A/N: This is part one of the Halloween chapter. I know that's next month, but it was the next logical step since I said that it was a week until Halloween in the last chapter. In this chapter, we'll see Danny's redesign and the first ghost of this story, so that's exciting. And I think I'm going to make an amendment to what I said in the first chapter, the ghost won't play a major role in this story unless I think they can play a as a good fit to the chapter (This doesn't include Halfas, I know there are people out there thinking, "But what about Vlad?!" Just hold your horses, he'll be here).

Also, there was a review that caught my attention, don't bother looking for it in the reviews, I got an email for it but it didn't show up in the reviews for some reason. Anyway, a guest sent me an unofficial soundtrack and for whatever reason that made me super happy. The songs you chose were good, and I can see why you chose them, however, me knowing what the future events of this story will be, I decided to make one of my own. Part of it'll be at the end of this chapter if anyone's interested. Why only part? Because I lost the list and the ones I can remember are on here, the others will come when I find that fucking list.

I've noticed something about this story. So far, I've only said that Danny and Luna are best friends, but you know what? I haven't shown that they're best friends. That's what I'll try to focus on this chapter, showing that these two have a connection instead of just saying they do and having everyone go like "Halright!" My only hope is that I can pull it off.

The mall was almost pitch black as Danny floated through it. He passed by the racks of clothing, invisible, not seeing anything that peaked his interest. He sighed, "Maybe I'll find something in another store."

The halfa drifted lazily through the wall to the store next door. Sports equipment and jerseys lined the walls, making him roll his eyes, "Yeah, maybe if I wanted to dress like Lynn." He put his hands behind his head and floated on his back, staring at the ceiling. He was about to phase through the next wall when something caught his eye. Righting himself, Danny floated up to one of the shelves. It was packed with paintball helmets and masks, he guessed they didn't sell very well due to the clearance sign hanging from the shelf. He grabbed one of the helmets, the dark glass reflecting the wall behind him. The boy slipped it on, instantly regretting it. The helmet forced his hair down into his eyes, the follicles poking his sensitive orbs, causing him to rip it off and throw it back on the shelf as he rubbed his eyes. He picked up one of the masks and put it on. The mask made him feel much better, it not making his hair stab him in the face. He pulled it off and became visible, letting the lens mirror his face. His eyes drooped at the sight of his ghost form.

"A mask to hide the failure..."

He turned invisible again, taking the mask with him, and went to the next store. This one was full of black clothes and pop culture references, and looked cramped with the racks of clothes, table and counter. The halfa looked around, "I think I remember going to one of these with Sam once... I hated it, it was full of people and you couldn't take step without bumping into anyone." He floated around the store, not actually looking for anything. He stopped in front of a table. A pair of gloves sat on the table, the fingers missing. That's not what drew Danny to them, however, it was that attached to each knuckle was a metal pyramid. He picked them up, giving them a once over, "Why do I feel like selling something like this should be illegal?" He shrugged before moving on, not putting the gloves back.

Danny made quick work of gathering his new costume after he left the last store. He went into one of the dressing rooms and became visible again. He unzipped his hazmat suit, letting it drop to the floor. He looked at the crumpled mess that was his old costume. He would miss wearing it, but he couldn't bring himself to keep using it... the stains of his failure clung to it too harshly. He gave it one last look before turning his back to on it. One of the gloves was splayed open, almost as though it was waving goodbye.

Vanzilla rolled down the street. The inside of the van was alive with chatter. Lori was driving talking to Leni in the passenger seat. Behind them sat Lucy, Lincoln, Lisa, and Lily, and behind them were Lynn, Lola, Lana, and Luan. They were abuzz with ideas for their Halloween costumes, their loud voices filling the van.

The only ones in the van who were silent were Danny and Luna, who sat in the back. For once the two were content to sit in silence, having plugged their headphones into Danny's iPod to cancel out the other kids. The boy had put it on shuffle, letting the device pick whatever it wanted to play. Luna wasn't surprised to find that the bands on the iPod weren't too different from hers; Linkin Park, Foo Fighters, Shinedown, she was the one who got him into that kind of music after all. She rested her head against her seat as an Evanescence song ended. The next song began, this one making her quirk her eyebrow, 'Is… is this…' The girl turned to her friend. He was frozen in his seat, eyes wide. Luna reached for his ear, removing his earpiece. He didn't react until she asked, "Is this Ska music, Danny?"

The boy's shoulders slumped. He nodded slowly, shame evident on his face for liking what was considered a dead genre. Luna watched him for a minute before saying, "It's alright, I can see why you'd like it, and uh, you're not the only one who likes a… different kind of music." Her friend looked at her expectantly. She sighed, leaning over to whisper in his ear as her face grew red, "Sometimes when no one else is around I like to listen to… elevator music."

Luna closed her eyes and cringed, waiting for her friend to judge her. Instead she heard snickering. She looked at Danny, who was hiding his laughter in his fist, "I'm sorry, it's just," He had to compose himself, "I'm just picturing you head banging to Kenny G." The girl stared at the laughing boy, before joining him. They laughed together for what felt like hours before calming down and leaning back in their seats once more, listening to the sounds of Reel Big Fish play as the van made its way to the Royal Woods Mall.

The noise from the Loud family van was nothing compared to the noise of the mall's seasonal store. Kids ran through the isles looking at the costumes that lined the racks, as their distressed parents tried to keep up with them. Danny grinned at the Louds as they combed the store in search of their costumes. He flicked through a rack of outfits, Luna standing next to him, "Aren't you gonna look for a costume?"

The girl shook her head, "Nah, dude, already got mine at home." Danny looked at the others, "Looks like you're the only one." He moved onto another rack, not seeing anything on the last one. Luna snickered and grabbed a costume, "How about this one."

Her friend looked at her. Hanging from her hand was a Ghostbusters costume. The boy shook his head with a smirk, "Please, I'm a better ghost hunter than them with my eyes closed." Luna put the costume back on the rack, asking, "What was it like, y'know, helping your parents with the whole "ghost" thing?" Danny laughed, "It was actually pretty fun," the two moved onto more costumes, "I got to help them make their ghost weapons, I actually have all of their old blueprints in my room," he sighed, "But then there were the times where it wasn't so awesome, like when I got thrown around by a ghost. I showed you some of the scars I got, right?" His friend nodded, "They tried to get me to stop every time I got hurt, but I didn't really give them a choice." Danny moved a costume aside, it being replaced by a Casper costume. He pointed at it and turned to Luna, "By the way, no ghost looks like that."

By the time all of the kids had picked out their costumes, they were all hungry. All of them were sitting in the mall food court, eating after pushing two of the tables together. Their behavior wasn't much different from how the family ate at home, the exception being that the younger kids weren't throwing their food. Danny was seated at the end of table, Lincoln across from him. The eleven year old was talking at Danny about how cool he thought it was that the teen came from the most haunted place in the world.

"I mean come on, a ghost sighting almost every day?" Lincoln waved his arms around, "That sounds like the coolest thing ever!"

Danny tried to deny him, "It's not rea-" He was interrupted, "And don't even get me started on Phantom!" The teen quirked his brow, "I could go on about him forever, I've watched every YouTube video about him at least a hundred times each and I have every one of his comics-" This time Danny interrupted him, "Phantom has a comic?"

Lincoln looked at him as though he were a stranger, "You didn't know? It's only the second greatest comic out there! It's only been going on for about nine months though, but it's really..." Danny leaned back in his seat, tuning the boy out, 'There's really a comic about me?' The idea sounded strange to him. Was he really that famous outside Amity Park? He smirked, 'I wonder how much they've gotten wrong about me?'

The teen didn't get much time to dwell on his new thoughts, as a stream of blue mist blew out of the corner of his mouth. He bolted upright, startling Luna who was seated next to him, "Dude, you alright?" The teens eyes flew around the food court, trying to find what had set his ghost sense off. Not seeing anything, he forced himself to relax and answer his friend, "Yeah, I just gotta, uh..." He grasped at any excuse he could use, finally saying, "I have to go to the bathroom."

Not giving any of the Louds time to respond, Danny got up from the table and walked toward the restroom as fast as he could. He shoved the door open and booked it into one of the stalls, 'Shit, I was hoping this wouldn't happen again!' He thought as the familiar white rings engulfed him. Danny was replaced by Phantom in his new outfit. His feet were covered by black combat boots, the legs of black cargo pants tucked into them, the white pockets on the legs standing out. His torso was covered by a black shirt, the long sleeves leading to the gloves he had taken. A white denim vest was worn over the shirt, a black hood sprouting from the collar and covering his hair, a tuft peaking out of the front. Covering his face was the mask he had taken the night before, his glowing eyes giving the lens a green tint.

He even hadn't left the bathroom when the screaming started. He flew through the wall as fast as he could. The food court was in chaos. People shoved past each other, tipping tables left and right in an effort to get to the exits. He tried to spot the Louds, but the crowd was too dense, all the faces blurred together. He looked back toward where they had been eating. They weren't there. The halfa began to panic, 'Where are they, I have to make sure they're safe?!' Finally he spotted an empty section of the food court. Everyone else was avoiding it like the plague, and Danny saw why.

Skulker floated in the air, facing the wall. Below him were three ghost hounds. The hounds were encircling the Loud family, backing them against the wall. The oldest children were pushing the others behind them, trying to act as human shields, should the ghosts attack.

"Where is he?!" Danny could hear the ghost hunter even over the noise of the frenzy, "I know the ghost child is here, the lot of you reek of his scent!" Lori shouted back in a shaky voice, "We don't even know who you're talking about!" Skulker growled at her, "Don't play dumb with me, girl, Phantom's stench clings to you, now tell me where he is before I let my pets make snacks out of you!" The Louds kept calling back to the ghost that they didn't know who he was talking about. The ghost's metal eyes narrowed, "Have it your way..." He snapped his fingers. The dogs leapt at the family.

Danny dropped onto the hound in the middle, his knee driving its head into the tile floor, making a spider web of cracks. He grabbed the other two by their faces. He cracked their heads together, eliciting piercing yelps. He span in a circle, throwing the ghosts at Skulker. The hunter grinned as he went intangible, the hounds passing through him, "There you are, Whelp."

Phantom kicked the dog he had landed on away, "Nice to know you can still see, Skulker." The mask muffled his voice, effectively disguising it, "You still after my "pelt?""

"I wouldn't be the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter if I weren't, child." The ghost cracked his suit's knuckles. Danny smirked under his mask, "Please, at this point you should called the "Ghost Zone's greatest blunder," with how many times I've sent you back there."

Skulker's eyes narrowed, "Still with the unamusing banter." Without warning the Skulker's suit sprouted rockets, causing Danny to throw up a shield around himself and the Louds. The explosives hit the outside of the bubble as the halfa turned to his new family, "As soon as he stops firing I'm going to drop the shield, when that happens, you all need to get out as fast as you can."

Luna spoke up as more missiles hit the shield, "What about Danny," the worry in her voice weighed on the boy, "He wasn't with us when this guy showed up! We need to find him!"

"Don't worry about him, he'll be fine," Danny told her, "But I need you all to get out as soon as you can, so I can take care of this guy alright?" She didn't respond, but there was something in her eyes, something the boy didn't like the looks of. Lori and Leni grabbed their youngest sisters, holding them close as Phantom prepared to lower the shield. The second Skulker stopped firing, Danny dropped the bubble. The Louds ran for the exit as the ghost-boy threw ectoblasts at the hunter.

As they made their way to the doors, Luna couldn't stop thinking about her friend. Worry clenched in her chest. They were halfway to the exit when she took a hard left, running toward the restroom Danny had went to. She ignored the cries of her family, intent on finding her friend. The girl had almost made it to the restroom when onw of the ghost hounds from earlier appeared in front of her.

Luna froze in her tracks. The dog took a step toward her, making her take two steps back. He got caught on a chair that had been tipped over. She fell back, barely managing not to land on her back. She stared at the dog and it stared back. It leapt at her. She screwed her eyes shut, waiting for death.

Danny grappled with Skulker. He kneed the ghost on the stomach, making him double over, before swinging his foot into the side of his head. Skulker righted himself, grabbing his spinning helmet at making it face forward. He extended his claws, the serrated blades gleaming in the light. He swung at the halfa, who leaned back to avoid the strike. Danny followed up with an ectoblast into Skulker's chest. The hunter grabbed the boy by his wrist. He span him in the air before letting him go, flinging him into the wall. He cried out, the impact making his hood fall. He hit the ground, dazed, as Skulker landed in front of him. The hunter lifted the halfa off of the ground by his hair. The ghost grinned, his voice coming out like venom, "Any last words, child?" He dragged the tip of his claws along the boy's face, drawing ectoplasm.

The boy didn't respond. He looked over Skulker's shoulder. His eyes flashed red at what he saw, changing the tint of his mask. He saw one of Skulker's hounds bearing down on Luna. Danny grabbed the hand that held him, rage building inside him. His hands burst into green flames, the fire melting through the suit's wrist.

The hunter cried out, his hand releasing his prize. Danny shoved past him. The boy tore across the food court, flying as fast as he could. The dog leapt, a scream ripping through the air. It was Danny's.

His shoulder hit the dog in its side, throwing it through the wall and into the restroom. He rounded on Luna, "What are you still doing here? I thought I told you to leave!" The girl shook away her shock, glaring at Phantom, "If you think that I'd leave my friend behind in something like this you're dead wrong!" She picked herself up, "There's no way I could live with myself if he got hurt and I could have done something about it." Danny sighed, looking her in the eye. He spoke gently, "As long as I'm here, nothing will happen to your friend. I promise."

"How touching," Skulker floated above them, the rest of his hounds gathering beneath him. Danny pushed Luna behind him, keeping his eyes on the ghost and his pets. The hunter's right hand was missing, wires sparking from the stump, "The ghost child made a new friend, let's hope this one lasts longer than the last two."

The halfa's eyes narrowed under his mask. His hands erupted in flame again. The boy kicked off the ground, flying at Skulker. The dogs pounced at him, their mouth foaming. He dodged their attack, causing them to collide in the air. Danny swung at the ghost hitting him in the jaw. Skulker flew into the ground, part of the suit's face having melted under the fire. He raised his fist, a hatch in his arm opening. A missile rose from the compartment and fired at Danny. The halfa twisted out of the way, the missile flying through the glass dome ceiling before exploding. Danny dropped out of the air, letting gravity bring him down on Skulker's leg. The metal creaked before it snapped, exposing more of the suit's wiring. The ghost cried out as Danny reached into one of the pockets of his cargo pants.

He pulled out the claw that Wulf had given him a month ago. He span it in his palm and slashed the air with it. The space where the claw passed through was ripped open, an unearthly howling piercing the air as a hole to the Ghost Zone appeared. The boy lifted the hunter off of the ground, preparing to throw him through the breach.

Skulker's dogs snapped at him, making Danny let go of and jump back from their master. He charged his hands with ghost fire as the three dogs hunched forward, ready to pounce. The air thickened between them, each waiting for the other to move first.

The hounds lunged. Danny ducked under one of them. He placed his hands on the ground, swinging his foot overhead and into one of the others. The last of the hounds jumped, attempting to land on top of the halfa. He rolled out of the way and fired an ectoblast at it. The hound turned intangible, letting the attack fly through it. The first dog pounced at him. He grabbed it by the throat but it's weight threw him off balance, forcing him to the ground.

The canine snapped and snarled as it tried to bite into him, smearing his visor with saliva. Its jaws clamped onto the edges of the mask as Danny's arms blazed with green fire. His grip on the hound's neck grew tighter as he forced it off, sending his mask with it. The burnt ghost hit the floor, sending the mask skidding across the floor. It slid to a stop at Luna's feet. Danny didn't have time to retrieve it before another dog attacked him. He span around it, grabbing it by the tail. He swung the canine into one of the others, using their momentum to throw them through the tear in reality and into the Ghost Zone.

The burnt hound growled at the boy when he turned toward it. Its charred fur smoked as it began to charge him.

"Enough!"

The canine stopped at the sound of its master's voice. Danny turned to look at Skulker, having almost forgotten about the hunter. The ghost whistled, signaling the dog to come to him. He put one of the straps of his gear into its mouth, "We're done here, take us home." The hunter was dragged to the portal as he spoke to Danny, "This isn't the last you've seen of me, Ghost Child, I will be back and will mount your head on my wall."

With those last words Skulker and his hound went through the portal, which closed behind them. Danny let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, the tension leaving his body, "Promises, promises." He scanned the floor in search of his mask, "Where did you go?"

Luna watched as Phantom looked for his mask. It sat in her hands. She wanted to hand it to him, to thank him for saving her. But his face made her freeze in place. His eyes caught sight of the mask in her hands. They looked each other in the eye.

"Danny?"

A/N: Well that's that! I'm not sure how I feel I did on this chapter, I like it but I keep feeling like I could have done better. Oh well.

I actually didn't intend for this chapter to be as long as it is but I won't complain. Anyway, here's the song list I talked about in the beginning. These will come up later in the story and will make sense when they're used.

I'll Fight - Daughtry
Light On - David Cook
Whatever It Takes - Life House
Love Me Dead - Ludo
Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down
Everything to Me - Bowling For Soup
How to Save a Life - The Fray
Walk - Foo Fighters
I'm Still Here - Goo Goo Dolls
Castle of Glass - Linkin Park
Everchanging(Acoustic) - Rise Against
Hero - Skillet
Chalk Outline - Thee Days Grace
Miracle - Shinedown
(Bonus) Louder than Ever - Daughtry (Get it?)
(Bonus) Your Girlfriend Sucks - Reel Big Fish
(Bonus) What I Meant to Say - Daughtry
(Bonus) On the Inside - Daughtry

Like it? Hate it? I could have put more risqué songs on here like FMLYHM by Seether (Give it a listen, you won't regret it, unless your parents are around). The bonus songs may not be used, but I think I'll be using Your Girlfriend Sucks later.

I'll cover the reviews next chapter because my computer's being a cunt, don't worry I'll give out two gold stars. Until then, I'll be ripping my hair out while writing part two to this .