No one guessed? Oh well.

Okay, here are the answers:

The first chapter was based off Andreucles, the story of an escaped Roman slave, who pulled a thorn out of a lion's paw, and eventually got saved by the lion. The episode with the reference to that story was Infinite Realms, when Danny shot a thorn out of Frostbite's side.

Disclaimer: If I owned Danny Phantom, I wouldn't have a disclaimer on this story, would I?


The Stranger

Valerie rolled over underneath the fur blanket. She was tossing about in her sleep, as a result of a somewhat realistic nightmare.

She was running through the woods, glancing at her GPS every few seconds. "Come on, come on, you stupid thing! Just pick up a signal already, and tell me where I am!"

Valerie hated the next part of the dream. Out of nowhere, the wolf she'd saved, and the same wolf who had saved her, appeared. Its big, yellow eyes stared up at her, and she knew something was wrong.

"What is it?" she asked.

The wolf ran past her, and she looked to see what had scared it. She saw a dark shape, and jumped when it lumbered forward out of the shadows.

There was another wolf. This one had intense red eyes, and its snout was pulled back into a snarl. But the wolf was not the most frightening of newcomers for Valerie, but the being it carried on its back that had frightened her most of all. There was a boy riding on the wolf, clothed in all black.

Though the boy's features changed in every dream, she always knew who it was. "Fenton?" she gasped.

Fenton chuckled in a deep voice. "You should not have come here," he said.

"But I had to come," she said. "Don't you understand? You're putting everyone in danger! Don't any of you ghosts care about that?"

"I cared, before everything changed," he said. "I had a different, pathetic, outlook back then, because I didn't want to die. Why is it none of you humans look forward to being a ghost? Can't you see we are vastly superior to mortals?"

For a moment, a look of remorse came over his spectral features. It quickly changed to horror.

"I've got to. I've gotta change! I can't stay like this!" he cried. "I've got to change!"

"Fenton?" Valerie asked.

"No," Fenton finally decided. "I can't change. It's too late to save me, foolish girl. Can't you see I'm already dead? GET OUT OF MY FOREST, VALERIE!"

Fenton rose up, off the wolf's back. His aura grew brighter as he concentrated his ectoplasmic energy, and he rushed at her.

"Gah!" Valerie woke up, sweating underneath her blanket.

"Hello!" someone called. "Is anybody out here? Anybody at all?"

Valerie put on her night vision goggles and wrapped the fur blanket around her. She walked out into the night to investigate.

A teenage boy stood near the entrance to the cave. His clothes were in tatters, and his hair hung so low that nothing of above the tip of his nose was visible."Hey," he said to Valerie. He hung back, staying as concealed as he could, while still talking to her face.

"Hey," she said back. "Who are you?"

The boy shrugged. "Maybe I'm lost."

"What sort of an answer is that?" Valerie demanded.

"The type that's the best you're going to get from me tonight," he replied.

"No, seriously," said Valerie. "Who are you?"

"I'm just a kid, same as you."

"I can see that!" Valerie snapped. "I want to know who you are!"

The boy sighed. "You're very persistent, aren't you? Who am I? That depends on who's asking."

"You're not supposed to be here, are you?"

The boy grinned. "Neither are you, I'd imagine."

"Yeah, yeah. So who are you?"

"I could ask you the same question."

"Oh yeah? If you're out here, in the night, in the middle of winter, wearing those rags, you obviously need help. Maybe I won't help you until I know who you are!" Valerie threatened.

Laughing, the boy said, "I don't need any help." He held up a small purse with the first aid symbol on the front. "I saw you helping that wolf in the forest the other week, and you forgot this. I've been trying to track you down."

Valerie snatched her first aid kit, and grumbled. "Couldn't it wait until morning?"

The boy shook his head. "I've got to be out of here by sunrise."

"Oh," said Valerie, "thanks. But you still haven't told me who you are."

"I'm just a local kid," he replied. "Why does it matter to you, anyway?"

"There was a kid who disappeared around here."

"You mean Danny?" the boy asked.

"If by 'Danny', you mean 'Fenton', then yes."

"You're looking for Danny?" the boy asked sadly. "You must be a ghost hunter, then."

"What's it to you?"

"Nothing. It's just that all the ghost hunters around town do a lot of damage to buildings and stuff while they're hunting ghosts," he replied.

"Relax. I won't hunt in town." she promised.

"That's good," he said distantly.

"What's wrong?" Valerie asked. "Is there something about me that has you worried?"

"Uh, not exactly, no? I'm only upset because I'm an environmentalist?" the boy said quickly, sounding unsure. "I'm just worried about you harming the wildlife, destroying habitats and such."

The boy took a step back. "Listen," he said. "You're a very funny ghost hunter, as far as you not knowing very much about the ghost you're hunting . . . "

"So maybe I blew off reading the papers my boss gave me," Valerie said, annoyed. "I had them with me, but I ditched all my stuff when I crashed."

The boy nodded. "Yeah, that would explain it," he agreed. "You're a very amusing ghost hunter, but I've really got to go." The boy turned, and darted off into the forest.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Valerie called, starting to chase the boy. "You've gotta show me the way back to town!"

Valerie chased him, but the boy had managed to give her the slip. "Perfect," she groaned. "Just perfect. Not only am I not getting back to town, but I'm probably not getting back to the cave, either."

She looked up at the sky. "Sunrise," she said to herself, and removed her goggles. "The boy must've led me east, which means I've got to go west to get back to the cave."

Valerie turned around, and saw the wolf waiting for her. "How long have you been with me?" she asked. "I swear you weren't in the cave when that kid showed up."