DarkFoxKit: *Is looking at Onyx, who was lazily lying on the bed* Are you okay? You've been lying in bed a lot lately.

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Shrugs* Just feeling lazy. Maybe its the weather or something.

DarkFoxKit: You have been feeling hot lately. It's been really hot these past few days… maybe dragons get lazy when it gets really hot?

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Chuckles* Maybe. It doesn't help that the AC is broke and needs to be replaced… though thinking about it. Maybe dragons relax when feeling hot. Though… why aren't you hot?

DarkFoxKit: I am hot, it's just Danny kinda helped me kept cool. I guess his powers doesn't work on a dragon.

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Maybe i can muster enough energy to transform into an Ice Dragon or something to help cool us off.

DarkFoxKit: Hmm… oh readers, while we deal with this AC problem, you go ahead and get to the chapter.

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Eyes go wide* Oh wait! Fox! We never celebrated your birthday! It was Tuesday, wasn't it?

DarkFoxKit: Eh… that's not important right now. *shuts off the camera*

Chapter 52: Investigation Part 1

I stood in front of the Nasty Burger in the city. It was a bit more noisy here than the Nasty Burger I usually went to, but that's to be expected. I looked down at my watch, just 5 more minutes until 6. Valerie should be here soon. I looked in the window of the Nasty Burger and saw Danny and Sam sitting together in a far corner so they weren't too visible. Right now it looked like they were just chatting.

"Relax, Andy," Tucker's voice said into the tiny earpiece I had put in. To anyone else it would look like I didn't have anything in my ear, but I knew it was there. "You just straightened your sleeves for the 15th time, you don't have a reason to be that nervous, it's just Valerie and it is a fake date."

"I know, but I can't help it," I grumbled. "Even if it is a fake date, I've never been on a date with a girl before. Besides, I'm also worried that Valerie will get hurt during this investigation, especially if ghosts are involved."

"She can handle herself, Andy, it's evident in how she handles herself against you and Danny," Tucker pointed out.

"That's because Danny and I weren't exactly trying to hurt her," I answered. "So far I think the only hostile ghosts she's fought with are the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady."

"You have a point, but still she can take care of herself. Now you might want to stop talking to yourself like an insane person and focus forwards, Valerie is coming," Tucker quickly said.

I quickly looked up to see Valerie approaching me. She was wearing a somewhat casual black dress with a red stripe at the bottom edge of the skirt. It was almost strange to see Valerie in a dress, the only other time I saw her in a dress was back during the school dance, and that was several months ago.

"Hey, Andy, I hope you didn't wait long," Valerie said with a wave as she headed over towards me.

I gave a sheepish smile at her and said, "N-no, not at all, Val. You're actually 3 minutes early. I only got here a few minutes ago myself. … You uh… look good in that dress."

"Thank you, you look handsome in that outfit," Valerie said with a smile. "Now, shall we head in, or do you want to wait until exactly 6?"

I was trying not to blush too much in front of her. Maybe I should've said she looked beautiful instead of just good, but that might've been weird. This isn't supposed to be a real date after all… but we are trying to make it seem real.

"Hey Andy, are you dosing off already?" Valerie said when I didn't answer for a while.

"A-ah, no I was just… thinking," I quickly said. "We uh… erm, we might as well go in now that we're here. No need to prolong the uh… fun."

"Heh, alright, it's not like there are reservations or anything," Valerie said before she smirked. "Be a gentleman and open the door for me, would you?"

I gave a nervous smile and said, "O-oh, of course!"

I walked over to the door and opened it, "After you, my lady."

Valerie chuckled before she walked through. "You don't need to be nervous, Andy, unless that's a part of a 'first date' act you're putting on."

I noticed she chuckled and I gave a sigh, "Ah, sorry Valerie. I'll try to loosen up." Yeah, there's no reason to be nervous. We're just two friends acting like we're on a date to investigate the Nasty Burger.

"Alright, let's find a booth, I want to be able to hide the food while we do the switch," Valerie said as she looked around.

"Yeah," I said as I noticed an empty booth near a corner of the restaurant, right next to a window. "There's an empty booth over by the corner over there. Should be a good place for us."

"That looks perfect," Valerie responded with a smile. "Let's head over there and take a seat, once there I'll tell you what we should order so our switch doesn't raise any suspicions."

I nodded as we headed over to the booth and took our seats. I always liked the window seats, it's nice to be able to look outside and also it made it easier to see if there were any ghosts out there causing any trouble. We looked at the menus that were on the table.

"So what are we ordering, Val?" I asked as I lifted up the menu.

"You'll be ordering the bacon cheeseburger while I will be ordering a salad and grilled cheese," Valerie said quietly to me. "You'll have a medium fries on the side. To drink, order the cola, I brought some store bought cola for us."

"Alright," I said with a nod, committing everything she said to memory as a waitress walked over to us.

"Hello, I'm Laura and I will be your waitress today. So may I take your order or do you two need a few more minutes to decide?" The waitress named Laura said professionally.

I smiled a bit, the waitress didn't care if she was serving teens, she was just doing her job. Most of the waiters and waitresses in our Nasty Burgers were usually young people who always got so frustrated when they had to serve teens.

"Yes, we will like to order now," I said. "I'll take the bacon cheeseburger, medium fries on the side, and a cola to drink."

Laura nodded as she wrote down my order in her notepad. "And for you, miss?"

"I'll have the salad, a large grilled cheese, and a cola on the side, no ice," Valerie said. "And can you add no ice for my boyfriend's drink, he always forgets to order it."

"Of course," Laura said. "Any dressings or cheese choice?"

"No dressing and American cheese please," Valerie responded as she closed her menu and handed it to me.

I gave both our menus to Laura, and she took them, "Okay, your orders will be ready shortly. In the meantime I will go get your drinks."

Laura turned and left. I looked over at Valerie, "So now, I guess we wait. Maybe we should chat while we wait or we might seem suspicious."

"Give it a minute, it doesn't take too long to get the drinks," Valerie said.

Not too long after Valerie said that, Laura came back with our drinks. She put down our colas, that were in a glass-like cups, in front of us.

"If you need anything else, feel free to wave me over," Laura said before she smiled and walked away.

"Okay, Andy, before you take a sip, reach under the table and grab the container I'm holding. Then open the container and place the drink, cup and all, into the container before closing it. Then I'll hand you a cup filled with normal cola."

I nodded, hoping this plan would work and that nobody would notice. I reached under the table and felt the container before taking it. I put the container in my lap and opened it. I carefully and quickly took my cola cup and put it into the container and closed it up.

"Once you're done, hand over the container and I'll give you the cup full of the store cola," Valerie whispered. "I didn't want to take the risk of residue being left over in the cup, so I brought some of the same exact cups from home that I uh… borrowed from work before this whole incident."

"Glad you were prepared then," I said with a smile, not questioning her 'borrowing' those cups. I then grabbed the container from my lap and handed it to her under the table.

"Here's your drink, it might not be as cold, but I think you can deal with it," Valerie said. "And whatever you do, don't get refills."

"That much should be obvious," I said, getting refills would defeat the whole purpose of switching out our colas.

I put my swapped out, store bought, cola up on the table beside me and looked around. Good, it seemed that nobody had noticed. I then saw Valerie do the same thing that I had done with swapping out her cola.

"Now we can start the real date~" Valerie whispered with a smile.

I looked at her and felt my face threatening to heat up again. "H-hey, it's not… well… real. We were just going to chat or something, weren't we?"

"Of course, boyfriend~" Valerie said with a wink.

I then realized that Valerie was acting. She also looked like she was having fun teasing me. I guess I was an easy target with how nervous I was being earlier.

"Well uh… what do you want to talk about… honey?" I asked, adding the 'honey' bit since I heard a lot of couples giving each other that kind of nickname on TV.

"Well I was wondering, what are you thinking about that job offer that you had gotten?" Valerie asked. "Have you made a decision on what you want to tell the boss?"

"What?" I looked at her.

"You know… the job at the aquarium," Valerie said slowly.

I gave a confused look to which she sighed and said, "You do remember your job offer, they wanted you to work in the whale section of the aquarium, specifically the blue whale section."

That's when it clicked, she was asking me if I had decided on being her partner as the red huntress. I actually hadn't thought about it much since a lot has happened since then and I had kinda forgotten about it.

"Do you remember the offer, sweetie?" Valerie asked.

"Yes, I remember now, honey," I said, trying to quickly think of how I should respond to Valerie's question.

"So… what's your answer?" Valerie asked. "It'll be fun I'm sure."

"Ah… well…" I still don't know if I should take the offer, it would certainly make things harder for me if I have to use my ghost form too.

"Do you still need time to make your decision?" Valerie asked. "I'm sure they would be alright with it if you took a little longer to decide."

"Yeah, that kind of job is a bit… stressful. I just need a little more time to think about it," I answered, relieved that Valerie was willing to give me more time. I should probably discuss this with Danny too.

"I'm glad we chose to come here instead of the one in the suburbs, too many ghost appearances there," I said, planning on asking her a question without directly saying it.

"Hmmm, you do make a point," Valerie responded with a raised eyebrow. "This place doesn't have many ghost sightings unlike the suburbs."

"It's probably a good thing, a lot more chaos would happen if they came to the city," I said, though there were a few ghosts who did invade the city before. "But wouldn't it be kind of cool to be able to fly, go through buildings and turn invisible at will? I mean hypothetically speaking of course."

"Sure, it might be fun at first, but think about it this way, ghosts live forever, meaning eventually that initial joy would quickly wear off," Valerie responded. "After that it would be endless suffering, doomed to wander around for eternity. And maybe after awhile, you'll start to lose your sanity. Maybe that's why the ghosts cause so much chaos and why they're so evil."

I frowned, while that may be true for pure ghosts, I'm not sure if that applies to half ghosts. I'm sure Danny and I will find that out eventually.

"You really think all ghosts are evil?" I asked.

"Yes, I do," Valerie quickly responded.

"What about if there were hypothetical half ghosts?" I asked in response.

"Half ghosts? What would the other half be?" Valerie asked, surprised by my response.

I need to choose my words carefully, one wrong word and both Danny and I would instantly be exposed.

"Well… what if the other half is hu-" I began to say, only to get interrupted when Laura came by with our order.

"Here are your orders, the salad and grilled cheese for the miss and the bacon cheeseburger and fries for the sir," Laura said as she put down our plates in front of us. "Is there anything else I can get for you, or is this everything you would like?"

"This is all for me," Valerie said.

I nodded as I said, "Yeah, me too."

"Alright, I hope you enjoy, I'll bring the receipt over whenever you're ready," Laura said with a smile before she walked away leaving us to our meals.

"Round two for containers," Valerie said quietly to me.

I nodded as I looked down at my bacon cheeseburger. Thankfully the Nasty Burger always put their burgers in a small box, so it shouldn't be too hard to make the switch. The salad might be a little harder unless she brought a to-go box with her or something.

"I have large containers that shrink down and even shrink the contents inside, at least that's what my supplier told me," Valerie said quietly as I felt a box hit my knee.

"Wow, really?" I asked, surprised. "Your supplier must have some pretty advanced technology to do that."

"Yup, it's how I carried all these things in my purse," Valerie said with a smile.

I have to wonder if she's getting all this advanced tech from Axion Labs, but this wasn't the time to be asking such questions.

"Okay, let's do this quick," I whispered.

Valerie looked down at the table and I felt the box hit my knee again. I took the box and quickly put my bacon cheeseburger in there, then I put my fries next to the burger and closed the box.

"And your replacement," Valerie quietly said after I gave her the container back. I then felt my knee get bumped again.

I took the Nasty Burger burger box from her and the wrapped up store bought fries and put it on the table. I opened up the burger box to see a perfect replica of my bacon cheeseburger. Valerie's really got all this planned out. I gave a small smile, hopefully this will keep us from being affected by any kind of spell or ghost powers that could've been in the food and drink.

I looked up at Valerie and saw she just finished switching out her salad and grilled cheese. We started eating after we were done switching everything around. I hope Danny and Sam didn't eat the food here. Not long after I took a bite out of my bacon cheeseburger, I felt that familiar hot sensation going up my throat. My dark blue ghost sense went out of my mouth, but thankfully Valerie didn't seem to notice. It was small, so it's possible I just sensed a small and weak ghost passing by.

"Andy," Valerie whispered to me. "Look around at the other customers. See if they start acting weird."

I nodded, it was a good idea. We needed to know for sure if this love virus was going around after the people eat their food.

I saw a young man eating a burger, then not too long after his first bite I noticed a sudden pink glow in his eyes for a split second before he stopped eating and looked at a young girl who wasn't sitting too far away from him. The man smiled as he got up from his table and walked over to the girl, who was eating her own food.

"Hello there, ma'am, would you mind if I joined you?" The man asked with a smile.

The girl gave a giggle before she said, "Of course you can. I'm Cindy, may I ask what your name is, handsome?"

"I'm Michael," The man replied as he sat down. "I must say, you look absolutely beautiful."

The girl called Cindy smiled as she said, "Why thank you, Michael, you don't look bad yourself. Maybe we should go on a date some time."

"Look at that, two perfect strangers are suddenly asking to go on a date with each other," I heard Valerie speak up, she must've been watching them too. "It's just not natural."

"Yeah. I think you're right, Val. There must be something in the food, it only happened after they started eating," I said as I turned back to Valerie.

"Just like I suspected," Valerie said. "Perhaps we should quickly eat the food I made and get out of here after paying."

"Huh? Weren't we going to do more investigating?" I asked.

"We are, we'll have to get the food we got from here checked out and see if there's anything ghostly or weird about them," Valerie whispered.

I guess it makes sense, not having ghost powers means it wouldn't be easy to go check to see if anyone was putting something in the food in the kitchen. So the next best thing was to analyze the food itself.

"But where would we go to check out the food?" I asked. "I don't think Axion Labs will let us check out fast food stuff, and even if they did they would wonder why we would want to analyze a burger or a salad."

"Hmmm… any chance your parents have a spectral analyzer?" Valerie asked.

I blinked before realizing that because Valerie suspected ghosts might be behind this, it would make sense to use something to find any spectral energy or residue in the food, and she may not be wrong. Every time something weird happens in Amity Park it's usually because of ghosts.

"Even if it isn't what I think it is, a spectral analyzer could give us the same results from a normal analytical machine," Valerie said.

"Yeah," I said. "I think my parents do. I've seen them use it sometimes whenever they have a sample from a ghost during their battles. Let's hope it'll work with food too."

"Andy? Come in Andy, do you read me?" I heard Tucker's voice in my ear. "We have a slight problem."

I looked at Valerie and said, "Um… hey Val, can you excuse me? I need to use the bathroom real quick."

"Of course, I'll go pay for the check while you're in there, that way we can just focus on eating so it doesn't look too suspicious," Valerie said with a smile.

"Thanks Val, I shouldn't be gone too long," I said before I stood up from the table and made my way to the bathroom.

When I went into the bathroom, I was surprised to see it was empty. Did nobody in this whole restaurant have to use the bathroom? They must be too busy trying to hook up with someone else. That's fine by me, this way I won't have to be too quiet when I talk to Tucker.

"What's wrong Tucker?" I asked.

"I don't know, Danny and Sam stopped responding to me and unfortunately I didn't make it so I could eavesdrop on their mics unlike I did with yours," Tucker responded worriedly. "They were keeping in contact me for quite some time but then they suddenly went quiet."

This doesn't sound good.

"What was the last thing they said before they went quiet?" I asked, feeling worried.

"That they were getting thirsty, if I remember correctly," Tucker answered. "No, it was that their water had finally arrived and that they were happy because they were really thirsty."

Water? They drank the water? Oh no…

"I remember Danny told Sam they shouldn't eat anything just in case there might be something in the food," Tucker said. "But I didn't hear them say if it's dangerous to drink anything."

"That might be it," I said with a frown. "Maybe after they drank that water… I need to go check on them, you listen to our conversation just in case."

I exit out of the bathroom, wishing I had told my brother and Sam not to eat or drink anything here. I guess Danny suspected the food because of that shared vision we had, but neither of them suspected the drink. I guess I can't blame them too much, it's usually very difficult to disguise any kind of poison or liquid in crystal clear water.

I looked around to see where Valerie was to make sure she didn't see me going over to Sam and Danny. Valerie was busy munching on her salad, so I quickly made my way to where I saw Danny and Sam sitting. They were a little far away from where Valerie and I were, so it's no wonder I couldn't see them from where I was.

I saw Danny and Sam sitting in a booth table, and they appeared to be staring into each other's eyes, giving a dreamy smile, as if they were lost in a fantasy. I had a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach as I approached them.

"... Danny? Sam?" I spoke up, hoping they would respond. "Are you guys… okay?"

"We're absolutely fine, Andy," Sam said with a smile as she stared into Danny's eyes.

Wow… she didn't even look at me when responding… yeah she's definitely under the effect of whatever is going on here.

I looked at the table, seeing their empty cups of water. I sighed before I said, "Danny, are you in love with Sam?" This would prove if he was under the influence or not, that question would always get him riled up otherwise.

"Mmhmm…" Danny slowly replied as he continued to smile and stare back into Sam's eyes.

I was afraid of this. I was hoping that Danny would've been able to resist this influence at least since he was part ghost, but I guess even ghosts aren't immune to it, at least not half ghosts.

"Hey Danny, why don't we get out of here and go some place nice and quiet, just the two of us?" Sam asked, her eyes never leaving Danny's.

"That sounds lovely. And I know the perfect place too. There's a nice hill outside Amity Park. We'll be able to see the city from up there, and watch the sunset," Danny said with a dreamy smile.

"Wait a minute you two, you can't just go flying off into the sunset and leave," I quickly said, hoping they would still listen to reason. "Something's going on here and I need your help."

"I'm sure you can handle it, Andy, you were always the smarter and more resourceful of the two of us," Danny responded as he stood up. "Come on Sam, we don't want to miss the sunset."

"Danny, you're just as smart and resourceful as me and you have more experience," I hissed as Sam took his hand and he helped her up. "Wait! You need to think about this, you're supposed to be a hero, you can't just leave!"

I'm not even sure if they are listening anymore.

"It'll be fine Andy," Sam said, proving that they did at least hear me. "If it gets too bad, I'm sure Danny can handle it then."

"No, we're not supposed to let it get that bad, we're supposed to nip it in the bud as soon as possible," I said, but neither of them answered me this time.

I frowned as I saw Danny and Sam walking out of the Nasty Burger, and looked out the window to see Danny and Sam walking around the corner, most likely behind the building. Not long after that, I saw Danny Phantom flying into the sky while carrying Sam, bridle style.

I gave a heavy sigh when they flew off and said, "Well Tucker, Danny and Sam has left the building. Looks like it's just you, me and Valerie now."

"You want me to go keep an eye on them?" Tucker asked.

"Only periodically, for now you should keep an eye on the Nasty Burger," I said.

"Alright, you should hurry up, from your shoulder cam it looks like Valerie is getting a tiny bit impatient, she keeps glancing at the bathroom door," Tucker said.

"Right, I shouldn't keep her waiting," I said. "Just keep listening to us in case something happens."

I walked back over to Valerie, she gave me a surprised look since I didn't come out of the bathroom.

"Hey Val, sorry that took so long," I apologized. "I saw someone I knew here and wanted to say hi, but they fell for the love virus too and just left with their… date."

"I was wondering what took so long. Anyways, I paid for the bill and I finished off my meal, you should probably eat up," Valerie responded. "Investigating on an empty stomach never really works."

"Yeah, after we eat let's head to my parents' lab," I said as I quickly began eating. I hope we can find a way to reverse this love spell as soon as possible, I didn't feel very confident without my brother having my back.

After we were done eating and paying for the food, Valerie and I left the Nasty Burger building. I was glad to be out of there, with everyone suddenly falling in love with each other, it felt really weird.

"Now, should we head to your house and start analyzing the food and drink?" Valerie asked.

"Yeah, we better hurry," I said as the sun was starting to go down. "I doubt your dad would want you out after dark."

"It's fine, I told him I was gonna be sleeping over at a friend's house," Valerie said.

"Heh, pretty crafty," I said with a chuckle. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised, Valerie can be pretty crafty when she wants to be, this whole thing with the Nasty Burger proved that.

Since my house wasn't that far from the city, we walked. I looked up at the sky, seeing the sun was setting. I wonder if the lovesick Danny and Sam are enjoying it right now on that hill?

"Are you okay, Andy?" Valerie asked all of a sudden.

"Huh? Why wouldn't I be?" I asked.

"You seemed pretty distracted," Valerie answered. "And you seem a little tense. Did something happen?"

I frowned, I didn't know Valerie could read me so easily. "I guess I'm just worried…"

"About what? That we won't find the cause of whatever is going on?" Valerie asked.

"Well yes, that is a cause for concern," I said with a small amused smile, then I sighed. "It's just… my brother… I think he's been infected with it too."

"What? Why didn't you mention this before we even headed into Nasty Burger?" Valerie asked.

Because it happened while we were at Nasty Burger. "I didn't think mentioning it would do us any good at the time. I just wanted to focus on the investigation. Now that I've had some time to think, I can't help but be worried."

Valerie sighed, "I remember when you were convinced your brother was dying. You would go to any length to help him. So why keep quiet about it?"

"I wasn't sure if Danny was infected," I answered. "It could've just been natural, but the more I think about it, the more I'm sure he's been infected. Danny's usually too shy to make a move with anyone he likes."

"If you don't think it's natural, then it probably isn't natural," Valerie said. "Your instincts are… somewhat accurate. Besides, with everything going on, it's probably unlikely that it's natural."

"Yeah, you're right," I sighed. "I guess I was just hoping that nothing bad was happening to Danny. It was really bad when I thought something did once before…"

I felt Valerie's hand on my shoulder. I looked at her and she gave me a small supporting smile. I nodded to her, I knew she was trying to cheer me up a little. Valerie of course knew how much I cared for Danny, so I was a little sensitive when it comes to him.

"Hey look, we're here," Valerie said as she looked ahead.

I looked up and smiled when I saw Fenton Works. It felt kind of good to be home, and to be one step closer to solving this mystery.

"Welcome to my home," I said as I lead Valerie inside before I stopped in my tracks. "I have to warn you, my family is a bit… unusual. Jazz might try to psychologically pick you apart, my dad might try to either show you his latest invention or think you're a ghost and try it on you, don't worry I'll stop him if he tries. And my mom, well… she's honestly the most normal adult in the house, just don't challenge her to any tests of strength, she's physically stronger than my dad even though she's smaller. That and she knows a ton of martial arts."

"Yeah, I know about your parents. They were at our school during the whole ghost attacks," Valerie said. "I know my fair share of martial arts too, but those are useless when it comes to ghosts."

"Yeah, but this is your first time seeing them at home when we're not under attack from an army of ghosts," I said with a sigh. "Just… be prepared for anything."

"Heh, alright, I promise to stay on my toes," Valerie said with a chuckle.

I gestured her to follow me. I took Valerie into the kitchen, "The lab is in the basement, downstairs from the kitchen."

"Heh, you must still be nervous from our date if you're trying to give me a tour of your house," Valerie said teasingly.

I tried not to blush or sweat in front of her, "It's just in case, you've only been in there once."

I opened the door that lead to the stairs that lead into the lab. Valerie followed me down. I heard Valerie giving a small gasp of awe as she looked around the lab. It was a little messy, but it was spotless compared to how Dad usually kept the place. Mom must've just cleaned up. The Ghost Portal was still on, I don't think my parents ever turned it off since the second accident.

"Wow, it's so much cleaner than it was last time I was here. There are even a few things here that Axion Labs doesn't even have," Valerie said as she looked around at the different equipment.

"Yeah, Mom and Dad are geniuses when it comes to inventing ghost weapons. Dad may be… naive, but he's got a real knack for creating weapons and devices to hunt down ghosts," I said. "But you already knew that. They might've added a few new things since you were here."

"I'm sure they did, your mom is a brilliant inventor after all," Valerie said. "I remember seeing her in a few science and invention magazines."

"Yeah," I said before looking at the Ghost Portal. "I'm sure you remember the Fenton Ghost Portal."

"Yeah." Valerie nodded. "I've never been through it before, but… I do have one question about it."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Why would you guys keep something so dangerous? Wouldn't it make more sense to deactivate it? Perhaps ghosts might stop appearing in Amity Park if you did," Valerie asked. "I mean you don't necessarily have to destroy it, since that might not be good considering some of the science books I've read said that a theoretically contained portal would expand if the containment were damaged or destroyed, but isn't there an off switch?"

I looked at the portal and said, "Good luck finding it. The on and off switch are inside the portal. And even if we could turn it off, there's no guarantee it'll ever turn back on again. Last time might've just been a fluke, and ghosts will still find a way to get into our world regardless."

"... why would the on and off switches be inside the portal? That doesn't make any sense at all," Valerie said, asking a question I've asked myself plenty of times.

"My dad probably designed the on and off switch," I sighed.

"I thought your parents were supposed to be geniuses," Valerie grumbled.

"I said he was a genius, not that he had common sense and I did also say that my dad was naive after all," I answered. "But let's forget about that, we're here to analyze the stuff in the food, not to gawk at the Ghost Portal all day."

"Right, where's the analyzer?" Valerie asked. "I remember it sitting over there next to the computer before."

I looked around before walking over to one of the corner of the lab. I began to move some of the boxes Dad kept here. "If I remember right, Dad had me and Danny put it away behind… or under this big pile of boxes after he stopped using it."

"I'm still surprised that your parents let you touch all this stuff, I'm sure half of it is dangerous," Valerie remarked.

"He assured us this stuff is only dangerous to ghosts," I said, though I guess this still does make it dangerous to Danny and me. "And he's too lazy to clean up the lab so he makes me and Danny clean it up sometimes."

"Your dad is unbelievable," Valerie sighed.

I shrugged, "He's not so bad, he always tries to protect his family when he thinks we're in danger."

"That much was evident last time I was here," Valerie said as she helped me move some of the boxes.

I managed to push off the last box before I saw what I was looking for, "Here it is."

I began to pull out a big box, it looked to be about as big as the microwave in our kitchen, maybe a little bigger. When I pulled it out, I opened the box. "Yeah, I knew it would be here."

Valerie came over to me and looked at the silver and green analyzer. Mom and Dad's inventions were usually this color.

"Does it still work?" Valerie asked.

"Only one way to find out," I said. "Let's put one of the food in here and see."

"Don't we need to plug it in?" Valerie asked as she pointed at the dangling cord. "Or is that supposed to hook up into a printer or a computer to transmit the data? I never really took a good look at it last time."

"Yeah we need to plug it in, though Dad also said it was solar powered," I answered. "Though it's easier to just plug it in, so I'll go ahead and do that. Meanwhile can you go ahead and get the food ready?"

I stood up and picked up the dangling cord before walking over to the nearest outlets. I frowned, there weren't any nearby outlets. Mom and Dad had to use extensions to reach any outlets. I looked over at the Ghost Portal and followed the cords. There should be a power strip somewhere, there are too many cords for just one outlet.

"Hey Andy," Valerie said before I turned to her. I saw her pointed up and there was a cord hanging from the ceiling that had outlets on the end. Valerie reached up and pulled it down.

"Huh, mom must've installed that recently," I said with a frown since I don't remember seeing it before. "It does make sense since mom always complain about Dad taking all the outlets when she had her own experiments and inventions to test."

"I'm honestly surprised your family is able to pay the electric bills," Valerie said. "All this stuff must use up a lot of electricity, especially the Ghost Portal."

"Well we don't have to pay as much as you'd think, we have our own power generator in the sub basement," I responded. "And yes, there is a floor below us, but it only has the generator, the water heaters, and the furnace."

I plugged the cord into one of the outlets. "Okay, it should have power now. We just have to turn it on and see if it works. Did you put one of the food inside the analyzer yet?"

"Yeah, I put in your burger, I didn't want to overload the machine with the different foods," Valerie answered. "I assume we only have to hit start and wait for the results?"

"That's about the gist of it," I said with a nod.

Valerie looked at the analyzer and pushed the start button. The machine started to whir to life.

"It looks like it's working," I said. "It should only take a few minutes for it to completely analyze the burger. Paper will start coming out of the side as it gets results, at least that's what Mom told me."

"Okay," Valerie looked at the analyzer as it began the process.

While she was watching the machine, I started to get worried about what Danny and Sam are doing. I couldn't talk to Tucker out loud here.

"Hey Val, why don't you keep an eye on the analyzer for a few minutes?" I asked.

"Hmm? Why, is there something you need to do?" Valerie asked in response.

"I need to check on my sister," I answered. "I need to make sure she's okay. And I also need to get a drink, my throat's feeling dry."

"Hmmm? Why would your sister not be okay? Is there something going on with her?" Valerie asked.

I sighed as I remembered Jazz's attitude the last time I saw her, "Let's just say she's gotten a bit too determined with something she shouldn't lately. I'll be back soon, Val."

"Alright, well maybe tell your parents I'm here so they don't think I'm a ghost who broke into their lab or something," Valerie said.

"If I see them I will," I said before I headed upstairs.

As soon as I was in the kitchen, I closed the door to the lab and sat down. I gave a small sigh before I said, "Hey Tucker, how are Danny and Sam doing now?"

"... do you really want to know…?" Tucker asked in response, sounding extremely hesitant.

"... I just mean are they okay?" I rephrase my question, hearing that answer made me not want to know what's going on anymore.

"Yeah, they're fine," Tucker responded. "Though I'm extremely tempted to go over to them and act as a third wheel to keep things from progressing too much."

"Okay, look if they're going too far then give me a heads up please," I said with a sigh. "And I'll see if I can stop them before they make any… mistakes."

"They're already making kissy faces at each other but thankfully they aren't actually kissing yet," Tucker said. "I assume there's still some sane part inside of them keeping them from going too far."

I gave a sigh of relief, "That's good. Well if they're doing fine than we don't need to worry about them right now. When we finish with the analyzer, I'll see if I can send you some data over."

"Thanks, hopefully we get results that will help us pinpoint the problem," Tucker responded. "Anyways, I'll keep an eye on Danny and Sam and let you know if things start to get any worse."

"Thanks Tucker, let's hope we can snap them out of it soon. I know we always said Danny and Sam should get together but I rather it not be from some kind of love potion or fabricated by some weird spell," I said with a sigh.

"Yeah, it's pretty messed up," Tucker said in agreement. "Now, you should get back to Valerie."

"Right," I nodded. "I'm going back to her now."

With that said, I stood up from my chair and started to head towards the stairs.

"Hey, Andy, where are you heading?" I heard Mom say from behind me, making me stop.

Mysteryfan4ever: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Heh, no. There will not be a love triangle. At least not right now. We're not gonna focus on the twins' relationships right now. I mean sure they're high schoolers, but they've got more important things in their life besides relationships.

seruis: DarkFoxKit: We haven't confirmed if Andy and Valerie are getting together. This is a mission they're both doing to solve a mystery.

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': This relationship of theirs is simply for the sake of the mission. Both Andy and Valerie are too focused on the mission to really focus on relationship stuff.

DarkFoxKit: Maybe say you didn't expect that instead of saying it was confusing, cause it sounded like, to us, that you didn't understand what was going on. Just a heads up next time.

OMNISENSE95: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': For now. Their 'relationship' is for an assignment. That's all they see it as.

DarkFoxKit: There is still a chance Andy may end up with someone else.

Jewel moonstone: DarkFoxKit: Ouch, hope your cheek is alright. And glad this could cheer you up.

Luna Lillythchapter: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Yup~

FireSoulKid: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': You'll have to wait and see. Katrina? Oh, she's definitely an interesting one. I won't say much more than that.

DarkFoxKit: Andy and Valerie don't see each other that way despite others teasing them about it. There's still a chance Andy and Valerie may not even end up together. But who knows, maybe Andy and Valerie do like each other that way and they've just been too busy to realize it yet. Keeping people guessing is half the fun though.

Eridanian: DarkFoxKit: You really can't expect a battle scene in every chapter. Especially since I've started working with Onyx, we've been making it more about the slices of life and character development than about the action. But don't fret, we will get back into the action stuff soon, just be a little patient. As for if Star will have a crush on Andy Phantom… we haven't planned that out. It might happen, it might not, it depends on how we feel when we write.

KyraTheTenshi: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Yeah, most likely there will be an Andy clone. Perhaps name her Andrea. I'm sure Fox is happy to know that she helped others get into watching Danny Phantom.

DarkFoxKit: Oh yes, it's always good to know that I helped someone become a fan of a show I'm a fan of. And I believe Onyx is right, it's very likely we will have an Andy clone as well.

Mana: DarkFoxKit: We try not to use Andy's visions too much since we feel it could be overpowered, for now they're just being used as foreshadowing future events. You can thank Onyx for the original plot to this episode, I haven't thought about this kind of plot at all. It does add in more mystery and twists to the story, and expect more of these kinds of changes to the canon episodes from now on. We're really trying to divert more and more from the canon episodes while also trying to keep the base of the episodes we use. As for Katrina, she's definitely going to be interesting in the future.