Hello again, all! Back with another update! This time, I was pretty much pleased with the amount of reviews I received, but I'm still a bit puzzled why they weren't coming in left and right like they were following Chapter 1. Ah, well.

Here we go with Chapter 5! I don't own Danny Phantom or Teen Titans.

Plotting for a Transformation

Chapter Five: A Second Beating and the Aftermath

Over the next few days, Danny did nothing but just sit in his room and wait for his injuries to heal. He didn't want to talk to anybody, not even when Sam and Tucker stopped by once a day. They would only exchange a few words before they left.

Danny knew he had blown it big time in his battle with Slade on Sunday night. Sure, he had faced very worthy adversaries before like Skulker, Ember, Vlad, etc. But they were ghosts. Slade was a human. A human, more importantly, without actual ghost hunting weapons.

And he had pounded Danny to dust. To the point where Danny was where he is now, in a hospital.

Danny sighed as he sat in his bedroom that Thursday night. The doctors said that he could go home tomorrow evening.

He thought to himself, He never wanted that disc. All he wanted was me. It was all a trap. The robbery, the chase, stopping right in a sewer, he was trying to lure me to him, he was tiring me out with the chase, and he was leading me into a place where seemingly nobody could help out. Thank God that Sam and Tuck showed up or I would've been toast.

Although Danny had gotten away from Slade then, he knew that it wouldn't be the last he would see of him. And nagging in the back of his mind was one question: What did Slade want with him?

"Do you feel any better?" Tucker asked Danny on a cool Friday night as they stepped out of the hospital. He looked back at the building and shivered, "Because now I do after leaving that place."

Danny answered, "Yeah. My hands still twinge a bit when I grab hold of something, but just a bit."

Sam asked the two of them, "So what do you guys want to do? We still have four hours of Friday left."

Tucker yelled, "Ooh! I say we catch the new action movie Mutant Vultures from the Bermuda Triangle. It just opened today."

Sam chuckled excitedly, "Oh, I'm all for that! Danny, you in?"

Danny responded in kind of a non-enthusiastic way, "Oh, uh, no. I don't think so."

Tucker asked him, "Dude, are you sure you're okay?"

Sam then said, "Yeah, you've seemed a little off ever since you got in that hospital."

Danny sighed, "Sam, I've been injured. What do you expect?"

Sam gave Danny a I know you're not telling the truth look and said, "Danny, I know you better than anybody I know. This is not about your injuries and you know it. Spill."

Danny replied, "Look, could we just…talk about this at home?"

Sam sighed, "Fine. We'll head to your house and talk about it there."

"Alright, Danny," Tucker said to his friend as they sat in Danny's bedroom, "What's this all about? Why have you been acting all gloomy?"

"Yeah," Sam added, "You haven't been this down since the Spectra incident."

Danny said, "Okay, you want to know what's been bothering me? It's Slade. He's been on my mind all week, and I can't get him off it."

Sam and Tucker exchanged looks. Tucker asked him, "Why is he on your mind exactly? I mean, I know he beat you up pretty bad, but hey, it could've been worse."

"It goes beyond that, Tuck. He put me in a hospital! No other battle I have ever been in has put me in a hospital before. And it's also in terms of exactly how he beat me. I attacked him so stupidly! This is a guy I have never heard of, and I just jump straight into it with no real plan of attack!" He said all of this very fast.

Sam shook Danny's shoulders, "Danny, whoa! Just calm down a little bit! You're getting ahead of yourself!"

Danny calmed down just a bit and went on, "Plus, he's not even a ghost. And he doesn't even have any ghost hunting weapons like Valerie or my folks. All he used was his own strength, and I get pounded.

"He set me up to battle me down in that sewer, guys. And I fell right into his trap. I was lucky to make it out of there. I owe you guys for that."

Sam said, "That's because we're your friends, Danny. We've always got your back. Through the best of times and the worst of times."

Tucker added, "We're here for you, Danny."

Danny smiled from ear to ear, "What did I ever do to deserve great friends like you?" Then the trio engaged in a three-person hug.

"How touching," a cold voice said from behind them.

Danny spun around, "No."

Sure enough, perched on a branch just outside his bedroom window, was Slade. He sneered, "Hello, Danny. How nice to see you again. Missed me while you were in that hospital?"

Danny didn't answer. He just transformed with an extra furious scowl into Danny Phantom.

Slade said, "You tend to hold grudges, my dear boy. I'm impressed by that as well."

Danny answered back as he phased through the window and outside, "I don't know what kind of game you're trying to play with me, Slade, but you're not gonna win!" He fired a powerful ghost ray at Slade, but he jumped from the branch he was crouched down on and up onto a higher branch, a branch that was hidden by the leaves.

"Where are you?" Danny called out, "Come on out and fight!"

No answer came, so Danny started firing multiple ghost rays up into the higher branches of the tree, hoping that at least one of them would connect with Slade.

"Reckless behavior, Danny," Slade's voice rang out, even though Danny still couldn't see him in the trees, "Someone else could get hurt from your fighting techniques. Excellent."

Danny growled, "See how excellent this is!" He then fired a ghost ray at the tree trunk. It made a large hole in it. Danny then kicked away the parts that were still there, and the tree trunk broke in half.

The top half of the tree began to fall. Luckily, it avoided Fenton Works and dropped the other way, out onto the street, snarling traffic on it.

"Yeah!" Danny shouted with a big smile, "How do you like that one, Slade?"

No answer.

Danny's smile faded and he said, "I have a bad feeling about this."

Just then, he felt a strong kick come at him from behind. Slade had jumped onto the op-center of Fenton Works before the tree fell and had now jumped at Danny. Danny was thrown forward by the force of the kick and he landed on the ground hard.

Slade dropped onto the street a short distance from Danny. He surveyed Danny lying on the ground as he got back up.

He said to the ghost boy, "Come on now, Danny. You'll have to do better than that. Don't tell me you're already tired."

Scowling, Danny phased through the ground and out of sight.

"Running away now, are we, Danny?" Slade called out, "How typical."

Danny phased back into sight behind Slade and tried to deliver a punch to the back of his head. But quick as lightning, Slade spun around and grabbed hold of Danny's hand. Instead of pushing it back like on Sunday, he twisted his arm around in an unnatural position. Danny screamed in pain, "Ow! My arm doesn't bend that way!"

Slade dropped Danny and said to him, "Why, Danny, that last attack of yours was despicable, vicious, and even quite evil. Very nice. But then, you know it's in you, young man. You know the evil that lurks somewhere inside you. You've seen it."

Danny rolled over and got back on his feet, his body bruised and his arm throbbing with pain. He panted, "How do you know about that? How do you know all of these things about me? What do you want with me?"

"Patience, my boy. You'll find out. I've done what I need for now. Good night."

And before Danny could even blink, Slade delivered a massive right hook straight to his face, knocking him down. Danny's world went black as he watched Slade disappear from sight.

"Danny? Danny? Please wake up." Sam's voice echoed throughout Danny's mind.

Danny slowly opened his eyes.

"Danny!" Sam cried as she hugged him. Danny blushed but accepted it.

Danny looked around after Sam stepped back and saw that he was back in his bedroom, lying in his bed. Sam and Tucker stood on the left and right sides, both looking shaken, but still glad to see that he was awake.

Danny rubbed his eye and asked, "How long have I been out of it?"

Tucker responded, "Oh, man. It's been three days!"

Danny narrowed his eyes, "Tucker, seriously, how long?"

Sam said to him, "It's only been four hours."

"Oh, geez. It's late. You guys should probably get going."

Tucker replied, "No. We called our folks and we're staying here tonight."

"That's really not…"

Sam interrupted, "Do you want to be by yourself looking like this?" She took a handheld mirror off Danny's desk and showed it to him. Danny grimaced. His nose was covered in dried blood, he had bruises over a mass portion of his body, and a few cuts were on his face as well as his arms and chest.

Danny shoved the mirror away and chuckled, "I look like an extra in a horror movie."

"Come on," Tucker said with a yawn, "We should probably go to sleep."

Within five minutes, the three of them were in their pajamas. Danny slept in his bed while Sam and Tucker slept on the floor on opposite sides of the room.

Tucker and Sam drifted off to sleep in five minutes' time. Danny, however, kept his eyes open and stared at the ceiling, thinking.

That's twice this guy's totally slaughtered me, Danny thought, Why can't I beat him? And how did he know about me meeting my future evil self? Is this guy psychic or something? He's psychotic, that's for sure.

Although he wouldn't admit it, Danny was now starting to grow a dread for Slade. It was one he had never felt towards Vlad. He always thought Vlad as clever, powerful, dangerous, and tricky, but he was still cocky, arrogant, and over-confident, which normally served as his weaknesses.

Slade, however, was none of those. He was patient, cynical, fast, and unusually nerve-wracking.

The thoughts of his two disastrous battles with Slade, what Slade was really planning, and when they might possibly meet next danced around in Danny's mind, and the night stretched into the early morning before he finally drifted off to sleep.

Hmm. It seems like now Slade is really starting to fiddle around with Danny's mind. But what exactly is he planning? How much more of a beating can Danny take? How can Danny match up to him? Why am I asking you all these questions? Anyway, these questions will be answered soon enough. But for now, wait for Chapter 6! Coming soon!