Hello readers! Always a pleasure to hear from you, and things are going well. This next chapter finishes up Doctor's Disorders and moves on an arc that isn't a part of the canon. So you'll be enjoying more original plot lines here. :) Now for answering back my reviewers...
OMNISENSE95: Yeah, Valerie's grudge doesn't allow her to see the truth and only lets her sees what she wants to see. I doubt even saving her as a ghost would change her mind, Danny Phantom saved Valerie multiple times and she knows it too, yet she still hates him. I'd say the only real way to get her to open her eyes is for her to find out the truth. As for Andy having healing abilities... I haven't thought about that, though that would be interesting... I'll at least think about it in the future chapters.
Jaddis: Yeah, Valerie may have had figured it out if she weren't so self absorbed in her vengeance for Phantom. As for is he officially going to be called Andy Phantom... well I don't know what else to call him really, at least not without some sort of identity crisis, and with how ignorant people are in Amity Park and not to mention the fact that two ordinary teenagers could become a super hero ghosts seemed pretty unrealistic most people would make themselves ignorant to the obvious by coming up with their own theories as explanations. Yeah, Vlad's gonna be surprised, but he's not like Valerie and he might be more subtle about it.
Blue: Danny's kinda easily distracted, but he'll find out soon that Andy's not all okay from that incident. And it's good to see your fan art again of the series! :D
muney73: I wonder if you have a thing for Andy regurgitating? ^^' Yeah, Andy did stuff, glad you're proud of him for it. :D Ah yes, the voice is a mysterious thing isn't it? And the blue fox is Foxfire. Really, it's not that hard to remember, it's just fox and fire, which is basically what he is. Well Andy's already been hiding thing from Valerie before, like Danny's secret, it was killing him to not tell her that Phantom is his twin brother and she wants to kill him! So yeah, nothing new there. ^^' Heh, well you gotta understand Danny really wants his brother to succeed in using his powers, he could use all the help he can get, and Vlad's not the only other halfa anymore so that makes him happy. And I hope you enjoy this chapter!
FoxyKhai0209: Valerie's reaction is how I'd imagine she would react in the show, and yeah she's pretty blinded by her hatred of ghosts to figure that one out.
LunagaleMaster: It would've been easy for Valerie to put two and two together, but unfortunately her personal vendetta against Phantom keeps her from seeing the truth, all she sees is the ghost that 'ruined her life' and now he has a twin brother that would make Phantom double the trouble. As for your question... Where did you get the idea that the ecto blasts are the same color as the ghost's eyes? Spectra shoots purple ghost rays but her eyes are red, or in her human disguise form, green. Dora shoots green fire from her mouth but her eyes are red. Personally I think I might go with Pearl84's explanation of how the ecto blast colors work and to put it in simple terms; which is green is the raw power of it, blue is the more concentrated and slightly weaker version and pinkish red is a much more powerful version. So since both brothers haven't learned to really control their ecto blasts it's going to be green. I hope this answers your question.
When you said Andy has Minato powers, I thought you were talking about Minato from Naruto. I was like 'what? How does he have Minato's powers?' and then you told me it's a Xenoblade reference. To be fair I didn't know anything about Xenoblade when I gave Andy these powers, I've only seen it recently in fact, but I did like how it works.
I've stated before that Andy will not be learning the Ghostly Wail, and he does not have psychic powers- even though he originally was planned to have them in the first book, but this never actually happened- The visions are a side-effect from the temporal powers he gained in the movie of the first book. Well I guess you could see it as Andy being the more defensive of the twins, but he's really more of a strategic kind of fighter as seen in his personality in My Brother's a Ghost. We'll just see what he does in the future chapters, maybe Clockwork could give you a sneak peek. :3
Calm: Heh, Little Red Hunting Hood, nice nickname for Valerie there! XD I'm glad you liked Valerie's reaction to Andy Phantom. And I AM A FOX! NOT A KITTY CAT! DX
CaPTiViTY: I swear I'm spelling your name differently with the whole caps thing. Anyways I'm glad to hear you enjoyed Valerie's reaction! :) Yeah, kinda curious how Dash will react to Andy Phantom... It's a possibility Dash may figure out Andy's secret before Valerie does, but I guess it depends on how well observed Dash is. And you'll see with Jazz soon. :3
Rune: Desiree doesn't like talking about how she got caught so easily. :P Yeah, Valerie and the people of the town usually make themselves ignorant, it's not because they're stupid like the show makes them out to be, it's rather because they come up with their own theories and excuses. It happens to the best of us really, I know I missed a lot of obvious things in movies because my head comes up with theories as to why this or that happened and it turns out it was only a mistake in the director's part. ^^' And yeah, Andy's radio code name shouldn't be Clueless 2, although I wouldn't be surprised if Sam or Tucker called him that just to tease him and Danny, especially Tucker, he's just that kind of guy.
Hey, I kinda like how you came up with a theory of your own how the visions work, it means I'm doing a good job at making my fans want to come up with theories on what's to come. And well... technically it wasn't a side effect of Andy almost getting wiped from the space-time continuum, it's the temporal powers themselves that gave him the side-effect, there's a big difference. The time powers allows him to see something coming when it's needed, if he were to gain it from almost being wiped out then yeah, maybe it would've worked like how you said before. And well, it'll be explained later with Clockwork, but Andy's early vision before the second accident was still fritzy so it was hard for him to tell what's going on, just that Sam gets angry at Danny and makes a bad wish, but once he gained ghost powers it powered up those visions so he can see it more clearly.
Heh, I loved that squee~ Yeah, Danny's rubbing off on Andy more and more. XD I'm not that great at witty banters, but I figured if I have a good one in mind I might as well let Andy say it. Though I honestly didn't care for the witty banters too much in the show, some of it are pretty clever.
I'm not going to say who the voice is, but let's just say it'll be interesting to find out who it is. :3 And the 'flaming blue fox' is called Foxfire. Basically it's a fox that is made of fire, it shouldn't be too hard to remember. And by 'Monado' you mean a Xenoblade reference, I didn't know about that when I gave Andy the future vision powers.
Oh their relationship's going to get pretty complicated. :3
PrincessDragon96: Ahhh, heheheh... ^^'
Yeah, Valerie would so do that if she found out Phantom had a twin brother. And I know what you mean! Phantom Planet just ruined everything! And let's just say their relationship's going to get pretty complicated, at least it will for poor Andy.
Well in a way it's ending off Doctor's Disorders and going into it's own in-between episode chapter, so I hope that answers your question.
Pinkamena: Valerie wouldn't have figured it out because her personal vendetta against Phantom keeps her ignorant from the truth. Ever watched D-Establish? She shoudl've figured it out when Danny told her Danielle was his clone! But she didn't, so I doubt she would've known that was Andy. *shrugs* And the line where Jack said Jazz was his favorite, while that may have just been a mean spirited joke on Butch Hartman's part, I think it might be true. Jack may have named Jazz when she was born and favorited her as she's his little girl and first born child. While Danny is Maddie's favorite, you can tell he's closer to her than he is with Jack, while it's kinda vice versa with Jazz. I'd like to think Maddie's closer to the twins while Jack is closer to Jazz.
ZAFT Prime: Valerie's smart enough to put two and two together, the only problem is her personal grudge for Phantom keeps her from doing so. It's going to be a while before she finally figures it out unfortunately. And it really depends on if I like your story, I don't want to be forced to read a story I don't want to read, no offense of course. I just get a lot of requests to read people's stories but it's not easy for me to if I'm not interested. But yours does sound promising so I might take a look at it. Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing!
Okay, that's all the reviews I have. I thank you all for commenting and I hope I managed to answer your questions! Now onto the chapter!
Chapter 11: Being a Teenager
Mom, Dad, Sam, Danny and I were visiting Tucker in the hospital, a REAL hospital thankfully, and he was not in a good mood, not that I blame him. The poor guy is in his worst nightmare, and his leg was bandaged up in gauze, he's forced to lay in bed with that green hospital gown patients have to wear. And he doesn't even have his PDA with him, it's like being forced in prison with no entertainment and having to work every day of the week. I sat in a chair, watching in boredom at the scene before me, still a little tired from yesterday's ghost battle.
"Tucker, we just wanted to thank you for helping our Jazz and Andy get out of that awful hospital!" Dad said with a big smile on his face. "Although…" he began chuckling. "I have to agree with the authorities, that whole ghost plot seems pretty farfetched, right baby?" Dad said to Mom.
Mom laughed too."Yeah, everyone knows humans can't have ghost powers!" She was laughing at the very idea of humans being able to use ghost powers, as if the whole thing was just absurd. To them, the very idea of people using ghost powers is about as real as pegasi and unicorns coming down to Earth on a big rainbow and showering everyone with magical gold coins or something.
If only they knew, if only we could just tell them, but we can't. We have no way of knowing how they'd react, how they'd accept it, will they see us as their sons anymore, or will they see us as what's left of their lost boys? I know that's how I saw Danny for the longest time, I don't want to imagine putting my parents in the same turmoil.
After a good laugh, Mom and Dad waved to us. "Bye Danny, bye Andy, we're going to patrol the city for a bit."
I watched them go as Sam was apologizing to Tucker for his busted leg. "I'm so sorry about your leg."
"I told you hospitals reek." Tucker grumbled moodily.
"Relax Tucker, we beat Spectra and you should be fine in eight to ten weeks, it could be worse." My brother said, trying to be optimistic.
Eight to ten weeks, huh? That's about two months away, and that's pretty long- I wonder if we'll be able to handle the ghosts while Tucker's out of commission?
But after Danny said those words, as if fate had a twisted sense of humor- which I know it has- the nurse pushed in an elderly man on a wheel cheer into the room. "Here's your new roommate Mr. Foley."
We all looked over and the old man smiled at Tucker, "Hey there, my name's Carl. No need to put me in bed sweetie." he said to the nurse. "Just put me up to the whippersnapper so I can spend the next two weeks jabbering on about what it was like when I was his age."
The nurse, ever so kindly, did what the old man- Carl was it?- said. She pushed him right up to Tucker's face. I frowned a bit, feeling sorry for Tucker, and it's like Carl knew he'd be annoying Tucker, like he's self aware about how teenagers stereotype old people by jabbering on and on about their younger days, now that's just cruel.
Of course, my brother and Sam didn't see it that way, they just smiled like it was amusing. "And now it's worse." Danny said with a small smile.
"Wow, look at the time." Sam said, looking at her watch before she and Danny backed away, grinning while waving their hands.
"What? Wait!" Tucker yelped.
I didn't leave, I felt bad for Tucker, so I was thinking about getting him a book or something, maybe relieve him of the old man's jabbering.
"You see that TV?" Carl said, pointing to the screen on the ceiling. "We didn't have TV back then, we had something called a radio."
"Andy, do something dude!" Tucker begged me.
I was about to say something before hands grabbed my shoulders and yanked me out of the chair, I gave a surprised yelp as I looked back to see both Danny and Sam had grabbed me with their hands and are now pulling me away from the room.
"And that clicker? We didn't have clickers, we had to use something called a knob." I could hear the old man saying.
"Are we really just going to leave Tucker like that?" I asked Danny and Sam, frowning a bit.
"Yup!" They both said happily.
We were already outside of the hospital, they were still dragging me. "GUYS?" Wow, I'm surprised I could hear Tucker from all the way out here.
"Still technically, not a cry for help." Danny said, that grin never leaving his face.
"HELP!" Tucker yelled as if in response to that.
"Hey! We're supposed to be his friends, why are you two just leaving him like that?" I scolded both of them, my arms crossed as they were still dragging me down the streets with them.
"Come on Andy, you gotta lighten up." Sam said, chuckling. "You've gotten so serious lately that it's kinda scary. Have a little fun and act like an actual teenager."
They finally stopped dragging me when we reached the next block. Danny continued where Sam left off. "Yeah bro, I mean lately you've been acting way too much like an adult- be careful, or you'll be too much like Jazz. Just relax a bit and have some fun."
I looked at them, are they serious? They left Tucker like that to have fun? "Regardless, that was still pretty cruel."
"Geez Andy, we're going to have to teach you to have fun again." Sam rolled her eyes.
"Just put that on the list of things to train my brother in when we get back home." Danny said with a smile.
Oh, that reminds me, I still have to ask Sam why she made that wish to Desiree, about me staying as a halfa when she clearly knows I shouldn't be. "Sam, I've been meaning to ask… why did you make that wish that I stayed half ghost along with my brother to Desiree that time? You could've easily just wished that fight never happened and thus Desiree never wiped out everyone's memories and I never got ghost powers."
"Hmm?" Sam blinked, frowning curiously before she shrugged. "...Well, I remembered that you wanted to be close to Danny again, and it wouldn't have been easy to do that if you both were different from the other. We still needed another half ghost, though- and since you had turned into one that time I decided to keep it!"
I mumbled under my breath, "You couldn't have just wished YOU were half ghost instead? I'm sure both of you would've liked that."
"If I did, Desiree would've turned me into a mutated ghost like she did with Tucker." Sam said with an as-a-matter-of-factly tone.
Danny chuckled, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "Aww, c'mon Andy, we have to get you to lighten up! Let's go get some Nasty Burgers- then we can all see a movie or something!"
"But what about Tucker? He was crying for help earlier." I said with a frown, pointing back at the building. "Besides, don't we have to go on patrol for any other ghosts in the area?" I can't believe they're just planning to leave Tucker and go goof off at the Nasty Burger!
Sam blinked, staring at me like I had a second head. ...I didn't actually have a second head, right? "...Uh, we usually just get burgers after a successful ghost battle. Besides, we all need some time off after what happened with Spectra!"
"Yeah, but ghosts never take a break. The next evil invasion could happen at any time!" I said with a frown. "I'm sure you guys know more than me, but I want to be prepared, that last battle put Tucker in the hospital."
Danny facepalmed, taking a deep breath. "Ooooh boy… Look, Andy, ghosts usually come in one by one- it's rare to see more than one come through the portal and attack at once! Besides, the reason Tucker is in the hospital is because Sam FELL on him, not because a ghost blasted his leg. If we don't take breaks, we'll get burnt out- so you need to relax!"
"Hey! I relaxed a lot." I said with a pout. "What are you saying? That I'm too uptight now?"
Sam and Danny instantly nodded, saying together, "Yes, yes you are."
"Well maybe I have to be since my brother is a half ghost superhero while his friends are constantly getting in danger while trying to help out." I snapped, crossing my arms and turned away from them, but without warning my feet and legs turned intangible on me and made me sink into the sidewalk! "WAH!" I thought I got these stupid powers of mine under control!
Danny chuckled behind me, quickly grabbing my arms and heaving me up. "Bro, you're kinda forgetting that you're a superhero too now. Besides, even superheroes need to take a break once in a while, don't they?"
"...Fine, I suppose I could use a little relaxation." I said in defeat after getting my legs back to being solid. "What did you two have in mind? And if you plan to go on a date, don't include me because I don't feel like being the third wheel."
Sam and Danny both blushed in embarrassment, glaring at me lightly, making me chuckle at their flustered expressions- that'll teach them for calling me uptight- before the Goth girl cleared her throat. "W-what we had in mind was going to get some Nasty Burgers together and then maybe seeing a movie or going skateboarding-"
"No! NO skateboarding!" I snapped suddenly. "Stupid Fenton Skateboard caused me to get into the second accident."
"Okay, okay, no skateboarding then." Sam quickly said. "Then let's just go hang out at Nasty Burger for a while and chat."
"Chat? Are we going to talk about how Spectra and Bertrand got out of the Ghost Zone and caused everyone to get sick? Because I have some fascinating theories on how those ghost bugs were able to infect a human and-" Danny cut me off, putting a hand over my mouth.
"No, no, we won't talk about that." Danny sweatdropped, still holding my mouth shut. "Maybe we could talk about, I dunno, school or video games and stuff? You know, teenage stuff that we usually talk about when we're NOT fighting ghosts?"
I gave him a deadpanned look, Danny still had his hand over my mouth so I couldn't speak.
"And maybe after a few days, we can start training your ghost powers, so you can help Danny more." Sam said with a big smile on her face, really big for a goth. "I can help by using the same basic training program Tucker and I used for Danny in your parents' lab."
I gave her an annoyed glare before pulling my brother's hand away from my mouth. "I don't want anything to do with these powers! Do you two ever listen? Geez, teenagers- you try to tell them one thing and they just completely ignore you."
"Oh, you're one to talk." Danny smirked, poking my shoulder. "You're a teenager too and younger than me little bro- so we might as well act like teenagers, at least for a while!"
"Hey, just because I'm still young doesn't mean I should act irresponsible... and I'm only two hours younger than you! It would've been minutes but the doctors had trouble getting me out- just forget it... and anyways I thought you of all people would be-" I cut myself off as I pointed at Danny. …What am I saying? Danny's probably suffering just as much as I have, especially since he still remembers being Corrupted Danny, maybe he's just trying to block it out by appreciating life as a normal teenager whenever he can.
Danny blinked, raising an eyebrow. "...Me of all people would be what? Acting responsible?" He sighed, shaking his head. "Bro, just because I have powers doesn't mean I need to be responsible twenty four seven- I need to relax sometimes, and you do too. We only get to be teenagers once after all!"
"Yeah, Danny's right Andy, so you need to learn to be a teenager again- you're already turning into your sister." Sam pointed out at me.
I sighed before I said, "Hey! I'll prove to you I can be my age when I want to be. So, Nasty Burger time? Who's buying? …Actually, maybe we should just-"
"Nasty Burger it is! C'mon, Andy!" Danny grinned brightly, beginning to drag me along by the arm and nearly tripping me up a few times by accident.
Well, here we are, at Nasty Burger. It's actually been a while since I ate here come to think of it. "Hey, since when did they have a Roast Beef Mighty Burger?"
"It was a new item they put a few weeks ago." Sam said, but looking down in disgust. "Poor cows…"
I looked up at the menu as the young woman working the cashier called out who's next, which are my brother and I. Danny smiled, walking up to the cashier as he glanced up at the menu. "I'll take the Super Mighty Burger!"
"Okay, and you sir?" The young lady asked as she looked at me, typing in my brother's order.
"I'll take the…" I wasn't sure what I wanted, but I was kinda hungry. "I'd like to try the Roast Beef Mighty Burger, make it a combo, and some cherry pie for dessert."
Danny then paused and got a mischievous gleam in his eye. Uh-oh… "Actually… can I take the Mighty Meaty Cheesy Melt instead? I'm in a messy mood today." He glanced at me when he said that, grinning widely.
I didn't like that look he gave me. That's the look that usually means it's pranking time.
"Alright, your total will be $19.97." She said after adding our totals.
I dug my pocket for the money, hoping I had enough. Dang it, Mom and Dad forgot to give me my allowance for the past three weeks, all I have is ten dollars! I knew I was wasting my time cleaning the lab and the living room.
Before I could hand the money over, I noticed Sam digging twenty dollars out of her purse and giving it to the cashier. "There you go- that should be enough!"
"Uh, Sam? Why'd you do that?" I asked her, blinking in confusion.
Sam shrugged, giving me a grin. "Well, why not? That's what friends are for after all! Food's on me."
I just hope I don't have to pay her back in interest later… Well we got our food and are now eating. Sam got her tofu veggie burger, I was enjoying this new Roast Beef menu they got, and Danny's… getting melted cheese all over the place. "Danny, mind keeping that cheese on YOUR side of the plate please? You're getting cheese all over my fries!"
Danny chuckled, taking a huge bite out of his burger that ended up getting MORE cheese on my fries, and even on my own burger! "Aww c'mon bro, lighten up a bit- it's just cheese!" he said, speaking with his mouth full… eew.
I pushed his face away from mine. "No wonder Paulina doesn't date you- have some manners, sheesh!"
Sam chuckled, giving me a knowing grin. "No, Danny's right- loosen up a little bit, it's not like a bit of a mess is gonna kill you after all!"
"It's gross." I grumbled, shivering a bit in disgust. "Close your mouth when you eat, or I'm going to lose my appetite." I don't remember Danny ever acting like this before, even after the accident… what the heck is going on? Is he messing with me?
Danny rolled his eyes, chuckling as he grabbed a napkin and wiped up his messy face before dropping it on the table. "What, like you've never eaten before bro? You're acting like you'd rather have a granola bar!"
I just gave him an annoyed look before munching on my, now cheesy, fries. It actually tastes pretty good with cheese come to think of it…
"So now let's chat a bit." Sam said suddenly, leaning back in her char.
"Oh great. I wish we could've kept one of those ghost bugs as a sample so I can figure out how they give humans ghost powers." I said, giving a small grin. And maybe help get rid of my own. "I was thinking maybe we should study on some of these ghosts and-" I noticed they looked at me in disapproval. "... Or we could talk about… uh… what movie we're going to see…?"
"Now that's more like it." Danny said with a smile. "I've heard Dead Teacher V is out in theaters today, why don't we see that?"
"Danny, you know I don't like watching horror movies." I grumbled, rolling my eyes. "I don't… exactly have as strong a stomach as you, as you've seen when we saw snot Spectra."
Danny blinked before rolling his eyes in amusement. "You just gotta get used to it, bro! C'mon, I'll show you- we'll go see Dead Teacher V now!" With that, he grabbed my arm and began dragging me out of the Nasty Burger!
"Wait! I haven't even finished my burger yet!" I yelled right before my arm went intangible and the sudden lack of force made me fall on my face. Ow… I guess it's a lot harder to control these stupid powers than I thought.
Danny blinked, looking at me before he chuckled. "Oh fine, go ahead and finish your burger- then we're going to see Dead Teacher V!"
"Why do you torture me with bloody movies? You know I can't take that sort of thing!" I groaned, and it makes me wonder if Corrupted Danny is somehow still within him…
"I heard that they have more blood and violence in this one than the last one." Sam said with a smile. My face paled and suddenly I lost my appetite.
And now I find myself in the theater, being dragged into the room with a bunch of teenagers sitting around, munching on popcorn, yakking to each other, and some were a couple and are planning to ignore the movie as they suffocate themselves with slobbery kisses. I can't help but imagine Danny and Sam doing that now…
"Hey, why don't you two enjoy the movie while I go get us some snacks?" I suggested quickly- the previews were already playing, and I do NOT want to stick around for the movie.
Danny smirked, grabbing my arm as I started to get up. "Oh no you don't, bro- you're sticking through all of this with us, whether you like it or not! You have to relax a bit anyways!"
"Relax!? In a horror movie!?" I yelled.
"SHHHHH!" Everyone hissed, making me shrink down in my seat.
Well, let's just say during the movie, I had gone intangible and invisible many times during the big scares. Danny and Sam had to constantly help me back up in my seat or pinch my arm to so I'd return to visibility. As we were exiting the theater room, I was paler than a ghost.
"Did you see all that blood? It had even more than Bloodbath!" Sam said excitedly. "And did you see how realistic those bones were?"
I wanted to throw up at this point, but Danny continued along as if just to push me over the brink. "I know, right? And when they sawed through that girl's leg, it looked so real it almost made me think it was happening right then and there!"
Okay, I can't take it anymore, I turned around and shut both of their mouths with my hands. "Okay! I get it! The effects were realistic, nastily realistic, can we stop talking about it please? Or I'm gonna get some realistic vomit all over you two!"
Both of them stared at me as I slowly let go of their mouths- they better not talk about another word of that movie. Then… Danny grinned, high-fiving Sam. "Yes! We actually got Andy to snap at us in a funny way- we did it!"
What- "Oh man, I didn't think it'd take THIS long to get him to crack, but we succeeded in bringing out his inner teenager!" Sam smiled back.
What. The. Heck. "YOU TWO PLANNED THIS THE ENTIRE TIME!?" I snapped at both of them angrily before I calmed myself and crossed my arms. "... I knew you two could think alike, but at this point it's almost like you share a psychic connection, is it love or something else?"
Danny blinked at that, blushing as he glared at me. "W-wha- hey! A-Andy, Tucker would've been in on this too!"
"T-that's right! W-we just wanted you to stop being serious and calm all the time, it's freaky." Sam said, blushing too. "There's a time to be serious and calm and there's a time to just cut loose and let it all go."
I still glared at them, my eye twitching. "You two grossed me out in Nasty Burger, then made me sit through that entire bloody movie JUST so I'd act more like a teenager!?" I knew my eyes were glowing purple at this point, because I could just feel the cold and hot power flowing through them, that and Danny and Sam flinched back at my glare.
"Erm…" Danny sweatdropped, rubbing the back of his neck. "It worked, didn't it? So… why not?"
"That's it, I'm going on patrol myself, you two can go on your date." I snapped as I began storming out before I suddenly tripped and fell on my face again, well it turns out my foot turned intangible. "I am going to strangle these powers!"
I felt Danny helping me up as Sam seemed to be thinking before she got an idea and grinned. "You know what you need? Some R&R- why don't you come to my place to relax a bit? We have a massage chair you could use."
Sighing, I looked outside, it was already getting dark. "Thanks Sam, but we should head home now. I promised Dad I would help clean the lab today." In truth, I knew I had to talk to my brother about that Corrupted Era- it's still haunting me and it affected me badly when my peers started getting ghost powers, if it weren't for Valerie… I'd probably would've gone insane again.
Danny sighed, reluctantly nodding. "Yeah… I suppose Andy's right- we'd better get back home. We'll talk to you tomorrow!" With that, we began heading back home, neither my brother nor I talked the entire way.
Mom and Dad were in their lab, thankfully that means I don't have to clean it. Jazz was in her room- good, we're alone. When we went into our room I laid on my bed, staring at the ceiling. How should I bring this up? Danny doesn't want to talk about it I'm sure, but how long can I keep this bottled up? It's causing me nightmares even when I'm awake.
"You okay, bro? You look a little pale." Danny said, looking at me in concern.
"... Uh well… I've… just been having some nightmares…" I began.
"Hey, I'm sorry about taking you to see that movie, it's just you were acting so uptight that we-" he started to say, but I cut him off.
"No, not that, but I didn't appreciate it." I grumbled. "It's about… that… incident… where you… you know… got corrupted."
"..." Danny paused at that, quickly growing pale himself. "...Oh. I, t-that's…" he started to say before stopping. "...Oh…"
I turned away, regretting I even brought it up. I knew Danny hated what he became that time, and he probably had been trying as hard as I was to forget about it. But I've already said it, so I might as well keep going… "When Spectra infected everyone with those ghost bugs… they… well our fellow students… they were… mutating into ghosts, right? …" When he didn't answer, I continued. "When… when Valerie and I… went to go check it out, I noticed a lot of them were like that… and… I… had a bad episode, Valerie had to snap me out of it…"
"..." Danny sighed, sitting up and covering his head with his hands. "L-listen… Andy, I… I'm sorry that you had to go through that again. I should've thought better, I should've… done something else, anything else."
I turned back to him, feeling bad and even worse seeing how guilty he looked- did I really want to keep going with this subject? … Come on, I have to talk to him about it. "It's not your fault, I don't blame you. But the post trauma… I guess it hadn't left me. I guess maybe the real reason I didn't want to be half ghost is because I'm afraid… afraid… of becoming corrupted. Nightmares keep haunting me, whispering me to become that corrupted halfa you were before. What happened to you was that you were fused with that mist that was in Freakshow's crystal ball and became under its control, but I could so easily fall victim to the same thing, or heck even give in to my temptations."
Danny jerked as if he were suddenly shocked, quickly turning to me and shaking his head. "N-no, you really couldn't, Andy! I… you know better than to do what I did- you know better than to do that sort of thing. C'mon bro, please don't feel worried about that…"
It made me wonder if Danny's suffering from this as much as I was? "Danny…" I sat up and looked at him eye-to-eye. "Did you have any nightmares? Surely seeing a situation similar to that incident must've triggered something, didn't it?"
"..." Danny hesitated before shaking his head slowly. "I… n-no, not… really. I… I saw it in a different way that whole time- so while it seemed similar…" He sighed, putting his head in his hands again. "I'm so sorry, Andy- I didn't even think of what you were going through then…"
I put my hand on his shoulder and said, "I know you're not that Corrupted Danny anymore, but sometimes I could still hear him. I don't think I'll ever be able to use my ghost powers without that fear haunting me. Are you sure we can't just get rid of it?"
Danny hesitated before sighing. "...I… n-no. I really don't think we should… After all, it was that fear- of being alone, of not being like you, that… well… that caused me to become corrupt."
I looked at him, feeling confused. "What? I thought that mist corrupted you."
My brother nodded, glancing up at me. "Well, yeah, it did… but the entire time I was- corrupted, I mean- I just couldn't stop thinking about how I was alone, how I was the only half ghost that didn't want anything bad or illegal… and how I wished you were by my side, helping me."
"You… felt that way too?" I put a finger under my chin. "For a long time I feared you'd see me as a burden. In the beginning, after the accident, you'd ditch and lie to me, then after I find out I thought you were dead… and even after you told me and we made up, well… I just felt helpless, like I couldn't really help you." While talking about this, I felt like some heavy weight was being lifted from my chest, not all of it, but a lot.
Danny blinked, looking at me in surprise. "...W-wait, what? I- are you serious? You… you felt the same way all this time?"
"Of course, why do you think I lost my sanity before?" I sighed. "The point is I felt helpless and you felt alone. Has that changed any since then?"
"..." Danny frowned, thinking to himself, before he slowly nodded. "I… yeah- you're by my side, and if we train you, you'd be able to help me a ton!"
"But I don't want-" I began to say before he took my hands, they were cold… yet there was a comforting warmth in them.
"Andy, I know you fear these powers." He said, squeezing my hand gently. "But I promise, we will get through this and you'll be free from those nightmares and your fears of being helpless to me."
I looked at him, "... How can you be sure about that?"
Danny grinned at that, chuckling slightly. "Because we're the Fenton Brothers- together, we can do anything we set our minds to!"
I couldn't help but sigh, "Sometimes I envy your optimistic nature. I missed that actually, it helps me cope- without you it's no wonder I fell into the depths of insanity. It was also you who helped me defeat your corrupted self, if it wasn't for you I would've given up and this place would be a ghost paradise by now."
Danny blinked at that, surprised. "I… s-seriously?" He whistled lowly to himself, running a hand through his hair. "I… don't remember that bit at all… that's weird…"
"You probably don't since you were most likely talking to me subconsciously, either that or- and this is going to sound cheesy- you were somewhere deep inside my heart when I needed you the most." I said. "That's the only thing I can think of." Then I looked up and said quietly, "Are we… training tomorrow?"
Danny looked at me in shock before he grinned happily, nodding. "Well, yeah- do you think you're going to come with us?"
"In the lab?" I asked, and he nodded. "Well… I… um…" I still didn't want to use these ghost powers, and if I train with them… I might become used to them, and I didn't want to be, I wanted to remain as human as possible. "I guess… maybe… a sparring match or two can't be too bad." I couldn't help but yawn, why am I so sleepy? I didn't do much today…
Danny's eyes lit up and he smiled happily. "Great- thank you, bro!" He then quickly let go of my hands and hugged me without warning. "You have no idea how much this means to me!"
I blinked, taken by surprised by his sudden hug, but slowly relaxed as I lifted my arms to hug him back. "I'm happy you're happy, bro. Just… don't expect me to use my ghost powers too often… I kinda want to remain mostly human." Strange, I thought he'd be colder, but it's almost like something was warming him up… almost to the point of being a human blanket… and it felt nice.
Danny chuckled, letting me go and giving me a grin. "I gotcha, Andy- but either way, we'll be able to train together!" Then I yawned, and he smirked, shaking his head knowingly. "For now, get some sleep- you're exhausted."
I groaned, he didn't look exhausted at all! And it was only 8:09 PM! That's waaaaay too early in teenage and adult time. "I am not, we didn't even do anything but hang out all day! And how come you're not tired?"
Danny shrugged, grinning. "Hey, I said it before- your body's still getting used to your ghost powers. You'll feel tired for the first month or so of using them…" He almost looked giddy, I wonder if he's thinking 'so this is what it's like to be a mentor, this is awesome!'
"Of course." I grumbled. "But I don't… want… to sleep… yet…" There's still so much to do! I can't just fall asleep now! And yet my eyelids were getting heavy, I had to bring up my hand to rub them. I could feel him gently laying me down on some nice fluffy clou- I mean my bed. "What… are you… doing? I'm… not sleeping yet… splash me… with some ice cold water… or somethin'." I slurred.
I heard my brother chuckling… or was it three of them? I couldn't tell by this point. "C'mon, bro." I heard two of him say. "Just get some rest… it's best to do so now rather than later. I should know, I've been through it myself, don't want you passing out when you shouldn't after all. Good night bro." Those were the last words I heard him say before everything went dark…
Yes readers, this is going to be its own arc before going to the next episode. Andy and Danny needs some quality time after all, and Andy still needs to train his powers if he ever hopes to really use them effectively. Andy's trying to talk to Danny about when he was Corrupted Danny, but the two aren't exactly emotionally ready to talk about it quite yet, but at least they're trying. And now, if you have any questions feel free to ask. Leave a review or comment about what you think of the chapter and I will get back to you next Friday. I am DarkFoxKit and I look forward to hearing from you!