❛ Phantom Hazards ❜

1 | Caught Off-Guard

A/N: Ok so my first Danny Phantom one-shot. And the first Danny Phantom story I've published. I hope you enjoy this and I'm sorry if it's terrible. Most of the other chapters will be longer than this though so hang in there. And yeah I know the end is kinda cheesy. The other one shots are better than this one! Hopefully. Other than that enjoy the story!!
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Summary: When Valerie catches Phantom off guard and captures him, Danny decides it's time Valerie found out the truth. That and he doesn't want her to shoot him.

Writing Prompt: "I'm not as bad as the books say, you know." "Quiet evil one." "Ooh, name-calling-so-fearsome."

Characters: Danny Fenton/Phantom, and Valerie Gray/Red Huntress

Pairings: One sided Valerie x Danny

Type: Bonding/Secret Reveal

Words: 1,295
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Valerie sighs loudly as she flies over the town on her daily patrol. Her father is at work and there's no school today, so it allows her to spend more time surveying the town than usual. Maybe a ghost will show up, maybe not. Who knows. She finally stops her board in the air and sits down on it, hanging her legs off the side and looking down at the ground below.

It's a beautiful sunny day and, as much as she loves catching ghosts, she finds herself hoping she won't find one today so she can just keep enjoying the sun. A bird flies past her with a startled "Squak!", surprised to see a human so far up in the sky. Valerie smiles lightly and closes her eyes, leaning back on her board as the cool breeze blows by. You don't get a lot of days like these. Her no-ghost hopes are crushed, however, when a beep indicates a ghost's ecto-signature has been picked up, but a determined smirk appears on her face when she recognizes the signature.

Danny Phantom.

The ghost boy who messed up her life. Granted, if his dog hadn't gone on the loose she never would have become The Red Huntress.

So, props to him there.

She jumps up to a standing position and follows the figure on her board discreetly but frowns when it stops at the Fenton household. Why would he be there? He's not messing with Danny is he? If he thinks he can, he's got another thing coming. She tilts her head, a bit confused when she actually sees him. The ghost is sitting on the roof, his feet dangling over the edge and she stops a few feet away from him and jumps off, landing on the balls of her feet so as not to make a sound. He doesn't see her yet, or if he does, he shows no recognition of her presence.

She observes him for a bit, but all he's doing is sitting there, staring at the sky. It's almost like he's... human. But that's impossible, because ghosts aren't humans. They can't feel any emotions and always have ulterior motives. Why the Manson and Foley kids are friends with him, she'll never know.

She slowly points her net gun at him and when it prepares to shoot a click rings out and Phantom jumps up, startled. He turns around but by then it's too late. The gun shoots and a net wraps around him, electricity sparking off of it and he cries out in pain before collapsing onto the ground unconscious.

That was weird. It actually almost sounded like it hurt. He must be a pretty good actor.

She carefully walks up to him and smiles triumphantly. She has finally caught him.
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After pulling him up onto her board she dragged him back to her house and cuffed the ghost's hands together. Once he started moving, even slightly, she pointed her gun at him until he opened his eyes. Once he did she immediately started launching questions at him but quickly became annoyed by his vague answers.

"What were you doing on top of the Fenton's house?" She asks for the second time. Phantom shakes his head, exasperated. "I already told you, I was just watching the sunset. Is that a crime huntress?" He spits out. She grits her teeth but lets it go, deciding to ask another question.

"Why should I let you live?" She snarls, aiming her gun at his chest. His eyes widen before he sighs. "I'm not as bad as the books say, you know." She steps towards him, putting more pressure on the gun's trigger.

"Quiet, you evil ghost."

"Oooh, name calling, so fearsome." He taunts, laughing. She growls, moving to shoot the gun but he puts his hands up in defense, the ghost proof chains attached to them clanking loudly. "Wait!" He cries out. "What now?" She asks irritatedly, releasing some of the pressure she had put on the trigger but keeping the gun in place.

"I'm a halfa!" He blurts out quickly. "Half human and half ghost!" He looks like he's about to say more but stops himself, his eyes blinking in surprise as if he hadn't expected to say that. She lowers the gun slightly. "You better not be playing another trick on me Phantom." She says coldly.

Phantom is a ghost.

Ghosts lie.

Why should she trust him? "I'm not I swear. I'll even show you..." Light flashes from him and she looks away as her eyes start to sting, but when she turns around he's gone and in his place is her school crush, Danny Fenton. Ghost proof chains still around his wrists. She blanches, dropping the gun and stepping back in surprise.

"F-Fenton?!?" She gasps. He nods his head. "I'll explain everything but first can you take off these chains?" He asks nervously, holding out his wrists. She narrows her eyes at him in suspicion but nods shakily and grabs a key from a pocket in her suit. She takes a step forward and hesitantly unlocks the chains before she steps back again and looks him up and down to make sure it's actually him.

It is, no doubt about that. But, a half-ghost? How does that even happen? And how hadn't she noticed? Why didn't he tell her?! She'd been hunting him all this time, she could have killed him! Oh god. She hurt him earlier. She's hurt him before too. How could he even still be friends with her?

"You might want to sit down, this is going to take awhile." He says as he sits Indian style on her carpeted floor. He rubs his wrists and she feels a pang of guilt knowing she purposely put the chains on too tight. She nods at him though, and sits down across from him. He takes a deep breath before launching into his story. He explains to her the portal accident and fighting ghosts and what happened with Cujo and her dad. When he's done she just stares at him in shock and he laughs nervously, his right arm rubbing the back of his neck in that way that makes her stomach do a flip.

"That's... horrible." She finally says. Wow Val, I'm sure he didn't know that, her mind hisses. He nods, his arm dropping down and he suddenly finds the floor of her room very interesting.

"Well, Danny," She starts. "I knew there was something special about you. I just didn't think it was something this special." He starts to laugh and she smiles, feeling the awkward air in the room lift, though only slightly. His laugh quickly becomes contagious and Valerie begins laughing too.

At this point, while their trust may not be at it's highest point, she knows that this is the start of a great partnership and maybe an even greater friendship.

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End