Hello, readers! Sorry I was late again...but at least it wasn't three months, right? You can thank my beta and the reviewers for that ;D

Kiomori: lol, yeah, I figured Tucker would be so bored he'd create his own fun. Plus, I wanted to demonstrate how Tucker and Phantom have a few things in common. The question is, when will Sam and Tuck find their answers? Eh, lame suspense attempt. Yup. Danny's going to get real intimate with that concept, especially in later chapters. I can't wait to see either; the story has taken over!
Hyperpegasi: Thanks! I loved that part, too! I had so much fun writing it :D I had a surprisingly easy time writing Tucker, too. Usually characters give me a hard time, but he wasn't so bad. Wonder why...
Donteatacowman: ;D I've had that cellphone idea in my head for a while now. lol, my mom says I write weird, but I guess that's a good thing! Ah, you love the twin speak! Did you use a callback there too? lol. Yeah, I think it did. Thank you, and enjoy this new chapter!
xxBakaAkki: Hehe, lol! I am psychic! Yes! I love seeing people's interpretations of my story! Plus I love art in general, so that's awesome. Thank you. Sorry this took a while.
DP-shrine-in-closet-girl: Really? Great! Lol, I enjoyed that part too. Just picturing the scene gives me the giggles even now...and I've had it in my head for a while now! :D Twin speak, always fun ;) Glad you liked to so much! Tucker probably won't be in Amity until next story, unfortunetly, but I'm glad you enjoyed the glimps of him. It's alright; you replied now and that's what counts, right :) I'm just glad you didn't lose interest in it or anything. I had fun with the flying scene, too. Actually, I have a lot of fun with the whole story :D
Mi Bi Looney: hehe, yeah. But in the meantime, we can watch him and laugh our butts off ;D jk. I like the fights too. They're fun to write. I fight with my little brother all the time too, and my older sisters before that, so I get it. Siblings. They make life so interesting ^-^
JackieDanielStark: Lol! Yeah! That would be great! Can I use that? Next story, of course. You know my answer to that: go right ahead! And good luck!
Thunderstorm101: lol, I bet that's fun. My sisters and I sometimes speak at the same time, but not nearly on that degree. I babysit two twins, now, but they mostly just bicker over who gets the controller (boys...) I have four siblings so I hope so :D I'm glad I got the twin thing going, though. Besides the little twins I watch, I've never met twins before.
Accoroffee: Thank you :) I write what I want to read, and what I wanted to read when I first began this was a story where Danny and Phantom were 'seperate' people--but not interested in each other. Surprisingly hard to find...But now I love my story! It's difficult to write, but I like looking back and re-reading a chapter or two ^_^
Dragon260: I didn't like the episode where they were seperate at first, but it's grown on me. I'm glad you like my story, even though it's not something you'd usully read. I hope I don't mess it up, either ;)
Shiro Inutoko: Thank you so much! I don't think I'm that great of a writer, but then, I'm my own worst critic. I hope to one day get my original stories out there, too. Man, that would be awesome! My sisters the same way: she has all kinds of ideas, but she can never get things going. She turned her attention to art, though. Astronomy is a lot of fun. I sometimes learn some things about it on the science channel, but I didn't know that much about the white dwarf. When I was reading it, though, I kept on comparing the white and black dwarf to Danny and Phantom. I'll think about it; it sounds good. Just needs a little work like White_Dwarf63, or...you know, my creativity is failing me right now, too...I'm definetly going to finish it; it's just a matter of time. I'm actually starting to wrap it up, so it's no big deal. Lol. Thanks! I've got to update my other story real quick, but after that, I'm going to give my full attention to this one. If I get really into it, I may be able to update it every three days like I did when first began writing it :D Oh. I'm going to edit it once I finish it, so I'll keep that in mind (interesting, too, by the way. Breakfast, huh?) Thanks again for the two reviews :D
Kitty Ghost and digiwriter1392: Thank you for taking the time to review too! Even one or two words mean a lot to me :D
Thanks again guys! I'm sorry it took a while for me to get this up. School is difficult--especially when the teachers form a conspiracy to give you loads of homework :[

The story got away with me again. It was supposed to focus more on Phantom, but noooo. Oh well. You get Danny and some Phantom. Phantom's part seems a little weird to me, though. He was the one I had the most trouble with, oddly enough. Usually he's the one I can depend on not to give me a hard time.

Danny Phantom is not mine. Also, send a shout out to my beta, Dragondancer123. She's a real help, and if it wasn't for her, I probably would have taken another three months to update...

Enjoy! Chapter 18:

Chapter 18
Needed

"…And I want you all to workout at least twice a day! That includes fifty sit-ups, twenty pushups, twenty-five—"

Ring!

The students sped out of the room so fast they left marks on the tiled floor, and Ms. Tetslaff was left with an uncompleted sentence. The health and gym teacher made a face and grumbled something about how energetic the students were off the field. She was about to make her own exit when she noticed she still had one occupant left in the room. Frowning, the teacher made her way over to the still-occupied desk, mentally complaining about lazy students.

She looked down at the messy mop of black hair for a moment before she grabbed the skinny boy's Health book off the desk and slammed it down as hard as she could, creating a resounding bang that echoed loudly in the empty health room. The boy snapped his head up with a startled gasp, his blue eyes twice their normal size and a trail of drool dripping from the corner of his mouth.

Ms. Tetslaff leaned into Danny's face and whispered dangerously, "I hope you don't make a habit of this, Fenton." The young boy began to calm himself down enough to slouch once more in his seat, apparently unconcerned. Her upper lip curled up in distaste at the boy's relaxed posture. "If I find you sleeping in my class again, Fenton, you will be doing a hundred sit-ups—IN DETENTION!"

Danny blinked groggily up at her, confusion warring with drossiness on his face as if asking, "Why are you shouting?"

Ms. Tetslaff growled again, but gave up on intimidating the half-asleep teen. She gave Danny a disapproving look before she marched out of the room. There was a foot long sub sandwich waiting for her, and no lazy boy was going to keep her from her precious.

Danny blinked once more at his teacher's back. His head and upper body slowly began to slump over the desk below. A cold, invisible hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back upright. Danny groaned in protest and received a light, familiar chuckle in return.

"Gees, Danny," the disembodied voice of Phantom said from behind Danny. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

Not with you keeping me up, Danny thought bitterly, but he reached a hand up to rub at his eyes.

Phantom snorted and his hand withdrew from Danny's shoulder. "You can't pin the blame completely on me, Danny. You were the one who insisted on playing that internet game with geek-boy all night."

Danny grunted, but didn't reply and made sure his thoughts didn't leak out again. It was actually Phantom's fault…though the ghost wouldn't know that. He hadn't been able to fall asleep after he'd finished playing with Tucker because Phantom had given him too much to think about that day. He had been consumed with thoughts of what had happened to them, Phantom's possible actions in the future and what he was supposed to do about a certain something the ghost couldn't be allowed to find out about…

Phantom, unaware of where Danny's thoughts were headed, floated a little above him and became visible. Phantom had adamantly refused to wear one of Danny's sweaters—he said they were 'scratchy' as cactuses and too 'confining' on his movements—so his outfit now consisted of a black baseball cap and his usual attire.

The cap sat backwards atop his head, his bangs hidden beneath the cap and the bill concealing his black neck hairs from view. It looked surprisingly good on the ghost, all the black and the backwards cap made him look like a punk skater. It managed to make Phantom look more…human…in a weird way too. It hid most of his ghostly attributes, but Danny couldn't help thinking how much cooler he'd look with sunglasses. It would hide his eyes, but Phantom disliked the 'stupid' sunglasses more than the 'confining' sweaters…

Phantom looked around the classroom curiously, apparently fascinated with the bland health room. "Class ended, Danny," he said without looking back at Danny. "Shouldn't you hurry to your next class now? I thought you only had five minutes to travel between them."

Danny yawned and stretched, his arms reaching for the roof as he arched his back. He sighed and relaxed his posture after his back popped into place. "Nah. I don't have to rush this time, Phantom. This is my lunch hour."

Danny tried to stand up then. Tried, but didn't succeed. Sleeping leg nerves don't respond well, apprently. When he tried to stand, his legs refused to support him and he quickly lost balance. He instinctively braced himself against his desk for support, but the strain on his forearm sent a wave of agony traveling up the rest of the limb and he cringed, quickly easing the pressure on his arm.

Phantom looked back at him—probably sensing his flare of pain—but Danny had already composed himself and was casually faking a yawn."Danny?" he asked hesitantly. "What was that?"

Danny closed his mouth and shook his head. "Huh? What was what?" he replied, trying to sound innocent.

Phantom's face scrunched up in confusion for a moment before he shrugged. "Must have been my imagination, I guess."

"Yeah, must have." Danny finally noticed the drool hanging from his mouth, and wiped it away with a grimace. He lazily gathered his health supplies—a pencil, book, and notebook—around for his 'travel' between classes. "Anyway, we should get going."

Phantom frowned. "I thought you didn't need to rush."

"I don't." Danny stuffed his pencil inside his red hoodie's front pouch and placed his book and notebook in the crook of his left arm. "But I don't want to miss out on all the good food…if you could really call it that." He grimaced just thinking about the cafeteria's mystery meat, but walked out of the classroom and into the relative privacy of the hallway anyway.

Phantom, once again invisible, followed him out. "If you don't like the food," Phantom said through their link, "then why do you eat it?"

Danny resisted the urge to pout at the easy use of their telepathy. Phantom had been using the link all day and was getting pretty good at it, unlike Danny, who blabbed every other private thought to his unwilling listener. It was surprising how Phantom hadn't caught on to what Danny was hiding, considering how terrible Danny was at keeping things to himself…

"Danny?" Phantom asked.

"Huh? Oh. I eat it because I have to eat something, and that's all there is." Danny shrugged, as if it were obvious. He paused behind a group of students that were loitering in the halls, talking for no apparent reason while they blocked the whole hallway. Danny rolled his eyes and shifted on his feet, waiting patiently for the crowd to move.

"You could just phase through them," Phantom suggested helpfully, sounding slightly confused about why he hadn't already done so. "I'm sure you have enough control by now to handle it."

"I'm trying to keep a low profile, remember?" Danny replied. "Walking through a crowd of students is not something normal humans do."

"If you do it right, they won't notice," Phantom persisted.

Danny sensed the ghost float behind him, and couldn't help starting to feel nervous at what the ghost might be plotting. He tried to glance behind him without looking as if he was. Phantom's form shimmered a little into visibility, and Danny caught the mischievous look in his eyes. The ghost disappeared again, and he gulped. "Don't go getting any ideas, Phantom. They'll move eventually."

"But why wait?"

"Phantom," he growled in gritted his teeth and searched the crowd anxiously for a way through them. "We can't draw attention to ourselves!"

"They'll never notice."

Unless he got physical, there wasn't a way around them. Danny scowled in frustration. "You don't know that!"

"Oh come on, Danny! What fun is life if you never take risks?"

"This coming from a dead ghost!"

Phantom scoffed somehow through the link, and Danny twitched at the odd sensation. "So I would know best."

"I doubt that."

"Ghosts—"

"FENTON!"

Before he could react, Danny's sweater was suddenly grabbed from behind and he was lifted a few inches off the ground. He internally cursed his luck, and glared when he was spun around and forced to look into the narrowed blue eyes of the Dash Baxter.

The star quarterback glared back at him and shook him a little, unknowingly jarring his injured arm and eliciting a pained gasp from him. Dash, pleased with the show of pain, shook him once more before he shoved him harshly against the closest row of lockers. Danny groaned and tried to block the pain from his mind.

The students that had been blocking the way now gathered around the pair, whispering excitedly amongst themselves. Phantom hovered on the fringe of the crowd, his puzzlement and uncertainty reaching Danny through the link and further disorienting the human halfa.

Dash got in front of Danny's face and growled, "Guess what I got on my health test, Fentonail?"

Danny blinked in confusion for moment before he made a show of gagging. "An 'F'? For poor hygiene? Maybe if you tried a breath mint—"

Dash slammed him against the lockers again and Danny's right arm took the brunt of the force. His vision blackened and he cried out, his body instinctively trying to curl in on itself.

"Danny!" Phantom shouted.

Danny sensed him start to fly towards Dash and quickly yelled, "No! Don't!"

Phantom paused, floating a few feet from the bully. "But…"

Danny shook his head and cracked his eyes open—he hadn't realized he'd closed them—only to find Dash smirking down at him. "That hurt, Fentoad?" he asked smugly. "Maybe that'll teach you to keep your mouth shut!"

Honestly, Danny should have taken the helpful advice from a surprising source, but his pride rebelled against submitting to Dash. He glared at the bully and replied, "You'll have to do better than that, Dash, if you ever hope to bury the truth of your bad breath. When was the last time you brushed your teeth? Last week?"

Dash's face flushed with anger, and Danny mentally winced. Dash raised a fist and Danny closed his eyes tightly, waiting tensely for the impact…

It never came.

Danny cautiously opened his eyes, wondering what was wrong. Dash's fist was slowly lowering itself, but Danny was too stunned and focused on his eyes to thank the gods that he was going to live. Green glowing eyes stared back at him where blue eyes should have been.

"Danny?" Phantom's voice asked hesitantly through the link.

Danny's mind finally caught on to what had happened. He gaped at the overshadowed jock and shouted through the link, "Phantom, get out of him!"

"But he's trying to hurt you!" Phantom protested, Dash's facial expression turning defiant.

"I'll be fine, Phantom, but if Valerie comes around now and finds Dash acting weird, you won't be; now get out!"

"Danny—"

"Out!"

Dash's eyes returned to normal and the large jock stumbled back, his grip on Danny's sweater slacking. "What?" he asked, disoriented.

The crowd whispered in confusion and disappointment while Kwan stepped beside Dash and placed a large hand on his shoulder. "Dash? You alright? Why haven't you pummeled the geek already?"

Dash shook his head and looked down at Danny, who smiled innocently back at him. "Huh? Oh! That's, uh, because he's not worth my time!" Dash shoved Danny into the lockers again and released his grip on his hoodie.

"But he insulted you," Kwan persisted. "Are you just going to let him get away with that?"

Dash was starting to look annoyed, but whether it was because of Kwan or his failing memory, was a mystery. Finally, his mind came up with the simplest solution: forget the confusion and satisfy his friend. "Yeah, whatever."

Danny tried to get away, but the crowd had him boxed in and he was quickly grabbed again. He cursed his light-weight when Dash lifted him effortlessly up in the air again. Kwan opened a random locker and Dash threw Danny in, slamming the door shut behind him. Danny stifled a yelp as his already abused injury was once again battered.

He could hear laughing outside the locker. He twisted around inside and looked out the grate holes. The teenagers had parted for the football players to pass and were starting to follow them to the lunch room. A few of the teens looked back at Danny's prison and snickered, throwing derogatory taunts at him. Some remained behind, ignoring Danny's predicament all together.

Danny scowled and punched the locker door with his left hand.

"You satisfied?" Phantom's voice asked. "I could have helped you, you know."

"Your 'help' would have gotten us all in trouble," Danny snapped. He sensed Phantom outside the locker and glared at the invisible ghost. "What were you thinking, overshadowing him? If Valerie had been there, she would have started shooting!"

"I didn't mean to overshadow him!" Phantom objected. "I only meant to scare him a little bit, but I got sucked in!"

Danny breathed in deeply, trying to calm himself. It may have worked…if the locker he was in didn't happen to have a pair of dirty socks in it. "Scaring him would have caused trouble too! We don't want anyone to know there's a ghost in the school, remember?"

Phantom snorted. "As if I could forget with you reminding me every two minutes!"

Danny bit his lip and forced himself to calm down. "Look, I appreciate your concern, but I would have been fine."

"Fine?! He was about to beat you up!"

"I know! I was there!" Danny gritted his teeth and shook his head. He sighed and leaned his head against the back of the locker. "Maybe…you should get out of the school for a while."

Phantom's green eyes became visible through the grates. "You mean…leave?"

"Just for a little while," Danny said. He looked into unusually dim green eyes and added, "We both need to calm down…and you're bored here, aren't you?"

Phantom seemed to shrug.

"Well, you don't have to stay by my side all the time." Danny shifted in the locker, trying to get comfortable. "You can explore the city…think over what Sam and you discussed yesterday."

Phantom's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Do I have to?"

"Yes. You may come to like Amity, Phantom."

Phantom sighed, his eyes closing. "I doubt that."

Danny rolled his eyes. "You might. So…I'll see you after school?"

Phantom opened his eyes again. He stared into Danny's for a while before he nodded. "After school."

Danny bit his lip, a little nervous about Phantom leaving. "Stay safe…" There were, after all, a lot of ways a ghost could get in trouble.

"Right back at you."Phantom became fully visible long enough to smirk at Danny. He disappeared again before the students could notice his presence and Danny sensed him fly through the roof of the ceiling.

Danny breathed deeply in through the grates—the socks smelled awful—and leaned his forehead against the locker door's cool, metal surface. With Phantom finally gone, he could finally relax his 'mental barriers' as he had come to think of them. He wasn't sure if they were actual 'barriers' or not, though, because so far, the only thing he had accomplished was developing a headache. Phantom had nearly full access to all the thoughts that occurred in Danny's head. Only one had eluded the grasping, nosy link, but that was only because Danny had avoided thinking about it all together.

Danny cracked an eye open and peered down at his right arm. He'd worn his red sweater that day, and it was doing a wonderful job of hiding the awful bandage work underneath. The two-day old dressing had needed to be changed that morning, but Danny hadn't been able to get away from Phantom long enough to ask Jazz for her help—

Actually, he was confused and more than a little surprised that she hadn't come to him already. He'd been available; she just never bothered him. She didn't ask any questions about what happened and she didn't ask if he was doing okay. Just…nothing. It was like she had forgotten about Danny's injury.

He doubted it, because whenever they were in the same room, he would randomly catch her looking at him or his arm. She would have a calculating look on her face that Danny knew from experience meant she was thinking long and hard about something. If she was looking at his arm when she had that face on…not good.

All the same, she never came around to change his bandages and he had been forced to change them himself. He was only able to get away from Phantom when he took a shower where privacy was kind of a necessity, so he did it then. There were always fresh dressings under the bathroom sink, so Danny had quickly tried to bandage his gash. Two key words there: quickly and tried.

Danny's attempt at nursing was… pathetic, but it got the job done. Danny's arm was once again on the road to recovery, and Phantom was none the wiser.

Danny flexed his fingers on his right hand and pursed his lips. It was really kind of upsetting the effort Danny was willing to put in to keep Phantom in the dark. He had to do it, because if he didn't, a lot of people may suffer.

Okay, so maybe that was exaggerating it just a bit. But Phantom had plainly stated that he wouldn't help protect Amity Park if his ghost fighting endangered himself or Danny. Clearly, if he found out about Danny getting the same injuries as him, that would be violating his self-imposed rule and he would call off the whole hero-work thing.

Danny couldn't let that happen. Amity Park did need him, even if they didn't show it. The whole city was falling apart, stone by tiny little stone. Buildings had been completely destroyed, potholes the size of cars littered the roads, and the citizens were terrified of even the slightest hint of ghostly activity. Some would think they'd have gotten used to it -and in most cases that was true—the ones who were unable to adapt left the city. Those that remained stayed clear of their basements and attics and refused to go out after dark.

The town needed a hero to defend it. Danny's parents and Valerie were great and managed to save the town more times than even a mathematician could count, but it wasn't good enough. The ghosts just kept on coming, stronger ones with new abilities and powers. The Hunters couldn't keep up, no matter how hard they tried. Humans alone just weren't powerful enough to fight the undead.

…But that doesn't mean Phantom can handle it all on his own either…does it? Danny wondered, biting his lower lip.

He remembered fighting alongside Phantom when they first met, back when Phantom was too insecure with his own abilities to fight Skulker head on. He had needed and accepted Danny's help without question. They had teamed up and sent Skulker back into the Ghost Zone without receiving any serious injuries…and it had felt great, at least to Danny. He had never felt so strong; no one had ever allowed him to fight ghosts before.

Now it was different. Phantom was still unsure of himself, but he was confident enough with his new powers that he was willing to consider fighting ghosts—without Danny's help. Where at first he had welcomed him with open arms, Phantom now told Danny to sit by on the sidelines and watch as he fought, hurting himself and Danny in the process. The ghost now seemed to think Danny couldn't handle the fighting, just like everyone else appeared to believe.

It's not fair! Danny complained internally. His eyes tightened and his upper lip lifted a little in a silent snarl. I'm not made of glass! I can help!

Danny's eyes flew open and he suddenly tensed. He had forgotten that the link sometimes picked up on his more passionate thoughts, sending them to Phantom without his approval. After a few minutes of silence, however, Danny relaxed his muscles.

Danny groaned and ran a hand through his hair. It's so difficult to think without thinking! Stupid link! Haven't you ever heard of privacy orsecrets?

"What?" Phantom's voice asked from out of nowhere.

Danny gasped and jumped, his head connecting painfully with the top of the locker.

"Danny?"

Danny shook his head, trying to clear it. "I, uh, sorry, Phantom," he said aloud. He just heard the last thought, right? "Just thinking to myself."

"I gathered that much," Phantom replied and Danny could just imagine him either rolling his eyes or smirking.

Danny huffed indignantly. It wasn't his fault the link was into the gossip moving through Danny's mind. "Just fly around and ignore my thoughts, Phantom."

"Way ahead of you there, Danny."

Danny pouted and crossed his arms, winced and uncrossed them again.

"Danny?"

"Shut up, Phantom," Danny hissed.

A teal colored eye peered at him through the grates and he gasped, jolting back and bumping his head against the locker again.

"'Phantom'?" Valerie asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. "That ghost isn't around here is he? Because if he is, I'll—"

"Uh, no, Val!" Danny assured quickly. "There's no ghost, and, uh, no Phantom."

"But I heard you say—"

"I didn't say Phantom! Why would I mention that creep's name?!"

"I heard you say his name."

"Oh, well, it must have just…slipped out…?"

Danny tried to smile innocently when Valerie's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why?"

"Oh, uh, I was thinking to myself," Danny said struggling with a reasonable half-truth, seeing how he couldn't seem to lie convincingly. "The ghost just happened to be what I was thinking about at that very moment and I just said it."

Valerie frowned slightly, before her eyes disappeared from the grates. Danny heard the combination turning and quickly tried to brace himself. His hand found the dirty sock, though, and when the locker popped open, his panic and disgust resulted in him to losing balance and falling out with a startled cry. Luckily for him, Valerie caught him before he could experience a painful collision with the floor.

Danny blushed to the roots of his hair and quickly gathered his feet beneath him. Way too close for just friends. "Uh, thanks, Valerie." He smiled at her and rubbed his neck, trying not to seem as awkward as he felt. It'd figure he was so light Valerie could catch him and not stumble at all—well, that or she was incredibly strong for a girl.

Valerie smiled, a light dusting of pink on her own brown cheeks. "No problem." She looked back at the locker and her eyes narrowed. "Dash throw you in there?"

Danny shrugged and dusted himself off. "Yeah, but I kind of asked for it. I taunted him into doing it."

Valerie shook her head. "He threw you into a locker, Danny. Why do you have to be so noble about it?"

Danny scoffed. "Noble? I am not being noble. I'm just admitting it was my fault. I'm still going to get back at him…"

Valerie chuckled. "I'd like to see that." She smiled and ran a hand through her long hair. "So…do you want to come eat lunch with me?"

Danny raised an eyebrow in surprise. "What? I thought we weren't going to date anymore."

Valerie's blush deepened, but she rolled her eyes and said, "We're just sitting together, Danny. I don't understand why you guys always jump to that conclusion."

She was mostly talking to herself, but Danny replied cautiously, "Wishful thinking…?"

Valerie chuckled softly. "I suppose." She turned so she was facing the way to the cafeteria. She looked over her shoulder at Danny and asked, "So, are you coming? It's not a date, by the way."

Danny grinned and slammed the locker door shut. "Sure, Val, I'd love to…But do you mind if Sam comes along? I kind of promised I'd sit with her today."

Valerie's smile fell a little before it grew to twice its previous size. "Sure, Danny! Bring...Sam along."

"Cool. You two never sit with each other." Danny grinned and caught up to her. Valerie looked as if she had just swallowed something sour, but she made an effort to smile at him as they began walking down the hall.

If the citizens of Amity Park looked up as they passed the City Hall on their way to their various destinations in their daily routine, they would have seen an interesting sight atop the roof. Some might have fun off in terror. Others may have called the Hunters to alert them to the spectacle. And the few left over may have ignored it all together, glancing up before continuing on as if it were a perfectly natural occurrence.

None looked up. They were too consumed with their own personal lives to be interested in the top of an old building. It's impossible to know what would have gone through their minds if they saw a ghost perched on a gargoyle's pedestal with a disgruntled scowl on his shadowed face. In a ghost infested town such as theirs, it would have been intriguing at the very least.

Meanwhile, Phantom was looking down at the humans…and scowling. He wasn't too happy about watching them. He was bored beyond belief, actually. He had a mission to accomplish, but he wasn't sure what it was. The way Danny had phrased his suggestion, it had sounded like he expected Phantom to see something in the city folk that would inspire Phantom's protective instincts. But what was he supposed to see? Were the humans going to start randomly dancing or something? At least that would be more amusing than watching them go about the same thing over and over.

Phantom sighed and grabbed the lid of his new hat—er, cap. He turned it back around so it once again covered his neck. In reality, he didn't like the cap very much, but it was better than one of Danny's sweaters. At least it was airy. He couldn't deny that it got the job done though. Ghosts—that were bound to show up eventually—wouldn't see his multicolored hair, and the Hunters—that were most likely on the hunt for him—wouldn't get suspicious over his appearance.

Hopefully, the cap was an unnecessary precaution.

As soon as a ghost appeared, Phantom planned to be on the other side of the city, purposefully minding his own business and not being tempted into saving any wayward humans dumb enough to get in a ghost's way. His past experience in helping out the humans didn't really inspire him to give it another go, no matter how much Danny and Sam begged him. After all, it wasn't their half life on the line.

Phantom gently lifted into the air, taking a moment to look down at the open air beneath his feet before he zoomed off in a random direction. He didn't have any particular destination in mind; he intended to fly for the thrill of flying. He hadn't just taken the time to enjoy the air currents in a while. He had always found he thought more clearly after a long flight, even in the Ghost Zone.

He flew for a while before he allowed himself to look down again. He grinned when he saw most everything blending together in a blur due to his speed…all except the vehicles the humans drove. The vehicles escaped the communal blurring, instead standing out in stark contrast as they unknowingly kept pace with the speeding ghost.

Phantom smirked and flew faster, determined to leave the human's way of transportation in the dust. Humans needed to get around quickly, and the only way they could do that was by driving big hunks of metal. Ghosts, on the other hand, were able to fly high speeds any time they wanted. The young ghost halfa had always wondered which was faster…

Unfortunately, there were speed limits on how fast the humans could drive, so a race was out of the question. The vehicles were also restricted to the relatively straight roads, so another common ghost contest was out: agility.

Phantom couldn't race the humans; however he could make things a little exciting.

Danny and Sam would probably disapprove, but they weren't there at the moment.

Phantom angled his flight downwards, closing in on the traffic so he only had to stretch his hand out to touch a vehicle if he chose to. He stared at the 'fast' machines below him for a moment before he took a deep breath and dived into the flow.

Billy glared at his older brother who was looking innocently out the car window as if he hadn't just thrown a ketchup-drenched French fry at Billy. Billy wasn't fooled by the act at all, however. He scanned the back seat for something he could use in revenge, spotting another package of ketchup. He quickly grabbed it, ripped it open, and squirted the ketchup at his older brother. His brother shrieked a girly scream and grabbed another pack as well. Billy readied his own weapon, prepared to give as good as he got when the inevitable war broke loose.

"Boys!" their mother suddenly shouted from the front seat. "Don't you dare start that, or I swear I will never take you to that Nasty Burger place again!"

Billy and his brother quickly dropped their ketchup packs. They spared each other frustrated looks that said, 'this isn't over' before they looked out their individual windows, plotting when they could resume their war.

A ghost suddenly appeared right outside Billy's window and all thoughts of future battle plans vanished from his mind. Billy gaped at the flying ghost, unconsciously plastering his face against the window, unable to believe what he was seeing. The ghost glanced at him, and Billy felt fear course through his veins when those luminous green eyes connected with his.

Surprisingly, the ghost didn't attack. Even more astonishing, the ghost smirked and winked at Billy before he disappeared from sight entirely.

Billy gasped and looked around wildly. His big brother sneered and asked him if he was afraid a monster was going to jump out of the seats and eat him, but Billy was too busy searching for the ghost to remember his latest nightmare his big brother was referring to.

Phantom watched the little boy with an amused smirk as he frantically turned in his seat to look out the back window. A woman, who Phantom assumed was the boy's mother, yelled something from the front seat and the boy quickly sat down again, a dejected look on his face.

Phantom chuckled lightly and increased his speed, pulling ahead of the miniature car easily. He weaved around it, taking a moment to look one last time at the family. He looked forward again and noticed a new interesting vehicle. He came alongside the large orange truck with a motorcycle in its back compartment, a nostalgic smile forming on his face. The ghost flew a little higher so he could touch down lightly inside the carriage.

He bent over and inspected the bike critically, unconcerned that the truck he was inside was driving over fifty miles an hour. He ran a hand over the bike's body, admiring its sleek build and the power residing within it. He wasn't a motorcycle expert, but he'd known Johnny long enough to know a good bike when he saw one. If only the colors were black and green…

The truck jerked to a stop and the truck's momentum threw the ghost forward with a surprised gasp. He fell to the truck's bed floor and grunted, his face screwing up in stunned pain. The stop had come out of nowhere and Phantom was thoroughly confused. He felt his invisibility slipping as a result and quickly struggled to regain his control.

When he felt adequately hidden again, he lifted himself on his elbows, but winced when the raised grooves of the truck bed dug into his wound and sent a wave of pain up his arm. He glared in annoyance down at the troublesome truck before he placed his hands beneath him and lifted himself into a crouch, warily glancing around to see why the truck had suddenly stopped. His frown deepened when he saw that the truck wasn't the only one taking a break. The whole right lane of the road was at a standstill. However, the left side continued to drive in the opposite direction, undisturbed with the right's inaction.

Phantom crawled over to the edge of the truck and cautiously leaned over the rim, trying to see what the problem was. He desperately hoped the Hunters hadn't caught on to his little 'game' and decided to stop the traffic so they could catch him…

But that didn't seem to be the case. At least, he didn't think so. In front of the truck, another road intersected the road Phantom was following, but unlike his side, its traffic was still driving without any pause. Above the intersection, a black rectangle hung on a thin wire. Currently, a red light shone above two dulled circles.

Phantom frowned at it and leaned further over the edge, now hanging precariously over the rim. He had seen that thing before. Somewhere on Clockwork's screen…But what was it for? Was it the reason for the sudden stop?

The red light suddenly dimmed and the bottom circle began glowing green. Before Phantom could react, the truck jerked forward again. The ghost gasped and lost his balance for the second time. His hands slipped on the slippery metal and he tumbled out of the truck completely, falling to the asphalt below. An unfamiliar instinct activated within him, making Phantom's hands quickly reach out to catch himself.

He landed on the road at an awkward angle, his head hitting the pavement—not as hard as he would have if his body hadn't reacted the way it did, but hard enough to make lights flash in his vision and leave him feeling disoriented. His invisibility control was completely lost as a result, but he hardly noticed.

Phantom groaned and pressed his hand against his aching skull, hoping to alleviate the pressure somehow. He stood up, wobbling a little on his unsteady legs. Gravity was most definitely not his friend at the moment.

A loud, drawn-out honking noise shook Phantom out of his own little world and he snapped his head up to see what was making the racket. His eyes grew wide and another gasp escaped his lips. He took a step back, but his feet weren't going to save him from the semi truck looming over him.

Cliffhanger? I'd never! No this isn't a cliffhanger; this is just a suspenseful ending that leaves you hanging and wanting more...Alright, so maybe it is. I'll try not to leave you hangin on the cliff for long. I've got to update GZE now, though. THey have a cliffhanger too...I am not cliffhanger obsessed either!

I meant to edit a bit more, but for some weird reason, my page is messing up. I may change things later. I'm sorry. I hope you enjoy how it is now, though.

Until next time! Au revoir! (I took French I last year)