Responding to a challenge that turned into an evil plot bunny with a white picket sign.

WARNING: The following content may not be found applicable by certain readers, as it contains genderbending and implied misconduct of a troublesome nature. Rating: T. Genre: Angst/humor.


Yin and Yang, black and white, ghost and human, dead and alive, boy and…girl?


"So, what happened?" Sam propped her chin up and watched Danny stab at his food.

He observed her through overgrown tangles of unruly hair. "Nothing." Danny frowned, heat rushing to his cheeks and he avoided her knowing gaze by returning to the mess of gooey chili fries, "Just a normal ghost fight."

Sam lifted an eyebrow, the crook of a smile at the edge of her lips. "Oh, come on," she teased, "What'd they do this time?"

"What did who do this time?" Tucker arrived just in time to see Danny flinch, and he sent a sympathetic frown in his best friend's direction. "Lay off it, Sam. It isn't funny."

The goth rolled her eyes and leaned back, eyeing Tucker's piled-high tray of meat with wary distaste. "I wasn't antagonizing him, Tuck. He can keep it to himself if he wants to." She folded her arms and turned to the window, abruptly cutting herself off from further conversation. Tucker slid into place next to Danny; after an awkward moment's hesitation, he patted Danny's back. "Do what you need to, dude."

Danny pushed a heavy breath out of his lips and dropped his fork, "I can't eat this," He proclaimed, sliding his tray across the table towards Sam. She glanced at it – once and with a curled nose – before placing her attention on the clouds brewing outside. "It was…Johnny 13, by the way." He muttered.

Both of his friends instantly stopped what they were doing to stare at him, wide-eyed. Sam's lips pressed together so hard they turned white, "Did he…?" Danny cut her off with a solid glare. Don't ask, it said.

He might as well have just told her everything. They knew, Danny knew, but none of them were going to talk about it. That's how it always went. The trio sat together in silence, listening to Tucker chew or watching a group of birds flutter passed the eatery; that is, until a horde known as the Dash Baxter Brigade barged in laughing so hard their humanity was showing.

Sam watched them approach the Nasty counter with little interest. "I don't get it," She muttered, "For such a 'classy' guy, he has to come here for lunch?" They'd been discussing the politics of teenage hangouts for ages, and Sam still couldn't seem to wrap her head around the fact that both nerds and A-Listers willingly hung out at the same place outside of school.

Relieved to have something to talk about, Tucker jumped onto the subject, projectiles of munched food working out passed his teeth. "Sam, it's really not that complicated. Everyone comes here."

She scowled, "That's stupid. Dash is probably hated by the entire working staff. They could do anything to his food—and, he has the money to go somewhere else."

"So do you." Tucker grinned, "And unlike you, he has an appreciation for what they serve here. Stop being such a big hypocrite, Sam."

Her gaze cut into him like ice, "I'm not a hypocrite; we were here first. Right, Danny?"

Danny had his head turned down, and he'd sunken so far in the booth his nose was nearly level with the table. "Danny?" Sam blinked.

He shrugged, casting a suspicious glance around the room that lingered on Dash for too long. "Can we change the subject, please," he whispered.

Sam lifted an eyebrow, folding her fingers together and stretching her elbows on top of the table. "We did change the subject. Now you want a new one? What are we going to talk about, the weather?" She smiled amusingly at Tucker, "Hey, Tuck, it's raining in the spring. Funny that."

"I'm serious." Danny scooted himself up and shook his head, flinching when Dash grabbed his food and headed in their direction. His entire face down to his neck had gone a deep shade of pink. When the jock's booming voice came within earshot, Danny buried his head into folded arms and stayed there.

"—digs me, I'm telling you! She even remembered my name, first and last!" One of the jockimus posy let out a low whistle, "I heard on Specterwatch that ghosts only remember really important things."

Dash was grinning from ear to ear when he sat not two tables away, his story carrying across the room. "She was awesome in that ghost fight. Incredible, like the hottest thing to ever exist ever. A total bad ass, you should have seen her take that other ghost down like he was nothing!"

"How'd it happen?"

At their table, a small groan lifted from the tussle of black hair next to Tucker. Dash continued mercilessly, "When I showed up this ghost with a motorcycle – probably something he stole – was talking to her. They weren't yelling so I couldn't hear what they were saying, but she looked pissed. Threw the first punch," His team of cronies nodded in approval, "And he didn't stand a chance, she beat him all the way across the football field without even breaking a sweat—near where I was standing, actually, so I was close enough to hear the end of the fight."

"So what'd she say?" One of them leaned in excitedly, his Leatherman's jacket stained with ketchup, watching in awe as Dash leaned back with a satisfied smirk, "Oh, he was making moves. But she was yelling at him, like, the worst names in the book. And he got all offended, said she liked humans more then she liked her own kind; and then she just took him out right then and there. He was gone in an instant."

"No way." Kwan breathed, "…You really think she likes humans more than ghosts?"

"Duh." Dash rolled his eyes, "Why else would she always be fighting them? Besides," he grinned, "I checked."

The table erupted with whistles and catcalls, cheers, and encouragement. Sam abruptly stood up, jerked her chin at Tucker—who did the same, grabbing Danny's arm and pulling him from the table. He stared at his shoes the entire way out of the door, pretending not to hear Dash lavishly go on, "We totally made out, you know—"

The door to the Nasty Burger closed behind them. Tucker was holding Danny's arm with such force it was already turning purple, but he made no complaint. Sam was hissing like a wild animal. "That sick bastard." She growled, "He can't just take advantage of people like that!"

Danny blinked rapidly while they walked down the sidewalk, "It didn't…it didn't happen like that, you know." He whispered softly. "I—I was hurt, I didn't—"

"Hush." She wrapped her arm across his shoulders, "You don't need to explain yourself."

Her proximity made the distinct tremble of her hands all the more apparent. Danny took a deep breath and blundered on anyway, "I hate this." He said simply, "I hate it so much."

"You're doing good things, Danny—"

"That's not what I'm talking about!" He hissed, pushing her away and backtracking to shove a thin finger at the Nasty Burger, "That's not how it should be! I should be normal, like Vlad! Not—not this, this thing—not like…not so…ugh!" He threw his arms in the air and marched passed his friends, "God, everything's wrong with me! I'm not even me, I'm a—a her and a he and I don't know—what if she has a mind of her own? What if I'll get struck by weird girly hormones? What if I want Dash to – to –" He shuddered, "Nevermind. That'll be a cold day in Hell."

"Dude, we've been through this," Tucker matched his best friend's pace with pity in his eyes, the speech already sounding old and overused, "We can run more tests, but the genetic change of your biology hasn't had any effect on your mind. …Well, except Jazz's psychology stuff. You're still you, when you change form there won't be another brain in your place; you have to focus on that."

Danny froze, his face contorted incredulously, "I turn into a girl, Tucker. I'm not a super hero from a comic book who can cope with this stuff. I'm. A. Girl."

"And whoever said there was something wrong with being a girl?" Sam cut in, "It doesn't matter what you look like, Danny, you can still kick ghost butt from here to the edge of the Ghost Zone, and no one—"

"Everyone."

"—can say a thing about it." She put a forceful hand on his shoulder, "You are Dani Phantom. You save lives. The end."

Danny frowned, but his anger was dying anyway. He shook his head, "I'm going to beat Dash's head in when I see him next."

Sam grinned, "That's the spirit! Saving lives, putting bullies in their place! …And, while we're on the subject," Her eyes twinkled mischievously, "Is he a good kisser, or…?"

Danny pushed her away, but this time it was accompanied by a friendly eye roll, "I wouldn't recommend it. Pretty slobbery. But, if you want a go at him, by all means…"

"Oh, now I'm just disgusted." Tucker clutched his stomach, "Do we have to talk about this after eating?"

Danny and Sam exchanged glances, chuckling, "No, Tuck, we can pretend none of today ever happened." Sam nodded, "But it's probably going to come back to haunt us anyway. You know how evil ghosts can be."

"Yeah. I do." Danny added with a little less humor, sticking his hands in his pockets and speeding up. "Come on. We've got a Doomed marathon to attend, and I don't know about you, but I've got a lot of misplaced aggression to rain down on some noobs."


Danny Phantom belongs to Nick and Viacom, I'm also updating without my editor sooo...sorry AB! ^^ I know you're busy, though, and so am I. And wit the time it would take, I'd probably lose interest before we got this published and it would just sit in a sad folder for forever. D:

I drew a picture! Danny and his two forms, Y&Y style: catalystofthesoul. deviantart. com/art/Yin-and-Yang-279748938 Remove the spaces.

The original challenge is here - www. fanfiction. net/s/7454209/1/

Much love~!
Catalyst