6/9/13... This is my first Danny Phantom Fanfic so enjoy! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, so I hope you like it, too.

8/8/16...This is a rewrtten version of this chapter, so for those of you who are just starting to read this story, here is the slightly improved version. But do keep in mind that I started a few years ago, so my writing and pacing improves the further you read. Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Danny Phantom, because if I did there would be another season.

"It
is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our
eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she
transforms us into beasts... For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may
cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide
for it." -Patrick Henry

I ripped the covers away from me, and glanced around my room. Light was flooding through my windows, and only silence greeted me. Sensing something was off, I stumbled out of bed and squinted at my alarm clock. The bold, red numbers that stared back at me indicated that I had overslept… again. School had started a few hours ago, and I would get in big trouble if my parents found out I was using my class time to catch up on sleep. Of course, the chances of that happening were slim considering they were working on a new invention in the lab. They wouldn't be seeing the light of day for a while.

I sprinted to the bathroom and reached out for the counter as the rug by the sink started to slide out from under my feet. After I felt ensured that I wasn't going to take a nosedive onto the tile, I splashed water onto my face to wake myself up. The frigid temperature did succeed in making me feel more awake, but it failed to make my appearance less disheveled. After one last weary glance at the mirror, I careened down the stairs. I was about to get some breakfast to satisfy my growling stomach, but then realized I didn't want my food to glow green, grow teeth, and eat me. It was better to wait until lunch. It's not like it's that far off, I reasoned, as I shot one last glance at the clock.

I went over the fastest ways to get to school, but only one made any sense if I wanted to get there before I got into more trouble. After all, I inherently had a speedy form of transportation at my fingertips, or more accurately, in my DNA. As I went ghost, bright rings made their way around me, my messy black hair turned a glowing white, and my clothes changed into my trademark jumpsuit. I phased through the walls of Fentonworks and flew to school. No ghosts made an appearance. If it had been this way last nice, I wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. By the time I got there, it was lunchtime, so that solved my issue of adding another tardy to the growing pile on Lancer's desk. I walked into the cafeteria and looked for black clothes and a red beret. I spotted Tuck and Sam in our usual corner, along the fringe of rambunctious students that took over the majority of the room.

"Where have you been?" Sam shouted, drawing a few startled glances from the surrounding tables.

Despite her temper, I could hear the concern in her voice. "Fighting ghosts," I lied, not wanting to admit I had overslept. I was up fighting ghosts until the early hours of the morning, so I must have slept through my alarm, but I knew she wouldn't approve of any late-night ghost fights. She looked at me suspiciously, but didn't push the subject further. "So what did I miss?"

"Like, four tests," Tuck said," You have a lot to catch up on."

Great, that was exactly what I needed, more work to add to my sleep-deprived nights.

"It could be worse, a least you are not being attacked by ghosts..." Tucker offered.

"TUCKER!" Sam and I yelled in unison.

Sam send him a glare. "Bad Luck Tuck, you just jinxed us!"

A brooding look appeared on his face before he responded. "Hey, don't call me that, you know I hate it!"

"Exactly," Sam added, with a smirk.

Right on cue, Skulker burst through the wall, sending students screaming and rubble flying through the air.

"Ghost Child, I know you're in here," Skulker crowed, trying to be intimidating," I have come to hang your pelt on my wall."

"Thanks Tuck, if my pelt ends up on his wall you're taking the blame," I warned, before I phased through the wall to lead Skulker to a more sparsely populated area.

We didn't get far before I heard a command shouted at me from below.

"Stop right there ghost, you're not getting away this time!"

Before I could even place the voice, I was slammed into the pavement by an unseen force and coated with green slime. When I looked up, Skulker had disappeared, leaving me to face some very familiar ghost hunters. My parents stood about ten feet away, watching me vigilantly. I wasn't about to let them knock me down again, so I turned intangible and sunk into the ground. Once I had gotten far enough away, I rose above the pavement and made my way back to school.

Lunch had already ended by the time I had arrived, leaving only frustrated custodians to clean the damage left by Skulker. I transformed in the deserted hallway outside the cafeteria, and the lockers on either side of me reflected the pure white light of the rings as they traveled down my body. I reluctantly shuffled through the halls until I reached the doorway to my classroom. Surely my absence would be noticed by now. Well, noticed is a strong word. The only ones that would give me a second glance would be Sam, Tucker, and my irritated teacher. I received a tardy slip, and was warned that if it happened again I would get a detention. How I had managed to avoid getting one was beyond me, especially since I had stopped counting tardies months ago. Maybe the teachers had finally given up too.

The rest of the day went by lazily, which made the urge to fall asleep nearly impossible to resist. Every time I stole a glance at the clock, the minute hand barely seemed to have changed positions. Finally, the last bell rang and I walked from school to the Nasty Burger with Sam and Tucker in tow. We attempted to study, but as usual we got sidetracked and ended up making jokes about the quality of the burger Tucker had bought, despite Sam's warnings. Once the sun had begun to sink low in the sky, I had to drag myself away from the greasy restaurant and actually attempt to study. I couldn't afford to fail any of the tests I missed today; I was barely hanging on as it was.

On my walk home, darkness slowly engulfed my surroundings, and only retreated slightly once the streetlamps came on. As I turned onto my street, I could see light spilling out of one of my downstairs windows, which illuminated a small square of pavement next to my front door. When I reached the square of light, I looked inside curiously, wondering who turned on the light. Jazz always went straight to her room after school, and seldom left it until dinnertime. Since my parents had been practically living in the lab, Jazz probably went out for dinner with a study group. To my surprise, I spied my parents in the kitchen talking excitedly, having finally emerged from the basement. As soon as I opened the front door, my dad sprinted into the foyer, my mom right behind him.

"We made a scientific breakthrough!" Mom exclaimed.

I zoned out after that, used to them carrying on about ghosts and their "miraculous" inventions. Once they were too engrossed in their conversation to see me slip away, I headed to my room, exhausted from the unrelenting rise in ghost fighting that had been taking over my life lately. I sunk into my bed and let out a contented sigh as my heavy eyelids finally got the chance to close.

I woke up suddenly, sensing something was wrong. I opened my eyes, and came face to face with a gleaming metal wall. I pushed myself to my feet and turned around, taking in my surroundings. The room I seemed to extend about five feet in either direction, and was enclosed by transparent glass walls on two sides. I glanced back at the first wall I had seen, and I realized that the wall beside it was made of the same gray metal. I must be in the corner of a bigger room, one that extended beyond the glass walls. The metal walls seemed eerily familiar. Where else had I seen walls like these? I couldn't seem form the connection. I turned around to search for more answers, but what greeted me made my stomach drop. As I peered past the glass, I was greeting with a clear view of the Spector Speeder, as well as numerous other devices just as recognizable. I had seen all the items hundreds of times before, but never from this angle. I was on the wrong side of the glass.

Before I could put anymore thought into my situation, I heard footsteps coming from the stairs. To my utter dismay, the person that came into view was just as familiar as my surroundings. This was my parent's lab, and the person who stared at me through the glass, was none other than my mom.

"Hello Phantom, surprised?" She asked, sounding very pleased with herself.

I looked down and saw that I was, in fact, in my ghost form. I returned my gaze back to my mother's face, and a feeling of apprehension raced through me as I automatically shifted into my fighting stance.

"I'm going to do a few tests. Do you like your containment unit?" she taunted, enjoying every word. "It is completely phase-proof, and none of your ghost powers can penetrate it. Now let us stop wasting time, and move on to the first test. Let's see how much heat you can withstand," she said, as she pulled a lever down that was connected to the outside of the room. Vents opened up in the floor and I could feel heat escaping from them. It was bearable for a while, but the temperature was rising fast. In a matter of minutes, I was in agony.

I looked through the glass wall and tried to see past the heat waves rising up from the floor. The glass had fogged up too much to see my mom's expression, but considering the joy she would be feeling about my capture, I doubt I would have liked what I saw. I could feel sweat dripping down my body, slick beneath the rubber of my jumpsuit, as sweltering heat surrounded me. Suddenly, I was on my knees, trying to breathe the hot, stifling air. My head felt dangerously light and my vision flickered in and out like a light about to burn out. Using a last burst of energy, I attempted to stand upright but only managed to fall against the glass and slide to the ground. I saw a blurry flash of blue through the slick, foggy glass before my vision faded to black, my burning body sinking into the depths of unconsciousness.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please Review!