Laryna6's note: The main character committing suicide is usually one of the warning signs of a bad fic, but we promise: Danny will not be emo. He will cheer up even if Valerie has to kill him. Again.

Marisa: Nah, if Danny went emo I'd expect Vlad to interfere first and take away his Evanescence CDs. You can't emo without cliché emo music.

Laryna6: Hey, I like Evanescence.

Marisa: Anyway, sorry for the lateness. I kinda forgot it was Friday. (Yes, I did. HUSH.)

— — — — — —

Chapter Three

"Thought I'd forgot about you, ghost?"

- - -

"So, we're moving to Danny's old house?" Valerie stared at her father, shocked. Danny had only been dea—gone for two weeks, and then this?

"Well, Mr. Masters wants to hire me to develop ghost weapons and defenses, and the easiest place to do it is in Fenton Works." Her father scooped some clothing out of a bureau and packed them into a suitcase. Valerie simply continued staring in disbelief.

"But—but—it's—I don't want to live in Danny's house!" she burst out. How could she explain how sacrilegious it felt to live in her dead friend's home, in the place where he killed himself? How could she explain how creepy, how wrong it was? She tried to think of the words, but could only pull up blanks.

"I know, sweetheart," her father said with a sigh. "But…we can redecorate the place—you won't even recognize it. And—"

"But that's…" She couldn't finish the sentence. That's wrong, she thought. That's disgusting…disrespectful...

"Valerie, Mr. Masters was very exact with his instructions. If we don't move, then I can't get the job." His face softened. "Sweetie, I don't like this either, but…it's better than living here. And the pay is very good."

Valerie stared at her feet. Her father slowly turned away and continued to pack.

"Only if I get to test the ghost weapons," she said at last.

Her father blinked and looked at her. "What?"

"I'm only going if I can use the ghost weapons," Valerie repeated. "I've got two jobs. I can pay for this crummy apartment if I have to. I'll stay here if you don't let me hunt."

"Valerie, that's nonsense."

"I'll do it somehow!" she flared. "I won't just sit back and let those ghosts get away with what they did! I'm sure that somehow that ghost kid was involved in this, and—"

"Valerie!"

Valerie stopped.

"Valerie," her father said, "I know this has been hard on you. It's been hard for me too. But I can't allow you to do that. You're going to go to school and you're going to focus on your grades."

Valerie turned her back on him angrily.

Her father sighed. "But…"

"But?" Valerie asked eagerly, turning back to face him.

"If you get straight As from now on, and do all of your homework and projects…" He paused to rub his forehead. "I'll let you hunt ghosts after school."

"Thank you, Daddy!" she cried, and hugged her father fiercely. He laughed a little bit and hugged her back.

"But we're still moving to Fenton Works," he said firmly. Valerie looked away.

"It…still feels wrong," she said slowly. "But…if we have to…"

"That's my girl."

Then slowly, hesitantly, she helped him pack.

- - -

Tonight, Valerie thought as she got off the bus and walked through the front doors of Casper High, I'll look for the ghost kid by the Nasty Burger. Maybe he'll be there.

Of course, her father would make sure she did all her homework first, but Valerie could take care of that during lunch, as usual. She no longer hung out with Paulina's posse, even though she had more than enough money to be popular again—her experience with poverty showed her exactly how much the group really cared, and she didn't have the time to waste on them anyway. She needed to get all of her schoolwork out of the way and raise her grades so she could go ghost hunting every day instead of twice a week.

In between those hunts she practiced using her ghost weapons—she'd become quite good at handling the Fenton Thermos, and she had even managed to repair a flaw in its design with her father's guidance—but there was nothing like flying through the sky and seeing the ghosts flee in fear.

Well, all but a few. She had fought some very powerful ghosts lately, and had gleefully beaten them and dumped them back into the Ghost Zone. Hunting was her life now, and she lived for the difficult fights.

Yet there was one ghost who no longer ever showed, and he was the one ghost whom she hated the most.

The ghost kid.

She was slightly confused at his disappearance, though initially she didn't care. He had disappeared when Danny's family had died—and she was sure that he was involved in that fight somehow. He might have even been the one who somehow had tricked the Fentons and Danny's friends into being at the Nasty Burger when it exploded.

She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a deep laugh above her. She glanced up, and hid a gasp when she saw Skulker floating above the school. No way! What was he doing here?

Well, it didn't matter. She ran behind a wall and clicked her heels together, nearly instantly forming her armor and hoverboard around and below her. Her father didn't know she had kept the suit Mr. Masters had given her, and she was sure he'd be furious if he found out, but she knew she always had to be ready for surprises like this one.

She grabbed the Fenton Thermos out of her backpack and kicked the board into gear. She quickly rose to the roof of the school, activated her wrist weapon, and prepared to fire—

—when suddenly a familiar black-costumed ghost darted in front of her and tackled Skulker, flying them both straight through a tree to smash into the ground. Instantly Skulker blew the boy away with a rocket launcher and the two were in the air again, the boy shooting ghost rays from his hands and Skulker retaliating with his usual nets and gunshots.

"Be gone, whelp!" Skulker snapped, throwing an odd box at the boy. "I am not hunting you."

"Maybe you should." The boy charged his hands and shot a particularly powerful ghost ray at the box, blowing it into a million pieces before it could touch him. He then formed a huge ball of energy between his hands and fired at Skulker, who barely managed to dodge the blast.

Valerie stared at the two of them for a moment, slightly confused at why the ghost boy was here now, as she hadn't seen him in weeks.

"Oh well, it doesn't matter," she muttered to herself, and fired. Pink ectoplasmic goo flew from her gun into the air and hit Skulker point-blank, making him howl in anger. He blindly slashed out and managed to hit the unlucky ghost boy, smashing him into the ground. Valerie aimed again, this time changing the weapon's setting to laser—

Then Skulker managed to clear his eyes and shot a leashed net at her. She cried out but couldn't jump out of the way in time, and screamed as Skulker activated the net and the electricity began to fry her outer armor—

—and then the ghost boy was there, phasing Valerie out of the net and shooting a crackling stream of pure energy up the net's cord and into Skulker himself. Skulker roared in pain and disconnected the net while the boy gently put Valerie down on the rooftop before flying back into the air.

"Leave, ghost child!" snapped Skulker as the boy hovered between him and Valerie. "I do not hunt you today. Be glad of it."

"No thanks," answered the ghost kid. He shifted into a battle stance, and his hands glowed green. "Leave her alone."

"I don't need your help, ghost!" Valerie snarled, and finally fired the now-activated laser cannon. The boy dodged out the way in time, but Skulker took the full blast and shot backwards through the sky and away from the school. The ghost boy instantly flew after him and shot more ghost rays into Skulker's body to injure him and keep him moving.

Valerie looked down and saw a news cameraman filming the entire scene with some blonde news reporter talking into a mike. She knew her father might see her, but there was no way she would be left out of this fight. She jumped back on her hoverboard and kicked it into gear, flying as fast as she could after the two ghosts.

Meanwhile, the ghost kid raced forward and managed to fly above Skulker, firing a charged ghost ray out of his hands to slam him into the ground. The boy dived down and crashed straight into the hunter, burying him farther into the concrete. Before Skulker could so much as raise his head the boy removed a thermos from around his shoulder and sucked the ghost in, replacing the cap as quickly as he could once the ghost was gone.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing, ghost?" snapped Valerie, aiming her weapon at the boy. "That was my fight! I heard him!"

And then, the boy did something completely off. Instead of lecturing her on how not all ghosts were evil, or telling her to go away, or even shooting a ghost ray at her to begin a fight, he simply phased into the ground and disappeared.

Valerie stared openmouthed for a moment, then whirled her hoverboard in a circle, searching for some sign of the ghost.

"Get out here, ghost!" she shrieked. "Hiding from me, are you!"

But there was no answer, none at all. After a while she realized he really wasn't going to fight, and landed.

Strange.

Yes, the ghost boy had been acting strange, she realized. Instead of bantering with Skulker as he fought he had remained silent, only speaking when he stopped to protect Valerie—or interfere, which equated to the same thing in her mind. And when she challenged him he ran instead of fought, which he had never done before. And why had Skulker gone after her but left the ghost kid alone instead of hunting them both? And what was the creep doing with a Fenton Thermos? How had he learned how to use it?

Even though Valerie knew her father would be furious with her, she didn't return to school. She had too much to think about—the ghost boy's strange personality change, why he had shown up now after three weeks' absence, Skulker's sudden disinterest in him …it didn't make sense. She needed more information.

She just hoped her father would let her explain what happened and why she skipped school. She needed his advice.

- - -

"So you're telling me that the reason you followed them was because you thought it was your fight, even though you should have stayed in school and not have tried to attack dangerous ghosts, and you realized Danny Phantom ran from you instead of fought with you, which is strange for him?"

"Yes, Daddy," she said. "But you don't understand—you've never fought him. He always talks. Sometimes he'll throw bad puns around or try to convince you he's actually good, but he's never just…silent. It was like there was one thing on his mind, just the one—and nothing else mattered."

"Well, that is ghostly behavior," her father said. "Ghosts tend to obsess over a certain thing—like how Skulker obsesses with being the best hunter, or how the Box Ghost obsesses over boxes. Perhaps Phantom obsesses over fighting…ghost fighting."

"That doesn't explain how he got a thermos," Valerie said impatiently. "And like I said, he's never acted like that before. I hate him, but…it was strange."

Suddenly the phone rang. "I'll get it," they said at the same time, but her father found a phone first.

"Hello?" he asked, ignoring her glare. Then his expression changed to one of surprise. "Oh, hello, Mr. Masters!"

"It's Mr. Masters?" Valerie repeated excitedly, and pulled on her father's sleeve. "Daddy, put him on speaker!"

"Yes, we're doing quite well," said her father, ignoring her. "We're working on the Fenton Thermos, and we've already repaired a flaw in the design…Valerie is doing fine." He paused, then blinked. "You want to—? Well, all right."

He passed the phone to her. "Mr. Masters wants to speak with you. Be polite."

"Of course, Daddy!" she said, and took the phone. "Hello, Mr. Masters!"

"Hello, Miss Gray," the man responded. "I have a favor to ask you."

"Oh, sure! What do you need?"

"I want you to capture Danny Phantom."

Valerie grinned.

"Music to my ears, Mr. Masters," she replied.

"I don't want him injured, however," he cautioned. "Capture him and bring him to me. I trust that you can do this quickly?"

"Of course, Mr. Masters! I won't let you down!" She lowered her voice. "You might want to tell my dad that, though. He's getting really restrictive about ghost fighting."

Mr. Masters laughed. "Of course. Put him back on the phone."

Valerie did so, and smiled when she saw her father's expression change. She left the room and headed down to the lab, humming as she went. This would be fun.

- - -

After an hour of flying around the town, Valerie was furious.

"I don't care that Mr. Masters said not to hurt him," she growled under her breath. "He's gonna pay for wasting my ghost-hunting time." Sure, she'd found the Box Ghost down in a warehouse while searching, but he didn't count.

She finally found the ghost boy half an hour later in the cemetery, sitting on Danny Fenton's tombstone, head resting on his hands, a blank expression on his face.

She grew even angrier. How dare he insult Danny by being anywhere near his remains! How dare he disrespect Danny's grave!

"Found you, ghost!" she snarled as she swooped down, blasting a laser shot at him as she dived. He jumped and dodged the beam neatly, though the ground wasn't so lucky. The grass around the grave burned into a nice crater.

"What are you doing here?" he snapped, his hands glowing green in reaction. "Go away!"

"No way, creep!" She yanked out the thermos, and gave a grin of satisfaction as the ghost's eyes widened slightly. He took off, but Valerie was right behind him, taking pot shots as she could.

"Go away, Valerie!" the ghost yelled, frustrated. Valerie only kicked in the rocket boosters until she was parallel him.

"See ya, ghost!" she shouted, and blasted him with another laser shot. He couldn't dodge in time, and smashed into the ground, burn marks on his face and uniform.

"That for making me run around for an hour and a half looking for you!" she yelled. Then she aimed and shot again, pummeling him further into the ground, then shot again, and again, and again. "And those were for disrespecting Danny's grave!" she snarled. "Creeps like you shouldn't be near my friends!"

She gave a final shot and landed, pulling out her thermos. "Time for you to disappear forever, ghost," she snapped, and sucked him in. He didn't even have enough energy to cry out.

Valerie smiled. A small part of her was disappointed, though—usually he gave a better fight.

But she had finally caught him, and now she could give the creep to Mr. Masters. She hoped Mr. Masters would experiment on him or something—he deserved whatever was coming to him.

She activated her new communicator.

"Daddy, I caught the ghost," she said. "Call Mr. Masters and tell him, okay?"

"All right. And the second you get home you're doing your homework, understand?"

"Oh, all right," she sighed. "See ya."

She rattled the thermos, but there was no sound from inside. She kicked her hoverboard into gear and took off, thermos held firmly in one hand.

A small part of her wondered why she felt upset that it had been so easy.

An even smaller part, an almost nonexistent part, wished she hadn't caught him at all, and she refused to think about why.