Update: Just an edited version of this chapter.
"I am so happy that everything worked out between Valerie and I," Danny began to his friends. "No more awkward tension, or unresolved feelings-"
"Until she finds out you're Danny Phantom, that is," Tucker retorted. Sam responded by glancing over at him, giving him a small, knowing smirk.
"She's not gonna find out. I've been careful since I got my powers!" Danny defended.
Sam crossed her arms. "Oh yeah, because you were real careful around Jazz," she rolled her eyes.
Danny averted his gaze from them. "Okay, that was one time," he crossed his arms.
"And what about the time you transformed on live television and revealed your secret to the entire world?" Tucker asked.
"Okay, one," Danny counted on fingers, "that was an accident and two, no one remembers that except for you two and Jazz."
Sam sighed. "Danny, we're just trying to look out for you. Valerie is an expert ghost hunter, or so she thinks she is, with a grudge against Danny Phantom. It's dangerous to let her in too much."
Danny sighed. "I appreciate the help guys, but I'm perfectly capable of having a friendship with Valerie while keeping my secret from her."
Sam and Tucker gave each other nervous looks, deciding not to press the subject any further.
It was 5 p.m., and for once, Danny was home, upstairs in his bedroom, playing video games online with Tucker.
"Aw, man, I can never get past this stupid level!" Danny cried to Tucker through the microphone.
"I know, man. That's why they call this level Insanity. Because it's insanely hard to beat," Tucker explained. "We've been playing for months and still get rebooted back to level very hard each time!"
"Huh, I'm taking a break. You good, Tuck?"
"Yeah man. Do what you gotta do," Tucker clicked off the line, leaving Danny completely alone in his bedroom.
He was about to head downstairs when his phone began ringing, his screen flashing with a text message.
Valerie: Hey Danny, wanna get something 2 eat?
Danny smiled. He hasn't really hung out with Valerie since they cleared up the awkward feelings between them.
Danny: Yeah, Nasty Burger at 6 p.m.?
Valerie: Sounds good :)
Danny put his phone down on top of his dresser. It was covered with NASA flyers, spaceship figurines, incomplete homework assignments, and some books Jazz had given him on ghost hunting that he was definitely not going to pick up. To her defense, it was before she found out about his alter ego, but still. "Wow, this must be what it's like to have a semi-normal life," Danny thought aloud, before a familiar blue wisp escaped his mouth. "For a whole 5 minutes, that is."
Danny quickly changed into his alter ego, flying out his bedroom window, the papers previously on his dresser now scattered about his room.
Danny hovered above Amity Park, scanning his surroundings for any sign of a threat. He looked right, left, up, down. Nothing. "That's weird, maybe the ghost flew away?" He continued scanning, before his eyes landed on the big clock outside of a local bank. It read: 5:55 p.m.
"Oh, shit, I better get over to the Nasty Burger," he flew away in the direction of the restaurant, disregarding the ghost, or the lack of one, from only a few seconds ago.
Less than a minute later, Danny reached the Nasty Burger, flying behind the building in order to change back to Danny Fenton. He rounded the corner of the building, reaching for the doors, and entered the restaurant. Over on the ride side in the very back, he saw Valerie sitting in a booth by herself, vigorously typing on her phone. "Hey, Val," Danny approached her, waving, and took a seat across from her at the booth.
Valerie looked up, looking slightly exasperated. "Hey, Danny," she replied before returning to her phone.
Danny studied her, curious about her current obsession with her phone. "Is, something up…?" He asked, slightly hesitant.
Valerie sighed. "No it's...I'm sorry. It's just that my dad has been on my case for about a month now about a new hobby of mine."
Oh, that hobby, Danny thought. "So he doesn't approve? Let me guess, it's too dangerous and he's afraid for your safety, blah blah," he trailed off.
Valerie gave him a curious look. "How did you know?"
"I've been through a similar thing." Yeah, with Jazz. And now with Sam and Tucker over me "hanging out with the enemy."
"Oh," Valerie gave him a small, sympathetic smile. "I'm sure that my hobby differs from yours, though."
Yeah, sort of, Danny bit back a smirk. As he was opening his mouth to speak, the blue wisp brushed off his lips again. "Uh, can you excuse me for a moment?" Danny pulled out his phone, pretending he was heading outside to take a phone call. He raced to the same spot at the back of the building, quickly changing into his ghostly counterpart. He flew up into the air, once again, scanning his surroundings. "Where the hell is this-" He was cut off by a blast to his stomach, sending him hurtling towards the entrance of the Nasty Burger, landing with a loud thump on his back. He slowly lifted his head up, trying to orient himself. "What the fu-"
"Hello, ghost child," a voice welcomed him.
Valerie put her phone away, and was about to go check on Danny, who had left the building and had been gone for about 5 minutes now, before hearing a CRASH and the sound of something breaking against the concrete. She took the opportunity to run outside of the building, prepared to run to the back to change, before she was stopped by the sight in front of her. Phantom lay on the ground, looking dazed, a tall, bulky, mechanical ghost hunched over his form.
"Hello, ghost child," it said.
Valerie wasted no time throwing her bag down, transforming into her hunting gear. As she prepared for battle, she noticed both the mechanical ghost who she remembered as Skulker, and Phantom staring at her.
"Um, who is she?" Skulker looked to Phantom.
Phantom rubbed his head in pain. "What do you mean "who is she?" She's the girl you sent me into the ghost zone with a few months ago," he stood up, brushing the dirt and rocks off his suit.
"Oh, I do remember. Well, two pelts on my wall is better than one," the ghost evilly grinned.
"Okay, first of all, ew. Second of all, no," Phantom retorted.
Taking advantage of the situation, Valerie pulled out two small guns, one in each hand, and aimed one at the armored ghost, and the other at Phantom. "You two won't be talking for much longer, because I'm getting rid of both of you."
Danny put his hands up, trying to get Valerie to calm down. "Valerie, I don't think you want to do this."
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't," she said, not removing her guns from their direction.
Danny signed. "Look, I know you believe I'm an evil-"
"That's an understatement."
"But please, just help me fight Skulker, and then afterwards, you can have me all for your own, okay? Otherwise, Skulker is going to be attacking both of us. He put us both in the ghost zone before, you know what he's like."
"I'm right here, you know," Skulker said.
Danny and Valerie both ignored. Valerie didn't remove her guns from their direction, but the look on her face changed from determination and rage to pondering. "Okay, you have a deal," she lowered her gun that was pointed at Skulker. "I'll help you, and afterwards, you're mine."
The fight didn't last long. Both Phantom and Valerie have fought Skulker before, meaning both knew his weaknesses, and the fact that he's just a blob of green goo inside the massive armor. Even so, two against one, he really had no chance. They shot a few rays and weapons at each other, knocking each other down a few times, before Valerie, with one strike, sent Skulker crashing to the ground, and Danny quickly snuck up behind him, unscrewing his helmet and pulling out the "ghost zone's greatest hunter".
"I will destroy you!" It said from the grasp of Danny's white-gloved fingers.
"Yeah, sure you will," Danny pulled out the thermos from his belt, aiming it at Skulker. Before Danny uncapped the thermos, Skulker muttered one more thing to him.
"What you don't know, ghost child, is that I have another final trick up my sleeve," he grinned. Suddenly, a metal arm shot out of one of the compartments of Skulker's armor, gripping Danny in its hold, causing him to drop Skulker and the thermos. The arm sizzled violently, sending waves of electricity coursing through Danny's entire body. He screamed, and Valerie, feeling slight sympathy for him, did the best thing she could think of. First, she picked up the thermos, uncapping it and aiming it at the fleeing Skulker, Second, she put her finger on the trigger of her weapon, aiming it at the arm, and shot at it. It dropped Phantom to the ground. He looked mostly conscious still, but she could tell he was dazed and his eyes were unfocused. He tried to stand up, before his knees collapsed under him, sending him back down to the hard concrete. He lay on his back, eyes closed, and Valerie was blinded by two white rings that formed around his torso. She tried to look away, but her curiosity got the better of her. She watched as they traveled up and down Phantom's body, revealing a white t-shirt, blue jeans, and red shoes. Valerie gasped when she saw his face- fair complexion, and black hair. It was Danny Fenton.
Danny woke up in his bed, a dull ache lingering in his head. The light burned his eyes, but he opened them so he was just barely squinting. He put his arms underneath him, sitting up, groaning through a slight pain in his entire body. He looked around his room, trying to remember how he ended up here. His eyes settled on something sitting in the corner on a chair- Valerie. Oh, shit.
"Hey, Danny," Valerie stared back at him, rising from her seat. She walked towards him, sitting at the edge of his bed. "Are you alright?" She said sympathetically.
"I-I think so. How...how did I end up here?"
"You don't remember?"
"I remember...wait. Wh-what do you know?"
"Um, a lot. T-that you're," she hesitated. "That you're Phantom."
"Oh, well, alright then," Danny looked away, not daring himself to speak.
"And I know that you had good intentions, and that you'd never purposely harm anyone. Well, anyone that wasn't a ghost, that is."
Danny looked back at her, surprised. "So you're not mad?"
"I'm just surprised, but also not. I don't know, I think I should've expected it," she smiled at him. "I just want some answers from you, and then we'll call it even?"
Danny smiles back at her. "You have a deal."
Hey, everyone! So this chapter came out much faster than I anticipated, but once I started writing, I couldn't stop. I have some more free time now, so hopefully I should be back to writing more often! I have a DP one-shot in the works, so I hope you look forward to that. Anyways, I really wanted to end this chapter as soon as Valerie knew and skip the interaction between Danny and Valerie after she found out, but I didn't want to end another chapter on a cliff-hanger, even though that's one of my favorite things to do (I'm sorry).
I'm still working on ideas for the next chapter, so that should be up within the next week or so! :)