Howdy folks! It's time for a new chapter!

Before we get started I wanted to announce I have plans to go back and rewrite a few chapters that I feel could have been done better. The chapters to be rewritten include but are not limited to:

-Chapter 1

-Chapter 2

-Chapter 3

-Chapter 15

-Chapter 19

-Chapter 23

These rewrites will not count as updates and when I do update I'll announce which one's I've finished rewriting so you can go back and reread them. I don't plan on destroying each chapter's original plot, mainly flushing out details and adding an extra scene or two.

So, without further delay, let's get this chapter started!

Danny POV, Ghost Zone, December 15th…

Danny decided he really did not like Skulker.

This was due to multiple reasons. Part of it was the intimidation factor, the hunter ghost was huge and made of metal. Not to mention the fiery green hair. Seriously he was a robot ghost hunter thing, did he really need hair? Nevermind the variety of hair that was on fire. There was also the name, seriously what kind of name is Skulker? It just sounded bad, and Danny was fairly certain it had not been the hunter's name when he had been alive.

There was also the large assortment of weapons that Skulker somehow had at his disposable. Most ghosts could shoot ecto-blasts so the blasters that Skulker had weren't exactly impressive or even something to make a fuss about. No, what Danny was willing to make a fuss about were the missiles and the rockets, the ecto-energy blades and the phase-proof nets. Seriously, why did the guy need to overcompensate that much?

But the thing about Skulker that ticked Danny off the most had to be the fact that the self proclaimed "greatest hunter in the Ghost Zone!" wanted to skin him and use his pelt as a trophy. There were so many things wrong with that, Danny did not even know where to begin. Probably with the fact he was made of ectoplasm and felt safe to say he would dissolve into goop if the attempt to skin him was made.

Honestly with all the things that he disliked about Skulker he could probably make a whole list labeled: Reasons to Hate Skulker.

Unfortunately, the list would have to wait. Danny had other concerns right now, most of them centered around the fact that Skulker was attacking him and his friends in another attempt to hunt him.

He had been naive enough to think that Skulker would have given up after the first attempt at hunting him. That was not the case however and the other ghost seemed to have taken the failure personally and was coming after Danny with a vengeance. Danny's poor luck managed to continue in the fact that each and every time he ran into Skulker, he did not have his thermos with him.

This time was no different either, this left two options, fight and hope the hunter would decide it was too much trouble to try catching him now, or run for the hills, or in the case of the Ghost Zone, fly towards the floating islands in the distance.

Considering this was Youngblood's pirate ship and was right next to the ghost boy's lair, running away was not really an option. On the plus side it also meant that Danny wouldn't be fighting Skulker on his own while the hunter was fighting three to one odds. Four, if Youngblood's parrot counted as a separate entity from his partner/master/whatever their relationship to each other was.

Needless to say, despite his intense dislike for the hunter ghost, Danny almost felt bad for what they were about to do to the ghost.

Almost.

A barrage of missiles fired out of a launcher that had emerged from Skulker's right shoulder. The rockets peppered the deck of the unfinished ship, some smashed right through the wood and into the bowels where the wood was weak and others exploded on impacts creating small vortexes of fire and pain.

Danny had taken to the air at this point and was flying in between and around the explosions, like a gigantic game of pinball. Just comparing the current fight to the game made Danny feel slightly guilty for whenever he popped in a quarter to play. Well, at least the balls in pinball didn't have to fear for their lives during the game.

When one of the rockets crashed into the deck in front of him, Danny found himself rapidly trying to backtrack and avoid the fire. Without thinking he blew out of his mouth, hard. He felt cold seem to flow through him as a gust of ice ectoplasm enhanced wind doused the explosion before it could reach him.

"Well that was cool." He muttered before turning his attention towards Skulker now that the last of the rockets had fallen. The hunter seemed to be fiddling with a control panel on his wrist. A look of frustration crossed his features and he slammed his fist down causing it to spark. The missile launcher retracted back into his shoulder. Danny still thought that was complete bullshit, because there was no way that multi-barrel rectangular launcher of that size could fit into Skulker's shoulder.

Before Danny could move into the attack someone else did first, he couldn't help but grin as he watched a cannon ball soar through the air and knock off one of the wings of Skulker's jetpack. Evidently Youngblood was none too pleased with the fact his ship was being attacked and set on fire.

"STOP BLOWING HOLES IN MY SHIP!" The pirate ghost was shouting at the hunter, very obviously irate at the situation. His pegleg was pointed at an awkward angle so he could fire it properly.

Skulker spiraled out of control and fell to the deck of ship in a heap. Apart from the missing wing he did not appear to have too much damage though. His remaining jetpack wing retracted and he glared at the offending attacker.

"Be silent, you annoying small ghost child!" Skulker shouted back in a less angry tone, but rather, more of an annoyed one. "I don't care about you or your pathetic and easily breakable vessel, I just want the ice-core ghost child!"

That was honestly the wrong thing for Skulker to say.

Youngblood simply started to shake with rage. He didn't say anything for moment just glared at Skulker with a fire in his eyes that actually made Danny take a step back. Skulker, that brilliant hunter, failed to sense the danger that seemed to radiate off of the smaller ghost. It was not quite a Haunting Aura, but rather the primal knowledge that the thing in front of you will fight bitterly to the end to make you suffer.

For a moment Danny actually felt afraid of the other ghost.

"You've attacked and insulted my ship, you attacked me and my friends, you want to kill one of them!" Youngblood ranted the anger still written on his face. "How dare you!"

"I don't need to justify myself to whelp like you." Skulker snorted aiming a wrist mounted blaster at the younger ghost. "You're hardly a threat, not even impressive. Your companions both are elemental core types. Ice and Fire! I get two valuable prey while only on the hunt for one!"

Youngblood's eyes shadowed under the brim of his hat. "Bones." He directed at his parrot.

"I thought you wanted to wait before you showed them off?" The parrot, apparently named Bones (very imaginative), asked.

"I don't care!" Youngblood snapped at the parrot who squawked and flew up.

"Fine, fine. I'll go get them ready." Bones the parrot told him and flapped his boney wings and flew away.

Danny decided he had spent enough time watching the confrontation between Youngblood and Skulker, whatever the other ghost was planning could wait. Dealing with Skulker was his primary goal right now. He somersaulted into the air and flew towards Skulker, fists blazing with ecto-energy.

"Dude just knock it off!" He told Skulker as he slammed into the larger ghost and knocked him off the side of the ship. As soon as they had cleared the deck Danny put the metaphorical breaks on and stayed floating in midair as Skulker floated into the depths of the Zone. Without his jetpack he was going to have trouble getting around.

He didn't get to bask in his slightly twisted contentedness however as whatever Skulker lacked in intellectual thought and conversation, he more than made up for in craftiness.

Rather than pointlessly attempting to activate his already damage jetpack, Skulker had a large single rocket launcher expand out of his lower back. Rather than attempting to fire it at Danny he pulled the projectile out of its holster and held it firmly between his legs like he was about to try and ride it like a bull. And as it turned out, he was considering he had just activated the manual launch.

The rocket propelled Skulker soared at Danny with a twisted and cruel smile stretched across his features. This left little to question about what his intent was for when he reached Danny.

What only lasted seconds seemed like an eternity to the Phantom and he would forever treasure that as he would recall perceiving Skulker's look of victory change to terror as a giant blue fist slammed into him. The impact severely damaging his armor and causing the rocket he was using to propel himself forward to detonate in a very unfortunate area.

Danny turned to the source of the fist and saw a slightly singed and very pissed looking Ember McLaine with her hand at an angle that left no question to the fact that the attack had originated from her guitar.

"What took you so long?" Danny commented teasingly and ducked under the retaliatory swipe Ember made at his head.

"I tried to stop one of the rockets, it blew me below deck and under a bunch of debris." She scowled at the memory. "I am going to put him into a world of hurt."

"Looks like you already did." Danny pointed out as he landed back on the ship and hung over the railing to get a good look at what was left of Skulker.

The once proud hunter was quite literally in ruins. Both his legs and lower torso were gone and his left arm was bent at a very awkward angle. His upper torso was scratched and had several chunks missing and his shirt was in tatters. His flaming hair flickered as it tried to stay ablaze but was fading fast. His right arm appeared to still be intact however, not that it did him much good at this point.

But Skulker was never one to take defeat gracefully.

"You think this is over!" He called in a pained yet still proud voice. "The hunt has only just begun! There will be no escape! No mercy! I'll have both your pelts, do you hear me?" He ranted at Danny and Ember.

"Can I end him now?" Ember commented as though discussing the weather.

"No, I want to see where he's going with this." Danny talked her down. Besides, he still needed to bring Skulker to Walker, honestly this might be the best chance he would get, but he was going to let the hunter use up as much precious energy as possible angrily ranting at them.

"My fury will come upon you like a stampede of enraged elephants! I have the eyes of a hawk and I will use them to hunt you to the ends of this realm and that of the living!" Skulker continued, oblivious to the plans being made for him already.

"HEY SKULL GUY!" Another voice called causing Danny and Ember to look towards where Youngblood now stood on what was going to be the poop deck of the ship.

"That's Skulker whelp!" Skulker shouted in response.

"Whatever! I just got one thing to say to you!" Youngblood announced as Bones the parrot returned to his rightful place on the boys shoulder.

"What's that?" Skulker asked skeptically.

"FIRE IN THE HULL!" Youngblood roared a vengeful grin on his face.

"Actually it's supposed to be "fire in the hole."" Bones pointed out helpfully.

"What?" Youngblood glanced at him, confusion written plain as day on his face. "But why- you know what, nevermind! JUST BLOW HIM UP!"

Danny and Ember glanced at each other but a rumbling below deck caused them to look over the edge of the boat as row after row of cannons emerged from the hull of the ship.

Skulker had a much better view than they did however and suddenly looked very nervous. He started waving his still functional arm in gesture that made it clear he wanted whatever was happening tos top. "Now listen, I know we have our differences, but I'm sure we can talk about-"

He never got to finish his sentence.

The cannons fired almost simultaneously in horrifying, yet beautiful fashion. They tore apart what was left of Skulker's armor suit and one lucky ball took his head clean off.

Ember whistled her appreciation while Danny was torn between cheering and groaning. Cheering, because his unwanted stalker was finally dealt with, and groaning, because now he couldn't bring the ghost back to Walker. Maybe he could find the head and take it back to the warden and that would be enough? Well he could dream.

So instead he decided to interrogate Youngblood. "How did you do that?" Well it wasn't much of an interrogation and more of an inquiry.

"Take a look below deck me hearties!" Youngblood smiled in a somewhat childish fashion but had a bit too many teeth.

Ember and Danny shared a look, shrugged and did as the other ghost asked. What they found was surprising to say the least.

Skeletons. Glowing green skeletons. Dressed like pirates. Needless to say whatever the two teenage ghosts had been expecting, it had not been that. Especially considering there was a small army of them below deck. Enough to crew a ship in fact…

The pulled their heads up and looked at Youngblood. The unspoken question written across their faces, no words required.

"Oh what? She can control fire and you can control ice! Not all of us can be elemental type ghosts." Youngblood protested.

"So this has to do with your core?" Danny asked but shaked his head before Youngblood could respond. "Nevermind, tell me later, right now I gotta go get Skulker's head before it floats off." He told them. "But we are talking about this."

And with that he leaped into the air and took off after the floating head of the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter.

Danny POV, Walker's Prison, Several Hours Later…

"All this time, he was just a frog in the head." Danny asked stupidly. Unable to keep himself from staring at the small, phase proof cage that the guards had sealed the hunter inside of. Or the true form of the hunter anyway.

"I am not a frog you insolent whelp!" Skulker protested angrily in a squeaky voice that only vaguely resembled the one he had when in his suit. "I am Skulker! I am the hunter! You are the prey! I will-"

"Shut him up and try to forget about him." Walker instructed the guards, wearing an annoyed expression. "I have a feeling you might have trouble with that though so just put him in a cell and throw away the key."

"Noo!" Skulker's squeaky voice screamed. "I am Skulker! I will not be denied!"

His screams of rage and oaths of revenge and carnage faded as the guards floated away.

"Why'd you let him keep the suit last time you had him locked up in here? I mean wouldn't it have been easier to just take him out of it?" Danny asked feeling rightfully curious.

"Shut up and get out." Walker told him without turning to look at him.

"You didn't know he was just a little blob, did you?" Danny teased, an amused grin on his face.

"Don't make me repeat myself."

General POV, Amity Park, December 16th…

Let it be said that while the denizens of Amity Park were not the most intelligent lot, they were certainly made of stern stuff.

After all, just months after their town had first begun being visited by terrifying beings from another realm, the citizens were already getting used to the idea of these things being around. Some of the ghosts were even beginning to get fan clubs!

So as the Christmas season rolled in, there was no shortage of ghost themed merchandise decorating the windows of stores and the tables of Holiday Bazaars.

There were action figure versions of Technus, Phantom and even the Box Ghost, and plushy versions of Ember Mclain and her band. Numerous other ghostly themed plushes and memorabilia filled shelves. The Fentons were not in agreement with such items being sold in stores as they felt it encouraged people to view ghosts as something to enjoy and not something to be careful of and fight back against. But they were too busy fighting over the hypothetical existence of Santa to properly make any sort of stand against the odd choice of Christmas merchandise this year.

It is during this joyful time of year that two ghosts in particular were making their daily rounds.

The Ripper actually had managed to sustain his obsession over the past few weeks and managed to keep it in check enough to enjoy the festivities. Even after all these years he still recalled the happy times of holiday season from his own life. Besides, he didn't feel any need to feed his obsession right now. He might as well have fun, it wasn't too hard for him to wander the streets. He primarily had to do it at night but that was hardly a concern for a ghost of his caliber.

And if his obsession did happen to start getting out of control, well… there were plenty of potential victims around to sate it.

The other ghost that found herself in Amity Park at this time was hardly as willing to enjoy the season as her male counterpart. Wraith had come to this town with one thing in mind and she was not going to put it off and try to "enjoy the season." There would be no "Peace on Earth" until she had her peace of mind.

This day in particular found her flipping through an old high school yearbook. One for Casper High from the year 1984. The more time she spent in this town the more she remembered. Her vague concern about running out of energy without returning to the Ghost Zone was vastly overshadowed by her obsession pounding away in her core with each passing second.

She blinked as she reach the Sophomore section. She pulled a pen off of a nearby table and crossed out the picture of a teenage Jeffrey Adams. He had always been rude to her even before that incident involving her death. He had deserved having his girlfriend break up with him over finding "inappropriate" pictures in his backpack. All the better that she didn't believe him when he said that he had no idea how they got there. Some people just made it too easy.

Wraith continued to flip through the pages circling three more pictures of those responsible for her death before she made it to the W's. She stopped and stared at the picture of Kylie Wyeth. The bookish looking girl stared back at her. She held up a strand of her own dark silver hair and compared it to the brown hair of the girl in picture. It was such a long time ago, she had never really bothered trying to remember much of her life after she had remembered the exact events that led up to her death.

She leaned back and focused on the fragments she could remember, spending hours in the library getting lost in book after book. The old librarian who had jokingly offered her an internship and let her return a late book with no fee. When was the last time she had sat down with a good book?

Wraith shook herself and forced down the good memories of her life. They didn't matter now, all that mattered was her revenge. It wasn't like she had anything else. She flipped the page, putting Kylie Wyeth back in the dark as she found who she was looking for.

Andrew Zaxt. A jock of course, what else could he have been with a name like that? Once upon a time young Kylie had a crush on him and he had known it. In fact he had used it to get her to waste her time helping him prepare for midterms, leading her on and on with compliments and little gifts. Only to rip out her heart and stomp on it as soon as the tests were over and had gleefully told her all about his girlfriend once she had worked up the courage to try asking him out.

It was a real shame about his leg injury, he might have managed to get a scholarship with how well he played football. But, you never really know when a bike chain might jam and send you crashing into the ground.

Wraith smiled with twisted glee as she crossed out his picture. She glanced up from the yearbook picture of the handsome young football star to the real live thing. Time had not been kind to him. He had a potbelly and was balding at thirty six.

Of course she only knew about both those things because she had seen him briefly before the way he was now. Tied tightly to a chair, ropes completely coating his torso. His scalp had been… removed leaving the bloody top of his skull exposed as his head was forced to look towards the mirror adjacent. His lips grotesquely pulled into a forced smile as though the now dry tears running from his terrified eyes were not there.

She gave the corpse one last scrutinizing look. Honestly, part of her wondered if he would come back as a ghost. Could a human killed by a ghost come back with an obsession of revenge centered around that ghost? Maybe she was thinking too hard about it.

Shrugging, Wraith tucked the yearbook under her arm and picked up the matchbox from the table. A quick strike of a match later and a small flame lit up the dark room. She tossed it onto the floor and watched transfixed as the trail of gasoline blazed all the way to the chair.

Not staying to view her handy work Wraith turned intangible and flew out the side of the building and into the cold early morning air.

Two down, three to go. Just try and stop her.

And I'm going to end the chapter there.

That last part got a bit darker than I meant it to be. Not that it really matters too much, just wanted to flush out Wraith a bit before we get to the stuff with her and Danny.

Also, yes, Skulker has been dealt with. He'll be back eventually but for now he'll be enjoying prison life.

Next time I'm going to have Danny and Ember talk with Youngblood, might include Clockwork or Ghost Writer. Also Phantom meets Wraith and things are going to get a bit philosophical about what's right and what's wrong.

Oh and things will get very Christmas-y in the next three chapters.

Well, time for reviews!

Lolxxx: He keeps teasing us with a comeback! At this point I'm honestly willing to beg him to just start a .

DannyPhantomPhandom: Christmas is coming soon. By the end of July, I promise.

TheBlade17: Always happy to hear that!

Guest(1): Maybe, but even if there is it won't be the main focus, merely another character plot point.

Natzi Sumbitch: I know that feeling all too well.

Guest(2): Sort of. Actually it comes from a friend trying to explain the lore of Naruto to me for the first time. Something about a moon tree and stuff like that. I'm not sure where the sun came into it, but it did.

ImpudentMiscegenation: I think I have the most fun with Ember's lines to be honest.

Kimera20: Skulker's a bit of a jerk, yeah…

Guest(3): Wait no longer!

Willow10: Technically it's chapter 24 because what's in the chapter 22 slot is an omake. But I'm glad you like it!

That's all for now folks!

Bye.

~FriTik

R&R