Danny sat on the sofa watching TV, he was not focused on what was happening on the screen. His mom ran around the house collecting papers in huge amounts and it didn't worry Danny until she called him to the kitchen.
" What now...? " Danny thought and got up from the sofa. He walked into the kitchen seeing his mom holding a piece of paper, which got him thinking if it was from his school again.
" Hey mom... What's up? " Danny asked a bit worried. He saw his mom scramble through the letters until she found the right one proceeding to hand it to Danny. He received the paper and immediately his breath stopped in shock.
" No... This cant happen!" Danny thought. After seeing the logo on the edge of the paper he knew that going to his annual hospital checkup and as a ghost this time could not happen. They would probably see something was off with his vitals and blood would be green, he wouldn't be able to explain any of it to the doctors. His mom gave her son a confused look and Danny had to quickly come up with an excuse as to why he couldn't go to the hospital.
" I can't go to the checkup this year... I have a cold. " Danny protested in panic. His mom went over to him to feel his forehead and Danny used his ghost powers to regulate his body temperature to make it seem like he had a fever.
" Oh my Danny, you're burning up! " His mom exclaimed in shock. She quickly grabbed her phone and he heard her say to the person on the other end that the checkup had to be canceled.
" Phew... That was easy. " Danny thought. He remembered he now had to pretend to be sick so to exaggerate even more he regulated his temperature a bit higher and went to sit down. His mom came over to check on him again and she shrieked in mother panic after feeling his forehead again.
" Danny go straight to bed! We will have to book a new appointment later this week when you're better. " His mom said shooing him off to his room. Danny changed his clothes and crawled into bed while his mom tried to gather things to make him as comfortable as possible while he was " sick ".
" Mom I'm fine, you should go to work I'm fine on my own. " Danny complained. He pulled the blanket over his face so he wouldn't accidentally blow his cover and to his surprise, it worked because moments later his mom left his room.
" Well, that was simple enough. " Danny thought and pulled up his phone. He saw he had a missed call from Tucker so he decided to call back.
Phone dial -
" Danny, where the heck are you!? " Tucker questioned, seeming a bit annoyed. Danny didn't know quite why until he remembered he had agreed to go shopping with him and Sam about now.
" Sorry Tucker I'm kinda in a pickle at the moment. I had to have my annual hospital checkup today but I can't because you know... Ghost powers... I'm basically fake sick until my mom forgets about it. " Danny explained. He heard a noise of understanding from Tuckers end.
" Dude no worries then, just next time inform me beforehand and ill see you at school tomorrow. " Tucker said and ended the call. Danny shrugged and chilled on his phone for some time when suddenly his mom came into his room again and he had to fake being sick once more.
" Danny since your sick I know you cant get your checkup at the hospital but you know your uncle Vlad, he is very familiar with medicine and he owns a lab. I called him and asked if he could give you the checkup instead. "
Danny couldn't even comprehend the information, he just sat in his bed in shock until he snapped back to reality.
" YOU DID WHAT!? " Danny shrieked. His mom looked at him in confusion like she had done something wrong when Danny realized she thought this was a normal solution for her but for Danny, it would just be stepping into enemy territory.
" Mom I can't go to uncle Vlad either, I'm sick and then he will get sick too- " Danny explained desperately trying to avoid going there too.
" This isn't even a discussion, it's happening either way and your uncle is nice enough to help out. " His mom said. Danny sat in silence kind of accepting he probably couldn't avoid this so with that he just sighed and followed his mom downstairs. A few minutes later they were ready to leave. Danny sat down in the car and decided not to say anything for the whole car ride there.
Roadtrip -
" Look we're getting close, you can see Vlad's mansion from here! " His mom finally said and Danny saw the big house towering up the closer they got. He had been at Vlad's house plenty of times in his ghost form when he was forced to fight Plasmius, Vlads ghost form. Therefore Danny was worried his uncle would use this opportunity as an open invite for a fight to commence, which wouldn't be great because then his mom might get suspicious.
" Come on hop out! " His mom had apparently stopped the car when he was spaced out, so he got out and looked up at the building in front of them. His mom walked up to the front door while Danny slowly followed behind her.
[ knock knock ]
The two of them waited for a while when the door finally opened and there he stood... His uncle Vlad Masters.
" Maddie! I'm so grateful that you called. Let's see if I can be of any help to Danny boy here... " Vlad said. He welcomed them inside and Danny could see in a sadistic smile form on his uncle's face.
" Now let's grab a cup of tea before we start unless you're in a hurry? " Vlad asked but his mom shook her head and gladly followed Vlad into the kitchen where tea was already placed out on the table.
" You already knew she would accept... " Danny thought and followed them aswell. They sat down and the three of them got served tea, while Vlad seemed to get comfortable.
" So Maddie...You called for me to give Danny his checkup because he is too sick to go to the hospital? " Vlad asked. Danny thought the question was weird since his uncle already knew that information because that's the reason his mom called in the first place.
" Yes, apparently he got sick this morning and I can't bring a sick person to the hospital, it's against the rules. I thought since you know a lot about medicine and you own a lab you would be a great second option. " Maddie explained. Vlad smiled and leaned back in his chair.
" Well, I can't say I'm a doctor in particular but I've known Danny long enough to know I'm qualified enough to give him the checkup... " Vlad beamed. With that said his uncle stood up and got ready for them to go to the lab.
" Maddie would you mind staying here while I'm with Danny, you see my lab is very high-tech and not very big so I don't think it's a great idea for there to be three people in there...? " Vlad said. Danny knew he would try to dispose of his mom's company quickly and she seemed to understand. Vlad gestured a goodbye and started leaving towards a pair of stairs that apparently led down to his uncle's lab. Danny cautiously followed but before going down the stairs he turned around to see his mom get company from Vlad's butlers as a distraction, and to Danny's surprise he felt relieved now she wouldn't have to worry about him until he would come back.
"You're not actually sick, are you...? " Vlad questioned him when they entered the lab. He was quick to lock the lab doors totally forgetting they both had ghost powers, but Danny didn't remind him of that.
" I know you being sick is a lie to avoid the hospital but you still need that checkup... " Vlad informed. Danny walked around the edge of the room in case Vlad would do something but he seemed calm for now.
" Danny I'm not in the mood to fight you today so I'm just gonna do what your mom asked of me, can we have a truce today? " Vlad proposed.
" A truce? " Danny asked confused. Out of all the times they fought, Vlad wanted a truce this time...
" Yeah, I guess we could have a truce today... " Danny replied and finally went over to stand with his uncle. He saw how Vlad had changed his clothes from what he was wearing before to doctor robes. It made Danny wonder why he even had them laying around, it's not like he was a doctor for real.
" So... You feel comfortable enough to begin? " Vlad asked, gesturing for Danny to hop up on the gurney located in the room's center. Danny went over to it and hopped up, carefully watching as his uncle came over with a bunch of medical supplies.
"Let's just start with the easy stuff like checking your ears and stuff. " Vlad said, grabbing the scope that was on the tray next to him. Danny let Vlad check him over with the supplies because it seemed like he genuinely wasn't gonna try something.
" Alright everything looks good, now let's check your pulse. " Vlad continued. He went over to a cabinet at the end of the room to grab the stethoscope and came back to where Danny was sitting.
" Lift your shirt and breathe slowly in and out. " Vlad demanded. Danny did what he was told, flinching when the cold metal part latched onto his back. Vlad was quick to check his normal pulse but he didn't seem done with just that.
" Danny, can you go ghost so I can check your ghost pulse as well? " Vlad asked. Danny got annoyed and jumped off the gurney to transform into phantom form, then he let Vlad check his pulse again.
" Alright, now I'm not totally sure about this but have you gotten your ghost vaccines yet...? " Vlad asked. Danny looked at his uncle in hysterical confusion.
" THAT'S A THING!? " Danny questioned. He quickly sprinted off the gurney since now Vlad knew from his reaction that he hadn't gotten them. Danny didn't even know he had to get them, no one told him anything useful since he became a halfa.
" Danny I'm not blaming you for not knowing you had to get them, I'll just give you them now. " Vlad offered. Danny on the other hand was terrified of needles and since he became a ghost he had never thought ghost vaccines would exist, and that he would have to take them.
" Eh... I'm good actually. Don't trouble yourself to give me those. I'm a halfa so what could possibly happen to me without those vaccines? " Danny scoffed nervously. He was ready to get out of Vlad's lab in a jiffy.
" You could get ectoplasmic fever, ecto poisoning, and so many other phantom sicknesses. I promise it will only take a few minutes, wait here... " Vlad explained. Danny on the other hand wasn't gonna let Vlad have his way with him so as soon as his uncle turned around to retrieve the vaccines, he turned ghost again and flew into the lab's portal into the ghost zone.
" DANNY!? " Vlad spun around after hearing the boy whoosh through the portal, seeing he was gone.
Danny flew around for a while looking for places to hide but it was pretty useless. That's was until he stumbled upon Ember, chilling on what seemed like a floating lounge sofa.
" Oh hey halfa... " Ember acknowledged Danny as he approached the blue-haired ghost. Danny awkwardly flew down next to her in hopes she wouldn't get annoyed at him like always.
" What's up, you just chilling here or are you escaping someone... again? " Ember asked, not even looking up from what she was doing. Danny scoffed in response.
" Alright don't tell me then though whoever you're hiding from, don't expect you're getting my help. " Ember replied. She clearly clarified it enough by not acknowledging him when he sat down before so he wasn't surprised by this.
"I'll just chill here until I need to go back... " Danny said. He really hoped Vlad wouldn't care enough about the vaccines and just leave him alone.
Danny's mom had waited for some time now and she was starting to get a little bit worried. The butlers couldn't do anything to stop her when she decided she had to check up on what Vlad was doing with her son.
" Vlad?! " Maddie yelled as she went down the stairs towards the lab. She got jump scared when the doors flung open and Vlad quickly ran out to greet her.
" Maddie, why are you down...here? " Vlad questioned. Just seconds before he noticed Danny had escaped into the ghost zone so he had distracted Maddie in order for her not to suspect her son was gone.
" Maddie, I'm almost done with Danny but you see right now is not a great time to check up on him... We're kind of in the middle of something... " Vlad excused himself and shut the door. Maddie just stood there in surprise but accepted defeat and went back up to the living room.
" Oh, Danny... You wanna play a game do you... " Vlad mumbled under his breath. He turned around towards the portal, transformed into phantom form, and entered the ghost zone to go get Danny back. Not far into his journey, he stumbled upon the Skulker roaming around. Thinking their relationship with each other was stable enough, Vlad took the opportunity to ask for Skulker's help.
" Hey Skulker... You haven't seen the halfa around here, have you...? " Vlad asked slowly approaching the bigger ghost. Skulker turned around and greeted Vlad with an odd grin.
" Why are you wondering... " He asked, his interest growing bigger. Vlad thought about how he would convince the bigger ghost to help him when suddenly he reached his hand out.
" You want my help to capture him...? " Skulker questioned. Vlad nodded and they locked the deal in. Vlad had a plan and told Skulker everything he had to do. The bigger ghost was just happy to get another chance to capture Danny, so he agreed.
" The plan is simple really, take these and knock him out and bring him back to my lab. " Vlad said, handing Skulker tranq darts that he was supposed to knock the halfa out with.
" Well, this sounds easy enough... Now the question is where in the ghost zone he is... " Skulker asked himself, looking around where the two of them were floating around.
" He could be anywhere, I don't even know where to begin... " Skulker sighed and flew off. Now the mission was in action so Vlad flew back to the lab to wait for Skulker to come back with the halfa.
Skulker started by checking the nearby area but he didn't find anything so he continued. There were some other ghosts who passed by him and he decided to ask if they had seen the halfa, which they hadn't. Skulker looked around some more until he remembered he could fly off to his Ember and see if she knew something. He started flying toward Embers place when he felt a familiar presence near him that felt similar to the halfas.
" Ember you here? " Skulker flew around the corner finding his girlfriend in a couch chilling. On the couch with her, was also the halfa he was looking for. He knew in order to knock the halfa out he would have to get closer, so he had to get the halfa off the couch and out in the open parts of the ghost zone.
" Halfa...what are you doing here in the ghost zone? " Skulker casually asked, to not arouse suspicion. Danny turned his head and saw the bigger ghost floating above him.
" I'm avoiding someone. " Danny answered, still looking up at Skulker.
" Well... If you have nothing better to do than lay around here with my girlfriend, how about we take a float? " Skulker asked. Danny looked confused at first but then remembered the ghost zones slang word for " taking a walk " was replaced by " taking a float " because that's what ghosts did instead of walking.
" Yeah sure, we could take a float... " Danny said, getting up from the couch and flew over to where Skulker was. Before they left Skulker went over to kiss Ember on the cheek, as well as whisper the situation to her. Danny saw her shrug and after that, the two of them took off on their float.
" So Danny who are you avoiding...? " Skulker asked when they had gotten further away from Ember. Skulker was steering the two of them towards an open area in the ghost zone so he could knock the halfa out easily.
" Well, we humans need a checkup at the hospital every year... Only now I'm a half-ghost so I had to avoid going there. The only problem is my mom was stubborn enough to bring me to Vlad instead. Later he asked if I had taken my ghost vaccines yet, which in case you didn't know... I haven't because I didn't even know that was a thing here. " Danny explained. Skulker nodded slowly, understanding the basic situation.
" Then because I hadn't gotten my ghost vaccines, Vlad offered he could give me them instead and I'm kinda scared of needles so I flew into the ghost zone to avoid Vlad... " Danny continued. They flew for a few moments in silence until Skulker thought they had gotten to a perfect open spot in the ghost zone for him to knock the halfa out.
" Well Danny... The ghost vaccines are there for your own safety within the ghost zone, you know you need them. " Skulker explained. He slowly started loading up the tranq darts while still distracting Danny with information.
" Yeah I know I might need them but I'm only a halfa so it won't affect me because I still have my human side with me. " Danny scoffed, closing his eyes for a split moment. Without warning, he felt a sharp pain in the side of his arm and he screamed out of pure shock.
" Ow! What the hell was that-?! " Danny exclaimed quickly pulling the tranq dart off of his arm. He looked at it for a moment and then looked at Skulker, who was still aiming at the halfa.
" Why did you shoot this at me?! " Danny snapped. Skulker flew closer to Danny and the bigger ghost could already start to see the tranquilizer affect the halfa.
" Did Vlad tell you to do this...? " Danny questioned. Skulker nodded and grabbed the used tranq dart from Danny's hand. He proceeded to incinerate it to dust because that was the easiest way to get rid of it. Skulker watched as the halfas body started going limper, but he was still fighting to stay awake.
" Honestly halfa, you can't blame me for doing my job here... let's just hope it was worth it... " Skulker mumbled and cradled Dannys now limp body in his arms. Danny was still half-awake but he was dosing off into sleep quickly, so by the time Skulker reached Vlad's portal the halfa was out completely. Skulker flew through the portal and was once again greeted by Vlad but now he'd change back to his human form.
" Heres the halfa... Now, what do I get from this...? " Skulker asked, flying over to place Danny down on the gurney in the center of the room.
" Well... You could stay and watch the boy suffer the consequences of his actions... " Vlad offered. Skulker thought the offer wasn't half bad, so he flew over to the nearest chair and sat down to watch his hard work pay off.
" Now let's wake you up Danny boy... " Vlad chirped, walking over to the cabinet once again. He grabbed a syringe filled with some weird yellow liquid and came back to where Danny was lying unconscious.
" Before we wake you up, let's make sure you can't escape again...Shall we? " Vlad asked. He turned around and pointed behind where Skulker was sitting.
" I have ghost-proof restraints in there...Could you grab them? " Vlad asked in defeat. Skulker got up and grabbed the restraints and threw them over to Vlad. He proceeded to restrain Danny, then he injected the halfa with the yellow liquid so he would wake up. Moments went by and there was no reaction from the boy, but soon after they could hear strained grunts coming from the halfa.
" Where... Am I...? " Danny asked, still super groggy from the tranquilizer. He opened his eyes and saw two figures standing above him, assuming one of those figures was Vlad.
" You drugged me... " Danny stirred, slowly waking up more and more. He soon got aware he was back in the lab, and that he was restrained to a gurney.
" These are ghosts proof so go ahead and escape again... " Vlad explained, grabbing a small flashlight. He grabbed Danny's face and shone the light in each of his eyes to check his pupils concluding he was fine.
" Let me go! " Danny pulled his face away from Vlad's grip and started struggling against the straps that had him bound to the gurney. He struggled for a couple of seconds when he finally realized he could not get out of those restraints either ghost or human form, which only made him panic even more.
" Danny... Let's try this again. " Vlad mumbled in annoyance. He started preparing the vaccines while Danny kept struggling. Skulker just sat in silence watching and was ready to help if needed. Vlad went back to Danny again, this time with three syringes full of glowing green fluids.
" Before I give you this I need to take some of your blood, and I'm taking some extra for my own benefit since you can't do anything about it. " Vlad explained. He placed the three injections down on the tray and went to grab a few vials to collect the blood in.
" Now don't move around or it will hurt more. " Vlad said. He pulled Danny's sleeve up and disinfected his inner elbow with a soaked cloth.
" DON'T YOU DARE STICK THAT IN ME! " Danny whined. He'd been still up till the moment Vlad put the needle close to his elbow, that's when he started wiggling his arm as much as possible.
" Danny didn't I just tell you to keep your arm still- " Vlad backed up and looked at Skulker for assistance. Skulker sighed and went over to hold onto Danny's arm so he couldn't wiggle it even through the restraints. Vlad poked around Danny's inner elbow for a few seconds then found a good blood vessel, inserting the needle. Danny cried out in pain but Vlad ignored it and started filling the vials one after another. When he was done he put a small band-aid on the prick wound and went to put the blood vials in a mini-fridge for the time being.
" There we go, now when that's done I can give you the ghost vaccines. " Vlad said, picking up one of the syringes on the tray.
" There's three of them?! " Danny shrieked as he just turned his head to see the tray next to Vlad. He wasn't able to move his arm so he did the second best thing he thought of... his Ghost wail. Danny turned ghost quickly and started amping up his wail causing Vlad to drop the syringe he was holding. It fell onto the floor causing it to break and the contents splattered across the floor.
" DANNY!" Vlad yelled at him in anger. Skulker quickly placed his hand on Danny's mouth to shut him up, whilst Vlad turned ghost forcefully transforming Danny back to his human form, which hurts very much. Vlad heard a muffled scream come from the boy as he forcefully made him transform back but he was too annoyed to care.
"Let's try this again... " Vlad said. He tried to stay calm but Danny had caused so much trouble for him the past two hours, he started enjoying making Danny suffer for it. Vlad went over to grab a replacement for the destroyed vaccine, also grabbing something to cover Danny's mouth with so Skulker didn't have to stand there.
" Move your hand. " Vlad said, quickly replacing the cover on Danny's mouth with a piece of ghost-proof cloth. Now that Danny was fully not able to move or emit any sound Vlad picked up the first syringe and was ready to give the halfa the vaccines. Vlad was quick to give Danny the vaccines and as Vlad suspected Danny screamed out in pain after each one.
" There we go... Were finally done Danny boy... " Vlad sighed and backed off from the boy. Vlad saw how angry Danny was and decided now was not a good time to let him free from the restraints.
" I'm not opening these until you calm down. " Vlad said and went to sit down next to Skulker. He waited for a few minutes and then went back to if Danny was calm enough for Vlad to let him off the gurney.
" Okay I'm taking these off, you do any funny business you're getting forced back on the gurney. " Vlad explained and started undoing the restraints holding Danny restrained. As soon as he was free he slowly got off the gurney, feeling a bit dizzy when he let go of the side of the railing. Danny stayed quiet and followed Vlad back to meet with his mom. Vlad had told Danny to be quiet about what had happened in the lab and Danny understood that his mom would never believe him even if he did tell her.
" Danny! I've waited three hours... I started to get worried for you. " Maddie said, getting up from the sofa to hug her son.
" Sorry... There was a slight problem that occurred that's why it took a bit longer... " Vlad explained. Maddie gave him a suspicious glare but ignored it because they were finally done, there wasn't any point in being annoyed at him.
" Well, now we can finally go home so you can rest up. Hope you get better so you can go to school tomorrow! " Vlad beamed. Danny slowly nodded, giving his uncle a last glare before he left. Maddie thanked Vlad for the help whilst he offered to help out again and his mom only saw it as a free-of-charge opportunity and accepted. Danny on the other hand just sighed, knowing he would have to come back here every year from now on.
" Ok let's leave now! " His mom said and Danny followed her out to the car. The drive home was weird because his mom asked him what happened in the lab but Danny couldn't answer so he cooked up a story based on lies, and his mom believed it all.
" Well I'm glad I won't have to go back there until next year again... " Danny thought, closing his eyes for the rest of the car ride home.
A few weeks later -
Danny sat in his room doing homework with Sam and Tucker. They had a really nice vibe going on until suddenly his mom burst into his room waving a letter around.
" What's this...? " Danny asked, grabbing the letter. His mom also handed him a small wrapped box with the letter and then she left. Danny pushed his textbooks aside and placed the box down. Sam and Tucker went to sit down next to Danny, to see what he had received. Danny opened the letter and read it quietly out to his friends.
" Danny,
A few weeks ago your mom asked me to give you a checkup and I'm glad I could be of help. I sent your mother a date for next time which is not so far away. In the box I have given you medicine to take twice a day until we meet again, and don't worry it's nothing bad. The medicine you got is to strengthen the contents of the vaccines you got. I will be able to see if you have not taken the medicine so be wiser this time and do what your told, so we don't have a repeat of last time.
From your uncle, Vlad "
Danny read out. He grabbed the box and tore the paper off, revealing a bottle filled with liquid. Danny opened the lid and smelled the contents causing him to gag at the awful smell.
" There's no way I'm taking this- " Danny protested, putting the lid back on and placing the bottle down. He noticed both Sam and Tucker giving him concerned looks but he decided to ignore them, getting up from the floor to throw the bottle away.
" Danny I don't think you should do that- " Sam carefully said. Danny waved her off and went downstairs to the kitchen where his mom was. Sam and Tucker followed him and the three of them saw his mom prepare cookies.
" Danny, so nice of you to bring Sam and Tucker here! " His mom exclaimed, handing them all a cookie each.
" By the way, Vlad called me earlier telling me you had received some medicine? " His mom questioned clearly wanting an answer. Danny froze halfway eating his cookie and just looked at his mom in shock.
" Damn it! " Danny thought and dragged Sam and Tucker back to his room. He picked the bottle up from the trash and looked at it again.
" I can't avoid it now that my mom knows I have to take it every day. She'll be watching me like a hawk... " Danny sighed, knowing he was doomed.
" Well it cant get any worse than this... " Danny thought, placing the medicine bottle on the table next to his bed. The three of them sat down and continued to study and Danny forgot about his problems for the time being, just happy that Vlad at least kind of cared enough to inform him of things like this.
THE END