As I promised, this chapter is longer. Not much, but still.

Disclaimer: Do I seriously need to keep repeating this? I don't own anything from Danny Phantom. Geez, these things are annoying!

The next morning, Jake met up with Matt and Tori for school. He put Matt in between himself and the new huntress and tended to stay a few feet from her-for now at least.

"So, how was your weekend?" Tori asked in a friendly manner, breaking the awkward silence. All three had been quiet for most of the walk. Matt didn't want to blurt out something stupid by accident; he inherited his father's big mouth. Jake, to tell you the truth, was more nervous than he'd ever remembered being. He was almost scared out of his mind that someone would slip up, or that she'd find out his secret any second.

"It…it was…good." Jake stuttered. He was doing horrible at hiding his anxiety.

"What's wrong with you?" She questioned with concern lingering in her voice.

"Nothing." Jake blurted a little too quickly. It raised Tori's suspicion. Luckily, Matt changed the subject, but this one wasn't much better.

"What about you?" He asked, trying to provide her with as little time as possible to ponder about the reason for their friend's jumpy state.

"Oh…I…um…" she stuttered, not expecting the question. She was a little scared about telling her friends the details.

Her friends both raised an eyebrow.

"You know you can tell us anything, Tori." Matt comforted. Well, it may have helped Tori, but Jake felt even worse now.

"I told you guys that my Mom was a ghost hunter and that she was going to train me, right?" Tori began. Her friends nodded. She continued; "Well, I was training the whole weekend. She gave me the suit and everything. We even found some ghost to fight for practice." Jake gulped. This sentence only added to his edginess. Unfortunately for him, there was more. "He was really strange looking, kinda dark. He didn't seem too tough though. It seemed like he didn't even know how to use his ghost powers correctly. He's a ghost, you'd think he'd know!"

Jake was shaking by now. He looked down to find his body becoming invisible. Luckily, he was able to become visible again before Tori noticed, but he was still shaking like a leaf.

"Uh, Jake? Are you okay?" Tori asked, finally realizing what a state her friend was in.

"Y-Y-Yeah. Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be okay?" he blurted unsteadily.

"You just don't seem normal. You weren't like this Friday. And you look really pale." Tori explained worriedly.

"He's just tired. We watched a late night movie." Matt covered quickly with a hint of apprehension.

"Whatever. See you guys later." Tori went through the school doors to her locker, leaving behind the two uneasy boys.

"That went well." Matt said sarcastically. "You gonna be alright?"

"I think so. I just have to calm down." The tense teen replied.

"And it might help if you stopped doing that." Matt added, indicating to Jake's feet which were phasing through the ground once again. Matt helped him back up. "At least you didn't go waist high again." He said, trying to cheer his paranoid friend up.

At lunch that day, Abby decided to sit near her trembling brother. The popular kids began to follow.

"Guys, can you let me sit with my brother alone today? Family stuff." Abby asked politely. The group returned to their normal seats.

"Hey bro, you okay?" Abby inquired.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?!" Jake rhetorically asked, aggravated.

"You don't look so good." Abby stated.

And the twitchiness begins.

"By the way, thanks Tori…for last night. I was getting tired." Abby added.

"No problem." Tori responded.

"How'd it go anyway?" Abby inqired.

Jake, at this point, was so high-strung that he'd jump and scream if anyone touched him.

"Eh. He made a few pitiful attempts then flew off."

"He's not that strong, but that Shadow guy sure is annoying."

"Shadow, that's his name? Oh, well, it doesn't really matter. He's a weird one, isn't he?"

"Yeah, and what's with the costume? If he's trying to make people think he's evil, he's doing a good job." Abby ridiculed.

Jake was ready to burst. Matt glanced over at his friend and gave him an understanding look. Matt was the only one who knew what he might be feeling.

"Hey guys, maybe we should change the subject to something we all can relate to." Matt interrupted, saving his petrified friend.

"Sorry." The two girls apologized.

Suddenly, Jake and Abby's ghost senses went off and Tori's equipment started beeping.

"Be right back." Abby said tiredly.

"Want me to help?" Tori asked kindly.

"Nah, I can take whatever comes. Besides, you're not supposed to do solo missions yet." Abby replied. Tori grumbled at the "not allowed to do solo missions" part. It was true, but she still didn't like it when people told her that.

Jake looked around nervously. Abby could take this one, right? A giant green blob soon appeared outside. Jake watched as Abby punched the giant ghost and attacked it constantly, but whenever she hit it, it just reformed.

"I'm going to the bathroom." Jake excused as he got up and made for the boy's bathroom. He transformed inside one of the stalls. Within a few moments, he went from Jake to Shadow. He phased through the roof. He was learning pretty fast, but then again, he had heard his Dad's lessons for Abby on how to use ghost powers, so he had a few pointers.

He rushed over to the battle scene. Abby looked a little worn from the continuous attacking. Shadow drew nearer.

"Jeez! Can't you leave me alone while I'm fighting this thing! I already have one ghost to deal with and I don't need another." She told him exasperated.

"I'm not here to fight you! I'm here to help!" He shouted back angrily.

"What's in it for you?" She asked suspiciously while still hammering the green blob and dodging when it swung at her.

Shadow didn't answer. Whatever he said, she'd use it against him. Instead, he just began flying around in circles, trying to distract the creature, while also searching for a weakness. The monster took no notice of him and continued fighting Abby. The male half-ghost built up speed and rammed into the ghost's back, finally getting its attention. That was long enough for Abby to slam into it with charged fists. She created a rather large hole through the creature's center, but it reformed as soon as she came out. It didn't seem to affect the giant at all! The ghost eventually grabbed at them and caught them in his enormous hands-or the blobs that acted like hands. Both teens struggled to break free, but to no avail.

"Hey gruesome, maybe you should pick on someone your own size!" shouted a familiar voice behind them. "Or better yet…" there was a blast behind them and the creature holding them flinched "Don't pick on anyone at all!"

The figure came into their view. It was their Dad, Danny Phantom.

"Dad!" Abby screamed happily.

Shadow almost screamed "Dad," but caught himself, reminding himself that Danny Phantom wasn't Shadow's father.

Danny shot ice beams at his opponent's arms, an ability Abby had not acquired yet (along with the ghostly wail). The monster's arms froze and broke off as Danny hit them with a ghost ray.

With the ghost's arms detached, both Abby and Shadow began to fall. Abby, having more experience, focused her energy and sent a huge wave of energy out from her whole body, smashing the ice-covered hand into pieces. She began to float in place. Shadow, however, had hardly any experience and continued falling. He was panicking way too much to phase out. He was basically paralyzed. All he could do was scream.

It felt like the end would never come and he'd fall forever. He closed his eyes as he neared the ground. Suddenly, he stopped falling and he felt the icy grip break away from his skin. He felt arms beneath him. He regained his senses and opened his eyes. He looked above him to see his Dad, smiling. He was set down on the ground, still slightly stunned.

"You okay?" Danny asked Shadow almost as if he was talking to his own children, which he technically was, but he didn't know that.

All the teen could do was nod with a surprised look on his face.

"Stay here." Danny commanded.

Shadow would have rebelled against this if it weren't for his paralyzed state. He watched the scene play out before him. His Dad fought so gracefully and Abby wasn't doing too bad herself. They had won after a few minutes and the ghost was sucked into a Fenton Thermos.

Danny then headed toward Shadow with Abby trailing behind him and landed gently in front of him.

"Hey kid, you alright?" Danny asked kindly.

The boy gave no response. It was like he was in a trance.

"Hello?" Danny waved his hand in front of Shadow's stunned face as he said this.

Shadow snapped out of it and shook his head as if it would shake all of his stunned feelings out of him.

"Let's go, Dad. He's not worth it." Abby urged with distaste as she tugged on her Dad's arm.

"School, now." Her father ordered sternly.

Abby groaned, but reluctantly obeyed and made her way to school.

"Uhhh…thanks." The younger half-ghost unsteadily said. This was really weird; talking to his Dad as a different person.

"You're welcome. You sure you're okay?" his Dad asked with concern for the ghost who was standing in front of him.

"Yeah, just a little tired, I guess." Shadow replied.

"Alright, but for future reference; you might want to leave ghosts like that to me and Abby."

"Okay." He said, a little disappointed.

His Dad nodded and then flew off. After his Dad left, Shadow realized that he had to get back to school. He zipped back into the bathroom and changed back. He then quietly sat down at his lunch table; it was like he hadn't even left.

Abby and Tori had started a conversation about the mysterious "Shadow" as he was sitting down.

"I didn't know that a ghost could be so horrible at using ghost powers." Abby criticized with a laugh, regarding to Jake's miserable failure.

"Your Dad had to save that ghost's butt? I bet you were laughing." Tori joked.

This conversation was lowering Jake's self esteem more and more each minute.

"I know. Shadow seems like he has no experience what-so-ever." Abby responded.

"Amateur." Tori taunted.

"For an evil ghost, he sure is lousy at it." Abby added.

That was it. Jake couldn't stand this anymore.

"Maybe he's not evil and he was just trying to help-"

Jake was cut off by his obnoxious sister.

"You can't say anything. You haven't met him yet. We have," she gestured toward Tori and herself "and he just seems like trouble. Besides, even if he was trying to help, there must have been something in it for him. Plus, he wouldn't do much good, with his lack of power control." She interrupted.

"Maybe he didn't know how to use them yet." Jake defended, almost showing his anger. He was pretty sure that if she teased him-actually his alter ego-anymore, his eyes would start to burn red…the ghostly red.

"Jake, just give it up. Why are you trying to defend him? He attacked us-at least, he tried to. That makes him evil. That's final." She concluded. His eyes beamed red as she said this.

Jake gave up trying to defend himself. He felt his eyes turn red, so he turned them back to violet again.

"Matt, were his eyes just red?" Tori whispered to her friend suspiciously.

"No. Must have been the lighting." He covered.

Matt couldn't tell if she bought it or not.

After school, the three of them walked home. Tori waved as her house came into view and she dashed for the door.

"Bye!" She dismissed friendly, with a cheery smile on her face.

"Bye!" They shouted back, with seemingly fake smiles.

Once they were sure she was out of ear-shot, they started talking.

"That was harsh at lunch." Matt commented.

"Tell me about it. Try being the one they were talking about." Jake reacted.

"I never knew that those two could be so…cruel." Matt remarked.

"I think I'm going to go train. If I can't get control soon, I might not be so lucky next time I face them." Jake said grimly.

"I'll come with you. Maybe I can help." The dark-skinned boy said nicely.

"Okay, but first, we'll have to find somewhere that no one will see us." Jake answered.

"I know just the place!" Matt stated happily.

Not exactly a cliffy, I know, but it was the only thing I had at the moment.

I don't care how many reviews I get right now, just as long as I get some.