Finally, the last of the Christmas chapters!

Chapter 26: Ghost Sense

It was Christmas Day. Danny Phantom and Cecelia Hazel stood face to face just after he brought her out of the ghost zone. Her hands glowed with an electrical energy that emanated from somewhere inside her.

"Midnight explained everything to me—how you are half ghost and half human. She told me about how that all happened and she told me about how Garth got his powers too. Midnight also told me about your history with Valerie. Midnight told me all about the relationship you had as humans and the fights you had when you were a ghost. I thought I understood everything…until this." Cecelia showed Danny the electric energy again. "All Midnight told me was that this had something to do with the Equator which I destroyed. But…how?"

Danny shook his head. "I've never seen anything like it. But I suppose it's possible you got your powers the same way I did. The Equator had to have some kind of ecto-converter thing so it could convert the energy, right? So maybe it converted some of your energy into electricity…"

Cecelia thought that was a bit of a stretch.

"Maybe you should go burn off some of that energy and see if the electricity goes away." Danny suggested.

Cecelia began doing a series of karate poses and moves that would have easily winded the average person. Surprisingly, Cecelia's energy did not diminish and neither did her ability to spawn the electric power she now had. She walked up to Danny. "I guess it's here to stay." She shrugged. "Let's try to see this as an advantage to our side."

"Yeah, just think of all the good you can do! You can help me and the rest of the team rid this town of ghosts!" Danny said excitedly.

"Yeah…" Cecelia began to give the idea some thought. "My suit got destroyed in the explosion on December third, so I can't do anything else besides spawn electricity. The most I could do is fry somebody."

Danny chuckled. "Maybe someday you will be able to shoot electricity around like I shoot plasma beams, ectobeams and icebeams. I'd like to teach you." Danny just remembered the time. "But right now I've got to get you home."

Danny took Cecelia's arm and flew her back to her home. And then he turned invisible while he waited for Cecelia's father to come out. Danny smiled because Dr. Hazel had forgotten his daughter's death and he now believed the explosion was an accident and Cecelia had been nowhere nearby when it occurred.

Everything was back to normal, for now.

It was December 26. Danny had been debating on what to tell his friends when they found out Cecelia was alive. But lucky for him, he didn't have to. He picked up the phone. It was Tucker.

"Danny, you'll never guess what I just found out! Cecelia's alive! She just called me and told me the whole story. I think it's really cool what you did."

"Thanks. I'm just so relieved she's okay."

"What are you going to do about her new super power?"

"I'm hoping to help her with it the best I can. That's assuming it'll be similar to my ectoblasts."

"See ya at the Nasty Burger later!" Tucker hung up.

Danny had made arrangements for himself, Cecelia, Sam, Tucker, Danielle and Garth to go have lunch at the Nasty Burger. It was Tucker's idea. Danny was going back and forth on whether or not to invite Valerie.

Danny stared at the phone. What if she didn't answer? What if she thought he was coming on too strong? What if she said no? Danny reached for the phone. "Here goes nothing." He said to himself. He took a deep breath and slowly dialed the number to Valerie's new cell phone.

"Hi. Is that you, Danny?"

"Danny? Oh yeah, that's me." Danny was so embarrassed and he hoped to make a comeback from that. "Well, um, Val, I'm having a little Team Phantom meeting at the Nasty Burger for lunch. I know it's on short notice, but I was wondering if you'd like to—"

"I'd love to come." Valerie interrupted. "What I mean is…I'm not doing anything. So I'll see you there at…"

"Eleven." Danny smiled broadly.

Valerie could tell. She smiled too. "See you in twenty minutes." She said.

Danny put on a clean set of clothes and looked at himself in the mirror. "Do I look cool or what?" He asked himself as he looked in the mirror.

"It won't matter what you look like if you still smell like that. Phew!" Danielle came into the room. "When's the last time you took a shower?"

"Hey! That's the first thing I did when I got up at six!"

"What did you do after the shower?"

"I did my morning exercise routine. I do it every day. That's how I'm able to fight ghosts so well."

"So well." Danielle mocked. "And how do you expect to stay with your girlfriend if you smell like B.O.?"

Danny looked mad. "What's your problem today?"

"You smell. Really. Bad." Danielle plugged her nose and walked out of the room.

Danny waited until she was gone and then he sniffed himself. Danielle was right. But Danny didn't have time to take a shower. If he did, he knew he'd end up being late to the lunch gathering that he set up.

"Take a shower!" Danielle laughed and she dumped an entire water bottle over Danny's head. He was soaked from head to toe. This made Danielle laugh harder.

Danielle expected a reaction from him, but instead he just stared at her and waited for her to stop cackling. "You're so lucky that I'm way more mature than you." Danny was proud of how calm that came out.

Danielle just walked out of the room. "You're no fun." She grumbled.

Now Danny knew he had to take a shower. Oh well, he was wet anyways. He took a quick scrub and was out in exactly twenty minutes. "If I hurry up, I can make it." Danny said. He had a habit of using his flight as transportation, especially when it was too cold to walk. Danny Phantom flew to the Nasty Burger with Dani Phantom behind him.

Danny and Dani hid behind the Nasty Burger and changed back to human form. Then, Danny noticed Valerie walking up to the front doors. Danny sighed. Wow, she really did come!

Danny marched right into the Nasty Burger and waved Valerie over before she could take a seat. That's when Danny noticed that his friends had not arrived yet. So he, Danielle, and Valerie sat down at a large table…alone.

Danielle decided she would text some of her own friends while she waited for the rest of the team to show up.

"Are they coming?" Valerie asked Danny.

Danny was hoping she wouldn't think this was a setup to win her back. "Of course, they'll all be here eventually. Heh." Danny said awkwardly.

There was a majorly awkward silence as the two of them just sat there and waited. Danny was hoping someone would show up now.

The door to the Nasty Burger opened and a skinny goth girl entered. "Whew!" Danny said nervously.

Sam sat down next to Danny. She looked at Valerie. Danielle put her phone away. "Well this ought to be interesting." Danielle said to herself.

"Danny invited me to your team meeting." Valerie explained.

Unfortunately, Sam made things all the more awkward between the three of them. Not a word was spoken until Tucker arrived.

"Hey! How was Christmas, everyone?" Tucker said cheerfully. He took the empty seat next to Danielle.

"It snowed in the ghost zone." Danielle said with a twinkle in her eye.

"Midnight brought Cecelia back." Danny said happily.

"I learned that there's such a thing as second chances." Valerie looked at Danny and he smiled at her.

"How was your holiday, Sam?" Tucker asked her. Everyone else followed his gaze and looked at Sam.

Sam felt the chain to the necklace Danny had given her. It was tucked away under her shirt so nobody could see it. "Oh my parents made me wear that lame pink sweater, so yeah, I was miserable." Sam said. She wanted to cover up what was making her all bubbly inside. Sam was never bubbly, so she didn't know how to handle this feeling. It had to be coming from Danny. There was just something magical about him going around the world granting everybody's perfect Christmas wish.

The doors opened again, and this time it was Garth and Cecelia who stepped inside. They walked over to the table. Danny wondered how Valerie would react to Cecelia.

"Oh hey, Valerie, I didn't know you were coming." Cecelia gave her friend a hug.

"Hi Cecelia." Valerie hugged her back. "I'm so sorry for what happened to the lab your dad worked at. That was such a freak accident! I'm glad nobody was inside." Valerie said to her friend.

"…Yeah." Cecelia agreed even though Valerie didn't know what had actually happened. Cecelia turned to Garth. "Thanks for driving me." she said.

"Oh don't mention it, sis. Now, let's eat! I'm starved!" Garth said. The seven of them walked up to the counter and placed their orders. Then they went back to their seats and waited for their food. Once their food came, they ate up. It was pleasant. Small talk went around the table and it was almost as if they were just another group of random teenagers sitting at a local hangout.

The group of seven were just about finished eating when Danny's ghost sense went off. Immediately, everybody's happy faces got serious and quiet. Valerie took another bite out of her food and the six others looked at her.

"What?" She asked.

"Danny's ghost sense went off." Tucker explained to Valerie. "That means there's a ghost about." He said in a low whisper.

Valerie shrugged. "Well, I didn't know that." She said defensively.

"Citizens of Amity Park and attenders at this greasy meat-themed hangout, hand over the ghost child or else!" A booming voice sounded throughout the Nasty Burger.

"Oh poo." Danny said. He and his friends turned around to see Skulker floating near the front doors of the Nasty Burger.

Citizens screamed and tried to make their way out, but Skulker made duplicates of himself that blocked all the possible exits. The people began to panic now and a few of them fainted. In fact, there were only seven people who remained calm. And they were sitting at a table near the back, hoping to not be noticed among the crowds of wailing restauranteers.

Danny folded his head in his arms and his friends pretended to be ignoring the surrounding situation.

"You think I didn't notice you sitting right here, ghost child?" a duplicate of Skulker appeared at Danny's table. Danny popped his head up and pretended to be all innocent. "I traced you here, didn't I?"

"And just how did you do that?" Sam asked.

"I got a few upgrades." Skulker said proudly. "Now, surrender yourselves before I have to resort to other measures of persuasion."

"No." Danny said in calm protest.

"What?" Skulker exclaimed in confusion and pointed to his duplicates. "But I have you outnumbered!" Skulker whined.

Danny stood up on the table and prepared to change into his ghostly half.

"WAIT!" Tucker screamed. He pulled out his PDA and typed in a command that released a brilliant flash of light, temporarily blinding the eyes that were looking in that direction. In that short few seconds of time, Danny transformed into Danny Phantom and glared at Skulker.

"Well, you have great timing. I'll give you that. But you do not dare challenge me after I've had my upgrades!" Skulker yelled at Danny.

"Try me." Danny said. His hands glowed with green ectoplasmic fury, reflecting his thoughts toward Skulker. Danny blasted Skulker hard—and hit him in the place where his suit upgrades take place. But Danny was taken aback when it appeared to have no effect on Skulker.