Happy Ectober (and Halloween), guys! ^^ Hope you enjoy this chapter. Has a bit of swearing, but depends on what you call swearing. :P But major fight scene, yay ~(-v-)~

DP doesn't belong to me ;^; [yet]

Enjoy!

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Sam's head snapped up. Who-

Her question was immediately answered for her as a sudden explosion blew up to her left, blowing out her eardrums. Sam's ears rang with a dull ping as she huddled behind a broken-down apartment building.

"Well," she muttered, "I'm not in Kansas anymore."

A bright red flash caught her eye before it was enveloped in a familiar neon green burst. Ectoplasm, Sam thought. Vlad…?

No, she decided. Vlad's ecto-ray is pink. Red-either Freakshow, Valerie, or some other ghost.

A sudden GAH! cried out before another beryl blaze bulleted past.

"It's Valerie," Sam concluded.

Peering behind the corner, she watched as a woman in a bright scarlet suit catapulted into a deserted café; floating in front of the Red Huntress was a flaming, green-skinned, broad ghost that emanated sheer power. His monochrome cape sailed in the harsh wind as his red eyes danced in humor.

"Given up yet, Val?" he snickered. Valerie woundedly struggled back up. Sam winced as she heard her friend's ribs crack painfully.

"Not on y-your afterlife, ghost," she growled. An animalistic glint shone in her eyes; Sam recognized it as the simple will to survive.

The ghost-who she assumed was Danny (No, she reminded herself. Dan.)-laughed at the sight of the broken ghost hunter. "Isn't it sad how in the span of a couple years-" He paused to think for a moment. "Months." Some more thoughts. "Days...that you spiral down into this pathetic-"

Kick to Valerie's side.

"Insignificant."

A blow to her stomach.

"Idiotic."

Another collision. Another pained groan.

"Worthless waste of life."

One more kick to Valerie's side sent her into a bloody heap on the concrete.

Sam went deathly pale when she realized that Valerie wasn't moving.

Dan smirked, twisting on his heel and walking away. As soon as Sam knew Dan was out of view, she dashed towards Valerie's broken form and immediately checked for a pulse.

Bumpbump. Bumpbump. Bumpbump.

Sam felt lightheaded from relief. She was alive, thank God.

Valerie's finger twitched, creaking towards a button on her gloved palm. She struggled to press it down, the effort making her grimace. Sam held open Valerie's palm and pressed the button for her. Immediately it flashed a luminous verdigris.

The Red Huntress's eyes opened slowly, trying to make out who her aide was. Her green eyes widened as she recognized who she was.

"S-Sam…?!" she stuttered weakly, trying to shift herself up. Sam laid her back down again and ripped apart her shirt sleeve, wrapping her injuries and tucking it in as bandages through her armor.

"Don't talk. He might hear you," Sam whispered, slowly trying to drag Valerie into a nearby alley.

"S-Sam...de-ead…" Valerie stuttered, reaching to touch Sam's face. She swatted Val's hand away gently and chuckled.

"Yeah, I'm alive. You can ask questions later-let's get you out of here before anything else happens," Sam replied, and Valerie attempted to twitch her head in a specific direction.

"Ba...ckup," the huntress breathed, and Sam looked back down the way Dan had left.

"Backup? Where? Who?" she asked. Maybe this was someone else she knew-maybe a ghost?

"C-coming…" Valerie whispered, and went still. Sam hissed through her teeth as she wondered if Val had just died in her arms. Thankfully, the slight rising of her chest didn't confirm her thoughts.

Sam hauled her behind a large piece of torn up cement, peering through a crack. "Who's…"

"DAAAAN!"

A huge explosion of green blew them all back; a guttural cry echoed throughout the destroyed city. Sam saw her former friend zoom out of the way, crimson eyes flaring. "Nice to see you too, Danielle," Dan called, and a sudden memory plowed through Sam's brain.

Danielle was Danny's clone, right? Vlad's...daughter?

But there was no time to think about that now. Either Sam and Valerie got out of the firefight or the Phantoms would do it for them.

"I'M GONNA KICK YOUR SORRY ASS!"

"Calm it down, 'cous!"

"DOES IT LOOK LIKE I GIVE A CRAP?"

The halfa clone's eyes were blazing as she took Dan's cape and smashed him into the ground. Dan struggled back up again, a crater formed where he impacted. He returned her hits with wince-worthy blows that made Sam want to look away.

Sam lugged Val farther away from the danger; they'd probably end up running all the way back to any sort of living civilization, but Sam wanted to see what would happen.

Dani zoomed upwards, spinning 360° midair and hurtled back down to land a gravity-ladden kick to Dan's chest. Instead, he grabbed her foot and swung her into a worn-down building. "Do you seriously think you're any match for me?" Dan taunted, walking over to her and crushing her with a bone shattering punch. "You are me. Anything you can do, I can do a hella lot better."

Danielle rolled away and sprung back to her feet, but was noticeably less energetic than before. She shot an ecto-blast at Dan, but he flicked it away like a fly. "As much as I love this little family reunion," Dan sneered, "I have people to kill, places to destroy. You're kind of boring to fight, anyway. So let me finish this, since you're too stubborn to end it for me."

And with that, he inhaled deeply, then…

Wailed.