I do not own Danny Phantom.

Lancer is able to see Youngblood because he's proven that he's a kid at heart, with his train sets and videogame playing.

The Secret is Out and Down with Phantom

Lancer rubbed his eyes. No. I did not just see that.

But he did, and he had to pinch his arm twice in order to convince himself he wasn't dreaming. He had been ready to leave his classroom, and slipped in the hall only to be blinded by a bright blue light. And where Danny Fenton had been standing was now the Danny Phantom.

He hastily ducked back into his classroom so he wouldn't be seen by the trio. This is impossible! he thought frantically. How can he be Phantom? How can he be half dead? It doesn't make sense!

But yet, it explained so much. The absences, the bruises, how the boy knew more about ghosts than his own parents.

He was also going to bet Sam and Tucker had been trained by Danny himself and that was how Tucker knew how to do all those athletic moves. It also explained their reservations about the Red Huntress. They were terrified of her because she was a ghost hunter, and Danny was a ghost himself.

Well…half a ghost, anyway.

Lancer peeked back into the hall, where he saw the young ghost Danny and his friends had been talking to, grumbling to himself as he flew straight through the ceiling.

The strained and stressed teacher slid down the wall until he was sitting on the tiled floor. There was no doubt Danny had flown off to fight some ghost. While he didn't entirely like the idea, he could not help but admit the child knew what he was doing. After all, how many times had the boy saved Amity Park?

But two teens fighting ghosts? Danny should know better. Ghost fighting got dangerous, and no matter how trained Sam and Tucker were, they were still regular teens without any powers.

What am I going to do now? he thought.

He knew he needed to confront Danny, Tucker and Sam. Did their parents even know what they did on a regular basis? He was guessing not. He didn't think the Mansons would allow their daughter to tag along with a half-ghost boy on his fights.

Lancer narrowed his eyes and stood up, snagging his car keys from his pocket as he left his classroom.

He did not know if he would be able to catch up to the ghost kid flying through the sky with a rusty S.U.V. All he knew was, this time, Danny and his friends were not getting out of this situation.

…

"I got her!" called Tucker, staring at the screen of his P.D.A. "I'm picking up ghostly signatures from the Gray residence."

"She must be in her father's private lab," said Sam. "The guy has to work at home at some point, right?"

Danny flew to the Gray household. They crept by the basement windows and peeked inside. They could see Valerie lining up the containment cubes on a metal workbench, a plasma gun attached to her hip.

"That's one way to do it," remarked Tucker.

Danny shot him a glare. "Not funny. She's going to use them as target practice, and I doubt they'll make it out unscathed."

"Plan?" questioned Sam.

"Simple. I throw you the cubes, you take off while I distract her."

"I like this one. Less chance of us getting our butts fried."

Danny rolled his eyes at his beret-clad friend and phased his hand through the window. He flipped the latch up and cranked open the window. He flew in and floated behind Valerie. "Hope you don't mind if I crash the party."

Startled, she whirled around, only to get a punch that sent her sailing to the other side of the lab, crashing into a shelf full of glass vials and beakers. Danny quickly collected the containment cubes and tossed them out the window.

"Got him!" whispered Sam. "Let's go!"

The duo took off, running down the street. When they felt they were a safe distance away, they hid in an alley. Tucker opened the containment cubes and three ghosts appeared in front of them.

"Whoa, that was close!" breathed Kitty.

Johnny scowled at his girlfriend. "Are you crazy?"

Kitty glared indigently. "Hey, don't take that tone with me!"

"And you!" He pointed at Shadow, who recoiled slightly. "I told you to keep an eye on her!"

Shadow gave a shrug.

"We were given specific instructions not to leave the Ghost Zone!" snapped Johnny. "Skulker doesn't say things like that for no reason! And if he's willing to listen to the kid-" He abruptly stopped speaking and snapped his head around. "Where is Phantom, anyway?"

"He should be along soon," promised Tucker. "He's handling the Red Huntress."

Johnny frowned and went for his motorcycle. "Whoa!" cried Sam. "You can't go back there. She's crazy."

"I can't leave him hanging when he's risking his neck for us!"

"Trust me, he'll be fine."

Just as the words left Tucker's mouth Danny appeared, landing in the alley and panting heavily. "I made her mad," he wheezed, transforming back to Fenton.

"You rock," informed Kitty, planting a sweet kiss on his cheek.

Danny blushed. "Don't mention it."

"Is Miss Crazy the reason we have to stay put?" asked Johnny.

Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah. Sorry. I'm working on it, I swear."

"I don't doubt your word, dude." Johnny slid onto his motorcycle with Kitty climbing on behind him. "We better head off, then."

"We'll come with you," said Danny. "We're already skipping school anyway. And I need to stop my dad from opening the Zone. I don't know why he keeps thinking the button connects to the Fenton Fudge Dispenser."

"Is he going to be okay?" asked Sam, pointing at the shadow ghost. "It's the middle of the day."

"We kept to the shadows before we got caught," informed Kitty.

Tucker dug through his backpack and pulled out a Fenton Thermos. "We got it covered."

Shadow growled in annoyance, but didn't offer any protest when the beret-clad boy pointed the thermos at him.

"Alright," said Danny, transforming back into Phantom. "Let's head to the lab before my parents come across Youngblood."

…

Valerie moaned, sitting up gingerly and staring at the wreck that was her father's lab.

That Phantom had foiled her again. This is getting annoying, she thought in irritation.

But she realized something. It was so simple, she wasn't sure why she didn't think of it before. All she had to do was lure Phantom to the Guys in White lab, trap him in one of the cells and force him to tell her how to destroy the Ghost Zone.

If he didn't answer, well, his afterlife would be no more. It was a win-win situation.

But how am I going to get him there?

Phantom wasn't stupid. He wouldn't just follow her. She needed a way to lure him.

Well, he seems pretty fond of that ghost brat.

Something glinted in the corner, catching her attention. Valerie got up slowly, wincing against the pain in her torso. She stepped over broken metal and dug through a pile of sawdust until she pulled out a silver and green object.

The Fenton Spectre Deflector.

Dad must have borrowed it from the Fentons to study it, she thought. Maybe he won't mind if I borrow it for a bit.

A plan took form in Valerie's mind. A plan that simply could not fail.

…but before she put it into play, she needed to clean up the lab before she got busted.

...

Danny Fenton winced as Sam applied ointment to the many cuts he had on his arm. They were hiding out in the soccer field, as school was still in session and they couldn't linger at any of their houses without the risk of getting caught. After sending the ghosts back into the Zone and shutting the door firmly, they went to a place where they would be able to hide out for the next few hours.

"Don't know why we're hiding out," said Tucker as he watched Sam tend to Danny's injuries. "The school is going to call sooner or later."

Danny snorted. "Not so much. I caught the message on the answering machine and deleted it."

"And you can just hack into our answering machines and erase the message," pointed out Sam.

"On it," said Tucker and he got to work.

"This can't keep up," groaned Danny. "I can't save them all. Sooner or later Valerie is going to succeed. I don't want that to happen."

"You'll figure something out," soothed Sam.

"How can I keep Valerie from destroying ghosts if they don't listen to me?" he continued to complain.

"We stop Valerie. Simple as that. Vlad's portal is gone. Yours is secure. The only way Val will get what she wants is to take out the ghosts one by one. As long as you stop her, and we monitor her twenty-four/seven everything will be okay."

"We can't do that forever," mumbled Danny. "But what's she doing now?"

Tucker finished deleting the school messages from his and Sam's home answering machines. He typed a few buttons to see if the girl's rocket sled was in motion. "She's just sitting there," he reported.

Sam bit her lip and glanced at Danny. "I really think you should show her."

"Are you crazy?" he cried.

"But if she sees Phantom is you, then she'll regret whatever she's planning! And you can do the secret for a secret deal. She keeps Phantom a secret, we don't oust her as the Red Huntress."

"No," he said firmly.

Sam sighed in exasperation. "Then what are we going to do? We can't keep this up, Danny. You said so yourself."

Before Danny could respond, an S.U.V came roaring into the parking lot and screeched to a stop. All three gasped when their English teacher stepped out, looking angry and worried as he glared at them.

"No more lies. No more secrets. I'm getting the story here and now, or I will tell your parents you're Phantom, Fenton."