I don't remember if I told you this yet or not, but this chapter is REALLY long compared with the others. To put it in perspective, Ch7 was 656 words, this is 1430.

I can't think of anything else to say right now, so anyway, this is Chapter 8: The Rebel

Don't you love how the title relates to Sam?

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Danny took off once again, following the direction the sound had come from. Only a short distance away he saw a green glow coming from around the corner.

"Let go of me!" The cry was her voice, there was no doubting that.

"Sam!" he shouted, darting around the corner without thinking.

Instantly he was met by a roomful of all the enemies that he had not yet fought that day, minus Plasmius and his future self.

A grin lit up Ember's face as she took a step toward him, turning a dial on her guitar. Desiree followed suit, her eyes glinting as her hands began to glow pink. Walker, Skulker, Technus, the Lunch Lady, Spectra, and Bertrand were right behind them. The only one missing was- "Beware!" A familiar moronic blue face showed itself. Yep, everyone was here.

Ember was the first to attack, with a purple fist that flew from her guitar directly into Danny's chest. He was propelled into the wall with a grunt of pain.

Skulker attacked just as he was picking himself up, blasting him into the wall again, this time with a loud cry.

Danny didn't even bother getting to his feet this time, he merely leapt up from this position, taking down Technus in a tumbling blur of green and white. They finally stopped with Danny on top and the "Master of all Technology" very dazed, slumped against the wall. Technus didn't move as Danny plunged into the fray again.

Meanwhile, the Lunch Lady and the Box Ghost teamed up against Dash and were slowly but surely being beaten back. This maze was a little short of meat and cardboard, so they were at a slight disadvantage.

Danny grappled with Ember in much the same way as he had in their first fight. The main difference was that he had grown two inches taller and a whole lot stronger in the months since then, so this time he was actually winning. Of course, it also helped that now she didn't have hundreds of fans chanting her name…

He finally threw her off to one side just in time to duck Bertrand's beak and talons as a green eagle swooped down on him.

Desiree took advantage of his lack of concentration right away, grabbing Danny's wrists and twisting them behind his back in a very unnatural position.

He screamed as Skulker sent an electrical current through his body, then again as Desiree flung him against the wall.

Dash was now against three adversaries. Technus had joined the other two as soon as his head had stopped spinning. Not only were meat and cardboard in short supply here, so was technology. He wasn't usually looked upon as the ghost with the most common sense, but he knew enough to know that without his technology he had no chance of beating Danny. Heck, even with it he had never succeeded. Dash was a much more fair adversary, especially when he was outnumbered three to one.

Danny wasn't having much more luck than Dash was, and groaned softly as Spectra fed off his emotions and became more powerful.

Suddenly, she was knocked away by some unseen force. Danny looked over and saw a black combat boot next to him. He smiled as he got to his feet. "I was beginning to think you weren't gonna fight and you were just gonna run around screaming for help like Paulina."

Sam glared at him, making a face at the mention of the most popular- and most shallow- girl in school.

Danny stuck out his tongue in return.

The two friends stood back-to-back, both in fighting stances.

Sam darted through the group of ghosts, throwing punches and kicks in every direction. She managed to lure Walker, Desire, and Spectra over with her, while Danny stayed more-or-less where he was as he faced off with Skulker, Ember, and Bertrand.

Dash finally gained an advantage over his three opponents when he knocked Technus out for good.

Danny came flying past him with a scream, courtesy of Skulker, bouncing and skidding on the floor until he finally came to a stop against the wall. He groaned and didn't move for several seconds. The boy at last hoisted himself gingerly to his feet.

He saw Dash struggling in the fight with the Lunch Lady and the Box Ghost, and got an idea. "Hey Walker, did you mean what you just said about changing the prison menu?"

The Lunch Lady turned to the warden with murder- or whatever it was called when you did it to a ghost- in her eyes. "You changed the menu?"

While Dash stared dumbfounded at them, Danny landed a hard punch to the side of the Box Ghost's head and took down Bertrand in a yowling ball of green, blue, and white.

Hair flew in every direction as the cougar snarled angrily and roared, sinking his teeth into Danny's calf. The boy gasped sharply in pain as the gleaming ivories pierced his skin. This only proved to fuel his anger, however, because he had soon knocked Bertrand quite some distance down the hall with a single blow.

Dash winced, then joined Danny to try to defeat Skulker and Ember. Sam moved closer, along with Desiree and Spectra.

Dash gaped, "Dude, I can't hit a girl, that's like, so wrong!"

Sam rolled her eyes, "They're already dead, it's not like you're gonna seriously hurt them or anything like that."

"She's right," Danny announced grimly, giving him a pointed look. "It's either hit them or die when they hit you, and personally I prefer the first option." As he was speaking he grabbed hold of Ember's guitar, somehow yanking it out of her hands. He swung it in a sharp arc, slamming the instrument into Desiree, who fell into Spectra, sending them both tumbling.

Dash began to occupy Skulker as Ember tackled Danny. They went down to the ground and he was pinned to the floor by her hands on his wrists. Danny struggled, but was unable to push the ghostly rock star off of him.

He was just so tired. He may spend his spare time warding off the undead, and most of the time many were not all that hard to beat, but it had been several hours since detention had let out. He was only fourteen, for crying out loud!

Most people his age played video games and hung out at the mall. Every time he tried to do something like that he was interrupted. He just wished- not out loud, Desiree was around- that he could be like everybody else. But he wasn't. He had ghost powers, and with them the responsibility of keeping Amity Park safe.

And he wasn't about to let them down now.

With a grunt, he managed to get his legs up and throw Ember off him. Sam was handling Spectra easily, but now Desiree was sneaking up behind her.

Danny ran over, shoving past the ghosts and hauling Sam away. They made it to a section of the maze that was away from the heat of the fight. "Tell everyone that we'll be fine," he gasped. "We'll get out of here as soon as we can."

Sam nodded, smiling at him as she faded away.

(AN: okay, show of hands, how many of you wonderful devoted readers were expecting him to have to transform to save Sam? Come on, be honest. I love surprising people. -sighs- One of the joys of being the authoress...)

Danny ran back into the fray and surveyed the situation. The Lunch Lady and Walker were still arguing. Bertrand and the Box Ghost were coming back now, though at least Technus was still out cold. Spectra, Desiree, Ember, and Skulker had Dash backed into a corner.

Danny was totally and completely bone weary exhausted. There was no way he would be able to hold his own against them all without using his powers, and even then it would be difficult.

Dash wouldn't be much help. He had had trouble against just the Lunch Lady and the Box Ghost. Skulker was laughing sinisterly now as a glowing green blade protruded from his arm. He aimed it for Dash's neck.

Danny stood still for a moment, unsure of what he was going to do. This was the boy who shoved him into lockers and/or beat him up on at least a daily basis. He knew that the jock would deserve it if he just sat back and let Skulker kill him.

But that was the coward's way out. He was supposed to be the hero. Heroes don't choose who to save and who not to save. Some people deserved to die and some didn't, but it wasn't his decision to make.

Danny made his decision.

"I'm Going Ghost!" A blue-white ring of light appeared encircling his waist, separated, and repelled itself across his body.

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-claps and jumps up and down- Yay me!

I really like this chapter. Just thought you should know that. And you should also know that I just finished the next chapter, and I will try to update again next weekend by this same time. I generally like to get at least one chapter ahead.

BTW, the orange kitten has been dubbed Creamsicle, the black is Eclipse, the gray and white is Eeyore, and the gray tabby is Lightning. Eclipse is the only boy, and he doesn't have a single white hair anywhere on his body. Out of the five black and white ones, one has a spot on her nose (Spot); one is all black with no white, just like Eclipse (Scooby); one is black with a white chin, stomach, and paws (Fang); one is black and white with a mostly white face (Snoopy); and one is black and white but mostly black (Fido). Fang is the only boy. The "dogs" are three weeks old, the others are one.

Lots of reviews means faster updates!