After breakfast, Harry went upstairs to the spare room, where there was a full-length mirror. He stood still for a second, sensing around for the ghostly presence inside of him. After a minute, he realized that it had integrated with his human half; he felt more like a single entity with two forms than two separate being in sharing a body, like he did yesterday. He supposed that his dad was right and that all his body needed to get used to this new form was a good night's sleep. He concentrated for a second and allowed the coldness to wash over him as he became a ghost. He changed back into a human, and repeated the process a few more times until he was sure that he had gotten it.
Then, he jumped up and transformed in mid-air. This time, he stayed floating a foot above the ground. He practiced experimenting with shifting his weight over his center of gravity, and bobbed up and down like a hot air balloon trying to level out. Out of curiosity, he experimented with throwing his weight forward. He shot directly forward in a sort of pelvic thrust and only saved himself from shattering the mirror by going intangible. He gently sent his weight back and reversed direction until he was floating just in front of the mirror. At least he was, until he suddenly changed back and landed on the floor.
"Ow," he mumbled as he rubbed his posterior. "Okay, not to self, never try experimenting again without Dad being there."
You got that right, a voice in his head responded.
"Who said that?" Harry asked, confused.
It's me, idiot. Your ghost form. I'm communicating with you telepathically.
"Wait, you're not evil, right?" he felt the presence sigh.
The evil you saw last night is only one aspect of who I am. It's a part of me that's always pushed down by my heroism.
"So I'm going to end up playing the hero, just like Dad did when he was a kid?"
Yeah, basically. But you'll have an easier time than he did.
"Why's that?"
You'll always have him to back you up. Danny never had an awesomely powerful halfa to back him up whenever he was in a tight spot.
"I guess so…I've been wondering about something-what are we? Are you just a different version of my mind, or are we actually two separate beings? And if that's the case, then do I become you when I go ghost, or do I just take on your form? And what happens to you when I'm a human?"
Trust me, nobody knows exactly how this type of thing works. Not even your dad. Don't spend too much time worrying about it; you'll just go even crazier than you already are.
"What? I'm not crazy!"
You're having a conversation with a little voice inside your head.
"True."
Anyway, I have to go just now. Me and all of the other things living inside of your warped little mind play poker on Tuesdays. You'd be surprised how bad your common sense is at calling bluffs.
"Wait, how many of you are in there?" The young halfa asked worriedly. But the little voice had gone, leaving him to wonder whether or not he had multiple personalities. He'd have to talk to his dad about it that evening.
Meanwhile, Jaime had just met up with Tamara at the mall.
"Where were you?" The dark-skinned girl inquired. "I called your house at around noon, but your mom said that you couldn't pick up!"
"That's because I woke up this afternoon at around 2:00."
"Whoa…I didn't even know that it was possible to sleep for that long. You must've been really wiped, but your brother's party wasn't that wild.
"It wasn't the birthday party."
"What, you went clubbing after everyone else went home?"
"No, I did not go clubbing! Even if we could fake our ages enough to be able to get into one, my dad, brother, and I were too busy for me to go out."
"Why? What were the three of you doing? Were you talking about how Phantom saved us at that party? He's sooo dreamy." Jaime rolled her eyes, and then grimaced when she remembered that Tamara was unknowingly talking about her dad.
"About Phantom…"
"What about him?"
"I just realized, I can't exactly say it with so many people around. Can we go to your house?"
"Sure, I guess so. But it's my parents day off today; it'll be tough to keep stuff from them finding out."
"That's no big deal. They probably already know anyway."
"What?" Tamara asked, slightly put out by the fact that everyone, including her parents, knew something that she didn't. "What do all of you know that I don't?"
"LATER!"
"Oh yeah…" The two girls hopped onto their scooters and scooted back to the Foley residence.
"Hey, girls, what's cookin'?" Tucker called from the living room as soon as they entered the house.
"Mashed potatoes and gravy," the two girls answered in a monotone; by now they were already used to Tamara's dad's corny jokes.
"Jaime says that you three all know something about Phantom that I don't" Tamara complained. Tucker and Valerie shot glances at each other.
"Why would we know anything about Phantom?" Valerie asked.
"Well, I don't know whether or not you knew, but I'm positive that you, Mr. Foley, were there when the accident happened, so you already know that he's my dad."
"Wait a minute-you're dad's Phantom?" Jaime nodded.
"Well, I still think he's dreamy," Tamara asserted. "Besides, your dad is kind of cute."
"Eew, that's my dad you're talking about!"
"Well, Tamara," Tucker interrupted, "I don't know if you knew this, but your mom had a crush on Jaime's dad back in our sophomore year of high school." Valerie elbowed him.
"So how did you end up finding out?" She asked the youngest halfa while simultaneously changing the subject.
"He told us," Jaime replied. "Harry's and my ghost forms manifested themselves last night after the party, and he told us all about what was going on with us and even started working with us on our powers."
"You have powers now? This is too cool," Tamara said, awed.
"I wonder what your ghost forms look like," Tucker mused.
"I can show you if you want," said Jaime. She stood in the center of the room and concentrated until she felt a wave of coldness pass over her and the twin amethyst rings of light morphed her from Jaime Fenton to Jaime Phantom. She opened her eyes and saw Tamara's mom checking an odd sensor that was hanging from her belt.
"This says that a level 1 ghost just materialized in the room." She looked up to face Jaime. "You'll need to train some more if you plan on fighting any serious ghosts; even the Box Ghost is a level 2.5 by now."
"Oh, don't worry, I don't plan on fighting anything anytime soon. First I want to get the hang of these powers, then we'll see what happens."
"Speaking of which," Tamara interrupted. "Can we see some of your powers?"
"Sure," Jaime replied. She turned invisible for a couple of seconds, and then flickered back into the visible spectrum. Then, she held up her left hand, made the arm intangible up to the elbow and reached through the sofa with the intangible limb.
"Awesome," Tamara said, awed.
"Can you fly yet?" Tucker inquired.
"I can sort of float, but I don't want to do it now because when I tried yesterday I couldn't control it and the only thing that kept me from being on the moon right now is my dad's ghostly telekinesis."
"You mean your dad can move objects with his mind?" Tamara asked. Jaime nodded. "Can you do that?" She shook her head.
"Those three are the only powers I know how to use so far. My dad says that even he couldn't use some of the other ones until more than a month after getting his powers," Tucker cringed slightly.
"What's up?"
"Nothing, it's just…I was there when Danny first learned how to use ectoblasts. The first time he ever did it was when he fought Desiree, the wishing ghost, for the first time. It's kind of a bad memory for me because I got so jealous of Danny and his powers that I wished for powers just like his, and Desiree granted my wish. Unfortunately, the powers made me turn evil and Danny was only able to save me in the nick of time before the effects of the wish became permanent." He turned to Tamara. "I'm not going to tell you never to get jealous of Jaime and her abilities. You'd have to be inhuman not to get those feelings every once in a while. I am telling you that when you start feeling jealousy, you need to tell one of us, especially Jaime. Keeping your feelings repressed will only hurt everyone around you, including yourself."
"It's also important that you don't keep too many secrets from each other, especially ones concerning ghosts," Valerie chimed in.
"What did you have to do with my dad when he was a kid?"
"Well, you know how I used to be Nasty Burger Inc.'s personal ghost hunter?"
"Yeah,"
"I first got my ghost gear when I was around fourteen. I had been really popular and shallow, and was always really mean to Danny and his friends, your father and Jaime's mom. Well, one day Phantom and this ghost dog barged into Axion labs where your grandpa Damon was the security director and trashed the place. Dad was fired because of it, and that dog made my leaving popularity and going into poverty a living hell."
"Yeah, I remember Cujo," Tucker said with a laugh. His wife glared at him, and he shut up immediately.
"Anyway, I was really angry at the dog and at Phantom, who I had believed to be the dog's owner. On our first day in our new dingy apartment a package arrived for me from Wisconsin, full of ghost hunting gear. I thought about the way Phantom had ruined my life, and on that day I swore to hunt him down. I became the Red Hunter and chased after him for a couple of years. That is, until I saw him transform in an alley once and realized that Danny Phantom, my sworn enemy, was actually Danny Fenton, shy but cute friend that I was slightly crushing on. That moment made me remember all of the times we had fought, when he would hold back against me because he didn't want to hurt me. He could easily have destroyed me, I know that now, but he didn't. He must have known that it was me behind the mask."
"He did," Tucker interrupted. "He knew since day 1."
"How did he find out?"
"Apparently you barged in on his and Sam's fake out-make out and said something, and they figured out based on your voice who you really were."
"Oh…anyway, I felt really bad about trying to kill him so many times, and I was also kind of in awe of the way he tried being nice and friendly to me even though he knew that I was constantly trying to destroy him. He was even willing to start a relationship with me despite the fact that he knew I would never accept him as half ghost. I respected him for that, and promised him that I'd stop hunting him from then on. I still felt bad, so I helped him land a job at Axion after college through my dad, and the rest his history."
"So you basically tried to kill my dad on numerous occasions?" Jaime probed, her face set in stone.
"Yeah, basically," the older woman replied, shifting nervously. Jaime stared her down for a minute, but then her face melted into a soft smile.
"Well, I guess if Dad could forgive you then so can I."
"Thanks, Jaime. That means a lot to me…Oh, I almost forgot!" She jumped up from the sofa where she and Tucker had been sitting and began digging through a nearby closet. Jaime caught glimpses of various chrome objects, ranging from a miniscule ectogun to what appeared to be a mechanical sled with jets and missiles attached to it. Valerie came back into the living room holding a Fenton Fisher.
"The line in this fishing rod is made of a material that ghosts can't break." She tied one end around Jaime's ankle and the other to the leg of the sofa. "Hopefully, if you lose control and can't stop flying, this'll act as an anchor and keep you from going into deep space. Although I don't think you'd be able to anyway; you're dad was only able to fly into space when he was wearing a special jetpack that Axion had been working on."
"He flew in space?"
"Yeah, he and I had a fight up there; I'll let him go into details, though. Well, are you going to try flying now or what?" Jaime raised her weight just above her center of gravity and rose into the air. She quickly brought it back down to a comfortable level, and remained floating three feet up with plenty of slack left in the Fenton Fisher.
"I think I'm starting to get the hang of this!" She shouted excitedly. She ascended a little more, and then stopped. She rose a little, and then stopped. She continued in this pattern a couple more times, but then the Fenton Fisher ran out of slack and she was forced to return to the ground.
"Thanks, Mrs. Foley," she said as Valerie untied both ends of the ghost-proof line and stowed the device back in the closet.
"No problem," she replied.
"You know," Tucker observed, "You look a lot like Danny did early on, except for the streaks in your hair and your eye color. His eyes are pure green, not speckled with amethyst. And his jumpsuit had white on it instead of purple."
"I know; this is the jumpsuit that my grandparents gave me yesterday. Harry's ghost form is wearing his jumpsuit also, which is basically green instead of this violet. His eyes are also different; they're green speckled with purple."
"So basically, the part of your eye color that you get from Danny is also the part that changes to green when you're a ghost."
"I guess so…and we get the amethyst part from Mom?"
"Sam's the only person I've ever met with that color eyes, so it must be." He glanced at the clock over in the kitchen. "Whoa, it's past five already. I'll go get dinner started." He got up from the sofa. Jaime thought that it was about time she got home as well; she didn't want to overstay her welcome at the Foley's, after all.
"I should probably be getting home too. Call you later?"
"Sure," Tamara replied just before Jaime left for home. The young halfa hopped on her electric scooter and scooted back to her house. I wonder when I'll be strong enough to fly from place to place, she mused. She saw the ancient black car with green flames painted on the front pulled into the driveway, which meant that her father was home from work. He's had that car since high school! Why won't he sell it already? Oh yeah, it's brimming with anti-ghost weaponry, that's why. She thought as she parked her scooter in the garage and entered the house. She saw her parents working on dinner in the kitchen and her brother reading a book in the living room and determined that it would be half an hour until dinner. She decided to listen to her iPod in her room until then.
Half an hour later, the Fenton family gathered around a steaming tray of lasagna. They hungrily dug in, both children quickly forgetting that they had eaten breakfast a mere three hours before.
"Dad, I have a couple of questions about our powers," Harry began.
"Me too," Jaime said.
"One second, Harry came first. What do you want to know, son?"
"She can go first. My questions have to do with how our entities are divided among our human and ghost halves, and who the heck Plasmius is. It'll probably take longer than what she wants to know."
"Yeah, I was just wondering if you had really fought Tamara's mom in outer space."
"Oh…yeah, one time there was a ghost named Technus who took over a super-satellite that Axion labs had out in space. I had to strap on a jetpack that they were building and blast off to try and get him out, but Valerie was hot on my tail. I accidentally knocked her out, and it made me so angry that I set the jetpack into overdrive and launched it into Technus mouth. He ate it and blew up, and I rode back down to earth hiding on Val's jet sled."
"Cool, Dad."
"Yeah, right?" They chatted for a couple of minutes about the wonders of space flight, until Harry interrupted.
"So, Dad, who's Plasmius?" Danny glanced up at the clock on the wall. It was going to be a long night.
SAVE DANNY PHANTOM!