A/N: truephan here: Well, we're down for the wire and now I'm kinda nervous on how this is all going to go down…I just don't want anyone hurt and—

*truephan suddenly knocked out of her seat*

Ms. Hyde here, dearies: Don't pay attention to Ms. Goody-Goody! She's done enough of a delay getting this chapter to you and now she's doesn't want to see anyone hurt? Pish-posh! Give me that odd-looking metallic feathered pen and I'll show you—

*Ms. Hyde suddenly knocked out of her seat*

Truephan: No! Kumbaya, Ms. Hyde! I think everyone should get along! I won't let you take control, Ms. Hyde! I'll—

*truephan suddenly not only knocked out of her seat again, but also thrown to the floor before being wrapped totally in Ms. Hyde's scarf, including being gagged by it*

Ms. Hyde (ignoring truephan's muffled yells as she takes over the computer): Heh-heh, now it's time for evil fun…and action! Enjoy!

Pearl: Alright! We have reached the final climax! Sorry for the long wait. Same old reasons. But we have more than one surprise in store for you all!

P.S. Thank you, Annon, for your review. We could reply to you through private messenger, but we wanted to say thank you all the same. The rest goes to all our readers! Thank you for continuing support! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: We do not own Danny Phantom.

Chapter 33: Running Down the Illusionist Clock (Part One)

"Well, aren't you going to answer me?" Danny demanded, growing even more suspicious with Vlad's silence, especially when Skulker's eyes kept darting between him and his employer. "Where's Justeco, Vlad? And what plan is Skulker talking about?"

Unable to connive his way out of this, Vlad sighed in defeat and just told Danny the truth, including everything Skulker had reported back to him from his encounter with Iluzisto.

Danny stood stunned for a moment before he exploded, "You were going to keep all this from us? How could you do that? After what happened just a few hours ago when we tried to free the Observants from that cave?"

"I did not want you or Justeco jumping into an obvious trap, Daniel!" Vlad replied back with a deep frown.

"Yeah, and that worked out so well for you, Plasmius," Danny replied with sarcastic anger. "Because now, Justeco is gone and we have no choice but to go find him and his brother, which will mean 'jumping into that obvious trap'!"

"Hold on a minute," Jazz suddenly interrupted, getting up from the couch she had been sitting on next to Sam and Tucker. "How can Iluzisto have Konsilisto when Sam, Tucker, and I went with Justeco into the Realm Beyond Time, and Justeco took his brother to the Ancients' domain? Justeco said his brother would be safe there, so how could Iluzisto have even found Konsilisto?"

"I agree with Jazz, Danny," Sam spoke up. "Something isn't adding up." The goth girl looked at Skulker and further asked, "Are you sure Iluzisto had Konsilisto? Is it possible that he could've tricked you with an illusion?"

The hunter frowned, not having considered it until now since he had been trying not to get destroyed by Iluzisto when that all happened. "I cannot say for certain, whelp," he was forced to admit. "Iluzisto had one of those Timeless Orbs, similar to the Observant leader's own orb. Somehow, Justeco's brother came out of the orb, arms bound… He looked real—but then again, it could have just been an illusion. You see, Iluzisto has gotten so powerful now that even when I was fighting him and I had known at one point that he had conjured up an illusion to capture me and I concentrated on not believing it, I was still harmed and unable to break free from it. I fear no ghost can now escape his illusions…"

Tucker's eyes widened. "Dude, that makes everything ten times more dangerous!" He looked at his half-ghost friend and further said, "How are you supposed to defeat some spirit that can probably waste you now with just a snap of his fingers?"

"Tucker!" Sam exclaimed, annoyed by her friend's bluntness.

But Danny was still reeling with his discovery of Vlad's keeping things from him again; but he forced himself to push that aside for now and focus on what they had to do. They were really running out of time. It was already mid-afternoon and if Justeco had been right and the Observants had until tonight before they were consumed by Iluzisto's evil spell, then they needed to act now.

"I have to try, Tucker," Danny finally replied seriously. "Justeco and Konsilisto are now our friends. We can't just let Iluzisto waste them."

"If he has not already done so," Skulker said bluntly.

And when no one scolded the ghost for it, Tucker quickly jumped in protest, "Hey! How come no one gives him grief when he says things like that?"

Sam and Jazz rolled their eyes, while the two half-ghosts paid no attention to the boy. They were both deep in thought, but Vlad at last voiced what he was thinking.

"Skulker, I think this orb you saw is Okulo's orb. Iluzisto stole it from him. I know what it does, thanks to that idiot Okulo loving to run his mouth and gloat about that nifty little toy of his. I cannot be certain, but although Okulo's orb does many things—like take control of another entity's core, as Okulo enjoyed sharing with Daniel and me while we were imprisoned—I highly believe that physically capturing spirits or ghosts within it is not one of those things. I think the form of Konsilisto was indeed an illusion, which means he tricked you, Skulker. And, of course, Justeco also fell right into his trap, too."

Skulker frowned, but said, "You are probably right, Plasmius. However, we now have to assume that Iluzisto has Justeco, at least. And…" The hunter glanced at Danny as he finished, "Iluzisto was clear when he said that if you and my employer do not show up, he would take Justeco and his brother's cores."

"Then, I'll give him what he wants," Danny said with a determined look.

"What?" his friends and sister exclaimed, and Jazz quickly added, "But what about your plan we were just discussing, Danny?"

And Sam added, "You can't just give up now and give Iluzisto what he wants without a fight!"

"He's after me… and Vlad," Danny replied without looking at the older hybrid. "Justeco and maybe Konsilisto are just bait. I have no other choice, guys…"

But Vlad finally directly addressed the boy, quickly protesting, "We cannot do that, Daniel! It would just be suicide, and Justeco and Konsilisto will be destroyed anyways!"

Danny finally looked at Vlad, but there was no anger in his eyes, just a strange sober look. And it sounded in his voice as he answered, "We? There is no 'we', Vlad. And you know why? Because you don't know what 'we' means!" Danny shook his head, some anger leaking into his words again. "Every time I try to work with you, you do something to make me regret it."

The ghost teen suddenly paused, and looking away from everyone, almost sadly muttered, "Justeco was right…. We might as well end this now… Do what you want, Vlad, but I'm done… I give up."

Everyone remained quiet as the tense air around the half-ghosts weighed heavily upon them all.

Vlad just looked at the defeated teen for a long moment before he glanced at Skulker.

And understanding the look without his employer's needing to say anything, the hunter sighed quietly and nodded. He then looked at Team Phantom, who looked utterly torn with their friend and brother's words of surrender. But clearly none of them could think of what to say at this point.

"Pups," Skulker called to the three humans before calmly ordering, "Come with me. I want to hear of this 'plan' you were all referring to a moment ago."

Sam looked about to refuse when Jazz placed a hand on her shoulder and answered for them, "Good idea. Let's go, you two."

Danny glanced over at his friends and sister as they walked out of the living room with Skulker. But then with a deep sigh, the young half-ghost sat back down on the sofa, staring down at his feet.

There was another long silence, which felt even heavier now that the half-ghosts were alone. Vlad, who was still standing, crossed his arms, looking unsure of where to go from here.

But even he knew that surrendering was not an option.

But he also knew their only chance of making it through today was if he and Daniel came together on this.

Vlad's frown deepened, just a little reluctant to admit that the boy's reluctance to work with him this time was mostly his fault and that it was now up to him to fix things. But just when Vlad had been about to say something, Danny beat him to the punch.

"I'm so tired of this, Vlad," the teen muttered sadly, his back hunched forward and his arms resting on his thighs. "I'm tired of always having to fight against you. I'm tired of having to search for some underlying meaning to everything you say and do. And… I'm tired of you acting one way with me one day and the total opposite on another."

Danny finally looked up at Vlad with troubled eyes and asked, "Did… Did everything that happened in the prison mean nothing? Was it just an act because it benefited the both of us? Is… this our reality, Vlad? To fight each other for the rest of our lives?"

The boy's voice took a desperate tone when he got no answer, and instead voiced what he really wanted to know. "What is that you really want from me? To be your son? To follow your dark path? To be your chess pawn?"

The man's eyebrows creased with uncertainty, surprised to hear that the teen's words were mostly about their rivalry. And by how open the boy was being, Vlad knew Daniel was more upset than he had thought.

Danny sighed when he still got no response and soberly muttered mostly to himself, "Maybe I'm aiming too high…" He focused his troubled gaze back on his arch-enemy as he asked instead, "Is it just about revenge, then? About self-pride? Do you want me to just admit defeat to you and agree with you that my father messed up your life? Would you stop with the games, if I do? Would you…. stop seeing me as your enemy, then?"

Plasmius shook his head and looked away as he seriously replied, "Why are you bringing all this up now? How would any of it change our current predicament?"

Danny lowered his gaze as he quietly answered, "I just… I need to know… For once, just be honest with me, alright?" He looked up at the older hybrid as he dejectedly added, "If you want, you can just call it a dying kid's wish, because I doubt neither of us will make it past today. Just tell me the truth. I cannot take all this confusion and uncertainty anymore, Vlad. So, please, tell, me, what do you want from me?"

Vlad just stared back at the troubled boy with an unreadable expression, but still said nothing.

Danny lowered his gaze again as he was left with only one bitter conclusion. "You can't answer me, can you? Because… you don't even know…"

"No, Daniel," the man quickly answered, capturing the teen's attention. "I do know exactly what I want of you."

Vlad paused, reluctant to speak how he really felt; but even his tough heart was forced to admit, "It's just that… the more I know you, the more I experience with you, the more my wants… seem to change."

Vlad sighed tiredly himself. He knew they were wasting time, but if he and Daniel did not come to an agreement and common ground, then they were most definitely going to fail.

He supposed, for once, a little honesty wouldn't hurt.

"When I first met you, I used to see you as a pawn I could use against your father," Vlad answered soberly. "But… as I began to discover your qualities, I wanted to test them, rival them. Somehow, though, that has also changed over time. You have become very important to me—like a son. All I want is for you to be my side, but… there is so much between us, Daniel."

Vlad approached the teen and squatted down in front of him as he tossed aside his remaining pride and gently said, "I do not know how this all will end between us. Maybe we will forever be enemies… Maybe we won't. But, regardless of that, regardless of all that's between us, regardless of what you think I may want or not want from you, you can be certain of one thing: I do care, Danny. And I think that to my misfortune and your good fortune, I will always care for you." The man looked the teen directly in the eyes as he assured him with conviction. "You are not dying today. Iluzisto is not taking your core, because I will not allow it."

"And… I won't let him take yours, either," Danny assured him quietly, hope and determination returning to his gaze. "I won't let him, because… in spite of our rivalry and differences, I… care, too."

Vlad smiled warmly before he stood to his height and said with his own determination, "No more games. No more tricks or half-truths. At least until we finish this. At least until we show Iluzisto why we are a force to be reckon with!"

The older half-ghost extended a hand at the boy and added with a smirk, "Join me now, Daniel. I will fight with you. I will trust you… if you can do the same."

Danny looked at the man's extended hand as he recalled how Justeco had assured him Vlad would protect him. But then he locked his gaze with the man and took his hand, standing as he replied with resolve. "If you have my back, then I have yours, too."

Vlad smiled and nodded before they let go. But sobering up, he then asked, "So, what is this plan you had in mind?"

"I thought we could trick Iluzisto into a trap of our own." Danny bit his lip with uncertainty as he got back into the game. "But I, uh, don't know if it will work now. See, it would only work here, in your house—where we have the necessary stuff. But… Iluzisto is expecting us to come to him, and we need him to come to us for my idea to work."

Vlad still didn't know the exact details of the boy's plan, but he was still willing to go with it. However, thinking of something to solve their current dilemma, the billionaire replied, "Then, let us do both. We will go to him; but we will also lure him back to us."

"How? And what if we get captured?" Danny asked with a frown.

Vlad grinned this time. "Oh, but if that would happen, it will not be us who he captures… Just duplicates."

Danny's eyes widened in understanding before he grinned. "That's genius!"

"Well, you know…" Vlad replied with a smug look.

Danny rolled his eyes, but then he frowned again when he remembered something, "Wait… But, I don't think I could pull that off, Vlad. I mean, I just recently learned how to make copies, but… I can't really hold them for very long and I've never tried putting a large amount of distance between myself and a duplicate."

"You will only need one, and I will help you sustain it, so do not worry. It will work," Vlad quickly assured him.

Danny nodded and smiled, albeit a bit shyly this time, but it was still there.

Vlad was bit surprised the teen had just accepted his help instead of question how he could possibly aid the boy to 'sustain' a duplicate. And although he was a bit touched by that and was tempted to smile warmly, the older hybrid did not want things to get too strange between them, and instead continued discussing their plans…

Danny told Vlad what he and his friends and sister had discussed previously on how to trick Iluzisto.

"This just might work," Vlad said thoughtfully once the teen finished.

Danny smirked, partially pleased that the man hadn't immediately scoffed at his idea. "Well, I thought about what you said about how Iluzisto's mentality is more ghost-like than the spirit he is. So, why not use it to our advantage? We need to get him weakened before fully confronting him, so what if we anger him enough to make him waste energy all on his own?"

A smile began to grow on the man's face, already piecing everything together. But wanting to hear it from the boy himself, he prompted, "Hmm… Go on…"

Danny grinned, feeling a bit giddy at the fact that Vlad was definitely taking one of his ideas seriously, and he quickly told him the rest of the plan.

Vlad listened closely, liking the plan more and more. But the man was also already mentally mixing the boy's plan with his own ideas and calculating their different options and deciding which would be the best approach for success.

"Indeed that this might work, but I think I have a few ideas of my own to make this plan foolproof," Vlad said with a devilish smirk. But then he suddenly placed a hand on the teen's shoulder and quickly added, "Come on. Let's go find everyone and I'll tell you what I have in mind. We need to hurry, though."

"My thoughts exactly," Danny agreed and followed the man out of the living room.

Meanwhile, Team Phantom and Skulker had been having their own conversation just down the hallway from the living room which Vlad and Danny were. But, oddly, it wasn't about discussing their plans, which was Skulker's ruse to get them away from the hybrids.

At first, Sam had been upset that they had left Danny alone, but Tucker and Jazz argued that their presence right now would probably make things worse between the half-ghosts and that they needed to let them work things out on their own.

Skulker, however, seemed uncaring to the kids' concern and argument. In fact, the ghost was fidgeting with his suit, not even looking at them.

And that really grated on Sam's nerves because it reminded her once again how drastically Skulker had changed ever since they had rescued Danny and Vlad and had returned from the Realm Beyond Time.

The hunter acted like nothing had ever happened between them all, and remained as frigid with them as before.

Considering that Sam was already upset from this whole situation and also that Justeco was now gone, Skulker's attitude had her close to exploding.

Still, she continued to silently seethed, looking like a tea pot about to blow its whistle.

Tucker and Jazz, who also were upset with Skulker's apathy towards them, could feel the tension growing between them all; but they did their best to focus on something else while they waited for something to happen with Danny and Vlad—whatever that could be. Deciding to break the thick silence, Tucker spoke up and began to share with Skulker about the plan Danny came up with to trick Iluzisto…

At least the hunter seemed mildly interested in that.

"So, then, all we would need is to lure him here and adjust Vlad's system to get it to do what we want," Tucker finished telling Skulker.

"The idea is not bad, pups," Skulker said thoughtfully. But then he suddenly shrugged and added, "However, we will need to run it by Plasmius, first. So, we must wait."

"Seriously?" Sam suddenly exploded, and Tucker and Jazz cringed knowing things were about to heat up.

More than frustrated now, Sam moved closer to the hunter and raised her arms up in anger as she yelled at him, "What is it with you, Skulker? I mean, can't you do something on your own for once? Why does everything always have to go back to your jerky employer? He isn't some freaking god!"

Tucker and Jazz jolted when Skulker's eyes flared a brighter green and he suddenly moved right into the goth girl's face.

"Be careful, human," he growled back at her. "I do not care whether or not I am forced to work with the Ghost boy's helpers. Disrespect me, and Iluzisto will not be your only threat!"

"Oh, so now you're making threats," Sam said sarcastically. "Somehow, I'm not surprised! I mean, we are at your 'employer's house'. You wouldn't want him seeing you be 'nice' to the Ghost Boy's helpers, who practically saved your butt on more than one occasion in the past few days!"

Skulker frowned, finally understanding why the girl was truly upset. But not wanting to get into that, he said instead, "If I said we have to run things by Plasmius, it is because he knows his programs and home better than anyone. If we go through with this plan, we want it to be successful. So, like it or not, my employer is part of all this. Therefore, yes, we do have to include him, just like we also must include the Ghost Boy. Do you have a problem with that, human?" he asked, narrowing his eyes a bit.

Sam glowered at him, but then just crossed her arms and looked away. She didn't have a problem with that. She had a problem with Skulker's attitude! Although she was trying not to show it, Skulker's cold treatment hurt more than angered her…

Jazz and Tucker looked between the hunter and their friend, knowing why Sam was so upset. Actually, it was upsetting for them, too; but they had thought better to not acknowledge it.

The fact of the matter was that it hurt knowing that the instant Skulker was with Vlad again, his attitude about them completely changed.

Jazz sighed and decided to take the initiative and stop ignoring the elephant in the room. "Look, I know things have been weird lately. But right now isn't the time to really deal with it. Still," she added, frowning at Skulker. "Just like we all know Danny and Vlad need to find a way to work together, we also need to do the same now." The girl sighed as she said more quietly, "Skulker, I know that you would never choose us or anyone else over your friendship with Vlad. And that's fine. I respect that, because it is how it should be. Just like we will always be there to back up Danny, I know you would never turn your back on Vlad. So, all I am asking—all we are asking—" she added, looking at Sam and Tucker before looking at Skulker again, "—Is that we can work together like before until this is all over."

The hunter looked at the three humans with an unreadable expression. He did not show it, but it had been hard to get back to reality after all they had gone through together in order to rescue the Ghost Boy and Plasmius. It had been hard because, even if he could not acknowledge it…, he had felt a connection with these three humans.

It was almost as if it was fated for them to work together and depend on one another—that's how natural it had felt to be with these whelps.

But the truth of the matter was that as long as the two half-ghosts remained rivals, there could never be anything real between them. When it came down to it, Skulker knew he would always side with Plasmius and these whelps would always side with the Ghost Boy.

The hunter sighed at last, knowing he could not continue to evade this pending conversation anymore. "I cannot deny how we were a very efficient team back on our rescue mission," he admitted with a frown, though his voice had softened. "However, we all know the truth and it would be foolish to attempt to pretend otherwise…"

The hunter paused. He didn't want to admit that he wished things could be different, but he felt this stirring that forced him to at least say what he said next.

"Still, if it means anything to you all, If Plasmius and the whelp would ever become true allies… well…" The hunter coughed before he muttered out, "I would have no quarrel with allying with you all, too…" But clearing his throat again, he said more firmly, "But until then, we are enemies, pups! So, do not get any ideas! We will work together now, but only because it is necessary. Understand?"

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz were shocked by what Skulker had just said. Although he did not say it directly, they were all now sure that Skulker did care and had felt that connection with them, too!

Team Phantom looked at one another before they grinned, and suddenly, they all ran over to Skulker and hugged him!

The hunter jolted and quickly raised his hands as if the kids were some infectious thing on him, but then he protested, "Whelps! Get off me! The Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter does not hug!"

Right then, Danny and Vlad walked in and they froze at the sight in front of them.

"Wow…" Danny muttered to Vlad. "And I thought you and I getting along was weird…"

Vlad didn't answer since he was also too baffled with the sight in front of him.

"… Skulker?" the man called. He had never taken his ally to be so… affectionate.

The hunter gasped and almost yelped as he jumped away from the kids and said, "P-Plasmius! This is not what it appears! It was they—!"

But Vlad raised a hand, silencing his ally. "I really do not want know, Skulker. Besides, we have a few more urgent matters to discuss."

Meanwhile, Danny had walked closer to his friends and sister, who had all been snickering with each other with Skulker's reaction. The Ghost Boy raised an eyebrow at them and asked, "What was all that about?"

But his friends shrugged innocently and Jazz replied, "Nothing, little brother."

Danny gave them all a weird look, but then he smiled as he realized what was going on. He had almost forgotten how his friends and sister had spent so much time with Skulker when they had been on their rescue mission. The fact felt a bit odd to Danny; but then again, it's not like he had not gone through something similar with Vlad.

Still, right now wasn't the time to talk about that. They had a plan to carry out.

"So, Danny. Is… everything okay now?" Jazz suddenly asked hesitantly, pointing over to Vlad, who was now talking over their plans with Skulker.

Danny nodded and muttered, "I think so. Or, I hope so, anyways." He sighed to himself as he remembered how even now that he and Vlad had vowed to work and trust each other, the teen was still keeping the complete truth from the man. But… Danny couldn't tell Vlad that truth, because it was possible the man would call the whole thing off.

Danny couldn't tell Vlad that the curse was no longer a threat. That he had lied. The teen was sure the man would not help him otherwise.

"Daniel?" Vlad suddenly called, pushing the teen out of his thoughts. "We need to head to my lab to set up this trap."

The boy nodded and he gestured his friends and sister to come with them. It took them a good half-hour to lay out their complete plan—for once, everyone willingly listening to the other's ideas and working with them. In the end, it turned out to be a much more solid plan than any of them could have come up with on their own.

"Hold still," Vlad told Danny and his team, as he activated the mainframe of his computer. "This part is very delicate. But once we're through, Skulker and Mr. Foley can handle the rest…"

Danny waited for the beam projecting from the computer to extinguish before saying, "Sam, Jazz. You guys know what to do, right? Once Iluzisto realizes the truth, it's your job to lure him where we need him."

"Don't worry, Danny. We got it," Sam replied with a smile.

"Skulker," Vlad then said with a serious look. "If for any reason things do not go as planned, you, Jasmine and Daniel's friends are to fall back. We cannot risk Iluzisto gaining anymore advantage against us."

"Yes, I will make sure of it," the hunter replied, glancing at the three human kids. In spite of having agreed to follow the plan, they all knew Danny's friends and sister would toss it aside and jump into the fray to help Danny if he got into trouble.

But underneath, they all realized that it was that same rashness that had Justeco at Iluzisto's mercy right now. So, they had to try to stick with the plan.

"Daniel? You have the inhibitor cuffs?" Vlad then asked.

Danny grabbed them from the table Vlad had placed them on before saying, "Yeah." He looked at the devices a brief moment before saying, "At least Justeco helped us by making these cuffs strong enough for a spirit. I… hope he's alright…"

Jazz, who was close to her brother, placed a hand on his shoulder and said encouragingly, "We'll find him, Danny, and we'll save him and the other Observants, you'll see."

Tucker and Sam nodded in agreement and Danny smiled sadly, but hopefully, at them. But getting back to what needed to be done, Danny quickly turned his focus on Vlad again and asked, "Hey, Vlad? Did you already switch the ghost shield around Amity for a human one like we talked about? We have to get the Guys-in-White out of the picture, or things could turn uglier fast. "

"Actually, I am turning it off completely now," Vlad replied as he finished typing some last things into his computer system. He then grabbed a nearby white remote next to the mainframe and added, "But this will assure us that we can activate the shield as a human one the instant we need it."

"Then, we're ready to go?" Danny asked a bit nervously.

Vlad nodded at the teen before glancing at everyone in the room. "Yes,…the moment of truth has come…"

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz quickly moved closer to Danny and hugged him.

"Be careful, little brother," Jazz said fearfully.

"Yeah, man, go kick some butt, but watch yourself," Tucker added.

As they pulled away from their half-ghost friend and brother, Sam finally said, "We'll get to you as soon as we can, okay?"

Danny smiled, but then said to them with just as much worry, "I'll be fine. But… you guys be careful, too, okay? If something goes wrong, don't try to confront Iluzisto. Just get out."

"You, too, Danny," Sam replied seriously.

The kids shared one more hug before they looked over at Vlad and Skulker. The two were quietly talking about something before Vlad smirked at whatever the ghost had said and then placed a hand on the hunter's shoulder in a last parting gesture.

Vlad walked up to Danny and asked, "Ready?"

Danny sighed but nodded firmly.

And as if in on cue, both half-ghost morphed into their ghostly counterparts.

Vlad glanced one last time at his ally and only the man could see the worry behind the ghost's unreadable frown, but the man pretended not to notice. After all, Vlad knew that deep down, both he and Skulker knew they were more than 'allies', and privately knowing it was enough for the two.

Focusing back on Danny, Plasmius smiled for more reasons than one before warning the boy, "Hold your breath."

In an instant, the man grabbed one of the teen's arms and teleported them. The two reappeared high up in the sky above the billionaire's home.

"Time to duplicate…," Vlad said before he began to glow pink; and suddenly there were two of him.

Danny hesitated, but closing his eyes and concentrating, he began to glow green and successfully created his own duplicate.

"According to mayoral reports," the original Vlad then said, "the majority of the chaos is concentrated in two places: the pier and the downtown district; but they are only reporting a sighting of an 'unknown 'one-eyed entity' at the downtown. That is where our copies will go. We will start at the pier and head downtown once Iluzisto is out of the way."

"Got it," Danny and his copy said at the same time.

But noticing how the Ghost Boy's duplicate was more transparent in appearance than the real Phantom, Plasmius glanced at his own duplicate. It nodded and quickly stepped forward to fix the boy's copy.

"This might feel strange," the Plasmius double warned the Phantom duplicate before placing a hand against his chest and surging blue energy directly into his body.

Danny's double gasped in surprise as a blue hue lit up its body. But as quickly as it had come, it was gone and the teen duplicate was now solid and stable.

"What did you do?" the real Danny asked curiously as he watched his double and Vlad's own waste no more time and fly off to their intended direction.

"My duplicate simply supplied yours with stabilizing energy. Your copies tend to be more unstable than you, which is probably why they are so hard to maintain. However, the blue energy will help it as long as it does not use too much of its own natural energy. Otherwise, the blue energy will destabilize and the results will not be pleasant for it."

Danny briefly closed his eyes to link the information to his clone before looking back at Vlad. With a glint in his eye and a mischievous smile, he replied, "Copy that totally!"

Vlad rolled his eyes slightly and dryly added, "Hilarious. But make sure you keep your focus. We cannot have your duplicate suddenly vanishing, alright?"

Danny nodded before he smirked and said, "So, you wanna go spook those loser Guys-in-White?"

Vlad grinned evilly. "I thought you would never ask…."

Danny chuckled as they turned invisible and took off towards the pier.

Currently at the center of Amity Park's downtown, Iluzisto was floating above a street with upturned cars and pieces of buildings strewed about it. And yet, the spirit was growing very bored of just waiting for the crossbreeds to take his bait. It seemed that after all these decades of waiting to be free, he had exhausted most of his patience. Yet, underneath, he was really betting on for the younger one to show up alone, especially when he knew how cautious the older one was and how less likely he would be to do anything pathetically 'heroic' as the child….Not only that, things would be much…easier if he could deal with the two crossbreeds separately. Meanwhile, he might as well add insult to injury by destroying their precious territory…

Iluzisto watched on in amusement as the pathetic human hunters attempted to take down his four copies and their numerous illusions currently causing havoc around them. What was even sadder on these inferior creatures' part was that in their attempt to stop his clones and illusions, they were causing as much damage as he was with their weapons…

He supposed he had to give them some credit, though. After all, they had managed to evacuate the town's citizens out of this area rather quickly.

The evil Observant chuckled to himself as two of the white-clad hunters fired a missile at the illusion of a large dragon currently setting a tall building on fire. But the missile simply went straight through the illusion and ended up blowing up the entire building.

"Shame there was not any humans within. It would have been fun to see them scream as they perished by their 'protectors' own hands," Iluzisto muttered with a fake sigh of disappointment before his eye darted to his staff and he added, "Do you not agree, Justeco?"

The center eyeball on the staff, which was currently swirling with a black cloudy mist, glowed weakly in response.

Iluzisto laughed; but right then, a red bolt of lightning came from the sky and slammed right into the spirit, engulfing him within a loud explosion of asphalt and debris.

In that same instant, the four copies of Iluzisto and his illusions that had been terrorizing the surrounding area vanished.

The one responsible for the attack slowly turned visible as he flew down closer to the crater below, waiting for the smoke to clear.

"That was a little too easy," Danny's copy muttered to the Plasmius copy next to him.

Vlad's copy said nothing; but by his tense posture and still crackling, ready hands, Danny knew Plasmius agreed. In an instant, the Ghost Boy's clone lit up his own hands with green energy.

But when the smoke cleared at last they were only partly surprised to see Iluzisto was no longer there.

However, the spirit didn't wait too long to make himself known, though he did so in his usual way…

"Hello, crossbreeds. Come to play with me at last?" the wind around them whispered as it picked up.

Clearly, the attack had taken Iluzisto off guard enough to make him lose his concentration, but it had hardly physically fazed him. Still, the spirit wasn't all that pleased to see the crossbreeds fighting together. He would have to be very careful now. First, though, he needed to test out how 'recovered' they were…

At hearing that obnoxiously familiar and hideous voice, Danny and Vlad quickly twisted until they were back-to-back as they searched the sky for the evil spirit.

Plasmius' eyes narrowed as he replied darkly, "Show yourself and we will gladly play with you…"

"Yeah, and we'll make sure you lose!" Danny added before demanding, "Where's Justeco and Konsilisto, you jerk?"

The wind picked up and laughed loudly before it said, "Oh, so my pets have licked their wounds and now think they can bite the hand that cared for them with so much dedication?"

The wind suddenly grew hotter and thicker as it hissed, "I will have to remind you curs of your place again, then!"

But right then, the Guys-in-White below had regrouped after seeing the two new—but familiar—ghosts arrive. They knew by experience that they were as a big threat as the unknown one-eyed entity, so the commander was quickly barking out orders to attack the half-ghosts as well.

"Vlad, how are we going to do this with these idiots here? I thought they were at the pier!" Danny asked, pointing at the Guys-in-White below them with one hand, while keeping the other ready to attack should Iluzisto try something.

"They must have split into two teams, so we'll have to work around them," Vlad replied, but added, "Here, I'll create a shield. We can—" The man's words melded into a gasp when he suddenly saw a glimmer of something just two feet from him; and going on instinct, the older half-ghost fired a bright pink bolt.

The air instantly hissed in pain, but much to the half-ghosts' dismay, Iluzisto did not reappear and there was a ripple all around them, giving them no clue where the actual Iluzisto was.

"What was that?" Danny quickly asked, knowing from experience that the ripples meant Iluzisto's presence. But he couldn't be everywhere at once!

"I'm not sure," Vlad quickly admitted, only to be cut off from whatever else he was going to say by a barrage of ecto-blasts from below.

The older hybrid quickly used one hand to create a shield to protect them.

Unfortunately, Iluzisto took advantage at the distraction the human hunters provided.

"Oh, crud!" Danny exclaimed when he saw a thick beam of purple energy appear from nowhere and come straight at him. However, Vlad also gasped because he, too, saw a huge purple beam—but it was charging at him. Neither of the hybrids knew at this moment that they were right in the middle of a crossfire.

The hybrid clones barely managed to protect themselves. And while Plasmius had managed to create another pink shield in his free hand right before the purple beam intended for him crashed into it, Danny braced a green wall of energy with both of his hands just as the other purple beam slammed into it.

Vlad's second shield keeping the Guys-in-White's attacks at bay suddenly flickered from the intensity of Iluzisto's attack and he gasped in alarm. But the teen beside him also gasped as his arms trembled and his own shield almost buckled under the blow, and if it wasn't because he was back-to-back with Vlad, the beam's intensity would have thrown him back!

"That was unbelievably strong!" Plasmius hissed, voicing Phantom's own thought.

"Vlad, we need to split up!" Danny said urgently, but quietly.

"Daniel, we agreed that—," Plasmius began in an uncertain voice, but Danny cut him off.

"I know what we said, but we didn't talk about what to do if we had to worry about both Iluzisto and the Guys-in-Whites' attacks at the same time! So, we just have to improvise a little or our plan's gonna fail before it begins!" Danny answered; and as if to prove his point, Iluzisto suddenly conjured up an illusion of another dragon that headed right to them, while the Guys-in-White also fired an ecto-missile at the half-ghosts!

Plasmius cringed as he just barely managed to capture the incoming missile with his energy and turn its direction away from them, while turning his shield toward the dragon at the same time.

"See what I mean? So that's why we gotta change things up a little if we have to!" Danny said, before hastily adding, "Just keep Iluzisto off my back, while I take care of those Guys-in-White!"

And before the older half-ghost could even agree or disagree, the teen suddenly turned invisible and flew down to where the human hunters were continuing to focus their attacks on them. But now only having one of their three targets in sight, the hunters were even more determined to at least take down that remaining one—Plasmius.

Of course, Danny didn't even give them the chance to try.

But Iluzisto had seen the young crossbreed disappear and then reappear below, clearly trying to distract the human hunters. And yet, by his indirect attacks on the hunters, the boy obviously was not looking to hurt them.

Iluzisto was going to have to change that, then.

Plasmius gasped as the dragon illusion that had been circling him suddenly twisted down into a sharp dive, heading towards Danny!

But before the older half-ghost could do anything, the evil illusionist spirit turned his focus on him. He sent another ecto-blast at Vlad, who saw it and quickly blocked it.

And yet, Iluzisto was hardly bothered by that. He was more satisfied to see that the two crossbreeds had split up —just as he wanted. But…that didn't completely please him, either. The spirit had felt something was amiss from the moment the pair arrived. Perhaps he could buy it from the younger one to jump into the fray like this and just begin attacking him, wanting to 'save' the Observants; but the older one? That one was too calculating. Nevertheless, even as perplexed as the spirit was in seeing the older crossbreed here at all, much less fighting alongside the younger one, he was more interested in figuring out what he and the child were trying to do…What were they up to? That was why he was…holding back for the moment.

But the spirit couldn't let any more of those thoughts bother him. It was time for his next move…

Suddenly feeling a strange energy moving around him, Plasmius dropped his shield and instead charged electricity into both his hands as he continued to search around for any sign of Iluzisto. The older hybrid knew he and the boy had to make this part of their plan look convincing in order for the rest of the plan to work.

But Iluzisto was not attacking—at least not to the level he could.

Why? And then his quick mind knew…

He was testing him and Daniel. That much was certain. But there was something more. Vlad would expect the spirit to be suspicious, but to be curious? Oh, yes. Either the spirit wanted to determine how recovered and strong they were, or he was waiting for them to mess up to take advantage of it.

Maybe it was both…

"Why so tense, crossbreed?" the wind once again mocked. "Are you afraid? There is no need for that yet. After all, you should know that I plan to take the young one's core before yours. That way, you can watch."

"Overconfidence is dangerous, Iluzisto," Vlad replied calmly. "Believe me, I would know…"

"Oh, I have every reason to be overconfident, crossbreed…" Iluzisto said.

But, this time, the voice had come directly from behind him.

Vlad gasped and turned around, only to jolt when Iluzisto was right there in full view, aiming his fully-charged staff just before firing an ecto-blast!

But if it could be called fortunate, Vlad had already had his electrical energy ready and so had no choice but to fire back. Once their energies crashed into each other, the immediate explosion it created propelled Vlad clear across the sky with a cry of alarm.

Meanwhile, Danny had been busy demolishing the Guys-in-White's weapons, but they just continued to get more and more devices. The teen didn't even know how they were able to carry so many things on them! Luckily, though, despite the hunters' continuing call over the radio for backup, the teen knew no reinforcements would arrive.

The real Vlad and his original self were making sure of it at the other side of town.

However, just when Danny thought he would be able to handle the hunters quickly, another problem emerged…

In the form of a big red dragon.

Danny gasped and barely managed to turn intangible as the creature propelled a ball of fire at him. The attack went through the teen, but it slammed below, sending pieces of armored tanks and ghost weapons everywhere as it destroyed all that it hit below.

Danny quickly focused his powers on the dragon and fired a half-dozen ecto-blasts, only for them to go through the dragon.

"Darn it!" Danny exclaimed and flew right at the creature with extended fists.

But much to his surprise, the dragon flew right under him, seemingly losing interest in him as it began to attack the Guys-in-White and set everything on fire.

"No!" Danny yelled, not wanting to see anyone else get hurt other than what he had already seen on the news before getting here.

But as he attempted to create a shield to protect the humans below, the hunters saw his proximity as a threat and began to fire at him, too.

Danny gasped as he was forced to create a shield for himself instead.

"Stop! I'm trying to help you guys!" he yelled at them.

But it was useless.

The fire the dragon was creating continued to swell, which meant bad news for the numerous buildings around them.

Danny paused in distress, trying to think of what to do. Since he was only a duplicate, he knew his energy reserve was limited and he couldn't risk puffing out of existence or their plan would fail.

But if he didn't do something to stop the infernal below, a lot of people where going to get hurt and possibly perish.

Danny glanced up, seeing Vlad in trouble but still managing to hold his own against Iluzisto. But then the screams of the Guys-in-White helped the teen make his decision.

Concentrating, he focused on his ice-power and let it build and circulate around his body.

He gritted his teeth, but then with a yell, the teen released the cold energy into a wave, which extended in all directions and froze everything, but the infernal below. Instead, the fire was snuffed out, becoming nothing but a light mist, which rained down on the Guys-in-White.

However, as the ice wave hit the dragon which had been facing away from the teen, the creature abruptly vanished into a puff of purple smoke.

Danny gasped and fell to ground and onto his hands and knees as he fought to keep his weak body stable and not flicker out of existence. Unfortunately, being a duplicate, he had no true core, so he didn't have the ability to regenerate his lost energy—and he had just used up all that he had with that powerful ice attack.

The only thing keeping him whole was the blue energy Vlad's own copy had fed him before they got here. But when he began to feel that foreign stabilizing energy now destabilizing, Danny soon remembered that Plasmius had warned him about that happening if the teen used up his own energy…

"No, I can't!" he gasped out, squeezing his eyes shut as he felt his body flickering and falling apart. However, it only got worse from there because the strange warmness circling throughout his body that had been Plasmius' energy began to grow hot—really hot.

The teen gasped again and his eyes snapped open, unaware that his green eyes had flashed red as he had done so.

But in spite of the burning sensation inside him, he felt his body still holding together somehow. He had been about to get to his feet, but froze with the sound of cocking weapons around him.

"Oh, crud," Danny muttered as he stared at the Guys-in-White now surrounding him.

The moment Vlad had realized he would be unable to stop his uncontrolled flight he quickly corrected that by teleporting. In an instant, he reappeared higher up in the sky; but Iluzisto did not give him any break.

The spirit just as quickly appeared right in front of Plasmius—and also to his left and right…

And from behind.

Plasmius gasped and froze as a sharp needle, one which he knew too well, poked against his back.

It was Iluzisto's staff.

"Do you like my duplicating trick? I learned it from you," the Iluzisto from behind said teasingly.

"Glad I could be of service," Vlad replied with a nervous smile as he watched the three Iluzistos in his line of sight floating closer with evil intent, while still feeling the one behind him still pressing its weapon against his back.

"Yes, you were. And soon you will be serving me even more," Iluzisto answered hungrily. It would be so easy to just take Vlad Plasmius' core right now; but Iluzisto had made a vow to himself, and that was to finish of Danny Phantom, first.

In spite of his compromised position, the older hybrid was already forming a plan of escape and attack. Unfortunately, being a duplicate, he had no ghost sense, at least not when he was this far from his real self. So, he had no means of knowing which of these four was the real Iluzisto.

But now Vlad had to wonder if Daniel and his ghost sense would even work on Iluzisto anymore. The only reason it had before was because at that time Iluzisto had had those power-inhibitors, which not only kept his powers suppressed but also kept the spirit within time—making his signature appear very ghost-like—and thereby, detectible.

That made sense. After all, when Vlad had been configuring his system, he had made sure to scan all around Amity again. But unlike before, when his scanners could pick up Iluzisto, now they could not. And that meant that this could certainly present a problem when the real he and Daniel faced the evil spirit.

But for now, all the man could do was store it for future reference and report it back to his original self.

At least, he knew that his real self could not only detect signatures, but it could feel strength levels. Maybe that part of his ghost sense would still work with Iluzisto.

He would find out when the time came. For now, he just needed to get out of his current predicament…

"Nowhere to run, crossbreed," the Iluzisto in front of him suddenly said, noticing the calculating gleam in the man's eyes. The spirit then lifted his staff and pointed it at the older half-ghost's chest, adding, "I am almost disappointed how easy this was…"

Vlad narrowed his eyes and sneered, "Don't be so sure…" And then teleported…

Or, tried to…

The man gasped as all he did was create a pink smoke show, but had not gone anywhere.

Iluzisto laughed. "One would think you would have learned by now!"

Plasmius' eyes flashed a brighter red in his anger. But teleportation was hardly the older hybrid's only trick.

"Oh, I learn all right—very quickly!" Vlad growled and suddenly turned into a mist that passed straight through the Iluzisto that had had his staff against his back. However, Plasmius quickly solidified as soon as he had all four surprised Iluzisto's in front of him.

The half-ghost raised his hands, instantly trapping the four within a large red sphere before they could react.

"How about we heat things up?" Plasmius asked darkly as the air within the sphere began to heat and crackle.

But right then, the man heard Danny scream and his eyes darted downward, just as the boy released a massive wave of ice energy. It froze everything over and a cloud of steam rose up as the ice lastly swallowed the flames below.

Iluzisto had also been distracted by this and looked below. He gasped when he saw his illusion of the dragon destroyed by the boy's ice power.

"No!" he mentally exclaimed, realizing what had happened. But his eye further widened when he noticed something else—specifically about the boy below.

However, his thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly felt the sphere surrounding him and his copies grow hotter. A surged of a massive amount of electricity lit up the sphere, looking very much like someone set off several red fireworks inside it.

The four Iluzistos cried out in pain; but the real one held enough focus to hold his copies, but also to use his staff to destroy the sphere containing them. But before they could even recover, a wall of red energy came at them, propelling them all clear across the sky.

Not bothering to see if that kept the spirit down or not, Vlad teleported in an instant, having already seen how the teen below him was in trouble.

It was indeed a big mistake, because Iluzisto and his copies were not even stunned by the massive attack and it took them only a moment to regain control of their flight. Growling at the lingering sting of the older hybrid's electrical attack, the original Iluzisto looked down at the one responsible.

He saw how the older crossbreed appeared next to the younger one in time to cover them in a pink barrier just as the human hunters fired their weapons at them.

He really despised that older freak's electrical power, and made a note to give him a taste of his own medicine as soon as he got the chance. Right now, he was more interested in what he had seen with the Ghost Boy before Plasmius had done that little number on him.

Iluzisto narrowed his eye again as he noticed the boy's body flicker just faintly… much like it had after he had used his ice energy to destroy the dragon illusion…

Well, weren't these freaks so clever?

"Very well, crossbreeds…I will bite," Iluzisto said wickedly before he suddenly vanished along with three of his clones, leaving one behind…

Meanwhile, Vlad was now fed up with the Guys-in-White and their blasted weapons; but he couldn't take them out how he wanted—not with the boy next to him.

So, using the pink dome shield still covering him and Daniel, Vlad quickly melded it back into energy and thrust it out, the force throwing the hunters back a few yards.

"Move, Daniel!" Vlad commanded the weakened teen.

And in spite that he felt like his insides were on fire, Danny launched up into the sky, just before Vlad took advantage of the moisture on the ground and air left by the teen's ice energy.

All the Guys-in-White managed was a gasp as they saw sparks of blue light up around the Wisconsin Ghost just before the ionic particles in the moisture around them conducted the electricity, firing it in all directions and electrocuting anything in its path.

The hunters instantly screamed in pain.

Danny gasped in alarm, feeling the electricity right below him enough for his hairs to stand on end. But seeing the hunters on the brink of passing out, the teen yelled at the other half-ghost, "Vlad, stop!"

But the older hybrid ignored him, determined to get rid of these nuisances once and for all. And besides, it was just blue electricity. It wasn't strong enough to waste the hunters—or, he didn't think so anyways.

Oh, well.

Seeing Plasmius had no intention of letting up, Danny quickly did the only thing he could to make the man stop. He fired an ecto-blast at him.

However, instead of his usual green energy, red energy sprang from his hands, and the teen gasped as the energy burned him and his body only grew hotter.

Vlad jolted when he heard the blast coming at him and barely managed to dodge it. That in turn, forced him to stop his attack on the human hunters. But the man hardly cared as he looked up at Danny in confusion and disbelief.

Had the boy just fired a red energy blast at him?

But seeing the teen clutching his chest, Plasmius realized what was wrong and quickly flew up, forgetting the hunters. He knew that they would not be recovering any time soon, anyways.

Vlad had just reached Danny and hissed in mostly worry, "Daniel! I told you not to use up all your energy! Your body can't handle running on my energy alone. It's too hot!" And seeing the boy's eyes flash red, the man added with a frown, "And clearly, it has destabilized you, too!"

But before Danny could even focus enough to answer, they both heard someone clapping.

"Bravo, my pets! You truly are impressive creatures!" Iluzisto said with a sharp laugh as he floated a few yards away from the half-ghosts. "And yet, although it is obvious you are both fully recovered, you should conserve your energies. At this rate, neither of you will be able to even kick and scream as I take your cores!"

"Oh my gosh, Vlad! I-I'm burning up!" Danny panted out quietly as he struggled to keep himself intact in front of Iluzisto. They couldn't let the evil spirit figure out they were just duplicates!

Vlad just kept his eyes on Iluzisto, feeling troubled by the fact that the spirit wasn't even trying to attack them. But the older hybrid knew they had to do something fast before Daniel's duplicate succumbed to the hot energy inside it.

"I'll distract Iluzisto, while you head back to my home. I'll catch up," Vlad said quickly; and not waiting for a response, the older hybrid teleported in front of Iluzisto and fired two red ecto-blasts.

However, Iluzisto just raised his staff and absorbed the energy within it. It was almost comical how predictable the older crossbreed became around the younger one.

"Hmm… why thank you for the sample," Iluzisto said wickedly. "But I am already craving the main course…"

Vlad ignored the urge to shiver at the hungry tone in the spirit's voice and instead demanded, "What have you done with Justeco and Konsilisto? You told my ally you would exchange them for us; so here we are!"

Iluzisto laughed. "Oh, do not act so naïve, crossbreed. It does not fit you. We both know I have no intention of trading those two cowardly Observants for you and the other crossbreed. Why would I when I can—what is that expression you humans use?—Ah, yes—when I can have my cake and eat it, too!"

"In your greed you might not be able to do, either," Vlad replied back with narrowed eyes. The spirit was so sure he had won that he was taking his time, toying with them as sadistically as a cat would a mouse before it's about to devour it…

"Such bold words for a creature who is about to die," Iluzisto said darkly before the air around him suddenly blurred.

Vlad gasped as two dark clouds with red eyes and sharp teeth appeared next to Iluzisto and just as quickly lunged at him.

Plasmius flew down to avoid being swallowed by the black smoke-made creatures. But he had not noticed how a third one appeared below him until it was too late.

Vlad froze in true terror when the third creature was suddenly upon him, jaws open and ready to swallow him whole.

"Vlad, move!" Danny yelled, seemingly appearing out of nowhere and grabbing the man's arm. He pulled the older hybrid out of the way just before the cloud's jaws slammed shut at the space where Plasmius once floated.

"Daniel!" Vlad gasped in disbelief as the teen, still clutching his arm, picked up speed and altitude and flew them away from Iluzisto and the three smoke-made creatures behind them.

"I thought I told you leave!" the man exclaimed, mostly from still being shaken up.

"Pfft. It's a good thing I didn't," Danny replied, rolling his eyes; but realizing he still had a bone-breaking grip on Vlad's arm, he let go, adding, "Oops, sorry. Those cloud monster things back there really freaked me out."

"Well, then you better fly faster, because they're right behind us!" Plasmius suddenly yelled.

"Oh, crud!" Danny yelled when he glanced back and saw the three black clouds with eyes and teeth chasing them and quickly catching up.

Picking up speed, Plasmius urged, "Faster, Daniel! We have to make it to my house!"

But Danny's vision was spinning and his body was growing even hotter—if that was possible at this point. Still, he was determined to get to the mansion.

Their plan could not fail.

Meanwhile, the real Vlad and Danny, who were presently invisible, had arrived at the pier where the other group of Guys-in-White was busy trying to destroy three illusions of sharks flying around and destroying everything in their wake.

"We're gonna have to get rid of these illusions before we deal with the Guys-in-White," Danny said with a frown as they both floated a few yards away from the destruction.

Vlad briefly closed his eyes and confirmed that his clone had found Iluzisto and was currently battling with him.

"Well, at least I know for sure Iluzisto is not here. That means, we can make ourselves known without risk to our plans," Vlad finally said, opening his eyes. "But you're right, we need to deal with these illusions, first. However, we cannot leave these hunters unattended, because they will just as easily turn their attacks on us."

"Let's split up, then. I'll deal with the idiots and you deal with the fishes," Danny said with a smirk.

"No, Daniel," Plasmius said, his eyes carefully watching the illusions. "We cannot split up, either. These illusions are clearly more powerful than any we have faced before. The fact that Iluzisto does not need to be here to keep them so real and so destructive proves that all too well."

"Then?" Danny prompted.

Vlad suddenly smirked at the boy and then created two clones of himself. But, they, too, remained invisible.

"You know, it's actually pretty cool you're so good at duplication when you're not using it against me," Danny said with a smile; but then he looked back at the illusions and muttered, "Now, we just gotta figure out how we're gonna get rid of these illusions."

The hybrids knew from their recent past experience that Iluzisto's illusions were pretty much untouchable, and the only way they had been able to ever get rid of them was attacking their creator. However, with Iluzisto occupied far away with Danny and Vlad's clones, the real half-ghosts could not even do that now.

So, really, they had no idea how they were going to get rid of these illusions.

"I guess we will have to improvise," Vlad said with a sigh.

"Now, that's my specialty," Danny quipped with a daring smirk, before he gestured to Vlad to take the left side, while Danny took to the right.

Meanwhile, the Guys-in-White were firing mercilessly at the three sharks destroying the pier; but all their attacks just continued to go through the creatures.

"What are these things?" one of the commanders growled in frustration. They could get no energy reading from these creatures or a lock on their ecto-signatures; and yet, they were clearly ghosts!

What else could they be?

"Sir," one of the GiW operants called as he rushed to his leader's side. "Team Delta is requesting back-up at Sector G. They have reported that the Phantom kid and the elusive Wisconsin Ghost have joined the unidentified one-eyed ghost in his attack against our comrades."

The commander cursed, but just as he was about to reply, Vlad's two clones materialized right above them.

"Hello, gentlemen. It seems you are all in my way," the clones said smugly in unison as their hands lit up with pink energy.

The Guys-in-White's eyes widened in alarm before the commander exclaimed to the operant beside him, "I thought you just said the Wisconsin Ghost was at Sector G!"

"Well, apparently he's also here," the agent gulped.

"Sir, look!" another operant said, pointing towards the flying sharks. But the ghost hunter was not pointing at said illusions.

"It's the Phantom punk!" the commander growled, seeing the teenage ghost attacking one of the sharks, just before another Wisconsin Ghost joined him.

But they were unable to do anything about it because the two Plasmius copies hovering above them fired at that instant and the Guys-in-White were force to scatter with screams of alarm.

But the commander, who had rolled out of the way of a particular attack, quickly began to shout out orders. He knew that responding to the other team's call for backup was now out of the question. They now had their own invasion to worry about.

"How are these creatures everywhere at once?" the commander growled to himself as he returned fire at the clones.

Meanwhile, Vlad and Danny were throwing everything they had at the shark illusions, but it did not even touch them.

"Vlad, this isn't working! We can't even touch these things!" Danny yelled before he gasped just as he unwittingly jerked his flight downward to avoid being eaten by one of the sharks.

Vlad growled in growing frustration as everything he did against the illusions proved ineffective. Like Danny, he kept all three sharks in his line of sight, not wanting to be caught off guard by any of them.

And it was a good thing, too, because right then, one of the sharks lunged at him. Vlad teleported just before the creature's jaws could snap him in half. Appearing behind it, he quickly fired an ecto-blast at the shark before it could turn back around towards him.

The shark was fast, though, and it managed to shift enough so that the attack meant to hit it dead on merely clipped the upper tip of its tail. But to Vlad's surprise, part of his beam actually made contact with the illusion. And the smoke rising off the shark's tail was solid proof!

"What in the…?" But Vlad trailed off as a second shark came at him. He quickly flew up higher and whirled around to face the creature. And seeing the first shark now charging, too, he fired two red ecto-blasts, one at each shark.

But the rays just went through them again!

And as if seeing his confusion and aggravation, the sharks paused and smiled wickedly at him before lunging once more.

Meanwhile, Danny was having his own troubles. He was trying to find a way to get rid of the third shark, but it was barely giving him a chance to think. The shark just continued to chase him relentlessly and no matter what the teen threw back at it, he could do nothing to slow it down.

"Darn it! Why can't you stupid illusions just disappear!" he yelled back at the shark. However, it was at that moment that Danny felt his clone's distress and he gasped at the sudden burning sensation in his core.

Unintentionally, he halted in mid-air and squeezed his eyes closed as several visions invaded his mind at once; but as quickly as they came, they were gone and he was left panting and with a big headache.

What had happened? He could feel his duplicate was still whole somewhere, but he could also feel how it was distressed and growing weaker. Why was it—?

"DANIEL!" Vlad suddenly yelled out, bringing the teen back to reality. Danny felt his blood freeze when he realized why the man had screamed out his name like that.

He had forgotten all about the shark that had been chasing him!

The boy wasn't even able to think about turning around to face the incoming threat before it was right on top of him. All he could do was squeeze his eyes shut just as he was swallowed whole by the shark from behind.

Vlad froze in dread when he saw the boy disappear inside the shark, only to jolt when the shark moved through the boy as easily as a cloud. What was that? How had the illusion not just killed the boy?

The teen was as much shocked as the man when he felt no pain, but a breeze move by him. Snapping his eyes open, Danny gasped when he spotted the shark that had just 'swallowed' him turn back around and growl.

"Blast! Let go!" Danny suddenly heard Vlad cry out and he quickly looked over at the man.

The sharks had taken advantage of Vlad's distraction; and now he was caught between two sets of jaws. One of them had clamped their teeth down on Vlad's cape and the other had its teeth clamped down on the barrier he had somehow managed to create in front of him to keep the shark from eating him.

Danny's attention returned back to the third shark in time to see it abruptly appear right in front of him. It didn't hesitate to snap its jaws at the teen.

Danny yelped as he turned his lower half into a spectral tail and darted out of the way, but he had not been quick enough and the shark managed to clip the tip of his tail.

Danny hissed as his legs reformed and he saw a shallow cut running down his left calf. However, he had no more time to think about it and took off again as the shark gave chase. He didn't understand it! How had the shark not eaten him before, but now just hurt him? And clearly, by Vlad's compromised position, the sharks were capable of touching him, too!

So how…?

Danny mentally jolted as one of his clone's brief visions that he had seen a moment ago came to his direct attention. His clone had destroyed the dragon illusion with his ice-powers even when he had not meant to do that—the copy had just been trying to put out the fire. In fact, the creature had its back to Danny's clone when his ice attack had struck and destroyed it…

And… Danny also had had his back to the shark illusion just now when it had attempted to swallow him, but instead, it had gone right through him…

Could it be…?

Danny suddenly stopped and cringed when he felt the shark upon him. But he did not dare turn around to face it, wanting to confirm his belief. And like before, the shark opened its jaws and tried to eat Danny…

Only for it to go right through him again!

Danny grinned in triumph, but wasted no time and fired an ecto-blast at the shark before it could turn itself around and face him.

For the first time, Danny's ecto-blast connected with the illusion, hitting the shark's tail. It dispersed into nothing, leaving the shark tailless.

"Vlad! You gotta hit them from behind!" Danny yelled at the older hybrid as the shark spun around in spite of it being tailless and lunged at the teen again.

Vlad's eyes widened in realization, and going on his next idea, he teleported. The two sharks that had been attacking him collided with each other; but all that did was cause them to blur before they spun around, searching for their target.

And seeing the older crossbreed reappear a few feet from them, the sharks growled and lunged again.

This time, Vlad did not move and waited up until the last minute to teleport again. But this time, Plasmius reappeared behind the sharks and fired two bolts of electricity.

One of the bolts hit the shark from behind dead on and it instantly disappeared into purple smoke. The second bolt, however, went harmlessly through the second shark, because it had spun around fast enough to face the older hybrid.

Right then, Danny suddenly flew toward Vlad, shouting, "Hey, Cheesehead! Think fast!"

Vlad jolted as Danny flew right past him with the third shark on his tail. But the man quickly spun around, turning his back to the shark he had been focused on. Instead, he shot a strong ecto-blast at the shark chasing the teen.

The red energy struck the tailless shark from behind and the illusion disappeared in an instant.

Making an upward loop to retrace his flight path, Danny grinned at the billionaire, only to gasp when he saw the last shark lunging at Vlad from behind.

"Vlad, don't turn around!" the teen yelled as he propelled forward at top speed towards the last shark.

However, the man instinctively spun around to face the incoming threat and gasped as he saw a set of jaws right on top of him.

Vlad raised his arms in front of him, just as the large jaws came down on him. However, at that same instant, Danny formed a large ray of ice energy and fired it at the shark from behind.

The older hybrid gasped as the creature instantly vanished in a puff of purple smoke and all the man felt was a cold breeze hit him.

Vlad's eyes darted over to Danny, who shook his head at him and scolded him like he was a kid, "I told you not to turn around, fruit loop."

Plasmius swallowed, still not believing he was still alive. But seeing Danny smirk at him, the man sighed loudly, his tense muscles relaxing a bit.

"Yes, well, I'll have to listen next time," Vlad replied with a small smile. But then his eyebrows creased inward as he asked, "How did you figure out we needed to attack them from behind?"

Danny frowned a bit in worry. "I got a flash of my copy's memories and I saw how it had destroyed an illusion from hitting it from behind. But, I'm worried, Vlad. My duplicate's really weak and I don't know if it'll make it back to your house."

"Then, we better hurry," Vlad said, pointing over at their other problem.

The Guys-in-White were still trying to destroy Vlad's clones with no success.

"Well, they are persistent; I'll give them that much," Danny said dryly.

"Persistence is a dangerous thing, Daniel," Vlad warned as he watched the Guys-in-White get the upper hand on one of his clones. They mercilessly shot it with all they had until it was forced out of existence.

But before they could do the same to his second clone, Vlad called it back to him as he and the boy flew closer to the group of humans.

"Now, really? Was that necessary?" the real Plasmius asked, crossing his arms and sighing in fake hurt.

The Guys-in-White quickly turned to Danny and Vlad, and they instantly aimed their weapons at them.

"Yes, it is. Just like it will be necessary to capture you both and dissect you piece-by-piece! And then we will keep your cores as trophies!" the commander sneered.

"Eww, dude!" Danny said with a shudder. "Seriously, what is it with everyone wanting our cores lately?"

Danny quickly raised a wall of ice between them and the Guys-in-White just before they began firing again.

"Back on plan?" Danny asked Vlad, as the ice wall was bombarded by ghost weapons.

"Yes, move!" Plasmius replied as he moved forward and fired a powerful ecto-blast at the ice wall. It exploded instantly, sending pieces of sharp ice everywhere while the force threw the ghost hunters back.

"Daniel, I said go!" Vlad said more firmly when he saw the boy still next to him, clearly concerned about the hunters.

Danny jolted but quickly took off.

Vlad rolled his eyes, but then flew after the boy, quickly catching up with him.

"Vlad, we're just going to lead them towards the outskirts. We can't hurt them," Danny stressed worriedly, still not liking the man's last vicious attack. Those sharp pieces of ice probably hurt some of them enough to put them in the hospital!

But Plasmius smirked and just replied, "Of course, Daniel."

Danny frowned as the man picked up speed; but the teen said nothing else and just matched the older hybrid's speed.

The teen looked back and saw the Guys-in-White had regrouped and were quickly getting in their tanks, while others were taking to the sky in helicopters and hover-rockets.

The hybrids made sure to stay ahead of them enough to avoid any attacks, but close enough so that the hunters wouldn't lose sight of them…

Danny and Vlad's duplicates had finally made it to Vlad's mansion and they quickly phased in. The moment they landed, Danny's clone fell to his knees as the red hue around his body intensified.

But Sam and Jazz had been waiting for their return and quickly saw what was happening to their friend and brother.

"Danny!" they yelled instinctively.

"We are just clones, remember?" Plasmius quickly told them in annoyance, before pointing at them and telling them, "Do not forget the plan! Go!"

Jazz and Sam quickly nodded and ran off.

Vlad vaguely heard Maddie announce that the ghost shield and security system had come online as he squatted down next to Danny. The man studied the boy for a moment before saying, "We made it, Danny. You can stop fighting it now."

"Is this gonna hurt the real me?" Danny asked, as he panted, his eyes a solid red now.

Plasmius smiled. "No, but he will know what happened. If it were real you, then, perhaps my energy would have affected you differently. But, that's a lesson and an explanation for another day, hmm?"

Danny scoffed but smiled back, replying, "No, cheese head. I'm still not joining you."

But before Vlad's own copy could say anything, Danny's clone was consumed by the hot energy inside it and he vanished into a puff of red smoke.

Plasmius stared thoughtfully at the place the teen once was. It had been surprising enough that the teen's duplicate had been able to hold himself together after the amount of energy it had used back there; but to have been able to hold himself together for as long as he had solely on Vlad's hotter energy was not just surprising, but strange.

"Truly you intrigue me more with every encounter, Daniel…" Plasmius commented before his sensitive hearing caught the faint sound of an energy blast hitting the shield around his mansion.

Narrowing his eyes in thought, he stood and turned towards the main entrance. "So it begins," he whispered before suddenly vanishing out of existence and returning as energy to the real Vlad some distance away…

The real hybrids soon made it near the downtown district as had been their plan. After all, they needed to have all the Guys-in-White after them for this to work.

So, it came of no surprise when the second group of hunters—the ones that had been attacking the hybrids' clones and Iluzisto a moment ago—were waiting for them ahead.

Clearly, the first group from the pier had informed their other comrades of the 'incoming threats'.

Right then, however, Danny gasped as he felt his duplicate at last give in and vanished out of existence.

"Daniel? Are you alright?" Vlad asked noticing the boy had slowed down.

Danny nodded as he blinked back the dizziness of having his clone's memories return to him.

"He burned up," the teen muttered, confused.

"What?" Vlad asked, not sure what he was talking about.

But right then, Vlad's own clone returned to him as energy. A pink hue briefly brightened Plasmius' body, but it soon was absorbed, and the man's eyes widened in surprise. He finally understood what the teen was talking about.

But right now, there were more important things to worry about.

Although their duplicates had made it to the house, now they needed to make sure that they were in position for their next part of the plan.

Seeing the hunters ahead begin to fire at them and the ones behind closing in, Vlad and Danny quickly made a sharp turn to the left, between two buildings. The half-ghosts stayed their course towards the outskirt of Amity Park, and more importantly, to the town's ghost shield—which Plasmius had deactivated at his mansion before he had left.

But hopefully soon, it would become a human shield.

It seemed the Guys-in-White were not going to make things so easy for them, though. The sound of helicopter blades soon overwhelmed the sky above the half-ghosts, quickly closing in on them.

"Keep going, Daniel," Vlad quickly said before he suddenly vanished.

"Vlad!" Danny yelled, but the man was gone. The boy growled, but still kept skirting the downtown buildings, phasing or weaving around them to avoid the firing of the helicopters and the hunters on jetpacks almost right on top of him.

He soon made it out of the district, but now that he was out in the open, the 'GiW' didn't hesitate to increase their attacks. Danny yelped as he barely missed two ecto-missiles. Putting on more speed, he dove closer to the ground, giving the hunters on the ground a better visual, but he still kept ahead of them.

"Okay, Fenton, here we go," Danny muttered to himself as he finally saw the east limits of Amity Park. He wasted no time and drew up ice energy from his core and quickly poured it out, freezing over the road just a few feet below him.

As a result the Guys-in-White on the ground began to lose control of their vehicles before they all crashed to a stop. That hardly deterred them, though, because they didn't hesitate to jump out of their tanks and vehicles and give chase on foot.

Danny glanced back as he led the hunters right toward the town shield's perimeter. By now, the helicopters had caught up with him and he was now in range of their weapons. The hunters with jetpacks were also not too far behind.

"He's heading for the shield! We got him trapped now!" one of the commanders exclaimed, sure that the ghost shield around Amity was up. That meant the Ghost Boy was about to slam right into it, and then they would surround him!

However, much to their surprise, Danny smirked and flew right past the supposedly activated shield.

"Come on, dudes! Come get me!" the teen taunted as he sped up again, knowing he needed to get them all at least a few yards out of Amity's perimeter.

The Guys-in-White were stunned. There was no sign of the shield! It must be turned off! How? They did not know, and they had no time to ponder it right now.

Quickly pushing aside their disbelief, the commanders barked out orders to pursue the Ghost Boy. They had lost all visual and energy readings on the Wisconsin Ghost, so they weren't about to lose Danny Phantom, too!

Danny finally reached the agreed upon distance and he began to slow down; but that meant he was now getting surrounded by ghost hunters.

"Hurry up, Vlad!" Danny mentally urged, growing more anxious by the second.

But as if Plasmius heard his silent plead, the older hybrid abruptly materialized right above the helicopters, which had been about to vaporize Danny.

The Guys-in-White gasped as their instruments when crazy with Plasmius' sudden appearance, especially when the powerful ghost conjured up ecto-spheres in his hands. But by then it was too late, and the older half-ghost didn't hesitate to fire three consecutive attacks, effectively destroying each of the three helicopters rotators.

"Mayday! Mayday! We're going down! We're going down!" the hunters inside the copters yelled into their radios as they spun out of control, heading straight down.

"No!" Danny yelled, realizing the three helicopters were about to crash on top of the hunters below.

But before that could happen, a pink hue surrounded the copters and halted their descent before it could harm the men in them and on the ground.

"You and your heroics," Vlad said over to the teen with a helpless sigh before he levitated the copters some distance away from the people below and dropped them gently enough to spare the lives of the men inside it.

Plasmius floated down next to Danny who rolled his eyes, but there was also a relieved smile on his face. He had no time to say anything, though, because the hunters below were regrouping and they still had the ones on jetpacks to worry about.

Actually, the latter were already surrounding him and Plasmius

"Don't move! You are both under arrest!" they all yelled, aiming their weapons at them.

"Yes, of course we are!" Vlad replied with a snarky grin. "However…"

Plasmius suddenly grabbed Danny's arm and teleported them a few yards inside Amity's perimeter before Danny grinned and finished for him, "—we think it's you all who need some time out…"

Vlad had already pulled the remote he had brought with him from his home out of his suit, and didn't hesitate to press a button on it.

In an instant, the shield around Amity came back on.

The hunters on foot quickly fired their weapons, while the ones on the rockets came at them…

Only to slam right into the shield.

"Human shield," Danny sang, crossing his arms with a grin, while Vlad kept a shield up to protect them against any weapon fire.

"What? How is that possible?" one of the commanders gasped out. "Only the mayor and we have direct access to Amity Park's ghost shield! How did you ghosts infiltrate the system?"

"Ah, yes," Plasmius said. "Well, your brave, clever, and incredibly handsome mayor did try to stop us when we invaded his home. He almost succeeded to defeat us, too, but alas, he's only human. Now, he's just another victim tied up in his own home and I got this," Plasmius teased, wagging the shield's remote at them.

The Guys-in-White stood stun for a moment. Actually, they had stopped firing from how shocked they were. They had never seen any ecto-entities show this level of intelligence and planning. Unfortunately, the hunters own access to the shield system was at headquarters… and they were all out here—on the outside of the shield. They didn't even know a human energy shield was even possible!

"You two vile ghosts will not get away with this! Just wait until we get back in! We are going to turn you both into ecto-particles!" one of the commanders sneered as he punched the shield keeping him and his entire team out of Amity.

But then the second commander readily exclaimed, "Or, better yet, we will rip out your cores and then turn you both into ecto-particles!"

"Yeeeah," Danny replied. "Seriously, the constant 'ripping out your cores' thing is getting annoying. I mean, there's other parts of us that matter, too, you know!"

"Daniel, you're not helping our cause," Vlad told him dryly.

"I'm just sayin! It's getting annoying," Danny replied with a light pout.

Plasmius rolled his eyes before heading away from the enraged hunters, who began to fire again.

Danny gasped as some of the blasts almost hit him, and he quickly took off, too. Catching up to the older hybrid, though, he raised an eyebrow, saying, "And what about you? 'Brave, clever, and incredibly handsome'? Seriously?"

"I only stated the truth," Vlad replied with a smirk. "Besides, I had to protect my integrity as 'Mayor Vlad Masters', somehow."

Danny rolled his eyes before he glanced back at the disappearing view of the 'GiW' behind them. "At least we got those Guys-in-White out of the way. Now, we can deal with Iluzisto without anyone getting hurt."

"Yes, and finishing this off at your school's football stadium is the best place we can go to avoid any further damage or risk to any of the citizens," Vlad replied.

"Vladdie, I didn't know you cared," Danny said teasingly.

Plasmius rolled his eyes. "Nice try, Daniel. But, no. I am simply wanting to avoid any more problems as mayor. After all, it is I who will have to deal with the aftermath of this disaster."

"Uh-huh. Sure. Whatever keeps your villain pride intact, Plasmius," Danny answered with a smirk.

Vlad sighed in defeat, and asked himself, "Why do I bother?"

Meanwhile, Iluzisto had followed the Danny and Vlad clones to the mansion. He still didn't buy their little ploy, so the spirit had taken his own precautions…

Still, he was curious to know why they had led him to the older crossbreed's abode. When he had realized this, Iluzisto had called off his smoke monster illusions and watched as the two-creatures-of-his-interest phased inside.

It had been only two seconds after that when a familiar green shield appeared and covered the large house.

Iluzisto fired an ecto-blast to test out the barrier, and wasn't surprised when his attack was deflected away.

"Strange how something so insignificant can be so annoying," Iluzisto muttered, now remembering the larger shield that had been around Amity Park.

It had certainly made it very difficult for him to get here before. He had not been able to teleport passed it, and nothing, not even his strikes from his now very powerful staff, had been able to penetrate it. Ultimately, he had lost two valuable days because of this infernal shield keeping him outside of Amity Park. He had been fortunate to have found the young crossbreed's portal to at least get here.

He paused in thought on that a moment before chuckling at his own cleverness from the realization: the shield around the town had to have also been the older crossbreed's invention. Certainly so, when there was a smaller, but similar one, around the man's abode. Whatever these shields were made of, they certainly were well-crafted.

Such a clever creature the older crossbreed was. Oddly, that made the spirit want the older crossbreed's core even more. Then again, he was more itching to take the younger one's core. True, the elder one's core was certainly more desirable because it was a more developed and powerful one, but the child's core…

Whoever possessed such a dynamic, still developing core would surely have powerful—and endless— potential. The thought was intoxicating. However as desirable as that was, it was not so much the boy's core that had Iluzisto set on getting to him, first. No, it was what the child represented to the other crossbreed and everyone else—what it would symbolize to kill Danny Phantom.

He would break them all with his death.

In the midst of his pondering, a sudden vision jutted forward in his mind and his eye narrowed in amusement.

"Oh, well, is that not interesting…?" he muttered before focusing back on the shield in front of him. "Nevertheless, I am curious about… all this… And, really, I am in no hurry. I am not the one who is running out of time. If the crossbreeds want to run down the clock—or, should I say, my Illusionist clock—then, I will let them…"

Iluzisto thought a moment more and soon recalled when he first came to the older crossbreed's home. The shield had also been erected; and although, Plasmius had been the one to lower it, Iluzisto had figured out a way to get past it.

Iluzisto fired another stronger blast at the shield to further test it and watched as it flickered a bit this time.

He thoughtfully commented, "This shield is clearly not as powerful as the one placed around this pathetic town… which means my staff might be able to penetrate through this one—after all, it had been capable of it even before I gained full power."

Using the sharp end of his staff, Iluzisto let some of the black poison within the tip leak into the shield. Like he expected, the shield began to turn black and dissolve.

Without a thought, Iluzisto floated past the dissolving shield and phased past the mansion's closed door.

"Crossbreeds!" Iluzisto called out in an amused voice as his eye looked around his silent and empty surroundings. "Really, must we play this game? I will find you both regardless of where you hide…"

"Who said we're hiding?" he suddenly heard the younger crossbreed retort from behind him.

Iluzisto's pupil quickly spun around in his 'head' and was shocked to see the boy out in plain view, his arms crossed and a bold smirk on his features.

The spirit slowly turned his body around all the way as his pupil also shifted back to the front of his body.

"Yes, perhaps, you are where we want you to be," the older crossbreed's voice rang from the opposite side, and since Iluzisto was now facing the teen, he did not see the incoming attack, let alone did he have time to avoid it.

A green beam of energy slammed into Iluzisto's back, pushing him forward with a hiss of pain. Still, the spirit managed to keep himself from falling over. Right then, a second green blast came at him from the front. He was only able to catch sight of the younger crossbreed firing it before it hit him in the stomach, and this time, sent him flying back into the nearest wall.

Pushing himself back up with the help of his staff, Iluzisto glared over at the two crossbreeds standing in the center of the foyer and growled at the smug looks on their faces.

"I shall wipe that arrogance off your faces yet!" he sneered, raising a hand to the pair and creating an illusion of a rope intending to trap them.

But much to Iluzisto's surprise, the illusion went right through them, and the crossbreeds didn't hesitate to fire two more sets of blasts at him.

Iluzisto cried out in pain this time with the powerful force that threw him against the wall again. But the spirit thought fast, and slid into stealth mode. As he moved as silent as a breeze around the crossbreeds, he watched as they looked around for him. Iluzisto raised his staff to attack the two from behind, when, abruptly, they disappeared.

Iluzisto gasped, though he stayed in stealth mode. However, now furious and confused by how the crossbreeds were somehow getting the upper hand, he quickly flew deeper into the mansion, searching angrily for them.

Iluzisto rounded a corner into another hallway when he heard whispering from an open door. The spirit quickly turned invisible and slid inside. It had gone quiet, but he glided further into the room, until he noticed a shadow leaking out from behind a couch. Quickly, Iluzisto flew up to get a view from above and was surprised when he discovered one of the younger crossbreed's human friends—the male one—hiding behind a couch with a weapon in hand, clearly waiting for him.

Remaining unseen, Iluzisto's eye curved into an evil grin as he decided to try his improved illusion powers on the human boy.

He quietly floated closer to the boy until he was sure he had a good angle to use his powers effectively. Conjuring up an illusion of a large boa constrictor, he quickly projected it towards the boy, who was still unaware of Iluzisto's presence now behind him. However, the instant the snake appeared and tried to sink its jaws into the boy, the illusion went through Tucker—much like Iluzisto's previous rope illusion had gone through the half-ghosts.

Iluzisto's eye widened in true confusion and disbelief. He didn't understand what was happening! Why were his illusions not touching anyone here? Perhaps before, it might have been a possibility, but not now when his powers were at their peak!

The illusionist spirit had no more time to ponder what was going on, because yet again, a green ecto-blast, though it was one of several rays, came from nowhere and struck him from behind. Instantly, he crashed forward and was pushed out of stealth mode.

Iluzisto grunted, barely noticing the human boy was now gone, and quickly sat up and fired a purple ray at his attacker—who now happened to be Skulker. The spirit, though, was jolted yet again when the hunter also vanished, avoiding the blast.

It took Iluzisto off guard even more; so when the Hunter Ghost reappeared to the left and fired an ecto-blast from one of his weapons, the evil spirit was struck dead on.

Iluzisto recovered quickly, turning intangible to protect himself as he floated back up to his full height. Now more than a little ticked off, the spirit fired several blasts at the hunter, only for the ghost to abruptly disappear again!

"Enough of your games! Show yourselves, crossbreeds, or I'll destroy all the Observants before their time is up!" Iluzisto shouted, too impatient at the moment to keep to his plans. The room blurred with his power as his anger momentarily made him lose control of himself, giving in to the sudden irrationality and impulsiveness he was so prone to do.

"You want them? Then you'll have to go through us, first!" Sam suddenly yelled from behind Iluzisto, just before she fired an ecto-blast from a bazooka steadied on her shoulder.

The blast went through the intangible Iluzisto; but his victory was short-lived. Jazz suddenly appeared from the front and fired a strange device at him that instantly electrocuted him in spite of being intangible.

Iluzisto screamed in both anger and pain before he dispersed various illusions toward the girls. But again, the tricks did nothing to them!

Skulker appeared once more and fired several consecutive shots at the spirit, slamming him into the wall so hard that Iluzisto smashed through it, tumbling past the hole he had made in the wall before landing unceremoniously on the floor of another hallway.

Iluzisto's form flickered, something that went unnoticed, since he was now alone in this new hallway. But it wasn't for long, because Skulker suddenly appeared just as Iluzisto got off the ground.

Thinking fast, Iluzisto slipped back into stealth mode and Skulker was forced to hold his attack after losing visual of his target.

Iluzisto watched with growing anger and confusion as the hunter vanished into thin air again. How were they all doing this? And more importantly, why were his illusions not working on them?

Suddenly, Iluzisto heard a faint sound down the hall, sounding much like the younger crossbreed's voice.

"Just go, Vlad. I'll meet you inside," he heard the hurried whisper.

Iluzisto quickly flew stealthily down the hall and got there in time to see the younger crossbreed disappear from sight and the elder one phase into a normal-looking door into some unknown room.

Narrowing his eyes, Iluzisto quickly turned intangible and followed the older crossbreed inside the room. The spirit froze in surprise at what he found.

There, floating with arms crossed were the two crossbreeds, but what was stranger was the room itself.

It was a complete white room with nothing but the door he had just phased through. There was an odd black mirror on one of the walls that stretched across part of its length.

Iluzisto growled, not caring what the room was and focusing on the crossbreeds as he fired two purple beams at them. But the beams just went right through them and slammed into the white wall behind them. His energy strikes were not working on them, either!

Before the spirit could try to figure out how that was even possible, the room suddenly grew a voice of its own.

"Simulation room activated. Initiating, defense mode."

Iluzisto gasped as the room changed before his eyes, and several weapons sprouted from the walls and ceilings, while said things turned bright red and the door vanished.

The weapons all fired at once and attacked the spirit mercilessly. Even when he tried to use intangibility and his stealth mode, the room somehow threw barrages especially designed to hurt him even with the use of his defenses.

Iluzisto was slammed into a wall and his red eye pivoted to where Vlad and Danny were still standing; and like his own ecto-blasts, the room's energy beams just went through them. But now, with so many ecto-rays actually moving through them, their forms were blurring, much like his illusions.

It was then that Iluzisto realized the truth.

He had been tricked. Somehow, these were not the real crossbreeds! They were illusions of them!

"How is this possible?" Iluzisto screamed in fury as a wave of purple energy exploded out of him, destroying all the weapons in the room at once.

But new weapons replaced them, and they hummed with their power before they released a wave of electrical energy at Iluzisto.

The spirit screamed as his entire body was seized by the attack…

Meanwhile, on the other side of the supposed 'black mirror' was an adjacent room, which happened to be the control room for Vlad's simulation/training room.

"Dude, this room rocks!" Tucker said with a grin as he tried another button and was pleasantly surprised to see a couple of freeze rays attack the evil spirit trapped inside.

Skulker, who was the only other person with the boy, smirked and replied, "I must admit you speak the truth, whelp. My employer has a similar room in his Wisconsin abode, so I imagine he simply transferred the idea to this abode, too. He must have improved it, though, since there are some things here I did not see in his earlier model…"

"Hey, new or not, it's awesome and heh-heh, doing a mean job of ticking Iluzisto off, just like we wanted!" Tucker chuckled with a smirk of his own.

"Absolutely," Skulker said with a smirk before narrowing his eyes a bit and partially-pouting. "And now, whelp, you have had enough entertainment on this round. It is my turn!"

Not at all frightened, the boy grinned before nodding to the ghost and surrendering his control. After all, they both had been doing a great job with keeping the heat on Iluzisto.

Once Iluzisto had come inside, Skulker and Tucker had used the mansion's cameras to watch the evil spirits movements from a safe distance. They also used Plasmius' ghost security system to shoot him with real ecto-blasts and used the holograms to constantly attack and keep Iluzisto confused and frustrated.

Now, they had trapped him in the simulation room, like they had planned…

"Let us hope this weakens him enough for my employer and the whelp to have a chance at defeating him. I am unsure, though, because I am asking the room to give me an energy and strength reading on Iluzisto, which it should be able to do. Yet, it says it cannot retrieve said information," Skulker explained.

"Well, maybe we can keep him here until he wears himself out, and Vlad and Danny won't even have to fight him," Tucker replied, hopeful.

But just when the boy said that, Iluzisto suddenly released another wave of ectoplasmic energy and destroyed yet another set of the room's weapons.

"I am not sure the room has enough spare weapons to outlast him," Skulker answered worriedly.

"Fine, crossbreeds!" they heard Iluzisto sneer as he created a shield over himself to protect him from the room's constant barrage. "If you want to continue to trick me with your little inventions, then I will add a 'little friend' of yours into the mix…"

Skulker and Tucker's eyes widened when they saw Iluzisto raise his staff and black smoke began to leak out of the staff's crystal eyeball.

The black smoke then took the form of an unconscious Justeco.

"Turn it off, Skulker!" Tucker shouted in a panic. "The room's gonna waste Justeco and we can't let that happen!"

The hunter hesitated. He knew if they released Iluzisto now, the spirit would not be weakened enough; but if he didn't, the room would also attack Justeco the moment his form solidified enough to be touched by the weapons.

"Skulker! We can't let him get hurt!" Tucker yelled, pushing the ghost past his hesitation.

"Alright. But we will have to resort back to the projections and keep him here as long as possible," Skulker replied with a reluctant sigh.

He quickly terminated the program, and the moment he did, Iluzisto suddenly laughed and the unconscious Justeco suddenly vanished from existence, revealing it had only been an illusion.

"Oh, crud!" Tucker exclaimed, but it was too late, because Iluzisto quickly vanished out of the deactivated room.

Skulker jumped into action. He turned to the boy next to him and grabbed one of his arms. "Come. We need to reactivate the projections and proceed to the next part of the plan!" He didn't even wait for the boy to respond and just turned them intangible and invisible, then flew them down to Vlad's secret lab.

Once there, they found Sam and Jazz anxiously waiting for them. "Time to go?" the younger girl asked.

"Yeah, time to go!" Tucker answered, and they quickly hurried to Vlad's own model of the specter speeder.

Meanwhile, Skulker quickly activated his link with his employer and then brought his communicator to his mouth, saying, "Plasmius? Can you hear me?"

"Yes, Skulker. What is happening?"

"We managed to trick Iluzisto into the simulation room, but I fear he was not weakened enough. You and the whelp better get ready."

"I copy that, Skulker."

The hunter terminated the call and quickly moved to the lab's mainframe. He then brought up the house's cameras and found Iluzisto in the corridor.

He instantly commanded the projection system to come on and attack the intruder in the mansion. Skulker smirked, thinking how the holograms were the Ghost Boy's idea; and he had to admit, he was impressed.

But right now wasn't the time to think about how much more appealing his favorite prey was.

Skulker briefly glanced at the kids, saying, "I will lure Iluzisto to you, but do not get caught, whelps. I will catch up as soon as I can."

His mind awhirl with ire, Iluzisto huffed as he made his way out of the simulation room and through the mansion. And to think, these creatures actually thought they could trick him! And yet, the spirit still couldn't figure out how they were making all these illusions of themselves. True, he had not been to this world for several centuries. And humans had been very backwards then…Maybe the humans had become more sophisticated along the way. Not only that, but the older crossbreed was quite cunning… So, he was left to conclude it had to be some clever device the older crossbreed had invented…

And speaking of said invention, Iluzisto was suddenly surrounded by Skulker, Vlad, and Danny and they quickly attacked him with ecto-blasts.

The spirit was ready, though, and he turned intangible to avoid the combined fire power. But as the blasts flew through him, Iluzisto noticed how all the energy beams had been green. He, at least, knew the eldest crossbreed preferred stronger forms of energies; so that must mean that these were merely illusions of the crossbreeds and not really them.

Iluzisto was more than a little annoyed by it all, but if he had not left the house yet, it was because he still did not know where the real crossbreeds were. However, he was long since onto their game, and he knew all he had to do was wait and he would find them…

It needed to be soon, though, because he was beginning to grow unstable with the constant attacks and from all that energy he used in that bizarre room. He chuckled wickedly. Little did they know that he could have just vanished out of that room with no need for them to deactivate its power. Oblivious creatures. No matter, they would learn the truth soon enough…

Iluzisto was suddenly distracted when the entire house began to make an annoying sound. It was soon followed by weapons emerging from the walls at once.

This time, Iluzisto was forced to create a shield as an electrical attack came at him. And he already knew from past experience that intangibility was useless against it.

But feeling his energy waning, he growled, his body flickering again as his energy reserve ran lower and lower. Even though he still had no idea where the crossbreeds were, he knew he had to escape this house before his efforts went to waste.

Forcing the shield outward, Iluzisto destroyed the weapons and quickly flew up to avoid the projections of the crossbreeds and their minions' own shots.

But, suddenly, to the spirit's surprise, a fist came out of nowhere and slammed into his eye as hard as a baseball bat would its round target.

Iluzisto screamed as he was thrown back, just as Skulker regained visibility and landed in front of him.

"What's wrong, Iluzisto? Running low of energy?" the hunter taunted.

Iluzisto snarled but before he could retaliate, the hunter ghost turned intangible and flew through the ceiling, heading out of the mansion.

Gripping the sides of his burning eye, Iluzisto glared murderously at the spot where the hunter had disappeared. However, the sound of weapons charging up around him reminded him of the house's defense system.

Iluzisto had no more energy to waste on fighting the remaining hostile illusions and the house's weapons.

Using a dome-like shield to protect himself from the bombardment, Iluzisto finally phased out of the house. His single eye darted to the left just in time to see Skulker phase into some red-and-white colored ship. The spirit barely made out the young crossbreed's human companions who were within it, too, before said flying contraption took off.

"Feeble inferior creatures!" he sneered. "I will destroy them with my own hands!"

Burning with fury and forgetting everything else at the moment, the evil spirit set his sights on destroying the hunter and those human creatures for tricking him as they had.

However, it was at that moment that Iluzisto froze with a sudden idea and his anger instantly snuffed out.

"At last," he whispered with sudden glee before his eye darted towards the moving speeder and narrowed with wicked intent.

Abruptly, Iluzisto vanished into thin air.

Meanwhile, Sam was piloting the speeder and urgently yelled back to Skulker, "Is he following us?"

"I am not sure. I cannot see him through this infernal contraption!" Skulker replied, annoyed, as he continued to move the viewing snake-like camera on the speeder around, trying to find Iluzisto.

Suddenly, Danny's friends and sister screamed, "Skulker!"

The hunter whirled around, only to see Iluzisto through the ship's large windshield. The spirit had suddenly appeared right in their path! And before they could do anything, Iluzisto raised his staff and fired a purple ray right at them.

Everyone cried out as the strong blast slammed into the windshield, cracking it; but it also sent the speeder spinning backward uncontrollably.

Skulker gasped, but took action. He flew towards the controls, grabbing them over Sam's hands to regain control of the ship. He managed to get it to stop spinning, but now there was all these alarms going off.

Iluzisto appeared right in front of them again and it was then that they noticed that the spirit's body was flickering and transparent, clearly just out of energy.

But it wasn't that that had them staring at the spirit in horror. It was what that suddenly meant.

"He's just a clone!" Skulker whispered out in dread.

This whole time, they had not been weakening the real Iluzisto; they had just been weakening a copy of him!

So, where was the real one?

"Nice try, but I AM the master of illusions!" Iluzisto's duplicate said evilly. "And you all are mere inferior creatures not even worth my efforts. Still, I will be glad to tell the crossbreeds of your demise before I lure them into my own trap and rip out their cores… Good-bye."

The kids and Skulker gasped as Iluzisto quickly raised his staff again and fired all his remaining energy at the ship.

With that, Iluzisto's copy vanished out of existence. But its last attack finally shattered the speeder's front glass and further destroyed the front engine.

"Whelps!" Skulker screamed as he lunged forward and protected them from the explosion of glass with his own body.

But that soon didn't matter because the speeder started to spin and descend at a rapid pace.

The kids screamed as they spun, only their belts keeping them from flying out of the destroyed speeder.

Skulker quickly reached forward towards a single button and pressed it. As a result, he heard the three kids scream even louder, but he paid them no mind now, and turned his focus on his other priority.

Ignoring the fact that the speeder was about to slam into the street below, he brought his communicator to his lips and quickly said, "Plasmius! He was just a copy! It's a trap! Do you hear me? Pull back, it's a trap! He—"

But Skulker never finished, for the speeder finally slammed into the ground, instantly exploding on contact.

A/N: *sound of muffled yell* Ms. Hyde here since truephan is, ahem, a bit disposed: Well, Vladdie Muse, aren't we the evil ones? We just won't give the readers a break throughout this entire chapter and then we just leave them hanging high and dry? *girlishly giggles* How perfect is that? But not as perfect as hearing the readers' thoughts on the matter—but they had better be good! Otherwise, I'll hold truephan responsible for what I might do! *threateningly points out blue button with her sharp hairpin*. Until next time!

*sound of even more muffled yells*

Ms. Hyde to truephan: Oh, you were asking for that for a while, girl, so keep it shut…Well, hee-hee, I've already done that for you, haven't I? *smiles wickedly as she points more threateningly at the blue 'review' button*.

Pearl: Man, Vlad muse liked this ending a little too much. I think he agrees with Ms. Hyde, which isn't all that surprising. Ah, but we do have one more surprise for you. For now, review and then you'll see… *winks*