Tucker straightened up his tie, puffed up his chest, and, knocked a little tune on Sam's door. Within seconds, it opened.
Tucker's eyes widened. "Is that... your dress?" Sam blushed, her hands tight on her handbag.
"Yeah. It's... new."
Tucker felt his own face begin to redden. "You... really wanted to come to the prom, didn't you. You kept dropping hints, and-"
"Are you apologizing? I'm going with you, and that's all that matters." Sam laughed and rolled her eyes. "Come on, we're gonna be late!" She grabbed Tucker's hand, pulling him along.
Danny flew up, high in the sky, looking every which way for where to go; it wasn't like he had clues. Down, through the streets, he searched, even sticking his head in the prom with more than a little wistfulness.
But then a thought came to him. Packers. Amity Stadium. Duh!
He had a fruitloop to confront.
Tucker and Sam reached the doors to Casper High prom, and with a shared glance to each other, opened the doors and stepped through. The music was loud, and Sam grabbed Tucker's hand and led him to the centre, where they danced for what seemed like ages.
"Hey, Sam," Tucker poked his friend on the shoulder. "Want some punch?"
Sam nodded, and the two of them retired to a quieter section of the dance. Behind them, a large fight between Kwan, Valerie and Paulina was breaking out.
"But you promised you weren't going to walk out on me, Kwan!" Valerie whined.
"Too bad, you're dateless!" Kwan laughed, his arm interlinked with Paulina.
"Tough luck, Val," Paulina waved a ring-studded hand. "If Danny hadn't cancelled on me, I wouldn't have needed to steal your dorky date." Sam and Tucker froze.
Valerie stalked past them, in a fit of tears and cursing Danny with all her might. Paulina and Kwan moved off. Sam stared, wide-eyed, at Tucker.
"Danny didn't come to the prom!" Sam breathed out. "This is bad."
"What?" Tucker shrugged. "Danny gets weak kneed when he talks to pretty girls. He probably chickened out." Noticing Sam's arched eyebrow, he quickly added: "Except you! Your dress is pretty, as well."
All of a sudden, Tucker's PDA started beeping, loudly. His face hardened. "Sam. I have to go. It's Inviso-Bill."
"Since when did you have a tracker on him?" Sam knitted her eyebrows. "Tucker, I'm worried about you." And Danny, she mentally added.
Before Tucker could respond, between the two of them came a large, orange jumpsuited man with a very stupid yellow tie around his neck and an angry expression on his face. "Hey! What are you doing with my wife!"
"Darling, this is Mr. Lancer..." Sam grabbed Tucker's wrist and dragged him straight for the girl's bathroom.
"Hey! Sam! That's the girl's bathroom!"
"Like you care." Sam led him to the back, and turned to him. "You have to stop this, this ghostfighting!"
"I'm getting revenge!" Tucker figited, anxious to leave.
"Getting obessed, more like!" Sam grabbed Tucker's shoulders. "Nothing, nothing, used to get between you and getting a date!" She rolled her eyes. "Not that it's a bad thing that you've stopped, of course, but you're going about this wrong. You'll hurt someone. You'll hurt yourself!"
Tucker brushed off Sam. "Maybe this is me now, Sam. These good looks and charisma won't go to waste hunting ghosts, trust me!" He tried for a smile, but Sam wasn't impressed. Tucker sighed, and turned away. "I'll be back, Sam. I'm sorry."
"Wait!" Sam grabbed her friend's hand. "You don't understand! Please!" Tucker worked his hand free and ran, leaving Sam behind. She growled, and punched a stall door with all her might.
"Hey," A voice came from behind her. "do you like quarterbacks?"
Sam turned in astonishment. "Dash, what are you doing in the Ladies bathroom?"
Danny set foot on the stadium, eyes peeled for any sign of trouble. The stadium itself was lit brightly from the lights, but beyond it, with no light from the new moon, it was pitch black.
No crickets cheeped, no owls hooted. It was as if the very world was holding it's breath.
Quiet. Too quiet. Danny stopped in his tracks, his senses tingling.
"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!" The familiar, squeaky voice of Foleyman passed right over Danny's head and crashed into the ground next to him, leaving a large crater.
"Tucker." Danny crossed his arms. "I really don't have time for this."
Tucker jumped out of the crater, giant PDA glider in hand. "You don't have any time!" He squealed. "Say goodbye to afterlife, Phantom!"
As Tucker swung a wild fist as Danny, he went intangible, but that seemed to do nothing, and the punch caught him right in the face. Danny sat down hard, nursing his nose and looking incredibly surprised. "I have to admit, that was impressive, Tuck."
"My ninja skills?"
"No." Danny floated himself to a standing position. "That out of all the things you could most likely do with that high-tech suit, all you do is punch me in the face." Danny raises his eyebrows. "Nice."
"You're not allowed to be witty!" Tucker squeaks, raising an arm, where a gun popped out from the side and began charging. "Eat... uh... whatever this does, you sarcastic spook!"
A small box shot out of Tucker's levelled gun, straight past Danny's shoulder. Danny snorted. "Wow. That was-"
The box hit him square in the back of his head, and his vision blackened as his entire face and shoulders were obscured by the trap. His legs, however, were free.
Overbalanced, Danny stumbled a little and fell on his side.
Suddenly, Danny heard the unmistakable sound of himself changing back to human. A cold pit formed in the bottom of his stomach.
"Hey," Tucker's voice sounded from somewhere to the right of the blind ghost. "It worked! Uh... but why are you in a suit?"
Danny chose not to respond. He was thinking furiously when a voice very much like his sister's sounded from the side. "Mission complete, by the skin of your teeth."
"But... Jazz?"
"No, you fool!" The voice suddenly changed to Vlad's. "You're no longer needed in this, and thanks to you, nobody can save you! So, ciao! I have an old college pal to humiliate."
A loud blast accompanied the end of Vlad's words. Danny suddenly had the terrible sensation that somebody was standing directly above him.
Two hands grabbed Danny, and pulled him upright. They then pushed Danny up through the box, so finally he could see again, but his legs were trapped.
It was the blue vampire ghost, grinning evilly. To one side of him, a large crater lay, pink smoke billowing from the hole. To the other lay Jazz, unconscious on the floor.
Danny gasped. "You! But... where's Vlad?" A thought occured to him: Vlad Masters, Vlad Plasmius.
The ghost frowned. "Really, Daniel? For a clever boy, you can be so idiotic. After all, you're not the only half ghost your father has created during his train wreck of a life." Vlad raised his arms, and two black rings appeared around his waist, changing him - much like with Danny - into Vlad Masters. "He and I are the same, child."
Danny frowns. "You! You're that reject from Twilight!" He stares down at Jazz. "And my sister! What did you do to her!"
"Oh, don't worry about your sister, Daniel." Vlad transforms back. "It's called overshadowing, possessing one's body and controlling them from the inside. One of many abilities that you could possess."
Danny struggles. "What are you trying to suggest?"
Vlad steps uncomfortably close. "I could teach you a thousand things, boy. You are like me; both a ghost and a man. Though the incident that caused my status was... unfortunate, and cost me many things, I have trained my skills and used them for a great many things."
Danny raised an eyebrow. "Making yourself rich?"
Vlad raised a hand, glowing in pink energy. "Yes, personal gain is among them. But I could train you, boy. With you as my son, and Maddie asd my wife, we could be unstoppable! All you'd have to do," Vlad's eyes shone with a wild light, "Is renounce your idiot father!" Jazz's eyes opened.
Danny, in want of something to do, headbutted Vlad, giving them both a headache. "Forget it! You can teach me whatever you want, but you can't teach me the kind of things Dad can!" Behind the two, Jazz rose shakily to her knees.
"Being an idiot?" Vlad growled, less than pleased.
"Being kind. And learning from your mistakes!" Danny retorted. "Neither of which you've done!" Jazz smiles a little at Danny's words.
"Very well, Daniel." Vlad began to float off of the floor. "But when your father is thrown in jail for attacking people at a school prom? We'll see who comes crawling to me when I'm done."
With that, Vlad swoops off, leaving Danny to shout after him. "You can't win! I'll find a way to - Jazz!"