Danny waited until the cave door was shut before he jumped into the air and rocketed up into the sky. The rush of air in his white hair. The roar in his ears. The feeling of complete freedom. It was the best he'd felt in a long time. He flew with his eyes shut, falling into a relaxed posture and twirling and spinning lazily. It was wonderful. He grinned to himself before opening his eyes.

He then started to think about what he'd learnt from Vlad. People were following his loved ones. Danny shook his head. Vlad must have spotted the Justice League. That was all. Lex Luthor was involved in the Guys in White. Batman and the others had suspected that. Danny knew that Luthor was part of the Light. The only thing Danny really learnt was that Vlad was worried about Luthor. To tell Danny to give into anything Luthor asked, it showed how worried and nervous Vlad was. Danny shook his head. Luthor had to find him and catch him before he could give an ultimatum. Danny could push those thoughts to the back of his mind until then. It was a very unlikely situation in Danny's mind.

Danny flew higher and higher, shifting his presence in the Real World in a way that only a ghost could so that he consciously no longer needed to breathe. He rose above the clouds and took in the thousands of stars. He picked out constellations instantly. He took in the sight and smiled, relaxed and feeling like himself once again. Flying did something for him that nothing else could. The weightless feeling as he floated as close as possible to the stars he loved, it brought him true peace. There was no other way to explain it.

Once he'd drank in the surreal sight for a few minutes, Danny allowed himself to drop back down to the ground gracefully and landed in his old training clearing. Now in ghost form, Danny wanted to assess how rusty he was in using his other powers. Powers he hadn't had the opportunity to try since before his capture.

First he did a quick checklist of invisibility, intangibility, ghost ray, ice powers and flight. All working as they should. He wouldn't be able to practice his overshadowing ability but that was fine. He duplicated his form and found it to be as easy as it had become for him after months of intensive training and merged back together. He then concentrated on a twig and his green energy enveloped it as he levitated it above the ground. With a nod to himself, he dropped it. Telekinesis working but still needed work. He could pick things up and move them but the bigger the object and the further he moved it, the harder it was. Also if it was a long way from him, it was difficult. He then floated in the air a few feet and shifted his legs into his spectral tail and did a few contortionist moves before deeming his bodily manipulation up to par.

Then he considered his last power he had to try. The ghostly wail. He took a deep breath but stopped. His mind suddenly recalled the ecto-ranium, electricity and blood blossoms. He shook his head and released the breath harmlessly. He couldn't do it. With a disappointed shake of his head, he decided to start heading back to the cave.

He floated up into the sky and the joy of flying pushed the disappointment in not being confident in all his powers out of his mind. He landed beside the entrance and decided to test one last thing. He'd changed into Phantom since his ordeal before but had only been capable due to the stressful situation. Danny hoped this wasn't the same thing. He'd been forced to change into Phantom, but at least this time he'd had a positive experience, unlike Danielle's rescue where he was overcome with his insecurities and broke down. He opened the door and reverted to human. As he walked he changed back into ghost and then to human and repeated it until he was outside the kitchen.

With one last grin to himself, he concluded that he wouldn't have a problem with turning into his alter ego anymore. He changed to human and stepped into the kitchen as the credits for the movie began to roll. The others looked over to him with concern but Danielle saw something no one else did. A glimmer of confidence in her cousin's eyes that hadn't been there before. It was the look she'd only seen before he got caught by the Guys in White. What he said to Skulker was right. Danny Phantom was back.

Yay! Danny can change to Phantom again! Looks like Vlad did help our favourite halfa afterall.

Although Danny still can't use his ghostly wail…

Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.

Until the next chapter.