Author's Note
I've decided to resurrect this story from the grave, and whilst I'm sure I will have lost most of my original followers, I have still decided to continue this story one and a half years later for reasons of my own personal sanity.
This last year has been one of the worst of my life and this is one of the reasons I have decided to turn back to writing, and specifically, writing this. It's sort of like a grounding for me at the moment, and I am starting to realise why I enjoyed writing so much in the first place.
I also realise that because it has been so long, most people will have forgotten what's happened. Therefore, viola! I present to you a summary up until now of what's happened:
WARNING: This summary contains spoilers (duh!). If you are new to the story, I advise reading the previous chapters which make a much better read than the following drivel! However, if you can't be bothered to read the previous chapters or followed this story 1 1/2 years ago, the following is for you and should bring you up to speed!
Summary up until now:
In an attempt to save the timeline after Dark Dan has been released, Clockwork gives Vlad an orb. The orb shows the billionaire Danny's imminent death, at the hands of Dark Dan. To get answers, Vlad travels to Amity Park and after seeing Danny is alive, decides what he saw must have been a prophecy that he is supposed to stop from happening.
Danny, meanwhile, is attacked by a snake which manages to bite him before he defeats it with Sam and Tucker's help. The next morning, Jack wakes him up by boasting his new invention, the Fenton Goooost Melter. This goo-like contraption, upon contact with a ghost, will dissolve the host's ectoplasm down until there is nothing left other than a pile of goop.
Vlad returns and kidnaps his young rival, taking him back to Wisconsin to keep him safe until he can figure out what's going on. Whilst there, Danny attempts to use his ghostly wail in a bid to escape but is instead, knocked unconscious. When he wakes, Vlad and Danny attempt to figure out why Danny cannot use his ghostly wail. After a fight, Vlad leaves, and Danny finds the orb. He touches it and is shown his loved ones dead and himself turning into Dan. Terrified that Vlad knows something of Dan, he escapes into the ghost zone. Vlad discovers Danny has escaped and flies to Amity Park in an attempt to find him.
Back in Amity, Sam, Tucker and Jazz discover Danny is missing. After a confrontation with Vlad where the billionaire manages to steal the booo-merang, the three teens head of to Wisconsin to find answers.
With the help of the boo-merang, Vlad finds Danny and kills the snake that attacks them. Before he can do anything else, Dan shows up, knocks them both unconscious and imprisons them in Pariah's keep.
Dan then returns to Amity to trap Maddie and Jack in their basement and then Wisconsin to trap Sam, Tucker and Jazz in Vlad's Wisconsin lab. He destroys both filtrators, revelling in the irony of explosions. He also pretends to kill Danny in front of Maddie and Jack, leaving the parents distraught. Whilst trapped, Jazz figures out that Dan's involvement.
Whilst in captivity, Vlad learns the truth about Dan's creation and Clockwork's existence. Dan also reveals, without Danny's knowledge, that he plans to turn Danny into a Karaboj* by killing his loved ones. The hybrids escape thanks to Vlad teleporting in human form and head back towards Wisconsin and Amity Park.
*Karaboj: Though once normal ghosts, these ghosts have no emotion, thought or conscience. All normal ghosts have an emotional core (explaining Danny's glowing green eyes when angry or Vortex's increase in size with power) but the karaboj no longer possess this. Their emotional cores could have either shattered when put under extreme emotional duress or have been forcibly removed. Many were created by Pariah Dark during his reign by force.
CHAPTER 13 - THERE ARE NO DO-OVERS
Dan flew through the ghost zone, a teethy grin gracing his defined face. He eyed Pariah's keep in the distance and increased his speed. He just couldn't help himself. Everything was going his way. This time, there would be no do-overs. So there was no reason why he couldn't just enjoy the hybrids' pain that little bit more.
Phasing through the floating castle, he descended into the dungeons, planted his feet…
… And stopped dead…
He immediately vanished from the spot.
The man's heals cracked over the dead grass, each footstep making a miniature earthquake erupt under his feet in the dead still of the night. The man steadily pursued his destination: a small hut on the opposite side of the rotting field.
The hut itself had succumbed greatly to the effects of time. Barely standing, it creaked heavily under the howling wind. Weeds grew steadily upwards around it, shrouding it in a dark green. A few wooden panels lay scattered on the floor leaving behind gaping holes in the woodwork.
Nevertheless, the man didn't seem fazed as he approached the foreboding looking hut. It was clear by his long, confident strides that he had been here many times before. No key was needed as he effortlessly pushed against the door which groaned as it fell inwards.
Now inside, he looked around at the decaying décor. A brown, frayed rug, once yellow covered the rotting floor and curled upwards around the walls. On top, a neglected wooden chair leant at an awkward angle as it struggled to stay upright on its uneven legs. Completing the dilapidated hut was a black box in the corner and in stark contrast to its surroundings, appeared to have evaded the eroding effects of time.
The man growled as he surveyed his home before dropping half a dead pheasant at his feet which would apparently serve as his dinner. Looking downwards, he wrinkled his nose at the unfortunate animal until eventually, he decided he'd had enough of wallowing and stepped over the pheasant to sit on the rickety chair. He looked outwards, through the still open door, his gaze continuously flitting between the outdoors and a watch on his wrist. The watch appeared to be the only item of value the man had on his person.
Suddenly, the room lit up in a red glow though the man didn't seem startled. Rather, he let a smile creep onto his lips as he turned around to greet the source of the light.
"Back so soon?"
The new visitor narrowed his eyes and extinguished the light. "I need Pariah's dagger."
The man raised a questioning brow and rose from his chair. "You mean killing his loved ones didn't do the trick?"
Furious, the ghost hurled a well-aimed ecto-blast towards the human who fell forwards at the impact.
"What the hell did you do that for?!"
The man was answered with another ecto-blast.
"OW! Will you stop doing that?!" The man screamed but turned upon receiving no answer. He then stopped suddenly in his realisation. There would only be one reason as to why this ghost would need Pariah's dagger. The child's core hadn't shattered and if his core hadn't shattered that meant his loved ones hadn't been blown up… and if his loved ones were still alive that meant… "You let the half-lives escape, didn't you?"
The ghost screamed in dismay and let lose a flurry of fiery blasts.
The distraught man looked around at his home which was slowly being burnt to a cinder. "Stop! My home! - Ah!" He dived out of the way of another blast, eyes widening when he realised how close he just came to being a smouldering puddle of ash.
The man turned to meet the ghost's angry glare. "Will you calm down?! You ghosts really are over-emotional."
The two turned when a piece of wooden scaffold fell from the ceiling. "You're paying for that."
The ghost glared, then rolled his eyes. "Give me the dagger and Danny boy's escape and probable rescue of his dear loved ones will be of no consequence."
"Hmm..." The man stroked his chin. "I suppose you're right. As long as the child's core definitely shatters. I'm relying on it."
"It will." The mysterious being swept around the chair to look the man in the face. "Danny's weakness was too easy to exploit. Even if he has escaped and freed Mummy and Daddy dearest, he will be too concerned for their safety to even think about his own. Humans and half-humans for that matter are so... fragile." He sneered.
The man fisted his hands in an attempt to quell his temper. "And ghosts are so easy to imprison... for eternity. Do not forget I let you out and I can put you back just as easily."
The ghost growled. "I could snap your neck like it was a toothpick."
"I have no time for empty threats." The man brushed of the ghost's comment.
The ghost hurled an ecto blast at the man's feet. The human lost balance and faced the ghost from the floor, glaring. "You really need to learn to control those ghostly urges. They have already cost me the life of my pet snake, which, by the way, took a long time to tame."
"Do not mock me."
The man narrowed his eyes. "Then do not test my patience, ghost. I have waited in the shadows for too long to finally destroy the ghost boy once and for all just to mess it up now because of your temper!"
Too quickly for the man to respond the ghost grabbed him by his neck and raised him effortlessly off the ground, squeezing a little harder than necessary. "It is in my interests to keep you alive, but as soon as it isn't, I will take great pleasure in bleeding your pathetic little body dry."
The ghost smiled as he watched the man sputter for breath. Begrudgingly, he eventually dropped the man to floor, taking great pleasure in seeing him grasp his abused neck. "There are fates worse than death, maggot. There is a reason that predators toy with their prey."
After recovering, the man glared though bit his tongue under the ghost's penetrating gaze. He knew not to antagonise this particular spectre more than necessary.
Annoyed, the man got up, approached the shining black box and plucked a small key from underneath his cloak. He opened the box and took out what appeared to be a small test tube, filled with a glowing red liquid.
The man then plucked a shining dagger from the box, uncorked the test-tube and dipped the tip of the weapon into the vial.
"What is that?"
"Poison."
The ghost narrowed his eyes. "I do not wish to kill him, I wish to destroy everything he is."
"Call it a back-up plan. Danny Phantom is stronger than you give him credit for," the man observed, remembering the time Danny once foiled his own elaborate plans. "A deadly mutation of normal ectoplasmic cells, they will attack the healthy cells until there are none left, effectively killing the host. With some help, I modified it to attack a ghost's emotional core, clinging to it, suffocating it, destroying it and effectively causing the host to transform into a karaboj." The man turned towards the ghost and handed the poisoned dagger over. "A last resort, just in case your aim fails. The dagger is a most powerful artefact but unless it pierces the child's core, it will not work. This ensures that you merely need to graze his skin with the dagger. Fool-proof."
The ghost growled as he turned the lethal weapon over in his hands. "I will not miss."
"Do not underestimate the half-lifes. Danny Phantom beat you by himself last time and that was without Vlad Plasmius by his side."
"They will not win this time."
The ghost vanished as if he was never there, leaving the man staring at the spot he had once occupied.
The man rolled his eyes and composed himself. "Ghosts." He scoffed.
The ghost zone blurred in the hybrid's peripherals as he sped through it. Vlad had virtually been keeping a permanent state of intangibility since he'd parted from Danny so as not to be slowed down with avoiding obstacles. Every now and then his body would start to lose some of its glow as he attempted to teleport to his destination but it seemed his stunt earlier on in the day had cost him some of his much needed energy for this difficult trick.
In truth, his speed was not solely due to the need rescue Danny's little friends – he honestly couldn't care less about them – but more due to the fact that his house would probably explode if he didn't get there on time. Yes, he could afford a new one to be built for him but then he really couldn't be bothered with the hassle... He would have to stay somewhere whilst it was rebuilt... He was not willing to stay at a hotel for an extended period of time and the only people who would probably take him in would be the Fentons... And Maddie... Huh. Second thoughts...
He quickly shook his head as a pang of guilt reminded him about the little fact that if he failed Danny, the young hybrid's emotional core could shatter and that was a fate not even Vlad would wish on anyone. Especially a fourteen year old boy who had already sacrificed enough in his short life.
He would also gladly admit that some of his reasons for his recent actions were selfish. Without Daniel, he would be the only hybrid left again. Even he had to admit, the young half-ghost had given his lonely life purpose again. After having everything at the click of a finger for so long, he sort of welcomed the challenge that Daniel posed and he was not about to let it slip through his fingers now.
Taking comfort now in not only his determination but also the thought of pushing Dan's head through a meat grinder, he eventually saw the giant purple football coming into view, behind which lay his portal.
With a swift tug, he yanked the football out of the way and raised an eyebrow when, almost immediately after, three teenagers fell out of his laboratory and into the ghost zone. He quickly thanked the lack of oxygen in the ghost zone that stopped all snide comments from the trio's mouths and pushed past them into his lab.
When he got there, he froze. It looked like a bomb had hit it, and in truth that wasn't far out considering the words Dan and Destruction seemed to go hand in hand. Beakers lay shattered on the floor, many various liquids covered the tiles, some sizzling and creating mini explosions as they came into contact with other chemicals. Tables were up turned and many of his ghostly gadgets were in pieces. So much of his life's work... gone. It was in that moment that he vowed revenge if it was the last thing he did.
Unfortunately, for him, it was also in that moment that the three teenagers stumbled back through the portal after deciding the need for oxygen was greater than anything else. Vlad rolled his eyes as the three of them got up and glared at him.
"What are you doing here?!" Jazz spat.
Honestly, Vlad was surprised that it wasn't Sam's sharp tongue that had coiled around him first. That is until he noticed ectoplasm covering her mouth. Seemed like at least something good came out of it.
"Saving my lab." He replied dejectedly.
Jazz, Sam and Tucker watched as Vlad flew over to a large metal door; a door which the trio had tried and failed to open many times in their efforts to escape.
The man pressed a hand on the door making the teens' eyes widen as the hybrid seemingly poured some of his own ectoplasmic energy into the metal. A loud groan resonated throughout the room as the door slowly opened inwards, revealing an even smaller room that had not succumb to as much damage as the main room.
Vlad smiled, pleased with his initiative to guard his spare ecto filtrator and other important artefacts, weapons and gadgets with an extra level of protection as he plucked the filtrator off of its secured position on the wall.
He turned around to three disbelieving stares. "Move."
Begrudgingly, the three moved out of his way, knowing they probably didn't have much time left until the room exploded. Even they knew there was no time to argue, even if Vlad did have ulterior motives for being here.
The room suddenly shook violently, causing the man to be jerked in the opposite direction as he lost his balance.
"NO!" Vlad cried as he lost his grip on the filtrator.
Time slowed as he watched the device tumble towards the harsh floor before it would shatter with the impact, along with any hope of saving his life's work. Only, it never reached the floor.
Tucker had seen as the filtrator was wrenched from Vlad's hand and had dived underneath it to catch it.
Vlad stared in disbelief at the boy who was now hugging it close to his chest, not knowing quite what to say to the child who had just saved his laboratory. In the end, he went for a, "Nice catch."
Startling Tucker out of his trance, the boy chuckled lightly. "Th-thanks."
Vlad rolled his eyes before yanking the device out of the teen's hands and, this time, flying over to his portal and quickly getting to work on replacing the broken one.
All Sam, Jazz and Tucker could do was watch, realising their lives were in Vlad's hands but not quite knowing how to feel about that or how to change it.
They didn't have to watch for too long though, as shortly, the room stopped shaking with the portal's instability. Mini explosions were still going off around the room due to the cross contamination of various liquids but all in all, it seemed as if Vlad had succeeded.
"You three are going to clean this mess up"
That snapped the three out of their trance.
"What?!"
"No way!"
"mHmm!"
"That's totally not fair dude! I just caught your stupid filtrator!"
"After you doomed the first one by coming down here in the first place and putting your noses where they didn't belong!" Vlad roared. "Dan would never have been able to trap you three idiots in here if you weren't here to begin with!"
"Look we didn't kn-" Jazz was cut off as two chemicals reacted next to her feet, the little explosion throwing her off balance. "Wait did you just say Da-"
"Thanks to you three my laboratory could have been destroyed!" Vlad interrupted.
"I fail to see how that is a bad thing." Tucker stated.
"And you three with it!" Vlad continued. "And although Tucker, I fail to see how that is a bad thing for me, I assure you, it would have been very bad for you. Honestly, it's no wonder that Daniel gets beaten up so often trying to protect you three fools!"
Jazz narrowed her eyes. "We can protect ourselves."
"Obviously. So much so that your little brother's arch enemy had to come and save your ignorant backsides!"
The redhead paused. "I thought you just came to save your lab."
Vlad studied Danny's sister. "And saving you was a side effect."
Jazz didn't answer though her mind was whirring with questions, the psychologist inside her not about to let that one go.
A yelp from Tucker distracted the seething billionaire. He looked downwards at the boy's foot which the teen was now grasping whilst hopping around at the other one.
"Damn! What sort of liquids do you keep in here?! That one burns!" He accused, pointing at a bright blue chemical which had seeped towards him.
"None of your business. Not that it matters seeing as they are all useless now anyway." He gave a pointed look.
"Stop blaming us for everything! We weren't exactly going to sit at home whilst you went after my little brother, who we know you hate by the way!"
"mHmmm!" Sam cried out, desperate to say something, though it appeared she didn't need to.
"Danny is fine Samantha, no thanks to you three."
"Where is he then?"
"Probably on his way back to Amity Park to rescue your parents."
"My parents?!"
"What? You didn't think Dan would only go after you, did you?"
"Son of a b- YOW!"
Jazz, Sam and Vlad looked towards Tucker who had apparently just stepped downwards on broken glass.
Vlad rolled his eyes. "Grab hold of me." At seeing the three not moving, he narrowed his eyes. "Grab hold of me now or stay down here and rot."
The three teens reluctantly did what the man said and soon found themselves in a grand lounge, decorated with plush settees and extravagant flat screen TVs. They didn't have long however to really appreciate it before Vlad set them down, none too gently on the floor.
"Did.. Did he... Really just save our asses down there?"
The three teens turned to where they assumed Vlad would be but he was no longer there.
"Mu-" Danny paused as he realised it was Danny Phantom who was about to save his parents. Not Danny Fenton. Showing heroic prowess as Fenton might just raise too many questions. Plus it was easier to get his parents out of the death trap if he could use his ghostly powers. "Maddie! Jack!" He corrected himself as he planted his feet on the floor of the Fenton's laboratory.
The teen had to hold back a gasp as he saw the state of the lab. Broken tables, shattered glass by his feet, not to mention the many gadgets that were in pieces. He briefly wondered whether Vlad would be finding his lab in the same condition.
"Who's there?!"
Danny jolted out of his stupor at hearing his Dad's booming voice... from inside the weapons vault? His fists clenched. That sick psycho. He growled in his realisation that his evil self had trapped his parents in there, giving them no chance of escape.
Plus, Danny realised, it was inside that weapon's vault that he would find the ecto filtrator to stabilise the portal... Great. So he'd have to first get past his parents before he could save them.
"D... Danny." The ghost responded timidly, slightly afraid of his parents at the moment.
"You can't be Danny." Maddie responded, angry.
"You sick excuse for a thing! Get away from us!" Jack roared as he cradled his wife from inside the weapon's vault.
Danny frowned. Why couldn't he be Danny? "But I am Danny. Danny Phantom."
"Phantom?!"
"PHANTOM?!" Jack repeated as he thumped loudly on the door, jolting the hybrid.
"Yeah. Don't worry, I'm here to save you!"
"Shut up! Just shut up!"
"Just... just let us see him, please." Maddie sobbed.
Danny's eyes widened. What were they talking about?! "Who?"
"Don't mock me! You know exactly who! You KILLED HIM! My boy... My innocent boy..." She broke down, hysterical as the painful memories re surfaced.
Danny clenched his eyes shut as he thought about Dan, for it must have been him they were talking about who did the killing... and... His hands fisted. He must have made his parents think he was dead. As if killing them wasn't good enough!
The teen was thrown to the floor as the portal started to become increasingly unstable and in that moment he decided; save parents first, rip Dan apart later. "Look. D... Whoever did this to you wasn't me! And if you want to get out of here alive then you're going to have to trust me!"
In the weapons vault, Maddie and Jack looked straight at each other with the ghost's words, neither knowing what to say to that. Trust... a ghost? And Phantom of all ghosts?!
"No. He killed our son, Jack." Maddie wept into her husband's chest, keeping her voice down and momentarily forgetting that ghosts had hypersensitive hearing.
Danny's teeth gritted with his Mum's words. Dan was seriously going to pay for this. On instinct, he shouted, "Your son's alive!"
Husband and wife's eyes shot open. "Wha- what?"
"It's a trick!"
"No, I promise! Let me save you without you killing me in the process and I'll take you to him!" The words were out of him before he'd even thought about what he'd said. How the hell was he going to take his parents to Fenton when he couldn't duplicate yet?! Guess he should have thought that one through. Nevertheless, it seemed to work.
"You... you're telling the truth?"
"He can't be Maddie. All ghosts do is lie!" Jack corrected.
"Bu- but our son Jack... If there's even a chance..."
Whilst the two adults were contemplating putting their faith in a ghost, Danny was looking anxiously around at the already destroyed laboratory. Knowing, if they took much longer discussing it they would be dead anyway, he clenched his eyes as he prayed what he was about to do next would pay off and his parents wouldn't kill him.
"Look, I'm coming in there! Shoot me if you like and we'll all die or trust me and we'll all live! And if I'm lying you can dissect me or whatever later!" With this, the ever impatient and angry hybrid launched himself into the air and phased into the weapons vault.
What he saw inside virtually ripped his already fragile heart in two. He could hardly recognise his parents; They had aged overnight. They looked so... vulnerable. Not the two courageous ghost hunters he'd always known. Hugging in the corner, they looked upwards at him as he floated above them. For a moment, they held each other's gazes, each wondering what the other was going to do next. In the end, it as a huge groan from the ghost portal which made their minds up. Survival instinct appeared to be kicking in, the two adults slowly got to their feet and put down the weapons they had in their hands.
Danny smiled in relief though it was short lived with his father's next words.
"We will never. Trust. a. ghost." The man plucked a weapon from one of the shelves and fired it directly at his son, causing the hybrid to be catapulted backwards and landing in a heap against the door off the weapon's vault.
Danny rubbed his sore backside, having landed awkwardly on one of the many gadgets in the room. "Jack. Please. You trusted me before when your family was at stake. Why can't you do it now?!"
"Because you hadn't killed my son then!" He roared.
Danny felt like screaming in frustration. What was he going to have to say or do to get through the thick head of his father?! Looking at his Mum, an idea came to mind. "For the last time, I didn't kill your son. And if you don't stop attacking me, you are going to kill not only yourself, but your wife as well, leaving behind Jazz!"
"Are you threatening-"
Danny threw his hands up. "Look around you! This whole place is about to explode and newsflash, it's going to take you two with it, regardless of who killed your son! Then you won't have a family left to protect in the first place! Please. I'm actually begging you now. Let me help you."
Jack looked between Maddie, who was unnervingly silent of late, and the ghost in front of him. With a couple of deep breaths, he put down his weapon. "Fine. But I'm not going with you." Pulling a spectre deflector off the wall, he clamped it around himself before pushing Maddie straight into their son's arms.
Danny gasped as he caught his Mum. Both yelled in fear at the same time, "Jack!"
"What are you doing?!" Maddie shouted.
"My life's work is in here, and I'm not about to leave it. Open the weapon's vault for me and then get Maddie out of here, Phantom." Seeing both ghost and human frozen in shock, he re enforced, "Now!"
Danny honestly didn't know what to do but seeing the fear in his Mum's eyes and the determination in his Dad's made up his mind for him. He grabbed her, kicking and screaming, and flew out of the laboratory but not before opening the vault from the other side for his Father.
"Put me down! My husband-" Maddie protested as Danny held her close.
"Is going to be fine."
Now out of the house and clear of the vicinity, Danny dropped his Mum off in a side street before turning around and shooting straight back towards the house, ignoring her cries as she stumbled after him. He knew she wouldn't be able to catch up with his speed.
"Ah—" Danny screamed as he was thrust violently upwards.
He gasped as he grabbed his stomach, which was aching violently.
"What the..?" He looked around, attempting to distinguish the source of whatever just happened.
Fentonworks shook and smoked in the distance but before Danny could gather his bearings, he was again pelted from below with a powerful ecto-blast.
"Vlad?"
"Try again."
Two red eyes revealed themselves before Danny was grabbed violently by the neck and forced upwards.
Danny screamed and struggled against the pull but whenever he tried to go intangible, the force that had hold went intangible too.
Suddenly, he was thrown viciously downwards. Danny yelled in unmeasurable pain as his back collided with solid concrete.
"This time there will be no do-overs."
Danny scarcely had time to dodge another ecto-blast as he rolled haphazardly onto his side. Through his teary eyes, the wind and the rain, he could see Fentonworks shudder in the distance. Desperately, he attempted to get up but wasn't quick enough to avoid an arm which gripped him tight from behind.
"Three… Two…" The voice whispered menacing in his ear.
"No!"
"One."
Fentonworks exploded.