Guess who's back... back again...

*Angry stares* Ok I've been gone a looooooong time. Like I've said on my profile, I took 4 english courses this year, and decided to focus on original creative writing rather than fanfics. That doesn't mean I haven't worked on them though. I warn you that this chapter has many bugs in it... but this was one of the most troublesome of the bunch. As well, I am writing constantly so I shall give you more chapters as quickly as I can. Sorry bout the long wait, I hope it's worth it.


Chapter 7

"Let the feast begin!" Frostbite exclaimed to the humans happily. But his voice only echoed through the somber table, each human lost in their own thoughts. Frostbite sighed, "You all must eat; you can't neglect your own health."

"How's Phantom doing?" Tucker asked Frostbite. The yeti's face became solemn. He opened his mouth to reply when Lysias walked through the door.

"He's stable," the healer replied. "Though that last fight took a lot out of him, he's very strong willed that one is."

Tucker and Sam looked at each other in relief while Maddie and Jack remained silent. The hunters still couldn't believe what had happened.

"Can we see him?" Sam asked hopefully.

Lysias' eyes rested on the girl and shook his head. "Not tonight, let him rest. Perhaps tomorrow, when everything has calmed down. Right now let's dig into this feast I've been craving about for the last five hours." Lysias took a seat beside Frostbite and grabbed a leg of chicken from the table. The others followed suit, and soon the solemn mood gave way to light conversations.

"So, you ghosts can eat food?" Jack asked as bit into his chicken.

"Only if they're fused with some ectoplasm," Frostbite replied as he dumped the gooey substance onto his plate, Lysias mimicking him. "We also need energy, so we draw it off of a combination of food and ectoplasm. Though not all ghosts use this method, there are various ways they can get energy."

Maddie listened to the conversation with minimal interest, her mind had wandered back to Phantom. He saved Jazz... why? She asked herself. Could it be we hurt an innocent creature? He did steal everyone's Christmas presents sure, but he denied that and we did see that weird Santa Ghost thing. And then there's today, where even after we attacked him, he sacrificed whatever energy he had to save Jazz. Are we wrong?

Sam and Tucker didn't even pretend to listen to the conversation, they sat in silence. Each teen knew they had to get to their friend, but did not know how. Sam's eyebrows flew up in remembrance and turned to her friend. "The walls," she whispered.

The techno geek looked at his friend, before breaking into a smile. "Tonight, when they're asleep," he replied back.

"We've already arranged your sleeping quarters," Frostbite said, getting everyone's attention. "The women are in one room while the men in the other. The Great One is in a room not to far away. Shall we show you to your rooms afterwards?" With a nod from each of his guests, Frostbite smiled and continued his conversation about earth food with Jack Fenton.

:--=--:

Silence echoed throughout Danny's room, the faint beeps from the monitor and his deep, laboured breaths cutting through it. The peaceful air broke as Sam and Tucker fell through the wall and into the room. They looked over the sleeping boy, his bruises were bandaged, except for the shallow cuts on his face and arms.

"He's in his human form," Sam whispered, walking towards Danny, Tucker following closely behind her. "No wonder Lysias didn't want anyone to see him, the Fentons would know everything, and if Danny's not ready for that then..." her voice trailed off.

Tucker remained silent, watching Danny sleep. "It's my fault!" he whispered harshly. Sam whirled around. "I should've gotten that shield up faster, or held him back or, or SOMETHING!"

"Tucker, don't blame yourself," she said. "I could be to blame too: why didn't I try to stop him, or back at the cave, why didn't I try and get him to change back. Trust me, I've considered the possibilities, neither one of us could stop Danny if he really wanted something, you know that, I know that. There's no use beating ourselves up about it. What we need is to try and make sure his secret stays that: a secret." Tucker swallowed as he looked at Danny, before turning away and sent a small smile towards Sam.

"Spoken like two wise and brave friends," Lysias' voice cut through the silence as he appeared out of the darkness. The two teens jumped as they saw the ghost. Lysias walked over to them and looked over the injured half-ghost; he sighed. "Poor boy, the amount of pain he must be going through is unimaginable." The two teens tore their eyes away from Danny and looked up at Lysias. "Mentally, physically and most of all, emotionally. I could never be able to do what he does and have enough strength to go on."

The ghost boy groaned in his sleep, regaining the three pairs of eyes he had before. Lysias ran his hand over his body, and watched his heart monitor.

"How's he doing?" Tucker asked tentatively.

Lysias' face suddenly became confused before a small smile formed on his lips. "It seems, your friend is stable and has recovered most of the energy he lost over the past 36 hours or so. A truly remarkable event if anything." His eyes scanned the boy quickly, with a serious face. "However, the effect of the blasts are still evident; you can feel his core pulsing in him."

Sam put her hand over Danny's, her only way of comforting her friend. "Will he be okay?"

"I don't know. It's possible that he could have a relapse, but if he remains in human form for a few days, he should be fine."

Tucker and Sam sighed in relief, but deep down they knew that this was going to be their hardest test yet.

Lysias smiled. No wonder the boy picked them as his friends, they're as stubborn as he is. "You should get back to your rooms," Lysias reminded the teens. "If the Fentons catch you, then you'll have a lot more explaining to do. Besides, we've all had an eventful day and you both need your rest."

With a final look at their friend, Sam and Tucker nodded and reluctantly left the room.

Lysias watched them go and then turned his attention back to Danny. "As for you," he said to the sleeping teen, "Let's hope you'll actually listen to my instructions, for your sake, and your town's."

:--=--:

Danny woke up to a world of pain and blurriness. With a moan, he sat up, ignoring the pain from his chest and his head. Shaking, he raised a hand to his head, massaging his temple. "What hit me, a truck?" he said hoarsely, acknowledging his sore throat.

As the room stopped spinning, Danny realized that he had transformed into his human form and was very thankful that he transformed away from his parents. Slowly, and cringing in pain, he got up, taking off the wires from his arms. The monitor flat lined and his headache came back. "Great," he mumbled as he swayed, legs threatening to fall.

Bracing against the wall, Danny walked towards the door, before realizing that he could walk through the wall. He sharply drew his hand back, who knew what was on the other side of the wall. It could be his parents!

Danny sighed; he knew what he had to do, but didn't know if he could. Cursing himself for being so stupid, Danny walked through the wall.

:--=--:

The first thing Maddie heard was the soft patter of footsteps from outside her door. She was about to close her eyes when she realized they were abnormal footsteps. What's going on?

Careful not to wake up Sam, Maddie tip-toed across the room, watching as a shadow creep past the door. Maddie opened it and saw the shadow turn a corner, seeming to stagger with every step it took. Biting her lip, Maddie turned back to the open door and to the shadow. Well... it won't hurt to look she resolved.

Careful not to be seen, Maddie followed the shadow, glancing every so often to make sure she wouldn't be caught.

Is that... Phantom? Maddie looked past the wall and recognized the black jumpsuit and white hair. But.. isn't he supposed to be resting. Maddie saw him grip the wall, then leaned on it for support.

"I can do this..." she heard him whisper. "I have to." Maddie looked at him quizzically; what exactly did he have to do?

Maddie followed the ghost through the base, watching as many of the yeti ghosts murmured various "good morning, Great One." Phantom smiled at them and seemed to force his way through the crowd. Maddie noticed him limping through the door and she soon followed suit.

Phantom walked across the field, his body shaking as he continued to walk towards a huge dome. Maddie watched him curiously. "Where is he going?" she asked aloud.

"The battle stadium," Frostbite said behind her. Maddie jumped and whirled around, the large yeti stood with his yellow eyes looking at her with the same curious stare she was giving Phantom. Lysias stood beside him, watching the young ghost struggle through the snow.

"The battle stadium?" Maddie asked.

"Yes, it's where most ghosts go to train. The last time he was here, we helped him with his ice powers; that was a handful," Frostbite said, smiling slightly.

"But... isn't he injured?" Maddie asked, turning her head back to the ghost boy. Phantom was still struggling to get to the battle stadium. Frostbite and Lysias looked at one another, then turned back to the ghost hunter.

"Mrs. Fenton, I'd like to show you something," Frostbite said. Lysias looked towards the ghost boy and Frostbite nodded in acknowledgment.

Maddie looked at the ghosts and watched Lysias walk towards the ghost boy.

"Well?" Frostbite asked expectantly, walking away from Maddie. She looked hesitantly, then followed the yeti ghost.

I hope I know what I'm doing...

:-=--:

Maddie was speechless when she saw the shrine. Every inch of the walls were adorned with paintings and pictures, they even had a few newspapers, all of which had Phantom's face plastered over them. She went close to the stone walls, and saw hieroglyphics and ancient wall art that mirrored ones on Earth.

"Over here," Frostbite called, a ball of ectoplasm in his hand. Maddie shook out of her stupefied state and walked towards him, curiosity sparkling in her eyes.

"I don't really understand, I mean I asked you if Phantom is injured? What are we doing in this.... what is this anyway?"

Frostbite continued to watch the wall. "And I'm answering your question." Maddie looked at the wall. It was a picture of Phantom, attacking another ghost with a long mane of hair and a crown floating on his head. Wait a minute...

"Isn't that the ghost king?" she asked, getting a better look at the pictures.

Frostbite nodded. "Yes, that was him trying to get Pariah Dark back into the coffin of forever sleep."

"But..." Maddie started, quickly silencing herself. She had spent all these months blaming Phantom for this and countless other things, but after yesterday she had no idea who he was anymore. Was he truly evil?

Frostbite noticed the woman deep in thought. "I take it you've thought differently about this." Maddie reddened. "You weren't the only ones." Maddie looked at Frostbite inquisitively

"We ghosts used to be able to go to your world and back to ours easily, most of us didn't trouble humans, yet there are the stray few. It was peaceful and easy... until a few months ago. Ghosts were thrown back into the ghost zone, by a young ghost boy."

"Phantom," Maddie supplied, intrigued by the ghost's tale.

"Precisely. We didn't know what he was doing, most of the ghosts stayed away from him. Yet there was a select few who didn't want their privileges of the human world revoked so easily. Skulker, Walker, Ember, and many others ventured into the human world, and each time they were returned to the ghost zone vowing revenge on this ghost named Danny Phantom.

"It wasn't until the return of Pariah Dark when we learned the true nature of Danny Phantom. He gave us safety while the king was destroying what us ghosts made for centuries, albeit most of the ghosts he defeated did manage to pick fights with him. He found out about the ghost king and he tried to rally us together in order to save our home."

"Is that why you call him great one then?" Maddie asked, her tone giving off a slight sarcastic vibe.

"No... most ghosts weren't really keen on the idea of fighting the ghost king at full power. He ventured into your world, you know of his power."

Maddie remembered the amount of damage the ghosts caused, if the ghost shield hadn't been up, the entire town would've been destroyed.

Frostbite continued. "It didn't stop Danny Phantom, yes he was defeated a few times, but he was determined to save the ghost zone, even though he didn't have any affiliation with it. He managed to defeat Pariah Dark, and got back our home... and yours if I remember correctly."

Maddie looked at Frostbite. "He stole the Fenton Exoskeleton..." she mused. He nodded.

"And it almost destroyed him. Ghosts and humans are more alike than you think Maddie Fenton. The exoskeleton was able to enhance his powers enough to take on the ghost king at full power... and survive amongst his 1000's of soldiers until reinforcements arrived. Yet with very ounce of power he let out, that much was taken away from him. When we managed to get him out of the suit, he had about 2 percent of his energy left. He succeeded.... but only just."

Maddie couldn't believe her ears, "That would've been enough to destroy him, why wasn't he destroyed."

Frostbite smiled. "You are forgetting, he is half human... he managed to return to his human half in time to conserve energy. But he was weak, and we had no idea if he was going to survive. So, we did what we could, and left him where he could be found by humans, to receive the help he needed."

A vision of Danny lying crumpled by the ghost shield swam in her mind. "My son... he was found outside the shield... he could've been 10-maybe 20 feet away from Phantom... and not even know it."

Frostbite sighed and looked back to the cave wall. "We call him 'great one' for his desire to help at all costs, even if it hurts himself. Danny Phantom is not evil, we've learned since that day, he helps those in need, ghost or human. You have doubts about his nature, you would be foolish otherwise, but understand this: there will come a day where Danny Phantom will prove to you his heroic nature, but I hope that day won't be too late." Frostbite gave one last searching look at Maddie and left her alone with her thoughts.

:--=--:

Danny sent out another ecto-blast at the target and fell onto his knees into the cold snow. He shivered all over and felt his ghost core pulsing violently within him. I can do this... he thought as he pushed himself up from the ground and took aim at the next target. Lysias warned him of his injuries, but it didn't matter. If that clone wanted to hurt Jazz because he thought she was somewhat involved, Danny had to destroy that clone as quickly as possible to save his family. He needed to do this, no matter what the cost.

He shot a series of ecto-blasts and ice beams at the target, before collapsing again. His breathing was ragged and his vision started to swim out of focus. "Get a grip..." he muttered sternly to himself, attempting to stand but falling to the ground again. He managed to control his breathing enough to hear the soft crunching of snow coming towards him. Probably Lysias again. He ignored it, gripping the ground and pushing himself up slowly. He heard the footsteps stop and he knew that the ghost was probably right behind him.

"Go away Lysias," he said loudly, trying to sound better than he felt. "I've heard enough of your speeches for one day."

"Did his speech include telling you to get some rest?" his mother's voice said. Danny cringed, she was the last person he needed right now. "Because I can't say I wouldn't agree with him, you're hurt."

"I'm fine," Danny said in the same manner. He pushed himself up from the ground again and managed to stand for a few moments, before his knees buckled under his weight. He braced himself for the impact of the cold snow, but someone caught him. He looked up to see a blurry outline of his mother, looking exasperated.

"Fine huh?" Danny's knees buckled even more and his ghost core started to painfully drain him of energy that he desperately needed. He bit his lip in an attempt to hide his pain, but Maddie's motherly knowledge knew what was wrong before he mentioned it. "Here, let me help you."

She helped him over to the stadium seats and sat him down. Danny didn't look up at her as she leaned against the barrier; he knew she was looking at him. "Thank you," he whispered, looking down at his boots, before closing his eyes. His core was still pulsing, but it had stopped draining his energy. He heard her move beside him.

"It is I who should be thanking you Phantom," she said. Danny looked up at his mother, confused. "You saved my daughter yesterday, you were hurt and you saved Jazz's life. Don't tell me that it didn't hurt you, Lysias told us your energy levels dropped after... well whatever you did." Maddie put a hand on his shoulder. "You protected her, under an impulse with no second thought, and for that, I owe you everything."

Danny was dumbfounded. Here was his mother, great ghost huntress, saying that she owes him. If you only knew mom... Danny thought.

They sat in silence for a few moments, none knowing what to say. Finally, Danny spoke up. "You owe me nothing. It's my job."

Maddie smiled. "Yes... I suppose it is. But I still owe you something." Danny opened his mouth, but Maddie gave him a look to silence him. She looked him in the eyes; green met violet. "I owe you a chance to explain. to tell me about your adventures... as a ghost."

Danny gave Maddie a searching look, looking for any sort of hidden motive on her face.

"What do you want me to tell?" he asked finally. "To be honest I don't really know how my life works sometimes but-"

"I want you to tell me about all the ghosts you've met, and fought. And I want you to start with one in particular." Danny looked at Maddie, he knew she was going to ask him something he didn't want to answer, ever since she helped him. It was one of his mother's best qualities. "Pariah Dark."

Danny looked at Maddie. He thought she was going to ask about him again, but this was unexpected. "Pariah Dark? As in the Ghost King?" Maddie nodded. Danny searched his mother's face again, then sighed. He gave her a small smile.

"How much time have you got?"


And that's chapter 7. The way this is heading in my head, it looks like this will be wrapped up in the next few chapters. Review as always I love to hear from you. Thanks for not biting my head off because of my lateness. Updates on the way shortly : ) Tis my graduation present to you!

MATW