TUE?

Chapter Four

The whole rest of the day, Danielle and Danny stayed as far away from each other as possible. At lunch, Danny sat next to Sam and Tucker. Thankfully, Valerie was nowhere to be found.

"Danny, where's Danielle?" Sam asked. Tucker appeared leaned in beside her.

"Yeah man, why's she even here?" Danny sighed.

"She got hurt by Spectra and I found her in the Ghost Zone. She really needs a place to stay, so you have to be nice to her, alright?"

"What? What makes you say that? Why wouldn't we be nice to her?" Sam asked innocently. Danny glared at her.

"Look, it doesn't matter right now anyway. She's not talking to me."

They all turned in their seats, trying to find Danni among the crowd of kids stuffing their faces. When they spotted her, they almost gasped.

-

"Oh, Danni, you're so cute! I wish I could have a little cousin just like you! I'd take you shopping and I'd do your makeup and your hair and…" they heard Paulina swoon over Danni's cuteness. Danni was smiling, happy to be the center of attention for once in her life.

"She's sitting with them?" Sam growled in surprise. Danny leaned back, a little embarrassed.

"How is it that she's able to make friends with the popular crowd on her first day and I've been trying to be on the A-list my whole life?"

Danni noticed them staring at her from across the room. She frowned and turned away.

---

They were all in Lancer's class for the fifth and final time today. School would be over any minute now… Danny, Sam, and Tucker were sitting together in the back row. Danni was sitting in the front in between Star and Paulina. Dash was sitting with Kwan behind them with a dejected look on his face.

"…and the planetary motions of-" Mr. Lancer was droning on in a monotone voice when the bell rang. Everyone rushed out of the room, knocking over chairs and fighting to get to the door.

Just then, Danny gasped and he could see his breath.

"Oh no." he said dreadfully. Why now? School just got out! That was three times today! He shoved through the crowd, making his way to the door and out of the classroom. As he pushed his way to an empty classroom, he saw Danni doing exactly the same. She gave him a cold glare and shoved a bunch of kids in front of Danny, knocking them over so that they blocked his way. She ran around them to the room and closed the door right before he got there.

"I was here first! Get your own room!" he heard her say through the door. He saw a flash of light come through the crack underneath it and waited five seconds before opening it. She was gone by the time he got in. He closed the door behind him in a hurry and changed into Danny Phantom.

By the time he reached the roof outside, Danni was already fighting a ghost that looked like Skulker behind the building. He flew towards them and blasted him back before he could blast Danni. Danni spun around to face him.

"How many times do I have to tell you, I can take care of-"

She was cut off by another blast from the offending ghost and was sent reeling backwards, ending up flat on her back. Danny was about to attack again when he remembered something…

"Wait a second…I thought I already caught Skulker today… "

The ghost took advantage of his hesitation and blasted him back with a powerful gun. It was then that he noticed that the Skulker look alike was slightly darker than the real Skulker was.

"We're not here for you. We're here for the other Phantom child," he said in what sounded like Skulker's voice.

"Other Phantom child- you mean Danni?" he asked, confused, as Danni got to her feet. Then his eyes widened in realization. "You- you're SkulkTech!"

"That we are, child," Technus replied. "And we're here on a mission." Danny narrowed his eyes.

"A mission?"

"To destroy the Ghost-girl!" Skulker yelled. He launched several missiles at Danny and Danielle. Danni dodged but Danny was hit and he screamed in pain as he was flung to the ground. Danni continued to attack SkulkTech and they were soon engaged in a full-on aerial fight.

"Danny, you alright?" Danny groaned and turned to face Tucker and Sam who had just come out of the school. He glared at them. Tucker grinned.

"Sorry, standard question."

Sam pulled a thermos out of her backpack just as they all heard Danni scream.

"Here, Danny, get him with this before Danielle gets hurt!" she said in a hurry and tossed the thermos to him. Danny caught it and stood up just as SkulkTech hit the ground. Danni followed only moments after, tangled in some sort of claw-like appendage that was attached to him.

"Too late," Tucker said. Sam and Danny glared at him.

"Help get this off me!" Danni yelled and Danny immediately obeyed. He started pulling at the metal around Danni's waist and Sam and Tucker grabbed him in order to help. It wasn't working. They were pulling their hardest, but it was stuck.

Sam didn't miss the weird coincidence of it all.

"Uh-oh," she said. Everyone looked at her expectantly, but instead of answering, she was looking at where SkulkTech lay. Just as they all followed her gaze, a medallion hanging on his neck fell off his neck to the ground. They gasped as they were all engulfed in a glowing blue. Barely moments later, they found themselves in a huge room surrounded completely by glowing green gears.

The claw holding Danni opened automatically and she stood up, brushing herself off.

"Huh. Where are we, do you think?" she asked, forgetting her fight with Danny. Danny, Sam, and Tuck didn't answer. Instead, they were all staring at each other, sickening feelings hitting all of their stomachs.

"More like, why are we here?" Danny finally managed to croak. Danni didn't pay attention to him. She ran over to a shelf in the corner with a lone, dented thermos on it.

"What's a Fenton Thermos doing here?" she wondered aloud, extending her arm to reach for it. "Look at it, it's all dirty and stuff." Danny ran to her and caught her arm just in time.

"Don't touch that!" he yelled, almost hysterically. Danni was surprised by his tone.

"But…but why?"

He didn't answer, but dragged her away from the shelf.

Just then something caught their attention.

"Look," Tucker said quietly, pointing to the familiar green screens that he, Sam, and Danny had seen what seemed like ages ago. The group followed him as he walked closer to them to get a better look at the scene that was being played out.

They all gasped. Danny unconsciously took a few steps back. It can't be…

uh oh.

DfK- hey thanks. and very very true. I havent seen either episode since the last one came out. thanks for reviewin!