Chapter 2. Aftershock

The following morning Danny was roused by a soft tugging on his shoulder. He rolled over, the pillow he had been clutching sliding out of his grip and onto the floor. "Daaaaaaaaanny, rise and shine little brother" a familiar voice called from outside the sweet and warm embrace of sleep. The teen grunted, as if that would convince his sister to go away. Unfortunately she was just as stubborn as the rest of the Fenton clan and just kept shaking him.

Eventually he summoned the energy to sit up, rubbing his eyes with balled fists and blinking until the daytime world stopped being so annoyingly bright. He turned to Jazz, who had retreated to the end of the bed and was smiling that 'knowing older sister' smile at him. He could tell without even asking that she was proud of herself for doing something and she was about to tell him all about it.

"Morning Danny!" she grinned. Waiting for him to reply with a responding "Morning Jazz.." before she got on with it. "I just wanted to tell you not to worry about justifying going missing last night to mom and dad" she clarified. "I managed to run interference and as far as they know you've been here all night." Danny blinked at his sister, his expression of mild annoyance falling into a shocked look as she unknowingly reminded his sleep addled mind about last night.

Jazz picked up on this immediately, concern in her voice as she asked her next question. "Did something happen? I mean besides the normal ghost fighting…" Jazz looked over her brother, suddenly noting how he had slept in his clothes all night, how his shirt had small rips in it, and a few blotches that looked suspiciously like burn marks. Kicking herself for not noticing before, Jazz reached out to cup Danny's cheek in her hand. He had been gazing around the room franticly as if he was looking for something, but when she touched him he turned to her and thankfully did not pull away from the gesture.

Realizing he had not responded, Danny was forced to think quickly about whether or not he should tell Jazz about what had happened… or what he thought had happened. The distinct lack of Phantom in the room had made him question whether or not he had dreamed the whole thing up. Or at least he did until he sat up and saw the seemingly empty bean bag chair that sported a slight dip just big enough for an invisible seventeen year old body.

Realizing that Jazz would leave sooner if he lied, Danny pushed back his conscience. "Umm.. no.. Everything's fine, it was just a little harder than usual… Vlad was involved.." the best lies are based on truth Danny reminded himself and judging by the look of understanding on Jazz's face it worked like a charm.

Jazz nodded but her lips were still forming a slight frown. "Well I'm glad you're alright now, but next time if you think you're in over your head, you should come get me. Mom and dad's weapons work just as well on other ghosts and we've both had enough lectures from dad to know how to use most of it," Danny's sister explained gently. Looking her brother in the eyes like her body language books had advised her to do when trying to be open and honest with someone.

Her younger sibling shrugged off her hand but he was smiling a bit as he did so. Reassuring her that he was fine on his own, but thanks for the offer. Jazz decided that it was the best she could hope to get from him for now and poked him softly on the nose, standing up and announcing "Well you better hurry and get cleaned up before you come down for breakfast, Sam and Tucker will be by to pick you up in less than an hour."

Danny watched her go, but just as she was leaving he heard someone speaking with his voice add a grateful "Thanks Jazz" at her retreating back. She turned and gave him one of her best smiles and took off down the hallway, obviously pleased with how the exchange had gone.

Danny turned to the lumpy bean-filled chair that was now visibly occupied by Phantom. The ghost turned to him and with a surprising amount of grace jumped onto the metal frame at the foot of his human half's bed, resting in the same spot he perched last night. Deciding not to think too hard about where this attraction of looking down on him had come from, Danny addressed the hero. "So what are we going to do?"

Phantom had lots of time to think about the situation while Danny snoozed quietly beside him and had already come up with a plan of sorts. He explained the basics to the teen, "Go to school, you can tell Tucker and Sam what happened at lunch then we can have the rest of the day to figure out what to do. I'll keep close just in case one of our enemies feels like picking a fight."

Danny didn't respond right away, but after rolling over the idea in his mind he realized it was really the most sensible plan, even if it delayed when they would finally start trying to fix this.

Noting the look of resignation on Danny's identical features, Phantom flew to the dresser and opened the top drawer. He picked out another white and red shirt, (always his favorite) some loose jeans, and some clean white-on-red pokadot boxers. He tossed them at the human, who surprisingly managed to catch all the articles.

Danny slid out of bed, looking slightly dejected about having to go to school when there was a problem like this hanging over his head. Phantom drifted over and laced his fingers into Danny's short black hair, tussling it playfully. "Just try to pay attention, graduation is only one term away, and we've managed to save the world and keep our grades up this long," Phantom reminded his other self.

The human humph-ed and made his way to the door of his room, aiming to have a shower before school. He looked over his shoulder just in time to see Phantom opening his bedroom window. (Technically unnecessary, but Danny's room was getting stuffy anyway.) The ghost smiled a little and remarked "Don't worry, you won't see me but I'll be keeping an eye on you." before flying out the window and into the sunny morning sky.

Danny had just sat down at the usual table in the outside eating area of Casper high, waiting for Sam and Tucker to join him. His lunch resting untouched on the picnic table as he fished around in the inside of his backpack. His fingers touching each item in turn and naming them in his head, Fenton Thermos, a Fenton Wrist Ray, an extendable Fenton Anti-ectoplasm Foam Pistol, and the Fenton Personal Ghost Shield Generator Bracelet. (GS-GB for short)

He had borrowed the extra weapons from the vault next to his parent's room before leaving the house and he was still not sure exactly why. He knew it wasn't that he didn't trust Phantom to keep the city safe. After all he had gotten all of their powers, short of a ghost shield there was little that could stop him.

Danny also told himself that contradictory to what Vlad had asserted last night, anyone could see his own hero spark was more than alive in the heart of his separated spectral half.

However without his powers Danny felt naked, just feeling like he might be susceptible to ghost attack set his teeth on edge. He removed his hand from his backpack, snapping on the Bracelet and Wrist Ray to his left and right arms respectively, sighing softly in relief before coming to a sudden realization. "I'm turning into my parents!"

"Again?" asked Sam, who had just gotten into earshot when Danny had had his outburst. He turned just in time to see the Goth girl settle down beside him on the bench, putting down her salad and opening a bag of organic potato crisps.

Tucker was not far behind, sliding his headset off as he moved into social interaction mode, turning off his Ipod and muting his phone. He still had his priorities though and he made sure to get a large mouthful of ground meat, onions, and tomato sauce before he gestured that normal lunch conversation could begin.

"So what's the crisis this time?" Sam inquired, spearing a spinach leaf and a cherry tomato deftly with her spork. Danny looked from her to Tucker and suddenly he felt all the emotion of last night pour back into him. He sighed deeply, giving his friends a moment to pick up on the fact that this wasn't going to be as easy as the usual lunchtime banter.

Thankfully after spending almost all of their school careers together, Danny's best friends could read him like a book. (Or an eBook in Tucker's case) Sam rested a hand on his shoulder and tried her question again "Is something wrong?" Blue eyes looked back at her and Danny nodded, deciding he better start at the beginning…

"It happened yesterday, I was doing the night ghost patrol when out of nowhere this green beam of energy shot towards me. I went intangible to ovoid it obviously, but somehow it didn't work this time. I remember feeling my powers shorting out, just like when Vlad zapped me with that thing… what did he call it.. The Plasmius Maximus? Anyway, I fell and then everything when dark…" Danny paused, resting his head in his hands. He was entirely confused as to why he was having so much trouble recalling what happened only yesterday. Sam and Tucker were looking very concerned now, and both had stopped eating and were watching and listening to Danny closely.

"Well when I woke up I was strapped to this… thing in Vlad's lab. It looked kind of like an operating table, and it had these large metal braces holding me down… But that wasn't even the scary part… This large spider like thing was hanging from the ceiling and it had claws that were glowing with pink paranormal energy. They looked almost like the kind that extended from Vlad's Ghost Gauntlets in the alternate future…" Danny heard the soft gasp from Sam as she realized where this might be going, but he pressed on anyways. He was determined to get this over with and put the painful memories behind him.

"Then I saw Vlad and he looked at me, but he didn't say anything until after he had turned it on…" Danny bit his lip, deciding to leave out the bits about the intense pain as the claws ripped into him. Feeling them cutting into something that was far deeper than flesh, then pulling it out of him forcefully with a gut wrenching tug that made it feel as if he was surely going to die. "Then I was pushed into this tube, and it was filled with this... goopy stuff... I think I passed out again because the next thing I remember I was in this cage and I was lying next to myself… well the ghost part of myself."

"So you're separated from Phantom right now?" Tucker asked, poking Danny in the shoulder as if to make sure he was still tangible. "Sush.. Let him finish!" Sam scolded, grabbing Tucker's wrist and turning back to Danny.

"Well then Vlad started doing his usual evil explanation of motives, but this time it was much weirder than normal, even for him. He seemed to think that now that Phantom and I were no longer sharing the same body that my ghost half would lose his ability to empathize or relate to humans. Then he would lose interest in playing the hero and choose Vlad as his father, or teacher, or partner... Something like that… " He looked up blankly at Sam and Tucker, observing the worry on both their faces. "That sounds kind of like what happened to your jerky alternate-timeline self." Sam suggested and Tucker nodded in agreement, adding "he didn't have his human half and he described it like he couldn't feel any real emotion anymore…"

Danny felt his stomach twist as his friends voiced the exact same fears he had been harboring since he and Phantom had escaped from Vlad's estate. "I know that sounds like it makes sense but I don't think it's exactly true, just let me finish and we can talk about it." Both of his friends agreed and lapsed into silence.

"Well then he started talking about how he was going to dispose of my human half… Whether he should kill me to hurt my father or let me live long enough to see the greatness my other self would achieve, you know normal bullshit like that... Anyway, He hadn't even finished his crazy fruitloop rant before Phantom flipped out. He started up our ghostly wail but this time it was so powerful he shattered half of Vlad's laboratory before he grabbed me and dragged us back home…"

Danny sat back, eternally grateful he had finally gotten that all out in the open. Both his friends looked from him to each other, wondering what they should say. Tucker was the first to recover, poking Danny again and earning himself another withering look.

"Wait, so if you're split into human and ghost again why aren't you acting like fun Danny? The techno geek enquired, still a little confused seeing as Danny was acting rather normal for missing half his self.

"Phantom and I think that the way Vald split us was a lot closer than the ghost catcher did. I actually can't even tell what parts of our personality he's gotten... it's like were some kind of freakish twins." Danny answered, resting his head in his hands. Sam opened her purple glossed lips to add something but Danny cut her off.

"-Before you say it, I want to make it clear that as far as I can tell he's no more evil than if he was still both of us. I know I'm not an expert on this stuff but…" Danny trailed off realizing he didn't have much proof beyond his gut feeling and a few hours of interaction. Most of which he had been asleep for. Nevertheless, something in his eyes seemed to convince her and she nodded her acceptance.

Danny suddenly felt the need to hug her, but told himself it could wait until they were somewhere that they wouldn't earn more erroneous 'love birds' cracks. "Where is your other half anyway?" Sam asked, finally getting back to her food after paying all her attention to the troubled ex-ghost.

Danny looked back at his lunch before deciding he was still not hungry and explained "I haven't seen him since this morning, but he said he would be keeping an eye on me in case any ghosts attacked." as if on cue, Tucker and Sam gazed around warily, looking for an hints of a hidden eavesdropper.

Just then a loud beeping came from Tucker's supposedly muted Iphone. He dug it out of his pocket and clicked it on, navigating the customized jailbroken menu and holding the screen up for his friends to see. "It's an App I created to stream the emergency ghost alert network," he explained with a lopsided grin, clearly very proud of his modding skills.

His friends looked from him to the phone, two sets of eyes widening as they saw Amity Park's own ghost-kid facing off against three silver and green ghost-beasts. The screen was showing a close up of the first of the monsters, who resembled a giant squid, holding Phantom upside down. One of its tentacles was wrapped around his foot and shaking him violently, while the ghost wolf and snake took turns lunging at him, deadly fangs bared.

Danny recognised the trio as average ecto-animal manifestations he had fought in the early days of gaining his powers, and he was almost sure that he had beat them easily when he did. The teen's confusion showed clearly as he muttered "Why isn't he using the thermos?" As he watched his ghost-self tug his way free and punch the striking snake in his already flat nose.

Then he remembered that his Fenton Thermos was safely tucked away in the side pocket of his bag, and a spark of panic pushed Danny to his feet, earning him muddled looks from Sam and Tucker as he snatched up his backpack. "Where are they!" he asserted slamming his open palm on the table to help convey the urgency to Tucker. Flustered, Tucker poked at the glass touch-screen a few more times and pulled up the ghost tracker GPS. "According to this map they are just 50 meters from-" Tucker suddenly stopped and gulped loudly.

"...Here" he finished, just in time for the ghostly body of a wolf to land headfirst into a nearby table, crushing the wood under its weight and sending the teens who were eating there flying. Without thinking, Danny used the distraction to dive under the table and go ghost. Or at least he thought that's what he was doing until he saw his white suit and black gloves and remembered what he forgot.

Screams from his fellow classmates snapped him out of it and Fenton sprang into action. He activated the gadgets on his wrist and slung the thermos over his shoulder, clicking its detachable strap closed over his chest. The pistol holster fit nicely over his hips and echoed with a second fastening click as he emerged from under the table. He mounted it quickly, fighting the urge to try and take to the air.

Above him Phantom was taking on the snake and the squid, dodging tails and tentacles as he knocked them back with shots of green energy. Meanwhile the wolf that had landed on the other table was beginning to stir and its red eyes locked on the jumpsuit clad human. The beast rolled over and got ready to pounce, licking his lips as he tensed his body.

Phantom saw this out of the corner of his eye a second before it was too late. "Danny!" He turned and screamed just as the seemingly defenceless human summoned a ghost shield. He braced himself as the ghost bounced off of it and fell to the ground again. Phantom blinked in surprize, but his thoughts were interrupted when a strong tail wrapped around his middle and squeezed. His cry of pain caught Danny's attention and the human thrust his other wrist forward, using his hand to press the fire button on the back of the Wrist Ray.

A beam of bright green energy shot forward and hit the snake in the temple, dazing it and allowing Phantom to escape the choke-hold. The ghost-boy smiled at Danny for a moment before launching back into the fray. On the ground the teenager turned back to the wolf that was slowly shaking off slamming into the shield at top speed. Reaching to his hip, Danny slid his secondary weapon out of its holster.

"I always wondered what would happen if I got hit with this stuff…" Danny mused, aiming the ecto-pistol at the spectral canine.

A jet of green slime shot from the barrel and hit the wolf head on, it howled and tried to shake the goop off but it was sticking to the fur and quickly solidifying. Within two minutes he was stuck like a fly in a trap, whimpering softly. Danny gawked at it for a moment before the sound of energy blasts being shot overhead prompted him to reach for his thermos and suck the poor creature into its slightly cramped confines.

Danny was just allowing himself a victory fist pump when a familiar voice from behind interrupted him. "I wouldn't mind a little help with this you know." Danny turned and saw Phantom holding up the snake and the squid, one in each hand, both thoroughly incapacitated. "It would be my pleasure" he retorted turning the thermos on the other two, careful not to get the stream of white capturing energy to near to Phantom.

With a skilled hand Danny closed the container and tossed it to Phantom, unhooking the strap and throwing that to him too. The ghost caught both and secured the capture unit on his shoulder, glancing over the opposite inverted color version of his outfit his human self was sporting.

"Sorry I forgot to give it to you before you went out." Danny blurted, feeling a little guilty about it even though it wasn't exactly his fault. Phantom didn't respond right away, waiting for Danny to notice where he was looking. "Oh that..." the human grasped, looking down at his suit. "Well I also forgot I can't… well you know." suddenly vary aware of his public surroundings Danny kept things vague, adding a quick "I'm forgetting a lot of things today" To hopefully bring this conversation to an end for now.

Picking up on Danny's nervousness, Phantom decided they could talk about this after class. However he couldn't resist murmuring "Thankfully kicking butt wasn't one of them" just loud enough for Danny to hear before making his retreat.

After his ghost half was gone Danny jumped off the table, just then noticing that Sam and Tucker were still sitting on the other end of the bench. Sam was staring at him with wide violet eyes, but Tucker (like Phantom) seemed more concerned with what his friend was wearing. He looked from the black accented jumpsuit to the gathering of green and chrome weaponry, a wide grin splitting his lips as he commented "Dude, you do know you look just like your parents, right?"

Danny sighed and ducked back under the table to change back into his normal clothes.

A/N

*tosses Villain Ball at Vlad* Hold this for a little while, won't you?

Anyway~ I'm sorry for Danny's little exposition dump. One of the biggest problems I had with this story was how to describe the splitting process without exposing how ludicrous it was. That's why I started after the incident rather than in the middle or before. However I had to address it at some point and I would rather use the opportunity to take advantage of Danny as an unreliable narrator so I can impart what you need to know without dragging it out.

Also if anyone is sick of how similar Fenton and Phantom are right now, I'm planning on some character development in the third chapter that is going to make them a little more distinct.

...btw does anyone else find the image of white suited Danny loaded with a ton of ghost hunting weapons annoyingly sexy?...

Oh never mind…