A/N- I'm really sorry about this taking forever to get posted! Life's crazy right now, with school being beyond busy, and Volleyball (Go Volleyball!) season just starting, and recovering from illness, and it's just been crazy, and I'm really really really really really sorry!


A huge thanks to the amazing people who helped me with this! Thanks to IceDragon19, Pheek, and KagomeKritin!


And, I know this is progressing slowly, but the action is coming soon, very very soon. =] This will only be about four or five more chapters, if that, so it will get exciting very soon.

OH! I really want to thank every single person reading this, and everyone who has faved, alerted or reviewed this story, or me. You guys have no idea how much inspiration that gives me to write more! You guys made it to 185 reviews! 185! I love you all!

Okay, so, I'm done ranting now, on with the story.


Disclaimer- I don't own Danny Phantom.


Danny


Mom's fussing didn't last long; she dropped her arms as soon as Jazz had told her just how quickly she had gotten ready. It explained why her normally perfect hair was now in a messy knot.

I walked over to where they were standing, barely even feeling the tingling of the almost healed ankle, and Jazz glanced at me with a concerned stare. I grinned at her. "It's healing."

She sent me a look like she didn't believe a word I had said. I just rolled my eyes. Mom raised an eye brow at the both of us. Jazz blushed.

I elaborated. "My injuries, they're healing."

"Oh," Mom nodded.

"Okay, how bad are they?" Jazz asked, not even looking at me. I huffed.

"I'll be fine." It was a lie. I knew I wouldn't be completely healed by the morning. My ankle, yes, but my side? No way.

Jazz only glanced at me long enough for her to send me another questioning look before turning back to Mom.

"He says he'll be fine, but if he were," Mom paused, hesitating on the wording. "normal it would take weeks. I don't think he should come with me."

Jazz flinched at my expression. "Mom, we're going to need him."

"We?"

"You're not keeping me here while you traipse through the Ghost Zone. I know more about it than you and Dad do together, not telling how well Danny knows it."

" Jazz," Mom sounded pleading, as if she really thought she could do this on her own. I had nothing against her fighting- she was an amazing fighter actually- but this wasn't her known area, it was ours. She didn't know what was needed to hurt each specific ghost, let alone how to get to their lairs.

"Mom, I can fight. You're not stopping me. This is Dad we're talking about, and I'm not waiting here while you go risk your neck for something I could have helped you with!" Jazz had a point, this could all get dangerous, and it could get dangerous fast.

"But, Jazz-" And again, Jazz cut her off.

"Ask Danny then! Ask him if he thinks you can do it alone. He knows better than I do!"

Both of their eyes turned to me and I felt like backing up against a wall or maybe sliding right through the floor.

"Well?" Mom asked.

I could see the way she wanted me to say yes, and it wasn't because she wanted to be right, to be able to handle it without help; she didn't want our help, she wanted us as far away from this as possible. But that wasn't possible.

"No." She swallowed, her mouth turning to a thin line. "You're going to need my, our, help."

She wanted to ask something, I could see it in her eyes, and it didn't take her long to voice it. "Are you sure you can help?"

I almost laughed. She'd never seen me actually fight, I'd always held myself back, never aiming right, and never, ever, aimed to hurt, she didn't knew what Jazz and I could do. I couldn't help the way my lips twitched.

"Definitely. Jazz and I are a team; we've been fighting for a while." She let out a long breath through her nose, defeated.

"Speaking of a team," Jazz started, sending me a look, I didn't like where this was going. "What about Sam and Tuck?"

Mom's eye flashed between us. I had mentioned Sam and Tucker once or twice, but never enought to really clue her in about them actually fighitng with me. She knew they were in the know, but not that they really helped. She seemed to think Jazz was bringing two untrained kids into this mess, and she didn't agree. "What?"

"Sam and Tuck, have you called them?" Jazz asked, looking at me quizzically.

I hadn't. I didn't want to get them involved, even though they had helped me defeat many other dangerous things. This was different that patrolling; this was purposefully going into the Ghost Zone to find a ghost, not flying around town. This was dangerous, and if I had it my way, not even Mom would be coming. Sam and Tucker were part of the team, but if they got hurt while there, I wouldn't forgive myself.

"No," I muttered.

"What? Why?" Jazz looked at me like I had grown a second head, but I had mastered duplication, so that was out of the question.

"I haven't called them." I didn't want to.

"Wait, stop." Mom said. "What about Sam and Tucker?"

That stopped Jazz mid-thought, and she stared at me. "I thought she knew!"

"Do you really think an hour is enough time to explain everything?" She made a face, but she knew I was right.

"Well, I figured you'd have mentioned your team." Jazz said, and then looked at Mom's still confused, and slightly angry, expression.

"Sam and Tucker are the rest of what some would call Team Phantom, they're actually more involved than I am in the fighting bits of it. Well, I guess that could change, us not needing an alibi anymore..." she trailed off.

Mom swallowed again, as if her mouth was dry. "Why would you have called them?"

I'd figured it was obvious, but maybe it wasn't. I didn't have a chance to respond though, as Jazz got to it first. "Sam's the best shot I've met, as badly as it pains me to say it" I grinned at that " and Tucker could hack the FBI if you gave him time. They've saved Danny's butt more times than I can count. "

Mom just shook her head, and then directed her eyes at me. "Can we do it without them?"

Truthfully? It would be sketchy, and we'd almost definitely get someone hurt, not counting the chance that we might not even get Dad out. I wanted to say we could, like I had been all night, but staring my mom in the eyes with her asking me if we could do this without them, her not knowing what any of us could really do, made me think twice. I knew the fight that was coming, and I knew it wasn't going to be pretty. We didn't need to take any chances, not matter how much I really wanted to.

So, following that train of thought, I shook my head, eyes down.

"Then, why haven't you called them before?" Jazz asked, but I think she knew.

"Jazz, it's, like, three in the morning." I protested feebly. I really didn't want them getting involved, I didn't want them injured.

"And that's stopped you before?" I sighed, know she was right. I still didn't like it.

"Are you sure?" Mom asked again, looking at me. I nodded again, this time she was the one sighing.

Jazz sent me a look, one that clearly said I'm sorry, and a sad smile, before turning back to the previous conversation, one I wanted to avoid.

"You're injuries. What happened?"

"I'm fine, Jazz, just a little cut up." It was a lie, I wouldn't be completely healed by the time we left, but it wasn't going to stop me.

"Alright, sure," I thought she'd choke on the sarcasm she'd coated the words in. "Did you bandage them?"

I hadn't, not really. I wasn't good at bandaging since I was normally the one getting the bandages. She must've seen this on my face, because she walked over to me and before I could do anything to stop her, yanked on the hem of my T-shirt, exposing the bottom of the gash before I could force the material back down. She didn't let go of the shirt.

"Jazz, if he says he'll be okay-" Mom started, but Jazz wasn't listening, she knew too well how prone I was to going out while injured, and she didn't like it.

"He's lied to me before, and I really don't want this costing us later." Not even I could protest, and Mom had that look about her that told you she was officially in over her head.

I reluctantly allowed her to uncover the gash. It had healed a lot, but it wasn't nearly enough. The bruises around it had faded into a yellowish color, and the bleeding had stopped, but it was still bad. The skin around the edges was red and swollen, it was still open and exposed, and the entire wound was glowing a faint acid green, barely noticeable unless you were looking, and it meant there was still healing to do. I sighed as Jazz sent me a glare.

"What? I told I was fine!" I pulled the shirt back down, effectively covering the injury.

"I've never seen you glow before." she said, looking back at the shirt like she could see straight through it.

"It means I'm healing."

"You glow? I didn't notice it before." Mom said as she walking closer to me.

"Yeah. It starts about an hour after the injury is inflicted, it's my body telling me that the wound is bad. My best guess is that its like adrenaline, where my ectoplasm courses to wherever needs it the most. I've only glowed twice that I can think of." I sounded like a textbook, but it was the truth. It had freaked me out the first time I had seen it, but then it had vanished, and I was left wondering if I had imagined the whole thing.

Jazz looked at her watch. "Danny, it's three thirty, if you're going to call them, do it now. I'm going to go get the bandages while you do. She walked off, throwing me her phone as she passed.

Mom looked at me, "I'm going to go help her." And she walked off.

I looked down at the phone in my hand, sitting myself back down on the couch and flipping it open. I started dialing a number that was as familiar as the back of my hand.

Ring.

Ring.

Then he picked up, sounding much more awake than what I'd have thought. "Jazz? Is everything alright?"

"No, it's me, Tuck, and you need to get over here."

"What happened?" he demanded, and I heard bed springs compress in the background.

"Skulker has my dad."

"I'll be there in five minutes."

He hung up before I could respond. I started typing in the next number, just as familiar as the last.

Ring.

"Jazz, if there's not a good reason for this, I'm going to kill you." she muttered sleepily.

"Sam, it's not Jazz."

"Danny? What's wrong?" she sounded much more awake.

"I need you over here, now if possible."

"What's wrong?" she whispered.

"Skulker kidnapped my dad."

"Now is very possible. See you in five."

She didn't give me the chance to respond either, and I shut the phone as Jazz walked back through the door, holding white gauze and med tape. I tossed the phone back to her, nodding.

"They'll be here soon." I said.

She sat down beside me, first aid items in hand, she raised my shirt back up and said, "Good, I'll hurry then."


A/N- I'm really sorry about this taking forever, and that it's progressing slowly, but I hope both of these will get better. Well, the last one will, not so sure about the first one. =]

And I just had to add in Sam and Tuck. =]

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