Hey, I have a valid excuse this time! I just had to do something for Halloween!

So I did.

Once again, disclaimer: No. I don't own Danny Phantom.

Chapter 4: The Fenton Finder

"Hey, Dad," Danny said as he trooped down the stairs casually.

"Danny!" Jack smiled back. He was holding a small box with an antenna in his hands. "Son, meet my latest invention, the Fenton Finder!"

Oh, a new invention. That would most certainly cheer him up.

"Ummm…" Danny once again looked to his mom, but she was busy putting the chicken in the oven.

"This baby uses satellites to locate the ghosts," Jack continued excitedly. He wasn't quite as bouncy as usual, but Danny was happy to see that his dad had somewhat recovered. Jack backed up to stand in the middle of the room. "Watch!" He turned it on.

Beep Beep Beep

"Ghost directly ahead," a pleasant voice said. Jack gazed intently at it and walked forward towards Danny. As he did, the beeping became higher and faster. Danny stared up at him and backed up into the wall – but not into the wall. He frowned when he felt a chill and looked down. Drat. His legs had disappeared again! He glanced back up at his father in apprehension.

"Ghost located." Jack looked up eagerly only to see his son backed up against a wall looking nervous. Danny smiled up at him. The smile became relieved when he felt his legs turn normal again. "Ahh, I'll have to fix it," Jack muttered, downcast again. "It's only supposed to point to ghosts."

This last sentence made Danny pause. Well, I am a ghost. So I really shouldn't be surprised that the Finder is keying into me. I hope they don't realize the truth because of this! I'll have to avoid their inventions from now on.

"Yeah," he said weakly.

"Danny, set the table, dear," his mom said with some strain in her voice. Danny was positive it came from the memory of the Ghost Portal. "Jazz!" she called.

"Here," Danny's sister said as she entered. She waited at the table. "So, anything happen today that I should know about? Like the lab exploding? Or-"

Danny interrupted her. "Oh, yeah, Jazz, I have a, uh, few questions about the, er, math homework. Can you help me?"

"Sure, but after dinner-"

"NO! Uh, I'd like to go over it now before I forget them." Danny gave her a pointed look.

Jazz rolled her eyes. "Fine."

They walked up the stairs and Danny shut his door behind them.

Jazz crossed her arms. "You didn't actually ask me up here for homework help, did you?"

"No."

"Danny, I've told you, I'm trying to –"

"Jazz, listen to me first. Today was a really bad day for them."

"It's always a bad day for them; none of their inventions ever work and none of them are ever going to work because ghosts don't exist and they refuse to accept the truth!"

Danny ignored her outburst. "Jazz, you know the Fenton Ghost Portal? The thing they've been working on for weeks now? It was finally finished today and they tried it but it didn't work. Well, at least not at… yeah. It didn't work at all. It didn't even explode. They're really upset about it. Cut them some slack. Please? I mean, how would you feel if you found out all the work you had done for the past month was wrong?"

Jazz sighed. "Okay."

"Thanks for the help, Jazz," Danny said, raising his voice. He gestured for her to leave and followed her back down.

"Oh, good, you're here. Jack, put that down." Jack pouted as he stopped tinkering and put the Fenton Finder aside. "Sit down, kids."

Jazz and Danny quickly obeyed.

"Buen provecho*!" Maddie said with a smile, lifting the foil off the dish to reveal the growling chicken amid the glaring eyes of corn. Danny jumped out of his seat in surprise.

"MOM!" Jazz yelled, pushing herself away from the table so fast her chair tipped over backwards.

A flustered Maddie slapped the foil back on and took charge. "Jack, go down to the lab and get the ecto-disposal can. Jazz, Danny – Danny?"

"Right here, Mom," Danny said.

His mom looked around. "Where?"

Danny looked down at himself and gasped when he realized he had disappeared completely. Thinking quickly, he moved behind his mom and Jazz and closed his eyes in concentration.

"There you are!" his mom said. Danny opened his eyes. "Hold this down for me!" They quickly put their hands on top of the bulging foil as Maddie searched for an ecto-proof bag.

"AHHHH!" Jack yelled as he tripped down the stairs to the lab. The rest of the Fentons winced when they heard the numerous crashes that followed.

"Jack, are you alright?"

Silence.

"Jack?"

"WOOOOOHOOOOOO! Yeah, baby! No piece of technology bests Jack Fenton!"

Danny cringed. He must have discovered the portal! I hope they don't ask how it suddenly started working.

"Jack Fenton, what are you-"

"MADDIE! Kids! Come down here and see this!" The three ran down to see what Jack was so excited about, although one already knew.

Maddie let out a shriek when she saw the Ghost Portal. "It's working! It's working! It's working!" She jumped up to Jack and began babbling with him. "It must have just needed more power, and blew the fuses for the lab to get it! YES!" They threw their arms around each other.

Danny glanced at his family and then turned away. "I'm just going to go up, get ready for bed, you know, eh heh, yeah." He shivered at the memory of the octopus – ectopus? – he had encountered in the lab and left.

"ROAR!" the chicken growled at him as he walked through the kitchen. The foil had been thrown off and the corn eyes were jumping all over the kitchen like little bouncing balls. Bouncing balls that squeaked. Like mice. Danny stared for a moment before continuing up. I really wasn't that hungry anyway.

A few minutes later, he heard Jazz's scream as she discovered the kitchen.

Danny had given up on his homework for the night and was just about to go to sleep when his phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Danny."

"Tucker! Um, hi," Danny replied.

"We're still on for tomorrow, right?"

Danny thought for a moment. Tomorrow, tomorrow … right! Tomorrow! Meeting with Tucker in the morning for a video game marathon.

"Danny?"

"Sorry, Tucker. I kinda zoned out there; it's been a hectic day. But yeah, we're on."

"Cool! So what happened today?"

"I'd really rather not go into it," Danny replied. He didn't want anyone to know that he was a ghost, and that was really what his activities today had been centered around.

"That bad, huh?"

"You could say that."

"Well, hey, nobody died, right?"

"Rrright. See you tomorrow, Tucker. I'm going to bed; I'm pretty tired." Danny didn't usually brush off his friends like that, but he just didn't feel up to interacting with anybody. The day's events had really drained him. Or maybe he was finally going into shock.

"Okay. Just come prepared to be beaten to a pulp!"

"You wish. Good night."

"'Night."

'Well, hey, nobody died, right?' I don't know. Did I die? Danny thought as he drifted off to sleep.

Yeah, sorry it's short, but this is the end of the day (Saturday) in the story and I really don't want chapters to blend the days. Later on, it'll be one story day per chapter. Also, I really want to get this posted.

*Buen provecho – Spanish for "Good appetite," you know, like "Bon appetite!"