Thank you for all of the reviews! 42 reviews in 12 chapters! :D That's 3.5 reviews per chapter! Thanks to everyone who told me what they thought!

Now the real action begins!

Monday morning came too soon. The sun hurt Danny's sleepy eyes. The sounds of the school hallways were unwelcome to his ears. The teenager hadn't gotten to sleep until around midnight because Technus was bothering him all night. The ghost denied it that morning but Danny knew it was him. When the boy wasn't thinking about what hed been told the night before electrical devices were going off in his room. The table fan would spontaneously stop then start again. The light on Danny's cell phone would blink periodically like code. Technus was probably spying on him by possessing the technology in his room. Probably making sure he wouldn't get up and go anywhere. Eventually Danny fell asleep from exhaustion.

"So you have fun at work?" Tucker asked jokingly.

"Eh, could've been worse." Danny shrugged, "All I really did was fight Skulker."

"But you were there all day?" Sam raised a brow at him as they walked toward their class.

"I got caught up." Danny siad simply, "I swear you guys are as bad as Technus over this."

"I'm sure keeping you up all night spying is just his way of saying he cares," tucker joked.

"Speaking of being kept up all night," Sam started with a smirk, "you regret giving up your spot as 'the youngest mayor ever'?"

"Not at all!" Tuck sighed, "first every one was on my case because I'm not 18 yet then they wouldn't leave me alone about 'plans for the city'. It was a major pain."

"Yeah, well at least you didn't try and take over the world while you were in office." Danny laughed as he entered the class room.

"So, have you found anything new about Walker?" Sam asked, "I know you don't have to cover your trail anymore to fool Technus but you should probably keep it up for the other ghosts."

Danny walked to his desk and took his seat with a thoughtful hum. What HAD he learned. Walker was nostalgic, southern, mellow off the job, and potentially a drunk. When danny listed those things to his friends they stared at him in confusion. They had no idea what he was talking about. He hadn't really explained what had gone on the day before in full. He was afraid that if he told them they'd think he was turning into the enemy or something. Not that playing a calm game of poker with Walker was any worse than hanging out at the carnival with Technus. But it was the principle of the thing. Walker was way more of a threat to them than Technus ever was. The warden had a whole army of ghost minions to do his dirty work. Technus had toasters and other such nonsence.

Danny remembered that picture from Walkers wall and started wondering again who those people were. They looked so happy so why were they on the wall in Walker's house of all ghosts? He continued to silently ponder throughout class.

Danny went on with school as usual. He took notes in his classes and listened, none too enthusiastically, as the teachers spoke. But as he sat in his woodshop shop class his ghost sence went off. He looked around him quickly but didn't see anything. A loud shout from outside the school alerted him. Danny ran over to the window to look out it. He shouted and ducked out of the way when a magenta fireball rushed the window. The glass shattered, sparying sharp shards across the floor, scraping over Danny's explosed arms and face. They were minor scratches but nothing mortal.

Danny stood and turned to the other gaping students in the room.

"Get out of here!" He told them.

The quickly obliged, running and screaming all the way.

Danny turned back to the hole in the wall with a serios glare, "I'm goin ghost!" He transformed quickly and leaped from the window of the class room. He looked around in the mess left behind from whatever that was that attacked the school. The street was in a wreck and there were a couple of cars turned over but Danny couldn't spot the source.

"Long time no see, Daniel."

The boy looked around at the sound of the voice... It was familiar... Creepily so... But where...

Oh, no.

Danny was struck hard by an ecto blast and sent plummeting toward the ground. He landed on the pavement with a grunt. The road burned as he scrapped over it. But not as much as what had hit him. He sat up and looked up to where the blast had been fired. A blue skinned ghost grinned down at him with white fangs and glowing red eyes. HIs cape flapped behind him without wind and his black hair defind gravity on the top of his head in an almost hornlike shape.

Danny growled and stood with his fists clenched, "Plasmius."

Vlad narrowed his beady eyes at him menacingly, "Happy to see me?"

"What are you doing back on Earth?" Danny asked getting right to the point.

Plasmius raised a glowing hand in his direction and fired a poweful blast into the teens chest. Danny felt stupid for not dodging it. He tumbled back slightly but regained control, managing to stay in the air. He took a brave stance and confronted Vlad again.

"I don't know what you're doing back in Amity Park," Danny growled out, charging up his energy, "But you're going to wish you never came back!"

He blasted at the wannabe-tyrrant with a very powerful green beam. Vlad looked surprised at first but split himself in two to dodge the attack. He went back to grinning insanely after he fused back together.

"My, my, Daniel, You have grown powerful." Plasmius mocked, "But you still are no match for me. Three years in the void of space gave me a chance to further enhance my powers!"

The elder held both of his hands over his head and summoned up a very large ball of pinkish energy. With a roar he launched it at the teenager. Danny quickly raised a sheild to block the attack. The blast hit the shield but the force still managed to knock Danny back further.

The younger Halfa helds his hands out, palm first, and unleashed a beam of ice at his nemesis. It hit Vlad, knocking him into the building he had been floating in front of. The vampire-like man bared his fangs as his eyes flashed angrilly.

"I won't lose to you again! And since I have nothing to lose," He charged up an even more powerful sphere than before, "I have no reason to hold back!"

Danny gasped at the power before him. What had Vlad been doing in space? That energy ball was the size of like 2 big exercize balls and growing! Vlad never had that much power.

"Say goodbye Danny Phantom!" Vald laughed as he directed the glowing orb at the boy, shooting it with precision.

Danny put up the most powerful shield he could muster at the moment. Unfortunately doing that took a lot of energy. If he survived the blast he'd be too wiped out to put up a fight after wards... He cringed and prepared himself for impact.

The blow stuck his shield with enough magnitude to take out six Skulkers. Danny forced all of his power into his shield. After the initial strike energy continued to pound against it. It pushed him back with ease but he worked hard at keeping his power steady. There was no way he was going to lose to this whack job!

Danny gasped slightly as he started to feel himself being drained. Holding this shield like this was taking more and more out of him. And Vlad was continueing the assault without pause. This time the fight was serious. This time Plasmius planned to kill him! Little did Plasmius know, that was so not happening.

With the energy he had left he created a copy of himself. The clone flew up and above him to attack his assailant. Vlad was taken by surprise and was forced to stop his assault when ice encased his face. Danny was able to drop his shield and imediately fused back together with his clone to conserve energy. He looked tiredly up at Plasmius to see the ice slowly melting away from the beams he was fring from his eyes.

"Nice try, Daniel. But three years in the coldness of space had made me all but immune to your ice abilities," Vlad bragged, "And from the looks of things... You're far too tired to unleash that little scream attack of yours."

"It's called the ghostly wail," Danny corrected him, "And what makes you think I need it?"

Danny Phantom fired a beam of green energy at hsi foe hitting him directly in the gut. He continued to pummel the other ruthelessly with disks of ecto energy. He was hoping that the power he could manage would be enough to weaken Plasmius. The teen didn't stop until he was literally spent. Once he couldnt summon any more energy he slowly started to decend toward the ground in a slump.

His knees hit the pavement weakly and he put out his hands to hold himself up. He took long even breaths, not really wanting to look up to see if he'd managed to take the man down. This was pathetic. Vlad was over 40 and Danny was 17. He shoudln't be weaker than the other Halfa! But all of his ghost hunting and late nights were draining his batteries so to speak. Unable to hold his ghost mode anymore he was forced back to his human state. Now he was even more helpless.

Summoning up his courage he turned his eyes toward the sky to look at the damage. He hadn't seen or heard Plasmius fall so he must have still been up there... Right?... Apparently not. Vlad had vanished. He'd managed to teleport out at te last minute. Danny looked around to see if his archenemy was anywhere to be seen. Before he could look behind him he felt a large boot slam down on his back. With a shout of pain 'Phantom hit the road. He tried to push himself back up but the foot held him firmly in place. All he could manage was to turn his face to see Vlad standing over him with a sadistic grin.

"You know... I have no reason not to kill you now and get this over with," Plasmius taunted him sickly slamming the toe of his boot into Danny's ribs, "Since now I have no chance at getting Maddie to come away with me it doesn't matter what I do to you."

"Dude, she wasn't interested before she knew you were part ghost," Danny spat back recieving a sharp kick in the face.

Vlad forced his heel into the ghost boys cheek, shoving his head into the hard ground. Small rocks and dirt ripped at the small cuts already on his face fromt he broken monster laughed evily and Danny could see the red glow of Vlad's ghost powers above him. His vision had started to become blurry so he didn't know how much there really was.

"This is the end for you, Danny Fenton." Vlad told him in a dark tone, "Say hello to everyone for me once you're a permenant resident of the Ghost Zone."

Just as the sentence finished danny was struck in front of the head and the foot was removed from his face. But surprisingly the blow only glanced over his hair, cutting off some of his hair. Danny looked back curiously to see why Vlad had messed up. He was only like a foot away.

Or was he... Vlad had been attacked by an outsider and forced away from Danny. Too weak to get up and look Danny remained in the laying position. He tried to pull himself froward across the ground but it was no good. He wouldn't make any progress like this.

He flinched as he felt a pair of hands slip under his arms and lift his upper body. He was rolled over and pulled to the edge of the sidewalk and propped up against a mailbox limply. He tried to make out who had moved him but all he could see was a blurry black blob. A tall blurry black blob.

"Wh-Who's there?" He asked squinting.

He relaxed slightly when the figure ran a large but gentle hand over his face. The form shushed him quietly as they caressed his face tenderly. It didn't feel like skin so who ever it was was wearing gloves. His hair was brushed off of his forehead and he could feel the fingers lightly inspecting his injuries. His eyelids were lifted and a green light was shined into them for a brief moment.

"How dare you!"

Danny groaned hearing Vlad's voice. Ah great. He was still standing.

"Who do you think you're dealing with!" Vlad shouted clearly pissed off at who ever was helping Danny.

The hand left danny's face and the teenager was actually sad to have it go. He unconciously whined and tried to sit up. He was gently layed back against the mail box. The black blob moved out of his sight and toward, what Daniel assumed was the direction Plasmius was in.

There were the sounds of blasts being fired and shouts of pain echoing through the streets. Things were being broken in the cross fires and with all the extra noise Danny couldn't tell who had come to his rescue. Was it his mom? No her hands were too small. Sam and Tucker, no they wouldn't stand a chance and neither of them were tall enough. Had Valerie come back? ... Danny's luck wasn't that good.

Danny was snapped from his thoughts when a loose tire flew past his head. He ducked down to prevent any more debri from flying at him. He heard the sound of electric shocks and Vlad screaming in agony. It stopped after five seconds or so leaving a faint sizziling sound in it's place

"I will not lose to a loser like you!" The elder Halfa grunted out through the obvious pain he was in, "Why are you even helping the little rat?"

There was another much more powerful blast. Danny could see the green glow eminating from it from where he was laying. There was a loud agonized cry then the blast stopped. Only the thump of Vlad falling to the ground was heard after that. It was a ghost helping him? But his ghost sence hadn't gone off... Was he too weak for even that to work?

Danny listened intently waiting for the silent figure to speak. he heard footsteps like heeled boots walking on the cement. There was a satisfied grunt and a few seconds later the shadow came back into view.

"Who are you?" Danny breathed out blinking with slightly dizzied eyes. He inhaled sharply as he was shifted.

"Relax. I have you." A surprisingly soothing male voice told him as an arm slipped under his legs and another under his back.

Danny was lifted off of the ground and leaned against the chest of the ghost holding him. He expected cold but actually this person was warm.. And that voice was familiar... His mind was swimming and he could place it. He could feel the pair of them lifting off of the ground and the wind on his cut face as they began to fly foreward. Danny could only assume this person was taking him home. At least he would hope so.

He tilted his head and saw the blue of the sky above him with patches of white that he could only imagine were clouds. He turned his head slightly to look at the face of the ghost he was being carried by but his eye lids were becoming too heavy to keep open. He let his head fall onto the body of the man holding him but didn't fall asleep. He managed to stay away to feel himself phase through a wall and be placed in a bed. There were the familiar smells of his house around him he was. He was in his room.

He forced his eyes open as he felt the ghost perch himself on the side of the bed. A familiar hand reached up to pet his hair softly. Danny wanted to thank him for saving his life but his brain was having trouble figuring out who it was. Vlad kicking him in the head must have given him a minor concussion.

"Thanks.." He whispered weakly as the hand stopped to simply rest on the top of his head.

"Mm-hm..." Was the quiet respnce. Then a tired sigh.

Danny took a chance and reached out to touch the arm of the person that was extended toward him. He smiled with the bit of energy he had left. He patted the limb slightly and felt a hand settle over his for a moment. Knowing his sign of affection had been accepted Daniel let his arm fall back across his body.

"I guess I owe you one," Danny laughed lightly.

There was a shrill chuckle in responce then, "I guess you do."

Danny was slightly surprised when the person pulled him up about half way to lightly kiss the top of his head. It was an almost.. paternal action. Then suddenly all of the pieces in Danny's mind clicked together and made sence.

"Technus?"

The man layed him back down and moved from the bed. Danny cringed in slight pain as his shoes were removed to make him more comfortable. He lifted his arms slightly as his shirt was tugged over his head and dropped on the floor. He could hear the ghost's pained reaction to all of the bruises Danny had accumulated. Technus lifted his head to prop his pillow up comfortably then gently placed him back on it. Danny would normally be freaked out by having the master of Technology this close to him but for some reason he prefered having him there. It relaxed him. After all the guy did just save his life.

Danny was covered as the blanket he was laying on top of was phased through him then came to rest on top of his body. The gloved hand rested on his for a moment before he heard Technus start to walk away.

"Why?"

Danny had to know. Why now? Why would Technus save him after all Danny had done to him in the past.

There was a long period of silence. Maybe technus didn't know either...

"Get some rest. I will return in a few minutes to patch you up."

Danny sighed at the lack of an answer. But he didn't really have much of a choice. He heard the footsteps walk to the door and heard Technus open the door and walk out. But it didn't close immediately. Danny tilted his head on his pillow and could see the dark form of Technus still standing there, hand on the knob.

"Night." he said with a slightly joking tone.

Once again no immediate reply. But he could have sworn that after a moment there was the quiet reply of:

"Goodnight, son."