Chapter 3: (A) Aftermath

"How could you, young man? I am very disappointed in you. Getting into brawls with your classmates from school. We did not raise you this way? What has gotten into you?" Madilne Fenton asks me from across the table in the dining room. She's a beautiful woman with a curvy figure. Violet eyes I wish I inherited, shoulder-length auburn hair, and deep red lipstick. And of course she's wearing her blue rubber jumpsuit with long black gloves and boots.

"Is that the first thing you ask your child who has clearly been beaten up? Did you know this could be traumatic for the young and can harm their mental and emotional growth? Right now he needs comfort and assurance, not a scolding!" Jasmine Fenton retorts from her left. She clearly inherited Jack's aqua blue eyes and her mother's auburn hair, which reaches down to her hips.

She's wearing her aqua headband, a black long-sleeve v-neck shirt, aqua pants, and a pair of simple, black flats.

"Your old man was in quite the few scraps himself back in his younger years. It's good for ya, puts some hair on your chest! Did ya go for chin?" Jack asks loudly with a smile, and it seemed like he was going to ask for more details if his wife didn't send out a glare that put the fear of God into him. Of course Jazz took the time to reprimand her father for showing support in 'Childish Scraps' that could hinder my development to become a well functioning member of normal society. Before it could go farther, I finally decide to speak up.

"You're right. I'm disappointed in myself too. Disappointed that I found myself in this situation, getting bullied by a neanderthal. Disappointed that it took me so long to find the self respect to stand up for myself. And disappointed that when I finally did, I lost." I say without a single falsehood. I'm sorry, but I just can't play the pitiful teenager role. I'm not going to feel bad defending my Pride. I'm not going to apologize and pretend like I'm in the wrong. I refuse.

"Honey, you have to understand that violence is not the answer to all of your problems. You can't just go swinging your fists at anything and everything that makes you angry. You need to learn to solve things diplomatically, the Pen is Mightier Than the Sword. If all else fails then you shouldn't just take matters into your own hands. Tell a teacher or an adult." My mother explains with a soft but stern tone.

"I'm not saying that it is. Dash decides to torment me at school almost everyday, and I won't put up with it anymore. So, I'll start apologizing now, because I'm probably going to be getting in much more trouble from now on. There's no point telling any of the teachers anything. Dash is their precious 'Star Player' on almost all sports teams. Him getting in trouble would stop him from playing in games. They don't care."

"Actually...he may have a point there. Dash Baxter is a star on the basketball court, wrestling ring, and most importantly the football field. Making him miss out on games would be devastating for the school." Jazz speaks up in my defense. Which I honestly appreciate at the moment. I'll have to remember to thank her later.

"Then why haven't you come to us? If the school really is playing favorites with the students then the parents should know about this. You should have said something sooner, not get into a brawl in front of your school." Mother retorts with a frown. I don't blame her, regardless of my reasons, seeing her son getting beat up at a place he's supposed to be learning and protected would set off anyones motherly instincts.

"And what then? Have the entire student populace hate me and my friends for the string of losses our sports teams will begin to take? Get mocked up and down the hallways for crying to 'Mommy and Daddy' instead of taking it like a man or doing something about it myself?" I ask her incredulously with a shake of my head. "No, that may solve my problem with Dash but I'd just be getting bullied worse from everyone else."

Silence reigns over the table after that. I kind of feel bad for putting her in this type of situation. She was a teenager once herself after all, she obviously doesn't want to make me a pariah but she also doesn't want me coming home with new bruises everyday. It's quite the conundrum for normal parents. Well...normal may not fit in this scenario but still.

"Oh c'mon Maddie, even I can see there's only one thing we can do here. If we can't depend on the teachers and we don't want Danny getting hurt then all we have to do is make sure he wins! If that boy dares decide with a man of the Fenton household again, he'll be in for one major surprise!" my amazing new father yells out while standing from his seat.

"Dad! Please do not encourage a young impressionable teen to choose violence! What kind of adult are you!?" my annoying new sister yells out while also standing from her seat. She helped me out earlier with backing me up about Dash, but for some reason I can just tell that she'll be more of a pain in the ass than otherwise...Like all older sisters so, shouldn't be surprised.

"I hate to say this, but your father may actually be right. I don't see any other way to solve this problem. And I am a 9th degree blackbelt, I can safely teach Danny all he needs to know to defend himself effectively. Plus, I've actually been planning on giving him a few lessons anyway. Jack told me yesterday that Danny actually wanted to follow in our footsteps. If he's going to hunt ghosts then he should be prepared." my spectacular new mother declares while staying in her seat.

"What? What?! No! Not my little brother!" Jazz yells before running towards me and hugging me tightly. "They're lying. Danny, they're lying right!? You can't believe in their nonsense. You're the only normal family I have! What happened to being an astronaut? Don't fall to the dark side!!"

"Uhh...yeah, sorry Jazz, but she's right. It's not like I've given up on it or anything, I just realized it's not what I want to do. If there are evil ghosts out there, then someone needs to be there to stop them. Besides, someone needs to take over the family business, it might as well be me right?"

"That's ma boy!! Maddie! That's our boy!! A future hero in the making! He takes after me y'know?" he says with a smirk towards his wife. However, while his smile continued to grow, Jazz's face fell even more from shock to horror. I stop myself from laughing at her antics when she covers her face with her hands and begins to mutter to herself over and over again, "They got him. They got my little brother."

Honestly, I feel kind of sorry for her. I was clearly the only normal person besides her in this family, and she used me as an anchor for her sanity. Unfortunately for her, ghosts do exist and while there's no need to be as trigger happy as our folks, there are bad and evil spectres out there that need to be stopped. I can't spare the time to pretend to believe those threats don't exist. I have too much to do.

"Alright...I'm not happy about solving your problems through violence but I can understand that we don't have a better option. Me and your father are very busy though with a new list of inventions we need to make, so it won't be very often, but if you want we can train on weekends Danny. You'll have to handle strength and stamina training on your own." mom offers with a small smile.

"I can do that."