Hi readers! I have finally gotten the time and inspiration to finish this chapter, and so here ya go!

Chapter 20

Vlad Plasmius exited a swirling green portal into the vast realm that is the Ghost Zone. After replacing the giant purple football that he used to hide his portal, he took off in the direction of Pariah's Keep. Of course, it was now in the possession of the current Ghost King, his arch-enemy, Danny Phantom, but that would soon change. The little badger would quickly meet his true doom, should his plan prove successful.

Vlad reached his destination after a particularly laborious flight, and stopped to rest and bask in its magnificence. The floating red castle with its multiple parapets jutting out at awkward points still amazed him as an architectural anomaly. He flew up to its front doors, surprised that there were no guards present. Then again, no one would dare enter the Ghost King's domain without an invitation, not unless they had the audacity to enter the place. Someone like him.

Vlad smiled sinisterly as he opened the massive doors, careful not to let them creak. Just because there were no guards patrolling this part of the castle, didn't mean there weren't any guards at all. To tell the truth, the only being he really needed to avoid was the Fright Knight, his Soul Shredder a formidable weapon indeed. Vlad expertly navigated the halls, careful to stay in what shadows there were, in case he did encounter anyone.

Finally, he found the treasure vault hidden behind a massive painting of one of the former rulers. Cliché to say the least, but even those had to begin somewhere. He decided that he could risk a little less stealth and blasted a pink ghost ray at the locked door behind it. As the smoke cleared, Vlad's eyes widened greatly. Despite all his wealth, he never thought he would ever see so much of it lying around that wasn't his! A sea of gold, silver, gems and other shiny things lay before him. Where it had even come from, he couldn't begin to conceive, but he had other business to attend to after all: the other Sarcophagus.

He pulled out the textbook he'd taken from the Fenton's lab and read the excerpt about the Prince Malbenita, but there was nothing of his location except that he was in the treasure vault. Supposedly, Pariah had placed him there out of respect for him. Probably to show that he valued him. Vlad mused.

Vlad decided to start checking under the sea of wealth since he had no other option. As he began the process of turning one mountain invisible, he began to contemplate his next plan of action once he found the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep. Either he would have to bring it back to his lab, or he'd have to open it then and there; the latter option being the more convenient except he had no idea how to open it. If it was designed like the one that contained Pariah Dark, then he would have no issue as he still had the Skeleton Key in his possession. if it were to be opened any other way, then a problem may arise. Vlad shook his indecision from his head as he continued to search.

Suddenly, a peculiar looking casket caught his eye: the Sarcophagus! Vlad flew over to the largest pile and walked into it intangibly, emerging seconds later dragging the large object with him. Once in a somewhat clear spot, he let go of it, turning it and himself tangible again, and examined the lock. He was delighted to find that it could be unlocked by a key, but having left the Skeleton Key back in his lab, he wouldn't be able to find out just yet. He looked around for a place to re-hide it until his return and chose one with a particularly large amount of rubies and sapphires.

"Soon, my friend, I will return and free you from your prison. Then, we can talk domination." Vlad grinned as he turned to leave. As he was about to exit the hidden room, he spun to look behind him, swearing he had heard a low rumbling chuckle. Then the chuckle began to shake the castle, and seemingly, reality itself! As suddenly as it began, the quaking stopped, but Vlad hightailed it outta there as fast as he could.

Sunday passed remarkably uneventful, and the sun dawned on yet another Monday in the town of Amity Park. Jason awoke to the loud beeping of his alarm and yawned even more loudly as he rubbed his eyes and pushed his glasses onto his face. He climbed out of bed and in fifteen minutes, he was out the door heading for Manson Mansion. He had planned with Danny, Sam, and Tucker the night before to walk to school together.

As discussed, the other three met up at Sam's and walked to Casper High, arriving with some time to spare. They all took their places at their desks as Dani flew through the floor in front of hers. Mr. Lancer walked in a few seconds after to find them and a couple of other students, surprised at seeing them there so early. As he sat down at his desk, Danny came up to him with his completed poem in hand. After reading it over, Lancer smiled at him and said, "Thank you, Daniel."

The morning went on as normal from there, except Danny seemed better rested, since he didn't fall asleep during Lancer's lesson. As the class left the room to get to second period, Danny heard his name called.

"Danny!"

He turned to see Mr. Lancer waving him over to his desk. After looking to the others, who returned his confused stare, he left them and walked over to his waiting teacher.

"Yes, Mr. Lancer?"

"Danny, I have noticed that you seem different this morning. You aren't falling asleep in lass and you actually appeared to be paying attention; not to mention that you were actually here early. It is a pleasant change, but a un-forseen one."

"Oh," Danny replied, slightly off-guard. It wasn't often that he was spoken to by his English teacher without there being some mention of his shortcomings in his class. "I guess I've just been getting more sleep recently."

"I think I know why." Danny froze.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't act so oblivious, Danny. I can tell when you aren't sincerely clueless." Danny started to sweat. If Lancer was talking about what he thought he was, then he might have a problem. Suddenly, the late bell rang; Mr. Lancer sighed and pulled a sticky note from the pad on his desk and scribbled a note to the science teacher to explain why Danny had been hindered. He handed the note to his student and began to grade a pile of essays due from another class. Danny could hardly keep from running out the door and to the next class.

Danny finally burst through the door of the science classroom ten minutes late. Because of his sudden entrance, Dash and Kwan accidentally knocked over two glass bottles of chemicals into their Petri dish causing the contents to blow up in their, Paulina, and Star's faces; leaving them covered with blacked dust and smoking. Danny smiled sheepishly and handed the teacher the note before retreating over to where the others were waiting.

"Dude, nice one!" Jason chided. "I think that's an improvement for them, really."

Sam nodded her agreement. "So what did Lancer want to talk to you about?"

"I don't know, the bell rang before he could say."

Suddenly, the teacher came over to where they were sitting and inspected their experiment. After writing some things down on a clipboard, she looked up at Danny. "Mr. Fenton, since you were kept back with Mr. Lancer for a bit, allow me to explain what we're doing . . ."

Clockwork watched from his tower with concern. After watching Vlad discover Malbenita's resting place for the thousandth time, he couldn't shake the relief and grief he felt. Relief that the hardest part for them would soon be over, and grief that there was more still to come after this. He glanced over to the pedestal where the Fenton Thermos containing Danny's evil alternate self and remembered Jason's words.

Sounds like you took over the Earth or something.

If only the boy knew what weight his words carried. With a heavy heart, Clockwork uttered his famous words, "Everything is as it should be."

Hope you enjoyed this one! Let me know via review and fav/follow this story to keep up with it. What do you guys think is gonna happen? What "should" happen? Seriously, I wanna know what you guys think. Whether you answer or not, I'll see you all in the next chapter of . . . A New One Rises!