FicWad

Thanks again to caitgirl1 for beta reading, without her I'm pretty sure there would be crapload of mistakes and stuff, so anyway. Thanks, your awesome.

Enjoy!

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Danny gasped as he tumbled out of the thermos. He hated it in there, he could feel his body, but couldn't see it, couldn't touch it and certainly couldn't move it. It was very disorientating to say the least.

"Jazz?" his voice was hoarse. His throat was raw from screaming. Jazz passed him a drink. He greedily gulped it down.

"What happened?" he asked. He realised that he was inside the ghost shield. It was still packed with people. Lightning continuously clashed against the shield causing sparks to fly everywhere.

"Well Vortex got away, but we did a number on him. He's retreated up into the clouds. You know, I think we made him mad," Jazz grinned as another bolt of lightning slammed into the shield.

"Was anyone hurt?"

Jazz sighed "Worry about yourself for once. No, you're the only person injured,"

Danny smiled. He lay back onto the tarmac.

"Don't suppose you got any ectoplasm?" Being half ghost, replenishing his energy reserves had become a nightmare. Danny ate a lot before, now he ate like a horse. For the first month after the accident no matter how much he ate, he always felt hungry. When he had accidentally eaten ectoplasm samples that had been in the fridge, the hunger vanished. As a result he often went into the Ghost Zone to find springs full of ectoplasm. He hid what he brought back in his bedroom wall.

Sam found it hilarious that Danny basically needed to consume a substance that could kill a normal person to survive. He'd bring the ectoplasm to school in metal coffee mugs. The stench of it would saturate the lunchroom, to the disgust of the other students. It didn't bother Sam and Tucker as they were used to it and Danny drank the stuff. Mr Lancer had gone nuts trying to find the source of the smell, but by then it was digesting in Danny's ghostly stomach. His farts were absolutely deadly. Tucker affectionately called him 'Gas-ass' and Sam would carry around a bottle of Lynx deodorant.

"Hey Sam! Bring over some of that ectoplasm!"

Sam clomped over and Danny's nose wrinkled at the odour of her combat boots.

"What were you doing? Walking around in dog crap?"

"Nope, this charming smell comes directly from Amity's sewers. Why you like it?" Sam smirked and gave him a flask.

"Where'd you get this?" he peered into the flask. A glowing green liquid bubbled within. He took a sip.

"Wow Sam, this is really pure. I'm going to enjoy drinking this stuff," Danny had another gulp. He could feel the energy settling in his stomach and his core began to buzz with contentment.

"Sam are you sure that it's okay to give him that?" Jazz frowned. Huh? Not give him this divine beverage?

"What's wrong with ya Jazz?" he giggled. She looked funny he thought to himself. Sam and Jazz shared a glance. Ha now they both looked funny. He tilted his head upwards.

"The sky is green!"

"Danny?" Sam asked hesitantly. Sam. Sam is a boy's name, but Sam is a girl. That's weird.

"Sam why do you have boy's name? Wait Jazz! You have some music named after you!" he hiccuped.

"Sam! What did you give him? He's acting all loopy. We can't let anyone see him like this! It's as if he's drunk!"

"Don't blame me! When I got it off Dora she was chugging it down like there was no tomorrow. How was I supposed to know it would have this effect on Danny?"

"Maybe it's too pure, after all Danny is only half ghost," Jazz anxiously looked around. She was surprised that no one had noticed that Danny was out of the Thermos.

"Jazz look at his wounds, I've never seen them heal so fast," Sam gently inspected the foot that Vortex had crushed. She pulled Danny's boot off. The skin was mottled with bruises but the bones no longer seemed broken.

Danny didn't even seem to realise that Sam was grasping his injured foot. He had totally zoned out and was describing less than desirable traits of the people he could see within the shield.

"He's insulting everyone in sight!" Jazz shouted to nobody in particular. She grabbed her hair and tugged at it nervously.

"He won't heal as fast if we put him in the Thermos, anyway, you know how much he hates it in there," Sam smacked Danny after he said that Mr. Lancer was akin to 'an unsavoury bald blob of flesh'.

"What do we do? More than a quarter of the people here despise Phantom and if Mom or Dad see him like this, any progress we've made might as well get thrown out of the proverbial window," the redhead warily scanned the mass of people for her brightly dressed parents.

"I think we should knock him out," Sam pushed her friend back down to the tarmac as he had unknowingly hovered off the ground.

"Sam!"

"What Jazz?! I don't think we have any other choice right now, at the moment I wouldn't trust him not to accidentally change form," Sam reasoned.

Jazz grimaced as her brother asked if he could eat the ground and get a skateboard. Sam gave her a pointed look.

"Okay, okay you win. How do we knock him out?"

Sam said nothing. She grabbed the flask out of Danny's hand and shoved it in his face.

"Drink!" She ordered as she poured the potent ectoplasm down his throat. Danny spluttered but did as he was told. There was no point in trying to argue with Sam. The drained flask was discarded and Danny promptly collapsed onto the ground with a look of contentment. His eyelids fluttered shut and audible snores rumbled from his chest. His ghostly aura glowed so bright that he lit up like a light bulb.

"What the hell Sam! How was giving him more of the stuff going to help?" Jazz cried out as her brother snoozed peacefully, unaware that he was acting as an unintended bug zapper, except he was attracting the attention of people, rather than moths.

"What's Phantom doing?" A young woman asked. They crowded around Danny as if he was an exhibit in a museum. A little girl poked him before her mother pulled her away.

"Why is he glowing?" Tucker stepped forward from the crowd, Maddie and Jack trailed behind.

"Eh.. He's just healing you know, he was pretty badly hurt," Sam replied. The mob of people jostled closer, curious.

"Whoa, everybody stand back! Give him some room," Maddie intervened sternly. Jack bulldozed his way to Danny, creating a barrier against the swarm of inquisitive citizens. Reluctantly they stepped back a few paces.

"I want to ask you guys some questions," said Maddie as she sat down on the tarmac. Jack followed suit, sitting right beside Danny. Sam and Jazz shifted uncomfortably.

"Firstly, how do you all know Phantom?"

"He saved us from a ghost once," Jazz lied smoothly. While her body language was calm, internally she was jittery. They couldn't screw up now. The town was rudely listening in, wanting to hear gossip or juicy facts about the Ghost Boy.

"All of you?"

"Yeah, we were walking to my house and Jazz had tagged along to borrow a book from my grandmother's library. A ghost appeared out of nowhere and started attacking us. Phantom swooped in and fought it off," Sam added.

"He got beat up pretty bad, so we helped him with his injuries as a thank you. We all kinda hit it off and soon we were out catching ghosts with him. At first he wouldn't let us help him with the ghosts, he kept going on and on about how dangerous it was, but as you know, we're stubborn," Tucker contributed to their tale. A disapproving murmur rippled through the onlookers of the conversation.

"You hunt ghosts?" Maddie raised an eyebrow and frowned. Jack grinned and announced that they could be his sidekicks.

"Samantha Manson! YOU DO WHAT?!" Sam groaned as her parents pushed their way to the front. Both of them were red in the face, indignant anger radiating off them. Tucker's parents popped up behind them. They didn't look rather impressed either.

"Crud," Sam and Tucker responded together.

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Maddie watched as Sam and Tucker were dragged off by their respective parents. She saw Jazz cringe at the high pitch of Pamela Manson's voice.

"Mom?"

"Yes Jazz?"

"What are we gonna do now? Vortex is still out there and Phantom is out cold. I don't know when he's going to wake up… We don't have the advantage of surprise anymore. Vortex won't let us sneak up on him again and will probably be keeping a close eye on the sewers," Jazz bit her nail worriedly.

"If Phantom doesn't wake up in an hour, we'll start making plans. Keep this quiet, but the shield can only stay active for ten hours. It's been in use for nearly five. The Guys in White should have intervened by now, I don't know why they haven't responded," Maddie whispered, marvelling at how bright Phantom was glowing. She nodded in his direction.

"Does he do that often?" She asked.

"The glowing? Nope, Sam just gave him really pure ectoplasm. I'm a little concerned, he's never done this before," Jazz admitted.

They sat there in silence keeping an eye on Phantom and protecting him from overly curious teenagers and adults alike. Time ticked by and Maddie grew restless and nervous. The answers to all her questions was lying asleep right beside her. She checked her watch. As the sluggish hour passed, the Ghost Boy started to stir.

Maddie jumped up in fright as Phantom raised an arm to scratch his forehead. Jazz chuckled and got to her feet.

"Phantom? Come on, you have to get up," She coaxed. A muffled 'Five more minutes' was her reward. Maddie smiled, he was just like Danny in the morning.

He blearily cracked an eye, and immediately sprung into action upon spotting Maddie.

"Ahh!" He yelped, shooting upwards into the air and slamming into the roof of the shield.

"OW!" His arms cradled his bruised head. Maddie's heart clenched. The second he saw her, he reacted with pure fear. He was terrified of her. It had never bothered her in the past, but now it stung.

"Phantom are you okay? You can come down, we have a truce. Mom and Dad aren't going to attack you, it's alright," Jazz called out to him. He nodded slowly and hesitantly hovered back down to the ground. Excited squeals erupted from the crowd. Phantom's cheeks gained a green tint. Was he blushing?

Sam and Tucker rushed towards him.

"Guys! What happened, I remember being sucked into the Thermos, but after that, it's hazy…" Phantom rubbed the back of his neck. Jazz glared at Sam and Tucker looked confused.

"I'll tell you later," Sam looked slightly abashed.

"Is it something to do with why I'm lit up like a light bulb?"

"Yeah…" Jazz replied. Maddie would have to ask her for the full details later.

A man stepped forward from the mob of people. The crinkly old man who had originally told Maddie to shoot Phantom stood behind him. This was probably not going to be pleasant…

"Phantom I see you're finally awake," he sneered. He took another menacing step forward. Phantom fidgeted uncomfortably. Sam and Tucker moved to stand beside him, but Jazz stopped them.

"He needs to sort this out himself. We'll step in if it gets too heated," she spoke quietly, and Maddie barely picked it up. She stood straighter as she noticed Phantom stiffen.

"Can I help you?" Phantom asked. The man grinned and reached out grabbing Phantom's neck in a single swift movement. He plowed onwards lifting Phantom off the ground and slamming him into the ghost shield's wall.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!" Maddie yelled at him as she made a move towards Phantom but was blocked. She scanned the scowling faces. These people were the ones that didn't care if Phantom was shot or not. They cut Maddie off from reaching him and she could see Jazz, Jack, Tucker and Sam getting the same treatment.

Phantom looked surprised and his hands went to his vulnerable neck, trying to relive the harsh man's grip. Maddie's eyes widened when she realised what Phantom was doing. He remained in the man's hold, only resisting with his own hands on his neck. He didn't kick or squirm and he wouldn't use his ghost abilities. If he fought back, he could cause a riot where innocent bystanders would get caught in the crossfire. Her perception of a ghost would never react in this manner.

"Let him go!" Sam viciously struck out, not caring who was at the receiving end of her combat boots. She started throwing punches until some brave soul managed to restrain her arms.

Phantom's supporters in the crowd pushed against those who didn't. People who didn't sit on either side of the fence awkwardly hung around the outside, carefully trying not to get shoved out of the shield.

"W-hat d-do you wan-t?" Phantom choked out fingers desperately trying to relieve the pressure on his throat. Ghosts didn't need to breathe… or so Maddie had assumed. She gasped as his face started earning a blue tint. He needed oxygen. The man holding Phantom dropped him as if he'd been burned. The ghost stumbled to his knees, coughing before sucking in air like there was no tomorrow.

"You breathe?" He asked unintelligently "Whatever, I'm here to tell you to get your lazy ghost ass in gear! Look at the damage Vortex did to the town while you had your handy little nap. My house is destroyed because of you! All my possessions are done for, hell, my grandma's ashes are gone. She was very important to me and I'll never get them back!" The man screamed in Phantom's face. Phantom recoiled, colliding with the shield.

"I tried my best!" Phantom's voice sounded more confident than he looked. He was still half crumpled on the ground, hand shaped bruises darkening his tanned neck.

"That's your best?!" The man moved to strike the ghost kid at his feet in rage. Phantom must of turned intangible instinctively because the attacking man's fist sailed right through him. The man tumbled forward, losing his balance. As if time had slowed down, everyone watched in horror as the man passed through the shield, smashing onto the concrete on the other side.

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Thanks for reading! ;)