Valerie Gray was very close to having a meltdown.
Very close.
In fact, it was quite likely she was having a meltdown now. However, to be perfectly frank, Valerie Gray was too busy trying to keep breathing to decide what whether or not she was having a meltdown. Her brain was rather busy, you see, with the revelation fate had seen fit to dump right smack in her lap.
Sweet, adorable, rather lazy yet loveable Danny Fenton now lay crumpled on the ground in front of her. While that in itself was rather worrying, a passed out Danny Fenton was not what had driven Valerie to almost have a meltdown; no, the thing that had her so freaked out was the fact that a passed out Danny Fenton lay in the clearing where she had been positive she would find a wounded Danny Phantom.
Taking a deep breath Valerie Gray trie to sort out her thoughts. 'Okay, so I shot down Danny Phantom. Right. And…according to my scanners, this is where he should have landed. Yeah. So…Why the heck is Danny Fenton here? Danny Phantom is supposed to be here, and he's not. Danny Fenton's not supposed to be here, and he is. Oh my God this is just so messed up what the heck is going on and why do I feel so dizzy wow this forest is really colorful lookit the pretty leaves God I can't breathe-'
And with that, Amity Park's famous ghost hunter, the Red Huntress, did an inelegant face-plant into the dirt and dead leaves covering the forest floor.
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"-lerie, C'mon Valerie, wake up, I need to know youre okay…"
Calling. Someone was calling her name. Valerie's eyes fluttered as she tried to gain some semblance of what was going on- 'Oh my god, Danny!' What had happened she needed to know what the heck-… Valerie's eyes flew open as her fist shot out, landing a solid punch on whatever threat was hovering over her. A pained yelp came from what she had hit. Valerie blinked as her eyes focused. As she sat up she realized she still felt a little woozy, but at least she still had her suit and could fight off what ever had been- Oh. Well. Oops. The 'threat' he had attacked turned out to be her (sorta) ex-boyfriend, Danny Fenton. Who was, at the moment, clutching his nose like it was broken.
"Danny? What're you doing he-" She froze mid word as it all came rushing back to her. The fight with the ghost kid, shooting him down, trying to find him, and finding Danny instead. She scooted backwards as fast as she could and jumped to her feet, activating the blaster secured to her wrist and pointing it at him.
Danny's eyes widened. "Wowblasterinmyface. Okay, Val? Um… are you okay? And why do you have a gun pointed at me?"
Valerie stared at him. From what she could tell he was completely human, nothing remotely ghostly about weak little Danny Fenton. He looked harmless and rather confused, nothing like that cocky ghost Phantom. She slowly lowered the blaster.
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Danny tried to look as harmless as possible as he went cross-eyed looking at the gun. Good god, was Valerie scary when she was freaked out. Jeesh. Her eyes darted every which way and her hair had frizzed out around her head. He could only hope that she would see Fenton and not Phantom when she looked at his human face. The blaster slowly lowered and he heaved a sigh of relief. Wheew,
When he had woken up he had seen Valerie passed out on the other side of the clearing. Danny couldn't believe his luck. Heh. All he had to do was convince her it was all a dream and the ghost kid had knocked her out before fleeing. Thank god for super human healing, If he hadn't been the first to wake up, who knows what could've happened. She probably would have taken all sorts of conclusions from his confession earlier, and it was likely she still would. 'Great job, Fenton. Why the heck did you have to do that. Way to make this 100 times harder.' He still didn't know what had come over him, probably the concussion he had received from falling so high. Man, he sure hoped she would be as gullible as the rest of the town. With a smile he really hoped looked completely harmless, Danny tried to get his brain in gear for what he hoped was a very convincing lie.
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Danny Fenton was not a good liar. However, most of the town was too busy being completely oblivious to notice, or even care. Valerie Gray was far more observant than most of the townsfolk and she prided herself on her passing grades and ability to keep a secret. After all, there was no way she would have been able to be the red huntress if she went around blabbing about it all day. Anyway. She wasn't going to accept those silly little lies Danny always told the teacher when he was late for class. No way, not this time. This time, Valerie was looking for answers and she was going to get them.
The second Danny opened his mouth Valerie could tell he was lying. And, unfortunately for Danny, Valerie wasn't going to let him slide. "Danny, don't even try it. Not right now. Just tell me the truth about whatever the hell happened here."
"Uh, Gee, you know Valerie, like I said…I was just being a normal teenager taking a completely unsuspicious walk in the middle of the woods when I just happened to see you. There. Face down, in the dirt. Oh! And yeah, I saw Phantom flying away. Yeah. "
The boy grinned up at her, apparently trying to project an air of 'look-at-me-I'm-so-innocent'. Yeah…no. It wasn't working. That boy was as guilty as hell. Although…What exactly he was guilty of, she wasn't sure. Still, he was definitely guilty. Of Something.
"Riiiiight. I'm just gonna pretend you didn't say that and give you one more chance." Sweet! The patented Gray!Confidence was back. Valerie let a little smirk slide onto her face when she saw the 'ohshit' look in his eyes. Heh. Too easy. She bent down so she was eye level with the nervous boy. "Just tell me the truth."
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'convincing lie convincinglieconvincinglie-…yeeeeah…I got nothing'. Dang it. He really needed to come up with a list of convincing lies so he wouldn't end up stuck like this. Hmmmm…what to say, what to say…Danny's eyes lit up as a sudden thought came to him. 'ooooh, that'll work!'
"Um, Val, you know, I'm still just kinda surprised to find out that you're the red huntress-"
Valerie stopped breathing for a couple seconds and looked down at herself. Her red armor covered every part of her- except for her face. 'aw, crap.' Her suit must have de-activated the face-plate by itself. The last thing she remembered were the leaves rushing towards her, so she must have landed face first. 'stupid suit, why'd it hav'ta go and try to save me from suffocation.' Danny was still talking and she was soooo screwed.
"-so anyway this was all just a really biiiiig misunderstanding and-"
Inside his mind Danny was grinning like mad. He had seen Valerie go ridged when he had mentioned the whole 'red huntress' thing. 'Bingo.' HAH! Thank you, subject change.
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AN: Oh Boy! Chapter two! Finally uploaded who knows how many months later...Oh well.
You know, I could try to put some really funny comment down here and look supah cool, but knowing me I'd just end up sounding like an idiot. *Sigh* Well, for anyone who cares, I really hope you enjoyed chapter 2 of simple differences. If you wanna leave a comment telling me how Amaaaaaazing it was (or how majorly suckish it was- either one works) I will love you forever.
Y'all come back now, ya hear? ;D