Little did Sam (or any of the three friends) know that they actually lived in the dimension where little animals could gain power from the flip of a switch and the push of a button or two. These weren't normal animals, though.
The shadowy figure watched the screen which seemed to shimmer in the gloom. Tiny red dots – which represented the animals or at least their trackers – moved in millimetres against the small map background. Most seemed to converge on one point. There were a few dots that weren't in that vicinity but they didn't matter too much.
For now, he focused on the mass of red dots and the map around them. He could test out his plan there. It was in quite an isolated area so if anything were to go drastically wrong, the animals wouldn't be completely lost. He could always go and check up on things personally.
He came to a decision. It would be safe to test out his plan. He frantically started to press glowing and beeping buttons and flipping switches.
When all was done, a smile came to his face. If it worked now, it would work on the whole city.
Three large satellite dishes on the top of the console started to send out strong signals.
-----
It was lunchtime at Casper High. Many of the students were either preening their pets, feeding their pets or feeding themselves.
"So Lancer immediately shouted To Kill a Mockingbird and was the last person to run out of the class, just as the parrot ghost, who had been making fun of me, or at least Danny Phantom, was sucked up into the thermos." Danny said, telling Sam and Tucker all about his ghost-related mishaps that they hadn't been there to witness. "And you guys both saw what happened in biology."
"See what I mean about cruelty to frogs?" Sam questioned, remembering the incident. "The school should have switched to the I Can't Believe it's Not a Frog-Cadaver months ago."
Meanwhile, on the collars of many of the pets, a tiny red light began to flash. Each one could feel it. Every animal struggled free of their owner's grip and ran off in all directions to hide.
"Fluffy, come back!" Paulina loudly whined after her pale brown and black poodle puppy.
It was too late. Fluffy wouldn't come back and neither would any of the other animals. Not until they were done. She dodged around a corner of the school and bounded into a deserted woodland area. She had to stop here. The energy was too powerful.
It surged through her tiny body, causing a bright green aura; she whimpered in fear. Her paws and legs began to enlarge to ten times their normal size. Her fur lost its pale brown colouring and blanched to a bright white. She scrunched her doggy eyes. Her ears stiffened, pointing up in the air, then bent backwards so they pointed to her tail. Her face lost its shape. Her teeth sharpened and grew with her mouth. Finally, her eyes became two little slits of glowing red menace.
This new beast emerged, snarling. Its massive feet thumped loudly on the grassy ground below. The aura had dulled to that of a normal ghost.
-----
Danny Fenton blissfully napped with his head resting on his sandwich, in front of his two friends Tucker, who was also snoozing while his face lay in his lunch, and Sam, who chased a piece of cucumber with a fork around her plate. He shuddered, gave a cold, clammy breath and his head shot up. Stuck to his cheek was a bitten slice of bread.
Danny shot out of his slumbers and flung his head up. "What was that?"
The activity caused the bread to shift on his face. It slowly peeled off and fell, landing with a thumping splat on the rest of his sandwich. Moulded into the slice was the imprint of half of Danny's face.
"Good afternoon, Danny." Sam greeted, slightly drearily. "Exciting dreams?"
Danny turned his head this way and that, trying to find the source. "No. Ghost sense."
Tucker raised his head dreamily. The brown sludge that Tucker had been told was beef casserole dripped down the side of his face (He hadn't chosen the lump of "meat" that bore a slight resemblance to a steak due to what he called "a bad personal experience").
"What's going on?" Tucker asked, looking around. "RABBIT!"
"Rabbits are small, Tucker. You could easily pick it up and remove it by hand," Sam replied, also looking for the ghost.
Tucker's breathing pattern shortened. "Not. This. One."
Ignoring the conversation, Danny continued looking in the opposite direction to the giant white rabbit with red eyes and a slight green aura.
Tucker tuned Danny's head to look at the rabbit. "That's one big bunny," Danny said, astonished that the rabbit was as tall as the trees.
"That means-" Tucker started.
"-it's a ghost." Danny finished.
Many of the other students had noticed the rabbit by now and also stared at it in awe and fright. It stood on its hind legs and took small, gentle bounces to stop earthquakes every time it moved.
One boy, who had light purple hair and was wearing a white T-shirt, a muddy green jacket, trousers to match the jacket and very dark sunglasses, ran out in front of the students shouting, "MONSTER!"
Naturally, pandemonium followed. The students scattered, like lemmings without a leader, not forgetting about their pets, even for a moment. The students looked in every possible hiding place. Danny watched the students for any sign of a blind spot, where he might be able to transform without getting noticed.
"You guys seen anywhere?" His voice was almost frantic.
"There's some trees over there," Sam suggested, pointing to a small woodland of trees at the edge of the school's grounds.
"They'll just have to do." Danny ran off, leaving Sam and Tucker stranded at the lunch table to watch the frightened scramble of students.
Danny agilely dodged through the crowd, ducking under and jumping over stray arms, legs and even a student or two. After squeezing between two students, he burst out to the other side, where there was quite a distance between him and the trees.
He looked back. The other students were too busy running around chaotically to see him. He started to run in the direction of the trees, then broke out into a flat-out sprint.
When he was just a few metres away from his chosen tree, Danny pounced, hands-first, like a cat on a mouse. After landing upside-down on his hands, his legs swung over his body and he pushed away from the ground. Two rings of bright white light that almost looked blue budded at his waist and violently expanded, like an explosion.
The rings ran over him like a scanner over a drawing. One spread towards his head and the other flew to his feet. They revealed his almost identical alter ego: Danny Phantom. His baggy blue jeans, white and red T-shirt and trainers changed into a back lab jumpsuit with silvery white gloves, boots, collar and a thin belt. His coal black hair became a stark white and his icy blue eyes became a vibrant, glowing green.
He flew and landed carefully on a tree branch, one leg bent over and the other stretched out. He stared at the rabbit and the other giant ghost animals that were surrounding the unruly group of scared students.