It's hard to keep myself motivated to keep writing when I get very little feed back from fans, other than "I like it, keep it up!" I would like my fans to give me a bit more feedback on what they liked/disliked about chapters so I know what to look out for in the rest of this story. Sorry, had to get that off my chest, but it is a bit frustrating that I have a lot of watchers but only receive 2-4 reviews a chapter. Please don't take any offense by it.

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright to Danny Phantom, Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon do, please don't sue me.

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Chapter 14: Looking for Answers

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Danny awoke late the next morning. He found it odd that Henry hadn't called to wake him up like she usually did; oh well, she must have just slept in because she was probably tired. He rolled over realized his cell phone battery had died during the night, so she probably did call but left a voicemail. With a heavy groan, the sleepy teen reach over the edge of the bed, found the cord of his charger, and plugged it in to charge the battery. He then decided while it was charging to take a shower.

Today he hadn't almost fallen asleep in the shower, having slept in and caught a couple extra hours of sleep. Danny returned to his room and opened his phone to see if it had charged enough to at least turn it back on. He opened it up and turned it on speakerphone so he could listen to the voicemail while he dried off and got dressed.

"Hi Little Badger! I hope you get this message, I guess you must be sleeping in. But anyway, Uncle Rege is home today and wants me to stay home with him and the boys. I asked him if you could come over and he got angry, so we won't be able to hang out today. But you should go ahead and hang out with Sam and Tucker; I bet they'd like a break from me too. Hahaha, I'm kidding, but seriously, go have fun for the rest of the day, if you're worried about me getting attacked, I still have that Specter Deflector you gave me so I should be ok. I'll see you at school tomorrow, love you baby!" there was the sound of blowing a kiss on the other end and then a click.

Danny glared at his phone as he pulled his pants on, I bet Uncle Rege just wants her to stay home and clean. Well, if she said Uncle Rege didn't want him there, then he didn't want to get Henry in trouble. So, for today, he'd respect her wish and spend time with his friends without her. But what to do …

After much thought, Danny decided to call Tucker to discuss plans. He dialed his friend's number and waited for him to pick up.

"Hello?" there was a lot of noise in the background.

"Hey Tuck, it's Danny, what've you got going on?"

He could hear the noise in the background turn down, probably from his TV or stereo, "Not much, why? Don't you have stuff going on with Henry?"

"She won't be able to make it today. But we can go ahead and hang out if you want."

"Sounds good to me!" his friend seemed to perk up, "So do you have anything you wanna do?"

"Well, there was that thing we were doing last night that I'm wondering about."

There was a pause on the other end, "You mean researching that ghost?"

Danny nodded, even though he knew his friend couldn't see him, "I want some answers."

…

"So tell me again what we're doing," Sam asked as they prepared the Specter Speeder in the lab.

"We're going into the ghost zone and ask Frostbite if he knows anything about this ghost," Danny checked the fuel level, "Skulker told me this ghost has been around for thousands of years, and no one in the human world knows much about it."

Tucker closed the hatch door in the back, "So why Frostbite?"

"He's one of the only ghosts I know that won't attack me besides Pandora and Clockwork."

"Well, if this ghost is thousands of years old, then why not go straight to Clockwork?" Sam checked several knobs on the dashboard.

Danny groaned to himself, "Talking to Clockwork is harder than Chinese Algebra with his riddles and obscurities, I'm gonna keep him as a last resort if I have to."

After loading any needed weapons and Fenton gadgets into the Speeder and making sure everything was in order, they decided to set out, Danny leading the way in his ghost form.

The ghost zone seemed somehow emptier than it normally was, not barren, but there were no small specters floating by between the doors to other ghost's worlds. It gave them the creeps, but they all knew despite all this, it had to be done one way or another. Probably should've investigated sooner, like when they discovered the ghost could escape the Fenton thermos practically at will. It seemed like hours before he saw Frostbite's icy Far Frozen world in the distance. The sight spurred him on and sped off ahead.

"Wait here guys, I'll be right back!" he shouted over his shoulder.

"Danny wait up!" Tucker shouted after him.

The Specter Speeder wasn't as fast as Danny so they couldn't quite catch up, but the ghost teen couldn't wait. He reached the edge of the ice world, but something was wrong, very wrong. It was too quiet; Danny couldn't hear the bustling sounds that usually associated with a full village.

"Frostbite?" Danny called as he cautiously drifted toward the center of the glacier.

He reached the village, but it was eerily quiet. It was completely empty, and looked totally thrashed. Danny ignored the corner of his mind that told him he shouldn't be there, but curiosity drew him in. There were strange tracks half covered in snow, Danny they would lead to whoever was responsible for the destruction, even though he had an inkling suspicion of who it was.

They led to the stadium, where a battle had obviously waged. The imprints of bodies and weapons lay strewn across the ground. No actual bodies, just imprints of fallen warriors, where could they have gone?

There was a strange, green glowing mist that wafted across the ground toward the middle of the stadium, similar to a fog machine, Danny swallowed hard and slowly walked through the mist. It wisped and curled around his feet, the only sound was Danny's footsteps crunching in the snow; a cold wind blew over his shoulders, causing him to shiver.

What appeared to be a large black blob of ectoplasm sat in the center of the mist, it pulsated slightly as if it was some sort of beating heart. Danny swallowed again and reached a trembling hand toward it to feel the surface. Suddenly a pair of yellow glowing eyes shot open to angrily stare back at him, as if to say 'how dare you disturb me'. The ghost boy gasped and stumbled back as he was startled and fell back into the snow. The creature shifted again, its' slimy body starting to look like a deformed bubble of goo. A low growl emanated from inside, veils of ice began to form on the surface. Danny jumped to his feet and prepared for battle, whether it was to blast the bubble to pop it or whatever attack was to come. An icy clawed hand formed and shot toward him to slash at him. He gasped and managed to dodge backward, but was unable to dodge the other icy hand that formed. It slashed three deep gashes in his back and he was knocked to the ground, causing him to shout in pain. He hadn't completely healed from his previous battle, so he wasn't on top of his game. It was quite obvious who the being was: the zombie ghost.

Danny back flipped out of the path of the next blow, the blasted apart the hand with an ectoplasmic blast when it lunged at him. A high-pitched shriek emanated from inside the blob as the hand shattered.

"Who are you?" Danny shouted at it, another blast forming in his hands, "What are you? What do you want?"

It simply laughed darkly as the ice hand reformed. The beast let out another high-pitched shriek, causing the stadium to shake violently. Danny was forced to cover his ears to keep his eardrums from bursting. While he was momentarily distracted, it slashed at him again, knocking him to the ground, then the other hand pinned him down and prepared for the final blow.

A sudden blast from above shattered the hand, causing another painful shriek from the creature. Danny looked up to see Sam and Tucker descending in the Specter Speeder. He kicked off the hand that held him down, and then flew backward out of the way. His friends continued to fire shot after shot after the bubble, the ghost inside growling not in pain, but anger. It formed ice spikes around it's suface and returned their fire, penetrating the windshield and engine of the Speeder, causing it to spin out of control and crashed to the ground.

"Sam! Tucker!" Danny shouted and flew to his friends' rescue.

One of the ice hands backhanded him and he spun to the ground, just about knocking all the sense out of him. He looked up shakily and vaguely saw Sam and Tucker crawling from the wreckage, both beaten up and cut up by the crash. The other clawed hand reached for them to deliver a fatal blow, and Danny couldn't do anything to stop it.

Suddenly, a snarling creature descended from the sky and pounced on the hand, biting it and shattering it. It was a giant three-headed dog; Danny thought he recognized it from somewhere but at the moment wasn't sure. The beast swiftly but gently picked up Sam and Tucker in two of its' mouths, then ran for Danny. The monster reformed its' hand and slashed for the dog, but it dodged the attack and crushed it in its' unoccupied jaws. When it reached Danny, it gently lifted him in his jaws then took off toward the sky. The creature inside the blob fired several ice spikes toward the retreating beast, but it easily dodged and escaped with the trio.

It was then Danny finally realized what the dog was before he lost consciousness; it was Pandora's pet Cerberus.

…

Danny opened his eyes slowly and tried to focus on his surroundings. He was lying on a bed in his human form after blacking out, his injuries bandaged and treated. Dazed and somewhat confusing, the ghost teen slowly sat up, still dizzy from his battle. Where were Sam and Tucker? Were they all right?

Cerberus lay next to his bed guarding him, it sat up and greeted him by licking Danny's face happily with all three of its' tongues. He weakly pushed the dog's heads away, swung his legs over the edge of the bed and tried to stand up. His weak legs began to shake and he almost collapsed, Cerberus catching him with its' snout. Danny laughed and allowed the beast to help support him as he made his way to the room where he heard voices coming from.

Pandora sat in a high throne at a table; Sam and Tucker were bandaged as well and were discussing what had happened. They looked up and noticed Danny and the giant dog making their way into the room.

"Danny!" Sam and Tucker jumped up and rushed toward her friend.

They hugged him and nearly knocked Danny over. Cerberus licked them both happily and they all guided Danny toward a chair sitting up to the table. The teen sat down heavily and leaned back against the backrest, still quite exhausted.

"Welcome back to my palace," the goddess said warmly.

Pandora's servants had prepared a wonderful meal for the trio, good thing too because Danny was starving after exerting all his energy. He tried to mind his manners, but it all looked so good and he was just so hungry, shoveling down various meats and fruits. Pandora didn't seem to mind his manners as she was deep in thought about something, obviously whatever she had been discussing with Sam and Tucker. Cerberus padded to its' master and sat at her side, she stroked one of his three heads with one of her many hands.

Danny gulped down a large goblet of water to wash everything down and sighed, "Thank you, that really hit the spot," he patted his stomach in satisfaction then winced at the pain and remembering his battle, "Oh, and thanks for saving us."

Pandora's face suddenly became very serious, "You three were lucky to survive your encounter with it, I'm just glad Cerberus was able to find you in time."

The raven-haired teen sat back up, remembering their mission, "We actually came to the ghost zone to find some answers about it. This zombie ghost? Its' been attacking us and—"

The goddess raised a hand, "Your two friends have already filled me in about your encounters. We have been waiting for you to wake up so I can explain what I know about this creature."

All three teens sat in their seats and faced the tall woman as she furrowed her brow in thought, searching for words.

"It all started many eons ago. The ghost zone was full of sorrow, hate, and pain; it was consuming us and poisoning our world. The wisest of ghosts gathered in a counsel to discuss how we could save our world. This is when I created my box, to contain all the evils of the world, but even that wasn't enough. A wise old ghost named Lesous had then created a being that could consume what my box could not hold, and devour the evil spirits themselves that caused the pain and heartache. We called it Lucem, meaning 'before the light', for it was giving light into the darkness of the ghost zone.

"At first, it was very docile, happy to serve us and make the ghost zone a better place. But we did not know that the pain and sorrow it consumed was now poisoning it, turning it foul. We did not see this until it was too late, and Lucem turned on us. It could smell the deepest, darkest part of our souls, and that's what drew it to feed. Pain and suffering became like a drug to it, and it craved it all the time, so once it consumed all the sorrow in the ghost zone, it decided to create more suffering for it to consume.

"It laid waste to all the beauty in the ghost zone as it created more pain and suffering for it to feed on. The more it consumed, the stronger it became. The most powerful warriors of the ghost zone faced it in battle, but were no match and simply fell prey to its' insatiable appetite. Even the wise and powerful members of the counsel were devoured, leaving no one to stand in its' path. It had even managed to break the barrier between the human world and ghost world, travelling to and from each world to sate its' hunger. Lesous was ashamed that he had created such a monster, which was now destroying the ghost zone it was created to save. In an attempt to save the ghost zone once and for all, Lesous created an artifact that could slay Lucem. He constructed it with the last of his strength and called it the Crown of Blades. Lesous used it in his final battle with Lucem, but its' power was too great, and since Lesous had nothing left but pain and sorrow, Lucem consumed him as well. But not before Lesous struck a fatal blow at the beast, causing it to spew all its' evil energy back into the ghost zone and thus was subdued.

"But instead of simply fading from existence, it went into a dormant state, into hibernation one might say. It survived only on the last energy reserves of evil it had consumed, giving it just enough life to keep existing. In order to continue to exist, it must reawaken to feed and replenish its' energy. It reawakens every two hundred to feed, travelling between human and ghost worlds to replenish its' strength. It feeds for twenty years, then returns to sleep. For thousands of years, Lucem repeated this cycle, but it was too weak to pose a threat after its' initial defeat, the power from the blow of the Crown of Blades suppressing the evil and hate it harbored.

"Somehow, during this time of its' awakening however, Lucem has been able to find a source of pain and suffering strong enough to bring it back into power. Upon finding this reservoir of sorrow, it has been able to grow in strength. It may soon pose a lethal threat to both the human and ghost world again."

Pandora paused to let the tale sink into the teens' minds. It was quite an overwhelming piece of history to process. The trio knew most likely what this 'reservoir' she was speaking of was, but they bit their tongues and kept quiet.

"So," Danny finally spoke, "What will happen if Lucem returns to power?"

"It will destroy our worlds," the goddess simply said, "unless it somehow doesn't reach its' full power before its' twenty years are up."

"How do we know when its' twenty years are up then?" Sam stared wide-eyed.

"No one truly knows when it awakens, or where it slumbers. In its' early years it is almost impossible to detect when it first awakens. Lucem could have been awake for five years, ten years, we don't know."

"If it's so powerful, then why doesn't it just destroy everything now?"

Pandora leaned back and sighed lightly, "With every ghost it devours, in order for it to convert the ghost into energy, it must convert it internally, and in order to do that, it must return to a semi-dormant state. When it is reborn, the ghosts it consumes become part of it, and changes its' appearance, similar to the metamorphosis of a butterfly. That was the state you fought it in."

"Man," Tucker leaned back, "if its' that strong when it's semi-dormant, imagine what it'll be like now when that bubble pops."

"It likely won't 'pop' for some time, it did consume an entire village after all, that's a lot of ghosts to process in its' system," Pandora took and sip from her goblet.

Danny shuddered and gripped the edge of the table as he imagined his friends in Far Frozen fighting against it and falling prey to it, "Is there anything we can do to stop it?"

"The Crown of Blades is the only artifact that can destroy it. But it was lost in the battle with Lesous and no one has been able to recover it. If we can find the Crown of Blades, then we can destroy it once and for all," Pandora said as she clenched a fist, "but it was likely destroyed along with Lesous."

A small creature that looked very much like a fawn then entered the room and bowed to Pandora, "It is finished your Excellency."

The goddess stood up, "I believe it's time to return you three to your ghost portal to the human world."

"But the Specter Speeder is completely thrashed," Tucker argued.

"My servants have retrieved your 'Specter Speeder' and have been hard at work repairing it. But it appears it is ready now."

"Wait!" Danny spoke up again, "May I ask you something else?"

Pandora raised an eyebrow then sat back in her throne, "What is it?"

Danny fiddled with his hands, unsure of what to say and how to say it, "Well, you see … I have heard that, ghosts are spirits of the dead, and are drawn to pain and suffering, and that some, including Lucem, feed on emotions … is that true?"

The goddess drummed her fingers together, "Yes, for some ghosts it is true. Many ghost are spirits that may have died a painful death, or a tragic one, and they seek out kindred spirit energy. They like to see others suffer as they have suffered, and feeling of that energy and being reenergized by it. It's what makes them feel whole; to be in contact with the same sad emotions as their own. There are other ghosts that are either natural born or passed away peacefully, and do not feel the need to cause pain or seek it out, but simply exist."

Sam and Tucker were confused; they weren't with Danny when he had his little chat with Vlad so they had no idea what he was talking about.

The raven-haired teen continued to explain, "I was speaking with Plasmius, and he mentioned that he was feeding off the energy of … a friend of mine. And that my friend's tragic past and pain is what draws ghosts to … him."

"Dude, are you talking about Hen—" Tucker was roughly jabbed in the ribs by Sam's elbow; Danny was obviously trying to keep her identity secret.

"Yes?" Pandora was mildly intrigued, "And?"

Danny swallowed, "Well, he said he was drawn to my friend because of his pain, and as a ghost I should be too, but I don't feel anything like that. In fact, it actually hurts me to see my friend hurting and I feel happy when he's happy. So if it's true that ghosts seek out pain, why am I not feeling that?"

"Hmm," Pandora scratched her chin, "It is possible that your human side is dominating over your ghost side."

"Yeah," Danny continued, "but Plasmius is half ghost half human too, and he's drawn to my friend's pain, so why—"

Pandora held up her hand, "Be still and let me speak."

Danny instantly went silent and sunk down in his seat. Even though he knew Pandora was not his enemy, her presence still demanded respect.

"As I was saying," she sounded slightly irritated, "it seems to me that your human side is dominating over your ghost side. It is likely that Plasmius has given in to his ghostly desires and has little of his humanity left. But you still retain your humanity; causing whatever ghostly desires you may have to be suppressed. You are more human than ghost in that respect, and thus still have a human's morality. Plasmius is more ghost than human now, and such notions seem to no longer exist within him."

"Trust me," Tucker folded his arms and leaned back, "that guy has no regard of anyone other than himself. He uses his powers and wealth to get whatever he wants and doesn't mind stepping over anyone to get it."

"Is that what you went to Plasmius for?" Sam turned to Danny.

The ghost teen felt like he was on the spot, "Yeah, there were just a couple things I had to find out and I figured he could help, but he turned out to be not much help."

Pandora stood back up, "If we are finished here, I believe it's time for you to return home."

The trio stood up, the fawn motioning them to follow him to where their Specter Speeder was being kept.

"Could we come back another time if we need advise again?" Danny asked hopefully.

"No," the goddess suddenly seemed sad and subdued, "This will likely be our last encounter."

The teens were shocked, "What?" Tucker blurted, "What do you mean?"

"Lucem will likely be coming for me soon as well, and I don't think I'll be able to fight it off this time."

Cerberus whimpered and nudged her hand, sensing its' master's distress. The fawn grabbed Danny's arm and began to lead them away.

"Wait! We can stay and help!" Danny grasped at any hope, "You shouldn't have to stand up to it alone! Let us help you!"

Pandora turned away from them, "Leave now."

…

After a very drawn out departure, the trio made their way home, still trying to comprehend what had happened. They travelled in silence, the only sound being the empty echoes of the ghost zone. What was there to say?

They arrived home without incident and unpacked the Specter Speeder, doing another check over it to make sure it was in the same condition as they left so Danny's parents wouldn't notice it had even left. When they went upstairs, they noticed it was getting dark outside; how long had they been in the ghost zone?

"We'd probably better head home," Sam finally spoke up, "tomorrow is Monday so we'll have to get up early for school."

"Yeah," Tucker agreed in a subdued tone, "I'm kinda tired after today anyway."

Danny yawned, "Me too, been a long day."

The teen ghost walked his friends to the front door and said goodnight. There was still a somber mood in the air as Danny went upstairs to his room. Even though he was exhausted, he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep that night. He was about to change into some pajamas when a thought crossed his mind, I should probably check up on Henry.

Even though she had told him earlier that Uncle Rege didn't want him over, but what harm could it do just to go over and check up on her? Besides, he needed to make sure she was safe, not only from ghosts, but from her uncle. Danny had wished they could spend the day together like they planned, but at least he got some answers to some questions he'd had for weeks now.

He turned invisible and intangible and fly off toward her house. Staying invisible, he hovered just outside her window and looked inside. Same as always, Henry was laying on her bed reading a book. She appeared to be ok, but Danny still wanted to check in. He perched carefully in the branches of the tree, became visible again and tapped on her window. The little redhead jolted at being startled and saw him outside her window.

Henry waved happily and opened her window, "What're you doing here?" she whispered.

Danny laughed sheepishly, "I just came to see if you were all right."

It took a moment for her to realize what he meant by that, "Oh, I'm fine, just spent the day with Uncle Rege and the boys. He mostly sat in his armchair, smoking and drinking and watched TV, Ben and Tommy played in the yard and made messes and I mostly stayed upstairs reading and doing homework. It's how we usually spend our 'family weekends'," she smiled, "How was your day?"

"Oh," Danny didn't really want to say anything that might worry her, "I just hung out with Sam and Tucker, just goofed off and whatnot."

"Hmm, sounds like fun—"

"Henry!" came an angry shout from downstairs, "What's going on up there? Who're you talking to?"

She gasped, "I gotta go," and leaned out to give Danny a quick peck on the lips, "Goodnight Danny, see you tomorrow, love you!" and slammed the window closed.

Unfortunately, Danny's fingers just happened to be in the window when she closed it. He shouted in pain and jerked his hands free, falling backward out of the tree, hitting every branch on the way down. The teen lay in the dirt, rolling around slightly and shaking the pain from his hands; the fall had reminded him of how sore he still was from the battle.

"What was that?" another angry shout, the front door swung open and heavy footsteps came across the porch, "Is that your blasted cat again?"

Danny quickly went invisible and flew off for home. Well, he came to make sure she was ok, and she was ok, no point in sticking around and facing Uncle Rage's wrath.

…

End Chapter 14

…

Well, hopefully this chapter is easy to understand, and explained a few questions I'm sure everyone had. I'll try to update sooner, but I've got a lot of projects besides this fic I'm working on, one being making all four cores for my friend's Portal cosplay.

**For those of my fans who have been reading this fic from the very start, this is the end of my revamping, the rest will continue as I planned, I apologize again for the inconvenience.