Hello! Today is really stressful, so hopefully this makes someone out there feel better!

Danny flew through every room in the school and even the basement but the unidentified ghost was gone. He pushed a gloved hand through his hair and swore under his breath. Just his damn luck. At least he'd caught the mountain lion ghost in the thermos. At first glance he'd thought it was Bertrand and Spectra, but that theory had been dashed. The big cat had got him good but it didn't seem to have any intelligence beyond a wild animal.

He'd looked long enough that the ghost alarm had been turned off and people started heading back into the school. It was also long enough that his wound had melded together, and the stains on his gloves were the only evidence he'd sustained an injury in the first place. That too would be gone the next time we went ghost.

He slipped through the wall of the bathroom and dropped down into a stall to transform back. He poked his head out through the door of the bathroom to make sure no one was paying attention. Everyone was too busy trying to figure who'd seen the ghost to care. It was normal for people to hide in the bathrooms during an attack anyway. Right. First things first, he had to put the thermos back in his locker. Classes would resume in a few minutes.

Sam and Tucker were waiting at his locker when he got there. They perked up when they saw him.

"Who was it this time?" Sam asked.

"I don't know, it was a new ghost," he said, trying to seem less troubled than he was.

"Ghost Gage readings put it at a level six," Tucker reported, turning his phone around to show Danny the readout graph that did in fact place its power level around a six.

"What was the reading on the other one?"

"Let's see…" Tuck fiddled with his phone for a second before finding it. "Four and a half? A five at first."

"A new ghost, huh? That hasn't happened in awhile," Sam pointed out.

"Tell me about it," Danny unlocked his locker and set the thermos on the top shelf, safe until after school when he could flush the ghost back into the Ghost Zone. "She didn't seem to know who I was, which is a good thing I guess."

"Well, hopefully they won't come back after you send 'em back into the Ghost Zone."

"Yeah…" He rubbed at the back of his neck as he closed his locker. "About that. I sorta only caught one. The level six hightailed it before I could get her pinned down." Danny started to walk towards his next class.

"So what's her deal?" Sam fell into step on his left, and Tucker on his right.

"I don't know, I didn't get much from her. She had one of those stick things that sheep farmers have though."

"A shepherd's crook?" Sam supplied.

"Yeah, that. She didn't say anything to me either, just... screamed." It wasn't that odd that a ghost wasn't very talkative, but something about her was rubbing Danny the wrong way.

"Creepy," Tucker said. "I'll start a file on the 'Shepherd' then." He tapped on his phone as they walked, not even bothering to watch where he was going. Danny reached out and grabbed Tucker's elbow to phase him through a trash can just before he toppled into it. "Wait, was the scream anything like your wail?"

Danny shook his head. "No, that's the thing guys, she didn't directly attack me. Just her lackee mountain lion."

"Huh. Well, with any luck, the next encounter will get us some more solid data. Cause right now we're lookin' pretty sorry. She wasn't around long enough to get a read on her core type either." Tucker's face was wrinkled in concentration.

"We'll take what we can get, thanks Tuck."

"I should really start charging you for my services. You know how much work all this is?" He waved his phone at them.

Danny laughed. "You wanna do my job instead?" Tucker was quiet for a second.

"Yeah, not a chance."

"You sure? I could go find Desiree for old times sake," Danny suggested with a shit eating grin. Tucker narrowed his eyes at him.

"Dude. Low blow." His tone was good humored and easy. One of the perks of being friends so long. They shared a smile and Tucker punched his shoulder. "Alright, I got History, see you guys," he gave them a two finger salute and peeled off.

"Did you do the algebra homework for today?" Sam asked as Tucker left. Danny felt his breath seize in his throat.

"There was algebra homework already?" He squawked.

"Relax, I'm kidding," she laughed.

He put a hand over his heart and let out a huge breath. "Sam, don't do that! Gave me a heart attack, are you trying to kill me again?"

After algebra Danny had chemistry. He said goodbye to Sam in the hall and headed to the science lab. When Danny got to class Wesley was already there. He was sitting at their table staring a hole into the white board at the front of the room.

Danny thought back to the last time he'd seen him, cornered against a locker and eyes filled with terror. He dropped his textbook on the table and Wes jumped so violently Danny was surprised he stayed on his stool. His expression morphed from fear to annoyance as he looked at Danny.

"What's wrong, man? You look like you saw a ghost," Danny said. A part of him almost felt bad for going for such an obvious jab, but Wes had made it clear on day one that he didn't like him. So why be nice? Danny used his foot to drag his stool out and he slumped onto his seat.

"Ha ha," Wes replied, voice brittle. He resumed his staring contest with the whiteboard. Danny shrugged, unbothered. Kids came in and took their seats in small groups. Valerie was in this class too, and came in two minutes to the bell. The two still had an unspoken truce that translated into mutual respect. It was pretty close to a friendship. At least when he was Fenton. She came up to stand next to his desk, books tucked in the crook of her arm.

"Hey, Danny. Did you see the ghost today?" From the corner of his eye he saw Wes glance towards them. Val seemed to notice the attention too. "Just curious, from what I can tell not many saw this one. Which is weird for us." In his last class all the students had been buzzing about the ghost attack, it was the first one of the new school year after all. Everyone had been speculating on which ghost it was and whether Phantom had shown up.

Danny shook his head. "Sorry, Val. I was on the other end of the building and evacuated with everyone."

"Hmm. Okay, thanks." Danny could see the gears turning in her head, probably frustrated she didn't get her hands on it /or/ him, but she didn't say anything else, and went to sit down at her table. Danny could feel Wesley's eyes on him, and he sighed, turning on his stool to look at him. He was probably going to regret this.

"Lemme guess, you have questions." Wesley looked reluctant but no less pissed.

"Everyone just… Accepts that ghosts are a thing here?" He said it in a low voice, like he was afraid of being overheard by someone.

"Uh. Yeah? Pretty much. Most people anyway. It's been like this for like two years so… Yeah, people are kinda used to it by now."

Wes looked confused and conflicted. He was silent for a beat, before he asked his next question. "What can you tell me about this Phantom guy?" If Danny had been drinking something he probably would have choked on it.

"Uh. I don't know, what do you want to know?"

"Who is he? Why is he here? What's so special about him?"

Danny blinked at the barrage of questions and struggled to find words. "Well, he's—" the last bell rang and Mrs. Merriweather stood up from her desk. Danny almost sighed with relief. She pushed her rounded glasses up, and soothed down her pencil skirt.

"Alright kids, find your seats and settle down. We're going to review lab safety today, and tomorrow we'll be starting our first lab. Also the scheduled ghost drill will still be taking place, and because I detest the regulations I'm going to go ahead and tell you it'll be around 2:15 during this class." She walked across the classroom and flicked off the lights. The projector hummed from its place hanging from the ceiling and Mrs. Merriweather wasted no time hopping to her powerpoint presentation on proper lab etiquette. Danny took the opportunity to shoot a text to Sam and Tucker about the ghost drill. At least this way they didn't need to be on high alert. Besides, Danny had practically grown up in a lab, he knew this stuff backwards and forwards.

Wes glanced sideways at him, but said nothing. Danny shoved his phone back in his pocket and slouched forward onto the table. He stifled a yawn and struggled to keep his eyes open. A nap sounded fantastic at the moment, he'd been up half the night trying to talk Kitty through her recent fight with Johnny. Jazz said he should try and be helpful and build trust so they were less likely to take out their lovers' quarrels on him. Not having to get smacked around was all well and good but he wasn't a ghost therapist. That was way more Jazz's wheelhouse. He'd never say it outloud, because he'd never hear the end of it, but he missed her.

"Mr. Fenton." Mrs. Merriweather had her hands on her hips. Crap.

"Yeah?"

"What did I just go over?"

"Uh… eye protection?"

She sighed. "Danny, what part of this seems unimportant?"

"None of it! Er, I mean, all of it? It is important, but I mean it's not like I can even use any of this stuff anyways so…"

Mrs. Merriweather pinched the bridge of her nose. "And why do you think that is?" Annoyance squirmed in his stomach. "Not because I don't know anything about lab safety. I know how to be safe in a lab, it's not rocket science."

"Well, since you know everything there is to know, then you'll be happy to hear that I've just decided to give the class a quiz tomorrow on this powerpoint." There was a satisfied twinkle in her eyes, and Danny swore she loved to torture kids, and being a teacher was the only legal way she could do it. The class broke out into groans.

"Nice going, Fenton!" Someone spat from behind him. He wanted to phase through the floor and just go home.

"Pay attention or get detention everyone!" Mrs. Merriweather warned them. It was her favorite thing to say. She turned back to the slide show and continued her spiel.

The ghost drill was nothing unusual. Despite knowing it was coming, most of the class still jumped when the alarm started, Danny and Wes included. They all evacuated the building and stood outside in the school yard the exact same way they would a fire drill. It was a waste of time, especially since they'd already had a ghost attack today.

Thankfully, Wes had slipped off to stand with a guy that looked like his older brother, if the resemblance meant anything. Wes probably didn't want to be seen talking to him if there was any other option. Danny had to hand it to him, he caught on fast. What that also meant was he didn't have to try and fumble his way through an entire conversation answering questions about Phantom. Danny just hoped Wes ended up asking someone who had a more progressive opinion on him, someone like Paulina, or hell, even Dash.

Danny spent the last of the drill hanging with Sam and Tucker. The obnoxious sirens had shut off at least. Danny hated those things, his parents had recommended and got approval for the installation at the start of school last year, along with a state of the art ghost detection gadget. After the third "false alarm", courtesy of him, they got rid of the ghost detection in favor of the manual alarm buttons. That had been a rough week. Danny hadn't known a peaceful ghost fight at Casper since.

Eventually the drill was over, and the teachers started ushering kids back into school for the last period.

"So, what's going on after school?" Sam asked as they were funneled into the entrance.

"I'll probably swing by my house to drop my stuff off, then I'm gonna look around town, see if I can't find that new ghost hanging around anywhere."

"Pizza at my place after?"

"Aw hell yeah, Sam! Wings too?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Yeah sure, Tucker, you can order wings. Just keep them away from me, will ya?"

Danny snorted. "Sounds like a plan, I'll text when I'm on my way."

"Or if you need help with that ghost?" she added sternly.

"Yeah yeah, fine. That too." He waved a hand dismissively at her.

Tucker and Sam walked home with him like they normally did, exchanging goodbyes and "see you later"'s at his front steps. They continued down the street as Danny pushed into his house. He took a deep breath, relaxing into the familiar smells of home. It was weird, not seeing Jazz on the couch with twelve open textbooks taking up all the space on the coffee table. He headed for the kitchen, his empty stomach not willing to wait for pizza later. He dropped his bag by the banister so he could pick it back up on his way to his room later.

When he walked into the kitchen, his mom looked up and brightened. She had a bunch of papers all laying out on the dining table, some in piles and some splayed out in an order that probably made sense to her at least. She didn't have her goggles on, instead she had them pushed back like a headband.

"Hi, sweetie! I didn't even hear you come in. How was your day at school?"

"Fine," he said with a noncommittal shrug. Danny walked past the table to the fridge. As he passed he noticed that the papers were readouts and raw data sheets. Some looked like her own notes which featured the words "ghosts", "core", "ecto-signature" and the like about a dozen times. It wasn't exactly abnormal for his parents, but it did peak his interest.

He opened the refrigerator and grabbed a can of strawberry soda and an apple, enjoying the feeling of the cool air on his face. He nudged the fridge door closed with his foot and turned towards his mom.

"So," he took a bite of his apple, "what're you workin' on?" Normally his parents kept all the research down in the lab, unless of course they were close to figuring something out, and were running out of counter space down there. He walked back over and pulled out a chair to sit.

Over the years he'd gotten somewhat closer to his parents. Well, he was more confident in his secret keeping ability now, which was what it boiled down to. Plus, it was advantageous to try and keep track of whatever ghost obliterating tech his parents had come up with this time, which was easier to do if he acted interested in their work. Especially now that Jazz was gone.

His mom's grin got even wider at his question and he could tell she was bursting at the seams to talk about it. She put her pencil down, and swept up her mug to take a quick sip. It was white with Fenton Works plastered across the side.

"Ghost cores!" She set her mug back down, and pulled her goggles off her head. It let loose a few locks of her red hair that she quickly tucked behind her ear. "So, as you know all ghosts have power cores," she shuffled around in her research, looking for something in particular. "Except, all ghosts have different power core 'types'."

"Uh-huh," he nodded along as if it was all new information. He took another bite of his apple.

"So! Your father and I are working on not only a better method of categorizing ghosts that takes into account their power level but also the type of elemental core they possess. We think if we can find more commonalities and differences it will help find more exploitable weaknesses." She found the page she was looking for and offered it to him, standing to lean over the table. Danny set his snack down and took the page to skim over it. It looked like a bunch of data on ghost's with their power measurement, core type, temperature, ectoplasmic density, each a value that was plugged into an algorithm that spat out a number for a final threat level.

"See, before, we would base an ecto-entities power level solely on the output of the ectoplasmic energy, but with this algorithm, we can have a more in depth understanding of the possible damage a ghost could do and how to counter it."

"Hence the 'threat level' rather than just 'power level'?" he said glancing up at her.

"Exactly sweetie!" Her eyes softened as she looked at him. "Oh, you and your sister, you're both so smart." She came around the table to brush his bangs out of his face, and squish him in a one armed hug. "I couldn't have asked for more perfect kids," she said and kissed the top of his head before releasing him. He forced a smile. She said that now, but she didn't know what he was. Who he was.

"Now, the issue is trying to find all the core types." She leaned a hand on the table to look over his shoulder at the paper he was holding. "So far we know about fire, electricity, ice…" She held her chin thoughtfully. "And despite what the core may be, that doesn't always mean their powers are a direct derivative, the applications of a core type can be extremely varied with only a thin connecting thread," she muttered. Danny almost didn't know if she was still talking to him, or just thinking out loud. "I'm doing research on what determines a ghost's core type. So far the leading theory is based on how they died. We think it's the main contributing factor but I need more subjects to find anything conclusive."

If that were true, he'd have an electricity core. The thought made his breath stick in his throat and a cold sweat break on his forehead. Danny went to open his soda— or he would have, had it still been liquid. Instead there was a thick layer of frost on the outside of the aluminum where he'd been holding it, and the contents were frozen solid, bulging the top and bottom of the can. Yikes. He shot his Mom a panicked look, but she was thankfully too absorbed in her thoughts to notice. He handed her back the paper before he froze that too.

"Sounds pretty cool, Mom. Welp, I gotta go do some reading for class so—"

"Danny-boy!" Boomed his dad's voice. He winced and turned to see his Dad coming up from the lab.

"Hey, Dad."

"Helpin' your Mom with some good ol' fashioned ghost research are we?"

"Actually I was—"

"Maddie, I did what you asked! I tore the whole lab apart, but I still didn't find the Fenton Ghost Gage anywhere." Uh-oh. Danny slowly got up from the table and went to make for the door.

"That's odd, I swear I left it by the control panel a few weeks ago..." It was quiet for a moment. "Danny—" he turned back around, feigning ignorance with every ghostly molecule of himself. "—have you seen the Ghost Gage sitting around anywhere?"

The New and Improved Fenton Ghost Gage was a relatively new invention, which actually worked pretty well. Except of course for the glitch that registered a level ten plus ghost in the house. His Mom had theorized that it was because of the proximity to the Ghost Zone that it was giving the off the charts false reads, and left it sitting in a tub of inventions to be tweaked. It was now safely placed between the drywall and plumbing of Casper High, sending it's readings directly to Tucker's phone. Of course they'd already made the modifications for it to read core types, thanks to Tucker.

"Nope, sorry. Have you checked the couch cushions? Or the fridge?" he suggested.

"Of course! The couch! Good thinking, Dannio!" His Dad clapped him on the back with so much force the soda can flew from his grasp, and promptly exploded on contact with the tile floor. Right. Frozen soda explodes. Idiot.

The outside had been completely frozen, but apparently on the inside it was slush, which was now all over the floor, the walls, the ceiling, and the three of them. It looked like a sugary crime scene. He quirked a nervous smile.

"Oops?"

Thankfully the soda caused only minimal damage to his parents research papers, but by the time he was done helping clean, the soda on his clothes had dried and gone sticky. Looked like there was no easy phase clean for him. He excused himself upstairs under the false pretense of doing homework and was gone the next minute.

Time to find that ghost.

The wind whipped through his hair and whistled past his ears. It was getting colder by the day and he loved it. The leaves on the trees would start turning soon, turning Amity into a collage of colors. If it weren't for school, he'd love fall.

He made it to Casper in a minute flat, and started his search there. The weight of the thermos was a constant reassuring weight on his hip as he circled outward. If she was lurking anywhere, his ghost sense would let him know. He flew up and down streets, block after block, but he was getting nothing. Well, unless he counted the people on the street that whooped and pointed at him as he flew past.

He'd just gone by the Nasty Burger when a crackling bolt of energy zipped past him and punched a hole through a billboard. He recoiled and adrenaline flared through him; or whatever the ectoplasmic equivalent was. He flipped around to see a familiar ghost hunter.

"You never learn your lesson, do you, ghost?" Valerie growled.

"I've never been the best in school, so I'm gonna say no," he said with a grin. Another blast shot past him, but he didn't give her the satisfaction of flinching.

"Shut up, I know you were at Casper today. What can you tell me about the new ghost?" Danny huffed. He and his friends weren't the only ones that had the school bugged.

"You probably know about as much as I do, Red. She was gone almost as soon as I got there."

"Like, I'd buy that!" Despite her helmet he could tell she was just as pissed as ever. He splayed his hands in a placating manner.

"Honest, why else would I be out here combing the city?"

"How should I know what you're planning? You're probably out here waiting for the opportunity to ruin someone else's life."

Danny groaned. "Seriously Red, I said I was sorry like two years ago, you need to learn to let stuff go." Danny liked to think that deep down she knew he wasn't there to hurt anyone. She certainly didn't like him, but she had at least started giving him an opportunity to explain himself before trying to waste him. Baby steps he supposed.

"Back at'cha, ghost." She lifted her blaster and it whined as it charged. Welp, decorum was over for the day. He went intangible and rocketed through the billboard. Once on the other side he went invisible and tore off in a different direction. He knew she could track him, but it was worth the few seconds it bought him. The sound of her jet sled roared as she gave chase.

Pink charges of ecto-blasts peppered his flight path, near misses and wildly inaccurate alike. He zig-zagged, holding onto his invisibility and intangibility as he slipped through buildings. This was the easiest way to lose her, she had to take the time to skirt around huge objects, or waste the time to go straight up allowing him to widen the gap. Not to mention, while intangible the lack of wind resistance put his speed at around 130 Mph. Last time they'd checked at least.

Once he was sure he was far enough away from Val to have dropped off her radar, he turned and headed for home. He phased through his window and transformed back, flopping onto his bed. He'd been all over town and hadn't got a single whiff of the new ghost. At least Valerie was on it too. Still, it didn't make it any less frustrating.

He glanced at the clock on his nightstand which read 5:10. He'd check for the ghost again after dinner with Sam and Tuck, maybe then he'd at least be able to avoid Valerie. For now, he could really use a break.