Edit: 5/21/18: Next wave of grammar fixes and wording tweaks or some scenes altered to avoid cliches. Took out AN question and answer sections.

The next chapter, Huzzah!

zzz- normal separation

ooo- dream or vision separation

Mental thoughts or distant speaking

"My self-worth is not linked to your cruel words and actions. My self-esteem is not affected by your deliberate attempts to destroy my character. You have no power over me. You will not silence me." ~ Marina Cohen, Dear Bully: Seventy Authors Tell Their Stories

zzz

The next day at school was mostly uneventful and as evening started to come, everyone invited to Sam's birthday party started to move towards her home for the party her parents had decided to throw. The party was of course high class since her parents would never have it any other way. As a side effect of her not mentioning her and Danny's relationship to them, she was mortified to find out that Pamela had invited several young men or what she called 'suitors' to the party. Sam really hoped that Danny and the others would get there soon.

She was walking down the stairs towards the large den when she heard the doorbell ring. Several adults and their kids from the country club were already there, so she was hopeful that it was Danny or one of her other friends at the door. She had on her dark purple dress she'd gotten from the Skulk and Lurk and had pulled a bit of her hair back into a flat ponytail. As she made her way around the bottom steps and headed towards the door, a voice halted her.

"Samantha, how wonderful to see you again."

Sam froze in slight shock and anger at not only being called Samantha, but also by the familiar tone the voice had. She turned slowly and came face to face with someone she hadn't seen in years, Nicolaas Bakker. He was someone her mother had introduced her to ages ago. He was high class and perfect in every way, just like her parents wanted. The most cynical part of Sam believed her parents only wanted her to marry him one day as to have him as their son. The Bakkers had known her family since her Grandmother's era. Nicolaas had on a lighter blue suit and tie that matched his grey-blue eyes; his blond hair was combed neatly to the side. He had the shallowness of Paulina but his intellect was far greater. In fact, he was on par with Sam and they tended to be constantly trying to out play each other. It was a domination thing for him and it made Sam madder than anything.

"I guess it has been a while, excuse me. I need to get the door," Sam spoke curtly and tried to walk away.

"Hm, Sam before you go, I'd like you to take a quick look at your present. I'm quite nervous about whether or not you'll like it. You know, since we haven't seen each other in so long."

Sam hissed slightly under her breath before a little sigh escaped her. "Fine, wha-" She paused when she felt something cold and a little heavy go around her neck. She glanced down and could see it was a gold necklace with several diamonds set on it; A much larger diamond nestled between the other diamonds as a pendant.

"A type of luxury only people like us can enjoy, Samantha. Isn't it beautiful? Diamonds reflect the beauty of their wearers."

Sam honestly was not really excited about the piece. It was just metal and carbon… meaningless really.

"It's very nice, Nicolaas." She managed to choke out. He seemed suspicious of her answer but backed off.

"Good." He silently watched her walk away from him and towards the door. She opened it and saw Valerie and Tucker arguing about something on her doorstep. Valerie had on her dress she'd bought at the mall and Tucker was wearing a dark green suit and tie; he'd wanted to go with white to be super flamboyant as always but he didn't like the idea of looking like the GiW.

"Nicknaming your PDAs is an issue, Tucker. I understand your love for technology but you need to draw a line."

"Ah come on, Ginger never did anything to you."

"Guys?"

Valerie and Tucker turned and laughed nervously at the smiling Sam. They followed her inside.

"Nice bling you got there, Sam." Tucker grinned and gestured to the necklace around her throat.

"Oh, it's um… something Nicolaas gave me. Guys I need help. Mom brought like four different suitors here including someone I thought was ancient history!"

"Excuse me?" Valerie asked and placed her hands on her hips.

"She doesn't know about Danny and I being together. By the way, where is Danny?" Sam asked.

"Either A working on finishing your gift or B a ghost popped up." Tucker sighed.

"Or C all of the above." Valerie mentioned.

"It's seems I'm unfamiliar with your friends here, Samantha."

The three friends flinched and turned to see Nicolaas standing behind them or perhaps hovering.

Sam frowned. "They're my close friends from Casper."

"Oh yes that school your parents decided for whatever reason to let you go to?"

"It was the other option in Amity other than boarding school like you."

"Morrison High is a great place. I wish you were there. I think you'd come to understand your parents' wishes a lot easier."

"And be brainwashed, no thanks."

"Now Samantha…"

They paused when they heard the doorbell ring.

"Excuse me." Sam mumbled and walked off to answer it, leaving Tucker and Valerie with Nicolaas. He glanced at the two with a disarmingly charming smile.

"Yeah, and you are?" Tucker nodded.

"Nicolaas Bakker, an old acquaintance of the Manson family and I believe your Mr. Foley and Mrs. Grey, correct?" Nicolaas looked at Valerie. "A true shame that you were so suddenly brought to lesser living standards Mrs. Grey. I do hope your father finds another more reputable job soon."

Valerie narrowed her eyes. "We're perfectly content with what we have."

Nicolaas laughed. "That's what they all say. It's okay to want."

"Dude, not everybody needs excess," Tucker replied, crossing his arms. He knew he already didn't like this guy.

"I suppose you'd know?" Nicolaas implied craftily.

Tucker and Valerie were glaring at him while he continued to act as though they were continuing a pleasant conversation. All three looked up though when they heard Sam and Danny's voice.

"Sorry for being a bit late. I was finishing up some things."

"It's fine, Danny, really."

Tucker noticed Nicolaas clench a fist and narrow his eyes when he saw Sam subconsciously grab Danny's hand while reassuring him. Danny was wearing a black suit and tie and looked quite sharp.

"Nice necklace."

"Oh yeah… I got it from an old acquaintance today."

"Oh… are… are they real?" Danny murmured, looking at the diamonds, and Sam could see a slightly deflated look in his eyes.

"Of course, they are. Only the best."

Danny and Sam glanced up at the other three when Nicolaas had spoken.

"You must be those ghost hunters' son, correct? Aren't they an interesting couple of characters?"

Sam almost immediately felt Danny tense up beside her. People mocking his parents or their professions was a sore subject for Danny and it always seemed that people liked to stoop to that level to get under the boy's skin. She glared at Nicolaas but he merely smiled right at her face.

"They can be goofy but they're great parents," Danny replied simply.

"Ah, they are very lucky to have such a loyal son," Nicolaas answered back.

Danny was going to speak again about the implication of that sentence when Pamela and Jeremy's voice rose above everyone's saying it was time for Sam to open her presents. All of them headed that direction. Sam went to sit and start unwrapping all the gifts there. She got a variety of gifts like clothes, a new computer, and even more jewelry. Valerie had gifted her with a book from the Skulk and Lurk which got some looks from the other guests there and Tucker had gotten her a couple of video games that Danny and he'd been playing together and Sam had wanted to join them in.

Danny finally moved closer and passed her a long red box with yellow ribbon. "I hope you like it. It's missing a piece but there's a good reason for it. I need to get one more piece. My uh collection ran out."

Sam cocked her head and opened the box carefully to reveal a string of ghost crystals, each the size of her thumb, on an onyx chain. A spot was empty in the very center where a pendant should be. When she moved the necklace slightly, the crystals clinked together like glass and sparkled in the light. Her mouth was open and she was speechless.

"If you know you don't like it I can try and get something else," Danny murmured and rubbed the back of his neck.

"God Danny, it's gorgeous. Did you make it yourself?" Sam asked.

Everyone in the crowd was silent and Nicolaas looked like he'd been slapped.

"Ye-yeah. I'll tell you more about how, later maybe." Danny smirked.

Sam smiled. "Help me put it on?" Danny smiled back and nodded. She carefully took off Nicolaas' piece; Danny grabbed the two clasps Sam handed to him and he put the necklace on her. She looked back at him after it was set and beamed. "Thank you, Danny."

"What on earth arrre those gems?" A large woman asked, as the man next to her looked through a monocle.

"No gem I've never seen. They're certainly not diamonds."

Danny gulped. "They're uh ghost crystal."

A bunch of murmurs started up around them and Pamela frowned and stepped forward.

"Samantha Manson, take that monstrosity off this instant! Who knows what horrible things it could do to you!?"

"Mom! Calm down! It's fine. They won't hurt me."

"Mrs. Mason, I've kept them close to my person for the last few days and nothing happened. Believe me, they're completely harmless."

Pamela immediately turned on Danny. "You and your parents' uncouth dealings with ghosts and goblins is sick! I will not stand it! Such things do NOT belong under my roof or near my daughter."

Sam and her friends could see Danny flinch with each thing she said. Sam started to become enraged knowing just how much her mother was saying was truly hurting Danny.

"Mom, Shut. Up."

The room grew still and Danny looked over at Sam with eyes wide as dinner plates.

"Sah-Sam… don't," Danny spoke. She turned and gave him a strong look.

"No, I will not let her say those kinds of things to my boyfriend!"

"Your what!?" Pamela and Jeremy yelled at the same time.

"Sam…" Danny whispered and his eyelids drooped a bit.

Sam grabbed his hand and stood closer to him when she looked back at her parents. "I really really care about Danny and I know he feels the same about me. So, get over it. Danny's kind and wonderful to be around."

"Wooh! Go, Bubleh!"

Everyone glanced over and saw Sam's Grandmother sitting in her scooter, smiling at Sam and Danny.

"Daniel's a good boy and a very brave one. I think you couldn't have caught a better fish!" She added.

"Mother!" Jeremy spoke up.

"Oh, hush child, I know what I'm talking about. He isn't any sort of ruffian and he really cares for our Sam. If you'd pay more attention you'd know that!" The elderly woman winked at Danny and he cocked his head in slight confusion at her supreme confidence in him.

Danny turned and looked at Jeremy. He made his back straighter and looked the man dead in the eye. "Mr. Manson, sir. I really do care about your daughter a lot. It's taken me a long time to realize how much though. I would like to be in a relationship with Sam, please sir, ma'am." Danny finished by addressing Mrs. Manson as well. Before they could reply, Nicolaas spoke up.

"But will you be able to provide for her. You know, she has a much higher standard of living. I'm not certain you can afford her, Fenton. Those crystals aren't diamonds or even quartz. They're some sort of strange material no rarer than macaroni noodles."

Sam growled, "I'm not for sale, Nicolaas. Other than that, that type of crystal is made by only certain ghosts." She glanced very quickly at Danny while smiling and then back to Nicolaas. "He had to collect it over a period of time for a while I'm sure. I love it and that's all that matters to me, not the price."

Nicolaas frowned. "I just don't understand it, Samantha. Why you'd wish to be with someone like him. The choices you've made in life are starting to concern me."

Sam was furious but paused when Danny walked forward. He got to right in front of Nicolaas and realized he was at least half a foot taller than the high class young man. "First off, Sam likes to be called Sam. If you cared about her at all you'd know that or not ignore her wishes. Second, you seriously have control issues. I don't care what you say about me or what you think about me, but if you start judging Sam then we will have a problem."

Nicolaas glared back. "Is that a threat?"

Danny didn't respond.

"Very well. This isn't over though, not yet." Nicolaas replied and walked off into the crowd, picking up his parents along the way and exiting the home.

The rest of the party guests diffused slowly and left awkwardly after that. Danny and Sam said goodbye to Tucker and Valerie and then were confronted by Sam's parents once the house was empty of everyone except Sam's family, Sam and Danny.

Jeremy looked over Danny and spoke flatly. "Daniel, I think it would be best if you left for the time being."

Sam was going to open her mouth but Danny grabbed her hand and looked at her with a smile. He looked Jeremy in the eye again and nodded. "Yes sir. Have a good rest of the evening…" Danny turned and walked out, but not before giving Sam one last smile over his shoulder.

"Samantha…"

Oh crud.

zzz

Danny walked along the road towards his house in deep thought. Normally he would've flown home, but he needed some time to think to himself about the party. He hoped that Sam had still enjoyed her birthday some…

As Danny walked past an alleyway, his ghost sense went off a split second before a strong arm wrapped around his arms and torso and a hand clamped over his mouth. He shouted through the hand-gag before being pulled into the alleyway. There was only one person that could sneak up on him like that and hold him still while he struggled with all his might.

"Hello, Daniel." Vlad spoke from behind. Danny growled since he couldn't form an understandable sentence with Vlad's gloved hand in the way.

"I see you've gained not only a new ability but also a new ally. I'm pretty sure Valerie is no longer going to play the game my way… I may just have to do something about that."

Danny tried to kick Vlad and then started to increase the temperature around the two of them with his hot core. Vlad chuckled lightly. "Daniel, do you know what's hotter than fire? Electricity." He ended his sentence darkly. Soon Danny felt electricity traveling up and down his spine from the place on his back that Vlad was shocking. Danny's muffled scream pierced the air as Vlad halted the attack and continued to talk. "I suppose you could just say this is my way of declaring that I understand and accept the newest rules added to our game." Before Danny could growl at that, his head was slammed into the wall of one of the buildings making up the alleyway. He was released at the same time and in seconds, Vlad slipped beneath the earth and was gone. After a moment of lying on the ground, trying to get his bearings back, Danny lifted himself up and stood wobbly. He clutched the right side of his head and realized the blow had made him bleed.

Great. Just great. Danny walked towards the street after he wiped away some of the blood on his head. The cut was already no longer bleeding and so he took the time to clean himself a bit more and continue towards his home.

zzz

The four people in the den were quietly staring at each other, trying to decide who should speak first and whether that would give them the advantage or the disadvantage. Finally, Sam's parents couldn't hold back anymore.

"You do realize what the people at the Country Club will think now, right, blatantly being rude to Nicolaas and then saying that Fenton boy is your boyfriend?" Pamela replied stiffly. Jeremy was actually being very quiet. Sam was surprised; it seemed Danny's move to look the older man in the eyes had had some kind of effect on her father if only slightly.

"He is not just my boyfriend but has been my best friend for a very long time. I would trust him with my life," Sam replied effortlessly. "This is the one thing that I will beg you to, for once in your life, grant me without a struggle. This means a lot to me."

"But his family, Samantha, he's simply not good enough for you!" Pamela responded.

Sam bristled at that and rose from her sitting position. Grandma Ida frowned and watched her granddaughter tear into her daughter-in-law.

"Stop that! His parents are kind even if they're goofy, he admits that! Don't ever say he's not good enough! You've hardly had the opportunity to try to know him. You were too busy trying to smear his character!" Sam snapped.

"Samantha, don't speak to me like that!" Pamela retorted.

Quite suddenly Jeremy became part of the equation in a way that confounded Sam.

"Honey, maybe we should give him a shot. He seems serious to me," Jeremy spoke and placed a hand on his wife's arm. He then looked at Sam seriously. "However, we'll be watching and if he steps out of line, then we'll have problems. Understood, Sam?"

Sam gaped at her father for a moment before she nodded slowly.

"Jeremy, darling are you sure we can trust that boy?" Pamela murmured.

Sam realized with a jolt that during this conversation, something again surprised her. Her parents, in their own weird and rude way, were trying to give her the best… They thought Danny wasn't good enough not for them but her and they were worried about trusting him with her. Valerie was right, even if they often really pissed her off and could be callous and rude, never take your parents for granted. Sam happened to lock eyes with Ida and she seemed to notice the pride in her Grandmother's eyes; she knew that Sam had noticed. Ida often tried to be on Sam's team for a lot of fights she had with her parents, but she also tried to explain to Sam why her parents did what they did. Ironically, Sam had been as close-minded as her parents in some ways…

"I suppose we can see, but heed what your father said, Sammy-kins," Pamela spoke and was shocked when her daughter hugged her for the first time in a long while.

"Thanks mom, thanks dad."

zzz

Danny got home and told his family about the party, leaving out some of the things Nicolaas and Pamela had said about him and his parents. Afterwards, he went upstairs and took a shower before talking to Jazz in hushed whispers about his encounter with Vlad on the way home. He'd certainly have to tell Sam, Tucker, and especially Valerie sometime soon about Vlad's acquired knowledge.

He finally plopped into bed and started to slip into slumber around eleven thirty when his ghost sense fled from his mouth. He sighed and slipped from bed intangibly and flew out of his room before transforming midair, outside. He glanced around for a few moments.

"Who's there!? Show yourself!"

He was answered by a blast of energy to his gut courtesy of Skulker.

"Hello Ghost Child, let the hunt begin again!"

Danny was recovering from crashing into a large public trash bin in the alleyway between his house and his neighbors, when Skulker flew down and grabbed the Halfa by the throat. He pulled his other hand out with a large glowing knife on it and pointed it at Danny's face. Danny responded swiftly and kicked Skulker in the stomach as hard as he could, getting himself released. Danny then switched to his hot core before blasting Skulker with orange flames from his hands. Skulker dodged and stared at Danny quietly, making Danny stop and give him a confused look.

"Skulker? You in there?"

Skulker replied, "You do have control over a cold and hot core then… Such types of ghosts are exceedingly rare. You're even more of a prize than before."

Danny let out an exasperated breath.

Skulker raised his gun and fired again. Danny dropped from the sky by letting gravity take him, to barely miss the laser fired at him. He then cloaked himself in ghost flame and shot at Skulker like a comet, slamming into him again and partially melting a bit of Skulker's suit once more. The difference this time however was Skulker's backup plan. The Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter pulled back his right fist as it started glowing with electricity and ecto energy. He pounded it into Danny's side. The teen hero gasped in agony and shot towards the earth as the fire around him vanished. He crashed into the street and immediately transformed back into Fenton. Skulker landed on the ground and marched up to the boy, aiming his cannon weapon to deal the, possibly, ending blow. He paused when he saw Danny's blue eyes gazing up at him. They were half lidded in weakness and yet there was still defiance there.

Danny let out a wheeze. "What'd you hit me with?"

Skulker humored him. "An ecto-disruptor. It drained you of a great deal of your power quickly."

"No wonder I feel like crap. Got to give you credit for that one."

Skulker kept his eyes locked onto Danny's before he lowered his weapon. Danny watched as Skulker scowled and seemed to be having an internal battle of some sort before he spoke to the Halfa again. "You better give me a better hunt next time." Skulker then un-expectantly used his jetpack and flew off. Slowly Danny felt his body start to reclaim the energy he'd lost just as he heard his parents running up from the lab in the house. He had just enough power to switch into Phantom and disappear into the ground. He got back into his room and turned back again into human form. He slipped under the covers, waiting for his healing to work on the couple of cracked ribs he was sure he had and he started trying to think of why Skulker had just let him go…

zzz

A few minutes prior to Skulker's visit

The kids had gone to bed and the two adult Fentons were working down in the lab. Jack was fiddling around with a new invention of his that would cause sonic waves that would daze ghosts, while Maddie was busy watching all the newest clips they'd gotten about the Ghost Boy. Recently the two parents had been considering, she used that word hesitantly, rethinking their view on him. He had seemed to have gotten into a regular schedule of helping people and hadn't done anything suspicious in the last month or so. On the flip-side, she still wanted to dissect him and understand why he was so different from the other ghosts. His power too was growing and that worried her more than anything; for if he was just waiting for the right time to strike, Maddie wasn't sure she and her husband could handle it. She'd never seen a ghost, with the ability to switch between cores, up close before. She had a theory that powerful ghosts could do it, since she'd gotten some numerical data from the Tornado ghost; she would have gotten data on some others she'd seen but alas the large Plant ghost had had her under control and the Wisconsin Ghost was difficult to predict. She watched a few clips of the Ghost Kid using his new fire powers and as she did, she paused the footage to zoom in on something she thought she saw.

There it was…

"Stubble?" Maddie asked aloud and got Jack's attention.

"Hm? Oh well I was letting it grow out a bit so I could properly show Danny-boy how to shave!"

"No not you, Jack. Phantom! Look!"

Jack moved to occupy his wife's side and saw what she did. On the young ghoul's jaw were white pin pricks of light glowing stubble starting there.

"Huh," Jack mumbled. "A costume change? He doesn't have them anymore. Did he shave? Do ghosts shave?"

Maddie shook her head in confusion, "Ghosts can't mature this slowly… They're supposed to only change shape if they're given the ability to transform their bodies or if they've acquired new energy from something. It's like he's… alive."

They both turned sharply when they heard a small crash outside.

"GHOST!" Jack roared and grabbed some gadgets. Maddie did the same, but not before taking one last glance at the frozen film of Phantom. If he could mature, then did that mean he could feel emotions too? The lines she thought were drawn had grown blurry over time.

zzz

A week and a half later

The next week or so went by somewhat normally. During this time, Danny had told his friends about Vlad's appearance, which had made Valerie even madder at the millionaire, and Danny had even mentioned Skulker's strange behavior to them. Team Phantom had since then been on alert, waiting to see what Vlad could be up too but they hadn't noticed anything suspicious. This morning the four friends were approaching school and Danny was talking about a dream he'd had the night before.

"The person was cloaked from what I can remember. He was mumbling something about righteousness…"

"Your dream is probably just that, a dream. We played a lot of the New Age Tomes and your Danny Phantom game, online last night. I bet they merged into a crazy dream when you fell asleep," Tucker spoke not looking up from his PDA.

"You don't believe in prophetic dreams? I mean ghosts exist and your best friend is half one," Sam asked the techno geek.

"Naw, just a coincidence."

The four friends mostly dropped the topic after that and headed for Mr. Lancer's class for English.

zzz

In English, Danny ended up falling asleep, probably due to Ember's visit the night before. More specifically because of the several waves of energy he'd been hit with from Ember's guitar. His body was asking for a bit more rest.

Before Mr. Lancer could turn and even notice Danny, or before Sam could nudge him awake, something bizarre started to happen. Danny started to speak in his sleep… In Latin.

"Cum bonum, non est obscurum. Justum erit oranti, qui malus. May gladius quidam animae est et adhaerebit Malus eligit gloria super avaritiam. De iure vero rex expellat tenebras. Expergiscere gladii animae vires, et semel de somno."

By the first sentence, the entire class was staring at Danny as well as Mr. Lancer. After Danny had finished, he grumbled in his sleep and let out a seemingly relieved sigh.

"The heck was that mumbo jumbo Fen-turd was saying!?" Dash shouted in alarm.

"It's probably some spell the freaky Goth put on him. A love spell or something." Paulina snorted.

"No Paulina… that's actually Latin Daniel was speaking," Lancer replied cutting off Sam's sharp reply she was going to make. He looked at Sam and Tucker both. "I had no idea Daniel was bilingual."

Sam stumbled. "He uh… isn't? He's just been reading a lot of ancient stories about legends and stuff."

Dash coughed into his hand, not really trying to hide his next words. "*cough*-Geek."

The A-listers and some of the other students laughed before Lancer gave them a glare and cut them off.

"Oh… I see…" Lancer replied to Sam's answer, though he didn't mention that he didn't think reading over a story even with a translation of some kind would account for how easily Daniel had used the language and dialect. He knocked on Daniel's desk and the boy shot up.

"Sorry Mr. Lancer!" Danny yelped as a reflex.

"Try to keep your head, Mr. Fenton. I'm almost desperate enough to let you bring a caffeinated drink of some kind." Lancer murmured the last part under his breath.

The lecture went on without incident after that, though Danny was getting more looks than normal now, some who were suspicious but most were mocking.

After school was over, the four friends went to the library to try and figure out what to do about Vlad and also what in the world Danny had said in Latin. They weren't the only ones though wondering what the cryptic words meant.

zzz

As soon as he parked his car in front of his apartment, the Mr. Lancer practically ran up the stairs to his place and disappeared into his study. He tossed his briefcase into another chair before sitting in front of his computer. He knew a decent amount of Latin but there were a few words that Daniel had used that even he wasn't familiar with.

To be honest, Mr. Lancer wanted to understand why Daniel didn't do better in school above all other questions; after all education was one of the most important aspects of Casper High's students' lives that he had authority to be involved in. As for Daniel's constant trips to the bathroom and absences, it wasn't really his business; for all Mr. Lancer knew Daniel had a medical issue and his personal life outside of school wasn't much of his business either. Something though, something told the bald teacher that his other questions could be answered if he figured out why Daniel's grades had fallen. Danny had been an honor student at one time but at some point, it had been like someone had flipped a switch. It had oddly been about the time of the young man's lab accident. At first Lancer thought something had damaged him from the accident, which would certainly be understandable, but slowly he'd noticed that Daniel seemed still mentally capable if not still above average. It wasn't by his homework or test results the teacher knew these things though, it was in the rare moments Daniel participated in class discussion and other small signs that he knew. He wasn't a teacher for nothing after all.

He focused back on the task at hand and went to translate the few words he didn't know with a translator on the computer. After using his known knowledge of the ancient and practically dead language, he wrote down the translated version of Daniel's words.

"When there is good, there is darkness. Justice must be the one to quell the evil. May the Sword of Souls cleave malus asunder and choose glory over greed. The rightful king shall banish the darkness. Awaken, Sword of Souls from your slumber and gain strength once more."

He furrowed his brows and started to look up those words and phrases on the internet. Ultimately, he could find no ancient story, tale, poem, parable, fable, novel, or even folk tale that had any of those words. Lancer was stumped. Where on earth could Daniel had gotten those words from? What were those kids really hiding?

zzz

"What is that supposed to mean?" Danny asked and scratched his head. The four friends had just heard Sam recite the translated version of the words Danny had spoken. Tucker had been smart enough to record Danny's voice on his PDA a few seconds after Danny had started speaking in class.

"Sword of Souls… Does it mean the Soul Shredder, Fright Night's weapon?" Tucker asked.

"I'm not certain. I couldn't find any story recounting these lines," Sam replied with a sigh.

"So, what do we do?" Valerie spoke and looked at Danny. "And why on Earth did Danny start speaking these words and in Latin no less?"

"My theory is that Latin is a base language among ghosts. Many people believe it's the language of the dead as well as being a dead language itself. I think Danny could speak it all the time but hasn't really tried before." Tucker nodded.

"Maybe if you try thinking about it like you do to transform, it'll happen," Sam offered.

Danny shrugged and closed his eyes for a brief moment and then spoke.

"Numquid is opus?" (Did it work?)

"Whoa! Duuuudde, so cool!" Tucker beamed.

"Yeah nice Danny," Valerie agreed.

"Okay so should we maybe see if Clockwork knows anything about it?" Sam asked. "I mean when we can find the time. Vlad's kinda a bigger priority at the moment and Clockwork is often vague anyway."

"Ego assentior." (I agree.) Danny nodded before he clapped a hand over his mouth.

Everyone looked at Danny.

"Uh, English, dude."

"Conatus sum!" (I tried!) Danny exclaimed and threw up his arms in frustration.

"Lovely." Valerie sighed.

"Quomodo stare!?" (How do I stop?) Danny yelped and wove his fingers into his raven hair.

"Try and think about it again," Sam spoke and placed a hand on Danny's shoulder. Danny sighed and nodded before a mischievous twinkle came to his eyes. He grabbed Sam's hand and spoke.

"Prius ego facio, Sam meum, te respice pulcher." (Before I do, my Sam, you look beautiful.)

He then closed his eyes and spoke again.

"How about now?"

Tucker sighed. "Glad that's over."

Sam was still looking at his face after he'd turned it to look at Tucker. "What did you say last?"

Danny looked back at her with a blush. "Nothing…"

"So, the plan with Vlad?" Valerie asked and leaned back in the chair she was sitting in.

Everyone looked at her and then each other. Danny finally replied. "You can't ever out-play Vlad, so the best thing to do is wait and hope we can provide damage control during or after the fact."

"That sucks," Valerie spat.

"Vlad sucks." Danny smirked.

After talking for a little bit longer, the group decided to go to the Lab since Danny's parents had again gone to a meeting at Axion. They wanted to do some battle practice. Sam and Tuck did some physical exercise and practice shooting with ghost weapons, though Sam was much better at the physical work, even if Tuck was improving and actually starting to show skill with his aim; he claimed it was all the video games he played. Danny was practicing with the targets and obstacles and working with his ecto blasts, ice and fire. Valerie was doing something similar only with her weapons and suit. At one point, Danny asked to practice his Wail so they slipped into the Ghost Zone, just inside the portal, and Danny worked to use his most powerful attack.

Danny took a deep breath and then let loose the sorrowful sounding sound waves. Valerie had never heard it or seen the Ghostly Wail before and realized again that Danny could've really hurt her if he'd wanted to before she found out his secret. The sound was one that seemed to leave an empty feeling in anyone who listened to it. Sam explained that she and Tucker had figured out that the Wail's sound changed depending on the emotions Danny was feeling when he used it; it could sound angry and full of fury, sad and full of longing, desperately sorrowful, or scared and fearful. Long after Danny was done, the noise echoed in the zone.

"Not bad, Danny. Three in a row without transforming back into Fenton. You're getting better," Sam spoke up.

Danny floated back over to them with a wide grin as he placed his hand on the porthole of the Specter Speeder. "Yeah I feel pretty tired but not overly so. Eventually I want to make it to where I can use it at least five or more times before I'm forced to change back."

With that, they returned to the lab and finished with practicing again a tiny bit more. Something interesting happened though when Danny was working with his ghostly fire. He was trying to see how hot he could make a fire ball when suddenly it turned blue, lost its form, and seemed to crackle, burn Danny, and then flash out of existence.

"Heus!" Danny shouted in Latin and gripped his hand.

"Huh?" Tucker asked and everyone looked at their friend.

"I think that's Ouch in Latin," Sam replied and looked at Danny's burnt glove. The Halfa shook his hand a couple times and she saw the skin start to smooth and not look blistered while the glove started to thread itself back together.

"What happened?" Valerie asked.

"I burnt myself somehow," Danny muttered. He explained what he had been trying to do and Tucker's face turned thoughtful.

"Huh, maybe it got too hot to remain in gaseous form or fire form so the ectoplasm turned into plasma or electricity."

"Electricity?" Danny murmured under his breath and then hmmed in thought.

The group finished training as dinner time came around. They said their goodbyes and left for their homes for the evening.

zzz

In the Ghost Zone within the Fright Knight's lair, his sword, the Soul Shredder, was resting within a Pumpkin as the ghoul regained his strength. Suddenly, the blade began to wiggle and then glowed a bit and became a shade of green that was a tiny bit bluer, a faint cyan.

zzz

The next day at school in Gym

"Move a little faster, Mr. Fenton," Mrs. Teslaff droned.

The last class of the day for everyone in Danny's grade was gym that day. Mrs. Teslaff had started the class off by having them do laps around the football field; Danny, of course, as well as Tucker, were having to keep themselves in check about how fast they ran as to not raise suspicion. Sam didn't have to worry and either did Valerie since everyone knew them to be athletic enough. Danny sighed under his breath and went just a tiny bit faster to try and semi-please his coach. Eventually the laps were done and Mrs. Teslaff instructed everyone to work with shot-puts.

Everyone worked with them with varying degrees of success. Danny was doing pretty badly just because he had to make it seem that way, though he wasn't doing as badly as some of the nerds. If one looked close enough one could see the lack luster in each toss he made. He occupied his thoughts with his curiosity about how far he could actually throw the shot-put if he really tried with everything in his power. Danny heard a panicked cry and turned to see Brandon fall on his back with the shot-put in his hands but on top of his chest too. Dash, Kwan and the other jocks immediately swarmed like wolves, laughing and jeering at the down boy. Mrs. Teslaff told the jocks to stop but she didn't really seem to try any harder to ward them off after a couple attempts. Danny shouldn't do anything; it would jeopardize his secret but watching them all gang up on Brandon was just more than he could bear. Danny shouted.

"Stop! Leave him alone, you morons!"

The group of five jocks turned abruptly and glared at Danny. Brandon's eyes went wide. Dash marched up menacingly. "What was that, Fentonio?"

Danny glanced over and locked eyes with Brandon and gave him a half smile before he glared into Dash's eyes, which he at least no longer had to look up to do so. He could sense Sam, Tucker, and Valerie tense up behind him, since emotions were easy for him to read even in human form.

"I said leave him alone, Dash. Find something better to do with your time than pick on people. You hit them, they bleed, it's a reliable outcome. Beating or wailing on somebody doesn't make you so great or strong in the end," Danny spoke evenly.

Dash laughed, "It does show that I'm stronger."

Danny frowned and let out a sigh. "Yeah whatever Dash, seems like a hollow victory to me."

Dash growled and shoved Danny, causing him to fall to his rear.

"Let's see how well you handle the pressure," Dash taunted and dropped a shot put over Danny's lower gut. Purely running on instinct, Danny snatched it before it could strike him, with one hand, seemingly effortlessly, and his bicep shook the slightest bit from use.

Everyone seemed a bit surprised. Danny blinked and then pretended he lost his strength and his hand struck the ground between his legs before he slipped it out from under the ball of metal.

Dash narrowed his eyes and grabbed Danny by the front of his gym shirt. "What kind of trick are you trying to pull. You holding back or something? I may not know much science, but I can tell when one of my players isn't at his best. It's one of the Quarterback's jobs. So why would you hold back, Fenturd?"

"That's an excellent question Mr. Baxter." She looked at Danny. "Fenton, I would like you and Baxter will each throw a shot put and if you hold back, then I'm going to fail you. I don't see why on earth you'd be purposefully doing poorly in a class you could do better in."

Danny gaped a bit and grit his teeth slightly at Dash before he sighed. "Yes ma'am."

Dash grinned and stalked over to the rest of the shot-puts while everyone else gathered around to watch the top jock and the geek Fenton, compete.

Dash went first. He picked up the sphere and spun himself in proper form before tossing the shot with all he had, letting out a short roar of effort. The shot soared and then struck the ground. Mikey ran off with the tape measure behind him and shouted back that it was at a distance of forty-two feet.

"Excellent work, Baxter. That throw's a little bit above average for a high schooler," Mrs. Teslaff praised. She then looked at Danny. "Fenton?"

Danny gulped as the jocks sneered. He glanced at Sam, Tucker, and Valerie. They all had a determined look on their faces. Sam nodded. Danny put on a determined face as well and picked up a shot-put and stood where Dash had.

"Good luck, Fen-toad! You're going to need it!" Dash mocked and the other jocks laughed.

They all flinched when Danny looked back at them with a very serious look on his face. Everyone knew Danny as a non-violent sort and he rarely got testy with anyone, except Dash and some of the jocks. This look however was new and some people actually were a bit spooked by it. This look was daring, determined and didn't belong on the laid back, kind, Fenton's features. For some odd reason his look seemed to belong to someone else...

"You know, Dash? You really need to shut up." With that, Danny turned and started to spin before he let out a shout and tossed the sphere. He held back of course, because if they saw a shot-put fly through the air like a comet, there'd be questions and maybe experiments, lots and lots of painful experiments. The shot-put did soar though and right pass Dash's too. It landed with a thump and everyone was still. Mikey remembered how to breathe and then jogged forward to measure, though it wasn't really necessary.

"fifty point six feet!" Mikey yelled. He looked at Danny who was looking at him evenly like he knew the greatest secret ever. "Danny wins."

Two thirds of the class in Danny's grade, erupted into cheers. He turned to look at the stunned Mrs. Teslaff and nodded before talking a towel and walking towards the locker room just as the bell rang. He had finished washing off the sweat and got out of the shower by the time all the guys wandered into the room, oddly Dash and a few jocks were missing.

zzz

Back in the field, Brandon was quietly putting up some supplies and stuff because he'd told Mrs. Teslaff he would. He was thinking about Danny standing up to Dash for him and how he'd truly done what he'd talked to him about. He'd helped him. Danny was right, anyone could be a hero. A smile came to Brandon's face at the thought until he heard whispers. The band geek finished putting some smaller towels into a bucket and quietly moved towards the bleachers. He listened to the whispers and started to make out the voices of Dash, Kwan, and a few other jocks.

"Dude, Fenton totally schooled you!"

"Who knew the dweeb had it in him?"

"Shut up, Kwan. You too, Tyson."

"What's wrong, Dash? Mad?"

"Mad? Mad?! Of course, I'm mad! Fenton somehow threw that shot-put farther than me!"

"I wonder if he's been holding back all along? I mean did you guys see him in the locker room? The guy actually has some muscle."

"No way, he wouldn't keep putting up with Dash otherwise."

"Okay look here. We've got to get back at Fentonio. He just got lucky you guys were seeing things."

"Why do we need to get back at him?"

"Why? Why!? Duh, because we can't have a geek upstaging us!"

"Uh Danny upstaged you, not us, man."

"You don't get it! I'm the Quarterback, so if he upstages me, he upstages all of you."

A few grumbles showed they begrudgingly agreed.

"Alright, you guys know the party happening in a couple weeks?"

"Yeah."

"Well for some reason, Paulina actually invited the dweeb and his geek squad. Technically the party is for the entire class but I was hoping they'd forget those losers. Anyway, I think for some reason she's leading him on or something. That's when and where we'll strike. Here's what I've got in mind…"

Brandon listened closely as their voices grew even more muffled and he had to hold back a gasp at what he heard. He backed up hurriedly and ran off towards the locker room so the jocks wouldn't know they had been over-heard. They were going to humiliate Danny. They were going to humiliate Danny because of him. Brandon wheezed and caught his breath once he got to the showers. A sad and frightened look took over his features before he slipped away to get dressed in his day clothes now that school was over.

So, everything still flowing well? This is the first time we have a week gap or so and was the skip to gym class weird at all?

Tell me what you think of the chapter! :)

Thanks to you all!

~NoSignal

Edit: 5/21/18: Next wave of grammar fixes and wording tweaks or some scenes altered to avoid cliches. Took out AN question and answer sections.