A/N: Happy update everyone! This is the mid-season finale! You can love me or hate me, but the chapter is pretty dern good either way.

Want to give a huge shoutout to everyone who has reviewed/followed/favorited this story, and for sticking with me for this long. Since this is the mid-season finale, you guys must really like this story to still be supporting me. Props to you guys, you're the best. And you have great taste, of course, because you like Gravity Falls and Danny Phantom (and me).

Much too kind.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Undisclosed Summer

Danny got over to the Mystery Shack as fast as he could fly. Although, because he hadn't morphed in a few days, his powers began to grow less stable as the seconds passed by. His posture started to tremble, and he waved his arms to the sides suddenly to try and steady himself.

Since he was too focused on maintaining his flight, he looked forward just in time to notice the top of a tree. Face first into the pine needles, he slowly floated down the base of the tree until he hit the grass floor of the forest. He blinked a few times and shook his head gently, trying to quickly get ahold of his double vision that he had gotten as a result from his crash.

"I have to go – got to go," he muttered, slowly placing one knee on the ground before pushing himself off with his other foot. His double vision was starting to get back to normal – albeit at a relatively small rate.

The Mystery Shack was in his sight, and he couldn't help but run a little faster. Knowing that the twins could be in danger at this given moment fueled his ambition to keep going. He morphed into Fenton and quickly opened up the door to the shack without knocking.

Mabel and Dipper were arguing in the gift shop on who was taller than the other.

Letting out a relieved sigh, he leaned against the doorframe and ran a hand through his hair. It was a false alarm – Vlad didn't do anything to them. Then why was it that he had warned the teen to begin with?

"Danny, who's taller?" Mabel asked, pointing between herself and her brother with her pointer finger, "Obviously it's me, right?" She asked, before placing her hands on her waist dramatically. "Look at how much taller I am than him!"

Trying to gain control of his breathing from running up the steep hill to get to the Mystery Shack, he took in a deep breath. "Uh…Have you tried measuring?" He asked, and Dipper placed his fist in his open palm as if he had solved something magnificent.

"That's what I was saying before you went on a tangent!" Dipper mildly complained at his sister before shaking his head. "Time to settle this the old fashioned way!" He boasted, heading into the kitchen. Mabel frowned at his confidence before she followed him – eager to learn about the results herself.

Wendy glanced over at Danny with a raised eyebrow, "You look like crap," she stated, and Danny couldn't help but drag his feet behind him as he walked over to the check-out counter. He barely had enough energy to stand, let alone walk.

"I feel like crap," he muttered, shaking his head and running his hand through his hair again. His nerves were out of control. He was still having a hard time to deal with the fact that this entire summer vacation was an elaborate scheme of Vlad's.

He did have his suspicions at first, but it was about as basic as Vlad trying to kill his dad.

His eyes went wide when he realized that while Vlad was saying everything that he had planned – he never once brought up the topic of killing his dad. It was strange and unusual for the older halfa to not bring it up.

Everything that he had said was about ruining his life and that was it.

His heart started to sink…killing his father wasn't at the top of Vlad's list at the moment. No, this summer he wanted Danny to submit and become his son. That was the focus, and that was the end goal. Danny didn't expect this – it wasn't normal. Vlad wasn't even trying to go after his mom this time – and that was a new first for him.

"Crap…" Danny trailed, and Wendy pursed her lips in concern.

"You already said that, man, you must really be down in the dumps," she pointed out, leaning on the counter with her elbows lazily.

The young halfa looked over at the red head and nodded numbly. And all this time the teen thought that he could still win. That he could somehow come out on top and beat Vlad like he usually did. He would seriously need to talk to Dipper sometime today about following through with that note he had wrote about a week ago.

"Is that why you haven't been around lately?" Wendy asked, nonchalantly, flipping through a magazine that was positioned on the counter. "You missed like, the fight between Dipper and Robbie. It was pretty intense, I heard the water tower fell down," she stated, looking up at the ceiling for a brief moment. "Oh, and I guess the kids went through time," she added as an afterthought before looking back down at her magazine and flipping another page carelessly.

"Wait, what?" Danny asked, realizing what she had said. She glanced up from her magazine and stared up at his face with a raised eyebrow. Curious as to what she had said that had caught his attention. Weird stuff happens in Gravity Falls all the time, that shouldn't have surprised him. "You noticed I was gone?"

Wendy blinked and then went silent for a few seconds, "Danny, I know that we don't talk that often, but I know when you don't show up. I work here. But now that you mention it, I was the only one who noticed that you were gone…" She trailed, and Danny narrowed his eyes as he looked over at the jar of eyeballs on the counter.

Vlad had seemed pretty sure that no one knew that he was gone. It wasn't like the man to bluff and lie about something that could hurt him. Maybe there was something different about Wendy? Maybe she could see things that no one else could?

"So where were you? Chilling at home?" Wendy pressed before looking away from Danny and back to her magazine. She flipped another page and it landed on some popular boy band with blonde hair. "That's what I would do if I were you."

"Kind of forced to, yeah," Danny commented, and that's when Dipper stormed out of the room with a flashlight and a piece of string. He also had his journal underneath his arm with a determined look on his face. This kid was on a mission, and nothing was going to stop him from completing it.

Dipper opened up the door, ignoring Danny and heading straight into the woods. Wendy glanced up from her magazine before shaking her head and going back to reading. "Anyway, I'll see you around," Danny said before following after Dipper quickly.

Wendy nodded absently, barely hearing what the younger halfa had said.

"Now I am taller than her," Dipper said just as Danny caught up to him. Dipper turned around with a sly grin on his face as he lowered the flashlight that now had a crystal bounded to it. "Oh, hey, Danny!" He greeted, "Great weather up here, huh?"

"Dipper, we have a problem," Danny started to say but was interrupted when Mabel ran over to them.

Dipper grinned over at her with a smirk, "Look who's the taller twin now!" He boasted, and Mabel raised an accusatory finger at him with a scowl.

"I'm the taller one! It's my birthright!" Mable argued, jumping Dipper, accidentally activating the flashlight. It illuminated a purple color, and its aim was directed at Danny.

Once it hit him, he quickly became four inches tall in a flash. Looking down at himself he let out a grumble, "I already did this once!" He complained, remembering the time he became small with Dash. And his constant whining of how Dash 'didn't do tiny'. Not like the shortage of his powers was helping the situation. He was glad when he became his normal size again.

His eyes went wide, "Oh don't tell me," he whispered, holding out his hand to try and summon and ecto-blast. His hand fizzled out a green spark before it quickly died. "Change me back!" He yelled, panic in his tone. He was unheard by the twins who began to break out into a sibling argument.

"Great, you made Danny small!"

"I didn't do it, you big bozo, that was you!"

"Oh, so you acknowledge that I'm the taller one. Good to know."

"Give me the magical flashlight, Dipper!"

"Why don't you come over here and get it, Smable!"

If Vlad was going to pull something with the kids, then Danny wouldn't be able to help them. Not when he was a few inches tall and had no ghost powers. Mabel and Dipper kept arguing over the flashlight before playing tug of war with it. The teen face palmed and could only watch their sibling rivalry from all the way down on the ground.

It flung out of their hands and landed on the ground, but not before hitting the white haired child that might as well have been called Vlad Jr. himself; Gideon.

"Oh, my heart and stars, what is this?" Gideon asked, picking up the flashlight before inspecting it.

"Maybe he doesn't know it's a magical flashlight that can change the sizes of people with the push of a button?" Mabel 'whispered' but was just blatantly telling Gideon how it worked. Dipper looked over at Mabel dryly, and she gave a nervous shrug.

Gideon let out a chuckle before turning on the button. The purple light swallowed the twins, and in an instant, they were the same size of Danny and standing next to him. The teen nodded his head, "Of course it would happen like this…" He trailed before pushing the twins behind him protectively.

"Oh, that's precious, you're going to try and stop me from capturing them?" Gideon asked, and Danny placed a hand out from instinct and habit of shooting anything that threatens him – other than Dash, but quickly lowered it with wide eyes.

When nothing came out of his hand, he knew that no matter how hard he tried to use his powers…he couldn't.

He was absolutely powerless.

Gideon reached down and grabbed all three of them before placing them in a jar that he was carrying. Danny landed on the ground first before looking up to notice the twins following towards him. He braced for impact and was pushed towards the bottom of the glass. That was going to leave a bruise in the morning that he couldn't heal.

Danny was watching his white haired warden intently. He was standing against the side of a jar with his arms crossed. Mabel and Dipper were kept in a strange makeshift town of Gravity Falls that signified that Gideon had too much time on his hands.

The doorbell rang, and Gideon let out a dark chuckle, "And that would be my important guest!" He sang out before glancing at Danny as he left the room. The child left the door open, and the teen knew that if he could use his powers then he would be able to get out of his prison.

"Alright, guys, I'm not mad that we're in this situation…" Danny trailed before looking over at the siblings with a stern gaze, "Just disappointed."

"I knew he would say that…" Mabel muttered, feeling bad that she had contributed to their present predicament, "I knew he would…" she trailed, kicking at the fake ground that made up a scale model of Gravity Falls.

Dipper cleared his throat, "What do we do?" He asked, looking over at Danny for any plans.

Danny shrugged his shoulders, "I can't do anything," he said as he raised his hand up to the glass jar that served as a prison. Green smoke once again fizzled in his hand before disappearing. Dipper nodded and looked at the ground in thought.

Gideon was smart to place Danny away from the siblings. Having already had experience in the 'micro managing' department, it would be easy to use the objects in the room to make their way onto the ground and out through the open door.

But the lid on the jar was closed, and the jar was placed in the middle of a desk.

Even if he were to push it toward the edge, he would be too exhausted from using all of his physical labor to run.

"Thank you for informing me," Vlad said as he entered the room. "You are proving to be a most promising asset," he praised before looking directly over at Danny from across the room.

The teen felt as if he could roll his eyes from how extreme his situation had become if he wasn't nervous beyond belief. He didn't want to think about how it could get any worse. Because any time that Vlad appears, it's the worst it could ever be.

"If you would wait outside, I will be out in just a moment," Vlad said as he entered the room and closed it behind him. His arms were behind his back, and he let out a chuckle, looking over at the teen. "Out of one prison and into another I see," he stated.

Danny responded with a glare, but stood up straighter and walked forward a bit. Vlad looked over at the door and brought his hand out, a pink ecto-blast covering his hand before he shot it at the doorknob. It melted into place, not allowing anyone to interfere with what he had planned.

"I did tell you that those kids would be your downfall, did I not?" Vlad rhetorically asked, walking closer to where Danny was being held.

"What's your point?" Danny asked impatiently.

Vlad put a hand up, "Patience, Daniel," he stated, making the teenager growl and pound on the glass with his fists. The older halfa turned to look at the children with a sly grin, "You see, children, you are what I would call leverage."

"A term that Daniel has been well informed of the past few days…" He muttered, stealing a quick glance over the teenager before redirecting his attention to the children in front of him.

"I don't want to be a lever!" Mabel cried out, not understanding what that word was. Dipper looked over at his sister before looking over at Vlad. Unlike his sister, he did understand what that term meant, and he didn't like the position that they were in.

Danny tried to make the glass break by running up against it. He succeeded in moving it a few inches across the table, but Vlad made quick note of this. He waved his hand over towards the teenager, and inside of the glass jar was a pink ghost shield. It prevented the teen from trying to escape and save the children.

"Come now, little badger, I don't want you to injure yourself…" Vlad lectured shaking his head. The younger halfa wouldn't give up his escape attempt and help Dipper and Mabel no matter what Vlad did. Danny ran against the pink shield before being shot back to the ground. He growled out in frustration from not being able to do anything.

His elbow hit the ground hard, and he stayed on the glass bottom of the jar.

Nobody was going to be able to save them – they were on their own.

Without warning, Vlad reached down and grabbed the children. He eyed the fireplace across the room, and Danny followed his glance and visibly paled. The children also knew where they were being led to, and Vlad let out a low casual whistle.

"Vlad!" Danny yelled, suddenly getting to his feet and running over to the side of the jar. The pink transparent color was obscuring his eyesight, and he couldn't get a clear picture of what was happening. "What are you doing!?"

"Use your observational skills, Daniel – what does it appear that I'm trying to do?" Vlad asked, positioning the miniature children over the fireplace. Dipper and Mable were screaming, and sweating from the heat of the flames just a few feet below them.

Danny banged against the pink shield with his fists, "Stop!"

Vlad turned to look over at Danny, but still had the twins positioned to be dropped into the fire. They would die if Vlad let them go – and the teen wouldn't be able to stop him.

"Beg," Vlad stated, and Danny raised his eyebrows.

"Beg for what?" He asked, and Vlad let out a smirk.

"Beg to join me, and I'll stop."

Danny's heartbeat started to become audible to him. He was being pressured to join Vlad in the most humiliating of ways. And he knew this is what Vlad had wanted to hear all summer. His friends would be disappointed, his sister would be in shock. His promise to never turn evil would be broken – would Clockwork come and hunt him again if things got too bad?

"Tick tock, Daniel," Vlad spoke, making Danny look up at him, his breathing uncontrollable. His hands were trembling, and he couldn't help but sweat at this decision that he was going to make.

But he had to: For Mabel and Dipper.

It was the right choice, but it was ironic that it had to be the right choice to do the wrong thing.

"Please," Danny said, clenching his shaking hands against the glass wall. He saw that Vlad wasn't satisfied with just a single 'please'. Danny swallowed down a lump in this throat. This was a lot harder than he thought it ever would be. "Please let me join you."

"That's not quite good enough," Vlad said, slowly releasing his hand. Mabel's feet were dangling from it, and she gripped onto anything that she could. Dipper had a hand that was grabbing the very top of Vlad's so that he wouldn't fall. He offered his sister his other free hand, and she greedily took it in fear of her life.

Danny's heart started to race. "Let me join the dark side! I want to be your son and apprentice!" He yelled out, not knowing what else the older halfa wanted. Vlad cocked his head to the side, and with his other free he waved it in a circle motioning for the teen to continue. "Adopt me!" He yelled, elaborating on what he said before. His mind frantically thought to anything else that might appease the man.

"My father's an idiot, and I should have renounced him at the reunion because he's really embarrassing and…" He trailed, placing his head on the glass in remorse. He closed his eyes and placed his hand on the glass. "And you would make a better father than Jack could ever hope to be…" he trailed in a dead tone, "I have nothing but respect for you and really want you to teach me about ghost stuff. Wisconsin isn't such a bad place to live, and…" He trailed looking up to see that Vlad was directly in front of him.

The children had been placed safely back in the fake Gravity Falls model, and Danny looked over at the older halfa. Vlad could have stopped him at any point, and he narrowed his eyes at the man in absolute detestment.

"I'll admit, I was curious to see how much more I could get out of you," Vlad teased, although his large smirk on his face told Danny that he had said all that he needed to. The teen probably could have stopped at 'his father's an idiot' and that would have been enough.

"You…" Danny muttered, but was prevented from saying anything else when Vlad picked up the jar that he was being contained in. The teen, who was standing, fell down from the sudden movement. He bruised his other elbow from hitting the ground, and it started to pulsate in pain. He grabbed it, and held onto it while clenching his teeth.

The pink ghost shield that Vlad had put in place had disappeared, and the teen looked up through the glass at the man. Danny felt more than half-dead, he felt completely dead. Those words that he said couldn't be taken back. And the worst part is that he had meant those words – if he didn't then Vlad would have killed the twins.

He had to make as sincere as he could.

"Cheer up, Daniel, you have a bright future ahead of you," Vlad boasted, and Danny turned on his side to not see the gloating older halfa. The teen let out a groan of self-pity before Vlad yanked the door open.

Gideon was on the other side waiting patiently for Vlad to be finished with his business. The man held out his hand, and the white haired boy brought out the flashlight and placed it in the older halfa's hand. Vlad closed his hand around it before lowering the jar to the ground.

"Are you sure you don't want him to stay permanently like that?" Gideon asked, and Danny gave him a scathing glare as the teen turned to look at the kid. The teen's eyes illuminated a violent neon green and wouldn't disappear.

Feeling unnerved, Gideon quickly looked away. The look in the teen's eyes was enough to make him start to have perspiration. There was something in those green eyes that seemed to warrant his death should Danny ever receive the chance to do so.

"As tempting as that is…" Vlad trailed, turning on the flashlight to return the teenager to his normal height. Danny looked around and found that he didn't miss being a merely four inches. When his eyes landed on Gideon he let out a glare and powered up a green ecto-blast.

Only hateful thoughts were directed at Vlad Jr. It was all his fault that he was in this mess to begin with. That he had submitted to Vlad because he was trapped in a jar. That Mabel and Dipper had almost been killed because he was small and powerless.

"Daniel," Vlad commanded, making the teenager look over at the older halfa.

"He-!"

"Is an associate of mine that is not to be harmed, is that understood?" He asked, looking away from the teen before walking towards the front door. Danny turned his head slowly at Gideon and closed his eyes before opening them again. They were their normal blue color, and he turned on his heels before following after Vlad.

His life was officially over. He was taking orders from Vlad and had to listen to him now. After all, he had practically begged to join the older halfa. It was for a good cause – but it didn't matter. There was no going back to Amity Park when this was over. Vlad had only moved there to make Danny's life a personal hell to begin with.

Tuck and Sam would be crushed that he wouldn't be going back to school. It was supposed to their Junior year together and now he didn't know where he would be.

His family would be torn that he would be living with Vlad when summer was over. His father would be oblivious as always, but Jazz and his mom would know that something was up.

It wasn't fair.

When he stepped out into the outside world, he found that Vlad had waited for him.

"Let's get going, son," Vlad emphasized the 'son' part just to grate on Danny's nerves. It had worked, because the teen started to tremble with anger. The older halfa gave the teen one last smirk before he started to walk down the sidewalk.

"Can it get any worse…?" Danny asked, already knowing that this had to be the lowest.

To be continued… [Part 1 Complete]

A/N: Yo guys, so, as state above, this is the end of part 1. Sort of like a mid-season finale, and what a place to stop, am I right?

Don't worry, you don't have to go anywhere else to see Part 2. It will be continued on this story, just hit the halfway part with the episodes.

Have an awesome Happy Holidays! Danny probably won't be having any happy holidays. I mean, how long did you think he would have been able to fight against Vlad without any reliable help? Haha. I know, I'm pretty bad.

Behind the Magic:

1.) Reference to the episode 'Micro Management' from Danny Phantom. This wasn't Danny's first rodeo.

2.) "My heart and stars" I don't know if that's a southern slang, and I've lived in Florida for a while. But, I'll try and write Gideon better in later chapters. Probably do some research on popular southern sayings in the future.