THEN: The Winchesters visit the Fenton household and discover many new and exciting things. Among them, a host of ghost weaponry that only seem interested in targeting the Fentons' young son, Danny. The Drs. Fenton also confirm Sam's suspicion that Inviso-Bill is a ghost, but the brothers agree that they need to investigate this claim further. Dean is very confident in his plan to stake out the high school so they could test out their theory on Inviso-Bill if he showed up to fight a ghost, but will the teens of Casper High be more than a match for the brothers?

NOW:

Panic, Danny thought, was too strong a word for what he was feeling. He was, after all, a hero: fighting ghosts and dishing out witty comebacks all day, every day. So, no, Danny would not say he was panicking. It's just that the two ghost hunting Winchesters had returned to Amity Park to help his parents with the ghost infestation. They had also undoubtedly informed the brothers that the number one persona non grata -- or umbra non grata, to be technical -- was himself, Danny Phantom. Of course, they had probably told the Winchesters that his name was Inviso-Bill or some such nonsense. Danny was still trying to get his real pseudonym to stick.

A "real pseudonym", he pondered as he walked into Casper High the day after he had discovered the Winchesters in his parents' lab, Does such a thing exist? He would have to ask Sam and Tucker what they thought later. Speaking of his friends... Danny peered as best he could over the crowd of milling high school students filling the halls of Casper High, but couldn't see them. He continued to look around as he made his way to his locker down the hall.

"Well if it isn't Fen-tina, just in time for his morning beating."

Danny sighed. He knew this voice very well. With an almost robotic tone, he turned and said, "Oh no. Please don't --" but he was upside down in a locker before he had even finished his sentence. Dash's laughter faded down the hall as he and his posse of tagalongs moved away. Floating there upside down, Danny waited for what seemed like an eternity until he heard a light knock on the locker door. Invisibly, he drifted through the door and settled himself between Sam and Tucker as they stood shielding his locker.

"Thanks guys," he said, unlocking the locker door so he could put his books away right side up.

"Sorry we took so long. We were avoiding Valerie," Sam said, only a little poison in her voice.

Danny immediately brightened. "Valerie?" He looked around as if to find her.

Sam rolled her eyes and slapped Danny upside the head. "She's the enemy, remember? We need to stay away from her."

"She's not the enemy," Danny protested, although a bruise on his ribcage from their skirmish two days before said otherwise. "She's just..."

Sam raised an eyebrow, waiting for Danny to finish.

"...misled?" He hated how uncertain he sounded.

"I agree with Sam, man," Tucker chimed in, crossing his arms. "Valerie hates your guts."

"No," Danny held up a finger, "She hates Phantom's guts."

Sam just groaned and stomped off down the hall. They had been going back and forth on this argument for a few weeks now and had gotten exactly nowhere. Even though Valerie did want to kill Phantom, Danny couldn't help but admire her resolve, her stubbornness, and her natural fighting skill. Plus, she was beautiful. He sighed a lovesick puppy kind of sigh and his ribs twinged again.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tucker giving him a strange look. "What?" he asked.

Tucker shook his head. "You got problems, man. Serious problems." With that, Tucker followed Sam down the hallway.

Danny pouted for a second before turning to shut his locker.

"Hey, Danny!"

Danny jumped a foot in the air, whipping around, his fists up. It was Dean Winchester with his brother, Sam, not far behind.

"Whoah, there, kid! We're not gonna bite you!" Dean chuckled.

He cleared his throat, hastily putting his hands down. "What are you guys doing here?" He noticed they were wearing suits.

"We're trying to track down that Inviso-Bill character," said Sam. "We think he may be connected to your school."

Danny was torn between indignation that people were still calling him Inviso-Bill and horror at the fact that two ghost hunters were hunting him inside his own school.

"That's so interesting! Are my parents here with you?" He needed to know how many potential threats he'd be facing if it came down to a fight.

"Nah," said Dean, "Just us." Then, he leaned down and said, in a much softer voice, "We're pretending to be investigators from the Board of Education. Agents Abercrombie and Fitch."

Danny raised his eyebrows in disbelief as Dean pulled out a very convincing fake badge.

"Abercrombie and Fitch... like the store?" he asked. Dean cleared his throat and shoved his badge back into his pocket.

"We just wanted to let you know so you wouldn't accidentally out us," Sam said. "Could you let Manson and Tucker know? We're on the way to see the principal right now, but we'll be pulling aside some students later to ask some questions. Do you know Valerie Gray? Or Westley Weston?"

Danny had to fight to keep a neutral expression. Of all the students in this dratted school, they wanted to talk to the one who wanted his insides splattered on a wall and the one who had managed to correctly guess his secret, respectively. This was not good.

Thankfully, at that moment, the bell rang, signaling that he was about to be late to class yet again. Hastily spitting out a string of excuses, Danny dashed away as fast as he could. For once Mr. Lancer's classroom beckoned like a beacon of safe harbor. When he got to his desk and sat down, however, he found that he couldn't concentrate on Mr. Lancer's lesson on Crime and Punishment. Normally, he would be falling asleep in this class after a long night of ghost hunting and patrols, but today he was all adrenaline.

Sam, as per usual, was sitting next to him, with Tucker at his back. Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore. Taking out a piece of notebook paper, he wrote: The Winchesters are looking for Phantom at school. Folding the paper surreptitiously, he passed the note across the aisle to Sam, who read it, wrote something on it, and passed it back to Tucker. A few seconds later, Danny felt a tap on his shoulder, and reached back the next time Mr. Lancer turned to write something on the board.

In Sam's disaster penmanship was written: Why?

Below that, in Tucker's much neater writing: What do they want with Phantom?

Danny decided that it would be much better if he told the whole story rather than wasting time playing question and answer, so he wrote out everything he knew. He wrote that the Winchesters had been at his parents' house yesterday getting really cozy with a lot of ectoplasmic firepower. He wrote that they were pretending to be with the Board of Education here at the school and that they had fake IDs. Lastly, he wrote that they had mentioned both Valerie and Wes by name.

But Wes thinks you're Phantom! Wrote Tucker, a little of his panic showing through the shaky penmanship.

And Valerie won't have a problem giving them all the information they need to take Phantom down... wrote Sam. You said they had fake IDs, though... We can work with that. All government agents should have a unique ID number, right? Tucker, if we can get you their cards, could you run a check on their ID numbers? Then we could get the results to the principal and she'll kick them out of school.

Danny put a star next to Sam's idea and passed it back to Tucker. When he next got the paper, Tucker had assented to Sam's plan.

Danny, do you remember where they put their badges? Sam had asked underneath.

Breast pocket on the inside of their jackets.

Sam tapped her pen against her lips for a little bit before writing down her reply. Can you snatch them from there using your intangibility?

Danny thought about it for a second, then decided to experiment a little. He put his eraser inside his desk, then, without looking, he phased his hand discreetly through the wood, grabbed his eraser and phased through the bottom. That had been simple enough, but to get the ID he'd have to grab a piece of laminated paper from between two pieces of fabric. He needed to up his game.

He put his eraser into his pencil bag inside his desk and then tried to phase through the pencil bag and grab the eraser on the way. It took him a couple of tries, but he found if he concentrated on the texture of the eraser, it was much easier. As a last ditch attempt, he tried to phase through his own wallet and grab his student ID on the way through. After a couple of minutes, he was succeeding most of the time.

If they are standing still enough, I think I can do it. He wrote.

What's our plan B??? Tucker asked nervously.

I'll take care of it. Sam wrote with an air of finality. Neither of the boys questioned her.

Danny was halfway through writing So, should we do it during lunch or earlier? when the door to the classroom was pushed open a crack and Principal Ishiyama stuck her head in, beckoning to Mr. Lancer.

After a quick, whispered conversation, Mr. Lancer turned to the class. "Ms. Gray, Principal Ishiyama needs to see you." Confused, Valerie picked up her bag and headed out of the classroom with the principal. Mr. Lancer shook his head dismissively and then resumed teaching. Danny exchanged a look with Sam and Tucker, seeing his half-written question answered in their eyes. His hand shot up into the air.

"Mr. Lancer?"

Mr. Lancer didn't even turn around. "Yes, Mr. Fenton."

"I need to--"

"You know where the hall pass is, Mr. Fenton. I'll see you in remediation on Saturday."

Danny grimaced. "Yes, Mr. Lancer." He grabbed the hall pass and ran out the door.

Valerie was halfway down the hall with Principal Ishiyama already, but both of them turned when he crashed into the hallway. Principal Ishiyama raised an elegant eyebrow at him and he wordlessly held up his hall pass. The pair continued on their way, but not before Valerie had sent a heart-melting smile in Danny's direction. It was all he could do to prevent himself from running into a wall as he turned in the opposite direction. When he rounded the corner and broke line of sight with Valerie and the principal, he quickly transformed and jumped through the wall. After a little bit of searching, he found the pair just as Principal Ishiyama was leading Valerie into her office. Through the crack in the door, he could see the Winchester brothers sitting calmly in some chairs in front of the principal's desk.

"Take all the time you need, gentlemen. I'll be just outside," said Ishiyama before shutting the door.

Danny zipped around the principal and stuck his head through the door, making sure he stayed invisible.

"Please, have a seat, Ms. Gray," said Dean, gesturing to a folding chair that had obviously been moved into this room for the occasion. Valerie sat hesitantly, glancing suspiciously between the two men.

Sam slapped a charming smile on his face, pulling out his fake badge. "My name is Agent Fitch," he said, "and this is my colleague, Agent Abercrombie. We're from the Board of Education here investigating the effects that the rampant ghost attacks in your city have had on students like yourself."

"Abercrombie and Fitch?" Danny had to give Valerie credit for keeping a straight face. "Like the store?"

Dean chuckled, but Danny could tell there was an annoyed edge to it. "We get that a lot. It's part of the fun of working together." Danny rolled his eyes and drifted slowly into the room. Even though he knew he was as silent as the grave when he was hovering like this, habit made him move cautiously.

Sam cleared his throat. "How have you been dealing with the ghost infestation, Ms. Gray?"

It was clear that Valerie still didn't trust the brothers, but she answered, "Fine, I guess."

Dean leaned forward, putting the tips of his fingers together. "Even with the whole Axion Labs incident? I can't imagine how much stress that must have put on you and your father."

Valerie's countenance visibly darkened. "How do you know about that?"

"Easy, Ms. Gray," Sam intervened, "We heard about it on the news. That's why we wanted to talk to you first; to make sure that you're doing alright."

Danny was hovering to Sam's left, his invisible hand poised over the place where he knew Sam had stashed his badge. He licked his lips. Here went nothing. Concentrating on the feeling of laminated paper in his fingers, he phased slowly through Sam's suit jacket. The man shivered as Danny's hand continued on through his chest and out his back. Empty. Danny cursed silently and tried again, concentrating harder. Sam shivered again at the passage of Danny's hand through his chest. Danny held his breath and looked at his hand. Empty again.

He waited until Sam had relaxed and then focused again on the feeling of laminated paper between his fingers. He moved his hand even more slowly through Sam's breast pocket, closing his eyes to better concentrate. When his hand came out the other side, it was accompanied by the badge of one Agent Fitch. He did a silent fist pump and moved over to Dean.

Meanwhile, Valerie had recounted with increasing emotion the horrid tale of the day her life had fallen to pieces. "That Danny Phantom ruined my life!" she finished, "And his little dog too!"

"Wait." Dean held up a hand, shifting enough that Danny had to reposition himself. "'Danny Phantom?' You mean Inviso-Bill?"

"Pfft! You guys still using the stupid name the Fentons came up with?" Valerie laughed at the two hunters, who exchanged a glance. "No, no. His name is Danny Phantom. Although I've heard some of the bigger ghosts call him 'Ghost Boy'."

"Bigger ghosts?" asked Sam.

Valerie looked back and forth between them as Danny made his first pass through Dean's pocket. "You guys are from out of town, aren't you?"

Dean shivered like Sam had, but Danny came up empty. He tried again. Nothing. Dean shivered again and a crease split down his forehead. As Danny positioned his hand for a third try, Dean abruptly shifted, taking his wallet out of his breast pocket and sliding it into his back pocket. Oh... this was going to be awkward. Danny hesitated, then repositioned his hand. Steeling himself -- A ghost boy's gotta do what a ghost boy's gotta do -- he concentrated and passed his hand through Dean's pocket, through his butt, and out the front of his thigh. Dean actually jumped. Danny almost swore aloud; his hand was empty.

"Hey!" Sam gave his brother a look that inquired politely if he had lost his marbles. Valerie looked like she was moment by moment losing more faith in the U.S. Board of Education. Not that she'd had much to start off with.

"Sorry," Dean muttered, sitting back down. He rubbed his arms in an attempt to save the moment. "It's a bit chilly in here." Valerie, sitting sedately in her tank top and short skirt, rolled her eyes.

Danny took a deep breath. He would try for the entire wallet this time. It was bigger and easier to grab than the badge, and he needed to get out of here. Exhaling slowly, he passed his hand through Dean's back pocket again. Dean restrained a violent shiver, looking around warily. Danny froze, but Dean just rubbed his arms again and shifted around in his seat before settling.

Clutching Sam's badge and Dean's wallet gleefully in his hands, Danny zipped back through the office door just as Valerie said, "Let me catch y'all up to speed."

~~~

Forty-five minutes later, when the bell had rung, Dean and Sam dismissed Valerie to go back to class. They had learned a lot from her. As Dean had secretly been hoping, "Inviso-Bill" was just a name that the media had dreamt up and the real troublemaker they were looking for was "Danny Phantom". Dean gave this new alias a three out of five stars only because it was lacking in originality, he felt.

Additionally, the brothers had now heard from two sources, the Fentons and Valerie Gray, that Danny Phantom was a ghost who took the form of a high school-aged boy to terrorize the city. Other than the incident at Axion Labs, Valerie had disclosed many other times when Danny Phantom had endangered private and public property as well as the good people of Amity Park. He often did this while engaged in violent battles over territory with such ghosts as "Technus", "The Lunch Lady", "Skulker", and -- with annoying frequency -- "The Box Ghost". Dean remembered him from the video Ash had shown them back at the Roadhouse.

Scarcely had Valerie's curly hair disappeared around the door frame than a tall, redheaded boy slipped inside, shutting the door quickly behind him.

"Uh, who're you?" asked Dean.

"Westley," said the kid, hastily sitting down in the seat Valerie had just vacated. "Westley Weston, but I go by 'Wes'. I heard you guys were asking questions about Phantom. Or should I say... Fenton?"

The Winchesters were nonplussed. Dean rubbed his forehead. "I didn't realize it was already headache o'clock," he muttered.

"Start at the beginning, Wes," prompted Sam.

After a good ten minutes of solid ranting, the Winchesters had only gathered two things from Wes: first, that he was hell bent and determined that Danny Phantom -- the ghost -- was really Danny Fenton -- the human boy -- in disguise. On the one hand, it aligned with the Winchester's original theory that Inviso-Bill, or Danny Phantom as they now knew him to be called, was really just a kid that had gotten his hands on some whacky mojo. On the other hand... Wes was not exactly the most reliable of sources. Because the second thing they learned from his rant was that he was in dire need of some sleep and a bracing shot of whiskey, but Dean was really the only one thinking that last part.

"And no one believes me!" Wes finished, falling back into his chair.

"Gee, I wonder why..." Dean muttered, desperately wishing he had a beer in his hand.

"So you said you saw Danny -- Danny Fenton, I mean. You saw him transform into Danny Phantom?" asked Sam, incredulous.

"Yeah! He raised his arms over his head, shouted 'I'm going ghost!' and then these white rings appeared and passed over him like a scanner, and he turned into Phantom! Right there in the boy's locker room! Sam Manson and Tucker Foley are in on it too, I'm sure of it. The way they're always right there wherever Phantom is fighting. Well... not always, but most of the time!" Wes' eyes were wide with fervor. "And plus! Danny Phantom. Danny Fenton." He waved his hands like they should be seeing something obvious. "I mean, it's right there! They even look alike!"

"How do you--?" Sam started, but he was cut off as Wes whipped a folder out of his backpack, flipping it open with a snap. He shoved two pictures in front of Sam's nose so closely that he could only make out two blurred figures. Keeping his cool, Sam gingerly took the pictures from Wes, leaning so that Dean could see them too.

One of the pictures was obviously of Danny taken from afar as he walked down a sidewalk with Tucker and the Manson girl. It was equally obvious from the leaves that poked in around the edges of the photograph, that this picture had been taken without Danny's knowledge.

"Did you take this photo?" Dean asked, glaring at Wes. Danny had enough troubles without a stalker on his tail.

"Ye-- I mean, no. No, I got it from a friend."

"Would this be the friend you see every morning in the mirror?"

Wes turned red and looked away. Dean looked at the other picture.

This one was of Danny Phantom, a little grainy, but still recognizable. The perspective of the photo was strange, as if it had been taken from below. Not so strange, the Winchesters realized as they remembered that Phantom could fly. The Ghost Boy was poised in midair, legs spread for balance, hands up and glowing green with what Sam knew to be an ectoplasmic charge.

"See!" exclaimed Wes. "Same height, same build, same facial structure. It's all there!"

"Uh, yeah, but, I don't know if you can tell from these pictures, but Danny has black hair and blue eyes while Phantom has white hair and green eyes," noted Dean, sarcastically flicking the pictures back to Wes, "Does he take a few hours to dye his hair and put in colored contacts or something?"

"No, I told you, the white rings--"

"Yeah yeah." Dean waved a hand, "You told us all about his magical girl transformation sequence. Now are you gonna tell us that he has a theme song to go with it?"

Wes looked like a bright red balloon ready to explode. After staring at Dean for a moment, he snatched up his folder and shoved it in his backpack.

"Nonbelievers," he muttered angrily. Then louder, "You'll see! One day, everyone will know the truth about Danny Fenton!"

"Get back to class, kid!" Dean made a shooing motion with his hands. With one final look that rained hellfire, Wes slammed out of the office, leaving the brothers in silence.

"Good grief," said Sam, collapsing back into his seat.

"This is why I hate kids."

Sam didn't even look up at him. "You don't hate kids. You enjoyed every second of that."

Dean paused, considering, and a wide smile spread across his face. "You're right. I did. Little twerp."

"So," Sam began thoughtfully, "What did you think about--?" In the middle of his sentence, Principal Ishiyama came into the room. Dean was about to be annoyed when two security guards stepped in behind her. Whoops... looked like their cover had been blown.

"Gentlemen," said the principal, a stony expression on her face, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Sam put on his best innocent angel face. "Why? Did something happen?"

It was obvious the principal didn't buy it for a second. "Impersonating federal agents is a serious matter, gentlemen. If you leave now and never come back, I won't have you arrested."

"Impersonating?" Dean asked, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet. Sam did the same, reaching into his breast pocket. Sam pulled out his wallet and flipped it open in Ishiyama's direction while Dean patted his empty pocket.

"What the hell?" Dean said, patting the rest of his pockets. But it was true: his wallet had disappeared. Principal Ishiyama arched an eyebrow, reached into her own pocket, and pulled out both of their badges between two deft fingers. Sam flipped his empty wallet around, flabbergasted. "Thanks to some quick-thinking students, we were able to run your badge numbers with the Board of Education. Agents Abercrombie and Fitch don't exist."

"You named yourselves after a clothing store?" one of the security guards burst out. He was a little on the younger side and probably frequented the establishment in question based on the amount of gel in his hair.

Ishiyama fumbled. "A clothing store?"

"Yeah, 'Abercrombie and Fitch'," said the guard, laughing "It's at the mall. It's really popular. I can't believe you didn't see through that."

"Don't speak to your superior in that tone, young man!" Ishiyama snapped, turning red with what Dean could only assume was embarrassment. He decided it was about time to diffuse the situation.

He raised his hands, rising slowly to his feet. "You're right, you're right. I really do have to apologize. We lost a bet with a drinking buddy and a lot of money was on the line. You know how it is."

Ishiyama's gaze could have frozen hoarfrost. "No I do not."

Dean shrugged. "Either way, if you'll just give us back our fake badges and we'll be on our way."

He held out his hand and Ishiyama placed both badges in his palm. He handed Sam's to him. While Sam put his back in his wallet, Dean asked, as casually as possible, "Could I also have my wallet back?"

Ishiyama raised her eyebrows. "I don't have your wallet."

"Sure you do," said Dean, "My badge was in my wallet and my wallet is missing."

"Sir, groundless accusations are not helping your case."

"Groundless?" Dean exploded, taking a threatening step forward unconsciously. Sam immediately stepped in front of him.

"Hey, calm down," Sam said, "Maybe you left it in the car."

"I had it in my hand when--"

"Maybe," Sam said, a little more forcefully, "we should go check the car, just in case."

Dean finally looked at his brother. Sam's eyes were full of silent messages all to the effect of let's go before you get us arrested on assault charges.

"Fine." Dean stepped back and adjusted his suit jacket. "Fine."

The brothers made their way to the office door. Just before they stepped into the hallway beyond, Sam turned and said, in his most casual voice, "You know, the kids who figured this out are really smart."

"That they are," Ishiyama assented suspiciously.

"Do you know who they are?"

Her expression instantly converted to frosty hostility. "As if I would tell you. Now leave."

Principal Ishiyama's glare followed them all the way out of her office until the security guards took over to escort them through the halls. What did they think the Winchesters were going to do? Run away and hide in a supply closet?

Dean tried to maintain a calm exterior, but inwardly he was seething. Which punk kid had alerted the principal to their fake badges? The only kids who knew that they were fake were Danny and his friends, assuming Danny had told them. And Danny would never... or would he? Dean pondered this question as he and Sam were escorted through the main doors of the school, which were summarily slammed behind them.

"Are you thinking...?" ventured Sam as they made their sullen way back to the Impala. Their wavelengths were similar enough that they could both understand what Sam was asking: the same question Dean had been turning over in his mind since they had left the principal's office.

"He's the only one who could have done it," said Dean. "The only question is how? I moved my wallet into my back pocket while we were in the principal's office. How could he have pickpocketed us between that time and when Ishiyama came to kick us out?"

"Well, there's a few options," Sam said as they reached the Impala. "One: Danny and company are working with Inviso-- I mean, Danny Phantom, who stole the wallet by phasing through our clothes. Two: Danny or one of his friends is Danny Phantom, either through mojo or disguising themselves like Wes said. Or three: they pulled some sort of Oceans 11 stunt on us, possibly allying with Valerie."

"I'm pretty sure Danny Phantom was involved. Did you feel some weird chills while we were in there? I could have sworn I felt one go right through my butt when I put my wallet in my back pocket..."

"Yeah, I felt a couple going through my-- What?" Sam looked at his brother, concerned. Dean's mouth had dropped open, aghast.

"That little pervert..." he said.

"What?" Sam asked.

"That little pervert phased through my butt to get my wallet!"

Sam just started laughing.

"It's not funny, Sam," Dean said, very seriously, "I feel violated..."

"Well, can you feel violated over lunch? I'm hungry."

Dean shot him a venomous look, but opened the driver's door.

Just as the brothers slid into their respective seats in the car, a huge something rocketed by overhead, trailing green flames and almost skimming the Impala's roof. It pulled up so that it was hovering over the school and the brothers craned their heads to get a good look.

It was a large, metal man clothed in black and riding a jet pack. From his scalp, green fire shot out in a line from front to back like a flaming mohawk. He had some high tech half armor covering one shoulder and -- Dean had to scoff at this -- a black choker with a skull on it.

The man flicked something down over his eye and appeared to scan the school slowly from end to end. He stopped about midway and smiled cruelly.

Meanwhile, Sam and Dean leapt out of the Impala and withdrew guns from their waistbands. Hearing the sound of the car doors opening, the flying metal man turned to them and grinned, the skeletal shape of his face giving the chilling impression that they were staring Death in the eyes.

"I have business with the Ghost Boy. Run along home and do not interfere in the hunt." His voice was deep and echoey, making the brothers shiver involuntarily. Not waiting to see what their response was, he turned and dove straight through the roof of the school without leaving a trace.

"He's a ghost!" shouted Sam, surprised.

Not a moment later, they heard the ghost shout, "I have you now, whelp!" and the windows of the entryway to the school exploded in green fire.