A/N: Alright, same excuses as before for why it took so long. If you haven't heard them, it just sums up as lots of homework and no free time. And then, any free time I had went into my other stories. But, that's all okay now because it's posted now.

Thanks to everyone who's reviewed! I'm really glad so many of you liked the previous chapter! I really thought that Danny needed a really good, solid reason for why he wouldn't tell them, a concrete reason not based on purely feelings or thoughts, but more of a promise of something that could actually happen. That's why I had the conversation, to give him verbal proof that they would hunt a ghost and then the dream took that verbal proof and exemplified it, thus creating the basis of Danny's fear.

I also have some sad news. The next chapter will be the last. I know, it's sudden, but while mapping this out over the two weeks it took me to post this, I decided that it was for the best. I have a good spot to end it, and it just happens to be in the next chapter. I'm at both times sad and happy. It's really sad because this'll be my first finished fan fic, but I'm also happy because now I can start my next fic Secrets from the Past, which I've been wanting to start for awhile, but I promised myself that I wouldn't because three is already bad enough. So yes, I'm sorry to see it go, but all good things must come to an end.

Chapter Seven
The Battle

Danny, Sam, and Tucker walked to the bus stop in silence, not really having anything to say to each other. Sam and Tucker kept looking at each other as well as at him like they wanted to say something, but not really knowing whether they should say it or not. Danny noticed this and knew that they probably wanted to say something about his ghost powers since that's what they'd spent the past week discussing.

It had now been a week since he started going back to school and every day the three of them had tried to figure out more, but didn't really know what they were doing. They had returned a few more times to the lab but didn't really find out anything new, much to their disappointment. There were still so many questions left unanswered.

"Guys, just spit it out, what do you want to say?"

Tucker and Sam tried to look innocent but upon receiving a glowing glare from Danny they dropped the innocent routine.

"We were just thinking that maybe we should talk to your parents," Sam replied.

"No way. We already talked about this. I told you about the conversation and the dream, isn't that proof enough?"

"Danny, we weren't talking about that. We were thinking that maybe we should talk to them about ghosts, get some information from them," Sam clarified. "We don't know anything about ghosts and if we want to find out what's going on with you we'll need to know something about them."

"Yeah, and you know that's one subject your parents love to talk about," Tucker added.

"A little too much. Are you sure? We may not get out of there for a few hours."

"Well, then we'll be really knowledgeable on ghosts. It's a sacrifice we'll have to make. I'm sure you're just as curious as we are about all this ghost stuff and we do want to figure you out, right?"

"Yeah. I'm just not sure whether I'm that desperate."

The three of them laughed as they arrived at the bus stop and stopped talking about ghosts and instead turned their topic towards school and the homework they were supposed to do the previous night, the thoughts of what they were going to learn from the Fentons tickling their anticipation.

The three of them walked home from school, debating on how to bring the subject up to his parents.

"We can't just go up to them and say 'Hey Mom, Dad, tell us about ghosts,'" Danny argued.

"Why not?" Tucker asked. "It's not like they'd really hear us; they'd just hear the word ghost and then go off."

"Maybe for just that moment, but my mom will eventually start wondering why we asked in the first place. Plus, all the strange stuff that's been going on around the house is already looking suspicious enough; I don't want to add more to it."

"He's got a point," Sam stated. "We don't want to get them thinking about why Danny would ask such a question. The fewer connections between Danny and things related to ghosts the better."

"Alright then, so how do we do it?"

The trio walked into the house, preparing to put their plan into action. They'd passed a curious Mr. and Mrs. Fenton on their way through the kitchen and into the basement. They reached the portal and smiled as they heard slow steps down the stairs.

"So, this is the portal?" Sam asked, louder than she should have and with a slight fakeness to it.

"Yup. This is it, the final product of my parent's labor."

"Wow, it's so green and…swirly," Tucker stated with a confused expression, not really knowing how to describe the swirling green substance.

"How does it work?" Sam asked.

"You know, I don't know. I don't think my parents ever explained it to me."

"Well then you're in luck children!" Jack bellowed as he rushed over to the portal. "I just happened to overhear your conversation and don't you worry, I can explain it!"

"Oh joy!" Sam stated in mock excitement. "Now we'll know how this actually works!"

Jack beamed at them and rushed to set up three chairs near the portal as Maddie stared on from the foot of the stairs. Something just didn't seem right. Danny should know what he was getting himself into, so she couldn't really find any logical reason why they would be asking these questions. Besides, it all seemed a little rehearsed. Then she smiled. She knew what this was about. The three of them were trying to butter them up so they could ask for something. Well, they certainly were going about it the right way.

"Alright now, you three are in for a real treat!" Jack exclaimed excitedly as he clapped his hands together. "Now this is the Fenton Ghost Portal…"

For the next three hours Jack blabbered about anything remotely relating to ghosts. He discussed the ghost portal, ghosts in general, ecto-guns, and other ghostly inventions he was in the process of working on. You name it and Jack Fenton put a ghostly twist on it. Of course Tucker and Sam had their own questions regarding ghostly genetics, the powers ghosts had, what made people turn into ghosts, and what they were made of, to which Jack referred them to Maddie to answer. They learned that ghosts had no internal bodily structure or organs and they were made up of green ectoplasm. They were impervious to heat and cold and didn't need to breathe, eat, or drink. They were immune to all known forms of radiation and didn't even need to sleep. Unfortunately, they didn't know much about their genetics having never found a ghost to run tests on, but they assured them that once they started using the portal they'd have a ghost to experiment on in no time.

And so as the hours dragged on the three of them tried to stay awake, but they didn't think they could handle much more. There was only so much torture one could take and interesting though the subject matter was since it dealt with Danny, it wasn't interesting enough to keep them awake for three hours.

As Jack started describing yet another ghost invention that he dubbed the Fenton Thermos with his back turned to their snoozing figures a blue mist emerged out of Danny's mouth. Sam and Tucker looked at him curiously.

What was that? Sam mouthed. Danny just shrugged his shoulders in return. Then the ghost portal started to swirl and two green octopus-like beings floated out of it as more mist emerged from Danny's mouth. They floated towards the three of them and picked up Sam and Tucker, using their tentacles to cover their mouths. Danny leapt out of his chair and went ghost, not sure of what he was planning on doing, but at least he had a better chance as a ghost.

He flew up to the two octopuses and punched each of them, sending them flying back into the wall. He looked at his fist, surprised that he was able to punch them that far. It didn't seem like he'd punched them that hard, yet they went flying across the room.

As he pondered his strength, the octopuses took advantage of his lack of attention and turned invisible while floating towards him. When he finally looked up he noticed that they were gone. They were gone, and they still had Tucker and Sam! His eyes glowed brightly but before he could do anything he felt a tentacle coil around his leg and throw him into the wall. He concentrated and managed to turn himself intangible before he hit the wall. He flew back in and kicked both of the octopuses, anger making his eyes glow brightly. No one took his friends and threw him into the wall, not while he could stop them. He started hitting them, tying up their tentacles, doing anything he could think of to make them release Tucker and Sam.

Finally he managed to wrestle his friends out of their hands. The octopuses, obviously angered that Danny had stolen their prey, started charging for them. Danny turned himself intangible and with great concentration, turned the others intangible as well, causing the octopuses to fly right through them. Danny dropped his friends into their chairs and flew towards the octopuses. He tied up their tentacles and punched them into the swirling Ghost Zone. Then he flopped down into his chair and turned back to human, completely exhausted.

Danny looked over at his friends, whose looks of terror were completely apparent on their faces. They were petrified stiff, staring at Danny in open mouthed awe. Danny gave them a small smile before slumping back in his chair, wishing that he could just fall asleep.

His father turned around and looked at them, his eyes smiling brightly. He didn't notice a thing. He didn't see his son transform into a ghost, didn't see the amazing display of fighting skills, didn't see Danny have his first battle with a ghost.

A/N: Now, I know the battle and the conversation before it went a little differently in the show but honestly, you'd all be bored if the conversation was exactly the same...and they never showed the battle, so I had full reign on that one, woot! Hehe. Anywho, hope you enjoyed Danny's first ghost battle!