With a snarl, Beast ducked into a corner, scaring a nearby alley cat that was playing with a can. It had been a bad night for him. He wanted to get out and exercise a bit. To see the sights of his home town once again. Sadly, all it took was one person to spot him, and now here he was running.

Trekking through the empty streets, he heard a vehicle approaching. Leaping onto a nearby building, he watched from his hiding position as a police car drove by, obviously alerted to the disturbance that he had caused.

Dropping down, he landed behind the car as it was leaving and turned in the other direction when the driver looked in his rear-view mirror.

"What?" He whispered at seeing what looked to be an escaped animal. Hastily turning around, the car sped off after Beast, who was making his way to the school, thinking he could hide there until everything blew over.

Reaching the window, he peered in, and his face fell as the mutant was reunited with the sight of his old chemistry classroom. The last place he was before his life changed forever. Growling in rage and sadness at what he had lost, he felt the animal take over as he let out a mighty roar and brought his fist down on the tree next to him, splitting it in half as a part of it ended up tipping over and breaking the window.

The sound took him out of his rage as he realized he needed to get out of here. Running on all fours, he started to head home when the police car spotted him and started to give chase. Thinking he could lose them, he turned into another alley, only to be met with a dead end as the headlights of the car shined on him.

As the cops got closer, they shined their flashlights at the beast, but it completely disappeared.

"Where'd he go?" The one in the passenger seat wondered.

"Gotta be here somewhere." His partner replied as they looked around, only for the creature to drop down on the hood of their car before hopping off and running away into the night.

'Last time I'm heading out for a late-night stroll.' Beast thought to himself as he moved in the direction that led back to the institute.

It was early morning at the institute as Beast sat down in Xavier's office. He felt like he was back in high school, about to be scolded by the principal.

"I don't know what to say." He said to Xavier guiltily. "I'm so sorry about this."

However, Xavier was not angered at all. "It was bound to happen eventually."

"What do you mean?" Beast asked, wondering why the professor seemed to be all nonchalant about the whole thing.

"What was it last time?" Xavier questioned him with an amused smile. "You attended a drive-in movie, I believe. Hidden in the bed of a pickup truck."

Beast rubbed his head in embarrassment when Xavier brought up that humiliating memory before turning away to look out the window. "I was a fool to think I could ever leave these walls."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Hank." His friend comforted. "Your need to be out in the world is natural."

"But I don't belong there anymore." Beast let out in frustration.

"I can still create a holowatch for you." Xavier offered. "Like Kurt's."

"All the same, it's still hiding." Beast pointed out. "Besides, if you'd seen how my rage got the better of me." He remembered how he damaged school property last night. "I really can't be trusted out there."

While Beast was somber over the events of last night, the students were out in the halls getting ready for school. The door to Kitty and Rogue's room opened as the two teenage girls walked out.

"I hope you get an A," Rogue said to her roommate with a grin. "You've stayed up all night working on that earth-science report."

Kitty shook her head before asking Rogue, "Do you know anything about redwoods?"

"Not a clue." The goth answered before going off to meet up with her boyfriend. "There you are." She said as Danny came down the hall. "Ready for school?"

"Am I ever?" Danny retorted, making his girlfriend roll her eyes.

The two were about to head out, passing Xavier's office, when they heard Beast.

"I never asked to be a mutant. Why me?"

The two stopped and looked into the open door to see Xavier and Beast speaking with each other.

"In order to find that answer, we are faced with a unique journey of discovery." Xavier said wisely.

"Journey?" Beast scoffed. "Where do you go when you can't be seen by the public?"

Danny and Rogue both felt empathy for Beast and his plight. Danny, more so.

He knew what it was like to feel alone. When he first got his powers, he thought he didn't belong in the human world or the Ghost Zone. How he hated having to hide from his own parents out of fear of rejection. He wanted to help Beast. To show him that just because his life changed didn't mean that it was over.

Rogue was of similar mind. She knew what it was like to have to distance yourself from others because of your mutation. She gave a glance at her clothes, which covered every inch of her skin, so she didn't risk hurting the people she called friends.

Her ghost half, however, wasn't that sympathetic. "He can always go to the circus." She said in response to Beast's unanswered question.

'Vampira.' Rogue was ticked off by her other half's lack of sympathy.

"What? It's a valid suggestion."

While Rogue was having an argument with her other personality, Danny came up with a plan. "I got an idea." He whispered to Rogue before walking in. "Professor, did you ask him yet?" He asked the wheelchair-bound mutant.

"Uh, ask him?" Xavier said in confusion before sending a telepathic probe to Danny's mind, who let him in.

'What are you up to, Danny?' Xavier questioned curiously.

'Well, maybe he can take some of us to the redwood forest.' Danny suggested. 'I think he'll like being out in the open where he can't be spotted.'

"Ah, yes." Xavier said in agreement before turning back to Beast. "Hank, we were thinking perhaps you'd lead a field trip to the California redwoods. Up for it?"

"What? No." Beast refused. "I'm sorry, I can't."

"But, Mr. McCoy, we need an adult supervisor." Danny argued, trying to get Beast to come out and hopefully embrace his new self.

"Ask Storm." His teacher told him.

"She's visiting her sister."

Beast was still unconvinced. "Logan then."

"He's on the open road."

Logan was indeed on the open road. Coincidentally, he was in the same area as the California redwoods. As he was riding his bike down, he smelled the stench of Sabretooth. Getting off the motorcycle, he went into the woods to confront the pest, who was leaning against a tree.

Unsheathing his claws, he glared venomously at his hated foe. "Should've known you'd come to ruin my day."

"It's what I live for." Sabretooth said with a toothy grin before slamming Logan against a tree. He raised a hand to slash him with his claws, but was pushed off and tackled to the ground.

"You just never know when to quit, do you, bub?" Logan was thrown into another tree as Sabretooth charged at him on all fours. He made a leap towards his smaller enemy when he was blasted aside by a green beam of energy.

"What the?" Logan's eyes darted in the direction of where the blast came from, but there was no one there. Just then, a dart came out of nowhere and hit him in the neck. A dozen more were then shot at him as the tranquilizer's achieved their task as Logan fell to the ground unconscious.

"It really is a marvelous idea." Xavier supported. "You can choose which students you feel would benefit-"

"Someone else should do it!" Beast snapped with a tone of finality.

"Please, Hank." Xavier requested. "Just imagine what you could teach them in a natural environment like the redwoods. Untouched by man. Miles away from another human being."

Beast considered it, and the more he thought about it, the more appealing it became.

"Alright." He acquiesced. "But knowing the students, it might devolve into chaos." He smiled in the direction of Danny and Rogue. "I'll need two volunteers to help me."

Danny turned to Rogue, who didn't look too excited about going out into the woods. "It'll be fun." He told her before his smile became humorous. "And I'm sure you can use some sunlight."

This made Rogue elbow him lightly.

"Well, he's not wrong." Vampira said in amusement. "You do need a tan, Rogue."

'And you need to learn when to be quiet.' Rogue thought back, making Vampira tsk.

"Touchy."

Once Beast had accepted the proposal, he met with the students in the kitchen after school. "It's a nature study sojourn for those students who are falling behind in their earth studies." He informed them as he appeared behind Roberto and Rahne, hinting to them that they should take this opportunity.

Bobby laughed at the idea of them wasting their weekend in the woods when he saw Beast smile at him. "Me?" He asked incredulously. "But my grades are improving." He insisted.

"An F to a D really isn't really much of an improvement." Rogue commented, making everyone chuckle.

Danny turned to Evan, remembering that the youth was having trouble with his earth-science class as well. "You going, Evan?"

Evan sighed as he nodded. He knew he had to raise his grade, but nature and him don't mix. "I guess. Do you know if this forest has any sidewalks?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "The wilderness is gonna eat you alive, dude."

The group had arrived in the XM-Velocity, which they had covered with several tree branches, so one flying above in a helicopter could see it.

"It's fine the way it is, Roberto." Rahne said as the aforementioned African-Brazilian mutant was adding more branches.

"Yeah, you're missing all the fun." Evan muttered sarcastically as he was carrying a heavy backpack filled with lots of gear. He was about to go join the group, only to run face-first into a tree.

Once Roberto was sure that their mode of transportation was fully concealed, he caught up to the others, walking behind Rahne.

"It was plenty camouflaged." Rahne told him.

"Few more branches couldn't hurt." Roberto waved off.

"I smell overachiever issues." The wolf-like mutant sniped

The students were all on the trail following Beast as Danny was looking around, taking in the peaceful sights. Normally, he wasn't much of a nature guy, but he had to admit the California Redwoods were beautiful.

"Man, this place is hot." Rogue complained, though it could be worse if she was wearing her regular outfit. Thankfully, for the trip, she wore a green tank top and hiking pants.

Danny chuckled. "I thought people from the south loved the great outdoors."

"I'm the exception." The goth replied. "I'm more of an indoor kind of gal."

"Well, you're doing much better than Evan is." The ghostly X-Man pointed over to Evan, who was trudging along and looked like he was about to collapse.

"I heard that." Evan said as he was walking along with Roberto. "These things weigh a ton." He complained to his fellow student.

"Hey, you never know when that stuff may come in handy." Danny told Evan as he used his cellphone to take pictures.

Rogue raised an eyebrow. "What happened to toughing it out in the woods, nature boy?" She teased.

"I'm not crazy. I remember one time my mother and I got lost in a forest, and she had everything with her except a cellphone to call for help." He explained, remembering the time the two had been duped by Vlad.

While the two half-ghosts were talking, Evan was swatting away mosquitos. "I hate nature." He moaned.

"I love it." Roberto stated confidently before holding his arms up and letting his body absorb the solar energy. "Ah, just feel that sun, man. It totally juices me. Yeah!" He felt pumped up with the energy he gained before noticing that Evan was still looking miserable. "You don't look so good."

"I'm going through pavement withdrawal, man." Evan joked, trying to lighten everything up.

"Well, good thing you left your skateboard back at the institute." Danny mentioned. "We wouldn't want you to suffer a relapse, now, would we?" He then laughed along with Rogue.

"This is cruel and unusual punishment, teach!" Evan whined loud enough so that Beast could hear him.

"Send me an e-mail, and I'll take your complaint under advisement." Beast quipped.

Once they found an area to camp out in, the mutants started to set up their tents. As everyone was getting everything ready, Evan noticed Kitty was about to hammer in some spikes, so Evan shot out his, feeling proud that his ability gave him one useful advantage over the great outdoors.

Beast was looking around and noticed that Rogue hadn't bothered to set up her tent; instead, she was helping Danny put up his.

"Rogue, what about your tent?" The teacher asked.

"Actually, Mr. McCoy, I'm planning on just sleeping in my bag." Rogue informed him. "I'm kinda warming up to this whole outdoors kind of thing, and I thought it would be cool to sleep under the stars."

"More like you just want to sleep in the same tent as your boyfriend." Vampira commented.

"If you say so." Beast replied, buying the story.

After that, the students were collecting some samples of the greenery when Evan felt himself itching after collecting his sample. Beast was observing some ants crawling on a log when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he gasped as he saw that Evan had gotten poison ivy.

Thankfully, Kitty had brought some ointment, which she rubbed on her friend. Evan shook his head at his situation as he watched Beast show off one of the waterfalls to the others.

As they continued to explore their surroundings, they came across a scene of fish swimming upstream. Kitty got out her camera to take a photo when Bobby, deciding to have some fun, splashed some water on her. She screamed in surprise before tackling him into the river.

Everyone else saw this and decided to have some fun as they got into their swimming suits and jumped in the river. Danny and Rogue especially had fun with their massive splash fight before they all laid on their towels in the grass.

Rogue sighed in contentment as she lay in her bathing suit. 'You know this nature thing isn't really that bad.'

"Especially with seeing Danny in nothing but his swimming trunks." Vampira admired.

'True.' Rogue looked over her boyfriend's physique as he lay beside her.

While everyone was just lounging around peacefully, except Evan, who was still waiting for the ointment to do its job, Beast was swinging from branch to branch, embracing his animal side. He then cannonballed into the river before climbing out and shaking the water from his fur, splashing Roberto and Rahne in the process.

Beast smiled at his students before his expression turned to one of melancholy as he walked deeper into the woods, passing Danny, who looked at him in concern. He followed his teacher and found him standing alone, observing his surroundings.

"You all right, Mr. McCoy?" He asked.

"Oh, no, Danny. Everything's fine." Beast assured him as he looked over the forest that was around them. "Out here, in this place, I'm enjoying the animal I've become."

"That's good." Danny said, happy that this trip was working for him.

"But I don't want to." His teacher admitted. "This is not who I am."

"Well, then maybe it's who you were meant to be." Danny suggested. He placed his on Beast's shoulder. "Mr. McCoy, I know you don't like this part of yourself, but ignoring it is only going to make it worse." He recalled how he tried to act like everything was normal after the portal accident, but his powers kept flaring up, refusing to go away or be silent.

Sam would always tell him that he was unique and that being different was nothing to be ashamed of. "If you really want to be happy, Mr. McCoy, then you have to accept who you are. All of you. Because you may be able to hide from the people of Bayville and the rest of the world. But you can't hide from yourself."

Beast considered Danny's words. Perhaps he was right. But could he really live the rest of his life looking like this? Being an animal. "We should head back to camp." Beast said after a long moment of silence. "Round up the others, okay?"

"Sure." Danny saw that Beast needed time, so he gave him some space.

As Beast ventured further into the woods, he found himself walking through a small stream when he came across a fish flapping around, unable to get back into the river.

Beast picked it up. "You can't go back either, huh?" Feeling pity for the animal, he dropped it back into the water, where it swam off. He then heard the snap of a twig. "Huh?" He looked around, but there was no sign of anything here. As he was about to head back, he heard a bush rustling and turned around.

Nothing.

Playing it off as his nerves getting to him, he continued on his way, not knowing that he was being watched.

"I've finally found you." A deep voice said to himself. The owner of the voice stepped out of the bush and revealed itself to be a translucent man made of metal with a green mohawk made of flames.

Danny's old enemy, Skulker, had spotted Beast, and he was pleased with what he had seen.

"They said you didn't exist." He muttered to himself. "They said I was crazy." He chuckled as he remembered his fellow ghosts calling him foolish for thinking that Bigfoot existed.

You see, not only was Skulker obsessed with hunting Danny Phantom, he also desired to hunt Bigfoot. Every year, he would scour out for the mythical creature in hopes of capturing it.

And now, after all these years of searching, he has succeeded.

"Such a powerful-looking creature." The hunter praised as he looked over the footage that he had captured of Beast. "And intelligent too." He noticed as he saw him place the fish back. "You shall be a pleasure to hunt." As he continued to watch over Beast, he was reminded him of another primate that he had encountered in the past. One that did quite a number on him.

"Let's just hope this doesn't end up like that purple-backed gorilla." He shuddered as he thought back to the damage that gorilla did to him.

Logan groaned as he put his hand on his head. Assuming that he was hung over after a night of drinking, the mutant pulled himself up only to see that he was in some kind of cage underground.

Growling, he unsheathed his claws and attempted to cut through the metal, but his adamantium had no effect. There wasn't even a scratch.

"Where am I?" He asked himself before he heard the sound of someone stirring awake and looked across the room to see a sight that didn't make him happy at all.

"Ah, great." Logan muttered to himself sarcastically at seeing an unconscious Sabretooth in a cage in front of him. "This day just keeps getting better and better."

"Your first assignment is to locate five different mineral samples on your own." Beast informed his charges, who started to complain about doing homework.

"Come on." He encouraged. "There's plenty of time for fun later. Shouldn't take you more than an hour. We'll meet here in..." He smirked. "Four hours." The students all cheered. "If you need me, I'll be in the teacher's lounge."

"Uh, where's that?" Evan asked.

"Eh, I haven't decided yet. See you later." He then left them to finish their assignment.

Rahne looked at Roberto. "Five mineral samples. I guess that means a go-getter like you will bring back ten."

"Maybe twelve." Roberto joked. "See, the first five is like a cake. Everything after that is like icing. And I like icing."

"Hmm, I'd thought you'd put on a little weight." Rahne said before leaving, making Roberto lift up his shirt to check if he indeed gained weight.

As the students were looking for mineral samples, Beast was swinging through the trees before something jabbed him in the shoulder. Falling to the ground, he pulled out what he'd been hit with. It was a dart. Looking into the bushes, he saw Skulker smirking at him. Letting out a roar, he charged at the ghost, too blind with rage to not even notice Skulker's appearance.

Leaping at the ghost, Beast found himself falling through him and into a cage that closed around him. He gripped the bars, only to be electrocuted, knocking him out.

Skulker looked over his collected bounty. "Finally, after so long, I have finally captured you, Bigfoot." He then narrowed his eyes. "But let's make sure you're the real thing and not some idiot in a costume like last time."

He felt like such an idiot when he found out that he had caught some poor sap dressing up like him to film some hoax video. Ember had mocked him for weeks over it. Not only that but yesterday he found some hairy man who he thought was Bigfoot, but was something else.

Still, he seemed like worthy prey, along with the man with the claws. So he took them both.

Placing his arms through the cage, he opened Beast's mouth. Examining the fangs, he was satisfied to see that it wasn't an imposter.

"Ah, good. I've caught the real McCoy." At the mention of McCoy, Beast stirred a bit. "You will make a fine addition to my fireplace. Then, right next to you, will be my greatest prey of all." He thought about the one who had eluded him for so long. "The whelp. But that's another day." He then opened a ghost portal to transport him.

"Now to bring you back to my world."

"Mr. McCoy!" All the students were shouting out, trying to locate their teacher. It had been four hours, and none of them had seen any trace of their instructor.

Danny was hoping that nothing bad had happened to Beast. This was the wilderness after all. Anything could happen.

"Where do you think he is?" Rogue wondered.

"No clue, but I got an idea on how to find him." He turned to Rahne. "Rahne, you think you can track Mr. McCoy's scent?"

"I guess so." Rahne answered shyly as everyone looked at her. "I never tried anything like that."

"Well, you better hurry." Danny looked up above. "Looks like it's going to rain soon."

Slowly, Beast opened his eyelids, as his vision was a little fuzzy at first. "What the?" He mumbled as he heard footsteps come toward him. As his sight returned to normal, he found himself in a dark room. Not only that, but he was also locked in a cage.

Skulker's head leaned down to stare at Beast. "Ah, you're awake."

Beast shuffled to the back of his cage, fearful of the being who stood in front of him. "Who are you?"

"I am Skulker, the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter!" The self-proclaimed hunter boasted. "And you are where you belong."

"Ghost Zone?" Beast studied Skulker and noticed his glowing aura. "You're a ghost."

Skulker nodded, impressed that Beast caught on so quickly. "Yes."

Beast's scientific mind was amazed at what he was seeing before he remembered that he was locked up. "Let me go!" He demanded. "I'm not an animal. I'm a human being."

"What you are is something rare." Skulker clarified. "And I'm one who collects rare things. Such as these specimens." He gestured over to the other cages in the room.

Beast gasped as he saw Logan in one of them. "Logan!"

"Hank?" Logan exclaimed in shock at seeing his fellow instructor brought into this mess.

"Ah, you know each other." Skulker observed as Sabretooth woke up.

He darted his eyes around, trying to see where he was, before spotting Skulker. "What in God's name?" He tried to think of a reasonable explanation, but he couldn't come up with one. "What are you?"

"He's a ghost, hairball; now shut up!" Logan berated his old enemy before glaring back at the ghostly hunter. "Let us out, bub! And I might just go easy on you."

Skulker merely smirked at Logan's aggressive attitude. "Such ferocity, if only you showed that when we first met." He said in slight disappointment, recalling how easy it was to bring him in. "But don't worry. Soon you will all be given the opportunity to give me a hunt the likes of which one can only dream of!"

"I will go and get the game preserve ready." Skulker said as he started to leave the room. "And as for you three, I hope you all bring your A-game for the main event."

Once they were all alone, Beast looked to his fellow X-Man. "Logan, what do we do?"

Logan tried once more to break the cage with his claws, but it seemed to be indestructible. "I don't know, Hank. These cages are really tough. How did he get you anyway?"

"I was on a field trip with the students at the Redwoods when he got me..." Beast stopped as he realized the other students were possibly in danger. "Oh, no, the students. He might go for them."

"Who'd you bring?" Logan asked.

"Rogue, Kitty, Evan, Rahne, Danny-"

"You brought Danny along?" Logan felt reassured knowing that he was with the other runts. "That means the others are safe."

"But they'll soon notice I'm missing and come looking for me." Beast pointed out not wanting them to come across Skulker. Logan, however, wasn't worried at all.

"Then that means there's a good chance Danny is able to get us out of this mess." The Canadian mutant hoped.

Rahne was in her wolf form, sniffing out Beast as the others followed her.

She changed back to her human form. "His scent is getting closer. It's..." She stopped as everyone gasped at what was in front of them, while Danny narrowed his eyes, being the only one to know what they were staring at.

A natural ghost portal.

"What is that?" Evan wondered.

"A portal to the Ghost Zone." Danny answered.

"Ghost Zone?" Kitty repeated. "What is it doing here?"

"I don't know." Danny went up to it. "But something tells me Mr. McCoy is on the other side. You all stay here. I'll go."

"Not without me, you're not." Rogue said as she came up next to him. Danny was about to say something, but Rogue cut him off before he could get a word out. "I'm coming with you, end of story."

"Our man isn't going in there without backup." Vampira added.

"Fine." Danny relented. "Kitty and Evan, you guys watch over the others. Let's go." He and Rogue transformed and jumped in. Once the two reached the other side, they found themselves in a jungle.

"Oh, no." Danny bemoaned, recognizing this place.

"Oh, no?" Rogue was getting apprehensive. "What do you mean, oh no?"

Danny sighed, wishing that he didn't have to deal with him again. "We're in Skulker's lair."

"Skulker?" Rogue asked as she gazed at the local flora. Beautiful though it was, she felt that she was in some kind of trap.

"A ghost obsessed with hunting things." He explained. "Like me, for instance." In the distance, he saw something aiming at Rogue. "Watch out!" He pushed her out of the way as the two saw a blast of energy split a tree in half.

"What the hell?" She sputtered as Danny fired a ghost ray at the turret that tried to shoot her.

Danny pulled her to her feet. "This whole place is a death trap, so watch your step." The two continued into the jungle, passing by a security camera that was recording them.

Deep underground, Skulker was looking over his security footage when he spotted Danny and Rogue.

"Hmm. What's this? His mechanical eyes widened in recognition when he spotted Danny. "No! Can it be?" He observed the young man and was delighted to see that it was him. "Well, well, ghost child. You've returned. But how did you get here without tripping the sensors?" He then looked at the image and saw the ghost portal he had left open.

"Damn it!" He slapped himself in the head for his oversight. "I keep forgetting to close that thing!" He brushed it off as a blaster popped out of his arm. "No matter. I will have you."

He phased himself up above the ground as Danny and Rogue were still searching for any sign of Beast.

"So you're positive that this Skulker guy has Mr. McCoy?" Rogue inquired.

"It fits his MO." Danny said before destroying a turret that popped out of the ground. He then heard the sound of a jet pack, and the two looked up to see him fly down to greet them.

Rogue looked over this ghost. He was a big, metal-looking one. She was sure that it would be hard to take him down.

"You know what they say." Vampira told her. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall."

"Ah, ghost child, you have returned. And you have brought a fri-" He stopped as he saw the Danny Phantom symbol on Rogue. That could only mean one thing. "You're one of them too." He gasped in awe before his expression turned to one of glee. "Oh, this just gets better and better." A green blade popped out of his wrist. "I will hunt you too."

"Over my dead body!" The female half-ghost retorted, making Skulker smirk. He liked the fire in her.

"That's the idea." He was about to attack before Danny slammed into him, knocking him to the ground.

"Where's Mr. McCoy, Skulker?" Danny demanded.

"McCoy?" Skulker was confused.

"The blue-hairy guy." Danny elaborated.

"Oh, you mean, Bigfoot?"

"Bigfoot?" Danny and Rogue glanced at each other. Did Skulker seriously think Beast was Bigfoot?

"Yes, every year I go on my annual Bigfoot hunt, and this time I finally got him." Skulker cheered in excitement.

Danny put a hand on his face in exasperation. "That's not Bigfoot, you idiot."

"He's not?" The hunter was bewildered at the claim.

"No, you idiot!" Rogue insulted. "He's a mutant!"

"A mutant?" The Ghost Zone's greatest hunter was now disappointed that he failed to capture Bigfoot once again. "Still, it will be a good hunt." He gathered. "Especially now that you two are here."

He fired his ecto-gun at the two hybrids, knocking them back. Using this advantage, Skulker charged at Rogue, who kicked him in the face, leaving a huge dent on his cheek.

"Such fight." He complimented, rubbing where he was hit. "Your pelt will make an excellent display on my fireplace."

Rogue was now disgusted. "Oh, my god, that is so gross." She fired an ecto-blast at him as Danny joined her in attacking the hunter.

As the three ghosts were firing ecto-blasts at each other, one of them missed its target, hitting the ground and creating a whole, allowing the captives to see what was going on above them.

Beast saw Danny and Rogue fighting Skulker in the sky and desired to escape and help them. But how?

As he was trying to think of a way, Danny punched Skulker in the abdomen, making the keys attached to his waist fall off and land right next to Beast, allowing him to get out.

After getting out of his cage he went over to Logan. "Come on, we got to help them!" He unlocked his cage as the two started to climb up the hole.

"Hey, don't forget me!" Sabretooth said.

Logan merely gave a cocky grin to his rival. "Why should I?"

"Please!" Sabretooth begged. "I'll leave you alone for a whole month! I'll give you anything." This didn't interest Logan, who threw the keys to the other side of the room before climbing out of the hole.

"No! Logan! Logan!" Sabretooth pleaded for help but was ignored.

In an attempt to get out, he reached a hand through the bars, trying to desperately grab them, but they were too far away.

Back in the sky, Skulker brought out a grenade and was about to throw it when Rogue blasted him, causing it to fall down below where it landed next to Sabretooth. The explosion, while greatly wounding Sabretooth, who was spared because of his regenerative abilities, did destroy the cage he was in. Grinning at his luck, he went to get his revenge on both Logan and Skulker.

Meanwhile, Beast and Logan caught up to the three ghosts who were battling on the ground. Beast saw a resting boulder, and getting an idea, he got behind it and pushed.

"Stay away from my students!" He cried as the boulder rolled down the steep, where it collided with Skulker.

With the hunter down for now, the two half-ghosts saw Beast and Logan.

"Mr. McCoy, you're okay." Danny said in relief before turning to his other teacher. "Logan, you're here too?"

"Yep. Now, how do we get out of here?"

"Same way we got in." Danny grabbed Beast, with Rogue doing the same to Logan as they flew toward the ghost portal. Just as they were nearing it, Sabretooth popped in front of it and growled at the X-Men, but Danny shot ecto-beams out of his eyes, launching Sabretooth through the portal.

The X-Men on the other side were still waiting for their friends when they saw something coming. They moved out of the way as Sabretooth ended up crashing into a tree. The X-Men just stared at the unconscious Sabretooth before seeing Danny, Rogue, Beast, and Logan come out.

"Mr. McCoy, are you all right?" Kitty hugged her teacher, happy that they were all safe.

"I am now." Beast hugged her back. "I'm just glad that we're all safe."

"I will hunt you all!"

Everyone turned to see Skulker, who still wasn't done, walk out of the portal to confront them.

Logan unsheathed his claws and growled. "Okay, I'm getting real tired of this!"

The hunter was about to fire at Logan when the man slashed off his gun. Angry that one of his new toys was destroyed, he was about to stab him in the gut, but Beast grabbed his arm and, using his strength, pulled it off.

"Ahh!" Skulker screamed. "You insolent creature!" A spike was then shot through this chest. "What the?" He looked to see that it came from Evan, who had spikes coming out of his back. "What are you?"

"His friends." Evan snarled. "Get the point?"

Skulker made a missile turret pop out of his shoulder and was about to fire on Evan when it was frozen by Bobby, while Rahne transformed into her wolf form and growled at the ghost before she transformed even further, turning into a werewolf.

The ghost gaped at what was standing before him before she slashed him in the chest as Roberto, glowing with solar energy, sideswiped him as Rogue fired a ghost ray that took off his other arm.

"This isn't over!" Skulker vowed. "I'll-"

"Oh, shut up!" Danny interrupted as he fired a ghost ray at Skulker, decapitating him and making all the X-Men look at him in shock, except for Logan.

"Danny!" Rogue couldn't believe that he had just destroyed him.

"Am I the only one who thought that was kind of hot?" Vampira asked.

"What?" Danny replied as he took out a remote control from the ghost's severed arm. Pressing a button, the ghost portal closed. With that out of the way, he kicked Skulker's head, making a compartment open up as a small blob-like creature was spat out.

Everyone looked at it. All of them were weirded out and disturbed. Beast went to pick it up.

"What is this organism?" He peered closer at the thing when it tried to bite him, but Beast was able to move out of the way.

"Let me go!" The small creature screeched in a high-pitched voice as it dangled upside down from Hank's fingers. "I am Skulker! The Skulker! Do you hear me? Fear me? I am the greatest hunter in all of the Ghost Zone!"

Rogue was mystified at seeing that the big bad ghost they just fought was really this pathetic-looking creature.

"That's the thing that took Mr. McCoy?" Vampira was disappointed. "What a letdown."

"Man, that is freaky." Evan said as he took a closer look at the distressed ghost.

"I know." Kitty was also creeped out. "So, what do you want to do with him?" She asked Beast.

"I'm thinking." He growled at the ghost, making it whimper before they heard a roar. Behind the X-Men was Sabretooth, who was giving Skulker a look that was making the tiny ghost tremble.

Beast threw Skulker to the ground. "If I were you, I'd start running." He advised as Skulker took off, sprinting for his afterlife as Sabretooth chased him. It was the first time Sabretooth ignored Logan in favor of someone else.

Chuckling at his former captor's misery, he smiled over at his students. "Come on, let's go home."

As everyone was getting on the XM-Velocity, Danny was praising Beast for how he fought Skulker.

"Man, Mr. McCoy, that was really awesome on how you just tore off his arm." He then looked down, feeling guilty that one of his former enemies targeted Beast. "I'm sorry that he had to ruin the trip."

"I wouldn't say he ruined it." Beast said. "In fact, this whole experience has taught me something."

"Yeah, what's that?" Danny wondered.

Beast smiled. "As a wise young man once told me, we are who we're meant to be. So I guess the students aren't the only ones who learned something on this trip."

Logan rolled his eyes at the mushiness of all this. "Yeah, yeah, it's all sweet and all, but if you don't mind I'd like to get out of this place and back to the institute where there's no cages or crazy hunters."

Beast chuckled. "Sure thing, Logan." He started the vehicle up. "Let's go home."

As they were heading home, Skulker was still fleeing from Sabretooth. He vowed one day he would get Danny and the other hybrid. Along with those other mutants.

He would hunt them all.