I do not own Danny Phantom. Thanks to MorganGrimm for the suggestion.

Burning Up

Sam groaned loudly when the bell rang, signalling the start of morning classes. Her boots clacked rapidly down the hallway as she sprinted towards her locker. Her spider backpack knocked against her back as she skidded to a halt at her locker and spun the dial. Shoving her bag in and grabbing her books, she cursed her parents for making her late. When would they get through their thick skulls that she hated pink?

She darted down the narrow hallway and yelped in surprise when something cold wrapped around her ankle. Her books clattered to the ground with a thud and she twisted around to see what was up.

"Oh man."

"Hello, gloomy sidekick," Skulker greeted. He floated in front of Sam, the fluorescent lighting making his armour gleam and his mechanical smirk seem a bit more menacing.

"Shouldn't you be after Danny's pelt?" Sam asked in annoyance, trying to get her ankle free.

"I realized that the Box Ghost can only be suitable as bait for so long. It seems he would do anything for his sidekicks, especially his girlfriend."

"I am not his girlfriend!" Sam snapped. "Why can't people realize that?"

Skulker rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You will still make effective bait."

Sam widened her violet eyes as she was pulled across the tiled floor. She frantically yanked her ankle against the steel ropes and winced when they simply dug in tighter. Should I scream? Should I-oh, wait.

"Duh," Sam muttered and quickly shot a ball of red and orange fire at the ghost hunter.

Skulker exclaimed in surprise when the projectile struck his arm. The heat short-circuited his armour and the ropes snapped free. Sam quickly got to her feet and limped slightly, due to the loss of feeling in her ankle.

She glared. "So Skulker. Are you going to let me get to class or am I going to have to beat you to a pulp?"

Skulker waved the smoke away from his face and tried to get his armour to stop sparking. "Since when do you have fire powers?"

"Long story." Sam frowned. "I don't feel like explaining it right now. So..." She slammed another fire ball at him and Skulker crashed into the lockers behind him. Metal doors, binders, pencils and papers exploded all over the hallway. Sam ran back to her locker and she wrenched her locker door open. She snagged the silver thermos from her backpack.

"You little brat! I'm-"

He froze when Sam whirled around and pointed the thermos at him. "Going down," she finished for him.

"I don't think so." Skulker fired his ecto-rays and knocked the thermos from her hand. Sam hissed in pain and shook her hand in the air to ease the sting. She angrily threw her hands up and slammed a wall of fire into the ghost. Skulker cried out in pain as his armour sparked and overheated, glowing dangerously red.

Sam scooped up the fallen Fenton Thermos and winced when she realized she was now sweating like crazy. "Too much heat," she panted and hurriedly sucked the malfunctioning ghost hunter in. She slammed the cap on and stuffed the thermos in her now dented locker. "I guess I overdid it...phew."

Tiredly picking her books up and realizing she was extremely late for science, she hurried up the flight of stairs and threw open the science room door.

Poluka scowled. "You are late, Miss Manson."

Sam was about to ask how he knew it was her when she realized she was the only one missing from class. Shoot.

She frowned when her fellow peers started gaping at her, eyes wide. "So what? I'm just late."

Danny and Tucker were also gaping at her. Tucker gestured towards her face and the girl furrowed her brow in confusion. Poluka then chose to turn away from the blackboard and scold the girl for her tardiness. The chalk fell from his fingertips and broke into small pieces on the tiled floor once he caught sight of the Goth.

"What?" Sam cried.

"Miss Manson, are you feeling okay?" Poluka asked in panic.

Sam stormed into the center of the room and peered at the reflective mirrors hanging over the teacher's lab table. Her violet eyes widened. "Oh."

Her face was bright red and she was sweating like there was no tomorrow. The heat now seemed more noticeable and she wondered why she didn't feel it before.

Before Sam could stop him, Poluka hurried up and rested his wrist against her forehead. He instantly pulled it back. "This is serious! Samantha, I want you to get to the nurse's office right away!"

"No! I feel fine!" Sam tried smiling, but the sweat trickled down her forehead and she had to wipe it away.

"No buts!" Poluka snapped. "I'll notify the office."

Danny stood up. "I'll bring her to the nurse's!"

"You've already missed too much work from your absences Mr. Fenton. Mr. Foley, take Samantha to the nurse's office now!"

Tucker bolted up and ran up to Sam. He gripped her arm and hissed when her skin burned his hand. Trying not to show his pain, he quickly ushered Sam into the hall. When they were far enough away from the science wing, Tucker yanked his hand away and blew on it to cool it down. "What the heck happened?" he demanded.

Sam groaned and winced as the hallway began to spin. "Skulker showed up and was going to use me as bait. I was going to scream for help but then I remembered of my new elemental powers. I figured it would be a great way to try them out. He made me mad and I used way to much fire energy at once."

"You should've left Skulker to Danny!"

"Why? We have just as much power as he does now! We should be able to use it in saving others as well," Sam snapped.

Tucker gripped her arm again when she stumbled. "And now you're overheating!"

Sam did not respond. They made it to the nurse's office and Tucker shuddered violently before getting up enough courage to escort Sam inside. He avoided looking at the needles and posters depicting what your lungs look like when you smoke. Sam sat down on the steel bench and a nurse ran right in.

"Oh my!" she exclaimed when she felt Sam's forehead. "This is certainly a high temperature!" She stuck a thermometer in Sam's mouth and bit her lip. "I suppose we'll just check. But I'm going to call an ambulance just in case."

"She doesn't need an ambulance! She's fine!" Tucker cried. The nurse ignored him and hurried to the main office. Sam look pleadingly at Tucker, the thermometer wedged in her mouth.

"'Alright!" Tucker ran over to Sam and placed a hand against her head. He pushed as much ice power as he could and he winced when a slight steam rose up above their heads. He sighed with relief when Sam's body started to cool down, but she couldn't take the drastic body temperature change and fainted.

Tucker cursed softly and quickly removed her thermometer. He cooled it down a bit more until it was just above a normal temperature.

Ten minutes later the nurse jogged in with two paramedics. "Oh dear!"

"It's okay! She just was really tired and exhausted and so she fainted. Way too much homework." Tucker glanced at the clock then at Sam. Her limp body was being loaded onto a stretcher and rushed out of the room. The nurse frowned at him. There was nothing more he could now. Leaving the nurse's station with a relived smile, he ran up to the science wing to tell Danny what had happened.

...

Darkness stroked his crystal and nodded. "It is time."

"Do you want us to go retrieve the elements, Master?" Light asked.

"No. I shall be using a much different resource. I want you three to go out and corrupt three ghosts. Send them to retrieve the elements."

"But why, Master?" Fire questioned.

"It would be wise to keep you three here at the moment. I do not need Wind, Earth and Aqua coming to your rescue or have those teenagers bringing you out of my control. Now go and do as you are asked!"

The three corrupted elements sped off. Darkness turned once more to the crystal and smiled darkly. "The time has come."