You Just Read My Mind

by JJ-senpai100

A special device has appeared in the Ghost Zone; The Ecto-Scroll, a device that allows its user to read the thoughts of others. When Vlad and Danny go to retrieve it, they are halted by the Scroll's keeper. She decides to give them both a series of challenges to decide a winner. They really shouldn't interfere in each others' challenges, but when have they EVER played fair?

Hi and welcome to the first chapter of You Just Read My Mind! I hope you all enjoy it!

This story is dedicated to, as well as co-authored with, BloodyWar2411.

And before we begin, let me just go ahead and make one thing clear so that there is no confusion. In this story, Phantom Planet did not happen. Danny's secret wasn't revealed, and he never kissed Sam. Got it? Excellent!

DISCLAIMER: If I owned Danny Phantom, do you honestly think that Sam and Danny would have ended up together? HA!

"Now remember class, there are no dipole moments in true tetrahedral molecules, because all points are equal distance from each other and the center of the molecule..."

Danny groaned inwardly as he pretended to listen to the ramblings of his chemistry professor, wishing nothing more than for a ghost to just spontaneously appear so that he could get out of class. He'd heard all of this stuff in high school, and if he had known that he was just going to have to listen to the same stuff he'd heard for twelve years prior till now he'd have never agreed to go to college. To make matters worse, the college that he was currently having to attend was Amity Community College. His grades simply weren't good enough to get him into a college out of state, unlike Tucker. His techno-geek of a friend had been accepted to a high class technology college two states away, leaving Danny and Sam stuck in Amity Park. After his first year of college had passed, Danny bought an apartment with Sam so that they could share the rent and get away from their parents all together. Jack and Maddie were not very happy to hear that their not-so-little boy wanted to move out, but they eventually allowed it. Still very concerned about his safety, Danny's parents made him take a portable ghost portal in the form of a watch with him, along with various other ghost hunting gadgets, for which Danny and Sam both were very grateful for.

"Mr. Fenton!" Came the bellowing cry of Danny's elderly professor. "Could you please get your head out of the clouds and focus more on the lesson?"

Quickly snapping to attention, Danny ignored the snickering from his fellow classmates and gave his professor a nervous apology. "S-sorry, sir! It won't happen again."

"Be sure that it doesn't." His professor warned, giving him a stern look before turning back to the chalkboard.

Danny sighed and slumped down in his seat, silently cursing the fact that he would be stuck in this class for another forty-five minutes. He didn't even get why he had to take chemistry. After seeing that his grades weren't going to improve, Danny gave up on his hopes to ever become an astronaut. And to be honest, if he really wanted to go into space all he'd have to do is go ghost and fly up there. After coming to this realization, he had thought long and hard on what he really wanted to do. He eventually decided that he wanted to become an author. After some experimenting, Danny found out that he had a gift in writing...as long as he wasn't given the topic, like in essays. He didn't understand why but he was terrible at writing essays, and yet when he wrote whatever he wanted to he could create a masterpiece. Along with being good at writing stories, he also wanted to be an author because he loved the freedom he had when writing. He hoped to soon start on a novel that he might have published, but he hadn't been able to come up with a solid idea yet.

Sam, on the other hand, had decided to go into an art career, in which she was incredibly good at. Danny knew that she was going into such a career mostly because she liked it, but he also knew a lot of it had to do with her simply wanting to spite her parents, who wanted her to be a lawyer. One thing that Danny loved about sharing an apartment with the goth was that whenever he wrote up a little short story that he liked fairly well, Sam would draw up a cover page for it just for fun and give it to him. Luckily the apartment that they were staying in had three rooms; two bedrooms and a kitchen/living room.

Danny was once again scared out of his thoughts when his professor announced that class was over and that they may leave. He was always amazed at how fast time could fly simply by zoning out and not paying attention. Wasting no time in collecting his things, Danny was out of the the class and pushing through the building's main door in a heartbeat. Chemistry had been his last class of the day and he was seriously looking forward to heading back to the apartment and relaxing a little. College majorly stressed him out and it didn't help that he had to go round up ghosts all the time. Although, getting to beat the stuffings out of a few ghosts was a great college stress relief.

Luckily the apartment was only a block away from the campus, so Danny could walk there and not have to spend money on gas. Sam had a car that she said he was free to use, but she told him that he would have to help out with the gas if he did use it. Danny was fine with walking, though, taking the time to think and maybe plan out another story.

As Danny stepped onto the sidewalk that would take him to the apartment, he stopped and glanced over at the construction zone that was located just a short distance away from campus. He wasn't sure what was being built, but it had been going on for about a month and half now. After staring for a minute, Danny shrugged it off just like every other day and continued his walk. Once he finally reached the apartment building, Danny wasted no time in making his way to the second floor and finding his shared apartment. He quickly unlocked the front door and slipped inside, tossing his backpack to the side and heading straight for the couch. Their living room area wasn't that big, but it had a couch for three, a love-seat, and a coffee table pushed to one side of the room while a television was mounted on the wall across from it. It was small yet comfortable.

Danny slumped onto the couch and stretched out, letting out a tired yawn. He had only received one research paper today, which meant that he was free to take a short nap before maybe heading out and grabbing a bite to eat with Sam, who would probably be arriving within the next fifteen minutes or so. Danny switched on the television and tossed the remote to the end of the couch, not really caring what channel it was on. He had just closed his eyes and was getting settled when a voice he knew all too well came ringing through the television's speakers. He opened one eye and stared unhappily at the screen just as a close up of Vlad Master's face appeared. Danny immediately began paying attention and frowned deeply at hearing that Vlad had opened up some sort of charity for people who need therapy.

"So, Mayor Masters," the reporter began, smiling happily at the millionaire. "Tell us again, what kind of charity is this that you've decided to have build next to the Amity Community College?"

Vlad turned his head, his silver pony tail sliding smoothly over his shoulder, and gave the camera a confident smirk that had Danny scowling in distaste. "Well Clarence, after seeing all the harm and mental turmoil that all the ghosts here in Amity Park have caused the fragile minds of our children, I have decided to take it upon myself to invest in the construction of an Institution that will provide therapy for anyone, but mostly for those who have been traumatized by ghosts."

The reporter nodded and gestured widely to the camera. "Well, I think I speak for everyone when I say thank you Mayor Masters for your most generous contribution to our society!"

Vlad chuckled deeply and laid a hand on his chest. "It is no problem whatsoever, good sir. It is a personal honor to try and help the youth of the public! As a matter of fact, I have made it a goal of mine to someday rid Amity Park of all ghosts that will harm it's good people!"

Danny scoffed loudly in disgust at that and sat up to retrieve the remote. Rid Amity Park of all ghosts...Yeah right. Conniving fruitloop... Figuring that something better would be come on soon, Danny simply muted the volume and tossed the remote back to the foot of the couch. He went back to an attempt at napping and soon felt himself beginning to drift to sleep, still watching Vlad's smirk on the television as he talked about his 'therapy' project.

About twenty to twenty-five minutes later Danny found himself being abruptly woken up by a swift smack to the head and a shrill beeping sound. He sat up with a start and drowsily looked up into the face of a very annoyed Sam.

"...What was that for?" The ghost boy asked drowsily, rubbing the side of his head.

Sam crossed her arms and frowned down at him, looking just as stern as a mother would. "I tried shaking you awake but it didn't work. I would've let you sleep but your 'watch' has been going off for the last couple of minutes."

That certainly woke him up. Danny quickly looked down at the miniature ghost portal strapped to his wrist, the shrill alarm still going off on it. He frowned at that and took off his watch to set it down on the coffee table. That little alarm was a way of notifying him that a new object in the ghost zone had just been located and identified. He pressed the small button on the side of the 'watch', and a mechanical female voice immediately began giving him a description of the newly found ghost item.

"New Ghost Zone Item - Detected. Name: The Ecto-Scroll. Description: The Ecto-Scroll is an ancient Ghost Zone relic that permits its user to read the mind of any thinking entity in their surrounding area. The Ecto-Scroll can also be used to read the mind of one singular person or a number of people at once. Reading too many minds at once can have an ill effect on the mind of the ghost or human wielding the scroll."

When no more sounds came from the object, Danny picked up the small ghost portal and strapped it back onto his wrist. He turned around and received a curious glance thrown at him from Sam.

"A scroll that let's you read other peoples' minds? Doesn't that seem a little OP for a ghost item?" She sat down on the arm of the couch and rested her elbows on her knees.

"Hm...not really. I mean, remember that scarab scepter that turned Tucker into a king? To be honest, I don't think there is such a thing as an overpowered ghost item." Danny shrugged his shoulders, but he couldn't help but feel just a little ping of nostalgia at remembering the times he got to fight ghosts with both Sam and Tucker. He quickly shook the feeling away and pressed another small button located on the side of his watch. A small light shot out from the center of the watch and a medium sized ghost portal appeared in the center of the room. Sam raised an eyebrow at that.

"You're going after it now?"

Danny shrugged once again and threw his arms out before yelling, "Going Ghost!" The white circle of light that they'd both become so familiar with surrounded Danny's waist and split into two as one slid up his body and the other slid down to his feet, leaving his ghost form in their place. He stretched out his still tired muscles and gave Sam a smile. "You said it yourself, that scroll seems pretty powerful. It'd be best if I got to it before someone else did."

Sam nodded in understanding and stood up as her best friend approached the ghost portal. "Alright, just get back here soon so we can head to Nasty Burger and get a bite to eat. I'm starving!"

"Will do!" Danny assured, giving her a thumbs up before jumping through the ghost portal. Within seconds he was surrounded by the swirling green energy of the Ghost Zone, and doors with various designs on them began floating by. He looked down at the watch that was still located on his wrist and noticed the small blinking dot on the upper right hand corner of the screen. That had to be the Ecto-Scroll. Without hesitation, Danny began navigating his way through the Ghost Zone, following the direction that the blinking dot was located at. If it had been two years ago, Danny more than likely would have already been lost by now. However, Danny and Sam had spent large portions of their last two summer breaks traveling throughout the Ghost Zone and mapping out as much area as they could. Now the ghost boy had a lot of the Ghost Zone memorized and was able to locate certain areas by special landmarks. The further he went, however, the deeper he went into an area of the ghost zone that he wasn't familiar with. Luckily, he was able to spot where the scroll was the moment he saw it. It was kind of hard to miss.

Floating out in the middle of the area he was in was a small building that greatly resembled a Roman temple, stone pillars and all. Danny cautiously flew up the the temple, expecting a ghost to jump out and attack him at any moment. He was surprised when he entered the temple with no incidents occurring. The temple was empty save for a single stone pedestal sitting in the very center of the floor, what he assumed was the Ecto-Scroll sitting on top of it. Danny cautiously approached the pedestal, glancing around every few seconds to make sure that nothing was about to try and kill him. He stopped in front of the pedestal and stared down at the scroll. Is this thing booby trapped or am I actually going to get lucky and not have to fight something over this thing? Danny glanced around one more time before reaching towards the scroll and cautiously picking it up, smiling when nothing happened.

Not quite.

Danny cried out as a violet stream of ecto blast shot him in the side and sent him flying into one of the stone pillars of the temple, the scroll falling from his hands. He grunted in slight pain as he slid to the floor, forcing one eye open to glare at his aggressor. Of course it would have to be him.

"I apologize for the sudden disturbance, Daniel, but I'm afraid that I simply can not let you have that scroll."

"...Plasmius," Danny hissed lowly as he stood up, pressing a hand against his already bruising side. "How did you find out about the scroll?"

A vocal laugh erupted from Vlad's throat, fading into a low chuckle as he took a few steps forward and picked up the scroll from the ground, holding it up as if to show his victory to the younger half-ghost. "It's quite simple, little badger. I have sources scattered all throughout the ghost zone, and one of those sources recently discovered this scroll here and I figured that I would investigate a bit. And here you are to retrieve it as well. I assume that you are aware of what this scroll does?"

"I am," the ghost boy confirmed, eyeing the scroll as he tried to figure out a way that he could get it from the older ghost. "And that's exactly why I'm going to take it. The last person who needs to have the ability to read minds is you!" Not really able to come up with another plan, Danny lunged at Plasmium with a surprising burst of speed. He tackled the other ghost and both of them were sent sliding across the floor, the scroll having been dropped once again. Within seconds the two halfas were rolling around on the ground in a flurry of kicks and punches, green and violet blasts of energy were being thrown through the air. This went on for a good five to seven minutes until a loud, booming voice interrupted them.

"EXCUSE Y'ALL! YOU TWO NEED TO STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING RIGHT NOW!"

Both Vlad and Danny froze in place, slowly looking up into the face of a very angry female ghost. The ghost was tall, towering a good three feet above the other two ghosts, and looked like she came straight from the sixties save for her glowing blue skin. She had short black hair that was poofed out into an afro, a gold dress that was entirely decked out in sequins, and was wearing what Danny deemed as the tallest pair of white go-go boots he'd ever seen. Her eyes were covered in a pair of solid black shades, yet Danny and Vlad could both feel the power of her glare as she scrutinized them.

"Um...what?" Danny asked in confusion, completely thrown off by the appearance of this stranger.

"YOU HEARD ME! NOW GET OFF EACH OTHER!"

Immediately, Danny and Vlad both scrambled away from each other. Once standing, Vlad brushed off some dust from his ghost suit and narrowed his eyes at the giant before him. Honestly, what kind of ghost was this?

"Excuse me," Vlad began slowly, taking a cautious step towards the larger ghost. "If I may, who are you madame?"

The sixties ghost laid a hand on her hip and raised her other hand, a small wisp rising from it and slowly turning into the scroll. "I am the guardian of this here Ecto-Scroll. And I DO NOT appreciate you two halfas coming in here and starting a brawl over it! You see-"

"Madame I can assure you that-" Vlad interrupted, trying to appease the larger ghost.

"OH NO, I KNOW YOU JUST DIDN'T INTERRUPT ME! YOU BETTER PIPE DOWN WHEN I'M TALKING, OLD MAN, IF YOU WANT THIS SCROLL!" The lady ghost snapped, jabbing a pointed gold nail in his direction.

Vlad sputtered at the old man comment but remained silent none the less. He wanted that scroll, and apparently he was going to have to listen to this woman if he wanted to get it. Danny, taking a more subtle, respectful approach that he used on many of his teachers, slowly stepped forward and hesitantly raised his hand.

"Um...Miss?" The ghost boy questioned, nervously running a hand through his snowy locks.

The larger ghost looked over at him questionable and gave him a small smile. "Yes, child? What is it?"

Danny ignored the child comment and returned her smile, hoping to get on her good side. "You said that you're the guardian of the Ecto-Scroll...but what's your name?"

The scroll's guardian smiled even wider at that and placed both of her hands on her hips. "Why, my name is Dalia. Thank you for asking, honey. As stated before, I'm the guardian of the scroll, but that doesn't mean I'm guarding it from being taken. I will gladly give it away."

Danny and Vlad immediately perked up at hearing that, but there was still an obvious problem in the matter. There were two of them and only one scroll.

"Now, both of you are wanting my scroll here, correct?" Dalia asked, raising an eyebrow and holding up the glowing green artifact. The two half ghosts nodded. "I thought so. And I'm sure that by now both of you have already thought up a dozen senseless reasons as to why you should get my scroll, but let me tell you right now that I DO NOT want to hear it. I will decide who gets the scroll based on my observation, understood?" Both ghosts nodded again, albeit a bit reluctantly. "Good! What I will do is put both of you through a series of challenges. Two for each of you individually, and then three for both of you to participate in against each other. The one who comes out with the most number of wins will get to take home my scroll. That sounds fair, doesn't it?" She gave both of them a look that dared them to even think about disagreeing with her. Danny and Vlad both nodded enthusiastically, earning them a smile from Dalia.

"And what if it comes out as a tie?" Vlad questioned, crossing his arms. He really didn't mind the idea of having to go through a few measly challenges just to obtain the scroll, but what he did mind was the fact that Danny could possibly win by one point depending on what the challenges would be like. Although the idea of Danny winning against him seemed highly unlikely.

Dalia frowned at him and raised an eyebrow. "If it comes out as tie, then I will either provide one more challenge or I will personally choose who gets the scroll based on what I saw in the challenges. Which reminds me..." She looked down at the two halfas and jabbed a finger in their direction. "I do not want to see any foul play during these challenges, you hear me?! You best be leaving each other alone and let the challenges turn out how they may!"

Vlad and Danny both nodded in understanding, both trying to look as innocent as possible. They both glanced at each other, their innocent expressions melting into challenging glares. Dalia cleared her throat, quickly gaining the two ghosts' attention again.

"Now, since I will be calling you separately depending on whose turn it is for a challenge, this temple will be our official meeting place. I don't need to repeat anything do I?" She asked, smiling at the nod from the other two ghosts. "Excellent. I have nothing more to say to you two so...GET OUT OF MY TEMPLE!"

The two half ghosts wasted no time in bolting from temple, not wanting to invoke the wrath of the large sixties ghost. Unfortunately, though, they had both flown off in the same direction. Now the two were floating in front of each other with both of their arms crossed, an awkward silence hanging in the air like a veil. Venomous green clashed with bleeding red as the two stared at each other, Danny being the one that decides to break the suffocating silence.

"I won't let you get that scroll, Vlad," Danny declared, glaring icily at the older ghost. "I can only imagine the creepy things you'd do with it."

Vlad let out a low chuckle, sending an unnerving chill down Danny's spine. "Oh, but it isn't up to you, is it Daniel? I have no doubt that you will put up a commendable fight in the upcoming challenges, but in the end I will win."

Danny's irritation only intensified at the billionaire's overconfidence. "And how can you be so sure?" If there was one thing that always managed to get under his skin when it came to the older man, it would be the fact that Vlad seemed to think he could manage anything he wanted to. Granted, it was somewhat true due to his wealth.

Vlad's loud, booming laugh suddenly filled the area, his ruby orbs narrowing in amusement. "My dear boy, I always win one way or another! I think my finest example of that is me being the mayor of your pathetic little city!"

The blood running through Danny's veins immediately began to boil but not because of Vlad's last statement. As a matter of fact, he actually agreed with it. Amity Park sucked. What made his sensitive temper rise was the other's declaration of always winning. But being a smartass for most of his life, Danny had the perfect comeback.

"Sorry Vlad, but you don't always win," The snowy-haired ghost grinned, crossing his arm. "I think a good example of that would be the fact that you're still single, and my mom is happily married to my dad."

The smile on Vlad's face quickly melted away at the jab to his love life, an unamused scowl taking its place. In the blink of an eye, Vlad was suddenly right in Danny's face, a sense of dread looming over him much like the older ghost was at the moment. Despite having grown quite a bit, Vlad still managed to tower over him.

"I'm single because I choose to be, little badger. Nothing more, nothing less. It would be far too difficult to keep the fact that I'm half ghost a secret with a significant other around. I'm sure you understand that little complication." Vlad's voice held a cold sense of confidence to it as he said this, knowing that the other would have no way of countering it.

Danny scowled but didn't argue. Vlad was right. One of the main reasons why he was single was because he didn't- No. He couldn't risk the chance of his secret getting out. Danny figured out a long time ago when he still had a 'thing' for Sam that his feelings for her were mostly based on the fact that she already knew his secret and still stayed by his side. After realizing that what he was feeling was just an insanely strong friendship, Danny quickly got over Sam and decided to just give up on the whole dating game for a while.

"Like I said, little badger, I always win one way or another." Vlad's confident smirk reared it ugly head again, taking Danny's silence as a sign of defeat. Before Danny could open his mouth to make a retort, Vlad turned in midair and shot off in the opposite direction, leaving Danny floating there with his mouth hanging open. He quickly snapped his mouth shut and grunted in irritation.

Today officially sucked, and Danny's head was stirring with a variety of different emotions, hardly any of them being good. This only meant one thing. He need to get back to his room at the apartment and write. During times like this, it was the only thing that could really soothe him. He lifted his wrist and once again pressed the little button on the side of his watch, opening up a new portal a few feet in front of him.

"Portal to mine and Sam's apartment," Danny commanded, and watched as the portal seemed to morph a bit before settling back down to it calm, swirling green. That had to be one of his favorite parts about his ghost portal watch. Once a portal was opened to take him out of the Ghost Zone, all he had to do was say the name of the place he wanted to go and the portal would take him there.

Wanting to get to his notebook as soon as possible, Danny flew forward and through the portal, the green vortex closing behind him a few seconds later. Only one thing went through his mind as he arrived in his room and changed back into his human form.

Vlad is not going to get that scroll...

End of chapter 1!

I do hope you all enjoyed it. I'm not sure when chapter to will be up, but already have most of it planned out so it should be fairly soon.

Please Review!