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4: Connecting the Ghostly Dots

Danny woke up the next and final morning of his game with a yawn. He strolled downstairs to go scavenging for food in the kitchen. Jack and Maddie had gotten up earlier and were in the lab, leaving Danny to hunt for breakfast himself. He poured himself a bowl of cereal to munched on quietly as he listened to his parents converse and tinker with a few things down in the lab. He sat at the table, wondering if his parents figured it out yet. He doubted it for they would have been waiting for him in the kitchen or woke him up earlier. Nevertheless, he ate in a content silence looking forward to the day. Nothing could ruin this.

Down in the lab, Maddie and Jack were serious for once. They didn't want this game to continue any longer than they needed to be. They had to be getting closer to the truth by now! Maddie didn't want to use the Boooooomerange just yet. She knew it was breaking the rules but it would get her to the truth if her theory was correct. Maybe she could bypass the invention all together and confront Danny to see if she was on the right track. Her theory was something she would have never have thought of if she used all the evidence she had gathered from the past years of research. Danny single handedly discredited the evidence in a single conversation. Years of work… pointless. For some odd reason, Maddie believe what her son said instantly. Normally she would have argued and fought against what he was telling her but instinct told her to believe him. She had to look through her son's point of view where he didn't know a lot about science and genetics. Now here she was, in the lab with her husband working on their theory.

"I'm telling you Jack, Danny was holding back information! He said he had an ecto-signature but in order to have such a thing he must be a ghost!" Maddie argued with her husband who could be so naïve about people. "He would have more than an ecto-signature, probably even a ghost form with the amount of ecto-energy and electricity he was shocked with!"

"But Mads, you're suggesting Danny-boy is half-ghost! That's impossible!" Jack argued for once serious and sticking to his roots. If anyone was listening in to the conversation it would been seen as ironic for they switched sides. Maddie suggesting the impossible while Jack is being realistic. "He would have told us!" Or…maybe not.

"Sorry to interrupt but I was wondering if I could hang with Uncle Vlad for four days starting Monday." Danny asked reluctantly for he knew he had to complete the deal he made with the evil Fruitloop.

"Of Course Danny-boy!" Jack said instantly as Maddie looked at him with mild interest. She was under the impression he didn't like the man. Looking at his attitude she knew she was right but yet he still wanted to go. Interesting…but she couldn't focus on that now. "We should be done coming up with our theory by dinner so make sure you are there." Maddie told her son as she began collecting a few papers that were strewn around the lab.

"Alright thanks Mom." The raven haired boy said before leaving the lab and going to find Valerie before calling Vlad.

"Jack, just listen to me for a moment…" Maddie began as she persuaded Jack into believing her idea, which wasn't that hard. Once both were on board with the theory, they went on the computer to pull up a picture of Danny. "Here's what I am thinking. If we play around on the computer with a picture of Danny then we might see what ghost he is, helping to prove my theory." Maddie explained as she and her husband crowded around the screen.

Meanwhile, Danny flew around the town on a ghost patrol. It didn't take long to spot Valerie who was riding by doing the same thing as well, or so he thought.

"Hey Fenton!" She called out. At this time Danny was attempting to imagine what his parent's theory was so he didn't realize he was in his ghost form.

"Yeah Val?" He answered automatically as he scanned the streets for ghost activity. However, instead of stopping to talk to her he just slowed his speed so she could catch up.

"Looks like I win this game, Danny." She said a new sweetness and perhaps guilt and sorrow in her voice.

"What?" Her comment finally grabbed Danny's attention and he stopped to look at Valerie. Finally registering their small exchange he looked down at himself to see he was in ghost form.

"Damn it!" He cursed smacking his face. "Smooth, Fenton, Smooth." He grumbled, landing on Valerie's board. "Was that your plan to figure out all along? Yell a name out when I was distracted to see if I would respond?" He asked, curious why his name was the first to be called.

"Please Danny, I figured it out before I came here. First off, Foley isn't even here, he's on vacation. Secondly, Lester screamed like a girl when Skulker stuck him to the wall. In addition to that, he was seen in the same area with you just yesterday. You and Lester look nothing alike. I can't believe I didn't notice before. I guess I was just blinded by my unjust hate. I'm sorry, Danny." Valerie apologized sincerely as they landed on the ground.

"Apology excepted, though I never blamed you for hunting me. After all, if I had more control over my powers back then none of this would have ever happened. I should be the one apologizing." Danny replied reverting back to his human form.

Valerie laughed. "Don't be sorry and before you say anything I won't beat myself up over this." She answered Danny's unspoken comment for she knew it was coming. He was just too sweet of a guy. "Friends?" Valerie asked.

"Friends." Danny confirmed, stepping forward to hug Valerie. He was a little colder but she didn't complain, in reality, it was actually nice. They pulled away and stood their awkwardly for a moment before Danny spoke. "So, you want to help me finish my patrol and hopefully kick some ghost butt? I have to finish this before dinner anyway."

"Always!" Valerie happily agreed. "What do you have to do by dinner?"

"Well, I haven't broken the whole halfa thing to my parents yet." Danny began as he changed back into Phantom and they took to the sky. "I'm playing the same game with them but as Fenton. It's slightly harder for them but they seem to be on the right track. This way I have a better chance of them accepting me." Danny explained as they made their rounds. "Which leads me to my next matter: asking you for a favor."

"What would this favor be?" Valerie asked. To be honest, once Phantom grew on her she had forgotten her whole purpose of taking this challenge on. They were just two friends now but that didn't mean she would stop picking on him.

"In order to stop Vlad from intervening I made a deal with him. So I was wondering if you could take over my job for four days starting Monday." Danny explained reluctantly.

"On one condition."

"That condition is?"

"You answer some questions."

"I can do that. Ask me anything."

"How did this," Valerie gestured to his ghost form, "happen?"

Danny launched into his story of how he got his ghost powers and who all knows along with her other questions concerning Dani and a few about Vlad. Overall, they were very easy questions and Danny had to no trouble answering. They were able to capture the Box Ghost, Skulker, and Technus by the end of their round around AmityPark. "Oh, I recommend keeping the ghosts you catch in the thermos at night if you want any sleep." Danny advised as he handed her his spare thermos. "You can always drop it off in my room with a note or just go into the lab when my parents aren't home. I'm sure Cujo could phase you through if I told him to."

"Don't worry about it." Valerie assured him. "You sure Vlad won't do anything to you?"

"Yeah I'm sure." Danny said rolling his eyes. "The Fruitloop just shows affection in his own crazed-up way." He knew this statement was true but he always tried to avoid the truth for it was easier. This kept things in black and white perspective. They parted ways at Fenton Works with a small wave. Danny went into the house and to the lab to empty the full thermos of ghosts he caught with Valerie. His parents were still down there but he wasn't worried about that. Ignoring his parents curious looks he went straight to the portal and emptied the ghosts out of the thermos in plain view.

"Wait, the thermos works?" Jack broke through the silence with a dumbfounded expression.

"Yeah, always have." Danny answers nonchalantly as he starts heading for the door. "What's for dinner?"

"I thought about ordering pizza." Maddie suggested and smiled when he saw her son's face brighten up.

"Sounds great!" He answered. "I'll be in my room!" With this being said, he left without another word. Once he reached his room, he reluctantly picked up his phone and dialed Vlad. Grant it, it was the home phone but it worked all the same. It rang a few times before a faceless voice answered the phone.

"Hello, Vlad Masters speaking. Who is this?" Vlad spoke formally and emotionlessly.

"This is Danny. I'm letting you know you can pick me up Monday. The game should be done by then." Danny spoke reluctantly but it was necessary. There was no use putting off the inevitable.

"Why Daniel, letting me know ahead of time? If I didn't know any better I would say you were looking forward to our time together." Vlad's silky voice sounded out of the phone.

"As if. I'm just letting you know. Just swing by my house or something on Monday to pick me up, Fruitloop." Danny finished, hanging up rudely. He enjoyed screwing with his arch-enemy but now that Danny thought about it, was Vlad really his arch enemy anymore? No, he wasn't. Over time Danny had seen many sides of Vlad and somewhere in his mind, Danny pitied him. That pity wasn't what changed his behavior, not completely. By showing just a tiny bit of kindness to Vlad he knew the man could change. Everything Vlad had been saying was true. All he really wanted was love, in his own loopy way he tries to achieve it through evil schemes. Vlad was becoming less of an arch-enemy but more of a... dare he think…friend. Danny wasn't sure anymore. Hopefully, four days with Vlad will help him realize where he stands with the man. Either way it was a win-win for Danny. There was plenty of time to think about Vlad later, first he had to focus on the game he was playing.

It was getting close to dinner time so Maddie was forced to step away for a few minutes from the lab to order pizza. Once she was back, they complied their evidence together into a small stack. By playing with Danny's picture, they figured out he looks like Phantom, in the body and face structure anyway. Phantom was a negative version of Danny, meaning they were definitely connected. While Maddie attempted to figure out if it is possible to have ghost powers but yet be human, Jack was combing through all the old tape. If anything looked suspicious he was to alert her. Maddie tinkered around with a few things before finishing her theory. It was crazy but it was the only thing she could come up with. Under the right circum stances her theory could be true but it was near impossible. The door bell rang and Maddie went upstairs to get the pizza. Their time was up. "Danny! Dinner is here!" Maddie called up the stairs as Jack came into the kitchen. "Anything?" She asked slightly hopeful but it was quickly squashed when he shook his head.

Danny came downstairs with curiosity on his face. They all sat down at the table and got their pieces before talking. "So, what is this theory you have been working on all day?" Danny began, curiosity getting the best of him.

"It may sound crazy but under the right circum stances it can happen." Maddie began pausing briefly before continuing. "You informed me you had an ecto-signature but to have one of those you must be a ghost. The ectoplasm content would be too high for you not to be a ghost. With this fact, I investigated. I even played around with one of the pictures of you on the computer, testing different theories to see if you looked like any ghost. Some people when they become a ghost they have the negative or opposite color scheme of what they had when they were human. But if you die completely we would have found your body. The ghost of you would have detached from your body, in other words. Even if you somehow overshadowed your corpse it would have started decomposing so you aren't completely dead. This led me to my next inquiry. How could a human get ghost powers? I never believed in a million years that a human could acquire such a thing but what if they weren't completely human anymore? Under the situation, you could become half-ghost. When you entered the portal and it turned on with you inside, you were electrocuted. However, this was mixed in with ectoplasm. These two reacted with each other enough to rearrange your DNA on a molecular level. As a result of being under the, dare I say, perfect circum stances, the power that was flowing into you was able to manifest itself in a 'ghost form' because you were in the process of dying. In some way, you are half-dead but the ectoplasm saved you from the electricity; in turn, the electricity saved you from the ectoplasm. It truly is fascinating. Normally, a human would not be able to stand that much ectoplasm…I'm getting off topic. Back to my point, by getting electrocuted and having ectoplasm infused into you, it gave you another form…a ghost form. From the amount of energy that pumped into you that would mean you would have came out of the portal already in your ghost form. As I was saying earlier, we played with the negatives of your color scheme as a human and discovered you look like Phantom. Even when we were talking to said ghost, he had the same mannerisms as you when you were nervous. Even sounded like you now that I think about it. Well, minus the echo in the voice." Maddie paused for a moment watching Danny. He hid his emotions very well but she could see he was impressed.

"What's your conclusion?" Danny prompted, raising an eyebrow as he took another bite of his pizza.

"To put it bluntly, you are half-ghost and you're ghost form would be Phantom." Maddie concluded then commented. "That would explain why you are late all the time, get poor grades, sleep through class, and come home with bruises. You are fighting ghosts as Phantom. The only thing I'm not sure about it how you change forms…" She took a much needed breath of air before adding, "and from the looks of things Sam, Tucker, and Jazz know about this 'secret' already but we already knew that."

"Impressive." Danny finally voiced his thoughts once he finished his slice of pizza and grabbed another. "I honestly didn't think you would get it until you started to get an open mind."

"You mean I'm right?" Maddie asked in disbelief.

Danny smiled as the familiar white ring sprung out of his mid-section and transformed him into Phantom. "Perfectly." He looked over at his dad as he took a bite of his pizza.

"Why didn't you tell us? We could have helped you." Jack finally spoke up hurt in his eyes.

Danny's eyes flashed green in anger before he snorted then said, "Help? As in what? Think something is wrong with me and try to fix me? Or try to help me ghost fight like Jazz did and only got in the way." As soon as the words escaped his mouth he regretted them. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that." Danny instantly apologized before clarifying. "I guess I'm just overreacting cause I'm scared. That's one of the reasons I didn't tell you. I was scared of what you would do once you found out. Would you try and 'fix' me or not accept me or even try to help, then get hurt. I could never forgive myself." Danny stopped when his father held up his hand.

"Danny, I understand. We never gave you a reason to tell us because we were always blabbering on about hunting ghosts. I would be scared too if I was you." Jack reassured his son with a smile.

"Oh my baby boy!" Maddie cried getting out of her seat to hung her son. A few seconds later Jack followed suit. They ignored how he was cold to the touch due to being in his ghost form and reassured him he was accepted and still loved.

"We love you even if you are human, ghost, or something in between!" Jack assured him then yelled excitedly. "This means you can be my sidekick!"

Danny couldn't help but laugh, "as long as you listen to my warning about certain ghosts." He informed his parents as they stepped away from each other.

Danny turned back into his human-form and smiled. Valerie accepted him. His parents accepted him. Now all her had to do was survive four days with Vlad. It was well worth it. Things could only look up from here. He can't wait to tell Sam and Tucker when they come back at the end of the summer. Oh, he was going to get them good…

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