Well, that was a bit of a wait. On the bright side, this is a really good chapter. Unfortunately though, my beta's out of town until August 8th. But since I'm impatient, you guys get this chapter anyway and I'll just update it with her edited version once she gets back! ^^

On that note, this chapter… it got weird. It's so far off from my original plan that it's kind of ridiculous. Mihane wanted me to work some Badger Cereal in, so I tried that… but then I proceeded to break everything.

Still trying to figure out exactly how that happened.

Onwards!

Chapter 10;

Maddie cat was chasing him.

Danny dove behind a building, but she simply grew to a gigantean size and squashed it flat. Danny switched to his ghost form and took to the sky, trying to avoid his pursuer. She just kept growing, and Danny just kept running.

"Danny!" Sam yelled from below him, "Catch!" A thermos was thrown at him. Tucker, Jazz, and Sam were all cheering for him as Danny caught it.

"Thanks!" He called, landing. "Sorry to ruin your perfect plan, but you're-"

She was gone. Maddie cat had disappeared.

"Okay?" His ghost sense went off; curling around Danny like it did when he had first gotten his powers. "Oh, that's not good."

"Danny, help!" The call was a chorus of everyone he'd ever cared about. Sam, Tucker, Dani, Valerie, Wulf, Dora, that one make-a-wish kid who'd wanted to meet him, and his family were all tied up to a boiler, much like when Danny had fought his future self. Beside them floated a ghost, shifting from form to form of everyone he'd ever faced. He tried to suck them into the thermos, but the device failed to activate. The ghost took the form of Fright Knight and knocked the thermos from his hands before shifting once again.

"Pick one," Nocturne said.

"Pick one to live," Undergrowth said.

"And all the others?" Ember said.

Skulker grinned, "Their bodies will make an excellent decoration."

"No," He called, "No!" Chains wrapped around his wrists and ankles, preventing Danny from rushing to save them. "Let me go!"

Danny's ghostly wail ripped through the air, and he fell to the ground. Everyone tied to that boiler was gone now, but the ever shifting ghost stayed. His form shivered, and Flicker Danny took his place.

"You know the truth," Flicker said, "Vlad's right. I wouldn't be here if he wasn't."

"You're wrong!" Danny screamed, still struggling against the chains and trying to think of any explanation he could. "You're… you're… you're Warrior Boy! You're that Ancient who looked like me!"

"Really?" Flicker raised an eyebrow, "And what would a ghost who has presumably been dead for two thousand years want with you? The appearance similarities were 'probably exaggerated,' remember? I'm real, and I'm your duplicate. That's why your friends could see me but not Paige, you know. Vlad was right."

"No!" Danny screamed, "No, you're wrong-"

Flicker was now Vlad, wearing a ghost gauntlet in each hand. "Your ghost side has been contaminated, Daniel." He said, and Danny could feel pressure on his face. "There's no other way."

"No," There was a mirror in front of Danny now, and he could only watch as Ecto Acne overtook his face. "No, get- get away!" The chains broke, but something still held him in place. And he couldn't breathe. "Get away! Get it off of me! Go away!"

"Daniel!"

Danny's eyes shot open and he flailed madly beneath the blankets he'd wrapped himself in. A scream ripped through the air as he fell off the bed, the right side of his face smashing into something flat and relatively soft. Danny struggled out of his blanket prison just in time to see Vlad pull his hand away from the bedside table. That's what I hit my face on? Danny frowned, staring for a few moments at the corner which had been behind Vlad's hand.

Oh god.

Oh god that could have gone in my eye.

Danny pulled himself back into the blanket prison, trying to control his breathing. He was fine, wasn't he? It was just a stupid dream, where he'd stupidly fell out of his bed. And nearly blinded himself.

Stupid, stupid… calm down, I'm okay. I'm okay. I am okay- I am not okay. Oh god why does this always have to happen to me? What did I do to deserve this? Why does this have to- great, now I'm crying. World's hero, crying because he had a bad dream and fell out of bed. Apparently I'm just a giant baby. Stupid, stupid, baby. Stupid, useless, baby. Grow up, Fenton. You coward. You've gone through worse, how dare you let this break you? Stupid, useless, cowardly baby. No wonder Sam doesn't love you back in this stupid world.

"Daniel- Danny?" Vlad said, and his voice seemed to come closer. He'd probably knelt down. "Are you alright?"

Danny didn't reply. He didn't trust his voice not to betray him if he did.

"Danny," Vlad said, "I'd appreciate it if you answered my question. No matter your feelings towards me, at the present time I am-"

"Get out," Danny's voice cracked. Of course it did.

Vlad pulled the blanket back, and Danny hid his face. "Are you alright?"

"Go away," Danny mumbled, wiping his eyes. "Just- go away, Vlad. Please."

Something bumped again his hand, and Danny looked up to see Vlad holding out a handful of tissues. He took them, muttering his thanks on reflex alone. "Do those happen often?"

"Do whats?"

"Nightmares," Vlad elaborated, and Danny hid his face once again. God, this was embarrassing. Now Vlad knew about his stupid problems that he'd thought he was getting over but no apparently nothing went right for him anymore. "In general, not just like that one."

Danny shrugged. "Does it matter?"

"Yes."

"Too bad," He pulled the blanket over his head. I hate my life. Oh, would you look at that, today's going to be one of those 'everything sucks and I'm awful' days. Fan-freaking-tastic.

"Danny," Vlad said, "Either you tell me yourself, or I'll call your mother and have her tell me."

Danny bit his lip. Whatever Vlad had done to this stupid world, he really didn't want his mom to worry. "Let it go, Vlad. They don't happen that often." Not since a few months ago, when some guy called Duncan had managed to fix up the Guys in White and hunting hybrids had become punishable by up to ten years in prison, anyway. "It's just stress. I'm fine." I'm fine.

"Are you certain?" Vlad placed a hand on Danny's arm, "I'm here if you need me, Dan-"

Danny cut him off with a snort of disbelief. "Right. And your stupid cat is actually going to chase me through Amity Park, steadily growing in size as she tries to murder me. You know, I think that one's more likely than you ever actually caring about someone besides yourself."

Vlad pulled back, "You dreamt my cat was attacking you?"

Danny poked his head out from under the blanket, wiping his nose on his sleeve. "Chasing. And then everyone died while I couldn't do a darn thing."

"Oh."

"Yeah," Danny said bitterly, "It sounds fun, doesn't it? Watching everyone you care about die? And just knowing you could save them if you had only gotten there a little bit faster." God, why am I still talking? He buried his face back in his hands. I hate this I hate this I hate how I'm so useless in this world I hate it all and everything about it. Danny was dimly aware of Vlad's arm resting on his shoulders in a motion which was probably supposed to be comforting.

I don't want to do this anymore. Danny's mouth moved, but he didn't say the words aloud. I want to go home.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Jazz set her notebook down, staring at Sam and Tucker. "You told him what?"

"Hey," Tucker said, "He was talking to a cat, you can't-"

"I don't care who he thought he saw! You can't just tell him it's-" Jazz forced herself to calm down as she became aware of the stares she was getting. Maybe going to the Nasty Burger to discuss what they'd learned the day before wasn't the best idea. Then again, it wasn't like she could do it at home. Her parents, who for so many years had often been more focused on their work than their children, had suddenly turned into what could almost be described as helicopter parents. It had taken an hour before they'd even considered letting her go to the Nasty Burger alone.

"You weren't there," Sam said, "You don't understand-"

"But I understand my brother," Jazz said, "And acting like that, whether you think it was real or not, is going to do much more harm than good."

"You've never had Ecto Acne," Tucker said, "You can't understand how bad that was for us."

"Yes, but this isn't about you; it's about Danny." Jazz lifted her notebook back up, "I'm not arguing anymore. There might be a ghost in Vlad's house."

Sam and Tucker automatically leaned forward, much more serious. "Which one?" Sam asked.

"I don't know; Mom and Dad picked it up and went running towards the second floor. Vlad freaked out and ran after them." Jazz frowned, grabbing a fry and spinning it between her fingers. "He said it was one he was studying and spent the rest of the time trying to convince my parents that it wasn't a threat to Danny."

"Because that's not creepy at all," Sam said.

"Tell me about it. They ended up leaving a Spector Deflector with him. It was one of the old ones- you know the ones we tried to reprogram and broke? It was one of those. He should be fine."

Sam nodded, grabbing a couple fries and popping them into her mouth while Tucker frowned. "Wait. Sam, weren't we on the second floor with Danny?"

Sam choked on her fries and Jazz felt her heart skip a beat. "He's studying Danny."

"That's it," Sam stood up on the seat and hopped over Tucker, landing neatly on the floor. "He infected Danny to see what would happen or some other, twisted, stupid reason! We need to go-"

"We're not breaking him out," Jazz said, "Not until we know the facts."

"The facts? The facts?!" Again, people were staring at them. "He's probably experimenting on your brother and you don't even care!"

"Yes, I do!" Jazz spoke quietly, "But just think for one moment! What proof do we have? How are we going to convince my parents to go in and get him out?"

"We left Danny's phone with him," Tucker said, "If he finds proof on it, he'll probably tell us."

"I'm going to ignore the fact that you gave him our only actual lead just because you panicked and say that if he's still talking to either of you after the cat thing you should consider yourselves very, very lucky." Her knuckles were starting to turn white from holding the notebook so tightly. Oh, Danny… "I want to go rescue Danny too, but we- we can't just do that! We'll end up infecting ourselves, or worse. We need to figure out more of what's going on first."

I'm so sorry, little brother. I'm so, so sorry.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Breakfast was, by far, the most awkward thing Danny had had to sit through. And that had included gems such as dinner with the president while he was sending a duplicate to meet with several very angry Observants. That was also the day Danny had realized he'd rather bite a chunk out of his own foot than regularly use duplication.

Danny paced around his room, passing his phone from hand to hand. The Disasteroid was real, and Vlad was a liar. It was a comforting thought, but the fact that Vlad had somehow managed to create this twisted world was still absolutely horrifying. Danny needed to get to Clockwork, to figure out what was going on and how to fix it- his nightmare had only reinforced that fact. That meant he had two possible plans of action; he could fly home and try for the Fenton Portal, or go for another attempt at Vlad's lab and hope the mysterious voice from above was gone.

So far, the Fenton Portal was more appealing.

Danny took a deep breath and switched to his ghost form, planning to continue pacing. Instead he bent forward, one hand over his core, as a strange jolt rippled from it. "Oww, okay, that was weird." He rubbed his chest, "Okay Fenton, no more messing around. This needs to be dealt with now. …Which means I'm going for Vlad's portal. Yay."

It wasn't too difficult to find Vlad's study. Danny switched to his human form and took a hesitant step forwards, staring up at a giant picture of Vlad. I should draw a mustache on that. Wait, what? What am I, Technus? It would be funny… and also cause needless drama. Nope. Not gonna. But it'd be funny… ah, repetition. Still no. Why am I arguing with myself over this?

"Just draw on the stupid portrait," And, much like a pimple, the voice had appeared when nobody wanted it to.

Danny let out an unholy screech of frustration. "Go away! And stop reading my mind! That's super, super weird." He took a more confident step forwards, feeling something in his hand. Danny lifted it up slowly, staring at the marker he was certain that he hadn't been carrying a minute ago.

"Stop resisting," The voice said, "Just do it."

"Nope!" Danny threw the marker over his shoulder, "I'm not doing that and nothing you can say will ever-" Danny blinked and found himself staring at a different wall. "…What. Okay, how'd I get here?"

"Through the door," Vlad spoke up, and Danny looked to the left to see the elder hybrid sitting calmly at a desk. "You wandered in and have been staring blankly at that wall for the last twelve minutes."

Oh. "It's a… nice wall?" Danny lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck, realizing he was no longer in his ghost form. This is weird. Very weird. Danny grabbed his phone from his back pocket, checking the time as Vlad stood up. It's been an hour since I last checked, and it didn't take nearly that long to find out where Vlad's lab was. What was I doing?

"Danny," Vlad said, reaching out. "Could I see that for a moment?"

Danny pulled his phone away from Vlad, stepping back. "Why?"

"It's a simple request, Daniel."

"Yeah, and so was mine." Danny frowned, "Wait- you gave this to me, didn't you? Before all this started." Vlad pulled his hand back as Danny took a few more steps away from him. "There's something on here, isn't there?"

"Now you're just being ridiculous-"

Danny switched to his ghost form. "You're the one who won't explain himself. Give me one good reason why I should give it to you."

Annoyed, Vlad did the same. "Why can't you just believe I'm trying to help you?"

"Well, in short form, it's because I hate you." Danny said, and phased through the floor. "Bye now!"

Danny found himself in a room filled with more useless Packers stuff, but it was what was in the middle that caught his eyes. A Spector Deflector sat on a table, slightly scratched and a bit dented, but other than that it appeared to be fine. Danny phased his phone into a football and hesitantly moved towards the belt.

After the Disasteroid, his parents had reprogramed nearly all their inventions so they wouldn't hurt him. But the Ghost Shield still trapped him and though it didn't hurt, the Spector Deflector still neutralized his powers if he put it on. Otherwise it did nothing to him. They'd become very common, especially among his family and friends, since they would affect any ghost but him. If he could just turn it on then he could find out if it was the world Vlad had changed or just the people in it. It would narrow down how he'd managed to do this by a lot.

Danny pushed the on button and poked the belt. His finger tingled, but there was no pain. Danny grinned, pulling the belt off the table. Oh, he could use this. There were so many ways he could use his parents' invention and- his ghost sense cut that thought off.

Danny grabbed one end of the Spector Deflector, spun around and swung. He didn't feel like dealing with the vulture or whatever Vlad had sent against him.

His target was thrown to the side, a black light covered the room, and the ectoplasm falling from the huge, long wound on the side of Vlad Masters' face was replaced with bright red.

"Vlad?" Danny whispered, holding his weapon close to his chest. "Crap. Oh crap crap crap crap. Vlad? Hey, Vlad, are- are you-" He stopped moving back until he bumped into the table. He's going to kill me for this. Oh, oh no I am so, so dead. Oh god. Ohhhh god. Danny phased through the table, stepping back and not taking his eyes from Vlad's unconscious body. Oh my god why did I do that. Why. I'm dead now because I was stupid and my ghost sense went off on Vlad why would it do that it's never done that oh god I am so dead-

As soon as he reached the hallway, he ran. Down the stairs, past Vlad's cat who was hissing at air- Danny ran until he found himself back in the room which would lead to Vlad's portal. I have to get out; he looped the Spector Deflector around his waist, turning human before turning it on. If Vlad finds me after that I'm dead. He will kill me. Danny ran his hands over the wall, frantically trying to find the switch or lever or whatever that would open it up. Stupid! How could I have been so- so stupid! Danny's hands were shaking as he knocked some sort of trophy over. The secret door slid open, and Danny ran through it.

"DANIEL!" Vlad's shout sounded close. And furious. Oh god what do I do what do I do-

Vlad's lab was cluttered with assorted samples of weird pink goo and metal cylinder things. If he wasn't terrified for his life, Danny might have wondered what they were. But he was, and so he found himself staring at the man's portal. "Open," He muttered, looking around for some way to do so. "Open open open please, please open-" There was a bright green button beside the portal, with a red one underneath. Danny smashed his fist onto the button, and the doors to the portal slid open wide- a second later, alarm bells rang out and lights flashed.

"Unregistered ecto-entity detected," A voice said, "Closing portal in five, four-"

"No!" Danny screeched and took a running leap through the portal.

Danny you hecked up. If you were going to wear that, you should've at least brought the key. :D

So, theories!

There's some variant of alternate timelines involved, Danny switched places with himself from this world, the Disasteroid and what Danny found online last chapter are a hallucination, Danny's in an alternate dimension of sorts where his phone and the mirror are his only connections home while being mistaken for his doppelgänger, Vlad's actually telling truth and Danny is royally screwed, and Paige the cat continues to be creepily behind it all.

Bibbledoo also has elaborated on her theory from last chapter with this;

Now the ghost that possessed Danny or resides in him might be affecting the universe slightly, allowing Sam and Tuck to see some of the things... but still being a douche (Accidentally or not) to Danny.
Maybe Paige can control who sees her? Like, Alter minds so they incidentally turn a blind eye and deaf ears on Paige?
Unless Flicker is just like "LOOK AT ME! Pay me some attention!"...
Conclusion: I'm really confused.

There's also this one, from our lovely, nameless guest~!

The world hero danny got ill a different version of ecto acne is affecting him. His parents tried but couldnt help him. The only one who could know of making a cure or at least slow it down is Vlad but his fate is un know being lost in space and all that.

So what do we do to save the hero? We annoy clockwork. He cannot help directly,(but he does cheat if it is needed) so in his own way he managed to replace the two danny with each other one being in the timeline before PP so letting vlad try and find a cure. and the cats are simply hallucination and times where clockwork is overshadowing the cat to check on danny and make him cooperative with Vlad.

(Catwork confirmed)

I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who's been sticking with the story so far, especially taking the time to review. I know I haven't been the best with updates, and I'm sorry. I've got a lot going on mentally, and I won't get into the details, but everyone's who's stuck with me means the world to me. Plot wise, I guess we're somewhere between half and two-thirds of the way done with the fic. So yeah. :)

Theories and reviews are loved more than anything! Any flames, however, will be slapped with the Spector Deflector.