A/N: Happy New Year, and a heartfelt thank you to everyone who takes the time to review.
To Danny's delight, Jazz managed to convince their parents that he should go home and get some rest. He hadn't really been listening as she'd cited various studies and talked about the importance of health to his wellbeing and how it impacted his school life, which would in turn impact the rest of his life, and so on and so forth. It sounded, to him, like the usual sort of stuff she went on about. Whatever it was, it worked, and she was now charged with taking him home.
"We better not take the Assault Vehicle if you're up for the walk," Jazz said once they were outside, "because from what you're saying, Mom and Dad might need it."
"I could fly us."
Jazz firmly shook her head. "I don't want you exerting yourself when you're sick. It'll just take longer for you to get better."
"I'm not that bad," Danny protested, but he was betrayed by another sneeze. Jazz frowned.
"You're getting worse," she chided as he sneezed a second time. A split second later, she gasped and pointed at his feet. "Danny! What are you doing?"
Danny looked down. Instead of his usual red sneakers, he could see the silver boots he wore in his ghost form. "Uh…."
"Don't play games, all right? This is serious."
It was serious. It didn't take Danny very long to figure that out. Try as he might, he couldn't change back. "Um, I'll just stick with it for now."
Jazz crossed her arms. "No. You need to be more careful."
He didn't really want to tell her he couldn't change back even though he wanted to. He was strongly reminded of the time he'd been hit with the Fenton Crammer by Jack while in his ghost form, which had led to a number of so-called 'costume changes' as he slowly reverted back to his human form.
But then, he'd been changing back because he'd been losing energy. At least, that was his assumption, since he knew that that was what happened if he overexerted himself in ghost mode. He couldn't hold on to that lightweight, cold feeling that came with being a ghost. It happened practically every time he used his Ghostly Wail if he wasn't careful; he nearly always ended up as an exhausted human.
However, he had absolutely no experience when it came to changing the other way and not being able to stop it.
"Cool it," he finally said. "I can run faster this way." That was an absolute lie, or at least, he didn't think it was the truth, but he didn't really want to tell his sister the truth quite yet. She couldn't do anything to help, anyway. "Sam's place is closer."
Jazz frowned again but didn't argue. "Lead on."
The walk to Sam's was quiet. Admittedly, it wasn't usually overly noisy, but this was quieter than usual. It was kind of weird. Danny glanced at Jazz, trying to see if she'd noticed it, too. From the way she was looking around, he guessed she had.
Judging by her next comment, though, she wasn't bothered by it. "This is kind of peaceful, you know. I never noticed how quiet it can get during the day out here."
"That's because you spend all your free time in the library."
"That's a different sort of quiet. I mean, I love hanging out in the book stacks, but it can get kind of lonely. This is nice."
Personally, Danny thought it was a bit creepy. He was pretty sure it wasn't normal, but then again, he was probably a bit more paranoid than Jazz at the moment. So he just agreed, hoping to keep her distracted, and wondered what excuse Sam was going to give him when they finally got there. Providing she was there and not at Tucker's….
When they did finally get to Sam's, Danny knocked on the door. He'd been scolded enough times for just bursting in, and he didn't really want to give Sam's parents an excuse to put a restraining order on him again. But when he didn't get an answer, he decided to risk it and dragged Jazz around to the back. Even if it was locked, he knew where the key was. But someone should be home, maybe Sam's grandmother if not her or her parents.
"Why not just try the doorbell?" Jazz asked as Danny grabbed the key.
"Why not just phase in?" Danny returned.
"Because I'm here. And, anyway, it would be rude."
"It can't be rude if they're not home."
"No, then it's just illegal. Sam's probably at Tucker's."
Danny unlocked the door and looked back at Jazz. "Okay, maybe she is. Maybe I'm just overreacting. But we never saw anyone on the way over here. No one. I know you spend most of your time with your nose in a book, but that's not normal. None of this is. Don't you get it? Something's wrong."
Jazz sighed. "Yes," she said softly, "I know. I just…. I didn't want to say it out loud. I didn't want to be right. I was hoping that whatever had happened earlier was an isolated incident."
Danny didn't say anything. Jazz would know what he was thinking, anyway. She'd gotten even better at reading him since she'd discovered his secret. It was annoying sometimes, but it was good when he didn't want to talk about something. Jazz understood what was going on those times. Usually, at least. She understood better than his parents, anyway.
Sam's house was empty. Everything was in place, but no one was home. By the time the quick search was over, Jazz was back to being worried. Well, back to being openly worried, at any rate. Danny knew she'd never stopped worrying. She was his sister; she worried about him and anything that involved him that looked remotely dangerous. While this might not be dangerous, it involved them and their parents, or possibly everyone else in Amity Park except for them, and something definitely wasn't right somewhere.
Jazz couldn't hold a mask forever.
She didn't have enough practice.
"Let's try Tucker's," Jazz said quietly, ushering Danny out of the Manson household. "We might get lucky."
Danny had his doubts but didn't feel like arguing. He wasn't used to things playing out like this. Whenever he went up against someone, they had the decency to show their face. He always knew who he was fighting. He had some idea of how powerful they were. He always found a way to defeat them, to play on his strengths and their weaknesses.
This was…hard.
How was he supposed to defeat someone when he wasn't even properly sure who he was up against?
Valerie wasn't having much luck tracking down ghosts.
She'd found the Box Ghost and blasted him a few times to work off some of her frustration but hadn't bothered to suck him into a thermos. He never did much damage, except for that one time he'd opened Pandora's Box, but from what she'd gathered, he wasn't going to try anything like that again any time soon. She wasn't one for letting ghosts go, but he wasn't much of a catch.
Besides, if she left him, Phantom might show up. He'd stolen one of the Fenton Thermoses from Danny's parents and had taken to attacking any ghosts that showed up in defence of what he thought was his territory, causing who knew how much damage to the town in the meantime, so he'd come after the Box Ghost sooner or later. Then, she could go after him.
She was cutting across the park when her ghost proximity alarm went off for a second time. Since the Box Ghost had been scuttling off in the other direction, she doubted it was him. And, judging by where she was, with the fountain up ahead, Tucker might very well be right. Desiree might just be behind this.
Valerie activated her suit and primed a blaster as she watched some poor sod toss a coin into the fountain. She couldn't hear his wish, but she could see his lips move, and she didn't miss the appearance of the ghost, either. It was Desiree, sure enough, going through her usual wish-granting speech.
Val would have to ask the Fentons to know for sure, and she probably wasn't ever going to be able to do that without her dad knowing what she was up to, but she was pretty sure that ghosts had certain routines they had to stick to. It seemed true enough for the ones that were once human, if not for the ones that were just bits of ectoplasm.
Well, all ghosts were ectoplasm, plain and simple. Just because some, like that ghost boy, seemed to have an imprint of their former lives left, it didn't mean they were any better than the rest of the ghosts. Heck, she could probably argue that Phantom's kind was worse if she had to. Shouldn't be hard, given the amount of trouble he'd caused….
But Phantom was nowhere to be seen, and Desiree certainly was—along with what looked like it could be a million bucks in pennies. She couldn't see the sucker who'd wished for the money anymore, but she had the ghost in her crosshairs, so she fired.
Her aim was true. She caught the ghost right where her heart should've been, if she'd ever even had one. After a brief exchange of fire, Valerie pulled out her own thermos. Questioning could come later, once she had the ghost contained.
The thermos was blasted out of her hands.
Okay, maybe questioning would come now. Along with some bigger weaponry. And maybe her backup thermos. "Give it up, ghost, or I'll blast you to smithereens." The weapon currently deployed had always made that Phantom kid look for cover, and she was pretty sure she'd seen him taking on this ghost before and winning, so she shouldn't have much trouble.
Then again, when she was up against a ghost that could make anything nearby go after her, maybe it was best just to get straight to the point. Valerie brought her jet sled up and out of reach of the tree branches that, under Desiree's influence, had tried to grab her, and she couldn't help but wonder what the heck could've possibly made the idiot buried under the pennies wish for help from a few animated trees. She sent a few blasts at them, severing the more dangerous limbs, and turned her attention back to what Desiree was saying.
Valerie normally didn't ignore what the ghosts were saying—repetitive and predictable as it usually was, there was always a chance one of them would slip in something interesting—but she didn't really have her head in the game yet. And, frankly, she was lucky she hadn't lost it yet because of that.
Of course, she hadn't ever seen the ghosts try to actually kill anyone. Enslave them, overshadow them, make their lives miserable or just plain old frighten them, yes, but kill? Not really. Not actively. Not yet.
The ghost attacks had meant plenty of injuries, sure, but no one had died. Valerie didn't know why. Could be luck, skill, the types of ghosts that they got, or something else entirely, but whatever it was, she wasn't going to count on it. Taking it for granted would be the height of stupidity, and she knew better than that. She wasn't one to underestimate her opponents.
"What have you done to the Fentons?" Valerie yelled, interrupting the ghost as she sent another blast at her.
Desiree dodged and returned the fire with one of her typical ghostly pink ectoblasts. "I don't know why you're so upset." The ghost was laughing at her with that unnaturally wide smile on her face. Valerie didn't see the humour in the situation, but the ghost's next words chilled her: "You made the wish."
"I never made any such wish, ghost, and I don't know anyone in this town who hates that entire family enough to wish for them all to disappear." The Fentons weren't the greatest ghost hunters, but they were ghost hunters. No one was stupid enough to wish away any protection they might offer.
"Perhaps they don't," Desiree conceded, "but a wish is a wish, and as you have wished it, so it has come to be."
"I didn't make that wish!" Valerie retorted, but her blasts missed again, instead scattering the piles of pennies. Crud. Her anger was starting to influence her aim. She took a few deep breaths, but Desiree didn't use the time to retaliate. She just watched, grinning. Valerie scowled. "I didn't make that wish, and you know it."
"You wished that Danny Phantom would be caught in a situation where he would get his due, did you not? You wished for him to show his true colours, his real self. You—"
"Okay, so I wished that Phantom would get what's coming to him," Valerie snapped, "but that has nothing to do with the Fentons."
Another laugh from the wishing ghost. Valerie ground her teeth but waited for the response. "It has everything to do with the Fentons."
"If you'd needed a ghost hunter, you could've used me. Besides, Danny and Jazz don't even hunt ghosts with their parents, not unless they're forced into it." Valerie realized her mistake as soon as the words were out of her mouth. She'd shown how much she'd cared, she'd shown her enemy a weakness to exploit, and she hadn't blasted that stupid ghost while she'd had the chance.
But Desiree, for some reason, didn't cut and run. She just kept laughing. "The magic has to run its course. I can't stop it now."
Valerie growled and found her spare thermos, unscrewing it. "Well, you can't stop this either, ghost!" She trained its beam on Desiree and flashed a feral grin in the ghost's direction. "I wish," she said clearly, enunciating every syllable as best she could, "that I had caught you in this thermos." Powerful as that stupid ghost was, she wouldn't be able to resist the thermos's pull if she had to let herself get sucked into it.
Really, Valerie should've thought of this ages ago.
"What?" The wish clearly caught Desiree by surprise, but for some reason, she also looked exasperated, as if someone had tried that one on her before and she'd been hoping no one else would figure it out. "N—"
Valerie blinked.
Desiree was gone, but Valerie was pretty sure she wasn't in the thermos. Carefully, Val capped it and checked its status. Sure enough, it still read EMPTY.
First the Fentons disappeared, then Desiree. That had to be weird. Desiree might have twisted her wish to get rid of her enemies by pitting Phantom against the Fentons somewhere, but it wasn't like anyone would've been able to make a long-distance wish to get rid of her. Desiree granted every wish she heard—the key word being heard. If Desiree had been granting any wishes, it would've had to've been Valerie's.
But instead of granting it and ending up inside the thermos, she'd just up and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Unless the thermos was faulty and she'd somehow managed to pull some act where she'd gotten herself in it and out of it again before Valerie had realized what had happened. Maybe then…. Well, Valerie wasn't sure what it meant. But she was pretty sure the thermos wasn't faulty. Vlad Masters supplied her with her equipment. He might've given up something to become mayor of Amity Park, but he was still a billionaire and owner of who knew how many companies. Her ghost hunting was important to him, for some reason. He probably made sure all her equipment worked before passing it on to her.
Maybe she ought to go see him. Vlad was a friend of the Fenton family, even if Danny was sour about him and made no effort to hide that, from him or anyone else. He might not have heard about their disappearance, and he'd want to know.
He might be able to help, too. Money meant connections. She knew that pretty well; he was one of the reasons her dad still had a job. VladCo had bought Axion Labs, after all.
Valerie glanced down. The mountains of pennies had disappeared with Desiree, and the trees and everything else were back to normal. And, judging by the guy who was hurrying away with a bit of a limp, there wasn't anything else to worry about here. Turning her jet sled in the direction of Mr. Masters's mansion, she headed off to tell him about the news. Then, when she called Tucker, she might just be able to tell him about the newest recruit to the search and the new plan of action. Mr. Masters always seemed to have a plan, and she hoped he'd have one this time.
If not…. Well, if not, he'd come up with something soon enough. He had to. She and Sam and Tucker might mean well, but they were just teenagers. The chances of finding a missing family before the police would even classify them as missing persons and start looking were slim to nil. They needed help, and, whether Danny liked it or not, Vlad Masters was their best bet. There wasn't anyone else to turn to.
By the time they got to Tucker's, Danny was half transformed into Danny Phantom, and Jazz couldn't ignore it any longer. She put her foot down. "Danny," she said, putting her hands on her hips, "what's going on?"
"It's fine."
It wasn't fine. It wasn't anything near fine. First the boots, then the suit. It was minus the logo, but all he needed were his gloves and a colour change to his eyes and hair to complete things. They hadn't seen another living soul, but that didn't mean that Danny's cover couldn't be blown. "I didn't even know you could do that," Jazz said, waving a hand at Danny's clothing. "I thought it was all or nothing."
"It…normally is." The words were mumbled, but she still heard them.
She crossed her arms this time. "I need to know."
He sighed. "It's not me. I mean, it's not intentional. I'm just…changing."
Jazz raised an eyebrow. "And you don't know why?" Danny glared at her, and she relented. "All right, so you don't know why. Hasn't this ever happened before?"
"Not like this."
Jazz thought for a moment. "Did you get hit with anything recently, as Phantom or Fenton? I know Mom and Dad have a couple inventions in experimental stages in the lab, and last time I was down there, one exploded."
Danny chuckled. "So that's why you had green gunk in your hair when I got home a couple nights ago."
"It's not funny. Some of those things could have a different effect on you."
"And you think this might be it?"
It was hardly a question, considering the sarcasm her little brother had managed to inject into it, but Jazz answered anyway. "Yes. What else could it be?"
"Oh, I don't know." Somehow, Danny managed to put even more sarcasm into his voice. "Maybe it's because of the same thing that caused all the rest of this?"
Jazz pursed her lips and didn't give him an answer. She doubted he'd really wanted one, anyway. "Maybe you'll be able to change back if you change completely first."
"Doubt it."
"You won't know if you don't try."
"Yeah, and if I do try, I might get stuck that way."
"At this rate, you're not going to have a choice. Besides, what if someone sees you?"
Danny raised an eyebrow. "Who? There's no one around." He jerked his thumb at Tucker's house. "No one's answering the door here, either." He sneezed again, and Jazz frowned. The last thing they needed right now was for Danny to be sick, but it was getting hard to deny that he'd come down with something.
If he tried to tell her he was fine again, so help her, she'd—
"There's Mom and Dad."
"Who are at the school."
"But they won't be forever. We have to tell them what happened."
"We don't know what happened."
"I know." Jazz was quiet for a moment. "We'll need their help, Danny. We can't put things right by ourselves. And when I do tell them something's wrong, which I will, whether you want me to or not, you know the first thing they'll do is try to find you."
"Second thing," Danny corrected dully. "They'll pack up a good arsenal of weapons first, which will come in handy when they find the ghost kid and try to rip me apart molecule by molecule."
"Just try changing. Please. It can't hurt."
"You don't understand. I know you want to. I know you want to understand. But you can't, because I can't explain it. I can't control this. I can't change back. And if I do go ghost, all I'll accomplish is painting a bull's-eye on myself for Mom and Dad's weapons!"
Jazz, unsure of what to say, just looked at her brother for a moment. He'd crossed his arms and was now staring at his boots, avoiding her gaze. "Oh, Danny," she finally said, reaching out to put a hand on his arm, "I won't let them hurt you."
"You might not be able to stop them." Danny's voice was quiet. He was worried, and scared, and he didn't know what was going on, and she knew that bothered him as much as the situation itself. But at least he didn't shake off her hand.
"It'll work out," Jazz said, even though, at the moment, she didn't know how it would. They needed to figure out what was causing Danny to change and whether or not it was related to everything else. They needed to figure out where everyone else was—or where they'd gone—and how it had happened. They needed to figure out who was behind this.
Jazz rang the Foley's doorbell, hoping to take Danny's mind off of things, but she knew as well as he did that they wouldn't get an answer because no one was home.
They didn't even bother searching the house this time. As Danny had said when Jazz had suggested it, hoping it might help, they wouldn't find any clues at Tucker's. Things hadn't started to go wrong there. It had all started back at the school, back at the auditorium, back at the ghost hunters' convention their parents had decided to host.
However, when they did reach the school, Danny hung back. Jazz shot him a questioning look, even though she could guess why. Barring his eyes and the lack of logo on his chest, he was in his phantom form.
"Just…tell them you took me home, okay? I'm not supposed to be here anyway. I'm supposed to be sick."
"You are sick," Jazz reminded him as he sneezed again.
Danny, to Jazz's disgust, wiped his nose on his sleeve. "I'll be fine. It's just a cold." He squared his shoulders and finished transforming into Danny Phantom before looking at Jazz with bright green eyes. "But you're right. Bull's-eye or not, I might as well take the last step. It's better to change on my own terms. Just try to turn off as many inventions as you can, okay? I'm going to look around town to see if there's anything we missed, but I'll meet you back here."
"I'll see if Mom and Dad have any ideas about what's happened," Jazz said by way of agreement. "Be careful, Danny."
Danny gave her a distracted nod and took to the air. When he was out of sight, Jazz sighed and turned back to the school. She had her own work to do, and trying to protect her little brother was the least of it. Danny had already proven time and again that he could take care of himself, but….
She just hoped he could this time, too. Just in case.