DarkFoxKit: Alright, another chapter! And a lot of people are very excited for Danielle, who finally made it into the story.

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': We're getting close to the end of the standard season. In fact, we already finished writing the standard season and are going to be moving onto the movie starting this week.

DarkFoxKit: As a word of warning, don't get too hyped about Danielle. While this is her debut, that doesn't mean she's going to be playing a super huge, long arc role right away.

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': We do have plans for the future, but our current goal is to wrap up the season soon.

DarkFoxKit: And for those who are Pokemon fans, I hope you're excited for Brilliant Diamond, Shining Pearl, and Legends Arceus when they come out~

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': The first two are coming out soon and the last one, one I am hoping will redeem the franchise, will be coming out next year.

DarkFoxKit: We thank you all for sticking with us this far, despite the chapters being in the hundreds now, we hope you will all continue to enjoy this story. Now, let's get to it!

Chapter 120: The Mysterious Ghost Girl

Back at school with Andy

I was looking at my script. Valerie managed to get someone to write the script for our play, as we decided to use a rehashed version over the original. The only problem was that the person Valerie got to help was Nathan. Nathan was the boy who had a very creepy crush on Valerie, which I was pretty sure he still had. Because as I was reading my script, I couldn't help but wrinkle my nose at some of the extremely… passionate romantic parts involving Romeo and Juliet.

I gave a small sigh to myself when I realized that I was going to have to do some heavy edits to the script, and likely pull an overnighter or two, before we started rehearsing. Though this was a bit on me since I had also voted to use a rehashed version of Romeo and Juliet. I also probably should've checked on Valerie to make sure that she was getting someone good to write it.

I headed into the auditorium, trying to see what had been set up already, and what we would need to add. Since we didn't have any important announcements or major school plays coming up any time soon, Principal Ishiyama was allowing us to use the stage for our school project play. She was also letting us keep it set up for the play so we wouldn't have to constantly pack and unpack the set.

"Hey, Romeo!"

I nearly jumped at someone calling out to me, at least I was assuming it was me since I was the chosen actor for Romeo. I turned to see who called me.

To my surprise, it wasn't Valerie or Dash, but it was Anna. She waved to me before she came over towards me.

"Oh, hi Anna," I greeted, feeling a little awkward.

I knew I told Anna that I was happy to have her come and help with the project, especially since nobody else really wanted to or had their own project to do, but I was hoping she would've gone to Valerie or Dash. I didn't have anything against Anna, but the fact her dad was Vlad Masters made me a little uneasy around her.

"How's it going?" Anna asked.

"I was just checking on some of the props that we may still need, or to make the set look nicer," I answered, not directly looking at Anna as I was looking at the script in my hands. "And… I'm going to edit this script with the school's new computers. The computers are so much better than the older ones; faster, less laggy, and they're able to run more than one program at a time. Tucker did a great job finding replacement computers and getting rid of the giant bricks that we were using before."

"Perhaps I can help?" Anna offered. "With the editing I mean. I am a pretty quick typer and have some… notes on the script that Nathan wrote."

I sweatdropped. I was hoping that nobody else had seen the script Nathan wrote since it was more than just embarrassing. It was in fact a lot more like fan fiction.

"Uh… sure, if you really want to," I answered, not seeing a reason to decline her offer.

Anna smiled. "Excellent. Well I actually have one idea I was hoping to share right now, an addition to the end, after both Romeo and Juliet have died. What I was thinking is a bit of an Amity Park twist to it."

"Like bringing them back as ghosts?" I asked, considering Amity Park was pretty much infamous about having ghost attacks on a daily basis by now, at least it should be.

"Well not as cut and dry as that," Anna answered. "More that we see their spirits rising out of their bodies and reuniting before passing on. I think Amity Park has seen enough ghosts and it might be nice to show what people expected before, where one goes to Heaven, or the beyond, or afterlife, or whatever it's called after death."

"That sounds like a… pretty interesting idea," I answered, thinking about it. "I think it would be nice to show them coming back as ghosts, being together as they go to Heaven… or, you know, what people believe could be the afterlife. Though I'll have to talk to Dash and Valerie about it first."

Anna and I were heading to the school's computer room. I wasn't planning on talking to Anna all that much, I was just going to work with her. Having someone help me edit and revise the script would help me save time, and I might not have to pull any all-nighters. However, Anna seemed to want to make small talk with me.

"I heard that your and Danny's grades have been improving a bit since the last time we spoke," Anna remarked.

"Danny's been studying harder since your little speech to him," I responded, still not looking directly at Anna. "Jazz and I managed to get our schedule to work around our… other responsibilities. We're also trying to multi-task if it becomes necessary."

"That's good to hear." Anna nodded in acknowledgement. "And with all the work being put into this project, I can almost see your grades in Mr. Lancer's class skyrocketing. Who knows, after this you might have an A+"

"Heh, that's wishful thinking, but very unlikely," I chuckled. "I'd just be happy with an average B. Danny, though, he definitely wants to get into the space program someday, so he would definitely try to get that A+."

"I meant in Mr. Lancer's class specifically," Anna clarified with a small chuckle of her own. "Though I'm sure with hard work, you and Danny would be capable of both becoming honors students. Besides, a really good grade might help you with whatever you want to be in the future."

I wasn't sure why Anna seemed so fixated on me and Danny doing better in school, and while I appreciated the encouragement, I had already heard this stuff from Jazz. I wanted to keep my expectations realistic, maybe I could become an honors student, if I had the intelligence, the drive, and the time to focus on school and studying. However, realistically, I only saw myself becoming a B student, maybe an A- at best if we were able to stick with the schedules and the multitasking we had been doing, and no big crisis or powerful ghost decided to invade for a while. Although, looking at what the Guys in White created, the big crisis was very likely to happen soon.

"Let's talk about something else," I decided to say. "I guess V- Mr. Masters has you and Ella study a lot, but isn't there anything else you're interested in?"

"Well, I am interested in writing," Anna answered. "There's also studying and learning about different cultures, which is something father doesn't have us do. I also like to occasionally daydream about opening up some sort of animal sanctuary."

I perked up a little, and started to look over at Anna. While I hadn't thought about learning other cultures on Earth much, I knew I had been very interested in learning the ghost culture since they were so different from us.

"Though that last one is only daydreaming, as I don't know the first thing about animals outside of what I've read in books," Anna continued. "My main passion is definitely studying and learning about different cultures; learning about civilizations that not many people remember existed, uncovering mysteries that have never been solved, and learning about the mystical aspect of the world. Fun fact, a number of cultures actually have some knowledge on the world of ghosts, but it's so well hidden that it's been lost over time. Or the information is obscure or it's so obvious but there's not much context. For instance, there was an ancient culture that 'sacrificed' one child every year to 'appease the spirits of the dead'. Though from what I read of that particular culture, there was no sacrifice in the normal 'killing the child' sense. Instead the child was placed upon an altar and when the spirits of the dead came to collect the child, a bright flash would occur and the child would vanish."

Oh gosh… ghosts used to spirit away children in ancient times? I questioned before remembering what I had read before. It… it couldn't have been that ghosts were adopting those living children, could it? I mean… I remember that ghosts highly respect and value children, so I doubt it was anything awful like consuming the child. And since it said ghost children being born was so rare… that means ghosts likely found it easier to adopt living children and potentially help that child be reborn as a ghost when they lived out their life.

That was when that thought led me down a rabbit hole. Oh gosh, if stuff like that existed… What about things people tried to summon a supernatural spirit? Or use certain items against those spirits? Do those actually work or were those just stories the media made up? Could those actually affect ghosts? Could they affect halfas? How many of those cult things actually work on ghosts? And… are ghosts the only supernatural thing out there?

Despite living in the most haunted city in America for my entire life, and having a goth friend, I knew surprisingly little about cult and supernatural stuff.

"You know…" Anna spoke up, mercifully getting me out of that rabbit hole. "I've heard that this school had been attacked by ghosts several times before, especially last year. But I haven't seen a ghost attack since I enrolled."

"The ghosts have been slowing down a lot lately," I answered. The fact that we have a holy knight in the area probably discourages most of the ghosts from coming here.

"Which means that there's either something, or somethings, so powerful here that none of those ghosts wants to mess with them… or that whatever bait brought them here in the first place has all but vanished," Anna commented. "There isn't a high likelihood of it being a common occurrence, as there's no noted paranormal activities in this area in the past. Well… there is one even in colonial times, where there were strange flowers that started growing all over the country after a strange looking skull shaped asteroid passed by the planet."

I blinked. "Strange flowers? And a skull shaped asteroid?" Sam and Danny might be interested in this topic. "Could you tell me more about these flowers and the asteroid? Did the people back then have a name for them?"

"Blood blossoms," Anna informed with a small giggle. "They looked like red rosebuds, with a purple-trimmed black stem and leaves. According to some records, when they were in their active blooming state, they released a red vapor that supposedly warded away the paranormal, or trapped the paranormal inside. As for the asteroid, other than the fact it looked like a skull, and was glowing green, nobody really knew anything about it. Some claimed that it could've been the end of the world had it struck the Earth though."

I frowned. Those blood blossoms sound like the Ghost Shield and the Specter Deflector in one. Now those are flowers I wouldn't want to mess with. "Do these blood blossoms still exist? Or did they go extinct after that era?"

"They don't grow everywhere any more, and in fact some places burned them because those flowers ended up killing a lot of crops, and unfortunately that ended up killing a lot of people due to starvation," Anna replied before tilting her head. "There are some places that grow them, but may I ask why you are so interested? You seemed so disinterested in everything I said before."

I blushed a little, as I realized I had gotten sucked into our little 'small talk'. "They're just… interesting topics for me."

"Because your parents are ghost researchers?" Anna asked. "Or is it your own personal interest?"

"I'd say a little bit of both," I admitted. "I also have a friend who has her own greenhouse, and I've heard some interesting stuff about plants." I'm still surprised Sam has an actual venus fly trap in her greenhouse.

"Well maybe you can start using plants as a motivation tool for you?" Anna offered. "Or you could just start studying plants. Who knows, perhaps you'll be a botanist in the future."

"Maybe…" I remarked in consideration. I know I like plants and animals. Maybe not as much as Sam since I don't have a greenhouse or a garden of my own, nor am I interested in going full on vegan like Sam. But I always did have some interest in the wonders of nature, like biology, how plants could grow and take over a ruined civilization to the point that it would eventually erase any existence of there being a civilization there in the first place, how animals grow and live. Huh… now that I think about it, most of that stuff is kind of similar to the ghost culture I've been so interested in lately. Different species living in different ways, having their own way to live, and their own kind of powers to thrive. In a way, ghosts are kind of like animals, since many of them act on instinct.

"Looks like we're here," Anna spoke up, cutting off my train of thought.

"Huh?" I blinked.

"The computer room," Anna pointed at the door we were standing in front of.

I blushed as I remembered why we were walking together in the first place. "R-right… um… yeah, let's get to editing the script."

"Would you like to use an online editing software that I used?" Anna asked. "I like using a certain website as it keeps the data stored to the cloud and it has a load of features, like being able to work on it simultaneously with others."

I blinked, about to decline, before realizing that Anna may have a better way to make editing the script a lot easier and faster. Since I was also working with her, I should be willing to take her up on her offer.

"Yeah, that would be nice," I answered.

Meanwhile in the Skies over Amity Park

"I'd love to come over for a movie marathon tonight guys, but I can't," I sighed as I was talking on my cell phone while flying home in his ghost form. "I still have to finish the school project, and Mom's been pretty… weird and out of it lately, I don't want to leave the house for too long as I'd like to keep an eye on her and make sure she's okay."

"Ahh man, that sucks, but I hope your mom gets better soon, dude," Tucker said over the group call.

"If you need any help with your mom, let us know, we'll be right over," Sam promised. "And if you need a distraction from the school project, Tucker could bring over some games or I can bring a movie."

"Thanks guys, really. Jazz, Andy, Dad, and I have it handled though… well maybe not Dad as he's not always the best when it comes to delicate situations. But I or Andy will definitely give you guys a call if we need you," I answered in an appreciative tone. Sometimes I feel like I don't deserve such good friends like them.

"Good luck with your homework, Danny." Tucker chuckled.

"And try to finish it as soon as you can, get it out of the way and all that," Sam added. "Also, next time you call, do you mind not doing it while flying? It's a bit hard to make out some of your words due to the wind."

I blushed. "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind. Unless it's an emergency."

I hung up the phone before I flew down, seeing how Fenton Works was right in front of me. I usually liked flying directly into Andy and my room in my ghost form, but since Mom started acting strange, she seemed to have taken notice of my or Andy's sudden appearance in the house rather than just assuming that myself or Andy came into the house earlier and she just didn't notice. Mom would often ask us if we came in earlier, and we had to lie to her face, which we weren't entirely sure if our mother even bought our lies. She just never said anything else after we answered.

So now, us twins had been walking on eggshells when it came to using our ghost powers in the house while Mom was home, which was a lot more often these days. She refused to go out on patrol with Dad anymore, she was often seen in the living room or kitchen. And when she was in the lab, we would often hear a lot of loud noises, and Dad had to sit out of the lab for a while. Nobody knew what was going on with Mom, not even Jazz.

Jazz had tried talking to Mom, trying to use psychology to get Mom to open up. While Jazz managed to get something out of Mom, it wasn't anything helpful, all Jazz got was that Mom was stressed out about something, and wanted to change her view on ghosts. But the last thing Jazz got was… kind of heartbreaking.

Mom asked if she had been a good mother to us. Jazz had a little bit of trouble answering that question, since she wasn't a mother herself, and Mom hadn't been the best example for a parent. Though Jazz answered back by saying that she knew Mom loved us.

I sighed to myself as I went behind the house, making sure nobody was around before I transformed back to my human form. I knew Andy would be back soon, since the school closed after 6 PM. Which was good since he was better at psychology than I was, and better at feelings than Jazz was. Though he also didn't know what was wrong with Mom, and Mom seemed to not want to talk to him or me much lately… it was like she couldn't even look us in the eyes anymore, and neither of us knew why.

I took out my house key from my pocket, something I hadn't used much since I got used to my ghost powers unless the Ghost Shield around the house was up. I unlocked the door and opened it. "I'm home!"

Andy and I made it a point to use the front door and enter like normal people and announce we were home when we came home since it seemed to help give Mom a better peace of mind.

Since I was hungry and wanted some dinner, I walked into the kitchen to see if I could find any leftovers, and I saw Dad sitting at the kitchen table, munching on some carrot sticks. I stared at the carrot sticks, trying to make sure they were actually carrot sticks and not some kind of carrot looking candy. I had noticed a change in Dad's diet lately, but I still couldn't believe that he would willingly eat carrot sticks over fudge as a snack.

"Hey there, Danno, how was your mini golf outing?" Dad asked when he saw me.

"It was fun, Sam won," I answered, deciding not to tell Dad about the ghost attack. "Um… so where's Mom?"

Dad pointed to the closed basement door. "Down in the lab."

"She kicked you out again?" I frowned.

Dad nodded. "At least this time she took my advice and turned on the sound-proofing tech."

"Has she ever talked to you about anything since she started acting… like this?" I asked. "Anything at all? Maybe something you two made? Or maybe a ghost is behind this?"

The latter was very unlikely since I hadn't sensed any ghosts near Mom, but I couldn't be sure since ghosts could hide themselves from my senses if they knew how.

Dad shook his head. "We haven't really talked much since your mother started acting this way."

I sighed. I knew it was unlikely Mom would tell Dad, but I was hoping she would at least slip something to Dad. If she didn't want to tell her kids, that was one thing, but if she was trying to keep whatever was bothering her from Dad as well, that was really troubling. I wish I could read minds, I wanted to know what was going on in Mom's head. Overshadowing wouldn't let me see what was on her mind though.

Well this isn't fair. Andy gets the power of premonition, yet I don't get to read people's minds? Seems like I got ripped off there. I pouted to myself.

Though I could practically hear Andy arguing back at that comment. "You wanna know what's unfair? You were a superpowered, half ghost teenager for half the year before. Just be glad I only have one power over you, instead of, oh I don't know, being this superpowered, half ghost teenager while you're just a normal human being? Now that's unfair."

Come on, you can't hold that one on me forever, especially since you're half ghost now too… I grumbled to the imaginary Andy.

There was a sudden ring of the doorbell.

"I got it!" Dad said as he practically launched himself out of the chair, more specifically away from the plate of carrots, and towards the front door.

"Oh! Well hey there, if it isn't Ella!" Dad exclaimed after opening the door. "Come on in! What can I do for you?"

"Ahh, thank you." Ella gratefully replied as she walked in. "Father sent me over to ask if Mrs. Fenton is alright. Father has sent her a number of emails lately and she hasn't responded at all, not even with her usual… less than friendly responses. He was getting a bit worried that something had happened to her."

"Mom has been…" I paused to try to find the right word for it, since even I didn't know what was going on with her enough to describe it. "... busy lately. I don't know if she's alright exactly, but she's physically fine."

Dad was smiling. "It's good to know that Vladdie cares so much about Mads that he sent over one of his daughters to make sure she's alright! He seems to always know when there's something going on with our family, and it shows how truly great of a friend he really is!"

"Uh… yeah… Father wanted me to send his regards," Ella replied in a hesitant tone. "And he wanted me to let you know that if you need anything, feel free to call and he'll try and help out. For now though, hearing that Mrs. Fenton is doing fine, I will depart."

"Just a minute, Ella," I spoke up. "Before you go, I'd like to talk to you, in private, in my room. That is, if you have the time to. You came all the way here, you might as well, right?"

"Oh?" Ella tilted her head a small bit. "That would be acceptable, however I cannot stay for too long as Father would like me back home before dinnertime."

I wanted to say that 'your 'Father' can wait', but I didn't want to be rude, especially if Ella was being sincere with having that much respect for Vlad. "It won't take long."

"Have fun chatting, you two!" Dad smiled as I began leading Ella up the stairs. "It's always nice to spend time with family!"

I knew Dad always considered Vlad as part of the family, but it still left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth to even think about Vlad being part of the family. Vlad often showed just what he thought of our family and how willing he was to tear it apart in order to achieve his goal.

"What did you want to talk about?" Ella questioned as we were entering my room.

I made sure to close the door first, before I double checked that the magic circle I made on the wall was still in effect, so if things got ugly, at least my parents, or more likely just Dad, wouldn't come barging in. I just hoped it wouldn't come to that, of course.

"What've you been learning from Vlad?" I asked, mostly wanting to gauge what Vlad had been doing with them, and I also wanted to see if Vlad may have made her memorize her answer for this kind of question.

Since I hung out with Andy for all my life, I picked up on his habit of analyzing someone to see if they could be lying, or if they started speaking more monotone when they have to rehash a line they were given.

"That's… quite a broad question that I can't exactly answer all that easily," Ella answered in an unsure tone. "There is quite a lot Father has taught Anna and myself; history, mathematics, business, and much more."

"Anything about cults or supernatural stuff?" I asked. "I'm asking because my friend Sam is into that kind of stuff, and I know Vlad used to work with my parents on ghost stuff."

"Well in some aspects, yes, as Father taught us about the cultures of the world and how some key parts of cultures were an unexplained supernatural aspect. There was plenty of speculation that we, as a family, made about what cultures had gods that seemed to match up with stories of paranormal or supernatural beings from other cultures," Ella explained as she started to look around my room. "Father has taught us a fair bit about ghosts as well, and how they, like any other being, have the ability to be good or evil, but they often follow their instincts instead of their minds."

So far, nothing of what she said sounded wrong or suspicious. I couldn't tell if I should be relieved or annoyed that I couldn't see anything of what Vlad could possibly be planning with her.

"Oh wow… nice NASA poster," Ella remarked as she walked over to my poster wall. "That's… no way. Is that actually one of the limited edition posters signed by the Neil Armstrong, Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin, and Michael Collins. How do you have that?!"

I was taken off guard by how much Ella was suddenly fangirling instead of talking like a 'perfect honor roll student' like she was a minute ago. I was beginning to think she didn't have a personality. What surprised me more was the fact she was fangirling over one of my prized possessions since I was 11 years old.

"Only a small number of those exist in the world and in the condition that poster is in, which I'm really glad you have it in a proper casing, could be worth tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars!" Ella exclaimed.

I blushed a little as nobody else who came into my room ever really made a big deal out of the poster, even if she was right about it being incredibly valuable in more ways than one. "It was a birthday present my parents got for me on my 11th birthday… cause Apollo 11, 11th birthday… get it?"

Ella turned to look at me. "You really are lucky to have this, and it backs up what Father said about you wanting to go to space."

Again, I never told Vlad about my interest in space or being an astronaut, how the heck does he know about that? I frowned to myself. "Anna told me you were interested in becoming an astronaut yourself."

Ella nodded. "Honestly, I dream of helping to build the first residential space station or build a colony on the moon. But that's actually step two in my plan. My first desire is to go up into orbit and clear away all that space debris that orbits our planet and makes it hard to easily plan missions to space. After the space near Earth is clear of debris, space elevators, residential space stations, or moon colonies could be built. And after that, I'd hope to help colonize Mars, and then explore farther and farther until I'm in a new solar system or galaxy. If I could live forever, I'd want to try and explore as much of the universe as I could."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Now I know what I sound like to my siblings and friends when I start geeking about space. That would be living the dream though. They only choose 100 people every 2 years to get into the space program though, and while my grades are starting to improve, I'm not very likely to get chosen any time soon." Though most of what she said about building colonies on the moon and other planets, as well as a residential space station, and space elevators sounds a bit too unrealistic. Though it could just be her being a child and imagining doing all that stuff when she grows up. Gotta give her props for having ambitious goals though. I'd just be happy to explore space.

"That's if you go with NASA or any of the other current spacefaring companies and organizations that exist," Ella replied. "I want to get trained and certified by NASA, yeah, but I don't want to become a NASA astronaut. I want to start my own company and use the knowledge I gained to help get more and more people into space."

I remember having the same idea. If people wanted to start colonizing other planets in our solar system, they would need more people going into space other than a few chosen people. Though unlike Ella, I didn't have the knowledge or money to help me with that. I suppose I could try a part time job or something… but with ghost fighting taking a lot of time depending on the ghosts, those part time jobs may not last very long…

Then we heard Dad yelling out in desperation. "No! Not that! Please, think about what you're doing, Maddie!"

"Oh dear, that doesn't sound good…" Ella noted with a frown as she looked at the door. "Should we… go check on that?"

"We don't need this, Jack!" I heard Mom yelling back in frustration.

"But it helps protect our house from ghosts!" Dad argued.

"We already have the Ghost Shield for that," Mom said back.

I frowned. "This has been going on for the past few days."

"But what if a ghost somehow gets past the shield? Or the shield is down? This is to keep them from getting too far inside!" Dad countered.

"Except we've already seen ghosts in our lab and this system does nothing to stop them!" Mom disagreed. "And this system has nearly put us and our KIDS in danger time and again because either the sensitivity is set too high or too low!"

"We can make some adjustments and tweaks, Maddie! But don't destroy the ecto security! We both worked hard on it!" Dad begged.

"Alright! That's enough, you two!" I heard Jazz's voice shouting.

It got quiet again, which meant they were likely talking in their normal volume now.

"This has been happening for the past few days?" Ella asked me when the yelling stopped.

"Yeah," I confirmed. "We've tried talking to Mom, but she hardly talks back, she doesn't even look at me or Andy. We tried giving her some space, though when we do, Mom starts hovering around us. She's been giving mixed signals."

"That's quite strange and worrying," Ella responded before looking at the walls. "And it's… a bit worrisome that your walls are so thin that you can hear their arguments so clearly."

"The walls used to be thicker," I grumbled as I remembered how Mom and Dad would accidentally bust down our walls with some of their more combat ready inventions. "Don't ask…"

"Perhaps I can see if Father would be willing to at least get you some soundproofing foam blocks to put on your walls," Ella offered.

"No offense, but I'd rather not take anything from your father," I sighed, knowing if Vlad was willing to give me anything, he would bug it or something.

"Then perhaps I can at least have him suggest it to your father, as he seems to listen to my Father," Ella replied. "That way your father can take care of it."

Before I could respond, a sudden chill came from my core, and a familiar light blue mist came out of my mouth. I frowned, realizing a ghost was near. I looked out the window quickly, seeing a gray skinned looking humanoid ghost. They were incredibly muscular, almost to the point that it was disturbing. They had thick, metal looking claws on their fingers. They had a collar around their neck, and spiked wristbands on their wrists. They had sharp looking teeth. Their head was almost bold, with a small black mohawk. Their head looked like it had a scar of some kind. Their legs were covered in torn looking black pants. Though what disturbed me most about this ghost were the green eyes. The green eyes looked a bit too human-like rather than ghost-like.

"What was that?"

I suddenly remembered that Ella was still here with me. "Oh… uh, I just suddenly felt a bit cold. Um… I'm going to get some warm water, so just stay here and I'll be back."

As soon as I ran out the door, I wanted to facepalm myself. 'Warm water'? Why couldn't I have just said tea or something?

I didn't have time to think about how stupid my words were, I just needed to get out of the house and get to that ghost before they cause too much damage. My parents were busy arguing, or talking, to notice the ghost. And with how Mom was right now, I didn't think she should be out there fighting ghosts anyways. On top of that, I didn't want to leave that giant ghost all to Dad.

As soon as I was outside, I saw people running away in panic just as the muscle ghost crushed someone's poor car. I quickly ran to the side of the house, trying to cover myself from the public eye. As soon as I was hidden, I activated my core, going ghost. The moment I was fully in my ghost form, I flew out from my hiding spot, and punched the ghost off of the car, coating my fist with a bit of ecto-energy to give it an extra bit of power. The ghost went flying back several feet, and I used a little bit of telekinesis to slow his fall so people could get away before he hit the ground. I might not have been as efficient with telekinesis as Andy was, but I was able to use it in scenarios like this.

I heard someone groaning from inside the crushed car. I looked down to see a man sticking his arm out from the back of the car. Luckily, the back of the car wasn't crushed, so he was able to get away from being smushed. But he was stuck in the car. Thankfully, that wasn't a problem for me. I turned my hands intangible, and grabbed onto the man, turning him intangible and pulled him out of the car.

"Get to safety," I told the man before putting him down.

"Thank you, Danny Phantom," The man gratefully said before his eyes went wide. "Look out!"

Thanks to the warning, I was able to put up a quick ecto barrier just before the muscle ghost could get a nasty payback punch in my face. Though when the muscle ghost punched the barrier, it cracked rather quickly. This ghost was definitely physically powerful. What a time for Andy to be at school right now.

"Run, get out of here!" I quickly shouted at the man.

The man didn't hesitate to run away. I was relieved he ran, because now I could focus on this ghost. I dissipated my barrier and fired a ghost ray at the muscle ghost's chest, pushing him back a few feet, but he stood his ground. Knocking him over wasn't going to be easy.

"Heh heh heh… that tickled…"

I hated fighting in the city, because there were people and houses to take into account. I couldn't be reckless with my powers. I decided to try to take this fight into the air so there would be less chance of hurting someone or destroying someone's home. However, when I tried flying up into the sky, the muscle ghost either teleported or duplicated, because I suddenly saw him coming at me from the sky. I yelped as I was taken by surprise, and didn't have enough reaction time to dodge or put up a barrier. I was quickly punched in the chest by the muscle ghost.

That punch knocked the wind out of me, and I went crashing down into the road so fast that I didn't even have time to blink before I was suddenly lying in a small crater in the road. I groaned a bit, and while I didn't like that I caused some damage to the road, collateral damage was sometimes unavoidable in these fights. But there would be more damage soon if I didn't get up and lead the ghost away from the city. I rubbed my head a bit as I forced myself back onto my feet, feeling like I had been hit in the head by a semi-truck rather than on the chest, because my vision was a bit blurry.

Then I remembered what Andy told me about ghost cores being a ghost's brain. It was possible when the muscle ghost punched me on the chest, he did essentially hit me in the head, which was why my mind felt a little groggy at the moment.

I heard the muscle ghost growling as he floated in midair, brandishing his metal looking claws. I managed to regain my composure, and flew up from the hole. I was planning to aggro the ghost with another ghost ray so he would keep his focus on me, and I could try leading him back into the sky where I could fight him better. However, he suddenly disappeared from his spot. My eyes went wide as he was either a duplicate that disappeared, or he teleported. I didn't have time to think about it for long, because a strong hand suddenly grabbed my throat and pulled me close.

The muscle ghost glared at me, gritting his sharp teeth, looking ready to puncture me with his claws. I had a few options on what I could do. I could try going intangible to get out of his hold. I could try to overpower him and throw him off me. Or I could kick him in the chest with ecto energy, since I know that could be enough to send him flying.

"You slow ghost," The muscle ghost stated with a laugh. "This not fight, this not even warmup. You too weak to win, too slow. Should just surrender."

Yeah right. I glared. I've fought with stronger ghosts than you, you muscular balloon.

I didn't notice it then when I was in the moment, but thinking about it now, despite the muscle ghost's grip on my neck, I didn't struggle to breathe. It was likely due to being in ghost form, I didn't need air as much as my human form, in fact I don't think I needed any air as a ghost. That would be something to bring up to Andy later.

I coated my right foot with ecto energy, ready to kick him either on the chest or in the nuts, when someone suddenly shouted.

"Let go of him!"

Suddenly ghost rays began to pepper the muscle ghost in the face, forcing him to drop me and bring his arms up to block his face.

"I get that you're all out of bananas, but you can't just go rampaging in this city, you big gorilla."

I blinked at hearing a girl's voice, and flew back from the muscle ghost to get out of his reach before looking for the voice. I looked up, seeing that ghost girl I saw back at the golf course, floating there.

"It's you," I noted in surprise.

The ghost girl shot me a glance before pointing at the muscle ghost. "Eyes on the threat, unless you wanna be grabbed and treated like a black and silver banana again."

While she had a point, I really hoped she wouldn't take off after the fight like she did last time. "Fine then, but I do have questions!"

The muscle ghost glared at both of us, and he started charging at us. For a big muscle guy, he sure was fast. Assuming he could teleport, I had to watch out for that too.

"He seems to be able to teleport, or maybe duplicate, watch out for that," I warned the ghost girl.

"Thanks for the tip," The ghost girl replied back.

The ghost girl and I dodged the muscle ghost's incoming punch, which he hit the road instead, causing large cracks. I frowned, seeing how much collateral damage this ghost was doing. We either take him out quickly, or try to get him into the air like I originally planned.

I didn't have time to think, that was more Andy's style. The brute ghost had his claws grow bigger as he began flying at me. The ghost girl fired a ghost ray at him from behind. I noticed she would cup her hands together while she was building her ghost ray to make it bigger and stronger. The brute ghost growled as he looked back at the ghost girl. With his attention off me, I could see how he was suddenly in more places at once. He wasn't duplicating, he was teleporting. He was going at the ghost girl one second, then the next he was right behind her.

I reacted quickly and turned invisible as I quickly flew at the ghost girl and the brute. The ghost girl yelped as the muscle ghost grabbed onto her. I got close while invisible, then coated my foot in ecto energy before kicking him in the chest as hard as I could. This caused the muscle ghost to let go of the ghost girl while being sent flying into the sky. I grinned at that. That's one way to get a ghost into the sky~

"You okay?" I asked the ghost girl.

"It's gonna take way more than that to do any serious damage." The ghost girl grinned.

"Come on, let's see if we can knock him out," I said. At least my house is nearby, so I can fetch a Fenton Thermos or toss him into the Ghost Zone directly once he's knocked out.

I quickly flew up into the sky, sensing the ghost girl following me. I could see the brute ghost stopped in the air, and began to charge at me. I began to build up my ghost ray, waiting for just the right time. Come on… come on…

I could see the ghost girl beside me was also building up her own ghost ray.

The muscle ghost suddenly disappeared. That was what I was waiting for. I didn't use my eyes to try to track where he went, I used my ghost sense this time. I felt him appearing right between me and the ghost girl. I didn't hesitate to fire my built up ghost ray at the muscle ghost, and the ghost girl fired at the same time. There was a big blast from having two powered up ghost rays firing at one ghost at once. I had to shut my eyes for a moment.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw the muscle ghost floating there. I was about to ask how this thing hadn't been knocked out yet, when suddenly, his entire body melted into green ecto goop, and fell down. I blinked in shock, I hadn't expected the ghost to just melt.

"Crab apples!" The ghost girl shouted as she pulled out what looked like a little lipstick container. "I meant to capture him!"

"What the heck is that?" I asked.

"You have a thermos, I have a little lipstick container." The ghost girl smiled.

I was about to ask where she got it, when I heard someone screaming.

"OH COME ON! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FUDGING KIDDING ME!"

I looked down, and knew I was so going to get it later when I realized who screamed, and why. It was Andy, and he was covered in that goo that was the muscle ghost. I felt like I was going to have several crises at once, seeing how I just 'killed' a ghost somehow. However, when I looked up at the ghost girl, wanting to ask her questions, she was already gone. Really!?

I landed in front of Andy, who was looking quite ticked off right now, dripping in goo. "Uh… hey, bro… you… look good in green?"

I flinched when Andy's response was having his eyes glow purple.

"Yeah… uh… let's get you cleaned up, and I'll explain what happened," I sheepishly remarked.

"I swear bro, if you weren't already half dead, I would kill you right now," Andy hissed.

ZAFT Convoy: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Yes, we do have to tease. That's our job as writers.

Sskgmtbooks: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': It may have been, yes~

DarkFoxKit: The answer to your question about Vlad making clones of both twins or just one of them will be answered in the story. That is not something we can answer here as it's spoilers.

Fireclas239: Andy: *Chuckles* I would say I'm hurt, but I'm sadly not a canon character. Dani is quite the fan favorite though, so I don't blame you.

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Hugs Andy* You're canon to me.

DarkFoxKit: And you'll always be my favorite to play with~

Andy: *Nervously chuckles* I uh… thanks?

DP-Marvel94: DarkFoxKit: Good, I'm glad you enjoyed the cookie scene with Clockwork, since most only really mentioned the appearance of Danielle at the end of the chapter. We like adding in fluff whenever we can, and show their relationship developing with other ghosts and people. I'm terrible with politics, so we probably won't go into too much detail with it, but we will try to keep it consistent, and use it in a plot when it's time.

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': We will show more of the culture of the Ghost Zone as time goes on though. And unlike the show, we do like having that 'off screen' development on screen. It's fun to incorporate some slice-of-life elements to the series that helps grow the bonds between characters and helps to tell you readers more about the world.

DarkFoxKit: The hybrids are actually new, not something that existed before until the GIW made the first agent a hybrid. Halfas, as explained before, aren't hybrids.

Yes, that was Bones, but it also kinda wasn't Bones. It's a little complicated. Let's just say you won't likely see those other clones much after their debut for reasons.

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Though… for all anyone knows, they could come back later.

DarkFoxKit: It'll depend on what the future story will be like, and if we have a place for the other clones. For now, they'll likely be on the backburner.

Naminexriku2468: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': I guess you'll just have to wait and see exactly what we did~

DarkFoxKit: But have fun speculating~

GhostHex: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Definitely an interesting theory you have there. Though there are other possibilities. Only time will tell if you have the right one or not. As for the unstable clones… yeah… things definitely get a bit darker here than in the show.

DarkFoxKit: The clones falling apart were always dark, in canon or out. They're living, sentient beings (even if only partially) that just… died, literally died.

ArashiNokitsune: DarkFoxKit: Heh, good catch on the blessed thing, not many mentioned it.

Mana16: DarkFoxKit: You're one of the few to mention the 'blessed by her' thing. Just something to keep in mind for the future. Always a joy to see people enjoying some fluff like Clockwork baking cookies for the twins. XD And yes, this is the episode of the clones. We've come a long way to get here.

I'd say if Butch did managed to get that Halloween special into season 3, then he'd have to tweak and rework some things to make it work. Although season 3 was very… nonsensical, and had some plot holes. Like at the end of Torrent of Terror, Danny just casually mentions how he gave Vortex back to the Observants, which raises a whole lot of questions, like how did Danny know who the Observants are when he never met them before? Or that Vortex was being kept prisoner by the Observants? Did Clockwork tell him? If so, when? Why? Off screen interaction? That's not something you do off screen for. It's a big deal for Danny to learn who the Observants are. So I wouldn't put it past Butch to have Vlad cause chaos in the town he's mayor just because he's 'the bad guy', never mind all the other stuff Vlad had going for him.

I'm looking forward to when we get to the Halloween idea ourselves though, we have a lot in store, especially when our boys start going through ghost puberty~