Truephan: Well, hello again, y'all! And, oh, goodie, it's time for an update! Heh-heh… looks like there's still a lot of wickedness brewing about…but, gee, isn't that what y'all want? It's certainly what my muse wanted. And speaking of Ms. Hyde, it was very hard to contain her during this whole chapter, especially when pearl's Vlad muse just tried to stir her up just for the heck of it. Man, that sure made nailing down the final cut difficult….especially since that fight between them was pretty messy. But after everything was said and done, it looks like the chapter pretty much came out unscathed, which is really the most important thing, right? In any case, I want to let you know two other things before I give pearl the reins. Firstly, I thoroughly enjoyed all of your reviews and my first chit-chat on the Hidden Pearl chat site last Sunday. Everyone made me feel like an old pro at it even if I felt like I was watching ten tennis games happening all at once. I think I'm still a bit dizzy from it—happily so, though. And secondly, pearl and I did reveal to the gang there who was the main author of Chapter One. So, it's only fair to let y'all know the same thing….well, it was me. But, of course, pearl added lots of wonderful spice to it, because her muse would have insisted upon it anyways! So with that, enough said from me….pearl?
*Vlad Muse jumps in* Actually, I think I will be taking the reins from here. Yes… *looks around* Well, I suppose I should thank you all for your comments…. Hmm. Yes, I should. However, I have better things to do. But if it will make you all feel better, Pearl thanks you. Tsk. Silly girl.
Well, now. Here is the next chapter to this new project. And it will feature yours truly… Somewhat. Close enough, anyways. If you like it, then the credit goes to me. If you do not… *smirks* Blame Truephan's muse. *laughs insanely and vanishes*
*Pearl blinks* Uh… Happy reading? Yeah…. *grumbles and stalks after Vlad muse*
Seeing is disBelieving—Chapter 2—Tricks and Trades
Vlad had stirred in bed again. Lying on his right side, he looked at the clock next to his bed. What? It was three o'clock in the morning? And only one hour had past since he last looked at it?
He groaned and jerked over to his other side. He squished his eyes together, trying to block out the same thoughts that had been plaguing him for the past few weeks; but especially for the past few days; and now, obviously, for the past few hours...
And all these thoughts centered on one person: Daniel Fenton.
Ever since he first became major and the boy had outwitted him by making him retract the city ordinance he had passed against the teenagers of Amity Park, he had been brewing with revenge…And yet, it was coupled, strangely, with a more intense desire to have this clever boy at his side. The younger hybrid was the perfect son, proving his worth even more with each of their confrontations. From the beginning, when they had met at the reunion, to their last encounter that had dealt with Vortex...
Vlad sighed tiredly, though he felt irritated with the circle of thoughts. And as he rolled on his back and his eyes opened wide awake with his insomnia, they continued to plague him…
Why in the devil was he letting the boy keep him awake at this ungodly hour? He needed his sleep. He had an emergency board meeting to go to the next morning! And all because of the latest ghost attack last week by that ghost named Undergrowth! Thanks to that blasted weed, he would have to meet with his confounded mayoral staff right at nine o'clock and alert them of the change in plans in regards to controlling the ghost threats in Amity Park. Just the thought of it made him mentally groan; but more so because he simply couldn't make himself fall asleep!
He just had to find a way to get the boy on his side! Either that, or find a way to permanently disable him from continuing with his heroics, and, in turn, thwarting his plans for domination.
Suddenly, he yawned, feeling the sleep that had been evading him for many hours now tug softly at the edges of his mind.
"And a bit of hot tea should encourage it right along," he thought, smiling a bit with his idea. "And I have just the one that will do nicely... Humph. You don't have that much power over me, Daniel!" he added triumphantly.
He slowly pulled himself out of bed and stretched where he stood, rubbing his temples with the sudden realization of the dull, throbbing headache coming on. He headed downstairs toward the kitchen in slow motion, feeling that if it took any longer to get there, he might just try to sleep on the nearest couch instead.
Finally, his 'autopilot' movement successfully steered him to the kitchen and he grabbed the tea kettle and filled it with water. He set it on the stove and after turning the burner on and placing his favorite tea cup next to it, went to the small room adjoining the kitchen. He searched briefly and found the glass jar, which emanated with a surreally orangish aura from its contents.
That jar sat next to other similarly glowing jars which contained several varieties and colors of already prepared dried ghost leaves. He opened the jar, grabbed a measuring spoon, and dumped a portion of the ghostly loose tea leaves into a ghostly metal tea ball that he had already retrieved. He quickly closed the jar and returned it to its original position before heading back to the stove.
He placed the tea ball into his cup and leaned against the counter, rubbing his throbbing temples again as he waited for the familiar whistle. Like a well-conditioned Pavlov dog reacting to the bell, Vlad breathed deeply, already relaxing with relief as he heard the hissing of the angry water. And with a second sigh, he finally poured the kettle's hot contents into the cup and lazily steeped the metal ball. At last satisfied with the strength of the concoction, he quickly added some honey to it and retreated to the front parlor.
He kept the lights off in that room on purpose, hoping to quickly fool his body into more readily accepting the tea's charm. As he nestled into his favorite plush lounge chair, he suddenly heard a quiet 'meow' before a familiar figure jumped on his lap.
He smiled tiredly at his cat. "Mmm. Maddie. I see you're up, too. Well, not for long, hmm?" he said quietly, lightly stroking her purring form before turning his attention back to his tea. He exhaled slowly as the warm steam of the tea began to massage the tension out of his face. The thick, soothing aroma wafted up his nostrils, like smoke through a chimney, penetrating his mind and dispersing his anxious thoughts, just as the wind would disperse the smoke bellowing out of that chimney.
He slowly brought the cup to his lips and sipped the tea in. He soon relaxed even more as he continued to drink, knowing that the tea would wash away his insomnia as easily as ocean waves ebbed away the soft beach sand. When he was about half way through, he could already feel the weight of his eyelids pressing against him, but he didn't fight it.
He placed the teacup down beside him and leaned back into the chair. As soon as he got back from his meeting tomorrow, he just knew he would be able to think of that perfect plan to get Daniel to finally join him as his ally.
…And also to make him pay for his insolence…
Vlad had finally drifted off while still pressed into the lounge chair when, suddenly, there was a loud bang just outside the front door.
"Meow!"
The man startled awake just as the frightened Maddie hissed and jumped off his lap. As he watched her disappear under a table, he cursed under his breath at yet another interruption in his sleep.
He quickly got out of the chair and headed to the door. He jolted at another loud thud which was even closer to the entrance. Even more perturbed, his eyes narrowed, thinking how he couldn't wait to give the perpetrator a unique jolt of his own.
The man charged up a potent red energy orb with one hand; however, he hid it behind his back to give him the element of surprise in case he needed it. But as he placed his other hand on the doorknob, there was an unexpected and loud knock on the door. Then that was followed by the sound of something sliding against the door, and ended with another thud.
He quickly opened the door and the red orb in his hand extinguished with his shock. Right at his feet, a barely conscious and obviously bleeding human Daniel was struggling to pull himself off the ground.
"V-Vlad….help ...me!" the boy strained to utter before fully collapsing in front of him.
"Daniel?" he gasped but immediately scanned the area around the two of them, knowing someone, or something, had to be responsible for the boy's dire condition. But there was nothing. He could see no reason why the boy had ended up here in this state.
But then suddenly, he noticed that the front gate on his lawn seemed to ripple as if the silvery moonlight was reflecting off it. Only that, there was no moon tonight…
Quickly pushed out of his thoughts, he startled a little when a silvery-blue entity just as suddenly appeared right in front of him and the unconscious teen.
The strange entity's humanoid body shimmered unnaturally and blended perfectly with its surroundings, just like a chameleon. Though, if he had to compare it to anything, he would say he was looking at a shiny mirror.
However, the older hybrid did not know that he was currently looking at this being's body when it was stealth mode, and not its true body…. which it had yet to reveal to either hybrid…
Still, Vlad wasn't certain that this being even had a body, even when he could see a hint of faint black outline. But it definitely had a silver head. Well, sort of, because it had no eyes.
The top of the 'head' was lacking any type of hair, but it did have small, grotesque craters sparsely placed on the crown. There was also no nose or mouth that he could see. But as he looked at this…creature, Vlad finally noticed a lone and rather large silvery-purple eye as it slowly leached out of the mirror-like body and oozed upward until it centered itself in the bald orb of a head.
The eye took up most of the space within the head. And its silvery-purple pupil, which was surrounded by pulsating red blood-like vessels, still managed to convey both irritation and threat in its glare, as the entity drew nearer to both hybrids.
The creature said nothing, at first. Instead, it seemingly observed the unconscious and hurt teenager on the ground before looking at the surprised man at the doorway and readily sizing him up in a way that confused Vlad even more….
But in the next moment, the entity's eye narrowed further and then unexpectedly turned red in protest just as a voice, which seemed to echo in the surroundings, hissed, "Step aside. He's all mine. And you would further do well to heed my words: do not make this painful for yourself by resisting my will as he did."
Vlad silently jolted at the demand. He was instantly flooded with a slew of thoughts. It was clear to him that this creature wanted the boy. And by how injured Daniel looked, it was possible it even wanted to kill him! But he wasn't about to let this thing interfere with his own plans concerning Daniel, especially if it would involve the boy's demise.
Keeping his true emotions over this unexpected turn-of-events hidden under fake indifference, the older hybrid arched up one of his eyebrows and casually replied, "Yours, you say? …Hmm…Not tonight."
Vlad immediately charged up a powerful scarlet bolt which connected with the entity's body and forcefully sent it through the front gate and into a tree on the other side of the street.
Vlad then quickly took advantage of the situation, and without a bit of hesitance, scooped up the limp teen. It took him a bit of effort, but the mayor quickly went inside, slamming the door and locking it at the same time.
He instantly changed into his blue-skinned, red-caped alter ego, Vlad Plasmius, and just as instantly duplicated into two. While the original Plasmius still held onto the senseless Danny, the second one phased through the door to meet the hostile creature right outside.
The original Plasmius then put Danny on the nearby couch, before looking down at a device on his wrist and pressing several buttons on it. He soon commanded into it, "Activate ghost shield," and a green ghost-proof dome rapidly surrounded the mayor's home in an instant.
Using the same device on his wrist, Vlad further activated all the spy cameras stealthily hidden on the outside of his house. He knew that whatever they would record would be fed right into his mainframe in his secret lab as well as a nearby viewing screen...
He quickly looked back to the unmoving boy and then grabbed two small nearby table cloths. The billionaire had noticed the boy's bleeding head and chest wounds the instant he had found Danny. And they still did not look pretty…
But he needed to first check on the imminent danger before tending to the boy. Still, he did quickly wrapped one of the cloths around Danny's head and then stuffed the other one under his shirt, hoping that this was enough first aid for the moment. He was anxious to make sure that the being that had attacked the boy would be readily vanquished...
Vlad hurriedly turned on a viewing screen located in a hidden panel in the living room he was in, and watched the interaction outside between his duplicate and the hostile ghost.
The Plasmius duplicate rematerialized right in front of the one-eyed entity, just as the creature was recovering from his initial attack.
The hybrid's double smugly crossed his arms and flippantly asked the dazed ghost, "So, looks like you're new in town? And it looks like you're lost. However, the city's Tourist Information Center doesn't open until nine in the morning. And that's well after the sun comes out, in case you didn't know. So, it appears you have, say, six hours of a wait."
But then his voice grew colder with his threat as he added, "However, I do not recall inviting you into this town. So, I think it's best if you leave my territory before you find out how I deal with unwanted intruders."
The ghost didn't understand his allusion but he knew that the creature hovering above him was threatening him. He floated upward and growled back with a more thunderous voice, "I can see that you don't know with whom you are dealing! I do not take orders from creatures such as you!"
Plasmius laughed, "Oh, really? So whom do you work for? I'm quite astonished you could land a job looking as you do."
The ghost's silvery–purple eye briefly flared red, but then it quickly moved downward into his silvery body, just before the entity seemed to suddenly vanish, leaving in view the tree he had plowed into.
Plasmius frowned with worry as he scanned around, trying to figure out to where the ghost had gone. He could sense that it was close by; but, somehow, it was keeping its energy dispersed, to the point that the older hybrid's twenty-one year experienced ghost sense couldn't pinpoint this ghost's signature or location. Still, Plasmius' skill wasn't in vain. It was only a matter of pushing past the smoke and mirrors that this creature was using to conceal itself. And if there was one thing the older hybrid was good at it was seeing through deception. He would pinpoint this ghost's signature yet!
However, at that instant, Vlad unexpectedly caught a glimpse of a wrinkle in the tree. And before he could even attempt to make sense of it, let alone hone in on this ghost's signature, one of its branches maliciously reached out to him and then struck out at him like a bullwhip.
Plasmius gasped and barely avoided its attack. But he then quickly returned the affront with a volley of red ectoplasmic energy and the tree shuddered at his blow. But when he blinked again, the tree had stopped moving and there was a large hole in the now defenseless oak...
Vlad frowned in anger. He certainly didn't buy any of this; it was just too odd. He was certain these 'wrinkles' were being caused by this mysterious ghost, but what was it exactly doing?
He pulled back and shifted his gaze quickly to all directions of where the ghost had been. This time, he sharpened his ghost sense and quickly began to search through the dispersed energy for this creature's true location. Wait. It was…
Plasmius suddenly spun around in the direction of the street, now sure where the ghost was. But then, suddenly, the light from the lamppost that was near the same tree as before flickered out, and Vlad immediately looked up at it, only for it to abruptly burst into a huge red fireball. It further morphed into a stream of fire and shot forward at Plasmius' double, readily shaping into a large clawed hand as it took a fiery swipe at him.
Although Plasmius had been taken aback by the strange occurrence, he easily avoided it, but the fire then became like the bullwhip that the tree had made with its branch. The flames lashed at the hybrid, this time making contact with and singeing his cape.
Throwing his cape back behind one of his shoulders, the duplicate growled in response and decided he had had enough of this. He charged his hand and shot back at the lamppost.
But his ray went right through it.
He frowned in irritation and yelled to the lamp, "Who in blazes are you? I am in no mood to waste my time with a pathetic ghost who is so cowardly that he must hide in the shadows!"
The lamppost had a sudden wrinkle in it and the being's barely distinct body and head rematerialized again in front of it. The silvery-purple eye then rejoined its head before the creature's voice angrily echoed, "I am no coward. And though it is really insignificant for you to know my name, I will still tell you, since your small mind has need of it. My name is Iluzisto. And although I prefer to focus on one matter at a time, I will invert my order of business, if you continue to interfere with my affair concerning the younger cross-breed…."
Plasmius shot up an eyebrow in surprise. So the creature was working for someone? And just what was his 'order of business'? He made it sound as if he was here with more than one purpose…
Pushing the questions aside for later, the older hybrid wrinkled his face in a scowl as he answered, "I'll have you know that I'm not accustomed to taking orders from anyone. So you will forgive me if I refuse to allow you to do anything that I haven't planned." He quickly followed up with two pink beams from his eyes.
Although he had not come out here to fight with the ghost but to find out who he was, Vlad decided it was time to take the offense. No one threatened him and got away with it!
But to his chagrin, Iluzisto quickly dodged the beams this time and disappeared from sight again. As a result, the nearby lamppost absorbed the rays instead and a loud crack was heard as the lamp shattered.
Plasmius growled at first when he had been tricked again; but then, he quickly regained his wits and floated towards where the ghost had once been.
And as he looked around again, trying to pinpoint the ghost's signature, Vlad uttered, "For your sake, you should just take my advice and leave. Don't make the mistake of believing I will hesitate to cut your after-life short."
"If only you knew the irony of your words, cross-breed… Perhaps you're not as clever as I was led to believe…" the wind seemed to whisper in his ear. But Vlad knew it was not the mere wind.
Suddenly, Plasmius noticed something moving near his feet. He jumped back as three unnaturally huge rattlesnakes arched upward, swaying menacingly as they slowly slithered to encircle him.
The hybrid's double gave the reptiles a smug smile as he quickly floated back a bit and took aim with his eyes, making sure that his pink eye-beams hit each of the snakes squarely between their beady black eyes.
But much to his amazement, the snakes were not affected by the rays at all. Instead, they became more agitated, weaving back and forth, looking for the opportunity to strike.
The duplicate arched up one of his eyebrows in surprise. "Hmm. Very good," he remarked as he shot at them again. This time, he used red rays from his hand and made sure once again to hit them all.
And still, the snakes remained unaffected….
"What in blazes?" Plasmius whispered in disbelief, only to gasp at what happened next.
Swiftly, the three snakes dove at him, pinning him to the ground near the front door of the mayor's mansion.
"How can this be?" the hybrid's double thought in alarm as one set of fangs hovered above his face, dripping venom.
Right then, he heard a hideous laugh echo through the air. And before he could even think of how to react to this unexpected turn-of-events, all three snakes suddenly lunged forward and embedded their seeping fangs into Plasmius' skin.
The double cried in pain, and an instant later, shattered out of existence.
Now it was Iluzisto's turn to be surprised. He quickly rematerialized, and though he still remained in stealth mode, he examined the empty space where Plasmius had been only moments ago.
"What's this...?" he began, but then his tone changed to admiration as he said, "Oh, so he's got a bag full of illusionist's tricks, too? Interesting!" But with an evil smirk, he added. "However, it's not enough to protect him against my own tricks."
Seething with impertinence at this creature's resistance and now even more determined to go after his quarry, Iluzisto immediately fired a red ray from his weapon at the front door of the mayor's mansion, expecting the attack to destroy it. Instead, the ray nearly splayed outward, like fire against a fire-proof shield.
Iluzisto immediately realized that the house had some kind of shield around it. And he also realized that the older cross-breed had been distracting him the entire time to buy himself the time to set it up. That pathetic creature had tricked him!
"Oh, so you think you're clever, don't you, freak?" Iluzisto hissed, his body rippling with his irritation. "Well, that is still to be seen! You've just made your fate darker! No one tricks, Iluzisto!"
He fully blended to the background once more and waited for another chance…. They couldn't hide behind that shield forever…
The original Plasmius did not like what he saw during the fight between Iluzisto and his duplicate. He had been observing it all through the security cameras, which automatically fed data into the mainframe.
But needing to know more, he teleported to his lab. Vlad quickly logged into the mainframe, using the computer that networked with it. He pushed a button and the screen split in two. One allowed him to continue to see the fight and the other displayed the analysis of the ongoing data.
His face instantly scrunched up in confusion. "Odd. This data is not clear. Why is the computer having a hard time reading this ghost's signature? …And what's this? An ecto-energy level of only seven? How odd for a creature with such craftiness…Wait! What did he just do?" he questioned in surprise when he saw a nearby lamp post blur and then a burst of purple energy, almost looking like fire, shoot at his duplicate from seemingly nowhere.
He looked back to the corresponding data with confusion. What sort of powers did this ghost have? He had never seen a ghost exhibit such a bizarre ability as this one had.
He frowned in further confusion at seeing that as his duplicate attacked the ghost, its energy level had lowered to four. But now it returned to a seven—a steady seven….
"Interesting," he immediately mused. "Though, hardly impressive. After all, I'm an energy level of nine. So, of course, he is no match for me. Actually… he might have some difficultly even with Daniel, since they hold the same energy level. But then… why is the boy so inj…?" The rest of his words died within a gasp when he suddenly remembered the boy. He had forgotten all about him!
He gave the mainframe on last glance before muttering, "Well, it appears my duplicate is handling the situation quite nicely right now. I'll check back as soon as I look to Daniel."
The older hybrid teleported back to the living room and saw that Daniel was still unconscious. He didn't like that at all. The boy had to be pretty hurt!
He turned on the light and proceeded to check Daniel over. His most obvious injuries were, of course, the ones on his head and chest, both which had now bled over the make-shift bandages. And the right arm of his shirt was completely gone, revealing a swollen reddened extremity. But he could also see smaller cuts, bruises and burns littering the teen's body through his torn and singed clothing.
Plasmius removed the make-shift head bandage, and sighed with some relief now that the gash under it had stopped bleeding. But his face quickly shrouded with worry at seeing that the boy had not responded to what he was doing. His injuries indeed had to be very significant, especially with that blow to the head. He feared that it was entirely possible that the boy might have a concussion…or worse.
He started to inspect the boy farther down from the head wound, feeling along the bones. He was about to conclude that the boy hadn't obviously broken any bones; but when he touched the boy's swollen right shoulder, Danny groaned in pain, and the man realized that there was something definitely out of place there. But also encouraged that the boy might be coming around, Vlad looked at Danny's face just as he slowly opened his eyes.
But Danny's vision hadn't fully cleared and all he could see was a blurred double set of red eyes staring down upon him. And thinking it was the mysterious dragons that had attacked him, Danny immediately resisted, and coughed on his slurred words, "Get…away, you…" But he hadn't been able to finish his sentence before he lost consciousness again.
The older hybrid gasped. The boy really was more hurt than he originally thought! He quickly inspected his wounds again, but just before he was going to pull out the makeshift chest bandage to inspect that wound, Plasmius was suddenly aware that his duplicate had been destroyed.
He let out a small gasp and briefly scrunched his eyes as his duplicate's memories were instantly inserted into his brain as it returned into his body in the form of red energy.
"…Iluzisto, is it?" he mumbled with a frown, that memory ringing the most in his mind. But then, his eyebrows creased with confusion as he flipped through his clone's memories and realized that what it remembered was very different than what he had seen on the screen…. How odd. Moving lampposts that spit out fire? Oversized snakes that were untouchable? It was like this 'Iluzisto' could manipulate his surroundings at will…
Or, even distort reality…
His attention suddenly darted in the direction of the front door when he then heard the noise of said ghost's weapon in its failed attempt to breach the ghost shield.
Now concerned again, the billionaire quickly moved to the nearby security screen to investigate. He let out a sigh of relief when he found that the ghost was no longer in sight. He would have to find out more about this Iluzisto, but that needed to wait.
Plasmius went back to the parlor and resumed checking the boy over. He inhaled sharply when he saw the boy's chest wound and how it was still bleeding freely. But because Daniel was not in ghost form, the oozing substance was not green ectoplasm but red human blood!
Vlad readily replaced the cloth over the wound and steadied himself as he checked the boy's pulse. It was weak! His mind racing against the creeping panic that the boy was in grave danger, Plasmius suddenly knew what he needed to do.
He teleported to the same room next to the kitchen where he had gotten his special tea. He looked over his arsenal of ghostly plants. Finally, he spied the two specific plants for which he was looking. He quickly began to re-heat the water that was still in his kettle from when he had made his own tea. And as he waited for it to boil, he placed the first plant leaves he had retrieved into a waiting teacup.
Vlad then grabbed the second plant jar off the counter and teleported back to Daniel. He knew that the phragmite river reed was the right choice for the boy, as its properties were quite effective in healing a ghost's wounds.
Plasmius quickly began to go to work opening the large pods and separating the long, slender reeds from their stalk. He used his nearby first aid kit to clean and disinfect the boy's injuries as best he could without irritating them more. And finally, he poured the contents of the pods over Daniel's head and chest wounds, and any other significant wound on the boy's body. Then he laid the leaves over the boy's head and chest. And because of their temporary adhesive property, they stayed in place, acting like bandages.
Satisfied now that this first aid would be effective in controlling any bleeding, the older hybrid quickly returned to the kitchen.
The tea kettle was dutifully singing when he got there. He quickly poured the rolling liquid into the prepared cup and waited a few moments for the tea to brew. Finally, satisfied that its purple hue was deep enough, he picked up the cup. The aroma made him a little dizzy, but with how potent the healing tea's narcotic property was, it was to be expected. So, he instantly straightened his arm and kept the cup at an arm's length away as he flew back to where Daniel was.
He set the teacup down by the couch where Danny lay and then grabbing the boy, shook him firmly. But Danny didn't stir.
Getting a little nervous over his poor response, Plasmius shook him more firmly, swatting the boy's face as he insisted, "Daniel, wake up! I need you to wake up!"
This time, the older ghost's efforts paid off and Danny began to groan back into consciousness. Plasmius quickly retrieved the hot tea and brought it to the boy's lips.
Danny shrank back from it at first, instinctively distrusting the smell it gave off. But he didn't have the strength to fully resist the older ghost's insistent efforts to make him drink, and finally Plasmius got the boy to start to imbibe the medicine.
But it proved difficult to get the tea into his young foe. The boy could hardly drink and he coughed a lot as he did. Finally, after Plasmius helped the boy to drink about half the cup of tea, the affects took fully over and Danny could not drink anymore. And as Vlad had expected, the teen's head fell back as he totally blacked out.
Plasmius immediately scooped the teen up, made them both intangible, and flew upward to one of his guest rooms. He lay the boy down on the bed and after turning on the light, retrieved an extra blanket from a nearby closet. As he covered Daniel with the blanket, he sighed in satisfaction. He knew that the tea would heal any internal injuries and the river reed would heal any external ones. All he had to do now was wait for Daniel to recover.
The older ghost turned and started to leave the room. But as his hand touched the light switch, he turned and looked back at the unconscious boy. "Sleep tight, little badger. For tomorrow you have quite a bit of explaining to do."
He turned off the light and shut the door. And finally turning human, he then walked back to his own room, deciding he would try to go back to sleep himself.
Danny was suddenly in the midst of fighting the unseen enemy again. But all too use to such a thing, he quickly counter-attacked with two ice beams from his eyes. But the entity rebounded with two large red beams which engaged his ice beams and shoved them back into his eyes.
The boy groaned in pain as he felt the rays gouge at his eyes and burn from the fire they had thrust upon them. He fell to his knees, gripping at the melted remnants of his eyes now oozing out of the hollow sockets …
Danny woke with a gasp, but then relaxed when he realized that the only thing attacking his eyes were the two beams of daylight that had penetrated the window shades and were flashing right into them….It was just a bad dream.
He reached up to his forehead and sighed in relief. But the emotion was cut short when he then felt an odd bandage underneath his fingers. He immediately pulled it off and dropped it somewhere, still too dazed to think about it. However, as he turned on his back, he winced at the pain that shot throughout his head and body, and as a result, he realized that not all of it had been a bad dream after all.
Still out of it, he looked upward at the strange, intricately decorated ceiling. But when he spied the fancy light that was in the center of it, he gasped again, this time his mind waking up enough to realize something was very off.
Where was he?
He shot up on his elbows and groaned in pain again. Still, he steeled himself and scanned the room that clearly was not his own. His head jolted when he spied someone spying back at him.
It was his arch enemy!
And because his mind was still not fully alert, the teen didn't readily remember what had happened very early that morning. Danny instantly freaked out; and although he had yet to fully recover, he still managed to jump out of bed, only to end up stumbling to the floor when he became entangled in the blanket. He yelled in pain as he fell.
Feeling his head spin horribly, he slowly pulled himself off the floor; and trying to ignore his pain as he did, he managed to growl to Vlad, "What are you doing here?" Then the boy remembered that this was not his room and he added, "I mean, why am I here?"
However, as soon as he forcefully questioned the man, he unconsciously held his head again as it began to spin and throb at the same time. Then, suddenly, he gasped in embarrassment when the leaves under his shirt oozed out from under it and sloppily plopped to the floor. It seemed the adhesive property of the leaves had finally worn off…
Still, he managed to will his transformation rings and turned into his alter ego. Though, not without another dizzy spell.
Vlad, meanwhile, just smirked with amusement at the boy's reaction. Did the boy realize how ludicrous it had been?
He chuckled, "My, Daniel, I never wanted to see how you were when you first woke up, and I must say that after seeing it right now, I could have definitely lived the rest of my life not knowing."
The ghost boy fisted his hands in an angry stance and growled. But in the next instant, his memory started to come into focus and his eyes widened with a different emotion. Danny slowly let his arms fall to his sides as he reverted back to his human form. He then softly uttered, "Oh, yeah. Now I remember what happened last night…"
Vlad briefly raised an eyebrow at the boy's quick change in demeanor; but hearing the teen's whisper, he knew the boy finally remembered and he answered, "Yes, well, you did force your visit upon me, dear boy. I'm more hospitable when my guests are invited. But that said, let's let bygones be bygones, hmm?"
The billionaire stood from the chair he had been sitting on as he added, "Seeing that you're already up, I think it's time for breakfast…" But glancing at the clock, he quickly corrected himself, "Or rather, brunch."
The boy winced in pain again and remarked, "No, thanks. And if you don't mind…."
"Oh, but I insist, Daniel," Vlad firmly interrupted him. "You wouldn't want me to think that your father has utterly failed in instilling good manners in you by refusing your host, now do you? … Not that it would be of any surprise to me if he truly has not."
Danny was too focused on his continuing pain to react to Vlad's jab at his father. By the look on the man's face, however, the teen knew that his enemy was not offering, but was demanding him to stay.
But what was Vlad's intention in this? He doubted the man's purpose for wanting him to stay was to simply sabotage his food. If the guy wanted to get rid of him, he would have turned him over to that creature or not helped him at all last night. Yet there he was insisting that he eat. Danny didn't get it. And he also didn't get how he was essentially healed. Except for the continuing headache and the fact that he felt he had gotten run over by a truck, he was a lot better than he should have been. After all, he had been beaten pretty badly last night; he knew that much at least!
And needing to know the answer, he frowned at Vlad and asked, "What exactly happened after I, uh, passed out? I mean, how am I…?"
But the boy trailed off when he saw a twinkle in Vlad's eyes that pretty much said, 'Guess, dear boy.'
However, Danny just couldn't fathom how he was essentially healed… There was no way that his ghost powers could have done it so quickly, if at all, with how hurt he had been last night! So, then, how was he….
Danny's eyes widened slightly with surprise, and the man smirked in amusement. He could tell that the boy now knew.
"Did you cure me?" Danny asked, now more confused than ever.
"Does it surprise you?" the man retorted smugly.
"Uh, yeah!" he blurted out. "I mean…why? And, how?"
Vlad grinned widely. "Why?" he repeated. "Tsk. I thought you would have realized by now that you are no good to me dead, Daniel. And, as to how… Ghost plants, dear boy. Remarkable things, really. It never ceases to amaze me how well they do a ghost body good."
Danny rolled his eyes and unconsciously rubbed his slightly throbbing right shoulder. Maybe he should be a little grateful to the man for saving him from that creature and healing him. But he couldn't help but feel wary towards Vlad's sudden… generosity. Still…
The boy and the man looked at each other in silence for a moment before Vlad finally turned away and pushed an intercom button on the table near the chair he had been sitting in.
"Yes, Mr. Masters?" the voice asked.
"Two for brunch, George," the man casually replied.
"It'll be ready when you arrive, sir," George replied.
"Thank you," Vlad said. He turned to Danny and added, "Shall we head down to the brunch nook, then?"
He started for the door before the boy could answer him.
Danny sighed in irritation and also headed for the door. But because he was originally closer to it, he reached it at the same time as Vlad.
"After you," the teen dryly said, barely hiding his disdain while he motioned for the older hybrid to go first. "Don't want to make you think I don't have any manners, now do I?"
"Of course not, Daniel," Vlad smirked back as he entered the doorway first…
When they arrived, Danny stopped at the doorway of the dining room. He was actually amazed that the table had already been set and various foods had also been set out.
However, when his ghost sense went off, he instantly noticed a tall and muscular twenty-something-year old butler standing at a corner of the table. Oh. That explained it. Vlad employed ghost servants.
"Derek," the older hybrid called, moving away from the teen and walking closer to the butler.
The human-looking ghost only fleetingly locked eyes with Danny before turning his full attention to his employer. The teen could only look with uncertainty as the two exchanged brief words, but in a volume too low for the boy to hear.
And just as sudden as Danny had noticed the ghost butler, he vanished from the room.
The teen frowned, not sure how to feel about the notion of 'ghost servants'. But the scent of the mouth-watering food close by instantly got his full attention. And as he looked the food over, Danny suddenly realized how hungry he was. Still, he wasn't about to let on that he was.
But the teen didn't notice that Vlad had his eyes on him and had noticed the way he had looked at the food. Of course, it didn't surprise the man. Vlad knew that the boy just had to be famished.
However, deciding to go easy on the teenager for now, he casually said, "Come now, Daniel. Don't be so formal. Help yourself, and sit down…I can assure you the food won't attack you," he added, seeing the boy's wariness.
Vlad didn't wait for the teen to respond and immediately led the way. He fixed his own sandwich and served himself other side dishes before sitting down in one of the chairs. He quietly began to eat without so much as looking back up at the boy.
Danny still hesitated, but his growling stomach finally won out and he quickly prepared his own brunch and sat down, eating as silently as Vlad. The tension and oddity the teen felt at eating with his arch-enemy almost made him want to run out of the room. Almost.
After several minutes, though, they finally satisfied their hunger. Or, at least, enough for Vlad to at last say, "So, Daniel, is there anything you wish to tell me?"
And catching the hint, the boy tensed; but then, he feigned ignorance as he shook his head and mumbled in between the food in his mouth, "Not really."
"Oh, really?" Vlad answered, his eyes narrowing slightly in irritation. "Then, let me help you along. Tell me what happened that brought you so abruptly to my door."
This time, Danny didn't answer him, purposely stuffing his mouth to prevent just that.
But Vlad immediately saw through the boy's ruse and said more firmly, "That was not a request, boy! You involved me in this whether you like it or not! So you will tell me what happened!"
Danny scowled as he swallowed the last bit of food. He hated it when the man got demanding. "You didn't have to get involved! I was doing all right on my own!"
Vlad's voice became louder with his growing irritation. "Oh? And I suppose that it was your plan all along to get all beaten up as you did and collapse right in front of my door? Forgive me if I didn't see how clever your strategy was!"
Danny shot up from his chair, knocking it over as he did. He yelled, "I didn't plan to have that fight right in front of your house! That thing…ambushed…me….. And I-I…."
But he didn't finish his sentence. He instantly knew that he had not fully recovered from his fight when his head had begun to spin wildly after his violent movement off the seat. He tried to fight it off; but in the end, his body wouldn't cooperate. With a quiet moan, he lost consciousness again and crashed to the floor.
Vlad gasped at the sight and immediately ran to the boy's side.
"Daniel!" he yelled as he pulled the boy up to a sitting position on the floor.
Danny groaned but came to almost immediately afterward. He yelped when his eyes opened and met Vlad's own. He instinctively pulled away from his enemy.
"Look, Daniel," the man began as he stood up and let the boy struggle to get up on his own. He righted the chair and backed away as the boy pulled himself into the chair. But his tone wasn't gentle. It was firm and direct as he continued, "I could care less about your ridiculous ghost fights. But when you bring a ghost with such bizarre powers to my door, you can be sure that's going to change."
"And just so you know, I saw and fought that ghost!" Vlad continued. "He has very unusual powers, something I have never seen before. And I suspect you haven't as well. So, given the circumstances, and the fact that you just said he ambushed you, it would have been very difficult for you to have beaten him—if, at all. That said, you can stop pretending like you had everything under control because I don't buy it. Now, how about saving us both further hassles, and simply tell me what happened?"
Danny sat in silence, trying to stop his spinning head. But when Vlad told him the news, his mind cleared with the shock.
"All right. I'll tell you," he finally muttered. "I'm not exactly sure when this ghost showed up since I had finally gotten to sleep in my room before all this began. I had been up part of the night fighting other ghosts, so I was really tired. But then this one came, and I wasn't even sure it was a ghost at first!"
"What do you mean?" Vlad asked.
"Well," Danny began, and then told him what had happened….
Danny was exhausted! As he phased into his room and changed back to his human form, he groaned with his fatigue. He wished that his father would hurry up and fix the Fenton Portal. The door wouldn't close all the way and that small crack in it was making him work 'overtime' in catching any ghost for too many days already.
He looked at the clock and groaned. One o'clock in the morning. Again! He hurriedly brushed his teeth and didn't even stop to change his clothes. He plopped on his bed, spread eagle. But after a few minutes, he felt uncomfortably hot. He argued with himself, trying to convince himself to get up and open the window.
Finally, he won his own argument and pulled himself out of bed. He quickly threw the window opened and went right back to bed. After a while, he wondered why he had even done that. There was hardly any breeze. Still, he lay there, trying not to think about it; and, thankfully, that helped in the end. He felt the weight of his exhaustion melt away as sleep finally grabbed a hold of him.
No more than an hour-and-a-half had passed when his frosty breath 'ghost sense' eked out of his mouth. But he was so deep in sleep, he hadn't noticed. A few moments later, he suddenly shivered as his ghost sense triggered more forcefully. He groaned and slowly opened his eyes. His blurry vision barely registered the 'two-thirty' that the clock dutifully reported to him. Once more, his ghost sense went off; and this time, he jolted awake.
"Not again…" he mumbled irritably as he changed to his ghostly form. "If that's the Box Ghost one more time, I swear…."
But his ghost sense once again screamed for his attention. He soared upward and quickly searched throughout his room. But there was nothing there. He quickly flew to his window.
He searched the moonless sky but saw nothing but the muggy haze that still covered the stars. But as he continued to look at that haze, he noticed that it moved awkwardly. Like a ripple in a pond.
But he dismissed it, chocking it up to his fatigue. However, just as he was about to go back to bed, he noticed an odd movement in that same area.
But he noticed too late.
The teen wasn't even able to gasp when a large red ectoplasmic beam suddenly came charging at him; and before he could react still, it made firm contact and propelled him into the wall opposite of his window. The impact shook the wall and the force that had riveted Danny's body bore a large dent into the wall.
The boy groaned, momentarily stunned, as he slid down the wall and fell to the floor.
"Ouch!" he said as he placed his hand on his forehead. "But I better get out of here before Jazz hears all of this. I don't want her getting hurt! At least Mom and Dad aren't here to get in the way, either!"
He flew upward and toward the window. But suddenly, another red beam struck at him and hurled him into his dresser. It immediately broke under him.
"Alright! That's enough!" he yelled as he pulled himself upward.
This time, a third beam came at him, but he was able to avoid it and it slammed into his bed, utterly destroying it.
"Now you're going to get it, uhm, whoever you are!" he vowed as he streaked out of the window.
He searched all around in the night sky, but grunted in frustration. Where was that ghost? His 'ghost sense' reacted again and he jerked around in a circle, slowing every few degrees, to search for the ghost.
Suddenly, he felt a breeze around him and then another red bolt charged at him. This time, however he didn't move quickly enough and the blast burned into his right shoulder.
"Arrghh!" he screamed in both pain and defiance. But ignoring the intense pain searing through his right shoulder, he shot a green ectoplasmic ray wildly at the general direction of where he guessed the red beam had come. But nothing came from his attempt and he continued to search desperately in the moonless night….
Danny ended the story with telling Vlad about the dragons and the eerie voice. And that he had never seen his attacker or detected him after he had left his home, though he did feel a weird sick feeling in his stomach the whole time.
Vlad had silently been listening to him the entire time, but even when the boy finished, he remained quiet.
Danny waited, since he could almost see the wheels in the man's head turning.
Finally, Vlad arched an eyebrow and asked, "You said Maddie and Jack aren't home… Where did they go?"
Danny frowned. Why did that even matter? Still the teen answered, but the suspicious look on his face remained as he did. "They left for a ghost convention for a few days, why?"
Vlad smirked. "Curiosity," he answered teasingly.
Danny glared, but decided he didn't have time for his enemy's games and just continued.
"You said you saw the ghost… What did it—uhm, he—look like?"
Vlad proceeded to tell the boy about the ghost's physical description, as well as a few other things. But in the end, he left out how he had concluded the ghost held the ability to distort reality, and that its energy level had lowered when his duplicate had hit him with an energy blast…
"So he said his name is Iluzisto?" Danny said with a quizzical look.
Vlad simply nodded.
"Man, where do these ghosts come up with these names?" Danny commented dryly.
Vlad shrugged, uncaringly. "I think the more important question is: how are we going to deal with this creature?"
"We?" the boy quizzed, not catching his drift. But then he frowned, realizing Vlad had grown an interest towards the ghost. And that was not good.
Danny glared at Vlad, silently telling him he was not going to allow him to take advantage of this situation. And his next remark stressed the fact. "I'm not going to do anything about it until I get over this first bout. Then, I'm going to find out all I can about him so I'll be ready if he decides to come after me again. Of course, I'm hoping that it was just a one time thing and he was just out looking to kick Danny Phantom's butt just so he can brag to everyone in the Ghost Zone that he did. That's what most of the ghosts that attack me are after anyways." He rolled his eyes with his last words.
The boy didn't wait for a response from Vlad, and rose from the chair but unexpectedly lost his balance again. However, he caught himself right away and added, "Now you know everything. So if you don't mind, I need to get home." He felt the dizziness—and that same headache—come on again and he tried to steel himself. Was he really so hurt that he still didn't have the strength to stay on his feet?
Seeing the boy's strength quickly slipping, Vlad stood and replied, "Actually, I do mind. You are not in any condition to go anywhere at this point, Daniel. You probably need another dose of the ghost medicine. So, I insist that you stay….."
But Danny didn't hear the rest of what Vlad had to say. His dizziness had interfered with his hearing and before he knew it, he saw blackness again.
With a sigh, Vlad turned back into Plasmius and retrieved the boy again off the floor. And securing the senseless boy in his arms, he quickly soared upward to the same guest room as before all the while thinking about what Daniel had told him. He found it odd how the boy mentioned his ghost sense stopped working when he had been fighting the ghost…
Somehow, Vlad had a gut feeling Iluzisto somehow caused this… But how? And more importantly, why was this ghost after Daniel? Now that the boy had told him about his fight with Iluzisto, Vlad could conclude the ghost's intention was not to kill the boy, but to simply capture him? But why did the ghost use such drastic force, and actually did almost kill the boy?
He smirked as he immediately answered his own question. Of course. Daniel would never have gone 'quietly'. And just by his own brief fight with the ghost, Vlad could further tell Iluzisto was very ill-tempered. So, it wouldn't surprise him if the ghost simply got carried away.
But none of that answered for what purpose this ghost wanted to take the boy!
He looked thoughtfully at the unconscious teenager as he placed him down on the bed. But then a wicked little thought slowly began to unravel within his mind and the man's eyes brightened with malice, while his lips curved upward and met that same emotion.
Perhaps this situation could play to his advantage after all…
Still focused on the unsuspecting boy, his eyes slightly narrowed with evil as he thought, "Sorry to tear down your hopes, my boy, but this ghost is not just out to 'kick your butt'. In fact, I would be willing to bet all my money that he will be coming back for you. That much is certain. And that's when I will be taking advantage of this whole thing…"
His smirk widened as he suddenly reached down and raked back the boy's tussled hair and whispered into his ear, "Iluzisto simply doesn't know the right way to get at you, but I can make sure that he does… If need be…"
It was going to be very easy. All he had to do was make Iluzisto think he could have Daniel, and meanwhile, convince the boy that the only way to escape the ghost was to ask for his aid again. Only, this time, since Vlad knew that he could easily handle a 'level seven' ghost, Vlad would keep Iluzisto from taking the teen, only if Daniel agreed to join him!
Of course, being that the teenager was so infernally stubborn, the older hybrid didn't expect his young rival to agree right away. But Vlad was sure all he had to do was let Iluzisto 'persuade' Daniel until he did take his offer! Yes… this was indeed going to play to his advantage!
He chuckled in satisfaction again as he moved his hand down and placed the blanket over Daniel like before. As he left the boy, he smugly thought, "It's so nice when new puppets show up for my use. And Iluzisto will be no different."
Truephan here: Well, there ya go! We can always depend on Vlad twisting things to his advantage, right? *scratches head* He really is an enigma, huh? Oh, well, at least he's very entertaining. In any case, you will probably find out sooner or later, but I need to warn you… Ms. Hyde really thrives off of your reviews, so she better hear from you…or else…*Ooh, I meant that in very nice way, dearies…*pulls out hatpin*..Uh, if you get my point, meh-heh…And, oh, now, looks like pearlie girl has something to say…or is it her wickedly handsome and diabolical Vlad muse? Oooh, just my type! *cackles wickedly*…uh, pearl dearie?...
*Vlad muse glares* Don't think you can butter me up with your silly words of praise—even if they are true. And let's got something clear, Ms. Hyde. No one talks to the readers in such a way except for me. They are my pawns. Mine! Now, stay out of my way or you'll know why I am the most feared muse in all existence!
*Pearl rolls eyes* Seriously, you two need to give it a rest. *looks at readers* You all have no idea how hard it is to work with him, sometimes, especially when Truephan's own muse is around. Ugh. Okay, enough silliness! Heh-heh! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Believe me, things are going to get worse before they better! *winks*
See you all at the Pearl chat room later today! Ta, dear readers!