Phanniemay15 Day #19 - Time
Ug. Having a hard time with this theme. (Pun intended. This is the Danny Phandom Phandom after all!) But, this is what I've got. And yes, going with the "Ghosts are all Dead People" head canon because it's better than the actual canon that they're Ectoplasmic Monsters from another universe. XD Anyway. Here's old guys hanging out.
Characters: Vlad Masters, The Vultures
Rating: K+
Summary: Time's a funny thing, comparatively speaking. Vlad contemplates such things with company.
Twenty Years Experience
Vlad had twenty years of experience as a ghost. He used that power to mock young Daniel at every opportunity. And if not to mock, than hopefully entice the young lad into his care to learn more.
Not that the boy needed it much as of late.
Plasmius may have Phantom beat when it came to raw strength, but when it came to talents and skills there was less and less he could hold over the boy these days. Daniel's growing arsenal of tricks that Vlad had yet to learn, such as his ice tricks and the Ghostly Wail, were a sore in his side that he couldn't get rid of. It had taken Vlad years to learn everything he knew. Daniel'd almost caught up to him and it had only been one.
So much in so little time.
And all Vlad could hold over his head right now was power and teleporting.
Vlad sunk into the plush cushion of his home office, hand wrapped around the glass of ginger ale on his desk. Time. It kept ticking away.
If Daniel managed to learn that last one, or continued to boost his power, Vlad would have nothing to sway him with.
And Vlad had thought he was the one doing well! In twenty years he'd become one of the most frightening and powerful Ghosts in the Ghost Zone. Vlad had been so proud of how much he'd learned, and how much raw potential he had in such a short time.
Twenty years was a blink of an eye to ghosts who had been dead and learning their crafts for thousands of years. Even the more talented ones like that Bad Luck Boy and the Pop Singer who had gained their skills were nothing compared to Vlad and what he had.
And now Daniel had turned around and done the same to him. Learned a lifetime's achievement in a fraction of the time.
A literal blink to the Ghosts who were in the two thousands.
"You keep drinking like that and by the time you're two thousand and eight, you'll be in worse shape than we are," the oldest of the Vultures said, sitting on the back of Vlad's chair. His two companions followed him through the wall, and sat in the room. Vlad groaned and sipped from his glass.
"It's ginger ale," Vlad said, rubbing the side of his head. "Did you need something?"
"Nah, just feeling cooped up," the Vulture laughed. He shook his feathers out and grinned. "Get it? Cooped up! Like a bird. Come on. These are the jokes here!"
"I'm hardly in a laughing mood," Vlad said.
He finished off his glass and considered going for an actual drink. If he was to be accused of drunkenness, perhaps he ought to give them actual reason to think it. Vlad tilted the cup to the side, as a thought popped into his head.
"When I'm two thousand and eight?" Vlad asked, chuckling lightly as he tipped the empty glass over. "You think I'll make it that long?"
"Don't take this the wrong way," The one Vulture said, huffing and flicking the side of Vlad's head with his feathers. "But you've got one foot in the door already. I'd be more shocked if you didn't go full ghost when the reaper comes knocking."
"Suppose that's a valid point," Vlad said. He laced his fingers together and placed them on his waist. He stuck both of his feet out and crossed them at the ankles. Sinking into the depths of his chair, he turned his head to stare at his shelves of books. "I wonder if I get to keep all the perks I've learned as a Halfa, or if the slate will be wiped clean again."
"Who knows?" The vulture shrugged. The bird shivered and shook out its wings. "Might not even remember that little name of yours, Plasmius. It's different for everybody."
Now there was a thought. A total restart. No Maddie. No Jack. No Daniel. Just, a brand new creature floating about with a new purpose.
Vlad half wondered what his obsessions might be if he had nothing but his inner core to guide him.
He shook his head and closed his eyes.
Best not to dwell on such thoughts. He might lose focus on the here and now. And his time was slipping away after all. Daniel would surpass him soon, and then, then what? Let alone losing his chance at a son, but surely his plans for killing Jack would be lost as well. If Daniel grew that powerful, his protective instincts would follow.
"Sometimes I wonder if I'd been younger when it all happened, if I'd be progressing as fast as Daniel is right now," Vlad said absently. The Vultures listened, and he continued. "Children do absorb knowledge so much faster, and all that youthful energy to guide him."
The Vulture above him snorted and flapped his wings. "Don't go bringing up bad thoughts like that. You're scary enough already."
"I don't even want to think about all the crazy things you'd be up to if you had that kinda energy," another piped up.
"Yeah," the third said. "Bad enough thinking that you might even be worse as a full ghost in the future! Let alone thinking about alternate scenarios!"
"Bad for you, good for me," Vlad said, tilting his head back and forth, stretching the muscles there. He licked the side of his teeth and laughed. "But worry not, my fowl-feathered minions. I have no intention of joining the other side of the Ghost Zone any time soon.
"I rather like the blood flowing in my veins, if you don't mind," Vlad said. He pulled his legs under the chair and stood up, his head phasing through the intangible Vulture still sitting on the chair backing. He stretched and cracked his spine. "Besides, I've got quite a few years left to go. Surely at least another twenty years experience awaits me before I join the beyond."
"Only twenty?" The vulture snorted. "Planning on kicking the bucket in your sixties? Not trying to reach a little higher there?"
Vlad snorted with a laugh. He stretched his arms over his head and activating the transformation to go from simple Vlad Masters, to the powerful and dominating Vlad Plasmius. He brushed fake dust off his cape shoulder.
"Please," Plasmius said, grinning wide and feeling his fangs brush against the sides of his lips as he did so. "At the rate that boy Daniel is trying to give me a heart attack, I'll be lucky if I make it to fifty. He's already making my white hair whiter by the day."
"And he's not even your kid yet!" The vulture laughed.
Plasmius sent a ghost ray at his head and he scrambled to fly off the back of the couch.
"Hey! Hey! We're all just teasin' here!" The Vulture said. "Jeesh. You've lost your sense of humor. You sure you're not an old man yet?"
"Very funny," Plasmius said. He clapped his hands together and floated off the floor. He phased through the side wall and flew down to his lab. "Come on then. I've had enough moping around. Time's escaping me even as we speak!"
"Time for what?" A Vulture asked, swooping down beside him.
"I'm not sure yet," Plasmius said. He cracked his knuckles and opened his ghost portal. "But I'm sure we'll find something fun to do. The night's still young, after all."
"Now you're talking, boss!" The Vulture cackled. "Give our old bones something to do."
"You don't have bones," Plasmius said, snorted.
"Well right now, neither do you," The Vulture mocked, flying first into the portal. The other two followed laughing.
Plasmius rolled his eyes to the back of his head and sighed. Idiots. All of them were idiots. But, perhaps it would benefit him to stay on their good side. They were his minions, true, but time was still moving.
And Daniel did have it out for him.
Should Vlad become Plasmius permanently before his time, it might not hurt to have one or two who thought of him fondly.
Should he not remember.
Should all his experience and time on this earth be lost.
Plasmius flew through the portal and followed the three birds. He teleported ahead into the center of their group and laughed as they scattered and cursed his name as they flew out of the way. Plasmius looked ahead, and scanned for any new and interesting sights in the ghost zone.
Who had time to worry about time?
