A/N: Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or anything associated with it.

Now, on with the show...

Valerie was a red and black blur as she zoomed above the clouds on her jet sled at full speed. She was going to be late for school – again – if she didn't hurry, so she had chosen to fly to school in her ghost-hunting persona instead of walking. She seriously had to get a new alarm clock, preferably one without a snooze button. It was far too tempting to just keep hitting that button after she had been out half the night looking for ghosts. Not that there had been much fighting. It had been too quiet lately and she just had to figure out what those ghosts were up to now.

Valerie slowed as she approached the school and circled once looking for a spot where she could change out of her suit without any of the students still straggling into school seeing her. "Cool," Valerie thought victoriously, "made it on time." She finally spotted a vacant corner of the building, but as she began angling downward she caught a green flash out of the corner of her eye. She tried to dodge, but too late. A burning pain exploded in her back and sent her tumbling through the air.

She managed to right herself before hitting a nearby tree, and having kept her jet sled attached flew back into the air, gritting her teeth at the pain in her back. She didn't have time to evaluate her injury though, instead reflexively pulling out her ecto-cannon as she looked around for the source of the blast.

Phantom. Her frown deepened as she spotted his slim black-and-white form hovering a hundred feet from her, his hands charged with glowing green energy. It was a tribute to their recent truce to save Danielle and her gradually softening attitude toward Phantom that Valerie only glanced at him and immediately resumed scanning for whomever Phantom was fighting, her likely attacker. That was her undoing.

Another flash of green was her only warning before pain burst once again through her, this time focused on her right shoulder, causing her to lose her grip on the cannon. She looked up in surprise at Phantom, to find him staring back at her with glowing red eyes. Not the unique merry green eyes that taunted her or begged her to stop fighting, but with the angry, hate-filled, featureless red abysses she had seen on so many other ghosts. Valerie's breath caught in her throat for a second. "No…," she whispered in confusion.

She was brought back to the moment by the sight of Phantom lobbing more balls of ectoplasm her way. She barely evaded them, zipping lower to the ground and dodging among some trees in order to put a little cover between them. The glowing green balls of energy that Valerie had avoided slammed into the school grounds, sending dirt and grass flying. Screams suddenly echoed through the air from the students outside who only now became aware of the fight going on overhead.

Valerie activated her wrist blasters, but winced in pain as she realized her right arm was now useless – she couldn't even lift it, and a dark red stain was rapidly covering the shoulder of her suit. She half-heartedly threw a few blasts back toward Phantom left-handed but he dodged easily. Phantom was gaining ground quickly as he went intangible and simply phased through the trees after her. He was eerily silent. Usually Phantom had some kind of taunt or weak put-down for those he was fighting. It seemed like the ghost could never quit talking actually. His silence now was almost as unnerving as his red eyes.

Valerie hit the end of the line of trees and swooped into a steep climb and turn, clutching her shoulder to try to slow the bleeding. Phantom turned with her and, seeing a clear shot, became tangible once again to shoot beams of green energy at her. His shot suddenly went wild though as he dodged a glowing blue light that sliced through the sky from below. He turned on the spot, pausing for a moment to find the source of the blue light, then hurled a new bolt of energy toward it.

Valerie sped faster, using Phantom's momentary distraction to give herself some breathing room, while looking back to see what had attracted his attention. Students who had been caught outside were running and taking cover wherever they could find it. All except for one girl, standing boldly on the front steps of the school with a grim expression on her face, holding an old metal thermos that was the source of the blue light. "What is Sam doing?" Valerie thought in surprise just as the glowing green energy caught Sam and threw her back against the wall of the school, the metal thermos rolling with a sharp clank down the steps and its light extinguishing.