Chapter 2-Deja Vu All Over Again

Raven landed lightly on the familiar stone bridge. Almost immediately, she was jumped by a pink-clad version of herself. "Ravy! You're back! I missed you sooooo much!"

Raven struggled for breath. Man, I forgot Joy hugs harder than Starfire on a sugar rush. "Joy, I need air!" Her emotion let her go, but then proceeded to skip in circles around her. Raven tried to quell the amusement she felt at her lighter side's antics. "What's going on in here? Is Anger acting up again?"

Joy stuck her face inches away from Raven's, grinning impishly. "How come ya didn't bring BB?"

Another voice came from behind her. "She didn't want him running into me, I bet." Raven turned to find the purple-cloaked emotion called Love.

"How many times do we have to go into this? I don't care about him any more than any of my other friends." Raven folded her arms sternly as Love rolled her eyes and smirked. "That's not what I'm here for, anyways. Where is Anger?"

"Rampaging again, of course." Love sighed. "She's just so cute when she's mad, I couldn't bear to try and talk her out of it."

"I don't know about cute, but it was something to see her face light up like a Christmas tree after that purple guy talked to her." Joy giggled.

"Purple guy? Someone was in here?" Raven felt a chill run down her spine. How could someone get in here without me knowing?

"We assumed you let him in," said Love. The rest of what she had been about to say was cut off by the rumble of an explosion in the distance. Raven winced at the sharp stab of pain that accompanied it.

"I need you two to gather everyone up and meet me in Anger's domain. I'll try and slow her down." Raven took off, flying towards the source of the increasingly frequent pains in her head.

"I love it when she takes charge like that." Love swooned before going off in another direction.

"Bet this'll be fun!" Joy squealed, bouncing off in yet a third direction.

---

Tucker sighed in relief as he hung up the phone. In this instance, telling the truth--well, most of it--had worked much better than making something up. Both his and Danny's parents had been very worried that their sons were nowhere to be found after the ghost attack, and although hearing that they had wound up in California, of all places, hadn't exactly helped them feel any better, the fact that the Teen Titans were looking after them and planning to bring them back later that night helped calm them down.

"We better go rescue Danny," Sam said. "We did kinda leave him all alone in there."

"Do you think he needs to hide his identity? I mean, these are superheroes, I'm sure they won't tell." Tucker asked.

Sam shook her head. "Look, I don't think we should take any chances. Especially with that...Raven acting the way she is. Who knows what she might do?"

"I really don't think they'd hurt Danny. They're the good guys." Tucker argued.

The Goth girl frowned. "Yeah, but we've seen what the so-called 'good guys' usually think of Phantom. And it usually involves lots of shooting and attempts to capture him."

"Okay, okay. Secret identity stays secret." The two stepped back into the living room, not noticing the green shapeshifter walking down the hall, partially lost in thought.

Did I just hear what I thought I heard? Secret identity? He shook his head. Not like that's a crime or anything. Wonder why they're so paranoid about it, though.

Things actually looked to be going well as Beast Boy walked into the room. Tucker had just struck up a conversation with Cyborg about the Tower's computer system. Sam was talking to Danny, who looked really tired, for some reason. He's a ghost, right? Do ghosts get tired? Robin was examining the weapons in the bundle, but looked up when he noticed Beast Boy come in. "How's Raven?"

"She just needs some time alone. She'll be fine."

Just then, Starfire floated into the room. "I am sorry I took so long in returning, but Jinx was...most difficult to catch." Tucker turned at the sound of the melodic voice, taking in the features of the beautiful alien girl. She gave a start as she noticed his scrutiny. "Oh, I did not realize we had guests!" She brightened immediately. "Greetings, new friends, I am Starfire! Welcome to our home!" Starfire then proceeded to gather all three of the newcomers up into one big hug, accompanied by the sound of creaking ribs and gasps for air. "And what are your names?"

"I'm Danny Phantom. This is Sam Manson, and that's--"

"Tucker Foley," he interrupted smoothly. "But you can call me handsome."

Starfire looked at him quizzically. "It is very nice to meet you, new friends Danny, Sam and Handsome."

Beast Boy sniggered from the other side of the room. "Dude, that was awful."

"Yeah, like you're one to talk about bad pickup lines." Cyborg put in. "The creator of the 'Mean, Green Lovin' Machine' thing?"

"Hey! I thought we agreed to never talk about that again!" Beast Boy cried indignantly. He and Cyborg immediately launched into one of their customary arguements.

"Wow, these guys argue like you and Sam do sometimes," Danny said, trying to catch the attention of the lovestricken teen. "Hey, Tuck." He elbowed Tucker in the side.

Tucker stared at the redheaded Tamaranean as she went over to inform Robin of what had happened while she had been chasing down Jinx. "I think I'm in love," he said dreamily.

"Um, are you serious?" Sam said incredulously. "I think she's a bit out of your league, being a superhero and all."

"Well, you know, his best friend is a superhero." Danny joked. "He might have a shot."

"Boys," Sam muttered, rolling her eyes.

"okay, so." Robin's voice rang out through the room. "I think it's about time for lunch. Then we need to track down that ghost somehow."

"Oh, boy. I got just the thing." Cyborg rushed excitedly to the fridge. He rummaged through it, pulling out his prize and holding aloft... "Primerib, Cyborg style!"

"No way! I'm not eating that!" Sam and Beast Boy said in unison, then gave each other an odd look. Beast Boy studied her. "You're a vegetarian?"

"Yeah. Are you?"

He grinned widely. "Don't worry, Beast Boy has all your tofu needs covered. Veggieburgers, comin' up!" He dove into the kitchen, and chaos ensued.

---

"I'll admit, your plan has some merit, Reverend. But putting all your foes in one place seems...ill-advised." Outwardly, the criminal genius known as Slade looked quite calm. But his eye darted around the dark room, betraying his discontent. He was still on edge at recieving a message in his hideout without any prior warning. The very fact that the man had found his lair meant he was not one to be trifled with.

"It's not as though you can keep Daniel and his friends from leaving the city." Added Vlad Masters, philanthropist and half-ghost.

"Ah, but I can indeed prevent him from leaving." The robed man steepled his fingers in front of the hood hiding his face. "It is simple, really. Where else can they go but Amity Park?" He leaned over, pressing an intercom button on the arm of his chair. "Begin the operation." A video screen lowered down behind the chair. "I believe you will want to watch this, gentlemen."

---

The skies above Amity Park were beginning to darken with the sunset, and a feeling of early evening calm was settling over the city.

It wasn't about to last.

The first indication anyone had that anything was amiss was when the sky darkened far more quickly than normal, and the temperature dropped noticeably. Above the town, the air seemed to pinch inward in many places, blossoming into swirls of violet energy. Spectral figures began flowing out of these holes in nothing, congregating in groups. They were ghosts, surrounded by flickering purple ecto-energy, each carrying a crossbow. As if of one mind, they began swooping into the city. People screamed and pointed, fleeing as the ghosts opened fire on their surroundings.

Sirens began blaring all over the city, and a silver and green modified RV tore down the streets, stopping at a large intersection. Two jumpsuit-clad figures jumped out, brandishing an assortment of weaponry.

"All right, ghosts! Nobody messes with Jack Fenton's town!" Jack had a pair of blasters, and although he was managing to zap ghosts in almost any direction he fired, the area was thick with them. "Maddie, this looks serious. They're everywhere!"

"Look out!" Maddie knocked him out of the path of a volley of bolts. They took cover behind an overturned car as series of blasts flipped the Fenton RV over. "They're too powerful! I hate to say this, Jack, but I think we need to activate the Fenton Bubble."

The Fenton Bubble had been developed after the last massive ghost invasion, a tool designed to contain Amity Park inside a powerful force field. The idea was if the ghosts could be confined in one spot, it would halt any sort of invasion and prevent the rest of the world from falling. A green dome expanded out from Fenton Works to cover the area of Amity Park.

"There. Nothing gets in or out until we figure out a way to send these ghosts back into the Ghost Zone." Jack sighed, watching the invaders try vainly to batter down the shield. "At least we know Danny's ok."

---

Out of chaos, came order. Somehow, dinner had been made, despite the disagreeing viewpoints that occupied the kitchen during its preparation.

"You know you wanna try it." Beast Boy was waving the plate of tofu burgers around animatedly, so much so that even if someone besides Sam had wanted one, grabbing it would require considerable acrobatics.

"Hey, watch it!" Tucker fended him off one handed. "You're gonna kill someone with that stuff."

"Just one bite, dude. It's good!"

Tucker grimaced. "I adopted a strict 'no health food' policy after Ultra-Recyclo Vegetarian week." He said with a pointed glance at Sam.

"What? You guys still blame me for that?" Sam folded her arms. "I can't help it that the Lunch Lady flipped over a little variety."

Further conversation was interrupted as an alert popped up on the main screen in the living room. Instead of the typical overhead map, however, a news broadcast started playing.

"This was the scene a few hours ago in the city of Amity Park as what is perhaps the biggest ghost invasion on record rocked the city," The reporter was saying. Shaky clips of squads of ghosts indiscriminately wrecking the city played on the screen as the reporter's narration conintued. "The governor has ordered an immediate lockdown of the area, deploying the National Guard to block off all roads into the city. The city itself is covered in a protective dome, first designed by resident ghost hunters Jack and Maddie Fenton..."

Danny stood up and stared. "This is insane! How--why? What's going on?"

Sam shook her head uncomprehendingly. "Who's doing this? And why?"

"Only one way to find out," Danny replied.

Robin walked up to him. "Hold on. You're not thinking of flying all the way out there alone, are you?"

"And what would you do when you got there? Looks like no one's going to be able to do anything from outside that dome." Cyborg added.

"It doesn't matter. I have to go back and do something! I don't know what's going on, but I'll bet it has something to do with me." The halfa rubbed the back of his head. "It usually does."

"Hold up." Tucker jumped in. "Antara had a device that made ghost portals, right? If we could find her, maybe we could use that to get inside the Ghost Shield."

"All the more reason we need to find her, then." Robin said. "You guys will help, right?"

"Count on it." Danny gritted his teeth. "We'll find her."

---

After hours of searching the city, determination was largely fading. Danny was still searching feverishly, using every scrap of ghost knowledge he could remember to try to predict where Antara might be hiding. Still, the possibility that she had holed up in the Ghost Zone did its part to dampen everyone's spirits.

"Danny, Robin says we should head back," Sam's voice came over the Fenton Phones in Danny's ears. "We'll all do better in the morning."

"You guys go ahead," he replied as he floated over downtown. "I'm gonna stay out for a while longer, I may have more luck."

"Okay, be careful. Don't be gone too long." The device switched off.

A flicker of movement caught Danny's eye, and he turned and jetted towards it. Could have sworn I saw--there! It was difficult to make out in the dark, but someone else was flying past a cluster of skyscrapers. Danny put on speed, hoping to catch whoever it was. His eyes glowed green as he got within range. "Stop right there!" Danny shouted as he plowed his shoulder into the other person, knocking them both to the top of a nearby building. A blast of energy knocked him on his back, and he strained to get up before she finished him off.

"Can I ask why you just knocked me out of the sky?" A familiar, dry voice snapped.

Danny picked himself up embarassedly, facing a somewhat irate Raven. "Uh, oops. Sorry, Raven. Deja vu, huh?" Trying his best to diffuse her inevitable anger, he mentally prepared himself to bolt...

...and Raven just shrugged. "Just look before you start attacking people." She studied him from underneath her hood. He looked very tired, as if he'd been running instead of flying all night. She turned, walking to the edge of the building. "I owe you an apology for earlier," she said somewhat stiffly from over her shoulder.

"Hey, no harm done."

She shook her head. "No, I let my anger get out of hand, and I jumped to conclusions about you." Their eyes met briefly. "I'm sorry."

He said nothing, just smiled, and Raven felt her heart skip a beat. Ack! Calm, down, Raven, she thought. Just because he has a nice smile doesn't mean you should start losing your cool again.

Thunder rumbled from the dark sky. Both teens looked up then, seeing the beginnings of a storm. "Think we ought to go home?" Danny said.

Raven arched an eyebrow. "Ghosts don't have to worry about getting sick, do they?"

"No, but I don't like getting rained on." He took off, hovering above the building. "Come on. How about a race?"

"I don't do races," Raven said as she hovered up to join him.

He scoffed. "I bet you're just afraid of losing to a ghost."

"Okay, you're on."

They shot forward simultaneously, putting considerable energy into flight. When the rain began, it stung when it hit bare skin. Danny put on a burst of speed, pulling ahead of Raven as they flew over the harbor.

He looked back at her smugly. "You know that feeling that just overwhelmed you? That's called losing!" Danny called back to her.

Raven pushed herself, trying her best to catch him, but the wind was against her and she was already going as fast as she could. Almost without warning then, Danny seemed to stall, wilting out of the air. A flash of light surrounded him as he plummeted. Raven stretched out a hand, seizing him telekinetically and drawing him to her. It looked as though the exertion had caused him to pass out.

No wonder he wanted to get back so fast, Raven mused as she lifted him to eye level and studied him. His hair had changed to a glossy black, and his jumpsuit replaced with jeans and a tshirt. "Danny, are you okay? Can you hear me?" She was answered by a soft snore. Poor kid tired himself out. Raven supressed a sudden irrational desire to run her fingers through his hair. Why am I thinking things like that about him? I don't even know him!

Raven floated in through a window, gently settling Danny on the couch in the living room. There was no sign of anyone else being awake, and she assumed Sam and Tucker had been settled into some of the extra bedrooms.

She stopped briefly in the doorway before heading to her room, regarding the sleeping young man. There's more to him than he lets on. Why do I feel so strangely about you, Danny Phantom?

---

A/N: Here's another question for all y'alls nerds out there. The taunt Danny uses ("You know that feeling that just overwhelmed you? That's called losing!") is an actual line David Kaufman has said, but not from Danny Phantom. Where is it from, and what character actually said it? Hint: It's a video game.