Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom and his friends. Nor do I technically own Dani Phantom... Danielle (Dani) Dawson on the other hand is mine. This is an AU of the Danny Phantom verse. My Dani is obviously different than the show's. This story is for entertainment purposes only. Enjoy!

Fighter

By: SkeksisGirl

Why does this always happen to me? Do I have a huge sign on my back that says "Ghost Target! All ghosts attack this boy!"? Because that's what it seems like. Ember, Skulker, Technus, Spectra, and of course Vlad. They all want a piece of me for different reasons. They all have a bone to pick with me, but I don't think I ever saw what I saw in this girl's eyes.

She just appeared out of nowhere, I didn't even sense her until it was almost too late. She attacked instantly and didn't stop, she didn't even say anything. Luckily Sam and Tucker were out of the way when she appeared so I didn't have to worry about them. The ghost seemed to be focusing solely on me, all her hate, and I could feel that it was hate was on me.

The look in her emerald eyes scared me. I had seen that look only once in my short life as a Halfa, when I was facing off with my future evil self. She hated me, and I didn't even know who she was. She hated me so much that she barely used her ghost powers, she wanted to beat me to death. Not something I was looking forward to.

I quickly moved the fight away from occupied space and away from Amity Park. She followed silent, her hair flying around her. I felt like I was fighting at older version of my clone, except there was something about this girl that was different. She seemed more developed, like she was her own person and not a template with grafted memories to make her a person. I didn't know how I knew that, but something inside me just knew. When I felt we were far enough away I finally turned to confront my attacker and let loose with a blast of cold, freezing her in a block of ice. Relaxing for a moment I floated closer to take a good look at her.

It was eerily like looking in a mirror, yet distorted. Her hair was long, flowing down to the middle of her back. It was also as white as mine, and her eyes were a darker shade of green than mine, closer to a dark emerald. What worried me the most was her outfit. Simplistic would be the best way to describe it. A worn black leather vest and pants connected by a belt, combat boots, and black wraps around her wrists and hands, like a boxer before he puts on his gloves. She was dressed to fight.

I was so busy taking in her looks and trying to shake the nagging feeling of familiarity, that I didn't notice that the ice was melting at a rapid rate. She could control heat, maybe even fire. The thought of another Ember scared me momentarily but I collected myself enough to dodge her attack. She was good, too good, better than me at fighting, but that had been obvious from the word go.

"Fight back!" the ghost yelled as she lobbed a plasma blast at me. "Fight me damn it!"

"Why?" I blocked the blast with a plasma shield that pushed me back several feet. "I don't even know who you are! What do you want with me?"

"I want you dead!" Her hands glowed with energy. She looked like she was charging up for a huge attack.

"Look kid, I don't even know who you are," situations like this usually brought out the sarcastic side in me. The fact that some ghost I never met before wanted me dead so badly switched it on. "At least every one else in the Ghost Zone has a shtick or something. Plus, they're usually polite enough to give me a name." The ghost snarled and threw a fireball at me. I dodged it with ease, she was getting sloppy, I could use that. "Puh-lease, Skulker has better aim than that."

It happened so fast. She faded from existence and the next thing I knew she was in front of me with her fist connecting with my chin. I fell back from that and spat out green blood, I hated bleeding in Ghost Form. She stood over me, her hair falling into her eyes. "Fight me Daniel Fenton, or I swear I'll kill your friends first, and then your family." I blinked up at her in surprise. She knew exactly who I was, and where to hit. She wasn't playing around, this wasn't a game to her, and those words ended the game for me.

I answered with a kick to her stomach before getting up and advancing on her. I hated fighting, but to protect my friends and family I would. The fight was one of the worst in my life, it went on forever and halfway through it felt like a dance more than a fight. The ghost rarely spoke, only when it looked like I was about to call a time out. The words were always the same, "Fight me or your friends and family will die". She knew the exact buttons to push to keep me going.

The morbid dance kept on, and I realized that it wasn't her fighting me, she was teaching me. The moves were a pattern, a pattern that I could read and act against. It moved from her landing the most punches, to a stalemate, then to me starting to overpower her. With each connection the hate in her eyes intensified, but it burned brightest and truest when she landed a punch on me. I was right when I said she hated, except she didn't hate me. She hated herself, she wanted me to beat her. She wanted to lose, it was like she had nothing to live for while I did.

When I realized that, the fight ended, I landed my hardest punch and sent her flying into a tree. She hit it with a bone crunching crack and slumped to the ground, coughing up green blood. I moved towards her, to see if she wanted to continue the fight.

"Do it," she whispered, looking up at me. "Kill me."

"No." I glared down at her, angry at the fact that she was giving up. She wanted me to fight so badly and now she was giving up? I didn't get it. "Why did you attack me?"

"Because you're Danny Phantom." Her eyes hardened into emerald chips. "You always win. Now kill me!"

"No!"

"I won't stop," the ghost got up slowly. "I'll keep coming."

"I don't care!" I yelled at her. "I'm not a killer."

"I am." Her words hit my like a ton of bricks. She looked barely thirteen and she was a killer? I stumbled back in shock and she took advantage of it.

The next thing I knew, she had my hand against her chest and looked at him pleadingly. "Kill me, I deserve it! I deserve worse, please!"

I shook my head in disbelief, why would she want to be killed? She was already a ghost, wasn't she? "But… you're a ghost…"

"Am I?" She looked me square in the eyes as they changed from emerald green to ocean blue. The next thing I knew, I was looking at a young woman with hair as black as mine and eyes that were somewhat familiar. But what really drew my attention was the mottle of bruises and healing black eye that covered her face.

It was clear that they were not from the fight. She was a Halfa, like me, and she needed help. I couldn't kill a kid that was obviously in need of help, it wasn't me. It was too much to deal with, so I did the one thing that I could think of. I ran, I left her.

It wasn't until later, as I started thinking it over when it occurred to me that we weren't alone. I remember seeing Clockwork out of the corner of my eye as I fled. He had something to do with this, but that wasn't what mattered. What mattered was finding that girl and helping her.

After all, I'm Danny Fenton. Helping is what I do.