Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or any character from the series. Jake Fenton/Shadow, Abby Fenton/Abby Phantom, Matt Foley and Tori Gray are characters created by DPcrazy for 'Adventures after a Mistake'.
Jake catches Ecto-Acne
After catching another ghost and avoiding being captured by his own sister or one of his friends/potential crushes, Shadow goes back home. Once he turns back into Jake Fenton, he looks at the mirror to check if he's really Jake again and notices something that scared him.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Jake's scream could be heard from all around the house. Danny and Abby immediately phased into his room while Sam had to open the door. They all see what scared Jake.
"Oh.no!" Danny screams. "Jake's caught Ecto-Acne!"
"Ecto-what?" Abby and Jake ask.
"Our family first got in contact with it when Vlad Plasmius got in contact with it as a side-effect of the accident that gave him his ghost powers." Danny explains. "But there's no time to get into details now. Sam, call my parents here and explain what happened. Abby, get your brother to the lab and prepare the infirmary."
"Infirmary?" Jake asks, confused. "Just because of some case of acne?"
"Jake, the last time Plasmius caught Ecto-Acne it came to a lethal level and he infected your Mom and Matt's Dad to force me to find a cure." Danny explains, scaring Jake with the 'lethal' part.
"Dad, if there's a cure for Ecto-Acne there's no reason for worry." Jake says, hoping he's right about that.
"We'll see about that, Jake." Danny says. "There's something odd about this Ecto-Acne."
Later, Jack and Maddie Fenton arrive and they try to cure their grandson with a new batch of the cure they developed for Vlad, Tucker and Sam but it doesn't work.
"I don't understand." Maddie says, worried. "Why didn't the cure work?"
"Dad, do you remember when Shadow kidnapped Jake?" Abby asks.
Danny was getting annoyed about how much Abby insists Shadow is evil. "Abby, Plasmius was manipulating him." He would say more but a click of realization and Abby interrupt him. "Exactly, Dad. Plasmius was behind this. He must have taken the opportunity to slip something that only made effect by now."
"I should have suspected he was behind this." Danny says. "Abby, you stay here watching over your brother while I'll go after Plasmius demanding a cure."
"Dad, shouldn't I go with you in case of a trap?" Abby asks.
"No, Abby." Danny replies. "Vlad might have planned some attack so you might be necessary here."
Abby nods and Danny leaves for the Ghost Zone. After he leaves, Tucker, Matt, Val and Tori arrive, curious about what drove Jack and Maddie there in such a hurry. Tucker is the first one to notice.
While at the Ghost Zone, Danny meets one of his enemies.
"I'll have your pelt, whelp." Skulker says.
"I'm not in the mood for it, Skulker." Danny says and then punches Skulker's metallic head out of the armor. After that, he arrives at Vlad's home.
"Hello, Daniel." Vlad says. "What do I owe you this visit?"
"I think you know, Plasmius." Danny says in an angry tone. "What did you do to my son?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, Daniel." Vlad calmly says.
"My son has a case of Ecto-Acne and you're the only one who knows how to do it." Danny angrily says. "You must have done something to him while he was in capitivity at your home."
"Not necessarily." Vlad replies. "It must be some retarded effect of the explosion that gave him his ghost powers. And Jacob came here on his own accord."
"What are you talking about, Plasmius?" Danny asks, tired of Vlad's games. "Jake has no ghost powers."
"He didn't have ghost powers, Daniel." Vlad corrects him. "Unlike me, you, Abigail and Danielle, Jacob became a half-ghost on purpose."
"Why would he do it?" Danny asks.
"Are you kidding, Daniel?" Vlad asks. "Jacob was so jealous of Abigail having inherited your ghost powers while he didn't he decided to enter the Ghost Portal to have ghost powers the same way you did. However something went wrong and he didn't become a Phantom like expected so he decided to keep his powers a secret rather than using the excuse of getting his powers late as originally planned. Perhaps you should check the Ecto-filtrator the Ghost Portal was using back then, Daniel."
"But where did Shadow enter the whole thing?" Danny asks.
"Are you really that clueless?" Vlad asks. "Do you really believe that Jacob, wanting to keep his powers a secret or not, wouldn't try to become a hero?"
"Of course he would try but what does it have to do with..." Danny asks until realization hits him. Oh, no. He thought. How could I ignore all those signs. Jake's grades decreasing. Jake dropping beakers clumsily like I once did. Jake's eyes suddenly becoming red. Shadow seeming not to have too much experience with his powers the first time I met him and later believing I would have realized something important when I saw the face behind his bandana. With that in mind, Danny rushes back to the lab and picks the Ecto-filtrator so his parents can analyze it and make an antidote that will work. After that, Maddie calls Danny for am important talk.
"Danny, We've checked this batch of Ecto-filtrator and it seems to have been spiked." Maddie says.
"Plasmius." Danny replies.
"So, Danny." Jack says. "Are you telling me this whole thing happened because Jake wanted to become a half-ghost?"
"Yes, Dad." Danny replies. "And it seems that we've already been introduced to his ghost half before."
"Dad, what are you talking about?" Abby asks. "Jake never told us anything about having ghost powers."
"I know, Abby." Danny says. "But after thinking about that I wonder how I could ignore all the clues." He then talks to Jake, who's already cured from the Ecto-Acne but is still recovering. "Should I do the honors or you want to tell, Jake?"
"I'd rather tell you guys myself." Jake says and then, with some effort as he's still not fully recovered, forms two black rings. "I am Shadow."
Originally I would have this fic an oneshot but I've decided to save Jake's explanations for another chapter. When I had this fic on my mind I've thought about turning the spiking of the Ecto-filtrator into the reason Jake was turned into Shadow instead of becoming a Phantom but DPcrazy told me she had another reason in mind so don't take this fic in consideration whenever 'Adventures after a Mistake' shows another reason for Jake's ghost half not looking like a Phantom. Please R&R.