Chapter 11

Happy Thursday Everyone! Welcome to chapter eleven!

The bus in this story is a true representation of an actual bus that I rode down to a state Science Olympiad tournament. We rode home in a blizzard and the heat literally only heated one spot in the entire bus. Everything else is described in truth in the fic itself. Even Cam's little comment about the football buses is true.

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Danny:(After his ghost sense wakes him up) Oh, great. Just what I need: a working vacation. (Transforms into Danny Phantom)

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"We're not really taking that bus are we?" Ted asked precariously. The students going on the field trip to Wisconsin were standing outside Casper High with their bags.

The bus Ted was referring to didn't look that safe. The door was literally held together by duct tape and metal springs. The windows were cracked and the bus just looked like it should have been decommissioned years ago.

"We get better buses than this to go to football games." Cam commented, standing next to Ted and critiquing the buses.

"This was the only part of the trip Vlad didn't fund." Jazz told them, carrying up her suitcases. "I'm sure he did this on purpose." She sighed.

"This is going to be miserable." Stacy whined. "My hair is going to get all dirty."

"A little dirt never hurt anyone, Stacy. Besides, we're going to fight possibly the most powerful person on this planet. How can you be thinking about a little dirt in your hair at a time like this?" Cam asked curiously and a little annoyed at the same time. She suddenly knew how Ami felt most of the time.

Stacy huffed. "For your information, we haven't even left Amity Park yet. I'll worry about Mr. Masters once we've crossed into the Wisconsin border. Until then, I'll worry about my hair. I've merely got my priorities straight. No use worrying now. There's no turning back."

Ami gawked. "You just said something moderately profound. You said something that wasn't completely blondish!"

Stacy blinked. "What?" She asked, blinking her eyes in confusion.

Ami sighed, defeated. "Never mind."

"Hey, guys! Sorry I'm late!" Lilith said running up to the group with her bags. Unlike most of the students, she had two suitcases. One was full of ghost hunting weapons and devices. Ami also had a suitcase like that. Otherwise the others each had one weapon each that they had chosen. Lilith had brought her's for Jazz and for and emergency if she couldn't change forms. They had a lot of time to prepare.

"Remember" Jazz was always saying. "Even if we plan for every possible scenario things could still get unpredictable. We all have to be careful."

"Did you bring the Fenton Fisher?" Cam asked for his weapon. Lilith threw it at him after digging for it. "Yes!" He celebrated after catching it.

"Cam, what are you doing with that thing?" Said Dash coming up to the group with his own bags. "That stuff is bad luck."

"It's precautionary Dash; let the kids have their fun." Jazz told him.

"There's not going to be any ghosts on this trip, are there Jazz? Your parents aren't going to show up out of the middle of nowhere and do weird stuff?" Dash asked nervously, referring back to the gang's sophomore year when they had gone as a class to a historic farm outside town. It had been haunted. The Fenton's showed up. Danny Phantom had shown up. Dash had gotten slimed real badly. It had been the beginnings of his ghost phobia.

"My parents are somewhere in Europe, last time I heard from them. That was in a very brief phone conversation eight years ago." Jazz reassured him.

Dash didn't seem convinced, but let it go as he let his son socialize to go put the bags in the bus's storage compartment.

"Okay students, let's hurry up and go! We're paying the drivers by the hour!" Mr. Lancer yelled to everyone.

The group turned to each other. "Okay guys, this is it. Show time. All in?" Lilith said, putting her hand in the middle of the circle.

One by one everyone put their hand in the pile. "Okay." Lilith said a bit nervous, but swallowing it enough to sound confident. "Let's do this."

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Five hours into the bus trip the first signs of trouble appeared. Lilith was reading their American Literature textbook and Jazz was sitting next to her was reading some notes from her private psychiatric practice. Stacy was chatting on with some other girls sitting behind her as Ami stressed to listen to her CD player. Ted and Cam were playing some weird handheld game through wireless connection.

Everything seemed peaceful, though Lilith was still trying to calm her nerves. She was getting her mind off the bigger issue at hand by fretting for Charlie in short excerpt of Flowers for Algernon. Before she could really get into the ending a familiar blue mist escaped her mouth.

Jazz looked over immediately. By the look on her face Lilith could tell that her aunt knew what it was. "Go to the bathroom in the back. You can change there, I'll cover for you." She said. Lilith excused herself quietly and quickly walked to the back. The others thought nothing of it.

Once in the bathroom in the back of the bus, Lilith changed her appearance and then phased out of the bus to check on the situation. She fervently hoped it was Skulker.

"Hey, it's the one kid from the school. I told you were chasing the right bus!" Said the first ghost vulture.

"That's only because we stopped to ask for directions. We'd be lost if we'd listened to you." Said the second. Lilith sighed. "Here we go again." She thought.

"Look I'm going to see your boss. Why are you chasing us?" She asked them.

"Eh?" said the first. "Oh, yeah. We're supposed to make sure there's no funny business going on. We're gonna go check the luggage."

"Way to go you idiot! You told her the plan!"

"Maybe this way we'll get that trip to Fiji?" Suggested the third.

"You bet." Lilith said, determined to finish this soon. First she shot an ecot-blast, but that only succeeded in scattering the birds. One headed for the bus while the other two kept Lilith busy enough.

She manipulated her ecto-energy to form her sword and switched strategies. By attacking one at a time it might be easier. She first went for the one in the luggage bay. She found him phasing in and out of the bags.

"Why can't you three just leave me alone?" Lilith stressed as she attacked. She rammed into the vulture, sending them both into the side of the bus. On top of them Lilith heard yelps and screams from her classmates.

Suddenly the bus came to a halt. Lilith and the vulture were thrown to the other side and hit with all the momentum. She recovered quickly and grabbed the vulture and took him outside.

Many of her classmates had come out of the bus. Her friends had the ghost hunting gear at ready and were trying to hit the other two vultures. Ted was rummaging through his backpack to take out what looked like…a thermos? Lilith thought this was a rather questionable time for soup, but was too busy with trying to figure out what to do with the three ghosts.

"Ted, where did you get that?" Jazz shouted.

The musician turned around to face her. "I found it back in the fifth grade. I don't know what it does though. I've been trying to figure that out for the longest time."

"That's perfect! Point it at the ghosts!" She commanded. "Hurry!"

Ted did as told. He pressed the 'on' button and a brilliant white lightening came out of the device. He almost lost his grip from the energy pushing him backwards.

It did the trick. The two vultures that were flying around together were captured by the stream of light and were sucked into the thermos.

Ted opened his eyes. There was now only the one vulture that Lilith was fighting instead of the three. "What happened?" He asked.

"That is the wonder of the Fenton thermos. It captures and stores ghosts until we can put them back into the Ghost Zone." Jazz explained, and then blushed embarrassed by something. "I was never very good with it. I caught Danny with it several times."

"That is a handy little device." Ami said, joining them.

"Sure is." Jazz said again, rather proud. "That's my parent's one invention that Danny used the most. It's kind of trademark in a way."

"Hey, shouldn't we be helping Lily? She looks like she's getting annoyed." Stacy commented.

They all looked up as Cam tried to aim the Fenton Fisher at the ghost vulture without catching Lilith at the same time. It was at this time that Dash and Mr. Lancer came running out of the bus.

"Red Badge of Courage, people!" Mr. Lancer shouted. "What's going on?"

"It's the ghosts! They're after me still!" He took Mr. Lancer by the shoulders and shook him violently. "It's our old class, Mr. Lancer! Fenton and Manson are here for revenge!"

"Get a grip Mr. Baxter, you're an adult!"

"Besides, Danny and Sam aren't dead. I'm sure we'll find them someday." Jazz said a bit annoyed at Dash's antics.

"I hope so. I don't want to be haunted anymore…" Dash complained, but finally releasing Mr. Lancer and settling down a bit.

"But why is the ghost-kid here?" Mr. Lancer asked.

"Because she's a kid, like Danny Phantom was once before her. They probably haunt the school and watch after the students and faculty." Jazz explained as if she had used this excuse before.

"Hey Jazz, I can't get a lock on him!" Cam shouted. "She's too close!"

"Phantom! Get away, we've got a plan!" Ami called. It took Lilith a good minute to realize that she was Phantom. She flew away as fast as she could as Cam caught the vulture finally.

"I got one!" He joked. "I'm bringing him in, Ted, net him!"

Ted didn't need to be told twice as he pushed the 'on' button on the thermos again. The ghost went. His last words were something that sounded like "This isn't Fiji!"

"We did it!" Stacy jumped up and down.

"We didn't do anything, Stacy." Ami said, annoyed that she didn't get a shot in. Her own gun was underneath the bus, too big to even fit.

"Hey, where's the ghost-kid?" Dash asked, looking around.

"Hi guys! I heard all the commotion from the bathroom, but I really had to go. Sorry I missed it." Lilith said, coming out of the bus door.

"Thank goodness you're okay Lily." Jazz said, giving her a show hug, but also one of congratulations. "I was worried about you."

"You missed a mighty good ghost fight, Lily." Ted winked. "I actually did something useful for once." He said, shaking the thermos.

"That's great Ted. I'm really happy for you." Lilith said, pretending she didn't know what had just happened.

Dash scratched his head. "You know, "He said to Mr. Lancer. "There's something oddly familiar about this whole situation."

Mr. Lancer nodded. "You mean the fact that it's a ghost attack, the Fenton kid goes missing and doesn't show up until after the fight? And that it always seems to be the ones with the Phantom kids."

"You don't think there could be a connection, could there?" Dash pondered not sure if he really wanted to know the answer, or was ready for it.

"I'm not sure. But in any case the new ghost-kid is following us. We may get a chance to ask questions. I know I have a few." Mr. Lancer said, wheels in his head turning fast.

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It was late in the evening when they arrived at the Masters Mansion; former home of the Wisconsin Dairy King-remodeled after a freakishly large explosion had damaged the vast majority of the house years back.

Lilith stood outside the mansion with her bags beside her. As her classmates socialized, she was gearing up for one of the most important things she'd ever do in her life. Her parents, their friend and her best friend were in that mansion somewhere and she was going to do everything in her power to get them out.

All thoughts of what would happen afterwards she tried hard to keep as far from her mind as she possibly could.

"Need some company?" She heard Ted ask from behind.

"I'm scared." She said simply. Ted put his arm around her and she took his hand gratefully. "Thanks. I really don't want to have stay here."

"You won't." He told her. "We're here to help you. We'll get you your parents back."

"I just wanted to have a normal life." She reminisced, closing her eyes. "That's why I wanted to come to school so badly. It only made my life worse." She chuckled. "This is about as far from normal as I can get and I've dragged you all into this."

"You don't need to apologize for anything." Ted insisted. "We adopted you into our group by choice and you're staying with us. We're all a bunch of weirdoes who really don't fit in anywhere anyway."

Lilith laughed at his lightheartedness in the face of certain doom, as Box Lunch would have said. The moment was short-lived as Vlad came out to address the students.

"Welcome everyone, it's so good of you all come." He said with fake enthusiasm. He somehow found his way first to Jazz. "Hello Jasmine, it's so nice of you to come with the children and even to bring your niece with you." He said as he spotted Lilith still holding onto Ted's hand. They immediately separated under his calculating gaze.

"My dear Lilith, it's good to see you again. It's been so long, I've missed you." He said in passing, patting her head on his way back to the front.

"You back off, buddy." Ted warned with a glare. "If you try anything we'll be on you faster than you can get your 'employees' on speed-dial."

"Oh, the scary eyes." Vlad mocked. "I've dished out worse boy; you don't know what you're dealing with." He said without worry, his eyes flashing red in warning.

"Let's go inside and get settled. It's been a long day for us all." Jazz said as she ushered the kids towards the mansion. "We'll need our rest, I'm sure." She said her eyes locked in on Vlad. They walked away briskly before Vlad could make a follow-up comment.

Once all the students were inside they received instructions on where they were staying that night. Lilith was staying with Stacy and Ami even though it was only two kids to a room. Cam and Ted were a floor above them.

They stored the luggage in the rooms and then there was nothing to do. Nothing until they put their plan into action that is. Lilith sat on one of the beds in a tense position. Ami was on the floor preparing weapons and Stacy was on the other bed playing with her fingernail polish.

"Lily, you're sulking again." Stacy warned.

Lilith sighed and bowed her head. "No matter how many times you guys try to comfort me, I'm still terrified. I'm going to do this; I'm just scared to."

Ami continued to play with her weapons, this time inspecting the barrel of the gun to make sure it didn't have any defects in it. "We're here to back you up. We'll follow your lead no matter what it is. You're energized, you've got the training, now you just have to go out there and show off your stuff."

"I'm restless." Lilith snapped. "My dad and best friend are directly below us in the lab. I want to see them so badly. I've never been away from Box Lunch for so long. I hope she's okay." She admitted with worry.

"Ghosts are made of tough stuff. I'm sure she's fine." Stacy said.

"Ghosts are made of ectoplasm." Ami interjected exasperatedly. "It's not that tough."

Lilith bit her lip. This could not end well.

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After everyone was asleep-or was supposed to be as it was past 'quiet time' and lights should be out-the group put the plan into action. All they had to do was wait for the signal.

Skulker entered Vlad's laboratory. This was something he had done many times before, but this time he wasn't doing anything for Plasmius. He had followed the rickety old bus down and was thoroughly surprised that it hadn't broken down.

He couldn't help but grin as he saw his former prey and the constant annoyance that was Box Lunch locked up in the same cell. Danny was sleeping soundly on the floor and child ghost was on the bed in a restful position. This would be fun.

He put on his serious face as he approached the cage. He pulled out a metal rod and failed to suppress another grin. He prodded the man who had evaded his blade time after time again. "Wake up Ghost-child…" He said for old time's sake as he pressed the 'on' button with sadistic glee.

Danny awoke fast. He was in pain that much he had figured out. He let out a yelp of pain as he faced his attacker. "Vlad! Will you stop tha…" He didn't finish his sentence as he saw Skulker standing over him, inside the cage.

"Hello Whelp. Long time no see. Before you say anything I haven't come here to kill you. I am here on other business in the manner of rescuing you." He explained quickly, before Danny could form any unfounded conclusions.

"Yeah, help me escape so you can hunt me again. It took you fifteen years to come up with this plan?" Danny accused. At the same time, Box Lunch woke up from the noise.

"What the…oh great, Frog-boy finally decided to take my advice and show up. We're saved." She said sarcastically, waving her hands in the air in mock celebration.

"'Frog-boy'?" Danny laughed. "That's a good one."

"I don't have time for witty banter, Whelp." Skulker said, taking him by the scruff of his shirt. "Your daughter is a few floors above us waiting for me to break you two out."

"She is? It's the night of the field trip! Danny exclaimed, and then paused. "I have a few words I need to exchange with you once this is all done concerning what I've heard about you raising my daughter. I have to admit it was very ingenious of you, even though I really don't like it." He said, narrowing his eyes dangerously.

Skulker very much debated at that point whether to remove the handcuffs or not as they would give Danny access to his powers once again. But knowing things would be better hunting after this whole fiasco was over he did so.

"We will exchange words and most probably unfriendly fire after this is over." Skulker said to settle things. "Until then, I'm here to help you."

"Ah-hem!" Box Lunch said stretching out her arm to alert the men that she still had the bracelet on, which grounded her as well. Skulker growled, and after a pointed look from Danny, reluctantly removed hers as well. "So, what next?" She asked, getting ready for a fight.

"We get Sam and Tucker. If Vlad doesn't have any captives he won't have anything against us except himself." Danny elected. For the first time in a very long time he felt his old powers surging through his body, once again blending in line with his DNA. Calling on his old battle-cry, he changed his own appearance letting instinct take over. "I'm going ghost!"

His HAZMAT suit uniform had not changed at all. He suddenly felt like he was the same little boy bent on protecting his home town from ghosts who threatened to invade. Now he was grown up with more experience, more powers and a will bent on protecting the family that had been taken away from him.

"Let's go." He said flying through the ceiling and out of the lab and taking the leadership position right off the bat. It was good to be flying again.

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As soon as the three girls heard the brief radio transmission from Skulker they left the room. There was no time to waste. The boys met them in front of Vlad's master bedroom. Lilith took a deep breath. "Let's go." She said as she changed into her ghostly appearance. Then she, Ted and Ami phased through the opposite wall.

Cam and Stacy stayed. Stacy gave a knock on the bedroom door. "Mr. Masters! There's a huge problem!" She yelled through the door.

When Vlad opened the door he was very much awake and looked like he was going to stay that way for a long time. He was still dressed in his day clothes. "What do you want?" He asked, rather annoyed. It was as if he expected something to happen tonight. "Shouldn't you two be sleeping?" He asked suspiciously.

"We're sorry Mr. Masters." Cam said. "But there's a huge mess down in the lobby and…" Cam had more of an excuse ready, but Vlad cut him off in panic.

"NO! Tell me child, was any of the Packers merchandise harmed!" Vlad exclaimed as grabbed hold of Cam's shirt.

"Err…" Cam was at a loss for words for all of two seconds as he soon realized that he could talk American football with the best of them. "I don't think so, but we should go back down and check just in case."

"I'll go find a broom to help clean up!" Stacy said as she ran off to pretend to find a broom. They had to keep Vlad busy for as long as possible and it seemed as if Cam had found the perfect subject.

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Meanwhile Lilith, Ted and Ami had arrived in the secondary laboratory. Ami immediately took a look at the controls to the sleeping chambers.

"Its password protected." She finally said. "I'm good with computers, but I'm no hacker. I can't get in." She said in apology.

Lilith sighed depressingly and Ted gave her a look of sympathy. He had the Fenton thermos strapped around his body in case he needed to use it. Ami had her gun securely on her back.

Just then, Lilith's ghost sense went off. Before anyone could say anything Box Lunch came hurling through the wall and straight into her friend.

"Beware!" She yelled right before slamming into Lilith, sending them both to the floor. "I can't believe it! You're really pulling off a rescue mission! I'm so proud of you!"

"Box Lunch…I still have to breathe…" she wheezed out as the child of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady almost squeezed the life out of her.

Box Lunch released her hold a bit sheepishly as she saw Ted and then Ami. "Oops, sorry about that."

"You're proud of me for a rescue operation … I'm just happy to finally see you again." Lilith said almost in tears, hugging her back.

Box Lunch smiled as peacefully as anyone had ever seen of her. "Sure. That'll do for now."

"Can we do reunions later? I'm not particularly enjoying this." Skulker added, floating into the room. "The sooner this gets done I can get on with the hunt."

"Black and white coloring wouldn't be aesthetically pleasing in your living room, Skulker. Trust me, I've seen it." Danny mumbled, just coming in and immediately entranced himself with the control panels.

Box Lunch thought deep for a moment before saying, "You know, he's right!" She turned to the hunter ghost. "You need an interior decorator, Skulker! Better yet, let Lily organize everything." She accused.

"My living room is perfectly fine!" Skulker shouted at Box Lunch as a poor comeback.

"Better yet, don't redecorate and stop trying to kill me!" Danny suggested, turning from the controls only for a moment. He couldn't resist witty banter.

"Dad!" Lilith exclaimed as she ran up to him and gave him a hug. It was the first time Lilith had seen her father in his ghost form, but she still recognized him right away. Danny stopped for just a moment to return the favor.

"Thanks, but right now we've got to do the rescuing first. We can do the reunions later." He said seriously. Everyone nodded in agreement. The look on Skulker's face was rather amusing.

"I …I just said that, Whelp!" He protested.

"But how? It needs a password. Unless you know what it is, we're not doing any more rescuing tonight." Ami noted with a frown.

Danny closed his eyes in thought. He leaned against the controls as if debating in his head. He opened them suddenly in horrid realization. "It can't be…but yet…" He quickly typed in the proposed password. It was correct.

"How did you do that?" Ted asked astonished.

Danny smirked and added a little laugh. "Vlad may be an evil genius, but he's still an idiot. He was always telling me that we were a lot alike so I figured, why wouldn't we have the same idea for passwords?"

The kids all exchanged weird glances, none of them really wanting to know.

Suddenly the door opened with a slam. In the doorway stood the fury of a woman scorned…or at least one that had really missed her brother.

"Danny!" Jazz almost screamed.

"Jazz?" Danny asked a bit surprised to see her. "You're in on this to-" He didn't get to finish his syllable as his sister wrapped herself around him as his daughter had done.

"As soon as I figured out what had happened, there was no way I was sitting this one out. I may not be a ghost hunter, but you're going to have to deal with me tonight." She scolded, breaking away from him.

Danny smiled warmly. "I know. Maybe you can help me get Sam and Tucker out of these things." He proceeded to type in the password for the release of the second pod. Jazz looked over his shoulder.

"His password is 'Maddie Masters'! That's…"

"Don't say it Jazz. Just don't say it." Danny said as calmly as he could. He activated the release sequence for both.

"How long will this take?" Skulker asked annoyed. "Plasmius could be here any minute if he suspects something."

Lilith, Ami and Ted stole glances and smiled. "I think he's pretty busy right about now." Lilith assured them.

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"There isn't a mess down here." Vlad accused Cam. "Everything is just fine! What is the meaning of this?"

Cam wasn't paying attention, or at least he was pretending to ignore the billionaire. "Hey, is this really autographed by the great Ray Nitschke?" The problem was Cam was genuinely excited about this.

Vlad's glare softened. "Why…yes, yes it is. I got it just after I graduated from college. It was one of the greatest moments in my life."

"Wow…" Cam still had his mission in mind, but he might as well enjoy it. "You gotta tell me about this stuff! My dad's a big football fan, but I've never seen a collection this great before!"

Vlad grinned. It wasn't necessarily an evil grin. "Well, my boy, it all started out when I was about your age growing up just outside of Green Bay…"

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"He's definitely not coming." Stacy reinforced, coming just then into the room. "Cam has him talking about football. Neither of them are going to get sleep tonight and they're both going to enjoy it."

"I'll say. Get Cam talking about sports or romantic movies and you've created a monster." Ami stated.

Danny and Jazz weren't paying attention anymore. The containment pods were opening finally and soon Sam and Tucker would be waking up.

"Are you sure they'll be okay, dad?" Lilith asked worriedly. "Vlad said that it would take a long time for them to recover even if they did wake up."

"He's fibbing. Vlad has had these things for a long time, even before he got me." Danny explained, nervous and waiting anxiously. He hadn't seen or talked to his friends for fifteen years. It only fueled his anger towards Vlad even further.

"He usually likes to play on half-truths." Jazz said, worry in her voice as well. "I really hope they're okay."

"They'll be fine." Danny said a bit too fast.

"What's the worst he could have done?" Stacy asked with a smile. The others groaned.

"You guys don't know Vlad as well as I do." Danny said with a frown. "He could have done plenty."

"And I'm sure he did. He's the most powerful being around for a reason." Skulker added.

"Shut up Bucket-head." Box Lunch told him through gritted teeth.

The group heard an unfamiliar groan and rushed over to see Tucker starting to show signs of waking up. As they did Danny and Lilith's ghost senses went off simultaneously.

"I was instructed not to let any of you escape." The Fright Knight told them. "I don't plan to fail."

A/N: Another cliffhanger? Sure, why not?

Unfortunately no flashbacks this chapter. I couldn't find a good spot to put one. Merely moving the plot along. Incidentally I wrote this chapter as we were driving through Wisconsin towards Madison. I'm not kidding either.

Mountains of thanks to: Meagaisttheworld, Lightning Streak, hermie-the-frog, katiesparks, Anonymous Reader 13 and Sleep Warrior (times two!).

Progress on story:

The extra past scenes: 1/2 done

The last chapter: 1/3 done

The epilogue: 1/3 done

I know what I need to write, I just need the motivation guys. If things keep on schedule like this the last chapter should be out the last Thursday in November. I'm not going to post Thanksgiving. I'll be home and probably too busy hanging out with family.

As always, comments are greatly appreciated! I love discussing plot points!

Also, as an indulgence to myself I named a lot of my orginal characters from a single show. Can you guess which one? You might have to go back and look, this includes all the minor characters and even Mr. Lancer's first name. Your only clue is that the exceptions are Ami, Stacy and Ted. I know at least some of you have seen it! In any case, its an excuse to read the fic again up to this point if you're up to it.

See you next week.

-Unrealistic :-)