A/N: No Danny Phantom stuff belongs to moi. It belongs to Butch and Nickelodean.
Danny tensed up and placed a hand over his galloping heart, wearily eyeing his mother's faux gun. Despite the fact that it had been modified for practice uses, it still made him fidgety to see his perfect-aiming mother holding the bazooka. "Mom. I told you, I don't wanna do this right now!"
The redhead lowered her gun and furrowed her brows. "Well, first you said you were busy and now that you do have time you don't want to do it? You promised I'd get to do a power check on you but something always comes up. This is one of the few times your father goes out with a few of his fishing buddies. Come on, sweetie, if you don't like it, you might as well get this over with! And, it's a great new bonding experience for us. Besides, Frostbite and his men finally finished helping me fix this lab up and I've been wanting to test out all our new training sections."
"Is that why your dad's been whining so much? 'Cause he wasn't allowed to come down to the lab yet?" Tucker chuckled and glanced around the lab. "It doesn't look very different. Just...bigger."
Maddie rolled her eyes and glanced at the teenager. "That's because the practice obstacles are built into the walls and the roof. Even the floor! So, we can just clear everything out of the way and have Danny train in here. We wouldn't want anything bad to happen to him while he's protecting the town." She bit her lip and gazed at her son with worried eyes. "I just need to know that you have enough strength to manage on your own. Plus, if you train harder, you're less likely to go off and...and-"
"Be killed." Danny finished with a resigned sigh. "Fine, I'll train with you."
The mother and son turned their focus to the two teenagers standing in the living room. "What about you two? You want to stay here and help? I heard you're more experienced than me."
Tucker nodded. "Sure, Mrs. F. But, I'm gonna have to leave in half an hour. My parents are gonna kill me if I come home late again."
"I'll stay, too." Sam offered with a smirk. "I'm not doing anything and my parents are out on some golf convention. I'll go get the radar gun." She grinned broadly and rushed over to one of the desks, opening the drawer.
And, so the training began.
They started off with the easiest ghost abilities, making their way up to the more powerful ones. Maddie proceeded to write notes for each of Danny's display of abilities and, each time, Maddie's eyes would widen excitedly as she explored her son's physical strengths and weaknesses, comparing her own findings to Team Phantom's records.
The two friends left a few hours later, leaving the mother and son to continue the practice sessions until, finally, after covering as much of the abilities as possible, the mother began analyzing the information.
"You know, you're pretty strong..." Maddie underestimated as she trained beaming eyes on her son. The pride had grown extensively. At this rate, her son's paranormal strength was magnifying at a steady pace and, after reviewing all of Team Phantom's notes, she firmly believed he was still in the process of developing more power. The thought was both frightening and thrilling at the same time.
More power came with more responsibility. That was a well-known fact. Unfortunately, that meant her son would be prone to attract more powerful ghosts...more threats, more enemies. Her gaze flickered to the teenage boy as he mindlessly floated around, silently enjoying their moment of peace. She smiled slightly. In spite of everything he'd been through, everything he'd faced and experienced, he was still just a kid. A pretty great, mature kid at that.
Suddenly, the boy dropped to the ground, lightly landing his feet on the ground as his bright green eyes flickered to the door. The mother followed the boy's line of gaze and, no more than a few moments later, the redheaded sibling walked through the door.
"You guys all done here? Dad called earlier and he's expecting lunch. I think he's on his way." She glanced at her watch and then at Danny as he reverted back to his human form.
"That reminds me..." Danny turned and began picking up the items that were scattered across the floor, "Frostbite wants to talk to you about some kind of medical stuff. Said you wanted to revise everything he has."
Madeleine's eyes lit up in pure ecstasy. "Really? Oh, that's so exciting!"
Her smile suddenly seemed to lift everyone's mood, her excitement equivalent only to Jazz when she found a new psychology book.
"Well, children, looks like we're having my famous Meatball Mania tonight. Oh! And some Fenton Fudge to go with that!" She clapped her hands animatedly before dashing up the stairs.
Jazz and Danny flashed each other a sharing glance as they happily trotted up the stairs. Those two new dishes were the household's favorite meal, mostly because they were two of the only four dishes (besides their Thanksgiving meal and Christmas Cookies) their mother didn't mix with ectoplasm ingredients.
"At this rate, mom's gonna be the world's leading paranormal scientist." Jazz announced proudly.
"Good," Danny chuckled, "this way, if I get any injuries, I can just have her fix me up."
Jazz frowned slightly. "You know, she's been starting to nag about telling dad, lately. Have you thought about what you want to do? What you want to say?"
"Not really," Danny admitted as they stepped into the living room. "I've been so busy trying to figure up what Vlad's planning, I haven't really had time to think. Mom mentioned trying to ease into him into the "good ghosts" theory and she hasn't told me how that's been going." His lips tugged down as he thoughtfully pondered. "I'm thinking we should also start trying to convince him that Phantom can be good." He sighed and moved into their recently redecorated dining room as he plopped onto the kitchen table, leaning back against his chair as his sister took a seat across from him. "I'm just scared of how he'll react when he finds out I'm half de... DESPERATE TO HAVE SOME FOOD!" Danny suddenly emphasized, earning a bewildered look from his mother and sister.
The two women narrowed their eyes and followed Danny's nervous gaze, training their eyes to the door. Much to their surprise, the older Fenton man suddenly barged into the house, an excited grin lighting his face as he breathed in the scent of real food.
"Danny! Jazzerincess! How are ya kids?!" He excitedly rushed over to the table, making no effort to be silent about it.
Jazz and Danny glanced at each other, both quietly promised to continue their conversation another time.
"So, family!" The jovial man boomed with ecstasy. "What have you been doing while I was gone?"
The three relatives suddenly stiffened and forced innocent smiles on their faces as they prepared to tell their lies.
A/N: Okay! I'd like to thank you all for your patience. As you can see, I finally posted up the next chapter! Sorry about any technical errors, it's rather late.
Review, please? :D