Hi guys! Welcome to a new chapter! I want to take a bit of time to answer someone's question about Plasmius and Masters. Just in case anyone else wanted to know.

The question was: Are they going to be stupid and crazy?

Basically, if you're asking "will he do the exact same things he did in canon?" The answer is...no. There's going to be a very noticeable deviation from events that happen in canon, and so the Vlads won't be the same either. Yes, their actions will still affect Danny and Phantom as well as his family, but he'll be a bit more...cunning than he was in canon. And make actions that make just a bit more sense.

But, well, I think it will take a bit before we run into him again. He's a bit busy right now, as I'm sure you all know ^^

Either way, let's see how Danny is doing, shall we?


It was suddenly too dark, too unending, too much like a void that had grabbed Danny by his limbs and held him down. No matter how much he yelled and screamed, Phantom wouldn't answer. He couldn't get control of his body either – why did he have to be awake while Phantom was unconscious? How was that fair?

Phantom?! He tried screaming again – it didn't work. Of course it didn't.

At this point Danny could fully admit that he was panicking a bit – but he was definitely allowed to, wasn't he?

He knew they were knocked out, but since Phantom was in control it seemed he took most of the damage. He could still feel it – the cold metal, the throb of pain, but he couldn't wake up.

Phantom, come on!

Please!

It was strange. He could feel their core, he could feel Phantom. He knew Phantom was there. But the silence…the silence was the scariest thing. Was it possible for ghosts to die? They're already dead, but could a blow like this kill them again?

But if Phantom died…would he die too? Shouldn't he be deadas well?

He pushed the thought away before he could dwell on it more. Phantom just passed out. They both, technically, passed out.

Then, things started to come back.

It didn't take long for Danny to realize that he had been pushed to the front. When he opened his eyes, it was just in time to see Sam getting grabbed, and whisked off who knows where. He blinked, and suddenly Tucker was hovering over him, shaking him. He seemed far away and too loud all at the same time.

"Ugh," he groaned as he ended up opening his eyes. Phantom? He tried again – no luck.

"Danny," Tucker held the face of someone who was one hundred and ten percent panicking. "She…she took Sam."

Sam. The reminder had him leaping up to stand, only to wince when his head throbbed in protest. Now that he was actually paying attention to his pain, his arm and back was killing him. The burns from earlier seemed more obvious now that he was in control. He almost wanted to push up the sleeve of his sweatshirt to look, but something told him he didn't want to see just how bad the burns were.

Phantom, how the hell did you manage to stay quiet about this?

The chilling silence was the only thing that followed.

"Danny?" Tucker frowned. "Are you ok?"

He swallowed. His head was killing him, he was one hundred percent sure he had some serious burns, and Phantom wasn't answering. "…yeah I'm…fine. But we need to go—"

"You two, aren't going anywhere," a familiar voice stopped his sentence right in its tracks. They turned and winced when they realized their English teacher, Mr. Lancer, was glaring at them, his arms crossed. Dash stood behind him, covered in food with a smug smirk on his face.

Well, fuck.

O~O~O

The older Fentons had paused their experiments for the moment as they looked through their recent inventions. They had no way to check if Jazz was possessed or not, since all the scanners would only lock onto Danny. In theory, a possessed person would show a reading of ectoplasm that is less than 4. The only way to figure out would be to use one of their inventions on her.

But, you see, that was the problem.

So far, they only had three finished inventions that would actually capture a ghost. The first was the Fenton Thermos, still sitting on their table as they tried to figure out why it wasn't working. The other was basically a net (for now, dubbed the "Fenton Net") that Maddie put her foot down on. They would not be using it on her until they were one hundred percent sure she was a ghost.

That, sadly, only left one thing.

"…are you sure about this, Jack?" Maddie frowned at the vacuum-like invention that was currently in his hands.

"Of course I am, Maddie!" He grinned. "Look, this isn't designed to hurt humans – only ghosts! It'll suck the ghost right out of her."

"And if there is no ghost? This thing is designed like a vacuum Jack, we could pull her hair off and really hurt her—"

He shook his head, though his eyes were far gentler. "I promise you, Maddie. Our little girl will be fine. And whatever ghost has her will be gone."

Her lips quirked up in a smile. "…alright…but now we just need to find those smoke bombs…"

O~O~O

In her Chemistry class, Jazz felt a shiver go up her spine. Something told her she would definitely be finding something unpleasant when she gets home…

O~O~O

Lancer stayed standing while the two boys sat in front of the office desk. He had instructed Dash to stay standing outside while he reprimand the two in front of him. For a while, he allowed a tense silence as he quietly looked for their records. Though it wasn't particularly necessary considering there wasn't much to look for.

As he took the files out, he placed them both on the table, staring the two of them down. Tucker Foley had his eyes downwards – occasionally glancing towards the door. He seemed nervous, but that wasn't surprising. The fidgeting and obvious guilt was common in students who have done their direst misconduct in school.

Danny, though, wasn't fidgeting as much. He had his eyes downward, yes, but he looked lost in his own thoughts. This wasn't his first misconduct, even if he had seemingly managed to skip half of his classes without getting reprimanded, but he should still have…some kind of guilt in the way he was acting…

His eyes narrowed. It seemed this was something planned.

"Tucker Foley," he finally spoke, tapping on his file, "Occasional tardiness from class and excessive talking during lessons…as well as getting caught with your phone more than once…" he turned to Danny's next, "Daniel Fenton…other than a ban from fragile objects and the one time you skipped half a day of classes…there is nothing else between you that would have even hinted at such a disgusting display of immaturity you two showed today." They both winced – good, it was getting to them. "You two are Freshman in high school now, and you should be able to act your age, gentleman."

They were both quiet, but he could see how uncomfortable they both were. Good, now to push…

"I should call your parents—"

"But Dash started it!" Danny suddenly blurted out, stopping him mid-sentence. "He—"

He put up a hand. "Mr. Baxtor did not start a food fight that destroyed the cafeteria and forced us to close the area until it's cleaned. You two, however, did." He picked up the two files and placed them back in the drawer. It was silent once again. "…I will not be calling your parents, but you two will be getting a punishment suitable for what happened today."

They are both still silent, which is a good sign.

"I'm going to think of your punishment." He began slowly, walking towards the door, "and Mr. Baxtor will be guarding this door, so you two can't even think about trying to run." With that, he gave them one last, stern glare, before opening the door and walking out.

O~O~O

"We have to find Sam."

That was the first thing Tucker said as soon as the door closed, and Danny grimaced, nodding in agreement. They didn't have any time to sit and wait for Mr. Lancer to let them go – if he decided to let them go. This was the second time Sam was taken by a ghost, and who knows

{Ugh…my head…}

Phantom!

{Too loud, tooloud}Phantom hissed in Ghost Speak. Immediately, Danny willed himself to try and not think. Though he couldn't stop things from outside, he could feel Phantom almost…pull back. Like he was in fetal position somewhere in the back of his mind.

Phantom? He tried again, after a few moments of silence.

A sigh answered him.

{…remind me never to get hit in the head again.}

Deal. His lips quirked up in a small smile. Relief was deep in his chest – their core hummed happily.

{What happened while I was gone?}

Sam. He sent the blurry image of Sam getting taken by Lunch Lady to who knows where.

{…well this is the worst possible scenario.}

No, I'm sure it could get worse.

{I thought the ghost was supposed to be the pessimistic one.}

And I thought we were both the ghost—

"Danny! Snap out of it!"

He jumped, Phantom snickered.

Tucker was frowning at him. "Are you ok dude?"

"I'm fine." He quickly answered, ignoring the flush that settled on his cheeks when he realized he had gotten distracted talking to Phantom. "But we need to focus on finding Sam."

"You don't know where she is?"

He threw his hands up in the air. "Why the hell would I know where she is? I was unconscious when she was taken."

"But- don't you have that power to tell where a ghost is?"

He wrinkled his nose. "…you mean my Ghost Sense?" When Tucker nodded, he let out a loud, exasperated sigh. "That tells me when a ghost is nearby not where it is. I'm not a radar for ghosts."

Tucker smirked. "…honestly dude? You kind of are."

"Shut up." He gave Tucker a light shove. But still, he wished he was a Ghost Radar, because it would be really useful right now.

He began to pace, checking his phone for the time. Lancer will be back any minute now and they had until then to figure out where Sam was.

Phantom? Any ideas?

Phantom sent him a shrug.

He extended the same question to Tucker.

Tucker also shrugged, but he added, "If that old lady stayed in that…meat form, she probably went somewhere she would be able to uh…not be noticed and…do whatever the hell she's doing to Sam."

He felt Phantom grimace. He filed that away to question him about later.

A place that's big enough to hold a meat monster…and where no one really goes…

Something clicked.

"Hey, Tucker? Isn't there a basement?"

"Yeah, of course there is." He gave him a look like he was crazy. "Where do you think the boiler room and supplies – oh."

Danny grinned.

O~O~O

The stench of meat was constant around this ghost. It made Sam sick, and if she thought too much about the fact that the meat was clinging to her, surrounding her, she knew she would definitely throw up. She had to hold herself back from throwing up more than once.

This ghost, now, wasn't like the first one she fought – the Ectopus, or whatever the hell Danny named it – this one was intelligent. This one was human.

Or at least, as human as a ghost could be.

An image of Danny flashed in her mind. She grimaced and pushed it away. She was not debating whether or not Danny was truly a human when she was in the basement of the school, surrounded by meat, and having it shoved in her face. No way in hell.

"Oh child," Her coo echoed around her, echoed around the room. It was painfully sweet, like a little old grandma. But it was also nothing close to a grandma. Her skin too green, there was static behind her voice, like Danny's. She was so inhuman. She was far more inhuman than Danny was.

It frightened her.

The ghost picked up a piece of meat – chicken – it rotted in her hand, and she pushed it towards her mouth. Sam forced herself not to throw up at the stench.

"You need meat." She smeared the slowly rotting chicken against her lips. She felt bile rising up her throat, and she swallowed with difficulty. "You need to eat."

She wanted to open her mouth and tell her to fuck off, but she was afraid. She had a feeling this ghost wouldn't hesitate at all to shove the chicken into her mouth if she opened up for even a second. She was not dying of suffocation from being force fed rotten meat. No way.

It seemed luck was shining down on her, because a flash of white, black and green came out of nowhere, punching the ghost from behind and sending her flying to the opposite end of the room.

For a moment, Danny was floating in front of her – his eyes glowing. She didn't see pupils – no, she only saw a solid green. His lips were pulled back into a snarl, and he said something to the ghost – something that sounded like gibberish and nails on chalkboard. And then he was flying right for the ghost.

She barely had time to process how inhuman Danny seemed. She tried to focus on trying to wiggle out of her meat-based binds instead. Tucker ran up to her, grimacing as he pulled and ripped at tough, uncooked, and rotting meat.

"This is the first and only time I'm saying this about meat – gross." He grumbled as he pulled at sausages and threw them to the ground.

Behind her, she heard Danny snarl something again in that same gibberish. The ghost lady screeched back. Uncooked kebabs with needles sharpened to a deadly point flew above them – far too close to their heads for their liking. She thought she saw one just graze Tucker's ear.

"Tucker, please, please, please get me out of here." There was a whimper in her voice but honestly, she didn't care at the moment. All she cared about was getting away from this smell, and this situation and the ghosts.

(The ghost, she reminded herself, feverishly. There's just one that's a threat. Just one.)

"I'm working on it, Sam." Tucker's face was contorted in disgust as he pulled at hamburger meat. She could see his hands shaking. He was just as scared as she was.

But it seemed they didn't have to work as hard.

The meat began to pull away, towards the ghost, forming the same meat monster as earlier. A large, disgusting thing – smelling of meat starting to rot and its eyes glowing green.

(Not the same green as Danny's, but something similar enough)

It smiled.

The growl that came from Danny's lips was nothing human. It reminded her more of a wolf.

She turned to Tucker. "…time to run?"

"Never thought you'd ask."

Tucker seemed to know where the exit was, so she followed him. But the smell of rotting meat followed them. For a moment, she looked back and nearly screamed when she realized the ghost was right fucking behind them.

As they got to the stairs, the doors slammed shut in their face, and rotten meat began to grow on the cracks.

Gross.

They turned and ran down a separate path, the ghost still right behind them. But there was no exit, no way to go—

Danny screamed.

Another inhuman phrase, something else Sam couldn't fully understand, but he was suddenly right between them, his legs nonexistent and forming a tail that was translucent. He grabbed the two of them (so cold) and a strange sensation washed over her. He picked them up easily, like they both barely weighed a bag of grapes, and flew right into the wall.

It took a few, heart stopping seconds before they found themselves outside. Danny's fast flight was suddenly sluggish. Fresh air felt like heaven on her lungs. It looked like school was barely over, but it felt like it should have been hours after school's end.

She glanced at Danny – his eyes were drooping, and with every second she felt as if they were about to slip right out of his arms.

"Danny, you look exhausted." Tucker frowned.

{M'not…exhausted…I'm…fine…}

With every word, they descended lower and lower until the three of them had fallen the few feet to the ground. Sam and Tucker caught themselves easily with a miner scrape here and there, but Danny stay laying on the ground, looking eerily still. He changed from ghost to human, but that stillness was still there.

"…Danny?"

A soft snore answered her. The sigh of relief that came from both her and Tucker was almost pathetic.

"…ready to carry him home?"

"And skip 8th and 9th period?" She took the band out of her hair to quickly put it into a bun. "I call his arms."

"Hey, how come you get his arms?"

"Because you didn't call them first?" She suggested cheekily, grabbing Danny by his arms and pulling him up.

Tucker pouted as he grabbed Danny's legs.

O~O~O

It was a process, getting the door open. Every month, the Fentons tended to move the extra key they had, and sometimes Danny would forget to tell them where it is. Tucker placed Danny's feet down, knowing he was light enough that Sam would be able to hold him for a few minutes, and he began searching.

"I hope Mr. and Mrs. Fenton aren't home." Tucker grumbled as he checked the cracks around door again.

"They're probably in the lab." Sam rolled her eyes. "They won't even hear us come in – if we get in before school's even out."

Danny snored in agreement. It was adorable.

He could tell by the face Sam pulled that she agreed.

"Ok, fuck this, I give up." He sighed loudly and stuck his hands in his pockets. "You wouldn't happen to have a paper clip, would you?"

"Uh…" She looked at him, then glanced at Danny, and back up at him. "…if you want me to look for one, I'd have to drop ghost boy here and look in my bag."

He chuckled – and sighed in relief when he found a paper clip in his jacket. "Cover me." He told her quickly, before bending down in front of the lock and working his magic.

"You know, maybe I should be a little concerned that you know how to pick locks." Sam said conversationally.

He glanced up, grinning cheekily. "You act like this isn't a useful skill."

"I never said it wasn't, but what do you need it for?"

He stayed silent for a moment. It wasn't anything bad, necessarily. Sometimes he'd lock himself in rooms, or out of rooms. Other times, his parents locked away his various gadgets – usually in that parental attempt to keep their child from becoming "addicted to electronics." Instead of answering, he just shrugged.

"I just figured I should learn how to do it. Aha!" He grinned as the lock clicked open, and he opened the door. Inside was oddly quiet – they couldn't even hear anything from the lab. All the lights were off, giving an even more desolate feel.

Basically, Tucker did not trust it at all. If he learned one thing from being Danny's friend, it's that at all times of the day, there's always noise coming from the lab. There was no sign that Mr. and Mrs. Fenton had left either, so the darkness and the silence was…unnatural.

"Sam…maybe we should go to my house? Or yours?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, you're not really afraid of walking in when it's dark, are you?"

"It's not that. It just…feels off."

"No one's going to attack us." She sighed. "Look, Danny's getting heavier by the minute and I'd rather drop him on his bed than on the ground."

He grimaced. The bad feeling wouldn't go away, but he didn't really want to argue. Not when Danny was unconscious, at least.

"…alright, fine."

They ventured into the darkness of the Fenton home. Sam kicked the door shut behind her with her foot. The resounding "Slam!" seemed louder than usual in the quiet house. Tucker even noticed Sam wince.

"…ok, this is pretty creepy…" She muttered. "Why the fuck is it so dark?"

"I don't know…do you think they had a power outage?"

"Considering their inventions? I wouldn't be surprised."

They moved slowly in the dark, knowing that the stairs weren't that far. It was full of stumbling (especially since they were carrying a fourteen-year-old boy in the process) but finally, Tucker felt his hand touch the cool railing of the stairs.

"Sam, I found it." He grinned.

"Thank god. I thought we would be stumbling around in the dark forever." Sam grumbled.

"You know we wouldn't have – shit." Something caught onto his leg, almost like a string, as he tried to step up on the stairs.

Click.

"…what was that?"

"I don't—"

A suffocating gas suddenly appeared around them, making them cough loudly. Tucker held himself back from automatically pulling his shirt up to his mouth and nose, as that would cause him to drop Danny.

"Ghost!"

"Maddie, watch my back!"

There was a mess of pure confusion in the darkness and the smoke. Someone grabbed him by the legs, and he furiously tried to kick them off. Something that sounded strangely like a vacuum went off.

"What the hell – my skirt!"

"Let go!"

"Don't struggle, ghost!"

"What is going on here?!"

The lights flickered on.

O~O~O

Danny's in trouble again. Jazz grimaced as she drove home, the words Mr. Lancer had said to her were still bouncing around her head. Starting a food fight in the cafeteria? Escaping punishment? Skipping the last two periods of school? Things like that she usually thought of with troublemakers and delinquents but Danny?

Making trouble is probably a coping mechanism, to get his mind off the trauma from the Accident. Her mind supplemented with the obvious answer. But it didn't make sense – in her mind at least. Becoming a delinquent…it wasn't Danny. It just wasn't something he would do.

He could also be rebelling against our parents.

She sighed. Maybe…she wasn't being the best role model in that aspect - she's lost her temper more than once with their parents lately. But honestly, who could blame her? They haven't changed at all! You'd think after nearly killing their own son by being careless with their equipment would cause them to change their tune towards ghosts and their "job."

But no, here they are, still endangering their kids.

With a louder sigh, she pulled up to the house, and went to put her key in the lock, only to pause.

The door was open.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door, only to be met with a dark room and confused screams.

"What is going on here?!" She yelled, turning on the light.

In front of the stairs stood Sam and Tucker, carrying an unconscious Danny. Tucker's legs were being held onto by her Mom while something that looked oddly like a metallic vacuum had caught onto Sam's floor-length skirt. She was fiercely tugging at it with one hand, and her parents' hostile expressions turned from shocked to sheepish.

"Mom! Dad! What did you do?!" She rushed over to help Sam get her skirt out of the vacuum as they slowly pulled away. Embarrassment welled up in her chest – they were only lucky that it was Sam and Tucker who had caught up in this, instead of some strangers.

She looked at Danny, who seemed…roughed up? Almost like he had been pushed around. Probably Dash. She figured, grimacing.

"Jazz! We were…just…" Her parents looked at each other. She glared them down, before glancing back at Sam and Tucker.

"…go on and put Danny in bed. I'll handle these two."

They only glanced at each other, before nodding at her and bolting up the stairs as fast as they could while holding Danny.

Jazz took a deep breath before turning back to glare at her parents.

"What. Were. You. Thinking?! You attacked Sam and Tucker! Danny's friends! What if those were strangers? Or what if your invention seriously hurt one of them?!" She pointed to the metallic vacuum to emphasize her point. They looked uncomfortable.

"The invention isn't designed to hurt humans." Her mom's voice was soothing, or at least she was trying to be. "It's…a vacuum. Or, at least, it's like a vacuum."

"I could see that." She crossed her arms, unimpressed at how they were definitely trying to get out of responsibility for this. "But neither of you have really tested your inventions, right?" She didn't bother to wait for an answer, she knew it already. "So, neither of you could have known if it would-would...blow up or something! It could have seriously hurt Sam and Tucker, not to mention Danny, who, by the way, is still recovering from what your last invention did to him." She was nearly shouting by the end of her rant.

Finally, her mother sighed. "…Jazz, we can explain. It was…a trap we set up. But it wasn't for them!" She added quickly, seeing her darkening glare. "It was for a ghost, we only make inventions that affect ghosts."

That did nothing to quell the anger and frustration bubbling up inside of her. "…you set up a trap in our house? Without telling us? To capture some ghost?" She practically spat out the word "ghost." What the hell is wrong with them?! Did they really not see what was wrong with the situation? What they could have done?

They stayed silent, glancing at each other with a grimace.

"Mads…should we…?"

"…possibly we made the…wrong calculation here…"

Suddenly, she felt extremely out of the loop. She looked between the two of them, completely confused. "What are you two talking about?"

They looked at each other again, before looking at her. Their faces held shame and sheepishness.

"The reason we set up this trap was because we thought…you were the ghost."

A moment of pure silence passed. Jazz stared at them, unsure what to say or even do. In the end, all she could feel was pure horror. Her parents, at some point today, looked right at her, and tried to attack her. They left a trap for her and, in the end, someone else was nearly hurt in the crossfire.

Her eyes burned and blurred with tears. She opened and closed her mouth. Her next words sounded close to a choked sob. "You two. Are the worst." And, before they could say anything else, she bolted up the stairs to her room.

O~O~O

"How's Danny?"

"Do I look like a doctor? Give me a minute."

"Can't you look over him faster?"

"I can't figure out how bad these burns are in under two seconds, Sam."

Danny winced slightly as someone picked up his arm – Tucker? – and began turning it. One of the fingers just barely brushed over pain and the hand immediately pulled away.

"Crap, sorry."

He started to hear someone pacing, and the tapping of a finger on a phone. Everything around him was starting to slowly come back, but his eyes still refused to open.

"…Do you think the Fentons have antibiotic ointment?" Tucker asked while still tapping away. "…and gauzes?"

"I can check but I wouldn't risk it. Jazz is still yelling at their parents."

Jazz?

He could faintly hear her ranting, but it felt so far away. What did Mom and Dad do this time to get her so worked up?

"Man, I'm glad I'm not Mr. and Mrs. Fenton right now."

"Considering my skirt was nearly ripped in half by whatever the hell that invention was, I don't mind them getting yelled at."

Slowly, his eyes began to open, but he winced at the bright light. He turned his head to the side to see Tucker looking at his bare arm, a grimace on his face as he looked over the burns. Sam was at his door, peeking in a crack before suddenly closing it.

"…I really don't want to know what happened out there."

"Drama?"

"Jazz was crying."

"Ouch."

"Wha…happened…to Jazz?" Danny tried to get his mouth to work. He was parched.

"Danny!" Tucker and Sam yelled at the same time, hurrying over to him. Phantom winced slightly. He heard him yawn.

{Too early to be so loud}

He nearly nodded in agreement, only to remember Tucker and Sam were still there watching him. So, instead, he looked up at the two of them, frowning.

"…how're you feeling?"

"…thirsty." {Exhausted} "How long was I asleep?"

Sam checked her spider-themed watch. It was a strange, black little watch with six legs poking out the circle. Inside, the watch was a web and the hands looked like little spider legs. It was kind of cute, and if Danny could remember, she never really takes it off unless she needs to. "Uh…I'd guess it's been, what, half an hour?"

He sat up slowly, grimacing as the few burns he had gotten, one on his arm, and the other on his back, screamed in pain. "…do either of you have water?"

Tucker turned to Sam, almost pointedly. She sighed, her hands resting on her hips.

"I'll run into the crossfire and get some water then. What else did you need?"

"Antibiotic ointment, gauzes," he looked at his phone, then back to the burns, "…I'd get some painkillers too."

"On it." And with that, she slipped out the door.

A moment of tense silence passed. Danny tried moving a little, but any movement with his left arm and back seemed to aggravate his wound. Even Phantom winced a little.

{Humans feel pain way more than ghosts do, don't they?}

Do you regret being more human than other ghosts, now?

{Hm…no. Not yet.}

Not yet?

{Considering I'm riding this out with you, I haven't had a reason to regret it.}

Danny blinked in surprise, before fondness rose up. He bit his lip, holding down the smile that threatened to poke through. Instead, he glanced at Tucker who seemed to be still reading something on his phone. Probably for the burns, he guessed.

"So…since when did you become a doctor?"

He looked up, his smile weary, almost tired. "About ten minutes ago." He paused, concern flashed across his features. "…so, what do you plan to do about that ghost?"

"Lunch Lady?"

"That's what you decided to call her?" His lips quirked up slightly

"I don't see you coming up with any brilliant names." His teasing smile only widened as Tucker rolled his eyes in what could only be pure exasperation.

Danny paused as an odd buzz suddenly appeared in the back of his head. Phantom was muttering something, obviously to himself, that he couldn't exactly make out.

Phantom?

{What? Oh, fuck, sorry. I was…thinking.}

I can tell. What's wrong?

He was silent for a moment, before he sighed. {I'm just worried about Sam – Lunch Lady is targeting her, remember?}

Coldness clutched at his heart. ...Fuck.

"I have to go back to school." They spoke aloud, only realizing they did so at the odd look Tucker gave them.

"What? You do realize that school ended a while ago, right?"

Danny sighed. "Not…for class. I need to find Lunch Lady and finish this before tomorrow."

"Finish what?" Sam slipped back into the room, on one arm, she carried the medical supplies. In one hand, she held a bottle of water, which she tossed to Danny. He caught it immediately, almost effortlessly, and began to chug it. The liquid was cool and went down their throat with a pleasing coldness. The noise of content and happiness Phantom made was almost familiar.

{That hits the spot.}

He hummed in agreement – more than half his water bottle was finished. Tucker handed him pills, which he slipped into his mouth and swallowed with the rest of the bottle. Once the water was done, he tossed it to the side without much care, intent on picking it up later. As he did so, Tucker began slowly and gently applying the ointment to his wounds. His shoulders relaxed as the coolness added some relief to the heat of pain.

"So, other than that water bottle, what do you plan to finish?" Sam asked again, leaning against the door, crossing her arms almost as if she was guarding it.

Whatever Danny planned to try and say to…soften what he was planning, Tucker beat him to it. "Danny is planning to go back to school to fight the ghost."

"Tucker!"

"Danny!" Sam took a step closer, her arms falling to her side as she hissed at him. "What the actual fuck is wrong with you? Are you trying to get killed?! You're already covered in burns—"

"I am not covered in burns!" He hissed, half from anger and half in pain as Tucker pressed a little too hard.

"Sorry." He quickly said, then shrugged, "But you have to admit, dude, she's got a point."

"So do I!"

{Why do they always gang up on us when we have good ideas?}

They should understand how dangerous this is…

"Just, think about this – Lunch Lady is after you, Sam, because you changed the school menu. If I let her go free tonight and we just go back to school tomorrow, you could get attacked at any. Time." That, at least, made her pause for a moment, a hint of something – fear – passed across her face. He continued, almost frantically, "What if I can't help you? Tucker and I skipped out on detention or whatever the hell Mr. Lancer had in store for us." He glared her down. She closed her mouth, but looked extremely unhappy about it. "I'm going to the school tonight. And neither of you can stop me."

The air was tense as he glared at them both. Finally, Tucker muttered a quick, "Nice dramatic speech."

Despite himself, he let out a soft chuckle, all tension leaving his body. Even Phantom let out a small snicker. "…thanks."

Sam sighed – exasperated, and stressed, she slipped a hand through her hair. "…ok. Alright, fine, you can go back. But, two things. One, you have to bring us." She put up a hand, stopping his protest. "Second, you have to tell us what plan you have to send her back to…whatever is on the other side of the portal."

"The Ghost Zone." He clarified for her.

"That is the lamest sounding name for an afterlife I've ever heard." Sam said bluntly.

"Well that's what it translates to in English." He told her for Phantom. She seemed confused, but Tucker jumped in quickly.

"Whatever it's called, I think we should focus on that 'plan' thing. You did get your ass kicked today." Tucker finished up tying the gauze, and handed him his shirt and sweater.

Danny pointedly poked at Phantom. He could feel him almost pout. {…she threw me off my guard. And I wasn't expecting that…meat barrier.}

That's something I never thought you would say.

{I never thought I would say that either.}

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he put back on his shirt and sweater. He was careful of his bandages, though the fabric did not seem to agree with his burns. "I…have a plan. Kinda. It's more of an idea." He admitted, opening his eyes to see the two of them staring at him in concern and curiosity.

"…I feel like we're really going to regret asking but…what is your 'plan?'"

And in that moment, Danny knew his eyes were glowing a bright green as he grinned at them, and told them his idea.

O~O~O

Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, as their youngest sons and his friends – unknown to them - transpired to go into dangerous territory, sat together in the living room; quiet, and unsure what to say to each other. Their invention lay just out of their sight – they couldn't even look at it at the moment. The sight of their eldest daughter in tears left a terrible taste in their mouths. They seemed unsure what to do at this moment. What they did know, in the end, was that they would definitely have to apologize to Jazz.

"Jack," Maddie muttered to her husband, putting a hand on his shoulder, "…shall we go?"

He nodded, rather glumly, and they both stood to head upstairs and towards Jazz's room. As they passed the closed door of Danny's room, they vaguely noticed a heated discussion, but thought nothing of it. Instead, they stopped in front of Jazz's door, and Maddie lightly knocked.

"Jazz? Sweetie?"

"…go 'way." Her voice weakly called out, just barely heard behind the door.

"Please, Jazz, we just…want to apologize."

It was silence for one, tense moment, before Jazz called out again, "Come in."

The two shared a sigh of relief before Maddie opened the door. Except for a desk lamp, the room was mostly dark. Jazz lay face-first in one of her plush pillows, and she didn't look up when they sat on her bed.

"Jazz…" Jack put a hand on her shoulder, his voice low, "We…we're sorry."

Maddie nodded. "We made a mistake…we…assumed that because of how you've been acting towards Danny lately…"

She looked up at them, her eyes bewildered, though still wet with fresh tears. "So…y-you thought…" She sniffled, speaking slowly as if she were calculating and dissecting every word. "You thought that because…I was worried about my baby brother…that I was a ghost?" She looked between the two of them. Even if they were said with a weakened voice, the words still came across as harsh, almost unforgiving. "Is that really what you two are telling me right now?"

They both flinched.

"Jazz, we just…want to make it up to you, somehow…"

"If you want to make it up to me," She sat up, clutching the pillow still damp with her tears, "I want you both to admit ghosts don't exist."

"Jazz, that's—"

"We can't just—"

"You can!" She protested, the fire from earlier was starting to creep back. "Think about it for one second – you two created this – this portal that's apparently a door to another world. And how many ghosts have you two seen since then?"

Their faces must have said it all by the way Jazz huffed.

"…how about we make a deal." Jack suddenly offered. He took a deep breath, and spoke almost as if the next words pained him. "…we'll go out tonight, all three of us. We'll bring some equipment and look for ghosts. And, if we don't find any…we'll give it up."

That didn't seem to be what Jazz expected – nor Maddie, as both their mouths dropped open.

"Jack!"

"What?" He shrugged, turning away from her to stand with a slight grunt. "She's got a point, Mads. The portal's been up for a while, and we haven't seen a ghost yet."

Maddie opened her mouth, seemingly to protest, but seeing Jazz's watery smile, she stopped herself.

"…ok." She said softly. "Ok."

The two older Fentons went back to the lab after sharing a quick hug with Jazz. As they began to prepare for any ghosts they may run into, hardly noticing that their Fenton Thermos was missing.


So, next chapter is the end of the first episode! I honestly can't wait, I'm in the middle of writing and re-writing the action scenes...it's tougher than you may think.

Jazz...now that scene in the episode where she finally yells at Jack at Maddie made me wonder why she didn't snap earlier, when she was first ambushed in her own home. You'd think she'd get angry? The only thing that made me reason it is that, in canon, this has possibly happened before, where their parents suspected one of them was a ghost and tried to ambush them like that. Of course in this fanfic it never happened before, so instead Jazz is feeling as hurt as I expected her to feel.

And how do you guys like how Phantom and Danny are so attached to each other already? I find them adorable, especially when they flirt, without even knowing that they're flirting.

So! If you would like to ask me a question and get an immediate answer, you can contact me on my Tumblr pandoradoodlebox. I'll see you guys later!