Maddie, Jack, Jazz and Tucker waited impatiently for the Fenton speeder to come out of the portal. It had been hours since Danny and Sam had left, and after finishing their research, Tucker and Jazz came downstairs to eagerly await the return of their friends.

Maddie tapped her foot impatiently. "They've been in there too long, now," she said worriedly. "Even for Danny, it's dangerous; he hasn't used his ghost powers in years."

"Danny is a big boy now, Maddie," Jack said as-a-matter-of-factly. "We can't keep babying him forever. One of these days, we'll need to let him take care of himself without freaking out-!"

The portal suddenly flashed, and in sped the speeder. Sam landed it on the floor, where it slid across the lab and into the back wall.

"Omigosh, is Danny hurt?" Jack exclaimed fearfully, completely ignoring his last words.

Maddie waved her hand at the portal. "Close the portal, Jack!" she shouted as she ran to the speeder.

Sam pushed the door open and climbed out. Tucker reached out for her. "Sam, are you okay?" he asked worriedly. "You didn't run into any trouble, did you?"

"If you mean the Ghost Keeper by trouble, then I'd say yes, we did," Sam replied while gingerly rubbing the bruise on her head. "He blocked our way out and Danny had to fight him. He tried using the Fenton Thermos on it, but he just blew out of it."

"Where is Danny?" Maddie asked urgently.

Sam held up the Fenton fishing line, which was still glowing blue. "He got hurt, so I snagged onto him," she replied as everyone followed the line to the back of the speeder.

Maddie and Jack crouched over and stared under the back right tail of the speeder. Lying on his stomach against the floor, one arm covering his face and a glowing fishing line around his waist, was Danny, still in ghost form.

"Daniel!" Maddie exclaimed as she and her husband immediately ran around the back of the speeder and leaned over to reach for their son.

Danny moaned painfully and only shifted his head a little; but when Maddie's hands grabbed onto the line around his waist, the man began to panic and instinctively began fighting back. "Let go! Let go!" he shouted frantically, keeping his eyes shut tight.

"Calm down, Danny, just hang on," Maddie coaxed gently as Jack helped her pulled Danny out as gently as they could. "You're safe here, it's alright."

Danny still panicked. Jazz had to eventually come in and help hold him still while her brother continued to whimper and moan fearfully.

"Why are his eyes closed?" Jazz asked.

"The Ghost Keeper shot some ectoplasma rays into his eyes," Sam replied while pointing at her eyes.

"Jack, get my ghost box," Maddie instructed as she held her son's head and upper body in her arms and on her lap.

"Gotcha," Jack replied, getting to his feet and dashing off.

Danny shook his head violently while whimpering and began to rub his eyes again. His mother immediately pulled his hand away from his eyes. "Don't rub them, Danny, it'll only make it worse," she said as calmly as she could.

"It's burning my eyes out!" Danny cried painfully. "Why is it hurting so much?"

"Because you're human, Danny," Maddie replied. "Just don't rub them. I've got something in my ghost box that should help ease the pain faster." When her husband returned with the box, Maddie opened it up and pulled out an eye drop and a small container of glowing blue liquid.

"What is that stuff?" Tucker asked as he and Sam looked on.

Maddie unscrewed the covered and dipped the eye drop inside. "It's a pain reliever for ghosts," she explained. "I developed it shortly after Danny told us about his powers. It helps ease the pain of ghost injuries."

"But does it heal it?" Sam asked worriedly.

"Ghosts can heal themselves, Dear," Maddie replied. "This will just help cool the burning and Danny will be able to heal himself better." She pulled out the eye drop and put down the container. "Jasmine, hold your brother's right eye open for me, please," she instructed her daughter.

Jazz placed her fingers carefully over her brother's eyelids and held them apart. Danny panted loudly through his teeth as she did. His eye was revealed to be glowing red.

"This may feel like a bad burn for a few seconds, Danny," Maddie whispered soothingly to her son. "Just hang on and it will be finished in a few minutes. Just three drops in each eye."

She gently squeezed the eye drop and out dropped a glowing blue drop of liquid. It landed directly in Danny's eye.

Danny's body contorted as he groaned loudly in pain behind his teeth. He tried closing his eye but Jazz held it open.

"Two," Maddie counted, dropping the next one, which only made Danny scream louder. "Three…"

"IT'S MAKING IT WORSE!" Danny cried in agony. "STOOOOPPP!"

The third drop fell into his eye, making Danny cry out even more. He kicked and slammed his fists into the floor, causing the ground to vibrate. Sam and Tucker held each other tightly.

Jazz opened Danny's left eye this time and Maddie repeated the operation. Danny screamed loudly and broke into sobs.

"… Thrrreee," Maddie finished, dropping the last tear in. She tossed the eye drop aside and hugged her son tightly, holding him near her heart as Danny sobbed. "It's all done, Sweetie; it's aaaalll done," she hushed him.

Danny placed his arms around her and for once did not care that his mother was still rocking him at twenty-five years old; all that mattered at that moment was that the pain in his eyes would stop.

A few hours went by, in which Maddie instructed that Danny got some rest. It would take several hours before the drops had an effect, so while her son was brought upstairs to rest, the Fentons returned downstairs to have a bite to eat and then sit in the living room and listen to what information Tucker and Sam had discovered.

Sam went first, and explained about the information they received from Skulker. It took several minutes to over an hour for her to go into detail, and afterwards she was asked by Danny's parents to explain how they had gotten attacked.

"If I get my hands on that ghost who hurt my son, it'll be the last thing he feels," Jack said gravely, narrowing his eyes and squeezing his fists.

"Good luck on trying to even touch him, Mr. Fenton," Sam answered. "He's too powerful for any of your gadgets. Danny wasn't even able to hold him for more than ten seconds in the Fenton Thermos."

"But he was able to hurt him, wasn't he?" Tucker pointed out.

"Well, yeah, but that was only a punch. And the only time it actually hurt him was when I got into danger."

Jazz crossed her arms. "That's nothing new," she said seriously. "Danny's powers only become stronger when they're fuelled by his emotions. We all know how unstable they used to be when he was young, remember?"

"Not only that, but he's stronger when the people he cares about are put into harm's way," Maddie added.

Sam frowned. "So what are we going to do; deliberately use ourselves as bait and test how strong Danny really is?" she asked, unimpressed.

"That's kind of risky, isn't it?" Tucker pointed out anxiously.

Sam looked at him and opened her mouth to reply.

"Not to mention stupid."

Tucker and Sam raised their heads and turned to the stairs, just as the Fentons had done the same. Walking down slowly while holding up a wet cloth to his eyes was Danny, now transformed back to normal.

"How are your eyes, Danny?" Maddie asked gently.

Danny opened one of his eyes and looked at his mother. Though they were still rimmed in red, they had returned to normal and were their original blue. "They still burn, but they should be completely healed by tomorrow morning," he replied. He reached the bottom of the stairs and looked at the others. "Sam and Tucker are right," he said. "Putting yourselves in danger just to see how strong I am is not only dangerous, but the stupidest thing you guys can do," he said sternly. "Testing my emotions is the worst thing anyone can possible try to test. Especially when I'm a ghost. My emotions are double when I'm in that form, which makes things more unexpected."

"Then what should we do?" Jazz asked with a shrug. "The Ghost Keeper's clearly stronger than you. How will you be able to defeat him?"

"I've been fighting ghosts ten times more experienced than me," Danny replied, pointing at himself. "Every time I did, someone asked if I was sure I could do it. I've never been one hundred percent sure of what I could do, Jazz, but what I was sure about was what I couldn't let happen, and that's putting everyone I cared about into danger…" He paused and looked at the floor in fear. "Or…"

They waited for him to finish, but he never did. So Tucker stood up. "Or what, Danny?" he asked.

Danny looked up at him with great worry in his eyes. "Or… let you all… die," he added with great difficulty, looking at the floor again.

No one spoke. Tucker sat down again beside Sam, hoping the silence would end.

Danny rubbed his arm. "I don't mean to put anyone in danger," he said. "Or myself, for that matter. I've just… got a bad knack for bringing danger wherever I go."

"Last time I checked, every hero does," Tucker said with a small grin. "We don't mind the danger, Danny. You should know that by now."

"I do know that. But it's not you that I'm worried will mind it, Tucker; it's me. Someone always got hurt or something while I was fighting, or just managed to avoid getting killed. But I already know how brave the people of Amity Park are. I'm not worried about their amount of courage… It's mine that I'm worried about. I haven't fought ghosts for nearly five years. Even though I remember doing all of those things, it almost feels like a distant dream." Danny stared at his feet in shame. "I don't… think I completely remember what it's like to be brave," he said quietly.

Sam and Tucker looked at each other before sharing a grin and looking at their best friend again. "Danny, that's what we're here for," Sam announced, catching Danny's attention. She held out her hands. "To remind you of how brave you really are. We'll do whatever it takes to put it back into your head."

"And if that means fighting a big fat ghost and saving the whole town again, just like old times, then count me in!" Tucker agreed, swinging his fist through the air. He paused for a moment and then frowned softly while pointing at Danny. "But no phasing into my body anymore; I really hate it when you do that."

Danny managed to crack a timid grin while his parents, sister and girlfriend laughed.

Jazz clasped her hands together and caught everyone's attention. "Okay, then let's move on!" she said. "Sam's filled us in on everything Skulker told you two, Danny, so it's about time that Tucker and I tell you what we found."

"Though it's not much of anything, compared to what you and Sam got," Tucker replied, pulling out his pager. He held it up and pressed a button. "Okay, so a lot of ghosts are obviously incredibly freaked out by the GK, but some of the bravest dared to put down info about him." He looked at Danny. "Apparently, all those ghosts we saw at the fair that shot up into the sky, that's his energy. All the ghosts that he sucked them from. They mould together to create a mega spirit."

"That's probably the most helpful advice we found, though," Jazz added with a shrug. "The other thing was that, when he was alive, as in human, the Ghost Keeper liked to train in the dark arts and fought a lot with a sword."

Danny held up the cloth to his eyes again. "So the Ghost Keeper's known how to summon magic even before he got ghost powers," he said. "And if he can fight with a sword, then that means that he can combine the two together." He frowned and bared his teeth. "Great," he groaned. "I'm not nearly as powerful as he is, and I don't know how to fight with a sword. How perfect is that?"

"But you do know how to perform the Ghostly Wail," Tucker pointed out. "Not to mention use Cryokenisis."

"Crywhat?" Danny asked flatly.

Tucker raised an eyebrow and eyed him stupidly. "It's your own power, and you don't even know what it's called?" he said. "The power where all your cold ghost sense acts as an ice ray, Danny; your Ghostly Ice!"

"Oh! That!" Danny exclaimed. He shrugged. "I haven't used that power in five years, Tuck; do you honestly expect me to remember that name?" He frowned and placed one hand on his hip while the other held the wet cloth over his right eye. "Besides, a lot of good that power's done already. Sheesh."

"What does that mean?"

"Hello," Danny chanted while removing the cloth from his face and pointing at his eyes. "That's the power that got me into this mess, Tucker."

Tucker shrugged in reply. "Doesn't mean you can't still use it," he said.

Sam stood up. "And you can duplicate yourself," she added.

Danny stared at her in disbelief. "Are you guys asking me to kill myself or something?" he exclaimed. "What part of I haven't used my powers in five years don't you understand?" He held up one finger. "Number one, Ghostly Ice has already proven how weak it can be against that guy; and number two, I have to be careful when I use the Ghostly Wail. I may be getting stronger, but again, I haven't actually used my powers for anything since I graduated. Ghostly Wail even less than anything else. I can normally only use that maybe once or twice, but after that, I'm too weak and I turn back into a human."

Maddie rubbed her chin. "So if Danny's going to use that power, he's going to have to choose the right time carefully," she said.

Sam pointed at Danny. "And how about duplicating yourself?" she repeated. "You can make double the amount of damage."

Danny had his arms crossed now. He shrugged in reply. "I could, but again, I'm lacking the practice," he replied. "And two days of practice is not enough to get back into the Ghost Busting feeling."

Tucker smiled slyly. "You didn't exactly answer Sam's question, Danny," he said. "Can you duplicate yourself or not?"

Danny stared at him in silence before shooting him an irritated glare. Immediately after, his body was haloed in a white glow and split into two, creating two identical Dannys.

Jack opened his eyes wide. "Whoa," he said in bewilderment as his wife covered her mouth.

The two Dannys looked at Tucker. "Does this answer the question?" they asked simultaneously.

Tucker stared at them with an uncomfortable look on his face. "Man, that is never going to stop bugging me," he shuddered while Sam laughed.

Danny, the one still holding the wet cloth, held up a finger. "My lack of practice has kept me from properly multiplying, though," he said. "While I can make an extra copy of myself-!"

"-we can't split a second time without disastrous results," the second Danny finished, holding up two fingers this time. "Either we grow two heads-!"

"-or two of something else that would make us look weird," the first Danny finished.

Jazz clamped her hands over her ears. "Could you both go back to being just one Danny, please?" she exclaimed. "Having yourself finish each other's sentences is driving me crazy!"

"Oo; and it only took us twenty-five-years to do that!" the second Danny said with a smile, looking at his twin. The first held up his hand and high-fived the second; when he did, both merged into one Danny once more.

Tucker pulled out his pager pen and wrote things down on the screen of his pager. "Okay; so Danny can use all of his powers," he said, "He can duplicate himself once, use Ghostly Ice, and although he can only use it sparingly, Danny can also use the Ghostly Wail to his advantage." He looked up at his best friend. "Anything else?"

"How about this Ultimate Control Gift that Skulker said you had?" Sam noted, catching Danny's attention. "You could use that, right?"

"Sure," Danny replied sarcastically. "Once I learn what the heck it is. The only thing I can control, Sam, is someone else's body, and that's only if I take possession of them. As far as I know, this UCG that I've got doesn't exist."

"But if a ghost told you that it did, then it probably does, Sweetie," Maddie pointed out. "Maybe you should practice working on figuring out how it works. Maybe it could help defeat the Ghost Keeper."

Danny looked at her, but before he could reply, the clock in the corner rang eleven times.

Tucker sighed loudly and tucked his pager away. "We can deal with practice tomorrow," he said while standing up. "For now, we should all hit the hay. My folks are probably gonna be wondering where the heck I am by now."

"You're twenty-five, Tuck," Danny pointed out with a chuckle.

"Yeah; but my best friend's a ghost, and our town's in the Ghost Zone."

Danny grinned. "Point taken."

Tucker winked in reply and walked to the door. "I'll walk ya home, Sam," he said. "We can come back tomorrow morning when Danny's finished healing himself."

They said goodnight to the Fentons before Jack, Maddie and Jazz walked up the stairs to their bedrooms.

Danny watched as Tucker opened the front door and walked out, followed closely by Sam. The two of them turned around once out on the front steps and looked at Danny.

"Thanks again, guys," Danny said softly. "For… always backing me up… no matter how stupid I can get."

"We've been your best friends since, like, forever, man," Tucker replied with a smile. "We've been through too much with you to just abandon you now."

Danny stared at the ground. "Even… even after I've abandoned you guys for the last four years," he said heavily.

Sam leaned over and planted a soft kiss on his cheek. Danny looked at her once she had leaned back.

"Best friends don't pay attention to the things that already passed, Danny," she said. "We only pay attention to the present."

"And that's standing by your side, no matter what," Tucker added.

Danny blinked a few times and smiled weakly.

Sam and Tucker smiled back before turning and walking down the steps. Tucker saluted him. "Later Days, dude," he said. "Get some rest, kay?"

Danny raised a hand and waved as they walked down the sidewalk. "Kay," he replied. "Night, guys."

"Night, Danny," Sam said before they walked out of sight.