Hey guys! In this chapter, we introduce Vlad and Johnny! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 4

All was quiet in Amity Park in the morning hours. That silence was shattered by a surprised and joyful scream from two teenage halfas.

"WHAT?! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US UNCLE VLAD WAS VISITING?" Danny and Jazz screamed in unison.

"Because we wanted it to be a surprise," said Maddie. "But SOMEONE," she looked pointedly at her husband, who suddenly gained an interest in the wall, "had to go and ruin it!"

"Wait, didn't that ghost we met say Vlad was a halfa too?" Jazz said. "What was his name? Stopwatch? No…Grandfather Clock? That's not it…" she trailed off, mumbling.

"Clockwork?" Danny supplied, and Jazz snapped her fingers. "That's it! Clockwork said that Vlad's a halfa too!" she exclaimed.

Jack and Maddie looked thoughtful. "Well, we'll drop it into a conversation and see how he reacts," Maddie said. At the incredulous looks from her children, she quickly continued. "We can say it's part of our ghost research, which isn't technically a lie," she said.

"So, when does he get here?" Danny asked excitedly. Even as he said it, the doorbell rang.

Danny and Jazz were off the couch and at the door in 0.5 seconds flat. Jack timed it.

They opened the door to a slender, silver-haired man in his 40s, with his long hair tied back in a ponytail. He saw who answered the door and smiled widely.

"Well? Am I just going to stand here or am I going to get a hug from my favorite niece and nephew?" he mock-pouted.

"UNCLE VLAD!" The teens threw themselves at him, wrapping him in a hug that almost knocked him over.

"Whoa! Good to see you too!" he chuckled as he regained his balance.

"Now stand still, I've got presents for you," he said, and the teens' faces lit up like Christmas trees.

Vlad laughed and reached in his bag.

"For you, Jazz, the latest teen reading sensation, the Inviso-Bill series," he said, handing Jazz a box set of books.

Jazz squealed in delight and hugged her uncle.

"And Danny, I talked with your father about your hobbies, and he said you enjoy watching fencing?" Vlad asked, raising an eyebrow. Danny blushed but nodded.

Vlad reached in the bag again and Danny's jaw dropped.

In Vlad's hands were four identical Cavalry sabers (AN: Google "Civil War sword"). He handed them to Danny, before pulling out two more.

"Two of those swords are unsharpened, but the other two are. I happen to be an accomplished swordsman myself, so we can train through the duration of my visit, and you're welcome to come by my place anytime," he said. "And we will train with the unsharpened swords, if you please, because blood is very hard to get out of carpet."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "You sound like you speak from experience," he said.

Vlad looked sheepish. "I may or may not have had an…unfortunate incident…whilst carrying sharpened swords," he said, his tone saying clearly "I don't want to talk about it."

Danny nearly crushed Vlad with the force of his hug. Jack came over and clapped a massive hand on Vlad's shoulder with a gleam in his eye. Vlad groaned.

"Oh, no, I've seen that look before, it's what got us into so much trouble in high school," he said.

"I resent that Vladdie! Besides, I wasn't the one who let the weasel into Mr. Hartman's air vent!" Jack defended.

Everyone was silent. Danny spoke up. "There's a story behind that, and I think it should be told," he said with a smile. "Later," Jack and Vlad said simultaneously.

"Mads and I were in the lab when we came across a rare breed of ghost! Called a "halfa" I think," Jack said, furrowing his brow in what the rest of his family knew was a fake look of thought. They watched Vlad for his reaction.

They were not disappointed. Vlad visibly jumped. "Where did you hear that term?" he said in a low voice.

Jack's face softened. He had Vlad right where he wanted him. "You know what they are?" he asked.

Vlad nodded, a look of confusion on his face.

"You are one, aren't you?" Dang, Maddie. Straight to the point, as usual.

Vlad paled and saw he had no escape, so he simply hung his head and nodded.

A black ring appeared around his waist, then split. Vlad went from a silver haired human to a blue-skinned, red eyed, vampire-ish ghost, with his now black hair spiked up into two horn-like spikes. He wore a white tunic, white pants, a white cape with a red inside, and black boots and gloves.

He looked up to see the Fentons smiling at him. He was confused. "This is either the part where you run away screaming, or the part where you try to eradicate me," he said.

He was shocked to say the least when colored rings appeared around the Fentons' waists and changed them into their ghost forms.

"Wait, WHAT?!"

"Surprise, Vladdie!" Jack boomed in his echo-y voice.

"You…aren't trying to kill me?" Vlad said in shock.

"Nope. And we never will," Jack replied, turning serious. "You're family, Vlad. Whether you're a human, ghost, or…something in between," he said with a wide smile.

For the first time since he got his powers, Vlad felt accepted. He nodded and gripped his old friend in a tight hug.

After he and Jack broke apart, Vlad turned to the kids. "So! How far along are you with your powers?" he asked.

"We've mastered the ecto-energy blasts and all that, but Danny still needs a tutor for his ice powers and I need one for my fire powers," Jazz said, and Vlad smiled.

"Well, Jasmine, I believe you've got yourself a tutor," he said, and held out his hand, palm up. A ball of fire was burning an inch above his palm. Jazz was shocked, but soon grinned so wide her father was almost jealous.

"Daniel, I believe I may have found you a tutor as well," Vlad said, turning to Danny.

"Who?" asked the teen, excited.

"His name is Frostbite, he's the leader of a group of yeti-like ghosts called the Far Frozen. He and all of his kin are masters of cryokinesis. Ice manipulation," he added, seeing the confused look on Danny's face. "He owes me a favor anyway, so this is the perfect time to call it in."

Danny was all smiles the rest of the day.

A week passed, and it was time for Vlad to go. Danny, it was discovered, had a natural affinity for swordsmanship, and a particular prowess in dual-bladed combat.

His ghost form now had the two swords attached to his belt. He, admittedly, poked around Vlad's belongings (as any kid would do) and found a weird looking blueprint. It looked like a gauntlet of some kind, with a blade coming out the bottom.

When he showed it to his father, his face split into a wide smile. He grabbed the blueprints and raced down to the lab.

Four hours later, he called Vlad and Danny into the lab and presented them with their new weapons, which Danny immediately called a "hidden blade", like the kind in a video game series he liked. He wore two, one on each arm. He also started wearing his hood a lot more. Maddie assured the rest of the family that it was just a phase.

Vlad also met Ember, when Danny invited her over for dinner. While Ember's attention was elsewhere, Vlad had leaned over to Danny and whispered, "Nice catch, nephew." Danny had gone red and looked anywhere but a smirking Vlad.

After Vlad left, the family was lounging around when the squealing of tires was heard, followed by a loud crash just outside their door. The family bolted toward the door to find a teen laying unconscious on the sidewalk, the twisted remains of what was once a custom Harley-Davidson chopper laying a few yards away, smoking slightly.

Maddie immediately went into "Mom-mode", running back inside for a first-aid kit.

Jack scooped up the unconscious teen in his gigantic arms and rushed him down to the lab, which was where the medical supplies were. Maddie had cleared off a lab table and was setting up a heart rate monitor. Not many people knew, but Maddie had a doctorate degree in medicine, and could open up a private practice if she wanted to.

"Lay him here," she ordered, and got out some antiseptic pads to clean up the green blood. Wait a minute. Green blood? The realization finally hit her.

"Jack, go to the Fenton Fridge and get the emergency ectoplasm, this kid's a ghost!" she ordered, but Jack was three steps ahead of her. The plastic bag was pressed into her hand as she prepared an I.V. for a transfusion. She slid the needle into the teen's vein and sighed as a bit of color started to return to his pale cheeks. She took in his appearance.

He was wearing black jeans and combat boots, with a black tee shirt and leather jacket. His dirty-blond hair fell over his face, hiding his eyes from view.

"He should be fine in a few minutes," she said, noticing the slight blush on Jazz's cheeks as she looked at the unconscious ghost.

Jack spoke up. "Danny, come help me get his bike into the garage. We might be able to find out what caused his wreck," he said, and Danny nodded.

Upon pushing the bike into said garage, it was immediately clear what caused the accident.

Jack pointed to the front shock absorbers, one of which was cracked so badly it looked like someone had hit it with an axe. "See this shock absorber? I'd bet my secret supply of fudge that that kid hit a pothole or something and blew it out, causing the bike to lean suddenly and throw him off," he said. Danny understood, but something in his explanation caught his attention.

"You have a secret supply of fudge?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

His father reached into his pocket and pulled out a plastic baggie full of the stuff, and pressed it into Danny's hand.

"Don't tell your mother."

"Done."

Back inside, Jazz was sitting next to the ghost teen when he started to stir.

"Mom! Dad! Danny! He's waking up!" she called up the stairs, and the rest of her family teleported into the lab.

The teen moved his hair out of his face and groaned, opening his eyes. They were a baby blue, like Jack's in his human form.

He looked around, not recognizing where he was, then his eyes landed on the Fentons, who were all in ghost form.

"Wh-where am I?" he asked, trying and failing to sit up. Maddie put her hand on his shoulder. "Don't try to move yet, your body is still hurt, even with your advanced healing. And to answer your question, you're in Amity Park, Minnesota."

The teen nodded, before trying to sit up again, succeeding this time. Jazz put his arm around her shoulders as he slowly stood up. Maddie, Jack, and Danny all noticed the blush on both of their cheeks as they flew upstairs. They looked at each other. "A week," Danny said immediately. Jack immediately shook his head. "I say two." Maddie walked in between them with her hands raised. "Gentlemen, please. My woman's intuition says a month," she said with a smirk. "Your so-called "woman's intuition" also said the ghost portal would work the first time, and look how that turned out," Danny countered. Maddie and Jack winced. That was a low blow.

Upon teleporting upstairs, they found Jazz setting the teen down on the couch.

"What's your name?" asked Jack with concern in his voice. "Johnny Blaze*. My friends call me either Johnny 13 or just Johnny." "Well, it's nice to meet you, Johnny. I'm Shade, and this is my family. My wife, Specter, my daughter, Flare, and my son, Phantom," he said, gesturing to each of them in turn.

"Good to meet you. Did you happen to see what happened to my bike?" the teen asked with genuine concern. Jack's face fell. "It was smashed up pretty bad, but it should be repairable. We did find the cause of the accident though. You hit a pothole or something and blew out your shock absorber," he explained.

Johnny just gave a sad smile. "I figured. I have the worst luck. That's why my friends call me Johnny 13, 13 is an unlucky number." Suddenly, his shadow moved of it's own accord. Johnny looked down at it. "Shut up, you. I'll let you out once we're out of here." Suddenly, the sound of footsteps caused everyone to look up.

Sam came down the stairs and immediately her eyes landed on Johnny. "JOHNNY?! What are you doing here?" she exclaimed. Johnny smiled. "I was testing out my bike and wrecked," he explained. Sam turned to Jack and Maddie. "I think I owe you an explanation. Before my former mom married my former dad, she had a relationship with this guy. His last name was Blaze, that's all she told me. Johnny, here, is my half-brother," she said. The Fentons' jaws dropped, then their faces split into a wide smile.

"Any family of Sam's is family to us! Welcome to the Fenton family, Johnny!" Jack bellowed. Johnny was shocked, but grinned all the same.

Suddenly, a pair of hands covered Danny's eyes. "Guess who, babypop?" said a cheerful voice. Danny put on a mock look of thought. "Hello, Ember!" he said, turning around and giving his girlfriend a kiss. Johnny looked dumbstruck. "How in the world did you get the most famous rocker in the Ghost Zone to be your girlfriend?" he demanded. Danny shrugged, but Ember answered for him. "Cuz I like him, that's how. Seriously, Johnny, you need to find someone. You can't marry your bike," she said with a smirk. "Challenge accepted! Ouch…" Johnny exclaimed, jumping of the couch before clutching his head in pain. The family just laughed.

A week later, everything was back to normal. Danny and Ember were getting ready to go to a Bon Jovi concert, and they invited Johnny and Jazz, who only agreed when each heard the other was going.

They floated to the top of the stadium and listened as the band played "Wanted Dead or Alive". For the afterlife of her, Ember just couldn't figure out the chords to the opening. Danny had given up a long time ago.

All of a sudden, the stadium darkened. Murmurs and whispers of confusion spread through the crowd. Then…

"Shot through the heart,

And you're to blame!

You give love, a bad name!"

The stadium exploded. Danny was shamelessly playing air guitar while Ember, Johnny, and Jazz laughed. He just grinned his signature lop-sided grin and kept "playing".

After the song ended, Johnny left, claiming he needed to use the restroom. Two minutes later, Jazz left too, for the same reason. Danny and Ember looked at each other with a raised eyebrow, turned invisible, and followed.

What they found was pretty much what they expected.

Jazz and Johnny were lip-locked, kissing each other passionately, ignoring the looks they got from passersby. At least, they ignored them until Danny cleared his throat and became visible, effectively clearing the stadium.

Jazz and Johnny broke apart and looked at Danny sheepishly, then glared at the openly laughing Ember, who had become visible as well.

Danny fist-pumped the air. "YES! I win the bet!" He quickly pulled out his cell phone and FaceTimed his parents. He was glad that he took the time to teach them how to use the app, so now they could look at him while talking to him.

His parent's faces, in ghost form, filled the screen and raised an eyebrow at him when they saw his grin.

"I win," he said, and turned the phone so his parents could see Johnny and Jazz, who still had their arms wrapped around each other.

The speaker feedback caused by his mother's squeal almost deafened all four of them.

"I knew it! I KNEW it!" she yelled triumphantly, knowing full well she lost the bet but she didn't care.

"WHAT? MY EARS ARE BLEEDING!" Jack yelled, his massive hands clamped over his sensitive ears. The speaker feedback may have been bad, but he had it worse. He was there for the real thing.

"You each owe me twenty bucks," Danny said smugly before he ended the call.

Jazz was about to launch herself at her brother and start strangling him when a blast of blue light smacked Danny in the chest and threw him into a wall, his chest smoking.

The three teens whirled around and saw two men in white suits, one holding a smoking weapon that looked like a ray gun.

"Freeze, ghost scum! Surrender, and you will be subjected to the slightly less painful of our experiments!" one of them yelled.

Jazz was furious. She called forth the fire within her, like Vlad had taught her, and blasted the two men with a torrent of flames. They just barely managed to jump out of the way. They returned fire, but Johnny and Jazz dodged just in time.

Ember wasn't so lucky. As she tried to dodge, she tripped and lost her balance, and the blast hit her in the thigh, leaving a nasty burn and effectively crippling her.

As the men raised their weapons to deliver the final blow, a black blur launched itself at them and knocked them back fifty feet. Ember looked up as her savior walked over to her.

"Are you okay, Ember?" Danny asked. Ember shook her head and pointed to her leg, unable to talk. Danny took one look at the wound and turned so he was in between her and the men. As they raised their weapons he bellowed "You DARE…hurt…my…GIRLFRIEND!" At the last word, green sonic waves flew out of his mouth, and the most horrible noise came from his throat. It sounded like the moaning of a million ghosts. He clamped his mouth shut and drew his swords.

He flew over to the men, who were picking themselves up, and attacked with a flurry of strikes at super-speed. He abruptly sheathed his swords and turned back to the three awestruck teens. He raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

The men's weapons fell to the ground, sliced and diced. He snapped his fingers again.

Their suits and pants fell away, slashed to ribbons, leaving them standing in the middle of the street in nothing but sunglasses, shoes, and tightie-whities.

Jazz, Johnny, and Danny all pulled out their phones and snapped a picture as the two men frantically tried to cover themselves.

Danny picked Ember up, bridal-style, and the four teens flew away, ignoring the screams of rage from the two men.

Upon landing in the lab, Danny set Ember on the table and called Jazz, who came over. "What's up, bro?" she asked.

"Ember got burned on her leg pretty bad, and it needs cleaning," he said. Jazz raised an eyebrow. Danny facepalmed and pointed to the burn.

"If that burn's gonna get cleaned, she would need to take off her pants," he said quickly. "I don't think either of us are comfortable with that yet, and you're the only other girl here, so you should do it," he reasoned, and Jazz nodded.

Ember, on the other hand, blushed. Danny wanted to make sure she was okay, but he still respected her privacy. She wondered if they were at that stage in their relationship where…nah. But still…maybe? She decided to ask Danny when they got some alone time.

Danny kissed her, grabbed Johnny by the arm, and flew through the ceiling into the living room.

Jack and Maddie raised an eyebrow.

"Where are Jazz and Ember?" asked Jack.

"Downstairs. Ember got burned on her leg from an ecto-weapon." Danny explained what happened at the concert.

"And you aren't down there for what reason?" Maddie asked in a voice that promised pain if she was lied to.

"Because the burn is in an area on her leg that would require her to take off her pants to clean properly, and I wanted to respect her privacy," Danny said. "Jazz is patching her up." Maddie nodded, satisfied.

A few minutes later, Jazz called up the stairs. "Danny? Could you grab some gym shorts? Ember's pants are ruined."

"Make sure she's invisible!" he yelled back before going to get the shorts.

He went down to the lab and knocked on the door, and waited before Jazz opened it a bit before handing her the shorts. A few minutes later, Ember came out, supported by Jazz, and Danny carried her upstairs.

After dinner, everyone decided to go to bed early. Ember's mom had been called and notified of everything that happened. She had insisted that Ember stay there overnight, just to be safe. So, she and Jazz took over Jazz's room while Johnny and Danny stayed in Danny's room. They chatted about cars and bikes, got into a quiet yet heated debate over whether the Shelby GT500 was better than the Dodge Challenger Hellcat.

"I swear, Johnny, Dodge's Hellcat is like a big middle finger to Ford and Chevy!"

"Yeah, a big middle finger from the world's fastest brick!"

"The quarter mile time, on street tires are-"

"Speed isn't just about straight lines! While I admit, a straight line test is the most effective way to measure top-end speed, there's more to a car than power! You have to make sure that if you turn the wheel a bit you aren't going 90 degrees to the left, while at the same time making sure it doesn't have the turning radius of a battleship!"

…And so on.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

Jazz and Ember poked their heads in. Jazz had a slight smile on her face as she asked, "Wanna trade roommates?" Everyone instantly agreed. Johnny got up and glared at Danny, saying ,"This isn't over," and followed his girlfriend while Ember snuggled up to Danny on the bed. She waited for the door to close before talking.

"Danny, we need to talk. About us."

Danny looked at her quizzically.

She took a deep breath.

"I…I wanted to know…if we've hit THAT stage in our relationship."

Danny reddened slightly. He may be clueless, but even he knew what THAT stage was. He calmed down.

"Only if you're ready. I won't push you either way, but if it makes you happy, I'm happy," he said with a smile.

Ember thought hard about it. This was a huge sign of commitment they were talking about.

"I…I think so…"

"Ember, you can't think. You have to know. This is a huge decision to make. You have to be absolutely sure this is what you want," Danny said seriously.

Ember thought about it some more, and as she thought, the answer became clear to her.

"Yes," she said with conviction. Danny smiled.

"Then I'll back your decision. Just…not tonight. Maybe this weekend or something."

"Why?" asked Ember.

"Seven reasons. Reasons one through five are down the hall. The sixth reason is I don't have any protection, so I'll have to go get some. Reason seven is because for you, it will hurt quite a bit the first time, and I want you to be as comfortable as possible," he said.

Ember blushed at that last part. He was putting his own pleasure aside to make sure her first time was the least painful. He was putting her own well-being above his desires. Again, she wondered how she managed to get such a caring boyfriend.

She snuggled closer to him and laid her head on his chest. She could hear his heartbeat, the slow rhythm slowly making her drift off to sleep. The last thing she remembered was Danny wrapping his arm around her and saying, "I love you."

THE NEXT DAY

Maddie was sitting at the table with Sam, drinking her morning coffee when Danny came downstairs. She waved him over and he sat down across from her with a slightly worried expression. She smiled.

"You're not in trouble, Danny. I wanted to ask you about that attack you used yesterday. What exactly happened?" she asked.

Danny told her as much as he could remember. Sam looked surprised. Maddie looked thoughtful, then walked over to the computer and pulled up FaceTime. She initiated a call with a number Danny didn't recognize, and Danny was surprised when Vlad's face came on the screen.

"Maddie! This is a nice surprise! What can I do for you?"

"Danny was attacked yesterday and he used an attack he'd never seen before. We were hoping you could help us."

"Absolutely! Now, Daniel, what was the basis of this attack? I mean to say, what kind of attack was it? A punch, a kick?"

"It was a…scream. I screamed, and green sonic waves flew out of my mouth and destroyed a bunch of stuff," Danny said.

Vlad raised an eyebrow. "I recognize that attack, having used it before myself. I call it my Banshee Scream, but the premise is the same. It is a scream that has been enhanced by ectoplasm, turning the sound waves into a dangerous weapon. I don't recommend using it in a cave, canyon, or anywhere with an echo," Vlad explained.

"Can I come visit you and we work on it? I have a feeling it will be useful in the future," Danny said. Vlad lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Of course! Bring the whole family! You can even bring Ember and Johnny!" Vlad exclaimed. Danny smiled at his favorite uncle.

"I expect you this weekend!" Vlad said with a smile before logging off. Danny's stomach twisted into knots. He had promised Ember…THAT…this weekend, and he had no idea how it would happen at Vlad's house.

THAT WEEKEND

As it turns out, Danny didn't need to worry about that. The man's house was gigantic. There had to have been at least fifty rooms on the first floor alone.

After ringing the doorbell, Vlad answered and took them on a tour. It turns out that Vlad, after graduating Wisconsin Tech with a masters degree (AN: hehehehe) in business management, he built the world's most successful security firm, AXION Labs, and started collecting businesses as his wealth increased. He was now the third-richest man in the world, behind two saps called Bruce Wayne and Bill Gates (AN: Sorry Bill).

The family each had their favorite rooms. Danny loved the fencing arena, Maddie stayed in the training room, Jazz almost locked herself in the library, and it took the combined force of Vlad, Danny, Jazz, and Maddie, all in ghost form, to drag Jack away from the kitchen. He only relented when Vlad promised a spectacular dinner.

Then they visited the lab.

The first thing everyone noticed was the swirling green ghost portal. They all looked at Vlad, who shrugged.

"The prototype portal we made in college exploded, giving me my ghost powers. I managed to find the blueprints and figured out where we went wrong," he explained.

"Was is a design flaw?" Maddie asked. Vlad shook his head with a smile.

"No, your husband put Diet Coke in the portal instead of ecto-purifier."

Jack had the decency to look embarrassed and apologized, but Vlad waved his hand.

"Water under the bridge, old friend. Besides, if anything, I think it gave us more in common," Vlad said with a signature smirk that Jack recognized instantly. It held the same meaning as the mischievous glint he sometimes got in his eye.

His brother from another mother was making a pranking plan, and he wanted in.

Vlad typed in a code into a keypad. The machine beeped three times. "I just connected our portals. Now you can visit whenever you want without flying here," he said. Jack nodded, impressed.

After Vlad's promised dinner, there was a knock at the door. Vlad went to answer it, and came back with Ember and Johnny in tow. Ember promptly sat down next to Danny and laid her head on his shoulder while he played with a lock of her flaming hair, while Johnny sat next to Jazz, the same thing happening. Vlad smiled. He was secretly jealous of his little badger, but he would never tell him that.

That night, Ember and Danny officially made their relationship physical. Danny silently thanked God that Vlad just happened to put him in a soundproof room.

The next morning, Maddie and Jack sat at the table, talking about ghosts and such, when Danny and Ember walked downstairs. The parents immediately recognized the glow surrounding Ember, but they didn't mind. Danny and Ember really loved each other, and they had been dating for almost a year now. It was bound to happen eventually. Jack caught Danny's eye. He used his eyes to look pointedly at Ember, then back to Danny, who went red as he slowly realized what his father was implying. Jack said nothing, just gave Danny a thumbs-up when Maddie wasn't looking.

Suddenly, Danny had a thought. "Hey Uncle Vlad, when was the last time you went on a date with someone?" he asked. While Vlad thought, he and Ember had a quick whispered conversation, and Ember enthusiastically agreed.

"Well, I would say it's been quite a few years now. Why?" Vlad asked suspiciously.

"Because I think I just found you one," Danny said with a smile.

That evening, Danny, Ember, Johnny, Jazz, Maddie, Jack, and Vlad all went out eat. They went to a fancy Mexican restaurant called Mi Cocina, where they waited for Vlad's date.

Soon, she arrived in the limo Vlad had sent to pick her up from the Fentons'.

As Vlad opened the door, Ellen thanked him, blushing slightly as she took in Vlad's appearance. When Vlad blushed as well, the Fentons plus Johnny and Ember all looked at each other. Bingo. Could Danny and Ember play matchmaker or what?

The next morning, Vlad and Danny were up early, flying in the pasture behind Vlad's mansion.

"Now when you want to use the ecto-scream or whatever you want to call it, make sure you bring the right amount of ecto-energy from your core to your throat. Too little energy, and your target won't be affected. Too much, and you risk injuring yourself," Vlad explained. "I'll demonstrate. Cover your ears," he warned, before taking a deep breath.

The sound that came out of his mouth was like a heavy-metal scream, except slightly lower pitched and MUCH louder. Red sonic waves came forth from Vlad's mouth, flattening everything it their path.

Vlad stopped screaming, and the last of the waves dissipated. "Now you try," he said.

Danny gulped, then gathered the energy. After triple-checking to make sure it was the right amount, he took a deep breath and screamed.

The result was devastating. His scream lasted a shorter time than Vlad's, but it was much more powerful. When he finally stopped screaming, Vlad looked at him incredulously.

"That was…unexpected," he said.

"Now you have to name it. Banshee Scream is taken, by the way," he said with a pointed look. Danny thought about it before finding a name that he thought suited the attack quite well.

"I'll call it my Ghostly Wail," he said proudly. Vlad smiled. "Apt, considering what it sounded like. Now," he said, as he drew two swords and smiled, "have you been practicing, little badger?" Danny winced at the nickname and drew his own swords. "You bet, fruitloop!" Vlad raised an eyebrow. "Fruitloop? Never heard that one before…" he mused, before smiling. Danny had put up with the 'little badger' nickname, so it was only fair.

After an hour of sparring, both were too tired to continue. After returning to the mansion, Danny showered and flew down to the living room, where Ember sat watching a horror movie, gripping a pillow as though her life depended on it. Deciding that scaring her would be a dick move, he made sure to walk in front of the couch and sit close to her. She immediately abandoned the pillow in favor of him.

Danny noticed the look in her eye, and the fact that she was trembling. He looked at the movie and immediately made the connection. The movie showed a man in a weird mask lighting a match and dropping it to the ground, causing a line of gasoline to ignite and engulf a house in flames, screams coming from the inside. Danny realized that that was how she died. Someone burned her house down with her and her mom still inside.

Danny immediately shut the movie off and held Ember close. She was still shaking as silent sobs racked her body. Danny stroked her flaming hair and whispered encouraging words to her, which eventually calmed her down.

She then told him about her insane father, how he thought her mother was cheating on him when she wasn't, and how in his paranoia burned their house to the ground with Ember and Ellen trapped inside.

She looked up at Danny only to find his eyes were glowing a venomous green, his fangs bared. "Where is he?" he growled. "He works at the Wal-Mart just outside of town," Ember said, and Danny kissed her and stood. Vlad came out from the doorway and stood next to him and Ember. He was shaking with barely-restrained fury. "I heard everything. Let's teach this asshole a lesson he won't soon forget," he snarled, transforming and baring his fangs, his eyes glowing blood red. With that, he and Danny shot intangibly through the ceiling, only to be met with the rest of the Fentons, and Johnny. "We want to go too, this guy's gonna pay," Johnny said, twirling a heavy chain at his side. Danny and Vlad nodded, then took off.

They found the wretched excuse of a man pushing shopping carts in the parking lot.

The Fentons, Johnny, and Vlad all descended in a circle, effectively trapping him.

"Are you Frederic McLain?" Danny asked with venom in his voice. Frederic nodded.

"Ellen and Amber say hi," Vlad spat. Ellen had told him Ember's name while living. Frederic immediately turned angry.

"That cheating bitch deserv-" He was cut off as Jack's massive fist slammed into his stomach. He staggered and threw a punch at Jack's stomach, but it was futile. Trying to punch Jack was like trying to hit a brick wall. He fell to the ground, with Danny, Jack, and Vlad all standing over him, fangs bared.

"You burned them alive you pitiful excuse of a man!" yelled Vlad, planting a boot into the man's kidney, hard. By now, people were staring, and filming the incident on their phones.

"And now, you'll suffer the same fate," said Jazz.

Jack grabbed the man by the back of his neck and everyone teleported to the inside of an abandoned shack on the outskirts of town. Jack threw the man to the ground and everyone teleported outside. "Jazz, if you would," said Danny with pure malice.

Jazz bathed the shack in a torrent of fire, ignoring the agonized screams coming from within. After a moment, everything was silent, except for the crackling of the flames. They all teleported to Vlad's mansion, and Danny immediately went to comfort Ember.

The rest of the family sighed and went to the living room and turned on the TV. A news report was on.

"In other news, the hometown ghost heroes were spotted today in Wisconsin, where they, along with two other ghosts, cornered one Frederic McLain. McLain was accused of two counts of first-degree capital murder, but the case was dropped due to lack of evidence. We now go to eyewitness footage."

The family watched as the phone camera captured everything, including audio.

"That cheating [bleep] deserv-" Jack sank his fist into Frederic's stomach.

"Probably broke some ribs there, Dad."

"Good."

Then Jack grabbed him and they teleported away.

"The fate of Mr. McLain remains unknown, and no search has been called. Back to you, Jim."

Johnny got up to check on Danny and Ember, since he lost the "nose goes" game.

As he went up the stairs, he heard a soft moan coming from a slightly open door. Immediately recognizing that he was swimming in dangerous waters, he floated an inch above the floor and silently closing the door. He knew what was happening without having to look. Nice job, bro, he thought.

"Well how are they?" asked Jazz when Johnny came downstairs.

"They're fine."

That's it for this chapter! I will introduce Danielle in the next one, and I will start a poll on how you want the relationship to be!

Brother/Sister

Father/Daughter

Cousins

Also, I plan on introducing a few antagonists next chapter! So…(spoiler alert) BEWARE!

* I don't know why but I felt a Ghost Rider reference was needed.