Digital Phantom

by ZAFT Convoy

DP Rebooted: Twins Danny and Andy have their lives torn upside down when Danny gets into an accident with the Fenton Ghost Portal. Takuya Kanbara just wanted to have a normal high school life until he found an odd figurine. The three boys have to navigate high school, ghosts, and Plasmius's plans while trying to master their unique powers.

19. The Discovery

DarkFoxKit: We have yet another chapter, and this one is quite the doozy.

ZAFT: You bet it is~ And this one was one of the more fun ones~ XD I hope you all like this one~

DarkFoxKit: We don't have much to say this time, we want to let our chapter do the talking. So head on to the story!

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(Two symbols, one red, and one blue, spin before colliding and flaring with light as they do so, showing the title)

Digital Phantom!

(Shows six forms in shadow before they are revealed to be Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, Tucker Foley, Takuya Kanbara, Andy Fenton, and Jazz Fenton)

Falling into destiny

(A swirling green portal is shown, followed by the sky and cities of the living world before a computer monitor is zoomed in on, revealing another world of lush greenery through that)

Reaching across new boundaries

(Andy Fenton appears with Jazz beside him. Takuya Kanbara appears behind him as well, the form of Agunimon appearing behind Takuya himself)

Let our stories come together

(Andy is shown with the form of Phantom beside him, a shadowed form with blue eyes behind the ghost boy)

Growing stronger

(Andy looks on at Phantom fighting before running to help the ghost boy by taking out his Fenton Rod)

Our pasts intertwine

(Six glowing orbs of light are shown, each of a different color (red, teal, lavender, dark purple, white, and yellow) before the red orb speeds towards Takuya)

Showing our future

(Takuya holds up his D-Tector before fractal code surrounds him, dissipating as fire erupts from it, revealing him as Agunimon, lunging out from the fire as Plasmius fires off ecto-rays at him, only for a glowing orange orb to appear around Agunimon and deflect the beams)

As we evolve

(The blasts speed past the screen as Tucker is shown with a Fenton Wrist ray being fired at a ghost)

Let's go… EVOLUTION

(Sam is shown with her Fenton Lipstick, firing it at a different ghost)

As our worlds collide

(Jazz is shown beside Andy, her hand on his shoulder as Andy looked shell-shocked by something)

We stand as one

(Jack and Maddie Fenton are shown, with the Fenton Works logo behind them as it glows green)

Growing strong

(A shadowed form is shown with blue eyes and a glowing white blade erupting from what looks like a giant weapon in the form's hands)

As we move along

(Danny is shown walking down the street with those closest to him appearing one by one; Andy, Tucke, Sam, Takuya, and Jazz.)

CHOU… SHINKA!

(Fractal code is shown before it dissipates to reveal Agunimon lunging out of the dissipating data, fire around his left fist)

Let's go… EVOLUTION!

(The group is shown facing down Plasmius, who looms above them with hands outstretched as a dark form appears behind Plasmius himself.)

Nothing will stand in our way!

(Andy, Danny, Tucker, Sam, Jazz, and Takuya all appear with ribbons of fractal code streaming out from behind them, a swirling green orb behind the ribbons of fractal code.)

Digital Phantom!

---

Chapter 19: The Discovery

Andy was relieved when he, Danny, Tucker, Sam, and Takuya decided to go get some ice cream at Elmer's Pharmacy. Elmer was one of the few pharmacies in this day and age that sold ice cream, as well as other things. It was why sometimes teenagers liked to come here to unwind after a long day at school. This definitely felt like one of those times. Jazz was there too, though she was looking around the store while the others were talking.

Andy had a vanilla ice cream with some sprinkles on it. He liked his ice cream simple with some toppings here and there. Danny had chocolate ice cream with nuts. Tucker had strawberry ice cream. Sam had a strange combination of tofu and mint, at least the ice cream itself looked tofu shaped. Takuya had a chocolate and vanilla swirl ice cream cone with some sprinkles on top.

"That whole baby suit thing was brutal!" Tucker said as Sam licked at her ice cream. "I could barely stand to watch it!"

"If that was Penelope Spectra's way of helping Danny, I'm not liking her approach." Takuya grumbled before going back to licking his own ice cream cone.

"I wonder what she was thinking with that. Does she really not know how teenagers work? Some teen therapist," Sam huffed.

"It's not just Danny," Andy spoke up. "Listen to Valerie and Kwan over there."

Andy pointed at the two popular kids, who both got mint ice cream, though Valerie added some chocolate chips to hers.

"I don't know… Ms. Spectra says I worry way too much about material possessions," Valerie said, sounding rather self conscious.

"At least you'll have them!" Kwan said. "Apparently, when I grow up, I'm going to be old, broke and alone, according to Ms. Spectra."

"Who tells a child that?" Sam frowned. "I can't possibly see how that could be said in such a peppy way. 'Oh, by the way, you're going to grow old, broke, and alone, but that's okay, at least you'll have your spirit, right?'"

"I get the feeling that's probably what she said," Andy grumbled. "Considering she put Danny in a baby outfit."

Takuya grimaced. "And yet, Ms. Spectra has been fine with me. I mean… she hasn't said anything to me that is remotely like what she is telling everyone else. But why?"

"That is quite the mystery," Tucker remarked. "Maybe she couldn't think of any way to get to you?"

"It's not like I didn't announce what my problem was that she could've easily exploited," Takuya pointed out.

"Then consider yourself lucky," Danny sighed. "She seems to be draining people, disguising it as helping them. I noticed I feel weaker and more tired whenever she touches me, especially when I'm feeling down, upset, or embarrassed."

"I noticed the same thing myself when I talked to her," Andy agreed. "After I got over my… erm… emotional issue, that's when I got suspicious of her."

Tucker frowned. "Sounds like Ms. Spectra may be a misery sucking leech of some kind."

Sam rolled her eyes. "As if the student body's sudden change isn't enough evidence for you, Tucker."

"But nobody else seems to notice it, at least not the teachers anyways," Tucker pointed out. "Doesn't that seem weird to you?"

"Hardly. The teachers don't really get paid to worry about how the students feel, all they're concerned about are the students' grade point average, and how well they can throw a pigskin around the field," Andy cynically responded. "Students being too miserable to put up a fuss makes it easier for them. I mean look at what happened to Sidney."

Takuya frowned a little. "Yeah, that would make it easier for teachers; no whining students, no complaining or causing mischief, just good little boys and girls in their eyes."

"That's… very disturbing…" Sam realized as she felt her face growing a bit pale.

"But what about Mr. Lancer?" Danny asked. "He seemed to care enough to even hire a teen therapist in the first place."

"I guess Mr. Lancer is trying," Andy relented. "He's just… not very good at it sometimes… But I'll give him credit, he does try to fit in with teens with how he's trying to use the 'hip talk', no other teacher I know of does that."

Takuya grimaced a bit at that. "Yeah, even if it does sound weird coming from him. I think it's good he's trying to connect with the students though, in his own way."

"But the problem remains, what are we going to do about Spectra? We can pretty much say she's definitely not helping anyone," Sam spoke up. "But we still haven't proven that she's a ghost. The only thing we have that might point to her being ghostly is the drain you feel when she touches you, but people could easily chalk that up to you 'imagining it'."

"That's definitely the problem right now…" Takuya sighed.

"Hey guys," Jazz greeted as she approached the group, her own ice cream was birthday cake flavored. "How are you doing? Did things get worse?"

Tucker decided to use this time to show Jazz Danny in a baby suit with his PDA.

"Hey! When did you take that picture!?" Danny yelped, his cheeks flushing red.

"Just… for you know… possible evidence." Tucker said with a sheepish grin. "It's not for any bad reasons!"

"I didn't ask why, I asked when! We had it taken off before I left the room!" Danny corrected.

"Hey, let's not get hung up on details," Tucker quickly said.

Jazz blinked as she stared at the picture. "Did Ms. Spectra really make Danny wear that?!"

"Yeah, and she was planning on having him walk around in that at school," Andy answered.

"How did she even convince you to put it on in the first place? Is that an actual diaper?" Jazz asked, surprised and confused her brother would even go through with it in the first place.

"..." Danny looked away, blushing again. "I don't want to talk about it…"

"Regardless of the reason, Spectra clearly has some kind of grip on people with her words," Sam stated.

Jazz frowned. "But we still don't have evidence that she's a ghost?"

"Nothing solid anyways," Andy sighed.

"Then… what else can we do?" Jazz asked.

Before anyone could answer, a blue mist came out of Danny's mouth. Danny was on immediate alert when he saw that blob ghost appearing behind Paulina. Paulina had been obsessively putting make-up on her face, worried that if she didn't look as beautiful as possible, she was worthless.

Takuya tensed when he felt the chills of heat and cold run down his spine when Danny's blue mist emerged from his mouth. Looking over, Takuya saw the blob ghost for the first time. "Oh, crap…"

This caused quite the dilemma. They didn't want Jazz to follow them when they transformed, not to mention for Danny, Andy and Takuya didn't know about his transformation, and for Takuya, he believed only Andy knew about his transformation. They both needed to ditch everyone else so they could go somewhere more private as quickly as possible.

Danny looked around nervously, quickly racking his brain on the best way to get some privacy. He didn't have much time to think, so running out in anger was the only thing that came to mind. Danny slammed his hands, and his ice cream, onto the table as he glared at everyone.

"You know what? I'm tired of all of this! I'm done with Spectra, and everyone's attitude! I need some air, don't follow me!" Danny yelled, making it seem like he exploded, he was going to need to apologize later.

Before anyone could even think to answer back to Danny's 'sudden explosion of anger', Danny ran out to the nearest door, which was an 'employee only' door. Danny didn't seem to care though, he rushed through the door like his pants were on fire.

"The heck was that?" Andy blinked, stunned by Danny's sudden outburst.

"I don't know…" Jazz said before frowning. "But I don't like it. We need to go after him, Andy."

Takuya, seeing Jazz and Andy were distracted, decided to use that time to sneak off so he could also do his thing. Just keep talking, please don't notice me…

Jazz and Andy ran off after Danny while Takuya snuck away somewhere. Leaving Tucker and Sam. Both of them looked at each other. It didn't take them long to realize why Danny acted like he exploded when they saw the ghost hovering behind Paulina.

"Oh crap, come on, Tucker!" Sam quickly said to her techno geek friend.

Tucker looked over at the blob ghost and gulped. "I hope Paulina will be grateful at the very least." He said as he stood up, ready to take action as needed.

Jazz and Andy ran through the employee's only door, and saw an exit door.

"I hope he's alright, I didn't expect that sudden outburst of rage. His emotional state must be in a worse place than we thought." Jazz frowned.

"I didn't expect it either," Andy admitted. "But let's try to catch up to him. I think he went this way, I doubt he'd run over to the employee office."

Both of them ran up to the exit door. Jazz and Andy slowly opened it up, and they saw Danny standing in the alleyway of the pharmacy. Danny appeared to be looking around, as if checking for… something.

What's he doing? Andy raised an eyebrow.

As soon as Danny deemed it safe, a bright light appeared around his waist. The light split into two rings, one going up and the other going down. But as the rings parted, there was a very familiar black and white hazmat suit that was appearing. The rings continued to split, moving up over Danny's face and down over his feet. The ring moving upwards revealed Phantom's tan skin, glowing green eyes, and white hair in place of Danny's pale skin, blue eyes, and black hair. The rings finally faded, revealing Danny Phantom.

"WHAT THE FUDGE POP ON A SUNDAE!?" Andy shouted in shock without meaning to.

This caused Phantom, who had been about to fly off in order to get back into the building, to stop dead in his tracks. He spun over to where Jazz and Andy were, and he felt his heart stop. Not that he was sure his heart was beating in this form, but now wasn't the time for semantics.

"Uhhhh…. How much of that did you two see?" Phantom nervously asked.

Jazz was frozen with shock and disbelief. Andy, however, walked up to Phantom so he could face him eye to eye.

"... You better start explaining right now, because I just saw my brother suddenly turn into my ghostly friend right before my eyes, and I'm sure you wouldn't want me coming to my own conclusions," Andy warned.

"Um… right…" Phantom said nervously before sighing and rubbing the back of his neck. "Well… that accident… Um… may have done more to me than I told you about…"

Andy narrowed his eyes. "No crap, Sherlock! Tell me something, are you actually Danny right now? Or do you have some kind of… what's the word… is this like where Phantom is a different spirit in your body, and you two switch whenever you… uh… transform? Or are you just Danny no matter which form you take?"

Andy was having trouble trying to wrap his mind around the fact his brother Danny, and his ghostly friend Phantom, were in fact the same person. He had seen them as different people for so long that despite seeing it before his eyes, he just couldn't believe they were the same person.

Phantom paused, not sure how to best respond to that. However, he had a feeling Andy would not like it if he tried to lie, so he decided to just be honest. "To be honest, I am Danny…" Phantom admitted at last. "That… accident gave me ghost powers…"

Andy was silent for a moment, which made Phantom nervous. He hadn't felt this nervous about Andy's reaction to his ghost form since the night he decided to try to show Andy his ghost form for the first time.

"I… I see…" Andy said quietly. "That… that explains why when Desiree was knocking you around, you didn't get hurt nearly as much as you should've. And why you're able to sense ghosts. And why you never wanted to be around Phantom, or why Phantom always seemed nervous if I tried to get him to see Danny. But…"

Andy frowned. "You… truly aren't a different person as Phantom? You've… always just been my brother this entire time?"

Phantom gave Andy a nervous look that only Danny could give. "I… didn't want you to freak out…"

"Freak out? That's a little late now, don't you think?" Andy replied before rubbing his head. "All this time… The Phantom was… my brother had been a ghost… how did I not see it for so long?"

Jazz had been watching the two of them quietly. She had been just as shocked as Andy was when she saw her brother transform, but it looked like this hit Andy way harder than her. It took a moment for Jazz to understand why. All this time, Andy thought Phantom and Danny were separate people… so the fact that he found out they were the same… It was like being told a friend had never been real.

"Andy? Are you okay?" Phantom asked in concern, noticing Andy didn't seem to be taking this revelation too well.

"Do you think I'm okay!?" Andy snapped, but he realized that he wasn't helping with his reaction.

Andy gave a melancholic expression. "The only reason you're here now… that you… transformed… is because someone is in danger, right? You go and help them… I need some time to… wrap my head around this."

Phantom wanted to help Andy too though. He had the feeling Andy was more important. Agunimon could handle that blob ghost.

"Phantom!" Sam called out, not having seen Andy and Jazz witnessing the transformation, ran over to him. "What are you doing? You have to help! There's a ghost attacking people in the pharmacy!"

Phantom felt this thing in his chest aching, like it was torn on what to do. "I…"

Andy looked at Phantom. "What are you still doing here? You have a duty to protect people from ghosts, right? Stop standing here and go do it!"

Jazz walked over, seeing the situation was starting to get out of control. "It's… alright. You go on ahead. I'll keep an eye on Andy."

Phantom frowned, but nodded. "I'll be back…" He said softly before turning intangible and flying into the building.

Jazz looked at Andy. "Are you okay, Andy?" She asked at last, placing a hand on Andy's shoulder.

"What's going on? Did we miss something?" Tucker asked in concern, noticing the tension. "Did you and Phantom have a fight?"

Sam frowned as well. Something wasn't right, this went beyond just a spat between Phantom and Andy. Jazz looked pretty pale herself. Sam began to have a bad feeling in her gut. "Did… you two… see something?"

"We'll… be fine," Jazz said as she looked at Sam and Tucker. "You two go on ahead. I think Andy just needs some time to rest."

Sam frowned, as did Tucker. "If… If you're sure…" Sam began, uncertain if this was a good thing or not.

"But we want to know what happened, once this whole ghost fight is over." Tucker finished.

Tucker and Sam heard a lot of fighting in the building, so they ran back in case Danny needed their help.

Andy turned to Jazz. "You… saw it too, right? It… wasn't just some weird illusion or dream?"

"As much as I would like to convince myself it was an illusion or dream, I can't deny it happened either…" Jazz admitted at last.

Andy looked away from Jazz. "I guess… there's no point in trying to deny it then… our brother's a ghost."

It felt like a slap to the face when Andy said it out loud. Both siblings knew what a ghost was, and what that meant if someone was a ghost. What Andy just essentially said was 'our brother is dead'.

Jazz knew she had to keep herself together for herself, and her little brother's sake. "Come on, let's get out of this alleyway. I'm sure… Danny can explain everything to us at home. We shouldn't be here… that ghost could come and attack us at any moment."

Jazz was still trying to wrap her mind around this whole thing, but Andy… Jazz worried how Andy was taking this.

---

Meanwhile, back in the pharmacy, Agunimon had been the first to show up on the scene. He managed to tackle the blob ghost away from Paulina. Paulina ran away in fear. Other people were starting to panic as the two fought. At some point during the battle, the blob ghost transformed itself into a ghostly cougar. It attacked viciously.

"Do you really think your digital armor can keep you safe from real ectoplasm!?" The cougar roared as he slashed at Agunimon's arm. "I'll bite a huge chunk of it off once I soften it up!"

Agunimon growled as three slashes were left in his left forearm's armor. "You won't get that chance!" He hissed as he lunged at the ghostly cougar again. "I won't let you hurt anyone here!"

"What makes you think you can stop me!?" The ghost cougar growled before he bit down on Agunimon's forearm, trying to rip the armor off.

The ghost cougar was suddenly grabbed from behind and ripped away from Agunimon's arm. Agunimon was relieved to see Phantom was here to back him up. However, Phantom was acting a little differently. Usually Phantom would've said some kind of quip or witty banter, but all he did was yank the cougar off of Agunimon before throwing him to the ground and shooting a ghost ray at it. That wasn't like Phantom.

What's going on? Phantom's never like this normally… Agunimon thought in concern. However, he shoved it from his mind for the moment, as Phantom would need his help. I can worry about it later. The ghost cougar comes first!

Agunimon ran back to the battle, calling forth his Pyro Darts and throwing the fiery bits at the ghostly jungle cat.

The ghostly cougar roared in anger as the little fiery bits were burning his back and tail. Danny fired another ghost ray at the cougar.

"Let's just get this over with. I have more important things to do than to tame a stupid cat," Phantom grumbled moodily.

"Aww, what's wrong? Is the little loser ghost getting tired? Of course you can't handle me without the help of some digital being," The cougar taunted.

Agunimon frowned. If Phantom was already upset, that comment was sure to make the ghost boy blow his top.

However, Phantom didn't seem to care what the cougar just said, in fact, Phantom didn't even look like he was paying attention to the fight. Phantom looked like he was mentally far away, and was worried about something. But this distraction gave the cougar ghost the opportunity it needed to launch itself at Phantom.

"LOOK OUT!" Agunimon warned.

This snapped Phantom out of his trance in time to see the incoming cougar. He quickly flew back, though the cougar did manage to grab a piece of his suit, tearing it a bit, and the force caused Phantom to hit a well.

"Leave him alone!" Agunimon exclaimed as he ran and tackled the ghostly cougar from behind. "I'm your opponent, not him!"

"Please, you're not worth my time, digital being," The cougar growled. "You're not very good at battling."

"Try saying that with a Pyro Punch in your face!" Agunimon snapped as his fist was on fire.

The cougar ghost went intangible, and invisible, causing Agunimon's punch to not just miss, but also made Agunimon stumble forward as his punch ended up hitting nothing.

"H-hey!" Agunimon said as he regained his balance. "Where is he?" The Digimon looked around for any sign of the ghostly cat.

"Behind you!" Phantom shouted.

Agunimon yelped when he felt a heavy weight suddenly on his back, as well as sharp claws and teeth digging into his neck.

Tucker and Sam ran in, seeing Agunimon struggling. Seeing that someone who was their ally was in trouble, they decided to try to help him. Tucker aimed his wrist gun at the cougar, shooting it in the face, making it surprised and letting go of Agunimon. Sam followed it up by taking out her Fenton Lipstick and shooting an ecto laser at the cougar after it let Agunimon go, causing the cougar to fly back a few feet.

Angered by the interruption, the ghost cougar jumped at Sam and Tucker.

"No! You leave them alone!" Phantom shouted, flying at the cougar himself before it could reach his friends.

The ghost boy tackled the cougar ghost in mid jump, causing both of them to go rolling on the floor from the impact of the tackle. Because Phantom was off his game, however, the ghost cougar managed to pin Phantom to the floor.

Agunimon, seeing his chance when the cougar had Phantom pinned, and was distracted, he quickly ran over at the cougar with his right fist on fire.

Now I've got you! Agunimon thought just as he was just about to punch the ghostly cougar, making sure he didn't give anything about his plan away.

Unfortunately, Agunimon didn't take into account that Phantom would kick the cougar ghost off of him. This happened at the last second, so Agunimon looked down at Phantom's surprised eyes with his own horrified eyes as his Pyro Punch was coming in. Luckily for Agunimon, and Phantom, Phantom's reflexes were fast due to training, and he managed to roll himself to the side just enough to dodge the Pyro Punch. The Pyro Punch hit the floor, causing a rather large dent, and a nasty looking burn.

Crap! I almost hit Phantom! Agunimon realized, but he was also very glad that his attack had missed Phantom entirely. Thank you Andy for your training!

Phantom quickly flew up, glad that he managed to dodge the Pyro Punch. He didn't want to know how badly burnt, and messed up, his face could've been had he not dodged it.

The ghostly cougar, however, realized that he had gotten lucky there. If Phantom hadn't pushed him away when he did, he would've probably been a splatter of ectoplasm right now. He decided he shouldn't push his luck anymore, for now.

"Well, that's enough damage for one afternoon," The ghostly cougar said as he revered back to his blob form and flew up through the roof. "Ta-ta~"

This left Phantom, Agunimon, Tucker, and Sam in a rather messy pharmacy. But at least it was only that one area. Still, a lot of things got broken or messed up.

"Really hope they're ensured…" Tucker commented.

Phantom frowned, but the ghost getting away, while bad, wasn't really at the top of his worries right now.

Agunimon frowned as he watched the ghost leaving. He then turned his gaze to Phantom, wondering if the ghost boy was doing okay after that fight. "Um…" Agunimon began nervously. "Are… you doing okay, Phantom? I mean…" He trailed off, not sure what else to say.

Carefully, Agunimon reached out to put a hand on Phantom's shoulder, to try to reassure the ghost boy in his own way.

"I need to know, did you guys see Andy and Jazz?" Phantom asked, seeming to be ignoring Agunimon's attempt to try to reassure him.

Tucker and Sam frowned at Phantom's words. "We…" Sam began, but unsure if she should say they had or not.

Tucker, on the other hand, had no issues with saying so. "Yeah, we did. Why?" He asked.

Agunimon decided to watch and see what was going on. From what he was gathering, it sounded like this whole issue with Phantom during the fight was centered around Jazz and Andy.

"Are they still there or did they leave?" Phantom asked.

"I'm… actually surprised they didn't come to help, or at least Andy didn't come to help," Tucker admitted.

"Did something happen between you guys?" Sam asked in concern.

"You… could say that…" Phantom frowned. "I… really need to talk to them. I'm going to look for them, if they're not in the alleyway anymore, I'll see if they're back home."

Agunimon frowned. "Is that wise? You're not exactly… welcomed by the adult Fentons there."

Phantom looked at Agunimon. "I have to talk to them." He said seriously. "I can handle myself."

Agunimon was silent, but he finally nodded at Phantom, saying he understood.

Phantom flew up through the ceiling, coming out of the building's roof before he flew to the alleyway. He didn't see Jazz or Andy there. He quickly flew to the parking lot, and didn't see Jazz's car. It was likely Jazz led Andy to her car and drove off, hopefully back home. Phantom needed to explain the situation to them.

Phantom quickly flew back home. He knew he needed to be cautious around his parents while in this form, but his top priority right now was talking to his siblings, especially Andy. Andy didn't seem to be taking this too well, it seems to be just as Phantom had feared. He just hoped he could fix this before it gets out of hand.

---

Before long, Phantom had reached Fenton Works. He flew into the house while invisible and intangible, he was relieved to see Jazz and Andy in the living room. So they were here, but both of them were quiet. Neither of them said anything to the other, so Phantom could cross eavesdropping off his list. Guess I will have to confront them about it… I just hope it doesn't go sour…

Phantom sighed to himself before he dropped his invisibility. Jazz jumped at the sudden sight of Phantom. "Jeez! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"He does that, a lot," Andy said, though there didn't seem to be any humor in his tone.

Phantom winced at Andy's tone. Yep… Andy seems to be the most affected by what he saw… "Um… yeah… so… I guess I owe you two an explanation, huh?"

"That would be… nice, yeah," Jazz answered. "But… maybe you should… not be a ghost right now? Uh… I mean… look more human? Mom and Dad may… not take too kindly to a ghost kid being in the house."

Phantom nodded and summoned those rings back. Once more, they appeared around his waist in a flash of light before parting to reveal Danny again. The rings faded, and Danny stood there, rubbing the back of his neck. "Does… that make it better?"

Andy frowned. "So it's true then… you and Phantom… really were the same person…"

Jazz stood up and walked over to Danny, she looked more curious than scared. She even reached down and pinched his arm a little.

"Ow!" Danny yelped as he rubbed his arm. "Jeez… why did you pinch me?"

"Sorry, I'm just… I may not be a big ghost expert like our parents, but I was just curious to see if my hand could go through you," Jazz admitted. "Though your skin felt… real, just cold."

"Of course it's real. I'm not just a ghost," Danny sighed. "Okay, this might sound unbelievable, but try to hear me out. I'm not dead, I'm not all ghosts, the accident didn't kill me. I want to make that very clear right now. I'm only half ghost."

"Halfa…" Andy suddenly said.

"What?" Danny blinked.

"What Sidney, and the other ghosts called you before. 'Halfa'... half human, half ghost… it's starting to make sense…" Andy laughed, though he looked hysterical. "I was so blind to not have seen all the hints there, some of them had been blatantly obvious, yet I ignored it."

Danny frowned. "Andy… Are you… okay?" He asked in concern.

Jazz frowned as well.

"My brother was a ghost all this time…" Andy muttered. "Phantom was my brother… my brother was Phantom…"

Danny was worried and sighed. "I knew this would happen… you would freak out, and wouldn't see me as your brother, but as some freaky ghost kid."

"That's not it," Jazz spoke up, surprising Danny.

"Then what could it be?" Danny asked.

"How long has Andy been seeing… your ghost half?" Jazz asked.

"Um… since the… first few weeks after the accident…" Danny admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Were you two close as a ghost and a boy?" Jazz questioned.

Danny raised an eyebrow.

"What I mean is Andy was close to you as your ghost form?" Jazz clarified.

"I would say yeah, we were… why?" Danny asked.

Jazz could come out and say it, but she wanted Danny to understand exactly what was going on with Andy. "Well… try to imagine… You've known Tucker for a long time now, right? What if one day you discovered Tucker turned out to be Takuya all along? Tucker never actually existed, he had been your cousin. Everything you knew about Tucker was a lie."

Danny paled. "O-oh… Oh geez! I… Aw man! I'm such an idiot!" Danny groaned as he slumped down to the floor. "I was so concerned about keeping my ghost half a secret, I didn't consider all of that!"

Jazz looked over at Andy, who didn't seem to be paying attention to them. She looked back at Danny. "Well, it's not too late to fix your mistake. You did the right thing by coming over to explain what happened instead of trying to ignore it in hopes it would go away. Now… you should talk to Andy. I have a feeling he needs that more than just an explanation. I'll leave you two alone."

"What about you, Jazz?" Danny asked.

"You can talk to me later. But just know that I accept you and your ghost half, Danny. So don't worry about me right now." Jazz gave a reassuring smile.

Danny nodded as Jazz left. Looking at Andy, Danny sighed before walking over to his twin and sat down next to him on the couch. "Are you okay, Andy?" He asked at last.

"I don't know…" Andy admitted. "With Spectra trying to mess with my head, and finding out my ghostly friend wasn't even real just… it's a big shock… and a lot to take in…"

Danny looked down. "I… guess I didn't help with that whole thing. Kinda wanted to keep my… ghostly identity secret, you know? It was so much easier that way, but… I had been planning on telling you sooner or later. I just… didn't think you'd find out like that…"

"When you keep a secret that big from your family, especially your own twin brother, you are bound to get caught eventually," Andy stated. "You've had plenty of opportunity to tell me though, and I thought I made it clear that I would've been okay if you had been someone I knew. So why didn't you?"

"It… was just…" Danny sighed. "I… can't excuse my behavior, but I didn't want to overwhelm you with the idea of half ghosts being possible either. I mean, it's already a lot to take in, right?"

"I guess…" Andy sighed.

"Are you going to be okay? Knowing that… I'm half ghost?" Danny hesitantly asked, he had been worried about that the most.

"I'll admit, you being half ghost is quite a shock," Andy answered. "I'm still not entirely sure how to… process that, or even understand it. Ghosts have always been… an anomaly of things, but the most common thing is that they're spirits of people who died. But the fact you're alive… but also a ghost… that makes you a walking contradiction."

Danny wasn't sure if Andy was accepting him or not.

"Sorry, I'm rambling," Andy admitted as he tried to get his mind back on track. "I guess I'm avoiding an important subject…"

"Why?" Danny asked.

"Because… once we talk about it… that means I'll have to accept…" Andy hesitated. "... accept that…"

Danny frowned as he waited for Andy to finish his sentence, but his mind was worried. Accept what? That your brother is half dead? That your brother is a freak? That your brother isn't human anymore?

Andy sighed. "... Accept that Phantom… wasn't… real… my friend, the ghost boy I had bonded with, trained with, went to see at the park almost every night… wasn't real… It feels like… I just lost a friend… you know?"

Danny blinked. He hadn't expected that response from Andy, but for some reason, that response also hurt the most, like his heart was twisting with severe guilt. "Andy…"

Danny knew he had to say something though, he couldn't just leave things the way they were. "Phantom wasn't a lie, bro."

Andy looked at Danny.

"Just because Phantom turned out to be me, it doesn't mean those times we had together meant absolutely nothing," Danny explained. "I felt the bond you had with my ghost half. And I enjoyed our time together too while you grew more comfortable around Phantom. You gave me hope that the Fentons can change, that we don't all have to be ghost hating people. And that I knew at least someone from my family would accept me, and ghosts. I could tell you were also trying hard to learn more about me as a ghost, and was trying not to bring up too many personal questions. If Phantom had been a separate person, he would've been lucky to have had you as a friend. But… he wasn't a lie, everything we had been through was real. I'm still Phantom, bro, whether you know it or not."

Danny waited for Andy's response. For a while, Andy remained silent, seeming to be thinking. Danny was becoming anxious, but he wanted to wait for Andy to say something.

Finally, Andy did say something. "If you had been worried how I would take you being half ghost, or just a ghost in general… What made you decide to show me your ghost half? You could've easily not talked to me at all as a ghost, and I would've never bonded with Phantom."

"You… looked lonely. And… after I pushed you away, I felt bad so… I… wanted to slowly introduce you to my ghost half, so you could see not all ghosts are evil." Danny admitted at last. "And it seems to have worked. Well… to a degree anyway… I did intend it as a way to slowly ease you into being friends with a ghost before telling you I was your brother. But… as time went on, it got harder and harder to tell you."

"Why's that?" Andy questioned.

"It wasn't because I didn't trust you or anything," Danny quickly said. "It… well… At first I thought it was because I was worried you would freak out that I was a half ghost freak. But… thinking about it now… I realized that wasn't why I didn't tell you. It was… because of the friendship you had with my ghost half is why I didn't want to tell you. I… was scared that you'd treat me differently if you knew. That our friendship would be… ruined. I didn't want what we had to change. I… guess I just got used to you being my friend as Phantom, and my brother as Danny that I didn't want it to change in fear that things would get worse."

Andy sighed. "I… guess I understand…"

"You do?" Danny looked up.

"While you didn't consciously know, you subconsciously knew that I would be heartbroken if I found out Phantom was you," Andy explained. "And you were worried that I would be upset with you, and wouldn't want to talk to you again."

"Pretty much spot on…" Danny admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, I didn't want to hurt your feelings, bro, so that's kinda why I kept it quiet…"

"Heh…" Andy chuckled a little. "To think… that last goodnight I said to Phantom last night… would have truly been a last goodnight."

"Andy…" Danny frowned. "I… I'm sorry you had to find out this way, but…will you be okay?"

Andy gave a moment to sigh. "It might take me some time, but… I'll be okay. It's still a lot to take in, Phantom being you… or well, you being Phantom. You being half human, half ghost. What that means for us and… possibly our future. It's pretty overwhelming…"

"Yeah, it probably is." Danny agreed before a thought crossed his mind. "Wait… if Jazz and you know now… what about Takuya? He's… oh crap! He has no idea I'm Phantom… and I know his secret… How will he take it if he finds out I'm Phantom?!"

"He'll probably be shocked for a while, but once you explain the situation to him, I think he'd be grateful. He wasn't as close to Phantom as I was, and… he'd appreciate having a super powered cousin understanding his situation better than I can," Andy answered, seeming to be confident in how Takuya would take it. "But keep an eye on him just in case he doesn't take it well. I know Takuya pretty well, but I can't always be certain how someone would react."

"Yeah…" Danny sighed. "That's true."

"But are you going to tell him?" Andy asked. "You never technically told me, I had to find out by accident."

Danny grimaced. "I think telling him would be the best thing to do. I mean… What if he finds out the same way you did? He… may not take it well if that happens."

"Then don't wait to tell him," Andy said. "When he gets home, the best thing you can do is to tell him on your terms. You can talk to him alone, or I can be with you when you tell him."

Danny looked down in thought. While talking to Takuya on his own would probably be best, given his cousin could become Agunimon, a Digimon or whatever, Danny felt it would probably end badly if that was the case. Having Andy at his side would probably be better because Andy could help calm down Takuya if he reacted badly.

Finally Danny spoke up. "I… I don't want to tell him alone. It… would be better if you were there, bro, because you may be the one who can calm him down if he reacts badly."

"Okay. I don't think he'll hurt you, but if it'll help both of you feel better, I'll be there," Andy replied.

"Thanks, bro… I really owe you one." Danny smiled.

"Yes, you do," Andy said. "But… Thanks, for explaining the whole ghost thing. Honestly, if you hadn't… I probably would've thought you were dead, on top of Phantom being a lie. That… might've led me down a dark path if you ignored it."

Danny grimaced again. "Yeah… That would have not been a good time for both of us if that happened. And I don't want to think about it to be honest."

"Although I can't say things would've been any better if you had straight up told me you were Danny when I met with your ghost half," Andy remarked. "Sure maybe I wouldn't have had the whole 'Phantom is a lie' dilemma, but I would still have the whole 'my brother's a ghost' thing going on. So… even though I'll miss Phantom, I'm glad to have gotten to know your ghost half. I've gotten to be friends with a ghost too, helped him with his inner demons and let him be at peace with himself in his lair. And I got to see what other ghosts are like, always feeling confident that ghosts aren't all evil because I was friends with Phantom. So… thank you, Danny, really."

Danny blushed now. "A-Andy! Do you want me to become a Christmas tree?! You're making blush as hard as my ghost half!"

"Well it's the truth, it's not my fault you get embarrassed when I say good things about your little… experiment." Andy grinned a genuine grin. "But this is also a relief."

"It is?" Danny blinked.

"Since I know you and Phantom are one in the same, I can stop going out at 8 or 9 PM to that creepy park just to talk to you or see what's going on with you. I can just talk directly to the source at home," Andy stated before giving a mischievous grin. "And that means we can train for a much longer period of time~"

Danny blinked. "Um… I guess…" He said, not sure he liked how Andy said that last sentence. He seems to be going back to his old self, which is good, but… I worry about my near future…

Andy rubbed his head.

"Are you okay?" Danny asked in concern.

"Yeah… just still processing everything. I'll probably ask you a lot of questions later, but right now my head is a bit achy from information overload," Andy answered. "I think I can only handle being the mediator between you and Takuya tonight before I collapse."

"Yeah, just one thing at a time, bro." Danny agreed.

Danny was relieved, and glad, that Andy had accepted him. Andy may have been a bit heartbroken about Phantom, but he knew Andy will be fine. Danny was glad he had Andy befriend his ghost half, it looked like it had a positive effect on his brother. He just hoped Takuya would take it as well. After that… maybe he could tell his parents one day.

---

Takuya sighed as he opened the front door to Fenton Works, glad to be back at the house. The whole day had been crazy for him, what with the ghost fight and all, not to mention his concern about Phantom lately. Maybe I can get my mind off of Phantom for a while with a distraction or something…

Takuya just hoped that whatever was bothering Phantom wouldn't turn into something more serious later. He rubbed his head, hoping maybe Andy could talk to Phantom or something. Then again, apparently something happened between Phantom and Andy from what he could gather, but he wasn't sure. He needed to talk to Andy first to be sure.

As soon as Takuya opened the door to Fenton Works, and closed it behind him, he saw Andy sitting on the living room's couch. He was surprised to see Andy eating a piece of fudge, which was rare since usually only Jack really ate fudge in the family. Something must be bothering Andy, Takuya recalled how Andy would sometimes snack on things when he was feeling nervous about something.

"Andy? Are you okay?" Takuya asked as walked over, setting his backpack down on the couch closest to him. "I haven't seen you snack on something from nervousness in a while."

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just have a lot on my mind to unpack. I'm not looking forward to that," Andy sighed. "But more importantly, there's something I need to talk to you about… well, more like something my brother needs to tell you."

Andy looked around for a second. "Yo, bro! If you don't get out here, I will tell him myself!"

Takuya wondered where Danny was, because Andy was obviously talking to him, but there was no sign of the other twin.

"Alright! I'm coming!" Danny's voice said from seemingly nowhere, making Takuya jump.

Takuya blinked when he suddenly saw Danny when he could've sworn he hadn't seen Danny next to Andy before. Andy looked over at Danny, seeming to be used to this behavior. Then again, Andy did hang out with Phantom a lot. Still, it was weird that Danny was able to keep himself hidden so well like that.

"Did you have the cloak of invisibility or something?" Takuya questioned.

Andy started laughing. "Yes, something like that."

Danny gave a sheepish chuckle, rubbing the back of his head. He seemed very unsure about something, like he was nervous.

"So, um… What did you two want to talk to me about?" Takuya asked. "And does it have to do with how Danny seemed to just appear out of nowhere like that?"

"Yup," Andy replied and waited for a bit. He looked at Danny. "That's your cue, bro. I can't do all the talking for you."

Danny sighed. "Alright, alright. I'm just nervous, that's all…" Danny said before he closed his eyes and called forth the ring of light around his waist. The ring split and moved apart, one up and the other down. As the rings split, Takuya could see a familiar hazmat suit appearing and his eyes went wide.

Oh… Oh… holy… What the heck?! Takuya thought as he watched the rings split fully to reveal not Danny Fenton, but Phantom instead.

Danny, or Phantom now, gave a sheepish grin when the rings faded away. "Um… ta da?"

"What the hell?!" Takuya blurted out.

Andy quickly spoke up. "Alright, I know what this looks like. Try to remain calm, Takuya. This isn't Phantom taking over Danny, or Phantom somehow disguising himself as Danny. I've already gone through most of these questions with him."

"Then… how is Danny Phantom and vice-versa?!" Takuya hissed back. "Because I'm pretty sure humans aren't supposed to be able to turn into ghosts at a whim!"

"They normally can't," Andy said. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around this revelation myself."

Danny sighed as he knew he'd have to start talking more since Andy was there for support, but he still didn't really know much about Danny's position.

"It was the lab accident," Danny explained. "I was inside the Ghost Portal when I turned it on. You guys knew that, but… you didn't know how much it really affected me. We think my DNA got infused with the ectoplasm when the portal shocked me, and that gave me ghost powers and this ghost form. Although another theory is that I'm also half dead- but! I'm also still half alive! So try not to freak out about that! I am still half human, my heart is still beating! … Err, in my human form!"

Takuya tried to wrap his mind around this revelation, he really did, but it seemed all too surreal to him, like it wasn't even possible. "So, that lab accident gave you ghost powers via ectoplasm merging with your DNA…? Why does that sound like something out of a comic book?"

"You're the one asking me that?" Danny deadpanned.

"Hey! I'm just saying it sounds like something out of the comics! Person gets into an accident, person gets superpowers, person becomes a hero with said powers." Takuya countered. "What part of that doesn't sound like your own accident?"

"Uh… well…" Danny sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, not sure how to answer.

"More like a horror comic," Andy remarked.

"Why horror?" Takuya asked.

"He's a ghost! What part of that isn't horror?" Andy pointed out before giving Danny a curious look. "I wonder if that means you can transform into some kind of eldritch horror the stronger you get?"

Danny looked quite pale from that question. "Don't give me nightmares, bro! I'd rather not become some kind of monster the stronger I get!"

"But wouldn't that be cool?" Andy asked.

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Need I remind you of the dragon incident?"

Andy rolled his eyes. "I meant if you were still you and in complete control of it. Of course it'd be bad if you couldn't control it."

Takuya blinked, he couldn't believe how quick Andy was to just have his brotherly banter with Phanto- err, ghostly Danny. It was like the revelation hardly phased him.

"Um… Andy, I know you said you are trying to wrap your head around Danny being a ghostly kid, but… how can you just accept it so calmly? My mind is racing right now, trying to accept this!" Takuya exclaimed.

Andy and Danny both blinked at that question. It was true that Andy was pretty upset when he found out Danny was Phantom, but that was mostly because he felt Phantom had been a lie, not because his brother was a ghost. But after talking through that, Andy felt like Danny in either form was natural to him despite not realizing Danny and Phantom had been the same person for a few months.

"I guess I've just gotten so used to hanging out with Danny in both of his forms that after getting over the fact Phantom had been my brother all this time, it really doesn't bother me that much," Andy admitted.

Takuya had to admit, that was a good explanation. Then a thought crossed his mind. "Wait… if Danny has been Phantom this whole time… then does that mean he…?" Takuya trailed off, realizing something himself. "Oh… crap… Danny has known my own secret this whole time? I practically revealed it to him!"

"Yeah…" Danny sheepishly replied. "That was the next thing I wanted to tell you… but I wanted to wait until you calmed down after the first bomb shell before I told you I know about you being Agunimon."

"Crap…" Takuya groaned as he felt the need to sit down on the couch as well. "Ugh… First Danny being Phantom, now my own secret being known by him… This day is just too filled with revelations…"

"Hey, maybe it's a good thing though…" Danny smiled sheepishly. "I mean this way we don't have to keep such big secrets from each other anymore."

"I guess…" Takuya sighed. "Does anyone else know about you being… uh… half ghost?"

"Tucker and Sam know since they were there to witness the accident," Danny answered. "But they don't know about you being Agunimon. I did promise to keep your secret too after all."

Takuya gave a smile at that. "True." He admitted. "At least you had your friends to help you out before you told us."

Danny smiled sheepishly.

Takuya then had another thought enter his brain. "Wait… what about Jazz? Does she know about you being half ghost now or is she still in the dark on that?"

Danny sighed. "Jazz also knows about me being half ghost now too."

"Both Jazz and I saw Danny transform," Andy informed. "I ended up shouting when I saw that though."

"Which caught my attention and I knew I had screwed up," Danny grumbled.

"Although you should be glad I shouted when I did," Andy remarked. "Imagine if I had kept quiet and you flew off. You wouldn't know that Jazz and I saw you transform, then knowing Jazz, she'd tell me not to tell you that we saw you transform. That could've caused some issues later."

"Yeah, I don't want to know how that would've gone down, you keeping it quiet and all that." Danny admitted with a grimace. "You can get a bit… crazy… when you keep things to yourself, bro."

Takuya chuckled a bit at Danny's comment.

"I do not," Andy pouted. "Besides, you're the ghost here. Maybe you shouldn't be the one to keep things to yourself. Look at how the Lunch Lady turned out with her meat obsession not being met at school."

"Hey! What does that have to do with me keeping things to myself?" Danny pouted back.

"Need I remind you of the dragon incident? All the stress you had? Not being able to tell me half of your problems because of you keeping your ghostly secret from me?" Andy pointed out. "I have a long list, I can keep going."

Danny groaned. "Only you would keep a list, bro…" He grumbled. "But I get it, I get it! I shouldn't have kept you, Jazz, and Takuya in the dark with my ghostly secret."

"Or at least with me, your own twin brother," Andy remarked, crossing his arms.

Danny rolled his eyes. "Are you holding a grudge?"

"Nah, I just think it's fun messing with you." Andy grinned. "Besides, maybe I am getting some kind of revenge for lying to me for so long."

Danny pouted. "You're so mean when you want to be, bro…" He whined.

Takuya couldn't help but bust out laughing at the banter between the brothers. It was so odd seeing Danny, as a ghost, still bantering with Andy like nothing was wrong. One twin was in his ghost form, the other was a living human, and yet they were teasing each other like both were either ghosts or alive.

"What's so funny!?" Both twins frowned at the laughing Takuya, which just made Takuya laugh harder.

"Oh, gosh! Hahahaha! You two really haven't changed! Hahahaha!" Takuya laughed.

"And apparently neither have you." Andy rolled his eyes.

"But really, what's so funny?" Danny asked, clueless as to what was so hilarious.

Takuya only laughed harder.

Finally, Takuya began to calm down. "Oh… Oh gosh… I haven't laughed that hard since the three of us got into the candy jar on Christmas when I was 5 and you two were 4!"

"Well, maybe now you can tell us what was so funny." Danny said as he folded his arms.

"Just… the two of you, teasing each other! Both of you were bantering like nothing was wrong, but one twin is a ghost, and the other is human! It was so odd to see the two of you teasing each other while like that, I couldn't help but find it funny." Takuya chuckled sheepishly.

Danny and Andy looked at each other for a moment, before they both grinned as they looked at Takuya.

"Then let's see what kind of mischief a human and a ghost can get into~" Andy said.

"Yes, let's~" Danny grinned as well.

Takuya paled. "W-wait! I didn't mean to laugh! There's no need to get into mischief!" He exclaimed. "I'm sorry! Really!"

"Oh? Why not? I've always wanted to get into mischief with my ghost half~" Danny grinned mischievously.

"And I have a few ideas of how he can do that with a certain laughing cousin~" Andy grinned mischievously as well.

Takuya suddenly wished he was anywhere but here.

---

"What happened to you?" Jazz asked Takuya when she went downstairs to see how her brothers were doing.

Takuya had fudge sauce all over him. Though in retrospect, this was a pretty tame prank considering how much worse a ghost and a human could've done.

"Payback for laughing at the irony of a certain situation between the living and the dead…" Takuya grumbled.

Jazz couldn't help but laugh herself. "I guess they just wanted to see how well they could work together now that the cat's out of the bag."

"And I got the brunt of the results…" Takuya groaned. "My and my big mouth…"

"We should get you cleaned up," Jazz chuckled. "Where are Danny and Andy though?"

"Andy said he's going to head to bed for the night. Despite his banter with Danny, I think the revelation made him tired," Takuya replied. "Though I'm not sure about Danny. He followed Andy upstairs though."

"I see," Jazz noted. "I'm not sure if this sense of normalcy will last forever though. Andy's coping, but once he gets enough rest, there's bound to be a lot of uncertainty and questions on his mind."

Takuya frowned at hearing that. "Yeah, I suppose there will be." He agreed. "And if it gets to be too much, it may make Danny uncomfortable too. Someone will need to keep an eye on Andy just in case to make sure he doesn't go too overboard with the questions."

Takuya then realized something. "What about you? You just found out Danny is… well, not all human. How are you taking it?"

"I'll admit, I am still pretty shocked about it," Jazz admitted. "But at the same time, I know he's been protecting people from ghost attacks, and even working with an armored man with fire powers, so I'm actually really proud of him for being responsible with his powers. Well, as responsible a 14 year old boy could be with such powers anyways."

Takuya gave a small grin at that. "Yeah, I guess that's something to be proud of for sure." He admitted. "At least Danny's doing some good with his powers, so I can't complain too much." He then sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "I'll admit… it… will take some time for me to adjust to Danny being Phantom, but… I think I will come to accept it soon enough."

"Yeah, I think the same could be said for me and Andy too," Jazz agreed. "But Danny is still Danny, so I'm sure we'll be able to adjust to it before long."

Jazz then smiled. "This gave me inspiration for my Spirit Week speech though. And I hope when Danny hears it, it'll lift his spirit too."

Takuya couldn't help but laugh at the irony of that statement. "Oh jeez! Danny is a spirit and you want to lift his spirit!" He exclaimed.

Jazz pouted a bit. "It's not that funny! I'm trying to do something good for Danny!"

"Sorry, sorry… It's just that the statement was sort of ironic." Takuya chuckled apologetically.

"I see you're feeling quite giddy tonight. No wonder my brothers poured chocolate sauce on you," Jazz chuckled. "You better take a shower and get some sleep too. We do have school tomorrow."

Takuya sighed, "Yeah, I'd better go do that." He agreed. "I don't want to wake up with dried chocolate sauce in my hair."

Takuya then proceeded to make his way to the bathroom to get cleaned up, and then to get some sleep in his room.

---

I was running… running as fast as I could… what am I running from? I don't know, it's dark and hard to see. But from what I could make out, there was also green in the area I was in. I was starting to run out of breath.

I tripped and fell over, hitting a hard surface.

"A-Andy! You have to stand up!" A small, unfamiliar voice said to me frantically. "They're getting closer!"

I couldn't see who, or what, was speaking to me. All I saw was a small shadow beside me. I pushed myself up and started running again.

I didn't know what was going on. I just felt scared, angry, and upset about something. Something had happened, but… why can't I remember? Why am I running? Who's running beside me? Why are they running beside me?

Despite not knowing anything, I pushed myself to keep running. I knew I had a reason to run, and I needed to escape. Not knowing made it scarier.

"They're coming from the front! We have to jump!" The small voice spoke up urgently.

I gasped when I saw shadowy figures coming at me from the dark and green sky.

"I… can't move…" I said weakly. "No… more… energy…"

"I'll protect you, Andy!" The small voice spoke up, sounding determined but also scared themselves.

Who is this being? Why are they trying to protect me? Protect me from what?

"You can't escape," A voice I never heard before spoke calmly yet in an annoyed tone. "Stop trying to run like a child."

"Andy! Get up! We need to move!" The small voice begged me.

"It's no good…" I said weakly.

Is this… my fate? Could I only accept the inevitable? Why… why did this have to happen?

There was a distorted roar from behind me. I turned around only for everything to go black.

---

Andy sat up in bed, covered in sweat. "WAAAHAAAAH!?"

Danny jolted awake in his own bed at hearing Andy's scream. "WHA!" Danny then fell out of bed after a bit of flailing around. "Ooof!"

Andy was panting, checking himself over to make sure he hadn't been ripped to pieces by whatever made that distorted roar behind him. It also took him a minute to realize he was in bed, back in his room. He wasn't in that dark place with the green sky, nor was he being chased by shadows, or had this small shadow creature following him.

That was… a dream? Or… rather, a nightmare… it felt so real though. Andy frowned, calming himself down.

"Ugh… Ow…" Danny groaned as he sat up. "Geez, bro! You screamed so loud, you woke the dead… literally in my case."

Danny always wanted to make dead jokes with Andy, but he held back because Andy wouldn't get why he would be making such jokes in the first place.

Andy blinked a few times, and saw Danny on the floor. "Danny? Why are you on the floor?"

"You woke me up." Danny explained. "And I had no idea if there was a ghost or not, so I was just… flailing around and then… out of bed I went."

"O-oh…" Andy blinked, it took a solid minute for him to remember Danny was Phantom since he was still used to them being two different people. "Uh, sorry about that, bro. I had a really… really vivid nightmare. I thought some kind of shadow beast was trying to pounce me."

"Oh… wow… That does sound like a nightmare." Danny said with a frown as he got untangled from his sheets by simply going intangible and then becoming solid once he was out of the sheet mess. "Do… Do you want to talk about it or are you okay now that you are awake?"

"Well… it's kind of hard to describe it," Andy admitted. "I wasn't sure what was going on for most of it. All I knew was that I was on the run from something. I felt very emotionally distressed, like something really, really bad just happened. I was somewhere dark, and I think the sky had faints of green. There was some kind of small creature following me, but I couldn't really see what they were, or who they were. They had a small, high pitched voice though. They seemed to be trying to help me get away from whatever I was running from, but I felt exhausted and couldn't keep going. And eventually, these… shadow beings started coming at me from the sky, saying about how I couldn't escape."

Danny frowned. "No wonder you were screaming when you woke up." He said softly. "I would've been screaming from that kind of nightmare too." He then rubbed the back of his head. "But… after that nightmare… do you feel like you can get back to sleep or… would you like me to… sleep in your bed with you to help you get to sleep?"

It had been a long time since Danny and Andy slept in the same bed. But they would occasionally do that if one of them felt upset about something and didn't want to be alone. However…

"Aren't you kind of cold to cuddle with?" Andy asked.

"Um… I may be, but it may help you sleep." Danny admitted sheepishly. "Um… being cuddled with I mean! If I feel too cold, you can use a blanket to keep warm!"

"Probably a good idea," Andy replied.

Danny ended up being wrapped up in his own blanket like a burrito, and Andy cuddled with him. Danny didn't mind it, especially if it helped his brother sleep better.

Thankfully, there weren't any more nightmares for Andy that night.

---

The next morning, Danny and Andy sat down for breakfast with their family. Takuya and Jazz were eating bacon and eggs. Takuya slid a plate of bacon and eggs to the twins. Jack and Maddie were talking about their latest ghost invention at the table.

"So we call it the Fenton Ghost Peeler," Jack informed. "It's supposed to peel ghosts apart like an onion, showing their true selves."

"The Peeler is also meant to put an armor around the user to keep them protected from the radiation," Maddie explained. "As well from the ghost itself. Though we're still trying to work out the kinks."

"I'm just glad you didn't destroy the couch this time," Jazz remarked.

"Yeah…" Jack trailed off sheepishly. "That was not one of my best moments…"

"Uncle Jack destroyed the couch?" Takuya blinked.

"Don't ask." Jazz grumbled.

Danny gave a grimace at the idea of a ghost being peeled apart like an onion. The whole image made him shiver and feel sick to his stomach.

Andy noticed Danny looking sick and gave a comforting pat on the shoulder. Now that he knew Danny was Phantom, he had to treat Danny like he was Phantom too, and he knew Phantom wouldn't like all this talk about peeling ghosts apart.

Danny felt a little better with the comforting touch of his brother. He knew Andy would never let their parents do that to him.

Takuya reached out and squeezed Danny's shoulder as well, showing he too supported Danny and wouldn't let anything happen to him either.

Danny felt calmer with both his cousin and brother supporting him, as his posture relaxed and he no longer felt so tense.

Jazz looked at the Fenton Peeler that her dad was holding and a thought occurred to her. Maybe I should take some Fenton gadgets to defend myself… and maybe I should also take away some of their weapons. I can't have them using that on Danny.

"So, Jazz, are you excited for your spirit week speech?" Maddie asked, thankfully changing the subject from ghost peeling. "You've been working pretty hard on your speech this whole week. I hope you're not too nervous about it."

Jazz remembered her speech and regained her sense of thought. "Oh! Yes! Yes, I am very excited about it! I've worked super hard on the speech, and I can't wait to give it to the school." Jazz said with a smile. While some of her smile was just for show, she really was excited too, so her smile came off as genuine in the end.

Danny raised an eyebrow at Jazz's excitement. It was just a speech, he didn't see any reason to get so excited for it. If anything, he wanted this whole spirit week thing to end as soon as possible and get that Spectra woman fired as soon as possible.

"Then I look forward to hearing it," Andy chuckled. "It looks like the school could use it." Considering most of the students look dead, even more so than my half ghost brother.

Jazz frowned a little before smiling again. "Yeah, I'm sure it will work up their spirits for sure."

"Just don't push yourself too hard, Jazzypants," Jack spoke up. "Sometimes people can be difficult to work with, but if I know my daughter, you're capable of bringing up tons of spirits!"

"Thanks, Dad, I'll keep that in mind." Jazz smiled.

Since Jazz no longer thought her parents were a couple of ghost hunting freaks, she could see that they genuinely did care for their kids. They were just really passionate with their work, and their research on ghosts.

Danny groaned. "Let's just get to school and get the speech over with. I'd rather not deal with a bunch of whining, moaning students who complain about how their lives may or may not go downhill after they graduate." He muttered. "This speech better bolster their spirits for the near future."

"Look at who's complaining now," Andy chuckled while Danny rolled his eyes.

---

Jazz had to get ready for the speech, so Andy, Danny, Takuya, Tucker and Sam met up with each other in the hallway. They already went through homeroom, and were getting their books ready for the next class when Sam couldn't help but speak up.

"Um… is it just me or is this the worst spirit week in the history of spirit weeks?" Sam asked, gesturing to all the soul drained students who were just walking around like a bunch of sad zombies.

"I don't think half of them even bothered to clean up after getting out of bed," Andy remarked.

"It's so weird. I don't think most of these students even care about themselves anymore." Takuya said with a frown.

Dash and Kwan were talking about their low paying job futures while Valerie and Paulina were more concerned about their physical appearances and gaining wrinkles too soon.

"I think most of the students acting like this is because of Dr. Spectra." Tucker noted with a frown. "This all started to happen when the student body began to see her for 'sessions'."

"Another day, another 24 hours closer to a career of pumping gas…" Dash grumbled, his skin looking pale, and his hair looked messed up. Not to mention his jacket looked quite wrinkled.

"At least you'll have a job. Apparently I'm going to end up a hobo." Kwan frowned. "I may not get as good grades as my cousins, but I didn't think that set my future in stone like that! We haven't even had the C.A.T. yet!"

"I'd still like to know how Spectra got away with literally telling a student they're going to grow up to be a homeless, jobless, miserable person." Andy frowned.

Paulina and Valerie were walking by, both looked quite tired, and Paulina's hair was even messy. That was a definite red flag.

"Did you know wrinkles could start emerging as early as your mid 20s?" Paulina said to Valerie, making both of them worried for their skins.

Just stay out of the sun. Andy frowned.

Takuya frowned at hearing the words of these four students. "I'd like to know how we can stop Spectra to be honest."

"We still don't know if she's a ghost or human, and that's our biggest problem, isn't it?" Sam asked.

"Could a human make this many people this miserable in a short amount of time though?" Tucker questioned.

"Well, considering this school is full of insecure teens, I'd say it wouldn't be that hard for a ghost or human to pull that off," Andy remarked.

"There has to be some clue we could go with though…" Danny frowned.

"Only a few of our group got to see Spectra, do you think…" Andy started before he began thinking. "I remember her room was really cold, so much so I could see my own breath. Why would she feel the need to keep her room that cold?"

Danny then perked up. "Wait… cold…" He muttered. "Hey, Tuck, do you still have those pictures of me and the… well… Do you still have those pictures of me on your PDA?"

"Um… well I do, but I've been meaning to delete it," Tucker sheepishly answered, holding out his PDA.

Danny took Tucker's PDA before he sorted through the pictures before landing on the one of him in the suit while in Spectra's office. A part of Danny wondered if Tucker stuck his PDA in the room like a hidden camera and somehow made it to take a picture of him in the room.

"Why do you want to see it?" Tucker asked.

Danny grinned when he saw the picture he was looking for. "There we are! I'm glad you didn't delete it yet. Looking back, I kept thinking I was seeing my breath, that I was just cold. But Andy reminded me of something. My ghost sense. It's blue, and comes out in a mist. What if that was my ghost sense was acting up?"

Takuya gave it some thought. Usually he could sense ghosts just like Danny could. It made sense if Danny thought his ghost sense was just him being cold, but Takuya's sense was usually inward. Though he had trouble remembering if he sensed anything off about Spectra or not.

"Are you sure that's your ghost sense though? The rest of us had the same blue mist coming out of our mouths in her office too," Sam asked. "I'm not trying to doubt you, but I want to make sure we explore every possibility before jumping to conclusions."

"But how are we going to know?" Tucker asked.

"I suppose one way to find out is if someone goes into her office while invisible, and catches her red handed," Andy remarked nonchalantly.

Danny blinked. "Wait… are you talking about me going into Spectra's office?" He asked Andy, pointing at himself.

Andy looked at Danny. "Nooo, I'm talking about the wizard with the cloak of invisibility."

Danny pouted. "No need to get snippy about it."

"Are you sure, Andy?" Takuya asked. "That could put her on high alert. Someone would have to go into her office and distract her before that happens."

"Well someone would have to go to her office regardless. How else is our local ghost boy going to catch her in the act?" Andy replied. "Since she doesn't seem to want to make you miserable, Takuya, I'll volunteer to go."

"Maybe Tucker or I should go, we're the only ones, besides Jazz, who hasn't had a session with Dr. Spectra," Sam spoke up.

"I don't know. She might really mess you two up if you go," Andy said in concern. "I'd rather you didn't risk your psyche for this."

"No way, Andy. Tucker and I can do this. If anything, you may be needed to help with Spectra." Sam insisted.

"Yeah, and this way, Sam and I help you guys out." Tucker agreed.

"I'm not sure what I can do to help against Spectra if she is a ghost," Andy sighed. "But are you sure you both want to do this? There's no telling what kind of weakness she'll pick at from both of you."

"If she does find something to pick at with both of us, then at least give Spectra a good butt kicking for us." Sam said. "Tucker and I do want to do this."

"Yeah, we'll totally expose her for ya." Tucker grinned.

"Alright, you two be careful," Danny said. "We know Spectra is a wolf in sheep's clothing, try not to let her tear at you too much."

"We will definitely try to keep our heads about us." Sam reassured Danny.

Danny blushed a tiny bit at Sam's reassurance, but he did his best to hide it.

"C'mon, Sam. We have to go see 'Dr.' Spectra." Tucker said as he took Sam's hand and began to lead her away with him.

Andy sighed as they walked away. "They're so going to regret this."

---

Sam and Tucker walked out of Spectra's office, both looking like they had the life sucked out of them.

"I so regretted that…" Tucker grumbled.

"I so regretted that more…" Sam agreed as they walked out.

Spectra waved at the two as they left. "Buh-bye! And remember, there's only an 'I' in 'Misery' if you spell it that way!"

She then shut the door, which was the perfect time for Danny, in his Phantom form, to enter in through the door while invisible and intangible.

While Danny was doing so, Andy and Takuya were standing outside, waiting. While they were waiting, Takuya decided to bring something up.

"So… now that you've had time to think about it… how do you feel about Danny and Phantom being the same person?" Takuya asked.

"Honestly, I'm still trying to get my brain to remember that Danny and Phantom are the same person. I'm still used to seeing them as different people," Andy sighed.

"But… are you still upset about it?" Takuya asked.

"Well… I will miss the idea that Phantom was a new friend I've made over the past few months," Andy admitted. "I felt like had I gotten closer to him, I may have got to hear about his past, who his family were and what they were like. I was pretty interested in that, and had theories about it all. Although, it's kind of funny how I already knew his past, and I am a part of his family. I guess in a way, this is also a relief too. Since Phantom is my brother, I don't have to work on helping him get over his fears of talking to other Fentons and other people, and I don't have to worry about him being lonely when I'm not able to talk to him outside of school."

Andy sighed. "I'll admit, it's still a lot to take in, nevermind the implications of what a half ghost is supposed to be. But since Phantom had been a friend of mine, I think I just find it easier to accept that my brother is a ghost."

Takuya ran a hand through his hair. "I'm… still trying to get used to it myself, but since I've been around Phantom too, I guess it's kinda easier in a way to accept that Danny is Phantom. It's just… I can't really wrap my mind around the fact Danny is part ghost at the moment. It's going to be taking some getting used to for sure."

"I think I'm just going numb at this point," Andy chuckled. "I mean look at you and your transformation. I think the only thing I have to worry about right now is getting jealous of you and Danny… or maybe the correct term is envious. I mean come on, between the two of you, I've got nothing going on for me."

Takuya frowned. "Andy, that's not true. You have plenty going on for you. I mean, you come up with our battle strategies for crying out loud! I mean, look at what you did at that reunion! You were the one who came up with our plan for fighting that dracula wannabe, Plasmius! If not for that, we may have lost, and not just against Plasmius."

"Jeez, relax Takuya, it's not like I was being serious," Andy chuckled. "I know I can help in my own way. But you know… superpowers are pretty cool too, can't blame me for being interested in that."

Takuya chuckled as well. "Yeah, I guess you can't help being interested in superpowers. I mean, they are pretty cool. Danny going through walls and floors, flying, being invisible, the whole shebang. That's pretty cool. Not that I can complain. Being able to manipulate and control fire is pretty cool too."

"Although it was pretty funny when we were trying to get you to fly and go through walls, and you just crashed into the ground and the walls," Andy chuckled.

Takuya grimaced. "Yeah, not my best moments…" He admitted. "But seriously, I need to learn to fly so I can keep up with Danny. I might be faster while spirit evolved as Agunimon, but I can't run at the speeds Danny can reach while flying."

"We still haven't found a good time to train you on how to use your flames on your feet like jets," Andy sighed. "Or a good place to do it. The park is a good open place, but you could easily be spotted by bystanders. The lab is too small for flying lessons even if we expand it."

Danny suddenly flew out of the office and changed back to human once he reached Andy and Takuya. "We've got a problem."

"What's wrong?" Andy asked.

"So, I got inside Spectra's office, but when I did, I saw her sucking in this green energy, and she turned young again. She mentioned Sam and Tucker being waterfalls of misery, so I assume that green energy was their misery she leeched off of them. But then that green blob ghost came in and Spectra began talking to him." Danny began.

Danny then took a breath before continuing. "Spectra mentioned hooking up a device to the Spirit Sparklers. Apparently, the Spirit Sparklers are to vaporize the only chipper student left in the whole school, and that student is Jazz! When Jazz gets vaporized, then the whole school will be her feeding frenzy to stay young forever!"

"What!?" Andy frowned. "So their solution to staying 'young' is to just kill off one person who's not miserable? Wait, they're ghosts, why would they need to 'stay young'?"

"Can those questions wait? Jazz is in danger!" Takuya urgently replied.

"I know that!" Andy snapped before sighing. "We need to stay calm though. Danny, you and Takuya will have to take care of Spectra and her blob ghost. I'll see if I can keep Jazz away from the 'Spirit Sparklers'."

Danny and Takuya both nodded before Takuya spoke to Andy.

"Be careful, Andy. Just… don't get anywhere near those 'Spirit Sparklers' yourself." Takuya said with a slightly worried tone.

"I don't want you to get hurt either, bro." Danny said softly.

"Don't worry about me," Andy said. "I'll be fine. Just focus on Spectra and her assistant before they try to hurt anyone else."

"Okay. We'll come and see if you and Jazz are okay as soon as we can," Danny quickly said.

Takuya grabbed Danny's arm gently. "Let's go, Danny. We need to handle those two ghosts so Andy can do his thing and save Jazz."

Andy started rushing to the gym since he knew that was where the speech was going to take place. He just hoped he would get there in time.

---

Titanic X: DarkFoxKit: Thanks, I finally came up with a nickname Jack would call Andy, and I liked 'Andyroo', so I needed a backstory for why Jack would call him that. XD

Son Sandy: ZAFT: I've seen so many Danny adopted by Batman fics on AO3, I can see why you would say that about Andy. XD

DarkFoxKit: I always wanted to imagine Andy is a genius in his own right. He's not a genius in inventing things like his parents, or booksmart like his sister. Danny is able to adapt rather quickly, and I like how some fanfics made it so he could learn the start patterns easily due to his interest in them, so that could be his own form of genius. I needed something for Andy, and him being good with people, seeing from a different perspective seemed like a good hook for him. As for Mr. Lancer, while I do agree with your statement about underestimating Danny, and favoring Jazz, I don't dislike him for it. For one, he's a cartoon teacher, it's part of the norm. But second, we should also look at it from his perspective. He sees Danny as a troubled child who's making problems and making his job that much more stressful and harder, while Jazz is the star student who scores high in her grades and never causes trouble. Of course he was going to underestimate the troubled child and favor the star student.

CT7567Rules: ZAFT: Well, here, Jazz has caught on at least. In terms of Mr. Lancer, he is trying, but he doesn't truly understand from a kid's perspective that much. And as for why Jazz doesn't stop the bullying, she is in a different year, and most likely doesn't go into the same classrooms as Danny. I get what you're saying, but not everyone can be everywhere at once. ^^'

DarkFoxKit: If you want my take on the matter, it's easy for people to ignore the harm Penelope is doing, because of her status, or a status she has the adults think she has. Manipulation makes one ignore the obvious red flags. Not only that, the adults see a quiet child just studying, eating, and going to bed early as a good child rather than a child who's miserable and needs help. Not unless the child themselves tell them, which, unfortunately, is quite rare as they don't want to disappoint their parents or teachers. And Spectra could've made the students believe they're the problem, and that they need to be the 'good child' their parents and teachers want them to be. Heck, Andy actually fell for the manipulation, twice, despite being aware of it. It's easier to fall for than you think.

ZAFT: As for Danny's… humiliation… Yeah, that was pretty low of Spectra to do that. And while BlackWarGreymon would probably be too powerful for Spectra to handle, I think Veemon's good ol' V-Headbutt would be a good response! XD And you will have to keep reading to see if more Digimon show up in the future.

DarkFoxKit: Something else I wanted to bring up regarding your comment. ZAFT said her piece, so I'll say mine. I think Mr. Lancer either saw, or someone else who saw Danny's backpack get caught in the fire alarm told him. And he feels he had to punish Danny whether it was an accident or not, especially since the firemen seemed pretty angry about their time being wasted. As for Jazz, in the show it looked like she thought Danny did it, or she was too annoyed to speak up in his defense. Tucker and Sam didn't come to Danny's defense either. If we're going by facial expression alone, it looked like they thought he did it too. But, and this is my own headcanon, they probably didn't say anything because there wasn't any point. Mr. Lancer likely shut down any arguments from them, and they're annoyed that they're wet and can't say anything. Students often don't have voices in school, and if they try to speak up, they get in trouble for it.

As for why Jazz doesn't defend Danny from the bullying, for one, I agree with ZAFT. Jazz is 2 grades higher than Danny, and is likely in very different classes from him. Danny, most likely, never really tells Jazz about the bullying, or he tells her to butt out of his business. Be honest, you know Danny would say that to Jazz if she tried to help him. Jazz probably did try to help in her own way when she got Dash to invite Danny to his big party during the Attack of the Killer Garage, though that ended up backfiring. So yeah, it's not a matter of her not defending Danny, but her being unable to really do anything about it.