Two Kinds: One Kind of First Year

by Animation Adventures

Due to magic shenanigans in history, the families of Marinette and her class settle in Amity Park instead of Paris. At the start of ninth grade, strange things start to happen, including ghosts haunting the town and citizens being turned into villains by evil butterflies. Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Phantom have to work together to protect everyone.

17. One Kind of Haunted House

Nemonobody001: Thank you!

La gran diosa zorra fantasma: Glad you like what I'm doing with Jagged and his entourage. Yeah, Vincent is basically what Marinette could be if she let her crush overpower common sense. Can't say about Lukagami, but I can say Zoe will at least get hinted before her debut. The end of this first year is going to be a DP episode.

Purplefairy121: I don't know. Maybe other reasons?

Danifan3000: While Jack and Maddie are oblivious to their son being Phantom, I think they're not so oblivious to his popularity with the city due to being on the hero team. I think they have to pick and choose their battles with him carefully, to avoid an angry mob. They recognize how he helps with the akuma situation. Like you said, the Guys in White don't care; they don't live in Amity Park so they have no reason to pick their battles carefully.

Julimart: Thanks for understanding my issue with the extended 'yes' in your previous review. Glad you're enjoying the changes I've been making to both shows' canon. I understand your concerns about Sam's development, and I am trying to make her a deeper character.

Jebest4781: Thank you!

AlmineGoneWild: I understand how you would assume Ember from the chapter title; don't worry, she'll be here in time. Glad you're enjoying the story and how Phantom being part of the team balances the dynamic.

Freaky Fiction Friday: Welcome! We'll have to wait and see about Fright Knight's debut next time.

Pokémon fan 1991: Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the subplot with Cujo. Ember will be here soon.

Diamondteel4: Yeah, it's always nice when Marinette's designing hobby comes up. I understand they don't bring it up often because 3D character models with new outfits are expensive to make. It's something that should have been considered when the show was being developed.

Ariastella: You'll find out about Jagged and his entourage in time.

Leonardo: All I will say about the Fright Knight debut is I erased the dirty underwear bet because I always hated that part. I know I need to finish up Cast Swap, especially now that the cast for the new season is being revealed.

Matt: Anarka's houseboat is on Lake Amity. We'll see about that other thing.

King of Fans: Glad you liked the chapter. We'll see how Fright Knight goes.

NAMELESS: Wow, long review! Thank you so much! I like your observation about all the actions in the chapter having consequences; most of that is from the canon episode of ML, but still like the observation anyway. Glad you liked all my little notes on stuff at the end. Those are fun.

Schweenieboy: Thanks for reading!

Friendly reminder that speculation about future chapters and what you want to see is okay, but please leave a comment about the chapter I just worked very hard on if you intend to speculate.

Also, Two Kinds has a TVTropes page, so if you think of any trope examples for it, go ahead and add them.

---

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Miraculous Ladybug. They belong to their respective owners. Any and all familiar dialogue is for the sake of the plot.

One Kind of Haunted House

Just as Marinette predicted, Danny complained at missing the debut of Jagged's song about the heroes. He now kept an eye out for alerts announcing when the song was available for release.

Halloween was upon Amity Park now. The horror fans were glad because they felt it was taking forever to reach their favorite holiday, and others merely commented time was weird when asked if they thought the road to Halloween was slow that year. [1]

Casper High loved Halloween; every year there were banners, pumpkins, hay bales, fake spider webs, and other spooky decorations adorning the school inside and out. Sadly, one of the aforementioned pumpkins had a very short life because Phantom crashed into it, sending pumpkin guts flying everywhere.

Phantom recovered from his rough landing, and glared up at his newest opponent – a ghost eel. A slim, electric blue thing, the eel growled and turned tail to fly off somewhere else to haunt. Phantom launched into the air to follow. The chase took them in circles above the school, and the ghostly hero tried to catch the eel's tail in his hands. He managed to get a grip on it briefly before the tail slipped out and smacked him on the head mid-chase. The eel stopped fleeing after that hit, almost snickering like it was taunting him.

Phantom too stopped and readied his fists. "You're one slippery ghost eel, but I bet you don't know this trick!" He fired a pair of ecto blasts at the eel. To his surprise, the eel let himself get hit by the beams, almost as if he was absorbing the rays instead of being hurt by them. Once the energy was absorbed, the eel's eyes flashed red deviously in a silent promise for payback. "Okay, maybe you do," Phantom said faintly, stunned by his attack being useless. He was so caught off-guard by the results that he left himself open to the eel firing red eye beams at him. The ghost hero let out a scream as he was flung down towards Casper High by the impact.

Inside Casper High, the students and staff were decorating for Halloween, putting up posters and cut-outs on the walls and hanging banners and streamers from the ceiling. One of such students was Wes, using white paint to embellish a poster with skulls and crossbones and cliché ghost caricatures. Satisfied with his work, Wes moved to hang the poster up. While his back was turned, Phantom phased through the ceiling and smacked into the ladder the paint can had been sitting on, causing the paint can to tip over onto Wes.

Hitting the ladder caused Phantom to transform back into Danny while Wes's bright red hair was turned white by the paint splashing onto him. Wes shouted at the contact, whirling around to see who had caused the incident, his white-turned hair and mostly black basketball jersey making him look uncannily like Phantom. Upon seeing Danny, he narrowed his eyes. "Watch it, Fenton! Do you have to be a walking disaster area everywhere you go?" [2]

Danny got up and frowned at Wes. "It was an accident. Those happen, you know."

Wes shoved him. "With how often stuff happens around you, I wouldn't call them accidents."

"Okay, you know what?" Danny pointed a finger in the basketball player's face.

The two boys descended into rapid-fire bickering, saying snide comments while gesturing wildly with their arms. This went on for a chunk of time before someone cut in.

"Grapes of Wrath, break it up!" The two boys looked up to see Mr. Lancer standing over them with a clipboard in hand. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't suspend both of you for fighting on school property."

Wes thought for a moment and sheepishly smiled. "Uh, I'm a student athlete who can win basketball games for the school?"

There was silence for a beat before Lancer rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that would have worked weeks ago, but because of the reinforced zero tolerance bullying policy, I need to at least pretend to be fair, and you two need a more creative outlet for your aggressions." Even though they weren't on the best terms at the moment, Danny and Wes shared a confused expression at his mention of a creative outlet. Seeing their confusion, Lancer turned his clipboard to show it to them. The clipboard had plans for a haunted house outlined. "As you know, every year one of the faculty puts together a haunted house at the abandoned Townsend place. This year, it's my turn. And I am bound and determined to decorate it better than Ms. Tetslaff did last year."

"Fat chance!" The teacher and the two students startled at the gruff declaration. They turned to see the bulky, redhead gym teacher Ms. Tetslaff standing at the end of the hallway. "You'll never outdo my franken-guard-stein monster." She held up a photo of herself dressed as Frankenstein's monster in a dress. Feeling her point had been made, she stomped off toward the gym to check on its decorating.

At that point, Sam and Tucker arrived in search of Danny, only to find their friend in the middle of being punished.

Even more determined to beat the gym teacher, Lancer addressed the two boys. "Welcome to Team Lancer, gentlemen. Scariest room avoids detention." He pointed at Wes. "Basketball star or not." He then turned and went back to his supervising.

Once he was gone, Danny spun to face his friends. "Scary? A haunted house? This is great, I'm totally going to kick his butt." He crossed his arms confidently.

Overhearing the conversation, Wes whirled on Danny. "This is all your fault! Now not only do I have to make a stupid haunted house, I also have to get this stupid paint out of my hair! I look like that Phantom dude with this stuff!" The formerly redheaded teenager held a lock of his temporarily white hair between his thumb and index finger to examine how difficult the task would be.

Tucker sent Sam a side glance. "Most people would take that as a compliment."

Mireille wandered past the group, stopping to notice Wes. "Hey, Wes! Are you going in a Phantom costume this year? You look just like him!" Waving to him, she continued on her way.

Wes made a strangled noise, clenching and unclenching his fists while one of his eyes twitched.

Danny and his friends shared concerned glances, worried for Wes's sanity.

---

"You want us to help you do what?!"

Nino stood in front of the rest of the homeroom class; only Danny, Sam, and Tucker were absent. "Please, you guys! Mr. Damocles and the mayor think I have a shot at representing Casper High at the state student film festival, and I could really use your help."

"Is that really such a good idea? None of us have really worked on a movie before," Kim said, rubbing the back of his head. While the athlete was confident in sports and similar things, he wasn't so sure about everything else.

"I believe in you guys. Trust me, I've got it all thought out." Nino said, starting to point at people as he listed off their jobs. "Adrien and Mylene will be our leads because Adrien has experience in front of a camera and Mylene has acting experience from drama club and her dad. Ivan can be the baddie since he wouldn't have any lines. Alya can help with writing since she's good with words, Marinette can produce and keep us on track, Juleka and Alix can provide makeup, Max will help with editing, Kim and Nathaniel can be the crew with the equipment, and Rose can be catering to keep us all fed and hydrated."

Rose's eyes lit up. "Ooh, I have lots of ideas for snacks!"

Kim blinked. "Wouldn't Marinette be better for catering, since her family lives in a bakery?"

Nino shrugged. "Mari's better at scheduling stuff than anyone else."

Alya side-eyed her friend cheekily. "Even if she's almost late half the time."

Marinette blushed, groaning. "Alya…"

Nathaniel raised his hand. "I can help with storyboarding too, so your directing comes across clearer."

Nino gave the artist a thumbs-up. "Thanks, dude."

Sitting in her seat by Sabrina in the front row, Chloe scoffed. "And what about me and Sabrina?"

The rest of the class stared at her. "Uh, I was thinking Sabrina for wardrobe since she keeps track of all your stuff. I didn't have any ideas for you, though. Didn't think you'd be interested."

"I'm not," Chloe admitted, flicking her hair while the rest of the class rolled their eyes. "But Daddy is counting on you for reasons I don't understand, so I'll supervise and keep Daddy updated so he doesn't have to stress about this."

"Um," Nino wasn't sure what to say to that.

She pulled out her phone. "Of course, I could always recommend he depend on someone else, like someone from Marmel High…"

"No!" Nino quickly replied. "Uh, okay! You can produce with Marinette." He desperately tried to ignore Marinette's moans of despair off to the side at this decision.

At that point, Danny arrived in the classroom with Sam and Tucker. "Produce with Marinette what?" Sam asked.

Adrien spoke up. "Mr. Damocles and Mr. Bourgeois want Nino to direct a short film for a student film festival, and Nino wants us all to help him make it."

"Oh yeah! Sam, you'd be with Sabrina on wardrobe, Tucker on editing with Max, and Danny on the crew with Kim and Nathaniel," Nino said.

Danny shook his head. "Sorry, can't. I'm stuck helping Lancer with his haunted house."

"And we're helping Danny so he can avoid getting detention," Tucker added.

Understanding, Nino smiled at them. "That's cool. We can work with that."

"Uh, Nino, when is the deadline for the festival?" Marinette asked.

"A few days after Halloween, and I was thinking…" Nino winced as he said the next part. "We could film the movie on Halloween night?"

"What?!" "You've gotta be kidding!" "Nino, come on!"

As the rest of the class voiced their complaints, Nino did his best to plead with them. "It's the perfect night, dudes! The atmosphere of the school after dark will be perfect for the setting for the movie. Besides, I was hoping to also use it as an excuse to get Adrien out of his house so he can celebrate Halloween for once."

Some of the others stared at Adrien. He held his hands up helplessly. "My father thinks Halloween is stupid and tacky. Haven't ever gotten a piece of candy on that day either."

"Adrien, the more I hear about your dad, the more of a buzzkill I think he is," Alix said flatly.

"My father means well, he just wants me to have a healthy diet. Ask my nutritionist."

Alya sighed. "Well, it would get me out of taking the twins trick-or-treating. That never goes well when I do it with them, and I haven't heard of anyone holding a party yet, so I'm game."

Sabrina piped up, raising a finger. "Actually, Paulina is holding a Halloween bash that night for the A-listers."

"Sabrina!" Chloe snapped.

"A party we would have been invited to, anyway," Alya amended.

Max pulled out his phone to do some calculations. "If we film the movie in a timely manner, we could theoretically still have time to celebrate, ourselves."

Rose's eyes lit up. "Ooh! We could have a little party after we finish, and eat all the leftover snacks. As long as Adrien's father thinks we're filming, he can stay at the party with us."

"And we'll try to catch up as soon as we finish Danny's room at the haunted house," Tucker added.

The class murmured as they started making plans for Nino's movie and the subsequent party.

---

Later that day after school, the homeroom split up to tackle their different tasks. Alya and Nathaniel joined Nino at his house to make a script and storyboard of the movie according to Nino's vision, while the others wouldn't be needed until closer to filming day. Sam had to run an errand, so Danny and Tucker went over to FentonWorks ahead of her to brainstorm ideas for Danny's exhibit.

"What if we did something with skeletons?" Danny sketched an idea onto a notepad and turned it to show a skeleton strangling Wes. "See? How scary is that?"

Tucker, who had put himself in Danny's computer chair, sent his friend an unimpressed look. "On a scale of not to 10? Not."

Growling, Danny ripped the page out of the notepad and crunched it into a ball, which he chucked at his overflowing garbage can with a dozen other paper balls. Cujo, who had been curled up at the foot of Danny's bed, lifted his head at sensing his master's frustration.

"How about this?" Danny jumped off his bed and transformed. Phantom phased into his bed and lifted the sheet off, sending Cujo tumbling to the floor in surprise. The resultant appearance was that of a cliché bedsheet ghost, the hero making sounds in an attempt to be ominous.

The attempt seemed to work for Cujo, who whimpered at the sight of the bedsheet and squirmed under the bed to hide.

Sam walked in on Phantom's attempt at being scary, toting her spider-shaped backpack. She walked past the bedsheet without flinching. "Lame," she called it simply.

The bedsheet deflated at her reaction; if he couldn't scare his spookiest friend, then he likely couldn't scare the public. Transforming back into Danny, he yanked the sheet off and put it back on his bed. "Oh, man! Halloween's a week away, and I still don't have a clue what I'm going to do for my haunted house room." Danny sat back on his bed to sulk while Cujo poked his head out from under the bed before climbing back up to rejoin his master. The dog settled himself on Danny's lap, and Danny started petting him as he struggled to think.

Sitting down on another chair, Sam reached into her backpack and pulled out a thick book. "Which is why I picked this up at that old bookstore where I like to skulk and lurk."

She passed the tome to Danny, who read the title out loud. "Chronicles of the Fright Knight?" With Cujo in his lap, Danny opened the book to the first page so dog and person could see an illustration of a knight on the back of a bat-winged horse with a flaming sword in hand.

Cujo yipped in fright and jumped from Danny over to Tucker, who unexpectedly took him into his arms.

Ignoring Cujo's act of fear, Sam explained, "he's the age-old spirit of Halloween. Legend has it that if his sword, "The Soul Shredder", cuts through you, you get teleported to a dimension where you live out your worst fear."

Intrigued, Danny turned the page, and found an image of a castle afloat on a chunk of land in some kind of swirling vortex. His brow furrowed. "Wait a second. That void his castle's floating in… it kinda looks like… the portal to the Ghost Zone." He looked up at his friends. "You don't think?"

"That the Fright Knight exists and currently lives inside the Ghost Zone your parents built a portal to?" Tucker replied, petting Cujo to calm him down. "Well, we've met the Lunch Lady, that girl with the dragon amulet, Skulker, and this little guy. It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility." [3]

Danny smiled as he checked the book again. "This is great. He's a ghost, and he's the spirit of Halloween. That means I can take the best ideas from this guy, and fuse them into my haunted house room!"

---

A week later, the trio found themselves at the abandoned Townsend mansion, which was in a state of disrepair. Whether that was its default appearance, or just made to look that way for Halloween, was anybody's guess.

Sam frowned as she and Tucker stood in Danny's haunted house room. "And by fuse, you mean totally rip off?" She questioned rhetorically, glancing around.

Danny's assigned room was a dining hall. There was a long dining table with many chairs, a fireplace for the winter months, and a seat across the room where a throne sat on a raised platform like in old castles.

Danny made several hay-stuffed skeletons, one for the Fright Knight and then a few more to act as his guards. Fake spiders were dangling from the ceiling everywhere, and the heads of stuffed animals were on pikes.

He could almost hear his sister yell his name at home upon finding out what happened to her stuffed animals.

"Well, it's not about being original," Danny said to Sam, "it's about not getting detention again." He went over to the Fright Knight skeleton and overshadowed it. The model stumbled off his throne. "I am the Fright Knight! Tremble before the Soul Shredder!" He went over to Tucker and started swinging a yellow inflatable sword at him. "It slices, it dices, it creates your worst fear! Now, how much would you pay?"

Tucker squeezed the not-so-pointed end of the inflatable sword. "For this thing? About fifty-nine cents. Now, if you'll excuse me…" Tucker walked away toward the exit while Danny put the Fright Knight model back on its throne. Stopping by Sam and the door, Tucker picked up a pumpkin basket. "I'm a little late to start scamming some free candy. Got my route planned out for OCP. Optimal chocolate payload." Bringing out his phone, he showed his friends a map of Amity Park's residential district that was color-coded. "You want to stay clear of the red zone. Nothing but fresh fruit and granola bars in the red zone."

Sam glanced at him up and down. "Where's your costume?"

Tucker reached into his bucket and pulled out a pair of gag glasses with a big, bright pink nose. "Gotta travel light if you want to maximize your haul." Without waiting for his friends to react to his costume, he turned to start collecting candy, throwing the door open. "Come on, baby! Hit me with something sweet!"

He got hit with something, and it certainly wasn't sweet.

The tech geek yelped as he was coated in green foam. Danny and Sam watched in surprise as Danny's parents entered the room, Jack hoisting a new invention over his shoulder. Jack, for once having the hood of his suit up over his eyes, laughed. "Look at that, baby! The Fenton Foamer works like a charm!"

Maddie pointed a sensor around the room, impressed with herself and her husband. "I know. There was a ghost reading in this very room seconds ago, and now the room is clean."

"Speak for yourself," Tucker huffed, swiping as much foam off himself as he could and stomping past his friend's parents. "If anybody needs me, I'll be in a different doorway every thirty-eight seconds."

Jack and Maddie shared a look as they watched him exit. "Isn't he a little old to be walking around in public in a stupid costume?" Jack asked, not realizing the irony of him asking that.

Feeling it was safe to approach his parents now, Danny walked over. "Mom? Dad? What are you doing?"

"Decontaminating the area, son!" Maddie chirped happily.

"You know how ecto storms always flare up around Halloween, Danny," Jack added, as if that should be common knowledge to his child.

"This is all very riveting, and by riveting, I mean dull with a capital D, but you guys need to leave before Lancer thinks you're helping me." Danny said, pointing at the other door in the room Lancer could walk through at any minute.

At the mention of Danny's teacher, Jack looked around the room again a bit more suspiciously. "Lancer? Hey, this isn't some anti-detention project, is it?"

"No! No, no, no," Danny quickly denied, attempting to shove his parents out the door they came in through. "Um, I'm just starting to get interested in ghosts like my old man."

Jack's eyes started to water underneath his suit's goggles, and they automatically activated tiny windshield wipers on the goggles to wipe them dry. "Finally! If I didn't consider it a sign of weakness, I'd weep with joy!"

Finally shoving his parents out, Danny slammed the door behind them. Once he was sure they were gone and wouldn't be coming back, he transformed into Phantom and hovered off the floor.

"Decorated room," he said, checking the display then the door, "faked-out parents… only thing left to do is to check out Wes's lame theme is and spend the rest of the night gloating." He flew over to the model Fright Knight and grabbed the inflatable sword before phasing out of the room. Traveling a few rooms away, he came upon one labeled 'Wes's Basketball Court of Doom'.

Going intangible, he phased inside to check his competition.

Wes's room was the exact picture of an athlete's horror show. There were cardboard props making it look like zombies were playing a game of basketball, complete with a severed head stuck in a basketball net. A basketball coach cutout stood next to a table with a laptop set up behind it and playing the most irritating whistle-screech combination ever heard. Another corner had a display making it look like some basketball players were giving another one a massive wedgie. There was a tub of oddly-colored ooze that made Danny think of fake blood or… something else even more gross that he wasn't sure he wanted to know what it actually was.

All of that was in Wes's presentation and more.

"Basketball Court of Doom? Very impressive, Mr. Weston." Lancer praised, jotting notes on his clipboard.

"Thank you!" Wes boasted, puffing out his chest. He had exchanged his usual basketball uniform for one that was in tatters from the sleeves to the shorts and sporting mysterious stains. The boy had been successful in washing the white paint out of his hair and had it back to its natural red. "I literally put my blood, sweat, and tears into this."

"What's that?" Lancer pointed to an exhibit in the corner. It was a group of cardboard cutouts of men and women in business suits, all holding a sign that said 'It didn't fit the brand'.

"Oh! Those represent executives of a cartoon channel that make stupid decisions like prematurely canceling popular, groundbreaking shows and cutting down final seasons." Wes shuddered simply staring at the cutouts. "They're the worst." [4]

Lancer, who was born in a different generation and was a man of different tastes, didn't quite understand what he was supposed to find horrifying about that. "I see… What else do you have for me?"

Wes gestured for him to follow him elsewhere. "A twenty-minute presentation about one of the scariest things known to all athletes… Athlete's foot!"

"Well, make it snappy. My guests arrive at midnight, you know."

Wes led him into another section of the room. "You're going to love the Tunnel of Fungus!"

Once he was sure they were out of hearing and seeing range, Phantom fully entered the room and dropped his invisibility. The ghost hero spun around to take in Wes's exhibit. "Man, this is cool!" He had to admit to himself. Looking down at the inflatable sword he brought with him, he cringed as it deflated on its own. "And man, that's not! I have to do something fast, or I'm going to get detention. Again, and my parents will kill me!"

Leaving Wes's room before he could be found, he glanced down at the deflated sword and smiled as an idea came to him.

He might know where to get a better sword, one that was bound to improve his exhibit and make it way better than Wes's.

---

Meanwhile, over at Casper High, filming for Nino's student film was under way.

Nino filmed Adrien and Mylene, dressed in stereotypical government agent suits, as they hid behind the teacher's desk in their homeroom. Nathaniel and Kim did their jobs on the crew, making sure the lighting was correct and the sound was being caught by the boom mic.

"Agent Smith, it's too dangerous! We must evacuate!" exclaimed Adrien as his character, holding a water gun.

"You're suggesting we run, Officer Jones? After it devoured my family, my friends, even my beloved dog, Sniffles?" Mylene responded as her character, also holding a water gun. "Never! I won't run! I no longer fear it, I'm going to face it, then I'll-!"

On cue, Ivan lurked over the top of the desk for an ambush, dressed as the movie's monster. His costume consisted of a magenta mask made to look like the monster had three eyes and blue dreadlocks tied back.

Mylene screamed at the sight of him, and hid under the desk.

Nino groaned, lowering his phone he had been using to record. "Cut!" At his signal, Kim and Nathaniel lowered their equipment as well.

Ivan took the mask off. "Sorry, Mylene!"

"Mylene, that's like the tenth take, and we're only on the first scene!" Nino complained.

"Fourteenth, actually. But who's counting?" Alix added from where she was sitting on top of her usual desk. Her comment only made Nino groan further.

Mylene peeked over the desk. "I'm sorry. I'm going to do better on the next take, I promise."

Rose held up a pitcher as Juleka touched up Adrien's makeup. "Anyone want some tea?"

Ignoring Rose's obvious attempt to lighten the mood, Nino continued talking to Mylene. "You're playing a hero from the special forces. You're not supposed to get all freaked out!"

Mylene lowered her head. "I know, but… that monster mask he's wearing is so… realistic and scary!"

Trying to reassure his girlfriend, Ivan smiled warmly at her. "Just big ol' me, Mylene. Nothing to be scared of." To prove his point, he put the mask on his arm and poked his fingers through the eye holes to show how harmless it was.

"You ask me, he doesn't even need a mask," Chloe commented in an aside to Sabrina, and both girls laughed at the joke. Most of the class looked annoyed at them.

"Chloe, you're not helping!" Marinette chided.

Nino turned toward Ivan. "Ivan, put the mask back on, you're playing the monster. And Mylene, we need you to stay in character!"

Mylene took a deep breath. "I need to sing my happy song, it always makes me feel better." Stepping back to give herself some breathing room, she began to quietly sing. "Smelly wolf, smelly wolf, stinky breath and slimy-!" Her song cut off as she accidentally bumped backward into Adrien and screamed in fright at touching something she hadn't realized was there.

Chloe began to laugh, standing up from her seat where she had been watching the filming. "And the Oscar for best pathetic scaredy-cat afraid of its own shadow goes to… Mylene!"

Looking down at Mylene in concern, Adrien frowned at his childhood friend. "Chloe, seriously?"

"Yeah, so what?" Chloe asked, ignorant to her insensitivity.

Tears welling up in her eyes, Mylene ran from the classroom sobbing.

Marinette reached a hand out. "Mylene!" She looked at her classmates. "Anyone going to go after her?"

Putting his mask aside, Ivan hurried after his girlfriend. "Mylene, wait!"

The gentle giant didn't have to go far to find her, she had hidden herself under a set of stairs, curled up in a ball as she cried.

"Umm, don't listen to those bozos." He said to her, unused to comforting someone. "Easy to judge when they're not in front of the camera. You're doing awesome. Come back, I promise I'll roar more quietly." He held his hand out to her.

Sniffling, Mylene glanced up at him.

Thinking he needed to convince her a little more, Ivan dug in his pocket and pulled out a black pin with white crossbones on it that matched his usual shirt. "Here, it's from my favorite band, the Zombie Skull Crushers."

"Wow…" Mylene accepted the pin and put it on her bandana she used to keep her hair back. For a moment, she felt better, but then her sadness returned full force. "That's, uh, really sweet of you, Ivan. But… they're right. I can't act to save my life. Excuse me." Further tears running down her cheeks, Mylene sprinted away to hide and cry in the nearest restroom.

-LB-CN-P-

"A film shoot?" Hawk Moth's window opened that night. "Oh, yes. So many emotions. Some fake, others very, very real." The villain empowered a butterfly with his dark energy. "Fly away, my little akuma, and overpower this young, misunderstood artist."

The butterfly fluttered out the window towards Casper High.

-LB-CN-P-

After Ivan went to go comfort Mylene, Nino spun his attention on Chloe. "Epic, Chloe, just epic!" He sarcastically commented, stomping over to her. "What are we supposed to do now without our leading actress?"

Chloe slid off her desk to stand. "Who needs her, anyway? She was totally lame!"

Ivan returned to the classroom, pointing a finger at the popular girl. "You're lame! Mylene is crying her eyes out in the bathroom thanks to you!"

Chloe gasped, affronted, and put a hand to her chest. "Me, lame?!"

Before the argument could escalate further, Marinette put herself in the middle. "Hey, hey! Everyone, chill out! You're right. Chloe is lame. But fighting isn't going to bring Mylene back. I'm the producer, and I'm going to do everything in my power to finish filming tonight!" As she made her promise, Chloe, Nino, and Ivan all glared over her at each other.

Typing on his phone, Max interjected, "The deadline for the state short film festival is tomorrow evening. Precisely twenty-six hours, fifteen minutes, and fourteen, thirteen seconds from now."

"Thank you, Max," Marinette said, the reminder of the deadline only stressing her out further. "And we still have editing, post-sound, soundtrack…"

"And who's going to take Mylene's part?" Adrien wondered, still concerned for his classmate.

"Um, me of course!" Chloe answered, posing haughtily.

"You haven't even read the script!" Alya protested, holding her copy of it.

Chloe stomped her foot. "Of course, I have. The first scene anyway." She waved her hand dismissively. "I can even tell you it ends with a kiss between Agent Smith and Officer Jones."

Marinette screamed, her crush on Adrien filling with dread at the idea of him kissing Chloe. "You wrote that?!" She demanded of Alya.

"Hold up! I didn't write that!" Alya flipped through the script only to find there indeed was a kissing scene.

Nino winced uncomfortably. "Uh, I wrote it. It was just a little tweak. You know, to move the story forward."

The blogger leered at him for the admission. "What? You edited my script without even telling me? That's low!"

"I thought she knew," Nathaniel joined in, holding up a storyboard page. "I made a storyboard for it after you told me about the change."

Noticing the way she phrased that, Nino objected back, "Wait a minute! You mean our script!"

Adrien, used to bickering about creative differences from his modeling job, merely sighed at the argument between director and scriptwriter.

Rose noticed his dismay at the mood of the room, and went over to him with a cup in hand. "Juice?"

"Thanks, Rose," he said, taking the offered drink.

Breaking up the conflict, Chloe charged back into the discussion. "Uh, who cares who wrote what? We've got to film this thing, right?"

Max checked his phone again. "She's right. Principal Damocles is only allowing us to use the school until midnight so he can go over to Mr. Lancer's haunted house. Which leaves us five hours, twelve minutes, and twelve seconds, eleven, ten…"

Ignoring as Max continued to count down to the deadline by seconds, Marinette grabbed Alya by the shoulders and hissed to her. "Adrien and Chloe kissing cannot happen! No way!"

"It makes no sense story-wise, anyway," agreed Alya. "The main character's emotional journey…"

Raising her voice again, Marinette hurried over to Adrien's side. "Hold on! We can't just leave Mylene like that! It's wrong! We all chose her to play the leading female role! And… we're all in this movie together! I'm going to go find her and bring her back!"

Chloe smirked at her leaving the room. "Always trying to save the day, aren't you, Dupain-Cheng? Good luck finding that filthy hole that scaredy-cat's hiding in."

---

Mylene stared herself in the restroom mirror, taking in how scared she was. "Why are you so intimidated and scared all the time?" she asked herself.

As she cried, she didn't notice the butterfly sneaking into the restroom and entering her new pin. Her crying stopped almost instantly as the butterfly mask formed around her face.

"Horrificator, I am Hawk Moth," the villain introduced himself through the mental connection, "Up until now, you have felt fear. From now on, you will cause fear. And after you show them how they make you feel, you will do something for me in return."

"Yes, Hawk Moth."

Mylene was covered in the butterfly's dark energy, and soon, Horrificator stood in her place. Her akumatized form was much like Ivan's monster costume for the movie, except much more real. The three-eyed, blue dreadlocked monster was not made of cloth and yarn, but entirely made of magenta goo.

The monster spat goo at the mirror and let itself merge with the goo on the mirror.

Moments later, Marinette entered the restroom. "Mylene? Mylene?" She called out, looking around. Then she noticed the goo all over one of the mirrors and reached out to poke it. Some stuck to her finger and she shook it off with her mouth twisted in disgust.

Alya barged into the restroom, holding the door open. "Marinette! Did you find Mylene?"

The aspiring designer shook her head. "No."

Alya jabbed out the door with her thumb, not noticing the goo. "Well, you better come ASAP, producer! There's some serious lip puckering about to get going on!"

Giving the goo one more inspective glance, Marinette hurried out with her friend. Once both girls were gone, Horrificator emerged from the goo to stand in the room once more.

"Time to use your scare tactics, Horrificator." Hawk Moth said to the villain. "And thrive!"

---

Once he told Sam to watch his display and that he was going out to find more props, Phantom flew home to Fenton Works, heading straight for the basement lab.

He hovered in front of the open portal. "Okay, you've been in the Ghost Zone before. You've just never actively flown through it. You can do this, just find Fright Knight's keep and get the Soul Shredder." Inhaling and exhaling to steady his nerves, he dove in.

The Ghost Zone was much like he had seen while in Sidney Poindexter's version of Casper High, the group lair, he had called it. The Ghost Zone was one big swirling green vortex, and floating around the giant abyss were little islands of land containing a building or some kind of environment. As he flew along, he also learned that doors floated in the abyss too. Judging by his experience with Poindexter's locker, he assumed the doors operated on the same idea and led to their own little pockets of the zone.

He passed an island full of jungle, what looked like some kind of prison, and he also saw what he thought was the Ghost Zone's Casper High in the distance, but he kept moving.

Then he found it. A castle on an island that matched the illustration in Sam's book.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," he told himself as he entered the castle through a window and landed in a corridor. The ghostly teen took in the blood red color of the castle, the lit torches lining the walls, and the tall staircase. Figuring the stairs were his best clue how to proceed, he floated above them instead of walking up. Carefully watching either side of him the higher he ascended, his wariness soon proved him correct when axes started to swing along the staircase. He ducked to avoid one, and tried his rarely used stretching trick to split his torso from his legs to avoid the next one, only to cry out in pain as an axe struck the severed area. Reconnecting himself, he put a hand to his wound and found green blood staining his glove. "Well, that didn't work. Gotta be more careful."

Dodging the rest of the axes, he made it to the door at the top and entered the next corridor. It was a long, straight antechamber with skeletons lining either side, holding a spear or, oddly, a pumpkin. Expecting them to come alive and attack him, Phantom flew down the chamber to reach the next door. Alarmingly, rather than the skeletons coming to life and attacking him, the walls grew spikes and the walls started to move closer to each other like two meat tenderizers coming together.

"Oh great, I'm about to become a Phantom pancake," Phantom remarked, putting on a burst of speed to try and reach the end before the walls closed in around him.

It was a close call, but he managed to get to the end with the two sides barely nipping the heel of his boot. Phantom pressed himself against the door, panting for breath at his near encounter with death, well, maybe a more permanent death. [5]

Once he slowed his heart rate back down to normal, he opened the door to the next room. It was an extremely tall chamber with vaulted ceilings and chains hanging around. At the other end of the room stood a glowing green sword stabbed into a strangely purple pumpkin, a skeleton laying on either side of it. The Soul Shredder.

Phantom noticed several more skeletons laying on the floor that separated the door from the sword, and carefully hovered over them, watching in case one might lift an arm up to try and grab his legs. Reaching the other side, he touched the ground beside the sword. Briefly, he checked over his shoulder again for the skeletons, and then reached for the sword's hilt with both arms. It put a strain on his arms, but eventually, he managed to pull the sword from the pumpkin. He stared at the newly freed blade with awe. Once the moment was over, he felt an unsettling vibe from the castle itself.

"This place is giving me the creeps," he told himself. He looked at the sword again, this time more proudly. "Which means it'll scare the pants off of Lancer." The ghost teen turned to leave with the sword, only to find the way he came blocked.

The skeletons laying on the floor before were now standing up, as if possessed.

"You guys need more red meat," he quipped, striking a battle pose with the sword, intending to use it as a weapon.

To his surprise, the skeletons kneeled down and bowed instead of reaching out to attack. It wasn't what he expected, but he could roll with it.

"Uh, that's right. You know badness when you see it," he said, lowering the sword and trying to look authoritative.

The castle started to shake, and Phantom could feel something was happening behind him.

He spun around, eyes wide as he clutched the sword. "What?"

The purple pumpkin was glowing now, and a neon green mist erupted from the slit where the sword previously was wedged in. As the room shook, the pumpkin exploded altogether and a new figure emerged where it once was.

The appearance was just as the illustration in Sam's book showed. A muscular figure in dark black and gray armor, a spiked helmet with purple flames sprouting from it, and a purple, billowing cape of fire to match. The Fright Knight.

Fright Knight caught sight of Phantom and pointed at him. "Fool! You have released me. Return to me my sword so my reign of terror can begin anew!"

Still clutching the sword, Phantom averted his eyes. "I can bring the sword back by midnight, but the reign of terror is kinda a deal breaker."

"It was not a request, whelp. It was a demand!" Fright Knight launched himself at Phantom, who jumped out of his way and took to the air.

Deciding it wouldn't be wise to stick around and fight the spirit of Halloween and his skeleton army, Phantom flew up towards a window and blasted it open with an ecto blast, fleeing with the sword in his grasp.

Fright Knight quickly grabbed a jack-o-lantern that was off to the side of the room and smashed it open, allowing his bat-winged steed in armor, Nightmare, to emerge. The ghostly knight mounted his horse and began the chase.

---

Back in Amity Park, Jack and Maddie were on a hill overlooking the neighborhood, taking advantage of the height as a perfect guarding position. Maddie held her sensor in hand while Jack had the Fenton Foamer on his shoulder.

"Ecto-storm is flaring up," Maddie reported, noticing a spike in activity on the radar.

"Better warn the local townsfolk," Jack said, picking up a bullhorn. He turned it on and announced, "Code five! Code five! Code five! This is not a drill! Repeat!"

Several trick-or-treaters, some in homemade costumes based on the heroes, looked up in confusion at his announcement, the younger ones doing so along with their parents accompanying them.

One kid dressed as Robin Hood glanced at the other kids he was out with. "Weird costumes. What are they? Plumbers?" He joked, and then he and his group laughed at the couple.

Noticing nobody was reacting to his announcement like they should have, Jack poked at the bullhorn. "Is this thing on?"

Meanwhile at FentonWorks, Cujo was chewing on a toy when his ears straightened up in alarm. Feeling an innate sense of fear, he yipped frightfully as he dove under Danny's bed to hide again.

---

"Horrificator, take fifteen!" Alix announced.

"Action!" Nino called out, starting to record again.

While Adrien was still in his costume, Chloe did not have a costume as the few changes of wardrobe they had pieced together for the project were for Mylene.

Almost immediately, Chloe threw herself at Adrien. "I'm not scared of that Horrificator thingy, Officer Whatever your name is, now kiss me!"

Marinette and Alya burst into the classroom before the two actors' lips could meet, the former yelling out, "Cut!"

Nino stopped recording, frowning at Marinette for the interruption. "Marinette, what gives? We're in the middle of a shoot, and I'm the director, FYI. I say cut, no one else. Comprende?"

"And I'm the producer!" Marinette approached him. "Mylene's supposed to be the star of this movie."

Nino crossed his arms. "We're out of time, and from what I can see, Mylene is MIA." He faced the rest of the class. "Let's take it from the top, people."

Leaning against Ms. Bustier's desk, Adrien sighed. "Here we go again…"

"This is beat!" protested Alya. "Agent Smith does not need a man in her life right now. Sniffles just got munched on, remember?"

"Do you wanna finish this film, or not?" Nino shot back.

Chloe pushed herself into the discussion. "Then let's just make Agent Smith a nurse instead. That'll fix everything."

Alya raised an eyebrow. "Um, I'm sorry. How exactly?"

The hotel heiress shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm sure I'd look good in a uniform." She struck a model pose to prove her point.

Nino groaned in frustration. "Oh, come on! I'm not gonna rewrite this script again!"

"I'm not putting my name on those credits!" Alya said.

Chloe waved at her dismissively. "Nobody cares about you, anyway."

"What?" Alya snarled, whirling on her.

Getting an idea, Marinette spoke up again, smiling. "Everyone, calm down! This movie's a team effort! Your nurse idea is perfect, Chloe!"

"Of course, it's a perfect idea, it's mine." Chloe boasted.

"But Chloe, you don't have a uniform," Marinette pointed out. Chloe gasped as she realized the same thing.

Seeing where Marinette was going with this, Alya added, "Right! Which is why that idea wasn't believable in the first place."

Marinette suggested, "I think you and your assistant should go down to the nurse's office and try out some uniforms."

Chloe thought for a moment then pointed at Kim and Max. "Le Chien, Kante, come with me! You've been promoted to wardrobe and bodyguard."

Not wanting to argue with the girl who could shut down the production, Kim and Max followed Chloe and Sabrina out of the classroom and down the hall.

Nino side-eyed Marinette in annoyance. "Nice going, Miss Producer! Now we have no lead again!"

"Yeah, but now we've gotten rid of Chloe!" Marinette said, bringing up the bright side of the situation.

"And now what?" Nino demanded.

"We go find Mylene," proposed Marinette, "she's here somewhere!"

Nino tapped his wrist where one would have a watch. "I told you. Tick tock, there's no time. We need a lead now!"

Lighting up, Alya interjected, "Marinette can do it!"

Taken aback by her friend's suggestion, Marinette gawked at her. "What? No, I can't act. I'm the producer."

Alya leaned in close to whisper. "But you want to kiss Adrien, don't you?"

"Yes, but not like this," Marinette whispered back, peeking over at Adrien still leaning on the teacher's desk.

-LB-CN-P-

Chloe continued to brag as she and her entourage walked down the hall. "A nurse's uniform. How brilliant am I? Even that dimwit, Dupain-Cheng, liked the idea."

Unbeknownst to the group, Horrificator was stalking them from behind.

-LB-CN-P-

Marinette quickly browsed the script for the scene, passively letting Juleka do her makeup for the lighting and filming. "I'm only doing this as a favor, you know. As soon as Mylene comes back, she'll have her old role."

Juleka finished and left her alone, allowing Alya to come over. "Of course, she will. Chill out and just think. After tonight, you'll have finally kissed Adrien."

Marinette blushed, bringing her script close to her face so no one else would notice the redness in her cheeks.

-LB-CN-P-

Chloe's group had just reached the nurse's office when Chloe realized something about the previous exchange.

She spun around to face her entourage. "Hey, wait a minute! Dupain-Cheng never likes my ideas. I think you've all been duped." She pointed at Kim and Max. "You two take care of the nurse uniform thing, just in case."

Motioning for Sabrina to follow her, Chloe and her best friend started going back the way they came. Thinking it was a good idea to do what she told them, Kim and Max entered the office and started looking for a spare uniform she could use.

However, once they started their search, Kim heard a strange noise.

"Did you hear something?" Kim asked his friend without looking over his shoulder.

Also not looking behind him, Max replied, "No. What?"

Horrificator stood behind them.

Moments later, the two teens screamed.

-LB-CN-P-

Marinette couldn't help staring at Adrien as they prepared for the scene. "Totally unbelievable…" she murmured to herself fondly, gazing at his face.

Adrien turned to face her. "What's that?"

Fearing she had been caught, Marinette stumbled to cover herself. "Uh, I said, um, it's got to be believable?"

He gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, you'll do fine."

Nino got into position with his phone. "Ready to roll? Camera…"

"Horrificator, take sixteen!" Alix called, using the clapperboard.

"Action!"

Marinette stared into Adrien's eyes, getting into character. "I'm not scared of that monster, Officer Jones!"

The two actors leaned in to kiss, only for Chloe to barge back into the room with Sabrina. "Cut! I knew it!" The hotel heiress interrupted.

Growling, Nino stopped recording. "What did I say about other people saying cut?"

Chloe stomped over to where Marinette and Adrien stood, focusing on the former. "Well played, Dupain-Cheng! All that speech about working together, then you stab me right in the back! Well, your stupid little movie won't make into the festival if I'm not in it, because my daddy is one of the judges!"

Before anyone could reply to her tirade, they all heard screaming.

"Did you guys hear that?" Adrien asked, getting positive answers from his classmates.

Chloe sneered at the subject change. "If this is another one of your silly ploys to get me out of the way, forget it! Besides, I!"

Screaming was heard down the hall again, but clearer.

"I definitely heard that," Marinette confirmed, looking at the others. "We better scope this out!"

Thinking he might need an excuse to slip away and transform, Adrien subtly slipped his costume off before joining the others in leaving the classroom. [6]

Rose was the last one to leave, holding up one of her snacks she had brought in offering. "A fruity snack for the road?" She called out, wondering if anyone wanted something.

---

Phantom raced through the Ghost Zone back to his parents' portal as fast as he could, the Fright Knight chasing him down for the sword. The armored ghost shot purple beams from his eyes in an attempt to stop the sword thief, but Phantom did a side loop to avoid it. Fortunately for Phantom, using the eye beams slowed the Fright Knight down.

After dodging the beams, Phantom finally saw his exit. "Yes! Home sweet home!" Picking up a burst of speed, he darted toward the Fentons' portal. He zoomed through, and quickly turned around to face the portal's control panel. He heard Nightmare's whinnying for only a second before he punched the button on the panel to make the portal shut. The hero nervously watched the portal doors shut, mentally hoping they would close in time. He let out a deep exhale once he saw the portal seal in front of Fright Knight's face. No longer worried about a potential pursuit, Phantom flew out to return to his haunted house.

Little did he realize, Fright Knight had gotten his grip between the two sides of the portal door and managed to push them open enough for him and his steed to break through.

At the old Townsend place, Sam wandered the rest of Danny's exhibit while waiting for him. "Where is he?" the goth wondered absently. Suddenly, she felt something tapping the back of her boot. She let out a startled yell and spun around to see what it was.

The source turned out to be Phantom, phasing up into the room through the floor. "If you think that's scary…" he said, presenting the Soul Shredder with both hands.

Sam stepped closer and looked at the sword, her reflection in the blade. "You went into the Ghost Zone and stole the Fright Knight's sword?!"

"Stole, borrowed. Semantics," Phantom said, casually shrugging as he gripped the sword with one hand, the blade pointed at the floor. "You worry too much."

Without thinking about it, he plunged the blade into the floor. The hilt soon began to glow an ominous green, causing a newly wary Phantom to let go of it and join Sam in backing away. A beam emerged from the hilt, blasting up through the ceiling and causing a hole. The beam rose higher than the tallest peak of the mansion and began creating a dome that surrounded the property. A cloud began to form at the top of the dome, and soon a bolt of lightning struck down a window.

Lancer was inside finishing his critique of Wes's exhibit when the lightning hit. Wes had just closed the door behind the teacher when he went on his way to judge Danny's room, only to turn around and find his various set pieces come to life, making them look more realistic than they originally were.

"Zombies!" Wes screamed.

His scream was so loud, Phantom and Sam could hear it from several rooms over. The pair glanced up at the dome they could see through the hole in the ceiling, figuring it was the cause of Wes's shout.

"Maybe I should get this thing back," Phantom considered.

"Mr. Fenton, it's time!" Lancer announced from the hall outside the room. As the teacher opened the door, Sam acted quickly and jumped in front of Phantom, who quickly transformed back into his civilian form. Thankfully, Lancer was looking down at his clipboard so he didn't see the flash of light accompanying the rings that made up the changing process.

"Right after Mr. Lancer judges my room!" Danny amended to Sam hastily.

Meanwhile, somewhere in town, Fright Knight and his horse emerged in flashes of lightning. "Free! And once I regain possession of my sword, I will rule!"

Nightmare spread his wings once more, and they rode off into the night in search of the sword.

Just as Danny was about to start showing off his display, some of the zombies from Wes's room found their way in and stumbled over to the teacher and two teens.

Still clutching her book about the Fright Knight's lore, Sam glanced up at the teacher. "Uh, Mr. Lancer? I don't think it's safe here."

At Sam's mention of the word 'safe', Danny had an idea of how he could salvage the interruption to his display. Putting on a smile, he said, "That's right, Sam!" Acting quickly, he jumped in front of Sam and Lancer and managed to shove the zombies out the door and shut it behind them. He quickly snatched a flashlight and flicked it on to give himself an ominous air. "Nothing is safe inside… Danny Fenton's Room of Doom! Enter if you dare!" He flicked the light switch to put the room in the dark, and cranked a fishing pole's line to drop the fake spiders down on Sam and Lancer's heads.

Feeling the rubber on his head, Lancer reached up and squeezed one of the spiders, which made a non-threatening squeaking sound. Lancer frowned. "I'll have you know I don't fall for cheap theatrics."

As if on cue, the lightning struck again, this time hitting Danny's room of the haunted house. His box of recently purchased rubber spiders turned into real, giant ghost spiders.

"And I don't scare easily," Lancer was saying until one of the ghost spiders tapped him on the shoulder. He looked behind him, and donned a surprised expression before scribbling notes on his clipboard. "But you're off to a promising start."

Danny couldn't help wincing while his teacher's gaze was away from him. The lightning hadn't just struck the spiders. "All part of the show," Danny said weakly, not moving his gaze from the ghost spider so close to Lancer.

Outside, Wes was scrambling to climb over the brick wall surrounding the old Townsend property. "Zombies!" He screamed frantically to whoever could hear him. On top of the wall, he noticed Fright Knight flying around on his steed. His eyes widened as he shouted, "Ghost!"

Flying along above, Fright Knight brought Nightmare to a halt. "I know that terror." He looked down below and zeroed in on Wes falling on the sidewalk on the other side of the wall. "It carries the scent of my blade." Flicking the reins, he guided Nightmare down to the fallen teen.

Wes struggled to get back onto his feet when the ghost he had just seen landed in front of him on the back of an equally scary horse with wings.

"You, tell me. Where are you running from?" Fright Knight demanded.

"Uh, that mansion right over there?" Wes pointed past the wall he had just gotten over.

Upon his horse, Fright Knight got a view over the wall and saw the Townsend property covered in its new green dome, the dome and cloud expanding with every moment.

"Yes. Upon yonder hill lies the instrument of my ultimate ascendancy! My Soul Shredder!" Fright Knight declared dramatically. While he was monologuing, Wes took the opportunity to flee.

As he ran, the cloud over the haunted house released more lightning strikes. A minivan down the street was turned into a monster with wings, a tail, and fangs; a mailbox turned into a ghost that coughed out mail; and a nearby stop sign was turned into a ghost as well. All around Wes, ghosts and monsters scared trick-or-treaters, some of the parents, and caused general mayhem.

The basketball player, seeing all of it, scowled in annoyance. "This is all probably Fenton's fault…" he muttered under his breath.

Fright Knight and Nightmare hovered into the air slightly to witness all the chaos created by the Soul Shredder's power, rider and steed both enjoying it all.

"This is only the beginning," Fright Knight told his horse.

"Hi, Danny!" Ghost and mount both turned to see Tucker, still wearing the gag glasses with the big red nose and carrying his bucket full of candy, approaching them. "Is that you?"

Fright Knight and Nightmare swooped down at the teen. "Child, you may want to show a little more respect to your future ruler!"

To the ghost's confusion, Tucker almost looked unimpressed. "Yeah, yeah, very scary. The fake horse is pretty neat, though. What's it made out of? Flaming bed sheets?"

Nightmare snorted in what could be interpreted as indignation as Fright Knight hollered, "Flaming bed sheets of death!"

Tucker's phone beeped, pulling his attention away as he checked it. "Whoa, I'm going to be late. I gotta be at the Henderson's in five-!" He yelped when Fright Knight snatched him up by the front of his shirt and pulled him up to eye level.

"I am the Fright Knight, the spirit of Halloween!" Fright Knight boasted. To prove his power, he used his eye beams to melt Tucker's bucket of candy on sight. [7]

Tucker quickly dropped the charred bucket, not wanting to be burned. He glared at the other. "Aww, man! Why'd you do that?"

"And once this ecto-storm touches every corner of this globe," Fright Knight continued to brag as more ghosts and monsters were created and proceeded to torment the citizens of Amity Park.

"You're not Danny, are you?" Tucker finally realized.

---

Back at Casper High, the class arrived at the nurse's office where Chloe and Sabrina had left Kim and Max. Thinking he had a good filming opportunity, Nino was recording everything on his phone.

The class entered the office and started looking around.

"Hey! Anybody here? Kim! Max! Where are you guys?" Adrien shouted.

Marinette was quick to notice the pink goo coating most of the surfaces in the room. "I saw the same pink goo… the bathroom!"

Then Adrien noticed an armband left on the nurse's desk and pointed at it. "That's Kim's!"

Nathaniel went pale. "They vanished!"

Alya rolled her eyes. "Or they're playing a sick joke on us."

Marinette stopped examining the goo to address her classmates. "We should go to Mr. Damocles' office and tell him what's going on." She pointed at Nino. "Nino, come on! Stop filming!"

He shook his head. "Not a chance! This is just getting good!"

While the rest of the class filed out of the office, Marinette smirked to herself. "Looks like it's time to bring in the alter ego."

Adrien moved in the direction of their classroom while the rest went towards the principal's office. Nino noticed him trying to slip away. "Yo, Adrien! Where are you going?"

Prepared with his excuse, Adrien smiled at his friend. "I left Officer Jones' jacket back there! Should probably wear it in all the scenes."

Nino, being a director, understood the logic and let him go while he joined the rest of the remaining members of the class.

-LB-CN-P-

Up on the rooftop, Horrificator spewed goo into the sky, forming a magenta dome around the school's property.

-LB-CN-P-

Adrien returned to the classroom and took off one of his shoes, dropping it next to the discarded jacket. "Time to transform, Plagg!"

Plagg emerged from his pocket in Adrien's shirt and spotted the shoe on the floor. "What are you doing?"

"So they think I've disappeared too," Adrien answered, thinking the alibi was believable given what happened to Kim and Max.

Plagg sniffed the shoe. "And you say I stink of Camembert!"

"Plagg, claws out!" Adrien started the transformation, ignoring his kwami's witty reply.

-LB-CN-P-

The rest of the remaining students reached the principal's office, and Alya flung the door open.

"Mr. Damocles? Sir?" Alya asked. The principal was not behind his desk like they were expecting.

Rose grew more frantic. "Even Mr. Damocles is nowhere to be found!"

While the rest of their backs were turned, Marinette silently dropped her phone to the floor and darted into the nearest classroom. She opened her purse to let Tikki out. "Tikki, spots on!"

After the class searched every nook and cranny in the principal's office, Nino finally noticed another one of their number was missing. "Anyone seen Agent Smith? I mean, Marinette?"

Alya drifted back toward the office door and spotted her best friend's phone on the floor. "Oh no! This is Marinette's phone!" She picked it up and put it in one of her pockets.

It was then they all noticed the pink goo dripping over the windows.

"Quick! Check the windows!" Chloe acted first and ran over to try opening one, but it wouldn't budge.

Juleka stood nearby, staring at the goo with creepy appreciation. "Crazy…"

Growing desperate, Chloe dug her phone out and started dialing. "I'm going to call Daddy!"

Nino saw the rest of the class doing the same thing and smirked despite the situation. "Dudes, you know cellphones never work in horror movies."

"No bars," Ivan reported.

"No coverage," Nathaniel added.

"Told you so! Booyah!" Nino pumped a fist as his classmates put their phones away except for himself and Alya.

Ladybug appeared in the doorway. "Is everything okay?"

The remaining class members spun around at her voice, Nino still filming.

"Ladybug in my movie? No way!" Nino cheered.

Alya put her phone on record mode too. "And on my Ladyblog!" Even if she couldn't livestream at the moment, she could still save the footage for later uploading.

The spotted hero began shooing the group out of the office. "We've got to calmly evacuate the building. Okay, everyone?"

That was when Chat Noir appeared, leaning on the doorframe. "Easier said than done, Ladybug."

"Double legit!" Nino pumped a fist without dropping his phone.

"I tried to cut through the goo, but it's no good." Chat Noir elaborated. "Totally indestructible. So, looks like we're trapped inside the school for now. Just stay put and try to relax, guys." He pointed a particularly flirty look at Ladybug. "Shall we take a stroll, my lady? We both know Hawk Moth's taken another innocent victim somewhere in school."

Ladybug didn't fall for it. "Or, it could just as easily be the work of a ghost. Either way, there's only one way to get rid of this pink goo and get everyone outta here. Beat whoever's doing this, and possibly capture their akuma."

Chat Noir continued to smile at her. "Exactly. I love it when you read my mind."

Ladybug faked a gag. "Ugh, we better find this thing first, and its prisoners."

"Wow, you did it again." Chat Noir swooned.

While they were bantering back and forth, Nino got closer to them with his phone. "Don't mind me, finding the missing peeps and solving this crazy mystery with Ladybug and Chat Noir. This movie's gonna be so swank!"

"Stay together, right behind us," Ladybug told the class, walking past them and grabbing Nino to yank him along. "That means you too, Beiselberg."

-LB-CN-P-

Max was dropped into a gooey pod, and when he sat back up, he saw Horrificator looming over him. He let out a scream of fright, and the action only seemed to cause the villain's size to increase.

"Absorb their fear, Horrificator…" Horrificator heard Hawk Moth telling her in her head. "Feed on it! And soon enough, you'll be giving me strength too!"

Horrificator spat out more goo to seal the frightened Max in his pod.

---

The whole mansion was under the Soul Shredder's influence now. If Lancer had any clue ghost stuff was going on, he didn't show it. He was too fascinated by the giant ghost spider that had trapped him in webbing.

Lancer hummed appraisingly as he was cocooned against the ghost spider's web. "This has potential. Sticky, gross. I like it!"

Across the room, Sam shot Danny a look as the spider hissed at the teacher. "Danny, you might want to end this before things spiral out of control!"

Danny smiled at her, seemingly unconcerned. "I will, as soon as Lancer declares me the winner."

Another bigger ghost spider approached the webbed judge from behind, dripping saliva. Lancer stared at it with surprise. "Okay, I'm mildly impressed. A few more surprises and you might have this thing wrapped up."

Danny pumped his fists. "Yes! I'll take mildly impressed. That's my cue to clean up." He looked around, and noticed that his parents had left the Fenton Foamer on the floor. Grabbing the weapon, he aimed it at the ghost spiders and fired foam at them. Once the foam hit its targets, the spiders reverted into the tiny rubber ones they were before. After the spiders were taken care of, Danny threw the weapon over to Sam, who was trying to prevent mobile skeletons from entering the room and making the situation worse. "Sam, catch!"

Sam caught the Foamer, abandoning the door and allowing the skeletons to get inside. She dove away from the door to put some distance between herself and them, then shot foam at them. The skeletons turned back into sack-like dummies that went limp immediately and collapsed on the floor. After making sure they weren't getting back up to continue attacking, Sam rejoined Danny at the center of the room.

"See? I told you I had everything under control," Danny assured her, casually taking the weapon from her and foaming a ghost rat that reverted into the red, plush throne that his Fright Knight dummy had been sitting on. "We've got enough Fenton Foamers to keep Lancer safe, and as soon as he says the words 'Danny wins', I'll toss the sword back in the Ghost Zone."

It was at that point Fright Knight and Nightmare burst through the wall, Tucker laid on his stomach across the front of Nightmare's saddle.

Hearing the crash, Lancer looked over and made a humming noise of approval. "Hmm, that's one fancy flaming robot."

Tucker struggled to get himself off the flying horse. "Danny! Whatever you do, don't let him get the sword!"

"Silence, whelp!" Fright Knight roared, yanking Tucker off the saddle by his backpack and throwing him across the long dining table that had been decorated as part of the display.

Tucker landed on the ghost spider's web, and noticed Lancer still trapped in it. "Hi, come here often?" He joked to the teacher, trying to keep the mood light.

"Tuck!" Danny yelled for his friend. He aimed the Fenton Foamer to attack Fright Knight, but the ghost struck first and used his eye beams to knock the weapon out of Danny's possession.

With Danny unarmed, Fright Knight turned his attention to the reason for his arrival at the haunted house. "My sword, at last!" He dismounted his horse and jumped for the sword, Danny racing to get to it first.

Danny did get to the sword first and got his hand on the handle, but the ghost quickly put his hand above Danny's. Danny scoffed in victory, only for the knight to pull the sword out of the floor and him up off his feet along with it. Annoyed at the human clinging to his blade, the ghost attempted to shake him loose.

"That's certainly exciting," Lancer remarked to Tucker, who stared at him in disbelief that the teacher believed it was all part of the demonstration.

In the struggle for the sword, Fright Knight swiped it accidentally at Lancer. The man glowed green for a moment and then vanished, leaving behind empty cocoon webbing. Tucker gasped from his spot on the web, luckily having missed being slashed.

"Lancer?" Danny stared at the web in shock. "Where'd he go?"

-LB-CN-P-

Elsewhere, Lancer found himself standing on a small platform of rock in a void. "Yes, it's scary," he said, unimpressed so far. "Very scary," he continued to sarcastically state when chalkboards filled with math equations and other lesson plans surrounded him.

A piece of chalk turned into a kind of band that snared his wrist and brought his hand to one of the boards. Lancer gritted his teeth as an ear-hurting screech came from the board as a result of his fingers forcibly scraping against it.

"Too scary!" The teacher screamed, finally terrified.

-LB-CN-P-

Back in the real world, Danny abandoned the sword to inspect Lancer's previous webbing. "Mr. Lancer?" When he couldn't find his teacher, he glared at the ghost behind him. "What'd you do to him?"

"I sent him to where all who feel the sting of my blade are sent." Fright Knight raised his Soul Shredder triumphantly. "A dimension where his worst fears come to life!"

For a moment, Danny blinked at his enemy then pumped his fists. "Yes! This contest is so mine!" At his exclamation, Sam gave him a disapproving frown, which he noticed across the room. "I mean," Danny corrected himself and started charging at the ghost, transforming in the process. "Bring him back, you fiend!"

Phantom jumped at Fright Knight to deliver a flying kick, but the enemy punched him back into a wall. "Listen to the sound of your doom!" Fright Knight declared, seeing the wind pick up outside the windows. "Soon my storm shall consume the night, and the world will forever be transformed! And no one can stop me!"

Phantom pulled himself out of the hole in the wall he had crashed into. "Not if I can help it!" He attempted another charge, intending to ram into the Fright Knight like a football player, but the ghost barely flinched, his armor taking the brunt of the attack. Phantom fell on the ground, winded from the pain. "Which, apparently, I can't."

Fright Knight approached his fallen opponent, preparing to strike him with his Soul Shredder.

Tucker managed to wriggle himself free of the web, and ran over in front of his friend. "Danny, look out!"

He took the swipe, which didn't leave a physical mark on him just like with Lancer, and momentarily turned green before vanishing from the room.

"Tucker, no!" Phantom cried out for his friend's safety.

Elsewhere, Tucker appeared on a tiny tropical island with a bunch of electronics including his usual phone. He smiled at all the gadgets for a second before they disappeared from his hands. The geek frowned as he struggled to find anything remotely tech-like. "No phones? No games?" Then his clothes disappeared, leaving him only in his underwear. "No clothes?" Then a fissure appeared in the ground, and out from it came a giant notepad and pencil, the old way of recording information before smartphones and apps came along.

"All my technology, useless! Nooooo!" Tucker wailed.

---

What was left of the class followed behind Ladybug and Chat Noir as they carefully made their way down one of the school hallways. The heroes had the bright idea to follow a goo trail they found, and were letting it lead them to the enemy; the rest of the class stayed close together along the way. Nino and Alya were recording everything they could, for different reasons; Nino to turn the adventure into a movie for the film festival and Alya to get content for her hero blog.

At a junction in the halls, Chloe stopped Sabrina from following the other teens. "We're way better off on our own than sticking with the others. Why would we stick with the group when we could just hide out on our own?" Chloe argued, and the pair split off to go down a different hallway.

The goo trail seemed to lead the class back to their homeroom, where some goo had made its way onto Ms. Bustier's desk. Nearby, Adrien's discarded shoe laid on the floor.

"There!" Ladybug pointed at the shoe.

"Anyone recognize this shoe?" Chat Noir, feigning cluelessness.

Nino kneeled close to record the discovery. "That's Adrien's shoe!"

Having noticed the goo on the desk, Nathaniel wandered over to take a closer look. Once he went around the desk to see if he could find more goo, he paled. "Uh, guys!" A gooey tendril suddenly pulled him underneath the desk. Before anyone could rush over, Horrificator emerged from her hiding spot, holding Nathaniel prisoner with her tail.

"Everybody, run!" Ladybug commanded, and most of the class sprinted out of the classroom except for Nino and Juleka.

"Awesome…" The girl breathed, staring at the monster. She was so charmed by the monster's hideous appeal, she tuned out Nathaniel's cries for help.

Horrificator spat some goo at Juleka to try and capture her, but Ladybug swept her out into the hallway.

Chat Noir jumped into the fray, spinning his baton to ward off any goo shot in his direction. "Eww! What's your name? Droo-lator? Cats aren't afraid of slimy toads like you!"

While the rest of the class fled further down the hall for safety, Ladybug and Chat Noir used the narrow area of the walls to give Horrificator the runaround.

"This is definitely an akuma, now we just got to figure out where the butterfly is hiding," Ladybug said, running along the wall and dodging as goo splattered the space she had just been running across.

"I don't see anything," Chat Noir observed, doing the same. "Just miles of slime!"

Nino, meanwhile, figured out why the monster was so familiar. "Hey! This akuma is based on the monster from my movie, Horrificator!" [8]

"Help!" Nathaniel cried.

Horrificator managed to get close to the class, scaring them, and grew bigger. Her head was brushing the ceiling now.

Ladybug's eyes widened. "Fear! It's fear that gives it strength!"

The hero taking the moment to process that information was the slip Horrificator needed to trap both her and Chat in goo, the cat hero diving in to try and use his baton as a shield at the last moment. They were both thrown against a wall, stuck by the goo like a poster.

With her enemies sufficiently trapped, Horrificator turned her attention on the rest of the class. Being the biggest of his classmates, Ivan attempted to defend them by standing in the monster's path. To their astonishment, Horrificator merely licked his face, and then swept up Alix next to Nathaniel in her tail. With the two teens captive, the monster started making her way down another hall.

"No! You had the heroes trapped! Go back and take their Miraculous!" Hawk Moth was demanding in her head, but she continued going in the other direction. [9]

"Oh no! It's taking Nate and Alix!" Rose fretted, watching her classmates be taken away.

Ladybug shared a glance with Chat. "The more scared people are of it, the more powerful it gets! By defeating fear, we defeat it!"

He nodded. "Okay, but first we gotta get out of this sticky situation quickly before it dries." Noticing his baton wasn't completely covered in slime, he glanced at the remaining few students. "Can one of you grab my baton and break us out of here?"

Nino, who had been focused so much on filming, surprisingly handed his phone over to Juleka. "Keep rolling," he told her then ran over to the heroes. Taking the baton from Chat, he fiddled with it for a second before figuring out how to best wield it and sliced it through the goo, freeing the heroes. [10]

"Thanks," Chat said, receiving his weapon back.

Now that nobody was stuck, the rest of the remaining classmates gathered closer while Nino accepted his phone back from Juleka. Ladybug gave Ivan an appraising stare.

"Did you see how it just left Ivan alone?" she asked the group at large.

"Yeah, what's that all about?" Chat agreed.

Ladybug let out a gasp as her mind connected the villain being the same monster from the movie they had been trying to film and the monster leaving Ivan alone. "I think the monster… is Mylene!"

At that point, Alya noticed their group was two people shorter than they initially thought. "Where are Sabrina and Chloe?"

The spotted hero patted her civilian friend's shoulder. "We'll find them, don't worry. If we can find a way out of here…"

---

Enraged by his friend's disappearance, Phantom took the fight more seriously.

He readied an ecto blast and fired at the knight, only for him to volley it back with his sword. Phantom was shocked by the block that he got hit by his own attack and crashed into the wall again, creating another hole in it.

"Doesn't anything work on this guy?" Phantom asked tiredly, wishing something would be effective.

At his question, Sam started paging through her book. "There must be something in this book that tells us how to beat him."

Fright Knight approached her next, raising his sword. "Perhaps, but you'll never find it!"

Thoroughly frightened, Sam held up the book as a shield.

"Sam!" Phantom quickly recovered and went to grab her from behind. "Look out!" Just as he turned himself and her intangible, the enemy slashed his sword through the book, cutting it in half. Sam let go of the two halves of the book, and Phantom carried her away.

"Darn it, that bookstore has a no return policy," Sam complained.

They landed behind the throne, and Phantom turned them both tangible again. "I'm so sorry, I wanted to win so bad, but not this bad!" He said regretfully, looking at his friend in concern for safety.

"Stop beating yourself up and start beating him," Sam told him, jabbing a thumb in Fright Knight's direction. The pair peeked out from behind the throne at the ghost struggling to get his sword out from where it was stabbed in the floor. "It's the only way we'll be able to get Tucker and Lancer back safe, and get everything back to normal."

While Phantom went in for another sweep at Fright Knight and got bashed aside, sending plates and forks flying, Sam snuck over to the remains of the book and sorted through the pages. "Come on, show me a weakness, a vulnerability, anything!"

Finally, she found a page that looked like it had some relevant information. "Ahah! To cease the storm, to end the fear, the sword must sheathe in pumpkin near." Her eyes went wide and her voice got louder. "Pumpkin near! Danny, you've got to put the sword back in a pumpkin!"

Running out of options, Phantom lifted the grandfather clock that was in the room and prepared to swing it at Fright Knight. "A pumpkin? There's no pumpkins in the room!" He threw it at the knight, who had gotten back on his steed to fly up and reach him; he slapped his forehead as he remembered something. "No pumpkins in the room? It's Halloween. What am I, an idiot?"

"You have to find another pumpkin fast. That's the only thing that can stop the sword's power!" Sam told him.

While Sam was telling him what he needed to do, Fright Knight and Nightmare recovered. They launched themselves at Phantom again, this time the enemy managing to punch Phantom through the ceiling and onto the roof. The knight jumped off his horse to join the hero on the roof.

Nightmare then noticed Sam still on the ground and dove at her. The goth ran for the exit door and fled into the hall with the horse in pursuit. "Find a pumpkin for Danny, find a pumpkin for Danny… wait, Wes's room!" Sam realized and sprinted for the other exhibit.

On the roof, Phantom dodged as Fright Knight swung his sword at him, chasing him up the tallest part of the mansion. After six missed slashes, Phantom finally got the high ground again and prepared an ecto blast.

"Strike six! Way to whiff, Mr. October!" The ghost hero quipped before firing his attack.

Fright Knight was shot through the roof back down into the house, and Phantom followed to deliver an extra punch to the face.

Sam shoved her way into Wes's room and quickly found a pumpkin basket full of candy that seemed doable. She snatched it up, proclaiming, "Got it!" Turning to leave, she found Nightmare attempting to ram at her. "Whoa!" Ducking at the last second, she allowed Nightmare to break through one of the few windows of Wes's exhibit that hadn't been broken yet. Not waiting to see if the horse would be back, Sam left to return to Danny's display.

After a quick run back, she found Phantom kicking Fright Knight down before the enemy gripped him by the neck and threw him on the floor.

"Danny, I got the pumpkin!" She rolled it toward him. [11]

Fright Knight prepared to strike Phantom with his sword again, but this time, Phantom met him halfway and pressed his hands on either side of the blade like a couple of bread slices on a sandwich. The action surprised the knight even as he pushed down with more force.

"To cease the storm, to end the fear," Phantom recited as he felt his ghostly aura protest against the blade's effects, "the sword must sheathe in pumpkin near!" Using Fright Knight's shock to his advantage, Phantom managed to wrestle the sword handle from his grip and flip the knight onto his back.

Then, with full control of the sword, Phantom dove at the pumpkin bucket and jammed the blade into it between the candy.

The reaction was instantaneous; the green energy renewed and the force of it threw Phantom away.

Recovering from the flip, Fright Knight saw the sword in the pumpkin. "What?!"

Phantom landed near him, sitting up enough to boast. "Trick and treat, buckethead! Told you I would have it back by midnight."

"No! No!" Fright Knight approached the sword and attempted to reclaim it, but the sword's power flung him back just like it did to Phantom.

Above the property, the ecto storm seemed to start reversing itself.

---

As it turned out, Chloe and Sabrina had holed up in Ms. Mendeleiev's science classroom. Sabrina was busy barricading the door with as many objects she could, which was difficult to do since most of the science lab equipment was nailed down.

Chloe sat on Ms. Mendeleiev's desk, idly filing her nails while her friend did all the work. "It's a good thing I came up with a brilliant idea like this. No one's going to get through that barricade. We can just relax, and let Ladybug and Chat Noir do all the hard work."

In Chloe and Sabrina's attempt to be smart and barricade themselves from the monster, they failed to realize Mendeleiev's classroom had two doors and they had only blocked one of them.

Entering the science lab through the unobstructed door, Horrificator snatched Sabrina then Chloe. The two girls screamed so loudly that their classmates and the heroes could hear them from several hallways over.

By the time they got there, Sabrina's barricade had been knocked aside and the classroom door flung wide open.

Chat Noir saw the slime first. "We're too late!"

"But look, we can track the monster," Ladybug pointed out.

That's what they did. They followed the new trail through the school to the door of the boiler room.

Nino pumped a fist once they arrived at the end of the trail, the only one to do so. "I'm so amped!"

Chat threw him a frown. "Turn your amp down to about four, will ya?"

Realizing his excitement wasn't exactly right for the situation, Nino sheepishly apologized. "My bad…"

The boiler room was normally off-limits to everyone but the janitor. Since Horrificator had broken the lock and several victims were already in danger, the group figured this time an exception would be made.

They entered the hallway single file, Ladybug at the front with Juleka bringing up the rear. The group eventually arrived at a larger room, where the boiler was kept, and the place was crowded with large, slimy pods like the one Max had been encased in.

Horrificator watched them from the shadows, hearing Hawk Moth speak to her. "Their fear will make you powerful enough to defeat Ladybug and Chat Noir. Now, bring their Miraculous to me!"

"Anybody in here?" Ladybug called out.

"Ladybug!" Came Chloe's voice from one of the sealed pods. "It's me, Chloe Bourgeois!"

"Don't worry, we'll get you out of there!" Ladybug assured.

"Well, hurry it up already!" Chloe snapped.

Ladybug went over to one of the pods. "Is everyone here? Mr. Damocles? Alix? Nathaniel? Sabrina? Adrien? Adrien?" She didn't realize she had called his name twice, she was simply that concerned for her crush no matter her form.

Inconspicuously, Chat Noir slipped behind a pod without anybody seeing him. "Yeah, I'm fine!" He threw his voice. "What about Marinette?"

Not exactly in a position to do the same, Ladybug attempted to steer the conversation away from her civilian identity. "Yeah, we've got everyone!" She attempted to move the pod she was near. "Ugh, they won't budge!" Her exclamation caused several of the podded victims to start yelling worriedly. "Just try and calm down, we'll find a way to get you out of there!"

That was when Horrificator leapt into action, spewing goo and sealing up the hallway the group had come from, essentially trapping them all in the boiler room.

"Okay, now this is getting scary," commented Ladybug as she reached for her yo-yo.

Chat discovered that while the bigger pods were stuck there, the ones too small to hold a person could be moved. He managed to dislodge a few, and threw them at the monster to defend his teammate. While he distracted Horrificator, Ladybug used her power.

"Lucky Charm!"

In her hands fell…

A spotted pack of strings?

"Guitar strings? Are you kidding me?" Ladybug wondered incredulously. After a moment of contemplating how strings could help them, she realized what they were for. "Guitar… music… Mylene's song!" Quickly looking around, she found a janitor's cart with buckets, cones, and other janitorial tools nearby.

Chat continued to dodge Horrificator's goo until he started to get tired of the attack. "That's it. Enough's enough! Cataclysm!" He pounced up high toward the ceiling, and struck down several pipes that fell and formed a cage around the monster.

While he trapped the monster, Ladybug handed out the janitor supplies to the teens that hadn't been caught yet. "Okay, we're all going to sing," she told them the plan, adding the guitar strings to a broom.

Chat came over, intrigued. "Sing? So that's your plan?"

"The only way to get through this is to get your fear under control," she said, glancing around the group. "You all know Smelly Wolf, don't you?"

"Seriously? Smelly Wolf?" Chat stared at her.

Smirking at him, she passed him some buckets and trash can lids. "Care to join us?" Figuring it was better than no plan at all, Chat set up a makeshift drum set. Once he was ready, Ladybug signaled the rest. "Okay, everyone!" She gave a countdown and began singing as she played the broom guitar. "Smelly wolf, smelly wolf, trapped in the stinky hut…"

"Smelly wolf, smelly wolf, I'm gonna kick your…" The rest of the group sang, playing their own makeshift instruments. They sang two more verses, and all the while, Horrificator shrunk in size.

"Wow, it's working!" Chat exclaimed, continuing to play.

Eventually the song came to an end, and Horrificator was small enough to slip through the pipes of its cage, bounding up toward Ivan, who caught her in his arms. With Horrificator at such a small size, something else became noticeable to the group.

"That's the same button I gave to Mylene!" Ivan realized.

Ladybug reached over and plucked the button that was now visible to the group from the side of the monster's forehead. "That's where the akuma is!" She crushed it under her heel, careful to hit the flat side instead of the clip side. "No more evildoing for you, little akuma! Time to de-evilize!" She opened her yo-yo and caught the butterfly that came out of the pin, purifying it. "Bye-bye, little butterfly!" With the akuma cleansed, the spotted hero tossed the broom guitar up and cast her cure.

The dome of goo surrounding the school perimeter disappeared, and the captured victims were released from their pods, eliciting cheers from them all. Mylene also reverted to her original form, Ivan helping her back on her feet. Another job done, the two heroes bumped fists while Nino recorded it all.

Coming back to herself, Mylene noticed that she and Ivan were holding hands; she stared up into his eyes and saw a gentle gaze, much like the one he gave her after his own purification. Feeling much better about before and remembering how he tried to comfort her, she hopped up to kiss him. He was originally surprised by the gesture, but soon found himself leaning into it.

Their first kiss.

"Aaaaand, that's a wrap!" Nino declared, finally ending his recording with a proud grin.

-LB-CN-P-

Hawk Moth growled at another defeat being dealt. "You don't scare me, heroes! I know I'll destroy you in the end! Someday, somehow, I'll destroy you!" His window closed until his next attack.

-LB-CN-P-

Mylene and Ivan pulled their lips apart, exchanging sweet looks.

"You saved me," Mylene said, looking over at the rest of the survivors and the heroes. "You all did."

"It was our pleasure," said Ladybug, smiling warmly. Her earrings beeped, closely followed by Chat's ring.

"It was nice being part of your movie, but we have to go. Cat-ch you later!" Chat waved goodbye, and he and Ladybug were soon gone.

While the heroes disappeared, Mylene turned apologetically to Nino. "I'm sorry I ruined your movie, Nino. I know how important this student film thing was to you."

He grinned at her, waving his phone. "Don't be. We actually recorded some killer stuff. We're going to nail that contest!"

"That's all well and good," Mr. Damocles interrupted, he and the other victims joining the group. "But I should remind all of you that the boiler room is strictly off-limits. Everyone, out!"

---

Maddie and Jack found themselves circling back near where they had seen Danny.

"This ghost front is coming from the direction of 917 Maple Street," Maddie concluded, reading from the scanner.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "917 Maple, eh? I could've sworn it was coming from that spooky house with the big, swirling cloud over it." He pointed with his thumb at the old Townsend property.

Maddie gasped, recognizing the location. "That's where Danny is!"

"Then let's shake a tailfeather, momma!" Jack said, he and his wife preparing spare Fenton Foamers. "Our boy's in danger!"

As the Fenton couple ran toward the mansion, the effects of the sword started to reverse themselves. Star, who had been on her way to Paulina's party, was being cornered by the mailbox monster before it returned to normal. Baby August and his mother were being scared by monsters until they reverted to the infant's teddy bear and bottle, respectively; August happily began to suckle on his bottle as if it wasn't a terrifying creature moments ago. All over town, everyday objects and animals that were zapped by the storm's lightning changed back to normal.

With the storm reversing itself, it seemed the storm was sucking everything it could into a vortex including the roof of the house.

"It's sucking everything into the Ghost Zone, it's working!" Sam said, observing the mess undo itself. Then she started to get pulled off her feet into the air, and let out a scream.

"Sam!" Phantom grabbed her arm and pulled her into his embrace. Before he could get swept up too and they would both be in trouble, he phased an arm through the floor and found a pipe underneath to grasp onto as an anchor.

As Fright Knight was sucked into the vortex along with Nightmare from outside, he bellowed, "I will have my vengeance! Mark my words!"

Once he and his horse vanished, the sword in the pumpkin warped away too, presumably back to the castle in the Ghost Zone. Tucker and Lancer were returned to the real world from their fear dimensions too, and while Lancer was still in a daze, Tucker reached into his pocket for his cellphone.

"Yes! Sweet, beautiful technology, you are mine once again," Tucker cooed, clutching his phone next to his face preciously.

Thankfully, Phantom and Sam were behind Lancer when he returned, so Phantom quickly de-transformed into Danny just in time for Lancer to peer back at the suspicious sound. The pair only smiled innocently.

Lancer fully turned and addressed Danny. "Mr. Fenton, I have to say that was the most horrifying thing I have ever seen. You win." He gave the student a broad smile.

"Ha, yes!" Danny cheered.

Lancer went to leave the room. "Take that, Tetslaff!"

Danny and Sam hugged in celebration. Briefly, the victory felt sweet, and then Danny frowned after he and Sam let go. He chased after his teacher. "Mr. Lancer, wait up!" The boy caught up to him, who was daydreaming about rubbing his triumph in the other faculty member's face. "Mr. Lancer, wait. I have to be honest. I, I cheated."

Lancer glanced at him questioningly. "Cheated?"

"Well, I borrowed, uh, stole some of my parents' technology," Danny admitted, shrugging in hope the explanation was plausible.

Sam walked over, carrying the Fenton Foamer they had used to ward off the ghost spiders and skeleton dummies. "You mean this stuff? Like the Fenton Foamer, which causes a psychosomatic reaction in whoever's exposed to it, causing them to experience their worst fear?" Sam evidently read his mind, quickly putting a story together to help his confession.

Surprisingly, Lancer smiled at the teens. "Daniel, the good news for you is I don't care. I have two scary rooms, and it's midnight." He checked his watch, which struck the appropriate time, and threw open the door to welcome guests. "Let the party begin!"

Before any true celebrating could be done, Jack's voice shouted, "Nobody move!"

The three teens and their teacher were suddenly doused in green foam, much like Tucker had been earlier in the evening. They wiped their eyes clean to see Jack and Maddie on the porch with their weapons ready.

"Ha, nice theme, Lancer!" The group turned to see Tetslaff and an entourage of students all carrying party supplies and wearing costumes. "Early oil spill?" She turned to her group. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Once they left, Lancer whirled on Danny. "Changed my mind. Wes wins. See you in detention, Fenton."

Jack, having heard the whole exchange, stomped up the stairs to his son while Lancer departed. "What? This was some sort of anti-detention scheme? Well, you're in a lot of trouble, mister!" Jack declared, universal parent anger in his voice.

Danny sighed. "I should have seen this coming…"

---

The first school day after Halloween, Danny was at his locker in the morning, getting his stuff in order. When he closed it, he found Wes standing beside him. The half ghost teen startled at the redhead's sudden appearance.

"What is your deal?" Wes interrogated, scowling.

Danny took a step back. "My deal?"

Wes jabbed a finger in his face. "When my dad dragged me and my brother to that college reunion thing in Wisconsin, I thought I would get a break from the stupid ghosts. Then your family shows up, and everything goes nuts because a ghost possessed your dad. You show up at my basketball game, yeah I saw you, and then that dumb dog ruined the game. Now on Halloween, everything turns into ghosts and monsters, and the place where I'm competing against you to avoid detention happens to become ground zero for that attack." The basketball player practically shoved his forehead up against Danny's, his glare accusatory. "Seriously, are you some kind of ghost magnet?"

"Well, my parents are ghost hunters," Danny defended, pulling himself away before Lancer saw and they both got in more trouble than he already was.

"So? They weren't at my game, and they weren't in the Townsend place when the ghosts and monsters started, and don't even get me started on that junk sale you had with all the stuff that came alive."

"Hey, I didn't know all of that was contaminated. I did my best to clean it up before I sold it."

"Whatever. My point is I'm watching you, Fenton. I'm going to prove you're a ghost magnet, and nobody's going to want anything to do with you when I'm done." Deeming the discussion finished, Wes shoved past Danny to make his way to homeroom.

Danny sighed, watching the other boy leave and leaning his forehead against his locker. "As if I didn't have enough to deal with."

---

Happy Halloween! Of course it wouldn't be Halloween without Fright Knight or season 1's horror akuma 'Horrificator'. I know some were hoping that all the heroes would get involved in Fright Knight's battle, but I couldn't come up with a plausible enough explanation for why Marinette and Adrien would be there to help Danny with his haunted house and be present for Fright Knight's attack. One major thing I changed was switching out Dash for Wes; I felt like Dash needed to be sidelined for a bit and Wes' conflict needed some fuel. This is what kicks off the Wes trying to expose Danny plot the fandom gave his character. Wasn't a fan of the underwear bet, so I took that out too.

My reasoning for doing Horrificator is I wanted to develop Nino some. Ever since season four, Nino has majorly gotten the shaft when it seemed like seasons two and three were developing him into one of Team Miraculous' core five. Not only did he not receive the privilege of learning Adrien's secret as a parallel to Alya learning about Marinette's nor did he become Fu's successor as Guardian like some speculated since he wielded the Turtle, but he's also not getting his Scarabella treatment with the Black Cat Miraculous that fans were hoping for. Horrificator was one of the few times Nino's passion for filmmaking was touched on, and I didn't want to let it go to waste.

Now remember, since I posted these last two chapters outside of my normal five-chapter buffer, the wait for the next chapter is going to be longer because I need to build that buffer back up. So I don't want to hear anyone getting impatient for the next one.

[1] – Wow, it only took us this many chapters to finally reach Halloween even though we're following the school year? Shush…

[2] – A running joke in the DP fandom is Wes constantly being Casper High's suspect of being Phantom, why not play around with that a little? Especially now that Casper High's team colors match Phantom better.

[3] – Since the group hasn't started mapping the Ghost Zone yet, I needed to modify this scene a bit.

[4] – Am I being petty and venting my rage at the mouse company for shortening and canceling The Owl House? Maybe a little. I feel like it is justified, especially now that they admitted the show IS popular far too late to extend the third season to its rightful length. Our only hope now is for them to surprisingly renew Owl House for a fourth season so we can see the plot points the crew had to skip over to focus on the Day of Unity, or give us a young Eda spinoff like the creator has expressed interest in doing; I would prefer a fourth season, personally. Either way, we deserve more of the Owl House universe.

[5] – Danny hasn't yet learned that humans can harmlessly pass through the Ghost Zone, so I changed the scene that he barely escapes being crushed by the walls with speed.

[6] – Adrien never had a costume during the filming of the movie and neither did Mylene in canon. It probably has to do with animation budget stuff, but here he definitely had a costume so he could make that excuse later.

[7] – Always thought it was strange that Fright Knight only melted Tucker's candy and not the whole bucket.

[8] – Nobody in the episode ever made the connection between Nino's movie monster and Mylene's costume, so I figured it was only right that Nino recognized it as his movie monster turned real.

[9] – Due to the change in setting, the fight with Horrificator went differently. The fight in canon was at Francois Dupont's open courtyard, and here it was in Casper High's cramped hallway.

[10] – A nod to Nino using Chat's baton in the Anansi episode in canon.

[11] – The fight in the Fright Night episode kinda ignored Sam and Nightmare, so I changed things up a little bit to give both more agency in the climax.

Review in the box below, and remember, reviews are awesome! Also remember to say something about the chapter I just worked hard on, don't just use the review box to speculate on future plot points and what you want to see.