THE PHANTOM'S REALM

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: OF PHANTOM'S AND FAMILIES

Danny Phantom didn't get 'scared'.

Danny Phantom did all kinds of emotions; happiness, anger, sadness, excitement, worry, annoyed. But very few things could make 'The Great Phantom' fear them. And at the top of that list was the ability to hurt those close to him. And at the top of that list was Vlad Plasmius.

Those around the young Ghost King like his friends, sister and Danielle, knew that. The only reason Danny was 'afraid' of Vladwas because he was afraid for his friends. Vlad could sneak into their houses in the middle of the night and kidnap them. Or fry them with a simple Ecto-beam. Or ruin their lives by financially devastating their families. He couldn't, or maybe the word was 'wouldn't', do those things to him.

But none of his family was around. Tucker was inspecting the kitchen, Jazz had dragged Danielle somewhere, presumably the library, Sam was just gone when he got back from talking with his father and as far as he knew his ghostly friends could be unaware of the situation at all.

Wait. Ghost. Friends. Situation. Skulker and Technus were still here! Shit. Danny had forgot all about them the morning after the incident with the Guys in White! Okay, he could do this by himself. Just for a little while.

"Phantom to Frostbite. I need you to go to the guest bedrooms and get Skulker and Technus for me. Forget about Plasmius for now. Dora, go meet Death in the side hallway. I'll get there as soon as I can." Phantom ordered into the Phantom Phones.

"Jack, Maddie, keep the kids contained in this room. Nobody out whatsoever and if Tuck- that Techno kid comes back ask if he wants Fruit Loops." Phantom addressed the human ghost hunters, much to their confusion.

Not waiting for a reply from either Fenton, Phantom flew intangibly through the wall, leaving a very confused class behind.

Dash had no idea what was going on. Why had Phantom left so suddenly? Whatever it was, it looked pretty serious. But the football player couldn't figure out the meaning behind Phantom's cryptic message. Or had no idea why it would be for that Foley geek! How would Phantom know Foley? It was bad enough that Phantom seemed to associate with Fenton!

Paulina was too busy swooning over Phantom's apparently 'heroic attitude' to Star to worry about the Ghost Boy's message. His shift in demeanor from a seemingly happy ghost who was happy to answer their questions to a ghost that looked like the calm before the storm. He was so dreamy!

Maddie was a little embarrassed, taking orders from a ghost despite being one of the two best ghost hunters in the city, alongside Jack. Not to mention the fact that Phantom had completely neglected to give them a reason whatsoever to listen to him or even an inkling of information of why he had to leave so suddenly.

Jack was utterly blown away by his sons change in attitude. He'd been completely normal and easy-going one second but whatever the person- er, ghost- on the other side of that line said, it brought out a different side in him. And the personality Jack had associated with the Phantom side of him had made itself clear as day, giving orders to everybody.

Lancer was deep in thought. It couldn't be possible. It shouldn't be possible. But there were too many coincidences around Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom for it not to be true. Mr. Fenton was addressed as 'Phantom' at least twice since they had been in the Ghost Zone, was a little too familiar with everything around them that he should have been for only being in here once or twice and was confident enough in his beliefs in ghosts to talk back to his mother. Even Lancer now wouldn't talk back to his mother.

Valerie, however, had a pretty good idea of what was going on. She'd been there when Phantom addressed Plasmius as 'Fruit Loop' and she'd even caught it when Danny had muttered it to Mayor Masters during the whole 'Nasty Burger' episode. So Danny must've been telling Jack and Maddie to alert Tucker to Vlad's presence without letting anyone else in on it. Sometimes Valerie felt she underestimated that halfa.

And so after Phantom disappeared the Fenton's followed his request ("I don't think it was a request Mads." "I know but it makes it sound better and I won't feel so useless.") Albeit grudgingly and kept everyone together in the room.

But they failed to notice the retreating figure of Valerie Grey in the doorway, managing to slip away when Paulina began to frantically try and exit the room through the exit that would take her out of the Palace entirely.

LINEBREAK

"How about another? Please? Just one more?" Danielle begged frantically.

Jazz and Sam had just endured watching the Disney film of 'The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea' because for whatever reason, the little Phantom had decided everything else be damned, she wanted to watch some Disney! But she insists she isn't spoiled.

Apparently she'd been into it for quite a while before anybody even found out. Danny and Tucker walked into Danny's house one day after school back in December to find her sitting on the sofa, in ghost form and eating ice cream as she intensely gazed at the TV that displayed Snow White twirling around in mid-song.

The ghost girl had been rummaging one day and came across some old tapes in Jazz's room and after just watching 'Beauty and the Beast' she was hooked for life, going as far as to search through Danny's room to find any others.

At least now birthday, deathday and Christmas shopping were all made at least thrice as easy with the girls newfound love, especially if it involved The Little Mermaid franchise.

"No, Danielle. You're lucky we watched one with you. We have more important things to do." Jazz denied, her voice full of authority.

"Maybe you're right, Aunt Jazz." Dani conceded. Jazz smiled. "Like changing out of these dresses." She finished, the smile now on her face.

"Fine." Jazz said with a sigh.

The two princesses left the library to head for their respective bedrooms to change into casual-wear. That left Sam alone in the room. She sighed as she picked up the other two movies, Wreck-It Ralph (her second favorite movie ever) and Frozen (which was also ranked pretty high) and moved them to a shelf on the side of the room.

"Let's see what kind of trouble Danny got himself into this time." Sam said to herself, leaving the library in favor of going down to the class, hoping Danny would be back by now.

LINEBREAK

Frostbite came barreling through the door, startling the two ghosts who were still in bed, asleep. Well they were awake now.

"Who dares interrupt Technus 2.7's beauty rest!" Technus shouted to the heavens, causing Skulker to throw a pillow at his head.

"If we had known you'd start talking? No one." The metal-ghost quipped, easily catching the pillow thrown back at him.

"I apologize, but the Great One send me to fetch you. He believes the knowledge that Vlad Plasmius is in the side hallway would benefit you." Frostbite informed them.

Skulker knew how big a threat the older halfa was to Phantom's friend's safety and decided it would be best if he were there to help confront Plasmius, despite knowing full well that Phantom had a better chance of overcoming Plasmius than he ever would.

Technus too took it upon himself to watch out for the halfa like Skulker, though neither would ever admit it out loud, and spoke for both of them.

"Well what are we waiting for? As the kids say today, its time to take out some trash!" Technus cried. Skulker sighed, annoyed.

"No one says that. Ever." The hunter reminded. Frostbite shook his head.

"Come. Follow me." The yeti-Ghost ordered, leaving the guest chambers with the hunter and tech ghosts following behind.

LINEBREAK

"Reaper! You're okay?" Dora asked, rushing to the sound of Death's voice.

"Why wouldn't I be?" He questioned as if it were obvious, holding his scythe at Plasmius' neck to hold him in place.

"You're call over the Phantom Phones ended in static filter. I thought something had happened!" Dora reprimanded.

"Nah, that was dramatic effect." Death shrugged easily. Dora scowled.

"It was stupid." She corrected.

"Worked, didn't it?" He asked knowingly, turning to face the dragon princess for the first time.

Vlad took advantage of the distraction and punched Death's side with an Ecto-infused fist, sending the scythe-holding ghost through the wall- without intangibility. But Death didn't have a chance to stand up and shake off the hit before Plasmius shot another attack, this time a duel Ecto-blast and knocked him out cold. Satisfied, he turned to the surprised Princess.

"Don't take your eyes off you're enemy, lest you face the consequences. Let this be a lesson to you, girl." Plasmius taunted, advancing on Dora.

He knew he had to make this quick, though. Daniel was already alerted to his presence but he couldn't leave behind any other witnesses. Dora glared at the halfa despite the fear she felt at seeing him make mincemeat of one of the strongest-willed ghosts she'd ever met, second to only Sir Phantom himself.

"Or I could give you a lesson myself." Dora proclaimed, channeling power from her amulet. But the familiar flow of energy was suddenly yanked away; a sudden pain on her neck broke her from her anger.

She turned to see Vlad, no- a second Vlad, holding her dragon amulet by the gem. The Vlad's fused together, the original still holding the amulet in hand and grinning like a madman.

"Ah, ah, ah. Can't have you throwing a temper tantrum, now can we?" He taunted, stepping forward and shooting Ectoplasm from his eyes at Dora, hitting her straight in the gut and knocking her over.

Plasmius pulled his arm back and gathered more Ecto-energy in his fist to knock her out too, but an all-to-familiar voice stopped him.

"Stay away from her!" Danny's voice echoed.

Before Dora could get up, Vlad was yanked backwards from his cape and spun around to look into the glaring eyes of none other than Danny Phantom. Vlad went to use his already powered-up Ecto-beam on the Ghost Boy but Danny had already vanished.

Invisibly, Danny shot an Ecto-beam at Vlad's side, sending him crashing into the wall opposite Death but not with enough force to break it. Danny didn't want any more damage to the palace than necessary. Danny became visible again in a fighting stance between Dora and Vlad, his hands charged with more Ecto-energy already.

"Impressive, Daniel. And to think you'd be light years ahead of that mere trick if you'd come train with me." Vlad taunted as he stood up, brushing off some debris.

"I also wouldn't be King of the Ghost Zone. If that doesn't prove I don't need you, I don't know what does." Danny replied, firing again.

Vlad scowled and erected a barrier, which he sent at Danny after it held off the younger hybrids attack.

"I expected this. After all you know what they say, 'the leopard doesn't change its spots'." Vlad recited, floating up. Danny mimicked him.

"What's that supposed to mean? I'm not a leopard. Last time I checked I was just part ghost." The Phantom-teen questioned. Vlad sighed hopelessly.

"If you had trained under me its obvious we'd have to work on much more than just your ghostly prowess." Vlad muttered. "Its just a saying, Daniel. It means people don't change."

Danny smirked.

"You should know, right?" He quipped.

Danny saw that Vlad was about to attempt an escape through the celling and cut him off, charging at the older half and tackling him through the wall. Vlad tried to phase out of the Phantom teen's grip, but it did nothing more than make him intangible too, and they both wrestled as they flew intangibly through walls.

Finally, Vlad ripped Danny's hands away and threw him at the ground before trying to fly away upwards. Danny wouldn't have it and grabbed his boot, yanking him downwards too. They didn't know who did it, but they were both intangible again and fell through the floor.

After they left the floor, they became solid again still unaware of who's doing it was, maybe it was both of them, and separated. Danny hit the ground hard on his back and sat up as he rubbed his head. Vlad was thrown to Danny's right, his left arm taking the brunt of the collision with the wall. Vlad moved away from the obsidian wall, cradling his left arm.

"You'll pay for that!" Vlad yelled, shooting an Ecto-beam from his good arm.

Danny smirked and jumped into the air, flipping over the Ecto-attack and floated in place, his legs vanishing into a tail.

"Cash or credit?" He quipped, before Vlad was directly in front of him.

Vlad went to punch Danny, but Danny ducked under it and kicked out the caped halfas legs, making him fall over the hunched-over Danny. On his way down, Vlad grabbed at Danny's heel and threw him headfirst into the corner of the room, resulting in a loud THWACK sound.

Not letting up, Vlad sent a wave of concentrated Ecto-energy at the same corner, going for a knockout. But through the dust an emerald green Ecto-beam stuck his chest, sending him back and he saw the familiar otherworldly green eyes looking back at him before they were thrown through another wall.

LINEBREAK

"Everybody calm down!" Sam and Tucker yelled at once.

Tucker and Sam had entered the room almost simultaneously and entered to see the class freaking out, all pointing above. When the looked they saw their best friend, Danny Phantom, blocking Ecto-beams from his arch-enemy, Vlad Plasmius.

Needless to say shouting at them was useless. Nothing could distract from a Danny Phantom fight. But that didn't mean Sam wasn't going to try.

"Kcul Dab Aniluap Unod." Sam chanted, trying to use her magic and ignoring Tucker's smirk at her almost tripping up at using the "backwards Esperanto" from Danny and Tucker's bet.

Sam's eyes glowed a light purple and a similar-colored mist swirled up Paulina's body, but nobody noticed. Tucker looked at her.

"Was that that jinxing spell again?" He asked, vaguely remembering her muttering that spell before. Sam nodded proudly.

"We needed some way to distract them from that." She said, pointing up at the dueling halfas.

Without warning, Plasmius lunged at Phantom and threw him upwards by his hand. But Phantom wouldn't let him and shot an Ecto-beam on an angle that threw Plasmius at the grand entrance. Or through the grand entrance. Phantom scowled and phased through the doors, calling over the Phantom Phones.

"Plasmius is in the City. Frostbite, go to the side hallway and check on Dora and Death. Send Skulker and Technus outside. We'll be easy enough to find." Was all that was heard before there were more explosions from outside.

"What are we waiting for? Lets go!" Paulina yelled, charging at the doors but was interrupted by a piano falling from the celling, narrowly missing her. She gasped and backed away, tripping over tumbleweed that blew in from nowhere.

"And so it begins." Tucker said to Sam, who smiled.

LINEBREAK

'Weapons vault, weapons vault, gotta find the weapons vault.' Valerie chanted to herself, trying not to get lost in the huge Palace.

Maybe she should've waited for Tucker. Maybe she should've just asked Tucker or Sam if she could borrow a weapon. Maybe she should've stayed with the class; she was the towns' next line of defense. And she knew for a fact that while great inventors, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton were horrible at actually catching ghosts. Danny beat everyone, even her, to the scene and usually had everything almost finished by the time anyone else got there.

But she did none of those things and continued to wander around the halls of the grand Palace, looking for anything that showed signs of a weapons vault.

Finally, she found a door but the label on it was in ghost-speak, so she just let herself in.

She was disappointed what she found wasn't a weapons vault, but it was just as interesting. It appeared to be a writing studio of some kind, probably where Danny came to write his famous stories as "Danny Phazer". She was about to leave but a paper sitting on the desk caught her eye.

It was titled "Family can be Family without Blood", and it peaked her interest so she began to read.

Family is one of the best things in the world. I wouldn't be anywhere close to where I am now if it wasn't for mine.

But I'm not talking the standard "mom, dad, big sister and little brother" family. I mean the family I made for myself. When I was a kid, I didn't have hoards of friends or anything like that. I only had two real friends, aside from my sister.

They were my everything. They picked me up and dusted me off when I screwed up, made sure I stayed happy when I did a good thing, the usual. But they were closer to me than anyone else, even my own parents. Sure teenagers reading this will say 'yeah, me too!' but I don't think it's to the same extent.

Could your best friend tell you all your secrets? All of them? Even basic facts about yourself that are general information, but wouldn't come up often in conversation. What hair products you use? What shoe size you are? Why you didn't like toast?

My parents couldn't tell those things about me. But my two best friends could.

Did you ever excuse yourself from dinner at a restaurant because your parents ordered you shellfish when you were in the bathroom, even though you're allergic? Then head over to your carnivorous friends house who already had an extra plate setup at the dinner table for you? I did.

Did you ever get the pair of pants you'd wanted forever three sizes too big from your dad on Christmas, but get the same pair from your best friend later, in the right size? I did.

Did you ever dread going home and telling your best friends that you failed a test in school more than you did dreading your parents' reactions? I did.

Even my daughter seemed to inherit my trait for finding family. She has two girlfriends that know every nook and cranny of her personality. Not to say I don't, but they could list them quicker.

I'm not as bad as my parents were. I know my daughter is also allergic to shellfish, I know her shirt size and I know that she does, in fact, like toast but she's a different kind of close with her friends.

They call each other every Saturday at 5:30 like clockwork. They can only meet up together as a group once a month or so, seeing as they live pretty far away from each other. But when you have such a close friendship like they do, it doesn't matter. Once a month is better than not at all.

They always have inside jokes, probably even more than me and my friends had since they're all girls, for everything. If you split them up and asked for a run-down of the events that day, it'd be the same story with barely a shift in opinion. They'd all say 'the movie sucked' or 'that girl was a snob' or things like that.

My family hasn't gotten any better still, but my chosen family has grown even more. Other than my sister and daughter, nobody in my little family is legally "family" but we're about as close as you can get without being joined at the hip.

-Danny Phazer "Family can be Family without Blood""

Valerie placed the paper down on the desk, going over her thoughts. She had safely assumed before that Mr. and Mrs. Fenton hadn't known his identity but she didn't realize the severity that situation.

Danny hadn't felt safe in his house in a year and a half, ever since the Portal accident gave him his powers. Danny had to distance himself from his family, lest they turn on him.

He couldn't go to them about anything; the bruises, the pressure, the long nights, the bad grades. He couldn't tell anybody what was going on out of the fear of being turned into a science experiment. Until recently, he'd only had Sam, Tucker and Jazz to complain to. And that couldn't have done much good. It wasn't like any of them could do anything than console him.

So she safely assumed that the friends Danny was referring to were Sam and Tucker and that his daughter was Dani, but who were Dani's friends? They couldn't have been Sam and Tucker too. Not only did Danny say they were all girls, he said they lived far away.

Valerie shrugged as she went to place the picture back, but a picture on the desk caught her eye.

One was a picture of three kids; they looked to be about seven. She could safely assume that the one in the middle with his arms around the others was Danny. His outfit hadn't changed. And the African-American to his right must have been Tucker. The barrette gave him away.

But who was the other boy? No. Wait. Girl! Sam? But this girl was blonde. Sam wasn't blonde. But this girl was wearing a dark purple jacket and had Sam's purple eyes. Did that mean…. Valerie laughed.

"Sam dye's her hair." She said between chuckles.

She turned her attention to the picture on the other side. This one was harder to identify, only Dani being instantly recognizable.

Dani was in her ghost form by a pool, wearing a black bikini with white string as she floated above the pool and smiled down at two other girls.

One had black hair and bright blue eyes, much like the Phantom's in human form, a tan top on as she leaned against the pool with her elbows. But what confused Valerie was the red mermaid tail with pink-ish fins that was sticking out of the water in front of the girl, a bit to her left. She had a golden seashell locket around her neck that Valerie could vaguely make out the word 'Melody' on it.

The second also had black hair, which was put in a red bow, but with brown eyes and appeared noticeably shorter than even Dani. She was wearing a white bikini with red string and little mints covered the white surface area, making the bathing-suit look candy-themed.

Not bothering to try and jog her memory that she knew wouldn't remember these girls anyway, she decided to ask Danny or Dani about it later and exited the room, still looking for the weapons vault.

LINEBREAK

"If you don't mind, Daniel, I'm trying to leave peacefully." Vlad said, shooting an Ecto-blast before turning and trying to fly away.

"Oh no you don't! Not until I know what your game is!" Danny called back, forcefully hurling an Ecto-disk at Vlad's back.

Vlad wasn't expecting the attack and was thrown into one of the larger buildings in the middle ring, successfully denting the side. Danny smirked.

"You should be a contractor. Love what you've done with the place." He joked.

Vlad didn't find it funny and shot a wave of pink Ecto-energy at the laughing ghost teen, but it was interrupted by a net that wrapped around the attack, gave off electricity and the Ecto-wave fizzled away, and the net dropped to the floor.

Both Plasmius and Phantom were confused and turned to the direction the net came from, their reactions being equally surprised.

"Skulker!" They called together. Skulker grinned.

"Yes, the Hunter is here. Now the hunt can officially begin!" He shouted. There was a snort heard from behind Skulker.

"And you say I talk a lot." The familiar voice said as Technus floated up behind the metallic ghost. Skulker glared.

"You do." He said simply. Technus huffed but didn't say anything further.

"You made it!" Danny said happily. Technus turned to the younger hybrid.

"I, Technus 2.8, wouldn't miss this for the entire Ghost Zone!" He shouted. Skulker turned to him confused.

"Just this morning it was '2.7', what happened?" Skulker asked. Technus shrugged.

"I upgraded." The tech-ghost said simply. A new voice entered the conversation.

"Are we gonna stand around gawking at Tech-head's new upgrade or are we gonna kick some butt?" Ember asked as she teleported into their view.

"Ember?" Danny and Skulker questioned at the same time Technus let out an indignant "Hey!"

"No, Clockwork. Who else? And I brought friend." She said, pointing to the air next to her. Danny looked confused.

"I didn't know Kitty was here?" He said. Ember sighed hopelessly.

"Never mind. Dani!" The diva called. Said Ghost Girl appeared right next to the blue-haired ghost.

"Hi!" Danielle chirped.

Skulker and Technus waved at the Ghost Girl awkwardly, not knowing what else to do. But Danny's voice broke everyone away from Danielle's appearance.

"Oh man! He got away! And I didn't even get to find out what he was up to!" Danny cried out, looking at the place Plasmius once was.

Everyone else could feel the distress radiating off Danny. They all winced at Danny's cry.

"Sorry." They all muttered at once, Skulker and Technus flying off after in an attempt to locate the oldest hybrid. Danny sighed.

"You guys don't need to be sorry. It was my-" Danny was cut off by Ember elbowing his ribs.

"If the next word out of your mouth is 'fault', I swear on Pariah's grave that you won't be around to help find Plasmius." She threatened, glaring intensely at Danny. Danny gulped nervously.

"Our fault?" He said, but it came out more like a question. Ember nodded, satisfied with the answer.

"Okay, Ember you go and look around the city for Vlad. Dani, you'll come with me back to the Palace to tell Tucker, Sam and Jazz what's going on. And I guess my dad and Valerie." Danny told them. "Oh yeah, my dad and Val know about me now but my dad doesn't know about Vlad, so keep that in mind." He added at their confused looks.

Ember nodded and vanished in a vortex of flames, winking at the Phantom's as she disappeared. Danielle turned to the elder Phantom.

"Back to the Palace?" She asked. Danny nodded.

"Back to the Palace." He confirmed.

She sighed. At least she got one movie in. And changed out of that god-forsaken dress and into her much more comfortable HAZMAT. She could see that her father had too, ditching the crown immediately after the meeting but he'd been wearing the cape the last time she'd seen him.

LINEBREAK

It was utter chaos. There were pipes hanging from the celling, Star was running around with gum stuck in her hair, Mikey was passed out with a bucket over his head and the vase in the corner of the room was spontaneously catching fire, dying out and then lighting up again. Tucker turned to Sam.

"Did you have to jinx the entire class? Really?" He asked exasperatedly. He'd left for ten minutes to try and find Valerie, which he did, and bring her back and he came back to THIS.

"I had to distract them somehow." She shrugged. Tucker's eye twitched.

"They left! Before I did!" He cried. Then he sighed. "Forget it. When will this wear off?" He questioned.

"Ten minutes or so." The Goth replied. Valerie was utterly confused.

"You." She said, pointing at Sam. "Did that?" She continued, gesturing to the mayhem. Sam nodded. "How?"

"Magic. I'm a sorceress." Sam said with a shrug. She didn't see the point in not telling Valerie now, since she already knew about everything else.

"Wait, what? Magic is real?" Valerie asked, confused. Sam nodded.

"Yep." She said simply. Something clicked in Valerie's head.

"Is that how your hair looks so natural?" She asked. This, however, threw Sam for a loop.

"What?" She murmured. Valerie attempted to amend herself.

"I saw a picture from years ago of you guys and Danny, and you were real young. But you had blonde hair, not black. Did you use your magic to dye your hair better?" She questioned in full.

"No, actually this whole magic stuff is pretty new. But I did use it to change my natural hair color if that makes sense." Sam replied, trying not to confuse the girl further.

It wasn't working, but Valerie didn't want to hear any more. Then, they heard familiar voices.

"Jack, Valerie! I need to talk to you." Phantom's voice rang out.

"Tucker, Sam! We need to find Jazz!" Dani's voice called.

What happened next happened fast. Dani swooped by and plucked Sam and Tucker like they were apples on a branch and flew through the celling, the teens screaming questions the whole way. Valerie silently hoped Danny would get her and …Jack? His father? Why him?

Her hopes for a more ethical start to a talking session were answered as Jack bounded over to the door that everyone seemed to use to go everywhere, despite it only leading to two rooms. She sighed and followed, Danny, in Phantom form, floated there.

"Okay let's start off with this." Phantom said, transforming back into Danny Fenton, Valerie was shocked that Jack didn't even seem phased. He knew?

"How long has he/she known?" She and Jack questioned at the same time. Danny smiled.

"Just today." He told them. "But we've got a problem. Vlad Plasmius is here, in the city. Skulker, Technus and Ember are all looking for him now and Danielle should be explaining this to Sam, Tuck and Jazz by now." Danny said.

"What do you want us to do?" Jack asked. Valerie nodded. Danny sighed.

"Well first, I'm going to tell you the entire truth. Starting with, I lied when I said Danielle and I where the only halfas." Danny admitted, looking down at the floor. Valerie gasped.

"He doesn't… know?" She asked. She'd assumed Danny would tell him everything once he found out. Danny shook his head while Jack looked confused.

"Know what?" He questioned. Danny sighed again.

"There's another halfa. He's had his powers for longer than I have and is better with using them. Vlad Plasmius is a halfa too, dad. But it's only right you know his human half is Vlad Masters." Danny said, bracing himself for an outburst. But none came.

Jack was staring at the floor. He'd sort of seen it coming. After Danny had told him the origin of his powers, his mind flashed back to the day Vladdy got shot in the face with their prototype portal. He'd known Danny was keeping something about halfas from him, he just didn't want to believe his old college buddy was one.

Jack only nodded.

"But he's also the reason Danielle is around." Danny continued. Jack looked up, startled. Valerie too, wanted to hear the girls' origins. "Plasmius wanted me as his 'perfect half-ghost son' but realize getting me was a dead end. So the ol' Fruit Loop decided cloning was his next best choice." Jack and Valerie held in surprised gasps. "Dani was the only clone with a mind of her own, and the only girl. So Vlad tried to manipulate her into getting me. But I got her out of there."

Valerie assumed this was before her encounter with the Phantom's. Jack smiled, despite the hole in his heart.

"I guess I owe Vladdy a big 'thank you' then. A granddaughter in the Fenton family!" Jack boomed.

"I am NOT a Fenton." Danielle's voice came. They all turned to see the girl in question floating there, a hard look on her face.

"What do you mean? You're his daughter aren't you?" Jack questioned, pointing to Danny. Valerie glanced between all three of them.

"Yep. And that's why I'm a Phantom, through and through!" Dani proclaimed proudly, puffing out her chest. Jack deflated.

"Why not? What's wrong with being a Fenton?" He asked her. Danny stepped in.

"Nothing dad. I love being Fenton, really. But I love being Phantom too. And we all decided that raising Dani as a ghost was the safer choice. You've seen how people react and talk about ghosts. What do you think would happen if they ever found out about her? It was just… safer." Danny told his father, rubbing the back of his head.

"No offense to you or anything, but I'm more than happy with just being… a Phantom. Ya know? Especially after last Christmas." Dani added, shuddering at the memory.

Jack, although confused to what being a Phantom had to do with last Christmas, nodded with a sigh.

"That doesn't mean you're any less family! Bring it in!" Jack cried, suddenly brightening up and hugging Dani, who hugged back almost as tightly. If Jack was as good a grandfather as Mars and Venus were to her and Danny, he was okay in her book.

"Well, looks like the team grew by two." Jazz said, leaning on the doorframe. Danny smiled.

"Guess so." He said. Danielle smiled.

"We Phantom's gotta stick together, right?"

Danny didn't even have the heart to crush her enthusiasm and tell her that they were the only Phantom's there.

Hey, I'm not dead!

Sorry guys but if you read anything that I've uploaded since the beginning of August, you'll know I had MAJOR writers block for most of July. But don't worry, because now I'm back and with a better writing system!

Okay, so recap here; Danny/Vlad confrontation, Sam's first spell is used, Valerie forgot to ask about those people in the picture, Skulker and Technus return, and I forget to include Ember's fluff with the Phantom's. Next time.

Next; We learn who those people were (bonus points if you already know. Try and guess in the reviews if you'd like), Ember bonding with the Phantom's and Death returns to consciousness also known as "The fan favorite part in the chapter"

As always, reviews are appreciated, good or bad and so is checking out the crossover I published to get rid of my writers block "The Magical Phantom" it's a DP/HP crossover so if you like that kind of thing, check it out.

Until Chapter 15, guys!