Author's note:
I know that some of you folks out there are thinking to yourselves, "Why is this guy posting another chapter when the last one was supposed be THE last one?" Short answer: I just thought of something I left out in my previous entries. And in case you didn't notice, I put up some new titles to help with the order of sequence and all that other stuff. Anyways, enjoy.
Ghostly Guardians
"You sure about this, Maddie?" Jack Fenton inquired as he and his wife watched Danielle sleeping in the make-shift bedroom that was set up in the Op Center, to which she nodded. "As much as I hate to admit it, Danny and Valerie's story about Danielle actually made sense," she began, "and even if they were WRONG about her ghost powers being linked with her life force, the fact that she was originally unstable means that we CAN'T treat her like other ghosts. I'm beginning to think that it's only the fact that she's half-ghost that's keeping her alive."
"That's actually closer to the truth then you know," stated a new voice in the room. Turning around, they quickly got their blasters ready upon seeing Danny Phantom floating in the room with them. "Easy there: I come in peace," he said before wincing, "I need to work on my openers." "What do you want?" Maddie demanded, cutting right to the chase, to which the ghost boy sighed, "I wanted to make sure my cousin's being properly taken care of." Upon seeing Jack begin to open his mouth, he stated, "I know she's not REALLY my cousin, but Danny FENTON and I like to call her that and she seems to have mutual feelings on that front: helps her feel more HUMAN, I guess."
"Can't really argue with that," Maddie remarked, having a good idea of what he meant, "but something tells me that's not the ONLY reason you're here." Sighing, he smirked, "Not too much escapes you, huh?" Choosing to ignore that he deliberately avoided the word "nothing," she stated, "You wish to speak with us about how we intend to keep her stable, right? Don't even PRETEND to act surprised: I know you used our failed ecto-dejecto on her." "How'd you get that, anyways?" Jack demanded.
Sighing, he began his story: "To understand that, we first have to go back to before the girl in that room was even created. See, Vlad Plasmius, or The Wisconsin Ghost, as you guys know him, has a lot of selfish desires which can all be summoned up with one word: power. He knows that you, Maddie, are VERY skilled and intelligent, and wishes to use that skill and knowledge for his own cause. He believes that you, Jack, are somehow responsible for his death and wishes to eliminate you as part of his revenge. He also knows that I'm the only ghost who's readily able to stop his evil plans, which is why he originally wanted me to rule by his side.
"I kept turning him down though, so he decided to try something else," he stated. "Cloning," Jack stated, both shocked and amazed at what Phantom was saying, to which the ghost in question nodded, "Using some cutting edge ghost hunting technology that he had pinched here and there, he tricked someone, whom you know as the Red Huntress, into donning the first version of that suit she wears. Before you ask, the latest version was created by ANOTHER of my enemies during one of HIS take-over-the-world schemes to force her to keep me busy, but that's not the point.
"All you need to know is that she was unwittingly supplying Plasmius with the data that he needed to begin his experiment," he relayed to them. "Before we go any further," Maddie asked, a little ticked off that the Red Huntress was likely using some of THEIR equipment without permission, "How did this 'Plasmius' get a hold of OUR Danny's DNA?" Making an "ouch" face like he hadn't anticipated this, which probably wasn't far from the truth, he sighed, "I can see your concern there, seeing as you probably don't like the idea your kids being targeted by ecto-weapons, but I can assure you that Danny FENTON was never shot at." She ALMOST got a sigh of relief out when he asked, "How often is the shower drain cleaned out in your house?"
Instantly, she realized the gravity of the situation: the Wisconsin Ghost was more clever then she gave him credit for. "Your saying he could've gotten any number of ways?" Jack demanded, having realized the same thing, to which the ghost boy simply nodded, "I fear that there are some parts of the story that only Plasmius himself could tell." "Just skip to the important stuff: we already know about your capture later on," Maddie stated, to which Danny chuckled, "I know: I was nearby when you held that meeting with Mr. Lancer and company."
"A few months after the events your son and his friends spoke about," he stated, "I'd run into Dani, who was physically getting weaker. You said earlier that her ghost-half was the only thing keeping her alive, but personally, I think it's more of the reverse." "What do you mean?" Jack said, with Maddie equally interested. "Your son said that the other clones were just mindless drones, correct?" the ghost boy stated, to which they nodded. "Well, THAT was there downfall," Phantom declared, "Without the ability to think on one's own accord, Danielle wouldn't have been able to summon the sheer willpower needed to hold her cellular structure together, or at least that's what your son's friend Sam figures. Had Plasmius been able to see that, he wouldn't have convinced Valerie to hand Danielle over to him."
"What do you mean?" Jack inquired. "Long story short, Valerie found out about Danielle and was asked by one Vlad Masters to hand her over to him," Amity Park's most famous resident stated, "I think it's pretty clear that Plasmius was behind the curtain though." As the Fenton patriarchs nodded, Phantom started to tear up a bit, "The closest thing I've had to a younger sibling was nearly killed that night, and something tells me that the dose of Ecto-Dejecto your Danny let me borrow from your lab won't last forever and once it wears off, if I'm somehow not able to go after her…"
"You'd have nothing to worry about," Maddie deadpanned, to which Jack declared, "She's right: ghost clone or not, no child of Jack Fenton is going to be melted down into nothing any time soon." "You better be certain," Phantom lightly warned, "Plasmius goes through life, or afterlife, I guess, like a game of chess: always planning at least three steps ahead." "He can plan 30 steps ahead," Maddie declared, "but the only way I'm going to let some, some…" "Fruitloop?" Danny supplied. "FRUITLOOP harm a member of my family is over my cold, dead body," the ghost huntress declared upon realizing how perfectly that fit, before adding, "Heck, even THAT won't stop me!"
"You really mean that?" a small voice inquired. Turning around, the Fenton patriarchs saw Danielle sitting up in the bed, face showing pure shock. "Sorry to wake you, cuz," Phantom declared, rubbing the back of his neck, to which she shook her head. "It's okay," she insisted, "I just can't understand why anyone would care so much about me: all I ever was to Vlad was an imperfection, a mistake…" "Then for all his intelligence, he doesn't know ANYTHING," Maddie declared, "Sure, you didn't come into the world like you normally would, but no daughter of mine will ever be an imperfection." "Daughter?" the young halfa whispered, before smiling and tears of joy started to appear as she ran from the bed and threw herself into her new mother's arms.
"I promise you: Vlad isn't going to get his hands on you any time soon," Maddie said as she held the young halfa in her arms. "You mean the Wisconsin Ghost, right?" Jack inquired, to which Phantom stated, "Jack, your old college buddy was involved in Plasmius' plans once already: what's stopping it from happening again?" "Okay, you have a point," Jack admitted, "but if Vladdie DOES somehow get directly involved, which I doubt he will, I'll make sure he answers to the highest court in the land, old friend or not."
"That's all I needed to hear," Phantom stated going over to the wall and sticking his hand in the wall. Coming back over, he handed Maddie a flash drive. "Shortly after Danielle's return, I had your son's friend Tucker attempt to reverse engineer the stuff that helped stabilize her: I figured that you might change the formula later on and didn't want to chance it not working like it did the first time," explained upon seeing her confused face, "Unfortunately, some of the ingredients are hard to get when you're under a certain age. That said, this flash drive holds not just the original formula, but any alternatives that can be used if worse comes to worse."
"You wanted to see if we could be trusted to raise someone with ghost powers," Maddie said with understanding, to which he nodded. "It's nice to know that there's someone ELSE out there who's looking after that which I care about." With that, he phased through the ceiling. As Maddie kissed their new daughter on the head and put her to bed again, Jack smiled to himself: he heard how great teachers learn as much as they teach, but he never thought it was actually true. After all, he was fairly certain that tonight's visit had been a TEST, which he was pretty sure he and his wife had passed.
Author's note:
Ending is a call-back to the original story the chapter I extended was in. Also, I may have lost track of the references to various episodes that were in this chapter, but I'm pretty sure that I've hinted at several themes that play out throughout the series. By the way, in case you're still confused on why I wrote this, in the original chapter, Danny said not to worry about how the Fenton's would react to Danny PHANTOM thought of Danielle staying with them. Well, I hope you liked this.