Dinner had been… interesting. And informative. Okay, less informative. Jim knew Danny had been watching him as much as he had watched Danny. Especially after hearing the way their parents talked about them. Sure, the Fentons noticed more bruises and less lying than his mom did, but the general idea was the same. Both of them were refusing to talk to their parents and staying out late. At least Jim could say he'd managed to keep his academics on track… most of the time. Assignments tended to be a little harder to get done on time, but Jim managed.

"Hey," Danny said, poking his head through the door, "your mom said we could share your room tonight."

Jim suppressed a sigh and glanced over his shoulder at his distant cousin. "Why aren't you sleeping in the… RV?"

Danny laughed, an easy smile pulling at his lips. "My parents are taking the RV, and with the way my dad snores, I don't want to be anywhere near that. And Jazz already claimed the couch."

This time Jim did sigh as he turned back to his window and lifted the radio to his mouth. "Change of plans, Tobes. I'm staying in tonight. I've got family over."

The radio crackled slightly, and Toby's voice filled the room. "Family?" he said. "I thought it was just you and your mom."

"So did I," Jim responded. "Apparently we've got a few distant relatives that decided to visit."

"Hey, man," Danny said as he unrolled his sleeping bag and bedroll on the floor, "don't let me hold you back. Go. I won't tell anyone."

"Danny," Jim gave him a level look. "We both know you'll follow me if I leave. Whatever it is you get up to back in Amity Park, I don't want you involved in my messes."

Danny shrugged. "I'll stay here. It's not any of my business. Go have fun. Anyway, I want to keep my nose clean on this trip. I've at least got a chance this time."

Jim cocked his head to the side as he observed his cousin. Danny had sounded almost bitter, and Jim was certain he wasn't supposed to hear that last part. Maybe they were more alike than he had thought.

He glanced back out the window where he saw Toby watching him from across the cul-de-sac. He really should go. People needed him, but could he really count on Danny to stay out of this?

"I have your word you'll stay here? I'm not gonna see you out on the streets trying to figure out what I've gotten myself into?"

Danny smiled and gave him a thumbs up. "Go."

Jim turned back to Toby and lifted the radio again. "We're a go again. Danny's not gonna rat me out."

"Awesomesauce!" Toby cheered, doing a little dance that Jim could see through the windows. "Tell him we owe him a big one."

"Yeah, yeah," Jim said, rolling his eyes. "I'll see you there." Jim put down the radio and began packing up his bag, making sure he had everything he needed. Jim glanced over at Danny one last time as he slid the window open. "Really, Danny, stay here."

Danny glanced over at him and waved his hand dismissively. "I heard you. I'm not going anywhere."

Jim nodded and crawled through the window, closing it behind him before carefully crawling to the edge of the roof and climbing down the pillar to the porch and then grabbing his bike from where he'd stashed it outside the garage. He would have to move quickly if he wanted to catch up. He knew Toby would have gone ahead once he heard Jim was on his way.

Danny stared at the ceiling, wondering what Jim could have gotten into that would make him so paranoid about being followed, especially after what they heard at dinner. He knew Jim picked up on the similarities as much as he had. It was concerning. What if he was involved in some kind of gang? No, this wasn't the area for that. But that didn't mean it couldn't be illegal or dangerous.

Danny groaned and ran his hands down his face. With one last sigh he sat upright and pulled himself out of his sleeping bag. He had to go find him. He couldn't just sit back while his cousin got himself into trouble. He was all his mom had when it came down to it. Sure, she had the Fentons now, too, but they'd only just met. She hadn't seen his mom since they were teens themselves.

Danny moved to change out of his pajamas and into day clothes when he paused. Why was he going to change his clothes? He could just change forms and search that way. Heck, he could even search from the air invisibly. That way, Jim would never see him at all, and he was guaranteed not to see Danny Fenton. Danny smiled to himself and felt the cold wash over his body, almost enough to turn his blood to ice in his veins, before it, and the light that always came with it, faded slightly and left him as Danny Phantom. He felt gravity begin to lose its hold on him and his feet slowly lost contact with the floor. Danny slid from the visible spectrum and out of phase with the physical world as he passed through the wall and out into the sky. Danny became solid once more as he glanced around, trying to decide which way to go. Taking a guess, he went towards the concentration of street lights that he knew was downtown.

Danny flew for a long time, quickly adopting a grid pattern as he looked for anything that could lead him to his cousin. Finally, he found something at the edge of town. A massive figure made its way out of the forest. Danny hesitated. It definitely wasn't his cousin, not with those shoulders, that height, those muscles, and… those horns? Danny stayed invisible as he swooped lower for a closer look.

The figure was massive. Probably well over seven feet tall if he included the horns. He, and Danny was pretty sure it was a he, had spikes all along his back and running down parts of his arms. He didn't wear a shirt, but at least was wearing something to cover his lower half, but the lack of clothes gave Danny a clear look at the scars that marred his arms and chest. And the fact that it was actually arm and the other was replaced by a metal prosthetic. His nose was… large and flat with a nose ring and went from the center of his face to the middle of his nonexistent forehead. No, really, his brow went right up to the horns. He didn't have a forehead.

And his eyes were glowing blue. Which meant he was being possessed, but Danny's ghost sense hadn't gone off.

"I don't know who you are, or who he is, but you need to let him go," Danny said firmly as he floated back up above the creature.

He stopped and looked around. After a moment of looking, he snorted in frustration and spoke. "Show yourself, coward, and I shall introduce you to his fists," he said. It was far from the most creative threat Danny had ever heard, but it got the point across. But why hadn't he seen him? Oh, right.

Danny dropped back into the visible range. "Up here. And you're one to talk about cowardice, taking this body. I don't know how you're hiding your ectosignature from me, but that doesn't mean I'm going to go easy on you."

"Ha!" he laughed as he caught sight of Danny. "You will go easy on me? I am Gunmar the Black, Dark Underlord. I have fought in countless battles and taken countless lives. What's a little runt like you going to do to me?"

"Hey!" Danny sulked. "I haven't finished growing yet!"

"Let me rephrase then," his lips pulled up in a cruel smile. "What's a whelp like you going to do to me?"

Danny didn't know what to say to that, so he just fired and ectoblast at him instead. "I'm going to get you out of him one way or another," he said, dropping his altitude to fly at the creature. "Whose body have you taken anyway?"

Gunmar laughed as he allowed the ectoblast to strike the good arm, then grunted in pain. He snarled in anger and swung a fist at Danny. Danny dodged out of the way. "This," Gunmar said as Danny darted away again, "is the body of Draal the Deadly, Protector of Jim Lake, and Son of the former Trollhunter, Kanjigar."

Danny almost froze up. This thing protected his cousin? Guess he had an idea as to what his cousin got up to in his spare time then. Sort. Kinda. Not really. Okay, this told him pretty much nothing. Some delusional ghost with the ability to hide himself from Danny's ghost sense was interested in fighting his cousin and had taken the body of some… thing-person that protected Jim.

"Well, then," Danny yelled, lighting up a fist with ectoenergy again, "guess I'm just going to have to fight that much harder to get you out!"

This time Gunmar dodged the blast and let it go flying into the trees. "You're going to have to try harder than that. Nothing can break my hold over him!"

Danny rushed forward again, sliding out of the physical world as Gunmar reached out the grab him.

"Wha-!?" Gunmar yelled as Danny released his cold core and froze Draal's legs to the ground. "What are you!?" he continued. "What is this!?"

Danny floated back above him. "Good luck breaking that!" he called down. "Now, do you want to let him go peacefully, or do I need to come down there myself."

Gunmar laughed. The ice cracked and shattered. "That won't hold me. Now, answer me creature. What are you?"

Danny gulped. He didn't think he had the strength to go against this guy head on. He had to be smart about this. Too bad he was a C average student.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Both Gunmar and Danny froze and turned to face the battle cry coming from the trees. A group of people burst from the underbrush, screaming as they charged Gunmar. One was large, about as large as Draal, and grey and had small horns and green hair like stuff forming a mane around his head, chest and back. One was the kid from across the street, Toby, Jim had called him, with an orange glowing warhammer. Another was a thin human girl with short black hair, a multitude of barrettes, and some kind of staff with a pronged end. The last was Jim. He wore bright silvery armor that glowed faintly and carried a sword to match. The four quickly circled Gunmar and began striking, one after another.

Watching them fight, Danny was amazed. When he had set out to find his cousin, he had assumed the worst. Maybe he had Toby watching his back, but Danny had assumed he'd be alone and doing something undeniably stupid, but here he was, with allies beside him, doing exactly what Danny did on a regular basis. Protecting.

"Get him down!" Jim yelled. "We want to capture him, not kill him!"

"Ha! You will never win fighting like that Trollhunter. If I didn't want to kill you with my own two hands I would do it now. I'll have to settle for the other whelps."

"Leave them alone, Gunmar! And let Draal go!"

"You should have a grudge against all of us!" Toby yelled as he swung at Draal's legs.

"Yeah," the girl agreed as she launched over him, taking the prosthetic arm off, "we all played our part!"

"Trollhunters!" the large grey creature shouted in a deep rumbling voice. "Not Trollhunter!"

"That may be so, but I will take someone today. You have no hope of breaking my hold over him."

Danny broke out of his stupor and released a whoop as he dived towards Draal's body, phasing into it.

Hope you liked the first chapter, guys!

This fic will be updating every other Wednesday.

NoS