Author's Note: The 'write an hour a day' thing has been going pretty well so far. I think I could actually churn out a chapter a week! (Well great, now I've jinxed it...)

Making a Mess

Minutes earlier, Danny had opened a portal to Dimsdale with some trouble, what with his hands being bound in a sticky trap. Enough trouble, in fact, that he forgot to push the button that would close the portal behind him.

Skulker searched the park for his prey. He'd had his guard down when the ghost boy had taken a steep dive, but he couldn't be thrown off that easily. The goo-trap he'd developed had a unique, easily tracked ectoplasmic signature, and it wouldn't come off without the special solvent he'd developed alongside it. He grumbled inwardly, reprimanding himself for not setting the goo-launcher to fire a larger spray that would have completely encased the whelp.

The ghost boy had flown into a stand of trees with thick brush growing underneath. A perfect place to hide from someone who could see you even when you were invisible. The hunter knew instinctively that his prey would take a breather there.

Skulker blasted the underbrush away with a well placed ghost ray. To his surprise, the ghost boy was no longer there. However, there was a swirling pink portal. The ghost grinned. "There is no place on Earth, in the Ghost Zone, or wherever else you might flee, that I won't find you."

Meanwhile in Retroville

Jimmy was in one of those rare between-projects moments. He'd successfully developed a synthetic crystal that could replace the so-called heat resistant glass that hadn't been heat resistant enough to protect the lab from testing his new rocket booster (His parents were still a little sore about that fire) and the new soil sample from Mars was a day in coming. It was supposed to be a time he could relax and hang out with Carl and Sheen, but now that they'd gone home for the night he was bored.

That's when the dimensional portal activated. Jimmy turned quickly and fingered the button that would activate emergency security measures. It was probably just Turner or Spongebob, come over to see if he was busy, but you could never be too careful.

It was Turner. And Danny, surprisingly. Jimmy did a double take. What was that strange green substance encasing the teen's arms?

"Hello Danny, Turner." The boy genius greeted them. "What happened? Did Turner go overboard with his fairy-programs again?"

Timmy frowned. "Do you just assume everything is my fault?"

Jimmy grinned. Irking Turner was fun.

Danny shook his head. "Actually, it was a ghost I've had a lot of experience with. His name's Skulker, he's a hunter, and I'm his favorite prey. This—" He tried to gesture with his arms, but it was hard with the goop restricting his movement, "—is his latest trap. I've tried slipping out of it or destroying it myself, and magic... uh, programs… don't affect it. I was hoping you'd be able to get rid of it."

Jimmy's face brightened. This sounded like a nice challenge to preoccupy him. He pulled on some gloves, grabbed a pair of tongs, and got to work.

"Hmmm, highly viscous… translucent green…" he muttered as he pulled at the gunk experimentally, "Seems to be bonded pretty tightly to your ghost from. It still sticks when you're human?"

Danny nodded glumly.

"Interesting…" He pulled at the goop even harder, pulling a bit like taffy, and then tried to cut it with a laser. It was absorbed, and the strand grew slightly.

"Uh, try not to feed it energy. That just makes it bigger." Timmy warned.

"Fascinating!" Jimmy exclaimed. "Uh, since I can't get a sample, could you come over here Danny?" He motioned to a large microscope.

That was how they spent the next few minutes, Danny walking from one scientific instrument to the next as Jimmy tried to analyze the goo's chemical composition and how it was bonded to the ghost boy. Timmy followed, more bored than interested.

"It's mostly organic, with ectoplasmic compounds." Jimmy finally stated. "It appears to be made of some sort of synthetic ghost proteins, similar to the mucus gastropods secrete to stick to walls, but much more viscous. It appears to have bonded with the ectoplasm in your cell membranes, which I suppose are there but dormant in your human form. Of course, I'm just extrapolating most of this from a few observations, I'll have to run more tests to know for sure if—"

"Ok stop." Danny interrupted the genius's before he went even deeper into science Danny didn't understand, "Did you learn anything that might get whatever it is off me?"

"Well, like I said, I'll have to do some more tests to get definite results, but it appears to be organic, so if we can isolate an enzyme that breaks down the substance, it'll deteriorate."

Danny and Timmy stared blankly.

Jimmy sighed. "Yes."

Danny sighed with relief. "Thanks Jimmy, I really owe you one!"

The boy with the fudgy hair smiled at the praise. "It's my pleasure, what are friends for?"

Back with Skulker

The portal had remained open, but the exit to Dimsdale had closed. Skulker was now in the Plane between Worlds. Oddly enough though, he could still detect the ectoplasmic signature of the goo-trap. The hunter followed it until he came to another pink portal, this one looking in on a dim room full of technological gizmos that would make Technus squee with delight. More important were the three figures in the room. Two small boys, and his quarry.

Like any good hunter, Skulker waited for the opportune moment to strike. The three of them wandered around the lab from one station to the next with no rhyme or reason the ghost could see. Finally they came in front of the portal, seemingly feet away, but in reality an entire dimension separated them. Now that the right moment was here, he wasted no time, and flew into the portal.

In the Lab

The portal activated again as soon as the boys walked in front of it.

"You expecting someone?" Timmy asked Jimmy.

"No… but then, I wasn't expecting you two. It's probably Spongebob." The boy genius reasoned.

And then Skulker attacked.

The hunter ghost leapt into Danny's chest, knocking the teen (and the cabinet he was leaning against) over. The ghost boy responded with a charged kick in the face before leaping up and firing an eye beam at his attacker. Skulker fired a few mini-missiles in return. Danny tried to make a shield to block it, but with his hands bound, it was practically impossible. He was blasted back into a monitor.

"Hey!" Jimmy shouted, "This equipment is delicate, and by no means easy or cheap to build. Kindly take your squabble out—whoa!"

Timmy pulled the irate genius out of the way before a bolt from Skulker fried him. "The only way they're going to take the fight outside is if Danny manages to slip out!"

The teenaged halfa knew he was causing a lot of damage, but slipping outside of Jimmy's lab would only take the destruction out into the neighborhood where people could get hurt. Maybe if he slipped back through the dimensional portal… he could take care of Skullker back in Amity Park and come back to take care of the goop later.

Danny slipped under another blast from Skulker and made a dash for the portal. "Come and get me!" He called over his shoulder before stepping in.

"Impudent whelp!" Skulker growled, flying after him.

Suddenly, Jimmy and Timmy were standing alone in the lab.

"Oh great…" Jimmy muttered and stepped up to the dimensional portal, checking some settings.

"What, what's wrong?" Timmy asked.

"He didn't set a destination! By default, it'll send them to the last one set."

"So… they're going back to Dimsdale?" The boy in the pink hat cringed. His parents wouldn't notice if he wasn't in his room, but they'd probably notice a violent ghost fight.

"No, the last destination set from this portal." Jimmy corrected. "And that would be… Tremorton. I was visiting Mz. Wakeman to get some advice on a new up-grade for Goddard."

"Well, we'd better go and help." Timmy said with determination. "Danny's at a disadvantage right now. Didn't you notice? He usually fights way better than that, but this ghost hunter guy was blasting him to bits."

Jimmy nodded gravely. "Danny is usually one of the best fighters I know, a ghost like that wouldn't normally be much of a problem for him. Hopefully he'll find help from Jenny before it's too late."

Author's Note: Itty-bitty reference to "Uber-Awesome Fun Party" in here, I like doing stuff like that.

It's weird, I'm alot less busy staying at college and working a part-time job than I would be if I went home. You would think it'd be the other way around.

So, hopefully I'll finish the next chapter soon, but I'm pacing the chapters at one per weekend, so I don't dump a whole bunch of junk and then hit a huge wall of writer's block.

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