I'm sorry! I just totally lost all ideas on how to make this chapter interesting, and I didn't want to make it bad! Plus I had (and still do) tons of homework. I probably won't update again until winter break (curse you English!).

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

Chapter 9: The Basics

"Shoot!" Danny exclaimed as the pencil fell out of his hand the fourth time in the past hour.

"Are you two kids okay down there?" Tucker's mom called. Danny's alarmed look vanished the moment it appeared, just like the rest of him.

"We're fine!" Tucker yelled back up hurriedly with a worried look at where he had seen Danny last. Danny was already reappearing, visibility slowly creeping up through his legs.

"I wasn't having problems like this yesterday!" Danny's absent head exclaimed.

Tucker set aside his homework and pulled out his PDA – again. "Difficult homework?" he asked sympathetically as he edited one of the lists on it.

"No! I was doing fine, but then the pencil just fell! Eek!" The pencil fell through his hand again.

"Stop it then!"

"I can't!" Danny began to panic, and felt himself sink into the floor. "Help!" he squeaked.

Tucker quickly bent down and pulled him back up. "You didn't feel anything? No frustration or anything else?"

"Nothing!" Danny's arms began to disappear as a cold feeling permeated through them.

"Didn't we just practice this?" Tucker asked dryly as he looked at his friend.

Danny growled in response and tried to do homework without being able to see his hand. He shuddered. Watching the pencil scratch black marks onto the paper without his hand to move it was disturbing. Tucker felt the same way.

"Well. Your list of powers currently adds up to three things: 'going ghost,'" – he used air quotes for effect, making Danny give him a shut-it look – "intangibility, and invisibility."

"You forgot one," Danny said, smirking as he scanned the list. "A major one."

Tucker paused. "Um…"

"Hello? Flying! That's another basic!" Danny had always wanted to be an astronaut, drawn by the idea of flying weightlessly. And now he could sort-of do it. "Maybe we should just call it floating."

"Floating," Tucker repeated as he put it in his list. "There, happy?"

"Very." Danny smiled again and returned to his homework, completely visible again. At least, until the second-to-last problem confused him and his whole arm went intangible, making him do an unintentional face plant on the desk. Tucker jumped, but laughed when he saw the position his friend was in.

"I give up," Danny sighed, trying to push his chair away from the desk and instead succeeding in pushing himself through the chair and falling on the ground with a surprised 'oof!'. "There is no way I can do homework when I can't even touch it!"

Tucker helped his glum friend up, not sure of what to say. Sam would know how to cheer him up, Tucker thought a bit guiltily, grinning at the image of exactly how she would do it. Well, she was a Goth after all.

"This isn't funny Tucker!" Danny nearly shouted from the floor. Tucker blinked and looked down to see only Danny's head sticking out of the floor the way it had in school. This time, however, he didn't scream.

He hurriedly rummaged around in his brain for a solution. "Can you float back up?"

Danny blinked and his mouth formed a small 'oh' in realization. After a moment, he rose back up to Tucker's eyelevel and abruptly dropped the inch or so to the floor when he regained tangibility.

"Dude, we seriously need to figure out how to control these."

"I know!" Danny agitatedly ran a hand through his hair. "Why did I have to push that button?"

"Well, curiosity killed the cat," Tucker's mouth said promptly.

"Meow," Danny replied dryly. "A bit literally here. Except I am not a cat."

"Why not? Your dog could chase you around the yard," Tucker joked.

Danny raised his eyebrows. "And I don't have a dog."

"But you want one! You've told me so many times." Tucker waved his arms emphatically, his PDA with the list of powers still in his hand. Danny's eyes fell on it.

"What makes you think I'm going to have more than the basics, anyway?" he asked. "I can barely control the ones I have; I don't need any more!" His left side flickered, proving his point.

Tucker just grinned widely. "It would be awesome if you did, though! Think about it!"

"I am thinking about it," Danny retorted. "More ghost powers is not something I need. And besides, what kinds of powers would I possibly get?"

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A few days later, Thursday to be exact, the boys were in Danny's room, hanging out. Sort of. Usually, hanging out wasn't so strenuous and they weren't so high strung, but the day's events had been particularly trying.

"Danny," Tucker hissed in 2nd period.

"What?"

He pointed. "Your arm."

Danny looked at it for a moment before squeaking and hurriedly hiding the bluish, intangible appendage under his desk as Mr. Lancer continued to hand out the pop quiz.

Tucker frowned. "That's the fifth time today you've done something like that."

"Like I said, it happens whenever I get surprised or upset or something. And a pop quiz is definitely something to be upset about! I've been trying to control it, but it's not working!"

Tucker tried to calm Danny down, knowing that his panic might make him go fully intangible and fall out of his seat the way he had in first period. It was amazing that no one had noticed anything out of the ordinary today; even Tucker had picked up on Danny's new abilities on the first school day and he was not known for his sharpness.

"Alright. We're meeting after school to practice again," he said. "Your house?"

"Feel like letting me in on the conversation?" Sam asked two seats away, leaning towards them. The boys exchanged looks.

"No, no! It's nothing!"

"Really! We're just talking about, uh … the new Doomed?" Danny asked more than said.

"Clearly," she retorted with one eyebrow raised. "I know exactly what you were talking about." Danny began to sweat nervously. "You just can't believe that Mr. Lancer is handing out a pop quiz; you say it every time."

"…"

Sam sighed. "Did you even study?"

"No?"

Yeah. Danny winced at the memory of the pop quiz. It really could have gone better. "So how are we going to practice?" he asked.

Tucker scanned the list. "The first power you have is 'going ghost' – I still think you could have done better, by the way –"

"Hey, don't insult my ideas; yours were even worse!" Danny said, floating up an inch or two as he sat up straight in indignation. Tucker looked at him pointedly and he gasped with surprise when he saw that he wasn't touching his bed.

"Anyway, as I was saying, your first ability is to go ghost." Danny ignored the face Tucker made at the term.

"I haven't been having any trouble with that, though," Danny protested. "It's the invisibility and the intangibility that get me." He rubbed his nose disgustedly, where he had hit it that morning when he fell over because his foot had gone intangible; he really hadn't been expecting the waffles that morning to roar at him, but that was what you got when you used devices that ran on ectoplasm, he supposed.

"But you had trouble in the beginning," Tucker pointed out. "This is to ensure that you have control and don't do it in school." Tucker shuddered at the idea while Danny turned completely invisible. Noticing Danny's apparent absence, Tucker tried to lighten the mood. "So go ghost, dude!" he said cheerfully.

"I still can't believe how cool you are with this," Danny mumbled as he reappeared. He thrust his arms straight up and declared, "Goin' Ghost!"

Tucker watched as his best friend was engulfed in a bright, bluish white light that blazed for a moment before settling into a ring around his waist. The ring split into two, which ran vertically over his body in opposite directions, leaving a black jumpsuit, green eyes, and white hair in Danny's place.

"Well let's get started," Danny sighed in his echoing voice as he began the standard procedure. Each day since Monday, they had gone to one of the boys' houses to practice and had created a familiar pattern. First, Danny would go ghost and then he would practice making himself invisible and intangible. The theory was that he would have better control if he could cause the changes instead of his emotions, but it didn't seem to be holding true. Danny, however, was desperate for any help, whether it worked or not.

He concentrated on going intangible and began to laugh at the tingling feeling that was going through his body.

"What are you laughing about?" Tucker wondered worriedly.

"It .. ha ha.. it .. tick-les!" Danny gasped, losing his hold on his intangible state and collapsing over onto the floor.

"What?" Tucker cautiously walked over and hesitantly helped him sit up; since the first experience, Tucker had kept contact with Danny in his ghost form at a minimum since his temperature was always a bone-chilling coldness. But Danny seemed as though he needed it right then.

"The wind!" Danny laughed, finally managing to calm down enough to describe what had happened. "I was intangible and the wind blew right through me." He blinked. "Whoa. I didn't know I was ticklish on the inside." His green eyes suddenly bore into Tucker's. "Don't tell Sam!"

"What, that you're ticklish on the inside?" Tucker asked with a raised eyebrow. "It's not like she'd get it."

"No, that I'm ticklish at all. I don't want to think about how she would use that against me."

"You got it, bro," Tucker nodded. After all, Danny was keeping some of his … characteristics … hidden from Sam as well. It was all for the best. At least until she found out. A sudden crash and keening cry made both boys' heads whip around. They shivered when they heard the screech that followed.

"What was that?" Tucker whispered to the empty air beside him. Although, to Danny's credit, his lower half had managed to stay visible.

"A ghost?" Danny whispered back, unsure. They screamed when a green blob erupted out of the center of the bedroom floor and hovered at eyelevel.

Actually, it wasn't really a blob. A red-eyed hawk the size of an office desk was glaring at them, its gaze locked on Tucker more than Danny, and Tucker was given a panoramic view of its vocal chords when it opened its beak and let loose another screech that blasted them into the wall.

"Ghost-bird!" Danny was up instantly, fully visible and tangible, settled in a slight crouch and looking almost as though he was going to fight. But that couldn't be right, Tucker thought. Danny didn't know how to fight; he got beaten up on a daily basis! The bird was going to pulverize him!

As for Danny, he was feeling an odd sense of déjà vu. Adrenaline coursed through him and he wondered when he had felt the odd emotion that ran with it, but before he could remember, the bird flew towards them at a speed that would put a racecar to shame.

Danny blocked it without thinking. His arms immediately moved up and blocked their faces from the tearing beak the size of a pencil sharpener. If anything, the bird's speed increased (somehow), and Danny was sent flying into the door. That's not good, he thought when he heard the sound of splintering wood. Rubbing his head, he turned his attention back to the unwanted guest in his room and immediately jumped into action.

"Run!" he shouted at Tucker, but Tucker only watched, paralyzed, as Danny tackled the bird, who effortlessly threw him away again and faced Tucker. Tucker stared into the purplish-glowing mouth and cringed, waiting for imminent pain.

Danny faced the bird and watched the scene unfold in slow motion. It's too strong for me to beat it, he thought. I'll have to sneak up on it and surprise it. Thinking quickly as the bird screamed again, which made Tucker's beret fly away from his head, he turned invisible and ran forward.

The hawk was very surprised when it felt something punch it at the base of one of its wings. And angry. The punch wasn't painful; in fact, it was pretty wimpy compared to some of the other hits it had taken, but no one, no one, was going to cause him pain and get away with it. The hawk turned away from the cowering Tucker and faced Danny to deal with this foolish pest.

Crap, was all Danny could think.

The hawk let out its loudest cry yet, and Danny went intangible just in time to prevent ramming into his wall beside the window. The hawk didn't bother going intangible, instead opting to rampage across the room and remove the furniture to reach its prey. It crashed through the glass window and rose up to meet the floating Phantom.

Tucker rushed to the window and stared at the fight between the two ghosts. The larger one was flying in a crazed jerky pattern, trying to follow the smaller one that was cutting smooth curves in the sky.

How do I get rid of it? Danny wondered franticly while he flew as fast as he could to escape the sonic blasts that came from the bird's beak. He was much more agile than the other ghost, but he couldn't defeat it and he wasn't sure how long he could keep this speed up. This was more terrifying than his first ghost experience with the ectopus in the basement! He'd barely been able to throw it into the portal – right! The portal! Danny turned intangible and zoomed straight into the house, making a beeline towards the basement with the hawk close on his tail.

Tucker ran down the steps to see the first ghost pull up just before it would have flown into the glowing green opening of the portal. The hawk was not so lucky. Unable to pull up, it let out one last screech of outrage that shattered beakers and made the boys cover their ears in agony before the portal doors closed behind it.

Danny breathed hard, exhausted from the fight, and went over to Tucker. "Are you okay?" he asked as he inspected his friend for injuries. Noticing Tucker's wide eyes, he immediately became alarmed. "What's wrong?"

It took Tucker a few moments to register the question, but when he did, he licked his lips and, in a trembling voice, said quietly, "Your legs."

"So you're okay?" Danny asked in relief.

Tucker came out of his reverie with a start. "Dude, I'm okay, but I'm not sure you are."

"What? Why?"

Tucker looked up into Danny's face. "How can you not notice this?"

Danny bent down above Tucker and tried to soothe him. "There's no need to shout, Tucker-"

"DANNY!" Tucker exploded. "LOOK AT YOUR LEGS!"

Danny turned with a frown . "Yeah, what's wrong with my-"

Tucker covered his ears at Danny's scream and their positions switched. "Dude, calm down."

"Calm down? Calm down! I don't have any legs!" Danny was zipping around the lab, bouncing off its walls as Tucker tried to make him stay still. He wasn't having much luck.

"Look at this!" Danny shrieked, flipping onto his back so that he was flying backwards and pointing at the semi-transparent tail that was all that was underneath his suit's belt.

Tucker winced when Danny crashed into the wall and ran over as Danny fell down it and landed on the ground in a dazed heap. "Danny? Are you okay? Danny!"

With a groan, Danny stood up and rubbed his head. "Ugh, ouch!" Suddenly remembering his new lower half, Danny glanced down at two legs that were standing firmly on the ground. He observed them carefully for a moment before looking up at Tucker.

"So, I believe we can change 'floating' to 'flying' now," Tucker noted, making the change on his PDA.

"No kidding," Danny said, still massaging his head. His green eyes lit up happily and Tucker stared as their glow grew stronger. "That was awesome! Flying's better than I ever dreamed of!" He looked down again. "Excluding the tail part."

"What happened?" Tucker asked, puzzled.

Danny shrugged, and a blue light surrounded his shoulders, fizzing a little and spreading to the rest of his body, leaving Danny Fenton behind.

Tucker looked at him. "Ah, I didn't mean to do that," Danny said sheepishly. He yawned a little.

"So what happened?" Tucker pressed. Truth be told, he was a little glad to see Danny back in his human form again. He was sure he'd adjust eventually, but right then, it was still odd for him to associate his best friend since Kindergarten with a ghost that had entirely different coloring.

Danny shrugged again, stifling another yawn. "I don't know. One moment I had legs and the next, poof!, they were gone. I am very glad they're back," he added. "Solid legs are very important to me; they really help with standing." So saying, he went ghost again. Tucker gave him a questioning look and Danny smiled sleepily at him. "Flying is awesome, man. And I think I'll just fly myself to bed." With that, Danny flew through the kitchen and up to his room, which was conveniently directly above the lab, while Tucker took the land route. He found Danny floating beside his bed and yawning and stared at him again.

"Ah, Danny?"

"What?"

Tucker cleared his throat nervously. "It's back."

Danny looked down and instantly became alert again, although he didn't start flying around at top speed like last time. "AHH!" His tail suddenly turned to legs again as his body stiffened, but formed into a tail when he relaxed. "What is going on here?" Too tired to freak out again, Danny stayed relaxed and let the tail wave back and forth as he floated above his bed.

"Instincts again?" Tucker suggested.

"Mmm, maybe," Danny replied as he yawned yet again. Experimentally, he focused on the feeling of fighting and curled one of his hands into a fist. His legs reappeared. Then he thought of the other option, fleeing, flying as fast as possible, especially away from that hawk. His legs suddenly fused together and became boneless. Not as disturbed as he should have been, Danny sank a little lower over his bed. "But I currently couldn't care less." He reverted to human and landed softly on his bed.

Tucker took this as his cue to leave; Danny looked exhausted. "See you tomorrow."

"Bye, man," Danny said, already half asleep before Tucker had closed the door.

Once again, SORRY! It's called HOMEWORK! And major projects.

Happy Holidays!