Okay, I have issues straitened out (for the most part), and I'm going to finish putting this up! I should have it all up by the end of the month, depending on my beta reader who's having some problems, but she's as awesome as ever, even if I'm not. Trying to get back into the swing of things, so please bare with me. Thanks guys:hug:


"What was that!" Danny hissed as he poked his head through the boy's locker room door, only to see Paulina's head do the same from the Girls. Although he knew it was really Abby, seeing 'Paulina' use that ability still unnerved him slightly...not that he would ever admit it.

"Ash knocked over a bucket," Abby explained hastily. "We're sorry!"

They both paused as the echo of footsteps reached their ears. A devious smile crossed Danny's face as he looked down the hall toward the sounds.

"Remind me to thank her later," he said, with a cruel grin, and vanished. Abby blinked and looked around before shrugging her shoulders and disappearing inside the locker room once again.

xoxoxox

Jazz followed Tucker down the hall, glancing down at the Fenton Ghost Finder as she went. "Looks like they're directly ahead," she whispered to Tucker.

"Why are you whispering?" he whispered back.

"Because I don't want to let Danny know we're--"

"You've got to be kidding me..."a familiar, disembodied voice cut her off before she could say anything more.

"-here," she finished dejectedly.

"That worked well," Tucker commented sarcastically, just before stumbling backward to avoid Danny, who appeared about three inches from his face.

He shook his head in mock amazement as he spoke: "And you were complaining about the karate suit?" he asked, his voice incredulous but mocking at the same time. Then he rocked back in the air, laughing with his hands wrapped around his stomach.

Tucker gritted his teeth, but Jazz stepped in before either one could say any more.

"Danny, what happened to you!" she asked. "Why are you like this again!"

Her brother stopped (with some difficulty) and regarded her thoughtfully. "That's right. I didn't tell you the last time I had this much fun...you know, the whole thing with Vlad--the idiot--and the gloves, you thought my goodie-two-shoed hero side was back to stay." He chuckled darkly. "I never told you about the little voice in the back of my mind. Well he--" he paused, and suddenly swept his arm aside in a sweeping bow, still standing in mid-air, "--I, decided to take over again."

Jazz opened her mouth to say something else when the girl's locker room door opened. Sam walked out, raising an eyebrow and blinking at the newcomers.

"And it's all thanks to Sam," Danny added as an afterthought.

Ashlynn blinked her green eyes and shook Sam's head, deciding she probably didn't want to know. "Danny, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for knocking the bucket over like that."

"Actually," he grinned, "it worked out for the best."

Jazz stepped forward with her hands on her hips. "We're not letting you get away."

"It's not like you can stop me," Danny scoffed at her before turning back to Sam. "Shall we?"

"Leave?" Ashlynn blinked. "Uh...sure."

"Oh no you don't!" Tucker said, tossing a silver, black and green airhorn to Jazz, who caught it easily.

"NO!" Danny and Ashlynn yelled simultaneously, both pairs of eyes wide with recognition. They'd both been there the first time the Fenton Airhorn had been used on ghosts. Although she had been under the of control of another ghost at the time and everything seemed like a big blurred mix, she distinctly remembered the object Jazz now held...and the memory wasn't one she favored.

She dove at Danny, phasing him through the wall just as the spectral energy in sonic form resounded through the empty halls, magnifying it.

Danny and Sam both landed on the other side of the wall, outside the school, and slid along the pavement before skidding to a stop. Ashlynn stayed on the ground, just hanging onto consciousness.

"Ow," she muttered.

"Sam! I mean, Ashlynn!" Danny yelled, mentally kicking himself for the slip. She turned half-lidded green eyes up to look at him. "You must have only gotten a glancing blow..." he muttered, half to himself, half to her.

"Ow," she replied. Danny turned a darkening glare back tot he wall they'd just come through, and he growled as he stood and leapt back into the school.

Meanwhile Tucker and Jazz had started for the nearest door, hoping they would be prepared for another bout against the half-ghost.

"Do you think we got them?" Tucker asked.

"I don't know," Jazz replied. "All I know is--" She stopped as the Fenton Airhorn jerked violently away from her. "NO!" she yelped, stumbling after it, but to no avail. She and Tucker backed away as the weapon began to glow red.

"This will teach you who you've decided to deal with!" Danny's voice snarled at them just as the canister exploded, shattering into pieces that flew in all directions. Jazz and Tucker cried out as they caught the brunt of the blast, dropping to their knees in its wake.

The locker room door opened again as Paulina stumbled out, her hands over her ears. "That...noise...what was it?" she muttered almost incoherently.

"The Fenton Airhorn," Danny said, glaring at his sister and best friend.

"Oh. Ash?" Abby turned a still stunned gaze around the hall. "Ashlynn?" Her eyes widened suddenly, all confusion gone in an instant. "ASHLYNN!" She rushed over to Danny and grabbed the front of his suit, looking at him with a pleading, almost desperate look. "Where is she!" she yelled hysterically. "You know, don't you!"

Danny blinked at her before answering in a stammer. "Um...I-I...yes. She phased through that wall," he gestured behind him, "when--" He stopped, realizing that he now spoke to thin air. "Um..." he blinked a confused look away and turned back to Jazz and Tucker, recovered from their temporary daze.

"We'll settle this later," he growled, then leaned towards Jazz. "Count on it, Jazz." With that, he followed Paulina through the wall.

Tucker looked around at the scattered pieces of the Airhorn--the one weapon besides the Fenton Thermos they knew would work on Danny without seriously hurting him—with a worried expression. Shaking off the rest of his daze (although he couldn't quite shake the fear and despair that accompanied it), he looked helplessly over at Jazz as she regained her feet and started rummaging through his backpack.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "We can't stop him now."

"Yes we can," she muttered softly.

Tucker sighed and sat back on his haunches. "How?"

"We capture him," she replied after a hesitation.

Tucker blinked. "But even if we catch him, we can't knock him out, and unless we can he won't change back to Danny!" Tucker pointed out, punching the floor in frustration. "Ow!" he yelped and shook his hand with a grimace.

Jazz didn't answer.

"Jazz?" Tucker looked back, only to see her holding his Fenton Thermos, and looking at it sadly.

"We have to treat him like we'd treat any other malevolent ghost we catch..."

Tucker suddenly stood up as he realized what she had implied. "Jazz, we—we can't! I am NOT throwing my best friend into the Ghost Zone!"

"Do you think I like the idea?" The red-head snapped back. Then she took a breath and forcibly calmed herself. "Unless you can come up with a better idea, we may have to, Tucker," she said, walking past him and towards the door. "We have to stop him however we can."

"But--" Tucker started, helplessly.

Jazz cut him off with a glare. "That's what ghost hunters do, and this is our solution until we come up with something better." With that, she turned away, leaving a mortified Tucker to follow after her. He didn't see the tear that dripped down her cheek before she could wipe it away.

"Please let us find another way," she prayed silently, mentally preparing herself for the confrontation that would undoubtedly come all too soon. "Please..."