Downwards Spiral

-D-

My eyes skimmed over the shelves trying to find something that popped out at me.

"You pick something yet?"

"Huh?" I asked turning to the stranger besides me.

The boy my age rolled his eyes. "I asked if you figured out which journal you wanted."

I blinked in confusion. "No… why?"

"Because we have been standing here for like an hour."

"Then leave, I'm not stopping you."

He seemed to catch on to my confused look because he stopped short. "Danny," he said slowly. "We're friends remember? I'm Tucker."

I blinked at him confused, very much weirded out. "I have never seen you in my life," I said with absolute certain.

"Danny you're confused remember? Soul Change and all that?"

I furrowed my eyebrows stepping away from the crazy boy in front of me. "Look, I don't know what you are trying to play but I have no idea what you are talking about."

The boy tried to reach for me but I was already gone.

I wandered around the store aimlessly as my girlfriend found her creepy books.

"Danny!" speaking of said girlfriend.

I turned and faced Sam with a smile. "You get what you need?" I asked.

Sam looked confused. "We are here to get you a journal, remember Danny?"

I raised an eyebrow. "No, you were dying to get the newest book on that zombie series that you're into."

Sam shook her head. "That book doesn't come out for another month."

I looked at her, confused. "Then why did you drag me here?"

"To get you a journal to replace the one you lost."

I scratched my head. "I never had a journal."

"Yes, you did Danny," Sam said exasperated. "You're going through Soul Change and it's making you confused remember?"

"What the Hell is Soul Change?" I asked. "Is this some kind of prank you and Tucker put together?" I asked.

"Danny be serious with me." Sam said placing a hand on my chest speaking slow, worry creeping into her tone. "Do you really not remember going to the Far Frozen, and being diagnosed with Soul Change."

My face remained blank. "What was frozen?"

-J-

"Alright now where did you last see him?" I asked trying to rein in my frustration, it was just worry over my little brother manifested as frustration. Apparently Tucker and Sam lost Danny shortly after Tucker called me for backup.

"He was still in Barnes and Noble," said Sam

"He was in the hall headed towards the arcade," said Tucker.

Both spoke at the same time and promptly glared at one another. I sighed. "With Danny's powers and current mental state he could literally be anywhere," I said turning to Tucker. "Think you could track his fenton phone?"

Tucker jerked upright, a smile sliding to life as he pulled out his phone and began typing a thousand miles per minute.

"I didn't even think of that," Sam muttered.

"That's why you guys need me," I said with a small smirk before dropping and getting serious. "You're sure that we can't knock him out of this and somehow get through Friday?"

Sam nodded. "He's been on the verge of losing it all day, I knew he couldn't handle the trip to the mall but-"

I dropped my hand to her shoulder. "You were hoping to at least make it to the weekend. I get it Sam." We locked eyes and I shot her a small smile. "We are all worried about keeping Danny safe and his biggest defense is the secret of his dual identities. But things have changed now, and we have to change with it."

"Thanks Jazz," Sam murmured, visibly still worried but more determined than anything.

"He is still in the mall. JCPenny, the Kitchen Department if you two want to stop your heart-to-heart girl talk."

The lone boy cowered under the twin glares Sam and I shot him, but I nodded. All three of us speed walked as fast as we could without drawing abnormal amounts of attention.

"So what are we going to do when we find him?" asked Tucker. His eyes were all but glued to the screen in front of him as if Danny was about to disappear at any moment.

I gritted my teeth and looked around at the crowds of people around us. Danny was the one who came up with plans. Even if we were able to discover a weakness in the enemy, it was Danny who figured out how to use it. "Well the power-blocking serum Frostbite gave us can only stay fresh for half an hour without subzero temperatures and it's already been out of the freezer for 10 minutes so we need to act fast."

"Then we just have to get him in the speeder and fly to Clockwork's. Danny said he offered to house him until he got better."

"But how?" Tucker askes. "He keeps changing. Even if we talk him into letting us inject him with it, he will just change 'personalities' or whatever. And it's not like we can force him. He may be bonkers right now but he is still more than capable of defending himself."

"That's exactly why we have to give him the serum and get him out of here," Sam reminded

"Alright, what if one of us talks to him while the other injects him with the serum," I said throwing out ideas. Tucker and Sam really had more experience when it came to this sort of thing.

"I don't think that will work." said Tucker. "One of his…personalities or something , is like a super-agent or something. I tried following him when he was on the way to the arcade and I almost got my hand ripped off."

"What if we got him a smoothie or a shake or something," suggested Sam. "We can mix the serum into it."

I thought a minute. "It can be taken orally but it will take longer to kick in." We exchanged looks, not really having any other options. "I'll go check on Danny, you two get the drink," I said, swapping vial of serum for the device Tucker was tracking Danny on. "Make sure to mix it up thoroughly before you hand it to him."

The two friends gave me determined nods. My brother wasn't the only one who had a 'secret agent mode'. All three of us were more than prepared to do just about anything to get this done and protect our brother and friend.

I must have killed three minutes watching Danny browse frying pans, working up the courage just to approach him. This was Danny. My baby brother, nothing to be afraid of. But at the same time it was. I knew how powerful Danny was and now he was getting even more power. Even worse, the only things keeping him back-keeping him in line-had been all but erased. There was no telling what Danny could or would do. Until we got the serum in him Danny was a wildcard, something to be handled carefully.

But I could not show that. Danny could not, especially now, know how anxious I was. So plastering on a convincing smile, taking a deep breath to steel myself, I walked up to my sibling. "Hey Danny, whatcha doin?"

Danny turned briefly, shooting me a smile. "Hey Jazz," he said. "Just looking for a new frying pan. The one at home is contaminated beyond repair." I tried to wrap my mind around the idea of my little brother being able to cook. I wasn't sure how Danny could do something that he didn't know how to. "Tucker and Sam said you came looking for a journal to replace the one you lost this morning. The one to help with your Soul Change," I prodded gently. Tucker and Sam said he was void of reality but I needed to try myself.

Danny paused to shoot me an unamused look. "Nice try Jazz, but I am not journaling." He raised a hand to cut me off from correcting him. "It just isn't smart. Even if I wrote everything down in code or cryptically. It would be more suspicious and spur someone into figuring out why I have a coded diary. Furthermore, the people who know my secret will be more then determined enough to decode it. I know that keeping a journal will probably help me deal with things but it just isn't safe."

My jaw trembled, my mouth was dry. He didn't remember, he really truly didn't remember. Being told it and seeing it was two different things. Reality hit me harder than it should. I took a slow deep breath through my nose trying to put myself together.

"Tucker and Sam are getting smoothies."

"Then hurry up and pick something." Danny said agitated, hands in his pockets his back slouched, bored eyes skimming the shelves.

I blinked. "What?"

"We're late, just pick something." Danny said gesturing at the shelf in front of him displaying the pans. "It doesn't really matter. Mom and Dad will just contaminate the new one anyway."

"You were shopping for pans, not me," I said still confused.

"Why would I go shopping for pans? I don't know anything about cooking," he said, looking confused at me. This was what Tucker and Sam must have meant when he was switching 'personalities'.

I shot my brother the best smile I could muster, which was probably some kind of grimace. "What do you say we catch those smoothies with Sam and Tucker and come back to this later."

Danny stared at me in disbelief. Huffing, the boy rolled his eyes and started walking towards the exit. "Yeah, fine, let's do that."

"Danny, the food court is this way," I called gently guiding the boy to the proper exit. The food court, and the Specter Speeder were not too far away. I'm glad, it would be hard enough getting him to it let alone if I would have had to transfer him from a car to the Speeder. This way we could just zip straight into the zone. We walked peacefully to the food court. I occasionally reminded Danny where we were going but otherwise the walk was fine. I made sure to keep him in my peripheral vision at all times, though.

I wasn't sure how these personality changes fit in with Soul Change. They weren't in anything I had read. The only thing I could think of is that they had something to do with the powers he was receiving. As a ghost's soul expands, so does their power level and abilities. The abilities are unique to the soul and every Soul Change is as different as night and day.

"Just give it to me dweeb," demanded a loud voice as we approached our destination. Dash Baxter and several other jocks had Tucker and Sam surrounded and were in the process of forcing them to hand over their smoothies. Of course! The one time when a smoothie was more than a smoothie, Dash has to step in and prove his 'superior' 'alpha male' status. Normally I would be a bit understanding (after all his obsession with being the best must stem from some strong insecurity), but right now I had other things in mind.

I glanced at Danny only to realize he was no longer beside me. Shouts and cries pulled my attention back to Tucker and Sam. My eyes widened. Somehow Danny had gotten several meters ahead and was currently socking the quarterback in the stomach hard enough to knock him off his feet. The other jocks jumped in surprise before they rushed forward to attack the smaller male. Danny wove through the ranks kicking and punching groins, ears, and pressure points. In two minutes a quarter of the football team was lying at his feet.

Danny stormed over to Dash walking right past a flabbergasted Sam and Tucker. Grabbing Dash's letter jacket he dragged the muscular boy up slightly and growled in the blonde's face.

"Mess with me or my friends again and we will see how long you will be the 'star' quarterback with a broken arm."

Danny drops the boy like a piece of garbage and turns to his friends and me with a dark troublemaking grin just as mall security was closing in. "Time to run."

Danny took off and instinct took over as Tucker, Sam and I followed his fleeing form. My blood was ice after what I saw. This was what we feared. What Frostbite and the doctors feared. During Soul Change the Soul expands and explores every avenue searching out who it, him, her, they truly were. Good, bad, insolent, corrupted, every side of the personality is tested. I knew Danny had a dark side, everyone does. But once again, knowing it was entirely different than witnessing it. I suppose it could have been a lot worse but what Danny just did was going to raise a lot of questions, possibly even a lawsuit.

I glanced at Danny. His face showed absolute glee. This was not my hero-complex brother, this was some kind of reckless thrill-seeking troublemaker. We needed to subdue Danny's powers before he began exploring more of his dark side. One good thing about this Danny was that he obviously knew how to lose his chasers because we were free of our tails after one dip into a clothes store.

"I parked the Specter Speeder next to the Hot Topic entrance." I said to the others as we left our shelter ducking back out the entrance.

"Sounds like a plan," Danny said turning in that direction. "Let's get a move on, I don't want to get locked up again."

I glanced at the others. Sam raised the drink in her hand. I shook my head. This Danny would be suspicious and would taste something off. It would be better to wait until he switched to a more docile personality.

As soon as we were in the clear he did just that. Danny's back slouched and his pace became relaxed and lazy. Looking back at Sam I gave her a small nod.

"Hey Danny, I got you a drink?" she said cautiously.

"Oh thanks." He said taking the smoothie but not drinking it. I bit my lip, trying to think of a discreet way to convince him to drink the smoothie.

"Hey," Tucker said elbowing his friend. "Bet I can drink my smoothie faster than you."

Danny's expression lit up with a challenge. "You're on!"

Sam sighed with relief and I held my breath. Just like that the two teenage boys were chugging there smoothies like their life depended on it. Danny gagged halfway through.

"Ick-What flavor did you get me? This is horrible," he asked in disgust. "It tastes like a fertilizer factory." Danny paused and glared at Sam.

"What?" she asked nervously trying to stay natural.

"Sam, I love you, but I am not going ultra-recyclo-vegetarian."

I tried desperately to hide my relief. "Well at least finish the smoothie," Sam begged still somewhat worried.

Danny held strong for a time and then caved to drinking the 'fertilizer'.

We continued walking, everyone taking turns watching Danny carefully. Tucker seemed to be having the easiest time keeping him distracted. After several agonizing minutes we made it outside. I sighed in relief. Tucker slowly stopped talking and even Sam slumped in victory.

The Specter Speeder was only a few parking spots away. I glance over to see Danny has stopped walking a while back.

"Danny?" I called. He was staring at his drink with an unreadable expression. He looked up to meet our eyes. I flinched at the hard look on his face.

"Come on we have to go." I said gesturing at the Specter Speeder trying to stay calm and neutral.

Danny's eyes stared into my soul. I began to sweat as his eyes ripped me apart before moving on to Tucker and Sam. Faster than an average human but not nearly as fast as he could go as a ghost, Danny dropped the plastic cup and took off in the other direction.

"Danny wait!" I shouted taking a few steps before stopping. Danny was already jumping over the fence around the mall parking lot. There was no way we would be able to catch him now.

"What do we do now?" asked Tucker, frustratedly helpless. This was becoming one tiresome day.

What were we going to do? We needed to help Danny, and we were the only ones who could. If we didn't, he would just wander around aimlessly, switching between personalities. Even if someone found him first, he would just break out. Even without his powers Danny was an expert escape artist, not to mention the skills that apparently came with his personalities.

"Follow him from a distance until his powers conk out," I said slowly, turning to the others. "Once his powers are out, approach and guide him back to the Speeder as peacefully as you can."

Sam looked worried. "He doesn't trust us now. How are we supposed to convince him to come with us."

"He'll forget with the next changes," I explained. "We can use that to our advantage. Go with his delusion and maneuver him best you can. While you two do that, I am going to pack some things."

"Uh?" asked Tucker

I looked behind me with a smile. "I promised Mom and Dad I would take care of Danny while they are gone." My smile fell into a serious expression. "He is going to need someone he trusts helping him make sense of what is happening, guiding back from this, and I am going to do everything it takes to bring our Danny back."

"We will stay too." Tucker said determined, Sam nodding as well.

I shook my head. "You two promised to help Valery with ghost hunting, and we both know that is the first thing he is going to ask when he comes back into his right mind."

Both teens slumped and I gave them sad smiles. "Let's focus on getting Danny back for now."

-)(-

-J- = Jasmine Fenton (Jazz) point of view

-D- = Danny Fenton (Phantom) point of view

This has got to be the strangest day of Dash Baxter's live

Prepare for confusion

I do not own 'Danny Phantom'