Chapter 5: The Talk

Jazz chose to not hang out with her friends after school that day because she wanted to focus on finding a way to help her brother. She had reached a dead-end in her own research. There was a serious lack of credible information on ghosts, so as a last resort, she asked her ghost-crazed parents for help. Jazz was careful not to tell them the real reason she wanted to know so much about ghosts. They blabbed on and on about ghosts, and Jazz tried to listen. Then her dad said something that snagged her attention.

"Wait, what did you say, Dad?" Jazz blinked and sat up, her interest renewed.

"About Ghost rats? They're tricky little buggers-"

"No!" She shook her head and gestured wildly with her arm in a backwards motion. "Right before that."

"That ghosts are purely ectoplasmic creatures?" supplied Maddie. Jazz nodded.

"Dad, you told me about one of your inventions that removed ectoplasm from a ghost, right? But if it were used on something that wasn't all ghost, hypothetically..." Jazz trailed off.

"...Would have less ectoplasm and therefore would be affected more than a normal ghost! Ha-ha!" exclaimed Jack, extremely pleased with himself. He looked lovingly at his wife and wrapped his arm around her. "Our daughter reminds me so much of you, Maddie."

"I'm not as obsessed as you two are," Jazz clarified as she stood up from her chair, almost knocking it to the floor, and left. Her annoyance died down as she went to her room to think.

Danny was only half-ghost, or at least not all ghost. That could mean he could be more susceptible to certain things than regular ghosts were, or vice-versa. The Fenton Ghost Drain seemed like the culprit responsible for her brother's recent accident. If he had lost too much ectoplasm... Was his white hair a sign or a side effect? Did the accident somehow cause him to lose control over his ghost side? Did his headaches have anything to do with it? She still had so many questions and some, maybe only Danny could answer. There was no point in telling him anything until she had some sort of solution or explanation.

Satisfied to have finally reached a decision, she sat on her bed and opened a book entitled, "DNA and You". There had to be something she could do to help. "Maddie, do you remember where I put the Fenton Ghost Drain?" Jack called up from the lab.

"Dear, it's wherever you put it last," his wife's voice replied. Jack looked at the empty stand anchored to the wall. There was a plaqure below it engraved with, "The Fenton Ghost Drain". Jack scratched his head.

"Hmm..." he mused before becoming completely distracted by the other Fenton inventions he had been playing with. On a nearby table, papers had been cleared to make room for action figures of ghosts and familiar looking people with orange and teal lab suits on.

"Take that ghost!" Jack declared using the Fenton Fisher to hook one of the evil-looking ghost figurines. Suddenly, he paused. Setting everything down, Jack Fenton raced off to the Fenton bathroom.

Danny looked up at the Fenton Ghostcatcher. It glowed ominously back at him, echoing against his now glowing, green eyes. His head pounded as if someone were hitting him constantly with a 'two by four'. He tried not to wince. 'I wonder how human I'll be tomorrow.' he thought grimly. His transformation hadn't stopped with his hair. Danny was confused. He was becoming more ghostly but he still wasn't able to use any of his ghost powers.

"Ok. This'll be like restarting a computer; except it'll be me," Slowly taking a deep breath, he prepared to jump through the Ghostcatcher from the ladder he stood on. The last time he used it, it had separated his ghost and human halves. Danny was sure that it could fix whatever was wrong with him.

Using the Fenton Ghostcatcher seemed like a brilliant idea at the time but now he was having second thoughts. The sensation of having his ghost half being stripped from him wasn't exactly a pleasant one. Trying to stall, he thought back to the conversation he had with his friends over this...

(Flashback)

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Danny," Sam said after listening to his plan. Danny pointed to his eyes in frustration.

"I'm becoming more ghost by the minute!" he whispered. "If I don't use it, I could be stuck like this forever."

"You have no idea how it'll affect you in your state. It could make things worse," Sam reasoned. Tucker shrugged.

"It's pretty bad now, and you can't hide it forever. The sooner we get you back to normal, the better."

"Thanks, Tucker." Somehow, that didn't make Danny feel any better. At least his headache had let up.

"We're going to help," Sam stated firmly and from there, they began going over every little detail, starting with what happened before his coma. Danny didn't have much to add that they didn't already know. As they walked, they worked their way up to that day's events and questioned him about his headaches. He sighed.

"I've been having them ever since I woke up. They didn't bother me at first but lately..."

"And you didn't tell us because?" inquired Tucker, hurt.

"Because... Because I didn't think it was such a big deal. I didn't want anyone to worry." They walked a bit in silence. "But now, I'm beginning to think that it's connected to my 'problem'."

"You mean...?" Tucker started. Danny nodded.

"Every time I've had a really bad one, a part of me goes ghost."

"Maybe your ghost self's trying to tell you something?" Sam guessed.

"Then that's another reason for using the Ghost Catcher." Tucker pointed out.

"Yup," Danny agreed with him.

"Promise me, Danny." Danny looked at Sam, surprised at the pleading tone of her voice. "Promise me that you won't use it. At least not until you've given Tuck and me a chance to figure out another way..." The sky looked very interesting at that moment and Danny felt guilty.

"Alright, I promise."

(End of Flashback)

"I'm sorry Sam," Danny whispered. She was his best friend; it hurt to betray her like this, but if there was even a small chance that this would work, he had to try. Bracing himself, he leapt through the glowing web.

~ phantom130 5 (October 2013)