The cemetery looked different. It was still intact, the headstones standing proudly or mournfully, depending on one's point of view. One in particular caught Electra's attention; in fact, she had been looking for it. She kneeled before it and placed one hand over the missing date of death, wondering who had chiseled it away.
"Stupid people," she murmured. "Let the dead rest in peace."
"There is no peace in death," said a voice much like her own. She whirled around to face her mirror image, who continued, "I'm feeling generous today, so I'll simply ask that you leave rather than fry you as you so richly deserve."
So she wasn't dead in this world. "I am Electra!" she returned, drawing herself to her full height. "The one and only!"
Kat narrowed her eyes, glaring suspiciously at her smirking double. Her eyes didn't often deceive her, but it had been known to happen. She allowed them to spark dangerously and summoned her copper cane. "Do you mock me, worm?" she demanded.
"You mock yourself quite well enough for that, methinks."
Kat may not have been quite as prone to violence as her alternate universe counterpart, but she did not like being mocked. "Still your tongue, err I cut it out," she said menacingly.
Electra shrugged nonchalantly, an impish gleam in her eyes. Ever since her discovery that Danny Phantom was from an alternate reality, she had wondered which version of herself would win in a fight.
Anyone standing outside the cemetery might have wondered where the fireworks came from.
The mall was crowded, as usual. The four teens weaved their way through the press of bodies, unaware of the eyes that watched from high above. Unlike his counterpart, this Skulker knew nothing about other dimensions, and so was rather confused to see the black-clad whelp walking alongside his prey. The boy, though clearly weaker than Danny, gave off much the same power signature. It was perplexing, to say the least.
Technus had told him about the device that could separate a ghost from physical matter. That didn't seem to be what had happened; they both appeared to still be half-ghost. He wondered if it was an experiment in duplication gone wrong. Although he'd never heard of such a thing, he'd never heard of half-ghosts until he met Danny, either.
Skulker smiled suddenly as a plan formed in his mind. Fighting Danny's double would be much like fighting Danny himself used to be. Since Skulker had upgraded his equipment, the fight would be no contest. He wanted the original, of course, but he rather thought the imposter would make some spectacular bait.
The three friends snickered quietly at the sight of Shade sipping a chocolate milkshake with his eyes closed and the most blissful expression on his face. "So how long were you stuck in the Ghost Zone?" Tucker asked.
Shade cracked one eye open just long enough to say, "About a month."
All moods sobered significantly. "What happened?" Sam asked quietly.
The boy made them wait until he finished his shake before he glanced at his double. "You told them?" At Danny's nod, he sighed. "A couple months went by, and everything was fine. Then Plasmius came back. I don't know how.
"He convinced everyone that the whole thing was my fault, that I'd arranged for it all to happen or something. He said that I was working with the ghosts to destroy humanity and got a bunch of them to pretend I was their boss or something. Dad and Jazz are the only ones who still believe in me, but I can't go back. Ever."
His explanation was followed by a long, uncomfortable silence. He kept his eyes glued to the table while his companions exchanged awkward glances over his head. Each lost in their own thoughts, it was a long time before anyone spoke. Danny couldn't tell what Sam and Tucker might have been thinking, but he couldn't believe Shade would just give up. He wouldn't have.
Or would he? Thinking back to the first ghost he fought, if Sam's life hadn't been in danger, he might have just given up. Even the Box Ghost had been a challenge at one time, but the battles had given him a great deal more confidence. Shade had not yet reached that point; he was still relatively new to his powers and had fought far fewer ghosts. There had been Pariah's skeleton army, but they could barely be counted. He probably wouldn't even know half of what he could do if Danny hadn't provided an in-depth tutorial on the subject.
How many times had he been so desperate to tell his parents? How many times had he wished the accident never happened? How many times had wished his ghost half would just go away? When he had been in Shade's position, it had been too many to count.
Then he realized his brain had run away with him again and said, "You can't just not go back."
"Why not?" the boy scoffed. "No one wants me there anyway."
Danny spared a moment to wish Jazz was there, or at least that Technus knew more about psychology. "Because…running away won't solve anything." That was such a lame answer, and by the look on Shade's face, he thought so too. Fortunately, Sam came to the rescue.
"If you keep running away, it's only going to get worse," she said reasonably. "Don't you miss everyone?"
Tucker nodded. "Yeah, man. What happens while you're here and Plasmius decides to attack? There'll be no one to stop him!"
"I can't stop him anyway!" Shade exclaimed, slamming his fist on the table and earning a few curious glances. He made a great effort to lower his voice before going on. "Plasmius is too strong with or without the Crown and the Ring."
"You beat him before," Danny tried to point out.
"You beat him! I was just the cheerleader."
"But if you hadn't been there-"
"Just leave me alone!" Shade jumped to his feet, knocking over his chair and almost the table. "I'm never going back!" His eyes flashed green, and he became invisible to the astonished muttering of their fellow shoppers. Danny started to stand, but Sam and Tucker held him back.
"Just let him go," one of them said. He didn't pay enough attention to know which. "Maybe he just needs some time alone."
"He's had time alone; that's the problem." He shook them off and went to find a secluded place to transform.
Shade didn't actually go very far. He went up to the roof and hid behind an air conditioner, trusting his human form to keep Danny's ghost sense from going off. They were only trying to help, he knew, and he began to regret running off. He especially began to regret turning invisible in front of everybody; that would require some crowd control.
He hadn't meant to make life more difficult for his double, but he seemed to cause no matter where he went. He had just decided to go back to Ghost Zone where he belonged when some kind of glowing net dropped over him. He had just enough time to see Skulker's fist before it slammed into his head.
The armored ghost looked down at his unconscious catch. That went far too easily to have been at all fun, but at least he'd captured his long-time quarry. He picked up the net and flew away, unaware of the narrowed eyes behind him.
The Skulker that belonged in Danny's universe was beginning to wonder at all the imposters that seemed to have shown up. He had seen Electra and Kat's battle and had dismissed it. Neither had been particularly easy to see, and he had been busy trying to locate his prey. Thinking back, they had given off remarkably similar power signatures.
Suddenly, he found himself facing someone who could have stolen his old ecto-skeleton if he hadn't used its parts in the new one. The imposter, like the imposter ghost child, was weaker while still being the same. He knew Vlad had an idea to clone Danny, but himself and Kat as well?
Was it even possible to clone Kat? She wasn't a ghost in the proper sense.
Skulker thought for a moment and set his wrist unit to track the imposter. Although he wanted to simply fly after and destroy the trespasser, he felt he should know what he was getting into first. Since the whelp knew one of them, he would be the person to go to for information. Although he was hesitant to deal with the boy directly, especially after the last several days, he thought Kat might be willing to help. After all, her ego wouldn't allow for more than one of her to exist.
Having settled on a plan of action, Skulker headed off for the cemetery.
A/N: Gah! I am so sorry! I knew it would be a while, but I didn't think it would be that long. I got half way through this chapter and lost the file, so then I had to rewrite it. It turns out for the best, though, because this way is better. Still, I do apologize.