Danny stared at his ghostly self in the mirror, eyes searching frantically for something, anything that was different or wrong. It was well after midnight, but he couldn't sleep any longer. The pounding in his head had become a faint ache right behind his eyes, and his side had been completely cured by his transformation.

"Maybe he was just trying to scare me," he muttered, unconvinced. Skulker never did anything without a reason, but what could it be? He drifted into the air and hovered for a minute, then glanced toward his bedroom door. Satisfied that the only light was his ghostly glow, he became intangible and drifted through the wall.

"Well, those two powers work," he announced to the night sky. After a moment's thought, he became momentarily invisible just to prove he still could and flew off for the warehouse district. There would be a few deserted, he knew, and he wanted to test his ectoplasmic energy beam somewhere.

Suddenly, something very hot passed dangerously close to his head and a voice called out, "I was wondering where you've been all day, ghost!"

Danny sighed and rolled to face Valerie. Inwardly, he was worried; if his powers weren't working properly, he might hurt her or be hurt himself. Of course, he wasn't about to let her know that. "Does your dad know you're out this late?" he returned impishly.

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him!"

"Fine…" the boy grumbled. "Look, can we maybe do this another time? I'm really not feeling that great, right now."

In response, the young ghost hunter simply began to fire. Danny ducked and dodged and was trying to figure out how to get away when an idea struck. Some ghosts could take over machinery, and his abilities seemed to be a mishmash of several different ghosts. He rushed his opponent, becoming intangible at the last second to phase into her jet sled.

Inside reminded him of the various occasions that Kat dragged him through power lines for whatever reason. He was aware of every circuit, every electric impulse, and he thought he could understand Technus just for a moment. He shoved that thought away and directed the sled to the ground, then sent a command to the suit to power down before phasing back out again.

Valerie had apparently been yelling for some time. "How'd you do that?" she demanded.

"I'm just that good," Danny answered with a smirk as he flew away. He was very pleased with himself for that. However, rather than continue his previous journey, he simply returned home. He was tired again, finally, and he didn't much want to meet Valerie again later. His powers seemed to be fine.

He dropped into bed, yawned, and changed back even as he was falling asleep.

Skulker let out a forlorn sigh and rolled his eyes, something he seemed to be doing a lot of lately. His hands were clamped around the jaws of a very large, very active alligator as it thrashed about in his grip, unsuccessfully trying to hit him with its powerful tail. The rest of the Ghost Master's team merely floated or stood helplessly, amazed that anyone could possibly be strong enough to hold the beast's jaws closed with just two hands.

The alligator's struggles slowed, and it appeared to be trying to gasp for air. An amber glow appeared in its eyes as the Ghost Master's mind tried to reassert itself. There was clearly a battle of some sort being waged between the fused personalities. "Are you quite through?" Skulker asked, his amusement having been exhausted several minutes prior. The creature gave one last buck and exhaled a misty substance through its nose, vanishing as it did so until only its eyes were left.

The Ghost Master made a noise that was part growl and part the word "Yeah," proving that they had reached an uneasy truce, not an understanding.

Skulker nodded once. "Good. I have a proposition for you." The dull amber grew a little brighter, but the actual response was lost amidst angered snarling. He continued anyway. "My employer has sent me to capture you, which I would be easily able to do, as you have seen. I am prepared to let you all go on the condition that you do not interfere with our plans."

More snarling and growling; there were words there, but they were difficult to understand. Fortunately, the elderly banshee known as Gramma Marna translated. "What be in it fer you, then?"

The Ghost Zone's greatest hunter smirked; this was the part he'd been waiting for. "My employer has placed his trust in the hands of someone who routinely underestimates the ghost child. This plan is going to fail, and when it does, I'll need someone to help distract Plasmius and Technus while I capture the ghost boy."

"And why...should we let you...do that?" the Ghost Master finally managed.

"Because I have no interest in ruling Amity Park, you will become the dominant ghost in the area."

The disembodied eyes suddenly blazed red as the alligator relinquished control. "Well, the Ghost Master can't say no to that, nosiree!" he answered happily. "We'll just sit here peaceful-like, then, until you give the okay." Someone draped his sheet around the general vicinity of his shoulders, and he extended what passed for his hand. The two shook amiably enough before Skulker flew away, very satisfied with his arrangement.

"You're just going to trust him?" asked Gypsy.

The Ghost Master nodded. "Walker likes the twins, remember? I'm sure ole Ghost Master can work something out if that one tries to double-cross us."

"The good news is, I figured this thing out."

"And the bad news?"

"...It's going to take longer than I though."

"Oh, what now?"

"Hey, don't blame this one on me! It's you biologicals' fault for having such complicated systems! I can't take control, but I can feed him suggestions."

"Very well. How does this help, then?"

"He's not fighting me if he thinks it's his own idea."

"In that case, proceed."

Danny sighed and opened his eyes, gazing at his ceiling through a sleepy fog. He'd just had the oddest dream; it was something about Technus and Vlad, but he couldn't remember anything else. He shrugged and sat up just as his alarm went off, and spared a moment to be annoyed after he hit the snooze button. He hated waking up before the alarm.

"Danny!" Jazz yelled, pounding on his door. "Time to get up!"

"I'm awake!" he returned peevishly, hunting for his clothes.

"Are you sure?" She barely repressed a squeal as a pair of socks phased through the door to collide with her head, followed closely by part of her brother as he leaned through to retrieve them. "Real mature, Danny," she muttered to the sound of quiet snickering.

The sibling's spat was interrupted by their mother's voice from the bottom of the stairs. "Jazz, honey, are you sure Danny's feeling well enough for that?"

The girl cringed; he'd been fine before bed, and she'd kind of forgotten about his short illness. She glanced sheepishly back at her brother who appeared to have also forgotten that he was supposed to be sick. "Uh, oh...no…I think I need to go back to bed," he moaned unconvincingly.

Jazz rolled her eyes. "He's fine!" she yelled back to Maddie.

Danny returned to his room, mentally berating himself. Really, he was no longer tired, but what teenager wouldn't jump at the chance to get a day off from school? It was too late for that, but at least he didn't have to argue with his mom about going to the doctor.

Mornings were often a hazardous affair around the Fenton household. Rather than deal with avoiding his parents, he simply left. It seemed to be the wisest course of action. Left with nothing better to do, he went on to the school and flipped through his math book. It suddenly hit him that a lot of the answers were wrong, and he set about correcting them. A few of the questions were wrong; he corrected those as well.

He managed to get a week's worth of homework done before a pair of shadows fell over where he had sat against the wall. "Danny, what are you doing?" Tucker asked, amusement evident in his voice.

"Just bored sitting here," the ghost boy confessed. "I didn't feel like dealing with Mom and Dad this morning."

Sam joined him against the wall and asked worriedly, "How do you feel after yesterday?"

He shrugged. "Pretty good, actually. I don't think whatever Skulker did even worked. Actually-" The sound of the bell cut him off, and he huffed. "I'll tell you guys later," he finished. "We better get to class before we're late."

Sam and Tucker exchanged glances that were equal parts indulgent and concerned. Danny was actually eager to get to class, so clearly, something was wrong. They just hoped that humorous little thought didn't herald something worse.

The boy began his first class actually eager to learn for once. It was a full thirty seconds into the lecture before he remembered why he hated that class and joined everyone else in trying to fall asleep. The second class, one that he usually enjoyed, went no better. By third period, he had come to the conclusion that the educational system of Amity Park was sorely lacking in real challenge and began doodling in his notebook.

He jumped as a hand slammed into the desk, almost startling him into letting his eyes flash green. "All right, Mr. Fenton," the overweight teacher said in that superior tone of his. "Since you obviously know this material so well that you don't need to pay attention, perhaps you'd like to solve the equation on the board?"

"4,774.64 Hz," he sighed without paying a great deal of attention. It actually took a moment before he noticed everyone staring at him in amazement, and a few seconds longer to realize that he'd actually answered the question. He glanced up to see Lancer give him a suspicious glare.

"Very well," the teacher said at last, moving off to continue.

"How'd you know that?" Tucker leaned over to whisper. Danny could only shrug, but he gave his friends an encouraging smile. By the time class was over, his bespectacled friend was practically bursting with curiosity. "Man, we haven't even studied that chapter! How'd you know?"

"Danny, are you sure everything's okay?" Sam pressed. She wanted to be happy for him, but she couldn't shake the certainty that something was wrong.

"Yeah, everything's great. That's kind of what I was trying to tell you this morning." He glanced around and led his friends to relatively clear section of wall near the band room. "Skulker injected me with something yesterday, and I don't think it's working like it was supposed to."

"What do you mean?" Sam demanded. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong!" Danny insisted. "That's just it! I think whatever it was made me super smart." He glared as Tucker started laughing.

"You're kidding, right?" the boy snickered.

"Come over after school, and I'll prove it."

The next period bell rang, and the three friends agreed to meet. Danny grinned as he parted ways with them. He'd never actually been able to look forward to a test before, but if it was as easy as the rest of school, he wasn't going to have any trouble.