Chapter 5

Before the freakishly long chapter, I have a bit of cool trivia for you. I was talking to a friend of mine on AIM and she was talking to her roommate and cousin about baby names, so that got me thinking about the different names in Danny Phantom.

Oh, boy did I get results…

I won't bore you on with the traditional characters, but Lilith's name actually intrigued me the most and since this fic is about her, I'll share it with you.

Lilith: Assyrian, Sumerian, Hebrew

Meaning: 'ghost; storm goddess; spirit of…'

Isn't that interesting…I've come to believe that all the names on the show are on purpose. Take a look for yourself on a baby name website; I think you'll reach the same conclusion. If you look up 'baby names' under google, the one I was on is the second one on the page. 11,000 names or something. All the names seem to fit the characters really well if you delve deep enough. I wish I could drabble on about all of them. It would make a great paper or something. A lot better than the one I have due next week...grumble grumble...

Okay, you guys deserve this chapter. It's all good stuff too.

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

You get quotes from the whole family this time! Thanks once again to the people at tvtome.

Line Break

Box Lunch: (To Danny, after she surrounds herself with food items to make some sort of monster form) And now, and you probably knew this was coming... Beware!

The Box Ghost: Crate Creep? I am The Box Ghost! Who are you? (To Danny, in a much softer voice) No, seriously, who is she?

Lunch Lady Ghost: Then perish!
Danny: Forget it! The only thing that has an expiration date here is you! (Changes back to human form accidentally) Whoops! I didn't mean to do that.

Line Break

One week later, it was the night of the Homecoming dance. Lilith was still in the Ghost Zone. She had a good hour before Cam was going to pick her up at the Fenton house. At the moment, she was caught in Dora's castle doing last minute preparations.

"I don't really need that much makeup!" Lilith said hopelessly, sitting on a chair in front of a large mirror.

"Of course you do!" said Dora as she applied the said makeup. "You're half-ghost, which makes you very pale. You need the blush."

"And the eyeliner, if you wanna hook that musician kid." Ember said, taking the mentioned eyeliner.

"Or the hunky one," Dora said with her two cents.

"But Ted already has a date! And I don't like him like that!" Lilith protested. "'Hunky' is not the term I would use to describe Cam either." She pouted.

"Save it for somebody who can't read you like a book." Sitting contently in the corner watching the makeover take place was Box Lunch. She was flipping lazily through a hair magazine.

"And I suppose I should thank you for getting everyone together for this?" Lilith knew the answer as she allowed the other female ghosts to have fun with her face and hair.

Box Lunch smiled her wicked smile. "I did say to 'Beware' before I brought you here. You know me well enough to know that's a warning…"

"Take a look at what Johnny and I found!" Kitty announced as she popped into the room. Johnny and Shadow came in precariously behind her. Neither looked happy to be there. Kitty was holding up a little black dress with purple edging.

"I thought we agreed on traditional, ballroom pink!" Dora complained.

"Oh, I like it! It has 'bad girl' written all over it." Ember said happily. Well, as happy as Ember gets.

"You guys really don't have to do this for me. It's just a dance." Lilith said.

"And deprive us from the joy of dressing you up? I don't think so! Here, put on the dress! I thought that if we put your hair up the black of your hair wouldn't blend into the dress too much." Kitty ordered and started to play around with different hairstyles. Lilith was in her human form so it was easier to tell how it would look at the dance.

Lilith did as she was told and slipped the dress over her head. The other girls oooed and awed. "So I guess it looks okay?" She asked.

"It looks fantastic. We are definitely doing this again. All we need now is to get you to really learn how to play guitar and you'll be irresistible."

"The dress fits her much better than I thought, colors included." Dora admitted.

"It's almost as if you'll be the life of the party." Box Lunch said wryly. "You're certainly the life of this one."

"Real funny, I'd like to see you in one of these." Lilith shot back.

Box Lunch laughed and put the magazine away. "Find me a date and sure I'll go with, but mostly good luck with finding a guy who'll want to go to a dance with me."

"So where is Desiree?" Dora asked. "I thought she said she was going to be here?"

"Oh, there's a meteor shower going on over Australia. She's been really busy lately." Box Lunch supplied, hands in her pockets.

Lilith looked over the dress some more as the others talked. She hadn't realized that it took this much preparation and was starting to have second thoughts.

Kitty seemed to notice this and elbowed Johnny in the gut. "Johnny! Tell her how she looks!"

Johnny yelped in pain. "You look great kid." He said through clenched teeth. For his part, Shadow flew over to the vanity and picked up a simple necklace with a diamond hanging on it. Ghosts never did things half-way and they certainly didn't have fake gems. Shadow put it around her neck with a sort-of smile and then flew back behind Johnny.

Box Lunch grabbed hold of Lilith's hand. "Time to go, we don't want Mr. Football to miss out on you." Lilith blushed madly as she transformed into her ghost half for the trip to the portal.

"He doesn't just play football." Was the only retort she had as she blushed, head tilted in shy embarrassment.

"Have fun hanging in with your friends!" Dora cheered.

Ember and Kitty spoke with bland voices. "It's hanging out."

"Oh, really, are you sure?" Dora asked innocently

"Wow. Aragon really didn't let you have much of life, did he? That prick…" Ember said in distaste.

"Okay, if you're going to catch up on the teenage slang; we're going to have to start from scratch…" Kitty said in a resigned fashion.

Lilith followed Box Lunch out of the medieval castle as the conversation continued on without them and made their way to the Fenton Portal. Once there Lilith changed back to her human form and Box Lunch handed her a purse. Inside of it was another container (a box one, of course) of cookies. Lilith looked up questionably.

"Mom always says the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach, but if that doesn't work you can always BANISH HIM INTO THE DARK ABYSS!" Box Lunch said as if she were imitating her mother, which really wasn't that hard for her.

"Your mom always did have best logic." Lilith agreed with a laugh.

"Well, I'll see you after the dance. Knock 'em dead, Lily." Box Lunch said shoving her best friend through the portal before the said friend could make any last comment.

She certainly didn't realize how literal that would almost turn out.

Scene Change!

Cameron Baxter stood outside the Fenton's old house. He admitted he was slightly curious as to why Lilith had told him to pick her up here. No one had lived here for years. Ted had almost asked her why, but Stacy had stolen him away to watch the cheerleading squad's newest routine for the homecoming game. Ami, who was also on the squad, had twitched. She usually did whenever Stacy would do something -for lack of a better term -blonde.

Cam was mostly taking Lilith to the dance out of respect for tradition. He had always gone with his close friends to dances and he wasn't going to sit back and let Lilith stay at home on one of the biggest dances of the year. Of all the guys in attendance at Casper High, he was most suited to take her to her first dance.

But whatever he was expecting to come out from behind the front door never came. Something much better did.

"Uh…Lily…" He stuttered. Cam never stuttered.

Lilith gave a concerned look for her friend. He was dressed in a nice grey suit and tie, but his face looked a bit…shocked. She waved her hand across his face.

"Cam, are you okay?" She asked genuinely.

The teenage sports star snapped out of it. "Lily, are you sure you've never been to a dance before? Because you look like you've been doing this for years. You look beautiful." He said, still a bit awed that his shy and non-fashion sensitive friend had been turned into this.

Lilith blushed. She was used to being called a lot of things and 'beautiful' was definitely not one of them.

Cam coughed. "I uh, promised my parents I'd bring you back to my house before the dance. My mom is a little photo happy and since this is the first high school dance, she's worse than ever."

"No problem. I'd like to meet them anyway." Lilith said, hopping down the steps. She almost tripped, not being used to high heels.

"So your uncle didn't fuss about you at all, this being your first big dance and you're going with a guy he's never met?" Cam asked as they walked to his house a few blocks down.

Lilith bit back a fit of laughter as the thought of Skulker doing such was rather entertaining. "No, he is a bit overprotective, but he trusts me." He voice faltered slightly thinking back to the events of last week. "Some friends of mine helped me mostly. They've had years of practice, not me." She covered up quickly.

"So, you live in the old Fenton house?"

"Not really. I live out of town actually. I just hang out there if I need to do more things in town." It was truthful enough. She did spend her fair share of time in the lab. In one of her rebellious stages as a little girl she had run away for a time and stayed at the house. It hadn't lasted long, but she and the house had bonded and she soon found she couldn't stay away for long periods of time.

"So you live on a farm or something? Got any cool animals?"

"Yeah quite a few animals. My uncle collects different kinds." She answered.

After the question and answer session, both learned more about each other. It had passed the time as they arrived on Cam's doorstep.

"Wait here." He said. "I don't want my mom to jump you." Lilith nodded and unconsciously took a step back from the door. "Mom! Dad! I'm home!" He announced.

"Let me see her!" Came a female voice, getting increasingly closer with every syllable. "Dash! Get the camera! NOW!" She yelled.

"But I'm watching the game…" Whined an older, male voice.

"It's on tape, pause it! Goodness Dash, you're never going to teach your son common sense if you act like that. Get the camera." She demanded.

Cam sighed. Lilith sort of felt his pain.

A brunette woman flung the door open. "Come on in you two. The meteorologists were lying as usual when they said it was going to be warm tonight. My goodness, young lady you look lovely tonight!" She rambled. Lilith suddenly understood Cam's outburst when she first met him. He must have gotten it from his mother.

"Mom, this is Lilith Manson. She's new to the district." Cam said as he introduced her.

"MANSON!" exclaimed a voice from the other room. Cam's dad came out. Dash hadn't changed much since his years at Casper High. The years had been unusually good to him. "They're here?" He whispered in horror. This horror was exemplified on his face when he got a good look at Lilith. "Oh, no…it is them!" He freaked and ran back into the living room screaming something about ghosts and supposed to be dead classmates.

In retrospect, maybe the past years hadn't been that good to him.

"Err…sorry about my dad." Cam apologized. "He went to Casper High during the big outbreak of ghosts. He's still a little skittish about it."

"That's okay. I get that more than you might think." Lilith said with a small smile.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Lilith. My name is Janet, Cameron's mother." She said, shaking the younger girl's hand. "Now wait just a second, you two look so cute!" She scampered off in the direction Dash had gone.

"Gimme the camera Dash!" There were sounds of things breaking and several yelps and apologies. Cam instinctively winced and Lilith wasn't sure what to do.

"It's the ghosts again, Janet! I knew those two lovebirds would get together and now they're back to ruin my life!"

"Dash! Calm down!"

Janet came back with the camera and positioned both kids in a well-lit place so the picture would turn out.

"How long is this going to take?" Lilith asked, feeling itchy in the dress. She really wasn't used to wearing one.

"Be grateful you're not a guy and going with Ami. Her dad is ten times worse than my mom when it comes to these things. Her dad spends five minutes fussing over the picture and before he lets you into the house you get a full pat down." Cam responded. After seeing Lilith confused he elaborated. "He's former military. Has some job with the government now."

Soon, however, it became evident that the kids had to intervene if they were ever going to meet the rest of their friends fashionably late.

The others were already at the school. Ted had a nice black suit on, but looked like he'd much rather have his normal clothes that screamed 'unemployed musician'. Stacy was wearing the traditional pink ballroom gown next to him, snuggling tightly. Ami was wearing a pale green gown, only with less of a ballroom skirt. Her date was wearing another black suit.

Stacy was the first to speak as the two approached the others. "Lily! I love your dress! And…is that a diamond? Who designed it! I must know!"

Not knowing how to respond to her fashionable friend she decided to speak truthfully. "I don't know. A good family friend found it for me."

"Whoever did is a genius!"

"I think the correct grammar would be 'was a genius'. Kitty might have found a ghost clothes designer." Lilith thought sorely.

"George Donovan? You're Ami's business class friend?" Lilith heard Cam ask. "I had no idea!"

"What can I say? I've my dad's knack for the career. I thought I might as well see what I would be getting into. I'm glad I did. I wouldn't have met Ami otherwise." George said conversationally.

"How do you two know each other?" Lilith asked with the same intent.

"Soccer team" Both responded instantly.

"My brother's the captain." George continued. "You probably know him better as the student body president."

All six kids proceeded to walk into the school gym together as they continued the conversation. They were happy and having the time of their lives already. For the moment, Lilith felt normal. "They make me feel human." She couldn't help but think.

For the first several dances the various couples stayed with their dates, but after a while girls started to dance in big groups and the guys did the same. Once the couples started up again, nobody had their original date. Lilith had somehow ended up with Ted on the dance floor. Stacy was babbling on with some of George's upperclassman friends and Ami had found a group of other kids to stick with. Cam was sitting with Stacy, looking more exhausted than anything. For an athlete, he didn't have much stamina when it came to dances.

"So, are you having fun?" Ted asked as he taught her the basics of swing dancing.

"Tons of it, how often do you have these dances?" She asked as she slipped under his arm and twirled around to face him again.

"Once a month usually, but our group only goes to about four a year. Cam gets warn out too much and Ami has limited tolerance for social activities. Besides, we have each other's various things to go to, like watching Cam in whatever sport he's in or the girls cheerleading and I've got concerts too. There's a lot more to Casper High than just dances. You'll love it." He assured her.

"The Homecoming game was fun enough to watch. My uncle hunts a lot and before now that was really the sport I was most familiar with. I agree with Jazz when she told me I should 'broaden my interests'." Lilith said as she twirled out again and then back in.

"Are the sessions helping?"

"More than I thought they would." Lilith admitted. "It's like having an older version of Box Lunch around…" She hadn't told anyone about Jazz being her aunt yet. Not humans and not ghosts either. She wanted to ask Skulker before anything and possibly give him a piece of her mind for never telling her, but she hadn't gotten a good chance yet.

Before either could talk about anything else, Lilith's ghost sense went off. Her face showed a look of shock, despair and worry. She fervently wished –knowing Desiree had the meteor shower going on tonight -that this ghost was someone she knew.

No such rest for the weary.

Lilith did recognize the ghost, but only from description. It was the Fright Knight. She'd never seen him before, but the horror stories she had heard about Pariah Dark left her well aware of what the Fright Knight could do. It scared her.

The school ghost alarm went off as usual and within moments Valerie was on the scene. Lilith's heart went out to her. She knew Valerie was good, but chances were that the Fright Knight was better.

The students around her and Ted were desperately trying to get out of the gym. Ted was trying to pull her along with the rest of the crowd. "Lily, what's wrong? Why are you just standing there?" Lilith didn't listen as everything seemed to be muted to her except for the battle in the air. She was intently watching as Valerie was fairing pretty well against the Fright Knight.

She knew it wouldn't last long. Most of the ghosts she spoke to on a daily basis weren't on good terms with the Fright Knight and Valerie was still human, even if she did have high tech equipment. She wouldn't last too much longer without help.

In the heat of the moment Lilith made her decision. "I've got to help. No one else can." She said mostly to herself. Ted caught it and tried to follow it up.

"What are you talking about? Lily, where are you going?" Ted asked, yelling after her. Lilith again didn't listen as she pushed her way through the dwindling crowds. Ted's voice calling after her was indistinguishable in the noise as he was swept away with the rest of the students.

Lilith ducked behind the bleachers of the gym. She made a quick scan the area to make sure no one would see her transform. Seeing no one and sensing the growing emergency, she changed herself into her ghostly appearance.

"Someone is going to kill me when I get home if they find out I was doing this…" This was Lilith's last fleeting thought before charging headfirst into battle.

Valerie was keeping him occupied at the moment, so she opted for a sneak attack. Keeping her distance, Lilith let out a volley of ecto-blasts all of which looked like Frisbees. The Fright Knight was caught off-guard and turned around to look at his new opponent. Somehow the way he looked at her sent chills up her spine.

No longer interested in Valerie, the ancient ghost set his sights on Lilith. Panicking, Lilith flew out of the way of his sword by having very, very quick reflexes learned from many years playing 'hide and seek' with Skulker.

With another swing of the sword Lilith was forced to go intangible. Seeing the opening she landed a punch in the gut, her hand glowing green which indicated she had enough for an ecto-blast. She let the blast go at the close range and let it pilot her backwards.

The Fright Knight recovered fast as Lilith had expected. She hadn't expected him to address her. "You're very good, child. Better than I anticipated. My master is very curious about you. He wishes to know if yet another has fallen victim to an accident with a portal."

Lilith filled her hands with ecto-energy in preparation for an attack. "I don't know what he wants with me, but you can tell your master to leave me alone! I just want to live as normal of a life as I can get and you ruined my first dance!" She didn't attack right away. If he really was as powerful as the stories depicted him, she was doomed.

"Terribly sorry about that I am under orders after all." It was after this that Valerie rejoined the fight.

"Terribly sorry I have to do this!" she shouted. Lilith had to duck out of the way to avoid being hit. The Fright Knight didn't seem fazed as he blocked it with ease. He then returned the blast back at her. This sent the ghost hunter into the bleachers and out for the count, but not dead.

"Ms. Grey!" Lilith couldn't help but be worried for her. Valerie wasn't a bad person, she could tell that much. If it wasn't for the fact that Lilith was part ghost, they could have probably been friends. She was a little too worried as suddenly the Fight Knight was upon her, not stopping the battle for anything.

He grabbed her by the neck, keeping her in one place as she struggled to get out of the grip. "Now, let's see what you really are." He said menacingly. Lilith felt pain surge through her body. She knew from experience that extreme weariness or unconsciousness could immediately change her back to her human form. Normally if she were at home this was okay, but not in this case.

Thinking quickly she spilt herself into two. One duplicate attacked the Fright Knight so the original could escape. Firing an attack from each body Lilith pulled herself back together and unleashed one large attack right after the other two.

Lilith floated down to Valerie. Making sure she was really okay, she turned her attention back to the Fright Knight. "Alright, my turn to ask some questions." She said sternly.

The Fright Knight laughed. "Maybe I'll answer them." He acknowledged. Lilith didn't let her guard down for a second. He was still very powerful and didn't look all that harmed.

"Who is your master and how did he find out about me? Most importantly, why does he even care?" She asked.

"Surely you've heard of Plasmius? His eyes are everywhere, in the Ghost Zone and in the human realm. How you've escaped his attention for so long is beyond me." He answered.

"Plasmius…Box Lunch and Youngblood knew something about him. They didn't seem too happy to enlighten me though. What's the deal with this guy and why haven't I heard of him until now? He must be pretty important…and dangerous." A thousand thoughts were running though her head.

"I can tell you're still confused." The Fright Knight offered. "Perhaps you'd like to come with me and meet him yourself? Then all of the questions you've ever had will be answered."

Lilith knew she shouldn't be, but she was torn at the moment. "Never go with strange ghosts." Was one thing that crossed her mind. "But maybe he knows something Skulker doesn't…" She didn't trust the Fright Knight at all, but the offer was very tempting.

"As enticing as your offer is, I'm going to have to decline. If some crazy fruit loop wants to know more about me, he's going to have to see me personally and not send his minions."

The Fright Knight grinned. "You have your opinion, but you do realize that my master does not take 'no' for an answer, the last half-ghost before you learned that lesson well. I'm going to have to take you with me forcefully."

Lilith suddenly wanted to know how he'd known her secret. She could find that out later. Skulker had only told her about her father being half-ghost. She wanted to know now if Plasmius had done something to him. She only subconsciously noted that the stakes of the fight had been changed.

"What do you know about my dad?" She interrogated, still not sure if he was the half-ghost the Fright Knight had been referring to, but was willing to make an educated accusation. There could have been others that Skulker just hadn't known about, but that didn't seem very likely. She flew around to avoid the large gem-shaped attacks her opponent was throwing at her, having to make shields around her for some of them.

"I see the similarities. They are uncanny. I wasn't sure until now, but my master will be most pleased with this information." He said. Lilith cursed under her breath. Something that was somewhat out of character for her, but she was angry at herself for unwittingly given her mysterious new enemy this information.

"I will ask again. Will you come willingly, or not?"

"I'm not coming with you period!" Lilith cried as she, this time, split herself into three. Each duplicate fired a different attack from the distance, then all of then flew at the Fright Knight from different angles.

The Fright Knight anticipated all three strikes, but they never came. There was a pause as the ghost looked around for his younger opponent. She appeared in front of him, having rejoined her duplicates and delivered a rather powerful punch the Fight Knight had not been expecting. She once again had the ecto-energy in hand and released it close range, like she had the first time.

"I wonder where you learned your skills." He asked conversationally, barely fazed by her attacks.

Lilith did not respond. Witty banter was never her specialty. Besides, at the moment she was very much absorbed in the battle. She did not want to lose her rhythm, especially not with an opponent like the Fright Knight. She had a sinking feeling it was going to take everything she had ever learned to get away from this. Inside, she was still very scared. The banter would have only played on her fears and she knew it.

She flicked her wrist and the ecto-energy she had been holding morphed into a green sword. She gripped it like her life depended on it and attacked once again.

"Let's see…" the Fright Knight mused as he met her sword with his. "If you're half ghost, that means you are also half human. I wonder if you would care if I did this…" He flew towards the giant gymnasium windows where a large crowd from the dance had been standing outside, watching the fight in fascination. He aimed one of his ecto-attacks at them.

"No!" Lilith yelled as she quickly got herself between them and the Fright Knight's attack. "Don't you dare hurt them!" She positioned the ecto-sword in front of her, ready to attack. She did before he had a chance.

The Fright Knight was ready for her this time and blocked her back to her position in the middle. "I'll ask one more time child. Will you come?"

Lilith glared. Her confidence had risen ten-fold in the last five minutes. No longer was she going to stand for this. It was bad enough that she now had enemies that she had never wanted, but they were threatening to kill. If something were to happen to her friends-any of her friends, ghost or human- she would never forgive herself.

"No." she whispered. She hadn't wanted to do this, but now she had no choice. Making sure her back was to the windows, she drew back her breath.

The next thing the Fright Knight knew he was being blown by a tremendous force. It wasn't enough to destroy him, but he had enough information to report back to Plasmius and fight another day. He transported out before her Ghostly Wail could harm him further.

Lilith floated down to the floor of the gym. The entire back wall was blown out and scattered across a long line of destruction. It was empty and in shambles, much like how she felt herself. She needed to get home before she got too tired and change in front of all these people.

Valerie was slowly getting up and the kids were coming back into the gym with the adults trying to assess the damage. She vaguely noticed light flashing around her and saw that the reporters were already there and running towards her. Her heart went into her throat in fear and flew out of the gym.

Her destination was home. The only safe haven she had and the place where she knew she would get some answers. Not that she was actually thinking these things, but nevertheless home was where instinct took her towards.

Unbeknownst to Lilith, Ted was still looking for her. He had seen the entire fight and found all of his other friends. Now he just needed to make sure Lilith was okay.

His search had taken him to the Fenton house. This was where Cam had picked her up. "Maybe she freaked out and went here. She did say she needed to help and there's lots of ghost hunting equipment here." He thought logically.

He entered the house. It wasn't the first time he had been in there. In grade school some of his friends had dared him to go inside. Since you can't refuse a triple-dog dare, he had gone in. He was sort of familiar with the place. Part of his dare was to go into the lab and get one of the ghost hunting weapons. The weapon he found was something that looked like a soup thermos. He had picked it because it looked the least dangerous out of all the weapons.

He entered the lab. As he did a chill filled the room. Ted hid behind a cabinet. Out of thin air a ghost appeared.

It wasn't the Fright Knight. It was the ghost-girl that had won the fight. The reporters had been in frenzy. Some were saying it was the return of Danny Phantom, until someone had been observant enough to see the ghost-kid was a girl.

She also had that famous logo on her uniform, which made the reporters to leap that the two were in league with each other and maybe even related. So until she could clear any misinterpretations up, she had been dubbed the Ghost-kid's daughter because of her age.

The girl looked very tired. Ted almost came foreword to see if he could offer any help, but didn't. He had always been a silent fan of Danny Phantom, even though he had been before Ted's time and knew he never liked being in the public eye. He felt sorry for this girl and figured she would want the same treatment.

At the same time though, he was excited at her appearance on the ghost fighting scene. He continued to watch her with interest as she grabbed hold of the machine that operated the Fenton Portal in order to get some support to stand up.

For a good five minutes he watched as she pushed a button on the machine and the front doors to the portal opened. She attempted to walk towards it, faltering with each step. When she had only gone a few steps she collapsed on the floor.

Ted figured it was now or never. She needed help. He ran foreword and knelt down beside her. He rolled her over so her back was supporting her.

"It's okay." He comforted. "I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe here." Even as he was talking a wave of peace seemed to wash over the ghost-kid, finally slipping into true unconsciousness and the surprise of Ted's life.

He saw the flashy rings move down her body and even when he saw it, he wasn't sure if he believed it. Lying on the floor instead of the ghost was now the girl he had been dancing with not half an hour before.

"Lily?" He whispered aloud. His mind couldn't seem to come to grip with the fact that the two were one and the same, or at least something like that. There were a million theories, none of which he had time to examine.

Ted felt a much colder chill come in the room. He instinctively turned to the ghost portal. Floating above him was a rather large ghost with flaming green hair in what looked like… a metal battle suit?

It was a battle suit. Because as soon as he had turned around the ghost pointed a very menacing looking gun at him. "How much did you see, boy?" He asked very seriously.

Ted grabbed the first thing that was in sight. He raised the baseball bat against the gun, knowing he really didn't have a chance if this was really just a bat with a sticker on it. "You stay away from her! She just finished fighting a ghost and she doesn't have time to deal with you too!"

The ghost seemed amused by his words. He retracted the gun. "I assure you that I'm not here to harm her, just the opposite, and if I was what would you do? Put a dent in my armor?"

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Ted gripped the bat tighter.

"I would have killed you both already and put her pelt above my fireplace." He said as if discussing the weather.

"That's…gross…" Ted winced, a disgusted look evident on his face.

"Why do you even care? You saw her transformation, didn't you?"

"Lily is one of my best friends. I don't care what she is it's who she is that counts." Ted told the ghost defensively.

"Oh, please you hardly know anything about her. This is beside the point. You saw her transform and you know her identity. I can't let you stay here." A different gun appeared and a net shot out of it. The bat didn't help Ted in the end.

"What are you doing!" He said, very panicked and struggling inside the net.

"If you are truly her friend then she wouldn't be very happy with me if I killed you, but I can't let you stay in the human realm until I have questions answered."

"Who are you?" Ted finally asked, fairly certain he wasn't getting out of this unless he cooperated.

"Who am I? I'm her 'uncle'." The ghost said wickedly. Before Ted could ask any more questions he and Lilith were taken through the portal. Already in a state of shock, Ted couldn't handle it anymore as he beheld the green landscape.

Being the sensible person he was, Ted fainted.

Scene Change And Time Passage!

Vlad Plasmius was working in his secret laboratory, which was conveniently located in his private study in his reclusive mansion near Madison, Wisconsin. He was very concentrated, but wasn't getting any work done. The cause of his fruitless labor came in the form of a soft, but annoying whistle from a corner of the lab.

"Daniel, stop that infernal noise before I do something unpleasant." Vlad casually mentioned, as though he had done this a thousand times, which in hindsight, he probably had.

The whistling stopped for all of two seconds before it came back. Louder.

"STOP IT!" Vlad screamed, his patience almost gone.

Behind bars, the now adult Danny Fenton raised his eyebrows. He rested his cuffed hands behind his neck and lay back in a relaxed position. "You know…" He pondered out loud. "If you really think I'm that annoying you could just let me go."

Vlad continued to work on his project. "That line hasn't worked anytime in the last fifteen years you've tried it and it certainly won't work now. Next time you feel like feeding it to me, remember that I did let you have your wedding night."

"You know Vlad, you have taught me one thing in the time we've known each other." Danny admitted after a few moments of silence.

It was Vlad's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Oh really now and what would that be?"

"I've learned to never give up. I mean, look at you, you're sitting over there with everything you've ever wanted." Danny said, and then gasped. "Oh, wait I'm sorry, almost everything." He ended with a wicked grin.

Vlad growled at the reminder that although he had Daniel safely locked away, the boy turned adult was still not on his side. There was also the, slightly minor, issue that the love of his life was still Maddie Fenton.

"Well, I suppose I didn't really learn that from you." Danny mused aloud again. "I've known that since I got my ghost powers. But I do have to admire you, Vlad." Danny relented. "A lonely, bitter old man in his sixties and has achieved one fourth of this overall life goal." Danny clapped his hands mockingly. "I applaud you."

The third thing he had not achieved was the untimely death of Jack Fenton. "If you don't do something fast, my dad is going to die of natural causes before you get the pleasure of killing him off yourself." Danny ended in mock worry.

"I've noticed something about you, Daniel." Vlad said, amazingly calm. "No matter how many conversations we have down here you seem to forget the fact that I have your wife and best friend hostage and that I could kill them at any time I wish."

For the next few minutes that silenced Danny. This was the one thing that had prevented Danny from escaping several times. After breaking out of his own restraints, he would have to break Sam and Tucker's as well and then carry them all away from Vlad, who would be on their tail fast and fresh.

"You could have at least kept them awake so I'd have someone to talk to other than you." Danny mumbled, but made sure Vlad could hear him. Upon their capture, Tucker and Sam had been placed in suspended animation. Danny had been angered at first that Vlad admitted they were test subjects and it wasn't guaranteed to keep them alive. But after ten years they were alive, not looking a day older than when they were put asleep.

"Cheer up Daniel. I'm expecting the Fright Knight to come back with some information and if you're lucky, a cellmate." Vlad said cryptically.

Danny was confused, but figured as always, that Vlad was up to no good.

The Fright Knight came soon enough. Danny was silent as he listened to the conversation. Vlad was the first to speak. "Well, I see you failed to come back with the girl. What did you find out?"

The Fright Knight gave a quick look over at Vlad's prisoner before speaking. "It was as you expected. She has amazing powers for her age and excellent control over them. She declined the offer to come and after her attacks I was not able to capture her and have enough strength to bring her here."

Both Vlad and Danny were shocked by the statement, Vlad more so because of his other information. "And of her identity?", he asked pressingly.

"Again you were correct. She showed limited knowledge about him." He pointed to Danny. "She seemed to have not heard of you before."

"I think I could use this to my advantage." He transformed into his own human form. "I think it's time I paid a trip to Casper High. You remember your old high school, don't you Daniel?"

"Do I have to?" He joked blandly, rolling his eyes.

"Your sister recently accepted a job there as the school counselor. Don't you find that intriguing?"

Danny was on his feet, his hands gripping the bars angrily in a matter of seconds. "Don't you dare do anything to Jazz."

"What are you going to do about it if I do?" Vlad allowed himself a laugh. "Don't worry; it's not your sister I'm after although she and I need do to have a long talk about the location of your parents." He said thoughtfully. "Would it surprise you to know that you are a father?" He said almost out of the blue.

"What?" Danny didn't quite know how to respond to the sudden question and it took him a few moments to process the information. "That's impossible; Sam would have told me if she was pregnant." He insisted.

"She wouldn't have had time to tell you anything. She probably didn't even know herself at the time you 'disappeared'. Because currently there is a girl going by the name of 'Lilith Manson' at Casper High and from what my spies have told me, she inherited much your looks as well as your ghostly powers."

"You're lying. Your vultures can't remember what they had for dinner last night much less what I look like." Danny said finally. He could hardly believe it anyway.

"You must have made quite the impression on them then. I'm doing something nice for you Daniel. I'm uniting you with the daughter you never knew you had. Besides, you may think differently once you've seen her."

"Why go after her now then?" Danny said, still in shock. "That's not like you."

"Because as much as I hate to admit it, I didn't know she existed until last week, but this is consistent with some medical research that I've been getting from your friends. Samantha has shown many signs of a woman after they've had a child." He said then a pause. "Your daughter is still at a very impressionable age Daniel, maybe she'll make the choice you didn't. Wouldn't that be ironic? Ha, it's so evil I don't think I'll be able to resist it." He allowed himself a quick laugh.

Vlad left the lab and the Fright Knight followed after, leaving Danny alone to contemplate this new knowledge and maybe of what could have been.

And...Scene!

A/N: Definitely my favorite chapter and yes, Ted did pick up the Anti-Creep Stick. (One of my favorite Fenton weapons, BTW) That and I suppose Danny showing up is kind of a big thing…that was sarcasm if you didn't notice.

The only episode I've seen with the Fright Knight in it is The Ultimate Enemy. I haven't seen Reign Storm or Fright Night. He comes back, so help with his character would be greatly appreciated. What? I've only been a fan for three months. Actually, today should be the three month aniversery that I saw Reality Trip. Yes, it was the first full episode I ever saw.

Anonymous Reader brought up an excellent question about Skulktech. Because Danny's 'jerky older self' never came into being there was simply no reason for them to join forces. That would have been a challenge to write. Just Skulker fits much better.

In that light, thanks go out to; The Sleep Warrior, Meaganisnttheworld, dessyweird51, DP fan, Harry, Anonymous Reader and Sweeteen19 for the amazing reviewer turnout. You guys are part of the reason that this chapter is out a bit early. Those are the kinds of reviews I'm looking for, honest critiques. I'm also looking for epilogue scenes, but I'll talk about those later.

I hardly had to edit at all for this chapter. Out of all the chapters, this one came out the best first time through. At least now we have a gage about how powerful Lilith is. I have this big long theory about how Danny's kids would turn out as far as genetics are concerned, but that would be a really long author's note. You can blame my brother and I for watching and then critically analyzing any and every Danny Phantom episode we watch. If you'd like to find out more about the theory say so in the review. Now that I have a secondary email, I can finally answer some questions.

So there you have it. Hopefully most of your unsaid questions were answered and there's more to come.

Later,

Unrealistic :-)