We Are Phantoms

by Illusory Phantom

AU After the events of 'Phantom Planet', Danny, his family and his friends find themselves facing a new yet familiar villain who is hellbent on taking over where Vlad Masters left off. Who is this new villain, and what is he up too? New faces and old faces alike will clash in this new adventure. Will it all end well for Danny and his friends?

1. Phantoms Thrice

Chapter One: Phantom Thrice

DF

"It's totally not my fault," I whined as I held my arm gingerly. "You can't seriously blame me for the fact that a new ghost has taken that crazed up fruit loop's place!"

I looked to my Gothic girlfriend, Samantha 'Sam' Manson, with a pleading expression on my face. She merely flicked her black locks from her face to reveal her glaring eyes. I winced beneath her gaze as my own floppy black hair overshadowed my eyes as I stared down at my red and white sneakers. After a few moments I could hear her sigh which caused me to look up in her direction. Her combat boots were double tied so that the laces wouldn't come undone. They were all black, laces included, and they concealed her purple leggings. Continuing upward she wore a black plaid skirt fused with purple thread. Keep heading upward and you'd see her naval. Her shirt was short and black with a purple oval in the middle. Lastly, as my gaze continues to ascend, I get to her face. Her purple eyeliner and lip stick bringing out her features, especially since she's pale enough to be the daughter of Dracula. Her normally smiling face was in a frown, and her normally pony-tailed hair was currently flowing down her back, something that she blamed on me at the moment as well.

"Danny, listen," she started before her gaze left me for a moment. I turned in her direction and see my best friend, the Mayor of Amity Park, running towards me.

He too, was wearing a frown on his face, but I wasn't sure if it was because he was wearing an all-black tuxedo instead of his usual red beret, yellow shirt, green cargo pants, and brown boots; if it was because he lost his glasses which was why he was currently wearing his backup, or if it was because of the same reason that Sam was angry.

I waved to my African American best friend, Tucker Foaly, but he merely gave me a death glare and waved to Sam. Clearly, I was going to have a long day.

"It's like Super Hero-ing 101. If Someone as evil as Vlad were to be usurped, then someone else was going to take his place," stated Sam, finishing what she had started to say before our friend showed up.

I merely shake my head slightly before turning to Tucker who wasn't even looking at me. It was then that I began to reflect on past events. All this started when I was fourteen. My parents had been working on this invention for who knows how long, and then finally they finished it. It was supposed to be a portal into a zone for ghosts. We called this zone the 'Ghost Zone'. Clever name, isn't it? Anyway, this Ghost Portal to the Ghost Zone didn't exactly work and so they just sort of gave up. I had told my best friends about it, and we all decided that we should check it out. Of course I had been the one convinced to go into the portal and look around. When I did, I accidentally flipped a switch. The switch changed my molecular structure…embedded my DNA with ectoplasm which caused me to develop ghostly abilities or powers. In other words, I'm half a human, half a ghost. I'm a Halfa in other words. More clever word play, right? With these ghost powers, I decided to protect my home town of Amity Park from the ghosts who now managed to get through the portal, now that it works.

Now, this Vlad guy that Sam decided to mention is…er…was a Halfa. He got his ghost powers in a Ghost Portal accident too, twenty years before mine I think. He was college buddies with my parents. They were building a Proto-Portal which is just a fancy way of saying Prototype Ghost Portal, and something happened involving soda and Ecto Acne, and revenge and blah blah blah. Vlad's a bad guy who wants…wanted to marry my mom, kill my dad and take me as a son.

Anyway, there was this huge asteroid which we dubbed the Disasteroid, that was hurtling towards Earth. Vlad had wanted to rule the world and had all the big wig world rulers or whatever they were sign everything over to him. In exchange for those signatures, he promised to stop the Disasteroid. Surprise surprise, the fruit loop couldn't do it. Not only had he revealed his own identity and failed to stop the Disasteroid, but he ruined his own reputation and betrayed the only person who really called him friend. In the end, with the help of almost every ghost in the Ghost Zone, I was able to turn the world intangible so that the Disasteroid could slip right through the planet. The ghosts helped because the Ghost Zone runs parallel with the Living Zone which means if one zone goes, so does the other.

Vlad didn't show his face during this entire time, probably afraid to come back or he's dead. I mean, how long can you stay in Ghost Mode in space? Anyway, it had been at least six months after everything had calmed down and settled, that someone else decided to take Vlad's place. This ghost is coordinated, just like Vlad had been, but it's much more careful. I hadn't even seen this ghost before, and I don't know where it's operating from. That brings us to the here and now. I lean my head to look towards Tucker who was once again sending me a glare. I give an aggravated sigh before shouting to the heavens,

"HOW IS THIS MY FAULT!?"

Sam and Tucker both stop walking to look at me, which only causes me to stop as well. Sam is busy swatting the loose strands of hair out of her face, which makes her seem much more feminine than she acts, while Tucker is tugging roughly at the collar of his white shirt which he wore under the suit jacket. They both stand there silently before giving each other a look that I can't quite identify before looking at me.

Sam sighed before saying, "Danny, you haven't even been trying to figure out who this new ghost is! I get that you have homework and that you're battling other ghosts, but this new ghost is ten times worse than Vlad!"

Tucker nodded in agreement before pulling a small PDA from his suit pocket. He used the PDA's stylus to poke at the screen. Once he was satisfied, he turned the personal companion towards me and showed me a graph. I blinked a few times before somewhat understanding what I was seeing. I mean, I am horrible at math. I saw the name's Vlad and Noob on the PDA, so I automatically knew what it meant. Vlad's bar was pretty high and it listed some pros and cons on Vlad's side. Some of the pros listed were things like, filthy rich, could afford to rebuild what he accidentally knocked down. Occasionally reimbursed certain places, and accidentally presented openings that Danny could exploit in order to better the small town of Amity Park. Listed under the cons were things such as, Evil Ghost, Evil ghost who's stronger than Danny, Evil ghost who's stronger than Danny that does more damage than he chooses to compensate for, and chases after Danny's mother.

Under the list for the new ghost, or Noob as Tucker decided to call him, were just cons. Some of them included, Knows the true meaning of surprise, does more harm than any ghost he's charted and only in one day.

I groaned and waved my hand at the PDA dramatically before I started walking again, my girlfriend and best friend following beside me.

"I get it guys, but have you forgotten that I need sleep? I can't go to school, fight ghosts, do homework, and not sleep! I mean, I probably could, but that didn't work so well last time."

I shake my head at the thought. The last time I went without sleep was something that I didn't want to remember. I had been so busy with detention, homework and makeup assignments that I went a week without sleep. On top of that and the ghost fighting, it was hard to focus. I hadn't wanted to go to sleep either, but then I got my ghostly behind handed to me by the Box Ghost. I had said 'Never Again' after that, and my friends seemed to agree, despite the teasing I endure.

For a moment the three of us walk in silence, not really knowing what more to say. I looked down at my clothes, and for the first time I realize just how shoddy my appearance was. My normally white T-Shirt with a red oval in the middle was tattered on the side and the front was caked with dirt. My jeans were torn at the knees, most likely from when I had skidded on the concrete. I remembered swearing that I would wear knee pads in a fight after that, especially if I go from ghost to human in a fight. My white and red sneakers weren't really that bad, not unless you counted the dirty shoelaces which were untied. I was too lazy to tie them, and now my arm just really hurt.

I had been heading home from school with Sam by my side when this ghost came out of nowhere and attacked us. Of course my Ghost Sense, a blue mist that comes from my mouth whenever a ghost is near, went off. Even so, it can't exactly pin point where the ghost was coming from, so it was slightly easy for it to blind side me, since it was invisible. I had taken a few hits before I realized that there was pattern to the attack. Once I figured out a plan of action, Sam and I attacked back, me with my ghost powers and her with the Fenton Pistol. The Fenton Pistols are like pistols, but instead bullets, they shoot ectoplasm that stuns a specter. This specter, had been a lot more trouble, but retreated anyway, but not after it roughed us up.

A few more moments and the three of us stop automatically, right outside of the Fenton Works building which is where I live. Before I can even open the door, it swings back to allow my friends and I passage. Once inside I see my older sister Jasmine 'Jazz' Fenton. Something about the way she was smiling had me on edge, but I walked in anyway with my friends following behind me. I make my way to the family room only to be met with something I didn't expect.

"Danielle?" I asked curiously, a grin slowly tugging at my face.

The female who had been sitting on the couch, turned her head in my direction and grinned. It was creepy to say the least.

"Danny!" she yelled in delight before she hopped to her feet.

My grin only grew wider when I realized how tall she had become. I was caught off guard when she pulled me into an embrace. I was still off guard when she pulled away, but my smile was still plastered on my face.

"I haven't seen you since the whole asteroid thing. Is everything alright?"

I asked her as I sat down on the couch.

She followed me there as well, but she didn't sit down.

She was looking around nervously. I looked around as well, noticing that Tucker had decided to go into the kitchen and Sam had gone with my sister, most likely to get a hair band. I turned back to examine the girl before me. I was….really surprised.

You see, Danielle is a clone; My clone. That makes her a Halfa as well. She was cloned by that fruit loop, Vlad, and was sent after me because Vlad needed a sample of my post transformation DNA in order to complete this other clone of me which was like…my exact copy. She had been masquerading as my 'cousin' in order to get the DNA or to just bring me back to Vlad. She had been unstable at the time, and Vlad had pretty much told her 'If you get what I need, I'll save you'. Once Danielle realized that it was a lie, she helped me out of there. Of course it was only after I teed Vlad off by accidentally destroying my copy. It was scary watching myself melt. In the end, I really did consider Danielle as a cousin or a sister, and not just some evil clone that my arch nemesis cooked up in a test tube or whatever.

Anyway, Danielle had run away from Vlad after that, but she came back and asked for help because she was still unstable. How she had survived before, I don't even, but I knew that I had to help her. My dad had been working on an invention that was supposed to take a ghost powers away or something, but it only made them stronger. I knew I had to help her, so I made up my mind to use that invention on her. It would have been easy if it hadn't been for Valerie Grey, a girl that I liked, but at the same time I was annoyed with because she was a ghost hunter with this unnatural ability to see just the worst in a ghost. She ended up taking Danielle to Vlad where he almost melted her down. I was able to convince Valerie to help me save Danielle just in time though. All three of us ended up fighting Vlad, in his ghost form, and came to an understanding. Once it was all over, Danielle thanked us and then skipped town again.

The last time I saw her was when she was helping us turn the entire planet intangible. A few people took notice of how similar we looked. I ended up flagging Dani down and explaining her to my parents. However you picture that encounter, chances are you're right. They were appalled that Vlad had done such a thing. They also wanted to do their own experiments, but in the end they just couldn't do it or be angry with her. It wasn't her fault that she had been brought into the world in such a way. Not only that, but she looked so much like me that my mom didn't mind. In fact, I get the feeling my mom likes Dani as a daughter more so than a niece. She always makes Dani feel welcome. Now, dad on the other hand…She was a product of Vlad's betrayal, and despite how clueless my dad can be, he's a smart individual and he's very wary of Dani. Still, he tries his hardest, and I can tell he's slowly starting to accept her. Sadly though, she never stays in Amity Park for too long. She roams the world helping people, or at least she did until now.

Now, here she was, about a head shorter than I was. Her bright blue eyes that were the spitting image of my own seemed to take in everything despite being somewhat covered by her own rendition of my flopping black bangs. She had a ponytail though cascading down her back. It had obviously gotten longer. I looked at her some more, taking in how her blue hooded shirt was dirty in certain placers, and her red shorts were torn. I could also make out healing bruises on her legs. My eyes widened slightly and I blurted out without thinking, something which my friends constantly reminded me to work on,

"Dani, what happened to you?"

Danielle, or Dani as we called her, looked at me and then quickly smiled. She shook her head before her attention went back to the doorway. I turned once again to see that both Sam and Jazz had returned. Sam had her hair in the ponytail that she adored so much, while my older sister just went into the kitchen. Her black short sleeved shirt had a loose string attached, and her jeans were somewhat faded. The light blue ribbon that she usually wore in her hair was nowhere to be seen today.

I turned back to Dani and motioned for her to sit next to me, which she did without really looking. She sat quietly for a few moments before she dared to speak.

"I've seen him, Danny. I've seen the new ghost."

Whatever I was going to say instantly got caught in my throat. She had seen the new ghost? Talk about a coincidence, right? It was a male too, apparently.

"You-you have?" I asked, unsure if she was being serious or not.

The female version of myself nodded sadly before rubbing at her wrists. I didn't know if she was rubbing them because she was nervous or if it was because they hurt. Either way, I didn't like how she was acting. Usually Dani was cocky and…well…just like me. Now she seemed scared and almost fragile. There were so many questions roaming around in my head, and yet I couldn't ask them. Something was preventing me from doing so, but I wasn't sure what. I admit that it could have been excitement. A lot of the other more frequent ghost that I used to battle with didn't show up as much if at all, and the newer ones didn't talk much. It took the fun out of my witty bantering. Vlad was exceptional when it came to witty banter, and he could usually dish it back when I didn't play the 'My mommy doesn't love you back' card.

I was so deep in thought that I hadn't noticed that Dani had been shaking. When I did, I wrapped my uninjured arm around her. It was…an awkward feel, but I figured that I would quickly get over it. Obviously something happened that had shocked her or scared her. I mean, she was literally shaking.

"Dani?" I asked slowly, causing her to look at me.

She didn't respond right away, but she knew what I was trying to ask her. She looked down at the palms of her hands before clenching them into fists. Here was the Dani that I knew. It took her a moment, but when she finally looked at me again, that fear was gone; replaced with determination that burned brighter than a supernova.

"Yeah, I've seen him," she confirmed.

Her tone was much more solid than it was before. She was still shaking, but I doubt it was from fear. I waited, unsure of what I was about to hear. When she spoke again, her eyes seemed to flash from their normal blue hue to a glowing emerald green.

"I was in Wisconsin, checking out fa—I mean Vlad's old mansion, when this ghost came out of nowhere. At first, I thought he was Vlad, but he was wearing this white cloak with a hood. The hood was up and it covered most of his face. I didn't think he could see me like that, but I was wrong. He started…he started laughing, and then he said, 'Hello Big Sis'."

I could feel my brain turning to mush. I'd never seen or heard about a ghost like that, and why would this ghost call Dani 'Big Sis'? Even more questions began to race around my head, and it was starting to get crowded. Dani was still talking, and from the sound my older sister made, I could tell that I missed something.

"What?" I asked without thinking.

I hadn't noticed that Sam and Tucker had also been present, and both of them were shooting me these looks. Dani just smiled at me before repeating herself.

"I said, Danny, that I chased him around the mansion until he managed to corner me in the lab."

I couldn't help it. I gasped. I knew that Dani didn't like the lab. I mean, if you were about to be melted down into nonexistence, you wouldn't like it either.

"What happened after that?" inquired Tucker, his eyes locked on with Dani's. Dani took a deep breath and continued.

"I held my breath, stuck out my hands and fired. I wasn't about to let some stupid lab incapacitate me! I caught the other ghost by surprise and managed to knock his hood off. I…sort of wished that I hadn't…"

Dani trailed off and began to look around the room once more. I couldn't understand what exactly she was looking for though. She was staring at one part of the wall that held a picture there at one point, but it was gone now.

"Why do you wish you hadn't?" asked my older sister. Dani looked towards Jazz and clenched her fists tightly. She was trying to hide her fear.

"He got angry. He glared at me with red eyes, then shot this red ecto-blast at me. It hurt so much, and he just wouldn't stop firing. I flew away as fast as I could."

She sighed and then turned back to me.

"I don't think that Vlad's cloning days ended. I think whoever that is was another clone. He had white hair like ours after all."

The room got eerily quiet at that. I swear I could hear my heart beating so loud that it would cause an avalanche, ya know, it there was enough snow to cause one. I rubbed the back of my neck which I do when I'm nervous, then closed my eyes to think.

"Vlad hasn't made his way back to Earth, and I doubt he's gonna try unless he's really desperate. If he had made another clone, it would have to have been before the whole Disasteroid crisis, but he never figured out how to stabilize the clones. That means, if this were a clone, it would have…"

I trailed off, not wanting to say more. I sometimes forget that Dani was…is a clone. She gives me a thoughtful look, and for a moment I find it hard to maintain eye contact. She catches on and then shakes her head like I'm an idiot.

"Idiot," she giggled before putting on a serious front.

"I was thinking the same thing, but what if there was some residue of whatever you used on me left over? He could have figured out some way to separate the ectoplasm and that stuff, study and recreate enough of it to stabilize one last clone, don't you think?"

Tucker was tapping away at his PDA. I could just imagine all the equations that he was going through at the moment, and that mental image made my head hurt. I groaned and rested my head in my hands. Sam, on the other hand, was humming. Clearly she was thinking as well. A few more clicks of Tucker's PDA, and then a slight vibration from the couch made me look up. Tucker was looking towards Dani and I with a grim expression.

He said, "It's very possible for that to happen. It's also possible that Vlad managed to keep some of Danny's DNA during that battle. It would also explain why it called Dani its big sister. Dani would have been created before this one."

Sam nudged Tucker, probably trying to get him to be a little more sensitive when it came to Dani. Dani didn't seem to mind it, however. She was thinking about this just like the rest of us. I leaned my head back against the couch and sighed. I had a question too.

"Okay, but how do we know this is the same ghost that's been causing trouble. I mean, Dani and the other clones had been acting on Vlad's orders, right? There's currently no Vlad as far as we know. Not only that, let's say that this clone has been stabilized…why has he just now shown himself? Why not come out sooner to help Vlad? Why now?"

For a moment no-one could answer my question, but I could see that my sister was thinking. She was either going to try to psychoanalyze a clone or ghost or whatever that she had never seen before, or she was going to add more questions to the pot. Sam had stopped her humming and was now frowning angrily at the television. Tucker was staring at the screen of his PDA while Dani was staring at the ceiling. I sighed. I hadn't expected the question to be that hard. That was when Dani answered, but she spoke low enough for her response to barely be heard.

"A cryogenic containment unit…"

All eyes, at least the eyes that belonged to the person that heard, were on Dani. Dani looked up, probably stunned that she had said something out loud. She looked at me before rolling her eyes and closing them. Apparently she knew something about Vlad that I didn't.

"Dani" I said firmly. She opened her eyes, gave me this look of annoyance and spoke.

"I would occasionally go to Vlad's place in Colorado to recuperate. He'd be so busy trying to find ways to sway you and your mom over to his side that he didn't bother with the place anymore. Of course, it was filled with things to keep out people or animals, but being half ghost made it easy to get in. I'd deactivate the traps, stay for a while and roam around, just to see what sort of things I could mess with. Well, I found these plans for a Cryogenic Unit. They were just a bunch of theories…"

"You read them?" interrupted Tucker. Dani nodded her head and then continued.

"When I'm usually recuperating I tend to stay inside. I'd somewhat clean the place up so I wouldn't have to deal with the dirt and grime that started to cake up. That was when I actually decided that I should probably look through some of Vlad's things. That was when I found the notes. Since this was Vlad's stuff and I knew what he was capable of, I wanted to be ready for anything. So yeah, I read them. I gave myself a headache too. I just read what I could understand, like his theories and stuff. He wanted to use the unit to freeze something, but have it set to a timer which would thaw it whenever he desired and without him having to be there. At first, I thought he wanted to freeze himself like in one of those cheesy movies, but maybe this is what he was up too instead!"

Tucker, Sam, Jazz and I looked at Dani with identical expressions. The female clone of myself looked a bit sheepish, but then she began to frown. She stood from the couch and was about to say something when her voice caught in her throat. At the same time an identical, icy blue haze wafted from both our mouths. I stood to my feet and at the same time Dani and I clenched our fists and narrowed our eyes. Dani then shifted where she stood before hissing, "It's him! I can tell."

I looked to my clone, then to my sister, best friend and girlfriend. Each one of them gave an understanding nod while Dani and I shouted, "I'M GOING GHOST!"

Immediately after speaking, I began to search deep within myself for a cold spot that triggers my ghostly abilities. It's really like second nature for me to do this, which I sometimes wonder about. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I guess it shouldn't matter. Anyway, once I felt that cold spot and tapped into it, my whole body went through a change. An orb of white energy emerged from my torso, then changed into a horizontal ring. The ring then splits in half; one half goes up and changes my body's structure while the other half goes down and does the same.

Once the two rings of light faded away, it left me in its place, only inverted. My black hair was now snow white. My blue eyes become emerald green. My clothes now consisted of a black HAZMAT suit with white gloves, boots, belt, and DP emblem on my chest.

Looking beside me, I see that Dani has gone through the exact same transformation as I. Her hair was still the same as it had been before the transformation, except, like mine, hers is white. Her eyes are also now a vibrant emerald green. The only difference between us is really her suit. The top is a long sleeved shirt that shows off her midriff. Half of her outfit is black while the other half is white. Her pants are also black and white, but the black and white are on opposite sides than the top. Like me she has black boots, but one of her gloves is black and the other is white. The two of us look like we could be identical twins Pre and Post transformation. I guess it makes sense, her being my clone and all.

Now, back to the situation at hand, Dani had said that this was the ghost that she had encountered back in Wisconsin. My question now was why was he here? If this was the ghost that was causing trouble for me and my friends from the safety of another state, then why the heck did he even bother to come to my town? Just as this question left my mind, the figure in the white robe phased through the wall, instantly putting Dani on edge. Something about that just told me that this ghost gave her a much harder time than I was initially thinking.

The robe that this ghost or clone wore was completely covering him. I couldn't see his eyes or his clothes. I couldn't tell anything about this ghost.

The ghost merely hovered above us. From what Dani had been telling us, he could see what we were doing, and was probably waiting on us to make the first move. I relaxed, just a little bit and stared at where I thought his eyes would be. I figured I must have been staring in the right direction since his head shifted ever so slightly in my direction. I was pretty sure that he was watching me. With his attention on me now, Dani was free to make her move. I knew what she was planning without even having to watch her. She had turned intangible and slipped through the floor only to come up behind the intruder. At first, I thought the surprise attack would work, but right when Dani lunged, the other ghost put up a red protective ecto-barrier or ghost shield. Dani bounced back, and the other ghost turned to face her, just a bit. I got into a crouch only to lunge forward. It was a pretty dumb idea considering that the barrier was still up.

The other ghost didn't seem surprised by this. In fact, he seemed to just lack emotion. That was what I thought until I heard him snicker. I hovered backwards a bit, my feet turning into a spectral tail at this point. Dani was hovering on the other side of the ghost, her feet still present; slightly tucked.

"Certainly this isn't the best that Daniel Phantom, Ghost Zone's greatest warrior, has to offer me? How pathetic."

And there it was. I frowned. This ghost…clone, what the heck ever, just came into my house, avoided two different attacks and had the nerve to talk smack? Yeah, that was just…wait, did he call me Daniel?

"Did you just call me Daniel?" I asked, unsure of what to make of that.

The only person to call me Daniel while in the middle of a fight was Vlad. The ghost nodded his head. I swear I could see his smile beneath the stupid hood on his head.

"That is who you are, isn't it? The undistinguished hair, the juvenile ensemble you call a costume…your childish reactions and demeanor. You are, Daniel Phantom."

I growled at him. The more this guy spoke, the more I wanted to make sure Vlad was still in space.

"It's Danny Phantom, dipstick," I corrected moodily before trying to penetrate his shield with an ecto-blast.

Of course, with his ghost shield up, it was merely absorbed. Dani just narrowed her eyes before trying a blast of her own. Why was his shield so strong?!

"Daniel and Danielle; Danny and Dani. Clearly Vladimir's creative streak was short lived. How sad." the ghost snickered, making both Dani and I shudder.

The ghost lowered himself to the ground with the shield still around him. I couldn't help but growl at him some more. He was just…so BOLD.

He just ignored my growls and stood there before saying, "Tell your friends to put their little thermos away, Daniel. I'm merely here for information."

At first, I was confused by this, until I realized what he was talking about. My friends had gone to the basement to retrieve a few Fenton Thermoses. The Fentom Thermos is a ghost catching device that sucks up a ghost and…well, it looks like a thermos. I frowned before turning to my friends and family member, who had no doubt JUST came from the basement. I made a 'stand down' motion with my hand before turning back to the ghost who had pretty much dominated my living room.

"First, I want some answers. You're the ghost that's been tearing up my hometown and making me look like a completely useless wimp, aren't you?"

I knew after I asked that question that I should have probably phrased it better, but it was too late to do so and I wasn't thinking.

"Firstly, Daniel, I am the ghost who's been giving the orders to cause trouble here. I try not to get my hands too messy. Secondly, I don't believe you need any help
making yourself look like a useless wimp. You're doing exceptionally well on your own."

I scowled at the ghost and my hand began to glow an emerald green color. He merely chuckled and turned to Dani. I swear I saw his eyes flash red. I stepped between the two of them and looked at the other ghost.

"Now what is it that you want to know?" I asked, my hand started to glow a very vibrant and very deadly green.

The ghost looked at me, at least I thought he did, and he laughed.

"Oh, did you think that I was going to ask you a question and speak with you in a civil matter to get the information that I sought? Silly boy, there is more than one way to get information. Observing ones foe in their natural habitat, for starters, is a good way to gain information. Sadly though, the ghosts that I had sent came back to me with their spectral tails between their legs. After disposing of those failures I realized that the only way I was going to get any information on you that hadn't been retrieved prior to my reign was to come and scope you out myself. Clearly you're no real threat to me."

I shot off a blast at the ghost's shield, and I swear I saw the darn thing waver. Apparently I wasn't the only one who noticed. The ghost in front of me did as well, and did something unexpected. He lowered his shield. I was poised to attack, but then stopped when the other male raised both his hands to his hood.

"You deserve a reward for nearly getting through my shield, Daniel."

Just like that, he pulled back his hood. Jazz and I both gasped, Dani looked confused, and Sam and Tucker didn't really seem to understand.

The male ghost let the hood fall against his back as he cocked his head to the side.

"Before you say something entirely stupid, Daniel, you may call me Alucard."

I bit my lower lip. This was, totally unexpected. Jazz and I recognized him instantly mainly because of his hair. His hair was a jet black with a grey streak going through the middle and was tied in a ponytail. While in the ponytail, it was just about at shoulder's length. His eyes were blue, but they weren't as vibrant as my own. They were more along the lines of a light navy blue sort. This guy wasn't my clone at all. I recognized his face immediately. I'd seen it plenty of times in my parents's college yearbook. This clone was a young Vlad Masters.

"Alucard, huh?" I repeated with a frown.

I was confused so my usual quips didn't seem to be coming fast enough. This clone had caused my ghost sense to go off, and yet he wasn't in his ghost form, at least I don't think that he was. I mentally shook my head at the thought before letting loose another beam. Just like the Vlad that I was used to, this Vlad or Alucard made a much smaller, rectangular shield to block each of my blasts. Dani, who wasn't aware of who this clone really was, also began to fire pot shots at the ghost. He also managed to deflect those as well, making my clone and I very annoyed. It was then that the Alucard decided to return fire. I was hit, hard with a red blast of energy. Vlad's energy was usually magenta, not ruby red. I don't know why I thought of that, but I did.

I had gone intangible the moment I was hit because I knew that was going to go flying. I just didn't know how far. When I opened my eyes, I was outside, and Dani was lying on her back next to me. Apparently he had manage to hit us both, and he was now hovering through the walls.

"Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, how very foolish of you to use up my patience like that. I was planning on letting you live to see the destruction of the town by your own hands, but now you can forget it."

I looked at Vlad's clone, and was instantly confused.

"That made no sense to me." I said truthfully, yet with sarcasm.

Vlad's clone…er, Al, just scoffed at me before reaching under his robe. A few seconds later, he pulled out a Fenton Thermos. I rolled my eyes before snorting.

"You're going to what, put Dani and me inside that thing? Gimme a break."

I had no idea how wrong I was, but I did know I was wrong. That wicked smile that was on Al's face said so. I didn't understand. Was that thermos some sort of upgrade of the ones that my parents made? Could it effectively rip Dani and I up molecule by molecule? I began to study the thermos a little more. There were a few scratches here and there, and there was even a smidge of mud dried up on the side. I really, really didn't understand. Then, just like that, everything clicked into place. From what Alucard had said about the town's destruction at my hands, and from the appearance of the thermos, I realized what was happening.

"No, don't open that thermos!" I yelled, knowing that there was nothing I could do.

He had already been unscrewing the lid. I lunged forward, but the thermos had been opened. The power that was released from the thermos was enough to push me back and then to the ground. I landed next to Dani who was still pretty much out of it. I then raised my head to watch as a blue and white haze wafted from the thermos, followed by maniacal laughing. I cringed and instantly threw up a ghost shield of my own. The shield was emerald in color, and it was big enough to protect Dani and I from the dust and dirt that was being kicked up. Not only that, but…that laughter. I knew that laugh. I feared that laugh. It was the laughter from the thing that haunted my nightmares. I sat there, frozen to the spot, watching as the mist began to take form.

"No," I breathed, no longer watching Alucard.

The laughter, for some reason, stopped abruptly, and I could hear struggling. I just sat there and watched, not even bothering to watch Alucard who was doing something to the mist.

Once the form took finally took on its actual form, I thought I was going to die from lack of oxygen. There, standing before us was the fusion of my future ghost half and Vlad's future ghost half, Dark Phantom. He wore a combination of my costume with Vlad's cape. The arms of the costume were white and he had black gloves. His boots were still white like mine. There was also the DP emblem on his chest. His eyes were a sinister red color that seemed to make my skin burn. His hair was white, and was wafting around his head like flames on a match, yet there was ponytail in the back and he had a goatee, most likely from Vlad. His skin tone was a light, almost aquamarine color, and his ears were slightly pointed.

If it hadn't been for the simple fact that Dark Phantom was just standing there, I probably wouldn't have found my composure in time to stand up and pick up Dani. Why was Dark Phantom just standing there? What did I miss? Why wasn't he ranting or gloating? Why wasn't he going on a rampage? Isn't that what normal villains did when they were set free? No, better question…what the heck was he still doing in existence?!

TBC