Jazz' core thrummed in her chest. Energy lapped from it through her body, streaming through her veins. Pooled together in her hand.
A golden glow emitted from her hand, but it was dim, flickered wildly.
"You're getting there," Danny—Phantom—encouraged, standing right next to her. "You can feel the energy coming from your core, yeah? If you increase that amount, the blast will get brighter and stronger."
"Right." She tried to tug on her core, tried to pull more energy from it. The energized ectoplasm in her hand pulsed, growing bigger. Its glow grew more steady, too.
"And then, when you're ready to let go of it, fire! Aim at your target, and then will the energy to go there."
She nodded, watching the golden-yellow ball of energy in her hand. It was in constant motion, the glow dimming and brightening in sync with the pulse of her core.
Slowly, steadily, she raised the hand towards her previously chosen target. The rock was a big target, and close enough that she felt like it would be nearly impossible for her to miss.
She released the energy.
"Good hit," Phantom complimented, floating over to the rock. Its surface was scorched where she hit it, but the soot rubbed off easily. "Not a lot of strength behind it just yet, but that's fine. Aim is more important."
"Why was it golden, anyway?" She walked over as well, but it was as she thought. The hit had blackened the surface of the stone, but it was barely damaged underneath. "Aren't your blasts green?"
"I dunno." Phantom shrugged, ignoring her incredulous expression. "Look, I'm not an expert on all things ghost, okay? I know some stuff, but I had other priorities. I guess it might be linked to eye color, though."
"Eye color?" she repeated, thinking it over. Yes, she supposed Phantom had blasts that matched his eyes, and she had golden eyes, but… "Do you know more ghosts as an example, then? I thought green was kind of standard, since that's what our parents have."
"Pretty sure green is the most common, because that's the standard color of ectoplasm." He formed a ball of ecto-energy of his own, tossing it from one hand to the other. "And I'm not sure if it holds up for full ghosts, but all half-ghosts I know have energy blasts that match their eyes. Well, more or less. Plasmius had magenta energy and red eyes."
She nodded along, then ground to a halt. "Sorry, who's Plasmius? There's another half-ghost?"
"Well, yeah. In my world, at least. Not sure if he's different in this one." Phantom shook his head, turning to look at her again. "If he, or his equivalent in this world, is anything like mine, you don't want to bother with him. He doesn't live anywhere nearby, and he's not gonna help you. I'll—"
"Keep an eye out for him?" she finished dryly. "Yeah, I figured."
"Come on, Jazz, don't be like that. I'm not keeping you in the dark on purpose, alright? I just want to make sure I don't tell you anything that's different here."
"Yeah, I know." She sighed, but nodded. "It's just— You do that a lot, you know? With Red, and Danielle, and now this Plasmius. And you've barely told me anything about your experiences with the ghosts, with, well. All this."
"It's just… hard." He rubbed a hand through his eyes, and when he looked up again, the sadness was back. "This place is so much like home, and all the ghosts… I keep remembering when I first met them, with Sam and Tucker by my sides. Or you, or hell, sometimes even Red. There's so much history, and it's… I miss them, Jazz."
He heaved a heavy sigh, his boots touching down in the grass. His posture was slumped, like he was carrying the weight of a world. In some way, she supposed he was. "And there's no point in going looking, because I'm never going to find the portal on my own, and I know that. But it's still… hard, to talk about that. To know that somewhere out here, there's a Sam and a Tucker, and they're almost like mine, but not quite. That don't have any of these experiences."
"I'm sorry," she said, and she meant it with all her heart. "I didn't mean—"
"I know," he interrupted her, waving a hand. "I know, Jazz. I'll… try to talk more about this stuff, okay?"
"Yeah, alright." She nudged him, gently. "Want me to try blasting that rock again?"
He snorted. "That could barely be considered a blast, you know. But, yeah, go for it."
"Oh, are you really trash talking me now? Wow." She stirred her core back to life, feeling it hum with energy. Honestly, as offended as she acted, she was just glad to get Phantom cheered up again, even if only a little.
"We'll have to work on your trash talk too, you know?" Phantom threw a look at the ball of ectoplasm she was forming, then took position between her and the rock. "Amity Park knows we're here, now. That ghosts exist. Sooner or later you'll have to fight for real, with opponents that understand what you're yelling at them."
"I know, you don't have to tell me." More energy pulsed into the ball. She wanted this one to have some punch to it. "But for now, I would rather focus on the actual fighting aspect."
Phantom hummed, not shifting from his position between her and her target. "Good. In that case, we'll move on to target shooting. Tell me when you're ready to fire that one."
"And, what, I'm supposed to just shoot you?" She shook her head. "No matter how weak this blast will probably be, I don't want to risk hurting you, Phantom."
"If you warn me before you shoot it, I'll make a shield." He reclined a little, entirely too casual considering that he was talking about her shooting him. "It'll give us a better image of your current strength, and you won't break through anyway. I've stopped ecto-blasts way stronger than your core can make right now, it's fine."
"If you insist…" she said, uncertainly. But, well. If he was sure about that, who was she to tell him no? "I'm ready when you are."
"Good." A green dome appeared around him, transparent enough for her to see him within. Its surface stirred, in constant motion. It almost looked like an oversized ecto-blast, but hollowed out so one could take shelter within.
Jazz lifted her hand, putting a last bit of energy into her blast. And, once more, she fired.
The dome took the hit easily, the blast sizzling out against its almost liquid surface.
"Very good. Was that where you aimed?" The dome dissolved, leaving Danny floating in the open clearing. "The strength was alright, but you'll need to work more to increase it, of course."
"Of course," she repeated, rolling her eyes. "The aim was pretty close, but I'll need to practice more. It's weird, to aim with your arm like that."
"It took me a while to get the hang of it, too," Phantom assured her, floating closer again. "We can practice more, if you want, or we can try something else."
"I… Let's stick with this for now." The shield could be useful, but she was pretty sure she needed more consistent strength for that, first. "This was a good way to build core strength, right?"
"Pretty good, yeah. And it's a basic technique, which can serve as a jumping-off point for more advanced techniques." Phantom floated back to his old position, his legs merged together in a spectral tail. "Let me know when to throw up another shield."
"Sure," she said, and they went through the motions once more. Phantom's shield blocked her next blast with ease, not even flickering upon impact.
"Better," he complimented her, looking pleased. Then he caught sight of something in her expression, and his face dropped. "Jazz? What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she assured him quickly, but it didn't seem to work as his frown grew deeper. "Nothing related to this, really, it's fine."
"I never see you look frustrated, Jazz, unless it's something serious. You know you can talk to me, right, even if it's not half-ghost stuff?"
She sighed, but nodded. "Yeah. It's just… It's nothing, really."
Phantom scoffed. "I don't believe that. Seriously, Jazz, either tell me, or tell someone else. If I learned anything from my Jazz, it's that keeping this stuff to yourself does more harm than good."
"Oh, don't use my own psychology techniques against me." She stuck out her tongue, but admittedly, he had a point. "It's nothing, really, just… I hate seeing all the bullying happening at school, you know? They never target me, sure, but I wish I could help anyway."
"Trust me, I know the feeling." He floated in closer, settling in next to her. "I did get bullied, you know. After I got my powers, even I didn't want anyone to know about them, it was so easy to imagine getting back to them. Invisibility and intangibility… not to mention overshadowing!"
"Why didn't you?" she asked, turning to look at him. His eyes sparked with life, now, and that ever-present hint of sadness. Memories and homesickness, she figured.
He snorted. "I did. Sam wasn't very happy with me, but Tucker approved—he got bullied too, you know—so I figured I was in the right. Ah, if only it worked out like that…"
"What happened? Did they catch on, somehow?"
"Nah, not them." It didn't seem like he was going to elaborate, so she prodded him a little. Okay, maybe a lot. It was her right as a little sister to be annoying! "Alright, fine, I'll tell!"
"Go on, then," she insisted.
"Okay, okay, chill. None of the humans caught on, but there was this ghost who was opposed to bullies. Only, he thought that I was the bully, because he hadn't seen how it started. It was… a whole mess, honestly, so I tried not to use my powers for that kinda stuff afterwards. Didn't want to risk it again."
"How did that even happen?" she asked, curious despite herself. It sounded like this ghost had the right idea, honestly. Even if Phantom might be reluctant to search them out, maybe she could. "How did they catch you off-guard, anyway?"
"Oh, Sidney has a portal of sorts inside Casper High." Phantom ran a hand through his hair, mussing it up. "It's a mirror inside his old locker. He can go through it, but no one else can, so it's not a huge deal. Not sure what made it activate, honestly. He just started appearing after I got switched to that locker. I ended up breaking the mirror to make sure he couldn't come back, although he can still use the regular portal."
"Huh." She quickly scrawled all this down in a mental notepad. Sidney, a ghost in Casper High, had an old locker with a mirror that activated after Danny started using it… Maybe she could find it later, with a little research. "Well, I'm glad it all turned out okay in the end."
Phantom laughed, humorlessly. "Yeah, me too. Now, if that was your only concern, how about another ecto-blast?"
Jazz paused in front of the locker. Glancing one way and then another, she made sure that the hallways were empty. In front of her was locker 724, in all its damaged and rusty glory.
She hesitated. It hadn't been all that hard to find information about the ghost Phantom had mentioned. Sidney Poindexter was an old student of Casper High, bullied relentlessly throughout the years. Stories about him haunting Casper High had been around for decades, but none of those stories ever mentioned his mirror.
But Phantom—Danny—had. According to him, Sidney had started appearing from his mirror once Danny got the locker. She supposed that the mirror needed the increased amount of activity to activate, or perhaps Sidney needed it. Either way, the best way to keep an eye on the activated portal would be to move to someplace safer.
Gathering her courage, and with one last glance to make sure no one was watching, Jazz shifted to her ghost form. As Specter, she turned herself intangible, reaching through the locked door. Her hands closed around the edge of the mirror, and carefully, she pulled it out. She wasn't sure if it was adhered to its spot, somehow, but it didn't seem to be.
Pulling it out entirely, she was left with an ordinary-looking mirror. Shifting back to her human form didn't make it change, either.
"Not sure what I expected," she muttered under her breath, turning back to her own locker. If only she had more information on how this was supposed to work. What if she had broken the connection permanently by moving the mirror?
Jazz unlocked her locker easily, then lifted the mirror to place it in the back. She paused. Lowered the mirror again.
Gently, she blew the dust off, then wiped the remainder away with the sleeve of her shirt.
"There," she said, placing the mirror in the back of her locker. It hadn't activated to the dusting off either. Maybe she needed to talk to him?
"I… I don't know if you can hear me…" She paused, biting her lip, feeling foolish. But if Sidney was real, and he certainly sounded like he was, maybe she just needed to treat him like a person? "I've… heard about you, Sidney. About the good you do, standing up to bullies. And… honestly, I think the school could really use someone like you. The bullies are out of control, and teachers aren't stopping them, no matter how I ask. And I— I might have powers, ghost powers, but I don't— I don't know how to use them for this. I want to help, but I don't know how."
She swallowed, but the mirror remained blank. Undisturbed. "I don't know if you're… If you can hear me." She reached out, placing her fingers on the cold surface of the mirror. "But, Sidney, if you can hear me… Please come. Please help me deal with these bullies."
Still no reaction. She drew her hand back, feeling stupid. No matter. Even if it didn't work, at least the mirror was someplace safe.
Shaking her head, Jazz closed her locker again. She might've wasted most of her break on this, but she had some time still left.
Slowly, Jazz shifted books from her locker to her backpack, and vice versa. Around her, the noise in the hallways lessened as more and more people left. It was Friday, now, almost a week after she'd brought the mirror to her own locker.
Even if she had doubted the effect of it at the time, the stories were undeniable. More and more people started talking about it, about bullies getting shut down, getting put in their place.
The hallways around her emptied. She kept up the pretense of being slow until she was sure that they were empty, that she was alone.
"Hey," she said, addressing the mirror. "Um… Are you there?"
The surface of the mirror rippled, like the Portal did when Technus came through, little more than a week ago. And, just like then, out came a ghost.
Colored entirely in monochrome—which she didn't even realize was possible for ghosts—was a teenage ghost roughly her own age. Dressed in old-school style clothes, which made sense considering how long he'd been around, and with slick black hair, he sure looked the part of a nerd.
Sidney Poindexter blinked at her behind his large glasses.
"Hey, I'm Jazz. Jazz Fenton," she introduced herself, shooting him a disarming smile and offering a hand. "You're Sidney, right? Sidney Poindexter?"
"Er… Yes." He took her hand, shaking it hesitantly. Like all ghosts, his hand was cold to the touch, and a little too soft to be human. "And you are the halfa— the half-ghost. The one who spoke to me, earlier this week?"
"Yeah, that was me." She glanced around, just to be sure, but she hadn't heard anyone approach. The hallways were still empty. "I go by Specter in my ghost form. I've been working together with my brother Phantom to keep this city safe from ghostly threats, but… the school isn't even safe from human threats. I heard stories about you, about who you are and what you do, and I was hoping you could help."
The ghost nodded, then straightened his bow tie. "Well, I'm honored to be considered. It would be my pleasure to help in any way I could."
"Good, good, I'm glad." She shot him another smile, and Sidney flushed a darker gray—a substitute for blushing? "As long as you don't go too far, of course, but I think you've got a good grasp on that already."
"Yes, of course. We'd be no better than the bullies if we caused any real hurt." Sidney hesitated, then cleared his throat. "Are there any… limitations to this agreement? To stay in the school, to only appear within certain hours, any such things?"
"I mean, not really?" She shrugged. "So far the city hasn't seen a ton of ghosts yet, since Phantom and I have tried to keep everything out of sight, but that'll end sooner or later anyway. As long as you don't cause any trouble, you're free to go wherever you want in the city."
"The whole city?" Sidney repeated, growing wide-eyed. "You would offer me such freedom so easily?"
"Well, yeah." She shrugged. "As long as they're not causing trouble, I don't see why we must differentiate between ghosts and humans. The public probably won't agree with me on that, especially the local ghost hunters, but as long as you can avoid them you'll be fine."
"Ah. I'm not sure if I'm ready to mess with ghost hunters."
"They're not a huge threat right now," Jazz assured him. "They don't have functional ghost scanners—Phantom and I keep disabling them—so they won't find you unless anyone reports your presence. If you stick to quiet areas you'll be fine. The local woods nearby are very nice. If you want, I can show you around sometime?"
Sidney flushed dark gray again. "Well, I'm not sure…"
"It's no big deal. We can be friends, right, and that's what friends do. You're helping me out a ton with this, let me help you."
"Well, gosh." He scuffed his shoe on the floor, then looked back up to her if. "If you insist, I would love to make your acquaintance."
"Friends, then." She smiled at him, wide and bright. "Hey, I gotta go right now—I promised to train with Phantom. We can talk after school on Monday, find a good moment, if you want?"
"Ah. That would be… nice." Sidney smiled back, clearly uncertain. "See you on Monday, then?"
"Yeah! I put your mirror in my locker, by the way, so you should be safe to pass through it whenever you want." She started backing towards the doors, raising one hand to Sidney. "Bye, Sidney!"
"Goodbye, Jazz!" he said, hesitantly raising a hand as well.
"You don't believe me," Jazz said, incredulously.
"It's not that," Phantom quickly assured her, raising his hands. He was, as usual, in ghost form. "I'm just having some trouble imaging it. Sidney was always easily angered, and he never got over our first conflict."
"He seemed fine to me." She crossed her arms, staring down her alternate universe brother. "Very calm, very understanding."
Phantom blew out a breath, landing on the soft grass as well. "I mean, good for you! Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for you. I just… keep expecting things to go the same way for you as they did for me, even though you're a completely different person."
"Is that why you want to wait before telling me about Red, Danielle, and Plasmius?" She relaxed a little, cocking an eyebrow. "Because things go differently for me than they did for you?"
"Yeah, that, and I want to make sure none of the fundamental things are different in this universe." He gestured at himself, then at her. "After all, something is different at the very base, with you being the younger sibling and the half-ghost around here."
"Fair enough," she admitted, dropping the tense posture altogether. "So you're alright with letting Sidney roam free?"
"Sure, why not? As long as he understands the dangers. And hopefully he'll keep a low profile for now, until Amity gets a little more familiar with ghosts."
"I warned him, at least." She hoped the same, though. At least Sidney looked rather disarming, as far as ghosts went. "And I promised to show him some quieter places, so he can go outside without being invisible or getting spotted."
Phantom nodded. "Clever. And who knows, maybe he can teach you a thing or two about ghost stuff as well."
"I thought you were my ghost teacher?" She sniffed. "Unless you're going back on your words?"
"Honestly, I don't know all that much about ghost culture, and all that." Phantom shrugged, shooting her a sheepish smile. "I know how powers work, and I know how to fight. Mostly because those two are basically the same thing. But beyond that? My knowledge is pretty limited."
"Well, being able to defend myself is an important skill," she allowed. "Especially since not all ghosts will listen. Technus could've caused a lot of trouble if you hadn't been around to stop him."
"I like your approach, though." Phantom flew in closer, nudging her. "For the first few months, my answer to pretty much everything was to fight them. Seeing how you're doing, I can't imagine how many unnecessary enemies I made."
"I guess I have a good teacher to guide me." She leaned against him, her core stirring oddly in her chest. "I don't need to make enemies if you scare them off before I can fight them."
Phantom laughed, suddenly. "Are you just really good at guessing, or did you hear about Skulker?"
"Who?"
He laughed even harder, now, curling against her side. Whoever Skulker was, Phantom must've actually scared the guy off before she ever discovered he was around. Convenient, but it also made her very curious.
"Seriously, Phantom, who's Skulker?"
"I'll— tell you if it's— relevant," he managed between bouts of laughter. Wiping away a tear, he added, "I'm keeping— an eye on him."
She blew out a noisy breath. "Of course you are."
Jazz riffled through a few more items, thanked the shopkeeper for their time, then moved on to the next stall. Danny—her Danny—had invited her along to the Amity Park Swap Meet, and she had excitedly grabbed onto the opportunity. These days, she felt like she spent more time with Phantom than with her actual brother.
But the moment they had arrived, Danny has sought out Sam and Tucker, and had left her to fend for herself. Looking back, she probably should've expected as much, but still. Now she was here all alone, when looking through the stalls was way more fun with someone to joke around with.
She sighed, skipping over to the next stall. And her search was looking rather hopeless as well. She'd hoped to find something to give to Sidney, to thank him for helping her, but so far it didn't look great. She was pretty sure he was from the 50's, and stuff from that time… Well, there wasn't much she could find, anyhow.
Before she could consider the next stall, her core stirred to life, and she paused. Were her powers acting up?
Blue air wisped from her mouth, and she stifled a chagrined sigh. Nope. A ghost had come to mess up her nice weekend day.
Shouts sounded from nearby, and cursing, she ran to find a secluded spot. Hiding behind a few abandoned stalls, she tugged on her ghost core, shifting into Specter.
At the ghost wasn't too hard to find, floating high above the rapidly-emptying marketplace. Green-skinned like most ghosts, but with long black hair and clothes in purple and blue, her spectral tail languidly curled underneath her.
"Hey!" Jazz called as she flew in closer, drawing the ghost's attention. "Who are you, and why are you causing trouble?"
The ghost narrowed her red eyes at Jazz, pressing a dainty hand to her chest. "I am Desiree, the wishing ghost! I fulfill any wish I hear, including yours. Tell me, what is it you want most dearly?"
"Uh…" Jazz ground to a halt. "For you to… stop causing trouble?"
Desiree scoffed, lowering her hand. "Surely there must be something you wish for?" She flew closer, suddenly, curling around Jazz. "Something you… desire?"
"Get away from her!" A vivid green ecto-blast whizzed right by the two of them, and Desiree flinched away from Jazz. Before she could really process what was happening, Phantom was next to her, green energy coiling around his fists.
"Or what?" Desiree snarled back, pink energy whirling around her own hands. "Afraid that I might give her something you cannot? Afraid that you cannot chain her anymore?"
"What? No!" Phantom shook his head, gesturing over at her. "She's—"
"I'm his sister," she cut in, catching the hand aggravatedly gesturing at her. For some reason Desiree had gone on the defensive when Phantom had shown up, and whatever it was, she wanted her to calm down again. "Sorry, he's just really protective. Most ghosts tend to pick fights, you know, and I'm not a very good fighter just yet."
Phantom huffed, but didn't argue. His spectral tail lashed angrily, but he doused the ecto-blasts, at least.
"I… see." Desiree released her gathering energy as well, the pink dissipating. "I apologize."
"It's fine," Phantom said, unexpectedly, after shooting a short glance at Jazz. "You have a bad history with men, right? Of course you'd be suspicious. Plenty of terrible men walking around. I can… I can leave, if it helps?"
Clearly the suggestion was as surprising to Desiree as it was to her, as the ghost grew wide-eyed. After a moment of quiet, she shook her head. "No, it's… alright. You're clearly not the sort of person I thought you were."
Quiet fell, as Phantom and Desiree were looking at each other. They must've fought in Phantom's own world, Desiree's wariness of men causing a clash.
Which left her with a problem. Desiree implied that she had to fulfill any wish she heard. If that was the case, she couldn't be left to her own devices. Who knew what kind of wishes people might utter, that she would be forced to fulfill. If only there was some way to… solve… that…
Oh. Duh.
"I have a wish, actually," she said, drawing the attention back to her. Phantom made a face that said, very clearly, 'don't do it'.
"Do you?" Desiree shifted, her jewelry melodiously clinking together. "What is it then, young ghost?"
Next to her, Phantom started gesturing even more clearly, but she ignored him. He had admitted that he had fought every ghost he had encountered. This, right here? This was her expertise.
"I wish you could chose to fulfill wishes, rather than being forced to fulfill any wish you hear."
"Oh," Desiree said, blankly. She raised a hand, almost automatically, pink energy coiling around it. "As you have wished it, so shall it be."
The energy washed over them, then pulled back onto itself, coursing through Desiree. She blinked, almost as if surprised by the event. Looked down at her hands. Then at Jazz.
"What…?" she asked, like she was still trying to process something she had done automatically. "I— You—"
"I wished for you to be free to fulfill wishes, rather than forced to." Next to her, Phantom made a shocked noise. "That's… That wasn't wrong, was it? I thought— You looked so unhappy, but…"
"No, no, I— Thank you." Desiree smiled, uncertainly, wavering. "You have done me a great kindness. How could I possibly hope to repay this?"
"You don't have to." Jazz flapped a hand, waving off the offer. "I—we—protect this town, yes, but that isn't limited to the humans. If ghosts come here, hurting or upset, we help them too. Right, Phantom?"
"I— Yes." He nodded, maybe a little too forceful to be natural. "Yeah, like she said. We're happy to help however we can, Desiree."
"That is unexpected kind of you." Desiree's gaze drifted from Jazz to Phantom. "Both of you. I'll take my leave now, but, with your permission, I would love to return at a later moment."
"Of course," Jazz assured her before Phantom could say otherwise. "This was one of the first times the city saw ghosts, so the ghost hunters might become more active after this, so I don't know if it'll be safe to visit, but we're fine with it. Right, Phantom?"
"Yeah, exactly. Any ghost that isn't causing trouble is welcome in Amity Park."
"In that case, I would love to take you up on that offer." She smiled, kinder this time, more sure of herself. "Perhaps I can repay your kindness next time. For now, I must go. Goodbye, you two."
They waved goodbye as Desiree faded from visibility, leaving just the two half-ghosts hovering in the air.
"Well," Danny said, breaking the silence. "Guess that the cat's out of the bag now. Amity definitely knows about ghosts now."
"At least she didn't cause any major damage?" Jazz looked down at the abandoned marketplace, but whatever Desiree had done to cause the initial panic, she must've undone it before she left. "Could've been worse."
From here on out, Jazz is mostly gonna refer to alternate universe Danny as Phantom, mostly because it got real confusing otherwise. Just fyi! It should be clear enough within in the fic's context, but I figured I would make note of it as well.
Also look! Jazz is making some well-deserved friends! I'm still kinda waffling on how I write Sidney, because I can't write old-timey English, but that won't stop me from adding him. He makes such a good match for Jazz, it would be a crime not to make them friends in this AU.
This chapter was kinda long, but next week's is probably gonna be shorter again. I gotta run the entire thing through a good round of editing, but it probably won't come to the 5k of this chapter and the one after. Which is, y'know, normal for chaptered fics and stories, but still. Figured I would give a head's up.
Next week, chapter 5: Bitter Reunions