You should read: Danny Phantom: Ultimate Showdown, Danny Phantom: A New Beginning, The Phantom Triplet's Choice, Chloe Phantom: Prom Fright, and Jack Phantom: Grounded. They're all a series in that order.

Jerry Phantom: Freezing Inside

Chapter 1

Jerry Fenton was writing notes like his life depended on it. He may be a hero, but he'd rather lose his left arm before he let his grades slip because of his duties. Mr. Schooner, his American History teacher, was doing a vividly comical reenactment of the Louisiana Purchase. All the other students were snickering at how he was making a fool of himself, but Jerry was cold as ice. While Mr. Schneider was acting like a fool, Jerry respected him. He always managed to teach his lessons, and make sure his students paid attention to them.

The bell rang and Jerry headed for his second class of the day, Pre-calculus. His teacher for this class, Mrs. Yangtze, didn't even try that hard it felt like. She just read from the textbook and put down the equations on the dry-erase board behind her. Suddenly, Jerry's Ghost Sense went off. Jerry raised his hand and Mrs. Yangtze pointed at him, "May I go to the bathroom?" he asked. Mrs. Yangtze looked sternly at him, but let him go after she gave him a Hall Pass.

Jerry practically ran for the restroom, where he turned into Jerry Phantom and headed out to search for the ghost who activated his Ghost Sense. It was a small dog ghost; you wouldn't even know it was a ghost if it wasn't glowing green. "Cujo?" Jerry exclaimed; it was indeed the puppy ghost that had unofficially adopted his Dad, Danny Phantom, as its owner. Jerry made a ball of ice and played catch with him for five minutes, then told Cujo to wait for him at home. The little puppy then flew off towards the direction of Jerry's house.

Jerry just barely got back into Mrs. Yangtze's class in time for the bell. She looked sternly at him, but said nothing and let him go. Jerry then headed off for his third class, Home Economics. The teacher was a very stern Martha Stewart look-alike named Mrs. Enfield. That whole class she looked at every step of the class's project, knitting a scarf, and checking on the kids. Woe to the poor student who messed up and Mrs. Enfield saw it. Jerry remained calm and managed to avoid getting the 'Enfield Rifle' as the student's called their teacher's loud rebukes.

Jerry headed off for Lunch and saw his sister Chloe talking with her human friend Rachel Greene and ghost boyfriend Roger Wulfsson. Jerry said 'hi' and went to where he saw his friends Louise and Dexter Fielding. They had long since forgiven him for bringing up painful memories of their Dad, and were coming around to supporting his ghost fighting activities. The three of them talked about how their Geology teacher Mrs. Nelson was still thinking that the three of them were passing notes around. "What'll it take to get her to stop?" Louise asked. Dexter looked at Jerry and said, "Can't you, you know?" "No, uh-uh, sorry, but I'm not doing that to a teacher. Who knows what rub off on me if I overshadow Mrs. Nelson? I could start curling my hair, or accusing poor, innocent people of crimes they didn't commit." Jerry joked.

"Nuts," Louise and Dexter both said. It was getting really old, being falsely accused of cheating. The bell rang and Louise, Dexter, and Jerry went to the class. Mrs. Nelson almost never took her eyes off the three friends, but not once saw them passing notes between each other. After a while the bell rang, school was over. Jerry said his goodbye's and promised to come over to their house as soon as he got home. When Jerry saw his brother, Jack, Jack said, "How's your day been String-bean?" Jerry hated his brother's nickname for him and replied, "Just fine, Rock-head, did you keep the gorillas in line today?"

Jack got angry at this, and was about to give a taunt of his own when Chloe got between them and said, "Seriously? Are you guys still in elementary school?" The two brothers stopped arguing and the Fenton Triplets went on the bus. Chloe sat with Jerry in order to keep him from restarting hostilities with Jack. They got off at their house and sighed in relief, the weekend was here. Jack went to his room to do his homework while Jerry went off to his friend's house. Chloe and their Mother, Sam, went out to get Chloe some new clothes.

Jerry went Ghost before he left the house, he felt like flying today. People spotted Jerry Phantom along the way and snapped pictures. Jerry ignored them, he was too excited about this weekend; he was finally done being grounded for helping Jack with a prank, and he planned on enjoying this weekend. Then his Ghost Sense went off and he saw Cujo with a squeaky toy in his mouth. Jerry played with the ghost dog for a little bit before he went on to his friends' house.

Chapter 2

At the Fielding residence Jerry was invited in by Dexter who told him, "Mom went with Louise to get their hair done." "What is this, 'Bring Your Daughter Wherever Day'? My Mom and Chloe went out to get Chloe some new clothes." "Who knows? Anyway, I got the new 'Zombie Blasters' game yesterday, if you think you can beat me." Dexter said. "You're on," Jerry said, and the two boys spent the next hour seeing who could blast the most zombies in the least amount of time. Mrs. Fielding and Louise arrived, and then Louise got in the game, utterly obliterating the boys.

After an hour of getting his digital butt handed to him, Jerry suggested that the three of them go out. "Sure, you need the fresh air after all the butt-kicking I've been giving you two." Louise said, and the three of them left after Mrs. Fielding told her kids to be home by seven. They all decided to head for the Park, all the while Jerry and Louise debated over whether Pariah Dark or Dark Danny was the greatest ghost to ever threaten Amity Park. Dexter just stood by and let them argue, they had been at it for months and showed no sign of stopping.

"Dad couldn't beat Pariah Dark even with the Ecto-skeleton, all he could do was seal him in a sarcophagus and hope for the best." Jerry said. "Yeah, but he's only fought him once, he had to fight Dark Danny twice, across time and space, and almost died both times." Louise argued. And so it went until they got to the Park. When they got there Dexter and Jerry started playing chess, all the while Louise and Jerry kept debating. After an hour Jerry had Dexter dead to rights, while Louise was still going strong.

Suddenly Jerry's Ghost Sense went off. He looked around and saw a bush that looked big enough to hide his transformation, and jumped in it and went Ghost. Jerry flew up into the air and saw the ghost; it was a ferocious looking yeti type ghost. Jerry flew up to it and said, "What are you doing here?" the yeti-ghost just roared and punched him away, "Not friendly." Jerry said when he stopped his unwanted flight. Jerry flew at it at top speed and kicked it back 100 ft. He then followed it up by grabbing it by its horns and throwing it to the ground.

The yeti ghost roared and got up in the air a lot faster than Jerry expected and grabbed him in a bear hug, trying to crush him. Jerry went intangible and got out of the hold, then froze the yeti solid with an ice ray. He quickly got his Fenton Thermos out his belt and sucked it in. Jerry flew down behind a tree and turned human again. "Why'd you wait until after it hit you to kick its butt?" Dexter asked him. "My Dad knows a ghost that's like that, sort of, called Frostbite. He taught him how to use his ice powers. I thought that one might have been one of Frostbite's tribe, I was wrong." Jerry told him.

Dexter and Louise nodded then Jerry's mic went off, "Kappa Leader to Chiller, we got multiple hostile ghosts, Brawler and Sparkler is coming, but you're the closest one, hurry up!" Jerry went back in the bush and turned ghost, then flew off to Kappa Quadrant. He saw about thirty weak ghosts flying around causing trouble, and they were too fast for Kappa Squad to shoot. Jerry aimed and fired his ice rays, freezing a ghost with every shot. He then saw Jack and Chloe arrive. Together Triple Threat made quick work of the ghosts and flew off.

"What's going on with all the ghosts?" Jack asked as they flew. Jerry said, "I think it has something to do with the fact that there are now two Ghost Portals in operation instead of just one like in Mom and Dad's day." "Wouldn't we know if ghosts started coming out of Foley's Fighters' Portal though?" Chloe said. "You think someone is deliberately letting ghosts into Amity Park?" Jerry asked. Chloe just shrugged, and then the three half-ghosts went their separate ways.

Chapter 3

Dexter and Louise decided to stay home the rest of the night when Jerry told them about the ghosts. That left Jerry alone with nothing to do but go home himself. Sam and Danny were watching an Akira Kurosawa movie on the Green Disc Player, Throne of Blood, and Jerry sat next to his Mother. Akira Kurosawa films were one of the few things they both liked. He had arrived around the beginning and didn't miss much. "How were Dexter and Louise?" Sam asked her son. "Okay, Louise kicked our butts at Zombie Blasters, then we headed to the Park there I beat Dexter at Chess and continued the Great Debate with Louise. Ghosts showed up, no biggie, but Louise and Dexter decided to stay home after seven."

"Well, you can't blame them, not everyone can fight ghosts." Danny told him. Jerry just grunted and they continued to watch the movie in silence. After it was over Jack and Chloe arrived for dinner. It wasn't much of one, everyone just fixed whatever they felt like having and brought it to the dinner table when it was ready. Jerry went to his room while Chloe and Jack went back out. When he got in he closed his eyes and thought, Alright, let's see if the thousandth time's the charm.

Jerry concentrated and turned into his Ghost form. He then concentrated even more, feeling every individual cell in his body. He then thought, Multiply, and separate. The half-ghost felt his skin and organs and bones stretch sideways, It's working, keep going, keep going. He felt as new legs formed, then a second head. His right arm stretched and stretched, then stopped. "What the heck?" Jerry said out loud. This was the closest he had ever come to copying himself yet. Concentrate Fenton, just a few more inches. He concentrated and tried to finish the copying process. But that was as far as he got.

"Crap!" he yelled. So close, just three more inches and he would have a separate copy, and he couldn't do it. Jerry then concentrated to get rid of the failed copy, but couldn't do that either. "Uh oh," both his heads said. Jerry opened his door and called down, "DAD!" Danny appeared and said, "Another failed attempt?" he asked. "I was so close, see." Jerry then opened his door so he could see his other head and body. "Stuck?" Danny asked. "Yeah," both Jerry heads said.

"Okay, Jerry, you have to concentrate, even harder than you did when you tried to make a copy. Think about… water, water being absorbed into a sponge. You are the sponge; your other body is the water." Danny explained. Jerry concentrated, and in three seconds was back to normal. "You're getting better. I would always end up looking like something from H.P. Lovecraft before I figured it out." "But how did you figure it out? This time I concentrated on multiplying my individual cells, and I still ended up being connected." Jerry said.

"You're not an amoeba; you can't create copies like one. As for how I did it, every new power I got came when I needed it most, not when I wanted it. My life, Tucker's, your Mom's, or someone else's life NEEDED me to get that much stronger. I would try my hardest, but it was always when I needed the power, not when I wanted it, that I got it. We still don't know why that is, your Aunt Jazz thinks that it was my Ghost acting on its survival instinct that allowed it to happen." Danny explained.

"But what if it's too late then? What if I need it, and by the time I have it it's too late?" Jerry nearly yelled. "Jerry, you can't push these things. It took me twenty three years to get to the level I'm at now, and I've peaked right here. I WANT to get stronger, but I can't. I want to do all the things that you, Jack, and Chloe can do, but it's not in me to do it. You just have to let things take their natural course." Danny explained to his son.

Jerry sighed then went to the shower; it looked like no more ghosts were attacking tonight. He turned the water on to its maximum heat, but hardly felt it at all. He never felt heat itself, only felt less cold. His Dad seemed to be able to feel heat no problem, but Jerry couldn't remember ever feeling warm, only greater or lesser degrees of cold. After his shower Jerry went back to his room and started drawing in a notebook. That seemed to be a thing for him and his siblings, they could all draw great pictures; they supposedly got that skill from their Mom.

He drew without conscious thought it felt like. Around ten thirty he looked at the picture he drew. He was wielding both fire and ice powers, and was practicing with four copies of himself. Jerry sighed, put the notebook away, and went to bed.

Chapter 4

The next morning was Saturday. Jerry didn't sleep as deeply as he usually did, and heard his brother practicing his martial arts. Jerry thought, Go get 'em Rock-head, and went downstairs to scrounge up a light breakfast. He got some strawberries and some milk and made a little smoothie. A voice behind him said, "You're up early." Jerry turned and saw his Mom and Dad sitting at the table looking over some papers. "I couldn't sleep anymore. Anything I can help with?" Jerry asked, looking at the papers, he sometimes helped his parents with taxes, he was a human calculator.

"No, it's just some copyright papers we have to file before they expire," Danny told him. Danny had signed off on a few things to some companies that let them use his name and image as themes. A few virtual reality games, books, and a theme park that opened three years ago were all that were authorized to use him as a theme or character.

Jerry nodded and went back up to his room with his smoothie. After he finished he grabbed his Kindle Fire Z-series and started reading. It was one of the 'books' that had his Dad as a character, Profiles of Heroes. His Dad was put in at the last minute; he was the only non-human in it. The rest were regular people: doctors, soldiers, missionaries, fire fighters, police officers etc. They were all romanticized stories, barely any truth except for the basic facts about what made the people in it heroes. Jerry liked to read the stories then compare its depictions to the actual people by looking them up on the Net.

He stopped reading after comparing the two versions of a soldier in World War 2 named Audie Murphy. The 'book' actually understated his heroism; this was only the second story he read that did that, the first was its story about Rodolfo Estevez, one of Foley's Fighters. After he was done with that, Jerry heard his Dad calling him and Jack. The two brothers came down and Danny said, "I've been thinking that you guys earned a little Guy's Day Out for how you handled being grounded this week. What do you think?" "All right!" Jack said; he was burning to go out. Jerry nodded.

After they got dressed Danny and his sons took the RV and headed out to the Arcade first. After they played a few games Danny said, "Think you two can take your old man on in "Phantom Fight"?" "You're going down, hard." Jerry told him. Phantom Fight was a virtual reality game with a single and multiplayer mode. In single player you could play as fourteen year old Danny Phantom and fight all his enemies through twenty levels. In multiplayer you could take control of Danny Phantom, Danielle Phantom, Vlad Plasmius, and every other ghost that was known before Jack, Jerry, and Chloe started fighting ghosts themselves, and duke it out in a two to four player brawl.

Jack was Pariah Dark, Jerry chose fourteen year old Danny Phantom, while Danny fought as Prince Aragorn. It was hardly a fair fight, two on one, but Danny still decimated Jerry and Jack through three rounds of virtual ghost battle. "When did you get so good at Phantom Fight?" Jack asked when it was over. "I'm not; I haven't played a virtual reality game before now. But, who do you think helped consult the game designers on the ghosts and their powers?" Danny told him.

Jerry laughed and said, "What now?" "That depends, where do you guys want to go? I was thinking the movies." Danny said. "GrinderWinder4 is out," Jack suggested, it was his favorite action series. "No way, I think we should see Andrew Rusher," Jerry said, he had read the entire spy thriller book series and had been waiting for this movie for a year now. "Don't argue guys," Danny said as he checked out the times for those movies on his phone. "Alright, they're both showing around two o'clock. You can go to whichever movie you want." "Okay," Jerry and Jack agreed to the compromise then the three of them went to a new buffet restaurant called Gregg's House for lunch.

After lunch the three Fentons went to the theater and bought their tickets. Danny had decided to see Jerry's movie, Jack was fine with that. During the movie Jerry and Danny's Ghost Senses went off. Danny raised his hand and left, leaving Jerry to enjoy his movie. Five minutes later he was back and they watched the rest of Andrew Rusher without any further interruptions. Jerry felt happy, but inside he still felt the cold, to a lesser degree, but it was still there. After the movie Jerry said, "Dad, I need to talk to you, alone." "Are you feeling okay Jerry?" Danny asked, concerned. "I'm fine; I just want to talk to you, just you, when we get home." Jerry replied. Danny nodded, thinking that Jerry might have reached an embarrassing stage of puberty or something, Jack had last month.

"So, how did you like the movie?" he asked his son, and Jerry was still waxing eloquent about how the movie was better than the book when Jack showed up. The guys all went home and Danny and Jerry went to Jerry's room to talk. "Dad, do you feel warm inside?" Jerry asked as soon as his door was closed. "What do you mean, like my body temperature, or what?" "For as long as I can remember, I've always felt cold, like I was freezing inside no matter how many blankets I had, how close to a fire I was, how hot the shower was, I've always felt cold." Jerry confessed. "I feel less cold when I'm happy or angry, but I don't feel warm, I'm still cold inside. I'm tired of it, I want to be warm."

Danny saw his son's anguish and sat down on his bed before saying, "I sometimes feel cold like that. But I feel warm also." "How?" Jerry asked, desperate for an answer. "When I think about you, your brother, your sister, and Mom, Jazz, and your Grandma, when I feel love, I feel warm." "I don't feel warm at all, only less cold, never warm." His son said with tears in his eyes. Danny hugged him and said, "I don't know why this is. It could be because I've had my Cold Core longer, it could be because I wasn't born with my powers, or it could be because I know what true love feels like." "When will I feel it; when will I feel true love?" Jerry asked his tears drying.

"I don't know, son. It cannot be rushed, and it can come in ways you never thought it would. When I realized I loved your Mom, we thought that we were going to die. I doubt you will discover it so late, but you will never know. You may find it if you seek it, or it could sneak up on you. A lot of people never find it, it is so precious, Jerry. When you do find your true love, never let them go." Jerry nodded and wiped his face with his sleeve. "Thanks Dad." "I'll always be here whenever you need me." Danny said then they both walked to the living room to talk about the movie they saw.

Chapter 5

That night Jerry heard a knock on his door and opened it to see his Dad. "I know who may be able to tell you why you feel cold inside." "Frostbite," Jerry said. Danny nodded and said, "Tomorrow, we'll see him." Jerry went to bed soon after and hoped that the yeti ghost would be able to help. That morning he woke up earlier than Jack even. He fixed his breakfast and got dressed, then waited for his Dad to come to the living room. Danny saw how eager Jerry was and said, "Let's go," then went Ghost. Jerry followed suit and together Father and Son headed for Fenton Works.

Maddie opened the door and hugged her son and grandson. "Mom, we need to go to the Ghost Zone. Jerry needs to ask a few ghosts some questions." Danny told her. "Okay, but be careful." Maddie said. The three of them went into the Lab where Maddie activated the portal to let them in the Ghost Zone. They gave her one last hug and went in.

Once in the Ghost Zone, Danny and Jerry flew at Jerry's top speed for Frostbite's domain. They soon found it and flew down to see a score of the yeti ghosts that inhabited it going about their daily lives. They saw Danny and Jerry and cheered as they came down to the ground. A tall one wearing a red cloak walked up and said, "Greetings, Oh Great One and Cub. I am Iceclaw the Youngest, what brings you to our domain?" "Greetings, Iceclaw. My son has questions that I believe that only Frostbite can help him answer. Can you take us to him?" Danny informed the yeti ghost.

"Of course, follow me." Iceclaw the Youngest waved for them to follow, and they made their way to Frostbite's Laboratory. Frostbite looked up from an equation he was working on and walked over to give the two half-ghosts a big bear hug, "Ha ha, it's good to see you again old friend. How goes it in the Human World?" "It's good, Frostbite, everything is going good back home. But, my son has a problem I believe that only you can help him with." Frostbite let them go and turned to Jerry, "What troubles you Young One?"

Jerry looked at the fierce looking ghost. Frostbite looked like he could easily eat him if he wanted to, but Jerry saw the incredible intelligence in his eyes and said, "I have always felt, cold, inside. No matter what emotion I felt, or what the temperature of my surroundings, I've always felt cold inside to a greater or lesser degree. I'm tired of it, I want to know what warmth feels like on the inside, but I don't know how to."

"Hmmm, my people are familiar with this condition you have. It is a sign that one possesses an exceptionally powerful Cold Core. And when I say exceptional, I mean truly incredible power. Only three cases have been reported in our entire history. I need to run some tests, if you don't mind, to determine if this is the case for you." Frostbite told him. Jerry turned to Danny, who nodded, "Okay, what do you need me to do?"

Frostbite had Jerry go outside and perform various tasks with his ice powers. Jerry created all kinds of ice weapons and armor, as well as numerous crystals of variable density, and other things. Frostbite then had him come back into his lab to take a blood sample and then they waited. While the three of them waited for the results Frostbite told them that he had been working on how to turn ice into pure energy. Danny and Jerry told him about their lives. Frostbite was especially interested to hear that while both Jack and Chloe possessed Danny's Ghost Sense, they did not have ice powers like Jerry. Suddenly a terrifically loud alarm went off in the Lab. Frostbite rushed over and started turning dials and pushing buttons on the various machines as fast as he could.

The alarm turned off and Danny asked, "What happened?" "My theory appears to be correct. This device," Frostbite indicated a large computer; "is designed to take a blood sample and determine the power of the donor's Cold Core. It can take the combined power of thirty of my people and nothing could happen to it. But, your Cold Core," Frostbite looked at Jerry, "is so powerful that it was overloaded, and nearly exploded." "What does this mean, will I always only feel cold because of it?" Jerry asked him.

Frostbite looked at the young half-ghost and smiled, "Of course not; it only means that you can become a very powerful Cryomancer, perhaps the most powerful one who will ever exist. My tribe's records tell us that those three who were similar in power, Cryokosis the Great, Frozenno the Just, and Iceclaw the First, the father of our race, were all great leaders and heroes who found inner warmth when they found their true loves. It was only after this that they found that warmth though."

"Dad thought much the same and told me that last night." Jerry told him. "Your Father is wise beyond his years Young One. Just remember," Frostbite laid his ice covered skeletal hand on Jerry's shoulder, "true love comes when you least expect it. And when you find it, never let it go, for it is the most precious resource in existence." Danny and Jerry thanked Frostbite for his help and left to go back to the human world. When they got there it was around lunch time and Maddie fixed it for them while Danny called Sam to tell her about their visit to the Ghost Zone.

On the way back home Jerry decided he wanted to stay out. Danny told him to call in a half hour and continued home. Jerry flew around for a while then he smelled smoke and saw a fire raging inside an apartment. The firefighters couldn't get in the burning apartment, and there were people still trapped inside. Jerry dropped his outer temperature to -10 degrees Celsius and flew in, blasting at the fires as he went. He soon found a little boy trapped inside. "Take my hand," he told the kid. The little boy grabbed him, and Jerry turned them both intangible and flew out.

After handing the boy back to his mom Jerry went back in. He spotted a family surrounded by flames about to be crushed by the roof above them. Jerry extinguished the flames and flew up and pushed against the roof. "GO, GET OUT OF HERE!" he told them, and the family ran for their lives. Jerry felt the floor continue to come down, no matter how hard he pushed. Come on, Dad said he got the power when he needed it; well I need to replicate, NOW! As if in response to his thoughts, a copy of Jerry suddenly appeared and pushed against the roof too. They pushed the roof upward and froze it in place before moving on throughout the building.

No one else was inside, and Jerry absorbed his copy and flew out coughing from all the smoke. He flew to the ground where and EMT handed him an oxygen mask. Jerry gratefully accepted it and after a few breaths felt better again. Reporters shoved their microphones in his face scrambling for an interview. Jerry went invisible and evaded them, and flew over to the Fielding house. No one answered, so Jerry decided to amuse himself by walking around Amity Park. Passing an electronics store Jerry saw a breaking news report showing the Mom of the family he rescued. She tearfully said, "I thought we were all going to die, there was fire all around us, the roof was sinking, and then that Ghost Boy, the small one, showed up. He froze the fire and pushed the roof back in place. He told us to get out of there, and we ran as fast as we could."

"If you could say anything to him right now, what would you say to him?" the reporter asked the woman. She wiped her tears, looked directly into the camera and said, "Thank you, so much you saved us all." Jerry felt a lot less cold when he saw that, but he was still cold. Jerry decided to go to the Park, maybe Old Man Paul would be there. Old Man Paul was sitting at his regular chess table, and had just defeated his opponent when he saw Jerry walking over. "Hi Jerry, I thought you had given up and admitted defeat or something the way you didn't show up for the last two Sundays." "I was grounded." Old Man Paul laughed at this and said, "What happened, did you look at some magazines you shouldn't have been looking at?"

Jerry told him about the prank him and Jack had pulled on Luke Forge. Old Man Paul had tears coming out his eyes when he told him what Luke was afraid of. "A big, bad football player, afraid of a little cartoon girl? They sure don't make 'em like they used to." And the old man and teenager started to play chess.

Chapter 6

The next morning was Monday, and Jerry groaned as soon as he was up. He didn't hate school, but he was a little disappointed in his weekend. He had been hoping to spend more time with Dexter and Louise, but stuff happened. The only really good thing about the weekend was that he found out how to get warm inside, Find true love, that'll be easy, like brain surgery, Jerry thought as he went to the table. After breakfast he got dressed and headed for the bus stop.

When he and his siblings got there, they noticed a new girl there. Jack was about to introduce himself when his foot mysteriously slipped. Jerry walked over and said, "Hi, are you new here?" The girl was about his height exactly, wore a long sleeve blue shirt and jeans with green sneakers, and looked pretty athletic. She had red hair hanging down her back and deep grey eyes. "Yeah, the name's Marie," she said as she stuck her hand out. "Jerry, this is Chloe and the big guy's Jack, we're the Fenton triplets." Marie shook Jerry, Chloe and Jack's hands then said, "So, got any tips for a new girl?"

"1. Never let a football player think you're in to him, he'll never leave you alone. 2. Make sure to consult your doctor before eating the food in the cafeteria. 3. This is the most important tip, make sure to pinch yourself regularly if you get stuck in Mr. Schnider's class or else you'll fall asleep like that." *snap* Chloe told her. "Same for Ms. Circe," Jack chimed in thinking about his English teacher. Marie laughed at this, and the Fenton triplets started laughing by the time the bus arrived.

The Triplets went to their separate classes, Marie went with Jerry. They arrived at Mr. Schooner's American History class and he stood up and asked Marie to remain standing. "Class, this is Ms. Marie Ferrier, she's our new student." He warmly greeted her and had her sit next to Jerry. Mr. Schooner preferred to sit his students in rows alphabetically. Jerry started feeling a strange sensation as the class went on, but ignored it to write his notes. Jerry and Marie left and Jerry headed for Pre-calculus.

Along the way he heard a voice say behind him, "Hi, Fairy Jerry." Jerry had to take a deep breath to keep his eyes from glowing, "Don't you have a girl to hit, Luke?" "I'm looking at her." Luke Forge said as he grabbed him and spun him around. Jerry ducked to avoid the punch then ran the rest of the way to Mrs. Yangtze's class. He turned the corner and ran smack into Marie, falling on top of her. "I'm so sorry," Jerry said as he helped her up and grabbed her notebooks she had dropped. "What was that for?" Marie asked him.

Jerry snuck near the corner and pointed at Luke. Marie saw him too and said, "What's his deal?" "Jack and I pranked him good two weeks ago. Luke apparently found out about my involvement and wants to turn my face into pudding." Marie nodded, and the two teens headed for their class, which happened to be the same one again. Mrs. Yangtze cordially introduced Marie and had her choose her seat herself. Marie chose to sit next to Jerry again, and Jerry helped her get up to speed with the class. That strange sensation stirred in him again.

Jerry and Marie left together, where he found out that Marie's next class was Art with Mrs. Gooring. Jerry told her how to get there the fastest and headed on his way to his third class, Home Economics with Mrs. Enfield. While he was concentrating on not getting the 'Enfield Rifle', Jerry found himself thinking about Marie. Jerry shook his head to clear it, Why am I thinking about her? I just met her a few hours ago. Jerry then noticed that that weird sensation was gone, and cold was there in its place.

Having dodged the 'Enfield Rifle' successfully once again, Jerry went to lunch. The second he saw Marie he felt the strange sensation again. This sensation, it feels…good. Is this what inner warmth feels like? Jerry sat next to Marie and started talking to her and telling her about the school, who to avoid, who she could count on, and the like. "And remember, the 'meat' served at lunch can also be used as a self defense mechanism. Observe," he finished his talk by taking a slice of what was supposedly turkey from her tray and threw it on the ground in front of a charging Luke Forge. Luke slipped and fell on his face.

Marie laughed at the spectacle and the strange sensation in Jerry grew. "So, who's your last teacher?" Marie looked at a paper she had and said, "Mrs. Nelson, Geology." "I got her too; you might not want to sit next to me in her class. She has a weird idea that me and my two friends Dexter and Louise are cheating. If she catches you with us, she might start targeting you too." "I can take it, besides; you're the only guy here who doesn't want my number." "I take it you got to know Jack well in Art." "Why is he like that, he seemed so nice at the bus stop?" "Jack's the Captain of the wrestling team; it's his duty as the head gorilla to try to hit on every single girl in the school." Jerry answered.

The bell rang and Marie, Dexter, Louise, and Jerry headed for Mrs. Nelson's class, Jerry introduced Marie to the other two along the way. Mrs. Nelson coldly introduced Marie when she saw her arrive with Jerry and company, and was still cold to her when she saw her sit next to Jerry. Ten minutes until the final bell Jerry's Ghost Sense went off and three giant bird ghosts attacked. The rest of the students ran off, and Jerry went Ghost. He grabbed one of the birds and threw it out a window. He then heard a scream and turned to see the other two birds flying off carrying Marie.

"MARIE!" Jerry screamed as he flew after them. The half-ghost flew after them for five minutes before catching up with the birds. Jerry was then astonished when he saw Marie turn Ghost! Her red hair turned green, and her grey eyes glowed red. Her blue shirt turned into a sleeveless black shirt while her pants turned white with black boots. Marie grabbed the two bird's legs that were holding her and shocked them; making them let go of her. Marie then floated up and said, "Tell your boss that I'm still not interested in any offer he has." Jerry then flew past her and kicked the two birds down to the ground.

He grabbed his Fenton Thermos out his belt and sucked them in. Jerry saw the third one dive bombing straight for Marie's back then pushed her away and froze the ghost bird in place before sucking it up in his Thermos. A Foley's Fighters' RV then screeched to a halt on the ground. The ghost fighters filed out and pointed their weapons at Marie. Jerry got in front of her and yelled down, "It's okay guys, she's with me." The Fighters holstered their weapons, filed back in their RV, and left.

Jerry turned around to see a scared ghost-girl with electricity circuiting between her hands. "Who are you supposed to be?" she demanded. "Jerry Phantom, Deputy Foley's Fighter and resident hero," he responded, sticking his hand out. Ghost Marie looked at him for a few seconds, then got rid of the electricity and shook his hand, "Scary Mary." "You don't look all that scary to me. You look pretty good actually." Marie, aka Scary Mary, blushed at this then Jerry asked her, "Why were those birds after you?"

"That's none of your business!" she yelled, then flew off towards Casper High. Jerry sighed then went invisible and followed her. Scary Mary went into a girl's bathroom and Jerry Phantom went into the boy's next to it. They both turned human again and came out just in time for the final bell. Marie saw him and said, "How did you get all the way over here?" Jerry nervously said, "The Fenton Bladder can make a man run like the wind for the nearest bathroom." Marie raised an eyebrow at this but said nothing.

They got on the bus and sat together, making Jack give Jerry a smile that said, way to go bro. Jerry didn't respond and instead asked Marie about where she used to live. "My Mom and I have always just moved around the place every few years. Eventually, we made our way here." She told him. "Where do you live?" Jerry couldn't stop himself from asking. Marie looked at him for a few seconds then said, "359 Cortez Road." Jerry knew where that was; it was only three blocks from his house. "If you want, I could come over and show you around the neighborhood." He told her. Marie looked at him again and said, "Why are you so interested in me?"

"It's just the kind of guy I am, I always try to help people when I can." Jerry stammered he then turned away so she wouldn't see him blush. As they got off the bus Marie said, "You can come over around six. But I can't stay out any later than nine." The strange sensation in Jerry practically roared through his soul when he heard that, he half thought he was about to be burnt to a crisp right then and there. "Okay," he said, and ran over to catch up to his siblings. Jack and Chloe were all smiles and Jack said, "Aren't you gonna give her a goodbye kiss?" Jerry punched him in the arm, hard, and said nothing all the way back home.

Chapter 7

As soon as he was done with his homework Jerry saw that it was around five thirty. That was plenty of time to get to 359 Cortez Road, so he told his Mom where he was going and walked off. Along the way his mic went off, "Alpha Leader to Chiller, we have a fire-mage ghost here. We're keeping him from killing anybody, but the flames are spreading, hurry up!" Jerry ducked behind a dumpster and went Ghost. He flew as fast as he could to Alpha Quadrant and was just in time to see Alpha Squad suck his nemesis Pyromancer into a Fenton Thermos. Fire was everywhere, and Jerry was a blur as he extinguished the flames.

Jerry checked the time on his phone and saw that he had fifteen minutes to get to Marie's house for her tour. The half-ghost flew all the way to her house and arrived three minutes early. He knocked on the door and a petite red haired woman answered. "Good evening Mrs. Ferrier, I'm Jerry, Jerry Fenton. I promised to take Marie around town." Mrs. Ferrier looked at Jerry; it kind of made him uncomfortable, and said, "I'll go get her." She then closed the door, making Jerry wait five minutes before Marie came out.

"Your Mom seems…" "Overprotective?" Marie finished for him. "Something like that." Jerry agreed. "My Dad was a jerk; she's always been like this because of him." Jerry checked the time on his phone and started a clock to remind him when to take Marie home. The two of them went off and Jerry showed her all there was to see in Amity Park. He showed her the various restaurants, the Park, the movie theater, the Arcade, and finally the two statues at City Hall. Marie was already aware of the statue dedicated to Danny Phantom, but pointed at the Fallen Fighter's Memorial, "Who are those people?" Jerry told her, "Fourteen years ago, a powerful ghost nearly destroyed Amity Park. Those people were Foley's Fighters who died defending the city from the ghost."

"Where was Danny Phantom when all this was happening?" Marie asked. "He was fighting alongside them, but the ghost could copy himself, and Danny Phantom couldn't be everywhere. It nearly killed him fighting, and all but five of the field agents of Foley's Fighters were killed, but they kept the city safe. This Memorial was dedicated four years ago on the tenth anniversary of the attack." "It makes you wonder if there are any good ghosts out there," Marie said. "Of course there are, they're just ridiculously few and far between." Jerry told her. "How do you know?"

Jerry couldn't stop himself, the warmth, for he realized that that was the sensation inside of him, burned him up. "Because I'm half-ghost," Jerry told her. White rings started at his waist and flew up and down his body. Marie was shocked as she watched his street clothes turn into a white jumpsuit with sky blue belt, gloves, and boots, his blonde hair turned black as night, and his purple eyes turned glowing green covered by sky-blue sunglasses. Jerry smiled and said, "Pretty cool, huh?"

Marie went ghost herself and pointed a hand sparkling with electricity at him, "Who do you work for?" Jerry was a little disappointed that Marie trusted him less instead of more and said, "Like I said when we first met, I work for Foley's Fighters and the citizens of Amity Park." "How did you get your powers?" Jerry almost said "From my dad," but ice cold logic stopped him and he instead answered, "I was born with them." Scary Mary let the electricity go and asked, "Why are you showing me this Jerry?"

Jerry flew up into the sky and said, "Come up and I'll tell you." The ghost girl slowly flew up and Jerry leaned close to her ear. "I…think I-" that was as far as he got before a powerful ecto-energy laser shot them both. Jerry picked himself up and saw five members of the Brotherhood of Humanity flying close. His eyes glowed bright as he unleashed a storm of ice-energy waves at them. The Brotherhood dodged them and picked up an unconscious Scary Mary. Jerry flew over and kicked the one that had her away, only to get blasted again; this one sent him flying a mile away.

Jerry blasted off at top speed to get them, but one broke off from the group and released an electric coil from his wrist armor. Jerry screamed in pain but stayed conscious, feeding off his rage. He strained his body to its limits and ripped out of the coil, then punched the Brotherhood member down. He was too late though, the rest were already out of sight with Marie. Jerry flew down and intangibly tore the Brother out of his armor and ripped his upper right canine out; that was the false tooth that created acid when bitten to kill captured Brothers.

Jerry put his hand on his prisoner's throat and screamed, "WHERE ARE THEY TAKING HER?!" The man smiled and said, "I have nothing to say to you, FREAK!" Jerry's eyes glowed dark blue and he made his hand intangible and put it into his prisoner's stomach. The man looked scared now and said, "W-what are you doing to me?" Jerry put his hand around the man's right kidney and said, "Have you ever wondered what would happen if one of your organs were to suddenly squish inside of you? I imagine it would be excruciating. Why don't we see if I'm right?"

Jerry lightly tightened his grip on the man's kidney. "AAAAAHHHHHH! ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT, I"LL TALK, JUST DON'T DO IT!" "WHERE IS SHE!?" Jerry screamed even louder. "The old Masters Mansion, you can't miss it. You'll never reach her; we're all attending to watch her get purified. You'll be reduced to ectoplasm before you're even halfway there!" the man said, and spat in Jerry's face. Jerry knocked him out and left him there, then headed home. He couldn't do this by himself; he needed his family to do this one.

Chapter 8

As soon as he got home he turned human again, unintentionally. "Dad, Mom, Brotherhood, Marie" Jerry breathlessly said. Sam and Danny got up and helped him to the couch. "Breath, Jerry, tell us what happened." Sam told her son. "I was taking a new girl from school around Amity Park. She's half-ghost, like us, and I showed her that I was half-ghost too. All of a sudden the Brotherhood of Humanity attacked and took her away. I tried to stop them, but I couldn't." Jerry told his parents. "Where did they take her, do you know?" Danny asked him.

"I captured and interrogated one of them; he said that the whole Brotherhood was gathering at the old Masters Mansion to 'purify' Marie." Jerry painfully got up and went Ghost. "We have to save her, please." Danny put his hands on Jerry's shoulders and asked, "Is she worth that much to you?" "I WOULD FREEZE HELL ITSELF FOR HER!" Jerry screamed. Danny nodded, "I'll call Danielle and have her meet us at the Memorial. Sam, go get Jack and Chloe, then suit up, we need everyone for this." Sam wordlessly nodded and went up to her other kid's rooms.

Ten minutes later the whole Phantom family was gathered at the Fallen Fighter's Memorial. Danny then called the Police to inform them on where to go, and they all flew off to Vlad Masters' old Mansion he once had during his short term as Mayor. There were twenty guards at the entrance. Sam made short work of them with her Fenton Peeler, adjusted for shocking humans. As soon as they got in a massive firefight broke out. Danny and Danielle made shields to protect the rest while Jerry, Sam, and Chloe blasted away. They continued like this for the next twenty minutes, until they found the Banquet Hall.

Two-hundred members of the Brotherhood of Humanity opened fire while three others sitting on thrones watched silently. Jerry felt unimaginable fury when he saw Marie tied up on a table about to be beheaded. He froze the executioner solid then let loose all his power in a massive ice-repulsion field, freezing all the Brotherhood except for the three apparent leaders. Jerry's whole body glowed blue as he said, "Let her go now, and I'll let you live." The tallest one laughed and said, "I see that your kids have learned how to ruin people's lives just like you, Phantom." Danny and Sam blinked when they heard the leader's voice, "Thrash," they said.

The three leaders then removed their helmets to reveal a blond man, a red haired man, and a blond woman. "So, after I proved that I am the greatest hero, you decided that you couldn't take me on and went after my family, is that it?" Danny angrily said. "Yes," they all said, and blasted away at the Phantoms. The family flew as fast as they could, but they couldn't get closer to the former members of Masters' Blasters. Chloe tried to blast away, but they dodged easily and kept on firing. Jerry then decided to try a different tactic and blasted the ground, freezing it.

The ex-mercenaries slipped, allowing Sam to close the distance and knock them all out. Jerry untied Marie and helped her up. "Your whole family is ghosts?" she asked when she saw Jerry's brother, sister, father, and Danielle. "Half-ghosts, and yes, we are. You're not alone Marie. Not with us around." Marie flew up with him and was introduced to everyone. Danny told them, "Jerry, take her home. We'll deal with the rest."

Jerry obeyed him and together with Scary Mary flew off. Along the way she asked, "What were you trying to say before we were attacked?" Jerry stopped and said, "I think I love you, Marie. I know it's stupid, we haven't even known each other twenty four hours yet, but I swear it's true." Marie looked at him and floated close to him and kissed him on the cheek. "Let's just see what happens in the next few months before we start dating, okay?" Jerry blushed all red and said, "Okay." Jerry's phone alarm went off just then and they both laughed at how ridiculous the whole situation was. Marie went into her house and to her room. She waved goodbye to Jerry, who flew off cheering.

That night Danny Fenton knocked on Mrs. Ferrier's door. The woman answered and Danny said, "I want to help you with your problem." She didn't say anything, just let him in. he sat down and said, "Who is Marie's father?" Mrs. Ferrier could tell that he knew her daughter's secret, but she was okay with it. It was time to tell someone. "Marie is the product of me being raped by a ghost years ago. I don't know what his name was; he was tall, wore white and had black gloves, belt, and boots. His skin was green, his eyes were evil." She was crying as she revealed her daughter's lineage and Danny said, "I'm sorry. I should have never come here," and got up to leave. Mrs. Ferrier stopped him and said, "Who are you?"

"I'm like your daughter, my kids too. We can help her, if you'll let us," Danny said. "After he was…done, he said that he hoped to see Danny Phantom soon, and use our child against him. I've been on the run ever since. But he always finds us and once offered my daughter a job with him. That was the last straw, and we moved here hoping Danny Phantom could protect us. Please, don't let that monster take my baby." "I know who Marie's father is. I won't let him take her, I promise." Danny left after saying this. Once he got home he went to Jerry's room and woke him up.

"Jerry, you need to see something." Danny then showed him a small mirror, "Clockwork gave this to me during my senior year in High School. I was on the verge of becoming Dark Danny and he gave this device to show me what not to do. If you hold it, it will show the consequences of your actions depending on your decisions. You crossed a line today Jerry, the member of the Brotherhood you interrogated told me everything."

"I would do it again, if I hadn't Marie would be dead now." Danny shook his head and gave Jerry the device. Jerry slowly opened it and saw every possible future for him. He saw himself as a hero, a human, and worst of all, a villain. He saw how he had started down a dark road that would end in despair, and dropped the device. "Am I too late?" Jerry asked his father, fearful of the monster he could become. "The future is always in motion, dependent upon the choices we make. You need to start making better ones, or whatever nightmare you have seen you will become."

Jerry nodded, and said, "I'll try." "Don't try, do it, or you will suffer the consequences, as I have almost suffered them so many times." Danny then left the room. Jerry felt cold inside again, but then thought of Marie and the cold was dispersed. I won't become That, not as long as Marie is here. And Jerry drifted off to sleep.