Chapter 10:
To The Lab!

Tucker checked his PDA again. "Cure #25: Scream for as long as you can."

"Now, this I can do." Danny said, confidently. "I've felt like screami-"

*Hiccup* (Phantom)

"-ing for two days, now."

"What for?" His sister asked, distracted with the pieces of gum she was still picking out of her hair. The Trio just stared at her a moment. She didn't pick up on it, and didn't even seem to realize she'd said it out loud, so they let it slide.

Getting back on track, Danny took a deep breath, prepared himself, opened his mouth, and -

"Wait!"

- was interrupted by Sam.

"Don't you think we should do this in the lab?" The two boys looked at her, blinking.

"Y'know, the room that's sound-proof, and, partially, ghost-proof?" More blinking. "Just in case your anxiety transforms it from a scream to a wail." She emphasized.

"Oh." Danny realized. The half-ghost's hand made its way, instinctively, to the back of his neck, as it always did. Casper high had a poll running on whether Danny was even aware of his (adorable) habit.

A hundred and fourteen of two hundred and three were betting he wasn't.

The Trio headed down to the lab, leaving Jazz to tend to her hair. Tucker and Sam found safety behind some ghost-proof barriers (just in case,) and Danny tried again.

Fortunately, the scream didn't turn into a wail. Unfortunately, his scream was interrupted by his ghost sense.

Then, by another hiccup.

And, then, by Skulker.

Apparently, even with it peanut-buttered and bubble-gummed shut, Ember's mouth could still run...

By the end of the day, Team Phantom was exhausted. They'd tried twenty-two more cures and chased off a whole horde's worth of ghosts, including Skulker, Youngblood, Klemper, and The Box Ghost (eight more times). Then, Dora had stopped by for something, though she never did tell them what, because she was too busy trying to hide the fact that she found the Trio's entire situation hilarious.

Now, Cujo was running around under Danny's feet, yipping like crazy, and Tucker was on the floor laughing, again. Danny had said something about being fed up with all the noise and chaos, and Jazz had pointed out that Cujo was probably acting like this because Danny sounded a bit like a squeaky toy.

The halfa was not at all happy with that connection.

Leaving the techno geek to his (probably stress- and sleep-deprivation-induced) hysteria, Sam picked up his PDA and picked out another cure. She was determined to try, at least, one more cure, before she had to go home.

She didn't want to leave Danny while this was going on, but too much rebellion and her parents would ban her from hanging out with Danny at all. (She would still sneak out to be with him, anyway, but she had enough things to hide, and she didn't need any more invisible balls to juggle.) Besides, Jazz and Tucker would both be here, and she really did need to get some sleep. And, a shower.

"#152:" She read off. "Pluck a hair out of your ear?" She finished, confused, then shrugged. "Sounds easy enough."

"Actually, I think I've heard of that one." Jazz piped up.

Danny was laying in the floor, seeming to have collapsed there, hiccuping every few seconds, in a floating/falling cycle, as the puppy on his chest licked his face. "I'll try anything, at this point," He groaned, sitting up.

Jazz went upstairs to find a pair of tweezers, and Cujo decided nipping Danny's toes would make him squeak more. Oh, he squeaked, alright...

After tossing the puppy back into the Ghost Zone, somewhat reluctantly, (he really was just a puppy,) Danny headed back up to the den, where his friends waited.

Jazz leaned in with the tweezers, careful not to poke Danny's ear or eardrum with them. "Just hold still a minute..." She said, fiddling around with the tool.

*Pluck*

"Ouch!"

*Hiccup* (Phantom)

AN: Hey, everybody! This one's short, I know. Next chapter is just a teensy bit shorter than this one, but the rest are longer. We're almost at the end :)

Special thanks to speedyowl152 for Cure #152: Pluck a hair out of your ear.

Also, I realized last week that, even though when I add a chapter to the doc manager, It comes up the way I have it formatted in my computer, it changes after I save, so I'm going through and fixing it. But, it's nothing major. Mostly just hiccup lines and chapter headers (Which I am now adding titles to) :) Tell me if you love it. Tell me if you hate it. Tell me if I'm a weirdo and need to end this author's note, already.

As always, I hope your enjoyed, and God bless

- Ellie