Heyo! Hows my peoples doing!? I just realised one small detail...

I'm working Monday, Tuesday, I have band after school on Wednesday, Thursday I'm working and Friday I have to go mother's day shopping so... I won't have much time to write... especially since I have brickloads of homework to do... or I will do... And I haven't even done my homework for this weekend. I'll figure it out later, but this story won't be affected by my very busy week. Well, not too busy. But yeah. So I am going to hopefully write another chapter tonight and then finish the story tomorrow. If that is possible. I might finish the story tonight, even. It all depends on how much time I spend on writing and what else I do and how easily it all comes to me.

There's either going to be one more chapter and an epilogue, or more likely two chapters and an epilogue, or just two chapters... I'll have to figure it out. But next chapter is definitely NOT the last chapter. I can't tie together all the loose ends in the next chapter. It's just impossible. But anyway, read on my puppets!

I feel like making a DNAngel AMV.... Hmm...

The Beginning

Chapter Twenty-Four

The Battle

Fiona hadn't seen where the girl named Valerie had disappeared to – she focused all of her attention at the appalling sludge floating in front of her. Its eyes were reflecting irritation – Keira had obviously hoped that Fiona would have been too dense to discover the truth about her apparent best friend. The ghost should have realised that after spending so much time with a human, the human would begin to get suspicious of previously mentioned ghost.

Keira wasn't entirely sure of her assumption – Fiona hadn't admitted to knowing that the ghost was her friend. "GRR!" her jaw snapped as she tried to make herself seem fierce and almighty. But Fiona already knew the truth – Keira's efforts were wasted on her.

"I know the truth." Fiona informed her calmly, hoping that the ghost hunting weapon that Valerie had supplied her with could be trusted to protect her. Otherwise she was walking straight towards her death. "I know everything. That you were only posing as my best friend – that Keira never did exist."

"That's right," the monster growled, spittle hanging from its jaw. "I am Palindrome."

Fiona cocked an eyebrow. "Palindrome? But you aren't a palindrome…" she pointed out slowly, her mind seeking an explanation to this nonsensical name.

"It matters not what the name means," Palindrome was getting impatient – she didn't want to play with her food, she only wanted to eat it. It was getting cold, standing there in front of her. She would have to make it run around to heat it up once again. After all, she never ate her meals cold. "All that matters is that you shall die, and the cause of your death will be a Palindrome."

"What Palindrome shall that be?" Fiona was accepting the challenge – she would fight the being.

"Nurse, I spy gypsies, run!"

"I'm sorry, but that palindrome doesn't fit the occasion," Fiona aimed her ghost gun at the creature who was once known as Keira and fired.

Danny picked himself up before dusting his clothes off. He smiled at Valerie appreciatively but she just ignored him. It seemed that she still harboured anger towards him. It would disappear in the future, at least – the fact that she had come to save him was proof of this. If she truly hated him, she would've let him die.

Valerie left the area without a word to any of them. She had either disappeared to explore a different section of this place or she had left the abandoned hotel entirely. It was perfectly understandable – if Danny had a choice, he'd choose not to get caught up in all this mess. He envied Valerie that choice to come and go as she pleased.

"What now?" Jazz asked as they one by one broke free of what had once been their prison cell. She fussily pulled pieces of plaster and plastic from people's hair and dusted all of their clothes off, just like a mother. She even went to wipe a bit of grime from Tucker's face – she licked her finger and got only so close before he pushed her away. "We need to plan the next stage of Sam's rescue."

"Man, it stinks out her as well," Tucker made the observation and carried on childishly – he pinched his nose and swayed on his feet as though tipsy.

Danny had to agree with him on that point, though – it really did stink. He wasn't sure where the smell emanated from or what was the cause, but he wouldn't have been surprised if he had discovered a dead body in the hotel. Disgusted and horrified, sure, but not at all surprised. Even before the time that it had been abandoned, when there had been visitors, it hadn't been a very pleasant place to stay. The owner had been involved in some sort of shady business – assassinations or drug dealing. Danny suspected it was the latter – it would be a bit noticeable if people suddenly began to die in Amity Park.

"Jazz, you scan the building for Sam. You might pick up a signal due to the close proximity. Otherwise you'll have to search each and every room for her." Danny took charge of the situation once again, fitting quite comfortably into his role as the leader. He turned to Tucker. "I want you to find that ghastly thing from earlier and try to fight it if it is possible. If you need back up, just call and we'll be right there."

Tucker and Jazz both nodded their consent and left the area.

"What about me?" Kelly felt slightly left out – she was new at the whole ghost hunting stuff. She thought that her lack of experience was rendering her useless in the eyes of her comrades.

"Why, you're coming with me." Danny told her matter-of-factly. "We're going to find and then defeat Vlad once and for all. Are you in?"

"Definitely."

Maddie was standing silently in the Fenton lab, examining some of her more recent inventions. Ever since discovering the truth about her son – the truth she had been seeking for such a long time – she hadn't started on a single new project or completed any of her old ones. Instead, she'd spent her time looking for some inspiration for a new ghost related invention. She hadn't received any.

Her son was half ghost. The idea didn't seem as outrageous, now that she'd had a few days to get used to it. But it still caused a pain in her heart whenever she thought of her little boy. He was damaged – he was no longer human. It broke her heart.

I'm a terrible mother, she felt pity for herself. She had tried her hardest to be the best mother that she could while sticking with her perfect career. Only recently had it gotten too hard to continue – she had lost all balance in her life. After all, it was hard to be a dedicated ghost hunter when her own son was half ghost.

To think what I have done to him…

She and Jack had created a ghost portal that hadn't worked until there had been an accident that Danny was involved in. That was when his behaviour had changed and when Danny Phantom had begun to appear around the town. That was when the town had become infested with these ghosts. She had killed half of her son. And then she had tried to kill another half of him – Danny Phantom – time and time again.

She had openly displayer her hatred for the 'town hero' only to find out that she was wrong about him – he truly was a saviour. He risked his life for such unappreciative people every single day. It was hard with her to cope with – one minute she hated Danny Phantom and loved Danny Fenton and the next she had realised that they were one and the same. Danny Fenton was Danny Phantom. It was playing with her mind, with her emotions. But after her initial shock had passed, she had begun to slowly adjust to the idea of her son being the infamous ghost boy.

And she had heartlessly kicked her son out of the comfort of their house and onto the cold, dirty streets. Once more she had hurt her beautiful little boy. There was nothing she could to do reverse her words or her actions – the time travelling device hadn't been successful. She felt a tear slide down her check as she was consumed by her regret.

She looked up and saw that Jack was standing in front of her. He hadn't spoken a word for the past day – in fact, he hadn't regarded her since she'd kicked Danny out. He was possibly disappointed in her and couldn't bear to face her. He had remained unusually quiet and calm. She hoped it was to allow her space to deliberate over her decisions.

"Let's go and get Danny," Jack suggested softly, kindness resonating throughout his voice.

Valerie ran towards the door that she knew Vlad would be hiding behind. She had to reach his room and speak to him before anyone else did. It was of the utmost importance. No one could find out about what she was about to do, otherwise she would lose the element of surprise.

She pushed hesitantly on the door and was relieved to find that it wasn't locked. She didn't look around for Vlad – it was too dark inside and she'd have no chance of spotting him, especially since he had the ability to turn invisible. Besides, her tracker led her straight to him.

"What are you doing here, Valerie?" It was Vlad Master's voice – he was in his human form. He stepped forward and lit a candle to allow her to see him.

Valerie waited for her eyes to adjust to the tiny flicker of light before she answered his question. "I know the truth," she confronted him boldly. "I know that you are half ghost and that you are evil. I know that you kidnapped Sam. I know that Danny Fenton is Danny Phantom. And I know that you and Danny are enemies."

Vlad raised his eyebrows, impressed with her discoveries. His eyes revealed that deep in his mind he was calculating the likeliness of him getting out of a confrontation with her alive. He was also figuring out an escape route, in case the situation got a little bit sticky. "And why is it that you tell me all of this now, without even a nervous bone in your entire body?" He enquired, his eyes roaming around the room.

Valerie smiled diabolically up at him. "I want to join you in your mission to destroy Danny Phantom."

Jazz moved to the lobby of the building and looked about herself in amazement. She couldn't understand how anyone – including ghosts – could bear to live in such a horrid place. It was in the worst of conditions. Jazz was surprised that it hadn't been torn down yet – it was a major safety hazard. The walls were all crumbling and looked as though they would collapse at any time.

She looked at the gadget that she had taken from the lab the previous day. It was one of her mother's inventions – of that she was certain. It wasn't highly advanced technology but it was an exceptional tracker. Not only did it track ghosts, but it also tracker humans. It didn't even need DNA to do so – unlike some of those other inferior devices. This tracker just located any source of human body heat and showed the enquirer the human's physical appearance. The downside was that if you didn't know what person you were seeking looked like, it would be a whole lot more difficult.

She pressed the 'on' button and ran a san throughout the entire building. It only took her a few minutes and thankfully, she was left undisturbed in the lobby. There was an impatient beeping tone from the device as it showed Jazz its results. There were two humans moving around on the bottom floor – Danny and Kelly. Two humans and a ghost were near the room she'd just left – most likely Tucker, Valerie and Keira the ghost. And then on the floor above her were two more humans – she wasn't sure who it would be and didn't bother checking it out because the tracker had picked up a human and a ghost on the top floor.

The human was unconscious and the ghost was extremely powerful. She needed Danny and Kelly to help her with this one – she had finally found Sam.

Tucker had gone straight towards a room where some sort of commotion was to be heard. He found that the door had been blasted from its hinges. He shrugged and crept inside, not wanting to alert the ghost to his presence. He kept close to one wall so as to not be caught up in the fight.

He widened his eyes as he saw who exactly was fighting with Keira. He had instantly assumed that that was what Valerie had disappeared to do. However, it seemed that his assumption was wrong – the person fighting Keira was not a ghost hunter but a girl. To be specific, it was Fiona. Keira had posed as this little girl's best friend. It seemed that Fiona wasn't as pathetic as Keira had thought. After all, she had seen through the ghost's illusion.

But despite all of this, Tucker couldn't just let Fiona fight the ghost all by herself.

"Hey, big and ugly!" Tucker bellowed at the top of his lungs. There wasn't even a hint of fear in his body. He was used to being used as the distraction or the bait – he had had plenty of experience when it came to other ghosts.

"Stay out of this," Fiona warned Tucker as she fired an anti-ecto-blast towards Keira. "This is my fight."

But Keira had turned her eye to Tucker and had begun to lick her lips eagerly. Tucker felt like backing down so that he could run and hide in a corner but felt a certain responsibility towards this girl. He had to help her out, despite how much she might want to fight this beast alone.

"I sure am hungry," Keira's ghost admitted in a screechy voice that caused pain to Tucker's ears.

Tucker stood his ground as his stomach fluttered – after all, he was the distraction and could not disappear. He had to continue to distract the ghost despite his dreadful feelings towards the idea. He was careful not to draw any attention whatsoever to Fiona – he didn't even glance in her direction to see if she had taken advantage of the situation.

"Palindrome, no!" She cried out desperately.

Apparently not.

Tucker screamed in agony as a searing pain shot through his body – the ghost known as Palindrome had bitten him and was beginning to eat him alive.

"I found Sam!"

Danny and Kelly spun around in shock as they heard Jazz call out to them. Danny's face lit up with a smile of relief. It quickly disappeared when he saw the expression on his sister's face, though. Jazz was obviously happy that Sam had been located but Danny could tell that she had bad news.

So could Kelly. "What is it?" Kelly asked. She glanced towards Danny and noticed that he was standing statue still. He was unable to speak.

"There's a really powerful ghost up there, guarding Sam." Jazz informed them breathlessly – she had been running through the hotel, trying to catch up to them.

"Well, if that's all, let's go." Danny was determined not to let the prospect of a powerful ghost standing between him and Sam scare him away.

"Sam's also unconscious." Jazz was crestfallen.

"Then we'll just have to wake her up," Kelly decided optimistically. "After all, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Well, I'd have to say that it is much worse than you think."

Danny, Kelly and Jazz all looked up to see Vlad Plasmius hovering in the air above their heads, smiling malevolently. His fangs were revealed in this triumphant grin of his. He had accomplished something truly terrifying.

"What are you talking about?" Once again, Kelly was the only one still capable of forming words.

"What I'm talking about is," Vlad paused dramatically, tasting the tension in the air. "The reason that you didn't pick up Sam on your scanner earlier and the reason that she is now said to be unconscious is this,"

He paused again before delivering the cold, hard truth to them.

"Sam is dead."

Yeah. I never intended the Valerie thing to happen, and then I didn't intend Vlad to tell them that and all, but it made the chapter oh so more exciting! :) Tell me, was it ookay? I'm almost finished this story, wow. It's the longest story i've ever written (currently 145 pages, I think) because I get halfway through stories and give up on them. That's why I mostly don't post my stories until I'm almost finished. But if I post them before I finish, then it sometimes makes me feel more determined to finish them :) Anyway, I'll keep it short, almost done people!

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