Can ya'll hear me here? Listen closely cause I'm going tell you a story – sometimes we feel so broken hearted, in between, so make believe. So let's step up above the crowd, come on scream if you hear me – it may be hard to get this through to you, but you've got to stay true – stay true to yourself and your heart and maybe, just maybe…as this world falls apart…we be rollin' in faith…doesn't matter how you put it, God, yourself, others – catch up ladies & gents cause we about to rock it.

Disclaimer: Danny Phantom is owned by Butch Hartman & Nickelodeon Studios.

Authors: Raina Wolfe, Forward Motion Static, RH Factory, Diction Truth, Demon Dancers

This story bout to begin, but before we let loose, we gonna explain something my friends and it's time for you to choose – we all can be who we want to be, but there's plenty of room to stay free – welcome a plot you may or may not have seen before – the boy at the rock show's gonna kick start the open door, the sequel ya'll been waiting for – so bring on the reviews if you like or if you don't – cause we're hoping this new story's gonna rock ya boat!

Chapter One

Runaways

Sam blinked against the harsh sunlight filtering through Casper High's main office windows. The Foleys had taken her in so willingly, just like they had Danny, but school was not the idea she'd had in mind for big plans in the new town. Amity Park seemed to be full of secrets, good and bad, yet each one of them more delicious than the next.

"Danny…where are you?" she muttered, sliding down into the seat. The secretary peered at her over her glasses, but didn't say anything. She'd been here for more than a half an hour. Danny had left fifteen minutes ago to "use the restroom." Leaving her here all alone, to her thoughts.

And what thoughts they were. She constantly pondered indecisively about her new home, here in Amity Park and how different things were. Since her parents had kicked her out, she'd taken refuge with Danny and they'd runaway from Wisconsin together – away from her parents and away from Vlad Masters. And probably forever. Now she and Danny were staying with his old best friend's family. With one major thing missing. There was no best friend.

Just a sympathetic family feeling nice…Danny had been Tucker's only best friend before he'd come to stay in Wisconsin with the evil rich guy who had tried convincing him to remove his human emotions. Danny had almost fallen for the plan. He'd almost made that decision, but somehow, she'd managed to get him to stay with her. To forget the pain he felt.

Somehow she doubted that she'd truly made him forget. Every day they were here she saw the lingering wave of guilt displayed in his eyes. It must have been difficult, being in a place that only reminded him of what he'd lost. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make him believe that it wasn't his fault.

She hadn't been there, able to comfort him when his family and best friend had died in that explosion. But maybe in some sort of way, she'd helped him when he'd come to live in Wisconsin. Even that was unclear. It had been their idea to escape, to flee from the things that were tearing their lives apart, but they'd had nowhere to go and nothing to live on. After three days of eating at lousy fast-food restaurants, which she continued to despise, Danny had broken down and suggested they come here. Someone…somewhere could help them.

Which is why they were currently staying at the Foley house. After so many months of grieving, Mrs. Foley had welcomed Danny and a stranger into her own house to keep in until they could live on their own, a thought that was still alarming. The two fourteen year olds seemed to be reminders of her deceased son. However, Danny seemed too emotional and rarely stayed there, making it difficult for Sam to talk to him at all.

Then this day had come, when school was starting up again. She'd be a sophomore this year, along with Danny. Unfortunately, Casper High seemed like the only choice. So Mr. & Mrs. Foley had agreed to grant them the ability to continue their schooling until graduation. After that, even Sam didn't know what she wanted. It was too far away to think about just yet. She was just trying to get set for this year. And here she was, sitting in the office while the Foley adults talked to Principal Ishyama.

The walls were foreign to her, pale yellow and plastered with weird signs like, "Read, don't be an idiot." She'd actually laughed at that one. Still, the major problem was that many other kids were here and most of them were…well…preppy. The pink, yellow, red, and blue colors were a bit overwhelming. Black was rarely seen unless you counted the t-shirts beneath the jock jackets. She didn't.

Glancing at her watch once again, she realized Danny had been gone almost twenty minutes now. Perhaps she was new at this whole secret identity, superhero, ghost hunter thing, but she hoped he'd return soon. And in one piece.

She'd never seen a ghost. Not even since she'd been here, this whole week. Danny had told her not to be fooled. They were everywhere. Sure enough, while they'd been sitting here, his ghost sense had gone off and he'd stumbled out of the office with an excuse that he'd needed to go to the bathroom for the secretary.

Which meant she couldn't follow him. She wished he'd made up a different reason so that she could have possibly helped him. But she feared she wouldn't be much help actually. She had yet to see a ghost and was sure that she wouldn't freak out. Still quite honestly, she didn't know how she'd react. Everything right now was uncertain and she didn't like it. She didn't appreciate being left in the dark about secrets she was sure she might understand.

Sam jumped as the door to the principal's office opened and Ishyama, Mr. and Mrs. Foley stood there, smiling cheerfully.

Until they noticed that the seat next to her was empty.

"Where's Daniel?" Mrs. Foley asked, concern flooding her eyes almost instantly.

"He went to the restroom a few minutes…" The secretary, Miss Lynche, frowned as she finally noticed the time. She glanced at Sam. "He's been gone for a bit."

"Must be reminiscing," Principal Ishyama offered, looking tired. "Poor thing hasn't been home for so long. This must be hard on him. Especially without his sister…or…" She trailed off, glancing at the Foleys softly as both of them shifted uncomfortably, wearing grim expressions. "We'll find him, don't worry."

"Sam, would you like a tour?" Maurice Foley inquired, looking eager to change the subject.

"Sure." She'd rather not, but these people were so nice. She found herself relenting to do so many things that normally, she'd turn down. Her situation was so much different this time and she had to remind herself to remain grateful. To them, she was a stranger, their only connection to them through Danny. And if Danny hadn't come along, she didn't know where she'd be. She eased into a standing position and Mrs. Foley smiled at her. She returned the smile, feeling the unfamiliar muscles moving. It had been a while since she'd truly smiled. A long time.

They steered her out in the main hallway, full of pale yellow lockers. A few students were still poking through their new lockers. Registration always promised unluck for the next few weeks. She dreaded tomorrow already.

BOOM.

As soon as they turned the corner, Sam's eyes widened as the noise echoed around them very loudly. It sounded like something had crashed into the wall beside them.

"What on earth…?" Mrs. Foley muttered, her hand tightening on Sam's shoulder.

Principal Ishyama appeared to have taken a new persona on. She held her wrist near her mouth where what looked like a watch was attached. "Ghost alert. All systems on."

There was another loud noise, but this time it was a series of beeps. The lights dimmed slightly to be replaced with reddish ones, like an alarm system had been turned on. Sam gasped, looking around.

"Ghost alert?" she stammered.

"This town's full of ghosts and ecto-spirits. We had to take certain measures to protect our students. The Fentons installed a ghost-free security system before the accident. We never used it before because we had local ghost hunters, one of which was even a ghost that the kids used to look up to. But with the Fentons gone, suddenly Danny Phantom has disappeared. We're forced to have the system assist us."

Only Sam knew the truth. Danny Phantom had only gone missing because he was really Danny Fenton. There was at least one ghost hunter left – Valerie Gray. It must have gotten pretty hectic, trying to deal with all of the ghosts herself.

"So there is a ghost somewhere?" she said. A plan had formed in her mind at last. She tried her hardest to look afraid.

"Sam, why don't you go wait in the car?" Mrs. Foley said, glancing around warily. "Maybe it'll be safer there. We'll find Danny and get away for a while. Let this "system" do what it needs to."

"Actually, you're safer in here," the principle said, watchfully.

"Maybe I should find Danny," Sam suggested.

"No! There's no way you can go out on your own," the principal said.

"Is there a safe room she can go to? Maybe the other kids will be there so she won't be alone?" Mrs. Foley asked, her hand on her shoulder still.

"Yes, the gymnasium is safe," she replied. "It's just around the corner down that hallway."

"I can make it alone from here, I promise," Sam said. Before they could even argue, she jolted from her grip and started towards the hallway.

"Be careful Sam. Head straight to the gym!" Mr. Foley called.

He probably assumed that she was hiding, fretting the intruding ghost. They probably assumed that she was actually going to go right to the gym. Instead, she was headed to find Danny while hoping that she wouldn't run back into them trying to find him in the process.

She rushed past the gym, her natural speed kicking in as her legs pumped beneath her. Voices game form the large opening, only one door open against the double-set. She ran right past and into another hallway.

As soon as she turned the corner, she heard the noise like something had crashed into a locker. That thing happened to be Danny. He flew right into the locker hard, sliding to a slump on the floor.

"Danny!" she called.

He looked up and she came across a glimpse of green eyes before he gasped, jumping to his feet. "Sam, stay back!"

"What?" she asked, absolutely ready to protest. Had he just blown her off completely?

He leapt into the air and she followed his body as it flew into another figure she hadn't noticed before. His hands were glowing and a bolt of the energy formed a ball in his hands and jet towards the new stranger.

She literally had flaming blue hair and blue eyes. Her outfit rocked as well, black one-shouldered and tight, high heeled boots and black pants, two circles made from make-up beneath her eyes. A guitar was strapped around her neck.

"Haven't seen you in a while," she said, dodging the energy with a strum of her guitar.

"What, did you miss me?" he asked.

She laughed and Sam watched as she hit the strings of the guitar again, sending a wave of electric energy towards him. Danny faded slightly, but didn't completely dissppear. Sam knew he'd gone intangible after because it traveled right through him.

She had to do something besides stand there. Something caught the corner of her eye and she turned, spotting a soup thermos lying innocently on its side. A thermos? Must be from someone's lunch. They'd go hungry for a while…

She ran towards Danny, where he was now involved in a fight with the rocker girl. She swung the neck of the guitar towards him and he jumped, narrowly missing it. He swung out with his fist, catching her in the chin and she stumbled back in the air, her eyes glowing more vividly.

"You're going to pay for that," she muttered.

"I don't pay anyone. I don't really have any money," he came back. Sam almost laughed. Of all the places to play a game of quips…

She played a couple chords and then let out a battle cry, but at the same time, he zoomed forwards, catching her off guard as energy surrounded the instrument. A warping noise echoed around them as the guitar set off its power, but two of the strings snapped, curling around Danny's wrists and pulling them together like magnets. The sound of music echoed around them as a flash of light erupted from the source, sending them both away from each other again.

Ember recuperated faster, seeming to brush the music off easily. She let out a cry of despair, seeing her guitar like that and turned her furious eyes upon it. "How dare you! You'll regret this Phantom!" In a swirl of light she was gone.

Danny, however, ended up crashing into the ground a good twenty feet away and straight into the wall. A flash of light enveloped him and he soon became Danny Fenton again, black hair and blue eyes.

Sam dropped to her knees, rushing to him. "Danny, are you okay?"

He was glowing vividly, surrounded by a red and orange aura full of musical notes. His eyes shifted to red for a second, then returned to their original color.

"Ow…" he muttered, clutching his head with his hand.

"Who was that? What was that?" she demanded. "And why the hell did you tell me to back off?"

He cringed against her harsh words and she wished she could take them back. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm not used to people telling me what to do except my parents and well…that didn't work out so well obviously."

"It's fine…I'm fine," he said, rubbing the side of his head. "Must have been a delayed ectoplasmic energy ball."

"A…what?" she asked, hoping she didn't sound too stupid.

"Nevermind, I'll explain later," he muttered, sliding to a sitting position. His eyes rolled for a moment, trying to focus.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked.

After a second, he nodded, but she didn't believe him. She didn't think anyone normal would. But she let it go, taking his hand and helping him to his feet. He seemed unsteady for a second, but then regained his balance and could walk on his own.

She sighed. "Come on, let's get out of here and go…"

What would she say? Home? Surely not. It wasn't her home and it wasn't his. She instead rerouted the conversation. "A lot of things are going to change Danny, but you're definitely going to have to fill me on some ghost stuff. I don't want to be a sitting duck."

"I just don't want you hurt," he said.

"And if you train me right, I won't be."

He didn't say anything, glancing around with reminisce. She knew that look. He didn't want to be here. Neither did she. She'd hated school to begin with and now she'd have to go back, start all over. At least he was in familiar territory. Starting tomorrow, she'd have to be an official student of Casper High. She wasn't sure who had it worse here.

All she knew was that things were definitely change come tomorrow.

Andy Bridgemen RH Factory –

You like how I rock it, do you like whatcha see? Emails…or reviews…whatever they be! Can you feel me? I hand this story off to JD! (P.S. Do you know how difficult it is to spell Ishyama? I spelt it like 10 different ways before Raina corrected me. She helped a lot with this actually, but she's the fangirl so who cares? She helped me with the beginning and then had to go to work so I finished it.)