Gold Tested in Fire

by truephan

After PP. Vlad has finalized his dark plans to break the hero part of the young halfa. And he's willing to put Danny through the entire inferno of the Ghost Zone to achieve it. DxS, TxV, OCs

35. Chap 35: Level 7: The Ultimate Nightmare

A/N: Hiya, y'all! Yipee! It's already time for an update! There is a major spoiler about one of my earlier stories called, 'Sleepover Nightmare'; so, if you're confused, just have fun with it anyways! And, uhm, gee, heh-heh, how did this chapter get to be so long? *smiles sheepishly* Hmm…oh well, just have fun with it as well! Here's chapter 35. Enjoy!

Gold Tested in Fire—Chapter 35—Level Seven Ghosts—The Ultimate Nightmare

"Sam!" Both Jack and Tucker anxiously yelled when the girl had suddenly fainted again.

They both rushed to her side. They couldn't have known that the girl had somehow been able to feel her boyfriend's being 'stabbed' by Undergrowth—even if the whole 'Undergrowth' scene was artificially induced. But just as soon as they were near enough, Jack pulled back in hesitation; but Tucker didn't at all and he quickly yet gently grabbed one of his friend's shoulders.

But as soon as Tucker touched the girl, he gasped when a sudden jolt ran through him, as if he had stuck one of his fingers into a light socket. He staggered back dazed by the unexpected event, and immediately brought one of his hands up to his forehead.

Jack gasped and caught the dizzy boy before he could fall. But when the man saw that Tucker's eyes weren't focusing, he anxiously uttered, "A-Are you all right, Tucker?"

"I-I think so," the teen finally responded, though he was still cradling his forehead and feeling he might throw up.

But no sooner had he said that when Sam began to moan and her eyes slowly fluttered open.

"Sam?" Tucker fretfully asked as he moved toward her again in spite of his wooziness. "Are you all right? And what happened?"

Sam blinked her eyes with trying to comprehend what her friend was saying. But then, another thought came into more pressing focus. And she knew why she had just fainted. Her face scrunched up at the thought as she cried out in alarm, "Oh, Tucker! Something's terribly wrong with Danny! We got to help him!"

"I knew it!" Tucker agreed. But he was so worried now that he that he didn't think how his female friend might take what he next blurted out, "I could feel it, too!"

Sam looked at him incredulously while Jack's eyes widened slightly.

Tucker grew more nervous at seeing that and stuttered, "Uh. Uh, I-I m-meant to let you know before, Sam, but really I wasn't sure of it until now. I'm sorry and I don't understand why and all... But I think that 'telepathic thing' might now include me!"

The threesome fell silent for a few moments, unsure of what to say next.

But then, Jack's stomach growled and he cleared his throat in embarrassment before saying, "Well, I know it's very important for us to help everyone, but we won't be good to anyone if we don't get something to eat and drink…Er, especially you, Sam…"

The man paused a moment again before coming out with his next thought. "And, uhm, I need to let you know right now, Sam, that even though we haven't checked on them yet, I'm pretty sure that your parents and grandmother must also be in some kind of deep sleep."

The girl quickly searched her mind and from her special powers she knew that not only was Danny's father right, but at least her grandmother was in grave danger! Her heart skipped a beat and panic began to clutch at her.

"No!" Sam cried before she reflexively jumped out of the lounge chair, only to crash right to the floor in her weakened state.

The two males rushed to help her, especially since her legs were still wobbling and unable to hold up her weight when she tried to get back up.

"Please wait, Sam!" Danny's father insisted as he gently lifted her toward the lounge chair. "You're too weak to go anywhere!"

"But, I got to help my grandma!" she immediately wailed while attempting to abruptly pull away from the males. But when she noticed that her efforts to do that didn't have any impact because of her weakened condition, she started bawling uncontrollably.

Shocked by the girl's sudden burst of hysteria, Tucker and Jack hesitantly stepped away from the upset girl once they knew she was safely sitting on the lounge chair.

But then Tucker insisted, "Sam! I don't blame you for being upset, but we need you, so you have to get a hold of yourself! Mr. Fenton and I will go check on your parents and your grandmother and will be right back, okay?"

The two males looked on in both chagrin and indecision as the girl continued not only to cry, but also bury her face into her hands. It had even seemed as if the girl hadn't even heard what Tucker had said. However, a few minutes later, Sam's eyes widened when she realized what she was doing. She immediately tried to steal her emotions. It took her a couple of additional minutes, but she finally got them under control. Finally, she heaved in a huge sigh and looked up at Tucker and Danny's father.

She didn't notice the two males' reaction at seeing her puffy and reddened eyes. They had never seen the girl like this—ever! They were so taken aback by it, they didn't even dream of making her feel bad about it.

Nevertheless, Sam was very much embarrassed about what had just happened. She didn't know what to say but felt she should. She had just stuttered, "I-I—" when Tucker gently interrupted her.

"Hey, we understand, Sam. We're just as upset about all of this, too. My parents have that same sleeping sickness and Mrs. Fenton and Danny are missing!"

Once again, Sam's face lit up in panic and worry. But before she could lose it again, Tucker rushed over to her, leaned down and grabbed her by the shoulders.

Looking squarely into her eyes, he insisted, "Look, Sam. We all got weakened by this sickness and we're not ourselves. But we need you to be in the game! Mr. Fenton and I will go check on your parents and grandmother. But while we're gone, promise me that you'll work on eating or drinking some of the stuff we brought. You'll feel better if you do."

The girl was about to protest when Tucker pleaded, "Please, Sam! Don't be so stubborn! Danny and I need you to get your strength back! And that might mean sitting still until then, okay?"

Sam looked at him and she hitched in a gasp when she accidentally read his mind! He was very worried about her—and everyone else. But she knew he was right. She wouldn't be good to anyone, especially Danny, if she didn't have the strength to even stand up.

"Okay," she finally whispered. "But please let me know how my parents and grandmother are right away, okay?"

Now obviously more relieved, Tucker quietly replied, "Okay, Sam."

Jack, meanwhile, walked up to the two teens. He extended a power bar and some boxed milk and gingerly said, "Here you go, Sam. I'm sorry it's not soy milk. But it is kinda of an emergency. I even had to dig into some fudge."

The raven-hair girl smiled weakly at him and accepted the items before she said, "Thanks, Mr. Fenton. And you're right. We do have to act differently in emergencies."

The two males turned to go. But just before they got to the door, Tucker swung around and said, "Remember, you promised to wait, Sam!"

"Alright, alright!" she grumbled as she took a bite of the power bar. Maybe he did have a telepathic connection!

Tucker smiled, turned back around, and headed to the older Mansons' respective bedrooms with Danny's father.

The first room the two males came upon belonged to Sam's parents. And even though the couple looked very pale, their breathing was steady. After propping the two up, Jack and Tucker had tried to give them something to drink. They had been as successful as they had been with Tucker's parents. Even though the two males weren't happy that they couldn't revive them, they knew there was nothing else they could do at the moment except resolve themselves into finding a cure.

Jack and Tucker were about to head to find Sam's grandmother when they heard a terrified scream, followed by a loud crash! They rushed out and headed toward where they thought the sound had originated, which had to be the room directly across from the one in which they were, especially since the door was now opened when it had been closed when they had first arrived at the Mansons' bedroom!

The two rushed in, only to find Sam on the floor near the entrance and a few feet from the bed where her grandmother was obviously lying! And there was glass all around her! They didn't have to guess that Sam had been too worried to wait any longer, and had sought out her grandmother even in her weakened state.

"Oh, no!" both of them yelled in unison as they rushed toward the girl.

They both gently lifted her up and set her in a nearby chair. They could see by the bump on her head that she somehow must have stumbled and fallen and accidentally knocked over a small table with a vase on it near the door when she fell.

"Look after her a moment, Tucker, will ya?" Jack hurriedly asked the boy as he quickly turned away and approached Sam's grandmother.

The man's face paled at what he saw. The old woman…if it weren't for the fact that he could see that she was still breathing—though shallowly so—he would have sworn that she was dead!

"Sam's out cold, Mr. F.," Tucker began, only to gasp when he saw Sam's grandmother. "I-Is s-she…?"

"No, but she needs help now, Tucker," the man gravely replied.

"Sam must have felt that, too!" Tucker immediately said. "But what can we do? I don't want Sam's grandmother to be sucked into the Ghost Zone!"

Jack's eyes widened at the boy's words. Why didn't he think about that earlier? There was a chance to help Tucker's and Sam's family now!

"Tucker!" He hurriedly said, "I just thought of a way to help them until we can wake them! I have no time to explain, but please try to get some water into Sam's grandmother, no matter how little, and I'll be back as soon as I can!"

Before Tucker could reply, the man ran out of the room and down the stairs…

Tucker went right to work. He propped up Sam's grandmother and retrieved some water. He gingerly and slowly poured a bit in the old woman's mouth. His heart leapt with hope when he heard a faint swallow! But then he gasped in fear when Millie began to weakly cough right afterward. Nevertheless, the boy was going to chance it and gave her another sip. Once more, the old woman barely swallowed and then hardly coughed again.

Tucker's face puckered in worry and hesitation. But then his eyes drifted over to his unconscious female best friend. He firmed up his face in determination and continued.

Finally, after about a half-hour, Tucker was exhausted with his efforts to hydrate Sam's grandmother. He reluctantly stopped, pulled another chair in the room next to Sam, plopped down in it and accidentally fell asleep.

Even so, his mind was plagued with fear and worry over his family and friends. Even in his fitful sleep, Tucker feared that they wouldn't discover a way to help everyone before it was too late…

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Vlad looked at the monitors after the last program with Undergrowth was completed. The data looked promising—like all the other times—only for Daniel to prove that the readings weren't truly able to predict the status of his mental stability or lack thereof.

Blast! Just when was the boy going to be broken?

The man rubbed his temples. His headache had returned. He inadvertently glanced at the clock and his eyes widened slightly. He had been so wrapped up in this last program that he had lost track of time. He had been up all night with this, and now it was mid-morning!

He squelched a yawn while rubbing his temples again. He knew he needed to get some sleep. But at the same time, he didn't want to mess up his natural biorhythm if he should go to sleep when the day was well on its way. After all, he was a very meticulous and habitual creature. Besides, going to sleep now could interfere with his other plans that were occurring during the day.

Vlad sighed in resignation. He also needed to keep a clear and level head for whatever duration it would take to get the boy crushed to his will. But he really hadn't planned on Daniel lasting this long, either.

Nevertheless, the older hybrid decided to take a short mid-morning nap while keeping Daniel in delta sleep for a bit longer, since he was sure that it wouldn't have an impact on Daniel's being able to fully recuperate mentally. And once he had ordered his computer to wake him in a couple of hours, the man went up to his bedroom to sleep…

"Test subject still responding to protocol as expected, sir," the female voice reported through Vlad's intercom system.

At first, the computer heard no response.

She finally repeated a bit more loudly, "Sir? You programmed to have me wake you at this hour."

"Thank you, Maddie," Vlad groggily said. "Just keep Daniel in delta sleep for about an hour more and then I'll be ready to check Daniel's full status, alright? I really didn't realize how some of these plans are affecting me."

"As you command," the computer-generated voice calmly replied. "I will reset my program and put the next programs in queue just in case they are needed."

"Thank you, my dear," Vlad half-said as he drifted back to sleep.

"Sir?.."

"Sir?...Sir!"

Vlad bolted up in bed before his mind could catch up. He blinked his eyes as his mind finally cleared and he replied to his intercom, "Yes. Yes, Maddie, I'm awake. Thank you for your ever punctual alarm."

"Should I reset my program and allow you more time in repose?" Maddie asked.

"No, that will be alright, my dear. I'll be there after I freshen up."

There was a pause and Vlad smirked when he knew that what he had just said was not computing with Maddie. He added, "I will be there in about thirty minutes, Maddie. Be sure to do a full diagnostic on Daniel."

"I shall have everything in order by the time you return," she answered.

Vlad pushed the button to disconnect the intercom and headed right to his bathroom to freshen up.

"There are three points that should be of concern to you, sir," Maddie quickly reported as soon as the billionaire had entered the control room of the simulation room after having returned a few hours later than the man had first planned.

The man walked up to the side of his female hologram and he asked in anticipation, "And those would be…?"

"First of all, the creature within the containment device is becoming more active. But the containment device is still structurally sound and secure."

Vlad stepped over to the coffin-like container before glancing at its monitors.

Satisfied at their results, he then casually remarked, "Then there is nothing to be concerned about, Maddie. In fact, I hope I won't have to use him in the end, so this might not be a long-term concern, my dear."

The computer blinked in slight comprehension before she continued. "Secondly, should you need to continue what you have planned for your test subject, I need to inform you that activating a few programs all at once will be—I think you call it— 'tricky', sir."

"We've done it before, my dear, so I do not anticipate any difficulty with that," he coolly answered just as he walked over to an intercom and pushed a button on it.

"Good morning, sir," the voice on the other end cheerfully said.

Briefly glancing up at the clock, the man smirked and replied, "Yes, it is still morning—barely. So, good morning, George. I'll have what you normally serve for brunch."

"Derek will bring it to you in no time," George excitedly announced.

"Thank you, George," Vlad simply replied before disconnecting.

The man then turned back to Maddie and she literally picked up where she had ended before Vlad had ordered his late brunch.

"That is correct that we have coordinated two protocol programs at once, but those were simpler programs. These newest ones are much more complex to coordinate because of the multiple levels of power intensity. I am programmed to inform you to be aware of the some statistically probable glitches in the commanding program, which would be your Master Plan 285."

"Yes, Maddie," Vlad said with a smirk. He was glad that he had programmed his computer with multiple fail-proof checks. "I'm aware of that and have taken the necessary steps. That is why I want to be present during this stage because it is as you say 'tricky' and because I hope this will be the final phase needed to 'encourage' Daniel to quit being so infernally stubborn and give in! Not only that, I recently discovered more interesting properties about the special object I'm going to use in this program. I just want to make sure that they are true and what better way to do that than to test it right now?"

"Noted, sir. Then there is the third point of concern," she added.

"And that is…?" he begged the question.

"I have completed the full diagnostic of the monitors on the test subject per protocol, sir," she began.

"And what did you find, my dear?" Vlad casually asked since he had already noticed that the computer was still looking at all the gauges.

"Even though the test subject's stress hormones—cortisol and norepinephrine —levels are elevated, they are not significantly high enough to hypothesize what you would call a 'mental breakdown', sir; and that is because the level of his neurotransmitter known as GABA which, as you know, is also an indicator of mental breakdown—though falling a bit below the test subject's baseline and fluctuating—is for the most part stable. All three elements must be in the critical stage to indicate mental failure."

Vlad frowned. Just how could that be? When he left to go sleep a few hours of ago, the readings were all pointing to imminent mental breakdown. And all that extra rest he let the boy have wouldn't have affected his mental rest—only his physical rest. But just before he commented, Maddie continued.

"I have double-checked the findings, sir, and they are accurate. Though the test subject is in duress, for all intents and purposes, he is still mentally stable—though some preliminary subtests do show some indication that the levels monitoring his mental stability are changing."

Reflexively glancing at all the monitors, Vlad asked, "What do you mean, Maddie?"

The computer-generated image turned to him and replied, "Until there are outward symptoms to completely prove the hypothesis, I can only determine that even though the decline in the level of GABA is slow, the test subject's levels of acetylcholine and serotonin levels are significantly declining, which means that a sharp decline in the level of productive GABA is to be expected. This has a higher level of certainty when you have also not given the test subject the required nutrition to resupply his energy. That might explain these contradictory readings rather than support any kind of mental decline."

"But isn't it very possible that not regularly feeding the boy also increases his stress enough to affect these factors, Maddie?" the man countered.

"Yes, that is statistically possible; but it could also skew any of the other hypotheses we are analyzing about your test subject."

The man paused a moment before he replied, "Are you saying that you think I should feed Daniel?"

"That is your decision, sir," she began before adding, "But if you want clear data to be gathered for those other hypotheses, then the test subject must be given more sustenance."

Once again Vlad paused in thought. The hologram was right that he wanted to find out more about Daniel in addition to getting him under his control.

"Of course," Vlad finally concurred. "Though I'm still tempted to keep on this course of action, I see your point. You can feed him after this program, whether it does the job of breaking him or not. Though of course, I hope it does break him since I do look forward to seeing all those dominoes fall so magnificently!"

Maddie frowned and Vlad chuckled softly when he realized that went over the circuits in her head, "What I mean, then, is that we will do as you say. I was hoping that we would have Daniel at the 'pit of despair' after this last encounter! But we know that we have to still wait. So then, report anything else that you have found, my dear. For instance, what is Daniel's power level now?"

The computer answered him in order. "Whether dominoes fall or not or whether some 'pit of despair' is involved are just unsubstantiated opinions, sir. But the test subject's power level has not changed significantly, though there is some indication that it is increasing again."

"It is? Well, then, even a small increase is significant to me at this stage, Maddie. Make a mental note, er, I mean, record that in your data banks to notify me of any small changes in the key areas we are watching, understand?"

Maddie's face slightly twitched before she pointed to one of the monitors and replied, "Noted, sir. Therefore, I think it is important to share this piece of information with you that I obtained during the last program your test subject experienced."

Vlad walked up right to her side and looked the data over.

"This is better news, Maddie!" he said with excitement lacing his voice. "We're even closer to seeing why Daniel is gaining power much more quickly than I ever did and how he's doing that. Be sure to keep tabs on this!"

The hologram's face slightly twitched again just as she said once more, "Noted, sir."

There was a long pause before Derek came in with the billionaire's brunch and set it up for the master of the house.

Just before he sat down to eat, Vlad said, "Very well, then, we will have to proceed with the next phase of the plan, Maddie."

"Before we proceed with the next phase of the plan, sir, I am still programmed to warn you about any potential sabotage to Master Plan 285," she added.

"Sabotage?" Vlad slightly gasped before the computer rapidly continued without any regards to his reaction.

"Yes, sir. Even though there are two precise definitions, I refer to 'definition two' of the word in the Webster dictionary; namely: 'any undermining of a cause'."

"Yes, Maddie, I understand that. But how is proceeding with this next phase sabotaging Master Plan 285?" he asked, finally sitting down and checking to make sure he had a clear view of the simulation room before he removed the cover off of his food tray.

She turned slightly away from the monitors for a moment and answered, "Up to now, the ghost programs have physically taxed but not truly harmed your test subject. However, your plans from now on significantly increase the risk factor for the test subject. This particularly applies to any future ghost or ghost program you used from now on as well. There is a high probability you will damage your test subject physically—in the concrete sense—because that ghost's power level is significant."

The man replied, "Really, Maddie, why are you bringing this up? We have discussed this before we even began this plan. Each ghost program has to be as realistic as possible, and that includes matching their power levels; otherwise, even Daniel might get suspicious if a particular ghost wasn't fighting him with the correct degree of power. We both also know that the higher the power level of any ghost Daniel will engage from now on until he finally breaks is a risk to the boy."

"That is correct, sir," his female hologram agreed. "The programs have to be as realistic as possible. Your brilliant technique of fusing some ecto-DNA from each formerly captured ghost into the programs ensures that. But the risk for permanently harming your test subject increases as the power level of each ghost increases."

Vlad now paused in slight worry. Maddie would not persist in this line of reasoning unless it was important. After all, he had programmed his computer to analyze and help him keep track of all the details of his plan. She, of course, had a point, but he already knew the risks.

Just as he cut the ham steak on his plate, he finally replied, "I appreciate your input, my dear. You know I don't want to kill the boy. But I also don't think there will be any risk of permanent physical damage. That is why I left using the more powerful ghosts until later; especially when I was hoping that the attrition of the weaker ghosts would have worn Daniel down significantly enough by now for him to break. But since they have not, we have to move on."

"That is correct, sir. But I am still programmed to remark that the risk to your test subject from now on is significant and may also risk Master Plan 285," she continued. "This especially applies using the second of the two ghosts next in the queue."

Vlad smirked a bit and said, "Understood, my dear. But I made a deal with that next ghost and if he betrays me, he'll wish he hadn't."

"But that is my point, sir," Maddie persisted. "The more powerful ghost of the two ghosts you will be using in your next phase is one of the most untrustworthy ones. Remember what he did to you once."

Vlad paused in thought for a moment before he replied, "Point taken, Maddie. Just let me know of the first indication of real danger to Daniel and I'll call off the deal."

"Very well, sir," the computer simply said before adding, "Are you ready to begin the next phase, sir?"

Just as Vlad was taking his first bite of his brunch, he glanced out of the window in the control room. He could easily see that Daniel was still asleep on the cot.

Smirking as he chewed, he said, "Yes, my dear. Activate the next program…"

The computer generated image pushed a few command buttons and right after she did, the lights in the simulation room brightened a bit more…

Suddenly, a portal appeared and shortly afterward, two ghosts appeared right next to the still sleeping Ghost Boy. One of the ghosts was hovering over the other, smaller ghost who was sitting on the ground.

The smaller ghost was a girl who had long, flowing red hair and was clothed in a full-length red dress. She also had her face buried within her hands. And by the sound of it, it was obvious that the girl ghost was crying…

The weeping ghost then glanced briefly upward at the ghost looking down on her and said between her sobs, "But why must you do this?"

"You are not to question me, girl! I am five levels more powerful than you. I could easily destroy you!" the male ghost sneered.

The girl ghost gasped before sobbing even more, but now more in fear.

Clearly annoyed, the other ghost demanded, "Enough! I have a limited time to do this! And I need you to be ready."

"I can see why you want to do this horrid thing. But I do not wish it!" the ghost girl braved to counter.

"Silence! I will not tolerate your effrontery!" the other ghost countered back. Still, he needed to get this ghost girl to cooperate or else his plans would be in jeopardy.

With a firmer and sterner glare, the male ghost sneered, "I will not tell you again, girl! Control yourself!"

She looked up and still said through her tears, "I still do not understand how you expect me to do anything for you after you…you kidnapped me, scared me to within an inch of my afterlife and then demanded from me to do things for you all against my wishes!?"

The male ghost grabbed his face before pulling it and stretching it downward in frustration. He finally sighed, "Your role in this is almost over. And the quicker you do as I wish, the faster you will be in your own lair….However, if you delay me any longer, I will no longer just threaten you…I will annihilate you!"

The red-headed ghost girl's eyes widened in fear before they fell into submission. She did not want to do any of these awful things. But she was also ashamed to admit that she had not been brave enough to resist or refuse what he had demanded of her when he first caught her and even up to now.

Trying unsuccessfully to stay off the water pressure in her eyes, she finally barely mumbled her sudden tearful outburst, "As you wish!"

The male ghost smiled in satisfaction this time before he said, "Now that we have a clearer understanding of each other, did you get what I asked you to retrieve?"

The girl hesitated before she pulled out a familiar ghost artifact, and showed it to the evil ghost.

"Yes…I… stole it from its keeper, as you asked," she struggled to reply through her sobs before sadly glancing over to the sleeping Ghost Boy.

The other ghost grinned and lightly touched the ghostly artifact as he whispered, "Beautiful… This treasure here has more power than anyone can truly comprehend… It is a true euphoria to just have it here before me…

There was a brief pause as the evil specter admired the stolen item before the ghost girl dared to ask, "Why did you not get this yourself? I agree that you are much more powerful than me."

"That is very true, Matilda, but as you probably have learned by now, things are not at all as they are in fairy tales. Powerful ghosts such as I need minions to aid us from time-to-time since we cannot be bothered with mediocre tasks. So, imagine my delight when I heard about you and your abilities! You were perfect for my plans!"

"But you kidnapped me, so that does not make me your minion!" the girl ghost countered again.

The male ghost's face erupted into an angry frown, which startled the girl ghost and she started once more to wail again in fear and consternation. He tried to ignore how she was acting. And he certainly did not want to tell her the real reason why he had kidnapped her….and that was because the last time he had encountered the Ghost Boy, he had lost virtually all of his powers —and had not regained them yet. But that is precisely why he was here: he planned to get them all back —plus to take revenge on that arrogant young half-ghost! Sure, that meant that he currently had to deal with that even more arrogant older half-ghost and…restrain himself; but if that's what he had to do to put his plans in motion, so be it….But then again, there were…options.

"It does not matter what you think, Matilda!" the male ghost finally said before he loomed more threateningly over her.

Matilda gasped before she sniffled, "But you are not going to hurt Danny, are you?"

Though the more powerful ghost was ordered not to hurt the Ghost Boy, he didn't want this ghost girl not to think that he was not in full control of this situation. He then replied, "Hurt him? It depends on your definition of 'hurt'. I have been given a unique opportunity, which I do not plan to waste. To have the Ghost Boy literally handed to me so I can get what I want and need from him is something that will surely not cross my path in the future. But what I want is within his mind and if I tried the direct approach, he would undoubtedly be able to counter me right now. But you, my dear, are my trump card into getting the Ghost Boy under my power. I will not settle for anything less than defeating him!"

"What do you mean?" Matilda prodded. "I will not do anything to hurt Danny!"

"Whether he gets hurt or not will be up to him. Besides, I made no such promise to you, Matilda. Again, that is one of your fairy-tale wishes, which do not apply to me! But if it will comfort you, the Ghost Boy will not even be aware of what is happening to him and may not come to any harm. What I need from him is from another state."

Matilda frowned and asked, "I do not understand."

"And you need not understand. All I care is that the Ghost Boy will be ready for me."

"But you are not going to hurt him?" Matilda repeated, more insistent this time. "I will not be party to that!"

"Oh, but in the end, you have, Princess of Sleep! You have already been instrumental in getting the very object in your hand—the very tool I need to defeat the Ghost Boy. So, his loss to me or any harm to him is very much your doing as mine now!" the ghost clothed in black and purple sneered.

"No! You forced me to help you!" Matilda suddenly cried out as she pulled herself into the air and reflexively conjured up some of her turquoise misty ecto-energy in threat.

After all, the ghost girl would never have wanted to hurt the Ghost Boy because she was not one of Danny's enemies. In fact, they had become friends shortly after Matilda had interfered with Casper High's production of 'Sleeping Beauty'. She had at first conjured up fairy-tale like mischief, which had upset Danny. But after that trouble had in fact made Danny aware that he was more than friends with Sam and understood Matilda's true intentions, the Ghost Boy and the Sleeping Ghost had made their peace.

"Come now, child," the male ghost gently chided, even as he charged up a small ball of blue energy into his hands in equal threat. "Do you really think your powers can subdue me?"

Matilda shuddered in fear before she snuffed out her powers and let her chin fall to her chest in shame.

"That is more like it, Matilda. Now, I will be laying in wait until you prepare the Ghost Boy. And heed well, girl, not to fail me. If you do, I will know right away and I will immediately destroy you. Is that clear?"

Matilda shuddered in fright but then slowly nodded her head in understanding before falling back down to the ground and sobbing loudly once more.

"Very good, then," the male ghost said before he looked toward where the simulation room would be.

His eyes narrowed a bit, but he still nodded in signal to the older hybrid on the other side of the camouflaged room.

"Be ready," he hissed to Matilda before he disappeared from sight.

Matilda stared sadly down at the artifact in her hand and grasped it tightly. Though it was difficult to do since she was still upset, she still managed to concentrate on her task of using this object to change her sleeping powers enough to do her kidnapper's bidding.

She shuddered when a pinkish-purple aura projected out of the object within her grasp and quickly blanketed her. Nevertheless, she concentrated, and then mentally and sadly commanded, "Infi-Map….Make it possible for my evil captor to go to where he wishes, even if it is wrong to do so.

Once she had uttered her command, the fuchsia aura dissipated….

Suddenly, a pang of guilt gripped her core. She didn't want to help this evil ghost, but she was too fearful of losing her after-life! And even though she began to bawl once more, she turned around and waited for what she had to do next….

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Danny stirred and reflexively rubbed his eyes when he noticed how unfocused his vision was. But as his memory began to clear, he gasped and quickly inspected his chest. He was unharmed! Was what happened with Undergrowth just a horrible, realistic dream, then?

Or was it just another putrid trick the Observants were playing on him?

But then his thoughts were interrupted by something he had finally noticed. He momentarily stopped and blinked in confusion when he thought he heard the sound of someone softly weeping.

Danny blinked again but this time ignored the slight haze in front of them as he turned his head toward the sound.

Just then, the teen's ghost sense shot off just as he saw the ghost who was sitting on the ground not too far from him. He could tell it must be a ghost girl even when she was hunched over and had her back to him.

But then, the young hybrid frowned. Now that his vision had cleared a bit more—if he wanted to call it clear since it was still hazy—that ghost girl looked…familiar. There was only one ghost girl he knew who had a flowing red dress with long hair of the same color cascading down her back.

"Matilda?" he guessed, still groggy but also confused why she was not only here but why she was crying.

But the girl ghost did not answer.

"Matilda?" Danny repeated more anxiously before suddenly startling at his next thought: Was she here because he was supposed to fight her? She was not even close to being a match against him!

Now very worried, the boy pulled himself up and started toward her while hurriedly saying, "Matilda, you need to get out of here!"

He could see that the ghost girl had sat up more erect, and obviously had pulled her face out of her hands. But she had yet to turn around.

She finally but quietly said through a hitched sob, "Yes, I know."

Now more confused and worried even as he continued to approach her, Danny asked, "Then why are you here? And why are you crying?"

"Because of what he is forcing me to do!" she wailed, though she still kept her back to him.

Suddenly angry though still anxious, Danny was just about close enough to see the side of her face when he demanded, "What jerk would be forcing you to do anything?"

"I-I cannot tell you!" she cried through her sobs. "And I am very sorry, Danny! I never wanted to do this!"

Frowning in confusion just as he got close enough to gently touch her shoulder, he queried, "Do what?"

But just as he started to gently urge her to turn to face him, she suddenly twisted around and shot some of her shimmering turquoise mist at him, which quickly enveloped him! Only that, the mist wasn't normal; it was not truly turquoise…it was laced throughout with gleaming and undulating pinkish-purple threads.

Danny immediately succumbed to her powers and fell where he was.

Matilda's face scrunched up when she was seized in regret; and yielding to her tears, fell fully prostate.

But then, she was startled by a hideous laugh. She struggled to hitch in her sobs as she pulled herself up and looked toward the laughter.

The male ghost reappeared and Matilda's face skewed in anguish once more.

Ignoring her histrionics, the male ghost asked in demand, "Is he prepared? And he will not have any memory of seeing you?"

"Y-Yes," the Renaissance ghost girl stuttered through her crying, "D-Danny will not remember seeing me."

"Good. And one more thing, girl," the male said, his tone suddenly dressed in threat.

Matilda gasped at the evil she heard in the male ghost's voice but she still managed to squeak out, "Y-Yes?"

"Were you holding the Infi-Map as you used your powers on the Ghost Boy?"

"Y-Yes," she choked out again.

"And at the same time concentrated on how I wanted his state of his mind to be?"

Once more, since she really couldn't speak much because she was so upset, she hoarsely whispered, "Yes, he should be as you wish."

"Now, hand it over, Matilda," the male said more impatiently as he extinguished the energy in one of his hands and extended that hand to her.

Raising her head, Matilda fearfully asked, "I thought you said I could go. What else will you force me to do?"

"I already warned you not to question me. Now give me the Infi-Map!"

The red-headed ghost girl pulled out the Infi-Map once more and reluctantly gave it to him.

Once he had the object in his possession, the male ghost laughed as he thought, "If the silly girl only knew what power this precious object possessed, she would not be having to do my bidding. No matter. It is time for me to get what I want."

But he quickly frowned in irritation again and commanded, "Make sure that the Ghost Boy stays like this. Once again if you fail me, girl, I will know right away and I will come back to destroy you. Is that clearly understood?"

Matilda shuddered in fright but then slowly nodded her head in understanding.

"Good! And never doubt my superiority over you. I do plan things; unlike silly girls wasting their after-lives in daydreams, when there are real dreams waiting to harvest! So, now is the time!" the male ghost said just as he grasped the rolled up object more tightly, turned intangible, and slid right in between the closed eyes of Danny!"

"No, Nocturne!" Matilda screamed in dread before she collapsed onto the ground in the grips of her tears, terror, regret and helplessness….

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Danny softly groaned, and slowly became aware that he was coming to again. But he was still groggy and therefore barely comprehended that he was lying down…And then his memory came into some focus…

That's right. He had last been fighting Undergrowth—and lost. He groaned again, but this time in discouragement before he opened his eyes…At least, he thought he had opened them. But somehow, there seemed to be some kind of dark red film over his eyes, like someone had taken red plastic wrap and swaddled his eyes in it. Not only that, his head was still a little muddy. In fact, little did he know that his mind was supposed to be hazy enough for him to have forgotten that he had seen Matilda only moments before…

But then he noticed something very different. He was not lying on a hard surface. In fact, it was definitely soft and bouncy. But more than that, he was lying on something wet—and slimy!

The teen pulled himself up to a stand and looked down at his black-and-white costume. He immediately groaned when he could see that some of that slimy stuff was still clinging to him! Then he noticed that the soft ground on which he was standing was pinkish-grey in color and felt more like he was standing on gelatin or soft tofu.

"Yech! Another creepy place!" he muttered in complaint while trying to wipe the slime off of him.

When he failed in getting the stuff off, Danny then floated upward off of the surfaced, only to groan in chagrin again when strings of that icky stuff still stubbornly held onto him!

But when he looked down past the slime and to the ground, he could see that he had been standing on uneven ground. In fact, there were several furrows and crevices that seemed to litter the pinkish-grey ground. And there was something stranger. There was a net-like series of what looked like red pipes with smaller ones breaking away here-and-there before piercing the slimy ground. All those pipes seemed to be in competition with the undulations and crevices for covering the ground, only that the pipes were pulsating.

"Okay, now this is really gross!" Danny grumbled in disgust even as he still tried to pull away from the strings of slime still attached to him.

He floated even higher, hoping that the stretch would be enough to break the strings. But he had not gotten too far when he bumped into something solid just above him.

He twisted his head to face that new development. This 'sky' was dull white in color and interlaced with red streaks. And was definitely hard.

"I don't like this even more now!" the boy grumbled under his breath even as he still scanned around him some more. "Where am I? I sure know I would never have volunteered to go to any place like this!"

But then he jolted when he saw several flashes of white light suddenly appear. They looked like streaks of lightning—only that they were not in the air, but were skirting across the slimy ground not too far below him!

What was happening?

"Alright. I definitely don't like this," he said before looking back at the lightning and wondering what he should do—or what would happen next.

As if someone had 'read' that thought, Danny startled when he suddenly heard a hideous laugh just behind him. He violently twisted around and tried to search for the entity who 'owned' that laugh.

But there wasn't anyone there!

Trying not to panic in this very creepy place, Danny half-demanded, "Who's there?"

Suddenly, however, he felt himself being grabbed from behind.

"Hey!" the teen protested even as he instantly resisted the efforts of the unknown force to pull his arms behind him.

But Danny gasped when he could tell that whatever was holding him had turned him intangible and now was forcing him downward toward the pinkish-grey spongy 'ground'!

The Ghost Boy increased his efforts; but before he could break free, he was struck by one of the bolts of lightning that had suddenly moved across the ground.

That was enough of a blow to knock the fight out of him. He was now too dizzy to resist or notice that he and whatever had him under its control had already phased completely into the slimy spongy stuff.

However, by the time the boy had re-materialized, his mind had inexplicably cleared. And his eyes widened in disbelief as he scanned the area. Everything was so different in here…Somehow, this place was…familiar…

In fact, it looked a lot like the Far Frozen because it was covered in snow. But it also was not like any part of the Far Frozen he had even been to since it was completely flat and barren. Was this even a good thing? Nevertheless, his heart leapt a bit in hope; and he suddenly forgot about the red haze still shrouding his vision, why he was here, or how he had gotten here in such a strange way.

When he tried to finally move, Danny was surprised that he could move! He frowned. That was even stranger….wasn't he just grabbed by something and forced to come here? Then why was he now free?

All of the sudden, the young hybrid got a creepy feeling and he didn't want to be here. If he had somehow ended up in the Far Frozen, that might just mean that he would have to fight his friend Frostbite—and he didn't want to do that! Now Danny just wanted to get out of here.

Just as the boy lifted himself upward toward where he was sure he had come, however, he was suddenly blocked by several crisscrossing beams of blue ectoplasmic energy. Danny at once noticed that the beams quickly solidified into ice. Then even more beams crisscrossed all around him until he was now completely surrounded by a cage made of ice!

"What the—" Danny immediately cried before he powered up his green ectoplasmic energy, ready to destroy his makeshift prison.

But then, two more thick ice beams shot through two of the small openings of the cage and encased each of his lighted, fisted hands. In an instant, both of his hands were within one solid chunk of ice and his ectoplasmic energy had been snuffed out.

In shock for only a moment as he looked down at his frozen handcuffs, Danny quickly grew angry. He hadn't done anything wrong and now someone had captured him—again!

Then he was suddenly aware that he not only still had that red haze over his eyes, but that it had flared a deeper red momentarily with his anger. He quickly searched for his captors.

And then he spied them…

Several Ice Beasts of the Far Frozen Folk—which belonged to the race of spirits of the northernmost area of the Ghost Zone that was headed by Frostbite—were rapidly approaching him. And he could tell by what they were wearing that they were soldiers. Each of them was dressed identically. Each of their hairy upper bodies were bare except for blue metal arm bands that adorned their hairy upper arms and a large, loosely hanging dark yellow collar that hung around their shoulders. Long dark yellow loin cloths girded with a black belt and moccasin-like shoes that were also made of a dark yellow material were the only clothing they wore on the lower half of their body.

But Danny could also see that Frostbite was not among them.

Though he was still irritated and confused by their attack, Danny tersely addressed them once they were right next to his ice cage. "Uh, hello. Does Frostbite know about this?"

One of the soldiers stepped forward and Danny immediately recognized him by his purple cat-like pupils embedded within an otherwise yellow eyeballs and his long, pointed ice-antlers. It was Frostbite's second-in-command. Why did he and, more importantly, why did all the other Ice Beasts look so angry?

Now Danny was more nervous at their reaction and he replied, "Uh, you're Glacio (1), right? What's going on?"

Answering the boy's first question more angrily and rudely than Danny would have ever expected, Glacio growled, "That is correct, young half-ghost, it is I. And you know very well 'what is going on' as you say!"

Danny's face fell with displeasure. In fact, the Ice Beast's attitude suddenly enraged him! But then, the boy frowned with confusion and even worry at his next unexpected, goading thought, "Go ahead. Blast out of this cage and annihilate these fools. They do not know with whom they are dealing!"

Just where the heck did that thought come from? Danny felt his breathing increase with the awful realization. The only time he felt this… incensed…was when Razilo had killed his friend, Johnny 13! But why would he think that and why would he think that especially about any of his friends?

Danny instantly closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to rid himself of other like thoughts that were suddenly bombarding his mind. But when he opened his eyes again, that red haze over his vision was even thicker and redder.

And all of the soldiers tensed when they noticed that.

Nevertheless, Danny tried to ignore the red haze still clouding his vision and the way the Far Frozen soldiers reacted. Instead, since he wanted to defuse the situation, he chuckled a bit and said, "I know I haven't had the time to visit for a while, and I know that you Far Frozen Folk have a more unique sense of humor; but really, dudes, don't you think this is taking it way over the top in making sure that I stay to visit?"

But Glacio's face puckered in indignation as he seriously replied, "We are not here to welcome you, Danny Phantom. We are here to render punishment to you for your crimes!"

"Crimes? What crimes?" Danny suddenly protested. "I just told you guys that I haven't been here for a very long time and you have to know that, too!"

"That may be true, young one, but that does not mean that you were involved not in Frostbite's condition. In fact, your minion already told us that it was under your orders that she acted," Glacio gravely answered.

Danny's eyes flared redder for a moment just as he gasped, "I don't have any idea what you're talking about! I don't have any minions! Would you please tell me what's happening here? What's wrong with Frostbite?"

"You shall soon enough see, though your lie is not convincing," Glacio said, his yellow eyes flaring more in reply. The Ice Beast then turned to the others and almost growled, "Bring him!"

Danny gasped when he suddenly lost his balance and fell hard against one of the walls of his ice cage after it had been jerked forward. He then saw that his cage was being carried by ice beams that two of the Ice Beasts must have created to carry his cage.

Once he had regained his balance, however, Danny's eyes flared red in even more irritation over this whole scene. There had to be some sort of mistake.

"There is no mistake," a sudden foreign thought announced to his mind. "The Far Frozen Folk have turned against you! No ghost or spirit ever allies himself with any other ghost for long. That is their nature, as you can see this from how they're reacting to you! So, get out of this cage and destroy them!"

Danny shook his head, trying to rid himself of such an evil thought. "No!" he mentally countered himself, "I'll just find out what happened and clear this up. This all has just been some sort of misunderstanding, that's all!"

"NO!" the thought in his head insisted back.

Suddenly, Danny felt a bolt of pain shoot through his head and the red haze in front of his eyes grew thicker and glowed more fiercely. And he felt as if more of his resolve had been sapped away.

Nevertheless, the young hybrid shook his more muddled head even as he reflexively cradled his throbbing forehead right afterward.

His thoughts unexpected shifted again, "They know what you've done, you know. They will hurt you and you can't have that. You must break free and destroy them before they get you firmly within their clutches!"

Danny all of the sudden gasped when his mind shifted gears with another memory: the one when he was a prisoner of the Observants in the Realm Beyond Time…and Iluzisto!

Suddenly the boy began to panic when all of the stressful forces he had been fighting during this entire new affair brought about by the Observants— fatigue, anxiety, hunger, mental blows, the fear of losing his powers, and now the force of this newest, inexplicable temptation— came crashing together.

And then he felt so helpless that all he could do was listen to this latest temptation's attempt to woo his mind and heart.

"Yes, your memories are as delicious as your dreams. Give into your instincts. Destroy these beasts before they destroy you!"

And just as suddenly Danny's eyes fully glazed over and glowed brightly red. He was now unaware of the thoughts of the other ghost who had been able to overshadow him…

"Yes, Ghost Boy, you're just where I want you now," Nocturne thought to himself as he continued to steady his control over Danny's mind and dreams. "I want your dreams, for dreams indeed do give me power….And in the past, the dreams I allowed you and the other foolish creatures were happy so that you would not waken from fear or anxiety. That way, I would be able to harvest your dreams indefinitely…However, what you don't know is that dreaming nightmares will make me even stronger. But more than that, nightmares coming from you are even more powerful because you have more power than me! That is why I had to use that foolish girl ghost. Her powers will keep you asleep no matter if the dream you have is terrorizing!...Yet, since you're still very stubborn even as I try to control your dreams, I must insist that you dream what I want you to dream…."

Suddenly, one of Nocturne's tentacle-like feet drove itself right into the helpless boy's brain.

Nocturne barely stifled his delighted laugh when he felt the power of the boy's nightmare being sucked up into his ghostly body….

All of the sudden, however, Nocturne's eyes widened in shock mixed with excitement.

"What is this?" he quickly thought at the new sensation. "There is something here more powerful than dreams this boy possesses which I can harvest! I must find out more about this…But first, it is time to get the boy fully under my control…"

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"Sir, the monitors indicate a change in your test subject," Maddie the computer suddenly reported even as the current program was still running.

Vlad, who had been either watching in earnest at the sleeping boy twisting and turning in reaction to his dream or monitoring the instruments, half-muttered, "What? Did you say there's a change? But I just looked at the…"

The man stifled himself when he rechecked the monitors. They had significantly changed! And that had to have happened within the last couple of moments since he had last checked on them!

Displeased, the man frowned just as he said, "But these aren't the readings I want to see, Maddie! I had that Sleeping Ghost girl use her powers not just to place Daniel into REM (2) sleep but to keep him asleep so he could dream. But we needed Nocturne to guide Daniel's dreams as I had planned it in order to get Daniel to finally break down."

"But," the computer began, only to be cut off by Vlad.

"And this was the only way we could do this. We both knew that ghosts cannot overshadow a half-ghost—only another half-ghost can. That is why we had to use the Infi-Map! As you know, one of our references revealed that the ghostly map could do more than take you around the Ghost Zone! It has more power than I have yet to discover! And that is one of the reasons, I searched years for it, until, thanks to Daniel, I was finally able to discover its location."

The truth was that the Infi-Map had more power than even Vlad could comprehend. But the man had discovered enough about it to know it would be useful to him now. Yes, it could take you anywhere in the Ghost Zone, to any timeline, to any portal, and even show you your destiny, but under special circumstances the Inf-Map was said to be able to enhance a ghost's powers—but only if the intent was in line with what the Infi-Map actually did—which was to 'take you wherever you wanted to go'. And in this case, Vlad had wanted to have Nocturne be able to overshadow Daniel to control his dreams. In other words, take him into Daniel's mind.

Of course, Vlad had needed to make sure Daniel would not startle awake during his encounter with Nocturne. That was where that insignificant ghost girl came in. With the help of the Infi-Map, the ghost girl's powers were enhanced enough to keep Daniel in REM sleep and keep him from jolting awake.

The older hybrid had been very fortunate that he had learned of the sleeping ghost girl. In fact, when he had sought out Nocturne and discovered the ghost hadn't gained most of his powers back from his last fight with Daniel, he had almost foregone this whole thing. But that changed the moment he learned of this ghost girl and what she could do…

Suddenly realizing he had fallen into deep thought, Vlad shook his head, and quickly said, "The point is, Maddie, that I planned this down to the last detail! In fact, this has to be one of the more complex programs I have devised for my Master Plan! It cannot fail! I invested too many resources into this! Not to mention, as insignificant as….uh, what's the ghost girl's name again, Maddie?"

"Matilda, sir," she quickly answered.

"Oh. Yes. That's it," Vlad remarked with a slight nod. "As insignificant as Matilda is, it took Skulker great effort to track and capture her, and then have Nocturne subdue the girl into casting her sleeping spell with the help of the Infi-Map! And let's not forget the risk involved in stealing the Infi-Map! No, this has cost me too much! It must work!"

He sighed deeply when he realized he was getting too worked up. Rubbing his aching forehead, he continued in a calmer voice, "Forgive me, my dear. I just did not expect Daniel's sleep to waver between REM sleep and being in a coma again. Not only that, there's no change in his stress hormone levels or changes in any of the other levels that would indicate that he was in a range favorable to a mental breakdown."

"Shall I activate the 'abort' program for this ghost, then, sir?" the computer generated image asked as her finger hovered over a red button.

"No, let's wait a few more minutes to see if there will be any more favorable change. As I said, I have put too much effort into this particular program. I am still hopeful it will be successful."

"As you command, sir."

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Now under the total control of Nocturne, Danny's face suddenly darkened with the evil thought implanted within his brain. He knew what he had to do… His eyes were still bright red as he lifted up his hands, which were still in their ice cuffs, and concentrated.

Almost instantaneously, the boy reabsorbed the ice surrounding his wrists. And at about the same time he willed forth more of his ice and his green ectoplasmic energy while keeping both of his hands still clasped.

The combined beam was powerful enough to destroy the ice cage.

The Yeti ghosts immediately gasped at the sudden activity, especially when the boy had been rather docile during this entire time.

They turned to fire upon the escapee.

But Danny immediately twisted around and threw up a green ectoplasmic shield.

The Ice Beasts sneered in triumph. They knew that ectoplasmic shields were useless against their ice beams and would be easily destroyed since their ice powers were at their utmost here in their land.

However, just as the ice beams thrust from the Yetis slammed into the boy's green shield, Danny had morphed his shield into a blue ice one.

The Far Frozen soldiers gasped at that moment of transformation. It had been timed just right so that instead of destroying Danny's shield, all of the Ice Beasts' ice beams were absorbed into the boy's ice shield!

The new ice shield sparkled with the combined ice energy of all the Yeti's and Danny's ice powers…

Chuckling evilly, Danny rapidly shoved the shield forward, as if he were violently pushing the Yetis away, even if he was still some distance from them. At the last second once again, however, Danny transformed the shield back into green energy just at the point where he had shoved the shield the hardest, as if he were shaking off excess water off his hands. That sudden change effectively released and propelled the formally trapped ice beams right back at the Yetis, which ultimately froze them with their own ice energy.

With the boy's solid scarlet eyes still flaring with wickedness, Danny soared over to Glacio. He charged up a powerful orb of ice energy infused with green energy, ready to disintegrate the frozen and helpless Ice Beast who had dared to match power with him!

At the last moment, however, Danny frowned in indecision. His arms shook in uncertainty. Shuddering with the conflict before and within him, Danny reflexively turned away from the Ice Beast and lowered his arms.

Suddenly, another bolt of pain shot through Danny's mind as Nocturne thrust another of his tentacle-like feet into the boy's brain.

Danny's eyes flared as fire an instant before he refocused.

"No, I will save my revenge for Frostbite!" he told himself as he jolted himself up into the cold sky and away from Glacio and the other Yetis he had frozen.

For some reason once again, the teen knew where to go. He soared over as quickly as he could toward Frostbite's village. Once the boy spied Frostbite's abode, he dove straight down to it.

But before Danny could reach it, another group of other Yeti guards—which had been alerted to his presence—swarmed out of nowhere and set up a line of defense right in front of Frostbite's home.

Danny frowned in anger before he sneered in wicked delight just when he shot more of his energy toward his foes and easily encased them in a thick layer of ice.

His triumphant laugh was cold as he entered Frostbite's cave with dark intent.

The controlled boy instantly saw the leader of the Far Frozen, but Frostbite wasn't awake. In fact, Frostbite was in total slumber!

But at the sight of his friend, Danny's flaring eyes dulled quite a bit and an inkling of awareness of what he was about to do leaked out.

"No! Something's not right… This must be some kind of nightmare," the teen suddenly thought to himself. "I would never do anything to hurt Frostbite!"

Meanwhile, Nocturne, who had been busy and eagerly lapping up all the powerful energy produced by Danny's evil dream, suddenly noticed that the energy was not as rich at the moment. And when he turned to finally monitor the boy's dream, he frowned when he saw that the Ghost Boy must still be fighting him.

"Then it is time to take more root," the self-proclaimed King of Dreams decided just as he thrust two more of his tentacles into the teen's brain…

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Vlad's eyes widened when the alarms suddenly went off. He quickly glanced out of the simulation control room's window.

Though he could see that Daniel was still under the control of Matilda's sleeping spell, the boy was violently twisting and turning on the floor.

Meanwhile, Matilda, who had still been sitting nearby to Danny, had also noticed that the boy had dramatically increased in his writhing and she gasped in worry. And more than that, the boy was groaning and moaning. She could only surmise that her friend was trying to fight her sleeping spell—and that could be very dangerous since that would not happen unless she willed it! Not only that, she was now convinced that Nocturne had lied to her and he must be hurting Danny!

Fretfully, the ghost girl propelled herself upward just as she charged up her hands to reabsorb her sleeping powers.

But then Matilda heard some very loud speakers blare at her, "Don't you dare reverse your powers until I tell you, Matilda!"

The ghost girl immediately cowered under the authoritative and thunderous-sounding voice. Though she didn't recognize the voice—especially since they were enhanced by what sounded like loud horns blaring in the background— she was completely afraid of it. She immediately dropped to the ground before breaking down into a fitful of tears again…

Vlad then turned to the computer generated hologram and quickly demanded, "What is going on, Maddie?"

"Uncertain, sir," she calmly began just as she turned off the alarms, "But whatever is going on within the test subject's mind is definitely affecting him."

"That's good, isn't it, Maddie? After all, I want Daniel to break," Vlad replied with a twinge of sadistic hope in his voice.

"Depends on your definition of 'break', sir," she remarked. "All I can tell you is that all the monitors now indicate that your test subject is more than just 'breaking' as you call it… He is losing life energy."

"What? Do you mean he's dying?" Vlad gasped, now not at all happy with the news. "How is that possible?"

"Inconclusive data, sir; especially when our sensors cannot monitor his thoughts because of the special nature of the sleeping spell you allowed the ghost girl to cast upon your test subject. But I can hypothesize based on the falling readings of your test subject's vitals that the dubious ghost you sent to your test subject in this step of Master Plan 285MP is being…distrustful."

Vlad's eyes shot up again after re-reading the monitors. They did look…precarious…Should he do something about this? True, Daniel was very resilient; on the other hand, the boy had been under a tremendous amount of stress—all initiated by the man, of course. Not only had the boy been fighting ghosts almost non-stop in the last several days and nights without adequate rest in any sense of the word, but Daniel was also being deprived of adequate nourishment. All of these factors would undoubtedly be taking a toll on the boy at this point—really, just as the man wanted. Still, he hadn't ever planned to really risk the boy's life while doing that.

Nevertheless, Vlad hesitated….

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Though still within the clutches of Matilda's powerful sleeping spell, Danny grunted at the pain that had just jettison throughout his brain from Nocturne's thrusting more of his tentacles within him.

"What's wrong with me?" Danny moaned within the midst of his dream, instinctively trying to shake away the pain, the sense of helplessness that came with it, and that same red haze hanging over his eyes.

His efforts seem to do it and he relaxed a bit, only for him to tense again when he looked at Frostbite and blurted out, "And what's wrong with Frostbite?"

Ignoring his fuzzy head and vision, the young hybrid headed toward the sleeping Ice Beast.

"Frostbite?" Danny hesitantly queried when he had finally gotten to his large friend's side.

But the Leader of the Far Frozen didn't stir.

This time, Danny grabbed one of Frostbite's shoulders and violently shook him only because a simple nudge would not have had any effect on the large beast.

Frostbite finally stirred. He groggily opened his eyes.

But when he turned to look at the one who had roused him and saw that it was the Ghost Boy, his face dropped into a frown and his yellow eyes narrowed a bit as he almost growled, "Why have you come back, Danny Phantom? What more can you do to us? You have taken already that which is our most valuable possession."

"What are you talking about, Frostbite?" the boy asked in confusion and chagrin since he didn't like the way Frostbite was looking at him.

But Frostbite only sounded angrier as he firmly replied, "You know very well that it is the Infi-Map you have! You were here not one day ago and stole it from us! You do not know what you have done!"

"I-I didn't take the Infi-Map, Frostbite!" Danny stuttered in protest. "I-I would never steal it from you…and those two times I had it don't count as stealing, you know!...Uhm, I had planned to give it back soon after I had gotten them—and I did!"

Frostbite only sadly shook his head and rebutted, "No, have you still the Infi-Map, Danny Phantom. I can…sense it."

"I don't have it, honest!" Danny exclaimed defensively just as he was going to reach into his pockets and turn them out to prove to his friend that he did not have it.

But much to his chagrin, confusion and disbelief, when Danny did thrust his hands into his pants pockets and quickly emptied them, he found that his left hand was holding onto that very object!

Danny could barely choke out in shock, "W-What the…?"

But that was enough of a shock to give Nocturne the opportunity to thrust another of his tentacles into Danny's mind and therefore try to regain control over the boy.

Once more, Danny's face hitched before he groaned in pain while his mind clouded over at the same time. And just as if he had clicked to a previous scene on a DVD, his evil dream returned where he had left off…

Suddenly, the teen's eyes completely glossed over and flared a brighter red before a sudden thought caressed his mind. His face melded into wicked determination as he told himself, That's right. I have to destroy Frostbite!

The boy quickly shoved the Infi-Map back into his pants pocket before instantly charging up and aiming his fisted hands. Only that, the aura around them was no longer green... It was blood-thirsty red!

However, a moment later, as if Danny was once again vaguely aware of the internal struggle for control of his dreams—and ultimately his energy—the boy didn't fire upon his large friend. In fact, both of his hands shook even as the energy building in them swelled and as he continued to resist the urge to attack.

Oddly, though, Frostbite had not moved an inch, as if he hadn't even noticed what the boy was doing.

And in the very next instant, Danny, still struggling to expunge his thoughts to attack Frostbite and control his increasing energy, yelled only to himself, "This has to be some kind of nightmare! I can't shoot Frostbite! I don't want to shoot Frostbite!"

But then, he felt a wave of weakness and an unexpected darker thought pushed through.

"Yes, you do!" it insisted. "He's being a total jerk! He has never trusted you and the proof is that he accused you of stealing the Infi-Map!"

Suddenly, Danny's muddled mind agreed, "That's right…He deserves whatever I throw at him because not only did he accuse me of stealing the Infi-Map, but also said I lied about it!"

But then the boy countered himself in confusion, "But then, why did I have the Infi-Map in my pocket?"

His 'counter-thought' did not answer him this time, however. Instead, all of the sudden Danny yelled in more pain. He did not know that Nocturne had just thrust another of his octopus-like tentacles into his brain. Still, it was enough of a blow for Danny to feel even dizzier and weaker.

And it was then, that Danny realized that his control over his mind was slipping again. Now panicking, the boy sent out another sub-conscious cry for help….

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Almost three hours had passed when Jack finally returned. He gasped in slight panic when he entered Millie's bedroom and saw that everyone there was unconscious.

"Tucker! Sam!" he yelled as he approached the teens.

"What?" Tucker yelled to alertness while Sam began to moan and move.

However, since Tucker's mind hadn't quite cleared, he yelled again as soon as he saw what the man was holding.

Though Jack was relieved to see that at least Tucker was alright and Sam was stirring, he nevertheless and hurriedly said, "Sorry I scared you and took so long, son! But I had a hard time doing the final calibration for this! I need some of your PDA's magic!"

Just then, Sam groaned again and her eyes fluttered open. "W-What happened?" she groggily asked.

But then, when she saw where she was and why she was here, she gasped in dread and shot out of her chair—only to lose her balance again!

Tucker immediately grabbed her. "Easy, Sam. Don't worry. We're gonna find a way to help your grandmother and everyone else. So, will you please just keep still until you regain your strength?"

Sam nodded, and allowed Tucker to help her get back on her chair. She leaned forward and grasped her head in an effort to try to stop it from spinning. It only got a little bit better, but she still looked up at her male friend and smiled weakly.

However, just as the goth girl had been about to thank Tucker, the two teens were seized by a bolt of pain. They simultaneously clutched their foreheads and screamed in intense pain before they swooned where they were: Tucker fell senseless to the floor and Sam fell back against the back of her chair after fainting again.

Jack gasped in fear at this newest development. "This not good! They're still so weak! Maybe they need more food and water!"

He quickly laid the large instrument on the floor and reached for the boy. He easily picked up Tucker and placed him in a nearby chair. And knowing that both of the unconscious teens were safe enough for him to leave, he rushed downstairs to get some food and water for them all.

Little did he know, however, that even though Sam and Tucker were indeed weak, they had not fainted at that moment for lack of food and water…

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"Sir,…" Maddie began, only to be interrupted by Vlad.

"I know, Maddie," he said with a worried frown. Daniel must be in too much danger after all since all of the monitors were going off the scale again. "Nocturne must be overstepping his privileges and boundaries I laid out to him. I shouldn't have trusted him!"

For once, the man was at a loss on what to do. He was sure that Nocturne would not have betrayed him! But now that he did….

The man's thoughts were interrupted by the shrill of another alarm.

"Sir, the life force of your test subject is declining," she reported without emotion.

That was enough to get the man's mind to snap into overdrive. Indeed this program worked! And from what was happening, it had worked too well. But he had truly believed he had been meticulous enough to keep things tilted in his favor—not in the favor of that wretched Nocturne as it was now!

Vlad frowned and glanced at the boy still writhing on the floor. His eyes then drifted to the turquoise mist laced in pink energy still surrounding the boy.

At that moment, the man's eyebrows suddenly arched with an idea. He blurted out, "Maddie, is it possible that another ghost could overshadow Daniel right now?"

"Since your first hypothesis has been proven, then it is indeed more plausible that your second hypothesis could be correct, sir," Maddie agreed. "But it is also very possible that doing so could end the test subject's life immediately!"

Vlad bit his lower lip in hesitation. He had to be sure. But then his eyes brightened again at his next idea as he said, "Maddie, lower the ghost shield!"

She immediately pushed a button.

But before she could report that it was done, Vlad was suddenly bathed in a set of black ectoplasmic rings which instantly morphed him into Plasmius.

The older hybrid quickly transported into the simulation room. With a puff of pink smoke, he reappeared by Danny's side.

Ignoring the small gasp of fear and surprise from the nearby ghost girl, Vlad frowned with even more worry when he could see that Daniel was not only writhing and moaning with his internal struggle. The boy was also sweating profusely; and his normally white aura was flickering between its being white and a very dark red.

It didn't matter to Vlad what Nocturne was doing to the boy at the moment….He was determined to stop the Ghost of Dreams permanently.

Finally, he turned to the ghost girl, who was still looking in fear at this strange and even more powerful ghost that had appeared out of nowhere. She just now knew that she was in deeper danger.

Again ignoring the terror he saw in her face, Plasmius hurriedly demanded, "Will your spell over the boy allow me to overshadow him as well?"

"Y-Yes," Matilda stuttered in distress, though she did not know that she was about to confirm Vlad's hypothesis. "It-It is only because I held the Infi-Map while casting my spell that any ghost can now overshadow Danny. Otherwise, he has some strange ability to block being overshadowed."

Of course the older hybrid knew that ghosts couldn't overshadow half-ghosts. Moreover, he knew that only half-ghosts could overshadow both ghosts and other half-ghosts. In fact, because no ghost could overshadow half-ghosts, he had to use the girl's powers and the powers of the Infi-Map to let it be possible for Nocturne to overshadow Daniel.

However, because of those same combined powers, the man hadn't been certain until he had just been told by Matilda that her spell would not interfere with his ability to overshadow the boy. But, there was more he needed to know.

Making sure he sounded threatening, he growled to the girl, "Will I be affected by your powers when I overshadow the boy?"

"O-Only i-if I wish it!" she answered fearfully.

"Then do not wish it!" he emphatically said.

The girl trembled and gasped but nevertheless nodded her head in immediate agreement.

Vlad hurriedly added, "Now listen to me carefully, girl. Do not uncast your spell until you hear from me, understand?"

The girl nodded fearfully before daring to ask, "But you are not going to hurt Danny, are you? I fear that Nocturne is doing that right now."

Plasmius paused a moment. He completely agreed with the girl. In fact, he feared that the boy was dying! But he couldn't let the girl know that or else she might fall to pieces.

With his red eyes flashing for effect, he firmly replied, "Do not put yourself into any other dangerous situation by asking any more questions, Matilda! Just await my further command."

With ghost tears already streaming down her face, the girl replied. "As you wish."

She closed her eyes and concentrated. Just then, the turquoise mist laced with pinkish energy parted and cleared a path just large enough for Vlad. She buried her face into her hands immediately afterward.

Without another word, Plasmius turned intangible and plunged right into Danny's still writing body.

Danny's aura flared even more scarlet for a moment before it returned to a softer reddish glow. And his core temperature had risen by several degrees as well, which caused him to perspire even more.

If it had been any other circumstances, Vlad's overshadowing alone would have been enough to have awoken Danny. But since the boy was under Matilda's sleeping spell enhanced by the powers of the Infi-Map, the boy remained within the throes of his ultimate nightmare…

Vlad's vision cleared immediately once he had successfully overshadowed Danny within his dream. And the older hybrid gasped in alarm at what he next saw….

It was obvious that Daniel was being made to dream that he was in the Far Frozen….He could see Daniel in the near distance. And even though the boy was facing him, Daniel was actually looking at the ground….and Vlad could also clearly see what the boy was looking at…

Frostbite…only that the large Ice Beast was lying motionless on the ground and his body was smoldering!

But that's not what upset the older hybrid.

It was Daniel. The boy's eyes were actually so red they were actually shooting out flames….His hands were still aglow. But they weren't aglow with his usual light green ectoplasmic energy. They were blazing with dark green ectoplasmic energy with red electrical sparks crackling from them. Not only that, but his ghostly aura was no longer white…it was blood red.

But there was more….

Nocturne was behind the boy with his now thicker octopus-like tentacle feet wiggling violently.

And still yet, that was not what alarmed Plasmius…What had him in complete fear was how Nocturne's squirming tentacles had plunged so deeply into Daniel that they were jutting out through the boy's head and upper torso! Green energy was not only leaking out of Daniel and then being siphoned into Nocturne's tentacles, but green energy was also being sucked into Nocturne from the entire ground and surrounding atmosphere!

And Nocturne was growing in size by the second, which meant that at the rate he was going, the King of Dreams ghost's tentacles would be able to split the boy in half! And that would mean….

The older hybrid's own red energy now ablaze with his ire, Plasmius soared over to the two conjoined ghosts. As soon as he was near enough for the both of them to hear, he suddenly yelled in demand, "All right, Nocturne! When I allowed you this opportunity to defeat the boy, that did not include going to this extreme. Release him!"

"N-NO!" Nocturne stammered in defiance, as if he were in the midst of catching a breath while drinking —which, in effect, was what he was doing. After all, he was lapping in the effects of Danny's evil dream as well as basting in all of the extra powers he was getting. Plus, there was something even more powerful right for his taking…

"I-I want more…" he continued to pant out. "T-The power is…too delicious!"

Not a moment had passed when Nocturne began to glow more fiercely and grow even larger.

At the same time, Danny screamed in agony as his 'body' was being torn in two while his powers and life energy were being sucked away.

"I said release him, Nocturne, or else I will destroy you!" Plasmius seethed as he raised one of his glowing fists in threat.

Even in the midst of siphoning Danny's energy Nocturne was able to stutter out, "I-If you attack me now, you will kill the boy!...Y-You do not understand that he is more powerful than I had ever dreamed. And don't you know? He has even more that I want. Something special I had never known that he had! I will no longer need another ghost or object to get to anyone's dreams! Taking that special power will make me invincible!"

At this point, Vlad didn't care to listen to the ghost or to know that Nocturne had discovered Danny's telepathic powers when the boy had actually activated it during this nightmare and had caused his friends to faint. And this was the 'special power' that Nocturne had referred to that would make Nocturne invincible. All the older half-ghost cared about was getting Nocturne out of Daniel.

Once more, Vlad threatened the ghost as he drew closer. "I don't care what you want from the boy. What you're doing was not part of our bargain. And I think you're bluffing that you have complete control over the boy's life. So, this is your last warning, Nocturne. If you don't release the boy, I will completely destroy you!"

But all Nocturne did was laugh in triumph as he grew even larger in size. He closed his eyes and lifted his arms up in triumph as he concentrated in lapping up more of Danny's energy.

Danny screamed with even more pain as his life force bled out of him. If Nocturne's tentacles were not embedded in him, the boy would have fallen to the ground. As it was, Danny's entire body shook under the assault while his red, fiery eyes flared even brighter.

Vlad's eyes opened wider in panic when the ground beneath him began to tremble. Daniel's real body was being affected by this! And he really didn't know if Nocturne was bluffing about being so entrenched into Daniel that Vlad would kill the boy if he attacked the Ghost of Dreams. He couldn't chance that. But he also knew that if he did nothing, Nocturne would probably kill the boy with what he was doing anyways.

Seeing that Nocturne still had his eyes closed, Vlad thought of a desperate plan. And ironically, that plan could serve two purposes. He concentrated and formed a duplicate, which he quickly and quietly ordered to completely leave Daniel's body with its task.

Just as Vlad did that, Nocturne opened his eyes. They were wild with both hunger for more energy and with hatred for Plasmius. Feeling that he had finally retrieved all of his powers—and more—he suddenly yelled, "Sleepwalkers! Form!"

Several dozen of Nocturne's green goons with stitched eyes materialized around Vlad and grabbed a hold of him.

The older hybrid reacted immediately. He thrust a large burst of dark pink energy through several of the Sleepwalkers, which destroyed some and threw the rest back. But when Vlad shot holes right through the central cores of the next set of Nocturne's minions, the green goons filled them in and repaired themselves.

As even more Sleep Walkers formed, Nocturne heaved in glee, "You no longer have any more power here now that I control the Ghost Boy's every thought and dreams. So, I'll say good-bye and good riddance to you now, Plasmius!"

Plasmius frowned. He needed just a bit more time. But even as he had to begin retreating now that several Sleep Walkers were beginning to box him in, he defiantly yelled, "You'll regret you ever double-crossed me, Nocturne!"

The Ghost King of Dreams wickedly laughed at the older hybrid's ridiculous threat.

Nothing could stop him now.

Vlad was about to slam into more of the Sleepwalkers when his aura flared a bright pink momentarily. And knowing that his duplicate had finally returned from its task, Vlad knew that his time was up.

The older hybrid quickly yelled, "Daniel!"

Nocturne chuckled at the man's foolishness, "Didn't you hear me, Plasmius? I control him! He is aware of nothing! And he and all of his powers are mine!"

While actually shoving the Sleepwalkers aside so that he could get as near to the boy as he could, Vlad commanded loudly and forcefully, "Daniel! This is Vlad! Listen to me!"

Encouraged at seeing Daniel's eyes flare a bit in response, the man started to chuckle as if he were ridiculing the boy. "Daniel, you foolish little rat. Can't you see that not only does Nocturne have complete control over you, but that I put him up to all this? I finally have you! You can no longer resist me, so give up! It is time that you are by my side. Can't you see that you'll never win against me?"

At first, nothing happened and Vlad frowned while Nocturne began to laugh.

Suddenly, however, Danny shakily uttered, "V-Vlad? N-NO!"

Right afterward, the boy's embedded body began to shake and the red aura surrounding his body began to flicker violently. In a heartbeat, the boy's ghostly aura returned to white, only that it was shining so brightly that Vlad couldn't even see the outline of Daniel's body any longer.

That worried Vlad a bit, but he nevertheless continued to yell, "And you are now the son I've always wanted—powerful, yes. But also very, very evil! Worse than me. No, worse than your future evil self because you've killed your friend Frostbite!"

This time, Danny's eyes flared even more in response, only they had suddenly morphed from red to a vivid and solid green.

"NO!" Nocturne screamed in protest as he felt the younger hybrid resist him strongly enough that his tentacles were actually moving away and out from the boy without his permission—along with the retrieval of the energy he had stolen from the boy! And as Nocturne began to shrink against his will, he cried, "This is impossible!"

Vlad, however, smirked in triumph, even as he recognized the irony of it all. He had told Daniel mostly the truth on how he felt about the boy. He did want him at his side as his son. And not only had it jolted the boy to his senses, but it also proved to Vlad that Daniel had not yet mentally broken down yet.

But before the man could think about it any longer, total blackness suddenly blanketed the entire scene. And before Vlad and Nocturne knew it, they were being violently shoved out of the boy's mind with his defiant and piercing scream ringing in their ears.

"NO, NO, NO!" Danny screamed out loud at the top of his lungs before panting heavily about his emotional ordeal. His whole body was now drenched in perspiration, but Vlad's words had done the trick of jolting Danny awake and out of his nightmare.

Though essentially awake, Danny was not quite with it yet and didn't comprehend the sound of Matilda's scream of alarm that he had heard right after he had screamed himself awake. For one thing, Danny was still lying down because he was still very dazed by his energy's being drained by Nocturne and by the entire very intense—and real—nightmare.

Vlad took that opportunity to quickly replicate into four. All four Plasmiuses surrounded and grabbed Nocturne before the entire group transported into the simulation control room.

"Quick, Maddie, put Daniel into delta sleep!" Vlad commanded as soon as he appeared with his duplicates and Nocturne.

The hologram quickly activated the necessary switches and Danny's head fell to the floor before he had even started to recover from his ordeal.

His eyes burning red in anger and hatred, and with the same emotions ringing in his voice, the original Vlad seethed, "Now it's time for you to pay for your stupidity, Nocturne! I could destroy you right now, but that would be too good for you!"

With his three duplicates still firmly holding Nocturne secured, Vlad quickly punched in some coordinates into the mainframe. He then turned back to the other ghost and angrily continued, "I'm going to send you to a place where you will never escape. But more satisfying than that, the creatures there will tear at every one of your ectoplasmic fibers for what you did, fool. Not because I want them to, but because that is the very nature of them!"

Nocturne's eyes widened in dread at the realization. He was fairly certain to what the man was referring. But before he could object, Vlad had ordered his three duplicates still restraining Nocturne back to the simulation room.

Once the group had transported back and re-materialized, Matilda gasped in alarm once again.

But the four Plasmiuses ignored her as they increased their hold on Nocturne before all four drove several bolts of their pink electrical energy right into the ghost.

Nocturne's body shuddered violently and he screamed in pain with the attack.

Just afterward, a portal that Vlad had programmed a few moments ago opened. Vlad and his three clones didn't hesitate to throw the dazed Nocturne into the portal before it almost instantaneously closed.

However, a moment later, another portal opened up.

Vlad reabsorbed all of his duplicates before he walked over to the still trembling ghost girl, who had pulled herself over to Danny.

Now having gotten a hold of himself, Vlad sounded much calmer than he had moments ago with Nocturne as he said, "You have done well, girl. Once you released Daniel from your spell as my duplicate had commanded, I was able to startle him out of his dream. Or I should say, his nightmare."

Though he was not frowning anymore, the man wasn't exactly all smiles as he pointed to the swirling portal beside him and directed, "You may go now."

"W-Will D-Danny be all right?" she still managed to stutter.

"Like I said before, Matilda: that is not your concern. You may go," he replied, his voice suddenly sounding a bit more irritated as he pointed more firmly at the portal.

Matilda's eyes widened in more fear before she quickly darted into the portal that would bring her to her lair.

But as the portal was closing, Vlad could hear the ghost girl's loud wail of woe….

The older hybrid glanced briefly back at the boy still lying in sleep on the floor. Knowing that the boy wouldn't be able to respond at all, the man addressed him nevertheless, "This was not how I planned this part to end, Daniel. And I do wish you would give up!..." The older hybrid paused and then sighed, "Though, this time, I'm glad you didn't."

Without another word, the man teleported back into the simulation control room.

Once he saw the hologram of the love of his life ever vigilant at the controls, he quietly remarked, "You don't need to tell me that 'you told me so', Maddie, for me to know that I almost destroyed everything I worked for."

Turning slightly toward him, she replied without emotion, "I am not programmed to say 'I told you so', sir; but I can tell by your own biological readings that this will not become a habitual part of your future plans."

"No, I hope not, my dear. But I also hope that Daniel will finally yield so that I can spare him from any more risk to his actual life. We will have to plan some safeguards from keeping other ghosts from overstepping what I have allowed…."

He paused and added with slight discouragement, "Still, because Daniel is so obstinate, really, I may have to push the boy more, even when it could become more dangerous."

She calmly pointed out, "That is your decision, sir. I am merely programmed to remind you of those risks."

"Yes, my dear…so you are…."

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(1) 'Glacio' is Esperanto for: 'ice'.

(2) REM is Rapid Eye Movement, which is one of the signs that you're dreaming.

A/N: Well, gang, now you know who that mystery level 2 ghost was—you know, the one that had a question mark in the place of her name for such a long time? If you want to know more about her, feel free to read my story, "Sleepover Nightmare", okay? Heh-heh. Shameless, I know!

And, of course, I hope you had your hands up in the air in one of the plunges of this very long, wild ride! I purposely built in some slight incongruence in the nightmare scene, because, well, because it's a dream! And did you catch the first part after Nocturne overshadows Danny when Danny wakes up on that sponge, wet, slimy surface that Danny was actually standing on his brain? Heh-heh. Of course you did because y'all are very clever readers! And you're so clever, I bet your dying to tell me all about your thoughts about this chapter, right?! It would give me only fluffy dreams rather than nightmares! Heh-heh!

But before you review—and you know that you want to know—the Fantomos Ecto-Scale continues:

LEVEL ONE-289-level 1—Omegas—shapeless ghosts and brainless ones. Also known as Malfortas. Simple nuisances but very easily defeated.

LEVEL 2 GHOSTS—still nuisances, and still very easy to defeat, but require some alertness to defeat. They usually have more intellect (more or less) or have slightly higher powers than the Malfortas.

289-level 2-Iotas—Derek and Sarah—truephan's original characters from her story, TrueHeart

289-level 2-Theta—Dairy King.

- ******289-level 2-Eta—Matilda— truephan's original character from her story, Sleepover Nightmare

289-level 2-Zeta—Klemper (and friend Chilly-Billy)

289-level 2-Epsilons—Box Ghost and Box Lunch

289-level 2-Deltas—Norbert, Ruben and Willie, Vlad's three fez-wearing vulture cronies

289-level 2-Gamma–Cujo

289-level 2-Betas—Mutant Animals from the episode, Maternal Instincts

289- level 2-Alphas—All other ghost animals in the Ghost Zone

LEVEL THREE GHOSTS—easily defeated, but are a bit more aggressive, intelligent and/or conniving than ghosts of lower levels of power.

289-level 3-Zeta—Lunch Lady

289-level 3-Epsilon—Youngblood and his skeleton sidekick

289-level 3-Delta—Sydney Poindexter

289-level 3-Gammas—the Circus Gothica ghosts from 'Control Freaks': Lydia, Tom the dwarf, Elastica and Goliath (the strongman ghost)

289-level 3-Beta—Kitty

289-level 3-Alpha—Bullet

LEVEL FOUR GHOSTS—not too much power. Easily defeated, May be difficult only because of their own weapons or special abilities. If they had no weapons, would be moderately easy to defeat. Or they may have good powers, but aren't too bright.

289-level 4-Zeta—Amorpho

289-level 4-Epsilon—Razilo—truephan's OC from her story, TrueHeart

289-level 4-Delta—Johnny 13

289-level 4-Gamma—Ember McLain

289-level 4-Beta—Bertrand

289-level 4-Alpha—Wulf

LEVEL FIVE GHOSTS —Moderately easy to defeat. The ghosts have special abilities, and are more powerful than lower leveled ghosts, but their powers have major flaws and once those flaws are discovered, they can easily be defeated.

289-level 5-Gamma—Johnny 13's friend, Shadow

289-level 5-Beta—Technus

289-level 5-Alpha—Hotep-Ra

LEVEL SIX GHOSTS- Slightly difficult to defeat. These ghosts may be difficult only because of their own weapons or special abilities. If they had no weapons or special abilities, they would be moderately easy to defeat. Another indicator: they are made more powerful than ghosts of lower levels because of their higher intelligence and less obvious flaws.

289-level 6-Epsilon—Desiree

289-level 6-Delta—Danielle

289-level 6-Gamma—Ghost Writer

289-level 6-Beta —Walker

289-level 6-Alpha—Skulker

LEVEL SEVEN GHOSTS—Difficult to defeat. Would have been evenly matched with Danny at age 14. They usually have only one way of being defeated and can be defeated only after discovering that flaw. Also, Danny could only defeat them at age 14 after he picked up new skills to defeat them.

289-level 7-Epsilon—Undergrowth

289-level 7-Delta—Nocturne