Much Ado About Nothing

So, way back when I was originally posting "All's Well", I got a review from linkmaste suggesting that Lancer's friends (wait, he has friends?) start getting suspicious and try to find out the reasons for his sudden behaviour changes. And I thought, "hey! Cool idea, but sadly I've already written a sequel." But the idea was just too good to pass up, so Will Spirit got a third story (which bled into a fourth, which created a fifth). Of course, there's more to the plot than that, but I'm not telling.

I am greatly indebted to Golden Lunar Eclipse for her help fleshing out one of my OCs. She can borrow him whenever she wants (but Spirit's all mine!).

Chapter 1: Reunion

I do not own Danny Phantom or Ghost World. Anyone who wants to sell me DP (coughbutchhartmancough) is welcome to, however. As long as it's cheap, because I'm broke.

William Lancer was rudely awoken by the phone in his office ringing. He jerked awake and almost fell out of his chair. He steadied himself and grabbed the receiver, cursing the ghosts that had attacked the night before.

"Casper High. How may I help you?" he said, stifling a yawn. The voice on the other end was confident and poised. It belonged to the sort of woman wore tasteful amounts of jewelry and believed firmly in women's rights (within reason).

"Hi," it said. "I'm trying to organize a class reunion and I'd like to hold it at the school. Is there someone I can talk to about it?"

"That would be me," Lancer smiled, straightening up in his chair and at least trying to feel like he belonged in it. "I'm the vice-principal. When are you planning to have it?" He pulled a pad of notepaper towards himself and found a pen. He'd need to take notes on this.

"After classes are over, so there's less hassle," the woman said. "I don't have a date yet because we still need to track down a few people, and we're trying to coordinate it so as many can come as possible."

"Of course," agreed Lancer. "Perhaps I can help you find your classmates from this end? I went to Casper High and still have contacts in the community."

"That would be great!" exclaimed the voice. "Would you happen to know anyone from the class of '76?" Lancer's eyebrows shot up involuntarily.

"That's my class. It's William Lancer, by the way."

"You can't be serious!" The voice registered as much shock as Lancer's. "I've being trying to track you down for years. You seriously stayed at CH this whole time?"

"Ashamed, but yes." This woman knows who I am. I knew her. "And you would be...?"

"Cathy Sanders," the voice said hastily. "It's Cathy Martin now." If Lancer hadn't already been fully awake, he would have woken up at that.

"C-Cathy?" he stammered. "Er, congratulations. Always knew you two would get together. What are you doing these days?" Why wasn't I invited to the wedding?

Lancer chatted with Cathy for a while, reminiscing about the "good old days" when he had been a bookworm and cheerleader and she had been prom queen and leader of the Cheering Squad. They both expressed regrets at having lost touch once Lancer had moved out of state to attend university. By the end of the conversation forty-five minutes, they had pretty much caught up and Lancer had been talked into not only tracking down ten people he couldn't remember and booking the school for the reunion, but also into finding a local caterer and scouting out hotels (he'd always been a sucker for Cathy's ploys). He finally hung up the receiver and slumped over his desk, groaning.

Why do I keep doing this to myself? As if teaching English to two hundred teenagers and maintaining a secret identity weren't enough... His phone rang again.

"Yes?" It came out slightly more angrily than he had intended.

"Mr. Lancer, it's Tucker. There's a ghost at Floody Waters and we're kinda having problems." The boy sounded worried, which likely had a lot to do with the blasts and screams Lancer could hear in the background.

"Who all's there?"

"Me, Sam, Danny, and Val."

"And four people can't deal with it?"

"Nope, he's really ... ouch! Hey! Sorry, gotta go!" The line went dead.

Lancer grabbed his coat and briefcase and rushed out, muttering something about "errands" for the benefit of the secretary. He tossed his things in the back seat and drove off quickly. He pulled over a couple blocks away and muttered, "Ghost World." Two rings of white light enveloped him and Lancer again became his alter-ego, Will Spirit. He quickly went intangible and flew to the water park. If four seasoned and well-armed ghost hunters couldn't catch this ghost, he should probably be very afraid.

---

When Will Spirit saw the ghost currently haunting the Floody Waters Water Park, he couldn't quite understand why it was causing everyone so much trouble. His neon pink skin was the least shocking part of his appearance. Shoulder-length blonde hair and a full beard framed his face, and he'd pulled his hair back with a cream headband. He wore a yellow and purple tie-dye top over a pair of worn bell-bottoms, and was barefooted. He'd completed the Sixties image with a disproportionate peace sign around his neck.

The ghost was currently floating casually between Danny and Valerie, who were both hovering about forty feet above the ground and pouring everything they'd got into him. He wasn't even flinching as ectoblast after ectoblast was absorbed by his body. Actually, he was laughing.

And that would be why they needed me, Lancer sighed. I don't think anyone's noticed they're not hurting him. Teenagers.

Lancer rolled his eyes and flew towards the battle, waving at Sam and Tucker on the ground as he did. He'd almost gotten into range to use ghost breath, which had been his plan, when the ghost began to glow intensely. Suddenly a blast of pink energy shot out of his entire body and knocked the three fighters backwards. When they stopped spinning, he had disappeared.

"Sam? Tucker? See where he went?" Danny shouted. His friends shook their heads.

"He's got teleportation, Danny," Tucker called up.

"Teleportation? Crud. He could be anywhere." Danny sank to the ground in gloom. Lancer followed, but more optimistically.

"He'll show up again, Danny," he said. "They always do. It doesn't look like he's actively causing damage though, so we probably don't have to worry much."

"Yeah, he'll just be pulling pranks like he was when we found him. They weren't really even all that scary." Tucker paused and looked towards the water park's entrance. "We've got company."

He indicated a crowd of people in bathing suits and towels hurrying towards them. The local news crew appeared to have surfaced as well. Danny and Lancer took off into the air again, each carrying an invisible teenager. Valerie flew off in another direction on her jet sled, so there would be at least one member of Team Phantom able to rescue the others if they got cornered.

When the main group was far enough away from the park, Lancer asked, "So, what was this ghost doing?"

"He was pretty much just riding the slides," Danny answered. "I don't think he'd seen them before. And I think he gave a couple old guys wedgies."

"Danny went ghost under a towel and the minute Hippie Dude saw him, he started taunting Danny," Tucker chipped in.

"You mean he wanted to be attacked?" Skulker or Vlad trying to wind Danny up made sense, but a hippie? Wasn't their philosophy to avoid conflict whenever possible?

"Yeah," Danny said. "And then he flew off as soon as I got angry. I chased him for a while and then Valerie showed up and we started blasting him. Like you saw, he was just sitting there taking it all and not getting any weaker."

"So ectoenergy doesn't work on him," Lancer mused. "Interesting power. What else does he do, besides flying and that burst thing?"

"Well, teleportation, apparently, and invisibility and intangibility. Nothing else special, by the looks of things."

"Okay. Keep an eye out for when he shows up again. There's my car, Danny. I'll give Tucker a ride home." The African-American boy in Lancer's arms shuddered.

"Getting a ride home with the vice-principal? Do you have any idea what my parents are going to think?"

"Yes. They're going to think you were helping me fix the school server. And you do realize I mark your English papers, right?" Lancer remarked dryly.

If anything positive had happened in the eight months since the accident that had created Will Spirit, it was his newfound ability to laugh and joke around. He still wasn't sure whether that came from the greater confidence of his ghost form or from spending most of his free time with a group of teenagers, but whatever the reason, he liked it. Lancer couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed out loud before he'd fallen into the Fenton's Ghost Portal. He didn't even think he laughed very much in high school.

"And you realize I carry a spare Thermos?" Tucker jokingly threatened. "Okay Sam, Danny, I'll see you later."

Lancer descended over the car, and soon drove off with Tucker beside him. Sam turned to look up at Danny, though she was invisible and he couldn't actually see her.

"Danny, I want to check out a new display at the Skulk and Lurk. Can we go there instead of home?"

"Sure." Danny changed his course for the downtown core and dropped into an alley near the bookstore where he could become human again. He and Sam spent the rest of the afternoon in the store, enjoying themselves and forgetting about the ghostly hippie and the day-to-day pressures of their teenage lives.

The hippie, meanwhile, reappeared by the Amity Observatory, stretched himself out on the roof, and tried to warm up in the sun's rays. It didn't work.

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Happy New Year, everyone!