Yay, chapter four! Ghost Zone stuff! Although that will be nearer the end of the chapter. Sorry! But that's just the way it worked out. Thanks for the reviews, and the votes for who will find out Danny's secret first. But keep on voting!

Snoopykid: Thanks for your vote, and if she wins I'll make sure to do that!

Moyashi: I think it was mentioned in the first chapter, the ghosts know that Danny is a halfa, just like in the show, and Vlad does too (him learning Danny's secret in the show had no involvement from Sam and Tucker, so that situation did not change).

Sophia daughter of Nyx: I'm glad that you think so

PhantomFanForever: I'm really glad you think so, and it's good to know I'm not the only procrastinator choosing fanfiction instead of work. Thanks for your vote, and I'm all for DxS too. You may be pleased to know I might add some fluff moments in.

DB-KT: Thanks for pointing out the formatting error in the previous chapter. I didn't realize that the spaces I put between time jumps weren't showing up. And I probably wouldn't have if you hadn't said anything.

El0don: Thanks for your vote, and if Tucker wins, I hope his reaction will be what you're looking for

Angela: That is an excellent question. No, Jazz doesn't secretly know. She did not discover his secret during the whole Spectra ordeal During Ultimate Enemy, in my story the timeline of Jazz's actions is shifted slightly. She discovered Danny was going to cheat and then later discovered his secret ghostly identity. From there, her actions are the same, in that she sent the Booo-merang to the Ghost Zone and saved Danny in the end. When Clockwork turned back time, it went to just after Jazz had discovered Danny was going to cheat, but before she learned his secret, instead of while he was writing the test (effectively eliminating Jazz's knowledge of Danny's ghostly self. Clockerwork has a slight soft spot for Danny, which allowed the exception of turning back time so far). Danny then returned the C.A.T. answer sheet to Mr. Lancer after class when the teacher had been planning to confront Danny about it.

Potterhead2016: I couldn't decide either, that's why I decided to do the vote thing. I didn't want to end up choosing someone too clichéd.

Toolazy to long in: I would have been too lazy too, and I have zero intentions of dropping or abandoning this fic. I would have replied to your review sooner, but it only showed up on my page now.

I don't own DP, if I did there would be way more episodes and, quite frankly, the violence would not allow it to be a 'kids show' in the sense that it is.

So, yeah. Here's the newest chapter. Enjoy.


Several shrieks rose from the group of Ghostketeers as Dash's gun went off. The blast of ecto-energy soared through the air and everyone ducked. Or at least, almost everyone. Danny, who had his back turned to the jock, spun out of the way as the shot flew past him and exploded against the wall. Used to close calls, he didn't think anything of the sudden flare of heat along his side as he dodged and barely noticed the burn it had inflicted.

Maddie Fenton, however, did notice.

"Danny!" She cried, rushing forwards. She grabbed his shoulders and roughly turned her son so that she could clearly see his side. His shirt had been singed through, and there was a bright red mark on his skin where the shirt had burned away.

"Oh… ow!" Danny winced, moving his hands to his side and covering the wound from sight. A year of pretending Dash's punches hurt had made Danny a fairly good actor when it came to feigning pain. Or at least, he thought it did.

"Danny, let me get a better look at that. Jack, get the first aid kit!" Maddie demanded. Danny kept his hands pressed firmly against his side. From his warped perspective, the burn was hardly anything to worry about. If Danny had gotten it during a fight he wouldn't even have bothered covering it up, knowing that it would heal within the next twenty-four hours. Maybe even the next twelve, if Danny took the time to absorb the emotional energy that normal ghosts fed on. But that wasn't something he wanted to do often. Not since his first experience with Spectra.

But to Maddie, the burn was serious and in need of immediate medical attention.

Danny shot a glare Dash's way as his mother pulled at his wrists, revealing the wound. Dash, meanwhile, simply looked shocked.

Fenturd, wimpy Fenton, hadn't even flinched at the stray shot. He had just dodged it, and rather gracefully to. While the motion had been brief, anyone paying close attention could see how fluid and easy it came to the raven-haired teen. And Dash had been watching horrified, expecting the shot to hit Fenturd full on. Of course, since it had missed, he felt little remorse.

Jack approached, first aid kit in hand. But before Maddie could grab it, Danny snatched it out his father's hands and stepped back, so his mother was no longer within grabbing reach.

"I can clean it myself," Danny said, opening the kit and pulling out the necessary supplies.

"Danny, that's a serious injury, let me do it for you," Maddie said, reaching out for the gauze.

"I said I can do it!" Danny snapped. Regret immediately settled on his features as he realized how unnecessarily loud that had been, and he mumbled an apology as he went upstairs to cover the wound.

The Ghostketeers watched the exchange with a mix of concern and boredom. Paulina and Dash being the bored ones once it seemed that Danny was fine. Kwan, wanting to keep his status as an A-lister, tried to hide his own worried expression.

"Hey, Tuck," Sam elbowed the techno-geek to get his attention. "Did you see?"

"Yeah. I saw," Tucker nodded, his eyes still on the spot where Danny had disappeared up the stairs.

"What do you think?" Sam asked, her hand absently drifting to her side and wondering how much that burn had hurt. It certainly would have hurt her a lot, but Danny had barely made a sound. Sure, he said "ow", but it sounded kind of half-hearted to her.

"I honestly don't know. Do you think that he could be…?" Tucker's voice trailed off, not wanting to say his theory out loud.

"There's no way," Sam shook her head, understanding what Tucker had been thinking. After all, it had been her first thought, too. "They weren't precise, or lined up like they normally would be. Danny didn't do that too himself."

"He could have, Sam. You know how distant he's been."

Sam shook her head again, but her mind remained on the same topic as Tucker's. It had only been a brief glimpse, so Sam wasn't sure if she had seen the full extent of the damage. But the only thing she could think about, when looking through the hole on Danny's shirt, was how had he gotten those scars?


"Dammit," Danny muttered, wrapping one last layer of gauze around his middle. He realized that he probably could have just gotten a new shirt and didn't need to go through the process of covering and bandaging the wound, but he doubted that his mother would just drop the topic. Heck, she'd probably even check to make sure the burn was properly covered. For now, he would have to keep the wrappings on, even if he found them annoying and tedious for something so small.

But Danny's opinion of a 'small' wound had been altered greatly over the past year. As long as it didn't bleed seriously, and he could move with relative ease, it wasn't anything to worry about. He finished dressing the wound and pulled on a new shirt before stretching. As he made his way back to the lab, Danny start cracking his knuckles, flexing his fingers and feeling the joints pop. The loud cracking signalled the Ghostketeers to Danny's return, and he froze mid-step when they turned to face him, hands in front of his chest. He glanced at Sam, then cracked his knuckles one more time.

Sam cringed and Danny, smirking, did it again.

"Danny, that's gross and so bad for your hands," Sam scowled.

"What? You mean this?" Danny cracked his knuckles again as he approached the Goth.

"Yes, that," Sam said with ill-restrained disgust.

"So, one more time, just to clarify. You don't want me to do this," Danny raised his hands close to her face and cracked his knuckles for the last time.

"Danny, stop it!" Sam snapped, slapping his hand away.

"Oh, if you insist," Danny gave a resigned sigh and turned his attention to the ghostly cut-outs against the wall. The focus of today's meeting was weapon control, but so far it seemed that few people had actually managed to hit their targets. It was no surprise that Valerie was a pretty good shot, what with all the practice the Red Huntress used to get on Danny, though she could still improve. Danny was pleased to see that Sam and Tuck, while their aim wasn't as spot on as Val's, had managed to hit their targets at least a couple of times. As for the others? It varied from a total miss to a slight singeing at the edge of the cut out.

Danny unsuccessfully stifled a laugh at their horrible aim. Sure, Dash could throw a football, but he couldn't shoot a gun. And Paulina? It was obvious that she could barely lift the thing.

"What's so funny, Fenton?" Dash glared at the halfa, not daring to use one his rude variations of Danny's name in front of his parents.

"Oh, no, Dash. I wasn't laughing at you, not at all," Danny chuckled. Sam pressed a hand to her mouth to quiet her own laugh and Tucker snorted.

"Watch it," Dash warned, eyes narrowing. His expression promising pain first thing at school tomorrow.

"Of course, no problem. I just hope you punch better than you shoot," Danny grinned.

"Like you could do better, Fenton," Dash spat the name in lieu of changing it.

"Well…" Danny contemplated his reply. He could tell Dash that he was a fantastic shot, which he was, but he didn't want to reveal anything more about himself. Sure, he had managed to brush off his cold skin, but Danny knew that his behaviour concerning the care of his wound would have been suspicious. He could see Maddie eyeing the spot on his side where the burn was.

"That's what I thought," Dash snorted, and Danny narrowed his eyes. Sure, he let Dash beat him up so that he retained the image of a weak and wimpy loser. That way, if anyone ever noticed the physical similarities between him and Phantom, their attitudes would be enough to quell any suspicions. But his fighting skills were something he was extremely proud of, after honing them for so long.

Danny stalked forwards and snatched the gun from Dash's hands. The jock blinked in surprise. Maddie and Jack had given him the largest gun since they believed that, out of all the students, he would have been the best to handle the heavyweight and recoil. And while Dash wouldn't admit it, the gun had been heavy. But Danny grabbed it with one hand and swung it around easily as he walked back to the far side of the room. As far from the target as he could get.

He hefted the gun with ease, raising it up to his shoulder. Danny's eyes flicked momentarily into the sights, then he fired. Under his strong grip, the gun barely twitched, and the ecto-energy hit the cut out dead center, leaving a jagged black burn over the ghost's chest.

"Hmm… about an inch off. You're right, Dash, I could do better," Danny beamed and threw the gun back to the stunned jock, who caught it and stumbled under it's weight.

"Chicken Soup for the Soul, Mr. Fenton, where did you learn to shoot like that?" Lancer asked. His own target was one of the ones burned a little around the edges, but otherwise intact. Still, that was more than Danny had expected from his teacher.

"Right here," Danny supplied honestly. He did train and test out his various abilities in the lab. It was the safest place to do so without getting caught, something Danny always found kind of ironic considering it was the lab of ghost hunters.

"Have you been down here playing with our weapons?" Maddie asked, shocked.

"No, Mom. Practicing. I thought that with all the ghost attacks, I might as well learn how to defend myself," Danny explained. Sam and Tucker looked crestfallen at his explanation, hurt that he hadn't asked them to join him. He had considered it, on several occasions, but decided that if they ran from a ghost instead of staying and trying to defeat it, they would be a lot safer.

"Nice work, Danny-o!" Jack grinned, as proud as ever of his son. Despite the constant refusals to take up ghost hunting, he had still prepared himself for the frequent attacks. That's the way a true Fenton thinks.

Danny grinned sheepishly at his father, ignoring his mother's disapproving scowl. He wondered, what would her reaction be if she found that he was Danny Phantom? Besides the risk of horrible experiments, if Maddie didn't resort to those, Danny suspected that she would lock him in a ghost proof room to make sure her little baby boy was never in the way of danger again.

Soon the Ghostketeers turned back to their own targets, while Maddie went from person to person giving them advice on their stance and aim, and Jack sat in the corner fiddling with a vial of red liquid. After gently pushing aside Maddie's suggestions that he, too, grab his own gun and start practicing, Danny went over to Sam and Tucker, watching them shoot for several quiet minutes.

"Dude, why didn't you ask use to join you?" Tucker asked, lowering his gun while Sam took another shot at her target.

"Um… honestly?" Danny asked, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. "I was worried."

"About what? That we wouldn't be able to handle ourselves?" Sam suddenly snapped, whirling around to face the halfa. Looking at the way she held the gun, Danny doubted that, even if he had been worried about that in particular, he would be now.

"No, just that… if you guys could fight ghosts, properly like you're learning too now, you wouldn't run away when one attacked. You would stay and try to protect people. And probably get hurt in the process," Danny answered truthfully, dropping his gaze to the floor.

"Is that... is that what you do?" Tucker asked hesitantly. Danny's eyes snapped up to Tucker, an unnerving action to his friends since the rest of his head stayed tilted down.

Does Tucker know? Danny thought, internally panicking. Tucker and Sam noticed the way that his face shut down in the moment before he answered.

"What do you think I do?" Danny asked cautiously, his voice guarded.

"Well, it's just, whenever you disappear at school? It's always right before a ghost attack, you know. So I was wondering if that's what you do, why you trained. To hunt ghosts," Tucker said slowly.

Danny visibly relaxed. Tucker didn't know. He only had a theory, and a plausible one that would make a good excuse for his actions. He nodded.

"Is that where the scars are from?" Sam asked. Danny stiffened again. How could they know about those? Then he realized that, obviously, they must have just seen them. He mentally slapped himself for once again being so careless. He was lucky no one else noticed.

"We could have helped you," Sam said, frowning. Danny ran his hand through his hair, feeling agitated and nervous. He would have to be careful from here on out.

"I know. Trust me, I do. There were so many times when I could have used you guys, but I didn't want you getting hurt," Danny explained. This conversation was actually easier than he thought. So far he hadn't had to lie, or even stretch the truth, to keep his secret intact.

"And your parents?" Tucker asked, glancing at the older Fenton's that were standing out of earshot.

"You saw how my mom reacted over me practicing with a gun. How do you think she'd react if she knew I was actually out there, hunting ghosts? Even though my dad constantly tries to get me to join them, it's always under the label of 'observant' that he offers it," Danny smiled internally at his choice of words. "You already know that they never take Jazz out during a ghost attack unless they really need her help."

"I don't think you'd see the light of day again," Tucker snickered, imagining Maddie's reaction to the revelation.

"Yeah. My point exactly," Danny agreed.

"Okay. I forgive you, I guess," Sam relented.

"Gee, thanks Sammy," Danny rolled his eyes as she turned back to the cut out. "You know, your stance is a little off."

Danny stepped forwards, slipping on a pair of gloves from his pocket. He'd taken to carrying them around since Sam had managed to feel how cold he was. He didn't want any more slip ups. Both Tucker and Sam glanced questioningly at the gloves, but didn't say anything.

"Raise your gun," Danny said, nodding to the weapon. Sam did so, and suddenly Danny was standing very, very close to her. She felt a light blush creep into her cheeks, but remained focused on her target.

"Okay, so you need to raise this arm a little more," Danny pushed Sam's arm into position, then glanced down at her feet. He pressed his own foot up against the inside of hers and forced them apart a little, then he leaned forwards over her shoulder to examine how she held the gun now that he had moved her.

"You lowered it a bit, bring it back up," Danny instructed, and Sam did as told.

"Good," Danny nodded, then stepped away. Sam pulled the trigger and the bright green blast hit home, scorching the ghost's head. Sam smiled and turned to Danny, then noticed how he was watching her and looked away, blushing again.

"You're such a dork," Sam muttered, and Danny blushed too, realizing what he had been doing.

Behind them, Tucker grinned and whispered, "lovebirds."

"We are not lovebirds!" Danny and Sam yelled in unison, rounding on the techno-geek. Tucker stepped back, hands raised in surrender and keeping a wary eye on the gun in Sam's hands.

"You know, this could really come in handy," Sam said, smiling at the weapon.

"Danny, please tell me she doesn't get to keep that," Tucker gulped.

Danny grinned and forced the barrel of the gun down to the floor. "I don't know, Tuck. She's pretty handy with it."

Tucker gulped again, and Sam and Danny burst out laughing, falling against each other to keep from dropping to the floor. Tucker, despite his honest fear over Sam owning an ectoplasmically charged gun, grinned and laugh with them.

All three collapsed on the ground, distracting the others from their shooting. Paulina glared at the Goth girl, mad at her closeness with Danny Fenton because he had actually gotten kind of cute over the last year, and was taller too. Lancer smiled, glad to see that Danny was able to enjoy himself with his friends despite the hard schoolyear he'd had last year. And Maddie and Jack were happy to see that their son was happy.

After all, it had been a long time since they'd seen him act this way. So open and carefree, even if it was only for a few moments. When their laughter died down, Sam and Tucker returned to shooting, but now with Danny hovering over their shoulders.

Dash glared at the trio, pissed off that Fentina, of all people, had upstaged him and was now having a great time. He had completely forgotten about the fact that he had shot the halfa only half an hour ago, and was instead now dwelling on the conversation he had overheard between the three close-knit friends. Danny had mentioned ghost hunting, but there was no way a kid as weak as him could ever fight a ghost. Not to mention how much of a wimp he was. Fenturd was always the first to run whenever a ghost attacked at school. Dash's scowl deepened. Of course, he had been adept at handling that gun. Dash shook his head. Fenton was loser and always would be, that was that.


So apparently I lied about the Ghost Zone stuff. I did fully intend for Danny to get there during this chapter, but apparently I got a little carried away here. Think of the DxS fluff as compensation.

Next chapter, I promise, will feature the Ghost Zone and possibly some ghostly fighting action!

Please review, don't forget to vote. I will be accepting votes up to chapter 10. The secret won't necessarily be revealed soon after, but by that point someone should at least be close to a breakthrough.

See you guys next chapter!