Seeing is disBelieving

by pearl84

Cowritten with Truephan. Rated T. Before PP. Ghost OCs. Caught in the crossfire between Time and Existence, Danny and Vlad are forced to face the Master of Time, the Defenders of Existence, a new Enforcer, and, ultimately, extinction. Full summary inside

32. Ch32: Laying out the Illusionist Cards

Pearl: Hello all! Gosh, I am SO sorry for the delay with this chapter. My fault entirely. Yup. I had some crazy stuff going on. And this poor chapter had to suffer through it all. First, my computer messes up and I lost my first write up of this chapter! Then, I had to babysit my friend's kid for two weeks and I couldn't concentrate enough to write. And finally, I just had some parent issues. Gah! But, yeah, I feel I owe you guys an apology and, of course, truephan for being SO patient with me with this. Hopefully, the next chapter will go smoothly! Well, enough of my rant! Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I hope you all ate a lot and then felt guilty about it! Lol! It's okay! Just go to the gym for three hours like I did! No, I didn't, but I do need to hit the treadmill for the next year to burn all I ate! HA-ha! Okay, enjoy this extra treat for you all! XD

A/N: truephan here: Wow, hello again everyone and Happy Thanksgiving weekend! I'm truly thankful for having such AWESOME readers as y'all! Makes all of this worthwhile and is MEGA-better than Black Friday! I think you all received a PM from us for the last chapter, but I wanted to make sure we said 'thank you' to 'Frizzle' whom we couldn't PM since your PM feature has been disabled. Well, since I'm STILL digesting my Thanksgiving meal even this late in the weekend (Duh! Why do you think we call it Thanksgiving weekend! LOL) …Anyhooo, while I'm digesting, let me sit back, prop my feet up, and smile as you read onward. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom.

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Chapter 32: Laying out the Illusionist Cards

---

Early the next day, the hybrids were in Vlad's private lab.

Danny shifted nervously on his feet, watching his arch-enemy, who in turn, was focused on preparing the boy's healing serum shot for his core.

Even though the man had long since noticed the teen's apprehension, he was not going to be inclined to say anything about it. What for? This would be the boy's third and final shot and they both knew it was unpleasant but necessary.

Still, feeling just the slightest pity, the man decided to distract the boy and asked, "How are you feeling this morning, Daniel?"

Danny rubbed at one of his arms, already anticipating the unpleasant sting of the needle and the cold ghost chemicals that would soon be shooting through his veins. But knowing he was wigging himself out, he focused on answering his arch-enemy.

"Fine, I guess," he muttered.

Vlad paused in what he was doing and said dryly, "Care to be more specific?"

Danny rolled his eyes and replied more sarcastically, "Yeah, sure. I woke up feeling ready to kick some butt. Never mind that I also woke up with this leg cramp, which means I must have slept wrong or something. Not to mention, I have this cut on my arm with this weird itch that—"

"Have you tried to morph?" Vlad cut him off, knowing the boy was being ridiculous on purpose.

"I haven't even had breakfast yet. I usually wait until I've actually been offered to eat something before doing that," Danny answered with a small smirk, having noticed the man's hidden agitation.

The teen silently laughed to himself. He had to admit: messing with the older half-ghost was a little too fun. Maybe that's why the man also messed with him at every chance he could. Now that he thought about that, Danny further wondered just how much of their arguments and fights were for a real reason and how much of them were just because they enjoyed the sport of challenging and riling each other up.

But noticing how the boy had suddenly gone quiet, clearly thinking about something, Vlad didn't hesitate to quip back, "You might not morph before breakfast, but clearly you have no problem 'spacing out' before breakfast… It's actually quite abnormal, in fact. Perhaps you should talk to someone about that—and your sister does not count."

Danny quickly scowled. "Hey, the 'mental issues' jabs are mine, fruit loop. So, back off."

"Very well…," Vlad answered with a grin. "I do, after all, prefer 'jabs' which make you squirm." The man then lifted the now prepared shot in his hand and added, "And if they are the literal kind of jabs, it is even better. Come here, little badger. Time for your medicine."

"Okay, you need to stop," Danny said, now a bit freaked out. "The whole 'Dr Vlad Jekyll' bit is too creepy even for you."

The older hybrid laughed, but it was a genuine laugh. The man didn't question his light-hearted mood this morning, but seeing the teen seemed a lot more relaxed than yesterday also relaxed the billionaire.

Vlad had to admit, though. He, too, had woken up feeling much better. He could feel his ghost energy surging strongly just below his fingertips and his dormant core felt revitalized. He knew that ideally he—and Daniel—should rest for another day and give his body the proper time to absorb the last shot he would also be taking this morning; but alas, they were on a tight schedule.

And remembering that, the man sobered up, but still said calmly, "Alright, no Dr. Jekyll; but you still need to take this shot."

Danny cringed, his nervousness returning; but he still turned into Phantom and then reluctantly moved closer to Vlad and let the man grab his arm. "Last one, right?" he asked as his arch-enemy prepared his upper arm.

"Last one. And if it's any consolation, I will be taking one, too, as soon as I am done with you. And If we're lucky, neither of us will turn into Mr. Hyde," he replied before uncapping the needle.

"Yeah, very funny," Danny deadpanned. But then he added with a cocky smile, "But, heh. Knowing you'll get to suffer through this, too, makes me feel a whole lot better."

"Fortunately, I get to watch you suffer, first," Vlad said with an evil smirk before he plunged the needle into the teen's arm a little more forcibly than necessary.

"Ahh!" Danny cried out, instinctively trying to draw back, but Vlad had had the foresight to grip the boy's shoulder with his other hand to keep him in place.

But seeing the man grinning, the boy glared at him and growled, "You are such a freaking jerk!"

"Sorry, little badger. I don't know my own strength sometimes," Vlad said innocently.

However, when he saw the boy close his eyes as the cold effect of the medicine began to invade his system, the man sobered up and focused on slowly pushing the remaining serum into the teen.

Danny gritted his teeth and paled significantly as he felt the icy serum gripping at his core. Fortunately, Vlad soon finished and it was over.

"Breathe, Daniel. It's over," Vlad said, watching the teen struggle to stay on his feet.

The teen took in a few shaky breaths; but feeling his head stop spinning and the coldness reduced down to a bearable level, he finally opened his eyes and muttered, "Maybe the 'Dr. Jekyll' thing is not too outside your zone, Plasmius. Seriously, only you would make such horrible healing serums."

Seeing the teen was recovered enough, Vlad let go of him and shrugged. "I will take that as a 'thank you, Vlad, for healing my core', hmm?"

Danny would have rolled his eyes if he wasn't so busy clutching his chest and just breathing. But when the lingering effects of the serum finally faded completely, the teen felt even better than before.

The boy grinned at the brightness of his ghost hue and the feel of his fully charged ghost core. "Oh, I am so ready to kick some butt!"

"I am sure," Vlad replied as he began to prepare his own shot. "But although you are clearly recovered, it is still very recent. So, try to show some restraint, hmm?"

"Yeah, Yeah," Danny answered, rolling his eyes before he turned human again.

Vlad just shook his head before saying, "You should go have breakfast now. We are on a schedule, remember?"

"Oh, you are not kicking me out just yet," Danny said, narrowing his eyes. "I am going to enjoy watching you take that shot now, fruit loop."

Vlad narrowed his own eyes, but then an evil smirk curled his lips as he answered, "Hmm… Taking satisfaction in your enemy's suffering… You are more like me with every day that passes…"

Danny quickly scowled. However, knowing he had no comeback for that, he huffed indignantly and walked out of the lab.

Vlad chuckled. "So predictable," he said before turning his attention to the shot in his hand.

He readily frowned as he turned into Plasmius. And as he prepared his arm, he reminded himself that this was also his last shot of this horrid healing serum…

---

"Man, I had a great night's sleep!" Tucker said as he, Sam, and Jazz sat at Vlad's kitchen table for breakfast.

"Maybe because you were so far gone yesterday that you might as well've been dead," Sam replied sarcastically.

"How was I supposed to know Vlad added some sleeping powder to the cookies?" Tucker protested, but then he smiled sheepishly and added, "But they were really good cookies. Maybe I should ask him for the recipe…"

"Maybe you should get your head checked," Sam retorted.

But right then the goth girl finally noticed how Jazz was not even paying attention to them or her breakfast and was instead looking worriedly towards the kitchen door.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "You okay, Jazz?"

"Yes," she muttered before sighing. "I'm just—Danny!" she abruptly exclaimed when she saw her brother walk into the kitchen.

Danny, who was still slightly fuming, jolted when his sister was suddenly in his face and grabbing both his upper arms.

"Are you okay, Danny? Are you hurt?" she asked quickly.

"Ow, Jazz!" Danny protested, pulling away from her when she had grabbed the arm which had been injected. Reflexively rubbing it, he tersely added, "Calm down. I'm fine. I was just taking that healing serum shot. Thank goodness it was the last one."

"Sorry, I just don't trust Vlad," she replied with a frown, though she gave her brother his space again.

"Yeah, I'm with Jazz on this one," Sam agreed. "I mean, you don't know what could be in those shots."

"Yeah! Just look at what he did to me!" Tucker protested.

"Tucker, you kinda did that to yourself for eating so much," Danny said dryly, crossing his arms. But before his male friend could protest, he added to all three, "I agree with you, guys. I don't trust him, but I don't think he's up to anything with the serum. Actually, it did what he said and I'm feeling a lot better. Besides, I have to… er, sorta trust him if we are going to take Iluzisto down together. So, I don't have much of a choice, you guys."

Team Phantom sighed, but they finally nodded in agreement.

Danny smiled encouragingly at them, but then realizing someone was missing, he quickly asked, "Where's Justeco?"

"He went to sit in the living room to wait for you and Vlad," Sam replied.

But Jazz quickly added, "We need to hurry, Danny. He's looking worse than yesterday…"

Danny nodded. "Yeah, Vlad just had to take the healing serum, too. I'm sure he's done by now, so we can head out soon."

"Not until you eat something," Vlad's voice suddenly interrupted them, just entering the kitchen.

The teen looked back and scowled at the approaching billionaire. "What are you? My mother now?"

Vlad rolled his eyes before raising an expectant eyebrow at Jazz.

The girl frowned, but then sighed and said, "Danny, he's right. You need to eat."

"Yeah, dude, don't forget you were pretty hurt and weak just two days ago," Tucker said before he took a bite of his eggs and bacon.

"And just because you feel and look better now doesn't mean you should not be careful," Sam added.

"Okay, geez! I get it!" Danny replied, exasperated. But he then rolled his eyes again and walked towards the stove when he saw some pans on top of it. But as he grabbed the clean plate already on the counter after noticing the bacon and eggs, he thought, "Great. I just spend one day with my friends and sister at the fruitloop's, and he's already turned them against me."

He knew that wasn't true, though. But it was still annoying to hear his friends and sister unwillingly back Vlad up.

But getting an idea, he glanced back at Vlad with a smirk and asked, "You wouldn't happen to have a box of cereal, would you? Say… Fruitloops?"

Vlad scowled and replied, "I have cat food. It's close enough to your taste in food, is it not?"

"Naw, I wouldn't want to deprive your overweight cat of its needed meals," Danny replied casually as he turned his head and began to serve himself some breakfast. But he paused and shot back,"Oh, do you want me to leave you some of this? Being an old man and all, I'm sure you require your daily dose of protein, right?"

Jazz and Danny's friends kept quiet, though they were struggling to hold back their giggles. Danny's jabs were just too funny.

Vlad, on the other hand, just shook his head. Even he knew by now that it was pointless to get into a fight with words with the teen.

It would never end.

Taking the route of ignoring the boy, Vlad asked the real question on his mind. "Where is Justeco?"

"In that room we were in last night," Tucker answered between his chewing, only to get elbowed by Sam. "What? I wasn't supposed to tell him?"

Vlad ignored the teens and turned around to go.

But seeing that, Danny turned around completely to face the retreating man and quickly asked, "Where are you going, Vlad? Leave Justeco alone. You need to eat, too, so we can go."

Vlad halted and smirked back at the boy. "Last time I checked, this is my house and you are not my mother."

"Darn it!" Danny huffed when Vlad walked out. But knowing he could not leave Vlad alone with Justeco for more than one reason, the teen put down his plate of food on the counter and began to leave the kitchen.

"Danny? Where are you going?" Jazz quickly asked. "You need to eat, remember?"

"I will in a minute, Jazz!" Danny replied, annoyed, but it was more because of his apprehension.

But seeing his brother was about to exit, Jazz quickly got up and cut him off. "Danny, I'm serious. You are about to go up against a powerful spirit in the near future! You need to be as strong as possible, so that means eating something!"

Danny sighed loudly. "Jazz, you don't understand! I can't leave Vlad and Justeco alone."

"I doubt he's going to hurt him, dude," Tucker answered, not getting why his friend was so worked up.

"It's not that!" Danny replied.

"Then?" Sam prompted.

The boy sighed loudly as he passed a hand through his hair. "I… lied to Vlad. I told him that the Observants' curse is still on us."

"Why did you do that?" Jazz asked, confused.

"Come on, Jazz. You don't think Vlad Masters, the guy who only thinks about himself and how things benefit him, was going to help the Observants and me out of the kindness of his non-existent heart, do you? It was the only thing I could think of to force him to help! So, if he questions Justeco about it, I could be found out!"

Team Phantom suddenly understood, but then Jazz smiled in reassurance. "I'll tell you what. I'm done with my breakfast, so why don't I go keep an eye on them, while you eat? I know we can't let Vlad discover the truth, but we also need you as strong as possible and we need to leave as soon as possible, okay? You trust me, right, little brother? If I'm good at anything, it's keeping your secrets."

Danny smiled when her sister winked at him. And he nodded. "Thanks, Jazz."

The girl nodded and then left; but when his brother's back was to her, she mouthed and motioned to Sam and Tucker, "Make sure he eats."

The two friends smirked and nodded back.

---

Meanwhile, Vlad had made it to his intended destination. He had wanted to talk with Justeco about the exact location of the Observants' prison. However, the moment he walked into the living room, he froze in surprise.

In fact, he barely noticed the red mist that leaked past his slightly parted lips…

Justeco was on the ground in front of one of the couches, his form so wispy that he was barely recognizable. And worse, he had all the more large hideous craters forming on his head and body, which were now seeping ectoplasm.

The Head Observant groaned in pain, and Vlad snapped out of it. The man moved to the spirit's side and squatted next to him. "Justeco. Justeco, can you hear me?"

At first, he did not get a response, but then the Observant groaned in pain again and his closed eye slowly opened. "V-Vlad…," he choked out. "I-I fear it is t-too late…"

The billionaire frowned and attempted to touch the Observant, only for his hand to go through him. This time, the man cursed under his breath and looked around with indecision, trying to find a solution to this. However, it was at that moment that the older hybrid's eyes fell upon a certain glowing orb right under one of his living room tables.

The man quickly got up to retrieve it. He had noticed since yesterday that the Observant was always holding this orb, much like a lifeline. It certainly looked similar to Okulo's orb, so Vlad was fairly sure it was another Timeless Magic Orb.

But the moment Vlad grabbed it, he inhaled sharply at the sudden strange feeling he got from the orb and that red smoke burn past his lips again, this time with more intensity and thickness. His entire body was growing hot and tingly as he watched the orb's greenish color begin to darken and turn blood red…

"Oh my gosh!" someone suddenly shrieked, jolting Vlad out of his trance-like state.

The man quickly stuck the orb in his jacket pocket and turned around, just as Jazz ran over to Justeco.

"Oh, no!" she exclaimed when she tried to grab him and couldn't. But then looking over at the billionaire, she added angrily, "Vlad! Are you just going to stand there?"

Still feeling the strange effects of the orb, Vlad merely frowned. But then he sighed and said to the girl, "Stay with him. I will return shortly."

Jazz briefly startled when Vlad turned into Plasmius and then vanished in a puff of pink energy. But she quickly turned her attention back to Justeco and said, "Hang in there, Justeco. Vlad's going to find something to help you…" She paused and mentally added, "I hope."

Meanwhile, Plasmius reappeared in his lab. He quickly grabbed the things he hoped would help the Observant; but then he paused and looked down. His eyebrows creasing with uncertainty, he turned his hand intangible and pulled out the orb from his clothing.

The effects were even stronger now in his ghost form.

"How odd…," he muttered to himself as he studied the now bright red orb. He had been under the impression that timeless magic only reacted to spirits. So, what did this mean? And why did he feel this strange feeling within him? And what was this red mist that escaped through his mouth every time he was anywhere near anything or anyone with spirit energy?

For some reason, it had not happened while he had been a prisoner in the Realm Beyond Time. It only started happening now with Justeco. In fact, the 'red mist thing' had happened to him when Justeco first came into his home. But he had been so angry at the sight of the Observant that he ignored it. And then last night, he hid the hot smoke whenever it would leak out in the spirit's presence because he had not wanted Danny and his loved ones to see it and question him. But now, Vlad couldn't ignore that and these other bizarre happenings, especially now that he kept reacting to Justeco's orb…

It was immensely strange… and curious… very curious, actually.

Vlad smirked evilly as an idea began to form in his head. But then knowing he had to get back to Justeco, the older hybrid slipped the orb back in his pocket and teleported again.

Danny choked on his drink when his arch-enemy suddenly appeared in the kitchen, while Sam and Tucker startled.

"Do you really have to do that?" Danny snapped. "I mean, can't you just walk in, like a normal person?"

"Dude, he isn't a normal person, remember?" Tucker added with a meek smile.

Danny glared at his friend, but when he saw Vlad pay him no mind, the teen frowned and got up from his seat.

"What? You're ignoring me now? What… What's that for?" Danny added when he saw Vlad grabbing some glowing jar from his cupboard.

"It seems our spirit friend has taken a turn for the worst," Vlad finally answered.

Danny's eyes widened, but before he could say anything, Vlad suddenly shoved the glowing jar into his hand and said, "Come. I need your assistance."

"Wait! Don't—"

But it was too late. Plasmius grabbed his arm and teleported them both.

Danny gasped when they suddenly reappeared in the living room. "Darn it, Vlad! You need to stop doing that to me!" he wheezed out.

Plasmius just smirked before taking the jar from him and placing it on the table. He then proceeded to put the rest of the things he had brought with him there as well.

"Enough of your childish tantrums, Daniel," the man said, now serious. "I need you to help me with this and you must do exactly what I tell you."

But Danny was now frozen in shock. He had at last noticed Justeco and his sister; but mostly, how bad the Observant looked.

"Daniel!"

The teen quickly nodded. "Yeah, okay. What do you need?"

"Give me a moment," Vlad said, as he opened a plastic container and revealed its unfilled pill capsules within. He then unwrapped a needle and syringe before he opened that glowing jar.

Danny just watched as the man carefully filled the syringe with the gooey green substance. Then, the man carefully grabbed an empty capsule and injected it with even more precision with the green substance.

As the capsule filled up and began to glow, Vlad muttered to Danny, "I need you to morph."

Danny only briefly hesitated, but did so. "What am I doing?" he asked.

"Here," Vlad said, handing the teen the filled and glowing capsule. "Feed it with a small stream of your energy until it turns blue. Understand?"

"What? But how—?"

"Danny, just trust me, alright?" Vlad cut him off with a frown. "I know what I am telling you. The healing serum in the pills will stabilize your energy. Just feed it until it turns blue."

"Oh my gosh!" they suddenly heard Sam exclaimed, while Tucker gasped when they finally made it to the living room.

But Danny paid his friends no mind and stared at Vlad with an unreadable expression. But deciding to take the chance and trust the man, the teen quickly took the pill from him and proceeded to force his ghost energy into it. It didn't take long, though, and the pill soon went from glowing green to a glowing blue.

"What are you two doing? Justeco is fading fast!" Jazz suddenly called to them.

"Give us one more minute, Jasmine," Vlad seriously replied.

Sam and Tucker had also gone to Justeco's side. However, highly nervous, Sam got up and went over to see what Vlad and Danny were doing.

Vlad was now on the fourth pill while Danny fed the third with ghost energy.

"Four should do it," Vlad said as he used his own energy to feed the forth one and turn it blue.

Vlad then pulled out a napkin from his pocket before turning it intangible and using it to grab the orb in his pocket.

Now not subjected to his touch, the orb was glowing with its natural green color.

"Hey, that's Justeco's! How did you get it?" Sam quickly demanded, suspicious.

Vlad just ignored her and although Danny also was wondering the same question, he remained quiet.

"Being that Justeco is a spirit, I theorized that subjecting these pills further with this orb's timeless magic and energy will prove them more effective. I need you to hold the orb, Daniel, while I expose the pills to it."

Danny frowned but raised his hand to the orb, while Vlad watched intently. The truth was the man didn't need anyone to hold the orb. He just wanted to see how it reacted to the teen…

However, the moment Danny touched it, it didn't react anything like Vlad expected.

The orb's green hue began to dim with the young hybrid's touch, while the teen's own hue began to brighten.

"Stop," Vlad quickly said, startling Danny enough for him to withdraw his hand.

Feeling this… rush, Danny took in a shaky breath and asked, "What? What was that?"

"Never mind, Daniel," Vlad said, carefully placing the orb on the table. "Just leave it there. ...The orb must have a safety mechanism to avoid anyone but Justeco from using it," he lied. But when Danny frowned back, he quickly changed subjects. "Just take two of the pills and let them touch the orb."

Hearing that Justeco's groan was barely audible now, Danny just nodded and grabbed the pills. He followed Vlad's example and let them touch the orb, watching how their whitish hue began to turn a golden color, though the blue energy inside it remained the same.

"Done," Vlad announced and quickly grabbed the pills from Danny.

He then moved over to Justeco and ushered Jazz and Sam back. Danny, however, soon joined the man beside Justeco.

"He looks bad, Vlad," Danny muttered fearfully.

"Yes… let's hope this works…," the man replied before he turned his hand with the four pills intangible and stuck it into Justeco's wispy body.

Vlad cringed as he reached the Observant's core. But then he had to press his lips close when he felt that red smoke come up from within his core, trying to exit through his mouth again. But he forced it down, and grimaced again when it felt like he swallowed down a gulp of blistering hot tea. The man's white hue then began to flicker. He rarely physically touched another being's core for the reason that it just felt highly uncomfortable. But he knew it needed to be done. As soon as he was sure the pills had been fully absorbed, the man didn't hesitate to retract his hand.

He looked up at Danny and saw the teen just staring back at him. "Did you just…?" Danny began before he shuddered at the thought of touching another being's core.

And knowing what the boy was going to ask, Vlad replied seriously, "Yes, but I recommend that you do not ever do it."

Danny frowned tentatively, "Uh… why? Wait. You know what? I rather not know."

Vlad just shrugged and turned his focus back on Justeco.

For a moment, it seemed the pills had had no affect on the spirit. And Vlad began to believe that maybe they were too late. But then, Justeco's body began to stabilize, his form becoming more tangible and the craters also began to heal for the most part…

"Justeco?" Danny called.

The Observant moaned, but at last opened his eyes. "What…? What happened?"

"You were fading," Jazz replied quietly.

"My brother… We are connected…," Justeco muttered weakly before attempting to sit, and with Danny's help, he managed it. "My brother does not have long, which means, I, too, do not have much longer."

"The energy pills will help," Vlad answered. "But we have indeed wasted enough time. It is time to act."

"Now, we're on the same page, cheesehead!" Danny said with a grin.

"We need to get to that cave, Justeco. Do you think you can lead us there?" Vlad asked seriously.

Justeco nodded. "Yes… I just need my…my orb! I dropped it!" he suddenly exclaimed and began to look around.

"It's right here," Sam said as she reached for the orb still on the table. She quickly brought the orb wrapped in the handkerchief to the recovering spirit.

"Oh, thank you!" Justeco said in relief as he accepted his orb. "Oh, but fear not, young one. The orb will not do you harm. In fact, its timeless magic only reacts to spirits."

Vlad kept quiet, though his suspicions had just been confirmed. And… he was also beginning to get an idea of what exactly the escape of energy from his mouth meant…

But hearing that, Danny opened his mouth to ask why the orb had dimmed with his touch, but the older hybrid cut him off.

"Now that Justeco is better, let us go, then," Vlad commanded, getting to his feet.

"Yes, the time to act has come," Justeco replied with determination.

Danny and Team Phantom quickly nodded in agreement.

---

Iluzisto had been following Okulo's orb, which was still locked on Justeco's core, for a good hour. The evil spirit had long since noticed that he had not been in this part of the Ghost Zone before, so that made him hopeful in his quest. He was sure that wherever Justeco was, he would also find the crossbreeds…

And best of all, he could tell through his enhanced staff that the end of the Observants was near. They would not make it past today. He was certain of that, too.

His eye curving into an evil and victorious grin and locked on the speeding glowing greenish-purple orb a few feet in front of him, the illusionist spirit pressed forward. Foolish Justeco. Even when he and his brother had escaped the prison, they had been able to do nothing. They were as cowardly and pathetic as he had known they were.

At this point, not even the crossbreeds would be able to stop the Observants' extinction—not that it would matter when the crossbreeds would soon be worrying about their own end.

"I will be eliminating two bothersome species before this day is over—truly I am worthy of reverence!" Iluzisto proclaimed with a gloating chuckle.

However, at that instant, Iluzisto was jolted by something in his peripheral vision. And not even bothering to turn his body towards it, he halted and his bluish-silver pupil pivioted to the side of his large eye as he stared in surprise at what had caught his attention…

There, amongst a few green boulders was a metallic grey octagonal-shape frame seemingly floating in mid-air. But within the middle of that frame was a slit which defined its doors. It was slightly cracked open, showing the slightest hint of earthly light.

"It is a human portal," Iluzisto muttered as he righted his body and his pupil returned to the center of the front of his large eye.

Was it possible? Had he just found the young crossbreed's portal on his quest to seek out Justeco?

But Iluzisto instantly remembered what he had been doing, and his pupil pivoted again in the direction of the still speeding orb.

Raising his free hand in the direction of Okulo's Timeless Magic Orb, Iluzisto commanded it, "Halt... Return."

In an instant, the orb jolted to a stop, and as if there had been an invisible ping-pong player at the opposite end, the orb shot back towards the spirit and he effortlessly caught it in his hand.

He looked at the orb in thought for a moment. If the orb was taking him away from this portal, then it meant Justeco was not on the other side of this human-portal. He was somewhere else—somewhere which the orb would no doubt lead him to.

But…

Iluzisto was currently very curious about the human-made portal he had just discovered. He was almost sure it was the young crossbreed's portal…

Or, it could be that the older one, too, possessed one, and this could be his?

Either way, it was worth investigating, especially if there was a chance that he would find at least one of the crossbreeds. If Iluzisto was lucky, they were still too weak to defend themselves. And if he was even luckier, he might even find them separated, making it even easier to steal their cores.

In any case, Iluzisto knew of the crossbreeds' weaknesses. The young one's heroic nature would be his downfall. And the older one's fatherly affection for the more vulnerable child would spell his own end.

With that cunning thought, Iluzisto pocketed the orb and then flew closer to the human portal. It was clearly broken or not closed correctly, which meant wrenching the steel doors open would be effortless.

Now in front of it, Iluzisto raised his staff and stuck the pointed end in between the crack doors. With an explosion of ecto-energy from the staff, the doors were thrown wide open.

However, Iluzisto never expected what happened next.

A sudden electrical green force field made up of little electrical bolts appeared around him; they had quickly started from one end of the portal and looped around the spirit until it reached the other side of the portal, trapping him.

Iluzisto gasped when the field glowed brighter and the little electrical barbs shot their energy, electrocuting him mercilessly.

Iluzisto screamed in pain as the sharp, hot and unstable power rendered him motionless and his entire body lit up with electricity.

Meanwhile, the one responsible for it finally turned visible, a large gun loaded and aimed at the spirit.

Skulker narrowed his eyes before he called, "Iluzisto!"

The spirit gasped at the sound of the unexpected voice, and his pupil pivoted to the back of his head.

"Compliments of my employer…" Skulker then said before he instantly fired two consecutive level-nine blasts at the spirit, and they both hit him squarely in the back.

Iluzisto yelled as the attacks hit his back and propelled him forward, right through the portal, where he disappeared on the other side.

Skulker cursed under his breath. He had hoped for the blasts to turn the spirit into ecto-dust in an instant. He really did not want to be anywhere near this spirit. In fact, he had protested greatly when Plasmius' told him why he had ordered him ahead to the Fenton portal.

Skulker had not even thought Iluzisto would come any time soon. Now, not only had the blasts not destroyed the evil spirit, but the hunter would be forced to confront him.

At least, it was fortunate for Skulker that Iluzisto had pretty much walked right into this trap. Either, the spirit's increase in power had made him incredibly smug, or the spirit was very eager to get to the half-ghosts.

Skulker suspected it was a combination of both. But knowing he was not finished with this 'little plan' his employer had sent him to carry out, the hunter turned on his rockets and flew towards the open portal.

He smirked at the still activated electrical field he had set up before he reached for his arm control and deactivated it.

He really was loving this new suit.

But this was no time to get cocky, so he sobered up and quickly turned on his scanners and sensors. Then, he at last turned invisible, and flew through the portal.

Skulker landed stealthily inside the Fenton's dimmed ghost lab and immediately discovered no trace of Iluzisto. The spirit had recovered a lot faster than he had anticipated…

Then again, his scanners were picking up a present energy level that was shocking.

In spite of that, the hunter already knew his instruments were useless at locking on a spirit's signature, so he instead relied on his own physical instincts, specifically the very one that had helped him track the crossbreeds to the Observant prison: his sense of smell.

Skulker tensed, quickly capturing the scent of the spirit nearby, and that only put the hunter on higher alert. This creature's stealth mode and ability to blend into its surroundings was a dangerous thing.

The hunter cursed his employer this time as he asked himself why he always willingly agreed to be part of the older half-ghost's insane schemes and plans!

However, at that instant, Skulker heard a shrilled sound to his left and he instantly shot an ecto-blast towards the sound, giving away not just how immensely nervous he was, but also… his location.

Still in stealth mode, Iluzisto instantly raised his hand. And although he still couldn't see the invisible ghost, he now knew where the hunter was and created two illusions in an instant.

Skulker gasped as he suddenly turned visible without his willing it so, and he further jolted when his gun suddenly took a life of its own. Its composition melded into a rubber-like substance before the barrel wrapped around him like a snake, quickly and easily pinning his arms to his sides.

Iluzisto appeared just as fast and fired an energy ray at the immobile ghost. With a cry of pain, Skulker was propelled back into a wall.

Skulker groaned for a moment, hearing a bunch of warning alarms going off within his helmet. He knew the blast that had struck him had been very strong, and if it wasn't for his improved suit, he would be no more than metallic rubble right now.

"Fool…," Iluzisto sneered as he approached the defeated ghost. "Did you truly believe you alone could defeat me? You were no match for me when I was at my weakest, let alone now!"

"I was not trying to defeat you," Skulker grunted out as he struggled against the illusion of his gun wrapped around him. However, as he did that, the real Skulker inside wasted no time and turned invisible and flew out of the control center within his helmet. Still, he kept his suit activated and on auto-pilot…

"Oh, I see… You were merely the decoy," Iluzisto said with an evil look. "Well, I do hope the older crossbreed did not count on your return…As you have already tasted, I am so powerful that no ghost can disbelieve any of my illusions now!" He aimed his staff at the ghost and added darkly, "Your core will now be my appetizer before my main courses…"

"As I said, that back there was compliments of my employer…," Skulker replied as he turned visible.

Iluzisto froze in surprise when he heard a squeaky voice answer him, but then he saw a small green glob-of-a-ghost floating next to one of the suit's robotic arms.

"What in the…?" Iluzisto began, but never finished.

"Now this is compliments of the Ghost Boy," Skulker finished with an evil smirk before he pressed a button on his suit's arm and commanded, "Activate Fenton Ghost Defense and target only level nine ecto-entities and higher…"

But although Skulker's squeaky voice had uttered the command, his suit instantly repeated it back…. in Danny Fenton's voice.

And the house's defense systems recognized it instantly.

Iluzisto jolted when the lab filled with ghost weapons and they all fired at him. The suddenness of it all was so unexpected that the spirit's illusion vanished.

Skulker wasted no time and flew back into his suit just as his gun returned to normal. He immediately got back in control of his suit and sprang to his feet. He then aimed his gun again at the spirit and sneered, "And this is compliments of me for invading my home!"

Iluzisto, who had been defending himself against the multiply assaults from the house, didn't even see Skulker's attack until it was too late. The spirit was thrown back into several lab tables, breaking them in the process.

But Iluzisto once again recovered quickly and he raised a shield around him to protect him from all the attacking house weapons.

Skulker temporarily froze in shock when Iluzisto's bright red-pupil turned and glared at him. This creature was… unstoppable.

But knowing he had done what he had come to do, the hunter slowly backed away towards the open portal, keeping his gun aimed at the spirit, who remained in his compromised position.

However, at that instant, Iluzisto recalled his idea from before and just as Skulker had been about to fly into the portal, the spirit yelled, "Hunter!"

Skulker halted and turned his head back; but before he could reply, Iluzisto used his free hand to pull out Okulo's orb in his robe. The orb floated out of his hand before a green and purple mist began to pour out of it, quickly molding itself into a figure…

A figure of a tied-up Observant.

"What...?" Skulker began with uncertainty.

But Iluzisto cut him off, and said with dark calmness, "In case you are not aware, this is Justeco's brother. He foolishly believed he could hide him from me, but I found his counselor and have now captured him. Furthermore, this orb is linked to Justeco's core. I do not even have to be near him to order this orb to destroy his core."

Skulker frowned. Vlad had explained enough of what had happened with Iluzisto when the half-ghosts had been captured. He was also told enough about the Ghost Boy's reason for his visit yesterday to know who Justeco and Konsilisto were and what was happening with the Observants. His employer had also mentioned something about an Observant curse over him and how he had made a deal with the whelp.

But what the hunter did not know was that the head Observant was currently at his employer's house or how Konsilisto had gone to hideout at the Ancients' abode.

"And why should I care?" Skulker retorted, masking his uncertainty.

'Konsilisto' whimpered against his bonds before the orb absorbed him again and it landed back in Iluzisto's hand.

"You might not, but… the young crossbreed might," Iluzisto answered with an evil curve of his eye. "You tell the crossbreeds to stop hiding from their fate. I will have two cores before this day is over—the crossbreeds can choose whether they willingly give me theirs… Or, I take the ones from these two pathetic Observants."

Skulker's frown deepened; but then without another word, he turned intangible and flew through the portal, quickly heading back to his employer's home.

Meanwhile, Iluzisto growled when the ghost vanished into the Ghost Zone. He wanted to go after him and destroy him; but it was better to let the weak creature play 'messenger boy.'

And besides, he still had these security weapons attacking his shield. But having enough, he raised his staff and the shield around him expanded before he thrust it in all directions, quickly destroying all the assault weapons.

But when he saw more devices come out of the walls, Iluzisto growled again; he wasted no time, turned intangible, and flew out of the combative house.

Now hovering in the air, he looked around and confirmed he was in the crossbreeds' worldly territory and under that infernal shield that had once kept him from going after the crossbreeds sooner.

Pulling out the orb from his cloak, Iluzisto smirked at it. Of course, he didn't have Konsilisto. He didn't even have the remote idea where the coward was, except that according to his guards, they had seen only Justeco leave the Realm Beyond Time.

Yes, it had been a mere illusion to get the hunter to play messenger boy, and in turn, get the crossbreeds right where he wanted them.

For a moment, Iluzisto debated if he should activate the orb again and have it lead him to Justeco. However, he soon decided to hold off. Why go on the hunt when it would be easier to let his prey come to him?

He looked around at the town as he remained in stealth mode. By the lack of activity on the streets on this sunny mid-day, he could only guess that the citizens must have been warned to remain indoors.

"Perhaps, I should give these humans something to truly fear…," Iluzisto remarked as another idea came to mind. "Now that I am at full strength…, these humans are defenseless against my power…"

Iluzisto laughed before he instantly began to glow and multiplied into six selves. He wasted no time and flew towards the seemingly more populated part of the town, ready to terrorize its citizens….

---

It had taken them about an hour going through the Ghost Zone to get from Vlad's portal in Amity Park to the one at his chalet in the Rockies. Luckily, they all had taken Vlad's very own modified Specter Speeder. Then, with Justeco's orb leading the way, they had made it to the prison cave thirty minutes later.

In all that time, while Vlad was piloting his flying machine, Danny and Team Phantom discussed tentative plans on what to expect and do once they got to the cave. Justeco made sure to fill them in as much as possible about what he knew about the inside and outside of the cave. And for the most part during that same time, Vlad half-listened to the group since his mind was whirling with his own plans. He did, however, tune in when Justeco was giving them details about the cave, but offered very little—or useful—input to what the teens had been discussing.

Justeco actually noticed this detail and frowned to himself in worry. He didn't understand why the older half-ghost wasn't as involved in the discussion as the young ones were, especially when it seemed obvious to him that they needed to be united in their plans. But even though he was concerned with that, he said nothing. After all, for all he knew, the older-hybrid might have remained essentially silent himself mainly because he was in agreement with the group.

Once they had arrived near the cave's coordinates, however, Vlad did inform them of that and was sure to tell the group to get ready. And once he did, he made sure to activate its cloaking system before landing his speeder several yards away from the entrance in a hidden area.

As Vlad morphed into Plasmius, he looked at Danny's friends and sister and ordered, "Remain here with Justeco. Daniel and I will take care of this."

"What?" Sam and Jazz quickly protested.

"Forget it! We are not letting Danny do this one on his own," Sam added with determination.

"Yeah, dude, we're Team Phantom," Tucker said crossing his arms. "That means we go wherever Danny goes."

Danny smiled at his friends and sister's words, but then he quickly looked at Vlad who had now turned his glare on him.

"You see, boy? This is exactly why I drugged your friends last night!" the man snapped. "How are we going to do anything with their being constantly in our way?"

Danny frowned. "You give them little credit, Vlad. Sam, Jazz, and Tucker help me all the time. They can hold their own just fine. Oh, and… don't make me remind you how they've tricked you a few times, too…," he added with a smirk.

But Plasmius was not amused in the least. "Don't be a fool, Daniel. This isn't some game. And for the record, I hardly consider your friends and sister a 'real threat'. We both know that if I wanted to, I could have easily destroyed them a long time ago…."

Tucker gulped and took a step back, while Jazz and Sam glared at the man.

However, Danny quickly answered with a growl, "Be careful, Plasmius. Don't think that just because I'm forced to work with you again means I'll let you get away with threatening my friends and sister. And don't forget it was them and Skulker who got us out of Iluzisto's prison; otherwise, we'd both be dead by now. So, you better start learning how to be a team player, or our agreement is over."

Vlad frowned again. He honestly didn't like the complication of having the boy's sister and friends involved in all of this. Nevertheless, he hid his true feelings under a restrained smile as he replied, "May I have a quick word with you, Daniel—in private?"

Before Danny or anyone else could object, Vlad grabbed the boy and teleported to a distance far enough away from the hovercraft so what he had to say to the boy would not be overheard.

Just as he let Danny go, and ignoring the boy's pants in reaction to the teleportation, Vlad looked at him sternly and quickly said, "Looks like 'our agreement' might be in jeopardy already, Daniel. Having your sister and friends play cheerleading squad for you was never part of the agreement, boy." The man then narrowed his eyes as he warned, "In case you don't realize it, what we're needing to do is serious! And even though we both agreed to put our differences aside, this is too much. You want to risk your loved ones' safety, Daniel? Fine. But mark my words: if something happens to them, it will fall on you—and I will not be lifting a finger to help you save them."

"You won't have to," Danny countered, his jaw tensed with disappointment, "because they can hold their own. And, by the way, they're not my cheerleaders. They're my team and I depend on them….just as I'll have to depend on you in all of this whether I want to or not. And whether you like to hear it or not, you'll going to be able to depend on us in all of this as well! Now, can we stop wasting time arguing and get on with it?"

Before the man could react, Danny morphed into Phantom and bolted upward in a heartbeat. He quickly soared away from the man and headed back towards the speeder again. But as he neared his sister and friends, he sighed with all the emotions whirling inside. He wanted to get along with Vlad, but it was so hard. They just had so much bad history. Still, they had been capable of getting it together before. Why not now? Why couldn't he admit to the man that he was right? That having his loved ones here was a big risk?

And the truth was he always worried about his sister and friends; but he also knew he had to give credit where credit was due. His friends and sister had experience. He knew they could fight. After all, they had saved him many times before… Even though he wanted to protect them, he had to trust them and let them… protect him, too…..He then jolted a bit when another thought leapt out: Just like he needed to trust and work with Vlad on this one.

Danny shook his head, still not sure on how to resolve this conflict, but he knew he would have to let it go and do the best he could to get along with the older hybrid. He said again with his mixed emotions. But then, he saw everyone finally leaving the hovercraft and he hid his emotions under an unconvincing smile as he landed in front of them.

"What did Vlad want?" Jazz asked when she saw her brother's face.

Sam and Tucker also noticed, but before they could say anything, Danny quickly cut them off.

"Nothing we have time to talk about," he replied as a more serious frown melded on his face. "You guys brought weapons, right?"

"Well, duh!" all three of them answered as they grabbed their weapons.

Tucker actually had a level nine weapon he had stolen from the Realm Beyond Time, while Jazz was carrying the Fenton Bazooka and Sam had on a wrist-ray which Tucker had modified to be able to deliver more power. And each of the three had a thermos.

Danny smirked at them, but then reminded his sister, "Jazz, we agreed to have you to stay beside Justeco at all times. Make sure you guard him if we run into trouble. We can't risk him getting hurt."

Jazz smiled assuredly at him and replied, "Don't worry about us, Danny. We'll be fine."

Danny's smile was more sincere before he suddenly commanded, "Remember everyone. We have to be quick and quiet…Now, come on."

The three said nothing and followed their friend and brother. Justeco lingered behind, looking thoughtful. Though he was still worried that he still thought that the two half-ghosts weren't quite in sync with each other, it still amazed him how someone so young as Danny had so much courage and determination…

"Justeco, you coming?" Jazz asked when she saw the spirit was not following.

With a weary sigh, he nodded and floated after her. Still, he gripped his orb tightly when he suddenly felt more weakness, but now also fear, swelling within him.

But it didn't matter. He needed to help his kin. They were depending on him.

When Danny finally caught up with Vlad, the man was half-kneeling behind a large boulder as he surveyed the scene several yards away. There were guards everywhere. But from what he could see so far, there were no guards visible within the cave. That was good.

"I think it's safe to say Iluzisto found out Justeco and Konsilisto escaped," Danny whispered as he also hid behind the boulder. But hearing his friends and sister coming up behind him, he gestured for them to stop and get down.

They quickly complied.

"We are going to need to distract, or preferably, take down the outside guards, in order to even get a chance at getting into that cave," Vlad said, keeping his voice low. He then added with more emphasis, "And we need to do that quickly and quietly. We don't want to attract any unwanted attention. After all, we have no way of knowing if Iluzisto could be here, too."

Danny glanced back at his friends and sister before he replied to Vlad, "Right. My friends have the outside guards covered. Then what?"

"Then we have to check out that shield and how to get around it," Vlad replied, unconsciously relaxing a bit when he could see that the boy was giving him the lead.

Danny frowned and said, "Weren't you listening when we were talking about all that on the way here? Justeco said the shield was a fake."

"Yes, I know that, but I still don't trust it," Vlad hissed slightly back. "As you pointed out, it's obvious from all the added guards that Iluzisto found out that those two Observants escaped. He might have even guessed that we would attempt to rescue the Observants—at least, you would. So, we don't know if Iluzisto has added a surprise for anyone trying to break in. Not only that, we can't just go barging in because we don't know how this 'time spell' complication plays into all of this."

Danny paused in thought. He had suspected that the man hadn't been listening while they were making their way here. After all, Vlad hadn't made any comments during all that time when they were making their plans. But from what the man said just now, it was obvious that Vlad had been listening, but he had other ideas. And part of that was that the guy wasn't going to take any direct approach. Still, now that they were actually here, Danny had to admit that the man was right in his observations.

Nevertheless, Danny frowned in some irritation yet kept his voice steady as he replied, "So, what's next, then, since it's obvious that you have your own take on this; which, by the way, you didn't let us in on, on the way here."

Vlad blinked at the boy at the thought. He had to admit that the boy was right. It was just that….well, he wasn't at all used to this 'team-playing' silliness. When it came down to it, he was a lone wolf. Still, if he didn't let the boy in on just a little bit of his thoughts, this little rescue raid would definitely not go according to his plans.

"Well, true, Daniel," he admitted before smiling wryly. "I should have told you right away that all those little plans you and 'your team' came up with were too bold. But then again, what could I expect of teens, hmm?"

Danny frowned at the insult, but thinking about their mission, he dryly replied, "So, okay, since you think you got it all figured out, 'O Wise and Old Know-it-all', what's next then?"

Vlad smirked and said, "So glad you're willing to see things my way, Daniel."

This time Danny said in more exasperation, "What 'things'? You haven't let me in on them yet!"

Vlad glanced at Danny with an unreadable frown, but then he sighed in resignation. He had to admit. The boy was really trying to get along. And…he had to admit, he was, too. He turned his red eyes back to the cave. "What's next will have to be played by ear. Ideally, we should take Justeco through the cave with us since he has been in it before; but he is too weak and if he has a relapse while we are in there, then we are all done for. That means, we are on our own on this rescue mission, Daniel."

"But… How are we going to find the Observants once we're in the cave?" the teen countered. "Justeco said Iluzisto made it like the Observant prison we were in!"

"Precisely," Vlad replied. "We now know not to trust our eyes. That is why I added a useful feature to my watch this morning…"

One of Danny's eyebrows rose in surprise and interest as Vlad moved his arm closer to him and quickly pressed some buttons on the watch-like, red glowing device on his wrist. In an instant, a holographic screen shot up above the watch, showing a multitude of green blinking lights, much like sonar radar.

"As I said, we'll be playing this by ear," Vlad said with a smirk, before proudly saying, "I call this the 'Plasonar Modulator'. It emits a soundless echo that picks up ecto-energy levels and maps them out on this holographic screen. It is one of my most ingenious inventions yet!"

"Much like the name, right? I'm sure that took hours of thinking," Danny replied dryly.

Plasmius scowled, but then quickly turned off the modulator and said, "Unfortunately, it does not differentiate between energy levels. So, we will have no way of telling who is a guard and who is an Observant in there."

"So, how are we..?" Danny began, only to be cut off.

"Justeco," Vlad whispered back to the spirit hunched behind the boulder as was Team Phantom.

"Yes?"

"I am assuming the Observants are all locked up close to each other, correct?" Vlad asked.

Justeco nodded. "In different cells, but they were put near one another."

Plasmius turned his head back. "There. That's how we'll know. We'll seek out the area where the most energy readings show up."

"Alright... If you'll think this will work…" Danny replied with a shrug before looking back at his friends. He then looked back at the man and dryly asked, "Mind if the rest of our 'team' helps?"

Vlad rolled his eyes and shrugged before quipping, "As long as they're quick and quiet."

Danny also rolled his eyes and then turned back to his friends. He quickly whispered, "Sam. Tucker. You know we need to get to that cave's entrance. Think you guys can handle the guards outside like we planned?"

Sam and Tucker crawled closer until they were next to their friend and took a look at the number of guards.

"Yeah, we'll take care of them," Sam replied with a smirk, already getting an idea.

She then gestured to Tucker to follow her and they carefully made their way to a group of boulders closer and to the left side of the cave entrance.

Jazz smiled at her brother and said. "We'll be here if you need us." Then patting the large bazooka, she added with a smirk, "And no one's getting near us with this baby."

"Right. Creepy good, but good!" he replied, one of the corners of his own lips tugging up.

She threw a knowing half-smile back at him and said, "Be careful, little brother."

He nodded, and then he felt someone grab his arm. He turned and Vlad told him, "We are going to teleport as soon we get an opening."

"Oh, great…," Danny muttered. "But at least you warned me this time."

Vlad smirked and advised, "Just hold your breath when I tell you..."

Meanwhile, Sam and Tucker looked at the guards floating back and forth next to the prison cave's opening. They were currently hiding behind those sets of small boulders just three yards from the closest pair of guards.

"How many did you count, Tucker?" Sam asked quietly.

"Eleven guards," he replied with a lowered voice.

"Yeah, me, too," she answered as she continued to mull over her plan of action. "Okay, we need our own distraction. Do you have that spy-bug we first found at Vlad's house when he and Danny disappeared?"

Tucker frowned, though he nervously replied, "Why would I keep it? I mean, it's Vlad's. Even if he is a bad guy and that device was totally cool, I would never steal it from him."

Sam just raised an eyebrow and stared back dryly.

Tucker chuckled softly. "Yeah, okay, I have it," he admitted as he searched his back pocket and pulled it out. "And for the record, it's not considered stealing since Vlad's, like, a bad guy; he's fifthly rich; and has like a whole bunch more of these."

"I'm not judging," Sam replied with a knowing smirk. But then she sobered up and said, "Think you can program it to work and give us that distraction?"

This time Tucker gave her a wry look.

Sam rolled her eyes and muttered, "Right. Why do I even ask?"

Tucker ignored her and quickly linked his PDA to the spy bug to activate it.

"Hey, guys?"

Sam gagged her gasp at the sudden low voice, while Tucker barely squelched his own yelp.

Danny, who had been invisible behind them and had also been who just startled them, cringed when he saw how two of the closest guards in front of them paused with Tucker's quiet outburst. But the young hybrid instantly turned his friends invisible, too.

They all waited in tense anticipation, hoping the guards would not come over to investigate. And seeing how they soon dismissed the noise, the trio relaxed.

"Danny! Don't sneak up on us like that!" Sam whispered a bit harshly.

"Yeah, dude, you almost gave me a heart attack, something I shouldn't have to worry about until many years later of eating meat!" Tucker added.

Danny turned them visible again and crouched down with them. "Sorry, but Vlad's getting impatient and he wants to know what's taking so long. And… Is that one of Vlad's spy-bugs?" the half-ghost teen abruptly asked, both surprised and confused to see his male friend with the device.

"It's a long story," Sam dismissed before replying, "Just give us a few more minutes, alright?"

Danny frowned as he watched Tucker bring the little spy-bug to life; but then he shrugged and nodded. He finally turned invisible again and flew back over to Vlad's side.

"Is it ready?" Sam asked Tucker as the little Plasmius-looking bug chirped and his beady eyes looked around.

"Almost… Just putting it in defense mode and… Done!" Tucker unhooked the bug from his PDA but used it as a remote control for the bug. He made it turn towards Sam and confirmed he could see what the bug saw on his PDA's screen.

"Heh… Now, watch this," Tucker then said with a growing grin.

The little bug only chirped once before its wings spread out, turned invisible, and finally flew off.

Iluzisto's guards continued their usual rounds, which really just consisted of floating back and forth in front of the cave's entrance and its perimeter. Since Justeco and Konsilisto's escape, Iluzisto had tripled the amount of troops currently guarding the imprisoned Observants.

But now the newest guards had been on duty for almost twenty-four hours while the rest of the guards had been there for as long as the Observants had been captured. It had long since become extremely boring for all of them to just be moving back and forth within the same space doing nothing for the most part.

So, it was in great part why one of the guards halted when it saw a little red-and-black bug perched on a small rock, just to the left of the cave's entrance. He blinked at it as he watched it chirp and clean its little antennae. And being that the ghost had never been outside Iluzisto prison before now and that all there really was to look at out here was rocks, the ghost was extremely interested in this little worldly creature. In fact, he quickly called over one of his buddies…

"Look at this!" he whispered excitedly to his friend as he approached him.

The other guard frowned at the small little bug, but then when it suddenly chirped some more, a smile curled his lips. "It's… so cute," he said.

"I know! Right!" the other answered, grinning himself.

"What are you two doing?" a third guard suddenly demanded, upset that his colleagues had stopped doing their rounds.

"Just looking at this earthy creature," the first guard replied sheepishly.

The third guard looked down at the small creature which had spread out its wings as it walked a bit on the rock.

"I think it's called a… bug," the third guard muttered curiously.

"What are you—?" a fourth guard began, only to pause and abruptly exclaim, "That is so cute!"

"Right!" the other three guards uttered at the same time.

"Hey, Skolto! You gotta see this!" the fourth guard said, calling his friend over.

Two more guards also came with Skolto.

Suddenly the little spy bug spread its wings again and flew on top of one of the guards.

The guard screamed, jolting everyone there and capturing the rest of the guards' attention.

"Wait!" one of the other guards said when his friend was about to swat the bug off him. "It won't hurt you."

He carefully put his hand near the lady bug and let it crawl on his hand. "See? It just likes us…"

Meanwhile, Danny and Vlad blinked in confusion as they watched the eleven guards all hovered in one spot away from the entrance.

"What in the world are they looking at?" Vlad muttered.

Danny was about to reply that he had no idea when it suddenly dawned on him; and a smile curled his lips. "That right there is my friends' geniuses and awesomeness at work, Plasmius."

"So it is," Vlad replied, a small smirk ghosting his lips when he finally saw from this angle the two human kids making their way around the boulders so as to sneak up behind the distracted guards.

Guns ready, Danny's friends slowly continued around the huddled guards using the other nearby boulders as cover. If their guess was right, they would end up right behind the guards by the time they reached the last boulder.

As they crept closer to their designation, Tucker couldn't help but comment. But he made sure he kept his voice low. "Wow. That worked better than I thought it would. Man, these guys need to get out more."

"I almost feel sorry for them," Sam quietly added, also surprised by how 'cute' they thought a mere bug was.

"Shame we'll have to burst their bubble," Tucker added evilly as he stopped to command the bug to do something else before they got any closer.

They cautiously moved closer and when they had finally reached the last small boulder that would place them only a few feet away from the back of the guards, Sam paused, turned to her friend and whispered, "Tucker?"

"Yeah, let's go," he said and they quickly moved closer until they were just several feet away from the guards…

Meanwhile, the guards were all arguing amongst one another, wanting to be the next to touch the bug.

"I was next! I get to hold the earthly creature now!" one of them protested to a guard next to him.

"You already held it!" another accused.

The bug chirped as it flew over to a guard in the center of the group and landed in his waiting hands. It continued to chirp and then began to clean its antennae again.

"Aww!" the guards chorused at the 'cuteness' of it all.

But their playtime was cut short when they heard a voice behind them say, "Hey, dudes! Don't ya know some bugs bite?"

The guards all jolted and turned their heads towards Tucker and Sam, who had their guns on them.

"In that case, though, that bug there more like has an ecto-sting!" Tucker finished with a smug grin.

The guard holding the bug gasped when he instantly felt the creature begin to grow hot. And all the guards shifted their gazes to their alarmed comrade.

But before they could do anything, the spy-bug released a ring of red-energy and blasted all the guards away with a cry of surprise.

"Now, Sam!" Tucker exclaimed.

But the girl was already ready and she quickly used the thermos in her hand to capture four of the guards trying to recover. But seeing the rest of the guards fly up and aim their own weapons on them, Sam switched to defense mode and she quickly shot two of the closest guards with her wrist ray.

Meanwhile, Tucker was already blasting at the guards himself, but the two teens also had an 'extra hand' thanks to the little spy-bug, which was flying overhead blasting at the guards below. Its attacks were not strong enough to keep the guards down for long; but the attacking 'bug' served enough of a distraction and an annoyance against the ghosts for Sam and Tucker to keep the upper-hand.

And during their entire attack, the two teens continued to suck up the fallen guards with their Fenton thermoses.

"Don't tell my PDA, but you are my new baby!" Tucker exclaimed up at the little bug as it blasted a guard that had gotten too close to Tucker, while Sam used the thermos to trap it.

Meanwhile, Danny and Vlad had seen their opening and the older hybrid had readily teleported them to the entrance of the cave.

But now in closer proximity, Vlad finally saw what had had the guards so distracted in the first place. "Is that one of my…?"

"Not now, Vlad!" Danny cut him off, tense with apprehension, which suddenly clouded his logic. "We're here! Now's our chance to get in. In fact, who cares about the time spell? Let's go!"

Plasmius frowned at his spy-bug before focusing back on what they were doing. He firmly replied, "The more important question is who's affected by the time spell?"

"It wasn't put on us, Vlad; so, there's nothing to worry about. Let's just go!" the boy said, now more than ever anxious to save the Observants.

Vlad paused before an idea suddenly hit him. He looked at a few of the guards that were down and about to be captured by the Fenton thermoses. "Hmmm… Be right back." Vlad merely replied before he vanished.

Danny frowned at the man's sudden action and lack of explanation; but the teen then just rolled his eyes and glanced over at his friends. They were just about to suck up the last four guards. Then suddenly, Plasmius appeared out of a puff of pink smoke right next to one of those guards.

"And Vlad was worried about them getting in the way," Danny scoffed when he saw the man appear near his friends.

Tucker startled and with a yelp pulled his thermos slightly away from the man. But all Vlad did was touch one of the downed guards before he disappeared again in another puff of pink smoke.

"What was that all about?" Tucker asked Sam in exasperation after the older half-ghost had left. "I almost sucked him right in!"

"I don't know," Sam replied, glancing briefly over to where Danny was before adding, "But more importantly, why are they taking so long to go into the cave?"

Danny looked back at the shield, and suddenly getting more anxious and impatient to finish this mission, he moved closer and raised a hand to touch it.

"Don't!"

Danny jolted when a hand suddenly grabbed his and stopped him. And seeing it was his arch-enemy, he yanked his hand free, and snapped, "Geez, fruit loop. Chill out! It's just an illusion! Let's quit wasting time and just get on with it!"

"Not so fast, Daniel," Vlad quickly said. "Now I'm convinced that Iluzisto left some kind of trap.

"How can you be so sure?" Danny asked, now unsure himself.

"I thought those guards looked…odd. Their auras were an odd color. They must have some kind of device or spell on them to keep them safe from that time spell… But… there is only one way to find out…" Plasmius muttered. He sighed sharply and then quickly flew right through the glowing green shield.

Danny jolted at the suddenness of Vlad's action. But then the teen froze again when his arch-enemy, now having crossed the cave's threshold, turned around and stared down at his hand.

"Something is wrong… I feel…" Vlad began, but never finished.

Danny's eyes widened when he saw his arch-enemy's ghostly black hair begin to turn gray and his blue skin began to wrinkle and dry up.

"Oh, crud! VLAD!" Danny exclaimed, reflexively taking a step toward the man.

But it was too late. The older hybrid fell to his knees as he continued to rapidly age. And then his entire body disintegrated before the young hybrid's eyes, until it was a pile of bones. And then, that, too, vanished into dust.

Danny stood there stunned, but he suddenly screamed, "NO!" And past all logic, he was about to fly into the cave himself before two strong hands gripped him from behind.

"Daniel, stop!"

The shaking teen quickly turned around and he gasped when he saw Vlad right in front of him. "Y-You're alive? H-How did..?" But he trailed off, realizing what the man had just done. And suddenly furious, Danny yanked one of his arms away before bringing it back and punching the man right in the face.

Plasmius yelped and stumbled back. However, catching himself, he paused, confused and stun with Danny's attack before it melded into something else...

"What the blazes is your problem, you little rat?"

"You jerk!" Danny exclaimed. "You did that on purpose! I thought it was you who went in there, not some duplicate!"

"Don't be an imbecile, boy!" Plasmius sneered. "Do you really think I would just jump into the fray when I had just told you we needed to be careful?"

"I-I never saw you duplicate! I thought it was you!" Danny shouted back, clearly still shaken.

Vlad was about to argue back when it suddenly hit him:the teen had been horrified at the thought of his demise.

Danny's anger mixed with confusion when he suddenly saw his arch-enemy's own anger fade from his face. But when the man tried to grab one of his shoulders, the teen jolted and pulled away from him.

"Calm down, Daniel," Vlad said with more gentleness. He hesitated and his eyebrows creased as he added, "I did not mean to frighten you… I am just not use to working with someone else and telling them my course of actions before I do them," he admitted.

The teen suddenly realized he was still shaking and forced himself to calm down.

"I'll let you punch me again, if you want, all right?" Vlad suddenly added with a knowing smirk.

Danny glared. "I'd rather kick your butt, but…" He trailed off when he heard a commotion coming from within the cave. He quickly turned around, only to gasp when he saw a large group of guards flying towards them.

"It will have to be later," Danny replied, backing away from the approaching guards and letting his hands curl with ghost energy. "And sorry about that, but I think we just attracted all that 'unwanted attention' you didn't want."

Vlad cursed as he, too, charged his hands.

"We can handle these creeps," Sam suddenly said as she and Tucker ran up behind the hybrids, already done trapping the guards that had been outside.

The guards began to fire their weapons as soon as they were close enough to the intruders. But it was hard for the ghosts to get a shot in when the intruders were all just outside the mouth of the cave firing back.

However, it was Trupo leading the attack and he already had had the foresight of sending more of his guards towards some secret exits at the side of the cave, and all too soon, the intruders were surrounded by guards.

Now pulling back-to-back into a tight, defensive circle, Plasmius continued to fire at the guards around them as he grunted, "It is pointless to continue fighting, Daniel! It's now obvious that we can't get into the cave since we now know that the time spell wasn't just for the Observants. We need to retreat."

"I'm not leaving without the Observants, Plasmius!" Danny replied in determination as he shot a few more guards making a surge for the group.

"Listen to me, Daniel! We cannot help them with that time spell over this cave!" Vlad argued back, plowing down even more guards with a burst of red energy. "We will both be dead once we cross the threshold!"

Never stopping firing in the group's defense, Sam yelled over the din, "But I thought the time spell was only on the Observants."

"It's apparently also in this cave and it has a deadly effect on any being within time. At least, that's what we are now forced to assume! We cannot risk it!" Vlad answered while blasting a new wave of attackers.

"But why can the guards go through the entrance?" Tucker still asked as he activated his thermos and kept firing with his weapon.

Vlad grunted with both irritation at the question and that they were beginning to get pinned in. Nevertheless, he said through gritted teeth, "They have something protecting them. I felt it when I touched one of those guards a few moments ago!"

But Danny was still driven to continue fighting the growing mob of guards encircling and closing in on them, unable to make himself leave before even trying to rescue the Observants.

"Daniel!" Vlad yelled sternly. "There. Is. Nothing. We. Can. Do."

"B-But I promised Justeco!" Danny desperately yelled, even as a powerful blast of his green energy took five guards down in one blow.

Vlad frowned, suddenly feeling a bit sorry for the distraught teen. He grunted as he dispelled more of his energy, downing ten guards as easily as if they were bowling pins before he replied, "We'll think of something else, alright? Now, let's get out of here before we are all captured."

Danny reluctantly nodded. That desire not to leave was still burning within even when it was obvious they had failed…And the anguish of having failed after trying to so hard to work with the older hybrid now ate at him, too...If only Vlad had let him in on his thoughts earlier…or if only Vlad had thought of some other way to get in if he suspected that time spell over the cave was going to be a problem! But then realizing he had no more time to think about that right now, he sobered and said, "Okay, then. On three, I want you to grab my friends and get them out of here, Vlad. I'll cover you!"

"What? No, I—" Vlad began only to be cut off by Danny.

"Can you just trust me for two seconds?" the teen snapped back at him.

Vlad frowned but then sighed and muttered, "Fine."

Danny quickly focused on his ice powers and his eyes and hands began to glow blue. "One, two... three!"

Vlad quickly grabbed Sam and Tucker and turned them all intangible and flew them up high into the air. In turn, the guards redirected their weapons to their fleeing targets.

But before they could do anything to his team, Danny yelled to the guards, "You all work too much. How about chilling—a lot!

The guards gasped as Danny let loose a burst of cold energy in all directions; and being that the teen had not used his ice-powers for some time, it was particularly powerful.

Now icicles, the guards were no longer a threat and Danny flew up but hesitated to leave as he stared at the cave's entrance. However, seeing more guards just about to fly out of the cave, Danny sighed and quickly turned and flew off.

"I'm not giving up," Danny thought in determination before he sadly muttered out loud, "I'll find a way to help them… I… promised."

---

It had taken them another hour-and-a-half to get back at Vlad's house in Amity Park. They had talked about what had happened at the cave, and Justeco confirmed how the Time Spell was indeed the reason why the hybrids could not get in. And that is was very possible for Iluzisto to create a spell to protect the guards from it when he had the time staff.

The Observant leader wished he had thought of the possibility of the spell's preventing the half-ghosts' from saving his kin sooner. But he had not expected Iluzisto to have thought this far ahead and created such a powerful spell.

Then again, the evil Observant had been planning his revenge for decades.

However, Justeco's thoughts on that matter weren't as important as the ones he had on how the two hybrids were reacting right now. Neither one of them had not talked much about what happened at the cave on the way back to their Real World home. But what concerned him the most was that the older hybrid looked too calm about the matter and Danny looked particularly upset and kept glaring at the man.

As they all sat back down in the living room, Danny insisted, "There just has to be a way to get in there and free the Observants!"

"Daniel," Vlad began, annoyed, only to be cut off.

"I am not giving up, Plasmius! Just because you gave up right away because you didn't let us in on your lame plans doesn't mean that I have to!" Danny snapped angrily.

Vlad rose up in anger while Danny's friends and sister gasped at Danny's accusation.

Now alarmed at the situation, Justeco quickly intervened, "Please. There is no need to argue! The fault was all mine! I only wish I would have thought of how that time spell affected those within time sooner so to avoid this time lost."

Justeco sighed when he saw Danny purse his lips and look away from Vlad before muttering, "Sorry."

And when Justeco heard Vlad only huff a bit in response before he sat down, the spirit added, "It seems Iluzisto has thought of everything. He made it so that no one could get in... or out of that prison..."

Knowing now that Danny had said those things only because he was upset about not rescuing the Observants, Jazz knew she had to try to help Justeco put the conversation back on an even keel. She quickly spoke up, "But you and Konsilisto escaped... That means there has to be a way!"

"There is," Vlad suddenly said seriously, refocusing back on the matter at hand. "We have to break that Time Spell."

"But how?" Tucker asked. "Iluzisto has the time staff and Clockwork is nowhere to be found!"

"Well, what if we take the staff from Iluzisto?" Sam asked.

"Could we use it?" Vlad asked curiously, turning his eyes to Justeco.

But the Observant shook his head. "Only the owner of the staff can will it."

"Then, how is Iluzisto using it? I mean, it's Clockwork's staff," Danny finally said with a frown.

"In spite of everything, Iluzisto has never stopped being an Observant, young half-ghost," Justeco replied. "And like all Observants, he has the ability to will time to some extent. After all, it is part of our duty to observe time. But unlike Clockwork, we can only see the time stream's current path. We cannot view the alternate possibilities, as does Clockwork. Our time powers are limited, which is why we have Clockwork work for us. He can do more than open a window into time and observe it. He can manipulate time and change the timeline if he chooses. Nevertheless, even with our under-developed time powers, it is enough for an Observant as powerful as Iluzisto to command Clockwork's staff. I am sure it is not to the extent that Clockwork can, but if his powers continue to grow, it is also possible he will gain full control of the staff well enough to influence time and that would mean he could render you completely helpless within the grips of frozen time… I do not have to tell you, then, that it would be very devastating to all Existence."

Everyone fell quiet at the thought.

But then, Vlad spoke up. "But it was Iluzisto who created this Time Spell over the Observants and their prison… That means that it is very likely that the spell will be disrupted if we take the staff from him..."

"It is possible, unless the staff has bonded too strongly with him; then the spell would continue even without his holding the staff," Justeco replied. "However, if he is defeated and the staff is returned to its rightful owner, then the curse will be lifted."

"Then, that's what we have to do," Danny said firmly. Though he was more in control of his emotions, he was still struggling with them. Still, he knew he had to stay focused on that 'working together' thing. "We need to bring down Iluzisto once and for all… Uhm, Vlad and I are now strong enough, and, uhm, we can fight him."

Justeco nodded, but still said, "Together, you two can subdue him. However, there is something else you must keep in mind. Iluzisto is not a ghost. He is a spirit, which means most of your weapons or devices might not work on him. Also, because he is a spirit and his powers have undoubtedly grown—and will keep on growing—stronger, your attacks will not have as much of an effect on him as they would on a ghost."

"But we know his weaknesses," Danny said, now a bit more focused on the discussion. "One of them is that he is really bad at conserving energy, so if we get him real angry, he'll waste it. Then, all we'd have to do is conserve our energy while wearing him out and when he's weak enough, hit him with full force."

A bit calmer now that he could see that Daniel was back in the game, Vlad added, "Daniel's right. Iluzisto also despises being tricked. In fact, it seems that because he has been trapped in the time stream for so long, he has been more than physically affected by it. He has become obsessive in nature, much like any ghost. So, he might be powerful, but in essence, we are going against a spirit with the mentality of a ghost. Now the question is, even if we can defeat him, how will we capture him?"

"We could try a ghost thermos," Tucker suggested.

"We could. But if it does not work, we need something else as back-up," Vlad replied.

"Well, how did you all keep him under control before?" Jazz spoke up thoughtfully.

"With power inhibitors around his wrists," Justeco answered, "but he gained too much power and destroyed them."

"Well, what if he was weakened enough?" Sam asked. "Couldn't they work again? At least long enough to take Clockwork's staff from him and capture him in a thermos?"

"You know... That might just work...," Justeco said, his eye curving upward a bit into a smile. "If Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius can get him weakened enough to secure him with power-inhibitors, then perhaps I could attempt to use Clockwork's staff enough to thrust Iluzisto back into Time's influence and freeze him within it!"

"And then trap him with the thermos! It's worth a shot!" Danny said, already liking their plan.

But Vlad sighed and frowned uncertainly. "We are taking a lot of things into assumption... But I have to admit, it is the best we can do given the circumstances." He looked at Justeco and then asked, "Where are we going to get these power inhibitors?"

This time Justeco cringed. "We would have to return to the Realm Beyond Time."

"That's impossible," Vlad quickly protested. "We do not have that kind of time. There has to be something else... What if I made one? I have similar devices in my lab. Perhaps I could make some adjustments to one of them to serve our purpose..."

Justeco sighed. "It might work. I could use my orb to make it strong enough for a spirit."

"Then, let's get to it," Vlad said, standing up.

But when Justeco tried to stand himself, he gasped weakly, unable to do so.

Vlad quickly added, "Why don't you stay here? I'll call you when the devices are ready..."

Justeco looked away in shame but nodded.

As Vlad walked out of the living room, Danny turned his attention to his friends and sister. "I'm gonna need you guys to help us out with people control. We can't risk someone getting hurt while all this goes down."

"But what about you, Danny? Who is going to back you up?" Sam asked with a frown.

Danny smiled warmly at her, Tucker, and Jazz, who were also clearly worried about him.

"Fear not. I am certain Vlad Plasmius will protect your friend," Justeco suddenly said, looking more sternly at Danny.

Danny's eyes widened at the emotion he felt coming off of the spirit. And he suddenly knew to what Justeco was referring. Nevertheless, he cast his eyes to the ground.

Jazz raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, Justeco. We just cannot believe that. Vlad... He..."

Justeco, who had continued to look at the boy even when Danny had looked away, firmly addressed him and asked, "Why do you not tell them the truth?"

Danny still wouldn't look at anyone and just shook his head. "There isn't anything to tell. Everything that happened in the prison between Vlad and me is only because we were forced to work together and because it benefited him to be 'nice'. It meant nothing, and the proof is in the fact that we failed at the cave."

Justeco narrowed his eye a bit before he suddenly said in a stern but almost fatherly voice, "That is enough, Danny Phantom! I have seen yours and Vlad Plasmius' timeline many times! And I know you two are capable of putting your differences aside for the greater good! In fact, you two are capable of more than I can rightfully voice without disrupting the timeline! So, do not say your experience in that prison with the other half-ghost meant nothing. You have taught me how foolish pride can be, Danny Phantom, so do not let it cloud your own judgment now! I will not allow it. And like you taught me about being just, I will not allow you to be unfair to the other half-ghost. If you do, only more evil will come from it…And let me forewarn you now. Just like you have learned in these days Iluzisto's weaknesses, he has learned yours and the older half-ghost's, too. Individually, he will destroy you both. But together, you stand a chance because you cover each other's weaknesses. So, enough. You must decide right now if you are willing to fight alongside your so-called arch-enemy. If not, then, let it end here. I will not allow you to perish for a lost cause."

The Observant paused a moment before he added somewhat sadly, "And I would expect nothing less than that from you, young half-ghost. I know that you will always put doing the right thing first."

Danny looked at Justeco with disbelieving eyes, but before he could say anything, Justeco got up and floated out of the living room.

The half-ghost teen stared after the spirit before he sighed and lowered his eyes.

"It's alright, Danny," Jazz said, putting a hand on her brother's shoulder.

Sam readily added, "Like I said, we have your back. And... Justeco just doesn't know what..."

"No, Sam, Justeco is right," Danny cut her off with a loud sigh. He looked at his friends and sister before saying, "I know you guys are with me all the way, but... I need Vlad for this one, too. I just...was so upset that we had failed at the cave, that I thought for a while there that we would fail at…everything else… I want to believe he cares and that I can even trust him, but I'm afraid if I believe it, I'll just be disappointed."

"You're gonna have to risk it," Jazz said with a small smile. "If you were able to 'convince' him to help you save all Existence, then you can get that fruit loop to work with you to get it done."

"Yeah, dude! We totally believe in you!" Tucker added, while Sam nodded and smiled.

Danny smiled. "Thanks, guys. And you're right. I managed to survive being with Plasmius all those days in Iluzisto's prison, I can do one more day. We... actually made a pretty good team when we were in the Realm Beyond Time... Actually, considering we were on an uneven playing field, we were really good at tricking..."

Danny suddenly halted mid-sentence and his eyes widened.

"What is it?" Jazz asked, confused.

"That's it...," Danny whispered as a smile curled his lips again. "Guys! That's it!" he said even louder. "Why didn't I think of it before? Even Vlad just mentioned how it was his other weakness! He hates being tricked!"

"Danny, what are you talking about?" Sam asked with a frown.

Danny suddenly stood up and looked around before calling, "Maddie."

In an instant, the hologram of Maddie Fenton showed up and frowned down at the young hybrid. "Why are you calling me? I am not programmed to obey anyone but my sweet muffin."

Danny grinned at the hologram before ignoring it and turning to his friends and sister. "How do you trick a trickster?" he asked with a smirk.

His friends and sister blinked back at him before looking at the hologram of the pouting Maddie Fenton.

Suddenly, it dawned on Jazz and she grinned back and replied, "By using his own tricks against him."

Sam and Tucker quickly caught on and smirked themselves.

'Oh, this is gonna be fun," Tucker beamed.

"Time to lay out the 'illusionist' cards on the table?" Sam quipped.

"Oh, yeah, and I got a couple up my sleeve," Danny said with a mischievous chuckle.

---

Vlad had just started to gather the different cuff-like devices he had around his lab, trying to determine which would be best suited for this situation, when his portal began to beep.

And knowing the portal was locked down and only programmed to open to a less-than-a-handful of ecto-signatures, Vlad already had idea of who it was.

And as he suspected, Skulker flew in, the portal quickly locking behind him.

"Skulker, how did it go? Did you see him?" Vlad quickly asked.

The hunter nodded. "I did more than see him, Plasmius. Iluzisto has grown very powerful. I really think you should not even think of crossing him. I mean it."

Vlad frowned. He had not seen his ally this afraid of another entity since the whole thing with Pariah Dark.

"Did you get a lock on his energy reading?" Vlad asked.

"Yes... He's at level 13. It is unheard of! Plasmius, that's more than the level of Pariah Dark when he wears the crown of fire and ring of rage! And Dark is a ghost and Iluzisto is a spirit and his powers are growing."

The hunter began to pace and mutter mostly to himself, "It is no wonder my ecto-bombs and level-nine weapons barely fazed him! What are we going to do? He is going to take over the Ghost Zone in a matter of days at this rate! I... I should start warning all the ghosts! And my home! I need to—!"

"Skulker!" Vlad exclaimed to get the hunter's attention. And when he saw his ally's distressed eyes lock on him, he added more calmly, "Calm down. We will find a way to prevent that. Now, what else did you find out? That is why I asked you to lay out that small trap for him. I need to know what exactly we're up against. Now, focus and tell me what else you found out."

Skulker sighed and nodded. "His staff was different. Clearly, he has the Time Spirit's staff. And I also saw that orb. As I said, he is very powerful. My level nine weapons were like a small shove to him. His... illusions are becoming more real. I mean, he used my own weapon against me at one point and... I knew it was not real, but... it still affected me, Plasmius."

Vlad's eyes widened a bit, but then he frowned and looked at his ally a bit more carefully and saw his suit was damaged. "Are you hurt?"

"I am fine," Skulker answered with another troubled sigh. "There is... one more thing..."

"And that is..?" Vlad urged.

Skulker frowned. "Iluzisto had with him an... Observant. He said it was supposedly Justeco's brother and further declared that orb he had is linked to Justeco's core and he can destroy him whenever he wants... Iluzisto said that if you and the ghost child do not give up your cores, he will take those of the two Observants instead..."

Vlad scoffed before he shook his head and cursed.

"You are not going to make the trade, right?" Skulker asked.

"Of course not!" Vlad answered back with a frown.

"But the whelp will," his ally added, raising an eyebrow.

"No, he will not, because we are not going to tell him or Justeco about Konsilisto or the orb's deadly power over Justeco. I cannot have Daniel getting into his quaint 'hero mode' and doing something foolish. We are sticking to the plan. If... Iluzisto wants to waste the two... then so be it."

"Didn't you make a deal with Justeco about saving them, though?" Skulker asked.

"I made a deal to stop Iluzisto and I will do that. If we manage it before the Observants perish, then fine, if not... " The man shrugged. "Nevertheless, I need to acquire Justeco's orb to assure this curse over me is lifted. Although the Observant said that he could not break his vow, I will take no chances. I will have to keep Justeco close, especially now that it's possible he might be destroyed before we can defeat Iluzisto. In that case, I need to quickly get his orb and assure my own survival. For now, we are not going to tell anyone that Konsilisto has been captured. Justeco would be foolish enough to..."

The man suddenly paused and frowned when a now familiar but strange feeling jolted his core before he just as suddenly shot an ectoplasmic ray from his eyes right into the wall next to the entrance.

"Bang!"

Skulker jolted with the sudden sound and then the yelp of surprise that followed it near the lab's entrance; but then he and Vlad tensed when Justeco suddenly flickered into view, and was sprawled on the ground.

"Justeco!" Vlad growled, this time forgetting to suppress the red smoke that leaked past his mouth. He knew he felt some entity near for some odd reason, but by the strangeness of that feeling he had known it could only be Justeco. And since he had then believed that the spirit was spying on them, the man had purposely hit far enough away from the spirit to only scare him.

The Observant gasped as he struggled to stand. "I-It is not what you think! I was looking for you and I heard voices in this direction. I was going to make myself known, but I suffered another weak spell just as I floated in! And then you attacked that wall!"

Skulker and Vlad shared a look before they turned their eyes back to the Observant.

"Well, what do you want?" the man snapped. Still, he was carefully studying the spirit, trying to determine if Justeco had heard what they were just talking about.

"I-I wanted to see if the power-inhibiting devices are ready, so I can increase their power with my orb," Justeco answered nervously. In reality, though, the spirit had sought out Vlad in hopes of getting him to understand the importance of working together with the other half-ghost to defeat Iluzisto...

"Of course not," Vlad replied, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "I have barely sorted through the possible devices for the task."

"Power-inhibitors?" Skulker asked, but then said, "I have a pair of power-inhibitor cuffs I use to capture my prey."

Vlad and Justeco quickly looked at the hunter as the hunter pulled them out.

"That's right!" Vlad said, remembering his ally had such devices. But then he frowned and asked, "Why didn't you say anything sooner?"

Skulker stared dryly back at his employer. "I just got here, Plasmius. And you never asked." The hunter then turned his attention to the cuffs and pressed a button to activate it. "I have them set to allow my prey minimal energy usage..."

"Why would you do that?" Justeco asked, confused.

"Because it's no fun if my prey can't at least kick and scream when I chase it down," Skulker answered with a shrug, as if it was obvious.

Vlad rolled his eyes and questioned, "Could you have them block energy usage on the wearer completely?"

"Of course," Skulker said before typing in a command on his PDA in his arm and then linking the glowing green cuffs to his arm.

Meanwhile, Vlad turned his attention to Justeco and saw he was trying to mask how troubled he was.

"Are you alright?" Vlad asked carefully.

Justeco nodded. "I just do not feel well... and I sense my brother is also not faring well..."

"I see..." Vlad muttered, still suspicious that Justeco had overheard them. But if he had, wouldn't the Observant be panicking by now?

"There, done," Skulker announced and handed the device to Justeco.

The spirit took the cuffs, but then hesitated to take out his orb. Still, he did so and used it to increase the strength of the cuffs to make it strong enough for a spirit.

Justeco handed them to Vlad before lowering his eye and telling him, "I want you to know that I do keep my word, regardless of whether or not you save me and my kin. I just wanted to make it clear that you are in no obligation to aid us."

Vlad readily frowned in confusion. "But the curse—," he began, but never finished because a blaring alarm suddenly went off through the lab.

Maddie's hologram came up and said, "Hello, my turtledove! It seems there are several disturbances around Amity Park."

Vlad instantly turned into Plasmius before he looked down at his glowing red device around his wrist and commanded his mainframe through it, "Run live video feed."

Two screens suddenly came down from the ceiling and Vlad's eyes instantly widened when he saw Iluzisto wreaking havoc through the city's downtown district and the pier. Judging by all the overturned white vehicles, the Guys-in-White were on the scene and not faring too well.

"This certainly just complicated things," Vlad muttered. But he also realized how powerful Iluzisto really was getting. He had clearly created a clone of himself since he was at two places at once; but it was like his clone was exactly him. In other words, it had no problem using his illusionist powers, judging by how there were people fleeing from 'nothing'.

It was time to act.

Vlad turned and said, "Justeco, you—" But he stopped himself short when he realized Justeco was gone. "Where did he go?"

Skulker shrugged, also now noticing the spirit was gone. "Perhaps back to the whelp?"

Vlad frowned, this time in dread, but quickly floated out of the lab with Skulker trailing after him.

However, when the two reached the living room, they quickly discovered that Danny and the other three teens were watching the news on TV and were now aware of the chaos being caused by Iluzisto.

Danny quickly looked at Vlad when he saw him come in and asked with large worried eyes, "Did you see this?"

"Just now," Vlad replied with a deeper frown.

But then, there was his other concern and Vlad asked urgently, "Where is Justeco?"

"He went off somewhere a while ago," Tucker half-answered since he was still more focused on the events unfolding on the TV.

Vlad quickly looked at Skulker and they both instantly came to the same realization: Justeco had heard their conversation.

And as if to confirm it, another alarm went off, this time throughout the house and the Maddie hologram appeared in the living room.

"Love drop, the outer ghost shield has been breached."

"Oh, cinnamon toast!" Vlad exclaimed.

"Well, so much for that plan," Skulker muttered.

"Wait. What's going on? …Where's Justeco?" Danny quickly demanded when he had finally refocused on what Vlad and Skulker were saying.

Plasmius cursed under his breath again. But he knew he had no choice but to tell the young hybrid the truth... But, he also knew that the time for Daniel and him to come to a quick understanding was now—since it looked like they really had no choice now anyway. With Justeco gone and probably walking into a trap and Iluzisto's attack on the town to draw them out, all he and Daniel had left to assure their survival past this day was each other.

Vlad suddenly recalled what Justeco himself had once told them during the trial. He had said that he and the boy were to be kept apart on purpose; and later he had discovered it was because the Observants believed that together they were unstoppable…

He smirked to himself before frowning in a sudden understanding. Daniel had also told him something similar to that, only that he recalled that the boy had said they were almost invincible. Typical. Daniel couldn't admit the truth….but then again, he smirked in admiration. Once again, typical. The boy would try to keep them both on the right course….

Very well, then.

It was time to put the Observants' belief to the test.

---

As soon as the older hybrid and the hunter's attention had turned to the screens, Justeco had left the lab. He sighed as he floated towards the front entrance. He had not heard everything that Plasmius had said; but he had heard enough to learn his brother had been found and captured by Iluzisto.

Justeco had no idea how the evil spirit managed it, but he didn't care. He had to save his brother. Still, he could not let on to the older half-ghost and his ally that he knew or he would have been stopped.

Luckily, that alarm had gone off and gave him his needed window to escape.

He did feel a bit disappointed to further realize from what the older half-ghost had said that Danny Phantom must have had to trick Vlad Plasmius into helping him. Now, the man's constant concern about the curse and 'some deal' made sense. And if there was still distrust underlying how the two half-ghosts felt about the other, then that meant that it was now indeed possible that the two half-ghosts would fail in defeating Iluzisto.

Though saddened at the thought, he meant what he told the man. It had never been his intention to force either half-ghost to aid him and his kin. Justeco knew he had no right to do such a thing. And although he knew the boy had done it with the best intentions, the spirit could not let the older half-ghost do something he did not want to do.

Justeco just hoped his few words had been enough for Vlad to realize the truth. If it hadn't been for the alarm, he would have finished telling him how the curse was already lifted and he had no obligation to aid the Observants. The spirit's pupil sagged a bit at his next thought. If the man guessed the truth, he could very well call everything off, and it would definitely mean the destruction of everything. Nevertheless, Justeco was glad he said it. At least, then, when all else was destroyed, the truth would still exist.

But even that thought gave him little hope. It didn't matter anymore. There was only one consolation he could cling to in the midst of his despair:

His brother…

Justeco resisted the urge to sigh again, not wanting to make any noise. Reaching the mansion's front entrance, he reached into his robe and squeezed his orb tighter before he turned invisible and intangible and went through the door. He paused when he saw the green ghost shield still activated over the older half-ghost's mansion. But now that he knew what it was and now that the system was programmed not to attack his energy signature, the shield was of no consequence.

Pulling out his orb, he felt his fear swell at what he was about to do. But… he had to help his brother, and he could not let the half-ghosts sacrifice themselves for him and Konsilisto. But even with the pain of all that emotion, he felt a tug once more from something he had not been aware of until this very moment. No, it could not be… The underlying hope that good would prevail had flickered again within him. How indeed bittersweet it was that he could still hope that the half-ghosts could at least come together to stop Iluzisto from destroying Existence, and that the new restraints he provided them with would help in spite of how completely hopeless he felt….

But it was a thought that would be lost in time...

For as for him and his kin…

It was over for them.

Justeco squeezed his orb and a green beam shot out of it and towards the shield. It quickly was absorbed into the shield, and although at first it seemed like nothing would happen, the green barrier suddenly began to crack where the energy had hit it.

Two seconds later, a hole big enough for Justeco to fly through appeared. The head Observant only looked back for a moment, before he turned and flew through the opening.

He pocketed the orb, while the shield closed up again. But he didn't care to check it and just flew off, following the path of destruction Iluzisto had created.

But about a half-hour later of searching for the evil spirit, Justeco slowed down and lowered to the ground. He looked around at the smoky and destroyed area, growing more and more anxious.

Where was Iluzisto?

"Iluzisto!" Justeco called out. But hearing and seeing nothing, he yelled even louder, "Iluzisto! I am here! Show yourself!"

An evil chuckle suddenly answered him, but it sounded around him and the wind picked up.

"Have you come to save your sniveling brother?" the 'wind' asked smugly.

Justeco tensed and pulled out his orb to defend himself, yet replied, "Our dark fate is inevitable. All I ask is that you grant me the mercy of being with my brother before you cast us into Oblivion."

"Very well…," Iluzisto replied as he suddenly appeared in front of Justeco. But seeing the orb, his eye curved and he extended his hand and commanded, "Give me your orb."

Justeco hesitated, but right then Iluzisto pulled out Okulo's orb and activated it before commanding through it, "Give me your orb, Justeco."

This time, the head Observant was forced to obey and he let go of his orb. Iluzisto instantly used his powers to levitate the orb to him.

Once the orb was within his bony, knotted hand, Iluzisto's eye narrowed in threat as he said, "You know, I could easily crush you to ecto-dust right now; something that I have very much wanted to do since your infernal portal sent me to the other side of this wretched human world."

Justeco nodded his head in defeat and resignation, but he still desperately pleaded, "Do as you wish. Just please, let me see my brother now."

"Oh, yes… Konsilisto…," Iluzisto replied, his eye curving upwards. "There is one problem with that… I do not have your brother. Never did…"

"But I heard…," Justeco gasped, floating back in regret at having been so foolish again.

Iluzisto cut him off by recreating the illusion of the tied up Konsilisto. But then the image suddenly morphed into a ball of ghost energy. Justeco only managed a shout of pain as the energy struck him and slammed him senseless into the ground.

"But… I now have you," Iluzisto finished before laughing loudly.

---

Pearl: Well, this was a fun ride, and I think Truephan will agree! But I really liked this chapter, and I hope you all did, too! As a side note, I owe you all a thanksgiving oneshot. I couldn't get it up for thanksgiving like I wanted to, because of all the crazy stuff I mentioned up there. But I still owe it to you all, so I hope to have it up sometime this coming week. Better late than never, is my motto, it seems! LOL! Anyways, we are close to finishing this story which is shocking, but I'm also excited. And don't worry, I haven't forgotten DoaS! It will come back to life soon! Well, thanks for your support! Share your thoughts with us, kay? Those are treats that I can devour without gaining weight! HA! P.S. For those that read CM and are curious to see a picture of the Spirit of Order, head to my DA page and look for the artist Fantasy93! Wicked picture! XD Or, here's the address: fantasy93. deviantart. c om/#/d4fzis0 Ta for now!

A/N: truephan here: Gee, y'all, I'm just sniffling here from this last scene. My heart goes out to Justeco even though he should have just stayed put. But, really, I think of him as a very brave and noble leader under all of that arrogance he was so used to be hiding under, so I would have expected him to do this in the end! *sniff* All else I can say that thank goodness that there was some delicious action in here to cheer me up or I'd be a bawling basket case right now! But, ohh, but that only means more ahead…and more surprises as you'll soon find out. Thanks again for all of your support…That, too, keeps me from falling into that basket full of tears! And please don't dunk me right into that basket, but keep me aloft by pushing that blue button down there and send us your wonderful thoughts! Happy Thanksgiving once again to all!