Disclaimer: Don't own Danny Phantom or any related characters and such forth--that belongs to Butch Hartman and others.

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You know what normal kids do on a Saturday morning in the middle of summer?

Sleep.

But Valerie Gray was doing anything but. Not that she had expected to when her grinning boss had joyfully declared that he was promoting her to the morning shift for the summer. So here she was in the Nasty Burger, bright and early, joyfully ready to scratch out the eyes of the next person who came near her.

Trying not to think of her comfy, warm bed at home, Valerie sighed as the next customer came, an overweight kid in a blue shirt who obviously hadn't gotten the memo about "sleep first, annoy irate workers later".

Valerie put her chin on her hand and gazed at him uninterestedly as his eyes scanned the menu and he started to sweat. She rolled her eyes. Come on, she urged silently, it's not like this is the C.A.T. or something!

"Uh…I think I'll have Double Meaty Surprise…no, no…or maybe a Mini Meaty…or should I have a—"

Valerie was practically stabbing the keys with her fingers. Clenching her hands, she tilted her head to the side and gave him a nice, totally forced smile. "Will that be all, sir?"

The kid looked puzzled. "But I haven't even—"

"Will that be all?"

The kid gulped. "I'll just have a traditional Nasty Burger, thanks."

Valerie thrust the greasy bag toward his chest. "Enjoy," she muttered as he scrambled off to a table. Running a hand through her long brown hair, Valerie sighed for about the fiftieth time that day—and she wasn't even fully awake yet.

Truth was, she thought that this summer, she'd finally have time to take a break. With her job at the Nasty Burger and her—erm, other job, she'd been almost pushed to the limit with also having to juggle school on her plate. If she could, she'd just quit this stupid job. For once, she'd like to go to Nasty Burger on the other side of the counter; ignoring the fact that after being in the fast food restauraunt's kitchen, she probably wouldn't be able to digest their food anytime soon.

Well, at least it was a whole lot better than being "Nasty Nat".

And it wasn't like she could quit her other job, or school. If she didn't protect Amity Park, who would?

Phantom would, the part of her mind that just wanted to go back to bed insisted. Valerie's green eyes flashed at the mention of the arrogant ghost "protector".

Valerie snorted. Yeah, right. She was the only real protector the people of Amity Park could count on, if they could actually see past their own—

"Uh, Val? Earth to Val?"

Valerie snapped out of her thoughts, glaring at whoever was interrupting her. She only blinked when she saw Tucker Foley, Danny's friend, snapping his fingers in front of her face. Valerie pushed them out of the way, scowling.

"Foley. What do you want?"

He gave her a look of mock hurt. "Aw, come on, Val. Can you pretend for at least one day that you don't hate my guts?"

Valerie blinked, giving him an odd look. "What are you talking about? You're kind of the one who hates me, remember?" "Tucker" just shrugged.

"Whatever you say. Mind if I order, or are you gonna keep spacing out like that?" Valerie let out an exasperated sigh.

"What do you want?"

"You forgot the 'sir' part." Tucker was smirking.

"Don't push your limits, Foley," Valerie growled. "Now, what do you—" Startled, she cut off, looking at her red-and-black watch, which was beeping madly. It's close, she thought, eyes flitting around, searching for whatever ghost had decided to bother her this time. Tucker just raised an eyebrow at her antics.

"Hey, Amy," Valerie called out to the girl beside her who was tending the next register. "Mind if you take my register real quick? It's an emergency."

Amy's eyes widened, and she looked around like she was trying to grab an excuse, like it would just be floating out in the air. "B-but…my register and yours? I don't think I can—"

"Thanks, see you later!" Valerie called as she flew out the door. She'd make it up to Amy later—right now, the Red Huntress was needed.

A red glow covered her body, electricity sparkling as she transformed from normal Valerie Gray to the significantly un-normal Red Huntress. Her hover board crackled into existence and she jumped on it, rising into the air, eyes searching the sky for whatever idiot ghost was around.

"Hey, Va—I mean, Red Huntress." Valerie spun around to see the famed "Danny Phantom", that arrogant, ever-present smirk on his face. She would've wondered what Va was supposed to mean if she cared what that idiot spook said in the first place.

"Phantom," she growled, seething. Him? Now? She didn't know, didn't care if ghosts slept. "Isn't it a little early to be wreaking havoc?" She could've swear she saw his shoulders slump, but it was probably just an act. A ploy to fool her into thinking he was all "innocent", but darn her if she would be fooled like all the others in Amity Park.

"But I'm not doing anything," he protested, hands flying into the air. "I was just flying. I didn't ask you to come up here and declare war on me—" A blast hit him in the arm, scalding the parts of his jumpsuit that it touched. Jumping a foot into the air, Phantom yelped. "Hey! What was that for?"

Valerie smirked. Blowing away the smoke from her shot, she snarled, "Drop the innocent act, ghost. I know exactly what you're doing. You'll act all defenseless and that crap, then you'll turn around and blast me in the back. You're just trying to get rid of me, the only person in Amity Park who can stop you from taking over—" Phantom interrupted, laughing.

"Yeah, that's right," he said, and she could practically see the sarcasm dripping off his tongue as she stood there, arms crossed over her chest. "I'm trying to get rid of you."

"Fine, act like it's all a great joke now," she replied, green eyes cold and narrowed. But I'll have the last laugh, she swore to herself. "But I know who you really are, Phantom."

The spook froze. "Y-you do?" Valerie tilted her head, confused for a moment. Was that ghost actually…frightened?

Well, he should be, the rational part of her said, and she dismissed her earlier thought. He was probably just mocking her. "Yeah, I do," she said, charging up her gun again. "You're just a ghost. A dirty, malevolent, stealing, lying ghost. And I might not know what you're plan is, but when you reveal your true nature to Amity Park," she paused for a moment, leveling her gun at his head for extra effect, "I'll be ready."

Phantom actually looked stunned. "Uh, look," he said, "I know what you think about me—believe me, I know—but I would never, ever—" He stopped for a minute, cocking his head, looking confused. "Is that a…ghost portal behind you?"

Valerie's neck whipped around so fast that for a second she was left hissing in pain, rubbing it. Then she took in the strange abnormality behind her—a circular shaped mass of swirling green energy. She reached out a hand to touch it, mesmerized by the swirls of green, the—

A white gloved hand grabbed her wrist before she could reach it. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea," he said quickly, guiding her hand away from it. Valerie just blinked before yanking her hand away stubbornly.

"Does that lead to that, uh, zone we went to before?" she asked hesitantly. Valerie remembered all too well their "adventure" back in the school year, when some weird metallic ghost hunter called "Skulker" had kidnapped and cuffed her and Phantom, trying to hunt them down in his universe like she was some sort of…animal. She shuddered at the thought of it.

"Yeah, it should," he answered, giving it odd looks. "But I don't know why there would be—"

Suddenly, a blue hand shot out of the portal, making Valerie utter a short, startled scream before charging into action like the ghost hunter she was. But it wasn't for her—the hand gripped on Phantom's, who looked just as terrified as she felt.

Before she or Phantom could move, the hand yanked a yelping Phantom into that—that place. Valerie froze in the air for a minute before yelling, "Phantom! I—you come back here! I'm not finished with you yet!" Furiously, she tried to peer through the portal, not seeing anything beyond the green haze.

"Where are y—" Valerie bit back a scream as she leaned too far, floundering before tumbling head over heels into the…"Ghost" Zone?

* * *

You know what normal kids do on Saturday mornings in the middle of summer?

Not fall into freak portals that lead into an alternate dimension.

Valerie groaned, holding her head as she got another wave of pain. Standing up on wobbly knees, she wondered, Where the heck am I now?

Glancing at her broken and ruined hover board, Valerie looked at the strange place she had fallen in the middle of. The portal had closed, so she might as well.

As far as she could tell, she was indeed in the Ghost Zone, probably in some strange ghost's lair. The whole place was a kind of metallic blue color, and it looked more like a tower than a lair. Valerie raised an eyebrow. The hunter ghost's lair looked nothing like this--his was a large island and this was--well, whatever it was. Bells and mechanical gears were hanging from the ceiling—some of the bells were chiming, and all the gears were turning. Some were creaking along, others were turning like normal, others so fast that Valerie thought they were going to be flung off.

And she could hear the ticking. The ticking coming from the hundreds of clocks hung on the walls, hands rotating in turn. The clocks didn't even say the same time! Shaking her head, Valerie looked at her own watch. At least she could count on her own gear.

Valerie stopped in her tracks. The time was frozen at 7:12 AM, the seconds part at 53. Valerie tapped the surface with her fingernail, frowning. That was…impossible. This was her own ghost hunting gear! It couldn't just freeze! I mean, it doesn't just run out of batteries…if it even has batteries…never really wondered how this stuff actually worked. Valerie stood dumbfounded.

Did that mean her other gear had stopped working as well? Valerie lifted up her arm, accessing the searcher and typing in Danny Phantom. She'd already plugged in his ecto signature, so it would be easy to find him.

Surprisingly, it worked, locating him just a few feet away. A purple curtain blocked her view, and Valerie crept toward it, locking her eyes on it.

Just as she reached out a hand to yank it outside, she yanked it back as she heard voices echoing behind it.

"W-what? What do you mean he's back?! I thought you said he was gone for good!" a panicked voice yelled…Phantom?

"I never actually said that." Now it was a different voice, much calmer. Valerie couldn't recognize it.

"How could you let him escape!" Instead of a question, this turned into another yell, and Valerie could almost feel the anger directed at this other, unknown figure. "What if he—"

"Relax, Danny," the other one interrupted, and Valerie wrinkled her nose. Obviously, these two ghosts—it had to be a ghost—were on swell terms with each other. "When did I say that is was your world that he escaped to?"

Valerie could hear the sharp intake of breath even where she was standing. "You…you mean he isn't in Amity Park?" Phantom laughed, and Valerie wondered—definitely not for the first time—if Phantom was all that sane. Of course he isn't, she reasoned, snorting. He's a ghost. When have they ever been? "Then where is he?"

"In his own world. Your alternate future. But—" The voice cut off, then said, "Someone's here. Quiet."

Valerie shook her head, snapping her mind out of that strange conversation. Grabbing the fabric of the curtain in her fist, she yanked it to the side. "You can't hide forever, Phan…" She trailed off. All she could see was an empty corner, and, well, more clocks.

Sighing, Valerie leaned against the wall. As much as she might hate to admit it, Phantom was kind of her best bet to getting out of here. This was the Ghost Zone, and he was a ghost. But with him nowhere to be found, it looked like this was up to her. As usual.

Trying to think of a way to fix her hover board, Valerie turned her head to a side. "Hey, what's this?" she mused, standing up straight and walking over to some necklace-type things hanging on hooks. Were they some weird type of medallions? There was a C intertwined with a W, she noticed. What was that supposed to mean?

Looking back over the clocks, she thought dryly, Well, it probably has something to do with clocks.

Honestly, it looked like some really high-tech ghost tech. Raising an eyebrow, Valerie lifted it off the hook. Huh. Maybe this could somehow plug into her hover board and fix it or something? She shrugged. Well, she had fought a technology ghost before. Who knew?

"You think this is a challenge? This is a joke!..."

Valerie jumped about a foot into the air, a small ecto-gun materializing into her hand as she dropped the medallion and looked for whatever had said that.

"How have you eluded me all this time? Hiding under rocks?..."

There it was again! Valerie clutched the handle. That same hollow, chilling laugh, and the spine-chilling voice that went along with it. Cautiously picking up the medallion and slinging it over her neck--finally, she'd have some ghost tech to experiment with--Valerie walked forward, toward where she could hear distant laughter and firing. And…were those flat-screen TVs?

"Weird," she acknowledged. She honestly doubted that ghosts had flat-screen TVs, but that was what it looked like, except in circular-shape. But it was what was on the screen that captivated her.

The ghost hunter froze at the sight of all the destruction. Crumbled buildings, ruined sidewalks, gray skies, rusting cars…it was a wasteland, one that looked like someone had dropped a bomb on it. That couldn't be her city. Not Amity Park. But she could see a broken and cracked sign saying FENTON WORKS laying in the middle of the rubble.

"No way," Valerie breathed, extending a hand to touch it, make sure it was real. But this couldn't be real. It had to be just some dirty ghost trick--she'd just seen Amity Park, the birds chirping and the little kids running and playing. She'd just been fighting Phantom--well, kind of--in the blue sky. Just an average day. It's completely safe, Valerie told herself, not wanting to see the horrors that this monitor was trying to show her.

Raising up her ecto-gun, Valerie cocked it toward the screen. Well, there was one sure way to make it go away for good. Slipping her finger over the trigger she pressed and--

"Clockwork! Come out and find me, you coward. Aren't you going to try to stuff me into that old thermos again?"

Valerie's hand jerked and the gun misfired, the energy ray ricocheting off the walls before dissolving into the air. Valerie just blinked as she stared at the ghost whose voice had lured her over to the screen. He seemed like the only being, living or otherwise, for miles. With a pasty white face and white flaming hair, complete with a white-and-black jumpsuit, he kind of reminded her of...

Then her eyes were drawn to that all too familiar symbol, a P inside of a D.

Danny Phantom.

"I knew it," Valerie whispered. "I knew it!" Her voice raised now, and Valerie glared hard at the figure. The mystery ghost talking to Phantom had said future. So this was Amity Park's future.

I knew we shouldn't have trusted him, Valerie thought, eyes locked on the figure who was laughing at his destruction. Who cared what the rest of that stupid conversation meant? Here was all the truth she needed to see, right here. She was right. Like she'd said, she was ready for anything he could throw at her. And if the future could be shown on these life-size crystal balls, well, who said it couldn't be changed? And she would change it.

Valerie had never understood why people hadn't looked passed the emerald eyes and cocky smile of the ghost boy to the evil that lurked just within. Not that she wanted to sound like some guy from Star Wars, of course. Valerie had seen the articles, the Amity Park news broadcasts, the magazines--she knew that right now, especially after the ghost invasion of Pariah Dark, everybody was calling Phantom a "hero". But ghosts didn't know the meaning of hero, or helping humans. And once Valerie told them of this, no one would be calling Danny Phantom a hero anymore.

Because as a ghost, Phantom was her enemy. Amity Park's enemy.

Valerie grinned. Phantom should be scared. Because she was Valerie Gray, Amity Park's Red Huntress, and now she had a mission. Well, actually, she had always had it, but now she had a her proof.

"Look out, Danny Phantom," Valerie said, like he might actually be listening, "'cause your future's about to change."

Stepping forward to touch the image screen, silently thanking fate for giving her this proof, Valerie stopped dead as she saw her hand not scrape the screen's surface, but go through it.

Giving a started yell, Valerie tried to yank her hand back, but all she felt was a fierce tug that nearly pulled her whole arm into it.

"I—this can't—let GO!" Valerie yelled, stopping the scream that was trying to push her way out of her throat. Desperately, Valerie cocked her gun again and fired, hoping that whatever was trying to pull her into this nightmare was getting it full in the face. The ray, a clear shot, just slipped through like her hand, though, and Valerie felt another vicious tug.

"HELP!" She doubted anyone who she actually wanted to hear her would hear. Not that she had much choice--the Ghost Zone was, as it label implied, probably full of ghosts who would rather tear her limb from limb then help her. Or they might just push her in. But she had to try. "Anyone? Come ON!"

Valerie's only reply was the endless ticking and haunting laughter in the distance.

One more tug, and Valerie's last clichéd, lamented thought she had as she slipped through and rushed toward very solid, real ground was:

I should have stayed in bed.

* * *

A figure made his way out of the shadows, a purple cloak drawn over his bluish face, hiding his red eyes and scar. His tower was now empty, the viewers clouded with grey mist. Looking at his Time Staff, Clockwork pushed a button and smiled.

"Everything is as it should be."

Thanks for reading the first chapter, and I hope you enjoyed. Any comments, praise, criticism, flames, etc.--please review! Any feedback is welcome. I'd especially like to hear if you have any ideas on if the characters were OOC or not, and if you think the story is running smoothly. Thanks again! :)