Chapter 25

Danny cringed after his energy ball sent Valerie flying through the access point, and hopefully right back into the high school. Valerie already seemed fairly angry with him, and Danny doubted attacking her like that would improve her opinion of him, but it was the only the thing he could think of at the moment. He couldn't let her stay in the NetZone. He didn't know what kind of effect that would have on her since she didn't have the same kind of accident that he, and Vlad, did. She shouldn't have become a digital being like him from randomly being drawn into the NetZone, which he still couldn't figure out how that happened. He also couldn't explain that strange black and red suit she appeared in when she entered the NetZone. The outfit looked digital, virus like almost, to him.

"What do you think?" Danny questioned, turning to the security program as he shrank back down into puppy form.

Cujo barked and pointed his nose in the direction that Danny, regretfully, realized was Vlad's domain. Sighing, Danny followed after Cujo, who went bounding off toward his master's location. He wiped at his face, groaning at the gooey substance that leaked from his wound. Blood of a digital being. Danny always found it a little disgusting to see the clear mucus oozing out of him whenever he got hurt, cut by some virus attack Luckily, it seemed like the injury was starting to heal over, and hopefully it would vanish before he returned to school. That was a question he really didn't want to answer, especially after Valerie saw him with the injury as Phantom.

His mind drifted back to the fight against that spidery virus. It should have been an easy fight, the virus looking rather weak. Even with his training over the weekend, he still had trouble with the virus. It caught him off guard, scratching one of its legs down his face, destroying his green visor. Danny winced at the memory. That attack hurt more than it should have, making him feel like he stepped into the Fenton Material Portal for a second time and experienced that excruciating electrocution that made him feel cold inside whenever it sneaked back into his mind.

Danny dropped his gaze, looking over his body, but that strange sparking of electricity that kept dancing over his body was gone. While all the chaos was happening, he didn't even notice when it stopped. His brow scrunched up as he went over the fight, replaying it in his mind and trying to pinpoint the time when the sparks stopped. His mouth thinned when he only noticed the lack of sparks after they entered the NetZone. It was definitely gone when Valerie crouched on top of him and slammed him into the ground. He scratched his gloved hand through his white hair, wondering what it all meant. Maybe he was thinking too much on it, and the electricity didn't mean anything at all. He frowned even more, unable to shake that feeling that the sparking from his wound held some sort of importance.

The firewall of Vlad's domain loomed over him, and Danny halted, staring up at it. Cujo pranced happily toward it, eager to visit his master again. Danny, however, was hesitant. He didn't want to ask Vlad's help with this situation. It was like proving the man right that Danny actually did need Vlad's help, and he really didn't want to admit that was true. But what choice did he have at the moment? Valerie being able to enter the NetZone was definitely something he needed advice on, and Vlad knew more about this than anyone else. The man did research on viruses in past, helping in the creation of the Fenton Material Portal through the prototype he worked on with Danny's parents. He probably continued with his research, trying to understand more about his own condition after the accident.

Danny bit down hard on his lower lip, knowing he had no one else to turn to in this situation. Viruses wouldn't talk to him, and programs probably wouldn't have any clue about hopping between the real world and the NetZone. His parents were definitely not an option. He couldn't imagine that conversation going well. His parents would probably think he was crazy for suggesting it was even possible that a human could enter the NetZone like a virus. Or, he swallowed thickly with fear, it would spark an idea in his parents' heads and they would start working to find away to enter the NetZone themselves to combat the viruses. He shivered at the thought of what the Guys in White would do if the idea ever occurred to them. The thought of the GIW creating a whole army capable of entering the NetZone was a chilling idea.

The conversation about the consequences to his actions sprang to mind as he stared at the firewall barring his way. Danny clenched his teeth, knowing Vlad would only point out what happened with Valerie was, again, his own fault. He could already imagine a smug smirk on the man's irritating face as he made stabbing comments about Danny's ineptitude, digging at the younger man's pride.

"Forget it," Danny muttered, turning his back on the firewall. "I'm out of here." Cujo whined, clearly not happy with the missed opportunity to see his master again. But Danny ignored the dog as he started to stomp away from the firewall. He would figure out his problems on his own without having to listen to Vlad berating him for being a stupid child.

"Not even going to bother saying hello." Vlad's words drew Danny to a halt, his body growing tense as he glowered at the world before him. Cujo, meanwhile, was yipping like a happy puppy. "And after you came all this way, you just walk away."

Danny spun around to pin his scowl upon the man. No smugness was found on Vlad's face, no sense of superiority, only irritation in his red eyes and thin mouth. "I thought about telling about how very disappointed my parents were when you left so suddenly, but then I thought you probably don't really care." He folded his arms, struggling with the frustration and anger boiling in him. "I mean, you did say you were no longer obsessed with my mom, right?" His eyes narrowed, hands gripping his biceps painfully hard.

Vlad closed the distance between them, and Danny firmly stood his ground as green and red eyes glared into each other. "I do love Maddie," he admitted, and Danny's eyes narrowed another fraction at the confession. "And I could tell you of a thousand plans I had to steal her away from Jack, of a thousand more to eliminate Jack for vengeance for what he did to me. But," Vlad sighed, and there was a tired look about him, a loneliness in his eyes, "what would be the point? I can't live outside the NetZone for more than a few hours at a time. That's hardly enough to have a real relationship with anyone. Even if I still wanted to seek Maddie's heart, I could hardly do it from here," he waved an arm around the NetZone, "now could I?"

"She would never fall for you," Danny snapped out bitterly. "She loves my dad, and nothing you could ever do will change that."

A twitch of his eyes, and Vlad almost looked like he was about to punch Danny in the face, the young man wincing prematurely for the blow that he was certain was coming. "I'm already well aware of that fact," Vlad stated through clenched teeth. "But surely you came here for some other reason than to rub salt in a man's wound like a brat."

Danny took offense at being called a brat. "You're the one that's a spoiled brat," he shot back. "You don't get what you want so you hole yourself up in isolation sobbing over yourself." He huffed out a breath as Vlad scowled at him with a dangerous look in his red eyes. "And with the way you're keeping watch over me," he thrust a finger at the green dog that tilted his head in confusion, "you shouldn't need me to explain why I came here. Not that it matters, because I'm not asking for your help."

They glared at each other, their heads mere inches apart until with a growl, Cujo appeared bewtween them, his large form driving the two of them apart. Danny stumbled away as Cujo growled at them, looking quite furious over the two of them bickering like little five year olds. It was embarrassing to admit, but Vlad seemed to drag that part of him out whenever they talked. It was like their first encounter devolved them into children that only knew how fight with each other. What were they going to do next? Yank on each other hair? Push each other face first into a sandbox? The way they acted was rather pathetic when he thought about it.

This couldn't be what Clockwork had in mind when he instructed Danny to find Vlad. What exactly did Clockwork see happening, since he could obviously predict the outcomes of events? Did he see the two of them butting heads with each other, getting so angry with one another that even seeing the other incited the urge to pick a fight? How was this supposed to help him get stronger? How was he supposed to learn anything from Vlad when all he wanted to do was punch him in the face?

A slobbering wet tongue broke Danny out of his thoughts, and Cujo whined as the dog rubbed his head against Danny's cheek before shrinking down to puppy size. Danny stared down at the playful puppy and shook his head as Cujo wagged his tail. A sigh caught his ear, and Danny lifted his gaze to Vlad. He jerked away, tensing up when the man approached him.

"Haven't even learned how to fix damage to your own coding yet?" Vlad frowned, no smugness, no humor to the question.

Danny flinched when Vlad tapped a finger to his temple, close to the site of his injury. The corners of his mouth tugged downward as he watched the man work on correcting the scrambled DNA coding, fixing, healing the injury. It was strange to watch him work, delicately adjusting the data, pulling free contamination until the coding was back to its original format. It was no wonder, when Danny thought about it, that Vlad realized immediately that the man in front of him was human. Vlad knew exactly what to look for to identify the oddity of Phantom.

"It heals fine by itself," Danny muttered, looking away, confused by this sudden change in attitude. It wasn't the first time that Vlad healed an injury for him, but Danny still couldn't understand the man's motives.

"It's foolish to think like that," Vlad said in a crisp tone, almost like scolding a misbehaving child. "Would you leave your computer to 'heal' itself when infected with a virus?" He held up a hand between them, and Danny dropped his gaze to the tiny, marble sized bit of data, lightly giving off whitish green sparks.

"What is that?" Danny felt a little disturbed that the man pulled that electrified data from his injury.

"I'll have to analyze it to determine the answer to that." Vlad closed his hand around the data, a serious expression upon his face, which distracted Danny for a moment. "But left inside of you, who knows the damage it could have done? Whenever you're injured, you should immediately fix your coding to avoid virus infection."

"Why do you appear so much younger in here?" Danny's eyes widened when he realized he asked that question out loud. It was a passing thought that came to him after staring at the man's face when he remembered Vlad looked as old as his parents when he arrived at Fenton Works.

Vlad lifted an eyebrow, and that curious amusement was back in his eyes. "It's easy to alter one's appearance when you know how to manipulate data." He glanced over Danny before folding his arms behind his back. "When trapped in here, I didn't see much point in aging this form. I only alter my human appearance to fit the proper age of Vlad Masters whenever I have need to leave the NetZone."

"Oh." Danny nodded, deciding that was a logical explanation. His brow wrinkled then as a confusing thought turned in his head. "But I don't know how to alter my appearance, and I've been aging this whole time."

Vlad sighed, like explaining things to Danny was quite exhausting. "That's a perception thing. You think you're aging, so your digital form naturally changes to match how you see yourself. Aging isn't a hard physical change to pull off and takes very little thought. However, if you wanted to change your clothing, that would require a little more focus."

Danny's brow remained pinched in the center as he thought over Vlad's words. "I guess that makes sense." He scratched at the side of his head as he tried to wrap his mind around the explanation. When he glanced at Vlad again, he frowned at the smug look in the man's red eyes. "What?" he demanded as some of his earlier grouchiness returned.

Vlad's mouth twitched as he tried to school the smirk attempting to slip onto his face. "Oh, just you've been shouting this whole time about how you don't need my help," he shrugged, "yet now you're asking me questions and listening to me." The smirk finally made its appearance, and Danny scowled at the man.

"I should be going," Danny said with a huff. "My lunch break is probably about to end." He turned to start walking when he frowned and halfway turned back to Vlad. His green eyes darted toward the man then away again. "Um, thanks." Reaching up, he rubbed at the back of his neck. "For, you know, healing me." That was probably a skill that he should take the time to learn. Then he wouldn't have to rely on Vlad's help next time he got an injury where he was bleeding out that gross mucus substance. He caught the amusement on Vlad's face, and a flush rose to his cheeks.

"Bye!" Danny shouted before turning away from Vlad. Cujo was at his side in an instant when Danny started running back toward the nearest access point at Casper High. He shook his head, trying to figure out how he went from antagonizing Vlad to thanking him, almost being friendly to the man.

DARKLOVEFORFANFICTION123: Yeah. D8 Maybe one day, she'll finally give Danny the chance to explain things. Though right now, Danny is pretty clueless on what exactly just happened. XD;;

Sammi: You'll have to wait to find out the answer to that little mystery. =)

Just Will: I have mixed feelings about Valerie sometimes. XD;; I like that she's a strong, bad ass character and not some weak damsel that needs rescuing. But sometimes during the show, I just wanted to slap her for misjudging Danny. orz She's just too quick to jump on the revenge bandwagon. I do still wish D-Stabilized came right at the beginning of season 3, instead of them ignoring Valerie for the whole of that season except in that one episode. It would have made season 3 a lot better to get to see Valerie struggle with what she learned about Vlad and that Phantom wasn't the villain she thought he was. I would have loved to see Valerie and Dani interact more after that episode. =(

midnight: =) All answers will come in good time~

Silluevenperrosygatos: Right~? orz Sometimes, Valerie just makes me groan. Haha, yeah. XD;; Like yes, Vlad, wooing your man by sending a vengeful woman after him is the perfect way to his heart. Then again *gestures to canon* he didn't exactly have the greatest ideas on winning Maddie over either. XD;; Oh, Vlad, no wonder you need that Romance for Rich Creepy Dimwits book. You called it on the visit to Vlad. XD;; But at least now, Dash has stopped doing that. XD;; But yeah, Val, you need to stop putting blame on people. D8 Ugh, spiders! I've never liked them. You're welcome. =)

maltese: Maybe~ 8D *gives nothing away* XD;;;