Thank you great peeps for all the wonderful reviews!!!

The poll is going as follows:

Don't care: 1

Lancer: 3

Poison Control: 2

Checkmate: 1

Animal Control: 1

and everybody else didn't vote. I hadn't even started Lancer yet, but am now three pages into it (in a notebook, not typed) because that seems to be the one coming out ahead. The poll is still on, so if you didn't vote yet please give me your opinion.

So, this is Chapter 12: Former Master

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Danny sat against the wall, lazily watching Dash as he paced back and forth.

The quarterback was gesticulating wildly as he raged and panicked about their current situation. "…So now we're stuck here and have no idea how to get out! And it's all your fault, Fenton!"

Danny shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much. What were you planning to do about that?"

Dash paused, clearly at a loss for a reply. He had no idea how long they had been in this crazy dimension, but it had to have been at least 12 hours. My parents are gonna totally freak, especially when I tell them about Fenton being half ghost. Dash hadn't realized he had spoken this last part aloud until he caught Danny's suddenly panicked look.

"You can't do that!"

Now he was just confused. "Why not?" Sure it had been a secret before, but he didn't see any real reason to keep it that way.

Danny gave him an incredulous stare. "Valerie's a ghost hunter, remember? So are my parents! And the Guys in White have been after me for months! All of them have huge arsenals of ghost weapons and want to tear me apart molecule by molecule!"

Something Danny had said in his surprise rant a while back had stuck in Dash's head. The part about him wanting Lancer to try living his life. Now he sort of saw why.

With all these ghost hunters after him, including his almost-girlfriend and his parents, it was no wonder that the boy was stressed. And the ghost thing was making him miss school, not get his homework done, and hiss enough sleep that he was constantly falling asleep during the classes he managed to attend.

Dash was all too aware of the many times he had shoved Fenton into lockers, run him up the flagpole, and given him swirlies. And every time the boy had just taken it. He never fought back, and though he occasionally complained or pulled pranks, he had never done anything about it.

That could be looked at as either really idiotic or really nice. Probably both.

He finally voiced his question out loud. "Why did you always let me beat you up?"

Danny sighed, looking at his feet. "I use my powers to kick ghosts out of town, not to attack people or get back at people I don't like. I'll never attack a human unless I absolutely have to."

A sinister voice chuckled. "How noble of you."

A face that was becoming way too familiar appeared in front of the two boys. This way only the second time Despair had actually come out, though he had projected his image to them a couple of times.

And now Danny was mad enough at him that he was out or blood… er, ectoplasm… or whatever it is that ghosts have. Changing from Fenton to Phantom with absolutely no hesitation, Danny launched himself at Despair and performed a flying tackle that would have made the football coach proud. He soon had the evil ghost pinned to the ground.

For the one who had spent quite a lot of time tormenting the two boys, he wasn't really too powerful of an adversary in hand to hand combat.

Holding tightly onto Despair's wrists while his knees dug into the dimension twister's stomach, Danny growled, "Send us home. Now."

Baring his teeth, Despair glared back. "If I must. What shall I do with my former master?"

Danny thought for a moment, then said something quietly to Despair.

The ghost grinned and waved his hand. Black and red smoke twisted together, encompassing the forms of Danny and Dash. Their vision was completely blocked, and they eventually lost sight of each other. Then the fog began to clear, and Danny took the opportunity while he was still hidden to change back to human.

When the haze finally left completely, the boys found themselves just outside the school.

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((cries)) This is the last chapter. Only the epilogue is left.

For those of you who care, I've now joined the bowling team at school and cross country isn't even over yet. This could get very hectic. I will continue working on Lancer because I have an hour long bus ride to school every morning except Thursday. If the votes in the poll change drastically, I will be perfectly willing to shift my focus or switch steadily back and forth between two for a while until I hit Writer's Block (myself! hehe) on one of them. So let me know what you think, and please read all my fic ideas while you're on my profile, because I am still in need of names for a few. I know you guys have some creative imaginations because of all the response I got when I asked for kitten names, so give me some feedback on this too, okay?

I'll put up the eppy when I get to at least 140 reviews, unless next Sunday comes and I don't have that many.