And (drumroll please) chapter 3 has arrived! (crowd cheers) Yes, it is another chapter, written at one in the morning because I promised TicklesLikeCrazy I would update by the end of the week. (: I still view the fact that I am reading reviews instead of writing them as a minor miracle (*cough* overcame other-people-reading-my-fics-phobia-and-you-should-be-proud-of-me (thank FluffyDarkUnicorn)) and, well...really awesome reviews give quite the happy feeling. To those of you from HTTYD: Never fear, TD is up next!

Thank you all who reviewed! And... on with the show!

I don't own Danny Phantom, but I do own all of those parentheses up there. (my insanity is showing.)

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Previously:

Sam and Tucker's crowd control attempts were cut short at the explosion that sent fragments of Thermos flying across the room.

Shinegami had escaped."Danny's unconscious! We have to do something!"

"The Ecto-Dejecto Blaster!" Ready. Aim. Fire.

The blast hurtled through the air and struck Danny, knocking him off his feet. Sam unconsciously crossed her fingers – they were out of time.

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Danny's limp figure was sprawled on the gym floor. Meanwhile Shinegami imperiously commanded, "Minions! Take these useless humans! The minions, forms made of flowing shadow, produced nets that enclosed the comatose teachers and prepared to fly them away.

Sam and Tucker, gazes riveted, let out tense breaths as Danny's body slowly took on a subtle green glow that flickered on his skin, visibly healing the cuts and scratches caused by flying fragments of Thermos. It was too slow! Sam frantically tried to stall the malicious ghost. She stood up defiantly and demanded, "Where are you taking our teachers?"

Shinegami, faceless under the inky cowl, dramatically gestured to the girl and pronounced, "Bring her to me."

Sam was snatched from her seat and violently hauled in front of Shinegami. His clawed hand shooting out to seize her by the throat, he thrust her up and proclaimed, "All humans must cower before my power! Thus, your sources of knowledge shall be taken, and your ignorance will bow before my might!"

The green aura surrounding Danny faded into his skin and his eyes flashed open, glowing a toxic emerald for one brief second before flicking back to blue. He quickly went invisible, shooting up through the ceiling.

Sam struggled, stubbornly remarking with her last gasp of air, "That... is one lame reason... to kidnap people...you stupid ghost." Her face was turning purple from lack of oxygen.

Infuriated, Shinegami tightened his grip and shouted, "You humans are the stupid ones! You-"

He never got the chance to finish. Danny Phantom swooped in from above and blasted the ghost, rescuing Sam from Shinegami's dark claws and carrying her to safety. The goth was only half-conscious, breathing shallow. With gentle care, Danny set her down and then turned to Shinegami. The insulted ghost in question had recovered from the blast and angrily faced Phantom. "How dare you, Phantom! Not only are you late, but you stole my prey!"

Danny's toxic green gaze bored into the angry villain. "How dare you? No one hurts my friends, Shinegami. I don't know who you think you are," His eyes narrowed, "But if you think you can get away with hurting my friends, you are dead wrong."

Shinegami chuckled evilly, echoed by his minions. "That pitiful human was your friend? Even better! And, if you haven't noticed," a maelstrom of blackness began to surround the ghost, "I'm already dead." Tentacles of shadows extended outward and new minions formed from the black ooze. The ghost's insane laughter crescendoed. "Bring it on, hero!"

Danny fired off a storm of ectoblasts, the toxic green pulses of energy striking the newly created henchmen with devasting force. With that, the malevolent army swarmed him, grasping and binding with inky tendrils of darkness. For every minion that he destroyed, five took its place, as Shinegami's cackles created a surreal counter-point to the mayhem. Even as Danny's powerful kicks and punches swept through the ghosts like a tornado, the swarm began to overtake him. The inky tendrils caught his limbs, hindering his movement, and dark purple ectoblasts pummeled his slowed body. Just as he was swallowed by the army of Shinegami's minions, the unexpected happened once again.

Skulker phased through the ceiling.

The bulky, armored ghost fired off dozens of missiles...straight at the multitude of Shinegami's creations, annihilating whole chunks of the seething mass of minions. Danny took the opportunity to blast free, and with Skulker inexplicably destroying his enemies he had a free shot at Shinegami.

The ghost himself was shaken, though his featureless face betrayed none of his sudden apprehension. At this rate, his minions were being eliminated faster than he could form them, and soon his energy would be drained.

Danny Phantom floated in front of him, and Shinegami hated that his nemesis took the higher position. "Had enough, Phantom?" He blustered.

The teenage ghost didn't even react. "Let's see...Assaulting school faculty, kidnapping school faculty, holding the entire school hostage and hurting my friend..."

Shinegami inwardly quailed at the rage in Phantom's voice that only intensified towards the end of the sentence. "You cannot hope to defeat me, puny hero!" He shouted, vainly trying to shore up his stores of confident arrogance. "My power and intelligence is far superior to your insignificant abilities!"

In a low, deadly voice not suited at all to his usual character, Danny intoned, "Time's up, Shinegami." With that he took one heaving lungful of air, gathering up all of his energy.

The remainder of Shinegami's arrogant cockiness became sudden apprehension, "W-what are you doing?" He stammered, all poise and laughter vanished along with his confidence. His last thought was, that looks like its going to be a...ghostly wail! His futile attempt at dodging failed, and the wail ripped through him, shredding the inky ooze and shadowy tentacles and leaving behind nothing but lingering scraps of darkness that clung to the floor before fading. Danny's most powerful attack shook the school to its foundations, disintegrating one full side of the gym walls.

It finally ended. Danny Phantom, though floating several feet lower and obviously fatigued, had once again saved the day.

Unfortunately, just as he was about to relax his vigilance, fly away, and sleep for the next eight hours, a triumphant shout echoed through the air.

"Ha! Now that all of those pesky weaklings have been destroyed, I, Skulker, the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter, am free to hunt you down, ghost child, and hang your pelt up on my wall!"

The suddenly fired missiles took Phantom by surprise, slamming him onto the floor with punishing force. Completely drained, it took all of his energy to raise one shaky arm and charge a weak ectoblast. Skulker approached the exhausted halfa, missile launchers pointed straight at the glowing emerald eyes.

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But wait, there's more! What, exactly, was Star doing with her phone's camera, how does Paulina react to Phantom's protectiveness of Sam, and why the heck did Skulker show up? Not to mention Danny's peril, and the fate of Casper High's teachers! Yes, I killed Shinegami. Why? He was never meant to live long. Besides, all that evil laughter was annoying. Anyway – please pretty please review cuz I love reading them!