Switching over to Ember and Skulker's location sometime later...

The ghostly duo were currently located at Amity Park's Civic Center. They were standing atop the stage with their prisoners who were locked inside a large metal cage.

"Hey ghosts!" called Jack Fenton to the two.

Ember and Skulker looked back over their shoulders to the Fenton Patriarch.

"How are we supposed to use the bathroom?"

"Not my problem," shrugged the ghostly diva.

"Soil yourselves for all I care," answered the hunter. "You're just bait for the real prize."

In the next moment, Danny landed on stage across from the two ghost villains.

"Danny!" cried Sam and Maddie.

"Son!" yelled Jack.

Ember and Skulker shifted their focus to the ghost boy.

"I had a feeling it wasn't a coincidence that you two happened to show up on the same day," commented Danny. "Although, I am a little surprised that both of you are working together."

The ghost hunter smirked before asking, "What better way is there to catch a foe off guard than to form a united front?"

"Enough with the chit-chat!" ordered Ember "Did you bring what he said on the phone?"

Danny reached behind his back and pulled out the Fenton Thermos.

"Good," said Skulker before commanding, "Now get down on your knees whelp."

The halfa did as ordered and got down on his knees. Once in that position, his foes exchanged smirks with each other. Then Skulker pressed a button on his gauntlet and parts of the stage floor opened to reveal four laser guns that aimed at Danny from four different angles before firing deadly beams.

"AGH!" cried Danny feeling the sting of laser fire.

"Danny!?" gasped Sam and Maddie.

"Son!?" exclaimed Jack.

When the lasers were through, Danny collapsed to the ground. Then Ember came strolling over with a satisfied look of approval.

"I'll take that," said the pop princess picking up the Fenton Thermos before aiming the container at the halfa.

"I don't... understand," groaned the halfa.

"Understand what?"

"How could the girl... Clockwork told me about... be you?"

Confused and curious, the pop princess asked, "What are you on about dipstick?"

The halfa picked his head up to get a good look at the ghostly diva before explaining, "He said that... a smart and talented teenage girl named Amber had high hopes of becoming a... big time rockstar. But she was also... nice and kind. In fact, she wouldn't even... hurt a fly. I just don't understand how... someone like that could end up as a sad, miserable, cold-hearted, attention hog of a ghost... like you."

Ember had both a look of anger and utter perplex written across her face.

"I thought I understood you after... hearing how that girl died. There was a freak accident with stage equipment that... set her on fire. The worst thing about it was that it happened right before... her career ever got started. Then it started to make sense. You started to make sense. Taking over the world with music because... the world never heard her music."

"SHUT IT!" barked the raging diva. "YOU DON'T KNOW A THING ABOUT ME!"

Hearing that outburst caused Skulker to blink in shock. Danny pushed himself up from the ground with difficulty and said, "You're right. I don't know anything... about you. I'm just a teenager who can barely make it home before curfew."

"What are you waiting for!?" interrupted Skulker. "Capture him!"

"Gladly!" said Ember coming back to her senses.

In the next moment, the ghostly diva was about to suck Danny into the thermos but he blinked out of existence.

"Huh?!"

"What in the...!" started a befuddled Skulker.

"It was a duplicate," explained Danny from behind them.

Skulker and Ember turned around to find Danny standing atop the prison cage.

"And before you ask what happened to my parents and Sam, another duplicate is currently taking them far away from here."

Danny fired a ghost ray which blasted Skulker off stage. Then the halfa proceeded to fire another at Ember, but unlike her partner, she had time to see it coming and dodged by flying high. Following that, she used her guitar to send a projectile fist his way. Danny flew up high off the cage before it was smashed by Ember's attack.

"Geez, your aim is about as good as a Stormtrooper. Here let me show you how it's done!"

Danny fired several ghost rays at the Ghostly Diva but she managed to dodge them.

"I could say the same about you dipstick!" spat back Ember. "I bet you couldn't hit the broadside of a barn if you were standing five inches away from it!"

She strummed her guitar cords and a wave of sound shot out. The halfa on reaction surrounded himself with a protective shield. Ember gasped in shock.

"I think you need to chill out popsicle princess!" quipped the halfa.

The ghost boy unleashed an ice beam that froze Ember cold in place. She ended up falling to the ground with a loud crash.

"Nice banter," complemented Shadow.

"Huh?" blinked Danny a little surprised by the Shadow's voice. "Oh... yeah thanks Shadow."

"Look out."

"What? Gah!"

Danny was struck by a missile with a loud bang and he fell to the ground with a thud. Shaking his head, the teen gathered his marbles together. Not too high above him floated Skulker aiming down in his direction.

"Take this whelp!" declared the hunter before sending a barrage of missiles the halfa's way in a swarm of sorts.

"Uh-oh," uttered Danny before phasing down through the ground at the last moment.

The explosion ensued moments after and Skulker smirked in delight before commenting, "That should take care of him."

"Guess again!"

Skulker turned around and found Danny coming at him at full speed with a glowing fist at the ready.

"I'd hate to rip off a popular franchise, but oh well. Phantom Punch!"

"UUUUUUURG!" moaned the hunter after Danny sent him flying backwards with one power packed fist. He kept going until crashing into a wall. Unconscious and out cold within the boundary, Skulker was down for the count.

"K.O! Now to get the thermos."

Danny flew back to the stage and found the container Ember dropped when he first attacked her. Then after retrieving it, he went over to Skulker and used it.

"One down and one to go."

The halfa looked around and finally spotted the ghostly diva lying on the ground groaning with shards of ice scattered about. After he had landed, Ember barely managed to get her eyes open and she gave him a disgruntled look before uttering, "Stupid... dipstick."

"Again with the dipstick? I have a name you know."

He was about to aim the thermos at her but then the pop princess continued crying out, "Stupid... stupid... STUPID!"

Then Ember's eyes closed tight as if she was trying to hold something in.

"(What the...)" thought the halfa raising a brow.

When the diva could no longer keep herself in check, two tears came out of the ghostly diva's eye sockets in long streams accompanied by a pain filled cry. "AAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"(Oh my god!?)" thought Danny taking a few steps back. "(She's crying!?)"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

He let her carry on without saying a word. Mostly because he didn't know what to do in this situation. Sure he could suck her up into his thermos but his morals told him that would be cruel. Even so, that put him in an awkward situation. Without knowing what to do, the halfa scratched the side of his head and remained quiet while looking away. That was until Shadow decided to intervene and give him a nudge in the right direction.

"So you're not going to console her?" asked Shadow.

"What?!" exclaimed the halfa in disbelief. "Are you crazy!? She's my enemy!"

"Isn't it the job of the hero to help out those who are in emotional turmoil?"

"You're thinking of a psychiatrist. And again, she is my enemy!"

"Enemy or not, I recall that this ghost helped a certain halfa save the world by turning it intangible. Or did you forget about that?"

"That was more of self-preservation on her part than actually helping me. Besides, why should I help her after she kidnapped Sam and my parents?"

"Its called being the bigger man. One of the 10 commandments of being a hero."

"Fine... You win I'll..." sighed the ghost teen before glancing at the distraught ghost who was still crying. "...do what I can."

Gathering his thoughts together, Danny mentally braced himself for the task.

"(Here goes...)"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" cried the pop princess.

Danny walked over and behind the pop princess before helping sit her up. Surprised by the sudden action, Ember stopping crying immediately and asked, "W-what are you doing?!"

"There you go," said the halfa before moving to sit down in front of her indian style. Then he asked, "So... what's wrong?"

"I don't need your charity!" humphed the sad but angry Ember as she folded her arms before turning away with a humph. "I don't need your charity! Just suck me up into your soup container and be done with it!"

"Usually, I wouldn't hesitate to do so but you don't seem like the normal you and that bothers me."

She turned her head to glare at him before spatting, "And how would you know the normal me? You think that I'm just a sad, miserable, cold-hearted, attention hog of a ghost who wants to take over the world!"

"Ok... I totally deserved that but you're not exactly miss transparent," said Danny rubbing the back of his neck before adding, "Its kind of hard to see past the world domination side of you."

"Fair point," relented the pop princess as her face softened. Then she asked, "So... you asked what's wrong with me?"

"Yep."

"And you... genuinely want to know?"

"If it will help you feel better."

"Ok..." Ember said taking in a deep breath as she dried her eyes. Then she exhaled sharply before muttering low, "I'm jealous of you..."

"Come again?" asked the halfa raising a brow. "I couldn't..."

"I said I'm jealous of you ok!?" answered the pop princess a little louder and then ending with, "Now please don't make me repeat it again..."

"You're jealous... of me?"

Ember nodded without looking at him.

"Why?"

"Why? You have everything a ghost like me could dream of. Fame, cool powers, people who care about you, and most of all..."

She looked at one of her hands.

"...you're alive."

"Oh... I guess I do have all of those things huh?"

"It might not seem like much to you but for me, I'd kill for those qualities. Especially the alive part."

She sat there quiet not saying anything more. Danny decided to say something in return.

"To tell you the truth," he said, "I don't think you should be jealous of me."

"Excuse me?" questioned Ember a little offended while giving the halfa a pointed look.

"Most people who look at my life from the outside only see the good parts. They don't see the bad."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's see... up until I became the world's hero, I was hunted down by both the government and my own parents. The latter wanted to dissect and study me. I was constantly bullied at school. Sure I pulled pranks in return using my powers, but it just made the jocks want to take their anger out on me even more. On top of all that, there was all the late-night ghost fighting which took a toll on my GPA. My fruit-loop of an arch-enemy Vlad Masters aka Vlad Plasmius became mayor of the city I live in. A girl I go to school with tried to waste me with the ghost hunting equipment Vlad gave her. That's one of the reasons why we had to call it quits on our relationship. Did also mention that I have a clone out there somewhere? Yeah, thank Vlad for that too. Come to think of it, Vlad let Pariah Dark loose from the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep."

"Wait, Plasmius did that? I had to ditch my home because of the ghost king!"

"It gets even better. He caused the Disasteroid incident."

"This is... wow," stammered Ember shocked by what she was hearing. "I had no idea Plasmius was behind all of that."

"Most people don't. Vlad makes the mess and I had to clean it up most of the time."

Danny let out a heavy sigh. Seeing the heaviness of the halfa's demeanor made the ghostly diva think back to what she heard Clockwork saying.

[Memory Start]

"To people like you and I, it is nothing. Because popularity and fame isn't something we set our hearts on. However, those looking in from the outside, that do focus on such vain things, put us on pedestals of infamy based upon what they've seen or heard from the outside. Though they know absolutely nothing beyond what their eyes see and what their ears hear. And so some get swept up in the ridiculousness of the whole thing to the point where they become jealous, angry, high-minded, or miserable."

[Memory End]

Speaking low to herself, Ember muttered, "I was caught up in it like he said..."

"Huh? You say something?" asked Danny not catching what she was saying.

"I... I'm feeling better now," replied the flame-haired ghost shaking her head a little.

"Really?"

After folding her arms and looking away, the pop princess nodded and said, "Yeah. You can trap me in that thermos whenever you're ready."

Danny looked down at the thermos in his hand, then back to the ghostly pop princess.

"I think I'll pass," said Danny standing up from the ground with a smile.

Confused, Ember turned her head to look at him.

"Just do me a small favor in return by staying out of trouble."

Without waiting for a reply, the ghost boy flew off.

"He let me go?" blinked the confused Ember.

Caught off guard by Danny's decision, she pondered the reason behind his actions.