Chapter 29: I'm Done

Danielle didn't know what to make of what was going on. She had been minding her own business, reading the latest issue of Element Benders, her favorite comic book series. She had just gotten to the part where the Waterbender and Earthbender were about to battle it out for the championship, when her door flew up, and her parents were standing in the threshold, eyes glowing and a very upset look on their faces. She didn't know what it was, but she knew something was wrong, and she had the uneasy feeling that it had something to do with her.

"What's going on? Are you guys ok?" Danielle asked as she placed her comic to the side.

"Danielle Lilith Fenton," her mother said, and Danielle could tell that she had been right, and that whatever it was that she did, it was serious. The way her mother said her name made Danielle's stomach sink as she began to get nervous from her mother's anger.

"Your little attitude problems are going to end right now," Danny said, his tone matching Sam's. Danielle looked at them in confusion before a thought struck her. Getting to her feet, Danielle made her way toward her parents.

"Look, if this is about what I said to Jazz, it's nothing. She's just being an annoying, know it all-"

"You will not talk that way about your aunt, Danielle!" he yelled, causing her to flinch back slightly. She had never seen Danny so angry which now was making her even more nervous than before.

"Ok, seriously, what is all this about!?" She said, getting a bit frustrated with them.

"We have had it with your bad attitude. We know that you disrespect your grandparents and your aunt, which is unacceptable. We know that your grades have been slipping, too. Mind explaining what exactly it is you've been doing after school, because it sure isn't homework," Sam said, arms crossed.

"That's none of your business!" Danielle snapped back quickly without even thinking about it. Having to deal with nosey people at school, she was accustomed to her quick reply, and hadn't realized what had been said until she had already said it.

"Excuse me!?" Sam shouted, moving forward to tower over the preteen. "What did you just say to me!?"

"I said it's none of your business!" Danielle replied as her eyes changed to the same green as her parents. Sure, she knew it was stupid to be butting heads with them, but she had already dug her own grave. Might as well go down fighting.

The mother and daughter locked eyes, both waiting for the other to back down, but after almost a whole minute, it became clear that neither was going to so Danny decided to intervene.

"As your parents, it IS our business what you're doing, Danielle," he said.

Danielle turned and glared at him, though he didn't budge even the slightest, something that aggravated her to no end. She had built a reputation for being tough, and her glare was one that everyone in the school knew about. If it was turned on you, it was a known fact that you were probably going to be in for a world of hurt. The fact that neither of the two were affected by it didn't sit well with her.

"What I do with my time is MY business, Dad," she sneered.

"Oh yeah? Well when we get phone calls about you fighting in school, it turns into a much bigger problem."

"It's not my fault that Liana attacked me at school!" she shouted. "Yeah, I might have trashed the classroom doing it, but there wasn't really much I could do! And you're one to talk. I've heard all the stories about you fighting ghosts at Casper High!"

"That's not what he's talking about, Danielle," Sam said. "Do you know how often your grandparents get phone calls from the school about you getting into fights? At least once a week! We've let it slide because we thought that you were just trying to deal with all the craziness that's happened, only to find out that you've completely lost your mind!"

"I have found a way to deal with it! Just because other people don't like it doesn't mean a damn thing to me!" she screeched. The room fell silent save for Danielle's ragged breathing as she tried to calm herself slightly from her small fit of yelling. However, the anger that radiated from the three half ghosts was suffocating, to say the least. Cujo had left the room only moments after the fighting had started, though no one seemed to have noticed as the frightened puppy dropped through the floor. It was clear that they were making no real progress with getting Danielle to openly admit what she had been doing, so Danny knew that they were going to have to back her into a corner that she couldn't talk her way out of.

"Show me your wrist," Danny said calmly though his face remained stern.

Danielle gasped, eyes growing wide in shock as her blood became unbelievably cold in her veins. The look in his blue eyes told her that he knew something. Unconsciously, Danielle gripped her left wrist that held her wristband, though it was still covered by her torn jacket. Danielle looked at both her parents, their eyes back to normal, before taking a step back.

"Why?" she asked, suspicion gripping her words in an iron like grip.

"Show us you wrist, Danielle," Sam commanded, stepping forward, Danny right by her side.

"No," Danielle said, backing up with another step.

"That wasn't a request. We're either going to do this the easy way or the hard way. Lift up sleeve and show us your wrist, now." Sam had had it with this game, and was going to get to the bottom of all of this. Quickly reaching out, she grabbed Danielle's arm and yanked her forward.

"Let go of me! Get away from me!" Danielle yelled, fright and anger fighting for dominance over her. Everything seemed to move slowly as her mother started to pull her sleeve up, and before Danielle could stop herself, she lashed out. "I SAID LET GO!"

Green energy began to form in her left hand as her eyes changed to green. Clutching her fists, Danielle swung the appendage that her mother held, and released a powerful shove. A green arc of ectoplasm lashed out at the two while a bright white ring slowly crossed over her body. Danny and Sam flew across the room, slamming into the offending walls as Danielle's transformation continued.

Danny groaned as he sat up, a pile of wood around him that he realized were the remains of the door. Looking over to his left, he found Sam, getting to her feet and holding the remains of his daughter's jacket sleeve, glaring at said girl. Danny turned to look at her, and couldn't help both the anger and the disappointment he felt. There, on her wrist, was the wristband with the gang's symbol on it, the smiling face mocking him, taunting him, as if to remind him that he was a failure as a parent.

As the transformation ended, Danielle could only look on at her parents in shock like a deer in a pair of headlights. She was completely stunned. She hadn't meant to do that. She hadn't meant to lash out and strike her parents like that, and she hadn't meant to transform either. Looking up into their eyes, both once again the same fierce green, Danielle could only come up with one conclusion: she had possibly just made the biggest and last mistake of both her life and her afterlife.

"They're gonna kill me," she mumbled to herself.

"I was really hoping that we were going to be wrong," Danny said, standing up and moving next to Sam who seemed to glow a bright green as her aura expanded around her. Danny's own aura followed soon after, the two energies swirling and mixing together as if they were dancing. "We have had it Danielle! We're putting a stop to this, now!" The flash that followed was bright, blinding her momentarily before her vision refocused on them as she watched them transform as well.

What followed could only be described as a standoff. Danielle could feel her body shaking as her adrenaline pumped harder then she could ever remember. They were seriously going to fight her? She had only fought her father once for real and even back then he hadn't been trying to hurt her. He had left himself open to talk to her. Sure, they had sparing matches when they practiced, but that was different. That was all it ever was; practice. She could feel her anger starting to boil to the top.

Not only had they violated her privacy, but now they were going to try and punish her standing up for herself? For hurting people who had hurt her? For making friends who cared about her? Well, Danielle wasn't going to stand for that.

With a quick shuffle of her feet, Danielle did a quick spin kick, shooting a wave of energy at the two. Danny stepped forward, his reflects just as quick, and threw up a shield in front of him and Sam that absorbed a majority of the energy. However, the remainder crashed into the walls, putting large holes in them. Danielle took their momentary distraction and, turning intangible, flew through the wall and outside. Danny and Sam were quick to follow the second he dropped the shield. Following their daughter out the wall, they found themselves hovering over Amity Park, the sun setting in the background. The duo began to search for the girl, finding her nowhere in sight.

"Spread out and search for her," Danny said as he looked at Sam who nodded her head. "Try to refrain from hurting her if you can."

"Got it," Sam said, continuing her scan of the air. Her attention was drawn back to Danny who let out a yelp as he was pelted with ectoblasts. "Danny!" Sam turned as she too was pelted, but luckily, was able to avoid them.

Righting himself quickly, Danny looked up at Danielle in annoyance as she glared at the two of them, green smoke still rising from her palms. While Danny recovered from his ambush, Sam flew over to him, watching her carefully.

"Ok, she is seriously asking for it now. When get my hands on her, she is so grounded," he grumbled before looking up at her.

"Enough of this foolishness, Danielle!" Sam yelled. "Come down here now, or else you're really going to be in trouble!"

"Shut up!" The young phantom yelled, firing at them again. Both teens side stepped the beam, but made no move toward her. "I can't believe that you would do this!"

"Us!?" Danny asked in astonishment. "We're not the ones who just fired ghost rays in the house And attacking people who care about us!"

"We're trying to help you Danielle, but we can't do that unless you calm down and talk to us," Sam tried to reason with her.

"Why should I believe you!?" Danielle yelled. "All you want to do is punish me! You can never understand me! None of you could!"

Danielle was suddenly taken by surprise as a pair of strong arms wrapped around her. Turning her head, Danielle growled as she struggled to break the grip of her father's clone. The clone struggled to hold onto her, being that he was only half as strong at the moment, but it was proving to be a hard task as she continued to thrash about. Danielle swiftly threw her head backwards, slamming it directly into the face of the clone. Finding herself free once again, Danielle slammed her fist into his stomach, charging a ghost ray in the process. The clone groaned at the collision before being blasted away by the energy beam. He stood no chance as he was vaporized, vanishing into a bright misty light.

Danielle turned back to her parents, and gasped as Sam appeared right in front of her. Pointing her hands toward the younger girl, Sam fired two vines from her palms. The first wrapped tightly around Danielle's wrists, cancelling out the energy she had been building as it was slowly drained from her while the second tightened around her upper arms and torso. Danielle could only groan as she felt her body getting weaker.

Lifting up both her feet, Danielle applied a swift double kick to her mother's stomach, sending Sam backwards as her grip on her vines snapped off like a twig. Taking a deep breath, Danielle pushed all of her strength into her arms and forced the vines apart.

Holding her stomach, Sam didn't see as Danielle brought bother her hands together, preparing to come down on her like a wrecking ball. Danielle's attack was halted as she was blasted in the side, sending her away from Sam who was now recovering. Danielle looked up, holding her slightly singed side, and glared at her father who glared back at her.

"Are you insane?" Danny said. "You could have seriously hurt your mother, Danielle!"

"She deserves it! All of you do!" She yelled, charging her hands. Danny began charging energy in his own hands in response. He wasn't trying to hurt her, but he'll be damned if he let her get away with this crazy behavior for much longer.

The two fired their attacks at the same time, their energies colliding in an explosion of raw power that could only be compared to a bomb that had been detonated and contained in a small tight space. Neither gave any ground as they both poured more power into it. Danny could feel the sweat pouring down the side of his face, and could see that Danielle was under the same stress. He knew that one of them was going to have to give if he was going to get near her.

Luck seemed to be on his side as the built up energy finally found an outlet, shooting off in various directions.

Danny took the momentary pause to charge forward where he collided with Danielle in the center, the two grappling their hands together, trying to overpower the other. Danielle quickly kneed Danny in the stomach as she tried to prevent him from over taking her. Both knew when it came to physical strength, he had her beat, but she had speed on her side, and she planned to use it to her fullest advantage. Thinking she had him on the ropes, Danielle tried to wretch her hand from his grip, but was shocked to find that his grip had actually increased on her own.

Danny looked at her, his eye narrowed before he gave her a taste of her own medicine and head butted her, a red mark forming on her forehead from the impact. Danielle's vision become disorientated and before she could even retaliated, she felt the wind being knocked out of her as Danny delivered a punch to her stomach. Danielle knew that he was holding back, but that didn't mean it hurt any less or made her feel any better knowing that they holding back where as she was putting her all into this fight.

Growling, Danielle took her loose hand, and delivered a shift punch to Danny's jaw, but he quickly threw one of his own. Danielle grabbed a handful of his hair and brought his head down to connect with her knee. Danny recoiled and fell slightly out of the air. Danielle thought she had finally started to get him on the ropes, only to shriek when he grabbed her ankles and began to spin her around rapidly. Thinking quickly on her feet, Danielle shot a ghost ray from the flat ends of her boots, breaking his hold on her, but Danny quickly righted himself.

Danielle could feel the fatigue setting in. She had fought battles longer than this, but the combination of emotional and physical stress, not to mention the fact that she was still a bit sore from her fight earlier in the day, was wearing down on her body heavily. Looking up at her parents, who were regrouping and obviously coming up with a plan, she knew she was going to have to find a way to end this sooner rather than later.

Without any hesitation, Danielle charged directly at the two, but was unprepared when they didn't attack her, but simply separated, allowing her to fly right past her. Danielle turned her head to look back at them in confusion, only to see a blue beam heading right for her. Her quick reflexes allowed her to surround herself in a ball of green energy, allowing the beam to curve around the shield. But, much to her horror, the energy continued to spread until finally sealing on the other side, leaving her in a giant ball of ghost ice.

Danielle began to panic as she realized that she had just fallen into a trap and that her parents had her exactly where they wanted. Her dread only grew as the sphere began to fall toward the earth at an extremely high speed. Danielle began to punch at the walls, hoping to break them and escape, but with the little amount of energy she had left, there was no chance she was going to break out. As the ball hit the ground, Danielle was jostled roughly, falling onto the cold ground of her prison. Groaning, Danielle sat up, holding her head as her parents landed, stern gazed turned on her. Danielle glared at the two of them, disgust rising in the back of her throat.

"Let me out of here!" she yelled, her voice muffled by the thick ice.

"It's over, Danielle," Danny said as they stood in front of her. "We're going home, now."

"I'm not going anywhere with you! You never understood me, and you never will! I don't need you! My friends are all that I need. They get me!" Danielle's shouts echoed off the cold walls. As her ranting went on, her hands began to glow.

"You don't really feel that way, Danielle," Sam said.

"Yes I do," she said, raising her hands to the front of the ball. "I don't need you and I don't ever want to see you ever again!" Danielle released as much energy as she could in one concussive blast. The light from her energy bounced off the clear surface of the ball, magnifying the light. Danny and Sam covered their eyes, the shining light blinding them while a loud noise ruptured around them.

As the light slowly faded and their vision started to clear, the two looked around them to find the remnants of the prison that held their daughter scattered around them. Kneeling down, Danny picked up a piece and looked at it before turning to his girlfriend.

"She escaped, but she's way too tired to get very far," he declared.

"We've gotta find her before she gets to their hideout," Sam said, though she had yet to move at all. With a quick glance to her boyfriend, Sam sighed. "Danny…what are we going to do?"

Danny was quiet for a moment before walking over to her and holding her tightly. "We'll figure something out. For now, let's just find her and bring her back home."

Sam nodded and the two took to the skies, unaware that the girl they were looking for was closer than they thought. Peeking out from behind a building, Danielle, now back in her human form, slowly walked, hiding behind bushes and other various objects as she made her way to the hideout. Her anger was high, not only because she basically lost her fight, but because they had the nerve to question her and to treat her like she had done something wrong.

She wasn't the one who was wrong. She had been the one making things right. And no matter what anyone said, she knew that what she did was ok.

After almost an hour of walking and hiding, Danielle sighed in relief as she walked through the door into the hideout. Everyone greeted her as per usual, but Danielle paid them little attention as she made her way over to Ray who turned just as she got over to him.

"Ah, Dani. Good to see you, as always. You're earlier than usual," he said with nod, though he quickly noticed that she looked very warn and tired. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she said quickly, trying to move away from the subject. "As soon as I get some food and some sleep, I'll be as good as new."

"Good," he said before turning to Nicholas. "Get the captain some nourishment, ASAP." Turning, Ray began to walk away when Danielle quickly grabbed him.

"Actually, that's not the only thing that I need," she said quietly. Looking around, she lowered her voice so only Ray could hear her. "The reason I'm like this is I got into a huge fight with my parents, and…I can't go home. Would it be alright if I-"

"You are more than welcome to stay here, Danielle," Ray said with a reassuring smile. Danielle let out a deep breath of relief. Ray turned to a few of the kids who were over in the bunking area and yelled, "Prepare a quarter for the captain." The kids nodded and got to work. Ray nodded, and turned back to the tired girl. "Go, rest. You're safe here, Danielle. You don't have to worry about your parents or anyone anymore. We're your family now."

"I know. Thank you," she said, walking over toward her prepared sleeping area.

Ray smiled as Nicholas walked over to him, snacks in hand.

"What now?" he asked, though he could tell by the look on Ray's face that it was something pleasant.

"This couldn't have worked out any better," he said, eyes focused on the girl in front of him. "Now that she fully trusts us, we've got everything we need to take the next step in my plan."

To Be Continued….

And so, there is the next chapter. There are 2 chapter and an Epilogue left, and then…on to the sequel! Whoo hoo! Oh yeah! And as for you fans who miss the family atmosphere that I've virtually destroyed, I have another story for you, 1 Human Plus 2 Halfas Equals a Family EXTRAS. It is going to be a collection of one shots that didn't make it into the story for various reasons, and will center around the family aspect of the story, so go check it out.

Also, I wanna get a shout out to Fuchsia Phantom because she and her siblings were messaging me earlier about how much they love my story, the fact that there are 9 of them and they were making me laugh pretty hard with their messages. Lol. Ok, until next time, later!