Well, seems that people actually like this fic. I was expecting a maximum of one review but I ended up with ten reviews in the first twenty-four hours. Two notes for future reference: I will be trying to update as often as possible, but I can't guarantee a regular interval.

Also, many of you brought up the issue of Danny acting out of character. That's because, in this fic, Danny is supposed to be somewhat OOC. This is to give Maddie more to be suspicious of and steer the plot of the story.

Finally, I'd like to send a thanks to all my reviewers: purrbaby101, Epona Harper, Invader Johnny, Esme Kali Phantom, DP fan, The Fluff Ghost, angel4u185, Yami-chan and Unrealistic, The Sleep Warrior, AnitalavalatinA, Dark Draconian, Beyonce's Angel925, Arabic Blessing, ghostanimal, HiddenAuthor, Anonymous Reader13, Bunny Bubble, Crazy About Purple, and Fan-Fic-CC27. You guys rock!

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What are you? More Importantly, What The Heck Am I?

Chapter Two

Later that morning, Danny came down for breakfast looking as exhausted as ever. It was a Saturday, but his sleep-deprived brain had forgotten that hours ago. He stumbled down the stairs, sat at the table, and nearly face planted in the bowl before he shook himself and instead filled it with cereal rather than his face. Maddie watched him, wondering how on earth she was going to get Danny to spill the beans. Maybe another day out bowling?

"Danny?" she began.

"Hunh?" he drawled groggily in reply.

"What do you say to going bowling today?"

"...Don' I 'ave school?"

Maddie was distracted at that point by a fit of the giggles, so Jazz answered for her.

"Of course not, Danny. It's Saturday."

"...Oh..." Somehow, the embarrassment seemed to wake him up.

"Duh. Sure, I guess." He acted as if he were going to say more, but suddenly his eyes widened and he gave a sharp gasp.

"Umm, I gotta go." With that, the boy leaped from his chair and sprinted from the room. Maddie stared after him, surprised. No, this was nowhere near the first time he'd run out unexpectedly like that, but it was the first time she'd noticed that gasp. What it was about—and how she'd ever missed it before—was way beyond her. Does that have something to do with... whatever he's doing?

Suddenly, she realized neither Jack nor Jazz had mentioned Danny's bandages. Now that she thought about it, she didn't remember seeing him wearing any either. Apparently, the cut had healed faster than he'd said it would.

During the time in which he was gone, Jazz went over to her friend Jessica's house and Jack returned to the lab to continue work on the new Fenton Specter Shrinker, an improved version of the Fenton Crammer guaranteed to shrink ghosts and only ghosts (the old Crammer had shrunk everyone in the family at least twice by now). Maddie, on the other hand, waited for Danny to return, wondering what he was doing anyway.

When he finally returned an hour later, there was no sign of anything out of the ordinary, other than the fact that he was slightly out of breath. Maddie gave him a quizzical look, but he didn't even acknowledge it. All he would say was that he insisted she put on some more normal clothes first. She let the matter drop and did as requested, still keeping to her black-and-blue theme with blue jeans and a black T-shirt with blue trim. It certainly looked more normal (and somewhat better) on her than her typical spandex jumpsuit. Afterward, they left the building for the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle (which, henceforth, shall be known as the GAV). The drive to the bowling alley was uneventful, as were the first couple minutes of the actual game. Then Maddie got the conversation started.

"Danny, how did you do that a week ago anyway?" she questioned as her turn ended. Danny didn't answer until after he'd mowed down all ten pins in one throw of the ball.

"Oh, strike! Yes! Do what?"

"Nice shot, Danny!" A quick high-five between the two of them followed this statement. "At the karate class? You didn't exactly used to be a born master."

"I guess I... just got better?" he answered, an edge of nervousness in his voice.

"What drove you to train to that level? You don't get that naturally."

"Uh... Dash?" He was definitely nervous now.

"What could a high school bully do to you so you needed to learn to defend yourself that thoroughly?"

"Try and stuff me in lockers and take his every bad grade out on me. Which, by the way, is the result of his every test."

"Ouch, gutter ball. I don't think he could be that much of a threat, Danny. You're a lot stronger than you look, as I know from personal experience."

"Dang, you're off your game today. I haven't seen you get a gutter ball for a while." Danny commented before answering her previous statement. "Okay, so maybe it's not Dash. But I told you last night: there's nothing you can do."

"So, it's that same thing that kept you up last night?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"And that would be...?"

"I already told you mom. I'm not about to tell you, or anyone else." Maddie was surprised at his tone of voice. She'd never heard her son speak with such confidence and power. It reminded her of the notorious Phantom, whom she considered a worthy challenge to hunt. She'd also never seen him with that stern of an expression, which reminded her of herself when she was NOT going to give in to something.

Well, there's a side to him I've never seen before.

Before she could say anything more, he let out another gasp like the one at breakfast and the temperature dropped. Someone screamed at the other end of the building and the place was thrown into chaos. All the signs pointed to a ghost attack, as was proved the case when the green-and-white ghost wolf came bounding into view, snarling. Maddie was the only one who didn't run. Except for Dan—

Suddenly, she realized he was running. But not out of the building like everyone else. He seemed to be running to the bathroom, of all places.

"Danny! Get back over here!"

He stopped and turned around, and for the second time that day, Maddie was surprised by his expression. His face was cast with a serious, battle-ready countenance that she'd only ever seen on the ghost boy's face before, and his eyes were so intense they seemed to glow. Of course, because of the distance she couldn't see that their color had changed to Phantom's dazzling green...

The boy hesitated, then came running back to his mother, looking half annoyed and half worried. As he approached, she thought she saw his eyes as the green they had taken on when he realized a ghost was attacking for a split second, before he blinked and they were back to their normal ice-blue. She shook her head to clear what she had decided was an illusion and pulled out a Fenton Bazooka from seemingly nowhere, still watching her confusing son.

Before she could use it, however, said boy tackled her like a football player and sent them both sprawling, triggering the foul buzzer on someone's game in the process and saving his mother from having her arm ripped off by the ghost wolf. Instead, said homicidal wolf rushed past, harming no one. Before she could act, Danny grabbed the Bazooka from her and aimed it at the ghost, pulled the trigger, and got it on the first shot. All within the space of three seconds. The portal opened and the wolf was sucked back into Ghost Zone, out of everyone's hair.

Maddie stared in shock. She was now certain her fifteen-year-old son was hunting ghosts in secret, so secret that the media hadn't even realized it. But why wouldn't he want to work with his parents? Who were his teammates? And how was he keeping it so secret?

He turned to face her again, expression cleared into a more concerned look rather than the intense, nearly frightening one of before. He dropped the large gun and proffered his hand to her. She took it and he helped her up, speaking with a tone to match his expression.

"You okay, mom?"

"Y-Yeah... How did you do that?"

"You trained me."

"Yeah, but not that well."

"So I practiced a bit. Jazz finally got under my skin about never being too prepared. I prepared for a ghost attack." He shrugged at this. "Didn't wanna be as bad as Jazz. You should see her aim the—" He cut himself off, looking as if he thought he'd said too much, then quickly started speaking again. "—Crammer. She's shrunk me like fifty times."

Maddie raised an eyebrow at his slip-up.

That's not what he was going to say. And that means that Jazz isn't going to help, if she's in on his secret too. And Jack? He has his heart in the right place, but he can be a bit too obsessive. I guess I'm on my own, then.

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Later that night—at 11:54 P.M. to be precise—Maddie was still wide awake, working on the new Specter Shrinker and again contemplating the puzzle that was her son.

"...Don' I 'ave school?"

"Of course not, Danny. It's Saturday."

Not to mention July. He's not even in summer school... What made him forget that?

...Suddenly his eyes widened and he gave a sharp gasp.

"Umm, I gotta go." With that, the boy leaped from his chair and sprinted from the room.

What was that about? He came back all out of breath...

That settles it. That gasp had something to do with his ghost fighting. But none of our sensors went off, so that means he can detect them sooner than we can. How does it tie in with that weird gasp though? Is it like some sort of tiny device he wears on his clothes that gets cold or something? Maybe nanobots in the bloodstream? Or perhaps something more like...

Maddie's scientist curiosity was on overdrive, and she quickly lost track of what she was doing with her hands. In this momentary lapse in concentration, she connected red wire to blue, blue wire to red, and screwed on the covering panel. It was (supposed) to be finished. She lifted the new weapon to the light of the overhead lamps slung from the ceiling of the lab as if inspecting it, then pointed it at an item that had been previously taken from the Ghost Zone. It was a lumpy, indistinguishable something, but it was definitely a ghostly item. Then she pulled the trigger.

If all had gone right, the item would have shrunk to about half an inch long. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

The Shrinker exploded. Maddie was caught in the explosion; but rather than being thrown backwards, a searing pain began rushing through her. She cried out as she felt her every atom mutate and change. Of course, she had no idea that her DNA was being altered so as to allow her to walk the tightrope that was the line between life and death without falling to either side; all she knew was that it hurt like hell. The answers to her questions about her son were becoming part of her, all in a flash of light and a few seconds' agony. Her suit changed to forest green in color with steel gray collar, belt, gloves, and boots; the hood disappeared altogether. Her hair turned black and her eyes a radiant green; almost the same shade of Phantom's, but darker.

How did this happen to Maddie Fenton? Simple. The Specter Shrinker—like all of their previous inventions—ran on ectoenergy. When she connected the wires wrong, that set the current to conflicting patterns—and ectoenergy doesn't act like electricity in that sort of situation. It doesn't just stop and the object not work. It explodes.

She passed out and reverted to normal, a pair of blue-white rings spreading across her body. It was the birth of Madeline Spirit.

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I figure this was a rather obvious and expected development, although some of you may not have expected it this quickly. But, the point of the story is Maddie's discovering of her own powers as well as Danny's. If anyone feels I'm snitching their OC name with 'Madeline Spirit', rest assured that I did not intend to do so. You try looking for a name that goes with 'Maddie' or 'Madeline' and see if you can fine anything that sounds better. Personally, I find Spirit the best match with it.

In other news, this chapter feels really weak and a bit rushed to me… Sorry if I disappointed anyone—I disappointed myself, at least. Constructive criticism very welcome. Flames accepted.