The Past is Present
Chapter 4: Ghost of a Secret
The first thing Danny did that night was open the new watch that Vlad had given him. Both he and his sister sat in his room examining their watches to see how they worked.
"It says it'll work for us, no one else, if we just say 'A.N.I.I'," Jazz read the small note that she'd taken out of the box.
"Yes, Miss. Fenton?" the familiar computerised voice replied and Jazz nearly fell out of the bean bag she was sitting on. She almost dropped the watch too and had to juggle with it for a moment in order to save it from landing on the floor.
"Cool!" Danny exclaimed, "It works! It's like a spy watch."
"I'm not sure it was intended as such," A.N.I.I remarked.
"Well, it's still cool," he insisted.
Later that night, Danny flew out of the house and met his friends for their nightly ghost patrol. He was determined that one night, he'd find a ghost sneaking around, he just no idea where they all were in the meantime. Both Sam and Tucker yawned as they half heartedly flowed Danny through the streets.
"Can't we call it quits for tonight, dude?" Tucker sighed, "There's nothing out here."
"There's gotta be," Danny assured him.
Eventually, they wound up walking past a warehouse when Danny's Ghost sense went off.
"Hah! Finally!" he cried and flew eagerly to find the ghost that had set it off.
The three of them burst into the warehouse and found the Box Ghost rummaging through boxes of office supplies with a greedy grin.
"Oh, s'just you," Danny sighed, annoyed.
"Wha..." the ghost turned around to face them.
Sam and Tucker had their ecto weapons pointed at him but Danny's hands, which a moment ago had been glowing eagerly with ectoplasm ready for a fight, lost their glow and he face palmed instead.
"Great, just great," the boy muttered.
"Just me?" the ghost cried, outraged. "You should be trembling in fear, for I, the Box Ghost have come to gather weapons of doom!" he said.
"Err...bubble wrap?" Sam raised an eyebrow at the bundle of bubble wrap the ghost was comically attempting to hide behind his back.
"Oh man, the first ghost in almost a month and it just had to be you," Danny bemoaned. "Y'know, I never thought I'd miss Skulker, but at least he'd give a decent fight," he said.
"I will give you a fight, I, the Box Ghost will...err...ah..." the ghost stammered and scratched his head. "Buuuu...I am not here to fight," he then said, "I am only here for supplies!"
His fear of Vlad Plasmius' wrath was far greater than his willingness to fight Danny Phantom and of course, Vlad had ordered the ghosts not to attack Danny.
"You're...not here to fight?" Tucker reiterated.
"Not even a little bit?" Sam asked.
"Alright, spill. What the heck is going on with you guys?" Danny demanded, hovering closer to the ghost. "No fights in a month. Not one. What's going on? Is this some kind of truce thing I didn't know about? Like the Christmas truce?"
"Errr...not exactly," the Box Ghost replied. "Errr...beware!" he cried and then vanished along with the bubble wrap.
"What the heck just happened?" Sam asked.
"Something's totally going on," Danny said.
"Like what?" Tucker wondered.
"Maybe they're...building a super weapon in the Ghost Zone or they're..." Danny suggested.
"What? With bubble wrap? And you seriously think they'd all work together?" Sam scoffed, "No way."
"Good point," the hybrid mumbled. "Fine, I'm going into the Zone and I'm gonna find out once and for all. I can't take all this..."
"Peace and quiet?" Sam said, dryly.
"Let's just...go..." Danny said, glaring at her.
"Looks pretty peaceful in here too," Tucker said as they flew through the Ghost Zone in the Spectre Speeder.
"I know a guy who might help," Danny said. "Follow me," he added before he flew intangibly out of the Speeder and ahead into the swirling green mist.
"What guy?" Sam asked.
"He's errr...kinda a snow monster," Danny chuckled, nervously through the Fenton Phones that they used to keep in contact whenever they flew through the Ghost Zone. "Remember, I told you about him," he said.
"Frostbite?" Sam recalled.
"Yup."
"Why would he know? Doesn't he live like in the middle of nowhere?" Tucker wondered.
"Everywhere in here is the middle of nowhere, nothing stays in one place...erm..." Danny paused up ahead and looked around.
"Lost again?" the goth girl grinned.
"No! I'm just...getting my bearings. Oh, duh...I'm an idiot," he grumbled.
"No duh," Sam muttered.
"A.N.I.I?" Danny spoke to his wrist watch. He pulled back the seam of his sleeve and his glove to reveal the sleek new watch. The familiar floating blue hologram was projected in miniature above the device, spinning and whirling as though eager to answer.
"Yes, Mr. Fenton?" the AI answered instantly.
"Can you tell me which way to Frostbite's place?" he asked, "I can use Vlad's map right?"
"Of course," she answered and proceeded to give him detailed directions as he flew forwards and they followed.
"Man, I so need one o' those," Tucker lamented.
"I don't think Plasmius is just gonna hand those things out," Sam told him.
"Man," he sighed, slouching.
"Thanks, A.N.I.I," Danny smiled when he could see the vast snowy tundras and icy cliffs of the Far Frozen.
The hologram vanished and Danny flew down, landing gently in the snow. Sam expertly parked the Spectre Speeder and they shivered when the door opened.
"Y'should've warned us we'd end up hiking in the snow, dude," Tucker said.
"Errr...sorry," Danny rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "I'm sure Frostbite'll have something to keep you warm."
"Great One!" the snow monster ghost in question bellowed happily and came running up to meet them.
"Did he just call you..." Sam blinked.
"Great One?" Tucker finished for her.
"Erm...well..." Danny said.
"Ah, Great One, it has been too long," Frostbite declared as he lifted Danny into his large arms and hugged him.
"Hey...yeah, I missed you too...but...can't breathe..." Danny choked as the ghost hugged the life out of him.
"Aw, a boy and his snow monster," Sam scoffed and so did Tucker.
Frostbite gave a smile of apology and put the hybrid down carefully. "Ah, you brought friends?" he asked.
"Yeah, Sam and Tucker," Danny looked back at them.
"You appear cold," the ghost observed. "Come, we will have you warmed up in no time," he said, leading them through into one of the many ice caves.
"Ah," Frostbite let out a deep exhale when they were settled in the ghost frost monster equivalent of a living room. It was cosy all things considered. The cave was huge and the walls were carved with intricate images of the Ghost Zone. There were torches burning, illuminating the place though strangely, not melting the ice. Though it was ghost ice so it didn't have to adhere to normal rules. Sam and Tucker were huddled under warm fur blankets and sipping from mugs of hot cocoa.
"Who knew snow ghosts made a mean hot chocolate," Tucker remarked, amused.
"So...d'you know anything?" Danny promoted the ghost. He'd asked if he knew anything about why the ghosts hadn't been seeking him or Amity Park out.
"Well..." Frostbite said, his eyes darting from one side to the other, wondering if he should tell the truth.
"You do know, don't you?" the young hybrid exclaimed, "So...something's going on, right? Spill. What's happening? Is it bad?"
"Oh no, Great One," Frostbite said.
As he had done for the last twenty minutes, Tucker snorted at Danny being called 'Great One'. Frostbite had been eager to show them the murals of Danny and the Ghost King but it didn't make it any less amusing for them. Danny glared at his friend but Tucker just shrugged.
"Well? What is it?" Danny asked.
"Very well," the ghost acquiesced easily. "It was Plasmius," he said.
"Vlad?" Danny frowned, "As in he's...no...he wouldn't...he's not...planning stuff again, right?"
"Told you he'd never change," Sam shrugged, "Adults never change. They never understand. They never..."
"Sam," Danny stopped her.
"Right, sorry," the goth muttered, sheepishly.
"He ordered all who reside here to keep their distance from you, Great One, and that no harm should be done to you or your home. Least they face his wrath," Frostbite explained.
"...He did what? You're serious..." Danny managed to say after a moment of shock. His friends were staring open mouthed at the ghost, just as surprised as he was himself.
"I am, indeed and I too was surprised. He must've have gone to great lengths. We were all gathered in the castle of Dorothea and his order was not met with wide spread approval," he continued.
"I'll bet," the hybrid grumbled.
"But it is generally known that Plasmius is not a ghost to be underestimated. Am I to assume that his plan worked?"
"I err...I guess so," Danny answered, still shocked, "Erm...yeah...there hasn't been any attacks or well...anything for like a month."
"Ah, well this is wonderful news," Frostbite beamed happily. "Do you know, I never thought I would see the day that I stood beside Plasmius and agreed with him, yet I did so so when he announced that you were not to be harmed."
"Huh," Sam blinked, stunned.
"Errr..." Tucker muttered.
"So...you believe him?" Sam asked as they flew back through the Ghost Zone in the Spectre Speeder.
"Well, yeah, I mean, why would he lie? He and Vlad didn't really get off on the right foot when they met," Danny replied.
"Yeah, and he wouldn't lie to the 'Great One'," Tucker added.
"Good point," the goth girl snorted.
"Never gonna let me forget that one, are you?"
"Nope," Tucker grinned and then yawned. "Say, oh, Great One, can we call it a night now? I'm beat," he said.
"If I say 'yes' will you quit it with the jokes?"
"Nope," he reiterated and Danny sighed.
It came as no surprise that Danny was exhausted the following morning. After his friends had gone home, he'd stayed awake all night flying around the city and he could barely keep his eyes open through school. Sam and Tucker worked out a system of either nudging him awake when their teachers weren't looking, or of throwing small pieces of scrunched up paper at him if they could get away with it.
"It's your own fault," Sam shrugged when, at lunch time, the hybrid slouched over the table and closed his eyes.
"Yep," he agreed.
"Just make sure you're not falling asleep tomorrow. We got a party to go to," Tucker reminded him and Sam muttered under her breath.
"That's tomorrow?"
"Errr...yeah," Tucker said. "Tomorrow's Friday," he explained.
"There's a test tomorrow too," Sam reminded him. "And that's a little more important than that stupid party, which I'm still not going to by the way," she said.
"Oh, come on, Sam, how often do we get invited to parties?" Danny bemoaned.
"I don't want to go to their stupid parties, I never did. And you know all they care about is money...I mean, Plasmius' money. They don't care about you. If Plasmius told everyone he's disowning you from his will or whatever, they'd never talk to you again," the goth told him.
"...Yeah, I know," Danny grumbled.
"Then why do you still care about what they think?" she asked, annoyed.
"Because," Danny said as though that was enough.
"Because what?" Sam demanded.
"Just...because," he shrugged.
"It's her isn't it?" the goth rolled her eyes.
"What? Who?"
"Don't play dumb. It's just because Paulina's paying attention to you now. Isn't it?" she said.
"Well...errr..."
"Geez, you're such an idiot," Sam stormed off.
"What got into her?" Danny blinked, turning to Tucker who just rolled his eyes.
Rosalyn sighed and put her phone down onto the sofa where she sat. She and Valya had been sitting in her living room in her hotel room when she'd received a call from her husband's doctor. The man was an old family friend and, on Vladislav's orders, he'd just informed her that her husband had little under a month to live.
Having overhead only half of the conversation, Valya was confused but the older woman looked at her and spoke.
"He's dying," Roslyn told her.
"Who is dying? You said...is...uncle is dying?"
"Yes. I...knew he wasn't well, but I didn't think...just under a month apparently," the woman explained. "Mick...Dr. Porter says he's been asking for me. Well, demanding, actually. Both of us. Vlad and I."
"Vlad will not want to go," Valya remarked.
"No, he won't," she agreed, "But I'll have to."
"Why? Why bother after all he has done to you?"
"He's still my husband," Rosalyn shrugged.
"He is a horrible man," Valya said, grimacing, "He frightened my daughter."
"I know and I'm sorry."
"Why are you sorry? You didn't do it."
"I didn't stop it either."
"How could you have? Is not your fault he is a cruel man. Where is Vlad? We should tell him," Valya remarked.
"He said he was going to a meeting," Rosalyn said.
In fact, Vlad was meeting with the Mayor of Amity Park, Ernesto Montez and of course, the Mayor had turned the whole thing into a P.R stunt to proclaim that he could still, despite the ghost attacks, draw influential businesses to the city. Vlad was used to the press, so naturally he took it all in his stride and with the money he'd already poured into the city, the Mayor was happy enough to leave him to do whatever he wanted to. They walked around the new office blocks that Vlad's company was developing and the new mall whilst being interviewed by the local news crew.
"...And we have Vlad Masters to thank for the much needed investment in our city. I'm sure we're all eagerly awaiting the completion date of the new Amity Park mega mall. This is Tiffany Snow reporting with Mayor Montez and Vlad Masters," the young woman said.
"Looks like the city loves Vlad now," Tucker said as they watched the news report on his PDA.
"Just great," Sam rolled her eyes.
"No ghosts. Vlad's Mr. Popular...Amity's gone crazy," Danny added.
"Nah. I think it's just Plasmius," the goth girl shrugged, "We all knew it'd happen eventually. He's finally snapped."
"I don't believe that Mr. Master's has suffered any such injury," A.N.I.I remarked from Danny's new wrist watch.
"Smart ass," Danny snorted. "Hey...speaking of Vlad going nuts...did you know anything about him telling the other ghosts to stay away from Amity Park?" he asked the AI.
"I knew," she replied.
"They why the heck didn't you say..."
"I was programmed not to."
"Never trust a computer," Sam said.
"I am not a computer. I am an AI."
"Hey, lay off the tech!" Tucker said, indignantly.
"It's seems remarkably easy for you to forget that I was designed and programmed by Mr. Master's for his own benefit, not for yours, Mr. Fenton," A.N.I.I remarked.
"That mean he's spying on us?" Sam asked. "It does, doesn't it? Danny, get rid of that thing," she said.
"No way, this watch is cool!" Danny cried.
"I did not mean that he intends to spy. I simply meant that my programming was added to this watch as a gift, but my essential programming remains the same. My priority is still my creator but I can also help you as a secondary function."
"As long as whatever I want doesn't mess with whatever Vlad wants?" Danny inferred.
"Correct," she answered.
"I still say he's spying on you," Sam shrugged.
"Well, maybe," Tucker said, "But that thing's way too cool to just get rid of."
"Here, here," Danny agreed.
"It appears, Miss. Manson, that you are outvoted," the AI said, sounding a little smug.
"Huh," Sam rolled her eyes. "A computer with a sense of humour, just what we need," she said.
Vlad soared through Skulker's island fast enough to leave smoke trails behind him and he landed with enough force to shake the ground.
"Geez, take it easy, Plasmius, I'm still fixing the place after your last tantrum," Skulker said, sounding concerned. "I don't need a giant hole in the ground as well," he added.
Vlad glared at him and the hunter coughed nervously.
"Well?" Plasmius demanded, "You said you had something to tell me about the Infi map. I'm a busy man, I have another meeting in exactly twenty minutes, so get on with it."
"I heard a rumour, that's all," Skulker said, holding up his hands hoping to placate the ghost. "Don't get your hopes up. I'm beginning to think this map of yours doesn't even exist."
"Oh, it exists, and I will find it," Vlad replied, stubbornly. "Now, what did you hear?" he asked.
"Well, I heard it from Bullet and he says he heard it from...erm..." the hunter began but one look from Vlad had him nervously glancing round and stammering. "Well, anyway...rumour has it, it was made by the Ancients..."
"The Ancients? As in the beings responsible for locking Pariah Dark away?" Vlad raised an eyebrow.
"That's what they say," Skulker nodded. "So if it really does exist, this map is really, really old. Old ghost artefacts are...well, they're bad news. Look what the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire did to the ghost king."
"Just because he was a little unhinged..."
"He's nuts! Even without the ring and crown but they didn't help. Honestly, I'd stay away from this thing, but anyway, the rumour says the Ancients gave it to a trusted friend to guard."
"And do we have any idea who this 'trusted friend' is?"
"None," Skulker shrugged, "But there can't be that many ghosts old enough to have been around when the Ancients were."
"Even if it is just a rumour it's all we have to go on for the moment. Unless you hear anything else, find out just how many ghosts we're talking about and bring me a list," Vlad ordered.
"Should I alphabetise it, too?" the hunter asked, sarcastically.
Vlad, clearly not amused, rolled his eyes and flew away, taking off with enough force to leave a small crater in the ground behind him. "Oh...great," Skulker bemoaned, throwing up his arms in frustration.
As Vlad flew leisurely through the Ghost Zone after talking with Skulker, his watch, much like the one he'd given to Danny, rang in lieu of his phone.
"Who is it A.N.I.I?" Vlad drawled.
"It's Mr. Fenton, sir and I don't believe you're going to like what he's going to say," she replied.
"What did you do?"
"I did nothing, sir," she replied.
"A likely story," he replied, dryly. "Alright, fine," he said and raised his wrist to look at the small screen which, as the AI had said, confirmed that it was Danny calling him. "What do you want, Daniel?" he asked. "If you're going to complain about being mobbed at school again, I'll save you the trouble. I still don't care and I'm not at all apologetic," he said.
"Wow, you're in a good mood," Danny said. "Now you mention it, I did get mobbed again, fruit loop," he added.
"If that's all..."
"No, it's not," the younger hybrid said before Vlad could end the call. "Err...so, Frostbite told me something really interesting," he said.
"What on earth makes you think that I would care?"
"Woooooooooooo," an eerie echo sounded as Vlad flew past a small group of shapeless green spectres with glowing eyes.
"Err...that wasn't you, right?" Danny asked.
"Of course not," Vlad snapped.
"Are you in the Ghost Zone?"
"And what was this 'interesting' thing that you felt you simply had to tell me about?" Vlad asked, ignoring the question.
"Smooth," Tucker muttered, which of course Vlad heard.
"I asked him if he knew why all the ghosts have been staying away from Amity Park," Danny said.
Vlad stopped flying and hovered stock still in the air, staring st his watch. "Oh, and what did the yeti have to say about that?" he asked, trying to sound disinterested.
"That you told them to," the boy said simply.
Silently cursing the snow ghost, Vlad grimaced and bared his fangs. He'd told the yeti to keep quiet about it but clearly, Frostbite's adoration of the 'Great One' knew no bounds.
"Me? Well, I'm flattered that he thinks I hold such sway over the ghosts, but I can assure you, I have absolutely no idea..."
"Uh huh," Danny muttered, "Right, sure."
"You'll believe a yeti over your own godfather, I'm hurt, Daniel," Vlad said.
"Spill it, Plasmius, you're totally up to something," Sam said and he rolled his eyes.
"Even if I was, and I'm not saying that I had anything to do with this, surely you realise that I find you about as threatening as wet tissue paper," Vlad drawled. "Why in the name of evil would you think that threatening me would induce me to admit to anything?"
"Urgh," the goth girl muttered.
"Wet tissue paper," Tucker laughed at her and she punched him in the arm. "Ow! Hey!" he cried.
"So...you didn't tell all the ghosts to stay away from Amity and leave me alone?" Danny asked Vlad.
"Why would I?"
"I don't know..." Danny said, frustrated. "But why would he lie about it? I mean, you two don't exactly get on so why would he admit you've done something...good...unless you had?"
"What makes you think it was done with 'good' intentions?"
"So you did do it?"
"Hypothetically," Vlad corrected.
"Well, you were the one who told me not to spend so much time fighting ghosts and I need to up my grades and stuff and now all of a sudden, hey look, no more ghost attacks."
"Coincidence," Vlad said, dismissively.
"Sure."
"You know I don't do anything that doesn't benefit me, this doesn't. Therefore, I had nothing to do with it."
"But..."
"Awfully sorry, dear boy, but there's a behemoth blocking my way and he looks rather angry. I think, possibly he's looking for a rematch. Ta," he said, ending the call.
"Very convincing, sir," A.N.I.I remarked.
"Shut up," Vlad snapped and flew onwards again.
A.N. I made up the rumour about the Ancients making the Infi Map and giving it to a friend to guard. I dont think we get told where it came from, only that Frostbite and his people have 'guarded it for millennia.'
