Hi, folks! Back again with a brand new chapter! I found some spare time, so I was able to put this together. Thanks for the reviews, but I really wish I had more. I'm getting quite a lot of hits, but please review after reading.
Chapter 4 is now here! I have decided to bump the rating up to "T."
Plotting for a Transformation
Chapter Four: Hero vs. Villain
Looking quite perplexed, Danny retorted, "What do you mean you want me? Who are you?"
The man answered, "I am known as Slade." Then before Danny could respond, his right fist shot out and connected with Danny's right jaw, knocking the ghost boy down.
Danny staggered to his feet, "Slade? What kind of name is Slade?"
"Think what you want about my name, my dear boy. But you will learn to call me 'Master.'"
Danny growled back, "In your dreams!" He fired a ghost ray at Slade, but he calmly stepped aside and the blast zoomed by him farther down the sewer line.
Slade said to Danny, "Power…I like that. And aggression, I like that too."
Growling, Danny flew at Slade in an attempt to punch him. But Slade's own arm shot out again and grabbed hold of Danny's fist. He then started to push it back, as Danny screamed in pain.
Slade finally flipped Danny over, slamming him onto the ground.
Danny moaned in pain and struggled to get up. His right fist ached greatly and he tried to shake it off.
Watching Danny as he got back on his feet, Slade said to him, "But you lack patience, my dear boy. You lack focus, you lack discipline. But you have a lot of potential. I can work with that."
Danny was growing to fear this guy more and more by the second. He couldn't remember anybody giving him chills like this. Not even his own arch enemy, Vlad Plasmius, gave him this much fear inside him. Dan Phantom, maybe.
Unable to think of much else, Danny fired a ghost ray at Slade, and then another. Slade calmly dodged them both and tried to punch Danny. This time, Danny reacted in time and gave him a leg sweep, tripping him up and knocking him over.
Slade looked up from the ground and saw Danny attempting to deliver a punch at his face, this time with his left fist. Again he shot his arm out like a bullet and grabbed hold of Danny's fist, and then bent it violently backward, leaving Danny once again screaming out loud in pain.
Slade then let go of Danny's hand, leaving Danny falling to his knees with terrible pain in both his hands as they were both now bleeding.
Between gasps, Danny asked Slade, "What…do you want…with me?"
"Simple, Daniel. While I'm not entirely sure if I'll do this, I want to make you…"
Before Slade could finish his sentence, there was a huge crash and a large flying vehicle burst in through one of the sewer holes! Two figures sat inside the vehicle, scowling.
Danny turned around and gasped, "Tucker! Sam!"
Sure enough, Danny's two best friends were riding the Specter Speeder.
Tucker shouted to his friend, "Danny, get in!"
Danny tried to get himself over to the Speeder, but he collapsed back to his knees in intense pain.
"Danny!" Sam cried as she hurried out of the Speeder and over to Danny, but Slade's voice rang out, "Not so fast, young lady."
Slade threw a round device in Sam's direction. It hit the ground in front of her and a small explosion went off. Sam ducked out of the way to avoid being hit.
Slade smirked behind his mask, "Well, well, well. You two must be Tucker and Sam. Danny's dear friends. How sweet."
From inside the Specter Speeder, Tucker roared at Slade, "You get away from our friend, you creep!" A laser fired out from the Specter Speeder at Slade, but he jumped away from it.
Slade responded to Tucker, "Only because I've done what I needed as of now, I will follow your orders." He then turned to Danny and said coldly, "Don't get comfortable, Danny. I will be back."
Before the trio could respond, he threw four small marbles onto the ground. They blew apart and thick smoke filled the area. Danny and Sam both coughed, while Tucker didn't need to, the Specter Speeder shielding him from the smoke.
When the smoke cleared, Danny looked around, and saw that Slade had vanished without a trace.
He groaned and changed back into Danny Fenton, still sitting on the ground in pain.
"Danny!" Sam cried as she hurried to his side, holding onto the back of his head.
"Are you okay?" the Goth girl asked the ghost boy.
Danny replied, "Pretty banged up, and both my hands may be broken, but I'm fine."
"Come on," Sam said as she managed to lift him up, throw him onto her shoulders, and carry him back to the Specter Speeder.
"He'll have to stay the night," a doctor said to Tucker and Sam out in the waiting room of Amity Park Hospital.
Sam asked him, "Are you sure he has to, Dr. Ward?"
"Yes, I'm afraid." Dr. Ward checked a clipboard he held in his hand and said, "Both of his hands have been sprained badly, he has small damage to his right side jaw, and a few bruises around his rib cage."
Sam sighed, while Tucker hung his head.
Dr. Ward asked the two of them, "How did he get into this kind of shape?"
Tucker tried to say something, "Well, he…uh…"
Sam finally spoke up, "Some thug cornered him in an alley and beat him up."
"He must have been pretty big and strong," the doctor responded, "Do you know who it was?"
"No. We didn't see him. It was dark and we didn't recognize who it was."
"I see. Alright, then." He turned to leave.
Tucker said to him, "Wait, wait. Can we see him?"
"Not right now. We have given him sleeping pills to help ease his pain. He should sleep the rest of the night. You may see him tomorrow. Good night to both of you."
Sam sighed, "Okay. Thank you, Dr. Ward."
The doctor smiled and walked out into the hall. Without another word, Tucker and Sam turned and left the hospital.
Since the next day was a Monday and they had school, Tucker and Sam couldn't get to see Danny until that afternoon. They found Danny in his room, sitting in his bed and reading a magazine. He had casts on both of his hands, so it was a bit difficult.
"Danny!" Sam cried in joy as she ran over and hugged him.
"Ow! Ow!" Danny gasped in pain, "Sam, that hurts!"
"Oh, gosh! Sorry!" Sam quickly jumped back and frowned apologetically, "Sorry, Danny."
Danny put one hand up, "Oh, it's alright."
Tucker asked his injured friend, "So how long do you have to stay here for, dude?"
Danny answered, "They told me I should be able to leave by the end of the week, and then check back a couple weeks after."
Sam asked him, "Danny…who was that guy? Last night. Down in the sewer."
Danny shrugged, "He just told me his name was Slade. And he said he…wanted me."
Tucker raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean he wanted you?"
"I…don't know. He didn't tell me directly. He said that he liked that I had power and that I had aggression, and had a lot of potential. But he also said that I lacked patience, focus, and discipline. But he said that he could…work with that."
Sam and Tucker exchanged puzzled looks. Sam asked Danny, "What did he mean by that?"
"I have no idea. But there was something else. He said that…I would learn to call him…'Master'."
Sam bit her lip, "This sounds bad. Tuck, can you run a web search for this 'Slade' on your PDA?"
Tucker held up his PDA and answered, "I would, but it's still shut down from that virus. And I bet that Slade guy sent it."
"We'll just have to check it out online when we get home," Sam said. Noticing that Danny was simply staring down into his bed sheets, she said to him, "Danny."
Danny looked up, "Huh?"
"Are you okay? I'm worried about you."
Danny blushed, "I appreciate your concern, Sam, but I'm fine. You should go home. Don't you have homework to do?"
Sam's face lit up, "Oh, yeah! That reminds me!" She reached into her backpack and dropped a pair of books onto Danny's lap.
Sam grinned and walked out with Tucker, who said, "Thank goodness we're leaving. I still hate hospitals." Sam called back to Danny, "Have fun!"
Danny pouted and grumbled to himself, "I just had to open my big mouth."
That's all for now! Oooh, only one encounter with Slade, and it's already landed Danny in the hospital! How is Danny truly reeling from last night's battle with him? And when will they meet again? Let us wait until Chapter 5!