Chapter Nine

Who Knows Where, April 24, 2006

Valerie hardly knew that she had woken up. Wherever she was, it was pitch black. Eventually, however, she did realize that she wasn't still unconscious, and sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

The ground beneath her was rather metallic, and cold, though she must have been lying there for some time. Or had she? All this darkness was disconcerting. Finally, Valerie remember her glow-in-the-dark watch, and hit a button on the side to turn the light on.

4:32 PM 4 24 06

"I've been asleep for two days!" Valerie couldn't help but exclaim. As she finished, she heard someone else.

"Yes, yes you have. You gave us quite a scare, actually. Or really just me, because everyone else here is a mindless drone . . . and then, not even me, because, I don't care. But oh, yes, you have been unconcious since I kidnaped you two days ago." A creepily dressed man came up in front of her, somehow illuminated. How she was able to see him was clarified when Phantom floated out from behind him. It was he ghost hybrid's eerie glow. "I am Freakshow, Miss Gray. Your master of ceremonies. You may know me better as 'The Specter Stealer' though, I'm going to dsy, that is a stupid name. Tonight, my dear . . . you will watch a spectacular show. Before you become a cast member yourself. Minion, light up the room!"

Danny gave off an evil grin before turning around and leaving Valerie and Freakshow in total darkness. Quickly enough, the room was brightly lit. Val blinked a few times to adjust her eyes to the light.

As soon as she could see, Valerie lunged at Freakshow, and he clapped. Almost instantly, a burly green-tinted ghost was blocking the way between him and Val.

"Now, now, Miss Grey, we don't want a repeat of the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick incident, do we?" the Specter Stealer chided.

Valerie scowled and backed away. She heard footsteps as Freakshow (and the spook in front of him) went farther away. Then there was a clanging noise, the source of which was blocked out by the ghost. "Take a look around."

Figuring it couldn't hurt, she did. She was in what appeared to be a sort of tunnel, lined with metal. Valerie then noticed where the noise must have come from. Bars blocked the entrance of the tunnel, and judging by the fact that Freakshow was now on the other side of them, and earlier he was right in front of her, they must've been added recently.

"Let me out of here!" she yelled, running up to the bars.

"I can't. Once they're down, there's only one way out of there and . . ." There were suddenly a whole lot of frantic mumbling sounds, and Valerie glanced around the room from her prison, trying to see the source. In the process, she realized that this was some sort of lab.

Finally, she saw the noisemakers. Maddie and Jack Fenton were tied up, helpless, in one corner of the room. "Mr. and Mrs. Fenton!" Valerie yelled. This must be FentonWorks, she thought.

"Will you be quiet?" Freakshow said, to the room in general. "As I was saying, there's only one way to get out of there, and that's only through intangibility." He came mockingly close to Valerie's face. "But, I don't suppose you have that, now do you?"

Val only growled.

"The only way to get that would be to become a ghost. Or a half-ghost, like Daniel here. And there's only one way to do that. Turn on this nifty little device -" He paused to smile devilishly. "-from the inside. There's a switch, a green switch, a few feet in. You press it, and whammo, you are a member of my crew . . . permanently."

Valerie stared. "You're crazy," she stated simply.

"Probably," replied Freakshow. "But I'm the one with the army of ghosts."

Meanwhile . . .

"We're home!" Valerie shouted, happy.

Danny sighed. "You're home. We need a ghost portal . . ."

"FentonWorks. But -"

Danny had already transformed, and was flying at top speed towards where his house should be, Valerie in arm.

Finally, they stopped outside of FentonWorks. "You deserve what's coming, ghost boy."

Phasing through the roof (The Fentons must've turned off the ghost shield for some reason, Val thought.), Danny and Valerie headed towards the basement. What they saw was . . . unexpected . . .

A very familiar pasty bald head was at the back of the room, facing a no-longer-glowing Fenton Portal. Around the room were various ghosts. And in the corner were Maddie and Jack, yelling something Danny couldn't make out through their gags.

"This wasn't part of the plan," Danny said uselessly.

"No, I didn't think it was," Valerie replied, forgetting to put in the wry tone she had meant to.

Freakshow turned around. "What? Another Gray girl? And another Daniel?"

"The Specter Stealer!" Valerie exclaimed.

"And I thought Inviso-Bill was bad," Danny muttered. "Really, the Specter Stealer? The media sucks."

"I agree, ghost. The media hires stupid people. Now face my wrath!" Freakshow held up his staff, and Danny averted his eyes in an attempt to avoid becoming a mindless slave.

Ahem.

When Danny glanced over, and the Specter Stealer was still holding up the staff. "How come you're not facing my wrath?"

In reality, this had something long and complicated to do with the slightly different universal energy signatures Danny had, none of which corresponded to Freakshow's staff. But that's long and boring, and will not be delved into deeply here.

"Phantom!" Valerie heard . . . Valerie . . . yell. "Get me out of here!"

Danny flew over to the Fenton Portal, and Valerie followed. "What are you doing in there?" she asked.

"Tell you later. Just phase me through."

"Got it," Danny reached through and reached through, making her intangible.

When she was out, Valerie (the one just trapped in the Fenton Portal) reached over and hugged Danny fiercely. "I thought Freakshow was controlling you, Danny!"

"Um . . . I'm not the Danny from here. I'm Phantom."

Valerie let go, a faint reddish tinge on her cheeks. "What the heck are you doing helping me then?"

Danny gave her a pointed look and flew off. Freakshow had stopped being surprised that Danny wasn't a drone, and was now sending ghost after ghost to attack him.

"Well, this is awkward," the Valerie native to that universe said.

"Uh-huh," the other Valerie (who shall hereby be known as Val) responded awkwardly.

"Now, what the heck did you mess up while you were here?" Valerie said.

"Nothing! If anything, I fixed some stuff," Val said casually.

"Like what? Oh, crud, you didn't mess up Danny, did you? It took about a year to train him right and . . ."

"Shut up. His parents are thinking about taking him back, anyway."

Valerie slapped Val on the cheek. "You had no right to . . ."

"Ow! Did it ever occur to you that he was half human? And that he was a nice person? Or, maybe, that ghost slavery was wrong? For crying out loud, when you die, you'll be a slave forever."

"He's not a nice person! Have you met his ghost half?"

"Phantom," Val corrected. "And oh, I dunno, did it ever occur to you that maybe he was just a little . . . mad? That his own parents sold him into slavery, and he was being treated like an animal by . . . by you!"

For a moment, Valerie was silent. "Okay, maybe. But not everyone becomes a ghost."

"True. But if you do . . ."

"Who are you to come in and disrupt my way of life, anyway?"

"Shut up. Really. Shut the heck up."

"You suck. I suck. We suck. Geez, I dunno. But you suck, bad."

Neither of them heard the shattering sound as the crystal ball was broken, or even noticed when the Fenton Portal was activated. No one noticed as the Wisconsin Ghost flew out of FentonWorks unnoticed, Skulker in arm, and the other ghosts just floated there, obediently waiting for . . . something. Even the ordinarily insubordinate Phantom was dazed.

Danny Phantom, however, was still trying to break up the squabbling girls. "Guys!" he yelled. "Guys! Guys!"

"She started it!" Val and Valerie yelled at the same time, pointing at each other.

Danny rolled his eyes. "Okay, look, stupidity aside, we have to get to Clockwork."

"Clockwork?" Val asked.

"The guy who'll send you back!" Danny and Valerie shouted at Val at the same time.

"Look, I'm staying. I have to fix what . . .she . . . me . . . she did to you . . . Danny. You are the other Danny, right?"

"Yes! Just come with me. Besides, I'm not really sure I want to leave you to abuse some other me. No, strike that, I'm sure I don't want to."

Valerie pouted. "Oh, c'mon. What about 'your world, my world' and all that other junk?"

"Blood is thicker than water. So is ectoplasm." He glanced at Val, who was giving him strange looks. "Why don't we just bring him?"

Suddenly they all heard a loud 'MMM!' "Oh yeah, the Fentons," Valerie remarked, suddenly uncomfortable. "I'll go untie them."

"What's her problem?" Danny asked.

Val gave a light shudder, and looked at him. "I think we're about to have a very, very awkward talk, Phantom."