A/N: Thanks so much for all the reviews! I'm glad you all liked the twist. I know the whole Danny being stuck in his ghost form is a little over-used, but I have a good reason for it, I promise! You'll actually find it out in this chapter.

Alright, sorry again for the amount of time it took to get this up. In summary: college gives way too much homework and myprofessors are all conspiring against me. Can you say an average of four hours of sleep a night? Yeah, it was bad. Anywho, it's all over until midterms, so I should be back on schedule now!

Note to Kairi7: Sorry, I didn't realize that would show up. It's DarthFrodoB through aol (just put two and two together).

Chapter Nine
Attack from Within

Vlad paced impatiently back and forth in his study, wearing a hole in his rich, soft carpet. Where was that fool? He was supposed to be here long ago. Did he maybe get into trouble? Did he fail to carry out the mission? Knowing him, it wasn't beyond consideration.

Finally Vlad felt his ghost sense go off and he turned around to face Skulker.

"What took you so long?" he yelled, marching towards the hunter.

"Oh I…went back to my lair for a while," Skulker answered slowly, not wanting to tell Vlad that the real reason was because he needed to fix his ectoskeleton because the Ghost Child had put up a rather good fight. He seemed angry about something, but Skulker wasn't quite sure what. It probably had something to do with why Vlad sent him on the mission in the first place.

"You were supposed to report back to me immediately afterwards! Did you forget that?"

"No, I…"

"Oh never mind. Did you do it? Did you hit him with the weapon?"

"Yes, it's all going according to plan."

"Excellent. At this very moment the powder is pouring through his body, weakening him, forcing him to submit to me. Oh, revenge is sweet. Did that boy seriously think he could tell his parents his secret without serious repercussions? That foolish boy and his loyalty to his parents ruined everything!"

Vlad started walking away from Skulker, pacing around the lab while he flailed his arms madly. "Of course his parents were going to accept him, I always knew they would. And now Daniel knows he's not alone in the world, which means he has no reason to stay with me. Plus, now he'll have brilliant Maddie and that fool Jack and their inventions on his side as well! Oh of course he's going to tell his parents about me, it's only a matter of time. He'll only use it as blackmail for so long before finally spilling it, and then my chances with Maddie will be ruined!"

"So you're still going on with your plan?" Skulker asked.

"Of course I am!" he yelled back. "That boy brought this on himself; he will pay for what he did."

"And you remember my half of the bargain?"

"Yes, yes, of course. Now get out of here," Vlad demanded as Skulker willingly agreed.

Vlad collapsed into his leather chair and stared at the signed picture of Brett Favre over his fireplace mantle. Yes, this was the right course of action. That boy needed to pay for what he did, and his punishment would be slow and painful. After a few days, he'll be crawling to Vlad, begging him to help him, to take him in, and Vlad would welcome him with open arms, which was more than Jack and Maddie would do.

"Why can't I change back?" Danny asked frantically as he tried again.

Jack and Maddie ran over to the samples and looked at them. The cells still looked all right; they were still glowing, still alive. They zoomed in, looking at Danny's DNA. They noticed that some of the powder was attached to certain protein chains of the DNA.

"Well, that's interesting…" his mother commented.

"What?" Danny flew over, asking them, the white ring still appearing and disappearing around his waste as he continuously tried to turn human.

"Well, it appears the powder has attached itself to several protein chains in your DNA."

"Let me see," Danny requested as his parents stepped aside to let Danny look. He saw his glowing green DNA with a few non glowing strands. Then he noticed that some of the non glowing strands had the powder on them as well as the glowing ones. His eyes went wide as his memory clicked and he turned around to face his parents. "Can you move this so that it's focused on the top of the strain and then take a picture?"

"Yeah, but why?" his mother asked.

"I have a theory," Danny stated as he flew upstairs into his room. He went into his closet and found the secret area where he kept his secret items. When he first became part ghost, he, Tucker, and Sam did a lot of research on his DNA for a Biology project. They had taken a bunch of pictures and samples of both types of his blood, as well as an analysis of his DNA to try to discover more about his newfound state of being. Afterwards they had found that there was a little alcove behind the wall of his closet. He thought that would be the perfect place to hide this incriminating information, since only a ghost would be able to get to it. He turned his hand intangible and grabbed the stack of papers and pulled them out. Then he flew back into the lab and placed the papers on the table.

"Danny, what are those?" his father asked.

"Well, do you remember that project I had to do for Biology right after the lab accident when I collected blood samples from everyone in the family to compare to my own?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?" his mother asked.

"Well, when I was looking at my DNA I noticed that there were a few protein strands that were green and glowing, so we went back after school to do some further research and we took these pictures," Danny explained as he pulled the two pictures out and set them side by side. "One of them is my human DNA, the other is my ghost DNA."

"Jack, just look at him. Our little scientist, doing all this research!" his mother gushed as she kissed him on the cheek.

His father picked up the pictures, looking at them in amazement. "Danny, these pictures are amazing!" his father complimented.

"Tucker did them. But if you notice," Danny continued, flying behind them to point to the pictures "these protein chains are switched around. They're ghost in my human DNA, and human in my ghost DNA. Now, we're not any great shakes at genetics, but Tucker, Sam, and I believe that those are responsible for my ghost powers."

"Yes, you're quite right. The ghost ones may be responsible for your ability to turn into a ghost, and vice versa."

"We also thought that they might be the reason why I have ghost powers while a human."

"You can use your ghost powers while in human form?" his mother asked curiously.

"Most of them, but just the basic ones like invisibility, intangibility, ecto-blasts, ecto-shields, that kind of stuff."

"There's just so much we don't know about you Danny," his mother said in awe. Danny just blushed.

"Now, if you look," he started to describe, trying to change the topic as he flew over to grab the newly taken picture and flying back "a few of those human protein chains have the powder on them."

"So are you thinking those are the ones responsible for changing back into a human?" his father asked.

"They've got to be. There's no other explanation for it. You said that powder short circuits my cells, so it could very well be short circuiting my ability to change back."

"Are you guys coming for dinner or not? I've been waiting for the past ten minutes!" Jazz complained as she headed down into the lab.

"We've got a problem," Maddie explained.

"And it can't wait fifteen minutes while we eat dinner?"

"Jazz," Danny started to explain as he floated to the ground and looked at her "I can't turn back."

"What?" she asked. A white ring appeared around his waste and then disappeared again. "It's that bomb thing!" she yelled. "That stupid ghost did something to you! What did he do? Oh if I ever see him I'm going to kill him!"

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Maddie stated. "The powder it seems is reacting with the part of Danny's DNA that allows him to turn human."

"And you know how to fix it, right?" Jazz asked.

"Not yet, but we're sure going to try," Jack answered as Danny heard his father's stomach growl.

"It can wait until after dinner though," Danny stated. "You guys are probably hungry."

"But Danny…" his mother began to object.

"I'm fine. It's not like I'm not used to being in my ghost form for an extended period of time. Let's go eat dinner."

They headed upstairs, leaving the samples under the microscopes. The powder started to stir in the samples, vibrating quickly as the cells started to flicker in harmony with each other. The powder was gaining control of the cells.

Everyone gathered around the table. They grabbed helpings of the rotisserie chicken Jazz bought from the grocery store along with Rice-A-Roni and steamed broccoli (a constant when Jazz cooked) and reheated them in the microwave.

"Oh, this looks delicious!" Maddie exclaimed as she happily began cutting her chicken. "I haven't eaten since breakfast!"

"I never knew broccoli could taste so good!" Jack exclaimed as well as he shoved mouthfuls of broccoli and Rice-A-Roni into his mouth.

Danny started eating, but felt weird. He'd never eaten in his ghost form before, and he wasn't quite sure he liked it. He didn't feel hungry at all, and he didn't know what exactly would happen to the food once he swallowed it, since according to his parents' theories he didn't have any internal organs. In the end, he just eventually gave up and just played around with his food, occasionally taking a small bite. He knew his parents noticed, but they never said anything. They probably understood, since they knew so much about ghosts. He still felt awkward sitting at the table in his ghost form; it just didn't seem right. Ghosts don't eat or sit at kitchen tables. I should be human right now, if it weren't for the stupid powder.

Then, Danny felt a slight tickle in his nose, like he was going to sneeze. That's funny, I didn't think ghosts could sneeze he contemplated as the sneeze escaped. As he sneezed, he felt himself turn intangible and he fell through the chair and the floor. He floated back up, concentrating hard to turn tangible again before landing back in his chair.

"What happened?" his mother asked, seeing the look of confusion on his face.

"Did you just sneeze?" his father asked, his voice slightly worried.

"I guess so. Wow, that was weird. That hasn't happened for seven months now. It's like what happened when I first got my powers; I couldn't control anything. I would turn intangible or invisible left and right, but that hasn't happened for a long time since I've learned to control them."

"Do you think it might have something to do with that powder?" Jazz asked.

"I don't know. The weird thing is, I always thought ghosts couldn't sneeze," Danny commented.

"They can't," his mother stated as she ran down to the lab, his father following after her.

"Jazz," Danny stated, turning towards his sister "don't tell Mom and Dad, but I'm starting to get really worried. First I can't change back and now I'm sneezing when I'm not supposed to? There's something wrong here."

"Don't worry Danny. Mom and Dad will find a way to fix it, they always do. They know what they're doing."

"Danny, come down here please," his mother called from downstairs, some urgency in her voice. Jazz and Danny looked at each other as they ran down the stairs into the basement.

"What is it Mom?" Danny asked.

"Come look at this," she said, pointing to the microscope. Danny walked over and peered in. "Look at the cells," his mother informed. He looked in and saw that now all the cells were flickering, and a lot more often too.

"What does this mean?" Danny asked, sounding slightly worried. He felt a tickle in his nose again and he covered his mouth as he sneezed. His parents flinched upon hearing the sneeze, and looked around, worried. What were they looking for?

"We think it means that the powder is controlling your cells," his mother continued, looking like nothing had happened. "If you look closer, the powder is actually making the DNA strands flicker, the ones that you pointed out to us. We think it's making your powers short circuit."

"How?"

"I don't know. Somehow the powder is controlling that part of the cell, and if a vast majority of the cells flicker at the same time, it'll cause your powers to malfunction."

"So it doesn't look like you're in any immediate danger son," his father said, still looking in the microscope.

"But it means that you are," he said sadly.

"What do you mean?" Jazz asked, fearing she already knew the answer.

"If my intangibility or invisibility falters, that's alright, but what if it's an ecto-blast or my Ghostly Wail next? What am I supposed to do then? What if you get hurt? I'd never be able to forgive myself."

"Sweetheart, we don't care. We're perfectly able to protect ourselves if need be. Plus, it's not like it's anything we can't handle," his mother comforted.

"So don't even think of running away and secluding yourself," his father warned. "We don't want to have to use our new ghost tracker to find you."

"Your father's right. The last thing we want is for you to run away. We need to work through this together."

Danny smiled at his family. He did think about running away, or rather flying away, and the thought still remained, but the fact that his parents asked him to stay convinced him. They really wanted him to stay, no matter what his malfunctioning powers would do. They wanted to work through this, together, as a family.

Then he felt another tickle in his nose. "Uh, not again!" he complained just before he sneezed and turned invisible.

"Danny?" his sister asked, looking around for him.

"I'm still here. I'm just having a little trouble regaining visibility right now," Danny's voice replied as he concentrated on turning visible. Not only were his powers getting out of control, but he was having a harder time making them work as well.

"I think I just realized something Danny," his father stated. "Right before you sneezed, all but a few of the cells in this sample flickered. I think the sneeze is just a side-effect that we can use as a warning."

"See sweetheart, things aren't as lost as you may think," his mother comforted as she wrapped her arm around Danny's icy shoulder.