Authors notes: Hello all! Thank you for all the kind reviews! I'm glad chapter one went over well.

Sorry about the wait! My other story has roughly 2 chapters left, and once that's done all of my energy will be focused here.

That doesn't mean there won't be updates of course, just a plea for patience.

Anyway... this chapter is short compared to my typical work, but it sets up for the rest of the story and ends in the perfect spot. Bare with it, and I promise the next chapter will be up fairly quick!

Anyways, enough of my blabbing. Hope you guys enjoy!

CHAPTER TWO


"Whatcha lookin' for?"

There was a solid thud, followed by a copious amount of swearing. Sam shuffled out from underneath her desk, hand pressed firmly against the crown of her head. She snapped her gaze to the now visible half-ghost that was guiltily rubbing the back of his neck with one gloved hand. He floated a few inches off the carpet of her bedroom, eyes filled with a bit of worry over her current predicament.

"Eh... sorry." If Danny could have blushed in his ghost form, he would have, "I didn't mean to..."

Sam just rolled her eyes, dismissing him with a lazy wave, "You'd think I'd be used to it by now."

"So...?"

"So what?"

Danny gave a nod toward the desk, and extended a palm to help his girlfriend to her feet, "What was so important down there? Not that I wasn't enjoying the view..."

Sam gave a s shrug and accepted his hand, though once she was up she gave him a playful punch against the shoulder, "The promise ring..." She sighed, and placed a hand on her hip as she returned her gaze to the desk, "I was putting it and my crystal on a better chain, and it rolled off the edge. I was about to just move the damn desk... but it's stupidly heavy."

"Oh," Danny grinned, shifting to intangibility.

He vanished, and it was only a few seconds before Sam felt a light weight settle on the top of her head. She reached up to retrieve the previously lost ring from its new resting place, only to smile when she felt a gentle breath of chilled air against her cheek, and a pair of arms wrap around her shoulders from behind. She leaned into his familiar form, "You're gonna have to let me go. I gotta get dressed quick if we're gonna be on time, Danny."

He gave an exaggerated gasp in her ear and tightened his grip, "No way! You're totally pulling off that look. Old stained tank tops and boy's boxer shorts are all the rage right now Sam... It's in all the magazines." There was a hesitant pause and she felt his shoulders droop slightly, his frame folding in against hers, "Let's just skip the stupid picnic."

Sam chuckled, and shook her head. As tempting as that offer was, it wasn't a good idea. With his parents chaperoning and Lancer being even more nosy lately, Danny didn't need the trouble a no-show would bring, "We can't."

"We could watch movies, play some games... do other things..." He murmured quietly. Even though she couldn't actually see him, she could practically hear the cocky smirk that cracked across his face.

She always did appreciate how his voice echoed ever so slightly in his ghost form, and she shivered as he dragged his fingers up her side and nuzzled her neck with a few lovingly gentle kisses. She gave a snort, "Mmm... Danny, as much as I would love... ouch! Hey, stop that!" She pulled away from his teasing wandering hands and crossed her arms as she turned to face her invisible boyfriend, "Man, you need to shave. You've got some scratchy stubble coming in lover-boy." Her firm stance lightened and she smiled, "Come on, you know the drill."

He gave a loud, exaggerated sigh, and she felt the air around her shift as he planted a final kiss on her cheek and flew toward the outside wall, "Yeah, yeah... See you in a few minutes."

There were several moments of silence as she got ready, only interrupted once when the doorbell rang and her mother called up to let her know that her 'ugh... boyfriend' was there to pick her up for school.
***

"At least it's not too hot." Tucker sighed just loud enough for his friends to hear. He straightened his back and adjusted his entirely too full backpack so that the strap wasn't digging as hard into his shoulder, "With how it's been lately... ugh."

"Yeah, that's true, I guess." Danny mumbled, he'd been scratching at his chin subconsciously ever since Sam mentioned the stubble. He liked to make sure he stayed clean-shaven—not really because of Sam—it was silly really... he was way too self-conscious about it.

But he couldn't help it. He was getting older, taller, filling out... growing facial hair.

It reminded him of someone he really, really didn't want to remember.

Someone he never wanted to become.

"..ny... Hey, Earth to Danny! Watch where you're walking!" Sam gave him a light shove with her elbow, drawing his attention away from his darkened thoughts and back to the waking world.

The class had just about made it to the park, and Danny had almost walked unawares into heavy traffic. Well... that would have been an interesting turn of events. He took a deep breath and shook his head to clear away any unwanted lingering thoughts, then smiled, "Sorry. Wasn't really listening."

"I noticed!" Sam gave a small snort, but her eyes betrayed her concern, "What's on your mind?"

Danny shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets, "Nothing really. Just really don't wanna spend all day with my parents and my class..."

A lie... or at least a half-lie. He probably didn't want to be at the picnic, but that definitely wasn't what had him so entirely distracted. Sam and Tucker shared a discrete, knowing look. Danny might have perfected his little deflection and deception act with everyone else, but he'd never be able to get anything by them. Years of near-death experiences and unbelievable, world saving stunts together had only served to strengthen their bond with one another.

Sam turned an unconvinced glance toward him, but decided to drop it. Now that he was paying attention, he wasn't in any danger of catching a nasty case of 'full-death' via being run over by a speeding motorist.

The light at the corner signaled they could cross, and the class began their trek past the busy intersection and into the park. Lancer and the Fenton parents were leading the way, with a few of the other senior teachers taking up the rear.

Casper high's senior class was fairly small this year — easily less than a hundred students — which meant they could spread out across the park without really bothering each other. Danny, Sam and Tucker hastily marched their way silently past several of their classmates toward a large, shady oak tree they often found themselves resting under after a particularly difficult ghost attack. It was just past an open field, near where the edge of the park met a small patch of thick woodland growth.

They had almost made it when a loud call echoed across the park, "Danny, Danny sweety! Don't forget to put on sun screen!"

Danny winced, already prepared for the unwanted shower of embarrassing attention his mother's overbearing, albeit kind, reminder would direct his way. He rubbed the back of his neck just as several of the A-lister girls began to giggle and mock him under their breath. Dash's voice rang out, "Yeah, widdle Fenturd doesn't wanna get a widdle sun-burn!"

Several more snickers and giggles could be heard from various small clusters of students, but Danny just sighed and shook his head. After a few minutes everyone seemed to realize that they would much rather have fun doing their own thing than making fun of him, and he slumped down against the side of the tree, "Remind me to never do this again."

"It's one day, Danny. Don't you think you're over-reacting?" Sam raised a brow, then proceeded to settle down beside him.

Tucker plopped unceremoniously down across from them, and they each proceeded to remove several things from their bags. A thin, old blanket was spread between them, followed by a small collection of vegan treats for Sam, and a seemingly endless mountain of sandwiches and chips for the boys. They also had a wide array of ghost hunting equipment stashed away, but that could stay hidden unless something crazy happened... which is something they were always prepared for.

Danny removed three bottles of water from his backpack and passed them around, then immediately began to unwrap and devour his first sandwich. It seemed the stronger his ghost-half got, the more food he needed. They'd all started to notice his growing appetite sometime between the Danielle destabilizing thing, and the Disastroid... After a few concerned trips to see Frostbite they'd discovered that his unique biological makeup needed a bit more energy to sustain itself, and the next best thing to absorbing energy in the Ghost Zone was food.

Lots of food. Luckily no one else seemed to notice.

After he practically inhaled his second sandwich, Danny took the time to glance around and see where everyone had settled. Dash and Kwan were busy flirting with Paulina and Star just a little ways from the trio, out in the middle of the field. A few of the nerds had managed to snag a picnic table under a pavilion that was also nearby. Lancer and his parents were excitedly chatting about something under the same pavilion, at a different table... or rather, Jack was excitedly chatting and Lancer was just blankly staring and nodding, while Maddie was quietly nibbling away at her own lunch.

Other handfuls of students huddled here and there across the park, the vast majority further away. The only one who gave Danny any sort of pause was Valerie.

She sat at the fountain, about the same distance away as Dash and the others. She was hunched slightly, dragging one hand across the surface of the water. She looked bored. Or annoyed. Or lonely. Or all three of those things plus some sadness thrown in for good measure.

She was someone who'd been acting way too strangely lately. After meeting and helping Danielle she'd let up considerably on her revenge against Phantom... then after Vlad had revealed himself to her and the whole mess with the Ecto-uranium asteroid she'd pretty much just stopped caring all together. Sure, she still hunted ghosts, still protected people... but her heart wasn't always in it, and whenever Danny showed up on the scene as Phantom, she would hesitate, then fly off.

A sudden thought bubbled to the surface of Danny's mind, and he nodded in her direction, "Do you think she knows?"

Sam and Tucker both turned to look, and hastily shifted their views back once the girl glanced in their direction.

"You mean about, well..." Tucker gestured with one hand toward his long-time best friend, "...you?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think she knows?" Sam countered, violet eyes settling on Danny.

"I don't really know... sometimes. She's been acting all spazzed out for a while now." He replied quietly, "Honestly, after Dani and Vlad..." He paused as he tried to decide something in his head, once again scratching at his chin without really realizing he was doing it, "After them, you'd think she'd at least start to suspect something. Maybe not me necessarily, but she's got to know something about Phantom."

"About you." Tucker stated between chews.

"About Phantom."

"You are Phantom." Sam teased, leaning back on one arm and using her free hand to straighten the hem of her skirt as if she was uninterested. It was an act, of course. She needed to look like they weren't talking about anything fishy if they didn't want uninvited attention. Not that they were being loud or anything... but that didn't stop them from playing the parts of aloof teenagers to make sure people didn't wonder what they were up to.

"You know what I mean." Danny rolled his eyes, "Seriously though! Vlad got revealed to a bunch of people on accident right? Some of those people should be smart enough to start figuring things out, and even if they didn't realize exactly what Vlad is, Val's got a leg up on them. She does know what he is. Which means she knows two ghost-human hybrids already... one of them being introduced as Phantom's cousin."

"Two and two equals four." Tucker muttered, leaning back and stretching out across the grass. He squirmed a bit to wiggle his way further under the shade, then adjusted his glasses to get rid of the glare from the sun.

"Exactly."

"Danny, I don't thi..." Sam began, but paused when she noticed his eyes widen nervously, "What's wrong?"

Dread overtook both Sam and Tucker as Danny gasped, a small, frosty blue breath billowing out in front of him, "That."

The three friends were already on their feet, eyes darting back and forth unexpectedly when the Fenton's alarm sounded.
***

Chaos.

It was the only word that Danny could even think to describe what followed… though he'd later come to admit that the details were a bit fuzzy.

Several Ectopus materialized across the park, giving chase to the small gaggles of students and teachers alike. Some of the teens ignored the danger (after all, Amity Park had dealt with far worse than a few barely-aware blobs of ectoplasm) instead they were scrambling about to either watch or defend themselves.

Someone—Paulina maybe—shouted something about Phantom coming to save them… her voice just loud enough for Danny's sensitive hearing to catch over his parents' yelling (Ghost!) and Lancer's odd way of swearing (Heart of Darkness!).

Tucker's eyes settled on Valerie, who housed a look that suggested she was both anxious and angry. She obviously wanted to act, to disappear and don her armor, but she was out in the open and a few of the A-lister's had dashed over to take cover by the fountain… Star had even taken the time to pull her old friend to safety—not that she actually needed it of course—and had one manicured hand still latched to the Huntress's arm.

Sam had one hand in her pack but hesitated on actually removing any of their weapons. Nothing too dangerous had made an appearance, and if Danny could just sit still and let his parents handle it… but she knew that was difficult for him. Jazz didn't believe Danny had an obsession like other ghosts did, but the trio had come to accept that maybe he did: Heroism. It may not have been as intense as a full ghost's obsession, but it was hard to deny that Danny was compelled by something. Something more than just a complex or want.

She glanced back in his direction and noticed just how tense he was. Blue eyes were dotted with small specks of green, evidence that he was on edge but resisting the urge to transform and jump into the fray. He met her gaze and gave a small nod, silently showing that he had been thinking along the same lines as she was: Let the Fenton's handle it, but stay on guard none-the-less. If things got serious, he'd duck out of sight and do his thing.

Sam let out a small sigh of relief but kept her hand firmly planted against the Fenton thermos in her bag. She vaguely heard something about Jack setting up a ghost shield, then caught her breath when a sphere of ecto-energy swirled into existence near the pavilion, followed by a flash of red. A large collection of ectoplasmic bats, snakes and flaming skulls practically erupted from the epicenter, spreading out among the crowds, just as the shield went up.

Locking them all in with the new ghosts.

Ok. Things just got serious.

Tucker ducked as a ghost-bat swooped low, and Danny let out a low hiss, "Lydia."

"Which means Freakshow." Sam added, arming herself with a Fenton wrist-ray. She passed a lipstick blaster over to Tucker… if they were about to get involved, they might as well still attempt some semblance of discretion.

Danny practically paced in place, knuckles white as he gripped them tightly to his side. He quickly took stock of where everyone was... none of the students were looking in their direction, and after a hasty glance to make sure he was still alright, his mom had dashed toward a few spectral nuisances that were terrorizing Dash and Kwan. Jack was still fiddling with the shield...

Lydia had disappeared. That was worrisome, but he couldn't do anything about it until he transformed... then he'd have to be extra careful, have to try and stay invisible so that his parents wouldn't question how Phantom had gotten through the ghost shield. He didn't want to answer any questions on why he was there or if he'd been part of this attack...

Danny took a few tentative steps back, and he shared a look with his two best friends. They barely had to acknowledge him, but he knew they were aware of what he was about to do. Two more steps, and he gave them a nod. Sam and Tucker both gave small smiles, then discretely downed a few of the offending ghosts.

He backed up another couple steps—he was almost to the shrubs now—and suddenly Danny felt something cold grip around his ankles. He let out a startled gasp and glanced down to see two slender, green hands wrap tightly just above his feet.

Well, he'd found Lydia. That was one problem solved.

Now if only he could have avoided what happened next...

Lydia forced him to go intangible, using her own ghostly powers to over-ride his human-form subdued ones.

It all happened in seconds. He'd been caught off guard, and it had happened so fast... otherwise, Danny would have transformed and had no trouble taking out the Circus Gothica ghost, and whatever else she was cooking up. Seconds that seemed to stretch on forever from the half-dead teen's point of view. Slow motion. Sam and Tucker both heard the shuffle—heard him gasp. They turned, preparing their weapons.

Freakshow had appeared from the thick shrubbery behind Danny. They all briefly wondered how he had managed to sneak up on them... how long had he watched them? But they had to accept one simple fact: he was human. Humans didn't set off ghost alarms, and Danny couldn't sense the living. Freakshow could have been there in the bushes, all day long, watching them enjoy their food, and they would have never known.

The anemic ringmaster held something strange in one hand: a small, thin rod that had two prods at the end. Between those two prods, seemingly floating in a delicate electric field, was a brilliantly green, glowing crystal the size of a quarter. He lunged, as if to stab his foe in the back with this strange new weapon.

Danny was still intangible, so the device went right through him. It didn't keep his heart from skipping a beat, however, and there was an eerie unnatural prick as the metal settled in place. He turned his head to glare at the sickly man behind him.

Seconds. It had all happened in seconds.

Lydia suddenly released the intangibility, and Danny—in a daze—let it fall away with her. The prod was still in place.

Danny's chest erupted in a sharp pain, and burned like it was on fire. He felt Freakshow yank the sharp prod free from his flesh, a sickening squick met his ears.

He twisted slightly, eyes settling on the strange rod in the sickly looking man's hand. He expected there to be blood—red and wet and glistening. But there wasn't. The gold metal was as dry as it had been before it had impaled him.

Had... had Freakshow missed?

If so, why did it hurt so much?

Another sharp throb in his chest sobered the half-ghost slightly, and he brought one hand up to grip his shirt tightly. He felt weak all of a sudden, like he'd just used every ounce of energy he had, like he'd used his ghostly-wail several times in a row without a break.

His felt his core pulse with hot, untamed energy... which was terrifying. His core was supposed to feel cold, and in his human form it should have felt dull, and subdued.

Now it just felt raw... angry. He fell to his knees, still clutching at his chest. He tried to transform—witnesses be damned—but it was like he couldn't touch that power. No white rights of light appeared.

He was vaguely aware of Sam at his side, one hand on his arm, the other gripping his shoulder to keep him upright. Tucker was firing at something behind him, but it seemed like as soon as the deed was done, Lydia and Freakshow had vanished. Seconds later the techno-geek was also crouched down next to him. Danny tried to listen to what they were saying, he really did... but his ears were ringing. They were ringing so loud he couldn't even hear his own erratic thoughts.

Then he felt it. A jump in his powers. A sudden build up of ectoplasmic energy from deep inside his chest... and God did it hurt. It reminded him of his fateful portal accident; only this time instead of absorbing the pure, untainted power, it was going to erupt from his core and explode. He fought it.

Time seemed uneven. With each labored inhale it seemed to speed up, and with each exhale it slowed to a crawl. Sam had tears in her eyes, Tucker was trying to comfort him. Lydia's tattoo ghosts were still wreaking havoc, distracting everyone else...

Then for Danny, it all went black.

Sam saw it happen. She saw when all sense of awareness left Danny's anguished face. Her boyfriend snapped his eyes closed and let out a cry. His hair flickered white as he lost control of whatever was happening with his powers, and a neon green energy tore itself free from his body.

The sudden light burned her eyes and she fought through the stinging tears that threatened to force them shut, "Danny!"

There was an odd pull, like a back-draft of wind in a fire, then an uncontrolled shock-wave of power that tore itself free from Danny's slumped form. She was almost pushed pack, but nothing would make her leave his side at this moment.

It erupted in every direction, and Sam cursed, the energy sending a numb, tingling sensation throughout her body. There was another explosion above them, and she snapped her head toward the noise.

Her eyes went wide and she couldn't help but let out a startled gasp. Crackling energy was building all around them, forming a vortex, with Danny at the center. Not that anyone could actually tell of course... they were either blocked from view by the flowing green light, or staring in fear at the sky above them. The sky that seemed to split in two, and through the rift she saw the familiar tell-tale swirls of black and green.

The Ghost-zone.

Danny suddenly fell forward, energy seemingly spent. His head slumped against her collarbone, his chilled breath dancing across her chest with each, heavy pant. She felt him nudge her necklace with his nose, the one that held the ghost-ice crystal and promise ring he'd given her a few years back. She brought one hand up to cradle the side of his head and hold him close. She wanted to give him some sense of comfort... something to latch on to in his current struggle.

He was warm, which was bad—his typical temperature was below normal human standards—and sweat drenched his bangs. His blue eyes were half-lidded, and he let out a breathy whimper that was painfully out of character, "Sa... Sam...mmy?"

The violent vortex of energy around them—Danny's energy she realized—hadn't stopped. It continued to rip through the park, tearing up through and throwing large clumps of earth, and widening the jagged portal until it seemed as though it was going to swallow them all whole. This was nothing like the controlled portal in the Fenton's basement, and definitely nothing like the natural portals that rarely popped up. This was something else. Something forced. Something horrible.

"It was just supposed to be a stupid picnic..." Tucker mumbled desperately beside her.


Authors notes: Sorry for the cliffhanger guys! But this was the perfect cut off point and sets things up well. Hope you liked it!

Don't forget to review please! Reviews are love, and I also appreciate constructive criticism!