"Danny is late again," Maddie complained, looking out the window for her son. It was past his curfew and he was no where to be seen.

"He's always late," she complained, "I wonder what he's doing?"

"I'm sure it's nothing. He must just be getting delayed a little. I'm sure he'll be here soon," Jazz spat out, nervously.

"I suppose," Maddie said, although she was still curious.

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"Stupid ghost," Danny shot down the road on his motor scooter, "Mom's going to kill me for being late."

Images of is mother screaming at him popped up in his head. He squeezed his eyes shut; trying to block them out.

He sighed, "So, I guess this is…three months grounded now. I'm never going to get any freedom," he was just about to pull up to his house when his ghost sense went off.

"Oh, peachy. Make that four months," he sighed again and went ghost, not even bothering to shout his battle cry. He looked for the ghost that he knew was nearby and finally noticed a completely black form standing in front of his house.

It wasn't moving, just staring at him. Piercing red eyes bored into green. All was still and silent until the ghost made a lunge at Danny. Danny lunged towards it as well.

He grabbed the figures hands and tried to push him back, but it was stronger than him.

"Whoa, you're definitely stronger than you look," Danny pushed harder, until he noticed that its arms had turned to a black blob and we're traveling up his arm.

"What are you-" he was cut off when the figure grinned and lunged at Danny again, completely wrapping itself around his body.

"Get away from me!" Danny struggled to break free, but the ghost tightened its hold. As much as he squirmed he couldn't seem to get out.

The ghost laughed as his prey squirmed, "You won't get out, Phantom. You're mine!"

"What do you-" Danny screamed as he felt a burning sensation shoot up his body. He instantly felt his energy being drained. A green light surrounded the two ghosts as the enemy preceded his attack.

Danny tried to break through using plasma blasts, but he felt his powers fade as the energy traveled from his body.

The attacker grew stronger with every passing second, and Danny grew weaker at the same pace. The ghost watched as Danny felt something pierce his body. He screamed, but soon lost even the energy to do that. He converted back to human, but didn't go unconscious.

The ghost seemed satisfied and let go of him. Danny fell to the ground with a thump, and watched as the ghost flew away.

"Darn it, he got away," Danny opened his eyes slightly, "I need to get home." He tried to stand, but his arms wouldn't pick him up, his legs felt like jelly and his entire body stung. He touched his side, where it hurt the worse. It was wet, and he realized it was blood. He had a huge hole in his side where the ghost had pierced him.

He looked at his house. He knew he had to get in, but he couldn't seem to walk. He had no energy left, and lying in the street wasn't helping him at all.

He forced his arms to lift himself up, but his legs were pretty useless. He dragged himself out of the street and rested a while on the sidewalk. His breathing was heavy and he clutched his side in pain. Blood seeped through his fingers, and he cringed at the feeling.

He looked toward his house once again. There was only one light on; the living room light. The room he knew his mom was in. If she saw him like this, she would flip. How was he going to get past her?

Right now, h really didn't care. His entire body hurt and he just wanted to get into his warm bed. He forced him self to crawl up to the front door, but as soon as he reached it, his vision blurred and everything began to spin. He shook his head to try to get his vision back to normal, but this only resulted in more blur.

He couldn't go any farther. He blacked out on his door step, awaiting someone to find him and bring him in.

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Maddie put down the book she had been reading and looked at the clock. It read 1:11. Three hours past her son's curfew.

"That's it. I'm going to go look for him," She stood up and grabbed her coat and wrapped it around her.

She opened the front door and was about to leave when she felt her foot bump something. She looked down and saw what never should be seen. Her son was bloody and unconscious in from of his own house.

"Oh my goodness!" she knelt down next to her baby and grabbed his wrist. He still had a pulse, a weak one, but it was still there, "Danny what happened to you?"

She didn't get an answer, yet she really didn't expect one. She picked him up and carried him over to the couch. He took off his shirt and inspected the wound on his side. It was huge! What had he gotten himself into now?

She ran into the kitchen and got a roll of bandages and a wet towel. She returned to Danny and wiped as much blood off the gouge as she could, but it was still pouring out.

"Oh Danny, what did you do to yourself?" Maddie started wrapping the bandages around his torso. Eventually they blocked the blood from getting through.

Maddie finally finished and whipped her forehead. She set the bandages down on the small in table by the couch. She started at her battered son for a minute and noticed that he was shivering. She got a blanket and pillow and covered him up, while she slid the pillow under his head.

"It's alright Danny everything is going to be okay," she ruffled his hair a bit and turned the light off. She left the room, "It's going to be okay" She didn't know her son's problems had just begun.