Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom. I just own the plot-stuff of this fic.
A/N: Danny has trouble with big words in this chapter! …That is all.
Now for the shout-outs!
Xeiden, Phantomgirl96, MOONLIGHT-97, catkittyneko, Jewcika, Lord Shokku Raijuu, Aunna and KaliAnn: Thank you all so much for your reviews on each chapter so far! *runs about and kitty-headbutts some legs*
Arteesta and Iymea: Your questions shall be answered!
pearl84: Your catnip-covered review made my tail fluff up, and I ran outside, rolled in some dirt, and planned up through to chapter 9 or 10 of this fanfic. And, you went and pimped out my fanfic to a new reader! Well, miss Pearl, I do hope you're quite pleased with yourself. I may have to find your house and leave the Dead Bird of Love on your front porch. But, your Vladdie muse probably wouldn't like that – it is less-than-civilized to present one with dead animals, after all… Nyaa… I shall find a way to repay you! I swear it!
Fantasy93: New person! New person that leaves long, detailed reviews like I like! *dashes up and purrs loudly* Yes, I understand the Batman-and-Robin thing entirely… It entered my head several times during chapters 2, 3, and 4. And, yes, you are correct; Danny's not being too badly banged-up was his ghost powers' doing. When you think about it, little kids are very morbid, especially if it comes to death and scary things and the differences between boys and girls physically… and always wanting to play when I don't want to! Strange little creatures, is what they are! Your grammar is not the spookiest I've seen, and I like random. Random is fun!
Nyaa!
Aaaand on with the next installment.
Nyaa.
=^'.'^=
Chapter 4
His eyes were squeezed shut as he fell, opening at the last minute to find the floor rushing up at him. Danny yelped and the floor stopped a mere inch from his face. Then he plopped the last of the distance with a sound "Oof!"
Quickly, the three-year-old sat up and looked around. This wasn't the entry room. There was no green-and-gold, no jerseys, no cheesehead hats. The floor and walls were almost mechanical, and there were strange machines all over the place. Computers were all over in one corner of the room, next to a locker that had different weapons in it. It was a lab, just like the room Danny used to sleep over.
He frowned deeply. A sense of uneasiness welled up inside of him.
Picking himself up, he ran over to the nearest door and stood on his toes, managing to reach the latch and pull on it.
It didn't budge.
"Packy! Can you hear me? Get Daddy!" he yelled through the door. He took a step back and waited for a moment. Minutes crawled by at a painfully slow rate, much like hours or days to the small boy.
Danny balled up his fist and knocked on the door a few times, trying to will it open. That didn't work either. He kicked at it, punched it, but it just wouldn't open. In a last attempt, he backed up and ran at it with a body slam.
He barely even made a thump as he bounced off of the door, the impact just enough to make him stagger backwards and fall on his back.
He sat up and glared at the door. Apparently he would have to wait for Vlad to come find him. But, he thought with eyes slowly growing wide with concern, what if Daddy didn't know where to come and look for him? Then again, the people with the machines and shovels had dug him out of the scary cave, and Vlad had promised to come find him if he was ever scared!
"Daddy!" he screamed at the door, using all of his lung power.
Danny's cry went unanswered. He crossed his arms and pouted, waiting. More time passed, and as it did, the child became aware of the soft, green glow that the room had to it. It was weird, and familiar in a way he didn't like.
He looked around from side to side. Finally, his blue eyes rested on something that was definitely familiar and that he definitely didn't like. The portal hummed softly at him, ectoplasmic green light swirling in its belly like a whirlpool.
Suddenly, Danny found himself in the dark cave again. His body shook, his lip quivered, his heart hammered in his chest. He wanted to call out to Vlad again, but he couldn't manage anything, not even a whimper. He gaped at the light, drowning in it, until it suddenly exploded in his mind all over again.
His eyes turned a bright green color.
"Butterscotch syrup! It's about time!"
Vlad sighed as the fax machine finished scanning the last of his signed documents. It was a good thing he was half-ghost, or he'd probably develop carpal tunnel syndrome with all of the papers he had to sign. But, whatever it took to get him more money and more control over businesses…
That said, he would be glad when he was done with his work for the day. Why the blazes did this machine have to take so long to send each and every page?
Finally, his fax machine gave a single 'everything's good' beep and spat out a confirmation that the pages had gone through. All 28 of them.
"Finally." Vlad gave a huge sigh of relief. He was actually glad to leave his study for once, tossing the folder full of signed forms on his desk as he beat a hasty retreat; he could file them later. For now, he wanted to check on Danny's progress.
He walked through the halls, stretching his neck slightly. Once he unearthed the boy from his pile of pillows, perhaps he'd tell Danny about his ghostly servants – it was starting to get just a little messy around the house, and it didn't do to have the chef coming in secret at the regular meal times. Besides, Danny needed to become accustomed to being around many different people, even if they were otherworldly.
As he approached Danny's room, he found the door ajar, and it was absent of the telltale thumps from the night before. Vlad walked inside and looked around. Both the boy and his badger were gone.
A troubled expression darkened Vlad's features. He could easily put his concern to rest by trying to convince himself that the boy had simply grown bored and wandered off, but he was too smart for such nonsense. If Danny had tired of trying to transform – which was unlikely in and of itself – then he would have gone straight to Vlad's study and resumed his corner of the room, or else found something else in this room to entertain himself.
He was actually glad that the boy was so predictable.
Vlad assumed his ghost form and began searching every hallway of his house, splitting into multiple copies. Some even glanced in a few rooms, in case the child actually had done something outside of the norm, just to be safe. When one found the badger at the top of the staircase, the others sped towards it and merged back into one Plasmius.
He picked up Packy and frowned. "Where on earth is Daniel?" he wondered aloud, looking around for the boy's wild, dark hair.
As if to answer his question, the room shook lightly and he heard a muffled scream that he only picked up on due to his heightened ghost hearing. It came from under the floor. Reflexively, Vlad shot through the floor in search of the powerful noise's source, phasing through both the entry room and basement room's floors to get to his secret lab.
The power in his lab had been shorted out, but his solid red eyes picked up the state of chaos that the laboratory was in. The bulbs had exploded in their light fixtures, the computer screens were broken as wires poked out of their screens, and his Ghost Portal, for the first time in years, was off. Luckily, it was still intact, but that did very, very little to help Vlad feel better about the mess.
From one corner, two large, green eyes glowed at him.
"Daniel? Is that you?" he asked, stepping forward.
The eyes blinked at him, and as Vlad took another step closer, he noticed that the boy himself was softly aglow as well, a pale white light shining from him so that his outline could barely be seen.
But he could be seen. His hair was now a shocking, pure white, and his eyes were the ectoplasmic, neon green Vlad remembered from the funeral. His skin was still peachy and life-like, unlike most ghosts; it was the only thing aside from his clothes that were the same as Danny's human half.
"I don't like this room." Danny said softly. "Is the 'splosion gone? It… It didn't break the house, d-did it?"
"No, it didn't break the house." Vlad gave a sigh of relief; Danny appeared shaken, but otherwise alright. He looked around the room again. The walls of his lab were soundproof, so how had Danny's cry been heard? Then again, judging by the state of his lab… The boy hadn't really caused all of this damage, had he?
Vlad walked over and picked Danny up. The white-haired boy latched onto him, burying his face into Daddy's chest. Even if the man did look like a vampire now, with his up-turned black hair, fangs, and white suit and cape, he wasn't afraid of Plasmius – he just wanted out of this room.
The two phased through the ceiling, returning to Danny's room.
Sitting Danny on his bed, Vlad kneeled before the distraught youngster and asked, "What on earth happened, Daniel? How did you get in my lab?"
Hiccupping, the younger halfa stared at the floor, large tears rolling down his cheeks. "I-I just wanted to go ghost…" He reached out his arms. "C-Can I have Packy back? I promise not to jump off the stairs again."
Vlad's eyes almost jumped out of their sockets. "You did what? Strawberry shortcake, Daniel! Do you know how badly you could have been hurt if you hadn't gone intangible? And that's assuming you didn't kill yourself! Why on earth would you do something so foolish and dangerous?"
At this, Danny only started crying harder, biting his lips together. "I-I'm sorry! I wanted to go ghost! I didn't mean to go in your scary room, Daddy!"
Immediately, Vlad regretted his outburst. He placed Packy next to Danny, who immediately hugged the toy's neck for comfort. "I'm sorry, little badger. I shouldn't have yelled. But it scared me that you would do something that could get you hurt like that!" Vlad placed one of his large, black-gloved hands on the boy's tiny shoulder. "That said, I'm very proud of you for figuring out how to transform into your ghost half. Just promise me that next time, you won't go jumping off of anything, alright?"
"Okay." Danny sniffled, rubbing his eyes frantically. Venturing a peek up at Vlad's solid red eyes, he asked, "Did I… Did I really go ghost?"
Vlad smiled and stood up, gesturing to the mirror of his son's closet door. "See for yourself."
Hesitantly, Danny slid off the bed and made his way over to the mirror at an angle, as if trying to sneak up on his own reflection. He waited at the edge of it, unaware of the amusement his innocent actions were bringing Vlad, before finally poking his head in front of the glass. From there, he slowly stepped in front of the door, looking himself over. A frown crossed his face after a moment; he was pouting.
"What's wrong, Daniel?"
Turning around, Danny looked at Vlad with a disappointed expression. "I look like me."
Vlad laughed, placing his hands on his hips. "Yes, but you also look different from 'you', don't you?" he pointed out.
The boy turned back to the mirror. His head tilted first to the left, then to the right. Slowly, he said, "I guess so…"
"Exactly! You turned into a ghost!" Good thing he hadn't turned into a ghost the old-fashioned way, jumping off of the staircase like that… Vlad pushed the thought from his mind in favor of standing behind Danny in the mirror. "You look like a regular little phantom. I'm sure you'll be very impressive as you get older. Maybe you'll even turn scary like me."
"Will I get fangs?" Danny asked, checking his teeth. Then his eyes lit up, and he quickly whipped around to face Vlad. "Hey!"
"What?" Vlad smirked, raising an eyebrow. He recognized the excitement in those eyes.
"You can teach me about my superpowers now, Daddy!" Danny almost yelled out of joy. He held out his hands to Vlad. "When are you gonna start teaching me?"
"Anxious, aren't we?" Vlad scooped Danny up and tossed him playfully into the air, holding the now-giggling child over his head. "Lucky for you, I don't work over the weekends! What do you say we go to our vacation home in Colorado to get you started, hm? I can teach you all about your ghost powers there, and no one will learn our secret identities!"
Danny's eyes literally glowed with excitement as Vlad brought him back down to chest-level. "Cool…" He was beginning to feel more and more like a real superhero! He even had a 'secret identity'!
Suddenly, two white rings appeared around his waist, and before he knew it, he was human again. He looked at his hands, pulling fistfuls of his black hair into view. "What? H-Hey!"
Vlad chuckled, resuming his human form as well. "Don't look so glum, little badger. It's because your scream down in the lab took up so much energy. Once you take a nap, you'll be able to turn into a ghost again – in fact, you can nap on the plane! I'll have some calls to make, anyway." He placed Danny on the ground. "Now, run along and get your suitcase out of the closet and pack some clothes while I call the jet and the limo, alright?"
"Can Packy come, too?" Danny asked, bouncing on his heels.
"Of course. Badgers love the woods, and there's a lot of woods where we're going."
"Yeay!" The boy cheered and ran over to his closet, throwing the door open.
Vlad chuckled, making his way back to the lab. He'd have to fix the Ghost Portal before he left if he wanted his servants to clean house. It was a good thing he always kept a packed suitcase in case he ever caught a whim to go on vacation…
Danny ran along the length of the jet and took a flying leap at Packy. His actions earned him an amused glance from Vlad, who looked up from his book momentarily. The boy certainly was much more animated now that he could access his ghost form, which he'd resumed almost immediately after waking up from his 3-hour nap.
The younger halfa marched proudly to the other end of the jet, then turned around and pounced his poor toy again.
Vlad chuckled and returned his attention to his book, at least in appearance. He was really wondering how Skulker was doing in his hunt for information. Doubtless, it would be long after the weekend was over that the hunter would find anything that Vlad could use, but just how useful would it be? He would know the location of the Fright Knight's lair… and then what? He couldn't very well release the dangerous specter without some way of manipulating or controlling him; that would be the trick.
His thoughts returned him to the issue of Walker. Yes, he'd heard of the ghostly warden, and knew of his love of rules. Vlad considered himself lucky never to have personally met Walker – it didn't take much to know that any nasty first impressions would make it harder to get the ghost on his side, or at least where he needed him to be. Having Walker in his back pocket would certainly make it easier to maneuver about the Ghost Zone as well. Vlad frequently had to waste time and energy sneaking around or turning invisible wherever he even had reason to suspect the ghost police would be.
Danny was staring at him.
"Daddy?" the boy asked when Vlad made eye contact, "Are you gonna teach me to fly?"
That explained his attacks on his favored badger. Vlad smiled and nodded. "Yes, Daniel; eventually, I will teach you to fly. But, first, you have to learn the basics: Invisibility and intangibility."
Danny's eyebrows knitted together. "What's intangi… intanma… 'tangatriliby?"
"Intangibility." Vlad repeated slowly. "It means no one can touch you. It helps ghosts move through walls and other solid objects that humans cannot."
At this, the boy seemed much less confused. "Oh. Okay." He paused for a moment. "What's invis'bliby? That means no one can see me, right?"
"Invisibility. And yes, no one will be able to see you. You can hide in plain sight and not get caught."
Now Danny nodded, obviously mimicking grown-up behavior. "I under… understand." he said, crawling up on the seat next to Vlad. "What'cha lookin' at?"
"I'm reading a book." Vlad said, beginning to worry that the boy was getting bored. Bored children tended to be dangerous in their own right.
"But… but there aren't any pictures." he pointed out, frowning.
"I rather like it like that. Here, why don't you watch some TV?" Vlad brought out a remote and pressed a button, summoning a large TV from a wall. "What do you like to watch?"
"Cartoons!" Danny ran over to perch himself and Packy on another chair, entertained for the time being as Vlad turned it to an appropriate channel.
"Don't stay in your ghost form too long, Daniel. You want to have some energy for your training, don't you?" Vlad mused.
Danny pouted for a moment, but reverted back to being human. "Are we gonna see real badgers, too?" he asked, eyes glued on the TV.
"Perhaps. They do seem to like digging up the yard while I'm away." Vlad looked down at his book, actually reading it this time.
There was a pause. "Badgers come out night?"
"Do not sneak out during the night, Daniel. I will be very disappointed if I catch you doing that." He glanced over at the boy expectantly, smirking when he saw the childish, brooding frown cross his face. Again, he was glad that Danny was so predictable.
Vlad's servants looked about fearfully as they were herded together like cattle. The ghosts they were faced with now were far stronger than those that they were used to having try to sneak through the Ghost Portal in the laboratory below. But there was a very good reason for that.
"Unauthorized portal leading from the Ghost Zone to the realm of the living. That's against the rules."
Walker strolled up from the basement levels of the house, looking around at the loud green-and-gold of the castle's entry room. He grimaced, if possible, even more than usual. He wasn't a flashy man, as could be told from the clothes he wore – white suit, white dress-pants, black gloves and pointed boots, and a black fedora. He found the décor… annoying, at best.
"Sir! Along with the weapons down below, we've found numerous ghosts that claim to be working here. It appears that this human, Vlad Masters, keeps them in his employ." one of his officers reported.
"Illegally visiting the human's dimension. That's against the rules, too." Walker frowned, looking around. "Where is this… Vlad Masters? He and I need to have a talk."
"There's no one here currently, sir. The house is totally empty of any humans what-so-ever. The guy doesn't even keep living staff, and the ghosts who work here… well, they're afraid to speak out against him."
Walker hummed, almost growling his discontent. "They should be more afraid of me. If it wouldn't be so time-consuming, I'd teach each and every one of them that, but I want to see this Masters punk now." he drawled, walking across the room to look out a window. "Looks like the well-to-do think they can do anything they want. Some things never change."
The officer shifted uncomfortably. "Uh… sir?"
"Take the prisoners back to the prison. And get Wulf in here." the warden ordered, not moving. "I want him to catch a scent."
=^-.-^=
Ah, poor Danny. He went through some stuff, didn't he? What's funny is, while writing this chapter, I was afraid that it was shorter than other chapters, but once I copy-pasted it from the main document… I think it was a smidgen longer. Not by much, but… I'm strangely relieved about this. I hate short chapters!
Nyahaha! =^w^=;;
And, yes, that is a plot bunny you spy! I pounced on it. Between you and me, Wulf was one of my favorite characters. You can't go wrong with a werewolf.
Oh my zorz, the next chapter is gonna be long! Like, 9 or 10 pages in MS Word! I kid you not!
But, that's for later.
Nyaa.