So it sounds like people generally like about 1,500 to 2,000 words. I'll do my best!

Also, don't be expecting daily updates. I'm aiming for every other day, but school might make it stretch a little longer. The absolute maximum time it will take me per chapter is a week, but I doubt it'll take that long.

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Danny Phantom. At all.

Chapter 3: Realization

Danny glared at the math question. y = x2 + 4x – 12. Solve for x by factoring. He began writing out his work. Factors of 12: 1 and 12, 3 and 4, 2 and 6. So what pair would give him four?

His pencil fell with a clatter when he tried to twirl it.

With an irritated sigh, he picked it back up and returned to the problem. 12 – 1 = 11, 1 – 12 = -11, 3 – 4 = -1.

His pencil fell again. Funny, I didn't let go of it.

4 – 3 = 1, 2 – 6 = -4. And 6 – 2 = 4. Of course it's the very last possibility.

"Gah!" he shouted when his supporting arm suddenly fell through the desk. He stared at it. Yep. Through the desk. Everything below his elbow was buried under its surface and Danny sharply pulled it back up.

His forearm had taken on a bluish, opaque look. He could see his paper through it! Slowly, it became solid and normal again.

I am going to ignore that, he thought. Question number 2 of the impossibly hard math homework. Boy did he hate math! It always got him frustrated and worked-up and -

This time he let out a shrill scream when he felt both his arms fall through the desk as though it wasn't there, making his upper body crash into the tabletop in a very uncomfortable position. Ouch. That was going to leave a bruise. Meaning he wouldn't be able to ignore his sudden phasing out of the tangible world. He gazed at his arms as they faded back to normal the way his left forearm had done a few minutes ago.

Danny tried not to freak out, but turning intangible was just not normal in his book. His breathing accelerated like a frightened rabbit's. Calm down. Calm down. Be logical. Try to think why – oh, duh! The portal! The portal must have done more than just barbequed me! But what?

CRASH! Danny jumped, his heart rate going even higher. That sounded like it came from the basement. What is going on down there?

He briskly got up, only to freeze again for the second time that day when he caught sight of himself in his mirror.

Or rather, his lack of self. His entire lower half was gone. Gingerly, Danny reached out to touch his leg and his hand met an invisible wall.

BANG!

Okay, Fenton, he ordered himself firmly. Worry about invisible legs and intangible arms later. Worry about break-ins now. He rushed downstairs.

Picture this:

A dark room without any windows. Weapons scattered along the walls and hard, metal tables standing here and there, glinting from the eerie, green glow of a working Fenton Ghost Portal that was the only source of light. And in front of the swirling void in the hexagonal opening was a huge, green, glowing, floating octopus.

All in all, it was a scene that would stop any young, inexperienced teenager in their tracks.

Unfortunately, Danny did a bit more and followed up with step two: scream as loudly (and, it can be added, shrilly) as one can. The only problem with that action was that no one was around to hear him. Shoot, he thought as the creature glared him with cold, malevolent red eyes.

One of its tentacles shot out and grabbed him, stopping his retreat, and Danny squirmed in its grasp. He closed his eyes as it drew towards it, so shell-shocked that his breathing hitched and his heart stopped beating.

Coldness washed over him, starting at his waist and spreading up and down as a bright light glowed through his eyelids. But when he opened his eyes, he didn't see a bright light; he saw a very surprised octopus staring at him.

"What are you looking at?" he asked it with uncharacteristic bravado.

And why is my voice echoing? he asked himself privately.

The octopus let him go and flew upwards, going through the ceiling and leaving Danny staring after it. Did that …? No way. No. Way. I totally did not just see a ghost-octopus capture me, let me go, and then fly through the ceiling.

Wait. Ghost octopus? But ghosts don't exist!

Mmm-hmm. That's why it was flying and could go intangibly through the roof. Because octopi do that every day!

Danny turned to go back upstairs and sort out his thoughts in his room, but noticed that his head was much closer to the ceiling than it should have been. He looked down and gasped at the sight of the floor rushing towards him, closing his eyes tightly and freezing in a spread-eagled skydiving position. When no painful collision came, he carefully opened his eyes and scrutinized the floor that was two inches away from his nose. I'm floating, he realized. Oompf. And now I'm not. Danny groaned and held a white-gloved hand to his head. How did he get himself in these messes?

By turning ghost portals on from the inside. Obviously. What other way is there for a human to get ghost powers?

I do not have ghost powers, part of him denied.

Then what do I have?

The ability to go intangible and invisible.

And?

Falling.

Floating.

So?

What are the three fundamental powers all ghosts have?

Intangibility, invisibility, and flying, he answered automatically. Danny's parents had drilled that lesson into him at the age of six.

See the connection? Danny's world shifted dramatically.

I can walk through walls like a ghost. I can disappear like a ghost. I can fly like a ghost. So am I …?

"No! I am not a ghost!" he shouted, then shrieked as he felt himself sink into the floor again. Instinctively, he levitated himself back up, but couldn't stop and instead continue floating upwards. I need to learn how to control these powers, he realized. I can't do things like this at school! I'd be a freak!

Danny was given a splendid view of the dust – and other things – under his bed as he entered his bedroom. Stop! he thought. Nothing happened. Dow- the mental order came to an abrupt halt as he floated up in front of his mirror.

The phantom was back! Its – no, wait, his; Danny choked at that thought – body glowed with an ethereal white aura. His unnaturally white hair, the opposite of his usual raven black, and his bright green eyes, the same color as the green in the portal, stood out, marking him as something inhuman.

Danny looked down at himself and held out his hands to examine them. Black hazmat suit. White gloves and boots. He flicked some white hair in front of his eyes.

And finally accepted the truth.

I'm a phantom.

The door downstairs slammed shut.

"Danny!" his dad shouted up the stairs. "We're home! And we have fudge!"

He sounds considerably happier, Danny thought, raising an eyebrow at his father's behavior. He was no longer floating in front of his mirror, but was instead back at his desk, trying to do the rest of his homework. Which was rather difficult because of the afternoon's events.

"You can have the fudge after dinner," his mom said firmly, but with an undertone of sadness.

"Ahhh," Jack whined, but immediately brightened again when he saw the small item on the kitchen counter. "Hey, Danny-boy, there's something I've been meaning to show you! Come on down!"

This made Danny panic. He couldn't go down like this! His parents were ghost-hunters, how would they react to his new status? "Um," he called down, wincing from the newfound echo in his voice. "I'm doing my homework!"

Danny could hear his dad's sigh even from his room, causing a sigh of his own. He glanced at the mirror pensively, getting scared and panicky, especially when his right arm began to disappear. Maybe I should tell them, he thought. His fear increased, as did the invisibility; now his entire right side was shimmering out of the visible spectrum.

Or maybe they don't have to know, another voice said. I was like this right after the portal accident, but then somehow I changed back to the old me. Maybe I can do it again?

He closed his eyes and put his hand over his heart again, but nothing happened.

"Come down and set the table, Danny! Jazz will be here any minute, and dinner's almost ready!" his mom called up.

Shoot, Danny thought, now hyperventilating. He turned fully invisible and battled with the force for a few minutes, trying to calm down while his mom called him again. I was thinking about my heart. Locking his eyes on his now-visible reflection in the mirror, Danny imagined the sound of his beating heart. Almost immediately, he blazed with a white light before it turned into a brilliant ring around his waist. The ring separated into two and one traveled up while the other went down, leaving jeans and a white t-shirt, his regular clothes, behind them. His green eyes became blue again and his hair went to the other end of the color spectrum. When they had completely gone over him, the rings vanished.

"DANNY!"

Don't go down, a small voice whispered in his head.

Shut up, the braver one said.

This is not going to end well, the first one warned.

The door slammed again as Jazz entered the house and greeted their parents.

"DANNY!"

It won't end well either way, Danny thought as he left his room.

On the stairs, Danny paused for a moment to consider the past few hours. Wow, I really need to stop with the multi-mes-arguing-with-each-other thing.

Sorry this took so long; the whole acceptance part was hard to do without making Danny go into extreme denial or seem too easily accepting.