I do my best to check for typos, but it's likely I didn't get them all, sorry.
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"He was fast Tucker." Sam said, "the way he moved and, and the look in his eyes. I've never seen another ghost do that, never."
"It couldn't have been that bad, I mean, he did it to help you." Even if he got a little carried away, he did do it to help you, right?"
"I don't want to be helped like that." Sam said. "He shot one of them, and the other one, he almost..." She pictures the fear in the man's eyes when he had a gun pressed to his head. Red's smile when the man begged. She shuddered. "He said he wouldn't have done it, but I didn't see him throw the gun away, so what of he went back and did it anyway. They could had been too hurt to move."
"Did you ask him about it?" Tucker asked, looking a little disturbed himself.
"He said he lost it, fell out of his pocket when he went intangible." Sam said.
"And you don't believe him?" Tucker rang Danny's doorbell.
"I don't know why he would have kept it in the first place." Sam said. "I don't want to be so suspicious of him, but you weren't there. It wasn't a fight between ghosts with glowing beams and long speeches. They were people someone could have died."
"Hey you two." The door swung open, revealing Jazz Fenton, looking half awake and with a book under her arm "Danny's with you're other friend in his room doing homework." She stepped aside to let them through."Just call me if you need anything."
"Thanks Jazz." Sam said to the girl who already had her nose shoved in her book, oblivious to the rest of the world.
"If you don't stop that I'm going on freaking strike!" They heard he irate voice of Red drift down out from Danny's room.
"Strike from what?" Danny sounded amused. "And don't let my parents hear you using that language."
"You haven't heard my language kid."
They walked in on the sight of Danny trying to get a thermometer in the ghost's mouth. Red was using his english reading assignment as a shield.
"One of you say something." Red said, catching sight of Sam and Tucker.
"Oh, soooo dangerous." Tucker laughed. "Sorry Red, you're on your own with that one."
Red shot Sam a pleading look while peaking over the book.
"You're being worse than my parents, Danny." Sam said, plucking he thermometer from Danny's hand. "He's big ghost, I'm sure he can take care of himself."
"Weren't you supposed to be studying?" Tucker asked, leafing through the mess of paper on Danny's desk.
"Traitors," Danny threw up his hands. "I'm getting enough of that from Mister Know It All here."
"Not my fault I know things." Red's book phased out of his hands.
"You wrote these?" Tucker asked, holding up a page filled with numbers and letters"
"It's basic chemistry." Red frowned down at the book.
"Not the kind we learn." Sam said, lookin over Tucker's shoulder.
"He thinks he's a genius or something." Danny scoffed.
"Stop talking about me and do your homework." Red said.
"You sound like my sister."Danny said. A puff of blue smoke escaped his lips and Danny groaned. " Stay here." He pointed at Red before transforming and flying of.
"You stay here." Red growled and jumped through the wall after the halfa.
"Come on." Sam tugged Tucker after her and took the long way around.
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Danny caught up to the trio of Walker's prison guards in the park while they were yelling at a group of joggers about an escaped ghost. They were interrupted by a flurry of ecto-blasts.
"No that I have your attention." Danny said, moving between the ghosts and their victims. "Get lost!" He pointed back in the direction of the portal.
"We will not tolerate your interference in this Halfa." One of them said, brandishing his baton.
"Yeah, well I won't tolerate you messing up my town." Danny said, crossing his arms.
The ghost growled and charged Danny while the other two shot past him.
"No you don't!" Danny grabbed the tail of the ghost nearest him and swung it around, sending it crashing into the other two. He pointed with over his shoulder with a thumb. "Ghost Zone's that way." He said with a smirk.
"Interfering is against the rules!" The one Danny guessed was the leader said. "Detain him!"
All three of them attacked Danny. The hero flew above the trees, dodging some of the blasts sent his way.
"Didn't you guys learn your lesson last time?" Danny said, weaving between two, and laughing when they struck each other on the head with their batons.
"Oh we did." The other one said from behind him. Before he could turn a net was thrown around him and electricity was coursing through his veins.
Danny screamed and convulsed on the ground. The shock didn't last long, but it was enough to leave tendrils of smoke drifting up off his numb body.
"Might as well bring you in too." The ghosts circled around him. "Criminals shouldn't be running free."
Danny blasted the net to pieces before it could be activated again.
"The only thing criminal here is how ugly you all are." Danny said and dove at them. He flew out of a batons path and blasted one behind his head. Another grabbed hold of him, while the last one hit Danny hard enough to knock him to the ground. The halfa sprang back into the fight before they could regroup. He fired them off as fast as he could, leaving the ghosts without time to dodge. One of them brought out another net, but Danny ducked and shot one of the ghosts into its path instead.
The electricity went off, and Danny used the surprise from the one who did it to suck both ghost's into the thermos. He grinned when he turned to face the last remaining ghost who was slowly backing up , his expression furious.
"Not so tough one on one huh?" Danny said.
"Don't get so cocky halfa." The ghost growled. The ghosts lifted his hands, both of them glowing.
Danny dove to stop it, but was sent tumbling out of the sky by the blast while the ghost flew off. He reverted to his human form just before he would have crashed into the ground. Instead he headed an "Oomph." and found himself being lowered to the ground by Red. Danny let out a sigh of relief, that would had hurt, a lot.
"What the heck, kid." The ghost didn't look nearly as relieved as Danny. "First rule is never go in without back up, never ever, ever. Do you have a death wish or something?"
"Me?" Danny got to his feet, the realisation that Red was there at all hitting him. "I told you to stay at home. Those guys are dangerous." He grabbed hold of Red's hoodie and began pulling him away. "We have to get home before he comes back."
"Danny what the heck?" Red pulled away from Danny. "You almost went splat and you're lecturing me!?"
"I can take the risk." Danny said.
"Oh you can?" Red pulled at his hair. "You say that because you can't see yourself. A little kid, flying around playing hero" He pointed at Danny. "Can your parent's take the risk, or your friends. Do you want them crying over you when you make a stupid mistake and have no one to pull you out. You really think you can keep at this without help?"
"This is coming from you?" Danny barked out a harsh laugh. "You don't want anyone to help you with anything!"
"That's not even on the same level." Red swept out his arm. "And you're completely missing the point!"
"Then what is your point, oh mighty one?" Danny said mockingly.
"I'm already dead, Danny." Red said, clenching his fists. "What else could possibly happen to me. Even if I wasn't, it's not like I have any..." Red bit his fist. "Do you really want to be this?"
"You think nothing can happen to you?" Danny fought to keep from screaming. "Since I met you you've been either hurt, sick or missing. You still think you're invincible, Red? Because you can flip around from street lights? Those ghosts I just fought." Danny pointed at the sky. "They would have dragged you back to the Ghost Zone before you could blink."
"Maybe that's where I should be." Red shot back. He tugged his hood lower over his face and turned away. He looked at Danny over his shoulder. "And I think the fact that I'm a freaking ghost is enough of a reminder that I'm far from invincible."
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The next day at school, Sam and Tucker could practically feel the tension rolling off Danny and Jason in waves.
"So, uh, rough night?" Tucker asked hesitantly.
"I handled it." Danny said, shooting a look at Red that dared him to disagree.
"Course ya did." Red said, walking ahead of Danny.
"Don't bring that up here." Danny half shouted.
"Whatever you say, Boss. As long as you don't blame me when something does happen." Red didn't turn to look at any of them.
"Nothing happened before you were here and nothing will happen now that you are." Danny growled.
Red turned with his hands up in a mocking 'I surrender' pose and stopped began walking in the opposite direction of the others. "You and your friends have fun kid."
"Don't go too far, Red. Walker's goon is still around." Danny called to him.
Red just waved one hand and kept going.
"He's such a... " Danny growled in frustration and stomped off to class.
"So, did I miss something?" Tucker asked, rubbing the back of his head.
"I think Danny's starting to see why bridging home a stray ghost was a bad idea." Sam said, shooting a look at Tucker.
"He's not a stray ghost." Danny said, mind flashing uncomfortably to Red calling himself a bad choice for a pet. "He has a home."
"Sorry okay." Sam said, laying a hand in her friends shoulder? "Is there something we can do to help?"
"You wouldn't understand." Danny said. " You're still normal."
He missed the hurt looks on their faces when he slid into his seat.
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"BEWARE!" The Box Ghost shouted, sending a barrage of boxes at the Red Huntress.
"What do I have to do for you to take a hint." Valery growled, shooting at the tubby blue ghost. "Stay away from my Dad's... from the labs!" They were barely waking ends meet as it was. If her Dad lost his job again because of a ghost, she'd flip.
Just when she'd gotten the ghost cornered a blue sleeve appeared through the wall and slung around the Box Ghost's shoulder. Valery had to pull back her blaster at the last second when Red stepped through the wall an pulled the ghost aside.
"CHILD!" The ghost lifted Red off the ground and into a bear hug and flew around the room.
"Hey, put him down!" Valery said readying the gun for another shot.
"NEVER!" Box Ghost shouted and flew into a corner, still holding tightly onto the smaller ghost.
"Relax." Red huffed and struggled a bit in the Box Ghost's arms. "What're you doing here Boxy?"
"LIBERATING THESE BOXES FROM THEIR UNJUST IMPRISONMENT!" The Box Ghost screamed.
'Wow,' Valery thought, 'he's gonna need a hearing aid after this.'
"Wait, Boxy?" She glared at Red, who waved her off.
The smaller ghost lifted his head to the other one and spoke softly. Valery couldn't hear what he said, but it only took a few minutes for the Box Ghost to set Red down on the floor.
"FAREWELL CHILD!" The ghost yelled as it flew off. The last Valery heard of him was a faraway. "BEWARE."
"He just wants to be taken seriously." Red said, holding up his hands like he wanted to placate her, an uncertain smile on his face.
"Do you know how much trouble it'll cause if he comes back here?" Valery demanded, crossing her arms and tapping a foot on the ground.
"I told him I was working secretly to bring down your operation." Red shrugged, smile slipping a little.
Valery tried to keep up he glare, but Red didn't leave, and his smile started slipping off his face. Not even a minute later she couldn't take it anymore and groaned.
"You're looking like a kicked puppy on purpose." She accused.
"It takes practice." He grinned. "Aren't you s'posed to be in school?"
"Aren't you?" She countered.
"Hey, the only reason I go there is cause someone wants to keep an eye on me." He was coming suspiciously close to whining. At her surprised look he laughed. "You think I'm there so I can get a good job someday?"
"Shut up!" She pushed him. "You're just such a freaky ghost I forget."
"Oooh," he waves his hands hand backed up a little. "You gonna wack me back into the Ghost Zone? I'm sorry oh, great Huntress."
"Oh I'll wack you somewhere?" She rolled her eyes.
"To be fair I forget too." He said. "I haven't had very long to get used to it."
"Yeah..." She'd never been happier that her mask hid her expression. "Sorry for making that worse than it had to be."
"Don't take this the wrong way." He said. "But there was so much going on then, that I only remembered now you were even there."
"That." She said. "Doesn't make me feel a whole lot better."
"Tell you what." He climbed up a box to peer out one of the windows lining the top of the room. "You show me where kids around here play truant," he grinned at her over his shoulder, "and I'll forget about being dead."
"What makes you think I'd know that?" She asked, bemused.
"You couldn't have been ghost hunting the whole day." He said. "And it's pretty obvious you're not going to school today. You have to be somewhere."
"Fine." She said. "Maybe I'll get a shot at Phantom when he comes looking for you."
"He does that and I'll make a beeline for the Land of Green Swirliness."
"Really?" Valery asked, worry creeping into her chest. Her benefactor wanted this ghost in Amity Park. "That's a little extreme, isn't it?"
"Maybe." Red deflated, dropping off the pile of boxes. "It'd still tick me off." He held out his hand. "Wanna take a shortcut outta here?"
"Sure." She took his hand and let him tug her through the wall. "What's the deal with you two anyway?" She asked as they started walking and she retracted the suit. "When I first saw you together I kinda thought you were brothers of something. Don't look at me like that! You're the only ghosts I've seen that look so different."
"Other ghost's call him something else most of the time." Red said with a shrug, but that's not what I am."
Valery wanted to ask about different types of ghosts, but she doubted someone who took so long to realise he was one would know much. "Why aren't you at school anyway?" She asked instead. "Should you really be wandering around on your own?"
"I'm not a little kid." He frowned. "I've always taken care of myself, don't need a freaking baby sitter."
"From what you say, Phantom doesn't see it that way." Valery said, kicking a can that land watching it bounce to the other side of the street.
Red scoffed. "The only reason I came here in the first place was to make sure that dumb kid didn't get himself hurt."
"Er, Red." Valery grabbed hold of his arm. "Do you know you're sinking into the sidewalk?"
Red growled and got his feet back on the concrete, looking like e really wanted to break something.
"Doesn't take much to get you worked up, does it?" Valery smirked.
"It's freaking frustrating." Red said. "My first day here I thought my darn clothes were possessed."
"But you wanted to help Phantom?" Valery said, doing her best to stifle her laughter. "
"Oh ha ha." Red said sarcastically. "My life's such a joke." His face scrunched up. "My afterlife I mean." He shrunk a little deeper into his baggy hoodie. "Sure I don't fly, or shoot dealing lasers out of my hands, but I can handle myself in a fight just fine."
"Hey." Valery knocked him a little with her shoulder. "You said you'd forget about it if I showed you around." She tried to reconcile the playful ghost she'd met in the Ghost Zone with this boy. "You nearly kicked my but, and I'm not a joke."
"Huh?" He cocked his head to the side. At least she had his attention.
"I bet you just haven't got your ghost thing figured out yet." She carried on with a smile.
"I did fly once for a few seconds." He said thoughtfully.
"With your moves your probably a kickbutt ninja ghost or something." Valery said. "And I've always wanted to throw a ghost off a building."
Reds face was expressionless. "No." he tugged at his hoodie.
"Come, on what's the worst that can happen?" She said.
"No." He shook his head, but still had a little smile on his face.
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He didn't want to do it. Really, really, really didn't want to, but was tired of grasping for straws and messing up. Their wasn't any other choice he could see. Danny took a deep breath and rapped on his sisters door.
"Come in." She called.
Well, no going back now. He opened the door and stepped into her room. She was sitting on her bed with a book in her lap.
"Jazz, I have a problem." He said.
"Have a fight with one of your friends?" She asked, setting the book aside.
"How did you, nevermind." He said, Jazz probably saw something at school. "Kinda, but it's a little worse than. that."
"Okay." She said slowly.
"You've seen Red around, right?" He tugged awkwardly at the edge of his shirt.
"Yes." She sat up a little straighter.
"Well, he has a problem." Danny shuffled his feet.
"What kind of problem?" She asked sceptically.
Danny scrubbed a hand over his face, how much was it safe to tell her. "I guess you could say he's sick." Danny said.
"How sick?" Jazz said. "Shouldn't you talk to his parents about this?"
"He doesn't have any." Danny said. "He did, before I guess, but he lost them when he got sick."
"I'm not really a doctor Danny." She said, but she moved her legs and patted the spot next to her.
Danny signed gratefully and sat down. "It's not something that a doctor can help with. It's, what's the word...?"
"Chronic?" Jazz asked.
"Yeah, that." Danny said. "He'll never get better, and he only found out a while ago. He's still really, really touchy about it." He looked up at her open, accepting face and took that as an invitation to carry on. "I've been trying to help him through it, but he just keeps pushing himself. He was really sick a few days ago, and he just wouldn't take a break. Yesterday he tries to do something he just, just couldn't and I got mad at him. Then today he just blew me off at school and left." Danny groaned with his fave in his hands. "He keeps trying to do things he can't, and he then he gets hurt and won't talk to anyone for days."
"So you're worried your friend's going to push himself too far?"Jazz asked, Danny nodded. " You're sure you shouldn't tell whoever's looking after him? This is a lot to take on yourself Danny."
"He doesn't have anybody." Danny said.
"You've tried to talk to him about it?" She asked.
"It just made him madder." Danny sighed. "Every time I try he lectures me about...stuff."
A spark of understand lit up Jazz's eyes, Danny suddenly had the feeling she knew way more about it than he had told her. "If you were hurt." She wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "And you couldn't do things you used to do, then you made a friend who could do all kinds of amazing things, and he treated you like you were broken, how would you feel?"
For the first time Danny wondered about the person Red had been when he'd been alive. The way the ghost moved and improvised weapons. How he knew so much about advanced subjects Danny hadn't even touched on in school. Being a ghost couldn't have just imprinted Red with those kinds of abilities. Danny was struck with the thought that Red may just have been the coolest kid alive, before whatever had happened.
"He got hurt really bad." Danny said softly. "To make him sick. Really, really bad Jazz. And when he found out he was gone for days. I though he was..."
"You can't fix that." Jazz pulled Danny into a soft hug. "You can't blame yourself for things that happened before you been knew him. You can't give him back what he lost, but maybe you can help him find something new for himself."
"What if it makes him worse?" Danny hugged her back.
"That also won't be your fault. If you want to help him you can't keep holding him back." She said
"Thanks Jazz." Danny pulled away and got up.
"Where are you going now?" She asked.
"I'm gonna go do my homework." Danny said. "He'd throw a fit if I hunted him down now.
Jazz smiled and picked up her book, shaking her head. She just hoped he'd trust her enough with his other problems someday.
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The ghost that had gotten away the previous day was causing trouble near the school that night, again for his whatever Walker had sent him to find, and not caring what he broke to find it. Danny blasted it out of the sky and touched down.
The ghost floated up and pulled out it's batons. "I told you to stay out of my way halfa." He said.
Danny said nothing, just stood in with his arms crosses in the middle of the empty football field. The ghost got impatient and charged Danny.
"Rude." The halfa said, ducking out of the way. "We're waiting for someone." He shot off a few blasts, but didn't get too close to the guard.
The ghost growled in frustration and charged up his attack. "I'll bring you and him with me to stand before the warden." The ghost said.
Before he could fire his hand was grabbed, and he was pulled into a grapple flipped him in an arc, his hand tucked inwards. The attack went off, sensing the ghost flying over the football poles.
"Maybe I should tryout for the team." Red stood in front of Danny, grinning in all his clown suited glory.
"You'd have to put up with Dash." Danny reached out and pulled the ghost into a right hug.
"Er," Red stood, awkwardly with his arms at his sides before a small smile tugged on his lips. "I'll deal."
"You could take it out on ghosts when I have to study." Danny said.
"Wow, insensitive much?" Red chucked.
"They're always trying to take over the city and cause property damage." Danny defended, letting go of his friend.
Behind Red the football poles tipped over, falling on top of the guard with a loud crash. "Totally his fault." Red said, looking between. Danny and the poles.
"I've done worse." Danny walked over to suck up the groaning guard. "Sidekicks are supposed to mess up right?"
"Yeah right." Red scoffed as they began walking home. "You can be the sidekick."
"I was here first." Danny said. "And you're too angsty to be in charge."
"I think I'm dealing with it all pretty well thank you." Red said, looking more amused that offended.
"Please, if that ever happened we'd both end up dressed in all black leather and stalking the alleys." Danny said.
"That's going a little far." Red said. "But now that you mention it..."
"Don't even think about it." Danny laughed. "I can't handle anymore weirdness in my life."
"Your friends would get jealous of my mad skills anyway." Red smiled.
"What happened to your hoodie?" Danny asked.
"Heh." Red shrugged. "It wasn't fireproof."
"Do I even wanna know?" Danny huffed.
"How strong is your stomach?" Red smirked.
"Forget it." Danny said hurriedly. "I think the red one's still laying around the house."
"Thanks Danny." Red threw the hat over his shoulder, it was back as soon as Danny blinked.
"And Red." Danny took the hat and tucked it under his arm.
"Hm?" Red hummed, looking up at the stars.
"You're my friend too, you know."
"Thanks Danny."