Hello all! This is my first fanfic, and I thought that I would open with a holiday fic. I know that there is a change in tense somewhere, but it's kind of hard to keep a flow with a constant present tense. I hope you enjoy, and have an extremely late Happy Fourth of July!

This may be continued on the Sixth, it's really late here. I saw the fireworks last night, they were awesome! There was a heart-shaped firework, but it was upside down. :P

*Line Break*

A spiraling point of light that explodes into a thousand multi-colored sparkles punctuates the night sky. Soon, the stars are outshone when more fireworks follow the first one.

Thus begins the 24th Annual Amity Park Fireworks Festival. Neighboring streets compete in a silent contest of who has the best and brightest display. Young children run about with sparklers, drawing words that last a split second before fading away. Adults keep a watchful eye on them, but most of the populations' attention is riveted on the flashing colors above.

Among the flashing lights in the sky, a figure flies intangibly.

Danny Phantom ducks and weaves around the incoming fireworks. He moves around some and lets others pass through him. Laughing silently, Danny moves in the air so that he has a metaphorical front-row seat to the spectacle around him.

Blue within red blooms to life. Golden sparkles rain down. Cannon-like booms temporarily ring through the air. Bright flashes blind the spectators.

Flash…Crack! A red pompom of light explodes right next to Danny and the sparks move through him.

'Whoa! Intangible or not, I'm a little too close.' Danny thought.

He becomes tangible and flies several dozen feet higher where he can watch up close without the fear of being startled out of the sky.

After about half an hour of watching, Danny hears a high-pitched fwee noise that comes from behind him. It sounds kind of like a charging…

'Eh, probably just one of those whistling firecrackers that are popular now…Oh! An orange one! Those are rare. Not like those red or white ones.' The halfa's thoughts drift as he watches the flashing colors beneath him.

A green light speeds towards him from below, but Danny pays it no attention. But instead of exploding, it continues towards him and hits him in the chest, effectively zapping him out of the sky with a flash and a bang.

*Line Break*

"Gahhhh!" Danny yelled and plummeted. He landed on his own rooftop, above FentonWorks.

"Urgh…oww…what hit me?" The halfa groaned and tried to stand, but was stopped as a boot landed on his chest. Danny's gaze traveled from the boot up to a red outfit he knew all too well.

*Line Break*

I looked at Phantom through the visor on my suit with hatred. It was bad enough that he even existed, that he ruined my life, but now he was spoiling national holidays! How dare he? Showing up on the Fourth of July with no malicious intent was absurd. Phantom obviously had some sort of evil plan, and it was up to me, the Red Huntress, to stop him.

The offending ghost was now trapped, held down under my boot. I recently obtained a new weapon that temporarily neutralizes a ghost's powers. That was the one I just used to knock him out of the air. He didn't even move out of the way! Oh, well. No phasing out of this one, Phantom!

Pulling out a gun, I pressed my foot harder against his chest as he looked around wildly.

"Alright, ghost. Fess up! What are you up to? What are you planning?" I growled, pressing the ecto-gun close to his face.

"I'm not doing anything wrong! Geez, Valerie, what's your problem?" Now Phantom looked annoyed.

"My problem? You're the one with a problem, ghost! Now tell me what you were doing up there before I blow you to ectoplasmic bits."

"Nothing! I swear! I was just watching the fireworks, not blowing anything up."

"I don't believe you."

"Didn't expect you to. Now, how about getting your foot off me…?" The ghost trailed off hopefully.

"Not a chance. By the way, how do you know my name? I don't remember giving away personal information to a thing like you."

"I know more than you think, Valerie. Like how your dad's job used to use guard dogs. And that one of those dogs came back, and by the way, that was not my dog, and ruined your life. I know that you hate your new lifestyle, and hate the fact that you lost all your friends. I also know that you dumped Danny Fenton to protect him. I know that you still like him." Phantom held my gaze as he said these things.

How does he know all this? Did he follow me? The only person who I told some of this to was…Danny…

"Were you…there for any of that? Besides the dog thing?" By now my boot had strayed off of him. Phantom slowly stood up.

"Yes, I was…but I wasn't stalking you or anything!" He tried to recover when he saw my eyes narrow dangerously.

"I'm not your enemy, Val. C'mon, let's stop this. None of what happened to you was my fault; I can tell you the truth if you finally decide to listen to me." His voice was soft.

The ghost sat down on the edge of the roof and motioned for me to join him. I moved closer and sat down out of his reach, just in case this was a trick.

Then, we talked as the fireworks splashed color in the night sky.

*Line Break*

Wow. I hate the ending, but I was rushed. We had 30 minutes to check out of a hotel, so I speed-typed. This could be continued, with Valerie and Danny's conversation. Should Danny be revealed or not? Will Valerie hate him for it? Will she forgive him later? The story may be influenced by your reviews, so if you have any ideas, please click that little button down there. :)