The hallways of Casper High were bristling with excitement and talk. Danny, Sam, and Tucker were all gathered around Danny's locker. Danny's locker was shut.

"What! The end of the world!" exclaimed Tucker.

"I know. Tell me about it," Danny replied, beginning to enter his locker combination.

"Well, I can't say that I'm surprised," said Sam, who was a Goth. Danny finished entering his combination. A blue net sprung out and trapped Danny. Skulkur jumped out of Danny's locker.

"Dude, how does he fit in there?" asked Tucker.

"He's fit inside the thermos, hasn't he?" replied Sam.

"At last… the ghost child," said Skulkur.

"Skulkur! Why are you after me? What about the end of the world!" yelled Danny. Now everybody was listening.

"The end of the world! You never mentioned that to me when we made that deal, Skulkur!" yelled Dash.

"Deal!- Oh, right…" said Danny. Now everybody was looking from Dash, to Danny, to Skulkur.

"Foolish child. That was not really Apocalypse. You actually believed me?" said Skulkur. Jack and Maddie Fenton came rushing onto the scene.

"Go back to the Ghost Zone, ghosts!" yelled Jack, drawing out his Jack-o-nine-tails. He whipped it at Skulkur. Skulkur caught it, pulled on it, and punched Jack to the other side of the school. Then, Maddie fired a lot of ectoplasmic energy from two pistols. Skulkur shielded himself, charged Maddie, and grabbed her around the neck.

"You actually thought you could capture ME! I am Skulkur!" shouted Skulkur.

"Skulkur, let her GO!" yelled Danny. Danny was very mad about being inside a tiny net and having his mom choked.

"No," said Skulkur. "I think I'll let her die." Danny's eyes glowed green and he exploded in a ball of ectoplasmic energy. Even Skulkur forgot to tighten his grip on Maddie's neck to choke her. When the dust cleared, Danny Fenton was gone… and Danny Phantom wasn't far away. Danny's eyes were still glowing green and green energy was swirling around his body.

"Let her GO!" yelled Danny.

"Okay," said Skulkur, smiling. He threw Maddie right into Jack, who was charging Skulkur. They went flying.

"AAGH!" yelled Danny, firing red ectoplasmic energy at Skulkur. Skulkur went flying through the wall… through another wall… through the roof… out of Amnity Park. Everybody cheered while Danny's eyes changed back to just green irises and he looked down at his hands in awe.

Wow, he thought. Red energy! I've never done that before…

ONE HOUR LATER

Things must have gone back to normal, aside from the broken walls. The kids were playing and talking, the teachers were grading papers, and Dash was chasing Danny down the hall.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU FOR TWO DAYS AGO, FENTON!" yelled Dash.

Danny turned and ran into an empty classroom and went invisible. Dash ran in, leaving the door open. Danny tiptoed out of the classroom, leaving Dash to his fruitless search. He found Tucker and Sam.

"So, as I was saying, the end of the world isn't really here," Danny said.

"What!" shouted Tucker. "Uh-oh…" Tucker started to sweat and looked over at Valerie's locker, where she was starting to open it. Valerie opened it, and a note fell out. She read it, and looked over at Tucker, who was trying his best to hide behind Danny.

"What is happening?" asked Sam. Valerie came walking over.

"Hey, Tucker, I think you dropped something in my locker," Valerie said. "Dear Valerie, you are probably the prettiest, smartest, and best-built girl I've ever seen. I think that the guy you end up with will be the luckiest guy in the world. I want to be that guy. Will you go out with me? LOVE, Tucker Foley."

Danny, Sam, and Valerie all looked at Tucker. Tucker CLEARLY wished he were somewhere else. Anywhere else.

"Would you to mind going for a moment?" asked Valerie. Danny and Sam ran off. School was over, so they ran toward Sam's house. They were about halfway there when two black, gloved hands reached out from the ground and grabbed Danny by the ankles. Danny and Sam all of a sudden became invisible and were dragged through the ground into the cellar where Danny talked with Plasmius and Skulkur. And speaking of Plasmius…

Plasmius turned back into Vlad Masters as Danny and Sam got over the initial shock of being dragged underground.

"Daniel, I believe that we are supposed to stay together," said Vlad.

"Vlad, Skulkur was pulling our legs. That wasn't Apocalypse," said Danny.

"Umm… Danny? I think that he doubted what I told him during our meeting-"

"I know what was said during the meeting-"

"We had a meeting before the one you saw! I told Skulkur that Apoca-"

"How would YOU know!" yelled Danny. A hush fell over the room's only occupants.

"You do not need to know that, Daniel…"

"Yeah, why not!"

"Gah… it was another one of my quests to obtain more power, okay!"

"Okay… hey, where's Sam?" Danny and Vlad look around. Where Sam used to be there was a note. Danny picked it up and read it. It said:

To the Ghost Child-

Dash has told me that you are in love with this girl. Surrender yourself to me or you will never see her again. Meet me at the dumpster behind the Nasty Burger at 11:00 pm tomorrow. Just remember… her life is in your hands.

-Skulkur