The woods were just outside the park where Danny Phantom had been scarred last night. Consisting half of pine, half of coniferous trees, they stretched outward for about a mile to a mile and a half. Near the centre of it all, there was a small, empty clearing, covered by nothing but grass. It was here where Phantom, Danny Fenton, and Tucker touched down.

"Well?" Tucker looked around, "Where is it?" Phantom pointed down to the ground.

"I don't know if there's a door. I just phased out of there," he said, "They're gonna try and re-infect Sam with another one of those ghost-seeds. Don't ask," he turned to Fenton before he could say anything, "Let's go," he phased them through. They landed in a dark room, with one small, eerie yellow light providing the only light source for wherever they were. There was a door right in front of them.

"This must be the entrance," Fenton looked around before throwing his hands up to his head. Another surge had gone through his mind.

"Danny?" Tucker was getting nervous.

"I...I'm fine," he turned to Phantom, "Do you know which room I got held at once they split us?"

"Yes."

"Show me," they both looked over at Tucker, "You stay here," with that, he opened the door and left with Phantom, closing it behind them.

"Uh, guys?" Tucker called back after a minute, "I don't like it in here!"

---

The hallways were long and empty, lit by either torches or strange glowing green lights built into the walls. The entire place looked aged, the walls wet and some having mould covering parts of them. Phantom walked down the hallways calmly, ignoring the appearance of the place. Fenton's breathing was heavy as he examined every nook and cranny he could find. This place was becoming more and more familiar with every turn they took. He was starting to remember...

"Hold it," he snapped out of his trance as Phantom held up a hand to signal that they should stop. They were near the same door-less room by which Phantom had gone through on his escape last time. The crew of the Whaler and The Flying Dutchman were gathered together in there once more, singing another jig.

"I was held in that room," Phantom pointed to the door across the hall from the chamber holding the pirates, "Your cell was around the corner. We have to get past them as silently as we can," Fenton nodded in agreement. Phantom made them both invisible, and they crouched down as low as they could, crawling past the doorway.

"It be the ghost-child and his human half!" they heard the Dutchman shout.

"Ah, crud," Phantom sighed before jumping to his feet, forming an ectoplasmic sword to block those of the pirates, "Get to your cell now!" he shouted to Fenton, who headed off for the room. Before he could get that far, however, one of the pirates flew past Phantom and managed to pull him into the chamber, where he had to dodge furniture and ghost blasts. Another duel with pirates had begun.

---

"Sir!" one of Velkan's advisors ran into his superior's private quarters, where he found Velkan writing a note to himself, "The men have been assembled to their release chambers and Panther has brought in the girl. Plasmius has not returned yet but is fine."

"Good."

"Sir," the advisor's manner turned unusually nervous, "The ghost-child has returned to the base."

"Has he?"

"His human half is with him."

"And?"

"They are battling with the Dutchman and the crew of the Whaler, sir," this entire time, Velkan had neither looked up nor ceased writing. He now calmly set his quill down and stood up.

"Lock the girl in Cell 24, I'll be there in a minute," he said to his advisor, "And bring Panther to me."

"Yes sir."

"Is anyone else with them?"

"Someone's in the entrance."

"Send Desiree to him."

"Yes sir," the advisor left Velkan alone in the room again.

---

Phantom kicked two ghosts back and parried the blade of another one, trying to give Fenton room to get out. Unfortunately, the human half of Danny kept getting pushed from one corner of the room to the other by The Flying Dutchman, the rest of the ghosts keeping Phantom as busy as they could. The ghost half of Danny was also starting to get those urges of fury once again.

"Any ideas?" Fenton shouted, dodging a flying chair.

"I'm thinking of one," Phantom was shoved into the corner of the room, his blade barely holding back those of three grinning pirates. His struggle to control his rage was getting harder. He couldn't hold back all of it. His eyes glared up, glowing brighter than ever and in a different shade of green. A huge surge of ghost energy exploded outward from his body, knocking the pirates clear across the room. He then charged into the Dutchman, knocking him into a different corner of the room.

"Get to that room!" he shouted to Fenton before turning his attention to the battle, dodging a blow from the Dutchman's sword. Fenton didn't wait to be told twice. He ran as fast as he could, diving to avoid a flying chair and shooting out of the room, crashing against the wall. Ignoring his headache from the crash, he headed off to the cell.

---

"Uh, guys?" Tucker didn't like being alone with nothing to do. He had brought no technology to mess with, and he had no one to talk to. The only thing he could do was stand around, calling after the long gone Phantom and Fenton, "This is getting pretty boring! I'd love to help you look for Sam if you need any help!" he heard a strange sound, "Guys? Danny...I mean, Dannys?" no answer, "Must've been the...base creaking. Yeah," he laughed nervously. The sound came through again, louder.

"Guys!?" Tucker shouted, "This isn't funny! I'm getting fairly alarmed here!" he didn't notice the beautiful ghost-genie coming in through the wall to his left.

"You!" Desiree exclaimed (and causing Tucker to scream as he turned around), "You are the one whose heart's desire was taken from you by that ghost-child. I shall restore it to you..." she raised her hands to perform her magic.

"Wait!" Tucker shouted, "That's not my heart's desire anymore!"

"No?" she lowered her hands, "Then what is?"

"Well, right now it would be to get out of here..."

"So you wish it," she raised her hands again, "So it shall be," a minute later, Tucker found himself outside the base in the clearing, alone.

"Wait!" he shouted to the ground, "I didn't mean out here...let me back in!" no response, "Oh, crud!" he set about looking for a door.

---

Fenton quickly opened the cell door and slammed it behind him, hoping no one had followed him. His breathing heavy, he slowly turned around. What looked like a large dream-catcher with glowing green webbing was mounted up in the room, with clubs, blades, and lasers lying on a table. There was a slab of wood with chains on the four corners, and several shackles stuck on the wall. Fenton stared at all of it in amazement. He slowly walked over to the table and picked up the blade. It was Skulker's, detached from his armour. He had used it to slash Fenton across the back. Fenton turned around to the door again. He noticed by its base a metal rod laying by a fire burning in a bowl. He walked over to pick up the metal rod. At the end of it, there was a symbol. The same symbol that had been burned on his arm. He dropped the rod to the floor as a new surge of memories came over him. He could remember being forced through the Ghost Catcher, Phantom being taken away by Plasmius. He remembered everything that Skulker had done to him; the beating on the tables, the slashing with the blade, being hit by the lasers, and far worse. Some of it took place in another room, down the hall. A device had been placed on his head, firing ghost energy through his body. Now memories from even farther back were coming. He remembered all of the events of the past few weeks, the incident with Frost...all the way back to the lab accident. He finally snapped out of his trance, opening his eyes and gasping for air. As he slowly got his breath back, Phantom phased through the door, falling to the floor with his hands over his head.

"Can we..." Fenton nodded before Phantom even finished his sentence. The ghost-half slowly got to his feet, still gripping his head. The two halves slowly moved towards one another. As they collided, both began to yell and moan as the pains of the past week from one half surged into the mind of the other. As they slowly became one, that one threw his hands up to his head. All that Vlad had forced onto Phantom, and all that Fenton had endured, both having occurred at once...the body stumbled around, phasing through the wall and collapsing into a large, empty room. He lay there on the floor silently for some time, his hands still on his head. Then Danny slowly opened his eyes. He got up on his feet slowly, looking over his body. He was finally back in one piece, but...he still didn't feel like he used to. He felt more relaxed, more...more confident. He slowly closed his eyes. Two blue rings formed around the centre of his body, one moving upwards and the other moving in the opposite direction. Danny opened his eyes. He stood in ghost-form, the scars gone and his uniform fixed.

"Pulled yourself together, eh?" a familiar voice came from behind him. Velkan and Panther had silently entered the room. Danny kept a calm eye on them, "And with more power, I see. Are you here to rescue your little girlfriend or find out our plans?"

"Both," Danny answered blankly, not bothering to point that he and Sam were just friends (like anyone would've listened anyway).

"My my, we are going to be busy this evening," Velkan smiled, "Well Danny, you are more than welcome to try. I'm just worried about whether or not you can actually pull it off."

"None of this would've happened if you hadn't attacked Conrad," Danny pointed out, "If you wanted to destroy a threat to all ghosts, you should've attacked Frost."

"You really think Bruce wouldn't have stooped as low as her to get power?" Velkan's eyes narrowed, "It doesn't matter now anyway. Goodbye, Danny," he headed over to the door on the far side of the room, Panther remaining rooted to his spot. The cat-ghost's yellow eyes glared at Danny menacingly, but he took no notice, instead watching Velkan as he shut the door behind him. As he turned his sights back to Panther, he found that it had vanished, the last of some green fog falling into the floor. Up until then, Danny had merely moved his head to follow the two ghosts. Now he turned all the way to face where Panther had just been, standing firmly. Deafly silence followed for but a moment, then Danny whirled around, blasting Panther just as it re-formed above ground, knocking it back into a wall. The creature got up quickly, though clearly dazed. It wasn't used to being caught by surprise; normally it did that. Regaining its focus, it charged towards Danny on all fours, jumping up towards his face. At the last minute Danny ducked, coming up with a punch to the cat-ghost's stomach and knocking it up against the ceiling. Beginning to lose its temper, Panther fired off a blast of light towards Danny, who raised an ectoplasmic shield. Wrapping the shield around the light, Danny fired it back at Panther, expecting it to change back to normal upon contact. It made a direct hit, and clearly injured the creature, but it maintained its cat-like form.

"Surprised?" Velkan's voice rang through Danny's mind, though the ghost himself was nowhere to be seen, "I did forget to mention that we perfected the Panther formula, didn't I?" Danny stopped looking around the room and looked at Panther. The ghost was up on its feet, grinning evilly. Danny laughed nervously as he grew extremely worried.

"Ah, crud," he barely managed to block Panther's coming strike.

---

Sam was held in a cell similar to the one Danny had been held at before he was split in two. The only difference was that this room had several sets of shackles on the wall, and they were real, not ghost. Sam tried moving her arms to see if they were loose, but they were well secured into the walls. She gained other concerns as the doors opened and Velkan stepped in.

"Good evening," he took his hat off, "Samantha, is it?"

"What do you want with Danny and me?" Velkan laughed at that.

"Already busy asking that, are you?" he came further into the room, "And yet I'm not so sure you know what we plan to do to you. I wouldn't be expecting your boyfriend..."

"Danny is not my boyfriend!"

"Sure he isn't," Velkan nodded, "So that explains why when we were watching you over the three days he was here you were the most concerned, and why according to the files we took from Paranormalics only you were with him on that vacation where you met Frost, and why he came in here to save you without rational thought."

"He's my best friend. How do you know about that vacation?"

"It seems General Conrad didn't want some of Frost's old files lying around for prying eyes," he pulled them out from behind his back, "Apparently her last entries. Extremely detailed plans concerning The Gateway project, and also mentions Jack Fenton's son being a ghost-child and his girlfriend being infected by the ghost Volpe's seed," Sam looked down to the floor. There had to be a way out of here!

"So why do you need us?" she asked again.

"Ghost hybrids may be mortal, but they do have some advantages over pure ghosts," Velkan tossed the file aside, "As for possessed hybrids...in addition to the advantages of a normal hybrid, their insanity enables them to take on assignments not even the bravest or foolish ghost would undertake."

"If you infect me with a seed, you're putting some ghost somewhere at huge risk."

"We know. So does that ghost. He accepts his fate. It's for the good of our kind."

"You're not gonna get away with this!"

"Well, with Panther keeping your Danny occupied and you not in a position to escape, I don't see anything liable to stop us. Infecting you isn't the big event of this evening, you know."

"What is?" Velkan didn't answer the question. Instead he picked up the files, backed away towards the door and snapped his fingers.

"Guards," two large ghosts phased through the door, "Take her to Dr. Parker," he set his hat back on his head and headed out of the room, the guards moving to secure Sam as she began struggling to get loose once more.

---

Danny crashed down, skidding down the floor on his back. He just managed to kick Panther away as the cat-ghost attacked again. He whirled around in time to see Panther's approach. He ducked, retaliating with two punches and a kick. The cat-ghost was beginning to lose its temper. It had fought this ghost-child one-on-one without The Order thrice before, and on two of those encounters it had clearly held the advantage. The first time it had taken Danny by surprise; the second time the ghost-child was too weak to fight well. He had won merely by chance. But now, re-joined and with more focus and skill, Danny was fighting the cat-ghost on even terms, and was starting to gain the upper hand. It blindly charged right into Danny, knocking both of them into another room. Seven long tables stretched across the length of the room, holding hundreds upon hundreds of test tubes, beakers, glasses, and chemicals. This was likely where the Panther formula had been developed. As the two flew apart in mid-air, Danny's hand hit one of the glasses as he fell, spilling red liquid all over his arm. It immediately began burning away at his flesh, sending the sting throughout his whole body. He quickly ripped that part of his uniform off before having to duck under a table to avoid Panther. He made his way behind a pillar without notice, changing back to normal. Even in that form, his arm was still scarred.

"This is gonna be tough," he muttered to himself, knowing he should probably avoid all of the chemicals. He changed back to ghost-form, his uniform repaired, and flew out, kicking Panther clear across the room (though well above any of the tables). Danny tried to conduct the battle, but Panther was far more flexible and manoeuvrable than he was, and avoiding the chemicals was not easy. If he wanted to win, he had to get their battle out of this room. He dodged a light blast, ducked under a table, and slammed into Panther, knocking them out of that room, through the room they had been in previously, and into the torture chamber where Fenton had been held. They landed near the Ghost Catcher. Getting to his feet, Danny was immediately struck, Panther trying to force him through the Ghost Catcher. Danny tried forcing it back, but he was more off-balanced than Panther. He raised an ectoplasmic shield unexpectedly, knocking both the Ghost Catcher and Panther back a few feet. The move surprised Danny himself.

"Didn't know the shield could to that," Danny commented before turning his attention back to Panther.

---

"Come on!" Tucker shouted, "There's a door down there. There has to be one up here!" he'd looked all around the clearing five times. There was no door at all. He kicked the ground hard, and soon found himself hopping on his left foot and holding his right. That part of the ground was metal, covered over in grass.

"How did I not notice this before!?" he shouted to himself before opening it and jumping down, landing in the same room he had been in before, "Forget what Danny and Danny said! I'm getting outta this room before..."

"You have fallen back into that which you do not want to be in!" Desiree's voice came from behind, "I shall send you out...permanently," Tucker soon found him back outside. He tried opening the door; it wouldn't budge. Throughout the forest, a long, loud yell could be heard, startling a large flock of birds.

---

Danny and Panther's fight had turned more vicious (through Panther's actions, not Danny's; now that he was joined, the bouts of rage had left him). He was knocked back against the wall, Panther slamming into him and phasing them back into the room where their battle had begun. Danny tried to keep the fight within that room, but Panther was trying to force them back into the chemical lab. It managed. Danny was knocked across the table closest to the left wall, knocking around several chemicals and spilling them all over his body. Some of them were harmless; others burned even worse than the one on his arm. He changed back to normal, where his clothes were more loose and not so close to his body. He noticed a needle filled with a greenish-blue fluid. Its label read "Ghost Serum."

"I wonder..." as the chemicals began to dry and drip off his shirt, Danny changed back into ghost form, grabbing the needle and rolling under a table, waiting for Panther to come by. It landed right between the table Danny had crashed into and the one Danny had rolled under, looking around anxiously. Danny shot out from under the table, injecting the fluid into the cat-ghost and rolling off to the side, ready to fight in case he was wrong. A strange bluish smoke filled up the inside of the cat-ghost. Its fur slowly began to fall away, its tail began to vanish, and its ears became less pointed. The ordinary ghost pulled the needle out of his arm, brushing the rest of the fur off himself. Coughing, he walked over to Danny.

"Thank you, child!" he shook his hand excitedly, "I have been held here and forced to be their guinea-pig for that experiment for months! One day I was just floating around The Ghost-Zone when some large armoured fellow grabs me from behind and drags me here!"

"No problem," Danny nodded, a bit confused, "Now if you'll excuse me...wait. You said you've been here a few months?"

"Yes."

"Do you know your way around here without that cat-stuff?"

"Of course."

"They've captured my friend and they're planning to infect her with a ghost- seed."

"That would take place in the experimental lab."

"Can you show me where it is?"

"Anything to repay you for your freeing me, sir," the ghost motioned for Danny to follow him out the door.