Danifan3000: There is a possibility of ghosts getting akumatized, yes.

Julimart: Thank you! Yeah, the way they had Marinette try out for the tournament in canon was not great, considering they also established her family's game nights in the same scene. Since I don't plan on covering Teacher of the Year, I figured it would be smart to slip in Sam's skill at gaming too. Thanks for thinking I did a good job with the bullying topic; I was hoping I did it justice. Yeah, the magical charms were not a good idea. Interesting thought regarding Chat having the ability to destroy concepts, will have to think on that one.

Jebest4781: Thank you!

Drake wind: Welcome aboard! I'm glad that you think I did a good job with the bullying topic. Sidney's lair in canon seemed unfair when you looked at the lairs of other ghosts; even in his afterlife, Sidney was still getting bullied. Yeah, I wanted to give Alya some independence from Marinette; she's a character with her own goals, and is not only there to boost Marinette up. I'd like to do something similar with Nino in the future, but I'm still coming up with plot ideas. Lila's debut is far away yet, but I am always thinking about how I am going to write her when the time comes.

Pokémon fan 1991: Thank you! Yeah, Sidney's lair in canon did not make sense with what we know of other lairs, so I tried to fix it and I think I succeeded at that. Yeah, really, if Hawk Moth was simply going to make stronger akumas to break the charms then what was the point of introducing them at all?

La gran diosa zorra fantasma: Thanks! I'm glad to hear that I approached the bullying topic respectfully and that a previous victim approved of how I wrote it; sorry that you had to go through that. Yeah, I wanted Adrien to not be Marinette's motivation for everything she does the way canon seems to do, and I hated the Poindexter episode for its hypocrisy so I fixed that too. Glad that you enjoyed all the little bits and changes in the chapter. Lila will debut later on. As for the episodes I'm not adapting, it's quite a list that I'll spare anybody from reading.

Matt: Thanks for enjoying the chapter! Nothing is confirmed yet with the counselor idea. What episode is D O? I'm afraid I don't understand the question. Not entirely sure what I'm going to do with Sidney later.

Leonardo: Glad you enjoyed my portrayal of Poindexter. His episode is my least favorite of the first season because of how hypocritical it was about the bullying moral, so I almost scrapped his episode until I figured out how to salvage it. Yeah, I worry for future seasons of ML. I'm indifferent to the idea of Ladydragon getting her own series; I enjoyed the Shanghai special more than the New York one, but that's not a high bar.

Fan: Don't worry about the Identity Crisis episode, I wasn't planning on covering that episode either.

Dyna-Man 21: Already covered this in PM, but thanks for understanding why I'm making certain writing decisions.

Matt: We'll have to wait and see about that Christmas chapter, but yes, Adrien and Danny have complicated feelings about the holiday.

Friendly reminder that speculation about future chapters and what you want to see is okay, but please leave a comment about the chapter I just worked very hard on if you intend to speculate.

Also, Two Kinds has a TVTropes page, so if you think of any trope examples for it, go ahead and add them.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Miraculous Ladybug. They belong to their respective owners. Any and all familiar dialogue is for the sake of the plot.

One Kind of Dogged Pursuit

"That really is a nice-looking trophy, girl."

Marinette and Alya stood in front of the school's trophy display case one afternoon. An ordinary trophy sat on the shelf bearing the inscription 'State Gaming Tournament Champion – 20XX'.

The young designer nodded with her bestie. "Yeah, despite the last-minute change on our team, Max and I turned out to do pretty well for ourselves. What do you think the school is going to do with the prize money?"

"Something good I hope. If you ask me, anything but giving it to the football team. They're already the most well-funded part of the school; they don't need anymore. Giving the money to them would just inflate their already huge egos."

Considering how anyone on the football team was automatically an A-lister, Marinette was inclined to agree with Alya.

The sound of doors being shoved open startled the pair along with other students hanging around the hallway, and they saw Danny running and screaming from Dash, who had a sheet of paper clenched in his hand.

"Moving, gotta keep moving," Danny huffed as he sprinted past Marinette and Alya.

"That's it, Fenton! Run, but I'm taking this D I got on our spelling test out of your hide!" Dash hollered, pursuing the freshman.

Marinette and Alya sighed synchronously with Alya adding, "I guess that assembly flew over some people's heads…"

Last week, the school had an assembly about the rampant bullying that had been going on in Casper High. It had been brought to the faculty's attention by Alya posting an anti-bullying campaign online, and forced them to reiterate the school's zero tolerance policy on bullying to everyone. As much wishful thinking that everybody listened to the lecture did, Alya knew that some people wouldn't listen and Dash's current actions were proof.

Danny muttered under his breath, "Every time he fails, he comes after me!"

Ahead of him, Paulina and Kwan were visiting Valerie at her locker.

"Hey, Valerie! I like so much love that top!" Paulina cooed at Valerie's new attire, a hot pink shirt.

Valerie boasted a proud smile, "Isn't it sweet? $579, and worth every one of my dad's pennies!"

Danny came around the corner, and as he looked over his shoulder to check how close Dash was to catching him, he accidentally collided with Paulina. The coffee cup Paulina had been carrying was knocked out of her grip and into Valerie's face, dripping coffee onto her new top.

Scowling crossly, Valerie addressed Kwan and pointed at Danny. "Please hit the unpopular boy for me!"

Kwan shrugged, remembering the assembly. "Hey, accidents happen."

Valerie grabbed Kwan's shirt and yanked him down to her eye level so she could growl in his face.

"Alright, alright!" Kwan complied, reluctantly chasing Danny back the way he came.

Realizing he was trapped between two football players, Danny also remembered he had an advantage over them. "Wait a minute! I have ghost powers." Checking ahead of and behind himself if Dash or Kwan could see him, which they couldn't because neither had yet turned a corner, Danny turned invisible and dove into a nook he remembered passing. [1]

He phased through the nook's wall just as Dash and Kwan rounded their respective corners and collided with each other.

Danny phased outside to the school courtyard, and made sure nobody was around before turning visible again. "Man, that was close."

It was through his Ghost Sense that he noticed he was not alone. There was another ghost present. He looked down, and noticed an oddly green puppy scampering over to him. Assuming this was the ghost, Danny picked up the puppy, and noted his spiked collar and the tag had a big 'A' etched into it with four electrons surrounding it. The puppy began licking his face.

Danny chuckled at the feeling of a slobbery tongue against his skin. "It's like Dash but with better breath. Now this I can handle."

Seemingly satisfied with Danny, the puppy jumped out of his hands and morphed into a giant, ten-foot tall, beastlier dog with more pronounced fangs. Suddenly, the cute puppy wasn't so cute anymore.

"Or not," Danny retracted his comment.

Later that afternoon, Valerie joined her father at Axion Labs for his latest presentation. She, her father, her father's boss, and a couple of security guards walked through the lab building.

"Digital surveillance, retinal scanning access portals, titanium doors, laser deterrents. As promised, this is the most secure facility in the United States," Valerie's father, Damon Gray, was explaining to his boss as he showed off each addition he had made.

His boss looked pleased with the measures. "Well done, Damon. You can feel free to bill me for the remainder of your fee."

"Which means I can replace this top," Valerie said, tugging at the coffee-stained top she hadn't been able to change out of.

"It's good to know those smelly security dogs are a thing of the past," Damon's boss continued, ignoring her.

Before Damon could reply, the group heard barking and dents banging into the titanium doors. After a few, Phantom crashed into the room, landing at their feet.

"Phantom?" Valerie asked, confused what he was doing at the lab.

The group flinched when the ghost dog, still in his beast form, appeared and started spraying ectoplasmic dog slobber everywhere. Valerie seemed to get hit with most of it, to her disgust.

"Sorry about the dog saliva, he seems to have a drooling problem," Phantom apologized, getting to his feet. He winced at Valerie's revolted screech, and was thankfully distracted by the ghost dog running past the group. "Bad dog! No! Get back here!" He flew after the canine.

The ghost dog phased through another set of doors, and started knocking over lab equipment, which fell against more equipment and made more of a mess. Phantom and the group of humans followed him into the room.

"Halt! Halt!" The guards pulled out their weapons and began firing at the dog. Phantom, who was trying to help stop the dog's rampage, was caught in the crossfire.

"Cut it out, you stupid mutt!" Phantom tried to command the dog.

"Stand back, everybody! This state-of-the-art security system can stop anything." Damon pulled out a remote, and pressed a button. A sphere with lasers dropped down from the ceiling, and began firing everywhere. An automatic net gun appeared, and fired a net at Phantom and the ghost dog, but they both phased through the net, making it catch Damon, Valerie, and his boss instead.

Phantom yelped as the dog escaped through a wall, taking him with it since he was still holding on.

Damon glanced uncomfortably at his boss. "I'm fired, aren't I?"

His boss glared at him. "You're not just fired, you're ruined."

Sabrina gestured to the presentation board she had on an easel. "And from what my dad said, because Mr. Gray put everything into his security business, they lost everything."

She stood before Chloe, who was sitting on her bed in her penthouse suite, and listening to her bestie with rapt attention. Once Sabrina finished speaking, Chloe let out a vicious cackle.

"Oh, this is perfect! With Gray losing her A-lister status, that means more power in the clique for me to take." Chloe got off her bed and approached the board, looking at how Sabrina had laid out the dynamics of the A-listers. "Baxter and the rest of the meatheads may be football players, but between Sanchez's daddy being a lawyer and Thunder's daddy being a weatherman, it's obvious that I hold the most power with my daddy being mayor AND owning this hotel. With you by my side, that evens the numbers too now that Gray can't vote with Sanchez and Thunder to take the majority." [2]

"Does that mean we're beginning the takeover immediately, Chloe?" Sabrina asked meekly.

"You know it!" Chloe smirked at her bestie, rubbing her hands together. "This is going to be sweet!"

Having heard the same news that Sabrina relayed to Chloe, Danny convinced Sam and Tucker to join him in checking on Valerie. When they rolled up on their scooters, they found the Grays' belongings sitting on their front yard.

"Whoa, talk about rock bottom! They're selling everything they own at a yard sale." Sam remarked, stunned to see one of the A-listers having something actually terrible happen to them.

Danny frowned, looking at everything. "I feel bad. If I could have stopped that ghost dog, none of this would have happened."

Tucker noticed Valerie coming out of her house, carrying a box. "She's having a rough week." He smiled as an idea came to him. "Which means I can catch her on the rebound. Sweet!" Steering his scooter over to her, he tried to flirt. "Hey, Val. I heard what happened."

Valerie rolled her eyes at him. "Oh great, word has already moved down to the bottom of the social grapevine."

Danny scooted up beside Tucker. "Hey, come on. I know you're upset, but he just wants to help. We all do."

"I don't," Sam threw in.

"Most of us do," Tucker amended, "More than two-thirds."

Valerie lifted a hand in dismissal. "Thanks, but I'll pass."

Danny's Ghost Sense went off, and he suddenly changed his stance. "I'm going to have to pass too." He zipped away on his scooter, making Valerie watch him strangely considering he had only offered to help moments ago. Before she could dwell on it too long, the ghost dog emerged from the ground in his beast form. Sam, Tucker, and Valerie could only watch in shock as the ghost dog knocked over some of Valerie's belongings, including a chest full of clothes that were soaked by a car splashing through a puddle on the street as it drove by.

Phantom flew onto the scene and immediately confronted the ghost dog. "How'd you get out of the Ghost Zone?" Trying a trick he learned from dealing with the canine the other day, he tickled the dog underneath his chin. Elated by the sensation, the ghost dog shifted from the beast form into its cute, small puppy form. "Ghost dogs are more entertaining than regular dogs," remarked Phantom before noticing something under his boot and lifting up the boot to inspect; his expression flattened as he figured out what it was. "Great, invisible dog doo."

Valerie stomped over, taking care not to step where Phantom just did. "Would you get out of here? You and your stupid dog have done enough!"

-LB-CN-P-

Hawk Moth's window opened. "An animal causing chaos… rage against the chaos the animal wrought… a perfect mix for an akuma." The villain charged a butterfly with his power and set it free. "Fly away my little akuma, and evilize her!"

-LB-CN-P-

The ghost dog managed to hook his teeth into Phantom's boot, and start dragging the poor hero around the Grays' property.

"Come on, boy! Not again!" Phantom pleaded. "Down, boy! Down, boy! Down, boy!"

Unsure of how to handle the ghost dog, Sam and Tucker watched with baffled expressions as the canine hauled Phantom into the moving van parked on the street. They along with a fuming Valerie watched as the back of the moving van shut and loud sounds of crashing and stuff breaking ensued. Sam and Tucker ran over to open the back of the van again, and at that point Mr. Gray came outside.

"What's going on here?" Damon demanded as the two teens finally got the door open again, and they, along with the Grays, stared into the truck and saw everything was broken. Phantom and the puppy were nowhere in sight.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," Valerie vowed.

"Uh, since everything is broken now, we're just going to go," Sam grabbed Tucker by the arm and pulled him away from the scene.

"We could still help clean up?" suggested Tucker.

Left alone, Damon and Valerie sat on the stoop of their house. Damon wrapped an arm around his daughter's shoulders. "Don't worry, Valerie. Everything will be okay, I promise."

As Damon reassured his daughter, the akuma butterfly fluttering toward them suddenly reversed direction.

-LB-CN-P-

"What? No, her negative emotions are fading!" Hawk Moth complained. Tapping his cane impatiently, he told the butterfly, "Hang around her. She has to get angry again."

-LB-CN-P-

While Hawk Moth lost an opportunity for a new villain, Phantom entered his family's basement lab with the ghost puppy nestled in his arms. The puppy seemed content where he was.

"Okay, Cujo, in you go!" Phantom opened the portal and tossed the puppy inside before closing the portal before he could come back out. He shook off the ectoplasmic dog saliva left on his gloved hands. "Yuck! That's it, I'm getting a hamster."

The moment he flew out of the room to meet back up with Sam and Tucker, the puppy did come back out. Somehow, he managed to wiggle through the portal despite it being closed.

The next day at school, lunch break had arrived and everyone took the chance to eat something and release stress from attending classes. Valerie, who usually got whatever was on the lunch menu, was forced to bring a bagged lunch from home to save money.

"Wait until you see what I'm wearing to the concert," Paulina bragged, showing off her new black shirt which had the logo of the band Dumpty Humpty on it. "I'm going to look the hottest."

"I can't wait for this. Dumpty Humpty rocks!" Dash did a bad impression of an air guitar to one of the band's songs.

Kwan noticed Valerie coming over with her lunch. "Hey, Val! We're still down for the concert, right?"

Valerie hunched her shoulders, embarrassed as she held her lunch bag. "Ah sorry, guys. I had to sell my tickets online to help pay for the moving truck. Things are kind of tight now, you know?"

The rest of the A-listers murmured negative replies amongst themselves, not relating to her experience of money being tight.

Valerie moved to sit down at the table, but Chloe quickly stood in her way with a sneer. "Speaking of tight… with your circumstances, the rest of the A-listers were talking and we decided you're out."

Valerie lowered her lunch bag to her side. "What do you mean I'm out?"

"You're out of the A-listers," Chloe said bluntly, almost mockingly, "without your daddy's money, you're neither rich, famous, nor an athlete in the school's best sports. That means you can't sit with us anymore, no more sleepovers with us, and forget about even talking with us."

"You can't be serious." Valerie glanced at the rest of the A-listers. "You guys are dropping me just like that?"

Sabrina shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry, but those are the A-lister rules. I mean, I'm only allowed to be an A-lister because Chloe's my best friend and my father's a lieutenant."

"And my dad is kind of famous because he's on TV almost every day," Star added. "Sure, he's a weatherman, but he's still on TV."

While Valerie scowled at the betrayal by her clique, Chloe continued to taunt, "Don't worry. You can still possibly salvage your social reputation by sitting with Adrikins over there." She pointed to where Adrien was sitting with Marinette, Nino, and Alya, who were all watching the confrontation. "But I wouldn't get my hopes up since Adrikins betrayed the A-listers before."

Valerie growled the longer Chloe spoke.

-LB-CN-P-

"Yes! Her negative emotions are rising again. Go my little akuma, evilize her now!" The butterfly villain commanded.

-LB-CN-P-

The akuma, which had followed Valerie to school, flew off its perch on a tree in the courtyard and started fluttering toward the cafeteria window.

Inside, Paulina was oblivious to Valerie's growing anger as she insensitively asked, "Hey, Valerie. Did you at least sell your tickets to someone cool? We don't want to have to sit next to any losers at the concert."

Huffing in offense, Valerie stomped away from the A-listers' table and sat down at one that hadn't been claimed yet, far away from her former friends. At another table, Marinette and her friends weren't the only ones to see the falling out.

"Whoa, brutal!" Tucker gasped.

"Did you see that? Valerie just got scorched by her friends," Danny said, glancing back at the A-listers laughing and having a good time after blowing off one of their own moments ago.

Sam scoffed, crossing her arms. "Maybe she needs better friends."

Forming a grin on his face, Tucker exclaimed, "My thoughts exactly!" Without further clarification to his friends, Tucker sprinted over to Valerie's table.

The former popular girl saw him run over to her, and sighed. "What do you want?"

Suddenly flustered now that he was in front of the girl he was interested in, Tucker started to stammer similarly to Marinette around Adrien, "Uh, I was wondering… if you would join me -us- for lunch, I mean, since you're not…" Trying to not look her in the eye so he could get the words out, he made the mistake of looking out the window and noticing Cujo's beastly form looming over them intimidatingly. He instinctively took a step back.

The motion did not go unnoticed by Valerie, who glared at him. "I'm already aware of my sudden outcast status, but thanks for reminding me," she snarked.

"B-but," Tucker tried to explain, shakily lifting a finger to point.

"Can you please just leave me alone? I wanna enjoy my bag lunch in peace!" Valerie snapped. As she reached out to open her lunch, Cujo's massive head phased into the cafeteria and grabbed her lunch with his sharp teeth.

Valerie let out a scream while the canine shook her meal to shreds. Once he was done with it, he fully phased into the cafeteria and jumped on the A-listers' table, sending food flying everywhere. His terrifying appearance sent all the students in the room scrambling for the exit doors. After most of them fled, all that remained were Danny, Sam, Tucker, Valerie, Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Nino.

-LB-CN-P-

"A ghost in range of the akuma again?" Hawk Moth grumbled, aggressively tapping his cane on the floor. "Now that I know what that energy is, I'm not letting it ruin the opportunity for a good akuma. Stay after the girl! Find an opportunity!" He told the corrupted butterfly.

-LB-CN-P-

"Wow! Another ghost animal!" Alya exclaimed in delight, pulling out her phone. "Imagine the blog post this story will make!"

Marinette turned toward her friend disbelievingly. "Alya, we should be running from the ghost dog. Not trying to record it!"

"But girl, ghost animal!" The young blogger emphasized.

Marinette groaned in faux frustration and got up to run away so she could transform. "You're impossible." She hurried out after the rest of the crowd.

Seeing her leave, Adrien got a similar idea and stood from his seat. "I'm not much of a dog person so I'm gonna go. Nino, you stay here with Alya and keep her out of trouble."

Nino looked at him questioningly. "Why do I gotta stay?"

Danny and Sam, still seated at their table, exchanged looks as Adrien ran past behind them and Cujo in front of them.

"You're not much of a dogcatcher," Sam drawled, her expression flat.

"Yeah, no kidding," Danny chuckled awkwardly, unable to argue with her comment. "Hey, who let the dogs in?" He joked, but Sam did not laugh. Feeling even more awkward at the lack of reaction, he added, "You see, the song is 'Who Let the Dogs Out', but I said 'Who Let the Dogs In'." When he was once again met with silence, he decided to duck under the table so he could transform. "I'll be right back."

"Bring some new jokes," Sam told him.

Cujo had trashed the cafeteria in a matter of a few minutes. Tables were broken or thrown against walls, trays were bent, and the lunch special was in puddles everywhere. He looked around the room for something, but his search was interrupted by a glob of the lunch special hitting him in the face. The ghost dog let out a snarl and growled in the direction it came from.

The one cafeteria staff member that hadn't run at the sight of him had thrown some unserved food. She felt good about attacking back for a moment until she realized with horror that Cujo was charging towards her. She tried to flee the kitchen, but he snatched her up with his teeth before she could get away. The woman let out a scream for help.

Phantom flew into Cujo's sight. "Nice pooch! Easy, that lady isn't edible, and neither is anything she cooks."

At the sight of the ghost hero, Cujo dropped the living lunch lady onto the floor and happily pounced at him.

"And neither am I!" Phantom yelped. The ghost dog tackled him through the wall, both of them phasing at the last second and preventing a hole in the wall from being formed.

With the hero and the threat gone, the lunch lady turned her attention to the mess. She picked up a tray of cafeteria food she had fallen on to examine it. "Ooh, it's still good. Who wants seconds?"

Alya pouted as she, Nino, and Sam walked over to Tucker and Valerie. "Aw, fight over already?" The blogger whined, still recording on her phone. "Ladybug and Chat Noir haven't even shown up."

Tucker shrugged helplessly. "Ghosts, heh. What are you going to do?"

Of the five remaining students, Valerie was the most furious. "Ghosts?" She whirled on the other students, the four jumping back at her outrage. "It's because of that stupid ghost dog and that stupid ghost hero that my daddy lost his job! They ruined my whole life!"

-LB-CN-P-

"Now's your chance! Seize the moment now!" Hawk Moth ordered his butterfly.

-LB-CN-P-

"You have any idea how hard it was for my daddy to build up his security company?" Valerie ranted. "He put everything we had into it. He was doing so good, and was about to secure such a big contract after he was done with Axion Labs because of a recommendation they were going to give him to another business, and that dog messed everything up!"

Nino, the calmest of the other students still in the cafeteria, approached her. "Valerie, dudette, it'll be okay. Your pops can just build his company back up. Sure, it might take a while again, but it's important to bounce back, right?"

Valerie smacked his outstretched hand away. "It's not just about Daddy's company. Because his job made so much money, I was an A-lister! I was somebody important, and now because of Phantom and his stupid pet, I don't have that anymore!" She clenched her hands into fists. "The next time I see that dog…!"

While the others listened to Valerie vent, none of them noticed the butterfly enter the cafeteria and infect Valerie's backpack.

"Dogcatcher," she heard Hawk Moth's voice in her head, "I am Hawk Moth. I understand how devastating your situation must be. I can help you turn things around, but in return, you must get Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous for me."

Valerie suddenly smirked. "It's a deal, Hawk Moth." His dark energy washed over her.

"Oh that's not good," Tucker remarked as he, Sam, Alya, and Nino backed away.

"You think? Run!" Sam shouted and the four ran away, Nino leading Alya by the hand because she was too busy recording an akumatization in close range.

"So, Phantom? Does your friend have a name?" Chat Noir asked.

Out on the football field, the three heroes were trying to wrangle the ghost dog. Chat Noir and Phantom tried to prevent him from making a mess of the field he was digging up, and Ladybug tried to use her yo-yo string to trap him in a net. To their dismay, he kept freeing himself via phasing and continued to dig.

"His collar doesn't say," Phantom said as he dodged a massive paw. He flew up above the dog and pulled on the collar to try and get him to stop digging. "I've called him Cujo as a nickname once or twice, so I guess that's as close as we'll get to an actual name." He yelped as Cujo abandoned a hole he was working on and went towards the bleachers. "No, Cujo, not the bleachers!" [3]

Cujo crushed the bleachers.

"I've got this." Chat Noir leaped into Cujo's sight and began waving his arms. "Yoohoo, Cujo! Nasty cat right here!"

It took Cujo a second to register the hero in front of him, but once he realized the similarities between the hero and canine's worst enemy, he began to bark aggressively.

"That's it. Follow me to somewhere with less people." Chat Noir vaulted away on his baton, and Cujo gave chase.

"Good work, kitty!" Ladybug praised, reeling her yo-yo back in.

Phantom's phone began to ring, and he answered the call as he watched Chat Noir lead the dog away. "Hello?"

"Danny, heads up! Akumatized villain headed your way!" Sam quickly told him.

"A villain?" He repeated for Ladybug's sake, whose eyes widened. "Who?"

A purple blast of energy struck the ground between Ladybug and Phantom, causing the heroes to look up at the sky by the school.

On a futuristic silver hoverboard was a figure in a red and black jumpsuit. She had a black backpack on her back, and a giant ray gun in her hands.

"Where's the ghost mutt, Phantom?" The figure demanded.

"Never mind, I think we found them," Phantom said into his phone.

"It's Valerie. She's calling herself Dogcatcher," Sam informed him. [4]

He nodded, "and she's after the dog, got it. Talk later." Ending the call, he put his phone back in his suit.

"Any ideas?" Ladybug asked, twirling her yo-yo.

"Okay, um," Phantom thought quickly and fired an ecto blast at Dogcatcher. Her board easily deflected the attack. "Well, that didn't work."

"How are we supposed to deal with the akuma and the dog at the same time?" Ladybug wondered. "We only had a ghost and an akuma at the same time once before, and you were out of town that day."

Dogcatcher fired several more blasts from her gun and Ladybug used her yo-yo to spin a shield in front of her and her teammate.

"Not to mention the dog keeps coming back no matter how many times I put him back in the Ghost Zone," Phantom said. He glanced at the school. "Alright, here's what we do. We find Chat and Cujo, and trade. I'll figure out how to deal with Cujo, and you guys handle the akuma."

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Ladybug stopped the shield, and Phantom fired an ecto blast that knocked Dogcatcher off her board. While she recovered, the two heroes went to join up with their third teammate.

"Nice doggy! Good boy!"

Chat Noir led Cujo to the park. Any civilians in the park quickly fled once they saw the beastly dog. Cujo's attention was briefly lost when he saw the fountain at the center of the park and went over to lap water from it for a drink.

"Hey, attention back over here please!" Chat called out, annoyed at being ignored for water. When Cujo continued to drink, the cat hero extended his baton over to the ghost dog and bopped him on the nose. Cujo snarled in his direction. "Better. Now, see the baton?" He waved his baton enticingly.

Cujo may have been a ghost dog, but he was still a dog. He began to pant excitedly, wagging his tail back and forth, shifting into his smaller puppy form.

"Fetch the baton!" Chat threw his baton across the park, and Cujo rushed after it. Pleased with himself, Chat watched with hands on his hips. "Huh, you CAN learn stuff from TV."

"Chat Noir!" He heard Ladybug call his name, and turned. She and Phantom arrived in the park. "We have an akumatized villain to defeat."

"Hope you don't mind a little animal control," Phantom quipped, pointing back the way they came from, and Chat could see a figure flying their way on a hoverboard.

He smirked confidently as Cujo returned with the baton and dropped it in his hand. "Please, as if anyone could contain this cat."

"Phantom is going to find a way to make Cujo go home." Ladybug pointed at the dog, who was eager to play more. "We're going to stop the akuma."

"Can't Phantom just suck the dog into his thermos and be done with it? Should be an easy catch." Chat Noir pointed to the thermos slung on the ghost hero's back.

Phantom shook his head. "Even if I did, Cujo would just keep coming back. He keeps tunneling through the portal somehow after I close it. I need to figure out how to get him to listen to me, figure out what he wants, and why he keeps showing up around me and that Valerie girl specifically." As he listed off each objective, he counted them on his fingers.

"Sounds complicated," Chat shrugged as he turned toward Ladybug, "alright, let's do this."

As he and Ladybug jumped away to deal with Dogcatcher, Phantom was left with Cujo. His phone rang and he answered again.

"Danny, I've found a dog obedience guide online. Maybe it can help you with the dog, ghost or not. I'm sending it to you now." Tucker said. Phantom's phone pinged, and he closed the call to find a link had been sent to him. [5]

He opened it to the first chapter, occasionally looking over his shoulder in case Dogcatcher got past his teammates. "Okay, chapter one. A dog's hearing is more acute than a human's. Which means…"

Staying at a distance, Dogcatcher readied her next weapon she pulled out of her backpack, a missile launcher, and prepared to fire at Phantom and Cujo. Before she could, Chat Noir landed on her hoverboard.

"Sorry, can't have you sniping at our friend." Chat swung his baton at her.

"Get off my board! You're ruining my shot!" Throwing her missile launcher up briefly to dodge his baton, she punched him off her board. She caught her weapon and prepared to fire again until Ladybug's yo-yo looped around the back of her hoverboard.

Ladybug began to spin around, swinging Dogcatcher around like a carnival ride.

Clinging to her board, Dogcatcher yelled out, "Hey, knock it off!" Desperate to regain control of her board, she randomly fired a missile. Luckily for her, and not so luckily for Ladybug, it flew right at the spotted hero. Chat Noir dove at Ladybug and tackled her away before the missile could connect, leaving a crater where she would have stood. As Ladybug lost grip of her yo-yo string, her yo-yo loosened around the hoverboard and fell to the ground yards away from its owner.

Following the obedience guide's instructions, Phantom put some distance between himself and Cujo then put two fingers in his mouth to whistle a call. Cujo started running toward him at the sound.

"Hand signals along with vocal commands can be a powerful combination," Phantom continued to read from his phone. Extending out a hand toward Cujo, he yelled out, "Stay!"

To his surprise, Cujo seemed to understand because braked to a halt right at the ghost hero's feet.

"That's weird," he noted, "this dog is already trained." Cujo then tackled him down the hill they were on and started to lick his face. "Sort of," he chuckled. Suddenly, Cujo stopped licking him and his ears went alert. Phantom, having just read about canine hearing, looked around for potential danger. After a second, he found it.

One of Dogcatcher's missiles were coming at them. Gathering Cujo protectively in his arms, Phantom jumped away from where they were, and the missile hit where they had been, leaving another crater.

"Sorry!" He heard Chat call out. "That one got away from us!"

Dogcatcher continued launching missiles, though they mostly went after Ladybug and Chat Noir instead of her intended targets. "Stay out of my way! I'm after Phantom and his stupid dog!" Tapping a button on her hoverboard with her foot, the board began firing beams at the two magic heroes to keep them busy.

"We won't let you hurt them!" Ladybug swung over a lamppost and delivered a flying kick to Dogcatcher, sweeping the villain off her board. As Dogcatcher let out a scream, her board pinged.

"Rider inactive. Corrective piloting program initiated." The board robotically beeped before moving on its own accord to catch Dogcatcher before she hit the ground.

"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about," Dogcatcher cheered, rising into the air to strike again.

"A board that knows when she fell off? Lucky! I would love to have one of those," Chat Noir complained as he used his cat skills to climb a tree in an attempt to match her height.

Reaching into her backpack, Dogcatcher threw out three pink small spinning sawblades, one at each hero. Ladybug deflected the one aimed at her with her spinning yo-yo shield; the one aimed at Chat landed right above where his hand was embedded in his tree, and the one for Phantom and Cujo went wide and ricocheted off a rock in the park.

"Wow, nice aim," commented Phantom sarcastically from where he was holding Cujo. Not paying attention to his blade, it came down from the air and nicked his arm. He bit back the pain while Cujo whimpered in concern for him. "Hey, that hurt!"

"Oh, don't worry, Phantom! It won't hurt long because you and that mutt are going down!" Dogcatcher switched out her missile launcher for her giant ray gun and fired a large blast at the two ghosts.

In a matter of seconds, Cujo shifted into his beast form and carried Phantom away by his leg, like how he had done the previous day as a puppy. As the canine saved the ghost hero, Chat Noir jumped down on Dogcatcher's board and launched her off.

The board sensed its owner had been removed once more, and moved to retrieve her, flinging Chat Noir off in the process. Dogcatcher returned to her board, and with a better stance to keep her on the board, fired more rounds at Phantom and Cujo with Ladybug and Chat Noir chasing after her.

"Come back!" Dogcatcher shouted at her targets.

Thanks to the increasing number of trees and bushes in the park, several of her shots missed and hit those instead.

"I'm calling it, the akuma has to be in her board!" Ladybug yelled out. "Chat!"

"Right! Time to show this Dogcatcher the power of a cat!" Using his baton to vault himself forward, the cat hero readied his fist. "Cataclysm!"

Looking for the perfect time to strike, he got it when Dogcatcher, too busy firing to watch where she was going, hit a tree and fell off her board again. Knowing the board was going to scoop her up again, he intercepted it and slapped his palm on the board's surface. The hoverboard turned into a pile of ash at his feet.

Ladybug, at the ready with her yo-yo, swung over and looked at the ash in shock. "No akuma?"

Cujo seemed to know it was safe once the blasts stopped and finally let go of Phantom's leg several yards away from the other two heroes and Dogcatcher.

"Okay," Phantom said as he got to his feet, "clearly dealing with an akuma and a dog at the same time isn't working. We'll just have to do this one by one." Forming a ball of ectoplasmic energy in a hand, he threw it past Cujo calling out, "Fetch!"

Recognizing the command, Cujo gleefully rushed off to catch the ball, not realizing the ball would fade away and he wouldn't find it.

While Phantom sent Cujo away, the other two heroes were so confused by the lack of akuma that she jumped back on her feet and ANOTHER board manifested underneath her feet.

"Nice try," she taunted them, "but I'm not stopping until Phantom and his mutt pay for ruining everything. And since you tried to defend them, you're on my list now too." She fired a blast at them, sending them flying off their feet and flying away on her board.

-LB-CN-P-

"No! What are you doing? Go back and seize their Miraculous!" Hawk Moth shouted at her through their connection.

-LB-CN-P-

"You guys okay?" Phantom flew over to where the heroes laid.

"I was so sure the akuma was in her board," Ladybug groaned, sitting up.

"And I used my Cataclysm so I have only a few minutes left before I transform back," said Chat, examining the claw pads on his ring.

"Where's the ghost dog, I mean Cujo?" Ladybug asked, looking around.

Phantom landed beside his team as they got up. "I sent him away. I figured as long as he was around, we couldn't stop Dogcatcher." He huffed his hair out of his face. "Besides, odds are he'll come find me again once he figures out there's no ball for him to fetch."

"There they are!" They heard Tucker call out, and looked over to see Sam, Tucker, Alya, and Nino approaching them. Sam and Tucker were riding their scooters while Alya and Nino were on Alya's bike.

"Aw, did I miss the akuma being stopped?" Alya pouted as she and Nino dismounted her bike.

"Not yet, we broke the wrong object and she escaped." Chat's ring beeped. "Excuse me. Cat-ch you later!" Chat leaped off to de-transform.

"What about the dog? That was mondo crazy," Nino asked.

"He's playing fetch," Phantom said. "He'll be back. They both will." He shared a glance with Ladybug.

Dogcatcher flew toward the edge of Amity Park on her hoverboard.

"Where are you going? You had a chance to take their Miraculous!" Hawk Moth scolded her from his lair.

"Look, pal. I'm not in this for your lousy jewelry; I'm in this for the chance to destroy that dog. He disappeared, and I'm not going to waste my time looking for him when he will probably show up again on his own. Besides, there's other important things to take care of too."

"Listen, you-!" Hawk Moth began another round of ranting, only for the connection to fizzle out as Dogcatcher crossed the bridge from Amity Park into the neighboring town of Elmerton. [6]

"Hawky?" Dogcatcher called out, not receiving a response. She rode her board over to a rundown apartment building and dismounted, glancing back at Amity Park. "Huh. I guess butterfly man has a range of contact that only goes so far." She looked down at herself. "I haven't been de-akumatized, but I can't have Daddy seeing me like this. I wonder if…"

As if her akuma form was reading her mind, the costume she was wearing came off when she tried to pull the hood down.

"Sweet!" Valerie grinned as she managed to take off the whole outfit. "My akuma form is removable." She noticed her backpack was a different color than she remembered that morning, but her stuff was still inside. Pleased with her discovery, she folded up the outfit and put it in. Making sure she looked normal, she entered the apartment building to her and her father's new accommodations.

"Are you seeing this, sir?"

Walter sat in his home office. Unlike his computer in his office at Dalv Co., his home office computer had a private server connecting him to Vlad. It was helpful for their less than legitimate side business, namely anything to do with Vlad's ghost half.

As Vlad requested, he kept watch on Danny and his hero identity. This included sending Vlad any footage or information from the hero blogs that might be useful for his boss, such as recent akuma or ghost attacks. The most recent report to Vlad included footage of Dogcatcher attacking Phantom more than any akuma had so far.

"Yes, thank you." Vlad leaned back in his own home office, humming thoughtfully. "This could work. She's got motivation, and access to ghost hunting technology would make her another hinderance in Daniel's life." Nodding to himself, he sat upright, going into business mode. "Find out where she moved, I'll be sending you a package in a few days to drop off at her doorstep."

That evening, Valerie scrolled through her contact list on her phone, her heart breaking with each name she scrolled past. Nearly every contact she had was an A-lister, someone she thought was her friend, and now they weren't her friends anymore.

Her father opened their apartment window to let cool evening air in. "Great news, sweetheart! I'm getting one last chance. I've convinced them to let me guard what's left of the lab while they rebuild." He smiled at his daughter, giving her a bit of hope they both needed.

"That's great, Daddy!" Valerie returned the smile, grateful that he couldn't tell she was still akumatized. "How many of your employees can you put on it?"

At that question, her father's face fell. "I don't have any more employees. I have to guard by myself at night in that." He pointed to a uniform hanging on the door of a closet.

Valerie tried not to cringe at the uniform for her father's sake. "Nice. And if things get worse, you can use that outfit to deliver packages."

Damon chuckled at her joke before checking the time on his watch. "Oh! Don't want to be late!" He grabbed the uniform off the door and hurried into his bedroom to change. "Bye, sweetie!"

Once her father was in his room, Valerie moved to her own. She fell back onto her uncomfortable mattress as she returned her attention to her phone. Normally, she would go out and hang with her friends until curfew, but now she had nobody.

Chloe… turned everyone against her.

Dash… they only ever talked when in a group.

Kwan… always followed Dash's lead.

Paulina… she thought they were besties until today happened.

Sabrina… always followed Chloe's lead.

Star… like Paulina, she thought they were besties until today happened.

Name after name, she had to mentally cross them out because they were an A-lister that turned their back on her.

Then she nearly jumped as her phone rang when she wasn't expecting it. As her phone vibrated, she stared at it confusedly. After today, who would want to call her?

The name on the caller ID read Adrien.

Adrien… she had completely forgotten about him since he quit the A-listers. They never talked one on one before, but he was nice enough during group conversations. What did he have to say?

She accepted the call. "Hello?"

"Um, hi? This is Valerie Gray, right?" The boy on the other end checked, almost concerned he had misdialed.

"Do you know any other Valerie's, Adrien?"

"Oh good. Um, gosh this is weird…"

"What do you want?"

"I just wanted to see how you were doing," he said hesitatingly. "You know, after what happened with your dad's job and now today at lunch…"

Valerie sighed. Adrien wasn't the first person she would want to discuss this with, but she didn't know who else she could do that with and here he was offering a listening ear. "Honestly? Not great. Thanks to Dad losing his business, we had to downsize to this crappy apartment on the edge of Elmerton. It was the only way to keep me in Casper High so I could finish school without completely starting over."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Adrien rolled back and forth across his room on his computer chair as he talked. "I can't imagine going through a big change like that. Leaving the home you've always known."

"Yeah, it would have been an easier adjustment if the guys didn't drop me like last season's wardrobe." She scoffed, angry once more. "I can't believe them. I've known them for years, and they ditch me the moment I go poor?"

"Now you see why I left so quickly? Why I went with my friends from homeroom instead of you guys?"

Valerie looked down in shame, fiddling with blanket threads in her free hand. "I understand now. Before today, I didn't get it, but now… I don't blame you."

"What are you going to do now? Find new friends?" asked Adrien, rolling to a stop by his computer.

"I'll have to. My dad is trying to make his business bounce back, so I'll have to try to bounce back too."

"Well, I can't speak for Nino or the others, but if you want, you can sit with me."

"I'll keep the offer in mind. Thanks, Adrien." Valerie ended the call, and looked at her contact list again.

Adrien was there at the top.

The next day, Valerie was arranging stuff in her locker. Danny, Sam, and Tucker watched her from around the corner.

"Weird, she doesn't look akumatized anymore," Sam commented. "You think she found a way to de-akumatize herself?"

"I don't know. Maybe? Nobody's done that before," answered Danny.

"Akumatized or not, I'm making my move." Tucker went around the corner and approached Valerie. Just as he got close enough to greet her, she finally closed her locker with books in her arms, and they collided.

"Ugh! Could you watch where you're going, Foley?" Valerie complained as her books fell to the floor.

Tucker kneeled to quickly help gather her books. As he picked them up, he noticed their unusual titles. Whatever they were, they definitely weren't school textbooks. "Ghost Hunter's Almanac? Ghost Killing for Dimwits? When did you get so interested in ghosts?"

She yanked them out of his hands and brought them close to her chest. "When they destroyed my life!"

Ignoring her angry response, Tucker attempted to turn on the charm. "You know, I happen to know a thing or two about ghosts."

Valerie started walking away from him, rolling her eyes. "Please. I'm broke, not stupid."

Tucker persistently followed her. "But seriously, remember that Danny's parents are professional ghost hunters? You hang around them long enough, you pick up a few things."

Valerie stopped walking as she recalled that little fact. "That's right." Realizing how she could use that to her advantage, she immediately changed her tune and looked at him sweetly. "Hey, Tucker, you want to carry my books for me?"

Eager to please his crush, Tucker took the books from her and obediently followed her to her first class of the day. The pair passed Danny and Sam, who had hidden around the corner the moment they saw Valerie coming in their direction.

"Great, my best friend has a crush on the first akuma that focused on Phantom," remarked Danny.

Sam shrugged. "That's life. Well, your life, anyway."

The school day passed without incident, and Danny and Sam found themselves staying around to watch a basketball game. As they watched, Danny idly remembered seeing Wes, who was on the basketball team, at Vlad's castle not that long ago. Looking around, he spotted Kyle also watching the game, likely giving his brother support. Bizarrely, he noticed Jazz and another boy sitting with Kyle. The way the other boy sitting with her and Kyle had his hair dyed made him think of Juleka and her dyed hair.

Did-did Jazz actually have friends? Danny couldn't remember her ever bringing friends over. Considering how much Jazz valued a sense of normalcy, he understood why she never seemed to invite anybody. He also couldn't remember her ever saying she was going to hang out with anyone since she cared so much about her grades. [7]

Huh.

"Danny, will you relax?" Sam asked. She must have noticed how much he was looking around.

Shaking out of his thoughts, he replied, "How can I? Cujo could be anywhere, and I still have no idea how Valerie got de-akumatized."

Speaking of Valerie, she and Tucker climbed up the bleachers to their seats. Ever since Tucker talked to Valerie that morning, he was always with her when he wasn't in class. He even sat with her at lunch instead of with them like normal.

"Hey, guys. Can we join you?" greeted Tucker, his hand intertwined with Valerie.

"No!" Danny and Sam retorted in unison, annoyed with how he had blown them off all day.

Oblivious to the issue, Tucker sat himself and Valerie down. "Of course, we can!"

As Tucker began watching the game, Valerie turned her attention towards Danny. "So, Danny, Tucker tells me you know a lot about ghosts since your parents are ghost hunters."

"Really?" Danny responded coldly. "What else did he tell you?"

Down on the basketball court, Wes attempted a foul shot and missed. At that moment, Cujo emerged into the gymnasium in his beast form, and the ball bounced off his head. The ghost dog let out a snarl at the unintentional bop. His appearance and growling sent everyone in the gym running. Danny and Valerie split off in different directions, leaving Sam and Tucker to watch them, respectively.

Cujo phased through the bleachers opposite of where Danny and the others were sitting, and attempted to start digging. When Phantom found him moments later, he happily turned into his puppy form and continued to try digging through the floor.

"Looking for something? What are you looking for?" Phantom questioned the puppy. "Tucker was right. Ghost dog or not, you're still a dog, and you're looking for something."

As he began to wonder what the dog could possibly want, the little canine was suddenly hit by a pink blast of energy and thrown down the gym.

"Cujo!" Phantom yelled out in concern and looked over his shoulder. He found Dogcatcher standing there with her ray gun in hand.

"Say goodbye, ghost boy!" Dogcatcher declared, aiming her weapon at him now.

"Are you sure you can't let Valerie back into the A-listers, Chloe?" Adrien pleaded.

After school let out, Adrien went to see Chloe at her penthouse. It was him, Chloe, and Sabrina; while Chloe had hung out with each of the other two individually, she had never had both of them in the same room without the other A-listers before.

While Sabrina dutifully did the homework they were assigned, Chloe lounged on her bed and ate some requested afterschool sushi, her favorite. At her friend's question, she set her snack aside.

"Sorry, Adrikins, but there are some social rules that need to be followed, and with Gray losing, well, everything that made her an A-lister, then we had to follow the rules and cut her. That's how it works," she told him. Briefly, she switched her attention to Sabrina, "How's the homework going over there?"

"Almost halfway done with geography," Sabrina chirped happily, writing on a sheet.

Adrien fiddled with his ring. "I just think that maybe you could make an exception for Valerie. After losing everything else, there's no reason she should lose her friends too."

Chloe shook her head and stood from her bed to walk over to her childhood friend. "Adrikins, Adrikins, you have such a big heart, and I love that about you. However, I wouldn't worry about Gray." Waving her hand dismissively, she continued, "give her a little time. I'm sure she'll find some peasants that will accept her into their clique."

"But-!" Before Adrien could argue his case further, the three teens' phones pinged and they all checked to see they got the same thing – a ghost alert. "Oh no, I gotta go!" Putting his phone away, Adrien ran for the door.

Once he shut the door behind him, Chloe stomped her foot. "Ugh, what does he even care about Gray, anyway? They never talked!" Spinning toward her best friend, she ordered, "Once you're done with geography, move onto literature. That's going to take the longest."

"Yes, Chloe!"

Dogcatcher started charging a powerful shot at Phantom, who stood in front of the defenseless Cujo. "Once I take care of you two, your hero friends' Miraculous are next!"

Sam and Tucker peered over the back of the top bleacher to assess the situation.

"Oh my gosh, Phantom's in trouble!" exclaimed Sam, who turned to glare at Tucker. "Newsflash, that's your girlfriend!"

Tucker grinned. "Even when akumatized, she's still hot." He jumped off the bleachers and down onto Dogcatcher, knocking the wind out of her. "Great outfit!"

Phantom took advantage of her getting disarmed to grab her and dunk her in the nearest basketball hoop. "You should be safe here until Ladybug and Chat Noir purify your akuma."

"Get me down! Get me down so I can destroy you!" Dogcatcher demanded as Phantom flew back to Cujo.

Ignoring the villain's outcry, Phantom scooped up Cujo in his arms and flew him out of the school.

Growling at her targets potentially getting away again, Dogcatcher focused enough to summon her board and rocket herself out of the hoop.

Watching Dogcatcher go after their friend, Sam hauled Tucker to his feet. "Come on!"

Phantom had just gotten Cujo outside when they heard glass shatter and turned to see Dogcatcher flying through a broken window she evidently blasted open with her ray gun.

"379 girls at our school, and he had to have a crush on the one with weapons and a grudge," Phantom deadpanned, putting Cujo down and firing an ecto blast at Dogcatcher.

"We got your back, Phantom!" He heard Chat Noir, and soon his teammates were on the scene with their own weapons at the ready.

"She's akumatized again?" Ladybug asked, surprised.

"Sure seems that way," Chat said, spinning his baton to deflect blasts from Dogcatcher's ray gun.

Phantom frowned. "All this is my fault. I should have done something sooner; I should have figured out what Cujo wants sooner." Looking down at the ghost dog, he pulled his phone out and brought up the obedience guide. Reading a passage, he pointed past Cujo. "Go on, boy. Go get it!"

Cujo tilted his head, clearly not understanding the command.

Phantom checked the guide again for a proper term of what he was asking. He pointed again. "Fetch!"

This time, Cujo understood. Getting excited, he began to pant and wag his tail; the puppy sprinted off like a police car in a car chase. Phantom flew after him, and Dogcatcher was quick to notice her targets were leaving the school's premises.

"Hey, get back here!" Dogcatcher steered her board after them, and Ladybug and Chat Noir were quick to follow.

Alya, Sam, and Tucker stood at the school's main entrance.

Alya looked at the other two. "Where are they going?"

"It's got to be something to do with the dog, but what?" Sam rubbed her chin for a moment then snapped her fingers. "Alya, can you bring up footage of the ghost dog?"

"Um, sure?" Alya pulled the Ladyblog up on her phone, and selected a picture she had gotten.

"Zoom in on the collar. That might have a clue we can use," Sam directed. Once Alya did so, Sam pointed at it. "There. Tucker, scan that and see what search results it brings up."

Tucker typed on his phone for a few moments until it pinged. "Got something."

"Good, let's go and see if we're right." Sam led the other two out of the school.

Cujo led Phantom, ironically, back to the same Axion Labs he had trashed when he and Danny had first met. Phantom followed the dog to a specific wall, which the canine began to scratch at.

"What you're looking for is in there?" Phantom whispered. He heard something, and apparently so did Cujo. "Someone's coming." Scooping up Cujo and covering the puppy's mouth, Phantom pressed against the wall and turned them both invisible in time for two people to turn the corner.

"I really appreciate you giving me a second chance," Damon was saying to his boss.

"As long as nothing else happens, we'll see about re-instating your contract," his boss replied, huffing to himself. "I knew we should have never gotten rid of those guard dogs."

Once they were out of hearing range, Phantom turned himself and Cujo back to visibility. "Valerie's dad? Oh great," Phantom muttered, looking down at the dog, who gazed back up at him.

Pulling out his phone he sent a quick text.

Sam, Tucker, and Alya rode their scooters and bike. Sam's phone pinged, and she stopped to check it. The other two noticed she had stopped, and did likewise.

"What's up?" Alya asked.

"We need to make a quick pit stop," Sam said, putting her phone away. "Phantom is going to need something really strong to put that dog on a leash if he wants to help Ladybug and Chat Noir defeat Dogcatcher."

Tucker pointed at her. "Are you thinking-?"

"Yep. Come on." Sam started riding her scooter again, taking the lead as Tucker followed.

Alya stared in confusion. "Is someone going to explain what we're doing? Hey!" Pedaling hard, she hurried to catch up with the scooters.

Phantom stood underneath a tree on a hill overlooking the laboratory, Ladybug and Chat Noir there with him. The three heroes turned when they saw Sam, Tucker, and Alya arrive on the hill.

"We're here. Where's man's best friend?" Sam asked.

Phantom faced a bush and whistled the same way he had the other day in the park. Cujo emerged from the ground, taking on his beast form and growling defensively at the three human teens. They all leaned back on reflex.

"Relax, I'm on your side!" pleaded Tucker.

"So he says," Sam scoffed, bringing back up her annoyance with him about Valerie.

"Hey, I'm the one who knocked out the security camera, remember?" Tucker shot back, holding up his phone.

Once Alya saw the heroes, she completely ignored the snarling dog. "I can't believe you called on my classmates for help. Sam and Tucker had to sneak down into FentonWorks to swipe some ghost hunting equipment."

"Just remember what I said," Phantom reminded her.

"Chill, nothing about Sam and Tucker is going on the Ladyblog. I promise," she vowed.

"Why are we at Axion Labs again?" Chat Noir asked, looking at Phantom along with Ladybug.

"Cujo has been searching all over the place for something, and whatever it is, he thinks it's here." Phantom pointed at the laboratory with his thumb. "Good news, there's only one guard. Bad news, it's Valerie's dad."

"Ouch," Sam and Tucker winced.

"Why ouch?" Ladybug blinked, staring between her teammate and the human teens.

Phantom rubbed the back of his neck. "Cujo and I may have been at fault for costing Mr. Gray his security business."

Ladybug narrowed her eyes. "Phantom…"

"It was an accident," he defended himself, "besides, that boss guy totally flipped out. He should have figured stuff like this happens all the time now." Going over to Sam, he took the gear from her. "This Fenton Fisher should make a good leash." Unfolding the fishing pole, he tied one end of the line to Cujo's collar and another end around the tree. "I'm going in to find whatever Cujo wants. You guys watch him in case Dogcatcher shows up. Ladybug and Chat Noir should be able to fight her if she does."

"We will, from up here," quipped Tucker as he, Sam, and Alya scrambled up into the tree's foliage to get out of Cujo's reach.

"You're really testing my patience," Hawk Moth said to Dogcatcher from his lair. "It's been a full day, and you had the nerve to cut contact with me without my consent."

"Not my fault you only have the range of a city, butterfly man," Dogcatcher shot back as she flew on her board. "Look. You'll have your Miraculous tonight. I'm done with Phantom and his pet giving me the runaround."

"See to it that you hold up your end of the deal." Hawk Moth said before going radio silent.

Underneath her costume, a frown set in Dogcatcher's expression. Clicking her ray gun, she veered right on her board.

Valerie – Hanging out with some friends tonight. Will be back for curfew. Be safe.

Damon sent back a quick reply before heading out to get a quick snack for the long night ahead. As he went, a smile formed on his lips.

Valerie's friends were so considerate of her situation, letting her lean on them in this difficult time.

Across the building, Phantom phased through a wall and slowly hovered through the facility, glancing every way for some sign of something a dog would want. "I wish I knew what I was looking for."

When he wasn't looking, a pink blast slammed him against the wall he had just come through.

"Back to the scene of the crime?" Dogcatcher deadpanned, her ray gun smoking from recent use.

Pulling away from the wall, Phantom charged up a ball of ecto energy like he had done for Cujo. "I really hate to do this, but…" He threw the ball at her and knocked the gun out of her hands.

"Yeah? Well, I don't!" A small cannon emerged from her backpack and mounted on her shoulder.

"Geez, how many weapons do you have?" Phantom complained. Right after he said that, her cannon blasted at him, sending him through the wall and creating a giant hole.

Up on the hill, the rest of Phantom's party witnessed the giant pink beam blast through the roof.

"What was that?" Tucker wondered, still in the tree with Alya and Sam.

"Ten to one says that was your girlfriend," sniped Sam.

Ladybug and Chat Noir shared a look. "She must have gone in through the other side!" Ladybug realized. The two magic heroes leaped down to the laboratory.

Sensing his new friend was in danger, Cujo started barking and attempted to rush down the hill towards the facility, tearing the tree out of the ground in the process. Sam, Tucker, and Alya all clung to the tree desperately.

"This is why I'm a cat person!" Sam shouted over Cujo's barking.

"Too bad I can't put this on the Ladyblog, otherwise the views would be insane!" Alya added, for once not having her phone out as she promised Phantom.

Phantom and Dogcatcher continued to exchange fire, dodging each other's blasts. While Dogcatcher's shots were close to Phantom, his were purposefully missing their target.

"You're a lousy shot, you know that?" Dogcatcher taunted as his latest one hit two feet above her head.

"That's because I'm not trying to hit you. Can't we talk?" bargained Phantom.

"I'm done talking!" Dogcatcher flew at him on her board. Realizing she intended to ram him, Phantom turned intangible, allowing her to pass through him harmlessly. She tried to brake before she collided with the wall, and Cujo stuck his beast form's head through the wall, barking up a storm. Phantom acted quickly, flying over and yanking her off her board before Cujo could sink his teeth into her. Her board, sadly, was chomped to bits by the ghost canine. "Let me go!" Dogcatcher demanded of Phantom.

Annoyed at the lack of gratitude for saving her life, he gladly dropped her on the floor. "Yeah, you're welcome."

Getting back on her feet, Dogcatcher pulled her largest weapon yet from her backpack and started firing at him. Phantom quickly swerved between each shot.

"Okay, seriously. How many?" Phantom stopped dodging for a moment to inquire, only yelping and ducking away for a blast to hit the alarm button on the wall.

-LB-CN-P-

At a fast food restaurant across from Axion Labs, Mr. Gray had just received a coffee and to-go bag when he heard the siren. "I'm so fired," he moaned when his night had barely begun.

-LB-CN-P-

"You and your stupid dog ruined everything, and you're gonna pay! You and every ghost like you!" Dogcatcher ranted, finally hitting Phantom with a blast and sending him crashing through a wall. "That ought to do it. Now where's-?"

"Looking for us?" Chat Noir taunted, and Dogcatcher looked behind her to see Ladybug and Chat Noir ready for battle. Cujo, still in his beast form, bared his teeth at her. Around the corner behind the heroes and the dog, were the three human teens that accompanied them that night.

-LB-CN-P-

Phantom recovered from the hit a few rooms over, and stood up to notice where he had landed. "An old kennel? This must be where they kept all the guard dogs." Leaning against a pile of mats, he heard a squeaking noise. Curious, he dug under a few, and found what he thought Cujo was looking for.

-LB-CN-P-

Dogcatcher materialized a new board, and was flying through the corridors on it, blasting at Ladybug and Chat Noir as the chase went on. Ladybug and Chat Noir deflected some by spinning their weapons, and avoided others by jumping and running along the walls. Behind them, Cujo barked as he followed both parties.

"She keeps making the board reappear with her feet. You think that the akuma is in her boots?" Ladybug called out to her teammate.

"Either that, or the backpack. She keeps pulling weapons from the backpack too!" Chat answered. "But how are we supposed to get close enough with her firing at us?"

Setting her face with determination, Ladybug tossed up her yo-yo. "Lucky Charm!"

In her hands fell… a black and red spotted whistle?

"A whistle? What am I supposed to do with this?" Ladybug stared at the tiny object, puzzled.

"Duck!" Chat Noir dove at her and shoved them both to the ground, saving Ladybug from a blast that hit right where she had paused to summon her Lucky Charm.

Once they finished rolling, Ladybug got a good look at both Cujo and Dogcatcher, the dog and the akuma's weapons turning spotted in her vision as Cujo tried to rush at his enemy, who kept shooting at him. She gasped as it came together. "That's it! It's not duck, it's dog! This is a dog whistle!" She held up the whistle, understanding now.

"Oh, so you're going to teach our ghost friend a new trick?" Chat checked.

"Basically. Get ready." She blew the whistle, and watched as Cujo froze, his ears going up. When he met her eyes, she pointed at Dogcatcher. "Cujo, fetch the villain!"

He seemed to understand the command, and resumed his attempts at charging. Dogcatcher raised her weapon to fire again, but Ladybug looped her yo-yo around it and yanked it out of her grip before she could take a shot. Dogcatcher attempted to reach into her backpack for a new weapon, but Cujo reached her before she could and knocked her clear off her board. He managed to pin her to the floor, her backpack exposed as she had landed on her stomach.

Seeing the opening, Chat Noir leaped at the restrained villain. "Cataclysm!" He slapped his destructive energy on the backpack, and it turned to ash. Cujo made a confused noise as a dark butterfly emerged from the dust.

"No more evildoing for you, little akuma. Time to de-evilize!" Ladybug caught the butterfly and cleansed it. "Bye-bye, little butterfly. Miraculous Ladybug!" She threw the dog whistle in the air, and it dispersed into its magic swarm that fixed all the damage since yesterday.

Cujo sniffed around in confusion, no longer snarling at Dogcatcher underneath his paws, who de-transformed into Valerie, confusing him further. Then his ears stood up again as he heard a squeaking noise.

"Hey, Cujo! Is this what you've been looking for?" Phantom appeared, holding a small, pink bear toy that squeaked when squeezed.

Cujo's face lit up at the reveal of the toy, turning back into a puppy and letting Valerie go.

"It's okay. Duz you want your squeaky? Oh, duz you? Here you go!" He threw it for Cujo to catch. "Now, please go home, and stay there!"

Cujo caught the toy in his mouth, squeaking it happily as his tail wagged. To the amazement of the heroes and the teens watching, he dissipated with the toy.

"What is going on here?" Mr. Gray's boss demanded as he and Damon arrived on the scene.

Ladybug smiled as she approached Damon. "Everything is alright, sir. Your daughter has been de-akumatized."

Damon's eyebrows shot up in alarm. "De-akumatized? Valerie?" He looked over at his daughter, concern growing.

Valerie sighed as she got on her feet. "Yeah, it's true." She looked up at her father sadly. "I was just… so mad about everything. You losing your big job, us having to move, me losing my friends…"

Damon walked over to his daughter. "Valerie… I…"

"It's my fault," Phantom spoke up, and everyone turned their attention to him. "I tried to stop the ghost dog in time to prevent him from doing major damage, but as you noticed a few days ago, that didn't go so well." He rubbed the back of his neck. Phantom went over to the lab boss. "Sir, please let Mr. Gray keep his job. It's not his fault ever since ghosts and akumas started showing up in Amity Park, places have been getting trashed like your lab did. Can't you let this slide?"

The boss hummed, glancing at his employee with his daughter. "I suppose you have a point. You're off the hook this time, Damon."

"Thank you, sir." Damon said gratefully, putting an arm around his daughter's shoulders.

"So, does that mean Daddy can get all his money and his company back, and we can move back into our house?" Valerie asked the boss, eager to get out of the rundown apartment and all her stuff back.

Damon frowned at his daughter. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but I'm afraid it doesn't work that way."

Ladybug reluctantly nodded in agreement. "He's right. I'm sorry, but the cure doesn't work on employment and contracts. It only works on physical damage."

Valerie visibly deflated. "I guess it was too much to hope."

"Now, there's one last question I'd like answered," the boss said.

"What's that?" Chat Noir wondered.

The boss pointed at Alya, Sam, and Tucker watching them from around the corner. "Why are there three other teenagers in my lab?"

Alya chuckled awkwardly at being caught, her classmates doing the same. "Oh, don't mind us. We're just hero fans trying to film them in action. Hehehe, we'll be going now." She quickly ducked out of sight along with Sam and Tucker.

Tucker poked his head back around the corner, and held up a hand mimicking a phone. "Call me, Valerie!"

Sam's arm appeared and yanked her friend back, the boy letting out a strangled yelp at the pull.

"The A-listers still aren't budging on letting Valerie back in, huh?"

Nino asked the question as he, Adrien, Marinette, and Alya sat at lunch the next day. They all watched as Valerie looked around the cafeteria for a place to sit.

"I tried, but they seem to have made up their minds." Adrien frowned, poking at his gourmet lunch that stood out against the rest of his friends' meals. "I did offer a seat at our table to her, but it's up to her whether or not she wants to take it."

"She doesn't seem to want it today," noted Alya as Valerie instead walked out of the cafeteria with her bagged lunch. "Where do you think she's going?"

-LB-CN-P-

Valerie went outside, and saw barely anyone was out there. Happy with the low number, she went to find a seat at one of the picnic tables. To her surprise, she found Jazz sitting at a table with two of her other classmates, a pair of boys she idly recalled sharing classes with. All three of them had their own lunches on a table.

Jazz, Kyle, and their third friend noticed her arrival. Valerie wordlessly pointed to an empty seat at the table in question. The three classmates smiled, and Jazz beckoned for her to sit. Valerie took the seat, and started eating.

-LB-CN-P-

Meanwhile, Walter pulled his car up to Valerie and her dad's apartment building in Elmerton. Double-checking the address, he got out of the car and deposited a box on the stoop, addressed from Vlad to Valerie. Not sticking around, he immediately got back in his car and drove back to work.

-LB-CN-P-

At the same time, Danny got lunch with Sam and Tucker and started to walk to their chosen table.

"Know where the ghost dog went?" Tucker asked.

"Hopefully, home." The trio sat down as Danny answered. "Now that he has his toy."

"I hope Valerie will be okay now that she isn't akumatized anymore," Tucker said, looking over his shoulder at Valerie walking out with her lunch. "It sucks that her and her dad are still broke after all that."

Sam shrugged, smiling. "Eh, I wouldn't say they're totally broke. Remember those tickets she sold on the Internet?"

A few days later, Amity Park's concert stadium hosted Dumpty Humpty. It was a full stadium with fans of all ages and all kinds, including Danny, Sam, and Tucker.

"I can't believe we're sitting next to these losers!" Sam hollered at her friends cheerfully as they danced to one of the band's hit songs.

Sitting beside them, unhappily, were Dash, Kwan, Dale, Paulina, Star, Chloe, and Sabrina. At first, Sabrina tried to enjoy herself, but Chloe eventually pulled her down to her seat to make her share in their misery.

After enjoying the Dumpty Humpty concert and the A-listers' annoyance at having seats beside them at said concert, the friends returned to their homes for the night.

While he slept, Danny felt his Ghost Sense activate, and he opened his eyes irritably without moving his head from his pillow. "Oh great, what now?"

He heard a squeaky sound, and turned to find Cujo sitting on his bed with the bear toy. The dog set his toy down and panted happily at the teen.

"You again? What do you want now? You already have your toy," Danny said, sitting upright.

As if the ghost dog was trying to answer him, he padded over to Danny and nuzzled against his closest hand.

Danny blinked, beginning to understand. "You really like me, huh? Because I helped you find your toy?" He ran his hand across the puppy's back, and he bent up to lick Danny's face. "Or do you like me just because you think I'm cool?" He chuckled at the slobbery touch. Taking Cujo in his hands, he held the puppy in front of him. "You know, I've always wanted a dog, but my parents said no because a pet could get into the ectoplasm samples. I guess you don't have that problem because, well, you're already a ghost." [8]

Cujo wagged his tail and tilted his head cutely. He proceeded to go in for another lick at the teen's face.

Trying to contain his chuckles so his family didn't wake up and hear him, he said quietly, "Okay, okay! Alright, alright, you can stay." Setting Cujo back down on the bed, he tried to put on his best stern expression. "But you've got to stay hidden and quiet. If my parents find you, they will want to experiment on you. And my sister," Danny thought for a moment about what Jazz would do before shrugging, "she might tell my parents, and then again, they will still want to dissect you."

Frowning thoughtfully, he glanced at his closet. "Wait here." Getting out of bed, he opened his closet and pulled down some extra blankets he kept in there in case his friends wanted to come over. Arranging some on the floor of the closet, he grabbed an extra pillow and put it with the blankets. Going back over to pick up Cujo, he carried the puppy to the closet and set him on the blankets. "There, that should do the trick until I can get you an actual dog bed. Oh, can't forget your toy. Don't squeak it too much or you might wake up my family, alright?" He laid the toy next to the puppy and climbed back into bed.

"Night," Danny said, pulling his blanket up and preparing to settle back in. Only moments after he closed his eyes to fall asleep again, he felt something shift on his bed. He opened his eyes and found Cujo lying beside him. "Cujo, no. You sleep over there." He pointed at the closet. "What if my family opens the door? They'll see you if you're on the bed."

Cujo yawned and curled up to sleep.

Glancing at his bedroom door, Danny groaned. "Fine. You can sleep here with me, but just for tonight." He waved his finger sternly at the puppy. "Tomorrow, you sleep in your own bed."

Cujo inhaled and exhaled, already dreaming.

Rolling his eyes, Danny adjusted to go back to sleep. As he fell asleep for the remainder of the night, a smile formed on his lips and he pulled his blanket over Cujo to shield the dog from the door's view. Cujo subconsciously scooted closer to his new master.

Managed to get this one out a little faster than usual. I was so excited to share this one because I loved the ending of it. I'm a firm believer of the opinion that Danny should have gotten to keep Cujo in canon; according to sources, Danny was originally supposed to have a pet owl, but that idea was scrapped because the Harry Potter movies featured the title character getting one. Would have Danny keeping Cujo complicated hiding his secret more? Probably, but it would have been worth it to see more of Danny and Cujo together. So now, Danny has his dog, and Cujo will be appearing as a background character when possible; I have ideas how he can contribute to the plot later.

At last, we have our first DP character getting akumatized. I bet I threw everyone for a loop akumatizing Valerie rather than having her receive her gear from Vlad. Rewatching the episode, I found it slightly strange that Vlad somehow prepared gear for her so quickly; to give it more context here, I decided to have him be inspired by her akuma for her costume and hire her afterwards. Valerie's removal from the A-listers also marks the second time someone left the group, this time being forced to leave rather than voluntarily leaving. Adrien and Valerie's phone call was not planned, but I discovered it served as an eye-opening discussion for both characters; Valerie now has a better understanding of Adrien's decision and Adrien is becoming more social by reaching out to her.

[1] – Danny always seemed to have a problem with using his powers when people could potentially see him, so I'm making it clear he only uses them when he's sure he won't be seen.

[2] – It's common fanon to make Star the daughter of Lance Thunder, the weatherman for Amity Park. Considering we don't know anything about Star or her family, I'll allow it.

[3] – Cujo was implied to be a nickname for the moment Danny tossed him back into the Ghost Zone, but the fandom made it stick as an official name.

[4] – Valerie's costume as the Red Huntress is the basis for her Dogcatcher akuma, and will be later used officially as Red Huntress. There will be jokes calling her Dogcatcher, though.

[5] – In canon, Sam gave him a book on dog training. Given the digital age update and the increased action in this version, Tucker sent him a digital guide instead.

[6] – In canon, the Startrain akuma was the first to reveal Hawk Moth's connection to his akumas had a range limit. Here, it is revealed he can only spread his influence as far as Amity Park's borders.

[7] – While rewatching DP, I noticed Jazz never seemed to have any friends of her own. Decided to fix that and give her a friend group like Danny has.

[8] – As confirmed by his confession in Ember's debut episode, Danny canonically wanted a dog.

Review in the box below, and remember, reviews are awesome! Also remember to say something about the chapter I just worked hard on, don't just use the review box to speculate on future plot points and what you want to see.