A/N: A certain segment here involves knowledge of the "One of a Kind" episode in the series. If you didn't see this episode, then you might not get the joke.

Chapter 6 - Jam Session

Skulker...was here too...

Danny was terrified. Was he in some sort of plan with Ember?

Or even worse, with the other ghosts that he had fought off?

And another thing...why didn't his ghost sense go off to warn him?

The haunting truth came to his mind when he realized that his powers were fading. He was losing the things that were vital to his ghost fighting...

One thing was for sure...he had no chance of a two-on-one fight, with his ghost powers diminished...in fact, he could almost feel Ember's ghostly voice actually trying to penetrate his brain with mind control.

Skulker was still smiling. "Did you miss me?"

Danny wasn't buying the smile. "What are you doing here, Skulker?"

"Who knows?" said the ghost hunter. "Maybe I'm here to enjoy the music, or maybe I'm here to make sure no one harms Ember from behind, just like you're doing right now..."

"What are you?" asked Danny. "Her bodyguard?"

"For now, yes I am," said Skulker. "And as Ember's guard, you're trespassing. I guess we'll have to do something about that, will we?"

Taking out his bow, he shot an arrow at Danny.

He dodged it, and hid behind a table.

While in hiding, Danny plunged his hand into the bag of weapons. There had to be something he could use right now to stun him.

To his delight, he found an additional item that Jazz had added - the lipstick ectoblaster. It was small, but it packed a powerful punch.

"Where are you, ghost child?" asked Skulker, searching around the area. "I have a little present for you..."

Jumping out into view, Danny faced him. "And I have something for you, too!"

"What?" asked Skulker.

"THIS!" Danny uncapped the lipstick and fired it at Skulker. It hit the surprised ghost hunter in the chest, knocking him backwards.

Danny attempted to suck Skulker into the thermos, but Skulker knocked it out of his hand with another arrow. He still remained on the ground however. Danny walked up to him and placed his foot on top of his chest. That lipstick blast must have really been quite an attack...no wonder it was Tucker's favorite weapon...

"What's the matter, ghost child?" asked Skulker in a sarcastic voice. "Think you can beat me by going ghost?"

"No," said Danny, irritated of his situation. "I'm not going ghost because I can't."

The smile on Skulker's face was even broader than the one before. In fact, it was too broad...

Danny knew something was up...although it was a only a smile, it said too many things...he had fought way too many ghosts over these past few days, and they all had to be involved in some plan...it probably had something to do with the weakening of his powers...

Then a flashback came to his head...last night...the football...

The football fell on top of the Fenton Portal button...they must have all been set free...it wasn't only the Box Ghost that had been set free...

And that led to new questions...Who was set free? How many were set free?

And more importantly, Who was the ring-leader?

"Alright Skulker," said Danny. "I know something's up...what's the story?" He pointed the lipstick ectoblaster at him.

"You expect me to give you any answers?" asked Skulker. "You'll have a better job asking Technus!"

"Already sealed him up," said Danny, his voice rising in anger. "I know you're all involved with something. Tell me the story, or I'll blast you into oblivion." His finger was on the trigger button, ready to press.

Skulker was already wincing at the first blast.

"Fine," he said. "But one thing you have to do. I can only show you when you go ghost."

"I can't go ghost!" yelled Danny.

"Don't be stupid," said Skulker. "You can go ghost for about a few seconds before you change back."

Danny thought for a while. When he attempted to fly, he did have his ghost form for a few seconds.

"Fine," he said, taking his foot off Skulker. "This better not be some sort of trick."

He went ghost. "OK, what's wrong?"

Skulker looked at Danny and laughed. "What's wrong? It's the fact you're about to fall for your own trap!"

"What is he talking about?" thought Danny. But as he looked down at his waist, the split-second realization came to his head telling him that he was still wearing the Specter Deflector...

An electrical shock passed through his body. As he screamed, he could not describe the immensity of pain he was in.

He changed back into his human form, dazed and painful. He could barely see anything, barely move.

But the weird thing...his face hurt more than anything else...it was as if something was binding his face and cutting off the circulation to his brain...

And even more so...his eyes...

They were screaming? How was that possible? He had to be hallucinating...

Before Danny could do anything, Skulker stuck out his arm and out came the blue net that he used to trap things with. Danny was easily captured.

But instead of leaving, he called someone with his devices.

"What are you doing?" asked Danny, still a bit paralyzed from the Specter Deflector.

"I promised Ember that if you ever came by, that she could get a piece of you, too. I should fulfill a promise, shouldn't I?"

Danny only blinked.

A picture of Ember appeared on Skulker's PDA screen a few seconds later.

"What do you want?" she said. "I'm in the middle of a concert here!"

"That ghost child is here," said Skulker.

"Ohhh!" she said. "Why didn't you say so? I'll be back there ASAP!"

Ember's music suddenly stopped outside, and she called out to the crowd.

"Thank you, Amity Park!" echoed the ghost singer's voice into the night air. "OK, I've got some business to take care of backstage right now, but after a short ten-minute intermission, we'll be back with more music!"

She headed towards the curtains backstage.

Danny's panic was reaching maximum levels. Ember was coming back here!

There was nothing he could do right now...he was trapped in Skulker's net...there was no possible way to get out...

"She is going to enjoy doing this to you," said Skulker, raising an eyebrow.

Danny could only stare back with fearful eyes...if only he had his powers...

He was feeling a little better from his own attack...at least he could move a little again.

Perhaps he did have his powers...

Unlocking the Specter Deflector on his waist and concentrating with all his might, he went ghost.

He watched as the black body suit appeared over his clothes...he tried going intangible, but as soon as he attempted to activate that power, his ghostly form disappeared.

Why was this happening to him!

With another ghost coming back here, it was the worst possible time.

Ember stepped from behind the curtain...and her hair was literally two feet high.

"Well, what have we here?" asked Ember. Eyeing Danny trapped in the net, she smiled.

"Excellent," she said. "Good work, Skulker."

"What do you want me to do with him?" he asked.

Thinking for a moment, she said, "Let him out. It's a lot better when they try to struggle, not be trapped."

Skulker complied with her wishes.

Danny got up and put on the Specter Deflector again. He was staring down two ghosts at the same time. This fight, he knew, was going to be different from the previous ones.

And a hell of a lot harder.

"All right, Dipstick," said Ember. "You're going to pay for wrecking my guitar from our last encounter!"

She turned the dial on her guitar that was a picture of a fist.

"Any requests?" she asked, before she was about to strum a power chord.

Danny couldn't say anything. He felt a sudden urge to run, but that could only hold out so long. He closed his eyes and blindly pointed the lipstick ectoblaster at Ember.

"Don't have a request, huh?" she said. "Well, here's a little ditty for you!" Her hand raised in the air and her fingers started falling towards the strings.

The half-ghost held his breath...he prepared himself to feel the sting of the music...

But Ember's fingers never strummed the chord...in fact, there was other music in the air that made her stop and look around in wonderment...

It was a light, classic tune...and it sounded digital...

...The William Tell Overture...and it was coming from Skulker...

"What?" she said in outrage. "Skulker! What are you doing?"

"I'm not doing anything!" he said. "Someone's hacking into my system!"

Words appeared on his screen. "Fly to newsstand in Russia...and purchase a copy of new-found evidence of Purple Back Gorilla life in the Amazon."

Rockets appeared on his back, and ignited.

"NO!" he shouted, crashing through the roof. "NOT AGAIN!"

"Skulker!" shouted Ember, looking through the hole in the ceiling. "Get back here! Where are you going?"

While flying helplessly through the air, Skulker shouted something...it sounded like obscenities, but he was well out of earshot.

Watching him fly out of sight, Danny looked around to see who assisted him.

But there was no one to be found.

"Thank you, Tucker..." he thought.

Ember's smile turned into a dark glare. "YOU!" she shouted. "YOU had something to do with this! Where is he going? What did you do to him?"

Now it was Danny's turn to laugh as he put Fenton phones in his ears. "He's going far away from here. I'm sure he'll be back sometime soon within the next four days..."

Russia was a far place, after all...that was a good sneak message by Tucker on his PDA...wherever he was...

"You're going down!" yelled Ember. She strummed a chord with such force that it knocked Danny into a wall, pinning him against it.

As he was being held there, he could see Ember's face of rage staring back at him.

The chord ended its tangible sound wave, and he was brought down from the wall, badly bruised. Ember started charging him, screaming, planning to slam her guitar on him.

Danny rolled out of the way, the guitar making a large hole in the ground. He fired a lipstick blast at Ember.

She dodged it, but she didn't get completely out of the way. The blast knocked the guitar out of her hands.

Scrambling, Ember turned her back on Danny and ran to pick it up.

This was his chance. While her back was turned, he struggled to his knees and leapt at Ember, grabbing her by the ankle and tripping her.

The Specter Deflector on his waist activated, and the ghostly singer received a nasty shock. She fell to the ground, literally steaming.

Danny looked for the thermos, but he realized it was knocked out of his hand from Skulker's earlier attack. He searched around for it before finding it inside the folds of the stage curtain.

He picked it up and pointed it at the place where Ember had fallen.

She wasn't there.

"Looking for me?" asked a voice from behind.

Turning, he saw Ember behind him, and her hands were glowing red.

A blast flew out of them, aimed at his feet, and he was surrounded by a spinning vortex prison that he could not escape from.

"That should hold you!" she said.

"I wouldn't say so!" he replied.

Danny took out the next weapon in his arsenal, the Jack-of-Nine-Tails. Activating it, he threw the device at Ember. After easily phasing through the vortex, its top half separated and unleashed a large number of electrical claws.

They wrapped around Ember, trapping her. Entangled, and surprised, she received another electrical shock.

The vortex disappearing around him, Danny ran in front of Ember. He pointed the Fenton Thermos in her direction, preparing to trap her inside of it.

Ember responded with her final weapon...her fiery hair.

Her eyes glowing red with fury, she shot a flame in Danny's direction. Danny jumped out of the way, but it ignited the curtains behind him.

"Geez!" said Danny. "You should really do something about those split ends!"

He sucked her inside the Fenton Thermos.

"You'll pay for this, Dipstick!" she yelled as she was getting sucked inside. "You hear me? You'll PAY!"

Danny shut the thermos, tired and sweating.

But he was quite pleased with himself. He had actually been able to hold off a ghost without using his powers!

He felt like celebrating. But it was to be short-lived, as he heard screaming outside.

"FIRE!" yelled thousands of voices in pandemonium. They were obviously out of Ember's control now.

Danny ran out from behind the stage. Fighting his way through the terrified crowd, he tried to locate his friends and sister.

It was taking forever...he hoped they were OK...

He finally spotted them! He ran towards them, out of breath.

"You're OK!" yelled Jazz, hugging him with such force that he couldn't breathe. "Did you do it? Did you capture Ember?"

Danny waved the thermos in the air. "I did it...without my powers!"

"That's GREAT, Danny!" yelled Sam, who also ran to give him a hug. "I knew all along that you'd be able to do it all alone!"

"It wasn't easy, though," said Danny. "Skulker was also there..."

A gasp came from Jazz. "He was? Did you fight him off as well? Is he in there?"

"No," said Danny, laughing. "He was sent to Russia, via a smart move by Tucker!" He turned in his direction. "Thanks, dude. By the way, you could have told me that you had my back while I was over there."

Tucker looked at him blankly. "What?" he asked. "What did I do?"

Danny's smile almost vanished. "You hacked into his system and sent him to Russia with that Purple Back Gorilla thing again. Remember?"

Tucker was still stunned. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

Danny's smile was now gone. He, Tucker, and Sam were the only ones who knew of Skulker's problems. Who else could it be?

"Perhaps he's just playing with me right now." he thought. "He's letting me feel good because I was able to do this without my powers..."

That seemed like a good conclusion...

...Right?

000000000000000000000000000000

They went back home on the bus, and started walking back home.

Throughout the walk, Danny was talking about how he was able to fight off Ember using only the weapons in Jazz's purse, explaining everything in perfect detail.

"...and I didn't have to use my powers at all!" said Danny.

"That's awesome, man!" said Tucker. "Good job to you!" He high-fived him.

Jazz was still in a good mood. "Hey, Danny," she said. "We should celebrate at our house!"

Their parents weren't home, so that sounded like a good idea.

"Sure," said Danny. He turned to Sam and Tucker. "You guys up for it?"

"Count me in," said Tucker. "I've got a free night."

"Me, too," said Sam.

"I guess that's pretty much unanimous," said Jazz.

The FentonWorks house was just ahead. After a stressful night, Danny felt it was a good thing to be home. Besides, it was a great time to put Ember back into the ghost zone.

The four teens ran up to the front.

Danny was about to place his foot upon the first step of the stairs, but then he remembered the ghost alarm...

"Uhh," he said. "I think I'd better enter from the back."

"Good idea," said Jazz, also remembering.

"What's a good idea?" said Sam.

"Oh, you'll see once we get to the door." said Jazz.

Danny laughed as he made his way through the dark alleyway at the side of his house. He knew that sooner or later, he would have to tell his parents that he was half-ghost. It would be the only way that he could get them to uninstall the system.

This was one of the many things that he thought of when he put his hand on the doorknob.

The alarm suddenly went off.

"Warning...warning...ghost on premesis...warning...warning...this is not a drill..."

Danny closed his eyes in panic. His parents must have stalled an alarm system on the back porch as well...

...so why wasn't there any smoke? Or any net to capture him?

He opened his eyes. Nothing was happening back here...the alarm was sounding off in the front.

Which meant there were other ghosts...

Hoping his friends and sister were all right, Danny sprinted towards the front.

And he was witnessing a scene that he couldn't believe...

Sam and Tucker were trapped in nets. And Jazz was pointing the ectoplasmic lipstick blaster at them.

Confused, Danny ran up to his sister. "JAZZ!" he said in outrage. "What are you doing to Sam and Tucker?"

"Isn't it obvious!" she screamed back. "That's not Sam and Tucker!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Danny, more confused than ever.

"Yeah! What are you talking about?" asked Sam from inside the net.

"Shut up!" said Jazz. "I know you're not Sam!" Turning, she said, "I also know you're not Tucker!"

"Jazz, have you lost your mind!" said Danny. "Let them out!"

"Danny, listen to me! Look at the ground below Tucker!" said Jazz. "Notice anything?"

Danny looked at the spot, and realized Jazz had a great point.

Tucker wasn't casting a shadow...

Someone not casting a shadow...why did that sound so familiar?