This is kind of a short chapter, but a lot happens in it.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Danny Phantom.
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"I told you my mission would be easy, Ghost Boy," Veclussier said, pinning Danny to the floor. "And now I'll bring you to Skulker, and you will not thwart the efforts of us ghosts to destroy the world!"
Danny cringed. "Your mind is really messed up, isn't it?"
"SILENCE! You will come with me to the Ghost Zone, where you will live forever in a cage. And you will --"
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"
The ghost that had saved Danny the other day was now ready to fight Veclussier. She pushed him off Danny. This time, instead of just sitting there, Danny jumped up and fought him with the ghost girl.
"You will pay!" Veclussier yelled, while the other two pounded him with energy and punches. "YOU WILL PAAAAAYY!"
Danny took out the Fenton Thermos and sucked the ghost up. "In he goes," Danny said proudly. "He --"
Danny stopped talking. He had looked up, and he was staring into the eyes of the ghost, who was…Charlotte Renton?! It couldn't be. He blinked, and when he opened his eyes, she was gone.
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"Tucker! Don't just stand there! We've got to follow her!" Sam said, her eyes wide.
"Right," Tucker said. They ran up the stairs, wondering what catastrophe they would be facing.
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In a nick of time, Danny turned back into a human. A second later, Charlotte had come out of the stairway. "Are you okay?" she said. "We heard a lot of crashes."
"I'm fine," Danny said as he sighed in relief. So the ghost hadn't been Charlotte. He had imagined it.
Sam and Tucker now came from the basement, panting. "Is everything okay?" they asked. They looked nervous.
"Yeah," Danny said. Behind Charlotte, Sam mouthed, "Did she find out?" Danny shook his head slightly, not enough for Charlotte to notice.
"What happened?" Charlotte said, noticing a long cut on Danny's arm.
"Oh…" He thought for a second, and blurted out the best thing he could think of, which wasn't really believable. "I…uh…well, you see, the neighbor's cat got in through the window and was tearing up the place. I tried to pick her up and she scratched me. I finally chased her out, though."
"Hmm, I didn't know cats were able to do that," Charlotte said, eyeing the overturned table, and the room that was now reduced to rubbish.
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"That was a close one, Danny."
Charlotte had just left. Now they were free to talk about what had really happened upstairs. "It was that goat-boy again. His name is Veclussier, one of Skulker's helpers. I caught him in the Thermos."
"So, you fought him – and won?"
"Uh, no. That ghost appeared again. We both fought him."
They were silent. "Well – did you see who she was?"
"I know this sounds strange," Danny said, "but I looked up, and I could've sworn she was Charlotte. But she couldn't have been Charlotte, because a few seconds later Charlotte appeared from the basement."
"So what," Sam said, "Charlotte was hiding in the stairwell for ten minutes?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"We were trying to tell Charlotte all the thuds and everything were nothing, but she didn't listen and ran upstairs. A couple minutes later, Tucker and I get the bright idea to follow her instead of sitting there frozen in place. So we ran up the stairs, and Charlotte had just walked out into the open. There's a time gap. What was she doing for that little while? Just sitting in the stairwell?"
"It's possible she's part ghost, Danny," Tucker said.
"But how would it have happened? The only thing that can do that is the Ghost Portal, and she's never been to my house before today. Besides, my ghost sense would've gone off."
"Maybe your ghost sense wasn't working. Just because it didn't go off doesn't mean that she isn't a ghost."
"Maybe you're right," Danny said, sighing. "I don't know. I always thought there was something odd about her."