Chapter Fifty-Six: Danny
The news that Danny was a shadow ghost was taken in different ways by different people. Dark and Daniel just accepted it and moved on, Ghostwriter just said that he had to study just as much as Dan did and assigned a lot of homework for him as well – much to Danny's despair – and Clockwork commented about knowing about it but not knowing how to tell Dan and Plasmius.
No, the hard ones to tell about it were….definitely Sam, Tucker, and Jazz. And since they couldn't tell something like this over the computer, they said that they had a surprise to show them and invited them over; scheduling a visit in two months, in the fall.
"How come ghosts can feel the temperature change?" Danny asked, looking out at the changing leaves.
"Most don't." Dan remarked, walking up to stand next to him. "Maybe it's because we're half-human, and still retain those traits. Clockwork said that since you still have your human/ghost DNA, like me, that's why you were able to use abilities most shadow ghosts can't."
"I feel special. Can I do a 'special dance'?" Danny asked, leaning on the windowsill. "I'm still a weird shadow-thing to most people. What does that look like, anyway?"
"You know what Johnny 13's shadow looks like?" Dan offered. "Something like th—oh, phone." He pulled it out, wandering off. "Hello? Oh hi, Valerie!"
"'Hi, Valerie'." Danny muttered, sighing as he looked out the window. His friends and sister were supposed to be here today, but they weren't yet and now the only person he could talk to with using Morse code or paper had wandered off to—was this how Sam and Tucker felt every time he ran off to talk to a cute girl? Ugh, why was he so stupid to have not noticed their moods change…
He heard a car door close and raised his head to see Vlad coming up the walk with the three. He almost felt tempted to fly through the walls and hug them, but he knew he had to wait for Dan to…tell them.
Finally, Vlad was calling Dan to come down and he got off the phone, promising to call her back later. "C'mon, Danny." Dan smiled, taking his hand and pulling him away from the window.
"Can't, I y'know, wait here while you tell them?" Danny asked, hesitating at the door.
"That didn't work very well with Dark and Daniel." Dan shook his head.
"Dark and Daniel didn't listen to you because they're Dark and Daniel. I'M too nervous to go out into the lobby right now." Danny insisted. "I'll stay put until you bring them, I promise."
"Hm…" Dan looked thoughtful.
"Phantom!" Vlad called again.
"Alright, I'm coming!" Dan called. "Alright, I'll be back soon. Wait here, take a seat or something."
"I'll be at the window." Danny floated off as soon as his hand was released, looking out the window.
Dan nodded and went downstairs. "Hey, guys!"
"Dan!" Tucker grinned, holding out a fist. "What's up, big guy?"
Dan bumped fists with him. "Ah, well. Valerie called earlier."
"That explains the pink cheeks." Tucker nudged him. "You Casanova, you."
"So, what did you call us for?" Jazz asked. "You said it was important."
"You Don Juan. Lucky man." Tucker continued, nudging Dan as he spoke.
"TUCKER!" Sam hissed.
"Oh, right. Sorry." Tucker grinned apologetically, finally leaving off with the nudging.
"Alright. Promise you won't freak out?" Dan asked, holding up his hands. "Because…well, you might freak out. Try not to, though."
"Alright, already. Just show up!" Tucker grinned, turning Dan around and pushing him up the stairs. "Your hair is white again, by the way. Might wanna dye it soon."
"Yeah, well." Dan shrugged. "I actually need to recalibrate the dampener, it's getting harder to conceal my powers and this is from the Phantom form."
Sam, Vlad, and Jazz followed behind. "Where's Plasmius?" Jazz asked suspiciously.
"He's most likely in the library again." Vlad replied calmly. "He goes there a lot, most likely to talk to Ghostwriter or to look up something in particular."
"Oh, you mean the GHOST library." Jazz nodded. "I was about to ask about that."
They got to the higher floor and approached the den. Dan paused and looked at them. "Guys…once again, I must ask you NOT to freak out. He can get skittish around lots of noise."
"Just show us already!" Tucker opened the door wide before Dan could, the group stepping inside.
On one of the armchairs was a propped-up notebook that said "Hi, guys. It's me, Danny. Don't hit me, Sam, I'm sorry!" and then Sam gasped as she saw her mystery ghost peek out at her from behind a chair.
"Well, as the notebook says, I found Danny." Dan explained as Sam stepped closer. "He's a shadow ghost, so only I can see his real form right now…but it's definitely Danny."
"Danny?" Jazz breathed, moving closer to the chair with Tucker and Sam. He shrank back a bit, his eyes glancing to the side before his shadow hand went up to rub the back of his neck awkwardly. "It's…it's really you?" Tears welled up in her eyes and she ran around the chair, wrapping her arms around him. "Danny!"
Danny made some kind of arm flailing before he patted Jazz's back. Dan laughed a bit at his embarrassment, then looked towards Sam and Tucker.
Sam walked over and picked up the notebook, frowning. "You…you thought a hand-written note could apologize for sneaking into my room?!" She grabbed Danny's hand and pulled him away from Jazz. "Apologize to me properly! Say my name!"
"Samantha!" Vlad said firmly. "He can't properly speak to us. Only Phantom can hear him properly, all we hear are faint whispers. Therefore, the hand-written note is the best he can do."
Danny looked to the side, feeling even more awkward.
Sam was silent, her hand still holding Danny's hand. "So…I can't…hear you?"
He shook his head slowly, then shifted his hand in her hand, lacing his fingers with hers and tilted his head just slightly that he might be giving a comforting smile.
"Well…" Sam wiped at her eye. "It's not like…I need to hear you. I mean, you're just mute for a little while. That's all." She looked at Dan. "Is this permanent?"
"Shadow ghosts are formless, and latch onto a stronger ghost to grow strong enough to gain a form." Dan explained. "Since our minds were connected at the time that he…" He looked to the side. "Anyways he latched onto me, even if I didn't know where he was. Johnny 13 helped me find him, so now he's here. And he'll get stronger. You'll…you'll see and hear him again." He smiled. "I promise."
"Dude…" Tucker walked closer and threw his arms around Danny. Jazz hung back, her lips pursed. "Hey, at least you're here, right?"
Danny nodded, then gestured to a pile of books and papers. "Yeah, but apparently Ghostwriter is assigning me my OWN schoolwork."
Dan chuckled. "In case you were wondering, he's griping about going to the same lessons as me. Dark and Ghostwriter are both pretty hard on him, especially since he doesn't pick up on things as well as I do."
"Excuse ME for being a dimwit." Danny grumbled.
Jazz swallowed nervously. "So…I got both my brothers back." She smiled. "This is great! And it's really good that we came in person."
Dan nodded, smiling. "I knew you wouldn't be content with hearing it over the phone or computer."
"Uhm, guys?" Sam looked at them. "Could I…talk to Danny alone?"
"Oh, right!" Tucker nodded. "Guys, let's all go…I dunno. What's on the menu? I'm hungry. Got any meat?" He walked out of the room.
Jazz smiled and walked out after him, Vlad right behind her. Dan hung back and pointed at them. "Danny?" Danny looked over at him. "Behave. Don't be doing anything that would mess up the den." He walked out, closing the door behind him.
"You're distracted." Dark commented, raising an eyebrow at his two students. "Why?"
"Uhm…" Danny shifted a bit.
"We had some visitors in the real world." Dan explained. "One of them was, well, Sam."
Dark sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Well, you need to get out of la-la land and focus on creating an ecto-blast so you're not useless in battle. You can't even use the absorbing ability without it!"
Danny nodded, holding out his hands and trying to form something. Dark turned to Dan. "How he managed to create a lair is beyond me, he's pretty pathetic."
"He's just not skilled in this, maybe it's because it's an offensive ability." Dan suggested.
"Hm. Well, let me ask you something. With him next to you, are you still going through with your revenge? Or are you going to forget it?" Dan crossed his arms over his chest.
Dan scowled. "How could you even suggest that? Of COURSE I'm going through with it! By my side or not, Danny is still dead by his hands, and he tortured his SON!"
"Good! I was worried he would've talked you out of it." Dark nodded. "Then, let's continue. You still haven't mastered the shield ability, so I can't teach you how to wrap it around yourself to avoid his weapons. Let's continue that lesson where we left off."
Danny sighed, watching them. It felt just like when Mr. Lancer talked to his parents; with him unable to say anything in his own defense and just listen to them talk about him right in front of him. He held out his hands again and a small fizzle came out. "That's better than nothing." He said to himself, focusing on that fizzle. Maybe he could form an ecto-blast? Wait, did he finish his math homework? Would he have time in-between lessons? And what about history? Maybe he could ask Clockwork for help with—oops, fizzle's gone. He focused on it, trying to block out anything else, and got the fizzle back. Now, if only he could focus on it…"
"Block this!" He heard Dark yell, and then he saw seeing Dan form a shield in front of him. The shield took a few blasts, but then died and he was hit by one of the blasts, knocking him to the floor. "You're not focusing on the shield. That was a good shield, but it was weak. If you have a weak shield, then he'll get through to you. You need a shield that won't vanish until YOU make it disappear!"
"I know that!" Dan replied, getting up from the ground and then blasting at him. "Block THIS!"
Dan sighed and formed a shield around him, the blasts just bouncing off. "You're not supposed to be using ecto-blasts, Phantom!" He fired blasts at him, opening holes in his own shield to do so.
"Kch." Dan brought his own shield, his arms crossed in front of his face and his body curled up.
"Guys, guys!" Danny said excitedly. "Look, I got it to—whoops!" He winced as his ecto-blast fired towards Dark. "Sorry!"
"What the fuck?" Dark looked over, blinking at the blast that bounced off his shield. It flew back to its caster, Danny flailing before darting to the side to avoid it. "Heh. He finally managed to do it." He gave a thumbs-up and then fired another blast at Dan, intending to destroy the older ghost's shield. "Alright, Danny, just keep practicing that and don't hit Daniel!"
"Maybe I should go into the main room with all these blasts bouncing around." Daniel commented from on top of his gear.
"Might be a good idea. Alright, stop the blasts!" Dark yelled.
"I'm not doing any blasts!" Dan said, cringing as he saw cracks in his shield. He took the moment to repair it.
"See you." Daniel hopped off his gear and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
"Okay. NOW you can continue blasting around like an idiot that can't control his own powers." Dark said, firing his own blasts at Dan's shield. "Heh, you repaired it while I was distracted. Good move, kid."
"Why is he so mean to me all the time?" Danny asked the air as he blasted different areas on the ground.
Dark landed behind him unexpectedly and he gasped, turning to him with wide eyes. Did he actually hear him? What did he WANT?
"Show me those hands." Dark said firmly. "Open them; don't clench them to create the blast and then open them to shoot it. And relax, the more tense you are the less control you have. I'm going to teach you a new trick, so pay attention." He started to form ecto-blasts in his hands and then put them together, creating the ball. "Try it."
"Uhm…okay." Danny nodded and held out his hands, palms up, and formed ecto-blasts in his palms. Then he tried to put them together, but ended up shooting Dark instead. "Oops!"
Dark looked really annoyed, but somehow resisted smacking him across the room. "Right. Let's try that AGAIN."
"Sorry…" Danny smiled apologetically, trying again. It took about ten more tries, but he finally managed to put the blasts together and formed the ball in his hands without shooting Dark for the eleventh time. "Alright!"
Dark nodded, absorbing his own ball into his body and repairing all the damage Danny's mistakes caused. "Good. Just hold it like that until it gets nice and big, then absorb it." He flew up and resumed with blasting at Dan's newly-repaired shield.
"Don't drop the ball. Right. I can do that much." Danny nodded, looking at the glowing ball in his hands that was steadily getting bigger.
Dan had been too focused on his own lesson to pay much attention, but he spared a look down and smiled when he saw Danny holding an ecto-ball in his hands. "Good work, Danny." He said, nodding.
"Focus!" Dark called, firing a blast at him. Dan gasped and focused on his shield, trying to withstand the onslaught. When he could see past the blasts, he saw that Dark had split into four of him. 'No wonder I'm being shot so often.' He thought.
He managed to hold it up for a while, but finally the shield couldn't take it and eight blasts hit him at once, knocking him to the floor below.
"Phantom?" Danny looked over, concerned.
"I'm fine! I'm fine, just keep doing that!" Dan insisted, getting up and wiping ecto-blood from his lips. "That was low, Dark!"
Dark lowered down in front of him, the clones doing the same on Dan's other sides. "Do you think Jack Fenton will let up when he sees your shield has dropped?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "You know how brutal he is, you've experienced the full force of his brutality many times." He looked at Danny. "That's enough, you can absorb it now."
Danny nodded, bringing the ball up to his chest and absorbing it slowly. "H-Hot! It's hot!" He cried, once it was all inside and he was glowing a bit brighter for a bit.
"Get used to it." Dark looked back at Dan. "Well? Do you think he will?"
Dan shook his head. "No…no, he wouldn't. He'd just keep firing until I was down, and then drag me to another lab unconscious."
"Exactly. And with him working with the Guys in White, you need to be prepared for multiple attacks on all sides." Dark said firmly. "Now, take this moment to recover and then we're going back up to start over from the top."
"Wait…did you just reply to something I said?" Danny looked at him.
"Yes, your asinine whispers are slightly louder and easier to hear now – to a ghost." Dark rolled his eyes. "Can you shut up? I'm working with Phantom now, go take your needy whining to the corner of the room and practice your attacks."
"You're mean." Danny retreated to a nearby area of the room and practiced attacking the wall. "We need dummies or something!"
"We already have two in here, we don't need anymore." Dark replied. "What did I say about the shutting up?"
"That's not what I—oh, whatever…"
Dan absorbed the ball he had been forming and nodded. "I'm ready to start again."
By the end of the lesson, Dark was irritated with both of them and told them to absorb more ecto-energy before they came back the next day. "And fucking RELAX, Danny!" He said, swatting at his head and sending him stumbling back.
"He tells me to relax, then smacks me. Mixed signals." Danny muttered, rubbing his sore head.
"Remember, brat, I CAN hear you now." Dark said, cracking his knuckles threateningly. Danny quickly escaped the room, Dan right behind him.
"How was…class?" Plasmius raised an eyebrow as the two younger ghosts ran past him to wait outside. "Not well, I take it?"
"Danny could do with learning to shut his damn trap." Dark said, scowling. "It's no wonder he was constantly getting into trouble in school."
"Wait, you can hear him now?" Plasmius asked.
"After absorbing some ecto-energy, his whispers got loud enough for me to hear him." Dark nodded. "And if you don't talk to him about respect, I will." He cracked his knuckles before going into the room again, Daniel walking in after him and shutting the door.
Plasmius sighed. "Well, that's…good news."
Clockwork nodded. "He's still a shadow, but at least we can hear him a little better."
Plasmius nodded, walking out to join the waiting teens to take them to the library.
Danny quickly learned the penalty for speaking out of turn during Ghostwriter's lessons and was silent after the initial smack with a ruler, with Dan answering most of the questions. By the time they got home, he was ready to just flop onto bed and sleep the day away.
"Let's head for the den and study with Vlad." Dan suggested to Plasmius. "He'll be happy to hear Danny's voice again."
"Vlad's in the lab recalibrating your bracelet, remember?" Plasmius smiled and rubbed his head. "I'll tutor you two, though." He kissed Dan gently and then reached for Danny, who quickly drew away. "Aww, no love for Uncle Plasmius?"
"Ew." Danny replied flatly.
"Danny's not as open to being touched as I am." Dan smiled, flying up to rest on his back, his arms around the older ghost's shoulders and his ghost-tail curling around his arm. "Let's head up to the den."
"Am I carrying you?" Plasmius chuckled, picking up Dan's book-bag and walking ahead of Danny, who followed silently.
He knew that Dan had been losing his morals and destroying himself, but still…seeing him flirting with Vlad and Plasmius, and exchanging lusty looks with Ghostwriter…it was unnerving. At least he wasn't exchanging those looks with Dark; that would be just freakish.