Well, it pains me to say it, but I'm canceling my Danny Phantom/Soul Calibur fic. I could not get it to come out right mostly because I kept running into these "Well, they could've done this and it'd all be over" moments. It's sad really. It'd have been a very dark trilogy after that. However, a great non-crossover idea came to me, one that I originally pitched to writer's block stricken Obi-Quiet. I decided to write it instead of allow her to. She'd have wanted it that way, I'm sure.

Disclaimer: I do not own "Danny Phantom". All the characters you will read about are copyright to Nickelodeon.

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Technical Difficulties

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Chapter 1: Past Curfew

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It was a cold night in Amity Park. Many of its resident were getting ready for bed. However, in a lonely warehouse by the pier, a ruckus was going on.

"BEWARE!" the out-of-shape Box Ghost shouted (again). "I, the Box Ghost, will destroy you with my cardboard cubes of chaos!"

The Box Ghost summoned the empty boxes forth and forced them at his intended target, Danny Phantom.

Danny Phantom was a young ghost who many didn't know whether to call a hero or a hoodlum. While he fought off ghosts, many believe he's the cause of them coming to Amity Park. As long as he was keeping the town safe, Danny didn't care about what the public said about him.

Onto the fight, Danny simply went intangible. The boxes flew right through him. "Come on, Box Ghost," Danny said, unamused, "we do this everytime, and the results come out the same. When will you give up?"

"NEVER!" the Box Ghost exclaimed. "For I am the Box GHOOOOOO-" The Box Ghost was unaware that he was being sucked into Danny's special ghost trapping thermos. He managed to get out one last, "BEWARE!" before the lid was shut on him.

"Finally," Danny said, checking his watch, "and not a moment too-" Danny was cut short when a bright purple beam barely singed his white hair. He turned around and gasped, "soon!"

He saw a girl about his age in black and red battle suit on a matching hoverboard with three shining cubes floating over her head. Her face, which could be seen through a red visor, showed much displeasement over her missed target.

"This next shot won't miss, punk!" she shouted as she fired another blast from one of her cubes. Danny flew out of the way, missing the beam by millimeters, and flew out of the warehouse. The huntress wasn't too far behind and chased after him, blasting a hole through the roof for easier access.

An intense chase started the ghost and the huntress. She started firing at every opertunity as the ghost just kept whizzing past. As many chances as he had, Danny never fought back. He just kept playing the mouse.

The dogfight lasted a good six minutes until a beeping was heard. The huntress checked her wrist, gasped, then stopped suddenly. She said to Danny, "We'll finish this next time!" She flew away after.

Danny gave a sigh of relief and said, "That was- wait a minute..." Danny checked his watch and saw it read 10:00 PM. "Oh shoot!" Danny flew off in a hurry.

Of all the places Danny could fly to, he flew straight into Fentonworks, home of Amity Park's top ghost researchers, Jack and Maddie Fenton. The only reason Danny flew there was because it was where he lived, they were his parents, and it was past his curfew.

Danny wasn't your average ghost. And he wasn't our average human, either. He was kind of both. In fact, Danny Phantom was just the alter-ego of Danny Fenton, a C-average fourteen-year-old who was a target to any school bully, until an accident with his parent's ghost portal, which could open a hole to what's known as "the Ghost Zone", gave him ghostly abilities. He keeps his secret to only his two friends, Sam and Tucker, and his older sister, Jazz, who had found Danny's secret out by herself.

Danny phased into his room and reverted back to his human form. A ring of light appeared around his waist and divided up and down Danny's body. His black and white jumpsuit turned into a white t-shirt and blue jeans, his snow white hair turned jet black, and his glowing, green eyes went to a regular blue.

Danny had changed back not a moment too soon. His father, Jack, came through the door with an upset look on his face. Danny hid the thermos behind his back, hoping his dad wouldn't ask. "And where you you exactly one minute and thirty-eight seconds ago?"

"Uh..." Danny tried thinking up a quick lie. "Here. The whole time."

"You were?" Jack asked. While he was a genius at creating ghost hunting devices, Jack had a tendincy of being incredibly single-minded. And a little childish.

"Yeah," Danny said, sursprised his dad bought into the act. "Didn't you see me come in?"

"No, I didn't." Jack said, scratching his head in confusion, then recommending to himself, "I really ought to start writing things like this down." He then told Danny, "Bed by eleven," and shut the door.

Danny gave a sigh of relief, threw the thermos on his bed, and turned on his computer. He started looking to see if any of his friends were online for a web chat. He found Sam, but not Tucker. He must've logged off before Danny could log on.

"Hey, Danny," Sam greeted through her webcam. "Isn't it past curfew for you?"

"Yeah," Danny answered. "Fortunately, my dad's an idiot and I got off the hook."

"Well, luck you," Sam said. "Ghost patrol must've been tough for you to miss curfew."

"Well," Danny said, "almost. I had a run-in with Valerie." Valerie Gray was the huntress Danny had fought earlier in the evening. It had been a long-time grudge since he accidently ruined her social life. She had earlier been given a battle suit and gear by Danny's long-time nemisis Vlad Masters. Danny destroyed the suit when a ghost named Technus had possessed it. Technus would only give Valerie a new, improved suit to keep Danny distracted to take over a powerful satalite. Danny destroyed the satalite, and Technus hasn't been heard from since (and for Danny's sake, good riddance).

"Please tell me you whooped her butt." Sam was anxious for a "yes". Sam never really got along with Valerie, what with wanting to waste Danny Phantom and all. She, like Tucker, was aware that Danny and Valerie had crushes on eachother outside their opposite lives. Another misunderstanding left that relationship to Danny and Valerie being just friends. Sam wanted Danny away from Valerie so she wouldn't hurt him in a physical or emotional way. Sam cared too much about Danny to let that happen... As a friend, of course.

"Sam, she's a human being," Danny reminded.

"Right, a human being who's out to get you."

"She's only out to get Danny Phantom."

"But say, by an off-chance, she catches Danny Phantom. What then?"

"Sam, stop putting these bad thoughts in my head. Anyway, I got to get to bed. Good night."

"Good night, Danny." Sam logged off and the window with her image disappeared. Danny then proceeded to shutting down his own computer.

As much as he hated the thought of it, Sam brought up a good point. What if Valerie had caught him? It probably wouldn't take long to discover his secret. What would she think of him then? Why was he worrying about that last one? He'd probably be dead by then. And why'd he have to bring that up? It was just another chapter in Danny's history of girl troubles. It's almost like every time a girl he liked liked him back, irony kicked him right in the teeth.

Danny put the thought away, picked up his pajamas, and headed for the bathroom.

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Well, there's chapter one. Next chapter, we switch to Valerie and see how she handles coming home late. Also'd like to say this is chapter marks the beginning of a pretty clever running joke if I do say so myself. Good night.