Review please! Tell me what you think of this chapter! I worked really hard on it. Danny Fenton is trying to convince Cecelia to believe Danny Phantom is a good guy.

Chapter 14: When You Meet Enemies

Cecelia stepped back. "What?" She choked out. "You mean to say that you and a whole bunch of other ghosts...hunt ghosts?"

"Ever heard of Danny Phantom?"

"Ugh. Too many times!"

"Well, I'm like him. I'm a good guy. And I'm a ghost. It's possible to be both. I'm even friends with some other humans, like Sam."

"Sam?"

"Yes."

"Why would Sam ever want to hang out with a monster like you when she can be downstairs at the dance having a nice time with her friends Garth, Danny, Tucker and Valerie?"

"Speaking of it, shouldn't you be down there too?"

Cecelia looked down guiltily. "Yeah." She admitted. She realized she had let down her defense pose, and she took her eyes off the dragon. "You really aren't a bad guy, are you?"

The dragon shook his head. "I'm trying to rid the world of them just like you are."

"How did you know that?"

"I just know." The dragon turned intangible so that Cecelia would not know the exact location where he flew off too.

Cecelia went back down the same way she had come up and she put her bags in her locker and realized, "Hey, I'm all dry." And then she went back into the gymnasium.

She looked around and saw Sam and Garth sitting together—that's the way it should be. Valerie and Danny were getting pretty close over on the dance floor.

There were plenty of single people at this place, so there's no good reason Cecelia couldn't enjoy herself. She started dancing. Some people stared at her because she was wearing casual clothes. She waved back at them happily because she was glad to stand out.

It was Tuesday and Tucker was driving to work at the Nasty Burger. He put on the apron and took over his shift like always. His shift was almost over when a thin boy with peculiarly light blond hair and dark circles under his eyes stood at the counter waiting for his order.

"Here you go…Mr. Lester." Tucker handed the strange boy the food that he had ordered.

The boy turned to walk away, but then turned back again. "You know Danny Phantom, don't you?" the boy asked Tucker.

"W-w-what?" Tucker was scared.

"You do! I know it! I don't know how, but you're a friend of his. You're friends with a ghost!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Now Tucker was really frightened.

"I'm a psychic. I can see that you are very good friends with the ghost teen known to the world as Danny Phantom."

Tucker pulled the blond boy aside behind a pop machine. "What do you want?" Tucker whispered. He just wanted this punk to get to the point already, but then again Tucker was afraid of what that might be.

"Well, I'd just like you to thank him for not getting in my way. I'd have to admit I was a little irritated about the stories I've heard about him stopping guys like me. But he hasn't come anywhere near me so I'm off the hook."

"Why are you telling me all of this?"

The boy got mad. "Because I want to fight him, okay! You tell him to meet me somewhere tomorrow at noon and I'll show him that he's not the only tough guy around here." the boy stared hard at Tucker. "Axion labs? Great choice." The blond boy smiled, proud of his skill.

"Oh poo!" Tucker realized that the blond boy had just read his thoughts, and Tucker had recently been thinking about tomorrow's field trip to Axion labs. "What if I don't tell him?" Tucker said with a jolt of slight bravery.

The boy frowned. "Oh but you will tell him. I can see the future too." he chuckled evilly and then walked out of the restaurant.

Tucker didn't know what to do. He was glad that part was Danny's job. The drive home had given Tucker some time to make a plan.

It was late Tuesday evening and Danny was online playing some video game and he saw that Sam was online too. He opened up webchat and requested a little talk with her. "Did you have a nice time at homecoming?"

"Yeah, I really like Garth."

"Good."

"You and Valerie seemed to be having fun too."

"We did."

"Cecelia saw Garth giving me a ride and she thought it was a dragon kidnapping me. She totally beat him up and then I went back down to the gym. He told me afterwards that they had a chat and he thinks he earned her trust."

"As a dragon?"

"Yes. But he still doesn't want to tell her his secret just yet. She'll need a little more convincing that some ghosts are not evil."

"Did he tell her about me?"

"Yes. You're the example he used to prove his point."

"What do you think, Sam? Do you think she should be part of the team?"

"I don't know, Danny…she's a good friend and all, but I'm worried she'll turn on all of us once she learns. She's a lot like Valerie."

"Whoa, whoa wait a minute now! We weren't talking about Valerie!"

"You have to face facts, Danny."

"And you need to have a little more faith. This is the big problem here. You don't realize that people can change."

A little beeping sound came from Danny's computer.

"What's that?" asked Sam.

"Tucker wants to talk with us I think." Danny opened a window and it was in fact Tucker.

"Hiya!"

"You're sure in a happy mood." Sam said.

"That's because I've figured the whole thing out!"

"What whole thing?" Asked Danny and Sam in unison.

"How we can get Cecelia and Valerie on our side!" Tucker looked at his friends and waited for their reaction but they didn't give one. "They're both going to Dash's party, right?"

"It's Dash. Everyone's going to be there." Danny said.

"And everyone would like it if Danny Phantom made a special appearance, right?" Tucker hinted. "So you just show up and party and everybody—including Valerie and Cecelia—would see that you're just an ordinary teenager too. And if they still aren't convinced, you can pull them aside and explain everything."

"Are you sure it'll work?"

"I'm not done yet." Tucker was really proud of his little revelation. "Wednesday is the field trip to Axion labs. If a bad guy attacks, I'm sure Danny Phantom will show up and save everybody in the building and then they'll all be grateful to him. They'll see that you're only trying to help. It's not like Cecelia and Valerie can just deny the evidence with the hundreds of witnesses that will be there."

"How do we know there will be an attack at just the right moment?" Sam inquired.

Tucker laughed nervously. "Well, uh, I have something to tell you. There was a blond kid that came into Nasty Burger today and he was psychic. He knew I knew Danny Phantom and requested a fight."

"I don't want to just fight some random ghost without knowing how powerful he is."

"Relax, Danny, he's a human."

"What's his name?" Sam asked.

"His last name is Lester. That's all I know."

Danny sighed. "Allright, I'll do it. If I win, Lester will go behind bars and I'll be the hero. Valerie and Cecelia won't hate me anymore and then what?"

"They can help us destroy the Equator before it destroys you." Tucker theorized.

There was a short pause of silence. "Ya know, it might work." Danny said hopefully. "Let's give it a try. That can't hurt anybody, right?"

It was eight-thirty on the morning of the next day. The kids of Casper High loaded up on the busses for a field trip to Axion Labs. The busses were supposed to sit only two per seat but somehow they jam-packed three to a seat. The whole system was based on assigned seating. Danny stood in line behind Sam and Tucker as they waited to get on the bus.

"Mr. Foley, you're sitting right over there with Kwan and Star." Mr. Lancer assigned Tucker.

Tucker looked over there where Kwan and Star were making out. Tucker only groaned in disappointment and took his seat.

"Ms. Manson, you are with Valerie and Paulina." Mr. Lancer told Sam.

"Figures." Sam said with an irritated grumble. She took her seat and it was obvious Paulina didn't want her there. And Valerie and Sam weren't exactly friends either.

"Mr. Fenton, you're with Dash over there." Lancer pointed.

"Oh no." Danny complained as he walked nearer to his seat. He tried to sit as far away from Dash as possible.

"What do ya know? It's old Fentonio and I haven't wailed on him in a week!" Dash put his fists together and grinned at Danny.

Danny closed his eyes and braced himself for a hit.

"Hi." Said a friendly voice.

Danny opened his eyes and saw Cecelia standing there. She sat down between Danny and Dash.

"Oh hello, Cecelia." Dash was disappointed that she sat there because he couldn't beat up Danny with a girl in between them.

"So are you excited about the trip?" Cecelia asked the guys.

"Yeah, sure." Dash said fakely.

"I know Valerie's dad works there." Danny said.

"I've met him. And I've been here a few times too. It's a really cool place." Cecelia was not good at small talk and she hoped she was not boring them too much.

"I hear there's a lot of ghost attacks." Danny said.

"Yes, but that ghost kid Danny Phantom has been protecting Amity Park forever." Dash spoke. "I'll bet you wish you were a hero like him instead of the dweeb that you are, Fenton." Dash looked at Danny.

"Oh I think Danny Phantom's a fake. He's only about publicity and you know the way he's "always there" to stop a disaster, well I think it's all one big setup. He's just a ghost and nothing good ever comes from them."

"How can you say that? Danny Phantom's my hero!" Dash argued.

"Everybody has an opinion." Cecelia voiced.

Danny was glad he didn't have to argue with Cecelia because Dash was doing a pretty good job of it himself. "I'm going to have to agree with Dash on this one." Danny finally said. "Maybe you should give him a chance, Cecelia. You might be surprised."

"I still don't trust him."

"It's just as easy as trusting Valerie, or me. You trust me, right?" Danny looked at her. Her big purple eyes stared back into him. It was kind of calming, actually. He knew she rarely made direct eye contact with him.

"Yeah, sure. You're good to Valerie and that's all I need to know you're a good person, even though I don't know you very well."

Danny smiled. "See? I can tell you that personally, Danny Phantom is a very good person."

"But that's just it. He's not a person—he's a ghost. And it was a ghost that killed my mother." Cecelia said.

"Oh I'm sorry." Dash said.

Danny lost his smile. "I'm sorry too. I didn't know."

"I'm allright now. But I'll never trust a ghost." Cecelia determined.

Dash began talking to some of his jock friends in the seat behind him. Danny spotted Sam and Tucker and waved to them. Then Danny spotted Valerie and blew a kiss to her. Danny looked over at Cecelia, who was next to him. She looked very bored. Danny knew that Casper High was a half-hour bus ride away from Axion labs.

"Danny Phantom didn't kill your mother." Danny said to Cecelia in a soft tone.

She looked at him peculiarly. She didn't say anything and she didn't have to. She looked down and closed her eyes and tried to make sense of all this. What if Fenton was right? If all this time Danny Phantom had been doing only good for the town, then Cecelia owed him a big apology. A hero was just what this danger-prone town needed and Cecelia thought she was doing the right thing by stopping him. One thing's for sure: she'd be paying very close attention to the next time he shows up.

The bus arrived at Axion labs right as Danny had predicted. Like all of the other students, he got off the bus. The first thing he did was find Sam and Tucker. Danny saw Valerie run to her father and she'd be hanging out with him during the field trip. Danny didn't want to feel like he was intruding, so he let them be.

"Welcome to Axion labs." Damon Gray said once all the students were out of the busses. "I'll be your tour guide today. And just to make it clear, I'm Valerie's father."

Valerie gave her father an embarrassed look.

"But you kids can all call me Mr. Gray." Damon unlocked the doors to the lab. He went on pointing out various items and giving short blurbs about them as the large group moved throughout the building.

Axion labs was more high-tech then Danny remembered. Sam and Tucker stayed close to him because they were waiting for that creepy blond kid to show up.

"Hi guys." Valerie smiled as she approached Danny and his friends.

"Hi Valerie." Sam and Tucker droned.

"Hey Val." Danny gave her a hug.

"My dad's embarrassing me, so I'd rather stay with you guys." Valerie said. She and Danny held hands now as they walked through the large open metal world of Axion labs.

Sam had her arms crossed and Tucker could tell she was mad.

"Well, it's time for lunch break. If you'll follow me to the cafeteria, I'll show you the salad bar and the meat buffet that I had specially catered for teens." Mr. Gray said. All the teens cheered. "We always break a few minutes before noon." Mr. Gray told them as they all entered the cafeteria.

"Noon?" Tucker walked up to Danny and yanked him away from Valerie. "Noon is when Lester will be coming." Tucker whispered into Danny's ear. "I forgot to tell you that yesterday."

"Just be careful. When he comes, I'll take care of him." Danny assured his friend.

Danny and Tucker caught up to Valerie in the meat buffet line while Sam went through the salad bar line. The four of them sat down at an empty table. Cecelia eventually joined them, but she brought along Paulina and Star.

"Hey Valerie, you look nice today." Paulina complemented her friend.

"Thanks." Valerie said. She looked at what she was wearing and it wasn't anything different from what she'd always worn.

Suddenly, there were scattered screams from around the large cafeteria. Danny looked up and he saw to his dismay that there was a pair of green vulture ghosts floating high above.

"We've been sent by our master to battle the ghost boy. So where is he?" One of the vultures asked the crowd.

"Hey you! You're pretty, you can be our hostages." One of the vultures swooped down and grabbed Paulina and the other vulture grabbed Star. The two girls screamed. The vultures whirled them around until they were dizzy and all the more afraid. "There. Now there's no way Danny Phantom would leave them here!"

As people screamed and ran away, Danny, Sam and Tucker found a quiet spot in where Danny could change into his ghost form without being seen. He flew mightily up to the green vulture ghosts.

"Hey where are Valerie and Cecelia?" Sam noticed they were gone. Tucker shrugged and the two of them ran back into the cafeteria to watch Danny challenge the fiends.

"See I knew he would come." One vulture said to the other.

"Now we can blast him just like we were told to do." the other vulture said.

"Who do you work for?" Danny demanded.