BVQA: Ok, just a warning- Dani is going to meet a lot of ghosts in this chapter. I will try to keep them IC. Dani is going to get along well with most of them, even Danny's enemies. Please note that this has nothing to do with her being naive! Dani is just a very likable person who sees the best in others. . . and can be a bit stupid when it comes to trust, let's be honest here.

Dani: *returns from her bathroom break in time to hear the last bit of that previous statement* Wait, WHAT?

BVQA: Uh. . . Nothing. . .

Dani: I'll hurt you!

BVQA: AAH! She's got a stake! Stop it, Dani! If you kill me before the story's over you'll be trapped in limbo for all eternity! HELP!

Dani's eyes widened and she nearly had a heart attack from shock.

"Youngblood⁈" She shouted. He grinned, then phased the rest of the way through the wall. Dani immediately enveloped him in a giant hug. "How did you find me?" She asked, stepping back.

"Well, it wasn't easy. Do you have any idea how many GIW bases there are?" Youngblood asked. Dani smiled, shrugging, then noticed that Youngblood wasn't dressed up as anyone- not as a pirate, or an astronaut, or a cowboy. Instead, he was wearing decked out in black and ectoplasmic green- green jeans with black pockets sewn on all over, black shirt with green accents and a green 'YB' in the center, and sporty black and green sneakers. He noticed her looking and smiled sheepishly.

"It's my deathday today, so I don't wanna pretend to be anyone but myself."

Dani's brows knitted in confusion as she stood up. "Your deathday? But that's not until-" Understanding dawned on Dani and she flinched in horror. "Youngblood. . . how long have I been here?" Youngblood avoided Dani's gaze and opened his mouth to reply, but Dani caught the glint in his eyes that said he was about to fib it up. "Don't you dare lie to me, Youngblood."

Youngblood visibly deflated. "A week?" He said meekly. Dani resisted the urge to bang her head against the wall. The GIW had kept her sedated for a week? Who knew what had happened while she'd been out?

Youngblood- apparently guessing her thought process- hastily began filling her in. "Don't worry, not too much has changed. There hasn't been a nuclear war or a zombie apocalypse or anything. It's just a week! I was stuck at the bottom of the ocean for almost a month one time, and the only thing that changed was a slight invasion of the Ghost King." Dani was far from placated. "Uh. . . bad example. Anyway, the point is that nothing too major happened. The media is all over this- it's even topping the latest celebrity divorce- but there isn't anything concrete yet. Apparently you're being accused of robbing banks and museums and stuff."

"But I didn't-" Dani began.

"I know you didn't." Youngblood said. "The problem with that accusation is that several eyewitnesses saw you in other places at the times of the robberies- but other eyewitnesses saw you there! People are saying you must have figured out how to duplicate, but that's only a theory of theirs. They can't prove it. But you can't disprove it, either."

Dani nodded, taking it all in. "What about my brother?"

Youngblood's eyes flicked upwards and Dani noticed- for the first time- a hidden microphone on the wall. The entire conversation was being snooped on! It was lucky that Youngblood had noticed before Dani had, or they'd be down one secret identity.

"Well, Danny Phantom has been MIA since you got captured." Youngblood replied, and Dani's heart plummeted. Did that mean. . ?

"But that's only because no ghosts have bothered attacking the city," Youngblood continued with a cheerful wink. "Danny Fenton, on the other hand, has never been busier. He's been organizing protests with Sam, meeting with 'important' grown-ups, and generally working his butt off. Spazz- I mean, Jazz had to ask for my help to tie him to the bed to get him to sleep. It was fun."

Dani chuckled along with Youngblood. Same old Danny. "What sort of protests?" Dani asked. Youngblood smirked.

"He and a group of kids from school have gone on strike." He replied. Dani raised her eyebrows.

"On strike?"

"Oh, you know," Youngblood said in a faked offhand manner, "Not going to school, refusing to do chores, not bathing, not eating their vegetables. . ."

Dani couldn't help herself. She busted out laughing, rolling around on the floor. Youngblood continued, though it was obvious he was struggling not to join Dani on the ground.

"I think my favorite slogan of theirs is, 'give the ghost girl liberty, or we're still playing hooky'! It's that or, 'let Dani win or the trash stays in'! This past week has almost been as fun as my last deathday party."

After a few more moments, Dani's laughter dried up. She realized that she'd let Youngblood down by not being able to go to his party, since she was the only other kid he knew that was his own age. Sort of. She hadn't asked him what year he'd been born in yet. Still, it was irrelevant.

"I'm sorry about not being able to go to your party." Dani said. "I'm kind of stuck here, though. Thanks for taking time out of your special day to come looking for me, but you should really go have fun now. I'll be fine."

Youngblood stared at her in confusion, then a smile split his face again. "Oh, yeah, I almost forgot to tell you. I figured that if you couldn't come to my party, I'd bring the party to you!"

Dani didn't get a chance to ask him what the bleep he was talking about before what looked like roughly the entire ghost zone entered the hallway outside her cell door.

LINE BREAK I COULD BE TOTALLY EVIL AND END HERE BUT I STILL FEEL BAD ABOUT LAST TIME

After Dani stopped hyperventilating, she had the presence of mind to actually count the number of ghosts outside of her cell. It was a significantly lower number than she'd originally thought. Dani barely recognized any of them, but she was happy to note that neither Walker nor Vlad was there. Good. Dani didn't like them. Dani vaguely knew the other ghosts from TV, but she was well aware that the media is evil and not to be trusted with names. Just look at the one Danny got handed- 'Inviso-Bill'. Talk about embarrassing.

"Ok! This is a party, people! Let's get the decorations up and tick off some Guys In White!" Youngblood shouted, and. . . well. . . people started putting up decorations. It was Youngblood's Deathday. People didn't really feel like arguing with him. A girl ghost with long, spiky green hair, red eyes, purple lipstick and eyeliner, pale blue skin, and a red, purple, black, and green outfit dumped a box of decorations on the ground. Dani figured she would be a good person to introduce herself to to start with- she didn't have any dangerous-looking claws or fangs or whatever. As Dani made her way over the ghost was joined by a blonde-haired green-eyed biker ghost that would have passed as normal on a street corner- if the other people glowed and had shadows with green eyes and fangs. The two ghosts were chatting as Dani approached, and she caught the tail end of the conversation as she drifted into ear range.

". . .probably shouldn't be helping with the decorations. You know, with my shadow and all." The biker ghost said in an annoyed tone.

"Oh, come on, honey. You can still help!" The girl ghost said sweetly in an obvious effort to cheer him up. "You can give me a hand with the streamers. Nothing can go wrong with streamers."

"That's what you said about our first date, and we all know how that turned out." The biker ghost said- but he smiled as he said it, the girl ghost's comment having worked. Dani figured this was a good time to introduce herself.

"Hi!" She said cheerfully, and both ghosts looked up in annoyance.

"Oh, it's just Phantom's brat." The biker ghost growled, and the girl ghost smacked him on the arm.

"Johnny, be nice." She reprimanded, and gave Dani a smile that was only a few centimeters short of a grin. "My names Kitty, and this adorable grouch is my boyfriend Johnny 13." Kitty held out her hand, which Dani shook enthusiastically. Johnny just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Will you go away now?" He asked gruffly. Dani's smile drooped a little.

"Sorry," she said. "I was just trying to be friendly." Johnny looked at her hurt puppy face and, sighing irritably, grudgingly held out his hand.

"Let's just get this straight," Johnny said as they shook hands, "I don't like your brother. . .s. Got that? He. . . they keep kicking me and my girl out of the human realm even when we're not doing anything wrong."

Dani nodded in sympathy. "He tends to get a bit. . . overprotective. . . sometimes. He's really nice when you get to know him, though!"

Johnny made a small annoyed grunt in response, but Dani caught him smiling slightly as he turned back to the box of decorations. "I'll take your word for that." He said, and tossed Dani a roll of black streamers. He handed Kitty a roll of tape and grabbed some green streamers for himself.

"So. . . how did you come by a name like Johnny '13'?" Dani asked as he unrolled a length of streamer and flew up to the ceiling to stick it in one corner.

"I'm really, really unlucky." He replied. Kitty ripped off a piece of tape and passed it to Dani, who in turn passed it to Johnny.

"Oh, I'm sure it's not all that bad." Dani tried to cheer Johnny up, but he just shook his head.

"Really unlucky." He said, joining her back on the floor. "As in, If I touch something it's doomed to stop working."

Dani was about to make another attempt at convincing him otherwise when the roll of streamers in his hands fell to pieces. Dani's mouth hung open for a long moment. Then a new ghost approached and she shut it.

"I can take over here, Johnny. Why don't you go help pick out music?" The new ghost girl said as she took the roll of tape from Kitty. The new ghost had pale white skin, green eyes, and flaming blue hair. Black eyeliner spiraled from the corners of her eyes, and her purple lipstick matched Kitty's. She wore an asymmetrical top that left her midriff bare and black pants held up by a slanting studded belt. Her feet were encased in silver platform boots and she wore a glove on just one of her hands. Her ears held two rows of purple earrings.

"Isn't that your department, Ember?" Johnny asked hotly, tossing the wrecked streamers aside.

"Wait. . . Ember? Like Ember McLain?" Dani asked. "I've heard of you!"

"I've heard of you too, babypop. You're the dipstick's little sister, right?" Ember asked. Then, to Johnny, "Just go entertain Youngblood for a while and try not to touch anything. He needs a babysitter." Ember waved distractedly over to where Youngblood was digging through a pile of CDs, tapes, and even the occasional record. Johnny crossed his arms but did as he was told. Kitty waved goodbye to Dani as she went to join him.

"You know my brother?" Dani asked Ember, immediately before realizing it was a stupid question. Then she also realized she'd referred to one brother. . . singular. . . and hastily repaired the damage. "Ss. Brothers. With an 's' on the end. You know, plural."

"I get it." Ember rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know him. . them. But we're not on good terms. I'm OK with you, though. If you don't try to shove me in that stupid thermos."

"Deal!" Dani happily agreed. The next few minutes were spent in semi-companionable silence as Ember and Dani filled the room with black streamers. Dani was just about to ask Ember what it was like to be a teen idol when a thunderous noise filled the room. Dani jumped a foot in the air and spun on her heels in time to see a ten-foot-tall green ghost dog burst through the wall, scattering ghosts like bowling pins. Dani realized it was headed straight for her and panicked, pressing back against the wall. What she wouldn't give for intangibility right now. . ! She liked dogs, but ten feet of one was a bit much to stand up against. That, and this dog had really sharp teeth and claws. . .

"Stay!" Dani shouted. To her utter surprise, it worked. The dog skidded to a halt an inch in front of her, and Dani breathed a sigh of relief. It didn't last long, though, as the dog immediately began a thorough sniff check of her, wet black nose soaking her in doggy snot. Dani caught a glance at Youngblood's face over the dog's shoulder. He was making no attempt to hide the smirk on his face.

"Not. One. Word." She growled at him. His smile just widened.

The green dog finally finished sniffing her over and, sitting back on its haunches, managed to look very confused without changing its expression. Then, somehow managing to shrug its huge shoulders, gave Dani a ginormous, slobbery lick before shrinking down to puppy size and jumping into Dani's arms. Dani, for her part, took the unexpected bath in stride and simply rolled her eyes before giving the little puppy a hug.

"I think I'm gonna call you Cujo." Dani decided. At this, Youngblood bust out laughing, rolling on the ground littered with now-decimated decorations. "What?" Dani snapped. Youngblood gasped for air, unable to answer.

"Perhaps you and the Great One have even more in common than you believe." A voice to her right said. Dani turned and saw a yeti-like ghost with a kind smile and an arm made of ice. He was wearing a gold and blue cape/kilt ensemble, something that made him look both regal and savage. "I am Frostbite, leader of the far frozen, and I believe your brother named that dog 'Cujo' as well." Frostbite ruffled Cujo's fur and the dog groaned happily. "He's quite attached to the Great One- and as I recall, he's quite a good judge of character."

Dani sat down and scratched Cujo behind the ears. "He's cute." She decided. Then, "Great one? My brother?"

"Merely my people's name for him, Wandering Princess." Frostbite replied.

"Princess? Me?" Dani asked in the tone of voice that suggested that she expected to wake up very soon. "I'm just Dani. With an i."

"Trust me, you are much more, Wandering Princess." Frostbite declared. Before Dani could ask him what the heck he was talking about he turned and walked off. "I look forwards to speaking with you again!" He called back to her. Dani waved faintly at him. Unfortunately for her, the rest of the afternoon was not going to be any less strange.

BVQA: *Stops running from Dani long enough to do the end-of-chapter author's note* Dani'll meet the rest of the ghosts in the next chapter. But for now, that's all. I hope they were all IC. . !

Dani: I found you! DIE! *stabs with wooden stake*

BVQA: Oh, now look what you did. *looks around as the world goes black* You trapped us both in limbo for all eternity. Nice going, smart one.

Dani: Uh. . oops. . . heh, we're not really trapped for ALL eternity, are we?

BVQA: Well, if we get enough reviews we'll be saved. . .

Dani: QUICK! REVIEW! I'M BEGGING YOU!

BVQA: . . . you do realize this is YOUR fault, right? Oh, well. . . JUST REVIEW! I DON'T WANNA DIE!