Danny closed his eyes. Sam continued to hug his face, shuddering. Then he felt her hand on his head, feeling down the scales on his cranial fringe. They seemed to give very easily under her hand, and Danny wondered if they weren't scales at all, but his actual hair. He opened his eyes, looking down on Sam, whose arm was still raised to touch the strands of ivory that cascaded down his forehead. After a while, Sam lifted her head, opened her eyes, and gazed into his. He could tell by the small streaks on her face that she had been crying.

"I'm sorry if I upset you, Danny... I want you to know... I'm still very, very happy to see you."

Danny swallowed again, bowing his head.

"Same here..."

Sam suddenly let go, backing away, almost stumbling backward in the water. Danny lifted his head, confused. He looked around for anything that might have just leapt out of the shadows and startled Sam, but he saw nothing. He looked back at Sam, who stood there, staring with astonishment at Danny. He blinked.

"What?"

"You... you can talk!"

At that moment, Tuck came splashing up beside her, then put his hand on her shoulder. He held his other hand up in a gesture at Danny, as if introducing him to Sam to the first time.

"It's Danny Phantom, part human, part ghost, and part dragon... it's Danny Dragon! OW! ...You know, you could have just punched me in the arm like you usually do..."

Tuck put a hand to the side of his face, where Sam slapped him. Sam turned to face him, her hands on her hips.

"You think this is funny? He might end up being stuck like this forever!"

"Sorry, sorry... Honestly, I don't think it's funny at all..."

Sam opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by something brushing against her feet. She looked down, through the water, and saw a long tail being dragged past her. She looked up, and turned around to look behind her. Danny was walking back to shore, having already passed them while they were talking. His wings were still hanging down his sides, the ends dragging in the water. His head hung from his long neck in a despondent manner.

"Oh, no."

Sam took off running after Danny; Tuck followed. She headed Danny off as he was stepping onto the dry shore, apparently on his way into the forest. She stopped in front of him, holding her arms out like an officer about to direct traffic. Danny stopped in mid-step, put his foot back down, and opened his eyes just the slightest bit, his glowing pupils focused on Sam. She stood firm, returning his gaze. He sighed, closed his eyes.

"It's no use, Sam... You're right, I'm going to be stuck in this dragon body for as long as I live. I can't go back home like this. There's no place for me anywhere except hiding back in that cave--"

"DON'T SAY THAT! You are NOT going to give up on yourself like that! As long as I'm here, as long both Tuck and I are here with you, you're not going to give up on yourself. We're going to stay here with you... We're going to help figure out a way to fix everything. We're not going to leave you behind, we're not going to give up on you."

He was startled out of speech by Sam's yelling. She continued to stare into his eyes, getting her breath back. She shook her head.

"You've never given up on us. Never. We're not going to give up on you."

Danny sighed. He looked down at the water, where his reflection looked back at him. No, he had never given up on his friends, no matter the situation, no matter what the consequences would have been. It wasn't in the right to think that he had been defeated when he had friends who appreciated him for what he was, no matter what he had become.

The glowing image he gazed upon was suddenly interrupted by ripples; Tuck walked up next to Sam, looking up at Danny apologetically.

"Look, Danny, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything... Really, I didn't. Please let me make it up to you. I want to see you back to normal as much as Sam does, probably as much as you."

Danny looked at Tuck. He could often see the sincerity in his eyes, even when it hardly ever came out of his mouth. He knew his friends had made their point clear; they were sticking with him for the long run, no matter what lay in store for either of them. Who could ask for better friends? He smiled, a few of his fangs showing without his notice, and then held one clawed hand out to Sam and Tuck, who reached out and touched his palm with their hands. A pact had been made.

Bertrand was startled awake. Down below, something had brushed against the trunk of the tree he was perched in, causing it to shake. Ruffling his feathers, he opened his glowing red eyes and looked down from his perch, high up in the branches of a pine tree.

For a moment, he thought he was just looking at the Ghost Dragon that had retreated into the caves to take a nap, several hours ago. But this dragon looked different. More than that, it acted different; those two humans down there in front of it, appearing to be leading it towards a wide clearing near the caves, should have been dead in the presence of that monster. But why don't they seem the least bit frightened? Why isn't the dragon attacking them?

His questions were answered once the dragon suddenly turned its head to look back toward the lake, a stream of glowing blue vapor leaving its mouth.

"That little runt... He's figured out how to control the dragon! Spectra's not going to be happy about this..."

With that, Bertrand flapped his silent wings, lifting off and flying away noiselessly into the night.

"Are you sure you want to try and make it back with Danny? He isn't exactly an expert at flying yet... Well, that kind of flying, not the kind of flying he's been doing up 'til now. I thought maybe he could try and follow us behind the bus."

"Look, Tuck, I don't mind if one of us takes the bus back... One of us will have to, considering all the equipment we brought along with us. But someone is going to have to stay with Danny to make sure nothing happens to him on the way back. And I volunteer. Besides, I did tell you to bring your webcam... You DID remember to snag it before you left the house, right?"

Tuck dug into his backpack and pulled out his PDA and miniature camera headset. He and Sam had been discussing methods of returning to Amity Park with Danny. Since it took over two hours to get to where they were by bus, they threw out the idea of walking back. Since their original plans included getting the amulet off of Danny, then taking him back on the bus, they both had round-trip tickets; but now that there was no way of removing the amulet, seeing as how it had somehow disappeared, that and the fact that Danny was now too large to ride the bus, they had to reconsider that idea as well. Tuck brought up the notion of having Danny sit on top of the bus, but Danny himself turned that one down, saying that he was afraid he might accidentally crush the vehicle's frame and put the bus out of commission, which would also put Sam and Tuck out of a ride. Finally, Sam suggested that since Danny was capable of flying on his own, she should be able to ride on Danny's back and let Tuck take the bus. And since Tuck had a means of keeping in touch with them, they wouldn't lose each other on the way back to the city.

"But wait a minute... We totally forgot about something. We can't let Danny be seen by anybody! Even if he was following the bus in the air, at this time of night and with the moon in its current stage, he would pretty much be the only light source up there. I mean, his glowing in the dark wasn't all that noticible before, but now he's shining like a beacon."

It was true; Danny's skin always gave off a faint aura when he went into ghost mode. Since his size had increased, so had the intensity of the aura. Sam, looking at Danny, reasoned that she could probably read a book under him.

"Yet before now, he could just make himself invisible... Did he really lose all his powers when the amulet took control of him?"

"Actually, I haven't even tried using any of my powers... I thought maybe they had been shut off. Let me give it a shot..."

Danny closed his eyes and lowered his head, concentrating. Sam and Tuck watched him with interest. After a while, his aura began to shine brighter. Suddenly, there was no Danny, just a glowing outline, which faded away almost immediately afterwards. Sam and Tuck were left sitting in the darkness. Everything became eerily quiet. Then a loud, booming voice over their heads startled them out of their wits.

"Hey! It worked!"

The aura reappeared, then all color and form returned to Danny. He was standing up, looking rather triumphant. Sam then stood up, putting her hands together, looking at Tuck.

"Since he figured out how to go invisible, then maybe his other abilities will return to him as well. But for right now, invisibility is all we'll need..."

A long while and a long walk later, Sam and Tuck were standing inside a shelter by the highway, waiting on the next bus. It was still dark outside, but in a couple of hours, the sun was scheduled to rise. Overhead and invisible, Danny practiced flying. Although unable to see himself, he could feel the wind against his skin, and it was enough for him to be able to tell if he was holding his wings up right. After a while, he descended and landed for a rest, being careful not to scratch the ground or make any noise with his wings, lest he attract the attention of anyone else nearby; the bus shelter stood in front of a building that served as an information depot for visitors traveling through the mountains. There were a few cars parked outside.

Danny sat down next to the shelter, looking up toward the starlit heavens. Sam and Tuck heard him sigh out of boredom. He raised his arm and pointed with one claw toward the stars and, even though he couldn't see his arm or claw, began pointing out familiar patterns in the sky to himself. A moment later, Sam and Tuck heard him speak to them in a low whisper.

"Right up over your heads... That's Orion."

"You know constellations?"

"It comes with aspiring to be an astronaut. I also know the planets. That really bright star in front of you is Jupiter."

Sam looked off into the distance; Jupiter was shining in the east, having just risen an hour ago.

"Guess I never noticed. It must be very handy to know if you ever get lost..."

Tuck was in the middle of imagining what an astronaut suit built for a dragon would look like when two bright lights shone down the road, coming around the corner and approaching the bus stop.

"Bus is here... Alright, Sam, you go ahead and put on that headset; make sure the camera's turned on. I'll take the Fentonfinder and the PDA with me, so that I'll know where you are at all times. I'll be keeping in touch with you every now and then so that neither of us will attract attention. Okay?"

Sam nodded, and Tuck was sure that Danny was positive as well. The bus pulled to a stop in front of the shelter, opening its front doors. Tuck lifted the backpack and slung a strap over his shoulder, walking up to the bus. The driver looked at him, then behind him at Sam, who was still sitting under the shelter.

"She don't need a ride?"

Tuck blinked, looked over his shoulder at Sam, then shrugged.

"Um... uh... No, sir... I think she's waiting for another ride..."

The driver gave Tuck a suspecting look, then waved him on. Tuck hurried to a seat at the back of the bus, where he sat down, sliding his backpack off to the side where he could start unloading it. The bus started to move. Tuck looked out the window at Sam, giving her the thumbs-up signal. Sam returned the gesture. She remained sitting there, watching the bus as it pulled away, waiting until it disappeared around the next corner. Once the bus was out of sight, she leapt up, looking around her to make sure no one was watching.

"Alright, Danny... Now we need to find some place where we can take off without anyone seeing us."

She took another survey of her surroundings, then looked off into the woods behind the tourist building. She motioned to Danny.

"Follow me."

She took off running toward the back of the building, slowing down to look at something on the back walls. Danny carefully rose to his feet, walking over to Sam, trying to keep from making any noise with his footsteps. Sam went around behind the building, then came running back, accidentally slamming into Danny's invisible leg. Danny reached down with one hand to steady her as she got back up.

"Ow... Behind the building... No windows. We can go into the trees behind it without being seen."

"But, I..."

"...Can't be seen anyway, right. But I need to be able to see you in order to climb up on you. It shouldn't take me long, and after that, you can just go invisible again."

"And with you... on my back... no one would see you, either. I can make both of us go invisible at once."

"...Didn't think of that. That would be even better. Come on, someone's driving up into the parking lot..."

Danny turned his head to see a car pulling up into a space in front of the building. Turning back to the forest, he got down on all fours, moving quickly and silently toward the trees, Sam in front of him. Carefully, he brushed aside a few tree trunks that were barring his movement, and managed to squeeze himself through. He continued to follow Sam through the dense wood until she found a clearing deep inside the forest.

Sam stepped aside, giving Danny room to move. He stepped into the middle of the clearing, adjusting his wings so that he would be able to move them when he was ready to take off, then lifted his spectral shroud, making himself visible again. The area was suddenly illuminated brightly from his aura.

Danny then laid down on his stomach, keeping his arms and legs underneath him, laying his neck out on the ground.

"Ready."

Sam walked up to Danny, approaching his arm. She hesitated for a moment, then gingerly stepped up onto Danny's shoulder. She reached down to grab hold of the cloth around the base of his neck; it felt like ice under her hand.

"Gee, Danny, you're so cold... Is this how it's always been with you?"

Danny realized another change that had come over him. No longer a mammal, but a reptile, he was now cold-blooded, and the fact that he was part ghost didn't help any when it came to his external temperature. Sam was going to be in for a chilling ride.

Sam finally managed to get into a comfortable position on Danny's back. She settled down at the base of his neck, on his first thoracic vertebra. She let her legs hang down off his clavicle, straddling his shoulders like one would straddle a horse's back. She leaned forward, wrapping her arms around what she could of his thick white-collared neck, clamping herself down on him tightly. Danny could feel the grip she had on him.

"Ready..."

Sam closed her eyes, feeling less and less confident in her decision as time ticked by. Danny raised his neck, getting up on his hind legs, then crouching down on them, arching his back and raising his wings. Sam felt her balance shifting, and she opened her eyes just to see her support fade from sight directly underneath her. Danny had gone invisible again.

"Alright... Now, hold on..."

He raised his wings, then brought them down hard, causing the trees and bushes to lean away from the clearing from the gust coming off his wings. He raised them again.

"Here... we... go!!"

He shoved down hard with his legs, and leapt up into the air. He then brought his wings back down, much harder this time, and he shot up into the sky, clearing the treetops. Straightening himself, he flapped his wings to gain altitude, having memorized the movements of the Ghost Dragon that had controlled his body before. Soon, the trees below him became indistinguishable from one another, coming together in one large mass that shrouded the road, surrounding the white mountains and flat lakes. Up among the clouds, he leveled out, holding out his wings to catch whatever warm air current he could find. As if switching to autopilot, he let his wings glide along the thermal, refraining from moving them until the time came when he would have to move to a different thermal. His tail, riding on the current, streamed behind him like a rudder.

Feeling the wind against his face, he let his concentration slip away, allowing himself to enjoy it. He could barely feel Sam clamping down on the back of his neck. Worried that perhaps she had fallen off without him noticing, he tilted his wings downward, bringing him up above the clouds, where the only visible lights were the stars above. He had never brought Sam up this high; he never had the strength to carry anyone for very far before. Bringing himself back upon the visible plane, he turned his head to look at Sam. She lay face-down on his shoulders, clinging white-knuckled to the back of his uniform, her eyes screwed shut. Danny smiled out of pity.

"It's okay, Sam... Really, you can open your eyes now."

Sam loosened her grip the slightest bit. She turned her head to the side, and Danny could see her eyes half-open. He thought he heard her say something, then he realized that she had been speaking into the device on her headset. It was too faint for him to hear; he guessed that she had been getting audial support from Tuck, who was trying to calm her down. After a while, she raised her head, leaning back in her seat, and looked around her. Her eyes opened fully.

"Wow..."

Up above her was nothing but stars, clearer than she had ever seen them; below, she and Danny were gliding just above a widespread meadow of crystal blue. She looked up, noticing Danny watching her. He grinned, then turned to look forward, tilting himself downward so that they soon were partly submerged in the cloudbank. The white vapor streamed around his body, enveloping Sam, who felt gradually calmed by the cooling mist. She leaned back until she sat nearly upright, keeping her legs clamped down on Danny's shoulders for support. She almost cried out in surprise when she saw Danny fading away again beneath her, leaving behind his glowing aura for a moment before disppearing completely. Then she felt him descending again, and they left the clouds behind them, flying out over the landscape. Above were the clouds and the stars; below were the mountains and the lights of the towns and roads below, the shining dots forming patterns similar to the threads of a spider's web.

She could feel the wind against her body, but saw nothing of herself, nor of Danny underneath her. Feeling secure in her position, she loosened her grip with her hands on Danny's neck, until she had completely let go. She sat upright, leaning back, and spread her arms out, closing her eyes. Feeling the wind in her arms, she was content, and she smiled. As Danny followed the highway below from his place in the sky, they continued southward, and for the time being, Sam really did find herself as the Goth Bird of Happiness.

It was a long time until Danny spoke up, and Sam had to return to her senses.

"Right in front of us, off in the distance... I can see skyscrapers. I think we're almost home."

He began to descend, and then Sam could see what he was calling attention to; there before them were the lights of the city, surrounded by roads and streetlights that marked out the suburbs. Behind the city, she could see the harbor, where the land met the water. The waters' surface sparkled like a million jewels with the light of the stars. He was right; they were close to Amity Park, and within the hour they would be home.

She was suddenly distracted by the light from Danny's aura; he became visible around her, his neck craned to the side, as if he were looking for something.

"What is it?"

Danny turned to look behind him, a worried expression on his face. Sam could see the stream of spectral vapor leaving his mouth.

When his ghost sense had gone off back in the forest, they saw nothing, and no ghost attacked them. Way up here, for a ghost to be close enough to activate Danny's sense, it would have to be flying right alongside them--

WHAM!!

Something struck Danny hard on the back of his neck, causing him to nearly lose his balance. He stretched his wings out, catching the air before he could fall out of the sky. He raised his head up to look around, and was greeted by a pair of glowing red eyes looking at him, upside down, from on top of his head.

"Well look, if it isn't the little loser. Or should I say, the BIG loser!"

Bertrand shoved down on Danny's head, having grabbed onto his horns. Danny shook his head from side to side, trying to dislodge him. He finally let go, flying in front of Danny, where he could see that the shapeshifting ghost had taken the form of a large owl. Bertrand wheeled about in the air, coming in for another attack. Danny swiftly turned his body to descend, hearing Sam screaming from her place on his back. As long as she was able to hold on, there was a chance that he could possibly outmaneuver Bertrand in the air without accidentally throwing her off.

He could see the ghost turning to come at him, his talons bared. Danny dove straight down, missing the attack. He heard a loud screech, then felt something clawing at his left wing. Flinging both wings out, he slowed down sharply, then wheeled and turned around in mid-air, heading back up towards the clouds. He felt Bertrand grab hold of the end of his tail.

He immediately changed direction, tilting backward so that he ended up flying upside down, then tilting back again, forming a wide loop. Leaning his head back, he could see Bertrand hanging onto the large scales that formed a tuft at the end of his tail, clamped down on them with his talons. He was holding his wings out, apparently trying to slow Danny down so that he would stall in the air.

Danny turned more sharply, bringing his next loop closer. He had a straight shot at Bertrand now. He sucked in a deep breath, feeling a burning sensation in his neck, then opened his mouth wide and exhaled as hard as he could. A gigantic jet of bright emerald-green dragon flame erupted from his mouth. He tilted his head to the side, and the blast hit Bertrand dead center.

Engulfed in the glowing flames, Bertrand let go of Danny, beating himself with his wings to try and put out the fire. Without any means of staying airborne, he plunged toward the ground. Just before he struck the ground, however, he flung his wings out, catching the wind and sailing out into the trees, disappearing into the forest.

Danny righted himself in the air, flapping his wings to regain altitude. He was soon able to catch an air current under his wings, and he let himself glide upon it. It was only after the sound of his own heart pounding had died away that he heard Sam whimpering and shivering on his back. He turned his head to look at her; she was once again clamped down hard around his neck and shoulders.

"Sam... You all right?"

"...Down... NOW..."

He quietly obliged, tilting his wings upward so that the air rolled past them with less effort. He carefully made his descent, finding a large orchard with tall trees on the outskirts of the city to land in. Trying to keep himself steady so as to prevent Sam from getting any more airsick, he slowed down enough that he landed on the ground between the trees without incident.

Down on all fours, he laid down on the grass, allowing Sam to slide off his neck. She landed standing, then dropped to her knees, then finally lay out on the ground, as though hugging it. Danny imagined that he had felt the same way she did at one time, like after having ridden some kind of fast-moving carnival ride. He tried to get up onto his feet, but suddenly no longer felt any strength; his adrenaline had subsided like the tide after a storm, and he was left with aching muscles all over his body. So he flopped over to the side, opposite from where Sam lay, and let all his tired limbs lay out upon the ground.

One side of his face on the grass, he could only see Sam from the corner of his eye. She continued to lay there, spread-eagle against the ground. She wasn't breathing as hard as she was before; she was beginning to calm down. Even though, she was probably still very dizzy. Danny noticed that her webcam headset was missing. Evidently it had been knocked off during the fight. There was no telling where it had landed, and there was no use in searching for it, as it had probably been smashed to pieces after falling from that height.

He shifted his gaze, looking out through the trees in the orchard, seeing the lights of Amity Park off in the distance. After they had taken enough time to rest, they were going to have to continue on toward the city. He knew for a fact that Sam would prefer walking to flying; he would propose to carry her there anyway, having himself do all the walking, seeing as how she had spent most of the previous day running everywhere with Tuck to try and find him. It wouldn't take too long to get to his neighborhood on his legs, compared to the legs of a human.

Having sorted out the plans for tomorrow, he finally closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift off into a dreamless sleep, something that had been denied him for long enough.