Behind Unknown Eyes

05

The morning scent surrounded Danny as he walked with his friends to school. Yesterday ended with no slip-ups. No ghost attacks.

Just silence.

It was eating him up from the inside out as to why nothing was happening. He hoped that today would be normal. It had been almost a year of battling ghosts every single day and now they had broken the pattern. It just felt off. 

Sam studied his face as they walked the path to Caspar High. The air was crisp and the sun was making its way up the sky, but Sam couldn't pay attention to that. She wanted to know what was up. 

She nudged him in the arm. He gave his best friend a confused, yet startled look. She had broken him out of his daydream. "You look like you've just seen a ghost." Sam couldn't help the pun. Tucker snickered as well.

 Danny sigh, tilting his head back. "That's the problem, Sam. I haven't seen any ghosts. Skulker, Technus, Vlad, Johnny 13, Ember, not even the Box Ghost." He sighed once more. 

He was just used to the schedule and now it was scattered everywhere. He felt that if he didn't protect the town then he would fail. "What if they are hiding out somewhere in Amity? I need to go find them-" Tucker interrupted him. 

"Danny, listen. So what that your ghost sense didn't go off yesterday? And even if they are somewhere, they will for sure be here sometime soon. And when they do show up, you will surely beat their butts easily."

Danny knew that he was overreacting. Part of this was just because he wanted something to do. When he had gotten home last night, he had considered doing his homework. He declined that thought immediately. The ghost boy wasn't that bored.

When the high school had finally come into view, Danny felt reassured. Caspar High had always been a magnet for his fellow ghost enemies.

They walked their way in and made their way up to Mr. Lancer's classroom. His stomach began to twist and turn. Danny remembered their reactions towards him yesterday. To both of him. Phantom was surely their favorite out of the two. Maybe they would beg to watch more of their ghostly hero today?

They were all of few steps from the door when the blue mist escaped Danny's mouth. He caught eyes with his friends. "We know the drill, Danny. We've got you covered." He thanked his friends and ran off to the bathroom.

His shoes squeaked on the floor as he ran into the bathroom. He quickly locked himself into one of the school's crusty, old stalls. 

Even though he hadn't been saying his battle cry, he always thought it before changing into his ghost form. Every single time the words entered his mind, it gave him an adrenaline rush as it did when he had first said it all those months ago. 

Going ghost, he said in his head. 

A triumphant grin flowed onto his face as he felt his veins tingle. He saw the blue stream of light pass his face. Danny smirked.

Game on.

He quickly turned intangible and flew up through the roof. The light breeze tussled his white hair as his green eyes scanned the area. The air was clear and so were the trees lining around the school. 

Where was the ghost? He flew over in front of the school and looked out on the road from there. His ghost sense went off again. Danny felt a cold chill that filled the air behind him. He gasped and turned around.

 It was Skulker. He was about two inches away from him. 

Danny quickly flew back and took a fighting stance. "Why didn't you show up yesterday? Are my powers too much for you to handle?" 

Skulker let out a chuckle. "No, you whelp. I'm here on usual terms, plus something extra." A scowl overtook the ghosts features. Danny didn't know what the extra thing could be, but at that moment he didn't care. He wanted a fight.

Danny shot an ecto-ray right at one of Skulker's gadgets, setting it smoking. Skulker growled. "No banter, ghost child? I like how this is going. This will be faster to accomplish than I thought." He rose a gun that manufactured from his wrist and pointed at his fellow teen enemy. Danny was just about to spring out of the way when the intercom sounded. It was muffled, but Danny could still hear it.

"All students are to report to the gymnasium for a brief meeting."

Danny groaned. That was another thing he was going to be counted tardy for. 

The ghost child was brought out of his thoughts as a ray met with his left shoulder. He fell to the ground and the air was knocked out of him. The shot had caused smoke to come from his shoulder as it burned slightly. 

Danny clenched his fists. He was tired of being pushed around.

He could hear Skulker's taunting as he got up off of the ground and into the air. "You are weak, Ghost Boy. Weaker than-" A large blast silence Skulker. And, oh, was the blast deafening. 

Danny didn't let up. As Skulker quickly got up from the ground, Danny shot one after the other, just like he had done with Vlad.

But for some reason, Skulker had caught on with his attack technique. He put up a ghost shield and manage to not get any more blows. Danny was puzzled. How come he had seen it coming but not Vlad? Skulker saw the confusion on his face. 

"Your friend Vlad and I had exchanged a few words. And by a few, I mean many." He laughed and flew towards Danny at a bone-crushing speed.

Once he had made contact with Danny, the ghost boy turned intangible and flew through the school's wall. Danny's back hit the floor as they landed. The wounds screamed and burned from yesterday's quarrel.

 He struggled to get out of his enemies grip. Danny prepared a ghost ray but his hand was latched onto by his enemy and pointed into a different direction where is fired.

Danny heard a mixture of two things: ear-piercing screams and laughter.

The laughter came from Skulker, he knew that for sure. But the screams- where was he even at? 

He took a minute to look around. Danny wanted to disappear as soon as he noticed where he was. Skulker had pushed them through the wall and into the gym, where the entire student body was now sitting. They were in the bleachers, even all of the teachers. 

He looked and immediately found Sam and Tucker. They looked at him frantically. Tucker was about to get up to help him, but Danny didn't want him to risk it. Number one, he would be putting his life on the line. Number two, his secret could be revealed because he's friends with Danny. Everyone in the stands began to calm down a little and watched in awe.

Seeing Danny's look, Tucker quickly sat down as Sam pulled him down by the arm. Skulker suddenly spoke into his speaker that was fused in with his other instruments. 

"Report to Caspar High's gymnasium. Repeat, I have the ghost boy in the-" Danny mustered up all of his strength and went intangible, causing the armored ghost to growl.

Danny reappeared behind him and shot an ice ray at his enemy. It froze from his feet up to his shoulders, for he wanted to get answers from the mouth.

"Who are you talking to? Who needs my location?" Danny said sternly. He was unhinged at the thought of someone unknown communicating for his whereabouts. His green eyes pierced through Skulker. 

His enemy struggled to get free. "You, ghost child, are so clueless. You wouldn't even know what hit you if the whole ghost zone came at you," Skulker taunted. Why was everyone underestimating him? He had grown drastically in power during the past few months.

Danny wanted to know who he was communicating with. Danny snapped and quickly pointed a powerful fist full of ectoplasm at Skulker's head. 

"Tell me now!" His eyes looked like they could flame if that was possible. His enemy barely flinched at his tone, but the entire crowd did. 

Sam looked at Danny. What was happening? Why would he be angry?

All of a sudden, one of the windows above the bleachers shattered.