THE PHANTOM'S REALM
CHAPTER ELEVEN: A TEAM DIVIDED
"I just can't understand why Vlad would try and crash the Speeder. Did he know it wouldn't be just us onboard?" Tucker questioned himself out loud.
They were still in the missions control room, with Tucker and Jazz at their desks, Sam leaning on the desk for the Supercomputer and Kitty sitting with Johnny at the small table, usually used to go over battle strategies, looking up at the others.
"That sounds like something he would have found out about." Sam pointed out, crossing her arms. Jazz nodded.
"Yeah. If he thought it was going to be just the three of us and Danny he probably wouldn't have even bothered to sabotage the Speeder since Danny wouldn't have had any problem using his powers to save us." Jazz reminded. Tucker nodded.
"At the very least he had to be aware there was going to be someone other than me, Sam and Jazz on it." Tucker reasoned. "Could he have thought Maddie and Jack were going to take it for a test run?" He suggested. Sam shook her head.
"He'd probably do it to Jack, but never Maddie. He'd ask for her hand in marriage after Jack's funeral, not attend both funerals." Sam reminded. Tucker and Jazz nodded solemnly.
"Could he have known about the field trip in any way and attempted to sabotage that?" Kitty suggested to everyone else. They all sat in thought for a minute before Tucker snapped his fingers.
"That's it! Vlad knew about the trip all along! He wanted us trapped here." Tucker concluded.
"But why?" Jazz asked. Everybody sat in silence, thinking of answers to the new question.
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Vlad stuck his head through a wall and saw Princess Dora making her way through the exit and upon further examination the billionaire deduced he was in the kitchen. Guess the large fridge or wall lined with cabinets wasn't a give a way but whatever.
'A marvelous conclusion if I do say so myself' Vlad though silently, as he floated out of the wall and became visible and tangible behind the counter.
He grinned evilly to himself. He was inside Daniel's palace. Daniel's sanctuary. Daniel's home. The amount of things he could do was unfathomable. But no. That was unprofessional. Vladimir Plasmius was here on a mission to stay undiscovered until after the meeting so he knew Daniel's strategy.
For now he had to remain cold, undiscovered, hidden and things of that nature. And NOT give himself away. Vlad Plasmius does not make mistakes.
Bling.
"AHHHH!" Vlad panicked at the noise, dropping and phasing through the floor.
Right after Vlad disappeared Cheryl, the housekeeper of sorts, waltzed through the door having heard the bling and a yelp. She made her way over to the toaster oven and opened it, revealing two slices of almost burnt pizza. After placing them on a plate Cheryl shrugged as she looked around the room.
"Guess they didn't like pizza. Their loss." She muttered, taking a bite as she walked out.
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Technus sighed as he dropped his floating TV's and let them fall into the cement street, breaking most of them easily.
He had been terrorizing Amity for the last ten minutes trying to get the Ghost Child's attention and still no witty banter or Ecto-rays came his way. The Ghost Child always comes to defeat 'evil'. Always. So what was wrong now? Was the Child not in area?
Suddenly one of the TV's that had minor damage from the fall started emitting louder volume. Technus floated down to blast it but stopped when he saw the headline was 'PHANTOM FIGHTING IN SAN FRANCISCO'.
"San Francisco, eh? A little too close for the Child to not be here yet." Technus mused. He continued listening to the news reported on the cracked screen.
"And after vanquishing the opposing specter Phantom met with his associates, a girl who looks like his carbon copy and a ghost with flaming blue hair." The reported announced, fixing her hair.
Technus smiled a little.
"But then the government agency known as the Guys in White arrived and threatened Phantom and friends before attempting capture. Phantom evaded the net just in time but the same could not be said for his friends." She continued, sounding sad for the Ghost Boy.
Technus gasped as the screen showed multiple white helicopters surrounding the floating Ghost Child and a net containing the Child's daughter and Ember McLain below them. Technus looked more carefully and saw the look on Phantom's face. It was a look that nobody ever liked to see on Phantom's face. The look of pure unbridled fury.
"Those meat heads have done it now. Everybody in the 'Zone knows not to get Phantom mad but the same can't be said for these nit-wits." Technus scoffed, waving at the TV, oblivious to the confused looks he was getting from the townspeople.
He smiled a little as he saw Phantom shoot one of the helicopters down and then frowned when he did nothing to help the ejecting pilots.
"That isn't like the Ghost Child to not help." Technus noted. He was clueless before Phantom turned around and Technus flinched as he saw Phantom's eyes. They were glowing so hard they were white.
"That can't be good." Technus said to himself.
He changed his form to energy and ran along the power cable overhead of him. He had to do something. Phantom wouldn't live it down after he calmed down if he hurt someone. And he knew just how to do it.
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"Fire! Fire! Fire!" Agent O ordered. At his command the remaining helicopters unleashed their Ecto-weapons fire on Phantom.
Phantom would have none of it and countered by simply created an Ecto-dome around himself causing all of their attacks to fizzle out on contact. Phantom didn't hesitate to expand the dome and hit all of the helicopters except for the one carrying Agents O and K who were glaring.
"Let. Them. Go. Right. Now." Phantom demanded. His voice was so cold even Ember and Dani flinched inside the net.
"Or what, Ectoplasmic slime!" Agent K dared, electrocuting the girls again.
Phantom had never been so enraged in his half-life. He was just about to charge the government vehicle but something grabbed his arms before he could charge. The hybrid looked at his arms and saw Technus and Skulker holding him back as much they could.
"Don't do it Whelp! You'll regret it!" Skulker reminded, yanking the hybrid back.
"Don't let your anger control your actions, Child! The humans aren't worth it anyways!" Technus added from Phantom's other arm.
Phantom continued to struggle between the other powerful ghosts but Skulker and Technus were relentless and didn't dare let the hybrid loose.
"Get a load of this, O. The big bad Phantom has babysitters!" Agent K taunted, electrocuting the net while O shot at Phantom and the others.
Phantom shot a blast of Ecto-energy from his eyes to counter the shot but continued to struggle against Skulker and Technus' hold, desperate to give the GIW a smack down. But the Ghosts knew he could easily shake them both off at this point, having accumulated so much power. He was afraid that if he shook them off he would lose control completely.
And he didn't want Danielle and Ember, or even Skulker and Technus, to see him lose control of himself so he was internally grateful for the hunter and technology ghosts' interference. If he lost control he was one step closer to becoming him.
'No. That won't happen.' Phantom thought, his eyes starting to dim.
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"Could he have wanted to attack us when we couldn't defend ourselves since we were with everyone else?" Sam mused. Tucker shrugged.
"Maybe but he knows just as well as we do Danny would've done something to stop him weather he could go ghost or not so I'm not sure." He replied.
"Maybe was gonna try and split you guys up? You know, like how lions separate the herds they attack?" Johnny suggested. Sam sighed.
"He could have but there was plenty of opportunities to split us up on the way to Dora's let alone on the way here. Wouldn't he have done it by now?" Sam countered.
"Maybe he had a specific time planned. He could've wanted it to be somewhere where Danny would have the disadvantage." Jazz reminded.
"But Danny always has the advantage in here. Hes our King!" Kitty told her.
"And Phantom would've been at a disadvantage already. Bein' stuck with his class and all." Johnny informed them. They all nodded with a sigh.
"So he wasn't trying to split us up." Tucker concluded while the others nodded. "But what were his intentions then?" The Techno-Geek pondered again.
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Vlad poked his head invisibly through the wall and sighed. He was mentally berating himself for letting a mere toaster oven almost ruin his complex plan. It was too close for comfort.
Had his reaction been a split second slower Daniel's pathetic housekeeper would have discovered him or at the very least something being amiss in the Palace grounds. Normally such small details would be no problem; he could easily right the wrongs with henchmen or sweet-talking.
But not here. Inside the Palace there was nothing he could do. If he screwed up at any moment and alert anyone of his presence Daniel would be on his back before anyone could say 'Phantom'.
Daniel was the only one he was truly worried about, however. His friends were not worthy opponents and hell they were barely Knight's in his game of chess. Vlad could deal with the boy's pathetic friends at any time he chose, the clone too. But not with Daniel around.
The boy had grown too much in the short time since he had his accident and at this rate he would outclass and overpower the billionaire in a few years tops. Even now the young Ghost Boy could give the elder hybrid a good battle.
Vlad knew it was coming. Recently Daniel Phantom was growing more powerful. Phantom wouldn't play the part of Vlad's pawn anymore and if he was he was no pawn. A Queen at best and a Bishop at worst. Phantom wouldn't fall for his traps anymore either. He could no longer be as easily distracted or put off as before and it was becoming hard to even get anything by Daniel now a days.
So yes, Vlad was secretly dreading Daniel's return to the palace. If the younger halfa discovered him too soon his plan would all be for nothing.
Ahh yes, Daniel Phantom was a worthy opponent indeed.
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"Death won't stop complaining about how boring it is without Sir Phantom." Dora spoke, wandering into the meeting room where Frostbite, Mars and Venus were gathered.
"What do you wish me to do, Princess?" Frostbite asked, getting ready to stand. Dora stopped him.
"Nothing, Sir Frostbite. I was merely letting you know not to engage him in conversation." Dora informed him. Frostbite nodded.
"Well it is certainly less entertaining without the boy." Mars commented. Dora sighed.
"Not you too." She muttered sadly, slumping into her chair. Mars chuckled.
"Don't worry my lady, just pointing out the obvious." He amended.
Everyone else nodded. It was fairly boring without the halfa in question. They could only hope Phantom came back soon before Death started looking for other ways to let out his amusement.
"There's a pile of humans in the living room! Who wants to play puppet master?" They heard Death's voice ring from the entry room.
All four of the ghosts present groaned in unison. Death must have heard because he shouted back,
"Phantom would've wanted to play!"
They groaned again.
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Phantom's eyes dimmed and the rage on his face ceased and was replaced with an extremely straight one, as if trying to calm himself. He no longer struggled against Skulker and Technus' hold on his arms and let himself be held up by his in-the-moment allies.
"Told ya' he couldn't do anything other than look tough." Agent K commented.
Phantom's eyes glowed but he forced his eyes closed and when they opened they were dim again and Phantom had his usual smug look on his face. His mouth opened. All the ghosts prepared for the Ace of Phantom's arsenal; the Ghostly Wail.
"Na. You cheese heads just aren't worth it." Came out instead. Ember and Dani sighed with relief, still in the net and Skulker and Technus chuckled.
Phantom was back.
After Skulker and Technus let go of his arms Phantom floated down to the net containing the ghost girls.
"Phantom! Don't touch that net unless you want the shock of your afterlife." Agent O warned, his finger getting trigger-happy.
Skulker blocked the blast with his shield that came with his newest upgrade and glared down the helicopter.
Phantom grabbed the net and ignored the electrocution he got from the contact as he ripped the net off Ember and Dani, who hugged him tightly.
"'Shock of your afterlife' my arse. That was nowhere near as bad as the Portal or Vlad's cloning chamber. Now those hurt." Phantom thought as he hugged the now-free girls back.
"Hey! Metal head and Cyber guy! Bring it over!" Phantom called, nodding his head down at the group hug.
After much persuasion, Phantom, Skulker, Technus, Ember and Dani were in one huge group hug, much to Skulker and Technus' annoyance and Phantom's amusement.
"You did this just to get a good laugh, didn't you?" Skulker questioned the hybrid with a raised metallic eyebrow after the hug was broken. Phantom just chuckled in reply and Skulker knew the answer; yes.
"As heart warming as that was-" Started agent O but he was cut off.
"Can it, would ya?" Phantom yelled, blasting down the helicopter with an Ecto-beam from his eyes but Phantom used telekinesis to put the agents on top of the bridge.
"Alright guys. Let's go home." Phantom said, floating back over to his ghostly friends.
"Wait! Phantom! Aren't you going to get us down?" Agent K yelled as loud as he could. Phantom turned back to face the duo with a fake thoughtful expression.
"Hmm. Let's see you shot at me, shot at my family, trapped and hurt my family, attacked my friends and called my daughter 'Ectoplasmic slime'. Nope." Phantom listed before answering.
He chuckled at their expressions before turning back to the other ghosts.
"Now let's go home." He repeated.
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The group in the missions control room was startled when Phantom, Dani, Ember, Skulker and Technus materialized in the center of the room.
"Umm Danny? Why are they here?" Tucker asked after a period of silence, speaking what everyone else was thinking.
"Relax, they're cool for now. They helped me out big time." Phantom replied, smiling back. Sam looked confused.
"Helped with Felkner? You losin' your touch there, Ghost Boy?" Sam taunted. Phantom rolled his eyes.
"Okay let's make ourselves comfortable while Old Man Phantom tells us a tale." Ember remarked jokingly but everyone did so anyway.
Tucker and Jazz remained at the chairs by the Supercomputer as Sam made her way over to the table where Johnny and Kitty were. Ember followed and sat next to Sam and across from Johnny while Skulker and Technus casually leaned on the wall. Danielle opted for sitting on Jazz's lap while her father spoke, floating from the center of the room.
"So after we got to California…" Phantom began with a small smile.
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Vlad was going at least 40 miles-per-hour through walls. He had just accidentally entered the room Daniel was in and if they weren't in the Ghost Zone the boy's Ghost Sense would have detected him.
No, it was much too early for his presence to even be speculated. He could not be seen at all until after he was aware of Daniel's strategy.
He kept telling himself that as he poked his head into an occupied room. He was about to leave until he noticed it was the humans, still unconscious, with… strings tied to their arms? Upon closer inspection he saw the figure he knew as Death finishing tying strings to Jack's hand.
A puppet of Jack Fenton? And Maddie? This was almost too good to be true. Oh the amount of opportunities this held. But alas, he could not allow his cover to be blown. He sucked up the feeling of depression as he phased through the opposite wall.
He came back faster than he left going at least 180 miles-per-hour the other way.
There was a bathroom on the other side of that wall. And it was occupied. By Frostbite.
Vlad's never flown so fast with his eyes closed in his half-life.
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"…And now here we all are." Phantom finished. Everyone else nodded.
"Man, sorry dude. I would've done something if I had known." Tucker apologized with the others nodding on. Phantom waved them off.
"Don't worry about it. You didn't know." He brushed them off.
They all nodded.
"Good now everyone get to bed. It's getting pretty late." Phantom ordered.
They were about to protest but they all suddenly realized how tired they were.
"Skulker, Technus, guest rooms are two floors up. Everyone else get to bed." Phantom continued.
In no time all ghosts and humans filed out, making their way to their sweet beds leaving only Phantom floating in the center of the room with a content sigh.
"Better tell the council to get some rest." He said to himself.
Phantom phased through the floor a few times and made his way left to the meeting room where he smiled at his guests.
"Sorry, hit a snag in San Francisco. I came here to tell you guys that we're all going to crash for the night so maybe you should to." Phantom informed them.
They all smiled gratefully since they were pretty worn out too. Keeping Death occupied is chore enough. They all filed out until Dora and Phantom were left.
"Tomorrow is a big day, Sir Phantom." She reminded. He nodded.
"Yeah. I'm nervous. I really hope Vlad isn't up to anything." He replied.
"Just sleep on it. I'm sure everything will work out." She said. "Goodnight, Sir Phantom." She continued, hugging him. Phantom smiled as he hugged her back.
"Goodnight, Princess Dora. I promise I won't let him hurt you or anyone else." Phantom vowed, letting her go. Dora smiled gratefully.
"I'm sure you won't." She replied, finally leaving.
Phantom looked around the room, his green eyes holding suspicion, before he narrowed his eyes.
"I will stop you, Vlad." Phantom promised himself before he flew intangibly back to his bedroom for a good nights sleep.
Okay so I may have hoped for too much when I said the class wakes up and the meeting happens. I planned to move the chapter along faster but this one basically wrote itself.
HAPPY EASTER guys! I hope this makes a good present ;)
Recap for everyone; Phantom beats up some GIW Agents, Skulker and Technus appear and make friends with Phantom, theory development and Vlad's antics. Oh Vlad.
Next chapter; The class wakes up and the meeting happens (for real this time I promise), Vlad encounters a snag in his plan, Jazz and Danielle are a little less than 'discreet' and Jack talks with Danny.
DanPhan1324 (got it this time) I am aware this may not meet your 'fluff' requirements but bear with me here and DON'T FIRE ME YET. I have a plan.
I hope to update Wizards in Phantom City next and pretty soon so brace yourselves!
As always review and let me know what you liked or what you didn't like.