*crawls out from rock, looking around sheepishly* Uh... Anyone miss me?

Anyways. Wow. I just epicly failed at sleeping last night. I didn't even do it on purpose! Ah, well, here's this story here.

Chapter 4

And then the moment was ruined as Danny gasped, a stream of icy fog coming from his mouth.

"I gotta go," he muttered, attempting to pull himself free.

Jack and Maddie both tightened their arms, keeping him there. Kind of. "You aren't going anywhere until you've healed, young man!" Maddie said sternly.

Danny sighed and phased away, causing both of them to stumble forward just a bit as the solid surface that was just in front of them vanished. "Well, what am I supposed to do? Let the Red Huntress get them?"

"Yes!" Maddie said fiercely. "The Red Huntress is a perfectly capable ghost hunter – she would have caught them long ago if it weren't for you're insane competitiveness in catching them first!"

Danny grimaced. Well, that was unexpected. He sent a pleading look at Jazz, who took over for him.

He phased out through the wall – transforming as he went through it, front to back(1), which had become a secrecy-based habit – just as Jazz started talking. Jack and Maddie frowned – he really shouldn't be fighting like this – but there wasn't a whole lot to be done about it unless they followed him and trapped him in a Thermos, and they really weren't sure what kind of effect that would have on his wounds.

"The Red Huntress hates ghosts. She wouldn't catch them and release them. She'd kill them. Rip them to pieces. Danny can't let that happen," Jazz explained. "He'd probably patrol a lot less, maybe even accept your offers to have him tag along once in a while, but he always has to be out patrolling whenever you or Red are. You catch and experiment on them – and they can feel pain, by the way, which is why Danny is careful – and Red would destroy them."

Jack protested, "But they're mindless!"

Jazz shook her head. "Most of the animal-shaped ones are mindless. Not any of the humanoid ones – Warden's goons being the exception here – and most of them have a full range of emotions too. They're just a little… obsessive."

"Is Danny?" Maddie asked curiously.

Jazz laughed. "Oh, yes. Have you seen his Phantom form when a bystander gets hurt? He freaks! If that's not obsessive, I don't know what is!"

Jack and Maddie both winced. Another misconception. They had assumed Phantom – no, Danny - didn't care.

At that moment, Danny phased back in, landing just in front of his former seat and sitting down, wincing.

Both his parents jumped up. His left sleeve was burnt away, everything from his elbow down exposed, and a large burn just below said elbow. Jazz reached under the couch and pulled out the first aid kit.

"What happened?" she asked worriedly.

Danny grunted, wincing again. "Skulker changed his mind again. He doesn't want my pelt, he'd rather have my head. Therefore, he doesn't care if said pelt is burnt away and somehow built a flaming rope into his suit, which he wrapped around my arm. Someone should tell him that 'Burning passion' is just an expression."

Jazz sighed, spreading the burn cream in the kit on his burn. "Will he ever give up? And hasn't he done this already."

He winced again, then chuckled. "Yeah, he has. He must be running out of ideas. And we both know that he'll never give up. I don't think he's quite familiar with the concept of 'stopping while you're ahead'."

"It's 'quit while you're ahead', Danny."

He rolled his eyes as she finished spreading the cream and started to wrap it in gauze. "Whatever."

Jack and Maddie exchanged glances. They were both acting far too casual about this.

"Jazzarincess," Jack said quietly, causing Jazz to quickly glance up at him, pausing in wrapping the burn. "How often does this sort of thing happen?" It wasn't in his nature to be serious, but the situation definitely called for it.

"How often does what happen?" she asked. "Skulker attacking? At least three times a week."

Jack shook his head, though both he and Maddie were alarmed at the frequency of one ghost's attacks. "No, Danny getting hurt like this."

Jazz considered. "Um, at all, serious enough to be treated in more than five minutes, or burned?"

"Five minute treatment."

"At least twice a day during an invasion, around four times a week at any other time," she replied.

"That often?" Maddie whispered.

Jazz shrugged as she turned back to Danny, who was watching them quietly, and finished tying off the bandage, allowing him to pull away again. "Danny's good, but nobody's that good."

Danny put in, "There are several ghost attacks a day. On average, there's about three to seven mindless animal ghosts, and then two to four sentient ghost attacks. Keep in mind that all of the ghosts are bigger than me. I've gotten better at dodging and shielding since I started, but it's like Jazz said. Nobody's that good. I get hurt. Anyone would. That said, I'm sure Mr. Superior over in his mansion would probably get a lot less hurt, as half of these ghosts work for him."

Jack looked confused, as did Maddie. "Mr. Superior? There's a ghost called Mr. Superior?"

Jazz frowned in thought. "Mr. Superior… Mansion… Ghosts working for him… Oh! Plasmius, right?"

Danny chuckled. "Right in one."

Jazz laughed.

"That other halfa?" Maddie clarified.

"Yup!" the two siblings confirmed in unison.

"Vlad Plasmius, aka the Frootloop who really needs a cat who isn't named Maddie, twenty years more experienced than me, and quite a bit more powerful," Danny added. "Pretty hard to beat, but I can get one up on him once in a while."

"He actually got a cat?" Jazz asked in disbelief. Then it hit home further. "He named his cat Maddie?"

Danny made a face. "Yep!"

"Ew!"

"That's what I said."

(1) If you don't get this, he transforms with a single vertical ring that is in the middle of the wall. He goes in as Danny Fenton on one side and comes out as Danny Phantom on the other. It helps because nobody can see the flash and it is perfectly normal for Danny Phantom to randomly come out of walls, so it doesn't matter that he can't see if someone's on the other side.

Trinity Fenton-Phantom: Don't worry, I'll cover that. Kind of. Mr. Lancer just wouldn't get the same kinds of explanations from Danny as his family would, so he'll get a short version later. I probably won't put it in, but I might. Thanks for reviewing!

OK, that's about it for now! R&R!