Don't speak of the daydream or it will haunt you.

The Daydream
A Danny Phantom FanFiction by Cordria

Chapter Two: Plans Begin

As the Fenton Family Assault Vehicle motored down the freeway, Danny sat in the back, pondering his future. There was no way he was going to get out of this trip; they were almost to Wisconsin already. So, he needed a plan of action. He put his feet up on the RV's table and closed his eyes. He wasn't so good at the planning ahead thing… that was Sam and Tucker's department. But he was slowly coming to realize that having a plan was a good idea.

Vlad would have a careful plan all set up for him; there was no doubt about that. Danny had been thinking about it the entire trip. There really was no way of knowing what Vlad would do – other than the fact that he would do something to try and steal Maddie, kill Jack, or turn Danny against the world. Since he knew that Vlad was up to something, he really should have a plan to defend against Vlad's something.

There were too many somethings. How do you plan to stop something when you don't know what's coming? Danny sighed. I'll just need to plan for everything… His eyes slowly opened and he stared up at the ceiling as he thought that one through. Okay. No. That's impossible. I just need a killer plan that will work on anything Vlad throws at me. He rolled his eyes. Yeah. That's possible.

His eyes drifted over towards his pack. Deep in the depths of the red bag, surrounded by haphazardly folded shirts, the Ghost Gabber was safely tucked away. In a pocket of the bag, he had included the batteries. Maybe… he wondered. Maybe I could use that…

He was in the middle of debating how to use the Ghost Gabber when his hand twitched. Danny broke out of reverie to stare at his hand. It twitched again.

"What the…" he whispered. Then, to his amazement, his hand clenched into a fist and lifted itself off the table. He glanced over at Jazz, who was deep in her book. Then he turned back to his hand, which was curling and uncurling his fingers. He could feel it moving – but he wasn't telling it to move.

Then his other hand twitched. Danny flinched slightly as his other hand started to move on its own. "Stop it," he hissed, forcing his hands back down onto the table. He glared at his hands, his mind firmly in control once more. After a few minutes, he relaxed slightly.

Danny jumped when his sister suddenly spoke up. "How much farther?"

Jack answered, his voice glum. "We'd be there by now if Maddie would have let me drive."

"Now Jack, we talked about this," Maddie soothed.

"I know," he mumbled back. Then he turned around and glanced at Jazz. "We just passed through Madison. It'll be about half an hour, Jazzy-pants."

"Please don't call me that," Jazz muttered. "It's Jazz. Just Jazz."

Danny snorted. "Like he's ever listened to you before." He grinned at Jazz's angry glare.

"Whatever," she whispered and then her eyes narrowed. "What have you been doing this entire trip? You've been staring off into space." A smile flickered across her face. "Thinking about your girlfriend?" she teased.

"Sam's not my girlfriend!" he snapped back.

"I never said who, Danny," Jazz announced, pleased.

Danny scowled. "Stop it, Jazz."

After a few seconds of silence, Jazz spoke again. "What are you going to do to him?"

"What?" Danny asked, his mind still trapped, rather annoyingly, on the idea of Sam being his girlfriend.

"To Vlad. You two have some ghostly rivalry going on, that much I know."

"Ghostly rivalry? He's tried to kill me, Jazz. Why does that make it a ghostly rivalry?"

"Because of how much you enjoy plotting against him. You've been quietly sitting there, thinking about it for nearly eight hours. You know, normal humans would go punch him and be done with it or something. You two drag on this rivalry and bring it into a definitely ghostly level."

Danny quirked up an eyebrow, but stayed quiet.

"I mean, you've long since stopped trying to outright kill each other. Now you plan – almost obsessively, mind you – his downfall. Not that you'll really take him out, you just like to plan. Face it, Danny – you're not treating Vlad like a human anymore. You're starting to treat him like a ghost."

Danny grinned softly. "He is a ghost, Jazz."

"He's different from Skulker and Ember, Danny. He's a halfa. Don't forget that."

"I won't, Jazz."

Jazz stared at him. "So… what did you have planned for your ghostly rival?"

Danny chuckled and folded his arms across his chest, already forgetting how strange his hands had been acting just a few minutes before. "Lots."

In its host's brain, the creature sighed. This human host would not bend to its will like the ghosts had in the past. The human still had much more control than it. It needed a plan. The creature started to shuffle through its host's memories.

Perfect, the creature thought, its mind seizing on several items that the host had packed and brought on the trip. A vision of Vlad Masters, otherwise known as Plasmius, drifted through its mind. The perfect plan.

In the Fenton RV, Danny leaned back, a grin on his face as his plan for Vlad fell into place. "Perfect," he whispered, picturing a few of the items he had packed in his suitcase. "The perfect plan."
Together, they chuckled, waiting eagerly for Vlad's mansion to appear on the horizon.

To be continued…

Oy. I know I've only had three reviews... but I got the story written and I happen to enjoy how it starts to fall into place. So I'm going to load it anyway. Join us if you dare.

I do have the first 10 chapters back from my beta-readers, so I'll be uploading them pretty quickly as I edit and revise based on what they said. On that note - a glorious and well-earned thank you to midnightpyro, gatogirl1, and Nona. Thanks a million.

And to my reviewers as well: SoulcatSpirit, TexasDreamer01, and midnightpyro. I hope others find this a fascinating trip and decide to review for me.

On with the show! Thanks for reading.

Cori