Plasmius was a ghost who did not expect much out of his afterlife aside from his small creature comforts. He stayed in his lair most of the time, a quaint cottage that he was hardly ever disturbed at. Most ghosts tended to avoid him and while Plasmius didn't know why, he liked it that way. The fights some of them got into were much too much for his taste. Even when not fighting they were a loud and rowdy bunch. Plasmius much preferred his armchair and collection of novels.
That's why he was stunned speechless when he looked up from his gardening one day to find Danny Phantom, hero of the ghost zone and the human world, floating in front of him. He had never met him properly but he had heard many stories about him and his drive to protect the town he inhabited in the human realm.
"Hello Mr. Phantom…" Plasmius said slowly. "Or perhaps you prefer Danny? In any case it is nice to meet you." He held out his hand to shake but Danny just stared at it incredulously. Plasmius realized that it might be because it was covered in dirt. Right, gardening."Er… yes well..." He dropped his hand and cleared his throat. "Right, well, won't you come in? I have tea on a warmer and I should still have a few scones. I daresay you have made a long trip to get here, I hear the portal to the human world is a few hours away at best." He said, trying again to be amicable.
He opened the door to his lair and motioned for Phantom to come inside. He did move this time, though Plasmius noticed that he never turned his back on him. Perhaps he was just suspicious by nature. That was fine, Plasmius himself was wary of most other ghosts.
He followed after and set about pouring tea for both of them. He handed a cup to his guest before making his own. "I must confess I am surprised to see you here, I was under the impression that you don't often leave your human town. Is there some sort of trouble with it?" Plasmius sat down and took a sip of the tea, looking at Phantom curiously.
"Yes… and no." Phantom replied with a frown.
"Oh thank goodness." Plasmius was elated that he had gotten him to speak. The non-answer was better than nothing. "Not about your town, I am sorry to hear there is some trouble of course, but I must confess, I was starting to think you were mute." He chuckled nervously. "Not that there is anything wrong with that but, I have no knowledge of sign language and it would be rather hard to communicate." Of course some ghosts don't speak but most could communicate in ghost.
"I can talk just fine Vlad." Phantom said after a few moments pause.
"Ah, no I think you misheard me. My name is Plasmius, not Vlad. Though I can see how the two may be confused." Plasmius said gently. "If there is trouble in your town have you gone looking for this Vlad for help? I can't believe any ghost would point you towards me for such a thing. I'm well near useless."
Phantom's eyes narrowed. "Look, I'm just trying to figure out who the hell you think you're fooling with this act, Plasmius."
Plasmius has picked the wrong moment to take a sip of his tea and choked on it. He had to wait for the subsequent coughing fit to die down before he could respond. "Fooling? Act? What in the name of candy corn are you talking about?"
"I knew you'd be back eventually, granted five years was longer than I expected, but you came back in the end. You're planning something and I know it." Phantom set his cup down and cast him an accusatory glare.
"The only thing I am planning dear boy is an extension to my lair. I hardly doubt that is what you have in mind. You must have me confused with this Vlad you are looking for. Did he cause the trouble in your town? In my whole existence I have never even visited the human realm."
"You are human you fruitloop!"
"Was. Obviously at one point I was human, or at the very least alive. But I am dead now." He said simply, as if that fact didn't bother him in the least. "My living self undoubtedly walked the earth but as a ghost I've never seen a portal, let alone the living world itself." He held up the tray of scones to Phantom but they were waved away.
"Are you kidding me? That has got to be the most piss poor excuse I've ever heard. Playing pretend won't get you out of what you did fruitloop."
"What exactly did I do if you don't mind me asking? I seem to be a bit behind the times." Plasmius questioned dryly. "And why do you keep calling me Fruit Loop?"
"What did… you held the entire world hostage! You caused a meteor strike and then you held the entire fucking human race hostage! You can't just pretend like you didn't do that!"
"Right…" Plasmius raised an eyebrow. "I remember that, and afterwards I discovered Atlantis and unlocked the key to immortality." He set his cup down. "Wait, wait now that I think about it I didn't do those things because Atlantis doesn't exist, immortality is impossible and most importantly, humans can't cause meteor strikes."
Phantom just glared at him causing Plasmius to sigh. "Look, if human me annoyed you or whatever the case might be, I am sorry. However I truly have no memory of such events and I don't appreciate someone trying to sell me lies about who I used to be. I respect you for what you did for the earth and ghost zone, and for that I see no reason to be less than civil to you." Plasmius offered the scones again and this time Phantom accepted one.
"You respect me for saving both worlds." Phantom said slowly. "Saving then from what?"
"Well… whatever was endangering them of course. I wasn't a ghost yet so I have heard only secondhand tellings of your heroism." Plasmius finally sat down across from Danny. "Though to be quite honest it's only been whispers from passersby and a few brief conversations with two ghosts I keep in regular contact with, Ghost Writer and Clockwork I don't suppose you know either of them." He took a bite of a scone and noticed only then did Phantom try some himself. This ghost was a little more than wary, more like borderline paranoid Plasmius thought to himself. "They stay to themselves, much like me."
"You never thought to ask what I saved the world from? Wait, you know who now?" Phantom asked, sidetracked by the mention of the ghosts.
"Well no, like I said I've only ever talked about it in passing." He shrugged. "Oh, I'll take it that you do know at least one of them then? I do like Clockwork, he's easy to get along with and he doesn't avoid me like most ghosts seem to. Ghost Writer shares my distaste for fights so we get along rather well, of course we swap books occasionally." He nodded over to the shelves stuffed with all sorts of books. Suddenly a realization hit him. "Oh, I get it now! I must have been a ghost hunter!" Plasmius bopped his forehead. "It would make all the sense in the world, why so many ghosts avoid me, why you dislike me, why only ghosts who never leave the ghost zone would agree to talking with me. I don't know why I didn't think about it sooner!"
Plasmius took Phantom's blank look as a look of shock, that he had figured out the truth. "I got some shots in at you no doubt, I understand why you'd be unhappy with me. I formally apologize for that, if I knew then what I know now about ghosts I would have never intended to harm you or anyone else."
"That's… I mean you aren't… completely wrong?" Phantom frowned. "You got your fair share of hits in, more than your fair share honestly but you weren't exactly a ghost hunter… not really… I mean you hunted ghosts… sometimes… if it benefited you."
"Well I hardly think that I would hunt ghosts if there was no benefit to me." Plasmius laughed. "I can't see ghost hunting being something you pick up out of sheer boredom or indifference. That's what things like knitting are for."
"What? No, I mean like you only hunted ghosts if you got some personal thing out of it like someone's trust or some ghostly artifact you could use, y'know, selfish."
"I don't really see a problem, everyone has motives, you included my boy." Plasmius retorted.
"Stop calling me that!" Phantom snapped. "Of course I don't have motives. I'm not a fruitloop. I just like helping people."
"So helping people makes you feel good, still not all that altruistic if you think about it. No such that as altruism really. Everyone has a reason for what they do, right?"
"You know what? I've had enough of this bull." Phantom stood up expression stony. "You're coming with me. I'll prove that you are still human and you can drop this stupid charade."
"Am I now?" Plasmius frowned, setting down his cup. "I do believe you are mistaken, you see, I may seem like a pushover but I stay here and woe be it to the ghost or human that thinks they can remove me."
Danny's eyes flashed a brighter green. "Oh I can and will fruitloop." He took out what seemed like a soup tin and uncapped it.
Plasmius snorted. "What are you going to do? Scald me?"
Plasmius realized seconds later that he was wrong to underestimate the one they called the hero of worlds.
He realized this when he found himself somehow crammed into the sad looking soup tin.