Sorry I took so long. But, on the bright side, I think I nailed this chapter to perfection.
Shadow's eyes closed as he forced himself to change human and fell. He landed on his knees, still clutching the amulet. One hand was on the ground, steadying him. He looked at his sister and let a smile slip onto his face, although it was strained.
"Yeah, Abs, it's me," he confirmed.
"Jake!" Sam screamed.
In less than five seconds, the boy was bound in a crushing hug from his mother. She let go as everyone else joined them.
"Jacob Jack Fenton, you have a lot of explaining to do," she scolded.
"Yeah, I guess I do," he agreed, standing up to look into the faces of his friends and family.
"I can't believe it," Abby almost whispered. "You were half-ghost all this time? But…how?"
Jake fidgeted around nervously. "Heh…uh…Ghost Portal. It didn't exactly work the way I wanted it to, though, which eventually led up the whole 'being Shadow and not telling you' mess."
There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment before Danny broke it. "Jake, did you, by any chance, remember to set the dials when you went into the Ghost Portal?"
"Uh…" the teen uttered in response.
Danny and Sam smiled a bit and rolled their eyes. A little coughing sound interrupted the quiet. The group parted to make way for Tori, who had deactivated her suit.
"C'mon, let's give them a little privacy," Sam suggested, motioning for the group to leave.
Jake and Tori looked around to make sure that no one was watching. The girl stared at the ground and took a deep breath.
"So…you're Shadow?" she questioned, even though that had already been confirmed.
"Yeah," Jake answered while looking downward as well.
"And I've been hunting - hurting – you this whole time?" she continued, looking up sadly.
"Hey, it's not your fault," he assured her. "I should've told you earlier."
"But you said you were good and you proved it and I still just couldn't accept that and then…those things I said to you. How did you even stand being around me?" she mumbled sorrowfully.
The boy grabbed her hands. "Easy, because you're my friend. You've always been my friend and some stupid little mistake isn't going to change that. Ever."
A weak smile worked its way onto her dark face. "Still," she responded. "I'm so sorry."
"And you know what? I've already forgiven you."
She let out a little laugh. "I really don't deserve a friend like you," she teased.
Jake smiled, but then let his face drop as he gazed at the amulet in his hand. He sighed. "I just wish you could've found out a different way. All of you."
"Jake, what are you thinking about?" Tori inquired after a moment.
"Nothing. C'mon," he urged. He led them toward the area the rest of the group had gone. Soon enough, they all met up. They were all smiling at him, but he couldn't return the gesture. He knew what had to be done. Their faces dropped as they noticed this.
"Jake, is something wrong?" Sam questioned.
Jake took a deep breath. "Yeah, there is. This…this isn't the way it should be, I know it. It was the wrong way for you guys to find out. I wanted to tell you myself and not under these circumstances."
"What are you talking about?" Abby asked, stepping forward a bit.
Danny put his hand on her shoulder and gave his son a small smile of understanding. "I think I know what you mean and although I'm sad to see that you've chosen that path, I understand."
"Thanks, Dad," the son responded. He changed into Shadow and held up the amulet. "Well, here it goes."
He let some of his own red energy coarse through the artifact, causing it to glow. Then, a blinding flash erupted from it. When the light subsided, most of the group was lying unconscious. He threw the amulet down on the ground and smashed it with his foot. Tori looked at him curiously.
"I thought you were going to erase our memories," she assumed.
"I did," Shadow replied. He turned his head to the group. "They won't remember a thing. They might have a few flashbacks of Abby being possessed, but that's probably it."
"Then why did you let me remember?" she questioned.
"I already made the mistake of not telling you the first time, I'm not going to repeat it," he announced.
Tori smiled and embraced him in a hug which he quickly returned. "Thank you."
After a minute, he sighed and let go. "They'll be waking up soon. You might want to get back in your gear. Oh, and make sure to play your part. As far as they know, I'm still Shadow and you're still the Blue Huntress who wants to kill me."
She did as she was told and moved over to the rest of the group. Soft groans began to emerge from them as they propped themselves up.
"Woah, what happened? What the heck was that?" Abby questioned while rubbing her head.
Tori walked over to the girl and helped her up. "Don't you remember? You were possessed by that weird amulet and took over the human and ghost realms!"
"I…did?" she asked. She thought hard for a minute. "It's all kinda blurry."
"Must be a side-effect," Danny pitched in. "Being controlled usually does that."
"Hold on a minute," Valerie ordered. "If we were being controlled then…how did we snap out of it?"
Her friend's words echoed in Tori's head: Play your part. "I guess the fact that the Ghost Zone got overrun called for some desperate measures."
Valerie looked at her in confusion before spotting Shadow off in the distance. Everyone else looked as well. The boy carefully made his way over to them.
"You guys alright?" he questioned.
"Yeah, looks like it. Thanks," Danny responded while grabbing the hand that Shadow offered to help him up. After he had hoisted himself up, he pulled his hand away and looked curiously and worriedly at it. There was ectoplasm coating it. "What the…?"
Shadow's eyes widened as he pulled his hand back farther and glanced at it. Sure enough, his hand had begun to melt into the ghostly blood. He jerked it behind his back.
"Yeah…well, I have to go now," he blurted while slowly backing up. "Bye!"
After that, he bolted into the vast expanse of the Ghost Zone.
Danny looked at the ectoplasm on his hand hard. Then, he glanced to where Shadow had disappeared to. What he didn't see was Shadow hiding behind a floating rock. He was staring at his own hand as it dissolved.
"I guess they weren't kidding when they said using too much of that power would kill me." The boy shut his eyes tight and clenched the hand into a fist. The ectoplasm reformed into his hand. "I'll have to be more careful."
Later, Jake, Matt, and Tori sat on top of Jake's house with their legs hanging off.
Matt sighed in relief. "This is the way it should be. Three best friends and no big secret between them. Almost like old times."
"Yeah, but in old times we didn't have Jake the all powerful Chosen One," Tori teased.
Jake bumped her with his arm. "Whatever. I'm just happy that that whole mess is over with and things are relatively normal again…with the addition of Tori knowing and Mr. Taylors' recall on the parent-teacher conference."
"But, you have to admit, it's going to be pretty sweet that you guys can work together now," Matt said optimistically.
Jake and Tori exchanged nervous glances.
"Actually…" Jake began.
"We can't. Well, not really, anyway," Tori finished.
"If Tori suddenly starts getting all nice around my ghost half, people are going to get suspicious."
"And that's something we really can't afford right now. So, I'm going to pretend that I still hate Shadow and purposely miss all of my shots until we can make it look like a gradual friendship," the girl explained.
"At least, that's the plan," the half-ghost added.
"That's it?" Matt inquired. "After all of that, all you're gonna do is…wait?"
"Yep," the two answered.
"But, hey," Tori spoke up while she put her arm over Jake's shoulder and her two best friends copied "If one good thing has come out of this, it's that we're all in this together now."
Okay, I know that there's at least a few of you out there who want to scream at me for this, so I apologize. However, I want to remind you that the story isn't over yet. When they do find out, though, I promise that it will be very dramatic.
Oh, I have another heads up, too. The next episode might take a little bit 'cause I'm still working a few bugs out of it. Then, with my other eppies, I'm debating on whether or not I should change Thrasher's design...again. (Any opinions on that would be great).