Becoming Phantom Again

Chapter Six

Danny's POV

     I wake up to a loud crash in the kitchen. I shoot upright and notice Sam is now on the loveseat. Despite my pounding head, I hurry to the kitchen to see what happened. I see my dad next to the stove as a pan of eggs lies scattered on the floor. "What happened in here?"

     "I was trying to make you kids some breakfast, my boy. Unfortunately, I thought I saw a ghost and threw the pan at it. I guess nothing was there though," my dad replies. I just nod and go back to the floor. It's only 9:00, but I feel wide awake. My ghost sense didn't go off, so there couldn't have been a ghost. I turn on the TV and flip through channels. That's when I realize I walked into the kitchen in just a T-shirt and my boxers . I run up to my room and grab a pair of pajama pants.

     Sam and Tucker finally wake up around 10:30. Tucker just groans, and Sam looks like she wants to kill someone. I already took medicine and had a lot of water, so I'm feeling better. I had placed two tablets and a bottle of water next to each of them earlier. They eagerly swallow the medicine and down the water. Sam gets up and grabs two more bottle of water from the fridge. She throws one to Tucker as she walks to me. She sits in my lap and rests her head on my shoulder.

     "Good morning, beautiful," I whisper into her ear. She kisses my cheek in return. Tucker fakes a gag. We sit and watch TV for a little while before Tucker pipes up.

     "What the hell happened last night? I don't remember anything after the second bottle of wine and everything between the two bottles is fuzzy."

     "You were an ass when we were playing truth or dare," Sam answers.

     "Really? What did I do?" Tucker inquires.

     "You dared me, which you didn't even let me choose truth or dare, but you dared me to go ghost," I tell him. He looks ashamed.

     "I'm really sorry about that. That wasn't very nice." Tucker looks down into his lap. "I need to resign as mayor. I'm going to type up that letter."

     "Once you're done, we can begin practice," Sam announces.

     "Practice for what?" Tucker says, clueless.

     "Ghost Training," Sam and I say in unison. Tucker's face lights up.

     While Tucker types his resignation letter, Sam makes us some sandwiches, and I grab the newspaper after I realize my parents hadn't done that. I walk out to my front lawn and notice a lot of people are by our house and staring at me. I ignore them, grab the paper, and walk back inside. I sit at the kitchen table to give Tucker space (he's typing his letter on his PDA in the living room) and keep Sam company while she makes lunch.

     I open the paper and nearly rip it when I see the headline. "You've got to be fucking kidding me. I quit. I'm not doing it anymore," I semi-shout.

     "What's wrong, Danny?" Sam asks. I hold the newspaper up so she can see it. Her face drops. "Phantom is back? Who caught us flying last night? It was freaking 2:30 in the morning. Why would someone still be up? And photo creds are anonymous because they don't want us to find them. Fucking bullshit."

     I throw the paper on the ground. Tucker ran into the kitchen at my outburst and saw Sam's episode. He picks up the newspaper and read the article. "You two went flying last night? I'll let that go since someone was obviously spying on you. Who could it be?"

     "It's probably just someone who saw us out. Anyone in town, really," Sam says rationally. I'm fuming. I wanted to secretly build my confidence back up. Now, I don't like the idea of being a ghost again.

     "I wanted to become Danny Phantom in private. I didn't want everyone watching me. This is so frustrating!" I yell as I grab my hair and pull. My parents run upstairs from the basement as I bang my head on the kitchen table. "Can't I just be left alone! It's not like I asked to become half-ghost. I never meant to become the hero of our town or the world on purpose. All of it was coincidental. Why did I reveal myself? That. Was. So. Stupid."

     "Danny, sweetie, what's the matter?" my mom asks with concern in her eyes. Tucker hands her the newspaper, and she skims the article. She stands next to me and rubs my back as I rest my head on the table. Her and my dad exchange looks. "Danny, we could try to-"

     "No," I cut her off. "I don't know what you were going to say, but no. Can Sam, Tucker, and I have the basement today? I need to get back into shape, and all of the training equipment is down there."

     "Sure, honey. You're father and I should probably tend to the house again. We need to start acting like responsible adults." My parents head upstairs. Sam, Tucker, and I eat sandwiches quickly and then tidy up the living room. They get dressed while I go to the basement. I need to make sure our portal is completely secure today. The last thing I need is an interruption from practice.

     Sam and Tucker meet me downstairs and start setting up. First, I need to test my flying stamina and speed. I transform into my ghost half. Sam and Tucker have created an obstacle course for me to fly through. We need stamina first, so I fly through the course for twenty minutes. I can feel myself getting slower after only ten minutes. I push myself and go back up to my original speed. Tucker and Sam discuss over whether I passed or not. They agree that I did and move the course out of my way. Then we test my speed. I slowly fly in circles around the room, gradually increasing my speed. Tucker clocks me after I pass a certain point in each lap. When I get to my top speed, I'm going one hundred and twenty miles per hour. We move on to target practice next. They set up the target conveyor belt, which is a mix of generic ghost and human cardboard cutouts. I shoot all the ghosts, but leave the humans alone. We test my ice powers, and they all seem functional. We move onto my ghostly wail. Sam and Tucker move to the wail-safe box we built for training safety purposes. It seems to only have gotten stronger. Lastly, I try duplication. I manage to make three perfect clones of myself, so a total of four mes. They set up the obstacle course again, and I do one last twenty minute flight without any difficulties. We decide that I am good to go. I change back into my human self. We head upstairs and go to the park. I know I'll be able to keep everyone safe if a ghost appears.