I thought of this idea at night and therefore got insomnia.

Don't ask.

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom. But if I did... *evil laugh*

The captured ghost squirms on the ground, pinned by the glowing, green, ghost-proof net tangling it. Pausing for a second, it glares up at its captors with cold green eyes.

Maddie stands up and wipes her brow, grinning at her husband beside her. Jack grins back, and with good reason: they had finally caught that meddlesome ghost that they had been hunting for weeks!

"Jack, did you bring that ecto-tranquilizer?" Maddie asks.

"Got it, Mads!" Jack bellows in his loud, booming voice. Turning around, he proceeds to load an ectogun with the said tranquilizer. Or tries, at least.

Maddie sighs, turns and begins to help him with the weaponry, still giddy with delight at their success. Just imagine! Finally, a full-sized ghost to dissect and study that wasn't a simple blob of ectoplasm. She wonders whether or not it has a body structure, or organs, or…

A ripping sound from behind the pair startles them into turning around, only to see a net with a large hole and an escaped ghost wolf bounding away in the distance, its white tail disappearing into the trees.

After a moment of silence, Maddie quietly asks, "Jack, did you remember to not only ghost-proof the net, but to make it immune to sharp objects as well?"

Jack sheepishly grins. "Sorry, Mads."

Maddie smiles tiredly back at her husband. Part of her wants to strangle him for being so ignorant; the other part wants to reassure him for his blunder.

"It wasn't your fault," she sighs, bending down. Something catches her eye. Tracing her finger through a translucent and slightly glowing liquid on the ground, she adds, "Besides, it looks like we still have some ghost saliva to work with. Get the ecto-containment devices, will you, honey?"

Jack visibly brightens and immediately jogs back to the Fenton Family Assault Vehicle to complete his wife's task. Yeah, the ghost had escaped. But it hadn't been a fruitless hunt, after all.

~*~

"How about this one, Danny?"

Daniel Fenton swiveled his head around to see the ectogun Sam was toting.

"No, it looks a bit heavy. We should get something more portable…"

Danny, Tucker and Sam were scavenging the Fenton lab for some more ghost equipment after Skulker had destroyed some of theirs in a recent fight. The halfa sighed and set his lemonade down on a nearby lab table. "Found anything yet, Tucker?"

The African-American in question was currently half inside of a large box. After a few seconds of rummaging, he pulled out a couple of Fenton wrist-rays. "How about these?"

"That's great," Danny applauded as he turned around to pull a box off a shelf. "Keep looking."

Suddenly, the halfa stiffened as his ghost sense went off.

Before the puff of cold air had fully evaporated into the air, the silver rings had already appeared at his waist. A few seconds later, Danny Phantom invisibly phased both Tucker and Sam through the ceiling of the lab.

A few seconds after that, Jack Fenton slammed the door to the lab open and sauntered over to the lab table. With a boyish look on his face, he began to mix about various chemicals.

Some time later, redheaded Jazz Fenton peeked into the lab. "Dad, what are you doing?"

Jack proudly held up a beaker filled with a glowing green substance. "This," he announced.

Jazz walked over to get a better look. "What's that?"

"It," her dad replied, "is an experimental ecto-destabilizing fluid. And I'm adding some things to it to hopefully make it work better," he announced.

"Right," Jazz said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"Like," Jack replied, "this wolf ghost saliva sample from that specter we caught last night. Well, almost caught, anyhow." He raised a test tube. "But I can't use too much, 'cause your mom wants to use some for tests." Carefully tilting the test tube, the ghost hunter let one silvery drop slide into the green mixture before righting the tube and setting it back in place.

Jazz opened her mouth to comment, but Jack interrupted her. "I'm also adding some of this ectoplasmic sample from a ghost dragon we fought last week. I forgot about it until now."

Jack's daughter finally got a word in between his rant. "Dad, what is exactly the purpose of adding all of this?"

"Science, Jazzy! All in the name of science!" Jack crowed, adding the sample.

"Jazzy" rolled her eyes. "Sure. I'll be doing homework, if you need me." She strolled out of the lab.

Unfortunately, she neglected the simple fact that her father was unstoppable when on one of his rants.

"Wait! I forgot to tell you all about the chemical composition of…" Jack cried as he rushed off after her, not noticing that his sudden movement had knocked the beaker over. Or that all of the beaker's contents were pouring into Danny's lemonade…

~*~

The fight with the Lunch Lady had been relatively easy. Rather messy, but still easy. They were still picking bits of meat off of themselves when Danny phased them back into the lab.

"At least it's not vegetables," Tucker sighed as he brushed himself off.

"What do you have against vegetables?" Sam retorted, though she already knew the answer.

Danny picked up his lemonade and sipped it while watching the pair bicker for a while. Looking down at the glass, he frowned. "Funny. It tastes a bit different, or something."

"…How can you eat that stuff?"

"…How can you ingest innocent little animals?!"

"…Cows are far from little!"

Danny looked up at his quarreling friends, shrugged, dismissed the odd taste of the lemonade as his own imagination, and continued sipping it.

~*~

Later, at night, Danny tossed and turned in bed, moaning as if having a nightmare. Suddenly, he shot up, panting and sweating. The full moon outside his window cast an eerie glow to everything in his room.

Something was wrong.

Danny's eyes darted back and forth. Something was wrong; terribly wrong. He became aware of an acute burning sensation building in his throat…

Abruptly, pain shot up all four of his limbs. Gasping in pain, the raven haired teen reeled as he glanced down at his left hand.

It had morphed into a black claw.

Danny screamed.

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Have a nice day.