Hi peoples!

Dangit. I actually typed up/edited a lot of this chapter earlier, but when I got off the computer I was in a big hurry and didn't save it. :/ So yeah. I'm very happy that I'm actually getting around to doing this. For once, I'm actually DOING SOMETHING of my own free will that needs doing, and I'm not procrastinating for like, EVER. But yeah. I think you get the point.

Omigosh, I'm really sorry, but I HAVE to brag about this. I am so very, very happy right now, because I got my first very own cell phone for Christmas and I've been typing up a new story on it in my spare time. I'd like to get it finished on either my phone or my computer before I actually post it on FFN though, so if you want to read it, you'll have to wait a while. But I will tell you that it was inspired by aem82's Abby's Story.

Okay I'm done rambling now. Read the chapter.

Wait, I forgot something. I don't own Danny Phantom. YET. And I do not own Cheetos or anything else mentioned in this chapter that I don't own. NOW you can go read the chapter.

Chapter 3: And the Battle Begins

~Normal POV~

"Hey! Give me back my Cheetos!"

The former trio, now a quartet, sat at their normal (or for Danny, new) lunch table. Tucker had just stolen a bag of Cheetos from Valerie's lunch tray. Unfortunately for him, ghosthunting had really improved Val's vision and attention to detail. She, of course, had caught him.

"Never!" he said, a grin on his face.

Meanwhile, Sam and Danny were sitting across from each other and seemed to be having a staring contest. Only they were blinking. At least, Sam was blinking. Danny, on the other hand, was not. Now because we're not going to go into their POVs, we're going to have to assume that Danny was trying to figure out how Sam's eyes could be purple, and that Sam was trying to figure out why Danny didn't have to blink. If we were not assuming that, this story might get way too mushy way too early in the story. And we can't have that, now can we? No, we can't. Now let's get on with it.

"Those are my Cheetos!" Valerie yelled. Of course, the cafeteria was much too loud for anyone to hear – or care about, for that matter – an unpopular girl's yell, so no one paid attention to the yelling going on at our quartet's table.

"They're mine now! Mwahahahahahahahaha!" Tucker laughed manically.

"Where's the ghost?" Danny yelled, snapped out of his daze by Tucker's laugh. He glanced around the room suspiciously. "I know you're there! Show yourself!"

Tucker, Valerie, and Sam just stared at Danny's sudden outburst. Tucker was the first to speak.

"Dude, is something wrong with you? There's no such thing as ghosts, and even if there were, why would one be here?" Tucker asked. Danny's head whipped around to face Tucker with an expression of bewilderment.

"Didn't you hear that laugh? I've only heard one person laugh like that in my life, and it was a ghost! Wait, if there's a ghost here…" He frowned. "Hm… If there's a ghost, why didn't…" His voice faded off into a look of confusion.

"Danny, are you okay? Tucker's right. There's no such thing as ghosts," Sam broke into his thoughts.

He shook his head. "No, you're wrong. Ghosts are real, and they are a threat. I should know. My parents are ghosthunters."

The other three looked at him curiously. "Explain," Val demanded.

Then the bell rang. Danny let out a quick sigh of relief.

"Hey, let's go to the Nasty Burger after school," Tucker suggested. "Then Danny can do some explaining."

"Um, sure!" Danny agreed nervously. Sam and Valerie simply nodded their approval.

"We'll meet up at Sam's locker after school, and walk to the Nasty Burger together," Tuck clarified. The moment he finished speaking, the quartet rushed off, each to their respective class.

~The day dragged on. It seemed like days from lunchtime to the end-of-school bell. When school finally got out, Sam, Tucker, and Valerie were by Sam's locker, waiting for Danny to get there.~

"So... What do you think of Danny?" Tucker asked. It was clear he was talking to Sam, though he didn't specifically say it.

"So far, I think he's a carnivore, he's shy, and he has a bruise just above his left eye, right about here," Sam said, pointing to a place near her eyebrow. 'And he's cute, although I'd never admit it out loud.'

"He's pretty nice, and he's hot," Val joked.

"Okay, whatever, didn't need to know that."

~Nasty Burger – Danny's POV~

After we got our food, we sat down in the same booth I'd been in with Tuck the night before. Did they always sit in the same place? Sam and I sat in one side of the booth, with Tucker and Val on the other side.

"Okay, Danny, start talking," Sam commanded. I groaned mentally. Why was there never a ghost attack when I needed one? These questions would not be fun to answer.

"Well," I sighed, "back in Eerie Haunts – that's the town I used to live in – there's this lake. Lake Eerie, with two e's. It's green, and everything around it is dead. That's because it's by a waterfall, and behind the falls is a portal to the Ghost Zone. Ghosts live in the Ghost Zone, obviously, and they can come to our dimension through portals. It works both ways. They wreaked a lot of havoc back in the Haunts. My parents are scientists, inventors, and ghosthunters. They invent weapons to fight ghosts, they study ghosts, and they hunt ghosts. As their son, I feel that it's only fair I'm allowed a little ghost-centered paranoia."

My three new friends sat back as they processed the information. Watching them, I saw thoughtfulness on Sam's face; Tucker had a blank look on his; and Val… Didn't look surprised, which didn't surprise me. After al, she was a ghosthunter herself, not that the other two knew about her rather dangerous hobby. We're teenagers. you think we're going to tell our friends we hunt ghosts on a daily basis? No! We're not! Think about it a second. It would be kind of awkward. 'Hey, Danny, what did you do last night?' 'Oh, not much, just battled with Skulker for a few hours until I finally manage to stuff him in the Thermos. Then I flew around for 20 minutes chasing the Box Ghost. You?' I don't think so.

Now that I'm done ranting, let's get back to my new friends. Tucker and Sam had finished thinking (or in Tucker's case, not thinking?) and all three were now looking at me expectantly. "Anything else we might wanna know, smart one?" Sam asked.

I thought for a moment, then nodded. Might as well tell them just what they're in for. "The portal in the Haunts isn't the only one around," I said. "There's also my parents' portal. A lot of ghosts come out through there, too." The group deadpanned simultaneously. "Wait a sec!" I protested. "There are good ghosts and one of them kind of travels to whatever city the Fenton Portal is in. His name is Danny Phantom, and he protects people from evil ghosts. I'd bet my life that he's here in Amity, hanging around and waiting for a ghost to fight!"

Valerie scoffed. "Yeah, right," she argued. "There are no good ghosts, especially that Phantom punk. It's his fault my dad lost his job!"

"I thought you said it was a ghost dog that made your dad lose his job," Tuck said, confused.

"It was Phantom's dog!"

"You only assumed that!" I said, my voice a little louder than normal. Better tone it down a little. "He was trying to get that dog to go back into the Ghost Zone. And the dog just wanted its chew toy, anyway."

"How would you know that?" Valerie asked suspiciously. 'Think, Fenton, think! What'll she believe?'

Suddenly I felt a cold chill rise through the back of my throat and exit through my mouth in the form of a blue mist. My ghost sense! Yes!

"I've gotta use the restroom," I said quickly. That was believable. I used it all the time. "I'll be right back."

I ran off to the bathrooms and, with my signature yell of "Going Ghost!" let one blue ring wash over the top half of my body, while another washed over my bottom half.

I now wore a silvery-white glove on each hand, a black jumpsuit, silvery-white boots, and a silvery-white belt. My hair was snow-white, and my eyes glowed luminescent, electric green. Right now, they were a bit brighter than usual, because I was feeling mischievous and happy. The almost-a-smirk grin on my face enforced the mood.

I am Danny Phantom!

~Nasty Burger – Sam's POV~

"Suspicious, Valerie is suspicious!" Tucker chimed. He was right. The look on Val's face clearly showed her slight suspicion of this new character that had been thrust into our lives. I didn't blame her – why had he just run off like that? Definitely weird. I wouldn't have believed for a second that he was really going to the bathroom if I hadn't seen him open the door and go in with my own two eyes.

We all looked outside as we heard a motorcycle revving up.

The three of us gave a unanimous cry of "Whoa…!"

The rider was glowing! Was he a ghost, like Danny had described? I sure hoped Danny was right about Phantom. If he was, we could be in for a lot of trouble. Oh, the ghost guy was talking now.

"Where are you, punk?" he yelled. So far it sounded like Danny had been telling the truth about Phantom.

"Yo, Johnny! Up here, old man!" The cry, of course, came from above. Unfortunately, a birhgt green blastoff light blocked the speaker from view. I took this as a good sign tha Phantom had arrived on the scene.

I suddenly felt a cold blast of air. Oh. Tucker had thought to open the window. I wasn't sure if that was stupid or smart.

"Phan-tom! Phan-tom!" we shouted. Well, Tucker and I did. I think Val might have been trying to boo him, but it wasn't working very well. Our "Phan-tom!" cheer had aught on. Everyone else was yelling with us, and her voice just faded in. She eventually gave up and just started cheering with the rest of us.

When the green light ended, making contact with Johnny's skin, we finally saw the ghost boy. He wore a black jumpsuit and silvery-white gloves and boots that perfectly complemented his snow-white hair and glowing green eyes. His emerald orbs were so… Magical.

Tucker's voice suddenly broke into my thoughts. "Uh, Sam? Your eyes are sparkling…"

I blinked. My eyes never sparkled. Like, N-E-V-E-R. So why were they doing it now? Maybe they were reflecting Phantom's eyes… Oh, okay. Maybe I was really that excited, not that I'd ever say it out loud. So what? He was hot, and I only use that word in extreme circumstances.

It was a pretty cool fight, I admit. Phantom and Johnny threw those blasts of green light at each other, and the way they dodged, it was like they were dancing. Phantom's moves were graceful, while his opponent seemed to have a kind of jagged rhythm. And when they started flying – or when Johnny started flying, on his motorcycle! – they would go straight up, or dive, or do loop-the-loops, and Phantom even did spirals! It was obvious they'd done this before.

Just when it seemed that the battle was coming to a close, Johnny suddenly swooped over to where we were sitting… And swung me through the window as he flew up something-hundred feet above the ground! I screamed. Who wouldn't?

"Hey, punk, you gonna come save the human?" he sneered.

What happened next was slightly creepy. Phantom's eyes grew a dark shade of toxic green, and his grin became a death glare. "Put. Her. Down," he said. His voice had become threatening, instead of the lighthearted tone he'd used earlier.

"Sure thing, kid," my captor said. Wait, he was going to let me go? Since when was that in the evil-villain rulebook?

Johnny answered my unspoken question quickly. He dropped me. I should have known he'd do that! It was one of the oldest tricks in the book!

If I'd been screaming bloody murder before, it was full-out blood-and-guts destruction now. Through my screams, I could hear various cries of "Sam!" coming from my friends. Well, except for Danny. He must have still been in the bathroom.

Y'know, it was weird. My life didn't flash before my eyes on the way down – I was too busy trying to curl up in a position where my head wouldn't make impact with the ground so I could maybe escape with my life. He'd dropped me from pretty high up.

Then I heard it. I knew I was going to die, because my ears were playing tricks on me now. I was panicking. That's all.

But I wasn't just panicking. His voice, that beautiful, wonderful, soft, melodic voice was real. The one word it yelled ripped me out of my terrified thoughts of death.

"Sam!"

~CLIFFFFFFFHANGER, HANGING FROM A CLIIIIIIFFFFF!

AND THAT'S WHY HE'S CALLED CLIFF-HANGER!~

Cookies to people who know where that's from!

Man, did I have fun with this chapter. The original was a lot different, but I'm going in the same direction… I think. I typed up the entire chapter on the Notepad feature of my NEW cell phone. More bragging from me. XD

MS Word is mad at me right now. There's a lot of green lines hanging around on my screen… Oh well, who cares? R&R for poor Sam!

Viki

P.S. Speaking of R&Rs, this story is getting more reviews than my story that I'm writing the original version of. Kind of sad that my adopted story is getting more attention than my little baby is. I'll live with it.