Valerie slammed the door of her room shut. She opened her bag and looked at the paper that was the main reason for her anger. She wasn't angry at the paper. In fact, she was angry at herself for letting herself get distracted by that evil spook that called himself Danny Phantom. That ghost was talented to always get her in trouble.

Not only did he make the boss of Axions lab fire her dad and live on a low budget for the whole year of freshman but she was chasing him the night before her first exam and he got away. That made her so furious she couldn't think of anything but him the whole week of exams. She ended up getting a 'F' in Physics and Poetry. She also got a 'C' in the rest.

Man, If her father knew about this, He would've buried her alive. Maybe that's over-exaggerating.. He loved her so much and would do anything to make her pleased. He is just going to be mad at her for a short period of time and let this go. At least, She hoped.

She placed the report in her bag. She got her ghost hunting equipment out of her wardrobe and activated it. The suit slowly encased her. She commanded her suit to activate her hoverboard and she escaped out of the window. She liked flying so much as it helped her calm down. Man, She wished she had ghost powers but that was physically impossible. She flew across the town to clear the fury building in her mind.

At last, She found her #1 enemy trapping a ghost in his thermos. She narrowed her eyes in determination and loaded her ecto-gun. Danny was going back to Fenton Works when Valerie shot him with her gun. He moaned in pain and turned his head to face the one who attacked him. His glowing green eyes pierced through her soul. They look so familiar.. No, Those eyes are as cold as ever!

"Missed me, Spook?" She started her witty banter.

"I wish." Danny commented as he rolled his eyes in irritation. "I don't want to hurt you, please!"

"What makes you think you can lay a hand on me? Try and you will find yourself fried." She threatened. She started chasing him as usual. She shot ectoblasts and canons from the hoverboard but Danny dodged them expertly. It's like he knew every single move and that's because she used the same sequence of shots every time she chased after him. She noticed that at last.

"Idiot! You are doing the same thing every time. Of course he will remember every move." She scolded herself. Well, time to do something different. She found a net that one of Phantom's enemies dropped when they were fighting one day. It also had a hole in this net so she figured Danny broke out of it. So, She broke in the Fenton's house in a school night and she 'borrowed' the fishing line they had to cover the hole in the net to catch him. She used a stun gun of hers to connect it to the net to prevent him from escaping. She upgraded a bazooka of hers to hold the net and fire it. Danny noticed that she stopped firing. They both landed in the park.

"Is that all you've got?" Danny chuckled.

"Oh trust me. I have something you would never expect." Valerie grinned excitedly. She shot Danny with a normal ecto-gun and he dodged it. He was about to comment on how poorly it was shot but was cut off by Valerie who brought her bazooka-like weapon and fired at Danny a ghost-proof net.

He struggled through the net and tried multiple tricks to get out but to no avail. Valerie laughed. She thought she would never see him-it, she corrected, look so helpless like a bird that got caught by a hunter.

"And for the final trick!" She announced. She electrocuted Danny with the same weapon since the net was still connected to it after it was launched. His screams were like music to her ears.

A few people who were in the street saw her and yelled for her to stop hurting their hero. She stopped and by that time, Danny had already passed out. She took the net and flew away in the dark sky. Clouds were gathering and it was about to rain.

***

Danny slowly woke up and his moans were echoing across the room. He opened his eyes with great difficulty. He felt like he was hit by a truck. Wait, he can't move. He was chained on the wall. He looked around him and saw every anti-ghost weapon Valerie has in this room.

Shivers were running down his spine as he recognized every weapon that was neatly laid on the table. From ghost detectors to stun guns that were only powered by the presence of ectoplasmic energy. He absolutely hated those stun guns. He couldn't even develop electric energy like Vortex and Vlad Plasmius because he had an ice core unlike them. They had a hot core. Valerie soon came into the room.

"Finally! You are awake. I thought it would take you forever to wake up. Now, you will answer some questions for me." She asked.

"And what if I don't feel like talking?" Danny spat.

"Oh, you will." She smiled smugly. She held a stun gun in her hand. Danny narrowed his eyes. "I know you hate that so, why not play with it for a while?" Valerie laughed. "First question, Why are you terrorizing the town? Don't you have the ghost zone?"

"I am not terrorizing the town! I am trying to protect it! I am not as bad as you think. I am just trying to help! and everyone in the ghost zone hates me so I think of earth as my home." Danny answered truthfully. Too bad Valerie had a 'better' answer. She electrocuted him with a taser.

"Incorrect." She stated.

"I am sorry, I didn't know there was an answer for that?! That is so unfair. You just think I am a bad evil ghost because I made that accident at Axions Lab that fired your Dad! You didn't even care to understand what actually happened there!" Danny said and he sounded completely annoyed. That made Valerie think a little. Not about his words, It's the way he talks that is so.. disturbing. He sounds like a normal teenager. He even looked like her age.

"Second question, How did you die?" Valerie asked. Her face was emotionless.

"I.. I got electrocuted while I was messing with my parent's stuff. That's how I died." Danny looked away. She looked at the taser. She felt like throwing it away as she felt.. pity for him-it, she corrected herself again. But it was the only thing that would get him to talk. "Can you please get me out of here, Valerie?" Danny pleaded.

"How did you know my name?! You lying spy jerk!" Valerie yelled angrily. He always called her the red huntress. "You got into my head, I almost felt pity for you!"

"I don't need someone to feel 'pity' for me!" Danny shouted back. "and I've always known about you ever since you started your sick revenge plan against me!"

"You will. Because this may or may not be the only emotion that can save you from what I will do now." Valerie said darkly. She aimed her best - and most painful - gun she had. She aimed it at Danny's core. "Good-bye, Phantom. It was nice destroying you." Valerie added and was about to fire when she heard something from him.

"Wait!" He stopped her. She didn't know why she listened to him but she actually stopped and removed her finger from the trigger. "I have something to tell you before you do something you don't want to do." He sighed. She lowered her blaster and waited.

"This better not be a trick-" Valerie said but was cut off by two rings that formed around her enemy's waist and encased him from up and down. Instead of finding her enemy.. She found her friend, Danny, from high school. She dropped her blaster and it crashing on the floor was the only sound that echoed after Danny's reveal. Valerie was speechless.

"No! This is a trick! It's not possible. It's.." Valerie ran both of her hands slowly on her hair. Danny Fenton, Danny Phantom.. Danny Fenton, Danny Phantom.. How could he keep that secret for too long?

Most importantly, How did she not see that? Wait, That also means that he lied to her.. He deceived her. They were almost a thing and he still didn't say anything back then. "You lied to me!" She gained control of her emotions and She was anything now but calm.

"I know but can you blame me? Would you believe it if I told you about it? Would you believe it if I came to you back then and told you 'Hey, I am Danny Fenton and I would really appreciate it if you stopped shooting me'? Would you believe it?!" Danny snapped. He expected something better. Valerie looked down. Tears were now running down her cheeks. She went to the control panel and typed a few commands and a few seconds after, The chains on Danny's limbs cracked open.

He got down and rubbed his wrist. Valerie looked at his arm. She really did tighten the chains on Danny's arms and legs intentionally. She finally got herself calmer but a strong feeling settled in her gut. Guilt.. She hurt him multiple times on purpose, She tried to destroy him numerous times and she only saw him as an evil sly hypocrite. She tried to kill her own friend!

"Val, Please let me explain. I promise the time for secrets and lies is over." Danny said firmly with determination but there was a bit of.. hesitance.. and pleading. Valerie nodded and took off her helmet. She gestured for him to sit on the ground and both of them sat in front of each other Indian style.

"That's why you always told me that you don't want to hurt me." Valerie looked away.

"Val, I know you were a teenager like me. I know it sucks when you come hurt from a battle especially when you have an overprotective family. I promised I would never hurt someone or turn evil." Danny said and Valerie raised an eyebrow. Danny noticed that so he continued. "That's a long story I honestly don't want to talk about." Valerie figured it actually says Danny somehow became evil and hurt some people. He seemed ashamed so she stopped her curiosity from overwhelming her.

"What about the time when you abducted the mayor? And that one time you stole from the jewelry store?" Valerie asked.

"I really didn't do anything!" Danny said and told her the whole story. She asked him about how he became half-ghost and he replied with his story. He also told her the whole ordeal about the dog incident.

"So, that dog wasn't yours?" She finally replied.

"No, It wasn't. It liked me and kept escaping from the ghost zone to cause me trouble, apparently.." Danny shrugged. "I am sorry about that, too."

"Danny, you shouldn't be sorry. You didn't do anything. I am the one who is sorry. I let vengeance and hatred consume me and I wasn't thinking. I hurt you multiple times and honestly, those were the times when I came back so happy. I am aware that this made me the greatest jerk on the planet.. I just want you to forgive me.." Valerie said as a tear rolled down her rosy cheek. "I feel so ashamed."

"I already forgave you."

"What? Really?"

"Well, You didn't know.." Danny smiled. She smiled back. She throw herself in his arms. Danny froze then returned the hug.

"Friends?" She asked.

"Friends." They shook hands. "Wait.." He searched his pockets for his phone but found nothing. Valerie noticed and stood up to go to a table. She picked up a phone and gave it to Danny.

"That's your phone. Sam kept calling you and I figured because she is a big fan, She is calling you. Sorry, I broke the screen from anger. It's still working though." Valerie looked down. Danny nodded and assured her it was fine. He looked at his phone.

"11 pm?!" Danny exclaimed. "I missed the curfew! I am so dead!" Danny added and Valerie broke into laughter. She found the word 'dead' ironic because he partially was dead. He laughed too. "What am I going to tell them?" He finally asked after he stopped laughing.

"You lost track of time?" She said.

"That was last week's excuse.. I will figure this out, Don't worry."

"Why don't you tell them the truth?"

"I am afraid of their reaction, really." Danny confessed.

"Alright then, Just be careful." She said. She put on her helmet and she jumped and her jet appeared. "Bye!" She finally said. Danny went ghost and picked up speed by turning his legs into a ghostly tail. He waved her good-bye and left. He flew to his house and went human again in front of the doorsteps. He certainly will get grounded for three days but it was definitely worth it.

~Le fin~