Jazz awoke the next morning to a commotion down stairs. She leapt from bed and rushed through the hallway and down the stairs. A quick glance around the room revealed the basement door to be wide open.
"I'm telling you Maddie, ghosts came through the portal last night and wrecked up the place!" a masculine voice echoed through the basement.
"Now Jack, nothing was stolen," Maddie said in a calm tone.
"What do you think son? Anyone you know?" Jack asked with determination.
"No one I know would have trashed the place and left without a fight," Danny said in mild confusion.
Jazz winced as she approached the basement door. She had forgotten to clean up Ember's mess and her parents were sure to figure it out.
"Wait…" Jack started, "Where were the local street punks last night?"
Jazz paused in shock. Her father would blame ghosts for a rain delay at a baseball game.
"Jack honey, what makes you think it was punks?" Maddie asked with mild curiosity.
"Danny's right, no ghost would wreck up the place without fighting the great Jack Fenton!" Jack exclaimed with a deep sense of pride.
Jazz released a sigh of relief, "Of course," she said as she made her journey down the stairs, "Oh no, what happened?" she asked feigning as much shock as her body could muster.
The trio looked up from their investigation to acknowledge the redhead's presence.
Jack rushed to his daughter and pulled her into a hug, "Don't look Jazzy-Pants!" he exclaimed shielding her eyes, "It's just too depressing! They even took my emergency cheese!"
Jazz gave him an awkward pat on the back to console him.
"Come on Jack, I'll make you some Fenton Flapjacks," Maddie said pulling her husband up the stairs.
"With sprinkles?" Jack asked as they walked up the stairs.
"Of course dear," Maddie said as the walked from view.
Jazz looked at her younger brother as he moved to the Ghost Portal control panel. Her eyes went wide as she noticed the massive dent and mass of wires protruding from the panel.
"Who did that?" she asked meekly.
Danny shrugged, "I don't know…" he said running his hand over the panel.
Jazz sighed yet again in relief but the relief was replaced by a deep feeling of suspicion. 'Ember was a powerful ghost, what could make her so scared that she would cut herself off from her home?' she thought to herself.
Danny sighed in defeat, "I never thought I'd say this but we'd better get ready for school," he said walking past his sister and up the stairs.
Jazz took one last glance at the panel before following her brother up the stairs.
-Meanwhile across town-
In the warehouse district of Amity Park, one could simply disappear into one of the abandoned warehouses. This fact was known by every vagrant, hood and ghost in the city.
Two hoods stood outside of one particular warehouse, staring into the open door but refusing to move closer.
"So, I'm knee deep in a pile of money when I get a call from Jimmy Two-Toes…" a man in a baggy hoodie said approaching the two hoods, "He says that Larry and Steve were removed from my warehouse… Now Jimmy Two-Toes is a speed-freak but his Intel is always good…" he glared at the two hoods, "Why aren't you guarding my stash?"
The two hoods looked at each other until one pushed the other forward.
"Well you see boss…" Larry started, "We uh… got evicted by a ghost…"
The Boss stood there in disbelief. He looked at his boys and pulled a handgun from under his hoodie, "There ain't no more ghosts in Amity Park, the Ghost-kid made a truce with them after he saved the world," he said walking into the warehouse.
The hoods shrugged and pulled out their handguns as well. The Boss walked through the warehouse, his boys flanking him on either side.
"Leave!" exclaimed a feminine voice.
"Show yourself bitch!" the Boss called out aiming his handgun forward.
"Bitch?" the voice questioned, "I'll show you bitch," a wave of sound flowed through the warehouse knocking the thugs into the far wall.
A porcelain skinned woman emerged from the shadows, hair a mess of blue flames.
"Smoke her!" the Boss said as he and his boys emptied their clips into the ghost-girl.
The bullets passed harmlessly through the ghost-girl, her eyes turning red in a fiery rage, "Leave before I eat your souls!" she exclaimed, her hair erupting into an inferno.
It was at that precise moment that the thugs decided to cut their losses, turn tail and run for daylight.
Ember watched as the men ran then flew up to the rafters of the building. She lay on a rafter and began attentively rubbing her now bandaged thigh. She shuddered at the thought of kindness that a human girl is capable of. It was almost as if that moment drilled to her very core as a person.
-Several hours later-
Ember drifted through the back alley's of Amity Park with her guitar on her back. She had abandoned her new home in favor of keeping a low profile. She had spent the last few hours wondering aimlessly around the city until a familiar neon sign came into view.
"Crap…" she muttered under her breath.
She turned to float away but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She looked back at the building and furrowed her brow. And then… as if by a sign from some deity she hadn't taken in vain, Danny Phantom flew out from the Emergency Ops Center and out into the heart of the city.
"Well that settles it then," she said flying up towards the building.
She flew up the side of the building and peered in through the first window she came across. She immediately turned her head in horror.
"They seriously need to work out," she said moving to the next window.
The window she floated to next yield the results she was looking for. She saw Jasmine Fenton sitting at her desk. Several books were open to various pages as she scribbled furiously into her notebook.
Ember phased through the window and hovered over the redhead, to take a look at the notebook.
"I'm flattered, Babypop."