AN: Thanks again for all the reviews. I am so sorry for being so late with the update, it's just that my school schedule didn't leave me time to write during the weekday, since I commute. Homework kept me from writing on the weekends. Like always, sorry for any mistakes I may have made. Anyways, here is the next chapter. I made it a bit longer to try to make it up to you guys. Thanks for being patient.

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Charlatan's Flaw Chapter 3

Danny dreamt he was flying through the skies that night. When he awoke, he realized that with his "ghost powers" (he still didn't really believe that's what they were), he could probably fly. He did it once before anyway when he floated through the ceiling, even if that happened without him wanting to. Danny figured he could do it nonetheless.

"How would I do it, though?" he asked himself quietly, not wanting to wake Jazz. He remembered that when he woke up in the ghost portal, he had a different appearance. "Maybe I have to change into my 'ghost mode'," he told himself with a chuckle. "Now how do I do that?" Danny looked at his hands. "Change!"

Nothing happened. He went to the bathroom and looked himself right in the eyes.

"Come on! Change!" Nothing. He groaned loudly and looked at his face, puzzled. What could he do? How could he make himself turn into a ghost? Heh, go ghost, that sounds like some cheesy catchphrase, he thought.

"Come ON!"

All of a sudden, Danny felt a weird sensation in the pit of his stomach. It felt just like how when one's foot falls asleep. He yelled, "Go ghost!" and two bluish white rings formed at the base of his stomach. They moved opposite ways, one moving up and the other moving down. Blinding white light filled the bathroom. Danny opened his eyes and stared at the person looking at him from the mirror. He had white hair, green eyes, and a black suit with a white, sort of rough letter "D" on the chest area. His gloves and boots were white as well.

"Holy shit, it actually worked! …This can't be real. Well, since I am transformed, I might as well try to fly." He reasoned. Danny stood up straight and clenched his fists. He closed his eyes as he started to concentrate.

After a few minutes, he felt different and he opened his eyes. Nothing had happened. He was just standing there in the bathroom. Danny groaned then he tried again, this time he tried to focus on just floating. This time when he opened his eyes again, he was astonished to see he was levitating several inches off of the bathroom floor. He was happy until he started flying up at a much faster pace.
"No no n-!" His words were cut short as his face hit the ceiling. "Ouch," he thought. The ceiling and his face parted by a few inches. When Danny realized why, he cried out and braced himself for the impact. He fell to the floor with a CRASH! Danny grumbled and rubbed his limbs. He had fallen on his elbows.

"Danny? Is that you? Are you okay?" Danny heard Jazz's voice as footsteps became louder and louder.

"Yeah! Don't worry, I'm okay! I just…tripped!"

The footsteps stopped. "All right then." Jazz said.

Danny listened to Jazz's footsteps fade away from behind the bathroom door and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Man, that was close…Now, how do I change back?" He said, puzzled. "It can't be any harder than going ghost was, right? Going ghost? That sounds better," he chuckled as he thought about changing back into a human. Danny closed his eyes. Several minutes passed and nothing happened. He tried again and this time he felt the same tingly sensation but when he tried to "grab" it, it just slipped away.

"Damn it! How the hell does this work?" He yelled, exasperated. He sat down on the counter and suddenly a shocking thought occurred to him.

What if he couldn't change back?

His parents would really "get rid" of him then. Or tear him apart molecule by molecule, at the very least. He wouldn't be able to stay in his house, even his own city without being hunted down and taken captive. Or worse – killed.

"Oh no, no, please," he pleaded to no one in particular, "please change back."

Danny blinked back tears then tried once again. He closed his eyes and this time when the sensation occurred, he thought about turning back and the two glowing rings appeared near his stomach again. He looked in the mirror and saw himself. His normal self.

"Yes! It worked!" He exclaimed happily. He ran to his room, changed, then ran down the stairs, and went into the kitchen.

"So...you were in there a while." Jazz looked at him warily.

"Uhh yeah...I was um...taking a shower," he mumbled.

"Your hair isn't wet."

"I- I didn't wash my hair this time." He stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I see." She gave Danny another weird look. "Whatever you say lil bro. So, anyways, you need a ride to school?"

"Nope. I think I can get there by myself today."

"Are you sure?" Jazz asked, a bit surprised.

"Yeah, I mean walking won't really hurt me. And it'll keep me in shape too. Gotta get ready for that president's um fitness test thing, after all."

"Well, alright then. See you later!"

"Yeah, see you too," he replied as Jazz walked out of the door.

"Now…let's see how 'walking' will go…"

The breakfast he ate was threatening to come back up again. Danny didn't think to eat a little less before he started flying. Honestly, he didn't know how a full stomach would affect his flying skills. Not that he had any to begin with. He hadn't realized that being so high up in the air would make him sick. He gulped and hoped his food would stay where it was.

"Note to self, don't fly right after you've eaten a lot," he told himself, his hand half covering his mouth.

Danny continued his flight to school. It wasn't so bad. Apart from the whole "don't know how to fly" thing. Right before he left for school, he practiced flying for a few minutes again and when he thought he was ready, he flew farther into the air and headed for school. He really thought he had it down but it turned out he was wrong. Very wrong.

Danny could not fly straight or at the same pace for any long length of time. The only good thing that came out of this was that it was a little better than walking and that being this high up in the air made for a great view. Except, that view was beginning to make Danny sick again. This time he didn't think he could hold in his food. Danny tried to descend and in doing so, he lost control and started falling.

"Oh shit!"

This time he really did think his food was going to come back up. He actually felt it rising up. Soon his panic overthrew his desire to puke. His descent was quick and sudden – and Danny couldn't seem to stop. It felt like going down a roller coaster after a huge hill. Out of all the ways he could have died from, he was going to die by falling. Just because he was stupid enough to think he could fly.

"No! I'm not dying today!"

Danny looked down and saw the ground rapidly approaching. He willed himself to stop or at least slow down. He shut his eyes and waited for the landing – which wasn't as hard as he thought it would be. Danny looked around where he had fallen. He seemed to be lying down on some soft cushions.

"Why would there be cushions in an alley?" he thought as he rubbed his arms and legs where he had fallen.

On closer inspection (and smell), he realized that he was, in fact, not lying on cushions. He had landed on some trash bags in a very unsanitary dumpster. Danny groaned and jumped out, picking a banana peel from his head and throwing it down on the ground.

"Great. This is just what I needed." Danny looked around and saw that he was a few blocks away from school. "Now…I hope I can actually change back with no problems this time."

"Hey Fentoad, you reek! Don't you ever shower?" Dash laughed as Danny walked across the hallway to his locker. "Ugh, I don't even want to shove you in your locker today. Your stench might rub off on me."

Danny ignored him and kept walking. He got to his locker and walked to his next classroom, hoping that his "stink" really would keep Dash away. It actually did – but not for the rest of the day.

Even though Dash wasn't the brightest tool in the shed, he could still come up with good ideas. Although, not good for Danny. Since Dash didn't want to have physical contact with Danny because of his stink, he figured out different ways he could bully him without touching him – by using spit wads, food bits, and footballs. And so, the rest of Danny's school day was horrible. It was made even more horrible because of the fact that even his friends wouldn't go near him and because he was wearing mismatched clothes given to him from his school.

Not to mention Paulina wouldn't even talk to him at all. Sure, the only words she spoke to him went along the lines of "loser, nerd, geek, unpopular" and so on but hey, at least she noticed him. By the end of the day, Danny had been banned from handling glasswork for the rest of the semester, he had been forced into the gym showers by Dash in his regular clothes, causing him to get the mismatched school "loaners", and finally his ghost powers kept acting up, just causing trouble with teachers and people in general.

When Danny got home, he immediately took a shower and went down to the lab, hoping to clear his thoughts and forget about the whole day. He sat down on one of the stools and looked over at the ghost portal, thinking about how if that stupid thing hadn't been there then this day wouldn't have happened.

All of a sudden, a random breath came out of Danny's mouth. "Whoa. That was weird…" He looked around to see if his parents had made any other weird inventions that had caused this. Nothing. He turned back to the portal and saw a greenish, blurry, octopus-like thing emerge from the center.

"Oh not this again."

The octopus saw Danny and began to fly at him at a very fast pace. Danny ducked out of the way and looked around the boxes on the floor, trying to find something that would help him get rid of the ghost. All he found where inventions that were useless against ghosts in battle, like the Fenton Helmet and Fenton Phones. The octopus ghost roared and started to fly towards Danny again. Danny looked around again in a panic and saw the Fenton Thermos.

"I might as well try this. Dad was never able to find a ghost to use it against anyways."

Danny grabbed the Fenton Thermos and opened it. He pointed it at the ghost and pressed the button, but nothing happened.

"What?!" Danny looked inside of the thermos. There was soup inside! "Dad!" he exclaimed. He capped it again then threw it at the ghost but it just dodged the projectile. Danny looked to his side again and saw another thermos. This time he made sure there was no soup inside. He picked it up, uncapped it, pointed it at the ghost, and then pushed the button on the side. He felt a surge of energy go through his body and into the thermos. The thermos glowed with a blindingly white-ish blue glow then a ray of light shot out of the opening, encasing the ghost in a sort of tractor beam. The ghost didn't want to go without a fight. It roared while it tried to escape but the pull of the thermos was too strong and it was sucked in.

Danny capped the thermos and exhaled loudly as he let himself slide to the floor. "That was a close one. Well, it looks like this thing actually works," he chuckled. Danny tossed the thermos in the air and caught it. "That was enough excitement for one day. I better get started on my homework otherwise I'm seriously going to be in trouble."

Danny placed the thermos with the octopus ghost back on the workbench near all the other thermoses then he went up to his room. He got his homework out of his backpack and started working on it. Every time he started to slack off, his brain would remind him of Mr. Lancer and detention. Also how his parents would feel if he got anything lower than an A-. After all, he was a Fenton and Fentons always get A's. Or B's in his father's case. After a few hours, he heard his parents come in.

"Danny, Jazz, we're back!" he heard his mother exclaim. "I'm going to start making dinner, okay?"

"Yeah, mom!" he heard Jazz shout from her room.

"Danny?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. Can't wait!"

"Alright, I'll call you both when it's ready."

Danny looked at the unsolved problem on his worksheet. He was almost done but he couldn't do this last set of problems. He groaned and looked over at his computer. He'd rather be playing Doomed than doing homework. He slouched in his chair and looked up at the ceiling. It was covered in glow-in-the-dark stickers of the planets and stars he and his parents had put up when he was younger, since his dream was to become an astronaut.

After a few minutes of staring off into "space", Danny looked down at his paper again. He picked his pencil up and flipped it but it fell. He leaned over to pick it up and but didn't see it. Or his legs. Danny gasped and sat straight in his chair, looking at legs which were not there. "Whaaat?" Danny stared at his legs and growled. "Why does this keep happening?!"

Suddenly a loud beeping pierced the air. "There is a ghost nearby. BEEP BEEP. There is a ghost nearby." Danny looked over at the ghost sensor in his room.

"Oh no," he said as he heard his parents' commotion in the kitchen.

"Jack! There's a ghost in Danny's room! Come on!"

"I'm on my way, Sweet Cheeks!" Danny heard his father's bumbling steps coming up the stairs.

"Oh no oh no oh no," Danny looked at his legs and tried to change them back. "Come on!"

"There is a ghost nearby. BEEP BEEP. There is a ghost nearby." That stupid voice just kept repeating itself over and over!

His parents burst into the room and Danny closed his eyes. "Mom, Dad, I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what, Danny?" asked his mom.

Danny opened his eyes, took in a huge breath of air, and looked at his legs. Wait, his legs. They were there again! "Um, I took the Fenton Finder from the lab without permission…and I accidentally dropped it right now." He rubbed the back of his neck. "That's why it went off right now. I think I broke it."

His father took a step forward. "So there wasn't a ghost in your room right now?"

"No"

His parents relaxed and put their weapons down. "Well, it's better to be prepared for anything than to suffer the consequences later," his mother said. "Anyway, dinner's ready. Come on down to eat."

"Sure, mom. So…you guys aren't mad?"

His mother looked at him in surprise, "No! Why would we be mad?"

"No reason, just asking. I'll just finish this last problem and then I'll come down. Is that ok?"

"Yes, Danny, but don't take too long. Otherwise it'll get cold."

"Alright, mom."

"I'll just be taking this back too, son. Maybe it's not too broken," his father picked the Fenton Finder off of his nightstand. His parents walked out of his room and down the stairs. Danny looked at his legs and poked them. "Nice to see you're working again," he said dryly. He glanced at his paper and finished the last problem as his hand turned intangible for a few seconds.

"This is getting annoying. I hope my powers don't go haywire anymore," he let out a long, exasperated sigh.

Danny woke up and all he saw was darkness. He felt coldness wash over him as well. "Oh god, did I die again?" He thought. He tried to get up but he hit his forehead on something.

"Ouch! What the hell?"

Danny stretched out his hands in front of him. He felt planks of wood and figured out where he was. Danny slid himself out from underneath his bed and looked up. It seemed as if he had fallen through his bed and onto the floor while he was sleeping. It must have been his ghost powers going off again. He sighed and looked at the clock on his nightstand. 5 o'clock am. No wonder it was so cold and dark. He got up and went to the bathroom to shower. When he returned to his room he plopped down on his bed and stared up at the glowing stars, wondering whether or not his ghost powers would act up today at school.

The truth was that he didn't want to go to school. After all that had happened over the past few days, going to school just seemed like trouble. Having "superpowers" wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Danny sighed and tried to go back to sleep. After realizing that he couldn't, he walked over to his closet and opened it. He looked up at suitcase on the top shelf and stared at it.

All of his previous thoughts about running away came rushing back. If he ran away he could try to make a new life somewhere. Somewhere far away from ghosts and having anything to do with them. He'd just have to leave the city somehow. Maybe take the train or a cab. Just go somewhere where no one would know him. Danny stared at suitcase again and decided to bring it down just in case. He reached out, grabbed it, and started to pull it down when right on cue, his hands turned intangible and he dropped the suitcase on his foot.

"God damn it!" He tried to whisper it so his parents and Jazz wouldn't wake up, but the words still came out loudly. He kicked the suitcase next to his bed then stared at his hands angrily. Danny left his room and headed down to the lab. He grabbed an empty Fenton Thermos when his hands "came back" and headed to his room, sticking the thermos into the suitcase. He grabbed several pieces of clothing and stuck them inside as well, for good measure. He kicked the suitcase under his bed and headed down to the kitchen to make something to eat before school. He heard someone coming down the steps while he was waiting for his waffles to toast.

"Hey Danny, you're up early today," he heard Jazz yawn.

"Yeah, I woke up earlier and couldn't go back to sleep." The toaster dinged and Danny grabbed his waffles. "You want some?"

"Nah, I think I'll make some eggs instead."

"Alright then," Danny looked at his crumbly waffles. "You don't know what you're missing, sis," he chuckled. He grabbed a plate and started walking to the table.

"Well, it's better than mutant hot dogs, right?"

"Yeah!" Danny laughed, then he looked at Jazz. Surely she could understand, right? Or maybe she'd think he was going crazy. Actually, she would most likely think he was going crazy. Especially since Jazz didn't believe in ghosts. If anything, she would try to help him overcome this "mental hoop" with her psychology.

"Umm, hey Jazz," he started, "I- uh… I-." Right then his father walked into the kitchen from the lab.

"Hey kids, good morning!" their father bellowed as he sat down. Jack looked over where Jazz was. "Hey Jazzypants, I'll take over on the eggs. I've got a new ghost spatula I specially designed for food and ghosts!"

"Um, okay dad. So anyway Danny, what were you saying?" she said as their father got up and started moving the eggs around.

"Uhh…" He glanced his father.

Suddenly the door to the basement opened and their mother peeped her head out.

"Good news! The Fenton Finder is almost fixed!" his mother shouted excitedly.

"Oh, no," Danny thought. His hands turned intangible once more and he dropped his plate. Danny quickly walked over to the table and sat, hiding his hands under it.

"What's that? It's fixed?" Jack ran over to where Maddie was and picked it up. He flipped the newly added switch and it powered up.

"There is a ghost nearby. BEEP BEEP. There is a ghost nearby. Keep moving forward." The feminine voice was the last thing Danny wanted to hear.

"As soon as I find that ghost, I'm gonna tear it apart molecule by molecule!" His father roared and ran off

"But don't forget to keep a sample of it for science and experiments!" His mother told her husband as chased after him.

"Nevermind, Jazz" he told his sister a bit too forcefully.

His parents followed the trail of the ghost radar, moving through rooms, eventually ending up in front of Danny.

"Well, that can't be right," his mother said, puzzled, "Danny's not a ghost."

"Yeah. Right, son?" his father asked, "or are you?"

Danny looked at both of them with a fearful look in his eyes. Jazz noticed.

"You know what? Danny doesn't need this type of negativity and stress on his mind from his parents who are supposed to be caring for his safety!" Jazz yelled at Maddie and Jack. "Furthermore, your obsession with ghosts is unhealthy and you both should try to get into an activity that helps ease your fixation with them! Come on Danny, I'll drive you to school."

Jazz grabbed Danny's arm and pulled him away. They got to the garage and climbed into the car. Jazz drove to the high school. After several moments of silence, she spoke up, "So…are you sure you don't want to tell me what was on your mind earlier?"

"After that incident in the kitchen? Yeah, I'm sure." He said gruffly.

"Well…you know…you shouldn't keep your emotions bottled up inside of you. If you don't talk about something important then something seriously bad can happen to you. Physically or mentally. Sometimes even both." Jazz looked at him for a few seconds then looked back on the road, finally arriving at the high school.

"Stop trying to play the psychiatrist with me right now, Jazz. I'm pretty sure I don't want to talk about it anymore." Danny jumped out of the car as soon as Jazz parked it, then ran towards the school.

"Danny, wait!"

He ignored her and continued running to his classroom, hoping he would avoid Dash. He made it without any problems and hoped the rest of the day would be just like that.

For Danny, the third time was not the charm. The first and second school days were a hassle and he thought maybe the third day would be easier. He was wrong of course. To be honest, the whole school day was a blur. He couldn't really remember any part of it, except for the bad parts – which were repeat occurrences of the two previous days. He didn't wait for Jazz once school was over. Instead he tried using his powers and flew back to his house, his anger fueling him.

After checking that the Fenton RV wasn't in the garage, Danny made it inside and ran up to his room, grabbing the suitcase, his jacket, and his toothbrush. Then he made his way up to the Ops Center, heading straight towards the back of the room where the emergency ham was. He pushed one of the buttons in the fridge and waited for the safe near the wall to open up. He looked inside and grabbed $300 from the safe, slamming it closed when he was done.

Afterwards, he ran to the kitchen and saw a note taped to the fridge in his mother's handwriting:

Danny, Jazz, Your father and I are going to be at the 80s restaurant for our dinner date. Please help yourselves to whatever's in the fridge or order some food. We'll be back around 8. Don't cause any trouble. We love you!

Danny stared at his mother's note for a few minutes, then, with tears in his eyes, he flipped it over and wrote his own note:

Mom, Dad, Jazz. By the time you read this, I'll be long gone. Honestly, I wish this could have happened another way. I didn't want it to be this way but I couldn't really see any other option.. I've decided that this may not be the best place for me right now and I hope you all see that this was the right decision for me to make, even though I can't really tell you why I made this decision in the first place. I really wish it could have been different. Please don't look for me. I love you all and please don't hate me.

- Love, Danny.

Danny wiped away his tears and put the note back on the fridge. He grabbed his suitcase and walked to the door. He stopped midway and ran to his parents' bedroom, opening his father's closet and picking out a nice business suit from back in the day. He ran back down and stuffed it into the suitcase then ran up the stairs to the roof of his house. There, he struggled to transform again, flying away when he did transform and when got the hang of it again. He flew towards the Amity Park Train Station, looking back at his house one last time before it faded in the distance.

"The train station was a lot farther than I thought," he said as he saw the station grow closer in the distance. He had been flying for about an hour and a half. When he finally arrived there he checked the sign for the trains that were leaving. All the trains that were going somewhere far didn't leave quickly enough. Today seemed to have a limited schedule. So far there was only one option with farthest distance – New York. But even that one took a while to get here. After all, a train moving from New York to Colorado was going to take a while.

He checked the map and schedule board again then walked over to the area where the different trains were, then he looked around to try to sneak onto one. He didn't really care anymore, he just wanted to get away as soon as possible. When he finally got to a train, he sneaked onboard and checked the train cars to find one that was empty. He found one and sat down, putting his jacket on and his hood up to make sure no one recognized him in case his parents had called the police.

After a several moments, the train finally started to move. He sat up straight and went on "high alert" mode in case someone saw him. After a few hours, Danny started to relax. He got up and went to the bathroom while the train stopped at its scheduled location. He still wore his hood up just in case. He wasn't going to take long anyways.

While Danny was walking back to his train car, he overheard some off-duty police officer's conversation.

"A missing kid?"

"Oh no…but that could be any missing kid." Danny thought.

"No, I can't look for him right now. I'm already on a train to Minnesota to visit my dying mother! You should have called sooner, back when I was in Amity! I would have been there in a flash."

Amity? There was only one "Amity" that his train passed through. Danny started walking a bit slower, trying to hear the rest of the conversation.

"Yeah, well, what's he look like? Uh huh. I see. Teenager, black hair, blue eyes. Did they give you any information about his clothes? What he was wearing? Yeah, I'll keep an eye out. I'll be there once I get on another train. Yeah, see ya." The officer hung up, then looked over in Danny's general direction. "Hey, kid!"

Oh crap

Danny didn't want to take any chances so he started walking faster towards his train car. The train started moving again and most people lurched with it. He didn't dare look behind him as he maneuvered through people. He finally got to his train car and peeked out, taking a glance at the cop who was still coming. He grabbed his suitcase and tried to exit his car from the back but he felt a hand on his shoulder holding him back.

"Hey, kid," the officer said once again. He grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.

"Uhh…yeah?" Danny asked him hesitantly.

The cop stared at him for a few seconds before letting him go. "Nothing," he said. Then he left Danny's car and walked away. Danny was left wondering why the cop hadn't said or done anything for a few minutes. He figured it was luck. He then sat back down and looked out the window. He hugged his suitcase for comfort. It was getting pretty dark out. Wait…right then he saw his reflection in the window. His hair was white and his eyes were green again. He must have inadvertently transformed while he was running away from the police officer. Danny was shocked. So shocked that he accidentally phased through the train car.

He landed on some grass near the train tracks. He would be lying if he said it didn't hurt.

"Good thing I was holding on to my suitcase," he groaned. "And at least I didn't pass out again."

He didn't want this to be happening. Not since his ghost powers were to blame for him leaving in the first place. This just proved that his powers manifested themselves during times of emotionally charged events. His emotions were the things that controlled his powers.

"No wonder I could fly almost perfectly when I was angry," he thought. He looked around at his surroundings, which were mostly trees. He shivered then started walking along the tracks, hoping he would find civilization soon.

After a while, he saw the dim lights of a city in the distance. He started walking a bit faster so that he would have someplace to sleep and eat soon. He finally got close enough to read the sign near the tracks – Welcome to Wisconsin!

Ever since he fell off the train three months ago, Danny had been living like he was on the run - not letting anyone know where he was staying, being on guard 24/7, changing his appearance, and moving from place to place. He had walked miles and miles until he had finally arrived at a city near the edge of Wisconsin. From there, he had been trekking through nearby cities, heading east, trying to get as far away from Amity as possible.

Danny had more or less learned how to use his ghost powers as well. He still didn't have complete mastery of them but at least he controlled when they were used or not. No random ghostly occurrences happened at all. And if they did, then Danny could control them and "turn them off".

With almost-full control of his powers, he was able to live in cities secretly. For example, whenever he arrived in a new city, he would fly and scout out an empty apartment room. Then he would phase through the wall and set his stuff up in a small space. This allowed him to get away easily if someone came in. He could also use the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, etc to live for a while. So far no one had noticed or caught him. He usually stayed in a town for two weeks, unless people began to get suspicious, then he would leave immediately. He would never go to towns that were right next to each other either.

After setting in, Danny would go near the shopping outlets wearing his father's suit and perform "magic", which, in reality was just him using his ghost powers to fool the audience. There he would get money from bystanders and random people walking through the city. After collecting the money from his box, he would count it all and if there wasn't enough, then he would steal wallets after his "show". Danny mainly targeted rich people, since he figured they had enough money, they wouldn't be missing it. He used this money to get food and other necessary supplies.

Two weeks ago Danny had almost been caught. He had been in the middle of his performance when some disgruntled person had called the cops after losing money. Danny had made a run for it and left most of the money behind. He didn't have time to grab it all. Ever since that day, he had had to ration his food and carefully spend his money until he could get more. He had passed multiple towns before he stopped.

He had arrived in a new town earlier this week, finding a nice apartment and setting up his stuff. He took advantage of having a shower stall, then headed out to the town's square. He didn't want to attract any attention to himself so soon after the mishap so he decided to just go out and find a place for a bite to eat. He checked his money and started walking around town, looking for some nice cheap place to eat for $6. He finally found some place that looked like the Nasty Burger except it was called the Tasty Burger. He walked in and checked the menu. Everything there was a lot more expensive than the Nasty Burger. The Nasty Burger would have had a combo for $5, this Tasty Burger had a combo for $8.75. Danny sighed and walked out.

He would have to get more money soon. As Danny walked around, he saw a grocery store nearby. He walked inside and looked around. There were a lot of customers but he only needed a few. He walked over to a man who was looking down at his shopping list and the different types of crackers on the shelf. He seemed pretty distracted. Danny looked around at the ceiling. The cameras were facing the other way. Good. He walked up behind the man and jumped to try to grab a box of crackers from the top shelf. He "missed" and fell down.

"Oh man, that shelf's a lot taller than I thought!" he exclaimed. Danny then turned to look at the man. "Excuse me sir, do you mind grabbing that box of crackers at the top? I need to buy some for my mother. She's allergic to wheat so I need to buy her the ones at the top."

"Sure, kid." The man reached up towards the shelf and Danny got up and phased his hand through the man's back pocket where his wallet was. He pulled out a handful of cash then sat back down on the floor where he fell. "Here ya go, kid," the man said.

"Thanks, sir". Danny got up and walked around to another corner of the store, not knowing that there was a witness to his actions. When he was completely out of sight, he opened his hand and looked at his loot.

"What? Just five dollars? All in ones?" he whispered. Danny looked around. No one was around in his little corner of the store. This would help him get food for the day and perhaps even the day after but it wouldn't sustain him for long. Danny looked around again and walked outside. "Maybe starting up the act wouldn't be too bad," he thought. "It's been two weeks after all and I'm really far away from that town anyways."

Danny decided that was the best thing he could do. After all, he didn't want to steal from the grocery stores by turning invisible and intangible. That only landed suspicion on him even more and even quicker. I mean, who wouldn't suspect the new kid around town after things mysteriously started disappearing when he arrived? Danny flew back to his apartment, changed into his suit, grabbed his equipment, then headed back, flying down into an alley. As he emerged from the alley, he bumped into a well dressed man with graying hair and a ponytail.

"Oh, sorry sir. I didn't see you there."

"No worries, little badger," the man said. "Well, good day." The man walked away.

Danny walked over the fountain in the middle of the city and placed his portable table on the ground. He covered it in a small sheet and placed a hat on top. He began his act and after a while, a small crowd began to form. Little did Danny know, that man had been watching him from far away with interest. After all, one didn't meet another person with ghost powers that often. After most of the crowd had begun to disperse, the man walked over and watched to get a closer angle.

"Alright! Last one! Anyone else? If they guess correctly they take the whole pot!" Danny exclaimed with a smug grin on his face.

"I'll give it a try," the man said, holding out a hundred dollar bill. Danny's eyes grew wide and he tried to grab it. The man pulled it away, "Ah, ah, ah, not yet, you have to earn it first."

"Alright, here you go," Danny told him as he placed a small rock under a can and shuffled them all around at super speed. "What a chump," Danny thought, "He's never gonna get this."

Danny stopped shuffling, phased his hand under his small table and grabbed the rock, telling the man to choose which can held the rock as he did so. Danny smiled again. "Hello, hundred bucks," he thought.

The man pointed to the can on the far left. Danny lifted the can with a triumphant smile, "Oh, so sorry sir. You are incorrect!"

"Am I?"

This knocked Danny out of his happy daze. "What?"

He looked at the can. The rock was underneath it, just like the man guessed, but there was no way that could have happened. Danny looked at his hand. The rock wasn't there. "No!" he thought.

"I'll be taking this," the man grabbed the hat and began to walk away.

Danny looked at his back angrily then announced that he was done for the day. He waited for the small crowd to walk away before he put his stuff away, his gaze still on the man's shrinking back. He found a bush and placed all of his stuff there, going ghost and following the man while he was invisible. Danny had found out that he could use his powers while he was still human but when he was in his ghost form, he had a lot more control and power. Danny had no trouble finding the man, since he was so out of place with his tuxedo.

He found him walking towards a parking structure and flew up a few feet behind him. On several occasions, the man turned around and Danny swore the man could see him. When the man finally got to his car, he unlocked it and stood next to the driver's side door. Danny landed next to him and was about to pull his wallet from his pocket when the man called out to him.

"I know you're there, kid," he said. Danny thought he was just bluffing and tried to grab his wallet again. This time the man moved away and took his wallet out of his pocket. "Is this what you want?" he asked, waving the wallet around. "You know, there's another way to live without having to steal money and food. If you show yourself, I can tell you what you can do."

Danny realized the man wasn't bluffing and in fact did know he was there. Danny eyed the wallet. He thought about what the man had said, weighing the pros and cons then he showed himself.

"Well, here I am. Happy now?" he asked the man with a glare on his face. "It's my money. I earned it fair and square, so give it back."

"Fair and square? I think not. Cheating is not fair and square. I saw what you did with the rock under the table."

Danny's eyes grew wide again. "What? No, you couldn't have."

"Well, It's not every day you see a kid with ghost powers."

Danny couldn't get the shocked expression off of his face, "How do you know that?"

"Let's just say I've had my fair share of experience with ghosts. Now, do you really want to take this wallet and continue living on the streets, stealing to live?"

"…No."

"Then think about my offer – come live with me. You'll get a house and I can help you control your ghost powers, teach you about them. Maybe you'll even learn how to be more productive with them."

Danny thought about it then looked at the man, "Why should I trust you? Hell, even if you did know about ghost powers, what could an old man like you possibly teach me about them and how to control them?"

"Hm…what really?" the man looked at Danny, "Well, let's see, maybe it's because of THIS."

Danny watched as the man transformed. He now had blue skin and a weird hairstyle with two points at the end, like huge horns. He was now wearing a white suit and a cape. His eyes were red.

"I can show you how to do this," the man made copies of himself and they surrounded Danny. "What will everyone else say about you, once the Guys in White eventually find you? You won't be able to walk down the street or do anything normal then. Now, what do you say?"

Danny looked around at the copies surrounding him. He thought about what the man had said and realized the truth. After all, the Guys in White had been patrolling potential ghost areas more frequently. They hadn't gotten to this state yet, since they were starting at the west coast. Danny looked at the original ghost in front of him.

"Fine," he said.

"Good choice, my lad," he transformed back into his original self and walked around to the passenger side door. "Here you go," he opened the door.

Danny walked over and looked at the man, "Why are you helping me?"

"Those first years of having my ghost powers were the worst years of my life," the man looked down sorrowfully then looked at him, "I even lost the love of my life. I'd hate for you to go through something like that." He smiled. Danny looked at him for a little longer, not entirely believing him, then got in the car.

He thought about everything and decided that if anything did go wrong, he could just fly away. If nothing went wrong, then he would have a house far away from his original one.

"Oh…um…thanks for taking me in, sir. I'm Danny, by the way…um, just Danny."

The man got in the driver's side door and tossed Danny his wallet.

"Nice to meet you, Danny. My name is Vlad Masters."

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So there was the latest chapter, hopefully it wasn't too bad. I was too lazy to read this over again to check for mistakes, so sorry if there were any. Obviously, I adapted some parts of the first episode so it could kinda fit. Anyways, now that I know when I can write, it'll probably be a monthly update at most and two weeks being the least. It also depends on how long the chapters are going to be, so I might make them moderate length, not too long and not too short, but filled with enough to get through. Thanks for the reviews!