We Are Phantoms

by DarkFoxKit

The sequel to My Brother's a Ghost. "My name is Andrew Fenton, but call me Andy. I'm a 14 year old boy, twin brother of Danny Fenton. If I had known what kind of fate awaited me in the future... I probably would've freaked out. My brother and I, we're more than teenagers... we are heroes, we are defenders. We are Phantoms."

105. Chapter 104: Damage Control

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': So uh… we gotta start this off by saying sorry for not updating yesterday. We had plans to play Dungeons & Dragons and completely forgot about posting. *Is sheepishly scratching the scales on the back of her head*

DarkFoxKit: *Rubs her eyes a bit* Yeah, it tends to happen when we get into the zone with something that lasts all day. By the time we remembered it was posting day, it was already midnight. We decided to post the new chapter the next day instead.

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': On the bright side, we decided to post today instead of waiting till next week. But after this we will be posting again on Monday.

DarkFoxKit: Since it's the end of the Reality Trip episode, we can go back to updating once every twice a week instead of three weeks now. Sorry about the long wait for updates though.

Darkzdragon 'Onyx: Though as a reminder, we WILL be going back to the chapter length we had before. So while you will be getting more frequent uploads, those uploads will be shorter in length.

DarkFoxKit: Anyways, we've held you up long enough. Go ahead and get to the chapter!

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Chapter 104: Damage Control

When I opened my eyes again, I let out a gasp, as if I was just able to breathe again. I could see we were back on the hill where we fought with Freakshow and Lydia just before Freakshow had challenged us to that long shadow game. It was still dark out, but I wasn't sure how much time had passed here since we started the shadow game.

"Welcome back, you two! I was so worried when you two, Lydia, and Freakshow disappeared!"

I turned around to see Hope was there. It had been a while since I saw the little pink and white teddy bear. She ran over to us, and jumped up towards me. I managed to catch her with my hands, though she was shocked when she saw my right hand had the gauntlet on it.

"Where'd you-" Hope started to ask before she yelped. "Andy, look out! Lydia is right behind you!"

"Don't worry, she's on our side," I quickly reassured Hope. "A… lot has happened after we all disappeared. How long has it been since you last saw us, Hope?"

"Maybe a half hour?" Hope guessed. "I don't exactly have a watch to check, nor was I counting the seconds."

"So… not a lot of time had passed here," I noted.

"Enough time where that big bear disappeared…" Hope pouted.

Oh right, Juliette made her own interpretation of the constellation Ursa Major, didn't she? And I had brought it to life with the Gem of Life. I guess, since Juliette and I never made it permanent… meaning that it's probably gone. I realized.

"What happened to you? Is that the Reality Gauntlet on your arm?" Hope asked, still looking at the Reality Gauntlet I had on me.

"To make a long story short, Freakshow sent us to three different dimensions for his Shadow Game… we won, that's why I have the Reality Gauntlet," I answered.

"Freakshow was unfortunately a sore loser and tried to back out of our deal and was taken by the Shadow Realm," Juliette added to the explanation. "And because of that, I felt it was right to speak with Lydia and let her know and see what she wanted to do. I then proceeded to give her the offer to serve me, which she eventually took. I plan to protect her and help reform her into a ghost that would never commit another crime."

"Wow… a lot has happened to you guys. Wish I could've been a part of it," Hope pouted.

"Heh… well, it's probably for the best you weren't. We had a lot of close calls," I chuckled.

"Agreed." Juliette nodded. "There was one world that was pretty dystopian."

"You'll have to tell me more about it later then," Hope remarked.

I nodded. "For now, let's use this gauntlet to set everything right."

"Do you know how to use it?" Hope asked.

"I'll… uh… give it my best shot," I said sheepishly. "Juliette, would you mind holding onto Hope for me?"

Juliette gave a nod and held open her arms for Hope to jump over to her. "Remember, Andy, we aren't going right to setting everything right. First thing we need to do is check on Danny and the others."

Hope jumped over to Juliette as I gave a sheepish smile, not having meant to say what I had said. I then held up my arm with the Reality Gauntlet. I imagined seeing Danny and the rest of my family and friends with the Reality Gauntlet, hoping it would work. The Reality Gauntlet began to glow a blue light, likely using the Gem of Fantasy to make my desire come true.

A big glowing blue orb came out of the palm of the gauntlet, and floated in front of us. The orb began to show us images on it. There was a big valley, and a smoking structure in the orb.

"That's likely the Guys in White base that the helpful ghost told us about," Juliette surmised as she looked at the orb. "Though… why and how is it smoking and looking so damaged? Did Danny and the others somehow break out?"

I furrowed my eyebrows in worry. "How? The Guys in White likely had many ways to detain a powerful ghost like Danny. How could this have happened?"

"Perhaps someone on the inside of the Guys in White organization let Danny go?" Hope offered. "It's unlikely that all of the Guys in White hate ghosts and Danny."

The orb shifted images, showing Mom, Dad, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker on the ground. They all looked pretty injured and banged up. I could see some of them had cuts, bruises, and even a couple burns. Their clothes were pretty torn up. Mom and Dad were looking over the children, though I noticed Jazz and Sam were especially looking up in worry about something.

"Oh no…" Juliette frowned.

"What is it?" Lydia whispered in worry to Juliette's reaction.

"Well for one, the whole group is injured," Juliette pointed out to Lydia. "And for another… I'm sensing a far off energy that feels like Danny's but not quite."

"Show me Danny," I commanded the orb.

The orb's image shifted once again, and this time it showed Danny Phantom floating in the sky. I could only see the back of his head, however. I did see that his arms and legs were bleeding ectoplasm, and parts of his suit were torn, but I could also see they were mending themselves slowly.

"It's possible they were experimenting on him…" Juliette frowned. "And he broke free from whatever was being done to him."

I frowned as I squinted my eyes a little. Then Danny suddenly turned around, facing directly at us. I let out a shocked gasp when I saw his eyes. Danny's eyes weren't neon green like they usually were in his ghost form, instead, they were crimson red. The orb suddenly shut itself off, likely sensing my fear and not wanting to see Danny anymore.

"That… definitely wasn't normal Danny," Hope commented.

"What happened to him? What have they done to him?" I asked frantically.

"Calm down, Andy, before you start to panic," Juliette quickly said.

"What if… what if the Guys in White awakened something in Danny? What if he's turning into Corrupted Danny again!? He normally doesn't have red eyes unless he's turning into Corrupted Danny! What if he does!? We could have another dystopian future on our hands if he does!" I cried out frantically.

Juliette put Hope down and walked over to me before slapping my face, quite hard.

"Andy, control yourself!" Juliette yelled at me.

I hissed as I rubbed the cheek she slapped with my non-gauntlet hand. "Must you always slap me like that?"

"You are wearing the Reality Gauntlet," Juliette pointed out. "If you have a freakout right now, you could destroy this entire universe."

I frowned before looking at the Reality Gauntlet. "Wait a minute… maybe I can use this. I can… use it to go back in time, right? I could go back to before the Guys in White captured everyone… no, I can go back further, I can go back to before Danny transformed in front of that security camera."

"Or," Juliette started cutting in. "You could take us back to Gothapalooza and then simply change the event where Danny was caught on camera while making a conscious choice to let Lydia, myself, and yourself remember. That should make it where Danny and everyone else wasn't captured. You don't need to go back to an event to change it when using the Reality Gauntlet."

"I can do that?" I blinked. "How would I change the event without actually going back to it though?"

"You can alter reality with the snap of your fingers," Juliette reminded. "Just have the desire that Danny's transformation was unseen by everyone and snap."

"Hmmm… okay, I suppose I can try that," I said.

"This way we also don't lose out on the events that happened since we left Florida," Hope added.

"I do have one concern about this once everything is fixed though," I spoke up, looking at Lydia. "What are we going to do with her?"

"I will send her back to the opera house with a note to give to Scarlet," Juliette answered.

"Or, Mistress, if you would allow me, I could withdraw into your shadows for now," Lydia offered.

Juliette blinked. "You are able to do that?"

"Of course I can. How do you think I was able to stick with Master Freakshow around other humans for so long? I have ways to hide myself, don't worry," Lydia replied.

Juliette gave a thoughtful expression. "And being able to hide in my shadows would also stop you from being sensed…"

I smiled. "Well, if that's all good, then I'll get started on setting our summer vacation back to the way it should've gone."

"You sure that's all you're going to do?" Hope asked. "I mean you can control reality with the snap of your finger. Wouldn't you want to make the world a better place while you're at it or something?"

I gave Hope a more strained grin at that suggestion. "Uh… no, I'd rather not mess with the world and cause a chain reaction that would likely mess it all up even more." Plus I don't trust myself not to make another dystopian world.

"Besides, we don't need the Reality Gauntlet to make this world a better place." Juliette smiled, her tone full of genuine hope and determination.

"Okay, everyone remain silent while I focus. I don't want to mess this up," I said as I took a deep breath and let it out to calm my nerves.

"Oh, Andy!~ What are you doing, little bro!?~"

I paled when I heard that all too familiar voice. No… no, no, no… not now!

All of us turned our heads up to see Danny himself floating nearby, his eyes were still red, and parts of his suit were still a bit torn. I noticed he had a few cuts on his face too.

"D-Danny? What… what are you doing here?" I gulped as we backed away a little.

"I felt myself being looked at and followed it to the source to find you, Juliette, Hope, and… Why do you have Lydia with you?" Danny raised a brow. "Also, what's that on your arm?"

"We have Lydia with us because she now serves me," Juliette informed. "Her employment with Freakshow came to an abrupt end and I decided to take her in."

I tried to hide the gauntlet on my arm behind my back. I didn't want Danny to possibly try to take it away. I didn't know what was going on with Danny right now, but I knew I couldn't trust him.

"It's nothing important," I replied.

Danny was suddenly behind me before I could blink. I gasped, and jumped away. I knew Danny was fast, but he usually wasn't this fast. "Danny! What-"

Danny grabbed onto my arm with the gauntlet and looked at it. "Ah, I see. You have the Reality Gauntlet. Nice job, bro. I knew you wouldn't lose to Freakshow~"

"W-what?" I blinked, confused. "What, you… how would you know I got this from Freakshow? And… not losing to him?"

Danny smirked. "Oh, in a way I don't know. But Chad does~"

"What? Nobody knew who Chad was but…" My eyes slowly started to wide as realization was starting to hit me.

"You and Chad?" Danny raised a brow while grinning.

"... You… you were Chad!?" I nearly screamed.

"Apparently." Danny shrugged. "I don't remember every single detail but I know that it was more than just some strange dream. I remember a world where you were never born, a world that was kinda dark but also not at the same time."

I frowned, not sure how to feel about the fact Danny had been Chad the entire time. Then Danny looked at the gems on the Reality Gauntlet. He then picked out the Gem of Fantasy all of a sudden.

"H-hey! What are you doing?" I asked in shock when Danny just plucked the Gem of Fantasy out of the gauntlet.

Danny let one of his ectoplasm from his cut drip onto the Gem of Fantasy. "I heard what you were planning to do with that gauntlet bro."

"... Isn't it better that way? We can continue our summer vacation without the Guys in White capturing everyone or your secret being caught on camera," I stated. "We could continue to have fun, go experience the other locations we were planning on going to, and everyone would be happy, healthy, and safe."

"It'd be best if we changed what happened, Danny," Juliette agreed. "This way we also wouldn't have to start the entire vacation over, we'd be able to continue like nothing ever happened."

Danny looked up at us, frowning. "If you do that, then I will have to go back into… Let's just say I prefer things the way they are right now. Our precious people will heal eventually. Those Guys in White are finished, I've made sure of that. And with this gem, I'll make sure that fantasy stays a reality."

"What are you-" My eyes went wide when Danny turned the Gem of Fantasy intangible and stuffed it into his stomach.

"Danny stop!" Juliette shouted as she glanced down at Hope. "Hope, go hide, we may have to fight here."

"Danny, you… why?" I couldn't understand what Danny's reasoning was, why he decided to bind himself to the Gem of Fantasy, and then put it in his stomach. "I thought you would've been all for this idea! Why are you trying to stop us?"

"Because if you take us back now, I'll go back to being that weak brother who can't take care of himself or his family!" Danny snapped.

"You aren't weak, Danny," Juliette stated. "You're one of the strongest people I know. As for you not being able to protect your family, you aren't omniscient, you couldn't have known that everyone was going to be captured."

"But with this new power, I was able to not only escape, but I got everyone out, and destroyed that Guys in White's base. I also made sure the Guys in White themselves didn't make it out, they will not be hurting anyone ever again!" Danny announced, smirking at that.

"Whatever they did to you, Danny… they messed you up…" I said in horror. "You're sounding like Corrupted Danny… you may not have the form, but you're acting like him."

"You destroyed one of their bases, child," Lydia spoke up. "There are many more bases, and many more sects of the Guys in White. What you did was paint a target on your back and your family's and friend's backs."

"Don't you think I'm aware of that?" Danny snapped. "I don't care, let them come! Besides, Andy, you have the Reality Gauntlet. If we wanted, we could wipe out every Guys in White in existence."

"Just because one has the power, doesn't mean one should use it," Juliette argued. "And he can't do anything without having the Gem of Fantasy on the gauntlet. So please, Danny ,take that gem out and give it back to Andy."

"He'll get it back, once I know he won't turn back time to fix everything," Danny remarked.

I frowned, knowing that if we wanted to get the gem back, we would have it get it out of him first. But I wasn't sure how we would do that. Danny may not have his full corrupted form, but as he demonstrated earlier, he has gotten much faster than he normally was. I wasn't sure if he had gotten stronger too, but I didn't like our chances.

"So what you want is to create that dark and dystopian world that we went to?" Juliette asked. "One in which anyone who disagrees is eliminated or forced to submit?"

Danny frowned, before shaking his head. "I don't want that world. I just don't want Andy turning back time again."

"But you just said you didn't mind wiping out all of the Guys in White," Juliette pointed out.

Danny growled, his eyes glowing brightly, which made me flinch back. "Because they deserve it! How many innocent ghosts were obliterated in a painful way by their hands? How many more would go in such a way before they ever stop? I think it's for the best that the Guys in White never existed in the first place!"

"So instead of forcing the Guys in White to pay for their crimes, you just want to eradicate them all?" Juliette summarized.

"That wouldn't make them face justice," Lydia said with a frown. "You'd simply be giving them a quick release and not making them pay for what they did. Death is not a punishment, it is an immediate end."

"For one; I don't care. Two; death has a way of punishing people. The Ghost Zone itself is proof of that. Three; again, I don't care," Danny remarked, crossing his arms. "Now are we done talking?"

"No, we aren't, because that's the problem right there. You don't care," Juliette argued. "That is not something I would ever imagine coming out of your mouth."

Danny rolled his eyes before his hands glowed green. Much to my relief, his ghostly energy wasn't red, but he did do something. Juliette and Lydia were suddenly inside a green ecto cube. I couldn't hear either of them as they were trying to shout something while banging against the cube. Though I did notice that Juliette was looking right at me.

I knew I could get them out of there, since I had done it before when I first met Juliette trapped in Skulker's cube trap. However, before I could even try, Danny suddenly grabbed me from behind and pulled me back. He pinned me against a cliff face.

"What are you doing now?" I groaned.

"I wanted to show you something without having to hear Juliette's constant lectures about what's right and wrong," Danny remarked. "And this will be a good test run with the Gem of Fantasy."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Wait, what are you going to do?"

"Just hush and watch~" Danny instructed.

My eyes widened in horror as I saw Danny's right hand glowing blue, using the energy from the Gem of Fantasy. I was scared that Danny was going to try to brainwash me with that. He put his glowing hand on my forehead before I could struggle. My field of vision was then filled with a bright blue.

~~Flashback~~

I found myself looking through liquid, and glass. I wasn't in control of myself, I was just watching through someone else's eyes. It didn't take me long to realize I was looking through Danny's eyes. I felt like I had just woken up from a long nap though.

I could see a woman wearing a white lab coat looking through the glass, right at me, or rather, Danny.

"The subject is awake, doc!"

"Yes, I can see that with my own eyes. Please keep watching the readouts," The woman wearing the lab coat responded before leaning in. "Tell me, subject, how are you feeling?"

I was feeling hyper. Something inside me, or rather Danny, was getting stronger. I remembered this feeling when I was injected by all those micro-cores, but I didn't think it would transfer to Danny too. I wondered if it was because he was somehow with me as Chad when it happened.

"I hope you're doing alright, I made sure the more… gungho scientists held off on their experimentation," The woman stated as I looked around. "If you're wondering what this place is, it's quite simple. This is a new machine that I had been ordered to develop which should allow one to take control of the mind of a ghost. If this works, it should make you subservient to the Guys in White."

I was feeling agitated. Then I heard Danny's thoughts going through my head. Nobody controls me. Nobody will take away my precious people and get away with it.

"Look…" The woman lowered her voice. "If I could, I'd let you go, kid. We should be testing this on a subject like Skulker or Vlad Plasmius, not you. You aren't like the others, I know that, you protect Amity Park. Sadly, though, I have to follow my orders."

I could feel Danny being split on this. I felt he didn't seem to want to hurt this woman, though he also wanted to get out. It also didn't help that something in his core wanted to explode, and it was hard holding it back.

"Quite socializing with the subject!" A man wearing the typical Guys in White uniform yelled as he walked in.

"Sorry, sir, just ensuring the subject is completely ready. It would be unwise to run the experiment without him being in his best-" The woman started to respond before being cut off.

"I don't care, you were given your extra hours already and you're not getting any more time. Either hand the subject over to one of the other research teams or start your experiment immediately!" The man shouted. "If the subject decides to resist, then bring out the assets meant to convince him. We already know we can make regular people subservient to the Guys in White, and you can prove it to the subject with those he cherishes if he refuses."

My, or Danny's eyes, went wide at that. "My family and friends! What have you done to them!?"

"We currently have them in a safe containment area," The woman said as she picked up a high-tech looking clipboard and started to tap on it. "They're being fed and cared for."

"Though that can change depending on your choices, subject!" The man venomously hissed.

I suddenly saw the reflection on the glass turning a bright green. Danny's eyes were glowing with anger. "I choose to get out with my family and friends."

"If you try to break out of containment, then you will be forfeiting the lives of those you care about," The man nonchalantly replied. "We have been given authority to execute them if you are unwilling."

I felt Danny breathing harshly with the oxygen mask over his nose and mouth. It wasn't that he was having trouble breathing, but he was having trouble trying to contain himself. The energy inside felt like it wanted out, and this man was agitating Danny even more, making it worse. Danny felt like he wanted to explode, but he was trying to hold it back. His body had already returned to ghost form, unable to stay in his human form due to the excessive energy. The only thing holding him back was the threat to his friends and family.

What should I do? I heard Danny's despairing thoughts. I can't just… I can't leave things like this...

"They underestimate me…"

I heard what sounded like Danny's thoughts speaking back to him, but it also felt like a separate entity.

"They think that I'd allow them to execute my family and friends…"

I can't let them do that. I know Andy is trying hard to get the Reality Gauntlet, but...

"I have so much strength… I just need to not hold myself back. I can break out of here in an instant and rescue them if I chose to do so…"

There's no need to wait for Andy… Not if I can release everyone myself. I know I can do it… these Guys in White have no idea who they're dealing with.

I couldn't speak back, I couldn't do anything other than watch. I felt Danny slowly starting to build up the energy inside him. His green eyes were starting to turn red in the process.

"It's time to get out of here and save those we care about, and make those who hurt us and them pay…"

Danny looked towards the scientist woman.

What should I do with her? Danny asked himself.

"I could either hurt her as well or leave her be… what shall it be? She doesn't seem to hate Danny Phantom…"

I felt Danny smirking before his hands started to glow. When his hands glowed, the scientists in the area began to scramble around in a panic. All except the one in front of Danny, in front of the capsule he was in.

"What's going on? The subject shouldn't be able to use any of its ghost powers in that chamber!" Someone shouted frantically.

"I'm going to increase the nullification field, though I'll need help!"

The woman turned to glare at the man wearing the Guys in White suit. "This is on your head. The subject was fine until you came in and started talking about brainwashing or executing his friends and family!"

Before the man could retaliate, a green barrier was created around the woman. Then, all of a sudden, the room went absolutely silent as the power went out. After a moment, the red emergency lighting of the room turned on. As it did, there was the distinct and crystal clear sound of a crack. Then there was another, and another… until finally, the chamber Danny was in exploded outwards in all directions. The fluids he was suspended in flooded out while many scientists around the room were hit with shrapnel from the explosion.

After everything was destroyed, there were injured people lying on the ground. Danny floated out. I looked down, seeing his suit was all cut up from the glass shards, which had exploded not just outwards but inwards towards him. Besides those cuts, Danny himself wasn't all that injured. He looked over at the scientist he protected in his barrier, seeing as she was the only one unharmed from the explosion.

"Y-you… protected me…" The woman muttered, her tone and expression one of shock. "But… why…?"

"You're the only one I liked here," Danny answered before he dissipated the barrier around her. "You're free to do whatever you want. But I'm taking my family and friends, and I'll be destroying this base. So you better leave if you want to live."

The woman fell down to her knees in the water and nodded a little. "I'll uh… do that…"

With that said, Danny flew away from the room, not at all caring he was dripping ectoplasm as he was flying. He was looking for where his friends and family were being kept. The whole thing was a blur for me because Danny was flying so fast. He eventually found them, however, in a room with a glass window. I felt Danny grinning before he flew into the room. Mom and Dad, however, didn't react so well at seeing Danny Phantom suddenly coming in.

"What the!? What are you doing here, spook!?" Dad shouted.

"Hush." Danny ordered. "I am here to free you and make the Guys in White pay for their transgressions."

"Why would a ghost like you even come to a place like this just to save us?" Mom asked skeptically.

"I didn't come here, I was captured and they intended to experiment on me and likely end up cutting me to pieces," Danny bluntly answered. "I broke out and plan on breaking you out as well. I know for a fact that you'd rather not be stuck in there when I destroy this building. After all, you have two sons you need to care for and you wouldn't be so stubborn that you'd choose to orphan them instead of accepting help from the 'oh so scary and evil Danny Phantom'."

Jazz and Sam were staring in shock, while Tucker was rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Uh… dude, your eyes are red… that's kinda scary…" Tucker pointed out.

"Yeah? And?" Danny questioned. "I'm angry at what the Guys in White did, so angry that my eyes probably changed colors. After all, red is often associated with anger and rage."

"There it is!" Someone shouted, and ecto guns were being charged up from behind Danny.

Danny snapped around to face them. "Would you MIND!? I am speaking with these people!"

The other Guys in White agents were surrounding Danny, and the others. All their weapons aimed and ready to fire.

"Fine…" Danny sighed before he glanced back. "Cover your eyes and ears if you know what's good for you."

"Wait, Danny! Don't-" Jazz started to say.

"No time!" Sam shouted as Danny began to take a deep breath. "Just do what he says!"

I never felt what it was like to use the Ghostly Wail since I couldn't use it myself, but it felt like my throat was burning as Danny was unleashing his Ghostly Wail. I felt energy draining at an alarming rate, but because Danny had such excessive energy, that hardly mattered. The entire base, and the Guys in White agents who were unfortunate enough to be right in front of Danny, all began to crumble down. I didn't see what became of the agents, but something told me I didn't want to know.

"There." Danny grinned as he turned back to the group. "Now we have a way out."

Danny then frowned when he noticed that there were injuries on everyone he was trying to protect, likely from when the charged guns went off. I could sense Danny's anger rising when he saw they were hurt. He held out his hands to them, and I sensed him using telekinesis. I blinked, wondering when Danny learned how to use telekinesis. I remembered Danny telling me he was practicing telekinesis when he had been trapped in Tucker's dungeon before, but I didn't know he was able to lift up 5 people with it. I could only guess that maybe his sudden untapped power was what was giving him the strength to do so. I saw Danny flying up through the gap in the ceiling, along with the others he was bringing with him.

Once everyone was outside of the base, Danny put everyone down before he flew up, looking at the base once more. It's not fully destroyed…

Danny glanced to his right when he heard an engine start up and was about to create a ghost ray. He stopped when he saw an open top vehicle leave the facility with the scientist woman driving, the one he had protected.

Danny nodded a little, not caring about the papers or other people that were with the woman. Now I can destroy this facility and wipe out any remaining threats inside.

I felt Danny feeling rather giddy, and sadistic, at the thought of destroying the base that tried to experiment on him, and hurt our friends and family. Danny lifted up both of his hands, and he began creating a large ball of his ghost ray. I felt him adding so much power that the ball of ectoplasm was huge. It was bigger than any giant inflatable beach ball I had ever seen, and it was still growing. I could tell Danny was putting all the excessive energy he had into this ghost ray ball. The ball itself almost looked like a miniature sun with how big and bright it was.

"Goodbye, Guys in White~" Danny grinned before he threw the giant ghost ray ball right at the base.

As soon as the ball of ectoplasm hit the building, there was a large explosion. Soon, there was nothing left but smoke, debris, and some of the walls of that poor building. I felt Danny floating there, looking quite satisfied with his handiwork. It disturbed me how satisfied Danny was feeling right now.

Then suddenly the hairs on the back of Danny's neck was standing up and he spun around to try and find the source of the feeling. It was at that moment that what I was seeing started to become blurry.

~~End of Flashback~~

I blinked a bit as Danny pulled his hand away from me. I had a slight headache, and groaned a bit as I rubbed my head.

"Now you know what happened before you got here, bro~" Danny smirked.

"Okay…" I began, having loads of questions, but not a lot of options. "All that excessive energy you had… was that from the micro-cores I was injected in that dystopian world? Did it somehow go to you too while you were… uh… with me?"

"Maybe?" Danny shrugged as he took a step back. "But you could see the extremes that the Guys in White were willing to go to. They wanted to brainwash me and make me serve them, and were willing to do the same to everyone else. I couldn't let that happen and going back would stop them from learning that lesson."

I managed to get back on my feet, realizing I was on the ground. "But… Danny, you… you killed them. You… wouldn't be able to live with yourself knowing that you know…"

"They killed countless ghosts and would've undoubtedly killed many many more," Danny argued. "While trying to find everyone, I spotted some pieces of paper that I didn't show you, ones that talked about a project labelled 'Shattered Core'. Skimming over it, there were plans to build large weapons, vehicles, and missiles that could easily destroy entire groups of ghosts."

I frowned, and sighed. "While it's true that the Guys in White are very dangerous people, to both humans and ghosts, I don't think this is the best way to handle it."

"Of course you don't…" Danny scoffed. "You've always been against taking the necessary risks unless you're forced into a corner."

"It's not just that. You wouldn't have agreed to this normally, Danny. I'm worried about you. You know how I feel about your corrupted form, and… well, right now, you're acting like him," I pointed out. "Only he would think and do something like this."

"I'm not Corrupted Danny!" Danny hissed. "And don't ever compare me to him!"

I flinched back from Danny's sudden reaction. He really didn't like it when I called him corrupted. "Then what are you then? Because you're not acting like the brother I know!"

"I'm still your brother," Danny stated. "I'm just stronger, strong enough to finally protect everyone and take down the threats that come our way."

"But you're also willing to go to extremes. I… don't want you to lose sight of your moral compass, not again. I don't want another apocalyptic or dystopian world, Danny," I argued. "And I know you're likely thinking of doing that at some point, with how your mindset currently is."

I began to walk around Danny slowly.

Danny frowned at me. "So you don't trust me?"

"How can I? You willingly killed people you didn't like. You're acting too aggressive. I don't even know what you'll do to me if I decide to go against you," I replied back.

Danny grumbled. "I will just ask you to hand over the Reality Gauntlet. Because if you won't trust me, I can't trust you to use it properly."

Handing the Reality Gauntlet to a… possibly Corrupted Danny is the last thing I want to do! I looked at Danny for a moment, knowing my next action would likely make or break what's going to happen next.

Danny held out a hand towards me. "So you have a choice, Andy. You can either trust me or you can hand over the Reality Gauntlet."

I looked back at the cube Juliette and Lydia were trapped in, then I looked back at Danny. "Forgive me for this, Danny…"

I suddenly held out my Reality Gauntlet, despite the Gem of Fantasy missing, it was still usable with Rhodonite… the Gem of Life, and the Gem of Form. I used both gems to create a powerful living snake rope to tie up Danny, one that was strong enough to hold him no matter what Danny did. I also made sure it was intangibility proof so he couldn't just phase out of it. I knew it wouldn't hold him forever though, so I had to be fast.

I quickly flew over to the cube Juliette and Lydia were in. I grabbed onto the cube, disrupting the ecto-energy, and melted it down.

"Thank you!" Juliette exclaimed as she looked over at Danny. "We need to knock Danny out and take the Gem of Fantasy from him. Cause as long as he's conscious, he's dangerous to us."

"Knock him out? How the heck are we going to do that?" I groaned.

"I know Danny is strong, but he's not invincible," Lydia muttered.

"The three of us are more than enough to take him down, especially if you use the Reality Gauntlet wisely," Juliette replied. "Remember the two gems you have and what they are capable of."

Danny managed to use his ghost ray around his body instead of just his hands to pretty much explode with energy, destroying the rope I had on him. He growled, looking quite angry, as he flew over to us.

"I won't kill you, since you are my brother, but you are going to pay for that!" Danny hissed.

I managed to suppress my high levels of anxiety and fear. Thankfully it was easy as I had been through all of this before with other dimension Dannys. "Then just try it, bro!"

"Lydia, this is my first order to you," Juliette started as she formed fireballs in her hands. "Under no circumstances are you to allow your existence to come to an end. You are not to throw away your afterlife for any reason."

Lydia frowned. "I will… try my best, Mistress Juliette."

Lydia then spread out her cloak, showing her tattoos, since she needed them to fight. The tattoos came off of her body and started to fly at Danny. Danny growled as the tattoos started to attack him.

Juliette flew up into the air, still holding the two fireballs, and flew away from the group to flank Danny. When she was behind him to his left, Juliette launched the fireballs at him. Like during the fight with Lydia, the fireballs turned a dark green before slamming into him.

"Remember, the goal is to knock him out!" Juliette yelled. "Drain his energy, outlast him, or straight up overwhelm him and render him unconscious!"

Danny let out a pained yell when Juliette had the green fireballs slam into him, and it reminded me of how Danny's core was weak to fire. Though this also angered him quite a bit. Danny fired out ghost rays at Juliette. I quickly formed a barrier around Juliette, protecting her from Danny's ghost rays.

"Thank you, Andy!" Juliette shouted.

Danny then flew towards me, pushing Lydia's tattoos out of the way, ready to punch me. I yelped as I held out my hands and barely clenched onto both of his hands. Danny pushed me back a few feet while I struggled to stop. It was the first time I was going toe to toe with Danny outside of a friendly spar in my ghost form. The last time I faced Danny like this, I was human and this was a heck of a lot scarier.

"You aren't going to win, bro! Even with the three of you!" Danny shouted.

"That's not what you said before, bro," I said to Danny. "You told me you believed in me, and that we would win. Well, you know what? I believe that Danny more than you!"

My hands glowed with my own ghost ray, and I managed to push Danny away from me by shooting out my ghost ray.

Danny smirked as he shook off his hands, which were smoking a bit. "Nice try, bro, but you're gonna have to do better than that. That tickled more than hurt."

"It got you off of me, didn't it?" I remarked.

Before Danny could answer back, more of Lydia's tattooed animals began to surround Danny. I could tell they were there to buy me some time. I quickly flew up, and created my own fire magic. I shut my eyes as I let it explode with bright light in front of Danny to temporarily blind him.

"Oooh, nice try, but I saw that coming from a mile away~" Danny teased as he pulled his arm away from his eyes, looking right at me.

Something Scarlet had once said popped into my mind. "Use every advantage and attack you can in a fight, don't just stick with what you're used to. Especially if you ever find yourself in a fight against someone who knows your attacks."

Danny flew right at me, and managed to get a punch in on my gut. It knocked the wind out of me as I fell back. Danny was about to punch me again before his body suddenly started to slow and I saw a layer of ice starting to cover Danny.

"You won't win, Danny!" Juliette yelled as she was reaching out towards Danny from a distance. "Especially as you have already forgotten about the cold flame I had put in you to help you."

Danny looked down at himself in surprise, though he didn't appear to be in pain, instead he simply seemed immobilized.

I managed to land on the ground while getting my breath back. I knew that fighting Danny normally would be useless, he not only knew all my best moves, but he was far stronger and faster than me as he was now. He also had seen the new tricks and powers I had used during the escape from the Guys in White.

I looked at the Reality Gauntlet on my arm. If I want even a chance at knocking out Danny, I'm going to need to use this… though I hate the idea of using this on my brother...

Juliette glanced at me, seeing me looking at the gauntlet. "What are you waiting for?!"

"I… I can't use this on my brother," I explained.

"That ghost in front of you isn't your brother!" Juliette yelled. "That ghost in front of you has replaced your brother and the only way to save Danny is to get back the Gem of Fantasy and change what happened!"

I knew Juliette was right. I had to do it, in order to save Danny from himself. Despite Juliette immobilizing Danny with the cold flame inside him, Danny was able to start moving, breaking some of the ice off of him. Even that wouldn't hold him for long. Danny then began using telekinesis to destroy the tattoos around him. Lydia, I noticed, began to weaken as more of her tattoos were starting to get destroyed.

"Juliette! Tell Lydia to call off the tattoos!" I shouted. "If anymore gets destroyed, she could be severely weakened."

Juliette nodded. "Lydia, pull them back and rest!"

"Y-yes, Mistress…" Lydia tiredly answered, before calling back the tattoos that hadn't been destroyed yet.

When Lydia managed to call back her surviving tattoos, she covered herself with her cloak, and turned herself invisible.

"Into my shadow," Juliette added.

I couldn't see Lydia, but I assumed she went into Juliette's shadow because I couldn't sense her anymore. I looked up at Danny, focusing my attention on him. He was starting to break through the rest of the ice. I had to do this quick. I held up my arm with the gauntlet, planning to weaken Danny. Suddenly, Danny's hands glowed blue. I blinked, suddenly finding myself face to face with the normal Danny Fenton.

Danny Fenton smiled at me, the same friendly smile he always gave me. I stopped when I looked at him.

"It's a trap, Andy!" Juliette yelled. "He's making you see what you most desire right now!"

I heard Juliette, but I hesitated too long. Danny Fenton suddenly tackled me to the ground, and I felt cold ice fall off of Danny and onto me. I let out a shout as the ice stung, despite it not being an attack.

"Get off of Andy!" Juliette yelled as she came careening in, tackling Danny off of me.

I blinked, seeing Danny was still in his Phantom form, and his eyes were still red. I sat up, trying to get the ice off of me.

"He has the Gem of Fantasy!" Juliette hissed as she snapped her fingers and the ice disappeared from both me and Danny. "Keep that in mind!"

"You should too, Juliette," Danny spoke up.

Danny kicked Juliette off of him, and Juliette rolled on the ground. She lifted herself up, but then suddenly her eyes turned blue, and she froze at whatever it was she was looking at. She was staring for a good few seconds before a pillar of venomous green flames erupted from the ground where Danny was standing, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Juliette!" I shouted. "Stop! You're not supposed to hurt Danny!"

Juliette's eyes returned to normal at the same time as the flame pillar disappeared. "The only way to knock him out is to possibly hurt him, Andy. I'm not going to hold my punches, especially when he tries to toy with me by showing me my parents! I already got fooled once today by Freakshow! I sure as heck won't let it happen again! Nor will I let it slide!"

Suddenly a ghost ray shot out at Juliette, causing her to fall back a few feet. Danny was not happy, and he had enough of Juliette's flames. Danny flew straight at Juliette, grabbing her with his tail, and flew up quickly.

"Stop… holding back… Andy…" Juliette muttered as she was carried upwards. "Stop him…"

I gasped as I looked up, seeing Danny was ready to end Juliette's afterlife. I wasn't sure if he was going to, but I didn't want to take that chance. I quickly flew up myself, and held out the Reality Gauntlet.

"Enough!" I shouted as I used the Gem of Form to change Danny into the small puppy version of that big white wolf I saw back in the dystopian dimension.

Juliette, upon being released from Danny's grip, started to float and caught Danny. "I shall hold him, Andy. You must be the one to reach in and take the Gem of Fantasy."

Danny started to whine a bit in Juliette's hold. I didn't know what prompted me to turn him into that small puppy version of that white wolf, but it seemed fitting somehow. And Danny wasn't acting all aggressive, so that was a good sign. I wanted to make sure he wasn't going to bite Juliette's hands or something.

"Hurry up before he uses the Gem of Fantasy again," Juliette urged as she held onto Danny.

I flew closer to Juliette and Danny. "Try to hold him still, he's moving around too much.

Juliette tightened her grip a bit, even going so far as to using telekinesis to hold Danny completely still. Danny let out more whines.

"This will just take a second, Danny," I promised as I turned my non-gauntleted hand intangible and reached into his stomach. Okay, this is gross… so gross… ah, I think I found it.

I pulled out what felt like a smooth stone. I was glad it was the Gem of Fantasy and not some kind of marble or something. I didn't want to know what Danny could've possibly put in his stomach these days. The Gem of Fantasy, however, did look a bit dull though, and we weren't in the Shadow Realm anymore. Come to think of it, the Gem of Life and Gem of Form were also still dull.

"Now put the Gem of Fantasy into its position on the Reality Gauntlet and make the change that you wish for," Juliette instructed as Danny started to struggle a bit more.

I nodded quickly before popping the Gem of Fantasy back into its proper place. I held up the Reality Gauntlet and closed my eyes. I focused, and wished with all of my being and heart, to fix everything. To go back to after we had arrived at Gothapalooza but before the Guys in White had moved in, to destroy the camera that had caught Danny transforming, to erase any and every piece of evidence that pointed to either Danny or me being half ghost at all. To make everyone, especially Danny, forget what happened. Only Juliette, Lydia, Hope, and myself would remember any of this. I felt the Reality Gauntlet activating, I could see its glow from behind my eyelids. It didn't glow blue, yellow, or red. The color, from what I could see from behind my eyelids, was purple.

---

When the glow faded, I heard some movement around me.

"Come on, Andy!" Danny called out.

I opened my eyes quickly at hearing Danny's voice. I saw I was standing inside the Fenton RV again. I looked around for a moment, before seeing Danny standing by the doorway. It was normal Danny, Danny Fenton. His eyes were their normal baby blue eyes. He also looked innocent, not a single corruption to be found in him.

Danny blinked and tilted his head a bit. "Did you get that gauntlet looking thing at one of the stalls?"

I looked at my right arm to see the Reality Gauntlet was still on it. Thank goodness, otherwise Freakshow would still have it… I think.

"Um… you could say that," I said to Danny. "Are we at Gothapalooza right now, bro?"

"Uhhh… yeah?" Danny raised a brow before he stepped inside. "Are you feeling alright? Did you get heat stroke or something? Cause we've been here for a couple of days now."

I pinched my cheek real quick to make sure this wasn't a dream, or that Danny didn't use the Gem of Fantasy on me again. I hissed in pain from the pinch, and saw that nothing had changed. Danny was still here, and I was still in the RV. I felt tears starting to come to my eyes.

"Bro…?" Danny frowned as he stepped closer. "What's wrong?"

Emotions were raging inside me. Relief, happiness, joy, and the urge to run up and hug my brother was trying to overwhelm me. But I knew I had to stop those emotions from showing, otherwise I'd cause Danny to become even more worried than he was already getting.

"I… I'll be… fine… just… give me a minute…" I said, trying to hold back my emotions.

Danny furrowed his brows a bit. "I'll be right back. I'm gonna get some cold water for you."

Danny quickly left the RV, and I sat down on the nearest seat I could find. Everything felt so overwhelming. I had to take off the gauntlet before I caused something to happen. I put it down beside me, and held onto my head. I briefly noticed that I was back in my human form as well. There were tears falling from my eyes, not from sorrow, but from pure, relief happiness. It was over, finally over. A part of me wished I hadn't erased all of Danny's memories, however, because if he was indeed Chad, then he could at least understand why my emotions were going all over the place right now.

"You should wipe those tears from your eyes, Andy," Juliette lightly chuckled as she walked inside, back in her human disguise.

I looked up at Juliette, sniffling a bit. Juliette handed me a tissue, which I was grateful for. I used it to wipe my tears, and blew my nose into it.

"I just quickly had Lydia check around and there are no Guys in White vehicles or agents anywhere nearby," Juliette quietly informed. "So we're back to before they moved in to start capturing us."

"If the Reality Gauntlet worked, then they would have no reason to come and capture us in the first place," I remarked.

"If they are in their vehicles, they are probably wondering what they were about to do. Though if you did it completely right, they won't be as erasing the footage of Danny transforming should've altered the present and made it where the Guys in White are just doing their normal, everyday, terrible job," Juliette pointed out with a chuckle

I nodded, before sighing. "Do you… think I should've let Danny kept some of his memories though? You… didn't know this, but… I think Danny was with me during Freakshow's Shadow Game. I felt him comforting me, and supporting me when I needed it."

"No, I don't think you should have," Juliette answered. "Because Danny would grow extremely concerned if he remembered being captured by the Guys in White, or that there was a Shadow Game. He'd also probably be sickened or… possibly partially inspired by that dystopian world."

I frowned, thinking about that. One of the reasons why I erased Danny's memories of the event, other than the most obvious of him going corrupted on us and killing people, was because I was worried Danny would get the idea to create that dystopian world again. But… if I took a good look at myself, I wondered if I was any better as I remembered my own dark fantasy.

"Perhaps we should remove all the gems from the Reality Gauntlet now," Juliette suggested. "That way if someone were to put the gems back on, it would need to have the sequence reactivated."

"Right…" I looked down at the Reality Gauntlet. "What… are we going to do with this anyways? Now that everything is back to normal, the way it should be, I don't think we should hang on to this in case it falls into the wrong hands." Or I start getting dark ideas myself, which I'm terrified could still happen...

Juliette gave a thoughtful expression. "You could hand it over to Clockwork. Or you could use it to create a doorway in the opera house that, when we put in special keys, can take us to a secure vault. That way we both need to use items along with our ghostly energy to open the door and gain access to it. We could lock up just the gauntlet and split the gems up and hide them."

I thought about it for a minute. Then I decided to try using my future vision, that way the other Andy had taught me. I wasn't super good at it yet, but I was able to trigger a future vision to show me what was the best course of action. I could see what would happen if we did it Juliette's way. We tried to put the Reality Gauntlet in the secret vault, and split up the gems. However, I could see that leading to a dark future where the gems were either lost, or someone else ends up taking the Reality Gauntlet from the vault. I didn't see who, but I didn't like the implication that it could've been one of us.

I opened my eyes and looked at Juliette. "Perhaps it might be safer if we left it in Clockwork's care. After all, who would be better to look after a powerful ghostly artifact than an Ancient himself? If there ever comes a time we would need the Reality Gauntlet again, I'm sure Clockwork will bring it to one of us."

"I will admit, I'm not entirely sold on trusting all of it to him," Juliette stated with a small frown, likely having some level of distrust due to Clockwork and Dora's repeated attempts to get her to work under the time ghost. "Perhaps we can give him the gauntlet itself and the power gem and hide the Gem of Form, Gem of Life, and Gem of Fantasy. Or we can do that secure vault idea and put those gems in there."

"I know you don't trust him all that much, Juliette," I sighed. "But I think it might be better if we gave him everything."

"Really? You believe giving all of it to a powerful ghost that still answers to an organization?" Juliette raised a brow.

"I don't like the idea of leaving any of the gems here, where others could still potentially get to it… even if it's one of us," I admitted.

"It wouldn't be leaving them here," Juliette argued. "Like I said, we can create the vault that requires multiple keys and our unique ghost energies to activate and put them inside it. We'd be handing over the Reality Gauntlet itself and the power gem to Clockwork. That way it's even safer because those powerful artifacts aren't all in one place. The vault would be outside of our reality, Andy, in a pocket dimension you would be creating. It would be similar to how a lair works, except in order to get in you have to be both of us using our energies and keys at the exact same time."

I sighed as I put my hands in my pocket. "I just don't know if that's-"

I pulled out the gas mask that was in my pocket, making me forget what I was going to say because of shock. "What the… this gas mask is still here!?"

"Yes, it seems that it is. But we shouldn't let some item like that get us off track," Juliette replied, likely thinking I was just trying to change the topic.

I shook my head, trying to remember what I was going to say. It took me a moment to remember we were talking about what to do with the gems and the Reality Gauntlet itself.

However due to my long pause, Juliette seemed to think I was stalling and reached forwards before snatching the gasmask from my hand.

"H-hey, what are you doing?" I asked.

Juliette then dropped the gasmask. As it was about to hit the floor, a hand reached out of her shadows and grabbed it before pulling it into Juliette's shadow.

"I'm putting your little trinket in a place where you can't distract yourself with it," Juliette answered. "I'll give it back to you at the end of the trip if you'd like. But right now we need to think of what we're doing with the gems and the Reality Gauntlet until we get back to Amity Park and then what we'll do afterwards."

I sighed, not really caring if I ever saw that stupid gasmask again. "Maybe we don't have to give all the gems to Clockwork if you're really that against it. But I don't really trust myself putting the gems in the vault either. I'm sure there are ways to make it so not just one of us can get to it, but I'd rather we put the gems somewhere… safer, you know?"

I reached down and picked up the Reality Gauntlet, getting a good look at it while also keeping my hands full.

"Yeah, I get it," Juliette acknowledged. "But what's the plan?"

"If only there was a way to transport these gems somewhere safe, where we could still get to it if we need them, but keep them separate enough where they're not all together," I muttered, holding onto the Reality Gauntlet.

"Uhh… Andy…" Juliette frowned before I noticed what made her worried.

I noticed that there was a momentary purple glow that quickly dissipated. When the glow dissipated, I saw that the Reality Gauntlet was now lacking three very important gems. There was nothing but the empty notches on the gauntlet where the three gems used to be. The only gem there was the power gem.

"Oh… crab baskets… what did I just do!?" I yelled, looking around the gauntlet frantically.

"I… think you… may have teleported the gems to locations where they're safe but where we can still get to them…" Juliette answered, referencing the desire I had muttered aloud.

"But I didn't specify this 'safe place'! So I have no idea where that is!" I frowned.

"Well…" Juliette started to answer as she closed her eyes. "There's no gem inside me, so I doubt the safe place is within us. I guess… we'll have to go find those places so we know where to go. Because you also didn't say you wanted to know where to find them."

I sighed, and groaned. "Well… that just leaves the Reality Gauntlet and the power gem then. I could at least take those back to Clockwork, can't I?"

Juliette nodded. "Though for now we should hide them in the structure of the RV as our trip isn't going to be over for a little bit."

"Yeah… good idea. Hopefully though, without the three gems, the Reality Gauntlet is nothing more than a piece of accessory…" I remarked before turning the Reality Gauntlet intangible and placed it into the RV's floor.

Not long after I did that, I heard the RV's door open. I turned, and saw Danny there. Danny was holding onto a cup of soda, and a hot dog in his other hand.

"Ah, sorry it took me so long, bro. There was a long line at the stand, and I figured you might be hungry too," Danny explained. "Hey, Juliette. I guess Gothapalooza's music was too much for you?"

Juliette nodded. "Yes, due to my sensitive hearing I can't go near any of the places where music is being played. Thankfully I found some earplugs that are helping so I can at least visit some of the shops and food vendors."

Danny put the soda and hot dog down on the table I was sitting on.

"Heh, well don't worry, we'll be leaving tomorrow morning and heading west towards the comic convention," Danny informed.

"Right, the place that Tucker wanted to go to," Juliette acknowledged.

"It might be a bit noisy there too though, but it shouldn't be as bad as all the loud concerts here," Danny chuckled.

I smiled, happy to see Danny was being the nice Danny that I knew he was. I took a sip of the soda, then I began to munch on the hot dog. I found myself devouring it quickly, I didn't realize how hungry I was until now.

"Woah, bro, slow down," Danny chuckled.

"Perhaps I should go get you seconds, Andy," Juliette replied with a chuckle of her own.

"Or thirds." Danny grinned.

"Or I should get a full meal," I stated, still feeling pretty hungry. "Maybe we should join up with the others, and see if we can get something to eat."

"Last I saw, your parents were going to see one of the music groups," Juliette informed.

"And I saw Sam, Jazz, and Tucker over by one of the eating areas," Danny added. "So we could go join up with them."

Juliette gave a small, slightly nervous nod. "We… probably should. There's been a bit of a development since this morning that I should probably tell you all about."

"Oh? Is it serious?" Danny asked in concern.

"It's not like my life is at risk, but it is serious in a way," Juliette answered. "I'll explain more when we get there."

I wondered if Juliette was planning on telling the others about Lydia. I noticed Hope was back in the RV as well, so I was glad she made it with us. I walked over to pick her up, feeling like holding onto her for a little bit for some comfort.

---

We met up with Tucker, Sam, and even Jazz at the eating area Danny had seen them at. The three of them were already sitting at a pretty large table so Juliette, Danny, and I got more food before we headed over to them and sat down. I was glad there was food already on the table, so I could start eating. I was pretty hungry.

"Wow, Andy, you look like you haven't eaten in days," Sam noted as I was devouring every food I could grab.

"It… kinda feels like I haven't," I chuckled sheepishly.

"Well they do have some pretty good food here," Tucker remarked.

"Even if it is a bit greasy," Jazz responded.

I wonder if I feel this hungry because I used the Reality Gauntlet… technically twice. I mused between plates of food.

"Ehh, a little grease won't kill us," Danny shrugged.

"Unless you set it on fire," Juliette joked. "After all, that's how many fortresses and keeps were protected."

"Don't set it on fire then," I muttered, finishing my last plate of food.

"So…" Juliette started, looking around at the group. "There's something I would like to tell you all that I already have told Andy. It's something quite serious, but not life threatening. However, it will definitely come as a surprise to you all."

"So what is it then?" Tucker asked.

"If it's something serious and shocking, then we should prepare ourselves," Jazz remarked. "I'll have everything written down."

"Come on, Jazz, you don't need to be a psychologist for this," Danny grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"It's a good opportunity to learn, Danny," Jazz remarked.

Sam sighed. "What is it you wanted to tell us, Juliette?"

"It's technically something that is two fold," Juliette informed. "First things first… you all know how I have Scarlet serving me back in Amity Park?"

They all nodded, waiting to see where this was going.

"Well… this morning I added a new servant to my ranks," Juliette informed. "One that you have all dealt with before… A certain… spiky haired, green skinned, tattooed ghost that followed a certain tophat wearing, circus obsessed man around."

Tucker blinked, Sam frowned, and Jazz tilted her head. Danny furrowed his eyebrows a bit, likely the one who remembered the ghost in better detail than the others. Jazz likely didn't have much memory of Lydia since she rarely ever saw her or Freakshow.

"A tattooed ghost… with spiky hair and green skin?" Sam asked. "That sounds like one of the ghosts Freakshow had."

"That's because they are one in the same," Juliette informed. "I am speaking of Lydia."

"Lydia!?" Tucker yelped. "Why…? Why do you have her with you?"

"Because I went out for a little hike earlier this morning and came upon her," Juliette answered, likely having come up with an expertly crafted story. "When I found her, she was looking around in… honestly she had a look of distress and depression. I asked her what was wrong, startling her a bit. She attacked me for a little bit and I defended myself, and when she was finally out of energy she fell to the ground and began to speak with me, her voice sounding incredibly strained and hoarse, like she hadn't talked in months or years."

"Did she ever talk?" Sam wondered. "I don't think I remember her ever speaking."

"I think she may have yelled once or twice… maybe," Tucker responded.

"What did she say to you?" Jazz inquired.

"She explained to me that her master had disappeared suddenly, and she had a sinking feeling in her core that she wouldn't see him for quite some time… if ever again," Juliette answered.

"Did something happen to Freakshow?" Danny asked. "I'm surprised she was still loyal to him to be honest. I thought that crystal ball kept her loyal like the others, but I guess not."

"She told me her story, about how she was a servant and friend of Freakshow from a young age," Juliette informed. "And then told me about how she woke up this morning to hear him yelling. When she went over to help him, she said she saw a shadowy mass disappearing into the ground. She told me about how Freakshow had been playing with forces and powers he knew nothing about, and it was then that I knew he had likely messed with a place known as the Shadow Realm and was consumed by it."

Danny's eyes widened for a moment. He knew about the Shadow Realm since we had a bit of a run in with that before with Duul Aman. I wasn't sure if Tucker remembered much about it though, since he had been possessed at the time.

"Isn't that a place from that one anime about that one card game…?" Tucker asked. "Where uh… right! There were these things called Shadow Duels or Shadow Games and the losers would have their souls consumed, and sometimes their bodies, by the Shadow Realm?"

"Well, sort of, only this one was real… we've experienced it before," I admitted. "Thankfully, we weren't the losers of that particular Shadow Game. But apparently Freakshow lost something if he was devoured by the shadows."

"Or he simply tried to manipulate the Shadow Realm's entities and they got upset," Juliette offered. "Simply messing with a place like that, and trying to control it as Freakshow was apparently attempting to do, can result in becoming a target of the Shadow Realm."

"Why would Freakshow be dumb enough to do that anyways? What was he trying to accomplish?" Sam frowned.

"Apparently he had become desperate since his crystal orb staff was destroyed," Juliette answered. "He was envious of ghosts and other beings as they were much more important than him. Lydia told me he had a goal of being put in the spotlight when he took control of Danny. Freakshow planned to come in after a few more heists as a 'hero' to stop and subjugate Danny Phantom and the other evil ghosts that were running amok."

Sam looked livid at that. Tucker quickly had to calm her down.

"So… wait… is this Lydia with you right now?" Jazz questioned.

Juliette nodded. "After her whole explanation, I offered to take her in and help absolve her of her sins and crimes. After some back and forth, and some convincing, she agreed to become my servant and I made a pact with her that will prevent her from harming me. It will also mark her as my servant in case any ghost wants to try her in court. Once she was my servant, she told me about her skills and how she has the ability to hide in her master or mistress's shadow. And that's where she is right now."

"You have Lydia as your servant now? That's really cool!" Tucker grinned.

"Tucker…" Sam frowned.

"What? Isn't it?" Tucker blinked.

"I will say, once I have helped her, I believe her appearance will change," Juliette commented. "The dark green of her skin is somewhat a mark of what kind of ghost she had been up until now, a dark ghost that has done dark deeds."

"She had tried to kill us before… are you sure you can trust her?" Sam asked skeptically.

"Lydia hasn't been hostile to us after she made a pact with Juliette," I shrugged. "All I can say is that we keep an eye on her for now and see what happens from here. Besides, I'm sure if anyone can keep Lydia out of trouble it's Scarlet. Scarlet will definitely keep Lydia from misbehaving, I'm sure."

"The pact she formed with us makes it so that she will not harm me or disobey any orders I give her," Juliette informed. "And I have already made it clear to her that she is no longer a villain, nor is she a villain's henchwoman. She is not to attack anyone, nor is she to steal."

"Could we… see her?" Danny asked. "Just to be sure she is actually here?"

"Out here?" Juliette raised a brow. "In the literal middle of a wide open area with lots of people around?"

"We could go somewhere in private if we need to," Danny shrugged.

"That'd be preferable," Juliette quickly replied. "That way there is less of a risk to cause a panic."

Since we were all done eating, we decided to follow Juliette somewhere more secluded. We headed back to the RV actually. Mom and Dad were still out, so it was the most private place we could be right now. We made sure that all of the ghost weapons were still off, and any ghost alarms or cameras that could've been in the vehicle were still disabled. We shut all the doors, and covered the windows with the blinds.

"Lydia, you may come out now," Juliette said once everyone beside her, including me, was sitting down.

I saw Lydia slowly coming up from Juliette's shadow, her face and body covered in her red cloak. Everyone stared in shock at seeing the ghost coming out of Juliette's shadow. Lydia took off her hood so they could see her face.

"Oh… you weren't kidding," Tucker whispered. "That's gotta be one of the coolest entrances I've seen for a ghost."

"No, I was not kidding," Juliette confirmed. "Lydia here is now my servant and I can prove it. Lydia, this will tingle a little but I assure you that it won't hurt."

Lydia just gave Juliette a nod.

Juliette's hand glowed a small bit before a glowing golden shape of some kind appeared on the back of Lydia's right hand. "That is a servant seal, while I have a master's seal."

Juliette held out her right hand, showing a matching golden shape but the shape was more intricate. It looked like a shield that had one large dot in the center with two wings coming out of it. Below it, which was something that was different with Lydia's mark, was that Juliette had three triangles all pointing away from the circle. Lydia's mark had a single triangle and it pointed up at the circle and the wings were folded in instead of spread out.

"I didn't know ghosts could that," Sam remarked in surprise, looking at the two marks.

"Ghosts can do many different things," Danny said. "Though I didn't know about this either."

"There are many things you all don't know, like how ghosts can take on servants and form contracts," Juliette stated. "As well as the fact that lairs are not created but found, and only under certain circumstances."

"Lairs… aren't created?" Danny blinked, hearing this for the first time himself.

"Nope." Juliette shook her head. "A ghost does not create their lair. Instead, if they have met a few different requirements, a lair door will become existent somewhere in the Ghost Zone. It is then that the ghost has to go find it, as a final test in a way. Once a ghost finds their lair, they can then always find it no matter what. They can also fully control the inside of their lair, changing it up to suit the owner's needs and desires. Because of that, some ghosts who find their lairs end up never leaving because of how comfortable they become."

"These lairs do sound like a ghost paradise, if it tries to change depending on the ghost's desires and needs," Jazz noted. "No wonder they'd become secluded and territorial."

"However they can be a ghost's worst nightmare," Juliette responded. "Some ghosts that have terrible trauma, either from life or as a ghost, might have their lairs turn on them and bully them. The lair does not do this maliciously, but because that is what the subconscious of the ghost desires. Those ghosts will usually end up trapped in their lairs until such a time as they can gain the strength to stop their bullying."

Danny blinked. "That… sounds like something Poindexter went through… he sounded like he was doing better with it though, last I checked. His bullies stopped bullying him… though I didn't appreciate going through it myself once, that was horrible."

"From what was shared with me, the mirror that he came from was an artifact that somehow connected to his lair. So you are, in fact, correct," Juliette informed.

"Huh…" Sam looked at Danny and me. "Just think; you two could have your very own lairs somewhere in the Ghost Zone."

"I doubt it, we are only half ghost, I don't think that would be enough to form a lair," I remarked.

"You have a ghost core, don't you?" Juliette asked.

"Well, yeah, I guess?" I shrugged.

"You have ghostly powers and are strong enough to beat a number of ghosts, right?" Juliette inquired.

"I mean… that much is obvious, yeah," Danny agreed.

"Then you both have already fulfilled the two biggest requirements for getting a lair," Juliette explained. "The Ghost Zone likely doesn't care that you two are half living, as it simply accommodates the ghostly halves of you two."

"That… seems weird. I mean us having ghost lairs? That sounds really… unbelievable if you ask me," I remarked.

"Says the walking, talking paradox," Sam chuckled.

"Yeah, one of the boys who is half dead and half alive thinks that having a lair is really unbelievable." Tucker snickered.

"You hush," I grumbled.

"Besides, it does feel a bit hard to wrap our heads around having a ghost lair. Sure weird things happen to us all the time, but I can't imagine having my own lair in the Ghost Zone," Danny chuckled.

"Then why not go ask Clockwork?" Juliette suggested. "While I may not trust him myself, I do believe he'd be able to tell you if you are capable of having lairs or not. He likely won't tell you if you do have lairs, and he definitely won't tell you where they are, but he likely would tell you if it is possible or not."

"Do you and Lydia have a lair then?" Tucker asked curiously.

"I was on the run from Skulker for most of my afterlife," Juliette reminded. "If I had ever found my lair, I likely never would have left. As for Lydia, she has rarely been to the Ghost Zone."

"I don't believe I have a lair anyways. I'm not a very strong ghost on my own," Lydia remarked, her voice still sounding a bit raspy.

Juliette shook her head. "Perhaps you are not strong right now, but I believe you will one day have more than enough strength to have earned a lair of your own."

"Well, we sure have a lot to think about during this trip," Jazz chuckled. "Ghost lairs, Lydia, what could've happened to Freakshow… at least we don't have to worry about him collecting those gems for his gauntlet thing anymore, right?"

"Let's hope not, he tore out pages from a really good book…" Sam grumbled.

"Yeah, let's hope we can just enjoy the rest of our vacation in peace," I said with a smile. Because that's what I'm looking forward to right now; just a normal, family vacation after all the crap I had to go through.

"Actually…" Juliette smiled as she held out a hand towards Lydia.

Lydia nodded and reached into her cloak, seeming to reach into the shadows, before pulling out a familiar set of pages and handing them to Juliette.

"Lydia managed to recover the pages that Freakshow stole," Juliette informed as she held out the pages towards Sam.

I saw that it wasn't just the pages on the gems that Freakshow were after, but other ripped out pages that we likely hadn't noticed yet.

Sam smiled as she took the pages. "Wow… this will make the incomplete pages finally complete again! Thanks for getting these back."

Lydia bowed her head slightly.

"Do you think Lydia is fine staying in the shadows for the rest of the trip?" Danny asked. "I mean I'd rather not have our parents trying to gun for her."

"I actually enjoy staying in Mistress's shadow," Lydia answered. "It is… comforting and warm in there. Quite a difference from my former master's shadow… or at least how it was the last time I was there."

"Yeah, that sounds like Juliette," I chuckled.

---

After the whole Lydia incident, the rest of the family vacation was surprisingly normal. There had been no Guys in White coming after us, which meant I was able to keep Danny from blowing his secret in front of the security camera. Not only that, but since we took care of the Reality Gauntlet and its gems, there had been no weird incident either.

We all had fun at that comic convention Tucker wanted to go to. We even dressed up in costumes. I was surprised to see there were costumes of Danny Phantom though. It seemed that Danny Phantom's identity and stories were beginning to spread across the country. Danny was shocked, saying he had never signed up for this. Though there were some Andy Phantom in the background, they were still unsure if he was really Danny Phantom's twin brother or a duplicate. I didn't mind it too much. And it seemed that Andy Phantom was a lot less known than Danny Phantom, seeming to more be a niche thing.

Juliette had dressed up as a knight, which made all of us who actually knew her chuckle a bit. She wasn't a full on holy knight like Scarlet, but she definitely looked knightly. Sam went as a witch, as that was the most fitting costume for her. Tucker was a hero from one of his favorite comics, which was some kind of half human, half robot guy. Mom was a pirate, while Dad dressed up as a mummy… which led to him stopping by a convenience store on the way there to buy all their bandages.

However, the most shocking costume was Jazz's costume. She had dressed up as a serial killer clown from a comic book series she used to read all the time that involved some kind of guy dressed like a bat and a kid who wore short shorts.

Danny and I ended up having to buy costumes, as we hadn't completely thought ahead. The costumes that were being sold there were quite expensive, but also really well made. They were full body costumes that looked almost exactly like the characters of the movie and show series they were from, except standing on their hind legs. I didn't even recognize Danny until he spoke up, because of how well it hid his features and looked like the real thing.

Danny was wearing a black dragon costume that was called a Night Fury. He looked pretty cute in it. I was wearing the white, Light Fury version. Danny, and even Juliette said I looked cute in it. They were costumes that mixed well together at the very least. And I always liked being a dragon… well, a dragon that didn't make me go on a rampage, even if it was just a costume.

---

Hey, bro, Danny here

If you're reading this, I hope you aren't mad that I took this part of the journal and wrote in it. I felt like I needed to, even if you may or may not ever see it. But I felt it was necessary to mention here.

While the family vacation was going great… there was a confession I needed to make here…

While I pretended everything was okay, like nothing ever happened… Andy didn't know about this, but… I did remember what happened. Not everything though. I didn't remember what happened when I woke up back at the Guys in White's headquarters, but I knew I was there at some point and there was this nice lady I wanted to keep safe. However… I still remembered those times when I was with Andy. Those times where Andy had called me 'Chad'.

I remembered seeing the first world, where Mom and Dad didn't have twins. I remember Andy going to school as Chad in order to get information. And I remember him and Juliette getting some help in that world.

I then remember, in pretty clear detail, what happened in that dystopian world. A world where both Andy and I had become corrupted by the mist that was in Freakshow's orb and we had created a… in a way, it was a utopia. There was no real war, the worlds were together, ghosts weren't a threat. However, I knew that such a world wouldn't be a truly happy world.

Sure, the ghosts that were outside of… I think it was called Amity Tower, were happy. But at the same time they didn't seem wholly and completely happy, it was kind of a forced happiness that came about when they were no longer living, when they were altered.

Then there was that last world. I didn't get to see much of it, because I likely had returned to the Guys in White's headquarters, but I do remember seeing it was a world similar to our's, only there were animal people walking among us. I wondered what kind of world that would have been like.

But either way, I remembered all of that pretty much. I knew Andy and Juliette went through a lot to get back this peaceful vacation we have with our friends and family. I knew Andy likely felt overwhelmed at seeing me again, and not having to hide himself away and risk losing that Shadow Game. But I also knew why Andy didn't want to show his emotions to me; he thought I completely forgot, that I had no clue what he went through to get everything back in order. I wanted to hug him… to tell him that I was proud he never gave up.

But… I would have to wait. Wait until he ever decided to tell me, wait until something came up and 'revealed the past' or 'revealed the truth' to me, or wait until Juliette told me what had happened in order for me to do that for my younger brother and Juliette as well. They both deserved praise and comfort for what they did, especially as it seemed like Juliette never got what Freakshow had promised her.

Here's hoping maybe Andy will read this part here, and would know that I remember. But maybe it's best if he didn't… I don't know. I want to tell him, but I also feel like I shouldn't. I will let fate decide on that one. I want him to be happy, and not have to worry about what happened or what could've happened. Here's hoping that we'll have a fun summer vacation and not have to deal with anymore crazy things until we get back to Amity Park. And Andy… if you are reading this… Just know that I'm happy and proud of you for winning the Shadow Game, and never giving up.

I… think I might make this page a bit sticky so it sticks to the former page, as I'd rather you not come upon this super easily. I'd rather wait a bit before you see it.

---

After the comic convention, we spent a couple days on the beaches of California. Once we were done, we started the three to five day journey back to Amity Park, stopping off at a few cool places on the way. We had crossed over the Rocky Mountains, which was pretty cool, stopped off at a couple of those 'worlds biggest' attractions, and even found the time to camp out again before we got back.

During that time, we all bonded a bit more and Juliette's relationship with Tucker went back to how it was before 'King Tuck'. It even may have improved a bit.

Danny had seemed a tiny bit strange while we were still in California but went back to normal not too long after we left. My guess was that all the sun and heat really had him bothered and on edge.

When Mom and Dad weren't around, Juliette told myself, Danny, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker about the Ghost Zone. She gave us a few more lessons on what we needed to know. She promised us that she would help teach us more from time to time.

Honestly, in my opinion, this was one of the best vacations we had been on in quite some time and I knew I wouldn't soon forget it.

However, that didn't mean that something wasn't bothering me.

---

It was around midnight that night. Our family and friends were spending the night camping under the stars as we were heading back home. I usually didn't like camping, but I found standing under the stars enjoyable this evening. I couldn't really sleep, however. Now that the vacation was coming to a close, and everything seemed to be alright, my mind began to wonder about what had happened before I changed reality and time.

I silently left the tent I was supposed to be sleeping in. I sat down near the RV, looking up at the stars, just thinking to myself.

"You know, if you want to get a better look at the stars, you should get away from the RV and the campfire," Juliette softly said with a smile as she walked over to me.

I looked over at Juliette, and sighed a little. "Well… it's not really the stars I was focusing on… but they are beautiful. I suppose Danny would know the best place to look at them."

"Would you like to go on a little walk?" Juliette offered. "We might be able to find a good spot without having to wake up Danny."

"A little walk sounds nice," I agreed.

I stood up and followed Juliette on a nice open path that allowed campers to just take a stroll and look at the nature around them.

As we were walking, however, I stopped paying attention to our surroundings. I looked at my right arm, the same arm that held the Reality Gauntlet not that long ago.

"Is there something bothering you?" Juliette softly asked.

I looked up at Juliette, and gave her a sheepish chuckle. "I guess I was being that obvious, huh?"

Juliette nodded. "I've noticed you were looking at your right arm quite a bit."

I sighed, rubbing the back of my head. "... Do you… think that… what I did… erasing what happened with the Guys in White… and wiping everyone's memory of the event… was the best thing I could've done?"

"Well… I don't quite think that my opinion on what happened truly matters all that much," Juliette responded as she glanced back at me. "I think what does matter is the facts of the situation and how you react to them. Tell me, what do you think would've happened if you hadn't turned back time and wiped everyone's memories?"

"Well…" I paused, trying to think of what could've happened. "It's… difficult to say. But considering what was going on… I was worried we would've lost Danny to his possible corruption… I still don't know if it was that mist that's still in him or if the Guys in White did something to him though… and our parents would know about Danny being half ghost, or at least that he is a ghost."

"Hmmm…" Juliette gave a thoughtful look. "What about the hypothetical situation where you knew Danny wasn't going to be corrupted? You knew he'd return to normal. What would happen in that branch of time if you hadn't undone the events that occurred?"

"If Danny wasn't going to be corrupted, or… I guess maybe I could've used the Reality Gauntlet to make sure he wouldn't be…" I frowned at myself as I had just thought of that now. "Then we would likely still be on the run from the Guys in White, because they knew Danny was half ghost. They would not stop until they'd captured and experimented on him. Our parents would know about Danny's secret, and I guess I would feel obligated to tell them my own as well. We… might've had to go on the run, depending on how our parents would react. Even if they took it well, they'd have to be on the run from the Guys in White if they wanted to keep us safe. That's not the kind of life I'd want for them. Not to mention Tucker, Sam, and Jazz getting caught up in it all…"

"Okay, and what about if you had just made everyone forget without bringing us back?" Juliette raised a brow. "What if you had made it so the video footage was gone, nobody remembered that your brother was half ghost, or that they got captured?"

"If I hadn't brought us back… people would've still been hurt or dead… because Danny had killed them. Even if I had managed to stop the corruption, Danny would've never been able to live with himself because of the guilt. That itself could trigger that mist inside him if it is still in there anyways." I frowned.

"And what if you made him forget, but didn't undo what he did?" Juliette asked.

"I… think it… was better I did undo it, because even if I made Danny forget, those people would still be dead and hurt. And Danny may find out about it eventually… and he'd react even worse because of it," I pointed out.

Juliette nodded as she slowed a bit. "You chose the best option that was available to you at the time. You didn't want to start the trip back over, nor did you want to have to redo any events to change them. This gave you the best outcome in the most direct way."

I gave Juliette a small smile. "I suppose. I was just wondering about it now that we're heading back to Amity Park. While we had a great vacation, I sometimes wondered if it was for the best that I did what I did. I mean… a part of me wanted Mom and Dad, at the very least, to know Danny and I are half ghosts. But there's always that fear, that doubt, that they wouldn't accept us as halfas. But I guess them seeing Danny being all malicious wouldn't have helped matters… that was why I made them forget… if they were to ever find out, it shouldn't be like that."

"If you do want my opinion, then I think you did the best thing you could have," Juliette informed as we entered into a clearing. "Your parents shouldn't find out your truths in such a horrid way, it should be you going to them and finally revealing your secrets. Also, that doubt and fear of the unknown is a natural thing. But you can't let that stop you. If people were unable to push past that doubt and fear, then this world wouldn't be as advanced of a place."

"I guess that's true… maybe one day we'll tell them, when we're sure they're ready to know," I remarked as I looked up at the sky from the clearing, seeing the stars were as bright as ever out here. "I just hope Clockwork doesn't get too mad at me for messing with time again. I think I prefer this peaceful vacation over that chaotic one we were having before."

"I am sure you will be given a fair chance to explain your choices," Juliette stated before she looked over at me. "But… if I may give another opinion. I do not believe it is wise to hold off on telling the truth. You will never be absolutely sure of how your parents will respond, nor will you know the moment that they are ready to know. The longer you wait to tell them the truth, the harder it will be to tell them as you will just be constantly convincing yourself that 'they aren't ready yet'. But the truth of the matter is that you would be the one who isn't ready."

I sighed. "Remember that time when I told you I had those vivid nightmares? Those nightmares involved our parents finding out, one way or another… and it didn't end so well for Danny, me, or our parents. We can't be… hasty with this either. I'm not even sure if we could even tell them, not as long as they still believe all ghosts are evil. They're more likely to want to try to 'cure' us if they were to find out now."

"Do you know what nightmares are?" Juliette inquired with a small tilt of her head.

"These weren't normal nightmares though… they were likely visions," I pointed out.

"That's not answering my question, Andy," Juliette pointedly replied. "And you aren't skilled enough with your powers yet to make that distinction. It very well could've just been truly horrible and vivid nightmares."

I sighed as I looked down at the grass below us, deciding to sit down on it. "We still don't have any guarantees that that won't happen though… I was hoping that maybe if we could get them on a friendlier term with Danny and Andy Phantom, we could tell them then. As of right now, they hate our ghost halves. That could come into conflict with their love for us if they ever were to find out, and see our ghost halves as nothing but a disease."

Juliette sighed a little as she sat down beside me. "Again, you are avoiding the question I asked before. Just like you are trying to avoid confronting your parents sooner rather than later. You know logically that your parents would be more willing to listen to you as you are right now instead of your ghost forms. I know you know that, because you're an intelligent person who tries to hide how intelligent they are. As for getting your parents on friendly terms… At this point I think you could look up 'stubborn' in a dictionary and find a picture of your family or a 'see Fentons' in the description."

I almost laughed at that, because Juliette was right, all of the Fentons were very stubborn people. I knew that for a fact as I was one of them.

"Well, I still can't say for sure what the best choice would be. Danny would have to tell them too, I'd rather not tell them alone," I remarked. "This does involve him as well, and if I did tell them, it would only be a matter of time before they put two and two together and realize Danny is Danny Phantom because Andy is Andy Phantom. But that's… something for another day. Danny is just as stubborn as any Fenton as well."

"Meaning that you have to be the voice of reason and convince Danny to do what's right. If you wait too long, you increase the chance of your parents finding out on their own," Juliette pointedly replied. "If they find out without you telling them, then that increases the chances of them responding in the ways you fear. I mean… the first scenario that popped into my head is that they might think you're unaware of your ghost halves and need to be rescued from them."

I sighed, knowing Juliette had a point.

"I'm not saying you should do it now," Juliette continued. "Nor in the next week or month. But statistically speaking, the longer you wait, the higher the chance of them finding out and reacting poorly."

"I know… I've actually talked to Danny about it before," I sighed. "But… well, things didn't quite work out. Telling our parents is probably the most challenging thing we've done. Too bad I kinda lost the gems to the Reality Gauntlet… at least I could reset time a little bit if everything doesn't go well if I told them. Would've been nice to have a guarantee 'fix it all' button."

Juliette playfully poked me. "Come on now, if you did that, then Clockwork would actually get angry at you for playing with time like that."

"Yeah, he probably would," I chuckled before looking up at the stars. "Sure is a beautiful night out here. I guess camping isn't always so bad."

"No, it's definitely not. Especially when you don't have to worry about a bear or some wolves coming upon you from out of nowhere," Juliette agreed.

"Heh, can't wait to get home and tell Scarlet about all this, huh?" I remarked.

"I… think I might tell her in portions instead of all at once," Juliette sheepishly replied. "I do plan on telling her everything, including the truth, but I will have her swear secrecy. I also want to tell her in portions so she has more time to process the information and more time to cool down from any… fits of sudden uncontrollable anger."

Juliette shivered a little. "Maybe I should take her somewhere she can't destroy everything before I tell her… rather not lose the opera house because she lost control."

I sweatdropped at the idea of Scarlet losing control of herself because Juliette was in danger… several times, not to mention how Freakshow had lied to Juliette about her parents. "Uh… yeah… that would be a good idea."

"For now though…" Juliette let out a small sigh, though one of relaxation. "Let's just enjoy the night's sky and not worry about what the future may hold."

"Yeah…" I then gave Juliette a smile. "Oh, and Juliette? Thanks for talking with me."

"No problem, Andy." Juliette beamed.

---

ZAFT Convoy: DarkFoxKit: Yeah, traveling to other worlds seemed like a fun idea to try out with the Reality Gauntlet rather than have the entire world changed into a giant circus. As for Digital Phantom, we sort of already are doing something like that, what with the Digital World and all.

RedHood001: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': I am so very glad you loved this. I am always a fan for creating lore, making government systems, and enacting rules. There's a lot of depth to this world that was never explored simply because "it's a children's show". Working with things like the Shadow Realm, which we admittedly borrowed from Yu-Gi-Oh but figured we could make our own, is honestly incredibly fun.

The idea that the Reality Gauntlet was all powerful to begin with seemed a bit… eh? I mean yeah, I get that it was the writer's attempt to rip off the Infinity Gauntlet, but even that isn't all powerful. With the Reality Gauntlet, I do have ideas in mind that very much could be explored later.

As for bringing in the Shadow Realm, we were hoping to introduce it in a way that seemed natural, like it was always there but never mentioned. So I am very glad it turned out so well. As for it 'basically being Hell', not quite. While it is pretty intense, like Hell, it isn't just darkness and torture. But I won't exactly say more as it may be explored more later~

Really glad you liked how we handled covering Andy's eyes. Juliette is, while she often doesn't act like it, over a millennia old. She has caught glimpses of things she would never wish upon her worst enemies. She felt she had a duty to cover Andy's eyes and try to keep him as innocent to some of the horrors of the universe. Leaving it vague also did help it feel more impactful, and it did leave it up to the imagination of the readers.

Ahh yes, making Freakshow into an actual character. That definitely was fun. I'm not a fan of 2 dimensional characters, and I'm sure Fox isn't either. So I wanted to do a villain justice by giving him a good backstory.

Phew, almost done. Adding in the lore of the Lair is something we planned on doing eventually. This is setting the groundwork for later on.

Corrupted doesn't always mean evil. Sometimes corrupted is just something that it twisted from someone else's point of view. So using that definition, we figured that Corrupted Danny and Corrupted Andy would be more working in grey instead of black and white.

I do have some favorites, but I can't remember them off the top of my head. I do apologize. Anyway, hope to hear from you again soon.

DP-Marvel94: DarkFoxKit: Thanks, not many people mentioned the circus part. It took us a while to come up with something good for that one. I also like the idea that there's something sinister about the carnival just underneath its colorful surface, which draws kids in. The world was set in The Infinite Realms story, a story we're doing on the side, and we showed that Andy can turn into a fiery fox. And I know you're a fan of them meeting with themselves, so I'm glad you liked their interaction with Danny, even if it was short. Freakshow being vague about the rules totally backfired on him in the end. XD

While it would've been pretty cool to write out a two-on-one fight scene between Andy, Juliette, and Freakshow, we've felt we've already stretched the episode as it is, and we don't always need a climactic fight scene for a villain to be defeated. It was also nice to show the horrors of the Shadow Realm. Juliette knew what was about to happen, or had an idea of it, and she didn't want Andy, a child, to witness what was going to happen to Freakshow. It also helped that it made the readers imagine what could've happened to Freakshow, making it even scarier.

We actually weren't planning to keep Lydia around, it just sort of happened when we had her talk to Juliette and Andy. So while she is going to be around, don't expect to see much of her. She'll likely remain hidden in Juliette's shadow until she's needed or called upon.

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Or, if Juliette decides to, she might send Lydia out into the Ghost Zone to continue the search for her family. There are other missions that Juliette might send Lydia on as well. As for what happened with the Shadow Realm, yeah… what I was imagining happening to Freakshow was decently horrific. I'm glad what Juliette said gave you chills~

Luna Lillyth: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Yeah, this has been one heck of an arc. As for the gauntlet, we have plans for it. Personally I hope to flesh out backstories when they make sense, that way it isn't just the protagonists and supporting characters that get detailed backstories.

Mana16: DarkFoxKit: Yeah, instead of Freakshow being put back with the Guys in White, he gets taken by the Shadow Realm. A lot of people seem to like how we did the Shadow Realm, which surprised me since I thought they'd just mention how we took it from Yu-Gi-Oh.

Didn't plan on Lydia sticking around, so we don't really have much plans for her, at least not anything onscreen anyways, so just don't expect to see much of her.

Glad to see someone else liked the circus act. It took us a while to figure out what to do for it. Andy and Juliette getting it right the first time was both luck and skill on their part. Andy being skilled with ecto manipulation, and Juliette being skilled with her fire magic. I'm afraid I'm not familiar with Rick Riordan.

Nocturne was… I wouldn't say he was brainwashing people, just trapping them in their best dreams. But yeah, I do have some interesting ideas involving him. And lore, lots of fun lore we can use~

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': While we haven't seen much of it, Vesper is incredibly strong. In fact, one idea I had was that Pariah Dark offered Vesper the chance to become one of his knights but she straight up turned him down. Then, outraged, he would've tried to have her killed, but Vesper has powers and skills that allowed her to survive and even get some strikes in back. While yes, Pariah Dark and Fright Knight were powerful, we haven't really gone into the depths of how strong ghosts can get. Safe to say though, there are beings out there that were stronger than Pariah Dark, and some stronger than Vesper.

DarkFoxKit: Andy having a powerful chain weapon is something to consider. So far, I've only had him use the Plasma Rod (in reminisce to him using the Fenton Rod when he was human), the ecto guns, and possibly a sword or two later on, and the fox skulls his future-self used. But having a variety of options for Andy would also be nice, and show he doesn't have to just take the same path as his future self did. Also, love that idea of Andy disguising the chain as a bracelet.

Well… you've seen what happened after the whole Guys in White incident and how they used the Reality Gauntlet… assuming you've read the chapter before reading this. So I don't have much to say in regards to what you said here. But I can answer any response you have to how we ended it.