Ectoplasmic Secrets

Mystery Meat

Summary: A ghost attacks Casper High after being angered by a change the school has made.

Sam had found herself rather proud of her persuasive skills when she'd been able to convince the school board to try a new vegetarian-friendly cafeteria menu. Of course she knew that not every student at Casper was going to be accepting of this change, but it wasn't like it would be permanent, as the school was only trying it for a week.

She was expecting to hear some complaints and backlash from her peers, but what she wasn't expecting was for the ghost of one of the past cafeteria workers to attack the school.

The ghost had first showed up during lunch. Sam, Tucker, and Danny had been at what had quickly become their new normal lunch table, chatting as usual when Danny had started acting weird again, like he had been for over a week by then. He got up and left before either Sam or Tucker could comment about it. Not a moment later Dash came by the table with his Styrofoam plate full of vegetables.

"This is your fault, Manson!"

"Yeah, and it's your fault you aren't able to keep a C in math." Sam shot back before thinking.

In the back a group of Dash's friends and football teammates were shocked and couldn't help laughing, which only made Dash angrier.

"You wanna say that again Manson? Especially when your boyfriend Fentonio isn't here to protect you?" he said in a low voice. Sam was about to dispute the suggestion that her and Danny were together when a ghost appeared from thin air right behind Dash. All the students quickly became aware of the supernatural entity and backed away, some simply running out of the room, no questions asked.

Dash noticed Sam staring wide eyed behind him and glanced over his shoulder before running full speed out of the cafeteria screaming.

The ghost now in front of Sam looked between her and her plate full of vegetables almost sadly, "Could you children tell me who changed menu?" The voice echoed ominously through the nearly empty cafeteria. The only students left in the room were pushed against the walls, and the few staff members that had been there watched the scene in front of them helplessly, having already called the situation into the front office where they would no doubt call for some paranormal services.

"Yeah. She did" Tucker said automatically. He looked frozen in place in his chair with eyes slightly wider than normal.

"YOU CHANGED THE MENU?!" the ghost woman screamed at Sam, and her loud, echoed voice almost hurt their ears. She wanted to punch Tucker for being such an idiot.

"Uh, yeah. Well, you know, we don't technically need to have meats in our diet…" Sam said slowly. The ghost's eyes narrowed before she switched back to her much sweeter elderly woman's voice.

"Meat is good for you child. It helps you grow and makes you stronger." she said.

"Uh, yeah!" Sam said, breaking out of her usual tone of voice in an attempt to keep the situation bright, "But, vegetables can do that too? Some people, just don't really care for meat, I guess? But who am I to say? It's just my opinion after all, no harm in that, right?"

The ghost's face twisted into a visible scowl. "You need a proper diet! Perhaps I will have to teach it to you."

Before she knew what was happening she heard Tucker yell her name. She only caught a glimpse of the ghost flying towards her, then she felt a chill and saw the cafeteria disappear above her.

"Sam!" Tucker yelled as the ghost grabbed his friend by the arm and pulled her through the floor. He stared at the spot she'd disappeared in shock. He didn't know what to do, he didn't even know what he could do.

His mind kept reeling, searching for an answer even as the teachers and staff members guided him and the other students outside and away from the building. Sam, who was always going on about how ghosts aren't all bad like most people in Amity thought, had just been kidnapped by a ghost. Danny, who had been acting strangely and worrying both his friends for the past week was missing as well, as Tucker was unable to find him in the crowd of students evacuated from the school.

His feet had apparently decided what he was going to do before his mind and he found himself running back into the school, thankfully not being noticed either. He went back to the cafeteria where he knew he'd seen Danny's backpack was left behind.

Tucker's steps all echoed ominously in the abandoned cafeteria and he picked up Danny's backpack, which was open on the table, when he could've sworn his friend had left it closed and on the floor. Pushing that thought aside, he reached for where he knew Danny had always kept a low level ectogun, at his parent's insistence of course, only to find it wasn't there.

"Fuck. Of course the one time we need a ghost weapon, you don't have one." he said to himself.

An idea came to him suddenly and Tucker looked in Sam's bag and nearly cheered when he found an ectogun hidden in her bag.

"Thank you, Sam, for being a hypocrite."

Sam's day had been getting worse and worse. First she had gotten kidnapped by some ghost ranting about how good meat was for everyone, then she had to sit around the school basement for ten minutes bored out of her mind while the ghost had gone off to find good meats, and now she was trying to force Sam to actually try the food she'd brought back?! No way. That just wouldn't do.

"What is your issue? Not everyone has to agree with you, you know!" Sam shouted from her place on top of a large stack of crates. The only thing keeping her there was the thought that if she jumped, she'd probably break her leg or something. The ghost floating around her seemed to be put off by Sam's latest remark and yelled as she kicked one of the crates. The stack wobbled and Sam grasped tightly onto the edge of the top crate before it settled down again.

"Why won't you try it, child?!" she yelled with rage pouring into her eyes and words. Sam scowled, "I've been on this healthy vegetarian diet for five years! Like hell I'm going to fuck it all up now!"

The ghost screamed with making it feel like the air itself shook, "Five years of malnutrition?! You will eat it whether you want to or not, child! It is for your own good!"

Her voice suddenly calmed almost comically, "Chicken, or fish?"

"Pass." Sam said flatly. Honestly, as much I despise ghost hunters for what they do, would it kill them to get here a little faster?

"Aaaaauuuggghhh!" The ghost yelled in frustration, punching her fist into one of the boxes near the bottom. Almost instantly, Sam regretted sass talking the bipolar ghost. The tower of boxes leaned just a hair too far and they all came apart before crashing towards the ground. Sam instinctively closed her eyes at the feeling of weightlessness. She waited and waited to hit the ground as time seemed to slow down a little bit, but it never came. She never felt the cold tiled floor, nor the hard wood of one of the giant crates, no, instead her descent was cushioned and fingers curled over her knee and shoulder. Her stomach twisted a little when she was suddenly jerked back into motion. Wind whipped through her short black hair before disappearing completely, only to be replaced with a cold shiver running through her whole body.

She peeked her eyes open to find she was surrounded by some crates and pipes. Obviously she was still in the school basement, but she couldn't see the ghost woman anymore, only hear her cries of frustration. Realizing that she had no idea who was holding her, Sam quickly jumped down and backed away a few steps before turning and coming face to face with the ghost that had stolen everyone in town's attention over the past week.

"You…You…saved me."

Danny tensed, not knowing if Sam would recognize him or not. Her eyes widened suddenly and he feared that she had. Not like he could blame her, he didn't look extremely different. White hair, sticking up at the same odd angles as when it was raven black, and blue eyes lit up green. The outfit was different, which was weird, but since he'd been in a panicked rush when he'd transformed, he hadn't the time to question the black shirt and pants and white gloves and boots. All of his focus at the time had been on making sure that ghost he'd sensed didn't get the chance to hurt his friends. So much that did, he thought, looking at Sam standing in front of him, having just been kidnapped by said ghost.

"You're the ghost from that video that went viral last week."

Well, she'd recognized him, but thankfully not in the way he'd thought she was going to.

"Help! Somebody!" another voice yelled from the other end of the basement, and Danny realized it sounded an awful lot like Tucker. Sam realized it too, "Shit- shit, that sounded like Tucker- er, my friend!"

"Um, just stay here" Danny said, before flying off a little shakily as he was still trying to get used to the feeling. In the distance he listened as Sam shouted something in protest.

While heading in what he believed to be Tucker's direction, he couldn't help but wonder what the hell he was doing, or was going to do when he got there.

Tucker was usually not a daring type of guy. Typically he lived his life a safe distance away from the edge, but people do crazy things with the right motivation. His motivation was the fact that at least one, possibly both of his best friends were stuck in the school somewhere with a ghost that seemed to be of their rocker. Although if he was being honest, he didn't share the same views as Sam and thought that all ghosts were at least a little crazy.

He supposed he might be able to find out the truth himself soon enough if he kept up with his insane mission to find his friends.

Creeping into the school basement and around a pile of toppled crates, Tucker made sure his finger was ready on the trigger of the ectogun. He flinched as something moved, but his eyes couldn't lock onto any form, that is, until the ghost slowly faded into visibility, staring directly at him.

She took a step towards him. Then another. And after the third step Tucker aimed and fired.

The ghost woman took a direct hit from the ectogun and looked a little hurt by it, but recovered quickly. It seemed the low power ectogun wasn't enough to stop the ghost, actually it did quite the opposite, Tucker realized, as the ghost more than doubled in size and her calm face turned to anger.

"Help! Somebody!" he yelled, hoping there were any ghost hunters that had managed to get there by then.

He watched as the ghost raised her arms and meats from inside some of the crates flew into the air. In any other situation, Tucker would've called that Heaven, but there was a very pissed off cafeteria worker's ghost behind all of it, and that made it Hell. She pulled all of the meats towards herself and with a flash of light, she was transformed into a giant meat monster.

Doing what any sane person in his shoes would do, Tucker decided to run. He knew there was no way he was faster than her, but it was all he could do.

He could hear every one of her thundering footsteps getting closer, until they were interrupted by a large blast. After he'd found he'd ran into a dead end, Tucker turned around and saw the ghost had gotten hit with another shot from an ectogun, but not his, or technically, Sam's. For a second his mind concluded that some hunters must've gotten there and taken that shot at the ghost, but then he saw the second ghost standing on top of one of the stacks of crates, holding an ectogun aimed at the meat monster ghost.

There was no way Sam was going to just stay put.

"Hey!" she yelled as the ghost who'd possibly just saved her life, or at least saved her from what could've been a serious injury, flew off in the direction of Tucker's call for help. Speaking of Tucker, she was gonna chew his ear off for being a fucking idiot and coming after her, or at least she'd assumed that was why he was there. That would have to wait, though.

"No way am I staying here! You hear me, whatever your name is?!" She began running in the same way the ghost had gone, wishing for a moment that she'd been able to get the ectogun she had hidden in her backpack before getting pulled down there to the basement. Neither Tucker nor Danny knew she kept one there, but hey, one could never be too safe when living in Amity Park.

She was breathing hard as she continued her sprint, following the sounds she was hearing echo through the room. Then there was a loud blast, and Sam worried.

Coming around one last corner, she thankfully caught sight of Tucker, who was staring up, and ran the last of the distance to get to him.

"Tucker!" she yelled.

He looked over, seemingly surprised and relieved, "Sam! Are you okay?!"

She stopped, breathing heavy and heart pounding. Her throat stung. "Yeah, come on, we gotta go!"

There was a yell from the side of her that got closer and closer until the ghost from before landed on the ground, half in the room still, and half inside the wall. She heard Tucker swear in surprise as she took the ghost's hands and pulled him out of the wall without really thinking.

"Getting help from malnourished little human friends?!"

Before she could realize it, something was wrapping itself around her.

Danny could only stare as the ghost turned her attention on Sam and Tucker, picking them up in her meaty hand.

"Now they can be an example to all the other students who plan on changing the menu!"

"Hey!" Tucker yelled, "I didn't even want the menu to be changed! That was her idea!"

The ghost didn't seemed to care as she took the two and flew outside.

Danny, who was still on the ground, panicked at the fact she'd targeted Sam and Tucker. They hadn't even done anything, they were just there. Why were they even there? How had they gotten roped into all this, out of all the other kids in the school it could've been instead?

He got up and flew outside after the ghost.

Jasmine Fenton just wished the day could've been a normal one. She'd been engaged in a deep conversation with Spike, a boy in her grade who'd been having some trouble at home, and was just about to convince him to open up to his parents when suddenly all the students were being led out into the parking lot away from the school.

For a few minutes she hadn't know what was going on, that is, until she heard people in the crowd whispering things about a ghost attacking in the school somewhere. Then she became worried.

She wasn't worried so much about yet another crazy ghost on the loose, she knew they'd stop it, but she was worried about her little brother, who attended the same school, and who she was unable to find in the crowd after several minutes.

Her parents showed up before she could do anything dumb trying to find him. They'd immediately gotten out of the RV and found Jazz before asking where their youngest child was. She couldn't answer, she hadn't a clue.

Not a moment later a giant meat monster flew out of the ground from underneath the school, and in it's fist, Danny's two friends, Tucker and Sam. Her parents saw them too.

"Tucker! Sam! Don't worry kids, you'll be alright!" Maddie shouted as Jack handed her a weapon. Somehow, Jazz doubted it. They were at least a good forty feet in the air and it didn't look like the ghost was gong to just set them down nicely on the ground. She doubted they'd be alright, but there was nothing she could do about it.

"Let them go!" someone yelled. Jazz couldn't see who it was through the crowd but the voice sounded just slightly familiar.

"You again, child?!" the meat monster ghost said, "You need manners to learn how to stop interrupting!"

Some loud crashes followed those words, although Jazz couldn't really see anything that was going on. She knew though, that whatever was happening had even managed to surprise her parents as they looked at one another, baffled.

Would Danny say he was regretting his plan, or lack of a plan? Yes. Very much.

He'd gotten the ghost's attention again, but it had done nothing to free Sam and Tucker. She was attacking him, using only one arm, and somehow she still hand the upper hand, ha.

The giant fist flew at him again but he moved out of the way just in time. She may have been a giant meat monster, but she wasn't very quick when it came down to it. Seeing an opportunity, Danny fired a shot from the ectogun he still had at one of her legs, causing her to begin to topple over. Instinctively she opened her other fist and brought both hands down to catch herself.

He watched as gravity began to take hold of his two friends and raced towards them. Their screams were barely audible over the ghost's roar as she crashed to the ground.

A moment before Sam and Tucker hit the ground, he crashed into them, pulling all three of them down.

"Ugh." Sam said, sitting up and rubbing her arm. There'd likely be a bruise, but it would've been worse if they'd fallen straight down. Tucker opened his eyes next, "Are we alive?"

"For now." Danny said, eyeing the ghost who was beginning to get back up, "Come on, I've gotta get you guys out of here."

All three of them got up and started moving. There was another roar behind them and suddenly Danny couldn't move as he was pulled away from his friends, who were thankfully still running the opposite way. Within a moment he was face to face with the ghost as her big glowing green eyes met his and narrowed. She pulled her fist back and threw him through the air like a pitcher and a baseball.

The ground below him was a blur, but her somehow managed to slow himself down a bit before slamming into the side of the RV and falling to the ground with a thud. As he sat up, he registered his shoulder and back aching painfully.

"Jack don't worry about that one right now, let's focus on the bigger threat! Look! It's let go of the kids!"

"So we've got a clear shot now."

He heard as his parents began to fire at the other ghost. Danny glanced around a bit when his eyes met with the wide, slightly fearful teal gaze of his sister. Did she know? Could she see through his ghostly appearance? He didn't know.

The sun came out from behind a cloud and reflected brightly off of something metal his parents had sitting out, and Danny got an idea.

Tucker kept running, struggling to keep up with Sam. He wasn't meant for athletics, that much was clear.

They continued going, getting closer and closer to where the rest of the student were.

"What the hell, Sam?!"

"What?!" she yelled behind her.

"What the hell were you thinking?! You didn't even try to run from that ghost in the cafeteria!"

"Hey! I didn't know if running was gonna make the situation worse! Besides, I should be asking you the same thing! What the hell were you thinking, coming back into the school?!"

They were almost there.

"You were kidnapped by a freaking ghost, and then I couldn't find Danny either! What was I supposed to do?!"

"Wait, Danny's not here?" she asked.

They had made it to where the rest of the students, teachers, and staff were gathered. Lancer saw them.

"Great Gatsby! There you two are!" Lancer said, and much to their dismay, pulled them along with him towards the rest of the classes. They passed the Fenton parents on their way and overheard Maddie.

"Evil, conniving, scumbag ghost! Jack, it stole one of our thermoses!"

Tucker looked over the heads of people in the crowd and saw a blue beam of light cast over the meat monster.

"I'll be back for you, you little phantom!" the ghost screamed.

She fought against the pull tooth and nail, but soon the meats began to shed away, falling to the ground, and the ghost disappeared in the blue light.

Everything calmed down after that.

Maddie and Jack were unnerved by the fact that the new ghost in Amity Park had stolen one of their special ghost catching thermoses. They couldn't understand what it wanted with the other ghost, nor why the two had fought in the first place. It was also concerning to them that said ghost had managed to escape, disappearing like it had never even been there in the first place. No traces or trails to follow, just gone.

Tucker had been getting more and more worried after the attack all the way until Danny had finally found him and Sam outside. Later on Sam had found out he'd gone digging through her backpack to find that ectogun, and she'd chewed his ear off about it, saying it was an invasion of her privacy and that she'd had a very good reason for carrying the ghost weapon around.

Jazz hadn't known what to think at the end of the day. She'd come face to face with a ghost, although that in itself wasn't all that weird and hadn't been the first time it happened. What she couldn't shake was how different that ghost was compared to other ones.

Sam had been glad that she now had solid proof that not all ghosts are mindless evil things, however, she wouldn't admit it, but at the time when she was captured by the cafeteria worker ghost, she had been pretty terrified, probably almost the most she'd ever been in her life before. When her friends asked about it later she tried to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal.

Danny had hidden the thermos in his backpack after the incident and made up the story the he had been in the bathroom when the attack started and had just hid there the rest of the time. He'd found his friends later and felt guilty looking at all the bruises and small cuts they'd gotten. He knew then, that he didn't want them getting involved in anything ghost related like that again, and if that meant even keeping them away from the ghost side of himself, that seemed it wasn't going away anytime soon, then so be it.

A/N: WHOA. A solid 4,000 word chapter! That might be a new record for me!

So, the plan I've got now is to alternate between doing one chapter based on an episode (like this one) and one chapter that's an original oneshot focused on something or someone else. Sound good? Oh, and if you have any episode(s) in particular that you want me to do a chapter like this on, please comment it in the review section, as I likely will not be doing every single episode. :)

Next chapter will be up next Friday, January 11th. I'm sorry it's a bit of a wait, but it's because I'm starting second semester of senior year this Monday, and I'll need a little extra time to allow myself to get used to my new schedule, plan future chapters, and maybe get a few buffer chapters written.

Thank you so much for reading/favoriting/following/reviewing! 'See' ya soon! :)