The lunch line for school food was short that day, mainly because the chef was making her infamous bean tacos. Danny, Sam and Tucker had been sure to bring their own lunches. They were seated at their usual table, Tucker scarfing down his all-meat sandwich and Sam quietly eating her salad. Danny, however, had not touched his food. He stared at it, his eyes barely open, his head hung low. He looked like he was going to fall face-first into his food any minute.

"Rough night?" Tucker asked through bites of his sandwich.

"Thirteen ghosts…," Danny muttered, not looking up, "All night…no sleep…" his head now went intangible and fell into his sandwich…or at least it would have. Instead, his head fell through his sandwich and into the table. It took a few minutes for him to catch himself, and when he did, it was only with a half-hearted effort that he lifted his face so it was barely above his food and let it become tangible again.

"So? One sleepy day at school's not too bad," Tucker shrugged. Danny now held up his latest grade; it was the assignment Lancer had given them from last night. A large, red "F" was in the right-hand corner.

"Well…" Tucker swallowed a bit more of his sandwich then he intended, "At least things at home are…"

"Dad saw last grade…grounded for a week," Danny's eyes now went completely shut and he fell face-first into his sandwich. This time, his head did not go intangible. And, as he had gone a bit overboard with the mustard when making the sandwich this morning, the yellow, liquid-like contents proceeded to fly out and land all over Tucker and Sam.

"I was gonna ask you if you were gonna eat that, but on second thought, I'll pass," Tucker wiped the mustard off his glasses (some that, in turn, also landed on Sam, who was now less than thrilled about this day's lunch hour).

"Any chance you could get more sleep after hunting ghosts and avoid this problem?" Sam asked, flinging the mustard to the floor. Danny yawned, then lowered his head back into his lunch, mumbling.

"That's a no," the sound that singalled the beginning of announcement via intercom now rang throughout the building. Everyone unconsiously prepared to tune out whatever followed. Not only was the announcer more boring than Ben Stein's voice, but the bulletins rarely had any affect on their day and often involved bus schedules that never worked out to begin with. This state of inattentiveness soon vanished.

"HELLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOO, CASPER HIGH!" a high-pitched, oily voice screamed over the intercom, nearly knocking everyone's eardrums back against their brains. To follow the voice, the blaring noise of an electric guitar took over the building, cranking away at a rather familiar tune for the students of Casper High…

Yeah, Ohh-ooooo


Oh, Ember! You will remember.

Ember, one thing remains!

Ember, so warm and tender!

You will remember my name!

As the song began winding down into electronic noise from the guitar, the students broke into applause that was even more deafening than the song. No one had really given much thought to what had happened to Ember McLaine (no one really remembered much of the time she was around either), but their tastes hadn't changed all that much. The cheering rang throughout the school, through classrooms to the halls and into the cafeteria. Tucker joined in for a moment, but catching the look Sam was giving him, quickly ceased. As he did, he noticed something.

"Where's Danny?" their friend had disappeared without a sound.

-

Danny stepped through the wall, invisible and intangible, and out into the hall, where the wild cheering of the students continued. He went tangible again when he was sure no one would notice. Any signs that he was tired had faded away, and any slump to his stance was straightened. He had a dead-serious expression on his face, and his eyes were flaring green. They remained this way as he ran down the hallway towards the main office. As he reached it, he threw himself up against the wall by the door, his eyes finally fading back to their usual icy blue. He leaned forward just enough so he could look into the office. What he saw had his expression immediately jump from grim to shocked.

Mr. Lancer sat at the desk in the office, but he was far from his usual half-meanie, half-softie self. His tie was gone, and his shirt was loosened at the collar. He had a maniacle grin on his face, his eyes seeming to blaze with a rebellious insanity that would never have been there on a usual day, and his breath came through his teeth in hisses that sounded like a cartoon-like snicker. A large boombox and CD player were hooked up and set by the mic, blasting Ember's song away over the school intercom. Lancer was drumming his fingers to the noise, staring into space with his crazy look.

Danny's eyes were just about popping out of his skull, his mouth agape. This had to have been the wierdest, strangest, and most disturbing thing he'd ever seen…and he fought ghosts. There was no way…this couldn't be…Lancer hated this kind of behaviour! This had to violate at least three school rules, and Lancer usually lost his temper at one! This time created some problems with ghost-hunting, but that was beside the point! And he hated Ember!

"Mr…Mr. Lancer?" Danny asked, a bit cautiously. His English teacher didn't appear to be too stable at the moment.

"What do you want, Fenton?" the way Lancer spat is answer out, Danny found himself backing away a few steps.

"Uh…I…what's with the music?" Danny smiled weakly.

"What's it to you?" Lancer rose up and marched over to Danny, who backed up even more. It was an attempt at a mafia-type voice. It was so bad that one might have thought he was all normal, but too much else convinced Danny this wasn't the case.

"Well…I thought you hated Ember," Lancer's maniacal glare melted away, and Danny thought he saw fear pass through the eyes of his teacher.

"I know, Danny…" Lancer said, his voice shaking, "I know. But I…" Lancer never finished. He began shaking firecly and stumbled back, falling over the chair. He stayed on the floor from there, clutching his bald head and grinding his teeth against each other.

"Mr. Lancer?" Danny gulped. He gingerly approached, reaching his hand out towards his teacher. Before he could reach him, Lancer shot his head back up, the insane glare back in his eye worse than ever.

"Get out, Fenton," he hissed. Danny didn't know what to do now. He didn't move. Lancer rose back to his feet, casting a horrible shadow over Danny's face, which was slowly getting more and more pale.

"You heard me," Lancer smirked, "GET OUT!" he swung his hands behind him and lifted the chair high above his head, and Danny was convinced that he had every intent of bringing it down upon him. He quickly leapt out of the room, slipping and crashing into the wall on his way out. Sam and Tucker came running up at that moment.

"Ember strikes again?" Tucker asked. The intercom went off at that moment.

"Attention, students!" Lancer yelled in the same oily voice as before, "Your Danny Fenton has just proceeded to get on my nerves! Please feel free to get away with any bullying you may have in mind for him! That will be all."

"I wish," Danny said as Lancer finished, pointing to the main office. Sam and Tucker looked in. Lancer was glaring out at them like the Joker, once again hissing his breaths in as if he were snickering.

"Someone had a bad day today," Sam observed, her voice shaking a bit.

"Is it a ghost thing?" Tucker helped Danny up.

"My ghost-sense didn't go off," Danny brushed the dust off his shirt, "but unless Lancer lost it I can't think of any…"

"Hey, Fenton!" an annoying voice called from the hall. Dash was a few feet away from them, a nasty smirk all over his face.

"Lancer's a bit loony today, Fentonio," Dash slammed his right hand into his left, "but I can't say I don't like the new him better!" before he could start towards them, however, a swirl of green and black swooped down on him like a bat, carrying him down through the halls. Danny's ghost-sense went off and, for once in his life, he actually felt he had to save Dash. Two ghost-rings shot open across his middle, drifting over his body. Within moments he was Danny Phantom, flying down the halls with Sam and Tucker on his tail.

Dash's jacket lay in the floor a while down. It looked there was something still in it, but it didn't seem like it could be Dash; it looked smaller. The ghost was nowhere in sight. Danny touched back down on the ground and approached Dash (if he was still in it) quietly. He didn't want to make any sudden moves or noises; there was no time to change back to Fenton if he was seen and he didn't have an explanation handy. Whatever was inside the jacket began to stir. The figure inside slowly propped himself up with his hands as the jacket slid off his back. What Danny saw made him jump back.

It was still Dash; there was no mistaking that; but he looked about as "un-Dash" as he possibly could. His hair looked extremely faded and huge bags hung under his eyes. The eyes themselves looked tired and sad, lacking any life at all. He let his mouth hang low and open like a monkey, a quiet moaning sound escaping from it. And his entire body looked thinner, smaller, and less robust.

Danny had plenty of reasons to want this to happen to Dash and had often wished that something like this would happen. Under normal circumstances, he might have considered it a bit funny. But after seeing how it had happened, and seeing it now…he almost felt sorry for Dash.

He prepared to say something when his ghost-sense went off. He didn't have to look far. The bat-like swirl of colour was assembling itself to his right, slowly taking form. A figure appeared, with a face like some witch Danny had seen in a movie before and black flowing robes that seemed to be like the wings of a bat. In his right hand was a sceptre mounted with a black diamond. He glared over at Danny, an icy calm look on his face.

"What's with the male Maleficent get-up?" Danny heard Sam say behind him (that was the witch!), "It's awesome!"

"You still watch Disney movies?" Tucker asked, a hint of mocking in his tone.

"Guys…" Danny muttered. He didn't need another fight between those two distracting him now.

The ghost (whatever his name was) swept his sceptre out before him, his left hand gliding over so it was just barely avoiding touching the diamond. Keeping his stare on Danny, he began moving his fingers over the sceptre. He kept this going, his stare seeming to grow deeper and his fingers seeming to move faster. Danny watched him cautiously, then thought back to Dash, who was still on the floor. This may have been what the ghost used on him. In any case, he decided that standing around wasn't the best idea. Charging up a spectral blast in his hands, he let it loose on the figure, blasting him up agaisnt the wall. Unfazed, it became a swirl of green and black yet again and, taking the shape of a bat, flew out through the ceiling. Danny flew out after him.

He found the ghost hovering well above the school. He flew up to his level and readied himself for battle, readying another spectral blast. The ghost eyed him with an odd expression for a moment, making no movements. Then he gave Danny the most sinister, hateful, and menacing smile he'd ever seen. He held out his left hand as if he had a card between his index and middle fingers, his palm facing out towards Danny. Then he pulled his hand back sharply as if to look at this invisible card, though his eyes never moved from the ghost-boy a few feet in front of him. A breath managed to hiss out from his mouth and hit this imaginary card. Danny just watched in annoyance and confusion. What was this guy doing!

"Tá mé go dona," the ghost hissed. He pulled his arm back over his right shoulder, then flung his hand forward as if to throw the card. Nothing materialised. Yet Danny felt like his spine was being ripped out from behind him. Some great, invisible force was ripping away at him inside and out, trying to pull his body to pieces. A thousand grappling hooks were being fired into his skin on all sides, yanking and tearing away, trying to pull away something. The searing, ripping horror forced out a scream from his windpipe, the sound seeming to echo all around him. The pulling and ripping at his body went on, the scream growing louder and the echoes stronger. Finally it happened. Like a plank snapped in half, Danny Fenton went flying back and out of sight, while Danny Phantom stayed hovering in place. Then ropes flew up from under him and yanked him down, his body spiralling out of control in a nose-dive. He saw the school grounds coming closer to his face, and yet at the same time he saw a spiralling vortex of black and purple, spinning all around him and sucking him in like a great black hole. This slowly took over the image of the grounds. Before it conquered his vision entirely, he managed to see Tucker and Sam come running out of the building and him closing in on them before the vortex consumed him, sucking him down into empty darkness. Within this darkness, Danny found himself immediately unable to stay awake, and soon he was falling, a sleeping figure.