Heh... hi everyone. I apologize for the long wait. I'll probably be apologizing a lot for this. I've been working with Dragon on the Child of Mew, and we hope to finish that book before we work on this one. So until then, I'll be taking a hiatus on this. Don't worry, I still plan on continuing this book, I am a Danny Phantom fan after all. But it's hard focusing on this when I'm trying to finish Child of Mew's book with Dragon. We write on a daily basis, so I'm usually too tired mentally to write for this book. Even on our day offs, I would just like to relax and not have to write anything. But don't worry, I'm still going to continue this, I just need to finish my other book first. I hope this chapter will hold you over for a while. Once again, I apologize for making my loyal fans wait like this.
Chapter 45: Playing Chess
I don't know how long I was training with Vlad, but I would say about two hours or so, but I felt tired. My head was aching and I didn't want to go ghost again for at least a month. I stumbled into my room and all but collapsed onto the bed, more than happy to just sleep the day away. Vlad is quite a tough teacher, but I can see why he gets things done, he doesn't play around.
"You need to focus more, Andrew, you can't let outside influences distract you if you hope to master telekinesis. Even if someone like Skulker was aiming his missiles at you, or someone as loud and obnoxious as Technus is screaming to the heavens right next to you, you cannot let your concentration ever break. Do you understand?" Vlad's voice ran through my head. "In the heat of battle, you can't afford to take your time trying to concentrate, you don't have the luxury of having it quiet either. You need to always be aware and alert of your surroundings so you can quickly go into action."
Vlad would then attack me while I was to try to stop him with telekinesis. To say I got beat up quite a bit would be an understatement. After the first half hour of training, we left Vlad's private study and went to an extremely large and empty room. Turns out it was a simulator room that could mimic different conditions like snowy mountains or busy city streets. The floors and walls even moved around to simulate hills, cars, trees, buildings, and everything else that Vlad could throw at me.
Vlad also pretty much threw me right into it, and I had to figure out what to do if I wanted to find him, and survive. I suppose it wasn't too bad considering I've survived worse… much worse, but still, it certainly wasn't easy. I'll bet if Danny ever did train under Vlad, he'd be a force to be reckon with, even against Pariah Dark himself. If I know my brother, it's that he can learn fast and is pretty adaptable, I mean he survived the first month of having his powers with only Tucker and Sam as back up. I don't think I would've been able to adjust without Danny's help after I first transformed.
"Andy? Are you in there?" Jazz asked as she opened the door to my room.
"I'm here, and I'm sore and tired," I mumbled with my face in the pillow.
"Maybe you should go take a relaxing bath?" Jazz asked as she walked over and sat down on the bed next to me, opening up her laptop. "You really should check out the bathrooms. Mine was like a spa."
I looked up at her, "There was a spa in the bathroom? I didn't even know such a thing could exist."
"Yeah, it was really nice, I spent almost an hour in my bathroom, washing up and relaxing," Jazz said before she started typing into her laptop. 'Are you okay? How did your training go?'
"Maybe I will go check it out," I said before typing on her laptop. 'I'll live, but that was brutal. Vlad really doesn't mess around. I hope we can find out whatever it is we need to find out soon, so we can go home.'
"We should probably call home," Jazz said as she closed her laptop. "They're probably worried about us."
"Yeah," I said. "They're probably freaking out about us not being home right now. Maybe we should tell Vlad, or get his butler to do it."
"Maybe you should just rest, I can go see if I can find Vlad," Jazz said.
"Okay," I said. Although, if Jazz is going with Vlad to call our parents, maybe I can use this time to read that book about ghosts Vlad had. Vlad gave it to me after the training.
Jazz left the room to talk to Vlad about calling our parents. I sat up and looked down at the book. What should I read about first? I opened up to the page of contents. One of the chapters was titled 'Elemental Cores'. I was interested in reading that since it's something Danny and I have yet to use ourselves. I flipped the pages to that chapter, and saw a picture of three ghosts uses different elemental moves. One was shooting fire from their hands, the other was blowing out icy breath and the other was shooting electricity.
The first page talks about how every ghost have a core that makes their form. Lesser ghosts only have simple cores that can only use basic powers, such as flight and intangibility. The stronger the ghost, the more complex their core is. If a ghost is strong enough to have a complex core, then the core will be able to use different powers, such as duplication and shape shifting. An even stronger ghost with a much more complex core, nicknamed the Elemental Cores, can specialize in control over singular elements such as fire, ice, lightning, and many others. There are some rare exceptions, as there are some ghosts that were able to use more than one element.
I turned the page. The next page talks about how a ghost's personality often affects what type of element they can use. For instance, a ghost who keeps a cool head in certain situations are more than likely to obtain an ice core. A ghost who is passionate, yet calm, and could have a meltdown if left unchecked, would more than likely have a fire core. A ghost with a normally laid back attitude, those who would go with the flow would usually end up with a water core or wind core. A ghost who isn't afraid to go after what it wants, and can think sharp and fast, would more than likely get an electric core.
"What other kinds of cores are there?" I asked myself out loud as I flipped to the next page.
It is unknown how many elemental cores there are among ghosts, some are rarer than others, some may not have been discovered yet. Among the rarest elements would be Darkness and Light. While many ghosts can hide in the shadows of darkness or camouflage their invisibility in light, no ghost can actually manipulate the pure darkness or light element, with the exception of two ghosts. It is not known who these ghosts are.
There are some elements that are living entities by themselves, and are dangerous to wield. These powerful elemental entities have an unknown origin, and can only be used by ghosts they deem worthy. If an unworthy ghost was foolish enough to try and use one of these elemental entities, their core and being will be consumed by the entity itself.
These elemental entities chose who their host would be, and were unobtainable by any other ghosts. There were a few rumored names of these elemental entities in the book, and one of them I recognized, Foxfire. So, Foxfire chose me? What did that mean? Why did Foxfire choose me? And for that matter, when did Foxfire choose me?
… No, I think I know why and when. I remember talking to Foxfire, when Danny was… Corrupted Danny. It helped save me and Danny from the void. That felt like a lifetime ago now, I haven't heard from Foxfire since. I just know that my future self was able to use it easily. But if Foxfire chose me… then what about Danny? I think… I remember Foxfire saying something about a brother… is there another Foxfire or… did it mean someone it's close to, enough to consider as a brother?
"Excuse me, Master Andrew," Alfred said as he came into my room. "Lord Masters is requesting your presence."
I looked up at Alfred, "Okay." I closed the book and stood up, following Alfred. I've learned a lot about cores and elements, I just hope I can put this knowledge into good use.
"So what does Vlad want?" I asked.
"Lord Masters is about to call your parents and wishes you to be present for the call," Alfred explained.
Oh, right, I guess Jazz finally found him.
"Follow me and I shall lead you to Lord Masters' study," Alfred said. "That is where he and Lady Jasmine are waiting."
I nodded and quietly followed Alfred. I'll admit that I'm surprised my ghost sense hasn't gone off since I got here, I would've expected Vlad to have some ghost servants or something.
"Is something the matter, Master Andrew?" Alfred asked as we continued walking. "You seem to be deep in thought, is something troubling you? If there is, you are free to talk to me about it."
"Oh, it's nothing, really," I said. "I'm just thinking about home… you know, the home I came from before here."
"It is understandable that you are thinking that way having fled from the home you most likely have known for quite a good portion of your life," Alfred said.
"Yeah," I said. "I'm… also worried what my brother would do when he finds out we uh… 'ran away'. He can get pretty reckless, especially for those he cares about."
"I had a brother like that," Alfred said. "We used to be pretty close."
"You were?" I asked, surprised to hear this from the butler of all people.
"Yes. We would get into all sorts of trouble as kids," Alfred chuckled.
"... What happened to him?" I asked, hoping I wasn't touching a sore subject.
"We grew up. When we were adults, we had to leave home, go our separate ways, find jobs, go to college and… you know, life," Alfred said. "I work for Lord Masters as a butler, and as for my brother… well, I haven't kept in touch with him. Especially not since our little… disagreement."
"That's… really sad." I frowned. "What did you two… disagree on?"
"My brother did not want me to work for Lord Masters," Alfred responded. "He even went so far as to say that Lord Masters was truly a cruel monster that wanted everything for himself. My brother even said that Lord Masters would do anything to get his way, even if it wasn't… strictly legal."
"Heh… he sounds like my brother," I chuckled. "But maybe you should try talking to him again. I… don't want to lose a loved one, especially on a bitter note."
"I have considered it," Alfred said. "But for now, we have arrived. Lord Masters and Lady Jasmine are waiting for you inside."
"Thanks, Alfred," I said before going into the Study room.
I saw Vlad and Jazz sitting by a table. Vlad smiled at me. I looked at the phone that was on the table, it looked like an old fashion phone. I wonder if it's actually an old phone or if it's a modern phone that just looks like it's old fashioned.
"Ahh Andrew, I was wondering when you would arrive," Vlad said. "Are you ready to call your parents? They must be so worried."
"... Yes, I'm ready," I said, frowning a bit at how much he seem to be enjoying this. Probably happy to make Dad worried.
"Good, now go ahead and take a seat while I dial your parents' phone number," Vlad said.
I sat down on the chair beside Jazz.
"I will put it on speakerphone so you may talk to them as well," Vlad said as he put it on speaker and waited for someone to pick up.
Since this phone has speakerphone, it's most likely a modern phone that just look old fashion.
Before long, someone answered the phone.
"What do you want, Vlad?" A voice I recognized as Danny said on the phone, he didn't sound too happy either.
"Oh Daniel, I was wondering if I could speak with your parents, preferably your mother," Vlad said politely.
I looked at Jazz, wondering if we should say anything.
"They're not available right now Vlad," Danny said. "Now tell me what you want, or I'm gonna hang up."
Jazz looked as surprised as I was that Danny was the one who picked up the phone, neither of us knew what to say.
"Well then, perhaps you could pass on the message for me, if you'd be so kind, little badger," Vlad said, just as calm as ever.
"Vlad, my parents are busy, and I'm not gonna pass on the message of a fruit loop like you," Danny snapped. "Now, if there's nothing else, I'm gonna hang up."
"Oh, then you'll keep your parents worrying for their dear children if you refuse to cooperate, little badger," Vlad said.
That made Danny quiet for a minute on the other line. I was still wondering if Jazz and I should say something. I felt like I was betraying Danny just by being here.
"That got your attention now, did it?" Vlad said. "Did you just discover that your dear, precious siblings aren't home anymore?"
"What did you do to them?" Danny asked, sounding annoyed and angry.
"Oh, I didn't do anything to them," Vlad said. "They left home on their own volition and came here."
"... How do I know you're telling the truth?" Danny asked.
"We're right here," Jazz spoke up. "We're okay, Danny. But I just can't be around you right now."
"What? Jazz, why did you go there of all places?" Danny asked, sounding a bit frantic. "And what about Andy, is he okay?"
I let out a sigh before I said, "I'm fine, bro. I'm with Jazz."
"Worry not, young Daniel," Vlad said. "Your siblings are perfectly fine."
"But why are you guys at Vlad's?" Danny asked again.
"Vlad is the closest thing we have to a second father," Jazz said. "I would rather come here than go to our other… relatives out in the country."
"It's okay, Danny, we'll be fine, alright?" I said, hoping to ease him any way I could without being suspicious in front of Vlad.
"You hear that, Daniel? They've chosen to stay with me," Vlad said. "Now be a good little boy and pass this on to your parents, unless you want to keep them worried, then it's all on you, little badger."
"Danny! Who are you talking to on the phone?" Mom's voice asked in the background.
There was a sudden clang sound in the phone.
"Danny! Where are you running off to? Danny!" I heard Mom shouting at Danny.
Sounds like Danny may try to come over here to 'rescue' us.
"Hello? Who is this?" Mom asked over the phone.
"Ah, Maddie, how good it is to hear your voice," Vlad said with a big grin on his face.
"Oh, it's just you, Vlad…" Maddie said, also sounding slightly annoyed.
"Wait, did you say Vladdie is on the phone?" Dad's voice yelled in the background. "Vladdie! How is it?"
Vlad cringed when he heard Dad's voice booming on the phone.
"Daddy…" Jazz said, sounding all upset and sad.
"Jazz?" I heard both Mom and Dad said in sync.
"I'm sorry for running away from home, but… I can't be around Danny right now, and I need my space…" Jazz said. "I have Andy with me."
"Heh… uh… yeah, I'm with her," I sheepishly said.
"Well, if Vladdie boy is taking care of you, I guess we don't have to worry," Dad said. "Just come back whenever you are ready, okay Jazz?"
"That goes for you too, Andy!" Mom said.
"Not to worry, I'll look after them as if they were my own children," Vlad said. "Ta-ta."
With that said, Vlad hung up the phone.
"Well, your parents now know you're here," Vlad said. "And you two have already settled in, I take it?"
"We're… still getting used to it here," I said, feeling nervous.
"But yeah, we're pretty much settled in," Jazz said.
"Excellent, in that case, I'll get my lawyer to start signing the adoption papers," Vlad said, grinning.
Adoption papers? I frowned as I looked at Jazz, this could be serious. I really didn't want to be legally owned by Vlad.
"But before that, you two must be hungry, I'll have Alfred start making dinner for us," Vlad said.
After Vlad called up Alfred, he left us to our own devices, probably wanting us to explore the mansion of our own accord. I took Jazz to the smallest room I could find, well, a closet, it was still really spacious, hoping there weren't any bugs or cameras in here so we could talk freely.
"Jazz, this is serious. The longer we stay here, the more we risk actually being legal children to Vlad Masters," I said. "Admittedly it would be cool to live in a billionaire's mansion, but I don't want to be his son."
"Relax Andy, we can't be adopted easily," Jazz said. "But we should get out of here as soon as we can."
"Yes, we should," I said. "Jazz, what exactly are you hoping to find here? You said you had an idea as to why Skulker stole those nanobots from the Axion Lab and the ecto converter from our parents' RV?"
"I believe that Vlad is somehow connected to Ghost X-" Jazz started to say before I corrected her.
"His name is Skulker, not Ghost X. I know you call him Ghost X, but his name is actually Skulker," I said, hoping that me correcting her would stop all this Ghost X stuff.
"Okay, fine, Skulker. Anyways, I think that maybe Skulker is working for Vlad, seeing how you and Danny told me that Vlad paid Skulker for certain ghost weapons," Jazz said. "And it might not be different this time either."
"Are you saying that Vlad ordered Skulker to get those nanobots and the ecto converter?" I asked.
"Yeah, I think maybe Vlad is trying to create a weapon of some kind," Jazz said.
"Ugh…" I cringed. "Anything with nanobots scream bio weapon."
"Maybe he wants to make a weapon that causes the nanobots to spread to everyone, and then the nanobots take over the people and make them serve Vlad," Jazz said before she realized how preposterous that sounded. "Nevermind, I've been reading too much science fiction."
"I… really hope Vlad doesn't actually do that," I said. "I mean it's not that farfetched, besides, life is strange, you never know what's going to happen. … Maybe we can figure this out if we can get into his computer."
"And where would his computer be?" Jazz asked.
"Maybe in his Study room?" I asked. "That seems like a good place to put a computer in."
"Yeah, and it's the only place we know of right now," Jazz said. "Seems like the perfect place to hide something."
With that plan in mind, Jazz and I left the closet and walked through castle, going to the Study. I'm glad we didn't have to call Alfred to guide us, it would be troublesome if the butler stuck around to see what we were doing.
"Wait, Jazz," I whispered when we were about to turn the corner.
"What?" Jazz asked.
I pointed at Vlad, who was walking towards a big, fancy fireplace. Vlad touched a golden football statue on top of the fireplace, and pulled it like a switch. The fireplace then slide open like a door, revealing stairs leading down somewhere, I'm guessing his lab. Vlad went down the stairs as the fireplace closed behind him.
"Wow, you think the switch would be something a little less obvious," Jazz said. "Maybe we should wait until he comes back out."
"Wait," I said, looking over at the table. "There's a laptop over there. Maybe it has the answers we're looking for."
Jazz nodded and looked around the room before she snuck in and went over to the table where the laptop was sitting.
I just walked over there. If there are cameras here, it would see us whether we try to sneak over to the laptop or not. I sat down and turned on the laptop, since I was a faster typer, I decided to look for what we need. I typed in 'nanobots' and 'ecto converter' and pushed enter. And what I got was… a bunch of digital pictures of Mom.
"Oh, gross! I'll never be able to unsee that!" Jazz groaned.
"At least none of them are inappropriate and naked," I said, sheepishly chuckling. "But I don't think this laptop is going to give us any answers."
"Maybe it's hidden somewhere?" Jazz suggested, trying her best to get her mind off of those pictures. "I doubt Vlad is that trusting that he would leave his big plans out in the open."
"But this is a problem, how are we supposed to figure out his plans if he's got them hidden?" I asked. "It's not like we can just waltz into his lab and try to hack into his main system to get the information we need… we would need Tucker for that, and he's back in Amity Park."
"Hmmm, then we'll have to go to wherever he just went," Jazz said. "Hopefully the answers will be there."
"Yeah, we'll have to do that. Maybe the answers we need are in his lab," I said. "If I know Vlad, that's where he'd be keeping the nanobots and ecto converter he got from Skulker."
The fireplace suddenly started sliding open. My heart skipped a bit as we didn't expect Vlad to come out so soon. I looked at Jazz, and she looked at me, both of us were silently panicking. I looked around at the books before grabbing a random one, which happens to be Vlad's Yearbook, and opened it up to a random page, sitting beside Jazz as if we were reading it together, just before Vlad came stepping out of his lab.
"Jasmine? Andrew?" Vlad asked when he noticed us. "What are you two doing in my private study? You two should be in bed, asleep."
"We just wanted to come here and read," I said. "You have a lot of great books here."
"Then why not go to the library?" Vlad asked before he saw what we were 'reading'. "Is that my yearbook?"
"Why yes, it is," I said, trying not to sound nervous.
"And you were quite handsome back then," Jazz said, looking at a photo of Mom, Dad and Vlad in their college days. "Now I wonder why this never happened." Jazz said as she crinkled the page, hiding Dad from the middle while putting Mom and Vlad together in the picture.
"You flatter me, Jasmine," Vlad said with a smile on his face.
"Yeah," I said, wanting to roll my eyes. "I'm sure Mom would've been much better off with Vlad." I had to try very hard to keep the sarcastic tone out.
"I would've treated your mother like a queen," Vlad said. "But you two should be off to bed, it is late and the lawyer is coming tomorrow to have you sign some things."
"Okay, Uncle Vlad," Jazz said, smiling. "Come on, Andy, we better head off to bed. It's bad to stay up too late after all."
"Yeah, okay," I said as Jazz took my hand and all but dragged me out of the Study.
Jazz and I headed back towards our rooms.
"Okay, meet me in the corridor in about half an hour, Andy," Jazz whispered to me. "We're checking out that lab tonight."
I nodded to her, "Just be careful not to get caught."
"If I do, I'll say I was trying to find the kitchen so I could get a late night snack," Jazz said. "If Vlad caught me, he would probably believe the late night snacking was something I got from dad, so it's believable."
"Yeah, you have it easier since, as far as Vlad is concerned, you know nothing about half ghosts and our animosity towards him," I said. "Still, just try to be careful, trying to play it dumb with someone like Vlad will only work for so long."
"Alright, see you in a bit," Jazz said softly before she spoke up. "Night Andy, see you tomorrow. Sleep well, little brother."
"Goodnight, Jazz, see you in the morning," I said before we went into our separate rooms.
I stared up at the ceiling while lying in the bed, thinking about our plan and Danny. Danny must be really worried about us, I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to come and get us himself. Heck, knowing Danny, he was probably already halfway here. When this is all over, I owe him an apology, that is after he and Jazz work things out. I can't believe I let myself get involved, but I couldn't let Jazz just come here on her own, and she wasn't going to ask Danny for help.
It felt like a blink of an eye, yet also an eternity before the time to meet up with Jazz in the corridor was now. I was feeling anxious to get this over with, but I also didn't want to do this because if Vlad catches us, then we're dead, that's all there is to it.
The corridor has gotten a lot darker, and I didn't know where the light switch was for this place, so I grabbed a flashlight. I could use my um… ghost eyes, but I rather not use any of my ghost powers in case Vlad could sense them.
"Andy? Are you there?" I heard Jazz asking softly from not too far away.
I turned on the flashlight, seeing Jazz just a few feet away from me.
"Where's your flashlight?" I whispered to her. "It's going to be very dark in case you haven't noticed."
A light turns on and points at the ground. "I have one. You know me, I always try to be prepared."
We started making our way towards the Study room.
"You know, back during the reunion, I walked down these very halls with Danny," I said to Jazz. "It was then we encountered a very powerful ghost here. Then Danny 'mysteriously went missing', and suddenly there were two ghosts fighting here. I remember dropping my flashlight around here, before suddenly Vlad and Danny appeared where the ghosts were."
"I doubt it's still here," Jazz said. "But you would think that they would leave some hallway lights on."
"Nah, I picked it back up," I said. "And I guess Vlad saw no reason to leave some of the hallway lights on since it's just him and Alfred right now. I mean, there's us, but we're supposed to be asleep."
We came up towards the door leading into the Study room. Jazz decided to jump from knight statue to knight statue, trying to act like a spy… a really silly spy.
"Jazz, what are you doing?" I asked as I just simply walked to the door.
"I'm trying to be stealthy, what does it look like?" Jazz responded as she rolled to me.
"Jazz, there's nobody here, and if Vlad is here, he would've heard you hopping from knight statue to knight statue," I said as I opened the door.
"Fine, way to kill the fun, Andy," Jazz grumbled.
We headed into Vlad's private study, approaching the fireplace. Since Jazz was taller than me, she reached for the golden football, pulling the switch.
"Got it," Jazz said as she stepped back.
The fireplace split open like a doorway, just like before. Both of us walked down the stairs quietly. I felt anxious as we passed the torches on the wall.
"For a high tech place, Vlad sure keeps a lot of torches here," I said. "What, is he trying to go for some kind of evil, bad guy lair or something?"
"Well his mansion is a castle, and everything he has is modern but looks old," Jazz said. "Maybe he just likes the castle theme and vibe?"
"And his ghost half looks like a vampire, and… oh, I just realized, Vlad is such a vampire," I facepalmed myself. "I guess it's no wonder why he gives that 'bad guy' vibe." Then I paled. "I… hope he doesn't actually suck blood… from humans or ghosts."
"Ew! That's disgusting," Jazz said. "He may be a few marbles short of a full set, but I don't think he's that crazy."
"You'd be surprised, Jazz, I'm sure there's an abundance of fanfiction writers out there writing about Vlad being a vampire ghost right now," I said.
"What?" Jazz asked, extremely confused at my statement.
"Nevermind," I said. "Look, we're here."
We came into what looked like a laboratory. It was a lot bigger than the lab back at home, but it's understandable since Vlad is filthy rich. Everything looks so high tech and polished, but the only thing that was really odd was… everything is magenta. I… never took Vlad for the type of guy who really likes magenta.
"Wha…. why…. uh…" Was all I heard coming from Jazz as we looked around.
"Okay, all this magenta is hurting my eyes," I groaned, before looking around, seeing the Ghost Portal. At least he couldn't change the ghostly green of it to magenta. I also noticed a familiar suit.
"Hey, that's the Ecto Skeleton Danny used to fight Pariah Dark," I said as I walked over to it. "I guess I should've known Vlad took it."
"Hey, Andy! Look!" Jazz said, getting my attention. "Are those the Ecto Converter and Bloodstream Nanobots?"
I turned around to see the Ecto Converter and the jar of Bloodstream Nanobots floating in a glass chamber leaned against the magenta wall.
"Yeah… well, Jazz, congratulations, looks like you were right about Skulker giving Vlad these things," I said.
"I was right!" Jazz yelled happily, she then started dancing. "Uh-huh, I'm right, oh yeah, it's my birthday!"
"Jazz!" I hissed. "Stop that!"
Then I saw Vlad coming up from behind her with a stern look on his face. I felt my blood running cold in my veins.
"Jazz!" I yelled more urgently.
"What?" Jazz asked as she settled down.
"'What' is right," Vlad said, causing Jazz to turn around and gasp. "What are you two doing in my secret lab?"
Okay, this is bad, this is really bad. I didn't expect Vlad to come down here right now, I thought he'd be asleep, or at the very least waiting for the lawyer to come. I better think of something fast.
"We were… just uh… um…" I looked at Jazz while nervously scratching the back of my head, trying to think of a believable excuse. "We were curious, and we knew you had a lab. I mean you sent Danny and me down here before, during the reunion, and I thought it would be okay for Jazz to see it too."
"Really? If you wanted to show her my lab you should've asked," Vlad said. "But the fact that you came here after I sent you two to bed makes me a little concerned and suspicious."
"Hey, we're teenagers, Vlad," Jazz said with a grin on her face. "We make stupid mistakes like this all the time, you know how we are. And this lab is so much better than anything our Dad could hope to have."
This seemed to have calmed Vlad down as he smiled, "Yes, it is, isn't it?"
Of course, pull the Dad card, it always works. I should try remembering that next time I interact with Vlad.
"Yeah, but… why is everything magenta?" I asked before Jazz elbowed me in the side. "Ow! Hey, there's nothing wrong with asking that!"
"Nevermind that now. At this moment, you two should hurry back up to bed," Vlad said. "I can give you a full tour of my lab tomorro-"
Before Vlad could finish his sentence, the surface of the ghost portal started to move like something was about to come through. A few seconds later, Skulker came through holding what appeared to be some kind of strange rod that was constantly crackling electricity. It kind of reminded me of the Fenton Rod I used to use, but longer and had that weird ball thing at the tip.
"Sorry I'm a little late, I had some trouble getting this from Technus," Skulker said to Vlad.
Vlad frowned, obviously not too happy that Skulker came in while Jazz and I were here.
"Oh, am I interrupting something?" Skulker asked as he looked at us and then back at Vlad.
"Oh… ah! A ghost!" Jazz faked scream, it was too painfully obvious that it was fake.
"Drop it, Jazz," I sighed.
"Sorry…" Jazz frowned.
"You have quite the timing, Skulker," Vlad said as Skulker handed him the electric rod. "But what's done is done."
Skulker looked at us again, I'm sure he recognized me. I gave a sheepish grin to him before slowly edging behind Jazz, as if hoping he would stop staring at me if I hid behind her. Going invisible wouldn't help since I'm pretty sure his suit allows him to see invisible ghost, being a ghost hunter himself and all.
Skulker then, to my surprise, ignored me and turned his attention back to Vlad. "I brought the final piece that you wanted, is my payment in the usual place?"
"Yes, of course," Vlad said.
Skulker nodded before he grinned at me, "Another time, ghost child." he said before he flew back into the Ghost Zone.
I couldn't help but sigh in relief. I didn't want to have to deal with Skulker right now. Vlad turned to us, still holding that electric rod in his hands. He looked really menacing while holding that.
"Ghost child?" Jazz asked, trying to feign ignorance so Vlad wouldn't find out. "Wait, is that Danny Phantom kid here?"
"I'm sure it was just a mistake on Skulker's part," I said quickly. "We do look kind of similar."
"You and Danny Phantom?" Jazz said as she looked at me. "No, I don't see the similarities at all. For one, Danny Phantom isn't as cool headed as you."
"Well, you two have seen a lot here," Vlad spoke up. "Now the question is… what will you two do about it now?"
"Oh, uh… we-" I began to say when something, or someone interrupted me.
"Vlad!" Speaking of Danny Phantom, he flew into the lab's ceiling right now, glaring at Vlad. "Give my siblings back."
"Siblings? What is Danny Phantom talking about?" Jazz said, really trying hard to appear like she didn't know Danny.
Danny looked back, surprised to see us. Why? … I guess he didn't know we were here, in the lab, with Vlad.
"Hey! Are you two okay?" Danny asked in concern. "That fruitloop didn't brainwash you, did he?"
"Fruitloop?" Jazz asked still trying to act like she had never met Danny, but her mask was faltering. "Uncle Vlad, what is Danny Phantom talking about? We don't know him, right Andy?"
"Oh please leave me out of this," I groaned, wishing I wasn't here right now. It's getting a little confusing as to who knows what right now. Vlad should know I know who Danny is, but he doesn't know that Jazz should know Phantom, and he knows that she shouldn't know that I know… argh! My head hurts!
"Okay, I've heard enough," Vlad said. "Daniel, so nice of you to join us. Why don't you and these two play a little game?"
"No games, Vlad," Danny said. "I'm taking my siblings and I'm going home, and you can try to stop me if you want."
"Why would I try to stop you when I could do something so much better," Vlad said before he grabbed the electric rod with his telekinesis and launched it into Danny's chest.
I gasped when I heard Danny's pain filled screams before he fell to the floor, unconscious. I almost launched myself at Vlad for doing that to my brother, but I managed to hold myself back. The strange thing is… Danny was still in his ghost form despite being unconscious, usually he'd change back to human when he became unconscious… maybe something's keeping him from transforming back? … Could that ghost electricity be responsible?
"Why did you do that?" I demanded.
"So I can test how loyal you and Jasmine are and see if you truly wish to become a part of my family," Vlad said with a sinister grin.
And just like that, we've become chess pieces to Vlad's game.
Auguste the clown: Yeah, Andy is definitely more of the mind over matter type of fighter. Danny is the brute force between the two of them. Well, Vlad and Andy's heart to heart isn't in this chapter, but maybe in the next chapter.
ONMISENSE95: Maybe, maybe not, Andy is more uneasy with Vlad, but at least he's not always trying to antagonize the man. I don't know if I will have Vlad redeemed or not, that remains to be seen. Heh, are you hinting at Reality Trip?
ZAFTPrime: Thanks! And nice, good luck with your fic!
RedHood001: Heh, I guess you'll see if Danny, Andy and Jazz will have a rift in their relationship or not due to Vlad. Andy is trying to stay on Vlad's good side, and is willing to listen if Vlad is willing to teach without a high price.
mysteryfan4ever: Heh, so it seems people are hoping that Andy will redeem Vlad someday. I guess we'll see if he does. XP
Luna Lillyth: Yeah, you can't trick Vlad so easily, and he could be a good teacher when he wants to be.
Joltik12: I hope you're doing well. Yeah, Andy seems like the type of guy who would try to take advantage of learning how to use his ghost powers better, even if it's with Vlad. I like to think Andy and Jazz would be a pretty good team. Heh, well don't blame it all on Dragon, it has been a while since I continued this story, it's easy to forget what's already been established.
Raidentensho: Oh, right, I forgot that the Fright Knight used it. It's not something we see the ghosts using very often. I don't know the Aztec culture, so most likely I won't be using them. Well, Andy hasn't learned how to use his fire core yet, but we'll see.
randomphandom: Thank you. ^v^ I figured Andy wouldn't let Jazz go alone, and he knew he wouldn't be able to stop her from going, so the best thing he could do was go with her. Andy, being the strategic one of the group, is willing to learn from Vlad if Vlad is willing to teach without a high price, even though it makes him worried.
Jewel moonstone: Heh, it's nice to see you then. XD I'm flattered this is the best twin series you've read, though I'm sure there are others out there better than mine. Well, I'm not too sure yet what I'm going to do for Kindred Spirits, but chances are that if there's a Dani, there's most likely gonna be an Andi. But at the same time, I'm not sure if I want to make an Andi, still it wouldn't make sense if Vlad didn't try to make her. I guess we'll see how that goes when we get there.
Thank you fellow sister in Christ!
Mana: Well, it's not just the Holidays, it's more like wanting to finish one book before focusing on another. But it's good to hear you're doing well.
Heh, well I did read Pearl84's Checkmate long before writing My Brother's a Ghost, in fact some of that story inspired certain elements to this one. As for if it's a reference or not, it can be seen as such.
Sam with a psychic power link to Danny... personally I'm glad they didn't go with that idea. Sam kind of already felt like a Mary Sue-ish character as it is. I don't know, maybe I'm just biased against Sam, it could've been interesting if done right. I don't think it's impossible for Sam to ride a motorcycle, I've seen her drive the Specter Speeder and an ATV in the show.
Heh, well it's hard to say if Vlad will even be redeemed in this series, but who knows, he might be. While I understand why Danny never listens to Vlad, there were times in the series I wished he'd just talk to Vlad or just work with him instead of always antagonizing him. Which is why I'm letting Andy do what I wished Danny did.
Heh, well I believe the Christmas episode is weeks after the Vlad incident, so maybe that's why we don't see them get punished. That and maybe they're just happy to have their daughter home.