Edit: 6/5/18: Next wave of grammar fixes and wording tweaks or some scenes altered to avoid cliches. Took out AN question and answer sections.

Alright, time to resolve that cliffhanger. Sorry for that, but I couldn't resist the urge to use the whole literal cliffhanger thing. Probably was cliche, but oh well. I've always wanted to do it once.

This chapter skips around a bit with several happenings. I hope you like it :)

zzz- normal separation

ooo- dream or vision separation

Mental thoughts or distant speaking

"One person's craziness is another person's reality." ~ Tim Burton.

zzz

Ozarks. 7:00 AM.

The world was spinning and twirling as Danny rolled slash fell down the side of the bluff. The first half was somewhat level, but it changed to a stepper drop of about fifteen feet. He felt the air leave his chest as soon as the earth met his ribs and he was certain he heard a rib crack a bit.

The first thing he heard was the multitudes of groans and moans from everyone else. At the very least he was pretty sure that he could hear everyone's voices. That was one thing he'd noticed from his experience with weapons that neutralized his powers, they didn't affect his general increased senses. His above average sight, hearing, and even smell was left alone. He wasn't a hundred percent sure why this was exactly, though Tucker had at one time talked about the mechanics of such weapons only having so much reach when locking certain strands of DNA. Sam had tried to explain it to him about how all cells have the complete genome and most cells had many DNA strands locked in various places and such so that each could do their own jobs in the right places in the body. Tucker had come in and said that weapons like the Plasmius Maximus simply locked as many DNA strands in as many cells as it could in Danny's body, which had to do with controlling his ectoplasmic powers. Every one of Danny's cells could use his powers, which is why he could fire ectoplasm from any place… even his rear. So, if they locked down enough of that portion of his genome in his cells, he couldn't fly or attack, but his senses remained. Danny simplified it and generally said that the weapons didn't have enough juice and so far, Plasmius hadn't been able to make an efficient enough weapon to power every cell down. That brought another thought to his mind. What was the weapon that had been used? Was Plasmius around? Which ghost or ghosts were there? He had sensed a ghost or ghosts nearby before he'd been powered down and some part of him wished he'd gotten the chance to learn more about ghost sense from Danielle.

"Danny? Danny are you okay?"

Danny huffed slightly and looked up to see Sam stumbling towards him. She was dirty and there was some blood smeared on her thigh. He could see a tear in her purple leggings.

"You're bleeding…" Danny murmured.

"So are you, here, quick." Sam pulled out some gauze from her pack as quickly as she could and wrapped Danny's forearm which was leaking red blood that glittered slightly in the sunlight. "Good news is you can't see the difference between your blood and normal people's blood when it's dry and on a piece of gauze. They can't see your sparkly blood, ghost boy." She teased slightly.

Danny grunted and looked up and around. "What about everyone else?"

"Valerie's helping Tucker and I think everyone else is pulling themselves up. Dinah has a sore ankle since it got hit against the ground when she fell sideways, Lester has a semi-bad cut on his forehead, Mr. Lancer has a slightly hurt back… and-"

"Bella!"

Danny and Sam cringed at Tucker's shriek, knowing immediately what he was referring to.

"Oh, calm down, Foley. It's just a gadget. You can get a new one eventually."

"Not one like Bella!"

Danny then picked up the sound of Dash's voice, crying out a bit. He stood up and Tucker, Valerie, and everyone else nearby started making their way slowly towards Mrs. Telstaff, Mr. Lancer and Dash. Alroy, Kwan, and Tyson were standing around looking down at Dash who had his foot wedged underneath a stone. The three jocks were trying to lift the stone but were lifting without any timing so two would lift and then one would come late and vice versa.

"Hey guys quit that for a second and try to pull at the same time. You need to lift with your legs all at the same time," Danny spoke up, drawing some people's attentions.

Dash hissed slightly in pain when the three other boys let go.

"What would you know about lifting, Fenton?" Alroy asked with slight frustration. Danny could tell he was worried about Dash though.

Mr. Lancer looked over Danny briefly before nodding. "I think you should take Mr. Fenton's advice. All of you need to lift at the same time."

"That or you could let Dash chew his own foot off," Sam added morbidly.

Alroy, Kwan, and Tyson looked at each other in slight disgust before turning to try once more. Danny wanted to help, but enhanced strength was not one of the things he had access to when powered down. He felt Tucker walk up beside him and his friend whispered.

"Dude, why didn't you go ghost? I mean I know a secret and all but I thought falling down a bluff would be one of those exceptions."

"I… Someone zapped me with a weapon like the Plasmius Maximus and then tossed me down with everyone."

"Bummer."

"That means they're still nearby…" Valerie murmured quietly as the four and everyone else watched the stone get lifted enough to free Dash's foot. Mrs. Telstaff looked at the quarterback's foot and stated that a couple of the toes seemed to be broken and it was obviously sore from being partially crushed, but he could walk, if painfully.

"Yeah, my ghost sense caught them before I was zapped. We need to get moving. I have no idea how long the weapon that got me will last."

"Did you see who it or they were?" Sam asked quietly.

"No, they grabbed me from behind. I was too focused on the fact that my class was falling down the side of a cliff," Danny replied with a bit of sarcasm.

"Alright then, how is everyone else?" Mrs. Tetslaff suddenly spoke up and looked around at everyone. Most looked a bit disheveled but they were intact. Sam had already bandaged up her own cut on her thigh and Lester had had Melanie clean his cut and bandage it.

"What was that!?"

"Yeah how did we fall?"

"I heard an explosion!"

"Me too!"

"Everyone, settle down!" Mr. Lancer called out.

Their voices died down as both teachers stood before the students. Danny, Sam, Valerie, and Tucker rooted through their bags which had remained mostly intact, which was at least one good thing. A few people had lost their possessions and packs, but that was to be expected. Between the four friends, they found a couple of wrist rays and a blaster. The Fenton ghost fisher was snapped in half and the two specter deflectors had been broken from the fall.

"And so, we need to find a way back to the trail," Mr. Lancer concluded.

Danny perked up at that. "No wait!"

Everyone looked over at Danny and that was when Danny realized he'd just put his foot in his own mouth. That was usually Tucker's job.

"What do you mean, Danny?" Freddie asked.

"What's wrong, Fenton?" Mrs. Tetslaff asked.

"Uh… I um…" Danny stuttered. Then of course Sam did an amazing job of saving him.

"We have a ghost detector with us because Danny's parents are paranoid and we think a ghost caused the explosion and our fall."

"I think it's a very malevolent ghost or ghosts and we need to get away," Danny picked up.

"A ghost you say?" Mr. Lancer spoke up, interrupting whatever response Tetslaff had had ready.

"Uh, yes sir. I don't know which one since I didn't see it or them…" Danny replied cautiously.

Lancer nodded briefly. "I see…"

"Do you think Inviso-I mean Danny Phantom will come? He was in Missouri…" Paulina spoke up.

"He was kinda busy, wasn't he?" Dash asked and grimaced when he leaned too heavily on his hurt foot.

"It doesn't matter. We have to get going. Really if it's any of the ghosts I'm thinking it could be, we're in deep trouble. We have to get away from the trail and find another way to civilization," Danny spoke up again.

"Why should we listen to him, Mr. Lancer?" Alroy asked.

"Because Mr. Fenton's parents know more about ghosts and the like than any of us and I doubt he would lie about such a thing," Mr. Lancer answered calmly.

Tetslaff sighed and looked at Danny evenly.

"I know the stars and which way is west, east, north, south and more… If we don't have a compass anymore," Danny added.

"We still have a couple compasses but knowing that will be helpful in case the fall altered them at all," Tetslaff answered and looked around. "We need to get out of this hell of a ditch first though."

Lancer sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Hey this way is pretty easy!"

Everyone turned and looked over to see Tucker halfway up the other side of the large ditch like area.

"How'd you get up there, Tucker?" Norman called out.

"I uh… climbed?" Tucker stated in slight confusion.

"Come on!" Sam called out in slight annoyance, practically joining Tucker up in the same place within a minute or so.

Danny nodded to Valerie and the others and moved that direction. Valerie followed right behind him and the others slowly trailed behind and followed them up to the top of the ridge. Some had a bit of trouble, but they all eventually made it up.

They were now on the opposite side from where the pathway had once been. Tetslaff looked around and figured in her mind where they were. "Alright. I think I can get us to another place I know of."

"That's good, let's go. They could be on us at any time," Danny said.

"You sound a little paranoid, Fenton. Why wouldn't they have already attacked us if they were nearby still?" Brad asked calmly.

"Don't underestimate how manipulative a ghost can be. They can formulate very complicated plans and carry them out," Danny replied.

"Why would they care that much if we got away?" Mikey asked nervously.

Danny gulped slightly. "Well, if it's a particular ghost I know, he might want to hunt us…"

"Hunt us!?" John yelped out.

"Dios Mio…" Richard swallowed.

"Or it could be a ghost that dislikes me particularly because I well pissed him off a couple times," Danny continued.

"That could be almost any ghost," Tucker muttered which got him an elbow to the side form Valerie.

"Why would a ghost hate you?" Brandon questioned.

"Yes Mr. Fenton, why would a ghost hate you?" Lancer pressed.

For some reason, Danny could tell that Lancer was trying to trap him with words and he wasn't sure why. "My parents are ghost hunters, why else?"

Lancer grunted at the answer, while the rest seemed to take the excuse.

"Come on then, let's head on some more…" Tetslaff spoke and waved her hand towards the deep woods. Everyone moved out behind her as quickly as they could and Dash moved along the best he could, trying to avoid hurting his foot too much.

zzz

Clockwork's Lair. 10:40 AM.

"Do you ever get tired of yourself? Sickened by the way you toy with people? You have to. I mean you twist people and mold people and make everything work out the way you wan-"

"Finding fault in others does not fulfill the emptiness in oneself, Dan."

Clockwork had his back to Dan's Thermos and for this he was glad since he could easily hide the tiny smirk that came to his face when Dan growled in frustration.

"No matter what you say you can't deny I'm right."

Clockwork frowned. Dan was true in some ways, but at the same time… he had to turn the conversation back to the subject of Dan and not himself.

"Perhaps, but what I find more interesting is that you're actually trying to blame me for things at all… Trying to find fault in me to alleviate your own… guilt, perhaps?"

Dan roared. "No! I have no guilt! I have no remorse! You on the other hand, should!"

"Now we're judging others on the none existent moral compass you possess?"

Dan spluttered a bit and then hissed, making his thermos rattle. "Just because I know what's right and wrong doesn't mean I feel the need to do what's right!"

"So, we've moved from unfeeling to feeling and not caring? My goodness, Dan. I didn't expect you to improve so quickly."

Clockwork quickly moved out of the main room as fast as he could to escape the wave of curses and horrid language that spewed from Dan's mouth. Yeah, he probably had pushed him and bit too far with that last comment… but then again, no matter how hard he pushed, so long as he pushed in the right direction…

That's all that really mattered.

zzz

Ozarks. 1:37 PM.

People were wheezing and there wasn't hardly and single person sweating to some degree… except maybe Sam, since goths simmer.

"How much further do we have to go? I'm dying!" Lesley called out in desperation.

Everyone gave a brief groan and they slowed some. They hadn't really been going much faster than a jog in some places, but they'd been going almost none stop. Even good ol' Mrs. Tetslaff was getting tired. Lancer well… he practically flopped to the ground when they stopped.

Danny took in a few deep breaths and was mostly fine. Yes, he was a bit winded since he didn't have access to his super strength or endurance, but his normal body had strengthened as well from Sam's own insistence. She had said it would be a good idea for him to strengthen himself without the use of his powers and he couldn't be more grateful for her suggestion than right now, especially since Tucker had collapsed right next to his feet. To be fair, Tucker had gone strong for most of the way, it was maybe only the last little bit that had really gotten to him.

"So, we just keep going like this? For how long? What about sleep? Food? Water?" John gulped out.

"We have to. We don't have much choice," Sam expressed.

They were able to rest for about five minutes before something caught Danny's ear. The tiny subtle noise of a weapon being charged and then he saw a tiny almost invisible mark shine on TJ's torso.

He dove.

The ectoplasmic shot exploded and the noise echoed around the woods they were in, causing many people in the group to scream or shout in fear.

"Go! NOW!" Danny yelled out, helping the stunned and shaking TJ up and shoving him so that he could start to run.

Everyone took off as fast as they could.

"The hell was that!?" Dash cried out, desperately gritting his teeth to ignore the agony of him running on two broken toes.

"Well from what I saw, it looked like a particle accelerated ectoplasmic gun with a built in electro-pulma-"

"For the love of God, English, Foley!" Star yelled.

"A gun powered by ectoplasm and altered to use a shock of electricity that more thoroughly harms corporal… I mean human flesh!" Norman translated Tucker's explanation, before leaping over a log.

"So, we are being hunted!" Megan squealed.

"Yeah that's the bad news, good news is I think I know who," Danny replied and huffed.

Although I'm having my doubts about whether or not Skulker's the only one…

I'm worried too. Skulker usually has to flaunt the fact that he's hunting you… or anyone. Something weird is going on here. Sam replied.

I'm wondering the same thing. And are we going to go without food or sleep? How will we hide from Skulker? Valerie asked.

Skulker can smell fear, so if we can just keep everyone semi-calm it should be okay. We still have some rations in our packs so as long as Tetslaff isn't leading us through the scenic route, everything should be okay… I hope. Tucker spoke up.

I don't know… Valerie started before Danny had to cut off the connection.

"Who is hunting us?" Kwan asked worriedly.

"A ghost named, Skulker. He's a hunter and likes rare and valuable prizes," Danny answered.

"Oh no! He's hunting me because of my flawless skin and angelic-like beauty!" Paulina cried out in horror.

Danny had to stop himself from bursting out laughing at the idea. Skulker would never have anything to do with Paulina. She wouldn't be much of a challenge.

At least I would be a challenge even if I'm not a Halfa like you, Danny. Valerie couldn't help but message.

Very true. Danny replied simply.

"Sure that's it…" Sam grumbled in annoyance.

Another shot rang out and Danny jumped to avoid a splatter of earth and foliage.

They all got a bit quieter and focused more on running.

zzz

Ozarks. 6:57 PM.

They'd run for a long while and walked more after that before finally they were able to find a cave to hide in. It was a lucky break to be honest since they had had to ditch their tents along the way so they could run better.

Everyone piled into the cave and huddled into their cliques like normal. Danny kept glancing outside at the place they'd come from, looking in the woods for any sign of Skulker or anything else. What was weighing the most on Danny's mind though was that he wasn't sure if Skulker could detect his weak ectoplasmic signature. Then again, he wasn't sure if he had all his powers back yet or not; he hadn't exactly had the chance to check and see.

"We need to build a fire,"Alroy pushed.

"No, we can't or it will make things easier for him to find us. The light will draw him to us," Tucker informed quietly and calmly.

"We have to gather together for body heat or nothing at all," Sam continued.

The A-listers and Nerds looked at each other with hesitancy and then looked away.

Slowly everyone started to get quieter and they were definitely sleepy by the time the sun started to disappear.

Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Valerie sat near the opening to the cave looking out over the woods as it was getting darker and darker.

"You guys should go to sleep," Danny offered.

"Nope, you're stuck with us," Valerie replied.

"Don't even started with that, Danny," Sam continued.

Danny frowned and then rolled his eyes. "But you guys can't even see out in the dark by now. I can see because of my enhanced vision."

"Yeah yeah, whatever…" Tucker teased and nudged Danny slightly.

Danny only smiled and shook his head.

"Can you access your powers yet?" Sam asked and laid a hand down on Danny's.

Danny sighed and lifted up his other hand. He focused and a mere flicker of green flashed there for a second and then died.

"No… I have no idea what they zapped me with. I've never been without my powers for this long." Danny sighed.

As the night went on and Lancer switched out with them for guard duty, never knowing that Danny lingered somewhat awake, the four friends similarly never knew that their talk had once again been witnessed.

zzz

Ozarks. 5:23 AM.

"Come on. I know you're all tired but we have to go," Danny pushed the next morning. All the students sighed or groaned in agitation but didn't argue too much. It seemed that being shot at by a strange ghost hunter thing made them less likely to make a fuss.

They grabbed up what little they'd unpacked and moved out of the cave. They started to follow Tetslaff once more hoping the gym teacher did know what she was doing.

"So, what is this Skulker guy like? Is he hunting us because of you, Fentoni- I mean uh… Danny."

Danny blinked and almost stopped walking entirely when Dash called him by his first name. "What did you call me, Dash?"

Dash grumbled. "Just answer the question, Fenton!"

Lancer glanced back and merely shook his head to himself.

Danny sighed. "Skulker, like I said once before, likes rare and valuable prey."

"Why does he want you?" Alroy sneered a bit.

Danny raked a hand down the side of his face while Sam gave them A-listers the evil eye. "Because my parents hunt him in return…"

Norman paused in thought and looked at the group. "Is some of it because you guys sometimes have helped Danny Phantom, briefly?"

Dinah perked up and looked over. "Exactly! You three at least helped him back in Missouri! The Goremire Mansion, yeah?"

"What? Do you geeks, like, ghost hunt too?" Dash asked and then looked at Danny. "And where were you during then, Fenton?"

The four friends looked at each other in slight surprise. Lancer watched them carefully and rose a single brow when Dash mentioned that Danny hadn't been at the Wraith mansion hunting ghosts or what not. Mrs. Tetslaff was too busy making sure they were heading the right way.

"I was um… in the bathroom?" Danny offered.

"And we only help every once in a while," Tucker chuckled nervously. Sam elbowed him hard.

"What Tucker means is, when we notice something's up… we provide support," Valerie offered.

Lancer looked over each of the four teens closely and discreetly as the other students asked more questions. Something stirred in Lancer's head at the realization that Danny was still using the ol' bathroom excuse. Where was he when the other three were hunting ghosts... For some reason, he felt like the answer was right at the fringes of his mind.

"So, then he's kinda your enemy too," Brandon offered.

"More Phantom's than ours," Sam cut him off.

Before anyone else could start up again, another gun shot went off and this time, someone cried out in pain.

"Tucker!" Danny, Sam, and Valerie shouted. Sam turned to looked at the others and growled.

"RUN NOW!" She yelled and everyone started to run as Valerie hefted Tucker unto Danny's back. Tucker grit his teeth when he shifted and Sam saw the trail of blood. Tucker had been struck in the lower calf.

"Guys… I think you should leave me or something…" Tucker gasped in slight pain. He was spasming slightly from the small electrical current the shot was infused with.

"You're joking right? Tell me you're joking, Tucker," Sam hissed as they took off. Valerie tried to help keep Tucker from unbalancing Danny too much.

"Oh, believe me, he is joking," Valerie growled and looked up into Tucker's eyes. She almost stuttered when she saw the conviction that had suddenly come into them.

"Something tells me he isn't. Good news is, he doesn't get to make that choice," Danny spoke up between pants.

"Guys-" Tucker started but Sam shook her head. Tucker knew to keep quiet about it from then.

"What really gets me is that he actually didn't kill you," Danny muttered.

"Well gee thanks, dude," Tucker grumbled.

"Not like that! Skulker's got bad aim most of the time, but he doesn't have that bad of aim. I mean that's like," Danny flinched. "Like my dad's aim."

"You have a point. It's almost like he missed on purpose," Valerie responded.

Danny grit his teeth in anger. "He probably did it to get at me."

"Don't do that, dude," Tucker spoke up from the back.

"Right… right," Danny calmed.

They were eventually able to catch up with the others and after some more running and then fast walking, the group felt like they'd found a place they could hide and rest if only temporarily. Sam went to work cleaning and bandaging Tucker's wound the best she could. Luckily, it had only skimmed the back of the calf and didn't go through it.

"This is getting to be too much. Too much!" Tyson wailed watching as Tucker grit his teeth and gripped the rock he was on when Sam tightened the binding she'd made.

"The geeks are going to get us killed!" Alroy growled out.

"Yo! Fenton saved my hide and these dudes and dudettes are trying to keep us still kicking, you fool!" TJ snapped.

It seemed as though the A-listers were picking arguments with the Neutrals, Nerds, and of course Team Phantom. The teachers started to try and calm everyone down, but Danny interrupted whatever commands they were going to give.

"Now is definitely not the time to freak out and break down any little unity we have here," Danny practically growled.

Another shot rang out and bounced off the stones nearby. Everyone took off running again; this time, Valerie was able to move with Tucker leaning heavily on her. Sam's work on his leg at least made it bearable.

They ran further and further through the woods breathing hard and starting to wear down. Danny realized quite tragically that they would fall before Skulker tired. After all, Skulker didn't need to sleep, didn't need to rest… These truths weighed heavily on Danny's mind as people started to slow and not be able to run even for their lives anymore.

Dash tripped and fell to his knees. Running for so long was one thing. Running for so long and trying to avoid using part of your foot was another. He'd only wavered once and landing heavily on his broken and sore toes had caused him to fall.

"Dash," Danny breathed out and turned back.

"Danny, wait," Sam called.

Everyone seemed to slow and try to catch their breath.

"He's going to kill us… I know it," Dash whined out.

Danny let out a sigh and looked around, not seeing, hearing or noticing anything suspicious. He held out a hand to the downed Dash. "Come on Dash… I know you can get up. Imagine I've stuffed your teddy bear collection into your locker again."

Dash looked up at Danny in confusion. "Why are you doing this? How can you keep going? We're being shot at. Your best friend got shot. We've practically been running for a day or more and if we get caught, then that ghost will likely want to waste you!"

Danny blinked and then he snickered a bit. Sam, Tucker and Valerie glanced at each other in worry and everyone else thought for a moment that Danny had snapped.

"Dash…"

"Uh, yeah Fenton?"

Danny looked down at the boy and sighed. "I wake up every day dodging a gadget my parents make, I go to school and fail almost everything I put to paper and looked around corners trying to avoid you, I get out of school hoping to have a chance to relax with my friends only for some random ghost attack to happen that may or may not lead to me…" He paused and then looked at Dash with a bit of sadness. "I hardly can tell the difference much anymore between this and what normal should be… but I think that can be the problem sometimes when you think about it. Who can say what is normal? I know I can't. I can't keep everyone safe here… on my own. That's why I have Sam, Tucker, and Valerie. I would go nuts without them. I know you're feeling small, but you can make a big difference if you try."

Brandon perked up, recognizing the tone of voice Danny was using. It was the same one he'd used with him months ago.

Dash blinked and some small part of his brain went back to that one day that he was trapped as a tiny ant with Danny Phantom. Why did Fenton with his friendly and outstretched hand remind him so much of Danny Phantom? He glanced over at Mr. Lancer and saw the old teacher nod his head solemnly. With a great deal of courage, in which many would not think could come from Dashiell Baxter, he reached out and grasped Danny's hand.

"Don't… Don't think this is too permanent, Fenton… I mean… you're still a geek, no matter how many crazy moves you can do and stuff."

Danny only smiled. "I'm actually more than okay with that."

The group then moved off, with Danny and the rest of the Team Phantom being surprised by Dash's attempt or semi-attempt to reach out. Danny's mind on the other hand returned to something more worrisome.

Where had the hunter gone? Why weren't they being shot at any more?

zzz

Ozarks. 7:34 PM.

"So… you really can drive a space ship?" Kwan asked after a moment and looked at Danny.

The group had found a new place to settle down after a long trek through the seemingly never-ending forest. They'd also eaten some of their rations they had left. Really though, they all looked like hell even after hardly two days.

Danny nodded slowly, a bit surprised by the seemingly normal question. "Uh, I guess… I mean I've completed the simulation like hundreds of times…"

"So, you really do want to become an astronaut?" Brandon asked with a smile.

Danny smiled back. "I'd like to… but I don't know if that's possible for me anymore."

Sam seemed to pick up on the underlying sadness in Danny's answer and placed a hand on his arm.

"What, because of your grades?" Brad asked.

"Yeah something like that..." Danny replied and chuckled.

"Mrs. Tetslaff, do you have any idea how much further until we reach civilization?" Valerie asked.

Mrs. Tetslaff turned form a brief discussion with Mr. Lancer. The only light the group had at the moment was the glow from someone's dying cellphone. The bad news about the cell phones was that there was no service and the emergency communicator the teachers had brought had somehow vanished when they'd taken their tumble down the side of the hill.

A bit away from the rest of the group, Paulina, Star, and Megan were talking with themselves.

"I can't believe Dinah or Lesley… Just sitting over there with the jocks and more importantly the losers…" Megan grumbled. "What are they thinking? Just because they know more about this psycho ghost guy doesn't mean we have to act like we're friends."

"I know!" Paulina exclaimed and then muttered darkly. "Traitors."

Star simply stared at the two girls, blankly.

"So, are they like out of the A-listers or something?" Megan questioned seriously.

"That would normally be the answer, but Meg, that would mean we'd be the only three A-listers left," Paulina answered.

"So, what do we do?" Megan asked.

"I'm not sure," Paulina murmured.

"We could… you know… become friends with them."

Both Megan and Paulina looked over at Star in shock.

"Star, I think you've gotten like de-hydrated or something," Megan stated.

Star furrowed her brows in frustration. "Maybe Mr. Lancer is right, ya know? I mean… That prank we tried to pull on Danny and then watching Dash and his 'pals' shove Danny's head underwater on his birthday… Does that not bother you guys?"

Paulina and Megan looked at each other uncomfortably.

"And he's still trying to help us regardless. They all are!" Star almost yelled.

"He's a-" Megan started before Star cut her off.

"Good bowler, can fly a space ship, apparently is some kind of artist since he was carving on that little sculpture before all this craziness… Look. I think there's some merit to what Lancer was talking about and to what Valerie was talking about." Star sighed and looked at the two girls. "I want to have more friends and I want them to be real. I want to learn more about them and why they are the way they are."

"So, our friendship isn't real?" Paulina asked and stood to look into Star's eyes evenly.

"Did you know I have a four-point one GPA? That I like tennis more than football? That I know how to make gluten free foods, because I have to watch how much gluten I eat?" Star asked seriously.

Paulina paused in shock and her mouth eventually snapped shut. "I… Star…"

Star smiled. "Paulie… Is there anything… I don't know about you?"

Paulina frowned and looked down at Megan, who shrugged. Paulina looked over at the larger group with a small disgruntled frown.

"Can we talk for a bit and then maybe…" Paulina started.

"Yes. The answer is yes," Star replied and gave her friend and strong hug. Paulina paused for a moment before hugging Star back with just as much strength.

"I actually think video games look fun, but I've never tried to play one before…"

"No way!"

Several minutes later, the group started to get ready to sleep. Danny though, was anxious. They hadn't been chased or shot at since earlier that day. There had been a long pause in any sort of attack or move on the enemy's part. Could he or they or whoever be waiting for a chance to get them when their guard was down? The very thought made sleep seem like an impossible endeavor for Danny and his friends. He could tell that though their eyes were closed, they weren't peacefully sleeping. On the flip side, actually talking like civilized human beings er… sentient beings with the A-listers was… pleasant. Though Paulina, Megan, and Star never made it over to them before time to sleep, it was nice; even if it would end when or if they got out of this mess. His powers were starting to come back and unlike the normal Plasmius Maximus, they were returning slowly rather than all at once.

Danny shook his head and carefully pulled out the half-finished deer he'd started on. The basic shape was there, though the ears, tail, and correctly proportioned legs were absent. Danny let a sigh escape his lips and snuggled deeper into his sleeping bag.

He would just be glad when this was all over and he could fly with his little sister around Amity Park. May he never go on another Class Field Trip of any kind ever again, so help him God.

zzz

Amity Park. 7:59 PM.

Madeline Fenton smiled as she walked up the steps to the living room. She was in a great mood. After all, she'd spent the day training with her husband and two daughters once they'd come home from hanging out around town and had finished the night with figuring out something hugely helpful in her and her husband's attempt to create a mechanism that could flush out Blood Blossom molecules from a human or ghost's system.

It had actually been Jack that had figured it out. Much like the man that had discovered that cowpox could prevent a human from catching small pox, Jack had figured out that using or consuming the fruit of the Lotus trees could counter act the active ingredients in the Blood Blossoms. Of course, it had mostly been Jack eating both the blossoms and the fruit behind her back and a quick medical evaluation to make sure eating both plants at the same time didn't hurt her husband, but it had accumulated in the discovery of a life time or… afterlife…whatever. A semi-decent cure to blood blossom poisoning.

Firstly, the Lotus trees' fruit did truly no harm to a human or ghostly body at all. At the very most it put a human to sleep and put a ghost into a semi-intoxicated like state. From what Danny had told them and even what Danielle could tell them about themselves was that caffeine or really anything that would normally be a stimulant to a human required a larger dose to affect a ghost. This also was determined by the power of a ghost as well. These had been the first few clues Maddie had needed.

Ghosts and their bodies seemed to be highly dependent on natural energy, which in retrospect made sense. It's why ghosts like emotions and why weaker ghosts may work hard to scare humans or even require electromagnetic sources in the earth to even manifest at all. The portal in Amity made this issue non-existent for their ghosts and natural portals were becoming more frequent. After looking at the interactions Blood Blossoms had with ectoplasm, she and Jack had figured out what the plant actually did to ghosts. While stimulants were a non-issue to ghosts, something that could hyper-activate every molecule in their forms was different. Blood Blossom were merely an edible plant to a human with mostly a carbon formed body, but the materials in the plant naturally excited the ectoplasmic formed bodies of ghosts and denatured them for the plant to use. The molecules actually went into hyper drive and then started to attack themselves in a frenzy of something similar to an autoimmune response. This is what caused all the pain and symptoms as well as the damage from prolonged exposure.

The shortened version: The Lotus tree fruits neutralized the Blood Blossoms if mixed in the right proportion of fruit to blossom molecules.

All of the trial and error had been worth it, even going into the Ghost Zone without their children's knowledge. She only wondered why the people of the Far Frozen hadn't figured anything like this out before since their culture was so advanced. The answer she came to quickly was that they had no way to safety analyze Blood Blossoms since they couldn't even touch the plant, much less travel into the human world to find the blossoms. Blood Blossoms couldn't exist in the Ghost Zone since they'd absorb too much ectoplasm and the energy from the zone would make them over-saturate themselves.

Not only had she and her husband figured out something that could save two of her children's lives, but they'd also discovered a species of plant that had found a secondary method of energy use that wasn't photosynthesis… even if it didn't rely on ectoplasm solely and indeed used photosynthesis as their major method of energy formation. Though that whole topic made her wonder about why a plant would even evolve with that ability, but that was a question for another time.

Maddie snapped out of her scientific thoughts when she walked back into the den with a glass of milk in one hand. She'd even gotten the hang of subconsciously handling the territorial hotdogs in the fridge.

Dani groaned from the couch.

"Still sore sweetie? I told you that stretching before practicing round-house kicks is important," Maddie spoke up as she neared her daughter.

"Yeah, I know… Lesson learned," Dani whimpered slightly when she moved her leg from across the couch to thump against the floor. Now with a spot free, Maddie sat. "Where's Mr. Fen- I mean, Dad?"

Maddie smiled down at her daughter. Though she'd been able to grow fairly accustomed to her knew life, she did slip from time to time and forget to call them mom or dad. At least she did have Danny's ability to adapt. She'd always known her son to be good at that; it somewhat made up for his terrible math skills, ghost hunting or not.

"He's um… in the bathroom." Yeah that was good way to put it. The downfall to their new cure? Irritable bowels.

"Oh, did he try to eat the hot dogs again? Oh! Did you notice they've formed a pack mentality, by the way? They have a hierarchy and everything!" Dani piped up.

"No and no I didn't. How'd you notice?" Maddie asked.

"I was looking up things about training dogs… learned about wolves too. I don't think those sites know much about ghost dogs though. Cujo, curtain!"

At Dani's command, Cujo appeared, laying at their feet on the ground. He'd been invisible.

"You taught him how to appear and disappear on command?" Maddie asked and smiled.

"Yeah, in case of a short notice kinda thing."

"Why, curtain, as the command?"

"Cause, someone could say the word appear or something similar and he'd possibly appear by their command. This way it's harder for someone else to make him show up."

"Ah I see, the word curtain is more obscure, similar to code or the like."

"It's like someone appears from behind a curtain. I donno it sounded cooler when I thought of it."

"Sounds fine to me. What's the command to disappear?"

"Vanish."

"Interesting." Maddie shook her head. She'd wanted to tell Dani the good news and she'd gotten off topic with the dog. Cujo jumped up into the couch and into Dani's lap. Dani started to pet him on the head and Maddie absentmindedly stroked the puppy's back. "I was wanting to tell you something important. Did Danny ever tell you about Blood Blossoms?"

"Yeah I think he mentioned it once. We would run into each other from time to time before the whole thing with Valerie and Vlad happened last. Then, I kinda got as far away from Amity as I could for a bit since I didn't want to be near Vlad."

Maddie had to prevent herself from cursing Vlad out loud again. It seemed as though the memories of him ever being a friend to her and Jack were becoming more and more abstract and less real as she learned more and as time went on. It made her wonder if he'd ever been the man she and her husband thought he'd been.

"Well me and your father just discovered a way to cleanse the body of Blood Blossom molecules. It won't be nearly as much of an issue as it was before…" Maddie trailed off. She looked at her daughter's face carefully. Yes Dani was a clone, but at the same time, there was an unmistakable love that surged through Maddie's body seeing her. Yes, she was meant to be this girl's mother.

"Is that why dad is still in the bathroom?" Dani asked and scrunched her nose in disgust.

Maddie sighed. "Unfortunately, that is a side effect."

"Mads! I need some Fenton Wipe, Stat!"

Maddie flinched at Jack's voice barreling up from the basement's bathroom and Dani turned a bit green.

"Ewww!" Dani wailed in disgust.

"Don't worry about it sweetie. It's just a minor side effect." Maddie went to get up before she noticed something on the TV. Somehow the channel had gotten put on the government broadcast station for Amity. It mentioned something about some minor new add-on to a littering law or something and then that fact that their mayor, Vlad Masters, had been on a vacation leave for about five days. Something about that particular day count bothered her and she started to think about why that was.

"Mom? You okay?" Dani asked after her mom had been frozen for several seconds.

Dani calling her, mom, snapped the picture into focus. Danny… Field Trip… They left home about five days ago.

"Dani… go get your sister."

"Mom?"

"She's in her room working on her second volume about her psychology and ghosts theory paper. I need you to get her. I have to go help your father. Tell her to look up the topics of the day for Amity's government broadcast station."

"Ooookay?" Dani stated slash questioned before turning and running upstairs.

Maddie marched down into the lab. First she had to find the Fenton Wipe and then she had to tell her husband that she was afraid their good ol' collage buddy might be up to something.

zzz

Ghost Zone. 1:29 AM.

He paused and panted behind the rock he was hiding near. More accurately, he was hiding in the rock's shadow. He was hate, envy, evil in all its glory, of course he'd hide in a shadow and wait for the best moment to appear. Best moment for him, not you. Although, the problem with hate, greed, and all the above was that it was an inefficient machine; it took so much heavy, bloody fuel to get a tiny bit of reward. Not that he of all things cared, except it made living on his own, without others to fuel him, as easy as it was for fire to exist without oxygen.

He was so close and he couldn't simply use the infinite power inside the ring and crown he'd commandeered because the artifacts would most likely burn up his body rather than him use their powers. That was why the crown and ring together were so hard for someone to control. A ghost or being had to have a massive amount of power in order to feed the artifacts and reach equilibrium between their body and the objects, before reaching into the hidden reserves of power inside them.

He couldn't even start making an army of vicious and mindless monsters yet because he had to conserve every bit of power he had to accomplish this first goal. He needed a better body. He could never change the true form he now had, but he could infect another body and use it like a puppet.

He gazed up at the massive floating island beyond the last gap of the void he had to cross with his own power… and then it wasn't like a being easily gives up its body to be possessed and incorporated into something greater which is not entirely of their own mind anymore.

He pulled himself up out of the earth and his black and purple form bubbled and gurgled in slight weakness. He then opened… eyes and a mouth. His eyes were ringed with a thin line of white and their corneas were black and the irises were white and the pupils black again. His mouth was a bright white which showed a large white toothed grin born of madness… or mindlessness. At this point it wasn't much difference for Malus.

He jumped off the ledge and flew as quickly as he could towards Pariah Dark's castle. The good news for the beast of hate was that trapping insanely powerful ghosts or beings in a confined space wasn't always a good plan. It made it easier for the prey to not escape.

zzz

Clockwork's tower. 1:47 AM.

Clockwork flinched in the middle of his work with the rows and rows of hourglasses he kept. Each one guarded the timeline of a living creature. It was in this way that Clockwork and Reaper worked hand in hand. He'd tell Reaper when someone's time was up and then the Death bringer would go and guide their soul to where it belonged…

Why else would such a saying like, 'Your time is up' come from? Humans could be more insightful than they realized at times.

Clockwork looked around, trying to figure out what it was that was bothering him. He then heard a rattling in the far far far back portion of the room. The time spirit picked up his staff from a nearby table and floated into the darkness in the back, passing by billions of timepieces. Eventually he got near the back and noticed seven very large and very slow-moving hourglasses. Three had finished their progression and moved no more, three others ran normally and the last one was draining and draining quickly.

Clockwork's red eyes widened in surprise when he realized what this meant. Pariah Dark, the one of the original seven ancients, was falling. It had been inevitable of course, since he'd allowed his own power, as the ideal of Power itself, to consume him. It was why the other six ancient ghosts had had to seal him away in the first place. The way he was falling though, was not natural and Clockwork knew he would have to warn the Observants, Wormhole, and Reaper. He floated out of the dark room, trying his best to ignore the still rattling hourglass as it's glass whined with strain.

The one thing he was thankful of was that he'd had Wormhole make his domain practically unavailable to all those that Clockwork himself saw as unworthy. A little space manipulation can go a long way. Malus could never see nor find his lair.

Thank the Infinite Realms for that. Whether he knew it or not, there was no safer place that Dan could be, than in that tiny Thermos and out of Malus' reach.

Well what do you think of all that, hm? I had a bit of trouble also picking the quote for this chapter, but then Tim Burton's quote that has a bit to do with perspective kinda caught my eye. I mean, we've got social cliques trying to work together and understand each other, Dan and all his madness, and Maddie's little thoughts about Vlad, and then of course the master of all nuttiness, Malus himself and his skewed mind? existence? being? He isn't truly a sentient being so I don't know what to call his 'mind'.

Thank you all for your kind words and reviews!

Until Next Time,

~NoSignal