Yuki: I'm on a roll with this story!

Anika: Our name is not Butch Hartman, so NO SUEING!!!!!

Yuki: I will also mention Song Without A Name by Lady Yate-xel (SWAN for short), which is a Johnny the Homicidal Maniac (comic by Jhonen Vasquez) fanfic. I do NOT own that either or claim any part of it as my own.

Y + A: Here we go! ENJOY!

Chapter 4: Meat-ing the Lunch Lady (Part II)

Danny laid on his stomach on his bed, pencil in his hand. He was wondering how he should continue his song.

Take everything left from me
All! To! Blame!

Were the words right? Did everything sound like he wanted it too?

How can we still succeed, taking what we don't need?
Telling lies, alibis, selling all the hate that we breed.
Super-size our tragedies! (You can't define me or justify greed)
Bought in the land of the free! (Land! Free!)

And we're all to blame,

Danny wanted to be an artist of any kind. He already had a band and he was taking the advanced art class at school.

We've gone too far,
From pride to shame,
We're trying so hard,
We're dying in vain,
We're hopelessly blissful and blind
To all we are,
We want it all with no sacrifice!

Could his dream be a reality?

'It could be if you wish it so.'

'I do believe in free choice so probably yeah... I really want to.'

...

'I'm hungry.'

'Go eat and then we can keep talking.'

Realize we spend our lives living in a culture of fear
Stand to salute; say thanks to the man of the year.
How did we all come to this? (You can't define me or justify greed)
This greed that we just can't resist! (Resist!)

"Dark?" Danny asked as he began to get ready for school after eating breakfast and not turning intangible at all due to Dark's mental outbursts. The ghost boy appeared, invisible to everyone but Danny.

"Yes, Danny?"

"I was thinking..."

"Hmm?" Dark 'hmm-ed' as Danny struggled with his words.

"Would you like... to be human again?"

And we're all to blame,
We've gone too far,
From pride to shame,
We're trying so hard,
We're dying in vain,
We're hopelessly blissful and blind
To all we are,
We want it all.
Everyone wants it all with no sacrifice!

"Maybe later we could talk about this?" Dark began to bite his lip.

"Okay."

...

"Today will be better, Danny."

"Yeah, it will be."

The walk to school was silent until Danny caught sight of the school grounds.

"Or not. Maybe it'll be worse."

On one side of the grounds, there was a meat bonanza. People dressed up as meat and grills were cooking hot dogs. There was even a pig roasting on a spit, turned by a random person. There was a stage set up where girls dressed like sausages were performing on stage.

...

'Okay... That's disturbing...' Danny stood there, slightly traumatized, but snapped out of his mini-stupor when he saw Tucker walk onto the stage, microphone at hand.

"WHAT DO WE WANT?!"

"MEAT!!!"

"WHEN DO WE WANT IT?!"

"NOW!!!"

Danny turned to the other side of the school grounds. He heard a sitar playing, very hippie. There were some people around a small, open fire and there were peace signs everywhere. Part of Danny was impressed, another was weirded out, and the other wanted to burn something... Burning stuff was fun.

"Veggies now!!! Veggies forever!!!" Danny turned to the stage on the veggie side to see Sam shouting into the microphone, carrying a 'NOW!' sign.

Sam caught his eye and moved to get off of the stage, as did Tucker. When both reached their friend, Sam and Tucker stood glaring at each other from Danny's sides.

"You guys put together two protests in one night?" Danny asked both of his friends.

"Meat eaters, Danny." Tucker explained. "Always ready to fight. And our high protein diets gives us the energy we need to do it quickly."

"Ultra-recyclo vegetarians are always ready to protest," Sam countered. "And because we don't have to waste time cooking our food, we can move even faster."

"Don't you guys think this is a little extreme?" Danny asked.

"No choice, buddy," Tucker mused. "You're either with me-"

"-Or you're against him," Sam finished.

"SO WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?!" Tucker and Sam asked, making Danny feel much smaller than he really was. And it frightened him.

Flashback - 2001

"Look, Danny." Danny was led into a room with no windows, only a ventilation system. He could see why. A pile of corpses was in the room, almost all women that he knew at one point or another during CAMP. Danny felt his heart ache as he spotted Leisel, a German woman with some English skills. Her beautiful blond hair was stained in red and her green eyes gazed unseeingly into the air around her.

"This is what happens when a worker breaks the rules three times." Danny looked up at the man. Those eyes gazing down at him were once filled with love and warmth; Cold stone was the only thing that could describe those gray eyes.

"Either you do as you're told," the man said. He grabbed Danny's head and turned it to face the cadavers that were now being carried out of the room to the In-cin-erator, whatever that was.

"Or you break the rules." Danny looked at the gray-eyed man again.

"So, Danny. Whose side are you on?"

End Flashback

Danny had no time to respond as he was pulled out of his memories by the wind picking up speed and an evil laugh filling the air. Danny gasped, feeling Dark touch his consciousness and seeing his breath because of it.

Suddenly, the big meat truck that someone had rented for the Meat Protest was shaking and rumbling. The meat inside burst from the truck, cutting through the metal like paper. What was five flying streams of meat became three and they slowly began to wrap around each other. An even larger meat monster came into existence due to all of the meat at the protest. The Lunch Lady/Meat Monster stood above the crowds.

"IT'S LUNCH TIME!!!" Everyone ran in a panic, those in the Meat and Veggie Protests ran for cover.

"Meat! Why have you betrayed me?!" Tucker cried in vain.

"Guys," Danny urged. "Time to make up. Now." Sam and Tucker jumped in front of Danny and hugged, hiding Danny from the eyes of the people running in their direction.

'Ready?'

'Let's go!'

Dark stood in Danny's place, Dahlia floating next to him. Both ghosts flew up and towards the monster to defend the people below.

_*_*_*

"Spike, you've got to open up to your parents. Be true to yourself and to them." Jazz stood in front of Spike, a rebel punk teen in her junior class. He stared apathetically in front of him, tuning out the redhead.

"Tell them how you feel. It's not like they're gonna attack you or anything." Jazz screamed as a green net captured her. Spike followed the girl with his eyes as the net pulled her away.

"I got her," Jack Fenton cheered. "And the Fenton Grappler is working like a charm." He and Maddie had hidden behind some bushes within range of the machine that Jack had invented.

"I don't understand. If Jazz is a ghost, why hasn't she fazed through the net?" Maddie held a finger to her cheek thoughtfully.

"Because I am not a ghost!" Jazz cried, ripping the ghost net off of her. "You've ambushed me, suffocated me with smoke, and worse! I was pulled away from Spike before he had his breakthrough!" The red-head had her hands curled into fists, anxiety racking her body and mind. "What do you have to say for yourselves?!"

Jack and Maddie stood in silence before the man whipped out the Fenton Thermos. "Eat hot Fenton Thermos, Ghost Gal!" A small glimmer of light escaped from the cylinder, not even close to working. Jazz glared up at her father.

"Hmm." Jack shook his defective invention. "Darn thing still doesn't work."

_*_*_*

Dark and Dahlia gaped at the giant meat creature, dodging its punches and swats. Dark went from behind and kicked the monster, knocking it down to the ground.

Back on the ground, Tucker and Sam smiled. "He really is getting better," said Tucker, impressed.

Dark looked down at Danny's friends, smiling. They were kind in complimenting him, even though they knew not he was Dark and not Danny.

He turned his attention back to the meat monster, frowning as Dahlia got in front of him in a vain attempt to absorb the blow for him. Instead, she was slammed against the fist and was hit against Dark, both flying in the air from the blow.

"Sure hope he can take a punch!" Sam worried, rushing forward to see in what direction her friend went.

_*_*_*

In a plane...

"Here's your water, sir." A flight attendant delivered the glass of water to the passenger in a business suit. As he reached for his beverage, a boy and glowing... ball? of ribbons passed up through the floor and out the ceiling.

The boy and ball? came back down again, the boy grabbing the glass of water and exiting the plane with a "Thanks!"

_*_*_*

Dark zoomed down, throwing the water on his face to wake himself up and making sure Dahlia made his way into his hair. Their power mixed in the strangest, most indescribable way and the force of their speed rushed them towards the enemy.

_*_*_*

Jack Fenton smiled at his daughter, coming to grips with her logic. "I, Jack Fenton, from this day forth, do hereby turn my back on ghosts."

Dark and Dahlia rocketed down and effectively blew up the meat monster. The explosion was missed by Jack, Maddie, and Jazz, who all now had their backs against that general direction.

_*_*_*

Dark lay in a pit, created from the explosion. Dahlia rolled off of his head and began to eat some of the meat that lay on the ground... for no reason whatsoever. (2)

She felt Dark staring at her. "What? I'm hungry."

Dark climbed out, pulling at one of her ribbons as leverage, despite some mild pain in his body and Dahlia's shouts of refusal.

"Oh dear!" The Lunch Lady was floating in front of him, a worried expression on her face. "What a mess! Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Dark answered, checking his arms by stretching slightly. "I think so." Dahlia, now full of meat, let her ribbons twinkle like chimes, happy that they were okay.

"TOUGH!" The Lunch Lady needed some pills, seriously. "Because you being okay is not part of my Balanced Diet of DOOM!!!"

Five streams of meat arose from the pit where the two ghost... teens climbed out of and became smaller versions of the monster that they had blown up.

The five meat monsters jumped as Dark rushed toward them. He did a spinning kick, cutting the meat monsters in half and causing them to disappear completely. Dark smiled, placing his hand on the ground to steady himself.

The meat monsters came back from their demise as normal monsters as the sliced meat reformed.

"Wasn't expecting that," Dark said standing. An involuntary power change in the consciouses of the two boys occurred, causing Dahlia to disappear and Danny to regain control of his body once again.

"Or that," Danny finished. The meat monsters lifted him into the air, holding him upside down by the legs.

_*_*_*

"And this thermos can't trap ghosts because ghosts don't exist." Jack closed his eyes and threw the thermos up and over his shoulder. High into the sky it went, that only Danny could see the butterflies that helped bring it to him at a speed far faster than normal. (3)

The metal smacked into his face, not falling to the ground at the speed the meat monsters were taking him.

Holding the object out at arm's length, Danny recognized the ghost container. "The Fenton Thermos! But how am I going to get it to work?!" He didn't have much time to think as the ghost meat creatures decided he had taken a ride to long and let him fall to the ground.

Danny screamed, hoping to see his mother, his REAL mother, while he was still alive.

He closed his eyes...

He saw his life flash before his eyes, everything from the memory of his adoption that he had hidden away in his mind to his fourth Christmas to CAMP to kissing that one person under the mistletoe (what the hell was he thinking?) to this morning...

His life really sucked.

_*_*_*

The air stopped moving, stopped rushing towards him. Danny opened his eyes, seeing that he was now in an octagonal room. There was a vase on a thin stand in the middle of the room. He sat on a rather comfortable chair against one of the eight walls. Feeling the tranquility that was practically tangible in the air, he wished he could stay forever... Here in Purgatorio... (4)

"That is not wise."

Danny turned to his right to see a beautiful young woman. She was wearing a blue dress that reminded him of the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. She had the same the ocean blue eyes and ebony black hair as he did, albeit that her hair was longer, down to her waist.

"Do you remember me, child?"

Danny sat in silence, thinking.

"Mewet?"

The woman smiled. "I am. Call me Gretel, though. I'm not that much older than you in this body."

"That's not your real name."

"No. I'm glad to see you remember that much."

Danny stared at the woman, wondering if he was dead or alive.

"Don't worry, my Danny. You are still alive. Sadly, I am not." Gretel smiled a sad smile, one that Danny had seen before on another woman's face.

"... Why are you dead?"

"... I've been dead since Shichigatsu juuyokka, Toshi wa Heisei go."

Danny thought about this. 'Shichigatsu... July... Juuyokka... 14th... July 14th?' He thought of the year. 'Okay... Toshi is 'year'... Heisei... The time of Heisei started in 1989... That's 'Heisei ichi' (Heisei 1) so... Heisei go or Heisei 5 was-'

Danny looked up at Gretel, his mother, with wide eyes.

"Danny." That one word made Danny want to break down and sob.

"Mewet."

"I know you might want to stay here-"

"You know I do."

"But you must go with your friends and family now."

"..."

"nDs miw."

"Must I?"

"Of course you must." Gretel walked over to her second and youngest child and laid a kiss on his forehead, making his soul leave Purgatorio.

"Wait! How do I beat-"

"Use your ghost energy... That should work."

"Change back," Danny urged to his body as he returned to the land of the living. "Change back."

Danny felt his consciousness slide by Dark's again, 'going' ghost once again. The meat monsters followed him, determined to destroy him.

Dark turned intangible, seeing that he was falling towards Danny's family.

"Thanks for the thermos!" Dark phased through the ground.

"Ha! Ghost kid!" Jack shouted in excitement and began to taunt his daughter. "I was right! You were wrong! Ghosts exist! I never doubted it for a second!"

The Fenton family was then covered by a gigantic pile of meat.

_*_*_*

The Lunch Lady floated, her form radiating menace. Dark flew out of the ground to face her. He also vaguely noticed that Dahlia wasn't floating next to him and Danny's consciousness was next to his.

"No!" cried the Lunch Lady, spying the Fenton Thermos. "Soup's not on today's menu!"

"I'm changing the menu! Permanently!" Dark hurried and opened the thermos. Danny took control of their ghost body.

"Please work."

'It will, child.' Gretel's voice whispered in his head.

Danny and Dark pooled their spiritual energy and turned intangible, transferring their energy to the Fenton Thermos.

"I hope I'm right," Danny said, channeling the energy at a faster rate. The Thermos released a giant form of ecto-net and trapped the Lunch Lady inside, vacuuming her into the Thermos against her will and screams.

The ghost boy turned back into Danny Fenton, capping the Thermos. He turned and saw his friends under a huge cloth from one of the protest signs.

"What happened?" Sam questioned. "Where's the ghost?"

Danny smiled, vaguely happy and exhausted. "My parents have their moments."

"-Ghost directly ahead.-" The Fenton Finder was once again in the hands of Mr. and Mrs. Fenton. Danny hastily hid the Thermos behind his back.

"-You would have to be some sort of moron to not notice the ghost directly ahead.-" Danny smiled as his parents stared.

"Sorry, Dad. You just missed him." He pointed with his thumb behind him

"We got a runner." Jack and Maddie ran. Jazz stood, furious and irritated at her unsuccessful reprogramming of her parents.

"Great, back to Square 1." She walked away.

"So you're gonna tell them?" Tucker concluded from his friend's actions.

"Nah. I think I've finally figured out what these powers are for. They make me-" Danny was cut off by the large hand of one of his counselors on his shoulders

"In a world of trouble."

"Manson, pick up that T-bone." Lancer was on night duty, yelling into a megaphone while snacking on a drumstick.

"With my hands?"

"Foley, pick up that turfwich!"

"With my hands?!"

Danny swept at the meat on the ground with a big broom, looked down upon by Dash Baxter.

The bully was laughing at him, until Dark took control of his master's body and turned his arm and the meat-filled dumpster that Dash was leaning against intangible, burying the football player in meat.

"Fenton! A little help!"

"Whatever you say, Dash. Whatever you say." Dark's green eyes glowed

We're all to Blame - Sum 41

1) I'm probably going to try and include a bit more of Danny's attitude and past to the chapters, just so you peoples know.

2) Dahlia is pretty useless until later chapters. When I say that she eats, think of Tokyo Mew Mew's Masha or think of Pac-Man.

3) I'm going to include quite a few references and plot ideas from anime, cartoons, and other fanfictions (e.i. SWAN), so I disclaim everything and Umineko no Naku Koro ni (the butterfly thing) is NOT MINE!

4) Umineko Reference! Purgatorio is a parallel dimension from which supernatural creatures and beings can view ours.

5) Mewet - Mother in Ancient Egyptian

6) Gretel - another reference to Umineko no Naku Koro ni

7) nDs miw - Small cat (Kitten) in Ancient Egyptian

Hey! Because I'm lazy, I won't be retyping every single episode of Danny Phantom. I'm going to go to the future in the next chapter, maybe the past, still not too sure.

THE STORY MUST GO ON!