(Author's Note: Thank you, reviewers, for your kind words and actions! I've been developing this idea since the end of summer, and changed it when I saw "Danny Phantom: the Ultimate Enemy". It was an awesome movie, and it totally surprised me! So, I just had to write a sequel. Hence the title. Anyways, Manitowoc is my grandparents' hometown in Wisconsin, and it is only an hour away from Green Bay. So I incorporated it into my story.)

Chapter 3: The Apprentice

Manitowoc, WI: The Present

It was a dark night, almost to 12:00. A gentle breeze made the trees nearby sway slightly, and one's leaves brushed a giant sign, its blue pastel words barely visible in the dark. It read, 'Welcome to Manitowoc', and under that, it read, 'Happiest place in Wisconsin!' True to its words, the sleepy little town that lay in the valley below the sign was quiet and dark, but there was a feeling to it that made one feel happy.

To the north of the town, there was a giant mansion made of gray stone, its yellow-and-green banners flapping in the wind. It seemed peaceful, yet unknown to the townspeople, inside its thick stone walls lurked a great evil. The ancient building, with its towering, golden-capped steeples, was once home to the late Dairy King of Wisconsin. However, for the past few years, it had housed the multi-billionaire Vlad Masters. A wealthy, white-haired, handsome tycoon, he mostly spent his time secluded inside the castle-like building.

In reality, he had an enormous secret: he was half-ghost. This was due to an accident involving an experiment of his old, one-time friend, the idiotic Jack Fenton, during college. Ever since then, he had nursed a deep hatred of the simple man, for ruining his future career and for stealing and marrying the love of his life. Anyone who had the rare opportunity to meet him sensed the inevitable dark feeling surrounding the man. This explained why he holed himself up in his domain: he was always practicing his ghost powers and researching new, ghost-related technologies. For a long time, he thought that he was the only half-ghost person in the world. That is, until he met Danny Phantom.

At first, the boy seemed harmless, being the son of his pea-brained, hated college associate...Vlad even offered to take on Danny as his apprentice, if only he would renounce his father...until he cost Vlad some horrible losses. Among these were his mother, Maddie, whom he adored; the Skeleton Key, which allowed access to anywhere in the Ghost Zone; and the Ring of Rage, Pariah Dark's item of ultimate power. Although he did get the Skeleton Key eventually, he used it wrongly to open the Sarcophagus of Eternal Sleep, which contained the evil Ghost King, unleashing his reign of terror on the Ghost Zone and the real world...until Danny locked him up again. Vlad Masters, called Vlad Plasmius in his ghost form, was always scheming at how he would defeat the boy. He had recently re-built his Ghost Portal, and was in his lab in ghost form, studying it intently.

"At last, my portal is complete," he declared. Turning away from it, grinning, he continued, "And with it, the start of Phase One of my master plan." Then, turning back to face the purplish glow of the Ghost Portal, he flew into it, and arrived at his destination, the Ghost Zone. Inside it, he floated around until he came across what looked like a cave. "Ah. This must be his lair." he said to himself, flying into it. It was pitch black inside, until a giant, gleaming green-and-black figure appeared amidst the darkness.

Meanwhile, two glowing, green octopi floated form the ghost zone towards the green vortex that led to Vlad's Ghost Portal. Going into the swirling mass, they came out in the real world, phased through the wall, and flew off towards the town.

It was just past 3 o' clock, and Manitowoc Charter High was just letting out. Hundreds of students flowed out of the white school's double doors by the second, chatting and showing off. Almost all of the teens traveled in groups, but one girl avoided the crowd and slipped away to a nearby sidewalk. The girl, Diana Guernsey, preferred walking home alone and in silence. In fact, she was a shy girl, with almost no friends. However, she was quite skillful at tae kwon do, and to this day had never had a bullying problem.

Di was a tomboy, daring and courageous, never hesitating to wear boys' clothes, play baseball or football, or even taking on a dare to wear boys' underwear. She was about 5"3" and was stick-thin, shorter and thinner than other kids, and had a genius IQ. Di had metallic black hair and indigo eyes, unusual in teens her age, and was wearing a light blue tank top with white Capri's. On her feet were lavender sandals, similar to the kind the ancient Romans wore. Di was clutching her books close to herself, as if she was afraid to lose them. Her hair was flapping like a battered flag in the wind, and her deep blue-black eyes were scanning the sky for rain clouds. Instead, she saw something else.

The twin octopi were now roaming above the town, making strange gurgling noises as people ran away from them, screaming. Both were headed towards Di's house, destroying an occasional mailbox or lamppost along the way. Dropping her book immediately in shock, mouth agape, she stood there for a minute, and then ran after the octopi. Scanning around for something she could use, she spotted a brand-new silver-and-pink machine from the pawn shop. Above the item was a sentence with the word 'ghost' in it (Di just glanced at it), and it looked very strange, almost like a futuristic gun. Running inside, she quickly stammered to the cashier, "Sorry, gotta borrow this," and took it from the front window. Running outside and towards the terrifying duo, she caught up with them on the ground at her house.

Di pointed the gun at the ghosts and yelled, "Hey, you spineless goons, catch this!" and fired. Both ghosts were hit by a pink beam, and they screamed in pain. Retreating back toward Vlad's mansion, they flew over the buildings of Manitowoc. However, Di wasn't finished yet. Running after them, shooting and missing all the while, she screamed, "No one tries to destroy my house!" She continued to pursue them, even when she left the town, ran through a dense forest, and got closer and closer to the mansion. Di was so enraged that nothing would stop her, unless you count the fact that she skidded to a halt in front of Vlad's manor while the ghosts flew in it.

Being as quiet as can be, she silently hid behind a tree, looking for anyone that might stop her. Her mind now buzzed with questions- What were those things? Why did they go into the Dairy King's old house? Seeing no one near the mansion, she crept up to the old castle and opened the door with a creak. The ghosts were inside, and upon hearing the sound, they went through a door and disappeared. Following them, Di opened the door and found a flight of stairs leading to a basement. Crouching down so no one could see her, her ears managed to pick up scraps of speech at the bottom...

"You know, if you join me, we could...together, we'll build the finest...all you have to do is take down young Daniel." one voice said. Di, curious, sneaked closer- and gasped at what she saw. The basement was a laboratory- and two ghosts were in it. One, a tall, black-haired, white-garmented ghost with red eyes, fangs, and a black cape, was the speaker. To his left was a 7-foot-tall, giant werewolf, clad in tattered green rags. The wolf, glaring at the white ghost with suspicious black eyes, flicked his tail and drew up his long-clawed paws. He said something strange that Di couldn't understand, but he did say 'friend' in his sentence.

"You think Daniel is your friend?" the white ghost said with a laugh. The wolf, obviously insulted, shouted at his companion again in his incomprehensible language and raised his arm to slash him. The white ghost, turning intangible as the werewolf ghost slashed him, put his hands in his hips and remarked, "Too bad. I was willing to work with you, but now you leave me no choice but to destroy you." The wolf, blinking his beady eyes in surprise, lunged after the white ghost with a snarl. Before the beast could even reach him, the foreboding, glowing man sent a pinkish ghost ray from his hand, knocking the wolf down.

Then, Di saw the white ghost multiply into two, four, and finally six identical forms. Infuriated, the wolf ghost went on a rampage, slashing at the clones with 6-inch-long claws. Most times, the duplicates avoided him, sending the claws into tables, chairs, walls, prototype ghost machines, and wires. However, a few times the massive shredders caught one of the white ghosts, causing it to disappear. Eventually, Di found herself so close to the fray that it was impossible to leave without being detected. So, carefully opening a closet nearby and hiding in it, peeking out at the fight through the keyhole.

"Honestly, Wolfe, you really can't expect to defeat me this way." commented the powerful white ghost to his outmatched attacker. Snarling at his enemy, Wolfe panted, and then noticed one of two large wires leading to the lab's Ghost Portal. Slashing it in two, Wolfe howled in pain as the force of electricity shocked him. But his simple plan worked; the Ghost Portal's swirling green lights began to flicker on and off. Di, scared and nervous, thought up a plan. Putting on one of the jumpsuits that were stored in the closet, she examined herself quickly in the mirror. Di let out a gasp of surprise as she glanced at the mirror in the closet's rear- her beautiful frame was visible through the jumpsuit's blue background and white gloves and boots. Two white straps crossed her chest; the suit almost matched Di's deep indigo eyes. Turning around, she held her breath as she opened the door-

Vlad, hearing the door open, turned around to face Di as she slowly came out. "Well, well, I think we have a visitor." he said. Flying over to her, Vlad grabbed the shocked girl's wrist before she could utter a word. Wolfe, seizing his chance, slashed at Vlad's unprotected back, sending both human and ghost hurtling in different directions. Di, too shocked to scream, landed right in the middle of the malfunctioning Ghost Portal as it turned from off to on. Screaming in agony as the portal started to transform her DNA, both ghosts turned around to face the portal; Wolfe with a surprised expression, and Vlad with a twisted grin on his face.

The Ghost Portal flickered, and then finally stayed on. Di, gasping for breath, noticed with creeping horror, noticed her skin and muscles turn transparent for a moment, revealing her bones; she stumbled out of the swirling mass, moaning and holding on to the portal's side for support. Flashing her now glowing-green eyes towards her shocked observers, she then looked down at herself and screamed. Her beautiful blue and-white jumpsuit had turned inverted, now having a green background with black boots, gloves, and two black straps across her chest. Her pale skin had turned slightly orange, and groping at her long hair, Di discovered that her original metallic black hair had been bleached to a ghostly, snow white color. As she stumbled from the portal, green mist blowing off of her glowing figure, Wolfe stepped forward. "Friend?" he asked confusedly, for she looked very much like his friend Danny Phantom...

Vlad, knocking Wolfe aside, stepped in front of the newly created, and very first, half-ghost girl. He said in a smooth voice, "Hello there. I don't believe we've introduced ourselves. I'm Vlad Plasmius..." Then, grinning wolfishly, continued, "...your new master."

(P.S. - OMG! Exciting cliffy. Please, please, please don't forget to review. Was that exiting or what? You gotta admit that last scene was just plain cool! Anyways, waiting in anticipation for Friday's new episode, and typing like crazy at the same time. What will happen to poor Di, forced to be Vlad's apprentice? How will Wolfe react? And how will this affect Danny, the Fentons and Di's family, the Guernseys, and all of both Manitowoc and Amity Park? Find out in the next chapter of The Shadows of Time!)