Before this chapter starts, I'd like to welcome Blue Marvel 0, BountifulGames,mudaship39, and Austin (Censored your Last Name bud) to the Phamily.
Here's Part 2 of the chapter as promised.(Sorry for the late post had network issues. All-day and then computer problems next...GRRR)
All better now. I hope. #INeedALaptop
(Danny POV)
I never would have thought that I would be making breakfast with one of my old ghost rivals and actually enjoying myself all at the same time. Her knowing how to make pancakes from scratch from the heart is astounding and did it with ease. Her memories of being alive must be coming back to her more and more with each minute, I'm glad more of her good memories are coming back than the bad ones.
Her coaching me to cook the pancakes was a bit frustrating and when I did something wrong she almost took overcooking, but this was her time to relax and didn't want her to be frustrated when we train later. Her powers are still developing and it helps not to be mad when you are doing anything. So I told her that I had it covered and if I wasn't doing it right for her to let me know gently. Eventually, I had it down to a science and made six perfect, golden brown chocolate chip pancakes. I couldn't wait to take that first bite.
I turned my attention to the other foods that I was cooking, they were done about the same time as the last pancake so I turned off the heat and started plating everything. Amanda helped by putting the food from the plates to the kitchen table, which I really enjoyed. Everything was going so perfect until I realized I totally forgot the Maple Syrup. I barely had enough, but it was enough for both of us. I needed to go shopping anyway.
Mom told me to be a perfect gentleman whenever I was with a woman and taught me the right way to show it. She didn't tell me what to do when I was face to face with an angel sent from heaven above. So I tried my best and it seemed to work and she didn't seem to mind. So once I sat down, we started getting some of the bacon, scrambled eggs, hash browns, and a blueberry muffin on our plates each. I watched as she put some of the maple syrup on her stack of pancakes and then hand it to me. She must've been waiting for me to take the first bite of my pancakes, not wanting to disappoint I put a good amount of syrup on my pancakes and cut off a small bite of the pancakes and took that first bite of the pancakes. I was in heaven, the pancakes tasted so fluffy and sweet. The melted chocolate covered my whole mouth. Amanda saw my reaction and gave me the "I told you so"look before taking a bite herself.
It was nothing but awkward for the rest of the meal, both of us not saying a word to each other. I did ask her how her food turned out and how it tasted. She told me it was good and then asked me how mine was. I told her it was good, you see it was really that bad. What do you say to someone after the history the two of you had before starting over. I didn't want to bring up any memories of us fighting as ghosts, it would be like cutting into a healed wound. Sure she would get a laugh out of kicking my butt, but it might make her mad when she remembers the times I kicked hers back into the ghost zone.
Making her mad wasn't something I wanted to do. When we start her training I need her to be calm and happy, her powers are just starting to show themselves and her body isn't used to them as when she was a full ghost. I learned that being mad while training or doing anything mad you careless and unfocused. This way she can properly gain control of her powers and get used to having them while being human again.
After a few minutes of awkward silence, we both finished eating. I immediately started to clean up what wasn't eaten and put it away. I was surprised when Amanda asked me if she could help in any way to help speed thing ups. I was grateful, I could use a helping hand or two after all that I made. Now I would normally make a clone to help but Amanda's offer stopped me there. Plus I would need my energy for later. Not wanting to turn down her offer, I told her that she could rinse off the dishes and place them in the Fenton Dishwasher except for the cast iron skillet which I will do myself.
Once Amanda was done with the sink and I was done putting away the extra food, I grabbed the slightly dirty cast iron, gave it a quick hot wash, dried it completely and lightly seasoned it with some coconut oil. After letting the extra oil burn off and the pan was cool to the touch, I set the pan inside the oven for later use. With the pan washed and the counters wiped off I looked over to Amanda who was drying her hands off with one of the nearby towels. I had to admit, the work got done a lot quicker than it usually does.
"It's like we're married." I thought.
I shook my head at the thought as my gaze turned towards the wall clock. It was a little bit past 8:20, normally I would've already been out the door and at my new top speed of 160 mph halfway across town. Since the town has been fairly quiet, except for last night, I think I can take one day off from morning patrol. Most of the emergencies I've been dealing with lately are either rescuing a cat from a tall tree or helping senior citizens and children across the street, it wasn't all bad. If there are any real life-threatening emergencies that the police cannot handle by themselves and need my help, they know to use the silent alarm to alert me to any sign of danger or if they cannot get a hold of me that way, they can call me.
Now that I have some downtime before I hopefully meet up with Tucker for lunch at noon, I can start Amanda's training. So I asked her.
"Hey, why don't we head down to the lab to start your training and see what you can do."
She immediately perked up at the idea and ran over to me and dragged me by my hand towards the lab.
"Alright, let's go baby-pop," Amanda told me as we made our way downstairs.
I almost tripped over the first step as we ran down the stairs, but I managed to not trip and keep on walking down. Once we reached the bottom however Amanda suddenly stopped and she asked me.
"Uh, Danny. Where's the Lab?"
I forgot, Amanda doesn't know of what upgrades my family has made to the lab since the last time she's been here as Ember. Amanda's going to love this.
"Oh yeah, that. V.A.I, lab and training room please." I said.
I got immediately answered by the only other person here with me at the house.
"Good Morning Danny Fenton, Lab and Training room voice command accepted." A familiar voice responded.
Amanda and I watched as the whole room changed with all the lab equipment and gadgets rising from the floor and walls. Then the training room opened up to reveal an obstacle course and training equipment all around. I turned to see Amanda's now shocked face.
"What the heck?!" Amanda said.
I was laughing on the inside at Amanda's confusion, she was looking all over the room just to find the source of the voice of my assistant VAI. I guess I need to introduce them before things go any further.
"Oh sorry, I forgot. Amanda, meet VAI, she's the operating system for the whole lab. VAI scan and recognize Amanda as a user." I said.
"Right away Danny."
There were quick beeps and flashes of light, too quick for the eye to see. It was VAI's scanner and computer going to work adding Amanda to the system.
"Scan complete. Nice to meet you, Amanda, I am VAI." VAI said.
Amanda was still trying to locate where VAI's voice was coming from when she couldn't find anything she just looked at me.
"Uh, Danny who is VAI and where is she?" Amanda asked.
I wasn't quick enough to respond, so VAI took over. I was in her programming to provide information to the registered users at the house.
"I am a Virtual Artificial Intelligence designed to assist and aid Danny Fenton and the Fenton Family. As Danny mentioned, I am the operating system of this laboratory and the Fenton Security System. Please call me VAI for short." VAI said.
Amanda just stared at with a slightly knowing nod.
"Okay then, VAI. Nice to meet you too. Uh, Danny isn't kind of weird to be talking to a room." Amanda asked.
It was in the beginning when she first came online and spoke to me. Then after a while, it got easier with talking to her.
"Oh, yeah a bit. But she's proven to be a great friend over the years and kept out the Phans." I said.
Oh man, can she deal with them? Since she is apart of the FSS, she can access both the ghost shields and weapons that my parents built-in. I didn't want anyone to get majorly injured so I had the weapons set to stun and warning shot only. If that didn't work VAI could reverse the ghost shield so that no human could get into the house.
"Thank you, Danny. I'm glad to be of service to you, will there be anything else you require." VAI said.
"Yes, can you record our training on the Phantom Files. I want to start a new file, call it Amanda Phantom." I said.
"Amanda Phantom, can I be any more original." I thought sarcastically.
"Right away, File created: Amanda Phantom. Starting recording." VAI said.
"Why are you recording this?" Amanda asked me.
"That way we can catalog what powers you have and powers that are unique to you. VAI can even track your progress stats with her sensors all over the lab." I said.
I could tell that Amanda was eager to start her training, her smile alone could outshine the sun and her energy was nothing but positive.
"Alright, when do we start," Amanda said.
I know she can control her powers in some ways, but the time adjusting may be different. I better start out easy and work my way up and if she's a fast learner, I'll move on to the more complicated stuff, maybe even teach her how to make copies of herself.
"We can start by you transforming into your ghost half and back again a couple of times. Let your body get used to the feeling and make it easier for you to control your powers. You wouldn't believe how often it happened when I was first starting out when I turned back into my human form during a battle. After a while, you're used to that energy you can use your Ecto-based attacks in human form." I said transforming into my ghost half.
"Speaking of copies, I made a promise to myself and I'm going to keep it." I thought as I created eight perfect copies of myself, each having 1/8th my strength. Over the years, while practicing making so many clones I found out that I have a mind link with each of them at a certain level. So in battle, we can communicate without giving out our plan. I can control them, but they have their own independence and can think for themselves in a jam. I don't receive any damage from them when I absorb them, only their knowledge. (A: N/ Yes I borrowed this from Naruto Shippuden)
"What's up boss." One of my copies said to me telepathically.
"Yeah, why so many of us." The second copy said.
"Aren't there eight of us." A third copy said.
"It's that day again, how far?" The fourth copy said.
"Go as far as you can and if you reach the end of Amity park come back," I told them in my mind.
"If we find her?" The fifth copy said.
"We bring her home duh." The sixth copy said.
"And if we don't?" The seventh copy said.
"We try again and again until we do. Ain't that right chief?" The eighth copy asked.
"Yeah, I won't give up. Will any of you." I asked them all in my mind.
"NO SIR!" All the copies said.
"Then each of you go a different direction of town, (1) you go north, (2) you go northeast, (3) you go east, (4) you go southeast, (5) you go south, (6) you go southwest, (7) you go west, and (8) you go northwest., understood." I said looking to each of them to tell them where to go.
"YES, SIR." They all said with a nod.
"Good, Now go!" I said with a nod telling them to leave.
I watched as the copies quickly flew off in the direction they were given.
(AN: I'm going to give each copy a number instead of calling them first, second, third, etc..")
Now, this is what happened while Danny was training Amanda.
(Danny Copy #6 POV)
I've searched most of this part of town for a couple of hours, but there was not even a sign of her. I still got a few miles and then I'll turn around. I've been at this for almost two years, she could be somewhere on the other side of the globe. If I can't find her today then I'm going to ask Tucker to work his tech magic and hack into a government satellite and try to locate her.
I may get into some serious trouble, but I think the people of earth owe me one for saving the world and will sympathize with my cause, who could not want a Father to reunite with their child.
I'm about ready to turn around seeing the edge of Amity park is just a few ahead and it all looked clear. A weak blast of ecto energy caught my attention altogether, almost hitting me dead on the back. The blast was either a warning shot or the ghost had a bad aim.
"Alright someone wants my attention, now they got it," I said.
My ghost sense finally went off and I went into what I like to call my "Hero Mode". There was something familiar about this ghost's scent, I couldn't put my finger on it and that worries me. I'm too weak to fight anyone right now, well maybe the box ghost or even Johnny 13 at long range, but someone like Skulker would be a problem.
I flew down towards the close proximity of the ghost in question. The only thing wrong with this picture is that it's in a dark alley; Amity Park may be quoted "A Safe Place to Live", but it still has its crazies and that can be bad news for anyone. I held up a small ball of ecto energy as light and scanned the area when it was safe I made my way down the alley and not for a moment letting down my guard.
"This alley wasn't going to win the award for most clean alley anytime soon." I thought.
I continued walking down the alley when my ears picked up the sound of heavy breathing coming from somewhere closeby. I followed the sound and saw what looked like someone's feet sticking out from behind a couple of boxes. I got closer and when I saw that most of the boxes were empty I moved them away. Who I saw lying unconscious behind the boxes, however, shocked me.
"Danielle!" I said.
No wonder the ghost's scent was familiar, it was Danielle's. With the little light I had, I good look at her. She looked in really bad shape, her clothes weren't all torn up and messy. They did look a little bit bigger on her than they usually do, her red beanie just barely fit on her head. I thought she'd be taller since she had to be physically fourteen. I wanted to see if she would wake up, but when I touched her shoulder and even though her clothes she felt very hot and feverish.
"She's sick, I got to get her home now. I'm too weak to fly her home myself, but what if I wasn't the only one." I thought.
I concentrated hard and separated my thoughts from the original Dannys mind link and to the other copies. I don't want his mind racing while he is training Amanda and her powers. Also, I want this to be a surprise, finally, after all this time, she's here.
"Everyone this is (6) get to me as fast as you can, this is an emergency!" I said in my mind to the others.
"What's going on?" (1) said.
"Is it a ghost?" (2) said.
"Phans giving you a hard time like me." (3) said.
"Is someone in trouble?" (4) said.
"I was about to head back." (5) said.
"Same here, what could be the problem." (7) said.
"Well, what is it already?" (8) said.
I couldn't take everyone's voices overlapping at each other. So there's only one thing to say to get my other copies to quiet down.
"I found her." I finally said.
Like magic, they all were quiet and I could tell the knew exactly who I was talking about because this was their response.
"I'm on my way!"
I felt myself get stronger with each passing moment, the rest of the copies must've been merging back together into one. I carefully picked up Danielle and my strength returning I flew her up towards the nearest building and sat her down in my lap cradling her small body. I rubbed her head easily and played with her dark hair a bit, it must've woken her up or she was talking in her sleep but she spoke quietly.
"Daddy," Danielle said in a weak voice and a small smile on her face glowing.
It was pulling my heartstrings to see my baby girl so sick and call out to me. I didn't know exactly what to do, but i just started talking to her.
"That is right baby girl. I'm right here and your Daddy isn't going to let anything or anyone hurt you again. I promise, I love you Danielle and I really do." I said.
My ghost sense went off and a small amount came out of Danielle's mouth, yet she didn't react. I looked up to see a single copy flying down towards us quickly and rushing to my side.
"How is she?" The copy said concerned.
"Feverish and does she look smaller to you?" I said.
The other copy looked down and got a good look at her.
"She does, but how. She should be the size we were back when we were fourteen." The copy said.
"I don't know, but I do know one thing. She needs us, she said so herself." I said.
"She woke up, when?" The copy said.
"I don't think she woke up, but she must've known who she is with," I said.
"How?" The copy said.
"She called me Daddy," I said.
The copy was in shock from what I could tell. He smiled and played with Danielle's hair a bit before looking me in the eye.
"Let's not keep the boss waiting, you ready?" The copy asked standing up.
I gathered Danielle in my arms and nodded my head.
"Ready," I said.
I felt the copy rejoin into one. A quick headache at all the new information being flooded into my mind, every copy has the experiences and feelings were now mine. I felt there concern and sadness, along with relief and joy that we found her. Now that I have my strength, I can easily take Danielle home where she belongs. Home with me.
"Me... and Amanda." I thought with a blush.
I rose into the clear sky of Amity Park and began my way back to Fenton works, not before sending this message back to the boss.
"We merged back together and now I'm heading back," I said in my mind.
"Good work, I'm just about done with Amanda's training. She's really getting used to her new powers." Danny (Boss) said.
I started to pick up the pace back home, watching Danielle. A great big grin on my face and a major weight were being lifted from my shoulders. For the first time in a long time, I felt at peace.
Dani's back, how's Danny going to react to seeing his baby girl sick. How will Amanda? Why is Dani smaller?
For answers to these questions and more stay tuned for the Next Chapter of When Cores Collide.
Chapter Eight: A Warm Reunion.
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