Author's note:

Before we continue, I guess I better explain WHY I'm doing this. Well, let me start by saying that after I finished the extension, I felt I left one-too-many lose ends in the wind, if you know what I mean. That said, this chapter (and any that follow) are for the simple purpose of making sure that I haven't left any questions from my extension unanswered. Don't worry, though: I'm NOT going to break the rules of the challenge that the original story was a response to (unless I find it ABSOLUTELY necessary). Anyway, hope you like this.

Popular kid's discussion

"So Phantom's 'sister' is basically the daughter of him and Fenton?" Dash questioned. "Suddenly I have the urge to vomit, but I guess that's technically the case from what that loser told me," Paulina replied. Kwan, who had been invited to the Nasty Burger so that there would only need to be ONE retelling of the story, whistled. "Figures: the arch foe is ALWAYS the one that has something wrong upstairs," he remarked. "I know what you mean, man," Dash replied, "I get that this 'Plasmius' guy would want a successor, since I guess not even ghosts are around forever, and Phantom would be the most logical choice if you wanted a powerful ghost to fill the role."

Paulina, sensing where this was going, quickly remarked, "Yet we ALL know that there's no way he would willingly join forces with a psychopath like that ghost from Wisconsin." Star, who happened to be listening as well, frowned and said, "Willingly? What does that have to…OH: you're talking about that whole business with that Goth Circus from a while back, right?" Paulina nodded. "It's SO obvious that that ring master guy was controlling the ghost boy or something: I mean his eyes were RED! Any sensible person from around here knows his eyes are normally green," she remarked.

"So Plasmius figured that rather than waste resources to try and get his foe to see things his way, he decided to make a replacement who would," Kwan summarized, to which Dash stated, "Exactly, but what I'm NOT getting is why he decided to put some human DNA into the mix, let alone why he would choose Fentoad as the human in question." Paulina, after thinking a bit, said, "The first part is kind of obvious."

Seeing her friend's confused look, she scoffed. "Come on: if that whole ghost bug experience taught us ANYTHING, it's that there are certain things that we as human beings can simply NOT do, but ghosts can. It might be a bit of a stretch, but the same could apply in reverse," she surmised. "You're saying that Phantom's duplicate was supposed to be more powerful than the original?" Star asked. Shrugging, Paulina stated, "I wouldn't necessarily go THAT far, but I do know that there would be an advantage to being able to change from a ghost into a human."

Dash thought this over and nodded. "You might be right. The very fact that Phantom's arch foe is originally from Wisconsin is proof enough that this guy isn't completely satisfied by just ONE spot of territory: a human form would make it easier for a ghost to get people to trust him. I still don't see how that loser would be the ghost's prime target for such a form, though," he remarked.

"It might have something to do with accessible knowledge, not to mention genetics," Star surmised. When her friends look at her confused, she rolled her eyes. "Be honest, guys: in terms of physical power, there ARE better candidates, but NONE of them know as much about ghosts as the Fenton's do, except for MAYBE the Guys in White, but none of their members go anywhere without having massive security around them. Add the fact that Phantom 'clone' was supposed to be a GUY…" she said, giving the equation. "…and there are only two REAL candidates for a ghost/human hybrid who's potentially as strong as Phantom AND would have the human knowledge of how to possibly avoid the unpleasantries of anti-ghost technology, with only ONE of them of any real physical capabilities," Paulina finished. "Almost makes Fen-toad less of a loser," Dash remarked, "Almost." The others agreed.

Author's note:

One part down, two parts to go. Don't worry: things will get better.