Okay, I have a few notes before I begin. This story is being posted now, even though I have only finished the first chapter, in honor of the 10th Dannyversary. It's going to be another survival story that may replace Nightfall but will focus more on Danny and Vlad, though other characters will be part of the story of course. There is an OC antagonist for the second half of the story; I don't normally use OC main characters but I needed a specific kind of character and none of the canon ghosts would've worked. This story also begins the Sunday after the CAT but the CAT occurs the weekend before winter break in this AU. I hope that you like it and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom, I never have, I never will and I'm only saying this once so I will not repeat it in later chapters.

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Under the Overcast Sky

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1

The First Attack

Danny lifted his head and immediately wished he hadn't as his head throbbed painfully. He rested a hand on his head squeezing his eyes closed as he attempted to figure out what just happened. He couldn't remember anything beyond the ghost's arrival and subsequent attack; everything after that was a big, dark blur.

Only when his headache started to fade did Danny open his eyes. He shielded them against the glare of a fire that was burning in the center of the clearing. Looking around, Danny could see the shadows gathering around the edges of the otherwise empty clearing. When he looked at the sky, he could see stars and wondered just how long he had been unconscious.

And who made that fire? He thought.

"You're awake," a familiar, and very unwelcome, voice said and Danny's head snapped in the direction of the voice so quick that it started to throb again. He grabbed his head muttering under his breath as he glared at Vlad Masters as the older halfa made his way into the clearing.

Vlad ignored the glare Danny was giving him as he dropped the pieces of wood that had been in his arms next to the fire. "You hit your head pretty hard. I wasn't expecting you to wake up as quickly as you had," he added.

"What happened? Where are we? Where are my parents? And Jazz, Sam, Tucker and Valerie?" Danny asked looking around the dark clearing and frowning when he didn't see his family or friends.

"You must have hit your head a lot harder than I had thought, Daniel," Vlad said. "But I'll enlighten you. We were arguing in one half of the plane while your parents, sister and friends were in the other half when the ghost attacked. When you were knocked unconscious, the ghost caused the plane to snap in half. I'm not sure if that was its original plan or not. Either way, both halves went to opposite ends of the island we had been flying over. It was only because of my ghost powers that I was able to get us both to the island with minimal injuries."

"What about everyone else?" Danny asked. His parents, sister and friends had ended up on the other side of the island and there was no way of knowing if they had survived, other than if Vlad managed to determine it himself. Danny knew he probably wouldn't care if Danny's father died but Danny knew he would still have checked, if only for Danny's mother.

"They're likely on the other end of the island, if they survived." Vlad was never one to beat around the bush when stating something.

Danny felt anger go through him at Vlad's nonchalant reply. "What do you mean 'if'?" he demanded. "Did they survive or didn't they?"

"I don't know, Daniel."

"Don't know? What do you mean you don't know?"

"I'm not omniscient. I don't know everything," Vlad said irritably.

"Why didn't you check on them?"

"It would have taken too long to walk and I was not about to leave you by yourself."

Danny narrowed his eyes confused. "Why didn't you just fly?" That seemed the logical thing to do and Danny was surprised that the older halfa hadn't thought of that.

Vlad glared at the sky. "I did think of that but I can't fly," he said fury coloring his voice.

"What?"

The older halfa transferred his glare from the sky to Danny. "You heard me," he hissed before he took a deep breath and, after he calmed down, he added, "I don't know how it happened. I was flying just fine until we hit something and then I couldn't fly anymore. Thankfully, I could still float or else we wouldn't have survived."

He pressed his lips together studying Danny before he added, "Once you feel up to it, you should probably check your powers. If my ability to fly was affected then I have no doubt yours was as well."

"What could've caused that?" Danny asked.

Vlad shrugged. "I wish I knew."

Danny felt frustrated though he knew it wasn't Vlad's fault, for once. Whatever had disrupted Vlad's ability to fly—and likely Danny's as well—meant that there was no way of figuring out if Danny's family and friends had survived right away. That was the one thing that scared Danny the most; Clockwork had saved Danny's family and friends only yesterday or a few days ago—Danny didn't know how much time had passed so he really couldn't say how long it has actually been—and Danny naturally still feared losing them.

He got to his feet and swayed; everything spun around him as his headache returned and nausea swept through him. Gritting his teeth, he started toward the jungle only to stop when Vlad's hand clasped on his shoulder. He tried to shrug it off but Vlad's grip was like iron.

"And where do you think you're going, Daniel?" the older halfa demanded.

"To find my family and friends," Danny said coolly again trying to get free from Vlad's grip.

"In the middle of the night? That's stupid, even for you."

Danny glared at the older halfa. "I have to find them and make sure they're okay," he snapped.

"At the risk of getting killed yourself? Daniel, you don't know what's out there and your powers might not be working properly."

"Why do you care?" Danny said eyes flashing.

Vlad's eyes went red with fury but, after a moment, his eyes returned to normal. "I've always cared, little badger," he said calmly.

"Funny way of showing it."

Vlad didn't respond to that. Instead, he said, "I know you wish to find your family and friends but I strongly suggest you, at least, wait until morning."

Danny frowned unsure of what to think of Vlad's suggestion even though it was obviously a good one. Vlad was also right that Danny didn't know what was in the jungle nor if any of his powers even worked. Still, that didn't mean he had to like it.

"Fine," he said.

"Don't sulk, Daniel. You're not four," Vlad said releasing Danny's shoulder before returning to the fire. Danny glared at him; he was not sulking.

He decided against saying that though and, instead, decided to check on his powers. Willing forth his ghost half, the bright rings of white light appeared around his waist and separated leaving him in his ghost form. Unfortunately, Danny could tell right away that something was wrong with his ghost form because he fell, unceremoniously, out of the air.

"How is that fair?" he complained pushing himself to his feet and attempting to float again but, unfortunately, it didn't work.

Vlad smirked at him. "Life's not fair, little badger," he said before wincing when Danny shot an ectoray at him that struck him in the arm.

"Well, at least that works," Danny said lowering his hand before he tested his invisibility and his intangibility, both of which seemed to be working. However, his ghost stinger—which was one power that he didn't use often anyway—wasn't working. Danny still couldn't get the hang of duplicating and, when he tried, he found himself with two heads listening to a snickering Vlad.

Scowling, he blasted Vlad with another ectoray before reabsorbing the second head and went through the last of his powers, with the exception of one; his Ghostly Wail, which was his most powerful and most destructive power. That was one power that Danny wasn't going to test because it used too much of his energy, he didn't want Vlad to know about it and, after Danny used that power twice on Dan, he vowed that it would only be used when he had no other options left.

"Well, with the exception of flying, floating—still unfair—and my ghost stinger, it looks like my powers are working," Danny said.

"And you still can't duplicate," Vlad commented with a smirk. "Of course, if you had accepted my offer…"

Danny sent another ectoray flying at Vlad as his answer but the older halfa dodged. Surprisingly, like the other times Danny fired at him, he hadn't brought up a shield to block the attack like he usually would. Tilting his head to the side, the younger halfa smirked. "You can't create shields, can you?"

"At least I can float and duplicate," Vlad retorted.

Of course you would rub that in my face, Danny thought but, before he could respond to that, the older halfa sat down beside the fire and began tossing more sticks into the blaze.

"Daniel, we're both trapped on this island with access to only some of our powers and we don't know where your parents, sister and friends ended up. As I already know you are going after them tomorrow, since I know you know I'm right that it would be suicide to leave now, perhaps it would be best if we work together."

"Work together?" Danny scoffed. "I'd sooner work with the Box Ghost."

"That's insulting. Certainly, I am better than that nuisance," Vlad said.

"Not by much." Danny dodged out of the way of the pink ectobeam Vlad shot at him from his eyes.

"Besides, you wouldn't last a day in the jungle without help," the billionaire half-ghost added.

"And you would?" the younger halfa retorted.

"Contrary to popular belief, I would. Your mother taught me and your idiot father basic survival skills during college before the accident and I taught myself more after that," Vlad said tossing another stick into the fire.

"Never would've guessed," Danny said dryly even if he was mildly surprised that Vlad (bigshot billionaire half-ghost) Masters actually knew survival skills.

"Of course you wouldn't have guessed, little badger. You assume too much," the older halfa said. "I can help you, Daniel. If you want to stand a chance at finding your family and friends then I strongly suggest you accept my offer."

Danny folded his arms across his chest. "What's in it for you?" he asked.

"Other than making sure you don't get yourself killed, nothing," Vlad said.

"Oh sure." Danny rolled his eyes. "You never offer anything without wanting something in return."

"Don't believe me? I'm hurt," Vlad said sardonically. "It's your choice, Daniel, but I would rather not tell your mother that you got yourself killed because you were too stubborn to accept help from someone who, at least, knows the basics of surviving in the wilderness."

Danny scowled because, once again, Vlad was right. He didn't like that he would have to depend on Vlad—at least until he learned enough to survive on his own—but he knew that if he wanted to stand a chance at finding his family and friends then he didn't have a choice. "Fine, fruitloop," he said.

"I figured you would see things my way, Daniel," Vlad said sounding smug and Danny promptly blasted him with another ectoray.

. . .

. . .

Vlad admitted that, while he hated that he and Daniel were stranded on an island who knew where and were separated from the beautiful Maddie, her daughter, Daniel's friends and the idiot, this gave him a perfect opportunity. As with all other opportunities that have been placed before him, Vlad was going to take this one and run with it. If he could stay on Daniel's good side—or rather get on the boy's good side and then stay on it—then he would be one step closer to achieving what he has always wanted.

All Vlad ever wanted—besides the Packers and Jack Fenton's death—was to be loved and he had hoped to get that with Daniel as well as Maddie. Naturally, he underestimated Daniel's loyalty and love toward his father. And, thinking back, Vlad wondered if he had played his cards a bit less rashly when they first met then would the end result still have been the same?

Vlad shook his head. No sense in thinking about something that can't be changed, he thought. He glanced toward Daniel who was curled up a few feet away from the fire with his head pillowed on his arms. He smiled a little as he gazed at the boy he saw as his son, even if the feeling wasn't mutual, before he turned his gaze to the fire. His mind was already beginning to come up with plans and moves to be made.

Vlad was a master chess player. He always knew what moves to make and when to make them and he was very good at planning ahead. He could win a game of chess in three moves if he wanted to and he could do that with the game he was playing with Daniel. However, the point of the game was not about winning—it never had been—it was about teaching Daniel and helping him know and understand the game.

With the two of them stranded on an island with access to only some of their powers, Daniel was forced to depend on Vlad; that was the opportunity that Vlad was using to his advantage. He had his chance to prove to Daniel what he has been trying to prove to the boy since they met; that they were the only two in existence and shouldn't be enemies; that they could do so much together in both the human realm and the ghost zone.

Of course, it wouldn't be easy with how stubborn Daniel was but Vlad was a patient man. He knew it would take time to get on Daniel's good side and even more time to gain the boy's trust. Daniel was not someone who trusted instantly; you needed to earn his trust and that was what Vlad was going to do.

He just had to make sure he didn't make any more rash decisions. He knew and understood that it was his rash decision at both the reunion and within the Rockies that lost him both Daniel and his mother. He would have to play his game more carefully, more patiently, more sensibly if he wanted to stand a chance at getting what he wanted.

And he would because he always got what he wanted.

Morning dawned with a crack of thunder followed by a torrent of cold rain that tore Vlad out of his sleep. Lifting his head, he glared at the overcast sky and the rain that was falling in curtains from the sky above. The rain had put out the fire and Vlad, shivering, glanced toward Daniel to find the boy awake and shivering.

"How long have you been awake?" Vlad asked. Even in the limited light that came from the lightning strikes and the faint reddish tinge to the dark gray clouds that suggested it was dawn, he could see that the boy looked exhausted as if he got little, if any, sleep the night before.

"Few hours," Daniel said shivering again.

Vlad walked over to the hollowed out tree where he had stashed their bags of clothing and ghost weapons—Vlad couldn't be sure if it was Maddie or the idiot who insisted that Daniel pack weapons—that had been placed in a compartment in the half of the plane Vlad and Daniel had been in.

"Where'd those come from?" Daniel asked getting to his feet.

"After I brought you here while you were still unconscious, I went back to the crash site to see if anything survived. These did though a few of your parents' inventions were damaged beyond repair," Vlad said pulling out the bags before handing Daniel's to him.

"Let's find some drier ground," the older halfa added.

Daniel, taking the bag, nodded shivering.

It was still raining heavily by the time Vlad found a suitable location. It wasn't as great as he had wanted but, at least, not as much rain was getting through the thick canopy above. It was still wet though, which meant it would be impossible to make a fire.

"Where are we going to start looking for mom, dad, Jazz and my friends, Vlad?" Daniel asked using his intangibility to dry his clothes and his bag.

"I suggest we just head to the other end of the island. We may me up with them in the middle if they are looking for us," Vlad said also drying his clothes. It was a good thing he had been prepared just in case; it was winter though Vlad had been expecting to deal with snow rather than rain. Either way, a jacket was a jacket.

Without waiting for a response, he went around a tree to get changed before returning to the clearing afterwards noticing Daniel had changed into drier clothes as well and was also wearing a thick jacket with a hood. He was seated in the middle of the clearing looking through his bag and pulling out various ghost weapons and equipment.

"…signal but I'm not really that surprised," Daniel was murmuring when Vlad returned. He put down the Fenton phone had been listening to before he looked at the other weapons and began trying them; one ectobeam from an ectoblaster nearly hit Vlad had he not stepped aside to avoid it.

The cheeky smirk that crossed Daniel's face immediately told the older halfa that had not been an accident.

"Funny, Daniel," Vlad said coolly and shot his own ectobeam back at Daniel with his eyes. Daniel tried to conjure up a shield but it failed and he yelped as the beam hit his shoulder.

"You can't create shields, can you?" Vlad tossed the younger halfa's own words back at him with a mocking sneer.

Daniel, hand on shoulder, glared at him before muttering "fruitloop" under his breath though just loud enough for Vlad to hear him. He then went back to looking through the limited number of weapons he had in his pack.

Vlad sat down. The overcast sky was illuminated by another bolt of lightning and the breeze seemed to grow colder. Vlad hated storms and he hated the cold; he was positive that was because he had a hot core. He hoped that the storm would go away soon.

"Don't like the rain, fruitloop?" Daniel asked looking toward Vlad as the older halfa shivered.

"Perhaps I don't, little badger," Vlad said.

The boy glared at him. "Don't call me that," he snapped.

"Don't call me fruitloop," Vlad retorted.

"No."

"Then I won't stop calling you little badger, little badger."

Vlad drew on his hot core to keep himself warm before glancing toward Daniel who was still shivering. He knew that if he even tried to offer to help him, the boy would refuse and yet he certainly didn't want the boy to get pneumonia.

Sighing, Vlad stood up before moving to Daniel's side. "Until the rain stops, it'll be a waste of time trying to get a fire going," he said sitting down beside the boy before he put an arm around him drawing him closer.

Despite the warmth Daniel was no doubt feeling, he still glared at him. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

"Making sure you don't get pneumonia," Vlad replied.

Daniel snorted. "I doubt a little rain's gonna give me pneumonia, Vlad," he said.

"We're in the middle of winter, Daniel," Vlad said.

"Really? And here I thought I had just started summer break," Daniel said dryly.

"Your wit is as outstanding as ever, little badger," Vlad said voice equally as dry.

"Fruitloop," Daniel muttered.

Vlad half-expected Daniel to move away from him and he wasn't too surprised when, eventually, the boy did though all he did was stand up. "Where are we going to start looking, Vlad?" he asked folding his arms across his chest.

"Do you honestly think it would be a good idea to start our search in this?" Vlad asked gesturing to the storm that was raging around them.

"You won't melt, Plasmius. Well, I guess you could," Daniel said with a shrug. He grew serious before adding, "But you said we could start looking in the morning. It's morning."

"Yes but I was not expecting this storm," Vlad said.

Daniel was about to reply when his body shivered and a blue mist escaped between his lips. At the same time, Vlad felt his own ghost sense go off. He stood up and shifted forms before looking around for the ghost as did Daniel after he also shifted into his ghost form.

However, no matter where they looked, they couldn't find the cause of their ghost senses. Daniel frowned. "That's weird," he said.

"It is," Vlad murmured. "If we're in another ghost's territory then they should have attacked. No ghost likes having another ghost, half-ghost or otherwise, in their territory."

"Maybe they're friendly ghosts that just want to be left alone," Daniel suggested.

"Possible but unlikely," Vlad said. "If they wanted to be left alone then they would never have come here and if we were near their lair then our ghost senses would have, most likely, gone off sooner."

"Well, since you seem to know everything, what's going on?" Daniel said.

Vlad opened his mouth to respond only to pause when he swore he spotted red eyes glaring at him from in the darkness. A low growl echoed throughout the jungle; despite the pounding rain and thunderclaps, Vlad heard it. He stiffened before looking toward Daniel. "I believe I found the ghost," he said as the fronds parted.

The largest lion ghost Vlad has ever seen padded into the clearing; its mane was black while the rest of its body was green and it had a white glow around him that was what allowed the two half-ghosts to see it. Its crimson eyes were fixed on the two half-ghosts and it curled its lips back in a snarl revealing long, sharp teeth as it prepared itself to attack.

The lion ghost leapt at them, curved claws outstretched. Grabbing Daniel, Vlad floated out of the way before unleashing an ectoblast toward the lion. Unfortunately, the ectoblast bounced off the lion's body and didn't seem to hurt it at all. Frustrated, Vlad fired more ectoblasts and Daniel soon joined in but none of the ectoblasts seemed to have any effect on the lion ghost.

"Why aren't our attacks working?" Daniel asked bewildered.

Vlad narrowed his eyes. "I've never seen a ghost immune to ectoblasts before," he said before he dodged out of the way to avoid the lion ghost's claws. Daniel yelped and quickly scrambled backwards before grabbing the closest thing to him—a large rock—and hurling it at the lion ghost. Vlad was about to roll his eyes at the pathetic attack when the rock struck the lion ghost in the side of the head causing it to growl in pain and back up a few steps.

"Wow, I didn't think that'd work," Daniel said.

"It shouldn't have," Vlad said frowning. "Ghosts can easily avoid and aren't usually hurt by non-ectoplasmic weapons—unless they're serious wounds and I doubt a rock to the head is a serious wound—but…" He trailed off thoughtfully as an idea, though a bit far-fetched, came into his mind.

"I think I know what we're facing," Vlad said out loud gazing at the lion ghost as it charged toward them again. He floated backwards before wrenching a tree branch from the tree and swinging it at the lion ghost. The lion ghost yelped in pain and moved backwards again.

"Well, what are we facing then?" Daniel asked impatiently.

"I believe it's the ghost of the Nemean Lion."

"The what?"

Vlad raised an eyebrow. "Even if you don't know or understand either Greek or Roman Mythology, surely you've heard of Hercules?"

"Uh, I've seen a movie about him."

Vlad resisted the urge to sigh. "Killing the Nemean Lion was one of the labors Hercules had to complete during his time. However, the Nemean Lion's fur was resistant to all weapons, which was why Hercules had to strangle it to death. However, since ghost weapons don't harm the living, it wouldn't surprise me if they would have worked against the Nemean Lion. This lion ghost, however, is resistant to ghost weapons, which means it's possible that it isn't resistant to the weapons that couldn't harm it while it was alive."

Daniel just looked at him.

Vlad smirked knowing full well that he had just confused the boy. "Just attack it with whatever non-ghost weapon you can find," he said.

"Oh. Well, you could've just said that," Daniel grumbled.

"You did ask," Vlad pointed out.

However, before the two half-ghosts could attack again, the Nemean Lion ghost, with another snarl of fury, suddenly turned before running off.

"Well, that was odd," Daniel said again sounding bewildered.

"Indeed," Vlad agreed with a frown. "I suggest we move our campsite, preferably out of that lion ghost's territory if we can find where it ends."

Daniel nodded and walked over to pick up his pack while Vlad, gazing at the jungle into which the Nemean Lion ghost disappeared, wondered what else the jungle had in store for them.

To Be Continued

A/n what do you think?

Blaze: and that was the first chapter

Darth: cool

Blaze: yup. Yet another stranded fic though this one focuses entirely on Danny and Vlad that has been posted, as I said at the beginning, in honor of the 10th Dannyversary

Darth: cool

Blaze: on another note, why is Vlad so hard to keep in character? (Pouts)

Vlad: cause I'm awesome like that

Danny: (snorts and bangs thermos, with Dan in it, on Vlad's head)

Vlad: ow!

Dan: I told you to stop doing that!

Danny: would you rather I do this? (Starts banging thermos against stone wall)

Dan: NO! STOP IT!

Blaze: (smirks) well, I hope that you enjoyed the first chapter of this story and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.