"So I told my sister."

This was not the kind of text Wes expected to wake up to Sunday morning. Especially not considering how Danny had drilled it into his head that nobody was to know about his newfound state of being. Frowning, he shot a text right back. "Your sister? The girl who brings a portable mech suit for hunting ghosts to school? Why would you do that?!"

"Relax, I didn't say it was you," came the quick reply. "Just that it was someone she knows. She already knows I'm a Halfa, and I think she can help us. She's good at lesson planning." And really, she was. Jazz tutored him every other week; you didn't get to stay on the basketball team if your grades tanked, and practice didn't exactly leave a lot of time to study.

"So she's safe?" Wes ventured, not entirely convinced that the daughter of two avid ghost hunters would keep her mouth shut. About her brother, sure. But who was to say that courtesy would extend to someone else? "You swear she isn't going to sic your parents on me or something?"

"I swear," Danny replied. "But hey, show up in your ghost form, okay? I need to see something."

Wes frowned. See what, exactly? How long it took for Jazz to shoot at anything that glowed? Sad as it was, he didn't put it past the shorter teen. After all the grief Wes had given him in the past trying to prove his identity to the school, maybe he thought it would be funny to get payback by sending his sister after him. Fenton tech wasn't exactly notoriously lethal. It would hurt, but maybe he deserved it. Maybe.

He decided to humor the request, changing the moment he had reached the treeline. His control was hardly perfect, but if it came down to it, he was fairly sure he could go intangible if he was greeted with the barrel of an ectogun.

Humming to himself in thought, Wes let himself hover, momentarily holding his arms out to his sides before finding his balance. And then he drifted forwards, bobbing gently all the while. Funny enough, it was easier than floating in place, almost like riding a bike. He chuckled happily at the knowledge that he was moving without even touching the ground. He didn't think that would ever get old.

Wes momentarily halted as a vaguely familiar feeling struck him. He shuddered, the fine hairs on his neck and arms standing on end. Just like the first time, it was as if his body was screaming the words "danger" at him. His eyes focused straight ahead, where his senses told him the danger lied. He wanted to turn back, but... wasn't that where Danny and Jazz were supposed to be waiting for him? Maybe it would be safer to turn around and leave, but in the end, his curiosity won out, and he floated on ahead.

It wasn't long before he caught sight of the pair, but there was no sign of anything that could have set him off. He touched down on the grassy floor, brows knit with confusion as he glanced around. "What was...?"

Danny quirked a brow at the unfinished question, but Jazz instead looked intrigued. "Oh, so you must be the new ghost, then?" She glanced at her little brother, who confirmed her suspicion with a single nod. Bolstered by the affirmation, she turned back to the new Halfa, striding forward so that she was at a more comfortable speaking distance. "Danny wouldn't tell me who you were, but he said you were someone I'd met before. Do I know you from school?"

Wes's eyebrows shot up, flabbergasted by the question. "I... yeah? You're my tutor."

"Tutoring, of course!" Jazz beamed, but the smile quickly faltered. "But... I don't think we've had a session in a while, have we?"

"...You helped me with my geometry homework last week, Jazz."

The older teen studied him, then simply shook her head. "I'm really sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but I don't remember teaching you anything. But maybe that's just because going ghost makes you look different? I'm sure if you told me your name it would come back to me."

Wes's eyes flickered, not sure if they wanted to settle on lilac or orange. Could she really not recognize him? He didn't look all that different, did he? He still had his freckles, his jersey and sneakers, his ginger hair. Even if everything had changed colors a bit, he still looked so much like himself, even more than Fenton and Phantom did. He just couldn't understand why Jazz wouldn't recognize someone she saw less than a week ago. And neither could Danny, judging by the uncharacteristically pensive look on his face.

"...Wes Weston? Hello?" The jock wiggled his hands at shoulder level, as if his identity was the most obvious thing in the world. And really, it should have been.

Jazz's mouth formed a small "o" in realization, but Wes could tell by the look in her eyes that it hadn't clicked. "...Wesley? But... No, it makes sense, you look so much alike. But I..."

"You don't recognize him," Danny finished for her, speaking up for the first time since meeting up. "I couldn't at first, either. Honestly, I still can't."

"...What are you talking about?" Wes demanded. "How many redheads in basketball jerseys do you know? Who else would I look like?!"

"Well, that's just it," Danny replied. "You still look almost just like you, which isn't really a good thing if you want to keep the government off your back. But when I first saw you looking like... like this, it was like I didn't even know you. I knew it had to be you, because you really couldn't have been anyone else, but I just can't look at you and think Wes." He turned to look at his sister. "I wanted to make sure it wasn't just me."

"...So what you're saying," Wes started, "is that you can be looking right at me, and know exactly who I am, and you still can't tell it's me?" Danny and Jazz nodded practically in unison. "...That's... so... cool! I can hide in plain sight! It's like I'm a real life cryptid!"

Looking rather nonplussed by the cheerful outburst, Danny said, "You're a ghost, Wes. That already makes you a cryptid. But yeah, so long as someone doesn't turn out to be a Wes to you like you were to me, your secret should be pretty safe."

"Now, if I can ask," Jazz interjected, "how, exactly, did Wesley become a Halfa? Doesn't that require an insane amount of ectoradiation? And the luck to survive it?"

"Wait, it could have actually killed me?!" Wes exclaimed.

Danny held up a hand to silence the indignant jock, then turned to look at Jazz. "Well, funny story... There was a fight with Skulker on Friday, and I guess Wes got caught up in it. A tree fell on him and kinda impaled him, so I may have... thrown him into the ghost portal?"

"You WHAT?!" Jazz shrieked, grabbing his shoulders. "Danny, why would you do something like that?! Why not just take him to a hospital?!"

The Halfa shoved her hands away from him. "Look, I panicked, okay?! There was no way any doctors could help him in time, and I did the one thing I could think of that actually had a chance of saving him! And it worked, didn't it? He's healing!"

He wasn't wrong. It had been two days, and already Wes's wounds were beginning to seal. He'd sworn the one on his chest was smaller when he woke up than when he'd gone to bed. But that didn't mean he wasn't a bit miffed that there was no guarantee of his survival to begin with.

Jazz opened her mouth to argue further, but then closed it. It was true, Wes did seem remarkably healthy for having a wound so severe. And it was clear that just mentioning the incident had Danny stressed. It wouldn't help anything for her to continue pestering him about it. She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "...Okay, fine, I get it. You did what you could, and he's fine. You wanted me to help teach him about his powers, right?"

"Right," Danny sighed, glad that she had changed the subject. "I figured it would be a good idea to help him manage his powers so he didn't accidentally expose himself at school or something, but I'm not very good at teaching, so..."

"Aww, how responsible of you," Jazz gushed, playfully ruffling his hair. Wes snorted, and Danny pouted, swatting his sister's hand away. Smiling, she turned back to Wes. "So, what am I working with here? What do you have a handle on so far?"

The redhead frowned in thought, counting off on his fingers. "I can transform, hover, my eyes can change colors, and I can kinda go intangible. But I still mess up on that sometimes. Do you know what it's like to have food you just swallowed pass literally right through you? It isn't fun."

"Hmm, that isn't a bad start," Jazz hummed to herself, typing something on what Wes had first assumed was a watch. "...I think it would be best to start you off easy, so none of the big powers that'll drain your core. Maybe we can start with-"

"Wait, what's a core?" Wes cut her off, eyes alight with sparked interest.

"Careful Jazz," Danny warned. "This guy will go off on all sorts of tangents if you let him get sidetracked."

The tutor rolled her eyes affectionately, already well aware of Wes's tendency to ask questions about every little thing. "The short answer is that a core is the source of a ghost's powers, and helps hold its form together. But you don't have to worry about that last part, since you still have a physical body. So for you, a core is like an energy source for your powers." She held up her hand as Wes opened his mouth to ask something else, but she smiled teasingly. "Now why don't you let me finish what I was trying to say?"

Wes scooted back, grinning sheepishly. "Yes ma'am."

Nodding to herself, Jazz continued. "I think the best place to go from here would be invisibility. Right now, the most important thing is to learn how to escape a situation if another one of your powers goes haywire. And the easiest ways to do that are becoming intangible, which I see Danny has already been teaching you," her brother smirked proudly, "and becoming invisible. If you can master both, there isn't much out there that can stop you outside of other ghosts."

Wes was practically vibrating with excitement. There was so much he could do with those two powers alone, and if Danny was anything to go off of, that wouldn't even be scratching the surface of what he would grow to be capable of. He started floating, unbidden. "Okay, I'm ready! Just show me what to do!"

Seeing that it was his time to teach, Danny stepped forwards, transforming and reaching one hand out. Wes didn't need to be told to grasp it. Unlike going intangible, which felt like a rush of pins and needles, this was like being swathed in a cool, damp blanket. Initially somewhat smothering, it quickly became something comfortable, almost calming. It felt like safety. Sure enough, when he tried to get a good look at himself, all he saw was the dirt and grass beneath him. "Oh!"

"I think you know the drill," Danny said, bringing them both back to full visibility. "This should be a bit easier than intangibility, but it'll still take some time to master."

Wes tried bringing forth that feeling, basking as that soothing calmness washed over him again. It came slower than intangibility, but Danny was right; once he had it, it was much easier to sustain. He wondered how much had to do with the power itself, and how much was just because it was a more pleasant sensation.

Danny curled a finger against his chin, lips pursed as he scrutinized the place Wes had last been floating. He stepped closer, that thoughtful expression still on his face. Then, without warning, he reached out, flicking Wes on the nose.

"Ow!" he cried, wheeling back and snapping back to the visible spectrum, both hands clapped over his nose. "What did you do that for?!"

"I could still see you," Danny replied with a smirk. "You were mostly see through, but invisibility has to be all or nothing. It won't help you if people can still see your outline."

"You coulda just told me instead of flicking me," Wes pouted.

Danny shrugged. "Nah, this was funnier." When the younger Halfa scowled red, he put his hands up, the smile still refusing to leave his face. "Alright, alright. Try again, and this time move somewhere else so we don't know where you are. Let's see if Jazz can find you."

"...Why Jazz?" Wes asked.

The eldest teen was the one to respond. "Ghosts usually aren't too shabby at finding other ghosts, even invisible ones. If you can disappear without me finding you, then we'll know you have enough of a handle on it to hide from humans, at least."

Well. He supposed that made sense. He willed himself invisible yet again, hoping that this time it would be enough to actually hide him. Then he floated towards a nearby tree, parking himself behind it. As an afterthought, he put his hands against it, using them as a guide as he allowed gravity to loosen its grasp on him. It was hardly flight, more like an enhanced hover, but he still felt rather smug as he settled on a branch about ten feet up. There was no way Jazz would think to find him up there, especially if he was truly invisible.

It was pretty obvious from the start that Phantom knew where he was. His arms were crossed, his head following Jazz's movements, but the rest of his body was facing Wes. Still, he offered his sister no hints, allowing her to wander around in search of their new student. Not once did she look up, so Wes was pretty confident that he wasn't a bright orange blot in the green backdrop. After a few minutes of searching, though, he almost wished she would find him. He could feel himself wearing out, like a physical weight was settling in his chest. He didn't think he could hang onto his transparency for much longer.

Mercifully, Jazz seemed to give up moments later, and Danny smirked, shooting Wes a thumbs-up. So he really did know where he was hiding. The jerk. Wes fluttered back to the ground, letting color back into his features with a relieved gasp. "Man, that's tough," he breathed. "But I did it right that time, right?"

"Well, I couldn't tell where you were," said Jazz. "So I would consider that a win." Wes pumped a fist.

"We should probably call it quits for the day," Danny said, scrutinizing the young Halfa. "I can tell you're tired, you won't be able to keep this up. Still, uh. Good job floating today, too?"

Wes pouted at him. "I could keep going."

"Not without losing your form, you can't," Danny scolded him. "You think I don't know what core exhaustion looks like? You changed two days ago, so you can't expect to keep using your powers without it totally draining you. Go home, get something to eat, and keep practicing what we've already taught you on your own time. But-"

"Don't overdo it, I know," Wes whined, rolling his eyes. "You seem to think I'm just as irresponsible as you or something."

"Hey, no picking on my little brother," Jazz chided him, but her expression quickly softened. "Next time we meet up, I think we should figure out flying. You seem pretty good at floating already, so that seems like a natural next step, right?"

"When do we meet up again?" Wes questioned, already eager at the thought. "We have school tomorrow."

Jazz thought about that for a moment. "After school on Friday," she decided. "Your core should be a bit more settled by then, so it should be able to handle flight."

"That should be plenty of time," Danny agreed. "If we're lucky, you'll be all healed up by then, too." Wes nodded. At the rate he was healing at, he would probably just have a really big scar by then.

Since the lesson was over, the jock changed back, a weary ache settling into his bones as he did so. Maybe he really had overdone it. Who knew making yourself completely see through for five minutes straight would take so much out of you?

Danny transformed as well, and Jazz stepped forward. "Do you need a ride home? You must be so exhausted."

"Seriously, do you both think I can't get home on my own?" Wes scowled. "Thanks, but I'll be fine." Jazz hovered a bit more, but she relented, seeing that her student was intent on going home alone. Sure enough, he turned on his heel right then and there, heading back the way he'd come. But he did toss a look over his shoulder, giving the pair a nod of acknowledgement before disappearing behind the trees.

Jazz put her hands on her hips, looking at her little brother out of the corner of her eye. "You really have your work cut out for you with this one."

Danny snorted. "Don't I know it. Of all the people to turn half ghost, it had to be this guy, huh."

"He's an eager learner, but he's got a bad attitude when it comes to you," she told him. Like he didn't already know. "You think you can handle him?"

The Halfa sighed through his nose. "I'm the one who caused this mess. So I guess I'll have to."

I don't have a whole lot to say for this chapter, but the next one isn't gonna focus on any sort of power. Just gonna be some Danny and Wes hijinks. So hopefully that turns out to be fun, haha.

See you guys next time!