Chapter 5: The Hunter

A man with silver hair was watching a few video screens of Phantom in France fighting muggers, gangsters and braving a burning building to rescue survivors.

"A Ghost saving humans?" He sounded really amused as he laughed, "Oh, this is going to prove to be very interesting."

With that he pressed a button on his intercom.

"Yes sir?" A robotic voice answered.

"I have a new target for you." The man smiled as he leaned back, "You are going to love this one!"

~With Danny~

Phantom sighed as he beat up another mugger, "You would think that they would learn by now not to commit crimes." He muttered as he knocked him out and disappeared again long before the Police got there.

He's been busy taking care of common criminals every day since he started the hero gig and all they got were amateur footage of him… And those were from security cameras… He sometimes wished for a bigger challenge than the common street thugs he faces.

A lot of people in Kadic were claiming to be Phantom just to have their fifteen minutes of fame but since they can't prove it they don't even get one second.

But the Gang was worried that Phantom would find the Supercomputer even though technically Phantom knows everything about it.

Looking at the Night sky Phantom thought about how he lived his afterlife… It's been at least two weeks since Xana last tried anything.

He felt guilty about not telling his friends about his double… Or is it triple life since he's lying about being a Ghost?

He no longer knew. With how things were going after Xana possessed him leaving him inside a Teddy Bear of all things they've grown suspicious that he was hiding something. Even Aelita knew he was hiding something.

But how can he just go out and say that he's a Ghost? Even if they believed him they would most likely reject him.

"Why does my afterlife have to be so complicated?!" Phantom shouted to the sky, "Why didn't I just leave things well enough alone?!"

Deciding to leave before someone saw him shouting to the sky like a maniac he phased… Well he phased into the Factory hoping to get away from Jeremy and them from asking questions if they woke up early.

He had his Gym bag with him so he changed into his regular clothes and put the mask in his pocket as he sat at the Supercomputer and began to delay the virtualization process until he was down there.

Aelita's face popped up before she looked surprised, "Danny? What are you doing here this late?"

'Crap!' Danny mentally groaned. 'I forgot about the fact that Aelita would know that someone would be on the Supercomputer.'

"… I need to get away from the real world and I want to explore Lyoko a bit without a time limit so I thought it would be a good idea." Danny lied feeling guilty immediately.

That's all he does now… He lies.

"Do the others know?" Aelita asked curiously.

Danny sighed, "No and there's no way that they would allow me to explore Lyoko by myself." He said gloomily, "Can you please keep this a secret?"

Aelita didn't look too happy but she promised.

Giving the time limit a minute Danny slid down the ladder and got into the scanner as it scanned him before he was virtualized into Lyoko via the Forest Sector.

Landing on his feet Danny looked around appreciating the beauty of the Virtual World, "If it wasn't for Xana I would come here more often." Danny said walking through the woods.

He saw a rock so whipping out his pistol he shot five times quickly but he missed three of the five times.

"… Maybe I should work on my aim while I'm here." Danny deadpanned knowing that if the rock was one of Xana's minions he would more than likely be devirtualized by now, "Maybe I can talk to Jeremy about holding Training Periods on Lyoko to practice."

"Not a bad idea." Danny spun around as Aelita managed to sneak up on him.

"Oh geez!" Danny sighed in relief, "Don't do that Aelita, you nearly gave me a Heart Attack!"

'Or at least you would've if I was alive.'

Aelita laughed at Danny's face, "I didn't mean to scare you." She said honestly, "I figured that since the others wouldn't want you to explore Lyoko alone I should go with you."

Danny raised an eyebrow, "You want to explore as well?"

Aelita nodded.

With that being said the two of them explored the Forest Sector of Lyoko, "So what is it like living in Lyoko?" Danny asked because this is actually the first time that he talked to her without a situation going on.

"Just like living in the real world." Aelita answered, "Only with two senses and with monsters trying to kill you."

"Okay, so are you getting your memories back?" Danny asked trying to change the subject from monsters trying to kill her.

"No, I only remember my name but the rest is foggy." Aelita admitted.

"So you don't remember your family?"

"No, I don't." Aelita gave Danny a look, "What about your family?"

Danny visibly flinched at the mention of his family, "What about them?"

"What are they like?" Aelita decided to tell Jeremy about Danny's reaction to the mention of his family later.

"Well they're inventors." Danny started, "My Dad is the most eccentric one, he has an addiction to fudge and overall excitement to whatever he's building while my Mom is the calm one of the group and she is always looking over every small detail in whatever they build." Danny felt off about thinking of them.

"They sound like great people." Aelita said hoping to keep him talking to learn more about him to figure out how his Bio Signature was different, "Any others?"

"My sister, she is a psychiatrist in training always using me for practice." Danny laughed, "But to tell the truth I loved hanging with her." Danny sat on a virtual fallen log, "I miss them."

"Miss them?" Aelita asked, "What do you mean?"

Danny looked at her thinking things over.

'Well she's not human like me… Will she understand?' Shaking his head he made up his mind while Aelita was curious on why he was randomly shaking his head.

"It's a long story but if I tell you I want you to promise not to tell the others!" Danny pleaded, "Not to Ulrich, Odd, Yumi or Jeremy because I don't know how they would react!"

Aelita looked surprised at the request but she promised and Danny sighed.

"I ran away from home." He began hoping that he was making the right decision in telling her, "I ran away because two days before I came to Kadic Academy I died in a lab accident."

"You died?" Aelita asked in confusion, "I don't understand."

Danny chuckled humorlessly, "I'm a Ghost, a spirit of a dead teenager." He explained and her confused expression cleared up and she looked shocked, "I left because I didn't want to face my parents after what I became."

"Why wouldn't you want to face your own parents?" Aelita looked at him straight in his eyes, "Wouldn't they accept you as a Ghost?"

"… Because they're Ghost Hunters." Danny looked down so he didn't see Aelita's face, "When I was alive my Dad talked about ripping the first Ghost they met apart molecule by molecule so I freaked out and left after I died."

Tears slid down Danny's face a bit, "After that it was a stroke of luck that I found a flyer to Kadic Academy and I thought it would be far enough to start fresh away from Ghost Hunters."

After he finished he kept quiet to see how Aelita would react when he felt her hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry for asking you to explain that." She apologized, "It wasn't any of my business."

Danny shook his head, "No… It felt good to talk about it." He admitted, "But please, I don't know how the others would react to the fact that I'm dead."

"I don't like keeping it from them." Aelita admitted, "But it's not my secret to tell."

Smiling Danny hugged her, "Thank you Aelita." He said gratefully, "I owe you!"

After a second Aelita hugged him back, "It's okay Danny!" She said, "I would do the same for any friend."

After letting go he looked over at the rest of the Forest Sector, "So shall we continue to explore?" He asked excitedly.

Aelita smiled at how he was happy after only knowing him to be serious and moody all the time, "Yes we shall." She joked back.

~Two Hours Later~

Aelita devirtualized Danny in the Tower so he flew back to the dorm and turned visible right as the alarm rang so he was making his bed, "Wow!" He said sounding shocked, "I actually beat the alarm?" He was pretending to make his bed.

Jeremy pushed the snooze button before yawning, "I guess so." He got up and stretched, "Good Morning Danny."

After all that Danny left to go to the Cafeteria when he felt a sudden chill and blue mist came out of his mouth.

Narrowing his eyes Danny looked around carefully because the last time something like that happened Xana possessed him but after seeing nothing he decided that it was a false alarm.

'Can I even get those?'

With a shrug Danny entered the Cafeteria to see Odd chowing down as usual while Ulrich was trying not to fall asleep in his cereal, "Morning guys!"

Ulrich gave him a confused look, "You're in a good mood today." He observed.

"Why not?" Danny asked, "It's a good day and I can't wait to see what we all do today!"

Odd paused from eating, "That depends on if Xana leaves us alone or not." He voiced out his opinion, "If he does then we can annoy Sissi."

Danny smirked, "Great idea!"

Ulrich mirrored his smirk, "I'm in."

"But first let me finish eating!" Odd began to stuff his face again.

Danny stared at him wide eyed, "Where does he put it all?" He asked in shock.

"I have no idea." Ulrich admitted, "He must have a universe for a stomach."

"Oh yeah make fun of the hungry kid why don't ya?" Odd told them while chewing.

Danny and Ulrich just laughed at him and in a few seconds he joined in as well.

Thankfully since it was a Sunday there was no school at all for the Lyoko Warriors as they walked around campus being joined by Yumi even though she could stay home, "So you three are just going to bug Sissi?" She asked giving them a look.

"Why not?" Odd asked, "If you ask me we need to do something to liven this place up!"

"Or to keep busy." Yumi told him.

Odd crossed his arms with a pout, "That too."

"Come on Yumi you can join in if you want!" Danny offered, "You know you want to!"

Yumi rolled her eyes, "Well someone has to keep you three from turning this into a legal nightmare."

"It's not that bad of a prank!" Ulrich protested, "All we're doing is spraying Skunk Oil on her!"

"… Where did you get the Skunk Oil?" Yumi decided to ask.

"You'll be amazed by what you can find on the Internet!" Danny told them, "For example, did you know that they teach you how to be a terrorist on the computer?"

"They do?" Odd asked in confusion.

"Yeah and people wonder why there are more terrorist attacks these days." Danny shook his head at the irony, "Well anyway back to hitting Sissi with the Skunk Oil."

"How are we going to hit her?" Ulrich asked curiously.

"Odd you're the best marksman since you shoot arrows on Lyoko!" Danny gave him the balloon, "And I'm sure that you would love to be the one to do this since I did the last prank."

Ulrich had his Video camera ready to record while Odd and Danny waited for Sissi to walk down the hallway to where they were hiding while Yumi kept an eye out for teachers and they finally heard footsteps along with Sissi's voice so Odd got ready before he lunged out throwing the balloon.

"BANZAI!"

The balloon flew hitting Jim in the face.

'… Wait… JIM?!' Danny swallowed nervously as he saw that Sissi was right next to Jim.

"MY EYES!" Jim cried out with his hands on them, "THEY BURN!"

"… Run?" Odd asked in fear.

"Run." Ulrich confirmed and the four of them ran for it.

~With Jeremy~

Jeremy was typing in his Laptop before he noticed that there was an unauthorized virtualization into Lyoko so checking in on that he sighed, "Aelita, why did Danny go to Lyoko?"

Aelita's face came up, "He wanted to explore it." She said.

"I'll have to talk to him about that." Jeremy voiced, "He should know not to do that especially with Xana plotting ways to kill us."

"He mostly practiced his aim with his weapon on there to get better in fighting for next time." Aelita told him leaving out what Danny told her, "He's thinking about asking you about starting training periods for everyone."

Jeremy thought about that, "Well I suppose that it sounds like a good idea… I'll talk to him when I see him again."

He was about to get off before he noticed the time of the Devirtualization. It was two minutes before his alarm rang.

'How did he get back to the room from Lyoko in two minutes?' Jeremy thought in shock.

~With Danny, Ulrich, Odd and Yumi~

Sadly Sissi ratted them out since she knew that it was meant for her and that didn't score them any points with the Principal so they had to spend that Afternoon in the Library dusting while Jim took the day off for a Tomato Bath.

"Well it could've been worse." Danny tried to say but glares cut him off, "Oh come on I didn't throw the balloon!"

Cue the glares moving to Odd, "But it was Danny's idea!"

The glares moved back, "You were the one that suggested messing with Sissi!"

The glares stopped as both Yumi and Ulrich sighed before Ulrich pulled out his Camera, "At least we got something to laugh about later." He said replaying Jim's face as the Skunk Oil hit him dead on.

"Well I guess Jim does smell like 'Jim' Socks!" Odd joked eliciting groans from everyone around him, "Oh come on that was a good one!"

Yumi dusted a book off, "We have a weird selection of books!" Yumi stated, "I mean listen to this, 'Famous Ghosts of the Ghost Zone by Freadrick Eisenhower.'"

'Ghosts of the Ghost Zone?!'

Odd and Ulrich laughed, "Oh come on, Ghosts?" Ulrich asked, "I stopped believing in them when I was five!"

"Yeah, everyone knows that Ghosts don't exist!" Odd said before looking at Danny, "Right Dan?"

Danny smirked, "Neither does virtualization and time travel, yet we do that on a daily basis!" He pointed out.

"… Good point." Odd agreed begrudgingly.

"And Aliens counting that Superman and Martin Manhunter in America." Yumi put the book up, "I'd say that this world is full of surprises."

They all got back to work when Danny gasped and blue mist came out of his mouth again luckily no one noticed, "Hey I'm going to head to the Bathroom."

"Hurry back!" Ulrich told him, "We're not cleaning this by ourselves!"

With a chuckle Danny walked out of the library as blue mist came out of his mouth again so he followed it only to be shivering in a bit before a mechanical voice spoke out behind him, "So you're the famous Phantom?"

Danny spun around seeing no one, "Who's there?" He asked narrowing his eyes, "I'm warning you I'm not in the mood to be messed with!"

Then he was slammed into the wall by something invisible and a being shimmered into view. It was a mechanical looking being wearing a black spandex shirt, combat boots and where his hair was supposed to be was a Mohawk made completely out of green fire.

"Who are you?" Danny asked in shock as the being leaned in with an evil grin.

"I am Skulker the Greatest Hunter in the Ghost Zone!" He declared raising his arm up, "And you are my prey!" A Machete popped out of his raised arm.

Danny's eyes widened before he gulped and he said something that he was going to regret, "Are you over-compensating for something?"

Skulker frowned before he realized what he just implied, "I'm going to gut you for that." He snarled, "For no one insults Skulker and –Oof!"

Not waiting for him to finish Danny brought his leg back and kicked Skulker in the gut causing him to drop him so he ran for the bathroom and phased through the door turning invisible shedding his clothes to the Hazmat Suit before grabbing the mask that he kept in his hoodie pocket and pulling it over depositing the clothes in the air vent so he could get them later.

Skulker came in and tackled Phantom through the wall while intangible, "You won't get away Whelp!" He snarled, "I never lose a hunt!"

"There's a first time for everything!" Phantom grunted as he punched Skulker in the face barely dodging the Machete, "But why are you hunting me?"

"Because I'm the Ultimate Hunter!" Skulker chuckled, "And you are the Ultimate Prey!"

"… I am?" Phantom asked in confusion, "How am I the Ultimate Prey?"

"Because you are a rare breed of Ghost." Skulker lunged with the Machete but Phantom moved before he could be gutted.

Skulker than blasted Phantom with a laser blast and he was heading right for a wall so he focused before he turned intangible and landed on the floor in the next room.

… The next room was the Library and he just landed right in front of Odd, Ulrich and Yumi who stared at him in surprise.

So Phantom did the natural thing… He waved, "Sup?"

Skulker phased through the wall a second later, "You think you can escape me whelp?!"

Phantom shook his head, "Um… Is that a rhetorical question?"

Skulker aimed a rocket on his shoulder right at Phantom freaking him out a bit so he shot a green laser blast making it explode and knocking Skulker back.

"Sorry for the inconvenience!" Phantom apologized making his voice sound a bit deeper before he tackled Skulker through the ceiling.

~In the Library~

After Phantom and Skulker disappeared through the roof Odd looked at Ulrich, "Please tell me you got that on video!"

Ulrich was thinking about something else, "You saw that energy ray that Phantom shot?"

"What about it?" Yumi asked.

"They were the same rays that Xana shot when he took over Danny's body."

~With Phantom~

"So how are we going to finish this?" Phantom asked punching Skulker.

"Like this!" A second Machete popped out his other wrist and he was about to slice Phantom up with the two of them.

"…" Phantom looked up at the sky, "When I was complaining about the muggers I wasn't serious!"

Skulker flew at Phantom in top speed when he twisted to the left and kicked the guy in the side before blasting what he's now calling an ecto blast singeing the black spandex shirt which made Skulker narrow his eyes.

"I… Will… Not… Lose!" He tried to slice Phantom open with each word but Phantom grabbed his right arm breaking the green Machete off.

Skulker stared at the broken part of his arm before glaring at Phantom who held the Machete in a stance that he saw on TV, "En Garde!" He mocked.

Enraged Skulker lunged at Phantom and they did a midair sword fight with Skulker getting lucky and scratching Phantom on his arm before Phantom blasted a hole right through Skulker feeling that since he was a Ghost he wouldn't die.

Imagine his surprise when Skulker turned out to a robot, and so with a smirk Phantom blasted each part off until he hit the head and Skulker fell to the ground with a thud and he could see little green feet sticking out so he grabbed them and pulled out a small green blob.

"Let me go!" Skulker snarled in a very high pitched and squeaky voice, "I am Skulker the Greatest Hunter! YOU WILL FEAR ME!"

Phantom just stared for at least five seconds before he busted out laughing at what Skulker really looked like.

"QUIT LAUGHING WHELP!"

After a bit he stopped laughing when he realized something, "What do I do with you?" He asked out loud since he knew that no Jail could hold a Ghost when there was a flash of light and he turned to see the Fenton Thermos along with a note.

Dear Daniel James Fenton, or Phantom,

I think that this would make your life easier and help you out with your future problems. How would I know who you are or what you will face? All will be revealed in time.

Signed,

CW

PS: To use the Thermos just focus your ecto energy into it and it will capture any ghost… Just don't point it at yourself.

Shaking his head in confusion Phantom uncapped it and pointed it at Skulker, "What are you doing?" He asked in alarm as Phantom focused and a beam of energy shot out sucking Skulker in so Phantom aimed it at the armor sucking it in as well.

After that was done he flew off towards the Bathroom and grabbed his clothes… He put the machete and the Thermos in the air vent before he hid his mask in his pocket and pulled his clothes on. Walking out he saw Ulrich heading to the restroom no doubt to check on Danny who was clutching his head like he was in pain.

Which wasn't hard, considering he was slammed into the wall and the dent was there to prove it.

"Danny!" Ulrich ran forward, "You okay?"

Danny shook his head, "No, what happened?" He asked faking confusion, "I remember walking in but then something slammed me against the wall and I blacked out."

Ulrich sighed, "I was just coming to see if you fell in." Danny blushed in embarrassment at that accusation before he continued, "But you missed a fight between the fabled Phantom and a guy I never heard of."

"Wait…" Danny waited five seconds pretending to let his brain process that, "Phantom is real?! I thought that he was just a myth!"

"Nope and you missed him." Ulrich smirked at Danny's pout even though it was fake, "Come on we better finish up with dusting the Library."

"… Don't remind me." Danny muttered as they walked back but he had one thought as they made their way back.

'Just who is this CW? And how does he know me?'

To Be Continued…

First I want to apologize for the delay of this chapter! It was my first original chapter and I found it hard to do the characters right without listening to them on their shows. I think I did Danny and Skulker all right. I hope that I didn't make the Lyoko Warriors to OOC and all that.

Anyways the reason that it took so long was because of school and my grades came in so I had to do make up work.

Anyways enough excuses… It's Review Time!

Princessbinas: Amen to that about Sissi!

Yuki100o: That depends on the Poll and he won't… The reason is because it would be repetitive if he did… Unless I think of a new good plot for that to happen… I take back what I said I'll think of a good one… Eventually.

Enchanting Elf: He really is dead! I figured it would make the story more interesting and in my opinion he looks cooler with white hair rather than black.

Sunny Lighter: Sorry but she isn't. I honestly never liked the hints of D&V in the show but I like her character so she will be making a few appearances… Or should I say that Red Huntress will be!

Guest: Thanks for voting!

HunterH: Thank you for that compliment and for voting!

Vampirenote13: Haha I know right? That was a spur of the moment there because in the show I saw Xana appear like a ghost so I figured he would set off the Ghost Sensor and well the Teddy Bear switcheroo there came at me at that moment and I figured… No one tried it before so why not? And that's a good point as well!

Mysticfalls2357: That is exactly why I did this crossover!

Jeanette9a: Yeah I suppose that's true!

Oh and please read Ultimate Kick-Ass by Exile037 It's pretty cool!

Okay Poll Time-… Whoa wait… What?

Oh wow I wrote this chapter and did the reviews before checking the Poll Result.

Aelita: 7
Yumi: 5
Sam: 2

Oh wow… To be honest I expected Yumi to win so I wrote this chapter to give Aelita and Danny a brother sister type relationship… But this will work for the Poll as well so anyways… Thanks for voting!

See you soon!

*Door opens*

"… Odd what are you doing here?!" ULW asked in confusion, "… On second thought how the hell did you get here?!"

"Well I'm just saying that since the world is going to end in seven days maybe you can give my character more face time?" Odd requested.

"…" *ULW does a face palm* "For the last time Della Robbia… THE WORLD IS NOT GOING TO END!"

"Five bucks that it does!" Odd betted.

"… Even if you were right how would that help you if you're dead?" ULW deadpanned.

At Odd's silent expression ULW shook his head, "Good night everyone!" Waves at Viewers

*Drags Odd out of the room by his ear.*

"OW! Ear! Ear!"