Skulker had to pick today to hunt down these two.
Well, more so, tonight.
Valerie wanted to head home tonight to just relax and spend her time off.
Instead, she has gotten herself wrangled in with not only Phantom, but with the hunter ghost, Skulker.
Two ghosts in one night, how fun.
The huntress was only hoping to deal with Phantom, but he just had to bring along Skulker in the mix.
As the two were flying away from multiple darts shooting straight for their direction, Valerie had a furious look on her face.
"I'm blaming you for this."
The halfa dodged a few stringent from his side, looking over at the huntress.
"Hey! I didn't know Skulker was going to come by!"
How they interact had changed from the past; the not-so-subtle hatred Valerie held for the ghost boy had simmered away over time.
It wasn't fun to hold on grudges for so long.
Phantom fully turned around, shooting towards the other ghost with concentrated energy blasts.
"You should pay your attention to my blow darts rather than me, whelp. It's the only suggestion I can give for you..."
Skulker cackled, dodging his ectoblasts left to right.
His armored gear opened once more to unleashed another swarm of blow darts.
Valerie rolled her eyes as the two sent out banter here and there and swivels her hover-board around.
"Yeah? And you should pay attention to me!"
One press of her foot and her hover-board took command and launched out ammo and energy beams of her own.
Skulker didn't realize her input of banter before it was too late; getting hit with purple energy beams that shot him down.
Below them, his metal suit cracked open, revealing a tiny, angry green blob.
Phantom took this time to trap Skulker inside the Fenton Thermos, capping it tight.
"Alright we did it!"
"We?"
The halfa turned around to face her, only for some reason it was if he was...swaying in place?
"Uhh yeah we! We did it like a team y'know? Team...team effort!"
Why the hell was Phantom starting to slur a bit?
Valerie furrowed her brows, only to notice something sticking out from his side.
"Phantom, turn around for a second will you?"
Phantom didn't argue, slowly turning around to face his back at her.
"Hey can ya like...scratch right there for me? Somethin's bugging me there it itches..."
Well she found out the cause of it.
A lone, blow dart was sticking out from his back, prodding out casually.
"Did ya get it?"
The huntress recalled what Skulker had warned about these blow darts. The last ones they went through had a paralysis poison.
However, it looks like these had a different effect.
"Alright turn back around."
"Wha-"
"Turn around."
Phantom did as he was told, immediately turning back to face her, confusion clear on his face.
"Stay still."
Before giving him another warning, Valerie reached out to pull him closer, seeing him give a delayed flinch.
His eyes happened to widen from the motion, which gave the huntress a perfect view of them.
Pupils were dilated like crazy, making the bright green irises seem like thin circles. There was even more green clouding the scleras, as if acting like vein branches.
This confirmed it; the darts are a hallucinatory.
"Was wrong?"
"Okay, don't freak out, but the poison in the darts...basically got you high."
Phantom blinked slowly, only to look down at his hands, then back at Valerie.
"...What?"
Oh boy.
Valerie sighed, letting go of the halfa, seeing him struggle to keep balance in the air.
"The darts have some sort of hallucinogenic in them, but I guess it's for ghosts so...you're high and I think it's getting worse."
The halfa tried flying over towards her, only missing and floating over to a wall.
"Hold up...when did this get 'ere?"
The huntress groaned, watching the halfa float around endlessly, along with hitting himself against a few poles.
As hilarious as this was, it was starting to get tiring.
"Okay, that's it."
Valerie went over, grabbing at Phantom's ghost tail and dragged him up, moving her hoverboard to fly over towards a random building roof.
Meanwhile, Phantom didn't bother to protest or even struggle from her grasp. He was simply allowing it to happen, but snapping his head up from the landing.
"Where are we?"
"We're on the roof."
"...Oh."
He sighed a bit, now relaxing and resting on the rooftop slightly. Valerie was still holding onto his ghost tail, looking over at the halfa.
He's beyond sober by now, and she reached over to pull out the dart from his lower back.
"Did I ever tell you...when you're without your suit...you're like...really pretty?"
Here comes the slurring, but the statement gave a small surprise to the huntress.
It made Valerie think: Should I be offended by that or...wait...he's seen me without my suit?
"Like...you're so sweet...but then like, you try to kill me....just why?"
Phantom whispered the last part, but in all he said, he sounded a bit...sad.
The huntress didn't know if this was the dart's poison making him spew out nonsense, or this is how he really feels.
Or both.
"I'm not trying to kill you...I just want answers."
"Then I can give em to you!"
The halfa lifted his head, until reaching for a hand to hold it up.
"Swear on it!"
"Listen, Phantom, as great as that sounds, I rather ask for answers when you're sober," Valerie started, letting go of his ghost tail and watching it plop down.
"I think I should just...come back another time when you regain yourself."
"N-No Valerie, dun...don't go."
Phantom slurred, moving slightly from his spot only to crawl slightly.
"What d'you wanna know? I can tell you anything..."
From his position, it looks like the hallucinogen was getting worse and worse in his system.
As much as the huntress wanted to learn more, at his current state, it would be pointless.
She could always try to see what sort of ghost concoction Skulker brewed up to make a ghost go through such a haze, but then again, the dart is still in her hand.
Maybe it's best to just see how long this lasts?
"Okay Phantom, I'll ask you some questions."
Phantom seemed to have brightened up a bit, still lying on the rooftop.
Valerie knelt down to where he was, preparing her first question.
"Okay...where is the Ghost Zone?"
"In a portal..."
"Which portal?"
"The portal."
Just as she predicted, this was going no where.
"That's not helping me on anything!" Valerie groaned.
"M'sorry..."
Phantom lowered his head on his hands, now his eyes becoming half lidded.
Another sigh came from Valerie, and she waved it off.
It would be great to get all these answers, but this would take the entire night.
There was always this one last resort.
"Okay Phantom, tell you what. You're coming back with me."
"...What."
What, is right.
She sighed again, trying to think out on her plan.
One option was to just leave him here and come back tomorrow, but there was a huge chance Phantom might disappear the next day.
Another one was just to keep him under watch until the effects wore off.
"Val...?"
She looked down, seeing the halfa struggle to even sit up now.
Guess its the second option.
"Alright, come on."
"Where're we goin?"
"Just hold on, will you?"
It's funny, carrying a high ghost in bridal style is something she'd never see herself do, but here she is, lifting the halfa with ease.
"Woah, yer strong-"
A part of her used to hate this ghost kid to the core, but after a few years of chasing over old grudges, maybe not so much.
"Val, can I sleep now?"
Phantom asked, now in a dreary state and eyes unfocused.
The huntress sighed, reaching to their destination, entering her empty home.
"I didn't know ghosts needed sleep, so I-"
The halfa was already asleep, riding out the effects of the dart on his own now.
After a few minutes of getting herself together, Valerie sets Phantom on the little couch in her room, and she sat down on her bed.
Now she waits, hopefully the effects will be long gone once Phantom woke up.
However, a couple of hours went by, and Valerie looked back at the halfa, until she saw white rings wash over him.
They replaced Phantom with the familiar, black haired boy known as Danny Fenton.
Now she really needed some answers.