Chapter LV

"Danny, can we please go home?" Tucker Foley whined from his seat in the Specter Speeder. "We've been mapping this place for hours."

Outside the Specter Speeder, the swirling green mass of the Ghost Zone stretched on into infinitude. Strange ethereal patterns and objects spiraled throughout the spectral plane, adding to the dizzying array of the supernatural that was commonplace in the realm. While the view outside was decidedly green, a lone black-clad figure hovered not five yards from the aptly named vehicle. The young man turned around to face his parent's creation with an exasperated look carved into his face.

"Tucker, how many times do I have to tell you? We're not going any farther than five miles west of Skulker's lair." The boy sighed. "Sam, can you please make him stop whining? We're almost done anyway."

The girl, Sam Manson, which the boy had been speaking to grinned and slammed a fist into Tucker's arm. The wounded teenager yelped and grabbed the afflicted are with his uninjured appendage.

"Alright! Alright! I'll stop!" Tucker cried as he saw Sam winding up another bone-breaking blow. "Look, just hurry it up, will you? We need to get back to the real world soon or your parents will find out we left."

The boy floating outside the Specter Speeder rolled his eyes. "Pansy."

Phantom turned away from the craft and floated onward. He looked around the vast endless expanse of the Ghost Zone and felt something akin to nostalgia. The feeling puzzled Phantom. Why would he feel a sense of familiarity in this strange place? True, he had been here before on other mapping quests, but each time it felt like he was . . . home.

Such thoughts were silly, of course. Phantom knew who he was, at least for the most part, and that included knowing where he was born. It certainly was not in the eerie vortex he was floating in now.

Phantom was so caught up in his thoughts he barely had time to register a massive wall of blackened rock before he crashed into it head first.

"Dude, are you deaf?" Tucker shouted through the comm. system in the speeder. The earphone Phantom was wearing picked up the scolding, as it had picked up the whining the boy had done for the previous several hours. "I've been shouting at you about that wall for almost a minute."

Phantom rubbed his head. "Sorry Tuck," the ghost boy said. "I was distracted."

"No, distracted was when you dropped that ice sculpture on your toe at Sam's birthday/ pool party last year when she came out of her house in that onyx bikini-"

Tucker's injured arm received another strike from a very red Sam. Tucker noticed with amusement that Phantom, despite his being a ghost, was also sporting a sort of blush on his face as well. The pain was worth the reaction.

Phantom pushed the thoughts from his head. It was poor judgment to think about his friend in such a way. She knew he thought she was beautiful, but that was no reason to leap into a relationship. Besides, he was still getting over his last two romantic experiences, the latest being nearly a month ago. April had brought many new things. There were fewer ghost sightings, the A-List was becoming very comfortable and his two best friends were still his best friends.

April had also brought this strange wall into Phantom's face, which was not very beneficial. Of course, it marked the end of his mapping for the weekend so at least some good came of it.

"You guys take the speeder back around until you can tell me just how big this place is. I'm going to get a sample of this stupid rock that smacked me in the face."

Tucker sent a thumbs up and maneuvered the sleek vehicle through the ectoplasm around it. It quickly disappeared, leaving Phantom to his own work. He pulled out his Fenton Thermos and ran his free hand over the edifice searching for a sizeable jut. His fingers made contact with a suitable chunk and, using his enhanced strength, Phantom broke it off from the rest of the rock. He placed the sample in the thermos and closed the lid before returning the device to his belt.

"You guys find anything?" Phantom asked as he pressed his finger to the earphone in his ear.

"Yeah," Tucker replied. "The rock is pretty big, but it just looks like a typical big floating black ghost rock."

"If it's so typical, how come we've never seen one before now?" Sam retorted. "We've been exploring this place for months and I've never seen anything like it."

"Don't be a smart-ass," Tucker warned humorously.

"Tucker!" Phantom yelled. "What have I told you about using those words?"

"Oh, that's right. I'm not supposed to swear around your woman. Her virgin ears just can't handle it."

Phantom chuckled. "Speaking of virgins, Tuck, how are you and Star doing?"

"Oh yeah," Sam said triumphantly as Tucker blushed beneath his dark complexion. "He so totally went there."

Phantom appeared before the Specter Speeder with a boyish grin on his face. "I think we're done here," the ghost said. He fazed into the vehicle and sat on the bench in the back. A silver green ring formed at his waist and split in two. The rings sped in opposite directions, locking Phantom within the molecular structure of Danny Fenton. "Captain Foley," Danny said tiredly, "hard to stern. Take this tub back to the docks."

"Aye, sir," Tucker replied while turning the Specter Speeder back in the direction they came from. "We've got at least an hour before we arrive back, make yourself comfortable."

Danny sprawled himself across the bench, his hands cupped behind his head. He gazed up at the ceiling for a while until something nudged him. Turning his head sluggishly, he saw Sam standing over him. Her black jean skirt went nicely with the violet top that seemed just a bit too tight. Her hair was let down to her shoulders and a simple purple clip held it out of her eyes. She sat down next to Danny, prompting him to scoot over so she could lie down next to him.

"What's it like out there," she asked softly while snuggling up against Danny's lean frame.

"It's cold, dark and scary," he replied while wrapping an arm around the girl.

"Sounds like my kind of place," Sam said with a grin.

"Trust me, the novelty is already gone."

Sam smiled as she dozed off to the land of dreams. Danny grinned at her before succumbing to his own drowsiness and fatigue.

Tucker looked over his shoulder and shook his head with a smirk. They're already sleeping together, he thought as he covertly snapped a picture of the couple on his PDA.


Danny sat down at his usual lunch table the next day. Dash and Kwan and the others nodded at him as the boy took his seat, looking at the unappetizing array of food on their plates and deciding what to attempt to stomach first.

"So get this," Dash started. "I'm walking home from school on Friday and, out of nowhere, a freaking ghost attacks me!"

"Seriously?" Kwan asked.

"Yeah, dude, I swear, but that's not the weird part. I'm . . . uh, fighting this thing off when this chick on some kind of flying surf board zooms in and just shoots the crap out of it! It didn't even stand a chance!"

"You know," one of the other boys said. "Something like that happened to me and Mia. We were down by the pier-"

"Doing anatomy homework, I presume?" Danny chimed in with a devious grin.

"-and this huge ghost squid thing comes up out of the water and starts trashing the place." The teen continued while ignoring Danny's comment. "People were screaming and running all over the place, but the same chick came in, guns blazing. Turned it into calamari!"

Danny pondered the stories, wondering who the mystery woman was. Apparently she hunted ghosts, which didn't seem too unusual. It was Amity Park, after all, which meant there were now six ghost hunters that lived in the area; himself, Sam and Tucker, his parents and now this new girl. Perhaps he should go out and give an introduction, which would most likely end up with him getting shot. Repetitively. In the face.

"Hi Danny!" said a cheery voice. Danny turned around to see Valerie, beaming at him as she made her way over to the table. "What's up? I haven't talked to you in, like, forever!"

"Val, it's been two days," Danny said obliviously as the girl took a seat next to him. "You seem unusually perky today, what gives?"

Valerie faked a shocked look and wrapped her arms around her chest. "How dare you!"

Danny rolled his eyes and smiled. "I meant emotionally. However . . ."

"I'm not allowed to be happy?" Valerie said, cutting him off before the boy could continue.

"I didn't say that."

Valerie smiled and stretched her arms. "I found a great way to relieve stress a few weeks ago. It's amazing; really, I've never felt more alive!"

"Well I'm happy for you," Danny said sincerely. "So, are you excited for a short week?"

Valerie smiled. An electrical fire had broken out in the computer lab and nearly took out the whole north side of the building. Luckily Phantom had been there to put it out, but the damage was extensive. It appeared that there was some sort of fight in the lab before the fire was even put out. Authorities had no answer and decided that the fire must have been responsible. Seriously now, what would attack Phantom in a computer lab? The insurance would front the bill, but the damage had spread through the entire school's electrical systems effectively shutting them down. Repair crews were coming in on Wednesday to fix everything, giving the students of Casper High a week off, not including the next weekend.

"Who isn't?" the girl replied. "So much free time, it's going to be so much fun."

"I hope. So, what do you think about this new ghost hunter in town?"

"You mean the Huntress?" Valerie replied. "The one on the surf board thingy?"

"Is that what she calls herself?" Danny asked.

"Yeah. She got rid of a couple spooks that were following me around on Saturday and we had a small chat."

Danny paled. "Val, please tell me you didn't mention your little vendetta against Phantom?"

Valerie looked at the table with guilt, avoiding her ex-boyfriend's gaze. "I couldn't let that opportunity slip by, Danny, I'm sorry."

Danny sighed and rubbed his temples. "I take it when Phantom and this Huntress lady meet up, there's not going to be many kind words between them?"

Valerie looked up. "I sure hope not. I hope Phantom gets what he deserves."

"He deserves a standing ovation from the entire city." Dash butted in angrily. "He deserves the key to the city. Heck, I'd vote him for mayor!"

"Valerie, I know you hate Phantom more than any of us can possibly imagine," Kwan said, placing a hand on Dash's shoulder to prevent a violent outburst. "None of us can possibly understand, but I can at least try." The Asian boy cleared his throat. "My cousin was on the observatory when the arch fell. His entire arm was crushed and it had to be amputated because it was just so messed up. Do you know what he said to me when I went to visit him in the hospital? He told me he was so thankful Phantom was there, he barely even felt the pain. If the ghost boy hadn't shown up, it's very likely that everyone who was up there would have been killed."

"Your cousin is entitled to his opinion, Kwan," Valerie said quietly. "It's just my opinion that his is wrong."

Kwan removed his hand from Dash's shoulder. "As you were," he said permissively.

"And another thing," Dash continued. "I heard from my buddy that you said you were behind Phantom a hundred percent when he came in to save you. You managed to get everyone on the whole balcony on Phantom's side. Why do you hate him now?"

Valerie glared at Dash. "You think I knew he was evil then? I was just like the rest of you. I thought he was a hero. But none of you were up there; none of you saw his eyes. None of you saw him fly away laughing after the arch fell. He killed my mother, and I hope the Huntress paints the town green with his blood."

Danny slammed his fists on the lunch table, leaving a series of cracks along the plastic surface that went unnoticed. His eyes were shut tightly to prevent anyone seeing them glowing with rage. He stood from the table and stormed out of the room, leaving his personal affects behind.

"See what you did?" Dash said accusingly, pointing at the doors as they swung shut after Sam and Tucker had hurried after Danny. "Why can't you just let it go? You're not going to kill Phantom, you're going to send Danny off the deep end, that's what you're going to do."

"Don't tell me to just let it go, Baxter," Valerie hissed. "You have no idea what I'm going through."

"That's no reason to try and convince the world that Phantom's a menace," Paulina said bitterly. "And it certainly is no reason to drive Danny into a berserker mode." The Hispanic girl made her way to the exit and left the cafeteria in search of Danny.

"Val, listen," Kwan said calmly. "I know you're in a bad way right now, but I don't want you ticking everyone off. You seem to know just what strings to pull here and you're just giving off this vengeful aura. Honestly, we don't want any part of it."

"Way to gay it up, dude," Dash said sarcastically. "What Kwan's trying to say is get out of our table."

"What is this, the Phantom Fan Club?" Valerie asked mockingly.

"No, this is a table where we try to keep positive spirits," Kwan replied. "And you're seriously messing with the good chi."

Valerie scowled at the two boys before storming off. Once she was gone, Dash turned on his friend.

"Dude, you're seriously creeping me out. Good chi?"

"I had to get her to leave somehow," Kwan said with a smug expression. "How does one respond to something like that?"

Dash laughed. "One word. Queer."

"Very funny. I'll have to tell your boyfriend next time I see him."

"Even if I did have one, why would you be seeing him?"

"Oh come on, all the ladies know that Dash Baxter fails to satisfy anyone."

"Guys," Star said hastily. "Come on, I'm trying to eat here."

Kwan and Dash laughed at the girl's unease and went back to eating their lunches. Of course it was more like looking at the stuff that was supposed to be edible. The A-List continued gossiping and telling tales of ghost encounters in peace, but then the whole room was thrown into chaos as the ceiling exploded.


Danny stumbled out of the cafeteria and slammed into the wall adjacent to the doors. He pushed away and staggered down the hall, trying to prevent his rage and overwhelming guilt from literally bringing him down.

It had been almost a month with no mention of the incident on the balcony. Danny was beginning to think that everything would be ok. He would be able to accept his failure, Valerie's grudge would remain simply a grudge and his life would become less complicated.

It is never quite that easy.

Danny fell to the ground against a row of lockers, unable to go any further. He refused to cry, but the guilt pushed the tears out anyway. Danny felt so helpless, so vulnerable, but so angry at the same time. There was no name for the emotion; it was too strong for simple words in its complexity.

"Danny!" Sam said as she and Tucker rounded a corner to find their friend kneeling on the floor leaning against the rows of lockers. "Danny, are you ok?"

The boy looked at Sam with an eyebrow raised despite his pathetic appearance.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "Standard question."

"Dude, you can't let her get to you," Tucker said. "She can't see you for what you are, even though everyone else around her can."

"I think she can see me for what I am just fine," Danny said shakily. He stood to his feet and glared at the two. "I'm a murderer. I killed someone, Tucker, she has every right to hate me. She had every right to tell that Huntress girl I killed her mother! She has every right to want to see me dead! I. Am A. Murderer!"

Tucker, not being one for self pity, did what any good friend would do. He punched Danny in the face. Hard. So hard, in fact, that Danny's lip split and blood dripped to the floor, followed shortly by Danny himself. The befuddled teenager looked at his friend in astonishment.

"I'm not going to stand here while you ride the self-pity train. I'll punch you again if I have to, but you're going to shut up one way of the other."

Danny felt his lip and looked at his fingers. He shook his head quickly upon seeing the blood. "Guys," he whispered. "I'm sorry. I-I don't know what-"

"Dude, its fine," Tucker said. "Look, go ahead and blow off some steam, we'll cover for you."

Danny nodded and concentrated on the ghostly energy inside of him. The silver-green rings transformed him into Phantom and he took off through the ceiling.

"Oh my gosh," Paulina exclaimed. "Did you guys see that?"


Phantom flew through the sunny afternoon sky. This was not his preferred method of relieving stress, but Tucker's punch snapped him back to reality along with his jaw. The kid had a strong left hook.

Phantom was jolted out of his revelry by the sound of jet engines. "At this altitude?" the ghost mumbled to himself. Phantom looked around. He was barely fifty yards off the ground, no plane would fly this low in a highly populated area, and the airport was clear across town. Phantom turned around and spotted the source of the noise.

A young woman was rapidly approaching from the direction of the school on a long triangular hover board of sorts. She was carrying a simple looking weapon that resembled the Fenton Carbine from his vantage. Her lower body was covered by dark red, skin tight pants and her chest was covered by a similar formfitting top. A black mask wrapped around her forehead and stretched down to her nose, where it split into a V shape revealing the girl's nose and mouth.

"The Huntress, I presume?" Phantom said cordially as the dark skinned girl reached hearing distance. "I do believe you've heard of me?"

"Oh I know you, ghost," the girl said. Her voice sounded oddly familiar. "I know you're a murderous spook that wouldn't hesitate to kill again. I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen."

"Clearly you've been misinformed," Phantom said.

"My sources are very credible," the Huntress growled as she opened fire on the ghost boy. Phantom dodged the pink bolts of energy that soared past him. Her marksmanship was not very good.

"Can I get the name of the place where you learned to aim?" Phantom taunted as the Huntress pursued him through the sky. "I'll have to recommend it to all the other ghost hunter wannabe's like you who decide to come in to my city."

"Your city?" the Huntress screamed. "This is not your city!"

"I was here before you!" Phantom shouted as he turned invisible.

The huntress floated to a stop as she looked around for Phantom. From the side of her mask, a retractable optic sensor maneuvered over her left eye. A lens adjusted within the device and Valerie looked around a second time, this time her ectoplasmic sensors working at full capacity. She saw the form of Phantom floating not ten feet from her.

The Huntress raised her gun and aimed it at the ghost boy's torso. She squeezed the trigger and smiled as Phantom became visible with a shout of pain.

He floated back and clutched his abdomen. "Your little ghost tricks aren't going to save you from me," she said cockily.

The ghost boy moved his hands away from his body and grinned as the open wound in his stomach sealed itself to the point where not even a scar remained. The Huntress gasped.

"Wanna bet?" Phantom let loose a series of his energy beams, each one hitting their marks with expert precision. Well, maybe not that good. The blasts hit their marks on Valerie's board regardless of his aim, piercing one of the engines and sending the craft careening through the air.

The Huntress screamed as her board tossed and turned while plummeting to the ground. "You haven't seen the last of me, Phantom!" the girl growled as she tapped a button with her foot.

The hover board turned into a large bazooka in the blink of an eye, and fired a massive ball of pink energy even faster. Phantom was caught by the blast and sent sailing through the air; the exertion of the force pressing on him almost knocked him out.

The crash through the roof of Casper High's cafeteria finished the job.


"And in our weekly ghost report, Amity Park's own Phantom made quite an appearance at Casper High School as he crashed through the roof of the cafeteria. No students or faculty were injured and the school board says that the repairs to the cafeteria will be added along with the repairs to the school's electrical systems. In further news, the mysterious young woman calling herself the Huntress met up with Phantom today and the results were explosive, to say the least. Video footage depicts the two fighting valiantly with Phantom being blown away after incapacitating the newest ghost hunter. What does this say about either of them? We're taking your calls and e-mails in the next hour, so feel free to phone in with your opinions. I'm Lance Thunder, back to you, Tiffany."

Danny clicked off the television and stared glumly at the blank screen.

"Knock it off," Tucker said noting Danny's expression. "It's not like they decided that you're a villain or anything."

"Just let it go," Sam said. "Besides, at least now you know that the Huntress is a lousy shot."

"She nearly exposed me!" Danny whispered angrily. "If I hadn't been buried under the rubble, someone would have seen me change back and it would've been game over!"

"But they didn't," Sam reminded him.

"But they could have," Danny restated. He sighed and stood from the couch. "I'm going down to the lab to check out that rock sample we got yesterday. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Tucker and Sam looked at each other before looking back at Danny's retreating figure. He slipped into the kitchen and out of sight.

"Did he just kick us out of his house?" Tucker asked indignantly.

"Yeah, I think he did."


Danny sat down at the lab table and examined the Fenton Thermos sitting on the chrome surface. He uncapped the device and tipped the thermos over to allow the rock to tumble out. Normally, that would have been the case, but in stead of a black rock falling from the cylinder, a puddle of black liquid dripped onto the table.

"What the heck?" Danny scraped a sample of the liquid onto a Petri dish and slid it underneath the Fenton Microscope. Danny looked into the device and gasped at what he saw. "That can't be right," Danny said as he rubbed his eyes. He looked into the microscope again, only to be met with the same sight.

The puddle of black goo was composed of thousands of single celled organisms. They were moving around and swimming all over the place as happy as black ghost cells could be. But something seemed wrong.

Another look revealed to Danny that the cells were just swimming around. There was no cellular reproduction. His mother had told him that cellular structures were different with ghosts than with humans, which was to be expected, but how was this organism supposed to grow if its cells did not regenerate? Even ghost's cells regenerated; otherwise they wouldn't keep coming back to Amity Park to get their butts handed to them.

Danny took an eyedropper and filled it with nega-plasm, a substance created by his parents that was supposed to act as a deadly corrosive by destroying the molecular structure of the victim. Danny had experienced it first hand. The teenager added a drop to the black puddle and watched as the affected cells died, as expected, but the cells remained as they were, not even attempting to replace the lost ones.

Danny then took a small test tube from the rack above the table and examined the occupant. A small ghost dragonfly sat inside, dead. Which is to say, dead again. Danny retrieved another eyedropper and suctioned up a portion of the puddle and placed it on the dragonfly. He then scraped a sample off and placed it back under the microscope to observe the reaction.

He saw the cells begin to fuse with the dead, inactive ones of the ghost sample. The cells began to act like a normal ghost, but with the black cells of the puddle absorbed those of the ghost and it returned to normal. So the black substance either didn't do anything or ate whatever it came into contact with? Boring.

Danny turned to dispose of the dragonfly, only to find it was not there. He looked up in astonishment as the ghost bug flew around the lab, good as new. The only difference was that Danny could see the ghost insect was black instead of white and green.

The teen activated the ghost portal and smiled as the dragonfly returned to its home. Danny shut the gate behind it and looked over the rest of the puddle on the table. There was the issue of getting it back in the thermos without actually touching it, since it seemed to have unusual side effects.

Danny picked up the thermos and aimed it at the puddle. He smiled as the lance of silver suctioning energy retrieved its occupant and set the Fenton creation back on the table. Danny went upstairs, turning off the light and leaving the lab in darkness.

But the darkness of the lab was nothing compared to the darkness inside the Fenton Thermos. Inside the cylindrical container, cells were moving, multiplying and adapting. The black puddle of ectoplasm seeped out of the Fenton Thermos and utilized its ghostly properties to slither across the floor to the steps.

Black, slimy tentacles pulled the substance up the stairs. The hunt for its host had begun.

To Be Continued

A/N

Wow, sorry for the long wait, people. I had a bunch of school work to do, but its pretty smooth sailing from here on out. This segment develops Valerie's secret identity as the Huntress and introduces an old character in a whole new light. Partially because I hate him in the series. Trust me, you're all going to flip over this one. Even you fatties out there, you'll do a complete flip and land it. Hard to believe, huh? Well I did it, and I only spent an hour in cardiac arrest.

Don't forget about the contest. 700th reviewer gets to make their own minor character for the series. Nothing major, just a silly ghost that comes in, tries to be scary and gets beat. It doesn't get approved if I don't think its appropriate, and if the next four consecutive ideas are also inappropriate, then I'll just make one up myself, so don't go messing up yours and everyone else's chance at winning by being stupid.

Of course, I'm not unhappy with the amount of reviews I have now. Special thanks goes to Musicallity, Andrew Laplante, Skye-chan, SatuFairy, TDG3RD, lord lazy pants, HiddenAuthor, darkbunny92, MissMeliss4251, Sapphire Wolf Master, leadfoot352, artbug, Fulcon, iGoGhost91 and The Halfa Wannabe.