"These guys are idiots," Jack said, waving at the TV screen.
Maddie looked at the screen, then at him, inquiringly. She'd been reading a science magazine. Jack was watching a show about amateur ghost hunters investigating a haunted hotel.
"They keep talking about ectoplasm and psychode as if they're two different things," he elaborated.
Maddie's mouth quirked, "Give them a break. Didn't you used to go out and do exactly what they are?"
Jack frowned but he didn't really mean it, "Yeah, but..."
Maddie's cell phone rang in her pocket just then, cutting him off. She answered it, "Hello?"
"Mom!"
Her eyes widened at the clear alarm in her daughter's voice, "Jasmine? Is something wrong?"
"You have to come to the school and pick up Danny now, or—or I will! I'll bring him home! I don't know!"
Jack was watching her concernedly. Maddie stood up, "What's going on?"
"I don't know! There's a monster!"
"Jasmine, you'll have to stop yelling at me, please. I know you're scared, calm down," all the humor in the atmosphere had evaporated, "What do you mean there's a monster?" She clicked the speakerphone button.
They could both hear Jazz inhale, "It's huge, and red, and it stinks. Everyone's going and hiding inside. I can't find Danny. I swear I'm not joking with you."
"I know you aren't, I believe you, sweetie," Maddie consoled, "We'll be there as soon as possible."
"Thank you..." She seemed hesitant to hang up. Maddie did it for her.
"A ghost," said Jack without pretense.
"Yes," agreed Maddie.
For years they'd heard stories from other ectologists and ghost hunters about ecto-entities more complex than apparitions and mindless blobs. They'd never encountered one for themselves, only obtaining sparse, contaminated samples of ectoplasm at high prices from the right people. The Portal was activated now. It had an extremely strong electromagnetic pulse. It didn't surprise Madeline that a particularly powerful ghost would be attracted to Amity Park, especially a place filled with such activity as a high school campus, but that didn't matter to her right now. Her children were in danger.
They gathered together what they had, and she hoped it would be enough. A device in the shape of a soup thermos, which she'd shown and explained the purpose of to her son and daughter before, an ecto-detector, and a net. It wasn't very much. It would have to do. Who knew what it took to take down a ghost. For all they knew, and for all they'd learned from other hunters, this would be adequate. If not, Maddie was a ninth degree martial artist, and Jack was no slouch with his fists. The thermos-like device would suck in whatever entity there was and contain it until it could be transported back to the ectoplasmic dimension by inserting it in a slot built in to the Portal. Their kids knew what it was, heard about it a thousand times. Well, now it was time to stop talking about it, and put it into action.
Jack must have broken the speed limit driving to the school, but no police sirens wailed, neither of them cared.
They met their daughter standing on the front steps of the school. She was distraught, "I don't know where he is," she told them, "Danny. I asked the staff...they're looking for him."
"We'll find him or someone will, don't worry. In the meantime, get in the car," Jack instructed, "We'll handle this."
Maddie's stomach churned at not knowing her son's location. What if...?
Danny spied something familiar in his father's hands. The thermos. The one he'd been shown since he was a little kid. It was the latest mark of the device, still a prototype. He knew what it was meant to do. An idea struck him. He dodged the meat monsters coming his way, phasing into the dirt ground, blinded by the sight of endless dirt around him temporarily, before rising up and looking around. They'd followed him into the earth. He'd lost them. He turned in his family's direction again.
Yanking the hood and goggles over his head so he wouldn't be recognized—white hair and green eyes and all, he was Daniel Fenton—for a second he was disoriented by the weight of the goggles over his eyes, and the green color it gave the world around him. It didn't last for long though. He zipped forward at top speed, snatched the thermos from his dad's grasp, exclaiming without thinking, "Thanks for the thermos!" and disappeared into the ground again underneath their feet.
Jack was blindsided.
Jazz shrieked at the sudden wave of coldness that washed over them.
Maddie stumbled back a few steps.
When Danny reappeared above ground he considered himself lucky to find the Lunch Lady almost immediately.
She didn't fail to notice the device he was holding, "No! Soup's not on today's menu!"
"I'm changing the menu," Danny snapped in return, "Permanently!" He didn't know where this bravado was coming from, but it felt natural to exchange banter somehow.
Please work, he wordlessly begged the Thermos, uncorking it and aiming it at the undead woman.
A surge of pure power flowed through him and into in the Thermos. It whirred and buzzed.
Blue energy shot out of the Thermos and toward the specter. The Lunch Lady's form warped as it touched her, pulled into his parent's invention. She howled as she was finally defeated, "Nooooo—!"
As soon as the last of the energy seemed to be confined in the Thermos, Danny screwed the lid back on.
He transformed to a human again.
He was in the outside commons still, no one else was there except for Sam and Tucker. Had they been watching his whole fight? He found his abandoned backpack and shoved the Thermos inside of it.
Sam said when Danny approached them, "What happened? Where's the ghost?" Apparently they hadn't seen everything.
"Got rid of it," Danny answered.
"How?"
He lifted the Thermos for her to see, "She's in here. It's something my parents came up with."
"So are you going to tell them?" Tucker asked.
"No. I think I've figured out what my powers are for," Danny changed the subject, "They're for—"
"Danny!" His mother's voice called out from across the fence.
He glanced at his friends, "Mom!" He responded, running over to where the fence separated him from her, his father, and Jazz.
"Where have you been?! Are you alright?"
He shook his head, "I'm fine. Do you know what happened?"
"From what your sister told us, a ghost invaded your school," Maddie explained, "Yes, I know that's hard to believe, but it's the only logical explanation. Go to the car with your sister. We're taking you home after this."
"I'll have to take the long way out..." Danny said, "There's no gate in this fence."
"As long as you get there," Jack intoned, "It's unlocked."
"Okay," Danny didn't argue, not with the strange look on his father's face. He knew why it was there, "I'll see you tomorrow...maybe," he said to Sam and Tucker. They were staring but understood. What could they say? Their friend's parents just gave him an order. They couldn't say anything.
