#ectoberhaunt

A young frog scampers about his home. Hoppop scolding him and his sister threatening vengance when he used her bucket as a springboard. The usual.

"Sprig! Frogdarnit, that boy!" was heard as Sprig fled outside.

"Oh no, I'm in trouble!"

Startled, the young frog flailed before falling backwards right onto Bessie. The boy now lay there in a daze as his guardian caught up to him.

Aww man, really in trouble now.

"Goshdarnit, Sprig! When will you stop and think before making a destructive mess? Look at all this!" Hoppop took a breath, not wanting to get into it again right now "Oh, nevermind! We're going to market today. So c'mon, kids, in the wagon you go."

Once at the store, Hoppop assigns Polly, his baby sister who hasn't even grown her legs yet, to be in charge! Her!

That just hurt! Offending even!

But when he questioned him, he gave all these examples of things he may have messed up just yesterday. So unfair!

"Wish there was a way I can prove I'm not such a goof up." The frog pouted when his sister let out a small laugh at his misery.

Sprig wondered his question outloud when Wally ran back into town from the forest, screaming.

Oh? What's happening here?

Then the mayor started going on about caring about the townspeople's safety that Sprig ended up tuning out quite a bit. The only thought rotating in his head was that he could do it and prove he can be responsible that way. By capturing the monster!

"Polly, I just had a great idea. I'm going to catch that beast and save the town!"

"Stop right there! Hoppop put me in charge and you know you can't take meeeeeee!" She held on that last word to strike her point.

Hmm... She's right, I can't take her. Not in a fight.

Right now, he has a mission to carry out. A very serious mission no one asked him to do.

Now, to get past his baby sister Hoppop put in charge...

Ah ha!

"Hey Polly, look. Caaaandy." Sprig pulled out a handful of candy from his pocket, shaking it in front of his sister before letting it drop on the ground.

"Bribe accepted!" She held on that last word to strike her point. She practically inhaled the candy bribe and Sprig was now free to find this beast and prove he has responsibility in him.

"Let the monster hunt... begin!" Sprig yelled out as he ran off. Polly reminds him not to die only, with it echoing back to him as he leaves.

In the middle of the woods outside of Wartwood, Sprig wonders where this monster could be. He finds strange indents that are probably footprints and thinks outloud to himself as he investigates.

"Seems like the beast roams these parts, probably a good time to- AAAAAAhhhhh!"

Seems like there was a trap of sorts hidden under the leaves he stood on, now he is stuck dangling there in the open.

"Ha! Gotcha! Thought you could get the best of ol' Danny-boy, eh? Well, you didn't!" A disheveled being wielding a carved pointy stick exclaimed, breathing heavy and looking everywhere. A being whose appearance seemed familiar sounding to Sprig.

A monster with a giant head with a weird stubby bump in the middle of its face and long spindly legs, right as Wally described, came out of the bushes.

"The beeeeaaaast!"

The beast leaned over to whisper "Stop following me."

"Well, I have news for you!" Sprig continued, not noticing what the beast said "I taste terrible!"

"I'm not going to eat you." The beast seemed disgusted at the idea.

"You tried to eat Wally."

"I tried to ask Wally for help. He ran off screaming the second he saw me." The beast did air quotes when saying Wally's name for some reason.

"That does sound like Wally." He has to give the beast that, at least.

Just then, a monstrous roar echoed from further in the forest. Plant life in the distance falling and it got closer.

"It's coming back." The beast seemed worried. So... not a friend? Ho boy. The beast ran off, taking their pointed stick with them.

"What is? Where are you going?" Great, now he is going to be eaten by a monster instead of a beast! Sprig struggled with the rope holding him in the air, becoming more afraid as the monster got closer. Even biting it to no avail.

Then, the beast turned around and grabbed him. Running and getting them both to a safe hiding spot.

Sprig did not expect that. He's not complaining about this turn of events but still, he did not expect that.

"You, you saved me. You're not a beast at all. You're a hero! An ugly, ugly, ugly hero!" Sprig is very excited and relieved from this turn of events.

"Call me ugly again and maybe I will eat you." The not-beast hero said with a slight smile like it was teasing him. Right? Hopefully it was just teasing. Either way, he will take his chances.

"Ha, you're not gonna eat me. You got a name stranger?"

"Danny. Danny Fenton." Danny said as he rubbed the back of his neck. Sprig is starting to notice he has been doing that quite a lot.

"I'm Sprig Plantar! Put 'er there!" Sprig stuck out a hand for Danny to shake and shake he did.

"You're hand just barfed on my hand." Danny's stomach growled and sighed "Okay, Sprig, you got anything to eat?"

"Oh, plenty!" he pealed back a layer from the log they were hiding under and a whole mess of bugs crawled about.

"Anything that isn't bugs?"

"No bugs, eh? We'll have to hunt around for a little bit."

Gonna be tricky but of course there is food that's not bugs! But how to get it?

The two exit their log hiding spot in search of food.

"Wait, how can I be sure I can trust you?"

"What? Does this face look like one that can deceive you?" Sprig pulled the most adorable face he could from his pocket and blinked at his new friend a few times.

"Yeah, I guess not." Danny laughed to himself about how ridiculous it would be for Sprig to be deceptive.

"Yeah! C'mon, chow time!" Sprig called as he pulled Danny further from their log to search for non-bug food.

After a treasure hunt for something to eat, they found a bucket full of different mushrooms that Danny proceeded to eat. He even called them 'pretty good'.

With his new friend fed, Sprig finds now a good time to ask some very pressing questions.

"So, first question. What the heck are you and where did you come from?!" He blurted that question out so fast the individual words were almost lost.

Danny wiped crumbs from his face and answered "I'm a human being. And I come from another world," he waved his arm and emphasized it for dramatics, "either that or this is a dream."

"Wooooooooow" Sprig couldn't help holding that 'wow', "Do you know how you got here?"

"No idea. One minute I was in my world and the next I was here." Danny took a breath and walked closer and curled in on himself, "I don't know how to get home. Or even if I can go home.... So yup that's the story! So what about you? What were you doing in the woods?" A concerning topic change that went right over Sprig's head.

"Proving that I'm responsible." He was so proud of himself, giving his reason with a big smile.

"Oh, yeah? How?"

Well, this is awkward.

"Uhhhhhhh......" how would he explain this now that he knows that Danny isn't dangerous?

It also occurs to him had the beast actually been dangerous he might not have made it. He did not think this through. At all.

Right then, the townspepople carrying torches and pitchforks come in and tie Danny up. He tried to stop them but they were ignoring his pleas for them to leave his friend alone.

He even got praised by Hoppop for 'catching the monster'.

"Dude, what the heck? You set me up?! I thought we were bonding!" Danny sounded so hurt and Sprig kept trying to clear this all up.

Before he could really explain his side, the monstrous roar came back and out from the brush was the giant mantis! Larger than anyone from town and very, very deadly!

The townspeople used a 'mantis formation that seemed to scare it off. Well, seemed.

An even larger mantis than that one and red plopped down from the tree tops.

That makes more sense.

The giant mantis swatted the matis formation townspeople out of formation and Sprig could only think to untie his friend so he could escape.

Running up close to the monster, Sprig yelled in a war cry. Taking his trusty slingshot, he pelted a pointy rock at its eye.

Instead of running to safety like he thought, Danny came back just in time to save Sprig's life!

Holding one of its dangerous playing mantis arms back with just his hands was very impressive that Sprig just stood there. At least until Danny turned his head to ask for help.

Either it was a trick of the light or his eyes just flashed a particular shade of light blue.

Meh, probably not important. This mantis on the other hand!

"On it!" Sprig grabbed the rope that was used earlier and wrapped it around the giant, red mantis. Danny pulled the rope, bringing the now very tied up mantis onto the ground. Dead.

We did it!

After all that, however, the townspeople still wanted to angry mob-hunt his new friend!

At least until Hoppop stepped in and took responsibility over him and Danny.

Ho boy.

"Looks like I'm back to causing trouble for the family again." The young frog is very disappointed in himself. he was really trying!

"Trouble? Sprig," Hoppop seems pleased at least, "standing up to that angry mob to help this creature out is some of the bravest and most responsible stuff I've ever seen,."

"That was pretty cool Sprig. Polly even complimented him stop her throne that is Hoppop's head "It was also really dumb!"

"Yes," of course Hoppop agreed, "really, really dumb."

YES! Wha-hoo!!! Big win! Hoppop thinks I'm responsible!

"Well, this has been great," Danny broke through his little celebration, "Just give me a map. I got to find my way out of this cooky place."

"Oh, a map won't be enough." Good ol' Hoppop, coming in with his wisdom... and his map of the area. "This here valley is surrounded by mountains that are impenetrable this time of year."

"It should clear up in a couple of months." Sprig is being very helpful.

"But, until then," Here comes some Hoppop level advice, "if you try to cross those mountains-"

"You will die." Polly, ever the direct with this topic.

"You mean to tell me I'm stuck here in this crazy place for two months?! Where am I gonna stay?"

Sprig is so glad that Hoppop is letting Danny stay in their basement. He brought him some stuffed toys he is too old for to welcome him in, even if he ended up taking them all back to his room.

'Monster' and 'Weird Little Frog Boy' are some fun nicknames they now have.

It's good he warned him about one of the dangerous bugs that can get it. There are plenty of those, now that he thinks about it.

Now alone in his new room, Danny sits on the rolled up mat he has to sleep on now after Sprig left for his own bed and pulls out the music box. Opening it up, nothing happened. Not the first time he's tried it. Heaving a sigh, Danny put the, now dull colored, box back in his backpack.

"Looks like I'm stuck here for a little while. At least for two more months."

Danny looks at a Polaroid of him and his friends forlornly, wondering about their fate and if they are also trapped in this crazy world.

He thinks back to how he ended up here, lost in a new world instead of with his friends in Amity Park.

It started with an antique store.

An old antique store in some hidden corner of Amity Park had this very ornate music box. Very pretty. Intricate designs cover the thing, the centerpiece being this frog and three differently colored gems on the top of the lid.

Danny still isn't sure why his friends thought it was a good idea to steal it, he was unsure about the whole thing really, but he didn't want to disappoint them even more.

"C'mon, don't you love frogs?"

So, he took it.

"Yeah, but-"

Right when the owner's back was turned.

"And the gems kind of look like stars!"

The guilt haunted him immediately. Almost as much as this memory haunts his dreams.

"Think of it as a birthday gift."

Then he had no time to worry about that once he opened it. They claimed that as the birthday boy, he should be the one to open it.

Living on the Tortuga was something else! Danny can't stop being amazed no matter how much time spent on and in it. It has already been over a week and he is still amazed. Such a high tech piece of equipment and these people just live in it, traveling around the world to learn about and even protect animals and their environments.

Sam would love this place, her and Tucker both.

Sometimes when he's bored, like today, he haunted the halls of the turtle ship home. Exploring every room, the nooks and crannies and whatever happened to catch his eye. Tight spaces are nothing when you can turn intangible, after all. Well, that and his still growth-spurtless body that's still small enough to be shoved into lockers.

Unfortunately, someone entered the room after hearing some noise and saw their resident ghost kid's head halfway in one of the Buzz Bikes. In walks Jimmy, from chilling to thinking it could be another theft attempt from Zach Varmitech and completely unprepared for that sight. To be fair, it usually is him who tries to steal their inventions and claim them as his own.

"Gho-aaaahh!" The usually chill man flailed backwards, not expecting Danny to just be floating there, head in one of the vehicles, until he heard someone else in the room.

Too bad for Jimmy, the man gets easily startled and Danny forgets that he isn't used to a ghost kid being on board.

"Sorry, Jimmy," Danny apologized to the startled crew member, "I was just checking out how the Buzz Bikes hover like they do. My parents use ectoplasm for the Specter Speeder but you guys don't use that as a fuel source. Actually, I dunno if that would be a viable fuel source at all in this dimension."

"S'cool, dude. I can tell that you didn't mean to. Do you want to talk to the girls about the bikes? They know more about how it works. I'm really only the pilot and teleporter guy. Sometimes also the test dummy guy. Especially while Aviva is in 'creature-power-suit-creation' mode. Not always fun, but it is cool to see how she works and gets the features figured out." Jimmy, chill as ever, rolled with it. A child with powers sticking his head in something is far from the freakiest thing he's seen over the years with this crew. It is a bit close, though.

"Nah, maybe later. I'm just poking around while there's downtime. Something crazy will happen eventually, whether its the brothers or one of your, frankly, unhinged threats I can't believe haven't all been arrested villains." Danny dismissed the guy's suggestion, still floating and starting to rotate upsidedown. "Besides, being a pilot is nothing to sneeze at either. Sure, it's not as flashy or as exciting as what the others do but it's difficult to get and maintain a license on a regularly shaped aircraft, let alone one shaped like this one that you all work and live on for months at a time."

Jimmy was touched by the kid's kind words. Danny, still rotating and starting to giggle with himself, looked like the kid he really is. No threats to worry about for now and using his powers openly for his curiosity and entertainment. At least his curiosity has more to do with how machines work with what he can do, he's so smart in ways that they hope they can break him out of denying he is.

"Hey, Danny," Jimmy broke their peaceful silence, " wanna try some of my nana's brownie recipe? We can make it while the bros are out. Might encourage them to get back sooner."

"For real?! It would be nice to learn to make food without the threat of ecto-reanimation!" That excited the ghost boy. "The bros would probably fight each other for first bite! Wouldn't take long unless they found a new friend to explore with, no doubt."

The two share a laugh as they exit the room, Danny lets gravity take hold once again and walking out with him. Jimmy is reminded of the time they found Bite Sized the bat in the brownies as they left and plans to share that story with him.

Jimmy was tempted to let him know they aren't cops and that it wouldn't be easy capturing environmental villains who have access to air and water travel, and that most of them are very rich, but decided against it for now. Now is a time for baking and lightheartedness.

Meanwhile, the Kratt brothers were exploring the dense forests of Southeast Asia, adventuring high in the tree tops.

It's nearing dusk and the brothers knew they should be heading back to the Tortuga.

... Or at least check in with the others.

They don't exactly remember the last time they did so, after all.

Just then, they smelled something unusual.

"Hey, Chris, what's that smell?" Martin asked out of the blue, stopping in a cartoonish fashion, balancing on the branch he stopped in very precariously.

"You aren't going to win any mind games, brother, let me tell you that," the climbing brother is fully in his element before smelling it, too, and proceeded to run into his stopped brother and having them both land in a tangled mess.

"Oof! Man, you really gotta pay more attention there, little bro." Martin was slightly teasing as they both recovered from their crash, still in a daze.

"Haha, very funny," the sarcasm is strong with the green brother, "Huh? That is a peculiar smell."

"Can it be?"

"Oh I hope it is."

Getting back up in the trees, shining their flashlights around, they managed to spot it. A medium-ish sized creature with dark fur and a long tail wrapped around the tree. Its body shaped similarly to a bear's but with a face that was more cat-like.

"Woah!"

"A binturong!"

They overlapped each other in awed excitement as they found a new creature to explore with.

The binturong in question moseyed along, doing its creature thing of looking for food now that it woke up. Although, it seems some smaller creatures looking a lot like it are fallowing along.

"Look at what's following it!" Chris whisper-shouted to his brother.

"Oh man, we have to show Aviva!"

A call comes through the Tortuga computer and is answered on Koki's large screen.

"Hey, guys. What's up? JZ and Danny are making brownies" Aviva casually greets the bros upon answering their call.

"That sounds awesome!" Brownies sound really good right about now and Aviva is glad they agree..

"Yeah, so come wrap up and have some, you goofs." Koki chimed in, very indulgent but would prefer if everyone was home soon this late in the day.

"Ok, we will. But first, we need to show you this incredible creature we found." Martin took the lead with this one, getting to say it first.

A screen on her end pans to a medium-sih sized creature with a long tail, very cat-like but not a cat at the same time.

"That little guy does look cool. But, what is it? Some kind of feline?"

"This, my friend, is called a binturong." Chris made sure he could say it before his brother could.

"Well, that sure is an interesting name." Aviva liked what she was seeing. The others do, too, when the three others look over her shoulder.

"Sure is! You're not wrong about it being cat-like. It is also called a bearcat even though it's not a bear or a cat!"

"The binturong was given that title based on its bear-like body and cat-like face. No one is actually sure what the name 'binturong' means, as it is believed it originated from a now dead language. These creatures use their claws and lone, prehensile tail to transverse the tree tops for their favorite foods. These omnivores belong to the civet family, searching for figs, eggs, and small animals." Martin chimed in, eager to infodump about such a cool creature.

"What's even cooler is their prehensile tail." Chris practically shoved his brother out of the way to give some information of his own. "See, it's pretty thick and muscular at the base but all the way at the tip its thin and leathery for better grip allowing it to act like an extra arm. "

"Amazing!" Aviva, already on board with this new creature, sees three little somethings nearby... or, little someones. "Wait, what are those? Are they baby binturongs?!"

"Oh wow! They sure are. They are also called bintlets!"

"Awww, que lindo!" Aiviva gushed in awe. "Do these little cuties have names yet?"

"Oh, yeah! There's Tailor, Tailia, and Swinger. He likes to swing with his tail. Young bintlets can swing like this with just their tail while they need to use their paws for assistance as adults due to their larger size."

"That's my brother, for you. Only Martin can come up with nicknames like that." Chris rolled his eyes in amusement.

"Yeah, well here's a WOW fact for you." Martin carries on, ignoring his brother's teasing. "Mama-rong over here can experience delayed implantation, which allows her to time the birth of her young with favorable environmental conditions. This means that mating can take place anytime of the year, because females can control when their babies are born. Female binturongs are also about 20 percent larger and heavier than males and are the dominant sex."

"Sure is a WOW fact. Now that's what I call girl power." Koki comments on that fun fact, or several facts as one, with a level of smug surprise.

"What's with all the sounds they're making?" The bintlets and their mom have been snorting and clucking, or sounds that are similar, as they play and eat. This question was from Danny piping in, the boy enraptured by a creature he's never heard of before. That and the adults he's with have nothing but love for their passions and the creatures they study. It really was a nice change of pace.

"Binturong have a variety of noises they can make, actually. The snorts and chuckles like the ones they're making right now mean those little bintlets are pretty happy, while a high-pitched wail that sounds like a cat screaming would be a sound they'd make if bothered. They also make loud howls, low grunts, and hisses."

"Pretty neat, right?" Martin added after his brother finished dropping that tidbit. Danny can't help but stare in awe and wonder. Wonder at this creature and also wondering if this would be way better if his friends were here to discover this. He feels a bit selfish, though, as he does like that it's just him in a way.

They all chatted about their new animal friends as the brothers scanned their new friends, especially the mom, and shared what they found with Aviva. A group of six, all excited about this find. Well, at least until the timer went off. Danny and Jimmy rushing off to take care of their brownies with the sound causing everyone to jump somewhat and get them all into action with renewed vigor.

"Watch and learn, Danny. You are about to see biomimicry in action!"

Just like that, she is now going full force on making creature power suits for them of this animal.

Unbeknownst to them, someone else is watching them and their video calls.

Someone who laughs to himself at how much better than them he is. In the dark. Surrounded by machine servants he built by himself.

A pale, skinny man watches the video transmission from his spy equipment. Ire growing as he focuses on the people he doesn't like having a good time, acting as if he really doesn't have anything better to do.

Zach Varmitech lauded himself as a genius who's smarter and better than Aviva Corcovado of the Wild Kratts crew. A, mostly one-sided, rivalry where his main method of 'proving' he is better is to steal her inventions to claim them as his own and kidnap wild animals to use as a base for his inventions.

"Arrrgh! Those Wild Rats! They think they are so good and smart and love those baby animals!" He whines and gripes about people not even giving him a second thought before he got a devious idea. "I could just take those weird cat-thingies they love so much. Yeah, that would show them! They'll be too distracted by their precious babies to notice me being a better inventor than Aviva! Doesn't matter if they picked up a kid from somewhere, he's not worth my time to care about. Yeah, that would show them. Now, what would I even make with them?" Zach contemplates for a moment before shrugging. "Bah! Who cares! I'll figure it out later! Zachbots," two large and angular robots show up through his door, "Roll out!"

The Zachbots start literally rolling on their sides, following his command.

"I didn't mean literally! I mean it's time to move out! Grrrrr!" His robots that he could update at any time to not do this get on his last nerve but all he does is change his wording like usual. Stomping his feet, he gave his reworded order. "Now! Get me those cat-thingies! Hahaha!" He always had time to laugh manically at the thought of ruining Tortuga Crew's day.

The brothers are studying their new friend in awe. Every new creature brings them that feeling when they learn about them and this time they have their new, sixth member, to learn along with them.

"You have to admire their scent."

"Guys, c'mon," Aviva did not believe them, "what kind of scent would they even have? I mean, there are a lot of interesting creature scents we've explored but..."

"But this scent is a bit more unique than the others." Chris timed his interruption well.

"The scent they leave behind to mark territories smells just like buttered popcorn!" Martin was giddy with how unbelievable such a fact they smelled is. "That scent is how we realized one was nearby in the first place."

"What?!" Every voice in the Tortuga, since they were all in the room, overlapped with each other.

Well, that got everyone's attention.

And for good reason, too.

No one would guess that, especially not on their first try.

Such a reaction was a bit comedic that the bros couldn't help but laugh a little.

"No, really. It's a scent they make and spread it from the base of their tail, letting other binturongs know that this is their territory."

"Interesting, can you get me a sample? For my habitat scent collection and for a potential creature power suit."

That got the brothers' attention.

"Awesome, Aviva!"

"Just get me more info and you'll get that suit soon enough."

Little did they know, a very angular shadow hovered in the background. The forest itself hiding what will soon be a bigger issue.

Excited chatter and cooing over their new friends distracted them from noticing the bintlets vanishing one by one, only really seeing the lack of them when bintu-mom became agitated with her babies missing. More and more agitated as the bintlets became quieter, and vanishing, as if the forest itself acts as if it was on mute.

From the shadows, a certain self-proclaimed evil genius sitting atop a Zachbot as if he were carried on a throne emerged. Smug as ever with seemingly unearned confidence.

"Aww, are you missing something?" Zach said in the most condescending tone. "All crowded around and missing the widdle babies. HA HA HA!"

Of course, when he could have gotten away unimpeded, Zach had to show his hand to gloat.

"Zach!"

"Give back the bintlets! They need to be with their mom!"

"Nuh uh! Finders keeps Wild Rats!"

"That's Wild Kratts!"

They corrected him as he did not care and just left on his Zachbot, leaving the others scrambling.

They have a creature rescue to carry out.

Back in the Tortuga, the other members of the crew burst into action. Koki by trying to pin his location down and Aviva locking in on those suits. Jimmy made sure to be on standby to teleport but was willing to do whatever else it took.

All had a usual thing to do for a villain based creature rescue.

All except a certain ghost boy who saw an opportunity to help in his own way.

Eyes flashing green, he left invisibly to see if he could save the babies while the frootloop was distracted.

He phases out of the Tortuga, forgetting to tell everyone who is already locked in on their creature rescue mission, and aims to save the bintlets the Danny way.

He transformed to get there in a timely fashion without being seen, a battle passed him by as he rushed against the clock.

A scream followed him out of the plane when he got his chance, back towards the Tortuga. Flying carefully with a smug smirk on his lips and a chuckle or two escaping now that he was free to make noise.

The brothers rush to catch up to the Zachbots and just barely miss them before following them inside.

They found his ship and burst aboard in dramatic poses, now armed with binturong powers and ready for a creature rescue!

That got the attention of Zach and his robot minions. Chaos ensued as a fight commenced.

No one notices a certain ghost boy also sneaking in. His powers make it possible to bypass the usual security guarding the bintlets and allowing him to get close without triggering an alarm.

Only once Danny saw and was in range of the bintlets did he change back but stayed invisible, not wanting to risk how they'd react to a ghost when he wanted to get them somewhere safe. His ghostliness was more easily detectable to animals, but even they seem chill around him for the most part when he is around as Fenton.

They were guarded by that frootloop's weird triangle robots and in a cage that was soundproofed. The poor things were making the most awful cat-like wails and howls, which his unfortunate ears had to find out the hard way when he deactivated the shield.

Good thing he took out the robots with his intangibility as soon as he got close before he deactivated the shields, it made it harder to realize someone got to them. With them out of the way, he was finally able to drop his invisibility.

"Hey, it's ok. It's gonna be ok. I'm here to help." The poor babies are so scared and confused. Danny had to get them to calm down so they don't alert the frootloop in grays and blacks.

Soon enough he had bintlets climbing all over him, he'd later recall how cute this was when the rescue was done but for now they are just wiggly. He was glad he only used his powers in human form, Danny wasn't sure how the bintlets would react to his more overt ghostly nature.

He thought he could drop his invisibility and get away. He could, at least, at first. That had to go back up right as he managed to get the bintlets to climb him for an escape when it seemed like the bros and the rest of the crew were struggling and that Zach might turn back around into the ship and see him. He barely breathed the whole time he was in enemy territory.

He was able to leave a scream following him in the distance, left behind in that plane and loud enough to echo.

He phased out of Zach's plane carrying the bintlets, disappearing from the visible spectrum before he re-entered the Tortuga and unintentionally giving Koki, Jimmy, and Aviva a little ghostly surprise. They were in the middle of a call with the brothers on their next stage of action when he materialized in like the ghost he was.

They thought Zach got away with the babies when he managed to knock the bros out of his plane and it took off.

The ghost boy, covered in bintlets and a little out of breath, popped back in as if he teleported, asking them where to put them as they crawled over his arms and head. Startling but a very cute picture that he was sure he heard a shutter or two go off, much to his embarrassment.

Face red from only being out of breath, he swears, he blurts out a plea for help so face that he only gets confused looks until he calms down enough to repeat it. Increasing the definitely not embarrassing coo-ing.

"Guys! Please! I snuck in while that Frootloop was distracted and got them to come with me! Help me put them down, I think I'm getting scented all over." His eyes are screaming 'help me' as he tries not to move.

"So wait, you got the bintlets with you and before you left you decided to haunt the guy?" Jimmy broke the silence with a bit of a laugh after Danny's reveal of having the bintlets with him. Danny didn't care who asked but is glad someone did.

They finally took pity on him after what felt like forever and they are now relaxing in the Tortuga after reuniting the bintlets with their mom.

"Yup." He had a very self satisfied smile on his face, showing no regrets. "I'll tell you more if we can have those brownies Jimmy and I made."

He got a 'nice' and prepared to tell them all about his very daring rescue, ghost style.

They all got comfy as he recalled what he did as they did their usual thing.

"So, there I was. Covered in bintlets and a whiny man baby cursing your guys' names, ripe for the haunting.

Zach was being all smug and very punchable. So, you know, how he normally is.

"Ha ha. See you, Wild Rats! I win! And there's nothing you can do about it!" His voice was grating but I held strong. There were some babies that needed to be reunited with their mom, after all.

After I managed to get them to climb me, we all went invisible while in there. Y'know, me an' the little buddies. To avoid detection and all.

Anyway, I felt the plane start to take off and was making my way off before I would have to transform and all and the bintlets started making all these noises.

They are so small and the noises so varied that the guy was getting spooked. The little guys must have been getting scared again after I managed to calm them down.

Well, with the noise and my being invisible-ness, he couldn't pin point us as I kept moving. All he knew was that there was some unholy screeching echoing in his plane where the loudest part kept moving, cold spot and no footsteps. Can't help it if I'm naturally light-footed.

After all that, honestly accidental, atmosphere buildup it really only took a tap to make him jump out of his skin. HA! You should have seen him.

Still said 'Boo' because I've never really gotten to do that before. Whenever I try to be scary at home, it just flops hard. Maybe because my friends know me and Zach was just too easy of a scare.

So, yeah, I left shortly after I got to do a classic ghostly scare and flashed my, as my more powerful frootloop would say, 'scary eyes' at him.

Left him calling for his mommy.

Literally, that was the word out of his mouth.

Best prank I ever pulled and this wasn't just getting revenge on a school bully!"

Danny finished his story with a flourish and a bow. He didn't even notice when he stood up. They all clapped for him, or at least that's how it felt. Either way they congratulated Danny for his quick thinking but asked to let them know he was going to try that next time. They did get worried when they realized he vanished like that.

How does that saying go?

Out of the frying pan and into the... something?

And into the... lava?

Got it wrong, no doubt, but this should be an exception.

Dani was just minding her own business when, surprise, Vlad's cronies come out of nowhere.

How rude!

And then, right as she managed to lose them, the Grunts in White swarmed the area. Must have noticed her flighty fight pattern and two ghosts moving around like that was bound to draw their attention, no matter how much damage or screams or anything happened or didn't happen.

They keep popping up in every turn she takes, making it hard to find a place to transform. She doesn't even technically exist so just a human form when them so close wouldn't help her.

The joys of being me.

One of the things she does yearn for besides a stable roof over her head where she didn't have to worry about too many questions and hide herself.

What's worse is that she has to keep stopping, too scared to push herself to melting again but she might have to and she knows it. The ecto-dejecto did its job but shes too scared to test it.

It feels like the more she managed the loose they double next time she sees them.

With all their tracking devices and fast cars and weapons made from 'well spent' government funds when going straight through buildings or in the ground but they are surprisingly persistent this time.

Just when she thought she found a place to rest and maybe change back to get off their scanners, she heard shouting.

"It's over here!"

"Don't let its youthful disguise stop you!"

"Don't let it get away!"

Always with the dehumanizing threats and orders with them, sheesh.

Thinking fast, she found her way down the dark alley they wanted to cut her out on, transforming and human. She hid between the trashcans when she saw it.

There, glinting somewhat in a dingy corner.

Someone threw out a still intact wok.

What luck!

So, there she was.

A homeless, half-ghost, clone girl in a dingy alleyway in some nameless, to her at least, city against foot-soldier cronies in white armed with only a wok and a whole lotta guts.

Playing gorilla warfare in this dark and dingy alleyway like a one-woman army, whacking these goons with her wok. It is now her new best friend.

She went in and out, darting back and forth from alleyway trash and other obstacles her small body can hide behind.

When suddenly-

"Wait, wait, wait! Dani, that did not happen." Her retelling of events from her travels was so rudely interrupted by her very rude cousin-brother-template. She came all this way to visit and he must interrupt her like this? Calling her a liar?! She is totally a truth-er!

"How dare! Wok-y is right here as proof!" Indignant, Dani pulls out her faithful wok as if it was right from her story and caresses it.

"How would I know you didn't just pick that thing up to tell that story on the way here?" Danny shot back, tone more teasing than anything with a smile in his eyes.

"As if you have any place to say that from all your adventures that no one would believe. I wouldn't believe you myself if I wasn't one of your wacky adventures." Dani retorted, an impish grin on her face.

They started wrestling and tickling each other on the floor, at times going into the floor, screeching and laughing and wide smiles the whole time and it went on for what felt like hours.

This is no longer about the story that she knows is true. This has become a need to get in the last word, the last 'gotcha', in a way only close family really can do.

Their bond, unable to truly define it with one word, feeling fuller than ever before.

Dani is glad she has this, even if it's only during visits. Maybe one day, it can be more permanent.

Not in any house, doesn't have to be a house. They were at Danny's favorite observatory in town. Well, more like the only one in town. But, it was still his favorite. This right here, with just the two of them, has felt more like 'home' than her time with Vlad has ever been before she knew he found her disposable.

And this time she has her good ol' wok to thank for getting her out of such a nerve wracking and tiresome predicament, allowing her to even tell this story and bicker and banter and play fight to their hearts content.

Danny didn't mean to get sick, promise.

He didn't even notice it started to come on.

Practically the whole student body had to miss at least some school from it. Even Dash was out sick at some point. Mr. Lancer has been at school with a mask the whole time, he cant afford to take time off for this and no one would be able to cover for him anyway. He must have caught something at school with the newest public school plague going around.

Then.

And then, while he was visiting the Far Frozen, it hit.

He was feeling fine, if a bit more tired than usual, as he had a snowball fight with the other yetis when a sudden bout of dizziness hit him and his legs gave out on him and he fell face first into the snow.

Last thing he heard were the yeti's cries of concern.

How embarrassing.

Danny was out before his face hit the ground.

What happened after that was lost to him.

The Great One collapsed in the center of their village and stirred up quite a tizzy of worry from the whole tribe. He's so small but it's easy to forget most of the time when he's constantly moving and taking up space, so loud and full of bravado and always joking. It hits him just how small and fragile the Great One really is in a moment like this.

To his relief, the young boy was still in his ghost form at the very least. He knows humans wouldn't last very long in the cold his people call home.

He did a cursory check of the Great One and he could tell right away that he was burning up. A worrying sign for any ghost, let alone with their shared core type, but dimming as much or melting in a literal sense.

On top of that, the Great One is half human and seems to be having symptoms he isn't familiar with. He was wracked with chills while feeling so hot to the touch that Frostbite thought his arm would melt, has raspy coughs, and even perspiring to such a degree.

He may be a bit lost with the human side of things, but it won't stop him from helping him the best he can.

Frostbite set up the Great One in a bed of their warmest furs, tucking him in tight enough that no one could escape. The poor boy might not even be strong enough to leave even if he didn't tuck him in.

The Great One was restless when he should be sleeping and seemed to settle when he set his ice arm on his forehead, so he made him a compress out of ice to rest there so he could have use of both of his arms.

The young one seemed to get better, or at least settle, until the nightmares came.

The Great One had such great nightmares that his made him ache to his core. He thrashed enough that the furs were barely staying over him until he used up all his energy.

The young savior weakly called for his sister in the few times he woke, unable to remember where he was. It felt like all he could do was gently stroke his head as the boy subconsciously searched for his hand if he stopped. So young as a human and a ghost, a mere infant who has done so much for them all.

His sister would know what to do in the places he feels lost in, so Frostbite found a fellow doctor who has also treated the boy to momentarily watch the Great One while he used his tribe's precious relic to ask the sister of the Great One for assistance. He could fly all the way to the portal connected to the Great One's residence, but time is of the essence.

Danny came to in snippets.

It was so warm.

His throat burned.

He cant remember where he is.

He thinks he was playing in the snow and having fun, so maybe Tucker brought him inside?

Mom and dad are probably in the lab and he doesn't want to be alone.

Jazz usually doesn't leave him alone when he feels this bad.

Where is she?

He's so warm and it's scary.

His head is pounding and everything is so fuzzy.

And he wants.

He wants Jazz.

He wants his big sister who got him canned soup and made sure he ate and drank and petted his hair. She always did it when she thought he was out but he always knew it was her.

The cold hand on his head was such a relief, especially when he felt a hand carding through his hair. Was that Jazz?

She must be here!

The hand is a bit cold but with how hot he feels anyone else's hand would freeze in comparison, but the gentle carding and soft singing meant it had to be her!

No one else had done that for him, after all.

Sometimes his parents would be distracted in the lab while he was sick. It's not usually this bad and they know he would be resting, but sometimes he just wanted someone nearby.

They try but it never felt right. His mom's method was too scratchy and his dad was never good at controlling his strength, but Jazz seemed to just know the right way to do it.

He knows their parents love them, but they are so busy all the time that they had to rely on each other instead. Sometimes he wondered if they love their work more than them, but he knows that they do. They just have a strange way of showing it.

Danny remembered when Jazz came in to check on him each time. Whether it was before and after school or throughout the day, she still came and sat by him. Sometimes, she even did her homework or ate with him.

He always wondered if she had to teach herself or if someone ever did this for her, she's so strong. She claims to be a grown adult, more than their parents, but she is still only a couple years older than him.

Danny felt a safe kind of warmth as he imagined his sister before sinking into deeper sleep for the moment.

Jazz sat alone in her room feeling at peace for once, a break from all the craziness.

A nice, quiet day for once. Danny was visiting his friend and mentor in the Far Frozen, her parents were in the lab, and she has time to study and maybe even read. This new study came out and shes been looking forward to what it reveals.

On days like this kids like her, should be prepping for college several years early. It's never too early to rush ahead and chase dreams, after all!

And then.

The temperature in the room dropped like it usually does when a ghost is nearby.

Oh boy, here we go again. Goodbye peaceful afternoon study time.

Rolling her eyes and reaching for the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick Danny's friends coated in an anti-ectoplasmic layer, she waits and pounces the second a ghost dares to enter her room.

The audacity.

The air itself warped and shifted. Long enough to notice, at least for her, yet short enough that it was over before she could truly react.

Within a blink of an eye, a large ghost with large icy horns and arm with the bones showing straight through as if it was clear ice, whose teeth were long and sharp enough to rip her in two without trying. Who... greeted her with a smile and a look of relief.

Dammit Jazz, You can't just assume a ghost's intentions based on looks! You are better than that!

"Sister of the Great One, I come to you for aid." The ghost rumbled in a deep and warm tone.

'Great One'? Hasn't Danny complained about a group of ghosts that worship him for taking down the ghost king all that time ago?

"Uh, yes?" Jazz took a second to reboot her brain and not seem rude while a whirlwind of questions tried to form in her head, "So, um, may I ask why you are barging into my room like this? What kind of aid could I even provide?"

"It is about the Great One." Oh boy, with that kind of seriousness Jazz could only wonder what Danny got himself into now.

"What's wrong with my brother? Did he do something? Or is something wrong with him? He's mentioned before that there are some ghosts who helped him out but I'm afraid he's not very descriptive even when he thinks he is." Jazz shot off question after question about what crazy thing her brother could have gotten into that beings who praise him are coming to her for help, barely pausing to breathe before taking a deep breath. "On that note, I don't think we met. Hi, I'm Jazz Fenton, Danny's big sister. Nice to meet you. And you are?"

After that deep breath, she put on an air of being put together. Formalities are important for a good first impression, after all!

With a big smile, if a bit strained, she held out her hand to her uninvited guest whose hands just so happen to be as big as her head.

"My apologies for not introducing myself," his rumbling voice began, "that was quite rude of me. My name is Frostbite, chief of the Far Frozen and the primary doctor for the Great One's ghostly needs." He stuck his hand out to shake hers, understanding that this is a human custom even if he seems to not fully get it. Seems they both understand respecting each other's customs in a way!

"Well, it's good to finally put a face to a name. My brother has mentioned you before but trying to get more info from him is like pulling teeth." At his confused and off-put expression, Jazz clarified herself. "Oh! I mean that it's very difficult to get him to open up even a little so prodding for details before he's ready is a lot of effort and usually a lot more trouble than it's worth when he can get there at his own pace! Sorry, it's a common turn of phrase in this part of the human realm." 

"Thank you for explaining, the one called 'Jazz', sister of the Great One. I'm afraid the problem the Great One is having is a bit too human for me or my people know how to truly help and we have determined it is not safe to move him. The young one is hot to the touch yet seems so cold at the same time and is raspy like he is dry on the inside. These symptoms are not common among ghosts and we know you would have a better idea what to do for him."

That is concerning. But...

"What gave you the idea to come to me about it? Not to say I would prefer to be in the dark when my brother's health is not so great but..." Jazz trailed off, recounting how Danny had been for the past few days. Heck, how the whole school has been for the past week or so!

"He was calling for you," his answer brought her back out of her own mind. Her head turning to face him so face she thought she would get whiplash. She almost fell down a rabbit hole of 'what-else-did-I-miss' again, when she is needed in the now, "the Great One isn't really awake but when he manages to speak he calls for you. He has mistaken our care for yours, actually."

That brought a tear to her eye.

And a stabbing kind of pain feeling she has learned to shove down.

Danny...

Wiping her eyes, Jazz got to parentified big sister mode. Focus on feelings later, Danny now.

"Alright, let me get some things first. Then, you take me to him." Her eyes were hard and full of stubbornness, letting Frostbite know that he can't come in here and tell her Danny needs her and expect her not to come. Some part of her recognized that he probably wouldn't have asked her to stay even if she didn't do this.

Still out of it, but feeling well enough to sit up, Danny looks around in a daze.

Warm soup nearby feels so comforting even if he can't really do much besides put his hands on the bowl. He doesn't trust his shaky hands just yet with holding hot liquids, not when he feels like he's going to fall back asleep any second now.

He tried to move before his eyes closed on him.

Damn. Thought I could stay awake longer than this.

"Here, have some soup before you pass out again."

Hmm? Sounds like Jazz. Must be hearing things again. 

"Ngh, too tired," he pathetically whined as someone else holding the spoon brought it to his lips. A hand held his head, letting it rest while keeping him sitting up as he was fed. The flavor was familiar in a way that surprised him. 

It tasted like the cheap canned soup Jazz bought for them for when they get sick or ran out of food they could make for themselves before they were big enough to get more themselves when mom and dad were too busy or distracted to remember to buy food or not put samples in the fridge.

It tasted like home.

Jazz must be here after all.

Three kids laze around in a bedroom. The three relax on a Sunday afternoon, homework done and the vibes are just right for chilling. Glow in the dark stars decorate the ceiling, gaining energy where the sun shines on them through the window in the mid-afternoon as the it becomes later in the day. Just a slow, relaxing day.

Perfect for relaxing.

...Or some shenanigans.

"Hey, check out what I found!" The lazy silence broken by none other than Tucker Foley, browsing the web on his souped up PDA, who uncovered a very interesting natural phenomena.

So of course he shoved his device with the site open in his friends' faces.

"What's a 'brinicle'?" Sam and Danny asked at the same time when they saw the title, confusion clear in their voices.

"Scroll down and you'll find out." Tucker's voice nearly cracked in anticipation.

"Holy shit!" Sam yanked the PDA to get a closer look, knocking Danny out of the way.

"What?" Danny asked, feeling completely left out.

"Uh huh! Keep reading. There's a video attached." Tucker goaded Sam to keep looking.

"Hey, guys? What does it say?" Danny is getting really annoyed at being ignored, he even started to pout about it.

"Here, you big baby," Sam teased him before she shoved the article in his face. He petulantly grabbed it from her and got to read what those two were so surprised by.

"Ok, let's see...'Meet the ‘Finger of Death’: a Super-Cooled Brinicle That Kills Anything It Touches'," Dannys eyes flashed in excitement before scrolling down, "Woah! This is really cool."

This new phenomena got his gears turning as Tucker finally got to have his device back. His thinking face was on and it slightly concerned his friends.

Danny Fenton is 14 and sometimes he has dumb ideas he can't be talked out of doing.

"Do you think I could do that?" His friends both look at him, an unspoken need to know what he means. "My ice powers were pretty strong and ghost ice can be different from regular ice. Could it work in different conditions, even?"

Dumb ideas his two friends might want in on.

"Hmm, we could try and see if we can measure it. I have that list of your powers and how much you can do with them right on this baby here." Tucker waves his precious PDA to emphasize what he means.

"Guys," Sam started, prepared to be the voice of reason before a thought came to her, "if we're careful we could set up a controlled environment to test it."

Just as the three dumb kids were about to test a theory the world seemed to glitch and a green sticky note appeared on Tucker's PDA, the device that started this whole idea.

All it said was:

'There is a time and place for everything but it is not now!'

Time off from school, a treasured time for all students. Free from the shackles of graded responsibilities for a short time.

Any would do what they could to take advantage of such a rare respite.

"Man, what a waste of a school break. 'Help out the family business, Danny! It'll be a great use of your summer, Danny!' Only my parents would think this would look good on any resume. I'm fielding calls for them, but it's only been the city after they caused yet more property destruction with dad's driving or messing up my ghost fights I already had handled!" Danny grumbled to himself as he did his usual daily chore of cleaning the lab his parents can't be bothered to even try to clean themselves. Mocking their words only slightly helps him stay on task, if doing so a bit aggressively.

All except for Danny Fenton. Son of the infamous ghost 'experts' who only in recent years were proven to be more than just crackpots. Bad grades and missed assignments and skipped classes have not earned him favor with his teachers or parents who only ever hear of the bad stuff. He is not bitter at all.

Nope. Not at all.

From the spills to the beakers to double checking the filtrator, he rants loudly while his parents are gone and has hope that it could stay clean for at least a few hours before they inevitably wreck all of it and blame him for not keeping up. Especially if one goes nuts and doesn't tell the other to let him take the blame. Usually his dad on that front, actually.

"Just 'cause Sam and Tuck are out of town doesn't mean I have a million things I'd rather be doing right now. Not fair that they don't trust me because of my grades and school! Not my fault that some things are a bit more important! Even if I did get my 'priorities straight', the biggest trouble makers would just come for me anyway. Not that I would tell them that in the first place!"

He spent hours ranting and cleaning and chore-ing until his energy up that he could rant no more. It lasted for what felt like hours.

Until he managed to rant his way to finishing just as the clock shows it's now late afternoon. So definitely more than just a few hours he was in the lab and even rage cleaning the rest of the house, including his own room.

How long was I at this? It took forever and not a single ghost trying to leave the portal? Maybe I won't have to deal with pesky ghosts for once. Of course mom and dad didn't call, probably assumed nothing would happen. That or they forgot I was home again. On their orders. Typical.

Frustration seeping away and leaving him more sad than anything as he tried to relax after using all of his energy, the house spotless. With Jazz gone at college, they can focus more on him. But did it have to be like this? With dismissive words and looks of disappointment that his only escape from it is when they are not around.

From his ranting to a more morose mood, he moped around feeling sorry for himself. He stayed like that for a while when the phone rang. Its shrill sound startling the boy, putting him on high alert.

High alert and into customer service mode.

At least that's what his friends have called it. He only truly believed it when Valerie, who also works in customer service, agreed with them.

"Hello, this is Fentonworks." Danny took a breath to calm his startled heart and read the script his parents have for callers. Well, not really a physical one. But more like one he and Jazz have had to memorize when they were little 'just in case'. "Home of the experts on ectobiology, the ghost hunter and inventor dream team, Jack and Maddie Fenton. This is their son, Danny Fenton, speaking. My parents aren't home right now, may I take a message?"

Danny wondered if it was another complaint, his parents have been gone all day after all. Usually that spiel either prompts the complaint or encourages them to hang up, not wanting to bother talking with a child. He hopes the latter just want to yell at his parents without a go-between but he's never been sure and it can be one or the other depending on who it is and what his parents did.

Well, that or scam calls but those are fun to mess with sometimes and he can hang up on them without getting in trouble. Especially if they are bots.

"Actually, you're the one I've been meaning to ask for." Danny shifted in his seat, uneasy even if the voice on the other side couldn't see him. "What I'm calling for is not really something that can be talked about over the phone."

"Ha ha. Good prank, sir, but I don't think I should just meet a stranger at a secondary location given over the phone." Danny let his sassy seep through. Not as professional as he's trying to be but that is creepy, right? Guess this is someone he can mess with. "At least take me to dinner first. Should I tell my parents I'm being courted by a, I assume, grown stranger?" Danny's little shit younger brother mode has activated and he's not sure where to stop now that he's having fun for the first time that day.

"You have connections to spirits, right?" The guy he was trying to mess with cut in, sounding pretty serious now. Danny was just wasting time after all, maybe he's in a hurry? "In a way that wants to help them, not hurt? There's a lot I can't really say over the phone, if you can't do it can you get in touch with Phantom?" Can this guy not sound any more suspicious?

Suspicious but concerning, especially once he name dropped his ghost form. What if his parents were home or walked in on them? They would take the phone from him for sure once they knew it wasn't a complaint or a computer calling.

He doesn't know his secret but name dropping Phantom is risky. Does he know Danny Fenton's on Phantom's side or is he just taking a chance? Is this a trap? He really should say no and just hang up.

If he was smart, he'd hang up right then and there.

If he was smart, he'd block the number and sick his sister on him all the way from college instead of agreeing.

However, Danny is pretty bored and he finished what he needed to do. If he gets in trouble for something while he's not home he could just deal with it later, not like his parents are letting him do much else right now. Danny mulls it over before agreeing to meet in a well lit public area at least to hear him out. Whoever it is.

Too bad he never claimed to be smart.

He really hopes he doesn't regret this.

The agreed upon location ended up being the Nasty Burger as a familiar public place in Danny's home turf. He was about to meet the stranger there and all he knows was that he was told that 'he'd know when he saw him', whatever that meant. At least it's currently Valerie's shift because he knows she doesn't take shit and would help him if it went wrong. Perks of going as Fenton.

All he really knew about the guy was that his name was 'Mike' and this concerns suspicious happenings at his old place of work. All the guy said was to look for purple and he'll find him, whatever that means.

Danny is more and more aware of how sketchy this is but knows it's too late to back out now. He's already there and even if he wasn't, he's let his curiosity and boredom take over.

Maybe a little bit of spite as well.

Always a good motivator.

Welp, time to 'look for purple'.

Jazz is going to stick him in the thermos until he's 30 if she finds out he's doing this in the first place. But with his luck, she won't find out or she will when there's something bigger to worry about. Danny dreads and can already picture his sister's stare of disappointment. He's not sure if it would be worse if she was angry or just disappointed. Probably her disappointment, now that he thinks about it.

Heading inside, he scans the booths for purple. Maybe the guy is wearing all purple? Then, he saw him.

A man sitting at the agreed upon booth was wearing a purple vest on a long sleeved black shirt and topped off with a purple hat. With so much skin covered, Danny almost didn't notice his skin tone. As if he was partly rotted, even his skin was a deep purple. Like a deep bruise that covers the whole body.

Yup, that sure is a purple guy.

Taking a seat, he manages to greet the stranger, 'Mike-if-that's-his-real-name' in the most professional way possible.

"Wow, you really are purple!"

And greeted in a very professional way in return.

"Oh shit, you're so young!"

Which was in no way awkward with the following silence of their loud outbursts before they both looked away in shame.

No sir, not at all.

At least that is what I will be telling the others if asked... and beg Valerie to back me up even if she would definitely say no. Can't believe I brought up his skin color, I must have sounded so rude. You can't just point it out in public!

Taking a breath, Danny gets down to business with the purple stranger. He didn't want to wait for him or be stuck in silence, not when he was called and this is his turf.

"So-" his voice squeaked with the lingering awkwardness and he cleared his throat to try again, "So, you have a ghost problem?" Danny putting on his big boy pants started, voice quiet and calm. A public place is good for safety with a stranger but this is Amity Park and they are talking ghosts, you can never be too careful. Especially if he doesn't want his parents in on it.

A nod.

So well spoken.

"That's the working theory." The man takes out a stick of gum and offers one to him before taking one himself. Danny, already making a plethora of 'good' choices, takes one.

Watermelon flavor. Dunno what I expected.

"O-kay? Gonna need more than that if you want my help in any way. What kind of ghosts are you so worried about? Why all the secrecy? And, while I'm asking the questions, is your name really 'Mike', Mr. 'Purple Guy'?" Danny may be stupid, but he isn't dumb. He will at least make sure to ask questions before having it blow up in his face.

"Kid, you have to breathe. To answer one of them, my name really is Mike the same way your's is 'Danny', assuming it's also a nickname like mine." The man's amused smirk at all the questions faded into a grimace. "However, to answer the others I need to know one thing. How much do you know about Fazbear Entertainment?"

Mike leaned across the table a bit, completely serious in a way Danny does not get. At least not yet.

"Well, uh," why does this feel like he's being given a pop quiz, "they are a franchise pizza place that throws birthday parties? I think I remember my friend ranting about their unsafe business practices."

"Heh. 'Unsafe'. Understatement of a century right there." Mike shook his head with a small laugh, thinking of some kind of inside joke.

"She has also mentioned rumors and creepypasta-ish ghost stories about the place." Danny continued to remember what he could while munching on good ol' Nasty Burger fries. Very kind of Mike to get them both something to eat while here, or at least practical. "She liked to read the stories to us at sleepovers as scary stories, my other friend was fascinated by the tales for the animatronic characters."

"Well, your friend seems well researched," the man released a deep sigh, "at least as well researched you can be with all the cover ups and the not-so-easily explained."

"So, are you saying it's actually true?"

"Sort of. Not everything is true, but a lot more than you would like to think is."

Danny doesn't know what this guy was getting at and he has a bad feeling he won't like it when he gets to it.

"That chain is a part of a deep rabbit hole of death and rumored hauntings. Well, more like a few buildings from that chain, most likely. I don't even know the whole story myself, to be honest. Just know that it seems to have started with the two founders of Fredbear's Family Diner, child neglect, and bullying." The man's eyes were somber upon mentioning the bullying. "Yeah, bullying of a poor kid by a bunch of asshole teens who took what they thought was a joke way too far."

"Seems like you know a bit more on that front," Danny is very unsure how to proceed but can tell this is hard to talk about. "Did you know the kid?"

"Yeah," a deep, sad breath and a beat later, "you can say that."

"I can indeed say that, even if I don't know it's true. That is how rumors are spread after all," Danny, sympathetic to whatever this man is going through, agrees but knows they need to get back on topic to why he was called in the first place. "but, this story is not why you called me, is it?"

"No. No it isn't," the man glanced around to make sure no one was listening in, "It's something more relatively recent. The place I'm really here to talk about is Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. You know the in-house animatronics? The four timeless characters of the chain that make up the band. Getting right to the point, I'm pretty sure they're haunted. Sure, they only get a bit quirky at night. But, when they do, they don't really tend to have mercy."

"In what way?" Danny took a breath, thankful for Sam's interest in the occult and corrupt business history, "Assuming that this is not a true mechanical malfunction, there are different types of hauntings. A lot of ghosts don't know how feeble humans can be in comparison but that kind aren't usually as aggressive as you are describing, I think. There are others who are practically bound to where they died or a place of great importance to them in life. Those don't tend to like intruders, especially if they think they could be harmful." From pulling a Sam to a Jazz, he remembered what they and his ghostly mentors have said. "Bound spirits in the living realm can be very confused and have trouble separating memories from reality and memories can lie to you. Even living people sometimes remember things wrong. Sometimes the mind hurts and wants to protect itself."

"Definitely the latter, then. I worked as a night guard at the place and the guy who recorded instruction tapes for new night guards left very concerning information. Would have brushed it off if I didn't face them for 6 hours, myself." Mike heaved a sigh before continuing, "don't think he's around anymore from the sound of his night four call, though. Don't even know how long ago it was recorded before I got to hear it."

Mike set some papers on the table, they were old and faded. Dated as far back as 1983, different incidences circled. The ones that stuck out were from '85, with a progression of five missing children over time where they never found the bodies. Led into the backroom by someone in a mascot costume.

Oh shit.

This was real.

This took Danny aback. Sure he's dealt with ghosts and all, but this, if it's true, sounds like a real vengeful haunting.

Yup, that would make for some very powerful hauntings.

A pregnant pause passed between the two, a man whose skin is purple akin to rot and one baby faced secret half ghost talking about ghost stories that may have actually happened.

Danny feels the gravity of this. If these suits really were haunted by children. Scared and hurt and, possibly, angry children. He knows too much to turn away if he wanted to, Danny knows he cannot stomach leaving them to suffer. Even feels a need to help them.

In a way, he is glad that he was the one who answered the phone. It would only be bad news had his parents or the GIW found out first, even if they'd have to contend with corruption. Though, with the GIW, corruption will meet corruption of sorts.

That would be fun to see, at least if it wouldn't be bad news for everyone else. Which is the most likely thing, now that I think about it.

It's good that he's hearing about this first but was this really how he had to find out, universe? Maybe it's better this way, with someone who seems to have been in the thick of it and can give some pointers instead of flailing on his own or just his similarly-aged friends helping him.

But still, he had to ask.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why me? Why ask me? The only other person you were willing to talk to about this was the ghost boy. So I need to know... Why me?" His voice cracked a little when he emphasized his last questions. Feeling a little desperate on why he is the one being pulled into this by someone who shouldn't know he'd be able to help. Danny needed to know.

"Who else would even believe me? Or even just give me a chance to explain?" Mike's eyes were sad as he answered. "Who else would be willing to take the time and listen to be about animatronics not moving right? Or that they move from the stage at all? That they hassled the night guard office for all six hours of the shift? Sure, they're in free roam mode at night to protect their servers from locking up, or so they claim, but they for sure aren't programmed to mistake a person they see after dark as an endoskeleton and aim to stuff them in a suit full of crossbeams and wires."

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't they believe you? You're a witness and all, right? You said they kept trying to attack you?"

"A cover up to protect their bottom line if it could damage the company's reputation is not something beneath them. Kid, as soon as they find out I used to work the night shift they'd accuse me of just seeing things from sleep deprivation. I know at least most of what I saw was real and not just in my head like they would accuse. With what Fazbear has done to cover anything shady up, I'd be made into the bad guy no matter what if I went through official channels. One of the things they fired me for was tampering when all I did was look closer with a flashlight. Didn't want to be close to those things longer than necessary. No offense, but a child is not my first choice in this. Just so happens that you are the best choice to reach out to."

"I would take offense to that but honestly, fair. Kind of obvious you're desperate here when your second choice was the ghost boy if the non-anti ghost Fenton living here declined hearing you out, after all." Danny's eyes shifted as he lowered his voice before bringing up Phantom, this outsider knew who he was but not of the danger for him it seems. "Not really safe for him to make house calls with the increased anti-ghost stuff around here to show up in a way you can tell."

"Makes sense," a reply given with a nod and a sigh, "this is not an ideal situation in the first place. Don't think either of us want you involved if you weren't the best option."

"My sister is going to kill me if she finds out, and I might have to tell her just in case something goes wrong. Hope not. Definitely telling my friends while they're out of town, though. They have knowledge of things I'm clueless on. They call me clueless sometimes, after all."

Mike seemed un-enthused at the idea of more children, no matter how helpful, are getting involved but he really has no other option and no room to complain here.

The conversation died down as they dug into the rest of their, now cold, food. Neither really knew how much time passed until a shift change and visit from a friend who worked here.

"Hey, Danny. This guy's not giving you trouble right? You two look awfully serious over here. You're not getting in over your head, are you?"

The tension of the subject matter cut through by a fresh-off-her-shift Valerie Gray who, upon seeing her almost boyfriend with a stranger and needed to see if the nerd isn't getting taken advantage of.

"Hey, Valerie! No, no! Nothing happening here!" He nervously answered back, like a liar. He was touched she still cared enough to ask, though.

Aww, man. There goes any cool points I had with Mike.

Danny feels his face heat up. Why can't he just not be awkward? They were never together and she broke it off a while ago, even if she tends to avoid him for some reason, too. Maybe he did something wrong?

"If you say so," at least she seemed amused with his answer. She still likes Fenton at least even when she shoots first at Phantom but he can't help but miss the time they had together even if it was short. Her soft look hardened when she turned towards Mike, however, "You, on the other hand better watch it. If something happens to him, I know what you look like. Not many who share your description."

After giving the man some type of shovel talk, she heads home. She finally has been released from her shift and looks like she could sleep for a week. Probably gonna use her sled with how helpful flying is when a bed is so inviting.

He wouldn't blame her if she did.

How she does both this and still have it in her to fight ghosts? Danny doesn't know and he respects her for it.

"If Valerie's done, it really is getting late. How' bout we finish up before my parents hunt us down?" Danny is not looking forward to getting home himself.

"You're right. To check if they are you'd have to somehow get inside the building after midnight when they're active. Unless you or your friend," the way he said it had Danny think he meant Phantom but he doubts his own intuition a lot with how many clues he can miss, "can get in during business hours first and somehow check if there are ghosts in the building? There are ways to detect it, right? They aren't an active danger while the sun is up, but you should be careful."

Well, that first step is something Danny can certainly do.

"Me and my friend might have a way to check. If we do go, I'll probably just sneak out with his help so it will have to mostly be at night. A daytime investigation will be tricky but if I could figure out what kept them out all day I could try to get it to happen again. Kind of grounded because I secretly help out my friend instead of focusing on school and my parents are upset about my grades."

"I am in no position to judge." Mike sympathizes as they both get up to leave, "You have some good people looking out for you, by the way. Hope you know not to take them for granted."

Danny, remembering that dark alternate future, agrees. This guy must have lost important people to be so sad and serious saying that.

Now.

Time to plan.

For the spirits, for the ones they have hurt and will if not stopped, and for all the lack of closure the living and dead have in this mystery.

Danny hopes this won't take too long.

Maybe not even five nights... if his luck lasts that long.

Only a matter of time before his parents try to find him and yell at him for something else or whatever. Of course he's going.

Today, Frostbite was focusing on fine control, using detailed ice sculptures.  That is, Frostbite was creating detailed sculptures as examples.  Danny was making the ice sculpture equivalent of stick figures.  

“You are doing excellently, Great One,” said Frostbite.  

“Uh huh,” said Danny, looking dubiously at his rough collection of geometric shapes.  His gaze slid sideways to where Frostbite’s latest sculpture, a life-sized image of Danny, stood.  “That’s nice of you to say, Frostbite.”

“Truly,” said Frostbite.  “Despite your, ah, difficulties at the beginning, you are progressing immensely."

Danny sighed, then lifted his hand to rub his eye.  He’d gotten an unusually sparkly bit of snow or dust stuck in his eyelashes.  Then he looked down at his hand and frowned.  “Frostbite?” he said.  “What’s this?”  He peeled the small flake off his glove and held it up between his fingers.  

Frostbite blinked, then leaned close.  “That’s… interesting.”  He poked at the gold, partially spearing it on his clawtip so he could bring it up to his eyes and examine it more closely.  

“Yeah, I mean, where did it even come from?” asked Danny.  “Is someone doing something at the forge today?  That’s pretty far away, though, so how did it get here?”

“Nothing planned, to my knowledge.  It may have been carried here on ectoplasmic currents from another Realm.”

“Really?  Isn’t that…”  Danny looked up into the sky.  It was a rare clear day, and there wasn’t another island in sight, overhead or otherwise.  “Kind of unlikely?” he finished. 

“Quite.  There is another possibility.  I would need to do some tests to determine if it was the case, however.”

“You don’t need to do that,” said Danny, quickly.  “It’s just a weird thing, and I was curious.”

“Yes, and curiosity ought to be rewarded.  Besides, if it is the case, it will be important for us to know for other reasons.”  He took a small cloth from a pouch inside his belt and folded it around the gold flake.  

“Huh, okay,” said Danny.  He rubbed his eye again, making doubly sure there was nothing left in his eyelashes.  “Um.  Are you going to tell me what the other possibility is?”  He didn’t mean to sound sarcastic, but he spent so much time being sarcastic that it just sort of happened.  

Luckily, Frostbite didn’t take offense and laughed.  “Yes, of course.  Forgive my mysteriousness, Great One.  Only, I am unsure if you have heard of the turning of the age.”

“I don’t think I have,” said Danny. 

“Hm,” said Frostbite.  He stroked his chin.  “It isn’t a concept you have in English.  Let me think for a moment.”

Danny bobbed up and down in the air, pulling his feet up so he could sit cross-legged.  

“A turning of the age is a shift in the overall character of the Realms, as caused by a change in ectoplasmic energy.  It tends to be accompanied by a change in color and what you might think of as aesthetic, with the color of the ectoplasm generally indicating the character and aesthetic.  For example, green ages tend to be more chaotic, naturalistic.  Meanwhile, red ages tend towards the demonic, blue ages tend towards the heavenly, and cyan ages towards the oceanic.”

“And where does that gold come into it?” asked Danny.  

“Why, this could be a fragment of shifted ectoplasm.”  Frostbite patted Danny on the back.  “Don’t look so worried, Great One.  While shifted ectoplasm has great transformative power, the transformations are slow, much like the turning of the age itself.”

Danny hadn’t been worried about that, but now he was.  “What do you mean, aesthetic?  Demonic?  Heavenly?”

“Never mind the red and blue,” said Frostbite.  “Although the age sometimes turns many times in quick succession, we don’t have any evidence that it is changing at all.  This could be a perfectly normal piece of gold.  But the aesthetic part…  You are aware that different groups throughout human history described the afterlife differently?  Elysium, Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, Valhalla, all the rest?”

“Kind of, sure,” said Danny.  

“The humans who described these different places were often looking into different ages,” said Frostbite.  “If the age changes, then our current aesthetic - all these small floating islands, the ruins and stairs, the doors, the vast stretches of green - would go away, replaced by the new.”

“Oh.  And what’s a gold age like?”

“Yellow ages tend to be more Earth-like, at least in terms of geography, weather and such,” said Frostbite.  “On occasion, ghosts might even lose the majority of their powers and live much as they did as humans.  Gold shares many of those qualities, but it has what you might call a twist.”

Danny frowned.  After all this time, he wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea of losing his powers.  Especially flight.  He loved flying.  “What’s the twist?”

“No two ages are exactly alike,” cautioned Frostbite.  “Although red ages can sometimes seem that way.  However, gold ages generally include large, mythical creatures, notably dragons.”

“What, like, just showing up?” asked Danny.  “Spontaneously?”  

“Ah, no,” said Frostbite.  “Ghosts become dragons.  After coming into contact with enough changed ectoplasm, ghosts themselves begin to change their aesthetic to better match the age.”

“Um,” said Danny, looking at the folded cloth with much more apprehension.  

“As I said, the transformation is not immediate.  It is not even guaranteed that all ghosts will change in such a way.  In one gold age I am aware of, ghosts were divided into the roles of dragons, knights, princelings, villagers, and sheep.”

“Sheep?”

“A general term for nonintelligent ghosts,” said Frostbite.  “Tasty ones,” he clarified a moment later.  

Danny decided to ignore that, and its implications, for the time being.  He’d ask later.  “But sometimes it is everyone?”

“Oh, yes.”

“What is that even like?” 

“Complicated,” said Frostbite after a moment.  “It isn’t only one’s physical form that changes, after all, and dragons, as you might imagine, are quite territorial and possessive, particularly over things they consider valuable, such as gold, jewels, eggs, princelings.  They’re worse than demons, in some respects.”

“Worse than demons?” asked Danny.  “Wait, do ghosts become demons in some of these things?”

"That damn ghost punk!" WHAM! "Can't believe I started to warm up to the spook!" WHAM! "Right when my guard was down, he outed me to my dad! MY DAD!" WHAM! WHAM! "Now I'm grounded and can't put a stop to him and the other ghosts because he confiscated my gear! And he is more beloved to the town than ever!"

Each word emphasized with a punch straight on the specter in question's face via a photo taped to the bag and the sound of the impact. The chain holding the whole thing creaking with each blow.

Valerie vented her frustrations to herself and her punching bag she kept in her room, stuck inside for at least the next week minus school and her paying job. She might get money from it, but it's not nearly as satisfying. Only one job lets her harm what's causing her frustrations, after all.

Not helping the grounding was that she is still injured from the battle with that ghost with the sword and that ghost king. If she was better, than she could have taken him instead of letting the spook get away!

If she was better, she could have… could have… she doesn't know but it would have been something more than just being restrained by her dad as Phantom got away! 

… Even if the Fentons mentioned the suit being potentially fatal.

Her suit and all her gear has even been confiscated by her dad until he is sure she's no longer hurt and not lying to him about it so she is trying to respect her punishment to earn back a bit of her father's trust. Doesn't stop her from hating it and raging against something she can direct that energy to with how unfair this all feels.

'You don't have to trust me, just fight with me!' my ass! It was my fight and he just stood there all smug after he outed me! Only could be worse if the other adults were still awake for that. Ghost punk must have wanted something for himself there. Doing all that to make himself look good! His little spooky friends wanted the king guy gone or something and we just happen to be in the path!

With that last thought, she accidentally added too much force to her next blow and broke the chain off the punching bag.

Great. Now I have to save up to replace that. Right when my arm just healed up, too.

Breathing hard with her throat feeling dry like ash, she starts to do her cool down exercises now that her training has been forcefully cancelled.

Alone with her thoughts and nothing to do about it now, frustrated tears threaten to fall as she catches her breath. She's not getting any freer from her grounding by ignoring her school work. Probably would do the opposite if her dad finds out. Valerie makes the strategic choice to give up for now and attempt her homework while the need for justice burns within her. Her inner fire is not even close to being satisfied.

If only I could turn that ghost punk to ash. Him and every ghost!

Her sour mood stuck with her even when school got back into full swing, hearing everyone praise the ghost boy who they now know goes by 'Phantom'.

Phantom. How creative.

What a lame name. The others are literal, too, but this one is just too on the nose. Not much better than the one the town gave him but still very stupid. If his face didn't make her blood boil on sight she'd tell him herself!

And, as if the world heard her thoughts, an explosion rocked the school. Their first official ghost attack after, things are truly returning to Amity Park 'normal'.

Too bad dad confiscated my suit.

By the sound of it, it's probably on the other side of school. Without her tracker she can only guess, but she can play it by ear.

Suit or no suit, I can't just ignore this!

Dashing away to find some kind of weapon that would work, she worries about what this ghost could be doing. It potentially hurting and ruining lives like hers was. She will take anything instead of sitting on the sidelines and wait for the adults to handle it!

Or worse... Phantom.

Valerie's search continued as she made her way towards the destruction when she was stopped by none other than Fenton's friends. While he may be nice and she might be starting to like him, his friends were a whole 'nother issue.

"Woah! What are you in such a rush for?" That goth's attitude is not something Valerie cares to deal with right now. Arms crossed and scowling, acting like she's all that yet she can't even admit she likes Fenton, even to herself, when everyone can see it.

Her denial only made it more obvious to Valerie herself just the other day almost right after the Ghost Zone town-napping their city.

More like that knight?... Ghost king? Ah, who cares!

"None of your business, Manson." A scoff that was graciously ignored as she continued, Valerie may not have the best relationship with her but she doesn't want her to get caught up in the fight. "Shouldn't you two be hiding? Where's Danny? Being smart about his well-being and hiding unlike you two?"

"Shouldn't you be as well, then?" Tucker chimed in after he shared a look with his friend like there was a joke in what she said that she was unaware of, smirk on his face as he turned back to her, "Or are you just here to skip class and watch? We have our reasons and you have yours, we won't tell if you don't. Right, Sam?" Tucker prodded his friend with a nudging elbow for a response and a scoff and a nod was all he got, but he seemed pleased with it nonetheless.

"Fine! I won't tell, I'm not a snitch, but I am going in there!" Valerie responds with a pointed finger into the gym where the battle ended up, the sounds of fighting just beyond the wall the three are hiding behind. She may not have her suit but she won't just leave it to-

"-Phantom."

What.

"Oh, I'm sorry. What did you just say, Foley?" Valerie asked, more like demanded, he repeat what he said. She wasn't listening to the beginning so maybe she heard wrong, after all. She cant just assume after a-

"Oh," Tucker, unintentionally cutting off her line of thought, began to repeat himself while seemingly not noticing Sam motioning for silence and sounds of fighting in the distance, "I just said that you should probably wait and leave it for Phantom-"

A swift punch to the gut cut him off from finishing his sentence, the boy curling in on himself.

"Thought so."

Valerie runs on in to handle it herself, vaguely hearing the two talk behind her as Manson checks in on her friend.

Sam smirked in an 'I-told-you-so' kind of way as she helped him up, the barest of sympathies given as she did tell him so.

As they were distracted, Valerie got to work even if she might not even know the outcome. She has to try!

Try while the ghost is still in one, easy to access place.

Taking a calming breath, she makes a calculated decision and runs in.

Valerie's ears ring as the dust settles. The ghost destroyed the gym and broke through the wall while she knows they can just go through those. She ran at the creature with what flimsy weapons she had on her and got bodied.

All her training was worthless! She needed her suit, for protection and to fight.

... Maybe daddy would let me have it back when he sees me like this. He has to know he can't just stop me even if I know he means well.

Phantom arrived in time to keep her from breaking the arm that just healed, all bright and glowing in the ashy remains of what used to be the gym.

He may be free from her for now, but she can feel him gloating. That worry look in Phantom's eyes has to be a trick, like the Fentons say! Why wouldn't he be smug still now that she can't hunt him like this? No matter how she feels about that one ghost, the others are still a danger to others and she won't stand for it.