A/N: Hello everyone, and thanks for your wonderful reviews! And because of your awesome thoughts, I want to wish y'all a Happy St. Patty's Eve! Beannachtaí ort! -which is a Gaelic wish for 'Blessings on you'! (Yeah, I looked it up. I don't know any foreign languages except English! Heh-heh!) I only have a wee bit of Irish in me-on mi father's side- but I count that as 100% on St. Patrick's Day! So, don't forget to wear green tomorrow or I might pinch you. Hey! That's better than Ms. Hyde poking you with that wicked hat pin of hers, isn't it?! Heh-heh. Oh, ahem, that's right, it's time for an update! Remember when I sent Ms. Hyde over to Vlad's place to get the list of ghosts and all kinds of stuff? Well, she found out the names of some recurring characters! Yep, that's right! And I'm so glad, too, because I find it irritating when characters that show up more often than not have no names! And now I can tell y'all who those characters are and their names! Finally, it's time! But a little PM to IJ: hope this is more exciting for you! Here is Chapter 4. Enjoy!

Gold Tested in Fire—Chapter 4—Machine in Motion

When Plasmius reappeared after teleporting from his lab, the pink smoke that had surrounded him quickly dispersed into the crisp, clear night. He purposely teleported close to the hangout of the three vultures he often used in his plans, but not near enough to be seen or heard by any of them at the moment. He wanted to alert his other employee before he would speak to those three loons, er, vultures.

He quickly brought up his arm and pushed a few buttons on the watch-like device on his wrist. [1] This was the quickest way to contact that someone before meeting up with the vultures. And he knew that it wouldn't take long at all…

Once he got a connection, he hurriedly said, "Skulker….."

A couple of minutes later…

"Yikes!" Norbert, the leader of the group of ghost vultures, yelled just as Plasmius suddenly materialized in front of them in another puff of pink smoke. He immediately swooped up his fez that had fallen off in his startle and plopped it firmly back on.

Though they had already received a message that their boss was coming, they were never ready when he would do that 'teleporting' thing.

"Geez, boss, ya nearly gave me a heart attack!" the second ghost bird named Ruben chimed in before realigning his sunglasses.

"Ya don't have a heart!" Willie, the third vulture, pointed out.

"Yeah. I know. But if I did have one, I vould be having an attack right now!" the second vulture replied.

Plasmius rolled his eyes and growled, "Look, you three, I don't have time for this! You got your message. Now, I want you to go right now and turn off those three main lines. Then wait exactly thirty minutes before you turn them back on. And make sure no one interferes with what you need to do, got it?"

"Yeah, ve got it!" the leader said. "So, let's go, boys!"

They immediately took off and the conniving ghost hybrid then teleported to his next destination.

In no time, Plasmius was at the Mansons' home. And even though he was still invisible and intangible, he stayed in the shadows.

"Now, let's see if those idiotic birds got it right!" he finally said, touching part of the building. And as soon as he had touched it, that section became invisible.

It only took a quick glance with his ghostly vision to see that the ghost vultures had done their job after all.

"Perfect!" the half-ghost sneered with delight before pulling out the small beaker containing the gray substance from the pouch at his side. He then retrieved the dropper from the same pouch and quickly siphoned a small amount of the glowing gray formula.

Plasmius knew that he couldn't really trust any of his employers for this next very delicate part. He carefully squeezed the dropper before he turned the dropper intangible and plunged it into the large water pipe.

There. It was done! And if his calculations were correct, he knew that as soon as any human skin came into contact of the properly mixed formula, it would osmose right through it and be absorbed right into the bloodstream. Then, its effects would be immediate.

He chuckled a bit even as he thought, "I can't afford to have Daniel's girlfriend do what she would undoubtedly do, which would be, of course, to interfere with any of my plans. And, of course, her entire family must join her in her 'big sleep' so that they won't suspect that it's the girl who is really my target."

He pulled out the dropper out of the building and looked at it before saying with a wicked smile, "That should do the job nicely. Hmmm, and, oh, how clumsy of me! Two and a half drops equals two and a half weeks….Heh-heh!"

He suddenly frowned a bit. He certainly hoped he wouldn't need that much time to break Daniel, but he also had to have some leeway in order to make sure that his friends didn't have any opportunity to interfere or be so weak that they won't be able to do anything about anything anymore...But then he smirked again at his next thought. It would be better yet if Daniel's friends were permanently out of the picture. That might be enough of an effect on the boy that Daniel would ask him for help—which, of course, he would gladly give.

His thoughts, however, were interrupted less than a moment later because all the lights in this area—and really, the whole city—were suddenly snuffed out.

"Right on time as always, Skulker!" the half-ghost slightly chuckled. "We can't have anyone trying to fix this up before the formula is well mixed, now can we?"

Now satisfied that he was finished here, Plasmius quickly teleported to the Foleys' home…

Meanwhile, Sam had been in her greenhouse…

"Man, sweating in here is so therapeutic! I can't think of anything better for the soul than smelling all this rich earth," Sam said with a smile as she turned over more of the soil with her small hand hoe.

But then, that same earthly aroma triggered another memory, a special one. One that she had shared with her one special guy when they were exploring the underground, just before they got to that underground cavern they both loved. Her smile broadened as she continued to tend to her plants. Maybe there was something else better for her soul after all.

Once satisfied, she sighed and wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her right hand. "That'll do it for today! Time to get cleaned up. Don't want to be late for dinner…," And she added when a smile grew back on her face, "…or—more importantly—getting over to Danny's after that!"

She wasted no more time. She left the hothouse and headed right into her home, and up the stairs for the quick shower she knew she most definitely needed.

She entered her bathroom and blindly poked her hand through the bathtub curtains, groping for the hot water. But as soon as she turned the handle, no water came out!

"Huh?" the girl grunted as she pulled open the curtain to recheck the tap. But just as she was about to turn the handle again, the lights went out!

Plasmius could tell that all was ready for him at Tucker's home because the lights in this section were also out. So, it was time to deposit the same amount of sleeping potion into the Foleys' water system.

But just before Vlad was going to make his hand intangible and phase it and the dropper full of the glowing concoction through the side of the building and into the main water pipe, he heard a noise very close to him. He instantly became totally invisible and intangible and even though he really hadn't needed to do it, he reflexively pushed himself closer to the building without phasing through it.

In the next moment, the half-ghost could see who it was and he frowned in irritation.

"Curses! It's that meddlesome Foley kid!" Plasmius immediately thought.

Indeed, it was Tucker, ever equipped with his trustworthy, futuristic PDA that he had 'inherited' from Skultech 9.9 over a year ago. And he looked as if he was inspecting the area, which, in fact, he was. And in the next moment, as the boy inadvertently drew nearer to the hidden Plasmius, he was studying what his PDA was displaying.

And then Plasmius heard Tucker speaking to himself, since the boy, of course, thought he was alone.

"I don't get it! There's nothing wrong with the wiring and no transformers have been blown within the area I scanned," Tucker said, alternating looking at his PDA and surveying the surrounding area.

There was another pause before the boy spoke again, "And why would the electricity and the water be out at almost the exact same time? Wow! Wish I had those odds when fighting Kroger in that new video game I just bought! He's impossible to beat—heh-heh, for now!" Tucker chuckled before sobering. "Okay, dude, back to this problem. I wouldn't think that both the electricity and water would be out at the same time unless there was some type of horrific storm—or some idiots cut both main lines at the same time."

He shuddered. He certainly hoped that no idiot had cut both lines since he really didn't want them to find out how electricity and water so didn't mix well. Still, he looked up. Obviously the clear star-filled sky held no storm. So, what could have happened?

He continued to inspect the area when, suddenly, a red warning sign began to blink in the lower right hand corner of his PDA's display.

The beret-wearing boy gasped, "That's never done that before!"

When Tucker rechecked his PDA, however, he chuckled in embarrassment. "Oops! Sometimes even I forget how complicated this thing is! I must have activated that program by mistake!" He pushed a couple more buttons and then uttered in bewilderment, "Man, that's a lot of power!" But then suddenly turning quickly around on his heels and scanning immediately where he was, he gasped, "But that would mean….!"

But the boy couldn't complete his sentence, even as he was reflexively programming his PDA into a defensive mode. In the next instant, he was screaming in pain as Plasmius' pink ectoplasmic energy beam lifted him up off of the ground and rapidly engulfed him. And not a moment later, Tucker was unconscious and his PDA had slipped out of his hands and onto the pile of soft leaves on the ground under him. The PDA quickly sunk within the leaves until it was completely hidden.

Plasmius didn't even pay attention to the small computer even as its red warning button kept blinking, and gave the pile of yellow leaves an intermittent dull orange glow. Instead, he dispelled his pink energy, catching the senseless teen within his arms before Tucker could fall onto the ground.

Frowning at this snag in his plans, the half-ghost muttered, "Of course, I couldn't let him alert any of his friends of whatever he had discovered! Still, this will work out anyhow. At least he'll be out long enough for me to get this potion into the water system. And then, I'll just have to come back to make sure he's given a more thorough dose."

Leaving the PDA where it lay and making both he and Tucker intangible and invisible, Plasmius then phased right through the outside of the Foley house and into what Plasmius could see was the boy's bedroom. He promptly deposited the boy onto his bed and phased right out of the room and to the outside once more.

Once he relocated the main water line, Plasmius just as quickly deposited the dosage he wanted into it; and without another moment lost, headed toward his next target….

Plasmius paused as he looked at the building to which he had just transported, not noticing the fact that the night had seemed to instantly swallow up the remnants of that puff of pink smoke when he did. Instead, he bit his lower lip with his slight indecision.

Now that he thought about it, maybe he shouldn't worry about the girl who lived here. After all, she still worked for him. Yet, she really hadn't done much reporting lately on the whereabouts and whatevers about Daniel. He had told her that under the circumstances, he had understood. But now, he was not so certain.

He suddenly smiled, no longer hesitant about his original decision. "So then, that settles it. It is because of those circumstances—that she's involved with Daniel's friend, that Foley boy—that I have to also include Miss Gray in this part of my plan after all. I can suppose that she may not be a bother to me, but I cannot suppose that she won't be all bothered to see her steady beau a little—how should I say it?—indisposed? That might make her a little too willing to find out what has happened to him."

He then reached into that small pouch at his side; pulled out the beaker and dropper; filled the dropper; and quickly made it and his hand intangible. As he deposited the same dosage into the main water line of the Gray household as he had into the Mansons' and Foleys', he knew that he had perfect odds on not being bothered by Daniel's friends.

Once through, he smirked in satisfaction. But then, Plasmius looked at his watch and frowned a bit. He was still too early for his next step. However, he then grinned at his next thought. "Hmm, well, looks like I might just be able to infect Daniel's home and have some tea before I have to make sure that Foley boy is introduced to that sleeping potion."

He quickly transported over to Fenton Works. And as with his many other times, invading the home and completing his intended task was always all too easy …

Once he had infected the Fenton household, he headed back to his mansion.

While on the way, however, he paused and hovered in mid-air when one of the future parts of his master plan unexpectedly came into focus. Yes, if all went according to plan, the Central Park 'fountain' should be completed within the week. But, he had been so busy with this part of his plans that he hadn't yet checked on that other just-as-important part today.

He had to check on it every day in order to be able to insert the device at the right place and at the right time. He had thought of waiting until it was done and just use his ghostly powers to add that piece. But that was precisely the problem. The device was so delicate, he wanted to have plenty of time and definite ease to insert it or else there could be an increased margin of error for permanent damage to it.

He looked at his watch and smiled. He had plenty of time to check on his 'fountain', get back home and still have some tea before he would have to return to the Foley home.

The older hybrid flew off in a new direction…

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Sam grunted in the dark. "Well, this certainly puts a damper on things!" She then sighed, "Oh, well, so the shower will have to be a little later and a quick one. No biggie!"

She groped in the pitch blackness for the small drawer embedded under her sink, searching for the flashlight she knew should be there. And just as she smiled in triumph and began to pull open the little drawer, she screamed when she suddenly felt excruciating pain shooting throughout her.

The pain was so intense, in fact, that she thought she would faint from it. Now clinging to the sink for support, she continued to pant with the throbbing ache as she eased herself to the floor. And less than a moment later, it was over and she began to feel better. She swallowed hard at the ordeal, wondering why that incredible pain had come and gone so suddenly. She never had experienced anything like it before.

"Something's wrong," she uttered as she shakily pulled herself back up from the floor. But then, she shook her head in denial. "No. I feel better, it must have been nothing."

She frowned, not satisfied with her own answer. "Nothing? You just had a mega headache—and body ache—attack you out of the blue…." But then she slowed the pace of her voice down at her next thought, "…that just as suddenly went away? And you're fine?"

This time, her brow furrowed even more with her confusion. No, that wasn't it. She still had a dull headache from what happened and she never had trouble with this kind of headache before.

Still not mollified, she searched her mind….And then, she gasped at her next thought. She wondered if it was only a random thought, but she bit her lower lip. Somehow she knew it was true: Something's wrong with Tucker!

"I have to call Danny!" was her next thought.

But what she didn't know was that her boyfriend had also had a similar but not as intense pain shoot through him at the same time she had.

However, just as she was about to concentrate, bent on trying to connect with her boyfriend, she heard her name. The voice was muffled since it was coming from outside her bedroom door, but she immediately recognized it.

"Samantha! Samantha! Are you all right? I heard you scream!" her mother called through the door, jiggling the lock. How she wished she hadn't let her daughter keep her door locked more often than not! Still, she called again when she didn't get a response. "Honey, answer me!"

Sam immediately called out when she sensed the panic in her mother's voice, "I'm okay, mom! I just, uh, stubbed my toe on the tub when the lights went out. I'm okay now, though. But I need to get a flashlight so that I can come open the door. So, could you please give me a minute?"

Pamela Manson sighed in relief at hearing her daughter's voice before responding, "All right, sweetie. But, of course, I can't get in right now. But please hurry, honey. I was so frightened! And I have an extra flashlight for you if you need one."

"Duh! A lot that's going to do for me over there," Sam grumbled to herself, but instead, she called back, "I'm trying to get to the door, Mom! I'll be there as soon as I can!"

She groped for the flashlight that should be in the small drawer under the sink again.

But then her headache was gone; and as her head fully cleared, she stopped searching through the small drawer. A smug smile crept onto her face as she muttered, "Duh, part two...Well, it's been a while since I practiced…Okay, so in fact I haven't practiced at all since the Spectra thing… But, I would say that needing light right now calls for this being the perfect time to do it!"

And even though she couldn't see it, she looked down on where her outstretched hand now was. She furrowed her brow in concentration. And then she gasped when a few moments later, a small ball of bright reddish-purple light lit up in and around her hand, quickly engulfing it.

She chuckled a bit under her breath, "Still not use to it, but still mega-cool!"

She then easily made her way through the bathroom and to her bedroom door, not realizing that the fuchsia-colored light had escaped under and around her bedroom door.

And that her mother had noticed it.

Nevertheless, Sam extinguished the light just as she reached her door.

She quickly unlocked and opened it, only to jump a bit at seeing her mother's face, which had looked hideously upset under the upward opposite shadowy effect of the flashlight. Still, the girl casually replied, "You said you had a flashlight for me?"

Confused by her daughter's remark, Mrs. Manson questioned, "Flashlight? But where did you get that strange colored light that you used just now? I saw it under—and around—your door just before you opened it."

Sam swallowed nervously, but was able to say, "Oh, that! Uh, that's from my… new laser lava lamp! But I turned it off with the remote just before I got to the door."

"But the electricity's out!" the women said, her face still scrunched with confusion, and now worry.

"That's because it runs on batteries, honey," another voice in the dark suddenly answered.

Both Sam and her mother startled slightly at the unexpected voice. But then, they calmed when they recognized it—and the sound of a battery-charged scooter that accompanied the voice—as the scooter, equipped with a tiny headlight, slowly drew nearer to the mother and daughter.

"I gave that to her some time ago, don't you remember, Pamela?" Sam's grandmother sweetly asked before throwing a side smile that only her granddaughter could see.

Sam, however, squelched a smile back and maintained that well-rehearsed poker face of hers.

Sam's mother frowned in confusion. She hadn't remembered any such thing. Nevertheless, she shrugged it off, chalking it up to another strange thing that seemed to involve her daughter more often than not.

An awkward silence grew among the three generations of female Mansons before they all gasped and squinted when light suddenly flooded the hallway.

"Well, at least that has returned to normal," Pamela flippantly said as she turned to go. "I need to finish dinner. See you in a bit, Mom and Samantha."

"Okay!" the oldest and youngest both said in unison.

After her mother had left earshot, Sam finally said, "Thanks for the save, Grandma! You know you didn't have to do that."

Millie winked at the girl before saying, "I know I didn't, bubele. But I do so love intrigue and mystery, even when it seems as if it'll never get solved!"

Sam unconsciously bit her lower lip. She didn't want to lie to her grandmother about what really happened, but she wasn't ready to blurt it all out yet, either. Now wasn't the time. But her indecision was finally decided for her….

"But then again, that's what makes it so exciting! So, I'll just have to say that it is so appropriate that I was—and still am—in the dark!" the old woman finally mused.

Sam weakly smiled and swallowed her sigh before radically changing the subject. "Well, I need to take a quick shower before dinner, then!"

Holding her nose in a tease, Millie replied, "I totally agree, sweetie!"

"Ha-ha," Sam dryly replied before leaning over and kissing her grandmother on the cheek.

Millie, in turn, smiled but said nothing more before turning her scooter around. And just as she began to scoot forward again, she called back, 'See you at dinner, kiddo!"

Sam watched the old woman a little longer until it was obvious that her grandmother was also on her way to the hall bathroom to clean up.

Sam then retraced her steps back to her own bathroom. She turned on the faucet to her shower and was happy to see that the water was back on.

"Must have been some kind of fluke," she muttered under her breath as she ran her hand under the faucet, checking the temperature of the water. But she jolted a little at the feel of the water. It felt as if she had received a small electrical shock from it! She frowned and uttered again, "Another fluke?"

Still, she turned the knob more to the 'hot' side, all the while checking the temperature with her free hand under the running tab the entire time. And each time, she frowned when that sharp electrical mini-volt returned when she first put her hand under the faucet. But then she shrugged it off as that tingling ebbed with the flowing water.

However, the more the water seeped through her fingers, the dizzier she became.

"That's weird!" she mused again, now getting a creepy feeling run up her spine.

But then, she startled when she heard a crash down the hallway…And it sounded as if it was coming from the bathroom where her grandmother had gone!

Ignoring her swimming head and the running water, Sam dashed back out of her bathroom and toward the hallway.

Once she got there, she hurriedly knocked on the bathroom door.

"Grandma?" she worriedly called.

But there was no answer.

Panicking, the girl turned the knob and was silently thankful that it was unlocked!

But when she opened the door, she met resistance. However, she hadn't yet realized that her grandmother's knocked-out body was what was blocking her from opening the door.

"Grandma?" Sam repeated more frantically, and then gasped when she finally caught partial sight of her grandmother's hand—on the floor just inside the door!

"Dad! Mom!" Sam instinctively screamed at the sight.

But, again, silence answered her.

"Mom! Dad!" she yelled more earnestly, but then her eyes widened in dread when she suddenly realized that she had called to her parents with hardly any breath.

She was feeling weaker by the moment! And she could no longer ignore her spinning head.

Now desperate, she mentally called out to her boyfriend. But before she could get out any semblance of a complete thought, her head spun violently and her vision blurred to the point that there was nothing but blackness before it.

And her unconscious body slipped to the floor….

In the meantime, Plasmius had checked on the status of the fountain and knew he would have to install the device by the next day. He then teleported back to his own mansion on the edge of town to wait for the potion to 'cure'…

Finally, the now human Vlad had finished his last sip of tea when he spied his watch. He chuckled smugly, "Time to check to see if Daniel's friends are indisposed before I do anything else."

He instantly morphed into his ghost form and was about to leave when he suddenly remembered what else he needed to bring with him. He wasted no time soaring to his nearby lab, and then snatched up the needed items. Checking all of them and smirking as his plans whirled in his mind, he quickly turned invisible and intangible before he disappeared in a puff of pink smoke.

The older ghost hybrid reappeared in no time in the midst of another small cloud of rosy smoke. When it cleared, the once invisible Plasmius rematerialized. He could clearly see that all was going as planned in the Manson home.

He quickly scanned what was obviously a kitchen and smiled. But that smile rapidly fell into a frown of concern when he could see smoke rising from a pan sizzling with angry fire on top of the stove! In an instant, he zapped the entire pan and fire out of existence. He then quickly soared over to the stove and turned off all the knobs.

Without hesitating, Plasmius turned right around and grinned again. Daniel's girlfriend's parents were slumped over and unconscious. The mother was at the foot of the sink with the faucet still running and her hand still wet; and the father was hunched over at the table, the spilled glass of water having slipped out of his hand after succumbing to the effects of that knock-out Formula 286-psi-1A.

Plasmius could tell by how peaceful they looked that they had not noticed the effects of the formula once it had affected them, just as he planned it to be. And, in fact, he was right. Most of the people he had meant to incapacitate would merely fall asleep.

But what he didn't know— nor did anyone else, for that matter—that only three of the others he had infected would feel a jolt of pain after having come into contact with the formula.

"Thank you, Maddie!" he uttered unconsciously to his holograph computer.

After turning off the faucet and placing the cup in the sink, he quickly scooped the pair up. He hurriedly searched the home. And after having found it, he brought them to their bedroom….

He continued to scope out the house and frowned in slight confusion when he saw an unconscious Sam lying in front of a cracked door in the hallway. How did the girl get out here?

But he shrugged it off as he easily lifted her up and searched for her bedroom. He found it in no time. But as he laid her on her bed, his ears perked up.

What was that sound?

But then, he smirked as he quickly located the sound and phased through the door in front of it.

"That would explain how the girl was infected," he thought as he turned off the faucet in the tub. "But it doesn't explain why it took so long to incapacitate her."

He frowned as he mused over that. But once more, he dismissed any reason as insignificant. All that mattered was that the girl was out-of-commission.

The ghost hybrid was about to leave for the Foley household when he stopped a moment.

"Hmmm," he thought with a pensive frown. "Isn't there an old woman living here as well?"

Now he was sure of it. He quickly soared through the rest of the house, inspecting each room near Sam's until he found the old woman on the floor in the hall bathroom. And when he did, he scooped her up as well and quickly deposited her on her bed. He then retrieved Millie's scooter and set it next to the old woman's bed.

Plasmius chuckled darkly as he headed to Tucker's house. "Now, when they wake up two-and-a-half weeks from now—that is, if they wake up— they'll be so weak with hunger and thirst the last thing on their minds will be Daniel. And I'm sure, of course, they'll think they had some kind of awful flu as planned. Still, I don't care which scenario it will be. I'll take anything that'll work to my advantage over Daniel!"

When the older hybrid had arrived at the Foley home, he was pleased that he was welcomed with the same results as he had at the Mansons'. He had started at Tucker's bedroom, and had seen that the boy was still lying on his bed, indisposed.

Plasmius was quite pleased that all was going well.

He then quickly soared throughout the house, and found Tucker's parents in the kitchen, also quite out-of-it. He didn't hesitate to deposit Tucker's unconscious parents onto their bed.

Chuckling slightly that this went easier than he had planned, Plasmius turned to leave. But then, he suddenly remembered something. Sighing in relief, Plasmius uttered, "Glad I didn't forget that little detail!"

He quickly soared back to the kitchen and retrieved a cup. And even though he knew that his gloves would protect him from being infected, he still carefully filled the cup with water from the contaminated faucet.

An instant later, he had teleported to Tucker's bedroom. Smiling that all was still going well, the ghost hybrid floated over to the teen. He pulled the boy up to a sitting position and gently said, "Here, dear boy, drink this!"

Tucker, who hadn't regained his senses enough from being zapped by the older half-ghost in the first place, didn't comprehend that it was Plasmius speaking to him. Instead, Tucker obliged the command and started to sip from the cup. But no sooner had he begun when he jolted. The water seemed to catch his throat on fire! He immediately pulled back in protest, but it had already been too late. Not a moment later, the boy's head fell completely back. Tucker was now fully within the clutches of the effects of the infamous Formula 286-psi-1A.

At first, Plasmius frowned at the boy's negative response. "That wasn't supposed to happen," he mused. "Maybe it did hurt the others?" But he didn't think so.

"Oh well. Just a small trifle. Still, two homes down, two to go!" Plasmius said shrugging that thought away before smiling wickedly as he lay Tucker back down. His plans were definitely back on schedule.

He flew over to Valerie's home this time. And seeing everything there as he expected, he quickly placed Damon and Valerie on their respective beds.

Sighing before grinning with satisfaction, Vlad looked at his watch and said with determination, "Good. Everything's set. I have enough of what I need to use against Daniel. True, I still have to get Skulker to finalize some of that, but that can come a bit later…..For now, though, it's time for the real show, which would be, of course, to retrieve Daniel!"

And a heartbeat later, he disappeared into a rosy cloud of smoke.

While of all of his friends were being put out of commission, Danny and his folks hardly registered a blip on their 'alarm' radar when the rest of the city electricity and water supply had been knocked out. And that was because the Fentons had a back-up generator which had automatically kicked-in the moment Skulker had pulled the plug at the city hub.

In fact, the only hint that the electricity had even gone out in the Fenton household was a slight flicker in the lights, which, really, for the Fentons—with the constant tinkering, lab explosions and the like—was more of a regular occurrence than not.

And so, no one in the Fenton household had noticed that things in their home were awry. And no one had any need to use the plumbing system—yet.

And in all that while that Plasmius was beginning to set his plans in motion, Danny had joined his parents in the lab shortly after Jack and Maddie had returned from their trip to the Ghost Zone. And now the adult Fentons had been in the midst of showing their son what they had retrieved from the Ghost Zone and how this substance was going to be used to improve the formula for their Ecto-Foamer…

Danny listened quietly as his parents argued over how they were going to begin the process of making the formula. In fact, he was listening a little more attentively than he realized. Now that he was taking more interest in chemistry—and doing well in it to boot—he had quickly gotten sucked into his parents' debate. But then, as his parents still ranted on, the teen leaned over the set of calculations for the formula and unconsciously started to check over them.

The young hybrid inadvertently frowned as he studied the chemical equation. But then—and still not aware of what he was doing—he picked up the paper and a nearby pencil and began to write on it. He frowned again when he briefly cued back into his parents' argument before returning to scribble on the paper. And then, he stopped a moment when he tuned back into their conversation once more…

He was still looking over the paper when he blurted out his thoughts on the matter before he knew it. "No, Dad, Mom. I don't agree with either of you. Neither sodium sterate nor potassium sterate, mixed into a yeast and hydrogen peroxide solution, are going to work, no matter if you got the elements for either solute in the Ghost Zone or not. If you mix them either of the ways that you have on this paper, the formula will foam only at first before it will become a gummy mess and will clog the Ecto-Foamer when it shoots outward. Why don't you two just go for something simple yet effective? You can use either a soluble potassium or sodium salt and mix it with plain water. Then use an ecto-yeast solution to yield the needed gas. Mix the two and you'll have a lasting and effective ecto-foaming solution that will do a decent job of fighting ghosts."

Maddie and Jack instantly stopped arguing as their mouths fell open in shock. Did that just come from their son?

But then, when Danny finally noticed the sudden stillness in the air, he glanced upward from the paper still in his hands. He instantly blushed when he saw his parents' faces and knew what had happened.

"Heh-heh," he chuckled a bit as he brought one of his hands up behind his neck and nervously rubbed it. "Uhm, yeah, well, I've been listening at school more, you know."

His parents, their mouths still agape, could only muster a silent and slow nodding of each of their heads in response.

But at that precise moment, Danny suddenly dropped the paper and winced under a wave of pain that had suddenly washed over him.

This time, both of his parents gasped in worry at his reaction and rushed over.

"Are you alright, honey?" Maddie cried.

"What's wrong, son?" Jack asked at the exact same time as his wife.

But the pain left Danny as quickly as it had come and his face relaxed. Instantly thinking it was his powers acting up again and not wanting to talk about it or worry his parents, he replied as casually as he could, "I don't know, but I'm all right now! Uh, you know how those school lunches are! Maybe something didn't agree with me. It happens more often than not, you know."

Not convinced, Maddie frowned. But she didn't challenge him. She knew he would only tell them the things he was ready to tell. Still, she didn't like how drained he had suddenly looked a few moments ago. But then again, he was looking better and better as she watched him. Maybe he was right.

"All right, sweetie," she finally said. "I'm glad you think you're okay. But in case it happens again, maybe you should take some Fenton-bismol later."

Danny gulped at the memory of having used that before. So not good. But he smiled weakly and replied, "Right, Mom. I will."

"Great, son!" Jack exclaimed in that boisterous tone of voice of his before turning to his wife. "And, now, sweetcakes, don't you think we should get ready for dinner? My stomach says it's half-past preparing at least the meat and we haven't even started yet!"

Maddie chuckled slightly as she replied, "Okay, hon. Let's go. You can cut up the salad, then."

Jack immediately frowned but then brightened at his next thought. He raised his hands up in a judo-like stance and excitedly said, "As long as we end it with my favorite dessert, my chopping hands are all yours, sugardoodle."

Maddie laughed gently at his remark. She knew very well that, really, every dessert was her husband's favorite—even if he claimed it was only fudge. But now, it was just a running joke since all that had changed recently.

"Anything I can help you with?" Danny honestly offered. After all, he wanted to be able to stomach something, and that something would be better if he prepared it.

"No, son, your mother and I got it covered! We have to clean up a bit down here and then we'll call you went it's ready, okay?"

"Oh, sure, Dad! And, uhm, thanks. And, oh! You know the gang will be over later, so I'll just go up and finish my homework, then," Danny added with a crooked smile.

"Not a problem, sweetie," his mother replied with a knowing smile.

After all, having Danny's friends over was now a routine in the Fenton household, a routine both she and her husband openly approved of—and for which they were truly thankful, for their son's sake...

Danny then turned to go up the stairs to the kitchen, through which he had to pass to get to his final destination.

But just as Danny reached the bottom of the stairs leading up to his bedroom, he was suddenly gripped by a familiar pressure in his mind. And for some odd reason, it made him dizzy even as he suddenly thought about Sam. But to add to his confusion, that sensation halted as quickly as it began and then was followed by an even stronger bout of dizziness.

"Uhhh," he said as he slightly lost his balance and reflexively grabbed his forehead with the feeling and the sudden spots before his eyes. But, once again, that sensation left him as quickly as it had come. He sighed at his next thought and muttered, "Not again! I wish all this craziness about my powers would stop—pronto!"

He shook his head in discouragement, and at the same time shrugged in resignation just before he started up the stairs.

He was unaware that those two bouts with all that pain and dizziness had come from his telepathic powers, which had tapped into what was happening to his two best friends…

Once he reached his bedroom, he wasted no time in getting out his chemistry book again. He turned to the page where the chapter review questions were. He then started on the first one…

Several minutes had passed and he sighed when he had completed most of the review questions. But this last one was harder than he expected. He glanced at the clock. It was time for a break. Besides, it was nearly dinnertime. He headed to the bathroom to clean up…

But in the meantime, Danny's parents had not gone right to preparing dinner while he had been doing his homework. In fact, just as he had decided to take a break, his parents had just gotten into the kitchen only a few minutes earlier, which meant that dinner would be late on account of that. And his parents had been late getting to the kitchen because they had gotten distracted in the lab checking over Danny's corrections to their formula calculations.

Danny turned on the faucet in the bathroom and placed his hands under it. In an instant, he felt as if the water was charged with electricity and he immediately pulled his hands back, reflexively wiping them off on his pants in an effort to quell that sting.

Ignoring the still running water, he once again growled in irritation, "I've got to get to the bottom of this whole 'my-powers-are-going-crazy' thing before it…." He then chuckled slightly before he continued, "Well, before it drives me crazy!"

He placed his hands under the water again, only to be jolted once more. Growling in irritation, he quickly turned off the faucet and dried his hands on the nearby towel.

However, he suddenly felt a little woozy. But that only annoyed him even more. He wasn't about to let his powers run amok and stand helplessly by! He gritted his teeth, determined to get a hold of himself. And then he thought he felt slightly better. Smiling in triumph, he finally got to his bedroom and was about to return to his desk when he heard a loud crash!

"What was that?" he cried out in alarm, his eyes widening and his muscles instantly tightening.

And then, suddenly, he heard his mother screaming his father's name!

However, just before the boy could turn into his alter ego, a cold sensation pulled itself right from deep within his chest before it sent shivers up his spine and choked his body with its intensity. Then, suddenly, another even more violent shot of cold lightening lit up his spine. He gasped at its effects, momentarily made dizzier by it. Before he knew it, he had stumbled backward and into a nearby wall.

The teen tried to ignore his panting and the still freezing pain as he concentrated into morphing into his ghost form. But then, another cold wave crashed upon him. He gasped as the onslaught seemed to rip through his spine again; but then he grunted with grit, irritated that it was doing a great job interfering with what he wanted to do. And a moment later, he finally succeeded in commanding his two bluish-white morphing rings to form at his midline before they fully surrounded him as each ring spread out from mid-torso toward his head or feet, respectively.

He panicked a bit when it was obvious that changing into his ghost form made him even dizzier! Still, he knew he had no time. His parents had to be in trouble! He was about to turn intangible when he was suddenly aware of an overwhelming temperature change.

But it wasn't cold as before. Now it was hot…No. It was more…painful, in fact, as painful as the cold sensations had been; only this pain was now blistering hot!

"Arrrghh!" Danny yelled in both pain and anger as sweat began to already trickle from his forehead and down his cheek. "I don't know what's wrong, but I don't have time to think about it!"

Once again, he attempted to turn intangible in order to plunge right through the floor and head toward where he knew his parents must be. But just before he did, he was suddenly reeling from what felt like a powerful punch to his face. Only that he hadn't been warned and hadn't seen the force that had thrust him into the wall just now!

He groaned in pain but immediately pulled himself up, his ghostly green eyes frantically searching the area. But he saw nothing, even though he was still feeling as if the heat would devour him.

And then suddenly, the boy felt as if something had grabbed him. Before he could react, he felt a searing hot electrical bolt drive itself right into him. He immediately screamed as the pain riveted his body, helpless even as he knew he was being thrown across the room and crashing into his desk immediately afterward. His books, book bag and papers shot upward from the blow and then landed on top of him.

Danny groaned, now even more aware that his head was spinning more violently this time. Still, he bolted toward the ceiling, his eyes and now hands flaring with pure green infuriation at whatever was happening. He couldn't be certain whether his powers were responsible for all of this weirdness or not. But he also wasn't certain what was attacking him since his ghost sense had not alerted him. Still, in spite of that uncertainty, he had to satisfy his growing uneasiness—and suspicion.

"Who are you?" he suddenly shouted, raising his green glowing hands up in defiance and threat. "And what do you want?"

But as if he already knew the answer, silence greeted him. That was it! Even if he could no longer ignore his mounting vertigo, he wasn't going to fool around any longer!

However, once again, before he could do anything else, he felt his stomach cave in at another powerful blow. And it was so intense, that not only did it slam him into a wall behind him again, but it also knocked the wind out of him this time.

The boy slid down to the floor while he reflexively cradled his abdomen. His dizziness was now in a tailspin, even as he struggled to get air back into his hurting lungs.

However, whatever time this entity had wanted to spend on him had run out. In the next instant, Danny gasped when he spied a very familiar…weapon! And it was floating in mid-air and drawing nearer to him!

Now knowing that this was indeed some kind of unknown creature after him, Danny instantly put more effort into launching some kind of defense. He outstretched his left arm, commanding his ectoplasmic energy to charge forth. But much to his chagrin, he realized too late that his energy was barely forming and his vision was growing dimmer as the seconds ticked by.

Even still, the boy wasn't going to give up that easily. He violently forced himself upward, hovering nearly to the height of the ceiling as he readied himself with both of his hands now glowing with their ice blue energy. But once again, he found himself panting for air when all that did was tax his lungs and head even more. However, he knew he couldn't give into them. Now trying even harder to ignore those feelings, the boy grunted in defiance and shot an ice beam in the general direction of where that weapon had been, only to find that the weapon had disappeared!

But instead of stopping, he fired even more rounds of his ice beam in a circular pattern, as if his shots were like the firing pattern of a Civil War Gatling gun. To his dismay once more, however, each ray was weaker than the one before it. And his head was spinning so wildly he wasn't even aware that he was struggling to maintain his hover, much less produce the weakening rays. Nevertheless, that only made the boy angrier and more determined.

"All right! I don't know who you are or why you're here, but I'm going to make sure that I kick your butt back into the Ghost Zone! And someone's going to answer to me for your attacking me like this!" Danny yelled to the air just before he closed his eyes to concentrate, trying to dig into his inner strength. A moment later, he felt a surge of strength and a green ectoplasmic energy orb formed around his entire body.

But before the teen could burst it outward in a full-fledged ectoplasmic shock attack on the entity, he suddenly felt another biting chill rush down his spine followed by heat pulsating right back up it. He gasped as his eyes slammed open with the force and pain of that sensation. And then, he suddenly saw that same beige weapon appeared out of nowhere and aimed right in front of him and right at his chest level!

If the boy had not been so affected by his exposure to the sleeping Formula 286-psi-1Aor his surging, barely controllable powers, his ectoplasmic orb would have shielded him and he might have been able to thwart what had happened next.

As it were, however, Danny's eyes widen in disbelief as the sharp, distinctive end of that beige weapon plunged right through the green orb. In spite of the fact that he immediately grabbed it in an attempt to counter its movement, he was feeling dizzier and weaker by the heartbeat and he unwittingly yielded to its force as it continued to shove itself forward toward his chest. He screamed at both its sharp, deep final thrust into his chest and at the intensity of the incapacitating hot energy it instantly drilled into his central energy core. With one more desperate attempt, the teen grabbed the shaft more firmly and tried to shove the weapon away even as its rays were countering him.

In spite of his efforts, the green ectoplasmic energy orb dissipated around Danny in the next instant. He fell unconscious, instantly reverting back to his human form as he plummeted from where he had been hovering to the floor.

But before he could hit the floor, his limp body was caught by an invisible force.

Vlad Plasmius immediately rematerialized with the senseless teen still in his arms. But he didn't look all that pleased. In fact, ice was still sloughing off of his cape.

He had taken the necessary precautions and sprayed his cape with Formula 286-psi-2 because he knew that he would have needed to be partially tangible enough to use the weapon that finally incapacitated Daniel. Indeed, the formula had done its job in protecting him from the boy's ice powers, but barely so. Still, he had never anticipated that in spite of that added protection and Daniel's obviously diminishing strength, Vlad had felt the icy blows even when he was invisible and intangible!

It only confirmed in his mind that he had to find out why all that data surrounding the boy's power level was so paradoxical. In the end, Daniel had to be getting more powerful or else he could not have put up this much of a fight after being infected by his sleeping formula. Or had the boy even been exposed to the formula? By how much of a fight Daniel put up, the man didn't think so. Besides, that beige weapon was more powerful than the boy and should have incapacitated him instantly if the formula hadn't….But it had taken more energy to knock the boy out just now!

Vlad frowned with all the questions floating in his mind. This was not what he expected. And that only meant that Daniel must be getting more powerful no matter what the data said. All the more reason why he must have this boy at his side as his son.

But he wouldn't let the idea that Daniel was more powerful than he thought discourage him. In fact, his mouth slowly curled back upward into a wicked smile at his next thought: this could have been harder. Maybe the boy hadn't gotten infected by Formula 286-psi-1A, but he knew that the boy's parents had been since he had quickly checked on that before he attacked Daniel. Otherwise, they would have definitely been up here seeing what all of the ruckus was about. Sure, he could have countered Jack's ridiculous ghost weapons with that beige one, but it was always better to avoid such a distraction as he had.

A satisfied smile still on his face as he glanced back down at the motionless teen he still held, Plasmius floated over to the boy's bed. He lay Daniel down and then pulled open one of his eyes.

Satisfied that the boy was out cold, the older hybrid opened another pouch attached to his belt and retrieved a small gun-like device. He checked to see that it was loaded properly and then turned Daniel's head to once side so that the back of his left ear was now exposed. Plasmius pushed a button on the device and it turned intangible on its own power. Then, Vlad carefully eased the tip of the device toward the back of Daniel's head until it just penetrated the boy's skin.

Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger.

A small 'ping' sounded forth from the gun-like apparatus as it delivered its contents.

Plasmius frowned a bit when Daniel's listless head recoiled a little at the blow. But then, he quickly pulled the gadget away from Daniel just as the little gun materialized on its own. He inspected the area and could only feel a hardly noticeable small bump where the black microchip had been inserted, which was the same black microchip that Vlad had been checking at the beginning of his scheme.

Smiling that it was precisely what he wanted to see, the older hybrid quickly pulled up his left arm, revealing his watch-like device. He pushed a few buttons on it and this time he smiled when he saw Daniel's head twitch a bit when the older hybrid had pushed the last button on his watch-like mechanism. Now, just about everything was set.

In the next instant, Vlad scooped up the still senseless teen.

But before he soared back to his mansion with his prize, he looked down at the unconscious boy and said, "I wish it didn't have to be this way, Daniel. As you know, we had a small window of opportunity for us to do it the easy way before it was shattered by our last argument. But, you'll have to understand that this is how it has to be now…. And that everything is going all according to plan."

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[1] Another mega-cool invention by FanFiction writer pearl84 in her still awesome epic, Checkmate. Still used with permission from the author.

A/N: Well, well, dear readers, have a lot of questions, do we? Go ahead and ask me about them. I won't guarantee that I'll answer them, but ask them anyway. After all, since it's almost St. Patrick's Day, you might be in a wee bit of luck! But I can't answer them until you push that lucky blue button below! Thanks again andErin Go Bragh! (Ireland Forever!)