A week had passed, and Danny seemed to be getting better and better every day. Of course, Vlad knew he wasn't fully back to normal; maybe he never would be. That was the case for him; ever since the lab accident, he had never been the same.

Vlad sighed as he checked his mail. No, Danny was an exception. He knew it. He carried the mail to his desk in his study as he yawned, sifting through the mail. Junk, junk, and more junk. He was about to throw all of it away until he saw an envelope addressed to him from the City Hall.

Curious, he opened it, and was overjoyed when he saw it; it was approval of the documents he had sent to them a week earlier. He was now Danny's legal guardian and teacher; all the curriculum he needed to teach Danny would be sent to him within 24 hours.

"Daniel? Daniel!" He called as he went down the hallway to Danny's room, where he knew he would be. Although he had gotten better at getting out of the room (Vlad had seen him playing some billiards in the games room), Danny still spent the majority of his time in his room.

Danny opened the door as Vlad arrived, not even waiting for him to knock. "Yeah, Vlad? What is it?" He asked, sleepily. It was evident that he had been napping, since he had so much free time.

"My dear boy, guess what?" Vlad said excitedly.

"What?" Danny asked again, wiping sleep out of his eyes.

"I got the papers back from City Hall, and I'm now your legal guardian and teacher!" Vlad exclaimed, acting like he had just won the lottery.

"Oh. That means I have to study and do homework…" Danny lamented, sighing.

"Aw, cheer up! Besides, you've had nothing to do for the past week, right?"

"I guess so…"

"That's the spirit! I don't have any curriculum yet, since they haven't sent it yet, but we can get started on ghost training!"

"Couldn't you have just started on it earlier? It's probably not part of the main curriculum." Danny pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, yes…I never thought about it that way, I suppose." Vlad admitted, scratching his head. "Nevertheless, better late than never! We can train in the back garden; no one will see us there."

"Won't all your plants get vaporized?" Danny asked, trying to get out of doing any kind of physical activity.

"That's the point, Daniel! The training is to spar, and not cause any damage to the surroundings!"

"Vlad, that is near impossible to do. If I miss a shot, whatever is in the path of my ghost ray is a goner." Danny stated, laying down on his bed.

"Fine, fine, I could make an arena of sorts. I would create a rectangular ghost shield around us that absorbs any kind of ghost energy. That way, my landscaping won't be damaged."

Although that would fix the issue, Danny did NOT feel like getting up right now. "Five more minutes, Vlad…"

However, Vlad wasn't going to give up that easily. "Come on, Daniel! It's a beautiful day outside. You've been crammed in here all day long." Vlad said, as he pulled Danny out of his bed.

Danny sighed and conceded, following Vlad as he pulled him through the vast hallway. If this is what a mid-life crisis looks like, I'll dread the time I turn 40… Danny thought as they headed outside.

Danny shielded his eyes as the sun shined right in his face, stumbling as his eyes, not used to such bright light, tried to adjust.

Vlad was overly chipper as he beckoned Danny over to an empty spot in his garden. "We can start here." Vlad stated, gesturing to the spot next to where he was standing.

Danny rolled his eyes as he walked towards Vlad. The quicker he finished this, the quicker he could get back to playing Doomed.

Once Danny got close enough to Vlad, Vlad encased both of them in a pink rectangular ghost shield which would absorb any stray ghost attacks lest the trees, flowers, and bushes get vaporized.

"Okay, Daniel, you start." Vlad said, crossing his arms as he transformed into his ghost form.

"...Are you sure, Vlad?" Danny asked, following suit. "I've gotten stronger from the last time you've fought me."

"We'll see about that." Vlad replied, staring at him expectantly as he hovered over the grass.

Knowing that he had warned him, Danny raced towards him, aiming a fist at his solar plexus.

However, what he didn't expect was to be met by a ghost shield to the face. Exclaiming in pain and rubbing his face, Danny looked at Vlad to see him smugly smirking at him while dissipating the ghost shield.

"I've gotten stronger as well, Daniel." Vlad explained, readying himself for the next blow.

"Touché." Danny conceded as he charged a ghost ray and sent it, trying something a bit more powerful than hand to hand combat.

Of course, Vlad deflected it with another ghost shield, obviously not fazed by the attacks. "Come on, Daniel, I know you can do better than that." Vlad chided, seeming disappointed.

Knowing that he wasn't using his powers to his full potential, Danny knew what he needed to do to land a blow. Turning invisible, Danny quickly flew behind Vlad and sent a ghost ray towards his back, trying to sneak attack him.

It worked, and Vlad was caught off guard as he was sent a few feet by the ghost ray. "Very good, Daniel." Vlad complimented as he sent multiple ghost rays of his own towards Danny, testing what he would do.

Danny turned intangible and let the rays go through him harmlessly, one of the few times he used it during battle. He had obviously learned from last time.

Smiling as he knew that Danny took his advice, Vlad duplicated himself and surrounded Danny with four clones, knowing that Danny couldn't duplicate yet.

Danny knew this too, and tried to attack all four at once. However, he failed as he was bombarded by multiple ghost rays, which weakened him. He was quickly becoming frustrated as he shot back with shields and ghost rays to retaliate, but it obviously wasn't enough. The attacks also started to drain his energy, and he was going to lose if he didn't do something soon.

Vlad knew that ghosts under severe pressure would be able to unlock new powers; that was how he unlocked some of his. Because Danny was young, he was sure that he had potential to become much stronger than he already was, and that would benefit him greatly if any other ghost decided to pick a fight with him later on.

By putting Danny under the pressure to find something more powerful, he hoped that Danny might be able to use more powers than use basic shields and rays.

Danny, on the other hand, didn't know this, and was wondering why Vlad wasn't stopping when he was clearly struggling. He tried to muster as much energy as he could and managed to deflect half of the attacks, but the rest were hitting him and causing him to slip up even more.

Slowly, he started to forget that he was sparring, and all he wanted was for his attackers (who he forgot were Vlad's clones) to get away. The combined frustration and anger from the prospect of losing caused him to yell in rage, and what came next would stun both him and Vlad. "Get away, GET AWAY!" He yelled.

Unknowingly, he unleashed a powerful wave of ecto-energy which dissipated the clones and sent the real Vlad flying towards the ghost shield. Stunned, he let it dissipate, and he slammed into a tree. As soon as it started, it ended.

Danny didn't know what was happening, but he was vaguely aware of himself quickly weakening, and he soon passed out and reverted to his human form, falling towards the ground.

Vlad quickly sprung into action, flying towards Danny and catching him, lowering him to the ground. He reverted to human form as well, looking at Danny frantically. "Daniel? DANIEL!" He yelled as he prayed that Danny wasn't somehow dead.

He sighed a sigh of relief as Danny slowly woke up, looking at Vlad tiredly. "What happened?" Danny asked, confused and disorientated.

"I think you just used a new power, Little Badger." Vlad speculated.

"Well, it certainly did a number on you…" Danny pointed out.

Vlad's normally coiffed hair was all over the place, and his suit and bowtie were wrinkled from being slammed into the tree. Vlad, however, wasn't concerned about that. "What about you, Daniel? You used so much power that you passed out."

"I'm fine, Vlad, it's just tiring." Danny said, standing up. "I guess I should save it for really powerful enemies."

"That makes sense." Vlad agreed. "How did you do it?" He asked, intrigued.

"I don't know, I think I was just frustrated at how I was in a losing position, and I was desperate." Danny recalled.

"Oh." Vlad replied, still amazed by what just happened. He suddenly realized, however, that they were still out in the open. "Daniel, you should go inside and rest; training is over for today."

"Are you sure, Vlad?"

"Yes, Daniel, now go inside before I change my mind."

Nothing made Danny go inside quicker as he speed-walked into the mansion, as Vlad slowly followed him. This phenomenon requires research, Vlad thought as he stepped inside, shutting the door.


I'm so sorry that this chapter is extremely late! I hope that I'll be able to make the prospective deadline for the next chapter. Anyway, I'm glad I was able to get this chapter out today. Please leave reviews to let me know how you're liking the story so far!