Author's Notes: More Chapters! I just might finish this week! Please enjoy, and review.

(Back with Vlad)

{11 Months in the future}

(Location: Earth Realm, Egypt)

He was almost there…

Vlad Plasmius floated down the endless labyrinths of the Great Pyramid of Giza in a state of anticipation, and fear.

And why was he fearful you might ask?

The reasoning was rather simple, for nearly a year now Vlad, had wasted time going on this fool's errand. Yes, that was what it was. Some fool's errand to keep him: The fool, busy! There was no powerful weapon to speak of, and yet…

Vlad had soon found out otherwise, he was pretty sure that Daniel didn't mean for him to find anything. However while exploring the winter waste lands of Frostbite and his people he had found a promising lead. Vlad had no intention of actually looking for something, no his plan was to make it as if he were searching when in fact he was killing time. Sure the idea of a weapon being strong enough to take out the king did sound promising.

However once Vlad had time to think it over he realized Daniel probably gave him this task to keep him busy so he would not have time to fuse with anyone. Yes, this was a wild goose chase to keep him out of trouble, or so he had thought, however completely by chance Vlad had found a scripture in a dusty old book in Frostbite's library. Of course the ice yeti had been warry to let him in, but after Vlad mentioned the Phantom Knight he was met with no resistance. It would appear everyone was afraid of Daniel now; heck Vlad was sure even the King was warry of him.

Once inside Vlad had begun to rummage through some books when he noticed the scripture. It said that there was a staff in Egypt with similar properties as Pariah Dark's ring and crown. Making the wielder ten times stronger. And that's when the idea arose; if Vlad could find the staff then maybe he wouldn't need to fuse with another in order to defeat Daniel.

If the Staff could help him weaken Daniel, then Vlad could just fuse with him.

Then the Ghost King wouldn't stand a chance.

With that thought fresh on his mind Vlad took a left and then a right. The scriptures had said the staff's last known location was the Great Pyramid of Giza in a secret room that Vlad had discover was still concealed. Meaning all he had to do was phase through a wall or two and all the power would be his!

The Phantom Knight watched closely as he allowed Vlad to move ahead. It had taken the fruitloop a lot longer than he had planned to find what he was looking for. Still the fact that he actually found something worth looking into served his perhaps nicely. Of course, the Phantom Knight knew what he was looking for. After all he had gone to see Frostbite hours before Vlad had decided to waste time there. Upon his arrival he had asked Frostbite if there was such a weapon powerful enough to stand a chance against the Ghost King.

Frostbite had told him that scripture had told of another artifact similar to Pariah Dark's Ring and crown that might tip the odds in the users favor. Hearing this The Phantom Knight ordered Frostbite to place the book with the desired scripture in a place that would be easy for Vlad to find.

Yes, everything was working smoothly, however there was one drawl back. The scripture was in an older tongue of Frostbites people, one that even he himself did not know by heart. Fortunately, Vlad knew some ancient text, but his limited knowledge still forced him to spend long hours deciphering the text. And even longer to find the means in order to do so. Still the Phantom Knight had to admit once Vlad was determined enough, nothing was impossible for him.

It was an attribute that he was secretly jealous of and had been from the moment they became archrivals.

Vlad phases through the floor and several feet down into the desired hidden chamber, and smiles as he sees the staff right where it should be. He floats over to it, grabs it eagerly, and holds it up proudly. This was it, the moment he had waited 11 months for any moment now great power would fill him and he could use it to take down Daniel who was no doubt right behind him.

And then he would take out the king and…

Vlad frowned as he realized no new sense of power had filled him yet. He shakes the staff as if it's a flashlight low on batteries. "Why won't it work?!" He shouted.

"Looking for this?" A familiar voice sneered.

Vlad turned around to see the Phantom Knight holding the real staff. He had been played and realizes it in an instant.

Meanwhile, Pariah Dark was impatiently tapping the arm rest of his throne as he watched Lady Time continue to work. With his Knight gone for the moment, and possibly out of a job the King had looked to Walker to continue putting pressure on the humans. Demanding that they give up the half-breeds are else.

However, the humans had fought back well, and stayed fast to their heroes' sides. This caused Walker to have his hands quite full, it also proved that the self-proclaimed warden was not right-hand material. It was just so hard to find good help these days. His new Knight would have handled it perfectly, he was sure of that. However the king was not sure he could trust him.

So he had to settle for second best, something Pariah Dark did not like to do.

He shifts his attention back to his Knight; he has caught up with Vlad by now and it would appear this long winded test was about over.

"You replaced it with a fake?" Vlad asked confuses. "But how did you-?"

"Know?" The Phantom Knight scoffed. "You're so predictable." He shook his head. "This was a test from the master, and you have failed."

"Failed?" Vlad hissed. "I would have it if not for you."

"Have it and would have used it!" The Phantom Knight took the Staff in both hands and snapped it in two.

"You fool!" Vlad charges, but it's too late, the staff is just a large broken stick now. So instead he goes to attack the Phantom Knight.

Big mistake!

The Phantom Knight draws his sword on instinct and Vlad barely has time to make his own in order to block the dangerous blade.

Pariah Dark smiled as the duel of swords began. Finally some action to distract him from a certain useless witch!

Lady Time does her best to lose herself in her work, anything to distract her from the fact that her king was staring daggers into the back of her head.

Oh yes she could feel his eyes, he was angry with her, Or she had before he turned to watch the second rift. She glances that way and realizes that she was running out of time. The Phantom Knight was nearly finished with Vlad.

"Found anything yet?" Pariah Dark asked as he noticed her attention had wondered.

"No." Lady Time admitted, after all there was no point in denying it. "Vlad is very social, but as rich and popular as he was while among the living. His old Friend Jack Fenton and Maddie seems to be the only ones who has any real history with him." She sounds frustrated.

Pariah Dark shares the emotion completely. He too was beginning to think this was a waste of time. So far Vlad seemed to only have a dark history with one individual. Jack Fenton, the ghost boy's father. And the chances of him being the Phantom Knight were a big fat zero.

Suddenly Lady Time steps to the side as she senses a change in the room.

Pariah Dark is about to ask her what the meaning of this was, but he soon learns his answer. Wulf comes flying threw the past rift and before his feet.

The monstrous beast is quiet beaten up, and his windpipe appears to be nearly crushed.

"Wulfy how did this happen?" Lady Time exclaimed.

"Powerful Ghost." Wulf rasped, speaking perfect English now. "Working with Clockwork." He explained. "Wear time medallion."

"That stupid crow!" Lady Time hissed. "Describe the ghost who defeated you so I may assess our next move.

Wulf looks at the King unsure.

"Well?" Pariah Dark asked.

"That's just it." He said. "It was Danny Phantom."

"What?" Lady Time froze at his words. "Must be from the past." She tried to reason.

"No, it was him." Wulf said. "He smelled like him, looked about the same as he always been."

"But he wear a time medallion." Lady Time insisted.

Wulf nodded.

"Impossible." Lady Time shook her head. "He was already dead…when I sent you he was…" She stopped looking back at the rift, and everything seems to click. "In less…"

It all makes since now.

How could she have missed it!

She slows down the fast-forwarding as the rift shows Daniel and his family at Vlad's front door for some sort of college reunion.

"What are you doing?" Pariah Dark hissed. "Stopping again!"

"I have a hunch." She said, of course she had said this every time she stopped, and it was true, she had a hunch those times too, but this time the hunch was stronger. There was only one family Vlad seemed to focus all his hatred on. And there was much hatred felt for the Phantom Knight that was obvious. However, he also showed a great since of hidden admiration for him. And while Vlad showed no such feeling for Jack, there was another member of his family that he had a mixture of emotions for.

Danny!

Vlad had sent sever ghost his way to test the Ghost boy, far before he found out who he really was. Perhaps it was because deep down Vlad knew he was a halfa like himself. Yes, as popular as Vlad was he only had a deep history with Daniel and his parents.

And since it wasn't Jack or Maddie it had to be their son.

She knew it was crazy, the king had watched his Knight kill him, and yet…

How could she have been so stupid? As a master of time she should have known Clockwork's next move.

If a Danny Phantom were not available in this timeline than he would just barrow another, and if her memory served her well. Clockwork once held an alternate Danny Phantom prisoner in this very tower. She knew this because it was documented in the Ancient ones scrolls which she had read while trying to find records of Fright Knight's Demise.

"Clever crow." She mussed.

"What is it?" Pariah Dark demanded.

"There's another player in this game." Lady Time told him.

"Who?" Pariah Dark asked.

"A Danny Phantom from an alternate timeline." Lady Time answered bluntly.

Pariah Dark growled, slamming his fist down on the arm of his throne. "That filthy half breed my knight kills him and I am still not rid of him."

"Killed him?" Lady Time laughed, Oh yes she was aware of the truth now. IT WAS SO OBVIOUS!

"Are you implying that my Knight has deceived me after all?" Pariah Dark asked.

"More than you know." She told him, looking for the right moment and it soon presents itself.

Within the Past-rift Vlad has sent a younger Danny down to his lab to retrieve a present for his father. He obeys but finds no present in the lab.

"This is it." She said as she allowed the rift to play the scene forward. "The proof I need!"

"For your sake it better be." Pariah Dark warned.

The Rift cuts to the younger Danny has he picks up a framed picture of the college-aged Vlad and Maddie on a table with the top-right corner teared off.

"Wait a minute." Danny reaches into his jacket and pulls out the torn picture of the younger Jack and realizes it's the missing corner from the picture. "Oh no!" he backs away. "No way." His ghost sense goes off and he transforms into his Phantom form. He looks around defensively, but two ectopuses suddenly reach down and grab his arms, pulling him up into the air.

Danny kicks one away. "Let go!" He demands and pulls the other ectopus down and slams it into the floor. "Those ghosts... They were two of the first ghosts I fought!" he realizes.

"And they're not alone, pup." A voice adds as a net springs into action and traps him shocking him as it does. Then his capturer steps out of the shadows to reveal himself.

"Skulker?!" The younger Danny looks confused as he breaks free from the net and kicks Skulker into some large tank-like units. "How did you get back in your ecto-skeleton? What are you doing here?"

"All excellent questions. Catch!" The bounty hunter said and threw a small black cube towards Danny which grows and traps him inside a large glowing box.

Danny tries to phase through with no avail "Huh? Hey! I can't phase out of this. It's disrupting my powers!"

"And that's not all it does." Skulker says and presses a button on his wrist and the box shocks Danny, causing him to scream in pain and transform back into his human self. In a daze, his head falls forward on the box, but Skulker picks it back up and holds out a glowing green blade from his wrist to Danny's neck.

Danny chuckles nervously. "Uh, the glowing blade is new."

Skulker pauses to admire it adding casually "You like it? I've had some upgrades!" And then a bit more evilly added. "Now..."

"Enough!" Vlad yells appearing within the rift. "I didn't free you to kill the boy, Skulker! Your work is done. "

Skulker and Danny share a confused look before Skulker retracts the blade. "Yes, well, I..." He stops, reading from the PDA on his wrist that beeps and starts typing. "I've gotta go to the library and check out a book on a gorilla. Again!" He growled in annoyance as his jetpack activates and he flies up, phasing through the ceiling.

Danny looks to Vlad, confused. "Skulker? The ectopuses? I don't understand!"

"Of course not. You're, what, fourteen?" Vlad sighed walking around Danny's box. "Too young to drive and not in college yet? I sent those ghosts, and others, to test your father's skills. Imagine my surprise when I find you, the second ghost hybrid his foolishness created."

"Second?" Danny asked and gasped as Vlad transforms into his ghost self. "You!" He shouts, obviously recognizing him. "I'm going ghost!" He declares.

Nothing happens.

"Going ghost!" He said again.

Still nothing!

"Why can't I go ghost?" He wonders out loud.

Vlad laughs, amused. "You have a battle cry, hilarious. I, on the other hand have this!" He pats the box Danny's in. "A spectral energy neutralizer, designed by Skulker, paid for by me. And as long as you're contained within that box, you're as human as your idiot father."

"Let me out of here!" Danny demanded.

"Why?" Vlad challenged. "So you can go back to stumbling through your adolescence, desperately trying to get control of your powers? Powers, by the way, that I've had for twenty years. I have experience, my child. And the money and power attained through using those powers for personal gain, you see. I could train you, teach you everything I know. And all you'd have to do, is renounce your idiot father. "

Danny gives him a look of pure spite. "Dude, you are one seriously crazed-up fruitloop. That is never going to happen-"

Lady Time stopped the Rift, her smile widens. "Got you!" She declares looking to her king smugly.

Silence…

It seems to last for an eternity, and Lady Time can see the wheels turning in Pariah Dark's mind as he came to the same conclusion she had. "He's the Phantom Knight…"

To her surprise Pariah Dark does not sound angry, instead he laughs openly.

"You think me wrong?" Lady Time challenged.

"No." Pariah Dark shook his head. "I believe you witch, congratulations you get to keep your position for a little longer. Use that time to prove to me how he did it."

"Did it?" Lady Time ask.

"You claim that he is Danny Phantom." He said pointing to his Knight, "And yet he looks nothing like the boy's ghost half." He watched as his knight finally won over Vlad and cut right through him.

Vlad screams as he's pulled into his sword, but his screaming is nothing compared to what's coming. "The master will decide your fate." The Phantom Knight said darkly before taking his leave.

"He's quiet the actor isn't he." Pariah Dark mused.

"You find this funny." Lady Time pointed out. "Why?"

"What can you tell me of the other Daniel?" Pariah Dark countered with a question of his own.

"From what I read he's an eviler version of the Ghost boy from an alternate timeline." Lady Time explained. "The scrolls from the Ancients keep were vague on the details. But this Danny Phantom abandoned his human half with the help of an invention made by Vlad. However once Vlad ripped him away from his human-self Daniel turned on him and used the invention on Vlad. Once Vlad was separated from his ghost half Daniel fused with it."

"Fused with it?" Pariah Dark asked. "Vlad mentioned the boy stole his powers, it made him more ghost than human." He pondered. "Perhaps this is a similar moment shared between time streams, just with different outcomes."

"It is." Lady Time confirmed. "Most alternate timelines are more similar, then different."

"Interesting…" Pariah Dark mused, mostly to himself now. "You will speak nothing of this when the Phantom Knight arrives." He told her.

"You're not going to eliminate him?" Lady Time asked.

"No, this one shows promise." Pariah Dark admitted. "I told him he did."

"You're enjoying this." Lady Time pointed out the obvious.

Pariah Dark nodded, confirming her claims. "It has been some time since I've had a single opponent outwit me." He admitted. "The Ancients had to band together to stop me, and even they could only put me to sleep. And last time the ghost boy needed the help of nearly every ghost here to put me back. However…"

"Now he stands on his own two feet alone." Lady Time finished.

"Yes, and he serves his purpose well." Pariah Dark added.

"You plan to convert him!" Lady Time is stunned by this realization.

"You said this alternate Danny Phantom was evil once, he can be again." Pariah Dark reasoned.

"My King, He destroyed you in your sleep in that timeline and took Fight Knight as his own dog." Lady Time warned him.

"And now he is my dog." Pariah Dark assured her. "And every dog can be trained," He mused as his eyes fall on the past rift which is paused on Danny, fighting Vlad to save his father, and the rest of his family.

His smiles grows. "All he needs is the right motivation!"

-To be Continued