Valerie Gray was not possessive, especially not of her ex boyfriend, but she can't help but notice when Danny's unusual schedule takes a dramatic turn. Sure it's an odd one to begin with, and she still hasn't figured out where he runs off to everyday, though she does have a few theories. Danny starts filtering out at lunch or break at very specific times, it takes a while to notice but once she did it's a blaring difference. He doesn't even seem upset like he would when he jumps up and leaves during class, if anything he leaves smiling or laughing in exasperation. Eventually, knowing it's wrong, Valerie follows him.
Listen, Valerie isn't a Mickey level stalker but she has her limits for mysterious outings done by little old Danny Fenton. At the exact time during lunch, unsurprisingly, Danny gets up and makes to leave the cafeteria. Little does he know a follower slipped out after him, Valerie doesn't don her huntress uniform, instead opting to stick to the shadows and watch from afar as Danny goes out one of the school's side doors.
The two teenagers venture into the town's park after a two minute speed walk. Danny steps into a hidden clearing and Valerie watches from the bushes, sighing in relief that she somehow hadn't managed to lose him like the many incidents before. She observes in confusion as Danny whistles loudly in the middle of the clearing, placing his hands on his hips. That confusion turned to horror as her ghost tracking bracelet started blinking frantically, and a large green figure jumped out of the trees towards him. Valerie pulled out a blaster and attack until the monster did something unexpected, it disappeared.
Wait-no, Valerie realized with a shock that it had shrunk down, so much so that it was now the size of a puppy. The excited green dog jumped on top of Danny, drowning him in sloppy kisses. Instead of being terrified and screaming, the teenager was laughing, laughing and scratching the dog behind the ears until it dismounted from his chest. Valerie was left, gaping at the the scene in front of her. She had, of course, recognized the ghost dog who'd ruined her life, but she'd only ever seen it so small and docile when it has been alone with Phantom. That form had quickly changed as it found and turned to growl at her as a menacing monster. She'd never seen a ghost be so, friendly, with a human before.
Danny sat himself up into a kneeling position and continued scratching and petting the ghost enthusiastically "Hey Cujo, who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?" At this Valerie finally lowered her weapon, Cujo, someone had named the ghost dog Cujo. There's irony in the name of course but it was more shocking to her someone, maybe Danny himself, had actually named the entity. She watched from the coverage of bushes as Cujo jumped around Danny happily as he pulled out a dog treat from the depths of his jean pockets. It was kind of humbling to see this teenager teaching an old dog new tricks, it was pretty much thought to be impossible in the ghost hunting community for any ghost to learn anything new that wasn't to help a violent cause.
After multiple rounds of sitting, rolling over, and playing dead (more dead) Cujo seemed to pull something out of thin air. This something happened to be a plush dog toy, this manipulation of matter didn't seem to bother the pup and Danny only sighed, exasperated. "Honestly. If you could practically teleport the toy back to you, why did you have the entire rampage trying to find it?" Only a bark answered him, Danny facepalmed. 'Wait, rampage?' Valerie narrowed her eyes in thought 'Is that why he was trampling through buildings? Trying to find his toy? Would that mean Phantom had been telling the truth about Cujo?'
Cujo, the evil little dog, gave Danny the puppy eyes, tilting his head innocently. Danny mumbled "Alright, alright. You got me", taking the toy from Cujo's mouth he threw it off to the side. The ghost dog ran after it, grabbing it from the air with a leap before it could hit the ground. Turning around, he bounced back towards the teen who had thrown it in the first place. Danny reached out to grab the toy from Cujo but the dog held on tight, it quickly developed into a game of tug-a-war, and growling started as they continued. Valerie tensed as the other worldly being started growled more and more, slowly getting more aggressive. A particularly hard pull sent Danny sprawled on the ground, defenceless.
Without thinking Valerie ran out of her hiding place, desperate to reach them before the human teenager got hurt. But she'd nearly reached it halfway across the field when Danny was jumping up, quickly spotting her. A fiercely protective look focused in his eyes as he covered Cujo from sight, placing his body as a barrier. Danny stumbled, like the clumsy teen he is, and landed awkwardly on the ground, arms still stretched out. The puppy he was trying to protect nudged him with a wet nose in the small of his back. Valerie herself stumbled to a stop a few feet away, quickly covering up her shocked expression with one of indifference and slight suspicion.
Danny did his best to look completely innocent while petting the dog behind his back and he smiled awkwardly up at the other teenager "H-hey Valerie! I-um, how long have you been there?" His voice even cracked at the end, Valerie restrained herself, he was so adorable and he didn't even know it. "Danny, why are you playing with a ghost? You of all people should know they're dangerous and evil." As if to prove her wrong Cujo walked out from behind Danny's back, licking his hand almost lovingly.
The teenager's face contorted to guilt for a moment before he sighed, lifting himself up with Cujo held tightly in his arms. "Val, I know what all the ghost hunters say, what my parents say. But we can no longer ignore the facts," Danny absentmindedly continued scratching behind the ghost dog's ear not noticing Valerie's continuous disbelief. "I've known it for a while I think, but we're gathering more evidence now. Ghosts aren't just mindless or violent, they're intelligent creatures with emotions and relationships. They have societies and actual civilizations, then there's guys like Cujo that are just dead animals. Cujo's just a puppy, not any less loving and caring for people."
Valerie knew the fight was leaving her but she still wouldn't admit it "What about all the ghost attacks Danny? They manipulate and attack people!" Danny looked at her with desperate blue eyes that seemed to stare into her soul "There's some bad ghosts, the same as bad humans, criminals and terrorists. The majority of ghosts mind their business and stay in their own dimension. The few that do come out either want something to do with humans or even just trying to find something they lost. Cujo was literally just being a dog. He was killed because Axion Labs didn't need security dogs anymore, he just came back to find his toy."
Both boys before her stared up to Valerie with big pleading eyes and she practically crumbled, but if you ever asked her she would refuse that statement. It was obvious Cujo meant no harm but it was still hard to except that some ghosts were innocent, sure there was Danielle but she's half-human, therefor an exception. "Why isn't he back in the ghost zone?" Danny looked sheepishly off to the side "He-um- kind of got attached to me. Cujo's been sent back to the zone many times but he always somehow comes back. After a while I mostly just excepted it, he just wants some love and affection. Like an ordinary dog except you don't have to feed him and on occasion he gets excited and may... grow a bit."
She must be losing her mind because at that Valerie snorted "Grows a bit?" Danny sputtered, "Okay, so more then 'a bit' but all pets have their own quirks." He set Cujo down and the dog ran around their legs happily "Alright Fenton, I'll keep your ghost dog a secret, as long as you promise me you won't get hurt. I mean it, one violent action and he'll sent back, alright?"
Danny crossed his arms and pouted "Fine Val. But he won't." The teenagers silently watched as Cujo rolled around the grass, barking contently "You never know what a ghost will do Danny." He sighed, staring at his feet "I know Valerie, I know."
A week later, as the Red Huntress watched, a familiar green ghost dog played with Phantom in the skies. Valerie held her board close and watched from a distance. "Oh Danny, what have you done?"
AN: The main idea of this chapter from Stormgate's wonderful suggestion, though I changed it up so Cujo clued Valerie into the wierdness instead. Thanks for the ideas.