Lemonade can be a wonderful thing.

Alright, everyone, I would like to apologize right off for the late update. But hey, I got it in in time for Easter! So cut me some slack. And while you're at it, cut me some cake. Mmm, cake.

...Anyway, enjoy the update...

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom, [insert witty remark here].


Danny screamed.

His arm tingled as scales, as jet black as the claw that had replaced his hand, spread up his arm. His clothes seemed to melt into his skin as the scales quickly advanced. Ignoring his pain, Danny quickly yanked away the covers and saw that the same thing had happened to his legs. Horrified, the teen scrambled up onto his knees. He tried to think of anything that could have caused it, anything he could do to stop it, but his brain seemed to have shut down.

So he continued screaming.

A sudden, sharp pain pulsed down his back, causing him to gasp. Danny turned his head to glimpse, just in time, a long, lizardlike tail jet out from under him. It whacked against his headboard before twisting to the side and growing to its full length, the glossy charcoal scales glistening in the moonlight.

Danny swiveled back around again and attempted to get out of bed, but was interrupted when his head suddenly shot forward, his spine elongating into a serpentine neck. He felt his features reshape, the skull remolding as if it were clay. Sparks of agony shot through his nervous system as his face elongated into a reptilian snout. Danny clenched his teeth in pain, his canines slowly morphing into fangs…

Then the wings came. They started as a dull throbbing in his back, right between the shoulder blades, but quickly progressed into a sharp stinging. Danny, still disoriented from the recent modifications to his head, cried out as batlike wings erupted from his back, pushing him down on his hands and knees. They shot upwards, scraping against the ceiling before slowly folding down again.

The pain stopped.

All his bones still aching, Danny dazedly slid out of bed and collapsed on the floor. He panted, trying to regain the strength to stand up, his brain still numb with shock.

Suddenly, a voice from the other room brought him to his senses.

"Danny! Are you alright? I heard screams…"

Mom! I can't let her find me like this! The teen hurriedly scurried up, quickly shoved two pillows under the sheets to give the appearance of someone sleeping under them, opened the window, and dove out.

Maddie burst into her son's room. Jolted awake by screaming, she had rushed there as quickly as possible. However, the room showed no signs of tampering. Her son was sleeping peacefully in his bed; everything was in place. The window was open, but maybe Danny had opened it to let in a breeze. Still half asleep, she murmured something about how it was all probably a dream and departed, softly closing the door behind her.

~*~

Danny was falling.

He was used to flying simply by will in ghost form, but met a painful reminder that he couldn't fly just like that anymore. Not in this form, anyway. He scanned his brain for instructions on how to work these stupid wings, but at the same time panic was building inside of him, stifling his thoughts. As the ground rushed towards the unfortunate halfa, he closed his eyes in preparation of the impending doom.

Luckily for him, something clicked in his mind and his wings deployed almost automatically. As if by instinct, he tilted his body up and alighted on a moonlit rooftop, his newly formed talons clicking gently on the hard surface.

All of a sudden, everything that had just happened registered in his brain, like a dam that had abruptly given away to a flood. Danny stopped, stiffened, and slowly turned around.

The first things that caught his eye were the two batlike wings. While the bony structure of the wings was pitch black, the webbing stretched between them was tinted a dark purple. They arched gracefully upward, culminating in a silvery spiked peak.

Danny's eyes followed them down to their base, where elliptical black scales coated his back. They pointed towards his long, serpentine tail, which tapered neatly into a point. At the start of the tail, two white bands, standing out noticeably against the raven shade of the rest of him, glowed in the moonlight.

The halfa slowly turned around again. He hesitated for a few seconds, and noticing a shallow pond of rainwater off on the far corner of the roof of the building, sprinted towards it, subconsciously noticing he was running on all fours.

Skidding to a stop before the small puddle, he peered down at his reflection. The snout of a dragon stared back at him.

His eyes were neon green and glowed slightly. He had still retained his characteristic messy hair, except it extended down his neck in a thin mane and shone white, like in ghost form. His ears were batlike, much like his wings, except more akin to the fins of a fish.

Danny plopped back on his hind legs and just sat there for a while, stunned.

Then, the first thing that came to his mind was: Dude, this is freaking awesome!

Excited, the teen dashed away from the puddle and scurried around in circles, laughing as he flapped his new wings and trying to get a better view of his tail. This was too cool! He was a dragon! Imagine that…

…But his elated thoughts melted the instant his second thought entered his mind.

Will I be able to turn back?

Ceasing his gamboling, Danny slowed to a halt, despair seeping into his thoughts. He simply stood in place for a while, slowly processing the possible calamity of his situation. The dragon tilted his head and cast his gaze up at the full moon, its bright glow illuminating the dark night sky.

Finally, Danny lowered his head and looked at the ground. I'll go find Sam, he thought. She must know something about all this.

The halfa walked uncertainly to the edge of the building. After glancing downwards, he gulped and threw himself off the roof.

And fell like a stone.

~*~

After making sure that no, he had not broken several neck vertebrae, Danny groaned and picked himself off the ground. He shook his head to clear it and looked up. Flying was harder than it seemed.

~*~

An uneasy dragon stood at the edge of the building once more, having used his claws to scale the wall. He gulped, closed his eyes and jumped off again, remembering to spread his wings to their full extent.

The first thing Danny noticed was that he didn't fall. He carefully opened one eye and peeked at his surroundings. Just in time, too, since he was about to crash into a wall.

Danny yelped and swerved to his right, only to be met with another wall. After dodging several buildings, he finally learned to angle his body up and fly over them. But he wasn't holding his elevation very well with just gliding. Gravity slowly pulled him down, and at this point he abruptly realized something.

School could be useful after all.

How do birds fly again? The dragon thought desperately as he thought back to science class. If only he wasn't a C student. They flap, right?

So he flapped, which only made him wobble dangerously in the air.

Finally, he worked out that he needed to partially twist his wings in the air so that he would stay aloft. Rising in elevation, he closed his eyes and let the refreshing breeze run over his black scales. After he had figured out how to do it, Danny realized that this kind of flying was much different than flying in ghost form.

It was much more fun.

Forgetting his worries momentarily, Danny laughed and flew loops in the air as he traveled. He was almost disappointed when Sam's mansion came into view.

Swooping down, the halfa was nearing Sam's window when he was hit with a sharp realization.

He didn't know how to stop.

Danny cried out as he sped towards the wall. He had just enough time to tilt his body into a sharp angle as he slammed into the window vertically, the glass producing a dull clang. The dazed dragon winced from the impact.

After he had cleared his head, Danny peered in and could see Sam's sleeping form. "Sam!" The halfa cried as loudly as he dared.

Except it wasn't the word "Sam" that came out of his throat. What came out was a mixture of a screech and a growl.

Danny's eyes widened. He watched as Sam noticeably stirred, then shot up. Her head turned towards the window, and her eyes widened as well. She dove to the other side of her bed.

What's she doing? Danny thought.

His question was answered a moment later when Sam pulled out a nasty-looking ectogun and aimed it at his head.

The halfa yelled and pulled himself away from the window as a green beam smashed through it, barely missing his tail. He frantically flapped away, almost forgetting how to fly again, as similar green beams zoomed through the air beside him, missing him by seemingly millimeters. Danny risked a glance backwards to get a better look at Sam's position, only to be met with an ectogun blast exploding in his face.

As the dragon flew backwards upon coming into contact with the shot, he wearily made note to compliment Sam for her aim if he were to ever become human again.

Danny slammed into a building's roof with a sickening thump and slid a little ways, translucent green smoke trailing from his body. Dazedly, he raised his head a bit, only to see Sam leaning out of her broken window with a Fenton thermos aimed in his direction.

With a cry of surprise, Danny rolled out of the way of the bright blue beam just in time for it to strike the spot he was in half a second earlier. Without hesitation, he flung himself into the air, wobbling uncertainly as he took flight. His energy mostly drained from the ectoblast, Daniel circled around the building and collapsed in an alleyway, exhausted. His wings felt like lead.

What just happened?


I wanted to make the update longer, but I've been swamped with homework and laziness and lack of creative inspiration lately. XP

But I have planned ahead (Gasp! Planned ahead?!) and you should expect another update soon, if I feel up to it. I'll try to get in at least one update a week.

Best Regards,

Cat