Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Okay… liking this new place much better than our old house. Namely because it's a castle with tall ceilings and fireproof walls.

DarkFoxKit: Yeah, I had to pay extra for the fireproof walls. Rather our new place didn't get burned down so easily this time. Especially since, you know, my housemate is a fire breathing dragon!

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': So, have you picked out your new room?

Andy: *Grumbles* Why'd we have to move? I liked that old house better…

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Because it would've cost more to rebuild the house with all our necessities than to buy a castle we could move into.

DarkFoxKit: We should get the readers onto the chapter now.

Andy: Yeah… might as well, we've got some unpacking to do. I'm sure the readers would rather not watch that.

Chapter 112: Spectral Studies

"Hey, bro, have you seen the books that Juliette bought us?" I asked as I was searching our bedroom.

"Yeah, your copy is inside the wall by your closet door," Danny informed. "Felt it'd be smart to not just have them sitting out in the open. Or in any of the usual hiding places."

I nodded before I walked to my closet door. I turned my right hand intangible and started feeling around for the book. The funny thing about intangibility was that it had different levels. If a ghost wanted to find something, despite being intangible, they'd be able to grab that thing and turn it intangible as well. Complete intangibility would be where I wouldn't even be able to find the book because my hand would go right through it. It was something Danny and I learned while we were experimenting with our powers.

I smiled when I felt something, and it felt like a book. I turned it intangible and pulled it out, glad to see it was indeed my copy of the book Juliette and Scarlet bought for me so I could learn more about ghosts and its culture.

"Why did you want to see the book?" Danny curiously asked, not really having read his copy all that much.

"Since it's the weekend, and we've already finished our homework, and there hasn't been any ghost attacks lately, I figured this would be a good time to learn more about ghosts," I answered. "We haven't really read much of the books since we got them."

"Other than the entire night you spent on pouring over the book~" Danny teasingly grinned.

I sighed a little. "The worst part is, since I was so tired, I don't remember anything from the first couple chapters that I read."

Then I gave Danny a curious look. "Are you going to read yours?"

"Maybe later," Danny replied before pointing to his computer monitor. "Right now I'm doing some studying of my own."

I looked closer at the monitor and couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "You're studying video game strategies?"

"Yeah." Danny nodded. "Tucker and I will be participating in a game raid soon and I got nominated as the strategist for some reason that only God knows."

"Huh, surprised you didn't include Sam, since she seemed to be a better gamer than both of you," I pointed out, remembering how Sam kicked both his and Tucker's butts in Doomed before.

"Oh she's playing, she just isn't gonna be the strategist," Danny informed. "She's on the DPS team."

"DPS?" I blinked.

"Damage Per Second," Danny stated before glancing over at me. "I thought we'd already gone over different roles and acronyms for video games. Perhaps all that writing and training you're doing is frying your brain."

"Yeah, that must be it." I rolled my eyes. "Well, have fun with that. I'm going to do some research."

It wasn't that I wasn't a gamer, I just usually preferred singleplayer games as opposed to multiplayer like Danny did. I took my book and went over to my bed, laying on my stomach before opening the book. There was a table of contents, each label was a different part of a ghost's biology or physiology. There, from the looks of it, seemed to be a section that was all about ectoplasm, one about basic ghost abilities, and then a small section on theories regarding ghosts. However, there was one section label that caught my attention, and it was about the core of a ghost. The core was what gave a ghost the ability to do their abilities, it was listed as the first chapter of the Ghost Biology.

I quickly flipped the book to that chapter, wanting to uncover the information inside. It started with the basic information, information that I had already figured out or that Danny told me. There was information about how a ghost's core would often be in the center of a ghost's body. For humanoid ghosts, that would be either in our chest or torso area. The core was essentially a ghost's heart and soul. In fact it was the ghost's core that gave them their powers.

There was a wide range of ghost cores that had been studied. Some ghost cores could be simple and weak, and their forms often matched that. However, there were also strong and complex cores that would make the ghost look like a colossal brute. One fact I found interesting though was that not all cores depicted how their owners would appear. There were some weak cored ghosts who looked like bodybuilders, and there were also strong core ghosts that looked like weak children.

The more I read, the more I found myself fascinated. What I read next was particularly interesting as it went into features in cores that could happen in complex or simple cores. Ghostly cores could also be born with or develop an element. On extremely rare occasions, a ghost could have a 'twin core', which meant the core could develop a secondary element. It was rare, however, and not all ghosts who had a 'twin core' turned out stable if this were to happen. I skimmed over the section of the common fate for twin cores, not wanting to be grossed out or unable to sleep for a while.

The more I read about ghost cores, the more I was interested. After talking about the general basics of a ghost's core, the book went into more specifics. The next section I read was about the more specific ways that a ghost core worked and how it served the ghost. The ghost's core was basically the heart and soul of the ghost, it also served as their brain.

Reading that, I realized that would make sense. I couldn't imagine those small, shapeless blob ghosts having an organic brain within them. And after thinking about that, I realized that ghosts weren't known for their organs. Their bodies were made of ectoplasm, and for the simple ones, the only thing keeping them functioning was their core. I wasn't entirely sure about the more complex and powerful ghosts though, I had never bothered to look inside one, or ask. And I didn't see myself asking in the future as it didn't really seem like a conversation most would have.

Then that was when something occurred to me. Since Danny and I… and by extension, Vlad, were still human, and we still had our human body… How would that affect our own biology? Do our organs transform as well whenever we use our ghost forms? Considering Danny is able to use body manipulation with his ghost form, then maybe our organs do change? Or perhaps they disappear entirely?

Then there was the question about our cores. If a ghost's core was pretty much a ghost's heart, soul, and brain, then it made me wonder how that would work for halfas. Considering how few halfas there were in the world, I would imagine that nobody had really been able to study them. It made me wonder… since Danny and I still had our human brains… Does that make our cores our second brain? Did it count as a second heart as well? I don't… feel like I have two brains or two hearts. I still think like how I normally would in either form. Maybe… while in human form, I use my human brain, and while in ghost form, I use my core instead?

That doesn't make much sense though. I mean if my brain or my core shut down depending on the form I'm in, then I wouldn't remember what I did while I was in those forms. Not to mention my core isn't entirely shut off while I'm in my human form since I could still use my ghost powers like intangibility.

This was both very fascinating, yet disturbing. I couldn't tell for sure if this meant Danny, Vlad, and I had two brains and two hearts. I didn't mind the idea of having a second heart, but a second brain was… complicated.

"You're making that face you get when you're thinking too hard," Hope suddenly spoke up from beside me. "You know if you keep making that face, it might get stuck. Or you might just get really bad wrinkles."

"I just found myself at a conundrum," I answered, looking at Hope. "Trying to apply the logic and information of a pure ghost core to a halfa is very… confusing. Not to mention disturbing if I start thinking about the implications."

Before Hope could ask, I already started. "Like if a core is a ghost's brain, what does that mean for those who still had their organic brain? Would that cause complications? What if the core and the living brain doesn't agree with each other? Would that cause us to go comatosed? What if it messes with our knowledge or our memories?"

"I mean… the two brains could share all of the same knowledge and memories," Hope offered. "Or it could be that, depending on your form, the brain of that form is fully active while the other isn't off but is running in the background."

I knew Hope didn't know for sure either, and that she was coming up with theories to try to help me feel better. For the sake of my sanity, I decided to just take it. Though after thinking about it, she had been a ghost for a while so she might've been making educated guesses instead of just flimsy theories to solely make me feel better. However, I blinked a bit before glancing down at Hope.

"Why do you sound so well informed about ghost cores?" I asked. "Y'know, beside being a ghost yourself."

"Well, before I took the route to becoming a teddy bear, I did study ghost biology quite a bit," Hope explained. "I was trying, desperately, to find a way to make myself better. Me finding out about the ghost who helped give me another chance to live was through doing lots of different studying. I found ways for ghosts to get stronger, or become immortal, or have their cores become inedible and render them immortal. I found studies on ghosts that had tried to fuse with humans, and a couple of accounts that claimed they did so. Though I took those claims with a hefty helping of salt as it seemed a bit too good to be true. I mean… some of those accounts claimed an existence similar but not the same as what you and Danny are going through. Where the ghost would become active, take over, and put the living brain in the background. However, the memories weren't transferred like I'm theorizing might be what happens in your and Danny's cases."

Hope then gave a curious look. "Then again, for all I know, you only have shared memories from the time you became a ghost and if you tried to think back while in your ghost form, you could be unable to remember the time before you became a halfa."

I was about to say something to that, but stopped. I never actually thought about that, so I couldn't say for sure if that was true. Whenever I, or Danny, were in our ghost forms, we weren't exactly reminiscing about our past, we were just diving into action. Our minds were more focused on how to take out the opponent, or opponents, before us to even think about if something was missing from our memories. It wasn't like it was noticeable if that was the case, because everything we knew was still there. We still knew who we were, we still knew who our friends were, how the world works, where we lived, where we went to school, and all of that.

Hope reached up and poked the spot between my eyebrows and above my nose. "Yeah, you're definitely gonna get old-man-face before you're in your 30s."

"Then stop giving me more of a reason to think harder," I grumbled. Okay, there's one easy way to debunk that theory, and that's to transform into my ghost form and see if I could remember anything before I became a halfa, right? I mean… I still think about those times Danny was a halfa and I wasn't even in my ghost form, so what Hope said couldn't be true. Unless… What if our memories are slowly being erased and we don't even realize it? Our memories are recorded in our brain, and I guess in our cores now too. They likely swap memories whenever we transform.

But there could be… a terrifying possibility that there could be discrepancies between memories that could lead our core or our brain into thinking those discrepancies are errors, and that would make the core, or brain, attempt to remedy it by… getting rid of the memories. Since our cores didn't exist before the accident, or in my case, before the second accident… it could think our memories from those times are wrong. For all I know, dwelling on a certain memory from before the core existed could bring it to the core's attention and it just gets rid of it. I frowned at the idea of this terrifying theory. If that were to happen… would that mean even in our human forms, we would forget about what happened before we became halfas?

I then rubbed my head frantically, messing up my hair a bit. "Okay, I need to stop thinking before I start freaking out over what could be nothing. This whole core being our 'second brain' thing is really starting to mess with me."

"Agreed." Hope nodded. "I was just about to get Danny to help snap you out of it if you went any further into whatever rabbit hole your brain was stuck in."

"Maybe I should stop reading about cores for now, I'm starting to get a headache," I sighed.

"Maybe you should try reading about ghost culture then? It would be less of a headache inducing, thought provoking topic for you. Even if you tried to compare it with your own...unique and contradicting biology," Hope suggested.

"Good idea," I agreed. "After all, if we're going back to the Ghost Zone, it would be wise for us to be informed about the ghost culture."

"Though…" Hope chuckled a bit. "You should definitely brace yourself as there are a lot of different cultures in the Ghost Zone, and a number of them are considered 'the common practice cultures'."

I furrowed my eyebrows before I flipped back to the table of contents. "Do you have any suggestions on where I should start then?"

Hope glanced over at the table of contents. "Well you've already learned about Ectos… and that should cover the currency system for the time being. You… could learn about the status system, which is the topic of how some sectors of the Ghost Zone, or more specifically the Green Zone, use a ranking system like the noble systems that this world used to use. You could also learn about the Ghost Zone in general and why I called it 'the Green Zone'. Though I could easily summarize that information for you if you would prefer to stick with culture. Or you could just choose one of the other chapters."

I looked at the list of the table of contents. It would be daunting to have to start from the beginning. I decided to choose one that would be more useful a lot more immediately if we needed that knowledge when we went back to the Ghost Zone. There were quite a few to choose from still, but the one that got my attention was one of the final chapters that read 'Chapter 25: Ghost Children'. I suppose Danny and I counted as ghost children, and I remembered Juliette and Scarlet warning us about what some adult ghosts would do if they saw us and if we strayed too far from them. I also remembered how Juliette had paid for children's tickets for myself and the other me when we went to the amusement park during the summer that technically didn't happen.

Deciding to learn more about how ghost children were treated in the ghost culture, I flipped to the first page of Chapter 25. Hope decided to sit with me while I read. It was kind of a relief to have her here, since she could help point anything out that I wouldn't understand. However, the first thing that I didn't understand and was only now realizing was that despite the book being so tiny, it was like it was bigger than the phone book in terms of how many pages it seemed to have.

Hope gave me a questioning look. "What has you confused this time?"

"Just that this book seems small, yet there's enough content here to rival a phone book," I answered. "Is this a ghostly thing?"

"Ahh yeah," Hope confirmed. "This book uses what is known as ghostly enchanting, which is a practice that only a few ghosts still use to this day. It was a craft developed at the same time as this world's old magics. Really sucks that humanity went through the dark age, as it got rid of so many amazing magics. Anyways, getting back on topic, the specific enchantment on this book is to compact the space inside of it so it can be a lot smaller and fit in a lot more places. There's probably enough content in that book to fill an entire shelf of a public library."

"Well it's very convenient." I smiled before I started reading.

According to the book, ghost children were very precious in the Ghost Zone. Ghost children were rare, because ghosts have a much harder time procreating. It is possible for a ghost child to be born by two ghost parents, but it was very unlikely. I guess that would explain why Box Lunch has been the only ghost child Danny and I had seen that we know was born from two ghosts so far, and she doesn't even technically exist yet.

There were 3 types of ghosts; Born, Dead, and Deathless. The Borns are ghosts who were born as ghosts, whether it was from ghost parents or they just came to be as ghosts in the first place, often starting out as small, simple blobs that would eventually evolve into more complex, bigger, and stronger ghosts if they survived long enough. The latter being far more common than the former.

Deads were ghosts who were once living, which was pretty obvious. Deads were the most common type of ghosts, since every living being eventually died. Though strangely enough, not all living beings would come back as ghosts. Deads didn't always remember their lives after they died, but many still did, at least in parts. They were also very sensitive about how they died, so much so that it became one of the biggest Taboos among ghosts to make them relieve their deaths. That Taboo became one of what is known as the Core Taboos.

Deathless were ghosts that never died, nor were born as ghosts in a traditional sense. They didn't start out as babies or simple blobs before evolving into bigger, more complex ghosts. They just come to be from an unknown origin. Most of these Deathless ghosts were known as Ancients, others would include mythical beings like unicorns, and Will-O-Wisps. These were perhaps the most mysterious of the 3 types.

Getting back to ghost children, another reason why they were so rare was because most of them wouldn't come back as ghosts after they died, and even if they did, their own fears and regrets would often overwhelm their new cores to the point of shattering. This, more often than not, would mean their bodies would melt into ectoplasm that would be absorbed into the Ghost Zone.

Because of this, ghost children were treated as very precious beings among ghosts, or more often than not, ghost children were seen as priceless treasures to own. Adult ghosts would often fight each other just for a chance of adopting a stray ghost child. Ghost children didn't age like the living did, some would take about 100 years to grow into adulthood. Some would take even longer than 100 years, though from what I read 100 years was about the average.

Ghost children were also a little more unique from the adults. For one, they would absorb energy like a sponge, and had a hard time stopping because their young and growing cores needed the energy to grow. So things like Wisps could be dangerous to ghost children since the Wisps could accidentally overfeed the ghost children. Overfeeding a ghost child usually resulted in them acting goofy, unable to comprehend reality, and even act more childish. This could last from an hour to a few days, depending on how overfed they were. Well, that would explain why Juliette and Scarlet warned us about the Wisps.

Ghost children were usually helpless when it came to adult ghosts, which was why it was an instinct for adult ghosts to adopt them. If the ghost child loved the adult, they would often start to mimic them by gaining their features. Due to a ghost's natural ability to shapeshift, a ghost child could gain the traits of the adult they loved and trust; such as horns, gills, fur, wings, scales, claws, fangs, and so on. If the ghost child felt safe with the adult, their core would react positively whenever they were near the adult. Each child's core differed depending on the individual.

"Any questions about what you read so far?" Hope inquired.

"Yeah… is it true that a ghost child would actually start gaining traits from the adult ghost they really like?" I asked. "Does that include any adult ghost, or only the adult ghost who adopted them?"

"It's very common, yes, but it isn't always the case," Hope answered. "It is rare, but there are records of ghost children that didn't really take on any traits of the adult ghosts they liked or the adult ghosts raising them. Though there are also stories that instead of taking on physical traits, the children took on personality traits. Or, in uncommon cases, the ghost children developed a trait of their own to bond with the adult ghost more. And it does include any adult ghost. So who knows… you or Danny might start taking on traits of Juliette~"

I blinked, imagining myself and Danny with possibly white goat fur, or floppy ears, or pink horns on our heads. The image was both terrifying and adorable at the same time.

"Oh, ghost children can also mimic the powers they see other ghost children doing," Hope added. "There are also studies that believe that ghost children who don't have an element or an awoken element might take on the element of the adult ghost they like. Though there hasn't been too much evidence to prove that it's true or false."

It made me wonder if there were any difference between pure ghost children and half ghost children. I remembered Danny acting all cat-like with Clockwork in the dimension where I was never born. But Danny never acted that way here. So maybe it's possible that's the trait Danny could get if Clockwork ever adopted him. Heh, the Master of Time, adopting Danny. That would be pretty crazy. But Clockwork never really struck me as the affectionate kind. Although he has his moments, it's hard to get a read on him.

Then something else occurred to me. "If ghost children are treated like precious treasures, then why does every ghost we've met outside the Ghost Zone attack us? Ghosts like Skulker, Ember, Desiree, Youngblood, Walker… they all treated us like the enemy, animals, or criminals."

"Could be them trying to peacock." Hope shrugged.

I blinked at that. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"I mean they could be trying to show off their strength to you in order to make you more likely to choose them as your adopted parent," Hope explained. "Another option, which is the boring one, is that they are willing to do it here because there isn't an Ancient watching the area, protecting any ghost children that might be here. There is a third option, but it's not very likely. I will say though, it's a bit strange that a number of the ghosts are trying to rule the world, especially when they would have less control over it than their lair."

"What's the third option?" I asked.

"Well there's technically two parts to it," Hope responded. "They could just not care about you being ghost children and are attacking you despite how young you are. Alternatively to that, some of them might think you're adults due to your and Danny's strength. But the second part of the third option is that they might just want to take what they could think is Danny's haunt away from him."

"His haunt? You mean Amity Park?" I blinked.

"I'll leave the haunt lesson for when you read that part in the book," Hope decided. "It's kind of tied to lairs and domains actually."

That piqued my interest. It was unlikely that our ghost enemies just wanted to adopt us, most of them felt like they were really out for our heads rather than wanting to take care of us. Besides, they were causing trouble, we had to stop them.

Deciding to read more about lairs, I went back to the table of contents. I skimmed through the chapters before seeing 'Chapter 7: Domains, Lairs, and Haunts.' I flipped through the pages before I found the chapter I was looking for.

There were 3 main ways a ghost could set up their territories. The first being the easiest; domains. A domain was when a ghost finds an unclaimed land in the Ghost Zone and claims it as their own. In most common cases, ghosts would find floating islands and simply lay claim to it, however this was most common in the past. A really scummy practice that had been recently going on in the Ghost Zone was a single ghost laying claim to a large number of domains and then either renting them out to other ghosts or selling them for a profit.

Hope explained to me how Ancients were deliberating on making that practice more controlled so a single ghost couldn't build up a huge wealth or have control over a huge area.

The less common cases of domains were cases where ghosts came into the Ghost Zone with land that they had owned previously. This land was either physical land, or a structure, or even just a large floating tree. This made me think back to Juliette a bit, the story she had told me about waking up on a piece of land. This actually made me wonder if that land actually was Juliette's domain.

I shook my head, deciding to think about that later. Focusing back on domains, I read that when a ghost owned a domain, they could form a bond with it and learn to control it. Some ghosts reshaped the land, some grew plantlife, others turned it into inhospitable wastelands, and some even coated their domains in pure darkness or pure light to help protect themselves.

Going further into the control, it was said that ghosts who were strong enough or had a large enough domain could actually control the region of the Ghost Zone just outside their domain. Some used this control to make barriers to prevent any ghosts from coming in, some created clouds, and a sky, some created large physical walls or gates that couldn't be flown over, under, or through. Upon reading that I remembered the huge gate that led to what was formerly Aragon's domain.

"Hey, Hope, here it says that some ghosts create gates outside their domains that can't be flown through. By 'flown through' do they mean intangibility?" I questioned.

"Yeah." Hope nodded. "Most of the information in that book wouldn't be able to account for the uniqueness that is you and Danny, or how living beings would account into the laws of the Ghost Zone. As you know, most living beings can just pass through matter in the Ghost Zone unless they are wearing 'cursed items' or the structures have some special material or enchantments used in their creation."

"Oh yeah, I definitely remember needing those cursed items for myself, Danny, and Tucker when we went to Dora's domain when it was still her brother's," I recalled.

Turning my attention back to the book, I read that the final things about a ghost's domain was that the only way to survive on a claimed domain was to have the owner's permission, to knock out the owner, or go there when the owner of the domain was away. Though that last one wasn't always guaranteed to work as some domain owners set up traps for any ghosts foolish enough to enter their land while they are away. Although it was possible for a ghost to challenge the owner for the domain, the winner would get to decide what to do with the loser.

"If a ghost properly challenges another ghost for control over their domain, the domain owner is forbidden from using their connection to the domain to gain any unfair advantage," Hope informed. "That's one part that isn't in that book there. Additionally, if one ghost consumed another ghost's core, then they are granted ownership of the domain of that other ghost, if that ghost had a domain."

I shivered, remembering seeing a chapter on 'Core Consumption', but I didn't want to read it right now. It was far too disturbing, and I still didn't like being reminded what happened when Danny pretty much took over the world.

I continued reading, seeing the next thing about how a ghost could set up their territory. The second thing was a lair. Unlike domains, lairs were rarer and highly valued, and a ghost couldn't just claim a lair or make one of their own. Contrary to popular belief, lairs were not made by their owners, but instead were made for their owners. When a ghost comes into existence, whether by birth, by just existing, or by death, there was a chance a lair would be created. It had been speculated that the lairs were either created by a long forgotten Ancient, by the first King of Ghosts, or by the Ghost Zone herself, but nobody knew for sure.

Lairs appeared as doors, and each one was unique, designed specifically for a certain ghost. If the owner found their lair, they would know it was theirs due to the door, and their instincts. Lairs were enclosed dimensions linked to the subconscious of their owner. The lair would change and give whatever the owner desired, making them as comfortable as possible. Lairs had their own type of sentience, and most never wanted their owners to leave. If a ghost was lucky enough to have a lair and find it, they would have reached what they would consider to be their paradise, and would likely never leave. There had been many cases where a ghost didn't leave their lair for thousands of years, it had been so long that they had forgotten how to leave, or that there was a world beyond their lair. This made lairs both a blessing and a curse.

Due to the nature of the lairs being linked to their owner's subconsciousness, the owner had complete control over everything in their lair. In a sense, when a ghost was in their lair, they were the god of that world. There had been some cases where the lairs could turn on their owners, however, but it had always been due to the owner's mindset rather than the lair's own malicious intent. The owner likely hated themselves, and wanted to hurt themselves, or believed that was all they had. And thus, the lair would do what it could to make their owner's 'wishes' come true. This, more often than not, led to ghost's paradises to turn into their personal hell instead.

It was unknown how a lair was created, but the main criterias were usually the ghost having a complex core, the ghost being strong, and the ghost having a strong will. But even then these ghosts weren't guaranteed to get a lair. One other key part in ghostly lairs was that ghosts often had to go out and find their lair, sometimes having to go through dangerous territories to find their lair. Some ghosts that did have lairs, before they were eaten or had something else horrific happen to them, never found their lairs. And some ghosts were still on the search for their lair even after hundreds, or thousands, of years. Once a ghost found their lair, they could always find it again, no matter where they were.

There was one interesting fact that I found. Which was that no outsider ghosts were foolish enough to attack a ghost in the ghost's own lair. No matter how strong the attacking ghost believed they were, the ghost would find themselves powerless inside another's lair. Unlike a domain, a ghost cannot challenge the owner for the lair, because the lair was made specifically for them. If the owner were to be obliterated or consumed, the lair would disappear.

In very rare cases, a lair could form on a domain, giving the owner both a lair and a domain together. This was an unknown phenomena, and nobody knew what caused this to happen. However, the few who did get a lair and a domain were usually very powerful ghosts, so at the very least, the ghost must be a strong one. There was also some conjecture that a ghost who became strong enough might find that their lair actually created land to give the owner a domain.

"Wow… lairs are so… complicated and mysterious," I commented to Hope.

"Yeah, they definitely are," Hope agreed. "Though if you want complicated and mysterious, you should get to the last section, which is all about ghostly haunts."

"Before that… do you have a lair? Do you know if you have one?" I asked. "How could you tell if you do or don't have a lair if it could take hundreds to thousands of years to find it?"

Hope gave a shrug. "I don't know if I have, had, or never had a lair. There's no exact moment that tells a ghost they have a lair. I guess… a ghost with a lair might have an instinct? But it's not guaranteed. Some ghosts have spent eons searching for a lair that never existed, and only found that their lair existed after they got strong enough or ate enough cores. While yes, there are a lot of believed essentials to having a lair, there are a lot of other cases that point to other factors needing to be met. I mean, if you think about it, the essentials are flimsy as they are. Someone has to have enough willpower? That could easily mean someone who is determined, or it could be someone who is crazy and obsessive."

"I guess a lair would be hard to find since it's essentially a ghost's paradise… well, in most cases anyways," I commented, remembering that bit about the lair becoming a personal hell, like it was for Poindexter.

"What do you think though? Do you think you and Danny could have your own lairs?" Hope asked me curiously.

"I highly doubt it. If I had to put it into numbers, I'd say there's a less than 3% chance of us having one," I stated. "I mean we're not even full ghosts, and-"

"I personally think it's possible!" Danny chimed in, interrupting me. "While yes, we're halfas, we're stronger than a lot of other ghosts out there. We're determined, strong both physically and power wise, and we undoubtedly have complex cores. I mean… if we didn't have complex cores, there's only a… point 7% chance that we'd be having this conversation."

"First of all, I didn't say it was impossible, just very unlikely. Second, are you listening in on our conversation? I thought you were busy with your gaming strategy," I questioned, looking at my brother.

"Yes, I'm listening," Danny confirmed before smirking. "Unlike you, I can multitask~"

"What's that supposed to mean? I can multitask!" I huffed.

"You can, true, but you rarely do in circumstances like these," Danny explained. "You get so absorbed in studying that you tend to tune out the world. Heck, there was a time when there was a fire drill at school and you were so into your book that the teacher had to snatch the book away from you."

"That never happened," I grumbled. "You must be thinking of Tucker when he got absorbed by his PDA."

"Oh?" Danny raised a brow. "6th grade, bro. We were in the middle of math class when the fire alarm went off."

"Perhaps he was so mortified by the event that he blocked it from his memories~" Hope teasingly remarked. "Or maybe his core just made him forget."

"Hope! Do not bring up that rabbit hole again!" I groaned. "And I do remember, I just wanted to pretend I didn't, okay? It was pretty dang embarrassing…"

"Well… that was one way to get him to confess," Danny laughed.

I used telekinesis to bring a pillow over my head and brought it down before letting out a soft yell into it.

"Feel better now?" Danny chuckled as I pulled the pillow away from my face.

"I'm going back to my book," I huffed. What was I so worried about? Clearly Danny and I remember our childhood vividly, there's no way we're losing those memories… right? Ugh, stop it!

The next thing on the list of how ghosts set up territories were haunts. Haunts were a little more different than domains and lairs, but they were also similar to those. Haunts were places in the living world that a ghost could claim, just as they would with unclaimed land in the Ghost Zone. Once a haunt was claimed, it became linked to the ghost's subconsciousness like a lair would. Contrary to popular belief, a haunt wasn't always a place where a Dead-type ghost had died, nor were they bound to it. However, it was very common for a Dead-type ghost to claim where they had lived, or died in, as their haunt if they never made it to the Ghost Zone.

Not much was known about haunts, because scientists and researchers didn't believe in ghosts in the living world to study it. And ghosts couldn't normally cross into the living world to do the research themselves. However, what ghosts did know about haunts was that haunts could start changing the landscape in a subtle way to the ghost's liking, or make it more convenient for them. In rare cases, if the ghost felt threatened, the haunt would start coming to life under the ghost's control as if it were the ghost's lair. These cases were mostly in small areas, like haunted houses, where people claimed highly unusual activities went on inside. Though there were some theories that a strong enough ghost, on Pariah Dark's level or stronger, could actually bring an entire village, town, or even large city to life.

Other ghosts could challenge the ghost for their haunt, though unlike with domains, the ghost was allowed to use their haunts to their advantage. This was allowed because ghosts coming from the Ghost Zone to challenge the haunt owner would be stronger than the haunt owner. The living world, from what I had read, drained a ghost of their energy and often led them to being weaker than they actually were.

This, once again, made me wonder about Juliette. Has Amity Park become her haunt? Could she, if she wanted to, use it to attack Danny and I?

As I was thinking this, I got to a section that talked about how a haunt owner could grant other ghosts access to their haunt. This granted access would protect the other ghosts from the haunt and make it so the haunt helped protect them in case of attack. Additionally, some believed that if a haunt's owner was strong enough and had enough excess ectoplasm, that excess ectoplasm would be shared with those granted permission to stay in the haunt.

There had been rumors and theories that if the haunt owner had a twin, triplets, or other multiple same-born siblings, then the haunt would be shared between them. However, due to the rarity of twin ghosts, it had yet to be proven true.

"You know… I need to ask Juliette if she made Amity Park her haunt," I remarked. "And if she needs to go to the Ghost Zone again to recharge, since apparently ghosts in the living world are weaker due to the lack of ectoplasm."

Hope raised a bit of a brow and giggled. "I'm sure she hasn't, considering she doesn't want to bring attention to herself. When a ghost enters another ghost's haunt, they are made well aware of it. They'll feel a chill go down their spine and their fight or flight reflexes will try to kick in."

"Do you think if she or Scarlet did make Amity Park their haunts, it would deter these ghost attacks?" I asked before frowning. "Or invite them?"

"Likely the latter," Hope answered. "There's one 'public' Ghost Portal, and it leads right into pretty much the heart of Amity Park. In a way, if someone set up a haunt here it would kinda be like… setting up a tollbooth to exit a driveway. It would tick ghosts off to no end and it would lead them to want to challenge the haunt owner for control."

"It kinda already feels like that," Danny grumbled.

"I wonder why?~" Hope snickered.

I looked between Hope and Danny, before I groaned. "Danny… did you make Amity Park your haunt?"

"How would I know if I did?" Danny responded with a confused shrug. "You're asking me a question that I have no idea on how to answer."

I put a finger on my chin as I thought about the possibility. "I suppose we wouldn't know if you did anyways since you're a halfa, I don't know if a halfa could make a haunt since you are technically still half alive. And I haven't seen Amity Park shifting or anything to suit your desires… I think… it's supposed to be subtle so it would be hard to notice… But I don't think Amity Park ever started bending to your whim, so… yeah… I guess there's that. Then again you have to be at Pariah Dark's level of strength to do that with a city as big as Amity Park…"

"Bro… you're going down another rabbit hole…" Danny grumbled.

"That tends to happen if I try to apply ghost logic with our contradicting biology!" I snapped in frustration.

"I mean… we could probably always talk to Clockwork," Danny offered. "Clockwork might be allowed to tell us more about our unique circumstances as it's never been recorded before. In fact, we could probably bring up the argument of how it is unfair for us to not be able to find out certain things due to our halfa status. At the very least we might be able to ask him if we get all the things that full ghosts get despite only being half ghosts. I mean… thinking about it, while yes we're half ghosts, we still have a full ghost core, right? We still have ghost forms and ghost powers, not half baked versions of them. So everything in that book that a full ghost can get might also be obtainable for us."

"That might also be something only Vlad could answer, since he's had 20 years to experiment with his halfa status," I mumbled.

"I'd rather figure it out on my own than ask a fruitloop like him," Danny muttered.

"I mean… could a ghost child even have a haunt?" I questioned. "I don't think I've finished reading about ghost children yet."

"Yeah, it's possible." Hope informed. "There are a couple old stories of a ghost child claiming a nursery or a playground as their haunt."

"It's… weird to think of ourselves as ghost children," Danny admitted. "While I've been called 'ghost kid' or 'ghost boy' a lot by many people, I still can't help but think of smaller, younger kids when you mention ghost children, not teenagers."

"Try to think of it this way, you now technically have two days you can get presents on," Hope chuckled. "Your living birthday and your deathday."

Danny and I shivered at the mention of our deathday.

"Don't worry, deathdays will get easier for you both as you experience more of them," Hope assured. "They'll go from harrowing experiences to days in which you can celebrate and get gifts."

I flipped the pages in the book for a moment. "I remember seeing something about how ghost children handle deathdays if they're a Dead-type ghost, which Danny and I technically are. Maybe there's something in here that could help us cope when our second deathday comes."

"If you truly want to get past the issues, there are a few… questionable ways to get past the point of suffering from your deathdays," Hope offered. "Though, most of them are pretty horrible, like experiencing 10 to 20 deathdays at once in order to develop the necessary coping mechanisms."

I gave a nod of acknowledgement to Hope, but I still wanted to see how ghost children handled it. I stopped on where the book began talking about deathdays for ghost children.

Many Dead-type ghost children often suffered the worst of their deathdays during their first few years as ghosts, because unlike adults, their cores were still developing, mentally and emotionally. This made it difficult for the ghost child to cope during their earlier deathdays, some would even black out because it got so bad for them. I definitely remembered blacking out during my first deathday… that wasn't fun.

In order to help a ghost child cope during their early deathdays, an adult ghost they trusted or one that adopted them, would have to stay close to them. They must help the ghost child feel as safe and comfortable as possible. They could help by inviting the ghost child's friends, letting them play, but be careful how they play, because anything could set them off. Continuous communication and assurances to the ghost child's core that the child would be fine was highly recommended.

Additionally it was recommended to stay as patient as possible with the ghost child, especially if their emotions started going all over the place. Forcing a ghost child to experience more than 1 deathday at a time was strictly prohibited, as this could severely break or shatter the ghost child's still developing core. However, there was a loophole that a ghost child could choose to experience deathdays of their own accord. When a Dead-type ghost was experiencing their deathday, and someone purposely antagonized them, then it would be considered breaking one of the Core Taboos about making a Dead-type ghost relive their death.

I noticed how often Taboos and Core Taboos were mentioned, and knew I would need to read up on them at some point. They also sounded serious enough that I was willing to bet money that even if a human were to break one of the Core Taboos, they wouldn't be spared just because they were ignorant about it. However, my eyes were starting to get a tiny bit dry and my body was starting to get full of excess energy, so I knew I would have to read up on the Taboos later.

I closed the book, stood up, stretched out, and put the book back in its hiding place before looking at Danny. "Hey, bro, I think I'm gonna go out for a little bit of a walk. You're free to join me, if you can manage to break away from that screen~"

"A walk sounds kinda boring though… too bad we can't fly with the Guys in White out and about…" Danny grumbled.

"I still want to get some fresh air," I responded as I started heading towards the bedroom door. "So I'll see you later, bro."

Jewel moonstone: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Trust me, sometimes even I don't remember his name. I have to constantly check I'm using the right name for him. And yeah, some chapters we didn't exactly have an idea of what to do with Danny. While yes, this story is based in the Danny Phantom world, it isn't just a story about solely Danny Phantom. This story is about Danny, Andy, their friends and family, all of that. This story is actually written from Andy's point of view most of the time.

DarkFoxKit: Originally, the story was only meant to be in Andy's point of view, with him telling the story of Danny Phantom from his perspective. But since the story had been changing a lot more since the sequel started, there had been times where we would need to switch to Danny's point of view to see what's changed and what he's been doing, but most of the time we will be sticking to Andy.

Dp-Marvel94: DarkFoxKit: Anna is an interesting girl. There's a lot going on with her regarding her lore in the story, and that's also because of the extra lore we've added onto both Danny and Andy. As for Danny being a lot smarter than he gave himself credit for, yeah, pretty much. He and Andy both grew up in Jazz's shadow, but I do believe they're both very smart, and geniuses in their own way. Heh, well, as you can see, Andy has the tendency to overthink a situation, meaning he can be too smart for his own good.

Mana16: DarkFoxKit: Yeah, Andy will agree with you there with the whole Lady and the Tramp moment thing.

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': While the class system is outdated, it still unfortunately exists all over. No matter where you go, you will always find someone who cares more about your parents or your money or anything else like that instead of their personality and attributes. I did think it was kinda upsetting that Mr. Lancer reacted the way he did in the episode to the Guys in White, so I felt that it was only right that I correct that wrong.

DarkFoxKit: Yeah, Danny's lack of self confidence made it difficult for him to be motivated to even try to study and get good grades. A lot of kids are the same way, if their parents, teachers, or other kids put them down, they'll start to do worse. With Danny, he sees his sister getting perfect scores and all that, while he's lucky to get a B. But with confidence, I can see him being just as smart as his sister. Andy was thinking the same thing, which was why he was trying to bring Danny's confidence up. As for Sam and Tucker covering for Danny, they kinda already do that, but there's only so much they can do to cover for him when adults are looking for the boy. Girl's Night Out is one of those weird episodes I don't see a lot of, so my knowledge on it is very limited.

Elliot in this story isn't quite like the Elliot from the canon series. He's similar, but he's definitely not the same, but that's all I'll say about it.

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Oh boy… of course Butch would make something like that… honestly, he has been milking his creations for all they're worth and it's kinda sad.

DarkFoxKit: Unfortunately there's a lot of drama going on with Butch and the internet these days. I won't go into detail about it though. I appreciate that Butch created Danny Phantom, but after seeing what he's done, and what he plans to do with Danny Phantom, I'm kinda afraid to let him continue the series now. Some of the ideas are good, but most of them I don't really agree with. As for the next generation thing, well, I guess that confirms it then, Danny's kids will inherit his ghost powers. Does this make them a quarter ghost or are they still considered half ghost? The villain, Faceless… yeah, definitely a lot like Amorpho in terms of design. Though my mind went to the Slenderman. Could be an interesting villain. But I'd like to actually see a new episode of Danny Phantom rather than hearing about ideas for it, because at this point, just hearing ideas for Danny Phantom is nothing more than fanfiction even if it's from the original creator himself.