Wow, time really does fly I wish I could have updated sooner, but let's rejoice in the moment, here is chapter 2!

Ch.2

The fact that Vlad didn't even put up a fight was still puzzling Tucker. He went too willingly, he didn't come up with a creepy side comment such as: "I'll be back" or "You haven't seen the last of me." Tucker's mental light bulb lit up. Vlad wouldn't leave so easily normally, unless... he wanted to have a talk with his old nemesis: Danny! Tucker quickly grabbed his things and rushed through the noisy human traffic of city hall. He had to get to Danny before Vlad did.


"Vlad!" Danny shouted, clearly alarmed. After all, it's not everyday you see your old nemesis that was banished into outer space.

"Danny!" Vlad smirked. "Now that we have began our conversation with silly introductions, let's get down to business. I have a proposition for you."

"Yeah, because Danny will need something from you." Sam said, relying completely on her sarcasm."Sam, don't." Danny pleaded. If there was one thing he had learned about Vlad, it was that you didn't mock him until it was clear what his true motives were. For all they knew Vlad could have Tucker held hostage; ready to be used as leverage.

"Relax, Daniel, I'm only here to talk." the puzzled look on the young halfa's face was just the opening Vlad needed. "I'll make this quick. If you help me become a citizen in Amity Park again, I'll help you fight… those inner demons you've been battling. So what do you say, my boy do we have a deal?"

"Never in a million years, now get out of my town!" Danny shouted his rising anger seeping into his words.

"Whoa, little badger, like I said I'm only here to talk. You refused my offer, so I will go, but be warned. I doubt you will get such a good offer from the darkness you're unknowingly fighting." and with that Vlad flew back into his exile, leaving his words echoing inside Danny's mind.

"Well that was unexpected and extremely creepy." Sam said as Danny slid next to her in the Specter Speeder. He was once again human, and quite a frazzled one at that. "Danny, are you sure you're okay? You look a little shaken up."

However, Danny was deeply lost in his thoughts. All he could hear was Vlad's voice repeating:

"The darkness inside of you."

How did Vlad know something was lurking just below the surface of Danny's skin, if he himself was unaware of it?

Getting no response to her question and seeing that Danny was in a trance, she grabbed his arms out of instincts and shook him as a desperate attempt to bring him back to reality. Danny's eyelids fluttered opened like he was being jolted awake from a bad nightmare, causing Sam's worrying to increase tenfold.


"Tucker, you have to quit worrying." Jazz said, clearly trying to reason with the distraught teen."They probably just got lost."

"But what if Vlad gets to him, and he….""Danny will be fine, he is with Sam. We both know that those two won't let anything bad happen to the other." Jazz said, interrupting Tucker's worries.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Tucker finally admitted with a sigh.

Tucker and Jazz bolted upstairs when they heard the familiar voices of Danny and Sam bickering.

"You're alive!" Tucker screamed, as he tackled Danny and Sam in a bear hug, pulling Jazz in with his free hand. "Only half of me is!" Danny rasped, trying to breathe in Tucker's tight grip.

"Were you guys just fighting?" Jazz asked as she twirled a piece of her scarlet hair around her finger.

"No!" the blushing lovebirds shouted in unison.

Jazz 's brow furrowed. She had studied body language in her psychology class, and it was quite clear that her little brother was troubled about something... but what? Yet, here he was somehow fooling his best friend since kindergarten that nothing was wrong! And to think Tucker called Danny clueless. Sam, on the other hand, was clearly clued in on the problem. After all, she spent almost all of her spare time with Danny, and why else would she be picking invisible lint off her cropped tank top? Jazz, not being one to miss a golden opportunity when one presented itself, linked her arm through Sam's and led her off to her old bedroom to have a rational discussion about the well-being of Danny's impressionable mind.


Danny was telling a very descriptive story to Tucker about his encounter with Vlad earlier that day, when out of the corner of his icy blue eye, Danny saw his overprotective sister lead his girlfriend upstairs.

"That's odd. Since when did Jazz and Sam become inseparable and keep secrets from us?" Danny said, losing his train of thought altogether.

"Well, since they are probably talking about how fine Tucker Foley is, I wouldn't worry too much, bro." Tucker chuckled as he elbowed Danny in the ribcage.

"Well, I hear Sam has pretty iconic superhero boyfriend that she is totally in love with, so fat chance there." Danny smiled.

"Well, I hear Jazz is single", Tucker said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Four words: Dude she's my sister!" Danny shouted.

"Dude, she's available. I can't pass up an opportunity like this." Tucker managed to spit out before he burst out laughing.


Jazz was never good with small-talk, she was always a get straight to the point kind of person, and she wasn't about to change that now.

Sam watched Jazz with curiosity as she closed the door to her old bedroom and began pacing nervously back and forth. Sam kept waiting for Jazz to randomly ask a really personal question involving Danny; she never was one to start small talk. The scarlet-haired teen seemed to be lost in the depths of her own thoughts, but Sam had a gut retching feeling of who her real interest involved around.

"Is this about Danny?" Sam asked with concerned eyes, knocking Jazz from her trance. Jazz let out a deep sigh of relief. "Yeah, actually it is… does he seem a bit off to you?" Jazz asked very tentatively, for fear that she might have imagined it all.

"He has been oddly twitchy since after he talked to Vlad, and when I tried to talk to him about it he chewed me out, so I haven't tried to push him to talk about it. It had to be something Vlad taunted him about, but whatever it was I'm sure he will tell us, he just needs some time." Sam gave Jazz a reassuring smile.

Sam was right, as much as Jazz hated to admit it; they needed to give Danny some space, he would tell them eventually, or at least he would tell Tucker and Sam. Even though Jazz had become an official member of Team Phantom, it was clear she was a little out of the loop; she was lucky if she was told the basics of a situation.

Out of nowhere the recognizable high-pitch scream of Tucker Foley could be heard from downstairs, followed shortly by Danny's battle cry.


Meanwhile in Clockworks Liar:

Dan, was doing what he did everyday, thinking endlessly until he thought he had fried every one of his brain cells. However, today was slightly different he kept hearing a lot of pandemonium outside his cylinder prison. So, he had assumed that Clockwork had a meeting with the observers, and since Dan had nothing better to do he decided to eavesdrop a little.

"I'm the ghost of time, what is so important that I don't know already?" Clockworks loud voice boomed.

"There is a possibility that "he" exist inside the timeline once again." the observers spoke simultaneously, like something straight out of a horror movie.

"I know this already." Clockwork picked up his staff and began pacing. "So why have you really come?"

"We expect you to prevent it, if he exists in time, the world could cease to exist as we know it." the head observer said, almost completely emotionless.

"I'm aware, and it will be taken care of!" Clockwork yelled. "If that is all you have to say, you are free to leave."

Dan couldn't help but be excited. He had been hoping for a rather long time to be free of his cylinder prison, but for young Daniel to be losing his grip on sanity that was even better! This was turning out to be a very exciting day, indeed!

Thanks to all that reviewed and followed to this story in the previous chapter, special thanks to caftrsgatdp, my lovely editor! Now type something lovely in the review box because I have a swollen jaw from getting my wisdom teeth cut out and it would make me feel better! :D