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X middle school has been plagued by a series of crimes, ghosts have been reported walking the halls, and Filmore and Ingrid are tied up trying to keep track of the new charity case, infamous bad boy Danny Fenton.

Danny Fenton, sent to X middle school as an embarrassing punishment, must face the fact that he is out-cooled in several ways by a pair of hall monitors, one of whom is bald.

1.Hook

Enter with Filmore and Ingrid trying to solve ongoing issues with the school Halloween party, they fail, and the two organizers blame each other. The president is unhappy, punishing them with babysitting duty of a rehab case that she was saddled with due to loosing a bet with Ishyama. They are tasked with overseeing one Danny Fenton, notorious “problem child” preventing him from causing the kind of issues he’s famous for at his old school.

Danny is gloomy, but impressed by the sheer size and scale of X middle school, he is distracted on his way to the principle’s office by his ghost sense, which fires off unexpectedly. His attempt to investigate it is foiled by one of the hall monitors (Espizito?), who drags him into to meet the principle

Filmore, Ingrid, and Danny are introduced.

Plot Point 1

Danny wants to investigate the strange goings-on at the school, but can’t because he’s being stalked by a pair of twelve year olds, meanwhile, Filmore and Ingrid are wary of Danny, Filmore much more so than Ingrid.

Sideplot 1.1: Danny’s ghost half makes certain things hard for him, and he can’t focus as well as he used to. His ability to read, in particular, took a hit. Danny is reprimanded for this.

Sideplot 2.1: The default for where Danny falls between “human” and “ghost” varies depending on how thick the veil between worlds is. The closer it gets to halloween, the more he has to worry about his ghost half interfering with the way he thinks and the way he looks.

Danny’s ghost sense goes off again, but it takes him a while to shake Filmore and Ingrid. By the time he gets there, the ghost is already causing problems. Danny tries to confront him, but the other ghost flees, just in time for Ingrid and Filmore to find Danny amidst the destruction.

Danny, Filmore, and Ingrid are taken back to the principle’s office for reprimand. Filmore and Ingrid for failing to watch over a known troublemaker, and Danny for being that troublemaker.

Danny tries to protest, but is silenced, Filmore manages to settle things down by cuffing himself to Danny, making a promise he won’t let Danny get away from him again.

Danny walks out with Filmore complaining that this is absurd. Ingrid points out via cell-phone text that this stuff was happening before Danny came, and Filmore states that Even if Danny didn’t start it, he was involved, and that he was only involved in the first place due to his lack of respect for the rules and other people.

There is an awkward moment where Danny realizes Filmore has no intention of uncuffing him just because school is out. Filmore’s plan to drag Danny to his house is foiled when Ingrid abandons him and Danny takes advantage of his greater size and ghost strength to drag him to his own place.

Aside: Ingrid goes back to her own place in part so she can do some research on 1) The phrase “Ain’t that a bite” which was scrawled as graffiti by the suspected culprit, 2) attacked areas of the building that seemed nonsensical (These areas were the teacher’s offices, since renovated into an indoor space for the indoor skate rink club, and the old parking lot, now a field.) 3) Still wore the bloodied remains of the no-longer-in-use school uniform.

+++: The uniform is difficult to recognize at first due to the blood soaking it to the point of making it appear to be a different color + being badly damaged.

Aside: (Vlad contributed to Danny getting sent to X middle school as a means to push him out of the way while he tries to woo his mother on a date.

Danny tries to ignore the twelve year old he is physically tied to, while Filmore tries to get a handle on his latest charge. The “I was just like you, once” speech goes badly, and Filmore learns that Danny does try to do his homework, and genuinely has problems with it. His suggestion to seek help is met with sarcasm and pointed comments about how helpful everyone at school was before, even when he tried to explain. Danny also reiterates that he wasn’t the one who broke things that day, but refuses to explain who, what, why or how.

Plotpoint 2.2: Filmore notes the black hair dye, but doesn’t quite know what to make of it.

The two go to bed frustrated with each other, but somewhat less judgmental.

Pinch 1

The next day, Filmore, Danny, and Ingrid walk into an X middle school that’s in shambles, paint everywhere, rafters tee-pee’d, and so forth. On top of that, the culprit has also gratified his name on every available surface, alongside insults aimed at X middle school and its staff. Only one classroom (The classroom of the teacher who was actually nice to the ghost back when he was alive) is untouched. Unfortunately, this is also one of the classrooms Danny is known to use.

Aside: Have the former teacher doing afterschool/part time stuff with Danny, giving him a connection to the main characters + reason why he would be nearby but unaware of what’s going on with the school.

This is where Danny learns that the ex-teacher had worked with hard cases before, specifically mentioning a young man who started struggling after a car crash that killed his mom and gave him brain damage.

Plotpoint 2.3: Danny has to die his hair at the moment, due to the white that has started to form in patches in his hair, which he has to re-apply every time he goes ghost. A call from Sam (Who lent him her extra special, extra gothic dye)

Danny is blamed once again, partly because he was the last one out of school, conveniently having finished in the room that was also the one that was untouched, and partly because administration knows for a fact that the name is just a distraction: No one using the dead kid’s name has gone to X-middle school in years.

Now Filmore knows for a fact that Danny can’t be doing it, but is at a loss to explain who or how, since all the cameras failed during the incident (another thing that was known to happen around Danny when “incidents” were occurring at his own school.)

The ghost, insulted that he’s still being disregarded, insulted, and ignored—now not just by humans, but another ghost, who’s casually infringing on his territory on top of that—Decides to go big. He shows himself in broad daylight, in front of everyone, and challenges Danny to a fight.

Aside: The ghost has been gaining power throughout the years slowly, and is as active as he is now thanks to the proximity of Halloween, which lowers the barriers between worlds and allows the undead more power and access to the living realm than they would normally get.

Danny, filmore, and ingrid manage to drive the ghost out without Danny being forced to change to his ghost half in part thanks to the fact that the other ghost is still weak. With Halloween drawing close, Danny knows he will not only regain power, but peak above his normal levels very soon. A problem, since the ghost had openly threatened to ruin the halloween party and destroy X middle school as a whole.

The school is in chaos, but Ingrid and Filmore at last believe Danny when he says he didn’t do it. Filmore finally acquiesces and unhooks Danny from the cuffs.

Midpoint

The principle is infuriated, as someone using “Advanced special effects and an unconscionable disregard for life and limb” to intimidate her students and ruin her extremely important event using a false name. She also wants to know why “the hooligan” (Danny) was uncuffed.

Filmore and ingrid manage to convince her 1) That Danny is fine without cuffs. And 2) They need access to the school’s archives, explaining that the student might have some connection with the history of the school.

Aside: Ingrid shows research of previous events/things that the ghost had referenced, proving that he does have some connection with the school.

Ingrid and Filmore are still convinced that the culprit is a living human, if only because ghosts are so outside their area of reason.

Danny, unwilling to expose two twelve year olds to what he knows full well will be a dangerous ghost fight, tries to convince them that whatever is in the archives doesn’t matter, while simultaneously saying it’s fine, and he can handle it himself.

Filmore starts arguing back, correctly pointing out that if Danny, the kid who Filmore personally witnessed having issues when he tried to read, wants to go somewhere to read, then it’s probably important. He also points out that Danny is on thin ice, and even if he was telling the truth about not being the culprit, they can’t just let him wander off on his own, for his sake as much as theirs (Filmore and Ingrid are Danny’s alibi )

Ingrid interrupts, however, and takes Danny’s side, saying that Danny going alone and doing the research for them would actually be a great idea.

Filmore feels betrayed, Danny is somewhat suspicious, but mostly relieved, especially when Ingrid goes out of her way to suggest that she and Filmore want to look into other school systems databases and records to see if the culprit belongs to one of the surrounding schools.

When Danny leaves, Ingrid explains to an upset Filmore that she was mostly just lying. While she does want to check into other schools, that’s a task they can get one of the other guys in their department to handle. She explains her plan to let Danny think he’d won, giving them plenty of time to follow him in and snoop. She notes that he is suspicious, but at the same time, oddly trusting.

That night, Danny is trying to read through the records and having real issues with it. It’s All Hallows Eve, and reading has gone from difficult and confusing to near impossible. His eyes are glassy and off-green, and thanks to Filmore’s annoying presence, he didn’t have time to re-apply his hair dye and didn’t think to grab it before he left. While he hasn’t gone ghost, patches of hair that didn’t need dying a few hours ago are now white.

This was the other reason why Danny wanted to shake Filmore and Ingrid’s tail. He knows his humanity is slipping, and doesn’t want them to see.

Unfortunately, this also makes any attempt at research a near impossibility, since he can no longer really read. Just as Danny is set to give up and go beat up the other ghost until it learns to leave him alone, he realizes he’s not alone.

The substitute teacher has let himself into the school after hours and gotten utterly wasted, asleep with an old yearbook in his lap. Danny slips it out, to discover a picture of the dead kid’s living self.

This takes just long enough for Filmore and Ingrid to sneak up behind him while he’s not looking, catching Danny red handed and with no where to hide.

The substitute teacher wakes up and begins to ramble, dropping large parts of the story.

Thanks to his rambling, they discover the culprit is a deceased student who used to go to X middle school, a “problem child” who was shoved aside instead of having his issues truly looked into and resolved. He was just punished harder, and watched harder, which lead him to rebel more and more, until one day he got himself killed. When he died, no one came to find him.

Around this time everyone hears a massive crash from the direction of the gym. They all run to see what it is.

Pinch 2

The other ghost is angry, highly powered, and ready to cause problem. He plans to physically wreck the party, and, when the would be party-goers come in, trap them in a rave of his own design, something they'd have to pay attention to.

He's already wrecked a huge portion of the gym, and as much as Danny's humanity has fallen apart, he still doesn't want to flat out reveal himself as a ghost, leading him to struggle against the opponent.

Fillmore and Ingrid also struggle, confused by, but forced to acknowledge the supernatural powers of the spectral delinquent.

Spurred by the heroes, ghost delinquent goes on his big villain speech, talking about how no one liked him, how no one listened to him, putting him in one program after another, only to let him go without really trying. How he was always watched, but never really seen.

Now, he plans to make sure everyone sees him, exactly as he is, exactly as they made him, and keep them so that he will never be alone or belittled ever again.

Around this time, the drunk substitute teacher comes in, and starts weeping over the delinquent ghost. It's revealed that the car the student crashed in had been the sub. Teacher's, which he had actually lent to him as part of some impromptu driving lesson. He has always blamed the child's death on himself.

The delinquent kid is flustered, just enough for the trio to turn the tide. Danny captures the delinquent ghost, while Fillmore and Ingrid are able to hold down the drunk sub. teacher.

Plot Turn 2

Danny talks about how sometimes there will be people in the world who don't understand, and how some things are hard in a way that others don't appreciate. Becoming angry and frustrated because people don't see what you haven't revealed/what they can't grasp isn't fair to them, and becoming resentful over it will do nothing but isolate you more.

Fillmore adds: He doesn't know what's going on, or how this kid is doing what he does, but he does know that some things can't be forced: If you want to be seen, then be someone worth looking at. Trying to do otherwise will not only make you feel even more isolated than you were before, but by sinking down to the level everyone expects you to live at, you also hurt those who saw you as something more (glances at sub. teacher.)

Delinquent calms down and looks to the drunk sub, who is blubbering over the kid he thought he'd never see again. Delinquent tells him that it's okay, that the crash wasn't his fault, and even if it was, he wouldn't blame him. Sub was the only person who looked beyond the person he was, and saw what he could be.

Sub asks if he's leaving, and Delinquent says he won't. He can't fix things but he can make them better.

Delinquent then duplicates, rushing into Ingrid and Fillmore. who then black out.

Danny isn't happy about the favor, but it does give him the opportunity to finally let go, as the veil thins to the point where his halfa nature becomes obvious. They speak a bit--Danny offers to bring him to the ghost zone, which is refused. The delinquent has plans to haunt the sub a little, to keep him from being lonely, and maybe meet him again the next time Halloween rolls around again. Danny does drag the delinquent into one small favor: Helping him fix up what he broke.

Resolution

When Ingrid and Fillmore wake up, they are very confused. They appear to have fallen asleep in the middle of a heavily redecorated gym: Spooky ice sculptures and impossible decor abound. According to the principle, who is elated enough to forgive their obvious trespass on school property. She presumes it was Fillmore and Ingrid because they are now the only two around. They both immidiately go looking for Danny.

Danny, meanwhile, has flubbed his test. Although his ability to read has returned to him, between the lack of study and staying up late trying to fix the school's gym, he had no time to study and is completely wiped. However, he also knows that his time at X middle school has come to an end, as his mother, deeply annoyed at Vlad, has been spending unusual amounts of time ghost hunting, and in the absence of Phantom, she has spent her time attempting to obliterate Plasmius.

Accordingly, Vlad is very willing to see Danny's punishment ended and some "extra credit" delivered if he and his friends could somehow, please, distract his mother long enough for Vlad to remove the numerous knives from his front, back, and behind.

Sub catches up, remarkably hung over. Danny, feeling a little guilty that all his hard work helping Danny out proved fruitless, apologizes for flubbing the test. Sub says that he's mostly grateful that Danny tried, and that that's what he truly wants to see from any student he helps out.

Fillmore and Ingrid interrupt saying he didn't fail quite as hard as he thought. Fillmore hands over a paper with a grade that has been upped to passing--"Extra credit" for helping to fix the gym.

Sub laughs, and says he was sorry he was drunk when he helped them out with that, as that sounds like a memory he would want to recall. He congratulates Danny for passing Middle School (again), and says he wishes another student of his had the chance to meet Danny, as he feels Danny would have been able to set him straight in a way he could not. Sub then departs, a distinct chill and the laughter of the delinquent following subtly in his wake.

Danny, Fillmore, and Ingrid stand around somewhat awkwardly. Fillmore brings up the supernatural elements of the affair, and Danny, responds by saying "boo" and vanishing on him in one final trick.

Epilogue 1: Danny tells his story to Sam and Tucker, who suggests that he finally managed to out-cool Fillmore with that last goodbye. They both look at each other and say "Nah"

Epilogue 2: Danny O'Farrell, who has been suggesting that the strange occurrences around the Halloween fest were ghosts this entire time, has now switched to suggesting that it was, in fact, aliens that were causing all the disruptions at the school, and the culprit was never caught because the mother ship flew him away. Fillmore agrees that sometimes, life is a little more than what it appears, utterly catching O'Farrell off guard (Fillmore had been a hardcore skeptic this entire time).

He says this while drinking a cup of mocha that, moments ago, hadn't been there, noting to himself that it tasted a lot like the kind Espizito kept locked up in a cabinet for his own personal use. He comments, seemingly to O'Farrell, that he'd let this one slide, just this once.