HOME | DD

Description
Chapter Eleven:

So, I might not know this ghost, or what made him do what he did, or really anything besides his face and his looks, but I could tell that he meant business, and his business wasn't good for me.

Before I could even react, though, he shot a net at me.

I tried to dodge it, but it expanded and wrapped around me before I could get away.

It took me out of the air, spiraling down, and before I could get even a semblance of balance, at least enough to stop the straight down drop from a little above two stories, the net emitted a massive surge of electricity.

Let's just say it hurt more than a few choice words could describe.

I bet I was screaming my head off.

But sooner than I could think, the pain stopped. It was like the circuit connecting me to the electric flow stopped. There were still a few little sparks dancing over me, but the majority of it was gone.

I had stopped falling too.

Slowly, I opened my eyes, which had clenched shut due to the pain.

I saw Skulker, beaten down to a pulp- in fact, his head was nowhere to be seen, and there were wires sticking out from the space his skull had previously occupied- and he lay on the ground. I seemed to be slowly lowering to the ground.

Cautiously, I lifted my head up, glancing through the glowing netting to see that this white-haired-ghost-boy who had to be Danny, who had also apparently saved me. He was carrying the net by the ectoplasmic cable that had been previously connected to Skulker's net-gun.

In a second, it all clicked together: Danny had attacked Skulker after I was caught in the net, pummeled him into the ground, and then severed the cord and grabbing it before I could fall to my doom.

By the time this all came together, he had set me on the ground.

'Use your ecto-energy to burn through the net.' I nearly flipped out from the sudden voice in my ear, but I managed to catch myself before I did any major flailing. 'Trust me, it works.'
'Wow Mom, nice to see you around.' I thought, fully intending it to sound sarcastic.

She didn't say anything. For a second I thought I had scared her off, but then she just sighed tiredly and said, 'Please, just do it.'

I was still pretty stiff, but I did as she told, and pressed my palms against the walls of the net. The second I charged the energy around my hands, the net started to dissolve.

After a short while, the net was gone, and I shifted my weight so that I could stand up.
One short second of hesitation later, Danny offered me a hand.

Once I was up on my feet, I muttered a small "thanks" and braced myself for the stampede of questions sure to come.

"Who… who are you?"

---

I hate explaining things, so after a greatly-shortened-but-still-excruciatingly-long version of all the events leading up to this, I was severely irritated.

Of course, I left out a few details, like the situation with Fate, (somehow that seemed personal,) and a few other awkward moments that had passed along the way, since they weren't really relevant, as far as I knew, and it's not like lying through omission was gonna kill the dude… I hoped.

"So… you're half-ghost?"

And it was really irritating that he was still hung up on that fact.

"Yes." I said irately.

I was trying to be hospitable, or at least as hospitable as I could be, since being rude wouldn't exactly make him want to help me. The problem was that I was so used to putting up barriers around anyone I didn't know, in fact, I'm pretty sure that most people at school regarded me as a bully. It wasn't like I could just brush him of like any other human being, though.

"So…" Danny began, a confused look plastered on his face. "Since your mom's a ghost… is that how you're…. half ghost?"

I blinked, processing just what his words meant.

"…What?? No, no… no… that's just… ew. No. She…. She… died… in a car crash." I lowered my eyes to the ground.

There was a long, piercingly awkward pause, before Danny rubbed the back of his neck apologetically, and muttered, "Oh… heh… sorry…"

I bit my lip. "…Yeah…"

We stood there silent for a good few minutes.

…

"So. Uhh… I never really thanked you for… saving me…." I said, trying to break the uncomfortable, sad stillness. "So… thanks, I guess." I glanced at the shattered exo-skeleton of Skulker.

Halfway through my explanation, somewhere after I had started questioning him back and learned that this really was Danny, a tiny green… thing had flown out the suit, shouting angry curses in a squeaky little voice. Danny had merely sighed tiredly, pulled out a soup thermos of all things, sucked the little ghost in and continued speaking as if nothing had happened.

Apparently, his dad, who was apparently a ghost hunter, as well as his mom, had thought it was a good idea to disguise a ghost containment device as a little tube that goes in a lunch box.

After he had explained that, I felt a little sorry for him. Being that I had a friend who thought hunting ghosts like foxes was a good idea and frankly didn't realize it was unsettling to me, I knew what it was like knowing a ghost hunter when you were a ghost. To have your parents spout off how 'ghosts are evil' or whatever his mom and dad said had to be harsh.

I had also remembered why his last name in human form sounded vaguely familiar.
'FentonWorks Ghost-Containment-and-Detainment Ecto-Gun', remember? When I read the sign on his house I felt it was even more familiar, but I had dismissed it.

I never really paid much attention to what Lila and Kody used to fight the ghosts because I never really and to use their weapons. I remember Lila having some big rant when I first asked her where she got all those ghost weapons but I hadn't really listened since I didn't know ghosts would become such a huge part of my life at the time.

Now I recalled the bits and pieces I had actually heard.

Since she moved here from Amity… oh well then. Didn't really think of that part either. Uh, anyway, when her parents got attacked by a 'ghost' (I had never really believed that, but whatever,) they moved away from Amity, but before they left they bought nearly a whole storehouse worth of ghost weapons. Turns out Lila's life tied in with the Fentons and Amity Park a lot.

"It's part of the hero thing. I don't usually see friendly ghosts, but there have been weirder things I've lived through." Danny said. "I'm supposed to protect people, right?"

I nodded.

After a short moment, Danny transformed with a bit of hesitation.

Throughout the entire conversation, we had stayed in our ghost forms. I had told Danny I was half-ghost before I had said I knew he was, and luckily it played out and he told me out of free will and I didn't have to get into any more awkward explaining.

His rings were just like mine, but inverted, I guess. Instead of a black ring that could somehow glow out from the inside, it was a bright icy white, tinged so that just on the edge, it looked blue.

When the glow faded, a normal teenager stood before me. He had raven black hair, bright blue eyes, a white t-shirt and plain old blue-jeans.

Really. If I had seen this kid in a crowd, I wouldn't have been able to pick him out as anything extraordinary, much less a halfa.

I looked around, still a little too paranoid for my own good, but transformed as well.
Danny started to walk somewhere, and said conversationally, "So, you said something about a 'mission' or whatever?"

I nodded, and though I was still on edge, pretty much expecting Pharia to pounce out of an alleyway at any second now, but I followed after him.

…

About halfway through discussing my 'mission' as Danny so eloquently put it, we both stopped in our tracks. I was racked with a violent shiver, and Danny seemed to breathe out a puff of icy blue mist.

'He's coming.'

Description
Chapter Eleven:

So, I might not know this ghost, or what made him do what he did, or really anything besides his face and his looks, but I could tell that he meant business, and his business wasn't good for me.

Before I could even react, though, he shot a net at me.

I tried to dodge it, but it expanded and wrapped around me before I could get away.

It took me out of the air, spiraling down, and before I could get even a semblance of balance, at least enough to stop the straight down drop from a little above two stories, the net emitted a massive surge of electricity.

Let's just say it hurt more than a few choice words could describe.

I bet I was screaming my head off.

But sooner than I could think, the pain stopped. It was like the circuit connecting me to the electric flow stopped. There were still a few little sparks dancing over me, but the majority of it was gone.

I had stopped falling too.

Slowly, I opened my eyes, which had clenched shut due to the pain.

I saw Skulker, beaten down to a pulp- in fact, his head was nowhere to be seen, and there were wires sticking out from the space his skull had previously occupied- and he lay on the ground. I seemed to be slowly lowering to the ground.

Cautiously, I lifted my head up, glancing through the glowing netting to see that this white-haired-ghost-boy who had to be Danny, who had also apparently saved me. He was carrying the net by the ectoplasmic cable that had been previously connected to Skulker's net-gun.

In a second, it all clicked together: Danny had attacked Skulker after I was caught in the net, pummeled him into the ground, and then severed the cord and grabbing it before I could fall to my doom.

By the time this all came together, he had set me on the ground.

'Use your ecto-energy to burn through the net.' I nearly flipped out from the sudden voice in my ear, but I managed to catch myself before I did any major flailing. 'Trust me, it works.'
'Wow Mom, nice to see you around.' I thought, fully intending it to sound sarcastic.

She didn't say anything. For a second I thought I had scared her off, but then she just sighed tiredly and said, 'Please, just do it.'

I was still pretty stiff, but I did as she told, and pressed my palms against the walls of the net. The second I charged the energy around my hands, the net started to dissolve.

After a short while, the net was gone, and I shifted my weight so that I could stand up.
One short second of hesitation later, Danny offered me a hand.

Once I was up on my feet, I muttered a small "thanks" and braced myself for the stampede of questions sure to come.

"Who… who are you?"

---

I hate explaining things, so after a greatly-shortened-but-still-excruciatingly-long version of all the events leading up to this, I was severely irritated.

Of course, I left out a few details, like the situation with Fate, (somehow that seemed personal,) and a few other awkward moments that had passed along the way, since they weren't really relevant, as far as I knew, and it's not like lying through omission was gonna kill the dude… I hoped.

"So… you're half-ghost?"

And it was really irritating that he was still hung up on that fact.

"Yes." I said irately.

I was trying to be hospitable, or at least as hospitable as I could be, since being rude wouldn't exactly make him want to help me. The problem was that I was so used to putting up barriers around anyone I didn't know, in fact, I'm pretty sure that most people at school regarded me as a bully. It wasn't like I could just brush him of like any other human being, though.

"So…" Danny began, a confused look plastered on his face. "Since your mom's a ghost… is that how you're…. half ghost?"

I blinked, processing just what his words meant.

"…What?? No, no… no… that's just… ew. No. She…. She… died… in a car crash." I lowered my eyes to the ground.

There was a long, piercingly awkward pause, before Danny rubbed the back of his neck apologetically, and muttered, "Oh… heh… sorry…"

I bit my lip. "…Yeah…"

We stood there silent for a good few minutes.

…

"So. Uhh… I never really thanked you for… saving me…." I said, trying to break the uncomfortable, sad stillness. "So… thanks, I guess." I glanced at the shattered exo-skeleton of Skulker.

Halfway through my explanation, somewhere after I had started questioning him back and learned that this really was Danny, a tiny green… thing had flown out the suit, shouting angry curses in a squeaky little voice. Danny had merely sighed tiredly, pulled out a soup thermos of all things, sucked the little ghost in and continued speaking as if nothing had happened.

Apparently, his dad, who was apparently a ghost hunter, as well as his mom, had thought it was a good idea to disguise a ghost containment device as a little tube that goes in a lunch box.

After he had explained that, I felt a little sorry for him. Being that I had a friend who thought hunting ghosts like foxes was a good idea and frankly didn't realize it was unsettling to me, I knew what it was like knowing a ghost hunter when you were a ghost. To have your parents spout off how 'ghosts are evil' or whatever his mom and dad said had to be harsh.

I had also remembered why his last name in human form sounded vaguely familiar.
'FentonWorks Ghost-Containment-and-Detainment Ecto-Gun', remember? When I read the sign on his house I felt it was even more familiar, but I had dismissed it.

I never really paid much attention to what Lila and Kody used to fight the ghosts because I never really and to use their weapons. I remember Lila having some big rant when I first asked her where she got all those ghost weapons but I hadn't really listened since I didn't know ghosts would become such a huge part of my life at the time.

Now I recalled the bits and pieces I had actually heard.

Since she moved here from Amity… oh well then. Didn't really think of that part either. Uh, anyway, when her parents got attacked by a 'ghost' (I had never really believed that, but whatever,) they moved away from Amity, but before they left they bought nearly a whole storehouse worth of ghost weapons. Turns out Lila's life tied in with the Fentons and Amity Park a lot.

"It's part of the hero thing. I don't usually see friendly ghosts, but there have been weirder things I've lived through." Danny said. "I'm supposed to protect people, right?"

I nodded.

After a short moment, Danny transformed with a bit of hesitation.

Throughout the entire conversation, we had stayed in our ghost forms. I had told Danny I was half-ghost before I had said I knew he was, and luckily it played out and he told me out of free will and I didn't have to get into any more awkward explaining.

His rings were just like mine, but inverted, I guess. Instead of a black ring that could somehow glow out from the inside, it was a bright icy white, tinged so that just on the edge, it looked blue.

When the glow faded, a normal teenager stood before me. He had raven black hair, bright blue eyes, a white t-shirt and plain old blue-jeans.

Really. If I had seen this kid in a crowd, I wouldn't have been able to pick him out as anything extraordinary, much less a halfa.

I looked around, still a little too paranoid for my own good, but transformed as well.
Danny started to walk somewhere, and said conversationally, "So, you said something about a 'mission' or whatever?"

I nodded, and though I was still on edge, pretty much expecting Pharia to pounce out of an alleyway at any second now, but I followed after him.

…

About halfway through discussing my 'mission' as Danny so eloquently put it, we both stopped in our tracks. I was racked with a violent shiver, and Danny seemed to breathe out a puff of icy blue mist.

'He's coming.'