Surprise! Surprise! I finished this chapter early and decided to post it early! There was more detail added to this chapter in comparison to the previous version of it!

No new reviews to respond to this time but that's fine! I hope you're all liking the story so far!

I do have a question though. Do you think that Dani or Ellie is a better name for Danny's clone/cousin Danielle. I personally prefer Ellie as I always thought it was a bit confusing to call her the same name as Danny. Especially in a lot of fanfictions but let me know what you think!

Chapter 3: Official Meeting

Coming to land in the main entrance of the castle that was acting as a hotel, Danny's eyes were wide with awe. This was possibly the biggest building he had ever seen. (Or at least remember seeing) Monsters of every kind, some of which he had never seen before, were meandering through what seemed to be the main lobby of the castle hotel.

Looking around, in search for his aunt and uncle, he spotted a familiar pile of luggage that his aunt had made for the three of them to use on this trip. Two suitcases for his uncle that were black with thin white stripes that resembled his favorite suit. Two suitcases that held the colorful stitched patchwork design that resembled his aunts signature dress. And two suitcases that were his. They were a light gray color, with complex jagged green lines that he had painted on himself. Dark gray dots to resemble bolts ran along the green lines and his signature D with a P inside symbol was dead center of each side.

A group of zombies dressed in bellboy uniforms were slowly trying to bring the pile of luggage up the stairs that led to where the ghost boy could assume was their room. Instead of flying ahead, he noticed that the zombies had already dropped a couple of the bags once or twice along with their own arms and a head. The ghost boy laughed and flew over to help them, not noticing the stares of the other monsters in the lobby.

Later, when he had finally found their suite and let himself in, he greeted his uncle, taking in the room as they spoke.

"Hey Danny, how was the forest?" Jack asked, looking up at him briefly from where he had been looking at a single bright green Christmas ornament that was covered in glitter through a microscope. Of course, the pumpkin king was still fascinated with the holiday and while he knew better than to try to take over again, he was still curious about certain aspects of their ways.

Their large suite had a circular center room that was tastefully decorated with a darker decor than he was used to but somehow, it still held the same aesthetic that his uncle had chosen for his humble home back in Halloween town with long thin almost warped furniture pieces and a few dead flowers in vases on the coffee table and the end tables on either end of the couch. The ghost boy took a mental note that the owner of this hotel really did seem to know his uncle and the type of style he chose. On opposite sides of the room, there was a door. He assumed that each door led to a bedroom with a bathroom connected to it as well.

'Ah the benefits of being the adopted son of the Pumpkin King.' Danny thought, grinning slightly at the size of the room.

"Definitely more trees than the one back home." He explained as he floated in the air beside the pumpkin king with his legs crossed, taking a moment to watch as the microscope slowly crushed the delicate little ornament before speaking again. "I found this weird town just past the graveyard though."

"Oh?" Jack said, grimacing when he noticed the ornament had a long crack running along the top now before he turned to look at his son in interest. "The owner told me this hotel was completely secluded from any human life."

"Yeah, it was really weird." He only watched in mild interest as the ornament split in two and each side rolled off the microscope platform. "The humans there were actually just zombies with wooden masks. This girl showed up and surrounded her. It was kinda like they were trying to freak her out. Then this big fire started and set all the zombies on fire. It ended up burning the whole town to the ground."

"Is the girl ok?" His uncle asked as Danny reached down and picked up one of the pieces of the broken ornament, looking it over curiously.

"Yeah, I ended up helping her out and getting her away from the fire. But I could tell she was a vampire and the ones back at home always told me they know to avoid fire since it makes them weak like it does to me. I was surprised that she had let her guard down so much."

"Well maybe she hasn't seen anything like that before." Jack suggested, then a thought struck. "We should go check it out later and see if we can't find out more about it."

"I don't think we should bother." Danny shook his head, setting down the broken bit of the ornament and floating over to where his suitcase was left and picked it up, struggling slightly with the weight. "After the girl left, I went back to the town to check it out but the town and the zombies were making their way to go somewhere else. I didn't bother to follow them though."

Flying into his room, he tossed the suitcase on the bed before flying over and grabbing his second suitcase. Slowly, he began to unpack, hanging up a couple of shirts and a formal suit that his aunt had packed 'just in case' before putting the rest of the stuff in a few of the drawers on his dresser.

Coming back out to the main room, he watched as his uncle stood and let out a thoughtful hum, setting a hand to his bony chin and setting his other hand on his hip.

"I should probably talk to Drac about this. He might have some answers to your curiosity."

"Drac?"

"The owner of the hotel. I knew him long before I came to Halloween Town." Jack explained, smiling at the boy's curious expression.

"Wow..." Danny said softly before giving his uncle a blunt expression. "You're really old."

Jack froze in shock before hitting the now laughing teen on the head and playfully pulling him into a noogie. The ghost boy's white hair became a mess in the progress as he halfheartedly fought to get his uncle to release him.

"This'll teach you!"

"Hahaha! Stop! My hair!"

Sally stood in the doorway to her and Jack's bedroom, leaning against the door frame and smiling as she watched her two favorite boys fight. She had been having a very nice rest and made a mental note to find out just what kind of matress's their beds were that made them so comfortable but the laughter from her husband and son had woken her up. The ragdoll woman hadn't been upset by being woken up at all, she was, however, concerned with the noogie that her husband was currently giving the ghost boy.

"Don't get too rough, you two. I'd like Danny to remember what he read on his way here, Jack." She called, causing the two to freeze before Danny fazed out of Jack's arms and flew to hide behind his aunt.

"But Sally! He called me old!" Jack whined as Danny snickered.

Sally simply smiled at her husband. It was times like this when she was glad she and Danny were so close to the pumpkin king. Who else is able to see him act like a child? She laughed and set a hand on Jack's shoulder, comforting him.

"Yes, you're old. But then remember, you're not as old as some people we know." She winked as realization spread over Jack's face before he gave her a smile.

"Well then! Care to go down and meet everyone?" Jack asked, wrapping an arm around his wife and turning to his son. .

Danny had managed to fix his hair slightly by the time his uncle spoke up. Jumping to attention, he realized just how excited he was to get out and explore the castle some more. Giving the couple a nod and a wide smile, he floated up and flew towards the door, opening it for his aunt and uncle to walk through before flying through and closing the door behind them.

Meanwhile, Mavis slowly helped her aunt Wanda down the long stairs leading down to the lobby, holding her hand so she wouldn't fall as they talked.

"Sweetheart, you haven't told us anything about your trip." Wanda asked, resting her free hand on her very pregnant belly. "How was it? Did you have fun?"

"Oh it wasn't that big of a deal. I don't know why I ever wanted to leave." Mavis said, waving her free hand offhandedly as she brushed off the trip she had been begging for for years. "I like the people here so much more."

"Don't worry, hun. I think you just haven't gotten used to any other monsters yet."

Mavis nodded and smiled at her aunt as they took the last few steps to get to the bottom of the stairs. Releasing the wolf's paw, she turned to her dad as he approached them.

"Feeling better, my little blood orange?" Drac asked, giving his daughter a caring smile.

"Yeah, dad. I'm fine. I think I just needed to eat something and greet some guests. But I don't think I'll be wanting to leave the hotel any time soon."

Dracula smiled at his daughter and hugged her, giving a silent cheer of victory before pulling away.

"That's wonderful, sweetheart. Now, we've got a few brand new guests staying here and I want you to make them feel welcome. They're from Halloween Town and they have a son about your age. I know you were upset about not having someone your age around the hotel so maybe you can keep him company and show him around the hotel."

Mavis's eyes lit up as she listened to her father talk.

"Really?!" She asked, beginning to look around the lobby for the head of glowing white hair in hopes that the boy who had saved her from those scary humans would just appear.

"What are you looking for?" Drac asked only for his attention to be drawn by a nearby suit of armor.

"They should be coming down now, sir."

"Dracula!" A voice called from behind her and Mavis turned to see two figures walking down the stairs, holding hands.

The first was a tall skeleton man in a black and white striped suit. She'd seen skeletons before but none like him. He actually wore clothes, as formal as they looked, she couldn't imagine anything else on him. With him was a slightly shorter woman who's blue skin was decorated with long stitches that ran along. Her bright red hair hung down along her back and was so long that it ran past her waist and her dress looked as sewn together as she was but with patches of different colors and patterns of fabrics patched together.

Mavis gave a sweet smile, holding her hands together in front of her as her father introduced her.

"Mavis, this is Jack and Sally Skellington." Dracula introduced, holding out a hand to each as he said their names. "Jack, Sally, this is my daughter, Mavis."

Mavis held out her hand to each of them and shook their hands. As Jack took her hand in his, she couldn't help but notice just how the long bony fingers held a very subtle warmth to them, as if the warmth of the skeletons personality was seeping through his ligaments. Each of the white bones were polished and well cared for. His empty sockets seemed to study her with a familiar kindness that she could barely remember.

"You've grown quite a bit, young lady." The pumpkin king smiled at her. "You probably don't remember me but I've visited a few times back when you were a baby. How old are you now, Mavis?"

"118"

"Maybe you can keep Danny busy while we're here. I wonder where he got to now. We told him we were heading down to the lobby." Sally said, looking behind the pair as if the boy would just appear.

"Oh don't worry about him, Sally. He knows where the rooms are and he'll come back before dinner." Jack soothed his wife, smiling at her motherly worries.

"As long as he's not as much of a trouble maker as you were when we were young, my friend. I'm not worried." Dracula smirked at his friend.

"Mavis, hopefully, you're a bit more clever than your father." Jack said, his tone teasing as the vampire king gave a sound of indignation. "He was the one who always got caught out of the two of us when we were young."

Mavis laughed softly as her father pretended to be offended. The two older men appeared to be very old friends. She turned to the doll woman, Sally, who still seemed to be looking around for her son.

"Maybe I should go look for him…." She pondered aloud.

Mavis looked around, turning to look around the lobby in hopes of seeing the mystery boy only to see him floating a few inches away from her, staring at her with his bright green eyes. He grinned at her as she recovered from the scare, holding a hand to her chest where a beating heart would be if she was a human.

"You're that girl from the town, aren't you? I didn't think you'd be here." He rambled, floating kind of carelessly but his eyes never left her face as he eventually ended up behind his parents. "Well, I kinda assumed but I didn't want to get my hopes up. It didn't seem that anyone young would be here."

Dracula stepped forward and set a hand on Mavis's shoulder with an air of fatherly protection as he smiled at the teen, letting his fangs show.

"Nice to meet you, Danny. I'm Dracula. The owner of this hotel." he said, only to take a step back as Danny was suddenly face to face with him.

"You're the owner?" He asked, the ghosts glowing green eyes boring into the vampire as he floated closer. "Good, then I have a few questions for you-"

"Danny, give him his space, hun." Sally said, reaching over and setting a hand on her son's shoulder, pulling him back easily. "Where are your manners?"

Danny's cheeks turned a slight green in embarrassment at the fact he had let himself get carried away. He looked down at the carpet and away from Sally's gaze, suddenly looking a lot less intimidating and more like a sheepish kid.

"Sorry, Aunt Sally." He said softly before taking a step forward and bowing slightly toward the two vampires. "My name is Danny Phantom. It's nice to meet you. Thank you for inviting us to stay in your hotel."

He avoided eye contact with Mavis since his cheeks still had the green tint to them. Then he shook Mavis' hand and then Drac's hand in turn.

"We're welcome to have you, Danny. Both you and your parents are welcome to be here as long as you like." Dracula said cheerfully, his smile slipping slightly when he noticed Danny flinch and pale completely.

It was almost instant that he changed from his boyish nature to more like one that was small and scared. Sally set a hand on his shoulder and he seemed to relax a little before he turned toward her and asked if he could be excused. A small smile and a nod from her was his response before he took off through a nearby wall.

"Sorry, Drac. It's just a tick Danny has. His death was a fairly traumatic one. The idea of parents it a bit more difficult for him to handle. He refers to us as his aunt and uncle and we don't mind." Jack explained.

Dracula's smile returned and he nodded, not noticing his daughter's thoughtful expression still facing the wall that Danny had flown through. Knowing exactly where the wall's other side was, she decided she'd go check it out.