any reason to assume they are. If anything, that they keep snarling and barking at one another, just disproves his hoping theory.

    If he''s being honest, he would have figured that ghost wolves would look as ugly and decrepit as the rat, being ghosts and all, but these two look like they regularly groom themselves. Possibly a trait left over from the time it was alive? ''Guess old habits don''t die after death?'' A nice piece of information for future ghosts. Then the giant rat was just a nasty rat?

    The two wolves are about the size of a horse each, which is fucking terrifying. They''re lean, and have long legs, with each toe ending in a large claw. Both wolves are a mixture of greens, though the one on the right is larger and has giant fangs.

    Danny pauses, wolves are pack animals. He didn''t know if two counted as a pack, but there was a real possibility that there were more. As he floats down to one of the tree branches, he hears a rustling from behind and he feels the pull in his stomach again. A puff of blue mist comes from his mouth once again and he whips around on the branch he''s on.

    Everything seems to slow down as Danny perceives what''s about to come. A wolf, invisible like him, is perched on the bottom of a branch, above him on the same tree that he''s on. ''What fucking luck.'' It pounces on him immediately upon eye contact, it''s glowing red eyes show all the menace he needs to know it is not friendly.

    Danny barely reacts in time, dodging to the right and flying out of the tree. A clawed paw nicks his arm, but it''s not an injury that would impede him. He''s lost the element of surprise now, but as his eyes land on the two below, for half a second, the half-ghost notices that they''re still not completely aware of the situation. It''s obvious where this is going and fast, and Danny''s not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. He rockets toward the two wolves with the third right behind him. Before the pursuing wolf''s bark can fully alert them, Danny manages to charge up a couple ecto-blasts and hurls them at his surprised targets.

    The blast impacts both wolves, and they let out yelps from the damage. Since he''s still on an intercept vector he charges up a claw. The first wolf was blasted out of the way, but was recovering quickly. The second one found five claws sheering across its back and cutting a large chunk of its tail off. It howls in anguish and loses its flight, falling onto the ground. It rolls around in the grass in an attempt to douse the pain.

    He smirks as he keeps flying, going intangible through some trees. Danny bobs left to lose his pursuers in the brush, going through tree, bush and rock alike. He starts charging up some goo, he had to control this fight more. If he battles three, or even two at once, he''s screwed. He needs them to stay still for a while.

    Danny flies up to reveal himself to the ghosts. One spots him and howls, and from below he can see all three racing up towards him. As if running on the very air, they gallop toward Danny at an alarming pace. The injured one is lagging behind, reduced mobility makes it less of a threat. He can leave that one out, he just needs to disable one of the other two, both would be ideal.

    Danny charges up an ecto-blast in his spare hand and flies away from the wolves. He needs to keep distance from them, close quarters is in no way appealing in this scenario.

    At what he feels to be full charge, Danny releases the blast and begins charging up another volley. The leading wolf dodges, but the large fanged one is blasted right in its face. Danny smirks and raises both hands, one with an ecto-blast and another with the goo, and fires them both at the stunned target.

    The wolf dodges the blast in time and it flew wildly into the top of a tree, destroying it. The goo slapped against its leg and the following momentum caused it to tumble out of control. It eventually came to a stop against the side of a mountain. It dangled and flailed roughly in confusion as its back legs were glued to the mountainside. A victorious grin split his face at the sight, maybe he wouldn''t die after all.

    Then he felt the bone crushing bite of a fourth ghost wolf on his leg. It tore through the fabric of his suit with ease, skin broke with surprising resistance, but did indeed give out. The haunting snarls were loud and seemed to add to his confused daze. The pain broke it though, and he screamed as it tried to pry his leg off. He glared hateful eyes at the beast before shocking it off of him. He continued to blast it with ecto-electricity before resuming his flight.

    Maybe, just maybe, he could have fought three. Big maybe there, but he was confident and at full power. Now, it was a four versus one, and his leg may or may not be broken. It hurt like hell, but the pain was fading rapidly. He peeked at the leg, and found it a gruesome green mess. Danny grimaced, even if he healed quickly, that would take a bit.

    Through his peripheral he catches sight of an incoming maw of teeth. He dives down, before ziging left. He continues dodging around the wolves as they continue to try and bombard him with their own bodies. They''re faster than him, but he''s more mobile. Danny spots the wolf that''s stuck to the mountain directly below him.

    He rockets toward it at his maximum speed, the whole time charging two ecto-rays in his hands. As he finally gets in range he releases one ray at the beast before it can escape, and sweeps the other behind him. Both rays hit on target. Shooting a mostly immobile target has never been difficult, and seeing as the other three are literally right on his tail, they had no time to evade the swathing beam of energy.

    The burning sweep on the three behind causes them to recoil back, but nothing major is done beside burnt fur and singed skin. The one stuck on a mountain is another story: with nowhere to go, the beam drilled into the wolfs side, and it stayed there as he closed the distance. Eventually it started to burn even deeper, and the wolf howled in pain. It made Danny wince, but he felt less guilty when he remembered they were trying to eat him.

    The beam dug into the wolf''s right shoulder and pinned it into the mountain. Danny maintained the ray as he charged a claw up. He was approaching fast though, so when he finally reached the wolf he reached out and stabbed through the wound he created with the claw. He was putting a lot of faith in his abilities destructiveness, if he was wrong he''d snap his fingers, wrist and arm against the side of the mountain. Then die.

    Danny was rewarded for his self-confidence when his clawed hand went straight through the wolf and into the mountain. It was almost too easy. It shrieked at the impalement, a normal living wolf would never be able to make that kind of sound. High pitched howl''s erupt from the monsters mouth, sounding like eerie bottle rockets in an old time radio.

    It was unnatural.

    Then the wolf reared back, contorting in impossible ways and bit into his left shoulder as an act of vengeance. Danny screamed and ripped his arm out of the undead canines body. The wolf yelped again and let go of its hold on Danny. He bolted into the woods below. Just in time as one of the pursuing wolves barreled into its already injured pack mate. The resulting crash had enough force to crater into the mountainside slightly, knocking stray rocks and boulders down the mountain. ''Hopefully that didn''t start a landslide.'' The remaining wolves turned in time and remained in hot pursuit.

    The open air was not the strategy. The wolves are faster than Danny, and there are four of them. They can come from any angle, and they were definitely going to catch up eventually. He''s hurt two, one hopefully stays out of the fight, the other is right behind him, lagging behind the only wolf that hadn''t taken any damage.

    He was going to have to change that.

    As he bobbed and weaved through the trees he had to keep changing directions. He charged a blast into his hand and electricity in the other. His shoulder hurt, but it wasn''t as bad as his leg. He dodged left as the injured wolf narrowly missed him, then he flicked the ecto-blast at the unprotected back. It blew up in spectacular fashion and sent the beast careening down to the forest floor as a smokey mess. "Down boy!"

    He raised his arm to show some sith justice to the damn ghost, but the offending mouth that had chomped on his forearm stopped that plan in motion. The uninjured thus far wolf received a shock when Danny let the energy flow freely along his arm. It released the appendage and he stumbled back in the air.

    The damage was done though, and his frown gained anger as he re-funneled the electricity back at a new target. The remaining energy coalesced into a ball of electrical energy. He fired without hesitation. The blast slammed into the wolf, catching it in its chest. It howled and whimpered with spasms, but it would recover soon.

    Danny took off again and dove into the trees. All the wolves are injured, but a 4v1 is still not something he wants to deal with. He glanced at his left arm, it was pretty much useless. The shoulder wound was healing up, but with his forearm almost crushed, and definitely shredded, it was slow going for both wounds. His leg was feeling better, maybe the damage wasn''t as bad as he first thought.

    He still had to get away. There was no way he wanted to fight this fight handicapped. So he bolted in the direction of his mountain base. He zigzagged through the forest, barely getting out of range of the pack. He was about a mile out when he was blasted in the back. It was a glancing blow, but it still arched up along his back and into his injured shoulder. He hissed as pain, both new and old racked his nerves.

    "Of all the places to hit!"

    He turned around to see two of the wolves flying at him and two in the back charging up blasts. He continues his flight away, but he keeps an eye on the wolves.

    The two in the back are the most injured. He can see a recognizable hole on the wolf on the left, and another missing a piece of its tail. The two open their mouths wide. Their teeth begin to glow green with energy, and before long a small, unstable blob of ectoplasm forms in between their fangs, undulating randomly. Danny''s eyes widen at both their actions, and the implementation of ecto-manipulation. Deciding he doesn''t want to find out what''s going to happen he fires off multiple blasts. Although not at full power, they can still deal damage. The wolves finish before the barrage hits, and both fire a beam of energy from their mouths.

    The energy arcs across the ground, scorching it, but flies straight to him despite its erratic serpentine pattern. The beam barrels through his low powered blasts going right for him. Trees offer no protection as the volatile energy rips apart the foliage with ease. One of the wolves missed when Danny dived out of the way, but the other hit true.

    As the arc of energy, similar in appearance to lightning, but so very different, raced towards Danny he finally heard it. The buzzing and crackling of energy intermixed with a trill of burning and breaking oxygen. The attack seemed to scream as it made contact with Danny''s arms. He had infused them at the last minute and crossed his arms across his chest. Hopefully the added protection saves him.

    The beam resisted against the infused ectoplasm and pushed Danny into a tree. It cracked and splintered at the sudden force, but tumbled over when the lance of volatile ectoplasm exploded against his arms. He flew back from the force before crashing into another tree. His arms gave off green wafts of smoke, most likely burned by the attack. His suit up to his upper arm was gone, and both his hands were tanned a shade of crispy green they normally didn''t have. It also hurt like a bitch, and Danny had to bite back a whimper from his burned and beaten arms.

    There''s no rest for the wicked though, as the wolves are upon Danny again. He kicks off with his one good limb and flies deeper into the forest. The situation''s gone from bad to worse, and he''s running out of working limbs.

    He allows invisibility and intangibility to overcome him. It''s not easy, using both abilities at once, but in the current situation it was either it happens or he doesn''t escape.

    Danny blasted off, quickly accelerating to his top speed. A straight line isn''t going to cut it, not with these wounds. The half ghost zigzags in random directions, pushing his powers to the limit. It''s difficult to maintain, but ten minutes is the best he can do in his current state.

    He drops to the ground as he wheezes for air he currently doesn''t need. His hands are numb and crispy and Danny''s pretty sure that''s not a good thing. His left arm and shoulder- his whole left side just really hurts. Pain trickled up his leg and spine when he tried to walk on it, but it wasn''t completely unbearable. He could limp on it, sure, but he would much rather fly.

    He''s bleeding, and there''s no way wolves won''t be able to track him. He''s safe for now, but who knows how long that''ll last.

    "Wow, how has this gone so far south, so fast?" He had walked right into the damn trap, and why didn''t he bring any gear? His parents hunt these things for a living, his house has an armory, he should have taken some!

    Hindsight, hindsight, hindsight.

    Danny floats above the treeline and looks around. His mountain is¡­ over there! Oh, the irony. About a three minute flight to the north and he''ll have medical supplies and painkillers.

    Actually, he still wasn''t sure how well of an effect painkillers had on him.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Slowly, but surely, the wolves crept into the cave through the main entrance. The prey had fled here, injured and cornered. The pack had gotten lucky with the ambush, but the prey was powerful.

    Claws scraping on stone echoed in the narrow tunnel entrance. The four wolves slowly trudged through the natural formation. They had gotten hurt from the last encounter, so they were more wary, cautious. The numbers game the pack played always helped them take down prey, but this one still escaped, even after the damage it inflicted on the pack.

    As they finally made their way into the main cavern, Danny started to feel it. The excitement. The rush. The thrill.

    The high of combat.

    The wolves stalked into the room in a single file line. The wolf he shocked, was at the forefront. The half tail wolf led behind the front runner, it''s injuries looked better than before, healed slightly, but they still hampered its movement. The third in line was the one he skewered with his ecto-claw. It''s injuries were extensive, and it floated in the air, rather than walk like the rest of its pack. A weakness Danny fully planned on exploiting. The last wolf was the healthiest of the pack of four. He had only managed to hit it with a few blasts, nothing that would deter it in any way.

    The pack followed the trail of blood he left, and seeing as he smeared it all over the room, and he''s spent a great deal of time here recently, his scent won''t be the easiest thing to find him by. The wolves also walked into the cave, they didn''t fly through the walls like he did occasionally. They walked through, which made him think they relied more on animalistic habits and tendencies, rather than ghost instincts.

    From high above, on the ceiling, Danny waits in between a pair of stalactites. Taking a page from the wolf, Danny had his feet to the ceiling and was looking down at the quartet. He was surprised how easy it was. Most likely, it''s an application of a ghosts ability of flight. More to think on later.

    The wolves weren''t exactly being quiet, low growls and barks on top of the scratching made for good cover over the dull hum of his powers. Claws of ectoplasm ran from fingertip to elbows, fully charged and the best way to keep his already hurt and bandaged arms safe. Danny was high enough in the air that the glow of his powers wasn''t immediately visible, and unless the wolves specifically looked directly above them, they wouldn''t spot him.

    The large fire he made in the middle of the room was a good distraction, and it cast shadows in the large grotto that further covered his glowing form and weapons.

    The wolves grew cautious at the sight of fire and slowed their approach. They were almost there, almost right below him. His claws cut just a little bit more into the slate and limestone formations.

    The wolf in the front, possibly the leader, barked a little louder and the ghosts stopped. Danny frowned, but they were close enough, and were spreading out, so it was now or never.

    His grip tightened and the claws easily cut through the base of the stalactites. As they began to fall, Danny helped speed things up by soundlessly accelerating and pushing the mineral missiles down. He unknowingly infused ectoplasm into the rocks, making them even deadlier to their intended targets. The lead wolf sniffed a couple of fallen rock formations, practice from earlier Danny mused, now served as a distraction. At the rate it was going, the rock spikes he had in each hand would impale the third wolf, most likely ending it, and he would split off to hit the fourth.

    As Danny entered the range of final approach, he released the two stalactites and connected his two hands together. As if he was literally diving into combat, he focused on his claws and tried his damnedest to hone their cutting power to the maximum.

    There was no turning back, Danny finalized his resolve.

    He hit the wolf half a second before the stalactites. His claws, combined together in a ghostly guillotine, cuts the wolfs head off in one strike. His feet landed on the wolf''s now dead again body. The stress of the momentum pushed his legs to the limit, his injured and splinted leg begged to give out, but he bit his tongue and pushed through the pain. He pushed himself off, aiming for the second wolf that was now reacting with the first.

    The stalactites did their job as intended, but damn is it gruesome. One ceiling spike struck true, right through the canines head, and pierced through into the ground. It didn''t even mutter a yelp before its afterlife ended. The other pierced into its back, slightly off from the center, but it still cut a large chunk of its body off.

    The remaining two wolves spun around in a blink, but that was all it took for the pack to be reduced to two. Halved in half a second. Surprise flashed through before an enraged snarl roared out at the half ghost.

    Danny grinned like a madman, despite wanting to puke for his actions. Even with the grizzly results, his plan had worked far better than he would have thought. Like a charm, really. Two targets down, survival rates are soaring up and all he got was a little more ache in his legs. It was already there anyway, a little bit more and this would end.

    The two sides met quick. Danny tried to claw his target, but it opened its mouth and fired a blast at him point blank. He rolled left and dug a hand into the ground, leaving claw marks into the stone. His other met the blast in a failed attempt to deflect it away. It worked partially, but blew up almost immediately after he bounced it off.

    The blast flung him further left, but his anchored and least injured arm kept him from being blasted off. Even with undead endurance, his arms screamed in protest at the force both were experiencing.

    The lead wolf was on Danny in an instant, but he responded with a kick and sent it flying over his head. Danny rolled right to avoid another blast and returned fire with a ray. The attack landed initially, but the ghost wasn''t dumb enough to stay still.

    The ghost teen needed to keep moving if he didn''t want to become a meal. He flew back to create some distance. Electricity rolled across his coated right arm in waves, and he focused an ecto-blast in his left.

    This was the utmost of his control at the moment. He was using four abilities at once, flight, ecto-claws, ecto-blasts and electrokinesis. Flight was negligible, and he''s never had a problem using it in conjunction with his other powers, but these were new waters. The two ecto-abilities were technically a part of his ecto-manipulation, but they were two different facets of the power and he was using that along with electricity and flight. Electrokinesis wasn''t the easiest power to use in the first place, but it''s very powerful and at the moment, very strenuous.

    The injured wolf continued to fire off ecto-blasts, but the charge up for each shot was slow enough for him to counter attack. As he was flying back, he aimed the blast at the charging wolf. The wolf proves its agility again, when it dodges the shot.

    Danny ducks as another blast soars over him. The shot is wide and slams into the ground behind the wolf, knocking him over towards Danny "Hah!" Opportunity strikes as the ghost boy brings his fist down on the wolf''s back, slamming it into the ground. It grunts in pain, but shows no other signs that the attack was effective.

    Danny jumps back and aims his electrified arm at the downed ghost. The wolf growls and moves to get up, when a thick bolt of electricity whips it into the wall, twenty feet away. This time it does yelp from the pain, and the attack burns a large part of its back. The wall cracks and craters, but the cave shows no sign of collapse. The blast stunned the wolf, and its body spasms and constricts even as it tries and fails to get up.

    He''s out of the fight for now.

    The fight may be going well-ish, but Danny''s stamina is waning. That last blast of electricity cost him more of his reserves than he thought it would. But the odds are on his side now, he has a real chance to beat them, to survive.

    So Danny is caught off guard when the injured wolf from before that was acting as ranged support, rushed him. The horse sized, rabid beast headbutts into his side, and Danny has d¨¦j¨¤ vu at the feeling in his abdomen. Ah, that''s right. Broken ribs, how great. Danny flies back and skids across the ground, but he rights himself in time to see the wolf back on him again.

    Danny catches the wolf by the shoulders, but that only stops it from biting him, though the giant maw snapping for his face incites a little bit of panic. It does nothing to stop the giant paws full of claws from tearing into his chest and stomach. He dropped to a knee and releases a scream as the claws slowly rake through his torso muscles.

    In retaliation, Danny digs his own claws into the creatures shoulders, and he''s rewarded with a cry from the beast. He pushes off his knee and turns his body to throw the wolf away from him in its moment of distraction. The ghost wolf is blasted back mid-tumble, by a hasty ray from Danny.

    The lead wolf finally managed to get back on its feet. Its steps are shaky, and static sparks along its body occasionally, but it recovers enough and regroups with its remaining pack mate. The two ghosts glance at one another before redoubling a glare onto Danny''s form across the room. They snarled and bared their teeth, drool dripped from their mouths and hate flowed from their eyes.

    "Yeah. Yeah, that figures, don''t run."

    He was hoping they would retreat since they''ve suffered rather¡­ heavy casualties. With two of their own dead, they''ve lost a serious advantage. Even injured, Danny''s got a good chance of at least making it out of this alive, os long he doesn''t mess it up too badly.

    The two wolves continue to glare at him, but Danny notices their fangs beginning to slowly illuminate. Slowly they open their mouths, most likely to collect the energy needed. His eyes widen in realization. ''It''s the attack from earlier!''

    He has to stop that attack, there''s no cover and if he''s hit by that, he''ll be cooked. Plus, the cave might collapse, but that''s not that big a deal compared to his life in peril. Well, it could put his life in even more peril if it falls on his head.

    Danny psyches himself up for what, most likely, will be the final confrontation. His muscles ripple with power, and his hands and eyes glow bright with ectoplasm. He infuses ectoplasm into his arms and charges a blast with each hand.

    There''s not much space between the opposing parties, maybe forty feet. Danny closes the distance in a second. He focuses both blasts on the still sparking wolf.

    This wolf was the closest to finished with the attack, but the sudden blasts interrupt its energy collection. The loss of concentration explodes radically in the wolf''s face and open maw, unstable ectoplasm burns the inside of its mouth and down into its throat. Any fur previously on the ghosts face was gone now, replaced with burnt energized flesh.

    Satisfied with his work, Danny refocuses on the other wolf and he''s not happy with what he sees. He allows the ectoplasm on his right arm to condense into a claw and charges the thing. His other hand charges up with electricity, just another possible defense if he doesn''t get there in time.

    The battered and bleeding undead canine, mere feet away, howls with the unstable energy beam, releasing the deadly attack point blank. There''s no time to dodge, so Danny flings both hands in front of him while curving his body. The beam slams into his angled arms, grinding and pushing him back. He can feel the burn through his own energy, sizzling and frying his arms through his hasty defense. The electricity he built up does seem to help, empowering both the sole claw and his ecto-infused arm, but not much. Not enough.

    The strong attack forces him into the wall, and he struggles to keep his defense up. Then he remembers he has ghost powers, besides purely offensive ones. In his moment of clarity he phases through the wall, allowing the serpentine emerald beam to hit the wall of the cave. Danny keeps backing up as the beam melts the stone wall, continuing on its path toward him. It continues on towards its target, barely impeded. Molten rock drips from the opening and Danny dives down the second he gets enough breathing room.

    Danny returns to tangibility from below the wolf with a violent growl. His claw impales the wolf in its chest, up to his elbow, and the beam cuts off when the force pushes the wolf''s mouth shut, along with forcing the body up. The attack explodes in its closed mouth, similar to the other wolf, but the full power ability was leagues more mighty than a half charged attack. It''s head recoils back and the dead beast lets out a hoarse and strangled cry.

    The other wolf is on him at the last moment. A thunderous roar pierces his enhanced hearing far too close for him to do anything about it. It actually startles him enough that he turns intangible by accident for a few seconds. This saves his arm from being chomped right through as a maw of deadly sharp teeth.

    His eyes widen at the close call, and for once in his half-life he thanks his luck. Years and years of unarguably, shit luck doesn''t make up for saving his arm, but it''s a start.

    It''s a start that ends much too quick.

    The first bite may have missed, but the follow up on his leg didn''t, Danny could barely see its mouth move. Turning intangible was a reaction, not on purpose, so he slipped out of it immediately. The impaled wolf had fallen through his untouchable arm and dropped to the floor. The gaping hole in its chest leaked ectoplasm in a pool around the ghost. It huffed and puffed, trying to cling to a life it doesn''t have anymore as it slowly bled out.

    With refocused attention, mainly on the intense pain from his thigh on the formerly uninjured leg. Danny''s vision darkens around the edges of his vision and he screams from crushing muscle and can feel his femur slowly getting closer and closer to snapping under the wolfs monstrous jaw strength.

    He slams his fists on its head to stun it on sheer reflex alone, but all it does is hammer teeth further into flesh. The grotto shakes from the slams, dust and small rocks fall from the ceiling. He hisses through his teeth, but is too blinded by pain and anger. He repeats the action once, twice, and thrice more before the wolf releases its grip and staggers back. Danny''s leg is left a bleeding mess, flesh and suit are torn apart and about, and he''s not even sure if his femur is broken or not. He really hoped it wasn''t, he had no idea how to work around that.

    For now though, walking isn''t an option. Danny floats back quickly, the need to make space and blast these two giants completely dominating his mind. He''s on the other side in a heartbeat, and levels his arms at the cause of his pain. Electricity coils around his whole upper body, sparking along and burning the ground in wild arcs. Any noise in the cave is drowned out by the low hum of energy and the sporadic crackles of electricity. The whole cave is alight as Danny glows brighter and brighter with power.

    The wolves aren''t idle. The impaled wolf can''t move, but it''s body was angled almost perfectly. It pours the last of its energy into a blast, if it can save it''s last pack mate then that''s fine. The other wolf, in much better condition than its companion charges at Danny. It''s claws are extended in condensed in ectoplasm, similar to the half-ghosts own ecto-claws. Energy collects in its mouth, and it''s still dazed eyes radiate fury and hate at the teenage ghost.

    They all fire at the same time. Twin thunderous booms shake the cave and deafen its occupants. Bolts of green electricity, the closest he''s gotten to lightning so far, slam into the opposing attacks of the wolves. The blasts barely left their mouths before the opposing energies collide. The attacks crash into each other and fight for dominance, for all of three seconds before they implode on each other.

    The explosion is massive and Danny is blasted back into the wall. He gasps as the wind is knocked out of him, and he can barely keep conscious. A heavy green smoke fills the cave, and the epicenter of the explosion glows a bright green.

    Danny''s ears are ringing and he''s barely aware that they''re bleeding. His left eye leaks green life force and every single one of his limbs hurt. His whole body is wrecked worse than last time.

    He barely has time to be thankful that there wasn''t a cave-in before he passes out.

 Chapter 9

    Chapter 9

    "Oh¡­ my everything."

    Pain, again, is the ruling feeling when Danny wakes up. This was becoming a regular occurrence, unfortunately. His head was pounding, his body felt like it was vibrating, with too many senses all relaying one feeling: pain. Danny hesitantly cracked open his eyes, tiredness, exhaustion, and dread filled his being. He was greeted by the visage of his cave ceiling. Rocky protrusions jutting down from the roof like spike traps in a dungeon, which ironically enough, was what he used them as: a trap.

    Then Danny got an eyeful of what was wrong.

    His arms actually didn''t hurt that much, just a dull soreness. No, not really, they were burned, battered and bleeding. His right forearm was shredded, the muscles beneath the skin chewed on and very visible, and his bone was either broken or bruised. The sight made him queasy.

    His torso, or specifically his ribs, had that familiar sharp ache that was there over a week ago. Broken. Splotchy patches of yellow, purple, black and blue colored the offending area. It didn''t look pretty. There was also the burning along his chest and stomach, vague recollection reminds him that it was from a good clawing, courtesy of one of the wolves. He winced at the memory.

    His back was untouched for the most part, except for the shoulder area. That''s a good thing, Danny learned last time that patching up back wounds by himself was damn hard and tedious. His left shoulder was not only bitten by a dire-wolf ghost, but half the wound was cauterized with that devastating beam attack. The other half left small holes where the teeth had torn chunks out.

    Then there were his legs. "Yikes."

    Fucked up, for sure. There was no internal debate about it, that''s just what they were. His left calf didn''t look like it was bitten by a wolf, it looked like it was attacked by a pack of angry meat hooks, but the shin area had large holes in it from the damned beast.

    His other leg was better. The ghost wolf had bit into his thigh, and based off the small movements he was making, it was either bruised or broken. He could tell that beside the skin, his muscles were torn into as well. There were once again large puncture marks where its giant teeth settled into his skin. The abnormally large canines of the wolf had to be at least punctured five inches deep, probably deeper after he practically hammered the thing into his leg in a panic.

    Danny felt like puking, this was the second time this summer. If anything, this felt worse than the last supernatural fight he got into. Where the hell were these things coming from?

    There was a feeling of pride, and it boiled through his bodies hazy fog of ache. Not only had Danny survived, he had won against four enemies at once. Four horrifying, large, snarling monsters that fired lasers from their mouths, flew, and almost chomped through him on several close calls.

    Danny drug the battle out, made hit-and-runs, dodged around like a madman, used the environment as a weapon, divided them and focused on their weakest links. Hasty plans coming together on the fly, literally, and somehow, someway working out.

    And he won.

    He should have used his head more. He should have prepared more, should have been more cautious. Should, should, should; Yet, he lived. His heart still beats and his core still pulses. He was banged up worse than anything before, he was in immense pain all over his body, and it could have been prevented.

    But he won.

    Danny was victorious. He won, he won, he won and against all odds he won! Everything pointed to him becoming a meal: He was led into a trap, ambushed twice, wounded on every limb and pushed to the point of mutual destruction with the last two. He fought and pushed himself harder than anything in his life. Limits were broken, so was his body, but his will was never stilled and he kept pushing and it showed in his survival!

    ''Who''s the loser now?'' It was a thought that echoed in his head. Despite damage that would no doubt kill a normal human, he survived and he would live to see another day. He''d like to see Dash and his crony A-listers do a tenth of what he did.

    "Haha¡­ hahaha-ack!?" Danny laughed, it was all he could think to do after everything that''s happened, but he forgot about his broken ribs. He deluged into a painful coughing fit for a couple of minutes, until he finally calmed down. He grimaced, but realized he wasn''t in as bad of a mood as he should be, especially with his body in its current condition.

    There''s no denying that he hates the pain, it''s been a constant part of his life for years. Parents, bullies, peers, accidents, friends. This time, however, it''s almost like there was a purpose for it. He took the pain for his survival, and was rewarded with his victory. He would live to fight another day. At least he thought so, he''d probably think differently later when bandaging himself up.

    Danny made to sit up, but it wasn''t entirely feasible to use his arms. One shoulder shredded, burned and out of commission, and the other arms forearm wasn''t going to be seeing any action for a few days, possibly a week if the bone was broken. Danny was also Fenton at the moment, human and all. It''s no wonder he hurt so much, everything seemed to hurt more whenever he had a fully beating heart. Danny braced himself and shut his eyes shut before he started again. He shimmied his body up the wall he was by with small wiggles and nudges. It took seven minutes of agonizing shuffles to get to a more comfortable position.

    "What the fuck?" Immediately after he opened his eyes, he was greeted by another sight. The glowing substance that makes up his ghost forms blood, ectoplasm, was flowing towards him. He could see it actively moving towards him. He peaked a little to the left, not enough to fall over, but enough to see where one of the paths traveled.

    "!"

    Danny did not let out a girly high pitched scream, or rear back in confused revolt. He would deny it to anyone who ever suggested it, but he wasn''t entirely prepared for the sight that greeted him. Flowing into the wounds on his legs, ectoplasm trailed from the melted bodies of the wolves he had slain. It didn''t make him happy to kill the ghosts, again, but he wasn''t going to become a snack so they could live. They picked the wrong fight, and paid for it. The trails of dimly lit ectoplasm flowed from the last locations of the wolves.

    "Oh- ew, ew, ew. What the fuck?! I can feel it moving in my leg!" The foreign energy that was entering his wounds, almost crawled around his insides. Like leeches or worms wiggling around his veins. He could feel it move through his blood vessels and integrate itself in his body. Two trails of two led to separate leg wounds, slowly entering through his calf and thigh.

    This time Danny really did puke, he leaned over left and vomited onto the ground next to him. This was worse than getting stabbed with a needle at the doctors, a completely different kind of invasive displeasure and discomfort. He really hoped that there were no ghost diseases that could be transferred through ectoplasm-to-ectoplasm contact.

    Despite the discomfort entering and probing through his gaping and previously patched wounds, Danny can feel some energy returning to him. Laden with tender irritation and pangs of minor relief from the invading energy, Danny can barely process what he''s feeling.

    The worst part about it was that he couldn''t do anything to stop it. He was too thoroughly exhausted to move or get away from¡­ whatever this is. It took every bit of energy he had to shuffle into this position, and calling on his ghost half proved to be a fruitless endeavor. It seemed that side of him too, was exhausted.

    So he''s stuck here, wounded and barely conscious, with ectoplasm crawling into him like a parasite. Now he had an empty stomach, his earlier emergency patch-ups were dirty with blood, ectoplasm, dirt and grime and he doesn''t even have his phone!

    "Oh man, what time is it? I can''t see shit in this cave¡­"

    Danny doubted his parents would notice his absence, but Jazz would. She would raise hell if he stayed out past curfew again, that''s for sure. That raises another question, how long has he been here for the packs bodies to melt to goo? Was that common for ghosts who died again? How long did it take for that to happen? The giant rat ran away before he could finish it, but the wolves didn''t have that luxury.

    Danny had slayed them down to the last, no member of the pack was left unreaped. Even if it was for his survival, it left a bitter taste in his mouth, but it would pass. He''s hunted before, a sparse few times with his uncle, and while he doesn''t particularly like the sport, the act of killing an animal won''t burden his conscious too heavily.

    Especially since it was in self defense.

    What makes him feel like shit is that it probably could have been avoided. If he had prepared accordingly, observed them thoroughly, paid more attention, he could have had much better results! Maybe he wouldn''t have been injured to such an extent, maybe he wouldn''t have had to kill the creatures. So many maybes, but none of them would come to fruition. He could work on it in the future, but the die has been cast for this fight, and there was no changing the results.

    Danny groaned and closed his eyes. He laid his head against the cool wall of the cave and tried to fall back asleep. He wouldn''t be moving from this spot anytime soon, and there was no reason he had to stay there in pain and boredom the whole time. May as well sleep away the pain while his body slowly heals itself.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "So, do you think he knows?"

    The question startles her, but she knows the answer nonetheless. She hesitates for a brief moment before responding, "I would say¡­ yeah, he does. We''ve been back for a couple days now and he hasn''t texted or called once."

    They had seen him online a couple of times on several different games, but he would always go offline before they could even invite him.

    Tucker sighed, but he wanted to know what to possibly expect. "How much do you think he knows? Like, we just lied to him knows, or that we watched him spit blood and did nothing to help him knows?"

    Sam bit her lip, that was the question she''s been asking herself for the past few days. "Honestly, I hope it''s just the first one. Otherwise, we''re in deep shit."

    Their inaction to help their best friend had been weighing on their conscious since the day it happened. It made them feel like shit for just watching as he literally coughed out blood onto the floor. They didn''t even try to help him, to comfort him, nothing. They were in the lie at that point, and afraid of the possible repercussions from Danny.

    Danny hates a lot of things. He hates school, the A-listers, most of their pushover biased teachers, his parents embarrassing him and his sister, and most of all: being lied to by his friends. He''s made that point clear the first time they lied to him. He doesn''t have many people that he could call friends. Literally just Sam and Tucker.

    "You know how this is gonna go right?"

    She knows, but maybe they can rectify it and salvage the summer. "We''re going to have to apologize to him. There''s no getting around it, it''s just a matter of how angry is he? Normally, he blows up on the spot. That he didn''t immediately call us on it, or send an angry text¡­ means¡­ well, I''m not sure. Bu-"

    "He might not have known until after the ordeal, actually." Although not pleased with the interruption, a different insight is welcome.

    It''s a comforting thought¡­ until it isn''t. Really, it''s almost worse. If he found out through a third party that not only had they lied to him, but did nothing as he bled out, he would be infuriated beyond anything they''ve seen. "Actually, maybe we should prepare for the worse. What if h-"

    "Oh, dammit! How did I miss that timing?!" A large ''You died'' message appears on screen, and Tucker clicks the respawn tab. "Ahem." He pauses the game, looks back to Sam and promptly flinches at the glare he''s getting.

    "Stop interrupting me, and pay attention." There''s no room for argument there, so he puts the controller down.

    "Sorry."

    The goth sighs before resuming where she left off, "Like I was saying, what if he found out through someone else? You know he''s loyal to a fault, and that''s what he values most. If he found out, not from us or by himself, that we lied and didn''t help him, he''s gonna be furious."

    Tucker hadn''t thought of that. He grimaces at the possibility. Now that''s the worst case scenario, and if it really was that, then the coming storm is going to be awful.

    "Let''s¡­ hope it wasn''t that. It''s not necessarily gonna be the worst possible thing, Sam. He might not even know- he probably does, mind you- but it could be any scenario and we won''t know until we speak to him." There''s wisdom in what the nerdy teen says, but there''s a feeling in the pit of her stomach that''s practically screaming at her that he not only knows, but is pissed about it too.

    Sam runs a hand down her face and leans back onto her bed. "Maybe, I don''t know. Let''s just text him okay?" It''s never been so hard to type out a few simple words before, and they''ve been procrastinating and putting it off.

    "Not it."

    Tucker gapes at her for a moment, "Really?" Sam smirks in response, "Yes, really. Now send the text and lets get to playing. This game''s got co-op right?"

    He shakes his head in exasperation, "Fine, and yes there''s co-op. Grab a controller, sign in, and help me kill this damn boss. I keep messing up the timing for dodges and parries."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Danny''s been acting strange. It''s been noticeable since the start of summer, but to be honest, ever since their parents completed and activated their portal, it''s grown to new heights. Before, he wasn''t in the house that often, which was strange since he never went out without his friends. Now, while he stays home just a bit more, he almost seems paranoid.

    Danny, when home, would constantly glance at their parents lab. Every time there was an explosion, or if their father cheered in a ridiculously boisterous manner, Danny would jump slightly. That sounds normal by all accounts, but ever since Jazz and Danny were little, they''ve gotten used to those¡­ rather odd quirks.

    It''s like he regressed.

    On top of all that, he''s been getting home later, and leaving much earlier than before.

    So, Jazz now finds herself snooping in her brothers room. If someone asked, yes, she does feel ashamed to be doing this. It''s without a doubt a breach of trust, and she hates that she''s doing this, but she''s worried. And anyone who knows her knows that she can take things too far in her worries. Especially when her little brother is concerned.

    The elder sibling looks around her brothers room, and to her relief, notices nothing at first glance.

    "That''s a good start." She mumbles.

    Deciding to do a little more than just taking a look, she starts with the dresser. Nothing of the sort of damning evidence was found there, but she idly wonders why the dresser was so empty. That does cause her to pause as she can''t remember the last her brother had gotten any new clothes. He hadn''t hit a growth spurt for a while, so he hasn''t had the need for any new articles. So did he finally get tall enough to outgrow some of his clothes? She knows for sure that he''ll probably end up close to their fathers monstrous height of 6''9".

    "The dresser''s a bust, what about¡­ the computer?" That unfortunately, was a bust as well. Not only is it password protected, which is smart, he apparently changed his password from any of the ones she knew before. She''s happy he''s changed his rather obvious previous password into something she couldn''t guess. Hopefully he won''t notice that she locked him out for eight hours. When she went to check his desk, surprisingly that was locked as well. She didn''t even know he had locks on the thing!

    Dresser, computer, desk: all failures, and she''s glad for it. The less she finds the better. If she finds nothing, that means she''s just overthinking it.

    The end table next to the bed was unlocked, thankfully, but that turned out to be nothing as well. Just a couple of chargers for his phone and a controller. His backpack was gone, nothing she can do about that, so where would be next? Jazz''s eyes drift towards the bed, and she shrugs her shoulders. ''It can''t hurt to check.''

    Nothing is specifically under the bed, aside from some dirty clothes he''s most likely forgotten about, but she is startled to find a little bit of blood by one of the bedposts. It''s dry, so she can''t really tell how long it''s been there, and it''s really not a lot, but Jazz can''t help but feel a bit of foreboding from it. She frowns, but it''s not exactly a crime. Honestly, it could have come from any number of times Danny''s been hurt over his life. He may clean his room, but obviously he''s not that thorough.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    The closet is next, and the only thing she finds is a similarity to his dresser: fewer clothes than what should be in there. Maybe he really did catch a couple inches in verticality. That''s good, the bigger he is for high school, the better. Who knows how Casper High is going to treat him, and he needs all the bulk he can get to survive that cesspool.

    Jazz stands up straight and stretches. Thankfully, everywhere so far is a bust, and while the bit of blood by the bedpost is concerning, considering his life, it''s not entirely strange. She can just find a way to be nonchalant and ask him about it.

    The last remaining place to check is his bathroom. Danny has an en-suite bathroom similar in size to hers, but smaller than her parents. Jazz has always been thankful that their family can afford to have three bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms. Their house is rather large actually: two stories, five bedrooms, four baths, attic, basement; all proof that their parents do indeed make enough money from their inventions to support an even larger population in the house.

    The bathroom is different from his room, Jazz notices this immediately.

    It''s not as clean, as in there''s towels strung about on racks and on the floor. His sink looks clean enough, but that''s not what garners her attention.

    His garbage bin. There''s not much in it, a couple empty toilet paper rolls, crumpled paper, used q-tips. None of that steals her attention: it''s the few bloody bandages and gauze.

    Why was this here? When did Danny get so hurt he needed to have it covered in gauze? Was it recently? Did their parents cause this, or was this because of those despicable bullies. That last thought makes her fume at the possibility. ''If those disgusting, snobby A-listers are behind this, there will be hell to pay!''

    She wants to ask Danny what this is about, she wants nothing more than to know why her baby brother could have gotten so hurt. But she can''t. If she did that, he''d find out right away that she searched through his privacy. Not only would she get no answers, Danny would be furious with her. Their relationship right now can be said to be better than ever before. He willingly talks to her about what''s bothering him; his concerns, his fears, and if he found out she invaded his privacy, that might just go down the drain.

    Begrudgingly, Jazz knows that she''s going to have to let this go. It''s not the first time Danny has been hurt, it won''t be the last, and who knows how long ago he used these. It could have been three days ago, or three weeks.

    Other than the contents of the garbage bin, there''s nothing of interest in the bathroom, and the eldest Fenton child takes that as a que to make it her best interest to stop being such a nosy sister.

    At least for the moment. She could be one later when she catches Danny doing something he''s not supposed to do. Plus, she was starting to feel kind of guilty.

    However, in her peripherals she catches something on the ground, under the open door. It''s sticking out ever so slightly, barely noticeable, but she catches it nonetheless. She backs up a step and closes the door. Without the obstruction of her vision she finally sees what was once hidden underneath.

    It''s blood. Not a lot, maybe a couple inches in diameter. That''s not what catches her eye though.

    It''s that there''s a very familiar glowing green substance in it, and it brings up a rather valid question.

    Why the hell is there ectoplasm, in what is most likely, Danny''s blood?

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Beautiful. Enchanting. Mystifying.

    The endless expanse of space sprawled before him, demanding his attention and his marvel for the infinite void. And marvel he did. The pure black of space was highlighted by far off galaxies, suns, black holes, and other celestial bodies. Travelling storms of radiation, space dust, and other miscellaneous foriegn objects peppered the sky here and there, roaming endlessly since the big bang, and they will continue till the end of time.

    Marvelous.

    It was the most beautiful and awe-inspiring thing he''s ever seen. To see it without an atmosphere, with perfect clarity and enhanced sight, makes him appreciate his death and all the benefits he''s been given. It caused almost a physical pain to look away from the rawest form of the universe he''s ever seen.

    Subtly, ever so vaguely, Danny knew this was a dream. Above all, he would definitely remember going into space. It''s his lifelong goal after all, so it goes without saying that him, finally reaching his end goal, the final frontier, would be unforgettable.

    Yet, he''s on a comet. It''s probably a comet, if the millions of miles of a tailing trail are to go by. The dust and ion tail continues further than what he can see, and it brings a smile to his face. Despite the whole thing being covered in ice, frost and everything cold, he felt more comfortable than anytime he''s ever been on earth. That''s most likely because there''s no gravity, but he should be freezing. He''s in his ghost form, but surely he could feel the cold in that form too, no?

    Another thing to indicate that this is a dream, is the ridiculous construct made of ice that is on the comet. If the half-ghost was going to put a finger on it, he would say it''s like some kind of fantasy castle. The castle wasn''t made, or molded, or sculpted. No, it was formed, created, willed into its shape.

    Grand ice blue was the predominating color, although darker and lighter shades of blue were apparent in other areas. From his position, he could see battlements on each corner, and a quick flight up showed that there were nine in total. An odd number, but who was he to say it was weird? He didn''t know how to design castles, but in his opinion, it looked pretty damn cool. There was only one entrance, the one he was in front of. The parapets grew jaggedly from the top of each battlement tower, though they were all unmanned. Abandoned? Looking around proved there were no arrow-loops either, further proving that this was not an average or traditional castle.

    Danny chose to walk instead of fly at this moment. He wasn''t sure how far he could get away from the comet before it sped off without him, and they weren''t very well known for having that great of gravity. Seeing as how they weren''t anywhere near a sun or planetary body, the speed was probably somewhere around two-thousand miles per hour. He wouldn''t be catching up if he fell off.

    The soft crunch of snow and frost rang out on the silent drifting snowball. Honestly, that confused Danny since he shouldn''t be able to hear anything in the vacuum of space, but it added to the mood. It helped to relax him, and surmounted the whole situation. It felt right, and it was pleasant on the ears.

    There isn''t a moat or drawbridge, so Danny walked through the barbican and the gate. It was a two fold entryway, with a portcullis on each side. Surprise, surprise, they were made of ice as well. A dark, very dark, almost midnight blue ice, but most definitely still ice. Looking up, there were murder holes up where a ceiling should be, but nothing was there to actually kill any invading forces. He wondered how smart that was, to not even have any form of defense or ammo for them, but again he realized that he''s on a comet.

    Who the hell is going to invade this castle?

    Moving on, Danny finally gets his first glimpse at the bailey. It''s honestly, unimpressive, or rather, kind of creepy. Maybe if there was some greenery or vegetation of some kind, but there was no way of getting any of that in deep space. There were statues though, quite a bit too, mostly of large claws and hands of ice erupting from the ground. There were a few weapons here and there too. Large swords of all kinds like longswords, claymores, zweihanders, nodachis, odachis, there''s even a giant buster sword. Spears, glaives, and other such pole arms mingle with the bladed weaponry, along with wicked looking shields, even a few scythes and warhammers too. A couple axes, a few clubs, the occasional halberd, bardiche, an eveningstar. Name it, and it could probably be found somewhere in the ward.

    A closer look shows an almost frightening amount of detail on each and every weapon: engravings, etchings, polishing, and if it had an edge, it was most definitely sharpened to a horrendous degree. Off to the side, by the entrances of the battlements and turrets, was a rack of bows. Not the old archaic bows of the middle ages, but what looked like some kind of super-compound bows. Four pulleys, two on top and two on the bottom, most likely intended for more strength and accuracy, but Danny genuinely wonders if it actually adds more or not. He knew nothing of archery, especially compound bows, and couldn''t help but think that they were pointless. But maybe he''s wrong. There were no arrows anywhere nearby though, so that in and of itself made the bows useless.

    Seemingly having had enough of his weapons inspection Danny does an about-face and returns on his path back towards the gate house, or the main entrance. A large double door, maybe twenty feet in height, with intricate carvings, runes, hieroglyphics, and other odd symbols stands before him. It''s honestly beautiful, and despite the lack of variety in colors, Danny is still marveled by the sheer magnitude of detail and work put into it. He can say for sure he never knew that someone could do so much with one color. Actually, looking closer, the runes flicker with an acid- no, ectoplasmic green every minute or so.

    "Whoa." That opens up another possibility, were these magical? Does magic exist? Why else would they be glowing? He can''t see all the way through the gate or walls, but it is still ice, and it''s very easy to see that there''s no immediate wires or lights, so maybe, just maybe there''s magic in it. Or in this case, maybe ghost magic. For Danny, as the son of two scientists, it is a little hard to believe that magic exists, but then again, he''s dead and alive at the same time, so he''d try to keep an open mind to that in the future.

    At the top of the double doors was a large emblem. Depicted in a scaled heater shield was a flaming black and white D with a P in it. Just under the shielded emblem was a passage in a language he''s never had a chance to learn or read.

    "Mortuus Est Autem Rex Frigus?" Definitely not English, but if he can remember this when he wakes up, he''ll have to google it. Assuming it''s a language from earth and not some alien language, but it looked like it came from Earth, sounded like it too.

    Danny refocuses on the door again. He doesn''t know how long he''ll be in this dream, so he may as well get back to exploring. Time''s being wasted, and this is the best dream he''s ever had.

    Hands down.

    Using his ghostly strength, Danny pushes the giant doors open. They made no noise as they ghosted across the floor.

    And then he woke up.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Glowing green eyes snapped open. The real world greeted the young half-ghost with a subdued ache across his injured body. It was a vast difference compared to when he last went to sleep. He idly wonders how he''s healed enough for the pain to lessen so much, but quickly realizes that he''s in his ghost form. The reduced pain does wonders for him though, and he''s more than okay with it.

    Danny floats off the ground and re-inspects himself. His arms¡­ aren''t in the best shape, but they''re coming along. He can''t exactly check his shoulder without a mirror, but his forearm doesn''t look as bad, but it still doesn''t look great. He notices that his suit did not reform over his body, it makes him wonder if the suit won''t reform over wounds or when he''s low on power.

    His legs, actually, look healed for the most part. The wholes that were over the shin before are closed and scabbed over. His back calf isn''t bleeding anymore, but there was a very obvious and noticeable indention where his leg meat used to be. His thigh wound, while not healed as much, seemed smaller. His bone didn''t hurt anymore, and the wounds weren''t as deep. That''s not saying much since he hammered those teeth into his leg some six odd inches, but a show of improvement so soon does wonders for his mood.

    The half ghost still has no intention of walking on it though, so he keeps his way of movement via flight. He looks over to where the ghost wolves had perished. There was nothing left of them. They had either dissipated already, or he absorbed them in their entirety. Danny shivers at the possibility, he can positively say that having that stuff wiggle and crawl its way into him was one of the most disturbing things that''s ever happened to him.

    He shakes his head before searching for the cores of the wolves. He wasn''t sure what he would do with it, but it should come in handy later. Well, it might have, if the damn cores weren''t gone.

    "Where are they¡­?" Is it possible that absorbed them too? That''s disappointing, and disturbing, he wanted to be able to take a peak at one and see what they actually looked like.

    With enough energy to actually get around he makes his way to the entrance. He stops shortly after and turns to the spot where he had passed out. Dried and still smelly vomit laid on the ground, it was intermixed with blood and ectoplasm. With a simple though Danny burned it with a ray. He grinned, that was a way better way to clean stuff up. Just burn it!

    The teenage ghost made his way towards his bag at the entrance. When he arrived, he noticed that it was dark out. Night had come, and the day was long gone, but the question remained: What time was it? He was glad the only thing that had changed from its position at the entrance was that it was knocked over. Most likely, the wolves had smelled his scent on it and checked it out. There was no missing contents, not that there should be, but it never hurts to check, and was always good to be cautious.

    He grabbed his phone and unlocked it using the fingerprint scanner. "Tsk. Ten percent, cheap-ass phone." It was four in the morning. That''s great, he''ll have to explain that to Jazz. There was a missed call from Jazz, and three or four texts from her. All along the lines of: Where are you?

    There was also a message from Tucker. His eyes narrowed and his lips thinned, it was about time they sent him something. He wouldn''t respond right away though, nor would he visit them anytime soon. Maybe when he''s fully healed, or when he didn''t have broken ribs.

    The flight back home was short and sweet. No incidents, no sightings, he just made it home. When he phased through into his room he shut his door, quietly, and then he locked it. When he turned around he had an odd feeling that someone had gone through his room. Everything was in order still though. Dirty laundry where he last left it, presumably. Books and models were in the right places, his desk was locked still and his computer was off as well. By all accounts, nothing was wrong. Danny shook his head, he was getting paranoid for no reason.

    That portal being complete through him off, and riled him up something fierce, but he was right about his paranoia at that time. Four ghost wolves were found just outside of town, what would have happened if they had made it? He paled at the thought, most likely a lot of people would have gotten hurt or killed. He was sturdy in his ghost form, but a well placed tackle had broken ribs. They were huge creatures that could fire laser and blast from their mouths, and they hunted in a pack of four. Would his parents have been able to handle them? Maybe, but they weren''t there. He was though, he almost died to them, and he had super powers!

    Danny reasoned that he was just on edge. He took a deep breath and let it out in a large sigh.

    Now that he was home, what was there to do? He wasn''t tired, so he had no plans on going back to sleep anytime soon. It was currently¡­ 4:30 in the morning, but who''s to say he couldn''t have woken up early? Like, really early. He needed a shower too, and then after that he can stitch himself back up.

    Danny nodded, it sounded like a decent course of actions. He could think of the excuse for his sister in the shower. He went to his dresser and took out some clothes for the new day. He frowned at the sight of his half empty drawer.

    Danny was getting very close to needing almost a whole new wardrobe because his clothes kept getting ruined. And he still didn''t even have an allowance!

    Danny smacked himself upside his head, "I should have asked for an allowance instead of pizza!"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Inside Danny''s room, we find a rather irritated Jazz Fenton, tapping her foot on the floor impatiently. She was standing in the doorway with her arms crossed. Her lips were pursed in an obvious frown.

    "Where were you last night?" She gets no response.

    Danny is completely oblivious to his current situation. He had his back turned to her and was playing DOOMED on his computer. He was having a good time with it, and when he started talking, not to Jazz, but to someone else entirely, his older sibling finally realized he had a headset on. He couldn''t hear her and was talking to someone online.

    Jazz''s eye twitched, before she stomped over and very gently grabbed one of the muffs on his ear. She then ripped the headset off and screamed into his ear, "WHERE WERE YOU LAST NIGHT?!"

    Danny jumped out of his seat a little, and knocked his mouse off his desk. "AHHHHH! What the fuck? Jazz?! What is wrong with you?! Can''t you ask like a normal person?!" The reaction came as expected, startled and agitated.

    Jazz still wasn''t having it. "Answer my question, little brother. Where were you last night? You didn''t come home even past midnight!"

    Danny made to respond, but was cut off- "And don''t you say you were on the roof! I checked there! Twice!"

    Danny opens his mouth, before closing it and looking at his sister in confusion. Finally, he decided to say something: "Why did you check the roof twice? Once would have been eno- Oh, Damn it, I died! Come on!" He whipped his hands up into the air in exasperation. He was on one of the largest killing sprees he''s ever had in PVP, of course his sister had to ruin that.

    He turned to her with a scowl, "You owe me for that, I was slaying the competition! I could have gone undefeated!"

    Jazz responded by turning her head up to magnify her glare. Her teeth were visibly and audibly being ground, and that eye twitch extended itself to both eyes. Danny backed down when he saw how visibly irate she was.

    "Are you going to answer my question?" The irritation in her voice made Danny flinch. He figured she''s had enough, didn''t need to rile her up anymore then need be. For now.

    The half-ghost put his hands up in mock surrender. "Alright, alright. Jeez, you don''t have to bite my head off, it''s not that big a deal. I was at Tuckers, alright?"

    Danny pointed at her, "You''re the one that reminded me that they got back." He was really hoping that would placate her.

    His sister seemingly relented at that, but not all the way. "How do I know you were there for sure?" Danny''s been coming home at odd hours recently, and to add to that, she found that contaminated blood in his bathroom. Even if she''s being nosy, she still wanted to make sure.

    Danny rolled his eyes before he grabbed his phone. He pulled up the text from Tucker and showed her. "There, date and time are from yesterday. Happy? If so, let me get back to playing. These guys suck at the game, and I''m gonna milk them for all they got." He turned back around and reached for his headset.

    "Hold on." Jazz wanted to check one more thing.

    Now it was his turn to get annoyed, he put the headset back down and turned back to his sister. "What is it now?"

    "Can you stand up? I want to check something."

    Danny gave here a strange look, hesitated slightly, but complied anyway. She took a step closer and measured her hands over to the top of his head. She did that for a few seconds before she smiled. "Looks like you got a bit taller, little brother. Won''t be long till you''re as tall as me."

    The news caught him off guard, but it brightened his mood. It was about damn time he gained a few inches. "So how tall do you think I am now?"

    Jazz put her finger to her chin and started tapping it. She looked back at her brother for a moment, before responding. "How tall were you before summer started?"

    "I was about 5''4" before summer started, how tall am I now?"

    "Hmm¡­ if I had to guess," she turns her hand over in a guessing wave, "then I would say that you''re around 5''7" or 5''8". We''ll have to check later to be sure."

    Danny beams a smile at her, and Jazz can literally feel the mood being lifted. "So are we done? We can check my height another time, I want to prove my superiority to these noobs."

    Jazz sighs, but relents nonetheless. "Yeah, yeah. Go for it, but next time you better send me a text or call me if you''re gonna run late." Danny looked like he was going to say something, but Jazz cut him off, "I mean it, mister. I hate coming home and worrying about you till the wee-hours in the morning."

    Danny smiled, and at least had the decency to look apologetic. "Alright, you win. I''ll try and text you next time I''m gonna be late. Sorry about last night."

    Jazz started walking to the door. Before she closed the door, she turned back around and smiled at Danny. "It''s alright, I just worry about you. Someone in this house has too, and I just want you to be safe."

    "Thanks sis. I mean it." She gives Danny a nod and walks out, closing the door gently behind her.

    The second she''s out of the room, Danny crumples into his chair roughly, agitating his wounds. His breathing is hard and ragged, coming and going in shaky repetition. His legs wobble and shake, still injured from the night before, and still barely able to help him stand without assistance. He takes a couple minutes to recompose himself, slowly rolling his shoulders. His arms and left shoulder are sore and hurt from the movements he was making in front of Jazz. He might have overdone it, but she''s perceptive, and he needed to have her believe him.

    He held his side, where his ribs were broken, again, and closed his eyes. He leaned his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes.

    God, was he tired. Even after all that healing, he was still nearly crippled from the pain of the injuries. But even then, he trudged on.

    He could handle pain. He was used to it. The pain of his peers being beaten into him, the pain of humiliation every time he was stuffed in a locker, the pain of being a social outcast because of his parents. He could handle it all. Just like he can handle the injuries he has now.

    At least that''s what he keeps telling himself. And that''s what he was going to keep telling himself.

    He could do this alone. He fought the rat alone, and he came out on top with that. He fought four wolf ghost monsters, and won that too. He did even better than his win with the rat, completely decimating them. He found out his friends were lying to him alone, and he got proof of it alone as well.

    He was tempted to tell his sister though. So close to doing it, because even if he could do it alone, didn''t mean that he wanted to. He wanted to tell someone, but he just couldn''t.

    Danny was scared, and that¡­ that made him feel weak. He hated being weak. He hates it to his core, he hates being the runt, the loser. No, hate isn''t a strong enough word. He despises it.

    So he kept quiet. He kept his mouth shut. Just to prove, to nobody but himself, that no, Danny Fenton is not weak.

    He is strong, and he''ll prove it.

    Even if he has to do it alone.

 Chapter 10

    Chapter 10

    Danny slowly walked towards his destination. He wasn''t in a rush, he wanted to sift through his thoughts. To decide on his course of actions, whether the conclusion is good or bad.

    It''s been a week since he had fought the undead wolves. For the most part, he was completely healed. His ribs only hurt a bit, not broken, but still bruised. His skin color in calf since that had the largest chunk ripped off, but slowly it was going away.

    He had put this off for a week, and now just seemed like the right time. He had time to think, to mull over his thoughts, to decide just how angry he was.

    The feeling of betrayal still felt raw. Danny hated being lied to, especially by his friends. He doesn''t have many, so he always kept loyalty and honesty between them as a priority. And they threw that trust in the ground, then stomped on it when they didn''t help him. Instead, they watched and gawked as he spewed blood onto his bullies new shoes. ''Heh, he deserved it.''

    True, he concocted the whole scenario down to the letter, but it''s the principal of the matter at hand. He may not have been in any real harm, danger, or pain, but they didn''t that area still matched with how it felt. He had phantom pains in his legs, mainly his know that. From their perspective, if they truly cared as much as they''ve always said they have- then caught in the act be damned they should have helped him!

    He palmed the flash drive in his hands, the evidence of their misdeeds.

    That''s, Danny reasoned, the true pit of his anger. The real origin point of it. They had lied, and instead of owning up to it and helping him, they watched him and did nothing.

    Like a fucking bystander.

    Danny could see Sam''s house from here, he could also see that her parents were home. Great. Just what he wanted to deal with, Sam''s parents. In the half-ghost''s honest opinion, Pamela and Jeremy Manson were hands down, some of the snobbiest assholes he''s ever met. They vehemently disapproved of his entire existence, much less his friendship with their daughter. Tucker barely got a pass, but Danny? Hah! No, not with his parents.

    As Danny came up on the hundred foot marker, he could feel his anger rise. He was so angry, he felt childish- like he couldn''t decide if he was being petty or not. Was this something to get that angry about? The question circled in his head over and over, and he just kept coming back to yes. It was. Honesty and loyalty are two of his most desired and admired characteristics. They allowed trust on a personal level, and that''s what he wanted most.

    So he was angry.

    He thought that he had calmed down over the time he hasn''t seen them, but that seems to be wrong. He just got distracted, and how could he not? He has bad-ass ghost powers that seem to grow by the day. He can fight monsters, win against them, and not die. It just wasn''t on his mind for the most part, and the scarce few times it was, it was just a passing thought in a conversation. A momentary pause that was moved on from.

    It simmered, boiled, and in a few minutes, depending on what they say, was going to explode. No, it was going to explode no matter what.

    Danny stopped in front of the front door. He honestly debated just texting Sam to open the door for him, so he wouldn''t have to deal with her parents, but that felt cowardly. Like an opt-out.

    Danny knocked on the door. He waited one minute, two, three, and finally four before he quickly grew annoyed. He looked up at the camera and gave it a glare. It was obvious they were home, and these two snobby ass hats were being this childish. Honestly, pretending you''re not home when both vehicles are in the front driveway- it''s insulting.

    Well, he could play that game too.

    He rang the doorbell once, and then he waited. Two minutes pass before he pushes the doorbell twice. Sam should have heard it by now, and her parents too. He kept his glare leveled at the camera before pressing the device at least two dozen times.

    He didn''t have to wait long after that. The door slammed open to reveal Pamela Manson in all her preppy annoyance. It was funny how Sam could look so different compared to her parents. They both looked like they walked out of the sixties, and Sam was a goth, dark colors, vegan, poor taste in music and all. He idly wondered if she was adopted sometimes, but there were some similarities- actually, there aren''t. Hair color, eye color, jaw line, facial structure, personality, morals they had none in common.

    Danny straightened his posture and closed his legs together to stand straighter. He then put on his best smile, "Good morning, Mrs. Manson. How are you doing today?"

    Mrs. Manson gave him one look and dismissed him with, if Danny had to guess, was disgust. ''The attitude of this bitch¡­'' If she was trying to piss him off, then she was succeeding. It''s like dealing with a fucking A-lister, but she''s in her thirties, has a kid, and demands respect from everyone just because she has money.

    Pamela hates him, and the feeling is very mutual.

    "Ah¡­ Daniel Fenton, to what do I owe this visit? I''m assuming you are here to see my Sammykins and her other friend¡­ whatever his name is?" Really, they''ve been friends since second grade, there''s no way she doesn''t remember Tuckers name. What kind of passive aggressive psychobabble bullshit was this? Was she trying to rile him up by acting like she forgot Tuckers name? Well, too bad he''s pissed at them at the moment- it''s not very effective.

    He kept the smile up though, he would beat her at her own game. He moved his hands behind his back to adjust his posture, his uncle had taught him a few things when dealing with the rich and arrogant. "You''d be correct, Mrs. Manson. May I come in? Sam and Tucker did invite me over after all."

    Annoyance and anger briefly flashes over her face before she settles on contempt once again. Man, is this getting old.

    "Hmm¡­ let me think. No, she doesn''t need to associate with freaks like your ilk. Please leave." She slams the door in his face, stunning him. Were they really back to this? It''s like dealing with a thirty-five year old Paulina!

    The sheer immaturity is astounding. He doesn''t let this perturb him though, he came here for a purpose and he was going to see it through. So, he returns his finger to the doorbell and-

    Promptly pushes it over thirty times.

    Working as intended, Pamela Manson wrings the door back open and glares at the youngest Fenton. "What do you think you''re doing? I said you''re not welcome here!"

    He returns back to that, oh so nice smile- "Good morning, Mrs. Manson. How are you doing today?"

    Her eyes widen for the briefest of moments, befuddled for sure, before they narrow in anger again. Ah¡­ smells like victory. "You have some ner-"

    "Mom! What are you doing?!" Sam comes barreling down the stairs. With how much Danny had rung the doorbell, it was no surprise that she had heard it. Looking further up the stairs he could see Tucker watching on, and past the foyer he could see Jeremy watching in annoyance as well.

    Danny turns to Sam and puts on an impassive mask, it wouldn''t do well for him to show his anger now. It could wait till they got to Sam''s room; a perk of being rich was that if she wanted something, she got it, that includes having a soundproofed room. It also helped that her parents didn''t have to hear any of the music she liked.

    "Hi Sam, thanks for inviting me over." His voice was blank and betrayed no emotion. Mrs. Manson wasn''t happy to hear that, even if she knew that the only time Danny came over was when he was invited. The pompous bitch can stew in her annoyance and frustration, just like he''s done for his entire time in public education.

    Sam is momentarily startled by his lack of emotion. Well, at least it was obvious that he knew something. That wasn''t comforting, however.

    "Hey Danny," She sent him an apologetic smile, one he did not accept- "come on up to my room. We''ll talk about this later mom." There was almost a mocking tone in her voice.

    Danny nodded and walked by the matriarch of the Manson household without even glancing at her. It was disrespectful, impudent, and completely out of character for Danny. It left the parents of the household stunned at the sight, but he was up the stairs and out of sight before they could mutter a single complaint. Tucker gaped at what he saw, and Sam wasn''t fairing much better. They had never seen their friend so¡­ confident and defiant.

    Danny walked into his friend''s room and looked around. Same old, same old. Black walls all around, steps to walk down into the actual room from the door, high walls and ceiling, queen sized bed with curtains, a large flat screen TV that was at least over two-hundred inches. Her L-shaped computer desk in the corner was made of glass, and the actual computer on it was tall, fat, and most likely made his look like it still used floppy disks. Three monitors spread across the desk. The half-ghost made his way over towards one of the office chairs by the computer. He wheeled it around, slowly sat in it, and he waited.

    Precisely seventy seconds later Sam and Tucker came in, both of whom were staring at Danny with incredulity and caution.

    He was tapping his finger on the armrest with his left hand, and his right clenched and unclenched on the flash drive. The evidence. He stared at them, and emotions slowly returned to his face. His brows furrowed, a frown made its way onto his face, and he had to control himself from snarling. Too much was happening, emotionally wise, and he wasn''t confident in keeping his fangs hidden.

    Reel back.

    An uncomfortable silence crept into the room as all three occupants tried to figure out where to start. Sam made her way to her personal office chair and Tucker took one of the Lazy-boys in front of the TV not far away.

    Danny took a deep breath. Sitting in silence would get them nowhere, and he had other things to do today.

    He went over one more time what he wanted. He didn''t want this to ruin their friendship, but he didn''t want to see them for the rest of the summer. Maybe when they were finally in high school, they could reconcile, but for now, with his emotions running dangerously high, he couldn''t be near them. He needed to get a better control on his powers.

    He repositioned the flash drive in his hand. He tapped it onto the metal of the armrest three times to get their attention. It worked, their eyes were drawn to the tiny device, and he threw it to Sam- she was nearest to the computer after all.

    "Turn on your computer and open it." Danny commanded.

    Sam and Tucker glanced at each other, this was not how they were expecting this to go. They expected yelling, accusations, maybe even having some stuff thrown around, but not this. This¡­ creepy, passive malice. It wasn''t like him, but maybe that was the point. This meant that it was different compared to the last time, that it was worse.

    She complied and did as instructed. "Danny-"

    He raised a hand and cut her off, "Bring up the files first." Sam bit her lip, but she did it anyway. Tucker stared at Danny, concerned with the way he was acting. He obviously knew, mostly likely everything. But what was the point of this?

    It took less than twenty seconds to have the computer fully on and the files pulled up. There were two video files on the flash drive. Sam turned to Danny, "Click the left one first." Once again, she complied with a nod.

    The video was shot from an overhead view, a security camera in the mall. The date and time was from a very familiar date.

    Danny got up and turned the TV on. He changed the input to the CP setting and watched as the large wall sized TV became the new computer monitor. He walked back and gently sat back down into the same chair.

    "Watch." It was more of an order than a request, but finally some emotion surfaced in his voice. Anger. They were getting somewhere.

    And so they watched. Watched as Danny was approached by the A-listers. Watched as he was assaulted and vomited blood onto the floor and onto Dash. Watched as he was helped by the security guard. And they watched as he did something they hadn''t noticed before: he pointed to the camera, and then to another.

    "Now the other video." It was like reliving the moment. For Danny, it was a mix of humiliation, betrayal and anger. Even if he brought it upon himself as a means to an end, he hated seeing it. His grip tightened and the aluminum on the armrest bent under his enhanced strength. He didn''t notice and neither did they.

    For Sam and Tucker, it was shame that they felt. Guilt rolled through their bodies in waves at seeing their friend get hurt again, and their silence was all the admittance he needed. They knew they screwed up, and they had the decency to not follow through with a lie.

    It''s a good thing too, because the next video would have damned them if they had said anything to the contrary.

    This video was from another angle. It showed the happening of their friend getting hit, but it also showed them something else. They paled as they watched themselves do nothing for their best friend. This was how he found out?

    "It''s not about the lie." he growls, startling the two as he gets up. "Okay, it is about the lie, so let''s start with that."

    "Danny, we-"

    "Save it. I''m talking right now, and I''m furious." He got up and turned away from them. He could almost feel his eyes glowing with emotion, he reeled his power back in. Neon green turned back to baby blue as he forcibly calmed himself.

    "You know how lying makes me feel, you two both know how much I hate it. We, meaning all three of us, don''t have a lot of friends. We''re on the bottom of the totem pole, so why would you risk our friendship by lying to me?! We don''t have any other options when it comes to people to depend on!" Finally he exploded, glaring at both of his friends. It was just the tip of the iceberg, and the Titanic was miles from shore. "Trust isn''t something that just comes back, damn it! My loyalty isn''t so flimsy that I''d just brush this off!"

    Tucker chose to say his piece, "Look man, we didn''t- it wasn''t- I don''t know, man." He shook his head, "We were worried about how you would take it. We both got a date, and we didn''t want you to feel like you were being left out I guess¡­"

    Danny snarled at the response, "So, that''s it? You thought I was, what? Too weak? To insecure that neither of you thought I could handle that my friends had a date? Wow. That''s fucking insulting."

    Sam got up out of her chair in a panic. "No! It''s not that Danny, it''s not! We just, I don''t know, it was stupid, and we''re sorry. We shouldn''t have lied to you!"

    Danny didn''t drop it though, "Yeah, you shouldn''t have. There''s something else you should have done though." They flinch at that, good. They know exactly what''s next. "So we got that out of the way, cool, really. Not really, I''m still royally pissed about that alone, now I have another question¡­ why didn''t you help me?" Danny pointed to the paused screen, depicting his friends watching as he wipes his mouth of blood.

    "You did nothing!" Danny yells.

    "Listen man," Tucker tries, "we¡­ we were committed to the lie." He sounded ashamed, good, he should be, "It was dumb, it was stupid, but¡­ we just were scared to confront you." The techno-geek looks down in guilt, unable to look his friend in the eye.

    "That''s it? That I spit blood should mean that I had an internal injury, something seri-fucking-ous! You guys did nothing! I''m your best friend! You should have dropped what you were doing- caught in the act be damned- and tried to help me! But you didn''t! You FUCKING WATCHED!" His ears ring from his own tone.

    Danny was breathing hard and his eyes were glowing a dull green. Small, barely noticeable sparks danced on his fingertips. It was the best he could do at the moment, he was too riled up to care if they noticed.

    Danny straightens himself out and tries to regain control of his breathing. He rolled his neck and cracked his fingers with one hand as a way to distract himself.

    "That¡­ is what I''m truly mad about. Sam, Tucker, you two just watched me¡­ you didn''t try to help or anything. Some best friends you are." He spat.

    Sam tries to get closer to Danny, inching forward just a bit by bit. His words hurt her, and her voice betrayed nothing of the way she felt. "Danny¡­" She reaches a hand out to him, but he pulls away. He stares at her, silent and angry, but listening to her.

    Whatever excuse it may be.

    She flinches when he pulls away, and she lets her hand fall to her side. She looks into his eyes and tries hard to get her sincerity across. "Look, what we did- it was really shitty. We shouldn''t have just¡­ left you there. We should have helped. I''m sorry, really I am."

    Tucker stands up and walks over to him as well, "I''m sorry too, man. Really. It was low of us to do that."

    Danny is silent. They said their piece, made their apologies, and it barely calmed him. Although lessened, the pain is still there. The anger and disappointment still raw. It still stings and looking at them still makes him angry, and frustrated, and hurt. He shakes his head.

    It starts as a whisper, "I¡­ don''t want this to ruin our friendship. I don''t want it too, but you guys fucked up. You fucked it up. It''s strained, really badly." Danny looks between the two, watching their expressions. They seem relieved, but the nervousness is still there.

    He drops the bomb. "I don''t want to see you guys for the rest of the summer. I need time to think this through. Maybe when school starts, we can try again. But for now, being around you guys makes me too angry."

    Their reaction is immediate. Tucker recoils in shock, maybe he expected that apology to clear things up more, to smooth everything out. Nope. Sam looks like she is ready to cry, her eyes are glossy and she''s biting her lip a little too hard. In all his life, Danny can say he''s only ever seen Sam cry maybe twice or thrice. He feels guilty that he might be the one to make her cry, but he squashes that feeling. They weren''t the ones who were betrayed, they didn''t get to make him feel like that. He turned away from them and decided now was as good as any, a time to leave.

    Danny walked over in silence to the computer and yanked the flash drive out. He put the device''s cap on it and walked to the door. He''s stopped when he feels a hand on his shoulder. He grits his teeth, but turns around all the same. Tucker looks shocked for a moment, possibly catching a glance at his fangs, and Danny quickly realizes he might be showing more than he wants. He closes his mouth in a flat line, "What?"

    "Well¡­ we wanted to know if you were okay. You spit blood, dude. We''re concerned." Danny eyes his friend, noting his hesitance, before shrugging off his hand from his shoulder.

    "It was a lab accident." He makes to walk off again, but Sam stops him this time. He takes a deep breath, it''s getting harder to control himself at the moment. He hates how much these powers seem connected to his emotions, because the emotional high they generate clouds his judgement and makes him do rash things. They make him view things differently, act differently.

    "Danny, we want to know more than that, please. Even if you''re pissed at us, at least tell us you''re alright." Danny wants to bite back, lash out, but the concern in her voice does calm him slightly. They made a mistake, one they regretted, and he was going to kick them for it, but he didn''t have to make them worry incessantly.

    So when it''s on the tip of his tongue that he''s ''alright'', he suddenly can''t say it. As if true realization is only now dawning on him. That lab accident had killed him, he had repeated episodes of violent pain that lasted for hours. He had ghost powers, he could change forms, his heart didn''t beat, he didn''t need to breathe. For as awesome as these powers are, for as great as they made him feel, they affected him greatly. Yet, they came at a price, one he''s only now realizing-

    He''s dead.

    His stomach turns, his mind spins, and he can barely utter a response, relaying far more emotion than he wanted to. "I''m not." The sheer pain in his voice deafens the room. Danny doesn''t pay attention to their shocked and scared expressions, they don''t realize how bad it actually is- hell, he didn''t even know quite how bad it was until now. His heart rings in his ears, pounding away to a headache.

    This time, he''s unobstructed when he walks out through the door. He passes by the Manson''s on the way out, not even sparing them a glance, much to their annoyance. He''s out of the large house-mansion in less than a minute, and to his ears, his feet almost echo on the empty street. He makes it down to the end of the block before he turns into an alley in between some houses. He has at least some presence of mind to look around for witnesses or cameras, and once satisfied that he''s in the clear, Danny is in his other form in a heartbeat.

    He takes off, flying at maximum speed towards the woods. He just needed to get away, to think. These powers, he really didn''t give too great of an amount of contemplation on them, what they actually mean. His parents are ghost hunters, and ecto-biologists. They study the dead, reanimated in a form of intelligent supernatural energy capable of incredible and dangerous things. He had been calling himself a half-ghost, despite the ludicrosity of the term, but maybe there''s more to it then he first gave it credit for.

    He wasn''t just hurt in that lab accident, he didn''t just gain a cool set of ever-growing powers: he died.

    Danny swallows hard, feeling a lump form in his throat.

    Everything comes with a price.

    Even if he lives, even if he breathes- he doesn''t. He''s dead, his life was the cost for these powers, and the weight of that realization only now is hitting him. Tears roll down his face; he had thought of it before, in a passing thought that he was dead, but it never meant so much as it did now.

    Damn it, this wasn''t how he was supposed to feel after laying into them. He was hoping to feel better, to have released some stress, to maybe have insight on what he should do. A direction. After holding onto that for almost a month, he would have figured that after finally saying his piece, he would feel at least some small amount of relief.

    Instead, Danny feels like shit. He''s dead, he''s alive. Like some kind of cosmic fuck-up.

    "I really am a freak now¡­"

    If he knew he was going to have some kind of breakdown, he would have stayed in his room today. Not even flying makes him feel better right now.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    There''s a horrible silence in the room. It''s so thick it could be cut with a knife. Sam and Tucker have a hard time saying anything, every time it''s there, ready to be said- they just can''t. Sam sits on her bed, staring blankly at the floor. Tucker took his place back in his chair.

    This whole thing had gone to shit. They had hoped to reconcile, to get back on track what their summer should have been. Instead, they were frayed and split, and if what Danny said was true, he was hurt.

    "Sam¡­ what do you think he meant?" Finally, the silence is gone from the room, like dust cleared by the wind.

    The goth looks up from her hurt stupor, feeling more guilty and ashamed than she''s ever been in her whole life. It wasn''t the lie anymore, it was that she finally realized that there really was more to it than they thought. "He said, ''I''m not.'' Tucker. It means we''re horrible friends. We fucked up. "

    Tucker flinches, regret fills him but they need to talk about this. "Sam- I- what do we do?" Danny said he didn''t want to see them the rest of summer, and he couldn''t blame him. They had left him in a time when he was really hurt, watched and did nothing, and he found out. Tucker was so¡­ disappointed in himself.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    She shakes her head, "We can''t do anything, Tuck. He made it clear: he doesn''t want to¡­ see us. At least for the rest of summer. I don''t know if we can make this up to him either."

    "Well, we gotta do something Sam. He said he wasn''t fine! Whatever that was, it''s still happening!" Tucker hesitated for just a brief moment, "Did you, uh, see anything strange about him?"

    Sam looked at him for a moment, confusion and contemplation flashing across her face. "Yeah, he was acting really weird. I chalked it up to him being angry, but I''ve never seen him like that before. Although, the way he handled my mom was hilarious. Did you see her face? To die for."

    Her mood lightened slightly, but it was still somber and depressing. Tucker shook his head, "That''s not what I meant. I mean¡­ when you looked into his eyes, did you see anything strange?" He wanted confirmation on this, Tucker could have sworn that his eyes were green for a moment. And his teeth, were his canines larger or was he imagining it?

    Sam put her hand to her face and gently tapped her temple with her thin index finger. After a moment of thought she responded, "I don''t think I saw anything, why? Admittedly, I was too ashamed to look in his eyes, but¡­" Her answer trailed off, she honestly didn''t know. It was so recent, but a lot was going on and she was so distressed at the moment, she wasn''t exactly looking for anything in his eyes.

    Tucker shook his head, but decided to drop it. "Never mind, if you didn''t see anything then it was probably nothing¡­ what about his teeth?" Okay, maybe he would drop it after this last question.

    The gothic teen raised an eyebrow, but the answer remained the same. "Nah, I still have no idea. What are you going on about?" These questions had to come from somewhere.

    The dark skinned teen furrowed his brows. Was he just seeing things? He took off his beret and scratched his head, "I could have sworn his eyes were green Sam. Did you really not see it? Think, like, really think."

    Green eyes? Danny had a pair of the bluest eyes she''d ever seen, they were striking. There was no need to even think about the answer, but she would indulge in his bizarre question. It was a good way to get her mind off her depressing thoughts, but no matter what she couldn''t remember seeing green eyes.

    "Are you sure Tucker? I really can''t remember him having green eyes. He''s always had blue eyes."

    Tucker stared at her with a frown, but if she couldn''t remember then maybe it was just a trick of the mind. She was normally the one who paid attention to detail more often. Unless it was tech, no one could beat him on that.

    "It was nothing I guess. Never mind. Back to the topic at hand, what do we do?"

    Sam looked down at her pale hands, "I don''t know. Can we even do anything? He said he doesn''t want to see us for the rest of summer. We have to try when school starts."

    They had a little over a month and a half before school started on the fourth of September. They could think of something in that time, and hopefully he would be ready to build back their friendship.

    Hopefully.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    High above the sky, Danny floated motionlessly. He stared into the sky while the clouds flew by far beneath him. Open space was right before him, obscured only by the pale sheen of the atmosphere.

    It calmed him.

    Danny had been brushing it off, looking at the bright side of things. He had powers, and they''re wonderful! He could fly, shoot lasers and energy blasts, throw around electricity, and maybe one day make ice- he still couldn''t figure out how to do that. Maybe freezing his kitchen was a one time thing.

    That all came at a cost that he kept going around. Not minding it, or changing the subject, but he was only now realizing just how high of a price he had paid. He didn''t want these powers, he liked them without a doubt, but it was an accident that gave them these. It was horribly painful¡­ to die, and he still had seizures at least once a week where ectoplasm spilled out of every orifice on his body and he bled all over the place. These episodes caused him horrible pain, but still, they didn''t last long, and they ruined his clothes.

    But he had powers.

    That he died for. Danny died at fourteen. For all the great they came with, it still left him as a corpse with a heartbeat. He would still age, right? He wouldn''t be stuck at the age of fourteen forever, would he?

    He shook his head to clear his thoughts, it was going to take a long time to get over it. He really wished that there was another ghost that he could talk to, assuming that there are, in fact, intelligent ghosts. There were a few notes on them in the lab, but it seems like his parents can''t catch the smart ones. That was a relieving revelation, if other intelligent ghosts can get away from them, then he should have an advantage since he knows their tech.

    Danny looked down at the clouds below. There was going to be a storm soon, it would be best if he left for home now. It would be for the best, but Danny keeps floating in the air. He didn''t want to go home just yet.

    The half-ghost took out his phone and checked the time. 2:50. Ten more minutes and he would leave. It''s not like it would take long to get back home with his speed anyway.

    The sound of thunder, closer than it has ever been before, startled Danny so greatly that he almost dropped his phone. He looks around and down at the storm clouds below. Maybe he should leave now instead. He had already been electrocuted from the portal when he died, he didn''t need to feel lightning at the moment. He was in no hurry to compare the two anytime soon.

    He made his way towards his house, his mind a confused mess. As a precaution he charged his body with ecto-electricity. On the off chance that his luck is so bad that he gets struck by lightning, he figured having his body accustomed to some level of current would be better than none. Plus, it gave him a tingling sensation that he rather enjoyed. It reminded him of one of those gag shock pens, which was ironic considering the damage he could do with his electrokinesis. He could fell trees and split rocks with his electricity, which meant either his body had a high tolerance for the currents that killed him, or he wasn''t that affected by his own energy. He figured it''s the latter, but the former would be appreciated.

    His flight through the thunderclouds left him battling the wind and rain. It didn''t look that bad from above, but clearly a birds eye view of a storm doesn''t tell the whole story of its force. Then again, he''s never flown through bad weather before, so this is a new experience.

    Danny continues to fly at a diagonal towards his house, and he was really wishing he had watched the news. When he finally entered the city limits, he felt it again. From his stomach came a mist of blue, and he could feel a tugging in the direction of his house. That meant there was a ghost somewhere by his house, or along the way. Every time he''s had this feeling, it''s been a ghost. It''s a convenient ability for sure, having a passive radar for supernatural undead monsters, but he''s never had to deal with this in the city. His two fights so far have been out of the city limits, in the forest where nobody could get hurt.

    Now though¡­ now, the creature was near people, and so far none have shown that great of an attitude towards him. Concern flashes through Danny as he realizes that someone might very well die.

    Danny stops mid-air and looks down at his hands. He''s fought them before and won, but it always leaves him battered, bruised and bleeding. What if a normal person is attacked by something as simple as a paw swipe? They would die, hands down. The half-ghost is well aware at this point that he''s sturdier than normal, but other people don''t have that luxury. He crashed through trees and took energy attacks point blank and walked away to fight again, that would have left a normal person broken and burned.

    Resolve trickles his way into his being as he resumes his flight. "I can do this." He whispers. The words come out with more confidence than he expected. Thoughts of his sister getting attacked, his parents being mauled, his friends running for their lives; they all fill his mind and it pushes him further with grim determination. He may be pissed at them, but he still cares for Sam and Tucker. His mother and father are completely incompetent when it comes to being parents, but they''re still his parents and he loves them. Jazz, his sister, has always been there for him, supporting him, practically raising him. Could he just stand by and do nothing if they were in danger?

    Hell no.

    So, he would fight. Danny didn''t want anyone getting hurt, even if he didn''t particularly like a majority of the people in this town. As the half-ghost passed over his house, he could feel his¡­ ghost sense pulling him towards the park, further ahead. He was actually pretty happy with the weather right now, it left the streets bare and unpopulated. No doubt the park is probably the same, that means less people, if any at all to get hurt. The ghost-teens heart lightened at that, it wouldn''t be as bad as it could be.

    When he arrives at the park, three hundred feet or so above the treeline, he can''t find the ghost. Danny knows it''s here, but his damn ghost sense gets rather vague the closer he gets. How inconvenient.

    Looking around, he can spot signs of damage. Leading from a trail to the connected woodlands, there is damage to the trees. A couple toppled along the way and a swing set that''s been¡­ chewed on? Danny focuses his sight on the destroyed playground equipment, the slightly blurry image clears and enhances, like he''s zooming in through a scope, and his eyes tingle in response to his actions. It''s a little uncomfortable. Fine detail becomes apparent and he can see the damage better than before, the metal bars are crunched and covered in green slime. Danny grimaces when he sees that the slime is melting the weather protected steel.

    Acid. "That''s no bueno." How the fuck was he supposed to deal with acid? If he got hit once he''d melt!

    Danny continues to follow the path of destruction. Benches crushed under strength, leaving splintered messes along its path. A water fountain was broken at the base, the exposed pipe spurting water onto the already wet ground. Even the public restroom had a hole in it- actually, it was more like half the building was swatted away.

    Finally he spots it. "Why? Just, why?"

    A giant, furry, ugly, nightmare inducing, glowing green and black spider. The horror. Now, Danny isn''t scared of spiders, but no one wants to fight a giant fucking spider. Especially one that''s the size of two SUV''s! Plus, the damn thing just barrels through everything in its path. There is absolutely zero sign of intelligence, it just bites or swats away anything in its way.

    When he takes a look in the direction the ghost is heading, it''s towards his house. His eyes widen in confusion and fear. Why would it be heading that way? He turns around and lo and behold, there''s a straight line coming from the forest, into the park, and the creature is already almost on the other side of the street.

    Danny bites his bottom lip in frustration, this was almost an entire week after his last fight. He was mostly healed, but his ribs still stung. But that won''t interfere in the coming fight. He could think about the whys later.

    He has some information on his target this time. The spider, if he remembers correctly, resembles a Tarantula. They''re not the fastest of spiders, but this is a ghost and it''s damn big. He should be more agile and faster, but precautions would be wise. It can either spit acid, instead of poison, or its saliva is just that corrosive. Neither are comforting thoughts. What else?

    "Think Fenton, think! Sam loves spiders, she''s told you all about them multiple times! What else?!" Where is a spiders weak point? The abdomen houses the important organs in a living spider, but there''s no guarantee that a ghost will even care that it''s missing half of its body. But it''s a target, and a pretty big one. What else is there to be wary of? The hairs. On a normal Tarantula, the hairs can cause irritation, there''s no reason these oversized spikes can''t cause harm. The damn thing is also incredibly stupid, not even using any of its ghost born abilities. No flight, intangibility, or invisibility. It slowly crawls along the ground with harsh steps that the crack the pavement. Wild attacks at trees and inanimate objects, there''s no targets, just inane lashings that serve no purpose.

    Danny grins, this might not be as hard as the wolves. It''s not in a nest, so there''s no webbing to obstruct him or alert the thing to the half-ghost''s presence. Spiders are not pack hunters, they''re solitary. That means there shouldn''t be another, no interruptions and an almost guaranteed surprise attack. The eight eyes pose a problem, but if he''s fast enough, it shouldn''t matter.

    Now, what''s the best way to capitalize on this?

    His mind wanders to his last tactic against the wolves. A dive bomb. "That could work¡­"

    He has sufficiently more height than last time, it''s not expecting an attack at all, and there''s only one. He could get away without an injury. Danny glances at his house, did he have enough time to go and get some equipment just in case? Returning his focus to the ghost spider tells him, no, he does not. If it''s just going to keep going in a straight line then it''s going to blitz through the housing complexes in a matter of minutes. "Tsk." Without equipment once again.

    Danny psyches himself up for the coming maneuver. If he misses, he''s going to shatter his legs on the concrete. Spiders normally have a pretty thick exoskeleton, especially Tarantulas since they''re hunters and not trappers. He''s going to need speed and reinforcement. Danny coats his legs in ectoplasm, laying it on thicker than he''s ever done before. His legs glow brightly in the stormy sky, and in a moment of clarity, he extends the infused ectoplasm up towards his back. The force is going to travel, and it would behoove him to reinforce his spine so he doesn''t cripple himself in this reckless move.

    With his entire lower body glowing in infused ectoplasm, Danny repositions himself above the ghost. It''s not moving that fast, it''s cumbersome figure proving his earlier thought that it might not be a terribly speedy creature. Danny takes a deep breath. Sweat rolls down his face in concentration, it''s not exactly easy to coat himself in this much energy, but so far it''s proving to be doable.

    Then he drops.

    The spider is nearing the end of the street when Danny starts rocketing downwards headfirst. He was around four-hundred feet in the air, and it takes him no time at all to reach a significant speed. The wind rushes by, deafening his ears and stinging his eyes, but he keeps them narrowed and open. He can''t afford to miss. As an added measure, Danny lets electricity roll across his body so he can do even more damage if the curb stomp from the sky doesn''t waste it on the first shot. Arcs of electricity fly off of him, lagging behind as his speed continues to increase.

    Like a bolt of lightning, Danny strikes down on the unaware creatures carapace. He flips at the last second, allowing for both of his feet to meet its spiny back. He bends his legs to spread the inevitable recoil out. The ghost is instantly pushed into the ground, and the sheer force of the impact craters the street, shakes the earth for blocks, and spider cracks form across the asphalt in a circle fifty feet in diameter.

    CRACK!

    The sound comes a half second later, like thunder, and Danny thoroughly breaks through the carapace, destroying the spiders abdomen in one blow. Electricity races through the creatures already broken body and strikes around wildly in the air and innards of the arachnid. The spider lets out an echoed, hissing screech in pain and anger.

    "HSSHHHHHRRRRAAA!"

    The scream barely reaches his ears as his legs, still infused with ectoplasm, feel ready to break. Even with all the reinforcement, his speed let him splatter the spiders armored back end and he went right through to the concrete, further causing damage to the pavement.

    But his legs don''t break, a testament to his newfound endurance. His muscles protested violently, but they hold, barely. His bones creak and cry, and the excess force flows through his body, disrupting, disturbing, and debilitating every organ, bone, and blood vessels. There is no lasting damage though, it''s all minor, his enhanced regeneration already repairing a large majority of the damage. In a few minutes it will be healed, and his legs will be good as new in a few hours.

    He stumbles out of the creatures abdomen, now thoroughly caked in its ectoplasm and other gory spider bits. It was hissing weakly, the four back legs were blasted off of the destroyed abdomen. The four front crawlers were scraping the road weakly, still twitching from the shocks. Danny takes a few deep breaths, steadying himself from the impact. It hurt to walk and his legs were almost numb, but it was bearable. He''s had worse not even a week ago.

    Danny is surprised that his plan worked that well, but is grateful nonetheless. Even if it was rather brutal. He shakes his legs to get a little more feeling back into them and carefully walks around the spider in a wide berth. He gathers energy in his hands, preparing himself to end the creature from its pitiful state. So, he''s surprised when he gets to the front of it and all eight of the ghost''s eyes snap to him. It rears back on two functional legs and swings its front two legs down like hammers at Danny. The lunge surprises Danny, but he had enough distance to dodge it.

    The half-ghost quickly fires both full powered blasts at the creature, burning the large hairs off and scorching the exoskeleton on its front legs. It''s blown backwards, but rights itself before it tumbles onto its destroyed back. The spider drags its broken body towards Danny with hateful ferocity, once again startling the teenager. He would have figured that it would be nigh close to dead again, but despite the horrible injuries, all it wants is his head.

    Danny fires two rays at the spiders face, intending to drill right through its head. Intangibility flickers on the ghost long enough for the rays to go through. Danny can say that he was genuinely surprised, once again, he didn''t think the ghost had enough intelligence to use the ability, especially with how hurt it already is. But it''s clear with all the damage the spider has sustained, it can''t keep it up. The spider flickers briefly once the ray blast is over, before it returns to the realm of tangibility. It slumps down, clearly taxed and even more tired than before. That doesn''t stop it from attempting to maul Danny again.

    Taking to the air, out of its reach, Danny recharges an ecto-ray in each hand before firing again. The spider sprays burning ectoplasm towards Danny to combat the incoming lasers. The acidic green goo turns the rain in the air to steam, and collides with the rays. Conflicting powers clash in midair, and implode into each other. The resulting shockwave pushes Danny back in the air, but does little else to him. The sharp smell of burning vinegar and sulfur fills the air, and his nose, presumably from the acid.

    Gross.

    Deciding not to waste anymore energy, Danny charges electricity into his hands. The teenager looks down at the spider, specifically the puddle of ectoplasm and water that refuses to mix, right below it. He feels like slapping himself for not thinking of it earlier, water conducts electricity and so far that''s one of his most potent powers yet. Well, pure water doesn''t have much conductivity at all, but that water pooling below is anything but pure.

    Ectoplasm infused electricity strikes the spider seconds later, grounding out below, and bouncing back and forth from the fluids on the ground and back into the belly of the beast. Danny doesn''t relent, pumping more and more power into his electricity as he fries the ghost from the inside and out.

    Hissing and screeches, along with the loud buzzing of galvanized energy echoes out in the street and down through the town for miles. People in their homes, not many, but the few who were watching the spectacle shiver at the unearthly sounds coming from the monster and teenager both. The drumming of rain and the rumbling of thunder drowns out most of the sounds, but those within a block radius are unable to block out the sound of a dead creature dying once again.

    Five minutes of non-stop electrocution leaves Danny tired, but not out. The spider slumps to the ground, burned and brittle. The soaked half-ghost, out of breath and with singed fingertips, stares at his downed foe. Slowly, he lands on the ground. Arcs of electricity still run along the ground and from the dead-again beast.

    Danny pats himself down, looking on his left and right. He cranes his head to look at his back, ghostly flexibility working as intended. His face soon blossoms into a smile, before he laughs. He raises his arms into the air, "YES!" He turns left and right, as if to proclaim his victory to some invisible spectators, "YES! YES! WOOO!"

    "Uninjured! Not a scratch! YES!" Danny is beyond elated, besides some sore legs- courtesy of being a half human cannonball- he''s completely uninjured. Tired, yes. Injured, no!

    He quickly stops himself, realizing that he looks like an idiot. A green blush matches his face, but his mood is no longer dampened. He came out in one piece against this monstrosity, without getting melted, chewed on, or eaten. He didn''t find out what acid feels like, he didn''t die, and he came out with a little worse than a scratch!

    "This is still gross though." It''s not a pretty picture. When he looks around, the property damage suddenly becomes apparent. The road? Ruined. The park? Destroyed. Him? Covered in nasty undead spider gore. It doesn''t smell great either, but that could be the acid still in the air.

    Danny approaches the giant spider corpse. It''s not very appealing to look at, his brutal carnage on the creature disturbs him slightly, but the feeling is lessened when he thinks about the people he''s saved. It felt pretty good to¡­ be a hero. He could see why other people do it.

    Clearly, the core wasn''t in its abdomen. It would have died then and there if it was. In living, normal, non-giantized spiders, all the important organs are in the abdomen. Clearly, that isn''t the case with ghosts. Maybe humanoids, since his is right next to his heart, but insects and animals might be different. "Hmmmm." That''s worth looking into.

    If the core isn''t in the abdomen, then that leaves either the head and the sternum. "Head?" This thing actually has a head? Normal Tarantulas don''t have one, just a face on their bodies. If it wasn''t obvious before, it is now. When an organism dies, and becomes a ghost, it''s body is changed. The rat grew to the size of an SUV, but other than that there wasn''t much else. The wolves were all horse sized, but some of them had larger than normal canines. The spider, it grew a head and was able to survive without its abdomen. Danny himself had his own canines replaced by larger ones, on the top and bottom of his mouth, like a vampire.

    How far could these changes go?

    Danny shakes his head, that was a problem that could be solved later. If he got the chance to. The body of the ghost was already starting to decompose into goo, shrinking into itself. The blown apart legs and abdomen were already puddles of ectoplasm, congregating back towards the main body. Danny pokes the head of the creature, just to be sure. It''s brittle and ashy, indenting easily with just one finger. He punches his fist through the head, despite his mounting disgust, and searches around for the core. He''s thoroughly glad that this forms comes pre-equipped with gloves. He may not like the outfit much, but there are worse things to die in, and he''s thankful he doesn''t have to physically feel the inside of the things head.

    "Eughk- I''m gonna hurl."

    It is, without a doubt, the nastiest thing he''s ever had the displeasure of doing. It''s cold, squishy, smells like dead bodies and oranges, and he can feel it between his fingers.

    Revolting.

    About a minute later he''s rewarded with a golf ball sized green sphere. He quickly pulls it out of the corpse. The body parts already detached and spread around the area start to quickly dissolve and disintegrate. The full body, or what''s left of it, melts even faster before, stretching itself towards the core in his hand.

    Danny wants to investigate it, but before he has the chance to, the sounds of squealing tires rings out through the empty streets. Quickly turning around, Danny spots the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle racing towards him. Baffled and befuddled, Danny is barely left with any time to dodge when an ecto-laser pops up from the roof of the RV tank and fires in his direction. He quickly takes to the skies, having zero desire to fight or try to convince his parents that he means no harm. They''re obviously in a ''shoot first, ask questions later'' mood, and luckily the assault vehicle can''t fly.

    "Come back, you ectoplasmic scum!" Danny turns his head at the voice of his father over the vehicles megaphone. That particular sentence sounded¡­ kind of racist. Did he seriously just say that out in public, with the volume that high? It wasn''t very flattering towards their public image, especially since he just killed that monster and saved the neighborhood.

    "Nah, I''m good!"

    He keeps flying with his eyes on his parents. Both of them, in their usual orange and teal hazmat suits step out of the GAV, the top laser pointed at him in case he gets back within range. Both have large and bulky goggles on, and although Danny wishes they were there for the rain, he knows that his mother almost never removes them. Somehow, his father is more normal in that regard. They parked right next to the dead super spider. It''s body is mostly dissolved already, only a small puddle remains.

    He loses sight of them when he breaches into the storm cloud. That''s not where the teenager wants to be, especially with the lightning that''s been flashing recently, so he changes direction and heads back home. The flight back is short, he wasn''t that far from home anyway, and he''s relieved to see that they aren''t home.

    As he approaches his house he turns invisible to avoid detection, and when he turns intangible to go through his window, he''s surprised when all the rainwater, ectoplasm and spider bits fall off. He lands back in his room and stares down at himself, now completely clean and dry. Both inside his suit, where there was a small amount of butchery, and outside where it was practically painted on, are clean and dry.

    How convenient.

    The change back to human brings more of his senses back, and while his legs hurt, he can walk on them just fine. Danny used up a decent amount of energy, but not enough to leave him exhausted. He could still go on for a while, but the day''s run its course, he fought another ghost, and he really doesn''t want to do anything else.

    Danny walks over towards his desk and starts the computer. While it boots up, he opens up one of the drawers and pulls out a mason jar he got from Sam. He puts the spider core in it, and seals it back up. He could mess with it now, but his parents are going to be home soon, and he''d rather have the necessary equipment to do so.

    As he waits, he thinks over the day. It''s been a roller coaster of emotions, both up and down. It started nervous and angry, quickly went to just angry, next was furious, then depressed, now it''s up there- somewhere in between pride and satisfaction.

    The fight with the spider could have only turned out better if he killed it in one shot, and if his parents hadn''t shown up. It''s exceedingly concerning that they have that kind of attitude towards him, when they haven''t even tried to talk to him yet. Danny never thought that they were so bigoted that they''d try and kill him on the spot. Hell, he had just killed the spider ghost! He did their job for them, they should have thanked him!

    Also, he doesn''t really look that different from his human form. He may be paler, have white hair and green eyes, but everything else is the same. Same hair length and style, facial structure, body height and build, even his voice is similar, just with a slight echo. And he''s their son, most would think that the parents would recognize their own child, dead or alive, but apparently not.

    When it comes to ghosts, it seems that to his parents, the only good ghost is a non-existing one. Maybe he can change their mind, but based off that first encounter, the odds aren''t very likely. What does that do for him though? Will they really¡­ hunt him? They shot at him, even if they missed, they had tried to kill him. Maybe they didn''t get a good enough look? Surely, that''s it. At least he keeps telling himself, it sounds hollow in his mind.

    "What a downer." Danny groans.

    Today has been so strange. He''s had enough of this up and down shit.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Were you able to get any samples honey?"

    Jack looks to his wife behind him. She was the better shot, so she was securing the perimeter in case that ghost boy, or any ghost really, decided to stop by.

    He shakes his head, "No, sorry Madz. Everything was already gone before I could contain it. It looks like he took the core- don''t really know what he''d do with it though." Jack tilts his head to the side, in an attempt to process the why of that.

    "Do you think he''d eat it? We''ve never really thought about cannibalization among ghosts." It''s an odd thought, but ghosts are evil enough to do it. He couldn''t see the purpose though, this town- or rather area- had enough ambient ectoplasm to sustain ghosts. For the most part. It''s why they chose to live in this town all those years ago.

    The most haunted city in America, did indeed, have some plausibility to it. It was the perfect place for their research.

    "Hmm." She tilts her head to the side, tapping her finger to her lips, "I''m not sure. I don''t think so, all these ghosts over the years- even the intelligent ones- never mentioned cannibalism." She waves her hand dismissively in front of her with a chuckle, "Not that we''d believe them anyway. I wouldn''t put it past them though, dear. They''re ghosts. If it''s evil, they probably do it."

    Jack laughs along, "Yeah, I guess we''ll have to keep an eye out for that ghost boy. We can ask him when he''s on the dissection table." If any normal person was around, they would have questioned the legitimacy of these two so called ''scientists''. The words they say, and the actions they take, leaning so heavily on one side. It''s clearly biased, and it begs the question if they have actual proof of concept. Additionally, the way they speak so casually about dissecting a ''boy'', whether ghost or not, would have many claiming them to be mental.

    "Achoo!" Jack sniffles and rubs his nose. "This was a bust Madz, we should get out of here before we get sick." It''s not often that Jack is the voice of reason.

    Maddie squints her lips, but starts walking back towards the GAV anyway. She''s not doubting her husband''s words, she''s just dissatisfied with the lack of results.

    Jack nods and gets up from his crouch. He picks up his equipment and walks back with his wife. His large strides easily allow him to catch up. "If it wasn''t the rainwater, it would have been the lack of a core." He shakes his head, "Nothing to be done about it. We got here too late."

    Maddie sighs, but relents. They really did get here too late, they couldn''t even take part in the action, much less the collection. Without a core, unless properly stabilized or contaminated into an object, ectoplasm from a formerly existing ghost tends to dissipate far too quickly. That''s why they always go for capture. Along with studying the various anatomies of different dead, they can extract ectoplasm freely, without the worry of dissipation.

    When they reach the door to their vehicle, Maddie turns and looks at the nearby housing complex. They heard some of the sounds from their house and along the way, there''s no way this went unnoticed by the people living here. She glances at her husband, he''s rubbing his nose as he gets into the vehicle. She''s glad their jumpsuits are waterproof, but their heads aren''t covered so water can leak in. There''s only so much the suits can do before they actually get sick.

    The rain is going to be heavy for the next few days if the news was anything to go by. Interviewing the residents can wait, it''s not like they''re going to be going anywhere anytime soon. Nor are they going to be forgetting recent events, they didn''t know what kind of ghost was fought and ended here, but there is substantial property damage. It had to have been large.

    And the ghost boy has to be powerful to be able to take it down. Bigger may not always mean better, but a lot of times, for ghosts, that does hold some truth. Larger bodies allows for more ectoplasm to flow through, which allows for faster more power. The big ones may not have that condensed of ectoplasm, most likely like the ghost boy- they really needed a name for him- but they still have a lot and almost all ghosts are capable of throwing that weight around, one way or another.

    The GAV starts up and Maddie closes the door behind her. She would come back tomorrow, most likely without Jack if his sniffling was anything to go by.

    "Jack-sweetie?" The man in question turns towards his wife, "Yeah Madz?"

    "Make a detour to stop by a Walgreen''s. It''d be best if we do something to nip your coming cold in the butt."

    Jack sighs in defeat, "Yes dear." Good Lord, does he hate taking medicine. It just tastes so¡­ gross. It''s nothing like fudge.

 Chapter 11

    Chapter 11

    They say nothing in life ever goes as planned.

    Danny could see the truth behind those words more than ever. Probably more than anyone else on the planet.

    Is it normally this extreme though? Danny didn''t know exactly how his life was going to go, but he had a rough guess.

    Go through school like before, getting bullied probably until graduation because there''s no way the teachers are going to do a damn thing about it. He would go for A''s and B''s, and hopefully somewhere along the line get a girlfriend and a part time job. When he graduated, next would be planning his career. He wanted to be an astronaut, a difficult path in life, but past examples could be followed for an easy path.

    Join the AirForce, hope that a war doesn''t break out, use the military to pay for a degree- most likely engineering, and after a decent amount of service to his country, he would then go on to join NASA. From there he would have his dream, and hopefully, one day, go to space. He knew not every astronaut went to space, a large number of them didn''t, but that was the way of the game.

    But really, does anyones life go off track this damn much? A half-dead freak at 14, blood contaminated so heavily by an unknown, mostly unstudied energy source, that he''ll never pass a blood test again in his life. His dream of being an astronaut? Shattered, gone, and now will never come to be. Those are some of the negatives. Super powers that positively thrilled him, so much that, while still disappointed that he won''t be an astronaut, he almost didn''t care. He could fly in a way that seemed to ignore gravity, he didn''t need to breathe, he could harness ectoplasm as both an offensive weapon and a defensive augmentation. He can generate electricity and throw it around like Zeus, turn invisible and go through walls. He had tested how high he could go, and while nowhere near enough at the moment, he knew one day he could do it. He would reach space by his own hands.

    He wouldn''t have to go through the military for years, go to college, or train at NASA. He guessed that before he finishes high school, he could leave the planet unassisted. There aren''t many people who can attest to that, if any at all. Superman wasn''t human, so he didn''t count.

    One day, he would fly through space like no one from this planet will ever be able to. It thrilled him, gave him confidence, gave him drive and motivation and renewed his dream, a dream that only he could fulfill.

    Not everything is fine and dandy though. Danny did die. When in his other form, he didn''t have to breathe, but his heart didn''t beat either. The half-ghost didn''t know if he was going to age or be stuck as a fourteen year old for eternity. He didn''t even know if he would die of old age. On top of dying, he found his trust broken with his friends. They had lied to him and watched as he bled out, Danny knew he would never be able to trust them as much ever again. His parents now hunted him, and not in a ''let''s find our son'' kind of way, but more along the lines of ''stay still so we can end you'' kind of way. Even if they didn''t know it was their son that they were trying to kill, it left him with absolutely zero trust in his parents.

    At least Jazz was still Jazz. Nosy and annoying, but still caring and supportive. If only she stopped trying to use him as a psychology subject, she would be the best big sister. Maybe one day he would tell her about his powers, and how he got them. That wouldn''t be the most comfortable conversation though, and he had to know, for sure, that she wouldn''t tell their parents.

    Danny''s life was so damn out of order that he had to find ways to distract himself and focus his confusion. Videos games, reading, TV, and training were the main ones. Experimenting and harnessing his powers to new heights was far more fun than he ever thought it would be. Nothing new so far, but he has found different applications for already existing powers.

    Luckily, his fight with the spider wasn''t caught on that many cameras. Two videos surfaced on Youtube, one that had quality comparable to an early 2000''s video camera, his face was far too blurry to even see anything besides his vibrantly glowing green eyes. The second one was done by, what he presumes to be either a senior citizen with arthritis, or someone so scared they were shaking. The video was too jumbled to get anything out of it except for the audio, which was admittedly, rather haunting.

    In the two weeks since his first run in with his parents, things had gotten significantly more hectic. What was once a week before, was now twice or thrice. Ghosts were coming out of the woodwork left, right, and center. Two weeks ago there were two different ghost incidents on two different days.

    The first was on Monday, the worst day of the week. A large gorilla ghost, a little bigger than their living relatives, had appeared in the woods to the north of town. It wasn''t a terribly difficult fight, the ghost ape was larger than him still but it only got a few hits in on him. The problem was that it was a smarter opponent than his previous fights were. It actively used its powers far more than the others.

    The other came on Thursday. A giant iguana about the size of a bus. Everything seemed to be bigger when they died, and it was getting annoying to fight things so much larger. That one too, was in the woods to the north. It was easier than the last, and he got out of the fight with only a few cuts and bruises, where as the damn gorilla left him with an almost broken arm, a dislocated shoulder, and burns along his chest. Danny had a sneaking suspicion that Lake Eerie was as haunted as local legends said it was.

    On the bright side, Danny had gotten two more cores from the ghosts. He still had no idea what to do with them, but for now they stayed in the mason jar that was locked in his desk.

    Last week was more and less difficult. Danny had finally gotten around to ''borrowing'' some of his parents inventions. The ecto-guns were useless, it was no wonder they missed so often. Totally inaccurate, though that could have been because he took some of the older models. Plus, he could make his ecto-blasts and rays more powerful than anything he had taken. The most useful thing he''s taken so far though were the capture devices. Three of them total, a Capture Cube for containment, something called a Jack o'' Nine Tails, and believe it or not, a thermos.

    The cube didn''t get any action so far, but he knew how it was supposed to work. Incapacitate a ghost- that''s not easy to do. Place it on them and wait for the ghost to be absorbed into the device. It had a holding time of eight hours, or so the tiny instructions pamphlet said.

    The Jack o'' Nine Tails was a restraining device. It looks like a normal stainless steel cylinder, but when the button was pressed it fired out a retractable grappling device. He didn''t know why it was called a ''Nine Tails'', when there''s actually ten of the restraining cables that fired out of the thing. Jack Fentons face was in the middle of the device though, for some dumb reason, and he couldn''t take it off without breaking the weapon. He settled for black spray paint. This device actually worked rather well when used in conjunction with the thermos, and it helped catch the rat that had run off and came back. It was situational though, and rather easy to dodge for ghosts. They''re just too fast and nimble.

    Lastly the Fenton Thermos, Maddie Fenton''s newest invention. The best device his parents have made so far, in terms of capturing ghosts. He wasn''t entirely sure how it worked per se, especially since there wasn''t an instruction manual. It seems like it fires out a tractor beam of sorts that only works on ghosts.

    When he re-fought the rat, the fight actually went pretty quickly. Danny got the drop on it, it was in the junkyard eating¡­ stuff. It''s a rat, it eats garbage. He used the Nine Tails to restrain it, and the thermos was used to scoop it up. Easiest fight yet, and he took great pleasure in mocking the trapped rat. He was tempted to take it out and kill it for the pain it caused him, but that felt rather¡­ extreme. Sure he was pissed at it, but he lived. And if he ever saw it again¡­ the third time''s the charm.

    The elder Fentons may not have gotten the thermos to work, but it worked when he powered it with his raw ectoplasm, something the couple didn''t seem to have or they just didn''t realize that. They had even put a disposal device on the portal to get rid of trapped ghosts. For once, Danny was glad that his parents invented something. It was useful, and let him avoid injuries.

    He already had enough scars as is, thank you very much.

    The half-ghost learned in the next fight the limitations of the thermos. While it can indeed suck up a ghost if it isn''t aware, it''s hardly useful mid fight. Especially against multiple enemies.

    A group of, what Danny has dubbed ''Ectopus'' came into town at the wee hours of the morning, two days after the rat capture. 2:00 a.m. to be exact. He didn''t know that his ghost sense would work when he was asleep, but it was jarring being woken up by burping up a cold mist.

    So, begrudgingly and full of ire, Danny left his house at impossible hours and went to take care of them. All because he didn''t want anyone getting hurt, it was times like these that he cursed his moral compass. The fight took a whole hour. There were three of the ghosts around the park, all about the size of a prius. The problem was that not only were they decently sized, but each one had eight limbs. Instead of the traditional beak that octopuses have, these damn monstrosities had their entire head spit in half. Inside was a maw of teeth that the ghosts, at the time of arrival, were using to grind down a chunk of trees.

    Why? Who knows, he''s not an undead monstrous cephalopod with a toothache for tree bark. He''s a half-ghost teenager with trust issues and a recently developing temper for being woken up before the sun rises.

    His initial attempt with a surprise thermos was met with all eight tentacles gripping onto the trees to resist the suction force. It stayed there long enough for the other two ectopuses to attack him. That was when he learned that the suction cups on the tentacles had little teeth in them. They were adept in using their intangibility to swim through objects and the ground. Eventually he got them all, but he ended up killing one in revenge when it racked three offending appendages across his torso. That netted him another core, and the other two tried to flee after that. He caught one immediately with the thermos, and gave a fifteen minute chase on the other.

    Danny got back home around 3:30 in the morning, ready for the sweet calling of his bed. Of course, he had to clean his wounds, that set him back another hour because of the injuries on his back. At around 4:30 he finally went to sleep, thoroughly exhausted, in pain, angry, annoyed, and frustrated.

    The third fight came two days later, and at the time Danny had just finished his training for the day. Again, they came from the north. One of these days, he was going to go up to Lake Eerie and capture all the ghosts that he found there, just so he wouldn''t have to deal with them for a bit. He was tired of seeing them come from that direction.

    The third fight of that week was against, well, they didn''t have specific shapes. It would be apt to have described them as formless ghosts, or slimes. All three were about the size of an adult man, and could mold their bodies into semi-coherent shapes. They had large, full body mouths and their limited shapeshifting always seemed to result in at least two arms with large clawed hands on them. This was Danny''s first experience with formed ghosts. They were not born of the deceased, but were created from ectoplasm directly.

    Danny made sure to kill one for its core, not like he had a choice anyway. At the time he was tired from using his powers for hours on end, and he had to resort to drastic measures. He wasn''t sure why he was collecting the cores, but he did. He had a feeling, and so far when he has a feeling about something, following it tended to lead him somewhere. Whether it was to a ghost, or to avoid trouble, it always led him somewhere. So when his gut instinct told him to take the cores he did. He also liked looking at his collection, they were like trophies. Proof that he had fought these monstrous creatures that would easily fell a man twice his size, and prove difficult for other heroes. He had beat them, by himself, with his own two hands.

    He didn''t slaughter them all, just the one. The fight went as well as it could have, seeing as how he didn''t initially know their abilities. A broken finger and lots of bruises on his back later, he had them all captured, sans the sacrifice he took at the beginning.

    This all leads up to his mounting frustration for the current moment. It felt like he wasn''t getting any rest at all. The constant battles and injuries weren''t exactly debilitating, but being woken up before the crack of dawn to go and fight, get injured, and then do it again in a few days has left him slightly winded. His healing factor was in constant use, a broken bone here, a burn there, gashes, scrapes, bruises- at this point he was always healing. It could just barely keep up with the damage, yet he always went into a fight with an injury from the precious fight.

    This hero stuff was turning out to be more of a headache than it was worth.

    And this guy. This annoying, blue skinned, pot bellied, greasy dockyard hand in ratty suspenders and dusty overalls. The Box Ghost as he called himself. This was the first ghost he''s seen that''s had enough intelligence to speak, except the first thing he screamed was-

    "Beware! Fear my awesome power of all things square and cubical!" Yes. That''s what he said, and he keeps repeating it. Over and over. Beware this, beware that. Danny''s known this guy for less than ten minutes, and already he wanted to throttle him. It doesn''t help that the second Boxy spotted him, he got hit in the face with a wooden crate from one of the warehouse shelves.

    "Listen-" Another crate, "dude, will you-" another, "Stop, you ass!" And another box came flying overhead, Danny ducked and leveled a glare at the nuisance. He reigned in his anger though, he had questions and he wanted answers.

    "Box Ghost! Listen will you-" He turned intangible as another box went through him, "STOP YOU DUMB OAF! I just want to talk!" Three boxes swirled around him before crashing at the center point, breaking on contact, Danny turned intangible for maybe the fifth time in the last two minutes as a response.

    "I am the Box Ghost! Beware for I shall rule the world through Cubicle Conquest!" The half-ghost had already lost a lot of his patience over the last few weeks, constant attacks from ghosts and the pain he suffered from the wounds already wearing down what little a fourteen year old could have.

    When a small box caught him in the lip, busting it not from the box itself, but from his own fangs, Danny had had enough. "RAAAAAGH! FINE! YOUR WAY," He reared back a fist covered in electricity, "IT IS!" The bolt of ectoplasmic electricity soared towards the target.

    Box Ghost raised several crates in defense, but really, what could mere cardboard, plywood and particleboard do against high powered, anger fueled electricity do? The bolt went right through the defending crates, burning them to ash and splintering the wood, and hits the offending annoyance right in the chest. Boxboy was blown back through the warehouse walls, before stopping against the opposite walls outside. He indented the outside wall and shook his head, floating out in a slight daze.

    Danny flew through the hole he made and was surprised to see the Box Ghost more or less okay, floating and flexing his fingers as if to assess the damage. He, admittedly, put more power than he normally did in that attack out of frustration. He finally found a ghost that could talk, but not only did it keep attacking him- rather weakly he might add- it seemed incapable of saying anything besides "I am the Box Ghost" and "Beware!" Infuriating would be the apt term he''s looking for.

    Suddenly, an idea formed in his head and he tried to take a different approach. Danny reached into his pant leg pocket and pulled out the Capture Cube. "Listen man, I came to talk." Danny began, Box Ghost extended a hand and sputtered a ''beware'' in defiance before Danny showed him what was in his hands. Box Ghost paused, staring in fascination at the sleek black and silver cube. To him, it was perfect.

    Danny gave a toothy grin at the reaction, showing off his rather impressive fangs. "Here''s the deal, I''ll give you this cube and tell you how it works, only if you answer some questions, okay? You''re the first talking ghost I''ve seen, and all the rest have tried to eat me. So, please?"

    For his part, the package themed ghost was barely paying attention. His attention was focused solely on the second most beautiful thing he''s ever seen. He gave a dull nod, he had to have it.

    Satisfied that the plan was working so far, Danny gave a nod. Finally! He could have some answers. "Okay, awesome. So, I died like a month ago, at the start of summer. I''m seriously out of it, I have no idea what I should know and what I don''t."

    Box Ghost was paying a little more attention to the conversation, he had to answer after all. One bit of information made him look at Danny straight in the eyes though. "Wait, you died a month ago, ghost child?" A month? A mere month! Box Ghost himself had been around for almost forty years, the power the ghost boy wielded was rather, no, definitely impressive for a fresh spawn. Even if he had an Earth Core, the last time he actually felt an electrical attack like that was from Technus. The strongest, he may not have been, but sturdy he was- damn proud of it too. One of the perks of his core type.

    Danny nodded with a grim expression. Box Ghost felt a little bad now, but not much. He cared for very few things outside of boxes, cubes and rectangles. This new ghosts'' feelings? Not up on the list. "Yeah, it hurt and here I am. I guess first would be, well, why are all these ghosts coming here? I have a suspicion but¡­" He trailed off, leaving the answer open.

    "Hmm. Well, I came here from a natural portal, but I know why this place is being rushed. There''s not many places with such a stable connection to the zone, especially with the portal in those peoples house." Box Ghost laughed at that, the fools never closed it as far as he knew. Even now he could feel the pull, the call to it. He could ignore it for the most part, but the wild ones? The unintelligible were going to swarm en mass to this place.

    And when he spread the news of a stable, always open portal to the mortal realm, to the rest of the GZ, this place was going to be in chaos. Maybe he''d finally be able to ask Lunch Lady out for a date here.

    The annoying voice of the ghost in front of him grated on his patience, but he was getting answers, so his mood was rising. Ever slow as it was. "Natural portals? Where are those at? Can any ghost come through them?" Yeah, if they popped up so often he was screwed. He could barely keep up as is.

    Boxy continued, whether to answer his question or to continue what he was saying. "Natural portals pop up anywhere and everywhere. They last anywhere from a few seconds to a few days." He shrugged his shoulders, "It''s random, but dangerous. Ya never know where yer'' gonna end up."

    The portal in his basement was the cause!

    "Fuck all, fuck everything, fuck me." Danny muttered under his breath. He knew it, if the spider hadn''t made it obvious before, the few following ghost interactions had enforced his suspicions. This just confirmed it. He was going to have to convince his parents to put a damn door on the thing. Even if it closed, it seemed as though it remained open anyway. Danny constantly felt the pull to it too. How could they think that simple steel would be enough to stop a ghost? Some hunters they were.

    That was information to file away, but it explained why there were so many ghosts in the living world. Next question, "How did you not take as much damage? I''m not boasting here, but my electrokinesis is pretty strong, and the shot I hit you with wasn''t exactly weak." It wasn''t that big of a concern, but it irked his curiosity.

    Box Ghosts fingers twitched as he continued to stare at his object of desire, but his chest swelled with pride in his coming boast. "I have an earth core! Electrical attacks, while capable of harming me, are reduced. Your attack did surprise me, the only time electricity has hurt me was from Technus."

    Earth core? There were elemental affinities to ghost cores? Was his core type electricity? Who''s Technus? "How do you know your elemental affinity? Are powers specific to cores?" This was knowledge he needed to know.

    Boxy shook his head, "I don''t know about powers being specific, and I was told my core affinity years after becoming a ghost by this guy with a clock in his chest. He never said his name though." Thinking back, the fellow was strange, but rather nice. It helped him in the long run, and who knows when he would have discovered it.

    Of course he was useless in this regard. That information could have been a larger boon then the buffoon in front of the half-ghost could have known. New information was delivered, however. It was useful in its own right, now he just had to find out what his core element was.

    Danny placed a hand on his chin in thought, ignoring the pot bellied ghosts¡­ mewling for his desired payment. The sound the ghost was making right now was thoroughly sickening coming from what looked like a middle aged man. He crinkled his nose in disgust, "Uh, stop that. It''s gross. This is the last question. I don''t think you can stand waiting anymore any way- It''s like you have ADHD or something."

    He didn''t acknowledge the insults, or maybe he wasn''t paying attention, or maybe he was just that dumb. "Do¡­ ghosts ever get over their deaths? I- I don- it''s still kind of hard for me to wrap my head around. Every time I think of it I just get so- I don''t know, angry? Sad? Frustrated? Name a negative emotion and I got it."

    Box Ghost straightened out. This was a serious topic for ghosts, and this newborn- or rather- new dead, did have a right to know. He cleared his throat, "It''s about 50/50. Some get over it, some don''t." He shook his head, "It wasn''t hard for me to get over it, but it did take years. My afterlife so far has been far more fun and enjoyable than my time among the living."

    Danny nodded, glad to finally have some answers, but before he could say anything, Box Ghost continued. "Also, don''t ask a ghost about their deaths. It''s common courtesy and a known taboo. Some get reeeeeally pissy about it."

    Danny kind of guessed that already, but it was good affirmation. "Alright, deals a deal. Press this button here to-" He couldn''t even finish his sentence before he was hit in the back with a car sized crate. Based on the weight, it might have been a car.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    "Hahaha! You fool! With this cubical perfection," he raised the device into the moonlight, his finger inches away from the button. "I shall rule the wo-oooo-oooooorrrrld!" The blue buffoon pressed the button and was sucked into the cube through his hand that was holding it.

    Danny rubbed his back, it was definitely going to bruise later. Looking around, aside from some Amazon packages and a¡­ sports car in a crate, there wasn''t too much damage. Not that he could do a terrible amount of damage with boxes. Danny chortled under his breath, "Idiot."

    He picked up the Capture Cube and was about to leave when he spotted an open crate, with some of its contents spilling out. He picked up one of the boxes, before shrugging. He didn''t feel bad, per se, about tricking him. He was too annoying for that, but backing out of a deal left him with a bad taste in his mouth. He picked up the box and left for home, it would have to do as an alternative compensation, he was sure Boxy would like the contents of the box.

    Danny looked up, it was only midnight, he could still get a decent amount of sleep.

    Later, after Danny deposited the Box Ghost back into the ghost zone, he found the box Danny had tossed into the zone after him. He had squealed in glee before flying off towards his realm, new toys in hand.

    Box Ghost absolutely loved the idea of metal cubes inside of another box.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Danny, are you okay?" Never mind that their parents somehow, someway, didn''t notice their sons injuries, she did.

    He hides them well, but she had caught sight of a few of them. A bandaged arm here, a limp there, splinted finger, the smell of burn creme and aloe vera. He would lean on rails for support, and watching him walk up the stairs showed how¡­ painfully slow it was.

    Today even, he had a busted lip. She didn''t even know how he got it, he went to sleep yesterday without the lacerations. Lips, plural, both the top and bottom. Two bloody but scabbed over holes on opposite sides of his mouth, on both the top and bottom lips. Despite his injured mouth, he actually seemed in a chipper mood.

    Danny gave Jazz a raised eyebrow, but poured his milk into his cereal without pause. "I''m doing pretty good, why?"

    Why? Did he have to ask? It was so blatantly obvious that he was coming home hurt recently, and yet it never seemed to last. That was good, sure. Her brother not in pain was something she wanted, but with how¡­ often it was occurring, it left her concerned.

    That seems to be all she was doing these days, worrying about her brother that is. She had good reason too.

    She sighed, this conversation could go two ways. "Danny, you have a busted lip on four spots. As if the other injuries weren''t obvious?" Danny visibly paled at his sisters affirmations. Not accusations, no, these were statements.

    He looked away, "No idea what you''re talking about."

    It''s not very convincing.

    It''s not like he was trying terribly hard to hide some of them anyway, there were some that so far he couldn''t hide. Again, it''s not like he could get away with wearing a long sleeve shirt in the middle of summer, though if any severe scars made their way to his arms he might not have a choice.

    As Jazzes'' very obvious glare of non-belief settled on his back, the half-ghost eventually gave in. "Tsk. Fine, it was an accident alright? I tripped and bit my lips." Danny lied. How could he tell his sister that he was a half-ghost now and fought monsters thrice, and in the case of the iguana, six or seven times his size?

    That''s a big N-O.

    "Accident?" He bit both his lips at once when he tripped? That hardly seemed believable. She would accept it for now, she had no doubt that he would dodge her question on his previous injuries. They obviously weren''t terribly severe if he would limp one day and be fine the next or day after. Again, she felt like all she was doing recently was thinking ''Is Danny okay?''

    "Okay. Sure. Accident." Jazz would at least let her sarcasm be known, best he knows she knows something up. "Well, what are you doing today?"

    Danny looked up from his food, spoon in mouth. Today? Train a bit, play some games. He looked down at his clothes, they had gotten a little tighter with his growth spurt. Plus he was running out, he would go out to buy more, but he didn''t have any money.

    "Well, I''m not really doing anything. I was just gonna go out for a while, try and find something to do. Why?" Was she just being nosy again?

    Jazz took a second to think this through, "Did you want to do something today? We could go to the mall. You''re going to need new clothes soon, especially if you''re on your way to Jack''s height."

    Danny blinked at that. It has been a while since they spent time together, especially outside the house. He smiled at his sister, "Sure, sounds good. Let me wash up and I''ll be good to go." He paused when he was at the staircase, and turned back around to face his sister. A light blush crept up his face, "I, uh, I don''t have any money. Mom and Dad never gave me an allowance."

    Jazz nodded and smiled, "Don''t worry, I''ll pay for it this time. I got some extra cash from the tutoring gig at the library."

    After a quiet ''thanks'' Danny was already upstairs. It took all of five seconds for him to phase his bandages off and hop in the shower. Such a convenient power, he was sure he would never physically take his clothes off again. It took about fifteen minutes to re-apply them though. Easy to get off, a bitch to get on.

    When Danny was ready, he made his way downstairs. The blue NASA shirt he was wearing was one he got from early middle school, and it was a snug fit, but it still fit. The button up he put over it was still big enough to be comfortable. For now. His jeans still fit okay, his parents had gotten him a size too large which at the moment, he was grateful for. He was pretty sure it was because they forgot what his pant size was though.

    Jazz was already waiting by the door, "Don''t people normally say women take forever to get ready?"

    He blushed a bit, but the comeback was on the tip of his tongue. "I guess that''s why you beat me, clearly you''re not a woman, little girl."

    Jazz let out a soft chuckle, but slapped him upside the head, "Just get in the jeep you twerp."

    Danny smirked at his sister, pumping his fist in victory. He had won this round.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    It still irked Danny that he didn''t have an allowance. He loves his sister, truly, but it''s totally unfair that she gets one and he doesn''t. It''s an outrage! He would protest to his parents, but that didn''t really do anything a week before summer vacation. Trying again wouldn''t hurt, especially since they have their life goal completed. Better mood and all.

    It also made him feel like a bum since he couldn''t even pay for his own clothes. Like a child. He hated it, he''s been responsible enough to protect people despite the bodily harm, but he can''t even get a bit of spare cash to pay for a new shirt and jeans? Bullshit.

    "Wanna stop by the smoothie place?" Danny breaks his stare away from his bags, and brings it back towards his sister. He shrugs, "Sure, what''s it called again?"

    Jazz stares up, recalling the name, or something close enough. "Uh, maybe Cafe Smoothie? No, no- that''s not it. Was it Smoothie Shindig?"

    Danny quips, "That''s a shitty name. Shindig? No one says that anymore."

    Jazz nods her head, "Yeah, it''s not great. I think it was¡­"

    It wasn''t a long walk from the clothing store to the smoothie shop, a short five minutes later finds the two siblings in front of "Smoothies, Shakes, and Slushies?" Jazz mumbles. "Was it always called that?"

    "I dunno. Oh, I think I''d rather have a shake right now anyway, sounds better than a smoothie." Danny said.

    No line means no wait time, so the Fenton siblings are a little lighter on cash and with a cup of frozen drinks each. "Is there anything else you need?" Jazz asks.

    A way to stop ghosts from showing up would be nice. Danny shakes his head, "Nah I''m good. What about you? Need anything?"

    "I don''t think so, do you want to head home then?" Danny takes a sip and hums his agreement. Unlike his father, fudge and all things chocolate are not Danny''s favorite. He will admit that this Reese''s Cup milkshake is pretty damn good though.

    Halfway through the mall and their drinks, Danny spots something that makes his milkshake lose a bit of its taste. Sam and Tucker were sitting at a restaurant called ''Pizza House.'' The girl that Tucker went on that date with was there as well.

    Hm. Good for him.

    He scowls as the familiar emotions relating to the two surfaced again, his mood quickly soured. When Sam noticed him and hesitantly waved with Tucker, Danny looked away and increased his walking speed.

    Jazz noticed this all. She saw the way he frowned, specifically at his friends. That was probably the strangest thing she had seen all summer, besides a portal being added to their basement. Danny only has Sam and Tucker for friends. As far as she knows, and she''s pretty sure she knows, Danny doesn''t have any other friends. He takes his friendship with them very seriously, and she knows just how much he cares for them. For him to act this way¡­ something extreme must have happened.

    Jazz watched his face edge on in negative emotions, those psychology classes were already coming in handy. Danny''s frown deepened, his eyes narrowed into a glare, she saw how his jaw clenched and she could hear him grind his teeth. The muscles in his neck bulge slightly and he wrinkled his nose. Her brother quickly turned his head away and increased his walking speed towards the parking lot.

    The emotions that flashed through his face just now¡­ anger, pain, sadness, loathing. They were all negative, and Jazz can honestly say she''s never seen her brother act this way towards his two best friends. She turns her attention away from Danny and looks at the recipients of his glare. They looked ashamed and hurt, the girl next to Tucker looked confused. They said something to her and she clapped her hands together, as if she just remembered something.

    They must have done something.

    What could piss her brother off so much so that he not only brushed off his friends, but openly glared at them? Only one way to find out.

    "Danny, is something wrong?" Jazz asked.

    Danny looked at her, his expression softening. "Nothing''s wrong Jazz. We just had a fight. That''s all."

    Obviously. "Uh-huh, I figured that out. You don''t normally act like that though. It''s not often I see you so¡­ angry Danny. We can talk about it, it might make you feel better." She pressed

    Danny pushed the glass doors open and his stare turned back into a glare, "I said I''m fine Jazz, don''t do the psychology bullshit right now." He turned back forward and kept walking towards his sister''s Jeep.

    She caught up quickly and unlocked the door for them. "Clearly you''re not Danny. We''ve had a good day so far, we had fun, but the second you see your friends, best friends I''ll add, your mood dropped like a rock in water. And I''m not going to start this car until you tell me!" She turned her own glare on her brother.

    Danny didn''t back down for several minutes, and he was honestly tempted to just get out and walk. He would fly, but he knew for a fact that she would just follow him around in her car.

    The younger brother let loose a deep sigh through his nostrils, he pinched the bridge of his nose. "God, you''re so annoying." He mumbled loud enough for her to hear.

    A slight eye twitch was the only indication that she heard it, but he relented eventually. He still had other stuff he wanted to do today anyway.

    He looked at her, frustration visible on his face. "We had a fight, okay? They lied, I called ''em out on it, and words were thrown around. There, you happy?" Danny finished and turned his head to look out the window.

    Okay, she knew with how loyal Danny was, that the lying would seriously piss him off. Not this much though, Danny almost seemed hateful. They probably really did have a confrontation too, but every fiber in her being was telling her that there was more to it.

    "Danny." His grip tightened around the door side armrest. He did not want to deal with this so soon, he still couldn''t control his powers enough to not affect his emotions, if it was even possible at all.

    "Danny, I remember what happened last time they lied to you. Yeah, you blew up on them, but a couple weeks later you guys made up. I''ve never seen you so angry before, so I know it''s more than just a lie." Jazz said.

    Danny bit his lip in frustration. The day had been going so well too, now he had to deal with this. All because he caught a glimpse of Sam and Tucker, and he couldn''t hide the scowl that popped up. Honestly, based off of how he was feeling, he would still be pissed well into the school year. Danny actually hoped that he got over this before then, he didn''t want to deal with high school alone. He was dealing with enough shit by himself as is.

    And knowing Jazz, she was going to pester him about this until he broke something or gave in.

    The half-ghost closed his eyes and let loose a silent "God dammit." Danny looked at Jazz, and making up his mind, told her: "Let''s just go home, I''ll show you there."

    Jazz frowned, but didn''t start the Jeep. "I said we''re not leaving until you told me, and I meant it."

    Danny growled, startling his sister. "I got it on fucking video, okay? I''m not explaining any more until we get home! So start the vehicle, and drive."

    Her eyebrows were still somewhere in her forehead, and her eyes were wide. She had never heard her brother growl, like some animal. Maybe she underestimated just how much this pissed him off, and no doubt her prying was digging up buried feelings.

    So she started the car. Satisfied that they were leaving, but only satisfied with that, he put his hand down the seat and pulled the lever. The seat leaned back and he crossed his arms as they pulled out of the parking lot.

    Danny closed his eyes, intent on maybe catching some sleep to calm himself. The ride back would be about twenty minutes if they had no traffic, so he had some time to catch some z''s.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    You''re not human anymore~

    Your eyes go black electric blue~

    The animal inside of you~

    Danny is stirred from his short and uncomfortable sleep. Bits and pieces of a song he''s never heard of before slowly stir him. He''s barely awake, but he''s vaguely aware of what he''s hearing. He brushes it off and tries to find his way back to the sandman.

    Crack in the seams~

    You''re breaking through~

    ''I''m fine.'' He thought to himself. In his dazed dozing, it''s hollow.

    Life on a string~

    Watch it swing~

    You''re not human anymore~

    The song is some odd combination of electric indie music. It''s not bad, but he''d rather not listen to it right now. Not with it accusing him like this. So thoroughly on target. On point. It was sounding disturbingly familiar. In his sleep addled mind he argues against the lyrics, saying that he is still human.

    He''s fine.

    Hide your teeth~

    He''s already doing that, there''s no real reason to tell him.

    Let it beat til'' you complete~

    Rattle to skin~

    In and out of consciousness he came, arguing with himself, with the song. That he was still human. That he still retained his humanity. That he wasn''t dead. He was just more durable now. He could take a beating from bigger things than man and dish them out too.

    It''s not a life~

    Without sin~

    Danny''s more awake now, the song is starting to sound so goddamn familiar, so eerily close to his current life. He hates it, who the hell is mocking him like this? Someone made a song to poke at his state of being?

    Once there was ruster~

    Now, a real imposter~

    He''s not an imposter. His heart still beats most of the time. It''s just that sometimes it stops. It''s always come back, but he''s still human. He''s still Danny Fenton!

    Ice cold killer~

    He''s not a killer. They deserved it. Survival of the fittest. They tried to kill him, eat him. They hurt him, so he hurt back.

    Bleach bone thriller~

    His eyes crack open, green light leaking out. Half asleep and enraged by the song mocking him, his half lidded eyes blearily glare around looking for the source.

    You''re not human anymore~

    "Yes, I am." Danny whispers. It doesn''t even sound convincing to himself.

    "What''s that?" The voice of his sister jostles him awake fully, startling him out of his restless sleep. He sits up so fast he scares his sister. She swerves on the road, letting loose a string of curses that sound very foreign and unnatural for her. She never curses.

    "What the fuck Danny?! Are you trying to kill us? You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Jazz yells. Danny looks around, far more awake and calmed down than he was before. They''re almost home, a couple streets and they''ll be there.

    He yawns and stretches his arms. His back pops along with his shoulders and elbows, Jazz winces at the sound. She''s never been a fan of people cracking their joints, it''s disturbing to hear. With his lethargic state of mind leaving him he rubs his eyes while offering an apology.

    "You good there little brother? You were kind of tossing and turning the last few minutes." Yeah, that disturbingly accurate song would be to blame. He wasn''t ready to be accused by lyrics he''s never heard of before. He nods his head while adjusting the seat back to a comfortable position. "I''m good. Real strange dream though."

    Jazz turns on another street, only a few more to go. She opens her mouth to dive into another inquiry, but Danny beats her to it. "What was that song just now?"

    Jazz raises an eyebrow. What did the song matter? She keeps her eyes on the road while scrolling up the playlist spotify made for her. "It''s uh¡­ here, I''m driving. You read it." She shoves her phone at him.

    ''Not Human'', shocker on the name there. "Hm." He could have guessed it based on how much the damn song was mocking him. Danny rubbed his eyes again and filed the song away. He would listen to it later when he was fully awake and in control of himself. The teenager could tell just how close he was to turning into his other half just now. Despite that, he was in a better mood than earlier. It''s amazing what a quick cat nap could do.

    The second they pulled into the driveway, Danny was already out of the car with his bags and melted milkshake. It was still good, even if it wasn''t frosty cold anymore.

    He made his way up to his room and started his computer. Danny knew that Jazz would be up before long, she was adamant about hearing what happened, so he would show her. Maybe then he would know if he was reacting properly. Ever since he got these powers, his emotions have been going haywire along with his newfound abilities. When one spikes, so does the other. It was like they were tied to a string, and wherever one went, the other was yanked along to follow.

    By the time Jazz knocked on his door, his shake was almost all gone and the video was ready to be played. "Come in!"

    Danny got out of his chair and offered it to his sister, nobody ever said he wasn''t a gentleman. Another of the positive lessons from his uncle, one that should have been taught to him by his father. She smiled at him and took the seat.

    "I told you I have it recorded." Danny brought up both videos, he minimized the second one. He played the video. There was no audio, mall security cameras aren''t that advanced.

    Danny watched the emotions flash across her face. Apprehension when his schoolyard bullies came up to him. Anger when Dash picks him up by his collar, that shirt was ruined too, now that he thought about it. The collar is all stretched out because of that big oaf. Pure fury for the briefest of moments when Dash punches him, but that vanishes quickly when he spits blood. "Oh my god!" This last emotion is fear, pure and unrefined, and it stays on as she turns around to stare at him. "Danny! What''s this?! Why didn''t you tell us?! What happened?!" Danny winces at the panic in her voice. He feels guilty for making his sister feel this, but she''ll get over it when he explains. Hopefully.

    Danny puts up a hand to stop her, "I''ll explain in a minute, okay? Just watch the rest." She wants to protest, but the look on her brothers face shuts her up.

    So she continues to watch. She feels immense satisfaction when Dash is restrained. Good, the blond bastard deserved it for touching her brother. Her eyes widen in realization, this is evidence! Her brother finally got some evidence, recorded proof and witnesses. The video ends and he pulls up the second one. It''s the same thing, just a different angle.

    No, it''s not just that. In the background, although a little blurry, there''s no mistaking the sight of Sam and Tucker. They''re with two people she''s never seen before, a date perhaps? Actually, the girl looked familiar- ah, the one from the mall.

    As she''s watching Danny starts talking. "I''m not gonna lie, I kind of egged Dash on." She momentarily glances at her brother in confusion, but watches on as the same video plays out. He continues his ruse, his lie, "I met the security guard a while back- nice guy, by the way- he helped me with Dash and his cronies before."

    He hates that he''s lying to his sister, but his gut tells him to lie. To keep his secret. It''s split though, the other side says to trust her. For all that she is, she cares. But his fear stops him from confessing. He''s scared. Scared of rejection, of retaliation, of her reaction. What if she called him a freak? A monster? He wouldn''t be able to handle it, not from her. If she decided to tell their parents, he couldn''t stop her either. He would never be able to harm her.

    "I saw the Ass-listers and had him keep an eye out. As you can see, it eventually was needed." The video ends, detailing how he was beaten, his hematemesis, and finally, the cause of his anger. His friends, watching on and doing nothing. Although worried for her brother, she understood his anger. Not his pain, she never had many friends, and she''s fine with that. She''s never gotten along with people her age, they''re all far too immature.

    Jazz turns around to see Danny sitting on the bed. "I saw an opportunity to get proof that I was, in fact, being bullied. I knew where a couple security cameras were, so I walked to them, they followed, and when they hit me I knew I had them." Danny said, a small smirk graced his face. Jazz could sense a pinch of pride in his voice, he was proud of his plot. She couldn''t blame him, he had them dead to rights on this.

    "I did take it a bit further. You know I''m used to pain, for the most part, right?" He turns his attention away from the ceiling and stares at her. She nods, reluctantly, and he continues. "Well, I steeled my nerves, and when he punched me¡­ I kind of bit through my cheeks. By the time I was doubled over I had enough blood to make it look bad."

    Jazzes jaw drops and she sits straight up. She knew her brother was smart, not just book smart- no, that was her- he was street smart, and had a good head on his shoulders that could think up things on the fly. It was a¡­ tactical smart. If he ever decides to join the military, he would probably grow to be a valuable strategist with the right training and inspiration.

    She really didn''t think he would do something like this though. "I wanted it to look good- er, bad. I wanted it to look worse for them. I know one piece of video evidence isn''t enough, and I have plans on getting more. Just gotta find the right spots with cameras. School will be a lost cause if the teachers are anything like the ones in middle school."

    "O¡­ Okay. I, uh- Hm. This¡­" She didn''t know how to respond. This plan, this plot, it was practically dastardly. Not that she didn''t approve. No, she would rather see those bullies thrown in juvie for what they''ve done to her baby brother. Look at what he had to do just to get one shred of proof! Jazz had seriously underestimated the lengths he would go to though, and his level of maturity. It takes a certain level of nerves to be able to willingly bite into your own cheeks hard enough to draw blood. Not just a small amount either, no, he clearly took a chunk off of his inner mouth for that amount.

    After a second, she finally managed to say something. "I can''t tell if Uncle Vlad has been a good influence or not." Danny raised an eyebrow before laughing. Jazz smiled at that, it hasn''t been happening a lot as of late. At least she knew why now.

    His laughter stopped after a few seconds, "And imagine my surprise when I come home to check my winnings. My friends. Not only had they lied to me, they had watched as I puked blood. Watched as their ''best friend'' not only got assaulted, and they did nothing, but- like, that wasn''t even a small amount of blood! It could have been serious! But, they just- watched¡­" By the end of his rant, Danny had sat up and was panting.

    Jazz wasn''t entirely sure what to say. She could now, at least, understand why he acted that way. For Danny, who has only two friends, and values trust and loyalty above everything else¡­ she could imagine how hurt he was. This was crushing for him.

    Jazz got up and hugged her brother. He seemed surprised, but he accepted it nonetheless. "I understand why you acted that way. I''m sorry for being so nosy, but I''m glad I know now regardless."

    It had been a while since he was last hugged. A depressing thought, no doubt, especially since the young teenager couldn''t remember the last time his parents had done so. It was warm, comforting, calmed him.

    After a moment they released each other, Danny looked up and asked something that had been gnawing at him for a while. "Am I¡­ overreacting to this Jazz? Whenever I think of them, I just get so angry and hurt and disappointed and¡­ I really can''t tell." He knew for a fact that his emotions and powers were connected. That, he thought, was the problem. Danny didn''t know if it was him feeling this, or his powers making him feel this way. It made him feel out of control.

    Jazz shakes her head, her brother wasn''t overreacting. With how few friends he has, she could only see this as the most obvious reaction. "I don''t think so. I''m surprised at how devious you are, little brother, but I''m proud of how smart you are. Not many people could think of something like that, and on a spur of the moment either. In regards to your friends," She shakes her head, "I''m sorely disappointed in them. You''ve been friends for so long, and even if I don''t have any personal examples, you didn''t deserve what they did to you. You''re not overreacting, and I think that, you questioning yourself like this is very mature."

    It''s like a weight is lifted off his shoulders. He had been so worried that he was going out of control, he worried what was his decision or his powers. Hearing that his sister didn''t think he was overreacting was so relieving. He smiled, happier than he''s been for a few weeks.

    "I''m certainly going to give them a piece of my mind the next time I see them." She shakes her head, "Did you find out why they were acting like that?" Jazz asked.

    Danny nods, "They went on a double date," the teenager sneers, "they said that they didn''t want me feeling left out- like I was a fucking child!" He snarls, fangs poking out slightly. He contorts his face back to normal, Jazz seems none the wiser.

    Lost in her thoughts, Jazz glances back at the video. She notices the date, and her eyes widen. That''s the start of summer, if he was so angry then¡­ where has he been going? He obviously didn''t spend the night at Tuckers that night. She looked back at Danny, and even though she wanted to question him on that, she had to admit that Danny seemed like he was in such a good mood. She hadn''t seen him so relaxed in a while, especially since the portal was opened up.

    She''ll give it a shot anyways, "Well, I''m glad you told me. Anything else you want to get off your chest?" Danny gives her a strange look, and in a brief moment of cluelessness, he shakes his head, completely forgetting about his powers.

    Her little brother was either a really good actor or he really wasn''t hiding anything. She knew he was though, it was something, but for now she can let it go. If it was anything truly dangerous, she at least knows that Danny is smart enough to tell her. Probably.

    "So what should I do? I still want to be friends and all, but¡­" He trails off, not sure what to say.

    "Well, if you want to be friends, then you just have to give it time Danny. Trust isn''t made in a day or a week. It''s built up over time, and it takes even longer to build up trust that''s already been broken. You could be ready by the time school starts, or by the end of the year. It''s all up to you." That''s not really the answer he wants to hear, but he can at least understand the reasoning. Danny just wanted to know when he could trust them, but clearly it would take a while.

    "Alright, that''s all the sappy drama stuff out of the way. Do you wanna join me for once in a game, or are you gonna stick your nose back in a book?" Danny jeered.

    Jazz snickers and walks to the door, "Games are your area of expertise Danny, I''m all books. See ya later." The door closes with a soft click, and Danny''s already got a game up and running.

    His mood is much better than it''s been for a while, "Maybe I''m more stressed than I thought." He mutters.

    He puts on his headset and cracks his fingers, ready to rain down hell on the multiplayer community.

    It''s been a good day.

    Until his ghost sense goes off.

    "Motherfucker."

 Chapter 12

    Chapter 12: The Hunters Prey

    The simplest solutions are usually the best solutions. That''s, at least, the general consensus; if so, it should work for ghost powers too.

    In his hand a ball of ectoplasm floated, roughly the size of a softball. He swapped it back and forth between his hands, playing with it like it wasn''t a ball of supernatural deathly energy. He shifted the orb of energies properties, going through all that it could be. From a normal ball of energy, to a blast, then to a ray, to goop, and even charging it with electricity. This has been an exercise he''s been doing for the past few days, and really, it has been helping.

    Charging attacks, swapping types, range, and damage have all been increased in efficiency and power. Not by much, but it''s a start. There''s only so much that can be done in two weeks time, and he''s really hoping this has long term benefits.

    The ball of ectoplasm suddenly flattened, the energy protested, but was held in place by will alone. With another thought the flattened ball- now disc, started spinning. Slow at first, it gained speed at an increasing rate. Eventually the rapid rotation affected the wind, the sound resembling a high speed fan. Wind blew around it slightly, Danny''s eyes gained a mad glint, no doubt inherited from his parents. He loved these experiments, testing the limits of his powers and seeing what he could do. If this is what they felt with ghosts, he could at least get why they spend all their time down there. That doesn''t mean he has to like it.

    The speed kept increasing until finally, the half-ghost could no longer hold it. The ecto-disc spun wildly out of his hand, startling him, and impacting the side of his cave and sheering right through. For the briefest of moments, sunlight illuminated the cave from the small hole, before the mountain crumbled itself to cover the new opening.

    Danny''s mouth was wide open, he wasn''t expecting that kind of cutting power. A few seconds later a muffled explosion was heard. He quickly wrote the results in his notebook, but it needed more testing. Danny grabbed his things and went outside, he took off west, still away from town but definitely not in the direction of Lake Eerie.

    It''s not hard to find a spot to use his powers, but staying in one area isn''t good. He can''t train around his mountain, they''d find it eventually if he did so.

    Danny''s been on a bit of a tangent with his powers lately. Ghost fighting has stayed relatively the same at about three to four a week, but there''s no telling when that will change. If the Box Ghost''s words are anything to go by then there''s a good chance this frequency will only go up. If the stable connection to the Ghost Zone, the Fenton Portal, is attracting all kinds of ghosts, then it''s a fair bet to say that far more will come a-calling as time goes on.

    God dammit.

    That''s not a pleasant thought, but Danny can handle it. More training is required, far more. Besides simply using them more in combat, it''s not terribly difficult to think of a way to up his abilities. Compression, rotation, expansion, mixing, and splitting are all ways Danny has thought of that will maybe improve his powers.

    And based off of this last test, compression and rotation make for a great combination. The ecto-discs fly at high speeds, and have amazing cutting power, with an explosive finish.

    Making shapes with ectoplasm is still difficult as hell though. The disc took a week to get right, and compressing it further makes the already difficult ability, far more taxing. Each shape requires time and concentration, and based on his findings so far, unusable in battle at the moment. Taking almost five minutes to form a simple three foot rod out of ectoplasm is beyond viable, a sneak attack sure, but mid-battle? No. At least the ecto-disc has gotten easier, maybe a minute at most and he''s got one ready to fire.

    Danny sets down in a clearing miles outside of Amity Park, closer to the next town over than his actual hometown. Ectoplasm comes alive in both hands, flaring sporadically and contorting into random and predetermined shapes as Danny continues his testing. It''s not the shapes that are hard to craft, it''s crafting and conforming a shapeless energy into a more solid base.

    Slowly, the ectoplasm shifts into a sphere, before flattening into the disc shape. Good, it''s faster. Danny feeds more energy into the disc, testing its limits. He exhales as it caps out, roughly twice the amount of energy a blast has. Even more energy is expended when he adds rotation.

    As the RPM''s increase, so does the pressure released by the high speed rotation. Wind is pushed aside and noise is generated as the disc reaches the highest speed he can maintain. It''s difficult to do this, there''s so many small things happening at once, and the energy expenditure isn''t terribly great. Rather, it''s kind of bad how high it is. At this point the forming takes twice that of an ecto-blast, and keeping the rotation going is about the cost of two ecto-rays at once.

    That''s not saying a lot when he can fire them off non-stop for a while, but it''s noticeable how quickly ecto-discs drain his reserves compared to his more basic attacks. "Tsk." It also takes way too long to form and be ready to use.

    Danny aims his hand with the disc at one a row of trees to his right. With a thought, it flies, taking off at extreme speeds. It cuts through the air, and three seconds later five trees have a small hole punched straight through, and a sixth one is blown up from the disc''s final detonation. Danny whistles at the damage, thoroughly impressed, but not satisfied with the new form of attacks viability. It''ll need some work.

    Danny continues with ecto-discs for thirty minutes, blowing holes in trees and felling others with ease. Slowly, the energy construct gets easier to form, as does its rotation. Accuracy leaves something to be desired, but he''ll get it one day.

    After a short lunch break, Danny moves on to a different combination. Over the course of five irritatingly slow minutes Danny forms a rod of ectoplasm. At three feet long, it''s¡­ nothing to really be proud of. It''s cool, yeah, but it takes too long to form and requires concentration to keep its shape. This time, Danny''s just focused on keeping it out and maintained.

    The thing about his powers so far is that, the more Danny uses them, the easier they are to use. That''s par for the course with most super powers, Danny assumes, but so far he has an impressive list of powers, and ways to use them, that just keep growing. It''s awesome.

    Twenty minutes later, Danny finds the ecto-rod feeling about the same- as in there''s no changes to cost of maintenance, so he swaps back to forming.

    And this is how he''s been training for the most part. For flying, Danny chose dodging trees as an obstacle course, though it was quickly getting boring. Every day he tested how high up he could go, not that he had a way of actually measuring the distance. Walking on walls and ceilings was fun and gave an interesting perspective. Pretty soon the he was going to have to steal a police officer''s radar gun, he wanted exact numbers on his speed, not guesses.

    Danny refocused on the ecto-rod construct in his hands, it solidified further under the newfound concentration. Electricity slowly coiled down his arms, trickling through his fingers, before it slowly encircled and empowered the javelin. He kept up the stream of ecto-energy and electricity, draining him at an alarming rate.

    Having had enough, Danny flew up and chose a target. He spots a large boulder, about the size of a normal, non-Fentonized RV, at the base of a half-mountain about four hundred feet away was chosen. He rolled the electric missile in his hands, twirling it twice before taking aim. Danny reared back, his body stretching and turning in a way his human half never could reach, before throwing it with all his strength. The current infused lance flew through the air, leaving contrails of electricity and stray sparks behind in its wake. It flies true, landing at the bottom part of the boulder and hits on target, exploding in wild arcs of electricity and ectoplasm. The rock cracks and split, splintering shards peppered the area and the foreign energy scorched the former boulder and immediate vicinity. Any nearby flora was vaporized, the surrounding area smoldering black.

    Danny flew over, satisfied with his impeccable aim. He floated three feet off the ground, inspecting his handiwork. He nodded at the results, the attack showed promise, but at the moment was useless for anything besides ambushes. One day, but not today.

    That attack is exhausting through, especially compared to his others. He could easily throw four or five before he''d need a break, but Danny has to be careful with his training. The half-dead teenager can''t afford to be extremely exhausted, not when a ghost could show up.

    Danny checks his phone, noting the time, before snapping a picture of the results. He flies back and grabs his notebook, jotting down theories and results. The damage is great, but it could be better. Range is phenomenal, and accuracy is acceptable. At four hundred feet away, it''s not the greatest distance, but it''s enough to snipe some of the dumber undead. Throwing allows for greater penetration power and distance, rather than simply willing it forward like an ecto-blast. Next time, he''ll add rotation to the projectile.

    Training comes to an end though at two o''clock, any longer and he''d burn through too much. A quick fly back to the cave later and Danny''s packed and ready to go.

    He looks around at his secret hideout, still disappointed at the lack of furniture and fillings. He has a couple couches, a few chairs, two coffee tables and two end tables, but other than that there''s nothing. There''s only so much you can get from a junkyard that isn''t rotted away garbage. Even the couches are barely passing, and that''s after a thorough cleaning session and couch covers. There''s no electricity, therefore no lights, no fridge, no television. The place is severely lacking in amenities, and it''s not easy to get them; nobody throws out generators, they''re all scrapped, and even then this is a cave, a gas generator can''t be used without consequences.

    He sighs and shakes his head, even without power there were a few more things he could add. The half-ghost still needed lots of shelves, metal targets, a weight set, and a ridiculous amount of medical supplies. He was going to have to ghost the last bunch on the list, but stealing first-aid kits so he could protect people was a good trade-off.

    Danny took off through the mountain, coming tangible on the other side before flying back off towards his house. A quick fly around through the city was in order, and then he''d have the whole afternoon to himself.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    As the morning of August twentieth came around, the young half-ghost found himself tired and irritable. Last night there was not one, not two, but three separate ghost incidents! First it was the Box Ghost, Danny was getting tired of seeing him. Not that he was a problem really, he was just annoying. He didn''t even know how he came back so often, it certainly wasn''t the portal in his basement!

    The second undead encounter came not only two hours later, a squad of ectopuses flew through the portal. At midnight, seven of the monsters came through, startling Danny out of the sleep he had only just gotten into. Infuriated and thoroughly annoyed, Danny took after them. He had caught two in the thermos before he had to abandon the idea of using it again. Over the course of two hours Danny blasted, zapped, pummeled, and tore apart the remaining cephalopods. Four fell to his hand before the last one was sucked into the thermos. Stubborn little shits. He was wary of getting caught by their tentacles again, but against so many, injuries couldn''t be avoided. All at skin level, but his leg and back had some nasty tears on them.

    An hour after Danny got home after that, nearly three in the morning, another ghost came through the portal. The third ghost that came through was alone, but it was easily the freakiest ghost he''d seen yet. It was basically a walking eyeball with spider legs and creepy withered fingers for wings. Disgusting, gross, revolting, there''s not enough adjectives to describe the thing. He had gotten a late start on chasing it, exhaustion does that, and by the time he found the thing it had already deconstructed a construction site. Danny wasn''t sure what they were building, but a fair bet would be another skyscraper. It''s a good thing they weren''t very far along, because the whole place was rubble now. There were no injuries from this thing, but he most likely was going to have nightmares for a while.

    With only fifteen days left till school, Danny can''t help but feel like he''s racing against time. Time he doesn''t have. He''s still not that good at using his powers, better yes, but they shut off randomly at times, at least once a week he has an episode where he''s in pain for literal hours. Nothing''s right, and he''s so damn tired. If ghost attacks are going to continue at this rate, he''s screwed.

    He had full intentions on sleeping in until maybe three in the afternoon, but after the three consecutive explosions from his parents lab, that option is out the window. Every time Danny closes his eyes, BOOM! Literally. It''s ridiculous. At least he was able to get some sleep, it''s better than nothing at all.

    But it still wasn''t much, hence his mood.

    Danny walked down the stairs, dark bags under his eyes and a deep scowl on his face. The kitchen was empty, thankfully, and he went about getting his meal. He really didn''t want to deal with anyone right now, especially his parents. Tired of cereal, he opens the fridge and growls when a glowing green ham tries to chomp him. It''s promptly grabbed and fried with electricity, it''s only when the thing is thoroughly cooked and smoking does he realize that he used his electrokinesis while in his human form.

    That''s certainly useful, but that means that his ghost side seeps into his human half far more than he thought. He hums in thought, before shrugging. There''s not much he can do about it.

    Breakfast goes by fast enough and Danny runs upstairs for a quick shower. He changes into a gray light long sleeve shirt with a blue button down over it. He leaves it open and goes with his regular jeans. Danny takes a peek into his closet, noting how he only has a couple white and red shirts left. Honestly, he thought that they''d last through a majority of high school when they were bought in bulk, but now there''s only a few left. All because of ghosts.

    Well, there was a reason they were on sale, so it''s not that big a deal.

    Danny''s out of his house minutes later, flying off towards town. He knew he should be training, but there''s plenty of time left in the day. He wanted to fly around the city. Amity Park isn''t the largest city in America by far, but it is big enough to have a couple dozen skyscrapers. At a population of over four-hundred thousand, there''s a decent amount to do, even if the town is kind of a dead end place. Plus, he can go wherever he wants. Locked doors and impenetrable walls can do nothing to him, and he can just go invisible for cameras.

    He can explore to his heart''s content.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Well, it was fun while it lasted."

    Danny had about an hour of goofing off when his ghost sense went off. It was pointing him south, towards the downtown area. A short ten minutes later and he finds himself floating above the zoo.

    Danny looks around, searching for the ghost, he keeps his ears down to the ground to see if he can hear any screaming.

    Nothing.

    Danny frowns before he flies down to get a closer look. One of the large trees in the middle of the park catches his attention, and he goes over to take a seat while looking out.

    Maybe this ghost is friendly? That would be nice, especially since the Box Ghost isn''t exactly a well of information. Or easy to tolerate.

    "Move whelp, this spot is occupied." Danny jumps, startled and confused, but catches himself before he falls all the way down below.

    Floating back up, the half-ghost looks around for the owner of the voice. "Uh, who said that?"

    A large metal figure materialized in front of him. A mohawk aflame with green topped his skull-like head. The figure, obviously some kind of ghost, was bulky, even more so since his skin was metal. A large pauldron of unknown material was on his left shoulder, and he had numerous gadgets on his body. His clothes were black and the belt he wore beeped with green and blue lights. Danny''s eyes widened as he took in the full figure of the ghost in front of him. A robot ghost.

    "I said that. I am Skulker, the Ghost Zones greatest hunter!" He boasted and spread his arms wide so Danny could take in his magnificence. The robot was taller than Danny by at least a foot, towering over the half-ghost who was in awe at the undead before him.

    "Whoa! Are you a robot ghost? You''re awesome!" Danny flew around to get a better look, there were many ports and hatches on Skulkers body. He had no idea what they did, but he assumed stuff came out of there if he was a robot ghost.

    Skulker smirked and took in the praise with glee. He enjoyed the praises of the ghost child. "This is a battle suit I built, it is armed with the best technology to aid in my hunts!" Skulker flexed his arms and multiple weapons popped out of the ports on his arms. A blade on each wrist, blasters from his forearms, rocket pods from his shoulders, jetpack with wings from his back. More and more weapons littered Skulkers body, and Danny couldn''t help but wonder how so much fit in there if it was a battle suit.

    "Holy- that''s a lot of weapons¡­ that''s so cool." The hunter became more intimidating than he first guessed, especially with the arrogant smirk he had plastered to his metal skull face. "You said you''re a hunter? What do you hunt?"

    Somehow, the metal skin of the suit smirked. The half-ghost really wondered how Skulker got metal to move like that. He didn''t think that a robot suit could show such emotions.

    "Everything! If it''s a rare creature, I shall hunt it and hang it''s pelt above my mantel! My realm has all of my trophies, from all of my hunts!" Skulker grinned as he reminisced in all his hunts, they were truly exhilarating, and he enjoyed collecting their skins.

    "Ah¡­" Danny was getting a bad feeling about this ghost. How many half-ghosts could there be? "I see. Uh- ew. Why are you here at the zoo then?"

    "I am here for a gorilla, one of the last of its kind." Skulker said, "I shall take its pelt for my collection." Again with the pelt nonsense. Gross.

    "Wait, wait, you''re going to hunt something in the zoo? Where''s the fun in that?" If he was going to hunt something, fine, but at this point it''s not hunting. It may as well be target practice.

    Skulkers eyes narrowed at the ghost child. "What do you mean, whelp?"

    Danny gulped, "Well, it''s not really hunting if it''s in the zoo, man. It can''t go anywhere, there''s no tracking it through dense woods or forests. It''s just¡­ there. Like a target. That''s not really hunting, is it?"

    Skulker tilted his head to the side, he supposed the child had a point. It wouldn''t be like his other hunts, there would be no thrills, just the action of ending it. As fun as that was, it wouldn''t be a true hunt.

    "Also, that gorilla there, I''m pretty sure the purple-back is just painted on. If you''re looking for hunting grounds, I would suggest Africa or South America. There''s not really much to hunt on this continent, it''s too populated." Danny was trying his best to get this hunter out of here. He had a bad feeling about him, like if he didn''t play his cards right, he would be hunted. Where else would be better than across the world?

    Just not here.

    Also, he really did hear a rumor about the purple-back being painted. He didn''t think it was true, but it was an easy lie to get away with. Sampson seemed like a ridiculous animal, Danny had never heard of a mammal that naturally grew purple hair.

    Skulker looked back at the target, then to the whelp. He cupped his chin in thought, before asking the child in front of him, "Why do you care? You are obviously a ghost too, why do you care for where I hunt?" Skulker did take note of what the child said, if this expanse of land was that crowded, then he would have to find more suitable areas.

    Danny tensed at the question and he racked his brain for a suitable explanation that didn''t scream ''I am huntable''. He thought through some of the terms his parents had said about ghosts over the years.

    He gambled, "Well, this place¡­ is kinda like my¡­ haunt?" Was that the right term? "I haven''t been dead long, but there''s a lot of ghosts that have been coming here. So far, all of them have been violent and destructive. I still have family here, so I''ve been trying to keep the place safe. Ah! The Box Ghost wasn''t exactly destructive, but he was damn annoying. I sent him back to the Ghost Zone as well."

    The hunter narrowed his eyes in suspicion, his explanation felt true, yes. He could also agree that the Box Ghost was, indeed, annoying. Skulker himself came from the portal in that basement lab, so he knew why there were so many coming here. They were being called. But there was a nagging feeling in the back of his head, one that he had associated with finding rare prey. His hunter''s instinct, as he called it, and it was screaming at him. Particularly about the whelp in front of him. He looked similar to the smaller human child in the photos in the portal house. "Hmmm."

    Danny felt like he was being evaluated, if the stare was anything to go by. "Uh, hey, what''s the stare for?"

    Skulker didn''t respond to the question, "What''s your name whelp?"

    Danny stiffened. He couldn''t give his real name, not in this form. He had a good name a few weeks back, what was it again? "My name is¡­ Phantom. Danny Phantom. Nice to meet you?" He knew it wasn''t the smartest idea to call himself Phantom, especially with it being so close to Fenton, but it called to him. The idea that the names were so similar was kind of funny to him as well. If he ever talked to the living in this form, he wondered if they''d make the connections. As he finally said his ghost name, an insignia formed on his chest. A flaming D, with a P in it. It didn''t go unnoticed by Skulker.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    Skulker nodded, his metal skull face impassive. "Very well, whelp." So he wasn''t going to call him by his name then? "I will take your advice. Till we meet again." The hunter ghost sprouted his jetpack from his back, before taking off. He turned invisible soon after.

    Danny let loose a breath he didn''t need to hold. That was scary, he didn''t want to be a pelt. He wasn''t too sure how that would work for humans, not a lot of hair to make anything worthwhile. Maybe he was overreacting, it''s completely possible that the hunter wouldn''t hunt him. Not that he''d trust someone he just met, especially a ghost, he didn''t have any good interactions with them so far.

    Danny slumped down on the tree branch, far more tired than ten minutes ago. He sat there for about thirty minutes, watching people and animals move about through the zoo. Eventually he got bored and decided to head home. He didn''t feel like training today.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Danny touched down in an alley two blocks away from his house. Ectoplasm quickly faded from his form, turning Phantom back into Fenton. He was about to walk out of the alley when his heart sank at the voice he heard.

    "Ah-ha! I knew it!"

    Danny stiffened, before slowly turning around. On the roof above him, stood Skulker. This time, he really was eyeing Danny with a predatory grin. Danny gulped and instantly turned back into Phantom.

    Thinking on the fly, Danny brought out the quickest excuse he could think of: "How do you like my shapeshifting?" He held his hands out as if to show off, even then, his shaky voice gives him away.

    Skulkers grin grew even more, "That wasn''t shapeshifting, and I know what you are, Halfa. The other may be too powerful for me, but you¡­ I can hunt you." Green and black blasters popped out of his gauntlets, primed and aimed at Phantom.

    Those two short sentences were far more valuable to Danny than the hunter could have imagined. First was his species, he had been calling himself a half-ghost, but apparently, the proper term was Halfa. It seemed kind of half-assed, honestly. Also, there was another tidbit of information that caught his attention. Another like him, one who was so powerful that Skulker wouldn''t dare hunt him.

    He wasn''t alone. There was another Halfa, just like him!

    Phantom''s eyes shone with intensity as he took to the skies. Skulker missed both blasts, destroying the pavement that the Halfa was just standing on. The hunter took off after Phantom, the jetpack launching him at full speed.

    Danny charged a blast in each hand while flying sporadically, dodging left and right as stray rays flew by him. Stray rays hit random cars, houses, or other public buildings and signs. He wanted to be sneaky, to not attract attention, but he knew that he would need all the energy he could manage with this ghost. Danny took a sudden sharp right, flipping over and aiming both hands at the hunter. He seemed surprised that Danny showed such readiness. Both blasts left his hand, hitting the hunter and batting him away. The Halfa didn''t wait around for the hunter.

    Two minutes of uninterrupted flight later, and Phantom found himself with eight missiles trailing behind him. Danny charged a ray and dipped low to the ground, flying right above the street. He swerved left and right, sweeping the ray and detonating five of the eight missiles. A row of trees, about three hundred feet to the left caught his attention. He blasted off towards them, allowing the timbers to take the explosive projectiles in his place.

    There was no time to celebrate though as Skulker dropped his invisibility and shoulder charged the young Halfa. Danny spun out of control, breaking through a tree and skidding on the ground. He righted himself, feet digging into the ground, and charged his arms with electricity. It was wild and intense, burning a scar into the ground as he kept skidding backwards.

    Skulker was on him again, blaster in one hand, blade extended from the other, a maniacal grin on his face. "What a hunt! I didn''t expect such ferocity whelp! It''ll make mounting your pelt that much sweeter."

    Danny shivered, "That''s gross, Tin Can!" He ducked under a swing, but the blast caught him in the chest. He screamed as he was blasted backwards. Skulker followed after, only to be zapped by Danny.

    He had a grin matching the hunters, until he heard an automated voice, "Suit now charged at 200% power." Danny immediately cut off the flow of power, staring dumbfounded at the hunter. Of course, one of his most powerful abilities is useless against the mechanized hunter.

    "Yeah, that''s my luck." He grumbled.

    Skulker stood back up, smoking but more than raring to go. The ports opened and weapons poured out of the hunter, immediately blasting the entire area. Rockets launched wildly and energy blasts disintegrated anything they touched. Trees fell and the whole area burned in green fire and energy, Skulker laughing the whole time.

    Danny didn''t stick around.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Downtown Amity Park was having another peaceful day. The sun was out, warming its citizens with its shine. Kids were still out of school and providing business to the commerce area. The mall was packed, those very same teenagers and young adults boosting the local economy and enjoying their summer vacation.

    And the sounds of explosions could be heard throughout the city. Concerned citizens looked around, the sounds were getting closer. They did what any sane civilian would do, they pulled out their phones¡­ and didn''t call 911, but started recording the strange day-goings.

    Five stories up, Phantom came around the corner of a skyscraper, surprising the bystanders below. His speed was too great, and he went careening into a wall across the street. Luckily, he had enough wits to roll with the impact, before launching into a sprint along the side of the building. The watchers were stunned and awed at the display of power and skill, metas and other powered individuals had never been seen in Amity before, this was a first for many. Some even clapped, like it was some kind of show.

    They all ran away with fear when a missile failed to round the corner the white haired teen flew by. The side of the building blew up in a green explosion. Rubble fell down onto the already empty street, adding further property damage. Danny gave a sigh of relief, he was too busy saving his own hide to worry about other people at the moment.

    Phantom launched off the building, cracking it under his enhanced strength, but held it anyway. He figured running sideways would have felt weird or disorienting, but really, it felt natural. Danny went higher, trying to get away from the town.

    "You''re gonna have to try better than that trash can!" Danny taunted.

    Skulker growled, but the hunt was still going on, and he was enjoying it. "Stay still whelp! It''ll only hurt for a second!"

    A blast to his face was the only reply he received. "Ha! How''s it feel, skull face?!" Green smoke covered the area, but Phantom was under no impression that that was the end, so he just kept going.

    Skulker followed the Halfa out of the smoke, green eyes ablaze in anger. His face had several scorch marks, but other than that, he was fine. It is a battlesuit after all, it could take a beating far more than most ghosts.

    Danny reached the clouds quick enough, and with new cover, decided to try out one of his new attacks. He started forming a disc in his hand, using the other to force more energy into it to make the process faster. As the ecto-disc grew, he poured more and more power into it, fully intent on inflicting some form of lasting damage.

    Skulker flew up to the area, angry and ready to finish the hunt. Not finding his soon to be pelt, he pressed a button on his gauntlet. Binoculars, red and silver in color, formed out of his other arm. He picked them up and attached them to his head. Several seconds later the new device and his suit were completely linked, and he had his vision through the clouds.

    A shrill sound caught his attention before he found the Halfa. Cutting through the clouds came a bright glowing green disc, slightly smaller than a manhole cover. Skulkers mechanical eyes widened, and he barely had time to dodge. The disc still hit, and as a testament to his armor, it did hold out. For a few seconds, then his left arm was sheared off a little below the shoulder. The disc kept flying for about one hundred feet, before exploding and dispersing the cloud it found itself in.

    Now imbalanced, Skulker had to reorient himself. Another moment of distraction that Phantom capitalized on. From the clouds above he came, fists and arms glowing green. Danny punched Skulker with both his hands, directly in the chest, going far faster than he wanted.

    It was a mistake, he soon found out. Yes, Skulker, now missing an arm and having an indented chest, was sent flying down. But, it wasn''t without cost.

    "OOOOOW! MY HANDS! OH, IT HURTS! WHAT THE FUCK?!" Despite infusing himself with ectoplasm, it wasn''t enough to completely cancel out the force. The pinky finger on his right hand was bent at an unfortunate angle, clearly broken. His right hand had his middle and ring finger cracked and broken as well. He would describe it as shattered, but to each their own. The teenager cradled his digits in agony, biting his lip to stifle tears that so desperately wanted to come out, but he wouldn''t cry, especially not in front of the hunter.

    It fucking hurt all the same.

    "You''ll pay for that brat!" And it was for naught, as an angry and irate Skulker flies up, a glowing green wrist blade pointed directly at the Halfas heart. Danny turns intangible at the last second, letting Skulker fly right through him. Steeling himself for just half a second, he straightens out his broken pinky, a muffled yelp escapes his lips, but it''s heard by no one.

    Broken fingers he may have, but that won''t stop him from fighting. Just from using his hands directly.

    Danny charges blast after blast, and lets them loose at the hunter as he sweeps around for another pass. The downside of using that jetpack is apparently wide turns, speed may be improved, but at a cost of the nimbleness that Danny still has. Blasts fly wide, bursting and exploding in mid air. The concussive force jostles Skulker, making him tumble briefly.

    From the ground, the clouds in the sky thunder with green energy. Non-stop booms echo through above Amity Park, a prelude for what''s to come in the future. Briefly the shadows of the two fighters are shown to those down below.

    Although a majority miss, several blasts do hit, but they leave the armor merely dented and burned. Skulker flies into the clouds to lose sight, realizing all to well the advantage the Halfa has.

    Danny tries relying on his ghost sense to pinpoint Skulker, but as usual, it''s useless up close. He flies down, away from the clouds and inevitable ambush. Before he breaks free a rocket breaks through and slams into his back, propelling him down into the ground in an uncontrolled tumble. An echoed scream bursts forth from his mouth, startling those down below. Skulker breaks free from his cover, firing blast after blast from his wrist mounted blaster.

    Several shots hit the falling Halfa, further adding to his pain as holes are burned into his back, stomach and arm, but Danny has enough clarity to know that he either gains control of his free fall, or he becomes a pelt on a wall. As the skyscrapers get closer Danny rights his flight, barreling left and right to avoid shots from the hunter.

    He forms a claw on his right hand, and digs it into the side of a building. His pinky burns and demands release from the strain it''s facing, but he bears with it. The sudden torque pivots his movement and he uses newfound momentum to propel himself in another direction. Danny dodges into one of the buildings, going intangible. He watches as the hunter flies by, looking for his prey.

    Phantom sighs, deep and hurt. He glances to his left and right, finding himself in a storage area for an office. "It''s kind of a waste of the view." He shakes his head, no need to be distracted right now. Danny looks down at his clawed hand and forms an ecto-blast in it. His other hand follows suit, ecto-claw forming and converging up to his wrist. A ray forms moments later.

    A grin settles in on Danny''s face, the hunter was in for a mean surprise.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Where are you whelp, there''s no use hiding!?" This would be a lesson to the hunter. No matter how young, Halfa''s are clearly dangerous. Plasmius was a no brainer, having been half dead for twenty plus years. This new spawn? He figured a far easier hunt than what he got. A glance at his missing arm makes Skulker groan, it''s not easy fixing the suit with that level of damage. If he couldn''t salvage the missing appendage? That''ll double the time he needs, collecting supplies isn''t easy in the GZ, especially without the protection of his suit.

    His wrist beeps, showing that the tracking device finally located his prey. He grins while reading the results¡­ "Above?" He looks up, only to have two silver boots slam into his face.

    "Look high, metal man!" Danny taunts. He springboards off of the hunters face before he can swipe his legs off with his blade.

    Danny takes the fight away from downtown, aiming to get to the park area. Skulker is on his trail quickly, following and blasting at the ghost child. Danny flips over and aims his hand at the hunter.

    Expecting a simple blast, Skulker is surprised to see five separate ecto-blasts fire at him at once. Two land on his one good arm, the other three fly past and explode in an air burst a mere foot behind him. The shock wave is greater than expected, and he tumbles out of control, the wings from his jetpack being broken off in the process. If turns were wide before, they''re even worse now. The wings can''t even retract now, they just make him a larger target.

    Danny sneers at the Ghost Zones greatest hunter, another blast forming in his right hand. Claws dig into it, splitting it into smaller, less powerful explosives, but they''re still connected. A fun application of two different powers, the air burst is great as an anti-air method. The best part is, the cost is only a little bit higher than a normal blast. A name would have to be thought of for this move.

    Danny fires again, and is immediately charging up another. More concussive air bursts hit Skulker, but their power is negligible. Damage is mounting though, his suit is battered and burned, and even with the boost from earlier, his energy reserves are waning. He sees the Halfa gained distance, and every remaining missile in his body pops out of their ports and fires at Phantom.

    As thirty glowing green rockets make their way towards him, Danny laughs as he brings up his left hand. "Try again gearbox!" The ray fires out, destroying two missiles. Ecto-claws dig into the ray this time, splitting it five more ways. The energy beam splits in between his fingers, splicing into different arcs. They are far too weak to properly damage a ghost, much less Skulker in his robotic battle suit.

    But the split lasers make for an excellent point defense against these missiles. A savage smirk dons Danny''s face as he swings his hand left and right, Destroying every projectile that was on its way towards him.

    Seeing his attack thwarted once again, Skulker growls at the half-ghost. "I will have your pelt, abomination!" Skulker fires off at Danny. Said Halfa flinches at the insult, having had similar thoughts about himself, before anger surfaces in its place. He snarls, large fangs baring right down and proving just how different he is to humans, and even other ghosts.

    His hands hurt, broken and bruised. His back stings, burned and battered. The eyes tell a different story and he screams at the hunter, rage and anger clouding his judgement. He didn''t need some pelt obsessed undead calling him that, he already knew that! Danny fired one last split blast at him, before charging in as well.

    The hunter raises his good arm and blade to block the shot. On impact, his charge is halted. Clearly when all five shots land, it''s more powerful than a normal ecto-blast. Something to take note of. He continues through the green smoke that blocked his vision, only to be surprised again.

    A large ecto-claw tears threw his chest, taking critical operating systems and many bodily-control functions in the single swing. The hunter screams in frustration, and his mistimed swing misses, further adding to his ire. He spins wildly as the momentum from Phantom transferred to him in that attack.

    Danny swings around in a somersault, correcting his aim and launching off again. Anger is the dominating emotion, and despite the satisfaction at seeing how damaged and out of control the hunter is, Phantom wants more.

    Skulker''s suit is losing altitude fast, many of the functions are down and his energy levels are dropping fast. Inside his suit, the hunter screams in frustration. "No, no, no, no!" This hunt is a bust, the suits out of commission and even if the one working arm cut off the Halfa''s head, he wouldn''t have a way to bring the body back to be skinned. His real body is too small to carry even a child like Phantom, how infuriating.

    The hunter is ripped from his thoughts when he sees the ghost child approaching, intent on finishing him off. He grimaces, but prepares to meet the final charge.

    Danny extends his hands out, ready to rend the hunters suit into pieces. The suit has lost most of its glow, clearly the damage has piled up enough, but he can see the bladed arm ready to intercept. His speed increases and he pumps more power in his claws. They grow and extend slightly, reaching his elbow.

    Danny roars as they finally meet. He ducks under the slow blade swipe and succeeds in cutting into more of the metal body. Knowing that the suit itself isn''t his actual body lessens the guilt to non-existent levels. Even as angry as he is, the Halfa is still wary of ending sentient life. He doesn''t hate the hunter that much.

    While still in close range, Danny chose the moment to disarm the hunter of his last weapon, literally. The suit falls down below into the park, armless and with rapidly draining power.

    Skulker crashes into the park below, crushing a jungle gym and indenting into the ground. Was the suit that heavy? Off to the side, by the street, the arm he lopped off is impaling into the roof of a nearby car. He winces, "Oops."

    Phantom floats down to the disabled battlesuit. He eyes it suspiciously, noting that the eyes are hollow and without their previous green glow. The flowing fiery green mohawk is gone as well. He can hear screeching and yelling of some kind coming from the robotic shell.

    He lands and walks up to the suit, the park is quiet and devoid of any sound, not even birds or bugs. Picking up the broken metal body, he sticks his ear close to it, finding the sound coming from the head. Danny places a hand on the head and pulls, intent on seeing the face of the ghost who tried to pelt him. Metal creaks and groans as slowly, the head is forced off the body. The pain in his hands only adds fuel to his vindictive streak, pushing his motivation further.

    Although a little startled at removing the head so easily, Danny peers into the body and then turns the head over in confusion. Where was Skulkers main body? Screeching and ranting echoes from the severed head, and seconds later, a small hatch is opened on the back of the head.

    The Halfa stares in what could only be described as stupefied awe as a small green ghost slips out of the hatch. "Curse you whelp! This isn''t over! I''ll have your pelt!"

    It''s too much, Danny doubles over in laughter. "Hahahahaha, this is the Ghost Zones greatest hunter?! Aha!" Skulker fumes in anger, screeching and yelling in his high pitched voice. He wipes a tear from his eye, feeling much better than he did before.

    "Do not laugh at me you unnatural atrocity! I will-" Skulker is cut off from his rant when Phantom grabs him. His eyes no longer contain the mirth that was there mere moments ago. His teeth are bare, large fangs snarling at the little green ghost. "Listen here, booger-boy, I will not be called that by you. Or anyone. I am not an abomination, or atrocity! Get that through your head-" Electricity coils in his hand, shocking the small blob- "or the next time I won''t be so-" Another shock- "lenient." Danny hisses. He would not be called that by a baseball sized snot-frog thing.

    Danny makes a stance and cocks his arm back. For good measure he shocks the dazed hunter one more time, eliciting a yelp of pain from the ghost that satisfies him more than it should. With as much strength as he can muster with his diminishing power, he tosses the still sparking Skulker as hard as he can. The half-ghost watches with an impassive face as the small form of the hunter is eventually out of sight.

    He suddenly sighs, feeling far more tired than he originally thought. Danny rolls his shoulders, trying to get the soreness out, but winces when he feels his back again. That wasn''t going to be fun to bandage up. A neck crack later and he walks over to the metal husk that was Skulkers body. With his enhanced strength, it''s far too easy to pick up the metal body, and after grabbing the arm from the car, makes his way back to base.

    He can patch himself up there, then, if he has enough energy, he can fly back to his house to pass out.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The citizens of Amity Park were stunned to say the least. This wasn''t Metropolis or Gotham. This was a medium sized city with less than a million people. So when a white haired teenager comes flying through the city with a robot blasting after him, literally, it would be safe to say that it wasn''t a normal day.

    The city took a decent amount of damage, over the last month, large amounts of property damage has piled up. This day alone was millions in damage. Roads were broken and battered from stray rockets and blasts, skyscrapers had chunks taken out from the two fighters, cars were crushed and on fire, and the park was quarantined and off limits until further notice. Random areas of what seemed like the whole city had damage, as if the two took the fight literally everywhere. One area in particular, a forested area near the residential area was devoid of all flora. The epicenter was scorched black and radioactive green, and a forest fire had started. The fire, originally green in nature, but turned a blazing orange had destroyed three blocks worth of vegetation. The whole area was uninhabitable and the Fentons had blocked off the perimeter for studying.

    The city was a mess.

    And the fight was recorded for all to see.

    It wasn''t hard to do, neither of the two combatants were being stealthy, and the show they put on was too good to run away from. Watching shadows in the clouds through green flashes was enchanting to the people of the mundane. Booms and bangs had rolled through the boring Illinois city, forcing attention on the two ghosts battling it out. It was awe inspiring, and fear inputting to the normal people who wouldn''t be able to retaliate.

    The entire fight was not captured on a single camera in one go, but two days later, someone would have a compilation of all the videos, showcasing almost the whole fight. The video would go on to reach millions of views.

    The mayor of Amity Park genuinely considered retiring early. He wanted to stay in politics, he loved it. Helping his people, providing for the needy, furthering the prosperity of those who presided over. But this was a pain in the ass like no other, and he had no way to get rid of it. Ernesto Montez had zero desire for his city to house super powered individuals, he can only imagine the headaches the mayor of Gotham went through. He shuddered at the thought.

    It was hard enough dealing with a city full of people in this day and age. Nothing was ever up to anyone''s standards, work was constant, and pleasing the public was close to impossible. Especially with everything being either racist, or sexist, or homophobic, or anything really. If anyone takes too much offense? They take it to twitter and it''s game over.

    It was impossible to win.

    Now it seems like the only option left was to lose. The Hispanic man sighed into his hands, he had a really bad feeling that this was only going to continue. Why? Why?

    "Why me?" He groaned into his hands, a strong drink was required.

    Or maybe the whole bottle.

    The office phone rang, the ringtone identifying the caller as his secretary. Ernesto took a deep breath and answered the phone. "Yes, Michelle?"

    The caller could hear just how tired her employer and mayor was. It didn''t make the coming news any better. "I¡­ don''t have good news."

    The man bit his lip and suppressed the urge to scream. The only good thing to come out of this mess so far was that no one was hurt.

    "¡­ I wasn''t expecting good news." He croaked.

    The secretary continued, if only to end the man''s suffering. "It''s over twenty million in damages so far, sir. Most of the cost being accounted for road infrastructure, skyscraper repair cost, and environmental remediation and repopulation. Practically the whole town has called with complaints and questions, and we don''t have the answers to them."

    The line was silent for three horribly long minutes. Michelle got worried and was tempted to go check on her boss, "That''ll be all, Michelle. I''m¡­ going home."

    She really couldn''t blame him, so the secretary bid her boss a goodnight and hung up, presumably to do the same.

    The mayor of Amity Park screamed into his hands, before getting up and grabbing his briefcase and laptop bag. He stared out the window for another ten minutes before walking back out.

    It was definitely going to be two bottles.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Danny lands in his cave, the armor dropped in a large thud that echoes in the secret lair. He''s barely hanging on, thoughts are strained and muddy, moving hurts far more than it should, and the Halfa doesn''t even know how he''s holding out.

    He looks down at himself, taking in all the damage that''s accumulated. His back was burned and it might still be bleeding. Legs are okay for the most part, sore and numb, but otherwise okay. The few times the hunter hit him with his blasters, it left quarter-inch deep burn holes in his chest, both upper arms, and two spots on his lower back. Danny was pretty sure he had a concussion too. Also, three of his fingers are broken, one on right and two on left.

    Phantom groaned in pain and annoyance. If he was fast enough, he might be able to turn intangible when he turns human and save his clothes. He really liked the button down, and the long sleeve was still new.

    He prepared himself to use the last bit of energy that he had to save his clothes. Danny walks over to the cleanest couch and puts the medical supplies on the coffee table in front of it. As soon as Phantom is Fenton, his body is intangible and the clothes fall to the floor, and Danny falls onto the couch naked, barely holding onto consciousness.

    As human nerve endings and pain receptors attempt to process the damage done to his body again, Danny slowly takes out some burn cream. The easy places to apply it are up front, and he wasn''t even sure just how much of his back was burned this time.

    Fenton pauses and slowly puts the cream back down, replacing it with peroxide. He bites his lips for the oncoming pain, but a hiss still makes its way out when the disinfecting alcohol makes contact. As fast as he can, he pours it on every wound he can, quickly using up the whole bottle and practically dousing his whole body in it.

    Finally, with all his injuries more or less disinfected, he picks up the cream again. A whimper escapes his mouth when the cream touches the first wound, but he holds on and moves onto the next wound, then the next and the next. After the front is fully covered, he takes out large bandages and places them on his body, covering the grievous wounds.

    As much as he wants his fingers in their splints now, he still has to apply the cream to his back, somehow, and then he can place them on.

    Danny turns to try and get a better look at his back, scared of what he''ll see, but determined to be done with this. After reorienting his body into a more comfortable position on the sweat and peroxide soaked couch, he fully twists his body to get a look.

    He blacks out and slumps forward from the pain of it. In the two hours that he''s out, the wounds do heal slightly, but when he shuffles his arm, he wakes himself up. His finger had been touched a tad too much, and sent shivers of pain down his whole body.

    The Halfa looks around in confusion, before he remembers the events of today and quickly gets back to work. The last turn forced him out cold, so he turned the other way to get a look. It seems to work, because the grizzly sight of his back honestly scares him.

    He gulps at the sight, hoping that this wound heal the soonest. A second or third degree burn- he didn''t know- takes up a large chunk of skin on his lower back, going down as far as the top of his butt cheeks if he''s feeling it right. Shitting wasn''t going to be easy for the next two or three days. At least it''s in an easy place to work his arms around, a little higher and he wouldn''t have been able to do nearly as much.

    An hour later and the Halfa finds himself fully patched up, in pain, and drained of energy. Before he falls asleep, Danny at least has the thought process to spare to send his sister a text, explaining how he''s spending the night at a friend''s house. It''s uncomfortable and awkward with the splints on each hand, but he makes do. He knows she probably won''t buy it, but he can''t be bothered to care at the moment.

    Danny passes out minutes later, content to sleep the pain away. Again.

 Chapter 13

    Chapter 13: Just the Beginning

    Tomorrow is the first day of school, Danny''s first step into life as a freshman. His high school career is almost here, unfortunately, and he couldn''t wish it anymore that it was as far away as possible. Casper High didn''t have a terribly great reputation, it''s fucking awful actually, the public school has apparently had a bullying problem for years, as in almost four or five decades, since the fucking seventies, and somehow it still wasn''t fixed. Principal''s have come and gone, some even died while in their positions, and yet despite all of them, the misconduct between students has somehow been a constant. Isn''t that what PTA''s were for? He had no idea how it was still a problem, but somehow it was.

    This doesn''t bode well with Danny. The young Halfa has had a bullying problem for years, since sixth grade to be precise. He hasn''t heard of anything good from the teachers, they''re just average and none of them seem to stand out. If the misconduct and bullying problem has lasted so long, then it seems clear to Danny that the teachers either ignore it, or implore it.

    Neither sound good to him, so no one can blame him for being nervous about tomorrow. Those are just the problems for his human half, none of the other kids have to deal with adjusting to life as a half-dead hybrid, and then deal with attacking ghost monsters almost daily. It''s burned through his entire ''vacation'', if it can even be called that at this point, and Danny can''t believe his summer is already over. So much has happened, stuff he never thought would happen to him. Dying, fighting monsters, getting super powers, the pain.

    Lot''s of pain.

    The pain is about as bad as dying. It sucks, truly. The sight in front of him doesn''t exactly fill him with excitement for the future either.

    Shirtless and in front of the mirror, for a far different reason than normal teenagers, Danny stares tiredly as his body. Cuts and scars, all less than two months old adorn a good amount of his upper body. He couldn''t be more grateful for having a healing factor, pain doesn''t last that long- longer than he''d like, sure- but he heals incredibly fast. Less than a week for broken bones, something he''s gotten way more familiar with than he wanted to admit. Cuts and large gashes, another thing he''s become acquainted with, heal in a day or two. Small scrapes? Hours. Bruises vary depending on intensity.

    At least he was packing on muscles. Fighting monsters is far better exercise than lifting weights ever could be, and the beginnings of a four pack were starting to show. Not that he''d ever be able to show anyone, not with the disfigurements that come with them. A pity, really. He finally bulked up a bit, but it didn''t matter.

    Fingers trace along a large cut on his forearm that trails up to his shoulder, a lasting reminder of a giant praying mantis. His other arm has bite marks on the upper arm portion, bear ghost courtesies and all that. Next he moves onto one of the burn holes on his chest, fingering it tenderly, like it would still hurt. Sometimes it does. Sometimes they all do.

    The marks on his back are numerous, more than he''d like. His arms don''t really have that many, but it''s still enough to force him to wear long sleeves. His legs aren''t completely unmarred, but he could get away with shorts. Maybe. He hates wearing shorts though, so the option doesn''t really register to him.

    It sucks.

    He''s still part human though, he''s not all ghost. The damage and fatigue piles up, the dark bags beginning to grow under his eyes are proof. Sore and stiff muscles pulsing with a wanton desire for rest. Well, that''s what today was for. Rest and nothing else.

    The two weeks following his battle with Skulker were relatively calm, the ghost incidents averaging to four a week now. Slowly the number is increasing, and the young Halfa is getting better, but not fast enough.

    More and more, he''s been using the Thermos, finding it easier to just capture them than to fight them at all. It''s not like it''s a permanent solution though, solo targets can be handled like that, the Box Ghost especially, it allows for quick settlements, but groups can retaliate after the first capture. And surprise attacks don''t always have the best success rate, not with how varied ghosts and their senses can be.

    Not once did what the ghostly hunter say leave his mind. Halfa, his supposed species name. A half-ghost hybrid, or in Skulkers words: abomination. Unnatural atrocity. Danny was still salty about that, if he ever saw the snotty little shit again, he''d let loose some pent up aggression for those comments.

    Then there was the other thing he said. The other Halfa that was ''too powerful to hunt''. He so, so, desperately wanted to find him or her. To find out more about their anatomy, their situation. What''s going to happen to him. He wanted to learn and be taught what the fuck was going on in his hectic half-life.

    Danny turned around in and looked at his back, hissing at the ugly sight. The explosive, irregular star shaped scar from skulker at the small of his back healed well enough, two days and it barely hurt. Two more after that, and it was forgotten in lieu of more damage that accumulated. The large scratches from the rat were still there, a permanent reminder of his first fight. Large tears from ectopuses and their clawed tentacles, bites from wolves, gashes from two large cat ghosts, more blaster holes from Skulker. Seriously, fuck that guy.

    The most prominent though, was the Lichtenberg figures that ran across his whole back. Emanating from where his core would be, they spread out across the whole of his back. The odd thing about them was that the other scars didn''t overtake them. When the wounds healed, the figures were predominant over them, as if his death scars refused to be overtaken by mere flesh wounds.

    Of all his scars and blemishes, Danny liked these the most. They reminded him of his death, yes, but in a way, it showed him that the rest weren''t as important. That the other injuries didn''t demand as much attention as the electrocution that forced him into hybridism. A horribly painful death that still kept his heart beating, and gave him gifts that others would kill for, that he had actually died for. The branching electric discharges that mapped his back sometimes glowed green, ectoplasm surfacing and giving away that something was wrong with the young human. One time, as Phantom, he had gotten the jumpsuit off to see if there was a difference, and they glowed brightly in his ghostly form. Even more so when he used his electrokinesis. He flexed his hand and small arcs danced across his fingers, and as if to prove his thoughts right, the entire scar pulsed green.

    A small chuckle, dry and tired, escaped his throat. It ended quickly and he sat down on his tub and sighed. Danny really didn''t want to go to school tomorrow. He didn''t feel ready for it, not with all this shit going on. It felt like too much. He had school supplies purchased and ready to go, a new black backpack for the occasion, and even that allowance he so desperately wanted from his parents. No back pay unfortunately, but he didn''t think his parents would go for that.

    Speaking of his parents, they were beyond thrilled at all the ghost activity. Before their completion of the portal, they had to leave across-country sometimes to get new ''samples''. Now they could get them from a mile down the road. Or their own lab if they ever realized that the damn things kept coming to and from the fucking portal.

    When the youngest Fenton asked his parents about putting a containment field of some kind on the portal, they reassured him that while it wasn''t necessary, they already had one on it. It was all too clear to the Halfa that no, it did not work. He could feel the call, the pull, the need to go into the portal. Phantom desired it so much, but Fenton feared the idea. He was going to give in soon though, because as much as it scared him, the space explorer in him wanted to dive right in. It was a whole other dimension after all. There was only so much he could do against himself when three-fourths of his very being wanted to just jump in. So he decided, the next time his parents would be gone for a few days, he would go in.

    Danny stretched and groaned, stiff joints and muscles popping and stretching as he prepared himself for the inevitable. This time, he could feel it coming. The bouts of pain were going to start soon, and he was ready this time. He phased the rest of his clothes off and neatly folded them on the sink. It was midday, and his parents were in their lab while his sister was getting some last minute cash at the library doing a tutoring gig.

    It was a happy thought that he could at least save his clothes if he knew when he was going to be in excruciating, debilitating, ectoplasm induced pain-riddled seizures. It really wasn''t that happy of a thought, actually. He frowned at what he knows will be a horrible next two or three hours.

    The first spark of discomfort came, a prelude to the coming agony that would undoubtedly last for a while. A small shock, similar to heartburn washed through his whole body, lasting maybe ten seconds. He got up, wobbling on his feet and got into his bathtub. Another wave hit him, far worse than the first but he held strong and gripped the shower rail for support. Danny turned the shower on, flipping the nob to cold. He didn''t want warm or hot water, the cold would soothe the burning ectoplasm as it seizured out of his body.

    He stumbled onto the tub as the water came full force, barely muting his hisses of pain. The torment was slowly starting to build. He coughed up a mix of ectoplasm and blood, tears of the mixture streamed down his face and into the drain, burning his eyes and forcing them shut. He cried out as the throbbing ache of his core sent more and more. Soon he lost his hearing and sight as the concoction of his life and death blood poured out of his orifices. The ringing in his ears was only matched by the dull hum of the ectoplasm that bled out. A migraine formed in his head, further adding a pulsing ache to his already dulled mind. The strange mixture came from his ears, eyes, nose and mouth; unrelenting and continuously pouring out.

    He was prepared this time, the preluding feeling was becoming recognizable, something Danny was ever grateful for. If it was going to be like this every time, then he could escape a situation and hide. Prepare and keep this to himself.

    His hair flashed back and forth from white and black, unable to decide which half was to belong at the moment. Phantom or Fenton? He gripped the side of his metal tub, long cold fingers dug into the metal and even now he resisted the urge to scream with a gurgle. Toes curled, the nails scraping the hard tub, causing a screeching sound that sent shivers down his spine. Blue changed sporadically to green and vice versa; the whites of his eyes were red from blood and specks of green lined the veins of the sclera over the red. His back glowed as energy poured out of him uncontrollably, the Lichtenberg figures emitting the deathly glow in full force, small sparks of electricity and flares of ectoplasm breaking out of his skin caught his attention for only a brief moment of time.

    As the energy ran rampant through his body, uncontrolled and uncaring for its host, his body burned and healed at the same time. Nerves are frayed and fried, then regenerated so he can feel it all over again. Muscles are imbued with so much energy they break and rebuild, torturing his sanity. Bones heat up and melt, before freezing and reforming again. Organs break down, too human and unable to process the power of the undead blood of ghosts, yet they are rebuilt with screams of agony and otherworldly power.

    It''s too much.

    He fucking hates this. He hates this so fucking much. So out of control of his life, so damn torturous and painful. Why the hell did he have to go through this, he was fourteen! No one his age went through this, they worried about girls, friends, tests, homework; all in that order most of the time too. Him? When were the undead going to attack? When was he going to have an afterlife attack, or whatever the hell it was? Was someone going to find out about his scars and tell his parents? Was he really a fucking freak now? What if someone found out?

    Who the hell could he trust?

    "AHHHHHHH! FUCKING STOP!" It''s only at times like these that he''s glad his parents are down in their basement, ignoring the whole world, their own children included. They didn''t have to hear him scream bloody murder, literally, as the conflicting energies of his body battled for dominance. For balance.

    While they were in their happy, safe little bubble, their son suffered from their mistake. Sure, he had partial blame for pushing the ''ON'' button when he was inside of the damn portal, but who puts it inside of the machine? Really? His damn father, that''s who. Who leaves the other two-way authorization on as well when going on a trip? His damn father, that''s who! Who doesn''t realise they turned their own son into a freak of nature? His fucking parents, that''s who!

    Danny stewed in his dark thoughts for two hours, hating the whole world and everyone in it as he went through horrible pain that no one else went through. The cold water barely helped, but that it soothed the experience even a little bit was all he wanted at the moment. The young Halfa cursed the world, the town he''s been protecting, the people in it, the ghosts who hurt him, his social peers, his family, and his friends. Anyone who''s ever wronged him, hurt him, slighted him, he wished them this pain; all the while praying and begging for his suffering to end.

    Bitter and spiteful thoughts die out as his brain shuts down, unable to keep the tortured teenager awake any longer. The cold shower relaxed his tired and healing body and mind as he drifted off to sleep, all too glad to be relieved of his torment.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The video compilation of Phantom and Skulkers fight gained massive popularity in days. His photo, one far more clear and detailed than the one from his prior appearance, was even featured as the thumbnail. From the thumbnail, a magazine called Meta Madhouse used his picture as the cover. The title read, "Glowing New Meta Versus Robot". It wasn''t very creative, but it caught enough attention, especially when a few photos of his abilities in action caught interest worldwide.

    Metahumans are pretty rare at this point in time, a good number of them being villains and using their power for their own personal gain, and the few opposing them are labeled as vigilantes. Add on top of Phantom having multiple abilities, instead of the normal one, and the interest in him is magnified. So when one comes out of nowhere and starts fighting glowing green monsters and robots, several of which have eyewitness accounts and testaments, it garners some attention. News outlets, online forums, social media platforms, influential people and groups. Attention was now on the dead end medium sized town.

    One such influential person is Vlad Masters: worldwide billionaire, business tycoon and entrepreneur. A man that stands at the heights of business and economic success, rivaled only by others like Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne. On any given day, the actions of a metahuman wouldn''t catch his attention. As long as it doesn''t interfere with his doings and operations, both public and private, he couldn''t care less.

    He would take notes though. Information is gold and green.

    The problem with this new ''meta'' is that he''s in very familiar territory. Not only does he have stakes and claims on the town, his business Axion Labs is stationed there, along with several smaller avenues of profit. Even then, that wouldn''t cause concern for him unless there was a break-in.

    The Fentons live there, long time friends that he cares for. Especially his nephew and niece. Jack and Maddie Fenton, for all their ridiculous ghost bigotry and racism, can handle themselves. They have an armory in their lab that could level a city block. The zealous they''ve dived into is disturbing though, and it worries the man when he thinks about young Daniels and Jasmine''s upbringings. Danny and Jazz however, do not participate or follow in their parents footsteps. No formal training like their mother, no hair-pin trigger finger with a ''shoot first, ask questions later'' outlook like their father.

    And he of all people knows that it''s not a meta that caught people''s attention. The billionaire would recognize the ''Ghost Zone''s greatest hunter'' anywhere. The pest, in the past had tried to hunt him, on account of being the only Halfa. Skulker learned his lesson that day, especially when he followed the little snot ghost back to his realm and thoroughly destroyed his lab as retaliation. To Vlad''s understanding, it took years for him to recover. It still makes him laugh, revenge is truly sweet, and the hunter made a good example to the other ghosts of the infinite realms.

    Don''t mess with Vladimir Plasmius.

    And to this day, the lesson holds stock and he isn''t bothered, aside from some stray animalistic specters and ghosts. Even then, only the truly mindless ones attempt anything. Then they''re ruthlessly crushed underfoot, sometimes literally for the fun of it.

    While Skulker may indeed hunt ghosts every once in a while, he could not for the half-life of him, guess why he was chasing after this ghost child. The child, leaning closer to being a teenager, had to have severely angered the hunter. That was the initial guess, until he caught sight of the manic grin on Skulkers face. That annoying metallic smile that plastered his face only when he was on a special hunt.

    The same smile he wore briefly when the buffoon tried to hunt him. Vlad Masters would never assume that there was another Halfa like him. The odds of that happening are slim to none, may as well be zero, and the man had long since given up hope that another would form like him. He also wouldn''t wish it on anyone, it''s a harrowing and truly testing process that costs far too much for the weak willed to attempt or live through. It''s only through extreme and specific circumstances.

    Vlad Masters rose from his chair and closed his laptop. It was the picture of the ghost teen that burned its way into his mind. The face felt so familiar, so close, that it genuinely scared him, and he didn''t know why. He hadn''t been scared in years, even now he hadn''t reached the apex of his power, and he had already grown far too powerful to feel scared. To feel fear.

    Hands clenched in anger as red sparks danced across his fingers. This required an investigation. One palm scan later and his portal was open, the endless green and black swirl of the zone opened before him.

    As ectoplasm formed over him, conforming him into his alter half Plasmius, he stepped into the portal.

    It was time to visit a certain hunter, and based off the thrashing he received from the young ghost, he knew where to find the defenseless blob. He had business in the zone anyway, and more often than not, he finds that it really is convenient to be able to be in four places at once.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    High in the sky, Phantom flies in the air, enjoying and relaxing his last day off. It''s going to get busy soon. Ghosts seemed to prefer attacking at night so far, although the day time attacks have almost evened out for the week. It was troublesome when they came multiple times on the same day. He can handle it, sure, and he was getting better, but sometimes it''s exhausting. Not all ghosts are the same, different bodies and species make for different ways they fight.

    A cloud moved over him, engulfing him in the cold icy mist. It''s comfortable. It was September in Illinois now, the third to be precise, and wearing warmer clothing is expected, so no one would question his choice of clothing till mid spring maybe. One thing to worry less about.

    He was getting kind of hungry. After that episode, he flew up here to relax and calm down. Three hours up here has down wonders for his mood though. Dark and bitter thoughts aren''t on his mind anymore, and his nervousness for his upcoming school life isn''t as bad as before. It''s still there, but he''s destressed a fair bit since then.

    Danny turns over to view the ground, or at least what''s not blocked from sight by clouds. A rustling of leaves catches his attention, and the Halfa glances at his right hand. Now fully healed and in impeccable shape, his hand currently holds a medium sized tree. He gives it a dull look, the entire thing in his grasp had been forgotten, he doesn''t even know why he brought it up here. A quick glance at the ground below reveals woodlands, uninhabited and no chance of injuring a bystander.

    Fingers release their vice grip on the arbor, and it plummets to the Earth. It''s huge, close to one hundred feet in height. In the back of his mind, from an old social studies class, a useless bit of information pops up in his head. A white oak, the state tree. It''s falling really fast, and leaves are being torn from it at a rapid pace. Odds are that by the time it reaches the ground, it''ll lose a majority of its foliage.

    Danny didn''t even feel it in his grasp, was his enhanced strength that strong? He needs a way to properly test his strength when in his ghost form. The weights he stole only work for his human half, and even then, they''re going to become obsolete in a few months time. Electricity wasn''t the only power he could use in his human form, his augmented strength is there as well. It is a far more inferior version of his ghost half''s strength, but it was still better than a human''s.

    A minute later and a dull thud was heard, echoing for miles, the tree had landed on the ground, splintered and embedded itself into the ground. He was above a forest, so no one below would get hurt. It seems it does make a sound even if no one is around. Lazily, he reoriented his position back to view the sky. He still had things he wanted to think about.

    His friends for one. They had been a touchy subject in the house, and thankfully, Jazz had kept clear of the subject. But he still thought about them, and even with his anger still being there, he was lonely. A large chunk of his life has been filled with their presence, without them it was weird.

    It felt like he was dependent on them, not even the end of summer and he really does want their company back. That thought grated on his self-confidence. He would have to push past his discomfort and anger to rebuild what had been lost, and he didn''t want their friendship ruined. It was just hard to do so, they had broken his trust and the Halfa was hesitant to trust again with everything going on in his life.

    Danny frowned, tomorrow at school, he''d talk to them. Actually try and communicate to get their friendship back on track. No doubt, it would take time. Time, he again felt was too short. Everything was happening so fast these days. Ever since he got his powers, it''s like he''s been on the fast track, and there''s hardly any breaks. One thing after another.

    Danny let his hover end, and he started a free fall plummet back towards the earth. He let the wind push his body around until he naturally came to face the ground. He laughed, feeling adrenaline flood his body and give him a boost out of his gloomy sulk. Quickly he switched to a dive, gaining speed and using his own ghostly flight to aid in his acceleration. The faster he went, the closer the ground got. Phantom pulled up, angling his body and changing direction gradually.

    Evening out parallel to the ground, Danny blasted off, burning through energy at an alarming rate. Faster and faster, the trees zoomed by beneath him, and the occasional tall one would need to be dodged. Unknowingly, his feet merged together to make a wispy tail. It was long, five or six feet in length and it slithered behind him like a snake.

    When he stopped to ''take a breather'', only then did he notice his missing appendages. "Whoa, where the fuck are my legs?!" He was near town, five minutes from his house if he''s fast enough. His tail wiggled around in response to his panic. When Danny tried moving his legs, as if to spread them, they reformed back into his normal limbs. When he pushed his legs together, the tail reformed. It''s an odd feeling. Not exactly uncomfortable, but not something he entirely enjoys. He finds it a little disturbing that flying with it is so easy, like flying with the ghostly tail was natural. "New ghost thing?"

    The whole ghost half thing has already changed some aspects of him physically, like his teeth, but the tail thing caught him off guard. It seems useful, and he can accelerate faster with it, adjustment was needed. He smiled as he had another thing to test and play with. Maybe not tomorrow, but he could test it the day after.

    Danny flew back to his house in a happier mood, feeling a little better about the next day. Just a little though.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    September fourth had finally come, a dreaded day for many, Danny Fenton included. The start of school, high school and the next four years of his life. It''s an odd feeling, looking at the place he knows is most likely going to drive him up a wall, and he''s forced to stay here for almost half a decade. That odd feeling¡­ is most likely dread.

    The weather, impeccable as any chilly September day can be, seemed to match the mood. There wasn''t really that much of a summer, given the late start the Illinois school system has for their break. The last few months were experienced with an occasional heat wave, instead of full blown ''fun in the sun'' weather. The state was located far north as is, and the timing just made for a bad match up.

    Because cold and dreary is September through December, starting on day one of high school. It''s a match made for the depressing.

    The winds didn''t bother Danny that much, especially since he''s gotten used to flying at high speeds. This small amount of wind? Doesn''t even chill him in his human form. The rain, more accurately called sprinkles, was hardly felt as well. It was the kind of drizzle that someone would have to try and get wet in, or stand out for hours on end. For normal humans, it undoubtedly made the weather even worse, but for him? Again, it all felt comfortable and he found himself enjoying it.

    Dreary and depressing weather had somehow cheered him up and made the coming day a tad bit easier. He laughs to himself as he continues towards the school, no one even paid him attention. A perk of being the social pariah: no one pays attention to you, or rather, they purposely ignore you. The lower cast on the social rung at least acknowledged him, instead of outcasting him, and some would even be called, dare he say it, acquaintances.

    That''s about it though.

    As he walked up to the entrance, he noticed that the front of the school was clear. No Dash or A-listers in sight, which is a given considering the weather. The front doors have students pouring in en masse. If memory, and the little sheet of paper in his hand serves well, then his locker was at the end of the main hall, right before the staircase. He had checked it out earlier in the week when the school email arrived. It had detailed his locker number, location, schedule, teachers for each class, and the required supplies.

    His first of freshman classes included homeroom with a Mr. Lancer, who coincidentally, was his English class teacher for third period. Following homeroom came Art with Mrs. Meddely, he had absolutely no idea who she was, but he knew where her class was. After Art was P.E., physical education with Ms. Tetslaff. Danny had heard that she was a brutal bitch that heavily favored the jocks. The brute of a woman was head coach for all football leagues at the high school, freshmen, JV, and Varsity, so he could see why she was partial to them. After lunch came third period English with Lancer, and finally math, pre-algebra to be exact. Ironically enough, Tetslaff is the teacher of that class too. Great. The Halfa could only hope that Dash wouldn''t be in that class with him.

    Danny got to his locker with no interruption or call outs from the A-Listers. He had hardly even looked at the walls, and now with some minor comfort from his locker, he could take a look. Ugly green was recognized as the color of choice for the lockers, hard to miss even if you''re not exactly looking for it. The walls though, why were they the same¡­ vomit green as the lockers? The ceiling, a dull dark gray, and the tiled floor was a dirty white or maybe light gray; it was completely possible the interior decorator got fired over this ugly combination. Danny looked around for any sign that he would be ambushed, upon finding that the coast is clear, he turned his attention back to his locker.

    So far so good, all he had to do was pick up his books and he''d be golden. Art, somehow, had a textbook for the class, and it was half the size of his algebra book. The combination was easy to remember, but he did fumble a bit when his hand turned intangible. Being nervous didn''t help with controlling his powers at all.

    Danny wanted to wait around and see if Sam and Tucker had lockers near him, but getting to homeroom seemed like a better game plan than waiting out in the open. Homeroom and English are located on the first floor, underneath the math wing. Five minutes later and he found himself in his homeroom seat, cheeks firmly planted in a seat at the back.

    The classroom had posters and paintings of famous literature and plays decorating the boring and dull beige walls. The windows lining the wall were nice, plenty of tree cover left them out of the sunlight. Not too much of a view from the first floor though.

    It didn''t seem that bad, so far the only A-Listers in here were Star and Kwam, both of whom are the friendliest of the bullies. Star was more of a blonde satellite for Paulina, and Kwam was Dash''s best friend, even though the guy wasn''t a complete ass. He was almost friendly, but he still seemed to find amusement in tormenting those in a lower caste system. Danny couldn''t really figure the guy out, it was like he was light-hearted, but liked to hurt people too. Danny didn''t really have any interactions with Star, so she was just there. She''s never said anything to him directly, but she was with the group that treated him like shit. It was difficult to decide if she should be on his shit list or not.

    The warning bell rang out, testing his skittish nerves, and causing some of the nerds in the class to actually jump. Danny wasn''t the only one stressing out, that included the rest of the new freshman. It''s a tough thing, the first day of high school. For many, it can be the debut for their social lives. For others, that aspect was sealed long before joining high school. Like him.

    Sam and Tucker too. On that note, Tucker walks in through the door and spots Danny, smiling at him weakly. Hesitantly, the Halfa waves over his friend. Tuckers smile brightens, now happy that his friend actually wanted to talk to him. With their names both ending in F, it was obvious they would end up in the same room together. Sam was by herself in a different homeroom.

    Freshman year has three hundred and forty people, more or less. Ten different homeroom classes spread out students and have them segmented alphabetically. Casper High catered to twelve hundred or so teenagers, with an underpaid staff to match the students. Public education, as it turns out, doesn''t pay well. It also isn''t well funded.

    "Hey man, how you doin''?" Tucker greeted Danny. It''s stiff, like they haven''t talked in months, which isn''t entirely inaccurate.

    Danny nodded curtly, "I''m fine." It''s not easy to keep eye contact. His hand clenches once, then twice before he asks in turn, "You?"

    The tension between the two is so awkward it could be cut by a knife. "Yeah, I''m good¡­ are we good though? Like the three of us." Tucker takes the seat next to Danny''s.

    He made his decision yesterday, but he can''t help but still be angry at them. He shakes his head, "I''m still pissed at you guys, trust me, but I want to salvage this. It''s just gonna take some time."

    It''s not the answer he wanted to hear, but at least it''s something. Sam and Tucker had been freaking out that Danny wouldn''t want anything to do with them anymore. He''s happy to hear that Danny still wants to be friends with them, but Danny still being angry isn''t good. They''ll have to work around it.

    "Okay¡­ what does that mean right now though? Like, are you down for some Nasty Burger later?" They needed to know where they stood with each other, otherwise it could blow up in their face.

    Fenton shifted in his seat, debating the idea, before ultimately shaking his head. "Not today, no. Maybe tomorrow or the next day. That sound good?"

    The tech geek smiles and gives him a thumbs up, "It''s all good man, what about lunch? Stayin'' in or dippin'' out?"

    "I''ll have lunch with you guys." He taps his finger on the desk for a few seconds, before turning back to his friend. "How is the lunch here?"

    Idle conversations continue through the classroom until the bell rings again. Right on cue, the teacher walks in. So bald it practically shines, his gleaming noggin adorns a middle-aged, pot bellied man. The well trimmed goatee doesn''t look terribly great on the man, especially with the grey plaid pants, light blue dress shirt, and cheap tie. His look practically screamed public school teacher.

    The overweight teacher clears his throat and slams his briefcase onto the front desk. The students jump in shock and all attention turns toward the lone adult in the room. "Good morning, Casper High teenagers. My name is Donald Lancer, but you all will call me Mr. Lancer." He ends his introduction with a smile.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    First impressions are important, and at least the man knows how to get attention from the hellions known as high schoolers. The rest of homeroom was a blur, the man passed out a student handbook and a syllabus, went over them, and then dismissed them five minutes early. He seemed decent enough, but only time will tell. After checking over each others schedules, finding only English to be matching, they split up to go their separate ways.

    Danny was glad to be separated for a bit. He had gotten used to being alone all summer, and with Tucker and Sam still tempering his nerves, it was nice to finally be left alone. Which is ironic considering he was feeling lonely earlier.

    Art seemed to be a win. The class was a bit out of the way and the teacher is a crotchety old lady who seemed absolutely enthralled with the idea of punishing everyone, or someone. She didn''t try and teach anything since it was day one, but she pretty much told everyone to just draw. So long as he doesn''t get on Mrs. Medley''s bad side, the class should be a breeze.

    Then there was P.E. with Tetslaff. The tall and butchy woman, if you can even call her that, had a husky voice to match, and the lady actually had a mullet. He had never seen anyone with a mullet before, besides the photo of his father, but seeing it in real life, on her ginger colored hair was hilarious. It took every fiber of his being to not make a sarcastic comment about it.

    Sweatpants and a long sleeve shirt covered up his body enough, but the problem was changing. He managed it by jumping into a stall this time, but it won''t work every time. With a large chunk of the freshman football team in his class, Danny had a hard time dodging Dash, Dale, and Kwam. It''s fine for something to start in the open, Dash can''t be entirely public about the harassment in front of the teacher, and there''s no cameras in the locker room to record it. So long as he outlasts Dash, he''ll be golden. Luckily, he can go invisible, so if Danny can sneak away, he won''t be found.

    The first activity of the day was push ups, something Danny had struggled with before, but not anymore. Ghost fighting has, in the few months he''s been doing it, done wonders for his body. On top of actually working out, even if it is kind of half-assed, Danny has never been so fit before in his life. It''s actually really nice to be able to keep up with everyone.

    After push ups were sit ups, stretches, running two laps around the track field outside, and then there was dodgeball. Again, it''s really nice to be able to keep up with everyone; it''s even nicer knowing that he could outperform them as well.

    ball, jocks vs. everyone else. Danny looks around at his team, nerds and normies. The only people on his team that Danny even remembers the name of are Mickey and Travis, two bottom liners like him. They both got knocked out, literally and in the game, within the first two minutes. Tetslaff is off to the side, looking at her phone and giggling every few minutes, completely uncaring for the beating her students are getting. ''I see.''

    Danny kept dodging as his team was slowly whittled down. Eventually a ball came his way, and Dale was right in front of him, unaware. Bitter and hateful feelings rose up from his gut, and Danny grabbed the ball. He hated Dale. The guy was an asshole that was almost worse than Dash. Danny had been pushed down the stairs once before, and after digging around, he found a video going around on snapchat. It showed the douche in all his jock status, letterman and his name on the front and back, pushing him down the stairs. That had gotten him a broken arm and dislocated shoulder. Even after showing the video to a teacher, they had said there was no truly conclusive evidence of the boy in question being at fault. Literally, his name was on the jacket and the video was great quality too!

    A small amount of ghostly strength crept its way into his arms, and he reared back. His eyes glow dully under his hair, glaring at the asshole who had hurt him before, just for a laugh. Muscles flexed and less than a second later, the ball was out of his hands and flying straight towards its target. Launching out at over sixty miles per hour, the ball makes a deafening smack. Dales head is rocked back and he stumbles backwards. One, two, three steps and he''s on his back, out cold.

    The silence in the gymnasium is deafening. Everyone, jock or not, stares at the bewildering scene of Danny Fenton, biggest loser of the school, knocking out Dale, the running back for the freshman team. Dash''s mouth is open wide, unable to comprehend how his friend was down and out, literally. His eyes follow along to Danny, who looks back and shrugs. The ball rolls back to him, slowly, and he stares at it. Then back at Dash.

    A dark grin pushes its way on his face and before he realizes it, he''s already bending down to pick up the ball. If he ever decides to get back at Dash, which he will eventually, it''s obvious that fighting him directly is out of the question for the most part. In private, sure, if there''s no one else there to back up his story, then it works out. A fight in public? Oh no, he''d be framed as the instigator without a doubt. While he may have decided to not actually fight Dash, unless he''s incredibly pissed off, it doesn''t mean he won''t get back at him. Dodgeball can be one of those ways, easily.

    Dash''s neck bulged as a vein made its way up, he screams, breaking the silence. "Fenturd! You''re dead! You hear me?! DE-?!" His scream is interrupted by the dodgeball that Danny threw. It smacks him right in the gut, and the wind gets knocked out of him. He takes a step back and glares at Danny. The ball bounces back to the teenager, who is all too thrilled at another chance. It''s snatched up and being thrown right back at Dash less than three seconds later.

    The ball flies low, catching his leg and forcing him off his feet. Dash falls forward and lands right on his face. He rolls over and holds his nose, a bit of blood is leaking out. It''s probably not broken, but it''s definitely hurt. The quiet that was there before, returns twice as strong. Slowly, the angry and bitter feelings leave him, allowing calm and rational thoughts to return. Satisfaction and a little bit of righteousness replace the darker feelings, but Danny has a feeling that it''s about to go south for him.

    Danny looks around and takes the scene in before him. Two jocks down, all done by the bottom of the totem pole. This''ll be making its runs by the end of the day. He frowns and looks over towards the teacher. There''s no feeling of remorse of any kind in his body, the two asshats had it coming. He just didn''t want to get back at them like this, especially since he has other options that don''t involve physically hurting them out in the open like this.

    Tetslaff finally regained her senses when her phone fell out of her hand. The resounding smack of plastic on cheap hard maple snaps everyone else out of their stupor. The teacher looked at the list on her clipboard, flipping through papers until she found her mark. An angry scowl made its way on her face, she glared up at the Halfa. Danny rubbed the back of his neck, but he kept his gaze locked with hers. "Fenton! Detention after school for injuring two classmates!"

    Anger comes back in full force, "What?! It''s not even that bad! And what about them?!" Danny points at the group of jocks, dodgeballs still in hand. "They''ve been pelting people whether they''re in or out! Look at Mikey!" His hand moves over towards the nerd in question. His glasses were broken with a black eye and blood was pouring out of his nose. Mikey wasn''t the only one that looked banged up, anyone of the ''nerd'' status had been prime targets.

    Ms. Tetslaff seems off put by the declaration, only now realizing that other students were actually hurt, but she shrugs it off. "They''ll be going to the nurses, but since you''ve hurt the other two, I can''t exactly keep them for the day can I?" It sounded smug to Danny, and it was becoming all too familiar to him. This had happened enough times in his life to know what was going on. This bitch was favoring them, they had done twice as worse as him to at least three others, and they were going to get off scot-free. She rather casually glossed over the punishment for the other school athletes, bringing attention away from them and back to the ''injured'' jocks. It''s an inflatable ball that weighs maybe half a pound, and that''s pushing it.

    "So I get punished because of it instead? That''s bull and you know it. There has to be some punishment for them!" He knew that if this argument kept going, the sodding bitch was going to try and dig his hole deeper, but come on. This was ridiculous, they had to get some kind punishment.

    Displeased at being talked back to, especially after the little twerp had hurt two of her star players, the tall and stocky teacher fired back. "I will not have that kind of disobedience, Mr. Fenton. And if you''re so dead-set on punishment, you can have theirs as well. That''ll be detention for the week."

    He was going to blow a gasket. Unbelievable. To do this kind of thing so blatantly, it felt wrong, he felt wronged, and he hated it. This damn woman¡­ Danny took a deep breath, attempting to calm himself. Emotions were playing footsies with his decision making, his power increasingly crept through his mind with his anger, and arguing further with this woman would only be counterproductive.

    He glared at her one more time, just to let her know that she didn''t win, and he walked off towards the locker room. His stomps were loud, echoing in the still quiet gym. A short march later and he was in the locker room with a slamming door behind him. The crowd looked on for a few moments, taking it in. When Tetslaff finally reigned everyone in and the game was back on, hushed whispers were what filled the room.

    What a great start to the year.

    That wasn''t the Danny Fenton they were used to seeing. For one, he had never been good at dodgeball or any physical education class. He had knocked out Dale and took down Dash. Then he backtalked a teacher, rather passionately too. Danny has more confidence than he did before summer, and it was put on display before the entire class. He had reason to be, yes, but this wasn''t something they were expecting to see on day one. It was a shame they had to leave their phones in their lockers.

    Danny was changed and out of the locker room in less than five minutes. It took a lot of restraint to not blow the whole place up. "I can''t fu~cking believe this, and I have four more years of this shit? How great." There was no way he was going to those detentions, she can shove it for all he cares. There was also no way he wasn''t going to try and get out of her classes, the spiteful bitch would no doubt mess with him non-stop. A growl escaped his throat, and he took his phone out. It was 11: 35, maybe if he went to the front office now, he could get a different math teacher. There wasn''t really any hope of swapping out of his gym class, there couldn''t be that many Phys Ed certified teachers at the school.

    With twenty-five minutes until lunch, that gave him almost an hour to get through the process. The gym wasn''t far from his destination, and a short five minutes later he found himself talking to the secretary of the Head of Departments, a short black woman in her forties named Ms. Gloria. She seemed nice enough, but he didn''t know or care about the titles at the moment, so he just got on with his purpose.

    Danny wanted out of her class, of both classes he has with her if possible. One interaction, one time talking to her, and he already wanted nothing to do with her. If he can beat her here and get the process rolling, maybe he can stop anything she can do. Not that she actually will do anything, she may not, but it still doesn''t mean the Halfa isn''t going to try and get out of her class. Danny relayed his intentions and wanted to know what he could do to swap classes with a different teacher.

    The lady was forthcoming with what was needed, he had to talk to his guidance counselor and get approval from the Head of Departments. His counselor, Mr. Lancer, was out eating lunch on his break and would return around twelve. The Head of Departments, a Professor Jerry Tether, was in and could see him now. Danny was more than happy to get the ball rolling and the short visit with the man made him happy. The guy barely looked up at him, asked what he wanted, and had him leave. Professor Tether barely paid him a glance, but he agreed to his request easily. It was obvious the man just wasn''t in the mood to bother with anyone, and for the first time, Danny was glad to be disregarded like this. So when he was waved off, and still had time left till Lancer got back, he went for lunch.

    The cafeteria of the school was large and wasn''t terrible on the eyes. It was bland and boring, yes, but at least it wasn''t painted the same as the lockers. The school''s crest, a black raven in embroidery, was painted onto the wall opposite to him. It was above the exit doors, and if memory serves, that way was to the courtyard. To the left was a long stanchioned off lunch line, ending in the middle of the wall. To his right had more doors leading back into school. The light pink floors were about the only thing interesting and the walls were left as unpainted maroon bricks. Since it was before noon, no one was in the cafeteria besides him. The lunch line was manned with some bored looking food workers, lunch ladies, and one cashier.

    Danny picked up a tray and walked over to the start of the line. The groans of annoyance were a good indicator that not only were they bored, they also didn''t like their job. A short few minutes later and Danny had his lunch, a boring looking chicken sandwich set meal. The food sucked, tasted like cardboard and was only good as a placeholder for sustenance. Hopefully being half-ghost helps with stomach aches, because Danny was positive that he was due for one.

    With a task he still had to do, he made his way out of the cafeteria and back to the office. Gloria was still there, now with a lunchbox on her desk and a bowl of¡­ something in her hands. It looked like spaghetti, but with short and stocky noodles.

    Luckily, Mr. Lancer was in and could see him. The first thing Danny noticed of his office were the degrees lining the wall. The man was apparently overqualified for being a public high school educator. Along the wall lined a bachelors in Mathematics Education as well as one for science, a Basic Science Educations degree. To top it all off, the guy has a Masters in English Literature and World History. There were a few photos along the shelves, one of which had the guy in a leotard at what looked like a gymnastics competition?

    "Ah, Mr. Fenton. It''s nice to see you again." Danny turns to look at the Mr. Lancer, given that the guy was overqualified by quite a large extent, Danny made extra effort to show respect to the guy. Especially since he wants something from him.

    Said Fenton nods back at the man, "Hi Mr. Lancer, you''ll be seeing me later as well." Danny smiles and takes the seat in front of the desk. He wiggles around a bit to get comfy, it''s always nerve wracking to be in an office like this. It''s like he''s a step away from getting in trouble, or maybe he doesn''t feel comfortable asking for a class swap on the first day of school.

    "So, according to the notes from Ms. Gloria, you desire a class change? I assume you know that it''s only the first day, correct?" It''s not like it doesn''t happen, but it''s not common that there''s a class change on day one. Danny nods to affirm that he wants to leave, "Had a really bad first impression with Ms. Tetslaff. I know it''s only the first day and all, but I can tell that she''s not going to make my life easy in any of her classes."

    Mr. Lancer nods in understanding. In his school days, life wasn''t very easy for the less popular. "I understand where you''re coming from Mr. Fenton, but do you truly believe there''s no way you can get along with her?" The Halfa grimaces and shakes his head no. "Pretty sure there''s not. She gave me a weeks detention for sticking up for myself. I don''t even want to get along with her."

    The older man rubs his bald head and sighs, how had the first day gone like this already? He''d have to talk to Melisa, he knew she could be skewed in her judgement, she has been before, but what warrants a weeks detention on day one? Lancer grabbed his cup of coffee and leaned back in his chair. "Can you explain everything that happened please? After that, I can figure out if I can help you."

    Danny perked up at that, it wasn''t often that a teacher listened to him. He leaned forward and placed his hands on his knees, now far more eager with his goal now in sight.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Dark boots tapped on the ground impatiently, and every minute or so, the wear of the footwear would check her phone, eyeing the time. She growled in frustration, before turning her attention back towards her friend. "I thought you said he would be eating with us today? Did he ditch us?" It hurt her to think that he would do that, but she was starting to get angry at the cold treatment.

    Tucker put his hands up in surrender, "Hey, chill out. Don''t bite my head off for this, okay? I''m just telling you what he told me. We should be glad he''s willing to even try so soon Sam, it was all too easy to see that he was still pissed at me."

    The goth relents, but she stabs her fork angrily at the romaine lettuce in her salad. Tucker turns his attention back to his PDA, bringing up his messenger app. A slap on his shoulder takes his attention, he groans and turns to Sam. She points at the doors on the other side of the cafeteria where a smiling Danny is making his way over towards them. He wasn''t angry, uncomfortable or frustrated like the last few times his attention was focused on them. It''s relieving and eases tensions between the two.

    While Danny walked through the cafeteria, he gained attention. People turned and looked, whispering about what happened and occasionally pointing at him. It''s not like he wasn''t aware of what was going on with his surroundings, enhanced hearing is one of the many nice perks of being a Halfa.

    He expected it.

    But he didn''t care, he was in far too good of a mood. Mr. Lancer has already earned himself a spot on the ''good teachers'' list. The man had agreed to swapping him out of math, and his Phys Ed was postponed and he was swapped into a science class. Tetslaff won''t be his problem until the second semester, but hopefully by then she wouldn''t remember. His new second block was math now, taught by Lancer. Biology was now with Mr. Falluca for the fourth class of the day. At one point in the conversation, he had asked what classes the bald man taught in total. He taught one class for each of his degrees; it''s no wonder the guy lost all his hair, he was a workaholic who didn''t even realise it! That''s a monumental amount of work and responsibilities, four different classes on four different subjects, all with twenty-five to forty students in each class. He''s a masochist, no doubt about it, because that just sounds awful.

    Danny ignored everyone staring at him and plopped down into the seat next to Tucker, across from Sam. "Heya guys, what''s up?"

    "Hey man, just gettin'' done eating." He offered a fist bump, and hesitantly, Danny took it. Having been so mad at them for so long, it''s hard to just go back, but he''ll have to adapt.

    "Hey Danny." Sam started, "I thought you were gonna be here earlier, where were you?" His smile faltered a little, something both noticed.

    Danny sighed, but answered anyway: "I was in the office. I had an argument with Tetslaff, and I wanted out of her classes."

    Sam relaxed a little, "Oh. What classes did you get? You might be in one of ours."

    Danny took out his new schedule, printed on a piece of stiff yellow paper. "I don''t have to deal with her at all, for the moment." That was something he was ecstatic about, and Mr. Lancer was already the best teacher he''s ever had. "Art with Medley, Science with Falluca, English and Math with Lancer. The guy is our homeroom teacher and my guidance counselor, and I have two classes with him. Did you know he has four degrees?"

    Tucker looked at the new schedule, but he wasn''t in any of the new classes, English was still the only one he had with his friend. Sam compared it to hers, "We have Biology and English together, sweet." She looked back up, taking in the rest of his words, "He has four? Damn, that''s a lot."

    Tucker didn''t seem to care, he gave a vacant nod and went back to mess with his electronics. He eyes what was left of his food, deciding it''s best to be against finishing the ''food''. It didn''t exactly taste great, and visually¡­ It kind of looked like slop. It was supposed to be meatloaf, so why does it have the consistency of jelly?

    Danny looked around the cafeteria, trying to find the particular trouble making group. The A-Listers were gone, not a single one present. This didn''t bode well, especially since they haven''t tried to mess with him yet. "Have you guys seen Dash and his followers? I pissed him off earlier, and they haven''t tried anything all day."

    The gothic girl looked at the spot she spotted them earlier, finding the seats empty. She looked back at Danny, "They were over there before, but aren''t you being paranoid?"

    Fenton shook his head, "I''ve been following my gut recently, and it''s been helping. I got a feeling they''ll try something¡­"

    She couldn''t deny that he had bad luck, but it''s entirely possible that he was overthinking it. Not that there wasn''t reason to be paranoid, the A-Listers have harassed their small group for years.

    "So, how''ve you been doing? You kind of left on a hard note last time." Tucker winced, he told her she should have left it for now, but of course she didn''t listen.

    The reaction was clear enough, with the last of the smile disappearing he answered the question, "I''ve been doing fine. A few things I would change if I could, but you know how that goes."

    Sam pressed on regardless, "Yeah, I do." Her parents were a prime example. "Danny¡­ What did you mean when you left? That you''re not okay?" The tech geek slapped his face, he couldn''t believe she was going for this in the first actual conversation they''ve had in months. This was something they had to build up to, bull-headed stubbornness would help no one in this scenario.

    A frown crept onto Danny''s face, and his lip twitched. "That''s something I''m not comfortable sharing with you guys. Maybe one day, but not now." It wasn''t what she wanted to hear, but they''re not anywhere near there yet.

    And it really wasn''t what she wanted to hear, "Come on, Danny. You can''t say something like that and leave us in the dark." While she was trying to reach out to him, it was also making her mad. Did he have to be so distant? They had been worried for almost all of summer vacation.

    Tucker shook his head, this was going south very fast. He wanted to say something, but when he had kicked her in the shin to get her attention, the look she sent him terrified him.

    That good mood was going fast. Danny knew he''d come to regret saying anything about it, he shouldn''t have said a damn thing that day. It was nice to know they cared, but the interrogation he was receiving wasn''t doing anything besides piss him off. "No Sam. I''m not telling you."

    "We''re your friends, please Danny." Why was he being so stubborn? Maybe they could even help if it''s still a problem.

    It took a lot of willpower not to shout at her, he had to remind himself that he does want to be friends with them. Sam''s just making it so damn hard. "What''s with the inquisition Sam? I''ll tell you when I''m ready, so just move on already."

    Sam was now ready for a harsher tone, "I ju-"

    Tucker stands up, "Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition!"

    Sam glares at him, but it''s cut off when she hears Danny''s laugh. She hadn''t thought that she would miss his laugh so much, but hearing it again after so long felt nice. She sighed and dropped the topic. Tuckers timing was spot on, even Sam couldn''t deny that.

    It was a good one, he''ll admit it. Even if they''re not on the best of standings, he couldn''t help the laugh that got out. It felt good, admittedly, but one joke wouldn''t be enough. It helps to lighten the mood though.

    The bell rings, and the trio gets up and walks towards the exit. Danny and Tucker already knew where the class was, so Sam just followed them. "Where''s your locker Danny?"

    "It''s close by, near the staircase."

    Both perked up at that, "Oh, that''s good. Ours is near there too."

    Lo and behold, the group finds their lockers all right next to each other. Danny and Sam had theirs right next to each other, and Tucker had his two rows over. Again, Danny looked around and still couldn''t find Dash and his followers. It was really starting to get to him, especially since he humiliated both Dash and Dale.

    Deciding it''s best to stay where he knows he''ll be safe, Danny gets their attention. "Hey, you guys ready? I wanna get to class early." The two teens eye each other and shrug, their lockers are shut and locked a minute later. "We''re good, what''s the rush for?"

    Danny slings his backpack over his shoulder and starts walking towards his class. "I actually like Lancer, so I don''t want to leave a bad impression, more so since he helped me already. Plus I have him two classes in a row."

    Now that she has a moment to look at her friend, actually look at him, she took it. Danny had changed more than just emotionally in the summer. Danny grew taller, maybe two or three inches. He was now taller than her, even if only by a little. He used to wear that white and red shirt before, almost all the time since he had so many, but he dressed differently now. A white long sleeve under a blue short sleeve, button down. The jeans were the same, but they weren''t as baggy, possibly because he grew into them. All in all, the outfit looked good on him, it matched his eyes. It was clear that whatever happened in the summer changed him, he was far more confident, defiant, stubborn and independent. Sam was all too happy to see her friend rebel against the school hierarchy, but she doesn''t want that newfound attitude directed at her.

    The walk back is uninterrupted, thankfully, but Danny''s paranoia is rising, especially since this class has multiple A-Listers. Dash, Dale, Paulina, Star, Valerie and a few others all sit at the front of the class on the right side. It doesn''t help his nerves that they keep whispering back and forth to each other and laughing, more so since they keep glancing back at him.

    Danny gives them the finger. Even with a bandage on his nose, the skin around the dressing was already starting to bruise a sickly yellow and purple. Fenton flipping the bird their way made him want to stand up and beat him then and there. It was easy to see what the dumb blond wanted to do, especially with the glare he was pointing at Danny. Dale was looking at him the same way, but he was always better at waiting and getting back at people. Star had wide eyes, completely stunned that he had it in him to do that, while the queen B herself wasn''t even paying attention, the compact mirror in her hand was apparently far more interesting at the moment; Valerie didn''t seem to care either, she had her eyes on her phone with her fingers going a mile a minute to send a text.

    Sam and Tucker looked at each other worryingly, Danny has always been sarcastic and a little hostile towards the popular kids, especially with the treatment they get. He''s never been so open about it before though. Here he is, in broad daylight, giving their whole group the middle finger. And if the rumors were anything to go by? Danny had knocked Dale out at dodgeball and gave Dash a bloody nose with one as well.

    If anything, it seems like Danny''s going to war with them. Sam rolled her eyes, with the attitude he''s giving them, it''s no wonder he''s getting a little paranoid. He''s setting himself up practically, and his antagonism doesn''t seem to be going down any either.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Class is soon on, and soon over; nothing exciting had happened, Lancer just went over the class syllabus like the rest of the teachers. With today being the first day, there wouldn''t be any work today. Freshmen had to get acquainted with the new school and get used to a different environment, so normally those in the ninth grade wouldn''t receive any homework in the first week either. It''s like an extra week to readjust to a new lifestyle, and it''s something every teenager that goes to the school is thankful for.

    After class was over, the trio split two ways. Danny and Sam had to find their Biology class, and Tucker had Phys Ed with Tetslaff. Tucker may hate P.E., but at least Dash and Dale wouldn''t be in his class.

    Before they got to the science wing, Danny stopped by to use the restroom. A quick peek in told him that there was no one there, good. He would not be having a swirly ever again, it was disgusting, and he''ll break bones before he takes a swirly again. Minutes later he exits, with plenty of time to get to class.

    When Danny rounds the corner, he doesn''t even have time to mutter a surprise when he''s jerked sideways. "Think fast loser!" Enhanced reflexes are another perk of being a Halfa, but this is the first time he''s noticed how dull they are in his human form, when compared to his ghost form. That doesn''t mean he''s not alert enough to see the smug smile of Dash as he''s shoved into a locker. Off to the side he can see a few more of the A-Listers, recording the whole thing.

    Anger crawls under his skin and before the locker door is closed, Danny kicks off. Dash is sent into the wall on the opposite side of the hall by Danny''s two feet. The Halfa grabs the edges of the locker, growling and just barely bottling up just how pissed he is. He knew they would try something like this, to try and humiliate him. Before he can pull himself out, Dale is on him and decks him in the face from his blind spot. His head rocks back into the locker, smacking into the back and he holds his now bleeding nose, but he grabs Dale''s wrist at the last second, glares at the surprised jock and yanks. The darker skinned bully kisses the locker, and Danny makes sure that he keeps at it. Dale is slammed into the locker four times before Dash is back up and cup-checks the defender. Danny lets go of the offending arm and grabs his family jewels, hissing in pain and out of breath. The locker is closed on him before his eyes open to reveal burning green. His fist blurs forward and impacts the inside of the locker, denting it slightly. "How''s that for thinking fast!"

    The people on the outside are in a tense befuddlement, uneasy at what just happened. Was Fenton always like that? Dale and Dash jump in shock when a fist puts a new dent into the locker, from the inside. Dash grits his teeth at the provocation and makes to open the locker again to teach the dork a lesson. "Can you stop messing around? We''re going to be late." The impatient voice of Paulina stops him dead in his tracks and he looks back at her in annoyance. "What the hell Sanchez? Did you not hear what he said?!"

    Paulina stepped forward towards the quarterback, "I heard what he said, but I also saw him almost beat you two." She points at them, "That was kinda pathetic by the way, you got him in a surprise and in a two on one, and he still hurt you two." She laughed at them before deleting the video. Paulina waves her phone in front of them, "And because of that¡­ poor performance, the video is shot. It''s not funny if we get beat up too."

    Dash, despite how intelligently inept he is, at least has enough brain cells to understand what she''s saying. "Fine," he bites out, clearly frustrated, "but this isn''t over yet." Another bang from the locker gets their attention, "Let me out you pricks! Can''t even deal with me yourself? Had to get help didn''t ya, you dumb blonde bitch!" Dash growls at the trapped teenager, but kicks the locker instead.

    The blonde picks up his friend who''s rubbing his face and smacks him upside the head, "What the hell man, now we can''t use the video." Dale glares at the larger jock, "You were the first to go down, so don''t pin this shit on me Baxter. I wasn''t even supposed to get involved!" Dash waves it off and walks away, the rest of the group following. "Whatever."

    Inside the locker, Danny took out his phone and checked the time. His class is right up the stairs around the corner and there was about five minutes till class started. Livid is too small of a word for what he''s feeling right now, but with no targets besides a locker door, it''s easier to calm down. He takes a couple breathes before he turns into Phantom. The half-ghost turns invisible and intangible, before he peeks his head out, looking both ways for any witness, and a quick check of the ceiling shows him that there''s no cameras either. Phantom smirks before walking through his small cage. "Oh, ghost powers, how convenient you are."

    Phantom fades from Fenton and he runs to class, barely making it back before the bell rings. Danny takes the seat next to Sam and starts taking out his supplies. She pokes him to get his attention, "What happened?" She whispered.

    Danny sighed and said one word, "Dash." It really was all she needed to know too. If Dash was involved, she can see why he was late. "Ah, I see. Well, good job on getting out." She left out that he was actually right, no one ever wants to hear ''I told you so''. Sam was still surprised by how right he was though, for the future sake, she made a mental note to have him follow his gut.

    Biology with Falluca was about as fun it could be, and the teacher himself didn''t seem like much, nor did he leave an impression. He was short, comically so, and he was balding. The gray hair that was left on his head didn''t look great, it was wispy, thin, and the combover was obvious. To top it all off, he dresses like he''s going golfing. His voice was bland and made worse by how nasally and high pitched it was. The man himself didn''t even seem like he cared, a true public high school teacher: underpaid, overworked, and no longer caring if it shows.

    An hour and a half later and the first day of school was finally over, teenagers and young adults alike bolted home, ready to decompress from a stressful new beginning. Danny trudged through the crowd, tired and still annoyed. The whole day had been ups and downs, and by the end of it Danny just wanted the day to end. Sam and Tucker followed close behind him, giving him cautious stares. They were nervous to say anything, especially after the day he''s had.

    Tucker decided to take the first leap, "Hey man, you okay?"

    Danny blinked and turned around, he stared at Tucker for a few seconds before shrugging. "It''s been a long day, and I just want to go home. It could have been worse, but it also could have gone much better." Truthfully, he might have forgotten they were there, his mind was elsewhere and at the moment he just wanted to get home and go flying. Readjustment to school was going to be difficult, far more so for him since he had spent the entire summer primarily alone, devoid of most contact, and flying through the air. The itch to break through the stratosphere was so strong, Danny was starting to suspect that it was closer to withdrawal symptoms. When the whole day is practically spent playing with new superpowers that are far more fun and cool than any video game, it''s hard to stay cooped up for so long.

    Sam raised an eyebrow, "How could it have gone better? This is high school we''re talking about, it''s always a colossal shit-show."

    Danny couldn''t deny that, but he still had to say his piece. "I know that, Sam. I''m just saying, is it normally this complicated for most?" He raised his hand into a ball, before using his other to pick a finger out. "Homeroom and my first class were easy and uneventful, something I''m glad for. Phys Ed with Tetslaff? A disaster. Not only did the jocks get off scot-free," Danny raises a second finger, "I got a weeks worth of detention in their place, how fu~cking fair. Not that I went to those, mind you." The two listeners of the conversation looked at each other, but neither said anything and refocused back on what their estranged friend was saying. It was difficult to say anything when he was on a role like this.

    "I actually swapped out of all her classes," He raised a finger again, totaling to three; "That was a blessing, don''t get me wrong, but I shouldn''t have had to do that. That''s a last resort thing right? Well, it was all too obvious that it was necessary, so while I''m glad to be out of her class, I don''t think it''s a good thing." The half-ghost still wasn''t done, however, " Number four, the whole thing with Dash." A fourth finger came up, "The blond ass-hat needs to get something into that empty head of his: I''m not gonna get pushed around anymore. Every time they try, I''ll fight them on it." Danny focused his stare back at his friends, "Like I did today." Honestly, one of the few things he was thankful for was that there were no ghost attacks today.

    "How did that go down by the way?" Tucker asked. Danny had only told bits and pieces to Sam, but Tucker was completely clueless on the whole event. Sam nodded her head, eager to hear the whole thing.

    By the time Danny recounted the whole tellings, which didn''t take much time at all, they were already on his street. Tucker was laughing at the mental gif of Dale getting slammed into a locker, while Sam looked amused, but concerned as well. The smug smile on Danny''s face made her hesitate, but she wanted to say something. "Danny."

    With refocused attention, Danny brought his eyes back to Sam. She cleared her throat before speaking, "You shouldn''t stoop to their level." This needed to be said, she didn''t want her friend solving his problems with violence!

    The smile was gone, and in its place was a blank face. "How am I ''stooping to their level'' Sam? I''m not attacking them, it''s called self defense."

    "You shouldn''t solve your problems with violence Danny, you''re better than that!" She shouted.

    It wasn''t anger that came next, but a tired sigh. Danny rubbed his neck, already tired of this conversation and this day. "Sam, drop it. I''m not out looking for a fight, I''m not being violent. All I''m saying is, if they come after me, I''m not gonna just take it."

    The goth opened her mouth to say something again, but Danny raised a hand to stop her. "I''m done talking about this now. I''m tired and I want to, no, am now, going home." True to his word, they were in front of his house. It''s hard to miss a home that says FENTON WORKS on it with flashing neon lights.

    Danny changed direction and walked to his door. He waved his hand back at them in parting, "See ya later guys."

    "See ya Danny!" Tucker shouted at the retreating form of his friend. When Danny was finally inside, he turned to Sam and saw an angry scowl on her face. Tucker huffed in frustration and began the trek back to his house. "Lets go Sam, he''s clearly not in the mood, and neither am I."

    She followed along, still sour about what just happened. "How can he just blow me off like that? I was just trying to help!" Another tired sigh makes its way from him for the umpteenth time today.

    "Sam," he started, "I get your stubborn, really, but come on. You''re pushin'' this way more than you should. This is the first day he''s talked to us, and he''s still obviously angry at us. You gotta stop badgering him on things, at least for now." That''s all they needed, a ''for now'', there was no way she would ever stop nagging them, not until the day they died.

    She bit her lip, but still tried to stand her ground. "I''m just saying Tucker, he shouldn''t act like them and just beat people up." The argument was sounding weaker now that neither of the choirs she was preaching to wanted to listen.

    "No Sam," Tucker shook his head, "He''s not saying that. I don''t know if he worked out or something over the summer, but he''s clearly adamant about this and he''s confident enough to back it. He''s saying he''ll defend himself." He turned around and pointed at her, "And your argument was weak, it sounded like you were telling him to let himself get beat up."

    Yeah, that''s what she was afraid of. Maybe she didn''t word it right, but she was scared he''d take it the wrong way, and it seems he did. "Damn it, that''s not what I wanted."

    Now walking backwards so he can face his friend, Tucker continues the explanation. He wants to get this across quickly, Sam''s house is coming up soon. "Look, I get it Sam. But how mad at us was he? We reeeeally gotta take this slow." It''s not often he gets to be the lecturer, but it does kind of feel good.

    "Fine," Sam bites out, "but-"

    "Sammykins!" A shrill voice interrupts her. Sam grimaces at the pet-name her parents have for her, she hates it with every fiber of her being. She turns to her mother, who''s standing in the doorway. She''s smiling in a way that could only spell annoyance for her soon. Sam turns back to her friend, "I gotta go Tucker, see you tomorrow."

    Tucker laughs at her misfortune, but waves her off: "Good luck, ''Sammykins.''" He smirks at the glare he receives.

    Sam turns back to her mom, muttering under her breath. "I''ll get you back Tucker." The peppy smile and attitude her mom is giving her doesn''t make her feel too good about what''s about to happen. Slowly, she starts her walk on the plank.

    "Hi mom." She greets. She''d walk past her if she could, but since she''s standing in the doorway, it means she''s not getting by until then. Pamela beamed a shining smile at her daughter and hugged her. Sam groaned at the contact, but didn''t resist, it''s her mother after all. No matter how annoying.

    Pamela pulled away, still smiling and said, "Let''s go shopping sweety!"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Hey Danny, welcome home." The first voice to greet him was his sister. Apparently she had been waiting for him, given she practically jumped him when he walked in.

    Danny eyed his sister carefully, if she was waiting for him, there was a reason why. "Hey Jazz, what''s up?" He''s had to deal with Sam and her interrogations today, he didn''t really want to hear any nagging right now.

    Jazz closed her book and sat up straighter on the couch. She smiled at him, sisterly and caring, "How was your first day? It tends to be kind of rough, especially for people with our parents."

    Danny relaxed a little and sighed. He dropped his bag off on the coffee table and plopped down onto the couch. After kicking his shoes off to the side, he finally responds.

    "It could have been better." His voice was tired, and Jazz had a feeling that he''d been sighing a lot today.

    Still, she had a job to do as the older sister. Jazz rubbed his shoulder and gave him another smile, "Cheer up, little brother. It''s just the beginning."

    Danny closed his eyes and knocked his head back. He knew that. He knew it better than anyone else in this town.

 Chapter 14

    Chapter 14: Lunch is Served

    A sudden explosion took the attention of those in the city. Cars stopped, people turned, and the crumbling of rubble and glass echoed in the now quiet town.

    It was midday Saturday, the twenty-fourth of September, and downtown was in a panic. It had been happening more frequently as of late, and to the dread of the town denizens, monsters seem to be attacking the town more and more. They hadn''t been spotted often, they showed up the most during odd hours in the night, or out of the city limits. But they''ve been spotted, in different shapes and sizes, and on several occasions recorded.

    And today it''s happening again. Three more explosions rock the area, rumbling meets the feet of those further off, but people closer to the actual explosion are blown back by the sheer force of the shockwave.

    "SKREEEEEE!" A high pitched, warbled screech pierces into the ears of all those within a mile radius. Glass cracks and shatters from the sheer volume of the sound, and car alarms blocks away start blaring into the ears of the populace. Seconds later, another detonation rings out and a nearby skyscraper''s lower floors are suddenly exposed to the elements. Glass, wood, plastic and even metal breaks and bends, causing the debris to come tumbling onto the ground, when a giant ghost is thrown into the building. Its legs clacked and clicked, hundreds upon hundreds skittering across the building and breaking the glass everywhere the legs touch. A large hole, maybe around the fourth or fifth floor was now in view, going all the way through to the other side. The centipede had come out of it, fighting the white haired teenager that was appearing more and more. The skyscraper was a testament to modern building designs, even with a hole in the middle it still stands.

    Giant antennae are the first thing seen through the cloud of dust and debris, but three more flashes of green fly into the smokescreen, and explode seconds later, illuminating the large shadow of the insect.

    "SKREEE! EERRAAA!" The giant centipede ghost screeches and bellows as Phantom launches more and more blasts at the chitinous creatures back, barely leaving a mark, much less one that lasted. A whole new volley was primed and ready to fire, but the Halfa dodges to the left quickly as a long, dual bladed tail slices through the space where he once was. Danny takes to the skies to buy a little time and to get the thing away from the populace.

    Both ecto-blasts, one in each hand, are repurposed and pushed together, compressing into a single collection of energy. The energy begins to shape into a pole, at five feet long it''s not terribly impressive, but the electricity flowing through and around it adds a higher intimidation level to it. Danny hefts the glowing green spear of electricity onto his shoulder and takes aim, waiting for the insectoid ghost to come after him. If normal electricity didn''t work because of the armor, he just had to get through it somehow. His form glows brightly among the skyscrapers, the polished glass reflecting and refracting his natural glow and the erratic summoned energy.

    A loud hiss, similar to that of a rattlesnake reverberates through the area, shaking the buildings and breaking more glass through the echoes. The lunge is fast, but with such an obvious warning Danny was prepared. The strike is met with a javelin of electricity thrown at its face, barely piercing armor, but still achieving penetration. The momentum is halted as equal force negates its speed and acceleration, forcing the different segments of its body to crash into one another like a train. The electrified energy construct acts as a needle and delivers its content, in this case electricity, directly into the body of the undead.

    The large centipede spasms and contorts with a series of hisses, losing altitude as its body plummets back toward the Earth. Danny takes off after the twitching monster, catching up fast enough. His tail forms from his legs and he catches the centipede, holding it easily and flying it away to a less populated area. It''s heavy, he can tell that, but even with its weight Danny knows he can pull more. Flight is easy like that, anything that he wants to fly with him becomes almost weightless, like gravity is reduced for whatever he held.

    The stunning effect doesn''t last as long as he''d like unfortunately. The centipede ghosts tail, over one hundred feet from its head, whips up towards the Halfa holding it. Phantom drops the creature and turns intangible, letting the tail pass right through him. Distance is put between the two and the surrounding area seems like a far better option than a tussle in the city. Undeveloped land for the most part, suburban houses in the beginnings of their construction are scattered in separate communal areas sporadically, but at least the houses aren''t complete and void of life. With no one else there to get in the way, both ghosts can fight without regard. Not that the centipede had been operating to a code of morals before, but now Danny could let loose.

    Before the half-ghost hero has a chance to retaliate, the creature dives headfirst at him, large mandibles snapping at the space his head just was. Danny punches at the softer underside, cracking it and forcing it away, but several legs slash at him and catch him on his chest. "AAAARGH!" The jumpsuit, as usual, does nothing to stop any form of damage and the armored legs tear through it easily, parting skin and digging into muscle. Danny tumbles down, in the direction the legs hit him, but barely manages to catch himself while clutching his new wounds.

    Eyes widen at the incoming tail, and without any time to turn intangible, Danny infuses his limbs, using them as a shield, and takes the strike. Phantom is shot to the ground, barreling through three unfinished houses before he catches himself in a fourth. The jumpsuit is far more torn now, scuffed and dirty, but it is slowly reforming itself. Crashing through the buildings did hurt, but his ever impressive supernatural durability works in favor of him in this case. That hit? His tingling arms seem to be numb, but working properly. Gripping and flexing are fine, but touching directly onto his forearm isn''t a great experience, so he puts it on the back burner for now.

    Crackling energy and the dull hum of ectoplasm catches his attention, and knowing exactly what that entails soon after, Danny turns intangible and flies through the roof. His fears are proven correct when he sees the centipede. Glowing and unstable energy collects at the focal point between its mandibles. It''s antenna is lowered and focuses on the same point, arcs of energy coiling and collecting race along the sensory organ. The focal point grows in size and brightness, and Danny pales when he sees the tail doing exactly the same: gathering a second source of power.

    In reaction to the growing threat, Danny forces energy into his body. Electrokinesis flares to full power, roaring off his body randomly and loudly. Ecto-claws are next, forming on both arms, the electricity empowers them further, collecting at the fingertips. Danny''s given no more preparation however, when the ghostly creepy crawly fires its blast.

    Phantom blasts off upwards, ghostly tail and all as a beam of screaming energy whizzes by him, barely missing. More houses below are destroyed, the beam carving through several effortlessly and lighting some of the more hollow houses ablaze. As the ground below begins to turn a brighter shade of green, Danny is still flying sporadically, dodging the super charged energy beams. An ecto-disc forms in each hand, spinning rapidly, and he throws them both at the large target. The insects bladed tail, which was charging a secondary attack, swung into action. The ball of energy blasts off at him, catching both discs and forcing an implosion to occur. A green smokescreen clouds his vision, but the Halfa knows the fight is still going on.

    Another ecto-disc forms in hand, this time empowered by electricity, and Danny throws the projectile through the smoke before flying low under the temporary cover. Another arc of energy passes through the green smoke, dissipating it instantly. The disc lands a glancing blow, chopping off several legs and exploding near the beast. The undead insect is electrified once again, hissing in pain as the harmful current immobilizes it. Flight falters for a few seconds, but since the electrical current came from outside its body, the recovery was far quicker.

    That doesn''t mean that Phantom didn''t capitalize on it. He chose the moment to get closer to it, finding close combat to be a better suit than long range at the moment. By the time it regains full control, Danny''s already piercing into the carapace.

    "SHHHHHRAAAA!" The centipede hisses in anger and pain, thrashing wildly as the menace on its back tries to peel tough chitinous armor away. Using his energy claws, the plates are slowly peeled and split apart, eliciting another painful screech. Underneath the dark green armor of the arthropod, Danny finds bright green flesh: sticky, gooey, and- "Ugh!" -smelly. The insect''s tail comes sweeping up, catching him in his side and flinging him far away. Luckily it was the flat armor of the tail that hit him, not the blade, but the concussive force of something so large is staggering.

    The centipede ghost cranes its body, using ghostly and natural flexibility to get a look at the damage. It''s not smart enough to know what exactly is wrong, but there''s enough intelligence to know that when it feels pain, it means that something is wrong. Seeing the damage enrages it, and in a throw of fury, the tail glows green and sweeps at the cause of its pain. A large glowing green wave is launched at Phantom, startling him out of his daze. His eyes widened as he quickly flew out of the way, the attack may have been relatively slow to beings like him, but the power it displayed when it hit the ground made him feel uneasy. The ground below exploded, destroying anything that was left of the suburban housing plan. Danny winced, someone wasn''t going to be happy about that.

    Most ghosts that Danny''s met so far, have been unintelligible animals or insects. They seemed to act on instinct alone, doing as they did in their time alive. Wolves traveled in packs, the gorilla was uncomfortably intelligent and able to use its power rather well: invisibility, flight, intangibility, even ecto-manipulation; and all insects so far have had a singular desire to just get to the portal in his basement. He hasn''t fought many insectoid undead, but most of them so far, bar this centipede, didn''t use their powers much. Flight, intangibility, invisibility, ecto-manipulation, those all seem to be the base powers of ghosts, and insects don''t seem to use a majority of them.

    The praying mantis ghost used invisibility to hunt, the tarantula he fought so long ago didn''t even use flight, not that it had a chance to use any abilities. It just crawled along the ground as it would have, had it been alive. The cockroach ghost¡­ was vaporized, core and all. Nasty things, both in life and death. This centipede? While it hasn''t used intangibility or invisibility, the damn thing knew how to fly, and very clearly knew how to use ecto-energy.

    And this was the largest thing he''s fought by far. Not the most dangerous, that would be Skulker, but the centipedes size is a danger in itself when the thing in question is this big. He knew it wasn''t entirely smart, seeing as it went through buildings, rather than phasing through them. But it was strong, easily flinging the Halfa around, and it knew how to use that attack as well. The wolves had used it, the gorilla too, and now this thing.

    The attack, horrible and powerful, devastated anything it touched. And Danny wanted that attack badly. It wasn''t for lack of trying, he had practiced and tried to replicate it, but channeling energy through his teeth as a conduit wasn''t easy, and neither was creating unstable ectoplasm. It was more of a lack of understanding. The energy they focused was raw and wild, uncontrolled and unstable, and he just had no idea how to do it.

    That was something for later, this big hulking monster is the current priority. It charged at him, the sides of its head glowing a brighter green than its body. They extend, like blades, and it zooms past at a downward angle, cleaving trees with ease. The centipede reorients itself, coiling like a Chinese dragon, still enraged and hissing wildly.

    Phantom sighed, letting more electricity generate through his body. God damn, was this thing difficult. While he had sliced off multiple legs, in the dozens, that did nothing to stop the hulking mass of its body. The centipede was basically a tank, armored and difficult to damage. Danny could see the spot he damaged before, at about the halfway point, bleeding green ectoplasm. Concentrating fire has worked before, it''ll have to work again.

    He''s tired, a long night out on the town tracking and fighting ghosts had left him sleepy and in need of a nap. The only good thing is that the centipede came after school, he''d of missed the rest of school had it come during.

    Energy begins to collect at a focal point, antenna droop down from its head and begin funneling more power. Danny rockets off towards the centipede, arms glowing with infusion and electricity amplifying his enhancement. When he is within one-hundred feet, he vanishes, turning invisible and flying high. The centipede, that was seconds away from firing, halts as the target of its ire is now gone.

    The centipede looks around, anger and confusion fighting for dominance. Looking left and right, it sees nothing. Up and down are the same. The accumulated energy starts burning the large pincers that hold it, and its antenna is forced away when one is burned by a stray arc of energy. "SKREEEE!" The arthropod screeches in pain, losing control and firing the beam randomly. Trees are vaporized, turning to ash, and the ground splits asunder, burned black and scorched. When the centipedes aim shifts upwards, the clouds split and part, evaporating at the extreme heat.

    Danny takes the opportunity to attack, regaining visibility behind it. He lands on the same spot as before, and with renewed vigor and enhanced strength, finishes ripping the armored segment off. The ectoplasmic chitin is thrown to the side, turning to goop before it even hits the ground. Even with its antenna, the most sensitive organ of the centipede, in pain, it is still lucid enough to feel its armor being ripped off. The unstable energy ball that was previously being used as a beam is ''spit'' down to the ground. The ball explodes, leveling into a house sized crater and destroying anything in the radius.

    Phantom plunges his hands into the beast''s back with vindictive purpose, pumping as much electricity as possible into it. He can''t even hear the explosion from the centipedes discarded attack over the sound of his own energy. The entire body, every armored segment, goes rigid. Flight is lost, and the insect begins a quick descent while in defib. He didn''t know if it was just him, but electricity seems to be a no-go for most ghosts. Something about the galvanized current seems to disrupt ectoplasm, and Danny is all too glad to have the power as time goes on.

    Danny can tell they''re falling, so he goes to infuse more ectoplasm into his legs to brace for impact, but thinking better, allows his ghostly tail to form. He uses the tail to accelerate down, pushing the centipede even faster, all while pumping electricity out like a generator. Since they weren''t that high in the first place, maybe one or two-thousand feet, the fall down is short, but not without its consequences. All that armor comes at a price, weight and mass are far more than a normal centipede and the plummet is accelerated to terminal velocity shortly before the impact on the ground.

    Thousands of pounds of giant armored insect shake the ground for miles. The citizens of Amity Park feel it, wondering what it could be. Those who witnessed the fight between Danny and the centipede can only think of that as the cause, but a majority of the town wonders if it''s an earthquake. There hadn''t been one since 1987, and most of the denizens of the medium sized town hadn''t ever experienced one. The rumbling stops as soon as it began, but a large green dust cloud appearing just outside of town is now the new focus of town.

    Phantom shakily falls off the arthropod, tired and in pain. The adrenaline has started to fade, and fatigue is slowly taking its place. He collapses on the ground, ready for a much needed break. Danny lays there for some time, barely holding consciousness. Really, enhanced regeneration is hacking, he can just barely feel more energy come to him, slowly regenerating the damage done to his body and refilling spent stamina.

    Then, his vision of the sky is intruded upon by a helicopter. He groans at the sight, knowing all too well that his parents would be here soon, especially since they''ve had the news on in their lab non-stop. Phantom gets up, slowly and unwanting. He stretches, ignoring the pain in his arms. His back hurts, going through houses doesn''t prove to be a pleasant experience. His chest pulses with pain, even the legs were sharp enough to cut through his flesh easily, Danny''s glad he didn''t have to deal with the pincers. No doubt that like his arms, his left side will be bruised black and blue later; the Halfa can only hope that there''s no broken bones.

    Up in the sky, Lance Thunder is beyond thrilled. This was his chance to finally move up from the weatherman. He always regretted not moving to Chicago, especially since this town has proved to be a dead end so far. With the increase in¡­ supernatural occurrences, he was honestly debating whether to just move or not, but Lance was willing to take a risk for a big scoop. He had his journalists'' pride after all.

    "Lance Thunder here, reporting on the scene of what can only be the conclusion of a battle of epic proportions!" Whether it was or not, he didn''t know, but in the media business it''s always better to blow shit out of proportion. "Down below," Lance gestures out of the helicopter, and the cameraman moves the view towards the downed centipede and hurting Halfa, "we have our resident unknown meta who''s been all the local craze, and another monster. This is the first time we''ve been able to catch them on live news! So far, based on current reports, both seem to be more active at night, therefore they aren''t seen as often."

    Now fully standing and panting, Phantom looks up at the helicopter. He gives a cheeky smirk to the camera and salutes with two fingers. It''s always important to show strength and not weakness, and since he''s finally been caught in a live feed, he may as well give some flare. He''s always been told that he has a great smile anyway, might as well work it.

    "The damage is intense folks!" Lance exclaims, "The damage to the city seems to be seven or eight blocks worth of damaged city infrastructure and will no doubt cost the city extensively." The weatherman pauses and looks around, taking in the damage and the area, and what he sees genuinely frightens him. "Uh- based off what I''m seeing, an entire suburban housing district that was in construction has been leveled. There are still some houses on fire, why it''s green I have no idea, but there''s not a single would-be house left standing." He was actually very worried that the fire might spread past the destroyed homes and into the woods. Who knows what''s causing the fire to be green, plus the giant centipede- oh god, that''s what it was.

    "It seems that what was attacking the city was a giant¡­ centipede. As you all can see, it''s horrifying. Our unnamed hero seems to have taken care of it, but he''s looking pretty banged up! No doubt, it was a tou- Dave he''s waving! Zoom in on him! Come on, hurry!" The live news feed shows Danny in all his battered glory, walking towards the head of the creature. The cameraman grumbles in annoyance, but when he complied, Dave noticed something that scared him. So he did the one thing a cameraman isn''t supposed to do during a live broadcast. He talked. "Hey- uh, Lance¡­ is that thing still moving?" The insult was right on the tip of his tongue, truly it was, but deciding it better to actually look instead of leap¡­ Lance almost leapt out of the helicopter in fright. He turned around towards the pilot and screamed: "Make some distance Stuart! It''s still alive!"

    "Seriously, this thing is damn huge." Even lying down, it was taller than him. Each leg was longer than his body was tall, the armored carapace was smooth for the most part, but every once in a while there would be a spike here, or ridge there. He was almost to the head when he saw a leg twitch. It was so minute, that he almost missed it, but enhanced sight and reflexes let him see a lot that he would normally miss. That, and the sound of the helicopter getting further away gave him enough of a clue. "Why won''t you just stay down?!"

    Phantom leapt into the air and went straight for the head. He landed on it and grabbed it by the antenna, thoroughly waking it up. The centipedes head whipped up in pain and anger, the mandibles snapped shut over and over again, creating loud smacking sounds. Using the antenna as handlebars, Danny stomps down. The force of the stomp pushes the centipede down, but it snaps back up as much as it could. It''s body wasn''t responding properly, the lower half was still paralyzed. Another kick brought it further down, almost touching the ground. Before it could go back up, another stomp brought it down.

    Now with its head in the ground, the centipedes eyes roll back and look at the attacker. It hisses in hate, and tries with every fiber of its being to use its tail to impale the pest on its head. It''s a futile attempt, especially when another stomp forces its head further into the ground. More and more rain down, until cracks slowly form. Even with the enhanced infusion on his legs, it still hurts like he''s kicking a tank as a human. Progress is made though, and after the first crack, more just seem to keep coming.

    Danny grins, confident in his victory and further fueled to finish this. It''s been a long damn day, and he wanted to sleep! The centipede loses some anger at the crack, each hit concusses it further and panic creeps into its dull mind. As a centipede, really it isn''t capable of advanced thought, but there''s enough there to panic at its coming doom. Legs skitter in fright, trying and failing to force itself up, but the Halfa has a hold on it, and he''s relentless.

    Danny continues, power waning and irritation rising. "Why-" Stomp. "Won''t-" Stomp. "You-" Stomp. "Just-" Stomp. "DIE!?" His final stomp broke through, releasing the fleshy meat and brain beneath to the cold autumn air. It smelled horrible, truly, like brussel sprouts and hot garbage. His nose crinkled in disgust, he let go of the antenna and pointed his hands down. The centipede tried to get up now that his grip was released, but was halted as two combined ecto-rays focused on one spot.

    "SKREEEAAAAAAAAASHHHH"

    The arthropod screeched in pure agony as its higher thought organ was burned and drilled through, muddling decision making and destroying body function. It''s body shook and spasmed, the legs digging into the ground and flailing uselessly. It''s tail regained movement, swinging wildly and further destroying the landscape. Trees are snapped like twigs and large rocks are pulverized or sliced through.

    Still, after a solid minute, it wouldn''t die. "Rrrrrargh! Come on! Just die already!" Phantom cut off the ray and the centipede slumped onto the ground, exhausted from pain and nearly brain dead. He shoved his hands into the mushy and smoking brain, hoping this last attack ends it. He didn''t want to torture the thing, he just wanted it to stop. If he had a thermos¡­ it probably wouldn''t fit. Box Ghost had complained about how cramped it was in there, so no doubt this thing would not fit.

    Electricity forces its way into the creatures brain, thoroughly frying it. Twenty seconds later and there''s nothing. No movement, hissing, skittering. Nothing. Danny slumps down and falls onto his back. Now that it''s dead, hopefully for good, it should start receding back into the core. His gaze shifts to the creature''s body, watching as the ectoplasm converged, compacted and shrunk. The giant centipede, in five minutes, was reduced to a large brown, purple, and green core.

    Phantom looks around, spotting the helicopter still nearby surprisingly. They didn''t leave? The people up there are either really ballsy, or down right idiots. Given he''s in Amity Park, a fair guess would be the latter. He huffs and puffs, reaching for oxygen he doesn''t need. There will be no more ghost hunting today, he barely has enough energy to maintain his ghost form. The Halfa gives a shaky thumbs up at the people in the helicopter, wondering just how much they can see.

    He can''t lay here forever though, so very slowly and entirely sore, Danny gets up. A few shaking steps later and he''s at the core, eyeing it carefully. Based off of the position, the core¡­ was located a little below the head? He shrugs, too tired to care at the moment. Danny picks up the head sized core, impressed by its size. It seems core size is proportional to body size, now if only there was a way of locating it in a ghosts'' body.

    The helicopter flies lower now that the colossal arthropod is gone, nerves are eased and the tension lowers. The cameraman zooms in on Phantoms face, getting the clearest view of the hero yet. He gasps in realization, there were rumors that he was just a kid, but the meta really was just a teenager! Lance''s voice drones on in the background, talking about the battle and property damage.

    Phantom took a look around, finally taking in the surroundings. He winced at what he saw, there was no way this place would be inhabitable anytime soon. Every house was destroyed, either rubble or ash. The ground was glowing green, high amounts of exposure to ectoplasm dyed the landscape radioactive green. Danny didn''t know what the long term effects were of ectoplasmic contamination, besides attracting other ghosts, but it shouldn''t be that bad, right? He''s lived in the Fenton house for fourteen years, so there should be no effects¡­ he''ll ask his parents later.

    With the core in hand, he attempted to fly. A small hover was all he got before he fell back down. Danny sighed, already accepting that flying wasn''t going to happen at the moment. "I guess I''ll walk. Damn it." The Halfa disappeared into the forest, vanishing from sight and walking away from town. The helicopter attempted to follow, but the tree coverage was too dense, they lost him almost instantly.

    Minutes later the Fentons showed up, ecto-guns armed and ready, but no target in sight.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    A pattern''s been forming, and it''s pretty obvious. Danny''s been fighting more and more, getting banged up, beat down, and blown up. It''s startling to the Halfa just how used to this he''s become, if someone had told him three months ago that he''d be a wannabe superhero, he would have laughed at their face. He was just human after all, but ever since he¡­ died, it''s been chaos. Literally and figuratively.

    His family has always been weird, and honestly, he can''t deny that his parents are kind of freaks. It''s disturbing how dead set they are about ghosts, although he can''t entirely blame them since he hasn''t found a single good one yet. Danny''s not evil though, but the few times he''s actually interacted with his parents as Phantom have ended the same way each and every time. It seems they want to ''tear him apart molecule by molecule'', word for word on that.

    That''s disturbing, and Jack tends to have a habit of screaming what he says. At the top of his lungs. In public. It''s no wonder people call him a freak, with a father like Jack Fenton, sometimes Danny can''t blame people who toss insults out like that. Doesn''t mean he has to take it though, they''re his parents still, even if they try to dissect him.

    That''s disturbing too. Maybe they''re closer to mad scientists than he realized.

    Even with a healing factor, it never seems to be enough. Danny''s enhanced generation seems to barely keep up with the damage, it''s always on and running constantly. It''s like there''s no off switch, probably because he''s always hurt. It''s not quite ''daily'' yet, but in another month or so? It''s not a difficult assumption that Phantom will be making daily appearances, and he doesn''t even want to think about a year from now, if he even lives that long.

    Danny didn''t even know where the fucking centipede from two days ago came from, the damn thing literally just came out of nowhere and started on a rampage, making a b-line for his house. Through the city. It really did a number on downtown Amity Park, millions in damage from the area alone, and that''s not counting the would be housing district his fight wrecked. That was even more, and the teenage ghost was starting to feel kind of bad for the mayor. The guy had appeared on TV a few times to address the recent¡­ problems, and every time he gets chewed out by the pissed off populous.

    "Danny! What''s goin'' on?" Tucker slapped his back from behind in a friendly greeting, knocking him out of his thoughts. Fenton bit his bottom lip to stop the hiss that was on his tongue from escaping. His back still hurt like a motherfucker, and it was a nasty purple, black, and yellow¡­ across nearly his entire back. For the most part his chest was healed, but he still had broken ribs, a fractured wrist, and to top it all off, one of his hands was still numb. Feeling was coming back to it, but Danny''s pretty sure one of his nerves was damaged, possibly from channeling too much electricity through his veins.

    Danny closed his locker and turned to his friend, "Hey Tuck, what''s up?" Long sleeves and jeans only cover up so much, the cut on his neck was visible, even more so since it was bandaged. He often found himself talking to people at odd angles to avoid them noticing notable injuries. It worked for most, unsurprisingly, the people at Casper High weren''t the brightest, nor were they known to be. And really, Danny only needed a day or two for most cuts. Bruises weren''t life threatening, but they were gone either within the day, or if they''re about as bad as the one on his back, then they take a few days.

    Tucker eyed the bandage on his neck, making no attempt to hide his curiosity. "Nothin'' much dude, you finally ready to tell me where you got that?" The tech geek pointed at his neck, to which Danny shook his head in response. Danny closed his locker and started walking to his second period, Pre-Algebra with Lancer.

    Sam and Tucker were far more observant of him than the rest of the sheeple of Casper High though. It didn''t even take them a day to spot one of the more visible wounds he was trying to hide. They had badgered him about it, but Danny was getting good at deflecting, much to Sam''s ire.

    Speaking of Sam, she was nowhere to be found. Danny looked around for her, thinking she might be nearby, especially since her class is right in front of them, and she wasn''t there. Danny turned to Tucker, "So where''s Sam? She''s normally here by now."

    Tucker looked up from his PDA and finally noticed the lack of their friend. His brows furrowed when he found her absent at both her locker and inside her class. Suddenly he grabbed his stomach and looked concerned. "I don''t know where she is, but I got a bad feeling in my stomach, and I don''t mean the Taco Bell kind of bad feeling." Danny just stared at him with a blank face.

    "... uh-huh. Is that so?" He wasn''t really sure how to respond to that. Sometimes Tucker was weird like that, though it did sound rather familiar. Danny tapped a finger on his pant leg, attempting to recall what was on the tip of his tongue. He gave up shortly after, if it was anything important, he''d remember.

    Danny shrugged his shoulders, "See ya at lunch man. Good luck with the ''rhea." The geeks head whipped around and glared at the Halfa, "It''s not that you ass. It''s called a gut feeling!" Tucker cursed his friend for saying that so loudly, now people were snickering at him!

    Danny waved at him as he walked away, "That''s called indigestion man, look it up. With your diet, I wouldn''t be surprised." He held his tongue on that, it''s not like he never got it, but Tucker''s proud to admit that he''s got a lead stomach. Besides, he hasn''t had Taco Bell in over a week, and there''s not much else that gives him the rumblies. Besides vegetables of course.

    A loud gasp escaped his lips, and the one book he had in his hands clattered to the floor, though he caught the PDA in time. Now he remembered this feeling! His meat senses were tingling, and that meant only one thing! "Damn it Sam! Not again!"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Math was a breeze as always, as someone who was aspiring to be an astronaut, specifically aiming for an engineering degree and possibly an astrophysics degree too, he had studied up a fair bit ahead. He figured that he''d be fine until he hit calculus, so long as he did his homework, then he''d have to really start studying. Then again, if ghost attacks keep romping up like this, he''d fall behind on sheer exhaustion alone. It was already starting to get difficult to do homework at night, especially since that''s when ghosts have been coming out the most.

    Art was going by fine, it was impossible to fail that, even if the teacher was a bit of a bitch. English was fine, nothing new nothing less so far. And science? Falluca''s kind of a douche, but that might be because Danny keeps skipping out halfway through class. It''s not his fault that ghosts like to attack closer to the evenings, they just did! The short teacher has been on his case constantly, and so far he''s taken the A-Listers side on three separate occasions, even flipping the punishment on him one time!

    Danny didn''t show up for that detention.

    The walk to the cafeteria was short, not entirely far from the math wing. It''s a shame the cafeteria doesn''t have a second story to it like Elmertons high school, but at least Casper High has an outdoor courtyard.

    It''s when Danny walked into the cafeteria that he noticed something was wrong. People were glaring at him. Not everyone in the cafeteria was doing it, maybe fifteen or twenty percent was directed at him? The rest of the people had their attention focused on the table his trio of friends shared, where Sam and a very irate Tucker were arguing. It didn''t take him long to find out why, especially with the large banner above the food line. The food on their plates was a good indicator as well, if it could even be described as that. A more fitting name would be grass. Or sod. A small, maybe three inch, by three inch lump of grass and mud, to be exact. Someone was clearly trying to be funny, because the lumps of grass were garnished with a weed, Sanburs if he remembered correctly, the spiky little balls that grow on stalks.

    "Ah." Is this the feeling Tucker was talking about? This is all very familiar, the ''food'', the glares and stares¡­ most likely the reason behind it all too. Danny sighed into his hand, his other twitched with irritation. "Again, Sam. Really?" Fuck all, she was doing her ultra-vegan shtick again. She''s done it before, and she''s done it again. He was seriously hoping she would have caught on to how people feel about this sort of stuff.

    Nobody liked it before, and no one likes it now.

    Fenton sighed again, accepting the awful situation he was just placed in. Danny made his way through the empty lunch line, but when he got his food, they had the gall to actually try and charge him for this garbage. He threw it away right in front of them, screw paying for that. So he was going without food today, great. He peeked at the vending machines in the corner, a small spark of hope igniting in his heart, only to find the food dispensers empty.

    There goes that idea.

    Danny stalked up to his table, trying to figure out what to say to his friend. He was going to give her a piece of his mind, no doubt. They were finally getting more comfortable with each other, all three of them, and she had to pull a stunt like this. When he reached their table, Danny looked down at his friends. Sam was happily munching away on a salad, though he noticed an empty tray next to her. He raised an eyebrow, she actually ate that shit?

    "It''s garbage Sam, why would you do this?!" Ha! He wasn''t the only one who thought that apparently.

    The gothic girl dropped her fork dramatically into her salad, "It''s not garbage Tucker!" She hissed. "It''s a perfectly acceptable substitute to what everyone else eats!" It was an impressive feat that she wasn''t actually yelling it, maybe she noticed the displeased stares she was getting.

    Danny chose this moment to but into the conversation, "No Sam, it is not an ''acceptable substitute'' for food. It looks and," he picked up Tuckers tray and smelled the food, recoiling at the stench. "It smells like grass and dirt. It''s garbage, face it."

    Her glare turns to Danny, even more upset that no one, not even her friends appreciate this. "You too Danny? What''s possibly wrong with it?" She crossed her arms in an angry pout.

    Danny groaned and sat down, propping up his head up on his arms. "Sam, this shit," He gestured towards the ''food'', "only suits your tastes. Not mine, not Tuckers, and no one else in the school! I mean, seriously, look around." How could she not see that?

    Sam did so, taking in all the glares she was getting. She held her ground though, "They''re just ungrateful, it''s for their benefit too!" It''s hopeless. She doesn''t get it.

    The Halfa growled in frustration, forcing his fangs to stay inside his gums when his teeth showed. "Oh my- you''re impossible. Seriously, in a school of like, 1400 students, you''re the only one who likes this crud."

    "That''s not true." She snaps at him. Danny raises an eyebrow, giving her the opportunity to continue. "The other vegans like it." What a weak argument. She points over to another table, one happily eating the small sod patches like a bunch of-

    "Ah, the sheeple. Yeah, I get why they''d like it." Tucker grumbles and rolls his eyes, but Sam slaps his arm for the sarcastic comment. "Sheeple is insulting, don''t say that."

    "Oh, for the love of- that''s what they are Sam!" Tucker stands up, angry and irritated from hunger and a lack of meat to satisfy it. "It''s GRASS and MUD! They probably got it from the field behind the school!" He shouted.

    A landscaper with muddy boots who was passing by one of the open doors overheard the comment, and he whistles nervously as his pace increases, intent on getting away.

    The argument was reaching the rest of the cafeteria, who was not at all pleased at the worse than usual sustenance. It was rare to see the trio of freaks fight like this, that didn''t mean others didn''t want to voice their thoughts as well.

    "FENTURD!" Danny pinched the bridge of his nose, mumbling curses under his breath in irritation. He glares at Sam, whose attention is on the jock making his way over. "Look at what you did, damn it. Now I gotta deal with the blond buffoon." She snickers at the insult, but it''s obvious Danny didn''t say that as a joke, but just to insult the bully.

    "Is that meat I smell?" What the hell was Tucker talking about now?

    Danny gets up from his seat and turns around to see Dash with a tray in his hand. He sticks it out and points to it, "Look at this! Why is my food garbage, and not food! I wanted mud pies, not actual MUD!" Dash shoves the tray at Danny, and in response it''s shoved back. The bully growls at his peer.

    "And? How is this my fault Dash?" Well, he can take a guess. Anything that Sam does to piss someone off, he gets punished for normally. That''s the way it was in the past, but definitely not the future.

    The jock points at Sam, glaring at Danny the whole time. "It''s your girlfriend''s fault the menu changed into¡­ garbage!"

    Sam sputters with a blush, but with damaged trust it''s far easier for Danny to assert the truth with a straight face. "We''re not dating Dash, now what do you want?"

    The quarterback smirks, "Yeah, well I''m still gonna beat you to a pulp, after I make you eat this shit!" He snarls, shoving the tray of sod back into Danny.

    Fenton stares at the tray of ''food'' for maybe three seconds, before taking the mudpie. He looks up at Dash, taking in his cocky grin and expectant glare. Danny smirks and throws the garbage right in his face, giving him a good mouthful of the stuff and knocking him over.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    "GARBAGE FIGHT!" Danny shouts.

    Chaos ensues as everyone and their best friend start throwing the small patches of sod left, right, and center. Dash is on the ground, trying to get the stuff out of his eyes and mouth. Danny laughs at him, gives him the bird, and starts making his way towards the exit. Danny''s pretty sure he heard Sam say something about it not being garbage again, at least before she ducked under the table. Tucker had wandered off earlier while mumbling something about meat; he worried Danny sometimes when he acts like that, it''s strange and unhealthy. Kind of like his diet.

    The second Danny''s out of the door, his ghost sense goes off, the blue puff of vapor squeezing through his grit teeth. "Oh, motherfucker! Of course, as if going without lunch wasn''t bad enough." The tug pulls him back around, turning him towards the lunch line on the opposite wall. Eyes widen as he spots the fairly obvious target, no one has green skin and floats besides ghosts after all.

    How did she get so close without his ghost sense going off earlier? Normally the abilities range encompasses a good chunk of Amity Park, though it''s rather vague the closer he gets. Was it possible for some ghosts to hide from his ghost sense? That''s not a comforting thought.

    The ghost this time around is humanoid, or rather, like the Box Ghost, was probably human at one point since she actually looks the part. Skulker is humanoid-esque, the battlesuit is at least, not his true form. The best way to describe her would be a lunch lady. Maybe mid-forties, similar uniform to the actual lunch ladies currently in the process of fleeing. Liver spots here and there and large yellow latex or plastic gloves for washing dishes. She has a sweet, grandma styled smile on her face, and it gives Danny hope that for once an encounter with the undead won''t lead to a fight.

    A quick look around shows that there''s way too many people around to actually transform, but there''s a rather convenient broom closet under the staircase nearby. Luckily, the ghost seems to be busy baking¡­ cookies? "...Huh." A short run later and he''s hidden in a closet and transformed into his other half.

    Danny phases into the trashed lunch room, not bothering to hide himself. If this goes south, like literally every other encounter so far, hiding isn''t going to do jack shit. The garbage fight is nearing its end though, and there''s not many people left in the cafeteria. Not surprising considering the circumstances, no one wants to be covered in mud.

    Attention is on him almost immediately, a glowing floating teenager with white hair is hard to not notice. Tucker is still not in the room, gone off to who knows where and following his stomach. Danny can see the deep scowl on Sams face, most likely because of him, turn into surprise when she turns to him. Is that recognition as well? Oh boy, it''s difficult to restrain the feral grin that just wants to come out; he had completely forgotten that the guy she went on a date with looked like a cheap copy of this form.

    With all eyes on Danny, he floats two feet off the ground over to the lunch line. He phases through the sanitation glass, to the surprise of literally everyone else at the display of supernatural power, and makes his way over to the homely looking ghost.

    The ghost turns around and finally notices the Halfa, with a tray of freshly baked cookies in hand. Danny waves at her in an attempt to seem friendly, "Hi! Uh- I''m Phantom, nice to meet you?"

    Despite the awkward greeting, she smiles sweetly at him and offers the tray to him. "Hello sweety, you can call me Lunch Lady. Cookie?"

    Danny blinked, absolutely stunned that he wasn''t being attacked. It''s a miracle, finally, a ghost that didn''t immediately want to cause him harm! He took the cookie and took a bite, marveling at the taste. It was delicious! Probably the best damn cookie he''s ever had in his half-life.

    "Wow, uh- that was an amazing cookie, probably the best I''ve ever had. Thank you." Complimenting is always a great way to get on someone''s good side, and hopefully, this time it''s no different.

    Her smile widens and she holds the tray closer to him, "Thank you dear, take as many as you want!" Danny didn''t need another prompt, immediately he grabbed a handful of the confections. Time was not wasted as more of the sweets were shoved into his mouth, truly these were the best damn cookies he''s ever had.

    Danny cleared his throat, still with a few cookies in hand. There was no reason he had to eat all of them now, some could be saved for later as well. Later of course meant when he wasn''t in a conversation, manners were important for first impressions. "So, Lunch Lady," he starts, "what brings you here? I''m not trying to be rude, but most ghosts that show up tend to attack."

    Lunch Lady lets go of the tray, letting it float in the air in a slight green glow. Danny''s eyebrows go up, impressed at the display of¡­ telekinesis? The Halfas'' eyes nearly sparkled at the display; could he do that too?! She adjusts her gloves for a moment before addressing the question, "Well, I felt a change in the menu and came to investigate. Imagine my surprise when I find what''s supposed to be meatloaf day¡­ turn into- into-" The undead food worker struggles to find the correct words, and the intense scowl on her face unnerves the teenage ghost.

    "Garbage?" Phantom offers what he thinks is the correct word. Lunch Lady laughs in response, disturbing him with just how quickly she changed from happy grandma, to pissed old lady, and then back to a chipper mood. All within ten seconds. With Jazz as a sister, he''s picked up some things here and there, so it''s easy to spot erratic emotions and pairing that with supernatural powers¡­ bad combo, all around.

    "I couldn''t have said it better myself! Do you know why it was changed? I must know!" There''s the mood swings again, Box Ghost and Skulker didn''t seem so¡­ unstable. Then again, they attacked him without mercy, and Skulker in particular does want his pelt, as gross as that is.

    It doesn''t take a genius to figure out what would happen if he told her it was Sam.

    "I''m not sure? Budget cuts maybe? It''s probably not gonna last long if you''re wondering. No one likes it, so-"

    "Budget cuts?!" She shrieks. Her hair stands on ends and her whole body starts to glow, along with the kitchen equipment. Her size increases slowly, and small flames light the edges of her clothes, green as ectoplasm, but no less threatening. So she has pyrokinesis too, great. Danny''s quick to raise his hands in an attempt to calm her.

    "Whoa! Whoa! No need for violence! I''m just- Ah!" Several knives fly at him, passing through his body when he turns intangible. He bites his lips in nervousness, that was close. He almost got shanked by kitchen cutlery, by a lunch lady of all things.

    When his attention is redirected at the other ghost in the room, his pale complexion falls another shade. Every piece of cookware in the kitchen, pots and pans, forks, spoons, sheet trays, toasters, even the blender, everything floats and twirls rapidly, all aimed at him.

    Danny repeats the process and turns intangible, but a good chunk of the equipment flies through the safety glass, breaking it and scattering glass shards on to the ground. Watching students scatter, running and screaming while they make a hasty retreat out of the cafeteria.

    "Why are you attacking me?! I didn''t even do anything to you!" This recurring theme, if it could even be called that, was absolute bullshit. Seriously, this was an old lady ghost who had literally just given him a fucking cookie. Someone, somewhere, clearly saw his life as a damn joke. Fighting a lunch lady ghost who''s pissed at him for a change in the school menu he had no control over; yeah, someone''s having a riot right now.

    Diplomacy may not be lost though, it''s completely possible that he can turn this around. Trying again, he makes an attempt to reach out. "Listen, please, I don''t want to fight you! I agree with you, the stuff is horrible and I''d rather have the schools awful meatloaf than the lawn clippings they''re trying to serve. So just- I dunno- stop attacking me!"

    Oh¡­ how sick of it he was. Every ghost he''s ever met has attacked him. Every. Single. Fucking. One. Just once, he wanted to have a conversation with one that didn''t end in violence. Just once, he wanted to have tangible proof that all ghosts weren''t evil! Because if they were¡­ what does that make him? Sure, Lunch Lady wasn''t the best choice, but she seemed nice enough when calm, maybe she just gets her knickers in a twist over the school menu?

    That just sounds stupid though.

    To his relief, she actually stopped attacking. Danny sighed in relief, he really didn''t want to fight an old lady. Even if she was a ghost with superpowers. The fire surrounding her body slowly lessens, and she starts to shrink back down to what he assumes is her normal form.

    With a glare still set onto her face, Lunch Lady responds to his plea. "I¡­ guess you''re right. I''m sorry about that, you had no control over what this school decides." The remaining kitchen utensils are placed back where they originally came from, and her hair settles back to its normal state.

    Danny pumps a fist in victory, ecstatic about actually avoiding a fight. He did it! This wasn''t going to end in him beating up an old lady, or even worse, him getting beaten by an old lady! "Okay, cool! Awesome! This shit isn''t going to last long, trust me, so don''t worry about the menu, okay? This won''t even last a day, there''s no way it will."

    Lunch Lady, still angry, but at the moment willing to listen to reason, nods in agreement. "It better change. This rubbish is an insult to food, and I will not stand for it to replace anything on the menu!" Her red eyes flash for a moment, indicating a small spike in power.

    Danny let his shoulders relax, rolling them to make them less tense. This was going far better than he hoped, maybe after this whole school menu fiasco was said and done with, he could get some information out of her. And maybe some more cookies.

    "It''s not rubbish! Or garbage! It''s a perfectly acceptable substitute for all the crap this school feeds us!" His head has never moved so fast in his entire life, whipping around with his body to face that oh-so familiar voice. Behind him and standing in the doorway is Sam. If she was trying to be intimidating with her arms crossed, it didn''t work. The glare didn''t work either.

    And Danny couldn''t fucking believe this. She was going to ruin it. He had finally achieved a non-violent solution with a ghost, something he hasn''t been able to do yet! Months! For months it''s been all conflicts, even the two he met that could talk, they still attacked him! And she just¡­ said that. To the super powered ghost that was throwing knives with her fucking mind.

    Snarling with fangs and all, and a glare that could freeze fire, Phantom couldn''t help but say his thoughts out loud, "You dumb fucking goth." He turned back around just in time to see the frier, the oven, and the steamer flying at him and Sam.

    "Fuck!"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "I can smell you, meat! I''m coming!" Tucker stalked the halls with his nose in the air, occasionally sniffing the ground as he walked. He could smell it, practically taste it, and the tech geek knew with every fiber in his being that there was meat somewhere! It was nearby, in all its juicy goodness, and he would have it.

    He just had to find it.

    Tucker tracked the scent of meat all the way from the lunch room, following behind Mr. Lancer. He knew the portly teacher had a stash of some kind, the guy practically smelled of sirloin! It was only when his English teacher went into the teacher''s lounge did he stop.

    As much he wanted to dive into fleshy sustenance, which didn''t really sound good, he also didn''t want to get into trouble. The ''Faculty Only'' sign on the door made it clear enough that students were not allowed. Inner turmoil tore through him, weighing the consequences. On one hand, if he left now, he wouldn''t get in trouble. On the other hand, Tucker skipped breakfast, and without lunch he might just eat this textbook.

    Then Tucker caught a whiff of that truly delicious aroma, the kind that only comes from meat. Not just any kind of meat, but the expensive kind that he didn''t get to eat that often. It smells divine, absolutely magnificent, and his reason crumbled before he could think opening the door was a bad idea.

    He certainly wasn''t expecting to be hit in the face with a rather large ham, nor did he expect the congo line of floating meats following the ham. Chicken tenders and legs, steaks, pork chops, sausages, name it and it was floating out of the room and a rapid pace. Right back to the cafeteria. Tucker couldn''t believe his eyes, how much meat was in the teachers lounge?! And why was it floating away from him, and not towards him?!

    His mind finally caught up to his stomach and he quickly gets back up on his feet. Tucker looked into the teachers lounge, spotting several in there with their mouths hanging open. Yeah, he could see why. Flying meat and all that. Mr. Lancer in particular looked lost, the sandwich in his hands missing its most important contents, leaving nothing but the two pieces of bread and lettuce.

    That was enough staring at teachers who couldn''t feed him, he decided. Swiftly the teenager was turned around and sprinting down the hall, chasing after the meat.

    "Wait for me meat!" His destination: the lunch room. His goal: the consumption of meat.

    Nobody ever said Tucker Foley wasn''t strange.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    It''s not often she admits her mistakes, or that she feels bad about a previous decision. Normally she thinks things through, with the best intentions of course, even if others didn''t approve. Like her lunch ideas, she''s tried them before, but they''ve never stuck. The people should have been grateful, if they had stuck with the ultra-recyclo vegan diet, then they would have had a much healthier diet, which meant a stronger body. To top it all off, no animals would have been hurt so someone else could eat, a win-win for everyone and everything. Tucker was an anomaly to this thought, his all meat diet had always disturbed Sam to some level, and she had no idea how he hadn''t keeled over from a heart attack yet.

    This would be the last time Sam tried to change the menu. She expected fierce resistance from Tucker, that was a given considering he couldn''t stand anything that didn''t come from something with a face. So it came as a surprise to the goth when her other friend argued against her too. Was it really that bad? Danny had called it garbage immediately, as did Tucker and Dash too, not that she cared for his opinion. Fuck the bully, he could eat shit for all she cared.

    Never in her wildest dreams did she think doing something as insignificant as changing the school lunch menu for one day would cause this mess. Sam had almost been killed by kitchen equipment, courtesy of her big mouth. ''If I hadn''t been so damn heated at the moment, this wouldn''t have happened.'' The goth has a temper, she''s been told so all her life, and she knew it too. It wasn''t uncommon for her to get caught up in the moment, and out of sheer stubbornness or anger, escalate a problem bigger than it needed to be. It had caused problems with her friends before, and strained relations with them too.

    When the white-haired teenager grabbed her, it was so fast she could barely react. Before Sam knew what was happening, she was going through walls and doors, like they weren''t even there! Luckily, she held her dignity in tact by not screaming in surprise or fear. Yes, she was scared and surprised, but Sam''s a stubborn person and she learned long ago not to show weakness in a social setting, courtesy of the vultures her parents called ''friends''.

    The glowing boy that saved her set her down behind a tree, patting her shoulders as if to determine if she was still in one piece. "You okay? You look a bit shaken there." The echo in his voice was almost haunting, but the concern was real and kept fear at bay. It was when Sam finally looked up at his eyes that she gasped, completely taken aback. The most intoxicating and deadly glowing green she had ever seen stared back, eying her up and down in concern. Sure, she had a look at him from afar, but up close it was hard to deny the charm he had with his unique appearance, and unlike Elliot, everything about this new teens look was natural.

    Sam blushed slightly, clearing her throat and giving the half-ghost a nod. "Yeah, I- I''m good, almost got deep fried there, but I''m good."

    His laugh was both pleasing and familiar, "That''s good. But just so you know, picking a fight with a ghost isn''t a good idea."

    Surprise flashes across her face, and realization dawned on her. It was ectoplasm green! Danny''s parents had this stuff lying around the house all the time, and it was the main focus of their scientific research! So the lunch lady from before was a ghost? Then did that mean¡­ "Are you a ghost?"

    Now it''s Phantoms turn to have his eyes widen in surprise. "Huh, got it in one. Given how dumb you were back there, I''m kinda surprised you figured it out so quick without any clues."

    The obvious slight makes her frown, forgetting her surprise at the current situation. Yes, it wasn''t the best decision, but was it really deserving to be called dumb? "Don''t call me that, it''s insulting. I didn''t mean to make her mad either, it''s just that everyone keeps calling it garbage when it''s not, and I''m sick of hearing it!"

    The Halfa''s patience lessened significantly, especially since he had practically been on a moral high before and came crashing down because of the girl in front of him. And after the situation devolved into violence, once again, he''s had enough. "Listen," he snaps, "Get this through your head, okay? You just made this whole situation ten times worse than it already was. Hell, you''re the reason she''s here in the first place! The menu changed rather drastically, and she showed up to see why! As dumb of a reason that is, you''re still at fault!"

    Okay, she didn''t know that. So the whole thing was her fault, and then she made it worse by provoking the ghost lady again? That''s depressing to realize, especially for someone who preached non-violence. To Sam, this practically meant that she caused a fight between the two restless dead. She bit her lip at that thought, not liking the possible conclusions and implications.

    Danny wasn''t done yet though, he reached down and grabbed a handful of grass and dirt, shoving it in between the two. "This look familiar? Well, it fucking should. This is grass, you know, the shit you tried to force down everyone''s throat? It''s grass, meant for cows and herbivores, not natural omnivores like people!" The in-lectured goth didn''t even know how the spirit before her knew that before he continued.

    Danny took a step closer, poking a finger at her forehead with enough force to push her back a step. "And another thing? You just ruined the first peaceful interaction I could have had with another ghost! Dozens of violent and hostile meetings with mindless monsters or insane ghosts, and I finally get the least initially violent one. But that lasts less than ten seconds before," Phantom pokes her head again, "you ruin it. Now I gotta fight an old lady ghost, and it''s your fault! Think before you do something! What''s the saying? ''Look before you leap''? Follow that saying!" By the end of his rant, Danny''s eyes were glowing an even brighter shade of green, leaving contrails of misty energy whenever he moved his head or eyes. His volume had risen far louder than he wanted it to as well.

    Sam at least had the decency to look down in shame, fully realizing her actions and possible consequences. Even more so that she apparently ruined the only peaceful encounter the boy before her had ever successfully initiated with another of his own kind. And yes, she may have been overzealous about the lunch menus'' drastic change. Perhaps she should have asked for a salad bar instead of a full on menu replacement. So with a heavy heart and a guilty conscience, it takes far more than she thought it would to even mutter a quiet: "I''m sorry." She couldn''t even look him in the eyes when she said it.

    Having finally said his piece for both Phantom and Fenton, Danny was able to calm down a little. He was still pissed, no doubt about it, and he''d put this newfound aggression to use with the inevitable fight against the Lunch Lady. What had his life come to that this situation was actually happening?

    It''s not often Sam acts so meek, but he figured she finally saw the err she''s done. Especially with her personality, she most likely feels like shit. She should, for sure, but there was no reason to rub it in. At least for now, there was plenty of time for that later.

    A deep sigh brought her attention back to the half-ghost hero before her. He was rubbing his face with his hand, looking far more stressed than someone who looks her age should. Then again, age is a tricky thing with ghosts, so it''s completely possible the being before her is ten times her age. Despite the truly exotic appearance, there was something hauntingly familiar about him, she just couldn''t put a finger on it.

    Phantom started floating off the ground, focusing on the school he had just rescued his friend from. "Well, I got a job to do. See ya later." He waved at her, offering a small salute, but was halted by her call.

    "Wait!" Danny suppressed a groan, but complied anyway by turning around. Although hesitant, she had enough courage to call out to him, so it would be ridiculous to not have enough to at least as for his name. "What''s your name?"

    An eyebrow raised, whether in surprise or impressed, she didn''t know, but much to her glee, he responded. "The name''s Phantom, Da-"

    Crash!

    Introductions were put aside when the glass and doors exploded outwards, hundreds of pounds of meat flying through and twirling in a kind of tornado. Even more meat flew from several trucks in the parking lot as well, further increasing its mass. It wasn''t exactly nice to look at, and that was further reinforced when Danny heard a quiet, ''I''m gonna be sick." come from behind him. Deciding to let her keep some pride, Danny took off towards the mound of meat amassing before him. More and more of the stuff kept pouring out of the school, truly baffling the Halfa on where it all came from.

    The meat mashed together, stripping from any bone it once was connected to and grinding together to become ground meat. The sound was unpleasant, like sloshing slime and chewing food. Even the smell did nothing for Danny, as having too much of one thing can be bad, and this was a prime example. Slowly, the amassed food took shape and grew in size.

    Seriously, where was all this meat coming from? This is ridiculous.

    The giant meat monster, taller than the school by almost twenty feet is not a pretty sight. It''s gross, simply put. The red-brown body jiggles and sways at its new height, but is held together by the same green glow coming from its eyes. Danny''s face sours, like he sucked on a lemon. "I''m not hungry anymore."

    The meat monster, formerly Lunch Lady, roars in anger. In hindsight, this is stupid. He''s about to fight a giant blob of meat, all over a changed lunch menu. If he died, it would probably be one of the most humiliating ways to die. Death by ground beef, how pathetic would that be?

    The mighty morphing meat monster swings its bulky arm, but if there''s one thing Danny''s confident in, it''s his speed. And compared to the hulking mass of protein? It''s not even a contest. He ducks under the swing, firing two ecto-blasts at the underside of its arms. While burnt and cooked, the damage done doesn''t even phase the creature as it swings back for another attempt.

    Danny flies up, easily moving out of the way of the second swing. He fires a combined ray at its chest, scorching it and pushing it back against the building. It rebounds quickly, literally throwing its fist at the Halfa like a rocket punch. An attempt to let it pass through with intangibility is met with failure, and he''s launched further into the air. After about one-hundred feet, he''s had enough and breaks free of the meaty punch. In retaliation he throws a anger charged bolt of electricity at the fist, burning more with his deadly currents.

    Again, not much damage is done. Even if it''s just meat, there''s no nerve endings or pain receptors, so it can all be shrugged off. If his guess is right, it can all be replaced as well if there''s more materials nearby. Danny can feel his anger spike at the sheer stupidity of this fight. "Grrr-AAH! This shouldn''t even be happening! This is so fucking dumb!"

    Two discs form, one in each hand, spinning rapidly and crackling with electricity. Combining electrokinesis with ecto-manipulation is never easy, but he''s had enough practice to make them viable in a fight, and the combined effect should do well with the situation.

    The monster opens its mouth, a mighty and wet roar greets the ears of all those watching and recording, and from its mouth spews a large plume of fire. Phantom''s surprise is shown, but he quickly throws the energy discs with gusto and rolls out of the way. Both fly true, going through the stream of fire aimed at him, and impact the creature. One arm is cut off completely at the shoulder, burning and electrifying both the stump and severed limb. The other hits the meat monster''s lower chest, going through the stomach and exploding in a galvanic implosion. A large hole is left in the monster''s chest as a result, but it''s quickly healed.

    The spectators cheer and shout, obviously rooting for the more human of the two. The meat splatters all over the area from the attack, now cooked and burned in some areas. The crowd is caked in the stuff, silencing them with their newfound¡­ coverings. "My hair! Oh, this is so gross!" A certain Sanchez shrieks in horror, covered in the stuff from head to toe.

    Danny represses a snicker, mainly because the fight is far from over. Since the abdomen was empty, it''s a safe assumption that the Lunch Lady is in the head area. The monster reforms quickly, taking some of the scattered meat, but the Halfa notes that a sizable chunk is left untouched. It still glows green, but it doesn''t fly back towards the main body. He raises an eyebrow, but there are far more pressing concerns.

    Both arms fire rays at the monster, but several tendrils of meat lash out, undeterred. One of the rays cut off a meat whip, and thinking it taken care of, sweeps the rays over the creatures body. He''s smacked down to the ground by the detached limb with excessive force, cratering the ground and skipping across pavement. Phantom groans and holds his head, still dazed and a little confused, but he snaps out of it when he hears screams.

    The tentacle of meat that slapped him down was acting independently, snaking around and moving towards a few students. The meat monster turned its attention towards Sam, intent on getting revenge for the change in menu. The Halfa exploded into action, flying low and fast.

    The lone tendril is obliterated by several blasts, and Danny swoops down just in time to save Sam the horrible fate of being crushed by ground meat. Surely, that''s one of her worst nightmares, especially since she''s pretty much a super vegan.

    Danny sets down his friend a bit behind the crowd, and he''s off again before she can even thank him. The monster is smaller again, not by much, but it is. A quick glance shows that a good chunk of the destroyed and burnt meat lies on the ground, unmoving and still glowing green. "Hmmm." Glowing green eyes dart back to the monster just in time to catch the breath of fire coming his way.

    "Oh shit!" With little time to dodge, Danny crosses his arm and reinforces them with ectoplasm. The blast of fire hits him, dead center of the chest where he guards with his arms, and he''s blasted back into the school through a window. Rolling to a stop on top of broken glass and wooden splinters, Danny gets up hurt and a little more pissed than before. He nurses his arms, still smoking and smelling distinctly like burnt flesh. Grimacing at the wound, he lets his ecto-claws form around his arms. The sensation of his own ectoplasm feels like a cold sleeve on his hot burns.

    Danny''s just about ready to blast back outside when he remembers that he doesn''t have his thermos! There was no way he could kill Lunch Lady or rip out her core like he did with the mindless animal ghosts, especially so since he actually had a conversation with her. A quick trip later and he''s retrieved it from his locker.

    Phantom was gone for less than a minute, but in the time he had vanished, the meat monster had taken to vandalizing the school, not that the Halfa truly minded. A rather large hole now adorned the side of the cafeteria and he could see that the kitchen was thoroughly gutted, all the equipment and utensils were floating around the humanoid meat blob like satellites to a planet. The ovens spit out green fire, and there were some dastardly looking meat cupcakes floating around as well.

    "Seriously, all this is rather over the top for a menu change, especially one that will be reverted within the week." Danny didn''t really mean to say it out loud, but this whole fight was getting stupid.

    Apparently he said it too loud though, as the attention of everyone, meat monster and crowd turned to him. He was about ten feet above the school, his legs morphed into a spectral tail and the thermos was clipped to his belt on the back. "How dare you!" The monster shouted, sounding several octaves deeper than her grandmotherly voice from before. "The lunch menu is sacred, and I control it! And with this meat, I will bring your demise!"

    Again, he couldn''t help but find this overreaction ridiculous.

    Danny let claws mold around his arms and prepared a blast in each hand. When equipment finally started flying his way, Danny split the blasts in his hand. The ''Spookshot'' as he dubbed it, aptly named after buckshot, flew true and blew up on proximity to the projectiles, causing the Halfa to grin in victory. Deciding to just continue on, Danny formed more and more blasts, destroying every single piece of school cafeteria cookware that flew his way with his AA air-bursts. "Gonna have to try better than that!"

    Eventually Lunch Lady saw what was happening, mainly because in her blind rage she only realized she had no more ammo until it was empty. Growling, her meaty arms extended forward at impressive speeds. Knowing he can''t just let them pass through him, Danny flies down to avoid them. He''s surprised when even after they pass by him, another set of arms appear after him from the extended arms. Caught off guard, the new limbs grip hold of him and slam him into the ground with excessive force.

    "Oof!" The breath is knocked out of him, not that he needed it, but just because he''s far more durable doesn''t mean he likes being beat around like this. Especially since his back is still bruised from his last fight, and it''s going to be even worse after this. The meaty arm drags him through the ground, leaving a trench where his body had been through.

    Feeling his control slip with anger, Danny''s temptation to just let loose spills over, and the Hafla roars in anger to match the meat monsters. Ecto-energy and electricity explode out from his body in fury, thoroughly tired of dealing with this bullshit. The area explodes in light, blinding spectators momentarily. Small licks of flame dance on his shoulder and back momentarily, but are gone before he notices. The meat holding him is quickly burned away to ash, and more of it connecting to the arm smokes from the extreme heat. Some bits of meat drop off with the same green glow, and even in his frustration fueled tantrum, Danny finally pieces together the puzzle that''s been bugging him.

    His own ectoplasm was overpowering Lunch Lady''s, forcing her connection to it to be cut and making the meat useless for her. Phantom grins savagely, angry and righteous for what''s happened and what''s about to happen. Funneling the rampaging energy into a focal point, Danny aims it at the stunned meat monster. The scratching of lightning with the currently vibrant hum of ectoplasm resounds through the small high school courtyard, haunting those listening as otherworldly energy destabilizes into reality. A ball of volatile ectoplasm and electricity, about as thick as a beach ball, slams into the Lunch Lady''s meaty skin shield.

    The reaction is instantaneous, along with the sound of sizzling meat. The energy expands and destroys the makeshift body, burning the meat to ash and frying almost the entire body. The head isn''t excluded, and when the feral current makes its way there the food worker ghost screams in pain and anger. The meat falls away as her control is lost in the spasms of shocks.

    Danny rushes in while she''s still stunned, landing an angry kick in the center of her chest. Taking it a step further, he grabs her and throws her away from the crowd of students into the wall. The smoking ghost flies through it, not intangibly, but actually breaking through the wall. Phantom pauses and rubs the back of his head in embarrassment. He turns to the teachers, who like the students are watching stunned and in awe. "Sorry, I got kinda pissed there. I''ll try and wrap this up before more damage is done."

    Before the faculty staff can respond, he''s already off after the old lady ghost. Floating through the hole, Danny quickly spots his groaning target. Sparks of electricity run across her body, disrupting any action she attempts and wisps of smoke waft off her body. He stops in front of her and mutters an apology and sucks her groaning form into the thermos.

    Danny sighs and rubs his eyes, finally feeling the fatigue after such an intense fight. He huffs in annoyance as he repeats what he''s been thinking ever since this whole debacle started. "All over a fucking menu change, what the hell¡­"

    Phantom stumbles slightly, realizing he''s far more drained than he thought, and the tired hero wonders why. Until his last attack registers, and he comes to the conclusion that the attack was the closest he''d gotten to the animal ghosts'' ''Feral Focus'' as he called it. The unstable energy so far has eluded him, but¡­ "Maybe anger has something to do with it."

    Not that anything can be done now, Danny takes off towards the storage closet his stuff was hidden. The last bit of energy he has is spent getting back into the crowd with invisibility. Although his wounds sting like a motherfucker, he shrugs it off for now. They''ll be releasing school today, no doubt, and when that happens he''ll have plenty of time for some patchwork first-aid.

    So for now, he endured.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Tucker didn''t think that of all things he''d see today, a giant meat monster would be one of them. Even as someone who boasts as a meat only carnivore, his stomach had paused at the abomination to his favorite food. It was such a waste! He would have gladly eaten the fallen cooked bits, but even if he was seriously hungry, there''s no way he''ll touch glowing green meat.

    Luckily he had a great vantage point from the destroyed cafeteria and had captured almost the whole fight on his PDA. Confident that he would get at least a million views for the footage, especially since his device has an excellent camera, the tech geek made his way out of the wrecked building to look for his friends.

    He spots Sam first, looking a little shook up, but other than that she''s fine. Tucker looks around in concern, not finding their raven haired friend, but that concern is lost when he hears, "Are you guys alright?"

    Both friends turn around to see Danny, looking tired and disheveled, but other than that okay. He offers a tired smile, and the darker skinned teen can''t help but understand why. It''s not everyday that their school is attacked by a meaty monstrosity.

    Before either of the two can react, Sam pulls both of them into a hug. "I''m so glad you guys are alright!" Both of them are a little stunned, especially since Sam was being so emotional right now, but figuring the traumatic experience she just went through, it''s understandable. Both of them miss the wince Danny gives as his back and chest have pressure applied to them.

    The sight would be looked at strangely if it wasn''t a common one at the moment, and it''s not surprising considering the damage done to the school could have easily been done to a person, only far worse.

    As expected, school is cancelled for the day, and most likely for the next week or two until repairs are implemented.

    When the Fentons show up, shouting about ghosts left, right, and center, Danny can''t even muster the energy to feel embarrassed. The shouting from his father made both his friends wince, mainly because of the scene the large man was making. The bored look on their friends face wasn''t the blushing one they were expecting, but there was no way they could know just how tired he was.

    Looking around, Tucker could make out some looks of pity aimed at Danny, while there are many more looking on and laughing at the ''freak'' and his family. A good deal of those people stop laughing when the large bazooka the elder Fenton was carrying, many of which thought it was fake, fired on accident.

    The projectile unfolded into a large net and slammed right into their son. The laughing stopped at that, more so since Danny had been pinned to a tree and knocked out when his head made a rather loud thud.

    Now it was mainly pity aimed at the Halfa.

    Sam immediately went off in a tirade of screams, along with Danny''s mother and his sister Jazz who had just appeared and shrieked in fury at the scene. Tucker took the moment to bring his unconscious friend to his parents RV, if the tank could even be called that anymore. Normal RV''s don''t have laser turrets mounted on them.

    When Danny is placed on the couch inside, Tucker slumps down in the chair across from him, waiting to be joined by his other friend and Danny''s sister. While waiting, he replayed the video he took, editing it as he went. He didn''t add music, he just cut out the parts where there was less action, and touched up the resolution on the more choppy bits.

    Feeling more satisfied now that he''s completed his self-appointed task, he clicks the upload button, and waits for the views to roll in.

    Tucker made sure to litter the video with ads, milking the ad revenue for everything it''s worth. He''s got to have some way to pay for his babies, especially since his allowance is so mediocre.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Honestly, I can''t believe Tucker got the whole thing on film." Danny watched the video from start to finish on his phone, over and over. He took notes of everything he could have done wrong, did do wrong, and what he could have done better.

    The whole Lunch Lady incident was a bit of a wake up call. So far, the school hadn''t been targeted by ghosts. It made the place a bit of a safe haven, even if he had to deal with jocks and bullies.

    Well, not anymore.

    If he was going to do this hero thing, which he''s been doing for a while now anyway, he''s going to have to get better. The incident two days ago provided ample footage, courtesy of his African-american friend, and he had been studying every bit of footage he had been captured on since this morning. It wasn''t much, he had been better at avoiding the public eye than originally thought, but the few times he was on camera gave him enough to work on.

    The biggest thing he seemed to lack? Focus. It was all too easy to see him get distracted constantly during the fight, all fights caught on camera. Admittedly, some of those were to save people, but that''s beside the point. Simply put, during fights he gets sidetracked for a second or two, takes a mean hit, and repeats the process until the fight''s over or he gets an advantage. It wasn''t efficient, and one of these times it''s going to cost him something far worse than a nasty bruise or broken bone.

    "Whatcha watchin''?" Danny jumps from the chair, barely catching himself on his feet. He turns his head to see Jazz behind him, book in hand as usual and a look of curiosity and surprise on her face. Before he can say anything she continues, "Sorry Danny, I didn''t mean to scare you." Considering the ghost attack was still fresh on their minds, Jazz really hoped it didn''t traumatize her brother. His recent paranoia was bad enough, but it didn''t need to be justified and made worse by actual ghosts. She could see how much it was stressing him out.

    Danny shook his head and smiled at her, "It''s alright, just wasn''t paying attention. Here for breakfast?" He shot a look of concern at his mother making food again, one followed by his sister. He was glad they were leaving the lab more often, even if it was for short amounts of time, Danny was still able to spend more time with them.

    Jazz nodded at her brother, "Hoping for edible food and not a home style version of the meat monster from school." Danny chuckled a little, only now realizing that perhaps he''s been fighting ectoplasmic foodstuffs since before he became a Halfa.

    Jazz isn''t going to drop the question though, especially since her brother has been acting so strange lately. So she reiterates it again as she sits down, "Again, whatcha watchin''?"

    The little brother pauses, unsure if he should tell her, but deciding there''s nothing really suspicious about it, shows her the video. "Tucker got almost the whole thing recorded, pretty cool right? He''s already got¡­" He takes the phone back and scrolls down to the view count, "three million views!"

    Impressed with the video and quality, but generally uninterested, Jazz lets a "Wow" out and turns her attention to her book, but only partially. The rest of her attention is on her father, who once again was working on an invention. It had two small radar dishes on it, one on the front and another by the touch screen. As usual, it was a green and silver, with the words Fenton on it.

    One of these days that ego is going to get him in trouble.

    The device didn''t seem terribly dangerous, but anything their parents make is cause for concern for the two Fenton children. Jack abruptly gets up, bringing the device and multi-tool in hand over to his wife. Even if she was cooking, multitasking is something Maddie Fenton was known for.

    The Fenton matriarch looks at the device, using the multi-tool to open a panel in the back and fiddles with it. With the device in far safer hands, Danny turns back to the video to see if he can get any more ideas for improvement. Seeing telekinesis already gave him the idea to at least try it for a few days, and seeing as how he''s very beat up, doing something that''s not physically strenuous sounds wonderful right now.

    "It''s done!" Jack shouts, drawing everyone''s attention. A sense of deja-vu overcomes Danny, making him flinch, mainly since he''s heard that line as a precursor for an accident plenty of times before. As in, before he was shot with a faulty invention.

    "It''s not done honey, it''ll still take another day or so for the last parts to get here." His wife is completely ignored, instead his attention is on the brand-new invention in his hand.

    Jack holds it up in triumph, "May I present the Fenton Finder!"

    Not entirely sure what he''s looking at, the siblings just shrug at each other. "Jack, Maddie just said it''s not done yet. We don''t need a repeat of last time."

    The father of the house turns to look at his daughter and frowns, "Jazz, I thought I told you to call us mom and dad."

    Jazz narrows her eyes in protest and anger, letting her scowl be known. "And I thought you weren''t going to work on anything at the dining room table anymore? Huh? What happened to that?" Her words are harsh, but if there''s one thing that Jack is known for, it''s not picking up on subtle, and not-so subtle hints.

    "This baby uses satellites to track down ghosts! With it, we''ll be able to find any spector and tear them apart molecule by molecule!" Seemingly ignoring his daughter''s comment, Jack continues his lecture.

    There it is again, ''molecule by molecule''.

    That comment has been directed at him when he''s Phantom, and recently it''s made him want to act on self-preservation from the words alone, especially since it''s normally accompanied by incoming shots from ecto-guns. Danny''s pretty sure that''s something similar to what happened when he became a ghost, and he is in no way eager to experience the threat again. He wasn''t even sure how they would tear something apart on quite that miniscule of a level, but his parents made an interdimensional portal and there''s no telling what else they can make.

    Danny looks at his sister and he sees her eye twitch in annoyance. "Don''t ignore me!" Normally he''d stay out of it, but what his dad said is concerning, especially for him. "So, it uses what to track down who?"

    Nonplussed and ready to explain his invention, Jack turns and points it at Danny. "Satelites, my boy! And the targets are ghosts! Watch!" He presses a button, most likely the power switch, and the machine sparks momentarily. It''s questionable if it''s going to work, but indeed powers on seconds later.

    Flashbacks to last time go through his head, and rather heatedly he gets up from his chair. "Don''t point that at me! I remember what happened last time!"

    Maddie watches out of the corner of her eye, but gets back to work anyway. Danny had a point, and she told Jack not to work on anything at the table anymore. Maybe she should have threatened his fudge, that was always a sure-fire way to get him to do what she wanted.

    The head of the house laughs off the concerns of his son with gusto, "Don''t worry Danny! It''s not a weapon this time, it can''t possibly hurt you." Jack fiddles with the controls and a synthetic voice sounds out from the device, "Ghost detected, five feet in front of you." The Halfa had a hard time believing anything they made couldn''t hurt him. The damn toaster blew up on him one time, and this device if made properly, could screw him over big time.

    Jack squeals and jumps up and down in excitement, "Look! Look! We already got a live one!" The large man ignores his wifes, "They''re not alive sweety." Continuing forward he pokes his son in the chest with the device, much to Danny''s protests.

    "Ghost detected directly in front of you, you''d have to be an idiot to not see it." Panic is starting to set in, he''d been cornered, quite literally and Jack was squinting his eyes at Danny as if to discern if he''s human or ghost. "Huh."

    There was a silver lining though, and that was Jazz.

    "If you don''t get that defective piece of junk away from Danny, I''m going to break it!" Jazz quickly got in between him and his father, slapping the location tool away and the glare she sent his way could freeze fire. Maddie quickly left the stove with plates of food, and after setting them down in their proper places, moved to her husband.

    "See Jack, that''s what I meant. It''s missing parts, and you should really heed our daughters warning. Besides, you said you wouldn''t mess with inventions at the table, and we have something to tell them anyway." Jack relented with his wife''s words, and when he looked at his daughter, promptly flinched and backed away. He set the Fenton Finder on the counter and sat down at the head of the table, quickly digging in. Danny didn''t know how his parents got permission to use a satellite for something as ridiculous as ghost hunting, but he made a mental note to break the damn thing later and if possible, destroy the blueprints for it.

    Although still hesitant to sit down at the table again, Jazz eventually gets Danny to sit back down next to her. The whole time she sent glares at her parents, mainly Jack, but it''s Maddies fault as well for not reprimanding him. Maddie sighs at that, but deciding to just move on with the conversation, sits down and begins eating as well.

    Minutes go by in awkward silence; Danny being uncomfortable, Jazz being pissed, and the two disconnected and eccentric parents were not entirely sure how to address the situation. Glancing at her husband, it''s all too clear to her that Jack, as usual, won''t be able to help in this scenario. At the halfway point through her breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast, Maddie clears her throat to get her children''s attention.

    "Well, ignoring what happened earlier, we did want to tell you two something." Danny and Jazz glance at each other, silently asking if the other knows what it''s about, but as the two shake their heads no, their mother continues.

    "We have a college reunion coming up next week, and your Uncle Vlad''s hosting it. Since you two are out of school for the next two weeks, we decided that it''d be a good chance to visit him!" Both teenagers actually perk up at that, it''s not often they get to see their uncle, and with the school closed for repairs neither of them have any plans. Jazz doesn''t have any friends her age for one, and Danny was just going to hang out with his friends and train his powers.

    "Well, I''m fine with that." Danny says, his eyes turn to Jazz and she nods in agreement, "That''s okay with me. You guys never take us to visit anyway, so now''s as good of a time as ever I guess."

    Jack''s grin threatens to split his face, "That''s great!" He booms, "Wait till we tell Vladdie! He''ll be so excited to see you two!"

    Surprised that breakfast didn''t end in him getting hurt, but rather on a high note, Danny finished his food and put the dishes in the dishwasher. "So the reunions next week, yeah?" Both parents nod, so Danny continues, "When are we leaving then?"

    Maddie checks her watch, one with Fenton slapped before the name no doubt, before saying, "We''ll leave in three days." She gets up to take the remaining plates to be cleaned, continuing, "Be sure to pack for a little more than a week. Vlad''s got more than enough room and money for an extended stay, so be sure to spend as much time as possible with him since you two don''t get to see him that much."

    The children nod, with Jazz muttering under her breath, "Who''s fault is that?" Danny snickers, but when Jazz turns to him in surprise, it''s only now that he sees that it was because of enhanced hearing that he heard her. Damn it, he was across the room, he should have kept his mouth shut. Deciding to vacate the room, Danny makes a hasty retreat to his bedroom.

    When he gets up there, he smiles in contentment. The half-ghost quickly got to work packing, more than satisfied that this unscheduled break will actually have some benefit besides being lazy.

    So he packed, whistling a tune he had heard recently and all too happy to visit one of the only sane members of his family. He''s a little concerned about leaving the town undefended, but it should be fine.

    Everyone deserves a vacation, especially since his summer was ruined.

 Chapter 15

    Chapter 15: Not Alone

    As it turns out, Danny does have telekinesis. And boy, oh boy, was he excited about it. It''s telekinesis after all, mind over matter and all that.

    And it''s just so damn cool.

    If before he died, someone asked what his premium choice would have been for superpowers, then without hesitation he would have chosen telekinesis.

    Being able to move stuff with sheer thought alone made him feel powerful. Truly, it did. With just a thought, he could move a truck. With just a thought, he could bend steel. And with just a thought¡­ he could grab the TV remote without moving from his spot on the couch.

    Okay, so it was empowering him to be lazy. But really, couldn''t that be called training as well? Instead of using muscles for a menial task like picking up dirty laundry, he could just think about doing it, and it happens.

    Telekinesis, as it turns out, isn''t terribly hard to use. So long as it''s used on small stuff. Cars? Trucks? Anything reasonably heavy? Not happening, even in his ghost form it didn''t work too well. Danny knew it was just temporary, it was all a matter of practice. Soon he would be moving heavy objects with his mind, bending matter to his will, and if Skulker ever showed up again, maybe he''d tear apart that suit without even moving.

    Maybe even record it too, depending on how annoying the little snot got.

    That was a long way off of course, but a boy can dream, and that was what Danny aspired for with that faceted power.

    Right now though? Before leaving to his uncles, Danny was able to move fifty pounds as Phantom. Not a lot, true, but it was a start, and like all of his powers, practice made it easier.

    And the best thing about telekinesis? It was so easy to use as a human. A lot of his powers were incredibly taxing to use in his human form. Some were outright impossible at the moment. Electrokinesis? A few sparks was all he could get at the moment, plus it was super flashy. Flight? More like a better jump height. Intangibility? Partial, sure, but full body phasing as a human was a no go, it was just too damn hard. And the same went for invisibility.

    As for telekinesis, it wasn''t easy to use it, per-se, but it was subtle and doable. So long as he hid his eyes, no one would know it was him. That was the main problem with using it as a human, his eyes glowed acid green like his Phantom form does, and it was very noticeable, especially in dark rooms.

    So what does Danny find himself doing on this road trip? Playing with his newfound power of course. For once, the large and cumbersome custom RV was actually being used for its intended purpose: a family road trip. It''s not often the whole family uses the vehicle, but long trips to visit family and friends were the exceptions.

    As long as they weren''t forgotten about when their parents left that is. It''s happened before, not often, but it has happened.

    The drive to Green Bay Wisconsin is about eleven hours from Amity Park. Amity is on the southern side of Illinois, and while there are a decent number of hills and fields, Amity is the only place with mountains around it. Those mountains actually add three hours onto the otherwise eight hour trip, not that Danny minds. Traveling is always fun, and with something to actually distract him, it''s all the more enjoyable.

    The RV, while heavily customized and weaponized- he still has no idea how that''s legal- is rather spacious. Despite the sheer amount of firepower this thing can dish out, which is always increasing as the Fentons upgrade their tech, there are enough beds for everyone. Two bunks for Jazz and Danny, and their parents have a large full sized bed. It takes up a lot of room, but Jack''s massive size demands it. The privacy curtains are great, and thanks to them it makes playing with his powers discreetly far easier.

    While Jack and Maddie Fenton weren''t the most attentive to any non-ghost subject, their children included, Jazz was the complete opposite. Especially if it has to do with Danny, and if his guess was right, she''s been paying extra close attention to him since the ghost attack at school. For good reason, of course. He knew that for some, it would be a traumatic experience. A giant meat monster appearing out of nowhere, destroying stuff, spewing fire, lifting objects with thought, almost dying. If Danny wasn''t half-ghost, or rather, if he wasn''t used to fighting to the death, no doubt he might have needed counselling like some of the others.

    But he''s Danny-fucking-Phantom, not that many people know the name, but eventually word will get out. It may have only been a few months, but he''s grown used to fighting things far larger than him, undead that would make people soil themselves. While the meat monster was bizarre, and hopefully he can reconcile with Lunch Lady in the future, the centipede was far worse in terms of fear factor, and packs of giant wolves, or RV sized bears were far more intimidating.

    That''s why Jazz''s incessant nagging to talk to her was grinding his gears. It didn''t leave anything but a bad taste in his mouth, and that''s not because some of the meat made it there. It''s mainly that he was so close to having a non-conflict encounter, only to have it ripped away and he was forced to fight an old lady. Well, she was probably in her forties or something, but ''old lady'' fit her speech pattern and tone.

    "Danny, are you sure you don''t want to talk?" There it was again. It''s sweet that she cares so much, at least someone in the family seemed to, but he''s told her already that he didn''t want to, or need to. He sighed behind the curtain, cancelling his telekinesis and letting the coins drop into his hand. After putting them away, he pulls the curtain open with a scowl.

    "Jazz, I''ve told you already that I''m fine. I don''t need to talk to anyone, nor do I want to. I appreciate it, but drop it." She frowns for a moment, before relenting and moving back. She has her psychology book in her hand, a new one by the looks of it. Great, that just made it seem like she wanted a test subject. It wasn''t that only, obviously, but Danny was in no mood to be psychoanalyzed at the moment.

    She moves the book to her other hand, a sign of discomfort if those very same books are anything to go by. "I''m just worried little brother. It''s not every something like that happens, and it''s not good for anyone to bottle feelings up."

    The worry in her eyes is comforting, but the curiosity in it is just as trying. He adjusts his lying position, propping his head up with an arm and letting the other lay on his side. "Uh-huh, and that new book has nothing to do with it?" She has the decency to blush a little at the jab, but hiding it behind her back doesn''t really do anything for her case but makes him smirk in victory.

    Jazz opens her mouth to respond, but he puts his hand up to stop her. "If I was from a normal family, then maybe it would have affected me. But tell me, who are our parents?"

    Turning her head to the front, the previously anxious expression goes blank. It seems that even if she is a genius, there''s some things that slip her mind. When the flat look on her face is turned back towards him, he snickers at it. She sighs and rubs her temples, "Okay. I''ll give you that. Considering we''ve been being attacked by glowing food all of our lives, maybe I overreacted."

    Danny sits up and swings his legs off of the top bunk. When he drops on the ground in front of her, it''s easier to see that her little brother isn''t so little anymore. Taller than her now, even if only by a few inches, it makes her wonder if he''s going to grow into his father''s height. The younger sibling, now taller than the older, smiles warmly at her. "Yeah, you did. But that''s alright, just try and chill a bit, okay? I wanna use this getaway to relax."

    Still, Jazz wants to emphasize one point, if any. "I''m always here for you Danny. Just let me know if you want to talk about it, or anything really. I''m always willing to listen." Danny nodded and walked forward, towards the front. He dropped onto the couch-bench thing and kicked his feet up on the armrest. A quick peek told him his parents were too busy up front to pay attention, and Jazz had crawled into her bunk on the bottom. The TV remote glowed a dull green and flew over to him from the TV mount. The Halfa grinned as mind-numbing entertainment came on, more at the enjoyment of his powers than the actual show.

    Shifting his position just a little, he kicked back and started to relax again. Relaxation isn''t something that he''ll be getting often, and this trip was going to be one of the few times he''ll actually be able to enjoy the once common occurrence. Danny really should find a way to thank Desiree, if not for her, no doubt his absence would have left the town attacked. Maybe a gift would be in order, not that he''s ever been good at picking those out.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Two Days Prior

    "What the fuuuuck is this?" It''s like the meat monster all over again. Seriously, what''s going on with ghosts and food?

    Down below, a swap-meet turned fair held every three months in Amity Park was in full swing. Or maybe, it would be called overdrive. Huge plumes of¡­ "Cotton candy?" Yes, pink and purple cotton candy rolled through the public event like waves of water, sweeping up people in the tide of sugar. "Hmm¡­ do I need to do anything?" This wasn''t even that bad, and cotton candy wasn''t exactly harmful. Except for the damage it''ll do to some kids teeth, but he wasn''t a dentist nor did he care if someone got cavities.

    Still, this all required some form of investigation, and his ghost sense had pulled him here. Flying down and in full sight, his face is nothing but amusement and confusion. He had to admit this was all kind of funny. How come everyone was running in terror? It''s only a pink sugar spun confection, even if there was enough to fill a length. A little lower and he''s got a handful of the stuff, and sure enough, it is just cotton candy.

    "Seriously, what''s going on here?" Where was this all coming from? And why was it happening now? He had to pack damn it, not investigate the poltergeist of carnival foods.

    A laugh catches his attention, deep, calm and smoky, and distinctly feminine. Coming from above, it doesn''t take long to find the green skinned beauty that''s making the enchanting noise. And beauty doesn''t seem to do her justice. Exotic and sexy, even without legs, her blue and silver outfit does little to cover her skin. The only way to describe it would be a harem-styled genie outfit. Silver bangles and bracelets adorn her arm, and a jeweled headpiece rests carefully in her black hair.

    Danny shakes his head to get rid of the green blush on his face, it''s not the time to eye the most attractive woman he''s ever seen. With a little more speed than necessary, he flies up to meet the green woman. Not exactly concealing himself, it''s no surprise she sees him. The smile on her face is rather nerve racking, if only because he can''t tell if it means harm or not. Maybe, just maybe, this won''t end in a fight. It would be nice, but he brought the thermos around practically everywhere he went, and this was no exception.

    The woman floats down to meet him, slow and calm, nothing like fast anxiousness he felt. Fuck all, he wasn''t very good at talking to strangers, or pretty women. Or ghosts, if his track record showed anything. And this was all three.

    Phantom cleared his throat, an action that felt necessary to ensure his voice didn''t crack. "Uh- hey," He glanced down at the flood of cotton candy below, letting a small chuckle escape, "this your handiwork?"

    She laughs again, but nods in affirmation. "Yes child, this is my doing. May I ask who I am talking to?" Danny straightens his shoulders and back, appropriate posture is important for first meetings and greetings. "Danny Phantom, ghost hero of Amity Park, nice to meet you¡­?"

    Taking the hint, she does a small bow and introduces herself. "I am Desiree, the wishing ghost. Anything you desire, name it and I can grant it." His eyes opened a little wider at that, but another glance down seemed to tell him another story. Maybe those wishes come with a twist, one that Danny did not want to experience himself. The idea to wish this town ghost free vanished as soon as it appeared, no doubt the opposite would come into effect.

    Even then, information is power. "A wishing ghost? Like a genie? Who wished for the Tsunami of sugar down there?"

    Desiree shrugs her shoulders, "You just have to be careful what you wish for." The wishing ghost slowly moves forward, outstretching a hand towards Danny. "Now tell me, what do you desire?"

    Feeling more alarmed than enticed by the action, he floats back in caution. "Whoa! Whoa! You''re not gonna attack me are you?"

    The confident smirk on the wishing ghosts face turns into a frown of confusion, "What do you mean? Why would I attack you?"

    Although still on edge, the confusion on her face is a welcome change. "Well, every ghost I''ve met so far has attacked me. I mean, yeah, they''re almost all just mindless monsters, but even the ones that can talk attack me."

    Understanding dawns on her, but she''s been around far too long to be swayed by just a few words. "I can see where your concern comes from, ghost child, but I''m not one to attack unprovoked. Although I will warn you, I have been known to be quite vindictive."

    Uncomfortable silence. Danny rubs the back of his neck, trying to think of something to say. Desiree beats him to the punch instead, "Why do you protect people? Or more specifically, why are you a hero?"

    Tapping his fingers onto the back of his head, Phantom chooses his words carefully. "It''s not that I care for," His hand gestures to the people below, "these people. I don''t like them, or this town specifically. If anything, I do hate this place. But that doesn''t mean I want them to die. Ever since the ghost portal opened, ghosts from all over have been flocking in mass. Most come from out of town, but others do come from the portal. A lot of them are nasty, monsters and animals, but so far all have attacked me or caused mayhem." Feeling more comfortable and confident in his answer, he looks into her red eyes. "And I have the power. If someone''s going to do it, may as well be me, right?"

    The answer satisfied her, honest and selfless. It made her smile in appreciation, "That''s very noble of you, Phantom." Danny blushes again, he''s not used to receiving compliments.

    "Do you mind if I ask you a question?" She nods her head in response, "Go ahead."

    Wondering if it''s too personal of a question or not, he throws caution to the wind. "Why do you grant wishes? And how does it work? I come from a science family, so the idea that you can just grant a wish if heard is really out there, ya know?"

    Pausing in thought, she puts a finger to her chin. The action alone gives him relief, so far asking anything of a ghost is like walking a minefield. After a few seconds, she answered. "The wishes work by magic, the main power of my core. I do not know how it works scientifically, it''s never been a subject I''ve cared for, but there''s probably others you could ask for better answers." She hesitates for a moment, but seeing the curious look on his face, and thinking she has a good grasp on his character, decides to answer the last question honestly. "As for why¡­ while it does increase my power for each wish granted, it is more compulsory. I have to grant any wish I hear. I must, there is no denying one if it is heard by me." At the end of her explanation, her expression is bitter and hateful.

    That¡­ wasn''t what he was expecting to hear honestly. The power thing made sense, kind of. As far as ghosts went at least. The science thing doesn''t surprise him, she looks like she''s wearing clothes from a different era. As for the need to grant any wish¡­ even he could see where that could go wrong. "Why do you have to grant any wish? Was it always like that, or¡­" He wasn''t really sure what else to say.

    She bristles and immediately looks far angrier. It puts him on edge, but the tired sigh she releases calms him slightly. "It''s a curse. I wasn''t originally forced to grant any wish, but when a particularly nasty witch demanded eternal youth, and I refused¡­ well she decided to spite me for it. Spiteful bitch." She threw her hands up in the air in exasperation, "I can''t even do that, not then and not now! Eternal life isn''t the easiest damn thing to come by, even after all these years it is still impossible for me."

    Unfortunate. Maybe that''s the word, or perhaps cheated. As far as he knew, ghosts are immortal themselves. And for a curse to continue for so long, it must have been powerful, and clearly it pisses her off to no end. In that case¡­ "Desiree."

    She looks up from her glare, staring him in the eyes. His serious gaze makes her raise an eyebrow, but seeing that he has her attention, he continues. "I wish that your curse was removed and you can choose which wishes to grant."

    Purple mist, her magic, flows from her hands, the same as the tears from her eyes. The lavender smoke covers her whole body, head to tail, and quickly the two lose sight of each other. Never before had someone been so selfless to her, so kind, and to actually remove her curse¡­ The sheer relief that comes from her core is liberating. The damned curse that had been so heavy on her core, for every pulse since that day, for over a thousand years. The binding is shattered and destroyed, and the newfound sense of freedom that''s been so long forgotten is intoxicating. She gasps in amazement and comfort, newfound power and freedom coursing through her body like an electrical current. It''s like a high she can''t come down from, everything is easier, every single action. Whether flexing her fingers or summoning her powers, it''s all too easy now.

    She tries and fails to blink away the tears, happiness and gratitude overflowing towards the young man in front of her and building to staggering amounts. Before he can even react, Desiree shoots out of the cloud of purple smoke and tackles him. Danny would have reacted violently, like any other encounter so far, but seeing as how he was nestled between her rather large and soft bosom, he figured it''s better to just enjoy this.

    Between sobs of happiness she manages to squeeze out words of gratitude. "Thank you! Thank you! I cannot thank you enough, Phantom! To have been so selfless, when you could have wished for anything with that knowledge, it shows magnitudes on your character. I will forever be in your debt, young man. If you need anything, please let me know." When she separates from him, the goofy smile and heavy green blush on his face makes her laugh. It''s far more lighthearted than her previous one, less mischievous and with a lighter tone. It''s a nice change, and he finds it suits her well.

    "You don''t need to thank me, Desiree. It was just the right thing to do." And he honestly believed that. After hearing that story, he can''t possibly imagine why no one''s ever done it before. It pisses him off that she even had the curse on her still, were people really that selfish that he was the only one to wish for that? It was so simple, why has it not happened till now? Besides, that hug felt fucking awesome. That was thanks enough in his opinion, but then again, he was a teenager going through puberty.

    Respect, appreciation, admiration; all emotions that she rarely feels for people, much less men in general. And hearing that response only made them increase for the young ghost in front of her. "Still, I must do something for you. How does a twist free wish sound?"

    Now that was enticing. What could he do with that? Money wasn''t an issue, even if he thought the current allowance he got was rather meager. Power wasn''t needed, he was constantly getting stronger and gaining more control. Wishing for a girlfriend just sounds pathetic as well, so that''s out. Maybe¡­

    "I''m going on vacation in a day and I''m hesitant to leave the town undefended. Do you think you could put up a barrier of some kind? All I need is two or three weeks." If Danny could leave the town without worry, it would make this vacation an actual vacation. One where he could relax, play with his powers with leisure, and not have to worry about being mauled by undead.

    Desiree hummed in thought. The whole town? That would be stretching her powers quite a bit, even more so with that odd connection she feels. It wasn''t readily apparent from that damn infernal bottle, but the sheer strength of the connection to the zone was astounding. It was almost as if there was a constant portal open between the dimensions. If it was before her curse was lifted, then it would have been impossible, but now that her restriction was released¡­ maybe.

    Purple smoke formed in her hand, the essence of her magic and reality altering sorcery. "The connection to the Infinite Realms is astounding, and truly strong. I have to test it first." A pulse flew from the smoke, with her hand as the origin point. It flew fast, going through Danny and causing him to flinch at the alien feeling. The pulse quickly scanned the whole town and even went past the city limits. What she felt made her eyes go wide in surprise and fascination. The whole town was almost seeped in ectoplasmic energy, and there really was a constant portal open. It was releasing, in the most accurate words, a beacon for all ghosts. Calling them and beckoning them home.

    Astounding.

    "It''s not surprising this town needs a hero, that portal is like a lighthouse. Calling all restless dead from everywhere, this place will be swarmed in six to seven months, maybe a year." Danny''s already pale ghostly complexion dropped another shade. Swarmed? As if this wasn''t bad enough, bi-daily encounters were becoming a common occurrence, and even now more were showing up multiple times a day. Mainly at the wee hours of the morning, forcing him to get up before the crack of dawn even rears its bright head. That pushed his time table up significantly; if he had less than a year before shit really hit the fan, this whole hero thing might really be out of his hand.

    The Halfa sighed into his hands, long fingers gripping strands of messy snow white hair. "Damn, damn, damn! It''s already bad enough as is, how the hell am I supposed to do this? Even now, I barely got a hold on my powers!" He was starting to panic, even if it wasn''t going to do any good in the moment. "Fuck!" And there''s nothing that can be done either. The idea of destroying the portal popped into his head, but that could have unforeseen consequences. This was a bridge between dimensions, copious amounts of ectoplasmic energy was in constant motion keeping it opened. If it suddenly stopped working¡­ what if it blew up? Sci-fi movies had explored this before, and the results weren''t pretty. Those were just movies of course, but how far off could they be?

    It would be best to ask his parents later, even if it got his father going about ghosts. If there was a bomb in his basement, it would be nice to know how bad the blast radius would be.

    Desiree put a hand on his shoulder, startling him out of his thoughts. Frantic green eyes met sympathetic red, and it made her feel awful that Danny had to face this alone. "Calm down Phantom. It is still months off, you have plenty of time. Train, get better, but don''t push yourself too hard. We ghosts may be hard to kill, but it doesn''t mean we can''t die again. Make sure you have enough time to recuperate, and I have enough confidence in you to believe that you''ll do just fine." And she truly believed those words; the pulse that went through him had told her just how powerful the ghost was, and even now, he was slowly gaining more power. His core wasn''t even fully formed yet! Ghost child truly was a rather apt description for him.

    The reassuring smile calmed his nerves, and knowing that someone actually believed in him, especially a ghost of all things, made him feel much better. "Thanks. I needed that. What did your scan show you?"

    She lets go of his shoulder, floating back several feet and regaining a more formal distance. "It should be doable, but this entire town is a hotspot for the dead. I should be able to place a barrier that can hold for close to three weeks, but that''s it. Be warned though, the barrier will hold, but it will not stop the call. Most likely, there will be a large amount of ghosts just outside of it, waiting to enter."

    Of course, nothings ever so easy for him is it? Danny groaned at the upcoming¡­ invasion? Maybe, but not quite right. Still, this was the best he''d get for now. At least he could have this one last vacation before the pin was pulled on this grenade. When he gets back, it''ll basically be hunting season in full swing. Just for ghosts.

    "Desiree," he started, "I wish that a barrier would be placed over the town for the next three weeks. No ghosts in or out, except for you and me." She raised an eyebrow, not expecting her to be a part of the exclusion. Still, she was grateful. This would give her unrestrained access with no interruptions, allowing for a boost in power and a fair bit of fun. Especially since she hadn''t been in the mundane world for who knows how long.

    The wishing ghost raised her hands, alight with purple light and smoke trailing along her fingers in contrails. "So you have wished it," green and purple energy crackled between her fingers and hands, before she slammed them down to her sides. "So it shall be!" Similar to the pulse from before, but on a much larger scale, a ring of lavender energy shot out from her as the epicenter. This time though, a slight purple haze followed and stayed as cover; the barrier, presumably. The magic kept going, encompassing the entire town in its protective glow. It didn''t go unnoticed by the populace, but it was gone before anyone could question it. Not that they knew who to ask anyway.

    Danny lifted his arms, swinging them a little, but not feeling anything different. The pulse was tingly, like pulling a piece of prank gun and getting a shock. "Did it work?" He asked.

    A dry harrumph escaped her nose, "I''d appreciate it if you had some faith in my abilities, but to answer your question: yes, it worked. This town will be ghost free- barring you and I- for the next three weeks." Danny blushed in response, feeling a tad bit ashamed from her jab, but he figured if she believed in him, then he can do the same for her. "Sorry, not quite used to having such a friendly encounter, much less one that works in my benefit. Still, thanks Desiree. I really do appreciate it."

    She smiled and waved it off in response, "Nonsense. After you released me from my curse, this is the least I could do. Let me know if you need anything in the future. For now, I believe I''ll rest. I haven''t used magic that powerful in hundreds of years."

    Before she took off though, Danny grabbed her attention one last time. "Ah wait!" He flew up to her level, "I wish that no ghost hunters would be able to find or track you. Trust me, while my parents aren''t exactly the best, they are ruthless to those they catch, and I don''t want that experience on anyone."

    Another surprise for sure, she''d have to ask him what he meant by his parents later. Still, she found the gesture heartwarming. "So you have wished it, so it shall be." More magic flowed from her hands, this time encompassing her entire being. It lasted for a few seconds, but left no trace of anything being particularly different.

    "Well then, young man. I shall be off. It was truly a pleasure meeting you, and I look forward to meeting you again next time." With that, she disappeared in a poof of lilac colored mist.

    Blinking away his shock at the casual use of teleportation, it took a little to actually process that he didn''t make another enemy. When it finally caught up, he pumped his fist in victory several times. "YES! YES! A friend! Someone or something who''s not trying to kill me! And she''s hot as hell to boot! This is great, and I can actually go on a vacation! HAHA! I''m gonna have to go to these swap meet things more often."

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    "Dann-o wake up! We''re here!" The booming voice of his father jostles him awake, causing him to nearly fall off the couch in a startle. Jazz giggles at his shock, walking forward towards the front. Using his quick reflexes, Danny sticks his foot out just a bit in front of his sister. It catches her leg and causes her to stumble forward, though she catches herself on the wall of the vehicle. She glares back at her little brother, who was trying and failing to hide his snickering.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Danny gets up, swinging his legs out over the couch and letting momentum bring himself up. Jazz blinks her eyes at the display of¡­ what''s the proper word? Bodily control? Possibly acrobatics? She had never seen her brother so nimble before. It''s a startling difference to how clumsy he''s always been.

    A knock on her head later, and her attention is now refocused on her little brother again. "You okay there? You''re kinda spacin'' out." Jazz shakes head, but takes the outstretched hand he offers. She picks up the book she dropped and rolls her ankle, satisfied at the popping sound it makes. "It''s rude to trip people you know."

    "And it''s rude to laugh at other peoples misfortunes," He counters, "but hey, we''re only human." A barking laugh follows his final words, and to the older sibling, it almost sounded sarcastic. Danny walks past her, going straight for the entrance while scratching the back of his head. It doesn''t take long for Jazz to become the sole occupant of the weaponized recreational vehicle. "That was weird." She sighs in defeat, something that doesn''t normally happen with word games between her brother, but eventually follows her way out through the door as well.

    The sight that greets the Fenton family is one that still confuses and amazes both siblings. "I''ll never understand why he lives in a castle." Danny said, mainly to himself, but his father hears it and offers his two cents. "Well, when we were in high school, Vladdie always said that he wanted to own a castle one day." His father looks it up and down, before looking out to the surrounding area. On the outskirts of Green Bay Wisconsin, on the westmost side of the city limits lies Vladimir Masters private castle. "No idea how he got it out here, but oh well." He shrugs it off with his usual airheadedness.

    The castle didn''t seem like it belonged here, or anywhere near the state. The surrounding farmlands made the fortress-turned-home look even more out of place. Apparently it was built here over one-hundred years ago, an unnamed royal who was nicknamed the ''Dairy King'', but it''s hard to tell when Vlad is bullshitting someone. He''s a very good liar, and a younger Danny could never tell the difference. Still, the Halfa was pretty sure that his uncle was telling the truth about the place at the time.

    The large fortified estate''s yellow roof and green flags hanging literally everywhere, were an homage to his favorite football team: the Green Bay Packers. Honestly, his uncle took fanaticism to a whole new level by decorating the interior and the exterior with the team colors. What used to be a drawbridge was replaced with large double doors, and any arrow slits were gone for reinforced windows. Ramparts and battlements were tiled over with gold plates- not actual gold, just gold colored. Probably. The main keep was tall, probably over six stories, and a tower jutted out from both sides, adding further to the strange majesty of the place.

    "It''s way over the top like usual." Jazz was right on the money this time, even Danny couldn''t deny that.

    He couldn''t help but ask, "Why does he need something so big? Is it because he just has that much money?" His parents chuckled at the question, but mainly because that was probably the actual answer. Still, he''s been here enough times to not be intimidated by the castle, even if he thought the Packers themed castle was obnoxious.

    Jack walks up to the door, giving it three hard knocks with his massive hands. They didn''t have to wait long, which is surprising given the size of the place. Just before the doors fully open, his ghost sense goes off, instantly putting him on alert. Now? Here? Of all the fucking time! Danny looks left and right, but finds nothing. The pull isn''t telling him anything, so the ghost is either too far or too close.

    The doors open up without a sound or creak surprisingly, revealing world famous billionaire Vladimir Masters, looking around with a hint of suspicion and caution. Vlad is a tall man, towering at the same height as his father, but with a far normal build. Lean and chiseled, in his mid-forties Vlad is the same as Bruce Wayne. A handsome man with way too much money in his wallet. The long grey and white hair only enhances his good looks, and as a man of etiquette and class, his beard is well trimmed and colored the same as his hair. The dark suit no doubt costs as much as a new car.

    "Vladdie! Good to see you!" His attention is brought back to his uncle and father. Jack wraps his giant arms around Vlad, giving him a rather brutal bear hug. "I-it''s good to s-see you too Jack. N-now, let me go!"

    Jack complies, but continues patting the coughing billionaires back. Vlad''s nose crinkled in annoyance, "Must you do that every time, I very much enjoy breathing and having unbroken bones." Laughing it off is all too easy for Jack, mainly because he''s been doing this since college. Vlad dusts himself off and straightens his now wrinkled clothes. Turning to Maddie, he smiles and offers a hand to shake. "It''s good to see you again, Madeline. How was the trip?"

    His mother shakes the hand in return, "It was fine. Traffic was easy, and with Jack at the wheel we made it in record time." It''s amazing how his father still doesn''t have a ticket to his name. Highway Patrol for both Illinois and Wisconsin are downright inept at their jobs if they''ve somehow missed Jack Fenton on the road for so many years. There''s whole departments that need to be fired.

    Attention turns to the Fenton children, and Danny and Jazz are all smiles. "Daniel, Jasmine, it''s been too long. I wish you two would visit me more often." Jazz walks up and eagerly hugs him, and he responds in kind. Danny does the same, it really has been a long time since he last saw Vlad. When he''s released, Vlad puts a hand on Danny and Jazz''s shoulder, guiding them inside with their parents following.

    "Come inside everyone, come inside. It''s much more comfortable, especially with the autumn winds blowing about at the moment." Was it really that cold out, even though Danny''s wearing a long sleeve and jeans, he didn''t even notice. Did that have anything to do with his ghost half?

    Following behind Vlad, the family is greeted to a sight just as extravagant and fan-obsessed as the outside. A comfortable forest green colors the bricks on the walls, and numerous Packers memorabilia lines the walls and display cases. Door and display frames are colored gold and embezzled with white lines, the same color as the tiled floor. At the end of the foyer is the same gold and green double staircase he always remembered, with a large door in between the two ascensions. Pictures of famous players line the walls, such as Ray Nitschke and Brett Favre. The only reason Danny even knew those names was because Vlad would have a hissy fit about it if he didn''t remember them.

    "Your place is great as always V-man." Jack looks around for a moment, before his eyes land on a signed football in a glass case underneath a framed picture of a player with the number 66 on his jersey. Jack walks up to it and taps on the glass, "Hey, what gives? How come it''s in a case? Don''t you wanna throw the old pigskin around?"

    Vlad sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance, "No Jack, I don''t know how many times I''ve told you, but that ball is not for throwing. It''s autographed, and irreplaceable."

    Moving on, Vlad turns to face the rest of the family. "While I would normally have guests stay on the first floor, the guest rooms are being renovated currently, so you''ll have to stay on the second floor." Vlad leads the group up to the next story, and Danny''s eyes land on the frames picture of a rather portly fellow in a robe. The crown of cheese on his head is just as ridiculous as the first time he saw it. "Vladdie, you sure you don''t want me to look for this Dairy King guy? You never know what a ghost could do!"

    The billionaire turned his head, looking over his shoulder, and scoffed. "Please, Jack. Even if he did actually haunt the place, what would he do? Choke me with cheese? Give me diabetes?"

    The two siblings giggled at the jokes, but the blatant sarcasm seemed to go right over their parents heads. The white haired man sighed, but continued further down the hall. After a few minutes of ghost blathering from his parents, the host of the house- castle really- stops in front of a set of doors. Unfolding his hands from behind his back, the man turns to address the Fenton family. "This will be your room Jack, Maddie." Vlad turns to the two children, arm held out further down the hall. "Daniel, Jasmine, your rooms are right around the corner on the right. They are right next to each other." The two nod in conformance, and the rich man refocuses back onto the family as a whole.

    "While normally I would try and spend time with you, I am rather busy organizing the college reunion and¡­ juggling some of the issues my company is having at the moment. You all are free to do what you want, free reign of everywhere but the basement." Vlad eyes Jack specifically, "That mainly means you Jack. I''ve had an indoor pool installed recently if any of you want to try it, and dinner will be at 7:30. Make sure not to miss it, it''s going to be great tonight." After straightening his tie, Vlad begins walking off back the way he came, leaving the family to unpack and unwind by themselves.

    His parents get to work right away, entering the large room and going straight to the dressers to unpack. Danny shrugs his shoulders and moves to his designated room. Jazz takes the one just around the corner, and Danny quickly moves to his room. He was tempted to unpack, but since they''re only staying two weeks, he figured there''s no reason to. Instead, he effortlessly tosses his suitcase and backpack onto the bed. After rummaging around, a phone and sketchpad is produced from the pack. A quick look told him that he had about two and a half hours till dinner. Really, why unpack? It''s a waste of time, especially when he could be doing anything else.

    Like exploring the castle with his ghost powers. How could he not? Even when Danny''s visited before, there was always an air of cautiousness, mainly because he wasn''t the greatest when it came to directions. But now, he could just go through walls if he got lost.

    Upon exiting his room for the next two weeks, Jazz is the first to greet him. Danny raises an eyebrow, "Goin'' to the library?" His sister nods in affirmation, no shocker there, and it prompts him to say, "Gonna wander. See what I find. See ya at dinner."

    The original plan was to wander around aimlessly, but the painting of the Dairy King popped up in his head, and thus a new goal was born. "Time to find the Dairy King!" Danny stops in his tracks, replaying what he just said.

    "That sounded way less embarrassing in my head." He mumbled.

    After finding a secluded hallway, which wasn''t hard, Danny lets his ghost half come to the surface. As ectoplasm bleeds through, Danny''s invigorated by the spectral energy now coursing through his veins. As usual, being a ghost makes him feel far more powerful than when he''s a human, and ironically enough, he feels more alive when he doesn''t have a heartbeat.

    Now standing as Phantom, he quickly floats up and phases through the ceiling. Figuring he can start from the top and work his way down, Danny makes his way to the attic, going floor through floor to the top of the keep.

    "This place is seriously way too big for one person."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    It was time for dinner before he even got past the three top levels. This whole stronghold may as well be a Packers museum, not a home! There was so much of the green and gold teams memorabilia, it wasn''t even funny anymore. The entire attic had a picture of every single player to be put on the team, with their numbers above them and signed jerseys and footballs below the pictures. This place was practically a shrine to the Packer gods at this point and Danny decided that he needed to have a chat with his uncle about just how much was too much.

    Because the foyer by itself seemed like it was too much.

    "Ah, Daniel. Glad to have you join us. Your parents should be here soon." When he entered the dining room, Danny was greeted by his uncle at the head of the table, with Jazz on his right. It should be noted that the table was large enough to dine over thirty people, and the room itself had a ceiling high enough for a football goal post to be comfortable. "Hey Uncle Vlad. What''s for dinner?" He walked over and sat next to Jazz, who was reading a book as usual. Food hadn''t been served yet, most likely because all guests weren''t currently present. Perhaps that''s what the bell next to Vlad was for.

    The older businessman adjusted his tie and glanced at Jazz with slight annoyance. Didn''t she know that it''s bad manners to read like that at the dinner table¡­ perhaps not, knowing her parents. He sighed lightly, before turning to his now seated nephew. "Nothing but the finest, my boy. Lobster, steak, turkey, fresh garden and caesar salad, just plucked fruit, and the best cheesecake in Wisconsin." Vlad flashes a toothy grin at the young children, careful to hide his fangs as usual. It''s amusing to see Danny perk up at the list of fine cuisine, and Jasmine can try and hide it all she wants, but his niece wasn''t as good at concealing her excitement as she hoped. He chuckled slightly, "You''re going to have to try harder to hide your desires, my dear. I''ve been in this business too long to not be able to pick up something as simple as a teenager wanting fine food." Vlad laughed even further at her blush, but Daniel made no attempt at hiding how ready he was for the food.

    It took another ten minutes for Jack and Maddie to arrive, and to their college friends annoyance, both were still in their hazmat suits still. "I must ask, you two do have an actual outfit besides those suits, yes? If not for casual wear, at least the party?" He was almost dreading the answer, mainly because he knew they didn''t, but nobody ever blamed a man for hoping.

    Jack''s booming laughter came first, then he waved his hands back and forth in denial. "Of course not, V-man! Ya never know when a ghost is gonna attack, so we always gotta be prepared." Danny raised an eyebrow at that. What would hazmat suits do against an ecto-blast? Would it shield them from one of his more powerful electrical discharges? Probably not, seeing as how the one he wore never actually protected him from a damn thing. It''s just a piece of clothing, and against normal chemicals and non-active ectoplasm, sure, it probably helped. But against a full powered ecto-ray, one which he had halved trees and dug deep into rock with, the Halfa was all too sure that it would do diddly squat.

    His uncle seemed to share his opinion, because he scoffed in both amusement and annoyance. "My friends, if you haven''t seen the news, which I have been watching, that glowing boy in your town no doubt has ample enough power to make your ''protective'' suits useless." As his parents sat down, Vlad took a sip of his wine and continued his rant, "He''s battled large monsters and other ghosts with ranging powers, and I have a very hard time believing your hazmat suits could stop anything the boy seriously sent your way."

    Both parents frowned, this was their best friend and their biggest sponsor basically telling them they were outmatched. Feeling a little heated, Maddie raises a suspicious question. "And how do you know that Vlad? You''re in Wisconsin, as are most of your businesses. How do you know what goes on in Amity?"

    Vlad smiled wide and his slanted eyes gave off a predatory feeling, "I have businesses all around the world, you should read Time Magazine sometimes. I make it onto the front cover at least once a month." As a pause, he rang the dinner bell, alerting the catering staff to start delivering the fresh food to the table. "As for how I know? I do, in fact, have a business or two in Amity. Do you know Axion Labs?" Both older Fentons nodded at the question, though Jack was far more interested in the steak that was placed in front of him.

    "Well I bought that company out over three years ago, and ever since I have kept up to date on the local events of the place. Plus, your family is there." The whole family paid more attention to him now, "As embarrassing as it is, I do not know many people as well as I do you all. This is the closest thing to a family I have, and I like to know of any potential dangers that may encroach."

    All heat left Maddie, now both ashamed for doubting her friend, and happy that they had such a caring family friend. Jack was all too proud, and although he wanted to speak it, his wife had told him that if he spoke with food in his mouth one time on the trip, she''d ban ham and fudge from the house till the New Year.

    There''s no way that''s going to happen. He''d die from withdrawal.

    "Getting back on track, I''ll have something prepared for you two. The reunion isn''t for another three days anyway. Plenty of time to find something." Both parents nod in agreement, now put in their place by their friends'' earlier comment. "I''ll have my tailor come tomorrow to grab your measurements." Vlad turned his attention to the youngest in the room, "Are you two going to attend? I won''t lie, it will most likely be boring for you two."

    Danny looked up in thought for a moment, but Jazz already knew that she had zero desire to participate. "I''ll have my measurements done, that way I know for future reference, but I don''t think I actually wanna go. There''s probably not going to be anyone our age there, is there?"

    The older man shook his head, but smirked at his nephew''s forethought. "Smart boy; you never know when that could come in handy. As for your other question¡­ I''d be surprised if anyone else actually brought their children to this kind of event."

    Danny nodded and went back to his meal, a rather hefty lobster and steak. Surf n'' turf, as it''s called. Jazz put her hand up, "I''ll do the same as Danny. I don''t know when I''ll need it, but it''ll be good to know."

    Vlad smiled at her and resumed his meal. Jack was almost done with his, and his son was following close behind with an appetite fitting a growing boy. Seeing the need for more food, he rang the dinner bell again, and no later than ten seconds passed before more food was brought out.

    Dinner passed as normal after that, as normal as a dinner with a billionaire can get at least. It was only the first day, and there were far more exciting things that were yet to happen.

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    It was around ten at night, an hour after dinner was over. He felt stuffed and relaxed, and he couldn''t help but feel that way. It''s not often he gets to eat such good food, especially with the way his parents cook, if they even do cook. Jazz was okay, and he''s decent at it, but neither of the two siblings actually liked the act of cooking. Both were in the opinion that there was plenty of other stuff they could do; Jazz and her studying, and Danny with his powers. Admittedly, his prior excuse was lacking to the new one, but video games were a far larger part of his life before he could fly and shoot energy blasts.

    Even if he was feeling full, it was boring. Danny has so much excess energy that''s normally spent fighting ghosts and recuperating from the damage, it''s hard to fall asleep when he''s running on full. Actually, it was even more than full. He hadn''t had such a good and filling meal in years, and he was fully healed from any injury. The food was burning at a high rate thanks to his abnormally high metabolism.

    So it took all of five seconds for Danny to fly out of bed, literally, and transform into his other persona. Now as Phantom, he takes off through the walls to begin exploring anew. First he had to find where he left off, not hard to do since he can just go through ceilings and walls.

    It was an hour later, and almost two floors fully explored when he heard a voice behind him.

    "What do we have here?" It unnerved him how hostile it was. The deep baritone was intimidating, and the echo that came off left him all too aware that it was a ghost behind him. Slowly he turned around, psyching himself up for a possible fight.

    What stood before the young Halfa could only be described as a blue vampire. Not even the sclera remained in his full red eyes. Blue skin and fangs just as long, if not longer than his own rested in a large smirking mouth. Black hair was set up into what looked like horns, with a grey streak going through the middle. His full white suit did nothing to hide his muscles, though it was clearly armored. The white and red cloak with the tall collar made him look even more like a creature of the night. Which technically, he was.

    But this ghost was in his uncle''s home, and he was no Dairy King. If he was here to harm someone, even though he felt severely outmatched, he''d fight him if he had to.

    Danny cleared his throat and fixed his posture, "Uh¡­ what are you doing here?" Best one liner ever. Way to go Fenton.

    The older ghost raised an eyebrow at the intruder in his home. That was the best he could come up with? Still, he didn''t have all night, beauty rest and all that. "Most ghosts know to stay away from here, at least if they know what''s good for them." He closed the distance in a slow hover, "What''s your excuse for not knowing, boy?"

    Phantom floated backwards away from the intimidating ghost, something deep within telling him that the undead in front of him was too powerful for him to fight. "Uh¡­ I was just looking around? I didn''t even know anyone was claiming this place? I haven''t been dead for too long."

    Plasmius paused in his approach, but left his face neutral. If he was as new as he stated, which he definitely looked and felt, he couldn''t really blame him for not knowing. But then again, if he let anyone get away with breaking and entering like this, his reputation would go down the toilet. Still, it wouldn''t do great for his image either if anyone found out he had attacked a freshy.

    "I see. It''s unfortunate you didn''t know. As much as it pains me to do this, I can''t have anyone, dead or alive, trespassing onto my home. Bad for the image and all that." The elder Halfas hands glowed pink, a different color that Danny hadn''t seen before in ectoplasm. Although startled, he wasn''t going to back down after hearing that. He''d at least fight back.

    Phantom responded in kind, letting energy flow to his hands and forming a ball of ectoplasm. Electricity sparked along his shoulders and down his arms, an added bonus to help in what''s looking to be a beatdown. "Look, I don''t wanna fight you. Can we not do this?"

    Vlad chuckled at the attempt at diffusion, but halted when he examined the ghost child further. "Aren''t you the ghost boy from Amity Park?" Red eyes narrowed in suspicion, and that feeling of familiarity picked at angry emotions. "What are you doing here? You''re far away from your haunt, now answer before I make you!" His own pink electricity danced off of his body, and his roar was accompanied by the glow in his blood red eyes intensifying.

    Gulping in nervousness, Danny tried to think of anything to get him out of this situation. After what happened to Skulker, he was hesitant to reveal his Halfa status to anyone, living or dead, and revealing it one so powerful really didn''t seem like a good idea. But what he said about this being his property didn''t sound right, and it egged into his thoughts. "Really, can we not do this? I''m out here on vacation, I don''t wanna fight anyone!"

    "Really, breaking and entering as a vacation." He sneered, "You''ve got quite the idea of rest and relaxation." Without warning, Vlad launched a bolt of electricity at Danny, surprising the younger ghost. In a split second Danny pumped more ectoplasm into his arms and fueled electricity into his hands in an attempt to neutralize one energy with another. Green and pink met and clashed, conflicting with each other for several seconds. Wild arcs scorched the carpeted green floors, and even though he was able to suppress the more powerful attack, it left him with the occasional twitch and numb hands.

    Plasmius raised an eyebrow, slightly impressed one so young could hold out against his attack. "I must say, I expected you to be on your back, not glaring at me." In response, Danny sent his own surprise attack down range. Two ecto-blasts flew at the older man, but a pink bubble shield wrapped around his body and absorbed the attacks. The explosion rocked the walls and tilted paintings from the concussive force, but the ecto-shield was none the worse from the attack. Phantom eyed the construct with glee, despite the situation. Now it was clear to him! He was doing it all wrong, and he now had a new trick, assuming it came out right.

    Grinning with malice, the older Halfa scoffed at Danny. "Really, ecto-blasts. That''s so year one." He cracked his knuckles by curling his fist, "How about a show you something a little more advanced?" Pink energy formed and expanded from his hands, coalescing into an actual construct, and to Danny''s disappointment, it was a¡­ "flyswatter?" The display was impressive, no doubt of that, but using it to make such a mundane object is more than a little lackluster.

    Not that he can do it, but it could still be made into something cooler than a flyswatter.

    "Shoo fly," Vlad winded up, and Danny''s eyes widened, "don''t bother me!" The swing was too fast for him to dodge, and in a last ditch attempt, he infused his body with ectoplasm to increase his durability. The swatter met crossed arms and launched Phantom down the hall. He bounced twice before meeting the wall, which he turned intangible for. He let momentum carry him until he was outside of the castle, now floating above the gold tiled roof.

    Danny groaned in pain, his arms were pulsing and from the feeling alone, he could tell the bones were going to be bruised. Still, they weren''t broken, and bruises heal far quicker than breaks. The older ghost appeared through the wall, following after the home invader. Deciding to take a page from the man''s book, a seven foot rod formed in his hands, and modifying it just a little, he formed a hilt just above his hands. Now left with a six foot long sword, he could only hope his sloppy copy of a construct would hold up against a fucking flyswatter of all things.

    Plasmius let his ecto-construct change shapes, forming into a sword to match the young ghosts. It was far more clean and neat, with details down to the pommel on the hilt. "Interesting choice, my boy. A little rough around the edges, but let''s see if you have the skills to back up your creation!" He lunged at the younger ghost, swinging for his midsection.

    As quick as he could, he brought the sword up to guard the strike. At the same time, he let his claws form on one of his hands. When the strike met, the clawed hand held onto the sword in an effort to hold his block. He grinned at the older man, who was smirking in turn. Danny lets the sword chamber off to the side to attempt a kick with his left leg. Vlad blocks with a knee, but he has to raise his ecto-sword to block his opponent''s jab. Danny''s grip is reversed with surprising dexterity, and the boy himself doesn''t seem to notice it when his swing forces the older Halfa back.

    Vlad sends a bolt of electricity at Danny, forcing him away. Charging his sword with electricity to counter the forign energy, he pushes forward and swings his sword. Green and pink sparks fly off in an arc of energy, surprising his opponent, but raising a shield blocks the attack with ease. Once more they meet to clash swords, "I must say, I am rather impressed that you''ve managed to hold out so long." Like nails on a chalkboard, the conflicting energies violently reject each other as they''re pushed further into conflict, and the sound is deafening. If the wall wasn''t as thick as a castle wall, literally since it is, no doubt the guests staying there would hear the awful noise.

    Again, Danny forced electricity down the length of the sword at full power, hoping to at least catch the man off guard, but an ecto-blast to his back knocked his concentration out. The sword remained formed, but that was it, and with no strength to hold the guard, Danny was pushed backwards into the one who blasted him. In a split second, he was able to see a second vampire ghost, sputtering confusion to new heights. "What the fu-"

    The second copy slammed two fists down onto the young Halfa, forcing him down into the courtyard and cratering the ground. From the hole, he could now see two of the opponents. If everything before didn''t leave him in awe, this certainly did. Slowly, he got up from the whole, mouth open in shock.

    Both Vlads floated down with smug smirks on their faces, the original chuckling at the expression his trespasser wore. "I''m guessing you can''t do this, can you?"

    Danny shook his head in response, but was able to find his voice the next second. "How did you do that?! That''s so cool!"

    "Yes, yes, flattery will get you somewhere." If there''s one thing Vladimir Plasmius has, it''s an ego far too big for his own good. And one of the few ways to get on his good side, is to stroke it, so when he looks down at the younger ghost clearly admiring his skills, he can''t help but feel smug. He nods his head in satisfaction, and to take it a step further, splits himself into twelve more copies each.

    Phantom gasps in awe and a slight amount of fear, but mostly awe. And Plasmius just can''t get enough of the expression, but with twenty four enemies now surrounding him, Danny''s quick to realize that this is the most dangerous situation he''s ever gotten into.

    "This, my dear boy, is called duplication." He curls his fingers and looks at his nails, all of the clones do, but they quickly stop when they realize that they all have gloves on. Luckily, the petrified ghost before him doesn''t notice it. "It''s a high tier ability not seen in a majority of ghosts. If you see another use this, that means that they''re powerful. Very powerful. You''d do well to keep that in mind for the future."

    Danny perks up a little, based on his words it seems like he''ll get out of this alive. "So, uh- does that mean I''m getting out of this alive? Can we just stop this?"

    All the copies chuckled in amusement, but their hands alight with pink ectoplasm. Ecto-blasts charge up in their hands, quickly lighting the area up in a magenta bask. "Oh no, one more punishment and I''ll let you go." The hum of energy gets louder and louder, and deciding to just wing it and possibly avoid a painful experience, Danny comes clean.

    "WAIT! WAIT! I was invited! My uncle lives here!" Vlad squints his eyes in disbelief. What was this child talking about? His uncle? The only uncle here is him, and he only has one nephew¡­ no. "Daniel?" Eyes widen further than ever before, and shock, anger, guilt, sadness, too many emotions threaten to break to the surface and he doesn''t know which to feel at the moment. The duplicates retreat and reform back into his body, bringing him back up to full power.

    Phantom''s nervousness at the situation is momentarily halted at the mention of his name. "Who told you my name?" He takes a step back when the intimidating man lands in front of him, slowly walking towards him. Vlad stops a few feet away, with a hand on his chin, deep in thought as he inspects the ghost claiming to be his nephew.

    And the answer he finds isn''t a comfortable one. He hadn''t noticed before, mainly because the possibility was so far fetched it never entered his mind, but staring at the ghost in front of him now, he can only see the similarities. Same height, attitude, voice, mannerisms, posture, hair, facial structure¡­ it can only be his nephew. The white hair and green eyes, along with the spectral glow would fool most, if not all. He bites his lips in frustration, how could this happen?

    Before Danny can react, Vlad is in front of him and grabs his arm. He can''t even blink before they''re both teleported to the lab in the basement. When Vlad lets go, Danny stumbles back while holding his head and stomach. His vision is blurry, and Danny''s feels like he''s all of five seconds away from emptying his stomach onto the floor. Teleportation is a rough experience for first timers, and even though Vlad wants to laugh, this situation leaves him nowhere near in the mood to. Walking over to a large console, the older half-ghost brings up several programs and videos. Leaving them to run on their own, he sighs into his hands, suddenly feeling his age and gracefully takes a seat into the chair.

    Danny recovers soon enough, shaking his head and he looks around at his new surroundings. The whole lab is silver, a distinct difference from his parents white color pattern. There''s a door on the opposite side, but the clear glass on it gives view to what is undoubtedly an airlock. Possibly used to clean and decontaminate before leaving and entering the lab. Danny scans his eyes over the entire room; a neat and tidy workbench that has multiple different components to things he has no idea what they belong to. Shelves full of books, followed by equipment and weapons. And then his eyes land on the portal. Like his parents'' portal, it''s shaped like an octagon and very clearly on. Bulkier, and far more secure, it doesn''t even feel the same. The swirling whirlpool of ectoplasm that leads to the Ghost Zone feels different to the one in his basement, the call that he''s associated with the portal isn''t there. If this is his uncle''s house, how does he have a portal?

    "Done looking around Daniel?" His head snaps back to the ghost he was just doing battle with. The menacing glare is no longer there, replaced with one of confusion and concern. He raises an eyebrow at the man, "Uh- where''d you take me? Actually, how did you do that? It didn''t feel like intangibility."

    Vlad smiles, but it''s tired. Even though he hasn''t experienced nearly enough action to make him feel winded, the mental exhaustion at realizing his nephew was like him¡­ a hybrid. It felt heavy on his mind, far more than¡­ he didn''t even know. He just wanted to clarify what happened. To know how his only nephew became a Halfa like him. He knew very well what that meant; Daniel died at some point, most likely it was recent, but he still died. He stands up slowly, flexing his hand and disappearing in a puff of pink smoke.

    Danny tenses, unsure of what just happened, and he visibly flinches when he feels a hand on his shoulder. It''s not strong or rough, but gentle, and the voice that accompanied the explanation is far less menacing than it was before. "It''s teleportation, Daniel. I would like to apologize for how I treated you, but you''ve had enough interactions with ghosts to know how they can be sometimes, no?"

    Danny turns around to face the man, still on edge but he''s able to see that he''s not in immediate danger anymore. "How do you know my name?" He knows what he''s talking about with ghosts, considering all his encounters but one has resulted in battle, it''s not that ridiculous of a reaction.

    Vlad walks around Danny, letting his arm off his nephews shoulder and clasping both behind his back. As he walks to the screen, his ectoplasmic coat tapers off, leaving Vlad Masters. When he reaches his seat, he takes it again and faces Danny. The younger Halfa has his mouth open in shock, and in his moment of absolute confusion, he reverts back to Fenton. There''s an uncomfortable silence in the room, neither occupants knowing where to start on the touchy subject.

    The silence is broken when Vlad, using telekinesis, brings over a kettle of tea and two cups. As he pours them, he gestures for Daniel to take a seat across from his desk. He complies, but he''s still in a state of shock at the truth that his uncle, of all the damn possibilities, and against all odds, is the other Halfa. It''s almost inconceivable, the sheer improbability that the only other being like him in existence, is someone he not only knows, but has a close relationship.

    "What the fuck man?! You almost killed me!" Then there was that issue, and as his surprise boiled to anger, it only seemed to get worse when Vlad actually started laughing! "What''s so funny?!"

    The older Halfa wipes away a tear, but the laugh seemed to be just what he needed to get his mind back into his normal state. "It''s nothing Daniel, I just found it amusing that of all things you say first after that bombshell, it''s a complaint about me attacking you." His hand goes up to his neck to straighten his tie, a habit he''s never been able to break, but stops when he remembers he''s in his sleepwear.

    "Well¡­ yeah, I guess there''s a bigger elephant in the room." Danny admits.

    Vlad chuckles again, but stops after a few seconds. "Yes, you''re right." He clears his throat and stares into his nephews sky ice blue eyes, clasping hands in front of his face as he leans forward. "Now speaking of the elephant; I believe we both have some things to explain."

 Chapter 16

    Chapter 16: Meet the Mentor

    "This is bullshit Tucker, and you know it!" Tucker sighed in annoyance for what must have been the fifth time in the last hour. So she was pissed that Danny wasn''t here to hang out with them. Big deal.

    "Sam, just chill." He gets up and puts the controller down, then turns to his friend. "How often does Danny visit family? Like once or twice a year, if that?"

    Sam loses some of her anger, "Well, if you put it like that¡­"

    Seeing the end in sight, Tucker jumps at the chance to end this conversation. "What are you mad for anyway? He''s only gone for two weeks, and he should be back a couple days before school starts. We can still hang out with him then."

    She sighs in defeat, something that doesn''t happen often when it comes to arguments with her friends. "I don''t know why I''m mad, okay? Maybe because this was a good chance for us to patch up our friendship? And it''s gone because of a sudden trip by his parents!" She threw her arms up in frustration, but it''s clear to Tucker that there''s a distinct lack of anger in it compared to earlier.

    Her anger was understandable to a certain extent, but the last hour has been gaining in annoyance like a snowball effect, and her argument was getting weaker and weaker in the same way. That he could even win a verbal debate was proof enough. "I get it Sam, you''re frustrated and that''s fine. Just don''t take it out on me, and especially don''t take it out on Danny. That''s the last thing we need right now."

    Uncomfortable silence lingers in the room, and it''s not just because Sam''s room is sound-proofed. Tucker groaned in discomfort at the next topic. He''d been putting it off for a few days, but now was a better time than ever.

    A defeated Sam is a Sam that''s easier to talk to.

    And Tucker can tell that it''s not the only thing bothering her.

    "So¡­ do you wanna talk about what happened at school?" The gothic girl flinches at the memories of the ghost. The ghost that she caused to come back from wherever it came from. The ghost that she caused to attack the school. The ghost attack that was her fault. God, she felt so guilty about it.

    The whole goth thing wasn''t just a look, she really did enjoy the spiritual side of it. Horror movies always were her favorite, and the occult had called to her multiple times in her life. There was even a phase in middle school where she thought she was psychic, and it''s one of the most embarrassing times of her life. Sam is thankful for every day where she doesn''t remember that awful semester of school. Luckily Tucker and Danny stopped teasing her about it, but it was still a part of her childhood that mortified her.

    And a spirit of the dead coming back, because of her¡­ wasn''t something she took pride in. It scared her. There''s too many stories that tell of vengeful spirits of the dead coming back for payback, no matter how petty the reason. Like the school lunch menu! Okay, that was a stupid reason to come back as a ghost, but she wouldn''t say that out loud. Unless she was seriously pissed.

    But she felt guilty nonetheless; the school was damaged extensively, people were injured from flying objects, broken glass, and a few had burns. Paulina was covered in meat¡­ that was actually pretty funny. And Sam just felt like she had wronged that white haired boy- ghost- she didn''t know what he was. Asking the Fentons seemed like a bad idea, if only because she always thought that Danny''s parents were almost extremists in their views on ghosts.

    Sam sighed and laid back into her chair, "No, I don''t really want to talk about it¡­ but I''d be a hypocrite if I didn''t at least share some of it." She readjusted her position a little and looked back at Tucker. He had paused the game and set the controller down, not sitting anymore, but leaning on the desk.

    "Go on."

    Frowning at the memories, she begins to recall the attack. "So, do you know why the ghost attacked?"

    Tucker looks up in contemplation, but ultimately comes to the conclusion, "No, not really. I was recording a decent chunk of the fight, but I definitely missed the initiative."

    Looking down in what was obviously shame, Sam orates her shame. "I think it was my fault. Actually, I was told that it was my fault."

    Now that was news, but it wasn''t hard to reach that conclusion if someone paid attention to some of the videos posted online. But her point is pushed further as she elaborates, "The white haired guy that was fighting the meat monster? Yeah, he kind of chewed me out and, very blatantly, told me it was my fault."

    Groaning in exasperation, Tucker slaps his head, "All because you changed the menu, wow. What a dumb reason." He looks back at his friend, Sam, who''s obviously not enjoying being the cause of so much violence.

    "Yeah. It is a dumb reason, but it''s a reason I caused nonetheless. Even though the meat monster was disturbing, to me especially, it wasn''t really scary or traumatizing. It just¡­ makes me feel guilty." Phantom''s words echo in her head, that he hadn''t had a peaceful encounter yet. With his own kind, he''d been attacked, if his words were anything to go by, dozens of times and every time he fought them back.

    And she ruined the only peaceful encounter he''s had.

    Giving what feels like a rather spot on guess, Tucker continues with this little session they have going. "You don''t like that, do you? That you''re actually to blame for something that could have gone so wrong?" He could see why Jazz likes psychology so much, even if it wasn''t his cup of tea, it helped to find what was wrong so easily.

    Sam snaps her eyes up, glaring at her bespectacled friend, "Of course I don''t like it! Someone could have gotten seriously hurt! Someone¡­ could have died, and it would have been my fault." She''s quiet at the end, her yell turned into barely a whisper.

    Moving towards his friend, Tucker places a hand on her shoulder. "Don''t worry about it. My dad once told me to not worry about the ''what if'' and put more thought into the now." Sam looks up at Tucker, frowning at the casual dismissal, but accepting the words for what they are.

    Continuing on, "Sam, no one died or what seriously hurt. Just never change the menu again and it''ll be right as rain." He smiles at her, and tosses a controller into her hands.

    Seemingly done with that specific conversation, he moves onto another point. "So you were near the superpowered guy right? Did he say anything to you?" He grabbed his own controller in the meantime, plopping back down onto the chair and swiveling back towards his friend.

    Sam tapped the controller on her hand, leaning back and getting comfy. "He chewed me out. Told me I was being a dumbass, pretty much. Looking back on it, he was kinda right."

    Laughing at her scowl, it takes a few moments for him to regain his composure. "So you''re telling me, you actually met the guy? And he insulted you? That''s rich!"

    "Hey!" She snaps, "I had it coming, yeah, but he did the standard hero thing. Rescued me, asked if I was alright, then he let me have it. He seems like a decent guy, but¡­"

    Tucker raises an eyebrow, "but?"

    She hesitates to say it, but knowing who their best friend is, decides that there''s stranger things to say. "But, I think he''s dead."

    "Uh¡­" He didn''t really know what to say to that, the guy was moving and talking just fine. He didn''t look dead. "I give. What the hell do you mean?"

    Thinking of the best way to explain it to her friend, it takes a few seconds for her to respond. "What do Danny''s parents do?"

    Not sure where the change in topic is coming from, he goes along with it anyway, knowing that there''s a point to it. "They''re researchers and inventors, right?"

    Sam nods along, "And they research what exactly?"

    His face scrunches in thought, before his eyes go wide. "Are you telling me you think the new hero our town has is a ghost? Like dead and came back as a spirit, ghost?"

    Looking at his face full of disbelief, it''s Sam''s turn to laugh at him. "Yeah, he even confirmed it. He said ''I got it in one''. I''m still not too sure though."

    The game starts, and both of their attention is drawn back to the screen. Not before she grabs an easy point on Tucker, and the game continues on in silence.

    Minutes pass, before Tucker finally asks, "So we should ask Danny about that when he comes back, right?"

    "Definitely."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Well¡­ where do we start?" Danny asked. The twitch in his hands and darting eyes made it clear to the older Halfa that his nephew was nervous. Vlad frowns, disliking that he would make him uncomfortable.

    "Let''s start with¡­ when did this happen to you?"

    Danny shifts on his feet, shuffling them nervously. Looking up, he takes a deep breath and starts his story. "At the beginning of summer. June 18th, to be exact."

    Deciding that standing isn''t doing anything good for his nerves, Danny moves to the chair in front of Vlad. "Everyone was out of the house, including my parents. Curiosity got the best of me and I went down stairs. I don''t normally go down into the lab, but with no one to distract me or push annoying ghost lectures onto me, free reign made my decision."

    Vlad frowns at the hidden messages Daniel doesn''t even realize he''s sending out. Subtle annoyance at his parents, discomfort with their line of work. Now that Daniel''s a Halfa like him, he can see why he''d be even more uncomfortable with their profession. It''s almost funny that the son of ghost hunters was a half-ghost hybrid; or it would be funny if the older Halfa hadn''t seen just how brutal his friends could be with a member of the dead. It was the primary reason he had been distancing himself from Jack and Maddie, as a half-ghost himself, close proximity with them isn''t entirely good for his health. They treat the dead as if they feel nothing but malice, and it''s far too easy to see how that could impact a young man, much less one who''s gone through such¡­ harrowing events.

    Seeing the hesitance, Vlad gives his nephew another push. "Go on, Daniel." He encourages, "I''m not angry or disappointed, I just want to know how you came to be this way."

    Feeling a little more comfortable, Danny continues with his tale. "Well, I started looking around. I hadn''t been down in a while, but somehow it looked the same as always. They had a bunch of weapons and equipment laying around. Tons of ectoplasm all over the place, but the large door on the opposite side of the room was new."

    Thinking of his own portal, Vlad glances over at its direction. Seeing his line of sight, his nephew nods in confirmation. "Yeah, the portal was new. I saw the schematics of it on a table and read it over. The notes said it didn''t work and wondering why, I went searching."

    Danny palms his hands, feeling more and more uncomfortable actually telling someone how he¡­ died. All he''s done is talk about his death in passing glances, casual mentions. It bothered him, sure, but nothing like actually telling the whole thing.

    Before Vlad can say anything, Danny continues on, "The notes said something about an ''ON'' switch, and it was inside the portal. With a two way authorization built into it, I figured it wouldn''t hurt to turn it on and try out the portal. You know, see if I could get it to work." It''s not hard to see where this is going, especially since his own accident involved a portal, albeit a small one.

    Vlad''s eyes widen as Danny continues his tale, "So I suited up into a hazmat suit," His ghost form flickers on, showing off the black and white suit he now dons as hero uniform, "went inside and started looking. I found the switch, pressed it, and had, like, maybe a second or two to realize that it was actually turning on."

    Ectoplasm fades away, leaving Danny with full recollection. Now as Fenton, his shaky breaths alert Vlad to just how uncomfortable this is for him, but knowing he needs to hear it and Daniel needs to say it, the billionaire lets his nephew continue. "It hurt."

    It''s silent in the lab, and when he gulps, Danny''s positive that it''s the loudest thing in the world. "The portal turned on with me in it. It hurt so much. Taking some words from my dad, I could feel it¡­ molecule by molecule I could fucking feel it. I don''t really know how else to describe it." He looks down in thought, as if wanting to describe literally the most painful thing he''s ever felt, but coming up empty.

    Seeing just how hurt Daniel is, Vlad is furious. No, that''s putting it lightly. Enraged beyond anything he''s felt since he woke up from the coma that gave him his powers. It''s one thing for this to happen to him, especially since he''s benefited from the accident far more than most would think.

    "Later, after I woke up in a mess¡­ of my own blood and ectoplasm, I cleaned up and found out why it had started. My dad left the key in the second authorization factor. Not only that, he left that on too." The sudden sound of breaking metal makes Danny look up at Vlad, and he''s startled to see his uncle looking far angrier than the younger Halfa had ever seen him before. The armrest was easily bent and broken under the elder half-ghosts enhanced strength, and his fangs are bared into a full snarl.

    Livid felt accurate. Seething, boiling, both felt apt. His fire core was raring to go, wanting to unleash scalding fury onto someone, something, anything. Vlad couldn''t believe how careless, how irresponsible, how absolutely stupid his friend had been! As if his accident hadn''t been bad enough, for his own son to fall victim to bumbling idiocy like this was almost maddening. He had forgiven Jack for what he did years ago, especially when he found out about his powers. But for this to happen to Daniel, because of such a small mistake¡­

    Vlad took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. Now''s not the time or the place to unleash his anger. "Sorry about that, it brought up some old memories and feelings." He rolls his wrist, adjusting the cuff on his sleepwear.

    Slightly startled, he continues with caution, "From there, I trained. The portal didn''t initially work after that, probably because part of the machine actually blew up when I was in it. When it did start working though¡­ the ghosts started showing up. They just kept coming, and I''ve just kept fighting them."

    With wide eyes, Vlad honestly can''t help it when he asks, "Why?"

    "Why what?"

    "Why do you fight them?" He elaborates, "Why are you fighting ghosts Daniel? I''ve seen some of the videos, you get hurt, quite badly sometimes. So, why?"

    With the conversation from Desiree still in his mind, Danny confidently answers, "Someone''s gotta. I have the power, I have the means, and so I just feel like if I''m not using these powers for something¡­ then what do I have them for?" His bare feet tap on the floor, recognizing that it''s cold, but comfortably so. "I don''t know what else I''d use them for, honestly. Sure I could steal money or something, but I don''t really need money right now. And I''m not so far up my own ass as to think that I could rule the world; so I help people, I fight ghosts." He shrugs his shoulders at the end, seemingly satisfied with his answer.

    Vlad is silent the whole time, thinking in deep contemplation. He didn''t like the idea of Daniel getting hurt, and some of those videos had shown him taking rather brutal hits. But his cause was noble, and it honestly furthered his plans down the road, even if he was doing it unintentionally. Daniel fighting other ghosts would only strengthen him, and the more fights he had under his belt, the stronger he would become. And he would need every bit of strength he can get for the coming years.

    He hums in thought, picking up his cup of tea and using his own abilities to warm the cup up. Pyrokinesis is far more than just throwing fire around, it''s always baffled the man when he sees such¡­ uninspired use for the ability. Like that Volcana woman that his sources had found, it''s not just throwing around fire, and her use of the power is so unimaginative.

    Danny''s nerves are getting ready to overload, it''s never good when Vlad is silent for so long. And after several minutes of silence, Vlad finally takes a sip of his tea, which is practically boiling now. His mouth opened in shock as the scolding tea was downed like cold water, "How did you just do that? Wasn''t it hot?"

    He chuckles in amusement, finding this a rather rare event. He''s never had someone who knew of his powers, much less of both halves of his complicated existence, and Vlad finds it rather liberating, if not odd. "It''s my core, Daniel. I have a fire core, I rather enjoy my meals and drinks practically burning." He swirls the tea in the cup around after refilling it, following the small waves before it heats up again and he takes smaller sips.

    Not entirely sure what to say to that, Danny just asks, "What''s a fire core?"

    Vlad squints at him, unsure of how to respond, but then he remembers that Daniel most likely hasn''t had anyone to explain the ins and outs of ghosts to him. "I have a fire core Daniel. While most ghosts have energy cores, mainly the mindless monsters and animals, some are spawned with specialty cores, like me. I''m assuming that you don''t know what type of core you have?" That''s not all there is to ghost cores, there''s far more information needed to have an apt understanding, and that doubles for Halfa cores, but now is not the time or place.

    Danny can only shake his head no, "I''ve kinda been going on my own here, figuring things out as I go. I took an x-ray with the machine in my parents lab, so I know I have one, but nothing outside of that." Danny picks up the cup of tea, finding it a little above lukewarm, and the slightly bittersweet taste is calming.

    Getting up from his chair, Vlad makes his way over to his nephew. "Different cores provide different abilities and weaknesses for normal ghosts."

    Now within close proximity, Danny has to look up at the taller man as they talk. "Normal ghosts? I''m assuming there''s a ''but'' there considering our¡­ condition."

    Vlad chuckles as he kneels down, now eye to eye with the younger of his kind. "You''d be correct, but that''s for another time. I''ll check your core first, and then we''ll continue with our conversation."

    "Check my core?" Vlad doesn''t respond, instead he places his hand on the center of Danny''s chest. Ectoplasm flows through the older man''s veins, and Danny can just make out the feeling of a tingling sensation on his chest. Looking down, Danny is slightly disturbed to see organs, muscle fibers, and bones now visible through his skin. It''s easy to figure out what he''s doing though, and Danny''s kicking himself for not trying earlier. It''s such an obvious facet of invisibility, that it makes him feel stupid for not trying it before.

    But the sight just behind those rather gory viewings is nothing compared to what he sees now. Vlad is obviously stunned too, if the gasp of astonishment is anything to go by. "An ice core!" Danny didn''t know how rare they were, but the crystalline sphere is breathtaking to the young man. Blue as the sky above, with lines of white here and there, his core is one of the most beautiful things he''s ever seen. Every so often, like a heartbeat, a pulse of green erupts in a wave to go through his body.

    Finally breaking his line of sight away from the gem-like organ, Danny can''t help but ask, "What''s an ice core? Is it something special?"

    The hand leaves Danny''s chest, returning to Vlad''s side while his other cups his chin. "I''m not terribly knowledgeable of all the abilities of an ice core, and I''ve heard they vary too, but they are rather rare; at least, more unique than my fire core."

    "I always knew I was awesome." There''s a tad of smugness with his self praise, and Vlad waves it off. "Don''t be in such a rush, you won''t be able to access a majority of your core powers until it''s completely formed."

    Danny groans, "What do you mean ''until it''s completely formed''? It''s there isn''t it?" He points to his chest, as if to add to his point.

    "Yes it''s there," Vlad begins with an eye roll, "but with Halfas like us, it takes a year after death for our core to fully form. When that happens, your growth will escalate more than it already is, and you''ll gain access to dormant powers and your lair will form in the zone."

    There''s so much new information it''s almost intimidating, but he''s getting answers to questions he didn''t even know he had, and Danny can barely believe his luck. This is what he was looking for. Someone to teach him, to show him what he should know, and what he should and shouldn''t do.

    Before Danny can ask anymore questions, Vlad begins again, "We got sidetracked there for a moment, but let''s get back on track."

    Vlad makes his way over to the computer with nimble grace, bringing up several of the files he had opened earlier. Turning around, he lifts his arms up to draw his nephews attention to the screen. "This is the portal prototype that your parents and I constructed in college. This was almost twenty years ago."

    Danny didn''t know what to say exactly, his parents had told him about the accident in sparse details. He knew it was his father''s fault, and that Jack felt so guilty about it that he not only paid for the medical bills and the hospice stay, but he paid off the student loans as well. Had Jack not been born into a rather wealthy family, no doubt he would have gone into debt. It was one of the few times Danny could say his father was being a decent human being, and not a spontaneous jackass.

    "Is that what gave you- er, turned you into a Halfa?" Danny asked.

    Vlad nods curtly, then continues, "It was a mistake on your fathers part, but he more than rectified it. A bumbling oaf he may be, but he''s a friend you want when in need."

    Vlad leaned over to touch the screen, flipping away several windows before finding the desired photos. "It gave me a rather horrible case of ecto-acne. It was mind-numbingly painful, and eventually I slipped into a coma for two years." One of the photos showed Vlad comatose in a hospital, with bandages covering his entire face and upper body. Another showed the condition he was inflicted with, presumably right after the accident, large painful looking green zits covering his face and neck, disappearing further down into his shirt.

    "Yikes."

    Unfazed, Vlad scrolls to the next page. "Yes, ''yikes'' indeed. While I was awake for it, the condition was far from comfortable. But after two years, eventually my core began forming, like yours, and I woke up."

    "Wow. I¡­ didn''t know you were in a coma for two years." Danny muttered.

    Enhanced hearing may as well have had him say it louder though. "Yes, two long years. I won''t say that I''m still not mad about missing out on two years of the what''s supposed to be the best years of our lives, but I would say this," Pink and green fire forms in his hands, fluttering wildly and giving off intense heat, "more than makes up for it, and as you know, we have more abilities than this." Vlad snuffs out the fire by closing his hand, grinning like a madman.

    Danny nods, bringing his own hands up. Electricity sparks along his fingers, "Oh yeah, I''d say so. Dying may have sucked, and those afterlife attacks blow, but the powers are too awesome to pass up." He gives a matching grin to his uncles.

    Raising an eyebrow, Vlad asks, "What''s an ''afterlife attack''?" Pausing for a moment, Vlad shortly comes to an understanding before Daniel can respond. "Do you mean stabilization?"

    "Stabilization?" Danny asks, "Is that what it''s called? I''ll admit it sounds better than what I was calling it."

    "Yes, quite." Vlad dryly responds.

    Moving on, Danny hesitantly asks: "So when did you die?"

    Without flinching, Vlad responds, "Yes. When my heart stopped, the ectoplasm formed my core, similar to what yours did in the¡­ portal. Mine was just more over time. "

    "Do you know the specific date?" He asked.

    Vlad looked at his nephew curiously, wondering why that mattered.

    Seeing the look he''s getting, Danny is quick to say, "I''m just curious."

    Vlad shrugs his shoulders, it''s not like he wasn''t going to tell him anyway. "I died on April, 29th, 1996. A little more than two years after I awoke from comatose, and now twenty-two years later, we meet." Vlad looks over to Daniel, and his tone changes to a more serious one, "The only of our kind, created by the same person."

    The odds of it happening are slim to none, but yet it did, and here they stand. Danny''s eyes dart around, looking over the whole room before they land on Vlad again. Coming to a decision, Danny asks, "Uncle Vlad¡­ will you teach me? I don''t know what I''m doing a lot of the time. I''ve picked up on fighting, gotten pretty good at it too, but there''s so much of this that I don''t understand¡­" He trails off at the end, no longer able to look at Vlad.

    It takes the older Halfa less than a second to answer. Putting his hand on Daniels shoulder, Vlad says with a smile, "Of course. That was the plan."

    Relief floods his body, and on instinct alone he hugs Vlad. The older man is surprised for a moment, and awkwardly pats Danny''s back. It''s a little difficult to do with his arms restrained like this, but he makes do.

    "Thank you." Danny mumbles.

    Danny backs up, feeling psyched and more relaxed than in a while. He''s excited for the future, for what he can do now that there''s someone who can coach him along the way. "What''s first?" He asks.

    Chuckling, Vlad responds with, "Bedtime is first."

    Sure enough, when Danny looks over to the clock on the computer screen, it displays a late 1 A.M.

    Yawning into his hand, Danny only now realizes how tired he is. It''s been a long day, and a lot has happened. Looking back at his uncle, Danny says, "Okay. I''m gonna hit the hay. We''ll continue this tomorrow, right?"

    The older man nods in agreement, "I have some things to do in the morning, but we can begin after lunch. How does that sound?"

    Danny beams a dazzling smile at him, fangs and all, "Sounds good!" Phantom overcomes Fenton, and before he takes off into the ceiling, he asks, "Uh¡­ this is the basement, right? I don''t really know where you took us."Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    "Yes Daniel, this is the basement. Just go up and you''ll be in the main foyer. I trust you know where to go from there?" He hoped his nephew didn''t have that bad of memory.

    Sticking a thumbs up, he begins to float up towards the ceiling. "Nope, I''m good. G''night!"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    When Daniel finally leaves the lab, Vlad drops down into his expensive and comfortable office chair. He sighs into his hands, still attempting to process the recent discovery. In his whole half-life, he honestly never thought he''d come across another Halfa. The odds of it happening were just so minuscule, so close to impossible, that he figured the only way he''d see another half-ghost would be when he cloned himself or had a child.

    And to find out that his own nephew had become something like him made him both happy beyond belief¡­ and infuriated beyond measure. Even though Jack''s mistake had cost him two years of his life, with everything that came with being a Halfa, Vlad couldn''t complain. His abilities allowed him to obtain a sizable start-up fund for his business, and his own abilities in the business world had snowballed it from there. It took less than a year to earn his first million, and in seven years, he had become a billionaire. With almost thirteen more years to add to that, there were few who could match his wealth.

    So in a way, thanks to Jack''s folly, he had become a billionaire. Harnessing the elements, possible immortality, flying, enhanced strength, intangibility, keener senses, superior stamina and much more. And the ladies certainly never complained, they always loved his stamina too, and he had found himself almost always enjoying his half-life.

    But for Daniel to become like him meant a lot of things. It means that he''s been exposed to ridiculous amounts of ectoplasm for a while, and based on just how quickly his body adapted and even formed a core in seconds¡­ whereas his took two years to form. In college, five years of constant exposure without much protective equipment left him with high levels of the undead energy in his system. He wouldn''t have come to any adverse side effects for years, but the portal accident that should have killed him forced a coma onto him that would eventually leave him half-dead.

    For Daniel to become a Halfa, and for it to happen so quickly¡­ The sheer level of residual ectoplasm that was in his body at the time would have been enormous. Easily five times the amount in his own body at the time of his own accident. And that leaves the question of how. How did Daniel have so much ectoplasm in his system?

    Vlad always worried over the children, especially with how scatterbrained both of their parents could be. Jack was a goof with a one track mind that could get distracted entirely too easy. He had a brilliant brain under all that buffoon, but it doesn''t change the fact that he was an airhead. Maddie was a little better than Jack, her brain was always on overdrive; thinking up new inventions or finishing calculations to her newest project.

    But her bigotry for ghosts had been off-putting in college, and it seemed to only grow as time went on. It''s suffice to say that it''s practically zealous racism at this point, and Vlad fears that a lot of that bled over to Jack after so many years together. And with Daniel in the same house as them¡­ it would be good to have the boy stay in contact with him. As much as Vlad would like to believe that some of his only friends wouldn''t do anything to Daniel, should they find out¡­ he had seen some of the recordings they had.

    It was¡­ disturbing.

    And it was that whole-hearted focus they have towards their goals that was pissing him off right now. They had forgotten about safety. Not for themselves, but for the children that lived in their house. Such simple measures as¡­ "Locking a door!"

    His fist slammed into the table, denting the metal under the extreme pressure and heat. Actual fire huffed out of his nose, like a bull blowing steam. He raised his hand up again, slamming it down with even more force. Fingers dig into the desk, easily tearing the hardy material. "A DAMN LOCK!" His voice is booming, and had his lab not been soundproofed, no doubt the whole castle would have heard.

    It takes several minutes of shaky breaths and furious finger tapping to calm himself. Getting up from his chair, Vlad walked over to the screen and quickly ordered a new desk. Better now than later.

    Vlad hadn''t been this angry in years. While he was furious after waking from the coma, at the time he calmed quickly when his friends burst into the room. After they explained everything, and Jack had literally begged on his hands and knees for forgiveness, he found it difficult to stay truly angry at them. Frustrated and a little jaded, yes, but not at all hateful.

    But this¡­ it wouldn''t do any good to keep on this track of thought. That an ''ON'' switch was placed inside the portal was infuriating. That a two-way authorization factor was installed, but left on was rage inducing. But his nephew being left in a similar state of being as his own came with mixed feelings.

    Angry that this even happened. Happy that of all the people for this to happen to, it was to one of the few people Vlad could honestly say he cared for. He was empathetic to the boy, having spent twenty years as a Halfa, Vlad knew what was in store for the boy. Years of stabilizing that could leave the strongest broken. His first death day would be difficult and tax his sanity, no doubt.

    But now there was another. Another of his kind. He wasn''t alone, and it gave the billionaire a sense of calm he''d never experienced before. There were still too many things he had to do, but now there was a new path that could get things going much faster.

    And his plans could be pushed up by decades. With Daniel at his side, what was difficult before was far easier now. Especially since Daniel''s growth would only increase. It would still take decades for the final plans to come to fruition, but now it was all practically assured that they would succeed.

    "Computer." Vlad calls out. Seconds later a monotonous neutral voice filled the silent air, "Yes, Mr. Masters?"

    Gazing up at screens, Vlad calmly said, "Bring up the files for the coming future. The next two years, to be exact. Also, create a new file called H02."

    Immediately after Vlad stopped talking the voice accepted the command. "At once, Mr. Masters." Seconds later, the virtual intelligence asked, "How do you want file H02 to interact with the other projects?"

    With a savage grin, Vlad proclaims, "Everything. Daniel is going to be an integral piece to almost all projects."

    "Everything sir?" The machine asks.

    With visions of the future, the older Halfa confidently said, "Yes. Everything."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Vague recollection tells him that he''s back in his dream. As the grand rune covered cyan doors slip open with silence, Danny''s greeted by more bright pale blue light momentarily blinding him. When his vision returns, what greets him is more ice and another set of doors. The doors he just opened close when he walks through, and runes along the walls begin to glow, startling the young man. He calms down when he remembers this is a dream.

    A slight pressure on his body notifies him that something has changed. The runes dim, and the doors in front of him swing open automatically. The hissing of air opens up to the inner hall of the castle, green flaming torches line the walls, and with sudden realization, Danny pivots on his feet to turn to the doors he just came from. "An airlock!" An airlock that uses magic¡­ what a fantastical dream! He''s never seen that in a book or comic before, so points to his own imagination for thinking this up.

    Like the exterior, the interior is made of ice, and just like the cold vacuum of space, Danny feels even more comfortable in here. Being surrounded by the cold doesn''t even faze him, and if anything, it''s calming. Deciding to get a move on, Danny lazily floats forward down the hall.

    The entrance hall, while beautiful, is a little boring to the fourteen year old. Sure, he liked art, but the statues along the walls were pretty to look at, and that''s all. Giant crystals of ice floating above hover above black pedestals, all the same, yet all are different. Just ice floating in the air. The only strange thing about them is that the ice seemed to move, like water. As if the solid was still a liquid, it confused him, but that was the only thing that seemed interesting about them.

    This continues for minutes, and Danny quickly finds himself humming a tune to follow along with his exploration. Eventually the long hallway gives way to an impressive foyer. Two large staircases split off on the sides, going up towards a higher floor. A middle staircase goes down, going who knows where.

    "An impasse." Which way to go? The last time Danny decided to go down, he was turned into a half-ghost, so maybe going up is the better option. He drops onto the ground, wanting to use the staircase the way it''s supposed to be used, instead of just floating up.

    The split staircases reconnect at the top balcony, and enter into another hallway. Danny huffs in annoyance, not wanting another boring long hall. This one is different from the last however, and the young Halfa can only mutter out a quiet, "Awesome."

    Instead of blank statues of ice lining the walls, now there are four-armed knights made of ice. They''re tall, maybe ten or eleven feet in height, and armed with two swords and two shields each. Impressive and artistic, the creator of these sculptures should be proud.

    The ceiling is a different story. Instead of chandeliers, there''re more statues going down the entire length. Hanging by their tales, monstrous gargoyles stare down at him with intimidating glares and stares. Four glowing eyes, three horns, and with the heads of lions, these ice creatures are some of the most impressive things he''s seen yet. Danny flies up to get a better look, and with closer inspection, finds the things have spikes lining their backs like a certain kaiju. "Cool, but creepy. Sam would love this place."

    Ignoring the large amounts of spiked gates that sections the halls, Danny flies with a little more speed than before. Not to say the ice statues weren''t cool to look at, but once he''s seen one, he''s seen them all. Eventually the long hallway gives way to a cross section. A large rune covered door directly in front of him with two large statues for guards is the first thing in his sight, and the splitting halls that go left and right are noticed seconds later.

    These new ice guards, towering easily over twenty feet in height, are the most impressive ones yet. Black ice for skin, their durability looks even more formidable than any he''s seen so far. Gothic armor with red runes covering the entirety of the set, the two gate guards look like last bosses rather than the mini''s before the final fight. A long draconic snout with many sharp looking teeth is in place of a normal head, and their four glowing green and red eyes would make a normal person soil themselves. Large shields that can cover their massive height adorn one long arm, tower shields maybe? The other arm holds an impressive executioner sword.

    Danny looks right, down one of the halls. He can see some doors down there, and the long walkway eventually curves around out of sight. To the left is a similar scene, more doors, all symmetrical to the hall on the right, and the curve matches the bend on the other side. "Which way to go~"

    He scratches his head in thought, unable to choose where to explore next. Shrugging his shoulders, Danny decides to save what is most likely the throne room for last. That''s obviously where the coup de grace is, and since this is his dream, there''s no need to rush it for now.

    With the decision narrowed down to two, Danny forms ectoplasm into the shape of a small coin. Small precision like this is normally more difficult, but perhaps because he''s in a dream, it''s never been easier. Now armed with a perfect replica of a quarter, Danny flips it into the air. Enhanced reflexes make it easy to easily catch the coin. Silently, the Halfa mutters, "Heads for right, tails for left."

    Opening his hands shows him heads, "Well, right it is." He tosses the coin behind him, allowing it to dissipate into the air. Humming another tune, Danny begins his trek. It doesn''t take long to reach the first door, it''s smaller than a lot of the other grandiose ones he''s seen so far, being of actual normal height.

    Danny pushes the doors open with ease, giving sight to what looks like a¡­ "Dining room?" A large table of ice, easily able to seat thirty or more people sets in the middle. The respective chairs have purple and black cushions on them, and even though the chairs themselves are made of ice, they still look really comfortable. Large frozen chandeliers follow along the table in symmetry on the ceiling, glowing green crystals dangle down instead of hanging torches. It gives the room a comfortable ambiance, but it''s all really extravagant nonetheless. Across the room, rests another door. A quick peek shows him that it''s a kitchen of some kind, though his interest is immediately lost.

    Another door on the side reveals bathrooms, next to it a custodial closet, and on the other wall a storage room. More tables, chairs, table clothes, dishes and glasses. "What is this? The event room?"

    Utterly bored with the room, Danny quickly floats back to the door he came in from. When he pushes it open, he hears a voice instead of the quiet swing of the door.

    "Wake up little badger." The world is gone, and soon replaced with black. Almost painfully, Danny cracks his eyes open in confusion and annoyance. Looking up, his eyes land on the blue skinned figure that woke him. "Uncle Vlad? What are you doing here? What time is it?"

    With an eerie grin, the older Halfa responds with, "Why, it''s five in the morning Daniel. The perfect time for training!" The only response the man got was a groan of annoyance from his younger charge.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Early in the morning, and Jazz Fenton is already up and about. She was surprised to see her brother up before her, but he''s been an early riser recently. Although she wanted to find her uncle, he was gone as well, so now she''s forced to have breakfast with her parents.

    Alone.

    God, she really didn''t want to do that.

    If she wasn''t so hungry, she''d just skip breakfast for the library. But she wasn''t Jack''s daughter for nothing, and one of the few things she''s inherited from his genes would be her appetite. Nothing quite as close to his own, but she can still pack away quite a bit.

    As her stomach rumbled, the oldest Fenton sibling looked around the lavish castle mansion. "I really need to have a talk with Uncle Vlad. It can''t be healthy to have this much green and gold around."

    The walls, the floors, the ceiling, and even the windows were a forest green and gold yellow. "Ugh." As someone who''s always been more of an academic, Jazz has never been able to understand the fascination with sports. Much less football, and with a majority of the school bullies who pick on Danny being from the football team, a sense of dislike has cropped up for the sport in general. Vlad would call blasphemy, but the experiences in life is what shapes a person''s personality.

    The dining room comes into sight shortly after, and upon opening it, she''s greeted to the sight of her parents. Jack is working on some new invention at the table, while her mother is practically nodding off, and for the life of her, Jazz feels like she''s going to blow a gasket.

    How many times were they going to do this? They promised it wouldn''t happen again, and look what happens! Sure, it wasn''t their house or their dining room table, but seriously? Doing this in their uncle''s house? Around far more expensive things than halfway decent wallpaper?

    Looking up, her mother calls out, "Good morning sweetie. Did you sleep well?"

    With a frown on her face, Jazz nods. Before she can say anything about their poorly timed innovations, her father speaks up. "Jazzie-pants! Come over and take a look at this baby!" Jack holds up what looks like a belt, wires run all along the thing, and there are several vials of ectoplasm going through the whole thing.

    Jazzes face scrunches up in anger, what the hell were her parents thinking doing this now? This wasn''t the time, nor the place. "I call it the Fenton Specter Deflector!"

    Ignoring her steadily declining mood, Jack slings his hand over her shoulder. Dangling the incomplete invention in front of her, he waves it across her field of vision. "It came to me in a dream, and I just had to build it. It''ll be so cool! Once it''s complete, you and Dann-o will never have to worry about those disgusting ghosts coming after you again!"

    Having had enough, Jazz slaps the thing away from her father''s hand. Maddie moves to get up, already seeing the upcoming argument, and walks over to her husband. "Get that away from me! What the hell do you guys think you''re doing?!"

    Confused, Jack asks, "What''s wrong? You don''t like the name?"

    Maddie puts a hand on his shoulder, "No Jack, she''s mad because you''re working on inventions at the dining room table again." The mother of the family turns to her daughter, and apologizes. "I''m sorry sweetie, it completely slipped my mind."

    She wasn''t going to let this drop though. "We''re on vacation! I mean, come on! You broke your promise to me, again, and you''re doing it in someone else''s home!" How could they not see this? These were dangerous chemicals or elements or whatever they were, and they''re working with them where people eat. It''s a miracle her and Danny survived this long.

    Sighing into her hand, Maddie rubbed her face in annoyance. It was too early for this. She was too tired, and without her coffee, she was barely awake. A quick look at her watch told her that it wasn''t even seven yet, a little later than the parents normally wake up, but like Jazz said, they were on vacation. They could afford to sleep in for at least an hour.

    "Jasmine, ignoring your use of crass language and rude behavior towards your parents, you are right." Jack looks over at his wife in panic, inventing things is their shtick. Their thing. It''s his own hobby and job, and it''s one of the most fun things to do. This is his way of relaxing.

    Seeing the look her husband is giving her, she decides to put her foot down. "Jack, she''s right. I''m barely awake and I can tell you that this is our mistake. We especially shouldn''t be doing this in Vlad''s house. What if we damaged it?" Her gaze returns to her daughter, "Jazz, could we move on from this for now? I''ll try and keep a tighter leash on him, so for now, please?"

    Jazz keeps her glare up, directing it at her father now. Jack looks back at his wife, then to his daughter. He sighs and slumps his shoulders, it wasn''t like there weren''t other things he could do here. "Fine, you win. I promise I won''t tinker with any more of my to- I mean inventions! I won''t do it for the rest of the trip, sound good princess?"

    Not at all satisfied, Jazz wants to keep arguing, but anymore than this and it''ll be pointless. She''s already got what she wanted, the only thing left to see is if they break this promise too. She scratches her head and huffs in frustration, "Whatever." She bites out, "But if you break your promise again! I''ll never call you mom or dad again. For the rest of our lives, you''ll be Jack and Maddie Fenton me, and I promise you I''ll get Danny on board with this as well."

    The threat seems to have had the desired effect, if the looks of fear on Jack and Maddies face are anything to go by. Feeling a little bit better, Jazz takes her seat away from her kooky parents and opens up her book. Flipping through the pages, she finds where she left off and dives back into the world of psychology. Specifically, Forensic Psychology, the new edition that Amity Parks library won''t be getting for another six months.

    Seeing her daughter going off to do her own thing, Maddie turns to her husband and slaps his shoulder. "Hey! What was that for?"

    Maddie rolls her eyes, "No more inventions or tinkering until the vacation ends, got it?" Jack shakes his head in disbelief, unable to believe what he''s hearing.

    "But- but- Maaaaadz! Come o-" The Fenton matriarch cuts her husband off with a no-nonsense tone. "But nothing Jack. She''s right, and if you want to whine about it anymore, then I''m taking away your fudge and ham." There was no way she would have her daughter addressing her on a first name basis, it''s mom and dad or bust.

    Jack gasps in horror, only now realizing just how serious the situation is. "Not the ham." He whispers weakly. His wife ignores him and chooses instead to sit back down and wait for her coffee.

    He had lost this argument and had barely been able to say anything in his defense. Begrudgingly, he picked up his equipment, tools and all, and walked back to put it away in the FRV. Through the empty halls, Jack mumbles under his breath, "And the morning started out so well too."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    With panicked practice that he didn''t really have, a green energy shield forms around him. Fire roars over the energy dome, and in an effort to capitalize on the lack of vision from his teacher, Danny explodes forward. Electricity covers both arms, flowing into the ecto-blast forming in both hands.

    "Smart tactic, my boy." A voice from behind calls out. Although he wasn''t expecting it to work according to plan, Danny at least thought he''d get a hit in this time. A blast flies backwards into the duplicate before it can raise a shield, "But you''ll have to try better than that." This time Vlad''s voice comes from the front.

    A whip of fire cleaves through the electrified blast the second it''s fired, taking a majority of the energy with, but a resounding explosion forces Danny to the side through sheer concussive force. Now facing against the real Plasmius, Danny springs forward once again, ecto-claws forming in an instant. He extends the claws, making them as long as a Bowie knife. Pushing more power into the attack, the younger Halfa swiped early, sending a wave of five claws at Vlad. The attack slams into an ecto-constructed sword, pushing the older man back, but still not actually landing a hit on him.

    "You told me you''re more of a hands on learner, little badger." Vlad taunted. The way his nephew grit his teeth in frustration was amusing, but the whip of ecto energy flung at him suddenly was not. But that was all it was, and after ducking under it with a casual adjustment in mid-air, Vlad had to pull up an emergency shield when another whip came upon him. This one made of electricity, it crackled through the air and left sporadic scorch marks on the white floors of the training room.

    Vlad grinned in excitement, "Good! Good! You were telling the truth Daniel. You really do excel on the fly." The older man waved his hand in front of him, and eight balls of ectoplasm formed and expanded at great speeds. Having a bad feeling about those, Danny took off away from him. Ecto-rays, far more powerful than what Danny could do in that small amount of time fired off all at once. The energy beams weaved in random pathways, all leading and tracking the young man''s moving form.

    Danny''s eyes widened in surprise, "What the hell?!" Two rays speed up, and he turns intangible, letting the beams fly through. His energy whips dissipate to save energy. The rays crash into the wall, burning it, but the material holds strong. "How did you do that?!" Three more beams descended upon him, and he used an ecto-shield to block the strikes, the raw energy behind the attacks pushing him back.

    Plasmius laughs, as if in good fun, "Practice my boy. Years and years of practice. You will find that you don''t need to just use your hands for ecto-manipulation." As if to prove his point, the remaining rays bob and weave towards the ghost child. "Thought alone will do."

    The first hit breaks the shield, dissipating immediately after. The second is barely dodged, and Danny can feel the heat radiating from the pink energy attack. "Argh!" The third slams into his side, mid roll, and he''s sent tumbling down into the ground. The resounding thud is loud, especially in the oddly quiet moment of the spar.

    With his back to Vlad, Danny doesn''t move, startling the older man. Vlad lands and quickly kneels next to Danny''s prone form, "Daniel? Are you okay?" His hand reached forward and grabbed the younger Halfa''s shoulder, "Daniel?"

    Going with the momentum, Danny opens his mouth wide and faces his uncle. In between his fangs is a small ball of unstable ectoplasm, crackling wildly and making his tongue ridiculously uncomfortable. Vlad has no time to react when the attack is released point blank, throwing him back to the other side of the wall. The attack fizzles out, leaving a cloud of green smoke from the impact on the older half-ghost. Despite the pain and discomfort, Danny has a shit-eating grin plastered onto his face, all too happy to finally land a hit. The last two hours of taunting was bitingly annoying, and it felt way too good to finally get a small victory.

    Vlad walks out of the smoke, completely unharmed and clapping with glee. "Marvelous. I had no idea you could harness unstable energy already. You''re even further along than I thought."

    Danny falls onto his back, but gives the man a thumbs up. "Learned it from watching the more mindless ghosts do it. It took a while, and taking the hits hurt when they landed, but I''ve gotten better at it recently."

    As Plasmius floats closer, he can''t hide his surprise. "Watching? You learned how to do that from watching other creatures do it?" If that was true, then Daniel was a completely different kind of genius than his parents.

    "Yeah," Danny starts, "actually, that''s how I learned how to use an ecto-shield. Saw you do it, and I finally figured out what I was doing wrong." He sits up and lightly rubs his side, hissing at the biting sting he feels.

    Left astounded, he can only admit his true thoughts, "Fascinating." Daniel was indeed a prodigy, but not in the human mind like his sister. Not a formula and calculation whiz like his mother, and as far as he could see, not an engineering genius like his father. No, Daniel had something a far more different type of genius than his family.

    "You''re a combat prodigy." Vlad states. Learning from watching, copying down skills on the very first sight of seeing it done¡­ what would his nephew be able to achieve in the years to come? Although he himself was quite apt at the art of war, it had taken him years to be completely comfortable in a fight, and yet Daniel has adapted in months.

    And he was flourishing. The boy didn''t even know just how well he was doing.

    "I''m a what?"

    Vlad straightens his back, using telekinesis to levitate his nephew back to a standing position. "Your family is full of geniuses, son. Can you deny that?"

    Danny paused and looked up at the only other of his kind. His face scrunched in thought, and after a solid minute hesitantly responds. "Well, my dad might be debatable, but my mom and sister for sure."

    "And what about you?" Plasmius asked.

    Confused, Phantom responded, "What about me? I''m not super smart like them, I get A''s and B''s, not just A''s."

    Vlad chuckled in amusement, "You are smart Daniel, never sell yourself short on that." He kneeled down and put his hand onto his nephew''s wound.

    Danny hisses in pain, but before he can protest, Vlad''s hand glows pink and the pain begins to fade. Looking down, the young man is shocked to see his burn rapidly healing.

    "You, Daniel, are not an intellectual genius like your mother or sibling. Nor are you a technical genius like either of your parents. Incredibly smart yes, but no genius." Danny frowns at what seems like blatant insults.

    "Gee, thanks. Appreciate the vote of confidence there." He sarcastically replies.

    The pain is fully gone, and looking down Danny can see a small scar where the initial impact landed. ''Wow. That''s quick.''

    Ignoring the sarcasm, Vlad continues. "You''re a hands on learner Daniel, like you said. But I don''t think you know just how true that statement is." Seeing that he has his full attention, he keeps going. "You''re a combative genius Daniel. Not just anyone can copy a move by watching. It''s almost impossible to do otherwise. Sure, ecto-shields aren''t the most advanced technique, but it''s still difficult to learn without instruction. Trust me, I would know. And handling, harnessing, and actually using unstable ectoplasm as an attack so soon after you died is nothing short of astounding."

    Danny takes a step back in shock, having never been praised so much. His face begins to tinge a shade of green, but Vlad wasn''t done yet. "When it comes to fighting, you just get it. All on your own, you''ve figured out how to use your powers. Flight, invisibility, intangibility, spectral manipulation, ecto-manipulation, electrokinesis, and you have even been showing signs of developing even more new powers."

    Perking up at the mention of even more powers, Danny can''t help it when he eagerly asks, "What powers?"

    Vlad chuckles at the tone his nephew uses. "I''ve been watching some of your fights that have been recorded." He starts walking off towards the doors, and beckons his apprentice to follow. "In that fight with the meat monster, you displayed the beginnings of several powers. From what I saw, in your anger and frustration, you exploded with energy, yes?"

    Danny rubs the back of his neck sheepishly, "Well, I was kinda fed up at that point. The fight was stupid to begin with, and fighting an old lady-turned meat monster was dumb as well. The whole fight just wasn''t very appealing, and the reason behind it was asinine."

    Out of curiosity, Vlad asks, "What was it about?"

    Frowning at the memory, the young man bitterly responds, "Over the damn lunch menu." Seeing the look he was getting, Danny quickly adds, "Seriously, over a change in the lunch menu. I''m not kidding you."

    "¡­ Uh-huh. Definitely out there for one of the more preposterous reasons."

    Shaking his head, the billionaire focuses his mind to get back on topic. "Moving on, I saw the early stages of two powers." The doors automatically open, allowing the two Halfa''s entry into the lab. A remote flies to Vlad''s hand and he turns one of the many screens on with it.

    Danny recognizes the video on screen, "Hey, Tucker recorded this."

    "Tucker?"

    "My friend. Come on, you don''t remember him? I thought you saw him the last time you visited?" Danny complained.

    Plasmius fades from view and returns to Masters, "Please Daniel, I have a lot going on in my half-life, far too much to remember a boy I met once."

    Danny had to give the man that, as a business man of Vlad''s stature, it''s understandable. "But I do remember the boy. The african-american boy that always wore the ugly beret, right?"

    Chuckling a bit at his friends expense, Danny answered, "Yeah, that''s the one."

    Silence fills the room momentarily, and before Danny can say anything, Vlad directs his attention to the video on screen. "Watch here Daniel, see if you notice anything."

    Looking closer, the younger Halfa sees himself being thrashed by the meat monster. Annoyance surfaces momentarily at the memory, but it''s gone when the Danny on screen explodes in anger. There''s a bright flash for a moment, but when it fades quickly Danny quickly sees one of the powers. On his shoulders and back, small licks of green and white fire momentarily appear on his body, but that''s all he sees. "Okay, I see a little fire on my body, so pyrokinesis?"

    Masters nods his head, "There''s one, can you guess the next?"

    Rewatching the clip didn''t really help figuring it out, the only thing that seemed to be different from his usual use of powers is the flash. "Okay, I give. Is it the flash of light?"

    Again, Vlad nods in affirmation. "You would be correct, but can you figure out what manifestation of power that is?"

    Danny shakes his head in response, "No, I don''t get it. What''s it supposed to be?"

    Sighing in annoyance, Vlad moves on to explain. "Photokinesis Daniel. The ability to manipulate light." He raises a hand to the young man, "Even now, you''re passively releasing light. It''s a very rare ability, but a powerful one."

    Happy and a little confused, Danny voices his thoughts, "How is it a powerful ability? It''s just light right?"

    "Are you sure you get A''s and B''s?" Vlad asked.

    Feeling insulted, Danny heatedly snaps back. "What''s that supposed to mean?"

    Vlad ignores his nephews glare, "It''s manipulating light Daniel. How do you not get it? High powered lasers, wide-ranged invisibility, illusions, ''light speed'' possibilities? It''s a far more exciting power than pyrokinesis, though that may be a more personal opinion."

    He hadn''t thought of that. Now explained, the power sounded amazing. Particularly the light speed part. Danny''s head tilts down in thought, his mind going through everything he could do with the powers. His dream of space exploration was looking even brighter, and his newfound ability to manipulate light was the reason. "Okay. You win. It''s a badass power."

    The older man frowned, "Language son. There''s no reason to curse."

    Moving on, Danny flexes his hands a little, attempting to bring the power out. After a minute and no success, "What gives?" He said.

    "Haha! Daniel, I said that you''re developing these powers, not that you have them currently." Vlad waves his hand and several more screens turn on, each displaying a list of sorts. It''s only now that Danny sees that the entire wall is lined with screens. "Your ability to manipulate fire is surprising, especially considering you have an ice core. It will most likely be the most difficult power to improve upon, mainly because it contradicts your core."

    The seat a few feet away glows green and rolls across the floor. Vlad takes his seat behind his desk and types away on his keyboard. "These are ways you can harness and practice the powers. It''s not like there''s a guide for these, but honestly, fan websites for superpowers actually have rather great suggestions."

    "Hold on." Danny raised his hand up, "You''re telling me you got these from google?"

    It''s a struggle not to smirk at the look he''s getting, but the billionaire manages, "Yes. I do not have photokinesis myself, and while I can manipulate fire, it''s entirely natural for me with my core. You''re going to struggle Daniel, and while I can instruct and guide you with things like duplication and teleportation, I will be of no real help with Photo and cryokinesis. I''ll help where I can, show you some tips and tricks with pyrokinesis, but I can only go so far in unfamiliar territory."

    The seat spins around suddenly, and Vlad is now facing his nephew. "Well, we''ve had our spar, and I can see how this training is going to go, somewhat. Is there anything that you wish to learn specifically?"

    It''s all a bit of an information overload, there''s so much to think about at once. Still, Danny knew what to ask. "How long do you think duplication will take? It seems like the most useful power."

    "Oh, it is." Vlad smugly responds. "Personally I can split into over one-hundred copies, but that would leave me incredibly weak. As for how long¡­ at your rate, maybe a year or two. It''s a difficult power to grasp."

    Danny hums in thought, before asking, "What will take the least amount of time?"

    An eyebrow rose in interest, and it doesn''t take Vlad long to answer. "At your level¡­ I would say ocular application of ecto-manipulation."

    A blank stare is all the older man gets. "What?"

    Masters sighed in annoyance, "Eye beams, little badger. Eye beams."

    Feeling a little embarrassed, Danny sheepishly responds, "Oh! Well, why didn''t you say so?"

    "I did." The elder Halfa rolled his eyes, but moved onto the next topic. "Well, we have a goal for now. But at the moment, I want to run some tests if that''s alright with you?"

    Although hesitant, Danny has trusted his uncle for years, and now wasn''t a reason to start. "Sure, I guess¡­ but why?"

    Standing up, he motioned for Daniel to follow him. "Because, while we are both Halfa''s, the way we came to this unusual state of being is different. I want to see exactly how different we are."

    Vlad lifts his hand towards a seat, prompting Danny to take it. He hops on the stool and turns back to Fenton. "Okay. That makes sense, sorta."

    "Good. There are quite a few tests to do, but it should be over by lunch." Vlad said.

    Danny quickly stood up, "What?! Lunch?!" Vlad just waves it off by laughing, "Yes Daniel, by lunch. It''s better now, than later. The more we know, the better we can focus on your development."

    Begrudgingly, Danny sits down. "Fine." He said, but adds on, "Can we at least get something to eat? We kinda skipped breakfast."

    As if just remembering, Vlad snaps his fingers. "I knew I was forgetting something." A duplicate split from him while he was still in human form, and flew up to the ceiling.

    "There we go¡­ now, where were we?" The smile Vlad put on didn''t comfort Danny at all.

 Chapter 17

    Chapter 17: Reunion Revelations

    The following week had come and gone, and the college reunion was now about to begin. Danny had to admit, with tailor-made suits, his parents actually looked respectable in a formal setting. With Jack''s large stature, it''s not easy to find business clothes like the black and grey suit he wore, but it did make him look rather professional to the people attending, especially with the Reed Richards style graying he had going on. If only something could be done about his boisterous, child-like personality, then his big build would actually look good in the suit..

    His mother had chosen to go with a teal dress, most likely because like her hazmat suit, teal was her favorite color. The difference between Maddie and her husband is that unlike Jack, she had manners and knew when to use them. Jack even had the gall to call his old classmate, Harriet Chin, ''Harry Chin''. It was mortifying to be his son at that moment, and Maddie had blushed in embarrassment and profusely apologized to her college friend. A tactical retreat was necessary at that point.

    Danny had promptly left, deciding it better to try and find his sister and hang out with her. He kept the suit on, partly because he thought he looked good in it, and another part of it was that he never got to wear nice clothes like these. The black and blue suit jacket fit like a glove, and the undershirt and vest were made of the finest materials, and were probably the most comfortable thing he owns. It''s soft as hell, and it breathes like a lung.

    As he walked down the hall, Danny''s mind wandered over the past week. He had done a lot. It took two days to learn how to use ocular blasts. There was a downside Vlad hadn''t told him about it though. It''s not comfortable at all to fire energy through your eyeballs. It felt like having a sunburn on his eyes. After using them the first time, he had even gone blind for a few minutes, much to Vlads amusement. Even now, after days of more practice, they still stung a little, but his uncle had assured him that the side effect would fade.

    That wasn''t the only thing practiced. Vlad had shown him just about everything he could do, and it was a¡­ humbling experience to see the sheer skill the older man had. The difference between them is vast. Vlad could manipulate ectoplasm to such a fine degree, with such in-depth finesse, that when he constructed a rifle out of the energy, he actually threaded the barrel. Serial numbers above the trigger, bolts had threads, firing mechanism actually worked, the trigger and spring worked in tandem, and the final product was a completed AK-74. It was so life-like, that if it wasn''t glowing pink, it could be suspected for an actual firearm, and not an energy construct. Every tiny detail was put on there, and since then, Danny had come to respect the man''s skills with his powers far more.

    Respect.

    It''s not an easy feat to respect something, Danny realized. As dumb as it sounds, he could be impressed, think something''s cool and awesome, or he could be absolutely stunned, but respecting something or someone took time. Danny respected himself, his friends, his mother''s intellect, his sister''s intuition and to a certain degree, he respected his father''s technical skills. Even though it killed him. Danny respects space, the planets beyond, cosmic forces unseen, and the vast void of infinity just as much as his friends and family. There aren''t many people outside of immediate family and friends that earn his respect though. Mr. Lancer is a smart man, and he''s lenient in class and watches out for students as well; he had earned at least a fair amount of regard from the young man.

    And to Danny''s surprise, Vlad had earned more respect than any of them. His business alone was a prominent figure in the world, compared only to enterprises like Wayne Industries and Lexcorp, and the sheer amount of money the man had at his fingertips was frightening. But there''s no one else in the world like them, no one else who''s half-dead, and having been a hybrid for twenty years, the man had ample time to harness his abilities.

    Clearly, that wasn''t for naught.

    Pyrokinesis, electrokinesis, telekinesis, augmented strength, enhanced speed and reflexes, those are all things the man could do with astounding levels of control. And he had even more powers that impressed the young Halfa. Umbrakinesis is apparently a thing, and his uncle could use the ability to do things he''s never seen. It was the reason why he didn''t glow like him or other ghosts. Vlad passively absorbed light into his form, whereas Danny unconsciously radiated light, and normal ghosts were just beings made entirely of ectoplasm. It was unnerving to see shadows come to life, but Vlad had assured Danny that while it was a rare and rather taxing power, it wasn''t impossible to find others that had it.

    In his time as a half-ghost, Vlad had grown, flourished, and advanced faster than normal ghosts. That was apparently a perk of being a Halfa, one that he himself has. He had explained it in detail, but the simple explanation was that the life in him fueled the dead. His ghost half didn''t eat away at his living half, and the easiest comparison Danny had thought of was that Fenton was like an XP boost to Phantom. And in return, Phantom was a buff to Fenton, which explained why his human side was getting stronger as well.

    This was a whole new experience to Danny, being mentored like this. He never had a need for tutors before, and any help he got from Jazz were simple explanations on how formulas worked. But Vlad gave him tips on how to properly use his powers. He showed him how to make ectoplasmic manipulation more efficient. Gave a different mindset when turning intangible that made it so much easier, and explored the limitations of his invisibility and how to properly use it.

    Then there was overshadowing. It''s hands down the creepiest power Danny has, and for good reason. It basically amounted to possession. Vlad had shown him how to do it, and it summed up to turning intangible and overpowering someone''s will with their own. Which was apparently an easy feat for Halfas'' and ghosts in general. It''s a little hard for the living to out-will a being who defied death and came back to life, and that doubles for those who died but continued to live. As Vlad had put it, ''If death couldn''t overpower our will to live, what can a human do to overcome what is basically death-defying?''

    To be honest, the sheer amount of power he was setting up for himself was starting to scare him. It excited him, yes, but Danny''s been paying attention to the world. Metahumans were coming out of the woodwork left, right, and center. And they normally only had one or two powers. Danny had, at the moment, eleven and according to Vlad, those would only continue to grow. Those were just the base powers, and he wasn''t counting the ways he could combine them to further enhance his firepower, or the unique applications that could be done with them.

    Danny sighed and closed his eyes as he continued his walk through the castle. This was getting surreal, but fun all at the same time. But his old life was getting further and further away. He wasn''t blind to it, Danny could see that he was pushing away his personal life in favor of his¡­ afterlife? And how could he not? This was all comic book level stuff, and he absolutely loved it¡­ aside from the pain. He hated that, but no one ever said that being a hero was easy.

    One thing that had been worrying the young Halfa was¡­ what if he fully died? What if his ghost half eventually took over his human half? But Vlads'' existence at the moment, that even after two full decades of being a Halfa, he was still human, seemingly blew that worry away. It''s like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, and ever since the first night of his¡­ apprenticeship, he had decompressed considerably. Even with all the training, it was fun and relaxing, and knowing that he had another week of it made him both happy and sad.

    Danny''s truly been enjoying his stay here, and he''s had vast improvements with the use of his powers. He even knows of several that he''s going to develop, and with that knowledge alone, he can prepare for them! But he''s sad because he really doesn''t want it to end. Because immediately after this, he''ll go back to ghost fighting, and he knows for a fact¡­ that there''s practically going to be a horde waiting for him when he gets there. "Tsk." That''s going to be so fun to deal with.

    When he turned a corner, Danny paused to remember where he was. If his sister was still in the theater, then he was¡­ still two floor downs. Although annoying, he continued on his way in his human form. One of the things Vlad had been teaching him was to not forget to be human. He stressed it, and put emphasis on the half of Halfa. According to him, they''re both human and ghost, and it''s important not to neglect one half over the other. And Danny was taking his advice to heart, especially since he''s spent so much time as Phantom lately, instead of Fenton.

    The weight in his coat pocket caught his attention, and it took a few seconds to retrieve it from the inside of the jacket. A small orb the size of a half dollar, green in color, and pulsating slightly. A core. The same trophies he''s been collecting from his ghost fights. Danny didn''t know why he was collecting them initially, but it had felt instinctual. Like he needed to, like it was essential, but he didn''t know why¡­ until two days ago.

    He still hadn''t tried it yet. It was a little disconcerting to basically eat the heart of another creature, even if that creature had already died once. Actually, maybe that made it worse. Vlad had explained that eating the cores of ghosts would give him a small boost in power, nothing immediate unless the ghost the core came from was really powerful, but a power boos all the same. There was an attraction to the core that went previously unexplained, but now, it seemed his fangs really did have a purpose. Halfa''s are similar to vampires for ghosts apparently, and Danny promptly stopped his uncle when he started going into detail about how kinky the ghostly ladies found it.

    That was not something he wanted to hear.

    Nevertheless, his mind debated. It said ''no'' on the sheer principle that the core came from an undead, and that he shouldn''t put strange things in his mouth. That made sense, the rational side of his brain concluded, but no one ever said getting stronger didn''t come without sacrifices. But how much was he willing to sacrifice? Already half dead, his high school life set up to be ruined, social life destroyed years prior, and his trust in his family and friends were already being tested. Rather, seeing as how he couldn''t tell them about his death, he already couldn''t trust them 100%.

    That seemed to make up his mind. With so much already sacrificed¡­ his life, his social life, his comfort, his trust¡­ What was one more thing? He flicked the small core in his hand up into the air, caught it, then popped it into his mouth as he rounded a corner. His fangs pierced the small orb of power, and the condensed ectoplasm burst into his mouth with a startling amount. Danny flinched at the feeling, his tongue tingles and his teeth felt like he was biting down on electricity.

    Then a feeling of lightness came over him.

    It''s comfortable, relaxing, and invigorating all at the same time. The taste of core ectoplasm wasn''t as nasty as he thought it would be. Actually, it tasted sour, but a little sweet. Like an airheads candy. When the energy trickled down his throat, his core swelled in power and glee, pulsing erratically through his body. Danny had to lean on the wall to maintain his sense of balance when he stumbled, and small sparks of green energy danced along his body. His eyes flashed back and forth from acid green to ice blue. Electricity flickered from his fangs, going out of his panting open mouth, and giving small shocks to his lips that he barely registered. Green fire sparked along his hands momentarily, but went out in seconds, and his breath was an icy cold that left vapor clouds with each exhale.

    Then it ended, and reality returned to him.

    "Wh-... what the hell?" He barely muttered. That was¡­ a rush like no other. It lasted maybe ten seconds, but it felt so much longer. He swallowed nervously, not entirely sure how to feel about what happened.

    Danny looked down at his hands, flexing them and testing manifestation. It didn''t seem any easier, he didn''t feel any more powerful. He felt a little energized, yes, but not supercharged. Maybe he should have asked Vlad more questions about it, instead of trying to coast by on the topic. It made him uncomfortable, but it was something that he needs to know since it pertains to being a Halfa.

    Danny took a moment to collect himself, he straightened his suit, fixed his tie, and brushed his pants off. A quick look around told him that no one was around to see¡­ whatever just happened, and then he was on his way. Maybe he could catch the last half of whatever movie Jazz was watching.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The party''s in full swing, the music, even if a little old fashioned, was enjoyable to the attendees, and Vlad is more than satisfied with his meticulous efforts. People are impressed, they''re having fun, and no doubt his reputation will go up with this. As usual. Jack''s being restrained by both him and Maddie, on multiple occasions, and while the little¡­ mishap with Harriet was unfortunate, she didn''t seem to mind too much. Maybe she was used to his antics since they had dated in college, though if memory serves, that amounted to three or four dates, tops, before she couldn''t stand it anymore.

    Truthfully, Vlad barely recognized these people. None of them were actual friends, hell, none of them had even visited him when he was in a coma, but they were invited nonetheless. It was a college reunion after all, it would seem as if he was singling out these people if he hadn''t invited them. And while he didn''t particularly like them, he didn''t hate them either. They were¡­ neutral, he supposed.

    No, no, it''s more like¡­

    They just didn''t matter. Like specks of dirt. A cold thought for sure, but it was true, and Vlad didn''t particularly care. The only reason he knew their names was because he graduated with them, despite the coma. That, and he had read over the invitation list when he sent it.

    "So, Masters, how long till you finally get the Packers?" A twitch of his lips was all that showed his irritation visibly, and the sheep in front of him didn''t seem to notice, too focused on the glass of champagne in his hand. There weren''t many things that could truly piss off the older half-ghost, but this man had somehow done it. Yes, he was still sore that he didn''t own the team. Why couldn''t they understand that he could ascend the team to permanent glory and everlasting Super Bowl victories.

    If only they sold him the team. Green Bay Packers, Inc. took pride in being the Packers being the only publicly owned franchise in the NFL. That meant that they wouldn''t sell him the team, no matter how much he offered. Not even providing scholarships for the entire city of Green Bay would sway them, much to his annoyance. He was starting to think that possession might be in order soon¡­

    Still, this was a public event, and while most knew not to bring up that obvious¡­ sore subject, this man had apparently had too much to drink. So Vlad smiled, and laughed it off. "Soon, soon. I''ve made many offers, but it will be mine. Eventually." And he really did believe that, even if he bit out the last part.

    Before the man in front of him could annoy Vlad anymore, the sight of his only actual friends caught his eye. As usual, Jack was stalking the buffet table, no doubt going for his third, possibly fourth, helping. There were a few people nearby, but the large man didn''t seem to pay attention to them. His wife was off to the side, at the other end of the table, talking to Harriet Chin. Vlad frowned at the rather¡­ insulting nickname his friend had for her, it wasn''t flattering, and was honestly juvenile. Then again¡­ Jack was rather childish.

    After bidding a quick farewell to- Jim? Tim? One of the two, he didn''t care now or ever, and the man quickly followed after a passing waiter to drown himself in more high quality alcohol. It didn''t take long to make his way over towards his friend, and he was rather pleased that Jack seemed to be alone. There were a few questions that he needed answered, especially concerning Daniels ridiculous levels of residual ectoplasm in his body. It''s a good thing that it was actually there, his nephew would have died most likely without it, but the matter still stands. The young teenager would have had very adverse effects in the coming years with the amount that was in his body.

    "Jack!" Vlad called.

    The large man turned, mouth full of horderves, and quickly swallowed it all and grinned. "Vladdie! Great party, my man!"

    Surely, had he not been a Halfa, the large pats on the back would have knocked the wind out of him. They had in college, but a far, far more durable body now allowed him to easily shrug off the hits. "Thank you, Jack."

    Vlad paused for a moment, looking around to the people around him. They had a wide berth, whether that''s because the party goers were unconsciously being courteous to their host, or because the large frame of the Fenton beside him warranted it, he didn''t know. But with a space of almost six feet between them and the crowd, and Maddie not here to stop Jack from spewing something he shouldn''t, Vlad decided now was the time to ask some questions. Social events like these can be good times to harvest information, even if only gossip and rumors.

    "Old friend, I have some questions, and I''d appreciate it if you answered them." Vlad gestured him closer, the three foot gap closed to one, and he said, "And it would be best if this was kept quiet, so no loud boasting, please."

    Although confused, Jack nodded along. "Sure thing, ask away!"

    As Jack stuffed his face once again, Vlad took a moment to think of how he wanted to phrase this that aroused the least suspicion, but decided that he didn''t need to. Both Jack and Maddie knew that he continued his research by himself, although they probably don''t know just how much further ahead he is of them, neither blamed him for it, and they even had several pieces of equipment he made in their lab. Their own portal uses the superconducting ectoplasmic coils, as well as the ectoplasmic energy conversion adapter he made. His questions shouldn''t raise suspicion in the least.

    "Well the first is: how is the portal working? Are there any issues with it?" He kept his face neutral and voice low. No need to for others to know about it until the people themselves reveal it.

    Beaming with pride, Jack was ready to say it to the heavens, but remembered that this was a discreet conversation. "It''s running great, and the parts you gave us were the final pieces we needed." He finished with a grin, and Vlad returned it. While he was happy to help them, there were now circumstances that needed answering.

    "Hmm. That''s good. I''m glad I could help, but now that you have such a¡­ innovative piece of technology in your¡­" Would it be more apt to call it a lab or basement? "basement," he nodded, "you need to think about security. What''s your current situation looking like?"

    Jack put the fork down and tapped the piece of food on it lightly. It was hard to ignore the sound of squishing food, and Vlad was glad when Jack finally decided to say something. The sound was infuriating. "We have a few security insurances. Cameras along the house and by the front and back door. Alarms in case of break-ins, and locked doors. Automatic turrets set up for ghosts, and we''re currently in development of something we''re gonna call the Fenton Ghost Shield." Jack waved his hands back and forth, "We''ve barely started that though, not even done with the right calculations."

    It was better than he thought, but that obviously wasn''t all of it. Daniel had somehow gotten down there, and that needed answering. "Well, that''s good. But you could do better. I do have to ask, just because I know you very well, did you lock the doors when you left?" Vlad would bet money that his guess would be correct.

    Jack bit his bottom lip, clearly thinking very hard, then grinned. "Nope. I forgot to lock the lab. It should be fine though, Amity''s doesn''t have that high of a crime rate." And he would have won that money too.

    Vlad inhaled deeply, annoyance rising, and sighed loudly. As a Halfa, emotions ran high and were always a risk to run rampant, especially strong ones like anger. He would need to praise Daniel later for keeping it together so well, he was only fourteen, hormones and all that were making it worse, and the older man found it impressive that he was going so strong. "Did you at least lock the front and back door?"

    Although he looked a little affronted, Jack nodded vigorously. "Of course we did. I''m not that scatterbrained."

    A pointed look was all it took for him to rub the back of his neck sheepishly, and Vlad couldn''t resist the sigh that escaped him again. "Well that''s good," he started, "but I must insist that you perhaps increase your cautiousness. This isn''t cutting edge technology, nor is it next generational. This is world splitting, dimension hopping tech, Jack. Please, I implore you and Madeline to take this far more seriously."

    Jack looked straight into his eyes, something that neither man could admit doesn''t happen that often with their extreme heights. Vlads words held truth, and they were doing rather well with their other inventions. With money to spare, it wouldn''t hurt.

    For the final nail in the coffin, Vlad had one more thing to add to that. "Plus, you have children in the house, Jack. While both of them are exceedingly smart, they are, in the end, children. They''re curious, my friend. And with some of the things I''ve seen you and Madeline make, it would behoove you to think more about it."

    That really did seem to do it, Jack took out a notepad and scribbled some notes down. He looked up expectantly to his long time friend, "Got any recommendations? Everything is home built for us, but having actual professional expertise would be best."

    Vlad smiled, "Of course, but that can wait for later. I do have other questions that need answering."

    Although confused, Jack clicked the pen and attached it back to the small pad. After putting it away, he turned to Vlad again. "Go ahead, V-man."

    "Good." He nodded, then cleared his throat in an attempt to brave this coming conversation. "Why does Daniel have such high levels of residual ectoplasm in his body? I haven''t gotten a chance to test Jasmine yet, but the sheer amount in his body is¡­ unnerving, to say the least."

    If the gulp was anything to go by, or the ''deer in the headlights'' look Jack had on his face, then the man knew about it. And if he, Jack Fenton, is this uncomfortable with the subject, then it can''t be anything good. Silently, Vlad grinds his teeth, careful to keep his fangs retracted. "Well?" He pushed.

    It''s not often that Jack Fenton is scared, unholy and monstrous ghosts tend to make fear shirk away from the most mundane. But there''s always been a few exceptions. His wife, for one. She could put fear into him, and she knew she could do it too. His daughter, under certain circumstances, could as well. He''d never seen Danny angry, but based off the rest of his family, he wouldn''t put it past the possibility for his son to be scary when he''s enraged.

    And then there''s Vlad. Oh, he could scowl, scoff, glare, or outright threaten someone, look intimidating and nice about it, and he could push people into corners with ease. Like what he''d done now. And among those glares, Jack had been on the receiving end of them numerous times over the course of their friendship. But there''s always a special kind of glare his white haired friend could produce that trumped everything but his wife''s glare.

    He was receiving that glare now, it scared him to the bone, and the large Fenton found it difficult to answer the man. Mainly because the answer could throw him into a rather deep rage. Jack placed the plate down on the table behind him, knowing that a caterer would come by and pick it up in seconds. He took a look around and decided that, if Vlad really did blow a gasket from what he''s about to tell him, then this wouldn''t be the best place.

    "We should find somewhere a little more private for this." Jack said, and Vlad did not like that for an answer. If it was so serious that Jack, of all people, wanted privacy for this kind of talk¡­ then it''s possible that it''s worse than he thought. Well, his only nephew had been turned into a half-ghost, so it''s hard to imagine that it gets worse than that.

    Unless they had been experimenting on their children behind his back. But that''s possibly the worst case scenario, and there''s no reason to assume that right off the bat.

    As they walk, presumably to one of the rooms a little away from the party, Vlad continues the conversation. "Surely, it''s not because you two leave ectoplasm lying around, right? You two always did have that habit in college, but since you''ve had children, naturally you''ve¡­" The look on Jacks face was all he needed to know for that answer, and while even if they left a batch of it uncontained in their son''s room for years, it still wouldn''t explain the sheer amount of ectoplasm in Daniel''s body. So much that the boy could hold onto life, and cling to death, all in one body.

    That didn''t mean this new revelation didn''t piss him off. "Are you serious, Jack?" He hissed. "You''ve left dangerous, otherworldly chemicals from a different dimension, just- just- lying around?!" It''s a good thing they were out of the main hall now, because he had said that far louder than he wanted to.

    Vlad''s eyes narrow, and it''s difficult to stop the red attempting to take over his blue eyes. "How long has this been going on for?!" The silence that answers him from his, presumably ashamed and irrevocably irresponsible friend, is all the answer he needs.

    Unable to take it anymore, Vlad grabs by the back of his collar with one hand, and opens the nearest door with another. An empty store-room greets him, and before Jack can protest, he''s shoved in there with righteous irritation. When the door slams shut, Vlad can''t hold it in anymore. "Answer me Jack! Are you and Madeline, to this day, still leaving dangerous equipment and chemicals around in the open?!"

    Unable to hide it anymore, Jack nods. He''s not a lying man, never was, never will be. And there''s no way Jack could ever lie to his best friend''s face, even if he was beyond irate and the answer would egg him on more. Jack is startled by the next two questions, "For how long? Where?"

    Although he struggled to come up with an answer that would please Vlad, because there really wasn''t one at this point, he could only sigh as he says, "It depends. I know there''s a few spots around the house that we''ve left it around for years, and-"

    "YEARS?!" Vlad practically screeched.

    Jack winces, but nods along and continues, "I know there''s a decent amount in our bedroom, bathroom, the living room, the kitchen, and uh¡­" He really didn''t want to say this next part, "Honestly, anywhere we can put it. It''s never been harmful to us after all these years, and you were blasted by a portal point-blank so, we kinda just figured¡­"

    ''Kinda just figured''. What. The fuck.

    The look Jack was getting from Vlad made him flinch back, and if they weren''t best friends, even with Jack''s blatant ghost racism, then the man would have been dead. But even then, that didn''t explain the amount of ectoplasmic contamination required to become a Halfa. Not one so¡­ complete. Whole, if that made sense. Vlad had been borderline Halfa, requiring years in a coma to get to a reasonable level of balance.

    Daniels took hours.

    Hard breathing was loud in the quiet room the duo shared. Jack took a seat on one of the many chairs stored inside the room. He rubbed his face, his emotions a swirl of confusion, guilt, and frustration. Was it really so bad? They''ve been exposed to ectoplasm for years, decades, and so was Vlad. Clearly the stuff wasn''t terribly dangerous, and the tests they''ve done show that, so far, it doesn''t endanger human life. Unless it was weaponized, like they had used it for. For the most part, at least. There was that ecto-acne that Vlad got. Nasty stuff, right there.

    Livid? No, no, that didn''t feel right. Infuriated? Maybe. Boiling? A bit closer. It''s hard to describe the anger Vlad feels right now, the sheer negligence on Jack and Madeline''s parts would be astounding, if it didn''t involve his nephew and niece. Oh, how he so wanted to throttle the man in front of him. This bumbling oaf, and his wife, who was easily thrice as smart as him, had somehow done the impossible for a pair of scientists. They''re absolute idiots, and Vlad''s articulated brain found it difficult to call them anything else at the moment.

    Idiots. Idiots, idiotsidiotsidiots. IDIOTS!

    "You two might be some of the biggest idiots I know, despite the sheer pedigree of your accomplishments." The hurt look on Jack''s face didn''t even register to Vlad, he was too busy rubbing his temples. The growing headache was only making his anger more volatile.

    Jack could only remain silent. This wasn''t how he thought the night would go, and if this was anyone else besides Vlad, he''d have no problem avoiding the subject matter.

    "Still," Vlad''s voice caught his attention and he looked back up, "that doesn''t explain the amount. I tested it Jack. It''s more than the amount in your body, and Madeline''s, combined."

    Okay, Jack could say he didn''t know that. His eyes widened in realization, he didn''t know it had raised so much. That was¡­ startling. The patriarch of the Fenton family couldn''t respond, unsure of how to.

    The silence was raising his anger even more, it was deafening, and Vlad was afraid that he''d go over the edge soon. And Jack knew it too. Slowly, carefully, Vlad took a seat in one of the chairs. As expensive as it was, he only felt discomfort from it, and Vlad made a mental note to toss all of these out.

    Leveling a glare, Vlad bit out, "Enough beating around the bush. Tell me the answer, and I know you have it. It''s written all over your face."

    A sigh escaped his lips, and Jack straightened his back. Oh, how he wished his wife would come and save him right now. He was also pretty sure he was going to get the couch for telling Vlad this without her, but that was fine. Since he found out, and obviously had questions, Jack could only answer them as best he could.

    "You''ve known us a long time, right Vladdie?" The older Halfa looked at Jack strangely, but answered nonetheless. "Since high-school, yes. Unless that doesn''t constitute a long time anymore."

    Ignoring the sarcastic mark at the end, Jack continues with uncharacteristic seriousness. "Well, even when you had your accident, we didn''t stop working. At least not until Madz was pregnant with Jazz."

    Vlad nodded along, he would hope so, but he didn''t know what this had to do with Daniel''s ridiculously high levels of contamination.

    Seeing that Vlad was understanding, and calming down, Jack prepares himself for the bomb. "Well, with Jazz, we didn''t know if our exposure to ectoplasm would be harmful to her, so both of us stopped working all together."

    That made sense, Vlad would have been worried if they just continued. Even he didn''t know what would happen to a fetus if it was exposed to ectoplasm at such a crucial stage of development. "Okay, but what does this have to do with my question Jack?"

    Jack tiredly put his hand up, "I''m gettin'' there, V-man. Don''t rush me."

    "Well, after we had Jazz, we did some tests, and she came out fine. After that, we hired a nanny to take care of her since we would be busy working. Somewhere along the line, two years later, Madz got pregnant with Dann-o."

    Vlad gave him a look of confusion. ''Somewhere along the line?'' That made it sound like-

    At the revelation, his eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open. He''s lucky Jack was looking at the ground in shame, because the fangs that popped out were completely involuntary.

    As Jack continues his story, Vlad begins a snarl. "Madz has always been a small woman, so it was hard to tell when she''s pregnant. It was like that with Jazz, and after the first birth, she kinda kept some of the thickness that came with it. That made it even harder to tell the second time. It wasn''t until the six month mark that we found out she was pregnant again."

    Silence returns, and Vlad honestly doesn''t know what to say. Six months? SIX MONTHS?! For almost the entirety of her term, Daniel, as a fetus, was exposed to ectoplasm on a daily basis for six months?!

    Vlad stands up with force, knocking the chair over. "You idiots! How could you not tell?! What about morning sickness?! No cravings?! There are plenty of tell-tale signs Jack! And every woman shows earlier than the six month mark, especially if they''ve been pregnant before!" While running a hand angrily through his hair, the billionaire heatedly adds, "Just how absorbed into your work were you two?!"

    Jack takes a breath, and just accepts the lecture he''s receiving. Because that''s not the worst of it.

    Seeing Jack so quiet, Vlad''s ready to explode. Before he can continue on a tirade, Jack stops him again. "Hold on Vlad. There''s more."

    "THERE''S MORE?!" Vlad shouts in horrored anger.

    Although he winces, Jack nods. "When we found out that Madz was pregnant¡­ we wanted to see what the effects would be if we continued. He was already exposed to large amounts so¡­"The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    No. They didn''t. Vlad recoiled, taking a step back away from Jack.

    "We just continued on. The project we were working on at the time couldn''t be stopped. We were exposed to large amounts of ectoplasm each day as we worked, and when-"

    "You experimented on your child." He whispered harshly. "Jack! Your unborn child!" Vlad paced around the room in an attempt to distract him. It didn''t work. "You two turned a colossal mistake that should have been rectified immediately, into an experiment. How could you? To your own child?"

    Jack stands up and puts a hand on Vlads shoulder, "Vladdie, we tes-"

    Vlad slaps the hand away in blind fury, glaring at his friend. "Don''t touch me! How- how could you?! You''re own son! You and Madeline¡­ I-" His hands are clenching so hard, it feels like it''s entirely possible that they''ll break soon, which is saying something considering his durability.

    He just didn''t know what to say. Not to that. That was worse than anything he could have thought of. For his best friends to do that to their own son, his nephew, it was-

    "Disgusting." That was the word. It fit too, too well. "I can''t stand to look at you right now Jack. I''m too thoroughly disgusted. Leave. Now."

    Trying again, Jack took a step forward. "Vladdy, we didn''t experiment on him, we-"

    "Yes you did!" Vlad shouted. "You two should have corrected your mistake, not continue on! Not continue to expose your unborn child to hazardous interdimensional biohazards!" Biting his lip in frustration, a new worry comes to mind. "Jack, is that everything you two did? Or is there something even worse?!"

    The older Fenton looked to the ground, hurt and mortified. Silently, he answers: "No, we didn''t do anything else. The tests showed that there wasn''t even that much in his body when he was born."

    "Good." The white haired man bites out, "It better be. Now, get out."

    Jack closed his eyes, thinking maybe he deserved this. That was his and Maddies most shameful secret, and the reaction seemed to be spot on. Sure, Danny turned out fine, and there''s been no visible side effects yet, but it''s never been something either of them are proud of. As he trudged away towards the door, he turned back to his friend. Vlad was sitting down, with his head resting on his hand. If the veins on his hands were anything to go by, he was squeezing his own skull to calm himself.

    "I''m sorry, V-man." He whispered.

    It came as a shock when an enraged Vlad somehow heard him, and shouted back: "I''m not the one you should apologize to!"

    He couldn''t really say anything to that, so Jack walked out the door, closing it softly behind him. He sighed, feeling more tired than he''s ever felt before. Like his age had finally caught up with him. "Damnit." He muttered.

    How was he supposed to explain this to his wife?

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    She couldn''t really say she was enjoying the video playing in front of her. It was an old Packers playback that Vlad had stockpiled in this particular theater, and she had the unfortunate luck of going to this one instead of the one on the opposite side of the castle. Four floors up. That was far too much of a walk to watch a simple movie in silence; actually, she just wanted background noise while she read that wasn''t people talking.

    Another touchdown and the crowd goes wild! And so did her annoyance. Maybe a trek to the other side of the building wouldn''t be too bad, and she really didn''t know why the people watching this with her were getting so excited either. The footage was easily over twenty years old, and held no relevance to any current events. Even her psychology didn''t seem to help analyze these people, whos'' fascination with football seemed to be almost obsessive. Nothing as bad as her uncles, but still not healthy.

    Danny entered the room with all the silence and grace a Halfa could manage, going completely unnoticed. It''s easy to spot his sister, who despite being the more mannered and articulated of the siblings, chose to instead wear her normal clothes. She stuck out like a sore thumb, even more so since the other watchers were in formal suits and gowns. And judging by the sour expression plastered on her face, she was not enjoying the showing¡­ of a football game? That explained it.

    Deciding to get a little mischievous, Danny lets his feet hover off the ground. Not by much, a mere inch, if that, but his expensive black Armani''s no longer clack on the ground with each step. He still imitates the act of walking, and it''s not like he could hover any higher at his current level anyway, but this was all he needed for a good laugh.

    "What''s up?!" Jazz jumped in fright when her brother dropped into the seat next to hers, from the row behind. She had managed to not make a sound from the surprise, but her heart was certainly beating quite a bit faster now. She aimed a mean glare at Danny, and smacked him on the arm. "You ass. I almost had a heart attack!" She would have raised her voice if they weren''t in a theater technically.

    Danny giggled up a storm, holding his mouth in a firm grip lest it come out in full laughter. "Sorry," he coughed out, "but I couldn''t resist. You looked like you were gonna beat someone if the Packers made one more touchdown."

    Her glare lessened, as did her foul mood, but it was still there. "I''d thank you, if I didn''t know that you did that purely for your own entertainment." Jazz was quiet for a moment, before asking, "Was it that obvious?" She thought she had better control than that.

    "Mm-hmm." He nods at her question, "I don''t blame you though. I know exactly how much you hate football. Why''d you pick this theater though?"

    Crossing her arms over her chest, she''s quick to defend herself. "I thought there was only one theater, how was I supposed to know that he has four in this place? I''d have left for the other theater already if I wasn''t sure I''d probably get lost."

    Danny smirked in triumph, before getting up and holding his hand out. "Well, if you''re not enjoying this theater, I bet I can help you get to the other one. I have been exploring the place a decent amount." While it wasn''t a lie exactly, since that''s what he''s been telling his family for the most part, he wasn''t as familiar with the place as he was currently boasting. Most of the time not training with Vlad had been spent training by himself, or wandering around. Not like there''s much else to do in a castle, and even if there was a game room with every console known to man, it''s not like he''d keep his progress. It''d be a waste of time, and why play a game where you have a superpower, when in reality you have a bunch you can play with?

    Although surprised, Jazz is quick to respond, taking his outstretched hand and quickly pulling herself up. "I''d love to get out of here. I don''t think I can stand staying another minute in this¡­ this¡­ " she struggled to find the right word, before outstretching her hand towards the screen, "hell."

    Danny laughed while making his way towards the door he had just come in from. "It''s not that bad, Jazz. You just hate the sport because the bullies from our school play it."

    Jazz huffed indignantly, "That''s not true. I dislike all sports in general. They''re a waste of time."

    He raised an eyebrow in amusement, silently telling her to go on.

    Taking the que, she raises her arms into the air a little. "We could be expanding our minds, and furthering our knowledge on- on- anything!" An arm rested on her hip as her monologue continued, "But instead of people putting their heads together to solve the problems of mankind, we have people bashing their heads together to score a touchdown."

    As they rounded a corner, Danny laughed at his sister''s reasons, much to her annoyance. He waved it off, unconcerned. "That''s a personal opinion Jazz. Sports are entertainment, and despite how much you want it to be, humans aren''t always smart, nor do they always get enjoyment from reading, studying, and learning like you do."

    Their pace slowed slightly as they ascended the winding stairs. "People need entertainment, and with a majority of our population¡­" What''s the correct phrasing? "Too stupid to derive entertainment from the accumulation of knowledge, that leaves physical contact as their means."

    The final steps of the fourth floor came under their feet, and Danny was happy that he could change his sister''s mood for the better. "I suppose you''re right."

    Walking down the green and gold halls, Jazz turns to look at her brother with a smile. He looked good in a suit, and she could only imagine how well he''ll look in the future.

    "Those were some rather big words you were saying there, little brother. Is your brain okay from so much articulation?" She teased.

    He didn''t fall for her sarcastic jab, instead, he chose to go on the offensive. "Says the woman who wound up in the theater playing one of the things she hates the most. Is your brain okay?" He flipped his hand back and forth, "I can only imagine how awful it must have been to watch other people crash into each other like cars."

    "Hmph!" She turned her head, "I''ll have you know that my brain is just fine. Just because I was watching people bash their brain cells out of their head, doesn''t mean mine got knocked out from the sheer idiocy of the sport."

    They turned another corner, and if memory served him well, the theater should be at the end of the hall. "Just don''t let Uncle Vlad here you say that. He''d go on a crusade till you admitted that at least the Packers were great."

    Jazz chuckled in response, "I''ll keep that in mind."

    Danny opened the door for Jazz, and after some thanks from her, Danny was following right behind. She sighed in relief when she saw that it wasn''t a sports playback.

    As he followed Jazz up the seats to the upper rows, Danny finally realized what it was that he was seeing. "Sweet! It''s one of the new Star Wars!"

    Now comfortable in the fancy recliner, Jazz focuses on the movie a bit more. "Didn''t the reviews for this episode say it sucked?"

    Shrugging in response, Danny smugly responds: "It''s Star Wars. How badly could they fuck that up?" He waved his hand back and forth, "Lightsabers, blasters, and spaceships. Everyone loves those. It''s not that hard."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    How was he supposed to explain this to Daniel?

    He''d been keeping the test results a secret, had said they would be done in a week instead of the day they actually took. And beyond his wildest dreams- no, nightmare. Beyond his wildest nightmare, Jack had revealed their biggest shame. Using their unborn child as an experiment. With inter-dimensional energies they knew barely anything about at the time, and if he had to bet, barely knew that much more about now! No wonder the results were so high, Daniel had been exposed to the stuff since conception.

    It took all the restraint he had to not break the chair he was sitting on. It''s not even comfortable, it''s ugly, it''s there at a bad time, and-

    Actually, they''re getting tossed anyway.

    Vlad stands up, and with righteous fury, throws the chair with all of his might. All of his strength is quite a lot, ghost powers and all that, and the wooden chair explodes on impact with the wall. What was once hard mahogany, now remained as splinters and sawdust. But that slowly falling pile seemed to piss him off more, and two beams of pink fire shot from his eyes, turning the chair to ash for good measure.

    When that was done, Vlad wanted to scream. He reeled himself in, but the anger didn''t fade. Only simmering under the surface, ready to be released. His eyes flickered back and forth from red in blue; damn it all, he hadn''t had trouble controlling his emotions for years.

    He didn''t know what to do. There''s no way he could take Daniel away for what they did. They wouldn''t allow it, and despite learning of this¡­ atrocity they''ve committed against their own son- his nephew- he still viewed them as friends. He couldn''t do that to them¡­ unless they did something more extreme. They''ve always been a little off-kilter with their desire to understand ectoplasm, and their methods for ghost hunting are cruel and unusual.

    Vlad just never expected them to go so far down the rabbit hole that is ''Mad Scientist''. Sure, he had ventured there a few times, and his plans for the future definitely required him to dig a little deeper in that hole, but nothing that bad.

    "Daniel, your parents exposed you to ectoplasm when you were unborn to see what would happen- as if I could just say that!" He threw his hands up in frustration. This is ridiculous. Who has to deal with this sort of stuff, on top of being one of only two half-dead hybrids in the world? There''s already so much on his plate, all the time, that Vlad just wants to stop and take a break.

    For like five minutes.

    And then someone knocked on the door.

    "Oh, for fucks sake." He muttered. It''s not often he swears, maybe once a year at best, but now felt like an opportune time. To be honest, he felt he might set a new record this year.

    Growling, Vlad trudged over towards the obscuring wood, glaring so hard that it might catch fire, which it actually could if he didn''t control himself more. He took a breath and attempted to clear his head. It didn''t work of course, but he was able to remind himself that the most recent revelation, in regards to quite literally the only people he cares for, happened years ago. Yes, he would be angry about it for a while, but acting on it wouldn''t do any good.

    Taking just one more moment to tighty up his appearance, Vlad quickly straightened his pants and tie, and brushed any dust off of his clothes. There wasn''t any obviously, he didn''t hire incompetent people after all, but it''s a habit he still has to this day.

    Thoughts on who would be at the door- someone knocking on the door to a storage closet had to be looking for somewhere private, or looking for him specifically. Considering the company at the party right now, none of them had the audacity to try and do something like that in his house. That means someone is looking for him, and there''s only one person who knows where he is right now.

    The person who was on the other side wasn''t someone Vlad had any desire to talk to at the moment. "Hello, Madeline."

    Maddie tensed, the hostility in his voice so foreign. She''s never been on the receiving end of it before, and it hurts her to think that this may be the way she''s treated from now on. But she had a reason for being here. Jack may have spilled the beans, but she had to make sure that Vlad wouldn''t be going to child services.

    It felt cold, to have that as the reasoning. Even if both her and Jack deeply regretted what they did to Danny¡­ before he was born, she couldn''t have Vlad telling the authorities. Not when they had just reached a breakthrough with their research and development.

    "Hey Vlad." Of all things to happen, this is not what she expected to have to confront. Damn it Jack, this was supposed to be a night of celebration and reunion. Not confrontation and angsty arguments.

    Vlad glared at her, snarling at recent memories. "I''m pretty sure I told Jack that I didn''t want to see him right now¡­" He could see the big oaf in the background, maybe thirty feet down the hall, peeking around the corner. His glare sharpened on his other friend, "That includes you. If anything, I want to see you the least right now."

    She flinched, but there was a purpose to visiting Vlad right now. Maybe she should have let him cool down a bit though, his still seemed rather volatile at the moment. "I understand that you don''t want to see me or Jack at the moment, but there are some things we need to discuss. From what Jack told me, he didn''t get to explain some things to you."

    Growling, he''s quick to respond. "I don''t want to hear a thing from either of you! You treated the conception of my nephew as an opening to an experiment! Who knows what may happen later on down the line!" Well, Daniel''s a Halfa now, the ectoplasm in his body is crucial to his survival from this point on. And while he''s probably only half-alive because they did that, that didn''t mean it was any less ethically and morally wrong.

    Which is a riot coming from him, not that they know that.

    "Please Vlad!" She pleaded, "Just hear me out. This isn''t about the reason behind it, it''s about how much we regret it." It''s the black mark on the record of their entire lives, they hated how¡­ rash and enthralled they were at the time, but she had to try and make him understand that!

    Her somber tone tells how she feels about it, pretty bad if he had to guess, but this issue is monumental in size, and it can''t just be solved with an ''I feel bad about it now'' excuse.

    "Really?" He sneered, "This isn''t something you can just take back, my dear. You and Jack have screwed up. Big time." And how did they rectify it? By way of negligence, to the point that Daniel had wandered into the unlocked lab with a portal in it, and activated said portal with the ''ON'' switch inside the damn thing!

    His knuckles cracked in anger, his recollection of how Daniel''s accident happened playing in his mind. There are so many, many things wrong with the way it happened, and none of them are as simple as Jack pushing a button ten seconds too early. An unlocked door, an activation switch placed inside, a two way authorization left on, no safety locks for activation. So many things went wrong for Daniel at once, and for Vlad it was an over-excited buffoon with a trigger finger. He supposed the anger he was feeling right now was leftovers from Daniel''s revelation, on top of the newly acquired rage.

    Maddie withers slightly, "I know. We know. But we''ve never tried outside of that, not even pushing Danny or Jazz to take up the family business."

    Quick to respond, Vlad replies: "That doesn''t make up for it." He leans his head back, now flush with his straightened back, "And what family business? If I remember correctly, neither of your parents hunted or researched ghosts. Am I correct?"

    She bit her lip in frustration; he was right. Neither of their parents were ghost hunters, but both Jack and her had ancestors that hunted the undead going way back. John Fentonightingale was one of Jack''s old, old precursors, and she had one of her own as well. Charles Constantine, if she remembered right, it had been a while since she looked up her ancestry, but he had apparently been an exorcist who went around battling demons before and after World War 1. It''s been in their blood for years¡­ but if she said that to Vlad right now, he''d flip his shit, putting it bluntly.

    The man cared greatly for his nephew and niece, despite how much he tried to hide it. She imagined that came from a lack of many people to care for, considering he''s been a bachelor all his life and his family¡­ didn''t exactly see eye-to-eye. Rather, his mother and father sued him after he made his first billion, and he''s been a little distrustful of people since. With their family being the only exception, and him bonding so much with Danny, it''s not hard to see why he''s upset.

    But it''s a mistake they regret so, so much, and they want him to see that. "Please Vlad." She begged, fear on her face and lacing her tone. "It was¡­ a radical and rash decision, one we both wish we never made."

    Vlad walked out of the room, brushing past her and back towards the main room, where the party is being held. Briefly, he looked over his shoulder. "I don''t care, Madeline. It''s still a decision both of you made. You two zealously pursue the unknown that is the Ghost Zone and ectoplasm." Another glare is sent down the hall at Jack, who flinched around the corner. He growled at the cowardice, before fully turning towards Madeline, his voice low and menacing. "And because of it, you two did the unthinkable. So please, leave me alone for the rest of the night. We''ll discuss this another time."

    Maddie wanted to shrink away, not because Vlad scared her, but from shame. Yes, Vlad could be intimidating, but he''s always been a good friend, and it hurts her to think this is happening because of one rash decision. "We''ll give you that Vlad, but I want you to promise me something."

    Immediately, he enraged further. "Pardon me? You have the gall to ask me of anything right now?! After what was revealed to me?!" Vlad''s unable to contain himself at the end, practically screaming. Luckily the halls are empty, and there are no witnesses. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

    Calm thoughts. Calm thoughts. Calm-

    "Please promise me you won''t tell our kids what we did." Eyes snap open, momentarily burning red with anger, literally, before swiftly changing back to a not-so calm blue. So much for calming thoughts. He takes in her small form, biting her lip in fear? Frustration? Shame He''s not sure, but it''s the most vulnerable he''s ever seen her, and it makes him pause.

    For a moment, Vlad thinks. Debating on the promise doesn''t take long, really, but they''re his friends- his only friends at that. Then the absurdity of the situation and what''s been asked of comes back in full, he scoffs condescendingly and turns around without another word. Not even deigning to respond to her, he walks off with a perpetual scowl on his face. They would have to take his silence as an answer, but at least he finally had answers.

    Even if they weren''t what he wanted.

    Maddie outstretched a hand towards her friend as he walked away. They needed that promise of secrecy¡­ but she couldn''t find it in her to say anything at the moment. Her eyes cast down, ashamed and attempting to think of any time they had angered Vlad so much before. The portal incident two decades ago is the only thing that comes to mind, and back then they were barely able to hold onto their friendship. Now¡­

    She chuckled weakly; horrifying ghosts both big and small? She could fight them with a smile. A ninth degree black belt, there''s not many people who can stand up to her, much less frighten her. But the idea of her friend hating them¡­ scared her, and she didn''t know where to go from here. And if he told Danny or Jazz¡­ that was worse.

    A hand on her shoulder made her look up hopefully, but her husband was the one to greet her. She accepted the hug, even if she was pissed at him for spilling the beans on something like this. Especially without her. That pissed her off more, and after a minute or two of silent sobbing, she jabbed him in the side with her small fist. "You''re sleeping on the couch for the next month."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The night ended without any further events, and the following day came just as quick. If Vlad could have gotten drunk off of simple wine or champagne, he would have, but the ectoplasm in his blood makes it annoyingly difficult to get even the slightest buzz from alcohol. Besides, none of it really holds a candle to the stuff available in the Ghost Zone, both in taste and effectiveness.

    Vlad frowns as he dodges another punch from Daniel, they''d have to go to the Ghost Zone soon. The first time he went, it was rather harrowing, but with a guide, hopefully Daniel can reap more benefits from it than him. The first time is the worst, but the sooner he gets used to the Infinite Realms, the better.

    Another kick aimed low forces Vlad to jump up, and he smirks when Daniel pivots his body low to let him do a follow up kick. Vlad pushes his hand down, resting his palm on the bottom of his nephew''s foot for a brief moment. The younger Halfa is quick to kick him off, spinning his body down and forcing Vlad into a roll.

    "Very good Daniel. You''re getting better while in your human form." They had been training every day, for close to eight hours a day. Several hours of ghost to ghost combat, followed by lunch, then two or three hours of human to human training. After that, it varied really. From common knowledge for the undead, to different applications of powers. There were even a couple sessions where he showed Daniel some of the technology he''d developed so far, though the boy could understand how to use it, deconstructing and constructing seemed to be beyond him at this point.

    Danny''s fingers dig into the ground, forcing the ectoplasm in his blood to spark and provide him his boon. Strength enhances for a brief second, but it''s enough to let him explode towards Vlad. He goes for a feint, raising his leg a little on arrival, but his punch is caught, then his arm is twisted and he''s thrown across the room they''re sparring in. Vlad smirks in victory, "But you still have room for improvements. The feint was smart though, using your own repetitiveness to confuse your opponents is an excellent strategy."

    The youngest Fenton frowns with a pout, "It''s not repetitiveness. I just like kicking more than punching." He flexes his legs a little, before adding to his case, "Besides, my legs have more reach."

    Momentarily forgetting about the events of last night, Vlad chuckles at his charges excuse. "Sure thing, little badger. Just make sure you don''t let your opponent memorize your patterns."

    Growling, Danny launches to Vlad, his hands glowing green. The older man raises an eyebrow, but the audacity that he has, to put a hand behind his back spurs his anger forward. It''s difficult for Danny to access his ghostly powers when he has a heartbeat, but Vlad had explained that strong emotions can enhance a ghost''s already strong natural abilities. And using that anger, ectoplasm leaks from his hands to form a blade in each hand. There''s no handle or handguard, the blades are just extensions of his hands, a little over a foot long of sharpened ectoplasm. Exceedingly simple, but effective nonetheless.

    The same smirk that''s ever present on Vlads face gets deeper, and the only sign of acknowledgement he shows that Danny''s a threat is he repositioned his legs. Danny''s on him instantly, crossing twenty feet in a second thanks to his enhanced speed.

    Vlad jumps back, swinging his leg upwards and releasing an arc of pink energy. At point blank range, it''s not possible to dodge, but Danny leans left and following the wave of energy, uses his own bladed hands to chamber the attack. The momentum of the attack lets him spin at a higher speed, surprising Vlad and forcing him to raise a shield to block the energy blade thrusted at him. Green and pink energies spark against each other in the collision.

    Grinning, Danny kicks off of the flat shield before it dissipates. Vlad has a matching smile, "Impressive! Very good, Daniel, very good! Using your enemies'' own attacks against them to enhance your own, and kicking off my shield was a great way to make some distance."

    Danny blushes red and green at the praise, but having his efforts acknowledged like this is thrilling, and makes him want to improve even more. It''s not like the ghosts he''s fought would show him respect for improving, mainly because they''re all mindless animals or monsters, but Box Ghost doesn''t count and Skulker is an ass that wants to skin him. He wouldn''t be happy with either of them being impressed with his improvements.

    As Vlad parries and dodges more of Daniels attacks, he can''t help but be amazed at the progress of the young half-ghost. Every aspect of combat, he grasps with ease. He adapts on the fly, incorporating what he''s learned just minutes earlier, and advancing his powers seems to come second nature to the boy. He''s improved on everything he''s trained in since they''ve started this apprenticeship, and the progress the boy is making is baffling. It takes weeks or months for people to become this good at hand-to-hand combat, much less at the speeds they''re going at, and yet¡­ Daniel somehow surpasses the norm. A mere fourteen year old. Like a sponge, he just learns and learns, soaking up any techniques, tips or tricks taught to him. He''s got a rather accelerated learning curve when it comes to his ghost powers- or maybe his body?

    Fascinating.

    The Fentons are clearly a family of geniuses, but of all of them so far, it''s Daniel that seems to have taken the best piece of the genius pie. To think that this brilliance would never have been explored had he not become a Halfa. He''s got a knack for conflict, and his rate of advancement is almost frightening. It''ll be interesting to see just how strong the boy becomes in the future. With actual tangible power at his fingertips, a genius to advance it, and an ever improving tactical prowess, Daniel is sure to ascend. And if, for whatever reason, he ends up against the heroes of the world¡­

    He would back the boy up. Vlad''s pretty sure that Daniel could take a majority of them, even at his current level. He''s just too versatile, and in a mere year, he''ll have even more powers. And ten years from now?

    The boy may just become unstoppable.

    Vlads grin is ear splitting, and deciding to test the boy a little, throws a quick jab at him. Danny''s startled by the sudden attack, but is able to knock the blow up. A kick lands on his stomach, but even as he''s pushed away, in a split second he moves his hand up and repurposes the blades into blasts. Even if the attack is much weaker because he''s in his human form, it still blows him back, and he skids to a stop a few feet away. His stomach hurts much more than his back though, and as expected, his uncle walks out of the green smoke moments later. Completely unscathed.

    "It''s astonishing how good you are at this Daniel. It makes being your teacher much easier though, so keep up the good work. Makes me look all the better." Danny rolls his eyes, but the smile never leaves his face. Vlad offers him a hand, which he accepts, and half a second later he''s on his feet.

    Danny moves to get back into position, ready to go again, but is interrupted by Vlad. "I do believe that is enough for today. We have a few things to go over besides combat as well."

    His posture relaxes, no longer in battle mode. Danny raises an eyebrow at his uncle, "Is it the test results?" He asked.

    Vlad nods, though that''s the only response Daniel receives. As Vlad begins to walk away, with Daniel following behind, the older man ponders exactly¡­ how, or if he should tell his nephew. There''s a lot going on in Daniel''s life at the moment, and having such a thing revealed¡­ would strain him. But keeping it secret would only harm him in the long run, and Vlad is positive the only side he wants his nephew to be on, is his side. Even if he believes that they are rather close, subtle lies and misplaced truths can destroy a relationship.

    "The reason you were able to come out of the lab accident, relatively unscathed, is because of the residual levels of ectoplasm that was in your body at the time." Danny nods in agreement, Vlad had explained that a bit before, but never the details to it yet.

    "Is it because there''s so much ectoplasm in my house?" Danny asked.

    The door to the decontamination chamber closes behind them, forcing a lull in the conversation until the two Halfa''s are freed from the cleansing chambers. The second the door opens, a remote is already flying across the room into Vlads open hands. "Yes and no. I''ve asked your parents some questions to get clarifications, and I know why you have such high levels of contamination."

    Only three screens turn on, each one containing a chart with different results. "The graph on the left is a normal human''s results. As you can see," Vlad clicks a button on the remote, and a laser pointer turns on, pointing to the peak of the human results. "There''s barely any ambient ectoplasm in a normal person''s body, most likely because there are very few interactions with the stuff in the first place. No ghosts, no ectoplasm, no contamination. "

    Vlad clicks the remote again, and the results they were just looking at are minimized and replaced. Two split data sheets now occupy the screen, with familiar names at the top. "I tested your parents to see how far the contamination has come, and while it increased, it''s not by much. Even combined they don''t match yours or mine."

    The laser pointer drags across the screens, pointing to a file labeled ''Daniel Fenton'' at the top. "While it''s true that just having the ectoplasm in the house would increase your amount of contamination, but it wouldn''t be anywhere near what yours was."

    "Was?"

    The older man nods, "It''s far more now. Before, it was almost entirely dormant. You were just a human with traces of it in your body, but thanks to the portal, it fused to your DNA, changing you." Vlad turns to the young man, his attention fully on him. "As we''ve discussed over the week, you''re not entirely human anymore. When that portal activated, all of the energy in your body activated, supercharged, and changed you. It was a quick process compared to mine, which took almost two years for the changes to occur, but the proceedings of how it happened are relatively the same." Being inside of an actual portal when it turned on also, no doubt, sped up the process and magnified the amount of ectoplasm in his body. While his accident was just a small, experimental portal, the ones Daniels parents built no doubt had a far higher energy output.

    "Wait." The young Halfa interrupted, "You still haven''t told me why it was so high in the first place." The teenager crosses his arms with a frown.

    Vlad grimaces, dreading the coming conversation. It''s clear the boy isn''t going to drop the subject anytime soon, and his attempt to skirt by the issue was thwarted quickly, whether intentional or not, it''s hard to tell. He carefully debated on how to articulate to the young boy that his parents used him as a test subject to study the effects of ectoplasm on humans.

    Before he was even born.

    Nope.

    There''s no way he can say any of that with aplomb. Maybe, for now, it would be best to delay telling Daniel. At least till after his trip to the zone. The boy has a lot going on for him at the moment, and in the coming future. Vlad glanced at his young apprentice, noting the annoyance that was rapidly being built. He shook his head, Daniel was more mature than he let on.

    "Fine." The teenager has shown, despite obvious signs of immaturity characteristic to those of his age, that he''s mentally sound. His mental fortitude, like his aptitude for fighting, is more than he''s giving credit for. Still, it''s a delicate subject, and there''s two ways that Vlad can think of to break it to him. The first is to treat it like a band-aid: tell him exactly what happened, verbatim, and try to calm him afterwards. The second option is to prepare him mentally, slowly explain it, and gauge a reaction afterwards.

    Seeing as how their time is limited, the first option sounds far more appealing. With less than a week of training left, at least until Vlad can procure a place of residence for himself in the Amity Park vicinity, there''s so much to go over and with so little time.

    Hesitantly, Vlad began. "First, tell me how you think it happened. I want to hear your guess." This has the possibility of blowing up in his face more than Daniels own parents at the moment, especially since he knows that the boy has rather impressive powers at his disposal to express his anger.

    "Well¡­" The boy looked down for a moment in thought, racking his brain for solutions. An idea came up soon enough. "Ever since I can remember, whenever my parents made an invention or showed it off, a lot of times it wouldn''t work or it would backfire."

    Vlads eyebrow arched up slightly, but he gestured for Daniel to continue. "Most of the time, they just blew up with me or Jazz- normally me- being right next to the thing, and since mom and dad both use ectoplasm in everything they make, it''s possible for that to be the reason?"

    "No, no it''s not." But that''s another tid-bit of seething information that he hadn''t known. He had known since college that their inventions tend to blow up in failure, quite literally. That wasn''t what was surprising; it''s the price paid for using unknown and often unstable energies as a power source, it even happened to him on a few occasions. No, what angered him more is hearing that both of their children would actually get caught up in these failures and explosions.

    "While it would increase the amount of ectoplasm in your body due to exposure," the billionaire ground out through grit teeth, "it wouldn''t sky-rocket them to the levels you had in your body."

    Danny shifted in his chairs, making a face as he thought through his brain for a reason. "If it''s not the constant exposure¡­" Still nothing. "Not the wayward accidents¡­" What else could it be? "And normal people don''t have the amount I do¡­"

    His breath hitched in fright, a sudden thought crossing his mind like a saw on wood. Or maybe the screech of a nail on glass was more accurate. But the thought was tossed out immediately, even his parents-for all their overzealous pursuit of the unknown knowledge of ectoplasm and the Zone- wouldn''t stoop so low as to- to-

    Experiment on their own child.

    His complexion turned green, and not because of the ectoplasm coursing through his veins. Danny can truly say he''s never experienced fear so palpable before, nor has he ever felt it so physical. Not when he was inches away from having his throat ripped out, not when he was millimeters away from being vaporized by an attack that most certainly would have ended his half-life. Not even when he was facing off against Vlad, who he could practically feel was way more powerful than him at the time.

    But his shoulders relaxed when he, again, told himself that even if they went off the deep end sometimes, even they wouldn''t go that far. Eventually his musings ended, and tensely, he looked back up at Vlad.

    "I dunno." He flatly answered.

    Vlads eye twitched in annoyance, or maybe it was exasperation, or both. He sighed, but even with the truth was right on the tip of his tongue¡­ he found he couldn''t. The pleading look Madeline had given him, genuinely asking that he keep this- this- horrible secret for them. It revolted him to do it, to keep such a¡­ life changing secret about his nephew- one he deserved to know, especially with how good of a kid he is.

    His anger roared to tell the boy, to tell him of the injustice that was done to him while in the womb. His calculative side whispered to tell him, to get leverage, to get pull on the decisions of the impressive young man. Another part of him, a softer side, argued that he already had that pull. The boy trusted him as only another member of an impossibly small species could; the clout he held with the boy''s decisions as his mentor and uncle was already in place.

    He knew, one day, he would have to tell Daniel¡­ or did he? A calculative look passed across Vlad''s face for a moment, he turned around and eyed the monitors. The keyboards came next, and as his eyes scanned the room, his mind rolled with a scheme. It pieced together, bit by bit, but the full idea eventually came to fruition.

    Yes. Oh, yes. He wouldn''t be breaking the silent promise he may or may not have made to Madeline, and Daniel would find out the truth. Hopefully it took a little bit of time, the more the better since the boy, while more mature than most his age, still needed to grow up a bit more.

    "I know what happened Daniel, but I''ve decided not to tell you." When he turned around, Vlad wanted to chuckle at the look his charge gave him. Confusion turned to anger quickly, but the billionaire held his hand out to stop him. With a smirk, he continued, "Listen all the way, boy. I''m going to give you a task."

    Confusion is back in full force, and Danny rasps out: "A task?"

    Vlad takes a seat, crossing his leg over the other. "Yes, a task." Seeing the look he gets makes him laugh, "Oh please, Daniel. What kind of teacher would I be if I didn''t give you assignments?"

    Danny bit his lip in frustration, not even bothering to stifle a groan. He hated being jerked around like this, because despite knowing one of the things Danny wanted to know most, Vlad refused to give it to him. Yes, teachers gave out homework. But come on, this is his teacher on the¡­ afterlife! His afterlife teacher, and he''s getting a task instead of an answer.

    Feeling crossed, his features form into a scowl, and he growls out a response. "You know the answer Vlad! Come on, tell me!"

    The smirk on the older man''s face falls slightly, "There''s no need to whine like a child Daniel. It''s nothing unreasonable. Teachers in school do it, teachers in those trashy cartoons you watch-"

    "It''s called anime." Danny interrupted.

    "And I don''t really care, it''s a cartoon to me." Vlad waved off the boy. "Where was I? Oh, yes, so I do believe that I''m well within my margins to give you tasks." He leaned back in his chair as he finished,

    The younger Halfa frowned and huffed, but conceded to his teachers point. Even in TV shows, movies, and the anime that he watches, teachers would give out tasks for their students to do, as a kind of milestone. To show how far they''ve come.

    And when he thinks like that, it makes it a little more bearable. Almost exciting even, like a checkpoint to show how far he''s come. Not that he''d tell Vlad. "Okay. I give. What is it?"

    With fangs on full display, the grin he gives to the apprentice is a tad bit discomforting. "The task is: find out what happened." Vlad began, "There should be records of what happened in your house, somewhere. You can report back anything you think is conclusive evidence to me, and I''ll tell you if it''s right or not." In a way, this is spying, but after everything he''s been told, Vlad feels justified just a little.

    The room is quiet, with the only sounds coming from the tapping of fingers on metal. Vlad breaks the silence shortly after, "Well? How does it sound?"

    Danny gulps, both in nervousness and anticipation. It sounded¡­ like bullshit. It irked him that with the answer so close, he still had to go searching for it. But his parents had notes on it? Then¡­ it would either be in the lab, their personal bedroom, or¡­ if in none of those places, possibly a storage warehouse. It''s not a terribly hard task, and with ghost powers, it''ll be a cinch.

    "Fine." The teenager responded. A sudden idea popped up in his head though. "But if I can do it, I want you to teach me duplication."

    Vlad raises an eyebrow in intrigue. A sense of pride pervaded him for a moment- here was his student, already attempting to get more out of a deal. As a businessman, it makes him happy. "You do know that I told you that it''s still too dangerous for you, correct? I have no qualms teaching you it, but until you''re more¡­ stable, it''s better for you to not attempt it."

    The boy sighed in resignation, but pushed ahead anyway. "I know, you told me before. I just want you to teach it to me, and I''ll try it when I''m ready. That way, when I know I''m ready, I can start immediately."

    He chuckled in amusement. "If that''s what you want, little badger, then okay. I was planning on teaching you anyway, but I guess doing it a bit early won''t hurt." Vlads gaze became pointed, staring directly into his nephew''s own blue eyes. "Heed my warning though. I''m not saying it to hold you back, wait at least six months. At that time, maybe, just maybe, you''ll be stable enough."

    Danny grinned victoriously. "Deal!"

    The older man rolled his eyes, but snapped his fingers in remembrance. "Ah." Vlad muttered. "That reminds me, we''re going to the Ghost Zone tomorrow."

    All excitement left the teenager. "Uh- what?"

    "Do I really have to repeat myself Daniel?"

    Hurriedly, he answers: "No! It''s just- uh¡­ isn''t it kind of sudden?" His eyes dart over to the portal on the other side of the room. A spike of fear races through his heart for a moment, memories of his death resurfacing in vivid detail. His back flares in pain for a brief moment, but he doesn''t flinch. Even Danny knows that what he just felt was psychological.

    The nervous stare is obvious to someone as observant as Vlad, and a pang of sympathy does make itself known, but he hardens it soon after. The boy needed to know the Zone, too many resources that could help him lie in there. Besides, he''s a half-ghost. He can''t ignore the call forever, especially when his realm forms. "It''s not too soon Daniel. It''s better with me, than by yourself, no?"

    Danny had to agree with his uncle, despite his hesitance when it comes to the interdimensional instrument. It would definitely be better to have a guide when exploring a different dimension.

    For ghosts.

    ¡­What has his life become for that thought to actually occur?

 Chapter 18

    Chapter 18: Hunters Horde

    The return trip was quick, and surprisingly quiet. While he may not be the most¡­ attentive person around, it was pretty easy to see the tension between his parents and uncle. A few theories came to mind, and after recounting the days to when it all started, discomfort blossomed in his stomach.

    The day after the party was when this all started. And Vlad had said that he talked to his parents about the high levels of ectoplasm in his body. Putting two and two together, it didn''t take long for him to figure out that, whatever the secret was, it caused the relationship between his parents and uncle to be strained.

    Putting it mildly.

    The discomfort grew on the silent ride home, neither his mother or father speaking the whole time. Jazz was quick to pick up on it, having spent so long studying psychology, it was no wonder. And while Danny really, really wanted to try and get his parents back to normal¡­ whatever it was that had happened to him, they had something to do with it.

    And his discomfort intensified.

    Once home, Danny immediately wanted to just jump right into his task and get it over with. His parents immediately locking themselves in the basement made searching for results there moot, and the attic held nothing either. The ghosts practically surrounding the city limits sure did derail the idea of searching some more though. His ghost sense had been going off nonstop, from before they arrived at the city limits, to even now. From every direction, he could feel the pull, and it rattled his nerves.

    Still, with the attic and storage closets empty of his answer, and his nerves reaching the breaking point, Danny decided that it was time to take a look. With just a thermos, he transformed in his room and flew out through the roof.

    The flight over was short, most likely because of his high speed. While in Wisconsin, he had clocked his top speed at just over ninety miles per hour, something that made his pride swell. Not even fifteen, and already one of the fastest people on the planet. Then his uncle trumped him at well over two-hundred, and while it was discouraging, it also gave him something to look forward to.

    "Wha-" His own words got caught on his tongue, unable to really process what he was seeing. "What in the actual fuck!" Quite literally, a horde of ghosts were just barely being kept out of the town province. Clawing, biting, and occasionally blasting at the barrier, the undead monsters roared and howled in frustration. Their goal was right in sight, and unable to get in, they mobbed the invisible barrier. Up in the air, mostly avians and other winged specters flew up, attempting to get in through the sky. Another nail in the theory that, even though they all can fly, the ghosts stick with what was the norm for them in life¡­ if they even had a life. A giant spike ball rolling pointlessly against the shield like a tire made him question how something like that could have been alive at one point.

    Ghosts of all shapes and sizes corral around the borders, futilely attacking in a blind hope to get to the portal. "Fuuuuuuck!" He grabbed his head with his hands, "Damn it Desiree! You said there''d be a lot, not a fucking monster horde!" Then his eyes landed on the cracks, starting from the bottom, and a few growing tall and over the trees. Anger is replaced by worry, the constraints of time suddenly feeling much tighter.

    The barrier is going to fall. Soon.

    Even though he has other things he wants and needs to do, and he''s sure that Desiree has other things to do¡­ maybe, she is a ghost after all. It''s not entirely clear what they do on their off time. Still, he has to find her and catch up on what''s been going on. But how the hell is he supposed to find her?

    Just to make sure, Danny flies around the entirety of the barriers border. The forested areas have the higher population of undead, and strangely enough, the streets going in and out of town are bare of any ghosts. And to his horrified dismay, there''s easily over one-hundred ghosts. Honestly, he stopped counting after that. There are areas that seem void of the things, but the entirety of the almost three-hundred square miles of Amity Park is surrounded in sparse groups.

    What a fucking pain in the ass.

    Having felt he had scouted enough, and knowing that the longer he waited, the worse it would get, Danny took off back towards Amity. He needs to find Desiree and ask her what the hell is going on. Along the way, Danny racks his mind over all the places that he could find the wishing ghost. "Where would I go if I wanted to make a wish?" The quiet autumn air in a smallish town let him think in peace in his travel.

    He relished the peace, because soon it was going to be anything but.

    Wells, fountains, and churches are the main choices for wishes. Rather, they''re the only ones the fourteen year old can come up with. There aren''t any high value tourist spots in Amity Park that people would visit and wish at. The whole town is just¡­ plain. Ignoring the hordes of undead that await just outside the city limits, of course.

    First is wells. It''s the twenty-first century, people don''t use those anymore. Danny''s pretty sure the town is old enough that it once used wells, probably, but in this day and age, there are no more traditional wells. Unless someone lives out in a cabin in the woods, there''s not going to be any wells, and Danny knows Desiree would choose someplace popular for maximum quantity.

    Fountains. There are¡­ five that he can think of on the top of his head. "Two in the park, one in the mall, one downtown, and another by one of the churches." Seeing as he''s closer to the mall at this point, that''ll be the first stop. Downtown will be after, and the park following that. The churches can be done along the way or after.

    The mall''s a bust, disappointingly so. As is the one downtown, and while there he stopped at a few churches and tried anyway. That didn''t work, and now he finds himself at the park. With Desiree nowhere in sight, eventually he gives up and wings it, making a wish at one of the two fountains. "I wish Desiree was here."

    Honestly, he was kind of expecting her to show up immediately. After two minutes of nothing however, his head droops down in disappointment. "Damn it. I was really hoping that''d of-"

    "So you have wished it, so it shall be." The alluring voice caught his attention, but what made him jump in shock was that it came right from his ear.

    "Ahhh!" Danny twirled around in shock, ectoplasm pulsing in his hands and ready to retaliate if need be. He calms immediately at the sight of her, and the quickly vanishing pink and purple smoke is the only evidence of her sudden arrival.

    Desiree chuckled in amusement, a hand covering her mouth in a vain attempt to subside the giggles. She doesn''t even register that Danny was seconds away from blasting her, or perhaps she doesn''t care enough.

    It doesn''t take a genius to notice the good mood Desiree has going for her. Danny''s a little taken aback, her attitude so relaxed and nonchalaunt compared to when he first met her. "Uh, hey Desiree. Nice to see you again."

    The wishing ghosts smiles sweetly at the teenager, "And it is good to see you too, Phantom. How was your vacation?"

    Phantom perks up immediately, earlier worries momentarily gone. "Oh, it was great! I had an awesome time, and I even got a teacher to help me with my powers!"

    The genie ghost raised an eyebrow at the ghost child in part amusement, and part curiosity. Teacher? For his powers? "What do you mean a teacher?"

    Nonplussed by the question, he continues. "Oh yeah. So, my situation is a little- uh- different than most ghosts. I''m-" He paused in though, swiveling his head to take in the area. The throngs of people staring at the ghostly duo immediately notify him that discussing private affairs here isn''t wise. "Actually, I wish we were somewhere more private."

    The ever so accustomed smirk that never seemed to leave her, grew in glee. "So you have wished it," pink and purple smoke surrounded the both of them, "and so it shall be." Even with the use of her power, the act of granting a wish filled her with a different kind of empowerment. Her overall strength increased, albeit slightly, with the finishing of the wish.

    The surroundings changed instantly, and it doesn''t take Danny long to realize that they''re at least ten thousand feet up. "How''s this for private?" Desiree smugly asked.

    In a chuckle, Danny jovial answers: "Oh, this works."

    While tapping on his thighs, the young half-ghost thinks over what he wants to tell the genie. Since she''s the first ghost to be cooperative, and non-violent, Danny feels he should be honest with her. At least to a certain extent. "Okay," he begins, "so, I''m a Halfa."

    "And¡­?" As if she would know what that means when she''s been trapped in a bottle for the last few centuries.

    "Uh¡­ honestly, everyone I''ve told that to so far has kinda known what it is, but putting it bluntly, I''m half-human and half-ghost." Then again, Skulker''s the one that told him, Box Ghost may or may not know, and Vlad is the only other Halfa there is.

    Now that was news. While she had spent a majority of her miserable afterlife in a bottle, even from such archaic times, the idea of something being both alive and dead was an inconceivable topic. Naturally, her curiosity spiked, "Really? How does that work?" She circled around him, newfound interest causing the young teenager to blush under the scrutinizing gaze.

    Hesitantly, more so because she''s a beautiful woman, than out of nervousness, he replies: "Uh- not sure. It just does. But, I found another Halfa, the only other one really, and he''s helped me train and get a handle on how to use my powers."

    Danny struts his stuff, making a hero pose with his hands on his hips, "You''re looking at the new and improved, Danny Phantom! Vlad helped me so much, that I''m set for, like, the next year on how to handle my powers!" As an after that, he quickly adds, "And I''m probably good after that as well, for a while at least."

    Half-human and half-ghost. The mere assumption that something can be alive and dead at the same time is so ludicrous that it makes her want to laugh. But this young man before her, Danny Phantom, is truly a fourteen year old, skewed innocence and all. As her savior and curse-breaker, Desiree feels an obligation to take his word at face value, no matter how ridiculous. "That''s good, Phantom. Could you show me how you''re a half-ghost?"

    Although a little taken off guard by the question, for his one actual ghost friend, Danny feels like it''s a fair question. "Sure thing. It''s just¡­ uh- you''re gonna have to carry me. I''m still not that good at flying in my human form."

    She complies and floats closer to the¡­ half-ghost. That''ll take some getting used to. As an added tease, she disappears from sight, confusing him. Danny yelps in aroused embarrassment, confusion and shock when her arms snake around his chest from behind. "De- Desiree! Couldn''t you do this- I dunno, the normal way?"

    When she pulls him closer, absolutely inflaming the green blush on his face at the feeling on his back, she whispers in his ear: "And miss out on teasing you? I think not."

    "Wh-" The complaint dies on his tongue immediately. Honestly, it''s quite comfortable anyway, and how many teenagers can say they''ve been in this situation before? "Fine. Pay attention, okay? I''m gonna transform."

    The ectoplasm fades immediately, and while she doesn''t struggle at all with the increased weight, Desiree is surprised at the drastic change that happens to the teenager. Effortlessly, she holds Danny out to further inspect him. The blush fades slightly at her scrutinizing gaze. Snow white, gone for midnight black. Those powerful acid green eyes, replaced with startlingly beautiful cerulean eyes. He''s a tad bit more tan, but aside from the much more human clothes, they''re completely identical.

    Eventually she nods after turning him around a few times, "I''d say you''re quite handsome in both forms. What do you go by as a human?"

    Happy with the praise, Danny''s quick to respond. "I''m Danny Fenton as a human, and Danny Phantom as a ghost." Seeing her incredulous look, Fenton sniggers at the expression on her face. It''s all too easy to tell what she''s thinking, "Just so you know, no one''s figured it out." She''s quick to note that, like his Phantom form, his Fenton form has elongated canines as well.

    Danny''s transformation back to Phantom passes in the blink of an eye, letting him freely float from her grasp. Though as a hormonal teenager, he''s quick to miss it. If only he had someone else to talk about this stuff to, or rather, to brag to. This doesn''t happen to most fourteen year-olds.

    After getting the laughs out of herself, Desiree says: "Well, if it works for you. Though the denizens of this town seem to be rather slow on the uptake."

    The flash of a memory passes through his mind, one of a newspaper three weeks old, "That''s not even the worst!" He starts, "I''ve told my name to a few people, even a reporter at one point, and you know what they call me? Still?"

    Danny rapidly replies to his own rhetorical question, "Inviso-Bill!" He hissed in disgust, and actually spat, as if to get the taste of the name out of his mouth.

    "Aha!" She snorts, "The people of this age have no taste or forethought." Desiree waves her hand dismissively, "Do not mind it though, they''ll probably figure it out eventually."

    While his mood is lifted, and his anxiety lessened, he did come here with a purpose. And it''s rather urgent. When her laughter finally dies down, Danny''s quick to ask. "Hey, uh, what''s with all the ghosts? I thought you said there''d be a lot."

    His hands wave over the edges of the town, "Not an army. There''s seriously a shit ton of the things."

    Desiree scowled the grin into something more reminiscent of a frown. She''s happy to comply, especially since she''s been given her true freedom, but she''s not happy to be the bearer of bad news for the boy who freed her. "I apologize for that Phantom. I seriously underestimated the supernatural attraction this area had. They''ve been coming in droves, and the barrier''s going to fall soon. Maybe four or five days." While her and Phantom could ignore the call, the mindless couldn''t, and they''ve been coming in droves.

    A sigh escapes his lips before he realizes it, "It''s fine, I''m not mad about it. I was just expecting something different." He rolls his shoulders to stretch his muscles, "Did anything else happen while I was gone?"

    The wishing ghost puts a slender finger to her chin, tapping it thoughtfully. "There was a break in." She snaps her finger in remembrance, "A female ghost came out of the portal, one strong enough to get through my barrier."

    Feeling a tad more nervous now, Phantom hesitantly asks, "And when was this?"

    "It was a day after you left. Honestly, because of that hole she made, that''s why the barrier is going to fall so soon." She shakes her head in annoyance, "She has long blue hair, but that''s all I could see by the time I made it over there. She was riding on something strange though, and I haven''t seen any sign of her since."

    A day after he left? So a ghost was on the loose and¡­ it hadn''t done anything at all. His shoulders relax as tension leaves, "Well, if she hasn''t done anything so far, I doubt it matters at this point."

    With business out of the way, Danny smiles at her. "How''s it been going with you? Enjoying a curse-free li- er, afterlife?"

    Desiree is immediately over the moon in an almost bubbly happiness, a stark contrast to when he first met her. "Oh, it''s been wonderful! I haven''t felt so free and unrestrained in centuries!" She''s quick to hug the young man, much to his embarrassment and joy.

    She continues while holding him, "I''ve been able to grant as many wishes as I want, and screw over so many people without having to worry about the sleazy sap?klar trying to twist my powers against me." Desiree stares down at the young man in respect, "Truly, thank you Phantom. It''s thanks to you that I''m free."

    Danny blushes green from the praise, "It''s alright Des, anyone with half of a moral compass should have done it. And call me Danny, you don''t have to be so formal since we''re friends."

    Although taken aback by the declaration, it warms her core to hear such a thing. It''s been years since she''s had a friend, or rather, maybe since she died. Even in life, being so heavily involved in the political scene didn''t leave so many options in that department. Her harem sisters were the closest thing, but given her goals at the time, that possibility was pushed away.

    "Thank you," she whispered. "I appreciate it Danny. I really do." And the endearing nickname is such a stark, informal change to how it normally is for her, that she finds it refreshing and sweet.

    If only he was older. With a happy sigh, she releases Danny from her clutches, letting him float away with a smile.

    "Well," the half ghost said with a gleam, "If that''s everything, I''ve got stuff to do, and I don''t wanna keep you all day."

    As he starts to float away, Desiree calls out to him. "Danny, wait!"

    His attention refocuses on her completely, "Yeah? What''s up?"

    "I wanted to warn you in advance." Really, she was starting to hate giving the young man such bad news. "The ghosts outside, while weak and kept out, have been feeding off the ectoplasm leaking from here. They will be stronger than they seem."

    Danny groans in frustration, and while the idea of a good fight does excite him a little bit, this just adds onto the already gigantic shit show he''s going to have to clean up. If all of them had been getting buff this whole time, then this scenario just got even more annoying.

    And so, while both frustrated and filled with nervous anticipation, Danny waves his only ghost friend goodbye.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Through the infinite green void of the Ghost Zone, the metal hunter made his way. His armor was repaired, upgraded and ready for combat. His lair: hidden and on the move, the older Halfa wouldn''t be finding him anytime soon. And there was no assuming that Plasmius wouldn''t find out about the only other of his kind, it was just a matter of time. The man was impressively resourceful, no doubt thanks to his astounding wealth and enormous power.

    Not that he''d need anymore time. Skulker was confident in his ability to hunt the Halfa with his new upgrades. He wouldn''t need much more time, just a few more days. As the metal huntsman neared his destination, he methodically anticipated the hunt.

    While his pride was hurt in the costly loss against the half-ghost, it was so absolutely thrilling. He couldn''t describe the stimulation received from hunting one so powerful, because even young, it''s clear the whelp had it in abundance. Not nearly as much as Plasmius, that was a thorough decimation that the blob barely got away from. That wasn''t even fun, there was no chance. The older Halfa obliterated him completely, and that made it even more imperative that he finish the hunt and claim his prize.

    The pelt of a Halfa, maybe even both, would hang on his mantle. It was only a matter of time.

    Imagine his surprise when at his arrival to the Fenton portal, that there''s a barrier there.

    "What is this?!" He snarled, "Who dares to stop the hunt?!" Undead metal pounded against the purple barrier blocking entrance to his grind. It made a strange plopping sound, like a smack on wet clay.

    Fingers ground against the magical energy, sparking slightly, but the hunter was experienced in patience. It served him well to reign in his anger, and it wouldn''t do to let his extreme annoyance at the current situation cloud his judgement. A small instrument opened up on his arm, red lights scanning the barrier up and down.

    Moments later, Skulker''s alloyed face grinned maliciously. He''s in luck, someone fairly powerful had already broken the barrier, and while it''s been repaired¡­ cracks still remained. Cracks he could exploit.

    His right arm morphed, fingers contorting and joining together to form a laser. The thumb acted as a laser-designated guide, allowing him to aim with precision. The four other fingers began turning, the tips emitting a dangerous glow. The light coalesced into a focal point, and the short range breaching laser fired into the shield.

    Had he not been in the Zone, the two hours spent splicing into the barrier would have left his suit drained. Luckily, the dimension of energy was constantly fueling his tech. Eventually, the barrier cracked enough for the hunter to force his way in.

    Turning invisible immediately upon arrival in the human world, Skulker is quick to look for his prey. Ignoring the two arguing ghost hunters, he phases through the ceiling. He found the bedroom of the young Halfa empty. Fine with that, the huntsman leaves the abode of the scientists.

    It''s when he''s rocketed himself at least five-thousand feet into the air that his sensors pick up activity. A lot of activity. As in, the entire town is barren of ghosts, but the outer limits¡­

    Are absolutely crawling with ghosts.

    A quick fly-by around the perimeter of the town was enough for him to determine the modicum of the situation. The barrier has been holding ghosts back for¡­ a while, at least. A verifiable invasion was going to commence soon, and presumably, the Halfa was out making preparations for it.

    "Good." He sneered, "Bait is always best live." Though technically, they''re all dead.

    With a final laugh in victory, Skulker launched back from whence he came. While it was possible to break the barrier with his equipment now, he''d have no energy left to fight his prey.

    The hunt was on, and with such a good distraction, it should be a synch to snag that pelt he desires.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    It''s not until the next day that Danny''s ready, set, and good to go. The previous day was chock full of preparations, and this¡­ war isn''t going to be won on powers alone. Vlad had drilled into him the necessity to have back-up plans. So Fenton Thermoses, four to be exact, a few Containment Cubes, and those wrist rays were the bulk of his armory. All courtesy of his parents of course, whether they knew it or not.

    There were a few Fenton ''Nades that his dad had made as well, and based on the name, it was easy to figure out what they should do. Should, being the key word here, as instead of blowing up like its M67 military counterpart, all it did was cast around a large goopy pile of ectoplasm.

    And while his parents had dubbed it a failure, Danny saw value in it. Stray memories of his first ghost encounter, of how the rat ghost was chewing on an ectoplasm contaminated tree. Ghosts were attracted to the liquid of the afterlife, and what he had secured in his backpack were lures. If, at any point he gets overwhelmed¡­ more overwhelmed than he''s used to at least, he can use one to distract a fair chunk of the things. Or, they could be used to bait a trap. Like on the Containment Cube.

    Where his parents saw failures, he saw opportunities. The Thermos has easily been the most useful tool in ghost fighting yet, and that was, as his father put it, "A colossal disappointment." Oh well, one man''s trash is another man''s treasure. He still has no idea why they made so many of the things if the thermos was considered a failure. Did they just mass produce it on the assumption that it would work?

    Just as noon came around, with his lunch secured in his backpack, Danny was preparing to leave to battle. That made him sound like some kind of Greece spartan, and he was fine with that. It sounded cool in his head, and it sounded even cooler when he said it out loud too. All of the equipment was packed, he had core snacks that were quickly dwindling, and he''s psyched himself up enough.

    He has powers, a lot of them, and he knows how to use them. He has equipment, a variety of it, and some of it could save his hide in a pinch. And he has methods to heal himself¡­ mostly, so long as his head doesn''t leave his shoulders. Danny can safely say that he''s good to go.

    Then his phone rang. Groaning at the inconvenience, Danny reluctantly picked it out of his pocket, flipped it once, and unlocked it.

    Tucker.

    Danny pinched the bridge of his nose; this was not the time. There''s literally hordes of shit to do, as in, hordes of ghosts to slay, and he really couldn''t afford to dilly-dally.

    Another ring.

    Then again, it''s no lie that he''s been neglecting them more than they deserve. How was he supposed to get back that friendship they once had, if he never gave them a chance. But the responsibilities he shoved onto himself for the sake of a town he didn''t particularly care for were calling to him. And despite being a teenager, the half-ghost at least thought of himself as responsible.

    As the fourth ring came, he grunted in defeat. He hasn''t been a particularly good friend lately, and while he''s been busy, he could have at least texted them while on vacation. Plus, what would a few hours be? There was a limit to how much he could fight, so maybe he could burn a few hours for his friends.

    It was on the sixth ring that he answered the phone. "Hello?"

    "Yo, Danny! What''s up?" As the caller ID verified, it was indeed Tucker, and he could hear Sam in the background.

    "Nothing much at the moment," He figured it would be easier to let the tech geek lead the conversation.

    There was a pause and hushed whispers, the sound of¡­ slapping? Most likely something Tucker said, "Okay, we''re about to head to Nasty Burger, wanna come?"

    The spark of irresponsibility made itself known to him in the back of his mind, idle finger tapping spurning the spark on, but the chance to reconnect just a bit was here. And he wanted to take it. It''s not like the ghosts are going to be going anywhere soon. Surely, they could wait. And while he did push this responsibility onto himself, Vlad had reminded him as he left that his powers were his, and despite what he believes, protecting the town really isn''t his duty.

    That was difficult to get his head around, but eventually the younger Halfa figured out the meaning. He didn''t have to be a hero, no one could force him to do it, and he could do what he wanted with his powers. That, in itself, seemed like a bad thing to say to an impressionable fourteen year old. Especially when he asked about using his powers to rob a bank.

    His uncle had laughed at him and told him not to get caught.

    It made him wonder if Vlad actually used his powers to steal his fortune, but stealing literal billions of dollars isn''t really feasible. It doesn''t matter if you can go through walls or stay invisible, there probably wasn''t that much physical money to steal in the first place. Surprisingly, it didn''t bother him too much, but the freedom of being told that he could use his powers however he wanted was tantalizing. But at the moment, he at least wanted to keep being a hero. He thought it was a pain in the ass that he had to do it in the first place, but he didn''t hate it.

    Realizing he paused way too long, Fenton hastily replies, "Yeah, yeah, I''m down. I''ll head over now."

    The excited reply came moments later, "Sweet! We''ll see ya there man." The phone hung up with a soft click, leaving Danny to his own thoughts.

    Danny knew that he really, really shouldn''t be doing this. He had shit to do, easily arguable to be more important than a quick lunch with some friends. But then again¡­ he wanted to do this. He wanted to hang out and feel like a normal teen, at least for a little bit. The last two weeks were fun, but ultimately, he spent the whole time either studying, sparing, or fighting. That''s really not what most fourteen year-olds do when they visit their uncle''s house.

    Shrugging his shoulders, he figured that thinking over now didn''t do much other than waste time. He''s made the commitment, and he''d hold himself to his word. A quick check over his arsenal, snugly fit and hidden in his backpack, and he''s off.

    The flight over is quick, not even five minutes, and he''s eternally grateful for the gift of flight. He''d have to test his limits later, while he knew he wouldn''t be breaking into orbit anytime soon, flying that high up was thrilling down to his very core.

    It''s only after waiting ten minutes that he thinks that he could have waited a little. Their homes aren''t necessarily far, per-se, but they''re not close either. Tuckers was the closest, but he was most likely hanging out at Sams since she had a giant TV on her wall and top of the line computers. And while his was the furthest away, at least he could get Jazz to drive him if he wanted. Sam refused to pollute the environment whenever possible, so she walked everywhere she went if possible. That was probably a good thing since Tucker doesn''t really get any exercise outside of that.

    On the twenty minute mark, Sam and Tucker finally arrive. Danny''s been waiting a while, and with so much literal energy coursing through his veins, it''s been getting harder and harder to stay still. Especially with his plans for later in the day, his anxiety is practically funneling adrenaline into his body in preparation.

    Or maybe that''s the ectoplasm. It''s hard to tell with his two of a kind physiology.

    As his friends near his table, their eyes widen slightly. "Danny? How''d you get here before us?" Ah, there was that too. He notices the annoyed cashier sending a glance his way, but shrugs that off and their question. "I was around here when you guys called."

    Danny gets up from the table and walks over to stand in line with his friends. Tucker holds out a fist, which he reciprocates with a bump from his own. "So how was vacation with your creepy uncle?"

    The Halfa frowned, "Don''t call him that." he chastised, "It''s kinda rude since he actually remembered you. He doesn''t do that a lot for people who don''t leave an impression on him."

    With her share of dislike for the wealthy, Sam is quick to add to the conversation. "Because he''s rich, he doesn''t have to remember the common people?"

    "Yes," Danny flatly stated, "If you ran as many companies as him, then you''d be hard pressed to remember people too." His eyes narrow, deciding to throw a low blow, "Unlike the trust fund babies that your parents are."

    Sam smiles in glee, happy to insult her parents and their pointless lifestyle. "Exactly! I''m so glad someone sees it my way!"

    Danny sputters momentarily, before remembering that Sam''s relationship with her parents isn''t anywhere near good, and she relishes opportunities like this.

    They move a step forward in line, and the half-ghost groans in annoyance. He wanted to annoy her, not empower her disagreements with the wealthy.

    "Hold up, hold up!" Tucker puts his hands up to stop the conversation, "Are you telling me your super-rich uncle actually remembers me?"

    He chuckled a little, and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I had to remind him, but since I don''t have many friends, he remembered you."

    That didn''t seem to do anything to the tech geeks massive ego, "You think he''d get me a job after high school so I don''t have to go to college?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, for reasons that the teen hero had no idea why.

    Another step up, and they were at the counter. "Uh¡­ sure. Whatever." He turned his attention back to the cashier who was glaring at him. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Sam roll her eyes at Tucker. The service agent berated him for loitering, which he countered with the ''I''m getting food now'' excuse.

    It didn''t make her any more pleased.

    When Danny makes his way back to their table, he doesn''t have to wait long for Sam and Tucker to join him. It''s always a salad with Sam, and the people here know Tuckers order by heart. The meatiest thing on the menu, and also one of the most expensive things as well.

    As they talk, that feeling of normalcy that''s been missing from his life returns. It''s nice. To feel like a normal teenager, that is. With how hectic it''s been for the last¡­ since his death, really, this feeling has been practically vacant from his life. Even at school, thanks to his parents getting him labeled as a social pariah, he doesn''t feel all that normal. It''s only when he hangs out like this that he can relax and wind down. Feel human and let go, just for a bit.

    It took about thirty minutes for their food to be ready, something Tucker was complaining about the whole time. Danny shrugged off the complaints; the whole place was busy since the high school was out, and this was one of the prime hang out spots for Casper High students. With no school to obstruct them, it makes sense to collude social activities here.

    As the first hour comes around, that feeling of irresponsibility rears its ugly head. As fun as it''s been, he knows that he has pressing matters to attend to. Matters that could mean a matter of life and death, and in his case, half-death. Feelings of nostalgia aside, his anxious feeling and slowly slipping time is slowly ruining his good mood.

    It''s at the ninety minute mark that he notices Sam''s hesitant glances his way. He knows that look. It''s the look she sends his way when she wants to ask something that she''s not sure if it''s okay to ask. As their conversation rambles on about the new update for DOOMED, the not-so-subtle glances she keeps sending him begin to grate on his nerves.

    "What is it Sam?" He finally speaks out. She looks startled for a second, having been found out may have been surprising to her.

    Having always figured Danny as the dense kind, it''s surprising to have herself called out like this. "Uh¡­" She looks over to Tucker, who shrugs his shoulders. When she turns her head back to Danny, she steals her nerves to ask: "What do you know¡­" She looks around for a second, "about Phantom?"

    Danny''s eyes widened for a moment, "Phantom?" He weakly asked. The half-dead hero cursed the obvious show of surprise and shock, and based on the looks he''s getting from his friends, they saw that too.

    "Yeah," Tucker starts, "Your parents are ghost hunters, so they gotta know about the town hero goin'' around slayin'' other monsters, right?" Ah, that''s what they meant.

    He did tell Sam, as Phantom, that he was a ghost, so he should have expected this eventually. Maybe he should have lied, but that felt wrong and hypocritical to do, especially since he berated them on it before. He sighed in defeat, "They know of him. They say he''s the most powerful ghost to show up on their sensors yet." It was a little hard to keep the pride out of his voice.

    Eyebrows shoot up in surprise, "The strongest?" Sam asks, and Danny nods in affirmation. He looks to Tucker to see if there''s any questions there, but he just shrugs his shoulders.

    It''s not like he was the one to interact with the ghostly hero, he just filmed it.

    Recapping what his parents have said so far about¡­ himself, he slowly begins to retell the information he''s been given, careful not to spill the more personal details. "So, Phantom, as the most powerful ghost they''ve seen so far, is their primary target."

    Danny shifts uncomfortably in his seat, not at all pleased to be his parents main goal. "They don''t know that much, just a few of his powers. And they don''t know where he goes when he''s not protecting the town."

    "Is that it?" Sam annoyingly asked.

    The Halfa frowns momentarily, not entirely pleased with her attitude. "Yeah, that''s about it. They haven''t even tried to talk to him, just the old ''shoot first, dissect later'' technique." Ignoring her affronted gaping, he continues, "Not like they can catch him anyway."

    Sam doesn''t seem satisfied, and if anything, she seems more annoyed. A quick glance at Tucker shows that he''s already lost interest. If the Bluetooth headphones are anything to go by, at least.

    "There''s nothing else?" The harsh town doesn''t do wonders for his mood, which has been going from happy and nostalgic, to annoyed and crossed very quickly.

    The half-ghost grunted out his next response, "Yes, that''s it. My parents don''t exactly socialize with me that often Sam. It''s a rare occurrence, how should I know what new rung they''ve dug up?"

    Although unsatisfied with what she''s been told, the gruff response from her friend stops her from pressing further. It''s not news to them that Danny''s parents aren''t the most¡­ attentive. And while Sam doesn''t necessarily like or approve of her parents or their pathetic attempt to cling to monetary status, they at least try to connect with her. If only they weren''t so shallow and hollow, maybe she''d reciprocate.

    Conceding on the conversation, Sam decides to move on. "What are you doing after this? Wanna hang out?"

    The very slight wince from their friend told them the answer. Barely a flinch on his eyes, and his apology is already rolling, "Sorry," he begins, "I kinda have plans. I can''t hang out today." He rubs the back of his neck, a nervous tick he still can''t get rid of.

    Sam pouts, and Tucker looks up from his PDA. "What plans?" The goth asked, and it was easy to spot the annoyance in her bit the inside of his lip, hoping that the tone she was giving wouldn''t piss their rather distant friend off again.

    Danny''s eyes narrow slightly, his mouth becomes tighter, and his fingers under the table twitch slightly. Suppressing a growl, something that''s become more common since his hybridism, Danny tautly answers her. "My parents want me and Jazz to clean the house. This is pretty much a break, and then I have to go back."

    Both pairs of eyes dart over to the backpack that was on the seat next to him. For a moment, Danny nervously wonders if they bought the lie. His parents sparsely ask them to clean the house, they spend most of their time cooped up in the basement. Every so often, they''ll ask for chores, sure, but most of the time they don''t pay attention. Though they have been appearing from the lab more often recently.

    Sam''s eyes narrow in suspicion, but a glance at Tucker makes her sigh. "Okay. What about tomorrow? My house at 2?"

    Damn it. He really wished they would stop, this is a horrible time for this! "Uh¡­" he looks up thoughtfully, "maybe. I gotta ask mom and dad if there''s anything else they want me to do. They''ve been leaving the lab more often, so they''ve been piling on chores." Plus, if he had time, he wanted to look onto the task Vlad gave him.

    Begrudgingly, Sam bites out. "Fine." Her facial features tell him she''s both angry and disappointed, and suddenly his feelings of annoyance aren''t as strong. Maybe he''d put in a decent amount of effort tonight so he could hang out with them tomorrow.

    Danny brings his phone out to check the time, if only to build on the act more. He lets his brows shoot up, and mutters a curse. "Hey guys, I gotta go." He moves to get up, swinging his backpack over his shoulder. He stops when he hears the music coming from Tuckers headphones.

    He leans down a little to hear better, and Sam noticing it, decides to do the same.

    -ber!

    Nothing-

    -emain.

    Danny leaned back in confusion, and looked to Sam. She looked just as confused. "Since when did his taste in music change?" He''s always been more into techno and dubstep, with the occasional rap or rock song.

    "I¡­ uh, I''m not sure." She shrugged her shoulders, "It sounds kinda pop-ish right?"

    Danny nodded, the instrumental sounded like a mix of rock and pop, at least. "Well, good luck with that I guess. See ya guys."

    They both waved him off, and he returned it. He saunters off back towards his house with a quick pace.

    Now all he had to do was find an alley to transform, and he could get to work.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    He can hear them before he can see them. It''s awful. Echoed wails, howls, snarls and barks permeate the quiet afternoon forest setting. There''s no birds chirping a song, no deer scampering through the brush, and no cicadas buzzing the infuriating noise. They''ve all retreated, the horde of ghosts having terrified the animals. It''s said their natural instincts are stronger than humans, and they''ve demonstrated that by vacating the area.

    The cacophony of horrors only gets louder when the dead see him on the other side. Their attacks against the barrier become more rapid, ferocious in their desire to heed the call. They''re drawn to the portal to the point of madness, and it doesn''t make Danny any more pleased.

    Unfortunately, his mountain base is not on this side of the shield, and he can only hope that the giant centipede core hasn''t attracted any wayward spirits. He really wanted to see what it tasted like. That also means that he had to find a temporary place to house his gear, someplace that''s easy to remember and find. Ease of access doesn''t matter since he can just go through walls, but it wouldn''t do at all to lose all his stuff.

    A large tree on the border seemed good enough, the old pine was surrounded by a bunch of dying oaks, making it stand out amongst the water deprived arbors. It wouldn''t be hard to find this place, especially from above. While he wanted to get started right away, there were some things he had to test. Like, could he just blast them through the shield? Was going in and out a simple thing in his ghost form? He barely felt it as a human, but if it actively resisted him, then he wouldn''t be able to use it as a shield. Could he just thermos the little shits through the shield?

    The Halfa finished rummaging around through the bag, and took a seat on the large branch. The time, 3:29, told him that he had plenty of time. More than enough to exhaust himself before curfew. He didn''t think that he''d be spending so much time at Nasty Burger, but it still doesn''t really make a dent in his plans. He quickly sent a text to Jazz, telling her that he might be late. Without waiting for a reply, he tosses the phone in the open bag, grabs a Fenton Thermos with a sling and places it on his back.

    Danny adjusts it, trying to find a more comfortable position, but eventually gives up with a shrug. He''d have to be a little careful so that it doesn''t get busted mid fight. Eying the other equipment, the teenager mentally debates whether he should bring more. With this being more of an information gathering phase, the single thermos should be enough, though he has no doubt that he''ll need every thermos he brought and more. The sheer numbers demand it.

    Moments later, Danny finds himself inches away from the barrier. The cracks have grown, reaching higher into the sky and closer to the apex. As he ascends, the sounds dull slightly; perhaps the barrier mutes the sounds of the dead, but with openings finally forming, the noise can reach inside the protected space. There are less ghosts up here, only a few avian variants¡­ and a flying squirrel? "Huh." That''s odd.

    The first test was if he could pass through the barrier in his ghost form. The wish with Desiree did include him, but it was still a matter of necessity to test. Tentatively, he raised his hand and placed it on the barrier. There''s enough resistance against him for it to be noticeable, but pushing a bit more strength into his advance lets him push right through. Once breached, the resistance seems to stop completely. He has to yank his hand back though when a four-winged eagle thing tries to take it as a treat though.

    The damned thing keeps attacking the point where his hand was moments ago. "Well, test one is a success." He stared down at his hand, flexing it to see for any changes.

    "Moving on to test two." He mumbled.

    Danny floated away from the barrier until he was thirty feet away. Green energy collects into his right hand, forming into a low-powered blast. He hefts his arm up, taking aim at the ghost that wanted to chew on his digits. His aim is true, the blast flying at high speed directly towards the green eagle. The attack splashes against the barrier like a water balloon, startling the bird ghost, before detonating in a low-yield green explosion.

    "Yeah, kinda figured that." He tsked under his breath.

    Since he can''t blast away at the things from the safety of the shield, he''ll have to get out there and subjugate them the good ol'' fashioned way.

    Brute force, raw power, and not being stupid.

    With only one more test left, the time for fighting grows closer. All he had to do was see if he could suck the ghosts into the Fenton Thermos through the shield. That, as it turns out, wasn''t possible either. Danny nearly shit himself when the magic barrier itself started getting pulled into the thermos.

    And now, with nothing else to test, Danny finds himself seconds away from walking onto¡­ a battlefield, for lack of a better word. And he supposed, that was an apt description. When fighting ghosts in the city before, it was normally only one or two, sometimes three or four at a time. Now? Well, he stopped counting when they went into the three digits mark, but at least they''re spread out. It''ll give him time.

    The half-ghost steels himself, calming nerves and letting the bubbling ectoplasm in his body invigorate himself. Knowing it''s going to take multiple days, Danny sets out with determination. He''s in the north, the area where his mountain is, and from here he''ll work¡­ east. The main hub of activity that is Amity Park downtown is closer to that side, and should the barrier break before then, the commercial district of his town will be taking heavy hits.

    Slowly, Danny floats towards the barrier. He puts his right hand on it, but doesn''t push. This is going to be different from every fight he''s had so far. It''ll be more controlled, and while he''s used to being outnumbered, it''s never been so bad before. He bites his lip, forcing his nerves down. "I can do this. I have a safe zone. I can fall back if it gets too dicey. I''ve always been outnumbered."

    He opens his eyes, acid green burning against the lavender barriers reflection, "And I''ve always come out on top." He whispered.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Since when do you listen to that kind of music?"

    Tucker turned his head to his friend and took his headphones off. Feeling a little offended, for a reason he can''t really figure out, Tucker heatedly asks: "What do you mean, ''that kind of music''?"

    Sams'' face scrunches up in both annoyance and confusion. Where was all this attitude coming from? It was a simple question, not an accusation. "Chill out Tucker. Normally you listen to¡­ well, other genres." She scratches the side of her arm and shrugs her shoulders, "You''ve never been a pop kinda guy, and you haven''t stopped listening to it yet."

    That did annoy her a little. They hadn''t seen Danny in weeks, and Tucker spent half the time with his face to his PDA and earbuds blocking out sound.

    Tucker flaunts his PDA, waving it back and forth. "I just like the music, Sam. The artist is amazing and I can''t wait till her merch comes out later." He looks back to his device and clicks open a few apps, while muttering under his breath: "I''m so gonna buy one of each."

    The goth guffawed at that. She threw her controller onto the bed next to her, got up and began walking to the console. "Ooookay. Look, I''m gonna swap out the game since you obviously don''t wanna play. Anything you wanna watch besides that screen in your hands?"

    When she received no answer from her tech geek friend, her anger did spike a little. All day he''s been so damn annoying with that stupid song, playing it on repeat over and over again. Sure, she did the same thing too, with some songs, but never with one song, all day like he''s been doing.

    Then there was lunch with Danny. The asshole spaced out the whole time and didn''t even back up her questions with some of his own. She wanted to know more about Phantom, and Tucker wasn''t any help at all. Plus, he wasn''t even paying attention! He may as well have stayed home and not showed up, because that''s pretty much what his presence amounted to today. And he set the whole thing up too!

    With the new game loading up, she made her way back to her bed. Out of angry curiosity, she walked over to Tucker and peeked over his shoulder to see what he was listening to. At the top of the screen was the title and band name, next to a play, rewind, and fast forward button. The name of the song was easy to remember, and the artist was named-

    "Ember McLain?"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Accelerating from zero to forty in half a second, Phantom rockets out of the barrier. From inside, he was able to see the ghosts in the immediate vicinity that would make for his first fight of the day. Two large snakes, easily over forty feet in length are the closest thing and he''s designated them as the first targets. A small pack of wolves, three in number, are about one-hundred feet away, trying to dig at the barrier. And spread out above all of them is a squad of ectopuses. The four of them aren''t as spread out, most likely because they''re weaker than everything here, but they''re dangerous with those hooked tentacles.

    Based on personal experience, the snakes have to go first. There''s not many animal or monster ghosts that actively use invisibility, most are too stupid to use it, but snakes are cunning and resourceful, and they use that ability with frightening levels of skill. Danny aims the Fenton Thermos at the duo of serpents, hoping to catch both at once.

    The tractor beam from the modified soup holder catches one off guard, yanking the hissing serpent into the cylinder. The other one slithers out of the way in time, turning invisible as it uses the trees as cover. One of the ectopuses that was on a nearby tree screeches with a warble, jetting over like a squid in water. Not at all caught unaware, Danny lifts a hand charged with electricity. Ecto-electricity crackles across the afternoon forest, shocking the creature to the ground while burning some of the nearby canopy.

    Danny dives at the cephalopod, intent on finishing it off. An energy blade forms in his hand along the way, but just before he reaches it, the snake makes a reappearance. It drops invisibility at the last second, biting at Danny''s midsection. Phantom sneers at the undead reptile, and with a twist, intercepts the serpent and lops off the top of its head. The Halfa keeps his speed, and spears through the still stunned ectopus.

    Using telekinesis, Danny collects the cores and places them in a pouch on his belt.

    Before he can retreat back to the shield to collect himself, the pack of wolves is on him. Snarling and barking, two of the specters circle around, while a third pounces on him. Danny flings himself away from the maw, but one of the circling mutts takes an opportunity attack. Wishing he disengaged first, Phantom swung his arm around with a reinforcement. The ghost wolf bites down on his arm, making him wince in discomfort. It hurts, and the bite pressure of the wolf is strong enough to break a normal person''s bones, but with his arm infused it''s not breaking.Stolen novel; please report.

    The first wolf is on him while he''s in the seconds'' grip. Danny kicks out his leg with a snarl, catching it in the jaw and making it whimper like a¡­ kicked dog. Using that kick as a springboard, the Halfa twirls around and tries to rip his arm from the wolf''s maw. "Arrgh!"

    He succeeds, but chunks of his skin are torn from his forearm. Phantom grits his teeth and holds his injured arm as he retreats backwards. Now out of the encirclement, Danny decides that fighting in two dimensions isn''t helping him at all, so he takes to the skies.

    Now clear of the forest, and any subsequent obstacles that would have made for cover, Danny is in sight, and has sight on his targets. Two of the wolves charge for him, while the third opens its mouth and begins to collect energy. His eyes narrow at the familiar attack, and Phantom raises both hands. With energy in both, the Halfa lets loose a barrage of ecto-blasts. He''s always had good aim, and the wolf on the ground is pummeled by the energy attacks. The unstable ectoplasm it had been collecting explodes in its mouth, further damaging the undead canine. The two charging wolves had to dodge, and while one was hit directly in the face, the both of them still ascended to meet the Halfa in a CQB.

    As did the remaining ectopuses. The squad of ghostly cephalopods coalesce to his position, rising from three different directions.

    It''s a six-on-one fight, but he knows what they''re capable of. He''s fought these types of ghosts before, and he knows their strengths and what they can do. And he knows how they operate as well.

    The two wolves meet him first, and he''s ready with glowing green claws formed up to his elbows. Phantom parries a swipe from one, and twirls around to sweep his glowing leg across the second mutt. Now focused on one, Danny has to cross his arms as the thing pounces on him. He grabs the wolf by the muzzle, forcing its jaw shut and preventing it from biting into his shoulder.

    That happened once, and he didn''t want it happening again.

    Its hind legs dig into his thighs, tearing the thin jumpsuit and piercing flesh. Danny growls along with the beast in pain and frustration. Energy collects in his angry eyes, and he rips an arm out and to the left. In his grip is one of the wolf''s front legs, and even when he feels one of the ectopuses approaching, he doesn''t stop. Now spread out and unable to move, the air cracks with a thundered womp as the surrounding space is heated by Dannys laser, and the wolf is split in half by the ocular beams. He snarls, letting the disintegrating body drop, and the other wolf halts its charge in fright.

    Danny is forced to raise a shield to stop tentacles from wrapping around him, he really doesn''t want to have to patch himself up again thanks to the barbs on those things. The shield holds, and he repurposes one of his claws into a ball of goop. When a second ectopus wraps around his shield, it begins to crack. Noticing the dumb things are pushing while trying to break in, the half-ghost charges more power into his ball of goop.

    When the cracks reach the apex, Danny drops the shield with a grin and turns intangible. He lets the ball float in between, and the two ectopuses crash into each other. Now stuck and tearing at each other to get away, Danny laughs at the things misfortune. Out of the corner of his eyes, he sees the final wolf turn tail and run. He raises an eyebrow, and looks down to where he peppered the other wolf from before.

    Apparently his barrage ended the ghostly canine, or it blew itself up when interrupted, and with no other pack mates, the sole survivor ran.

    "Not happening." He growled out.

    As the last wolf is running with its tail between its legs, Phantom explodes after it. Those two are going to be stuck together for a hot minute, and he''s confident that he can take the others. The wolf notices a second too late, and Danny sends it careening down to the ground with an axe kick. "Down boy!"

    He''s not given time to celebrate however, as the final ectopus breaks through the treeline in a surprise attack. "Fuck!"

    With no time to counter the thing, no time to raise a shield, and no time to reinforce himself, Danny is forced to take the brunt of the attack. The large mouth of the creature chomps down on his stomach, and the surrounding tentacles attempt to wrap around him as he, like the wolf, starts on his descent. Phantom catches a barbed tentacle with each hand, but when they wrap around his legs and thorax, he screams in pain and anger.

    With a yank, two of the offending appendages are ripped off of the ghosts body. It squeals in agony, releasing its hold on his stomach. Now not in any danger of convulsions, the Halfa lets loose a large dose of electricity from his body. When its grip is loosened, Danny whips his hand back, and with enough room now, plunges his now glowing hand forward and through the head of the ectopus. It stops all movement, and Danny flicks it off of his body with agitation abundance, stopping his descent a little too close to the ground for comfort.

    Now free of the distraction, and thoroughly annoyed, Danny looks towards where he kicked the ghost wolf down to. He''s disappointed to see the thing gone, but he couldn''t blame it. The undead canine must have good survival instincts if it can overpower the call. His eyes fall back towards the two conjoined ectopuses. They''re squealing and hissing while trying to break away from each other. Normally he would thermos the slimy little shits, but not right now.

    Calmly he lands a few feet from them and begins walking towards them. From his fingertips on his right hand, a blade of green energy extends. It stops at three and a half feet in length, as do his feet right in front of the stuck ghosts. His eyebrows raise at the sheer audacity they had to try and attack him with their non-stuck tentacles, but that''s gone quick enough when he stabs right through both of them. They stop all together, and slump down when he rends them in twain with a swing to the right.

    Their bodies slowly deflate down to their core, and Danny takes a moment to collect the rest of the cores from the fallen. Ah, telekinesis is so handy.

    Now done with that, the ghost child temporarily retreats back into the barrier to recuperate.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    His glowing hands rested on his stomach wound, it being more detrimental to his health than the others. He''s thankful that the damn squid-thing couldn''t bite through the Fenton Thermos, it saved him from having to reach his back.

    Gritting his teeth, Danny pushed more power into his hand, making the glow brighter and speeding up his already unnaturally fast healing factor. Slowly, but visibly, the wound began to close. The Halfa hissed in pain, having skin knit together so fast was both itchy and hurt like a bitch. At least this technique doesn''t take a lot of energy, hell, he wouldn''t even know this one if Vlad hadn''t told him. He would''ve spent years going without it, and that would have sucked.

    Big time.

    Danny sighed in annoyance as he looked upon his other injuries. They weren''t that bad, really, but he can''t help but feel frustrated. If he was a little more careful, he wouldn''t have even gotten them. Danny popped another core into his mouth, letting the energy from the creature flow into him.

    "Mmmm." Tastes like sour skittles. Energy cores are some of the best snacks, and Danny''s a little surprised with himself for getting used to eating these things so quickly. While these are, technically, the heart of a ghost, he can''t deny that they taste good.

    At least he had the brute force and raw power thing covered, now he just needed to not be stupid next time.

    As the wound on his stomach healed up to acceptable levels, Danny moved his arms to hold each other. He closed his eyes and forced the healing properties of his own ectoplasm into both hands. It''s not as easy, but it''ll be quicker with both hands, and after that first fight, he couldn''t help but feel like he was running out of time.

    Even with all these injuries, his body is still raring to go. He''s got tons of energy, and those two weeks of training really upped his game. More efficient, more powerful, more knowledgeable, and much more deadly. If only he had a year to train these powers, he''d be unstoppable!

    Okay, that was a haughty thought, but a guy can dream, right?

    With an hour long break to heal, which wasn''t really a proper heal, but a rushed job meant to stop the bleeding, Danny began again. It was nice to see that no more ghosts had accumulated where he just was, so he continued east. It was maybe one-hundred feet before he came across another group of ghosts.

    This group didn''t seem that bad honestly. A small herd of glowing green deer and does, maybe ten in total. They didn''t seem bad, no, but it''s surprisingly frightening to see what was normally meek herbivores charge at thirty miles per hour into the shield like a battering ram. The deer, like other ghosts, were much larger than their living counterparts. Easily towering at ten feet in height, with great and graceful antlers, they would no doubt be majestic¡­ if they weren''t frothing green foam at the mouth, had burning red eyes, and were snarling and bleating like a dying goat with a voice modulator.

    "Wow, that''s creepy."

    A large buck in the back constantly stomped and scratched its large hooves, snorting and wheezing as if a commander. Easily fifteen feet in height, this thing was a sight to behold, and that it actually seemed to order the other cervidae around was frightening. That shows signs of intelligence, and if something is smart, it''s dangerous.

    And the barrier wasn''t looking good. The cracks were far more prominent here, spreading in a concentrated area. There were tracks laid into the ground from how often the ghosts stampeded into the shield.

    Danny flew above them while in the shield, observing them. Their speed, while impressive for a deer, was not impressive for a ghost. They have good acceleration, and the many points of the antlers seemed to do a good job of slowly scraping the magic away. Every time they rammed into the purple blockade, the hooved hammers had to take a moment to collect themselves. They were dazed and confused after each hit, and it''s possible that they''ve accumulated damage considering how long this has been going on.

    "I can work with this." Each time they struck the shield, it warbled and rippled, the sound like a paintball hitting a workout ball. But there''s a lot. More than he''s ever taken on at once. If he goes into this, it''s going to be a difficult battle should he get hit. Getting speared by a set of antlers did not sound fun, and even with his enhanced durability and regeneration, he wasn''t under any illusion that he''d survive that.

    Getting shish-kebabed would be a one way ticket past half-death to full death.

    No bueno.

    Over the course of half an hour, Danny continues his observations, and eventually, he comes up with a plan. Simply put, he can try and sneak out, thermos the leader right after they ram into the barrier. In their dazed confusion, suck up as many as possible with two thermoses. "Okay. As sound as any plan, I guess." The last half hour also let him heal further, and while he wasn''t at 100%, he felt good enough for a fight.

    Danny streaked off to the right for about one-hundred yards. Finding the distance sufficient enough, he silently made his way through the barrier, pushing back against the meager resistance it offered. He flexed his shoulders, moving the tow thermoses around so he could grab them. Turning invisible, he flew off back in the direction he came.

    It was louder out here than it was inside the barrier. When they rammed the lavender wall, it made a loud thwacking sound that made him wince. There was no doubt in his mind that that hurt. It sounded painful, and anything that can daze a ghost has to have some force behind it. It''d be best not be hit by one of their charges.

    Keeping his invisibility active, he slowly hovers to the tree above the lead buck. It didn''t notice him in its mad stomping.

    Good, that''ll make this easier.

    Positioning himself directly over the buck, in this case the tree it was standing under, he took aim. The alpha male stomped and huffed, snorting out an order to charge again. Danny took aim, pointing it directly down. He only has one shot, and he has to make it count.

    "Bleeeeeh!" The alpha buck bleated.

    Pfft. It took everything he had to not laugh at the sound. Despite being a hulking mass of ectoplasmic muscle, the high pitched whine the buck let out was too much. It sounded so much deeper when there was a barrier between them. He held his laughter though, and readied his fingers.

    3

    The pack lined up again, eying their rather wide target.

    2

    They stomp and paw the ground, preparing themselves.

    1

    Full sprint.

    The herd takes off with impressive acceleration, aimed at the same spot they''ve been ramming for what''s most likely a few days now. In a way, that''s impressive on Desiree''s part for making something so powerful, and the cerivdeas themselves for having such thick skulls.

    0

    The deer crash into the barrier, and Danny makes his move. He thumbs the button with his right hand, activating the tractor beam of the thermos. The alpha buck is stunned out of his commands but the sudden sucking force. It looks up, locking hateful red eyes onto Danny''s humored green. A second later, and he''s safely secured in the thermos with no incident.

    There''s no time to celebrate however, and the Halfa aims both of his thermoses at the recovering fauna. He gets two before they notice him, one in each. And while he manages to get a third in the right thermos, the last one on the left regains enough semblance to stumble out of the way. After a curse, Danny straps the equipment to his back and makes distance between himself and the angry herd.

    He charges up an ecto-construct in his right hand, forming a long glowing whip. It sparked and bubbled with power, energy ripples from the handle, down the thong and to the popper. His left hand surges with electricity, sparking up and down his arm with violent currents. The surrounding area is abuzz with the crackle of static, spreading the smell of ozone in the immediate area.

    The remaining herd stampedes through the tree line, busting and breaking the treetops as they gallop in flight. The roars of high-pitched bleats make it a little difficult to take the situation seriously, but Danny is not under the illusion that those antlers won''t hurt. With a flick of his wrist, the whip soars towards the leading deer, slapping it away and into another charging doe.

    Danny rips his arm right, smacking into another member of the herd, and wrapping around its neck. The stampede is getting closer, gaining speed, and becoming much more of a threat. With another yank, the constricted cervidae is thrown down to the ground violently. One less to worry about.

    Surging even more power into his left arm, his electrokinesis almost goes out of control, but before that happens, he points his arm at the charging six, and fires. A wave of energy, electrified and empowered launches at the incoming ghosts. The two that had crashed into each other seconds ago, now lagging behind, are the only ones able to dodge the wave of energy by flying below it.

    Seeing the herd mostly stunned now, Danny repurposes the whip into an ecto-disk. His left arm is smoking green, singed, and vibrating from overloading that attack, but he still pushes energy through to form a second disk. Not at all comfortable with how close they are, Phantom rockets upwards, ascending higher and higher. Along the way, the attacks are now ready. He hates how long it takes to form the disks, but they really are powerful techniques, and he''s getting better at it as time goes on.

    Danny flips around, keeping his speed up even when flying backwards, and takes aim. The herd is upon him, barely fifty feet away, and only now does he realize that they are really fast. Charging up two high-powered attacks takes away from his speed, but he figured that he''d have a more¡­ comfortable distance at this point. He''s not sure how they shrugged off that much electricity either, but it may have to do with it being so spread out.

    Fingers twitch, and the disks fly. Like a high speed fan, the wind is displaced and the frighteningly sharp blades buzz down towards the targets. Too fast to dodge, the small buck leading the charge is decapitated instantly; six to go.

    The spinning disk of death continues on, barely missing a doe and clipping the antlers off another, before finally sailing past and exploding in an airburst. The concussive force lurches the now antlerless deer forward in a tumble.

    The second disk carves through the side of another, critically injuring it, but not killing it. It bleats out in pain, a sound that isn''t particularly kind on the ears, but it isn''t felled with that alone. The contact forces the disk to turn wide, careening off to the left and missing the rest. An attempt to force the ecto-disk to come back with telekinesis leaves Danny with a throbbing wave of pain in his head. He clutches his head while letting out a groan, both in pain and frustration; in the heat of the moment, he forgot that his skill with telekinesis is still rather weak.

    The momentary distraction is enough for one of the undead fauna to get close enough. It makes an attempt to spear him, and Danny retaliates by sweeping a horizontal kick at its head. It impacts on its temple and sends it flying in a daze. Flipping midair with the momentum, Danny fires a spray of ecto-rays at the approaching herd while upside down. The two leads are hit, one in the face and the other in the center of its chest. They''re slowed, but not deterred, charging through the pain madly.

    "Fuck off Rudolph!" He shouts. His hands come together, merging the ray and forcing the concentrated ray onto the closest combatant. It whines a weak squeal and is blasted backwards, straight into the antlers of the deer right behind it. Both are sent tumbling down to the ground, and out of the corner of his eye, he notices the impaled cervidae dissipating.

    Five left.

    With one preoccupied in a tumble and one lagging behind, that leaves three left in his immediate vicinity. All three have large, pointy, not-fun looking horns, and they''re all aimed at him. As they close in on him, he lets a smirk crawl onto his face.

    Phantom turns intangible at the last second, letting them all pass through. Choosing instead to go down now, after the ones separated from the herd, he dives down post-haste. The approaching fauna is surprised to see the object of their ire so close to it, but it readies a charge all the same. A claw forms on his left arm, and funneling more energy into it, extends the bladed digits another foot.

    Half-ghost meets deer ghost, and with a barrel roll, Danny misses the horns. He gets a trample for it, bruising along his arms and shoulder, but his claw rakes into the beast. As his fingers go through its chest cavity, they brush against something solid. Using his quick reflexes, the Halfa yanks the core out mid-flight and continues his plunge back towards the earth.

    Four.

    His plummet ends soon enough, focusing solely on speed Danny reaches the ground in record time, hoping to repeat something from one of his earlier encounters. The deer that crashed down earlier, now free, has barely enough time to register its impending doom before Danny lands squarely on its back, legs glowing green with enforcement. With both feet down, all of his momentum is forced into its back, promptly crushing it underfoot. The ground craters in a spider-web like crack, the sound is amazing: like boulders being broken by other boulders.

    Three more.

    Thinking fast while on stinging legs, Danny uses telekinesis to grab a Fenton Thermos from his back. While standing on the dissipating ghost, Danny aims up at what remains of the incoming stampede. He really gained distance in that impromptu dive, all the more in his favor. Pressing the button on the cylinder, the blue tractor beam starts up. The diving deer are immediately surprised, and despite resistance, one by one they get sucked up in a passing sweep.

    Zero.

    Now finally alone, Danny lets loose a shaky breath he didn''t realize he was holding. Not that he needed to breathe in this form, but going up against so many enemies at once is a little scary. He rolls his shoulders with a stretch, wincing at the bruises that are no doubt already forming. That''s going to hurt in the morning.

    Slowly, he collects the cores. Exercising his brain muscles once again, he uses telekinesis so he doesn''t have to move his tired body. Once done, he moves back towards the barrier to take a rest.

    The roars and wails of the undead catch his attention, and with a tired sigh, he''s off again. Fuck, there''s just too many.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The hunter has his tools. The hunter has his prey. And he waited, patiently anticipating his time to strike.

    Skulker was pleased with what he saw. The Halfa had grown, getting ever closer to the power of the older one, but yet still so far away. The whelp gained skill, confidence, a bit of finesse, some more versatility, but it wouldn''t be enough.

    And so Skulker stalked his prey. Waiting. For two days, he hid. If there weren''t so many ghosts around his haunt, the hunter had no doubt that he would have been found. The ghost child had a knack for finding his own kind, the horde provides ample cover.

    On the third day, he struck. When the Halfa was settling into a routine and the shield weakened enough. The plan''s in motion, and soon¡­

    "I''ll have your pelt, boy." He grinned with manic morbidity and predatory expectation.

    The hunt begins.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The next two day pass pretty much the same. Start in the morning, fight till exhaustion, get hurt cause of stupid mistakes, make way east. Every morning, Danny heads to the same spot in the north, clearing out the few ghosts that accumulated over the night and heading eastbound.

    He was feeling good, mentally speaking. Half of the perimeter had been cleared, a major accomplishment, considering he was by himself. Physically, he was dead tired. His ghost half was energized, growing stronger by the day, especially with all the cores he''s been getting.

    In terms of ratio, Danny''s at about a 50/50 mark; half of the ghosts he fight get sucked into the Fenton Thermos, and the other half¡­

    Get killed and eaten.

    It''s disturbingly morbid when he thinks like that, but really, that''s what he''s doing. He''s ending their afterlife, taking their cores, and using them for the minuscule power boost that they are. At least they taste good, if they tasted how some of the dead smelled, then he''d never eat the things, power boost or not.

    His body can barely keep up. The healing technique Vlad taught him only works so much. At the early stages, it can barely heal a bruise or cut. Augmenting the inflicted areas with ectoplasm, then forcing more in the wound through his hands is a brute force method. It''s all he could do at the moment since, according to his teacher, he didn''t have the necessary control or knowledge on anatomy yet.

    Even more stuff to learn about. Yay.

    But everything was going great. Sure, he was blowing off his friends, and he felt bad about it. At the rate he was going though, he''ll finish before school starts again and make it up to them. They can hang out after their lives aren''t in danger.

    And then everything went to hell.

    From the other side of the barrier, his ghost sense pulled him. A plume of blue mist burst from his mouth and nose, making him cough and hack as the rest continued to pour out.

    There was a break in the shield. A hole.

    "No".

    Ghosts were inside the town perimeter.

    And there''s a lot of them. His ghost sense has never¡­ exploded so urgently before.

    Danny bit his lip in unease, the frost tinging the tips left unnoticed, but took off at his highest speed to the other side of town. It figures that something like this would happen, everything was going well enough too.

    The tense flight over isn''t quick enough, and even now, mist is still pouring out of his mouth. Danny only hopes that no one gets hurt before he gets there. As odd as it seems, people were getting used to the ghosts before his vacation. Use to, as in, running away immediately. Hopefully the two and a half week lull in activity hasn''t dulled that urgency.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The residential-suburb area of Amity Park was in an uproar, panic ensued by the masses. The monsters that had been attacking the city as of almost three weeks ago, had returned in abundance. The Fentons, the town''s local crazies, had dubbed them as ghosts. Spirits of the afterlife.

    Few people actually knew this as truth, or rather, believed this as the truth. Sam Manson and Tucker Foley were two who definitely agreed. Both had spent enough time at the Fenton home to catch a few glimpses of their¡­ scientific subject matter. Ectoplasm was strewn about the house left and right, placed wherever it could be stored. Both teenagers had seen evidence that the spirits of the damned, do, in fact, exist. Sam had even met the ghost hero who made the town his home.

    Both were lamenting their current set of choices for this not-so lovely afternoon. Sam swore that if she got out of this alive, she''d get the Fentons to hand over some of their weaponry. Tucker firmly decided that if he lived, he''d buy the newest touchscreen PDA on the market. Them getting out of this alive seemed like a slim possibility at the moment.

    The visit they planned on paying to their currently estranged friend, Danny, had turned afoul. They had cut through the park to save time, and because Sam liked being outside even though she''s a goth. Both were enjoying the day. Sam, lost in a soothing walk through nature, even if artificial, and Tucker, lost in his PDA and listening non-stop to what he was sure to be the next greatest hit in the music industry.

    Truly, the day was going great.

    And then the fountain they were walking next to blew up. The sounds of screaming echoed around them, mass rushes pushing past people and trampling over a few others. As the ringing in their ears slowly subsided, they were just barely getting up. By the time the two friends got their barings, Sam finally recognized a chill that went down her spine. It was barely felt with that new hero, Phantom, and the meat monster he was facing, but now¡­

    Her entire back was drenched in cold sweat. Tucker was barely getting up, his head being held in one of his hands. The tech geek tried to shake away his dizzy spell, but that only made it worse, forcing him back onto his bottom. Sam was on her feet relatively quickly, already trying to pick her downed friend up. Eventually, her ears stopped ringing, and she heard the haunting roars and wails.

    One of those roars was impossibly loud, making both of the social outcasts clutch their hands to their ears. As quick as can be, both turned around. Standing in the rubble of the destroyed fountain, stood a gaunt horror. Tall and sleek, its green fur glowed brightly even in the afternoon sun. A mane of darker, green fur blew in the autumn wind, cupping the ferocious snarl of the lion. Easily the size of a short bus, the hulking beast eyed the people in front of it like prey.

    Gone were thoughts of anything besides survival, and it took everything in her body to stop herself from falling over in fright. A ghost lion, tall, menacing, majestic, horrifying, and all of the above. The irony that she might be killed by a lion, when she had previously protested the housing of lions at the zoo, was not lost to her. With urgency, she tugged on Tucker''s arm to snap him back to reality.

    His eyes darted back and forth from the towering carnivore, racking his brain on how to get him and Sam out of here alive. His train of thoughts stop when he hears another set of growls, and barely turning his head, sees what will eventually become his worst nightmare. The rest of the pride, four more lionesses, stalk around the two trapped teens, circling them in a corral. When the rubble crumbles slightly, it makes the two terrified teens flinch and turn back to the leader of the pride.

    It was in a stance to pounce, teeth bared and large, large claws extended from its massive paws. It lept. And both friends thought this was it.

    A smokey shield of purple energy whipped around them in a protective whirlwind, and the force of the impact on the thin membrane protecting them was most definitely felt. The lions outside of the barrier roared in anger. Sam and Tucker felt their knees go weak, but managed to stay standing by supporting each other.

    "What the fuck is happening?" Sam whispered.

    Tucker gulped, trying to swallow his fear. "I dunno Sam." He looked at the only thing stopping his untimely death, poking it lightly. It doesn''t feel strong, but the results speak for themselves. "We''re safe. For now at least."

    Being goth isn''t just for show, as pessimism sets in immediately. "And how long do you think that''ll last?" She snapped, then shook her head. "It won''t last forever, we need to find a way to get out of here before¡­" She flicked her hand at the barrier, "this isn''t here anymore."

    Tucker nodded in agreement, taking his phone out immediately. "Let''s call the Fentons then. That was a ghost, right?"

    "Yeah, it was. That''s the feeling I got from it at least. Plus, it was glowing and green, along with the rest."

    "Good." Tucker started, "then let''s call them and see if they can help us." Honestly, neither friends ever thought that being close to Danny would have the possible benefit of ghost hunters coming to rescue them. It sounded dumb enough, but reality was often outside of expectations.

    Tucker dialed the Fentons number, Maddie Fentons'' specifically, since she was the more responsible of the couple. He promptly put it on speaker, Sam would be talking over his shoulder the whole time otherwise. His foot tapped nervously on the ground, while his eyes flicked back and forth at the purple¡­ thing protecting him.

    The call ended before it even began, a blinking notification at the top right calling his attention. "NO SIGNAL?!" He shrieked.

    He raised his hand to throw the phone down onto the ground, but controlled himself immediately, it wouldn''t do any good to hurt his baby. One of them at least. "I swear on my life I''m convincing my mom to swap us out of this cheap service provider when this is over. It''s literally killing me."

    He looked over to Sam, hopeful that she had some semblance of a signal. Her eyes were wide and glued to the screen in her hand. "Fuck." She whispered.

    Groaning into his hand, he asked: "No dice?"

    Sam shook her head, "No. Nothing. We''re scr-" The world around them shifted and turned, blurring into one solid color that neither would ever be able to comprehend. Then, in the blink of an eye, it stopped. And they found themselves someplace really familiar.

    Both shaken teens looked around the dark room, spotting the same posters the goth teen hung up over the course of her life. The same wall-sized TV on one side of the room, in the corner an impressive computer setup was installed.

    "We''re¡­ home? My house?" Sam asked. She looked around again, then bolted to her window. Low and behold, she and Tucker were both back at her house.

    Safe.

    Sound.

    Not about to be eaten.

    Both teenagers collapsed onto the ground in relief, letting the tension slowly leak out.

    They made it, somehow.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    As the purple mist surrounds the strange pair of teenagers, an angry swirl of lavender mist explodes from the fountain''s damp rubble. Furious and empowered, it forms into a humanoid shape. Desiree solidifies in seconds, scowling and glaring at the lions before. With a roar, she swipes her giant, slapping the pride leader well over thirty feet away.

    "Insolent pests! How dare you destroy my wishing fountain!" One of the lionesses charges her, but is flattened immediately, cracking the pavement underneath. Her arm moves back, the fist now transformed into a large mallet. Desiree glares at the offending ghosts, and moves onto the attack immediately. She knew they couldn''t understand her, they didn''t have the intellect required for comprehensive speech, but there aren''t that many fountains in Amity Park! Wells aren''t in use anymore, churches make her uncomfortable, and the number of fountains in the small town could be counted on two hands. One now.

    And while these particular ghosts are threatening to a human, to ghosts as powerful and old as her, they aren''t anything to bat an eye at. Yes, they can be a problem, but unless there''s a mass of them, they can be easily dealt with.

    Just as she batted another away, one from behind jumped at her. Her free hand glowed purple, ready to blast the impudent cat back into its place. A blur of blue and white grabbed the undead panthera by its tail, and slammed it back onto the ground behind him. It was stunned long enough for him to pierce its chest with an stressed hiss, the green energy blade humming dully in its meaty sheathe.

    Phantom, she recognized, who else has white hair like that? So devoid of color, it makes him stick out wherever he goes, especially with that contrasting jumpsuit of his. Quickly, he pulls the blade from the ghost lions'' body, letting it dissipate into its core as he turns around.

    His eyes find her immediately, losing some of their anger immediately. It makes her smile, there''s not many that she can call¡­ friends, but having the Halfa as one hasn''t hurt her so far.

    "You okay Desiree?" Phantom asked.

    The wishing ghost chuckles at the boy, casually backhanding another lunge from two lions. Both go flying off, one impacting a tree, shattering it into splinters, and the other indenting into the wrought iron fence. "I am fine, Danny. These weaklings aren''t anything to sweat over." She looks back to the last of the remaining in the pack, "I had it covered, but I appreciate the help."

    Danny smiles, but moves into action immediately. Making short work of the ghosts in the immediate area, both convene back together. "What''s with the purple sphere here?"

    "It has your¡­ friends I believe? The dark girl and the colorful boy I saw you with?" It doesn''t take much to put it together, and he wholeheartedly shows his appreciation. "Thank you Desiree! If you weren''t here¡­ they might have become ghost chow. I don''t know how I can repay you." This was what he was fighting for, for the most part. To save his friends and family. To protect them, whether they know it or not. It hurts to know just how close he was to failing that in one of the most brutal ways possible.

    The genie ghost waves it off, "Nonsense." She states, "If anything, this is my fault." A frown makes its way onto her face, "I don''t understand. The barrier should still be holding, how did the ghosts get in?"

    The Halfa shakes his head, "I''m not sure," He takes a look around, eying the sparse few ghosts here and there. "But I''m gonna stop it."

    His attention turns to his friends trapped in the bubble shield. If Desiree wasn''t here, at this particular fountain, then¡­ they could have died. "Hey Des?"

    Deisree''s attention goes back to the ghost child, her one visible eye watching the boy-hero. "Can I make a wish?" She blinks back her surprise, but lets herself have a quiet chuckle. "For you, Danny, of course." If there''s one person she can count on to not abuse her wishes, it''s Danny.

    Smiling in appreciation, he says, "Then I wish¡­ that anyone in danger of ghosts, in Amity Park, is safely transported back home." Desiree had told him the importance of wording when it came to wishing. By adding ''safely'' to the wish, hopefully it will provide the benefit he was looking for.

    Smirking in acknowledgement, Desiree raises her right hand. "So you have wished it," she snaps her fingers, "so it shall be." Purple mist explodes from her fingertip, going in all directions. It washes over the panicked suburban town piece, stealing away humans to take them away to safety.

    Phantom sighs in relief, letting some of his tension fade. He had to rescue four people on the way here, and that wasn''t even very close to the hole in the barrier the ghosts were pouring out from. He can only hope that no one was seriously hurt in the time till now. "Thanks. I appreciate it."

    Desiree is quick to wave it off, "Nonsense. Anytime, young man, anytime."

    He smiles in response, already floating and ready to begin the campaign. "Any chance I can wish the hole closed?"

    She follows along after him, "No, unfortunately not. I could seal the hole on your portal since I could syphon energy from the Infinite Realms, but with this one¡­" her gaze locks to the direction of the breach, "it will require more energy than I have to interfere with a wish already-made. Even more so since the wish is almost over."

    That figures. Nothing''s ever easy for him, why would this case be any different? "Oh well¡­" His eyes break from one of the flying ghosts, trailing back to his wishing companion. "Wanna help? It could be fun."

    She puts a finger to her lips, humming softly. "I suppose so," she mused, "only this though. I make wishes, and I don''t particularly like violence. It''s so uncouth."

    Danny beams a great laugh at the older woman, "That''s fine! Any help counts! It''ll be nice to not go at this alone for once." He looked around again, noting the general direction they''re all going towards. "They''re heading for the portal in my basement. Take out the stragglers and watch out for my parents; they can''t fly, so just float up to get away from them."

    While Desiree isn''t one to take orders, especially from a man of all things, she takes the advice to heart and heads off in the opposite direction. Before she''s out of sight, he shouts: "Be safe Des! And Thanks!"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    With no one around to distract him from actively fighting, the following three hours followed along with non-stop fighting. All three Fenton Thermoses were full to the brim, making them useless cans of metal. He deposited them in a wall, phasing them through with intangibility. Safely nuzzled in with drywall and plaster, Danny left them there for the time being.

    That left the rest to be dealt with the old-fashioned way. Tooth and nail, he tore through the horde, slowly making his way towards the breach. It needed to be quartered off, and stopping an advance at a bottleneck is the oldest trick in the book. He wouldn''t be able to seal it, but maybe he could do something. And so, dozens fell to him; one by one, they were reduced to a core, then reduced to nourishment.

    As the fighting went on, injuries started stacking up. The constant consumption of cores helped, but there''s only so much a faulty healing technique paired with what basically amounts to a creepy energy drink can do. Luckily, people seemed to stay in their homes for the most part. Smart on them, but if they strayed outside when monsters were attacking, perhaps they deserved to be taken out of the gene pool.

    BOOM!

    The area in front of Danny explodes in a grand fashion, and the bird ghost he was targeting fell from the sky in a smoldering mess. Danny flared his power, diving at the dying ghost in a boost of speed and swiping the core from its dissipating body. He ate it immediately, feeling just a little more refreshed than before. His speed stabilized back out and he continued on. At this point, even with the cores, he''s close to running on fumes.

    Well, he could go for a while longer, which is something he''ll have to do, but right now, Danny just wants to rest. His back hurt, first and second degree burns going up and down the whole thing, and that''s not counting the number of times he''s been hit there with blunt attacks. His entire left arm was a bleeding mess and barely functional; ectoplasm was constantly flowing and enhancing it, vaguely trying to force his healing factor into overdrive. One of his ankles was definitely sprained, and there were no doubt a couple broken ribs too.

    It''s a good thing he can fly, walking would have been a bitch.

    And the end is in sight. As he got closer to the breach, more and more ghosts showed up. As the strongest source of ectoplasm around, he''s a beacon aside from the portal, and they attack him relentlessly. The only good thing about that is the lack of coordination. Truthfully, while they are all ghosts, they''re also animals. They side with their own kind, and sometimes not even that. The solitary survivors are generally more powerful than the individual pack member, but that''s where the pack comes in handy.

    When they mistakenly collide thanks to a well timed dodge, they turn on each other instantly. And violently. In their distraction, Danny gets reprieve, and an opportunity attack. And he''s never been shy about using opportunities. So while they focus on each other, Phantom takes his potshots; the best part is, they always turn on their fellow ghost. Barely able to stand the other specters presence, the varying groups, cliques, and packs are quick to turn.

    That''s how the last half-hour has gone, and it''s helped the half-ghost conserve energy. He''s still spent himself far more than he normally does, but with this basically being a free-for-all, it''s helped him sustain his energy for the most part.

    Between him and the hole are nine ghosts. A volt of four rather small vultures, a formless, another ghost bear- the third this day- and three¡­ odd canine ghosts. The vultures are normal sized, as in the same as when they died. They''re nothing like the weird ones that Vlad¡­ employs? Just feral birds that flock together, non-threat that he can take out with a single high-powered ecto-blast. The formless is larger than normal, similar to a slime in shape and a mini-cooper in size, but with an actual face: Two hollow holes for eyes and a large mouth full of semi-solid teeth. Semi-solid, but still solid enough to hurt and break skin; based off of personal experience of course. The bear- maybe a polar bear based off the long snout, is about the size of a class B RV. Polar bears reach up to nine or ten feet in length normally, so it figures that its afterlife counterpart is almost twice its normal size.

    And then there''s the canines. The three don''t stray away from the hole, only allowing ghosts to enter through it. It''s like they''re guarding it. If Danny had to guess, they were similar to feral hunting dogs. Long floppy ears, pointy snout, bushy tails, manes going down their backs¡­

    "Hunting dogs?" His suspicion suddenly peaked. The barrier had two day left, and even with the hole punched in it¡­ he had confidence in Desiree''s strange power. The barrier is strong, and at one point he had bashed another ghost into it until it was knocked out. It would take serious force to damage it to the point of it making a hole¡­ unless precision tools were used. Hunting dogs, powerful tools, and were those collars on the dogs? Actually, that mane going down their backs looked suspiciously like a mohawk for dogs.

    "This reeks of Skulker." Phantom hissed.

    So confident in his suspicions, he let anger take over for a moment, letting his power bubble and burn inside himself. If Skulker put so many people in danger for something stupid like¡­ hunting him, he''d throttle the little booger. Like a workout burn, that anger sprung him into action. The vultures, already on their way over, were blasted down quickly. They weren''t even a threat to begin with, and their disappearing corpses didn''t even register as he readied himself for the next two.

    The bear and the formless blob charge at once, from two different directions. From his left the bear roared like the mighty predator it is. Long and stocked with muscle, it''s speed is disturbingly fast. The blob rushing on his right is slower, smaller, and less powerful overall, but with its fluid body it can dodge like a champ.

    A bolt of electricity slams into the bear, slowing it, but the juggernaut continues. Danny''s other hand glows green, forming small claws on the tips of his fingers. An ecto-blast forms on command, and his new claws dig into it. Danny fires the Spookshot, feeling a little pleased with his choice of attack. The bear may have shrugged off another two bolts- what a fucking tank- but the formless had met its counter.

    The airburst explosions played to its weak constitution, and directly against its strength. With an attack that didn''t require a direct hit, but was an A.O.E., the thing didn''t stand a chance. Unfortunately, the polar bear ghost was on him before he could finish the damned thing off.

    Thinking fast, he sprung up immediately. The clawed swipe that swept by underneath him howled as energy extended in an arc of energy. Luckily for the formless, that was the type of attack he could dodge. Even injured as it was, the ghost slithered around the arc like pudding. It''s a little gross to watch actually, seeing as it makes the same sloshing sound as the dessert, but smells like a corpses'' morning breath.

    With both ghosts following, Danny spins around to fire a few ecto-blasts. The bear gets hit with three, which it shrugs off like a badass, and the formless is playing it smart: staying right behind the ursine.

    The Halfa growls in frustration, and despite how much he wants to take the fight up close, every fight up close with them ends with more injuries than it''s worth. His mouth parts slightly, and his teeth begin to buzz. As Phantoms'' tongue numbs, the four pronounced canines glow a hostile green. He''s forced to dodge left from a barrage of small ecto-blasts by the shapeshifter, and a small ball of wild ectoplasm forms in his mouth.

    Energy sparks and burns the inside of his mouth as more power is added to the attack. A wave of cold, something he hadn''t actually felt in a while, brought his attention to the polar bear again. His eyes go wide when he sees the fucking thing doing the exact same as him: powering up an attack in its mouth. Feeling a new sense of urgency, Danny spins around and fires the attack immediately.

    A ball of unstable ectoplasm rockets down after the chasing duo. The blob-thing shrieks in terror and dives away, smart enough to realize its impending doom should it stay. The bear is stubborn, copying the Halfa by firing it''s own cryokinetic beam. The two attacks meet, colliding with a screech, and implode seconds later. Cold energy ripples out in a wave, and Danny''s already prepared his next attack.

    He wants that core, all too curious on how it would taste. Danny flings a whip of electricity at the bear through the white-ish green smoke. The static whip binds its neck, forcing it forward when Danny yanks on it. The bear roars and pulls away, resisting capture and the pain it feels from the constant current going through its spectral body.

    Using ecto-augmentation, Danny yanks again towards the ground, flinging the bear down. The formless ghost attacks from behind, dropping its invisibility. Cutting the whip at the halfway point, he swings around using the same amount of force he used on the bear. The whip hits, burning into the ghosts body, and cleaving a chunk out of its lower half.

    The ghostly polar bear slams into the ground, and Danny quickly finishes the ghost in front of him off. Looking down, he''s pleased to see the bear struggling against the collar of electricity shocking it. Taking his chance, he charges down while forming ecto-claws. As tough and strong as the bear is, it falls all the same with a quick strike if it''s not paying attention.

    After collecting the cores, a green energy core and a light blue ice core, he refocused his attention on the last three. The dogs hadn''t moved at all. Floating in the same spot fifty feet up, they guard the breach. Their eyes never left him.

    Dannys'' eyes narrow in confirmed suspicion. They''ve been watching. And no doubt, so has Skulker.

    Danny levels out at the same height, taking one more look around. The acclaimed ''Ghost Zones Greatest Hunter'' is nowhere in sight. It could be paranoia, but in all the ghosts he''s seen so far, none of them have had silver and green collars to date. It matches his persona as well; why wouldn''t a hunter have hunting dogs?

    Just as he opens his mouth to call the blob in a suit out, he hears a whistle. The dogs charge in a wild, barking blitz. Immediately they start lobbing ecto-blasts, surprising the teenage half-ghost. He''s never come across any canines that could fire ecto-blasts. It''s always been a charge up attack of some kind, if that, and that only gives his theory credence. These are hunting dogs, trained for the purpose of taking down prey with fast movement and high firepower. For taking him down.

    Phantom is quick to raise an ecto-shield, blocking shot after shot as he''s pushed back. The concussive force is a little jarring, and he feels the need to bitch at every comic, anime, and movie that''s never made that a point to be aware of. Knowing that staying on the defensive won''t get him anywhere, Danny counts the blast as his shield cracks. With a small opening in their barrage, Danny escapes the failing shield and takes to the sky with extreme speed.

    Skulker may have set this whole thing up, but he''s still got an advantage the hunter may not have accounted for. Danny can actually go through the shield, while other ghosts can''t. The hunter may know, but it plays to Danny''s tune to keep that card ready to play. To keep a charade going, he twirls around with his back flying forward and returns fire with his own ecto-blasts. All the canine ghosts bob and weave, dodging with trained ease.

    The lead ghost continues to run on air, accelerating even higher when fire forms on its feet. Surprised by the sudden increase in speed, Danny narrowly dodges its rocket-like lunge. He doesn''t dodge the blast to his side however. "Arrghhh!"

    He''s forced to the side, but quickly raises a flat barrier with a wave of his hand. Danny grips his burnt side, ignoring the self-repair of his suit. Several more blasts impact the flat shield he summoned as he flies back, and the audible cracks it makes have him wincing. He might have underestimated these things. A majority of the foes he''s fought so far have been disorganized and untrained, and while he suspects- practically knows- that they''re Skulkers hunting dogs, he didn''t think they''d have so much versatility or coordination. Most animal ghosts don''t even use energy attacks, much less breath fucking fire.

    And breath fire it did. Rounding about, the flaming dog exhaled a fiery plume that just barely missed his face. He wasn''t sure how fast eyebrows grow back, but he''d rather not learn now. As usual, the feeling of pain comes with anger as well. Ignoring his injured thorax, he points both hands at the firebreather. Electricity strikes with the same frightening speed it always has. It may not be the speed of light, but his ectoplasm-enhanced electrokinesis fires at about 1/50th the speed of light. The two charged bolts split the air like thunder, entering through the open mouth of the ghost hound, and with nowhere for the current to ground out, travels through its body.

    His flat shield breaks, disrupting his concentration from the mental backlash, but he''s already on the move. One of the spectral hunting dogs foregoes range and accelerates towards Danny. Like the other, fire forms around its feet, and taking quick stock, Danny flings an ecto-disk at the last ranged fighter. It just so happens that the charging canine was in the way, and when it dodged, it was too late for the other to do the same. The disk sliced clean through, starting at the separation of its jaws and ending with the detonation in the middle of its body.

    That''s one down.

    Danny didn''t even look back, instead choosing to continue his flight towards the electrified ghost. Claws reached out, extending and merging into a blade running flush with his arm. He continued to gain more speed, and the large fire breathing ghost dog recovered just in time to not lose its head. The large gash running up its body, hind leg to neck, was something left instead. It howled in anguish, disproving his parents'' theory for the umptienth time, that the spirits of the dead don''t feel pain. They very well did feel pain, every ghost he''s fought felt pain. Skulker screamed from electrocution, Vlad had told him numerous stories of his harrowing Halfa tales, and Danny himself is no stranger to pain.

    He didn''t feel particularly bad in this case though, the ghost boy had no interest in becoming a pelt on a wall. "Well Skulker?!" He shouted, "How many of your dogs gotta die before the tin can himself come out to face me?! Huh?!" Danny fires a ray at the charging ghost, forcing it off of an intercept course. He keeps it up, burning into its side and making it howl.

    Whistling. He picks up the faintest sound, growing closer and closer, and getting louder and louder. Danny ceases his attack in haste, accelerating to his top speed and flying backwards. His gaze turns up, locking onto the multiple missiles flying after him, with the hunter fast on their smokey trail. The Halfa snarls, white teeth glistening in the afternoon setting sun. Even tired and battered, his eyes glowered with power. "''Bout time skullface!"

    "Whelp!" The hunter shouts, rapidly closing the distance with his jetpack. "I will have your head!" Blasters and blades sprout from his arms, all aimed at Danny.

    Danny barrel rolls around the missiles, ignoring their impacts on the shield behind him. Ecto-rays power up in both hands, static electricity sparking on his clawed fingers. Digging in, his fingers split the ray in a mock-point defense. The split ecto-ray''s splash across the missiles, but only some of them detonate. "Tsk." He twirls around with deft acrobatics, dodging another set. "I thought you wanted my pelt?"

    The huntsman''s hounds are on him again, the only uninjured one managing to land a strong bite on his legs. Danny groans at the grinding feeling, his eyes lock onto the specter that was putting him through this pain. With a growling twist, Danny kicks the offending mutt off his leg into a missile. The ghost dog yelped in pain, but was blasted directly into the half-ghost once again. He promptly skewered the collared canine, using its body as shield from a volley of several missiles.

    It didn''t utter another sound.

    One more ghost dog left, and a tiny, angry, frog-blob thing in a metal suit. "Easy peasy," he muttered, "lemon squeezy!" More projectiles flew at him, making him wonder just how many he could cram into that suit of his. His eyes glowed a brighter green than normal, and his telekinesis reached out towards the incoming missiles.

    Danny squeezed his palms shut, crushing five incoming explosives. His grin was feral at the shocked look on Skulker''s face, in the entire time of this¡­ invasion, he hadn''t been able to use his telekinesis offensively. It put pressure on his brain, at least it felt like it did, but man did it feel good to do that. If only he could rip apart that armor.

    The injured dog lept at him, fire burning all along its body. Danny cursed the damn thing; if it wasn''t trained, he had no doubt it would have run already. Most pack animals have done that so far when he cuts down the majority, why couldn''t these dogs be like them. It barked and snarled as Danny continued to dodge it, a stray blast from a wrist mounted laser on Skulkers slammed into his chest. He careened down to the ground, clutching his chest as the superheated ectoplasm continued to burn a hole in his thorax. Through his tumbling, he was able to glare at the smirking hunter.

    The hunting hound blew fire from its mouth, engulfing his form. Danny screamed at the feeling, only now seeing what Vlad meant. Fire, despite being an eventual power he''d gain, was not something good for his body. With an ice core, it made him more susceptible to high-temperature attacks. As quick as can be, Phantom ejects himself from the stream of fire.

    He''s met with relief when he feels the barrier on his back for just a moment, and he pushes through as fire, missiles, and energy attacks of varying types slam into the barrier he just slipped through. The dog is on that spot in second, ferociously trying to claw and bite its way through the purple obstruction. "Not today fido." He pat the barrier, pissing off the mohawked mutt even more. "But don''t worry, I''ll be coming for you in a few. Just wait right there."

    Delicately, he took out the remaining cores in his pouch. The ice core, two energy cores, and what he was pretty sure is an earth core- courtesy of a ghost armadillo. He watched as the hunter floated up behind the dog, scowling in disgust and frustration. Through the barrier, he could hear Skulker belittling him. "I see the rumors were true, you Halfa really are cannibals."

    Danny grinned, popping the two energy cores into his mouth. He was supremely satisfied by the wince the hunter made when the cores broke with a crunch. "Not really cannibals, ya know." He chewed some more, "I was human first, and I dunno if you''ve ever tried ''em," He held up the earth core, twirling on his finger, "but they taste fantastic."

    Closing his eyes, he grunted as the pain subsided, just a little, then moved onto the earth core. He shivered at the new energy, having never experienced it before. It tasted¡­ planty. Like a vegetable, similar to carrots or lettuce, it didn''t taste bad or good. "Kinda meh." He muttered.

    "And it''s frowned upon for other ghosts to consume their own kind." Skulker began again, "Too many have fallen to insanity by the radical consumption of power." Danny raised an eyebrow, shuffling the ice core around in his hand.

    With conviction, Danny pointed at the hunter, poking the barrier. It rippled like water momentarily, calming seconds later. "That''s where you''re wrong Skulker. I''m not like you, or any other ghost." He spread his arms wide, "I''m a Halfa, you said it yourself! There''s only two of us in this whole wide world." The jovial tone left him, replaced by the seriousness of a teenager who''s risked his life. "Why should I follow the rules of other ghosts, especially when I''m hunted like an animal," he growled, "and attacked constantly."

    He cracked his neck, left and right, and crunched down on the ice core. It burst in his mouth like ice cream on a sunny day. Like vanilla it''s sweet, and is already his favorite core to treat himself to. The rush of cold washed over his whole being, numbing the burns all over his body and accelerating their healing. Danny raised his arm, eying a burn that scabbed over slightly. Still tender to the touch, it didn''t burn just being there though. "Man that''s good."

    His attention returned to the hunter and his dog, both watching with morbid curiosity. "Besides, it''s not like I''m eating any cores from an intelligent ghost. They''re all animals." Phantom flashed a toothy grin, fangs pronouncing his next words with almost predatory glee. "And as a human, I''m used to eating animals."

    When the hunter made no move or response, Danny narrowed his eyes. His ghost sense went off at the last second, pulling him around and raising an emergency barrier. Skulker, the real one, slammed into his shield with a rather impressive serrated blade. Glowing a menacing green, it cut straight through it with minimal difficulty. Danny raised his hand in urgency, conjuring a small glowing green energy sword. The two blades met, sparking as conflicting energies fought against one another.

    The hunter grinned maniacally, "And that''s what makes you such a prize, whelp." He pushed harder, swiping Danny away from the shield and way of escape. With a little breathing room, the sword extended to the same three-and-a-half-foot length blade as Skulker. The ghost of the hunt laughed in enjoyment, continuing his rabid charge.

    "I''m flattered, truly." Danny quipped, parrying the blade away, "but I''m not interested in you like that!" He kicked the hunter back, but his green metal blade sliced across his calf, causing the half-ghost to hiss.

    The hunter readied his stance, "I''m going to enjoy shutting that mouth of yours, once and for all."

    Danny summoned a second blade, "You may try." He lunged at the hunter, deflecting a ray from his shoulder mounted weapon and matching his blade. When the shoulder blaster took aim again, Danny fried it with a blast from his eyes. With smoking sockets, he backed off, barely dodging the hunters furious swipe. Those sword lessons with Vlad were paying off with dividends, and he really didn''t want to think about what this could have been like without all those lessons from his uncle.

    "Petulant brat! I just installed that upgrade!" Skulker raged.

    All he got was a mocking laugh in return, "You can copy the predator all you like blob boy, but what works for him, won''t work for you."

    "The predator? Who is that?" Skulker asked. He sounded like a fellow he''d get along with.

    The fight stalls momentarily, "What? You mean you don''t know who the predator is, but you got a shoulder cannon?" Danny had a hard time believing this.

    The hunter nodded proudly, "Indeed, I thought it a most ingenious addition to my suit, but it seems someone already beat me to it."

    "Uh-huh." Phantom didn''t know if he was impressed or disappointed, perhaps a mix of both. "Well, you''re not copying anyone that''s real, he''s an alien from a movie series." Danny tapped his swords together in thought. The two ecto-constructs sparked in protest, "You''d probably like the movies. If you''re ever in the real world- and not hunting me- look up the predator and alien movie series."

    It''s always odd to see a metal face move like skin, but if the arch of the alloyed eyebrow was anything to go by, then perhaps he got his attention. "I may do that." He stated. Ports opened up on his armor, billowing smoke out and obstructing his view.

    With a bad feeling welling up in his stomach, Danny changed tactics. The Halfa took off back towards the shield. The resounding explosion behind him made him smirk, and he reappeared on the other side without his swords. Any active powers besides flight seem to get negated upon entry to the lavender force field.

    The hunting dog was on him instantly with a blast of fire. A quick shield saved him from even more burns, but he was forced into another hasty retreat when it started wildly tackling his green bubble shield. Danny grit his teeth and dismissed the ecto-shield before he could take anymore mental backlash.

    Charging forward, Phantom stuck his arm out and fired electricity at the bleeding undead. It howled in pain as thousands of volts of electricity coursed through its body for the second time that day. Danny was on it within seconds, one hand gripped on its head, delivering electric justice directly, the other hand wound back. A flash of green later, and the dog fell down to the ground, a new hole in the back of its neck. He''ll collect the cores later.

    Skulker roared in fury, "Whelp! Do you know how long it took to train those?!" The hunter descended on him again, forcing Danny on the defensive once again. A shield won''t match up to Skulkers blade, but his sword from earlier did okay.

    New plan in mind, Danny flooded both arms with ectoplasm. Reinforcement took too long for his liking, but with a new sword in his right hand, and large claws covering his left, the ghost hero felt much more comfortable in a fight now.

    "I''m guessing training took about a month?" Danny taunted, "It''s been a while since we last saw each other after all." Skulker barreled towards him, and after turning intangible, he let the angry ghost go right through.

    Metal teeth ground together with a screech, and while it hurt to hear, it made Phantom want to laugh all the more. Which he did. "What''s wrong? Is this whole ambush," he spread his arms out to emphasis, "not working? A shame. Really. Aha!"

    In response to his anger, a new weapon port opened up on the small of his back. The cylinder, about the size of a Fenton Thermos, quickly extended into a small silver and green rifle without a scope or stock. A small logo was on the side, a silver skull with a green mohawk. Danny had to give it to the guy, he knew what theme he wanted.

    When the gun started to whine, the half-ghost could practically feel the energy building. "Oookay, that''s a lot." Danny put distance between him and Skulker, firing off ecto-blast after ecto-blast. Despite the bulky nature of the suit and his propulsion system, the hunter was surprisingly nimble. Small thrusters on his back, arms, and legs caught his attention. ''Damn, that''s smart.''

    He wouldn''t be giving Skulker any comments though, that''d inflate the arrogant hunters ego even more, and after spending so much time tearing it down, it''d be a shame for it to be built back up again.

    Seeing as normal ecto-blasts weren''t working, Danny switched back to Spookshots. The airburst attacks were much more effective, but Skulker was ultimately undettered. "This may damage your pelt¡­" A laser designator points right at the center of Danny''s chest, "but a damaged pelt is better than no pelt, and I must claim you before the other Halfa finds you."

    Time slows down as scenario after scenario goes through his head. Different plans on how to survive repeat over and over, but he can''t think of anything that would let him survive. His eyes glance towards the ground, thirty feet away, but that''s something he can cover in a distance.

    "Goodbye Whelp!"

    Danny turns south, going directly down. Just as he reaches the ground, the weapon fires. Like a lighthouse foghorn, the odd ghost-rifle fires its build-up. Danny doesn''t turn around, instead continuing through the ground. He goes deeper and deeper, and even through his intangibility he can feel the ground behind him getting displaced. He doesn''t stop going down, the ground surrounding him is getting hotter too. There''s no way he''s gone that deep yet, so it has to be Skulker.

    The normally quiet ground is loud, what Danny can only describe as shifting landmass crumbling and colliding. Like tectonic plates moving, it''s disturbing to hear so close. The hunter definitely outdid himself with this new weapon.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Above ground, Skulker peeled himself off of the barrier. The concussive force of his now melted rifle had blown him back with extreme force. Annoyingly, he looked at his former weapon. The long, sleek and silver body was reduced to an ashy grey, and any technological components were no doubt melted beyond salvation. "Tsk." Casually, he tossed the broken rifle away, it''s nothing more than scrap metal at this point.

    The hunters mechanical eyes turn towards the large crater in the ground. "What was I thinking?" Well over sixty feet deep and thirty feet wide, the ground was scorched black and the crispy crust smoked a dangerous green. He''d never get a pelt from the whelp if the ghost child was hit with that. The boy would have been atomized from a direct hit.

    But the boy is resourceful. It''s what made this hunt with him even better. The Halfa, young as he is, has skills unbefitting his age and power that''s constantly growing. Ah, such a wonderful target. Phantom really would make for an excellent pelt above his mantle.

    Slowly, Skulker lowers down to the ground. He kneels at the edge, peering at the bottom. Raising his arm, he taps a few buttons on the wrist-interface. His other arm transforms into a laser-designating scanner. Top to bottom, the laser crawls across, searching for the half-ghost target.

    Beep.

    "Aha! I knew the pest was sti-"

    A black gloved hand abruptly emerged from the ground, gripping onto the surprised hunters wrist. Before he can even move or register that the hand is glowing, Phantom crushes the arm thin. Like crumpled foil, it caves in on itself, screeching protest. The equipment in the arm sparks from malfunction, something Danny can feel through his gloves.

    Capitalizing on his surprise, the Halfa pulls the hunter down towards the ground and launches himself up. Skulker slams face first into the dirt, it doesn''t do any damage, but it''s definitely insulting. Danny floats above his hunter, pissed and ready to dish. Electrokinesis is a no-go, but everything else is fair game.

    "Did ya think I''d go down by something like that?!" Danny taunted.

    Danny peppers the area where Skulker is at with ecto-blasts. The hunter flies out while the artificial cliffside he was on crumbles into the new pit. The jetpack has lost a wing, reducing mobility, and the disabled arm reduces the blob in a cans threat level. A blade appears from his good arm, the same machete-thing they clashed with earlier, and a blaster pops up from the damaged shoulder.

    Skulker grins maniacally, "Not for a second, ghost child!"

    Seeing where this is going, Danny forms an energy blade of his own, one he grips with both hands. Both rocket towards the other, one propelled by thrusters, the other by natural power. Although he can''t deflect all the shots just yet, it sure does make him feel confident with the few that he does.

    At the last second, Danny twirls his body. Their blades clash, but the teenage ghost plants his feet into the chest of the hunter. Ignoring the numbness spreading from his legs, Phantom springboards off the metal suit, forcing the hunter into a small tumble. The sheer momentum that slammed into him left a dent in his chest, but that was it.

    Danny''s on him again, and swings the sword down vertically. Skulker blocks, but again he''s blasted back. Switching to one hand, his smoking hand fires another ray at close range. It hits the other shoulder cannon, thoroughly destroying it.

    "One arm. One blade. No more guns, missiles are useless and you''re kinda roughed up. A lot. Still think you can do this?" False bravado aside, Danny was really hoping he''d say no. He didn''t know how long he could keep this up. With no cores for a boost, he was running on fumes. He had no Fenton Thermos or Containment Cube to hold the battlesuit booger in, and it was taking everything he had to not pass out. Dead tired, puns aside, is exactly how the Halfs felt.

    Skulker narrowed his eyes, but said nothing. Quietly, he ran a systems diagnostics and silently cursed. Less than ten percent of energy left and forget the missiles being useless, he was out completely. Almost every upgrade was damaged, with over half of his thrusters offline and his jetpack was very close to critical levels.

    His plan failed, his equipment wasn''t enough and his prey was getting away. The Halfa is bleeding, burned, bruised, and battered, but he still had fight left in him. Begrudgingly, Skulker put the blade away, letting it retract back into his metal arm. "No. This hunt is over for today. I will be back though, so keep your pelt warm for me whelp!"

    And he took off in the same direction as the Fenton Portal. Danny wasn''t worried about him attacking anyone else, especially his parents. They''d tear his ass a new one in his current condition. Slowly, he floated down towards the ground, then fell on his back. Exhausted and in no small amount of pain, it took everything in his power to not pass out.

    "Ew."

 Chapter 19

    Chapter 19: Fans and Flames

    If he had to hear it one more time. One more damn time.

    Just once.

    "Have you heard about Ember McLain?!" Aaaand there it is.

    Ember McLain. Ember McLain. Ember fucking McLain. How many times is he going to hear that?!

    He snapped. Turning about and away from his locker, Danny inserted himself into the conversation next to him. "Yes, I have, just like everyone else in the damn school! Why are you even asking someone wearing a damn t-shirt with her face and name on it?!"

    The person, someone Danny didn''t recognize, at least had the humility to blush at her idiotic question, but the other conversation-goer was quick to snap at him, "Did we ask you freak? I see you''re not even wearing any merch, so that means you''re a loser too!"

    Danny shut his locker quietly and moved his agitated gaze towards the other person- Alicia? Not necessarily an A-lister, but she was a trend follower, and one of Paulina''s and Stars biggest followers. He scoffed in reply, "Ooooh. Never heard that one before," as he walked away, Danny threw one more branch on the bonfire, "See ya later, satellite''s satellite." He didn''t need to turn around to imagine how pissed she is.

    Ever since he got home from Vlads, that''s been the trend. Ember McLain, biggest upcoming rockstar. One twelve-song album dropped, with her greatest hit being a song called ''Remember.'' It''s okay. Danny''s not terribly into the pop genre, but the whole album is categorized as pop-rock. She''s good, he''ll admit it. Great at singing and she can rip a guitar like a bandage. It helps that she''s ridiculously hot as well.

    But this much hype?

    Posters cover the ugly green hallways, and he even had to tear down two that were covering his locker. Two! And people actually glared at him for it! Besides Sam, he was literally the only one not wearing an Ember shirt. And while that normally would have made him stand out before, everyone was so obsessed with this new music sensation that he''s been ignored almost entirely since school started back up two weeks ago.

    It''s been nice. Truly. Not having to deal with Dash or his crony followers has been a blessing in disguise, something he''d thank the ghostly rocker for if he ever saw her.

    Oh yeah, Ember McLain''s a ghost.

    It was pretty easy to figure that out, especially after her CD came out. Also, a CD? That''s ancient at this point, laughably so, but somehow they''re selling like hot-cakes. After procuring one from a store -he''d return it eventually- Danny brought it to Desiree and asked if the distinctly blue hair she saw belonged to the person on the cover. Besides, green eyes like Phantoms, hair that almost seemed like it moved on its own, blue-pale skin color. Unlike the people of Amity Park, Danny felt he had a good grasp at guessing when there was a ghost in the midst.

    And ding ding ding, he had a winner.

    But aside from some super fanaticism, she hasn''t done anything. No destruction, no murders, no invasion. Her fan base was, for the most part, any teenager in the town of Amity Park and a few in the neighboring towns. Good for her, but it wasn''t anything to go hunting her for. She wasn''t attacking a school, causing wanton destruction, summoning a meaty shield, or unleashing a horde unto a sleepy town to get at a fourteen year-old accident victim.

    But it sure is suspicious how strangely these people have been acting.

    "Ah, Mr. Fenton. Good Morning."

    Danny turned to the left to see Mr. Lancer coming out of the teachers lounge. The portly teacher had a small scowl on his face, one Danny hoped wasn''t due to him falling asleep so often in class recently. It wouldn''t happen if ghosts attacked on the weekend instead of school nights! At least he was still on top of his homework.

    For now at least.

    "Hey Mr. Lancer. What''s up?" He kept his pace up as his teacher started walking with him.

    The older man scanned the crowd with distaste, "Oh, nothing much. Same old, same old." He glanced at the half-ghost, "I''m glad to see you don''t follow such¡­ trends." Yes, trend was the correct word. Or possibly fad?

    Danny flattened his expression, shrugging his shoulders. "Meh. She''s hot, but I''m not that big a fan." He adjusted his backpack, shifting the strap elevation, "Besides, I don''t have the allowance to pay for all that crap."

    There were several things strange about what the teenager walking next to him just said. Most wouldn''t admit that to their math teacher, the part about him finding the new pop-rock sensation ''hot''. Kids just didn''t do that, especially with one so admittedly dated as him.

    It was also strange that he didn''t have a large allowance. As far as he knew, his sister had a decently large allowance compared to most children attending the high school. The Fenton family, according to records he had seen, had a fairly large income as well. The parents are entrepreneurs, inventors with a rather large stipend that just seemed to grow, even if they have an unhealthy obsession with the supernatural. Perhaps stipend is too loose of a term, but the point is, is that it''s odd for the boy before him to have such a low allowance, when all facts point to what should be the opposite.

    "I see." But he couldn''t delve any further. As much as he wanted to get to know his student, he''d been reprimanded for asking personal information before, and he didn''t want a repeat of that. The boy seems nice, a little sleepy and spaced out sometimes, but he makes decent grades and does his work. And asking anything deeper is overstepping his bounds.

    As they rounded the corner up the stairs, Lancer moved the conversation along. "I trust you''ve completed your homework?"

    Danny chuckled, patting his backpack with backwards swings of his arm. "Got both of ''em right here."

    The balding teacher nodded in satisfaction, "Good. Make sure to-"

    "EMBERRRRRRR!" A student cut him off mid-sentence, making a full sprint down the hall while yelling his head off and swinging a flag with the upcoming rockers face on it. Danny hadn''t ever seen the guy before, so there''s a good chance he''s an upperclassman.

    Danny tore his attention away from the nutcase, focusing on his teacher. If he hadn''t been fighting undead horrors recently, Danny probably would have flinched at Lancers expression.

    Boy does he look pissed. With a head absent of hair, the scrunches on his forehead looked much more pronounced. The large man was biting his bottom lip with a snarl, and with his enhanced hearing, Danny could hear the leather briefcase Lancer was carrying crinkle from his grip.

    "I apologize Mr. Fenton," His angry gaze never left the screaming student running further down the hall, "but I have found something that requires immediate attention."

    The half-ghost laughed and waved it off, "It''s all good Mr. Lancer. See ya."

    "I will see you in class Mr. Fenton." He took off immediately, not even looking back.

    "Paradise lost! Mr. Adams, get back here you degenerate!"

    It''s always something.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Okay. Maybe there''s some kind of mind control going on here.

    Earlier, when Dash was walking by in the halls, Danny took the opportunity to have some fun. Nothing extravagant or supernatural, just a good old fashioned foot trip. And he wasn''t even trying to hide it, in the middle of the hall, Danny boldy stuck his foot out and waited. The quarterback was so engrossed in his music and staring at his phone, that he didn''t notice from over six feet away.

    So, the big blonde oaf fell flat on his face in front of the whole school.

    And no one said a thing! No one even noticed, not even the victim of his prank. Dash got up, put his headphones back on, and walked off without even muttering a degrading ''Fenturd''. That was almost disappointing¡­ but it sure was fun to do it another four or five times.

    It''s getting weird.

    Tucker, as strange as he is normally- and as his friend, Danny does think that he''s really strange- has had zero attention for everything besides music. He barely liked listening to any before, and Ember McLains'' music is definitely not his type. Well, her exotic looks are, but not her brand of music.

    Even Jazz, his sister, is acting strange. As far as he knows, she''s never had a poster of a music artist or TV star in her room. Intellectuals, engineers, famous psychologists and philosophers, but never a musician. That doubles even more so, since she''s apparently not paying attention in class and barely talking to him at home! Jazz: the studyholic. She who cannot put a book down to save her life, has instead picked up some headphones and spaces out while listening to music that is most certainly not her preferred genre. She likes classical tunes, not¡­ pop-rock whatever!

    And yes, he''s listened to the song. Someone thought it was a good idea to play it over the school speaker system, and now Mickey got suspended for breaking and entering! Mickey, the kid who never breaks the rules, broke into somewhere!

    What the fuck is going on?

    The saving grace in all this madness was that Sam is so far unaffected. And for once, Danny wanted to thank his parents for inventing something. Little black and green headphones, named Fenton-Phones, act as a bluetooth speaker and microphone. They were actually pretty cool, and Danny did encourage selling them, but they''re a past project and neither his mother or father were terribly interested.

    Sam''s taken a liking to them, and for whatever reason they help her not act like¡­ the masses. Then again, she''s never followed a fad like everyone else. So it''s hard to tell if it''s his parents invention or if it''s just Sam being¡­ Sam.

    Tired eyes made their way to the clock above the blackboard. Danny liked Mr. Lancer, but holy shit, his English lessons were boring. As if he didn''t have a hard enough time staying awake with the whole ghost hero side-gig he had going, but having this guy drone on and on over something he really didn''t care about. ''So close.'' Ten minutes till the fourth period interlude, but that''s what he needed: to stretch his legs just a little and get the blood flowing back to his brain.

    The man turned around, taking in the sight before him. Barely anyone was paying attention. Lancer narrowed his eyes at the people not-so discreetly checking their phones. For a moment, his gaze drifted to the drawer on his desk that held at least twelve different pairs of headphones. He wanted to scoff, the sheer audacity of children actually thinking they could listen to music during his lessons. Not happening, and if they kept doing this, he''d take away that testing privilege as well.

    Then Daniel Fenton caught his attention. The boy, while trying to pay attention, was minutes away from falling asleep. It''s appreciated, but the older man couldn''t help but wonder why the boy was always so tired. Maybe he''d talk to the boy''s older sister, surely that was within his bounds as a teacher? To inquire why his student could barely stay awake in class. The young man has such promise, and while he didn''t get straight one-hundreds on his assignments, he at least kept up A''s and B''s for the most part. The group assignment last week ended in a C, barely, but Mr. Fenton made it very known just how little work the others in his group put in.

    Placing the marker down on the whiteboard gutter, he fully turned around. "Now class, who can tell me the message in Romeo and Juliet?"

    The only sound in the class was Danny''s head hitting the desk, completely out of it. That and the ticking clock, slowly counting down till freedom.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "OMG! Did you see the new twitter feed from Ember?!"

    Danny attempted to scrape the ringing out of his ears, but whatever strange screech Paulina just used is making his attempts ineffective. He''d have to be on the lookout for sound-based attacks in the future, apparently enhanced hearing does have some downsides. Then the context of what she just said registered.

    "Ember has a twitter?" He whispered. Danny didn''t even have a twitter, and he''s human! Was human. Semantics. The point is, it felt a little degrading that he, as a half-human, didn''t have any form of social media. Just a little, then he remembered that he has ghost powers.

    Why waste time ''tweeting'' to what would amount to maybe five or six followers? -That''s being generous too. Especially when he could fly to twenty thousand feet in the air, throw around energy attacks, and harness the elements. No brainer on that, he''d choose badass super powers any day.

    But now he had an outlet for information, so with great reluctance, Danny downloaded the app onto his phone. He begrudgingly thumbed the screen, forcing himself through the arduous task of making an account and searching for a ghost¡­ which was surprisingly easy. "Huh. Twenty thousand followers?" Now that''s a lot, especially from a town like Amity. Although, that probably encompasses almost every teenager with an account.

    It doesn''t take long to navigate the app and find what he''s looking for.

    Live Concert coming to Amity Park on Monday! Casper High, here I come!

    Not entirely original, but it gets the point across. With almost ten-thousand retweets, it''s at least making traction. So Monday, time undisclosed. Location: Casper High; at least he won''t have to go far. Today''s Friday, so Danny''s got the weekend to get ready. Not that there''s a whole lot to get ready for, Danny can hardly believe that she''ll bring an army of ghosts with her, so a single thermos should do in case she gets rowdy, maybe two just in case. But there is the possibility of this being a neutral encounter, so long as he gets an explanation on why people are acting like insane seven year-olds.

    And maybe some free tickets to her concert, he''s never been to one before.

    Idle attention returned back to the going ons around him. He closed his eyes, eavesdropping on the conversations around him. He smirked a little, collecting information has never been easier.

    "Did you hear that Jack and Jill are going out now?" What happened to going up the hill?

    "Maaaaan, I don''t wanna do the homework tonight. Lancer gave us like, four pages of shit to do!" Yeah, it was four, but it''s only the odds. Not even the full pages either, just sections of them. It barely takes any time. He already had two of the pages done during lunch.

    In hindsight, there''s not a terribly huge benefit of snooping into conversations like this in high school, but it helps to keep up to date on rumors. But, Mr. Falluca stepped out of class for the second time today, a smoke break probably, and the class always erupted like this. There''s not much else to do, at least until-

    A blue puff of mist trickles up his throat, escaping through his nose, tickling it with the cold vapor. A ghost. Danny forced a frosty sneeze down as the last of his ghost sense left his body. Well, there''s not much to do until a ghost shows up, but then it''s time to go.

    A glance at the clock, 3:11, shows that school is almost over. Calmly, Danny packs his stuff, placing books back in his backpack and sliding his mechanical pencil into one of the many pockets. Before the teacher even gets back, Danny''s already out of the class, with none the wiser.

    No one pays attention to the schools freak, sometimes it''s not that bad being on the bottom of the social totem pole.

    No one at least, besides the other social outcasts. Purple eyes trailed his back as he left, burning with curiosity and irritation.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The fact that he still hadn''t completed the task Vlad gave him, was frustrating. Not for lack of trying, but his parents have barely left the lab, rarely even leaving to hunt ghosts. Okay, not rarely, just when he was out hunting ghosts. And if they are leaving, Danny doesn''t even have time to search the lab. His treatment of the dead may be getting a little extreme, but at least he''s not actively dissecting them.

    So far, the records in the attic have been a bust. No point searching there any further. His parents bedroom didn''t have anything noteworthy either, aside from a not-so surprising amount of dust. That left the lab, which he has a plan for, and the off-property lab they have. Danny didn''t know where their other building area is, but he knows that they''ve had raw materials sent there recently. It shouldn''t be terribly hard to follow them whenever they start making more visits.

    But who knows when that''ll be. Knowing Jack and Maddie Fenton, they''ll have their noses to the inventing grinder and it could be months before they actually get around to going over there. Or weeks, or days¡­

    Or this morning.

    "Good morning sweetie." Danny turned his head, looking at his mother in the kitchen. That''s a rare sight.

    While yawning, he responds with a tired ''morning''. He didn''t stay up terribly late, only a few ghosts had come out. Without the shield, they''ve been trickling in, but hopefully he can find the one he''s looking for before the weekend is up.

    Idly, Danny noted that his dad was absent from the table. Normally he''s fidgeting with a newfangled gadget or prototype at the table, no matter what he and his sister bitched at him for previously. His mother and father also rarely separated from each other, not that they didn''t, but they were one of those couples that could spend every waking moment with the other and be ecstatically happy about it without realizing it. He shrugged his shoulders, if his dad wasn''t here to bug him and Jazz, mainly Jazz, then that''s fine. It''s not like he sees them that often.

    ¡­ That''s a depressing thought, to be honest.

    While his mother was cooking, Danny still took the time to grab some cereal. Ever since he started hunting ghosts, his appetite has skyrocketed. His metabolism is frighteningly high, and at this point, the Halfa has a hard time believing he''ll ever gain another ounce of fat. With the constant fights his muscles are constantly gaining mass and density, and his advanced healing factor lets him heal from fatigue rather quickly at the expense of his energy. Energy that''s fueled by both his ectoplasm and his body''s natural resources: food.

    Plus, there was no guarantee that his mother''s cooking wouldn''t start a crusade against the consumer. That lesson had been hard learned over his fourteen years of life.

    Lazily, Danny looked at his sister. Headphones in, book nowhere in sight, and an Ember Mclain t-shirt. If there wasn''t some kind of mind-fuckery going on here, then Danny wasn''t a half-ghost anomaly of cosmic proportions. Jazz Fenton, without a book in hand to study, just didn''t work out with the laws of reality; while everyone else acting strange seemed odd to Danny, it was only when his sister started acting like this when he caught on. Tucker had his face buried into his PDA or phone as usual, and even if everyone else in the school dressed to a fad, it''s not like he hasn''t seen it happen before.

    But for Jazz Fenton, bookworm extraordinaire, study enthusiast and geek among geeks, to not have a piece of scientific journal or academia in her hand was wrong on so many levels. It made him shiver. That was the straw that ended up breaking the camel''s back, and what drove him to ask Desiree. Plus, when he watched the music video, it looked way too much like a ghosts'' flight, and there was no way a start-up band could afford that kind of special effects.

    He called bullshit, and the guess paid off. Plus her eyes glow like his, so¡­ no brainer on that.

    Danny waved his hand in front of his sister''s face, getting no response. She continued her melodic hum as Danny frowned. He liked his sister, nosy and overbearing for sure, but that''s his sister: the one he''s come to know and love, and he wouldn''t have her any other way, no matter how annoying or how much he bitched about it. Not this music zombie, Monday couldn''t come around any sooner for the Halfa.

    Phantom''s been searching for her as well, when at all possible, but it hasn''t truly been a priority. His immediate responsibility was to protect the town and people, so he had to bide his time and wait. With an actual date and place for arrival, his nerves had calmed slightly.

    "Damn it, die ecto-scum!" Danny turned to his mother, still at the stove, but shooting a Fenton Ecto-pistol at whatever she was cooking. It fired like a blaster from Star Wars, but with green bolts. The thing in the frying pan- eggs and bacon?- screeched in protest while trying to flop its way out of the pan for high calorie vengeance. Maddie fired a few more shots into it, before nodding and plopping it down onto a plate off to the side. There were two other failed attempts there as well, and Danny idly wondered how much the household spent on food expenditures with so many failures like this. The failed food experiments, while steaming like freshly cooked food, were glowing green. Inedible to humans in their entirety for sure.

    "Hey mom?"

    Maddie turned around, wiping her forehead from the sheen of sweat slowly collecting. She spotted her son eating cereal, replying sweetly after a moment of hesitation, "Yes sweety?"

    Danny took another bite of his breakfast, and swallowed before continuing. "Why does the food come to life so often?"

    The Fenton matriarch beamed a bright smile at her son, happy he was taking an interest in something their family made. "Oh, that''s easy. We haven''t gotten all the kinks out of ectoplasm powered cookware and kitchen equipment."

    She tapped the front of the oven, "Baking stuff for the most part isn''t too bad, so long as it isn''t in there that long." Maddie brought the pan up to showcase next, "The bottom of the Fenton Frying Pan is lined with ectoplasm infused metal, made specifically to react to the Fenton Stove to cook things faster." Pursing her lips, she grudgingly added, "but the exposure rate isn''t that consistent all the time."

    Danny took another bite, "Uh-huh." He looked to his sister, seeing her still out of it and listening to music. He frowned again, but turned back to his mother. "Why do we still use it then? Isn''t it a waste of food and money?"

    Maddie laughed it off, "Oh we just haven''t gotten around to making any newer versions. Maybe one day, but it''s not a priority at the moment." So they''re both just being lazy, okay. That''s a more human reaction than he thought she''d show. Lazy wasn''t something his two workaholic parents had in them normally, but apparently the cookware for the family was actually affected by it. Go figure. "Besides, money isn''t an issue, we make more than enough to stock up on groceries like this."

    Still, that''s lame. "Uh¡­ okay."

    Another thing to note is that his father wasn''t here at the moment, "Where''s dad? Is he still working on something downstairs?"

    The way his mother seemed to flinch made Danny suspicious, because it reminded him of the way they acted on the way home from Vlads. Every time he asked what was wrong, or what they talked about with his uncle, they responded that way and waved it off. It pissed him off. While they didn''t know about the responsibilities he took upon himself, he thought of himself as rather mature because of it, and the way they bristled like that, only to deflect the question, felt incredibly insulting.

    "You''re fathers¡­ busy right now. He''s checking things out at the offsite lab." She said.

    Danny raised an eyebrow in interest, this was prime time information he needed if the task wasn''t located in the lab. "You guys have talked about that before, where''s it at? And what are you working on out there?"

    Maddie perked up a bit, forgetting her previous hesitance. "Oh! It''s a little out of town, located on a plot of land about a mile away from Axiom Labs."

    Axiom? That''s the lab his uncle owned¡­ right? So they were set up near a supplier for their parts, that''s smart. Then again, no one ever said his parents weren''t smart, just air-headed.

    "Okay, that''s not too far. But what are you building out there that can''t be built here?" Danny looked to the ceiling in thought, before looking at his mother with trepidation. "It''s not another portal is it? You really should be careful with that dimension stuff, look at all the cheesy sci-fi films!" That''s the last thing he needed, a second portal even bigger than the first beaconing to every ghost in the world. As it was, every specter in the U.S. was roaming its way up to Amity to follow the call.

    His mother laughed off his concerns, "Oh, it''s fine Danny. It''s not a portal anyway." She flipped an egg and threw a piece of bacon on the pan, "We''re making an Operations Center. Oh! I can''t wait for you to see it, you''re going to be so excited!"

    That''s debatable, but seriously, what the fuck is that? "Yeah¡­ explain that to me like I don''t understand. Hypothetically, of course." Because really, he doesn''t know what that is. An operations center is like¡­ a military command base, right?

    Maddie tapped the spatula on the pan, trying her best to describe the soon to be addition of their home. "Well, it''s designed to be a mobile base." She threw some seasoning on the food and spun it around in the pan a bit, "It''ll be stationed on top of the house, outfitted with even more powerful sensors than what we currently have equipped, and will be able to move on the fly."

    What?

    "On top of the house?" He asked. As in, they''re going to place some monstrosity on top of their house? Visible for the whole world to see?

    Nodding, Maddie cheerfully responds, "Yep! We''ll never have to worry about another ghost sneaking up on us ever again, and if we ever get overrun-" She pointed at Danny with the cooking utensil, "-that won''t happen by the way, but if it ever does, we''ll be able to make a proper defense while retreating."

    Suddenly his mouth felt as dry as a desert, his fangs popped out on accident, and an uncomfortable feeling was settling in his stomach. The giant neon sign proudly displaying ''Fenton Works'' gave every clue needed to know who lived in the house, embarrassingly enough, and it had been a large teasing point at school, on top of his parents running around town hunting ghosts. It gave bullies like Dash plenty of ammunition, and a giant¡­ whatever it is, nestled on top of his house didn''t sound terribly appealing. Even more so with sensors to actually track him and other ghosts, he didn''t need that headache in his life, damn it!

    Danny gulped, retracting his fangs, and suddenly glad his sister was under some kind of mind control so she couldn''t see him panicking like this. He didn''t have to worry about his mother, she wouldn''t notice.

    She never does.

    "What¡­" How the hell does he respond to that? "What about building permits, stuff like that?" His eyes darted around the room, searching for something to keep his mind going. Something to refute this social nightmare that she was so casually talking about bringing upon them. "I''m pretty sure there are laws that prevent you from just¡­ I dunno, owning a flying base?"

    Humming away in thought, Maddie moved the finished, non-aggressive food onto a set of plates and walked over to the table. "Normally, yes. But luckily, both me and your father have commercial flying licenses, and there''s no permits required for owning or flying a blimp in Illinois." Dannys'' jaw dropped.

    "Huh?" The sound that escaped his throat was more akin to a pained wheeze, than an actual coherent word. A what? A blimp? A fucking blimp? "You plan on putting a¡­ blimp on top of the house?"

    Maddie placed the plates of food down in front of her children, then moved back towards the stove to make some food for Jack and herself. "For the most part, yes."

    He wanted to laugh, but it wouldn''t be a ''haha'' funny laugh, more like a ''I''m fucked'' laugh. "On the roof?" He asked for confirmation.

    "Yes, on the roof."

    ¡­Fuck.

    The rest of the morning passed by in silence, with Danny leaving as soon as he was done for his morning jog. He didn''t even taste the meal, not even hungry anymore. Because that''s just what he needs in life: A giant blimp-base thing planted on the roof.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Finding the offsite lab wasn''t as easy as he figured, and searching all of Saturday didn''t provide any results. Perhaps he could get an address out of something in the lab, assuming today''s plan works. Unfortunately, the ghost he was hoping for never showed up, which is odd. The little shit is normally a constant nuisance, so days without seeing him is fairly strange.

    Normally, his parents never leave the lab. Okay, sometimes they do, but it''s only for several reasons. Traveling to the offsite lab, getting supplies, meeting business partners, and hunting ghosts. The timetable for their trips to the other lab is unknown for him, so that''s out of the window. The only supplies they have to travel anywhere for are urgent parts or pieces of equipment, everything else is delivered; unfortunately, Danny doesn''t know what''s crucial to their operations and what''s not. Business partners¡­ the only one he knew of was Vlad, and asking him for help on an assignment seemed like a bad idea.

    That left ghost hunting.

    No matter what, he needed them out of the lab long enough to get a thorough search done. Ten minutes wouldn''t do, an hour might not even cut it, but Danny knew from experience just how long a ghost hunt could take.

    That''s why he needed the Box Ghost, as loath as he was to admit it. He needed a distraction, a harmless to be exact. Sure, he could trap a few and let them loose¡­ but that could result in someone getting hurt. He''d be damned, if at this point, he was the cause of someone getting harmed just for a distraction. But of all the ghosts he''s ever encountered, a majority of them being ferals, the few sentient ones stuck out.

    Desiree was an ally and a friend, and he''d never ask her to be put in harm''s way. If she got captured by his parents and he didn''t get to her in time, he''d be beside himself in grief and guilt. Contrarily, he couldn''t just wish this problem away; if he went around asking for wishes for every problem, it''d be like taking the easy way out and abusing her powers. Danny thought himself as better than that, and refuses to be like the people she''s met through her long existence.

    Skulker''s an ass, and even if he refrained from killing the snot, there''s no way the hunter would agree to anything he has to say. Danny''s only good as a pelt in his eyes, and there''s no negotiating that. Plus, the tin can has no qualms about involving those that don''t need to be a part of their confrontations. So, that''s a no to him as well.

    Sydney Poindexter was an interesting find, but the guy didn''t seem terribly reliable. He may have let him haunt the school since he hasn''t done anything harmful, but only meeting him for a total of three times now, Danny isn''t sure he could trust him. Plus, sending his parents after someone who didn''t attack him felt kind of wrong, even if only for a distraction.

    Lunch Lady was nowhere to be found, not that she''d listen, so that left good ol'' Boxy. Even though the blue buffoon had attacked him before, they were at least able to have a conversation through his inane rambling about all things square. And the guy seemed pretty happy with the set of cubes Danny gave him, even if he constantly ''attacked'' the town. And last week the Halfa found the perfect target for the cubical ghost.

    A factory just outside of town. Specifically a box making factory, something that the Box Ghost will no doubt be unable to resist. The worst damage that he could do is a little property damage, and no matter how many boxes there are, his parents go out hunting with ecto-guns and ecto-cannons. Practically lasers and rocket launchers that can and will easily cut through whatever Boxboy could dish out. He can rest easy knowing that he won''t be able to hurt anyone really, and all Danny had to do was make sure he rescued the doofus before his parents started¡­ dissecting him.

    He shivered at the thought, having no desire to subject someone to that fate, especially since now he was possibly susceptible to that as well. He loved his parents with all his heart, but¡­ he''s literally gotten confirmation from his father that if he was a ghost, they''d ''put him out of his misery''. He liked his half-life, for the most part, and he had no desire of ending it anytime soon.

    That''s how he finds himself in front of the portal now. With no sign of Boxy in almost a week, and having no desire to wait any longer, Danny had to go searching for him. Luckily, he knows just what dimension where the little shit could be located.

    Turning around, he looked at his parents while maintaining his invisibility. They were working, as usual: his father on some weird submarine thing, and his mother¡­ on a vacuum cleaner?

    It''s a wonder how they have sensors outside the house that could somehow detect and track other ghosts, including him, but not notice when he sneaks in like this. He shook his head and returned focus back to the portal in front of him. Danny gulped, fear and trepidation building rapidly in his stomach. Taking a step forward, he froze when memories of the first time he went in came crashing into his mind.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "So why is it better for me to go into this with you, instead of by myself?" Not that it wasn''t appreciated, exploring a different dimension inhabited by spirits of the dead seemed better with someone who knew the way for sure. But Danny found it odd how insistent Vlad was about it.

    The older man turned from the swirling green portal, staring at his young apprentice with patient mirth. He smirked in amusement and gave a small chuckle, "Little Badger, trust me when I say this: you don''t want to be in there alone for your first experience. That''s from firsthand experience, my boy, it''s not going to be entirely pleasant."

    That answer didn''t make Danny comfortable, but he knew he had to do it now or never. As a ghost, even if only a half-ghost, he needed to eventually go into the Ghost Zone. "Thanks, I guess."

    The portal pulsed with energy, twirling in a whirlpool of mainly green, with tinges of black and purple. There was no wafting mist like his parents'' portal, a filter had been installed to stop that, along with a set of doors to allow it to be closed off. The filter was so strong that even now, he didn''t hear the call. It was strangely¡­ empty, mainly when compared to the one in his basement.

    Vlad took a step forward, pushing Danny forward with the hand that was on his back. The large red eyes squinted in seriousness, all amusement from earlier gone. "Daniel, the zone itself isn''t inherently dangerous to ghosts, but to Halfa''s like us, the first time isn''t going to be pleasant." His gaze shifted to the gateway as his features settled in a scowl, "Based on those scars you have running up and down your body, you''re used to pain on a physical level- That''s not something I''m happy about, by the way. This is going to test your spirit, your mental fortitude."

    He took another step closer, bringing Danny with him. "Just hold your will son, don''t let the call break you." Danny steeled himself and took a step on his own, now entering the portal. "And remember: I''m here with you." Danny didn''t turn around to look back at his uncle, instead choosing to fully submerge himself into the dimensional gate.

    As Danny transferred to another dimension, he took in the feelings with glee. At the moment, despite how much trepidation he felt to this whole expedition, he was beyond excited. This would be the closest he''d get to space for years, and it was hard to contain himself. Energy washed over his body, invigorating him so much that he started to feel dizzy. When he appeared on the other side, he was clutching his head in a desperate attempt to stop his accelerating vertigo. Vlad stepped out seconds later, placing a hand on his young apprentice to steady him.

    Groaning into his hand, it would be another five minutes for his head to stop spinning while a strange sensation started swelling up in his chest. Eventually though, Danny did open his eyes.

    And the sight before him was mesmerizing.

    The entire dimension was green as ectoplasm, with clouds of varying colors of green, black and purple swirling about in random directions, seemingly without current or wind. When he floated forward a bit, he noted that it almost felt like going through water, but he could move with just a thought and without his hands. The zone expanded infinitely, amazing him with its grandeur and magnitude. Jagged outcroppings of floating islands and rocks littered the area, some staying in place, and others moving about freely. Some of the larger floating islands, one that looked suspiciously like a volcano a few miles away, actually had several smaller islands floating about in an orbit.

    The whole experience fascinated him, leaving him speechless and in awe with giddy excitement.

    He quickly turned to his uncle, a shit-eating grin plastered across his face. "This is awesome! The whole place is like outer space! Why did you say that the experience wasn''t pleasant? The vertigo wasn''t even that bad."

    Vlad chuckled pityingly, "Oh Daniel, that wasn''t the worst of it. That was just an effect of going into a dimension made entirely of energy. Energy that makes up half of our bodies, might I add."

    That wasn''t the worst of it? "What do you mean? There''s something worse than that?" That feeling in his chest started building again, becoming more noticeable.

    Vlad scrunched his face in¡­ distaste? Discomfort? Whatever it was, it made Danny much more nervous, and he slowly started losing his excitement. The elder Halfa seemed to hesitate for a brief moment, but answered nonetheless. "Look down Daniel."

    Down? Slowly, with wavering confidence Danny looked down-

    And everything was black.

    Just as infinite as space and the zone, the black below spanned from edge to edge of his vision, going far past the horizon, never ending. It took a moment for him to realize what it was, but as a space nut he got it quick enough: a black hole. There was no pull of gravity, but the bottom of the zone was a zone devoid of color and light, and Danny knew what it was instinctually.

    It''s where ghosts go to die.

    Rest.

    The whisper startled him so much he jumped, and in his surprise he didn''t notice the edges of his vision narrow, slowly growing darker. Neither masculine or feminine, it reverberated in his head with a haunting echo. Danny bit his lip to clear his mind, struggling to maintain focus as it continued to speak.

    Sleep.

    Sweet nothings that sounded trivial, but made him shudder involuntarily. He didn''t even notice it when Vlad took his arm over his shoulder.

    Aren''t you tired?

    Danny struggled to keep his eyes open, but he arched his back in pain seconds later. It wasn''t physical in the slightest, the younger Halfa could feel something dig into his mind, scraping away at his consciousness, looking for something.

    You''re just an abomination.

    "No!" He''s not! Danny shook his head furiously, trying to dispel whatever thing was trying to enter his mind.

    You''re not right. It hissed venomously. You don''t belong.

    Danny shut his eyes as tears started to build. Through his memories it shifted, forcing a migraine to the forefront immediately. He sucked in through his teeth with a wince, writhing on the ground he didn''t know how he got on.

    Vlad watched on with pity, but his hand never left his nephew. Truly, he knew it wouldn''t help. This type of battle is a first for the young man, but it won''t be the last. The Zone calls for a reason, but as long as he can live through it, he shouldn''t have to deal with its vile temptations ever again. So long as he stays away from the End.

    FREAK! The voice roared in his soul, degrading him with each word.

    He felt like he was withering away, and he screamed in pain while clutching his chest, where his core is.

    Poor Danny Fenton. The scalding chide mocked him further, seemingly never to end. Liar liar, you and your friendssssss.

    Hated by humans. Hated by ghosts. You''re both, but neither. Images flew by his mind''s eye: friends, happily enjoying their date amidst their lie days after he died while he''s forced to suffer, his parents hunting him like some kind of animal, years of being bullied by his peers- countless times in his past, and every pain he''s experienced since becoming a hybrid.

    Fangs dug into his cheeks, but Danny ignored the ectoplasm pooling in his mouth. It dribbled out like drool, and he pulled on his white hair relentlessly. He yelled back in his mind in retaliation, but the voice kept up, undeterred and demanding.

    No place, no true home, burdened with life but not free even in death.

    Thoughts of his parents filled his mind, doubts that he pushed to the back of his mind surfacing at the worst possible time.

    How pitiful. Not an ounce of pity dripped from the hateful whispers, however. Just more mocking.

    Not even your parents want you, they''d sooner cut you open like the freak you are.

    NO! Even¡­ even if they hate ghosts, they''d accept him! They just-

    Would they? Why keep it a secret then?

    His resolve wavered, knowing exactly why he kept it a secret. It''s because¡­

    You''re scared of them. Not a question, but a statement.

    And Danny knew it was true, no matter how much he hated it. "Yes." To his response, the voice seemed to creep closer and closer, digging further into his mind like claws into meat. He is scared of his parents, after years of hearing them work as hunters, he has the right of reason too. Even now, he still has nightmares about their experiments. Ghosts, feral or not, screaming in obvious pain while his parents cut them up mercilessly, like they don''t feel pain.

    And it''s all too easy to imagine-

    That will be you. It stated. Again, it wasn''t a question.

    "No! It won''t!" Was he screaming in his head or was that his mouth?

    Yesssssss. It will be. They will strap you to their table, cut you open-

    "STOP!"

    - and they''ll find what makes you tick.

    Danny''s fists clenched the ground, unconsciously letting power flow into his arms and body. And Tock. The island cracked and began to glow, alarming Vlad. And Tick. Quickly he pulled Danny up to move to another, but the electricity that began sparking off of his body made him scream in pain. And Tock. Still, he moved his nephew to another island- a larger one that hopefully the boy wouldn''t be able to crush. And Tick¡­ As he grew closer to another floating landmass, he looked back to see the one they left crumble and fall down below.

    Into the End it fell, like Daniel would have had he not moved him.

    "ARRRGH! STOP! STOP!"

    You''re an abomination. Without purpose or point. Rest. End.

    Danny fought back against the truths it spouted, against his reality. He knows exactly what he is, he doesn''t need a disembodied voice telling him that! And he knows exactly what his purpose is!

    END! END! END! It repeated, over and over, like a montra. Trying its hardest to push him. Ever closer to that abyssal edge he came with each word.

    Danny pushed it back, slowly making traction on the voice in his mind. He could feel it being pushed away, but he screamed in pain again when the claws on his memories started peeling at his mind. Like a bandage it slowly peeled away with an agonizingly slow pace, somehow stinging his memories with each passing second.

    End! Just let go! You''re halfway there, all you have to do is finish!

    Through grit teeth, he responded. "Finish¡­ what?"

    Dying. End it.

    He defied it again, pushing even harder than before. Danny had struggled to stay alive when all that energy coursed through him. He didn''t want to die, he stubbornly kept hold onto his life even when that damned portal opened up. He wouldn''t toss away what little was left. He''d live, even if only half of him was alive.

    Do it. End. End. End, End, End, EndEndEndEndEnd¡­

    It went on and on, repeating ''End'' over and over. But the rambling made him more resolute, more defiant, and stubbornly, like how he clung to what remained of his life, he fought back. Like on his death day, Danny refused to die. Once was enough, he didn''t need to do it a second time, no matter how many times he came close to it.

    Why won''t you finish?! Join the END! JOIN US!

    Pushing back, he screamed as more power surged from him. Vlad stood back, watching calmly as more and more power flared wildly, but he was ready to act if need be. Having done this alone, he thought himself lucky to have had a strong enough will and landmass to sustain him. Daniel, being only fourteen years old, was questionable if he could hold out¡­ but then again, he did become a Halfa. It took a certain amount of will to keep hold of life when being incinerated by an interdimensional portal.

    DIE! DIE LIKE YOU WERE MEANT TO, YOU ATROCITY AGAINST NATURE!

    Danny snarled, pushing and pushing, further he forced the foreign presence out of his mind, out of his soul. Power coursed through his body in staggering amounts, fueled endlessly by the ectoplasm of the Ghost Zone. Roaring in defiance, he took pleasure in the panic of the voice that had been pushing him closer to the edge.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    STOP! YOU VIOLATION UNTO-

    "Shut Up!" He shouted, and energy shot from his mouth as he slowly gained control back over his body. The stray beam sliced through a rock far above, splitting it in three with its erratic emission. His eyesight returned first, barely, the sight of unstable ectoplasm firing out of his mouth in a Fanged Focus greeted him. Feeling came back, however numb it felt, but even as he barely felt his fingers twitch, the voice protested viciously against his psyche. He could taste the ectoplasm still in his mouth, and he spit it out with spite.

    We are End! You will not defy us! End it, Halfa! End it, monstrosity! End it! Eeeeeend!

    If it was trying to be convincing, it failed spectacularly. Revolting against death for the second time in his life, more power came flourishing to the surface. The edges of his vision became clear- no longer stained in black and narrowing. Danny could actually feel the ground beneath him, and slowly the ringing and screaming in his ears turned into actual sound. The chirping of thousands of birds and the hum of electricity was the first thing he heard, followed by the cracking ground, and only now he realized that his electrokinesis was wildly out of control.

    Vlad stood off to the side, a pleased and proud expression plastered across his face. An hour in and the boy was almost done fighting back against the call. His apprentice is strong, more stable than he initially was, and even if he is younger, his will clearly isn''t something to underestimate.

    We-

    -re End¡­

    -ou w-

    Sub-

    -mit!

    Submit! Die! End!

    And with a final roar of defiance, Danny pushed that vile voice out of his mind. Power spiked, and his ectoplasmic aura radiated with his will. His core complied, funneling all of his power to expel whatever corruption was tempting his mind. The voice screamed and raged as it faded, leaving the young Halfa tired and panting for oxygen he didn''t need.

    He looked over to Vlad, his uncle, his mentor, to see him smiling so wide he thought his head would split. With fangs bared in a sinister grin, Danny responded in kind, giving a shaky thumbs up even as electricity continued to spark along his smoking body.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Even though Vlad told him that he wouldn''t have to deal with¡­ the End again, it still left him shaken. But he couldn''t hold out with his invisibility forever. He glanced back at his parents, seeing them conversing excitedly about something¡­ something that he was never a part of. How he wished they would just stop this. That they would, for one day, stop being scientists or ghosts hunters and instead be parents.

    The voice echoed in his mind again, mocking him for fearing his parents, but a quick glance at their¡­ operation table, proved that fear warranted. Although dulled and no longer glowing, slightly dried ectoplasm stained the table, giving an easy clue about what they had been doing recently. Two nights ago, to be exact. It was why he was so tired on Friday. On top of hunting other ghosts down, he had to listen to the screams of an unfortunate shapeshifting ghosts. While feral, for the most part they are the most intelligent of the specters he normally faces. No actual intellect or personality, but smart enough to adapt on the fly, remember shapes and sizes, and definitely smart enough¡­ to feel pain. They all felt pain, but having to listen to it isn''t great.

    He shook his head, and took a step into the portal. No point in wasting anymore time. He didn''t have a specific direction to go in, but flying around randomly wouldn''t hurt. Besides, how hard is it to find the Box Ghost? If he''s an annoyance here, no doubt he''s worse on the other side. The GZ is the dimension stuck with the troglodyte, not Earth.

    The familiar sensation from before, a tingling energy trickle that invigorated him filled his being, but no dizzy spell encroached this time. When he opened his eyes, the familiar green infinity of the Ghost Zone greeted him. The same clouds of green, black and purple floated aimlessly in any direction, and rocks and islands floated in every direction. There were actual lair doors floating around here though, unlike Vlad''s portal. He didn''t have any ghost lairs floating around his, but here there were quite a few.

    And he didn''t know where to start, really. The Box Ghost came to his world often, sometimes multiple times a week, sometimes multiple times a day, but for the past week he hasn''t been around. Looking around, there''s no ghosts in sight, which is something he finds rather strange. It is called the Ghost Zone, and even at Vlads'' there were no stray ghosts, feral or not.

    So with nothing better to do, he went to the closest door. It wasn''t the best idea, his mentor had told him that ghosts didn''t particularly care for people knocking on their lair. The dead are a private bunch, rather antisocial and introverted for the most part, but some didn''t mind¡­

    He knocked on the dull purple door, waiting maybe three minutes before-

    "What de fuck do ye'' wunt?!" A strong Irish accent greeted him, and opening the door stood a portly man. Pale green skin, red eyes, greasy slicked back hair, and a pot belly made the man''s stature; he had what looked like a grey tunic and white dress shirt on. He didn''t look particularly impressive or exciting as far as ghosts went, though he did look surprised to see the Halfa.

    Danny waved sheepishly, "Uh¡­ hi! I''m Danny a-"

    The man shut the door in his face immediately, shouting behind the closed door a loud and muffled: "Fuck off!"

    He stayed there for a moment, processing what happened. When his mind finally caught back up, he recoiled in anger. He pounded on the door half a dozen times with his boot before moving onto the next door, a quarter mile above him. He could hear the angry Irishman below screaming at his retreating form, it seems he didn''t appreciate the door dash as much as Danny did. Maybe next time he''d answer the door with some manners instead of acting like an asshat. For good measure, he flipped him the middle finger without even looking back.

    The next door came up soon enough, similar in color to the last, and really like the rest of the floating doors in the zone. Danny straightened his suit and calmed himself with a deep breath. The ectoplasm flowing into his lungs still felt a little weird, but it didn''t hurt in the least so he tried to ignore it.

    Knock. Knock. Knock.

    Danny waited maybe five minutes before knocking again, but after another five minutes after that, he sighed and left. There''s no point in being upset if no one''s home, he figured ghosts have stuff they have to do too¡­ maybe. Based on what Vlad said, there are different regions where many of them conglomerate into a community. So it''s entirely possible that there may be some doing¡­ whatever spirits of the dead do in their spare time.

    Probably lots of board games if he had to guess.

    On the third door, no one answered as well, and the same applied for the next three. It was starting to annoy him, and Danny began to suspect that they were actually in their lairs, but instead opted to ignore him. It''s better than being attacked he supposed, but it''s annoying all the same. Just because someone dies doesn''t mean they have to be an ass in death.

    Eventually, he gave up on this side and made his way back towards his portal. The front of the portal didn''t seem to have the answers he was looking for, so now he decided to check on the area behind it. Gingerly, he landed on top of his portal, finding it a little uncomfortable that it looks the same as the entrance in the mortal realm. While taking a break, he scouts out the area he''ll be going to next. There are fewer doors and they''re far more spread out than the others.

    Danny pushes ectoplasm into his eyes, improving his eyesight and range. Details become clearer, and what were small specks before now have identifiable shapes. There may not be that many doors in this direction, but there sure are a lot of landmasses. Way off in the distance, he can see large mountains and forests floating on what he can only assume is state sized subcontinents.

    This whole place is fascinating.

    Turning his attention to one of the closer doors, studying it for any details marking it as different. Its color remains the same, but oddly enough there''s a pink sticker of a¡­ cat? Huh, okay then. He panned right, looking over more lair entrances. Far, far past the cat door, there''s what looks like a rusty grey garage door? So they don''t all come in the same shapes and sizes. A large tire with a skull in the middle looked to be spray-painted onto the center of it, but for the most part it seemed generic.

    Eventually his sight moved above his head, with him laying down over the portal. Danny''s feet dangled off the edge, occasionally touching the swirling portal and sending small shocks through his system. The tingling numbness actually started to feel kind of good after a while, so he just kept doing it while relaxing. Next time he comes here, he''ll have to bring his sketchbook. There''s plenty to document and have fun with. The doors above him are a little harder to see, but one door in particular stood out from the rest. Not because it looked marginally different, but because right in the center¡­ there was a square.

    It could be anything.

    Someone else could have decided to decorate their door that way of course, but Danny had a sneaking suspicion that that was the lair he was looking for. With renewed vigor, he pushed off of the portal and took off up. As he approached, Danny finally pieced together why Boxy showed up so often. They''re fucking neighbors! Assuming the residents surrounding his portal were the recluses they''ve proven themselves to be so far, it''s understandable that Box Ghost is the only one abusing this privilege. Or maybe he''s the only one ballsy enough to try something like this.

    Finally at what he hopes is his destination, Danny knocks three times on the door. There''s some cluttering and banging, a little cursing, but the door swings open widely to reveal-

    "Who dares disturb the Box Gho-"

    The low swooshing of the zone broke the quiet pause, and Danny smiled a toothy grin at the Box Ghost. "Boxy! Just the ghost I was looking for!"

    His face panicked for a brief moment, and he quickly tried to slam the door shut. Undeterred, Danny shot his foot out to block the door. "Ouch! Fuck, stop it Boxboy! I need to talk to you!"

    The cubical ghost denied the Halfa from the bottom of his core, "No! You always ruin my fun in the human realm, I''m taking time off at home for now!" He opened the door slightly, then slammed it shut again. "Beware, or I''ll crush your foot with my rectangular door of doooooom!"

    Danny growled in annoyance, "Shit, that hurts you ass! Stop it! I''m here to make a deal!"

    The specter stopped, halting his assault on the half-ghosts foot. "A deal?"

    "Yes!" He barked, "Now open the fuck up!" He enhanced his arm with ectoplasm all the way down to his fingers, then punched the door with his augmented strength. The door swung open, flinging the crate spirit across his lair.

    Danny let himself in, rubbing his sore foot. As he floated closer, the inside of the lair came into view. It all looked¡­ rather normal. Hardwood floors, dresser in the entrance hall, deep blue walls, fluorescent light bulbs? Huh, those look like the same ones they have in school. Then there are the boxes. Everywhere, there are shelves and shelves covered in boxes, and a large majority of the floor is covered in the damn cardboard boxes as well.

    "Nice place ya got here Boxy," Danny stopped in front of the ghost, "It''s a little messy though, like a hoarder lives here."

    Box Ghost got up with a glare, "This is my lair ghost child! How dare you push me in my own home! And I am not a hoarder!"

    Danny deadpanned his stare, "Uh-huh. Sure, and I''m not half-dead." He shook his head in exasperation, "Whatever. Are you interested in the deal or not?"

    The glare lessened, but his attitude didn''t change all that much. "You should be grateful that I''m not destroying you with my boxes of DOOM!" Seeing that he got no reaction, he slumped his shoulders in disappointment. "What do you ghost child?"

    The Halfa beamed a brilliant smile at the ghost, "Awesome! Now here''s what I need¡­"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Okay, you know what to do, right?"

    The Box Ghost crossed his arms in annoyance, "Yes, ghost child. I know what I''m doing."

    Dannys'' gaze flickered over to the portal in front of them, then his attention turned back towards his temporary ally. "Okay, but remember: don''t get caught no matter what. My parents are kind of off-kilter, and if they catch you¡­"

    The crate creep raised an eyebrow, "They''ll what?"

    Grimacing, Danny put as much seriousness into his next four words. "They will dissect you."

    Boxy paled slightly, his blue skin turning a shade lighter as he gulped. "Oh¡­ uh, will they really? Isn''t that kind of extreme?" The nod he got in return didn''t make him feel any better, but the reward was too much. A factory for boxes! How could he pass this up, it''s literally on his box list.

    "Okay. If I were you, I wouldn''t fight them. Just¡­ I dunno, dodge around and make fun of them." Danny fished around in his pants for a little incentive, "Just don''t get too close to them and stay close to the ceiling so you can run away when needed. I don''t need a long time, just a few hours. It''s like an hour drive over there, and an hour drive back, so you gotta distract them for maybe thirty minutes tops." Finally he found it, and he passed it over to his ghostly companion. A glass cube, about an inch long and wide. It sparkled an undead green in accordance with the Ghost Zone, not bright, but still enough.

    Hurriedly, the Box Ghost caught it. He stared in wonder as the small crystal cube refracted the acid colored light, turning it around in his hand as he inspected it. His excited face turned to the Halfa, a questioning gaze leering into his smug expression. Danny shrugged his shoulders, "Advanced payment. I imagine you won''t get much out of the factory aside from the experience, so a little motivation never hurts."

    Those lessons from Vlad always seem to pay off when he needs them the most. Always come prepared and know your opponent. Not too hard to figure out for this one in particular. Boxes and cubes are his fancy, and really he probably didn''t even need to go the extra mile on this. The second he heard ''box factory'', he agreed immediately.

    The ghost pocketed his newest treasure and turned towards the portal. "Alright, I''m ready. Your parents will face my packaged doom!" Immediately he took off into the swirling vortex. Danny slapped his face while shaking his head, "Idiot¡­"

    On the other side he reemerged with his invisibility going full blast. The lack of ectoplasm in the air was a little disappointing, but it''s nothing he''s not used to.

    "I AM THE BOX GHOST!" Watching as a spectator, Danny had to hold his laugh in lest he be caught out. His parents turned in surprise, staring at Boxy with a mix between surprise, confusion and hatred. "BEWARE! I AM FREE FROM THE ZONE AND MY FIRST ACT WILL BE TAKING THE BOXES FROM-" He looked at a small piece of paper that he took from one of the pockets on his overalls. "- 4477 Amity Industrial Commerce? What a dumb address name."

    It was oh-so tempting to blast the blue buffoon in the back of the head for such a shoddy performance, but his parents didn''t seem to notice.

    "Ghost!" His father shouted, "Grab the guns Madz!" The large man vaulted over his work table with surprising dexterity, grabbing a blaster off the wall and taking aim immediately. His wife followed suit, snagging an ecto-launcher off of the weapons rack right next to her and sighted in her target. Box Ghost tensed up for a moment, but remembered his objective and took off through the ceiling before the two ghost hunters could fire their weapons.

    "Damn it, he got away!" Maddie hissed as she turned towards her husband. "Do you remember what he said?"

    Jack nodded excitedly, "That I did! What an idiot, telling us where he''s going like that." He tossed the weapon he was holding over towards his wife, who deftly caught it with practiced ease. "Take those up and start the Fenton Family Assault Vehicle. I''ll grab some more supplies and meet you back up top."

    Maddie smiled at her husband, "Sure thing honey," she walked over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Oh! Don''t forget to bring the Specter Deflectors. They need some field testing."

    Minutes later, Danny was left alone in the lab, with nothing but the sounds of the portal and the occasional beeping from some of the equipment. He returned to the visible spectrum and released a sigh of relief. "Can''t believe that worked. I don''t know who''s the bigger idiot, Box Ghost or my parents for falling for that."

    His eyes panned over the whole lab, going over the main computer, the filing cabinets, bookshelves, weapon racks, firing range, worktables, material bins¡­ this place is bigger than the house is, how did they manage that? It almost seemed like they were under the street or neighbors house, or at least close to it.

    "Hmm¡­ where to start?"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Tucker, I swear to god, if you don''t put that shit down, I will break it."

    Whatever little spell Tucker was under broke for a moment, a horrified expression passed over his face and he quickly hid both his PDA and his phone. "Why would you say that Sam?!"

    Same growled in annoyance, "I say that," she took a step forward, poking him in the chest, "because we''re supposed to be hanging out! But you haven''t even picked up a controller once!" She pushed him again, "All you''ve done is keep your fucking eyes glued to your screen, and those dumbass headphones haven''t even left your ears once."

    Tucker looked affronted, aghast, and took a step back. "Dumbass headphones? These headphones rock! They''re Ember McLain limited time merch! And they cost me a pretty penny too, so hands off!"

    Even now, she could hear the music, the same pop-rock genre that''s been playing through the earbuds, headphones, and speakers of literally every student in Casper High aside from her and Danny. She didn''t know why Danny wasn''t affected, but Sam had a sneaking suspicion that the reason she wasn''t under¡­ whatever this is was because of the Fenton Phones she always had on as of late.

    Sam''s glare seemed to grow, forcing her friend to back down a bit. "Don''t tell me what to do techy! And we''re having a damned conversation, turn off that crap when you''re talking to your friends."

    Quicker than Tucker could react, Sam nabbed the headphones off of his head. She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the fan merchandise, the entire cyan and black headphones not appealing to her in the slightest. Cyan is way too bright of a color for her liking, and the sheer narcissism it took to have someone''s face plastered onto their own wares¡­ Ember McLain is many things apparently, and an engorged ego was one of the things she had in spades it seemed. "Look at this garbage, who puts their own face on stuff like this?"

    When she started waving the bluetooth headphones around, Tucker actually shrieked in fear. He desperately jumped out of the chair, snatching the ear equipment back with fanatic panic. Sam gaped at¡­ whatever just transpired. In all of their lives, she had never seen Tucker act so pathetic before. "What is wrong with you? Did someone finally knock your head too hard?" He had never followed a trend with such zeal, and the goth found it inherently uncomfortable.

    Tucker snapped at his friend, glaring back at his best friend. "What is wrong with me? What''s wrong with you?! What if you broke my babies?! How can you not like Ember either?!"

    Sam scoffed, "Who cares? It''s cheap junk, well the headphones are. And I really don''t like Ember''s genre." She walked back towards her favorite chair, taking the controller from the seat and plopping ungracefully back onto it. The ultra-vegan craned her neck to look over at the techy, "Are you done ignoring the friend you came over to hang out with, or are you going to continue listening to music?"

    Her friend seemed conflicted for a moment and made to put the headphones down, but when the song started again, his eyes glazed over slightly and his posture stiffened. Slowly, with the grace of a stiff robot, he put the earphones back on. Sam stared, unnerved at the action and entirely displeased. "Ugh!" She turned back around and started playing DOOMED by herself. Again. Why did he even come over if all he was going to do was stare at his phone like a creep? No talking, no joking, just¡­ nothing. It''s like he wasn''t even there, but his physical presence was too hard to ignore.

    Half an hour passed, and as she stomped her way through the sixth level, her mind wandered over to her other friend that wasn''t here at the moment. The last few days had been weird, even for Danny. Sure, every once in a while he came to school sleepy from the night prior. They''re teenagers, and sometimes they play games until the wee hours of the morning. With how neglectful both of theirs are, there have been plenty of times they pulled all nighters.

    But almost all week, he struggled to stay awake in class. Lancer had to wake him up on more than one occasion, as did Sam. The teacher seemed concerned, which was nice when compared to some others they''ve had before, but he knew where his professional bounds lied. She wondered if this continued, would he ask Danny the questions himself when it started affecting his schoolwork.

    And he even started leaving early! Mr. Falluca hasn''t even noticed yet, the incompetent short man stepped out too often for a smoke break to notice half the stuff class did. Whether he was in there teaching or not. She was tempted to follow after him on a few occasions, but he always had perfect timing. If she wanted to follow after him, she''d have to do it the same moment he did. Seconds after he leaves, their biology teacher always makes his appearance, her friend''s absence going unnoticed. It didn''t help that he never called roll, whether in the beginning of class or at the end.

    Honestly, shirking of responsibilities is probably one of the things Sam hates the most from a long list of things she has an extreme distaste for. And Mr. Falluca was slowly making his way onto that list too.

    Clearing level ten, she turned back to Tucker to see him zoned out again. His head slowly bobbed to the beat, and again her anger continued to rise. Sam huffed in frustration and picked up her own headset, connecting it with her controller and focusing back on the game. As the multiplayer lobby filled up quick enough, the goth couldn''t help but wonder¡­

    "What the hell is going on in this town?"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Over and over, he read it. Every last word, hyphen, exclamation point and letter; he read it all. Even as his hands shook violently, the words burned their way into his mind, never to be forgotten. Unhidden emotions flashed across his face, and he growled through clenched teeth as hidden truths unveil and are splayed out right before his very eyes.

    A question remains though: What the fuck is this?

    What the fuck is this?!

    This¡­

    This documented- signed and dated by both of his parents multiple times through the report- their one and only human experimentation trial. The only time they''ve tested exposure to ectoplasm on a live, breathing human being. And their only subject, one who couldn''t even object or protest-

    Was him. He was their only live subject throughout their entire careers. Energy sparked off of his back and legs, leaving small tufts of ash in their wake as they marred the ground. Danny didn''t care at the moment, his parents wouldn''t notice either. Too tunnel visioned in their own damn research to notice anything, and apparently, follow any semblance of a moral code as well!

    Danny''s stomach churned, his throat felt like sandpaper, and his enhanced vision blurred as unshed tears began to well in his eyes. He could hear nothing, a dull ringing just continued to get louder and louder as he read, and his skin started to feel numb.

    How¡­

    How could they do this? This was where his fear came from! This is where his distrust came from! This level of- of lunacy! This is why he kept his hybridism as secret! His biggest fear: that one day his parents would experiment on him for what he is, and it''s already happened. They used him like an experiment: not as a baby, no that wouldn''t be evil enough.

    According to the notes, they didn''t even realize that Maddie, his mother, was pregnant with him until almost halfway through the pregnancy! The dumbasses were so engrossed in their work they never noticed. But when they did, it didn''t stop there!

    They continued to expose him to the stuff! Day after day, his unborn and still-developing body was exposed constantly to dangerous and hazardous energy and materials! "How could they?!" And they recorded it too, all to happy to get that kind of exclusive data!

    If they could do this when he was just an unborn infant, why wouldn''t they be able to do it later in his life? What''s stopping them? Morals weren''t enough the first time, there''s no way they''d be enough the second time around. Even more so when his physiology has changed so drastically; after all, who knows when they''ll get another chance to study a half-ghost? He''s an impossibility unto the universe, life and death in one body; how could they resist?

    Danny wanted to destroy this infernal piece of damning evidence, but¡­ he had an assignment to turn in, and this was it. As calmly as he could, Danny placed the wrinkled and slightly damp report back into the disgusting manilla folder. His eyes panned over the reports, the graphs, the data, and again that burning desire to destroy everything in front of him reared its ugly head. If he let the anger take hold though, the lab would be next and there''s no way he can cover that up¡­ assuming they blame him of course, but then again, the teenaged boy always gets blamed when something breaks. They''re always so rambunctious, those teenagers.

    The filing cabinet now cleared- he''d read every painful damn detail from it later- Danny phased through the ceiling into his room. With as much restraint as he could handle, the Halfa tossed the truth onto the ground in his closet. He walked through the wall again, arriving at a linen closet, and took some sheets out and went back to his room to cover it up. His parents wouldn''t find it, they never came to check on either of their children and he doubted they''d even notice the lack of files for years to come.

    But he was given an assignment¡­ and that means that Vlad had to know something, if not the whole truth. After slamming his door shut and locking it, Danny moved over to his bed and sat down. He took his phone, unplugged it from the charger, and brought up his contacts.

    In the U''s, he found who he was looking for: Uncle Vlad Masters.

    In his anger and unsteady mind, he had to stop himself from crushing the phone in his hand twice before actually making the call. Even then, his shaky fingers kept pressing the wrong buttons. And as the phone rang, his senses dulled again, the hypnotic muted ringing barely calmed his nerves.

    "Hello?" His uncle answered the phone on the fifth ring, but Danny couldn''t say anything. He ground his teeth together while trying to formulate a coherent sentence that wasn''t just an angry yell.

    "Daniel? Is that you?" The younger Halfa groaned, loud enough to be heard on the other line. On the other side, Vlad checked the date on the computer''s calendar. He nodded in affirmation, feeling confident in his hypothesis. It''s been long enough and his nephew is a bright lad, with ample time he''s been expecting a call to come any day now.

    It seems that today is that day. "Well, I am assuming that you finally completed your first task?"

    Through the phone, Vlad could hear his young apprentice growl, "Oh yeah, I completed it alright." The younger hybrid paused for a moment to take a breath, "What the hell is this Vlad? What was the point of this if you knew the whole time?"

    It wouldn''t do to get angry at the boy for his attitude, if there was ever a time where Daniel rightfully deserved to act like this, it would be now. It''s a world shaking revelation after all, he could be afforded more than a little leniency. "I wanted you to find out for yourself Daniel." His next words stalled on his tongue, and thinking better, chose a different set instead. "Even if I do think you are more mature than your peers, especially for your age, tell me: would you have really believed me?"

    Danny tried to stutter out a response, tired and angry and so very, very confused. But when he asked himself¡­ "I don''t know."

    Vlad didn''t stop there though, he continued to push. "Daniel, would you have believed me if I told you that your parents used you as an experiment before you were even born and after for a little bit as well? Answer me truthfully."

    Minutes go by, and after careful deliberation and painfully awkward silence, Danny answers his mentor. "No." The quiet reply came softly, "I don''t think I would have. Is that why¡­?"

    "It''s better for both of us if you found out on your own." He began, "If I had told you, it could have strained our relationship and put unnecessary stress between your familial bonds." The older man sighed heavily into the phone, already feeling tired from this depressing kind of talk. "I understand this is a lot to take in boy, but you''re strong. You''ll get through this."

    Compliments are a sure fire way to boost someone''s mood, and Danny is no exception, even more so since they''ve always been lacking in his life for the most part. "Yeah, I guess¡­ How long have you known this for?"

    That''s an easy response, and one Vlad has no problem revealing. "The night of the party. Weren''t you wondering why Jack and Maddie were acting so strange the day after?"

    Thinking back, they did seem a little¡­ frazzled. "Yeah, I guess so. They were super on edge the whole day," his eyes narrow in thought, "how come?"

    Vlad chuckled on the other end, making his annoyance rise a little once again. "They didn''t want me to tell you, though they made no promises about telling you themselves."

    Danny didn''t respond, and the line went quiet for another five minutes. The younger of the hybrids brooded in silence, memories and parts of his life being replayed. He couldn''t trust his parents anymore, not after learning that. His musing was broken when Vlad said-

    "Just so you know, Little Badger, they do regret it."

    He snapped far quicker than either thought was possible, "Don''t fucking defend them!"

    Tone harshening, the billionaire was stern in his rebuttal. "Don''t curse at me, boy. I am not the one to be getting angry with, and I am not defending them." Silence again, but nearly as long. "What they did was terrible Daniel, I am not condoning it, and I am certainly not forgiving them for doing that to my favorite nephew."

    Although small, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly. "I''m your only nephew."

    "Yes, you are, which makes you my favorite by default. Good for you on that."

    Both of them laughed for a moment, Vlads'' small and reserved and Dannys'' tired and slightly hollow. There was some genuine mirth in it, but the day''s been hard. "What now?"

    Vlad hummed in thought before answering. From Danny''s side of the phone, he could hear his mentor typing away on a keyboard of some kind. "For now, just live life. Do whatever a fourteen year old does. Your next assignment will be at the end of the month, I will be there to explain it to you."

    So he already has another one, huh? That''s great. "This next one isn''t going to be some ridiculous life shattering revelation again is it?"

    "Heavens no. The only way I would say you can prepare for it is to get stronger. Keep practicing your powers, my boy, and you''ll do just fine." The line went silent again for the umptienth time. Danny thought of anything to say, tapping on his pant leg all the while, but decided that there was nothing left to talk about really. Suddenly he heard Vlad snap his fingers on the other end, "That reminds me: that suit you wanted will be ready soon. Just in time for task two as well, what timing!"

    Okay, that cheered him up a little. Getting some actual armor is going to be a lifesaver. It''s a shame it won''t get here for another couple weeks, but getting it at all is great. Besides, the protective suit he wears now is a little too tight. It''s not entirely comfortable, but hopefully that changes with the next combat suit. "Cool! I was wondering when it''d be do-"

    "WE GOT A LIVE ONE HERE!" Danny was swiftly interrupted by his parents'' triumphant return. He didn''t know how he missed his father swinging the front door open, but the small black cube in his hand was held up like a victorious trophy, or the olympic flame.

    Danny slapped his face in exasperation. "How the hell did he fall for that twice?"

    "What''s going on Daniel?" Vlad asked from the still connected call.

    The ghost child jumped slightly, startled from his own musing. "Oh! Sorry Vlad, I gotta go. My parents caught a ghost I know, and even though he''s a nuisance, he doesn''t deserve to be opened up like a dead frog. See ya!"

    Swiftly hanging up the phone, Danny rushed down the stairs. His parents were already down in the lab, most likely preparing for a dissection. He quickly turned angry again, but restrained it since there were more pressing matters at the moment. Checking quickly, he locked the front door and made his way downstairs into the lab. Sure enough, his expectations did not disappoint unfortunately.

    "Hey¡­ Mom, Dad." Both turned their attention towards him, waiting to hear what their only son had to say. Danny scowled, but tried to keep his expression flat.

    "Yes sweety? What is it?" His mother asked, not even stopping her preparations.

    Pointing his fingers back up towards the stairs, the youngest child said: "Ghost went flying down the street. Might wanna go north."

    Jack immediately perked up with childlike glee, "Two in one day! This calls for celebratory fudge!" He picked up some more equipment- that weird tracking device they made, some grenades, and another Containment Cube. Already halfway up the stairs, he called down to his wife. "Let''s go Madz! These spooks aren''t gonna hunt themselves!"

    Oh, the irony in that statement. As it turns out, they do hunt themselves. Specifically a little booger compensating for his lacking stature, hunting him for his pelt.

    As his parents left the confines of the lab and their home, Danny turned his attention towards the cube holding his accomplice captive. He shook his head in disappointment, clicking the release button on it and letting the guy out.

    In a swirl of blue light, the Box Ghost reammurged, looking a little beat up, but otherwise fine. "I AM THE BOX GHOST! BEWARE MY- Where am I?" His eyes swept across the familiar lab he had been going through and quickly landed on the Halfa. He flinched back in embarrassment.

    "You idiot, what the fuck are you doing?" His arms spread wide in vexation, "You got caught the same fucking way you did the first time we met didn''t you?" Box Ghost flinched again, scooting back towards the portal.

    Danny scoffed and continued berating the blue buffoon. "Seriously, I even told you not to fall for the Containment Cube thing."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    10:52.

    Second period math class.

    Mr. Lancer was, at the moment, knee deep in an explanation about the pythagorean theorem and the different ways to apply it and circumvent it. And of the thirty-one students in attendance, Danny found it a shame that he was the only ones paying attention. He also found it exceedingly annoying, since the balding man had taken to asking him, and only him. With everyone else having their heads in the clouds and up their asses, something that did not go unnoticed by the multi-degreed teacher, that left him to pick up the slack.

    All the slack. That''s a lot of damn slack for someone who stayed up till three in the morning catching ghosts, with no ''thank you'' he might add. Luckily it ended without major injury, aside from some bruising, so his body was in relatively good health. It''s just his mind which was falling behind, trying desperately to force the half-ghost to sleep. That wouldn''t do with literally all of the attention on him at the moment.

    When Danny''s ghost sense went off, he nearly cried out in joy. Hallelujah was right on the tip of his tongue, but he knew better than to say that out loud. Quickly, he turned his attention to the window he was sitting near. Outside, in quick fashion, a large semi-truck hauling an actual stage rounded the corner, parking itself right in front of the school gates.

    His jaw dropped, that certainly wasn''t how he was expecting her to show up. Ember McLain followed suit to show that she liked flashy entrances. Appearing in an explosion of purple smoke, the ghostly rocker walked out, ready to strum. The second she started playing on her guitar three more band members poofed into existence right behind her. A man on the drums, a bass player and another guitarist. All with blue skin, all grungy looking rockers, and all over them were quite obviously ghosts. Well, one of them looked like a zombie, but Danny''s well aware that ghosts come in all kinds of shapes and sizes.

    "It''s Ember McLain! The concert is LIIIIIIVE!" He didn''t know who screamed that, maybe Star, but it started a domino effect. Everyone in class, ignoring Lancers lecture and cries of protests, rushed to the window in a crowd. Through the glass they cheered, until they couldn''t contain it any longer and started rushing through the door. Danny watched on, more than a little amused, especially when one of the A-Listers got trampled for tripping.

    This experience is kind of surreal. It''s giving him a kick, yeah, but the fervent way people are acting is more than a little dangerous. Trampling is all fun and games until someone gets stepped on the neck. Then it''s game over.

    "I''m glad to see someone isn''t infected by this vile delinquency." Danny turned his head to his teacher of two classes glaring out the window with extreme distaste.

    Raising an eyebrow, the Halfa snarkily responds. "Yeah, as great as that is, I don''t think teaching one person out of more than thirty will fly with the principal."

    Lancer grit his teeth, grinding them rather audibly, but conceded his agreement. "I have to agree with you, Mr. Fenton." His expression shifted again, somehow getting even more sour than before, "I''m afraid I have to ask you to stay here while I deal with this¡­" He flicked his hand indignantly at the forming crowd for the concert, "problem."

    The man was at the door before Danny could even respond. Thinking fast, he packed his stuff up, transformed into Phantom, and shot off to the roof to deposit his backpack. After fishing out his phone, he debated on texting Sam, but decided against it. She has the Fenton Phones and the Wrist Rays, she should be fine. Besides, maybe Ember isn''t aggressive enough to attack him¡­

    His track record states otherwise though, so he wouldn''t hold out too much hope for that possibility.

    After grabbing a Fenton Thermos and attaching it to his belt, Danny floated above the collected crowd with his arms crossed, going blissfully unnoticed by the masses below. Ember didn''t seem to notice him either, too engorged in the chanting of her name and the flow of her concert. He watched on with interest, the chanting growing more and more fevered and her hair¡­ getting larger? On a second glance, it actually looked more like fire, with the cheers and chants fanning the flames. He frowned, that had to mean something.

    Other than that, the ghostly rocker did look like she was having fun. And she looked hot. Maybe seventeen or eighteen, which didn''t mean jack-shit for immortal ghosts, her entire outfit was enticing. While Danny wasn''t sure if those were actual tattoos or just make-up on her face, it did take her already exotic appearance to another level. The odd, tight leather clothes helped accentuate her curves and lithe figure, and even if she did look remarkably human at a passing glance, it was a little obvious that she wasn''t¡­ entirely normal? Not a ghost specifically, but she still didn''t look entirely human; there was a strange ethereal feel that all ghosts shared, him and Vlad included, and it made those more perceptive to the supernatural notice far more quickly.

    Well, she wasn''t doing anything inherently wrong, so he figured he could just sit back and enjoy his first concert. It put a little melancholy in Dannys'' mood when he realized that he died before actually going to a live concert. That''s a little depressing. He shifted his position in the air, deciding that laying down while propping his head up was more appropriate. Even if this wasn''t his preferred genre, it was still pretty good. If he could say one thing, Ember has a damn good singing voice on her.

    Then Mr. Lancer barged through the front doors with a megaphone. Where did he get that anyway? Did they have one stored in the teachers lounge? He''d have to check that out, who knows what goodies they have stored there. He straightened his posture a little when the portly man got on top of one of the school newspaper distribution boxes. It was a little funny to see him attempt balance on the fire hydrant next to it, but Lancer quickly found out how dumb that was when he nearly cracked his skull open on the pavement.

    "Attention! Attention! To the freakishly dressed teen idol, I order you to cease and desist!"

    ¡­ Oh boy. That would have been funny if not for the vindictive smirk on Embers face. "Dismiss this Grandpa!" And then she finally did something aside from playing a tune. After doing something to the guitar, a visible wave of energy washed over the crowd. The people stirred, twitching violently with glowing eyes. Danny tensed, his awareness going from a low two to a solid nine.

    When the whole crowd turned to the teacher with glowing red eyes, Danny acted immediately. It wouldn''t do to have the only teacher he liked killed by a mob.

    "Pride and prejudice!" Danny almost stopped in mid-air at the¡­ weird exclamation. If he wasn''t used to it by now, Lancer may have been mobbed.

    Quickly, Danny swooped down and picked the older man up. After going invisible, which transferred over to his teacher, he put him back at the entrance. "I wouldn''t do that if I were you."

    The multi-degree teacher looked up in surprise at the white haired teen. "Don''t worry, I''ll handle the whole mind-control thing." Before he could respond or recover from his shock, Danny took off towards the rocker.

    Ember seemed to be engrossed in the chanting, completely ignoring her surroundings as her hair grew in a plume of flames. As she rocked on, Danny landed behind her with his arms crossed. His eyebrows rose a little as the chanting increased another volume in accordance to how ''hard'' she strummed her guitar. Speaking of guitars, Danny eyed the piece of musical equipment warily, the feeling it gave off almost triggering his ghost sense, but slightly subdued. Something to be wary of.

    "Ahem."

    The blue-haired ghost jumped a little, turning around with a scowl trapped on her face. "Yes? Can I help you? What are you doing here? I don''t do duets, Dipstick."

    Honestly, he had to chuckle at that. That was the first thought that came to mind? It was just a little funny. "Dipstick? Really? I''m not here to perform with you," he waved off, "Just chill on the mind control, okay?"

    That didn''t seem to make her any happier, her strumming stopped even though the band continued. The crowd didn''t seem to mind though. "And who''s going to stop me?" Her voice turned deadly, something Danny recognized by the few villains he''s faced so far in his short hero career.

    As his hands began to glow green, he didn''t notice when she changed the dial on the guitar. Switching from a music note to a skull, she smirked devilishly, which made the half-ghost blush. "You don''t have to feel so happy to see me," he said, ecto-blast at the ready, "but I understand, most can''t help themselves with my supernatural charm."

    Ember rolled her eyes, but the grin never left her face. At least he could talk the talk¡­ now to see if he could walk the walk. "Oh, sure." Before he could react, she strummed her guitar in a harsh riff, blasting the Halfa back with visible sounds waves. Danny flew back past the stage, landing harshly against the wrought iron fence that surrounded the school. It bent sharply with his form, giving testament to his durability since he escaped that attack with only minor bruises. Still hurt like a bitch though.

    Getting up with a glare, he aimed it at the smirking rocker. "Was that supposed to hurt?" He mocked, "because I barely felt it." Quickly, he threw a barrage of ecto-blasts towards the stage. Danny felt a little bad about damaging the platform, but that sonic wave hurt, so the guilt passed quick enough. Ember ascended to the sky, dodging the bombardment, but not dodging the ecto-ray that blasted her over the roof.

    She screamed in pain or surprise, he couldn''t tell, the ray itself wasn''t particularly powerful, just fully charged. Danny followed up soon enough though, but he was forced to dodge when she nearly decapitated him with her guitar. Feeling the danger, he quickly backed up in the sky, now more than aware of the danger.

    The guitar, purple and blue, now glowed a violent lavender. The edges in particular extended slightly, making the musical instrument look more like an axe than a guitar. Actually¡­ "Whoa, what''s with the gitbox? Why''s it look like a medieval weapon?"

    Ember smirked, "My guitar''s an artifact, it''s far more powerful than some construct. And with it¡­" She flipped it around with deft dexterity and changed the dial again, the energy radiating off it far more powerful than before. "I can do way more than just make noise!"

    Another wave of sound came out, this time in the shape of a fist. Danny quickly raised a shield, blocking the attack, but she kept strumming on her instrument. The sonic fists kept coming, and eventually the energy dome broke, forcing him back. His ears ruptured slightly, green blood- his ectoplasm- pouring out in no small amount. With the pain came anger, just barely on the surface, came forth in full.

    Electricity crackled around his arms as he got up, the smell of ozone in the air, and he started ascending at high speeds, startling the rocker. "That hurt¡­" the static current converged in his hands, forming a long spear in each hand. "Let''s see if you like something similar!"

    The spear flew fast, and even though she dodged, Ember still took the attack in full when it blew up on proximity just past her. In a sphere of energy, the electricity surged for several seconds, with Ember on the outside of it. She screamed in melodic pain, and Danny palmed the other electric weapon. Before she could get up, even with her glare centered on him, he repurposed the spear into coiling currents and thrust his arm out. The stream of green electricity burst out from his fingertips, homing in on its target. From her kneeling position, Ember raised her glowing guitar, blocking the attack. She grit her teeth in frustration, but held on defiantly. The sound was deafening, a mix of hard strums and crackling energy.

    Having had enough, the rocker''s fiery hair wrapped around her body while she defended. Before his eyes, Ember disappeared in a whirlwind of blue fire and flames. The ecto-electricity, now without a target, flew forward until Danny stopped pumping power into the ability. "Wha- She can teleport? I can''t even do that!"

    Danny looked around, trying to find her. He eyed the stage, seeing the band still performing and the crowd still chanting her name. With a feeling of sudden urgency, the Halfa turned around with his arms glowing green. Ecto-claws formed up to the elbow, barely blocking the swing from Ember. "Fuck!" He was bashed down, and even with the defensive cowl around his arms they stung with a dull throbbing.

    "Whoa! Are you old enough to curse?" She took after him on his descent, a manic smirk trailed by her fiery hair. Fire twirled around her fingertips, and she pointed them down at him, letting loose a ray of burning heat.

    Growling, Danny twirled in a barrel roll to avoid the attack. In his palms, ecto-blasts formed, and the still in-use claws dug into the balls of energy, splitting them. "Old enough to die," As the ray of fire turned to follow him, the half-ghost twirled around and took aim at his interceptor. "Old enough to do whatever I want!" Firing a spookshot from each hand, he took great pleasure in her surprised expression when they detonated around her. "Ahhhh!"

    Changing direction, Danny flew back up at her as she fell back. The claws faded, leaving his arms glowing in augmentation. The distance closed, his speed too fast to leave her anything but time to recover. The guitar flew back to her hands, but before she could do any more damage Danny grappled her, his hand locked with one of hers and at the wrist that was holding the instrument. "Words to live by, Babypop."

    He pushed, as did she, and they seemed even. "I think you mean die by¡­ but semantics." The stalemate continued for a moment, but the chanting grew louder and louder now. They had fallen enough to be maybe thirty feet over the crowd, and his lock on her was slowly losing ground.

    "What''s your game Ember? Why are you doing this?" Her hair was already taller than she was by double the amount, and Danny continued to get pushed back. Her grip on his hand was horrible, and he could feel his fingers grinding under the pressure.

    Embers smirk grew to another level, "As you said, ''whatever I want.'' And what I want," heat began to build in his hands, a forewarning to her use of fire, and one that Danny responded with by channeling electricity into his hands. "Is to rule the world!" She pushed back against him mid-air until they hit the school, fire dancing along her hands in a battle against the ectoplasm fueled current.

    Danny groaned under the pressure, his hands were burning and his bones were starting to bend in a way that was bordering a break. "With music?" He let intangibility overcome him, phasing into the building behind him and out of her grasp. Ignoring the pain coming from his hands, he stuck a hand back through to grab her, "I''ll give you points for originality!" He brought her back, slamming her into the wall just above the ''C'' in the Casper High letters on the school.

    When he brought her back for another round, she phased through and knocked an uppercut into him. A little dazed, he slammed into the cheap fiberglass ceiling tiles used by every public school in the country. Now stuck in the rafters of the third floor and covered in cobwebs, his anger spiked again. Before he could phase through to the roof, she yanked him down and prepared to stomp on him with her platform boots. "You bitch!" He caught her foot and twisted, bringing to the ground with a yelp. Her guitar flew from her hand, the sling just barely missing her shoulder.

    Expecting a punch, she brought her arms up to defend her face. While he may be pissed, there was something¡­ kind of wrong about straddling a woman and beating her face in. So he had no qualms when he grabbed the top of her head and brought the two of them to the roof and tossed her into the air. She screamed in surprise, and reoriented herself in the air with a glare aimed at Danny. They charged at each other, acid green against apple green, and to the rockers surprise, at close range he fired an ocular blast. It slammed into her gut, flinging her back into the air. He continued by firing three more blasts, all of them slamming into her abdomen and stomach, leaving scorch marks against her fair skin. It left his eyes stinging like they just experienced the desert winds, but it was worth it.

    "I''d feel bad about hurting you," He knocked a glowing fist back, "but I''m not that nice of a person!" Cleanly clocking her in the jaw, she flew out of the school bounds into the woods. Thinking fast, he flew down back into the school and sucked her guitar, an artifact as she called it, into the Thermos. He clipped the piece of equipment back onto his belt by the time she showed up to retrieve her instrument.

    She looked around, growling when she couldn''t see it. "Where the fuck is my guitar Dipstick?!" She took a step forward, fists glowing alight with fiery energy.

    Danny smirked, fangs on full display, giving her pause. "It''s Danny Phantom, not dipstick. Although that other pet name isn''t bad, aren''t you rushing things? We haven''t even had our first date yet." His own hands crackled with dangerous sparks and his eyes left vapor trails from the power ready to burst through. Bubbles of ectoplasm formed around his palms, ready to transfer into a blast or ray at a moments notice.

    Ember snarled, "And I thought we were hitting it off." The chanting continued right outside, and the sturdy brick walls didn''t do much to dampen the noise. In correspondence, her hair grew to the ceiling and the energy surrounding her grew in volume and intensity. "Now where the FUCK is my GUITAR?!"

    ''Fuck. The chanting is empowering her.'' He thought, that''s not good. Fighting a scaling battle so far hasn''t been terribly fun, even if the witty banter was. Without her guitar, she''s definitely less of a threat, but that doesn''t mean jack shit if she keeps getting more powerful. Energy sparked along his teeth, his grin growing wider, as he let the conversation lull into silence. That seemed to unnerve her a little, making him chuckle at the defiant glare she kept sending.

    "So what''s up with the guitar? How''d you come by it? My understanding of artifacts is that they''re rare and powerful things¡­" He eyed her skeptically, eyebrows arching in thought, "and normally in possession of the big ol'' baddies that have been around waaaay too long. You didn''t nick it from something all powerful did you?" He cracked his neck and shoulder, limbering up a little and enjoying the dull pops. "Last thing I need is you bringing some happy-ass super ghost on a manhunt for their shit. It''s hard enough playing hero here as is."

    He expected her to insult him again, but the laugh caught her by surprise. "A hero? Aha! You''re playing the goody-goody act?" She pointed a flaming finger at him, her index, "You''re fucking dead, what''s the point of being a hero to a bunch of ungrateful assholes?" She leaned back, wiping a tear away, "Oh¡­ that''ll come to bite you in the ass Dipstick, trust me."

    It was his turn to snort, "Trust you? Now that''s a riot," His face settled into a more neutral position, less emotion showing now than the entire fight, "I trust almost no one. Literally two people, and this whole mind-control the world shit?" He pointed his thumb behind him, towards the crowd behind the wall. "Makes ya reeeeeal trustworthy."

    Ember stared at him with an eyebrow raised. Now that sounded sad; for someone who claims to be a hero, he sure had a short list of people he trusted. Even she had more than that: Kitty, Penny, Youngblood¡­ maybe Johnny, but he''s a womanizing ass. She could trust him alright, trust the cretin to check her out if she let him walk behind her. Hell, even a few of the bartenders in the Zone she could trust. Still, that was more than this so-called ''hero''. "Ya know, as much as I wanna brag that, even I have more people that I can trust¡­" She thrust her arms out, sending fire downrange. "I want my fucking guitar back!"

    Danny fell back, going intangible and phasing through the wall. Thinking fast, he took the thermos from his belt, uncapped it, and aimed it at the wall. Sure enough she flew through, heading straight for him with a mean look on her face. With a click of the button, a stream of blue energy burst forth and encaptured the rocker. "What the hell is this?!"The tractor beam continued to suck her up, but it wasn''t fast enough. With a chanting crowd, she easily broke out of the stream by teleporting herself with that weird flame thing she does with her hair.

    Knowing that won''t work a second time, he turned his aim back towards the band and took off. Once he got in range, he immediately started on them. He heard her shriek in anger somewhere behind him, but he already got the drummer and the bassist. The other guitarist tried to get away as well, but Danny blasted him down to the ground and detained him in his thermos.

    A blast of fire impacted his back, making him scream out in pain. God, he hates fire! With that ice core of his, it fucking hurts even more than normal! Danny made sure to hold onto the Fenton Thermos and raised a shield to stop the onslaught of searing heat on his back. Ember kept the flames on though, "Where the fuck is my band Dipstick?! And my guitar?! Is it in that shitty soup can you got?!"

    Despite the flamethrower battering his shield and his aching body, Phantom still let out a chuckle. "It''s a thermos Ember! Maybe that''s why you''re a one hit wonder? Not a large enough vocabulary?"

    The princess of pop bristled, the stream of fire stopping all together. Danny peered through his shield and the smoke clouding the area, catching sight of his current enemy. "Oh shit." She was seriously pissed, her formerly green eyes now burned a bright red, licks of flames on the edges of her vision. Quickly, he dropped his shield and bolted backwards and away from the crowd of students. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that the cheering seemed to have lessened without the music and some of the teenagers were shaking their heads to clear their mental fog.

    A literal wave of fire came at him, and he knew turning intangible wouldn''t help. Man, cryokinesis would really come in handy right now. In an effort to get away, he flew up and turned his legs into a ghostly tail, increasing his speed and acceleration. Cresting over the school, he phased through into the building as the heat wave passed over, crisping the edges of the roof a sooty black. Good thing the school''s made of brick, if it burned down who knows how long it''ll be closed.

    Suddenly he noticed how quiet it was, no chanting or music. Deciding to take a peak, he stuck his head out through the wall. The mass of students weren''t quiet, but they weren''t chanting her name anymore. The band was gone, the lead singer distracted and without her artifact of power; the spell was slipping and they were returning to normal. And he wasn''t the only one who noticed.

    "Why aren''t you chanting my name?!" Ember screamed over the dazed crowd, visibly less powerful than before and losing steam fast. She still looked angry, but clearly she didn''t have energy to burn by taking it out on them. "Say my name! Say it! Come on you fuckers!" And she was panicking too.

    A small, thin ray of energy slammed into her from behind, from somewhere on the roof. "Ahhhh!" Danny, ever the opportunistic Halfa, took after her and blasted her with his own ghost ray. She screamed again and flew even further, landing and bouncing across the street. He took note of how small her ponytail was at this point, no longer a bustling bonfire, but instead more like a¡­ smoldering ember. Heh.

    Shakily, she got back up while holding her head. Danny landed in front of her, thermos in hand and aimed right at her. Time slowed down for a moment as he racked his brains for a witty one-liner. Think! Come one, there''s got to be something snarky he can say before he caps her¡­

    With a mean smirk, he pressed the button, "Your concert''s been cancelled, Ember McLame." She screamed bloody murder as she too, was sucked into the Fenton Thermos. With a little more satisfaction than necessary, he capped the thermos and took a relaxing breath. He flipped the device in the air a couple times, a cheeky but tired grin on his face.

    Putting a hand to his bleeding chin, a new thought popped into his head. "Actually¡­ that last one kinda sucked." He frowned and turned back to the school, ready to get his stuff back and go home. "Like, really sucked."

    Stretching out and popping his back, he tried to shake the tired out of his aching joints. "I''m gonna have to work on the witty end fight comments." Phantom mumbled.

    When he flew over the school again, this time invisible, he noticed a group of teachers yelling at the students. Based on the sounds he was hearing, they were all being reprimanded, punishments being given out in the dozens. Danny stayed for a few minutes to eavesdrop, looking for any indication of if the school was being closed for the day. Apparently there was a little bit of fire damage, most of it done to the outside of the school, but the third floor needed some replacements by the stairwell.

    ¡­ Whoops. Tehe, can''t always choose where a fight goes down.

    Danny landed on the roof, dropping his invisibility with a sigh. Man, the day''s been long and he''s exhausted and a little crispy. Flexing his fingers caused no small amount of pain, like pins and needles shoved between his fingers and someone thought it''d be funny to drip some salt in there too. "Wonder what''s good for burns¡­"

    "Aloe is good for burns." Danny jumped in surprise, twirling around to the familiar voice. Sam stood there, Fenton Wrist Ray pointed directly at him and fully charged up. He raised an eyebrow in surprise, but his twitching eye gave away the annoyance he felt at being held at gunpoint. Wristpoint? Whatever, it didn''t matter; the point is, is he''s had a hard day and he didn''t need this shit too.

    He crossed his arms, "Thanks for the advice, but I''m not in the mood for the whole ''stay where you are ghost'' bullshit right now. I''m tired and wanna turn in, so stop pointing that at me." He waved her off with an irritated gruff, opting to take a seat on top of the rooftop entrance and lay down.

    Sam stared the ghost down, aim still trailed on him. She bit her lip, feeling far more undecided about this issue than she thought she would. Eventually, she dropped her arm, not powering down the concealable weapon entirely, but letting herself relax a little. The ghost- Phantom if she recalled correctly- seemed tired and hurt. Do ghosts get burns? She thought they were just masses of ectoplasm, that''s what Mr. and Mrs. Fenton always says, but then again Sam couldn''t trust everything that comes from their mouths. Some of it sounds seriously deluded, and Phantom himself is an enigma.

    For the past few months the town''s been getting attacked by, presumably, ghosts. Originally thought to be monsters, it''s been made clearer throughout the recent events that they''re ghosts. The Fentons said so, so did Danny, even the mayor had made an announcement declaring them specters of the dead based off of the evidence Danny''s parents provided.

    So what did that make Phantom? Multiple times now he''s saved their skin, a few of his fights have been broadcasted, and so far he''s only protected people. First hand accounts of him personally shielding people from harm and whisking them away to safety¡­ "Why are you different from the other ghosts?"

    Slowly, Phantom raised his head to peer over at the goth. She had her hand clamped over her mouth, like she hadn''t meant to ask that¡­ maybe she didn''t, but he''s not doing anything at the moment, so he figured why not answer. "Cause I can. You know, I''ve been asked that a lot. Why help other people?" He hummed in thought, kicking his legs back and forth as they lightly tapped on the top of the door. "Is it that strange to want to help?"

    Well. That wasn''t what she was expecting, "Uh¡­ no, I guess not." Feeling a little bad, she powered down the wrist ray. She expected some grandiose explanation, not a ''I just want to help''.

    "Honey, cold water, ice, aloe vera and obviously burn cream are good for burns. Though I''m not sure how much any of that will affect a ghost." The ghost in front of her hummed again, and she looked left and right out of nervousness.

    Slowly, Danny held up a hand, giving her a thumbs up. "Thanks, I guess. For the burn stuff and not shooting me. It''s not fun dealing with the ghost hunters."

    "The Fentons?" She asked, again clamping a hand over her mouth.

    Phantom chuckled lightly, "Yeah, them. Kinda racey bunch aren''t they? The parents, that is." From his prone position he waved his arms around, though he visibly winced at the exaggerated action. "''Get back here, ectoplasmic scum!'' I mean, seriously? Scum? Ha!" His arms flopped back down again, and Sam could hear him mumbling under his breath. "It''s always the same thing too, it''s all unoriginal after the first four times."

    Sam was at this point, thoroughly confused. She hadn''t expected Phantom to be¡­ so human. He''s snarky, sarcastic, expressive, emotional¡­ and nothing like she thought he''d be. From their short interaction a while back, it was hard to tell his personality or what he''s like, but right now he just seemed so¡­

    Normal.

    Danny sat up briskly, tired of sitting there and being in his ghost half. It''s obvious he startled his friend again, but he didn''t really care at this point. "Well, I''m gonna go. Thanks for the help with Ember and not shooting me I guess. See ya~" He flew up and turned invisible, only to turn back around and grab his stuff, turning that invisible as well. He noted that his bag was a little burnt on the side, but nothing too bad. It was old anyway, and he could go for a new one with more space.

    Sam, now left alone on the roof, rubbed her eyes tiredly. She sighed into her hands, and started walking back towards the roof entrance. "What a weird day."