Danny landed on top of the Fenton Works building and Plasmius followed him after. Danny was about to make his way down the fire escape only for Plasmius to grab him by the shoulders and throw him. Danny maneuvered himself so he landed by taking a knee and his other leg out, holding him up. Danny slowly rose his head to look at Plasmius who looked more confused than ever. Danny was not in the mood for stupid witty banter or just to release his frustration on the other hybrid like him. Instead, Danny got up and tried to leave the roof again. Plasmius teleported in front of the teen and pushed him back some ways away. Danny, who was getting more frustrated by the minute, took a deep breath and asked,
"You have a reason for following me?"
"I want answers Daniel."
"Dare I ask?"
Vlad paused at the tone, "I do not appreciate that tone young man."
"Does it look like I care? After all, you are just as guilty of what's going on around here."
"Oh, you know what's going on?" Vlad asked smugly, his fangs glinting in the moonlight.
"I heard the Fright Knight. You stole both the ring of rage and crown of fire for your own selfish purposes and now the ghost king is wreaking havoc in the Ghost Zone. Because of you, he's most likely to come here making it more difficult than normal. Shall I go on?"
Vlad tried to put on a blank face, but Danny saw the hesitation and hardened his gaze. Looks like he been right.
"Not bad Daniel, not bad at all, but you don't have a shred of proof that it was me to begin with."
"Your face said otherwise Plasmius." Danny stated.
Vlad was getting nervous, so Daniel had seen that subtle twitch. Drat!
Before Plasmius could say anything, they all heard, "Danny?"
His mom. Danny quickly turned invisible, leaving Plasmius, phased through his bedroom window and turned visible, sitting on his bed. Just in time for Maddie to open the door.
"Danny?"
"Hey mom."
Maddie entered the room, "Is everything okay?"
Danny sighed, he knew this was gonna happen. He expected it with the revelation of ghost-hunting without their knowledge and he lashed out at Valerie. Time to face the music.
"I don't know, mom. I don't know." He answered honestly.
Maddie looked worried and walked over to Danny. She came from behind and hugged him tight. Danny responded by turning around and hugged her waist. Danny's mind was in turmoil yet again. He knew that Haiku told it was fine to stand up for himself, but he still felt like he was being a jerk. 'I'm just not used to it.' He mused.
"Danny, is there something you want to talk about?"
Danny looked at his mom and a part of him wanted to say 'yes', but could he? Would she even believe him was what he was wondering…Danny sighed,
"I don't know right now…but, I will eventually. I'm still trying to figuring it out for myself."
Maddie was surprised by what he said, but could see he needed some time alone, so she let it slide.
"Alright honey but know that you don't have to keep secrets from me or your father. We will help you when you need it."
"Ok." Danny said.
Maddie walked away, but Danny decided to follow her, he knew once he was alone Vlad would try to force him to talk again. He felt a shiver go down his back and looked to his window. He saw no one, but he knew he was being watched, possibly by the fruitloop. Danny shook his head and left the bedroom.
Danny had waited till Vlad was asleep to go back to his room and sleep himself. He was dizzy as he got up and was surprised to feel a bit of blood still coming out of the bandage from his head injury. Shouldn't it have healed by now? He ended up not going to school and was faced with the task of what he was going to do about the ghosts out of the ghost zone. He knew he had to find the ring of rage, but he also had an inkling that the only way to do so was to talk to Vlad. He was not going to do so, at least not yet. The teen cleaned his room to make space to do his katas and realized that he needed to also find a way to keep up with all his teachings from the wizened man he had been taught by. He couldn't go back to be the old Danny again, then why else would he have ended up in that time period to begin with? A knock from the door startled him,
"Danny? You up?"
His Dad.
"Yeah Dad."
Jack had opened the door and slowly walked in,
"You ok Danny-boy?"
Danny thought this over, "Not sure yet."
Jack raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong son? Do you wanna talk about it? Does it involves ghosts?"
Danny stifled a laugh. His Dad and the ghosts. Danny was seriously thinking…should he talk? Jack was looking at him intently.
"I guess I'm nervous for when I need to go back to school. I know I'm gonna have to face the jocks again-"
"Danny," Jack came over and sat him and led Danny to the bed, "I want you to understand something: you do not need to keep quiet about those jocks did to you. Nobody deserves to be bullied. No one. I understand why you didn't tell us, but you still should've said something. Which is why when you go back to school, your mother and I are going to talk with the principal. If they give you more problems, than you are being taken out of that school and being home-schooled."
Danny was speechless at the declaration. He'd be home-schooled if Dash bullied him again?! The idea seemed better than going back for a second chance, but than again he wouldn't have to deal with Lancer, missing classes and the other garbage that came with it…He looked at Dad and pleaded,
"Can you and mom just not send me back there? And not just me, but Sam and Tucker too?"
"Are they dealing with bullying too?" Jack asked,
"Yes, to everyone, we're the losers who get picked on the most." Danny said in an irritated voice, and a thought came to his mind…
"And since Sam and Tucker have been helping me with ghost hunting sometimes, it'd give you more time to teach us how to be better ghosthunters…"
Jacks eyes lit up bright as he heard that, "You know Danny-boy, that's a great idea. I'll go talk to your mom about it right now."
With that, Jack ran out of the room, making noise and making Danny laugh at his excited nature. His idea was good because he could improve his skills without hiding everything fully and Sam and Tucker and himself could get away from school all in one go! Danny though realized something, he may have to be more careful with his ghost half being revealed…
Danny walked downstairs and heard his Dad talking to his Mom,
"I'm telling you Maddie, it'd be great for Danny to be home-schooled."
"I'm not sure Jack, won't he miss being with other people…"
"He'll have Sam and Tucker though and at the same time we can help with ghost hunting! Maybe even go on ghost-hunting expeditions as a family!" He said excitedly.
Danny was hoping she would say 'Yes.' He really wanted to leave Casper High School.
"Well, let's think about it first and see how things go once this ghost situation is taken care of."
"Good thinking sweetcakes."
Danny made himself known by walking down the last of the stairs and coming into the kitchen.
"Danny! Honey, how are you feeling today?" Maddie asked.
"Still a bit dizzy, but alright."
"Good to hear you're doing a bit better, Daniel."
Vlad came strolling in with a smile on his face, eyes on Danny making Maddie frown.
"Morning Vladdie!"
"Morning old chum."
Danny sighed at the fake attitude, but he was also feeling a need to talk to him. After his talk with Clockwork, he was considering giving Vlad a chance, but he also was on his guard. He knew the man let the Ghost King out and knew he probably had a plan up his sleeve as well…he was still manipulative and had his own agenda with things.
"Mom, do we have any tea?"
Everyone looked at him in surprise, did he just ask for tea?
"I don't think so…you really want tea honey?"
"Yeah." Danny said as if it were obvious.
"Well, I'm afraid we don't have any…"
"I'll go get some from the store than. Just need my wallet."
Danny said, about to go back upstairs, but was stopped by Vlad placing a hand on his shoulder.
"No need Daniel, I'll go with you. I could go for some tea myself."
Danny sighed, he left an opening for that move there.
The silence was awkward as Danny walked with Vlad right beside him. Vlad kept glancing at Danny and Danny ignored his presence. Vlad was getting irritated as he tried to keep up with the teen. He was at wits end with Daniel's attitude. Danny turned a sharp corner and saw the grocery store not too far away. Danny rushed into the store and went for the drink section, he saw Vlad not behind him and slowed his heart rate down in relief. He grabbed a box of jade tea jackets and rushed to the cashier, only that was when he felt it. Hands gripped his shoulders tightly and found himself being turned invisible. He dropped the tea box and found himself being flown down below. Danny struggled in his captors' grip, only to feel himself thrown to the ground. At the corner of his eye, he saw a fist coming at him and rolled out of the way, barely missing him. Danny got up and was being forced to fight back as Plasmius came after him. Danny was dodging his punches and kicks. His mind slowing everything down as Plasmius kept coming after him. Danny had enough and launched a punch. It got Plasmius in the chest, making him go into some banana boxes. Danny took the time to try to find a door, but Plasmius lunged at him. Danny was forced to the ground, being restrained by Plasmius.
"What the heck Plasmius?"
"I want the truth Daniel, what's been going on with you?"
"Why do you care?" Danny tried to force himself up, only for the man to keep him in place.
"Enough with this childish behavior Daniel."
"Who says I'm being childish Plasmius."
With that Danny got a leg free and kicked the elder hybrid squarely in the chest. Plasmius shot up into the air and Danny got him with an ectoblast, making him go through the ceiling. Danny got up and decided to transform. As soon as he did, he felt his ghost sense go off, stronger than ever before. Danny turned invisible and flew up, out of the building.
As soon as Danny turned visible, he gasped. It was utter chaos. There were ghost skeletons everywhere, holding weapons swords as they started to terrorize the people below. Danny was in shock as he saw everything. His expression grew determined and he flew downward to a group of people that were running from the skeletons. Danny blasted them with a strong blue ectoblast and the group disintegrated in front of him. Danny was shocked by the amount of power the blast had but he had to stay focused. People needed help. He started to fly after the next group of skeletons that had a group of people cornered near a building.
Plasmius watched as Danny battled the skeletons and was stunned at the power he was displaying. It was like nothing he had ever seen. What he didn't understand was how did the boy acquire this sort of power? Too many things were not adding up with the teen? He was fighting differently, his ectoblasts were blue and showing more power than necessary…Plasmius was muddled. None of this was making sense, and he was determined to find the answer to it all. However, he needed to get the boy in a position to get the answers, but once again he refused to say a thing…Plasmius was pulled out of his thoughts as he heard Danny gasp. He looked down and saw the teen had been sliced on his arm with a sword. Plasmius dove down and got right in front of Danny and blasted the skeleton away.
"Daniel, you alright?"
"You're helping me?! What do you want? My mom's cell number?" Danny said as he blasted an incoming skeleton.
"No! Ooh, but if you wanted to give me her number-"
"Not a chance." Danny snapped as he punched a skeleton to dust.
Plasmius frowned at his attitude, but it grew to confusion as he watched Danny do a series of tumbling, kicked two skeletons at once and landed daintily on the ground as they disintegrated from the impact. Danny went forward and dodged an oncoming sword, bent backwards and used his feet to take off the head of the skeleton. Danny stopped as his enhanced hearing caught the sound of an ecto-weapon being charged. He dodged a blast of magenta and saw the Red Huntress coming for him.
"I got you now Phantom."
Danny frowned and decided enough was enough. Instead of flying away from her, he flew straight towards her. Danny went underneath her and using his ecto-energy, he pushed it, creating a rip through the sled. The Red Huntress cried out as she fell and began falling to the earth below. Danny turned around and grabbed her by the underneath of her arms and lowered her back to the ground. Bewildered, Valerie looked at him.
"What the heck was that for?"
"Because you need a reality check Valerie. A big one. You are hurting innocents."
"I am not!" She offended.
"Yes, you are."
"I hunt creeps like you. Ones who ruined my life."
"Ruined your life?! You were a bully and you still are Valerie, that is why you will never be able to move on or have any friends. Because you are still a bully, jerk, and someone who needs to look at the big picture. You may have lost some things, but did you ever stop to think of what you got out of it?!"
Valerie Gray could only stare at Phantom in shock as well as Plasmius who had heard everything.
"Don't think I'm finished with you Valerie. I gave you a chance earlier and all you are doing is wasting it. You ever hurt anyone, whether it's a ghost or human and I'll be coming after you."
With that, Phantom left, leaving the Red Huntress in the dust.
Danny flew over to his school and saw a bunch of his classmates being attacked by the skeletons. He hastily died down and took out a few skeletons that were harassing the students. He then heard a squeal and heard,
"Go get 'em invis-o-bill."
Paulina Sanchez.
He frowned and said, "How many times do I have to say it? It's 'Phantom.' 'Danny Phantom.'"
With that he flew off, only to be blasted back to the ground. Danny looked up and saw Plasmius floating off the ground with a determined expression on his face. Danny got up to his feet and was about to attack, till Vlad put his hand out for him to stop.
"Calm down Daniel, I'm not here to fight you. I have other things to worry about."
With that, more skeletons came out from every hiding place imaginable and began their assault.