Chapter 5

Danny slept through the night, effectively going without lunch or dinner. Waking up the first thing he felt was hunger, then the soreness. He had overdone it, a tantrum of rage and flinging new powers with wild abandon. He had a hearty breakfast, steering clear of anything that his mother would have made. He had no intention of dealing with animated food so early in the morning.

After a quick shower, Danny made his way out the door by nine. Jazz had already gone to one of her summer college prep classes. Extra credit for college, something Danny had zero interest in doing anytime soon, or at all for that matter. He didn't know how Jazz could put so much effort into it, schools has always been hell for him, and it was never great for Jazz either. How could she want to keep doing that, with such enthusiasm?

When he finally found a good alley, Danny let his cloak overshadow him. In less than two seconds stood his other half, 'Ghost Danny.' He paused, "No, no, that sounds awful." Something for later then.

In no time at all Danny is already back where he belongs, high in the sky, lazily flying towards his spot in the wilderness. As he watched the ectoplasm flow from his hands, dancing and sparking wildly, Danny thought over his future. This is the secret he'll keep to the grave. If they'll lie to him, he'll do the same. The coming argument will wait till they 'get back'. He's going to let it sit, and if it simmers, boils or cools, then that'll be that.

Reflecting on it, his decision was rash and the result could have gone in a different direction. But it didn't. It was on the fly, but he's surprised how well it worked. He watched the security footage on his computer, and it did have his friends on tape there. It also showed Dash hitting him, and although it's barely visible, you can see the blood hit his assailant's shoes and floor. Proof of both, guilty of both crimes.

Danny didn't really think of himself as the type of person to think up a scheme like this, much less actually go through with it. It paid off though, oh boy, how it paid off.

Danny tried looking up some more ghost stuff, but the internet was useless. It was all supernatural and no science, and while Danny doesn't think that it is all science, he knew for a fact that salt did nothing to him, neither did a cross, or iron, or silver. He is still in his body so there's no burning his bones or salting the grave, and he has a heartbeat still.

Maybe he could visit a church, see what that experience will be like. 'Possibly burst into flames?' He chuckled, a rare occurrence lately.

Based off of results so far, it seems that ghosts are more science than supernatural; his parents notes and research logs did actually help get some ideas rolling for his powers, as disturbing as they were, and in his anger, he had discovered a couple more. Danny groaned, doing a light spin to peer at the passing scenery below. He's ashamed his tantrum became so destructive, but it held benefits and provided understanding on some of his capabilities. Danny could conjure ecto-electrical energy and blast it around like a wizard, he had these cool ecto-claws that were sharp enough to cut boulders and trees, and he didn't really think his ecto-rays could be that powerful. A good cluster of trees had fallen with just a sweep of an ecto-ray.

Danny paused mid flight, that put some things in perspective. Danny is a threat, and he could very easily kill someone. His emotions seemed to have an influence on them, at least to some degree. That held resemblance to his parents' theory of ghosts being the ectoplasm imprinted memory of a dying organism, but what did that make him? He was human still, heartbeat and all, but blood wasn't the only thing flowing through his veins. When he uses his power, ectoplasm is there and not in small amounts. With all the cleaning he's had to do recently, he should know.

Danny is also alone. His parents actively, to this day, hunt and experiment on ghosts, his other half, and Danny has zero desire to tell them at this moment in time. Not with how zealous they are about it. Jazz couldn't be trusted to keep this secret from their parents, no matter how distanced she was from them. He was going to tell Sam and Tucker, he really was, but… Danny didn't know if he could really trust them. This was his death after all, no small moment in his half-life. And Danny didn't really think he deserved to be lied to, not quite so blatantly. It was insulting, and after that stunt he pulled, and they didn't help him, 'My best friends.'

He slowly continued his flight, subconsciously gaining altitude; It feels like they aren't the people he thought they were. They've always stuck together, and Danny is in no way oblivious that he's target number one for the bullies. Tucker's right up there, but he doesn't have Jack and Maddie Fenton for parents. There's a special spot on the bully bulls-eye for Danny, and he felt it every day of school, and he's sure freshman year will be the same, if not worse. Sam is untouchable, her family too rich and with lawyers to back them. That's something the A-Lister's know very well, so all the flak that she gets bounces back to him, Tucker too, but mostly him.

As long as she doesn't get hurt, that's fine, even now after they lied to him.

Danny rubs his face with his hand. "If only she didn't cause such a shit storm all the time." That's the problem. Danny's known Sam since second grade, a long time, and ever since he's known her she's been a stubborn rebel, almost impossible to convince if she was dead set in her views. The worst part is that she's smart enough to actually get things to go her way. In middle school, somehow, she got the menu changed three separate times, got several clubs abolished, and Danny would bet money she'll do it again in high school. Her shenanigans have gotten Tucker and Danny into hot water more times than he can count.

His hands clenched as they tightened to balls, frustration seeping through, but the crunching of frost brought him out of his musing. "Crunching?" His hand was covered in frost, and strangely enough he felt no discomfort from it. Then Danny took in his surroundings, he was high. Higher than he's ever been before. Danny is far above the clouds, high enough for condensation to form and then frost over him. His eyes widen, 'I gotta be twenty thousand feet up.'

Danny laughs, "Hahahahaha," Look at him! Danny Fenton, the school loser, flying through the sky, closer to his dream than ever before. He reached his gloved hand upwards, waning his reach for the sky, further into the stars. 'So close.' Then he's human. Gone in a heartbeat, everything at a standstill.

It always ends too soon.

His glove is gone, replaced by cold frosted fingers, human fingers. A second later Danny starts plummeting toward the incoming forested crust. He still kept his hand outstretched, yearning for the last bit of freedom. Soon. Current affairs require attention, and free falling to death is not on the agenda.

The wind rushed by, his own heartbeat drowned out as he crept ever closer to terminal velocity. He couldn't turn, not in the physical sense, but more of the spiritual sense? He was trying, pulling at the power from his chest, but the energy moved sluggishly through his body, unable to manifest outside to clock him in his ghost form. "Come on! Go ghost!" No avail.

Ten thousand feet. It's getting difficult to breath, the air rushes into his lunges so fast it hurts. His face burned, the cold winds slicing into his face made him squint his eyes and his nose feels like it's frozen. The ground was closing in fast, way too fast; he pulled on the power once more. It came into motion in his body, ectoplasm flickering over his form and the speed lowered for only a moment. The cloak flickered away almost immediately and his falling resumed.

The sound is deafening, Danny curls into himself clutching at the power that keeps escaping, fingers digging into his chest. "COME ON!" He screams, clutching at his chest in fear. He opens his eyes, trees and mountains, closing in fast, "OH, IT'S SO MUCH WORSE THAN LAST TIME!"

Hey, he was near his testing grounds.

One thousand feet. The last pull, everything into it; do or die. Again. He reaches to his core, 'that's what it is', pulling at the vestiges of power, waiting for it to be released. Glowing green ectoplasm shoots out of his skin, bleeding from the pore. Green eyes snap back open, hair changing from black to white in an instant.

One hundred feet. His eyes open wide. Too close. He tugs at his intangibility, hoping that it actually makes his whole body intangible. He's rewarded when he experiences the very surreal experience of diving through the ground. Like he was diving into mist, the solid dirt and rock of the ground not parting, but going through him. It was quiet, in the earth, and a welcome change to the incessant rush of wind blowing out his eardrums.

Danny quickly flew back out of the numb earth and landed on a branch. He patted himself down, all body parts accounted for. Backpack? No spillage of contents, although his lunch looked a bit jostled. He exhaled a shaky sigh and put his hand on the tree for support. Too close. He had gotten distracted and flown too high. His powers have always been on the fritz, he shouldn't have gotten distracted.

He smiled, nonetheless. He started rocking on his feet, excitement building as he leaned back and forth over the edge of the branch. How close had he gotten? He was almost there, almost gone, so close to the final frontier. If he could almost do it now, what could he do in a year, two years, more? His powers grow by the day, he didn't even have any pain yesterday! At least from his… core.

Danny stops rocking, and places a hand to his chest. Core. It sounded right, something at the back of his mind whispering it in his ear. Core. "My core." The soft pulsing of cold energy gave Danny a different kind of comfort. His second heart, in a way. When the ectoplasm ran through his system his heart did not beat. The soft thumping of power that took its place though, came right from the center of his chest, he idly wondered if this was a ghost's heart. Danny frowned, maybe he should finish some of those anatomy books. If there really was something tangible and physical there, then his parents would have found it by now.

Danny let himself float higher, so he could get his bearings. He's not far from his testing sight, maybe a five minute flight. As he makes his approach, he notices something. There's a dull green glow coming from the area, not everywhere, just the places he had focused on as targets. Charred and debarked trees still had a smoky green wisping from the remains, rocks brittled with glowing cracks, and several places on the ground had large burns with green tinges to the edges. Walking up to the trees he found them still warm, the smell of burning pine and sterile ozone filled his nose as he scratched away at the charred tree trunk. Sure enough just under the surface there was ectoplasm, not a lot, but it was still burning into the stump.

Maybe it was time to move to a different area, one not so… contaminated. Danny shrugged his shoulders. It would do for today, then he would never come back.

It would probably be better if he took it slow too, especially after earlier. Setting down his bag at a non-destroyed oak Danny did some stretches. Ectoplasm blazed to life in his hands, glowing eyes growing in luminescence as shapes began to form. He leaned back, but stayed midair as he slowly floated off the ground. Danny grinned, he was never going to get tired of this.

Everything was going great; practice was on schedule, he was getting pretty good at flying, and progress was being made with his ectoplasm manipulation. After about an hour of training, Danny was laying down while on a break when he felt it. A chill ran down his spine, and he gasped as a wisp of blue vapor comes from his mouth. He felt a tugging in his stomach, telling him to turn right. He gets up, following the most literal gut instinct he's ever had.

Scratching and echoed snarls pierce the quiet of the forest, in the direction of one of the target boulders across the destroyed field. Danny gets up, ectoplasm flaring back to afterlife and seeping from his skin. Now satisfied that he can defend himself, Danny floats up so he can get a look at whatever was making the sound.

When Danny finally reaches a sufficient height, about seventy feet he'd guess, he catches a look at the creature. It glowed green, ghost green, and was tall, easily eight feet in height, fat and about the size of an SUV. The long snout ended with mucus covered whiskers, and its beady red eyes don't stay in one place for longer than a second. Nasty grime caked its ears and the sickly fur was matted and tangled, with bald spots on it's back and legs. The long hairless tail was longer than its own body, twitching nervously at anything that caught it's eye.

Danny's eyes rise, and his mouth opens in a gasp of surprise. A giant rat ghost was gnawing on one of the trees that Danny had fried with ecto-electricity. "What the hell?" Danny whispered, his eyes narrow. "A rat?" Incredulity leaked through his voice, "I was scared of a rat," he laughed, relief flooding his system.

Danny stops laughing when the the rat stops gnawing on the charred husk. He looks down, and the rat is staring right at him. "Actually, you're kind of huge." Danny floats away from the thing when he feels the mood shift. The rat ghost growls, a faint echo tinged the warning. It only furthers his already considerable anxiety.

That was all Danny needed to start charging ectoplasm into his hand. The rat continues to stare, letting the stalemate settle for a solid ten seconds. While thankful for the pause, Danny is nervous beyond belief. Was he seriously going to fight this monster? Him?

Danny can feel the ectoplasm on and in his hands, begging for its destructive release. The energy hummed in the quiet forest, and the beast let out a roar at Danny before flying straight at him.

"Oooookay! This is happening!" Danny immediately flies backwards into the air and fires both charged ecto-blasts in a panic. The left blast missed, barely grazing the rat on it's side, but the right one makes a direct connection when the rat flinches into it. The missed blast detonates on the ground, sending dirt and splinters asunder.

The creature stumbles back from the force of the blast, and Danny was quick to follow up with an ecto-ray to the rats back. Not enough damage. The rat recovers quickly and accelerates with surprising speed, getting within range the rat flips forward, confusing Danny before the tail follows through and smacks him into the ground.

Danny crashes into the forest floor, the trees and bushes barely do anything to break the fall. He gasps, the wind's been knocked out of him, and his ears are ringing. He barely has time to get back up before the beast is upon him again.

It tackles into Danny, sending them sprawling into the underbrush. Claws pierce into Danny's back, "AHHH," he wails as it rips a chunk out of his side. In desperation and pain ecto-electricity flares across his entire body, shocking the creature off him. Danny grabs his mauled side and flies forward to get through the treetops. When he breaks through, he turns invisible and spins around, waiting for the rat to follow.

The rat roars from below the canopy cover and bursts through the tree crown moments later. Green smoke wafts off its body, a nasty side effect of the shocking it received. Nasty indeed, Danny gags at the smell, reminding him that this is in fact, a dead rat, and he just cooked it. His retching flares up no small amount of pain from his side, and he buckles over with tears in his eyes. God, it hurts.

He shakes his head. Stay focused. Suck it up. Danny bites back his tears and straightens his back, 'It's like earlier. Do or die.' He snarls, and ectoplasm begins to form around his free hand. The rat is still floating around, searching for him. It sniffs the air, slowly turning towards him and it becomes clear to him that now is the time Do.

Danny rockets forward, keeping his hand on his side, it was still leaking more ectoplasm than he would have liked. The spectral rodent turns as he continues smelling for him, and Danny drops invisibility at the last second. Danny's clawed hand strikes home and tears into the rats side, he's met with resistance, but puts more strength into the swipe and it tears through the rats hide.

He keeps flying, to make some space and he's intercepted by the rats tail. It catches his legs and he's sent tumbling out of control, spinning into the treetops. He has the smarts to turn intangible, only for it to flicker off and he still crashes into the trees. Thinking fast, he swings out his hand, cutting branch and tree alike before he reorients himself onto the side of a tree.

The ecto-claw fades as Danny glares up at the noisy monster. The rat's rolling around in the air while screeching, a claw shaped chunk torn out of its side. "Ha! Paybacks a bitch!" Ectoplasm as blood leaks out from the rats wound, splashing across the treetops in the wild flailing.

The SUV sized rodent snaps its attention to Danny, a hateful glare burning in return to Danny's taunt. He's long since been charging up ectoplasm in his hand, and when the rat does a blind rush to get to him, he promptly blasts it in the face.

Undeterred and thoroughly annoyed, the rat blitzes through the blast, despite damage to itself, and charges through the following ecto-rays. Any calm he had before was quickly turning into panic, and he would have kept firing had he not slammed back first into a tree. He had enough time to mutter a curse before quickly turning intangible. The rat slammed through him and crashed into a tree, snapping at the point of impact. "Ole!"

Danny takes the opportunity to fly up and back out of the trees, he could deal more damage at a distance. Besides his quickly healing wound on his abdomen, this fight could have been much worse. He could be dead, or eaten alive. The damned rat was quickly making its way back over, looking -if possible- more pissed off than it was before.

It snaps his head at him and squeals, in all of it's 'roided ghost rat fury. Danny grins before deciding to switch it up, green electricity sparks and crackles across his arm, and the hulking vermin takes the initiative to charge back up to Danny. His grin widens to a smirk and he throws his charged arm forward, "Taste the power of the dark side!"

Ecto-electricity flashes from his fingers and hits the charging rat along its face. The violent energy scars along its head, from the left eye going up through its ear and down its back. The rat dips down in flight and spasms as the charge makes its way through its body.

Taking no chances, Danny fires a second volley of electricity at the beast. It sears onto the rats left flank and cuts into its tail. The rat screeches in pain before it shakes off the effects and launches at Danny, he attempts to fire a third volley but is unable to muster enough energy before the rat crashes into him.

Danny releases his side and uses both hands to keep the rats face away from him. It snapped with rapt abandon trying to take off Danny's head, and its two clawed arms dig into his waist. Danny screams through grit teeth and he coats his arms in ecto energy. He grips the rats head with his left arm, and whips his fist back. The rat lurches forward and makes progress, but is held back long enough for the other fist to hit its target.

The first punch stunned it, ectoplasm bursts through its nostrils. The second made it recoil, its jaw cracked in by a hook. The third knocked it away, another punch to its nose. The fourth never connected before the rats tail slammed into him from below. The rat rolled around while clutching its snout, mewling and snarling in pain over its broken nose.

Danny regains control after a few seconds and rubbed his back, that was going to bruise, badly. He glares down at the rat before taking stock. It caught him at a horrible time. He had been using his powers for a while, and he didn't get much of a chance to regain any energy. If he wasn't on empty before, then he was on it five miles back now. He only had enough juice left for a couple more attacks, the rat looked like it was on its last legs as well though.

If he can't scare it off, could he kill this thing? Actually kill it, deader than undead, dead? If it meant surviving… then yes, he could. He looks over his injuries, frowning at his battered body, the original claw wound on his abdomen was still bleeding. The new additions on his waste stung like a beehive, but it wasn't very deep, and nothing vital was hit. Hopefully. There was no doubt he would be sore beyond belief tomorrow. He could feel little scratches all throughout his body, there are some on his face as well.

Danny gasps, finally feeling everything at once, 'Holy shit, this hurts so bad.'

He wants nothing more than to run, go home, and play some Doomed. He won't deny that there is a part of him that gets a thrill off this, but there's a bigger part of him that's tired of pain, and wants to get away from it. Like now, he was definitely sick of this, and he definitely wanted to leave.

The giant rat ghost doesn't know when to stay out though, and glares at Danny, growling all the while. The angry spirit hesitates for a second when it sees Danny's hand glow green from ectoplasm. Hesitation lasts only so long though and the rat pounced towards him, showing its impressive acceleration once again. Danny knew what to look out for though, and he flies down and hits the ghost in its stomach with a point blank ecto-ray.

The rat screeches before flinging its tail at Danny again. Having seen the same trick multiple times, Danny weaves left and dodges the tail. Danny returns fire with another ecto-ray, and while it hits its mark, Danny falls out of the sky before he regains control. There's not much left in the tank.

Danny lowered to the ground, he could feel his energy leaving him, sweat dripped down his head and he was panting heavily. He wipes his forehead before charging up another blast, he has maybe one or two shots left at most. Danny looks back up and finds his foe gone.

'Where the hell is it?'

Danny doesn't find his enemy in the air, and before he can turn around the rat is already on him. The weight of the creature pushes Danny face first into the dirt and he loses focus on the energy he was gathering. The ghost rakes his claws across Danny's back, eliciting a scream from the teenage ghost. He could feel each claw as they scratched through his flesh, muscle and across his bones.

The ghost didn't have enough time to sink its teeth into Danny before he bucked the creature off of him. Despite the extra weight it wasn't terribly difficult to get it off him, but when the claws were ripped loose, ectoplasm splashed across the ground and poured out of his new wound.

Danny immediately got up and turned around, the rat having recovered enough swiped its tail at him. Danny started on a sprint towards the ghost, jumped over its tail and brought his fist back. "Don't you have anything else?!" The ghost had no time to react when Danny smashed his fist into its nose again, after which he kicked himself away; he fumbled the landing though. The rat reeled backwards covering its bleeding nose with a clawed paw.

This is bad. He's got one in the chamber, and despite how much damage the damn ghost has taken, he doesn't think that he has enough in him to take it out with this last blast. He eyes the rats nose, bleeding and misshapen, chunks gouged out by his handiwork, and Danny only now realizes how bad it is. He's really done a number on it, but how much more does he need to do?

A ball of ectoplasm forms in Danny's right hand. The ecto-blast charges to full, buzzing with energy, and the rat takes notice of it. It hisses at Danny, a warning, but it doesn't attack. Danny grins, the rat's hesitant to charge back in. Fear. Fangs bared and body primed the rat doesn't wait any longer. It makes to leap at the half ghost, with fear not forgotten, but determined enough to keep trying.

Danny jumps back, gaining just enough distance for him to fire the blast without hitting himself. The ecto-blast fly's true, before exploding onto the things already broken nose. The blast destroys the front end of the rats snout and ectoplasm cakes the area while it shrieks and flails about in a pained panic, knocking over small trees and destroying the local flora.

Danny tries to charge up another blast only for it to fizzle out. Trying again provides no results either. He's still a ghost, but he's not entirely sure how long that's going to last. He cast a nervous glance at the ghost rat before he hardens it to a glare. He takes a breath before he takes a step towards the rat. Then another, and another.

The rat notices Danny after it hears the snap of a twig. It's beady red eyes shoot up towards the cause of its suffering, and for every ounce of hate and ire in its glare, there is just as much fear. Danny sees this and pulls on the last bit of power he has; he needs to make it fear him more than it wants to fight him. Just a bit, that's all he needs.

Small sparks of electricity run across his fingers, stopping when they reach his hand. The sparks themselves are dim and don't even hold enough power to hurt the creature, but the ghost doesn't know. He gives a mad grin, "What are you waiting for?! Come get it!"

Despite the situation, despite how scared he is, and how much he just wants to pass out from pain, he keeps this farce going. Look tough, intimidate, show consequences. He's made it obvious he can hurt the dumb creature, he just hopes it's smart enough to have survival instincts.

There's a pregnant pause as Danny waits to see the results of his taunt. The rat is huffing and growling at him, and it's shaking and digging its claws into the ground, but the look in its eyes is all Danny needs to know. It's scared of him. It's missing its nose now, so it should.

Danny stomps one foot forward. He growls, "Run."

The rats eyes widen before it rushes in the opposite direction, crashing through trees and bushes until it finally takes flight and leaves the young half ghost alone in a pained silence.

With wide eyes and an aching body Danny takes a deep and shaky breath, before exhaling and limping back towards his stuff. He pulled his hand down his face and sighed into it. He almost died, again, and it could have been a lot worse than his first death. He's almost died twice in the same damn week, and he still had the whole summer left. Can he even survive the summer at this rate?

When Danny finally makes his way to his bag, he's relieved to see that it's been mostly spared from the carnage. Bending over to pick up his stuff hurts. So does zipping up the backpack. So does trying to pick up the bag. Breathing too. Everything hurts, really. Danny takes a few steady breaths before he turns to the direction his house is in and starts walking.

He doesn't have enough energy to fly, that's for sure and he's surprised that he's still in his ghost form. Every step is difficult and he's been dragging his feet since the ten minute mark.

After thirty minutes of walking his form shifted and he returned to being Danny Fenton. He didn't make it much further than that before he passed out, the pain nearly doubled when he turned human and he couldn't even stand anymore. He was conscious enough to not land on his back, it would be bad if he landed on that injury. His clothes were ruined when they reappeared, another pair that he has to toss.

The day had started so well too.