Chapter 7– Teddybear98

Danny gulped nervously as both his mother and father - who had stopped talking to hear what he had to say. They both pulled up a chair and sat before him and Danielle, expectantly awaiting answers. The teenage halfa tugged at his shirt collar, suddenly feeling like the room was a lot hotter. Jack still looked oblivious, but his mother's piercing, curious glare was trained on him, never wavering. Danny took a deep breath to begin the story while Jazz and Tucker looked on from the corner, sending sympathetic looks of apology towards him. Sam still had not come back yet, and Danielle stood next to her clone, wanting to support him while he told his story. Danny closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, he struggled to make the right words come out of his trembling lips.

"I guess I'll just start at the beginning." He mumbled not really knowing where else to start. It's not like he could just tell them that Dani was a clone made by Vlad. That would just bring up more questions and he would end up having to start from the beginning anyway.

So, he continued, "Mom, dad…. So, you remember last year how the portal just suddenly started working when you were sure it was busted?" His parents nodded, looking even more intrigued now than before. They were both wondering what that had to do with anything. Danny took another deep breath before continuing, trying to steady the extremely fast beat of his heart. "Well, you see, that was because –" The raven-haired boy never finished his sentence, because just then, Sam came pounding back down the stairs to the lab with a fearful expression on her face.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fenton! A – a bunch of ghosts! They just came out of nowhere! Quick, they're getting away!" she yelled, glancing nervously back up to the floor above where many crashes and wails could be heard from the escaping entities.

"GHOSTS!" the two hunters exclaimed in unison, jumping up and running up the stairs, grabbing ecto-guns on the way. The conversation with their son had been forgotten – for now. As soon as the two disappeared, the goth dropped her phony act, smirking at Danny.

"You're welcome," she said, and Danny ran over with a smile plastered on his face, hugging her.

"Sam, you're a life-saver! Thank you!" he said before letting go quickly, turning away to hide the small blush appearing on his cheeks. Sam looked down for a moment, recomposing herself after the hug, before looking back up to meet Danny's blue eyes.

"Don't thank me yet, Danny. Your parents will want to hear the rest of that story eventually, and you'll have to catch all of those ghosts again; I released them from the thermos. It was the only distraction I could think of." Danny looked slightly miffed at this, but shrugged it off, knowing that it was better than the alternative of telling his parents his secret. Besides, he would have Jazz, Tucker, Sam, and Danielle to help him catch the escaped ghosts later.

"Well, still, it's better than –" Danny started to voice his thoughts, but for the second time that day, he was cut off, and not by a welcome excuse this time. No, this time, the boy was cut off by his ghost sense going off. Seconds later, an angry-looking ghost with flaming green hair floated down into the lab with the Fenton parents close behind, ecto-guns charged and ready to fire. All the kids froze. Danny and Dani couldn't Go Ghost. Not with Maddie and Jack there.

"Prepare to perish before the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter, Ghost Child! Your pelt will adorn my wall!" Skulker yelled, a smirk on his face. He then pointed his missiles right at Danny. Time stood still for a moment after that. The only sounds that could be heard were the gasps from Jack and Maddie as their son was threatened, the rapid breathing coming from the teen in question, and the sound of Skulker's missile launcher preparing to blast him. Everything finally snapped back into action when the weapon was fired. Both Danny and Dani were in the blast zone and Danny quickly grabbed his younger clone and pulled her out of the way just seconds before the blast exploded in the space right where they had just been.

"Run, kids!" Maddie yelled, a furious tone in her voice. And run they did. Danny and Danielle took off the fastest, knowing they had to find a place out of sight to transform into their ghost halves before Skulker demolished the lab – and Danny's parents for that matter. The two halfas bolted up the stairs, throwing in a fake terrified scream just to make the act more realistic. Meanwhile, Jazz, Tucker, and Sam stayed trapped in the lab, not being able to make it past Skulker.

Once the two kids made it out of the lab, Danny gave his girl counterpart a knowing look, and at the same time, their voices called out, "Going Ghost!" A bright flash of light appeared at their midsection and quickly spread up and down their body in the familiar rings, changing them into their alter egos. The pair then flew back down to the battle that was ensuing.

"Hey, Skulker! Trying to impress your lame-o girlfriend again by coming here!?" Danny called out with a smile on his face as he hit his foe in the chest with an ectoblast. The ghost crashed into the wall, and as he got back up, Danielle came up behind him and did a powerful roundhouse kick aimed at his side. Skulker fell to the ground with a grunt, and the girl laughed at her easy accomplishment. Scowling, the self-proclaimed "Ghost Zone's greatest hunter" floated up in a last-ditch effort to redeem himself, but he didn't even have time to call out a witty comeback to Danny' previous question before he was sucked into a Fenton Thermos that had been previously lying on a lab table.

Danny chuckled and high-fived Danielle, pleased at the easy victory they had been rewarded with. Their pleasure was short-lived, however, because they were quickly reminded that the Fenton parents – who hated the two Phantoms – were still in the room when the sound of a weapon charging up reached their more sensitive ears.

"Don't move," they heard Maddie growl out. Danny had to think fast as he heard the weapon fire with Danielle floating there paralyzed in fear. Danny whipped around to face his parents and quickly moved in front of her, determined to protect her; in his hurry, not once did it cross his mind to make them both intangible to avoid the oncoming blast. As a result, the blast hit him full on. The 15year-old dropped out of the air and onto the hard floor of the lab, screaming in pain, and in that pain-filled moment, he let his ghost half slip.

"DANNY!" Sam, Jazz, Tucker, and Danielle all called out in unison, which highly confused the two ghost hunters; their confusion grew when white rings suddenly appeared around the fallen ghost boy's midsection and started to travel up and down his body. Gasps could be heard from the teens in the room. In a desperate attempt to keep the secret they had worked so hard to protect, Danielle dropped down in front of her clone, trying to block him from view. Tuck, Sam, and Jazz rushed forward to try to do the same, even though they all knew there was no way they would make it before their friend reverted back to his human form. Sure enough, the light disappeared a second later, and Danielle was much too small to shield Danny's entire body from view. There were loud gasps from Maddie and Jack when they saw that in place of the pesky ghost teen they had come to hate was now their beloved son.

"That – that's not p-possible," Maddie stuttered out in a state of shock while Jack stood there with his mouth agape, speechless. By some unspoken language, the two started to move forward, towards where the boy was now starting to sit up, groaning a little and obviously not realizing just yet exactly what had just happened – that his secret had been blown. Knowing that she had to protect him just as he had done for her, Danielle took a threatening step forward.

"Don't touch him!" she spat out. Acting out of emotion now, she changed back to her human half and hoped his parents would either take interest in her instead of Danny or not be willing to harm a young human girl. Maddie and Jack froze in their tracks as she did so, their eyes growing even wider if that was even possible. They were rendered completely useless when their oldest daughter and Danny's two friends, were suddenly standing beside the girl, blocking Danny from view in a very protective manner.

"K-kids…what on Earth is going on? T-that is not possible. Tell me we did not just see what we think we just saw…." Jack said after a minute or two passed by, recovering before his wife did. Before any of the four teens standing in front of Danny could respond, another groan sounded from behind them, and a portion of raven hair could be seen moving as Danny sat up rubbing his head and looking around in confusion.

"Wha…?" he asked dumbly, but his breath could be heard hitching in his throat as his full senses came back and the nervous, scared feeling started to set in. He stood up shakily, pushing his way to the front of the group.

"Mom, Dad, I–I can explain…."

However, he didn't get the chance too because suddenly a loud banging was heard from the other side of the portal.


Edited and Revised 7/22/19