"Alright, it's been half an hour since we sat down, let's get a move on!" Danny yelled as he, Sam and Tucker packed their things away. When no one moved, Danny shouted, "NOW!"

Everyone spooked at the volume of Danny's voice. Slowly, almost fearfully, everyone packed up their things and stood.

Valerie had the aching suspicion that something was off about Danny. He had been acting strangely since they entered the Ghost Zone. He's being overshadowed! Her mind screamed to her, but rational thought pushed that to the back of her mind, that can't be it. He's still acting like Danny, just, different, too. More confident, more- more… Controlling. He said he'd been here before, so he can't be stressed by the Zoe itself, what's making him act so different? Then it dawned upon her. He's worried because we're here. Valerie decided it would be a good idea to try to talk to him about it, but definitely later.

Elle floated in front of the group with Sam, Danny, and Tucker, and the quartet spoke esperonto to communicate once again, not realizing that the nerds, Lester, Nathan, and Mikey were inching closer to them, suspicion warping their features.

"I'm telling you guys, I'm going to go nuts!" Danny complained to his friends.

Elle spoke up, "Don't worry cousin, anything goes wrong, we're here to help."

"Elle is right, Danny. We'll help you through that." Sam bumbled on the last word, "This."

Then Tucker added, "Yeah, dude, take it easy. We got your back."

Danny sighed. "Thanks, guys. I don't know what I'd do without you." He pulled Sam and Elle into a hug, seeing as he was in between them.

"What'd they say, Lester? I couldn't hear." Mikey asked the taller nerd.

"They are really fluent in Esperanto, I could only pick up a few words. But, I heard that ghost girl say cousin." Lester replied, but was cut off by Nathan.

"She was addressing Danny specifically, like she called him cousin." He added.

"Wait, what? So that ghost girl called Danny 'cousin'? That doesn't make any sense!" Mikey pointed out.

"I know, but that's what I heard." Lester sighed. Looking back over at Danny, he noticed Danny turn his head away, like he was watching them.

Danny pulled his group very close together, voice barely a whisper, he told them. "We forgot that the nerds know some Esperanto." Everyone paled. He then addressed Elle, "And they heard you call me cousin. What are we gonna do?"

Elle spoke, in ghost now so no one but Danny understood. "U'j pannv, Zikkv (I'm sorry, Danny)!" She hugged her arms around his neck.

Danny was shocked for a second by her reaction, but quickly came out of it. Hugging the little girl latched to his neck, he whispered to her. "Uq'p agiv, Ohho. U'j kaq jiz iq vae (It's okay, Elle. I'm not mad at you)." He switched back to english. "They probably don't suspect anything, anyways. For all they know, you just slipped up because of a shared first name. It's fine."

Elle slowly let go of Danny's neck, but instead of floating next to him, she climbed onto his shoulders. "I'm sitting here now!"

Danny smirked. "I could throw you off no problem, you know. You're like, twenty pounds in ghost form." He teased, but let Elle stay on his shoulders, anyway.

"So, what are we gonna do about them?" Sam jabbed her thumb towards the nerds behind them.

"We'll have to evade any questions they ask about it, for one thing. Change the subject or dance around it until they give up." Danny spoke, voice still a whisper.

Elle rested her chin on top of Danny's head. "You could tell them, Danny."

"Right, like I'm going to do that." Danny rolled his eyes, only half joking. "I'm sure that if it weren't a life or death situation then the A-listers would have had their fair share of laughs at my expense. I hear them snickering right now."

"About what?" Tucker asked.

"The quote 'loser and his loser friends that like to be in the Ghost Zone'." Danny said. He then added. "And the ghost girl on his head." This caused Elle to laugh loudly, and Jack to scream "GHOOOST!"


Maddie looked up at her son and his friends from her place in the back of the group. Noticing that the ghost girl, Elle, Danny called her, was on her sons shoulders, she activated her wrist mounted ecto-ray. Seeing a certainly evil ghost so close to her son made Maddie want to scream and destroy that ectoplasmic reconstruction of post-human consciousness.

Slowly, Maddie raised her arm and aimed at the ghost on her baby boy's shoulders. She checked to make sure that it was on full power. Knowing that none of her weapons could harm humans put her at ease as she prepared to fire at that wretched ectoplasmic being latched to her son.

Just as she activated the wrist ray, the ghost barked out a laugh. The sudden sound made by the ghost caused Jack to yell "GHOOOOST!" and jump to his left, knocking Maddie off balance. The shot from her wrist ray flew harmlessly off into the expanse of the Ghost Zone.

Seeing the ecto-blast, Danny turned his head so quickly that a normal human would have gotten whiplash. Elle squealed as she was thrown from his shoulders. Soon she, Sam, and Tucker turned to where Danny was looking. He was looking directly at his mother.

The quartet stopped walking, causing everyone else to as well. That was when Maddie saw her son glaring daggers into her very soul. He knew she shot at the ghost girl.

Slowly, Danny walked to the back of the group of students. It took everything in him to keep his eyes from flashing green as he stared at Maddie. Unblinking, he came ever closer to her, taking deep breaths each step. The group was dead silent as Danny made his way to his Maddie.

Maddie winced at the look of pure anger and… Hated? No, that can't be it, is it? In her sons eyes. She knew she made the wrong decision.

After what felt like an eternity later, Danny reached Maddie and stood eye level with her, not slouching at all. "You shot at Elle." He stated, anger dripping off his tongue like venom.

Maddie had never before seen her son so angry. Why did he care so much for that- that ghost! "Yes, I did."

Maddie could have sworn that Danny's eyes turned green for a split second. "Why?" He continued to glare at her, only inches from her face.

The clear hatred in Danny's voice froze her. Not even her tongue could move as she struggled to explain herself to a fifteen year old boy. "B- because she's a ghost." Maddie could feel her sons eyes burning themselves into her mind, to stay there forever. She felt like she was shrinking. "Ghosts are e-"

Danny cut her off. "Not. All. Ghosts. Are. Evil." His human half sat backseat as his ghost halfs instincts took over, telling him to protect, no matter what. It terrified him, seeing his mom so scared, but his urge to protect his cousin was stronger than his apprehension.

"Danny, calm down!" Elle came flying over and latched herself onto Danny's neck once again. Having been shocked by the sudden tackle, Danny snapped out of his anger, any and all traces of green in his eyes gone.

Refusing to say anything more, Danny held the small thirteen year old that was attached to his neck and walked back to the front of the group. No one said anything for the next twenty minutes, and in that time, Elle had climbed back onto Danny's shoulders, chin once again resting on top of his head.

There was no doubt in Valerie's mind, now. Danny is either being overshadowed, or is actually a ghost. The way Danny acted was so- so… Not Fenton. His own mother looked afraid. What would he have done if Dani hadn't interrupted? The thought sent shivers down her spine.

Maddie was still shaking, even after the group had relaxed and started speaking amongst each other again. Was that even Danny? She looked ahead and saw that everyone but Sam and Tucker were at least five metres away from Danny. He must have terrified them. Why was he so defensive of that putrid protoplasm? He treated her like a…

...A younger sister.

Why? Why does Danny treat it like that? Why was he so angry? His eyes had turned green, it was brief, but it happened. Is my baby boy being overshadowed? This thought echoed through Maddie's head until Tucker announced that it was almost six pm in the human world, and that they would keep walking until they found a suitable cave to stay in overnight. They had been walking, without a single complaint, for five and a half hours.

Realizing that he should probably say something, Danny spoke for the first time in almost six hours. "I didn't want to get mad at her like that." He whispered it, but Tucker, Sam and Elle heard it clearly. Sam and Tucker jumped at the sudden sound.

"What do you mean?" Elle asked lazily from her perch on Danny's head.

"It's like I wasn't in control of my body. I just sat there, watching it happen, but I couldn't do anything." He kept whispering, even though there was no way for anyone else to hear him. "Like my ghost half took over." He mumbled the last part, eyes never leaving the ground.

"But you're the same person, how could your ghost half take over?" Sam asked.

Danny sighed. "Ghosts have instincts different from humans. I guess that with all the worry, and the fact that my obsession is protecting innocents, that when mom shot that wrist ray at Elle I snapped." He whispered, like he was trying to explain to himself rather than his friends. Suddenly, the rocks on the pathway were far more interesting than anything else.


Hey guys! Bet you were expecting a fluff-fest what with how the chapter started and all. Well, NOPE!

I wanted to make this chapter longer (it's only four pages long, while the others are all at least five), but I like how it ends here. I know that it was a huge timeskip at the end, but I just wanted day 1 of 5 (Danny said it would take like five days in the last chapter, right?) done. The next chaptet will be out sometime the week, so be on the lookout!

~Barely Existent