Valerie's life is turned upside down.
Danny had followed Sam and Tucker to school again. It was a boring way to spend his day, as he had to stay silent and invisible and not interact with anything for fear of being discovered. But he figured he owed it to his friends after going days without contact, and worrying them so badly.
So when Danny sensed a ghost just after lunch, he was almost giddy at the opportunity to leave the building. He discretely scribbled a message in Sam's notebook - Tucker never took notes, so Sam shared hers - and phased through the wall to the parking lot.
Danny couldn't see anything on his first scan of the area, so he resorted to floating around a bit. He could hear students inside in class, and others playing some game on the field around the corner. The lot was filled with cars so Danny had to check behind each one. Eventually, he fly straight up to see the lot from above, and he finally noticed a small green glow by the dumpster.
Danny floated nearby, preparing for an attack, and stuck his head around the corner of the dumpster. He stared.
It was a dog. A puppy, really, given how small it was. It was a bright glowing green, with black ears and red eyes, and a spiked black collar. It's tail was a small wisp of ectoplasmic energy, disconnected from it's body, but still wagging happily.
"Oh." Danny said. "Hello."
The puppy pulled it's nose out of a paper bag and turned to look at him. A purple tongue hung out of it's mouth.
Danny relaxed. "What are you doing here, little guy?"
The puppy barked happily.
Danny smiled and knelt beside the dog. It bristled, but he didn't notice. He reached out a hand, and managed to get within an inch of it's head when the dog growled. Danny immediately pulled back.
The dog didn't like his sudden movement. It took a step closer, still growling, and Danny watched as it grew from the size of his foot to twice his height.
Danny shrunk away. "Oh boy."
The dog stepped closer, looking ready to attack. Danny prepared himself to be mauled, when suddenly the dog froze. It lifted it's head and sniffed the air. It barked, loud enough to rattle Danny's eardrums, and took off running down the street.
Once Danny's vision stopped spinning, he followed.
Valerie really didn't understand why she had to be here. She knew that it was a big deal for her Daddy, but she wasn't involved in this. She didn't have anything to do with the security system he had installed. She would much rather be out with Star, checking out that new boutique on 5th Street.
Instead, Valerie followed her Daddy on a tour of Axion Labs as he introduced his employer to the new, state-of-the-art security system. The big boss man was looking pleased, and Valerie was expecting him to pass over a check any moment now, when the wall burst open.
Rubble crashed to the floor. Everyone in the room screamed and ducked. A piece of wall slammed into the ground inches from Valerie's foot. She was too shocked to move.
A giant green beast pushed through the opening in the wall. It roared, and leaped into the room.
Valerie's dad grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her out of the way. They crawled behind an upturned table.
"Are you okay, baby?"
"F-fine," Valerie stuttered. "What is that thing?"
Damon glanced at the beast. "Probably another ghost. I haven't seen this one before, though."
Of course it was a ghost. Valerie knew all about the ghosts attacking Amity Park, but she hadn't seen one up close before. She hadn't realized how much damage they could cause.
Suddenly, Valerie was angry. This ghost was ruining her Daddy's presentation. She refused to let anything mess with her family. She stood and leapt over the table, ignoring her father's efforts to pull her back into hiding. "Hey! Ghost!"
The beast turned to look at her with menacing red eyes. Valerie realized that it was a dog. Valerie knew a lot about dogs, and she thought it looked a little like her grandfather's old Doberman.
The dog growled and took a step towards her.
Valerie suddenly realized just how big the ghost was. It was easily the size of a truck. She backed away, feeling like an idiot. Her dad was still trying to grab her, but she kept slipping out of reach. The dog stepped even closer, and Valerie was suddenly sure that she was about to add to Amity's ghost population.
"Hey, Cujo!"
All attention turned to the ghost floating just inside the hole in the wall. It was a young boy, looking eerily inhuman, and seeming ragged. If he had to breathe, Valerie thought, he'd be hunched over panting.
"Cujo!" He called again, waving his cloak like a flag. "Come here, leave the nice people alone!"
Was this his dog? Valerie was suddenly angry again.
Luckily for her, before she could say anything, the dog turned and ran towards the boy, chasing him out of the building and down the street.
People climbed out of their hiding places, glancing around nervously. The room resounded with concerned mumbles, as everyone checked on each other's safety. Damon grabbed onto Valerie and held her tight, his chin resting on her head. Valerie hugged him back, trembling with anger and fear.
When they separated, they noticed Damon's boss stalking towards them angrily.
Damon deflated. "I'm fired, aren't I?"
His boss snarled. "Immediately and without hesitation."
Sam and Tucker sat on a bench across from Valerie's house, Danny hovering just above them.
"Stop feeling guilty, Danny," Sam didn't even bother to look up from her book. "It's not your fault, or your responsibility."
"Yeah dude," Tucker chipped in. "You've never had a pet before, it makes sense you couldn't control a dog."
Sam elbowed him in the ribs.
"But guys," Danny frowned. "They've lost their house because of me. And her dad lost his job."
Sam snapped her book shut. "But Danny, that wasn't your fault. Like we keep telling you, you can't control the actions of that ghost dog. What would Clockwork tell you?"
Danny sighed. He swished his cloak over his friends shoulders. They didn't feel it. "He would say that everything happens for a reason, and if I couldn't stop it, then it was meant to happen."
"Good," Tucker said. "That's three people telling you the same thing, plus Jazz if she knew about this. So how come you won't listen to us?"
Danny shrugged. He watched as Damon and Valerie walked in and out of the house, carrying labeled boxes to the moving truck or adding things to the yard sale pile. "Will you help her?"
Sam groaned, but Tucker shrugged. He put his PDA in his pocket and crossed the street. Sam reluctantly followed.
Tucker reached Valerie just as she tripped. He grabbed the box she was carrying and helped her find her balance. "Hey Val. I heard what happened."
"Oh, great." Valerie snorted. "Word's already oozed down to the bottom of the social grapevine."
Tucker jerked back.
"Hey!" Sam snapped. "Just because you're in a bad mood doesn't mean you can take it out on him! He just wants to help, since none of your own friends will."
"I don't want any help." Valerie hissed. "I want to be left alone."
Sam rolled her eyes and turned to look at the clothes hanging on the hedges.
Valerie picked up the box and carried it over to the truck.
Tucker sent an uncomfortable look at where he thought Danny was. He was off by a few feet, but Danny got the message anyway. The problem was, Danny didn't know what to do. With a sigh, he tapped on Tucker's shoulder, letting him know that he could leave. Tucker shrugged and left to collect Sam.
As the trio began to cross the street, Danny heard an echo of a bark. He froze. Sam and Tucker turned around.
Inside the truck, Valerie heard it too. She gasped and ran back outside.
All four watched in horror as the ghost dog crawled up through the ground. It stomped on the yard sale pile, smashing an armoire.
Valerie shrieked.
Danny took advantage of the chaos to fade into visibility. He shot towards Cujo, grabbed his collar, and pulled him into the sky and away from the breakable items. Cujo thrashed and rolled like a crocodile, and Danny lost his grip. He got tangled in his cloak and lost his hold of gravity, crashing to the ground. Cujo followed, snarling.
Sam, Tucker, and Valerie darted out of range, but stayed close enough that Danny could hear Valerie say, "Why does that dog keep following me?"
Danny struggled to climb out of the pile of cloth. Cujo wrapped his jaws around Danny's ankle and shook him in the air. Danny yelped and turned intangible, flying out of reach as fast as he could.
Cujo chased him, crushing Valerie's belongings in the process.
Valerie began yelling again.
Panicked, Danny turned and faced the ghost dog head on. He caught Cujo in the throat with his elbow. Cujo choked, and Danny wrestled him to the ground. He scratched behind the dog's ear. After a moment, Cujo's tail began to wag and he shrank back to his smaller size.
Exhausted, Danny hurriedly scooped up the puppy and flew away. As he left, he heard Valerie begin to cry.
Thus begins Valerie's arc! I've always loved Valerie, she's such a great character.
These are gonna start getting longer, just FYI if you like the shorter chapters like my grandma does.
To the anon known as LdR: Thank you! You'll have to wait a while for the things you mentioned to come up, but they will happen in part/chapter 36 and 38, as long as my outline stays on track!