Thanks so much for the lovely reviews! They are very good for my serotonin levels.
Rewrite of Maternal Instincts. It's one of the best Danny Phantom episodes, and I hope I did it justice.
Anyway, on with the show!
Within a secret lab in a castle that once belonged to the Wisconsin Dairy King, light flickered on the face of Vlad Masters. He was focused very intensely on the soldering project he was working on. He hadn't left the lab in the last seven hours.
In the corner of the lab, two green vultures were picking through a pile of various machine bits. They looked over at Vlad, who was totally absorbed by his work, then made eye contact with each other. One of them coked an eyebrow and the other nodded.
"Oi, Vlad, ve're gonna take a quick break. Stretch our vings a bit, ya know?"
"Yes, yes, very good." Vlad replied, not looking up from his soldering. "Take as long as you need."
"Vouldn't hurt to take a break yourself, yeah? You've veen vorking in here an awful long time."
"Perhaps later. I don't quite feel the need for one yet."
The first vulture looked at the second one who just shrugged. He set the machine part in his beak down, and the two of them turned intangible and flew through the floor.
They returned to solidity as they arrived in one of Vlad's libraries. A third vulture was perched on one of the armchairs by the fireplace, a newspaper in his wings. He looked up at the other birds' arrival.
"Dat lunatic's not still vorking, is he?" He asked the other two. They nodded solemnly in response.
"Ve tried to convince him to take a break," The raspy voiced vulture said. "But he vouldn't go for it."
"D'oh ver Pete's sake!" The lead vulture threw up his wings in indignation, his newspaper pages splattering across the floor. "Dis is just getting ridiculous! I'm going to go knock some sense into dat guy!"
With that, he turned intangible and flew up through the ceiling. The other two looked at each other.
"Think ve should go too?" The vulture with the glasses asked his companion.
"Nah. Poor Vlad's gonna feel attacked enough vith just him up there. Besides, I'd like to catch up on da local politics." The raspy voiced vulture replied, rifling through the pile of disconnected newspaper.
"Plasmius!" Vlad's heart almost stopped as the bird popped up from the floor. "I have a bone ta pick vith you!"
"Can't it wait? I'm rather busy."
"Dat's exactly da problem! Ever since you returned from Amity Park you've done nothing but vork, vork, vork! If you're not in da lab, you're on da phone! And vhenever you do go out it's just to talk vork vith da suits!"
"My apologies for having a job. It's a thing humans have."
"Don't you sass me! You know I know how all dat stuff vorks you great buffoon!"
The vulture perched on Vlad's work table.
"Even ghosts need a break from time to time Vlad. I mean, I get vhy you don't want to come down to Florida with me and da birds, but why don't you go back down to Amity, eh? Ve're close to securing a path to the Fenton's portal. I bet dat ghost kid would be happy to see you. You of all people know how lonely it can get, being in his position."
"He's not lonely. He has friends who are aware of his situation and understand and accept him for his 'position'." Vlad lifted his goggles and looked at the vulture. "He's a teenager. I don't imagine he wants to spend his time hanging around with an old man like me."
"Ay ay ay." the vulture shook his head. "Vell, vhat about dose other two, yeah? You should go down and catch up vith dos freaks."
"Jack and Maddie are ghost hunters." Realizing the vulture wasn't going to leave him alone,Vlad begun packing away his tools. "Do I have to explain to you why it's a bad idea for someone like me to spend long periods of time around them?"
The vulture slowly sighed.
"Vlad. You and I both know you're better dan dat. You've had twenty years of practice keeping your powers hidden. Heck, da kid's veen living vith dem for months and he hasn't veen found out. And if dat doofus hasn't been caught, you're more dan safe."
"I don't want to bother them."
The vulture raised his eye brow at Vlad.
"Dat's veak Vlad. Ve saw how happy dos idiots vere to see you when dey came down here."
"I told you to stop spying on me when I have guests!"
"And I vant you to stop lying to my face, but ve can't all get vhat ve vant, can ve?"
The two of them glared at each other.
"You know, Vlad," the vulture's tone became uncharacteristically soft "You've been cooped up in dis castle with no one but us ghosts for da last two decades. Change can be scary, but it can also be good fer ya, you know? Personally, I tink you deserve to go after what makes you happy for a change, yeah?"
Vlad stared at his neatly organized soldering kit for a few seconds.
"Perhaps you're right."
"Finally!" the vulture threw up his wings and smiled "You're starting to listen to reason!"
"I'm going to the cabin for the week. That should provide a sufficient break."
The vulture's sour expression was back in an instant.
"Oh no, you're not fooling anyvun! You're gonna spend da whole veek collecting, and analyzing and basically da same stuff you do around here anyway. Dat cabin just means more vork!"
"Well, it'll be a break form your squawking, at any rate." Vlad said as the door to the lab slid open. "You three can handle the rest of the cleanup, can't you? Great. I'll be upstairs, packing for my trip."
The door slid closed before the lead vulture could respond.
"Oooooh, dat Plasmius." he fumed. "If he didn't give such good vacation time, I'd peck dat idiot's eyeballs out."
Maddie sighed next to Jack on the couch.
He was working on a cross stitch pattern of a ghost. She was holding an old photograph of a time she'd taken Danny to Amity Park Park when he was nine. In the photo Maddie was hugging the smiling Danny's shoulders. They both looked so happy.
They didn't seem to have days like that anymore.
"I miss Danny." she said out loud.
"I think he's up in his room." Jack responded without looking up from his work. "Or did I send him to clean up the lab?" he tapped his chin thoughtfully with the needle.
"No, not like that Jack. It feels like we used to be a lot closer than we are now. Danny would always come to me about everything. Problems, secrets, or even just to ramble about space." Maddy smiled briefly at the memory before frowning again. "I'd give anything for him to open up to us. Or even just hear him list the moons of Jupiter or something."
"Speaking of space, he is a teenager Madds. Teenagers need space to grow and figure themselves out."
"I know Jack." Maddie sighed. "It just almost seems like he's purposely been avoiding us for the last few months. Have you noticed how quiet and nervous he's gotten? And it feels like it came on suddenly. Ever since the-"
Their conversation was interrupted by the doorbell.
"I'll get it!" Jack cried, practically leaping from his seat. Maddie smiled. That man was like a distractible puppy. She sighed and went back to staring longingly at the photo.
Jack opened the door and met the most dour looking letter carrier he'd ever seen. He wordlessly handed Jack a white envelope.
"Thanks man." Jack said.
Were you supposed to tip delivery people? Jack thought the mail carriers usually just dropped letters in the mailbox and left, so he wasn't sure what the protocol was here.
He hadd heard stories about the US postal service that were scarier than any ghosts he'd ever faced, so he figured he'd better tip the letter carrier, just to be safe.
He dug through his pockets for a coin and flipped it into the mail carrier's hand. The coin almost seemed to disappear in his palm. Weird.
Jack began to retreat into his house.
"By the way," he paused halfway through closing the door "You might want to get some sun, pal. You're as pale as a ghost." He shut the door the rest of the way before the carrier could respond.
There was no return address on the envelope. In fact, there wasn't any address at all. Not even a stamp. Not a clue as to who it was for.
Guess I'll just have to open it and find out. Jack thought, as he sliced open the envelope with a Fenton Letter Opener they kept on the table near the door. He pulled out the contents, which were a piece of paper and a brochure. He quickly skimmed the letter as he walked back to Maddy.
"It seems to be for Danny." He said, handing the letter and brochure over to her. "Some kind of science-convention thingy he was randomly selected for."
Maddie sat up and hungrily scanned the papers. She was beaming when she finished reading.
"Jackpot!" Maddie pounded her fist in the air. "This is is exactly what the doctor ordered!" she said, seemingly talking to the paper. Where's Danny?"
Up in his room, Danny was in an intense state of focus. He summoned a small ball of ecto energy and held it, clenching his hand into a tight fist.
Tucker and Sam, who were sitting on a bean bag and an office chair respectfully, gave each other doubtful glances.
The energy around Danny's hand began to glow brighter. Sweat began to gather around Danny's forehead. He tried as hard as he could to maintain the ball's stability while feeding it more energy, but eventually he lost control and a giant ecto beam shot out of Danny's hand, the kickback knocking him off the bed.
Sam and Tucker ducked as the beam bounced wildly around Danny's room before flying out the open window. A horrible squacking sound was heard from outside.
"That...was probably nothing." Tucker said.
"Hey, um, maybe we should move this somewhere safer, preferably without delicate computers and open windows?" Sam asked.
"Ugh!" Danny grunted in frustration as he got up from the floor. "I've been practicing forever, but I haven't made any progress!" Danny looked down at his hand. "How did Vlad even do that?"
"Maybe you could ask him?" Sam suggested.
"I'd love to!" Danny threw his arms into the air before flopping down onto his bed. "But he hasn't been back since the Axiom fiasco."
"Wait, seriously? But that was..."
"Nearly two months ago." Danny finished for her.
"Really? Dang." Tucker said. He looked over at Sam. "I thought you said he'd try to clear up his schedule."
"It was an educated guess," Sam raised her hands defensively. "But still just a guess. Does seem kind of weird, though."
"I overheard Mom say she's basically given up on calling him." Danny said. Sam frowned at that statement.
"That's a shame." Tucker said. "I'd hoped we'd see him again. That guy was cool. Kind of scary, but cool. Equal parts scary and cool."
Danny laughed at that.
"I know what you mean. I literally thought he was a nightmare I was having the first time I ran into him."
"He must really hate your parents, Danny." Sam said.
"What?"
"I mean, he's obviously avoiding them. Unless he's got beef with you. You didn't say anything stupid to him, did you?"
"What, no! But why would he be avoiding my parents? They're his best friends."
"You know Danny," Tucker said "We're your best friends, and you typically don't go twenty years in between seeing us."
"Guys!" Danny was starting to get ticked. He didn't know why Sam and Tucker were so on Vlad's case. "When Vlad got turned half-ghost by the accident, he didn't have nearly as much information as we did. He was figuring everything out on his own. It's perfectly reasonable that he was worried about slipping up and accidentally revealing himself to someone, especially my ghost-hating parents. I mean, remember how worried we were at first?"
"Okay, but he can control his powers now." Sam said. "So why's he still hiding?"
That made Danny pause. Why was Vlad still-
Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by Danny's door being kicked open.
"Dad!" Danny said "What have I told you about- wait, Mom?"
"Sorry Sweetie, I know privacy's important, but I was just so excited to show you this!"
She thrust out a piece of paper towards him.
"The...Rekluks Center Science Symposium?" Danny read.
"Working to lure and capture unique scientific minds with our educational display of rare scientific collections?" Tucker read from the pamphlet.
"Yup. Pack you bags Danny, we're going to Florida!"
"What?" Danny said.
"What?" Tucker and Sam said together.
"What?" Jazz head popped into Danny's doorframe.
"At least you're going somewhere." Jazz moped. Tucker and Sam had long since left, and Danny was waiting in the living room for his mom to finish getting ready to go. "Meanwhile I'm doomed to special alone bonding time with Dad."
"And I'm stuck on a plane all weekend with Mom. Want to trade?"
"I'd love to. That science symposium actually sounds interesting. Who were the organizers again... Rekluks?" Jazz narrowed her eyes at the pamphlet. "Okay, that sounds more like some kind of Bionicle name than a real organization, which I guess makes sense for a company run by a bunch of weirdos in Florida."
Danny raised an eyebrow.
"Bionicles Jazz?" he smirked.
"Oh! Look at whatever Mom and Dad are doing!"
Danny looked over and saw his dad handing his mom some kind of belt.
"To keep you safe from ghosts, I converted the family ghost shield into this! I call it the Spectre Deflector! No ghost creeps gonna lay a hand on you in Florida!"
Or talon, Danny thought to himself.
"That's wonderful Jack!" Maddie smiled, fastening the belt around her waist. "Are you sure you and Jazz will be alright without the ghost shield for the weekend?" Maddie smiled, fastening the belt around her waist.
"The two of us'll be fine. We've got all the other ghost weapons here. I'd rather you had the protection. You never now what can happen." Jack narrowed his eyes ominously.
"Yeah, I might get bored to death." Danny muttered.
Jazz patted him sympathetically on the back.
"Isn't this nice Danny?" Maddie smiled at him from the other side of the table. "Our own private plane for a weekend getaway with just the two of us?"
"Do you want the truth, or one of those little white lies I tell you to not hurt your feelings?" Danny scowled.
Maddie sighed.
"Look Danny, I know this was kind of sprung on you, but maybe we should try not starting off on the wrong foot. Just look out at that sunny Florida coastline!"
"Folks, this is your captain speaking," a voice on the overhead said. "If you look to your left, you'll notice the cold hard landscape of the Colorado Rocky Mountains."
"Colorado?" Danny looked out the window. "But that's nowhere near Florida!"
"And if you look to your right," the captain continued "You'll see me evacuating the plane before it goes careening out of control."
Danny and Maddie rushed over to the other side of the plane just in time to see the pilot falling for a few seconds before he was obscured by a parachute.
They looked at each other before rushing to the front of he plane. The cockpit was empty.
Maddie jumped into the pilot's seat and grabbed the controls.
"They're jammed!" she grunted, yanking ineffectively at the wheel. "I don't know how we're going to get out of this one!"
"I know one way." Danny quietly groaned. He crouched down and transformed. This wasn't at all how he wanted his mom to find out, but it was objectively better than dying.
He stood up and grabbed Maddie's shoulders. The light on the buckle of the Spectre Deflector glowed green, and Danny was suddenly enveloped in painful green electricity. He stumbled backwards and fell to the ground, transforming back into his human form.
Maddie, who'd been too occupied to notice what Danny had been doing, shortly gave up with the controls. She looked up and saw Danny dazed on the ground.
"Danny!" she jumped out of her seat. "Are you alright?"
She moved to put a hand to Danny's forehead, but he slapped it away.
"I'm fine mom!"
A brief look of hurt flashed across Maddie's face, but it was soon replaced by a focused determination as she scanned the cabin. She suddenly shot up and dashed back into the cabin of the plane, shortly returning with two grey backpacks with giant green 'F's stitched onto them.
"Put that on!" she said, thrusting one at Danny. "We're jumping!"
Danny swung the backpack over his shoulder as he followed Maddie out of the cockpit. Once she'd double checked Danny's parachute was secure, Maddie threw open the emergency exit door and she and Danny jumped.
They freefell for a few seconds.
"Three...two...one! Deploy you chute Danny!"
Danny pulled the string, and after the initial jolt, he and Maddie were both gently floating to the ground.
"Why on earth did you bring your own parachutes?" Danny asked, the adrenaline beginning to wear off.
"In case ghosts attacked the plane."
"Seriously? Why would a ghost ever be involved in hijacking a plane?"
"Folks, this is your captain speaking," Maddie and Danny both looked over to see the pilot floating down next to them "I'm here to inform you that you've been the victim of a cruel hoax."
There was a sudden pop and a flash of light, and the pilot and his parachute were transformed into a green ghostly mail carrier.
"Happy landing!" he said before flying out of sight.
Maddie gave Danny a smug look. He crossed his arms saltily as the two of them descended below the treetops.
They passed the next few hours in silence, Maddie slicing her way through the foliage, Danny following closely (but not too closely) behind. He was very careful not to accidentally touch her.
Eventually, the sun began to dip below the horizon and Maddie decided they should stop by a small stream to make camp.
Maddie put Danny in charge of making the fire while she set up camp. Luckily, she'd happened to bring along sleeping bags in dehydrated pills, which Danny thought was kind of insane, but admittedly convenient.
When she was done setting those up, alongside a lean-to shelter, Maddie sat down next to the tired Danny by the fire. She started rifling through her hip bag.
"Fenton jerky?
"Why do you have all this?" Danny asked, taking a piece.
"It never hurts to be prepared Danny. Case in point." Maddy gestured to the woods around them.
"Yeah. You wouldn't happen to have a cell phone in there, would you?"
"How would that help you if a ghost attacked?" Maddie laughed.
Once Danny had finished his jerky, he noticed that his mom hadn't even started hers.
"Y'know Danny," she said, fiddling with the jerky in her hands "Being stranded in the woods aside, I'm glad we're getting to spend this time together."
"I guess."
There was another pause. Maddie sighed.
"I feel like we haven't been doing that a lot lately."
"I'm a teenager now. I have homework, and I hang out with Sam and Tucker, and you and dad have your ghost stuff."
"I know teenagers have their own lives and don't want to hang out with boring adults all the time, Danny. I was a teenager once and I've already raised one."
Maddie laughed briefly before her face turned serious.
"I understand that you need space, but it just seems like ever since the accident-"
"The accident has nothing to do with anything!" Danny said a little too quickly.
Maddie looked at him for a few seconds before she continued talking.
"Look, Danny. It's okay if you're mad at your father and me. I wouldn't blame you. It's just that, whatever's going on, I don't want you to feel like you have to hide it from us. "
As Maddie was talking, she reached out and brushed Danny's hand. Danny yelped at the shocking sensation and pulled his hand away.
"Don't touch me!" he snapped. Maddie looked like he'd slapped her.
"Danny, I'm sorry, I-"
"I'm going to sleep now." Danny shot up and began dragging one of the sleeping bags away from the makeshift tent. Maddie didn't stop him.
Danny was having trouble sleeping. He couldn't get his mom's hurt face out of his head.
He hadn't meant to snap at her. Really, he hadn't. The Spectre Deflector just hurt. A lot. He knew how that must have looked to his mom, but what was he supposed to tell her?
Danny rolled over and sighed. What did she mean about the accident? Sure, some of his time had been eaten up by ghost hunting, especially when the portal first opened, but major ghosts only popped up a few times a month at most now. He'd actually gone back to making his curfew and turning in his homework. Things were getting better, so what was worrying his mom?
Had she noticed him trying to hide his powers? Did she notice how nervous he got whenever they brought out their latest device? She'd never noticed his powers acting up, but did she notice him running away at random times?
Danny thought he'd been hiding it well, but his mom seemed to realize that something was off. Were other people noticing? Did his dad and Jazz notice? Okay, his dad probably hadn't, but Jazz had been offering to drive him to school a lot more lately, and there was that incident with the guidance counsellor.
At the time Danny had been focused on the fact that Spectra turned out to be a joy-sucking ghost, but Jazz really had been trying to get Danny some help.
She'd also mentioned the accident. Just like his mom had.
Was keeping his ghost powers a secret affecting his relationship with his family?
Danny sat up and got out of his sleeping bag. This was a lot. He needed a break from thinking, and he needed to pee.
He'd barely walked a few feet into the trees when he felt the familiar chill run up his body and out his mouth.
His ghost sense.
Danny was suddenly on high alert.
He barely heard it. An almost imperceptible click, but it was enough to make Danny instinctively lean left, just in time to see a blue beam shoot past him on the right.
He squinted in the direction the beam came from and spotted the faintest glow amongst the branches. There was a soft rustling as the glow retreated into the woods.
"Oh no you don't!" Danny said, thrusting up his arms. "I'm Going Ghost!"
The woods were briefly illuminated by the dual white rings that travelled up and down his body, changing him into ghost form.
The woods darkened as his transformation concluded, but now Danny's ghostly aura lit up the area around him, making it easier to navigate the woods.
"Even when I'm on vacation, you ghosts just can't leave me alone!" Danny complained as he flew after the ghost.
He didn't have to fly for long before the light from the other ghost was once again visible through the trees. Danny quickly shot out an ecto blast. He heard the snapping of wood and a deep grunt as the blast hit its target.
Danny stopped flying as he emerged into a small clearing. Standing at the other end, shoulder slightly smoking, was none other than-
"Skulker?"
"Surprise whelp!" Skulker said, a bazooka on his shoulder, that Danny somehow hadn't noticed before, whining to life.
Danny barely moved out of the way in time to hear the crunch of a tree splintering apart where he had just been.
"What are you doing in Colorado? And how did you get back in your ecto skeleton?"
"If there's one thing I've learned as a hunter, it's how to be patient and resourceful!"
"Um, actually, that's two-" Danny was interrupted by Skulker whipping out a wrist blaster and nailing Danny square in the chest. The blaster wasn't as powerful as the bazooka, but it was enough to knock Danny back into the trees.
Danny recovered pretty quickly, though, and managed to look up just in time to see a blue net headed straight for him. He quickly blasted it to shreds before retreating into the trees, hoping that would make it harder for Skulker to hit him.
After flying a good distance away, Danny looked over his shoulder. He didn't see Skulker.
Danny stopped and looked around. He couldn't spot any signs of Skulker anywhere. Where was he?
A jolt of electric pain suddenly hit Danny in the back, making him cry out. The pain spread through the rest of his body and lingered, forcing Danny out of the air. He felt himself transforming back into human mode.
"What the-" Danny tried to transform back but it didn't work. "How did you-"
He looked up and saw Skulker standing over him, a wide grin on his face and a small taser-looking device clutched in his hand.
"This device designed to suppress your ghost powers. For the next few hours, you're nothing more than a pathetic human. I call it, the Ecto Minimus!"
"Wow, did you come up with that name all by yourself?" Danny hoped his sarcastic tone was covering up how terrified he was.
"You may have bested me back on your own turf, whelp," Skulker said, hoisting Danny up by his shirt collar "But the great outdoors is the domain of Skulker, the greatest hunter in the Ghost Zone!"
Danny gulped.
Suddenly, a shrill unearthly battle cry rang through the night, and a large shape descended on Skulker from the treetops, causing him to drop Danny to the ground.
Danny watched as Skulker struggled to remove the attacker from himself, but they clung on tight and relentlessly pounded at his helmet.
"You get your filthy mitts off my son you giant hunk of ecto-junk!"
"Mom?"
Maddie Fenton continued to slash and yell. Sparks began flying off of Skulkers helmet in every direction. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Skulker turned himself intangible, Maddie's screams finally relenting as she fell to the ground.
Skulker flew backwards a few feet and then turned invisible.
"Your invisibility tricks won't work on me ecto-freak!" Maddie yelled into the trees "if I see you anywhere near me or my son I will personally slice every limb of your ecto armour to shreds!"
Maddie turned and walked towards Danny, her face softening.
"Danny, are you alright?"
"Y-yeah, I'm okay..."
"Then you'd better have a good explanation," her face hardened again "for what you were doing so far from camp young man."
She reached down and grabbed Danny's arm.
"Wait! Mom, don't-"
"Oh no, you are not getting out of this." Maddie interrupted, pulling Danny onto his feet. "Running into the middle of the woods by yourself as night is incredibly dangerous."
To Danny's surprise, the Spectre Deflector didn't go off. Wow. That Ecto Minimus really worked. The name still sucked.
"I didn't run off, Sk- the ghost attacked me at camp."
"And you ran into the woods instead of towards me? Danny, that's basically playing right into its hand!"
"It wasn't like I was trying to get killed by a ghost!"
Maddie sighed. It wasn't an angry sigh, though.
"I'm sorry Danny. You're right, it's not like you got attacked on purpose. I was just so worried. When I woke up to those horrible noises, and then you weren't in your sleeping bag, and- anyway it doesn't matter."
Maddie began rifling through her bag. She pulled out a key and inserted it into the Spectre Deflector.
Danny felt more guilt being added on to the already immense pile in his stomach.
"Mom, I-"
Before Danny could finish speaking she'd snapped the Deflector around his own waist.
"I didn't think we'd actually run into any ghosts on this trip," she said "But, since I seemed to have been wrong about that, you'd better wear that for protection Danny. And stay close to me. Who knows what could be lurking in these woods."
With that, Maddie turned around and began slicing through the foliage. Danny gave the Specter deflector a few experimental tugs. It was not coming off.
"Well this is just great." he said to himself before setting off to follow his mom.
They walked in silence for a long while. Maddie was continuously scanning their surroundings as they walked, ready for action. She didn't notice how Danny flinched every time a leaf so much as rustled.
He hated to admit it, but Danny was feeling incredibly off-kilter and vulnerable without his powers. It was like a part of him was missing. A part of him that would be really useful if they happened to get attacked by a ghost, which was likely in this situation.
Maddie suddenly froze and threw her arm out in front of Danny. He almost bumped into her in the dark.
She turned to look at him and pointed ahead. Danny wasn't sure how he missed it but, just on the other side of the bushed they were standing behind, was a glowing green moose. It's head was bent over a small stream.
Danny had never seen a moose before and was rather taken aback by the creature's size. Was it just huge because it was a ghost? Danny knew moose and deer were different, but this ghost was a lot bigger than the deer he'd seen back at home.
The ghost moose lifted it's head and turned to look directly where Maddie and Danny were standing.
All three of them just stood there looking at each other for a solid minute. It felt like an hour.
"I'm going to approach it." Maddie finally whispered. "Try and scare it off."
"Mom are you crazy!" Danny hissed back. "Look at the size of that thing, there's no way it'll be scared by you!"
"No matter how big it is, Danny, it's still a ghost. And any ghost that knows what's good for it will fear me."
That statement kind of made Danny fear her, even if he wasn't technically a ghost right now. He held his breath as Maddie stepped out from behind the bushes. She approached the ghost slowly but confidently, Fenton Machete poised in front of her torso.
The moose's fur began to fluff up and its ears went back.
Did that mean his mom's plan was working? Was the ghost scared?
A rustling from above made Danny to snap his head up. Above him in the trees, three pairs of glowing red eyes were staring down at him.
"Mom?" Danny said, right as another rustle sounded in the bushes behind the moose.
"Shh!"
"Mom, the moose isn't alone."
Maddie turned her head around to look at Danny. That was when the the moose began to bat the ground with it's front hooves. Danny didn't know how he knew, but he knew that that wasn't a good sign.
"Mom look out! The moose!" he shouted.
Maddie barely had time to jump out of the way as the moose attempted to charge her. It sailed past, but turned right back around and started pawing the ground again.
A bunch of green glowing goats jumped out from the bushes Danny had seen rustling earlier and started bleating like crazy, their cries causing a cacophony of chaos and confusion. Many of them tried to ram Maddie, but she fought them back expertly, dodging half of them and deflecting the other half with her machete. It was both incredible and terrifying to watch.
Danny's eyes were drawn away from the tense battle by the sound of horrible hissing above him. The raccoons were all standing straight up and their teeth were bared menacingly.
In the distance Danny saw some large green birds approaching from above. Danny assumed they would be about as friendly as the rest of the ghost animals.
"I can handle them Danny!" Maddie called from the throng of goats. "It's you I'm worried about! Run!"
It was like a battle was going on in his body. On the one hand, he was powerless, unarmed, and in great danger here, but he couldn't just leave-
"I SAID RUN DANNY!"
The part of Danny's brain telling him to run won out at the desperation in his mother's voice, and he was suddenly fleeing from the ghost animals as fast as his legs could take him.
It was hard to navigate through the thick brush in the dark. Danny almost tripped at least twenty time, but he kept running. His lungs began to burn, but he didn't stop.
After a bit, Danny noticed a light in the distance. For a second he was worried it was Skulker, but the light was more yellow than Skulker's sterile white aura.
Danny had no idea what that light could be, but he decided to find out.
He got as close as he could without being detected and stopped running.
Big mistake.
Every muscle in his body was suddenly overwhelmed with exhaustion.. Danny began panting, gulping in as much air as he could, but it didn't help the burning in his lungs.
Danny looked into the light. His vision had actually gone blurry from the exertion, but he could see that there was a person holding an electric lantern. He hoped they were friendly.
"Daniel?"
Wait a minute, he knew that voice.
"Vlad?"
"What in the sweet sarsaparilla are you-"
The sound of rusting leaves interrupted them.
"Get behind me." Vlad commanded, reaching to push Danny out of the way.
"No, Vlad, wait I-"
Too late. Vlad's hand made contact with Danny, and the light on the Spectre Deflector went off. Vlad screamed as green electricity enveloped him. He yanked his hand away from Danny and fell to the ground. The sparks faded, but Vlad was still dazed.
Danny's head snapped toward the woods where the rustling was getting louder. He realized he was too weak and tired to fight back or run as he looked between the dazed Vlad and the rustling trees, panic rising.
He braced himself for the worst as the noises were suddenly right next to them. A group of small green animals burst from the foliage, heading straight towards Danny and Vlad. They were moving too fast for Danny to identify them all, but he was pretty sure saw some rabbits and chipmunks.
Danny instinctively threw his arms up in front of his face, but the animals just ran right past the two of them, disappearing back into the woods. They either ran around or between Vlad and Danny.
Danny watched the swarm of animals until they stopped coming. A green squirrel jumped down from above somewhere and landed beside Vlad. It turned to face him and began chittering wildly, waving it's arms frantically.
"Sorry, Joe." Vlad said, leaning on his elbow to face the squirrel. "I left the translator back at the lodge. I don't know what you're trying to tell me, but rest assured, if there's trouble afoot, I will find and take care of it." Vlad said the last bit with a finality that almost made Danny shudder.
This seemed to satisfy the squirrel, who ran off after the other animals. The woods were suddenly quiet again.
"Well," Vlad grunted, pushing himself onto his knees. "Something seems to have gotten them riled up."
"Yeah. Uh, are you okay?" Danny asked, offering a hand to help him up.
"Yes dear boy, I'm quite alri-" as Vlad grabbed Danny's hand, the indictor light on the Spectre Deflecter went off again and Vlad was once again screaming and sparking. Panicking, Danny dropped his hand, causing Vlad to fall back down to the ground. The electricity quickly vanished.
"Oops, sorry. You should, uh, probably avoid touching me."
"Noted." Vlad gritted from the ground.
Danny was worried he'd done some serious damage. He let out a sigh of relief when Vlad finally sat up.
"Beef brisket," Vlad swore as he rubbed his head "Whatever you've got there packs quite the punch."
"My dad calls it the Spectre Deflector. He converted the house ghost shield into a belt to protect my mom from ghosts on our trip."
"I suppose a personal protective device of that nature would require such a powerful regulator." Vlad nodded. "But why on earth isn't it effecting you?"
"My powers got disrupted. I'm all human for the next...well, I don't actually know how long." The Ecto Minimus did wear off, right? Skulker had implied it did. Danny sure hoped it did. "But I am zero per cent ghost right now, I guess."
"The Spector Deflector can disrupt your powers?"
"No, it electrocutes me too. I ran into Skulker earlier. He's got some kind of new gizmo."
"Butter biscuits! I thought Skulker had abandoned this area! And here I thought this would be a nice peaceful week of quiet research." Vlad floated back onto his feet and brushed himself off. "You mentioned your mother. Is she around?"
"Yeah, but we got separated a bit ago. I think Skulker rigged up this whole trip as a way to get to me."
"I suppose that makes sense. Which direction were you with her last? We should start walking."
"...and so after my mom kicked Skulker's butt we ran into a buch of ghost animals and got seperated." Danny finished explaining as he and Vlad walked.
"It seems Skulker's caused you quite a bit of trouble this weekend. He always has been rather persistent. And annoying."
"Can't argue with you there." Danny laughed. "So, what brings you to this neck of the woods?"
"Ghost research."
"Can't you do that back in Wisconsin?"
"As it happens, Skulker used to use these very woods as a sort of practice hunting ground. He left it many years ago, but the spirits' of the beasts Skulker slayed still linger here, making it one of the most lucrative spots for ghost research. Outside of the Ghost Zone itself, of course."
"I didn't know animals could leave ghosts."
"Didn't we fight three such spectres the last time we met?"
"Oh. Yeah, I mean, I kinda thought ghosts like that just...formed I guess?"
"It is true that some creatures seem to be able to manifest a form from the excess ectoplasm in the Ghost Zone. I assume the formation of the ghosts in these woods was somewhat relevant to the spectral nature of their hunter, but it is quite difficult to determine what truly causes a ghost to form. Similar trials have yielded completely different results, so the question of what ghosts are and where they come from may perhaps always be a mystery."
Danny was too stunned to speak. It was like someone had taught his parents to talk fancy.
They continued to walk in silence for a bit.
Danny suddenly rememebered something that he wanted to talk to Vlad about.
"Vlad." Danny said. "We haven't seen you in months."
"I've been busy, Daniel." Vlad said. "Between my CEO duties and arduous ghost research, it can be rather difficult to find the time to stop by."
Danny thought back to his conversation with Sam and Tucker.
"Do you...actually want to see us?"
"What? Of course, don't be ridiculous."
Vlad seemed genuinely taken aback by Danny's accusation. Danny didn't want to offend him, but something about the whole situation just wasn't sitting right, and Danny knew that it would continue to bug him if he didn't find out. And if he didn't find out now, then he might not see Vlad for another few months.
"To be honest, if really feels like you don't."
"Daniel, I told you, I'm extremely busy, and-"
"It's been months. You've only stopped by once since the reunion. And you don't pick up the phone when my mom calls you."
"As I said," Vlad's tone was steadily getting less friendly. "I'm-"
"Busy, yeah, I know." Danny was running out of patience too. "I get that you've got a lot going on, but honestly it just seems like you can't be bothered to haul your butt down to Amity to see us."
"That's enough Daniel. Drop it."
"Are you telling me you're too busy for a five-minute phone conversation? Or even an e-mail?"
"I said drop it."
"I just want to know why. Are you still angry at them? You say you're not, but you act like you-"
"How could I be angry at them?!" Vlad's eyes glowed a dangerous red. "They're my only friends! You have no idea what you're talking about!"
Danny took a startled step back.
The red glow faded from Vlad's eyes. He looked horrified by what he'd just done.
"Daniel, I-"
A blue blast suddenly came out of nowhere and hit Danny, knocking him back into a tree.
"Daniel!" Vlad cried. He turned to face where the beam had come from, anger in his eyes.
Skulker stepped out from the shadows, a wide grin on his metal face.
"Well, what do you know," he smiled "I didn't expect to run into both halfas in the same place."
A black ring appeared around Vlad's waist.
"You have five seconds to explain who you are and what you want," the ring split in two, transforming him into his ghost form. "Before I personally tear you apart piece by piece."
"Vlad, that's Skulker," Danny said from the ground. The impact from the tree had left him too dazed to get up. "He's here for my pelt."
"That's Skulker? He was a lot smaller the last time I saw him. When did he get that armour?"
"You like it?" Skulker gestured to his suit. "I've had some upgrades! Now,"
Skulker raised his arm and fired at Vlad with a double barreled wrist blaster. Vlad went intangible and sunk into the ground.
Danny felt Vlad grab him from behind and rise into the air. He set Danny down on a particularly thick tree branch.
"Stay here." Vlad said, voice firm. "This shouldn't take long."
"Where else would I go?" Danny muttered, clutching the trunk of the tree as Vlad flew away.
After getting some distance from Danny, Vlad threw some pink energy blasts at Skulker. Unfortunately, he was able to dodge most of Vlad's hits using the the trees as cover. A few of Vlad's blasts did manage to hit Skulker, but they didn't seem to do much damage to his sturdy armour.
Skulker soon began firing back with his wrist blaster, but Vlad was able to use the trees to the same advantage Skulker had. Vlad was more nimble than Skulker, so he managed to avoid all of Skulker's blasts.
As Vlad dodged, he moved closer to Skulker and Danny saw him charge up ecto energy in his arm like he had the night he fought Technus. Once Vlad was close enough, he dashed over to Skulker and grabbed his wrist blaster with his charged-up hand, melting the blaster clean off Skulker's arm.
Vlad smirked as he unceremoniously dropped the deformed lump of metal to the ground.
Vlad threw a punch at Skulker, but Skulker managed to dodge it and jabbed Vlad with a familiar device. Danny's heart stopped as he watched him fall to the ground, screaming and surrounded by pink electricity.
The black rings returned, reverting Vlad to his human form.
A rare look of panic crossed Vlad's face. Some black stars sparked around him as he unsuccessfully attempted to change back into his ghost form.
Vlad pushed himself up from the ground and threw all his momentum into a punch directed at Skulker.
Grinning, Skulker reached out and caught Vlad's oncoming fist. Vlad could barely stifle a pained noise as his hand made contact with the hard metal of Skulker's armour.
"Nice try, Plasmius." Skulker sneered. "But I'm afraid both of you are useless in this form, and that terrifying blue hunter is currently occupied by my previous conquests, leaving both your pelts ripe for the picking."
"Ew." Danny and Vlad said at the same time.
"Complain all you want," Skulker pointed his arm canon directly at Vlad's face "There's nothing you can do to escape your fate."
The gun began to whine. Vlad shut his eyes from the glare. Danny clutched the trunk of the tree even tighter.
SHWINK!
There was a sudden blur of motion, and Skulker's canon arm fell clean off, the glow from the barrel fading away.
Danny didn't recognize the figure standing beside Skulker right away. They were covered from head to toe in dark mud and leaves, which was probably why no one had noticed their approach.
"I warned you to stay away from my son ghost!"
"Mom?"
"Maddie?"
Maddie moved with incredible speed. She danced and hopped around Skulker, hacking at his armour with her Fenton Machete.
Skulker tried to fight her off, but his clunky armour clearly wasn't designed to take on such an agile opponent at close range. Bits of metal and sparks flew off of Skulker as he desperately flailed about, failing to hinder the enraged Maddie in any way. His other arm soon joined the first one on the ground.
"This is what happens when you mess with me ghost!" Maddie cried as she jammed the Fenton Machete into Skulker's face.
Skulker's head went flying and landed a few meters away. A tiny green blob with limb's crawled out from inside of it.
"I yield! I yield!" he squeaked "You are the superior hunter! I admit it! I'm out of here!"
The tiny Skulker turned intangible and dove into the ground.
Behind Maddie, the body of Skulker's now empty armour swayed and fell to the ground with a crash.
Danny and Vlad just blinked.
Maddie looked at Vlad.
"Now, what in the sweet sarsaparilla are you doing in Colorado, Vlad?"
"It's very fortunate we ran into you out there, Vlad." Maddie said. "You're sure it's not a bother having us here?"
"Oh don't be ridiculous Maddie." Vlad smiled "What else am I going to do? Just send you two out there to fend for yourselves in those treacherous woods? Preposterous. Anyway, this is where you'll be staying."
After clearing up some confusion and getting Danny out of the tree, Vlad had led the group back to his log villa. It was smaller than his mansion, but it was still quite big. Vlad told them it was a very old structure, but it had had electricity and running water installed at some point, which Danny was very thankful for.
Vlad had offered to give them a tour, but after spending hours on edge in the woods at night, Danny and Maddie just wanted to go to sleep. Vlad was very understanding and had led them directly to the spare bedrooms.
"Ooh, this is much ritzier than our makeshift campsite, eh Danny?" Maddie gently elbowed Danny in the side. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to change into a less muddy jumpsuit."
With that, Maddie walked into the bedroom and shut the door.
"She brought an extra jumpsuit, but no cell phone." Danny wasn't even surprised anymore.
"Yes, that does sound like Maddie." Vlad smiled fondly. "I'll show you your room now, Daniel."
Danny took a look around as they walked down the hall. All the walls in this house seemed to be made of wood planks or logs. It was kind of cool, looking at all the knots and long swirls of the grain. The floors were also wood, but they were mostly covered by fuzzy red carpeting.
They turned a corner, and Danny was blown away by the number of doorframes he saw. This house seemed to have infinity rooms.
"You sure have a lot of spare rooms. I didn't think you'd have too many guests here."
"Oh no, besides for the all the ghost animals, I never have company. The ones who originally built this house likely did. I believe that they had a rather large family. Anyway, here we are."
Vlad stopped walking and opened a door to reveal a room that was pretty similar to the one Maddie was staying in. Danny stepped in and looked around. The colours of the bed spread were very pale. The whole bed looked very soft. And comfy. Just looking at the bed seemed to increase Danny's already pretty high levels of tiredness.
He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard a chittering sound somewhere behind him. A green squirrel seemed to fall from the ceiling and landed on Vlad's shoulder. Vlad did not seem particularly surprised by this.
"Much appreciated, Joe." he said, accepting something shiny from the squirrel's mouth. Vlad tossed the object to Danny.
"Figured you could use that." he said.
Danny looked at the object in his hand. It was a key. He inserted it into the Spectre Deflector and turned it. There was an audible click and the belt unstrapped itself and fell from Danny's waist.
"Thanks." he said, picking up the Deflector and stuffing it in his pocket with the key. "But how did you get it?"
"I simply asked my friend here." Vlad smiled, gesturing to the squirrel on his shoulder. "I would have retrieved it myself, but it seems my intangibility yet to return."
The squirrel chittered indignantly on Vlad's shoulder.
"Ah yes, of course." Vlad dug somewhere under his collar and pulled out an acorn. He held it out to the squirrel, who snatched it and scampered away.
"You'd think providing them sanctuary would be enough of a reward on it's own." He said, watching the squirrel dart down the hall. "Then again, I suppose this isn't my house. I just pay for it."
"Wait, the animals live here?"
"Yes. Many years ago, when Skulker used to terrorize the animals here, I found out that he would persist after them even when they'd already been killed. I suppose he was testing the effectiveness of his gear on ghosts as well as the living. It felt cruel to torment those creatures endlessly, and Skulker had learned very quickly not to mess with me, so I told the animals that they could hide in the house. Even after Skulker left most of them stuck around. I still see them going in and out of here every time I stop by."
"So it's a real animal house here." Danny said.
Vlad smiled a little at Danny's joke.
"Your powers haven't returned yet, have they?" he asked.
Danny looked down at his hand. He tried to turn it invisible, but nothing happened.
"Nope."
"Shame. I wonder how long this lasts." Vlad stared at his own hand for a few seconds. "It's strange. For quite a while I actually despised my ghostliness and would have done anything to get rid of it. Even today I don't know if I'd say I like it, but now that it's gone, I feel sort of..."
"Incomplete?"
"Yes, that's the word. Anyway, I'll leave you now. I'm sure you're anxious to get some sleep." Vlad gave Danny a wave as he walked away.
Danny stared at the door where Vlad had just been. He knew exactly what he meant. The first month after the accident he'd have done anything to undo it, but now, well, he wasn't so sure. He'd kind of grown to like his powers. He probably wouldn't have any problems with being half-ghost if he didn't have to keep it a secret from his family. That was kind of the only downside. That, and getting electrocuted by the Spectre Deflector.
Exhaustion began to overtake Danny. He gave in and faceplanted into the bed. He wanted to lay there forever, but after about thirty seconds his body reminded him what he had been doing before Skulker showed up.
He'd needed to pee two hours ago and he hadn't. Now he really needed to pee.
Quietly grumbling, Danny pushed himself off of the bed and began searching the halls, on the hunt for a bathroom.
Danny was completely lost. He couldn't find a bathroom, or the way back to his room.
Having the ability to fly and turn intangible would have been really helpful right now, Danny thought bitterly to himself.
After another few minutes of roaming, Danny suddenly noticed a rhythmic creaking noise.
Crrk
Crik
Crrk
Crik
Curious, Danny walked in the direction the noise was coming from. He turned a corner and saw a light coming from a nearby room. He walked closer and peeked past the doorframe.
At the back wall of the room, near a large window, Danny saw the source of the creaking: an ancient looking rocking chair was steadily rocking back and forth.
Why Vlad hadn't mentioned someone was here. Wait, hadn't he said he never had people over?
Danny froze when he noticed the spectral green tail hanging over the edge of the seat, swaying along to the rocking of the chair.
His powers still hadn't returned, so he had no way to protect himself if the ghost was hostile.
Maybe the ghost wasn't hostile?
Danny figured he should go tell Vlad about the ghost just in case. Even if Vlad didn't have weapons, his mom certainly would.
"Is that you, Vladdie dearest?" a voice asked from the rocking chair.
Shoot.
"Um...n-no. My name's Danny. I'm staying here with Vlad for the night. Um, do you know him?"
The ghost laughed. It wasn't a mean laugh.
"Of course I know him dearest. Come in, come in. It's a bit foolish carrying a conversation from the hallway."
Danny stepped into the room. There wasn't much in it. Just a dresser and a bookshelf filled with knick-knacks. There wasn't even a bed. The light he'd seen was coming from one of those old oil lamps on the dresser. The walls were made of the same unfinished wood as all the other walls in the house, but there were a few colourful flowers crudely painted on them low to the ground.
"Don't be shy now. Come over here where I can see you, dearest."
Danny gulped. The ghost seemed harmless, friendly even, but he couldn't help feeling vulnerable without his powers. How did Sam and Tucker face malicious ghosts like this all the time?
Danny took a few steps towards the window. He almost jumped when the rocking chair began to float a few inches off the ground. The chair turned 180 degrees and sank back down to the ground.
"That's better." The ghost smiled. She was quite tiny. Her glowing skin was the translucent green colour that ghosts often were. She was wearing a matching dress and bonnet that were a horrendously pink gaudy floral patterns. Danny might've barfed if he'd seen that pattern in any other context, but they strangely seemed to suit the ghost that was wearing them.
She peered at Danny through the thinnest wire glasses he'd ever seen. Her eyes, despite glowing a menacing red, were shaped into soft slits as if she was half drifting off to sleep.
"Hmmm, the first human guest Vlad's had in years and it's a child. Strange. Are you Vlad's son perhaps? He's never talked about you."
"What? Oh, no. I'm just a friend. My mom's friends with Vlad, and she's here too and she brought me along." Danny wondered if the ghost could tell how nervous he was.
"No guests for nearly twenty years then suddenly two guests? My that Vlad is a strange one. Ah, but where are my manners? I know your name, but you don't know mine. Danny, my name is Bernadette. My friends call me Bernie, though." She paused and narrowed her eyes at him. "You can call me Bernie, you seem like the friendly sort."
"It's, um, nice to meet you Bernie." Danny felt his body relax. He was 99% sure Bernie wasn't going to attack him at this point. That did leave Danny with the awkward problem of not knowing what to say to an elderly ghost.
"So...are you friends with Vlad?"
"Ah, dearest Vlad." Bernie smiled fondly. "What a nice young man. He takes such good care of me. Well, I suppose I don't need much taking care of, being a ghost and all, but the sweet thing always comes to see me when he's up here. He doesn't come up too much, he's so busy with his big company. He runs it, you know. But when he does come he always visits me. Asks how I'm doing, if I need anything, just sits and listens to me gab away. What a doll."
Bernie looked over at the bookshelf.
"You know he brought all my treasures down for me from the attic when he first found me. Being a ghost makes it awful hard to pick things up, let me tell you. I do love not having to cook anymore, though. Anyway, Vlad went and fetched all my things the seconds I told him about them. He said it was to apologize for infesting my house with all the wild life, even though I didn't mind one bit. I rather like the little critters. Even the bears and such don't cause trouble. I always wanted to see some live bears up close when I was alive. Ma and Pa never let me get to close to them though. Quite dangerous creatures, when you're alive anyway. Which I'm not, so there Ma and Pa!" Bernie chuckled.
Danny felt a yawn coming on. He tried to stifle it but it had been a strenuous night, and it was quite late.
"My goodness!" Bernie's eyes widened slightly, as though she were snapping out of a daze. "How rude of me! I do forget you humans still need sleep! And here I am rambling away when you're so clearly tuckered out, you poor thing. Off you get now!"
"Oh, yeah, thanks. Sorry, I am kind of tired."
"No need to apologize young man. You've been nothing but patient and polite with me. Don't you worry about hurting my feelings. I've got nothing but time, and I'll go on for forever if you let me. Now off to bed with you."
"You wouldn't happen to know where the bathroom is, would you?"
"Considering I've been living in this house for the last five hundred years, I would hope so." Bernie laughed. "It's down the hall at your first left turn."
"Thanks Bernie." Danny said as he headed out the door. "Goodnight."
"Such a polite young man. Goodnight Danny."
As Danny left Bernie's rocker floated into the air and turned to face the window again.
Danny sighed. He'd found the bathroom, but now he was having trouble finding his room again. Why did everywhere in this lodge look the same?
He stopped when he heard voices coming from a nearby room.
His mom and Vlad must've been in there talking. Danny stopped by the doorway and peeked inside. The two of them were standing by an unlit fireplace, a nearby lamp giving the room a soft yellow glow. Danny assumed this was some sort of sitting room.
"...couldn't get the ectoplasm out of the carpet for weeks!" Danny heard his mom say. "You can still see it glowing when it's really dark outside!"
They laughed for a bit and then there was a few seconds of silence.
"You could come back with us, you know." Maddie said. "Jack would be ecstatic to see you."
"Sadly, I can't Maddie. I've got a tight schedule to keep. I would love to come down, but I simply don't have the time to spare."
Maddie picked up an ornament from the mantle. She looked at it as she spoke.
"You know Vlad, it's alright. You can tell me the truth."
"What do you mean?"
"I know you're still mad at us about the accident."
Vlad blinked a few times before responding.
"What? Of course I'm not mad, that was all in the past. I've told you, I don't hold any resentment towards you or Jack. It was an accident, after all."
"Then why don't you want to see us?"
"What? Don't be ridiculous, of course I want to see you. You and Jack are my best friends!"
"You say that Vlad, but you never stop by. I've called you. Many times, and you never call back."
"I'm CEO of a very lucrative company Maddie. That keeps me rather-"
"Busy. I know. Too busy to fit a five minute phone call in over the course of three months."
Maddie put the ornament back on the mantle and faced Vlad.
"And then the few times we do get to see you, you seem anxious to leave as soon as possible. You barely seemed like you wanted to be at our house the one time you stopped by. And even when you invited us to your place, you disappeared five minutes after we arrived, and then we barely got to see you at the party. There was an actual ghost attack, and you missed it!"
Maddie took a calming breath.
"I want to spend time with you, Vlad. I miss you. Jack and I both do. It was so painful, not seeing you for the last twenty years, but when we do see you now it feels like it's just to tease us before you go right back to ghosting us."
Maddie probably didn't notice how Vlad tensed up at that wording, but Danny did.
"We want to be friends with you again, Vlad, but honestly it doesn't seem like you really want to be friends with us. You don't trust us and that hurts. I can't stand what you're doing to me. I want to stop re-opening the wound you left. The worst part of all of this is that you can't even be honest about it."
Vlad didn't say anything. He didn't even move. He just stood there with a stupefied look on his face.
"I should go to bed." Maddie turned away from him.
That seemed to break Vlad out of his stupor.
"Maddie, I-"
"Thanks again for letting us stay the night."
Danny began to panic as his mom approached the door. He managed to turn himself invisible just as she entered the hall.
He turned invisible? Nice, his powers were back!
He turned visible again as soon as his mom was out of sight.
Danny peeked around the doorframe into the sitting room. He wondered if he should go in and talk to Vlad.
He took a deep breath and entered the room. Vlad turned at the sound of his footsteps.
"Oh, Daniel." Vlad's ever-present smile nowhere to be found. "What are you doing?"
He didn't sound angry, just tired.
"Uh, my ghost powers are back."
"Oh, good." Vlad didn't seem that excited about that news.
"Also I, uh, kind of heard that last bit of your conversation." Danny rubbed the back of his neck.
"Oh."
Danny had no idea what to say. He wondered if maybe he should have just left.
"I'm...sorry for snapping at you earlier." Vlad said "That was uncalled for."
"Oh." Danny said awkwardly. "It's fine."
"No, it was completely inappropriate." Vlad sighed. "I suppose the things you were saying weren't completely untrue. You and Maddie both. I just...didn't want to face them. You were right. I've...I've just been awful to Jack and Maddie, haven't I? To all of you."
Vlad sat on the sofa and buried his face in his hands. Danny had no idea what to do.
"I want to see them, I really do. I just...I can't risk them finding out."
"I get what you mean, I really do, but it's not too hard a secret to hide from them. I've done pretty well, so it shouldn't be a problem for y-"
"No, Daniel," Vlad put his hands down and leaned on his lap. "It's different for me. I just...on some deep level I just can't risk Jack and Maddie finding out. If...if they knew what I...what I really was...I can't lose Jack and Maddie, I just can't! Then I-I'd have nothing..."
"It kind of seems like you already have."
Vlad looked at Danny. The most deflated expression he'd ever seen flashed across Vlad's face, but it quickly replaced with a neutral expression.
"I think," Vlad said as he stood up. "That I should go to bed. It's late."
His tone was level. Too level. Expressionless, he proceeded to walked past Danny.
"Wait!" Vlad stopped at the doorway. "I'm sorry, Vlad. I-I didn't mean to-"
"You didn't do anything wrong Daniel. I'm just...tired. Very tired. This night has...given me a lot to think about."
With that he turned around and walked out into the hall, leaving Danny alone in the sitting room. He sighed to himself. If only Jazz had been here. She'd probably know how to fix things between Vlad and Mom.
Not that she'd be working with the full picture, but still, she'd probably have done a better job than Danny did.
Vlad wasn't the only one that was tired. Danny yawned before heading back out to the hall to continue searching for his room. At least it would be easier to find now that his powers were back.
Danny wasn't sure what time he woke up the next morning, but the sun had fully risen. He stretched and put on his clothes from yesterday (which felt pretty gross).
The lodge was slightly easier to navigate in the daytime, so Danny only wandered around the halls for a little bit until he found the kitchen. His mom was already there, fully dressed and cooking some eggs.
"Good morning Sweetie. Did you sleep alright?"
"Yeah, I did. Is Vlad up yet?"
"He left a note." Maddie turned back to the eggs. "He said he had to set out early to get some stuff done, so he won't be around to see us off."
"Oh." Danny picked up the note from the island. His mom had summed it up pretty well. "Wait, what's he saying about a helicopter?"
"Oh, we discussed it last night. Vlad keeps a helicopter out here for emergencies, and he's letting us take it to get home."
"Wait, you can pilot a helicopter?"
"Of course. Breakfast is ready!" Maddy scooped some scrambled eggs onto a plate and handed it to Danny. "There you go."
Danny noticed that his eggs looked paler than normal.
"You put milk in the eggs?" Danny said as he sat down.
"Is that a problem?" Maddie looked worried.
"No, no! That's actually the way I like them. Jazz thinks its weird, and she's usually the one that makes the eggs, so I haven't had them in a while. This is...really nice."
Maddie smiled and took a seat across from Danny.
"Your father hates it too."
"Really? Dad hates a food?"
"That's the one food he won't eat. Well, he'll eat it, but he'll tell me how weird I am the whole time."
"So for about two seconds?"
"Daniel!" his mom feigned offense.
Danny laughed at that. His mom laughed too.
They ate very quickly. Danny had been too tired last night to realize how hungry he was.
"Did you make your bed this morning?" Maddie asked as she collected Danny's empty plate.
"Ummmm, yes?" Danny smiled wide.
"Alright, you can go up and double check your bed while I was the dishes, and then we'll set off."
Danny rolled his eyes as he headed back to his bedroom.
After he finished actually making the bed (to the best of his ability), he decided to make a quick stop before heading back to the kitchen.
"Bernie? Hello?" Danny pushed open the door to Bernie's room. She was sitting in her rocker like last night, only now the curtains were closed and she was facing towards the door. Her eyes were shut and her hands were folded on her lap. She looked so peaceful.
Her eyes fluttered open.
"Oh, sorry." Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't mean to wake you up."
"Oh don't be silly." Bernie waved a hand at him. "I was just resting my eyes."
"Oh. Well, anyway, my mom and I were about to leave, and I just wanted to say goodbye real quick. You're pretty much the only friendly ghost I've ever met."
"Well how nice of you Danny." Bernie beamed. "Come here, I have something for you."
"Oh, " Danny stepped into the room "Thanks, but you don't have to-"
"Oh nonsense! Now, hold out your hand."
Danny held out his hand. Bernie waved her hand over his palm. Three green (what Danny assumed were) wrapped candies appeared in the air and fell into his palm. They glowed faintly.
"Um, thanks Bernie." Danny hadn't expected that, but he guessed it made sense for an old lady to have hard candies.
Bernie closed Danny's fingers with her hand. Her touch was so gentle Danny barely even felt it. "Poor Vladdie. He's so good to me, but he never talks about his own friends. I can sense his loneliness. He reminds me of my own son in that way. It's good he has friends now, though. You share those with Vlad and your mother now."
"I will. See you Bernie" Danny smiled. He turned and began towards door.
"Goodbye Danny." Bernie began to relax back into her chair. "Do me a favour and take care of Vladdie for me. Won't you?"
"I will." Danny said as he walked out the door.
Getting ready to go was a very fast process when all your luggage had been lost in a plane crash. They were soon in the air heading back to Amity.
"Did you...ask Vlad if he wanted to come with us?" Danny asked. "To, like, maybe visit Dad?" He of course already knew the answer to that question, but he wanted to see if Mom would say anything about what happened last night.
"I did. He said he was too busy."
"Oh."
Maddie's expression was neutral. Too neutral. She wasn't disappointed that Vlad wasn't coming, she'd accepted that fact. Maybe before she'd even invited him.
It made Danny feel worse for his mom than he would have if she'd looked sad.
They flew in silence for a few minutes before Maddie sighed.
"Look, Danny, I'm sorry about this weekend."
"What do you mean? You're not the one who hijacked the plane."
"No, I meant that conversation by the fire."
Even after all the chaos, Danny hadn't forgotten about that night. He still felt terrible about it.
"Mom, it's okay."
"No Danny, it's not okay. You haven't been acting okay for a while, and I assumed I could just jump in and fix everything in a single weekend. If we're being honest though, I should've addressed this months ago. I shouldn't have let things go on for as long as they did. I told myself you needed some space, but maybe I was just too scared to face the fact that, even if it was unintentional, your father and I hurt you. A part of me was scared that if I brought this up, it'd just end up pushing you further away. But that was irresponsible of me, and not at all how a parent should act. You weren't getting better by not talking about it, but I was being too cowardly to help."
Maddie took a calming breath before continuing.
"I just want you to know that, if you hold any resentment towards me or your father, we understand. We messed up big time with the portal. And other things. But whatever you're going through, I want to be there to help. Your father and I both do. Even if it's something you think we won't want to hear, we can take it, I promise. I know you're getting older and you need to figure some things our yourself, but we want to be there for you in whatever way we can."
Maddie turned to face Danny.
"I love you Danny, and I want to be a part of your life. I'm sorry if I've been forgetting to show you that lately."
Danny didn't know what to say.
How long had she been thinking like this? How long had she assumed everything was her fault?
Why hadn't Mom said something earlier? Why did she hide this from him? Finding out she'd been keeping this information a secret from him for so long made Danny feel so hurt and guilty.
...Oh.
The knot that had been in Danny's stomach for the last fifteen hours began to loosen as he realized what he had to do.
He put a hand on his mom's shoulder. Maddie seemed genuinely surprised by the physical contact.
"It's not your fault Mom." Danny said. "I've been...going through some stuff. It's nothing bad, it's just..." Danny struggled to find the words. How could he explain it without telling the truth? "I just...didn't think about how it would affect other people. I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm sorry." Danny looked at his feet in shame.
"You don't have to be sorry."
Dany looked up from the floor when he felt something touch his hand. He saw his mom's black gloved hand covering his own.
"You can always tell me about it, you know."
"I..."
Danny looked into his mother's eyes. They were so hopeful.
"Not...not today. But maybe someday."
Maddie was smiling, but Danny wasn't sure what kind of a smile it was.
He wasn't sure if he meant what he said. Maybe he did. The thought terrified him.
Danny didn't want to think about that right now though. He'd think about that later when he was alone. For now he needed a distraction.
Danny reached into his pocket.
"What have you got there?" Maddie asked.
Danny pulled out a tiny bottle filled with orange pop.
"I found a bunch of these in Vlad's kitchen fridge." He said, uncapping the bottle.
"And you took one? Without asking?"
"Vlad's a gazillionaire and he had like, a million more of these things." Danny took a swig. "Oh, wow that's nice."
"Daniel James Fenton, that is not the-"
"You want some?" Danny held the bottle out to her.
Maddie stopped speaking. Sharing pop had been a strange but special sort of tradition with her and Danny. One they hadn't done in years. Maddie thought Danny had forgotten about it.
"I- well...alright, hand it over." she accepted the bottle from Danny and took a drink. Her eyes went wide. "Holy moley, that stuff is good!"
"Right?"
"Seriously," Maddie turned the bottle around "What is in this?"
"Eyes on the road, Mom!"
"We're in the sky Danny." Maddie said.
THUMP!
Danny and Maddie nearly jumped out of their seats when a seagull crashed into the helicopter's windscreen. They both just stared at the surprised bird as it slid down the glass and out of sight.
"But, yeah, I'll just look at his when we get home." She said handing the bottle back to Danny.
Danny rolled his eyes affectionately.
This really was nice.
"You know Danny, I'm thinking maybe we shouldn't tell them what happened on the trip." Maddie said as they approached their house. "Your father will be so dissapointed to hear he missed fighting ghosts and seeing Vlad."
"I'm okay with that."
"We're home!" Maddie anounced as they opened the door.
Jack was sitting on the couch working on his embriodery while Jazz sat on the other end reading a very thick book.
"Hey, welcome back! How was the trip?"
"Oh, you know," Maddie said.
"Boring." Danny added.
"Nothing interesting."
"Snooze."
"Who even cares?"
"I'm gonna go call Sam and Tucker." Danny said. He made to leave, but then stopped and kissed his mom on the cheek. "I had fun though. We should spend more time together."
Danny went upstairs. Maddie watched with a smile on her face.
"So," She turned to Jack "Anything interesting happen here?"
"Oh, nothing really." Jack said.
"Same old same old." Jazz added.
"Boring."
"Ho hum."
"Yawn."
Danny had barely opened his bedroom door when he felt his ghost sense go off.
"Seriously? I haven't even been home for five minutes!"
Danny went over to his window and threw it open. He looked around. He didn't see any ghosts.
"Aaaaaaargh!" Came a war cry from below. Danny looked down.
A giant green beaver ran out the front door, with Jazz on its back, her arms wrapped around it's neck.
"Dad execute manuever nine!" she commanded.
"On it Jazzy-pants!"
Danny couldn't see his father from this angle, but he did see Jazz barrel roll off the beaver just in time for it to get tangled up in a bunch of metallic rope.
While the beaver struggled on the ground, Jack came into view and gave Jazz a high five. The two of them looked down at their handiwork with pride.
Danny stuck his head back inside and closed the window. Jazz ghost hunting? With their father?
That was the strangest thing he'd seen all weekend.
Epilogue
-
"I don't know about you two," Tucker said as they sat down to lunch on Monday "But I'm ready to die after the test Lancer just gave us."
"It wasn't that bad if you actually read the book." Sam smirked. Tucker glared at her. "What'd you get Danny?"
Before Danny could answer, he felt the cold chill of his ghost sense. He looked up and saw something green whizz by the window.
"Guys, trouble!" he said, standing up from his seat.
Before anyone could do anything else, Danny saw something else out the window; a red figure floated in place on a hover board. They fired a few pink beams from an ecto blaster before zooming out of sight, presumably after the ghost.
"Did you guys see that?"
"Oh, yeah, we actually-" Tucker started to say.
Danny was running towards the door before he could finish his sentence.
He burst outside and stopped at the sight above him. The red Figure and the ghost were locked in battle high above him, the red person shooting furiously at the ghost who was weaving around, dodging their blasts.
The red person didn't seem to have great aim, but they eventually connected with the ghost who gave off a howl and shot off in the opposite direction of Casper High.
"And you'd better stay away you gooey creep!" The red person shouted after it.
Once it was clear the ghost wasn't coming back, the red person zoomed out of sight.
Danny blinked at the sky.
"Okay, who the heck was that?"
"The Red Huntress." Sam said. Danny hadn't even noticed that she and Tucker had arrived.
"Wait," he said "You know her?"
"Yeah, we saw her hunting some ghost Sam and I were about to go after while you were in Florida."
"Colorado." Danny corrected Tucker.
"Colorado." Tucker repeated.
"We didn't get to talk to her," Sam said "But she seems pretty driven. Shouted her name at the ghost she was chasing. Fancy tech, a lot of confidence, but not a lot of experience, I'm guessing."
"Yeah her aim's not great." Danny frowned.
"She doesn't seem to have a thermos or anything to contain the ghosts she hunts either. That costume's awesome though!"
"I can agree with you there." Sam nodded.
Danny put his head in his hands.
"I was only gone for ONE DAY!"
Thanks so much for reading! Leave a review and tell me what you enjoyed. Or what you hate. Criticism is healthy and help you improve.
Next chapter might take a bit to write, since it's not based off of an episode. I'm not really sure how that'll go. I may also do a shorter in-between chapter. We'll see. I'm pretty much just making this fic up as I go. I'm honestly surprised I got this far.
Wanna ask a question? Come bug me at:
blog/sunnys567
And I hope you have a lovely day dear reader.