Wow! I don't know if it was my pleas or the fact that last chapter was the climax and I pulled a massive "Wha?" moment at the end, but I got eight reviews last chapter! Thanks ever so much to Shadow Crystal Mage, Quacked Lurker, Snickerer, Pterodactyl, lynn138, HiddenAuthor, The Sorceress of Light, Sasia93, and YumeTakato for givin' 'em to me! Let's see if we can beat the record, hmm?

Chapter 8: Responsibility

I don't own Danny Phantom or Ghost World.

Danny woke up the next morning on one of the couches in his living room. Scattered across the rest of the furniture, as well as the floor, were the rest of Team Phantom and its affiliates. Not quite, actually, now that he looked around a little more. His parents were missing and Danny could hear sounds coming from the lab. Had they even gone to sleep?

Lancer and Cathy had ended up on the couch next to Danny and, to the boy's pleased surprise, Sam. Dani was sprawled out on the floor between the two couches, and Danny guessed that the bare foot above the girl's head belonged to Aster. Tucker had nodded off in an armchair, still clutching his newest PDA, Val's head resting against his shin. The Ghost Writer had fallen asleep beside the bookcase. Jazz was in the middle of the floor on top of a thousand-page psych text, normal-looking again after being forced through the Ghost Catcher last night.

Danny shifted slightly and stared up at the ceiling, trying not to wake Sam. He started running through everything they'd discussed the day before after barricading themselves into FentonWorks to stave off the fans and reporters amassing outside.

Danny's parents had been stunned at the appearance of Aster and Ghost Writer in human form, but had rallied quite well and barely made a nuisance of themselves at all, though Maddie did demand bloodtests at some point. Valerie had arrived about five minutes later, out of breath and with Sam and Tucker on her sled. She had told everyone that the town was excitedly approaching FentonWorks from all sides. Danny had thrown up the Ghost Shield the moment Cathy arrived from the GEIST office, a draft of the press release in her hand, and everyone had settled down to work in the living room.

By the time they broke for dinner several hours later, they'd figured out exactly what Cyclone had been doing and gotten an itinerary for the press conference finished. After an eventful meal of glowing vegetarian pizza and a quick lesson for Writer on how to eat it, they'd gone back to the living room to work out the details of the conference and Lancer had set the time for ten o'clock the next morning. Danny shot a panicked glance at the clock next to the bookcase when he remembered that, then relaxed when he noticed it was only seven-thirty. There was still plenty of time.

He shifted again and moved Sam off him, then went intangible and sank through the couch and floor into the basement lab. He spoke briefly with his parents, who were doing some final tests and experiments to make sure they had their facts straight, then walked back upstairs into the kitchen. He was dexterously balancing a bowl, spoon, and box of cereal in one hand while trying to get the milk out of the fridge when the phone rang. Danny dumped his food on the table and answered it.

"Hello, FentonWorks," he mumbled.

"Ah, Danny! Just the person I wanted to talk with!" came a rich velvet voice. Danny lost his appetite.

"Vlad."

"Now, Danny, is that any sort of tone to use with me?" Vlad asked, sounding hurt. "I thought we were friends."

"Not enemies," Danny corrected.

"Semantics." Vlad brushed the topic aside. "First of all, I'd like to congratulate you and Will on defeating that ghost yesterday. I heard about it on the news..."

"What are you up to, Vlad?"

"Nothing, Danny, I assure you." Vlad went on, "I must say though, revealing your secret like that... I thought we had a deal, Danny."

"As far as the world is concerned, Plasmius is full ghost and nobody has to know otherwise. Your secret's out within the Team, but it won't go further. I promise."

"I'll hold you to that," Vlad said darkly. "Now, there's something I'd like to offer you..."

"No."

"You haven't even listened to what I was going to say."

"I don't have to," Danny said angrily. "You're starting an empire."

Vlad spluttered. "What?! An empire? Who told you that?"

"I have my sources."

"I'm touched, Danny. You're becoming more like me every day." Danny could hear the smile in Vlad's voice.

"Can it, Vlad," he spat. 'I thought we'd agreed no more scheming."

"No more evil schemes, actually," Vlad corrected. "I am, in fact, scheming to your benefit."

"Since when have your schemes ever been to anyone's benefit?"

"Since now, Danny." The squeak of a chair being pushed back came over the line. "I have a list of, oh, five hundred ghosts here who all want to come live in the human world. I thought, since everyone in Amity Park knows what it's like to be a ghost, and since most still have ghost powers and whatnot, that maybe we could start a little immigration, hmm?"

"Immigration?"

"Yes. You know, a weak or friendly ghost wants out of the Ghost Zone, wants a real world haunt, and we let hthemim, if they promise to, say, not attack people or get too violent about their obsessions. In return, they get a haunt, they get something approximating life again, and they get access to whatever their obsession is. As I said, I've got five hundred ghosts who've agreed to do this, some who've practically volunteered, and none of them are above a moderate power level. I think Skulker's the strongest. I'd act as middleman, and possibly you and Will too."

"Uh huh. And what do you get out of this?" Danny asked warily.

"Same thing you do. Full integration back into society, friends, respect, sense of purpose..." Vlad trailed off but Danny didn't answer right away. Vlad sighed. "You see, I've done a lot of thinking since my last visit, Danny. I've had a lot of time on my hands. You remember your first year as a halfa, Danny? How you kept having to lie and make excuses? How you never knew what was going to be around the next corner and had to watch your every move so you didn't betray yourself to everyone? Remember that?" He was greeted with silence again.

"Now just think, Danny. That was one year and just look how stressed you were before Spirit showed up... I've had twenty-two now, and no Spirit. I'm tired of having to be paranoid and shut myself off from society. You know as well as I do that it was necessary, but it wasn't pleasant by any means. Well, you've gotten rid of all that now, and I'll be darned if you get one more thing I don't have."

"So I don't have a choice in this," Danny said flatly.

"Oh, no, I wouldn't say that," Vlad hedged. "You can choose to do it this way, or you can choose to wait and see what I come up with next. Now, what did you have planned before we had our little chat?"

"Will's organized a press conference in a few hours, where we're going to explain about halfas and he's going to come forward too. And my parents are planning to talk a little about what was going on with the ectoplasm and everything."

"They've come up with a theory already?" Vlad sounded excited. Did that mean he didn't have one himself? What had he been doing then?

Oh, right, thought Danny, he's been manipulating ghosts and planning more blackmail...

"Yeah, think so. I'll get them to phone you later. They're putting the finishing touches on it now."

"Ah, well, wouldn't want to disturb them," Vlad said smoothly. "And I'll let you get back to your breakfast. I assume that was what you were doing? I hope to hear back from you soon, Danny, with an answer."

"Sure." Danny wasn't particularly enthusiastic about the idea. "Goo-"

"Oh, and one more thing. All these ghosts, they're expecting to move within the next couple weeks. Wouldn't want to disappoint them. Ta-ta!" Vlad hung up decisively.

Sam walked in at that moment and saw her boyfriend standing stock-still with the phone receiver in his hand. His eyes were blazing a brilliant green. The goth stopped in the doorway.

"Danny, the phone hasn't done anything to you..." Danny came out of his thoughts with a jerk.

"No," he answered her, "but Vlad has." He slammed the receiver back into the cradle and went back to the fridge to get the milk.

"He's gone and promised a bunch of ghosts they can move into Amity Park. Thinks it'll make us seem more 'normal' or something."

"You mean the halfas?"

"Yeah." Danny sloshed milk over his bowl of Ghosty-Os and started eating.

"What did you tell him?" Sam asked, concerned.

"That we'd think about it. I'll have a talk with everyone once they're up, I guess."

Sam nodded and grabbed the oatmeal out of a cupboard. By the time everyone else had woken up, she'd prepared a large pot and insisted on giving everyone a large bowl of the stuff, which was "one hundred percent organic" and contained "absolutely no animal products." She even got Jack and Maddie away from the lab, and once everyone had eaten at least a little, Danny broke the news about Vlad to the group.

After quite a bit of yelling, arguing, and, somewhat surprisingly, hurt feelings, they decided that Vlad probably was being honest about his reasons and that it certainly wouldn't hurt to go along with the scheme, at least until something went wrong. After they'd cleaned up (Cathy had insisted), everyone went their separate ways to get ready for the press conference.

Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz went up to Danny's room to finish coaching Danny, Lancer and his "family" went home to change, Val went home to finally face up to her father about going public, and Jack and Maddie went back downstairs to collect their notes. Aster and Writer headed up to the attic to try to find Christmas decorations, because Aster had loudly pointed out the night before that it was December 22nd and where was everybody's Christmas spirit? Bangs and scrapings soon drifted down through the house, accompanied by the sound of what was either sniping conversation or an argument, but as long as neither former ghost attacked the other, they were ignored.

---

Lancer pulled up to Casper High half an hour later, dressed in fresh clothes and trying not to look nervous. Principal Ishiyama had graciously agreed the evening before to allow the press conference in the school auditorium, since it was the only enclosed public space in Amity Park large enough for the purpose, and she was standing at the front door now waiting for him. He walked up the steps, she let him in, and they started walking down the hallway together.

"The reporters started showing up an hour ago," Ishiyama told Lancer. "They've almost got everything set up now and people have been lining up since seven. I guess everyone wants to see whether the rumours are true."

"You don't think they are?" the former teacher asked her. Ishiyama sighed.

"I don't know, William. I guess it explains Fenton's behaviour, but honestly, half-ghost? It's hard to believe that's possible." Ishiyama chuckled slightly, then became stern and serious as she looked up at Lancer. "You'd better have evidence of all this, William. I don't want to think you've been wasting everyone's time."

"Trust me, Beth. I've got all the proof I need."

The Asian woman gave him a slightly disbelieving look as she let him into the backstage area. The auditorium itself was echoing with the chatter of journalists, and all in all it felt much like a GEIST lecture or a school assembly. Lancer thanked Ishiyama for her help and she headed back to the front to keep an eye out for the Fentons. Lancer walked over to the AV equipment to start setting it up. He was just about to unlatch the microphone case when a voice spoke several feet away. Lancer jumped.

"It's set up already. Beth asked me. I'm the tech guy this year." Lancer turned around to see Robert Spears, his successor as Casper High English teacher, appearing out of the shadows, knotting a tie with aliens on it.

"Besides," Spears continued, "I've got a question for Spirit that I wanted to ask privately, and one for you too."

"Oh?" Lancer sounded interested.

"Yeah. Danny told me yesterday that you've known his secret for a while. How did you find out?"

"I, I," Lancer faltered, "I witnessed his transformation last September, approached him about it a day or so later." He shrugged.

"Well," Spears continued, "I admire you for keeping it as secret as you did. It must have been a strain once you started this GEIST thing."

"It wasn't that bad. Danny's been pretty helpful with things." Lancer pulled the curtain back slightly and peeked out into the seating area. The first two rows were filled with reporters, and there were at least three different news stations present. None of the national ones though. That was lucky.

Lancer caught the attention of a slight Asian-American woman in a green suit and ponytail and asked her how things were going with the set up. She replied that everything was pretty much ready, so Lancer sent Spears to let the public in through the outer door.

He started pacing nervously backstage. He knew going public as Spirit was the right thing to do, but he wasn't sure if he was ready for it. He didn't know if he'd ever be. He turned from one of his laps to see Cathy standing in the wings.

"Nervous, huh?" she asked as she walked over to him. "It'll be okay. We've got your back on this."

"I know," Lancer sighed. "I know..."

"Good. Dani's on her way. She should be here so-"

"I'm here!" Dani, in ghost mode, was floating down from the roof, waving. She touched ground at the edge of the stage and changed back to human. "And the GAV's outside too."

So we've just got to wait for Valerie then, Lancer thought. Shouldn't be too long then. Speak of the devil...

Val and her father Damon had slipped backstage. Damon appeared calm but there was a worried look to his expression. He walked up to Lancer as Val went over to stand beside Dani and started playing absently with a throwing ring.

"Valerie explained everything to me this morning," Damon told Lancer. "The whole Team Phantom thing, your role in all this, everything. I knew she was working with Phantom, but I didn't know exactly how extensive this whole thing was. You're looking after her, right?"

"Of course we are," Lancer replied reassuringly. "We've set up rules about what to do in emergencies, Maddie's trained in first aid, and your daughter isn't nearly as rough with other ghosts as she was with Danny. She's fine."

He placed a hand on the man's shoulder briefly. "Now, would you like to stay backstage for this, or be in the audience?"

"Backstage, if it isn't too much of an inconvenience..."

"Of course not." Damon went over to stand by Valerie just as the inner door opened again and the Fentons came in, along with the Ghost Writer, Sam, and Tucker. Danny had put on a dress shirt and slacks and was looking distinctly uncomfortable. He kept playing with his collar.

As the newly arrived adults and Cathy went to set up Jack and Maddie's part of today's presentation, Lancer walked over to the teens to see if they were all as nervous as he felt and Danny looked. They were, but it was more the nervousness that came before a showdown than the more fearful sort the halfas were exhibiting. They also warned him that Aster had put himself in charge of getting Christmas decorations, which explained his absence.

Finally, everything was set up, the entire town had crammed into the auditorium, and it was time to begin. Spears flicked the switch to raise the curtain and Lancer walked out to the single microphone in the middle of the stage. The crowd settled down and the conference began.

"Good morning. As you all know by now, my name is William Lancer and I am in charge of the Education Division of the Ghost Education and Information Support Team. Welcome.

"There are two purposes to today's press conference. First of all, Amity Park's ghost fighting heroes are going to come forward and set the record straight as to their secret identities. Then Jack and Maddie Fenton have some information to share with us regarding the supernatural events of the past few weeks, and what we can expect in the future. We ask you to hold your questions until the end of each segment, and not to storm the stage. Our heroes are people just like you and me, and wish to be treated as such.

"Our first speaker this morning is Danny Phantom. Danny?" Lancer turned to face the wings and walked backwards towards the opposite side of the stage, clapping, and Danny, in ghost mode, took his place in front of the mic. He looked boldly out into the audience, in contrast to the nervousness he'd been displaying backstage.

"Hi. You've probably heard the rumour by now that I'm not a full ghost like you thought I was. A bunch of you got to see that firsthand, and I'd like to thank you all for behaving as well as you did. So, anyway, what you heard is true, I'm only half-ghost. The other part of me is Danny Fenton, just as the news said." Danny reverted back to human, projecting an air of confidence. The crowd gasped as the rings travelled along his body, then began whispering to each other. Danny waited till they quieted before continuing.

"I've been a half-ghost, a 'halfa,' for two years. I got my powers in an accident with my parents' Ghost Portal, and I've been fighting ghosts here ever since. For the first year I was mostly alone, with just my friends Sam Manson and Tucker Foley as backup. I'm not going to lie, it was rough going. I didn't get enough sleep, my grades in school dropped because I had to fight during school time, I was constantly hurt (that hasn't changed, by the way), the entire town, including my parents, hated me... You get the idea. I'm really grateful for the change in heart you all have shown over the past year. It's made things a lot easier for me, and the rest of Team Phantom, even if it means having fangirls." The audience laughed, and the Phantom Fanclub cheered from the area they'd claimed as their own.

"I know you're eager to see Spirit and the Red Hunter out here, but first I'd like to introduce another halfa who hasn't played a big role in this town until yesterday, when she helped Spirit and I defeat Cyclone, the ghost who's been bothering us lately. She doesn't like talking about herself though, so I'm going to introduce her myself." Danny looked over to the wings and gestured for Dani to come out on stage. She did, as a human. Cathy had forced a dress onto her for the occasion, and the girl was looking distinctly uncomfortable in it.

"This is Dani Phantom, with an 'i'. As a human, she doesn't have a last name. See, my archenemy decided a year and a half ago to make a clone of me. Don't ask how he managed it, I have no idea. And this guy's been defeated for good now, so you don't have to worry about him. Anyway, Dani was the result, but she turned on him and helped me beat him. And here she is." Danny turned to the younger girl and said something the mic didn't pick up. She stuck her tongue out at him and went ghost. Then she flew up above Danny and did a saucy pirouette to show off her outfit. Then she landed beside Danny again, turned human, and waited.

Danny continued speaking. "Once again, I'd like to emphasize that we really do want to be treated like everyone else, no fans, no stalkers, no autographs, nothing. We're just kids with ghost powers, like everyone else in Amity Park at the moment. Now, I believe the Red Hunter would like to say a few words..."

Val walked on stage in her battlesuit and took her place at the microphone, adjusting it for her height. Danny and Dani retreated to the back of the stage, and Sam and Tucker joined them quietly.

"I'm not gonna talk as much as Danny did," Val said. "I don't need to, really. My name is Valerie Gray, and I'm a student at Casper High too." She mentally activated the suit's retraction mechanism, revealing her human appearance. Her currently green skin and hair contrasted sharply with the yellow and orange colour scheme of her clothing.

"I got my suit and my weapons from someone who wants to stay anonymous. I used to fight Danny every chance I could because I thought he'd ruined my life, but I've been cleared up about a few things and fight with the Team now. And I'd just like to say you can go ahead and stalk me if you like being attacked by someone with a black belt and ectoweapons." Val shot a glance over to the side of the stage and seemed to hold a conversation based entirely on expressions with someone offstage. Finally she gave up and turned back to the audience.

"I think Mr. Lancer wants to introduce Spirit himself," she announced, and moved back to join the rest of the kids as someone nudged a nervous Lancer back onto the stage. He walked to the middle shakily, and froze once he got there. The audience waited patiently for about thirty seconds, and then a group of middle-aged women dressed in blue and white started chanting, "Spirit! Spirit!" Lancer fidgeted, glanced off-stage again to see Cathy and Writer motioning for him to get on with it, looked back at the audience, and gave up all hope of a smooth entry into his explanation. He stepped back from the microphone, panicking slightly and looking at the floor, and muttered, "Ghost World." His fanwomen stopped chanting the moment his rings appeared and the room fell silent.

When his transformation was complete, Lancer felt that the worst was over and got up the nerve to talk to everyone again. In the wings, Cathy was giggling at his expression of discomfort, the Ghost Writer was looking sympathetic, and both Spears and Ishiyama, who was overseeing things, were staring at him in complete and utter shock.

"I have been a halfa for the past year," Lancer announced. "Like Danny, I had an accident with the Fenton Portal, and like him, I didn't know what was happening at first. Danny helped me a lot when I was starting out and I managed to bring some sense back into my life. I've been helping him fight ghosts in Amity Park ever since.

"I retired from teaching because I didn't have enough time to do both jobs and people were getting suspicious of me. I took the position at GEIST so I could use my knowledge of ghosts and teaching for the 'public good' if you will, and I think I've been successful in my goals." He changed back to human. Danny and Valerie walked up to join him, and Sam, Tucker, and Dani moved offstage again.

"Now," Lancer asked, "are there any questions?"

There were plenty, of course, and it took the three heroes ten minutes over their planned half an hour to answer them all. A lot of questions were about fights they'd been in, especially the one with Cyclone yesterday, but there were also questions about their daily lives, romance (Danny and Lancer both said, "Not looking," and brought their girlfriends onto stage as evidence), and what would happen from now on. Finally the questions were over and Lancer was able to introduce the Fentons and start the second half of the press conference.

As the two scientists began explaining the basics of ectoplasm to the audience, Lancer collapsed in a chair backstage. Cathy sat down in his lap and gave him a quick kiss.

"You did wonderfully, Will. I'm proud of you."

"I froze, Cath," Lancer protested.

"Thought you might," the woman answered, "You've always been the shy one." Lancer snorted and then noticed Beth Ishiyama approaching. He nudged Cathy off him and straightened up in his chair.

"Beth."

"You weren't lying when you said you had proof, were you?" Lancer reddened. "Why didn't you tell me? I could have worked things so you could keep teaching here."

"Would you have believed me? Or trusted me?" Lancer asked her. "And I didn't want this public then. I'm still not sure if I do..." Cathy, now sitting beside him, punched his arm lightly in teasing protest.

"...but it needs to be this way," Lancer finished. "I'm happier at GEIST anyway, Beth."

"I still wish you'd told me. I wouldn't have worried so much." Ishiyama moved away a little so she could listen to the Fentons' part of the presentation. Lancer remained seated, hoping for peace and quiet, but he was soon accosted by Spears, followed by the Mansons and members of the staff. With Cathy's help, he managed to fend most of them off while the lecture on ectoplasm continued in the background.