DISCLAIMER: I don't own Danny Phantom. Takes place after "Torrent of Terror" but before "Forever Phantom." Italics are thoughts.
Danny Fenton, or Phantom, as his ghost half was called, was peeved. Vlad Masters, or Plasmius, his arch-nemesis, dared to pin the whole fiasco with Vortex, which by the way, HE employed to fulfill his plan, on him. Almost anyone who knew the whole story would've found that accusation to be preposterous; he actually SAVED the world from being flooded by a hurricane, buried under snow, leveled by ASTEROID-sized hail...you get the idea.
He thought of Vlad as a coward, since would use these "proxy" ghosts to challenge him instead of just fighting him face-to-face. Damaging his reputation of being Amity Park's hero was too far; at least Amorpho had apologized.
One day, he decided that Vlad's antics to destroy his existence were going too far. It had started out as a laughable rivalry, as the many skirmishes they had usually ended with his victory, his calling Vlad a fruitloop (rightfully so), and his "advice" for Vlad to get a cat (which he actually did, leaving Danny in a state of hysteria during their next fight).
However, things started to become serious between them when Vlad became mayor of Amity Park. His life then went to hell; he fought (quite literally) to defend his reputation, technology was banned, and the Nasty Burger was gone. Seriously, what the hell is McMasters supposed to be? Can't McDonalds sue him already?
This recent Vortex incident was the final straw. Vlad had ditched him MID-FIGHT and left him to defend himself when the whole thing was his fault. Resolving to get revenge, Danny finally decided to do it a week after the fiasco on a Saturday; that way Vlad wouldn't be at the city hall and Danny wouldn't get arrested for vandalism (not like the Mayor's Mansion was a better option, but at least it's more secluded).
He flew towards Vlad's mansion and snickered as he floated above the window to his office, where he most likely would be. Vlad didn't have a Ghost Sense, and he was going to use that to his advantage. He made himself invisible and quickly materialized a dozen snowballs from his newfound cryokinesis power.
He then hurled them at the window at such a speed that they broke it, leaving a bunch of holes in the window.
Needless to say, Vlad was not pleased. He was busy doing paperwork for new regulations that would allow newspapers to be filtered by Vlad's administration, in an attempt to make Danny's life more miserable than it already is. That way, he could publish all the propaganda he wanted about Danny Phantom and severely hurt his reputation in the process.
However, he was interrupted from signing a document when a large crash startled him from his leather chair. He then saw a 10 inch snowball laying on his desk. At first not connecting the fact that Vortex was already captured, he started internally panicking and started to sweat at the thought of having to face Vortex again after the embarrassing defeat he faced.
Subjected to 11 more of these snowballs, he finally had time to turn his head and look out his decimated window to see who was the culprit of these unusually large snowballs in SEPTEMBER. His look of fear immediately switched to anger as he finally understood what had happened; only one other ghost than Phantom had cryokinesis powers, and he doubted Frostbite would have an alibi to challenge him.
Vlad scowled at seemingly empty space in the sky and transformed into Plasmius, taking off out of his decimated window. "I know you are out here, Daniel. Reveal yourself and fight...unless you're a coward."
If it was possible, that comment just infuriated Danny even more. Revealing himself, he gave an equally intense glare at Vlad. "Coward? COWARD? You're one to talk! Who's the one who DITCHED me when I was trying to resolve the problem YOU created?"
"Ah, ah, ah. Watch your temper, dear boy. Wouldn't want me to forcibly fix it for you, now would you?" Vlad chided, displaying a lot of complacency towards the situation.
"Try me, fruit loop!" Danny taunted, obviously showing the same, if not more, amount of complacency.
And if two equally proud and prideful people fight, it's not gonna end well.
Vlad was the first one to attack, shooting a simple ghost ray. It was almost as if he was going easy on Danny for his benefit: something that insulted Danny a lot.
Danny growled and shot an ice beam, threatening to encase Vlad in a block of ice if he didn't dodge in time.
Luckily for Vlad, he did, and he reciprocated with a Ghost Stinger, threatening to shock Danny into submission.
Danny wasn't about to fall for that again, however, and he dodged the attack, reciprocating with balls of ectoplasmic fire.
This pattern of fighting continued for a while, with Vlad threatening to electrocute Danny to death, and Danny threatening to either freeze Vlad in a block of ice or set him on fire. Something that was supposed to be an easily won battle turned into a tense stalemate, with both parties staring daggers at each other.
Danny didn't want to use his Ghostly Wail as it would use up all of his power; if Vlad wasn't critically injured by his strongest attack, he would, by default, win. He couldn't let his pride get hurt even more than it already was.
Vlad, on the other hand, was still holding back his full power in order to taunt Danny even further. He wasn't worried about draining all of his power, as he had more experience. He knew how to use his power responsibly. That way, if Danny used all of his power in a last ditch effort, he would automatically win.
As they glared at each other, hovering above Vlad's mansion, Vlad decided that it was the perfect time to throw a taunt.
"Giving up already, Daniel? I thought you were stronger than that. Disappointing, really."
Growling in anger, Danny suddenly had an idea. It wouldn't use up all of his power, yet it would debilitate Vlad. Smirking, he rushed towards Vlad, with a clear idea of what he was going to do. Vlad wasn't ready, and immediately readied himself to put up a Ghost Shield, but it was too late.
Danny had used his Overshadowing technique, but in a special way; he had overshadowed Vlad. If he took over Vlad's body, then Vlad would be forced out of his own body and into Danny's. Both would be rendered powerless and stuck in human forms, but Danny could blackmail Vlad into letting him win and therefore regain his pride. At least that's how he expected it to turn out.
As Danny overshadowed Vlad, Vlad's ghost half was expelled in the process and was forced to overshadow Danny. Both reverted to their human forms and could only use simple ghost powers like intangibility, invisibility, flight, and ghost rays.
Once the switch was complete, both Danny and Vlad were pretty disoriented. Danny now could see out of Vlad's point of view and saw his own body which was now inhabited by Vlad. Freaky.
Similarly, Vlad saw out of Danny's point of view and saw his own body, as if looking at a mirror.
At first, the idea didn't click in his mind and Vlad was confused as to why he was seeing himself in human form. However, as Danny started smirking at him, he suddenly realized what was happening and fury overtook him.
"Daniel, why the HELL did you overshadow me!? Return me to my body right this instant!" Vlad shuddered at the sound of Danny's voice coming out when he spoke. He sounded so...prepubescent.
Still smirking, Danny nonchalantly said, "Not until you apologize." Similarly, Danny cringed as he spoke. Ugh. He sounded so old.
"WHAT!?" It's not like Vlad didn't hear him; he was just so shocked that he didn't think it over before he spoke.
"Not until you apologize. For ruining my reputation as Amity Park's hero."
"Daniel, this is ridiculously pretentious. I refuse to speak with this prepubescent voice any longer!"
"Hey! I have totally hit puberty!" He was about to pluck a chest hair until he realized he wasn't in his own body. So he just left it at that. (AN: Shoutouts to whoever gets the DP reference!)
Vlad rolled his eyes. "That is besides the point. Return me to my body right now!"
"Not until you apologize."
Vlad's left eye twitched as his hands clenched into fists. The boy wasn't going to make this easy for him. Growling out a sigh, he realized that staying as Danny forever was not worth his pride. Besides, Danny could do many unspeakable things to him as mayor of Amity Park.
"Fine, Daniel. You want an apology, you'll get it. Sorry." And he left it at that because he wasn't going to let the agony of basically surrendering to his arch-nemesis last any longer than it had to.
"Sorry for what?" Danny asked, obviously knowing what Vlad meant, but he wanted to let Vlad be tortured a bit longer. Yeah, he was cruel. He still kept the smirk as he stared at Vlad at the brink of a mental breakdown.
Curse you, Daniel! "...For ruining your reputation." Vlad shuddered again. It was worth it though; once he was back in his own body he would ensure Danny would be in such a world of pain, he'd regret doing this in the first place.
Deciding to give Vlad a break since he felt mildly satisfied by the apology, he had a self-satisfied look on his face as he quipped, "There we go. Now was that so hard?"
Curse you, you're the one who broke my window!, Vlad thought.
Danny then tried to leave Vlad's body to return back to his own, since his agenda was fulfilled. Except that it didn't happen. Huh? But I've done this a million times! It should work… He tried again and again, but he failed to reverse the overshadowing as Vlad glared at him from his own body.
"Daniel, if you don't return me to my body this instant I'll ensure you're fully dead instead of half-dead."
Danny was sweating out of panic now, not because of Vlad's threat (he never took them seriously) but because of his newfound inability to revert back to his own body.
Danny looked at Vlad nervously, a stark contrast to his complacency earlier. He couldn't even construct a sentence properly. "Heh, heh...uh...well…"
Vlad was getting more impatient than ever. "What? Spit it out!"
"I can't really reverse the switch." Danny said sheepishly.
Ooh, cliffhanger! As always, reviews to help my writing (constructive criticism) are appreciated. Shoutouts mentioned in the AN will be in the top bolded text on the next chapter!