Danny watched them leave before flying back through a few walls and shops to sit atop the overhang of a small restaurant. He had a clear view of everything- Vlad, the people, the food court. He felt in control. What could possibly go wrong?

The mall population was steadily growing, and the food court appeared like it was reaching an overload as everyone silently agreed that it was the perfect hour to eat. Danny sighed. Looking over to check on Vlad, he almost smirked. A group of preteens, overdressed in hardly anything, were taking turns to snap pictures with the blue skinned "statue". Vlad wouldn't move an inch, and Danny came to the conclusion that the kids weren't in mortal danger.

A couple of Jocks were over by the pretzel shop, talking and laughing loudly. Danny scowled, rolling his eyes as he noticed the flour caked on one of the jocks hands. At least he now knew what had happened to Alex. He smirked, almost finding the situation to be funny.

"He looks just like me, as Phantom at least." He thought. A few minutes passed with nothing exactly eventful happening, other than Mr. Lancer strolling through the area, stopping in front of Vlad for a curious and confusing moment on his part before continuing on his way. Danny occupied his time by trying to prepare himself for the fight that was to come very soon. He still had the red backpack with him, full of ghost hunting equipment, and some gum. No doubt Jazz was the one who gave it to him, she would act like that. When did she give him the bag though? Does that mean that she knew his secret?

Danny shook his head, deciding that it was best to not become distracted. The time to worry about, well, everything, that would have to wait. He looked out again, seeing Tucker walk out of a kitchen store not too far away. Well, at least he knew where one of his friends was. The others could still be in the kitchen store, or they could be someplace else, nearby but not obvious. For his own sake, he hoped that they were all together. That way, it would make it easier to keep track of them when the fight actually started.

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Tucker adjusted the guitar on his back before edging down a narrow aisle. Even still, the woman behind the counter sent a glare his way as the instruments neck caught some merchandise, sending it to the ground. He smiled awkwardly before shuffling away, leaving Sam and Alex on clean up duty. However, as luck would have it, Tucker knocked over even more stuff as he made his way down the store. He saved the woman the trouble and quickly left the store, waving to Sam as he left. Outside the store was just as exciting as being inside it. The only difference was the fact that there were more girls outside the store, walking in small, giggling packs.

"Test your might," he thought to himself, grinning. It was time to work up the charm. Tucker spun the guitar around until it was in front of him, plucking a few strings and winking at passerby. Then he broke into an epic guitar version of the Tetris theme. Within minutes, it was clear that this song wasn't charming the ladies. There were a few adults hanging around, smiling as they recalled days of their youth playing games like Tetris and Pong.

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Should he try and find them? He did have all the weapons with him; it would make sense. The young halfa nodded, getting up and flying over to Tucker. He purposefully dropped the backpack on the others boys feet when Tucker's audience was fading away. The techno geek looked down, surprised for a moment, before picking up the bag. His own backpack, the one he was almost always wearing, was back at his home, stuffed in the back of the closet until the end of the summer, so he slid this new bag on one shoulder easily. Tucker jabbed his thumb over his shoulder, letting his invisible friend know that the others were in the shop.

"Thanks, Tuck. I'll give you some sort of signal before I do anything, alright?" Danny whispered, vanishing before the other boy even had a chance to get one word of a reply out past his lips.

Danny hovered above the crowd, watching the people. He saw "her" again.

"Oh no."

Danny scanned the area frantically, without success. He cursed himself for not keeping better track of his friends. Now it was too late. Knowing what was about to happen, knowing that it would be anything but good, he made his decision. The young halfa flew up in an arch, regaining his visibility in the process. He summoned familiar green energy to his hands as he fell down towards his foe.

"Hey, Plasmius!" he yelled in the loudest voice possible. "Time to wake up!"

Plasmius looked up just in time to receive a face full of ecto energy, followed by two fists. He was forced to his knees, and then kicked the rest of the way down. Danny bounced back, landing easily on his feet, fists raised. He silently congratulated himself on hitting Plasmius hard enough to leave a crater behind. It was pretty cool. There wasn't much room for him to be full of it after that; Plasmius was quick to recover, and just as fast in sending an attack back to the boy. Danny just manged to turn his body intangible, allowing for the pink attack to continue on, blasting into the hard wall above some of the shops.

"You're getting a little rusty, old man." The boy taunted, shooting towards the enemy with a well placed kick in mind. His foot made contact with Plasmius, hard in the stomach, sending both of them back into the front doors and successfully cracking the glass doors there. Plasmius's head hit a slim metal beam between two panes of glass, leaving him slightly stunned for a moment. Danny took the moment to back up, to tell the mall-folk to run. It was an easy task, only because everyone knew the unofficial drill when it came to ghost attacks. He called for Tucker, hoping the boy would hear him over the screaming people and come running. It didn't work. Tucker was too far away.

Danny cried out, flying off into a pillar at least twenty feet away. He heard a sickening crunch, and green blood began to run out of his broken nose. Dang. Worry about it later!

"Cheap shot, Plasmius!" he said, flying back to return the favor. He inwardly cringed at the sound of his own voice, and the thick quality of it. .He spat blood from his mouth and quickly shot a few ecto pot shots in Vlad's general direction. "You can do better than that!" he laughed, earning a fanged scowl.

Suddenly, Plasmius was right in front of him, kicking the boy away into another wall. "What was that, Daniel? I failed to understand what you were trying to say with that disgusting injury of yours." Know Plasmius was the one laughing. Danny fell to the ground in a heap, shaking his head. Where were Tucker and the others? No time to think about that. Plasmius was on him again, pounding him into the ground with a powerful blast of ecto energy. Danny rolled, taking the attack before swinging his feet up into Plasmius's chest, kicking him roughly. He phased through the floor, rising out of it so that he was floating behind the older halfa, and flew at him, landing a punch strong enough to make his own fists sting for a moment. Wincing, he paused and swung his hands lightly, trying to make the pain go away. His hands couldn't get hurt so early in the fight! He turned his body intangible, with not a second to spare, as Plasmius shot at him.

Danny tried again. "Tucker!" he yelled, looking around. "Guys, where are you?"

"You are alone, Daniel," Plasmius cackled. Danny shot him a look.

"Shut up, fruit loop!"

"Alone, alone, alone."

"Be quiet!" Danny shouted. He couldn't explain it, but being alone terrified him. He didn't want it.

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Tucker was too busy to help Danny. In all the chaos of the paranormal fight, and the panic as people ran away, he had been swept away in the crowd. He was still fighting to get back to the others, shoving through people. Mr. Lancer ran past him, stopped, and ran back.

"Lord of the Flies, Mr. Foley! Don't run towards the fight!" the middle aged man shouted over the screaming mass of people. He took Tucker by the arm, ready to haul him to safety if necessary. The boy tugged his arm free.

"Sorry, Mr. Lancer, but I really have to go! I, uh, dropped my PDA back there! I can't loose it!"

He ran off, weaving madly through people, leaving the teacher in the dust. Mr. Lancer watched him go with a shocked expression. When did the boy get a guitar?

When Tucker finally managed to make it back to the kitchen store, he was floored. Somehow, the two halfa's had moved their fight from the food court to the hallway feeding into the food court. That was where the kitchen store was, and Tucker finally saw the state of the store itself. The wall above the doors to the building had been smashed in, allowing for chunks of rubble to fall and partially block the door without actually being in the doorway. It was still a slight challenge and Sam, ever the fighter, was climbing out over it. Alex was standing behind her, almost calmly waiting for her to get out so that he could follow. Tucker ran towards them, taking off the backpack as he went. He skidded to a sudden stop in front of the Goth, thrusting the bag in her hands.

"Sorry, the crowd carried me away; here are some weapons." He huffed. Sam took the bag, pulling an ecto gun out before reaching in to take out another and hand it to Alex. He had been crawling out, but now he was gone. Both teens watched as the security gates of the store fell down.

"Alex?" Sam called. There was no response. She tried again. Both teens continued to stare into the store, watching as the boy ran past, stopping at a display of kitchen knives. "Alex? What is he doing? We were the only ones left in the store…" Sam began, stopping herself short as the figure of the woman in the blue dress chased after Alex, meat cleaver in hand.

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AN: Chapter title is from E.S. Posthumus, so it's not mine sadly…

Two more chapters to go!