WoM- I LIVE! Been a while, huh? 'makes a face' I'm really, really, REEEEEEALLY Sorry this update took so FREAKIN' long! I've been busy with so many different things lately! Believe me, I have NOT been having any fun with all the chaos going on, so right now I'm just glad I found time to post this story. After this, though, I'm going to head back to FCA to finish that off before coming back to this one. There's only three chapters of FCA left, and this story's only gonna be 14 chapters long (Meaning it's already a little over halfway done) Don't worry, there's still plenty of Drama left for Mr. Lancer and his students to suffer through… 'grins evilly' Now if you'll excuse me, I'd better do something about SoS before the fans come through with all those mob threats…

(Danny Phantom is slowly changing back to Danny Fenton; his pants change into jeans)
Danny: (Whispering to himself) Oh, great. I'm losing so much power I'm reverting back to --
Dash: Hey, what's with your pants?
Danny: (Nervously) Uh, it's... casual... Friday?
Dash: (Scratching his head) Today's Tuesday.

Suspicions

"Paulina!" Phantom yelled, his eyes widening as more shouting followed the girl's scream. "Oh man, something must be attacking them!" Mr. Lancer didn't have time to brace himself for the breakneck speed Phantom was traveling not seconds later, doing his best to keep himself from having an unfortunate reencounter with the Nasty Burger he had at lunch.

'Carmilla!' Mr. Lancer thought, closing his eyes tightly and gritting his teeth. 'How does Phantom endure this?'

"Sir Phantom!" Dora called out as she flew alongside them. "Do you require assistance? My armies in Medieval Ghost Zone-!"

"No time!" Phantom shouted back, increasing his speed (though Lancer couldn't conceive how such was possible). "I'll just have to take them on my…" Phantom slowed to a stop then, gaping dumbly as the scene below them before groaning loudly in exasperation.

'I don't believe this…' he thought, sighing heavily. Mr. Lancer found himself in agreement with the ghost as he took in what was sure to become the source of his next big headache…

"What'd you just call me, you little-!"

"Sam!" Tucker grunted as he tried to pull the goth girl off of the cheerleader. "Wrong time and place!"

"You heard me you tramp!" Paulina screeched back as she kicked at Sam, screaming something in Spanish Mr. Lancer didn't understand. Her tone, though, suggested that the word was highly insulting.

"Oh that's it!" Sam growled, ripping herself from Tucker's grasp to jump the girl again, "I'm gonna-!"

"Sam!" Phantom yelled, flying into the fight, setting Mr. Lancer down and grabbing the girl so he could wrench her away easily and dragging her (kicking and beating on his arms) a good distance from the pretty Hispanic girl. "Jeeze, Sam! Calm down for a second!"

'Easy for him to say,' Sam thought bitterly, though she did stop hitting him. Still, her hateful glare at Paulina never relented, nor did the dark scowl the cheerleader shot back after she wiped her bleeding lip.

"What is going on here?" Mr. Lancer demanded in the most severe voice he could muster, glowering around at his students. All of them hastily cleared their faces as they stood in complete silence.

On the surface, at any rate.

'Paulina had it coming,' Valerie thought firmly. 'She was way out of line, calling Sam things like that. Though why Sam would get mad about Paulina talking about Phantom of all people I have no idea… I mean, she likes Fenton, right?'

'Who does that little loser think she is!' Star thought at the same time, scowling at Sam. 'Paulina's had dibs on Phantom for a long time now, so she had every right to tell the goth freak to back off!'

'No fair…' Kwan sulked, 'I mean, did they have to break up the catfight just when it was getting good? Besides, everybody knows this fights been brewing for a while, with the way Paulina flirts with Fenton…'

'This whole thing is stupid,' Spike snorted disdainfully. 'I mean, two chicks who are completely different fighting over the exact same guy? A dead guy who probably isn't interested anyways? Man…'

'I've never seen Sam get so mad before…' Jazz mused to herself. 'Then again, Paulina was being really snotty… and Sam does take a greater offence whenever someone starts talking about Danny. ESPECIALLY when it's Paulina who's talking…'

Once again, Mr. Lancer found himself admiring his fifth period Advanced Mythology and Folklore Student (available to all students with a 3.5 GPA or higher) for her keen insight and observations.

'She's going to become a very good psychologist some day,' Mr. Lancer noted with some pride. Glancing over to the ghost and the girl he was still restraining, he added, 'Perhaps she could even offer me a little bit of help in trying to sort this whole chaotic mess out…'

'What the heck was up with that?' Phantom wondered, frowning down at the goth in his arms, 'Sam is always preaching about non-violence and peace, so why'd she attack Paulina like that?'

"Well? Is anyone going to talk, or am I going to have to assign you all another detention?" Mr. Lancer demanded sharply. That made Star (who clearly had enough detentions to last her a good long time,) spring into action.

"It was all Sam's fault, Mr. Lancer!" Star whined, pointing at the goth. "She started it! She attacked Paulina, right Kwan?"

"I didn't say I wanted you to start pointing fingers, Star," Mr. Lancer snapped. "I want to know what happened!" Though honestly, the teacher was starting to get a pretty good idea…

"That doesn't matter," Phantom sighed, "We need to get out of here before something really does attack us… Jazz, Sam, Tucker, you three stay in the Specter Speeder. Mr. Lancer, you should probably go with them. Dora, how many people can you hold after you transform?"

"Of these children?" The ghost woman frowned thoughtfully. "Around three or four, I suppose…"

"Good." Phantom sighed in relief, turning to face Kwan, Star, Valerie and Spike. "In that case, you four can go with Dora. Paulina-"

"I'm with you, right?" Paulina cut him off, her face glowing as she latched herself to the ghost boy's arm. Sam scowled darkly.

'Of course…' she thought sullenly.

"Yeah," Phantom sighed, "you're with me." Mr. Lancer winced slightly at the loud, mental squeal of delight at this, which almost drowned out the thought Phantom added to himself.

'I'd carry two, but my arms still hurting after that damn attack in school,' the ghost boy reflected in a bitter tone. 'Besides, I'm not sure I can trust Sam not to throw Paulina out of the Specter Speeder or something with how mad she is at her right now, and Paulina probably won't be too good at riding a dragon bareback, either. Valerie can pull that off easy, though, and so can Kwan and Spike, and since Kwan will probably hold of Star to keep her from falling off, that should more or less solve the transportation problem.'

Mr. Lancer was impressed with the boy's ingenuity and logic. 'It appears that ghosts have more common sense then humans,' he thought dryly. 'Or at the very least, Phantom does.'

"Anyone have any complaints?" Phantom asked.

"Not me!" Paulina chirped, hugging Phantom closer and making him blush slightly.

'I can think of a few,' Sam thought darkly as she scowled at Paulina. 'Uugh… what the heck does he SEE in her? I mean, who cares if she's pretty, she's still a selfish little-!'

"Miss Manson!" Mr. Lancer warned sharply. Jumping, the girl turned to face her teacher, who just realized what he'd done after Phantom shot him a suspicious look. "Ah… I mean… shouldn't we get going now?"

"Oh!" Sam winced, "Ah, right… Well, everybody get in!"

'You were reading her mind, weren't you?' Phantom accused Mr. Lancer in his head. The teacher merely shot him a warning look. 'Thought so…'

"He's right," Phantom sighed out loud. "Ah, Dora? If you don't mind…?"

"Not at all, Sir Phantom," Dora answered.

'…SIR PHANTOM?' Jazz, Sam and Tucker thought in union, though in varying degrees of alarm and amusement (from Jazz's pure shock to Tucker, who was only barely containing his laugher).

"You guys might wanna back up…" the ghost boy advised those standing closest to the strange female ghost. A little confused, they obeyed and Dora closed her eyes, apparently concentrating on something. Moments later, it wasn't Dora standing there, but a large, intimidating-looking dragon, who growled slightly as she glowered around her.

"Nice," Phantom said, completely unfazed. "You've gotten control over the transformation?"

"For the most part…" Dora confessed to her stunned crowd. "It was very difficult, though."

"It always is…" Phantom said knowingly.

'She should be grateful that that's pretty much all she has to worry about,' Phantom added in a bemused tone in his head. 'Me? I've got family, friends, school, my powers, my enemies and pretty much every other problem under the sun…' Mr. Lancer raised a questioning eyebrow at the ghost, who caught it and scowled at him. 'Stay out of my head!' Turning away angrily, the ghost flew over to the gaping group of students.

"Okay, you might wanna hurry and climb on," Phantom told them, "Ember and a lot of other powerful ghosts don't live too far away, and the longer we stay here, the better chance that they're gonna find us."

"That doesn't matter, though!" Paulina said brightly with a giggle. "You're here, after all. You'll protect us!"

'Oh, I'm gonna hurl…' Valerie thought in disgust.

'Is it technically considered murder if you do it in an alternate dimension filled with ghosts?' Sam wondered as she scowled at Paulina. 'I'm sure Walker won't mind so long as Paulina doesn't actually become a ghost herself, and he's the closest thing to a law figure in the Ghost Zone…'

'I wish I could be so confident in myself.' Phantom thought dryly, his tone a little darker. 'After all, there have been way more close calls between me and my enemies then Paulina could ever know. Or even Sam, Tucker and Jazz, for that matter… though Sam probably knows more then anyone else.' As the ghost gave a heavy mental sigh, Mr. Lancer eyed him curiously.

'Why didn't he mention Danny?' the teacher wondered. Did that mean that Danny did know how close the ghost had come to death (or whatever one called the end of a ghost's existence), or was it something else…?

"No way," Star said with a scowl, crossing her arms. "There is no way I'm climbing on that thing's back!"

"Dora's not a thing!" Sam said defensively, glowering at Star. "And if you wanna stay here and get eaten by the Behemoth or something, go ahead and be my guest!"

'What's a behemoth?' Star wondered in confusion, making Mr. Lancer groan.

'What on earth are these children doing in their free time?' he asked in exasperation. Glancing over at Valerie, he added, 'Other then risking their lives by hunting down paranormal creatures, that is.'

Just then there was a loud, angry roar that reverberated in the still air around them, making most of the detentionees freeze up.

"Uh, can you gimme a boost?" Star asked Phantom, sounding a little shaken.

---

"That's amazing, Phantom!" Paulina gushed as the ghost boy finished telling her about how he went up against Pariah Dark. "I mean, if he was supposed to be a powerful ghost and you beat him, that would make you more powerful than him!"

"Yeah, but I only barely beat him," Phantom sighed, "and that was with the Fenton Battlesuit. It increased my power by a hundredfold, remember?"

"But you still took him out!" Paulina pointed out, unfazed by the boy's logic, "You just used more then brute strength is all!" Here the girl leaned in closer to the ghost and purred, "You know, I think that's very attractive in a guy…"

'Oh I am SO gonna hurl.' Sam thought sourly, glowering at the cheerleader as Phantom's face discovered a new shade of red. Her grip on the steering wheel left her knuckles white, and instead of looking in front of them, she was still watching Paulina and Phantom like a hawk.

'This is so cool!' Paulina was thinking giddily at the same time. 'I mean, here I am flying around in the arms of the cutest, coolest guy in Amity Park… maybe even the world!' Here, Paulina glanced at Phantom again, her smile taking on a sharper, more predatory edge. 'And I've got it so I'm close enough to kiss him whenever I want right now…'

"Phantom?" Paulina said innocently snuggling closer to the ghost, "I never thanked you for saving me all those times, did I?"

"Huh?" Phantom said, blushing a little more when the girl's words finally clicked. "Oh! It was nothing, really. Besides, I kinda already figured you were grateful."

'The candle-lit locker shrine and the fact that you own anything and everything that has my name and/or face on it pretty much told me that…' Phantom added dryly in his head. 'Too bad you're only in love with the wrong me…'

'…What on earth is that supposed to mean…?' Mr. Lancer wondered as he tried to watch the ghost without making his curiosity obvious and putting the boy on guard. After all, the ghost knew of his powers now, and that put him at a slight disadvantage…

"Well then, let me show you how grateful I am…" Paulina said suggestively as she leaned even closer to Phantom, who didn't have time to react in his surprise. Just before their lips met, though…

'BLAM!'

Paulina screamed loudly as the stray blast ruffled her hair, securing her grip on the ghost boy as he turned in the direction of the blast, his eyes landing on Sam, who looked far too cheerful to escape suspicion.

"Sorry!" she chirped out happily. "My hand slipped."

'Yeah, I bet it did…' Phantom thought dryly. 'Jeeze! I know she doesn't like Paulina, but a few more inches and that blast could've killed her!' The ghost boy rolled his eyes. 'Well, I guess that's Sam for you, though. She probably knew I saw the blast coming out of the corner of my eye and slowed down…'

'SHE DID THAT ON PURPOSE!' Paulina screeched in her head as she glowered at Sam over Phantom's shoulder. 'That lousy tramp! I knew she was after Phantom! I knew it! And if she thinks I'm gonna just sit around and let her move in on my man… hey, what's so wet?'

Paulina took one of her hands from the ghost boy's arm to look at it and gasped loudly, a look of horror on her face.

"Phantom!" she wailed, turning to the ghost. "You're bleeding!"

"What?" Sam said, shock clear on her face as she too turned her attention to the teenaged ghost.

'Bleeding? Was it the blast?' she wondered, fear and guilt ripping through her. 'Oh, man! I didn't clip him, did I?'

'I almost forgot about that!' Jazz thought at that, studying the ghost-boys arm the best she could. 'That must be why he limited himself to only carrying one person… I just hope he isn't hurting himself even more now. He's so hardheaded sometimes, especially when other people are in danger…' Mr. Lancer frowned when he heard that.

'When did she ever find out Phantom was injured?' the teacher asked himself. 'I never left Phantom's side this entire time, and he's never said anything about being wounded out loud… so how could Jazz have known?'

"I'm fine," Phantom assured everyone. "Really. It's just a little souvenir from that creep back at the school. It'll be gone before tomorrow morning." Phantom smiled dryly. "Superhuman healing powers. One of the perks to this whole endless existence in between two world thing…"

'He didn't want to become a ghost?' Valerie wondered, surprise clear in her tone as she studied the boy. 'Or is he just trying to trick me again?'

"Should you really be carrying someone if you're hurt?" Star asked in a rare sign of concern for someone else. "I mean, won't that just make it worse?"

"I'm fine," Phantom repeated stubbornly. "Besides, we're almost there. See? There's the Fenton Portal, dead ahead."

"Dude," Kwan said, shivering slightly, "do you have to say 'dead?'"

'As if this place isn't creepy enough…' he added in his head. 'Living in a place like this, it's no wonder all the ghosts want to get into the human world!'

"Won't you need someone to look at that?" Mr. Lancer asked motioning to the ghost's bleeding arm is was difficult to see through the dark fabric, but sure enough the stain of blood was growing as rapidly as they approached the portal.

"It's fine, okay?" Phantom said irritably. "I barely felt it until you guys started talking about it."

'Why do I have trouble believing that?' Sam thought, pressing her lips together firmly, 'Whatever. I'll help him bandage it after we take care of everyone else. No need to make anyone suspicious…'

As the group entered the swirling green vortex, Mr. Lancer's eyes narrowed on the goth, wondering if she realized it was already far too late…

WoM- 'flops over dead'

Thanks to;

Light Dragon SunsSong, SummersSixEcho, fish n chips n vinegar, Truth91920, ilikedan, Ytak, Queen S of Randomness 016, SilverstarsEbonyskies, Golden Lunar Eclipse, SquirrelGirl, Tazzel Quickbow, Guitar06, memoirs of a faded memory, ShiroandFubuki, DiscordianSamba, Moss Royal, Missmeliss4251, puppyface, Petitio Principii, epobbp, Crazy Billie Joe Loving Freak, littlekittykat, Serena the Hikari of Love, SspHaC, shadow929, Laughing Hyena, Giff, avearia, Ohka Breynekai, Darth Frodo, Sparky the Wonder Weasel, the sleep warrior, Rob Phantom, Horselvr4evr123, Insomniac Jaki, key46812, BratCat, conan98002, Zuzanny, The Sole Survivor, Inumaru12, Fade B., Invader Johnny, kinguofdoragons, Firehedgehog, CarmenElizabeth, WolfDaughter, Lumias, Kikiness, Hiroshi Yakuza Ketchum, The Great Susinko, dArkliTe-sPirit, AirGirl Phantom, X-Roosterrelli-X, The Sith, kdm13, spirit1s, an obsessed fan, Risika135, Kuki Salazar, DeeDeeBo, Jenna Dax, Phantom2B, kawaii chibi shun, AnimeWerewolf, I Brake For Ghosts, peppymint, DeathPerson, XDDeath, animeobsessed3191, YaoiFan26, Zarz, A Fan, SalanTrong, Katie, Shades-of-Pink, Esme Kali Phantom