Before Danny left for the mall, his father hung up the phone which he'd been talking into and looked at him somberly, "Son."

Danny was confused, "Yeah?"

"That was Mr. Lancer who just called. He said he got a complaint from a boy named Dash Baxter that you were causing trouble at school."

Danny was...there was no word for it, "What? Dad! Dash is a ja—a jerk! He bullies me!"

Jack replied, "I believe you, Dan," and Danny could tell he did, too, as he gained a steely look in his grayish gaze, "I don't think you're the type to do the things Lancer said you did. Tell me if this 'Dash' does anything more to bother you."

Danny had to restrain his grin. Finally. Something was being done about this, when it should have happened years ago.

"One other thing; Lancer asked your mother and I to chaperone the upcoming dance."

That...was not what Danny expected to hear. "What? Why?"

"We're not the only parents the school's asking to do this. I suppose it's because of what happened."

The ghost attack. Right. The party was sounding more and more like a total buzzkill.

"Okay...I won't have to hang around you guys the whole time, will I?"

Maddie and Jack glance at each other, with amusement, "Of course not, hun," Maddie said, "You'll be busy with your date!"

"Oh, yeah, right." Phew.

Waiting in the mall cafeteria for Tucker to arrive (Danny rode his scooter to the mall) he caught a familiar figure waving at him in his periphery. Sam.

"Hey!" He waved her over in return. She walked up.

"Hi," she said, "Hope I'm not bothering you."

She didn't usually talk like that. She hadn't really looked him in the eye, either.

"Of course not," Danny assured, "Um...are you okay?"

She looked at him, "I'm fine. Thanks for asking," then, sounding uncharacteristically apologetic, said, "Danny? I'm sorry I did that at school earlier, with you and Paulina."

He blinked, "It's...alright."

"I'll apologize to Paulina at the dance, too."

That surprised Danny most. "Good luck." He realized that might sound bad, "Not that she won't forgive you. I'm sure she will."

Something in Sam's face implied she wasn't so convinced, but he had a feeling she was going to try regardless.

"How'd you find me, anyway?"

Sam seemed grateful for the change of subject, "I was in my—parent's car and I asked them to follow you when I spotted you on your scooter."

"Oh. That makes sense. Are they here?"

"No, I asked them to come pick me up in a couple hours."

"Wow. I'm just here to see Tuck'."

"Don't worry, I won't drag you around with me. I just have stuff to do."

Danny nodded.

A few moments later, Tucker arrived.

"Hey! I didn't know Sam would be here."

Danny said, "Me neither. She kind of snuck up on me."

He appreciated the tiny smile Sam gave.

"I've been meaning to ask you something, Danny." Tucker started, "If you have ghost powers now," Danny tried not to wince, he didn't want to think about that right now, "Does that mean you can possess people?"

Danny...actually thought about that, "That's...nuts, Tuck'."

"Hey, if you could possess a girl for five minutes..."

Danny, caught off guard, laughed aloud, "You already have a date, dude!"

Sam rolled her eyes.

It was strange that Tucker and Sam could treat his freakishness so normally, but it wasn't unwelcome. Most likely they were holding back their uneasiness for his sake. He ought to thank them sometime...when it wouldn't be weird.

"Yeah, and you wanna know how it happened? Valerie said all the better guys were taken and she was settling for me! Some might call it a rebound, I call it a yes. And the pants are still on."

That just made Danny laugh harder. Sam snorted audibly, good-natured.

"Has anyone asked you to the dance, Sam?" Tucker asked her.

Sam paused, "No, but believe you me, I'm going anyway."

As they were speaking, noise built up in the background, none of them took notice of it, sometimes hubbub just happened in malls, but they couldn't ignore the screaming once it began.

From a certain direction people started running and yelling at the top of their lungs. A hulking monster emerged from around a corner and bellowed.

"What the hell?" Danny breathed the words. As he spoke, the bluish mist left his mouth. The mist that signified a ghost's presence nearby. He could feel it. The whum in his chest intensified.

It couldn't me the dragoness again. It looked...different. It was pink, for one, not blue like the previous dragon. But it was without a doubt a godforsaken dragon.

Fear overcame him. It was stomping toward the food court.

We should run.

As he thought this, a sharp—interruption—flooded his brain, No! I should fight! I did it before, I can do it again!

The sense of defending what was his which had so frightened him in hindsight the night before was back.

He looked into Sam and Tucker's wide eyes.

"I got to go, guys!"

He stood up hastily, running behind an indoor decorative piece of shrubbery. He searched around for anyone who could see him, briefly felt stupid. He knew what he was doing. He hoped.

The rings formed around his midsection and in a flash, the armor, goggles, and hood were back on his body again. He flew upwards. He didn't miss a second charging—if flying could be called charging—face-to-face with the dragoness.

"Say, haven't we met before?" He challenged, amazed at his own gall.

Evidently it wasn't impressed, smacking him with its tail like a whip, sending him crashing through a store window.

Oh my god, this hurts, he groaned, slowly picking himself up. It didn't hurt as much as he thought it would, though. No pieces of glass embedded in his back or anything. Must be the armor. He leapt up into the air once again just in time to avoid a burst of green flame aimed his direction. He charged again and the dragon doubled over as he barreled into its exposed belly.

It grabbed him then, to his muffled terror.

It slammed him on the ground, holding him there, and roared, "Must have TEE!"

Tea?

What the—

No time to think about that.

Danny phased through the floor, escaping its grasp.

He reared up through the ground again with some serious momentum on his side. He punched the dragon in the jaw. It cried out in pain.

It fell, muzzle falling on top of a dropped bag with some recently bought clothing in it.

It froze.

Sniffed the clothing.

All of a sudden, it was growing smaller.

Danny could only watch.

It shrunk and shrunk until...

Paulina Sanchez?!

Amulet still around her delicate neck, Paulina stumbled to her dainty feet, amnesiac. "What hit me?"

Something internal told her to look down, and she did. Her fleecy tee! It was right there, at her feet! As if there was some kind of mental block affecting her mind, she didn't even think of logic. She just picked it up. "I guess good things do happen when you maintain a positive attitude." She proclaimed, clueless.

Danny was aghast.

What should he do? It was obvious the necklace was the cause of all this mess. He'd given it to her! He couldn't just take it back, not without pissing her off!

At a loss, and with nothing left to brawl with, he returned to the same shrubbery and transformed back to his human self.

He ran back to where his friends were still waiting for him.

"I saw everything!" Tucker exclaimed, "You were awesome!"

"Uh..." Danny chose not to respond, "The necklace I gave Paulina turns her into a dragon!" He blurted.

They stared at him like he'd grown a second head.

He realized he hadn't even told them about the first dragon attack.

"This is a long story..."

After he'd explained everything in detail to the two of them, they were visibly overloaded. They parted ways to go home.

Once at FentonWorks, Danny was about to unlock the front door to enter when it turned out he didn't need to. His sister opened it for him from inside.

"Hey, Danny!"

"Yeah, hi."

She let him in.

"I just wanted you to know, I'm on to your little secret." She said suddenly and he tensed.

"What? What secret?"

"I can't believe I didn't figure it out before—you have a girlfriend!"

He spluttered. Then almost laughed. "She is not my girlfriend. We're just going to the dance together."

"You better let her know your family's crazy now, Danny. If you marry her and she finds out later, that's entrapment." She was wry.

The look he gave her just made her smirk wider. He sighed.

Tomorrow. The dance was tomorrow. He should get some rest now.

"Dinner will be ready soon!" His mom called from the kitchen.

After dinner, that was.