The black and white spirit hovered with two fingers on the bridge of his nose to ward off a headache, reflecting on the déjà vu of the situation. "Why are you still here?" he demanded wearily. He was unable to summon much in the way of anger thanks to the way Technus had recently abused his poor brain.

The armored fiend that hovered a few feet away smirked maliciously in response. "I have my own plans for you, whelp." He raised his arm and activated the wrist cannon, unsurprised when Danny suddenly dodged out of the way as though nothing was wrong with him. Skulker had long suspected that the boy only pretended to be borderline incompetent.

"Oh, that's right," Danny remarked as though he had just remembered. "You want me for a wall mount."

"Actually, my bear-skin rug recently escaped, and I'm in need of a new one."

The boy paused to let that mental image register. "Dude, that's sick." Then the sparring resumed, coloring the walls of the gym with black and grey from missed attacks.

The screaming had, thankfully, stopped several minutes previous, and the school was in the process of being evacuated. Three teachers (one of whom was Mr. Lancer), and a handful of students were all that was left, having been trapped on the wrong side of the room. Danny tried to draw Skulker's attacks away and was simply grateful that the presence of people kept Valerie from interfering. He pretended not to notice her sour expression as all attempts to sneak away were met by Lancer's restraining hand.

His lately-traitorous mind wandered off again to wonder if Lancer knew about Valerie. It was scary to think about since it meant that he might also know about Danny. Still, he supposed it was possible the girl's father had requested that an eye be kept on his daughter. There was any number of little lies he could have told, such as…

Darn those nanobots. The ghost boy dragged his attention back to the fight at hand, which was a fight in and of itself. Oddly, and he almost hoped it was just his imagination, Skulker seemed to be going rather easy on him. Maybe the fight only seemed that way since his improved intellect had not yet faded. He dragged his attention back once again just in time to be caught in a net.

"You're slipping, ghost child."

Danny broke free and resisted a pained wince as his head complained. "Come back when I'm feeling better and try that again."

Skulker chuckled appreciatively. He knew from experience his prey wasn't that easy to catch. He noticed the boy sneak a glance toward the trapped humans, doubtless concerned for their well-being. That was an attitude the armored hunter didn't understand, and he cursed internally. The hunt wasn't as fun when his prey worried about other people.

The prey, for his part, simply wasn't in the mood. He feinted toward the right then dodged to the left, knowing full well that Skulker wouldn't expect such a move from him. He smiled slightly as his attack knocked out one the ghost's jet wings and forced him to retreat. Normally, he would follow, but his vision had decided to swim around in front of his eyes. Instead, he glanced back at the small audience. "Are you guys okay?"

"What do you care?" Valerie demanded, angry enough to be heedless of the other spectators.

Danny sighed and became invisible to look for his friends. He tried not to blame her for her attitude; after all, she was under the mistaken impression that he had attacked Danny Fenton in the power plant the day before. Thinking in third person gave him more of a headache than usual, so he shoved it away to consider later.

Sam and Tucker had just started to wonder what was taking Danny so long with Skulker when they saw him. Apparently he had gone home to change clothes and was currently staring at the television in a store window as though it were the Holy Grail. He jumped when they called, apparently on edge enough to let his eyes flash green.

"Are you okay, man?" Tucker laughed.

He stared at them for a moment as though he had never seen them before, then a spark of recognition crossed his face. "Sam and Tucker," he stated almost hesitantly.

They exchanged a worried glance, and Sam found herself wondering if his recent battle with Technus' nanobots had suddenly manifested as amnesia. "Yeah," she replied slowly. He obviously remembered them; perhaps it was simply harder to think than usual. He had been complaining about that. She decided to smile encouragingly and gesture at his all black ensemble. "Thinking of becoming goth?"

The boy laughed and rubbed the back of his neck, almost seeming to blush. "Uh…sure, that'll work." He dredged up everything he remembered his counterpart talking about; surely Danny wouldn't mind if he "borrowed" his friend for a little while. "Um, so…are you going somewhere?"

Again with that worried exchange of glances. "Uh, yeah, dude," Tucker replied uncertainly. "We're going to the mall."

"Can I come?"

"You were supposed to."

The boy grinned awkwardly. "I knew that." Still blushing, he fell in next to them. After a few moments, Tucker began talking about some game that was soon to be released while Sam glanced at the other boy. She had a nagging feeling that all was not right, but she couldn't figure out what, exactly, was wrong. Considering his recent ordeal, he was expected to behave strangely.

He stared around as though the world was a strange, new place despite, or because of, its familiarity. Periodically, he sneaked a glance at Sam. In his universe, she wouldn't have given him the time of day. In fact, on the few instances they had met since he began wearing black, she accused him of being a poser. That had really bothered him, too; it wasn't true at all. He wasn't trying to be goth. He wore all black in his human form because he wore all white as a ghost. It just made sense.

"Danny!" Tucker exclaimed loudly. The boy cringed; he was too used to people calling him Shade.

"Sorry, I wasn't listening," he confessed sheepishly.

"We noticed. Are you sure you're okay?"

When he paused as though frantically searching for an excuse, Sam dragged him into a nearby alley and stood him against the wall, her hands on his shoulders. Whether it was a gesture of comfort of restraint, even she wasn't sure. "You do remember us, don't you?" she asked suspiciously.

Shade gave a nervous laugh in a failed attempt to stall. "Of course, I do. Why wouldn't I?" He mentally berated himself for being unable to act more casual. He knew he didn't have his double's suave confidence, but it hadn't mattered in his own world. He hadn't realized just how much trouble being in this alternate universe would cause.

Suddenly, his ghost sense went off. He had just enough time to wonder whether they were supposed to know when a voice that sounded remarkably like his own yelled, "Sam! Tucker! Get back!" The two were gone as though by magic, and blast of green energy exploded at his feet. Alarmed, he fell backwards through the wall and unwittingly continued through into the basement.

"Darn it," he muttered, pulling himself to his feet. He really should have seen that coming. He would have been automatically suspicious of anyone who looked like him, after all.

"Who are you?" Danny demanded, suddenly appearing before him.

Shade shouted and held up his arms. "It's me!" he exclaimed, switching to ghost mode. There a moment of purest hatred in the original ghost boy's eyes; it vanished in a burst of recognition, followed by exasperation and confused joy.

"Ah, geez," he breathed, relaxing considerably. He shook his head and chuckled. "How did you get here?"

Shade relaxed as well, though the brief expression confused and worried him. "It's kind of a long story. You looked like you thought I was someone else for a second…"

"Yeah, the white threw me off." Danny sighed as a haunted look crossed his features. "Have you ever been to a place called Carnate Island?" At his double's headshake, he added, "Don't. Ever."

"Danny!" a pair of voices interrupted them. Sam and Tucker slid to a stop a few feet away, both talking at once in their demands to know what happened and was everything okay.

"Guys, it's okay," Danny laughed, finally in a good mood again. He gestured to his counterpart. "This is that me from the other dimension I was telling you about."

"Shade," the boy supplied, earning a few raised eyebrows. He shrugged. "A friend of mine decided Ivory Shadow would be a better name than Danny Phantom. The 'Ivory' part was stupid, but 'White Shadow' kind of caught on. Everyone just calls me Shade for short."

"So everyone knows about you?" Receiving affirmation, Tucker curiously continued, "How's that working out?"

"Pretty well, actually, for a while until…until Plasmius came back…" He trailed off and, in somewhat forced cheerfulness, announced, "But I don't want to talk about that! Can I come to the mall with you?" He was unable to repress a grin at the thought of spending time with people again.

His simple, awkward joy was infectious, and reminded Sam and Tucker of their Danny before the accident. After a brief and mostly staged discussion to tease him, the three friends agreed.

A nondescript door appeared in a secluded alley across town. It opened to allow egress to a pair of ghosts before vanishing as though it had never been. One, a red-eyed girl in a top hat and suit, regarded their surroundings with an annoyed expression. "Why are we here again?"

"Because the whelp came here," answered her companion, who bore a remarkable resemblance to Skulker before his last upgrade.

"It's not like he's the only hybrid in existence," she pointed out. "He's not even the first."

"No, but he is the more interesting of the two. Go find a base of operations while we're here; I'm going to do a little hunting."

Electra shook her head with an indulgent laugh as Skulker became invisible and flew away. "Boys and their toys…"

A/N: Well, hopefully this chapter cleared some things up, but just in case, yes. This is my AU Danny, whose ghost form is all white.