HEY GUY-EEESS! IT'S ANOTHER CHAPTER!
By the way, random guest who is so awesome they leave the funniest comments-you make my day! Alright, Randy v. Vlad, and remember that Randy IS NOT wearing the mask. Enjoy!
There, standing in a battle stance in nothing but his pajamas, his other shoe raised above his head, ready to be thrown, was Randy Cunningham. And he looked mad
"Let him go, freak!" he whispered fiercely. For some odd reason, everyone was trying to make as little noise as possible.
"Or what?" taunted Vlad, holding up the twelve year old so that his feet dangled off the ground.
Randy narrowed his eyes. "Or I'll throw the other shoe." He said in such a fierce and menacing voice that even Dan Phantom would have hesitated for a moment. Vlad considered.
He needed to get out with the book, but he also wanted to know how Danny knew this kid and why Danny had confided his (Vlad's) alter ego. That wasn't like Danny. But perhaps the most pressing issue was ridding this kid of his hard soled shoes. Hmmmmmm.
"Say, aren't you that brat from the bus? The one with the drooling ginger?" Vlad asked. Randy nodded, but he wasn't happy that that was where they knew each other from. He noticed Dipper was starting to turn blue.
"I'm serious, Dracula, I will throw this shoe so hard it flattens your face. Let. Dipper. Go." Growled Randy. He tightened his grip on the shoe.
"no." said Vlad.
Randy threw the shoe.
Vlad had only two hands, and not enough time to duplicate. He could either let the book go or let the boy go. He was gonna have to choose one or the other.
Smart kid, thought Vlad. He let Dipper drop to the ground and used his new free hand to swat the shoe to the ground midflight. Dipper landed on all fours and immeadiatly starting gasping for air. Randy ran up and punched an unsuspecting Vlad in the jaw. He then dropped down and helped pick up Dipper, and the two of them backed up from the ghost.
Vlad wiped his mouth. There was a small dribble of ectoplasm on his lips. He looked at Randy and Dipper venomously, but he narrowed his gaze to the older boy's. Something was off. Only Danny could have packed that hard a punch in human form, and he'd always suspected that to be because of the young halfa's powers. So how come this kid was able to do it?
"You are going to regret that." Vlad hissed. Randy held his gaze, fierce determination set on his face.
"Um, no, you are going to regret breaking into this house. Vlad Plasmius right? My new buddy Danny Phantom told me about you! And he's gonna be here soon." Randy said confidently. Dipper was still catching his breath, but he was looking worriedly at the journal.
Vlad paused.
Just how many people has Danny been talking to? And so openly at that?!
Angry, he threw a ball of ectoplasm at the two boys.
"AAGH!" they cried. Randy shoved Dipper to the floor and dived out of the way, then threw a smoke bomb at Vlad. Orange clouds engulfed the ghost, and he began choking.
"What is this nonsense?! It smells like Fart!" he said, swatting the smoke away.
"You get used to it." assured Randy. He ran up and snatched the book out of Vlad's hands and smacked the ghost across the face with it. The smoke cleared and Vlad set his sights on Randy, who had tossed the book to Dipper. Vlad seethed.
"Give me the book." He said. He shot another ecto-beam at Randy, which caught him square in the chest. Randy fell back onto the floor with a grunt, his arms now pinned to his sides with ectoplasm. His angry face was illuminated pale green from the glow. Randy strained against his bonds. It was be so much easier if he's come as the ninja, or if he went ninja right now, but he couldn't risk exposing himself to Vlad. Not knowing that the ghost had teamed up with McFist!
Vlad turned and face Dipper, who was frantically running back upstairs for help, the red book held tight against his chest. With a flick of his wrist, Vlad trapped the 12 year old in a force field of green energy, and held him up in midair.
"woah, hey, wait! Wait a minute!" Dipper cried. Vlad watched him, waiting. "um…uh…why do you want the book anyway?" Randy looked at the ghost expectantly, curious as well. Vlad frowned, really agitated at this twist in his plan.
"oh, wouldn't you like to know! I-"
Beep beep be-ba-beep. (kp ringtone guys!)
Vlad looked startled, but he reached into his vest and pulled out a sleek black iphone. He held up a finger to a confused Randy and Dipper, both still occupied with their ecto predicaments, then hit answer.
The speaker was turned on.
"Vladford! Are you done yet! I need those incantations!"
Dipper gasped and let out a muffled 'No!'. It was Gideon's sickly honeyed voice.
"Almost, I ran into a small problem but I should be back very soon with what you need. Why are you calling me? I thought this was supposed to be a quiet operation." hissed Vlad.
"Well excuuuuuse me, Princess, but Viceroy (this time Randy gasped) just managed to catch your little Phantom friend. (both boys exchanged worried glances. Vlad smirked at them.) We thought that'd give you incentive to HURRY IT UP!" Gideon hung up. Vlad pocketed the phone and his grin widened.
"WHAT IS GOING ON OUT THERE!?" bellowed Stan's voice from down the hall. Vlad made a fast decision. He waved away the binds on Dipper and Randy and swooped over to the stairs, snatching up the book and hovering out of reach.
"So much for your buddy, Randy." Vlad purred. Randy clenched his fists and gritted his teeth in anger.
Vlad waved an evil, condescending wave at Dipper and Randy, and teleported out of the house.
Randy and Dipper exchanged glances.
"Seriously, who is making all this racket- DIPPER?! And PURPLE!?" Stan yelled as he ended the hallway.
"Purple?!" asked Randy, annoyed.
Stan was holding his intruder broom and a lit candle. Dipper looked completely spooked.
"Stanaghostjustbrokeintoourhouseandstolemyjournal! " he cried.
Stan pinched the bridge of his nose. "Dipper, I'm an old man. I can't understand you when you talk that fast. Again, please, and slow as molasses this time. I'm tired."
Dipper took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.
"A ghost broke into the house and stole journal 3." He said shakily.
Worry covered Stan's face. Then anger, then a small trace of fear.
"this is not good. Purple-"
"Randy."
"-nuance, what are you doing up?"
Randy grinned.
"Oh, Dipper tripped over me on his way to confront the ghost. I heard them fighting, and Dipper pretty good at trash talk, but when I finally got there the ghost had him in a choke hold. So I threw shoes at him and saved your nephew's life, so, you're welcome."
Stan was slightly impressed but his face didn't show it. Think of grumpy cat, then put a red fez and glasses on him. "Thanks. Dipper, you fought back against this 'ghost'?"
Dipper nodded. At this, Stan grinned. "Good kid." Dipper beamed.
"Alright. Go to bed now, kids. That is enough madness for one day. We'll talk about how to get the book back in the morning. Up you go." The two started on the way back to the attic. Dipper noticed Stan wasn't heading towards his bedroom.
"Grunkle Stan, where are you going?" he asked.
"To get a snack from the vending machine! All this middle of the night stuff makes me hungry! Sleep!"
Randy and Dipper arrived back in the attic to see no one had moved. Except the window was open.
"Hello?" called Randy nervously.
"Oh thank goodness it's you two! Something terrible's happened to Danny!" cried out Agatha's disembodied voice.
Danny awoke aching all over. His side still burned slightly. He registered that his shoulder was still out of place, and it was numb. His eyes were not yet opened, and he kept them shut. The lids were red from the light of wherever he was, and he didn't want to be blinded just yet. He was lying on something cold and humming, like something Vlad would devise. His weakness confirmed that whatever he was on counteracted ghost powers.
Voices. Danny tensed as he heard two men begin to talk, not five feet from him.
"All I'm saying, is that we stank this kid and set him on the ninja. He took out that storm ghost in 3 seconds."
"Yeah, but Plasmius said the guys got a huge hero complex, and he'd probably side with the ninja. Although, a stanked Phantom would be something to see.
"And to think I came up with that Plan, Viceroy."
Danny thought the voices sounded muffled. Cautiously, he opened his eyes.
Light. White light... OW!
Danny shut his eyes immediately, trying to stop from seeing white spots dance in front of his vision. Hesitantly he opened them again.
Vlad's stupid blue plasma-glass box. That's what was holding him. Great.
Danny tried to focus his gaze on the two men in the ridiculously well lit room with him. His vision was still swimming and blurry, but he made out a tall dark man in a lab coat with a style profile of hair and a fat brown suited man with a weird cyborg arm.
"Who…?" Danny muttered as he started to lift his head for a better view.
"HEY! YOUR LOCO GHOST KID"S AWAKE!"
Danny jumped at the voice, which was high and heavy with a southern accent. And very close to him. His vision sharpened and he painfully sat up and turned to see-
"Bertram?" the short, pudgy boy looked very similar to Spectra's henchman, excluding the blue suit and white hair. Said boy looked offended.
"It's GIDEON!" He cried. Danny leaned back against the opposite wall of the box, his head not quite ready for such frequencies just yet. Gideon straightened and walked briskly around to join the two older men. Danny pivoted in place, tracking the movement with his gaze. Now that he was awake, he was beginning to function more properly.
The trio watched him curiously. Danny realized that Vlad had probably talked to them about him. Maybe they were curious to see what he'd do. Well, thought Danny optimistically, might as well make friends!
"So…what'd ya guys hit me with? Cuz it's taking forever to heal!" Danny complained.
The man in the lab coat looked confounded.
"I don't see how you can complain about not being healed! Your body's already fought off the toxins and is nearly done closing up the skin. Your cuts are already healed. Your shoulder's still out of place though." He said, sounding a little in awe.
Danny looked at his arm, hanging limply at his side. "Yeah," he said without looking up, "I should probably fix that."
Time to show off some, he thought.
Danny grabbed his shoulder and set it against the glass surface. He then held his lower arm in place against the wall with his other hand, and pushed hard against the wall with his weight. His shoulder popped back into place. Danny gave a small cry, then clenched his teeth and hissed through them, swallowing the pain. He rolled his shoulder, testing the flexibility. Already, his powers were working the sore tendons. He'd be fine in a few hours. He turned back to his captors.
"So, back to my question, what was that stuff?" he said nonchalantly.
Gideon and McFist just glared back at him blankly, but Viceroy seemed eager to talk science. He jumped right in.
"A combination of ectoplasm and acid. Your buddy Vlad thought McFist and I would run into you again, and he was quite generous." Viceroy bragged.
"Again?" asked Danny, fear beginning to knot in the pit of his stomach. Did they know about his human half, did they remember kidnapping him and Norman?
"Yeah, from when you interfered with storm girl and saved that ninja nuisance's butt." Said McFist, his mustache quivering. Danny relaxed inside, and shrugged.
"Hey, ghosts can be crazy, some more than others. I talked to that ninja guy afterwards, and he was under the impression that you two" he pointed at Viceroy and McFist, "were scheming to destroy him so a certain Sorcerer with an apocalyptic death wish could break free from jail. Sorry for siding with the guy who's defending the earth." Said Danny with an air of sarcasm. He noticed with pleasure that his captors looked angered at his statement of loyalty. "Also, I'm very likely to help someone whose enemies shot me out of the sky." He drawled.
McFist lost it.
"I HAVE HAD IT WITH YOU HERO TYPES! YOU THINK BECAUSE YOU FIGHT FOR GOOD THAT YOUR INVINCIBLE! WELL YOUR NOT! YOU WILL FAIL! THE NINJA WILL FAIL! AND FOR ONCE US AMBITOUS MEN WILL SUCCEED!" he screamed. He started choking on his breath at the end, however, his force torn raw. Viceroy leaned over and patted him on the back.
Danny took a deep breath. He didn't like it that he hit this guy's nerve. It was one thing to mess with bad guys, but it you struck a nerve with it usually got you in trouble. Bad guys can be unhinged. And that leads to crazy psychotic fighting, which, in Danny's experience, usually meant harder battles. (Cough cough box ghost cough cough). Danny started to respond, but he found he had no words in his mouth, only dry shock. McFist stormed out of the room, mumbling about ninjas and ghosts and stupid "heroes".
Viceroy looked at Danny with what would pass for sympathy.
"You'll have to forgive him. He's had a rough day. And there's a lot more riding on his plans working than just satisfaction." He said softly, before following his boss out.
Danny slid his gaze to Gideon, who was watching him intently. His piercing stare reminded Danny of the way Skulker stared at him, like he was something to be hunted and displayed. He hated that stare.
"What you so called heroes understand is that when you make deals or alliances, the bond is of trust. People like us can't afford trust. Our bonds are much more Damaging if broken." whispered Gideon ominously. Danny was a little taken aback by this. This kid was really started to creep him out. Breaking the intense and uncomfortable stare off, Danny turned around and began checking up on his healing again. Finding everything almost done, he set about testing the durability of his prison (obviously escape was high on his list of things to do.) he punched the smooth glass surface experimentally. Where his fist met the wall, blue energy ripples expanded, but hey died out shortly. The barrier was strong and built to withstand force. Great. Danny angrily shot an ecto-beam at the wall, but it bounced off harmlessly and ricocheted until it hit him in the head.
"Ow!" cried Danny, frustrated.
"Well what did you expect to happen, Little Badger?"
Dun dun dun. And not to worry, Randy will most likely get a chance to kick Vlad's butt proper later on. I'm still working on the climax. This has got to be the longest night I've ever written. Huh. Well, I'm still drafting parts of the ending and i'm hitting some writer's block, so I'm open to suggestions, if there are any. Till next time, mortals!