Thank you reviewers:

The Feral Candy Cane -It was fun to write as well. Thanks, I appreciate your praise.

FashionDiva7 - Thanks! PS, don't feel too bad about your story. I think Jake and Danny switching powers is an intriguing idea. :)

Luiz4200 - No, it's not Diseree, and Valerie doesn't go to New York. But that was a good guess.

tiger002 - Thanks for your review.

hazlov2004 - Thanks!

Lucario star - I'm glad to see you like it.

SilverStar2334 - I've been delayed in getting this chapter here, but it's here now, so here you go. I hope you enjoy.

Jynxpixie - Thank you! I'm grateful that you took the time to review!

And I'd also like to thank those who have put this story on their list of favorites, put it on story alert, or those favoriting me as an author, or putting me on author alert. You guys ROCK!

:)

Disclaimer: Danny Phantom and Jake Long belong to people that do not have the pen name Shadow Moss.

Pipsqueak

Danny hit his shoulder hard as he crashed into the living room floor. Massaging his forming bruise, he mumbled, "Gotta get Skulker outta here, before he causes too much damage."

Danny flew back through the wall to rejoin the fight. He surrounded his hand in ectoplasm and punched a dent into the chest of Skulker's battle suit.

Skulker grabbed Danny near his injured shoulder, and started slamming the teenager against nearby objects. He swung Danny easily, and inflicted a lot of damage to the guest bedroom in the process.

The AmDrag looked for his chance to join in. He scanned Skulker's suit for a weakness. Then, he saw it. Hidden behind the hunter's ear, was a small silver button, labeled, "Eject."

Jake almost scoffed when he saw it. An eject button? Didn't that belong only on the inside of the suit? It was just too easy for an opponent to push an eject button on the outside of a suit, when they found it.

Hoping Skulker was tangible, Jake thought, 'Here goes!'

Swiftly, he jumped into the combat, and pressed the button. It worked, tossing Skulker out.

Danny caught Skulker, and grasped his tiny form in his hand. "I've got you, you little pipsqueak!"

Skulker started giggling in Danny's grip.

"What?!" Danny asked. "What's so funny?"

"You set off the booby trap!" Skulker squealed.

Danny raised his eyebrows. "Booby trap?"

Skulker's suit exploded, sending metal shards everywhere. The boys yelped as they were hit by the debris, and Skulker laughed at the top of his tiny lungs. Danny dropped Skulker in surprise, and the small ghost hid himself.

Skulker waited silently, knowing that his suit would reform in a matter of minutes. It would reach out and put him back in its control center, then he could escape before he got trapped in Phantom's thermos.

If there's one thing I've learned from mythology class, is that some things are too fantastic to believe. So fantastic and far-fetched, in fact, I don't even know why Mr. Rotwood believes in them.

'There we go,' Jake thought. 'Just a precaution to keep the magical world secret in the NYC. I don't think Gramps could complain about that.'

As soon as Jake's mother had learned of his extra-credit assignment, she'd called Lao Shi, who'd told Jake specifically to use great caution concerning the secret of the magical world in his essay.

Jake lay stomach-down on his bed. His paper was in front of him, his pencil in his hand, and his feet swinging above him.

Jake wrote:

But, they do make good stories. If you can stay awake through them, that is.

My favorite mythical being would have to be a dragon. I mean, they're so cool. Everybody knows they have wicked moves, and what could be more awesome than the dragon with it's great strength, superb flight speed, and fire-breathing? You've gotta give them their props! I mean, who doesn't like dragons?

Jake's train of thought was lost as he heard his dad's shouts at, presumably Danny, downstairs: "Holy mackerel! What did you do to this room? It looks like there was some type of skirmish in here! I take you into my house as a guest, and you wreck the place!"

Danny must have mumbled a reply, because Jonathon said, "What was that, speak up?"

Danny gave another reply, and Jonathon yelled, "Nothing? It sure doesn't look like 'nothing' to me!"

Danny said something, and Jonathon cried, "You'd better! That's the only decent thing to do now that you've wrecked the entire room!"

Jonathon paused, then made an observation, "Say, you've got quite the bags under your eyes. What were you up to last night?"

After Danny told him something, Jonathon said, "I know you need to clean this mess, but that doesn't answer my question. What were you up to last night?"

"Okay," Jake said to himself, "I guess it's time to hear the other side of the conversation. Ear of the dragon."

" . . . on my mind." Danny was explaining. "After I finally fell asleep, I guess I must have, um, how should I put this? I guess I must've sleepwalked. I do that sometimes, and I mess up my room sometimes when I do. I don't really like to mention my sleepwalking. And that's why the bedroom's a mess?"

"Somehow that doesn't seem likely," Jonathon said. "But if you really do clean this mess up, I'll to give you the benefit of the doubt, although you've started to leave quite a bad impression lately. But seriously, don't let it happen again."

"JAKE! HOW'S THAT ESSAY COMING?" Jonathon called up the stairs.

"Workin' on it, Dad!" Jake replied, reverting his ear back to a human ear at once, in case his dad came in to see his progress.

Taking Mythology class means learning about Mr. Rotwood's . . . I mean, Professor Rotwood's view of those fictional creatures you'll learn about. For example, you know the dragons I was talking about earlier? According to him, their scales glow in the dark and smell like lavender. I know, it's totally whack!

'And totally not true,' Jake thought to himself.

Downstairs, the doorbell rang, and Jonathon called, "I'll get it!"

But his unique insights do put an interesting twist on the stories of dragons from Europe and Asia. If nothing else, you do get . . .

A light tapping on his bedroom door interrupted Jake's essay-writing efforts.

"Uh, Jake," Danny's voice said, drifting through the door. "I hate to disturb you, but your grandpa's here. He wants to talk to both of us, right now."

"Gramps?" Jake asked. "Now?"

"Yeah, that's what I said," Danny confirmed.

"Aw man, what does G want?" Jake asked, coming out of his bedroom. Luckily for him, the Terrible Teen Alarm System his dad had installed a while before, had broken down, so he didn't end up dangling from his feet, with alarms going off. The system was now lying disassembled in some dump.

Danny shrugged, frowning. "Your guess is as good as mine."