AN: ……. FORGIVE ME! I'm a bad, bad, bad person! I should have updated YEARS ago! *Punishes Self* Bad Author! Bad Author! Very Bad Author!

That is all.

Disclaimer: I don't own any character in this chapter. None of them. Not even the Box Ghost. That makes me very sad.

Ghostly Magic

By Aryashi

Chapter 6

When Technus, Master of all things with Blinky Lights, first saw the pile of wires that Vlad wanted examined, he had been unimpressed.

He, Czar of the Circuit board, had been dragged out of his lair in the middle of a planning a Hip and Rad way to show that young whipper-snapper Danny Phantom exactly what a techno-ghost could do. Calling him Out of Date…!

But when Vlad Plasmius wanted you somewhere, you went there. No questions asked.

Still, Technology was Technology, so he started examining the woven-circuits.

"So, what's so special about it?" He asked, for once getting straight to the point.

"It made a normal teenager invisible, even when I was standing no more that 2 yards from her-"

"You dragged me, Prime Minister of Screens and Speakers, here to examine a simple cloaking device? Invisibility is easily obtained with even the tiniest-,"

"Without using ectoplasm," The Vampire Ghost finished, thoroughly enjoying seeing the look of slack-jawed shock settle of the seriously out-of-date ghost's face.

"No ectoplasm? That's impossible! Invisibility without ectoplasm… it's simply not possible! Even I, Master of All Things Mechanical, cannot achieve such a feat! "

"Well apparently someone did. I want you to figure out how this thing works, and see if you can trace the design to anyone. I want to figure out who this "Opal" person is before she starts to feed me stories…"

Plasmius had muttered that last bit under his breath, obviously not intending for Technus to hear it. Well, he had, and besides the gossip that would eventually spread through the Ghost Zone on his word, he couldn't have cared less. This cloak, or mass of circuits, or whatever it was, was more worthy of his valuable attention than anything in the personal life of the Ghost Zones all-but-official Godfather.

'Yes! Reference to current cinematic presentation achieved! How's that for Out of Date?'

Danny was surprised, but not overly alarmed. He'd seen a lot of weird things in the months since the accident, and he had adopted the view point of "Anything's possible," as an almost survival tactic.

Holly Short, however, had not.

To be fair, she had seen plenty of unusual things. Artemis Fowl probably topped the list, but joining him where a butler named Butler who had come back from the dead, an absolutely psychotic Pixie, Trolls in Italian restaurants, and exactly what happened when you gave a dwarf vole curry laced with laxatives. She had lived with and fought some of the most bizarre things the Fairy Realm

Unfortunately for her, this was not the Fairy Realm.

She was panicking, obviously, but she managed to keep her head by following basic protocol.

"First, scan the anomaly. If ya can't get a full scan, fine. Anything is better than nothing,"

Holly started the scan, circling around the figure slowly. It made no move to either stop or encourage her.

"Next, see if it's hostile. If it isn't, let it act first,"

It wasn't doing anything but floating there. Did defying the laws of physics count as a hostile action?

Focus, Holly!

"If it is hostile, get out of there. The second, no, INSTANT it does anything funny, haul Fairy ass. Recon is dangerous enough without risking the unknown,"

The scan was almost complete, just another minute…

"BEWARE!! FOR I AM THE BOOOOX GHOOOOOOST!!!!!!!"

Spin, Grab gun, Fire.

Holly's instincts were hair sensitive normally. The added stress had not helped matters.

The blast was set at Stun, but it certainly looked menacing enough. Energy beams always intimidate more than near invisible projectiles, if only because the former was visible.

Everything froze.

Foaly was in an extremely foul mood.

Not only had Sool given him the third degree for wasting work hours on his own projects (Never mind how useful they were); he had even said if he got caught again, he would be fired! Him, the brightest mind the LEP had seen in years! The nerve of some people…

Well, I suppose I just won't get caught.

Retreating into his office, Foaly darkened the windows, activated his silent alarms, and carefully hung his "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door.

People had learned to respect that sign ever since Foaly's experimental Metal-Eating Nanites had escaped. They were still finding holes in walls.

Deciding he was safe enough, Foaly made radio contact with Holly's helmet.

"Easy there, the Box Ghost is annoying, but totally harmless-"

"YOU DARE TO CALL ME, THE BOOOOX GHOOOST, HARMLESS?! I WILL SHOW YOU THE POWER OF CUBICAL CARDBOARD AND THE BUBBLE-WRAP OF DEEEeaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!"

"See? Harmless,"

That was a human voice. Holly wasn't responding, but a human was seeing her. And talking to her.

Foaly was pretty sure his heart was making a valiant escape attempt through his wind-pipe.

"Why don't you put that gun down, nice and slow…"

She had her gun out. Oh, Gods above, SHE HAD HER GUN OUT.

Forget attempting, he was sure his heart was already out the door.

"Holly! What the Hell are you doing?! Who is that? Why do you have out your gun? What's going-"

"Incoming Data from Holly – Short," His computer said in its own cheerful monotone.

"You know, the helmet is sound proof, you don't have to-"

"I know. Turn on the HelmCam and take a look at what I'm seeing. Then you'll be very interested in that scan,"

Holly sounded like she was in shock.

I'm going to regret this…

He linked to the HelmCam anyway.

Foaly saw a teenage human with white hair in a one piece jumpsuit that looked like it belonged in someone's lab. Was that a logo on the chest? Seriously, what were with kids these-?

Wait. Is that a skyscraper behind him?

It was. And from the looks of it, they were talking several stories above ground.

"Holly, how is that human flying?"

"I don't think its human, Foaly."

"Then what is it?"

"You researched the town! You tell me!"

He had. He knew exactly what this town claimed to be inhabited by. He had thought it was a hoax, not even worth mentioning…

Ghosts.

"Holly, get out of there, Now!"

She didn't need to be told twice.

She dove, turning on her shield as she went. When gravity had given her enough of a head start, she punched the gas and took off as fast as her wings would carry her.

"Whoa, wait up! I'm not going to hurt you!"

Yeah, right.

She stopped only when she got out of town, resting in some woods that were wild enough to ensure her safety.

"Foaly, you checked out the scan?"

"Yes, and let me tell you, I haven't seen anything like this."

"Never?"

"Never,"

"So… any theories?"

"Oh, I've got plenty of those. The problem is that none of them are any more likely than dwarfs growing wings and soaring alongside pigs."

"That bad?"

"Worse."

There was a pause.

"There must be something…!"

"There is. But it is so ridiculous I never even bothered to mention it,"

"Well, what are you waiting for, a more likely answer to drop into your lap?"

Foaly sighed heavily.

"There are several sources claiming that this area is infested with…."

"What?"

"Well…"

"Infested with WHAT, Foaly?"

"It's just so stupid…"

"I don't care how stupid it is, any info is better than none!"

Foaly sighed again. You could almost hear him pinching the bridge of his nose.

"There are several news sites claiming that this area is infested with and frequently attacked by Ghosts."

There was a significant pause.

"You must be kidding me."

Foaly's face popped into existence on her monitor.

"Does this look like a kidding face to you?"

Holly had to admit it didn't.

"Bad enough we have to deal with Opal without backup, now we have to worry about things that should even exist…"

"It could be worse."

"How?! Neither of us has any idea where Opal is or what these things (whatever they are) can do, Sool is threatening to fire me if I get caught wasting work hours, Mulch is miles away, and we only have a month before you have to come back to Haven! How could things possibly get any worse!?"

"Artemis could be out of reach."

"…No. Absolutely not. We are not getting Artemis involved in this."

"Do you have any better suggestions?"

"Well, no-"

"So why on not?"

There was a pregnant pause.

"Involving him always means that this is going to turn into some big catastrophe."

"Wasn't the guaranteed when we found out Opal escaped?"

"… Yes," Foaly replied grumpily.

"Soooo…?"

"Fine. Call him."

Holly started dialing.

"Just don't blame me when this all goes straight to Hell…"

End Chapter 6

AN: Remember how I mentioned Danny wouldn't need a thermos in chapter 5?

Yeah… I'm officially Retconing that. XD It should be edited by the time I put this chapter up.

Next Chapter, we figure out how Opal escaped! Yeah!