All right. Another difficult chapter that I still feel could use a little work. I may go back to edit a few details in the future, but hopefully it will at least get a few points across.

Chapter 12: Science and Research

After the train crisis was over, Valerie took Danny to Axion Labs: A research facility in Amity Park where her father, Damon Gray, worked on experimental technology. Some of which included ghost-hunting equipment that was actually designed by Danny's parents and had been sent there for suggestions to make it better.

By this time, Danny was back in his human form and Valerie was out of her armor.

Without the suit, she was an African-America girl that usually wore a yellow tank top with an orange skirt and a headband pulling her long, dark, curly hair back.

Both teenagers were standing a distance behind her father who was a tall and broad-shouldered man with a dark mustache to match his short hair. He had on glasses and his typical business outfit of a clean white button-up shirt and black pants and dress-shoes. He was currently at a large-screen computer consol, looking up the results of the scan of the contents of the Fenton Thermos.

The flame from Dark Phantom's head could not be released from the Thermos for analysis, for it would disappear if it were to be taken out. However, the Thermos itself could be connected to certain machines in the main lab that were able to scan what was inside the device without having to open it and expose its contents.

While this study was happening, Danny took a minute to talk to Valerie about the fight she had with his evil self, asking if the specter figured out who she was and if the fight got any more difficult after he learned certain facts.

"Not really." Valerie said, making sure her father didn't overhear after Danny had asked. "He really only saw us arguing about how to handle things, so he probably just thought we were competitors in ghost-fighting instead of actually helping each other out."

That came as a relief to Danny. By the way things had played out and what Dark Phantom was able to observe, it sounded to him that even if he did find out that Valerie had gotten an entirely different and more high-tech battle suit that he just didn't recognize her in, she was probably safe as long as he thought she and Danny were still rivals. So Danny didn't have to worry about his alternate future coming after the Grays for the time being.

"We've got a lock." Mr. Gray said after a while.

Danny turned in that direction to see that a map of the world had appeared on the screen in front of the head of Axion Labs.

There didn't seem to be anything exciting or different going on with it at the moment, but Mr. Gray told him that a definable ectoplasmic signature could be found from the white flaming hair sample. Danny may not have been able to catch his evil self today, but now, with these scanners, the Grays would be able to know when Dark Phantom showed up in the human world again and where.

"And all from a simple DNA sample." Valerie's father concluded after this was explained aloud.

Wait a minute. Danny thought. Sample. Another idea began to dawn on Danny in remembering an experience he had with The Guys in White at the beginning of summer. He had been poisoned with a liquidized form of Blood Blossom, which was a deadly anti-ghost substance, but a spectral friend of his was able to find a cure for it by simply analyzing a sample of the poison from his blood. Danielle took a big part in helping the cure to take full effect, but perhaps that same principal could be applied for her current condition.

However, as Danny realized only a second later, all of Undergrowth's leftover sap had been completely cleaned up by now. He wouldn't be able to just pick it up from the streets anymore. But perhaps Mr. Gray and some of the scientists that worked here had been able to get a hold of some for their own studies.

"Hey. Mr. Gray? You know that sticky sap stuff Undergrowth left behind after that last battle with him?" Danny began to ask.

Mr. Gray nodded with a smile. "Yes. We're looking over some of it to check for any other effects it might have on anything organic. So far, it seems those who have been in direct contact with it are in not in any fatal danger."

"Well that's good." Danny responded. Though he was thinking about how Danielle had still been blinded by the sap, even if it wasn't additionally poisonous to the touch. "Could I get some of it from you then?"

Valerie's father looked a bit puzzled at him. "What for?" He asked.

"Oh. You know." Danny shrugged innocently. "For scientific and medical research. The usual." Danny didn't really want to go into the details of how Danielle had been blinded from the sap. It might make them start to worry that the Phantom ghost-fighters were now short one important member.

Valerie's father just looked a bit suspicious. Was there something about Danny that was telling him that he wasn't intending it to be just for "the usual" purposes?

"But…I just said that we're already studying it for that same reason." Damon Gray replied.

"I know, but I have another friend I can refer it to for more specific purposes."

The Gray's looked at each other for a second and Danny glanced between them hopefully as they were considering this.

Damon knew that Danny usually had good reason for keeping things classified. The Grays didn't even know that his new house was located a hundred feet below the old one. Danny felt it was for the best, and the Grays usually understood this, even though the two families were practically business partners now.

The boy ghost-fighter was relieved when Mr. Gray nodded his approval and sent for a lab assistant to retrieve what he asked for. The lab assistant returned with a corked vial of the green substance and gave it to the young Ghost-Hero.

"I wish you didn't have to remain so enigmatic, though." Mr. Gray commented when Danny had the vial. "Especially since the world already knows your biggest secret."

"Yeah. I thought I wouldn't have to worry about that either." Danny said with a sigh as he channeled his power to Go Ghost. "At least until I was reminded of a few things." As he was flying up towards the ceiling, he looked down at the Grays. "I'll be back later to pick up the Thermos." After the Grays nodded in acknowledgment, Danny phased through the roof.

Soon after the young hero left the labs, he found himself back down in the underground Fenton Works. Jazz was in the front room on the couch, reading. No doubt from a book that explained how blind people lived in their dark worlds.

She looked up from her book to see that Danny had come home. "Hey Danny. Did you see you evil self out there today?"

Danny barely even looked at her before he just flew passed her to the kitchen to go down to the lab.

Jazz slammed the book shut, feeling quite irritated in not being acknowledged, and followed her inconsiderate little brother down the stairs to see that he was packing a few things into his old school backpack.

"And where are you going now that we're not allowed to follow because of being under house arrest?" Jazz asked, folding her arms with a glare.

Even though Jazz was usually spending a lot of time inside studying when she wasn't out helping Danny fight ghosts, she had been the first to become over-sensitive and Claustrophobic in having to stay inside while her little brother was out on his own, trying to track down his evil self as well as a possible cure for Danielle, which Danny already knew, Jazz found idiotic in itself.

"I'm going to see Frostbite." Danny told her as he was taking the vial of the green sap and putting it in a safe compartment in the backpack.

Jazz rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "Danny, if this about finding a cure for blindness again, have you even considered the fact that it might be just a little farfetched?"

"A cure for Blood Blossom poison was supposed to be farfetched too. And Frostbite was able to help me out with even that, just by looking at a small sample of it." Danny replied, not even looking at the college student as he continued his preparations.

"The only way that antidote would work was with a whole lot of luck involved and Danielle risking her own life!" Jazz put in, throwing her hands up in aggravation as Danny closed his backpack. "Poisoning and the complete loss of one of the five senses are entirely different things as far as getting the proper medical attention goes. Really, Danny, I think the only thing we can do to help Danielle at this time is to help her adapt to her new environment like any normal blind person would."

Danny swung his backpack onto his shoulder and just looked at his sister sternly with one simple statement. "Danielle was never normal."

Jazz only returned the look and moved her hands to her hips. "Which is only another reason why you probably shouldn't be making such a big fuss out of all this and worrying about her so much."

Danny just turned and walked to the Fenton Ghost Portal, ignoring what Jazz had said. Jazz groaned in irritation at being disregarded again and followed Danny to the portal. "Danny, honestly. There's a difference between hopefulness and just being stubborn."

"Call me whatever you want, Jazz." Danny said as he entered the necessary password to on the control panel and pulled the lever to open the thick medal doors to the swirling green vortex. "But Danielle was willing to face her own worst fear for me because she believed there was still a chance." Then he looked at his sister again with a very determined look. "And so do I in her case. And as long as that's there, I'm not going to give up on her. And I think she'd appreciate it if you didn't either."

Jazz blinked, standing there for a moment in silence when she suddenly shook it off and tried to argue. "I never said I had given up on her, I was just…"

She didn't even finish her sentence before Danny just glided through the Ghost Portal, leaving her alone in the lab.

"I never said I was giving up." Jazz said aloud to herself, looking down at the floor.

"Not in words." Said a voice behind her.

Jazz spun around, startled to see that Sam was leaning against the wall by the doorway to the stairs.

Sam spoke again. "I know you're a college brainiac who's had more years of education than either me or Danny, but that doesn't mean you're right all the time about everything."

Jazz didn't answer. She just looked back at the portal where her brother had disappeared, remembering what he had just said. "Do you really think I've been that pessimistic?" She asked Sam, as she was walking back to the stairs.

Sam shrugged. "You're asking that to a Goth here, Jazz. But even so, I think Danny does have a point. He went ahead and did a lot of things where chances were pretty slim on his part, but he was always doing it anyway because of the bottom line being that there was that chance."

Jazz couldn't help but admit that Sam was correct on this regard. She may have learned that researchers of this generation had not come up with any cure for blindness, but that didn't mean that there was no possibility of a breakthrough in the future. And it certainly didn't mean that she could go by the fact that there was no proof. She could never forget the time where she thought her parents were such delusional lunatics to believe in such a fantasy-driven theory as the existence of ghosts, only to be proven by her own brother (unknowingly by him at first or not) that she was the one being the lunatic.

Jazz still felt that finding any cure to reverse the effects Danielle had endured was next to impossible, but perhaps all that was needed was a bit of faith that the odds would be in Danny's favor.

000000

Danny reached the Realm of the Far Frozen with no trouble and he landed in the snow on the top of a big white hill that overlooked the village below.

The entire realm was a frozen, snow-covered wasteland, but the people who lived there were warm and friendly, despite them being big, talking, abominable snow monsters that walked on two legs and stood at least twice Danny's height. The people knew of Danny's good deeds and thought very highly of him. In fact, they had even built a shrine in his honor after he had defeated the Ghost King. He had been on good terms with their leader Frostbite since the first day he met him and had been able to ask his help in dire situations ever since.

Danny reached the village in the frozen valley and saw that two guards, armed with long spears, were stationed at the entrance. Like all the people there, these ghosts had thick white fur and long tails that ended in horny spikes. They had large talons ending their fingers and they had long and sharp teeth. They also had horns on their heads that were made out of solid ice and they wore tan-colored, tribal clothes.

As soon as the two guards saw Danny, he was warmly greeted with a bow from each of them. Danny wished they would stop doing that, but even their leader looked up to him in such a way and he knew he would never be able to stop them from wanting to pay their respects, even if he asked them to.

On the young hero's request, one of the guards escorted him directly to where Frostbite was. Apparently there was some sort of sports tournament taking place in the arena they had there, if not a warrior training session.

Danny remembered how Frostbite took him through one of these kinds of sessions to teach him how to properly use his ice power. The memory of it was quite embarrassing, considering he caused a few accidents during the training and the entire village was there to see it.

Danny was asked to wait outside while the guard went into the arena and soon returned with Frostbite preceding him. As the leader of this frozen realm, Frostbite's clothing was blue and was of slightly higher standards. He had a whole arm that was replaced with an ice-made one that was transparent enough to actually see his bones through it. He was also more elderly than anyone else in the realm, giving him a much more worn and yet wiser appearance.

The leader of the Far Frozen beamed at Danny as soon as he saw him and bowed deeply before him.

"Hope I wasn't interrupting something." Danny said, looking passed the two ghosts when a loud cheer suddenly roared from the arena. Something must have happened in there that pleased the crowd.

"A training session for youngling worriers who are mature enough to handle a spear. But it's nothing that can't be taken care of in my absence, Great One." Frostbite said in a deep voice as he was straightening up. "You honor me and my people with your presence here at any time."

Danny sighed a bit regretfully before replying. "If only more of those times weren't under such grim circumstances."

This confused Frostbite and his expression proved it to Danny before the furry monster started to look around as if trying to spot someone else. "Where is the courageous cousin of yours?" He asked.

Danny shuffled his foot in the snow before answering solemnly. "She's…the reason I'm here."

Frostbite instantly knew from this answer that the young hero was troubled about a topic that most needed to be discussed. It took a while after the two found a quiet place for them to talk in private, but Danny managed to relay the story of how a battle with Undergrowth had left stinging sap all over his hometown and how a battle with another ghost that used the sap against them had left Danielle blind and helpless in fighting enemy ghosts anymore. Danny of course left out the part that the ghost was himself from the future. It wasn't really needed to specify his situation anyway.

"Blinded? Oh dear. " Frostbite said with quite a shocked look on his face when Danny had finished and he looked at the young hero very sympathetically. "I'm terribly sorry to hear that."

"I was hoping you would be able to whip up something to help her if you ran an analysis of the sap she was hit with." Danny said as he was fishing the vial out of his backpack. Then he presented it to the Far Frozen leader, who took a minute to examine it at eyelevel. Already, the resulting expression was making Danny uneasy.

"You know I would love to assist, Great One," Frostbite said as he lowered the vial to look down at Danny. "But…I'm not sure we would be able to make an antidote for the symptoms you describe."

Danny didn't want to believe what he had just heard, so he stood up in desperate protest from the chair he was sitting in. "But couldn't you at least take a look at it before you actually confirm that?"

Frostbite just stared solemnly at Danny. "Is there a cure for blindness in your world, Danny Phantom?"

Danny's heart sank in being asked this question and, after slumping back down into the chair, looking down at the stone floor of the cave they were in, he regretfully responded, "No," with a heavy sigh.

Frostbite saw how gloomy the Ghost-Hero looked and felt sorry to have doused whatever hopes he may have had for his unfortunate cousin. The blue-clad ghost looked at the vial again, as if trying to find something about it he may have missed that might help to brighten the situation. "The information to make any such cure would be limited if we simply had this sample to analyze." He said as he scratched his chin in thought. "But perhaps…if we were allowed to examine your cousin's symptoms directly, along with studying the cause of her condition, we would be able to find something that would be more helpful."

Danny perked up, but stalled before he responded hesitantly. "Bring…Danielle…here?"

This reaction baffled Frostbite. "She's ventured into the Ghost Zone before. Yes?"

"Not nearly as often as I have, and that was while she could see." Danny explained. "And that ghost that blinded her is still out there, stalking my whole family. And he can travel in and out of the Ghost Zone whenever he wants. I don't know if that would be safe."

Frostbite thought this over before he gave his response. "Well, if you really think bringing her here would be of that much inconvenience, then I understand." Then he added, with a counteracting expression, "However, without the necessary means of obtaining data, it will be difficult for us to determine whether or not reversing the damage inflicted on her is possible."

Now it was Danny's turn to think this over. He didn't want to have to put Danielle in danger like that, and he wondered if she would even want to go into the Ghost Zone in her current state. However, despite the odds and how the conversation had started out, Frostbite seemed to be just about as hopeful as he was.

"Do you really think it would help?" Danny asked the white-furred ghost after a silent moment.

"The offspring of Undergrowth did always work in unpredictable ways. The trick was always knowing how to deal with it. As you would very well know by now."

"That's true." Danny admitted with a nod. "So you think you would be able to find something if I brought Dani over?"

"It would certainly help a lot more than just going off this sample." Frostbite said, indicating the vial in his clawed hands. "And the more information obtained, the more likely one is able to solve a problem."

Danny looked down at the floor in thought for a long time. He was always telling his family that he didn't want to risk them getting hurt, but his parents, being scientists, they were always undergoing risks in order to obtain more knowledge. His father even told him once that there was always going to be some risk involved in any field of study. In fact that was part of the thrill of the whole thing for him. But if there was truly a chance that Danielle would ever get her sight back, perhaps this was a risk worth taking.

"Okay. I'll see if I can bring her." Danny finally said. And Frostbite smiled.

Within the next minute or so, Danny was flying back through the eerie green space, back to the Fenton Ghost Portal. He found it tiring to think of all this going back-and-forth, especially with his evil self on the loose, but if it would help the chances of Danielle regaining her sight, he would at least be willing to do it. As Danny thought about it, what were the chances his dark self would be able to suddenly find them anyway? With how spacious the Ghost Zone was and how it was always shifting, it was impossible not to get lost if you didn't already know your way around. Dark Phantom wouldn't be able to find them so easily if he didn't already know where they were or if they had even entered the Ghost Zone. They would probably be safe enough as far as that was concerned.

Still, Danny started to wonder how the rest of his family would react if Danielle, the most disabled one of all of them, was the only one allowed to leave the house while he had everyone else stay there for their own protection.

By the time he got home, he found Danielle in her room with Sam and Tucker who seemed to be quizzing her on the identification of the objects she picked up and felt in her hands. When he asked Danielle if she was up for a trip in the Ghost Zone, Sam and Tucker reacted in pretty much the way he had predicted. They began to complain how Danielle could be the only one allowed to venture into the Ghost Zone while Danny insisted no one else even set foot outside the house.

When he told them how he only agreed with Frostbite to do it because of the possibility of Danielle seeing again, Jazz had apparently overheard and came rushing in. Danny had to go over the same story he had just told his friends in order to calm Jazz down of her opinions of fairness. Then his parents had overheard them talking and Danny had to go through explaining for the third time, only in a much more tired and agitated way. At least by the time he was done, everyone's spirits started to heighten in hearing that there was a possibility for Danielle to get her sight back.

It may have taken a whole half an hour, but Danny was eventually in the Ghost Zone again, carrying Danielle, who tightly clung to him for reassurance as they traveled. Danny kept a wary eye out for enemy ghosts all the way.

Because the whole dimension was ghost territory, neither of the hybrid cousins' ghost-sense necessarily worked here. Therefore, they wouldn't be able to anticipate any sneak-attacks if they came up. Danny had to be much more careful and Danielle knew it, making her even more nervous than when they started out. If something did happen, she would practically be useless to assist in any effective way.

There didn't seem to be any problems on the way back to the Far Frozen though, which came as a huge relief to the both of them by the time Danny landed near the mouth of a cave where he knew the research was taking place. The event at the arena seemed to be over by now, so Frostbite was the one who came out from the cave to beckon the two ghost-hybrids inside. Under the beast's instruction, Danny set Danielle down on the medical table he recognized as the one he had been set on while he was being overcome by the Blood Blossom poison only last month.

Frostbite was the first to examine Danielle up close. She jumped with a gasp when he so much as touched her with his giant clawed hands.

"What was that?" She asked, fearfully. The mere touch from the cold, pointed things that slightly poked her shoulder made her instantly think of dissecting tools she once saw in The Guys in White's lab where she had been held and tortured for a time. The two men never used any of them on her, but she had to behold them every day she was kept in the lab. The fear that they might have used them while she was there disturbed her greatly.

Frostbite looked at Danny in confusion at Danielle's sudden reaction and glanced at his own, furry hands as if thinking he had done something wrong.

Danny sighed, stepping forward. "Sorry Frostbite. She's been like this ever since it happened." He told the beast, apologetically. Then he walked up to Danielle and took her hand. "Dani it's okay." He said gently. "That was only Frostbite's hands that you felt. There's nothing dangerous here."

After this was clarified, Danielle relaxed and was quite embarrassed at how she reacted to a friend's touch. "Sorry." She quickly said to Frostbite.

Danny sighed and hoisted himself onto the medical table to sit next to her. "Dani, what's wrong?" He couldn't help but ask.

"I don't know." She responded solemnly, and Danny noticed her hand rise towards her face the way she had been moving it a lot lately as if trying to pierce the pitch blackness in front of her and make out the shape of her own hand through it. "Well…Maybe I do, actually." She admitted. Danny and Frostbite stayed silent as she finally set her hand down and explained. "Ever since this happened, I keep imagining ghost-hunters sneaking up on me and taking me to another ghost dissecting lab. But I don't even know what's happening until it's too late since I can't even see in front of me anymore."

Danny and Frostbite looked at each other in hearing this and Frostbite gazed at his clawed hands, this time in more understanding and sympathy for Danielle. Danny squeezed his cousin from the side with her hand still in his and said to her softly, "Dani, Frostbite may have claws, but you know that he would never use them to hurt you. And neither would anyone else in this realm."

"Yeah. I know." Danielle nodded in acknowledgment. "Sorry Frostbite."

"No need, young one. It's fully reasonable." Frostbite said with a smile and a friendly chuckle. "All is forgiven."

After that, Danielle was much more calm for the examination, especially with Danny's hand within reach for extra reassurance. After Frostbite and the Far Frozen doctors ran a few scans of Danielle's eyes, and tried a few experiments with the sap Danny had given them earlier, they looked very concentrated in their work and both the Phantom cousins remained silent except when they were asked specific questions about Danielle's symptoms or on what they knew about the sap itself when it was used to blind her.

Once all possible information was exchanged, Danny guided Danielle out of the room so the doctors could work. Danny still couldn't stop himself from peaking in through the tattered curtain doorway occasionally though. Whenever he did this, he would usually see the ghosts wandering about to exchange notes and nodding or shaking their heads while saying things inaudible to each other.

A long time passed, and while Danny was sitting with his cousin on a stone bench outside the room, Frostbite lifted the tattered curtain, finally coming out. "May I have a private word, Danny Phantom?" He asked.

Danny looked at Danielle beside him, somewhat uncertainly. He didn't want to leave her by herself and judging by the way she tightened her grip on his arm, she didn't want to be left alone either.

Frostbite noticed both hesitancies. "We can just talk a little ways down the hall. You can still keep her within your sight from there." He added, indicating down the stone corridor towards the cave-mouth entrance.

Danny felt a little more comfortable with this, but he still turned to his cousin. "Dani?" He said as if asking her approval.

She was still hesitant, but eventually lightened her grip on Danny's arm. "I'll be okay for now." She answered.

"I'll be right back." Danny reassured with a squeeze of her hand as he stood up to follow Frostbite to where Danielle was out of earshot but still within their sight.

Frostbite was the first one who spoke. He did so quietly and at first, looking at Danielle remorsefully. "Being blinded must have taken quite a toll on her confidence." He said to Danny.

"I can only imagine." Danny nodded, following his furry companion's gaze in the same sorrowful manner. "So were you able to find anything?" He asked, returning his attention to Frostbite.

The ghost-beast looked both ways and lowered his voice even more before saying, "The additional information was extensively helpful. More than we even anticipated. It's just that, at this point, matters are a bit complicated to determine if a cure can really be discerned." Danny sighed disappointedly, but then the ghost beast added, "However. We will continue to work on it. There is still much more we can learn from the data you both have provided us with, giving us more options and directions to explore. With a little time, we think that perhaps there may be an obliging discovery."

Danny let out another sigh, but this time in relief. He looked over at Danielle who was sitting very still in her seat as if trying to hear what was being said.

The Ghost-Hero may have just ended up where he had started in helping Danielle get her sight back, but at least, unlike his own sister, Frostbite was giving him more hope that there would be a way.

"That's great, Frostbite." Danny responded, looking up at the Far Frozen leader in gratitude. "Is there anything else you'll need while we're here?" He asked.

"Not presently."

"Then I think I'll go ahead and take Dani home now." Danny concluded. "But I'll check in every once in a while to see if you get anywhere else with it."

Frostbite smiled down at the young boy in hearing this. "You know you are always welcome to do so, Danny Phantom."

"Thanks." Danny said, shaking the beast's large paw in both of his hands with a smile of his own. Then he went back over to retrieve Danielle, and carrying her in his arms, they were both heading back home.

As Danny flew, he was able to tell his cousin the good news that even though Frostbite couldn't say that they would be able to make something to help her see again, he and his people would still be looking into it. The possibility still might be there with all the information they were able to gather together in just an hour or so.

Danielle smiled at the news and Danny saw a glimmer of newfound hope shine in her otherwise, dimmed eyes.

The two were silent for another bit of flying when Danielle suddenly gasped and gripped the front of Danny's shirt in fright. "Danny." She told him in a terrified whisper. "I feel him."

Danny stopped abruptly in midair as his heart started racing. "Vlad's aura?" He asked, in a bit of a panic.

Danielle nodded vigorously. "And it's getting closer."