Chapter 1

Ember McLain was the paranormal princess of pop, and she was pissed. Yet another one of her attempts at musical domination was ruined by world-renowned goody two-shoes Danny Phantom when her supposed "backup" never bothered to show up. What's worse is the fact that after the hero boy saved the world from the Disasteroid, there was hardly a moment he wasn't being followed by cameras, news crews, and his stupid little "Phan club."

The result of this?

Every single second of her defeat was caught on video.

Every. Single. Second.

It wouldn't be so bad, if this were the first time that it had happened, but unfortunately, ever since the little dipstick had become world famous, he had defeated her far more times than she bothered to count.

To somehow make things even worse, every single time she was sucked up into his glorified soup-can, she knew the world was watching. Watching her, watching him, cheering him on while she was tossed to the wayside.

Needless to say, it felt unfair.

All she wanted was to have a little fun! Well, that and the entire world cheering her name. And even that didn't seem THAT unreasonable. It happens all the time! Any talentless hack could become the next big thing with a stroke of luck. The only difference between her and them was a lot of talent and a little supernatural influence.

She cries out in frustration, pulling out her guitar and doing a quick riff, sending a shockwave towards a distant, small, floating island.

The flying rock formation explodes, sending stone chunks scattering off into the green abyss. It didn't make her feel MUCH better, but she preferred this over just sulking.

Unfortunately, her destructive actions had gathered a bit of unwanted attention.

One of Walker's ghost cops floats over, baton in hand. She sees the goon approaching, And she lets out a heavily exaggerated sigh. "let this slide, and i'll give you my autograph." she says to the bright green spectre.

The ghost, after a moment's consideration, hands over his helmet. Ember summons a pen, and quickly jots down her name on the side. "there. Knock yourself out." she says, tossing the helmet back to the other ghost.

as the half-wit goon flies off, ember does the same, heading deeper into the endless, swirling green void. Soon enough, she reaches the area where the door to her realm, and those of many other spirits, floats idly, never really moving from its fixed position.

She looks at the door with a sigh. Each ghost had something to identify their realm, be it the large metal keypad-secured door to Technus's realm, or the huge physical manifestations of Walker's prison or Skulker's island. Hers was simple; a golden star with her name on it, like the living celebrities have.

She opens the door, floating inside and landing gently on the floor. She puts her guitar in its case, before walking over to the large couch and turning on the TV.

Her realm was nothing fancy; just like her door, she tried to keep it as true-to-life as an actual celebrities home. There was a kitchen she didn't need, a bedroom she didn't use, and all sorts of other things she had no purpose for. Whenever anyone would ask about it, she would just shrug and say something to the effect of "the humans have it, why shouldn't I?"

The real reason, however, made a bit more sense. She'd skin a person alive if they so much as suggested this, but deep down, she knows it's true.

She misses being alive.

But, she wasn't thinking about that now. Now, all she was thinking about was finding something to watch to get her mind off of her fight with Phantom.

She wouldn't admit it, but she was very thankful for Technus. Without him, her afterlife would be practically unbearable. Somehow, he had managed to smuggle all kinds of human tech into the ghost zone, including Televisions, Computers, space heaters- the ghost zone is VERY cold during its version of nighttime- and other useful things.

For whatever reason, the old former scientist considered the pop star a friend- likely through their mutual hatred of the ghost boy- and he gave her some of the stuff he managed to bring with him. Occasionally, he'd swing by with the newest models, often when she's not even home, taking back the old ones and replacing it with the newer version. What he did with the old ones, she didn't know, nor did she particularly care. She was just glad to have the stuff.

That said? There have been instances where she felt like sending her remote straight through the screen. Her most recent defeat was being shown on her favorite channel, and the video was… less than flattering.

There wasn't much that could make this afternoon worse.

"Hey sis! Hear ya got your butt kicked by Phantom- again."

It got worse.

She glances over at Youngblood, an irritated look on her face. "don't start." she warns.

"Aw, c'mon Em! It's not like it's the end of the world. Who knows? You might get him next time! Or the one after that. Or after that. Really, as long as you're in denial about your chances, there's ALWAYS hope!"

"Todd, just leave me alone." she growls, looking back at the TV.

Youngblood frowns, floating over to the couch and sitting down. "I told you I don't like to be called that." he says, his voice quiet.

Ember looks at her younger brother, and lets out a sigh. "Sorry. Just a little pissed about what happened." it was so hard for her sometimes, hard to remember that the kid sitting on the couch watching TV with her wasn't Todd McLain any more.

"it's alright Sis, I understand." he says, his voice starting to regain its typical cheery tone. "y'know, I don't get your beef with Phantom."

This catches her off-guard. "What was that?" she asks, looking over at her brother.

"I mean, yeah, I didn't really like him much either, at first. He was annoying as all-get-out, with his self-righteous hero Schtick-"

"That's exactly my problem with him!" Ember interrupts. "The stupid hero thing!"

"-BUT… he's actually pretty cool when you get to know him! I've talked to him a few times during his visits to this world. Just last week, he even brought me an ice-cream cone! You have no idea how much i've missed that stuff, Em."

Ember crosses her arms over her chest. "He's a goody two-shoes, Bro. That's what he does."

Youngblood looks at her, perplexed. "so…"

She raises her eyebrow, picking up the remote and starting to flip through the channels on the TV. "So what?"

"So what's the big deal? He's a "goody two-shoes", yeah, what's so bad about that? Just don't cause trouble in the human world, and he'll leave you alone! But from what I can tell, you go there JUST to cause trouble! And it's not like you don't KNOW that doing that gets phantom's attention, really, you kinda just make your own problems. I mean, it's almost like you want to get his att...en...tion… oh my god!"

As Youngblood starts laughing, ember gives him an annoyed look. "what? What's so funny?" She wasn't really listening to him ranting, but now she wanted to know what was making him laugh so hard.

"Y- you like Phantom!" he manages to choke out between fits of laughter.

"I do NOT!" ember says, throwing a pillow at her brother, who dodges it.

"Yes you do! You go to the human world and stir up trouble just so you can see him!"

"Shut up, ya little turd!" she says, laughing. She knew he was just messing with her, but she also knew he liked it when she just went along with it.

"Oh man! i've got like, a bazillion people to text about this!"

"A bazillion, huh? How've you got that many contacts when I'm the only one who will put up with your sorry butt?" she grins.

"Hey! You're a Butt, you Butt!" Youngblood counters.

The two go on like this for a little while, laughing and getting increasingly more ridiculous with their playful insults. Ember was enjoying herself, having finally found something to get that two-bit ghost hero danny phantom off of her mind.