Danny was still in shock. He knew he had a thunderstruck expression. He had long ago slipped from ghost-form. He had only the slightest awareness of arriving at Katou's lair with the relics. The words of Plasmius continued to ring in his ears.

But he had recovered enough to get angry about it all.

"You…trained…Plasmius?" he spat towards Katou.

The samurai looked shaken. "Danny, you don't understa –"

"You trained Plasmius!" Danny roared. Rings exploded from around his body, and the shock waves from them shattered a number of the bottles and vases in the basement. The glow in his eyes shone so brightly they appeared aflame. His upper lip curled as would a snarling wolf's, and a low hiss passed through clenched teeth. He could see that Sam and Tucker were shaken by this, but for once in his life, he couldn't care less.

Months.

Months on end.

Almost a year.

He had been subjected to Plasmius for nearly an entire year. The elder half-ghost, above all of Danny's other adversaries, came back again and again. He had kidnapped Danny, attacked him, used him in true-life chess plays, and even cloned him. Vlad had overshadowed Danny's father, tried to turn his mother, and pitted him against his sister. The only times Danny had ever been able to gain the upper hand on Plasmius was when the elder ghost was weakened or when Danny had help from outside forces.

And Katou trained him.

And Clockwork – who must have known this – sent Katou to Danny.

"Do you have any idea what Plasmius has done to me!?" Danny yelled, his eyes growing ever brighter.

Katou backed towards the wall. His eyes were pained, and his hands shook. "Vlad was a different man when I knew him," he protested. "We met eighteen years ago. I couldn't have known –"

"I saw Vlad in another future!" Danny shouted. "Nothing changed! He tricked my mom to marry her and was so paranoid about it he kept her from seeing my dad! Don't tell me he never told you about them!"

Katou's eyes spoke for him in that regard. "…You don't understand!" he shot back, voice rising. "He'd been in a hospital for a year and could barely control his powers. He'd stumbled into The Ghost Zone and was about to be killed. I couldn't just leave him to fend for himself!"

Danny scoffed. "Why not? He'd leave you!"

"He wasn't the same man then!" Katou roared, his eyes now blazing. "I'd be no better than his present self to have left him to die! And that future you saw was but one! Have you learned nothing from Clockwork?"

"Clockwork sent me the guy who trained Plasmius – how great can he be?"

"Danny," Sam said with a gulp," maybe you should –"

"You think I wanted this?" Katou cut her off. "After what happened to Vlad, do you think I would trust myself with an apprentice? Do you think I have any honour left? Clockwork came to me!"

"You could have said 'no!'" Danny growled. "Doesn't he always say you have a choice?"

Katou seemed to deflate. The lines of his face tightened as his voice quieted. "I couldn't leave Tá eagla orm to take place."

"Too late!" Danny barked. "You already taught the guy who's gonna help the Ghost King!"

"Dude, calm down!" Tucker said, jumping between his friend and Katou. "Look – we've got the six pieces, and the legion of doom doesn't know where they –"

"Tucker, do you have any idea what it's like for someone with more money and power than you to come after you and your family over and over and over again?" Danny snapped. "If Plasmius never learned how to control his powers, who knows what would have happened?"

"He would have died!" Katou barked, pushing Tucker aside. "There's more to all this than you can possibly understand. If you can't see that – if you would have left Vlad to fend for himself – you're no better than how he turned out!"

"I am not like Vlad!" Danny screamed. The aura along his body lit up like wildfire. "And guess what? I'll prove it – by never coming back here again!"

"What?" Sam and Tucker said together.

"Danny, this isn't over," Sam noted. "I know how you feel about Plasmius, but –"

"You're supposed to face Tá eagla orm!" Katou cut her off again. "Clockwork –"

"Why should I deal with that just 'cause Clockwork brought it up?" Danny demanded. "He didn't tell me about you and Vlad. Neither did you. And neither of you told us what Tá eagla orm said!"

"Do you think we would have done that without reason?"

"Oh yeah? What reason do you have for not telling me about you and Plasmius!?"

Katou's shoulders sank and his eyes softened. That was all the answer Danny needed. He turned to take off when he felt a hand seize his arm.

"You can't walk away from all this!" Katou growled.

Danny twisted his hand free. He brought it around and pushed it into Katou's chest. But he did not see until Katou had already collapsed against the far wall that an ecto-blast had been in his palm.

The samurai was hurt, but not from the strike. His gaze was towards the floor, wearing a most mournful expression. His breaths seemed to quiver. And his hand had drifted over the thin scar over his right eye.

Katou had never told them where his scars had come from.

Now Danny could see.

His internal fire cooled. He looked down at his hands. He looked up into the eyes of his two best friends, who seemed not to recognise him.

Across his vision flashed the devil's grin of Phantom.

You're no better than how he turned out.

Shivers raced through his heart, and words failed him. He found no way to deal with this – not now. With a jump he was in the air, and intangibility let him flea.

Clockwork…what were you thinking?