"Guardian! I would request an audience with your young charge!"

"Wha- Oh, shi—"

Crack.

"Wait, just a moment! We—"

"What are you doing in this room, ghost? And you, stay down if you know what's good for you!"

Danny groggily sat up and hit his forehead on solid metal. After a pained curse, he opened his eyes, seeing stars, and barely caught his mother rebuking his language before his father burst loudly through the door.

If he hadn't been just waking up, he probably would have had more to say about what he was seeing as his vision cleared. For some reason, he had been sleeping on the floor beneath his desk. His bed was occupied by his mother, who was using the height to stand poised to strike over the prone form of a strange yeti-like creature that writhed on the ground clutching its nose. Another yeti was still busily trying to explain the situation at gunpoint while his dad loudly insisted it get down on the ground.

Once he had staggered to his feet, a sharp, blue-vapored whistle got four pairs of eyes on him.

"Can't a guy get any sleep around here?"

"That's your opening line?"

'You're right, that's more your kind of comedy. I could have done better.'

"Just get on with it... The sooner this is over with, the sooner I'm going back to sleep."

"What are you two doing in Amity Park? This uh, territory, has been claimed." As he said it, he summoned a ball of ghostly fire that hopefully looked suitably intimidating.

The yeti still standing instead broke into a broad smile and spoke with the sort of booming volume the neighbors were likely well-acquainted with. "Ah, you are the Ghost Child! We have come from—"

Danny winced and slumped back against his desk. "Not so loud, will you? My head is already killing me."

"My apologies." It was said with a much lower volume and a curt bow. "We have come from the land of the Far Frozen, sent forth by the great and courteous Frostbite on a mission of great import. It is for this reason we now seek your aid."

"Uh, OK." He dropped the ball of ecto-energy. "Who or what is the Far Frozen? And for that matter, what kind of mission is this...?"

Maddie interjected before the strange creature could answer. "Danny, could I speak with you about this? Alone."

"Oh, yeah. Sure."

His mother hopped down from the bed, smiling sweetly at her husband as she passed him. "Jack, dear, would you make sure these two ghosts don't go anywhere? If they move, feel free to start shooting without me, I'll be up in a moment."

He returned the smile with a mock salute, before leaning down to plant a short kiss on her cheek. "Aye aye, sweet pea."

She was actually blushing while she shepherded Danny out into the hallway.

'...seriously? Now?'

"Gross parental romance is like the most normal thing that's happened since we woke up. Speaking of which... What do you think of the abominable snowman's story?"

'I mean, I haven't heard of Frostbite or Far Frozen before—'

"Not that that counts for much, champ."

'—but on the other hand, they haven't actually destroyed anything or tried to kill anyone, so there's that.'

Phantom gave a mental nod. "He, or she, or it or whatever..."

'"They"?' Danny offered.

"Sure. They didn't seem to be lying, either. Although I couldn't get a read on the one on the ground, what with the broken nose and the lack of speaking."

Danny turned to face his mother, who had led him into the front room and seemed to be teetering on the edge of asking something. 'So when mom asks, the consensus is... Benefit of the doubt?'

"Benefit of the doubt."

"Danny..."

"I'm thinking we should hear them out. They don't seem as hostile as any of the other ghosts I've run into yet."

His mother blinked a few times, and he could almost see the words turning over in her mind before she finally responded. "Well, if that's what you think, we can certainly try that, although I would still like to take a cautious approach. But that's not what I wanted to say."

"Oh? Um... Sorry, what did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to apologize. We... Your... Your ghost, Phantom, and I, we talked last night. But I wanted to tell it to you, too."

Danny frowned. 'You didn't tell me about that.'

"When have I ever told you everything?"

'...wait, what?'

"Danny?"

"Sorry, I—"

"No, I should be apologizing to you. I made you feel unsafe. But I want you to know, I'm not upset about..." She gestured vaguely up and down his body, "and I'm here to help you whenever you need it. Starting today."

Danny gave her a weak smile. "Alright. Thanks, mom."

She, in turn, ruffled his hair. "What are mothers for?" Sparing a glance back up the stairs, she added, "We should probably get back in there. So, you're thinking we should trust them?"

"Trust, maybe not. But I'd like to hear what they have to say. At the very least, figure out how they found me."

The guns were no longer being aimed at anyone, but neither had they been powered down in their holsters. To an outside observer, it would have been an odd sight. Amity Park's two best ghost hunters leaned back uneasily against the furniture in their son's bedroom, opposite a pair of yetis; one stood at military attention with its hands clasped behind its back, the other was slumped on the bed and holding a green-stained hand towel to its face. In the middle of it all, pacing back and forth, was the lithe, glowing frame of the infamous Danny Phantom.

"So, let me get this straight, Fun—"

"Föhn," the yeti corrected.

"...what did I say?"

"I believe you said 'Foon'."

"How was I supposed to say it?"

"Föhn, the One of Many Winds, First Officer of the Far Frozen Security Forces."

"Do you have like a nickname or something?"

"I do not."

Danny sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Right. Let me get this straight, Foehn," having strangled out the sounds, he looked at the standing yeti for confirmation, who cocked an eyebrow but otherwise said nothing. "You want me to help you track down a war criminal?"

"That is correct, ghost child. Besides the benefit of proximity to our shared adversary, you are uniquely qualified. I believe it makes perfect sense for us to cooperate."

"How am I 'uniquely qualified' to help you take down this Plasmius guy?"

"No, you misunderstand. Another team has been assigned to track Plasmius down in the Ghost Zone, and he is of no immediate threat to the human realms. He is merely the fool who freed the criminal before he could stand trial, perhaps in hopes of currying the favor of a much more powerful ghost."

The yeti paused a moment. "Said criminal is our primary target, the one known as Vortex. His crimes stretch back millennia, and his victims may count in the millions. We believe he is intending to strike your village, and soon. His attacks typically begin with alternating heat waves and torrential rain. It is his way of weakening a settlement before laying siege."

"...But why do you need me? No offense, but can't you take care of this guy alone?"

"As I said, young one, you are uniquely qualified. We noticed within moments of arriving here in this Amity Park that another ghost in possession of an ice-core was present. Of course, we might not have taken the time to track you down, if you hadn't made your identity rather obvious with that little display yesterday. Chinook," he gestured to his companion on the bed, "believes that your help would be of great benefit to us, as Vortex is generally weak to cold-based ectoplasmic attacks. Besides, as a hostile party, is Vortex not also trespassing in your, ah, 'territory'?"

He added it innocently, but the smirk suggested a level of sarcasm Danny was choosing to ignore.

"Fine then, I'll help you out. But I'd like to ask you a few questions." The other gave a short nod and the smirk transitioned to a far more genuine smile. "First off, would you mind explaining to me exactly what an ice core even is?"

Chinook gave a nasally hmm? from behind the towel, whereas Föhn looked more openly stunned. "Do you mean to tell me you don't even know of your own physiology?"

"Wait, physiology? It's inside me?"

"Of course it is!" The yeti took a sudden step toward Danny, slowing his pace considerably when he saw two hands twitch toward holstered weapons from across the room. Föhn pressed the back of a large hand against his chest, moving slightly until he settled on a spot to the left of his beating heart. "Ah, yes, here it is. Can you feel that?"

Danny raised a gloved hand to feel at the spot on his chest. There was definitely something there, an odd rhythmic murmuring clearly felt through two layers of fabric. It was definitely the same thing he had felt there the day prior, although after the skirmish at Floody Waters he had more or less forgotten about it entirely.

"I guess it's nice to know what it's called. For a while yesterday I thought we were having some kind of ghost-heart-attack."

'I don't think that's a thing.'

"Look who's suddenly an expert."

Danny smirked. 'Well, we have already established that I look more like a doctor than you do.'

"So is this... 'Ice core'," he took a moment to try out the word, "unusual, or something?"

"I would not say unusual, ghost child. But it is highly uncommon outside of the peoples of the Far Frozen. I must admit I am somewhat surprised you did not know of this already. You seemed quite adept with your abilities in battle."

"I'm uh. Still pretty new to the whole 'ghost' thing. So where exactly is this Vortex guy? If all we need to do is go in and hit him with the freeze-rays or whatever, let's just get it over with."

Föhn shook his head sadly. "I am afraid it will not be that simple. Vortex is an exceedingly powerful ghost, far in excess of even Chinook's formidable strength. His weakness is twofold, and we will need to take advantage of both aspects if we hope to succeed."

Danny leaned back against his desk as the yeti took to pacing of his own. "The first is that Vortex possesses an incredibly low metabolic rate. It has granted him an exceptionally long life and the great power that comes with that, but once exhausted, he has been known to rest for weeks or even months before he can attack again. Besides that, it also means he heals less readily than most ghosts." As if on cue, Chinook pulled the towel away from her face, experimentally scrunching up an apparently fully healed nose. "Although it would be best to finish this fight in one attempt rather than offering him any chance to recuperate."

"And the second?"

"Is that he is a bit of a blowhard. And of course, half the battle is mental rather than physical."

To the surprise of the two-and-a-half ghosts, Maddie spoke up. "Naturally. We can play on that spectral ego to bait it into expending far more energy than it normally would."

"Exactly so," Föhn responded with a nod. "Depending on the exact nature of the 'bait', we may also be able to lure him further away from civilians."

"Whoa, civilians?" Danny frowned. "I don't want to do anything that puts bystanders in the middle of a fight."

The yeti held up a placating hand. "It may not be a problem. We last sensed Vortex out in the hills to the east of the settlement."

That jerked Jack out of his thoughts. "...Did you say to the east?" At the nod in the affirmative, the man paled. "It was a ghost... I have to send a fax!"

He practically sprinted from the room. "Uh, mom? Do you have any idea what that was about?"

"None at all. I didn't even realize that fax machine was still hooked up..." She looked distantly past the door for a moment, before suddenly focusing back on the room. "Look, uh... Foehn. If we're talking about a fight in hilly terrain, Jack and I will take the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle and draw the fire from this Vortex. It's got a loudspeaker mounted to the roof and enough firepower to defend against anything less than a level 8 ecto-entity. Then Danny and you two can attack it from above while its attention is on the ground."

"...do you have any plans that don't involve you and dad risking your lives purposely taunting a powerful ghost?

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Danny, I realize you've put a few notches on that ectoplasmic-belt of yours in the last two weeks, but your father and I have been doing this for 20 years. If it wouldn't make me a complete hypocrite, I would be trying to talk you out of getting involved."

"OK, fine then, let's talk about—"

Chinook cleared her throat loudly, cutting off Danny's rebuttal. She just pointed a thumb at the darkening window, where the soft pitter-patter of raindrops was just beginning to pick up speed. Her voice was as deep as the distant rumble of thunder. "Folks, I think we're out of time for talking."

To be concluded...

Author's Note:

It has been fully 80 days since I published Chapter 9*, and yet I am still woefully slow at writing action sequences. I did make a promise to update more frequently, however. So in my most shameless delaying tactic employed to date, have the first half of Chapter 18, wherein we meet Föhn and Chinook (you would never know that I dislike using original characters, would you?) since Frostbite is too busy being kingly to bother mentoring unknown and unheard-of ghost children.

Also, this is likely the chapter with the highest density of "Oh, so that is why Workparty included [seemingly innocuous detail] back in chapter _" moments of any chapter in Part II thus far. Expect to see more of those in the second half, which ought to be up before Sunday. Because with some kind of higher power as my witness, I will finish this chapter in a timely fashion.

*- Trivia Fact: I do not name the chapters officially, but I do give them little code names. That document was saved as "2-9 Friday Night Frights". In case you thought I just made horrible puns when writing dialogue.

02/02/2017 - Small dialogue tweaks