The sounds of metal clanking and parts whirring filled the air of the garage as Danny worked on a motorcycle he had been building. He found out after he spent some time with his dad working on improving the Fenton Assault Vehicle that he liked to work with motors. After looking into a few things he decided that he wanted to try to build himself a motorcycle. His mother was a bit apprehensive about the idea but thankfully his dad was able to talk her into it. The only conditions being that he would have to buy any parts that he needed himself and that he couldn't ride it until they were positive it was safe.

This lead to a lot of time spent in the garage with Danny trying to get things in place, figuring out what kind of parts he needed, and working on the design. As the young half ghost worked on soldering a few pieces together he felt the familiar chill of his ghost sense escape his mouth and a familiar presence behind him. Taking off his work glasses he let out a tired sigh already knowing who was behind him without even having to look.

"What are you doing here, Johnny? Did you and Kitty get into it again?" Danny turned around from where he was working to look at the bad luck biker ghost looking over the frame of his bike.

"Nah, man, me and Kitty are cool. Just came out to see how your bike's going and check out the movie schedule for this week. Thought I'd take Kitty to one of those romance films she likes since she's been putting up with me ranting about my bike being thrashed again by some crazy new spooks in our area." Johnny looked the bike over for a bit in admiration and approval, "She's lookin' good, squirt, pretty soon you'll have her up and running and maybe we can drag race in the ghost zone."

Danny glared at Johnny's smiling face, "You know I've grown a lot these last few years. I'm only an inch or two shorter than you now."

"Which means you're almost not a squirt anymore, 'squirt'," Johnny laughed at the annoyed look on the half ghost's face.

"Ehh whatever. You guys can go to the movies if you want, just don't cause any trouble," Danny started to turn back around when he stopped and looked back at the biker, "What was that about new spooks in your area?"

"Huh?" Johnny looked up from examining a piece of a muffler, "Oh that? Ehh, it's nothing; just something that happens sometimes. One ghost will get the need for more room and chase off some of the weaker ones and they'll fly off to find a new place. I doubt it's anything that'll be a problem."

"Well, ok. Just keep me posted if things get bad. I might be able to help if someone tries to start trouble again."

"Heh, always trying to be a hero, huh, squirt?" Johnny reached over and ruffled his shaggy black hair.

"Someone's gotta keep that crazy place you call a home in some semblance of order," Danny smirked as he straightened his hair back out and tied it back into a low pony tail, "Otherwise you guys come here and cause havoc for all of us."

"Right," Johnny smiled as he started to float up to the ceiling of the garage, "Well good luck with the bike, kid, and I'll see ya later."

Danny watched as the ghost floated away and sighed. He had no idea how he had managed to make friends with so many ghosts over the years but he was glad that they didn't attack him anymore. It gave him a break for the most part from hostile ghost attacks. Still though there were ghosts like Spectra, Walker, Undergrowth, and Vortex that loved to cause him trouble.

"Ehh enough of this crud for now." Danny grunted and set his equipment down. He looked to the clock on the wall and saw that he had been working on his bike for over 3 hours now. It was no wonder that his eyes felt tired and as Danny got up and stretched he walked out of the garage to go find something else to distract him from his work for awhile. When he walked inside he found his parents lounging in the family room watching some movie on TV before they noticed him.

"Taking a break from working on your bike, sweetie?" Maddie looked up at her son with a smile as he walked towards the stairs to go up to his room.

"Yeah mom, I think I'm going to go look at some of those books I got on motors and bikes for a bit to see if I can get some more ideas." He started to walk up the stairs to his room when he was stopped.

"Danny, you've spent all afternoon working on that bike of yours, you need to take a break from it all," Maddie looked up at him with some concern in her eyes, "Why don't you go out and rent us a movie to watch together. We can spend some time together and enjoy a nice peaceful evening."

"But I still have to go out and patrol later."

"You can do that after we watch a movie together, now off with you." Danny sighed a bit and turned right around to head out the door.

"And I'll get the ice cream!" Jack spoke up as he stood and headed to the kitchen.

"Oh no!" Danny pointed a finger at his father accusingly, "You are not allowed to touch my ice cream. The last time I let you at it you ate it all before I could even get a bite and it was my favorite strawberry and lime recipe, so no you can't get it. I'll fix us up a bowl along with some popcorn when I get back, now any movie requests?"

"Anything's fine dear, just nothing too graphic," Maddie smiled as Jack came back to the couch pouting about not getting to eat any of the ice cream Danny had made. As well as having learned how to cook over the years, Danny had also picked up on how to make other things like ice cream. With his ice powers he was able to make it in such a way that no one else could mimic. This also allowed him to experiment with new flavors and combinations that his friends and family loved to try.

As Danny walked along the sidewalks he thought back to his friends. It had been a few days since he had heard anything from them and wondered what they were up to. Tucker was likely busy getting settled in, and Sam was likely still unpacking but it still would have been nice to hear from them soon.

As he reached the video store he thought about what movie to get. There were a few horror flicks he had been wanting to see, but he doubted his parents would want to watch a bunch of people get hacked up to pieces. He walked through the aisles looking for something decent to get and found a few choices but ultimately settled on an action hero movie that he had missed seeing earlier in the year.

After he paid for the movie Danny started to walk home just minding his own business when he started to hear some grunts coming from an alley. When he got closer he saw a bunch of guys ganging up on someone.

"Just hand over your wallet, pretty boy, and we'll forget about you trespassin' on our turf here." Danny growled to himself. There were six guys trying to mug someone. Normally Danny didn't get involved in petty crimes like this, having too much to do keeping ghosts from attacking people, but he could easily help scare these guys off.

"HEY!" Danny shouted at the muggers and ran right at the nearest one and punched him as hard as he could in the side of the face. He sent the mugger flying to the ground with a thud leaving the last five to stare at the guy who had just butted into their business.

"Fenton?!" Danny looked over and saw that Dash was standing against the wall looking a bit roughed up but not injured, yet.

"Dash?" The two young men stared at each other for a moment before a growl from one of the attackers brought their attention back towards the threat at hand. Danny ducked under one of the guys trying to throw a punch at him and he followed up by shoving his elbow into the man's stomach and then spinning around and knocking his legs out from under him. The thug fell flat on his back right as another of the thugs fell on him.

Danny looked up to see Dash had both his fists up and was almost bouncing as he threw a barrage of punches to one of the remaining thugs. The poor punk hit the opposing wall with a grunt and slid down to the dirty ground as another charged at the blond. Dash ducked under the poorly thrown punch and jumped up to deliver a powerful uppercut with his right fist.

The remaining two gangsters, seeing that they were clearly outmatched, decided as their fourth member fell to run away leaving the two teens to stand victoriously. Danny scoffed at the men as they ran away before he reached into his pocket to get his phone. The guys acted all big and tough in a group but were nothing special.

"Cowards."

Danny turned around as he dialed 911 to see Dash standing there with an angry frown painted across his face.

"Yeah I know, but what can ya do?" Danny shrugged and once the operator picked up, Danny quickly told her that there had been an attempted mugging at their location. After getting a few details she told them that she was sending a police officer and to stay there.

After a few minutes of waiting around quietly Danny finally looked over at Dash for any sign of injury, "You ok? These guys didn't hurt you or anything did they?"

"Nah I just got a bit roughed up is all," Dash tried to straighten out his shirt when he looked over at Danny and tilted his head, "Where did you learn how to fight like that? I mean no offense and all and thanks for helping me out, but you always were sort of a wimp at school."

"My mom's a black belt in like three martial arts, and despite his goofy exterior my dad is a capable marksman, and I come from a family that builds weapons to hunt ghosts," Danny shrugged feeling a bit off at hearing Dash talk to him like that, "My mom's been training me in hand to hand combat the last year, though. Nothing much but enough to take out idiots like this I guess."

"Yeah…" Dash looked at him and then looked around as an awkward silence befell the two. Before either of them could think of anything more to say, though, a squad car pulled up to save them from having to make small talk. The policemen who got out arrested the would-be muggers and took the statements of the two teens before driving off with them in tow.

"Well… that was an event." Danny sighed and looked Dash over again feeling more awkward the more he was around his former bully, "You want me to walk you home or anything? I mean I know the odds are slim and all but I wouldn't want you to get mugged again." Danny gave a forced chuckle trying to make light of the mood.

"I don't need your help, Fenton. I can get home fine on my own." Dash grunted and a slight blush came to his cheeks making Danny think that he might have accidentally insulted the man.

"I'm sorry!" Despite his growth spurt and being only an inch shorter than the man now, Danny still felt like he did back in their freshman year. "I didn't mean to imply anything, I just thought, safety in numbers and all that."

"Yeah, well…," Dash playfully punched his shoulder and gave a huff, "If anyone needs to be walked home, it's you. Training or not you're still a bit of a shrimp."

Danny rolled his eyes at the smirk the jock gave him and started to walk back to his house, "Whatever, Dash, I've got to get going."

He didn't make it three steps before he felt a hand on grab his shoulder. Danny quickly turned around thinking he was being attacked but stopped when he saw it was Dash. He didn't look the shorter man in the face for a moment and just as Danny was about to ask what he wanted Dash spoke up.

"Thanks for… Ya know… helping me out there. You didn't have to do that, and after all I've put you through over the years I don't know why you would have… but thanks."

"Don't mention it," Danny gave him a small smile, "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Tomorrow?"

"Uh… yeah I plan on going swimming every morning that I can this summer. I want to keep training so I'll do well on the swim team."

"Oh, yeah right… Okay. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then." Dash shrugged and started to walk off with a bag in his hands leaving Danny behind to stare as he walked away. It was interesting that something like that had happened and it had pushed him and Dash into a situation where they had to fight together.

As Danny made it up the steps to his house he thought more about how Dash was acting. It was weird that he had thanked him and was even weirder how he had fought. Dash had shoved and punched him for years but he had never actually hit him like that and now that he thought about it, Dash had really never hit him too terribly hard before.

Shoving those thoughts to the side though, he walked into the living room and saw his mother reading a book and his dad nowhere in sight.

"Hey mom."

"Oh there you are Danny," Maddie placed her book onto a side table and looked up at him, "You were gone an awfully long time, did something happen?"

"Ehh nothing I can't handle, just had to stop some punks from mugging this guy I know from school." Danny shrugged like it was no big deal.

"You had to stop a mugging, or Phantom had to stop a mugging?" Maddie looked him over and took his face in her hand to check for any bruising. He may have grown a few inches and been taller than her but he was still her little boy and she was still his mother.

"I stepped in as myself this time," Danny sighed and tried to get away from the hands, "I didn't have time to find a place to change and I'm fine mom. Geeze, you taught me enough about fighting so that I can handle myself and they were just punks that used their numbers to their advantage. Only reason it took so long was because I called the police and had to wait around for them."

"Well alright, dear, but you can't blame a mother for worrying. I just want to make sure you're ok." Danny smiled and nodded in understanding before she pat him on the cheek and went back to sit on the couch, "So what movie did you decide on?"

"I got that action hero movie from earlier this year. I never got a chance to see it in theaters and thought now's as good a time as any to watch it," Danny looked around for a moment noticing a very big something missing, "Hey, where's dad?"

"Hmm?" Maddie looked around like she was just now noticing that he was gone, "Well I guess he went to get something to eat from the kitchen. We weren't expecting you to be gone for this long."

"Yeah, sorry, but like they say a hero's work is never-Wait! Kitchen?" Danny growled and stomped towards the kitchen knowing full well what he was going to find there.

"Dad!" Danny yelled as he saw his father standing in front of the freezer with the vat of ice cream he had made in one hand and a spoon in another. Danny knew he couldn't trust his father with anything he made but at least he had the decency to look guilty about digging into it.

"Oh Jack…" Maddie sighed as she walked in behind her son, "Did you at least leave any for the rest of us?"

Jack looked embarrassed as he looked into the container and showed that there was still a little left at the bottom. Danny just sighed and took the container from his dad and gave it to his mom.

"I'll make some more for us mom, but you dad are going on a diet." Danny pointed a finger at him as he walked to the fridge to gather up the ingredients.

"Aww… but the ice cream is so good!" Jack pouted as Maddie pushed him out to the living room to set up the DVD. Danny just held back the laugh at the image of his father pouting as he got everything together. It wasn't too big a hassle for him and as he changed into his ghost form he flew around the kitchen to get everything before he floated out to the living room to mix everything into a new container. Once it was mixed he then sat down and slowly froze it with his ice powers as he watched the movie. From there the evening would just drift on by leaving the memory of what had happened in that alley way a distant memory.