Thank you again for the reviews on that last chapter. Your questions will be answered here ;)


Danny flew as fast as he could all the way back to Fenton Works. Jazz never hung up on him like that, not without a completely valid reason to, anyway. Something had to be wrong.

"Jazz?" he called out in a panicked voice as soon as he phased through the front door. He would have immediately flown up to her room if he weren't concerned about the possibility of receiving another shock for venturing so close.

"We're up here, sweetie!" his mom's voice said cheerfully. It was coming from Jazz's room.

"Is Jazz okay?"

"Of course not!"

For a second, Danny considered bolting up there to see what had happened to his sister, before Maddie continued in the typical angry-parent tone, "She's in a lot of trouble! Could you come up here, Danny? I want to have a talk with you and your sister."

"Uh, I'd rather not," Danny called back, transforming back to his human self just in case his parents left Jazz's room to come talk to him. "Can we talk later? I have…uh, homework to do."

Danny knew they probably wouldn't buy the excuse, but no other good ideas fell into his head, and perhaps they wouldn't bother him if they thought he was actually finishing his schoolwork.

Much to his surprise—and great relief—Maddie finally said, "Okay Danny, just make sure you find some nice clothes for tomorrow!"

"Oh right. My final meal," Danny said miserably under his breath. He had less than twenty-four hours to figure out a solution, and he was still coming up with nothing. Tucker had suggested the Fenton Ghost Catcher, but Sam immediately shot that idea down, citing what a disaster that had been last time. Plus, the "fun" Danny would hardly behave appropriately at the nice dinner Maddie had supposedly planned for the family.

Feigning illness wasn't an option either, as Danny had used that excuse last month to get out of school the day the Ecto Exodus Alarm went off for the second time since its inception. It had been four rough days of nonstop ghost fighting for Danny, using up whatever sick days he had left before Casper High suspended him for excessive absenteeism. There was no way his parents would believe that he got the flu twice in less than five weeks.

Seemingly out of options, Danny did not sleep well that night. Using shoes and crumpled up shirts as a makeshift pillow in his closet probably contributed to this insomnia, but his impending electrocution was weighing heavily on his mind as well.

Whenever he did manage to fall asleep, he would be quickly reawaken from nightmares of Jazz's belt zapping him while she watched her brother die slowly from across a fancy dinner table. He woke up drenched in his own sweat after every nightmare, even though it had been a while since the belt zapped him last.

"We'll figure something out before tonight," Sam promised him throughout the day at school. Danny gained little comfort from her words, though he couldn't blame her for at least trying to calm him down. Worst case scenario was telling his parents his secret, though since that opened up a whole new can of worms—as well as potentiality for even more attacks if they took it the wrong way—Danny wanted to avoid that option at all costs.

"Students," the school announcer's voice suddenly rang through the halls. "Do not forget the school-wide assembly at noon in the gym today. We will be having a special guest come to speak with us and would like everyone in attendance."

"We have an assembly? Since when?"

"You were out fighting Ember when Lancer announced it last week," Tucker informed him. "It's probably just some lame career thing or standardized testing pep talk."

Danny sighed. At least this would get him out of history class today. He had forgotten to finish an essay for that class, as usual. Besides, how bad could a stupid school assembly be?

oOoOoOo

"Students, please help me welcome our guest. Amity Park's own, Mayor Masters!"

"Of course," Danny growled to nobody in particular. He and his friends were sitting near the top of the bleachers, but even while he was trying to hide, Vlad was smirking directly at him.

"It's such an honor to be welcomed here, Principal Ishiyama," he oozed in his sickeningly sweet politician's voice. "And to see all these bright young teenagers before me today..."

Danny tuned him out as his mind started putting some pieces together.

The Specter Deflector.

The shocks.

Vlad.

Sam and Tucker stared at him strangely as a huge grin appeared on his face. It wasn't like Danny to be happy whenever Vlad was around, unless he was pranking the older man or trying to make his life miserable. They tried asking Danny, but he immediately shushed them and remained relatively attentive for the remainder of their egotistical mayor's speech.

Towards the end of the speech, Danny darted a furtive glance to the students around him to check that nobody else was watching and fell backwards. Sam and Tucker gasped as their friend disappeared down the backdrop of the bleachers, but knew he was okay as soon as they saw a flash of light.

Unfortunately, this did not go unnoticed by Vlad, who actually slipped up in his closing comments as he watched young Daniel purposely sneak away. His defenses were now on high alert, as he was certain the younger halfa was up to something.

"Everyone, could you thank Mr. Masters one more time for coming here today?" Ishiyama chippered as she shook Vlad's hand.

There was a dull rumble of applause from the bored students, but Vlad hardly noticed the lack of affection from the students. He glared up at Danny's friends, just to get across that he knew their friend was up to no good. They stared back with blank expressions; they had as much of an idea of what was going on as Vlad did.

He continued to carefully watch the two teens as he made his exit with the high school's principal, but Daniel was still nowhere in sight. Only when the school administrators bid Vlad farewell did two intangible hands pop out of the ground and pulled him through the front steps of the school.

He was brought to a meaty-smelling basement, and his suspicions were confirmed when his vision cleared from the fall: Danny Phantom was floating right in front of him.

However, instead of the usual look of anger or hatred or what have you, Daniel looked worried. Scared, even.

"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded as he transformed to confront his irksome opponent.

"Wait! I'm not here to fight," Danny said, holding his arms up as a peaceful gesture just as Vlad was preparing to fire a pink ecto-ray at him.

Vlad threw back his head and laughed. "You kidnap me and throw me into this carnivorous dungeon and you expect me to believe that you're not seeking a fight?"

"I know this is going to sound crazy, but I need your help."

Vlad looked highly amused now. "My help? And what makes you think I'd be so willing?"

"The Gluteus Plasmius-"

"Plasmius Maximus-" Vlad snarled.

"Whatever. It cancels out ghost powers right? Well I need it before five-thirty tonight."

Vlad stared at him for quite some time. His expression was unreadable, though he looked like he was on the verge of either punching or laughing at Danny.

He did the latter.

"Oh come on," Danny crossed his arms in exasperation. "Is it possible for you to laugh without sounding completely evil?"

"No!" Vlad shouted as he grabbed Danny by the neck and threw him at a nearby metal pipeline. As Danny painfully picked himself up off of the ground, Vlad continued, "I am intrigued by such a proposition, though what is my motivation?"

Danny bit his lip. He hadn't really thought this through properly, but he thought the motivation was clear and simple: "No Danny Phantom for three hours. Think you can handle protecting your fair city, Mr. Mayor?"

Danny really hated the evil smirk that was appearing on the older ghost's face. He was nearly certain that something bad would come from this, but his parents had weapons and had fought off Plasmius before, right? Albeit somewhat unsuccessfully, but at least nobody had been injured.

He now realized how stupid it was to come to his own archenemy for help, but Danny had been getting desperate, and Vlad's evil little contraption was actually just what he needed for this evening. Horrific scenarios were replaying over and over in his head, but there was no going back now.

After several moments of silence, Vlad nodded.

"Very well."

The smirk did not leave his face.

oOoOoOo

Danny said nothing on the ride to the restaurant. He knew Jazz was highly suspicious of him right now, and he would explain later. But right now, he was walking on eggshells and didn't want to tempt fate by revealing his incomplete plan. He would glance down at his watch every few seconds, as though worried that time would speed up and his three hours of full-human normalcy would be over.

With just two hours and twenty four minutes left, what was the worst that could happen, really?

Well, for starters, he almost blew his cover when he instinctively said, "We're not dating!" after his mom accused Jazz of doing so for what seemed like the billionth time that week. Danny immediately covered his mouth, horrified that he had let such an admission slip out.

"What'd you say?" his parents asked, directing their attention away from Jazz and squarely onto him.

"They're not dating," Danny corrected himself before shakily adding, "Why? What'd you think I said?"

His mom still looked skeptical, but didn't dwell on the slip-up for too long. "Don't be fooled by your sister, young man. She's hiding some big secrets from this family and ought to be ashamed of herself!"

Danny felt a wave of guilt pour over him with the secrets comment. If they thought the secrets Jazz was hiding were bad, then he knew he'd be toast whenever they found out about his true identity. He tried smiling at Jazz to cheer her up—even with her obvious doubt in regards to whether or not he was the real Danny Fenton or not—but his smile instantly disappeared when he saw a familiar ghost floating behind his dad and sister.

"Duck!" he yelled just as Vlad shot a deadly pink ecto-blast towards them. Jazz and Jack found cover just in time to watch the chairs they were previously sitting in get blown to bits by the ghost rays.

His mom sprang into action and his dad followed suit after picking himself up off of the ground. Even loaded with Fenton weaponry, Jack was no match for Plasmius, but at least Maddie was safe from ecto-blasts.

Amidst the screams and clattering of dishes hitting the ground all around him, Danny crawled for a safe place to hide. He mentally kicked himself as he went along; Vlad had this in mind all along, how could he have missed that? Of course the evil halfa would use this as an opportunity to mock him and reaffirm the idea of Danny Phantom's incompetence as a town hero. He saw Jazz hiding on the far side of the restaurant, untouched by any of Vlad's assaults. She was so boggled down with anti-ghost tech that there was no way Vlad could even come near her without some serious repercussions. Danny's only concern now was his dad, who seemed to be taking quite a few hits by the looks of it.

Out of nowhere, a blast suddenly struck Danny in the back. Having been so concerned with ensuring that the other people in the restaurant got to safety, he had left himself exposed to attacks. And given his weakened human state, Vlad had taken advantage of this easy target.

Within seconds, Danny collapsed and everything turned to black.


Next chapter: what will happen to Danny?

Let me know what you thought ;)