WoM- Computers are really starting to piss me off lately. None of them seem to work when I need them to anymore. Anywho, this chapter was really hard to get out on time. Please be nice!

Hobbes- Do you have an idea for your story yet?

Calvin- No, I'm waiting for inspiration. You can't just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood.

Hobbes- What mood is that?

Calvin- Last-Minute Panic.

(Calvin and Hobbes, by Bill Watterson)

WoM- I hear ya, Calvin!)

First Impressions

"Are you Valerie?"

The ghost hunter frowned, not entirely sure if she liked the tone her roommate, Vlad's main agent in Amity, Terrance Phillips, used when addressing her. And she knew for a fact that she didn't like that look in his eyes.

"And if I am?" Valerie challenged with a glare. Terrance snorted in response. Valerie scowled, studying the hunter curiously.

Despite being older then Valerie (Around 22, if the girl had to wager a guess.) Terrance was of a lower ranking then her, which was probably part of the reason why the boy was so bitter. He was very handsome, with high cheekbones and the iciest blue eyes imaginable, almost white in color, which really contradicted his perfect, dark golden tan.

He was dressed in street clothes instead of the personalized form-fitting suits all the hunters were required to wear on the hunt. It was a simple outfit, though. Loose blue jeans, black shirt and white tennis shoes. His brown hair had been pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of his neck, which trailed down his back.

Despite his attractiveness, though, Valerie could already tell she didn't like the boy. He was arrogant, rude and cold, three personality traits the girl could never force herself to stand.

"Can we just go?" Terrance asked, sounding annoyed. Valerie glared at him and followed as he led her through the crowd, not helping with her bags at all. Not that she needed it, but the gesture would've been appreciated.

Terrance led her to a small black convertible, and after Valerie put her things in the back of the car the two of them buckled in and the boy took off, a little faster then Valerie was comfortable with.

"So you're the pet everyone keeps talking about, huh?" Terrance said to Valerie over the wind.

"Excuse me?" Valerie asked, glaring at him the best she could with her long black hair whipping around her face.

"The one Mr. Masters favors so much," Terrance explained. "I expected something a little more impressive…"

'You don't want to hit him right now,' Valerie told herself, gritting her teeth, 'That's a really good way to end up in a tree at the speed the maniac's driving.'

"And how am I supposed to look?" Valerie asked coldly.

"Thinner, for one," Terrance responded.

'Oh he did not just-!' Before Valerie could forget her personal warning and attack the boy for his sinful remark, a loud beeping came from where the radio should've been.

"We've got trouble, Terrance," A female voice came on as a pretty young girl dressed in green and white Hazmat came on, frowning at them from the monitor. "There's an attack on the bank downtown. Two of em, both ghosts,"

"Identification?" Terrance asked, and even Valerie came out of her sulking enough to listen in on this.

"Well, one's a local ghost," The girl said, sighing slightly, "Goes by the name of Ember?" Terrance made a face as a picture of a female ghost around sixteen or so popped up on the screen.

She had a very 'punk' look to her, lots of dark makeup and clothing contradicting her sickly pale skin. Her hair was a vivid shade of blue, kept back in a ponytail that had the same fluid movements of fire, meaning she was aptly named. Two blue strands of bangs framed her face, where her green eyes glowered back at Valerie defiantly, as if challenging the girl.

Luckily, Valerie had never been one to back down from a challenge…

"Figures…" Terrance said dryly, breaking the younger ghost hunter from her thoughts. "And the other one?"

"Never seen him before." The girl answered. "Ember seems to know him, though, so I figure he's just new to town, not an actual newbie. Especially with how he fights… He's already detained Laura and Zack without taking his eyes off Ember."

"Are they allies?" Terrance asked.

"I'm pretty sure the answer's no, if the name calling means anything." The girl said dryly, "Not to mention the fact that they're both trying to blast each other's heads off."

"What's it look like?" Terrance asked.

"Young, around fourteen or fifteen, male, and very cute. Really nice butt…"

"Tara," Terrance said warningly.

"Hey, just because I've gotta hunt the guy doesn't mean I can't look!" Tara said with a pointed smirk. "Anyways, it gets weird from here on out. His skin tone's different then most ghosts. Instead of being blue or green, he just looks like a regular human with white hair and green eyes."

'White hair and green eyes?' Valerie thought, alert.

"Is he wearing black hazmat?" She asked eagerly, earning an annoyed look from Terrance.

"Huh?" Tara said, looking a little surprised. Apparently, she hadn't noticed Valerie was even in the car until she'd spoken up. "Uh, who are you?"

"That doesn't matter now!" Valerie sighed in exasperation. "Is he wearing a black hazmat suit with a white symbol on his chest, a P-in-a-D?"

"Yeah," Tara nodded, "Hang on, there's a picture here that Laura snapped before he got her. Why? He from your turf or something?" Valerie and Terrance both watched curiously as a new picture came on to the screen, this one an admittedly handsome male ghost with a playful glint in his eyes and a smirk playing at the corners of his lips.

Valerie felt a charge looking at him, the same excited feeling she got every time her prey came into sight.

'Not much longer now, ghost-boy,' She thought, smirking, 'Your days are numbered now that I'm on your tail…'

"That's him," Valerie confirmed to Terrance before answering Tara's question, "No, but I was sent here to catch him,"

"You honestly expect me to believe that Phantom is the ghost of some skinny little high school kid?" Terrance asked skeptically.

"Never take a ghost at face value, pal," Valerie responded, "That's the first rule of hunting."

"Well, are you coming down here to back me up or what?" Tara asked in an irritated tone. "I can't hold these guys off forever on my own!"

"I'll be there in two minutes," Valerie promised the girl. That answer seemed to satisfy her, as she turned her communication link off after that.

"Two minutes?" Terrance scowled, "It's a fifteen minute drive there, even without speed limits, traffic and pedestrians!"

"Maybe for you," Valerie challenged.

She didn't use her bioorganic suit any more often then necessary. It was ghost-crafted, and she preferred not to put faith into technology created by the very creatures she hunted. Still the suit was a part of her that couldn't be removed, and Valerie wasn't gonna complain about that in times like these.

Triggering the transformation, Valerie was engulfed in vivid pink energy, and when it faded she was wearing the second ghost hunting suit she'd ever received. The design for this one was much darker then her original red hunting suit, but the weapons were all controlled telekinetically, and she could even engage in hand-to-hand combat with a ghost while wearing it.

Ignoring the gaping Terrance, Valerie unbuckled her seatbelt and jumped out of the moving Car, activating her jet sled mid leap so she could take off and leave the other ghost hunter eating her dust.

"You can stop following me, you know," Danny called out, a little annoyed. Turning away from his meal, he frowned at the girl only a few tables away, who blushed back and looked down at her feet. Danny sighed.

This hadn't been the best first week for him. First of all, Dash Baxter was in all his classes, which was bad enough on it's own. His teachers all seemed to hate him on sight, since his GPA (While not failing) was far from perfect. Add to this the fact that he made himself look like an idiot in front of the prettiest girl in school and that his nervousness had awakened a new power (Ice breath. A lot like Klemper's actually…), and you got one very stressed half ghost.

"S-Sorry," Trish said, standing and coming over to sit in the booth across from Danny, "I… I just…"

"You were hoping I'd know more about the demons that killed your family?" Danny guessed, his look softening.

"I want to know more about you," Trish admitted, "you aren't like other people, are you?"

Danny didn't say anything out loud to that remark, staring into his soda and thinking back to everything he'd been through, all the people he'd met and the pain he'd been through…

"What happened?" He asked groggily as he tried to steady himself, looking into the pale faces of his two best friends, Sam and Tucker.

"Oh my God, Danny," Sam said in a shaken voice, "I'm so sorry! I never though… Oh, God!"

"Sam?" Danny said, confused at her behavior, "What…?" That's when his eyes met the mirror at the other side of the lab.

Only it wasn't his face staring back.

"My parents will accept me whoever I am." Danny told Vlad firmly as he glared at him, his green eyes full of confidence he didn't actually possess while facing down this new, powerful foe in his father's body, "But, if I expose you... well, what would my mom think of you?" Vlad looked shocked and a little pained at this revelation, and Danny felt a flash of triumph. As he lowered the other half ghost to the ground, "You'll be miserable and alone for the rest of your life, unless you agree to a truce."


"Using your opponent's weaknesses against him!" Vlad said with a dark smirk, "I have been teaching you something after all. Very well, truce. But in time, you will join me. You and your mother. But for now..." he cleared his throat pointedly, flying into the air, "CURSE YOU JACK FENTON! Your world-renowned expertise of all things ghosts has defeated me!" Then, for Danny's ears alone, he added, "Until next time… son,"

'We'll see about that, Vlad,' Danny thought with a glare as he watch the billionaire melt away in front of him before leaving his dad's body…

"Danny, I know you think I'm pushy, and I'm a know-it-all." Jazz said as she smiled down at her brother gently, "I know you think I can be a jerk sometimes…" Danny smiled pointedly, enjoying this game, "You know, you can stop me at any time." Jazz reminded her younger sibling.


"I know." he said, the smile never fading. Jazz sighed in exasperation.

"The point is," She said, sounding a little annoyed before the warmth came back to her voice, "I really care about you, Danny, and you can talk to me about ANYTHING."

'…Anything?' Danny thought, uncertainty making him falter. He wanted her to know… wanted everyone to know so badly… but fear of being treated like a freak made him stop. He didn't want to lose everything he fought for because of the powers that gave him the ability to fight for them…

"Well…" He started, working up his courage, "…I…"

'BOOM!'

Turning, both of the Fenton children found their parents in the living room with their new invention, the Fenton Peeler.

"I'm just saying, if we could find that ghost in Jazz's school, we could shred it to pieces!" Jack Fenton proclaimed loudly.

"Well we don't want to completely vaporize it," Maddie said, frowning slightly. "Don't you at least want to study the remains?" Danny felt his stomach churn at that, and looked down at the hand Jazz had on his shoulder.

"I don't want to talk about it," Danny said, pushing her away and walking away, crossing his arms.

"Yeah," Jazz said, her voice kind and gentle. Almost as if she already knew… "I'd imagine not." Then, Before Danny could react, Jazz came up and kissed him gently on the forehead before leaving. Danny smiled slightly as he watched her go.

'You know, there are times she really isn't that bad…' He thought to himself before what had just transpired fully hit him. When it did, though…

"…Oh, gross!"

"Danny." The teenage felt his stomach lurch at the pale look on his mothers face. Even his father looked uncharacteristically grim-face.

"Mom, Dad," He said. Words tumbled out before he could stop them, "How are Sam and Tucker? They're okay, aren't they?" The motionless forms of his best friends haunted him every time he closed his eyes, making the half ghost a nervous wreak.

"Danny," Maddie said, her tone shaky and her voice cracking in an attempt to hold back tears. "You need to leave. Go home, take all of your things that you can carry and go and never come back."

"What?" Danny said, frowning in confusion. "I don't…?" Maddie threw a packet of papers onto his lap. Danny couldn't understand the medical terms, but the red circles on the papers made his heart pound painfully in his chest.

"We ran the tests ten times now." Maddie said softly. "And it always comes back the same."

'They know,' Danny thought, his mouth going painfully dry. 'They know and they don't want me…' This had to be a nightmare. Soon he'd wake up and find himself back in his bed, with parents what still loved him, and his best friends safe and sound…

"Mom… Dad…" The plea was obvious in Danny's tone. Jack looked away, not meeting his eyes when his son looked to him for help. Maddie's expression remained carefully masked, never flinching away from Danny's piercing blue eyes.

"Just go Danny," She said quietly, turning and leaving. Jack followed her, faltering at the door then turning back to Danny looking as if there was something he wanted to add before his shoulders sagged in defeat and he followed his wife out the door.

Still in shock that this was really happening to him, Danny felt tear pricking at the corners of his eyes and the next thing he knew, he was flying through the air as a ghost, his speed so neck breaking, it took even his breath away and one thought running through his head like a broken record…

'Why…?'

"Me? Not like other people?" Danny repeated out loud, standing. What gave you that idea?" And, without another word to the surprised Trish, Danny left, a familiar chill running through him as he exited the Nasty Burger.

'Ghost time, huh?' Danny mused darkly, 'I could use a work out, I guess…'

WoM- I was ready to cry when I wrote that. How pathetic is that? Anywho, Next chapter is the first meeting between Valerie and Danny. I'm pretty sure we all know how it's gonna end up, but still… Oh, and don't start hating Jack and Maddie on me! It's not what you think! Terrance, on the other hand, you can hate all you want. As a woman, I despise any man who makes ANY sort of weight comments… (And I'm not even anywhere near being overweight.)

Thanks to;

epobbp

Lumias

Light Dragon SunsSong

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Next update; February 19th

See you then!