Chapter 14: Lunch is Served

A sudden explosion took the attention of those in the city. Cars stopped, people turned, and the crumbling of rubble and glass echoed in the now quiet town.

It was midday Saturday, the twenty-fourth of September, and downtown was in a panic. It had been happening more frequently as of late, and to the dread of the town denizens, monsters seem to be attacking the town more and more. They hadn't been spotted often, they showed up the most during odd hours in the night, or out of the city limits. But they've been spotted, in different shapes and sizes, and on several occasions recorded.

And today it's happening again. Three more explosions rock the area, rumbling meets the feet of those further off, but people closer to the actual explosion are blown back by the sheer force of the shockwave.

"SKREEEEEE!" A high pitched, warbled screech pierces into the ears of all those within a mile radius. Glass cracks and shatters from the sheer volume of the sound, and car alarms blocks away start blaring into the ears of the populace. Seconds later, another detonation rings out and a nearby skyscraper's lower floors are suddenly exposed to the elements. Glass, wood, plastic and even metal breaks and bends, causing the debris to come tumbling onto the ground, when a giant ghost is thrown into the building. Its legs clacked and clicked, hundreds upon hundreds skittering across the building and breaking the glass everywhere the legs touch. A large hole, maybe around the fourth or fifth floor was now in view, going all the way through to the other side. The centipede had come out of it, fighting the white haired teenager that was appearing more and more. The skyscraper was a testament to modern building designs, even with a hole in the middle it still stands.

Giant antennae are the first thing seen through the cloud of dust and debris, but three more flashes of green fly into the smokescreen, and explode seconds later, illuminating the large shadow of the insect.

"SKREEE! EERRAAA!" The giant centipede ghost screeches and bellows as Phantom launches more and more blasts at the chitinous creatures back, barely leaving a mark, much less one that lasted. A whole new volley was primed and ready to fire, but the Halfa dodges to the left quickly as a long, dual bladed tail slices through the space where he once was. Danny takes to the skies to buy a little time and to get the thing away from the populace.

Both ecto-blasts, one in each hand, are repurposed and pushed together, compressing into a single collection of energy. The energy begins to shape into a pole, at five feet long it's not terribly impressive, but the electricity flowing through and around it adds a higher intimidation level to it. Danny hefts the glowing green spear of electricity onto his shoulder and takes aim, waiting for the insectoid ghost to come after him. If normal electricity didn't work because of the armor, he just had to get through it somehow. His form glows brightly among the skyscrapers, the polished glass reflecting and refracting his natural glow and the erratic summoned energy.

A loud hiss, similar to that of a rattlesnake reverberates through the area, shaking the buildings and breaking more glass through the echoes. The lunge is fast, but with such an obvious warning Danny was prepared. The strike is met with a javelin of electricity thrown at its face, barely piercing armor, but still achieving penetration. The momentum is halted as equal force negates its speed and acceleration, forcing the different segments of its body to crash into one another like a train. The electrified energy construct acts as a needle and delivers its content, in this case electricity, directly into the body of the undead.

The large centipede spasms and contorts with a series of hisses, losing altitude as its body plummets back toward the Earth. Danny takes off after the twitching monster, catching up fast enough. His tail forms from his legs and he catches the centipede, holding it easily and flying it away to a less populated area. It's heavy, he can tell that, but even with its weight Danny knows he can pull more. Flight is easy like that, anything that he wants to fly with him becomes almost weightless, like gravity is reduced for whatever he held.

The stunning effect doesn't last as long as he'd like unfortunately. The centipede ghosts tail, over one hundred feet from its head, whips up towards the Halfa holding it. Phantom drops the creature and turns intangible, letting the tail pass right through him. Distance is put between the two and the surrounding area seems like a far better option than a tussle in the city. Undeveloped land for the most part, suburban houses in the beginnings of their construction are scattered in separate communal areas sporadically, but at least the houses aren't complete and void of life. With no one else there to get in the way, both ghosts can fight without regard. Not that the centipede had been operating to a code of morals before, but now Danny could let loose.

Before the half-ghost hero has a chance to retaliate, the creature dives headfirst at him, large mandibles snapping at the space his head just was. Danny punches at the softer underside, cracking it and forcing it away, but several legs slash at him and catch him on his chest. "AAAARGH!" The jumpsuit, as usual, does nothing to stop any form of damage and the armored legs tear through it easily, parting skin and digging into muscle. Danny tumbles down, in the direction the legs hit him, but barely manages to catch himself while clutching his new wounds.

Eyes widen at the incoming tail, and without any time to turn intangible, Danny infuses his limbs, using them as a shield, and takes the strike. Phantom is shot to the ground, barreling through three unfinished houses before he catches himself in a fourth. The jumpsuit is far more torn now, scuffed and dirty, but it is slowly reforming itself. Crashing through the buildings did hurt, but his ever impressive supernatural durability works in favor of him in this case. That hit? His tingling arms seem to be numb, but working properly. Gripping and flexing are fine, but touching directly onto his forearm isn't a great experience, so he puts it on the back burner for now.

Crackling energy and the dull hum of ectoplasm catches his attention, and knowing exactly what that entails soon after, Danny turns intangible and flies through the roof. His fears are proven correct when he sees the centipede. Glowing and unstable energy collects at the focal point between its mandibles. It's antenna is lowered and focuses on the same point, arcs of energy coiling and collecting race along the sensory organ. The focal point grows in size and brightness, and Danny pales when he sees the tail doing exactly the same: gathering a second source of power.

In reaction to the growing threat, Danny forces energy into his body. Electrokinesis flares to full power, roaring off his body randomly and loudly. Ecto-claws are next, forming on both arms, the electricity empowers them further, collecting at the fingertips. Danny's given no more preparation however, when the ghostly creepy crawly fires its blast.

Phantom blasts off upwards, ghostly tail and all as a beam of screaming energy whizzes by him, barely missing. More houses below are destroyed, the beam carving through several effortlessly and lighting some of the more hollow houses ablaze. As the ground below begins to turn a brighter shade of green, Danny is still flying sporadically, dodging the super charged energy beams. An ecto-disc forms in each hand, spinning rapidly, and he throws them both at the large target. The insects bladed tail, which was charging a secondary attack, swung into action. The ball of energy blasts off at him, catching both discs and forcing an implosion to occur. A green smokescreen clouds his vision, but the Halfa knows the fight is still going on.

Another ecto-disc forms in hand, this time empowered by electricity, and Danny throws the projectile through the smoke before flying low under the temporary cover. Another arc of energy passes through the green smoke, dissipating it instantly. The disc lands a glancing blow, chopping off several legs and exploding near the beast. The undead insect is electrified once again, hissing in pain as the harmful current immobilizes it. Flight falters for a few seconds, but since the electrical current came from outside its body, the recovery was far quicker.

That doesn't mean that Phantom didn't capitalize on it. He chose the moment to get closer to it, finding close combat to be a better suit than long range at the moment. By the time it regains full control, Danny's already piercing into the carapace.

"SHHHHHRAAAA!" The centipede hisses in anger and pain, thrashing wildly as the menace on its back tries to peel tough chitinous armor away. Using his energy claws, the plates are slowly peeled and split apart, eliciting another painful screech. Underneath the dark green armor of the arthropod, Danny finds bright green flesh: sticky, gooey, and- "Ugh!" -smelly. The insect's tail comes sweeping up, catching him in his side and flinging him far away. Luckily it was the flat armor of the tail that hit him, not the blade, but the concussive force of something so large is staggering.

The centipede ghost cranes its body, using ghostly and natural flexibility to get a look at the damage. It's not smart enough to know what exactly is wrong, but there's enough intelligence to know that when it feels pain, it means that something is wrong. Seeing the damage enrages it, and in a throw of fury, the tail glows green and sweeps at the cause of its pain. A large glowing green wave is launched at Phantom, startling him out of his daze. His eyes widened as he quickly flew out of the way, the attack may have been relatively slow to beings like him, but the power it displayed when it hit the ground made him feel uneasy. The ground below exploded, destroying anything that was left of the suburban housing plan. Danny winced, someone wasn't going to be happy about that.

Most ghosts that Danny's met so far, have been unintelligible animals or insects. They seemed to act on instinct alone, doing as they did in their time alive. Wolves traveled in packs, the gorilla was uncomfortably intelligent and able to use its power rather well: invisibility, flight, intangibility, even ecto-manipulation; and all insects so far have had a singular desire to just get to the portal in his basement. He hasn't fought many insectoid undead, but most of them so far, bar this centipede, didn't use their powers much. Flight, intangibility, invisibility, ecto-manipulation, those all seem to be the base powers of ghosts, and insects don't seem to use a majority of them.

The praying mantis ghost used invisibility to hunt, the tarantula he fought so long ago didn't even use flight, not that it had a chance to use any abilities. It just crawled along the ground as it would have, had it been alive. The cockroach ghost… was vaporized, core and all. Nasty things, both in life and death. This centipede? While it hasn't used intangibility or invisibility, the damn thing knew how to fly, and very clearly knew how to use ecto-energy.

And this was the largest thing he's fought by far. Not the most dangerous, that would be Skulker, but the centipedes size is a danger in itself when the thing in question is this big. He knew it wasn't entirely smart, seeing as it went through buildings, rather than phasing through them. But it was strong, easily flinging the Halfa around, and it knew how to use that attack as well. The wolves had used it, the gorilla too, and now this thing.

The attack, horrible and powerful, devastated anything it touched. And Danny wanted that attack badly. It wasn't for lack of trying, he had practiced and tried to replicate it, but channeling energy through his teeth as a conduit wasn't easy, and neither was creating unstable ectoplasm. It was more of a lack of understanding. The energy they focused was raw and wild, uncontrolled and unstable, and he just had no idea how to do it.

That was something for later, this big hulking monster is the current priority. It charged at him, the sides of its head glowing a brighter green than its body. They extend, like blades, and it zooms past at a downward angle, cleaving trees with ease. The centipede reorients itself, coiling like a Chinese dragon, still enraged and hissing wildly.

Phantom sighed, letting more electricity generate through his body. God damn, was this thing difficult. While he had sliced off multiple legs, in the dozens, that did nothing to stop the hulking mass of its body. The centipede was basically a tank, armored and difficult to damage. Danny could see the spot he damaged before, at about the halfway point, bleeding green ectoplasm. Concentrating fire has worked before, it'll have to work again.

He's tired, a long night out on the town tracking and fighting ghosts had left him sleepy and in need of a nap. The only good thing is that the centipede came after school, he'd of missed the rest of school had it come during.

Energy begins to collect at a focal point, antenna droop down from its head and begin funneling more power. Danny rockets off towards the centipede, arms glowing with infusion and electricity amplifying his enhancement. When he is within one-hundred feet, he vanishes, turning invisible and flying high. The centipede, that was seconds away from firing, halts as the target of its ire is now gone.

The centipede looks around, anger and confusion fighting for dominance. Looking left and right, it sees nothing. Up and down are the same. The accumulated energy starts burning the large pincers that hold it, and its antenna is forced away when one is burned by a stray arc of energy. "SKREEEE!" The arthropod screeches in pain, losing control and firing the beam randomly. Trees are vaporized, turning to ash, and the ground splits asunder, burned black and scorched. When the centipedes aim shifts upwards, the clouds split and part, evaporating at the extreme heat.

Danny takes the opportunity to attack, regaining visibility behind it. He lands on the same spot as before, and with renewed vigor and enhanced strength, finishes ripping the armored segment off. The ectoplasmic chitin is thrown to the side, turning to goop before it even hits the ground. Even with its antenna, the most sensitive organ of the centipede, in pain, it is still lucid enough to feel its armor being ripped off. The unstable energy ball that was previously being used as a beam is 'spit' down to the ground. The ball explodes, leveling into a house sized crater and destroying anything in the radius.

Phantom plunges his hands into the beast's back with vindictive purpose, pumping as much electricity as possible into it. He can't even hear the explosion from the centipedes discarded attack over the sound of his own energy. The entire body, every armored segment, goes rigid. Flight is lost, and the insect begins a quick descent while in defib. He didn't know if it was just him, but electricity seems to be a no-go for most ghosts. Something about the galvanized current seems to disrupt ectoplasm, and Danny is all too glad to have the power as time goes on.

Danny can tell they're falling, so he goes to infuse more ectoplasm into his legs to brace for impact, but thinking better, allows his ghostly tail to form. He uses the tail to accelerate down, pushing the centipede even faster, all while pumping electricity out like a generator. Since they weren't that high in the first place, maybe one or two-thousand feet, the fall down is short, but not without its consequences. All that armor comes at a price, weight and mass are far more than a normal centipede and the plummet is accelerated to terminal velocity shortly before the impact on the ground.

Thousands of pounds of giant armored insect shake the ground for miles. The citizens of Amity Park feel it, wondering what it could be. Those who witnessed the fight between Danny and the centipede can only think of that as the cause, but a majority of the town wonders if it's an earthquake. There hadn't been one since 1987, and most of the denizens of the medium sized town hadn't ever experienced one. The rumbling stops as soon as it began, but a large green dust cloud appearing just outside of town is now the new focus of town.

Phantom shakily falls off the arthropod, tired and in pain. The adrenaline has started to fade, and fatigue is slowly taking its place. He collapses on the ground, ready for a much needed break. Danny lays there for some time, barely holding consciousness. Really, enhanced regeneration is hacking, he can just barely feel more energy come to him, slowly regenerating the damage done to his body and refilling spent stamina.

Then, his vision of the sky is intruded upon by a helicopter. He groans at the sight, knowing all too well that his parents would be here soon, especially since they've had the news on in their lab non-stop. Phantom gets up, slowly and unwanting. He stretches, ignoring the pain in his arms. His back hurts, going through houses doesn't prove to be a pleasant experience. His chest pulses with pain, even the legs were sharp enough to cut through his flesh easily, Danny's glad he didn't have to deal with the pincers. No doubt that like his arms, his left side will be bruised black and blue later; the Halfa can only hope that there's no broken bones.

Up in the sky, Lance Thunder is beyond thrilled. This was his chance to finally move up from the weatherman. He always regretted not moving to Chicago, especially since this town has proved to be a dead end so far. With the increase in… supernatural occurrences, he was honestly debating whether to just move or not, but Lance was willing to take a risk for a big scoop. He had his journalists' pride after all.

"Lance Thunder here, reporting on the scene of what can only be the conclusion of a battle of epic proportions!" Whether it was or not, he didn't know, but in the media business it's always better to blow shit out of proportion. "Down below," Lance gestures out of the helicopter, and the cameraman moves the view towards the downed centipede and hurting Halfa, "we have our resident unknown meta who's been all the local craze, and another monster. This is the first time we've been able to catch them on live news! So far, based on current reports, both seem to be more active at night, therefore they aren't seen as often."

Now fully standing and panting, Phantom looks up at the helicopter. He gives a cheeky smirk to the camera and salutes with two fingers. It's always important to show strength and not weakness, and since he's finally been caught in a live feed, he may as well give some flare. He's always been told that he has a great smile anyway, might as well work it.

"The damage is intense folks!" Lance exclaims, "The damage to the city seems to be seven or eight blocks worth of damaged city infrastructure and will no doubt cost the city extensively." The weatherman pauses and looks around, taking in the damage and the area, and what he sees genuinely frightens him. "Uh- based off what I'm seeing, an entire suburban housing district that was in construction has been leveled. There are still some houses on fire, why it's green I have no idea, but there's not a single would-be house left standing." He was actually very worried that the fire might spread past the destroyed homes and into the woods. Who knows what's causing the fire to be green, plus the giant centipede- oh god, that's what it was.

"It seems that what was attacking the city was a giant… centipede. As you all can see, it's horrifying. Our unnamed hero seems to have taken care of it, but he's looking pretty banged up! No doubt, it was a tou- Dave he's waving! Zoom in on him! Come on, hurry!" The live news feed shows Danny in all his battered glory, walking towards the head of the creature. The cameraman grumbles in annoyance, but when he complied, Dave noticed something that scared him. So he did the one thing a cameraman isn't supposed to do during a live broadcast. He talked. "Hey- uh, Lance… is that thing still moving?" The insult was right on the tip of his tongue, truly it was, but deciding it better to actually look instead of leap… Lance almost leapt out of the helicopter in fright. He turned around towards the pilot and screamed: "Make some distance Stuart! It's still alive!"

"Seriously, this thing is damn huge." Even lying down, it was taller than him. Each leg was longer than his body was tall, the armored carapace was smooth for the most part, but every once in a while there would be a spike here, or ridge there. He was almost to the head when he saw a leg twitch. It was so minute, that he almost missed it, but enhanced sight and reflexes let him see a lot that he would normally miss. That, and the sound of the helicopter getting further away gave him enough of a clue. "Why won't you just stay down?!"

Phantom leapt into the air and went straight for the head. He landed on it and grabbed it by the antenna, thoroughly waking it up. The centipedes head whipped up in pain and anger, the mandibles snapped shut over and over again, creating loud smacking sounds. Using the antenna as handlebars, Danny stomps down. The force of the stomp pushes the centipede down, but it snaps back up as much as it could. It's body wasn't responding properly, the lower half was still paralyzed. Another kick brought it further down, almost touching the ground. Before it could go back up, another stomp brought it down.

Now with its head in the ground, the centipedes eyes roll back and look at the attacker. It hisses in hate, and tries with every fiber of its being to use its tail to impale the pest on its head. It's a futile attempt, especially when another stomp forces its head further into the ground. More and more rain down, until cracks slowly form. Even with the enhanced infusion on his legs, it still hurts like he's kicking a tank as a human. Progress is made though, and after the first crack, more just seem to keep coming.

Danny grins, confident in his victory and further fueled to finish this. It's been a long damn day, and he wanted to sleep! The centipede loses some anger at the crack, each hit concusses it further and panic creeps into its dull mind. As a centipede, really it isn't capable of advanced thought, but there's enough there to panic at its coming doom. Legs skitter in fright, trying and failing to force itself up, but the Halfa has a hold on it, and he's relentless.

Danny continues, power waning and irritation rising. "Why-" Stomp. "Won't-" Stomp. "You-" Stomp. "Just-" Stomp. "DIE!?" His final stomp broke through, releasing the fleshy meat and brain beneath to the cold autumn air. It smelled horrible, truly, like brussel sprouts and hot garbage. His nose crinkled in disgust, he let go of the antenna and pointed his hands down. The centipede tried to get up now that his grip was released, but was halted as two combined ecto-rays focused on one spot.

"SKREEEAAAAAAAAASHHHH"

The arthropod screeched in pure agony as its higher thought organ was burned and drilled through, muddling decision making and destroying body function. It's body shook and spasmed, the legs digging into the ground and flailing uselessly. It's tail regained movement, swinging wildly and further destroying the landscape. Trees are snapped like twigs and large rocks are pulverized or sliced through.

Still, after a solid minute, it wouldn't die. "Rrrrrargh! Come on! Just die already!" Phantom cut off the ray and the centipede slumped onto the ground, exhausted from pain and nearly brain dead. He shoved his hands into the mushy and smoking brain, hoping this last attack ends it. He didn't want to torture the thing, he just wanted it to stop. If he had a thermos… it probably wouldn't fit. Box Ghost had complained about how cramped it was in there, so no doubt this thing would not fit.

Electricity forces its way into the creatures brain, thoroughly frying it. Twenty seconds later and there's nothing. No movement, hissing, skittering. Nothing. Danny slumps down and falls onto his back. Now that it's dead, hopefully for good, it should start receding back into the core. His gaze shifts to the creature's body, watching as the ectoplasm converged, compacted and shrunk. The giant centipede, in five minutes, was reduced to a large brown, purple, and green core.

Phantom looks around, spotting the helicopter still nearby surprisingly. They didn't leave? The people up there are either really ballsy, or down right idiots. Given he's in Amity Park, a fair guess would be the latter. He huffs and puffs, reaching for oxygen he doesn't need. There will be no more ghost hunting today, he barely has enough energy to maintain his ghost form. The Halfa gives a shaky thumbs up at the people in the helicopter, wondering just how much they can see.

He can't lay here forever though, so very slowly and entirely sore, Danny gets up. A few shaking steps later and he's at the core, eyeing it carefully. Based off of the position, the core… was located a little below the head? He shrugs, too tired to care at the moment. Danny picks up the head sized core, impressed by its size. It seems core size is proportional to body size, now if only there was a way of locating it in a ghosts' body.

The helicopter flies lower now that the colossal arthropod is gone, nerves are eased and the tension lowers. The cameraman zooms in on Phantoms face, getting the clearest view of the hero yet. He gasps in realization, there were rumors that he was just a kid, but the meta really was just a teenager! Lance's voice drones on in the background, talking about the battle and property damage.

Phantom took a look around, finally taking in the surroundings. He winced at what he saw, there was no way this place would be inhabitable anytime soon. Every house was destroyed, either rubble or ash. The ground was glowing green, high amounts of exposure to ectoplasm dyed the landscape radioactive green. Danny didn't know what the long term effects were of ectoplasmic contamination, besides attracting other ghosts, but it shouldn't be that bad, right? He's lived in the Fenton house for fourteen years, so there should be no effects… he'll ask his parents later.

With the core in hand, he attempted to fly. A small hover was all he got before he fell back down. Danny sighed, already accepting that flying wasn't going to happen at the moment. "I guess I'll walk. Damn it." The Halfa disappeared into the forest, vanishing from sight and walking away from town. The helicopter attempted to follow, but the tree coverage was too dense, they lost him almost instantly.

Minutes later the Fentons showed up, ecto-guns armed and ready, but no target in sight.

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A pattern's been forming, and it's pretty obvious. Danny's been fighting more and more, getting banged up, beat down, and blown up. It's startling to the Halfa just how used to this he's become, if someone had told him three months ago that he'd be a wannabe superhero, he would have laughed at their face. He was just human after all, but ever since he… died, it's been chaos. Literally and figuratively.

His family has always been weird, and honestly, he can't deny that his parents are kind of freaks. It's disturbing how dead set they are about ghosts, although he can't entirely blame them since he hasn't found a single good one yet. Danny's not evil though, but the few times he's actually interacted with his parents as Phantom have ended the same way each and every time. It seems they want to 'tear him apart molecule by molecule', word for word on that.

That's disturbing, and Jack tends to have a habit of screaming what he says. At the top of his lungs. In public. It's no wonder people call him a freak, with a father like Jack Fenton, sometimes Danny can't blame people who toss insults out like that. Doesn't mean he has to take it though, they're his parents still, even if they try to dissect him.

That's disturbing too. Maybe they're closer to mad scientists than he realized.

Even with a healing factor, it never seems to be enough. Danny's enhanced generation seems to barely keep up with the damage, it's always on and running constantly. It's like there's no off switch, probably because he's always hurt. It's not quite 'daily' yet, but in another month or so? It's not a difficult assumption that Phantom will be making daily appearances, and he doesn't even want to think about a year from now, if he even lives that long.

Danny didn't even know where the fucking centipede from two days ago came from, the damn thing literally just came out of nowhere and started on a rampage, making a b-line for his house. Through the city. It really did a number on downtown Amity Park, millions in damage from the area alone, and that's not counting the would be housing district his fight wrecked. That was even more, and the teenage ghost was starting to feel kind of bad for the mayor. The guy had appeared on TV a few times to address the recent… problems, and every time he gets chewed out by the pissed off populous.

"Danny! What's goin' on?" Tucker slapped his back from behind in a friendly greeting, knocking him out of his thoughts. Fenton bit his bottom lip to stop the hiss that was on his tongue from escaping. His back still hurt like a motherfucker, and it was a nasty purple, black, and yellow… across nearly his entire back. For the most part his chest was healed, but he still had broken ribs, a fractured wrist, and to top it all off, one of his hands was still numb. Feeling was coming back to it, but Danny's pretty sure one of his nerves was damaged, possibly from channeling too much electricity through his veins.

Danny closed his locker and turned to his friend, "Hey Tuck, what's up?" Long sleeves and jeans only cover up so much, the cut on his neck was visible, even more so since it was bandaged. He often found himself talking to people at odd angles to avoid them noticing notable injuries. It worked for most, unsurprisingly, the people at Casper High weren't the brightest, nor were they known to be. And really, Danny only needed a day or two for most cuts. Bruises weren't life threatening, but they were gone either within the day, or if they're about as bad as the one on his back, then they take a few days.

Tucker eyed the bandage on his neck, making no attempt to hide his curiosity. "Nothin' much dude, you finally ready to tell me where you got that?" The tech geek pointed at his neck, to which Danny shook his head in response. Danny closed his locker and started walking to his second period, Pre-Algebra with Lancer.

Sam and Tucker were far more observant of him than the rest of the sheeple of Casper High though. It didn't even take them a day to spot one of the more visible wounds he was trying to hide. They had badgered him about it, but Danny was getting good at deflecting, much to Sam's ire.

Speaking of Sam, she was nowhere to be found. Danny looked around for her, thinking she might be nearby, especially since her class is right in front of them, and she wasn't there. Danny turned to Tucker, "So where's Sam? She's normally here by now."

Tucker looked up from his PDA and finally noticed the lack of their friend. His brows furrowed when he found her absent at both her locker and inside her class. Suddenly he grabbed his stomach and looked concerned. "I don't know where she is, but I got a bad feeling in my stomach, and I don't mean the Taco Bell kind of bad feeling." Danny just stared at him with a blank face.

"... uh-huh. Is that so?" He wasn't really sure how to respond to that. Sometimes Tucker was weird like that, though it did sound rather familiar. Danny tapped a finger on his pant leg, attempting to recall what was on the tip of his tongue. He gave up shortly after, if it was anything important, he'd remember.

Danny shrugged his shoulders, "See ya at lunch man. Good luck with the 'rhea." The geeks head whipped around and glared at the Halfa, "It's not that you ass. It's called a gut feeling!" Tucker cursed his friend for saying that so loudly, now people were snickering at him!

Danny waved at him as he walked away, "That's called indigestion man, look it up. With your diet, I wouldn't be surprised." He held his tongue on that, it's not like he never got it, but Tucker's proud to admit that he's got a lead stomach. Besides, he hasn't had Taco Bell in over a week, and there's not much else that gives him the rumblies. Besides vegetables of course.

A loud gasp escaped his lips, and the one book he had in his hands clattered to the floor, though he caught the PDA in time. Now he remembered this feeling! His meat senses were tingling, and that meant only one thing! "Damn it Sam! Not again!"

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Math was a breeze as always, as someone who was aspiring to be an astronaut, specifically aiming for an engineering degree and possibly an astrophysics degree too, he had studied up a fair bit ahead. He figured that he'd be fine until he hit calculus, so long as he did his homework, then he'd have to really start studying. Then again, if ghost attacks keep romping up like this, he'd fall behind on sheer exhaustion alone. It was already starting to get difficult to do homework at night, especially since that's when ghosts have been coming out the most.

Art was going by fine, it was impossible to fail that, even if the teacher was a bit of a bitch. English was fine, nothing new nothing less so far. And science? Falluca's kind of a douche, but that might be because Danny keeps skipping out halfway through class. It's not his fault that ghosts like to attack closer to the evenings, they just did! The short teacher has been on his case constantly, and so far he's taken the A-Listers side on three separate occasions, even flipping the punishment on him one time!

Danny didn't show up for that detention.

The walk to the cafeteria was short, not entirely far from the math wing. It's a shame the cafeteria doesn't have a second story to it like Elmertons high school, but at least Casper High has an outdoor courtyard.

It's when Danny walked into the cafeteria that he noticed something was wrong. People were glaring at him. Not everyone in the cafeteria was doing it, maybe fifteen or twenty percent was directed at him? The rest of the people had their attention focused on the table his trio of friends shared, where Sam and a very irate Tucker were arguing. It didn't take him long to find out why, especially with the large banner above the food line. The food on their plates was a good indicator as well, if it could even be described as that. A more fitting name would be grass. Or sod. A small, maybe three inch, by three inch lump of grass and mud, to be exact. Someone was clearly trying to be funny, because the lumps of grass were garnished with a weed, Sanburs if he remembered correctly, the spiky little balls that grow on stalks.

"Ah." Is this the feeling Tucker was talking about? This is all very familiar, the 'food', the glares and stares… most likely the reason behind it all too. Danny sighed into his hand, his other twitched with irritation. "Again, Sam. Really?" Fuck all, she was doing her ultra-vegan shtick again. She's done it before, and she's done it again. He was seriously hoping she would have caught on to how people feel about this sort of stuff.

Nobody liked it before, and no one likes it now.

Fenton sighed again, accepting the awful situation he was just placed in. Danny made his way through the empty lunch line, but when he got his food, they had the gall to actually try and charge him for this garbage. He threw it away right in front of them, screw paying for that. So he was going without food today, great. He peeked at the vending machines in the corner, a small spark of hope igniting in his heart, only to find the food dispensers empty.

There goes that idea.

Danny stalked up to his table, trying to figure out what to say to his friend. He was going to give her a piece of his mind, no doubt. They were finally getting more comfortable with each other, all three of them, and she had to pull a stunt like this. When he reached their table, Danny looked down at his friends. Sam was happily munching away on a salad, though he noticed an empty tray next to her. He raised an eyebrow, she actually ate that shit?

"It's garbage Sam, why would you do this?!" Ha! He wasn't the only one who thought that apparently.

The gothic girl dropped her fork dramatically into her salad, "It's not garbage Tucker!" She hissed. "It's a perfectly acceptable substitute to what everyone else eats!" It was an impressive feat that she wasn't actually yelling it, maybe she noticed the displeased stares she was getting.

Danny chose this moment to but into the conversation, "No Sam, it is not an 'acceptable substitute' for food. It looks and," he picked up Tuckers tray and smelled the food, recoiling at the stench. "It smells like grass and dirt. It's garbage, face it."

Her glare turns to Danny, even more upset that no one, not even her friends appreciate this. "You too Danny? What's possibly wrong with it?" She crossed her arms in an angry pout.

Danny groaned and sat down, propping up his head up on his arms. "Sam, this shit," He gestured towards the 'food', "only suits your tastes. Not mine, not Tuckers, and no one else in the school! I mean, seriously, look around." How could she not see that?

Sam did so, taking in all the glares she was getting. She held her ground though, "They're just ungrateful, it's for their benefit too!" It's hopeless. She doesn't get it.

The Halfa growled in frustration, forcing his fangs to stay inside his gums when his teeth showed. "Oh my- you're impossible. Seriously, in a school of like, 1400 students, you're the only one who likes this crud."

"That's not true." She snaps at him. Danny raises an eyebrow, giving her the opportunity to continue. "The other vegans like it." What a weak argument. She points over to another table, one happily eating the small sod patches like a bunch of-

"Ah, the sheeple. Yeah, I get why they'd like it." Tucker grumbles and rolls his eyes, but Sam slaps his arm for the sarcastic comment. "Sheeple is insulting, don't say that."

"Oh, for the love of- that's what they are Sam!" Tucker stands up, angry and irritated from hunger and a lack of meat to satisfy it. "It's GRASS and MUD! They probably got it from the field behind the school!" He shouted.

A landscaper with muddy boots who was passing by one of the open doors overheard the comment, and he whistles nervously as his pace increases, intent on getting away.

The argument was reaching the rest of the cafeteria, who was not at all pleased at the worse than usual sustenance. It was rare to see the trio of freaks fight like this, that didn't mean others didn't want to voice their thoughts as well.

"FENTURD!" Danny pinched the bridge of his nose, mumbling curses under his breath in irritation. He glares at Sam, whose attention is on the jock making his way over. "Look at what you did, damn it. Now I gotta deal with the blond buffoon." She snickers at the insult, but it's obvious Danny didn't say that as a joke, but just to insult the bully.

"Is that meat I smell?" What the hell was Tucker talking about now?

Danny gets up from his seat and turns around to see Dash with a tray in his hand. He sticks it out and points to it, "Look at this! Why is my food garbage, and not food! I wanted mud pies, not actual MUD!" Dash shoves the tray at Danny, and in response it's shoved back. The bully growls at his peer.

"And? How is this my fault Dash?" Well, he can take a guess. Anything that Sam does to piss someone off, he gets punished for normally. That's the way it was in the past, but definitely not the future.

The jock points at Sam, glaring at Danny the whole time. "It's your girlfriend's fault the menu changed into… garbage!"

Sam sputters with a blush, but with damaged trust it's far easier for Danny to assert the truth with a straight face. "We're not dating Dash, now what do you want?"

The quarterback smirks, "Yeah, well I'm still gonna beat you to a pulp, after I make you eat this shit!" He snarls, shoving the tray of sod back into Danny.

Fenton stares at the tray of 'food' for maybe three seconds, before taking the mudpie. He looks up at Dash, taking in his cocky grin and expectant glare. Danny smirks and throws the garbage right in his face, giving him a good mouthful of the stuff and knocking him over.

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"GARBAGE FIGHT!" Danny shouts.

Chaos ensues as everyone and their best friend start throwing the small patches of sod left, right, and center. Dash is on the ground, trying to get the stuff out of his eyes and mouth. Danny laughs at him, gives him the bird, and starts making his way towards the exit. Danny's pretty sure he heard Sam say something about it not being garbage again, at least before she ducked under the table. Tucker had wandered off earlier while mumbling something about meat; he worried Danny sometimes when he acts like that, it's strange and unhealthy. Kind of like his diet.

The second Danny's out of the door, his ghost sense goes off, the blue puff of vapor squeezing through his grit teeth. "Oh, motherfucker! Of course, as if going without lunch wasn't bad enough." The tug pulls him back around, turning him towards the lunch line on the opposite wall. Eyes widen as he spots the fairly obvious target, no one has green skin and floats besides ghosts after all.

How did she get so close without his ghost sense going off earlier? Normally the abilities range encompasses a good chunk of Amity Park, though it's rather vague the closer he gets. Was it possible for some ghosts to hide from his ghost sense? That's not a comforting thought.

The ghost this time around is humanoid, or rather, like the Box Ghost, was probably human at one point since she actually looks the part. Skulker is humanoid-esque, the battlesuit is at least, not his true form. The best way to describe her would be a lunch lady. Maybe mid-forties, similar uniform to the actual lunch ladies currently in the process of fleeing. Liver spots here and there and large yellow latex or plastic gloves for washing dishes. She has a sweet, grandma styled smile on her face, and it gives Danny hope that for once an encounter with the undead won't lead to a fight.

A quick look around shows that there's way too many people around to actually transform, but there's a rather convenient broom closet under the staircase nearby. Luckily, the ghost seems to be busy baking… cookies? "...Huh." A short run later and he's hidden in a closet and transformed into his other half.

Danny phases into the trashed lunch room, not bothering to hide himself. If this goes south, like literally every other encounter so far, hiding isn't going to do jack shit. The garbage fight is nearing its end though, and there's not many people left in the cafeteria. Not surprising considering the circumstances, no one wants to be covered in mud.

Attention is on him almost immediately, a glowing floating teenager with white hair is hard to not notice. Tucker is still not in the room, gone off to who knows where and following his stomach. Danny can see the deep scowl on Sams face, most likely because of him, turn into surprise when she turns to him. Is that recognition as well? Oh boy, it's difficult to restrain the feral grin that just wants to come out; he had completely forgotten that the guy she went on a date with looked like a cheap copy of this form.

With all eyes on Danny, he floats two feet off the ground over to the lunch line. He phases through the sanitation glass, to the surprise of literally everyone else at the display of supernatural power, and makes his way over to the homely looking ghost.

The ghost turns around and finally notices the Halfa, with a tray of freshly baked cookies in hand. Danny waves at her in an attempt to seem friendly, "Hi! Uh- I'm Phantom, nice to meet you?"

Despite the awkward greeting, she smiles sweetly at him and offers the tray to him. "Hello sweety, you can call me Lunch Lady. Cookie?"

Danny blinked, absolutely stunned that he wasn't being attacked. It's a miracle, finally, a ghost that didn't immediately want to cause him harm! He took the cookie and took a bite, marveling at the taste. It was delicious! Probably the best damn cookie he's ever had in his half-life.

"Wow, uh- that was an amazing cookie, probably the best I've ever had. Thank you." Complimenting is always a great way to get on someone's good side, and hopefully, this time it's no different.

Her smile widens and she holds the tray closer to him, "Thank you dear, take as many as you want!" Danny didn't need another prompt, immediately he grabbed a handful of the confections. Time was not wasted as more of the sweets were shoved into his mouth, truly these were the best damn cookies he's ever had.

Danny cleared his throat, still with a few cookies in hand. There was no reason he had to eat all of them now, some could be saved for later as well. Later of course meant when he wasn't in a conversation, manners were important for first impressions. "So, Lunch Lady," he starts, "what brings you here? I'm not trying to be rude, but most ghosts that show up tend to attack."

Lunch Lady lets go of the tray, letting it float in the air in a slight green glow. Danny's eyebrows go up, impressed at the display of… telekinesis? The Halfas' eyes nearly sparkled at the display; could he do that too?! She adjusts her gloves for a moment before addressing the question, "Well, I felt a change in the menu and came to investigate. Imagine my surprise when I find what's supposed to be meatloaf day… turn into- into-" The undead food worker struggles to find the correct words, and the intense scowl on her face unnerves the teenage ghost.

"Garbage?" Phantom offers what he thinks is the correct word. Lunch Lady laughs in response, disturbing him with just how quickly she changed from happy grandma, to pissed old lady, and then back to a chipper mood. All within ten seconds. With Jazz as a sister, he's picked up some things here and there, so it's easy to spot erratic emotions and pairing that with supernatural powers… bad combo, all around.

"I couldn't have said it better myself! Do you know why it was changed? I must know!" There's the mood swings again, Box Ghost and Skulker didn't seem so… unstable. Then again, they attacked him without mercy, and Skulker in particular does want his pelt, as gross as that is.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out what would happen if he told her it was Sam.

"I'm not sure? Budget cuts maybe? It's probably not gonna last long if you're wondering. No one likes it, so-"

"Budget cuts?!" She shrieks. Her hair stands on ends and her whole body starts to glow, along with the kitchen equipment. Her size increases slowly, and small flames light the edges of her clothes, green as ectoplasm, but no less threatening. So she has pyrokinesis too, great. Danny's quick to raise his hands in an attempt to calm her.

"Whoa! Whoa! No need for violence! I'm just- Ah!" Several knives fly at him, passing through his body when he turns intangible. He bites his lips in nervousness, that was close. He almost got shanked by kitchen cutlery, by a lunch lady of all things.

When his attention is redirected at the other ghost in the room, his pale complexion falls another shade. Every piece of cookware in the kitchen, pots and pans, forks, spoons, sheet trays, toasters, even the blender, everything floats and twirls rapidly, all aimed at him.

Danny repeats the process and turns intangible, but a good chunk of the equipment flies through the safety glass, breaking it and scattering glass shards on to the ground. Watching students scatter, running and screaming while they make a hasty retreat out of the cafeteria.

"Why are you attacking me?! I didn't even do anything to you!" This recurring theme, if it could even be called that, was absolute bullshit. Seriously, this was an old lady ghost who had literally just given him a fucking cookie. Someone, somewhere, clearly saw his life as a damn joke. Fighting a lunch lady ghost who's pissed at him for a change in the school menu he had no control over; yeah, someone's having a riot right now.

Diplomacy may not be lost though, it's completely possible that he can turn this around. Trying again, he makes an attempt to reach out. "Listen, please, I don't want to fight you! I agree with you, the stuff is horrible and I'd rather have the schools awful meatloaf than the lawn clippings they're trying to serve. So just- I dunno- stop attacking me!"

Oh… how sick of it he was. Every ghost he's ever met has attacked him. Every. Single. Fucking. One. Just once, he wanted to have a conversation with one that didn't end in violence. Just once, he wanted to have tangible proof that all ghosts weren't evil! Because if they were… what does that make him? Sure, Lunch Lady wasn't the best choice, but she seemed nice enough when calm, maybe she just gets her knickers in a twist over the school menu?

That just sounds stupid though.

To his relief, she actually stopped attacking. Danny sighed in relief, he really didn't want to fight an old lady. Even if she was a ghost with superpowers. The fire surrounding her body slowly lessens, and she starts to shrink back down to what he assumes is her normal form.

With a glare still set onto her face, Lunch Lady responds to his plea. "I… guess you're right. I'm sorry about that, you had no control over what this school decides." The remaining kitchen utensils are placed back where they originally came from, and her hair settles back to its normal state.

Danny pumps a fist in victory, ecstatic about actually avoiding a fight. He did it! This wasn't going to end in him beating up an old lady, or even worse, him getting beaten by an old lady! "Okay, cool! Awesome! This shit isn't going to last long, trust me, so don't worry about the menu, okay? This won't even last a day, there's no way it will."

Lunch Lady, still angry, but at the moment willing to listen to reason, nods in agreement. "It better change. This rubbish is an insult to food, and I will not stand for it to replace anything on the menu!" Her red eyes flash for a moment, indicating a small spike in power.

Danny let his shoulders relax, rolling them to make them less tense. This was going far better than he hoped, maybe after this whole school menu fiasco was said and done with, he could get some information out of her. And maybe some more cookies.

"It's not rubbish! Or garbage! It's a perfectly acceptable substitute for all the crap this school feeds us!" His head has never moved so fast in his entire life, whipping around with his body to face that oh-so familiar voice. Behind him and standing in the doorway is Sam. If she was trying to be intimidating with her arms crossed, it didn't work. The glare didn't work either.

And Danny couldn't fucking believe this. She was going to ruin it. He had finally achieved a non-violent solution with a ghost, something he hasn't been able to do yet! Months! For months it's been all conflicts, even the two he met that could talk, they still attacked him! And she just… said that. To the super powered ghost that was throwing knives with her fucking mind.

Snarling with fangs and all, and a glare that could freeze fire, Phantom couldn't help but say his thoughts out loud, "You dumb fucking goth." He turned back around just in time to see the frier, the oven, and the steamer flying at him and Sam.

"Fuck!"

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"I can smell you, meat! I'm coming!" Tucker stalked the halls with his nose in the air, occasionally sniffing the ground as he walked. He could smell it, practically taste it, and the tech geek knew with every fiber in his being that there was meat somewhere! It was nearby, in all its juicy goodness, and he would have it.

He just had to find it.

Tucker tracked the scent of meat all the way from the lunch room, following behind Mr. Lancer. He knew the portly teacher had a stash of some kind, the guy practically smelled of sirloin! It was only when his English teacher went into the teacher's lounge did he stop.

As much he wanted to dive into fleshy sustenance, which didn't really sound good, he also didn't want to get into trouble. The 'Faculty Only' sign on the door made it clear enough that students were not allowed. Inner turmoil tore through him, weighing the consequences. On one hand, if he left now, he wouldn't get in trouble. On the other hand, Tucker skipped breakfast, and without lunch he might just eat this textbook.

Then Tucker caught a whiff of that truly delicious aroma, the kind that only comes from meat. Not just any kind of meat, but the expensive kind that he didn't get to eat that often. It smells divine, absolutely magnificent, and his reason crumbled before he could think opening the door was a bad idea.

He certainly wasn't expecting to be hit in the face with a rather large ham, nor did he expect the congo line of floating meats following the ham. Chicken tenders and legs, steaks, pork chops, sausages, name it and it was floating out of the room and a rapid pace. Right back to the cafeteria. Tucker couldn't believe his eyes, how much meat was in the teachers lounge?! And why was it floating away from him, and not towards him?!

His mind finally caught up to his stomach and he quickly gets back up on his feet. Tucker looked into the teachers lounge, spotting several in there with their mouths hanging open. Yeah, he could see why. Flying meat and all that. Mr. Lancer in particular looked lost, the sandwich in his hands missing its most important contents, leaving nothing but the two pieces of bread and lettuce.

That was enough staring at teachers who couldn't feed him, he decided. Swiftly the teenager was turned around and sprinting down the hall, chasing after the meat.

"Wait for me meat!" His destination: the lunch room. His goal: the consumption of meat.

Nobody ever said Tucker Foley wasn't strange.

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It's not often she admits her mistakes, or that she feels bad about a previous decision. Normally she thinks things through, with the best intentions of course, even if others didn't approve. Like her lunch ideas, she's tried them before, but they've never stuck. The people should have been grateful, if they had stuck with the ultra-recyclo vegan diet, then they would have had a much healthier diet, which meant a stronger body. To top it all off, no animals would have been hurt so someone else could eat, a win-win for everyone and everything. Tucker was an anomaly to this thought, his all meat diet had always disturbed Sam to some level, and she had no idea how he hadn't keeled over from a heart attack yet.

This would be the last time Sam tried to change the menu. She expected fierce resistance from Tucker, that was a given considering he couldn't stand anything that didn't come from something with a face. So it came as a surprise to the goth when her other friend argued against her too. Was it really that bad? Danny had called it garbage immediately, as did Tucker and Dash too, not that she cared for his opinion. Fuck the bully, he could eat shit for all she cared.

Never in her wildest dreams did she think doing something as insignificant as changing the school lunch menu for one day would cause this mess. Sam had almost been killed by kitchen equipment, courtesy of her big mouth. 'If I hadn't been so damn heated at the moment, this wouldn't have happened.' The goth has a temper, she's been told so all her life, and she knew it too. It wasn't uncommon for her to get caught up in the moment, and out of sheer stubbornness or anger, escalate a problem bigger than it needed to be. It had caused problems with her friends before, and strained relations with them too.

When the white-haired teenager grabbed her, it was so fast she could barely react. Before Sam knew what was happening, she was going through walls and doors, like they weren't even there! Luckily, she held her dignity in tact by not screaming in surprise or fear. Yes, she was scared and surprised, but Sam's a stubborn person and she learned long ago not to show weakness in a social setting, courtesy of the vultures her parents called 'friends'.

The glowing boy that saved her set her down behind a tree, patting her shoulders as if to determine if she was still in one piece. "You okay? You look a bit shaken there." The echo in his voice was almost haunting, but the concern was real and kept fear at bay. It was when Sam finally looked up at his eyes that she gasped, completely taken aback. The most intoxicating and deadly glowing green she had ever seen stared back, eying her up and down in concern. Sure, she had a look at him from afar, but up close it was hard to deny the charm he had with his unique appearance, and unlike Elliot, everything about this new teens look was natural.

Sam blushed slightly, clearing her throat and giving the half-ghost a nod. "Yeah, I- I'm good, almost got deep fried there, but I'm good."

His laugh was both pleasing and familiar, "That's good. But just so you know, picking a fight with a ghost isn't a good idea."

Surprise flashes across her face, and realization dawned on her. It was ectoplasm green! Danny's parents had this stuff lying around the house all the time, and it was the main focus of their scientific research! So the lunch lady from before was a ghost? Then did that mean… "Are you a ghost?"

Now it's Phantoms turn to have his eyes widen in surprise. "Huh, got it in one. Given how dumb you were back there, I'm kinda surprised you figured it out so quick without any clues."

The obvious slight makes her frown, forgetting her surprise at the current situation. Yes, it wasn't the best decision, but was it really deserving to be called dumb? "Don't call me that, it's insulting. I didn't mean to make her mad either, it's just that everyone keeps calling it garbage when it's not, and I'm sick of hearing it!"

The Halfa's patience lessened significantly, especially since he had practically been on a moral high before and came crashing down because of the girl in front of him. And after the situation devolved into violence, once again, he's had enough. "Listen," he snaps, "Get this through your head, okay? You just made this whole situation ten times worse than it already was. Hell, you're the reason she's here in the first place! The menu changed rather drastically, and she showed up to see why! As dumb of a reason that is, you're still at fault!"

Okay, she didn't know that. So the whole thing was her fault, and then she made it worse by provoking the ghost lady again? That's depressing to realize, especially for someone who preached non-violence. To Sam, this practically meant that she caused a fight between the two restless dead. She bit her lip at that thought, not liking the possible conclusions and implications.

Danny wasn't done yet though, he reached down and grabbed a handful of grass and dirt, shoving it in between the two. "This look familiar? Well, it fucking should. This is grass, you know, the shit you tried to force down everyone's throat? It's grass, meant for cows and herbivores, not natural omnivores like people!" The in-lectured goth didn't even know how the spirit before her knew that before he continued.

Danny took a step closer, poking a finger at her forehead with enough force to push her back a step. "And another thing? You just ruined the first peaceful interaction I could have had with another ghost! Dozens of violent and hostile meetings with mindless monsters or insane ghosts, and I finally get the least initially violent one. But that lasts less than ten seconds before," Phantom pokes her head again, "you ruin it. Now I gotta fight an old lady ghost, and it's your fault! Think before you do something! What's the saying? 'Look before you leap'? Follow that saying!" By the end of his rant, Danny's eyes were glowing an even brighter shade of green, leaving contrails of misty energy whenever he moved his head or eyes. His volume had risen far louder than he wanted it to as well.

Sam at least had the decency to look down in shame, fully realizing her actions and possible consequences. Even more so that she apparently ruined the only peaceful encounter the boy before her had ever successfully initiated with another of his own kind. And yes, she may have been overzealous about the lunch menus' drastic change. Perhaps she should have asked for a salad bar instead of a full on menu replacement. So with a heavy heart and a guilty conscience, it takes far more than she thought it would to even mutter a quiet: "I'm sorry." She couldn't even look him in the eyes when she said it.

Having finally said his piece for both Phantom and Fenton, Danny was able to calm down a little. He was still pissed, no doubt about it, and he'd put this newfound aggression to use with the inevitable fight against the Lunch Lady. What had his life come to that this situation was actually happening?

It's not often Sam acts so meek, but he figured she finally saw the err she's done. Especially with her personality, she most likely feels like shit. She should, for sure, but there was no reason to rub it in. At least for now, there was plenty of time for that later.

A deep sigh brought her attention back to the half-ghost hero before her. He was rubbing his face with his hand, looking far more stressed than someone who looks her age should. Then again, age is a tricky thing with ghosts, so it's completely possible the being before her is ten times her age. Despite the truly exotic appearance, there was something hauntingly familiar about him, she just couldn't put a finger on it.

Phantom started floating off the ground, focusing on the school he had just rescued his friend from. "Well, I got a job to do. See ya later." He waved at her, offering a small salute, but was halted by her call.

"Wait!" Danny suppressed a groan, but complied anyway by turning around. Although hesitant, she had enough courage to call out to him, so it would be ridiculous to not have enough to at least as for his name. "What's your name?"

An eyebrow raised, whether in surprise or impressed, she didn't know, but much to her glee, he responded. "The name's Phantom, Da-"

Crash!

Introductions were put aside when the glass and doors exploded outwards, hundreds of pounds of meat flying through and twirling in a kind of tornado. Even more meat flew from several trucks in the parking lot as well, further increasing its mass. It wasn't exactly nice to look at, and that was further reinforced when Danny heard a quiet, 'I'm gonna be sick." come from behind him. Deciding to let her keep some pride, Danny took off towards the mound of meat amassing before him. More and more of the stuff kept pouring out of the school, truly baffling the Halfa on where it all came from.

The meat mashed together, stripping from any bone it once was connected to and grinding together to become ground meat. The sound was unpleasant, like sloshing slime and chewing food. Even the smell did nothing for Danny, as having too much of one thing can be bad, and this was a prime example. Slowly, the amassed food took shape and grew in size.

Seriously, where was all this meat coming from? This is ridiculous.

The giant meat monster, taller than the school by almost twenty feet is not a pretty sight. It's gross, simply put. The red-brown body jiggles and sways at its new height, but is held together by the same green glow coming from its eyes. Danny's face sours, like he sucked on a lemon. "I'm not hungry anymore."

The meat monster, formerly Lunch Lady, roars in anger. In hindsight, this is stupid. He's about to fight a giant blob of meat, all over a changed lunch menu. If he died, it would probably be one of the most humiliating ways to die. Death by ground beef, how pathetic would that be?

The mighty morphing meat monster swings its bulky arm, but if there's one thing Danny's confident in, it's his speed. And compared to the hulking mass of protein? It's not even a contest. He ducks under the swing, firing two ecto-blasts at the underside of its arms. While burnt and cooked, the damage done doesn't even phase the creature as it swings back for another attempt.

Danny flies up, easily moving out of the way of the second swing. He fires a combined ray at its chest, scorching it and pushing it back against the building. It rebounds quickly, literally throwing its fist at the Halfa like a rocket punch. An attempt to let it pass through with intangibility is met with failure, and he's launched further into the air. After about one-hundred feet, he's had enough and breaks free of the meaty punch. In retaliation he throws a anger charged bolt of electricity at the fist, burning more with his deadly currents.

Again, not much damage is done. Even if it's just meat, there's no nerve endings or pain receptors, so it can all be shrugged off. If his guess is right, it can all be replaced as well if there's more materials nearby. Danny can feel his anger spike at the sheer stupidity of this fight. "Grrr-AAH! This shouldn't even be happening! This is so fucking dumb!"

Two discs form, one in each hand, spinning rapidly and crackling with electricity. Combining electrokinesis with ecto-manipulation is never easy, but he's had enough practice to make them viable in a fight, and the combined effect should do well with the situation.

The monster opens its mouth, a mighty and wet roar greets the ears of all those watching and recording, and from its mouth spews a large plume of fire. Phantom's surprise is shown, but he quickly throws the energy discs with gusto and rolls out of the way. Both fly true, going through the stream of fire aimed at him, and impact the creature. One arm is cut off completely at the shoulder, burning and electrifying both the stump and severed limb. The other hits the meat monster's lower chest, going through the stomach and exploding in a galvanic implosion. A large hole is left in the monster's chest as a result, but it's quickly healed.

The spectators cheer and shout, obviously rooting for the more human of the two. The meat splatters all over the area from the attack, now cooked and burned in some areas. The crowd is caked in the stuff, silencing them with their newfound… coverings. "My hair! Oh, this is so gross!" A certain Sanchez shrieks in horror, covered in the stuff from head to toe.

Danny represses a snicker, mainly because the fight is far from over. Since the abdomen was empty, it's a safe assumption that the Lunch Lady is in the head area. The monster reforms quickly, taking some of the scattered meat, but the Halfa notes that a sizable chunk is left untouched. It still glows green, but it doesn't fly back towards the main body. He raises an eyebrow, but there are far more pressing concerns.

Both arms fire rays at the monster, but several tendrils of meat lash out, undeterred. One of the rays cut off a meat whip, and thinking it taken care of, sweeps the rays over the creatures body. He's smacked down to the ground by the detached limb with excessive force, cratering the ground and skipping across pavement. Phantom groans and holds his head, still dazed and a little confused, but he snaps out of it when he hears screams.

The tentacle of meat that slapped him down was acting independently, snaking around and moving towards a few students. The meat monster turned its attention towards Sam, intent on getting revenge for the change in menu. The Halfa exploded into action, flying low and fast.

The lone tendril is obliterated by several blasts, and Danny swoops down just in time to save Sam the horrible fate of being crushed by ground meat. Surely, that's one of her worst nightmares, especially since she's pretty much a super vegan.

Danny sets down his friend a bit behind the crowd, and he's off again before she can even thank him. The monster is smaller again, not by much, but it is. A quick glance shows that a good chunk of the destroyed and burnt meat lies on the ground, unmoving and still glowing green. "Hmmm." Glowing green eyes dart back to the monster just in time to catch the breath of fire coming his way.

"Oh shit!" With little time to dodge, Danny crosses his arm and reinforces them with ectoplasm. The blast of fire hits him, dead center of the chest where he guards with his arms, and he's blasted back into the school through a window. Rolling to a stop on top of broken glass and wooden splinters, Danny gets up hurt and a little more pissed than before. He nurses his arms, still smoking and smelling distinctly like burnt flesh. Grimacing at the wound, he lets his ecto-claws form around his arms. The sensation of his own ectoplasm feels like a cold sleeve on his hot burns.

Danny's just about ready to blast back outside when he remembers that he doesn't have his thermos! There was no way he could kill Lunch Lady or rip out her core like he did with the mindless animal ghosts, especially so since he actually had a conversation with her. A quick trip later and he's retrieved it from his locker.

Phantom was gone for less than a minute, but in the time he had vanished, the meat monster had taken to vandalizing the school, not that the Halfa truly minded. A rather large hole now adorned the side of the cafeteria and he could see that the kitchen was thoroughly gutted, all the equipment and utensils were floating around the humanoid meat blob like satellites to a planet. The ovens spit out green fire, and there were some dastardly looking meat cupcakes floating around as well.

"Seriously, all this is rather over the top for a menu change, especially one that will be reverted within the week." Danny didn't really mean to say it out loud, but this whole fight was getting stupid.

Apparently he said it too loud though, as the attention of everyone, meat monster and crowd turned to him. He was about ten feet above the school, his legs morphed into a spectral tail and the thermos was clipped to his belt on the back. "How dare you!" The monster shouted, sounding several octaves deeper than her grandmotherly voice from before. "The lunch menu is sacred, and I control it! And with this meat, I will bring your demise!"

Again, he couldn't help but find this overreaction ridiculous.

Danny let claws mold around his arms and prepared a blast in each hand. When equipment finally started flying his way, Danny split the blasts in his hand. The 'Spookshot' as he dubbed it, aptly named after buckshot, flew true and blew up on proximity to the projectiles, causing the Halfa to grin in victory. Deciding to just continue on, Danny formed more and more blasts, destroying every single piece of school cafeteria cookware that flew his way with his AA air-bursts. "Gonna have to try better than that!"

Eventually Lunch Lady saw what was happening, mainly because in her blind rage she only realized she had no more ammo until it was empty. Growling, her meaty arms extended forward at impressive speeds. Knowing he can't just let them pass through him, Danny flies down to avoid them. He's surprised when even after they pass by him, another set of arms appear after him from the extended arms. Caught off guard, the new limbs grip hold of him and slam him into the ground with excessive force.

"Oof!" The breath is knocked out of him, not that he needed it, but just because he's far more durable doesn't mean he likes being beat around like this. Especially since his back is still bruised from his last fight, and it's going to be even worse after this. The meaty arm drags him through the ground, leaving a trench where his body had been through.

Feeling his control slip with anger, Danny's temptation to just let loose spills over, and the Hafla roars in anger to match the meat monsters. Ecto-energy and electricity explode out from his body in fury, thoroughly tired of dealing with this bullshit. The area explodes in light, blinding spectators momentarily. Small licks of flame dance on his shoulder and back momentarily, but are gone before he notices. The meat holding him is quickly burned away to ash, and more of it connecting to the arm smokes from the extreme heat. Some bits of meat drop off with the same green glow, and even in his frustration fueled tantrum, Danny finally pieces together the puzzle that's been bugging him.

His own ectoplasm was overpowering Lunch Lady's, forcing her connection to it to be cut and making the meat useless for her. Phantom grins savagely, angry and righteous for what's happened and what's about to happen. Funneling the rampaging energy into a focal point, Danny aims it at the stunned meat monster. The scratching of lightning with the currently vibrant hum of ectoplasm resounds through the small high school courtyard, haunting those listening as otherworldly energy destabilizes into reality. A ball of volatile ectoplasm and electricity, about as thick as a beach ball, slams into the Lunch Lady's meaty skin shield.

The reaction is instantaneous, along with the sound of sizzling meat. The energy expands and destroys the makeshift body, burning the meat to ash and frying almost the entire body. The head isn't excluded, and when the feral current makes its way there the food worker ghost screams in pain and anger. The meat falls away as her control is lost in the spasms of shocks.

Danny rushes in while she's still stunned, landing an angry kick in the center of her chest. Taking it a step further, he grabs her and throws her away from the crowd of students into the wall. The smoking ghost flies through it, not intangibly, but actually breaking through the wall. Phantom pauses and rubs the back of his head in embarrassment. He turns to the teachers, who like the students are watching stunned and in awe. "Sorry, I got kinda pissed there. I'll try and wrap this up before more damage is done."

Before the faculty staff can respond, he's already off after the old lady ghost. Floating through the hole, Danny quickly spots his groaning target. Sparks of electricity run across her body, disrupting any action she attempts and wisps of smoke waft off her body. He stops in front of her and mutters an apology and sucks her groaning form into the thermos.

Danny sighs and rubs his eyes, finally feeling the fatigue after such an intense fight. He huffs in annoyance as he repeats what he's been thinking ever since this whole debacle started. "All over a fucking menu change, what the hell…"

Phantom stumbles slightly, realizing he's far more drained than he thought, and the tired hero wonders why. Until his last attack registers, and he comes to the conclusion that the attack was the closest he'd gotten to the animal ghosts' 'Feral Focus' as he called it. The unstable energy so far has eluded him, but… "Maybe anger has something to do with it."

Not that anything can be done now, Danny takes off towards the storage closet his stuff was hidden. The last bit of energy he has is spent getting back into the crowd with invisibility. Although his wounds sting like a motherfucker, he shrugs it off for now. They'll be releasing school today, no doubt, and when that happens he'll have plenty of time for some patchwork first-aid.

So for now, he endured.

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Tucker didn't think that of all things he'd see today, a giant meat monster would be one of them. Even as someone who boasts as a meat only carnivore, his stomach had paused at the abomination to his favorite food. It was such a waste! He would have gladly eaten the fallen cooked bits, but even if he was seriously hungry, there's no way he'll touch glowing green meat.

Luckily he had a great vantage point from the destroyed cafeteria and had captured almost the whole fight on his PDA. Confident that he would get at least a million views for the footage, especially since his device has an excellent camera, the tech geek made his way out of the wrecked building to look for his friends.

He spots Sam first, looking a little shook up, but other than that she's fine. Tucker looks around in concern, not finding their raven haired friend, but that concern is lost when he hears, "Are you guys alright?"

Both friends turn around to see Danny, looking tired and disheveled, but other than that okay. He offers a tired smile, and the darker skinned teen can't help but understand why. It's not everyday that their school is attacked by a meaty monstrosity.

Before either of the two can react, Sam pulls both of them into a hug. "I'm so glad you guys are alright!" Both of them are a little stunned, especially since Sam was being so emotional right now, but figuring the traumatic experience she just went through, it's understandable. Both of them miss the wince Danny gives as his back and chest have pressure applied to them.

The sight would be looked at strangely if it wasn't a common one at the moment, and it's not surprising considering the damage done to the school could have easily been done to a person, only far worse.

As expected, school is cancelled for the day, and most likely for the next week or two until repairs are implemented.

When the Fentons show up, shouting about ghosts left, right, and center, Danny can't even muster the energy to feel embarrassed. The shouting from his father made both his friends wince, mainly because of the scene the large man was making. The bored look on their friends face wasn't the blushing one they were expecting, but there was no way they could know just how tired he was.

Looking around, Tucker could make out some looks of pity aimed at Danny, while there are many more looking on and laughing at the 'freak' and his family. A good deal of those people stop laughing when the large bazooka the elder Fenton was carrying, many of which thought it was fake, fired on accident.

The projectile unfolded into a large net and slammed right into their son. The laughing stopped at that, more so since Danny had been pinned to a tree and knocked out when his head made a rather loud thud.

Now it was mainly pity aimed at the Halfa.

Sam immediately went off in a tirade of screams, along with Danny's mother and his sister Jazz who had just appeared and shrieked in fury at the scene. Tucker took the moment to bring his unconscious friend to his parents RV, if the tank could even be called that anymore. Normal RV's don't have laser turrets mounted on them.

When Danny is placed on the couch inside, Tucker slumps down in the chair across from him, waiting to be joined by his other friend and Danny's sister. While waiting, he replayed the video he took, editing it as he went. He didn't add music, he just cut out the parts where there was less action, and touched up the resolution on the more choppy bits.

Feeling more satisfied now that he's completed his self-appointed task, he clicks the upload button, and waits for the views to roll in.

Tucker made sure to litter the video with ads, milking the ad revenue for everything it's worth. He's got to have some way to pay for his babies, especially since his allowance is so mediocre.

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"Honestly, I can't believe Tucker got the whole thing on film." Danny watched the video from start to finish on his phone, over and over. He took notes of everything he could have done wrong, did do wrong, and what he could have done better.

The whole Lunch Lady incident was a bit of a wake up call. So far, the school hadn't been targeted by ghosts. It made the place a bit of a safe haven, even if he had to deal with jocks and bullies.

Well, not anymore.

If he was going to do this hero thing, which he's been doing for a while now anyway, he's going to have to get better. The incident two days ago provided ample footage, courtesy of his African-american friend, and he had been studying every bit of footage he had been captured on since this morning. It wasn't much, he had been better at avoiding the public eye than originally thought, but the few times he was on camera gave him enough to work on.

The biggest thing he seemed to lack? Focus. It was all too easy to see him get distracted constantly during the fight, all fights caught on camera. Admittedly, some of those were to save people, but that's beside the point. Simply put, during fights he gets sidetracked for a second or two, takes a mean hit, and repeats the process until the fight's over or he gets an advantage. It wasn't efficient, and one of these times it's going to cost him something far worse than a nasty bruise or broken bone.

"Whatcha watchin'?" Danny jumps from the chair, barely catching himself on his feet. He turns his head to see Jazz behind him, book in hand as usual and a look of curiosity and surprise on her face. Before he can say anything she continues, "Sorry Danny, I didn't mean to scare you." Considering the ghost attack was still fresh on their minds, Jazz really hoped it didn't traumatize her brother. His recent paranoia was bad enough, but it didn't need to be justified and made worse by actual ghosts. She could see how much it was stressing him out.

Danny shook his head and smiled at her, "It's alright, just wasn't paying attention. Here for breakfast?" He shot a look of concern at his mother making food again, one followed by his sister. He was glad they were leaving the lab more often, even if it was for short amounts of time, Danny was still able to spend more time with them.

Jazz nodded at her brother, "Hoping for edible food and not a home style version of the meat monster from school." Danny chuckled a little, only now realizing that perhaps he's been fighting ectoplasmic foodstuffs since before he became a Halfa.

Jazz isn't going to drop the question though, especially since her brother has been acting so strange lately. So she reiterates it again as she sits down, "Again, whatcha watchin'?"

The little brother pauses, unsure if he should tell her, but deciding there's nothing really suspicious about it, shows her the video. "Tucker got almost the whole thing recorded, pretty cool right? He's already got…" He takes the phone back and scrolls down to the view count, "three million views!"

Impressed with the video and quality, but generally uninterested, Jazz lets a "Wow" out and turns her attention to her book, but only partially. The rest of her attention is on her father, who once again was working on an invention. It had two small radar dishes on it, one on the front and another by the touch screen. As usual, it was a green and silver, with the words Fenton on it.

One of these days that ego is going to get him in trouble.

The device didn't seem terribly dangerous, but anything their parents make is cause for concern for the two Fenton children. Jack abruptly gets up, bringing the device and multi-tool in hand over to his wife. Even if she was cooking, multitasking is something Maddie Fenton was known for.

The Fenton matriarch looks at the device, using the multi-tool to open a panel in the back and fiddles with it. With the device in far safer hands, Danny turns back to the video to see if he can get any more ideas for improvement. Seeing telekinesis already gave him the idea to at least try it for a few days, and seeing as how he's very beat up, doing something that's not physically strenuous sounds wonderful right now.

"It's done!" Jack shouts, drawing everyone's attention. A sense of deja-vu overcomes Danny, making him flinch, mainly since he's heard that line as a precursor for an accident plenty of times before. As in, before he was shot with a faulty invention.

"It's not done honey, it'll still take another day or so for the last parts to get here." His wife is completely ignored, instead his attention is on the brand-new invention in his hand.

Jack holds it up in triumph, "May I present the Fenton Finder!"

Not entirely sure what he's looking at, the siblings just shrug at each other. "Jack, Maddie just said it's not done yet. We don't need a repeat of last time."

The father of the house turns to look at his daughter and frowns, "Jazz, I thought I told you to call us mom and dad."

Jazz narrows her eyes in protest and anger, letting her scowl be known. "And I thought you weren't going to work on anything at the dining room table anymore? Huh? What happened to that?" Her words are harsh, but if there's one thing that Jack is known for, it's not picking up on subtle, and not-so subtle hints.

"This baby uses satellites to track down ghosts! With it, we'll be able to find any spector and tear them apart molecule by molecule!" Seemingly ignoring his daughter's comment, Jack continues his lecture.

There it is again, 'molecule by molecule'.

That comment has been directed at him when he's Phantom, and recently it's made him want to act on self-preservation from the words alone, especially since it's normally accompanied by incoming shots from ecto-guns. Danny's pretty sure that's something similar to what happened when he became a ghost, and he is in no way eager to experience the threat again. He wasn't even sure how they would tear something apart on quite that miniscule of a level, but his parents made an interdimensional portal and there's no telling what else they can make.

Danny looks at his sister and he sees her eye twitch in annoyance. "Don't ignore me!" Normally he'd stay out of it, but what his dad said is concerning, especially for him. "So, it uses what to track down who?"

Nonplussed and ready to explain his invention, Jack turns and points it at Danny. "Satelites, my boy! And the targets are ghosts! Watch!" He presses a button, most likely the power switch, and the machine sparks momentarily. It's questionable if it's going to work, but indeed powers on seconds later.

Flashbacks to last time go through his head, and rather heatedly he gets up from his chair. "Don't point that at me! I remember what happened last time!"

Maddie watches out of the corner of her eye, but gets back to work anyway. Danny had a point, and she told Jack not to work on anything at the table anymore. Maybe she should have threatened his fudge, that was always a sure-fire way to get him to do what she wanted.

The head of the house laughs off the concerns of his son with gusto, "Don't worry Danny! It's not a weapon this time, it can't possibly hurt you." Jack fiddles with the controls and a synthetic voice sounds out from the device, "Ghost detected, five feet in front of you." The Halfa had a hard time believing anything they made couldn't hurt him. The damn toaster blew up on him one time, and this device if made properly, could screw him over big time.

Jack squeals and jumps up and down in excitement, "Look! Look! We already got a live one!" The large man ignores his wifes, "They're not alive sweety." Continuing forward he pokes his son in the chest with the device, much to Danny's protests.

"Ghost detected directly in front of you, you'd have to be an idiot to not see it." Panic is starting to set in, he'd been cornered, quite literally and Jack was squinting his eyes at Danny as if to discern if he's human or ghost. "Huh."

There was a silver lining though, and that was Jazz.

"If you don't get that defective piece of junk away from Danny, I'm going to break it!" Jazz quickly got in between him and his father, slapping the location tool away and the glare she sent his way could freeze fire. Maddie quickly left the stove with plates of food, and after setting them down in their proper places, moved to her husband.

"See Jack, that's what I meant. It's missing parts, and you should really heed our daughters warning. Besides, you said you wouldn't mess with inventions at the table, and we have something to tell them anyway." Jack relented with his wife's words, and when he looked at his daughter, promptly flinched and backed away. He set the Fenton Finder on the counter and sat down at the head of the table, quickly digging in. Danny didn't know how his parents got permission to use a satellite for something as ridiculous as ghost hunting, but he made a mental note to break the damn thing later and if possible, destroy the blueprints for it.

Although still hesitant to sit down at the table again, Jazz eventually gets Danny to sit back down next to her. The whole time she sent glares at her parents, mainly Jack, but it's Maddies fault as well for not reprimanding him. Maddie sighs at that, but deciding to just move on with the conversation, sits down and begins eating as well.

Minutes go by in awkward silence; Danny being uncomfortable, Jazz being pissed, and the two disconnected and eccentric parents were not entirely sure how to address the situation. Glancing at her husband, it's all too clear to her that Jack, as usual, won't be able to help in this scenario. At the halfway point through her breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast, Maddie clears her throat to get her children's attention.

"Well, ignoring what happened earlier, we did want to tell you two something." Danny and Jazz glance at each other, silently asking if the other knows what it's about, but as the two shake their heads no, their mother continues.

"We have a college reunion coming up next week, and your Uncle Vlad's hosting it. Since you two are out of school for the next two weeks, we decided that it'd be a good chance to visit him!" Both teenagers actually perk up at that, it's not often they get to see their uncle, and with the school closed for repairs neither of them have any plans. Jazz doesn't have any friends her age for one, and Danny was just going to hang out with his friends and train his powers.

"Well, I'm fine with that." Danny says, his eyes turn to Jazz and she nods in agreement, "That's okay with me. You guys never take us to visit anyway, so now's as good of a time as ever I guess."

Jack's grin threatens to split his face, "That's great!" He booms, "Wait till we tell Vladdie! He'll be so excited to see you two!"

Surprised that breakfast didn't end in him getting hurt, but rather on a high note, Danny finished his food and put the dishes in the dishwasher. "So the reunions next week, yeah?" Both parents nod, so Danny continues, "When are we leaving then?"

Maddie checks her watch, one with Fenton slapped before the name no doubt, before saying, "We'll leave in three days." She gets up to take the remaining plates to be cleaned, continuing, "Be sure to pack for a little more than a week. Vlad's got more than enough room and money for an extended stay, so be sure to spend as much time as possible with him since you two don't get to see him that much."

The children nod, with Jazz muttering under her breath, "Who's fault is that?" Danny snickers, but when Jazz turns to him in surprise, it's only now that he sees that it was because of enhanced hearing that he heard her. Damn it, he was across the room, he should have kept his mouth shut. Deciding to vacate the room, Danny makes a hasty retreat to his bedroom.

When he gets up there, he smiles in contentment. The half-ghost quickly got to work packing, more than satisfied that this unscheduled break will actually have some benefit besides being lazy.

So he packed, whistling a tune he had heard recently and all too happy to visit one of the only sane members of his family. He's a little concerned about leaving the town undefended, but it should be fine.

Everyone deserves a vacation, especially since his summer was ruined.