When the doorbell rang, Buffy was surveying the basement, where the final boxes from the move were being stored until she got around to unpacking them. Among other things, she had stakes, axes, swords, crossbows, ancient magical daggers, volumes of mystical books, and a punching bag. She thought it'd be a good idea to stock up on some more supplies. Holy water and some more crosses would be a nice start. Maybe she could even hand them out on Halloween or something to start the city protection plan.

But… that was a plan for another day. The doorbell rang again, and Buffy ran up the stairs. "Coming!" She glanced at Giles, who seemed thoroughly uninterested in answering the door. "Is opening the door too American or something?" she asked.

Giles paused in his unpacking. "I assume it's neighbors bringing cake. As you will be the one living here, Buffy, I thought it only right that you be the one to take it."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Right then." She swung open the door.

And was blasted back by a ray of green light.

"JACK!"

"DAD!"

"All right, ghost. You may have fooled my wife and son, but your ghostly mind control holds no sway over me!"

"Jack, I thought I told you to leave the weapons at home!"

Buffy groaned and tried to make sense of the picture through the front door, complete with a large man in an orange jumpsuit being yelled at by a lady wearing a blue suit. The man was holding something that looked like a gun, and the lady had a cake. She groaned again and pressed her hand against her eyes. "Giles… Next time the doorbell rings… You're getting it."

"Here."

She opened her eyes again to find a teenage boy holding out his hand. With a small smile, she took it and climbed to her feet. "Your parents?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

The teen turned red. "Yeah. Look – I'm really sorry about my dad. My parents are ghost hunters and Dad's not real good at distinguishing ghosts from just about anything else." He glanced back over. "The cake should be non-lethal though. I'm Danny Fenton by the way."

Danny Fenton? As in the same Fentons Phantom told me to talk to? Buffy smiled. "No harm, no foul. I'm still all in one piece-ish, and look! I get cake!"

During this, Danny's mom finished her husband off with a swift glare and he shuffled over, looking for all the world like a sulking teenager. He looked Buffy up and down. "I'm Jack Fenton. I'm… sorry for blasting you with the ray gun."

"And?" prompted his wife.

"And it won't happen again."

Buffy looked from jumpsuit to jumpsuit and forced a quick smile. "No problem! Thanks for the cake, Mrs. Fenton."

"Please, call me Maddie."

Buffy nodded. "Right. And I'm Buffy. Buffy Summers." She eyed the cake nervously. Despite Danny's reassurance, it seemed to be rather lively for a cake. Was that a face? She took it from Maddie. This is going in the back of the fridge. "So you're… ummm… ghost hunters, huh? That sounds real... neat! Yup. Fighting ghosties and stuff… Sounds like a real blast."

Jack's expression immediately brightened. "See Maddie? I told you she couldn't be a ghost!" He turned to Buffy, ignoring his wife's "Of course, dear." "So you want to become a ghost hunter?"

Buffy nodded, wondering how this guy could be one of the world's premiere ghost hunters. "Yes. I think it's good to be prepared. You know, for those times you're out at night for no apparent reason and a ghost just happens to find you… I think it'd be good to have some good old-fashioned ghost hunting know-how."

Danny stared at her. "Erm… Have you considered not going out at night for no apparent reason instead?"

Maddie saved Buffy from answering that question by whipping out a pair of gloves, a thermos suspiciously like the one Phantom used, and a belt. "Of course not! Why, if we let these ghosts stop us from going about our everyday lives, then they've won!" She handed the equipment to Buffy. "I want you to have these. We've been upgrading our equipment, so these are just trial versions of equipment we already have."

Jack nodded. "The Fenton Ghost Gloves will let you handle ghosts, and they're specially made so no ghost can break free of them. The Fenton Thermos will trap ghosts, and the Fenton Specter Deflector will repel and seriously weaken any ghost that comes in contact with the person wearing it!" He wiped a tear from his eye. "This may be the proudest moment of my life."

Buffy wondered desperately where Giles was. "Right. Thanks."

After many promises to both a) visit to learn more about ghost hunting and b) report any ghostly activity before trying to use the equipment, Buffy finally managed to clear her house of Jack and Maddie. She frowned as she shut the door. Where was Danny? She remembered him looking vaguely annoyed suddenly and muttering something about a report for school before walking out of the room. He went the wrong way for the door though… She shrugged. He probably just went around somehow or something.

"Are they gone?"

Buffy rounded on Giles. "Where were you? You're Mister British I-know-all-about-them!"

"Yes, well, in my opinion, you did quite admirably against them," he commented, cleaning his glasses.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "They shot me! When you said you know about them, I thought that meant something like 'they're normal British people'."

Giles hesitated. "The Fentons are… well-known for their… eccentricities. They did not agree with The Council on many subjects, and are generally seen as something of a disgrace to the magic community. They are heavily scientific and refuse to recognize the value of their research in relation to anything other than ghosts. However, as they are completely capable in their profession, they have been allowed to do as they like."

"So in other words, you both think what the other person does is dumb."

"Yes, mostly."

"Great."

Buffy glanced out the window. She still had a while until dark, and she wanted to get a feel for the town before nightfall. "Giles, I'm gonna go walk around for a bit, then maybe stick around for a bit of patrolling." She grabbed a stake, started towards the door and hesitated. After a moment's thought, she grabbed the Fenton Thermos and the Fenton Specter Deflector too. It'd be pretty bad if she survived the years of living on the Hellmouth only to die because of some stupid dead person without a body. Without a soul? Understandable. Without a body? That'd be just plain embarrassing. "She opened the door with a quick wave. "Bye Giles! See you in the morning."

The door closed and she looked out at the street. It seemed normal enough. "All right then. So where do people go for a little fun around here?"

Half and hour later found her no closer to finding anything like the fun little club she'd practically lived at during her high school years. However, she did manage to find the nastiest tasting food in the world at, go figure, a fast food restaurant called the Nasty Burger and a bowling alley inhabited by a bunch of jocks and their girlfriends.

Buffy rolled her eyes as she approached Amity Park's main high school. "Casper High? Originality, eat my heart out."

"Yeah, lame isn't it?"

Buffy spun around to come face to face with a girl about her age. She was pretty, with bright blue eyes and straight black hair framing her face. Buffy glanced at her clothes. Very fashionable. Too fashionable."Oh! Hi! I didn't see you there."

The girl rolled her eyes. "So what are you here for? I haven't seen you around before."

"I'm just, you know, taking a walk to try and get my bearings. Just moved and all. So… you like hanging out at the local school at dusk?" Buffy tried to surreptitiously reach for her stake. You didn't survive as the Slayer for this long without recognizing a baddie when you saw one. Honestly – why couldn't they dress like normal people? Was it really that hard?

The girl's eyes flashed yellow. "Well, you know, it helps pass the time between meals." Her eyebrows grew ridged and she smirked, pointed fangs dimpling her lips. "Try not to bore me."

Buffy pouted. "So I guess that means no instant slayage?" The vampire quirked an eyebrow in response. "Guess not." Buffy lunged forward.

Jazz Fenton stopped as she heard a loud crash from around the corner. With instincts honed by months of watching over her brother, she dashed towards the source of the noise, ready to jump in and save him the instant he needed help.

What ruined that plan for her was the fact that the fight going on involved neither ghosts nor her brother. She frowned. A girl not too much older than herself was fighting a… a… A streetlight illuminated the other girl's face. She gasped. No way – that had to be just a genetic mutation. With the teeth and all, she looked a bit like a vampire, but there was no way that could be possible. Vampires weren't real, were they? Jazz covered her eyes, certain that when she looked again, the world would be back in it's rightful order. She uncovered her eyes and frowned. Where did the mutated girl go?

"And what have we here?" The vampire asked, wrapping an arm around Jazz's waist and jerking the younger girl's head to the side, exposing her neck. "Looks tasty."

Buffy stared at her. Crap crap crap… Why can't civilians ever do the smart thing and run away? She glared at the vampire. "All right, I tried playing nice." In one smooth motion she pulled her arm back and flung the stake. It grazed Jazz's side and landed in the vampire's heart. "I guess that was too boring though." The vampire disappeared in a cloud of ash.

Buffy sighed and walked over to the orange haired civilian. "Hey, you might not want to walk around this late anymore. More of those things will be coming in the next few months, and I like to keep my clients off of a first-name basis if I can."

Jazz stared. "That thing. It disappeared when you stabbed it."

"Yeah… Vampires tend to do that. Convenient really. Much better than demons. Those things? You've gotta have a shovel and a big patch of dirt handy or you'll end up dragging it all over town."

"Vampires." That stare was beginning to get creepy. "They exist?"

Buffy sighed. "Yes, vampires are real. So are demons, witches, hell dimensions, goddesses… etcetera etcetera. Don't worry though – I'm the Slayer, all right? It's, like, my job to keep the population down." She winced. "If you could keep that a secret though, it'd be a real help. I'm kind of secret identity girl and all."

Jazz didn't say anything for a few minutes. Just before Buffy started wondering if the girl was going into shock, she touched her side and looked at the blood. "Right… I should be getting home then." She smiled slightly. "You're not the first superhero in town. You'll probably meet him sooner or later –"

"You mean Danny Phantom?"

Jazz blinked. "Yeah. How'd you…?"

Buffy grinned. "Already way ahead of you. He 'rescued' me from the Box Ghost."

"Oh. Well, he'll probably help you against a lot worst than that in the next few months. But I should be going now. Thanks for your help…?"

"Buffy."

Jazz smiled. "Jazz. I live in the house with the observatory on top, if you ever need some help."

"So that's what it is. I thought it was a UFO." Buffy started walking next to Jazz. "I'm your next door neighbor. Need me to escort you home?"

"Sure. Do you want to explain those vampire things a bit more?"

Buffy grinned and handed her a bottle of holy water. "Well, first of all…"