Chapter 7
Danny had always hated leaving Sam behind when he had to take care of a ghost problem, but ever since they had found out she was pregnant, it had been at least ten times worse. He hadn't given much thought to having a baby, especially since the two of them were both still young, but ever since he had seen the plus sign on that little stick… he shook his head, forcing thoughts of Sam and the baby to the back of his mind.
Suddenly, a ray came out of nowhere and hit him in the side; it would have driven Danny right into a building had he not turned intangible. He was able to quickly recover and began to look around for whoever had hit him – but there was nobody there, ghost or otherwise.
Something's not right here was the only thought he had time to think before an invisible force slammed him into the ground, hard. There were stars popping in front of his eyes and the air had evaporated from his lungs. It took him a few heartbeats to pull himself together, but when his eyes searched for the source of whatever had taken him down, there was still nothing there.
"Come out and fight like a… whatever you are!" Danny felt stupid, talking to the empty air, but he didn't know what else to do. Some of the ghosts he had previously fought reacted to taunting, and he hoped that this one would take the bait too. "Are you not big enough to fight me fairly?"
"Danny Phantom, always so brave…" the voice that answered him sounded snide and cold, but somehow familiar. It took another minute before things clicked into place.
"Plasmius?" Danny's body felt icy; the last time he had seen his dad's ex-best-friend was the day the asteroid didn't hit earth. How had he gotten back?
"Oh, right on the first guess! How clever of you." All of a sudden, there was a figure where there had been just open sky before. But it looked nothing like the Vlad that Danny had known just a few years earlier. While the hair was still black, it was ragged and looked like it had been fried in some places; the skin had become sallow and looked like it would fall off at just a touch; the eyes had been sunken in and lost all glimmers of kindness; it was a Vlad that had been through hell, and one that Danny just knew was more than willing to take him out of the equation.
"How – why - "
"It took me until now to figure out the way back, and a little bit of help. But the important thing is I've become even more powerful and I'm even more determined to destroy you. If I can't have my happy ending, neither – can – you!"
As he spoke the last few words, he floated to the ground and took a few steps towards Danny, a glowing green ball in his fist. With each passing heartbeat, the ball seemed to glow brighter and get denser, and Danny had just started to turn and flee when he felt something hit him in the small of his back, knocking him forward into the asphalt. He felt himself weakly phase back to a human before everything went black and he knew no more.
