The day was bright and alive, but for the team that had formed, they were more into clocking the best that Danny Phantom can muster, excluding any strength tests or the like as he whizzed past and the speed gun in Tucker's hands clocked him going a hundred and twelve miles as he cheered with Sam taking notes. "Hundred twelve miles per. Lightin' up the speed gun, dude."
"Only a hundred twelve? He can do a bit better for a dipstick." The latest member of the gang was actually Ember as she switched up with her attire, not keeping to her ghost form's look, but was more modest for a teenager going to school, a tank top with T-shirt of KISS, a pair of shorts under a skirt, and her skin was like a light tan with radiant amber-golden of eyes looking back with a smirk, truly earning her the name of 'Topaz' as her new name, Topaz Lain, a side note to that was that Sam and her bonded GREATLY over the destruction of anything pink, what a holocaust it was.
Talia spoke up as she pointed out. "He could, but we are testing his abilities of a Demi, not the full max currently." Topaz rolled her eyes as Danny practiced his intangibility and Sam checked it off.
"Intangibility, check." He then went invisible to the majority of the gang looking around to find him, the only one seeing him still was Cedric, because he had installed a thermal vision to his Exorcist suit, even more apparent with a scanner earpiece, and he could see both humans, ghosts, and Demis just as easily, as Valerie, Topaz, Talia, Sam, and Tucker spoke up in confusion.
"Danny?" Said person dove down toward them as Tucker turned in search still.
"Invisibility, check." He flinched as Danny overshadowed him and his voice came through Tucker's body.
"Hi, I'm Tucker! Don't let the PDA, glasses, and lack of muscles fool you. I'm a stud." He paused before he spoke again. "Why am I hearing movie quotes in his head right now?" He shrugged as he left Tucker's body to his friend's comment.
"I hate when you just do that."
"I don't know, are you sure they were movie quotes, I thought that he was playing some manly love song."
"As did I, considering how often he hits on the fairer sex." Tucker raised his arms in disbelief to the two female Demis' remarks.
"What is this, 'Pick on Tucker' day!?" They just shrugged with smirks as Sam turned to the readied Danny.
"OK, hotshot. Let's ramp it up." With that, she engaged the system for combat training as he flipped through hoops, and dodged darts high up in the air before zapping targets of genetic ghosts... and Jazz, just because he was still a kid with her before he floated through the metal barriers that erupted from the floor as he gave a thumbs up to them before accidentally slamming into the wall and crumpling to the ground as Tucker mocked back.
"Hi, I'm Danny Fenton! Don't let the concussion and bruises fool you, I need more practice." Danny scowled as he rested a glowing hand to the floor and it slipped over to Tucker before he disappeared under the floor and it closed before Sam smiled with a comment.
"Wow, it's quiet in here!" The six friends burst out laughing before Danny retrieved Tucker from the actual basement and they went over what could be improved for Danny's training, one being to make the projectiles faster as ectoblasts can be much more quicker and more powerful than just darts and another to make the targets more interactive and numerous, heavens knows how many instinct-driven ghosts could easily be stopped or turned away...
Up on the actual flooring of FentonWorks, Maddie stared at a picture of her and Danny as she mused sadly. "Danny and I used to be so close." For the matter, however, Jack was more interested in playing with action figures of him and a generic ghost.
"Aha, take that!" He had his figurine punch the ghost one as he quoted himself from his 'battle' with Vlad. "Nobody makes a meat puppet out of Jack Fenton! Ah! Uh!" He paused in somehow giving the figurine a piece of jerky and having it look like the figurine was offering the jerky in the first place. "Fenton jerky?" Maddie sighed as she took the jerky from the figurine's hands.
"Gracias." She returned to musing over her 'bent' relationship with Danny. "We shared everything. Secrets, Bunsen burners, soda..."
"Ah, yes. Nothing says bonding like backwash."
"Danny's just shooting up so fast. Those special times seem to be slipping away." The matron of the Fenton family sighed over the memories. "Oh, I miss them." She hugged the picture of the two of them as Jack started.
"Maddie, they all have to grow up sometime." The moment was 'thwarted' when Jack just continued to play with the figures, quoting Vlad, in his defeated speech, this time. "Curse you, Jack Fenton! You've defeated me once again! Haha!" He paused as the doorbell rang and Jack exclaimed once more. "I'll get it!" He dashed for the door and opened it to an odd sight, a long-haired individual in a postal uniform, holding an envelope that was labelled with 'INVITE', the only problem with it was that the figure was green-skinned, red-eyed, and had a menacing look to them as Jack took the letter with a word. "Thanks, pal." He dug through his pocket before pulling out a nickel for the individual, they accepting the gesture, but the nickel went right through as Jack spoke once more to the event. "I would jump to a rash conclusion, but got a wife in need of emotional bonding with her boy. Oh, and try to get some sun. You're pale as a ghost." He closed the door and made his way back over to Maddie as he spoke. "Hey Maddie, some kind of invite for you. I can tell because it has the word 'invite' on it." It did as she took it in hand, opening the mail, and read it over before she lit up in joy as she leapt to her feet.
"Yes! Just what the doctor ordered." Meanwhile, Danny was trying something as the five friends looked at him before glancing at each other before Danny finally glowed and shifted before he turned from Danny Phantom, ghostly hero of Amity Park, to Danny Phantom, TWO-HEADED ghostly hero of Amity Park as Sam and Tucker gasped to the ability while Topaz, Talia, and Cedric looked and made notes before Tucker spoke up in amaze.
"Wow! You can eat a Nasty Burger and fries at the same time." The heads replied just the same in exhaust as the right head spoke.
"Yeah. The problem is, I can only split myself this far." The head glanced to his partner as he went off explaining.
"Vlad Plasmius can turn into like four different Vlads at once. That's what this weekend is about."
"Nonstop drills."
"No homework."
"No family." Both heads spoke at the end of it.
"No interruptions."
"Hey Danny!" Danny panicked from the sound of his mother coming and quickly reverted back to human, except had a single eye to which Tucker quickly smacked him in the back of the head and he went back to normal as Maddie arrived, holding some invite in hand as Talia, Topaz, and Cedric were chuckling behind their hands. "Pack your bags! We're going to a mother-son science symposium in Florida! Doesn't that sound fun?" Danny slumped as that just called to be a problem, but he still got ready as the group spoke to each other, Maddie having gone to pack her own bags for the trip.
"I got to say, the dipstick trying to figure out duplication? Not really something I was expecting him to be unable to do."
"Indeed, but to actually see him attempting such a advanced technique is quite the interesting prospect, we can actually watch him fail at being a ghost at times."
"Alright, you two, stop sassing the poor guy and let's go over the training for when he gets back, or you know, hone our skills about this whole business." They did so as Danny, after a good hour or so and seeing his friends off, entered a chat with Jazz over it in the living room.
"At least you're going somewhere. I'm doomed to 'special family alone time' with Dad." She took a look at the invite and mused over the name. "The DALV group. Never heard of them. Are they legitimate?"
"Legitimately boring, I'm guessing." Danny answered as Jack came over to Maddie by the stairs and spoke.
"Now, just to make sure you're protected from any rogue ghost attacks on the road, sweet cakes, I made you this." He held up a flexible metallic belt with a round lock on it in the Fenton's color scheme to Maddie's awe as Jack explained it out. "It's the Fenton Specter Deflector-" He secured it to her waist as he continued to explain its purpose. "-guaranteed to repel and weaken any ghost who comes in direct contact with you."
"Ooooh..." Maddie answered with admire as she turned the lock and it beeped before she focused on Jack. "Thanks, hon." She kissed him with some lingering words. "Oh, and Jack, try not to trash the house while I'm gone..." She headed over to the door as Jack huffed in disbelief.
"Suck the house into a parallel dimension one time, and you just can't let it go, can you?" But the notion was given up as the pair headed out, clueless to their real destination as this would have been the dark plan of one former college buddy, but this was not his fault fully...
A private jet soared high in the sky as its passengers were the pair of mother and son as Maddie pointed in glee while Danny sulked to his failed plans. "Come on, Mr. Pouty Pants. This weekend is supposed to be about us. Those DALV people sent this private jet just for us. How perfect is that?"
"Do you want the truth, or one of those little white lies that doesn't hurt your feelings?" Danny kicked himself, what kind of answer is that, she just wanted to bond and here he was, rejecting it in hopes of training his ghost powers as she sighed in regret and spoke in return.
"Oh, forget it, Danny. Just look out the window at that warm, sunny Florida coastline." Unfortunately, that was the moment that their trip was cancelled... forcibly as the intercom came alive.
"Folks, this is your captain speaking. If you look out the window on your left, you'll see the cold, bleak Colorado Rockies." Maddie's right, but Danny's left as Danny exclaimed in disbelief.
"The Rockies? That's nowhere near Florida, that's away from Florida. What gives?"
"And if you look out the window on your right side, you'll see me bailing out of the plane before it careens out of control and crashes." Both looked out in alarm as the pilot did just jump out of the plane with a parachute on his back and glanced to each other before they booked for the cockpit, empty as the plane started to make a nosedive before Maddie moved to pull the plane up, but it was impossible as she exclaimed.
"The controls are jammed, Danny. How do we get out of this?"
"I know one way..." He whispered to himself before he crouched down, hiding his transformation in Phantom and moved to go intangible with his mom, but the Specter Deflector countered him as he was zapped and thudded into the wall with reverting back, his energy pulled out some and leaving him dazed as Maddie looked back and quickly dashed to his side as she exclaimed.
"Danny, you OK?" He quickly replied with slapping the hand away before the Deflector shocked him again.
"Yeah, I'm fine." That moment also left them notice that there were a pair of parachutes and Maddie exclaimed as much.
"Danny, parachutes." She pluck one of them up, its label Danny, and tossed it to him as she slung the one with her name on. "Let's go!" He pulled his own on and both jumped for it out of the plane as the chutes engaged and floated them down as somehow, the pilot floated up to meet them with a walkie-talkie in hand.
"Folks, at this time, I'd like to inform you that you've been the victims of a cruel hoax!" He transformed into the postal guy to the pair's surprise as he finished. "Thank you for flying Air Evil Plot." He flew up to the plane and it took off without them as Danny crossed his arms and huffed as Maddie assured him.
"Oh, come on, Danny. Don't be so glum. Look at the view!" He descended down into the wide Colorado forest that they had found themselves in and Maddie went straight to work with her machete as she huffed and smiled to the following Danny. "Whew! Good thing I had my Fenton Machete tucked away in my boot, eh, Danny?"
"You carry a lot of stuff, Mom. How about a Fenton Cell Phone so we can call for help?"
"Cell phone? Oh, you can't fight ghosts with a cell phone, silly. Not that we're likely to find any ghosts around here. Besides, who needs help?" Maddie went right back to slashing through the bushes and foliage that barred their path. "I'm perfectly comfortable with us roughing it in the woods..." Cutting through some more, she gasped to the appearance of a large lodge that was initialed with a V as she commented. "...Ooooor we could just stay at this ritzy mountain chalet. I'm open."
"I wonder, though..." Danny whispered to himself as he looked at it, a bit uneasy with the whole thing right now. "Whose idea was this...?" To the honk of a horn, the pair glanced to the side to find Vlad Masters driving up, just as surprised as them, as he commented.
"Why, if it isn't Maddie and Danny Fenton."
"Vlad Masters?!" Mother and son exclaimed as Vlad rolled with it.
"Oh, what an amazing, unexpected, and totally unplanned surprise." He pulled out two gift baskets for the pair as he continued. "Personalized gift baskets?" Maddie laughed in delight as she headed of to the cart while Danny was just skeptical, but still sent a smirk.
"You're up to something, Uncle..."
"Oh, you think so? Just some harmless enjoyment." Maddie took both baskets as she popped into the side seat before he looked at a device on his wrist, away from the pair. "Something's up, go check on Jack and Jazz."
"What was that?"
"I said... flapjacks. Mm-hmm. Pancakes. I have pancakes." He answered with diverting the chat as he revved the engine of the cart which splattered Danny before heading off, Vlad turning his head in apology. "Sorry, Daniel, the cart was tuned recently and it has too much horsepower." Danny rose a hand and wiped the mud off before he commented.
"Well... at least, I know Vlad is not behind this trip, but if he isn't with his vault of gold and dollar bills, then who is...?" He followed suit as something seemed to be staring out of the woods far from the cabin, a single eye taking in the prize...
Jazz was in the living room as she was talking to someone on the phone. "OK, I'll see you later." He hung up at her home as Jack bolted in with a metal rod in hand.
"Hey, Jazzerincess, check this out!" He held it up as he detailed it, the second invention today. "It's my Jack-o'-Nine-Tails. How's about a quick tutorial?"
"How about a quicker no?" Jack frowned, a bit upset over it as Jazz bluffed her way through. "I'm not interested in ghost fighting, Dad." She finished up with standing up. "In fact, I'm going out." She headed off to get her stuff together as Jack called out in warning.
"Hey, rope it in, little miss. Be careful. Teenage boys are like wild animals." Jazz didn't pay heed to it, but wished she partly did as she opened the front door to a monstrous rabbit of a ghost looming outside and snarled at her as she, first instinct was to scream, was also mentally kicking herself.
'I wish I had the Fenton Peeler right now!' The monster made to chomp on her, but she was quickly pulled away and landed on the floor as Jack jumped inbetween the pair with a shout.
"Back off, she's a minor!" He fired the Jack-o'-Nine-Tails at the beast, his face in the center of a collection of ten clamps, ensnaring the beast, but had the unexpected effect of causing it to bloat and explode, the portion of the house covering in ectoplasm, Jack included as he answered. "Alright, first ghost I have ever actually had on my own and I am covered in ectoplasm... and I am not being affected... Curious..." The moment was cut short as Jazz dashed over and praised her dad.
"Dad, you saved me from that monster!" Jack answered while they had unexpected company in observing, the vulture kind.
"Yep. It's what I do, Princess." He retracted the weapon before resting a hand on Jazz's shoulder. "That, and needlepoint, which is artsy and relaxing. Now, come on! I'm putting this house under ghost lock-down!" He triggered the Jack-o'-Nine-Tails on accident as he mused. "I should probably adjust something before I can call this a finished tool." Meanwhile, up in Colorado with Maddie, Danny, and Vlad, Danny was taking to looking around at the number of hunting trophies Vlad seems to have, even yelping to the bear rug before casting a glance toward Vlad, eyes widening that Vlad, spelled backwards, was Dalv from the naming on his fancy housecoat, he getting a flash of Phantom and Plasmius ready to duke it out, but it disappeared and Danny took in the pondering look of Vlad, certainly not the look of success and victory that the man could be holding. He broke the moment with a turn and inquired.
"So, what brings you two to these parts?" Maddie glanced up from the book of ghosts she had on hand as she explained it in brief tones.
"You'll never believe it. We were on our way to this symposium, and our pilot forced us out of the plane right over your house!" She turned back to the book, but it was the raised brow that caught Danny's attention as he finished it up with a theory of his own.
"Yeah, it's almost like it's some sort of villainous plot." He huffed out a scowl as he finished. "What an incredibly well-planned coincidence."
"That would be an oxymoron, dear boy." Vlad pointed out as he continued on. "Oh, and speaking of morons, how's your old man?" Danny spoke back with his eyes aglow.
"I THOUGHT you buried the hatchet with Dad."
"Ooh, the scary eyes. And, first, I did bury the hatchet, but you see, I have to muse myself with some of Jack's quirky personality." He glanced to the side with a smile. "He can be dull and a bumbler, but he is one-of-a-kind, after all, I just wish he would have visited me sometimes." He glanced back and eyes widened when he blasted an ectoblast from them, Danny dodging just fine in the chair, but he toppled off the chair, nearly causing Maddie to see the gaping hole in the chair, but Vlad blocked it as he worked with being a gentleman. "Maddie, I'm so glad you're here, though. It gives me the chance to apologize for troubling you and also the strange behavior that Jack did at our college reunion." Maddie peered back to the book as a ghostly bookmark popped up from it before Danny inquired, getting up from the smoking chair, curious as to why Vlad looked terrified of blasting him with the ectoblast, he could have handled it, but a glance told him that, if Maddie saw it, the trip would be ruined in a way.
"Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Dad possessed by some filthy, putrid, lonely, single ghost? Just asking here." Vlad smirked as he pointed a finger and Danny was blasted back with a ectoblast as he mused. "Whoa, this is both cool and dangerous, he does have a lot of experience with this stuff." However, the sound made Maddie pause before Vlad swept around and closed the book that she was reading in the first place as he started off.
"Well, if he hadn't been so weak, perhaps that never would have happened, hm?" That was a bluff, he knew that anyone could be overshadowed, but a strong-willed individual could easily converse with the ghost in question, even force him out, Jack COULD do it, but Vlad didn't know who could be such a successful repellent of ghosts as Maddie cut in, walking over to a bookshelf and looking through the titles.
"Now, Vlad, Jack might be a bumbler, but he means well." She pulled one out, 'Paranormal Science', and started to read it as Vlad huffed.
"I know, Maddie." He then started to list off details that were on his mind about the whole thing. "And I've forgiven him for many things: causing the accident that ruined my life, stealing you, the backwash incident-" He was cut short when Maddie paused and questioned with a startle.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, back up. What was that?" Vlad spoke again in confusion.
"Causing the accident that ruined my life?"
"N-no, after that."
"The... backwash incident?" Maddie was exasperated as she gestured for the middle part.
"No! In. The. Middle!"
"Oh, the stealing you part?" He came closer as he explained. "Ah, you always could see right through me." He dropped to a single knee and pleaded with her as he spoke. "I am just a bit lost on that matter and I deeply care for you, but I will not ask you to dump Jack and live here with me, I am more than content being the uncle of your kids." He got back up as he continued. "I'll say outright... I still love you, back in our college days, I loved you deeply, and I understand that Jack had your heart first, but... some small piece of me wanted to be the 'one', you know." He was surprised when Maddie planted a kiss on his cheek as he gasped with raising a hand to it as Maddie spoke.
"Oh, I missed you too, but I can't be yours, but I do prefer you to be the uncle of Danny and Jazz." She paused as she glanced down and spoke again. "That said, I think me and Danny need some personal bonding, I feel a drift coming between us and I want to reconnect with him, so with that said..." She headed to the door and spoke. "Come on, Danny, let's try some camping." She plunked him up, he looking no worse for wear, though the foot going through the wall was new, and they headed out into the Colorado night air as Danny called out.
"Bye Vlad! We'll be back soon, though if you could, maybe get yourself a cat, I heard they are excellent comfort partners!" Vlad huffed playfully as he spoke back.
"Good advice, Daniel, I'll check when the trip is over for you two, have fun out there!" Meanwhile, back at Fenton Works, Jack and Jazz stood back to back as Jack mused, the entryway still covered in ectoplasm as the vultures just watched and reported back through a wireless line.
"You know, in retrospect, perhaps I shouldn't have gutted the FentonWorks Ghost Shield to make your mom's anti-ghost belt."
"You know, that is a pretty good reason why we can't just shield up from these things." A pair of ghost hawks soared in and Jazz yelped in terror. "Oh, more ghosts! Get 'em, Daddy!" The birds dove in and Jack readied the Jack-o'-Nine-Tails, but the two tag-teamed him and bowled him over as Jazz quickly snatched the weapon, the birds focused on Jack as their claws extended out on the man who crashed into the wall, but they won't be given the chance to use them as Jazz blasted the weapon at the pair and hurled them back down to the ground in a battle cry.
"Aye-aye-aye-ya-ya-ya-ya!" The birds vanished before the Nine-Tails retracted and Jazz smiled as she cheered in a victory pose. "Yes!"
"Wow! Note to self: Make a Jazz action figure." He held up his action figure and squeezed it as the night had just barely began to be a ghost fest.
In the woods, Maddie had set up quite the impressive camp site as Danny just stared into the fire, Maddie wiping her brow on the wooden tent before somehow making two sleeping bags from two pills and drops of water before she walked over to sit on the log and join Danny by the fire before pulling out a piece of jerky from her belt. "Fenton Jerky?" Danny huffed in reply.
"Pass." Maddie glanced to the jerky before becoming downcast as she mused over the trip.
"Danny, this weekend certainly isn't turning out like I planned, but we're spending it together, and that just means the world to me." She placed her hand on Danny's and the Belt attacked as Danny yelped with getting shocked as he swiftly yanked his hand away.
"Yah! Ok! I get it! Stop touching me." Maddie pulled away with a little of surprise and pain as Danny vocalized his intent. "Look, I'm gonna sleep over here, OK?" Dashing away, he took the red sleeping bag as Maddie slumped and called out to him.
"Well, good night, Danny. I love you." She herself pulled her sleeping bag into the shelter as Danny replied back.
"Mm-hmm. Good night." He rolled over to Maddie's sigh and full entry into the wooden tent before a very large hairy leg stomped in front of Danny and he replied in terror. "Either Mom needs to shave her legs, or this is really bad news." A six-legged bear ghost towered over him before lunging, snatching him up and hauling him away...
It got worse when Danny was tossed into one of the chairs at the chalet while a motley swarm of animal ghosts surrounded him, their master floating down, but he was not Plamius, to Danny's relief, it was a burly-looking beast of a man, pale dark and milky white eyes to a torn lumberjack appearance as Danny quickly got up and commented. "Nice petting zoo, Lumber." He went ghost as he continued. "Where's the lonely-guy cat?"
"Ah, teen wit, good trait." He pulled out a device that didn't match up and zapped Danny with it like it was a taser, electrocuting him and forcing him back to human as Danny exclaimed in shock.
"wW-wh-what was that?"
"Oh, it called Plasmius Maximus, stole it from bore halfa, stops powers 'til midnight." Danny glanced to the clock and it put him in a position of weakness for three hours as the brute continued. "Stole beasts as well, meant for chase, but Lumber want body to hunt again, but Lumber can't while fat man is alive and whelp is protected by fat man."
"So the invite, the scheme!?"
"Lumber plan, female good stock, but first possess body, but Maximus not enough, brutal maul needed to weaken body to possess and crush whelp soul." Danny grimaced as he bolted for the door, thankfully the lug was not too fast, but his 'captive' animals weren't the same as he bellowed. "Tear whelp apart!" The animals started the chase and Danny booked as best as he could, but the Maximus had weakened him badly, in connection to the belt as he pushed through branch, bush, and brush as the animals pursued with eagerness as Danny had only a moment to catch his breath before trying again to escape, but tripped on a root, causing him to fall and weakly reaching to pull himself up before a camouflaged hand snatched his arm and pulled him up, Maddie on a higher branch in a mud camo, and a coil of ecto-rope in the other hand as she lightly scolded Danny.
"Remind me later how much trouble you're in for leaving the campsite." Danny glanced up to his wrist and was amazed, the Belt was not hurting him.
"Wow, that doesn't hurt." Maddie set him down on the branch before throwing down a loop, the ghost bear peering about before recognizing the trap far too late as it was snatched up to Maddie's words to Danny.
"Be right back."
"Sure... I can wait." Her mom jumped and hauled the bear up before fastening the rope to the trunk and faced the rest of the animals, activating the Fenton Belt and shatter the mud covering her to her normal look as she taunted in a martial arts pose.
"Come on, dazzle me." A wolf tried its luck, only to get kicked in the head before Maddie, performing a gymnast routine on a routine landed and pulled out a metal rod that extended out as a strike staff as Danny just questioned.
"How can she not have a phone in there?" Maddie tore through the ghosts with relative ease as the strike staff just made them go poof; bashing a bison in the head, getting in-between the two heads of a lynx, a three-headed beaver was swatted away, and a hawk was knocked out of the air while Maddie just screamed in a war-cry, Glancing back with a glare before leaping again and smashing a moose, a pair of rabbits tried to intimidate her, but she just adjust her goggles and they fired ectoblasts to everyone's surprise. "HOW can she even do that, that is just impossible!" She whipped around to the last of the standing threats, ready to smack them, but scared them off with a simple 'Boo'. They scamper off as Maddie turned to scold Danny as he slid down from the tree.
"Now, young man, would you mind telling me what you thought you were doing?!" That was ruined when Danny came over and hugged her arm in joy.
"You are awesome!" She gasped in surprised as she thanked him.
"Ohh, honey, thank you!"
"I will destroy you!" Swift dispatch to that gopher as Maddie spoke again.
"But we better start moving, in case those ghosts come back." She deactivated the weapon and headed off as Danny stammered before following.
"Uh, wait for me!" He took after her and soon, he was riding piggyback on Maddie as he spoke. "I, uh, think we gave those ghost animals the slip. Uh... shouldn't we figure out a way to call Dad?" Maddie huffed as she spoke in turn.
"As much as I WOULD hate to say this, I think we should go back to Vlad's." There was not a level of bitterness toward the man as Danny hopped to the ground.
"But he could be out right now! I mean, he... said all those horrible thing about Dad."
"Yes, but they are both true, and makes him a bit of a creep." Danny nodded as she continued on. "But he is your uncle, he is allowed his interests, and he has a phone and transportation." On a more cheery note, she continued. "And pancakes." Danny rolled his eyes as Maddie... detached the belt. "Here, put this on." Danny yelped as the Fenton Belt was fastened to his waist and Maddie holding the key. "I know it's girly, but it's for your own protection." She headed off as Danny gingerly touched the belt, knowing the effect it could have when it hits the time.
"Great. At midnight, I get my powers back. At twelve-oh-one, the belt zaps me, and at twelve-oh-two, Vlad COULD try to make out with my mom." He cringed as he continued on. "Those are going to be the worst two minutes of my life, and it is if Vlad knows what's going on here and ignores it."
Jazz looked at herself in the mirror down in the lab before pulling the hood, blinking a few times before she spoke. "Good gravy, I look like Mom, but shorter and less curved." She glanced to the side where seven more suits rested as she continued. "Still, it's a good material, where did Dad even find this stuff?" The moment was broken when Jack stomped in with a ectogun and ecto-rope in hand as he started to speak.
"Jazz, honey, I-" He paused as Jazz turned to him as he exclaimed for a brief moment. "Maddie! You're home!"
"Dad, it's me, Jazz."
"Jazz?" Jack dropped the weapons on the ground as he commented. "Why, look at you. You're the spitting image of your mother." He sniffed happily as he continued. "I knew this day would come. That's why years ago I had this made for you." He ran over to the closet and pulled out a titanic jumpsuit to Jazz's surprise and unease.
"...Nice." Jack started again as he apologized for the colossal attire.
"Sorry about the size. I thought you'd be swimming in my end of the gene pool-the end that's filled with ranch dressing, melted cheese, and fudge. Lots of fudge." Jazz diverted the conversation away as she just tried to play it off.
"Look, this is just a sociological experiment. I figure I owe it to myself to experience all this ghost stuff one time, so I can hate it in a more informed context."
"I don't know what you're saying, sweetheart. But I do know that ghost fighting is in your blood!"
"No way! I am not like you and Mom." She turned with crossed arms. "I'm a brilliant, reasonable, sophisticated girl."
"In a blue hazmat suit."
"In a blue-yahh!" She whipped back around as she spoke back. "Quit messing with me! No more talk about ghost fighting, OK?" Sadly, that was not for the moment as more ghost animals emerged from the walls as Jack shouted.
"No talk, ACTION!" He rushed over and tossed the ectogun to Jazz who quickly fired with ease and took out some of the ghosts as the Jack-o'-Nine-Tails performed a helicopter motion as the two joined together, smiled with some glee before yelling into battle.
Back up in Colorado, the pair of mother and son Fentons arrived to the door of the chalet and Danny checked his watch, pulling it out of his pocket and writing it on his wrist as he spoke. "Oh, great. Ten to twelve." He glanced up to Maddie as he asked. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Danny, if we're gonna get out of here, we need Vlad's help." Danny glanced down to the key as he quickly bolted to the door.
"But before you go in there and 'flirt' our way out of here, I just want to say... I love you." The surprise was enough as he removed the key as Maddie returned the hug.
"I love you, too." She moved past him, heedless of the missing key... or so. "Clingy." She walked up to the door and knocked, the doors opening to an unhappy Vlad before he cheered up.
"Maddie! Daniel! You've returned to me. How was the camping?" He glanced down to the belt as Maddie spoke.
"Danny, go somewhere else while the adults talk." Vlad looked surprised, but smiled to the coy smile as well before the frown took place as Vlad spoke.
"I hear that just fine, but I actually want to talk to Daniel right now, something crossed my mind and I wanted his opinion on something, is that okay?"
"Oh! Uh, sure." She walked past as she mused. "If you need me, I will be in the study." Both waved as Maddie vanished before Vlad reached over, but before he could, Danny quickly unlocked the belt and breathed as he somehow powered it down.
"That was close, I would have gotten zapped big time, so would you."
"I see, the belt is something part of the Fenton engineering, but that is not what I want to talk about." He rested a hand on Danny's shoulder and lead on while the belt just hung in hand. "Tell me what you can about this trip, I need to know to compare notes."
"Alright, it goes like this..."
Vlad folded his arms in thought as Danny explained the whole thing, from the invite to a science symposium, the bailing pilot and him being a ghost, to the burly thug that wanted to possess him and kill Jack as 'the fat man was protecting him' as Vlad recapped. "I see, a ghost named Lumber is trying to possess you and do 'SOMETHING' in the living world..." Danny noted how Vlad gripped his arms with surprising grip at the very mention of Maddie being 'good stock'. "...He has taken my Plasimus Maximus, sicked my current animal subjects on you to tear you up and weaken you enough to do so, and has sent some of them after Jack to kill him."
"Yeah, now what is your side of the story, I can understand the Dalv group, I saw your name backwards in the mirror."
"Oh, yes, Dalv is actually my paranormal division, I needed to have one, just in case of any real and dangerous entities coming from the Ghost Zone itself, it also isolates and contains any artifacts that have a strong enough ecto-presence to warrant any ghost haunting." He rubbed his jaw as he continued. "The animals were also part of Dalv as they were close to death in life and we... incidentally brought them back as ghosts, but they are docile normally from both social conditioning and mental, animal ghosts are not very complex from the start of all of it, also the trophies are fake, we buried the real ones for peace and quiet."
"And the symposium?"
"Daniel, the science symposium is within two weeks." He held up two fingers as he continued on. "Even if I sent the invite, which I did not do nor employ Samson Side as both pilot and messenger, I only send out invites to those that are able to contribute to the scientific world." He turned his eyes back to Danny as he continued on. "Maddie is a brilliant mind in chemistry, mechanical engineering with Jack, both have permits to engineer devices just the same, but paranormal science is not a proven field, they would have been ousted beforehand and I never send an invite for just a pair, it is often the whole family, despite my more shady transactions." He walked to the side as Danny asked from the chair.
"And Lumber, where does he fit into all of this?"
"That is the question, and I have a brief notion of who." He pulled out a book and opened it with a nod before walking back over and placing it on Danny's lap for him to read the news clippings and entries. "Barlo Lumber, ex-convict and small-time lumberjack, he was a dark sort of man as he 'entertains' women to his side and ends their lives before burying them, hidden among the trees, I believe that if young Topaz was still around at that time, she would have been on his hit list." Danny gripped hard, to think that someone would target one of his friends, even if they were just barely friends recently as Vlad pointed it out. "The local government finally caught up to him and had him dead to rights, but he put up a fight, too much so as fire and wood made for a bad combination, he was trapped under a pile of burning trees and cursed that he would return, younger and stronger than ever before, to reign once more with power and intent." Danny checked it and the event happened, just barely out of Ember's own death in a house fire by two years as Vlad spoke once more. "I see that he has targeted you for his host body, as for Jack, I think I know the partial answer, Lumber viewed other men an obstacle for him and did away with them before hunting down the women, Jack serves as a protective line for you and is just as much in danger as we had suspected." The book closed as Danny spoke.
"But how did he end up turning into... you know."
"A ghost?" The teen nodded as Vlad hummed before he spoke. "It is a far-fetched theory, but a natural portal emerged around that time and sucked his soul out of his body before pouring it back out into our world, five years later, he had not enough of a presence in the world that he could be doing any of this, but a few days ago... mostly likely Halloween, there was a massive surge of ecto-power and one piece of that power seemed to have lingered here, but it vanished before I could investigate." Danny grimaced as that meant that the Fright Knight's power did reach to the other places, but he was worried that it had some lingering effects as he next asked.
"CAN he even possess me, I mean being a Demi and all, shouldn't we just switch bodies or something?"
"Oh, Daniel, that only happens with a separate realm of reality and a ghost whose purpose was that reality." Danny breathed as that kicked the Poindexter event to the curb here as Vlad continued. "Nonetheless, if he manages to weaken you low enough, your natural defense will be no match for him and he can overwhelm you, it will take longer if he intends to destroy your soul to make a permanent residence in your body, but you are one of the toughest people I have ever seen and noted, you fighting the warden of the Ghost Zone is an impressive feat." Danny opened his mouth, but closed it to the smirk, so he made to say something else before a voice rang out.
"So what can we do to stop him?" Both jumped and turned to Maddie, arms crossed as both stammered to answer.
"Maddie/Mom, I can explain!"
"Oh, don't bother, Jack is a bumbler and can miss minor cues..." She walked over with resolve and both straightened up as she finished. "...I do not, I noticed how you wanted to be with me over Jack, Vlad, and I have forgiven you completely, but overshadowing him is one thing I am not so sure I can forgive, and Danny, you know better than to bluff your way through life, we share everything together, Fentons bond with backwash..." Both shook at the notion as Maddie crossed her arms again and spoke. "Now, you will tell me what the Wisconsin Ghost and Public Enemy Number One are doing here and WHAT I am suppose to do with the two of you in the first place."
"Lumber have idea." The trio turned in surprise as Lumber phased through the wall and landed on the floor as he continued. "Lumber destroy older halfa, kill fat man, possess and destroy whelp soul for new body, and Lumber make female new stock." Maddie looked in shock before she turned to Vlad.
"You know..." Vlad gulped as Maddie continued. "You are FAR better than that thing, but don't let it go to your head."
"Oh, Maddie... I won't, one bit." Both took stance as Vlad asked Danny. "Ready to display some of that 'teen wit' to your superior?"
"Just as long as you keep up, old timer." Both transformed into Phantom and Plasimus as Maddie, knowing the battle to come, sprinted past as she shouted.
"Keep old bait-breath entertained until I can find a phone." She headed out as Vlad commented.
"We've in the middle of Colorado woods, there are no phones here."
"Yeah, but what about vehicles?"
"Point taken." The pair went to work to fight off the looming ghost while Maddie checked throughout the rooms for anything that could help out right now.
"No phone... No phone..." The pair worked hard to fight off their adversity as the two bantered as Lumber made for poor company.
"About that other reality thing, I accidentally got that to happen to me, I was stuck in Dexter's torture world."
"Sidney Poindexter?" Vlad dodged before countering. "Cheese logs, Daniel, did you explain the issue to him?"
"Tried, but I was acting the bully to Dash Baxter, my version of a bully."
"I see, well..." He snatched Daniel out of the way of a thrown axe as Danny slingshot with an ectoblast. "Any other events you want to talk about?"
"Halloween, for one, I got caught as part of a 'fight' with Dash and Mr. Lancer had us both on scary house duty and the least scary was put in detention, I have been getting better, but still, I wanted to avoid it and Dash didn't make it easy either with a bet between us."
"What was the bet...?"
"I eat his dirty, smelly underwear to my making him run around the school parking lot in his underwear."
"Ah, classic bet statements." He groaned as he got a punch in the gut, but countered just as well before Lumber could focus solely on Danny. "I take it that you won?"
"Barely, but it was wrecked and I nearly did eat underwear, but Cedric both saved and punished me and Dash with his scary house, he somehow got Topaz to sing and we were left with paid gifts in our hypnotic trance."
"My word, I should really meet this Cedric, he sounds like an absolute mastermind at times."
"Sometimes, I feel that he is." Maddie checked upstairs to a helicopter as she mused.
"Helicopter... but no phone. And Danny thinks I'm a nut." The pair bashed Lumber to pieces before Vlad allowed Danny to blow on the guy, toppling him fully as Lumber made his threat.
"Fine, halfas. You defeat me. But you forgot my pets." He whistled as several of the animal ghosts surrounded them and Lumber called out. "Destroy both!"
They closed in before Danny pointed out. "Finish us? But why are you mad at us? I'm not the one who made your pelts into wall art." Danny answered while gesturing to the hunting trophies as the beasts look to Vlad as he spoke.
"And I am no hunter, I have no need for such cruel art,these are all fake, I ensured you were buried for peace." Finally, the animals turned to Lumber as he scoffed.
"Stupid beasts, Lumber more powerful than bear, mightier than lion, more capable than..." The rant was cut short by a Plasimus Maximus to the side and Lumber slumped forward in a less ghostly light as Danny commented in Phantom form.
"And now you're not. I'll give you a five-minute head start, Lumber."
"Really?"
"Minutes, seconds. I can be bad at math sometimes." He lashed out. "Get him!" Lumber ran for it with the animals in pursuit as the pair watched him disappear before both, on a whim, bumped fists as Vlad questioned.
"So, shall we tell your mother what we are?"
"She saw us change, so it is only fair." Both turned as Maddie reentered and inquired.
"What happened to Lumber?"
"He... ran out for a bite." Both said as Danny took over the chat.
"How are we getting out of here?"
"Oh, I don't know. I couldn't find a phone, and there wasn't one in the cars, or the ATVs or in the helicopter-" She realized what she just said and face-palmed with an 'Oh' as Vlad spoke.
"You have permission to take the copter, I have no qualm with that." Maddie smiled before it dropped and she spoke.
"Okay, truth time, what are you and where are..."
"Your middle name is Gertrude and you despises the name so much that you officially changed it to Uranium in spite of your parents." Vlad spoke, Maddie's eyes widening before she glanced to Danny and he spoke.
"When I was five, I begged you to get me ice cream, but you told me that I didn't want to overdose on sugar, Dad treated me to a rocky mountain sundae when you were not looking and scolded him for hyping me up on the sugar." Tears formed in her eyes before she grappled both of them by the neck and sobbed, both having given too much of a detailed truth to NOT be Vlad or Danny.
"Oh, Vlad, Danny, what happened to the both of you...?" They comforted her as best as they could as Vlad answered first.
"The ecto-acne I got in college was a precursor to me having ghost powers and they developed over the years, and I grew bitter by that time when neither you or Jack could actually visit me." Danny was next as he answered.
"I saw how upset you and Dad were when the Portal didn't work, so when I brought Sam, Tucker, and Cedric over, we checked out the Portal, the 'on' button was inside the portal, I... didn't get a small shock, Cedric confirmed that my DNA had been merged with a refined amount of ectoplasm when it surged through me before I stumbled out of the Portal to my friends' shock." Maddie tried to breathe, but she couldn't find the words as Vlad spoke.
"Get your mother home, Daniel, I'll visit soon to make her feel better about what happened in the past."
"Don't worry, Vlad, I will." Danny reverted back to human with Vlad as he guided Maddie to the helicopter and waved goodbye to Vlad as the uncle waved back.
The pair got some distance before Maddie finally spoke while Danny drunk some soda. "Now sweetie, we're not going to mention any of this to your father, right? He'd be insanely jealous if he found out, so... mum's the word."
"Actually, I think Mom's the word." Maddie smiled as Danny apologized. "Sorry, I was such a jerk and sorry for hiding being half-ghost from you. I really had a good time, though." He offered his soda to her. "Backwash?"
"Oh, Danny, that is so sweet." She took it as he asked.
"So how did you know about it before?"
"Well, the devices, for one, it was strange how our devices were homing in on you in the first place and I also... saw injures on you, you hide them, but I can still notice patchwork attempts of helping with medical supplies." She took a sip as she continued with one hand on the controls. "Were you afraid of us because of our methods?"
"Yeah... I was, I was afraid of being viewed less than human, seen as less than... me." Danny gestured to himself as he continued. "I... had an encounter with a ghost that used misery to fuel its youth of a disguise, it cut into me with insecurities and I was afraid, Jazz was there as she was the target for a 'wide-spread' depression plot." They flew on as Maddie spoke.
"So... any other ghosts that have given you and Amity trouble?"
"Not really, the Box Ghost is a bother, but he is rather tame, Technus is just trying to promote technology in dramatic statements and... might have gotten the idea of world domination from me by accident." Maddie rolled her eyes as Danny continued. "Dora is nice, when she is not angry or emotional charged into being a dragon, Lunch Lady is obsessed with kids eating right with piles of meat, Poindexter is just looking out for the little man."
"Sounds like you have found some notable ghosts around and not many are vile at all, makes me rethink the statements of post-human consciousness."
"You couldn't have known." Danny assured her as they soon landed near Fenton Works as Jack scrambled inside with a shout.
"Quick, Jazz, they're back! Remember, not a word of what went on here."
"My lips are sealed." Jazz answered while still in the hazmat suit, holding a broom, dust pan, and full trash bag. "And as long as the house is ghost-free, they'll never know. Oh and Dad? Thanks." Jack beamed as Jazz left before he jumped over to the couch and picked up his ghost needlepoint, just as Maddie and Danny entered to Jack exclaimed, 'in the process of the needlepoint'.
"Hey-hey, look who's back! How was your weekend?" The pair made it sound rather dull before glancing to each other before Danny spoke.
"I gotta go call Tucker, Sam, and Cedric. But, um." He kissed his mom on the cheek as he finished. "You know." She smiled to the gesture before heading off upstairs for the moment as Danny turned to his dad. "So, how was your weekend?"
"Oh, you know, same old."
"Well, I guess everything's back to normal then." Unfortunately, something came abounding down as Jazz screeched while atop the three-headed ghost beaver."
"Get out of my house, you freak!" She popped back in to greet Danny. "Hi Danny!" She popped back out as Jack called out.
"Hey, wait for me! It's my turn!" He quickly handed the frizzy drink he had to Danny before pulling out the Jack-O-Nine Tails and racing after the pair as Danny mused.
"Meh, I'll tell Dad later, surprised that he hasn't noticed my suit missing from the rack, Jazz is somehow too much like Mom in that hazmat suit, less curved though." He glanced to the drink and took a sip before speaking it back up as he exclaimed. "Oh, gross! Backwash! How do we even bond with this, really!?" A few days later, Vlad Masters dropped by and gave Maddie a gift from Florida, a copy of a book that she was looking into for thermodynamics, and that made everyone's day...
