Chapter 3.

"And how exactly would we travel through there? The Specter Speeder was destroyed, remember?" Sam stood in front of the open portal, a hand on her chin as she thought, shooting a glare at Tucker. She had to admit, however, he did have a point. Even though she wanted to go after Danny, they had no safe way of traveling through the ghost zone until another rocket-like hovercraft was built.

Sam sighed and turned away, frowning. "I guess you're right…" she mumbled, trudging over to a counter and propping herself up with one arm, her eyes fixed on the portal. "But I'm not leaving this room until he's back," she declared, glancing at the entrance as Jazz walked down the stairs. She sighed, knowing what was up before even being told. This wasn't the first time Danny had traveled into the ghost zone alone.

Tucker turned to leave the room for a bit, and Sam's gaze trailed off towards the beakers, but all three teenagers nearly jumped out of their skins as the half-ghost flew out of the portal backwards, landing with a grunt on Tucker. "Thanks for NOTHING!" he shouted at the vortex, shaking his fist. With a flash, he was human as he got to his feet, brushing off the scorched remains of what was once the gauze he had applied to his shoulder. Even as a human, his normally blue eyes glowed faintly. He looked down at Tuck as he coughed, getting up with Jazz's help. His neck a bit hot, he avoided the eyes of his friends. "Sorry," he grumbled.

He looked back up at Sam as she shifted uncomfortably. "So… How'd it go?" she asked cautiously. Danny snorted. "Skulker says I'm gonna end up killing myself. What a moron!" he growled, his eyes turning green for a few seconds as he stormed out of the lab, forcing Jazz to dodge out of his way unless she wanted shoved out of the way. Sam ran after him, confusion mixing with frustration on her face. She followed him up to his room, just in time to see him toss himself onto his bed, nearly crying out in pain immediately afterwards before settling back down, staring up at the ceiling. Frowning with worry, Sam sat on the edge of his bed. He rolled over with his back to her, and she gently put a hand on his arm. He turned intangible, and her hand passed through him, forcing her to draw it back. Sam sighed and left his room, leaving him to wallow alone as he wished. She headed back down to the lab where Jazz and Tucker were talking.

"What did he mean…?" Jazz was saying, a hint of fright evident in her tone. "I don't know, but my best bet would be looking at his shoulder. Also, have you noticed his temper? It's even worse than usual," Tucker replied, somewhat bewildered. The girls nodded. "We'll have to knock him out to do that, though. He won't let anyone within a mile radius of him," Jasmine remarked with a small sigh. "Better than him killing himself!" Sam exclaimed, her eyes a bit wide. Even though he was being a bit of a jerk, she still loved him.

Tucker rolled his eyes. "I'll get the sleepy darts and ghost gloves," he said, almost joking as he rummaged through drawers and cabinets for anything useful. Sam's face turned almost white at the idea. "And I'll go try to persuade him in a non-violent manner," she half joked back and went back up to his room. "Danny?" she called, peering in the doorway, a bit startled to find that he wasn't there anymore. Instantly, she searched the rest of the house for any sign of him. She was relieved to find him in the kitchen, slowly looking through the refrigerator. It was obvious that he didn't have much of an appetite. "What do you want?" he said flatly without looking up from what he was doing. Lazily, he picked up a package of strawberries for closer examination.

Sam searched for the right words. "Uh, well, erm… Could you come over to the lab? We need help, uh, finding something," she asked innocently, hoping he would take the bait. He growled and put back the berries, shutting the fridge firmly. "Fine."

They went downstairs, where Tucker and Jazz were ready and waiting. As soon he was in the doorway, he didn't even have any time to react as he was tackled and pinned to the floor. He shrieked in agony and fright, his faintly glowing eyes turning fully green as they held him down. "What are you guys doing?" he demanded, struggling beneath their grip. Carefully, they secured him to an examination table, his right arm against his side and bound to his waist while both of his feet and his remaining arm were strapped to the table. He had gone ghost in the struggle, and his eyes were glowing more than usually as he stared accusingly at his captors, his cheek pressed onto the chrome platform.

He sneered as they tore open his jet black jumpsuit to examine the back of his shoulder, squirming a bit in a feeble attempt to avoid them. Defeated, he gave up and let them have their way. There was a deep puncture wound on his sore shoulder, the skin surrounding it red and painful looking. "Danny, you should have a doctor look at this," Jazz said, receiving a sharp glare. "I'm fine!" Angered, he tried again to escape, and in order to avoid making him even more irritable, they were forced to release him.

As soon as he was freed, he darted into the ghost zone to avoid being captured again, though he didn't go in very far, leaving his friends and sister to worry about him.