Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom, Static Shock, or anything else that might show up in this fanfic. Okay, this is my…nineteenth try at finding a fanfic that I want to type. I JUST CANT FIND ONE. So, I'm gonna try this one. Who knows? Maybe it'll work for me, and I wont run out of ideas. But one thing's for sure. You'll see a lot of super heroes in here…and a lot of twists that you wont see comin'.

Destroyed Hero
A Danny Phantom Fanfic

Chapter 1
They Exist

:::Small Diner:::

'Daniel Fenton(14) went missing six weeks ago, vanishing from his home town of Amity Park, Illinois. His parents, Madeline Fenton and Jack Fenton, mounted a large search for the boy, but no body was discovered, and Daniel had not returned. His mother is urging all to look for him, and begs the police to not give up their search for him-' A scoff interrupted the reader's concentration on the paper; the reader was not surprised to find that he was the one who had scoffed at the words. He threw down the paper, the thin sheets narrowly missing the cold eggs that sat before him. He brushed his messy black bangs from his eyes, his right blue eye and left green eye with a slit pupil glaring down at the words. "If only they knew why he went missing." The young boy growled, nearly ripping the picture of a black-haired boy with perfect blue eyes grinning at him. If only that boy had known that in a few months from the taking of that picture, his entire life would be turned upside down, starting with a 'broken' portal in his parent's basement.

"'ey! You done with that paper, kid?" Asked a voice from behind. The boy looked up, only to gaze into the drunken scowl of a man that sat at the bar of the diner. "Y'mind if I borrow it?" The boy shrugged, rolled up the paper, and tossed it to the man, who grabbed the paper, his eyes already skimming over the small black print of the front page. His eyes landed on the picture, and he gagged on his alcoholic beverage. He looked up in a hurry, trying to find the kid that nearly matched the picture of the boy that was in the paper, aside from a few alien-like features. But the boy was gone, the plate of eggs that had been there seconds before now cleared, with a crisp ten dollar bill laying on the table, underneath the drained cup of water.

:::Dakota:::

Two blurs, one green and one purple, shot through the sky, twisting around each other in the dimming light of the afternoon sun. "Hey, Gear! I think this patrol's pretty much wrapped up…wanna head back to headquarters?" A young, African-American boy with thick black dreadlocks asked, his onyx eyes turning to look at his helmet-wearing friend. The mentioned friend, known as Gear by the people of Dakota, flew along side the dark-skinned boy, rocket shoes propelling him through the air, while his friend, known as Static, shot forward on what was simply called the Disk, a round, thin sheet of metal that could slide in on itself to be stored in Static's pocket; it was moved through the air by Static's electrokinesis.

That was what was weird about the two teens mentioned above. They were what were known as 'Bang Babies'. They had been involved, one way or another, in an explosion of a certain type of gas that had given them special powers. Static, who had been at the explosion first hand because he had been accidentally involved in a gang fight, was exposed to the gas, and had inhaled a large amount of it. The result to this was him gaining the ability to control and generate electricity. Gear, on the other hand, hadn't been anywhere near the explosion. Gear had helped Static through the trial of gaining control over his electric powers, and, through Static, had been exposed to a small amount of the gas that had been left on Static's clothes. Since Gear hadn't been exposed directly as others had, all he gained was super-intelligence; not something to really laugh at, considering he could defuse a bomb in 1.96452 seconds, while a trained professional would take over 15 seconds, up to 3 minutes.

Unlike other Bang Babies, who had begun to use their powers to rob banks, attack others, or for other reasons, Static and Gear had focused their abilities into combating others like them, so they could protect the people that they were close to. That was how Static and Gear were born…but Virgil Hawkins and Richie Foley had been alive much longer, and were charged with the duty to keep their super hero personas a secret. Sometimes, the superhero duo even referred to it as 'babysitting' when they had to work harder to keep their secret life just that. A secret.

Gear shifted his gaze to Static, and grinned. "Sure. I don't see much of a point just flying around if someone's not gonna do anything. And don't you mean the gas station?" Static rolled his eyes as they began to descend towards a run-down gas station, with the windows boarded up, and most of the wooden door hanging off. The two landed, and pushed aside the wooden door, revealing a high-tech metal door hidden right behind the rotted wood. Static placed a finger to what looked like a key hole, and released a short shock of purple electricity, turning the gears inside to open the door. Once it slid open, he and Gear walked inside, allowing the door to close and lock behind them.

"Nah, I mean headquarters. C'mon Rich! You spent a month trying to get me to call it headquarters, and now you're calling it a gas station? That's just unfair!" Static said, removing his mask from his eyes, and tossing it into his open blue backpack. "At least nobody will suspect this as the headquarters of Dakota's teen heroes." He chuckled. A loud beeping erupted from Static's pocket, and with haste he withdrew a silver cell phone. He hit the talk button, and held it to his ear. "Hello?" He said into the phone, and then fell silent, waiting for a response.

"Virgil, it's your father." The deep voice on the other line said. Static groaned.

"Pops, before you start…what trouble am I in?" Static asked, his voice a whine. His father chuckled on the other line.

"Nothing, yet. It's actually the trouble that another boy is in. Can you come down to the Community Center? I could use the help of another teen boy with this one." His father then abruptly hung up, leaving Static to blink in confusion.

"Well that was rather new." He muttered, shoving his phone into his pocket, and searching through the electronic mess on the floor for his 'Virgil' clothes. A blonde boy came out of the side room, wearing glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Hey, Rich. Wanna come down to the Center with me? My Pops apparently has a new case that he could use some help on." Static said, on the verge of walking into the next room to change, just as his partner-in-anti-crime had.

"Yeah, sure. I have nothin' better to do for the time being." Richie responded, and threw the shirt Static had forgotten to the superhero. "Now go get changed, or I'll drag you down the street in only your boxers!"

:::Freeman Community Center:::

Virgil Hawkins and Richie Foley entered the large Community Center of Dakota, and instantly headed across the lobby, and towards Virgil's father's office, where they could already see Robert Hawkins attempting to converse with someone. The two silently slipped into the office, and watched without a sound as Robert questioned a boy a little younger than Virgil himself.

His hair was messy and black, his bangs falling in front of his mismatched eyes. His left eye - while the right was blue and normal - was neon green, with the pupil a cat-like slit. His ears were another thing. Instead of being rounded at the tip, they came back, tapering quickly to a point, like the ears of an elf. The final strange thing about his face was the fangs that replaced his canine teeth, and poked out from his upper lip. He was dressed strangely, considering the 95 degree weather that was currently occurring.

He was dressed in a long-sleeve black shirt, underneath a white and green hoodie that was nearly completely zipped. His jeans were dark and long, going so far as to even bag around his ankles slightly. He wore dark black combat boots, and around his waist, keeping his black shirt to his sides, was a chain serving for a belt; the chain looked like it had been dug up from some junk yard. His hands were handcuffed together at the wrist, and another pair of handcuffs were hooked around the chain in the middle of the first pair of handcuffs, with the second cuff attached to the arm of a chair. Surprisingly, yet another pair of handcuffs were securing his hands to the arm of the soft chair he was sitting in.

He slouched, keeping his back away from the back of the chair, and his eyes were staring straight forward, as if he couldn't see anything. His mouth was clamped shut, and he didn't even glance at Virgil or Richie.

"Please, son. Just tell me your name. You know what, you don't even have to tell me that. Tell me anything about yourself." Robert said, talking in a soft tone to the silent boy. The boy just raised his arms slightly, and let them fall back once more; or, at least, as far as his arms could go before the handcuffs would stop him. "I know you want to be let go. But we need to know where you're from, so we can get you back home. Wont you tell me?" The boy remained silently, and just gave a small tug on the handcuffs, before he stopped moving altogether. Robert sighed, and stepped back. He turned to his son and his son's best friend, a tired smile stretching across his face. "Thanks for coming Virgil, Richie. Can I speak to you two outside?" Robert asked, and, without waiting, headed towards the door. The two younger boys followed, and closed the door behind them.

"Hey, Pops. Who's the kid you're working with?" Virgil asked, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder where the boy was still handcuffed to the chair. Robert sighed, and shook his head slowly.

"If only I knew, son." Virgil blinked at his father.

"Huh?"

"Nobody knows anything about him. His name, where he's from, his birthday, why he's here…how he even got here, or how long he's been on the streets…"

"Whoa whoa whoa…that kid's been on the street?" Richie asked, looking shocked. "No offense, Mr. Hawkins, but I've seen kids that live on the street, and they don't look like that. I mean…they look much better than he does."

"I know. The kid looks like he's starved." Robert answered. "But he wont eat anything. I've been trying to get him to eat for the past two hours, but he just turns away from it all. That's all he really does. Small movements. No words, no reactions to really anything…" Robert sighed. "The police brought him in this morning; caught him trying to swipe some food from a McDonalds dumpster. They chased him for a solid half hour, and they were in their police cruisers; that kid really can move when he wants to. They only actually took him down after he was to exhausted to run anymore. Kid needed a oxygen mask just to stay conscious after exerting himself so much so suddenly. They brought him here afterwards once they tried to figure out who he was and where he was from; they thought I could get some info out of him, considering I've helped them on cases like this before."

"So then why's he handcuffed? With three cuffs?" Virgil asked.

"That's a weird thing about him, besides his skill at running and evading. They brought him in in handcuffs, since he had tried running before. Once they mentioned that they wanted me to find out who a family friend was who was close, the kid basically went berserk. Tried to tear up the place to get out. You'd think that'd be hard with handcuffs, right?" Robert waited as the two teens nodded. "Apparently, so did he. He broke out of the handcuffs, and I mean literally. The cuffs snapped right at the chain; the actual cuffs are still around his forearms, since we couldn't get them off without him pulling away. They decided to use three to keep him here." Robert sighed. "I was hoping that you two could talk to him. You know, make him feel comfortable and get some info on who he is and whatnot. You think you could do it?" Virgil grinned.

"At the very least, Pops, we could try. Besides! Isn't one kid that I've talked to who didn't start talkin' back!"

"That's 'cause they wanted to tell you to shut your motor mouth up." Richie laughed, and made his way into the room with the mystery boy, Virgil following with the silent promise to kill him later.

The boy was as they had left him; arms handcuffed to the side of the chair, eyes forward, slouched posture…hardly even looked like he was breathing. Virgil started with a simply question. "Hey, you're not dead, are you?" The boy hardly responded to that; his right index finger twitched slightly, but that was it. "Well, a reaction is a start…so, you wanna tell us your name?" The boy didn't even twitch this time. "How about we start with where you're from?" No reaction. "No? That's cool. We can start with another one. Um…how bout this one? What's your favorite color?" The boy's mouth twitched, almost like he was about to smile. Virgil grinned. "The beginning of a smile! Now we're getting somewhere! So, dude, why'd you run from the police?" The boy lowered his head slightly, but said nothing. At least he's reacting more to me than he did Pops. Virgil thought.

"Let me try, V." Richie said. "So, dude. My name's Richie Foley. I'm currently attending Dakota High in my Sophomore Year, as is my friend Virgil Hawkins. We kinda both suck at Science cause we don't study, and we both hate English. With a passion." The boy cracked a knowing smile, but quickly wiped it away. "In our free time, we…uh, we…um…play…video games…about superheroes. Yeah, that's it." Richie smiled uncertainly at that. "I like computers to, and Virgil like shocking himself with electricity, the nut." Virgil scowled. "So…wanna tell us somethin' about yourself?" The boy was still, and for a second, the teens thought he wasn't going to do anything. But then, ever so slowly, he shook his head. Then, he quickly nodded, before pausing, and shook his head again, this time more roughly. "Aw! Come on! I saw you nod! You wanna tell us something!" The boy nodded his head. "So…what is it? Your name? Where you came from? Your favorite COLOR?" Richie said the last dramatically, and received a small smile from the boy yet again. Once again, though, it was gone in an instant. The two teens waited in silence, until, slowly, the boy turned his head towards the window, his hands twisting lightly in the cuffs that held him. He glanced up pointedly to Virgil, then back to the cuffs around his wrists. Virgil grinned.

"You'll be let go once we know who you are." He said. "And then maybe you can eat something, since you were hungry enough to try and eat dumpster-food, and then stubborn enough to not accept other food when handcuffed…so…will you tell us who you are yet?" Virgil questioned. Instead of answering, or even shaking his head, the boy lightly bit his lower lip, and then blew out, a shrill whistle escaping his mostly-closed mouth. The whistle increased in pitch and intensity, until Virgil and Richie had to cover their ears as the whistle increased to what had to be the frequency that only dogs could hear clearly.

Without warning, a large hawk-like creature came through the window. It looked mostly like a hawk, but with the plume of a cardinal on the back of its head. Where its feathery tail ended, two ribbon-like tails extended for two-and-a-half feet, doubling the overall size of the massive bird. The bird itself was pitch-black, silver eyes gleaming on its head. It had a streak of red doing from the center of its beak, between its eyes, and then down its back, ending with red tipping its primary feathers on its tail and wings. The ribbon-like tails also ended in the blood-red color. The bird's wings, altogether, had to be around four feet from tip to tip.

Flapping its wide wings frantically, the bird maneuvered closer to the boy, until it was nearly right on top of him. With a dramatic drop, the bird's black talons slashed through the handcuffs, and the boy instantly pulled his hands apart. He jumped to his feet, and clicked his tongue twice. The bird landed on his shoulder, its claws digging into the cloth of the boy's hoodie and shirt. In an instant, the boy had spurred himself towards the door, his feet hitting the ground hard as he dashed off.

"Whoa!" Virgil yelped, jumping out of the way lest the fleeing teen run him right over. The door was open, sunlight was filtering through the door from a window, everything was perfect…until Robert was suddenly in the doorway, blocking the boy's path at the last second. With a loud 'OOMPH!' from Robert and the boy, both bounced back and toppled to the ground, the bird being flung from the boy's shoulder with a loud screech of surprise. Virgil and Richie, still trying to process what had happened, just stared with dropped jaws. What happened next shocked all that could hear, which did not include Robert, since he was in the hallway, dazed.

"Idiot!" The bird squawked, flapping its wings as it ran at the boy, its eyes alight with anger. "Did you not see the man right in the doorway?" The boy rubbed his head, and fixed a glare on the bird, which just continued to flap its wings in fury. "I don't care if he appeared suddenly! You should have been able to dodge with your reflexes! And DON'T GIVE ME THAT EXCUSE!" The bird then began to rapidly peck the boy on the top of the head, its white beak smashing painfully into the boy's skull. The boy swatted the bird away, and rubbed his head, trying to somehow dull the pain.

"…uuuuhhh…" Richie said slowly, looking between the boy who wouldn't talk, and the bird that could. "Are we missing something here? Like, a 'the missing link' type of thing?" The bird slowly turned its eyes to Richie, and seemed to raise an eyebrow, or in the birds case, a thin streak of red that was over its left eye.

"Are you a bird that got caught in the Big Bang or something?" Virgil asked flat out after closing the door, allowing his father to stay outside while he still tried to break out of the daze that him hitting his head on the wall had brought up. The bird blinked twice slowly.

"Sure, let's go with that." It said, before putting part of its right wind to its neck, and coughed slightly as if to clear its throat. "My name is Pallian, and this is Ezrel." The bird said, before bowing slightly and awkwardly. "At your service." A hand suddenly clamped down on the bird's beak, forcing it to fall silent. It turned out that the boy was the one who had done so, and had turned a warning look to the bird.

"No, we're not." The boy said, his voice slightly rough from non-use, and from what sounded like the wind that rushed out of his lungs to help form the words was brushing against something in his throat. "Pallian, nice job at staying secretive. Hours of not talking is ruined by a bird." Pallian glowered, as if being referred to as a bird was a major insult. "And I told you to not call me Ezrel in front of people." The boy stood, allowing the grumbling Pallian to fly up and land, once more, on his shoulder. "Sorry, Richie Foley, Virgil Hawkins, but I really must be going." The boy, referred to as Ezrel by Pallian, made his way for an open window that would lead to the bushes beyond the window, and the street farther off. Virgil darted his hand out, and gripped the boy's shoulder that wasn't occupied by a giant talking bird, who seemed to have magically shrunk slightly, so its head was only slightly above the top of the boy's.

"Wait a minute. You can't just leave. You still need to answer some questions. Not because I was told to ask you, but because I'm now seriously curious." Virgil said, his face betraying nothing. The boy jerked out of his grip, and looked over his shoulder so his blue eye was focused on the two.

"…you have ten seconds. I guess I owe you that much, since all this is going to take some explaining to your dad…" He muttered.

"What's your name?" Richie started off.

"You can call me Danny Zerex; don't try to enter that name into the data base or anything. I made it up. Sort of." The boy grumbled the last part to himself. "Pallian here, and others like him, named me Ezrel though. Depends on what you'd like to use." He glanced at the clock. "Look at that, time's up. Bye." The boy walked towards the window, and stuck one leg out, prepared to slip out and away.

"Wait! Why did you leave your home?" Virgil asked. "People that care about you have to be there." The boy looked down; Virgil and Richie hadn't really decided on what to call him yet.

"I bet there still are, if they're not pissed enough to hate me for running away…" The boy muttered, mostly to himself, before looking to Virgil and Richie once more with his blue eye. "You've heard about how humans run away from the unexplained to protect themselves, right?" He asked, and Virgil and Richie nodded; this was common knowledge, especially when they were involved in defeating Bang Babies. The boy turned his head, so his green eye was fixed on them. "What about the unexplained running away from the humans to protect the people?" With a sudden crash, the boy was gone, and out of sight, letting the words linger in the air around Virgil and Richie…

:::That Night:::

"Pop's pretty angry about how the kid ran off." Virgil said, speaking into the walkie-talkie-like box that Static and Gear used to communicate, and through that, Virgil and Richie when they wer both alone. "And how we kinda let him go." Richie laughed on the other line.

"Sorry, V, but you're the one who didn't do anything to stop him." His voice came through the small speaker. "He was the case of your dad, not mine."

"Yeah yeah, so you can't be held responsible…hey, did you do a search on the kid yet?" Virgil asked, looking away from his laptop as he tried to think of another search engine he could use. He waited as faint static came through the line, before the Foley finally responded.

"Yeah, but I cant find anything. I've tried Danny, Danny Zerex, Zerex, DZ, Ezrel, Danny Ezrel, Ezrel Zerex, DEZ…every combination I could think of that would fit the three names the guy gave us. Nothing! How about you? Any luck on your end?" Richie replied, his line cutting off as he started to yawn.

"No…I've tried everything that you have to, and even on three different search engines. There's nothing! I even hacked into the government files with a little…juice." He snapped his fingers, purple sparks flying off as he said this. "Nothing came up with those names. It's like the kid doesn't even exist!"

"We're forgetting that he said that he made the name Danny Zerex up. Danny might be his real first name, but that doesn't mean that Zerex is. Besides, the word Zerex sounds to alien to be a real word from a real language. It doesn't come up in any translation engines I've found on the internet… And he said that a bird gave him the name of Ezrel, so that's probably why nothing comes up when we enter Ezrel in there, and that's if we spelled Ezrel and Zerex right." Richie rambled. He probably would have continued, but Virgil cut him off.

"Wait a minute…Rich, that's it! The bird!" Virgil quickly keyed in 'Bird Encyclopedia' into the Google search bar, and hit enter with more force than was probably necessary.

"What's it? What's the bird have to do with anything?" Richie asked.

"Well, think about it! What kind of bird is that big and can talk, and even looks like that?" Virgil asked as he clicked on a link, and found a details bar on the encyclopedia that contained every bird known to man. And even three that were known to Superman.

"It agreed with you when you asked if it was a Bang Bird, remember?" Richie asked, then laughed at his own play on words.

"It said sure, Richie. That's not a definite yes, bro!" Virgil said as he typed in different words in the details bar. Black and red came up with nothing that was the same. Ribbon-tails didn't produce anything either. Nor did 'giant', 'size-changing', or 'talking'. Virgil leaned back on his bed, breathing out deeply with wide eyes. "Rich, there's nothing in this entire encyclopedia that matches that bird…so…" Virgil hit the back button, and began to type a description into the Google bar. He gently tapped enter, and waited as the links that would hopefully give him answers appeared. Virgil breathed out in shock again.

There was only one link.

"Richie, I hope this answers our question about the bird…it might give us some more answers to our questions…" Richie was silent as Virgil clicked the link. The entire screen turned black, and for a second, Virgil thought that his computer had been shut down by some virus or a depleted battery. But, when he squinted, he could see a small text growing larger and larger in the black background. Soon, the letters were in full view. But there weren't many. The title was written in red, with a speeding bird that resembled the bird that was with the boy closely, with only a few differences in the markings and the color tone of the red and black. Above the bird, acting as the title to the page, were the words 'Drac Ezrel'. Two bars were right under the title that looked like it was on fire, one with the white word for 'Identification', and the one right below it for 'Password'. The only other words were the words 'Identification and Password needed to enter Drac Ezrel'. Virgil relayed all of this through the walkie-talkie known as the Shock Box. "And there's no 'sign up' option on here. How do people get an ID and make a password without that?"

"What if its for something with the government? They'd assign this stuff and put it in through their central computer, wouldn't they?" Richie asked. Virgil shrugged, even though Richie wasn't there.

"If it's government-related…" Virgil thought out loud, and put a hand to the screen of his computer. Allowing purple electricity to surround his hand, he shocked his laptop, and waited for his powers to do their thing and hack into the website. But, with a loud hiss of malfunctioning wires, and the dancing of sparks, the computer went dead. "YOUCH!" Virgil yelped, and tossed the burning laptop off of his bed, and onto the floor, where it basically burst into flames. After putting out the small blaze, Virgil picked up the Shock Box. "Uh…Richie? …don't try to hack that website…"

:::Dark part of Dakota:::

Two beings sat in the darkness, one a human, and the other a giant bird. "If you wanted to get out of there so quickly Ezrel…then why're we still in this city? Shouldn't we have continued on by now?" Asked the bird.

"You can go ahead and leave any time you want, Pallian. I didn't demand for you to come with me…that was your home, not mine, and I decided to leave so they wouldn't find me. It was becoming to much of a hassle to protect the town, keep that secret from my family…and then try to keep another secret from my friends, and going into The Dragon's Spine." The human referred to as Ezrel sighed. "It was to hard to live the life of Ezrel and Danny."

"You're still living it now, you know. And now those two humans know both your names." The bird crowed, as if he was laughing. The human fixed an annoyed, dual-colored stare on the large creature.

"Unless I'm mistaken, you gave out the one that they're not supposed to know about!" The bird stopped laughing at this accusation. "Besides, it's not in any database, and they cant get into Drac Ezrel without Identification and a Password…and a Dracien Crystal…and the Dracien ability…and a card scanner." The boy said. "Yeah, that'd be the only way to find out what 'Ezrel' is, and that my real name's Danny."

"Now who's the dumb one?" Pallian squawked. "You just said what your real name is!"

"Yeah, but it's the middle of the night, in the darkest part of town. I don't think anyone's going to use it against me here, and I doubt there's some surveillance system that's set up to catch runaways giving out their real names to magical talking birds."

"Point taken." The bird said almost instantly. "You never answered why we're still here, though." Danny shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess it's because I feel at home here. There's what they call 'Bang Babies', so I'd fit right in here. And since I've never really heard of them, then news of anything that the others at home would recognize wont even reach them. I guess it's more of a 'I can blend in here' type of deal." Danny answered. "He wont find me either, since there's enough weird stuff happening here, and if I stay downwind, then his rat-nose wont find out my location."

"But what if he does? Then you'll kinda be screwed. I don't think we'll be able to break you out again." Pallian warned. Danny chuckled.

"I know. But it's not my intention to be caught again by the man that started this entire thing in the first place." Danny responded in an even tone. He stood up, and looked down to the bird that began to grow inside, until its head was level with his elbow. "You ready to go on a patrol?" Pallian sighed with a dreamy look on his hawk-like face.

"Night patrols…I thought I'd never be able to do one again…" He said dreamily, and took to the air, his massive wings causing the air around him to vibrate. Danny grinned.

"Neither did I, Pallian, neither did I…"

:::The Next Day:::

"You've got to be kidding me!" Static yelped as he performed yet another back flip on his Disk, before firing off small bursts of electricity at the shadow-like man below him that was firing off his own electricity. "Gear, since when could Ebon fire off electricity?" Static called to his partner and friend, and looked over to him right in time to see a way out-of-date dinosaur of a computer crash into Gear's chest, sending the hovering boy hurtling towards the ground. "And throw computers with his mind?" Static lowered himself slightly to dodge a remote that was flying at his face to fast for comfort. "Since when could you do this stuff, Ebon! What'd you do, get a whiff of more gas?"

"Ebon? Who is this Ebon of which you speak?" Ebon asked, his voice much higher and not his own, with the stereotypical New Jersey accent applied to his words.

"C'mon, cut the crap, Ebon!" Gear grumbled as he raised himself into the air on his rocket-powered skate-shoe-things once more.

"I have already informed you, weak humans! Who is this Ebon? I am TECHNUS, MASTER OF ALL TECHNOLOGY AND ALL THINGS ELECTRONIC AND BEEPING! AND I SHALL-"

"Stop my yammering!" Came a nearly-perfect cry from off to the right, from the top of a building. "Seriously, Techy, do you ever stop talking?" Another voice came, seemingly from the same place, but with a different tone. Ebon, Static, and Gear all looked to where a boy sat on the edge of a nine-story building, his legs crossed, one hand in his lap, and the other propped up against a box, with his head in that hand.

He had messy white hair, with the bangs falling before his eyes. His right eye was blood-red with a slit pupil, while his left eye was solid neon-green; there was no pupil whatsoever, and the sclera of his eye was pitch black. His ears, strangely, were tapered off to a quick tip, like elf ears. In his mouth, were four sharp fangs, the upper fangs poking out from underneath his upper lip. His nails were claws, sharpened to a fine point. The boy was dressed in a loose white t-shirt underneath a black hoodie, with a large white D with a P on the inside on the upper back of the hoodie. Around his neck was a black chain, and hanging from it was a black copy of the DP symbol that was on his hoodie. Hanging from his neck was another necklace, this one on a white chain. On this was an about two-inch-long green crystal, shaped like a hexagonal cylinder, coming to a sharp tip at the bottom. Hanging from this chain was also a green dog tag with something written in silver on it. The boy's boots were white, and he wore white fingerless gloves.

Ebon pointed dramatically. "IT IS YOU, CHILD! WHY MUST YOU FOLLOW ME EVERYWHERE?" He yelled. The boy raised a white eyebrow.

"Well…I kinda didn't…and dude, I don't. It's kinda hard to ignore my alarm though, if you know what I mean." The boy said.

"BUT WHY ARE YOU HERE, CHILD?"

"Because I can be. Why don't you go talk to Plasmius? He'll tell you why I left. And you can also tell him that I'm gonna be heading west once we're done here, since that idiot's still heading north." Static looked between Ebon and the boy.

"Uuuuhhh…and you're talking to Ebon why?" He asked. The boy blinked with wide eyes at Static, as if he had just noticed him.

"Um…yeah, that's not Ebon." The boy said, pointing.

"And how would you know that?" Gear questioned. "He looks pretty Ebon-like to me."

"It's called possession. Any fool could do it…if you're the right kind of fool. Not human fool, obviously. And I can show you." The boy said, before suddenly toppling head-first off the top of the building. Static and Gear shouted in shock, as did the small crowd that was forming below the two hovering heroes, and the currently-falling boy. Right before the boy hit the pavement, though, he veered up, and shot forward like a rocket, inches from the ground. With a loud THUD! the boy slammed into Ebon…and then vanished from sight completely. Ebon, though, fell over, and began to convulse on the ground, his limbs twitching and shaking.

"Uh…should we do something?" Gear whispered, and Static shrugged, honestly confused. Suddenly, the boy appeared again at Ebon's side, holding what looked like a white-cloaked arm with a green hand sticking out of it. He was grunting, pulling with quite a bit of strength on the arm that was coming out of the side of Ebon's chest. Suddenly, with a powerful yank, a humanoid figure came flying out of Ebon's body, leaving the shadow-like boy to stop convulsing, and lay unconsciously on the street. The boy turned with the figure following his momentum, and slammed the figure into the ground with a powerful shockwave that rattled windows for buildings and buildings down the road. The boy stood straight.

"Now, Technus…you gonna tell all these good folk that you're sorry for possessing someone again after I strictly told you not to?" The boy asked, peering down into the crater that the impact had caused. A green-skinned man jumped up. He wore glasses, and had a white mullet.

"AH HA, CHILD! YOU TOLD ME THAT I COULDN'T POSSES PEOPLE IN AMITY PARK! BUT AS YOU CAN SEE, THIS IS NOT AMITY! AND-"

"Dude, did you just rhyme?" The boy asked, ignoring the other ramblings that the green-skinned man was about to shout out. He looked to the crowd. "Did he just rhyme?" He asked. Nobody made move, so the boy looked to Static and Gear. "Did he just rhyme?" He asked again. The two nodded slowly, and the white-haired youth looked to Technus. "Why are you rhyming? I thought your thing was screaming a monologue!" The boy said, and reached into a pocket off his hoodie. "I could always count on you guys…the Box Ghost for his 'BEWARE!', Skulker for his guns, the Lunch Lady for her offerings of food and then attacking with living meat, Plasmius being an evil fruit loop…and you with your monologues. I guess a few months could really change a ghost!" The boy suddenly whipped out a black and green thermos with the white DP symbol on the side, and uncapped it.

"What's he gonna do, splash soup all over the guy?" Gear asked, right before a whirlwind of white and blue energy spiraled out of the front of the thermos, and surrounded Technus. The green-skinned man screamed as he was pulled into the thermos, and the boy slammed down the lid firmly. "DUDE! I NEED TO GET ONE OF THOSE!" He said excitedly.

He's probably already thinking of taking it apart, and building ones that will capture Bang Babies… Static thought with a blank look. The boy pocketed the thermos-like device, and sighed, staring at the crater in the ground.

"If I had the money, I'd pay for repairs…" The boy muttered. "Unneeded damage right there" He suddenly took to the air, no Disk, not rockets, no nothing. He just started floating up, staring down at the center of the crater with his mismatched eyes.

"Hey!" Static yelled, propelling the Disk to bring him forward once the boy was at level with them. The white-haired youth looked over his shoulder, raising a white eyebrow, before turning completely. "How're you doing that?" He asked, pointing.

"Doing what?"

"Floating! How're you floating without anything to lift you?" Static questioned, waving his arms in the air. The boy cocked his head.

"Well…um…you know, I never actually thought about that. I guess I can…just…defy gravity or something."

"Like Superman!" Gear said.

"Uh, right. Like Superman." The boy agreed slowly.

"Who are you anyway? Are you a Bang Baby or something? Duh, of course you are." Static muttered the last to himself, palming his forehead.

"You can call me Phantom, since that's what others used to…and, actually, I'm a ghost." The boy answered. The two teen heroes nearly fell out of the sky laughing at this statement.

"Ghosts? Ghosts arent real!" Gear laughed. "It's scientifically impossible!"

"So is electric powers, and whatever that boy down there can do. And having a gas give you a super-brain." Phantom pointed out. "Believe what you want, but there are ghosts. There's not a Ghost Zone for nothing."

"…right…so if there's 'ghosts'…then is that what that was down there?"

"The guy with the mullet? Yeah, he's a ghost that I've fought numerous times. Since you'll probably end up fighting him again…his name's Technus. His abilities are controlling anything that has to do with technology, so you would be in trouble." Phantom motioned towards Gear. "You're called Gear, right? Well, Gear, you'd be kinda screwed in a fight if he managed to take over your tech. But he's kinda old, so I don't think he'd be able to use something that's this futuristic, so you might be good. Besides the abilities with technology, he has a small amount of electrical powers, like you do. Static, right?" Static nodded. "Well, I guess I should say it's good to meet you two. I've heard a lot about you. And, hopefully, you've heard nothing about me."

"Can't say we have. Why? You a bad guy?" Static asked, crossing his arms. Phantom held up his hands in a surrendering gesture.

"Actually, contrary to what my hometown thought, I'm the good guy. I protected them from ghosts that attacked frequently. They still attack there, but not as much, since their main point of entry was damaged a few months ago." Phantom responded. "That's why it's a good thing you didn't hear any rumors about me. Ghosts are supposed to be evil, so others made up stories to make me look that way as well, taking the damage that happened in a fight, multiplying it by seventeen, and then spitting it out into the community. If you had heard about me, you probably would have been like the Ghost Hunters I've come across: Shoot now, ask questions never." The floating boy looked down to the crater. "Just watch. Someone will know who I am, know I'm a ghost, take that crater, and say that I destroyed an entire street or two in a psychopathic rampage." Phantom muttered scornfully. "And then the GH will come, I'll have to lay low, and my week will be ruined."

"Why was that Bang Baby attacking Ebon?" Gear asked, raising an eyebrow from behind the visor of his helmet-mask(thing). "Bad guys usually don't attack bad guys. Not with Bang Babies, anyway. And nobody attacks Ebon. That's kinda crazy."

"For the last time, it was a ghost. And he attacked that guy 'Ebon'…you know what? I have no idea why Technus would attack a guy that wasn't made of computers." Phantom looked down to where Ebon was passed out on the street, and stared with a blank expression at the iPhone, probably stolen, that was laying next to him. "Oh. That might do it." He sighed. "Well, it was really refreshing to meet some other guys who want to help the common man…but I kinda have to fly. I don't need a news crew showing up and blasting my picture all over the TV; wouldn't really help in my 'lay low' plan." Phantom drifted backwards, and slowly began to become transparent. "Not that you'll take me up on the offer…but if you need me to help with an attacking ghost, don't worry. I'll be there." The body of the boy then was completely gone, his form having dissipated into thin air. Static and Gear just hovered there, silent, as they stared where the boy had vanished.

"…are you as confused as I am?" Gear asked in a whisper, looking sideways at his friend.

"I think so, Gear." Static answered. "I have no idea what just went down…and I have no idea who this 'Phantom' guy is either…wanna know what I say we do?" Static asked, slowly rotating so he was facing his techno friend.

"Huh?" Static suddenly sped off, shooting towards his house.

"GOOGLE IT!"

:::Hawkins Residence:::

"Anything yet?" Richie asked, waltzing into Virgil's room with a pack of sodas in one hand, and a bowl of salted potato chips in the other. He plopped down on the bed next to Virgil, leaning over slightly so that glare on the screen would lessen. Virgil sighed heavily once more; he had already sighed seven times before Richie had re-entered the room.

"Do you want to start on page 1, or 532?" Virgil asked, looking to his blonde friend. Richie's jaw dropped.

"That many pages? Are you serious?" He inquired, leaning over even more to glimpse the small black numbers on the top of the Google page.

"Dead serious, Rich. Over a billion hits!" Virgil responded, pointing. Richie looked at the few links that the screen would allow him to glimpse before he would have to scroll down. He suddenly snatched the laptop away from Virgil, and typed a few words into the search bar next to the word 'Phantom'. "What're you doing?" Virgil asked, popping a large chip in his mouth.

"Refining the search. We don't need stuff like Phantom of the Opera or 'Phantom-related-but-not-our-Phantom' bothering us throughout our research." Richie responded, and hit enter after he typed the last word of 'Ghost'. The list shortened, but only by a few, leaving a little over one billion hits on the page. Richie groaned.

"Well, it got the search down by a few thousand." Virgil pointed out. "And look at the first link. 'Phantom Watch'. Try that one." The young African-American said, pointing at the blue link. Richie moved the pointer so it hovered over the two words, and clicked it. A gray page popped up, with a few more links on it, and information on the first page along with a picture.

'Phantom Watch is all about the views of the Ghost Boy of Amity Park, Danny Phantom' The page began. Virgil and Richie looked to one another with hopeful eyes, and then began to read again, their eyes flying over the page with renewed vigor. 'All comments are welcome, whether they're good or bad, or somewhere in between.'

"Okay, but what about some info on this guy?" Virgil asked the screen, as if expecting an answer to come flying out of the speakers. Richie held back a laugh, and clicked the link that he had noticed earlier: History. More green words appeared on the gray screen, switching out the old for new. In silence, the teens began to read.

'In the year 2008, Amity Park was a normal town. Nothing really set it apart from any other boring town, and nothing happened to make it anywhere near as famous as Gotham, Metropolis, or Jump City. But in that year, something did happen. Creatures that nobody could explain began to appear. Some thought that were aliens. Others believed they were demons. Soon, the answer came. These creatures were ghosts.'

"That was before the Big Bang!" Virgil hissed, remembering a few months ago when the Bang had occurred. "Does that mean the kid's not a Bang Baby?"

"I dunno, Virg." Richie responded, his eyes still flying over the text.

'Around the same time that the ghosts started to actually appear in great numbers, another ghost appeared, apparently beating down the ghosts that would attack the human population. This ghost was labeled as Inviso-Bill by the public, but has made many attempts to correct them, saying that his real name is Danny Phantom. For months, he defeated ghosts, while at the same time, causing panic. Some called him a hero. Others a monstrosity that was to be killed. Like other ghosts, he was hunted. Seven months ago, though, he just vanished right off the face of the earth. He had been slightly stranger whenever he did appear for fights before he vanished, making the ghosts chase him instantly so nobody could witness the fight. Then he just vanished. He hasn't been heard from, nor seen, since. Rumors are going around that he finally moved on. There's others saying that he got tired of the mistreatment he got, and decided to stay in the Ghost Zone. Nobody really knows what happened to the Ghost Boy.' Virgil and Richie leaned back from the computer, having not noticed they had been leaning closer and closer to it every second.

"So…he just…vanished?" Richie asked slowly. Virgil nodded.

"I think so…but there's no guarantee if this is even the same guy. I mean, there could be two or something." Virgil said, and scrolled down to where there was a picture of a white-haired, green-eyed boy dressed in a black hazmat suit, his hand glowing green, with his palm facing what looked like a giant suit of armor that had come to life. "There's similarities, but he looks a lot different, too." Virgil pointed out.

"Well, if we see him again, why don't we ask him?" Richie asked. "Y'know…show him a picture of this guy, and ask him if that's him. It has been seven months since he was last seen. He could have changed."

"Clothes, yeah, but his ears were like elf ears. These kid's ears aren't. And the fangs, to, and the eyes, Rich." Virgil indicated what he was talking about by motioning to the picture every time he said some type of physical difference.

"But the symbol's the same." Richie pointed quickly to the same DP symbol at the top of the page that Phantom had been wearing. "I don't think someone would copy a symbol."

"What if it's a brand of clothing?"

"That makes hoodies and hazmat suits? I don't think so, V-man, but nice try. It'd make sense for Danny Phantom, though. Look. There's the 'D'," Richie traced the white 'D' on the screen. "and there's the 'P'." He tapped the opened inside of the D, which had the appearance of a solid, black 'P'. "Danny Phantom." He said with emphasis.

"So then why would Phantom be wearing the symbol for Danny Phantom. Unless…they're twin brothers!"

"Dude…they'd have to be identical for the similarities that are there…and you already pointed out the differences that would disprove that. Plus, what idiot would name their kid Danny Phantom, and their other kid, the other twin, Phantom."

"What idiot would name their kid Richie?" Richie stared at Virgil, and Virgil glared back. The two then broke down laughing, clutching their sides.

"V-man, I think you're becoming a little to over-protective of your theories." Richie laughed. Slowly, the laughing of the two friends ceased, sending the room into a roaring silence. "So…what're we going to do to figure out if this guy is good or bad?"

"Watch him, I guess." Virgil responded, shrugging. "If we attack the man, then he might decide to be hostile towards the city, even if he is a good guy right now. That's the last thing Dakota, and Static and Gear, need. Watching him could also tell us more information then this site already-hey, what the hell?" Virgil clicked on a link that navigated them away from Phantom Watch.

It took them to the website for Damage Patrol; a website to list the damage that Bang Babies had done ever since the Big Bang had occurred. The latest assessment was made by a witness to the 'battle', and a supposedly true account was laid out plainly on the white page.

"That Phantom kid didn't attack us while we were saving kids!" Richie protested to one of the very first lines. "And we did not fight him!"

"And he didn't send us to a hospital, with us lucky to escape with our lives!" Virgil added, glaring at the picture of Dakota Hospital.

"And he definitely didn't destroy that entire street on a psychopathic rampage!" The two teens cried in unison, before frowning, and turning to one another.

"Isn't that exactly what he said was going to happen?" Virgil asked. "I'm pretty sure it was."

"Maybe one of his powers is lookin' into the future." Richie said, his eyes going wide. "Maybe he already knows who we are!" He gasped. "Maybe he'll know if we'll have corn for lunch on Friday!" He whispered in a serious voice.

"Before we start freaking out if we're gonna be eating corn…let's try this." Virgil said, hitting the back button until he returned to Phantom Watch. He brought the pointer back up to the navigation tabs at the top of the webpage, and clicked on the tap that read 'Known Powers'. "Let's see if there's anything here about knowing the future."

'Flight - Danny Phantom can fly, like all ghosts, without the use of wings or rocket boots or any contraption.'

"Well that's a helpful power." Richie muttered, glaring at his shoes, which could morph into the boots/skates that Gear used to fly through the sky.

'Wall Walking - Believed to be a branch of his flight ability, it has been reported that Danny Phantom can walk up vertical walls, and stand upside-down on ceilings.'

"That's pretty cool…I wonder if I can do that with electricity…" Virgil trailed, looking hopefully to the wall to his right, as if he was going to suddenly jump up and start scaling the wall like Spiderman.

'Ecto-rays - Like most high-level ghosts, Danny Phantom can shoot ectoplasm, the energy that ghosts are made up of, from his hand, and has even been seen using his heel to deliver ecto-powered kicks.

"…that doesn't sound like a Bang Baby ability."

"I'm telling you, V, he's not a Bang Baby."

'Invisibility - A common power of ghosts; the ability to disappear before the naked eye.'

'Intangibility - Another power common for ghosts; the ability to walk through solid objects.'

'Cryokinesis - An unconfirmed power. Only one account, with only one witness, has been reported. It's said that Danny Phantom can control ice at will.'

"…all those abilities are pretty cool." Richie said, before furrowing his eyebrows. "Hey, what's that?" He asked, pointing. At the bottom of the page, almost completely hidden from view, was a single, long rectangle for a password to gain farther access to the power sheet. "I guess some people know more about his powers than others, and don't feel like sharing."

"Stingy little…" Virgil grumbled, crossing his arms. "I still say he's a Bang Baby."

"I'm starting to be convinced more and more that he's not." Richie countered. "Look at the information that this website has. Everything points away from Bang Babies, and towards…" Richie trailed, not wanting to say what he was thinking, knowing that Virgil would probably instant shoot it down.

"What, Rich. What does it point towards?" Virgil asked, already having a feeling that he knew the answer.

"Ghosts." Yup, the electro-powered teen had thought correctly. "I know you don't believe. I don't either. But we also didn't think that gas could give us superpowers. I'm just saying that we shouldn't completely push away the idea. It might have something behind it." Virgil stared at his blonde, glasses-wearing friend.

"Fine. We'll keep that in the back of what we've got. First thing's first…we should try to contact this kid. Try to find out more about him." Richie blinked at his friend's words; but he also blinked at the words that were coming from the police scanner that sat on Virgil's desk.

"Hey, turn that up. What're they saying?" Richie asked, pointing. Virgil blinked three times rapidly, before practically diving for the scanner, and turning the knob so the sound would increase in volume. The two listened closely to the female dispatcher that was speaking through the radio.

"Report of two being fighting on Clark St. Request of police present, over." The dispatcher said. A few seconds of static passed.

"On my way. What's the description? Over." A male policeman's voice filtered through, and static filled the room once more.

"One apparently a meat monster, the other a teenage-looking boy with white hair and strange eyes. Both are hovering over the city, and the boy is surrounded by a white glow, over." The dispatcher answered. Virgil and Richie whipped around to look at each other so fast, they almost smashed heads while nearly receiving whiplash. They didn't even hear the policeman's reply of how he was going to be there to try and find out what was going on.

"Care to go for a midnight flight?" Virgil asked, holding up his Disk.

:::Two Minutes Later:::

Within two minutes, Static and Gear were shooting through the sky, mere blurs against the darkened landscape, the light from the electricity-surrounded Disk and rocket boots barely cutting through the black-as-pitch air. Two things did slice through the oh-so-dark sky, though. One was a faintly-glowing figure, hovering a few dozen feet above the highest sky-scrapers. The other were sudden green flashes that would erupt from the glowing figure, bursting into small, concentrated fireworks a few feet from the thrower, illuminating a giant humanoid…made of meat. "I guess they weren't kidding." Gear said sarcastically.

"I know…that's a little weird, but we've seen weirder. C'mon, Gear!" Static shouted, leaning forward even more on his Disk so he would accelerate. Mentally urging Backpack - a large, round, spider-like device that looked more like a thin, high-tech backpack, and that he wore on his back, giving it its namesake - to make his rocket shoe/skates to go faster. Details began to arise as they drew closer.

It was indeed Phantom that was combating the creature made of meat. He was dressed as he had been before, but this time, he was moving from side to side in the sky, dodging blasts of brownish-red that came from the meat creature, and meat itself that the giant monster threw. His own hands were surrounded by a green glow, and every time his muscles in his arms visibly coiled and uncoiled, a blast of green - shaped like a glowing, nearly-transparent disk - would snap forth, and shoot towards the creature, usually making contact, sending newly-roasted meat to the city below.

What was more, was the large bird that flapped near the fight. It closely resembled the talking bird that had been with the boy from before(Danny? Zerex? Ezrel? The two teens still hadn't decided on what to call him), but its colors were different. Instead of being black with red markings, it was white with blue. It was much bigger, as well, being only about a foot or two shorter than Phantom. Its massive wingspan seemed to hardly work to keep the giant bird up. "C'mon, hit its head!" Shouted the bird, its voice surprisingly close to the voice of the bird that the two teens had met before.

"I'm TRYING!" Phantom responded, dodging another brownish blast. "I don't see you down here, dodging ectoplasm!" The boy added, a singe appearing on his hoodie as a small fraction of a beam grazed his side.

"Well, duh! Wings, Phantom! They don't work as well as being able to defy gravity!" The bird cried, and squawked as a stray slab of ham smacked it on the back of the head. "See! Can't dodge!"

"Crybaby!" Phantom yelped as a beam nearly decided to give him a very painful kiss, and grunted as it decided to give him an even more painful hug instead. "Oi, Lunch Lady! Can you please just be a sweetheart and jump into the Thermos? I'm not really in the mood to fight right now!" Phantom called up to the head of the beast.

"That thing's a lady?" Virgil whispered, his eyes going wide with hardly-suppressed shock.

"I knew I was going to be blamed for blowing up a street when it was only a crater." Phantom muttered sideways to the bird. The bird in turn shook its head sadly.

"Only you, Ezrel, only you." He muttered, the name not going unnoticed by the recording that Backpack was taking of the scene.

"FOOLISH CHILD!" The monster roared, making the air rumble with the shout. "I WILL NOT BOW TO YOUR WISHES!" The booming voice suddenly morphed into that of a kind, elderly woman. "Prime rib, or Steak?" Phantom smirked, his fangs gleaming.

"Lettuce." He deadpanned. The face of the monster, which had softened at the strange question, suddenly contorted with rage.

"THERE IS NO MEAT HERE! DINE ON MY FURY!" The creature roared, and began to shoot volley after volley of meat at the boy, who swirled around the attacks, laughing loudly.

"You need to get some fighting tips! Who've you been asking for advice? The Box Ghost? Oh…Box Lunch…duh…" Phantom smacked himself in the forehead, and then proceeded to be smacked in the forehead by a raw chicken.

"Box Ghost? Box Ghost? BEWARE! FOR I AM THE BOX-" A voice from the sidelines began, but Phantom shot a blast of green energy without even looking, knocking something from the sky.

"Nobody can come to answer your call right now, so please try back later!" Phantom called, before back-flipping to dodge an entire cow. "Stop throwing cows! You're gonna scare the crap out of some kid and scar them for life!"

"HOW?" The monster yelled.

"Well, wouldn't you be freaked if a dead cow randomly fell from the sky and almost crushed you? Pretty scaring!" Phantom yelled back.

"ENOUGH CHATTER!" The monster roared.

"I agree!" Phantom snapped, and spun around to dodge another attack. As he spun, the green glow in his right hand elongated into what looked like the rough shape of a katana, the 'blade' being three feet long. Swinging his arm diagonally through the air, the sword sliced through the oncoming fist of the monster. A roar screamed from the monster's mouth, echoing in the dead-calm air of the night. "Do me a favor and say hi to Technus!" The white-haired boy cried, whipping out the thermos-like device from a pocket, and hit a button on the side over the canister. The whirlwind of blue and white shot from the opening, encircling the monster of meat. A glow surrounded the creature's body, and, one by one, the meat fell, revealing an old lady with glowing green skin, dressed like the stereotypical lunch lady. She screeched as he body elongated and thinned, half of her body turning sideways as her feet were dragged into the Thermos.

"You'll die for this, Phantom!" The woman screeched, forcing her body from her chin up to stay outside of the Thermos. Phantom deftly slammed the lid onto her head, locking her inside.

"Have fun with that one, Lady." Phantom said, pocketing the device. The bird flew closer to Phantom, its massive wings making the air around it vibrate.

"That took to long! You should have taken her out faster! You're out of shape, aren't you!" The bird accused.

"First off…WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THAT I HAD TO ACTUALLY FIGHT A GHOST THAT KNEW MY ABILITIES?" Phantom yelled, waving his arms in the air. "And second…you shouldn't be talking! You never help me in a fight. And third…I was having fun dodging flying meat." Phantom muttered the last, looking off to the side with a slight scowl. Gear couldn't take it anymore. He shot forward to meet the two.

"Why does everyone have a giant talking bird but me?" Gear yelled. Phantom and the bird jumped in shock, their eyes going wide.

"WHAT BIRD?" They cried in unison. Phantom and the large creature exchanged looks, before the bird tried to hide behind Phantom, giving him the appearance of having his own wings. Static floated over, his face blank.

"Nice undercover work, Gear." He deadpanned. "But he has a point. We met a boy with a bird that looked exactly liked that, and talked, to. Its colors were inverse, though." Static said. Phantom glanced nervously to where the bird had just been next to him, only to remember the creature had moved away, trying to get out of sight.

"Um…coincidence?" He offered. "And I should be asking you why you guys were spying on my fight, and why you're out here so late at night!" Phantom seemed to think hard for a split second. "On a school night!" Now it was Static and Gear's turn to look around nervously.

"Um…well…you see…wait a flippin' minute…this is our town! We have to protect it! Why're you out fighting!" Static shot back.

"'Cause I'm the only one in this town that knows how to fight a ghost the right way!"

"Well, we could figure it out! Right, Gear?"

"Eh, no, not really."

"Thanks a lot, Gear."

"You're welcome."

"See? Your friend agrees with me!"

"Not really, Phantom. I don't agree with either of you. I'm choosing to stay out of this." Gear backed up in the air slightly, letting Static and Phantom glare daggers at each other.

"…I don't trust you…" Static said flat-out.

"Good. The feelings mutual then." Phantom retorted with equal venom.

"For all we know, you could be malevolent."

"Ooo! Lookie here, everyone! Static knows a big word!" Phantom said with mock excitement on his face. "Like I care. I've been through trying to convince people that I'm good for months. Either they believe it, or they suck it up and deal with it, 'cause nobody can kill me." Phantom's eyes narrowed and glowed in all their multi-color glory. "You can protect this city from any Bang Baby, but my job is to take out the evil ghosts. Get in the way of that, and I wont distinguish you between friend or foe. I have a job to do, and I wont let some immature kid get in my way. You don't trust me 'cause you know close to nothing about me. I don't trust you because of my own special reasons that you will never know." Phantom bared his fangs in anger, and growled. "That's the thing I've had to learn about humans the hard way. Humans can never be trusted. Especially the ones that hold supernatural powers."

Well, I guess that's a good length for a first chapter. Please tell me if it's good or not! This is the first chapter of my first story, so I'm sorry if it kinda sucked. If it's bad, I'll try my hardest to get it to be better. Sorry if a lot of this seems dramatic or random, but it'll all lead up to something throughout this story. I'd like to PUBLICLY thank my twin sister, Kitsune-242, for setting aside her own stories to help me get this one off the ground!

Kitsune-242: This is Kitsune-242, stealing my sister's laptop. If any of you read my stories "Vulpes Alveus" or "Demon's Shadow", I'd like to tell you I'm NOT dead, and I'll be getting back to my own stories as SOON as my sister's story is officially underway(so in about five chapters or so). I hope you all understand!

Yeah, so please tell me what you think! I'd like to know if there's anything I can approve on, or ANYTHING that I'm doing right.

~Ookami-242