Danny had been in many fights over the years, mostly with ghosts, occasionally with humans, ghost hunters such as the G.I.W., but he hadn't really been in a fist fight with a human before.
Not like this.
He leaned against the side of the building as he scanned the parking lot for Dash. It was still ten minutes till the appointed time, and he sort of expected Dash to show up late as a power play. What he didn't expect was his sister, marching up to him from the parking lot from where she'd parked.
"Have you gone mad!?" She shouted as she got within earshot. Sam and Tucker both winced to either side of him, even if they thought the fight was a bad idea, they weren't going to stop him, not like Jazz would try to.
"It's entirely possible… more likely that I'd go mad if I didn't do this." Danny said as he pushed off the wall, he was still shorter than Jazz and that annoyed him, being fourteen truly was a curse.
"Even if you somehow win this childish fight, what if you get caught? You could be suspended! Or expelled!" Jazz argued. "So much for being mature." She shook her head.
"I never claimed to be mature, just from the future… and I can't take it again. Getting shoved into lockers, punched without reason, having my head shoved in the toilet, and my underwear pulled up over my head! That's truly childish behavior, besides, I'm not going to hurt him, all he has to do is land one punch and I let it go. I'm pretty confident in my ability to keep him from managing that without lifting a single ghostly finger against him." Danny said.
"Wait… you told Jazz?" Sam asked as she registered what Danny was saying.
"She'd figure it out in a few months anyway." Danny shrugged. "Might as well get it out of the way and… it wasn't entirely planned, it just happened, but it feels like the way things should be."
"Ghost powers or not, even if you don't get punched, he could always try and turn this against you." Jazz argued.
"That's why Tucker will be recording the whole thing." Danny said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder where Tucker was messing with his PDA. Tucker looked up at the sound of his name and blinked slowly confused as to why Jazz was there, he'd been consumed with a discussion board about the latest in phone technology.
"Huh? Oh… right… yeah, though Mikey has a habit of carrying around a video camera, I'm sure he'll also be recording if he comes." Tucker said with a shrug.
"See Jazz, we have it under control." Danny smiled.
"No, you don't, even if you win, and miraculously Dash actually honors his end of the bargain, there is no telling if he wouldn't encourage others to bully you instead! You could be making this whole problem ten times worse." She said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Then this little song and dance repeats until there is no one left to try and fight me." Danny folded his arms. "I can't take three years of Baxter shoving me into lockers, Jazz, I barely tolerated it the first time… not to mention the throwing meat at my face and stealing my clothes, the breaking of bones… I just…" His eyes flashed green at the memory. "I can't take it, Jazz."
"Broken bones?" Jazz frowned. "What do you mean broken bones? If he's breaking your bones we should go to the police!"
"The broken bones haven't happened yet, and I'm going to make sure it doesn't… besides… I heal unreasonably fast… there is never really any proof." He sighed and shook his head.
"Jazz, we're worried about him too, there is a lot that can go wrong, even if Danny has knowledge and talent from years of future ghost fighting he could still get hurt. I mean, maybe his body doesn't have the same muscle memory his mind does! What if Dash catches him and he gets really hurt, and of course the whole Dash asking other A-listers to do the bullying. Like I said, there is a lot that could go wrong... but I trust Danny, if he thinks this is the best solution then it's probably the best solution."
"You want to trust the guy in his early twenties trapped in the body of a fourteen year old with making good decisions about fighting?" Jazz folded her arms. "His brain wasn't even fully developed yet, even if he is from the future!"
"Jeez Jazz, can you say that a little louder next time." Danny frowned. "Look, even if this isn't the best decision, I need to do this for me." Danny shook his head at her. "If this fails I can always haunt the dreams of the A-listers." A mischievous smile spread across his face.
"Danny." Jazz folded her arms and gave him "the look" before sighing and shaking her head. "Over half the school knows about this fight, including the teachers, what if Mom and Dad show up? What if they see something ghostly going on with you?"
"Jazz, they'll need to know about me eventually… if nothing else so they don't shoot at me in the future and hopefully keep their putrid protoplasm rants to themselves." He sighed and shook his head. "Honestly, they're so obsessed with the portal now that it's working that they're not likely to care much even if they hear about this stupid fight."
"You're not going to listen to me are you?" Jazz frowned.
"I'm your younger brother, it's kinda my job not to listen to you, and to annoy you… and walk into your room at random times, mess with the lights and leave, making sure to leave the door open." He said with a small teasing smile. Jazz rolled her eyes and rubbed her temples.
"I hope you know what you're doing little brother." Jazz sighed.
"It'll be fine Jazz." Danny said. "I've got this, plus, he's only human."
"I… I still don't approve… I'm going inside so when Mom and Dad inevitably ask about this lapse in judgment, I have plausible deniability." She said before leaving.
"Right, love you too, Jazz." Danny chuckled as she hurried off.
"Dude… you do realize she's probably off to get security to break up the fight?" Tucker said looking up from his PDA as Danny rejoined them in leaning against the wall.
"Maybe… if she does that… I'll manage." He said with a shrug. "I hope she doesn't, especially since I told her I was half ghost. I'm hoping she has a bit more faith in me than that." He sighed.
"She's your older sister, she's likely going to be treating you like a baby for years to come… also… Jazz knows how old you were before your time regression?" Sam said, raising an eyebrow.
"I wasn't thinking straight… I asked her hypothetically about if I was from the future and I did give a specific age… It was the day I got discharged from the hospital… initially I had only planned on telling her I was half ghost, but she managed to put that together with the hypothetical question I asked and realized the full truth." Danny shrugged.
"You seem pretty okay with that." Tucker frowned as he looked up from his PDA.
"Like I said, she would figure it out on her own in a few months, I'd always planned on telling her the full story eventually, it just happened sooner than expected." He frowned as he saw blonde hair in the distance. "Looks like it's time." he said with a sigh, he pushed away from the wall and headed in the direction he saw Dash.
"Fentonio! I didn't think you'd actually have the guts to show!" Dash laughed, his voice booming across the parking lot when he saw Danny approaching.
"Yeah, whatever, can we get this over with, I've got homework and video games to attend to." Danny said with a nonchalant shrug. Dash had brought Kwan and one other jock, Danny barely remembered the other kid, he'd been on the basketball team hadn't he? Danny was pleasantly surprised that Dash hadn't brought a whole cadre of A-listers with him.
"Sounds good to me, freak. Who's keeping the time?" He said as he cracked his knuckles.
"Tucker's got a timer on his PDA, ready when you are Baxter." Danny said with a smile.
Dash didn't bother answering with words, immediately throwing a blow at Danny, punching the space where Danny's head had been mere seconds before. Danny dropped to the ground, resisted the urge to kick Dash's feet out from under him, and rolled to the side.
It didn't take long for Dash to come after him again, throwing another punch and missing since Danny twisted to the side and away from the blow.
"You're a slippery little freak, but I've got plenty of time to nail you." Dash said as he lunged for Danny, intent on grabbing him. Danny slipped just out of reach, and laughed.
"Ohhh… kinky… didn't realize you swung that way Dash." Danny said, expertly side stepping as Dash lunged for him again.
"You fucking would take it that way you freak." Dash snarled, swinging wide and yet still only hitting air.
"You've called me a freak like three times already, don't you have some new insults?" Danny rolled his eyes. "Did you already use up all of your good insults? We still have like nine minutes left."
"Then I'll use those nine minutes to make you regret being born!" Dash snarled, growing more and more frustrated with every blow he failed to land. Danny continued to dodge and dance out of the way, his smile growing wider as if he was enjoying the fight which further served to infuriate Dash. Despite himself, Danny was enjoying the fight, each blow that failed to connect as he expertly dipped and dodged, not even raising a hand to Dash in return. Perhaps it was similar to being able to live out his own revenge fantasy, though as far as revenge went this was tame. Danny bantered and even outright laughed as the minutes wore on, Dash had stopped shouting insults and had resorted to caveman-like grunts and growls as each attack failed to hit the smaller boy.
"What's the time?" Danny asked Tucker as he smoothly ducked under Dash's arms, gently patting the other boy on the back when he barreled past him.
"You've got two minutes." Tucker called back, his PDA trained on the fight, capturing it in all its grainy early 2000's video capturing glory.
"Oh, over so soon?" Danny said, appearing disappointed. Dash raged and attacked once more, Danny stepped out of the way, glancing at Kwan at the other kid on the sidelines. "You two better stop him if he doesn't honor the time limit."
The two jocks on the sidelines only nodded mutely, their entire world view being shattered by the scene in front of them. Danny Fenton was supposed to be a loser, a wimp, a freak, how was he avoiding Dash so easily? It didn't make any sense.
"Do you think Fenton was always like this?" Kwan asked, turning to the orange haired kid next to him.
"No idea… if he was… why wait till now… we should recruit him for the basketball team." He said.
"Just because he can dodge a punch, doesn't mean he's suddenly a basketball player Weston." Kwan said, frowning, watching as Danny seemed to be having more and more fun with Dash, even going so far as to perform an impressive jump over the top of the taller kid when Dash once again tried to rush him.
"That was some impressive air!." Weston said, his jaw dropping.
"It's like you don't even appreciate my dodgeball skills!" Danny laughed as he tilted his head at Dash. Dash was red in the face and panting from all the effort he'd put in trying to hit Danny.
"Hold still!" He roared, using his rage to fuel him forward.
"That wasn't part of the agreement, I know you're a bit dim and all, but why in the world do you think that would work?" Danny laughed, as he slipped under Dash's arms, then twisted to avoid the kick aimed at his legs.
"Time!" Tucker shouted.
"I think we can call this my win." Danny said laughing, Dash growled, but surprisingly did nothing to retaliate, instead going to a parking stop and sitting down to catch his breath.
"Fuuuuck… fine." Dash said, breathing hard as he hung his head between his knees to help with catching his breath. After a few minutes of recovery he looked back up and glared at Danny who wasn't even sweating. "The fuck Fenton?"
"Hmmmm?" Danny turned tilting his head. "You're going to have to be more specific than that."
"What the fuck are you? How… are you not even winded? What the fuck Fenton?" Dash asked looking at Danny who shrugged.
"Dude… my parents are ghost hunters, my mom is a 9th degree black belt, what exactly were you expecting? Oh Fenton has a freaky family, so he must be a weak freak?" Danny raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to honor our agreement?" He asked. Dash cursed then waved him off.
"Fuck fine, I'll leave you and your friends alone." Dash pushed off the parking stop and stood. "Maybe you're not half bad Fenton… ha! As if." He scoffed before walking off with his companions.
"Dude… I think you broke Dash." Tucker said as she watched the A-listers retreat.
"Maybe the idiot will start to grow up sooner this time around." Danny said as he watched the small group retreat. "Who wants food? I don't know about you guys but I'm starving." He said with a wide smile.
"You know it boiiiii!" Tucker cheered while Sam rolled her eyes and the trio headed to the mall's food court.
Green.
The green of the portal filled the room, Danny stared into its depths once more, as he'd done in the previous nights, this time however, it was barely midnight, he was dressed still, having decided pajamas were not the best to bake in. He breathed in the ambient ecto-energy and let it help grow his core.
"Dann-o? You're still awake?" Jack asked as he came down the stairs, the Fenton Finder in his hands. Danny had tinkered with it the night before, making sure that it wouldn't pick up his ecto-signature, keeping his secret safe for at least another day, though he wasn't sure how long he'd want it to stay secret. Danny looked up and smiled softly at his father.
"Hey Dad… I can't sleep… I haven't slept well since the accident." He said before looking back to the portal. Jack frowned and pulled up a chair, sitting next to Danny as his mom had done a week before.
"Can't sleep… worried about ghosts?" Jack asked. "Don't worry kiddo, your mom and I can protect you!"
"I'm… both worried and not worried about the ghosts… It's complicated, but the ghosts aren't why I can't sleep." He sighed, still looking into the ever swirling green of the ghost portal.
"What's on your mind?" Jack asked, looking down at Danny.
"It's complicated." Danny sighed as he shifted his gaze to his father.
"Complicated huh?" Jack put an arm around Danny's shoulder. "Well… take time to think about it… Danny-boy you feel cold, how long have you been down here?"
"A couple hours." Danny shrugged. "I don't feel the cold… not since the accident." He admitted softly, Jack frowned before shaking his head.
"Feel it or not, you should at least have a blanket." He worried, his brows furrowing further as he looked down at his son, he stood going to a cabinet to look for a blanket.
"I'm fine Dad… I really don't get cold anymore… at least… not in the same way." He sighed.
"What are you saying?" Jack frowned looking over his shoulder at Danny.
"I…It's… complicated." He mumbled as he stared into the portal. Jack paused in his search for a blanket before shaking his head and pulling one of the emergency blankets off the bottom shelf. It wasn't exactly cozy, but it was better than nothing. He draped it over Danny and sat back down next to him.
"It can't be more complicated than the thermodynamics of ectoplasm." Jack laughed trying to lighten the mood, Danny chuckled and looked over at his dad.
"Well… I don't know about that… Um…" He looked down at his hands and then back up to the portal. "Did… did you talk to Mom?"
"About what?" Jack frowned as he looked down at Danny.
"About the portal… about me dying inside." Danny sighed softly. There was a long silence that stretched between the two before Jack finally answered.
"No… she failed to mention anything." He studied Danny as his son stared into the portal. He was quiet for a moment before looking back up at his dad with a sigh.
"The portal killed me Dad… well… half killed me… since the accident… I've been… different." He sighed as he looked away and back into the portal. "I figured Mom would have told you, she found me by the portal a week ago… we had a similar conversation. The portal killed me and you guys really haven't noticed how I've changed since then, you're too wrapped up in your research."
Danny looked into the portal, feeling his dad fall quiet next to him as he considered what Danny had said. Danny pulled his knees to his chest and rested his chin against the top of his knees as he continued to stare into the portal and breathing in the energy that came from it to help grow his core. He closed his eyes as he felt the power of his ghost half, the coolness of his core mixing with the warmth of his human half, he'd almost achieved equilibrium between his two halves. It was relieving that he wouldn't have to deal with the same old power struggles as in his past life. His mind wandered again and he wondered when he'd finally remember what killed him in his past life.
"What do you mean changed?" Jack finally asked, startling Danny from his thoughts.
"I don't get cold anymore." He shrugged and looked up at his father. "I've had… other ghostly symptoms you guys haven't paid much attention to.""Ghostly? Ghosts? Are you saying you're a ghost?" Jack frowned, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Not entirely…" he said as he turned back to the portal again. "I'm still half human." he admitted with a shrug.
"Half human?" Jack frowned and turned Danny to him, looking him over and frowning as he reached under his chin to check Danny's pulse. It was there, but slower than expected, Danny's body was colder than a human had any right to be.
"I was irradiated with ectoplasm and ecto-energy, it's surprising that I'm alive at all. Humans and ectoplasm aren't supposed to mix." Danny spoke as he gently shoved Jack's hand away and shook his head. "The portal killed me and yet kept me alive at the same time… I'm way beyond being contaminated with ecto energy… I'm generating it myself." He sighed and looked down at the floor.
"I've dealt with a situation like this before… but Vladdie didn't… you have…" Jack frowned and shook his head. "My old college pal Vlad had an accident with the proto-portal, but the incident left him with ecto-contamination in the form of ecto-acne… you don't have ecto-acne."
Danny sighed and shook his head again, it had been complicated to explain things to his parents in his first life, their biases about ghosts making it difficult for them to accept his ghost half. Even after they'd figured out the truth his mom had still been convinced they could fix him, Danny had to explain that he'd been changed on a molecular level, separating him from his ghost half had strange consequences the few times it had happened.
"I don't know." Danny shook his head. "I can only tell you what is happening to me… not about your college pal… and I'm… experiencing ghostly side effects." He said as he looked back into the portal. "It sings… the portal does… Sam and Tucker said they can't hear it… I think only ghosts can hear it… the humming that makes up the infinite realms of the ghost zone beyond the portal." Danny said as he looked into it. "I told mom this… but it calls to the part of me that died in the portal… I can hear it… Humans can't."
"The… ghost zone sings?" Jack asked looking back at the portal. "How can you tell? What does it sound like?" He asked.
"It's impossible to fully explain… it's a feeling and a sound… it's a vibration at the same time… it's a frequency the living can't hear." Danny shook his head. "It's low and quiet, but… melancholy at the same time, but familiar and nostalgic… I can't explain… words don't do it justice."
"Huh… interesting." Jack said as he looked back to the portal. Danny laughed and tilted his head.
"That's the interesting part? Not the part about me dying?" He teased. Jack looked back down at him and then patted him on the back gently.
"You're still here, your heart still beats, sure you might be a little ghostly, but you're still my son, and as long as you're not telling me that this is hurting you, I don't think I should be that worried." Jack said with a shrug, Danny raised an eyebrow and looked at him skeptically. "That doesn't mean that I'm not worried, but I don't think me freaking out about ghosts is going to help that."
"Well… I suppose that much is true." Danny chuckled and looked back at the portal. "What if… what if it's not just hearing the portal… or not feeling the cold… what if it goes beyond that?" he asked, looking over at Jack, his brow furrowed, a hint of fear behind his eyes.
"Whatever the case, we'll figure it out Danny boy." Jack said as he patted him on the back again. "You're my son, ghost, boy, or something in between… though… the in-between part is really confusing."
"Yeah… It is." Danny nodded as he looked back at the floor. "I'm fine though… it's fine… you don't need to fix me… you won't be able to fix this anyway. It's part of who I am, it's in my biology, it's in my soul." He whispered.
"Then we won't try and fix it, especially if we risk hurting you, but we should try and figure it out." Jack said as he pulled Danny in for a side hug, Danny closed his eyes and sighed.
"Thanks Dad." He said softly. "But… If you hadn't found me down here… would you have noticed?"
"Maybe… but I'd probably chalk it up to you being a teenager." Jack said with a shrug. Danny laughed and touched his chest where his core was humming in tune with the song from the portal.
"Yeah… being a teenager sucks… the angst, the hormones… the random bouts of rage and sadness… would not recommend going through it a second time." Danny shook his head. Jack laughed and pulled back, patting him on the back again.
"I was a teen once too, I get you." Jack smiled.
"Not like this." Danny shook his head, dropping his feet to the floor and standing up with a stretch. "I'm not… like the other guys." He sighed and looked down at his hand and the faint glow it had in the light of the portal.
"Maybe not." Jack shrugged. "But you're still my son Danny boy." Jack stood and put a hand on Danny's shoulder.
"Thanks Dad." Danny said with a small smile. "It… it's nice to know that… even if I'm… a bit ghostly now that you still love me."
"There isn't anything you could do to make me love you any less kiddo."
"Even though Jazz is your favorite?" Danny teased.
"Even though Jazz is my fav- wait… how did you know?" Jack frowned.
"You're not exactly subtle." Danny laughed. "I should…. go to bed, the portal calls to me and it's soothing but… I lose track of time down here." he sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"Okay kiddo, I'll see you in the morning." Jack said before picking the emergency blanket off the chair and beginning to fold the crinkly foil like plastic.
"See you in the morning." Danny smiled before heading back up to his room. He closed the door and turned off the lights, but he didn't go to sleep, he crossed his legs and closed his eyes as he floated over the bed, focusing on growing his core, making sure it was developing properly. He stayed that way until his phone beeped, letting him know that it was time to fly over to Sam's and meet with the Lunch Lady.
He sighed and transformed in a flash of light, drawing on his powers to turn invisible and phase through the wall. He hovered outside his room for a moment before pointing himself toward Sam's hose. He flew quickly, and even though the flight hadn't been long he had enjoyed it. He floated above the sidewalk, waiting for Pat to show, he was invisible to mortal eyes, but his fellow ghosts should be able to spot him perfectly fine.
He didn't wait long, the ghost floated up from the sidewalk after only a minute of waiting, smiling as she saw Danny.
"There you are dearie." She said as she floated forward.
"Here I am!" Danny smiled. "Let's talk in the kitchen." He said as he phased through the walls until he landed in the kitchen and transformed back into his human half, digging in the pantry for flour.
"I thought maybe we could start with sugar cookies, the decorating is always fun… or we could do chocolate chips, those are delicious!" Danny said enthusiastically as he pulled out sugar and handed it over to the Lunch Lady ghost. He paused. "So… that's the ingredients I know we need… um… what else?" He asked.
"Oh honey, you have a lot to learn." She laughed and patted him on the shoulder before floating into the pantry to finish grabbing the rest of the supplies. Danny smiled, he'd call this a success, he wasn't even that upset that he wasn't going to sleep tonight.
"Well, on the bright side I have you to help me." He laughed before taking out some bowls and beginning to talk about cookies with the ghost.