Yo.

So I'm trying this out… I'm working on another story in a different fandom but I rewatched the Danny Phantom series recently and rekindled my obsession from when I was a kid. This story popped into my head after finding a particular piece of fan-art (which I will reference as soon as I find it again), and I wanted to go ahead and jot it down before I forgot.

If you're interested in seeing this continued, leave a review. I can't guarantee when or if I'll update, but if the first chapter gets a good response, I'll do what I can to continue. So, please enjoy.

Title: Apprentice
Plot: Vlad Plasmius is in need of an apprentice, and who better than Danny Phantom?

.o0o.

Chapter 1 – Life

Vlad Plasmius lifted the welding mask from his face and grinned maniacally, running his fingers delicately over his latest invention. Thanks to technology acquired by Skulker, Technus, and even the ghost warden Walker, Vlad now held in his hand the device that would finally allow him to fulfill his dream…

Anyone who knew Vlad's dark side knew that his dream was world domination, to rule the universe as the one true master. But little did anyone know Vlad had acquired a new dream. Vlad may be half-ghost, but it didn't mean he was immortal… the evil Wisconsinite was growing older, and before his ghost half completely consumed his human half on his death bed, Vlad needed someone to carry on his legacy…

Thus far his attempts to acquire young Daniel as his perfect son had proven fruitless… Daniel's attachment to his idiot of a father was far too strong to break by any psychological means. Any attempt by Vlad to destroy Daniel's respect for his father had fallen short of successful, and the evil halfa was beginning to realize his abilities only go so far. It was, in his opinion, to move on to more… physical matters.

Vlad Plasmius put the device back on his worktable before removing the welding mask and floating toward his ghost portal, using his ghost energy to form a glowing pink rope in his hands. Raising it, he launched the rope into the ghost zone, the endless line of ecto-rope streaming from his hand until Vlad felt it tighten, and with a yank, the evil halfa pulled until from the ghost zone came a large six-armed ghost with his ecto-rope firmly lodged around one of its razor-sharp teeth.

The device on the table clattered as it activated, and suddenly launched itself through the air until it fastened itself around the captured ghost's neck. The creature immediately stopped struggling, not doubt trying to comprehend its new accessory.

Vlad smiled, his fangs glinting. "Perfect."

.o0o.

"Foley! Fenton!" Mr. Lancer growled, whacking his two charges on the head with his measuring stick. "My history lecture may be dull, but if you would refrain from napping in my class, I would be most grateful."

Danny Fenton rubbed his head where Mr. Lancer had smacked him, yawning deeply. Beside him Tucker Foley did the same, and the two friends exchanged glances. The majority of the previous night was spent ghost fighting thanks to a ghost that could spawn tiny versions of itself, wreaking havoc all over Amity Park. It was natural that the team would be exhausted, but it's not like they could tell Mr. Lancer that Danny Fenton was actually a ghost-fighting hero. Behind the boys, Sam Manson suppressed a yawn but managed to hold herself together until the end of class.

"Man," Tucker sighed, leaning against the wall as Danny rustled around his locker, packing up for the day. "I hope we never have to fight that replicating ghost again."

Sam joined them as Danny said, "No kidding… if I have to pull another all-nighter fighting that ghost I'm never going to have time to write this book report Lancer assigned us."

"Come on, Danny," Sam encouraged him. "You beat that ghost so far into the ghost zone I doubt it'll be coming back any time soon. Besides, the report isn't due for another week. That's plenty of time."

The trio of friends began walking toward the front of the school, ready to retire to their rooms for a good rest. "I dunno," Danny said, adjusting his backpack. "I feel like all these ghost attacks are getting more and more frequent lately."

"You're thinking about it too much," Tucker countered. "It's time to take some hard-earned rest. It's not like we'll get attacked by a ghost on the way home."

Right on cue, Danny felt a numbing sensation in the back of his throat, and a wisp of cold air escaped his lips, signaling the arrival of a ghost. Danny and Sam glared at Tucker for his spectacular timing, but they didn't have long before an ominous air surrounded Casper High.

Danny, Sam, and Tucker raced outside to a chaotic scene, students running in all directions as a massive six-armed ghost paced outside the front gate, its scaly blue skin oozing green ectoplasm. Each arm sported claws at least as tall as Danny, and definitely sharp enough to skewer him if he got too close. The ghost's large round head swiveled 180 degrees, its one red eye scanning the schoolyard as drool dripped from between its sharpened fangs. Around its neck was a silver band, like a collar, with blinking blue lights that made Danny instantly think of Walker.

"Guys," Danny said, and his friends leapt into action. The trio backed into a corner, Sam and Tucker blocking everyone's view as Danny crouched to the ground, shining silver rings appearing round his waist. In seconds, Danny Fenton was replaced with Danny Phantom. Turning intangible, Danny phased through the ground, reappearing seconds later directly below the ghost as he unleashed a blast of ecto energy from his palm that hit the creature directly in the jaw and sent it stumbling backward.

Danny could faintly hear the cheers of the student body as the ghostly hero appeared, but he needed to focus. "Hey, gruesome," he taunted, blasting it again and again with his ghost ray. "Let's send you back where you belong!"

The giant monster screamed, lashing out with one of its claws. Danny crashed into the ground with a grunt. He rolled away just before he was stepped on, pushing himself to one knee. A familiar numbing sensation built up in his core, and Danny let the energy flow until an icy beam exploded from his eyes, freezing the giant monster to the ground. Danny took advantage of his opponent's immobility and launched himself into the air, hands curled into a fist.

"Danny!" he heard Sam shout, and he looked to the side to see her throwing a Fenton Thermos into the air. He caught it with ease, just in time to sock a powerful punch right into the creature's head. The ghost collapsed onto its back, feet still rooted in place by the ice. Danny unscrewed the thermos and fired it, sucking the defeated ghost within.

"There," he said, twisting the cap back on and floating back to the ground. By now the schoolyard was clear of everyone, and Danny reverted back to his human form, shaking the thermos tiredly. Sam and Tucker joined him, and the three friends smiled at each other. "Now can I go home and sleep?" the teen hero asked, weariness creeping back into his voice.

"Ow!" Tucker suddenly cried out, holding a hand to his head. "What was that?"

Sam kneeled and picked up the device that had just fallen from the sky. It was the metal band that had been around the giant ghost's neck, shrunken now to the size of a dog collar and the blue lights now faded to a dull gray. "I'm not sure," the goth girl said, turning the device over in her hands. "Why don't you scan it with your PDA and see if you can pick something up?"

"Can we do it while walking home?" Danny asked, already walking that way. "I don't think I can take any more ghost anomalies today."

"What I want to know is why it wasn't sucked into the Thermos," Tucker commented as they walked, trying to find a hole to plug his PDA cord into and failing.

"The Thermos only sucks in ghostly materials," Sam reasoned. "Which means it's probably not from the Ghost Zone."

"Guys, come on," Danny interrupted. "I'm too tired to deal with this right now." He pulled the device from Tucker's hand and stuffed it into his backpack. "Let's just get some well-deserved rest and worry about it tomorrow."

"But Danny, it could be important," Sam tried to reason with her friend, but he wouldn't have it. Danny split off from Sam and Tucker and walked across the street toward Fenton Works, leaving his friends staring worriedly after him. Danny knew he should be worried about it, but he was dead on his feet as it was and needed to go to bed.

Jazz Fenton was reclining on the couch with a book when Danny stepped through the door. She and Danny exchanged knowing glances before the little brother clambered upstairs and threw his backpack to the ground, collapsing onto his bed. Jazz had covered for him with the parents last night, so she knew what was up. Even if she was annoying sometimes, having an insider in the family to cover for him was incredibly useful.

Danny rolled over, staring unfocused at his space shuttle schematic poster on the wall. As his eyes drifted closed, the metal device in his backpack began to glow an ominous green.

.o0o.

The next day at school saw no ghost attacks, so the ghost-fighting trio could finally focus on their lessons. That didn't deter Dash and Kwon from wailing on the trio, though, and Danny found himself once again hanging by his boxers from the flagpole, left to his own devices while Sam was trying to figure out how to get Tucker out of his locker.

Danny knew that with his ability he could totally beat Dash into a pulp if he wanted to, for with great powers comes the great urge to whoop butt. But also with great powers comes secret identities, and Danny definitely couldn't risk his for the fear of being ripped apart molecule by molecule.

By the time Danny and Tucker were released from their respective positions, the three ghost-fighting friends hit up the Nasty Burger to let off steam. Sam contended herself with a tofu soymelt while the boys chowed down on mighty meaty combos.

"I'm sick of being wailed on," Tucker commented once he'd swallowed. "Can't you use your powers to beat Dash up?"

"And risk revealing his secret identity?" Sam interjected before Danny could. "Just know that you guys have the moral high ground."

"Sam's right, Tuck," Danny said. "I've learned my lesson the last couple times I tried using my powers to fight back. Remember when the Fright Knight got loose?"

Tucker shuddered at the memory of being stuck on a deserted island with no clothes and no technology. "Touché."

"Just tough it out and one day, karma will bite Dash in the butt." Sam grinned.

At that moment, a wisp of blue smoke escaped Danny's mouth just as he was about to take another large bite. With an audible sigh, Danny stood and looked out the window, trying to see which ghost had come back to settle the score. Seeing none, he scooped up his backpack. "Come on, guys," Danny said, walking toward the front entrance.

Sam grabbed Tucker by the back of his shirt and dragged him along before he could steal the rest of Danny's burger. They stood outside the fast food joint, looking for any sign of a ghost.

"Dude, there's nothing here."

"Thanks, for pointing that out," Danny muttered.

"That's weird," Sam murmured. "Has your ghost sense ever malfunctioned like that before?"

"No, never."

They waited a little longer before finally coming to the conclusion that, in fact, there were no ghosts. "Hey, mind flying me home?" Tucker asked, breaking the silence. "I told my parents I'd be back early tonight and I can't be late."

"Tucker, Danny isn't a taxi service," Sam protested, but Danny shrugged.

"It's cool, Sam." After moving to a secluded area, Danny raised his hands above his head, and the glowing blue rings that signaled his transformation appeared around his waist. In seconds, Danny Phantom was standing where Danny Fenton was only seconds before. Before he could take off, however, a loud rattling sound came from somewhere behind him, and he, Sam, and Tucker turned in confusion as Danny's backpack suddenly levitated into the air and began to glow a vibrant ghostly green.

"Uh, dude?" Tucker questioned. "Did your backpack eat some of the cafeteria's mystery meat?"

"As bad as that stuff is, I've never seen mystery meat do that," Danny said nervously, approaching with caution. "Get behind me, guys."

Sam and Tucker did as Danny said, stepping cautiously behind the ghost-powered teen. Danny reached out a hand, slowly reaching up and pulling the floating back towards him, unzipping it and pulling open the cloth. Almost immediately, something green and blue exploded from the depths, sending Danny stumbling backward. Sam and Tucker backed off instinctively, and Danny felt himself falling backward.

He steadied his fall by simply floating in the air, staring up at the glowing object that hovered just above his head. Without warning, it suddenly shot toward him. Danny rolled to the side, but the object changed directions sharply and took off after him again.

"Run!" Sam yelled, and Danny didn't need telling twice. The ghost boy was off like a rocket, launching himself into the air to avoid the object. Sam and Tucker watched anxiously as their friend ducked, dived, spun, blasted his ecto-ray, and did what he could to shake the mysterious glowing… thing.

Suddenly, the object put on an extra burst of speed, and the only view Sam and Tucker had from the ground was a flash of green-blue light, a scream, and only a brief flash of Danny's body falling from the sky before landing with a crash in the dumpsters behind the Nasty Burger.

Danny was slowly pulling himself out of the dumpster feet when Sam and Tucker ran toward him. "What the heck was that?" Tucker asked, voicing everyone's thoughts aloud.

"I don't know," Danny said, checking himself for free bits of garbage. Sam pulled a wrapper from his silvery hair. "But whatever it is, it's gone now."

"Wrong," Sam said suddenly, reaching for Danny. Her hands rested at the base of his throat, and though Danny didn't know what she was looking at, he suddenly grew very self-conscious. Tucker, too, was now staring at where Sam was touching, and Danny was ready to melt into a puddle.

"Nice bling," Tucker said, staring even harder.

"What the heck are you guys staring at?" Danny demanded.

Without answering, Sam took Danny by the shoulders and turned him around so he could see his reflection in the window embedded into the employee entrance of the fast food joint. Danny could now see a device had latched itself around his neck, the blue lights once again glowing disturbingly.

"This isn't good," was the first thing to come to his mind. "Isn't this the thing that was around the neck of the ghost I fought yesterday?"

"Come on," Sam said. "Let's get back to Fenton Works so we can figure this out."

"Right."

Danny stood still for a moment, before frowning and closing his eyes tightly. His fists curled, and Sam and Tucker exchanged glances.

"Dude, what's up?"

Danny looked up at his friends, eyebrows turned up worriedly as his eyes darted nervously between his two friends. "I can't change back."

"Say what now?"

Danny's voice took on a panicked tone. "I can't turn back into Danny Fenton."

.o0o.

So like I said, if you think it's worth continuing let me know. I'd love to get feedback. Have a good Thanksgiving!

-1004-Angel