"You really expect me to believe that?" Principal Ishiyama demanded. Mr. Lancer had just described the ghost he had seen in the hallway. He was convinced that it was responsible for everything that had happened to him, or at the very least the incident in the cafeteria, which ended up taking a full hour to get under control. He had also begun to explain that he knew who the ghost was, but Principal Ishiyama had interrupted before he could get to that.

"I swear on Charles Dickens's grave it's true!" Lancer declared, "And I know who this ghost is! It's…"

"Mr. Lancer, even if I did believe your ridiculous excuse for a story, I'd be laughed out of the district office before I could even finish! All this suggests to me is that you're losing your mind, and fast!"

"Now, you listen here…"

"No, you listen, Slade! All these little mishaps around you have convinced the school district that it's your irresponsibility that's behind all the weird things that have gone on here, and I'm starting to see their point. But I know you and your record better than they do. I'm giving you another chance. But you'd better start manning a tighter ship around here, or I'll have no choice but to take action! Do I make myself clear?" the tone she took at those final words was truly frightening. Lancer sighed.

"Yes," he moaned.

----

By the end of the day, everything had calmed down. The students had been cleaned up from the food fight and the junior who had unknowingly started it had been given detention. Somehow, every student in the school knew that Mr. Lancer was taking the heat for all of this and was on thin ice with the principal. A couple of students who were less than pleased with him as a teacher had tried planning a series of pranks that would insure his being fired, but they didn't get far. Lancer, too well aware of his situation, had become even more strict than usual. His more whimsical and benevolent personality traits seemed gone forever, and he had been shouting at people for things as simple as accidentally dropping a piece of gum in the hallway. The pranksters…well, let's just say their punishment was far from lenient. Now Lancer patrolled the halls like a hawk, occasionally shooting a death glare at a random student.

"KEEP THOSE HEADPHONES DOWN!" he screamed at a nearby sophomore, whose music was high enough so that you could vaguely hear the basic rhythm. Danny, Sam and Tucker watched by Sam's locker.

"Lancer's really been taking the principal's threat seriously since the food fight in the cafeteria," Tucker commented, "Speaking of which, I managed to get some interesting digital pics," he pulled out his PDA. Several shots of Lancer appeared, the food splattered on him increasing with each pic displayed.

"Knock it off, Tucker," Sam shut her locker, "This isn't funny."

"Danny?" Tucker turned to his best friend, wearing a grin, but it soon fell away. Danny was looking after Lancer, a glum expression on his face.

"Danny?" Tucker repeated.

"What? Oh," he looked quickly at the pics, "Funny. Yeah," he turned back to down the hall.

"What's up with you?" Danny sighed.

"This isn't right. Lancer's getting blamed for every problem this school's had with ghosts, and I was the cause of some of those!"

"Dude, relax. It's not your fault if he gets fired."

"Do you want him fired?" Sam said, raising an eyebrow.

"What's the big deal? The only students he's ever nice to are Jazz and Dash. Remember when Sam changed the menu and we got blamed for everything?" Danny did remember. But he also remembered having to study for the make-up test.

"He's not that bad, Tuck. He's just…" he wasn't able to finish. Blue ectoplasmic smoke billowed out from his mouth.

"Oh no," he looked around. Down the hall, a ghost resembling a gym teacher had poked his grinning head out of a locker and looked after Mr. Lancer. He floated out in full, invisible, and overshadowed a boy near Lancer. It so happened that he was also near a fire alarm. One move of his hand, and the sirens were blaring all over the school, the sprinklers going off like mad.

"So that's why all this stuff's happening around Lancer," Danny said, "Can't think of why, but…" Sam and Tucker surrounded him, blocking him from view. In a flash, the blue-white rings appeared around his middle, drifting up and down. Danny Phantom flew out from behind his friends and into the boy's body, knocking the gym teacher ghost out of him and into a nearby classroom.

"Know any good plays?" Danny asked sarcastically, "How 'bout one for getting out of here?"

"Back off, kid," the ghost sneered, "You think you have what it takes to take down Coach Winterburg?"

"Winterburg?" Danny couldn't help but grin, "Oh, yeah, real intimidating. Why not try scaring me with a rubber chicken and whip cream pie?" Winterburg smiled malevolently. With a wave of his hand, a shockwave of green spectral energy filled the room, shaking all the desks and smacking Danny hard up against the wall.

"OK," Danny shook his head, "maybe this is a guy to take seriously," he shot his own blast back at Winterburg, who went intangible and let if fly through him. Danny flew at him, a kick ready, but he phased through that as well. The floors were wet and slippery from the sprinklers, so when Danny's foot came down on the floor, he quickly lost balance and fell flat on his back.

"Not the best in gym, are ya', sonny?" Winterburg grinned mockingly. Danny scowled. He flipped to his feet and swung another kick the coach's way. This time, he was too fast for him; the coach went flying through the chalkboard, through the next classroom, and into a janitor's closet. Danny prepared to go after him when voices outside the room caught his attention.

"I am incredibly sorry for all of this, sir," Principal Ishiyama was saying to a fireman, "We've been having problems like this all year. If that English teacher of mine was down here and didn't see this…"

"Oh, man," Danny remembered, "Lancer!" going invisible, he quickly sped out of the room and down the hall, going into human form in mid-air (and slipping on the floor again when landing). Lancer was looking around with a death-glare, trying to find the person responsible for all this.

"Mr. Lancer!" Danny ran up to him.

"What do you want!?" he spat.

"Principal Ishiyama's coming this way, and she's…"

"WHAT!?" he suddenly looked panicked, "Do you know who did this, Danny?"

"No, but…" they heard footsteps. The principal's shadow was coming up from the hall and towards them. There was only one thing to do.

"…But Mr. Lancer, I swear my bagpack just got caught on the switch!" Danny said in what he hoped was a convincing plead-for-mercy act. Mr. Lancer stared at him in bewilderment for a moment, then caught on.

"…Be that as it may, it was still your movements that triggered the alarm! I'm afraid I'll have to give you…"

"What's going on here?" Principal Ishiyama demanded.

"Just giving Mr. Fenton here his punishment," Lancer said simply, eyeing Danny, "A few weeks' detention I think should straighten him out."

"You mean you…and it was…and you weren't…" she sighed, "Fine, go on. I have apologies to make," she walked off.

"Thank you," Lancer whispered, with genuine relief in his voice.