Danny flew back to Fenton Works as fast as he could. He only had a small amount of time to put Vlad back into the ghost zone, patch himself up, then head to school. He turned invisible and flew through the house and then down to the lab. The house seemed empty and Danny was thankful for that. His mom or dad hadn't come back yet.

He opened up the portal and the ghost zone was presented to him. With his hand on the lid, he began to twist it open.

 "Now go and be annoying somewhere far away from me," Danny said as Vlad was ejected from the thermos. The ghost portal quickly shut and allowed Danny to actually take a breath of relief.

He flew through the ceiling to his room and sighed. He was tired. Extremely tired. The exhaustion was overbearing. He would be surprised if he didn't fall asleep within the first five minutes of Mr. Lancer's class.

Danny had woken up around three in the morning when his ghost sense went off. He was used to getting up in the middle of the night and so it wasn't that much trouble. He went out into the darkness and found the Box Ghost. That confrontation lasted only about thirty minutes, maybe not even that long.

Danny had been happy that it had only been the Box Ghost and not one of his other enemies, such as Skulker. He really didn't want to hear, 'I will have your pellet on my wall,' for the thousandth time that month. Not to mention that he would have to deal with his new weapons on that metal suit.

Danny walked over to his full-length mirror that laid beside the desk. He sucked in a sharp breath when he saw the injuries in full light. No wonder the crowd was concerned. Danny changed back to his human form and took off his shirt so no blood would get onto the white fabric. He really didn't want to spend another twenty minutes washing it.

That's when he opened up a stash of medical supplies that he and his friends put together. It was located in a container in his desk. He took out some ointment, but then checked the time. Crap. Danny only had five minutes until the bell rang. He put the ointment back, even though he knew that it would've helped the pain, and just began to wrap up his chest, and then his side. 

After putting his shirt back on, he grabbed his book bag, stuffing some unfinished homework in it in the process, then slung it over his shoulder. Danny ran down the stairs and to the front door, despite the stabbing feeling in his side and the burning sensation in his chest.

With his hand on the doorknob, he heard her voice.

"Danny?" He sighed. He didn't have time for one of Jazz's lectures. 

"I have to go, Jazz. I'm-" He felt a hand on his shoulder. Danny looked behind him and was met with blue, sympathetic eyes. "I'll drive you. Come on."

The car ride was silent, but only for a second. Jazz couldn't help herself. She had watched the news. She had watched the fight and what Vlad had said. Jazz had also seen how Danny reacted. She needed answers. 

"So, uh, Danny?" 

He lifted his head up from the window. "Yes?"

 She glanced over at him. "I saw the news. What Vlad said seemed to be pretty personal to you. Is what he said what I think it is-" Danny cut her off, already knowing her question. 

"Yes, it is. Vlad is trying to dig under my skin, and he did it in front of all those people, in front of a camera. He's desperate for something, I know it." 

Jazz nodded. She knew that Vlad had always been a freak. And after learning about Danny and Vlad's powers way back when, she considered him dangerous, especially towards Danny. It didn't help much now that Vlad was mayor of the city. They hit a bump, which caused Danny to suck in a sharp breath. His older sister gave him a worried look.

"Did you patch yourself up at least?" She saw him nod.

"I heal fast, remember? But this will most likely take five days to heal." He was mentally kicking himself in his head for letting his guard down. If he would have dodged that shot from Vlad, his injuries wouldn't have been as terrible.

Their high school, Caspar High, was now in sight. They only had two spare minutes left. Danny couldn't be late again. He had been late all month, and Mr. Lancer sure wasn't appreciating it. 

When they stopped in front of the school, Danny thanked Jazz, then bolted into the entrance. There were still a few stragglers out in the hallways, but they were rushing to get to class. Danny quickly walked to his class, because if he would've run, he was sure that he wouldn't have been able to hide the pain. As he got closer, he could hear the bald man talking to the students to quiet down.

As soon as the bell rang, Danny walked through the door. He wasn't late, but still, Mr. Lancer gave him an annoyed glance. His classmates were used to seeing the boy walk in late, so it didn't faze them much. As Danny walked to his seat, Mr. Lancer started to talk. 

"What excuse do you have today, Fenton?" Danny sat down in his chair and was about to open his mouth when Paulina spoke.

"Can we skip this and just watch the news for a few minutes? I want to see the ghost boy." A love-struck smile made its way onto her face. Sam rolled her eyes at her love for the mysterious ghost boy. 

She looked over at Tucker, then at her friend. He had his head down on the table, ready to fall asleep. She nudged Tucker for him to tap him awake. Tucker looked over at his friend with sympathy. The poor guy sure didn't get enough sleep. He poked him in the shoulder, which caused Danny to slowly lift up his head. 

"Can we please watch the ghost boy on the news? None of us had the chance to watch the fight." Dash chimed in, which caused Danny to narrow his eyes. Why would anyone in this classroom want to watch him on TV? Then as if on cue, everyone started to plea. This overwhelmed Lancer, so he gave in to the students and turned on the large TV.

The news was just replaying the fight scene, and talking about how great of a warrior Phantom was. Danny watched himself hover in the air as Vlad was taunting him. The newsman began to talk. 

"Can you see how Phantom's hand are glowing and then they clench up at what this ghost is saying to him? Let's rewind the video."

 They began to rewind it and everyone in the classroom was on the edge of their seats, besides the trio of course. His hand was blazing green while the ghost talked. 

"Let me tell you something, Phantom. No matter how hard you try, you will always be the one who you so desperately don't want to be." Phantom's fists clenched as the ectoplasm grew brighter. 

Dash looked in awe. "Holy cow, he's mad!" Everyone in the room shushed him. The students really didn't take a liking to the other ghost, especially when he laughed. 

"I see that I've hit a nerve. I didn't think that you could get so angry." Mr. Lancer even was engaged in the video. They all watched as Vlad's eyes stared straight at their ghost hero. 

"You are already him." 

The video was paused by the news reporters as soon as the ectoplasm came shooting out of Vlad's hand. A male began to talk. "We've been looking into this and cannot find out what the evil ghost is talking about. We will try to question Phantom the next time we see him. We need to ask what 'him' means." 

Another male voice interrupted his fellow worker. "Who cares about that right now? I mean, look at what happens next and how Phantom deals with it! It's astonishing!"

The video resumed with the ectoplasm shooting out of Vlad's hand and directly into Danny's chest. Danny prepared himself for his classmates' reactions. They all winced as their hero slid on the ground, to them unconscious. Paulina looked pain stricken like someone had been killed before her eyes. 

"No, get up Phantom." She said aloud. 

They watched the crowd look at their hero helplessly. There wasn't anything they could do. Tucker gave Danny a glance. Danny seemed concentrated on the screen. He was barely aware of the crowd for most of the fight. His eyes held concentration and wonder. Sam just looked at the screen. She hated seeing this a second time. Vlad knew that Dan was his weak spot. He just kept on pounding and pounding at Danny. She gave a little smile when she remembered the pounding that Danny gave back.

Everyone watched, holding their breath while they wondered what Danny Phantom would do at a moment like this. Danny watched his own eyes light up neon green. He had been mad, but he thought that it hadn't shown out there. 

He had been completely wrong. He watched his aching body slowly get up. Danny gasped to himself. The burn was there. It looked as bad as it felt. Many others gasped as well, but more were interested in what payback Plasmius was going to endure.

 Danny's voice boomed through the speaker. 

"You are wrong." 

With that, everyone started to cheer and chant, "Phantom, Phantom!" 

It all still made Danny's head spin. These people actually liked him. It was hard to get over the whole 'Inviso-Bill' and 'Evil Ghost' thing. Every single thing he did, it was all watched with praise and suspense.

Everyone watched from where he took Vlad down to where his cold enemy was sucked up by the thermos. The class groaned as Mr. Lancer turn off the TV. He cleared his throat as he tightened his tie. 

"I think that is enough action for everyone today. I would've let you watch the rest of Phantom, but you can thank Danny  for being late today." Everyone turned to him and gave him an annoyed look.

"Of course Fenturd has to mess everything up."