On Pat. Tre. On : 10/05/2021
"How could you, young man? I am very disappointed in you. Getting into brawls with your classmates from school. We did not raise you this way? What has gotten into you?" Madilne Fenton asks me from across the table in the dining room. She's a beautiful woman with a curvy figure. Violet eyes I wish I inherited, shoulder-length auburn hair, and deep red lipstick. And of course she's wearing her blue rubber jumpsuit with long black gloves and boots.
"Is that the first thing you ask your child who has clearly been beaten up? Did you know this could be traumatic for the young and can harm their mental and emotional growth? Right now he needs comfort and assurance, not a scolding!" Jasmine Fenton retorts from her left. She clearly inherited Jack's aqua blue eyes and her mother's auburn hair, which reaches down to her hips.
She's wearing her aqua headband, a black long-sleeve v-neck shirt, aqua pants, and a pair of simple, black flats.
"Your old man was in quite the few scraps himself back in his younger years. It's good for ya, puts some hair on your chest! Did ya go for chin?" Jack asks loudly with a smile, and it seemed like he was going to ask for more details if his wife didn't send out a glare that put the fear of God into him. Of course Jazz took the time to reprimand her father for showing support in 'Childish Scraps' that could hinder my development to become a well functioning member of normal society. Before it could go farther, I finally decide to speak up.
"You're right. I'm disappointed in myself too. Disappointed that I found myself in this situation, getting bullied by a neanderthal. Disappointed that it took me so long to find the self respect to stand up for myself. And disappointed that when I finally did, I lost." I say without a single falsehood. I'm sorry, but I just can't play the pitiful teenager role. I'm not going to feel bad defending my Pride. I'm not going to apologize and pretend like I'm in the wrong. I refuse.
"Honey, you have to understand that violence is not the answer to all of your problems. You can't just go swinging your fists at anything and everything that makes you angry. You need to learn to solve things diplomatically, the Pen is Mightier Than the Sword. If all else fails then you shouldn't just take matters into your own hands. Tell a teacher or an adult." My mother explains with a soft but stern tone.
"I'm not saying that it is. Dash decides to torment me at school almost everyday, and I won't put up with it anymore. So, I'll start apologizing now, because I'm probably going to be getting in much more trouble from now on. There's no point telling any of the teachers anything. Dash is their precious 'Star Player' on almost all sports teams. Him getting in trouble would stop him from playing in games. They don't care."
"Actually...he may have a point there. Dash Baxter is a star on the basketball court, wrestling ring, and most importantly the football field. Making him miss out on games would be devastating for the school." Jazz speaks up in my defence. Which I honestly appreciate at the moment. I'll have to remember to thank her later.
"Then why haven't you come to us? If the school really is playing favorites with the students then the parents should know about this. You should have said something sooner, not get into a brawl in front of your school." Mother retorts with a frown. I don't blame her, regardless of my reasons, seeing her son getting beat up at a place he's supposed to be learning and protected would set off anyones motherly instincts.
"And what then? Have the entire student populace hate me and my friends for the string of losses our sports teams will begin to take? Get mocked up and down the hallways for crying to 'Mommy and Daddy' instead of taking it like a man or doing something about it myself?" I ask her incredulously with a shake of my head. "No, that may solve my problem with Dash but I'd just be getting bullied worse from everyone else."
Silence reigns over the table after that. I kind of feel bad for putting her in this type of situation. She was a teenager once herself after all, she obviously doesn't want to make me a pariah but she also doesn't want me coming home with new bruises everyday. It's quite the conundrum for normal parents. Well...normal may not fit in this scenario but still.
"Oh c'mon Maddie, even I can see there's only one thing we can do here. If we can't depend on the teachers and we don't want Danny getting hurt then all we have to do is make sure he wins! If that boy dares decide with a man of the Fenton household again, he'll be in for one major surprise!" my amazing new father yells out while standing from his seat.
"Dad! Please do not encourage a young impressionable teen to choose violence! What kind of adult are you!?" my annoying new sister yells out while also standing from her seat. She helped me out earlier with backing me up about Dash, but for some reason I can just tell that she'll be more of a pain in the ass than otherwise...Like all older sisters so, shouldn't be surprised.
"I hate to say this, but your father may actually be right. I don't see any other way to solve this problem. And I am a 9th degree blackbelt, I can safely teach Danny all he needs to know to defend himself effectively. Plus, I've actually been planning on giving him a few lessons anyway. Jack told me yesterday that Danny actually wanted to follow in our footsteps. If he's going to hunt ghosts then he should be prepared." my spectacular new mother declares while staying in her seat.
"What? What?! No! Not my little brother!" Jazz yells before running towards me and hugging me tightly. "They're lying. Danny, they're lying right!? You can't believe in their nonsense. You're the only normal family I have! What happened to being an astronaut? Don't fall to the dark side!"
"Uhh...yeah, sorry Jazz, but she's right. It's not like I've given up on it or anything, I just realized it's not what I want to do. If there are evil ghosts out there, then someone needs to be there to stop them. Besides, someone needs to take over the family business, it might as well be me right?"
"That's ma boy! Maddie! That's our boy! A future hero in the making! He takes after me y'know?" he says with a smirk towards his wife. However, while his smile continued to grow, Jazz's face fell even more from shock to horror. I stop myself from laughing at her antics when she covers her face with her hands and begins to mutter to herself over and over again, "They got him. They got my little brother."
Honestly, I feel kind of sorry for her. I was clearly the only normal person besides her in this family, and she used me as an anchor for her sanity. Unfortunately for her, ghosts do exist and while there's no need to be as trigger happy as our folks, there are bad and evil spectres out there that need to be stopped. I can't spare the time to pretend to believe those threats don't exist. I have too much to do.
"Alright...I'm not happy about solving your problems through violence but I can understand that we don't have a better option. Me and your father are very busy though with a new list of inventions we need to make, so it won't be very often, but if you want we can train on weekends Danny. You'll have to handle strength and stamina training on your own." mom offers with a small smile.
"I can do that."
On Pat. Tre. On: 10/13/2021
It wasn't soon after that I called my friends. They were pretty worried about me before my folks pulled up and took me away. We didn't really have a chance to talk about what happened. And I probably have some explaining to do. Which is fine, because they arrived pretty quickly, and I could barely keep Sam off of me before we headed up to my room.
'Oh my goodness Danny! Are you alright? Why did you stop us from trying to help? We could have helped get him off of you!" she cries out, almost literally, while hugging me tightly. Too tightly. I have to actively resist my flinch when she rams into my stomach. I don't want her feeling any worse. I think I managed to stop the flinch but my face scrunched up on its own. Tucker saw, but I can trust him to stay quiet. At least I think I can.
"I'm fine. I'm fine. Just some light bruises here and there." I reply with a laugh that I have to cancel very quickly when a shot of pain rises from my stomach. "Anyway, don't worry about Dash or his goons, I'll handle them. Today isn't about that, it's about our future hero team! Guys, forget me getting beat up, I have powers! I think that overshadows bully trouble just a bit."
"The fact that you got beat up in the first place is what's worrying me." Tucker says seriously. Which worries me, I was depending on him to help me lighten the mood. Sam lets me go at this and nods in agreement. "I get that you might need to know how to fight to do what we're trying to do, but I've never seen you that angry. Or willing to choose violence so quickly. Normally I would be all for standing up to that asshole, but considering all of this just so happened to happen after yesterday…"
Sam doesn't say anything, but she doesn't need to. I can see the color drain from her, and she begins to shake after realizing what her friend is implying. That whatever happened yesterday, the thing she blames herself for, changed me. In more ways than one. She starts to shake as she moves a couple steps back from me, and before this can get any further, I speak up.
"Look, you're right. I am acting a bit differently. But I just can't take his crap anymore. There was always this part of me that was scared of confrontation. Of actually standing up for myself. Fear of not only the violence but of also getting hurt. So yeah, there were the snarky comments and the jokes, but it's really just an odd defense mechanism I have to distract myself from the actual situation at hand. If we're going to do this, really do this, then I had to get over it. I can't be scared to fight whatever's out there, yet alone Dash."
"So...you're okay?" Sam asks. Her eyes looked into my eyes with such hope, that even if I was dying I would have given the same answer. "I'm okay." Or I was at least. Until a fist came crashing into my jaw, sending my ass onto my bed in confusion. It took me a moment to realise who had done it. And considering Sam's shocked expression and I didn't hit myself...I look up at Tucker who has an enraged expression.
"I can get it when we are both scrambling to keep our heads down and avoid trouble. I can even get when one of us would get caught and the other would save themself. Not because we're cowards, but because there's no reason for both of us to get beaten up. But this...this is different! We weren't avoiding trouble, we-, no you were running headfirst into it. And you left me!? Do you think I'm some fucking Damsel In Destress Fenton!? Someone you need to protect just because you apparently have some fancy fucking powers now? Fuck you!"
Wow…damn. I guess I am kind of an idiot. It's only been a day and I've already gotten into the mindset that I'm the 'Main Character' that needs to fight the biggest bads and protect the group. But although my reality may still look cartoonish, this is all real now. I should have known that Tucker or Sam would be content with the title of 'Side Character' and I hurt his pride pretending otherwise. I can't help the smile and chuckle that slowly form together.
"You're right. I'm sorry, these powers don't mean shit but another tool to help us reach our goal." I say standing. I clench my fists and look into his eyes and he smirks back at me. "You don't need coddling. You won't be behind me throughout it all, will you?!" I yell out as I swing right into his cheek. Impressively, the man doesn't flinch or blink. Sam starts to freak out for a bit to help my friend up. "You'll be right beside me."
"Damn right!" he exclaims with a smile and laugh before raising his hands up to coddle his cheek. "Ow ow ow! You got a mean right hook dude. Nice~." I can see Sam looking between me and Tuck confusingly, not able to decide if we're angry at each other or just joshing around. Of course, I'm not surprised the Peace Loving girl won't understand the therapeutic feeling of punching people in the face.
"You talking about me? What about you? That leftie was phenomenal! Nice~." I compliment while rubbing my jaw with a small wince. Taking another quick look at Sam, I notice her eye twitching in what I assume is annoyance. A glance at Tuck shows that he's also watching for her reaction while trying to hold back his laughs.
"Ugh. Boys! What is wrong with you!? Who hits each other in an effort to make up? That doesn't even make any sense!" she finally cracks. And with that, the flood gates slam open and we both can no longer contain our laughter. It gets even worse when she rolls her eyes and plops onto the bed with a pout.
On Pat. Re. On: 11/06/2021
After a moment of messing around, it was finally time to get down to business. There's been a lot of emotional rollercoaster moments that's been distracting us from what's important. Me kicking ass as a ghost fighting hero. And to do that, I need to unlock my powers, if not all of them, then just the basic ghost set. I've got intangibility down, but that would still leave flight, ecto-blasts, and invisibility.
"Before we begin our crime fighting journey, I should figure out what else I can do. I mean, having things go through me is cool and all, but there has to be more right?" I ask in an attempt to be clueless. I have to pretend I'm stumbling my way into ultimate power instead of having all of the answers.
"We're assuming the portal thing gave you ghost powers right? Intangibility fits so what else can ghosts do, assuming they're real of course. So flying shouldn't be that far off course? Can you imagine a ghost stuck to the ground? It ruins like 20% of the fear factor." Tuck explained with a thoughtful expression. I would give him a high five if that wouldn't be a little sus. Thinking about doing it anyway to be honest.
"What about possession? Most scary movies that involve spectres have them possessing someone. Like a doll, or even another person." Sam speaks up. I almost sweat drop at that. I don't know if that's an advanced technique, but it sure as hell sounds like it. Stick to the basics woman. The basics!
"Well I can turn intangible. If I walk into you while it's activated, maybe I could do it that way. Either that or I'll go right through you. It's worth a try anyway right? Do I have any volunteers?" I ask with a hopeful smile. I mean, I don't know if I can do it, but what if it really is that simple. I can think of how it'll make my life easier.
"With all due love and respect my dude, that's a hell no for me." Tucker answers with an eyebrow raised, looking at me like I'm insane for even mentioning trying it out on him. "You want me to let you possess me? Are you off your rocker? What if you get in and like my body a little too much? I mean, I don't even know if I could resist all this chocolatey goodness!"
"..."
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"..."
"Yeah you right." I agree wholeheartedly.
"Right?! I knew you'd understand."
"It truly is hard to resist yourself when you're so smexy."
"It really is a struggle. Mere mortals have it easy."
"They don't know how good they have it."
"They-" "Alright that's enough! You're both very pretty, now can we focus!?" Sam interrupts. Quite rudely I might add. Regardless, me and Tuck can't help the laughter we've been holding back by being straightfaces that entire time. "Anyway, you can possess me Danny."
"What?" And that grabs my attention, stopping the brief laughter session. "Sam, are you sure? We still don't know how these powers work. Even if it's possible, shouldn't we wait until I'm more experienced?"
"You were the one who asked for volunteers! Besides, I'm the reason all of this is happening right? I should be the one who does everything they can for the group." she says with determination. Of course I was going to speak out against it, but she doesn't let me. "Don't worry Danny. I trust you. You;d never hurt me. Freaky ghost powers or not."
I didn't know how to react. The absolute trust moved me. But, I also know I didn't earn any of it. A bit of guilt couldn't help but rise, but with a shalke of my head, I forced myself to focus. Seeing the determination in her eyes once more, I nod and turn intangible. And before I could fall through the floor, I stepped inside.
/CrowProduction