Chapter 2:

After breakfast when Danny went to Fenton Works, which was literally right next door to his own house, he performed his usual routine for checking into work. He walked into his parent's living room and intangibly stuck his head through the floor.

His Father Jack Fenton grinned up at him, "No new inventions this time Dan-O."

Danny cautiously phased into the lab, "Then what are you working on?"

Jack's grin was basically a permanent fixture on his face at this point and getting older had done nothing to diminish its child-like qualities, "Just making a little more Ecto-Dejecto for the medical kit."

Danny raised his eyebrow, "I know it is very useful and all, but when are you going to get around to changing the name?"

Jack shrugged, "Never, you should know by now that once a Fwnton invention gets a name, that is what it shall be called from that point forevermore."

Danny sighed, "Yeah, I know… why is Tucker asleep on the computer?"

Jack looked over at the Fenton Works Ecto-puter, which had an image of Danny's friend Tucker on it fast asleep, and his snores were coming through the speakers loud and clear, "He was working on a bug we discovered in the programming all night."

Danny rolled his eyes and walked over to the, in his mind, stupidly named super-computer and yelled into the microphone, "WAKE UP!"

"WAHHH!"

CLANG

Danny rolled his eyes and walked over to his friend who was on the floor rubbing his head underneath a new Tucker-shaped indent in the wall, "Why aren't you at home with Valerie?"

Tucker glared up at his friend, his solid green left eye glowing a little fiercer than normal, "Because somebody let Skulk-Tech a little too close to the computer at some point and they left a virus in there that was causing bugs to pop up in some very important programming."

Danny rolled his eyes, "Well, sorry. Next time I'll ask him to please wait for you to show up so that you can immediately detect and undo whatever crap he tries to put into our systems."

Tucker floated into the air a little and then came down to rest on the floor with a small clang from his armored feet hitting the cement, "And why did you have to wake me up like that? You know it takes a while for my self-repair systems to work out those dents in my armor from hitting ghost resistant walls."

Danny shrugged, "Because it is fun and you get to experience what Mr. Lancer put me through back when we were 14."

Tucker stretched his back, causing creaking sounds to echo in the lab, "Dude, you're evil."

Danny grinned, "Valerie would have done the same."

Tucker rolled his right eye, "She gets me up in a totally different way in the morning."

Danny raised one eyebrow at his friend, "..."

Tucker gave him an incredulous look, "What?"

Danny shook his head, "TMI my friend, TMI."

Tucker took a half-hearted swipe at Danny, "Danny!"

Danny shrugged and floated away a little bit, "You're the one who said it. Just be glad Danielle isn't around or Sam would have had some of her special vines attack you."

Before Tucker could retort, Jack spoke up, "Please don't start destroying our lab again."

Tucker nodded and Danny grinned, "Sure thing, Mr. F./Dad."

Jack motioned to the surgical table, "While you are here and awake, could I give you a check-up, Tucker? Just to make sure your systems are running properly and your core is still healthy."

Tucker nodded, "Sure thing… I mean, I haven't been having any problems with it."

Danny felt a twinge of guilt again as he watched the imposing half-ghost cyborg his best friend had become lie down on the table. His warm, and now slightly dented, ecto-infused silver armor touching down on a table made of the same stuff. The black Fenton Works Synthetic Skin material with glowing green lines flowing throughout it bending with the real and fake muscles beneath. Just looking at Tucker on the table again made the memories of his frantic flight home with his dying best friend in his arms threatened to cause him to cry all over again. Tucker had obviously adjusted to being the pinnacle of Fenton Works engineering, but Danny was still wishing that his friend was still fully human.

His sister chose that moment to walk down the stairs, and taking one look at her brother's face she rolled her eyes and walked over between Danny and the table, "Danny, it isn't your fault."

Danny growled slightly, "Yes it is, it is my job to protect you guys from ghost attacks."

Jazz sighed, "I don't even need my telepathy to tell what you are thinking, Danny. You need to stop beating yourself up over this, especially considering your 'job' is a self-imposed one."

Danny's eyes narrowed, "How can I? It was because of my enemies that Tucker was injured so badly. It took Mom and Dad working their butts off and using half of the Fenton Works resources to save him."

Jazz sighed again, "But it only worked thanks to you getting him here so fast and you finding that ghost core that was compatible with him."

Danny's eyes flashed green, "And what about you?"

Jazz raised her eyebrow, "What about me?"

Danny threw his hands in the air, "Don't you feel the least bit angry at me for not protecting you from Spectra, Nocturne, and Plasmius?"

Jazz shook her head, "No, especially considering you destroyed a few of the Sierra Nevada Mountains kicking Plasmius' butt around for it."

Danny sighed, and turned around, then he felt a large hand on his shoulder and turning his head he saw the metallic arm of Tucker resting there, "Dude, we knew what we signed up for when we started helping you. As it is, despite the pain I went through to get to this point, I fully enjoy my powers and I enjoy using them to help you out. Stop beating yourself up over it, Danny."

Danny sighed, "Nothing I can do about it now I guess, and if I haven't gone back in time to fix it yet, that probably means Clockwork thinks it is for the best."

Jack walked over to them, "Exactly! Now enough of this depressing talk, we have some fun to get to!"

Tucker raised his eyebrow, "Am I invited along for the ride?"

Danny asked at almost the same time, "So we don't have some crazy new experiment to try out?"

Jack shook his head, "Nope!"

Jazz sighed, "I told him that everybody needed a break so he is taking you and mom somewhere and sending Tucker home for the day."

Danny nodded, "I see, and what about you?"

Jazz held up her hand and Danny saw one of her beloved psychology books in her hand, "I need to catch up on some reading, so I voluntarily took the job of watching the portal."

Danny nodded, "Okay, just please try to not destroy the lab this time if Spectra or Nocturne come through."

Jazz grinned viciously, "I make no promises when it comes to them two and Plasmius."

Jack winced, "I still… I just…"

Danny rolled his eyes, "Dad, you didn't know, and he has actually always been that way. You remember what I told you about the alternate timeline where you got powers?"

Jack nodded, "Yes, I just wish that… I don't know… Anyways, your mom is probably out in the car waiting for us, so let's go!"

Danny watched his dad turn and run up the stairs and then turned to Tucker, "And you, my friend, need to go be with your wife and daughter post haste."

Tucker nodded and engaged his special hologram emitters that allowed him to blend in with the rest of humanity. Now he just looked like a ridiculously muscular man a little shorter and broader than Danny wearing a yellow T-shirt and Jeans. He had his fake red beret on top of his head. He was however "wearing" something like combat boots and fingerless gloves with metal on the back of them. He even "had on'' a sort of metal back-pack. Things that could help explain his ability to fight ghosts without actually revealing his own cyborg/ghostly nature.

He winked and gave Danny a two-fingered salute as he turned intangible and flew through the roof with a last call of, "Good luck, Dude."

Danny sighed, "Thanks." He turned to his sister as the last of Tucker's foot slipped through the roof, "Are you going to be okay in here while I am gone?"

Jazz rolled her eyes and then caused them to glow molten yellow and orange for emphasis, "I am one of the most powerful on our team."

Danny nodded, "I know, but I worry."

Jazz put a hand on his shoulder, "Danny, go have fun for once. It has been far too long since you did much of anything with Mom and Dad besides work or fight Ghosts."

Danny nodded, "Okay. If you…"

Jazz over-rode him, "Need anything I will call you. Go, Danny."

Danny held up his hands in surrender, "All right. I am going, I am going."

Jazz watched him fly up through the ceiling and shook her head, "If anyone shows up wanting to pick a fight, I am sure I will be more than enough to deal with anyone that decides to poke their head through the portal. Worry wort of a little brother."

Vlad Masters glared into a tube in his underground laboratory, "Fright Knight."

The purple and black specter of Halloween appeared kneeling behind his currently human master, "Yes, what is thy bidding?

Vlad Masters grinned, "You know that plan we have been working on for a while now?"

Fright Knight nodded, "Yes, is it almost time?"

Vlad nodded, "A duplicate of mine monitoring the spy equipment just let me know that the little badger has flown the coop for the day, meaning if we are going to put the plan into action. The time is now."

You could almost hear the grin in Fright Knight's words, "Is my sword ready?"

Vlad nodded, "Yes, the modifications I have made to its banishing properties are complete. Now with the help of my lovely stored Skeleton Key over here and your upgraded sword we can take the ring from Pariah and banish him from this realm all in one fell swoop."

Fright Knight waved at Plasmius, "And then you will become the King of all Ghosts."

Vlad nodded, "But of course, not without the Crown of Fire."

Fright Knight looked around, "I have not felt its presence since shortly after I started working for you. Your skill at hiding things is incredible, Master."

Vlad grinned and the black rings formed around him and split, "Of course it is. Do you think it is easy to hide the two of us from Daniel's blasted Ghost Sense?"

Fright Knight shook his head, "No it is not, but other ghosts have used trickery before to beat it."

Vlad sighed once the rings of ghostly energy completed their work of transforming him into the vampiric looking and expensively white suited Vlad Plasmius, "When he was younger, yes. It has only gotten stronger with time."

Fright Knight conceded, "As is the case with all ghosts."

Vlad nodded, "Even me. I can feel him catching up to me though, which is why I need to banish Pariah and take the ring for myself."

Fright Knight tilted his head, "Do you fear Phantom catching up to you in power?"

Vlad shrugged, "Yes and no. Despite the fact that I am still more powerful than him, he has more abilities than I do and he has the mindset of a protector. He won't give up so long as someone is in danger. The Ring and Crown are so that I can match his tenacity."

Fright Knight considered that for a moment, "...A trait which you do not naturally possess."

Vlad shook his head, "As you well know, I am a politician and an opportunist. Which is why we must make the most out of the opportunity given to us now."

Fright Knight watched him walk over and reveal a red Fenton Thermos in a wall compartment by pressing a few invisible buttons on the wall, "The crown and key, I presume."

Vlad grinned, "Indeed, every once in a while my dear old friend comes up with a useful though stupidly named invention. And this is one of the more useful ones… so long as you can fix the power supply issue."

Fright Knight looked up at his own blade, "And my sword?"

Vlad chuckled, "Protected by a Specter Deflector."

Fright Knight watched him walk over and hit another set of invisible buttons, causing the tube surrounding the sword to lift away. The sword returned to its owner once free of containment, "Now it is time to put the plan into motion."

Vlad nodded, "Indeed."

Fright Knight followed him over to the closed portal in the wall of his lab, and watched him set down the thermos to be able to manipulate the controls. With a swing of his sword Plasmius vanished in an instant, never to be seen again on Earth. Fright Knight calmly hit the release button on the thermos revealing the Crown of Fire in all its burning green glory and the glowing Skeleton Key. He carefully picked up the Crown in his left hand and used his right hand to pick up the Skeleton Key. He walked over to the portal door and stuck the key in, causing it to open. He slowly flew into the spiraling green portal. Once he was through, the door shut behind him leaving no evidence of his betrayal.

Once within the insanity that is the Ghost Zone's Swirling green nothingness and everythingness, Fright Knight whistled for his mighty steed Nightmare, "Whooee-uueet!"

The ferocious Bat-winged Alicorn answered him as it galloped through the green lighted air towards him, "Ne-e-e-eigh!"

Fright Knight nodded to it and mounted it, "Thanks to Plasmius' positioning of his portal near my liege's castle this will be a very short trip."

Nightmare nodded and took off towards Pariah's Keep, "Ne-e-e-e-e-eigh!"

Fright Knight's green eyes seemed to smile with malicious glee, "Soon, our terror will be released upon that human world once again."