A/N: Hi. I thought I'd do something a little friendlier this time. Can't do dark stories all the time. Well, I can. Compensating, compensating...

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.


98. Puzzle

They were sitting at the large table in the basement of Sam's house, Danny hanging back in his chair, balancing it on it's hind legs, and Sam hunched forward, intently staring at the puzzle in front of her, holding a dark piece in her hand. The edge of the puzzle was already done, as was most of the red dress of the girl in the picture, wearing a medallion with a pentagram on it. A few pieces of the cauldron in the background, cooking something green, were laying approximately where they should end up, but none of the pieces were attached to anything yet.

"So, um," Danny said, obviously bored out of his mind, "While you're doing this, do you mind if I put on a movie or something?"

"Yes, I do."

She didn't look up from her work, but put down the piece she had in her hand and picked up another one. The problem was, the rest of the puzzle consisted of pieces that were mostly black, semi-black or dark gray. Danny glanced at the box, standing upright against a Fenton Thermos, so Sam could see the intended end result. The girl in the red dress was standing in front of a castle, the night sky yellowish gray, a pale moon shining through the tree behind her. An almost impossible task, a thousand pieces and most of them black.

"Um," Danny tried again, "Shall I get some popcorn?"

"No."

He sighed, let himself fall forward and bumped against the table, making the puzzle shift a little.

"Watch what you're doing," Sam muttered, annoyed.

Danny stared at the pieces laying next to the already finished part of the puzzle. It seemed Sam was determined to do this, and they weren't going anywhere as long as it wasn't finished. He picked up a piece and put it in it's place, a small piece of the castle. This time, Sam did look up to stare at him. He shrugged.

He was about to ask her how long she was going to continue this, when a weak blue mist escaped his mouth, signaling either a weak ghost nearby, or a strong ghost further away.

"I, ehm, I have to go," Danny said.

Sam waved her hand, and picked up yet another piece. Quickly, Danny grabbed the piece she had just put down, placed it neatly in the corner of the puzzle, and transformed before Sam could whack him. He wasn't sure why she would want to do that, since he was only helping her, but he could tell from the way she tensed that that was what she had in mind.

Intangible, he shot through the ceiling, the first and second floor, passing through Sam's room, and finally through the roof. Hovering, he looked around, trying to determine just where the ghost was that dared to come this close to him. It had to be either a powerful ghost, confident enough to think he could take him on, or...

"BEWARE!"

Or a really stupid one, who just didn't think but kept showing up wherever, bellowing his annoying fondness for boxes to anyone who would, or wouldn't, listen. Danny groaned, felt behind his back for the thermos and realized he had left it with Sam, standing on the table, serving as a hold up for the box.

"Great," he muttered, and then, louder, "Hey, Boxy!"

The burly blue ghost stopped examining the damaged boxes standing in the alley, and looked up in fright.

"You!" he bellowed, "You shall not catch me in your cylindrical holding device, for I am the Box Ghost, Master Of All Things Cardboard And Square!"

"Duh," Danny said, folding his arms and going intangible when the Box Ghost heaved up the boxes and threw them at him. Then the box obsessed ghost evaded a ghost ray sent from Danny's hand, only to be caught by surprise when Danny tackled him. They both went through the wall, though the floor, and then, after turning tangible again, through the table that contained the puzzle.

A loud crash signified the end of the table, and a loud shriek signified the end of the puzzle.

"Oh oh," Danny muttered, "Now she's mad."

He pushed the remains of the table from him, frantically looking around for the thermos. The Box Ghost was holding the box that had contained the thousand pieces of the puzzle, and examined it.

"Beware!", he said, "For I shall defeat you with this, um, Gothic Puzzle Box of Doom."

"Put. That. Down."

Sam's growl actually made the Box Ghost, and Danny, flinch. The blue ghost blinked at her in surprise. Sam stepped closer to him, and yanked the box out of the stunned ghost's hands.

"You ruined my puzzle," she hissed.

"Puzzle?" the box ghost asked, ignoring Danny, who was frantically waving at him and shaking his head, "Why would you want to cut up a nice picture, and then put it together again?"

Sam straightened, her eyes blazing, her fists clenched, and Danny thought she looked fearsome in her anger. He backed away a little, as did the Box Ghost.

"It. Relaxes. Me," She yelled, throwing the box at the Box Ghost, who didn't have the sense to duck.

Sam turned to Danny and threw the thermos at him, which he barely caught.

"Out!" she shrieked.

"Let's get out of here," The Box Ghost said fearfully.

Danny agreed, nervously glancing at his fuming friend.

"Yeah, let's."


I'm with the Box Ghost on this one...

The puzzle I'm describing is for real, see "http:// www. posterspoint. com/ artistas/f/ victoriafrances4094 " (remove the spaces, and put an underscore between 'frances' and '4094', for some reason the text editor keeps removing that). I think these are beautiful.