Enjoy this chapter. I'm not going to be updating until I have a little more written. Unfortunately, tis the season for being busy. Please do me the kindness of reviewing. Reviews inspire me to make the story better. I am sad when I get no reviews.

Chapter Five

Tucker stretched and yawned and smiled. He was happy! Yesterday had been a great day! He and Valerie had a great time at the dance, the princess showing up not withstanding. He was looking forward to the plans they made together for the day. He hoped Danny and Sam didn't mind if he skipped out on them.

He jumped in the shower. Ate breakfast and then reached for his cell phone to call Valerie. He paused as he noticed he had a new voice mail. A frisson of worry ran through him. Danny. Sam. Vlad. He shook a little as he hit the button to hear his voice mail. Two messages. The first one nearly made him drop the phone and run, but laugh all at once. It was just like Sam to take off in the Specter Speeder to try and save Danny. Tucker wondered how she did. He pressed the button on the next message. This one was from Danny.

"Yo Tucker!" Danny's voice called over the phone. "Just calling to let you know that Sam and I are safe and sound. On the bad side of things Dark Dan is loose. He has Vlad and is planning on separating him and me from our ghost halves and creating another him. Isn't that great? You and Valerie need to get over here ASAP. There is a special ghost shield over the house. Give me a call when you get here and we'll let you in. We need you Tuck. Don't fail us now." The phone dropped out of Tucker's numb fingers and he closed his eyes. He wondered why, when everything was so great, that things had to go so wrong. He snapped himself out of his shocked daze and retrieved the phone. He just hoped Valerie was awake and up for the long day this was going to be.

A phone call to Valerie garnered him a, "Hell yes! Let's kick some evil ghost butt!" He knew he didn't have to worry about her being annoyed by ghosts. She seemed as eager to fight them as Danny's parents did.

After talking to Valerie, who was now totally psyched, he called Danny. He hoped there had been no new developments since they left the message.

"Fenton Residence," came a sleepy voice on the end of the line. "Sam speaking."

"Sam?" Tucker asked. "Why are you answering the phone?"

"Cause it was ringing in my ear," Sam, who had fallen asleep on the couch next to Danny, who was still sleeping after watching movie after movie, answered.

"Where's Danny? What's going on?" Tucker asked trying to keep the amusement out of his voice. A sleepy Sam was an easily angered Sam.

"Well," Sam drawled slowly. "Lets see. Last night, Danny went to see Clockwork, Dark Dan escaped. I went to warn Danny and got caught by Skulker. Danny rescued me and we came back to find Dark Dan had been here. Danny's parents have a special ghost shield which thankfully keeps everything out. We've been sitting here all night watching movies, which is kinda nerve wracking when there's a mad ghost out there intent on your distruction. Other than that, we've been waiting for you so we can plot to send Dark Dan back to his own time. We got sick of waiting so Danny and I ran off to Las Vegas and got married, we're expecting twins."

"Ha ha!" Tucker laughed. "You're very funny Miss Manson. Or should I be calling you Mrs. Fenton now." Sam laughed in return.

"Seriously Tuck," Sam said then yawned. "We need you here and Valerie too. There's no telling what he remembers or what he's going to do. Plus Danny and I feel like we are missing a body part without you. Our brains just don't function right without a techno geek."

"I knew I was the brains of the operation," Tucker said smugly. "Thank you for finally admitting it."

"Just get over here Foley," Sam half yelled. "Now."

"Aye, aye Captain," Foley answered then laughed.

"I always knew I was the captain of the operation," Sam said softly. "Thanks for admitting it Tuck." And with that she terminated the call.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Breakfast in the Fenton household was more subdued than usual. Sam ate her oatmeal without flirting with Danny. Danny ate his green glowing pancakes without complaint. Jazz was blessedly silent. Jack and Maddie both seemed preoccupied.

Tucker's appearance lightened things up immeasurably. He rousted Sam and Danny from their daze and teased Jazz until she started talking. Valerie's excitement was contagious. She had a lot in common with Maddie and Jack. She loved ghost hunting. They were exuberant in sharing their life's work with the girl. Tucker took a deep breath and sighed as they talked shop. Valerie pulled out her array of ghost weaponry and was arguing with Jack about what exactly needed tweaking to give them the advantage against their newest adversary.

"Looks like Mom and Dad are going to adopt a new child," Jazz said.

"Yeah finally someone who shares their interest in ghost hunting," Danny laughed.

"I thought you shared the interest." Sam said in confusion. "I mean you're always playing with the Fenton ghost gadgets and always fighting ghosts." Danny gave her a blank look.

"It's self defense I'm interested in," he told her.

"Speaking of self defense," Tucker interjected. "What are we going to do about Dark Dan? I mean, what if the medallion doesn't work?"

"It has to work," Danny said forcefully. "I don't think there is any way to destroy him….unless you want to wait 10 years for me to develop my abilities to match with his, and even then there's no guarantee."

"But you're already advancing faster than he is," Tucker pointed out. "You have the ghostly wail. I bet there are tons of other things you can do that you don't know about."

"But this isn't the time to go testing out what I can and cannot do," Danny argued. "I think the ghostly wail simply came out of desperation."

Tucker sighed and began playing with his PDA. Sam and Danny looked at each other for a moment, then smiled as they took each other's hands.

Jazz shook her head. "You guys need to be discussing what you are going to do when we meet up with Dark Dan again. What are you going to do? How are you going to lure him into the thermos. How are you going to get the amulet around his neck? A well thought out plan has more of a chance of working than flying by the seat of your pants."

"Danny always flies by the seat of his pants," Sam giggled. Danny gave her a funny look and they both laughed. Jazz growled in exasperation.

Tucker looked up over his glasses from his PDA. "You see what I put up with?" he asked Jazz. "It's like this all the time. Darn love birds."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Vlad opened his eyes slowly. He could see light, but not much else it was as though his eyes were covered with some kind of filmy residue. He blinked a few times and things came into better focus. What had happened? His head was pounding. His body ached.

The last thing Vlad could remember was being cramped up in a Fenton Thermos with those two idiots Spectra and Bertrand. That infernal contraption was hard to escape from, especially considering it was made by that bumbling moron Jack Fenton. Wait! It was coming back to him. The escape. The ghost. The fight. He had been defeated! Where was he now? He tried to sit up but found he couldn't move. He blinked again and again until things came into slightly better focus, but not much.

Vlad was laying on a table. No tied to a table. In his lab. He laughed. Imagine that. An enemy of his brought him home. Tied him up and expected him to stay put. He could swear that it was the workings of Daniel Fenton which had brought him here. Big mistake. He made the small effort to turn himself to Plasmius, his ghost form, but nothing happened. He frowned and tried again. He remained in his human form. Vlad closed his eyes and took a series of deep cleansing breaths. So Jack Fenton had figured out how to suppress his ghost half. It didn't matter. Vlad knew how powerful his ghost half was, if he concentrated hard enough he'd be able to work past any disruption in the access of his other half. He ignored the strange empty feeling which was tingling through his body and reached out to his ghost half. Nothing. His head was now throbbing in indescribable pain. He kept his eyes closed and forced himself to relax. Whatever the device was, it was good. But, he refused to let it best him.

Deep waves of nausea encompassed Vlad as he lay on the table. His head pounding and all his limbs aching. He decided to take things slow. First he wiggled his toes. Toes check. Then he moved his feet and tried to bend his knees. Both legs were intact. He wiggled his fingers and tried to lift his arms. All there. He opened his eyes again and worked on focusing on the ceiling, he squinted his eyes until things came into focus. He finally realized with a stunned admittance that nothing was wrong with his vision that a pair of glasses wouldn't cure. He frowned. His need for corrective lenses had departed with his gaining of his ghostly half. Why was he looking around myopically now?

"So you are awake," asked a voice it was smooth and sinister.

"Yes I am!" Vlad answered angrily. "Who are you? How did you get me here? What are you doing here? Just wait until I get free of these bounds! I will destroy you."

The voice laughed, sending a chill down Vlad's aching spine. "Destroy me?" the voice asked. "I am almost tempted to let you go just for the enjoyment of seeing you try old man."

Vlad concentrated hard and tried to transform, and failed again.

"Keep trying to transform to your ghost self," The voice advised. "You'll soon learn the truth."

"Truth?" Vlad asked as he struggled.

"I have separated you from your ghost half old man." The voice said. Vlad froze in fear. What did he mean?. Separated from his ghost half? That wasn't possible. Was it? The table moved so Vlad was in a more horizontal position. Someone put something over his eyes. Glasses? Where the heck did this stranger find them, and how did he know he would need them? Everything came into focus. He was met with a grinning evil face which looked stunningly familiar, but not.

"Who are you?" Vlad asked.

"I've been called Dark Dan," The ghost answered as he continued to grin evily at Vlad. He laughed at the fear growing in Vlad's eyes. "I see you know who I am. Good. I don't like having to explain myself. It's too tedious."

"Put my ghost half back!" Vlad demanded. "And you won't get hurt. I'll even let you join me in world domination."

Dark Dan laughed. "I don't need your help old man. I can dominate the world quite easily on my own. As for your ghost half, well. I have plans for that. Plans that involve one Danny Fenton and his ghostly half. Dan's red eyes sparkled as he laughed in glee. "I'm quite positive that Danny's next order of business will be to arrive here. To rescue you Masters. The deluded goodness of the boy would demand such action."

"What good would merging my ghost half with Daniel's do?" Vlad asked. "All you would have would be another rival to destroy."

"You would think so wouldn't you?" Dark Dan asked. Then he laughed evilly as he moved to the ghost portal. "I'll deal with you later old man."

Dark Dan, started to enter the ghost zone through the portal, but something happened. The portal didn't quite open up. Instead a high pitched whirring emitted from the device…then boom! Dark Dan was sent flying across the room.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"The battle with Dark Dan has to take place in the Ghost Zone," Danny said. "I may be able to talk a few of our enemies into a truce."

"Oh yeah," Tucker said as he shook his head. "I can see that."

Jazz agreed with Tucker. "What are you going to do? Say. Hey Mr. Skulker. I know that I've thwarted your plans over and over again, but I need you to be my friend now. Temporarily of course, so that we can defeat this guy and like we can be enemies again."

"Jazz there is no need to be so facetious!" Maddie exclaimed. "I think it's a sweet plan."

"It's a dumb plan!" Jack boomed. "To rely on you enemies in your darkest hour is to be like a blind man depending on the deaf to lead him in the darkness."

"Lau Tzu?" Sam asked feeling a little confused by Jack's statement.

"No," Jack answered. "Jack Fenton!" Sam looked at Danny who merely shrugged his shoulders.

"I think," Valerie said, "With the two of us working together, we can bust his butt! You're fast. I'm fast. He's only one, it's not like he can keep an eye on both of us at once."

Danny shook his head, "No wouldn't work. He can multiply himself. While one dispatches you, the other can dispatch me. No problem."

"Damn," Valerie hissed then laid her forehead on the cool table. "I'm out of ideas then."

"We're just going to have to face him and do our best." Sam finally said. "We've always succeeded before, and against the worst odds. Why not this time?"

Danny looked at Sam for a moment. She was right. Things always had a way of working themselves out. They would this time too. They just needed to go at it with everything they had. Plus he had the ghostly wail, that seemed to really throw Dark Dan off.

"Maybe we should try to go rescue Vlad," Danny finally said after a long laps of silence. The last thing we need is Dark Dan separating him from his ghost half."

"Oh great. Do you think he's going to keep a truce with you?" Tucker asked. "Not likely."

"He is the lesser of two evils," Danny replied.

Sam laughed, "You've said a mouthful there Danny." She looked around. "So what are we waiting for?"

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Danny stood outside in the Ghost Zone staring in shock at what he saw, or at least what he didn't see.

"What's wrong?" Tucker called from the Speeder. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Ha ha!" Sam said as she punched Tucker in the arm. "So not funny."

"It's gone guys," Danny said. "Vlad's portal is gone."

"Is that a good or a bad thing?" Valerie asked. Danny shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

"Uh, Danny?" Tucker said weakly. "I think that's kinda my fault. Well your Dad's fault really. We set it up to blow the next time someone tried to use it."

Danny smiled. "Well this puts a little crimp in Dark Dan's plans I think." He said as he floated over to the Speeder. "But it puts a kink in our plan as well." Danny was about to turn back when the portal opened behind him.

"Danny!" Sam, Tucker and Valerie screamed as Dark Dan flew through the portal. He barreled into Danny who just didn't have enough time to react. Valerie grabbed the controls on the Speeder and began fire well focused blasts at Dark Dan. He shrugged them off like they were nothing.

"Do you think you can rescue him?" Dark Dan asked as he grabbed an angry Danny by the scruff of the neck. Danny took the initiative and the chance and threw the amulet around Dark Dan's neck.

"Clockwork!" He yelled. Feeling shocked but kind of pleased that getting the amulet on Dark Dan was this easy.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX