Author's Note
Hello! I'm back with another chapter just for you, aren't I nice?! ... Couldn't really resist introducing Lancer in this - he's awesome, a bit of a guilty pleasure I think :L.
Again, thanks for all your support you amazing people! If I could I would hug each and every one of you but I don't think I can afford the air fares to USA, Australia etc so I'll have to settle for virtual hugs :).
Enjoy!
"... and as you can see here, this is a perfect example of Shakespeare's use of Iambic Pentameter," the balding English teacher proudly stated as he pointed to a quote written up on the board.
He quickly turned and inwardly sighed at the less than enthusiastic response he got from the class. Most were using their study materials as pillows, some were looking longingly at the clock to beat faster whilst others were simply staring out the window. He swear that a couple of his students were actually asleep, not that this surprised the man. Putting his students to sleep was definitely a 'talent' he unfortunately seemed to possess.
His eyes rested on the gothic girl sat in the middle of the class, who seemed to be amongst those staring out the window. There had been something different about Miss Manson in the past couple of days but he couldn't quite figure out what... he assumed it must be something to do with Mr Fenton's absence but he couldn't be sure.
Out of curiosity, his gaze then drifted over to Mr Foley who sat to the right of the black clad girl. He rolled his eyes when he saw a bit of drool slowly dripping down his chin. It was funny how since Mr Fenton had been ill, his two friends seemed to suddenly become disinterested and overly tired. Normally that was Danny's job.
He was distracted from his musings by the obnoxious ring of the school bell, signalling the end of that school day. As he struggled to keep the attention of his class whilst as they hurriedly prepared to leave, he shouted amongst the noise, "Now don't forget your homework! Due next week!"
By the time he'd finished his sentence, his class had already swept past him and were out of sight... all except for Danny's two friends who were still groggily packing their books away. Something was definitely not right and he was going to get to the bottom of it though he wasn't looking forward to it. Teenagers were notoriously difficult to talk to, especially when you were their uninteresting, overbearing, old English teacher.
"Miss Manson, Mr Foley, a word please."
The two teens looked at each other and then back up at their English teacher. Regrettably, they shuffled towards Mr Lancer's desk and met his expecting gaze.
The man took a deep breath before starting, "You may or may not believe this, but as teachers, the well being of our students is of utmost importance." He noted his students' sceptical looks before continuing, "I have noticed that since Mr Fenton's absence, you two have suddenly become very tired and arriving very late for my lessons, which will not be tolerated. I have a duty to ask you if there is anything going on which would explain all this before I give you both detention."
Again, Sam and Tucker looked at each other, reading the same thing the other's eyes. Neither had an alibi for their increased ghost hunting activity. Solemnly, they both looked at the floor at mumbled, "Nothing, Mr Lancer."
At this, the English teacher sighed. "Is it to do with Mr Fenton?"
Yes! "No."
"Very well, in that case, you will both be receiving detention tomorrow after school. And you both talk to Miss Fenton, correct?"
The two teenagers nodded in response.
"Then will you please let her know that I will phoning her parents tonight about Mr Fenton's absence."
"Why?!" Sam virtually shouted. No, no, no! Mr Lancer couldn't talk to Danny's parents! It would blow their cover! Whilst Mr Lancer believed his student to be ill, the Fenton's believed their son to be perfectly well but simply staying at Tucker's house for an assignment! Quickly composing herself after seeing the disbelieving look of her teacher, she reiterated her question in a more subdued manner.
"Miss Manson, it is school policy to have confirmation from the parents of a child's absence. Whilst young Jasmine's word is valued and I'm sure very true, we cannot put it on record. Therefore, I will need Mr and Mrs Fenton to confirm this for me." As he finished, he took a seat at his desk and looked in dismay at the amount of marking he had to do. He looked back up and saw that his two students were still staring at him, wide eyed. "You are dismissed." At this, the two scurried out of the classroom whilst the man sat with a sadden expression as he watched them go.
"Man!" Tucker exclaimed upon getting to his locker, "Can't we ever get a break?!"
Opening her own locker, Sam replied, "Obviously not."
Sensing his friend's unease, the boy calmly shut his locker and awkwardly said, "Hey, it'll be okay Sam, Danny's okay." Even he could tell his own words didn't drip with confidence as he wasn't sure whether he even believed them himself.
"I'm sure he is! Probably living it up with Clockwork right now, having a great time!" She yelled as she slammed her locker shut and started to march out of the school doors, with her bespectacled friend hurriedly running behind her.
"Hey! Slow do- Aww man, not you again!"
At seeing the Box Ghost hovering a few metres away, hunting through the storage cupboard, both teens stopped dead and groaned their displeasure. How stubborn was this ghost?!
"I am the Box Gho-" The spectre began, but was quickly interrupted when a blinding light engulfed him before pulling into a Thermos.
Sam and Tucker looked at each for a couple of milliseconds, both confused as neither had had the time to pull out a Fenton Thermos. Unbeknown to the other, they were both thinking the same thing; Danny!
Their hopeful expressions quickly fell however, when they turned to see none other than Jazz, fumbling around with the cap of the Thermos. "Crate Creep sure can get annoying," She murmured to herself more than anyone else.
"BOX GHOST!" The younger teens shouted in unison. How many times?!
"He shouts it out enough Jazz..." Sam ridiculed.
"Okay, okay. Box Ghost sure can get annoying. Happy?" After successfully getting the cap on the Thermos, Jazz looked up to the disapproving glares of her brother's friends. Seems like they were still both on a shortish fuse. Not that she cared too much, she had plenty of experience dealing with Danny's short temper. She also had to admit that since Danny had disappeared, she herself had been rather tense. As much as she wanted to keep a calm exterior and tell herself that Danny was okay, it did sometimes falter. Was Danny actually okay?
She saw Tucker sigh and start to apologise to her for their outburst but she simply shrugged it off. There was no point arguing with them at the moment, it wouldn't achieve anything. Plus, Danny probably wouldn't want them arguing amongst themselves. She found herself raking her hand through her long red hair at the thought of her brother which captured the attentions of the two teens.
"Hey, um... should we maybe leave school now... you know, before Lancer finds us and asks why we're still here?" Tucker suggested, causing both girls to look towards the clock on the opposite side of the hall. Seeing that they should have left a good half hour ago, they nodded and all three made their way towards the exit in silence.
On the walk back to their houses, Jazz noticed her brother's friends had been overly quiet, they had barely said a word to her!The two also kept fidgeting and were doing the best they could to avoid her gaze. Psychology told her that this normally meant a person was anxious about something, or worried... or trying to hide something. When she found she couldn't take it any longer, the older teen stopped and voiced exactly what was going through her mind, "Okay. What are you two hiding from me?"
Sam and Tucker stopped at this question and looked around to see the questioning glare of their friend's sister. They swallowed before Tucker took it upon himself to answer. "Umm... Mr Lancer is going to phone your parents."
"WHAT?! He can't! You mean... we might get caught for lying...? But I'd get in trouble and get a detention! I haven't had a detention since..."
"Hey! Calm down Jazz! No offence but you getting a detention isn't the top of my priorities right now!" Sam shouted back.
Sensing the tension in the air between the two girls, Tucker cleared his throat before saying, "Umm, guys? We should probably think of what we're going to do?"
"Well we can't tell your parents the truth... I'm sure waltzing in and asking them to lie to Mr Lancer and tell them their baby boy is ill because he's actually staying with the ghostly Master of Time for a bit wouldn't go down well."
Jazz sighed at Sam's response. The gothic girl was right. She couldn't see an easy way out of this one.
"We could cut the telephone cable in your house Jazz?" The boy meekly suggested. Oh, who was he kidding? He knew as well as the two girls that they were going to get busted unless Danny magically appeared back at Fentonworks with a fever.
All three sighed in unison.
"Well then, we're going to have to find him aren't we?" Sam looked up to see the incredulous stares of her two classmates. "What?"
"But Clockwork already told us tha-"
"So?! Look, if we get busted that doesn't only mean a lifetime worth of grounding for us, it also means Danny's parents are going to freak! He'll get filed as a missing person or something! And what if he actually isn't okay?!" Sam paused to catch her breath and looked down to the ground before uttering, "I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something bad is happening to him."
Tucker and Jazz looked first at each other then back at their friend. They wouldn't be able to forgive themselves either. They loved Danny, admittedly not in the same way as Sam even if she couldn't admit it, but they loved him regardless. What would Danny do if it was the other way round?
"Let's find him."
Vlad was a morning person. Already up and showered by six o'clock the man now sat at his dining table carefully sipping a cup of steaming tea and reading the Monday paper. The only difference between this Monday morning and others was that he could scarcely stop himself from dunking the tip of his nose into his tea. He'd stop counting the amount of times he'd almost fallen to sleep in the past five minutes since he ran out of fingers to count on.
It was with this mindset that he found himself contemplating something he hadn't thought about in a long time. A sick day. He hadn't taken one since... well since his college 'accident' and he vowed since then that he wouldn't take one again. A couple thousand days in the hospital were enough for his lifetime.
It wasn't even like he could have slept in longer to make up for his lack of sleep. His morning routine had become so engrained in his mind, someone could have chucked sleeping gas at him at four am and yet his body would still find a way to wake him up at five.
He resolved with a sigh that he would just have to muddle through the day as best he could. He couldn't take a sick day, too many people relied on him to be in work. Being a wealthy businessman did have it's drawbacks after all.
After realising he hadn't a clue what he was actually reading, he folded his paper and chucked it carelessly onto the table in front of him before pushing himself upwards and making his way towards the kitchen. He'd need some sugar if he was going to make it through today. He shortly arrived at one of his various fridges and opening it, he phased his hand through the various cheeses, milks and hams until he found what he was looking for. When he withdrew his hand, in his grip was a can of soda... disgusting stuff but full of sugar. He grimaced when the stuff passed his lips, how Daniel could drink this stuff down in one gulp was beyond him. When he purchased the drink, he hadn't thought he'd be the one drinking it... he'd thought that Daniel might...
The finished can suddenly became flattened with this thought.
Thinking of that blasted child was the reason he'd been kept up all the damn night! He certainly hadn't 'slept' on it! It was more like he had 'stared at the ceiling and fidgeted recklessly' on it. Still, he couldn't say his sleepless night was in vain. He did at least now have a course of action and it all revolved around those two letters; CW. Daniel recognised them, how? He didn't know but a good place to start would be back at Amity Park. So that was settled. After work today, he would go to Amity.
He quickly finished getting ready for work but before he got over the threshold, he stopped himself. Seems he had spent so long focusing on what he was going to do about the whole situation, he'd forgotten about Daniel himself!
Turning, he collected another can of soda and toasted a couple slices of bread before starting to walk to where he had left Daniel the night before. Thinking about it, the boy had probably had as bad a night as he'd had himself. He was sure there was nothing down there for the teen to make himself comfy with. Nevertheless, he only felt the smallest twinge of guilt at the thought, Daniel had condemned himself with his despicable actions last night, he got no more than he deserved.
Upon entering his laboratory, he stopped dead, the clatter the food and drink made as it crashed to the floor reverberating around the mansion. The portal... it... it was open! Well not completely open but it was open just enough for someone to squeeze through... namely a half-ghost teenager with icy blue eyes and a mop of raven hair.
But how was it even possible?! Daniel couldn't have forced the doors, could he? Even Vlad himself wasn't that strong!
As he looked around the room in search of an explanation, his eyes came to rest upon the same unlit cable that Daniel's had come to rest upon the night before. So that was it. That crafty little rat! Sometimes Daniel was a lot more clever than he gave him credit for, or was willing to give him credit for anyway. Or perhaps he was just lucky.
It was then that he remembered something. He'd heard a groaning sound from last night but in his anger had put it down to one of Daniel's temper tantrums probably wrecking the room... again. Appears it had been a little more than that!
Now enraged with both himself and Daniel, he slammed down on the control panel, punching in his password to open the doors fully. Staring into the green abyss, he took back what he'd thought earlier. Daniel was incredibly stupid. Even after seeing his death at the hands of that ghost, he'd still gone barrelling head first into the ghost zone! Daniel was going to get himself killed! He rolled his eyes at his rival's idiocy. Did Daniel really hate him that much that he'd risk running into that ghost to get away from him? Now there was a sobering thought.
Changing into Plasmius and leaping into the vortex, he focused fully on sensing Daniel but got nothing. He must have been long gone by now. He allowed himself a few minutes before bolting off in the direction of the Fenton's portal. It seemed the most likely route the teen would take.
It appeared he was going to be taking that sick day after all.
After establishing that her parents were not home, Jazz beckoned her two friends, Sam and Tucker over the threshold and into FentonWorks.
"I don't know how long they're going to be out for so we'll have to be quick," the eldest teen stated as they made their way up towards Danny's bedroom.
To ease their paranoia, Jazz quickly locked the door to his bedroom once they were all safely inside. She quickly turned, brushed past the other two teens and sat at the desk in front of her brother's laptop, Sam and Tucker hovering a bit too close behind.
The computer seemed to take an agonisingly slow time loading up but when it did, it was just as frustrating when the password 'Paulina Fenton' no longer seemed to work.
"Well at least he isn't chasing shallow and brainless any more," Sam quipped, smiling to herself. Receiving glares from the other two, she quickly composed herself and continued, "I just mean that he could do better for himself..."
Tucker giggled and added under his breath, "Like you, you mean?" Unfortunately for him, Sam still heard which earned the bespectacled teen a wallop round the head.
"Ow!" The boy screeched, whilst rubbing the newly forming bruise vigorously.
"It was an accident?" The goth stated innocently, though her smirk suggested she was taking a little too much enjoyment in her friend's pain.
"Guys! Stop it! Look, any suggestions on what Danny's new password could be?" Jazz interrupted before the two went all out. Honestly, without Danny here to act as the middle man, Sam and Tucker really were infuriating! They were like children!
After trying 'Danny Phantom' and 'Paulina4Danny' amongst others, Tucker suggested meekly, "I could probably hack into it? It might take a bit longer though."
"Do it." Sam commanded. She was fed up of waiting and the sooner they got into Danny's ghost files the better. If she had had her way, they would have already been chasing the Booo-merang by now but Tucker and Jazz were sure that finding out all they could about Clockwork first was the best way to go. Jazz had also mentioned that there might be something on there which would give a clue as to why Danny was spending time with him at the moment. Plus, Tucker had convinced her that charging in guns a blazing if Danny really was in trouble might only endanger him further. Ultimately, Sam had agreed to go along with the other two. For now.
So, whilst Jazz twiddled her fingers trying to convince herself that hacking into someone's private laptop was okay, Sam sat on the end of her friend's bed, biting her lip in anticipation. Turned out they only needed to wait a couple of minutes before Tucker gave the thumbs up. Jazz and Sam supposed they shouldn't have been as surprised seeing as Tucker had hacked into much more complicated security systems in the past but it still seemed fairly quick.
"Okay, ghost files... ghost files..." Tucker started to mumble as he looked through Danny's many documents, "Ah, here it is!"
"Clockwork..." All three stated at the same time upon seeing the ghost's name pop up onto the screen.
"Master of all Time... Very powerful... Mentor and Friend... Gah! There's nothing in here that suggests why Danny would be with him right now!" Sam threw her hands up in frustration.
"No wait. Helped me with him." Jazz looked around expectantly at the other two, the trio knowing exactly who the him was, before continuing, "Clockwork intervened and saved everyone from the Nasty Burger explosion. I owe him a lot, a debt I will probably never be able to repay..."
"We know this already!"
"Wait... But I do hope to repay him in the future... As my guardian, he keeps my evil self in a Thermos in his Clock tower and also watches over him... Don't you guys see?!"
"See what?" Tucker and Sam asked clueless.
"Danny says he hopes to repay Clockwork for saving our lives..." She paused awkwardly on this last bit. Tucker and Sam also both mentally cringed. "Well what if that's it? Clockwork needs Danny to repay the debt so to speak?"
"But Clockwork doesn't work like that..." Tucker interrupted. "He's the Master of Time, not the Master of Debt Collection!"
"Just hear me out," the red-headed teen pleaded, "Clockwork is supposedly all powerful but who was the one person only Danny is able to truly stop?"
"Himself..." Their eyes widened in realisation.
"I said Clockwork wouldn't get involved unless it was urgent... Oh my God, Danny could be in serious danger and we've been doing nothing to help him!" Sam exclaimed as she started to bolt from the room.
"Wait Sam! Where are you going?!"
"Spectre Speeder!" Sam shouted back from the top of the stairs. "I'm done doing nothing! I don't care if Clockwork told us Danny was fine! That old ticking pocket watch has clearly underestimated me!"
"But we could be jumping to conclusions! Jazz doesn't know everything!" Tucker tried to reason as he ran down the stairs after his friend.
"Hey!"
Upon receiving no response from their gothic friend, the two teens raced to catch up with her at the entrance to the Fenton laboratory.
After roughly an hour travelling in the direction of the Fenton's portal, Vlad finally saw it coming into view, but still no trace of Daniel. His speed started to increase the closer he got as he realised the portal was open. He hadn't been counting on this fact when he went in search of his young enemy, he had only been hoping and yet here he was a few metres away, gazing into the green spiral, behind which was Daniel's home. He rolled his eyes as he realised it must have been left open since his last visit. Honestly, did none of the Fentons have enough sense to shut it? Even his sweet Maddie? Clearly not, not that he was complaining. Actually, the family's stupidity had come in rather useful this time.
He halted for a few seconds before making any move to plough into the portal. Why the hell was he even outside the Fenton's portal? Why was he so... concerned for Daniel's safety? No, that wasn't it. Why was he so... obsessed with Daniel's safety? All Daniel caused him was grief and misery... the product of Maddie's betrayal.
In the past, he admitted that his beef wasn't so much with Daniel but with Jack and taking Daniel away from Jack seemed to hit two birds with one stone so to speak. He would get a half ghost son and Jack would be miserable. But now it had become more than that. More personal. Ever since, for whatever reason, he had seen Daniel's future he had become the modern day Sisyphus. Daniel was his burden that he would try again and again to overcome but at the last minute, would never be able to. He had come to the same conclusion time and again. He could not let Daniel die.
Mind made up, he dove into the Fenton's portal and firmly planted his two feet on the cold ground before casting his analytical eye around his surroundings. It wasn't his eyesight though that alerted him to the presence of Daniel's sister and two friends. Rather his hearing picked up the teens' conversation from a couple of floors above him. Tuning his acute ghost hearing further he managed to pick up the boy saying something about a master of debt collections... Who? This mystery figure was completely forgotten about however when Jazz mentioned something about Clockwork... Clockwork... CW. He stopped listening for a couple of seconds as he put two and two together and his lips curved up in a sort of victory smile. Seemed like his whim to visit to Amity would pay of after all. Jazz, Tucker and Sam clearly knew something of this mysterious being and so help him, he was going to find out what.
Quickly turning invisible, he moved over to the corner of the laboratory just as the three teens descended the stairs. His gaze followed Sam as she raced over to one of the many drawers and pulled something out. Something he recognised. Shaped like a boomerang, it was definitely the contraption that had interrupted his... cloning of Daniel. Reflection told him it must have been some sort of tracking device.
"Sam! Wait up!" Jazz raced into the lab, shortly followed by Tucker who was now taking laboured breaths. If Vlad wasn't spying he would have laughed at how out of shape the boy was.
"I'm finding Danny, Jazz. Right now. You can come or you can stay here but either way I'm going." Sam started to climb up and into the Spectre Speeder, with the Booo-merang clutched tightly in her fist.
Vlad's eyes never left the contraption for he knew that it could be his only way of finding Daniel.
"Just wait two seconds! What about food?!"
Sam's eyes widened at Jazz's comment. "Your brother could be dying and you're worried about your stomach?"
"No! But have you ever travelled to Clockwork's using the speeder? We don't know how long it might take and we're no use to Danny if we're too weak!"
So Danny was with this Clockwork? Was Clockwork the being he was scared of? Interesting.
"She's got a point Sam," Tucker commented upon catching his breath.
"Urg, fine! But let's get some quickly." Sam placed the Booo-merang on the passenger seat of the vehicle and went with her two friends out of the laboratory.
Vlad took this time to act as he turned visible, turned his arm intangible, reached threw and into the speeder and plucked the device from the seat. He knew he had to be quick but he had no idea how to work the darn thing! He studied the device for a few minutes, trying to find anything that would give him a clue how to work it but got nothing. Unfortunately it was a couple of minutes too long as the three teens had already come back with food and were now staring at him in shock.
He scolded himself as he realised he was now visible but at seeing the three teenagers stare, confounded by his sudden appearance, a smug smirk crept onto his face... and was that a little bit of fear in their expressions as well? His smirk grew at this last thought. His gaze drifted to Samantha, the girl he knew to be besotted with young Daniel. He noted her accelerated breathing, clenched fists and redness around her cheeks. Figures she'd be angry.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Sam demanded as she daringly advanced towards the ghost that could kill her before she said the word ouch.
Vlad raised an eyebrow at her question. "No hello? You know, it is customary for two respectable people to exchange pleasantries at the beginning of a conversation."
"You're not a respectable person though. Now cut to the chase."
Vlad's brow creased with the girl's response. He forgot that Sam's attitude could be just as irritating as Daniel's at times, if not more so for he didn't care for the girl in front of him. He only wasn't blasting her now for Daniel's sake. Lucky girl.
His eyes narrowed as he responded, "I would be careful if I were you. If you haven't noticed you are weaponless and have no way to harm me whereas I..." He let his hands glow with ectoplasm as a warning, "...well let's just say I'll be calling the shots, shall we?"
To Vlad's surprise, it was Jasmine who stepped forward and replied, "If you were here to hurt us, you would have done so by now. So stop flinging around empty threats.
Vlad let out a sinister chuckle which made the three teens shiver. "Just because I did not come here to hurt you, doesn't mean I won't. Don't test my patience."
It was at this point that Tucker noticed the Booo-merang in Vlad's fist. "Give the Booo-merang back Plasmius."
Vlad laughed again as he realised the boy had elongated the first syllable. He should have known Jack would have come up with some idiotic name for the contraption. "No."
"Why have you even got it?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?!"
"Uh, yeah. We would actually. We sort of need that."
"Well isn't this a coincidence? Because I need it too and seeing as I have it, I think I'll be the one using it."
"You can't!" Thinking she knew where the Booo-merang might lead him, Jazz shouted out on impulse. Vlad couldn't find Clockwork, Danny and possible Dan. He just couldn't know about that future!
Vlad meanwhile was trying to make sense of Jazz's impulsive comment. It sounded like she was scared of something. There was something Vlad didn't know, and he didn't like it. Like Daniel, these three were being very secretive about something, but not the 'you're evil and we hate you' secretive, rather the 'it is better left unsaid way' secretive. There was something huge that he was missing and only by finding this Clockwork character would he finally figure it out. At least he had a name now, rather than initials which was something to go by. But he still needed to find Daniel.
He drew a deep breath as he replied, "I think you'll find I can, and I will, just as soon as you tell me how to work it."
"You really must be crazy if you think we're going to tell you." Sam hissed.
"If you know what's good for you, you will do exactly that!"
"WHY? So you can maim him whilst trying to convince him to become your evil apprentice?!"
By this point, Sam's and Vlad's faces were so close together, it was amazing there was no physical contact. Jazz and Tucker were staring in awe at how spunky their gothic friend really was. Here she was, facing down a billionaire mastermind with lethal ghost powers.
"All in due time my girl, all in due time. In the meantime..." He grasped the girl by the neck and lifted her off the floor in one swift movement. It all took place so quickly, none of the teens knew what had happened. One minute they were arguing and the next Sam's life was being threatened! "...tell me how this thing works or darling Samantha will no longer have a functioning windpipe."
Of course Vlad wouldn't hurt Sam, it would crush Daniel but by the looks on the teens' faces they had believed every word. His lips curled upwards in victory.
"Wait!" Jazz started. "Don't hurt her!"
"I won't need to if you be a good little girl and comply now, will I?" Vlad ignored the sputtering of the girl he had by the neck and her efforts to claw his hand away from her throat.
"D... Don't te.. tell him!" Sam coughed out between breaths.
Jazz took a deep one of her own and begged, "Danny could be in serious danger Vlad! That's why we need that device desperately! We need to find him! Please!"
Vlad's eyes narrowed at Jazz's comments. How much did they know? "Tell me how to use it Jasmine. Now. Or..." The man started to tighten his grip around the young girl's throat.
"Wait! Just listen! I don't know why but you clearly want to find my brother! Well, we need to find him too! Just, let's go find him together! Please Vlad!"
This stunned the room into silence. Had Jazz really just suggested they work... as a team? But it appeared to have had some effect on the half ghost as he dropped the girl and focused entirely on Daniel's sister. "Very well Jasmine. You tell me how to work this and we'll all find him. Together."
Still not completely trusting the older hybrid, Jazz and Tucker remained mute for a few seconds whilst trying to figure out the best thing to say. They knew Vlad could easily trick them right now but seeing a powerful ectoblast being powered up and aimed at Sam seemed to make their minds up.
"You throw it." Tucker took it upon himself to answer for the red haired girl. "You throw it and then tell it to find whoever you want it to find and it will take you straight to them."
Vlad smiled a smile so cold, it sent shivers up the spines of the three teens. "Thank you Tucker. Although, you forgot one very important thing in our bargaining Jasmine. I work alone."
With this he threw the device into the Ghost zone and shouted "Find Daniel!" He then leaped in after it, ignoring the protests of the three teenagers who ran behind him. They could follow him for all he cared. He knew that they wouldn't be able to survive in the Ghost Zone for very long without the Speeder anyway, let alone be able to travel in there.
Sure enough, when Sam, Tucker and Jazz ran in after the man, they found themselves helplessly floating in the vast green space, not being able to move quicker than a snail's pace. Reluctantly, they made their way back towards the portal and collapsed onto the cold floor of the laboratory.
Jazz let a single tear escape her eye as she realised that she had lost her only chance of finding her little brother.
Author's Note
So... whaddaya think?! A bit slow? A bit of a build up? Let me know!
Just a couple of things - for those that don't know, Sisyphus is a character in Greek Mythology who was punished by the Gods with the task of pushing a huge boulder up a hill but just before he got it to the top, it would roll back down again and he was tasked with this impossible challenge for eternity. (Yes I'm a classics nerd.) Personally, I thought this was an excellent metaphor for Vlad's relationship with Danny. If anyone is a bit confused by my thought process here, PM me and I'll elaborate :L.
Also, I would like to apologise for not having Danny himself in this chapter, but you know, I couldn't leave Team Phantom out of this, might upset them :P. BUT... next chapter is all about Danny and... our final character MIGHT be introduced! Either way, it's going to be much more fast paced and exciting than this one, which was sort of a build up really :).
So, reviews!
Jaddis: Ooh good good! I hoped to make Danny's vision a bit twisted and unexpected! Yay! Naw, I'm glad someone feels sorry for the ole Fruit Loop :'). And you might be onto something with your last comment...
Kasena: It does indeed show both these things really! Seeing as your worst future would also be one you most likely fear in my opinion! Yep... I wonder what he'll do too! (Okay I already know but not the point :P)
SailorSea: Danny has got to be one of the most stubborn characters in existence! Not that we mind! Haha, I cringed when I was writing it! I thought... is this a bit OOC? But tbh, I thought at that moment, Danny would have done anything to get away from Vlad!
Ruby 1334: Oooh, Vlad is going to find out alright! Just a matter of when really! Hehe, as you can see you were right about the first part, Vlad is on a mission to reclaim Danny lol! Ooh, interesting theory! We'll have to wait and see ;). Yep, the orb doesn't just show one thing - that'd be boring :P. Lol - I don't think I'd like to find out my worst fear (although I already know I'm petrified of wasps!)
Lioness Deity: Aww, clearly my memory isn't as good as yours! I have to say I also watch TUE the most though too!
History101: Hmm, a lot would have to happen I think for Danny to trust Vlad but who knows? Those things might just happen! Aww thank you!
Azawrath: Thank you! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one reading Fanfiction when I should be working haha!
Until next time!
