Chapter three is here! I'm really pleased with the response I've been getting to this story, so hopefully you'll continue to enjoy it. I'll try and get the next chapter done ASAP, and as always, please review! To sciencefreak330 and DPcrazy, thanks for your reviews, they're much appreciated!

Here's where I left you last time:

'Danny.' She said, face unreadable. 'How did you fight Skulker yesterday when I know you were doing a test?' she asked, holding up a newspaper. Danny's heart leapt to his mouth and Antoinette looked sick. And then, to their intense relief, the bell rang.

'Gottagobyesamseeyoulater!' he called back, and disappeared faster than you could say 'Ghost!'.

CHAPTER THREE: Fights

'Danny, explain. Now.' Sam said, arms crossed, while Tucker held up a newspaper article. 'Have you split yourself again? You know how that turned out! What were you-' Danny raised a hand. 'I haven't split myself again, Sam. I just... uh... well, it's kind of a long story, but it starts with Antoinette.' He rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. He took a deep breath.

'Antoinette's-kind-of-a-ghost-but-she's-a-good-ghost-so-don't-get-mad!' he rushed out, barely pausing between the words. Sam's eyes widened. Tucker dropped the newspaper to stare at him.

'Antoinette's a ghost? And you didn't tell us?' Danny winced. 'Danny, what if she's lying to you? Ugh, you are so- so- stupid! You could get hurt, Danny! I mean, you're hardly popular in the Ghost Zone! How do you know she's not tricking you? Danny, I swear, you can be-'

At this point, Tucker interrupted Sam's rage, a thoughtful look on his face. 'But Dude, I thought you said she had a heartbeat? How does that work?' he asked. Sam shot Tucker a brief death-glare, but stayed quiet, choosing to glower at Danny instead. 'She can... I don't know what she does, exactly, put she can fake having a pulse, and breathing. She's really a shape-shifter, a bit like Bertrand, but nicer... she's called Mimic.' Danny told them. 'That's how I've been at those fights and in lessons at the same time: Antoinette went to the ghost fight instead. She pretended to be me though, so that the Amity Park wouldn't freak over having a new ghost around town. I mean, some of the people here still don't like me much... I didn't want them to freak out...' He broke off, looking sheepish.

'She told me last week that she was... well, a ghost, and I didn't tell you because she asked me not to. I know I should've said, and I'm really sorry guys, but she just looked so... so helpless!' He looked at Sam imploringly. 'She was only sixteen and she never wanted to die and she just wants to help-' Tucker shook his head and held up a hand, signalling Danny to stop talking for a moment. 'Whoa, dude, you're babbling. I'm gonna look up this Mimic girl, okay? And with any luck, Sam won't kill you.' Tucker had a point: Sam looked furious. Danny gulped, looking panicked.

'Sam, she just wanted to feel normal again! She wanted to feel human again, Sam, and she thought that if you knew she was a ghost she'd lose that. I just thought, well...' his flustered expression became unreadable. 'She's already lost her life once. What right do I have to take it away again?' he stopped talking, and looked at his gothic friend beseechingly. Sam's expression softened.

She punched him in the arm; relatively gently, but it still hurt. She sighed. 'Danny, what if she's lying? It doesn't take a lot to figure out that sometimes you wish you were all human again. What if she's using that against you?' exasperated, she shook her head. 'She had us all fooled Danny, even with your ghost-sense going off around her. Who's to say she couldn't still be tricking us?' Her tone was gentler, but Danny was beginning to feel stupid nonetheless. However, at this point, a thought seemed to strike Sam, and her fierce look returned. She growled softly. 'When I see Antoinette...'

Antoinette, at this point, had more pressing worries than Sam: most of them in the form of a certain red-suited huntress on a jet-sled. Valerie had drastically improved since she first started ghost hunting, and since it was difficult to fight back without injuring the vengeful ghost hunter, Phantom (or Mimic-Phantom) generally ended up the worse for wear.

Mimic may not have been entirely altruistic, but she didn't want to hurt Valerie, and anyway, she was supposed to act like Phantom, who was known for running away when faced by the huntress. But, quite frankly, she was fed up of it. Why couldn't Valerie just back off? She was beginning to wonder how on earth Danny had put up with this for the past year or so.

All the ghosts know, thought Mimic. Would it really make that much of a difference if I told Valerie that I wasn't the ghost who 'ruined her life'? She might tell Amity Park, but really, we were never going to be able to keep up this charade forever. I'd have slipped up, Danny would've, either way, we'd have to tell the town eventually. Might as well be sooner than later, right?

Having decided on her course of action, she stopped flying a few meters ahead of Valerie, and turned around. 'Hey Val? Can we talk?' she asked the surprised and wary girl.

'Why would you want to talk, Ghost?' Mimic rolled her eyes. 'Because we need to clear this up, Human. Come on, Val, I call you by your name, can't you call me by mine?' She stopped, realising that, actually, Valerie didn't know her name. 'Although... it is my name I wanted to talk about, I guess...'

The strange remark took Valerie by surprise, confusion evident behind her mask. Still holding her ecto-blaster, she coaxed her jet-sled a little closer to the ghost, wanting to know what it was talking about before blasting it to kingdom come. Mimic, realising that Valerie was willing to listen (to a certain extent), absent-mindedly crossed her legs beneath her and sat floating in midair.

That's just creepy, she thought, holding her fire... for now. 'What about your name, Gho... Uh, Phantom?' Might as well humour it.The ghost shifted uncomfortably on its nonexistent seat. 'I'm not Phantom, Valerie. No matter how much I look... or act... like him.' Valerie raised an eyebrow behind her mask. Right. 'Cause that makes a heck of a lot of sense.

'What are you talking about, Gho... Phanto... Uh, whoever you are?' Mimic decided it would be easiest to show Valerie what she meant. She closed her eyes, and her white glow brightened and turned pale blue. Valerie stared as the shape and colour of the ghost in front of her began to shift and change, until it was no longer Phantom sat before her, but herself, dressed in her everyday clothes, still floating cross-legged in front of her.

Valerie nearly fell off her jet-sled.

'Wha... How?' She fired a few ectoblasts in rapid succession, but the... the thing that had been Phantom dodged them calmly. It smiled grimly. 'I'm a shape shifter ghost, Valerie. Since this form obviously makes you uncomfortable, I'll switch to my own shape.' The blue glow returned, and a pale-skinned, green-eyed ghost girl around her age appeared before her.

She looks familiar. She reminds me of someone, but who? Kind of like Phantom, actually, he reminds me of someone too... Valerie abandoned this line of thought in favour of charging her ectogun and pointing it at the ghost. 'Why were you shaped like Phantom a minute ago?' The ghost grinned.

'A fair question. Phantom has other things to do than protect the town, Val. So when he's busy, I fill in.' Valerie laughed bitterly at that. 'Phantom doesn't protect the town, ghost.' She paused, frowning slightly. 'What 'other things' does he have to do, anyway?' The ghost rolled its eyes.

'I'm Mimic, in case you're interested. And you'd be surprised what other things Phantom has to do. I'll let the 'He-doesn't-protect-the-town' thing slide, for now, but we'll come back to that later.' Valerie glared at her.

'Mimic? Creative.' She snickered slightly at the ghost's affronted expression. 'Why do you help Phantom?' Mimic shot her an annoyed look before replying. 'Like 'Red Huntress' is any better. You're a ghost hunter, and you wear a red suit. Creative.' She spoke the last word in Valerie's voice, mostly to spite the girl on the jet-sled. Then she sighed, remembering the problem in hand.

'I help Phantom because someone should help him. He's... a good kid. And so are you. Well, once you get over the misguided, vengeful psychopath part.' Valerie shot a blast at her, furious. 'I am not a psychopath, Ghost!' Mimic dodged the shot, an alarmed look on her face. 'Sorry, sorry! You're right; you aren't a psychopath... yet. Just obsessed.' She looked thoughtful for a moment. 'That's unhealthy, by the way. You should talk it over with a doctor, kid, I'm sure it'd help.' Valerie glowered at her.

'Don't call me kid. You don't look much older than me anyway.' The red-suited girl told the ghost irritably. Mimic, obviously amused, grinned at her. 'I've existed ten years longer than you have, Val. If I was alive, I'd be twenty-four. I can call you kid if I want.' She replied. 'What do you say we go somewhere else to talk this out? I'm getting tired of floating.' And with that, she stood and stretched in midair, making sure Valerie was following before flying away.

A few minutes later, on top of a skyscraper, Valerie sat on her jet-sled and turned to face the ghost, who was happily sitting on the edge of the roof, legs dangling over the side of the building. For a minute or so, neither of them spoke, but Valerie, uncomfortable, decided to break the silence.

'Phantom's not a good kid. He ruined my life.' Said the ghost hunter, tetchily. Mimic turned her head so that she was facing Valerie. 'Did he?' she asked, giving Valerie an inquiring look. 'Can you honestly say you were that happy when you were rich? With your fake friends who dumped you like last season's t-shirt?' she questioned. Valerie said nothing, mostly because she couldn't think of anything to say. She hadn't thought of it like that...

Her thoughts were interrupted by the ghostly teen. 'It was an accident, you know.' Said the ghost girl, staring into the middle distance. 'That ghost dog kept escaping from the ghost-zone, trying to find its chew toy. The toy was at axiom labs, and Danny –Phantom, that is- was trying to get it back so that he would go home.' She paused, thinking back to what Danny had told her about Valerie.

'And blowing up your old suit? It was being controlled by a ghost, Valerie. Think about it: He knew who you were, didn't he? He was always calling you Val. So when he saw you battling your own suit... he knew you weren't inside it. He'd never have blown it up if you were wearing it.' What else had happened? Ah, yes. Danny had told her that the suit had done some kind of weird self destruct. 'He didn't make it go kaboom, either. It did that of its own accord: Phantom saw numbers counting down on the mask, and got out of the way just before it blew up.' She stopped again, and gave the other girl a stern look. 'Although, can you blame him if he had blown it up? He's got a tough enough job trying to save the town without you on his tail. It was an ideal way to stop you hunting him without hurting you. Didn't work, though...' She gestured towards Valerie's jet-sled. Valerie didn't say anything. Really, what was there to say?

'How come he revealed my secret to my Dad, then?' she asked, after a couple of minutes of uncomfortable (for Valerie) silence. Mimic tilted her head to one side for a moment before answering. 'He was the only one who could've beaten Pariah Dark, you know.' She said simply. It wasn't a question, or an opinion, but a statement. A fact. Valerie shifted slightly on her jet sled.

'You wouldn't have stood a chance. Don't take offence, it's the truth. And the battle suit would've killed you.' She was staring into thin air again, meditatively. 'It nearly killed him, and he's already dead.' Not entirely true, but she doesn't know that. 'You would've died in that thing, Val. And then Amity Park would've been taken over by the Ghost King. You want that?' she paused. 'Sure, Danny could've stopped you from using the suit some other way, but...'

Sounding slightly exasperated, she explained Phantom's actions. 'Val, he's got the mind of a teenage boy. Teenagers don't always think before they act... Did you think, before trying to blast him out of the sky?' she asked. Valerie didn't answer. 'Did I think, before... never mind. Point I'm trying to make, Valerie, is that he was panicking and it was the only thing he could think to do. He didn't want to hurt you, Val. He never has. And,' here, the ghost broke off, and looked Valerie directly in the eyes, glowing ectoplasmic green meeting teal. 'He never will. Okay?'

Valerie stared at her feet, thoughts churning. If all of that was true, then Phantom really was the good guy. And I've been trying to destroy him...

Mimic sighed. 'I've got better places to be, Valerie. See you around, hopefully without being shot at.' The ghost morphed into Phantom and flew off, leaving Valerie to her thoughts.

Mimic changed back into Antoinette in the girls' bathroom, and stuffed her unused Fenton thermos back into her bag. She left the toilets and wandered around the corner to the cafeteria, only to be confronted by a nervous looking Danny and an absolutely furious looking Sam. She paled.

'...She knows?' Antoinette asked nervously, looking from Danny to Sam to Danny again. Danny nodded. Sam narrowed her eyes. 'You have a lot of explaining to do, Mimic.' She hissed. Antoinette gulped.

'I just wanted to help Danny...' she said, trying her hardest to look as apologetic as possible. Hopefully, Sam would take pity on her. And pigs might fly... 'And you couldn't have told us you were a ghost?' the angry Goth asked scathingly. Antoinette wasn't given a chance to reply before Sam continued her tirade. 'Why should Danny trust you, huh? You lied to us! How do we know you weren't sent by one of his enemies? Maybe you're working for Vlad or something! I knew there was something funny about you when Danny said his ghost-sense kept going off... And even if you aren't evil, you shouldn't have lied to us! Oh, you are so dead!' Antoinette backed away, deciding not to point out that Sam's death-threats were coming a little late. Sam could probably get access to the Fenton's lab if she wanted to, so it was best to try not to make her any angrier.

'Uh, I'm really sorry I didn't tell you, but...' Antoinette looked at Danny helplessly, hoping he might help her placate the angry Goth. No such luck. Time to pull out the pity card, then. '...I wanted to be human for a little while.' She said in a small voice, praying it would work.

Antoinette's prayers, however, were in vain. Sam had privately decided that Antoinette wasn't actually evil, and could be forgiven. But that didn't mean she wasn't going to make the shape-shifter pay for lying to her first.

Okay, hopefully Valerie didn't seem too out of character. I'm having a bit of difficulty imagining how she'd react, but because in some of the later episodes she does seem willing to give some ghosts the benefit of the doubt, I decided that she would at least hold her fire if a ghost asked her to talk. I think she's fairly accurate, hopefully you agree. Again, please review. The next chapter will be called Alliances and I'll try to have it up Wednesday/Thursday next week (I've been trying to get a chapter up every Wednesday).