Chapter 16: Phantom Plant Revelation

"Danny…what's happen to me!?" Sam yelled in panic as she looked over her gloved hands and new clothes, her whole body a glow with Ghostly energy. "Why-wha-I-I'm glowing…" she looked across the field to Danny who was still stuck to the ground. "Why am I glowing!?"

"Sam, calm down!" Danny said as he took in the panic in her eyes. "I know this is weird and probably really freaky, but-"

"Dad, I think we should focus on the other problem at hand!" Danielle screamed as the giant Queen bee still loomed over them. Danny turned back to the bee as she hovered over them, and watched as one of the workers, who was floating behind the Queen, turned toward Sam.

"No," Danny whispered before the anger caused his voice to rise in anger. "NO! Sam, run!"

Sam screamed in fear as she scurried across the ground backwards. She stopped as she felt the rough bark of a tree against her back, and began to panic as the bee continued to head straight for her.

"No! GET AWAY FROM ME!" she screamed as she threw her hands out in a poor attempt to protect herself. Her body shook with more fear then Sam could ever remember having in her entire life, and as the tears flowed freely down her face, she prayed that if anything came out of this, it was that everyone, Danny, Danielle, Tucker, the Fentons, her grandma and even her Parents, would stay safe after she was gone.

As the bee closed in on her, drawn in by her sweet flowery scent, its jaws opened wide, preparing to feast on her like a delicious treat, but stopped dead in places, its wings slowly losing their momentum as the buzzing came to a stop.

Sam opened her eyes which had closed early on in her panic attack, and looked over her body to see that she was still alive and was not oozing ectoplasm as was custom of ghost when injured. As her gaze turned up, her mouth flew open as a scream of surprise and horror escaped at the site before her. There, only a few feet in front of her, sat a giant, glowing Venus fly trap. Its head was a deep purple color, much like the one Sam used to have before it was accidently frozen to death by Danny when he first gained his ice abilities. But the thing that differentiated it from her cute little house plant was the fact it had large sharp teeth that it was currently using to eat the head of the giant Ghostly bee.

Danny and Danielle turned toward all the noise as they too watched in a stunned stupor. The plant continued to slowly pull the bee, who had stopped struggling the instant the plants powerful jaws clamped down on its head like a vice grip, into its mouth. Once the bee's body was fully consumed, the plant relaxed its mouth muscles, and a loud gulp echoed throughout the park as a large lump slid down its throat and into the ground where the remainder of the plants body lay before the plant receded into the ground which repaired itself in an instant. Sam stared at the spot, unable to move or take her eyes from it, and shuddered as a sudden surge of energy entered her body, causing her body and eyes to glow green for a moment before returning to normal.

"Was Mom just saved by a giant fly trap?" Danielle asked as she finally broke out the foggy cloud of shock that had fallen over her mind.

Before Danny could answer, the Queen above them let out a roar of anger and sorrow at the loss of one of her children, and moved in to attack Danny and Danielle.

"No!" Sam yelled as she threw her hand out toward them. She gasped as her hand began to glow green once again, causing her to pull it back in recoil as if she had just been struck. As the Queen closed in on them, delighted in the sound of Danielle's terrified screams, a large vine sprang up from the ground in front of her, blocking her from Danny and Danielle. In an instant, more vines started to spring up next to the first, creating a wall in front of her. The remaining worker, who had remained in the distance from the fight, raced back to assist the Queen, his wings buzzing as fast as they could. Just as he was getting close to her, he let out an ear piercing shriek of pain as a vine sprouted from the ground in a flash and impaled it, spraying its green blood over the area. As ectoplasm covered various parts of the ground, Danielle groaned in both disgust and frustration as some of it splattered over her and Danny.

"Oh God! This is so gross!" she screamed to the sky. "I seriously hate bugs!"

Sam stared on in horror as the bee slowly began to shrivel and evaporate into more ectoplasm, and the plant seemed to absorb its body into its own until there was nothing left. Sam felt the same surge of energy she had just felt moments before, and shivered as her body reacted to it. The Queen, once again, roared in horror as she turned around and flew off into the sky in a retreat. As Sam watched her fly away, she felt her blood, or ectoplasm now, run fast, and the feeling return to her face and a fresh pool of tears started to come.

She couldn't help the feeling as her fear come out, expressing itself in the tears that ran down her face, but it wasn't just the fear that she had almost been eaten. No, it wasn't the fact that she had watched her loved ones almost die before her eyes. It was the fact that she was dead. But not only that, she was a monster. A freaky, plant controlling monster that had just killed two ghosts without even trying to. She was more dangerous than probably anything that Danny had ever faced, which scared her more than almost being lunch for a couple of bees.

Danny, who was about to try freezing the gooey substance that stuck them to the ground, was surprised when it disappear in a flash, freeing them. As he stood, he wiped the blood from his face and costume, trying not to be too disgusted, and turned to Danielle who was on her feet and freaking out as she wiped frantically at the green blood that was stuck on her as well. Danny sighed in relief before he kneeled down and pulled Danielle into a hug, squeezing her tight. Danielle, though surprised at first, calmed down slightly, and hugged him back, not only feeling safe in his embrace, but also trying to distract herself from the goo stuck to her costume. As Sam's tears started to lessen, she looked over at the others, a bit of relief running through her at seeing that they were unharmed, but couldn't help the ache she felt at watching Danny and Danielle embrace each other. Her hand slowly rose toward them, but as she prepared to call out to them, her voice got caught in her throat at the site her of glowing gloved hand and she quickly pulled it back against her chest as more tears began to flow.

As Danny stood back to his full height, he turned toward the tree and his eyes grew wide at the site of Sam sitting against it, crying.

"Sam!" he said, flying over to her and kneeling in front of her. "Are you alright?" he grabbed her face to tilt her head up so she was looking at him and wiped away some of her tears from her face.

"Danny…I…what's happened to me?" She asked as tears continued to run down her face. "I…I'm dead. I'm dead, aren't I? I'm a ghost."

"Shhh...It's gonna be alright, Sammy," he said, using her nickname to try to calm her. "Everything's gonna-"

"No it not! I'm dead, Danny! Dead! I'm not even sixteen, and I'm dead!" she screamed before burying her face in her hands.

"Sam, please. I promise you, it's going to be ok. Even if you are dead, it doesn't matter to me, or Danielle, or Tucker or anyone else."

"How can you even say that? How can you even look at me?" she asked quietly. "I'm a monster, Danny. I summoned a giant plant that ate that bee. Who knows what else could have happened? What if that were you? Or worse, what if that were Danielle?" Sam's body shook as she tried to remove the horrible image of her daughter being eaten by the plants just as the girl in question landed next to her and pulled her into a hug.

"Mom! I'm so glad you're ok," she said.

"But I'm not ok. I could have hurt you guys too."

"But you didn't. You did it in self defense, and if you hadn't we all would have been eaten by those bugs," Danielle said as she tried to get Sam to look at her. "Mom, you're not a monster. Just because you're a ghost now, doesn't mean-"

"Freeze, ghost!" Jack yelled appearing out of nowhere and brandishing an ecto-gun that he had aimed directly at Sam. "I'm giving you till the count of three to get out of Sam or else! One!"

"Mr. Fenton, wait!" Sam yelled as she held her hands up in defense.

"Two!"

"Grandpa, stop!" Danielle cried in fear.

"Three!"

"Dad, NO!" Danny yelled. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Jack's finger pulled back, squeezing the trigger of the gun. Danny dove toward his father and pushed him backwards, but it was too late as the shot was already on its way, heading straight for Sam, who shut her eyes, waiting for the impact that would surely cause her pain beyond belief.

A loud explosion made Sam flinch, but also confused her as she felt no pain.

'Maybe ghost can't feel pain.' She thought bitterly, but quickly shook that thought away as she remembered the numerous times that they had gone ghost fighting and the many yelps of pain that they caused and the ones she had heard from Danny on occasion. Not to mention the cries of pain she heard from the ghostly insect not even a full five minutes ago. Slowly, she pealed one eye open, then the other, and began to examine herself for any injuries, but was more shocked to see that she was now translucent.

"Ah!" she gasped as she looked at her hand, or more accurately, through it. "I-I'm intangible?" she questioned. Looking up, Sam saw that she was no longer surrounded by her family, but staring at the trunk of the tree she had phased through.

"Mom!" Danielle called out, looking around the tree, but finding no one in site. Panic started to climb into her as she turned back to the patriarchal figures behind her.

"Sam?" Danny called as the worry grabbed upon him as well before being replaced by anger as he rounded on his father. "What did you do!?"

"What's wrong with you, Dad?" Jazz said as she, Maddie and Tucker ran up to them.

"Jack, how could you shoot at Sam?" Maddie yelled at him as she put her hands on her hips.

"Well I'm sorry, but I didn't want to take any chances!" Jack said as he stood up.

Danny growled as he ran a hand through his white hair in frustration.

"I don't have time for this. I need to go find Sam, and fast," he said.

"I'm coming too, Dad," Danielle said, but couldn't help cringing at the feeling of the sticky ectoplasm on her gloves. "But maybe we should go home and change first."

Danny sighed, but nodded her head. Taking one last glance over his shoulder, he quickly took to the air with Danielle right behind him as the others started packing up the RV.

As Sam watched all this happen, she turned her head away and wrapped her arms around herself as she tried to keep anymore tears from falling and wishing she could just get away from it all. As if on instinct, her body began to slowly lift off the ground, ascending her a few feet off the ground. As a sense of weightlessness took over her, Sam began to feel truly hopeless about her life being normal.

'That' it. It's all over. That stupid nightmare has come true. I can't ever go to college. I'll never even graduate high school. I won't get to spend the rest of my life with Danny. I won't get to watch Danielle grow up. I won't be able to have any more kids. All because I'm a monster. An undead monster. At least Danny and Danielle can turn back to human. It's probably better if I just leave. Who knows how long I have before I start wanting to destroy everything.'

As her body became solid once more, she turned away from them and flew off, finding it much easier to control then the last time she had been flying on her own at the hospital during the Spectra incident where she was more like a balloon.

Back at the Fenton home, another battle was going on, only this time between a young girl and her slightly younger niece.

"I said no!" Danielle yelled as she continued to pout and cross her arms. "I am not ghost fighting in a stupid sundress! I don't even like them!"

Jazz sighed as she held up the black dress with the Phantom's symbol on it.

"Look, I know it's not your first choice, but it's only temporary until I can wash yours and Danny's jumpsuits."

"No! I hate dress, and you know that."

"So what you're telling me is you'd rather go outside looking for your mother, which could take hours, in your training bra and panties? Because that's your only other option right now, Danielle," Jazz said as she raised an eyebrow and pointed to the young girl who was current standing her underwear and still in her ghost form.

Danielle felt her face start to heat up as she knew that what Jazz had said was true. However, that didn't mean she had to concede.

"I don't understand how I don't have any other clothes that have my symbol on it other than this dress! Where did you even get that?"

"Your mom made it. She knew you don't like them, but she said it was better that you had it and don't need it than need it and don't have it."

Danielle felt bad now that she knew the origin of the dress. Her mom did always seem to know what was best, and the dress wasn't really that bad to be honest. Danielle let out a huge sigh of defeat.

"Fine. Give me the dress," she said, holding her hands out. Jazz smiled in victory as she handed it to her as well as a pair of shorts to wear so she wouldn't have to worry about anyone looking up her skirt while flying.

Once she was fully dressed, she exited her room to find Danny standing in the hallway, looking at himself in a mirror. He too was no longer in his jumpsuit, and was now outfitted with a black long sleeve dress shirt and black slacks. Around his waist was a white belt that matched his white shoes. Danielle couldn't help noticing the small white Phantom symbol that adorned the front pocket of the shirt, resting like a badge or a family crest.

"Jeez. A little over dressed for a search mission, aren't ya?" Danielle said as she slipped into a pair of white flats.

"Trust me, I'm no happier about it then you are," he said, buttoning his sleeve with his gloveless hand. "But we don't have time to be picky. We gotta find Sam, ASAP."

"Yeah, well when we do, she and I are going to have a long talk about the wardrobe for our ghost forms. Dresses are a definite no," she said as she pulled a hand through he still damp hair from her shower. It was rare for Danielle to go out with her hair down, but seeing as they were short on time and it was still damp, she figured she could go without her scrunchy this time.

Danny smiled and turned himself intangible before flying through the roof with Danielle close behind him.

"Well if it's any consolation, you look beautiful."

Danielle rolled her eyes, but smiled a bit at the compliment.

"Thanks, Dad. So how do you want to do this?"

"I'll start out on the West side of the city, you start on the East and we'll just make a circle around here."

"How do we know she didn't go into the Ghost Zone?" Danielle asked in worry.

"Because as much as Sam thinks she's a monster, I doubt that she would fly into the Ghost Zone right after all this happened. She'd probably wanna get away and try to think things through. Not to mention the only portals around here are ours and Vlad's, and his is in the government's custody."

Danielle nodded her head and took off in the opposite direction.

Sam floated invisibly in place, slowly moving up and down as she looked over the city she once called her home. She was amazed that she had even been able to do it, though she doubted she would be for long. Looking over to her left, Sam could see that the Sun had lowered some, signaling that it was getting late into the afternoon, but she let out a sigh of relief. Having spent so much time with Danny, she knew that whenever he did patrol, even when looking for someone, he kept a certain routine, which was always start from the West because it was closest to his home, and make a full circle around the city. Lucky for her, she was in the South end of the city, giving her plenty of time to think without him interfering. Unfortunately, she had miscalculated.

"Mom? Mom?"

Sam turned around, her wild hair whipping around as she turned to see Danielle flying at a slow pace, scanning the area for anything that would lead to Sam. As much as Sam wanted to fly away and prevent herself from making contact with her daughter, she couldn't resist the little lost voice that seemed to linger in Danielle's tone. With a sigh, she began to visualize herself being out in the open, almost as if she were in a spotlight, for all to see, and couldn't help the small smile that came to her lips.

"Danielle," Sam called, grabbing her daughter's attention. Danielle's head whipped around so fast, Sam was unsure if Danielle had even seen her. But that thought was soon lost as she saw the joy that came to Danielle's face when her mother was in her view once again.

"Mommy!" She cried out like a small child as she flew full speed into Sam's open arms. Danielle nuzzled her face into Sam's neck as her arms wrapped around her neck while Sam slowly stroked her long white hair.

"Hi, sweetie."

"I'm so glad I found you! Now we can call Dad, and-"

"No," Sam said, pulling away and looking Danielle in the eye. "You cannot tell your father you found me."

"What?" Danielle asked in shock. "But, why not?"

Sam opened her mouth, but had to fight back the tears that were coming to her eyes at the sad expression on her Danielle's face. Things only got harder as Danielle looked as if she too was going to cry. Sam lifted her hand to Danielle's face and moved some hair from her face, taking in a shaky breath before continuing.

"Mommy has to go away, Danielle. It's too dangerous for me to stay with you and Daddy. I could hurt you, and I don't want that to happen."

"No! NO! You can't go!" she yelled as her tears spilled over.

"Danielle, it's for the best. I'm sorry, and I don't want to do this, but I have to."

"No!" she said, pulling out a Fenton Phone. "I'm calling Dad, and he's gonna come and get you and we-"

"Danielle!" Sam yelled, grabbing her wrist and easily wrestling the small device from her distraught daughter. "I need you to be a big girl, and be strong. I know it hurts, but it's for the best. What's the number one rule for heroes?"

"Always do what's best for others…" she said, mumbling the end because she knew where she was going.

"Before doing what's best for yourself," Sam finished for her. She floated over to Danielle, holding her shoulders and wiping her tears away. "I'm sorry. But never forget that I love you and that you are a smart and beautiful young lady. Ok?"

Danielle nodded her head, and hugged Sam again, but was surprised as she felt the familiar cold sensation as her ghost sense went off. Sam gasped too as a green wisp came from her mouth at the same moment. Both turned around as a loud buzzing noise filled the air. In an instant, a swarm of ghost bees flew from an open portal and at the front was none other than the crown wearing Queen herself. Both Danielle and Sam were so distracted by the site of the army of bees that they almost didn't hear the sound of the Fenton Phone as it crackled in Sam's palm.

"Danielle, can you hear me?" came Danny's voice, though the phone made it sound static like.

Danielle quickly took the device back from Sam and adjusted it in her ear.

"I'm here, Dad. Are you seeing this?"

"Uh yeah, it's kinda hard to miss."

"What are we gonna do?" she asked as she looked on in worry.

"We're just gonna have to fight them off as best as we can."

"But we couldn't even take out three of them in the park. How are we gonna take out a whole army?"

"I don't know, but we have to try. Meet me back by the house and we'll come up with a plan."

"Ok. I'll-" but Danielle stopped as she looked upon her mother and, even though she wanted to so badly, couldn't bring herself to tell him she had found her. "I'll meet you over then as soon as I can." After hanging up, she started toward her destination but stopped to look at Sam one last time. "Mom…whatever you….I…I just want you to know that…I love you too."

Sam watched as Danielle flew away, a ball of guilt building up in her stomach.

As Danielle landed on top of the Ops Center, she found Danny, firing ice beams at the various bugs. Gathering her own power, she began throwing disk at the annoying buzzing creatures, only hitting a few that were soon replaced by others.

"So, what's the plan?" she asked as she continued to throw blast after blast.

"Well, I hadn't really come up with one other than this," he said before shooting a beam from his eyes and hitting another bug. "So, I'm open to suggestions."

"I don't think we're gonna be able to keep this up for much longer," she said as more bees started to move in on them. All hope seemed lost for the two Phantoms until the bees, for some reason, stopped moving in on them. Like a synchronized swimming team, all of the bees turned around in the same direction, completely ignoring them. Danielle looked up at Danny for conformation on what just happened, but he was just as confused as she was. Then, as a passing wind blew her hair back, she caught the light, airy smell of fresh flowers on a spring morning, and her face instantly lit up with happiness. "Mom!"

"Mom?" Danny asked confused as he began to look around for Sam, and soon caught the smell too. "Sam!"

The bees soon started to move toward where the smell was coming from, causing Danny and Danielle to focus on a part of forest just outside the city limits. As both looked on, their eyes grew wide as they saw what looked to be the world's biggest rose, completely adorned with sharp thorns, but instead of it being red, it was a deep, violet purple. A purple they knew all too well. Without any hesitation, the two flew toward it, keeping their distance from the bees, and watched as they started to fly around it like sharks circling their prey.

The rose lifted higher into the sky and as the petals opened, Danny was awestruck at the site of Sam as she gracefully floated out of the flower. Her body radiated with green energy that seemed to feed off of the flower below her as it sprouted from the ground and made her wild jungle hair move about freely. Sam glared up at the bees before lifting her hands.

"I'm only going to say this once: leave my family and my home alone!" she shouted as hundreds of long vines shot out from the stem of the rose, each grabbing a bug and pulling them toward the flower. The instant they made contact, the bees began to dissolve and melt into ectoplasm that was quickly absorbed by the rose, making it glow even more. One by one, the bees met their death until there was only one left: the Queen bee.

Sam turned her gaze up to the Queen who was hovering high above her and the flower. The Queen roared and dove straight at Sam, stinger pointed down at her. Sam closed her eyes and focused as hard as she could to gather the energy in her hands which flowed and started to form. When she opened her eyes, she was amazed to find a deep green whip with thorns in her hand, though she had little time to dwell on this. Making a mad dash forward, she cracked the whip as hard as she could, and watched as the thorns dug into the stinger of the bees, making her scream in pain.

"Alright you overgrown honey sucker," Sam said as she struggled to keep her grip. "This is the LAST time I'm dealing with you!" Using all the newly acquired strength she had, Sam pulled the captured bee with her and dove head first into the flower. As she made contact, Sam could feel the power flowing in every part of her body, and with a hard tug, pulled the Queen into the bud of the rose. In a flash of green light, both the flower and the bee disappeared, and in their place was Sam, breathing hard as her eyes closed and fatigue caught up with her and causing her to fall from the sky.

"Sam!" Danny yelled as he put all his speed into falling and catching her. Just when it didn't look like he'd make it in time, Danny found himself under her, and scooping her up, bridal style. Danny landed on the ground, holding on to her tight as Danielle landed next to him.

"Is she ok?" Danielle asked.

Sam began to stir and opened her eyes, looking at Danny. As her green eyes gazed into his, she couldn't help smiling.

"Wow. You look good when you dress up," said before she completely blacked out.

Sam awoke with a start as the Sun light shined upon her from her bed that she and Danny shared. Holding a hand to her head, Sam groaned, trying to sit up but was stopped by a strong hand. Turning to her left, she was met with the familiar face of Danny, who was sitting in a chair.

"Danny?"

"Hey there, sleeping beauty," he said with a smile. "How you feeling?"

"Like my head is killing me. But, it seems to be fading pretty fast."

"That's no surprise. It figures the sun would rejuvenate you even in your human form."

"Wait, human form?" Sam said, fully sitting up. Danny smiled and handed her a small mirror that rested on the night stand. As Sam took it, hands shaking, she could feel the nervousness as it pumped through her. Taking a deep breath, she held the mirror up to her face and almost cried when she found that she was no longer glowing, that her hair was back to being in its high ponytail and that her eyes and lips were once again their normal purple. "I'm me again!"

"Yeah, you are. But, Sam," Danny hesitated. "There's…something I should tell you."

"What is it, Danny?" She asked in worry.

"Well…you're…half ghost, now."

"What? But, how can that be?"

"Well, you remember when I told you about the undergrowth incident?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Well, my guess is that even after I saved you guys, some of his ghostly energy remained inside of you, but was dormant. As you hung around me more and were exposed to more and more ectoplasm, it slowly started to build, but never had a 'shock'" he said using air quote, "that had activated it."

"What do you mean by shock?"

"What he means is that you didn't have anything traumatic enough to have caused the sensation that would be similar to death," Danielle said as she walked in and closed the door behind her before running up to and jumping onto the bed, hugging Sam who hugged her back.

"So you mean like when Danny first got his powers and he was electrocuted?"

"Yep," Danny said. "I was talking to my Mom, and the way she figures it, when you saw Danielle in trouble, your maternal instincts kicked in because the worse thing a parent can experience is the loss of a child, and just the thought had given you a heart attack."

"So that means you literally scared me to death, you little trouble maker," she said as she squeezed Danielle even harder. "So what does that mean for me now?"

"Well, as far as we know, you have the power. What we don't know is if you can use it whenever you want. We have to see so give it a try."

"Ok," Sam said as she let go of Danielle and stood up. "How do I do this, exactly?"

"The same way you did everything else. You just have to will yourself by thinking about it. Remember how it feels."

Sam nodded her head and closed her eyes as she searched for the strange sense of power, of the feeling that she had felt before. As she was starting to lose hope, there, in the middle of her chest, was the feeling, and in the center of the power was her love for Danny and Danielle. She smiled as she opened her eyes that flashed green and couldn't help grinning at them as she spoke the words:

"Phantom Fauna!" and as her voice echoed, her body flashed as a green ring appeared around her waist and travelled over her body, leaving her in the same green dress as before, but now her legs were covered in forest green leggings, her feet in dark green shoes made of leaves and her hair, flowed freely around her shoulders.

"Wow! Mom, you look great!" Danielle said.

"Great? She's beautiful," Danny said.

"Thanks guys," she smiled as she looked herself over.

"So, are you gonna take the last name Phantom too?" Danny joked.

"No way. I'm actually original."

"Hey!" Danielle cried in annoyance.

"I just kidding, Danielle."

"So what do we call you?" Danny asked.

"Flora. Sam Flora."

"Sam Flora. I like it. It has a nice ring to it."

"Speaking of liking things, we need to have a talk about the sundress I had to wear," Danielle said in a sassy tone as she crossed her arms. Both Danny and Sam laughed as she transformed back to normal and the small family of three sat on the bed. As the sun continued to pour onto her, Sam smiled knowing that she was no longer a danger or a hindrance to her family, but that it was her love for them that had opened up her power to be able to protect them, and so long as she had this power, she would not fail them.