PurpleDog100: Thank you, and I'll try.

CalicoKitty 13: Well you obviously know they end up together in the future of this story, but I'm not going to make it all 'lovey dovey,' since it's not my thing and I suck at that. So, you'll just have to wait and see what happens :-D (I'm not really sure myself- the whole pairing thing is just a side story and the main adventure hasn't even started yet.)

Sammy: You are right, I am going to try to mesh the past and future- it may even get a little "Back to the Future"ish at some point, but I haven't gotten there yet and I'll try to not let it get like that. (Btw, I am a girl)

Master of Procrastination: You got it, but it won't be in this chapter. It's coming though. (As soon as I write it!) :D

Amity Park (2015)

Danny Fenton glanced at the clock above the door as he put away the solar panels into the supply closet that he had shown the students in the science club how to hook up to their model cars. He then placed his painted wooden molecule models next to them. It had been a busy day, and he was happy to be getting ready to leave and head back home. Sam would no doubt be getting home soon too.

He removed a narrow square-shaped Tupperware container from his briefcase and quickly gulped down the sandwich within it, which he hadn't been able to eat during his normal lunch break due to another reappearance of the infamous Box Ghost. Apparently, the spirit had now taken a liking to haunting the lunchboxes of unsuspecting students in the cafeteria, then springing out and shouting "Beware!" when they least suspected it. Needless to say, he had started a panic and students were screaming everywhere. Lancer had even run in, shouting for everyone to be calm, but it was no use. (You'd think they'd have been used to this by now.) He flipped open the glass box mounted on the wall which contained a big red button that he slammed his fist upon. It said in large white letters, "GHOST ALARM: do not push unless in the case of a ghost emergency." The blaring siren was deafening, and the students covered their ears in agony. This alarm would send an emergency signal to the Fentons and alert them to get there as soon as possible. He then pulled out a megaphone to speak over the blasting sound of the siren and told everyone to remain calm.

Danny had to transform in the janitor's closet, fight the specter invisibly and suck him into the thermos before his parents arrived. (Even in their older age, they were still expert ghost hunters-go figure). He had followed the spirit into the school's kitchen and had taken care of the ghostly malevolence reasonably quickly. (Which he had become so adept at, it was almost second nature for him now.)

"The next time I see you in this school causing trouble, I'll turn you over to my parents," Danny spoke to the thermos, which he had also turned invisible. "They still haven't caught an actual ghost yet, and they'd be ecstatic to study you. So stop bothering the students or anyone else!"

"WHAT?" The Box Ghost asked loudly. It was hard to hear any voices over the loud ghost alarm.

THE NEXT TIME I SEE YOU IN THIS SCHOOL CAUSING TROUBLE, I'LL TURN YOU OVER TO MY PARENTS!" he said louder.

"Do I have reason to fear them?" The box ghost sneered loudly, though his voice was slightly muffled from being confined in the 'cylindrical container of doom.' "Oh yeah, BEWARE!"

"Do you want to become a guinea pig?" Danny snarled in response.

"I know not of these pigs of Guinea…" he started.

"Trust me- they'll keep you in a ghost-proof cage, you'll be experimented on, and they probably won't let you go."

"Ha ha! Will this be a square cage?" the box ghost asked excitedly.

For a moment Danny did think about turning him over to his parents after his response, since the ghost seemed so excited about it, and if it would keep him out of trouble… Then he realized that the spirit would probably be miserable once he learned what it was really like to be a confined lab rat, and he realized he would never wish that fate upon his worst enemies. After all, that was precisely the reason he had still never revealed his secret to his parents. True he knew they had always loved him and would never hurt him (intentionally anyway), but sometimes it seemed as if they loved their jobs just as much.

"No, Box Ghost. The cage is made of ectoplasmic energy and it forms a spherical enclosure when it is turned on. I remember when my dad built it when I was a kid. He keeps it in the basement lab of FentonWorks and it still gives me chills thinking about being stuck in it.

"What? Spherical? Not a square?" he fumed and made a semi-hissing sound in disgust. "Fine, I will not scare the children anymore then, but I will continue to haunt these wondrous halls of boxes…" he answered but was interrupted.

"HIIIYYAAAAHHHH!" A sharp, shrill voice cried suddenly from where the ovens were at the same time that a beam of red ghostly energy struck Danny in the back which sent him crashing to the ground.

"Wha…?" Danny said surprised. The sudden attack had caused him to lose his focus and become visible again. His breath had also once again turned ice cold and he felt another shiver run down his spine at almost the same moment the new attack had come. He whirled around to come face to face with the Lunch Lady, who was holding a glowing spatula.

"Get out of my kitchen unless you eat some MEAT!" She cried, then said in a happier tone, "plus, they have these nice new ovens to cook it in now!" as all the hamburgers that had been prepared for the students started hovering into the air and circling around her. "Just look at you! You're still all skin and bones!" she shrieked again. The real lunch lady had just walked into the back room to see what was going on, and promptly left in a panicked run once she saw that there were two ghosts.

"You too?" Danny exclaimed, forming a glowing green shield around himself to protect him from the barrage of meat and ectoplasmic blasts she was pouring at him. His strategy turned offensive as he started moving toward her, thermos at the ready. She had gotten stronger over the years, but so had he. He focused the energy that he had used to make the shield around him, causing it to grow larger and move toward her, though she did not back away. He stood, his arm out in front of him, hands glowing brightly as if willing the thin, shimmering green barrier to move forward even though he was not touching it, and then to bend and twist at his will.

"What?" she cried as she noticed the curvature of the shield invert from enclosing Danny to enclosing her, and it quickly sealed around her, forming a perfect sphere in which she had become unexpectedly and unwillingly contained in.

"Fool!" She shouted as she fired more blasts of ectoplasmic goo-soaked meat, which only bounced back at her as they hit the glowing field she was encased in. "I will defeat you Danny Phantom, and when I do, I'll make you and your wife eat so much meat that…"

"I'd like to see you try!" Danny glared through his blazing emerald eyes as he dropped his hand which ceased glowing. During the split second the field dropped, he sucked her into the thermos before she could retaliate.

"NOOOOO!" he heard her cry as she disappeared into the metallic container, and he slapped the cap on it.

"Whew!" he sighed. "I'll let you two back into the Ghost Zone on the way home." And with that, he flew off through the ceiling, found the panel that contained the wires that were controlling the blaring ghost alarm, and he turned it off. Technically, his parents were the only ones with the key to do so, but they had taken too long. His ears were still ringing as he flew back to the janitor's closet.

After transforming into a human, he carefully poked his head out to make sure no one was there. Of course, there were a few kids who had left the lunch room early despite the alarm and were loitering in the hall as usual, who gave him a confused look as he emerged. He grabbed a container of window cleaner from off the shelf behind him, and pretending not to see them, muttered loudly and a bit over-happily, "Oh, here it is! Thank goodness there is still some left," as he closed the door behind him. "Oh, hey kids. Don't let the hall monitors catch you out here. Plus, there are ghosts about."

"BEWARE!" The Box Ghost cried from the thermos in Danny's jacket pocket.

"Huh?" one of the boys asked.

"I said, er, beware of the ghosts. They could be… anywhere." He glanced around in a goofy manner and said "BOO!"

This seemed to put the students at ease as they laughed and nodded, then continued chatting to themselves before they had to get back to class. Danny strode down the hallway with a nonchalant gait as he looked at his watch and saw that it had only taken him about ten minutes to get rid of the ghosts. Maybe I'll eat in the teacher's lounge today, he thought, since he usually just ate in his classroom.

However, as he headed back to his room to get his lunch, he had just unlocked the door when he heard another, all-too-familiar scream coming from the gymnasium wing of the building. "AHHHH! Ghost!" the voice cried, and Danny rolled his eyes as some other students and teachers stuck their heads out of their classrooms to see what the ruckus was about this time. Lancer wasted no time getting to the scene and Danny saw the heavy bald man run down the hall from the cafeteria to where the new scream had come from, followed by vice principal Tetslaff and two security guards close behind. The kids who had been in the gym ran in the opposite direction screaming, and nobody bothered to chastise them for it.

"Three…two…one…" Danny said to himself just as his parents predictably almost knocked him over as they sprinted down the hallway, various ghost weapons in tow. They stopped briefly.

"Hi honey! Gotta run- we're already late!" Maddie yelled as Jack waved and followed his wife. Even though they were considerably older than they had been when Danny had seen them in their prime, they still were the best ghost hunters around, next to Valerie (and himself, of course.)

Danny ducked into his room and transformed yet again into his alter-ego. He would have to be careful now that his parents were here. Hopefully, if it was a particularly evil spirit, he'd find it before his parents did and nobody would get hurt. He ducked into the supply closet, and transformed again; bright blue rings of ethereal energy changed him again into a semi-transparent ghostly phantom with glowing green eyes, deathly white hair, and a bright, gleaming aura surrounding him. He still wore the black and silver lab suit, which seemed to grow in size along with him.

He turned invisible and then intangible as he flew through the wall and to the gym. His parents and the others were in the hallway preparing their weapons before going in, while listening to details about the ghost from someone who sounded frantic on the other side of the doors which had been propped open. He didn't want to set off their ghost detectors, so he phased through the floor into the basement, and came back up once he knew he was under the spot where the bleachers were inside the gym. He came back up, still invisible, and saw a very distraught gym teacher talking to the Fentons from inside the room.

"I'm telling you, I saw it in the locker room! The kids are scared out of their wits- and so am I!" the blond, muscular man shouted. "Get it out of here!"

"I assure you, Mr. Baxter, that the Fentons will do their best. They always do," Lancer assured him.

"Except for that crazy Phantom that keeps getting in the way all the time, and has been for years." Jack said frustrated. "It's almost like he can sense the other ghosts and gets to 'em before we do," he pouted.

"Well I hate to say this, but I think he was here before and caught another ghost before you arrived," Lancer said. "It may have even been two, but I didn't see it. I just realized the ghost was gone."

"Aww, he ruins everything," Jack whined.

Maddie seemed to ignore her husband momentarily. "Well whether he's helping or not, don't worry, Dash. We'll get it," she assured him, as she charged her Fenton Bazooka. It's mechanical whirring sound indicated that it was almost ready to be used.

Danny had to act fast before they came bursting in. He flew into the locker room and once again, breathed out the cold mist that pointed him to none other than Sidney Poindexter, who sat perched atop a corner locker with a Cheshire cat smile on his face. He backed down, as he had been prepared to fight Skulker, or someone more threatening at least.

"Uh, hey Danny," he said.

"Sidney, what's the big deal? What did you do?" he demanded.

"There were these big bullies picking on this poor kid, and I just kind of, gave them a little scare to get them to back off," the spirit said mischievously. "Needless to say, it worked."

Danny smiled. "That's all?" he chuckled. "Where were you when I was in middle school? Well next time you may want to go a little easier on them. Remember, you don't want to become a bully yourself. You taught me that much years ago. Plus, my parents are about to charge in here, so you'll want to hide."

"Aye aye, sir! Of course I don't want to become a bully. I've dedicated my afterlife to stopping people like those who made my life a living nightmare," Poindexter said as he turned invisible and flew off.

"Looks like I'm going to have to keep an eye on him. At least he means well," Danny muttered to himself as he watched the other ghost fly through the ceiling (as he could see other invisible ghosts when he was a ghost himself) just as Jack and Maddie burst in, followed by Dash, Lancer and Tetslaff.

"Freeze, ghost!" Maddie and Jack cried, and aimed their guns at him as he hovered above them. Dash looked on, afraid and a bit confused as he stared at the phantom he had remembered as a kid (who seemed a bit older now).
"Wish I could stay to chat, but…" he turned invisible himself and was gone before anyone had even blinked.

"Darn that ghost!" Maddie exclaimed.

"Yeah, he makes us look bad!" Jack said.

"Tha…tha… that wasn't the ghost I saw before," Dash stammered. "The ghost I saw before had glasses and was wearing different clothes."

"So did the phantom get rid of him too?" Lancer asked.

"Unless they're in it together," Jack thought aloud.

"Well it looks like they're gone now at least, so can I continue my classes?" Dash asked, straightening back up and resuming is normal, tough-guy demeanor.

"Sure, Mr. Baxter," Lancer answered just as the bell rang once again that signaled the students to move on to the next period.

"I guess we'll be leaving then," Jack and Maddie announced. "Wish we got here sooner."

Danny sat in retrospect as he packed up his stuff to leave for the day. Why had all these ghosts appeared at almost the same time? Was it just a coincidence? Usually only one appeared every now and then, and he hardy ever saw Poindexter unless there were bullies that the teachers hadn't noticed. If he was around at all, he would usually sense him. "Don't worry about it,- Mom and Dad probably forgot to lock the portal again," he told himself and headed out, after turning out the lights and locking the door behind him.

"Now Mr. Baxter, aside from the craziness that went on today, I just called you to my office to congratulate you on the football team's remarkable performance this season. You really whipped those kids into shape, if I must say so myself," Principal Lancer beamed.

"Thank you sir," the man who could have been compared to one of Delilah's relatives in terms of sheer size and muscle mass responded. "Teaching gym class is one thing, but I must thank you for the chance to coach the team after Jones left. I've always wanted this opportunity."

"Well the start of the season has been a big success thanks to you. Keep up the good work, Dash."

"I will, sir."

"That's what I like to hear…" he suddenly noticed Danny walk past the door hurriedly as he glanced past Dash. There were hardly any students left, and most after-school clubs had ended for the day. "Oh, Mr. Fenton- " he called and Dash turned around to see Danny freeze and peek his head through the door mid stride.

"Yes Mr. Lancer?" the man said, tucking away a metallic thermos into a large inside pocket of his overcoat.

"I just wanted to congratulate you as well."

"For what, sir?

"You're in the running for teacher of the year. That's a great accomplishment, having earned the title multiple times myself."

"Really? Well thank you, sir!"

"Don't thank just me, thank the students too. They all had a say as well and many of them voted for you."

Danny smiled. "Just doing my job sir."

"Oh, and I also wanted to thank you for letting us use your house to decorate for Halloween last week. I never got to officially say how much it was appreciated. Especially since my group won!"

"Oh sure, I know we have always used that house since we were kids, and when Sam and I moved into it, we thought it wouldn't hurt to continue the tradition."

Dash turned to Danny with a sneer. "Once a geek, always a geek, Fenturd," he whispered so only he would hear. "By the way, how is Sam?"

Danny smiled. Some people never change. "I guess so. But at least I'm happy and the kids seem to be too," Danny scoffed. "And Sam has never been better," he said a bit louder and turned to leave.

"Ah, that's good to hear," Lancer said and Danny stopped again. He really wanted to get going. "Man, it sounds strange to not call her Ms. Manson. I hear she's making quite a name for herself. What is it she's doing again?"

"She's an environmental lawyer and handles all kinds of environmental issues. She is quite passionate about her work."

"Ah yes, that seems like the type of thing she would be into. I also must admit that I heard your sister is having a baby shower. Tell her congratulations for me."

"I shall."

"Your sister is having a baby?" Dash said surprised, yet almost half-heartedly.

"Yes, she is expecting." By the way, are you and Paulina still putting up with each other?"

"Oh yeah, she and the kids are doing great," Dash said. "She is actually working in a department store, J.C. Macy's, in the purchasing department with Valerie."

"Well I'm glad to hear that," Danny said just as a frantic Vice Principal Tetslaff ran in almost knocking the two teachers over.

"Oh excuse me, excuse me," she said out of breath. "Lance- you have to check out the security camera footage of the kitchen from this afternoon. Danny stood frozen as she placed the tape into the player under the television in Lancer's office and pushed 'PLAY.'

"Pride and Prejudice!" Mr. Lancer cried as he watched the footage of the fight in the kitchen. "Good thing we had that new security system installed!"

Danny gulped. "You put security cameras in the kitchen?"

"Sure did," Lancer replied. "What if someone wanted to steal the meat? Looks like that ghost did."

"And there's that Phantom again!" Dash exclaimed as he looked at the fuzzy image. I remember that dude- he helped me out once when your father's shrink ray zapped me and him." He glanced accusingly at Danny, but then turned back to the screen. True, it was a bit unclear and blurry since the ghosts had moved so fast, and they would disappear and reappear at seemingly random times throughout, but he still took a good look at it. "What do you think of this, Fenton?" he asked without looking up, and then his eyes seemed to bulge out of his head as if a light bulb had just gone off. He then turned back to Danny, took a good look at his appearance, and then looked at the image again. "Hey wait a sec…" he started just as the screen went dark.

"What happened?" Tetslaff asked, and then noticed that the outlet where the TV wires were plugged into was sparking and sending off smoke. Danny whistled innocently after conjuring up a quick blast of energy from his fingertip that no one had seen.

"Gee, I sure wish I had gotten a better look, but you guys can enjoy the movie, since I really need to get going. See you tomorrow."

"Well all right, take care, Danny," Lancer said. "Guess I have to get this outlet fixed too."

"Yeah, bye," Dash said slowly in thought, then shook his head. "Nah, couldn't be."

Lancer watched the man go. "You know, for a kid who was raised by ghost-hunting parents, you'd think he'd be somewhat interested in this."

"He's probably seen so much that it's old business now," Tetslaff replied.

"I suppose so."

"Hmm," Dash mumbled. "Well I guess I should be heading home too. Paulina's mother is making her famous fajitas tonight, since her daughter still can't cook. She watched the kids today while Paulina went to work."

"Well take care then." Lancer said. "I'll leave this tape here until tomorrow, and then I'll show it to the Fentons. As they all left, he turned off the lights and locked the door behind him. Unbeknownst to the old principal though, that same ghost invisibly phased back through the wall again, took a brief glance around, and reached through the VCR, turning the tape intangible. He removed it in one fluid movement, stepped back out through the wall, and continued on his way home, hoping that his wife had had a better day than he did.

The next update will be whenever I get to write it, but don't expect it any time soon. I have a lot of school work and exams to study for. Sorry. Please feel free to review and tell me how I can improve my writing. Thanks! (Or you can just say 'hi!'… or not. ) Until next time!

(Swooshes cape and runs away)