Chapter 2
[Amity park, roughly an hour ago]
Danny was sitting in class when his ghost sense went off. he stood up, and looked over at his teacher.
Mr. Lancer stops his lecture briefly, giving the young superhero a smile. "No need to ask, Daniel. Go ahead."
"Thanks, Mister Lancer!" Danny says, before holding both arms over his head and letting out his signature battlecry. "I'm going ghost!"
His classmates let out a cheer as two glowing white rings of energy form around his waist, one moving up his body, and the other moving down. In a flash, the young teen has transformed, leaving behind Danny Phantom, saviour of the earth. He flies up, phasing harmlessly through the ceiling of the classroom.
Mr. Lancer, meanwhile, looks back at his students, who had started to calm down, but were still talking amongst themselves about the possibilities, who he was fighting, mostly. "Now now students, just because there's a ghost attack doesn't mean class has ended."
Surveying the disappointed faces of the students, and listening to their groans, the bald teacher smirks. "That said? My bet's on Ember Mclain."
-across town-
As it turns out, he was correct- a large crowd had gathered around a truck that had appeared in the park overnight. An image of the ghostly punk-rock girl's face was on the side, her name written in fiery lettering. Suddenly, an almost hypnotically beautiful female voice calls out to the crowd.
"AMITY PARK! TELL ME… WHO! YOU! LOVE!"
Suddenly, ember jumps up through the roof of her truck, guitar in hand and a wide grin across her face. Without a moment's hesitation, she began playing her signature song- "Remember."
The crowd begins cheering, and ember grins. Her confidence doesn't last long, however, as she realizes something. If the cheers were for her, why wasn't she feeling their energy? Something was off. She stops playing, looking down at the crowd. "Hey! what are you bozos cheering for?" she asks, realising that the crowd has its back towards her.
Suddenly, a beam of green energy strikes her square in the chest, knocking her onto her back. She coughs, pushing herself up. "what the hell…?" she asks, looking up. "Oh, great." she says with a groan.
Danny Phantom was hovering a few feet above her, a smug grin on his face. "What's wrong, Ember? Don't like that another celebrity is at your little concert?" he taunts.
Ember growls, looking up at the ghost boy. She regains her composure quickly, flying up into the air to be at his level. "You'd be pretty peeved if YOU saw some lame-o trying to crash your party, wouldn't you dipstick?" she retorts, strumming her guitar, challenging the ghost boy with a look that practically shouted "Make a move."
And then?
They fought.
Sonic waves and ecto beams clash, a wall of flame is expertly dodged by Phantom, an icy projectile is melted by Ember's hair, and all the while, news crews are below, filming everything.
Suddenly, Danny notices something about his rival's combat; she seems far more defensive than usual. Obviously, she was a smart girl. She knew how to keep herself safe in a fight, blending defensive and offensive techniques like a dance between the two; but this time? It was almost like she was trying to stall the hero.
Danny narrows his eyes slightly, deciding to up the ante on his foe.
Meanwhile, Ember's power is starting to falter under Danny's barrage of attacks. Over the three years that he'd had these powers, he'd become far stronger. Normally, Ember was able to hold her own rather well, but that was when she had a massive crowd cheering her on, and at the current moment in time, they were all cheering for their precious "town hero."
Ember shuts her eyes, gritting her teeth as she struggles to maintain the ectoplasmic shield around her. "C'mon Skulker…" she mutters, annoyed.
But there's no sign of the metal-clad hunter.
The pop star lets out a frustrated cry, jumping to the side just in time to avoid being hit by the beam that shattered her ecto-shield.
Danny grins, floating down towards the ghost lying on the ground, his arms crossed over his chest as he floats a little bit over her. "Well, Ember, I gotta say, you're not nearly as tough without a crowd cheering for you. Guess a fair fight between us isn't all too fair, eh?"
She glares at the ghost boy, making a hand gesture that the newscasters knew would be edited out as Danny pulls out his Fenton Thermos and sucks the ghost girl inside. He'd return her to the ghost zone, go back to school, and the status-quo would resume, as it always had, and inevitably always will.
