A/N: Yeahhh, my bio page says something about me having trouble focusing on stories or new plots continuously taking up my time? Thus, this. That's not to say I've stopped work on my crossover series or The Narrow Road, just that this idea won't shut up until I type up at least an opener for it.

This is actually something I keep coming back to, especially with the fiasco that was season three. Basically, this is a rewrite of the entirety of Danny Phantom, but darker and a bit more, I dunno, realistic, I suppose. Some of the main changes:

1-The people of Amity Park are intelligent. Expect them to get suspicious of who Danny Phantom might really be.

2-Danny's not entirely clueless or as stupid as he sometimes comes across in the show. He's a smart kid, he just has no time any more to study.

3-The ghosts are tougher. As Danny grows in his powers, so will the ghosts. He may not win every battle like he does in the show.

4-Danny won't keep getting the chance to erase timelines (like Reality Trip, King Tuck, and Masters of All Time). If something goes to hell, he's gotta fix it himself.

5-Danny's ghost powers are gonna be a bit different. I've got some theories of my own on how they effect his biology (as those of you who read Red White and Dead may have guessed) and those will be used in this.

6-The timeline. I'm reordering some of the episodes so they make sense (to me, at least) time-wise. For instance, there won't be 15 "episodes" between Halloween and Christmas. There also won't be two summer vacation episodes with five or six school episodes in between. As such, I'll also be changing slight continuity issues as well. Don't flame me on this, as I've explained/will explain my reasoning for these.

So, that done, enjoy! And if you have any ideas or issues about the series that you want to see specifically, let me know.

|)4|\||\|`/ |*|-|4|\|70|\/|

Two million, five hundred ninety-two thousand seconds. Forty-three thousand, two hundred minutes. Seven hundred twenty hours. Thirty days. Four weeks.

One month.

A lot can happen in one month. You could go from failing to acing a class. You could have a birthday. A month can make or break you.

The past month broke me. I've spent it freaking out and disappearing, fading away, panicking, dropping things, getting banned from handling anything fragile, and generally having an awful time. All because of one little moment in time.

A lot can change in one month. Even more can change in just 23 seconds.

In those 23 seconds, one month ago, I died.

|)4|\||\|`/ |*|-|4|\|70|\/|

"C'mon, Danny, you should look—"

"Dude, wouldn't it be cool—?"

"I guess it's back to the drawing boards…."

"Banzai!"

"Danny, are you okay?"

"Danny, just check it out—"

"DAAANNYYY!"

I bolted upright in bed—or so I thought. In reality, I attempted to sit up and instead banged my head into the bottom of my bed. I rolled my eyes. Once again, I'd phased through my bed in my sleep.

"Danny! Get up, honey, you'll be late for school!"

"Perish the thought," I mumbled under my breath, but I crawled out from under the bed to get dressed.

Some kids liked school. Some kids hate school. I used to love it, but ever since high school started, it's been one fiasco after another. My grades plummeted, the bullies won't leave me alone, and I've had to worry about accidentally vanishing or fading out during class.

Oh, right. Forgot to mention, I'm half-ghost.

I wasn't born this way or anything. It just sort of… happened, about a month ago. One moment, my friends and I were talking about how cool it would be to see inside my parents' Ghost Portal, then the next thing I knew, I'd gone inside and—

Well, the process wasn't pretty.

"Danny!"

"Coming, Mom!" I yelled back, throwing on my usual white-and-red t-shirt, pulling on a pair of jeans, and shoving my feet into my well-worn red converse. Then I went downstairs, taking the steps two at a time, and ran straight into my sister.

She giggled, bending and extending a hand to help me up. "Might wanna get those eyes checked, Danny. You're having some issues with your vision."

I blushed lightly at the tease. "Sorry, Jazz."

She waved a hand in dismissal. "It's no problem. But you'll need to grab breakfast quick if you want a ride!"

My eyes went wide, and I rushed into the kitchen, snagging a Poptart from the cabinet and running back out. "Let's go!"

Jazz laughed again, but led the way to her red convertible. "Seriously, Danny, did you forget to set your alarm clock again or something?"

I thought back to the device, smashed to bits from my new super strength. "Or something…."

My sister shook her head, long red hair swishing back and forth. "Well, c'mon, we'll pick up Sam and Tucker on the way."

I grinned. "Thanks, Jazz!" Then I slid into the car as she started the engine.

"What are sisters for?"

We drove in relative silence for a while, then pulled over across from the bus stop both Sam and Tucker used. Both were already waiting, so I leaned over Jazz to honk at them. They glanced up, saw me wave, and came over, sliding into the back easily.

"Hey, Jazz," the girl, a gothic ultra recyclo vegetarian named Sam Manson (but don't ever call her Samantha. Seriously.), said, grinning. Her violet eyes were sparkling mischievously, which usually meant either Tuck or I was about to get a steel-toed combat boot to the shins.

"Hey, guys," Jazz replied as she turned around to head towards school. "What are you three going to be up to after school today?"

My eyes went wide. There was no way we could tell her we were planning on heading to the forest outside town to test out my new ghost powers.

"Arcade."

"Mall."

I slapped a hand to my face as my friends answered simultaneously.

"What?" Jazz asked, obviously confused.

"We're going to the arcade in the mall," Sam responded smoothly. After years of twisting the truth around her parents to get her way, she was the best one at getting us out of trouble.

"Oh." Jazz nodded. "Okay, have fun. When are you getting back? You know you can't miss curfew, Danny."

"I know," I sighed. "We should be back around, what, eight?" I asked, glancing back at Sam and Tuck.

The two nodded, Tuck's nose buried in one of his video games, as usual.

Of course my friends couldn't be normal. Sam, as I already mentioned, is a tree-hugging Goth. She normally wore a black shirt with a purple skull on it, along with black Tripp pants with green zippers and stitching. And of course, those steel-toed boots. Those hurt, by the way. Her hair was a deep black, held up in a half ponytail, with dark purple streaks in the bottom layers of her chin-length style.

Tucker, on the other hand, was a techno-geek who only ate meat. He always had a red beanie on over his dark brown hair, and wore thick black glasses over his deep green eyes. A yellow hoodie he'd gotten from some gaming convention was half-unzipped, showing off a gray shirt reading "Ain't no party like a Time Lord Party, because a Time Lord Party is not bound by typical temporal parameters, and thus, don't stop." A pair of dark green camouflage cargoes and brown work boots finished off his outfit.

I looked back to Jazz. "Yeah, eight."

She nodded. "Alright, I'll tell Mom and Dad." I thought that was it and relaxed, so of course that's when she decided to drop the bomb. "Y'know, Dad wanted to show you guys some of their ghost stuff." Her nose wrinkled at the "g-word," as she called it. See, while our whole family is full of geniuses, Jazz being the smartest of all, I'm only pulling mediocre-at-best grades. But Jazz is the black sheep in a different way.

She doesn't believe in ghosts.

If someone really wanted to, they could trace our ghost-hunting family tree all the way back to Great Britain, 1327. Our most well-known ancestor was Jonathan Fenton-Nightingale, who was a major advocator for the Salem witch trials. Family legend has it he even managed to catch the ghostly familiar of some evil witch by using plants. Or something. Either way, Jazz was the only person in the history of the Fentons to think—like most normal people—that ghosts don't exist.

"Great," I said in response to her statement, rolling my eyes. Sure, I knew ghosts existed and believed in them my whole life, but Jazz and I commiserated about our parents' crazy, non-functioning inventions.

At least, we did, until one suddenly started working. You're welcome, Mom and Dad.

Yes, the Portal was the only thing they created (so far) that actually worked. And that was only because I was stupid enough to turn it on while inside it. Seriously, who the heck puts an "on" button inside their machine?

"Well, here we are!" Jazz said happily, putting the car into park. "See you later, Danny!"

The three of us took our cue and hopped out, waving goodbye as we disappeared into the halls, heading towards the frosh wing and our lockers. As we put books away and grabbed our supplies for first period, Sam said, "Guess that answers my question, then."

I frowned. "What question?"

"Whether you're planning on telling your family or not."

I winced. "Sam…." I didn't want to start this argument with her again.

"I'm just saying, Danny, parents don't get it! They're hypocrites, Danny. They tell you things like, 'Oh, you shouldn't yell at others' or 'I'll love you no matter what you do,' then they turn around and do the opposite!" Tucker and I had to dodge around her wildly waving arms as Sam went into anti-parent rant mode. "I mean, my parents told me that, but what happened when I went Goth?"

"They hated you," Tuck and I deadpanned in unison, having heard this millions of times before.

"They hated me!" She pointed at me. "You can't trust what parents say, Danny. They'll just twist everything around so they're right. They always have to be right. They just don't understand me!"

"Sam, we're talking about my parents, my problems. Remember?"

She blushed. "R—Right, me too…."

Tucker shook his head. "We just want you to be careful, man. After all, your parents are ghost hunters, and you're half-ghost."

I sighed. "I know, Tuck. I want to tell them, it's just…. I need to get a handle on these… powers before I tell them. I mean, if I slip up, they'll probably attack me or something, and I already get enough trouble from the jocks without going from geek to freak!"

"Um, kinda like you're doing now?" Both Sam and Tuck looked a little concerned, and when I glanced down, I saw why.

I was sinking through the floor. "GAH!" I grabbed onto my friends, who helped pull me up and held me in place until my legs became tangible again. I sighed once more. "Let's face it, I'm never gonna get this stupid ghost thing under control! Maybe I should tell my parents. They might actually be able to change me back."

"No!" Sam yelped. We waited a moment, blushing, for the rest of the crowd to stop staring at us before she continued. "Danny, these powers make you unique, and unique is good." She grinned proudly. "That's why I'm an ultra recyclo vegetarian."

Tuck stared blankly at her. "...A what now?"

I rolled my eyes at the fight I knew was coming. "She refuses to eat anything with a face on it."

Tucker gaped.

Freak out imminent! In five, four, three, two—

"What!"

Ladies and gentlemen, we officially have a war.

"What?" Sam asked, shrugging. "It's healthy, and I don't kill innocent animals for their flesh like a barbarian."

"But it's meat!" Tucker shrieked. "Meat is good! What the hell do you eat?"

"Tofu, veggies, and fruit."

"Criminal!"

I rolled my eyes again. This is why I'm an omnivore.

Sam huffed, her fists resting on her hips. "Well, you're gonna have to get used to it, 'cause I finally wore down the faculty to give us an ultra recyclo vegetarian menu this week."

Woah, wait a sec.

"What?" Tucker and I both yelled.

Sam smirked. "Yep. So you two are gonna have to man up and eat healthy this week."

"Um, Sam, do you really think—?"

"Ah, Ms. Manson."

We all glanced up to see our Vice Principal-slash-English teacher-slash-substitute for everything Mr. Lancer walking over towards us, picking his teeth clean with a toothpick.

"Hi, Mr. Lancer," we chorused like the good little schoolchildren we are.

Pfft, yeah, right.

"On behalf of all the teachers," he began smugly, "I'd like to thank you, Ms. Manson, for your… stand for the health of the student body."

Tucker's nose twitched. "Meat…" he practically growled.

Lancer's smile turned nervous. "And any rumors you might hear about an all-meat buffet for the teachers are hugely off-base. Thanks again, Ms. Manson." He nearly ran away from Tucker's glare.

Which turned onto Sam. "Yeah, thanks for nothing, Sam. Now we have to eat your garbage!"

She scowled at him. "It's not garbage, it's recyclable, organic matter!"

Tucker and I both stared blankly at her. "It's garbage."

She crossed her arms over her chest, huffing. "Well, we'll see how you feel about it when everyone else is happy to have a different option for lunch!"

As she stormed off, Tuck turned to me. "You know, for someone who keeps telling us she doesn't want to conform, she certainly seems to be forcing her views on us."

I sighed. "Yeah. Well, no one said she was perfect. But, let's get to class before Lancer decides we're perfect candidates for another detention!"

|)4|\||\|`/ |*|-|4|\|70|\/|

Lunch is one of those times where most kids are happy. They get to eat their favorite foods, maybe find a note from their mom in the bottom of their lunchbox, talk with friends freely without getting yelled at by teachers….

Until the menu gets changed. Then lunch is a war zone.

"FENTON!"

And apparently, it gets blamed on me.

I looked up to see a blond, angry, overly-muscled jock charging at me. I chuckled nervously, sensing more than seeing Tucker and Sam back up a step reflexively. "Ah, Dash, what seems to be the—?"

Note to self: check shirt collar later for stretching. It can not be possible to be lifted almost a foot off the floor without my shirt being warped for good.

"Fenton!" Dash Baxter yelled in my face. "I asked for three mud pies, and do you know what they gave me?"

I rolled my eyes. "Three mud pies?"

"Three mud pies! With real mud! From the ground!" he snarled, pulling me closer towards his face. "All because of your freaky girlfriend!"

"She's not my girlfriend!" I immediately answered, at the same time Sam denied it, as well.

For a second, everyone paused as Sam and I shared a glance, then shrugged. We were used to this strange ability we had to know what the other was thinking.

"Yeah, well," Dash said, struggling to get his stride back, "you're gonna pay for this, Fenton!" He tossed me into the table, then shoved a tray under my face. "Eat it," he demanded, pointing at the plateful of what Sam called turfwiches. Basically, think grass on a slice of bread and you've got it. "Eat all of it!"

I stared for a moment, tossing a half-glare at Sam, then looked around to try to find a way out.

Then, I felt it.

Ever since the accident, I got these strange chills from time to time. It wasn't until now that I realized why.

This one was stronger. I couldn't hide it like I normally could, and the shiver wracked my whole body. Luckily, most people put it off to my fear of Dash. Sam and Tuck, though, didn't. I'd told them about the Chills, but this was the first time they've seen it. The cold swept through me from head to toe, and I felt my eyes being drawn to the kitchen area behind the lunch line counters where a floating, green woman in a pink apron was going through the containers of Sam's ultra recyclo garbage.

But I took too long staring. Dash shoved my face towards the turfwiches, yelling, "Eat it, Fenton!"

I cast another worried glance at Sam and Tuck, then picked up one of the fake sandwiches. As I brought it, grimacing, towards my mouth, another Chill went through me as the woman—obviously a ghost—scowled at what she saw instead of what's usually for lunch on Tuesdays. The glow around her, which had been subtle before, flamed up.

My eyes went wide. "Ah—garbage fight!" I screamed, throwing the fake-wich across the room. Immediately, the call was taken up by the surrounding students, and I dove under the table with Tucker.

Sam remained standing for a moment, trying to make herself heard over the yelling of the students. "It's not garbage, it's—!"

Tucker and I pulled her under the table. "Look, forget the recyclable whatever," I said quickly, "we've got a bigger problem." I pointed out the ghost to them.

"So that's why you looked like someone cranked up the AC!" Tuck exclaimed.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, Tuck. But what do we do about this? I don't have any of my parents' supposedly ghost-fighting weapons, not that I'd be able to get them to work in time to be of use, anyway, and we've got no clue what she wants or why she's here!"

Sam and Tuck stared at me, gaping. "You're kidding, right?" Sam asked.

"What?"

They simultaneously rolled their eyes. "Danny, you're half-ghost. Go claim this place as your haunt or something!" Tuck continued.

I blinked at them. "My what?"

Sam sighed. "Ghosts have a haunt, Danny. A place they claim as their own and scare away anyone who comes in uninvited. Should be able to do the same with other ghosts, right?"

"But—!"

They shoved me towards the kitchen. "Go!"

I glanced back at them, then headed for the kitchen, thinking it couldn't hurt to try.

"I'm gonna kill you for this, Fenton!"

I rolled my eyes again. Yeah, great, I haven't heard that from you for the past three years….

I shoved open the door to the kitchen area and turned to face the ghost. "Shouldn't you be, I dunno, haunting a bingo hall, or something?" I asked, staring for a moment. She looked kinda like Tucker's grandma.

She spun around to look at me. "Excuse me, dearie," she murmured, "but today's lunch should be meatloaf. But I don't see any meatloaf here."

I completely missed the sound of the door opening behind me. "Um, that's 'cause the menu was changed."

And her ghostly aura just flared up again, along with her hair, her eyes, and pretty much everything else. "Who dares to change the menu?"

"She does!" Tucker replied immediately. I spun to see him pointing at Sam, both of whom had just come in.

"Tucker!" we both yelled at him.

"What? She did."

"You!" The ghost had turned on Sam, eyes turning bright red. "You changed the menu! The menu hasn't changed in 50 years!"

"Well, then it was time for a change," Sam stated.

"The menu is sacred!" the ghost shrieked, waving a hand towards Sam. "You shall pay for this heresy!" Her aura evaporated back to normal for a second. "Cookie?"

Thrown off-guard, all three of us shook our heads.

And her aura was back with a vengeance. "Then PERISH!"

That's when things got freaky. I know Sam and Tuck couldn't feel it or see it, but the aura trail was obnoxiously obvious to me. It swirled out from the ghost, searching for something before finding it and surging towards it. I watched for a moment, shocked, as her aura flew away until just a little remained around her. Then, it pulled taut, followed almost immediately by it being reeled back in, pulling an obscene amount of meat along with it.

"...What," Sam and Tuck gaped in unison. Of course, Sam looked disgusted and Tucker looked thrilled, but….

Okay, it was really freaky. The meat swirled around the ghost, forming a giant meat monster where she'd been standing—er, floating.

We stared for a moment before Sam smacked me on the arm. I grabbed it, yelping and glaring at her. "What the heck was that for?"

"Do your ghost thing!" she exclaimed, waving a hand at the meat monster. "Do something!"

"R—Right…." I turned to face the monster-ghost-thing again. "I—I'm goin' ghost!"

I squeezed my eyes shut, mentally searching inside myself for that cold sphere of energy that held my ghost form. I tapped into it, sensing more than seeing the two blue-white rings spreading from my waist, dividing in two to travel up and down my body, washing that frigid, ghostly cold over my whole body. As the rings passed, my appearance changed from my usual black hair, blue eyes, and clothing to white hair, neon green eyes, and a black and white hazmat suit, complete with white gloves, belt, and boots. A vibrant white aura surrounded me, a shade that had taken me several days to get used to, but that Sam and Tuck apparently didn't see. They probably can't see the other ghost's aura, either.

I opened my eyes once more, staring down the Lunch Lady ghost. "Now, get out of my haunt! Uh, town. Place. Yeah." I could feel Sam and Tuck's eyes rolling. I glanced back at them, wincing. "Too much rambling?"

Both nodded, eyebrows raised.

"...Damn." I turned back to the ghost, eyes going wide as the meat monster came flying at me. "Aw, crap!" I dove to the side, just barely dodging in time. I rolled back to my feet, thanking my ninth-degree-black-belt mom for all those mixed martial arts lessons as a kid. I jumped over another attack, then did a handspring away from a third.

...Something tells me if I'd shown off like this in gym class, I wouldn't have all these bully problems…. Oh, well.

The ghost's aura flung out again, this time pulling at all the dishes and silverware lying around the kitchen and tossing them at me. I had to react quickly to catch the kitchenware before Tuck or Sam could be hit. Within a minute, I was carrying pretty much every dish in the school, balanced on my arms. I started unloading everything back onto the counters, sighing and saying, "I guess if this whole half-ghost superhero thing doesn't work out, I could have an exciting career as a busboy. If I can find any place hiring around here…."

The Chills wracked my body again as the ghost behind me flared her aura once more. "The menu should never be changed! There are some things in this world that should stay as they are, girlie!" Her aura died again. "Anybody want cake?"

This time, Sam and Tuck nodded.

Wow, I'm gonna get whiplash from her aura. It flared as she yelled, "Well, too bad! Children who change the menu don't get dessert!" She dove at them.

I flew over to them in a rush, grabbing both their arms and practically dragging them to the wall before reaching inside myself for that icy sphere again. We passed straight through the wall, like I'd almost done in the hall earlier. I let go of the others, sighing in relief before grinning. "It worked! Awesome!"

Sam glared at me before turning her scowl on the wall separating us from the ghost. "This is the thanks I get for thinking like an individual?"

"Um, you're kinda forcing your opinions on the whole school. How's that individual?" Tuck stated.

Sam's glare was leveled at him.

"Uh, I mean, thanks?" Tuck tried to smile innocently, but, let's face it, Sam knew him too well to fall for it.

Then, the lockers blew open. Papers and books and other personal items went flying out of each locker, starting up a whirlwind at the opposite end of the hall. The Chills didn't fade this time, and I tried to hide the shivering as much as I could. The Lunch Lady ghost appeared at the end of the hall, the whirlwind right behind her.

"Any luck that'll take her out?" Tuck muttered as we watched more and more things in the school get pulled into the mini twister. Among those objects was meat.

A lot of meat.

"Steak?" Tuck wondered, watching the flying food. "Ribeye? Burgers? Where—?" He cut himself off as he remembered our teacher's words from this morning. He glared. "Lancer."

I shook my head. "Um, bigger problem here, Tuck!" I pointed up at the meat monster, which was towering over Sam.

"Meat is the strongest of the five food groups, and I'll show you why!"

I lunged to stand between the ghost and Sam, yelling back, "Oh, no you don't! The only thing here with an expiration date is—!" The white-blue ring sparked to life around my fist, spreading out to change me back to human form. "—you…. Er, that was not supposed to happen…."

Sam scowled at me. "Ya think?"

The meat monster flung out an arm, throwing me into a set of lockers. My head hit hard against the metal, leaving me dazed as I slid to the floor. There was another metallic bang across the hall, and I heard Sam screaming something as I shook my head to clear it, moaning at the developing migraine.

"Dude! Change back!" Tuck was frantic, rushing over from where he had also been tossed into the wall, albeit not as harshly, and tugged my arm to start helping me up. "We've gotta go—!"

"You two," a voice behind us growled as we were both lifted by the collars of our shirts—seriously, going to need a new shirt after this—by a furious Mr. Lancer, "are going nowhere but detention!"

Tuck and I shared a worried glance as Dash taunted, "Told ya you'd pay for this, Fenton!"

|)4|\||\|`/ |*|-|4|\|70|\/|

Lancer paced in front of us, snagging both our files from a cabinet while Dash just leaned against the wall, smirking.

Man, if I weren't worried about Sam, I'd love to punch that smirk off his face…. Oh, wait, he'd kill me.

Jerk.

"Tucker Foley," Lancer read aloud from the file, "chronic tardiness, talking in class, caught loitering multiple times outside the girls' locker room."

Tuck flashed a sly grin, and I tried not to laugh at the self-proclaimed "lady killer."

Hey, there's nothing wrong with optimism.

"Daniel Fenton." I winced at the use of my legal name, which I hated. "Thirty-four dropped beakers in the past month, banned for life from handling all fragile school property after that near-fatal chemistry lab accident two weeks ago."

Okay, seriously, if it has the word "nitride" in its name, it should not be in a school. Or at least be labeled better. With one of those dangerous chemical symbols on it. Or something.

"Other than that, no serious infractions until today. So, gentlemen," Lancer leaned in, scowling at us, "what do you have to say for yourselves?"

I frowned, tossing a quick glare at Dash, who was still smirking. "Dash started it! He threw—"

"Four touchdown passes in our last game and is, therefore, exempt from any punishment." Ah, Lancer. Proving once again that all teachers are biased jerks. "As for you two," he glared at Tuck and me, "you'll be serving detention today." He turned to dig in his desk for detention slips, yelling out, "The Missing!" when he couldn't find them. He glared at us again, then headed out the door. "You two stay put. Dash, watch the door." Both went out, leaving us there to wallow in our detention-induced misery.

Then I noticed the security footage. "Dude, look!"

Tuck followed my pointing finger to the screen which showed a slimy trail across the floor. He frowned, and I grinned, thinking he'd caught on. "Since when do we have a basement?"

Head, meet desk. "Not that!" I hissed, pointing more vehemently. "Look, meat trail! I bet you anything that's where the ghost took Sam!"

Tuck smirked. "Anything?"

I scowled. "Tucker, focus!"

"Right, right, saving Sam. Y'know, somehow, I feel like it's my fault she's in this mess." He chuckled. "Is that crazy or what?"

"Um, dude, it is your fault. You're the one who told the ghost she changed the menu!"

Tuck blinked at me. "...Oh. Damn. We should get her back, then."

"Ya think?"

"Alright, so how, exactly, do we get to the basement?"

I changed back, willing the cold to wash over me before grabbing Tuck's arm and pulling him through the floor.

We arrived in the basement, which was, strangely enough, completely packed with boxes upon boxes of meat. Something is wrong with our school….

Tuck ran over and hugged one of the boxes. "I have died and gone to carnivore heaven!"

"Okay, seriously, how is it that I'm the one with the ghost powers but you're the weird kid?"

"Hey!"

I ignored Tucker as I heard a yell coming from further in the basement. "C'mon." I led the way down the long hall to see Sam, screaming in rage, in a huge pile of meat. The Lunch Lady ghost was trying to convince her to eat some of it.

"My dear, meat is good for you! It helps you grow and makes you smile!" She frowned. "Why won't you eat it?"

It might have to do with that smiling thing.

"We don't need meat," Sam answered, nose upturned. "That's fact. I can replace the protein with tofu or other, healthier options."

"SILENCE!" the ghost yelled. "You need to learn respect! Do you know where that comes from? MEAT!"

Tuck and I shared a look, and I spun a finger beside my ear in the classic cuckoo sign.

The ghost smiled brightly at Sam, her aura fading a bit again. Seriously, this lady's bipolar or something. "Chicken or fish?"

I shook my head, turning to Tuck. "Look, you get Sam outta there, I'll take out the ghost."

He pulled a knife and fork out of nowhere. "I'm on it!"

"No, dude, something that'll—" He ran off. "—actually get her out quick…. Okay, my turn." I flew at the ghost, slamming a fist into her face to send her flying into a wall on the other side of the room. As she was recovering, I spun around to give her a roundhouse kick, but she grabbed my ankle, lifting me as she floated back up.

"You could use some meat, too. You're nothing but skin and bones!" She flung me at one of the walls of boxes, and I just barely managed to go intangible in time. Unfortunately, my momentum took me halfway through a wall, as well. I pulled myself back out, turning to see a ton of shish kebabs coming at me. My eyes went wide, and I squeezed them shut, covering my head and wincing—but nothing happened. I looked down to see that my torso had stretched and curved around each.

I blinked. Apparently, I was totally going to ace our yoga section in gym class next month. I pulled myself back together again as the ghost screeched.

Her aura had stretched away again, going into each of the boxes and pulling out all the meat in the room. The meat swirled around, forming into a gigantic meat monster thing. Sam and Tucker ran over as the thing grabbed me.

I struggled for a moment, gagging on the raw meat smell, then went flying through the wall (thankfully intangible) when she tossed me. I came out in a small room that only had a set of stairs and a door. I rubbed at my head, feeling my strength fading from the overuse of my ghost powers. I really hope my powers are like muscles and will get used to all this work over time….

I went back through the wall, seeing Sam and Tuck running away from the meat ghost. My eyes narrowed as I rushed towards them, pulling them up and out through the wall and to the ground outside. I dropped them quickly, crash-landing in the dirt, panting.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Gee, Danny, going through walls, fighting off meat, you must be exhausted."

"W—What?" I mumbled, feeling my eyes closing of their own accord. "What would… give you… that idea…?"

My eyes closed and the world went dark.

|)4|\||\|`/ |*|-|4|\|70|\/|

When my eyes opened again, it was to see a very worried Sam and Tucker hovering over me. "W—What happened?" I sat up. "How long was I out?"

"You passed out," Tuck said. "We took you home. You've been asleep for four days!"

My eyes went wide and I jumped out of bed, tripping on the blankets. "What?"

Tucker laughed. "Nah, it's only been a couple hours."

Sam shoved him. "Would you quit it! It's all your fault any of this has been happening!"

Tucker glared back. "Oh yeah? What about you? You just had to be an individual and take the meat away! Well, I'm getting it back!" Tucker stomped out of my room.

Sam went after him. "You wanna change that menu back? You'll have to go through me!"

I sighed. They'd get over it soon enough. They always do after their meat vs veggie fights. It's not like it could get worse.

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It got worse.

I walked to school the next day to find two huge protests, each lead by one of my friends. My head fell into my palm before I headed over to them. "You guys made two protests overnight?"

Tucker slammed a "Meat is Good" sign into the ground. "Meat eaters, Danny. Our high protein diets give us the energy needed to fight off those veggies quickly."

Sam turned her nose up at that. "Ultra recyclo vegetarians are always ready to protest, and since we don't have to cook our food, we can mobilize that much faster."

I winced. "Okay, seriously, you guys don't think you're being a bit extreme?"

Both glared at me. "We have to be," Tuck said. "Now, you're either with me—"

"Or you're against him!" Sam finished.

They both leaned in, yelling at me, "Whose side are you on?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but the Chills shuddered through me before I could. I stared up at the aura—followed by the ghost itself—that came flying out of the school. That right there was a huge meat monster ghost.

"Um, guys…?"

"What?" both shrieked.

I pointed, and they gaped at the ghost coming towards us, collecting meat from Tuck's protest on the way.

Tuck fell to his knees, yelling, "Meat! Why have you forsaken me?"

Sam and I paused a moment to roll our eyes, then I tugged Tucker back to his feet. "Time for you guys to make up."

They grabbed each other in a hug, me in the middle, covering me so I could change as the crowd started screaming and panicking. Once in my ghost mode, I flew after the huge meat monster, dodging it as it grabbed for me, then once more as some of the meat was thrown at me. I grinned as I watched it fly past, then turned back—

To get punched into the sky. I went straight through a plane, shaking my head and going back down, snagging some water with a shouted, "Thanks!" before I tossed the water in my face and headed back to the fight.

I got punched in the face again, but this time I landed harshly on the ground, rubbing at my head. I sat up, glancing up to see the meat monster coming towards me, aura lowered.

"Oh, dear," she said, "are you alright?"

I blinked. "Um, I think so?"

This time I was close enough to get caught in the aura as it flamed up. My breath was knocked out of me, and I could feel my eyes flaring, the green covering up the whites. Then it was gone, and I was back to normal, panting a bit.

Note to self, never ever get near an aura. Ever.

"Too bad!" the ghost was yelling. "You being 'alright' isn't part of my balanced diet of DOOM!"

Psycho ghost is psycho.

Then, I was surrounded by mini meat monsters. I spun quickly, slashing my heel through all four. I stood again, grinning in victory.

Then they simply merged back together.

My grin fell. "Okay, wasn't expecting that." I started to move into a defensive posture, but the rings spread over me, changing me back to human form. "O—Or that!" The monsters all grabbed at me, flying me up into the air. I screamed, trying to reach for that cold sphere, but it was so small now I couldn't find it.

Two of the meat monsters let go, leaving me dangling in the air, held up by the other two, who held my ankles. I closed my eyes tightly, muttering to myself, "Change back, change back!"

Something hit me in the face. I grabbed it quickly before it could fall to the ground. But before I could see what it was, the grip on my ankles disappeared. I felt myself falling to the ground below, and I clutched whatever was in my hand like it was a parachute.

Wait. Maybe it was!

I glanced down. No, just the ghost catcher thing Dad had made, the Fenton Thermos. Too bad it wasn't working.

Hold on.

I reached for that cold sphere again, and this time I found it, changing back just before I hit the ground, which I went straight through instead, shooting back up past my parents to say, "Thanks for the Thermos!"

I flew over towards the ghost, opening the Thermos and studying it for a moment. Then I closed my eyes and let my own aura wash over it.

Suddenly, I could sense the problem. I reached inside it, touching a couple wires together. "Hey, Lunch Lady!" I yelled, catching her attention. I aimed the Thermos at her. "I'm changing the menu, permanently!" Then I tapped the button, and a bright, blue beam flew out, encompassing her and pulling her aura in until finally, she was tugged in by it as well.

When the light was back inside, I capped the Thermos, landing and changing back as Sam and Tuck came over.

"What happened?" Sam asked. "Where'd the ghost go?"

I showed them the Thermos. "My parents have their moments."

"Ghost directly ahead." A metallic voice came from behind us. We all turned, me hiding the Thermos behind my back. My parents were coming over, jumpsuited and everything, following the device my dad held in his hands. "You must be some kind of idiot not to notice the ghost directly ahead."

They glanced at me. I thumbed over my shoulder. "Gee, you just missed him."

Mom and Dad shared a look, then took off in the direction I'd pointed, Dad screaming, "We've got a runner!"

Yeah, my parents aren't embarrassing at all.

Sam turned to look at me again. "So, you really aren't telling them?"

I shrugged. "Maybe some day. But for right now, I think I'm finally understanding why I got these powers." I lifted the Thermos again, studying it and determining to recreate it myself if my parents didn't get around to it. And fixing any extras that they made. "I can help people, seeing as ghosts will just keep escaping the Portal if my parents keep it open like it is." I glanced up at my friends. "I guess I did get them for a reason. I'm able to—"

"Stay for detention."

All three of us winced, turning to see Mr. Lancer and Dash standing behind us. Lancer was tapping his foot, arms crossed. "Um, Mr. Lancer, we—"

He just pointed towards the school. "Cafeteria. Now."

We ran.

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So, our detention was to pick up after the garbage—er, recyclable, organic matter—fight. It didn't help the clean up time that the Lunch Lady had blazed through here in ginormous, meat monster form.

We were sweeping everything into a couple Dumpsters with Lancer and Dash supervising. In other words, ordering us around without helping at all.

"Foley, pick up that turfwich!"

"With my hands?" Tucker grimaced, pulling his gloves on tighter before picking the food up by a corner. He chucked it quickly into the trash.

"Manson, pick up that ribeye!"

Sam's nose wrinkled, and she looked back at Lancer. "This is cruel and unusual punishment, y'know."

"Do it before I add another week to your detention."

"Aye, aye, sir," she mumbled under her breath, gingerly picking up the meat and tossing it in a bin.

I rolled my eyes at my friends' melodramatics as I swept a large pile of food up and into a Dumpster. Dash was leaning against it, barking orders at my friends until he noticed me. He grabbed some of the food I'd just thrown out and dropped it back onto the clean floor. "Looks like you missed a spot, Fenton," he chuckled, smirking.

I grit my teeth, then got an idea. I walked around the side of the Dumpster, placing my hand on the rim when I was just out of Dash's sight. Then, I let my hand go intangible, letting my aura flow out to cover the Dumpster and subsequently turn it intangible, too, which made all the meat fall out onto Dash.

Whoops.

"Fenton!"

I smirked. "Looks like I missed another spot, Dash." I shrugged, turning around. "I'll get back to that one later."

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A/N: Whew. Twenty pages of story for y'all. And it only took me… a month. Well. Damn. Okay, so this is an idea of what this story'll be like, hope people are interested! Remember to send me requests for what to add or change in this from canon. I'm taking all comments into account on this one. Thanks for reading, y'all!