"What the hell was that?!" Tucker asked Danny.

I looked over at him. "What was what?"

"You were all over Samantha, Danny! She's bad news!"

I sighed. "I know. It's just that there's something that draws me to her. She's the prettiest girl I know; prettier than Paullina!"

Tucker gasped. "Don't let anyone hear you say that!" he looked around wildly to make sure they were alone. He lowered his voice. "Dude, we're already nobodies, but we'll end up worse if you insult Paullina."

I frowned. "I can handle Paullina. But did you see that new ghost?!" I unlocked the door to my house, stepping in, Tucker following behind me. I walked down to the lab, pulling the Ecto Finder off my wrist. I plugged it into my computer, pulling up the images from the watch-like device. I ran them through the detection services, trying to find any pattern to her attacks, finding none.

"I don't get it, Tuck. All the ghosts disappear, and then this new one comes out of nowhere and tries to kill me." I frowned at the screen, where the image of Azure was. The ghost's long white hair fell over her shoulders, and her black-and-purple jumpsuit accentuated the curves of her body. If this ghost wasn't such a threat, she'd be very pretty.

"You know, she kind of looks like you, in a way." Tucker said, standing beside me looking at the screen.

"You're right, actually." I cocked my head to the side. "There's got to be some sort of explanation. It's not like we're related or anything, right...?"

Tucker frowned. "I don't know, dude. But there's nothing we can do, obsessing over a dead girl."

I shook my head. I looked up at Tucker. "Doom?" I smiled evilly.

"Doom." He repeats with the same evil smile. "You're going down."

After a few games of Doom, I was forced to admit that Tucker was better at the game than I was. He probably would always be – while I was out fighting ghosts, he was home playing Doom.

"Danny!" My mother's voice sounded form downstairs. "Tucker!"

"What?" I yelled back at her.

"Time for dinner!"

I put the game controller back on top of the console. "Coming!" I looked to Tucker. "Dying of starvation yet, Tuck?" I asked, teasing the African-American boy.

"I'm dead already!" he says, glancing at his watch. "I missed my 4 o'clock feeding, my 4:05 feeding, and now my 4:15 feeding! Tell my PDA I love her!"

I shook my head, laughing at him. "No need for being dramatic, Tuck! You will live to marry your PDA another day."

I stood up, stretching my back. Tucker got up, following me down the stairs. I walked into the kitchen, stopping so suddenly that Tucker slammed into my black.

Vlad Masters was sitting at the dining table.

I glared at Vlad, my dislike for the man pushing aside every other feeling. If my parents weren't in the room, I'd blast the smug grin off of his face. "Danny, what has gotten into you?" Mom called, seeing the expression written on my face.

"Nothing, Mom." My voice was cold. I took a seat as far as I could get from Vlad, sitting beside my father. Tucker sat beside me, saying nothing for once. You could cut through the air with a knife from how bad the tension was.

"So, uh, Vladdie.." Dad spoke up. "What brings you to Amity Park?"

"I had some business to discuss with Daniel." Vlad looked at me, his cold blue eyes baring into my own. "It simply could not wait. You see, I'm expanding my business empire, and I wanted to see if Daniel would like a job."

"Ooh! A job! How about that, Danny?" Mom squealed, hugging my shoulders.

"You're growing up so fast." Dad says, wiping a tear from the corners of his eyes.

"Wait, wait wait." I pounded my hands on the table, shocking everyone into silence. "How do I know you're not two timing me?" My words turned icier with every word, the air in the room growing colder.

"Daniel!" Vlad's word was laced with warning. "I would never do such a thing."

I was going to hit him. Had he forgotten all the times that he had tried to kill me? Tried to make me bow down to his wishes, and join him? I was never going to join him! NEVER.

The air turned colder until ice started to form on the walls. "What's going on with the heat?" Mom says, shivering. "It's like a freezer in here!"

I stood up, unable to take staring at him any longer. "No. Any job of yours that you offer me can go up your ass."

"Danny!" Mom shrieked. "Language! We talked about this."

I walked out the kitchen without another word, not noticing my mother following me. I walked into the living room, morphing into Phantom as soon as I got far enough away from the kitchen. I turned intangible, floating through the front door as fast as I could.

Meanwhile, Maddie Fenton, was staring at her son with horror. She had watched him storm out of the kitchen, utterly confused to why he had acted that way, when suddenly a bright flash of light had blinded her. She watched as Danny, her son, turned into her worst nightmare. Phantom. The cocky, know it all ghost she had been hunting for four years. Her gasp, barely audible, escaped her lips. How could she have not seen the similarities? What kind of mother was she?

Maddie walked back into the kitchen, met with confused – and in Vlad's case, smug – looks. She decided to keep quiet about what she saw. "Danny just stormed out through the front door! And what about the heat? That was strange."

She went back to the stove, serving up four servings of the lasagna she had made. She herself, didn't feel very hungry, not after what she had just seen, but she didn't want the others to worry for her.

"Daniel is going through a hard time in his life right now, he's probably just under a lot of stress," Vlad says smoothly.

"I sure hope so. I never noticed how freaky-deaky Danny-boy could be when upset!" Jack says, taking a huge bite of the lasagna on his plate.

Maddie picked at her plate. Unknown to her, Vlad had heard everything. Being a ghost, he could hear a lot better than humans could. Vlad's smug grin grew, but he hid it well. "Well, maybe just tell Daniel I meant him no harm, hmm?"

Maddie looked up at him. "Alright. Although, I still don't know why he acted that way." But I had some idea, she thought. Vlad had always given her the creeps, from him continually flirting with her, or trying to make her and Danny give up Jack and take him instead. It was just unnatural.

Maddie got up, clearing everyone's plate. "Umm, Mrs. F, can I be excused?" Tucker said, looking up at her. She smiled warmly. "Of course, Tucker. Go and find Danny I'm sure he can use a friend right now."

Tucker grabbed his bag and walked out the front door.

Several hours later, Tucker had found no sign of Danny. He had begun to grow worried, that a ghost had caught him, or he'd been hurt, or worse. Getting an idea, he pulled up the sleeve to his jacket. He pressed some buttons on his Ecto Finder. It was keyed into Danny's Ecto Signature, and it would lead him straight to him. The watch-like device beeped steadily, but faintly, showing he was far away. Tucker got into his car, following the signal.

Twenty minutes later, very far outside Amity Park, he stopped. His Ecto Finder said that Danny was not too far from here, but he didn't see anything. He got out of his car, the chilly atmosphere getting to him. Danny was definitely here, alright, but where?

He walked into the field, following the location until he came to a tree. He looked up. "Dude, are you up there?"

Danny visualized. "Yeah, I just needed some time to think."

"Look man, I know what Vlad's done to you. But you could've blown your secret, in front of your parents, tonight. "

"Tucker, he looked so smug. Like he knew something I didn't. What if he knows about all the strange things happening lately? About the ghosts disappearing? About Mikey's … death?"

He sighed. Mikey Robinson was a student at Casper high, who this summer, got caught in the middle of a ghost battle. Nobody knows how Mikey really died – Danny hadn't arrived in time. All we had found was Mikey's glasses, blood and some hair. Nobody's seen him since. Tucker knew that Danny felt guilty about it. He didn't blame Danny for it; accidents happen.

"Danny, you can't keep blaming yourself for what happened to Mikey. It was the ghosts that killed him." He put his hand on Danny's shoulder as Danny flew lower to see him.

"…I don't think he's dead, Tuck. I feel like he's still here, somewhere." Danny sighed. "I can't explain it. It's just like he's vanished… like all the other ghosts."

"Hey, didn't he disappear around the same time the ghosts did?" Tucker pulled out his PDA. "July sixteenth. Mikey's 'death'. And then today's date, September fifth." The African-american boy looked up at Danny. "Please tell me it's a coincidence."

"It's no coincidence."

Danny turned around. Vlad Plasmious, his arch-enemy was standing behind him. "What do you want, Vlad?" Danny snarled.

"Questions, questions." Vlad shook off the question. "I have a proposition for you, little badger. After your rash escape, I never got to ask you."

"I repeat: What do you want, Vlad?" Danny scowled. "I don't like the runarounds."

"Join me."

Danny threw back his head and laughed. "As if! I would rather DIE than join you!"

Vlad smirked. "That can be arranged. Azure, take care of him, please." Vlad vanished with a puff of red smoke.

Azure visualized. Why had Danny's ghost sense not gone off? Hadn't it the other day, when he had saw her the first time? "Danny Phantom." She looked at the currently-human Danny. "We have unfinished business."

Danny stepped in front of Tucker, in a protective stance. "Get out of here!" Danny whispered urgently.

"She'll kill you!" he whispered back. "I can't leave you by yourself."

"GO!"

Tucker turned, hesitating before running off. Danny waited until the hum of his car faded away completely. "You work for Plasmius?" I asked.

"Why wouldn't I work for the Ghost King?" She smiled. "He is my very reason for my esitance; and I will work for him with every breath in my body."

"Ghosts don't breathe." I pointed out.

I wasn't sure of what to make of the girl. She sounded so human, yet.. she wasn't. "Don't do this. I don't want to fight you."

Azure smiled. "But I do." Her hands lit up green. She fired ecto blast after ecto blast at Danny. Danny eventually fired back, looking for weak spots in her attack. He saw his chance, shooting ice at her feet. The weight of the ice pulled her down.

Danny took a look at the girl with pity. He flew off some distance, before making a portal. He had developed his powers to the point to where he could create portals at will. It made things simpler for him. He dove through the portal, closing it behind him. He phased through his window of his bedroom, landing on his bed.

"So," His mother, Maddie spoke. "When were you going to tell me you were a ghost?"