Disclaimer: No, I do not own Danny Phantom! How many times do I have to say it?

Thanks to all reviewers and people who are still reading this story, and sorry about the wait. Schoolwork became really heavy, and I'm not free yet.

Chapter 5: The Next Day

Almost done, Danny chanted enthusiastically in his head as he stared down the last homework problem. His morning had been rather trying and he was really looking forward to going over to Tucker's after finishing his math homework.

He suddenly realized his hand was several inches over the paper and groaned again in annoyance. Why was he floating again? That morning, he had woken up several inches over his bed, and his scream had woken up the whole house. His heart had hitched again and he had barely managed to prevent turning into his ghostly self before his family's arrival. Luckily, the shock had made him drop back onto the bed. Unluckily, his left leg had gone invisible and he had hid it under the covers while his parents were there.

He sighed in further irritation when he realized his hand had turned intangible and the pencil slipped through his fingers. With a thump that caught him off guard, Danny fell back into his chair and concentrated on fixing his hand.

The only good point about the morning was that he had discovered that he could, at least marginally, control his powers. It took a lot of concentration and a few seconds, but he could usually, with enough effort, turn himself back to normal.

'Now' was apparently not 'usually.' Using his left hand, Danny circled his answer and then jumped up, cheering.

"YEE-AAAH!"

He didn't come back down and instead hung in the air a few inches above the ground.

"Oh, great," Danny muttered.

"Danny? Are you finished up there?" his mom called up.

"Yeah! I'm going to go over to Tucker's now, 'k? Bye!" Danny raced downstairs on thin air, avoiding the kitchen where his mom was baking ghost cookies.

"Okay?" Maddie said after the front door had shut.

"Hi, Mrs. Foley. Is Tucker here?"

Tucker's mom smiled. "He's already downstairs," she replied as she led him in. "Sorry it's a little messy, but we're trying to clean up the basement and get rid of some of those old boxes."

"It's cool," Danny said, and ran down. "Hey Tucker, ready to get beaten by the one and only Naut?

"Yeah, right," Tucker answered, grinning up at him from his position on the floor. He was emptying an old cardboard box. "Friar Tuck can beat the Astro-Nut any day!" With a huff, he pulled the last item out of the box and stood up, tossing the box to the other side of the room into a huge pile.

"Whoa, are those all empty?" Danny asked.

"You bet!" Tucker said proudly.

"You're getting rid of a lot of stuff."

"Actually, not really. Mom said to get rid of the boxes. So I am. But now I have no way to organize my tech!" The last sentence was an almost anguished sob.

Danny shivered suddenly as he felt a breeze blow by him. Wow, that draft is really cold. "I don't know, Tuck," he said while observing the other huge pile, only this one was made of old Ipods, phones, cameras, computers – well, you get the idea. He picked up Tucker's phone from fourth grade. "Do you really have to keep every single piece of technology you've ever owned?"

Tucker snatched the old gadget back. "Hey, hands off! This one was my first," he said, gazing lovingly at it.

Danny just shook his head, but stopped instantly when he saw a person standing in front of the box-pile. How'd he get in here? And what's he doing? He looks like Tucker right now, only he's looking at the boxes.

"Hey, Tuck?" Danny asked. "Who's that?" The man froze and turned around to look at them. Danny stared back at the portly, glowing figure. Wait a moment, wait a moment. Glowing? And floating? He must be a ghost!

"Who's who?" Tucker turned around, but didn't see anything.

"Never mind," Danny said quickly. That had confirmed his guess; the ghost had gone invisible. But what does he want?

Tucker looked at Danny pensively for a moment and then shrugged. "Wait here, I'll be right back with the games."

Danny nodded.

The moment Tucker had turned the corner the ghost appeared again, making Danny jump.

"Beware!"

"Um. Okay?" Danny wasn't sure of what to say. The guy was definitely a ghost, but he really wasn't scary. Seriously, what type of menacing ghost wore overalls?

"Fear me! For I am the Box Ghost, master of all things cardboard and square!"

"And you are telling me this because…"

"You shall tremble before me when you meet your untimely Doom!" The ghost raised his arms and the boxes began to levitate.

Now Danny was a little scared. What should I do? His left arm began to feel cold and he watched, dismayed, as it started turning invisible.

The Box Ghost stared, too. Humans couldn't turn invisible! So that would mean standing before him was a ghost.

"You're a ghost?"

Danny shivered slightly at the new title, but bravely stood up. "Yep."

The Box Ghost paused for a moment and Danny watched him carefully, unsure of how he would take it. "Well, no matter. I will relieve this house of all its cardboard squareness and then deal with you and the human!"

Danny opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by Tucker's entrance. The Box Ghost quickly dove into the box pile.

"Here. Prepare for the worst beating of your life!" Danny snorted in reply and began to play, but was too preoccupied with the Box Ghost.

"Yes!" Tucker shouted and punched the air. "Score one for the Friar!" Danny smiled distractedly, but it turned into a frown when he saw some boxes in the pile begin to glow and rise. Tucker was too excited to notice. The ghost suddenly appeared beside them, smiling maliciously (or trying to) while the boxes raced forward.

"But score zero for Tucker!" Danny shouted as he threw himself at his friend, pretending to be upset. The boxes flew over them and the Box Ghost disappeared again.

"Hey, Danny!" Tucker whined. "You don't have to be so bitter about it."

"Sorry," Danny apologized as they got up and returned to the video games.

A few minutes later, Danny had tackled Tucker again to prevent him from being pulverized by the technology inside the unemptied boxes, this time with the excuse that he had tripped and lost his balance.

Tucker peeled his face off the floor as his technology landed all around them. "Man, that's the second time today," he complained.

Danny grimaced.

When they were in the middle of level three, the Box Ghost appeared above Tucker and took in a huge breath to bellow out his speech when Danny, who had heard him, leapt up and over Tucker and tackled the Box Ghost, who disappeared immediately upon hitting the floor and intangibly escaped. Danny felt himself begin to sink into the ground and closed his eyes in concentration.

"Dude, what was that?" Tucker asked, looking at him oddly. He knew that Danny was never a sore loser, particularly when he was playing with his friends.

How can he not notice the ghost trying to attack him? Danny wondered.

"Ummm…" Danny stuttered for a moment. He needed an excuse to go so that he could take care of the ghost without coming out and saying, 'Oh, just me protecting you from a ghost. Do you mind if I use my new ghost powers to get rid of it?' "I just remembered! I have some more, uh, English homework due tomorrow!"

"So?" Tucker didn't see the cause for alarm. "Just do it when you get home!"

"But I can't."

"Why not?"

"It's a major project."

"WHAT? There's a major project in English due tomorrow?" Tucker gasped.

Shoot, I forgot he was in my English class! Way to go, Fenton, Danny berated himself. "No! No, it's the reading he assigned. I haven't done it yet!" Actually he had, but he needed to go.

Tucker had been Danny's best friend since Kindergarten, and he could tell that Danny was hiding something. Knowing that his friend didn't trust him hurt; after all, they had been through a lot together. But even if Danny didn't trust him, Tucker trusted Danny.

"Okay," Tucker said, looking slightly dejected. Danny immediately felt guilty, but he had to get that ghost away from Tucker – and the boxes.

"Maybe I can come over later today?" Danny asked hopefully. "If I finish the reading?"

"Sure," Tucker replied. Danny turned and left, heading up the stairs and then into the bathroom on the main level.

If I can prevent my powers from acting up, I should be able to use them. Right? Danny really hoped so; if he was going to protect Tucker without blowing his secret, then he would have to do everything without being seen. Danny faced the mirror and closed his eyes tightly in concentration. The cool feeling was slow to appear, but when it did, it spread rapidly, especially when his mind showed him an image of Tucker crushed beneath the huge pile of boxes. When he opened his eyes, Danny freaked out at the sight of nothing in the mirror before he remembered that he had actually been trying to go invisible.

Time to go get that ghost, he thought. In truth, he was a little scared. He had never fought a ghost before (the ectopus didn't count; it had just flown off, although why he still had no idea) and he was worried about his secret.

Opening the door, he headed back downstairs as silently as he could. This is where flying would really come in handy.

Mr. Foley shook his head at the sight of the bathroom door opening and closing itself. He needed to work less and get more sleep.

Danny entered the basement and stood by the door, looking for the ghost. Tucker had his back to him, but if he turned around – wait, no, I'm invisible. It was hard to remember that.

Danny walked over to the box pile. He is the BOX Ghost, so he should be near the BOXES. He peered into them and jumped back when he saw two red eyes suddenly appear in one of the nooks.

"Bew-"

Danny quickly clapped a hand over the surprised Box Ghost's mouth as Tucker turned around to see who had spoken. Seeing no one, he shrugged and went back to his work.

Danny had frozen, terrified of turning visible, allowing the Box Ghost to intangibly escape from the pile and fly out the back wall. Danny almost shouted in annoyance, before he realized that that would be a sure-fire way to be revealed. He noticed that he was once again sinking into the ground.

Good, now I can follow that pesky creep. With all his thoughts turned to finding the ghost, he flew through the wall to the backyard and turned tangible again, looking around. No ghost.

Where could he have gone? Danny knew that searching for him would be fruitless; the ghost could turn invisible just like him after all. Well, he's not in Tucker's house, so he can't hurt Tucker and that's all that matters. Maybe I can go back now and-

No. It would take me several hours, not ten minutes, to do the reading. He'd get suspicious. Danny yawned. And I'm tired. But I didn't do that much. All I did was go invisible, walk around, go intangible, fly a little…

He snorted. Yep, all the normal activities any other teenager would be doing. Danny hid behind a tree and concentrated on making himself visible again. Wow, that was harder than usual. A few minutes later, he dragged himself home and trudged up to his room, only grunting when his parents saw and greeted him. Three words filled his head as he collapsed on his bed.

I. Am. Exhausted.

Back to Physics homework.