Almost 5 weeks passed for Lina. 5 weeks that she spent time with her father and not seeing Danny or chasing ghosts. She contacted him often and he seemed to be handling it just fine. She, on the other hand, was busy with her own things.
Vlad was not joking when he said he would train her, and his training was nothing like the small obstacle course Sam and Tucker had made. No, his was merciless, taking place in the lab and even in the ghost zone. However, she would admit, his ways were effective. Lina learnt how to properly use her powers and with each use, she felt her confidence returning. The confidence was soon her key to defeating other ghosts in the zone and holding her own against her father.
She was still far from his level, but she was getting better. Like he had told her at their first meeting she had the potential to be much more and she started to believe it. The nightmares stopped, the mere image of Walker barely affecting her and she felt more like her old self. No...she felt like a new version of her past self, a far better one.
When the duo were not fighting or training, they would actually bond. As it was proven before, they did seem to share common traits and hobbies. They spent nights in the library, discussing art and history, or having a talk about the latest political news. He tried to teach her more about his favourite team, and Lina tried her best to keep up but football did not seem to truly be her calling. Other things were, mechanics and robotics.
Just as Maddie had pointed out, Lina was a natural to that and Vlad was more than experienced to teach her even more. She helped him build certain stuff and she got also an insight into how different anti-ghost weapons worked. She even started to consider chasing it as a future job, placing her focus on inventions and machinery.
And he was not a bad father either. He was actually a nice figure to be around and she found to enjoy spending time with him. It was a welcoming change compared to the chaos of the Fenton's. She could finally have a deep discussion and enjoy some peace without hearing Jack's shouts about ghosts, explosions, or his latest invention. He would take her on trips with his golf car around the estate and fancy places, and he would look after her. He was making an effort and he seemed, deep down, to also want to spend time with her and form some sort of connection.
In the past, she would not believe it if someone had ever told her that. But now, after being with him for more than a month...she saw things differently. Yet, she never forgot who he truly was and what he was capable of.
On her last day, Vlad and she were locked in a battle in one isolated area in the ghost zone. It was a mere piece of rock, floating in the endless spiralling green landscape.
A beam of red ectoplasm energy was shot at Vlad's back, but he turned and quickly formed a wall of pink energy of his own. It deflected the shot but didn't realise it was a distraction until Lina tried to hit him. He dodged and delivered a lifted knee on her stomach as she passed, sending her up. He quickly appeared above her and used an energy blast of his own to send her to the ground.
Lina turned human, passing right through the solid earth, and disappearing. Vlad waited, looking around for any signs. His ghost senses went off and he was fast enough to react on time. Lina had turned ghost again and then invisible in an attempt to land a hit on him. Her right fist was coated by her red ectoplasm energy of hers and was against the pink protective wall Plasmius had managed to create just in time. She brought her other fist forward, covering it with energy before slamming it hard against the protection wall.
It made a crack, and she was quick to repeat. Each hit weakened and Plasmius watched impressed and proud. Once she managed to break it, he sent a strong pink ectoplasm beam at her. Bringing her hands forward, she blocked it, but the force sent her back as she struggled to hold against it. Then, a clone of Plasmius appeared behind her and with one hit on her back, she found herself against the ground.
"Ouch," she muttered, lifting her body, and blowing one strand of black hair from between her eyes.
"Not bad Angelina. You have definitely improved with your ectoplasm fists" her father said as he flew towards her.
She stood up, watching him descend. Sometimes, it felt surreal to her how much they looked alike in both human and even ghost form. Her skin was only much lighter than his but it did have a faint light blue hue. Even their clothing had a similar black and white pattern, the complete opposite of the one of Danny. It did make her wonder how such genes were passed into her, considering her half-ghost side. Those questions were something that Vlad had actually researched and tried to help her understand what had taken place when that portal exploded. They had come to a hypothesis and she could not wait to share it with her friends.
With a groan, she straightened her back. "It still didn't help me win" she commented after a moment of silence to collect her thoughts and get used to the new bruise from his latest attack. She will admit, his training had paid off in making her more used to strong attacks and increasing her pain tolerance.
"Remember Angelina. I am years of experience in front of you. It will take more than a few weeks of training".
She rolled her eyes and flew as well, the duo flying towards the direction of the portal to his lab. "Is this your way of trying to persuade me to stay longer?" she smirked.
"Sharp as ever. It is in a way, but I know your dedication to Daniel is too much".
They both flew through the portal and turned back to humans before landing inside the lab. She rubbed the back of her neck, feeling it sore. "Well, I left him alone long enough. But I do appreciate everything you did, Dad".
He was taken aback by her words, never having called him like that until now. He would never admit it out loud, but it did sound nice to hear it and caused a small smile on his face. He was not certain whether she said it on purpose or it slipped off her, but he could not comment on it. "Well, that won't change the fact that we will fight if our paths cross again".
She seemed kind of sad about that, but she didn't let it affect her. "I know but perhaps if I train alone I can finally land a hit or two".
He laughed amused as he walked towards one of the tables in the lab. "Perhaps little wolf. Perhaps" he said, calling her by the nickname he had for her. He called her little wolf, because of her immense loyalty to Danny and his family despite everything. "But not anytime soon. Before I forget" he grabbed a piece of paper from the table and gave it to her. "This is for you".
"What is it?" she asked, lifting a white eyebrow.
"An official paper. If Maddy and Jack sign it, you can officially take my last name as yours. Keep it in mind in case you get tired of being related to Jack".
She took it slowly and she looked at it, not truly believing him for a moment. Apparently, he was not lying. "Angelina Masters, huh?" she muttered, testing how it sounded. To her, it didn't sound bad and considering this was her true last name, it even made her feel...happy.
"Indeed. As for now, you should go pack the last of your stuff".
Angelina gave Vlad a hug, surprising him. He took his time to return the action, being years since he had been hugged by someone, let alone a child. The faintest of smiles crept across his face as she let him go and rushed out of the lab. He watched her go, in silence and deep in thought.
He had started to get attached to her; he wouldn't lie. But he knew his goals were always on top. The house would definitely not be the same without her but perhaps he could grab the chance to visit and thus, find a way to see Maddy more often.
However, he would like not to be forced to see Jack and for that, he would have to form a different plan to get Maddie.
Back in Amityville City, Danny was busy trying to fight Skulker. That stubborn hunter just did not want to give up. Somehow, he had found out that Lina was not with Danny and he thought it was a great chance to capture the male halfa boy without much trouble. He underestimated the training Danny himself had been through. Determined to be the one protecting Lina for once and also catching up to her. He had made progress but Skulker had a very annoying arsenal of weapons that made the whole battle harder.
With a yelp of surprise, he was hit by a gooish ectoblast that sent him to the wall of a building. Thankfully, no one was around at that time to see the fight between the public enemy number 1. Or maybe he was 2? It was unknown who was on top of that list between him and Lina.
"I got you now Ghost Boy. Say goodbye" Skulker said, flying in front of the trapped Danny with a new weapon pointed at the halfa.
"Goodbye," a familiar voice said and right at the next second, Lina phased through the ground between him and her brother. Her fist glowed red as she delivered a strong punch under Skulker's jaw and sent him flying away from them.
"Lina!" Danny exclaimed, never been happier to see her.
"Sorry I am late. You wouldn't believe the traffic" she joked and turned to her adopted brother.
She lifted her hand and pulled a sort of karate chop, her glowing fist cut through the goo and freed the other halfa.
"Wow. You definitely need to show me how to do that" the boy replied surprised, now free and flying next to her.
"After we deal with him," she said, and the duo turned to look at their opponent.
"So you are back Ghost Girl. Good. Now I can capture both of you" Skulker said and charged, only for our heroes to do the same. Lina smirked, so happy to be home and this time, she was readier than ever to take down all of her opponents.