After escaping his sister's not so undeserved wrath, Phantom flew in the night's sky. He was flying slow enough to take the sight of the pranked town in. His clone had seriously been busy. He swore half the town was painted with a logo that looks at least partially inspired by his own everywhere. The clone looked like he really embraced the prank ghost nickname the town had christened him with with everything he had. The black G and P in a silver circle was really everywhere.

"This is what I get for trying to get out of school to handle king stuff." Phantom quickly realized how crazy that sounded. "Why does a king even have to go to school?"

Deciding to spare himself the headache thinking like that would cause Phantom just focused on the sights passing by below him. He was on his way to see Vlad and needed to share what he had learned with the older halfa. He needed some advice from someone who didn't talk in riddles and mention something about the timestream and keeping said timestream in order every 5 minutes.

Vlad could be using a duplicate to fulfill his mayoral duties but they had a habit of doing things of their own will as of late. Young Daniel's most recent clone revealed that it wasn't exactly benign anymore either. He'd rather not have an officer show up at his door tomorrow morning for something his duplicate did. Much better to simply deal with the headache as the rest of mayors across America did.

He couldn't say he was completely focused on the paperwork though. The political nature of an entire separate realm had a way of stealing your attention away from things. He had heard about Daniel's meeting at Clockwork's Tower and had cursed the older ghost. Apparently he still wasn't trusted enough by the Master of Time since he hadn't received any official word about it. Sometimes he was more than thankful to have built up his own information network in the Zone all those years ago. It had proved its worth again and again as time went by. Now it was proving itself to be worth so much more than anything else he had ever invested time, money, and a bit of ghost powers into.

"How things are picking up." He spoke to himself as there was no one else in the room.

"They sure are." a voice spoke from the corner of the room.

Luckily he recognized the voice's owner before they even became visible again as otherwise he would've blasted them through his office with the ecto gun he kept in the top right drawer. Or he had used the second one attached to a swivel underneath his desk. Tricks like that didn't get old no matter how much time had passed or the weapons had changed.

"Maybe you should try using the front door for once." Vlad spoke as he leaned back in his chair, his mayoral duties forgotten for now.

"Come on Plasmius. You and I have been doing this too long for you to expect something like that from me." Amorpho's covered visage spoke as he settled himself in the chair across from Vlad.

"How could I ever forget." Vlad spoke with sarcasm at Amorpho's antics. "Now, what did you learn?"

"Ah, right to the chase. That's why I like you Plasmius."

"It's not the fact that I threatened to vaporize you on the spot if you ever betrayed me?" Vlad raised an eyebrow.

Amorpho let out a soft laugh. "That helps. But I admit this visit is of importance. I had to come myself for this one. Not sure if anyone else could be trusted to tell you stuff like this."

"The suspense is killing me." Vlad dryly spoke.

"Well you already know that Pariah's on the move. He's getting as much strength as he can before he faces the kid. He's even looked into the old books. Can you believe it, Pariah Dark with his nose in his book?" Amorpho laughed but Vlad remained stoic. "Loss to the kid must've really rattled him. He's gotten a few more allies but the only one to really write home about is Aragon. Rumor is that Pariah's got someone working on way to make his dragon form stronger."

"Well is it a rumor?" Vlad asked.

"Nope. Hundred percent true. They're tinkering with his amulet. Pariah found some of the older ghost and put them to work on it."

"Interesting."

"But there's something a lot more important than a dragon." Amorpho's voice might've been calm but eyes betrayed his emotions. Vlad had learned long ago how to read people in everyday life and the eyes were indeed the windows to the soul. Amorpho was actually scared of whatever he had found out. "Someone's backing Pariah. Someone old and strong. That's the only way Clockwork could've gotten involved. There's no way he would break the rules, that he helped make, if he didn't have an excuse ready."

"So a ghost in the same class as the Master of Time is on Pariah's side?"

"Yup."

"Fudge muffins." Vlad pinched the bridge of his nose as he ran through all the ghosts he knew of to be of that caliber. It wasn't all of them but it was a start. "This just got much more complicated than I ever thought it would."

"It's not just about the Kingship now. If ghost's like Pariah's backer and Clockwork are getting involved," Amorpho swallowed. "This just got a whole lot more dangerous for everyone in both realms."

"I suppose I should thank you for the information, despite my feelings towards it."

"Anytime Plasmius."

"Have you told Daniel any of this?"

"I only told him about what he asked me about. Nothing more and nothing less." even though Amorpho didn't have a visible mouth Vlad just knew he was smiling, his serious mood having already left him.

"The entire Ghost Zone is about to break out into a war and you still play your games."

"Gotta keep it interesting Plasmius. Besides its not the entire Zone."

"I forgot it was simply most of it."

"I gotta head back, see what else I can find out about this backer." Amorpho rose from his seat.

"Just one question before you leave."

"How many sides am I playing?" Amorpho asked the question already on Vlad's mind.

"I see you still remember it from last time."

"And the time before that and the time before that and the time before that..."

"I get it." He would've gone on forever if Vlad hadn't stopped him.

"As many as I want Plasmius. As many as I want." the smile was definitely back as Amorpho vanished from Vlad's office.

Vlad looked at the work still on his desk but shook his head. There was no way he was getting anything done after what Amorpho had just told him. He had far too much to think about. He pushed his chair back and stood to his feet, straightening out his suit as he did so. He walked towards the window and looked out over the city, his eyes taking in thinks others would've easily missed as his thoughts wandered down a dark path.

He knew Amity Park wouldn't be left untouched by the upcoming war. He couldn't even call it a battle because that wouldn't do it justice. It would be a war. It would come down to Danny against Pariah in the end but each had far too many allies now for it to be over quickly. It was likely that things would spill over into Amity. Things simply wouldn't be contained.

His eyes saw the everyday people go about their everyday lives and he hated the way he felt sympathy. The ruthless man who wouldn't even have spared a glance at any destruction the city and its people would suffer. He had changed though. No he could say that. He was changed. Danny had changed him. Had fought the bitter man and changed him.

Now he felt for the people. The mayorship was now no longer something he had gained out of spite for his enemy to simply make their life miserable. It was something that he had begun to cherish. Things had stopped being done to disadvantage his enemy and now he sought to always do good for the people of Amity Park. That the nature of his victory had made him so sick of himself that he had thought of resigning from the position more times than he could count. That the only thing that kept him in the office was the drive to be better than any other mayor. It was his self imposed penance. He needed to make up for so much he had done. He started by being a mayor that always put the people before himself. He needed to. Anything else was simply disgusting in his eyes. It only added more to the list of deeds he now wished he could take back. Things that permanently stained the record of his life now. Looking back on it he couldn't say he was exactly surprised at his actions. Vladimir Masters had always been out for himself no matter what it was.

"I'm going to need to talk with Daniel about all of this." Vlad wasn't sure what he was speaking about. The information he had just heard or the impact the teenager had had on his life.

Phantom phased through the roof and dropped into the chair across from Vlad before the rings of light shifted him back into Danny Fenton. He sunk into the chair and let out a breath as he relaxed and Vlad dropped the pen he had been working with.

"So how did your little war council go Daniel?" Vlad asked.

"We have some major problems." Danny ran a hand down his face and sighed again.

"What?"

"Someone's backing Pariah. Someone's strong and with power to get a lot of the older ghosts to back Pariah."

"That is bad. I only know a handful of ghosts who could do it. And they're simple too lazy to do it."

"So what got them moving?"

"That's the question Daniel. Did you get any names from Clockwork?"

"No. He's looking into it though."

"It couldn't be Oxias." Vlad spoke quietly to himself but Danny heard him.

"Oxias?"

"You don't know him. Thankfully. He's one of the older ghosts. Fought Pariah during his first conquest. It's the reason the Crown of Fire and Ring of Rage were made. Pariah and his best man sought out the materials to craft them and he used an entire section of the Zone to fuel it. Oxias still fought him to a standstill. He made himself a scepter that boosted his powers. Took the power from around him."

"So since Pariah had the crown and ring..." Danny trailed off, already knowing what had to have happened.

"So they kept trading blows." Vlad finished for him.

"You're telling me this guy has been around this entire time?" Danny felt cold as the idea that ghosts like that existed and he hadn't even known about him until now.

"Yes."

"Why haven't you talked about him? Why hasn't anyone talked about him?" his voice was rising as shock was quickly shifting to anger.

"Because Oxias rarely cares enough about something to leave his own lair." Vlad quickly answered, his voice calm as he tried to calm down the rising anger. "He only enjoys fighting and to be honest Daniel you're not even a fly to him yet. Power wise you're a match. But he's been around for thousands of years. He's simply has too much experience."

"So this Oxias guy can just... I don't know what to say." Confusion was quickly taking over Danny's thoughts.

"He's powerful. But lazy. So I'm probably wrong about him. Besides he still hates Pariah."

"Maybe we can get his help then?"

"We'll need a good argument. But we can't put our hopes in him."

"So who else should I know about?"

"Several. The Zone is massive and some rulers have laid claim to parts of it. I'll have to speak to some other ghosts and see if we can find an old law. The Kingship isn't just an empty title. Pariah fought them all. Beat some and tied with others. The sheer power the king holds can make the rulers listen."

"Why didn't you tell me I needed to sign up for Ghost Ruling 101?" Danny tried to make it sound joking but the serious of the situation stopped any humor.

"You're in high school Daniel. I guess I wanted you to have a little bit of a life. Go to college. Maybe get married. Let me watch Amity Park for a while so you could do what you wanted. Then I would tell you all of this. Sometime after you were 21. After you had a little bit of a life before you had such a massive responsibility dropped on your shoulders. Well fully dropped on your shoulders but the meetings with the Observants are nothing compared to what you might have to do."

"I can't have you keeping secrets from me Vlad!" Danny yelled, his anger winning the emotional battle within him, the armrests on his chair splintering from his, unconsciously, enhanced grip.

"They weren't secrets." Vlad pinched the bridge of his nose as he fought on rapidly losing ground. "You could've asked me about anything at anytime and I would've told you."

"I didn't even know there was something to ask!" Danny accused. "I need to know stuff like this. I need to know that there are ghost out there who can just decide to be king and I don't stand a chance against them."

"Daniel, just calm down and listen to me." Vlad tried to keep the younger halfa in control of himself as he could sense the power in him rising.

"About what? Is there another bombshell you're going to drop on me?! Is there a dragon I should be worried about now!"

Vlad was silent and Danny didn't need to hear anything else.

"You're kidding me!" Danny rose out of his seat and threw his hands into the air in exasperation.

"Daniel-"

"I'm sick of tired of everything just coming out of blue at me!"

"Daniel ca-"

"Everyday it's something else!" Danny's eyes changed as his anger increased. "Some new ghost! Some new rule!"

"Daniel sit down." Vlad was surprised he managed to get the sentence out uninterrupted.

"No! I'm tired of being told what to do by everyone. Tuck, Sam, Jazz, Clockwork, Val, and everyone else who think they know what's best for me. Who keep things I should know away from me. I'm tired of not knowing things! I'm tired of not knowing what to do!"

"Daniel please just listen to me." Vlad tried desperately to unwind the coiled spring that Danny was, just waiting to burst it seemed.

"No!" his emotions took over then.

A wave of power was unleashed as Danny's arms lashed out in frustration. Vlad threw up a shield around himself as protection but it wasn't enough to save his office from the destruction unleashed by Danny's emotions. The desk gained visible cracks as it was forced against his shield and everything on it spilled onto the floor, pens and papers scattering over the floor. The paperwork Vlad had been doing today now drifting to the ground if it wasn't already on it. Pictures he had hung on the wall were tilted or knocked from their place on the wall and onto the floor. The chairs they had been sitting in were now on their backs even though neither men had sat in them for some time.

White rings, followed quickly by black ones, traveled up and down Danny's form, swiftly transforming him into King Phantom. Vlad tried to speak but King Phantom was already gone, having teleported out of the office and to parts unknown.

"Fudge butter!" Vlad cursed even as his own transformation rings went up and down his own form. Plasmius searched for the younger halfa's ecto signature even as he turned intangible and flew out through the roof after him.

AN: Well there's the new chapter. In short, there's a war coming. Between the living and the de... my bad the dead and the dead. I'm a bit too excited for the new season of Game of Thrones but yeah this chapter showed a bit more of Vlad and Danny. Vlad a guy who lost years of his life in the hospital when he gained his powers and then trying to make sure Danny doesn't lose chunks of his own life because of his powers.

Amorpho's a spy because Amorpho just works too well as a spy.

Also Oxias. Just simply consider him one of the bigger fish in the Ghost Zone. He's also powerful enough to sit this one out. Or he could come in and take out whoever's standing at the end.

As usual any feedback, positive or negative, is appreciated.