Phantom: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Trainer: You're late.

Phantom: You, are no fun. You know that? And I'm not late yet. I just started this chapter today (New Year's)!

Trainer: Maybe so, but I meant you were late on your delivery of this chapter. What happened to at least once a year?

Phantom: Yeah, sorry about that everyone. So, I'm not sure what ages my readers are at so maybe you don't know what college life is really like, but it is always busy and any downtime you get, you just want to be really lazy and relax. I will remind you all again, I am in college. I don't have a lot of time for writing, drawing or anything else I like to do unless it is part of my school work. I am human, which mean that if I'm on this site, I like to read other stories, not just write my own. I also tend to go watch things on youtube, play online and any number of other things. I have another life outside of writing my stories, no matter how much I enjoy writing them!

Back to my comment on my readers and whatever ages you may be; I'm coming around to being 21, so any readers close to my age I can understand reading this cause you were in the generation of Danny Phantom when it was first released. For anyone in a much younger generation, YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME! Not many kids today know of the amazing world of cartoons back when they were much better like with Danny Phantom around, so thumbs up to all of ya! WOO!

Trainer: You seem rather hyper today.

Phantom: Well, it is New Year's and I'm finally getting around to updating this story. I know, it's been pretty much over a year since the last update, but what do you expect? I'm not dropping everything I do to write a half-assed attempt at a chapter. I want my chapters to be fun and exciting! To make you all laugh or cry or have those great reactions that the actual show would give you!

Trainer: Phantom fanatic…

Phantom: POKENERD! I'm proud of that fact!

Trainer: Why would I want to poke a nerd? *Smiles evilly*

Phantom: GRRR!

Trainer: Anyway, Happy New Year to all you readers out there. This chapter will either be sent out tonight or January first, as we don't know when it will be finished between those two dates.

Phantom: Again, as always, sorry for the long wait. I will try to do better in the future, but in the case that an update is really slow again…don't hold it against me please…yeah.

Trainer: ON WITH THE CHAPTER! You left it at a very big cliffhanger last time!

Phantom: OK!

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom and some ideas are owned by Pearl84 and Truephan, but the plot is mine!

Chapter 22: Just A Little Faster

Danny continued reading but became so lost in thought that he really didn't notice anything wrong until the light source coming from behind him was cut off by a giant shadow.

"You've been quite busy…Little Badger," said a baritone voice from right behind him.

Danny whirled around as fast as he could and looked up at a face he was really hoping to avoid. Danny backed up slowly as he watched the man before him watching him with what looked like a calm but smug look, but Danny knew better. Vlad may look clam and smug now, but his eyes told a different story; they were glowing red. Overall, Vlad Masters looked like the cat who got the canary, and Danny just so happened to be said canary.

"This feels like a well thought out scene in a movie where the hero gets caught by the villain," Danny absently thought as Vlad definitely looked the part and Danny had no doubt that his face was revealing all his shock and – though he hates to admit it – fear in that moment.

Danny was drawn out of his scattered thoughts as he bumped into the table on which was the scroll. Glancing quickly behind him in fear, Danny whipped his head back to the older halfa and was now visibly shaking. He was trapped and there were only two options laid out before him; fight or flight.

Vlad watched with burning eyes as the boy before him seemed to be trying to find any means of escape, not that he would give him one. As Danny was freaking out, Vlad took the moment to glance around his lab and see what his Little Badger had been doing. He took notice that some papers were misplaced and his newest invention for Valerie was in plain view. He continued to look around and paused on the set of drawers closest to his main computer. Not only was it open and the folder inside moved, but what he took most notice of was that the Fenton brand thermos was missing and the scroll – which he wasn't going to show Daniel yet – was laid out on the table behind the teen. Vlad's eye refocused on said teen and narrowed dangerously. Vlad had no doubt that not only was Daniel involved, but so were the boy's sister and friends. The billionaire immediately knew that he'd have to get rid of those three at least for a short while. He couldn't afford for them to ruin all his work. Daniel he could handle and based on how the boy had reacted to him showing up, Vlad assumed that Danny knew something and could possibly read the text.

Danny realized from the glare sent his way that Vlad was beginning to piece together the situation they now found themselves in, which wasn't good for Danny. Vlad took that moment to lean forward, towering even more over the teen, forcing Danny to lean back on the table with hands spread out onto the scroll.

"Now what were you doing, Daniel, that lead you and your little party to not only break into my labs, but go through my belongings?" Vlad said in a very calm voice, which to Danny scared him more than when Vlad would yell at him.

Danny gulped and chuckled nervously as he looked to the side trying to avoid the older man's accusing eyes. "Well, you see," Danny started while nervously rubbing the back of his head before Vlad interrupted him as if he hadn't been speaking.

"Where is the thermos, Daniel?" he asked.

"Your thermos? No idea. I mean, it's not like my thermos is here anyway and why would it be? This is your home after all. Maybe old age is starting to affect your memory, heh heh," Danny rambled as Vlad continued to scrutinize him, his expression not changing in the slightest.

"And what of those drawers over there, hm?" Vlad said as he gestured to his right where an open drawer stood out with a key still in the lock. "I happen to leave everything in this room either under lock-and-key or under heavy security. The chances that it would be open when I'm not around is highly unlikely."

"Well, uh, maybe-"

"And finally," Vlad interrupted once more, making Danny's mind go frantic as he searched for a way out. "Why is that scroll out on the table?" Vlad practically hissed. There was no way this wouldn't turn into a fight or at least a game of cat-and-mouse with Danny as the mouse. Screw fighting, Danny was going with flight! But if he was going down, then he was going down fighting in some way. With that thought, Danny moved one of his hands to the edge of the scroll without the other halfa noticing and took a firm grip of the parchment.

Danny look Vlad in the eye before seemingly looking past him at something else and shouted, "Go Jazz!" As Danny had hoped, Vlad turned around thinking that the ginger-haired girl really was sneaking out of the lab. Danny took that chance and grabbed the scroll more firmly and teleported out of the lab and into the private study. Vlad, not seeing the girl turned back quickly just in time to see the green smoke and realized that both his prey and the scroll were gone. It was seconds later that he felt the familiar ecto-signature back up the stairs in his study. Vlad looked back at the top of the stairs and watched as Danny cursed and flew away with the now rolled up scroll. Vlad saw red. Transforming, Vlad gave chase to his young rival.

Jazz, Sam and Tucker were hiding out in Danny's room and were packing up their own belongings. It had been Jazz's idea as she had a pretty good feeling that once the dust settled, they'd be asked - *cough* forced *cough* - to leave the castle and to return home to Amity Park.

Sam and Tucker had agreed to her reasoning, though they weren't happy about leaving Danny behind. By all rights, Danny was healthy and strong again, but with the rise of the relatively unknown enemy Koŝmaro Magiisto, it was probably safer for Danny to remain with Vlad and possibly figure out just what in the world was going on.

Jazz sighed as she packed the thermos and files they got from the labs deep in her bag. If anything, they had to get out with these before Vlad tried to search their bags. Just as she thought of the billionaire, the building rumbled from below. Taking a quick look out the window she saw two black and white blurs whip past the window. Jazz sighed as she thought "Looks like the chase is on, which means we need to move quickly."

"Sam, Tucker, once you're done packing, put your things into the Speeder. Unless Vlad plans to tell all of us what is going on, we'll likely have to get out as quickly as possible to make sure Vlad doesn't search our stuff before we do leave," Jazz said as she hoisted her bag over her shoulder. Without another word, she left the room to put her bag in their ride.

Sam and Tucker watched her leave before resuming their own packing. They continued on in silence for a while before Sam got frustrated and started taking her anger out on her stuff by stuffing it in her bag with as much force as possible.

"Woah, Sam, calm down! What did those things ever do to you?!" Tucker exclaimed while trying to stop the Goth and not get near her at the same time.

"Ugh, it's not the stuff, Tucker. It's this whole situation. Danny, Vlad, the ghosts, those books, me and my powers! It's all so much in such a short time. I don't know what's going on any more and I don't know why this is all happening in the first place!" she yelled as she threw one more shirt in her bag before sitting on the floor in a huff, anger simmering as she continued to vent. "Worst of all is I don't know what I can do to help without getting in the way," she whispered as she look away out the window.

Tucker gazed at his friend sadly. He knew what she meant. Sure, he didn't have supernatural powers like she or Danny did, but he was pretty much in the dark as well, and that rarely happened any more when it involved ghosts or his friends. Sure, there was the odd times when he was completely out of the loop, but never this much. It made him feel rather useless.

"Hey," Tucker said, gaining Sam's attention. "I get it, ok? I may not have powers like you or Danny, but I have my own set of skills, but at the moment, they have nothing to do with the situation and I'm just getting in the way."

"That's not true," Sam rebuked.

"No, it is," Tucker said more firmly. "Look, whatever is going on, we can't help, not yet at least. Something big is going on. You know it. I know it. Jazz and Danny know it. Heck! Even Vlad is in the loop to some degree! Whatever it is, we'll have our parts to play eventually, but until then, we need to stay strong and ready. I'm gonna be upgrading my gear a lot so that I'm in top condition, not to mention working on ghost fighting skills. I can tell from just looking at Jazz that she's going to be putting her all into finding materials that could help us piece together this puzzle and she wants to help Danny in any way she can. And you, you can do the most by figuring out your powers! Who knows! Maybe Danny will need you to fight by his side in the future, uh, not that you don't do that already…" Tucker trailed off not sure what else he could say.

Sam scoffed but smiled at her geeky friend. "Thanks, Tuck. You really think that we can be of more help away from Danny than if we stayed here?"

Tucker nodded slightly, almost hesitantly. "Yeah, I'm not happy about it, but Vlad and Danny can probably get more done and faster if we aren't around. Both with learning powers and solving this mystery we're stuck in," he said as he looked thoughtfully at the ground. "I'm not sure it would matter any way though. Jazz is right. Vlad will likely make us leave just to get us out of his hair and Danny will agree with him if he thinks that we'll be safer away from here."

Sam nodded, "Then let's give Danny all the help we can give him for now, and get stronger for the future. I may not agree with this, but it might be the best we got for now."

With both teens finding a new resolve to believe in, they finished packing up their belongings and anything Danny had asked them to take back to Amity Park.

"Hey, Tucker?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you seen Nigreco anywhere? I haven't seen her since Danny asked her to go look for Frostigi."

"Um…no…"

Sam and Tucker shared a look before both said, "We have to find her," and ran off to find the missing Familiar, their bags draped over their shoulders.

Elsewhere in the castle, a little badger was running for his life away from a raven who just wouldn't leave him alone.

"GO AWAY!" Frostigi yelled as he turned a corner and sprinted down the new hallway.

"COME BACK!" the raven yelled back as she too turned the corner after her prey.

"Oh great, now it talks," Frostigi thought before realizing that he could turn humanoid and be bigger than the bird chasing him. Frostigi nearly face-palmed before changing and turning to face his feathered opponent. Before he could even get out a 'HA!' of victory he was pushed to the floor by a greater weight than he had been expecting.

Frostigi groaned and opened his clenched eyes and gazed upon a very pretty girl with black wings who had taken up sitting on his stomach and straddling him so that he couldn't get up. The girl gazed back at his green eyes with a pair of violet ones and smiled – and act that made Frostigi blush – and she said, "Caught you!"

Frostigi could only stare at the girl dumbfounded as he said the only intelligent thing he could think of in that moment; "Huh?"

"DANIEL, GET BACK HERE NOW! YOU LITTLE RAT!" Vlad roared as he chased Danny around the grounds of the castle.

Danny didn't even bother replying as he was in total 'flight mode'. One mistake could get him caught or worse, killed. Vlad was super mad and Danny believed that the only thing saving him at the moment was the minor head start he got, his own incredible speed, the apparently valuable scroll clenched in his hands and a whole lot of luck. To say that the young hybrid was scared would have been laughable. He was terrified!

"WOAH!" Danny cried as he narrowly avoided another ecto-beam and changed direction. The more he moved and the more random it was, the less likely that he would be caught by the older hybrid. Or at least, that's what Danny hoped.

Vlad followed his charge's every move with his red eyes and lined up another round of attacks while also making a duplicate to cut off the young hybrid's escape route. Ten consecutive shots were made and all of them missed. Even the duplicate failed to stop Danny as he quickly teleported to the Plasmius duplicate's back and continued racing away.

Danny took the chance to look back only to suck in a breath as the duplicate was too close for comfort. Switching out to his tail, Danny put on a burst of speed and managed to increase the distance between them. If he wasn't so freaked out, Danny might have whooped for joy at the thought that he might have just broken his speed record. That just made the whole situation even worse as he couldn't even enjoy that fact.

"Vlad's getting more elaborate in his attacks," Danny thought as he avoided an ecto-rope aimed for his waist and some goo that had been aimed for his eyes. "Not good. Means he's thinking more rationally than he was at the beginning. If this keeps up, I'll tire out way before he does or he'll catch me off guard!"

"AHH!" Danny exclaimed as some lightning managed to shock his tail. He slowed down slightly to glance between his smoking tail and the ever nearing figure of Vlad Plasmius. Looking back at the man Danny realized his mistake and took off at high speeds again to make up time.

"Come now, Daniel. We both know how this is going to end. Willingly or not, I will get that scroll back from you!" Vlad called with that annoying grin on his face. Looked like the normal Plasmius was back which meant Danny was in big trouble.

Danny turned over onto his back to get a better view of his target. It was time to start fighting back, even though everything in him was screaming to just continue running away. Stupid at times he may be, but Danny refused to be called a coward. With the hand not holding the scroll, Danny focused some energy into it and held it there. "Please work," Danny pleaded as he narrowed his eyes slightly. Then, coming from his outstretched hand came little balls of energy that looked like starbursts of mini suns. Some were as big as basketballs while others were more compact like a tennis ball, but they had the desired effect; Danny made a mini mine field in the sky…

…And Vlad flew right into it.

Danny's eyes widened and he quickly cast a shield while also covering his eyes.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

The first blast went off and it was far more powerful than Danny had expected. The shockwave alone sent Danny tumbling away, curled up into a ball while more explosions went off all over the place. The good thing, it was acting as a great distraction. The bad thing, Danny had no clue where anything was anymore as his vision and hearing was consumed by his mines; after the first explosion, the mines scattered slightly and some managed to even attack him. Thankfully, the scroll was still in one piece.

Once the flashes and booms and ecto-fire dissipated, Danny looked around him in search of the older halfa but found no sign of him anywhere. Danny was tired. His clothing was singed and he was rather beat up from his own attack, but he could stop now, Vlad could be anywhere. Every breath was hard and had to be worked for. His body ached, but still no sign of Vlad.

"Where'd he go?" Danny asked himself as he continued to search around himself while floating higher and higher.

From just the position of the sun that he had glimpsed briefly, Danny could tell that it was late afternoon. Well, to be fair, they had woken up late and had spent some time planning beforehand. Everything was being either cast in the late orange glow of the sun or in the afternoon…shadows…

"NO!" Danny cried as a hand shot out from the side of the building next to him, right out of his own shadow.

Vlad chuckled as the rest of him emerged from the teen's shadow, hand still grasping the black tail that writhed back and forth in an attempt to escape. Danny's eyes were blown wide and the 'flight' option was sending off alarms and red lights in his head. He messed up.

"That was rather clever of you Daniel, I didn't expect you to attack me, let alone with THAT of all things," Vlad complimented to the struggling teen. Then Vlad frowned. "However, this little game of cat and mouse is over. Give me back that scroll, Daniel," Vlad said as he held out his other hand to the teen, expecting him to just hand the relic back without a fight.

Danny stopped struggling and seemed to contemplate his situation. He was trapped. Well, even he could have guessed that that would happen eventually. The only thing he had going for him right now was that he had the scroll and Vlad didn't. Still doesn't get him out of this situation. He needed an angle. Something that he could do or use to get Vlad to talk without hurting himself more…hopefully.

Danny clutched the scroll in his semi-burnt gloves and he shook as he tried to think everything out. Vlad's eyes softened at seeing the teen so frightened. He didn't want the boy to be scared. The look on Danny's face reminded him of when Dazzler nearly killed them, or when they were on their treasure hunt. It was heart breaking. But he needed that scroll back and Daniel or not, he would not lose such a valuable item.

Danny seemed to come to a decision as he took a deep breath and gulped the lump in his throat. In a quiet voice he simply said, "No."

Vlad raised a brow at this. "What was that, Daniel?" he asked, making sure he hadn't heard that wrong.

"I said, NO!" Danny said with more conviction and fired an ice beam at Vlad from his finger.

"GAH!" Vlad exclaimed as the ice made contact with his eyes. He released Danny's tail and brought his hands up to his eyes on reflex.

With that, Danny raced out of sight and into the forest. Vlad growled and let energy build up in his eyes, thus melting the ghostly ice. "Well played, Daniel. Well played," Vlad commented as he looked around for anything to show him where the boy went. Plasmius paused as he felt the boy's very familiar ecto-signature off in the forest. Vlad's eyes narrowed; partially for Danny getting away and the other for where the boy decided to hide. The last time Daniel hid in the forest, he got injured. Vlad wouldn't let that happen again, even if he was mad with the teen. "Time for round two, Little Badger," the billionaire muttered as he made his way to the forest.

Left. Right. Right. Middle. Left. PHASE THROUGH! Danny was flying at top speed again in a high accuracy obstacle course where one wrong move could slow him down. Ok, forget slowing down. At the speed he was going at, he would be lucky to not suffer from brain damage or permanent death if he accidentally hit one of the trees before him. He had no choice though, Vlad would catch up to him sooner or later and Danny really hoped it was the latter of the two.

Right. Right. Left. Left. Middle. Left. Right. He had to keep moving. There was no telling when Vlad would show himself. Danny took a few more turns and dodged a few more trees before he came to a small clearing. Slowing down, Danny took the moment to catch his breath and wipe the sweat from his face. He was already pushing himself past the limits and would likely be unable to make more than a shield or ecto-beam should things come down to a fight. Of course, he could just hide by turning invisible and intangible.

Looking around with weary eyes, Danny soon realized that he wasn't alone; Vlad was already here and was standing across the clearing from him. Danny stared briefly and took a couple of steps back. How had he not noticed the other halfa when he had arrived?!

Vlad watch the boy in a much calmer way than previously, probably due to having time to calm down from the last attack. "Hello again, Daniel," Plasmius said as he pushed away from the tree he had been leaning on.

Danny tensed, readying himself for another tiring chase. He clutched the scroll tightly.

Vlad sighed, he had a feeling that this would just continue in an endless cycle until one of them gave in to the other's demands or until one of them – Daniel – collapsed from fatigue. "Come now, Daniel. This isn't helping anyone, least of all you. Just hand me the scroll and we can forget that this little problem never happened."

Danny shook his head, white bangs falling over his eyes, hiding his thoughts and emotions from the billionaire. "No way, Plasmius," Danny said and Vlad noticed the choice of name the younger halfa used. The boy was serious. "I want to know what you've been hiding from me. And before you say that you haven't been, you and I both know that THAT is a lie. You know something about Frostigi, about the situation with that magician ghost, about this scroll and who knows what else!" he screamed as he and Vlad started circling each other from opposite ends of the clearing. "This is just like what happened the last time, Plasmius. Maybe you've realized it or not, but I think you need my help in whatever mystery we've fallen into."

Vlad raised a brow to this. Yes, he had considered that he would need Daniel's help, just like last time, but he didn't think that withholding so much information would have this effect.

Danny took a deep breath and raised his head so that he was now glaring right at the older hybrid through his bangs. In a low voice he said, or rather demanded, "So, why don't you tell me what's going on and we can avoid any more…problems."

There was a moment of silence before Vlad erupted into a fit of laughter. "HAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, Daniel, you kill me. You really do," he said as he wiped away a couple tears. Danny scowled. He didn't see what was so funny. He was being completely serious. "Ah, but I do believe you have missed one important detail," Vlad continued. Before Danny could even blink Vlad had teleported right in front of him and had a hand on the boy's shoulder. Vlad got right into the teens face and said with a smirk, "I have no intention of tell you anything; or anyone else for that matter."

Danny's eye widened before he narrowed them again in frustration. "THEN I'LL MAKE YOU!" he yelled as he fired an ecto-beam and turned intangible to free himself from Plasmius' grasp.

Vlad also became intangible to avoid the beam, but lost his grip on the boy in the process. "BUTTER BUSCUITS!" Vlad swore as he turned to where the teen now was and lined up his own shot.

Back and forth the two exchanged shots, neither side actually hitting their intended targets. Vlad was missing on purpose so as to avoid hitting the scroll by mistake, but also because he had noticed how tired the boy was when he had arrived in the clearing. It was only a matter of time before his exhaustion won out and he would revert to his human state. Danny wasn't trying to miss, but he was so tired and his vision was getting blurry, so any shots he made were off by at least a foot from the older halfa.

"Darn it," Danny muttered as he through a shield up, his sight having filled with spot briefly. "Just tall me, Plasmius! Why are you hiding this from me?! I'm obviously involved!" he shouted. When his vision returned, Danny noticed that Vlad was slowly making his way over and still continuing with his attacks. Just when Danny thought that his shield was going to shatter, the man before him disappeared and he felt strong arms wrap around him, pinning his arms down to his sides. "NO!" Dany shouted as he struggled.

Vlad grunted as he tried to restrain the struggling teen in his arms. His plan had worked to some degree. When Danny's vision had blurred, Vlad took the chance to make a duplicate in his place and then circled around to capture the exhausted boy before he hurt himself. Danny didn't notice the difference at the time. He had done just as Vlad had expected of him and kept his eyes and attention on the Plasmius before him. However, now he was caught, there was no way out. Danny was too tired and drained to try anything other than struggle in his arms.

Grunting again and tightening his hold, Vlad had finally had enough. "Daniel! Enough!" he growled. Danny hunched over in the billionaire's arms, clutching the scroll as close to his body as possible so that Vlad couldn't get it and was shaking slightly from fear and anger, but otherwise didn't try to struggle anymore. Vlad sighed. This was getting out of control and he hated when things – at least within his power – went out of control. "Daniel," he said softly as he pulled the shaking halfa closer to him, "that's enough. You're exhausted, and you've had your fun, but now you need to stop and give me back that scroll."

Danny shook his head and tried to keep the tear – whether from anger, sadness or fear, he didn't know – at bay. He felt himself being turned until his face was met by a white HAZMAT suit and a black collar, the arms still holding him close.

"Daniel, why are you doing this? Why are you sneaking around and looking at things you should be looking at?" Vlad's baritone voice asked.

Danny lowered his head and closed his eyes so that he wouldn't be able to see Vlad at all. "I could ask you the same thing," Danny replied.

Vlad raised both his eyebrows in surprise but then regained control of a neutral expression; not that Danny had seen any of it anyway. "We're both looking into the same thing here, Vlad. Why are you pushing me away? Why are you hiding this away from me? Heh, I bet you can't even read what's in this scroll anyway and I doubt your computer and any of your allies know how to translate it. And then the whole thing with Koŝmaro Magiisto and Frostigi…" Danny trailed off, barely keeping his tears from falling now. "Just…why?" he asked he curled as much as he could into a ball.

Vlad waited patiently until Danny had spoken and regarded the teen in his arms. Vlad knew that in a way, Daniel was right. The teen was obviously involved as Koŝmaro seemed to have taken an interest in him and Vlad had already discovered that the other halfas were involved as well from what he had seen with the books. The boy was curious; keeping him away from a mystery was like trying to keep Jack Fenton away from fudge.

Vlad sighed. He would tell the boy some of the things he had found out. He wouldn't speak of it to anyone else and he wouldn't be saying anything about having three books back at the castle or how one book was still missing. If Daniel brought up know about more books then Vlad could always pretend to be unaware of their existence. Besides, he could use an extra hand in his searches and from the way Daniel was talking, it sounded like he could read the scroll when he couldn't. Vlad couldn't help the slight smile that stretched its' way onto his lips. This was such a case of déjà vu that he wouldn't be surprised if this all did end in another treasure hunt, just like last time.

"Alright, Daniel," Vlad said, gaining the tired teen's attention. "How about this? I'll tell you what I know, and you can help me from here on with this endeavor," Danny was looking more hopeful with each word, "BUT, there are some conditions." Danny nodded, though he felt he might not like these conditions. Vlad nodded and he used one arm to hold the teen in place while he held up the other one and started to list of his conditions. "One: whatever we discuss is not to be talk about with anyone else. Two: your sister and friends are to return to Amity Park. Whether you agree with me or not about this doesn't matter, they have overstayed their welcome and it my house so my rules. Three: during this partnership, you will listen to me when I tell you to do or not do something; especially if we end up in the Ghost Zone. Four: you tell me everything that you know about this situation." Vlad said as he released the teen. "Am I clear?"

Danny thought about it. "Only if you tell me what you know as well, and only the truth," he said, his eyes hard and determined. He might not like it, but Vlad probably knew more about what was going on than he did, and to be honest Danny didn't want a repeat of their last visit to the Ghost Zone.

Vlad held out his right hand and Danny did the same. The two shook hand and said, "Deal." Vlad and Danny then spent the next hour or two exchanging information. As it turned out, Vlad did have more information than Danny did and even though the older hybrid said that that was everything important he needed to know, Danny felt like there was still more that the man was keeping from him. However, this is Vlad that he's speaking to, so more than likely that was the case. Vlad had also been right to assume that Danny could read and understand the scroll. This helped immensely as he had been stuck with only a small section to read and nothing else. However, Danny didn't tell Vlad about the info his team had 'borrowed' or that they took back their thermos either. Hey, they just got back on good terms, Danny wasn't about to get in trouble with the man again so soon.

By the time the two were done, the sun was close to setting. Danny handed the scroll back to Vlad who happily accepted it. During their talk, Danny had sat down on the grass while Vlad took up leaning on a tree again. Vlad looked up to the sky when they had finished and said, "We should get back now. I still need to rid my castle of three other teens before tonight and we have work to do."

Danny nodded as Vlad pushed off from the tree and took to hovering a few feet off the ground. When Danny didn't move, Vlad landed again and made his way over to the sitting teen. "Something wrong, Daniel?" he asked with a raised brow.

Danny rubbed the back of his head and chuckled nervously. "Heh, heh, well you see…" he was interrupted by his transformation rings appearing and reverting him to human, "um, I'm all out of power," Danny admitted as he tried to keep his eyes open.

Vlad chuckled. Yes, he had wondered when the boy would finally give in and return to his human state. He hadn't thought that the boy would last that long after the fighting had stopped, but he wasn't complaining. Vlad picked Danny up – though Danny protested half-heartedly – and made his way back to the castle. When he arrived, he put Danny down in his personal secret lab on one of the chairs and told him to stay put. With that, Vlad transformed back into his human self and made his way back to the hallways of his castle. He had three brats to kick out.

Jazz had just finished putting her things away for their trip home. She didn't like it, but she knew Vlad and how he thought. She may not know Vlad as well as her little brother did, but she knew well enough to know that there was no way he would let them stay. Sam would question every action Vlad made, which would have annoyed the man immensely, and that's not including anything else she would do to either purposefully annoy him or keep Danny and the billionaire separated. Tucker would simply annoy the older man with his presence. Don't get her wrong, she liked Tucker as a friend, but that boy had an unusual fascination with technology that could only be rivaled by Technus. Not to mention Tucker had this habit of looking with his hands rather than his eyes if something caught his attention. Yeah, Sam had told her that Tucker kept picking up the jars from the main lab. Then there was herself. Ok, if it had been her staying, that would likely be fine. She was a great researcher, even if it involved something like ghost. It did run in the family after all. But she would be more of a hindrance. Not for Vlad, but for Danny. Her little brother would be constantly worrying about her if she got too deeply involved in this; at least this close to the action. It was better if she stayed away but offered help from afar. It was with a sigh that Jazz opened the door to the front of the castle to see if Sam and Tucker were done and if she could catch Vlad for a moment to talk.

She had expected an empty entrance hall. What she got was Sam and Tucker running around trying to catch a girl – whom Jazz recognized as Sam's Familiar, Nigreco – who was flying, jumping and dodging all their attempts to catch her. While Nigreco looked like she was having fun, Sam and Tucker were getting very annoyed.

"Nigreco, get back here!" Sam yelled as she once again dove for the raven humanoid.

Nigreco laughed as she did a backflip, landed on Sam's back and pushed off for another one, sending Sam to the floor and said, "Nope!"

Tucker made for a running attempt but soon found his face getting well acquainted with a wall instead. Jazz winced as he crashed but thought the Techno Geek was rather lucky he hadn't broken his glasses.

"Um, what happened?" Jazz asked as she came further into the room. Nigreco stopped moving and hid behind Jazz while Sam and Tucker picked themselves up while glaring at the little raven humanoid.

"Well," Sam said, "after you left the room, Tucker and I continued packing until I realized that Nigreco," she pointed to the girl behind Jazz, "was still missing. We quickly finished packing and set out to look for her. Turns out she did do what Danny asked and found Frostigi."

"Yeah!" Tucker piped in before he started chuckling and pointed over to the stair railing where Frostigi was sitting, looking quite embarrassed. "She was sitting right on top of his stomach and looked about ready to 'ravish' him- oof!" He finished as Sam elbowed him in the gut.

Taking a deep breath, Sam continued, "Anyway, so we found them and told Nigreco that we'd be leaving soon and that she should either go wait in the Speeder or turn back into a raven so Vlad doesn't see her. However," here she glared back at her Familiar, "She refuses to leave!"

Jazz look down at Nigreco who was sticking her tongue out in defiance. Jazz raised a brow before asking, "Why does she want to stay?"

"Frostigi and I only just met! And we were having fun! Right Frostigi?" Nigreco answered and looked over to the boy on the railing. Frostigi blushed, coughed and looked away, clearly embarrassed with not only the way that the two of them had been found, but also because he seemed to have formed a crush as of twenty or so minutes ago. When she didn't get a verbal response, Nigreco pouted and huffed.

"I think Nigreco has a crush on Frostigi," Jazz said, gaining all eyes on her. "Sorry, Nigreco, but we will be leaving, whether you like it or not. Vlad will likely ask us to as soon as he's dealt with Danny."

"How right you are, my dear," a voice said from the top of the stairs. All five kids looked up to see Vlad looking down at them in what could be considered boredom mixed slight amusement. "You three," he paused as he took in the form of Nigreco, "you four, have overstayed your welcome and I'm sure you need to get back to your little town anyway. This is me saying it nicely; Get off my property."

"Yeah, yeah, we're going. G.T.F.O and all that. Sheesh," Sam said as she picked up her bag to leave. "Come on, Nigreco. We gotta go."

Nigreco looked upset, but before she left she flew over to Frostigi – who blushed at the closeness – and kissed him on the cheek. "See ya later, Frostigi!" and then she was gone out the doors with Sam.

Tucker looked back at Vlad and then to the open door before running out after the two Goth girls and shouted, "Hey, wait for me!"

Jazz watched him leave and then let out a tired sigh. Turning back to Vlad, she notice that he was standing next to her and looked quite amused as he watched Frostigi do a very good impersonation of Danny when he was shocked and flustered all at the same time.

"Vlad," she called and waited till they were staring each other in the eyes.

"You're still here, Jasmine? What part of 'leave' didn't you understand, you silly child," Vlad said, but there was no heat behind his words and Jazz knew it.

"Take care of him," She said. When she got a questioning look in return, she elaborated. "I don't know everything that's going on, and Danny won't tell me until this whole thing is over or if he needs my help somewhere along the way, but I do know that he's putting his trust in you, again. Don't betray that trust, Vlad. Right now, I know you are the only one who can help him and he's the only one who can help you with whatever this is. So you better take good care of him, because if you hurt him-"

"I won't," Vlad interrupted. "I won't hurt him, not purposefully. I'll also see to it that he is treated well while he's here. I'll even keep you updated with how he is."

Jazz nodded and made her way to the door. Just as she reached the doorway she paused and turned her head slightly so that Vlad would hear her. "Vlad, Just as Danny needs me, I need him. Don't let him die from this, whatever it is. Please, promise me that." Her voice wavered as she spoke.

Vlad gave a sad smile as he said, "I'll do my best to prevent it." Jazz gave him a small smile in returned and with that she was out the door. Vlad watched from the window as the teens flew away and out of sight before he returned to his lab. He was about to speak to Danny when his phone vibrated. Opening it, he read a text message from the ginger-haired girl that just left.

I'll text you when I'm home.

Can't have you and Danny worrying about me.

~Jazz

Vlad smiled as he pocketed his phone. Silly, brilliant, understanding girl.

"Alright, Daniel, let's get to," he paused when he found the boy curled up and asleep in the chair Vlad had left him in moments ago with a small badger curled up with him. "Work," he finished.

Shaking his head, Vlad grabbed another chair and sat down next to his young rival by the computer. Cracking his knuckles, Vlad readied himself for typing. "Or, I'll just get to work compiling our information and you can take a well-deserved rest." Vlad didn't get any response from the teen other than deep even breathing that came with sleep. Vlad smiled to himself as the light from the computer lit up the three beings before it and the surround area.

Koŝmaro Magiisto looked out over a huge mass of creatures, all of his design and purpose. His master had told him to start creating an army, and so an army he would create. He had about 100 creatures so far, but he wanted more. Much more. Perhaps he could take his mini army out for a test run before things got too serious.

With a fanged grin, Koŝmaro chuckled, "Let's get to work!" He laughed loudly as his creatures screeched and howled in anticipation.

Phantom: Oh my god, I'm done. *sighs in relief*

Trainer: What!? But, but, but… there's so much more that needs to be said! You left it at another cliffhanger and this one acted like the secret ending to a movie that you need to watch through the credits to see!

Phantom: I know, right? Good huh?

Trainer Ugh, you. Are. EVIL! You know that?!

Phantom: So I've been told.

Trainer: You suck.

Phantom: Anyway, once again, Happy New Year everyone. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I had so much fun writing it, I kept getting flashes in my head of a Danny Phantom styled movie, so that probably explains a lot about why some parts might sound movie-esk. Actually, I had listened to a song called "Just a little faster" on repeat as I wrote out most of this chapter since it not only motivated me but I felt it fit so well for all those moments when Vlad chased Danny around.

Trainer: That explains the constant use of your earbuds when you were writing.

Phantom: Yep. I would recommend you all listen to it. I did when it was combined with 'Bleach AMV' but that's because other than One Piece, I've also gotten back into Bleach.

Trainer: Now before anyone starts asking about updates, let me make this clear, Phantom and I are still in college and the work load gets heavier and heavier with each year/semester. Updates are hard to make and we do like to do things other than writing chapters. Plus, this year we need to get internships or we won't graduate in our final year. I already have one since mine is scheduled for the winter, but Phantom will be spending more time applying for hers this coming semester and then she'll be working during the summer. This means that updates might take even longer.

Phantom: I will try to update at least once a year, as I have said before. If I find I have more time, then I might get out two or three, but it does seem to take me around two days (or a full 24hours if I add it up) to write a single chapter, and I don't always have that time to begin with. That being said, please be patient with me. I am doing my best.

Trainer: We hoped you all enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next one.

Phantom: Until then, everyone! Have a great start to the New Year! BYE BYE!