If you thought that last chapter was confusing, take a look at this!

Disclaimer: If I owned Danny Phantom, I'd have enough money to buy a better computer.


"Another half-ghost?" He whispered to himself in amazement. "One that looks like…like me? Could it be…"

Danny didn't finish that sentence. There was no way that he was going to be able to figure this all out. He knew that he had to stop Dan, but…how? He didn't know where the evil ghost was or what he was planning! He needed to know why Dan was here; what was so important? The only way that he'd be able to figure anything out was if he knew what was going on. And the only way to do that…was to spy.

Danny hid in an ally, ducking down and changing into his ghost half. Then, he flickered out of the visible spectrum and dashed into the sky.

Danny arrived at his house shortly after. Well, Fenton Works, anyways. He probably didn't live there now. But, it might give him a clue as to what was going on.

He phased into the house, happy to see that there wasn't a ghost shield or anything. The modernized house opened up in front of him. Everything was clean and shiny; looking high-tech. Except the living room looked almost exactly the same save for new furniture and updated pictures.

The ghost boy heard a small ruckus downstairs. Curiosity got the better of him and he phased his head through the floor. He had to stifle a gasp. His parents were down there, but they were so much older. His Mom's hair was much duller than he remembered and his Dad's was completely grey! Then, there was a third figure; tall and well built. He was taking the Fenton Thermos out of the releasing unit. He was turned away from Danny, but from what the teen could see, his hair was a scruffy mess of fading black, he wore a short-sleeved red shirt with white cuffs and collar that came out in a casual fashion, still showing off strengthened arms, and he also donned a pair of plain blue jeans and white sneakers that had red fasteners on them.

Then, the man turned slightly so that he was facing the elders.

"So…you haven't seen him?" He asked with a deep, but strangely familiar, voice.

"Sorry, honey. We haven't seen him at all today." Maddie replied with concern etched into her voice.

Danny froze, finally discovering who the man was. "That's…that's me."

The older Danny massaged his forehead exhaustedly as he let out a deep breath. "At least he's not in the Ghost Zone then. I just…I don't understand. I know Darren can be a bit of a troublemaker, but he's never done anything like this before!"

"Son, I know you're worried, but Darren will be fine. He's a Fenton after all!" Jack claimed with a big, comforting grin.

The younger man smiled. "I guess you're right. I have to go now. Maybe the rest of the 'search party' found something."

The man transformed into his ghostly counterpart and phased through the ceiling barely a foot away from where Danny was. The boy followed him in hot pursuit. Maybe there was a link between Darren's behavior and Dan's appearance.

A group of people waited by a normal-sized building. It looked like most of the town; made of some strange metallic material. Among the people stood the boy from before, except now his helmet was off. He possessed sharp facial features and his black hair was short and spiky. His eyes were a light teal, contrasting greatly with his skin. He was tall and seemed about fifteen. Next to him stood a tall man in almost formal attire. A red tie rested over a white work-shirt that was tucked into grey dress pants. He also wore fancy black shoes. As for his face; he had low cheekbones, a trimmed beard that resembled a goatee, and short-cut black hair. His eyes were about the same shade as they boy's, but had thick glasses covering them. Then, there were two women and a teenage girl. One of the women was dark-skinned as well. Her face was rounded softly and she had thick eyelashes covering another set of teal eyes. She had short, curly black hair that hung loosely around her face. A frown was placed on her mauve-colored lips. She donned a fancy red and black suit and was standing in front of her trusty jet sled. The other woman had pale skin, a slender face, violet eyes, purple-tinted lips, short black hair, a

long lilac tank-top with a black stripe across the center, and black jeans. As for the girl; slightly tanned skin, violet eyes, wavy black hair held back by violet barrettes, dark pink lips, a bright green midriff top with purple three-quarter sleeves and a purple star in the center, a black bracelet on each wrist, and a blue jean skirt. She was twirling a strand of her hair nervously. She looked around sixteen.

The adults could easily be recognized. Tucker, Valerie, and Sam.

"Where is he? He should have been back ten minutes ago!" Sam shouted in irritation.

"Calm down, Sam. Danny probably just got caught up with a ghost fight or something. He'll be back any minute." Tucker assured, putting a hand gently on her shoulder.

As if to prove this, older Danny came speeding up a second later, the invisible ghost boy still on his tail. The man landed right in front of them.

"My parents said that they didn't see him, so he's probably not in the Ghost Zone." Older Danny informed.

"Well, if you had arrived on time, you would've known that Adrian saw him." Sam snapped, clearly up in a knot with this.

"Hey! There was a gho-wait. Adrian saw him?" Danny asked, wide-eyed.

"Yeah." The tall, dark skinned boy piped up. "I caught him flying around Maple Street, but he got away. The weirdest part: he didn't show up on my scanner."

Younger Danny tensed up.

"Dad," The girl piped up "I think something is seriously wrong with Darren. I asked the kids in his class and they said that he just got all panicky and then vanished. I mean, it could be the ectochronia, but he usually tells someone and hardy ever ditches school because of it."

The invisible Danny furrowed his brow. Ecto-what?

"Camela's right, Danny." Sam agreed. "Whatever it is, it's serious."

The unseen boy sighed to himself. He had no idea what they were talking about. How was he supposed to find Dan if he had no clue what was going on? Whatever the evil ghost was planning must have included this day…so what was so special about today? And what the heck was up with this Darren kid? Too many unanswered questions.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Tucker pitched in, tired of the slow-moving progress.

Everyone nodded their heads as the younger Danny rubbed his temples. This was going to be a long day.


:D Confused yet? GOOD! This will all be explained eventually, but right now, I'm taking joy from your puzzlement.