Chapter Seven
"Old Habits Die Hard"
"I can't believe that I lost them again!" Valerie angrily thought as she came out of the alley after loosing the Phantoms again for the fifth time this week. She was busy in her thoughts that she didn't notice where she was going until she bumped into someone. "Sorry," she looks up at the figure and she notices who it was right away, "Mr. Masters!"
"Hello Miss Gray, how are you today?" he asks her.
"If you don't count loosing those ghosts again, just fine."
"I thought my new attachments were able to hurt them?"
"They're making doubles of themselves before the split off in four directions," she said bitterly ignoring his question.
"They can duplicate themselves?" Vlad asked acting surprised.
"They split themselves into two before they shuffle themselves up before they fly off."
"So," Vlad thought as he acted like he was deep in thought, "you have finally learned to duplicate but you're useless Daniel since I have four to your two. I'm unsure why Danielle's powers are still evolving. They must be evolving at the same rate as Daniel's since those pathetic Vultures, who are indisposed of at the moment, stabilized her. I must dispose of her quickly since she is his weakness and without her he'll be devastated with grief."
"Mr. Masters, what do you think I should do about it?"
"I don't know yet, but it's best you focus more on one of them. Primarily his sister since, I think, he most likely cares more for her than anything else," he replies as an unseen smirk creeps on his face.
"Why didn't I think of it before?" Valerie said as she hits her head. "When he came to her rescue on the day I first saw her. He threatened to rip my suit apart if I hurt her again, and now they're threatening to expose me in front of my friends at school if I don't lay off of them!"
Vlad chuckled to himself, "Using your enemy's weakness against them? You're becoming more like me Daniel more than you think." He then turns his attention back towards Valerie, "I'll try to get you something that can see through their ruse, but for now focus more on one of them since the other will come to their aid. I must be off," he checks his watch, "I'm meeting an old college friend for lunch and I don't want to be late."
Elsewhere in the park, Danielle was with the "gentle jock of Casper High," Chad, and they were just walking through the park.
"How do you like Amity Park?" Danielle asked him.
"It's a bit strange having ghost attacks around the city and having two opposite sides protecting it," he replies after a chuckle.
Danielle's mind began to wonder now. This is the first time that she has ever had feelings for someone else. Vlad doesn't count since she hates him for what he tried to make her do. Danny was the first person to trust her and he continues to trust her despite that she is his clone. Jazz treats her almost like the younger sister that she didn't have while Danny treats her more as a twin sister than anything else. Then there was Chad, this was one of the first people that she has talked to about other things that doesn't include ghost. She hasn't told him of her alter ego since she has only known him for a week. She then begins to laugh at a joke that Chad had told and then her Ghost Sense went off silencing her laugh. She begins to look around while Chad continues to laugh.
Chad was soon tackled from behind by a large cat-like creature with long saber-like teeth. Danielle let out a yelp of fright at the sight of it and she didn't want to leave him since that might expose her secret. So she takes a sturdy limb and swings at the cat knocking it off of Chad.
"Lets get out of here!" Danielle suggested as Chad gets back up and he nods in agreement.
However, they were soon pinned to the ground by two cats and one of them happens to be the one that Danielle had hit since one of its saber-like teeth were missing. The cats were soon knocked off of them be a blast.
"Get off of them ghosts!" it was that Huntress and she opens fire on them again forcing them run off. "Hey, come back here!" she shouts only to be pinned to the ground by something much bigger.
It was a Sphinx and it had pinned her to the ground. Valerie tried to using her weapons but it failed as if they had no effect on it. Then a green blast comes out of nowhere knocking the Sphinx off of Valerie.
"Bad Kitty!" it was Danny Phantom and he launches another attack but this only enrages the Sphinx.
"I don't need your help, ghost!" Valerie snaps at him.
"Answer my riddle correctly and I'll leave," the Sphinx spoke in a feminine voice.
"I don't make deals with ghosts!" Valerie snaps, ignoring what the Sphinx had just said, as she charges at the Sphinx.
The Sphinx raises its large claw and slashes at Valerie causing a huge gash across her chest. She hits ground nearby the stunned Danielle and Chad with blood dripping out of her cuts. They went to see if she was okay as she groans in pain as the Sphinx approaches her.
"Hey," Danny shouts at the Sphinx causing it to stop, "what's the riddle?"
The Sphinx just smiles mysteriously and begins to recite:
"What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?
What flies around going through tangible objects, going unseen, and using others like a puppet?
Take half of each and what do you get?"
Danny began to think about what he had just heard. He knew that the second verse to the riddle was a ghost and he knew that he had heard the first verse from somewhere before. If you were half-ghost then what would the other half make you? Danny mentally hit himself in the head not recognizing the answer was right in front of him.
"The answer is 'Halfa,'" Danny answered and the Sphinx just nodded before vanishing from sight.
"What kind of answer was that?" Valerie snap as she fired a weapon only to miss due to her blurred vision.
"We need to get you to a hospital," Chad said as she collapsed.
"No!" she snaps calling her board to her before she flies off on it.
Danny just sighs shaking his head as he follows her while invisible just to make sure that she was okay. She did indeed go to the hospital and Danny would've wanted to see if she was okay but that might be a bad idea. So he continued to fly past the hospital since he was on his way to meet up with Sam and Tucker at the miniature golf course since he was already running a little late. He hides behind a dumpster in an alley to de-transform.
"You're late," Sam said annoyed.
"Sorry but I ran into some ghost trouble and Valerie paid me another visit," Danny replied.
"Maybe you should expose her," Tucker suggested.
"I'm against it since I don't want her after me and now she's in the hospital due to a ghost attacking her," Danny replied sounding guilty.
"Hospital?" Tucker asked surprised.
Soon his Ghost Sense went off and he was soon tackled by a legless skeleton.
"Change," it spoke while bleating.
"What?" Danny asked confused.
"Change," it repeated.
Danny's eyes glowed green and he knew what it exactly meant. "Get off of me!" as he shot an ecto-blast at it before he ran off away from the course.
He was able to loose the ghost and transform behind a bush. He attacks the ghost just as it came after him knocking it in the chin before finishing it off with a powerful ecto-blast that leaves a rut in the ground.
"You don't think--" Sam began only to be interrupted by Danny.
"Yes!" he snaps out of anger as he leaves them behind. "I must get to Dani before she gets into trouble!"
Unfortunately for her, she was already under attack by a Hulk-like ghost with four arms and it was wrestling with Chad, who was on the loosing end.
"Get out of here!" Chad commands as he receives a beating from the ghost.
"I can't!"
"Go now!" he said strongly just before he gets knocked unconscious as the ghost now turns its attention to Danielle.
She thought quickly of her options since she knew that Vlad was behind this and he still wanted that half-ghost son of his. She charges up for an ecto-blast without transforming and fires straight at the ghost's chest causing it to dissolve into ectoplasm. She ducks behind a bush and transform before she flies off to find Danny. They ran into each other just as she took off.
"Danny, did you just--" Dani began just as Danny interrupted.
"Yes, and I bet Vlad is behind this."
A blast came at this but it missed, "Hold it right there!" it was Valerie again and Danny was worried that she was going to hurt herself worse if she got involved. She was soon knocked out of the sky and Danny catches her much to her protest. "Let me go!"
"Your welcome," Danny sarcastically replies as he sets her on the ground.
They were soon surrounded by dozens of ghosts and they each looked grotesque in their own way.
"Ew! What are those?" Valerie asked in disgust.
"Remember that ghost we met?" Dani asked.
"Yes."
"He's the one who created these things and he's after me," Danny replied.
"Why only you?"
"Lets just say that I did some things to him that he doesn't like."
One of the ghost attack and Dani destroys it with an ecto-blast, "We need to get them outside the city before they cause anymore damage!"
"Why didn't you think of that before you trash the city?" Valerie snaps as she blasts a ghost.
"Not all ghost will chase after us besides Skulker!" Danny snaps back.
They all take off with the ghosts following them as they led them away from the city. They led them well beyond the city and landed in a large clearing well away from causing any damage except to the surrounding area. They were then surrounded by them as they landed, but they didn't attack as if they were waiting for an order.
"Why aren't they attacking?" Dani asked.
"Why Danielle," a voice spoke from above and it was Plasmius, "they're waiting for my orders? I knew that you and Daniel would lead them out of Amity Park but I didn't count on having the Huntress following you."
"You are still one seriously crazed-up fruit loop," Danny said acting bored.
"Try one insanely crazed-up fruit loop," Dani corrected.
Plasmius frowns and shakes his head at the statement, "Always with the wisecracks and I'll have what I came for when I defeat you."
"I don't know what's going on here, but I'll take care of you first before I finish off the Phantoms!" Valerie snaps as she open fires on the ghosts surrounding them destroying some in the process.
"Naïve as always, Miss Gray," Plasmius replies shaking his head.
"I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Please, Miss Gray, I know that it is you under that suit just as the Phantoms know. I'm not interested in you and you can leave at your choosing."
"Here's my choice!" she opens fire on Plasmius but he just blocks it with a shield.
"Have it your way," he sighed. "You all know what to do!" he orders his creations.
"Yes, Father!" they all bellowed.
They soon attack them while the Phantoms and Valerie opened fire on them. For some reason the ghosts ignored Valerie since their focus was on the Phantoms. She takes this as a distraction and takes off to attack Plasmius. She attacks him but he lazily blocks her attacks with a shield before he grabs her by the arm just as she came into his range. He takes her board off her feet and destroys it with an ecto-blast sending it to the ground below.
"You'll pay for that, ghost!" she snaps.
"My dear Miss Gray," Plasmius replies calmly as he smiles, "it's not you I'm after."
They look down to see the Phantoms take off into the air while Plasmius' creations followed. They then charged up for an attack and launch it at them destroying all of them in the process leaving a crater in their wake. The two then fly up to Plasmius and Valerie looking displeased.
"I thought you would have stopped while you were ahead?" Danny questioned.
"Yeah," Dani added, "this is going to turn into an obsession if you're not careful."
"Old habits die hard and I won't stop until I have what I want!" Plasmius replies as he throws Valerie at them and Danny catches her.
"Please," Dani said as she rolls her eyes.
"You're nothing more than one seriously crazed-up fruit loop--" Danny continues.
"--who needs a cat--" Dani adds.
"--who has a sick obsession with a married woman--"
"--who tries to kill their best friend--"
"--who needs to try dating services--"
"--who needs to see a shrink--"
"I do not need to see a shrink!" Plasmius yelled as his anger was near the boiling point and Dani's insult had just crossed the line. "I will not try dating services! I do not have a sick obsession with a married woman! I will not get a cat and I am most certainly not a fruit loop!" his last word became a scream and this caught everyone by surprise.
"Drat!" the Phantoms cursed as they dodged out of the way going towards the ground while the painful violet shockwaves pounded on their eardrums.
Plasmius reverts back to his human form in a pair of black rings separating from his waist going in opposite directions as he heads headfirst towards the ground.
"What was that!" Valerie asked as she removes her hands from her ears.
"The Ghostly Wail," Danny answers.
"A devastating attack that destroys anything and everything in its way. I think it was our insults that had set him over the edge," Dani continues.
"Great, he can destroy the whole town with that!" Valerie said as she wrestles herself out of Danny's grasp.
"Not exactly," Danny replies.
"What do you mean, ghost!" she snaps pointing a blaster to his head.
"It wastes too much energy and he won't last long if he keeps using it. It also means that he'll be easily defeated after he uses it."
A chuckle could be heard and it was coming from the dust where Vlad had landed. They could also see a black light emanating from the dust as he comes out back in his ghost form.
"So," he begins as he chuckles again, "you two think you're the only ones who can do that? Once I master it, I'll eliminate the both of you!"
"Not unless we beat you to it!" the Phantoms yelled as they fired an ecto-blast at him only for him to block it with a shield.
"Fools!" as he splits himself into four in which they all speak at once, "I have twenty years of experience and you should've joined me when I first offered it, Daniel!"
"Here's his answer!" Dani snapped as she and Danny splits themselves into two and launched a charged ecto-blast at him only to have it blocked by a shield while Plasmius laughed at their failed attack.
Post Author's Note: The first verse of the riddle that the Sphinx recited is the classic riddle as seen in "Odepius" by Sophicles. I'm unsure how old that one is but I know it's seen in the play. I just don't want to get into trouble since I've seen a few 'fics that quote other works at times, and one way to get rid of a Sphinx is to correctly answer her riddle.