The class, accompanied by Vlad's minions, walked down a long, winding hall to a deeper part of the cave. The kids were panicking, some were crying. Dash looked like a madman trying to break free of the ghost's grip. He tried kicking and shaking the ghost off, but the ghost gave a deep growl and Dash stopped at once.
"Please don't hurt me! I'm too young and pretty to die!" Paulina wept.
Danny walked quietly with his hand behind his back, his wrists bound together by handcuffs that wouldn't allow him to use his powers. Behind him, Vlad clasped his shoulder to lead him.
"Why are you doing all this? Why are you involving all these people? They're innocent," Danny whispered to Vlad.
"Please, Daniel," Vlad said. "You think I planned all of this? If this was one of my plans it would've been over by now."
Danny stopped walking for a moment, only to be shoved to keep walking. "Wait, so this wasn't your plan?"
"You certainly don't have your mother's brain," Plasmius said dryly.
Danny turned his head to glare at him. "If this wasn't your plan, what are you even doing here?"
Everyone stopped when they arrived at the end of the corridor. "Hm, let's see," he said in a jeering voice, "I get to have someone in my debt by helping him, I get to control most of the ghosts, and I get to see you miserable!" He bent down to try to look at Danny's face. "What do you think I'm doing here?"
They both remained oblivious to the eyes that were on them.
The boy tried to jerk out of his grasp without success. "Who are you working for?"
Vlad smirked and stood up straight once again. "Sorry, my boy," he said. "I'm under strict orders not to tell."
"Since when do you listen to orders?" Danny retorted.
"Since whenever it works in my favor," he reasoned.
Danny huffed in aggravation. "Can you at least tell me if I know him?"
"You wouldn't know him. Perhaps if you were more social at the Christmas truce parties-"
"Why's he doing this?" Danny interrupted.
"Simple. Entertainment."
"Can you tell me anything useful?" the younger halfa snapped.
"Yes. We're here."
Danny looked from Vlad to the door that had a sign that read, "DANGER! NO TRESPASSING".
"What's in there?" Danny demanded.
"We have to keep your ratings up, so this is your next obstacle." He leaned in so that only Danny could hear him, "Plus, this is my revenge for telling Ms. Gray my secret."
"Ratings? Next obstacle?" he repeated. "Wait! I didn't tell Val-"
He stopped mid-sentence when Vlad opened the door. An enormous green lump with gray spikes occupied most of the chamber. A head swiveled around to look at the door. The dragon-like ghost immediately got up and slithered over to the door. Some students shrieked in horror. It gave off a horrible screech and rammed its horns through the opening of the wall. Triggering the green light of the ghost shield every time it came in contact. When that didn't work it heaved in, and expelled a burst of purple fire that was immediately absorbed by the shield. The whole class screamed this time, unable to run with the ghosts still holding onto them.
"You can't be serious," Danny deadpanned to Vlad, who was still holding open the door.
There was a shout and then a thump from behind Danny. Somehow Sam had the ghost that had taken her captive on the ground. "You dolt! You can't even hold a teenage girl?" Vlad screamed.
With Vlad just a bit distracted, it gave Danny a small opening for an escape. He kicked Vlad hard on the shin. Making the man gasp in pain and bend down to grab his injured leg. "Sorry, V-Man," Danny said before he kicked the man in the head, making him drop to the ground.
When he looked back he saw Sam helping free the others. Tucker had apparently freed himself and was already running up to Danny. "Tuck, keys," Danny said as he nodded to Vlad's belt.
Tucker quickly unhooked the ring of keys and immediately started to try them out on the handcuffs. "No, no, no," he mumbled every time a key failed. "You know this is the second time I had to uncuff you right? Aha!"
Danny felt the handcuffs release from his wrists and clatter to the ground. He turned around to Tucker.
"Thanks, Tuck. I owe you one," Danny said while rubbing his newly freed wrists.
Tucker stuffed the keys into one of his many pockets and waved him off. "I'll put it on your tab."
A loud alarm went of. "Ghost shield has been disabled," said a mechanical voice.
Everyone turned to Plasmius, who floated by the door, with his hand still on the large red button. "Oops," he sarcastically remarked. "Well, guess that's my cue to get out of here, tah!" He, along with all the other ghosts, were gone in an instance.
The ghost rammed its horns into the door, this time they actually went through the door. It made a satisfied roar and tried to stick it snout through the opening.
"Run!" Danny shouted.
The class all raced down the hallway from which they came. Although out of sight, they could all hear and feel the monster trying to break out of the chamber. Tucker, Sam, and Danny followed behind their peers, soon to be joined by Lancer who struggled to keep up with his leg still injured from the mutant beaver. Danny kept checking behind to see if the ghost had broken out yet. "At least that thing is dumb, otherwise it would've just figured out it could just phase through," Danny said.
The pounding stopped for a moment. It let loose another roar, this time it sounded a lot closer.
"Like that?" Sam asked.
"In there!" Danny shouted, pointing to a small corridor. The people lacking stamina and speed had ended up in the back of the group heard the teen and backtracked to follow Danny as he veered to the left into a smaller hallway. "Crap," he mumbled as he realized the others never heard him.
Danny ran out of the smaller hallway, to the distress of Lancer and his friends, to get the others and call them back. "Hey! This way! It's coming, we need to hide!" he yelled, gesturing to the way they had just ran from.
They turned with the same look of uncertainty and hesitancy. "Are you crazy?" Kwan shouted.
"We found a place to hide! You guys need to come now," Danny warned.
"No thanks, Fentoad-" Dash's words died in his throat when a roar echoed throughout the hall, it sounded just around the corner.
Danny ran towards them. "Get to the side of the wall!" The group of six hastily lined the wall, clinging to it for dear life. "Grab onto each other," he said as he placed one hand on Dash's shoulder and another on Star's. He closed his eyes and struggled to spread his invisibility to the others.
The ghost came speeding around the corner. He could feel his peers tense when the dragon halted after it had passed. It turned its head around and scanned the hallway. Detecting nothing, it continued on its rampage.
The teenagers took a collective sigh of relief. "Did you just turn us invisible?" Kwan asked, examining his own hand in amazement after it reappeared.
"Yeah," Danny nodded. He walked to the center of the hallway to look down the way the ghost went.
"Whoa," Dash said. "That was so cool," he said to Danny.
Danny nodded again with a small smile. "Let's go back to the others," he said, turning to go back. He stopped when two familiar faces came sprinting down the hallway. "Or not."
Sam reached Danny first. "You alright?" she asked. Tucker arrived behind her, trying to catch his breath while leaning on his knees.
"Yeah, we're fine," he assured her. "The dragon went that way, so we should try the other hall for an escape."
Tucker shook his head. "Can't, dead end," he gasped.
The ghost let out a tremendous roar from down the hall.
Danny cursed.
The group that Sam and Tucker had been with finally caught up and stood around the trio, joined by students Danny had been with.
"Plan B then. Could I have the thermos, Sam?" Danny asked.
"One of Vlad's idiots took away the bag that had everything in it," she said with a scowl.
Tucker pulled out the Fenton lipstick. "All except for this!"
Dash snorted. "What are you gonna do? Give it a makeover?"
"That is so not your color," Paulina added in disgust.
Tucker flushed and opened his mouth for a reply, but Danny interrupted. "Okay, so new plan. I'm gonna go distract ugly and you guys get everybody out of here," he said to Sam and Tucker. "But you're gonna have to be right behind me, I don't know how long I can keep him busy."
"No!" Lancer exclaimed. "I can't have you keep putting yourself in danger! I don't care that you have some ghostly abilities, that thing will kill you!"
"I'm sorry Mr. Lancer, but you're going to have to trust me when I say that I can do this," he said, turning away.
Lancer grabbed his arm. "Mr. Fenton, no. We will find another way."
Danny looked into the teacher's eyes while the ground continued to shake from whatever the dragon was doing. "There's no other way out. I'm the only one who can do this, I'll be fine." With those final words, Danny vanished.
Lancer looked down in shock to where the boy's arm was moments before. "Danny!" he called. He attempted to race after to find him, but Sam jumped in front of him with her arms outstretched.
"We're gonna be right behind him. We just gotta give him a little head start to get the ghost's attention and distract it. The sooner we all get out of here the sooner Danny can get out of here," Sam said with her arms still stretched out across the frame of the entrance of the hall to block him. Lancer nodded numbly. "Okay, let's go," she ordered.
They slowly made their way down the passage, making sure to give Danny enough time. When they reached the entrance of the room they had been captured by the ghosts, the class stopped.
"Hey gruesome!," they heard Danny yell, followed by an angry roar.
"That's our cue," Tucker said, ushering the class into the large room.
Lancer stepped into the room first, and froze at the sight of one of his most quietest, yet most troubling students singlehandedly fighting a monster. The teacher watched as Danny successfully dodged purple flames.
"C'mon! Is that all you've got?" the boy taunted.
"He's amazing!" Mikey whispered in awe.
"I don't know if Fenton's really brave, or just really crazy," Kwan mumbled.
Lancer nearly nodded in agreement to his student's musings. It's like the boy had a death wish. And at the same time, watching him fight the ghost, it almost looked like he was enjoying it. It wasn't until he met eyes with his student that he saw that Danny looked stressed beyond belief. Lancer quickly turned back to his students who had yet to enter the room. "Let's go people!" he harshly whispered. The teens looked from him to the ghost in fright. "Move it!"
Simultaneously the students ran across the room to the passage leading to their freedom. Tucker gave the teacher a small smile and nod of approval, even Sam looked slightly impressed, before turning away to follow the rest.
The class was halfway to the exit when the dragon's tail fell in front of them. The students in front screamed at the top of their lungs.
"Crap," Sam said as said as the ghost's head swung backwards to look at the source of the noise. Tucker immediately delved in his pockets in search for the Fenton Lipstick.
The class was forced into the wall as the dragon came up to inspect them. It bared its pointy teeth, then leaned back to inhale. A small ecto-blast hit the ghost's head.
"Hey! Remember me?" Danny asked with his arms crossed.
The dragon screeched and whipped its tail around, catching Danny by surprise. The impact propelled Danny rolling on the ground next to the class. Lancer rushed over to his student.
"Ghost World! Mr. Fenton, are you alright?"
Danny prompt himself up on his elbow. "I'm fine," he mumbled while holding his head. His eyes shot up to the ghost, who was once again examining his classmates.
When it reached Tucker it got a blast of ecto-energy to the eye. It shrieked and whipped its head back and forth in pain. The techo-geek got aim at the other eye and shot it with the Fenton Lipstick. In a great deal of pain and blind, the ghost tossed its head back and let out a shrill cry.
With nothing else blocking the exit, they raced to it. The dragon ghost madly thrashed his head and spewed fire across the length of the room, once again blocking their escape route. The teens backed into their previous position. Lancer had reached down to help Danny up, but froze with a death grip on the boy's arm as he gaped at the ghost. It was taking a shuddering breath, preparing to expel more fire, this time in the direction of the class.
"No!" Danny shouted. He quickly got up and with a sharp jerk, escaped Lancer's grasp.
He ran over so he would be in between the dragon and his class. "Danny!" He distantly heard Lancer shout. Without a second thought, the boy triggered his transformation.
He put his arms out to create a ghost shield that reflected the flames. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lancer slowly back away. Ignoring the sounds of shock behind him, he quickly tried to work out a plan. The ghost must have known the class was still in the same spot because it was relentlessly expelling the flames their way, except for the periodic break when it inhaled.
Danny stood up taller with a plan in mind. "Here goes nothing," he mumbled.
The dragon's fire breath stopped for a moment as inhaled for another round. The halfa quickly closed his eyes and focused on creating a clone, making his shield flicker for a moment. The clone promptly flew off, dodging the edges of the shield and flames and made his way around the dragon. It shot off a few ecto-blasts to the back of the ghost's head, effectively diverging its attention.
The original Danny dropped the shield and hunched over in exhaustion. After a moment he took a deep breath and walked over to the fire, while carefully avoiding any eye contact with his classmates.
With a swift motion of his arms, the purple flames were replaced with a layer of snow. He slowly turned back to his class. He immediately caught the gaze of a Dash and Kwan and shifted his gaze downwards.
"We should probably go," he said nodding to the exit. When there was no answer he reluctantly looked back up to the gawking faces. He let out a weak chuckle and rubbed his neck. "Did I forget to mention that I could also turn into a ghost after the accident?" He received a few slow nods.
There was cry of agony from his clone on the other side of the room. Danny hissed in pain as he immediately felt the burn his clone had just gotten. Clutching his side he shouted, "Okay, we really have to go." The dragon let loose another shriek. "Now!"
To his relief, the class obeyed. They all gave a quick glance at the ghost boy as they ran passed. When Lancer crossed Danny he slowed for a moment like he wanted to say something, but averted his eyes and kept walking. Tucker and Sam appeared next to him, but remained quiet.
"I messed up," Danny said as he turned to follow everyone else.
Sam and Tucker exchanged looks. "Nah," Tucker said. "You did what you had to. Otherwise we probably would've been toast," he cracked a grin. "Pun intended."
"Yeah, I guess," Danny replied.
"We'll figure it out. We always do," Sam added.
The boy took a steadying breath and nodded.
Once they reached outside the cave, Danny immediately called back his clone. He slumped in exhaustion but remained in his ghost form.
There was a screech from inside the cave, the students' heads whipped around towards the noise. The dragon ghost flew out of lair from the top of the waterfall, the teens froze in freight and Danny kept a steady gaze at the ghost, but otherwise remained calm. After flying in a circle it took off to travel over the ocean. The tension immediately died and relief washed over the class.
"Mr. Lancer," the halfa awkwardly called as the rest of the class celebrated.
"Yes Mr. Phan-Fenton?" he winced at the name confusion. The teens immediately quieted down to listen to the interaction.
Danny ignored the slip up while Tucker tried to hide his snicker under a cough. "I think Valerie's probably in here somewhere. I'm gonna go find her," the halfa said.
Lancer nodded. "Well, you've certainly proved that you can take care of yourself," he said as his eyes traveled over his student's glowing eyes, to his white hair, to the famous emblem on the boy's suit in wonderment.
Danny slightly smiled at the fact that Lancer finally wasn't going to argue that he needed his supervision. "We'll meet up with you guys later, and I promise I'll explain everything then," he added, glancing from Lancer to the rest of the class that stood behind him.
"Then you'll probably need these," Tucker said. He walked over and put a ring of keys he had taken from Vlad in Danny's hand. "I'm guessing one of those unlocks whatever sort of cell Val's in."
"Thanks Tuck," he said. The techno-geek shrugged.
"Try to find the bag of weapons too," Sam said. "Without it, we're kind of screwed. It has the thermos in it and we won't be able to help you with more ghost attacks if we don't get it back."
"Right," Danny said in agreement. "Okay, find Valerie and the bag. I can do that." He floated off the ground and gave a final wave to Lancer, whose eyes widened at the sight of his student using his powers again, but nodded in return then turned back to his students.
"Come on people, let's go!" the teacher shouted with a wave of his arms as he tried to get them to stop gawking at Danny.
Danny smiled and started to do his normal salute that he gave to citizens, but brought stopped midway as he figured it was weird now since they knew he was just Fenton. His smile faltered and he took off back into the cave.
He turned intangible and flew around, looking for where Valerie was being held. Although it didn't take very long.
He found her in a room below where he had just fought the dragon ghost. It had no windows or doors, just solid rock. It was lit just like everywhere else in the cave, with a few scattered candles. In the middle was a small, barred jail cell, with an unconscious girl inside of it.
"Valerie!" Danny gasped. He walked forward and crouched down to Valerie's level. He reached through the bars and poked the girl's shoulder. "Val?"
In an instant his face and chest was smashed against the bars. Valerie's face was next to his, only iron bars separated them. "Phantom," she hissed. "What do you want?" She gripped his suit tighter and smashed him into the bars again.
Danny grunted in pain. "Is that really how you treat someone who came to save you?" was his muffled reply. He held up the ring of keys for proof.
She released her a little of her grip, then tightened it again. "What? Why would you save me?"
"I'm beginning to ask that myself..." Danny grumbled.
Valerie looked at him for a moment, then let go. Danny stumbled back. After regaining balance, he straightened up and walked over to the lock while gently rubbing the side of his face. After trying out a few keys, he found the right one and the door unlocked. When Valerie took a step to exit Danny stretched across the doorframe to block her. The girl crossed her arms in annoyance
"By walking through this door this means you accept my terms of a truce, okay?" Danny asked.
Valerie's eyes flickered to the doorless and windowless walls. "I guess that's fair." Danny smiled and opened the door. Valerie stepped out and glanced at Danny. "Thanks...and I'm sorry about your face." she mumbled.
Danny raised an eyebrow. "Thanks and a sorry? Prison's changed you," he said with a smirk.
"Shut up," she said with a half-hearted glare. "How are we getting out of here?"
Danny turned intangible in reply.
The ghost hunter wrinkled her nose. "I was afraid that was gonna be the answer."
"But first, I found your bracelet while I was looking for you," Danny said, handing her the red bracelet Technus had made for her years ago.
Valerie gasped and eagerly took it. She quickly put it around her wrist and activated her suit and glider.
"Just remember, we're still on a truce," Danny stated nervously.
"Don't worry, Phantom. We're still on a truce, but we're also still in Vlad's headquarters. He and his goons could be anywhere." She flew over to him. "Get on." Danny jumped on the back. "Where to?"
"Uh, that way," Danny said, pointing to a wall. Fortunately, she understood and flew straight into it while Danny turned them intangible. This brought them into a kitchen. "Stop! We need food."
"Ghosts don't eat," she said as she watched him grab random food items from around the kitchen.
"Nope, but humans do. Can I see your bag?" She looked confused but nodded anyway and tossed him her backpack.
She watched on curiously as he dumped various food items into her backpack. "Why would-"
She was interrupted by Skulker barging into the kitchen. "Hello, Ghost Child." He shot a round of ectoblasts towards them but Danny easily made a shield. Skulker eyes narrowed. "Very well, I've been wanting to test out this anyway." His arm started to switch to another device. Valerie took the time to get her own gun out and shoot at him. She hit the ghost and his suit dented. He growled and fired back.
Out of reaction Danny pushed her down to the ground. The halfa bit his lip as he tried not to scream out when you felt a burning sensation tear through the flesh of his upper arm.
Valerie got something out of her pocket and threw it at the ghost. It hit the floor without Skulker's notice. With a tiny beep, it exploded. Leaving nothing but scraps of metal and Skulker's true form in a pile of smoky rubble.
"Whoah, I definitely have to get some more of those!" she said in awe.
"Let's get out of here," Danny said through clenched teeth. He grabbed Valerie's shoulder and turned them intangible. "Up." he instructed.
A minute later and they were flying above the treetops. Danny glanced down at the wound in his arm, the same arm the ghost wolf had bitten earlier. Luckily the wounds from the wolf had mostly healed, so he could examine his new injury clearly. He could see something in there, like a bullet. He tried to phase it out, but it didn't budge. "Ugh, Ghost proof."
"What?" Valerie asked, she didn't bother to turn around.
Danny gave it a little poke and hissed in pain. "When Skulker shot me it hit my arm."
"So?"
He glared at the back of her helmet. "So, he shot a bullet at me. It's ghost proof, so I can't phase it out."
"He tried to shoot me with actual bullets?" Valerie shouted.
"Yeah, apparently. Your welcome, by the way," Danny said haughtily. "You know, for taking a bullet for you."
"That ghost is so dead!" She turned back to glance at Danny. "And thanks...again. We'll figure a way to get it out."
Danny gulped, he couldn't think of a scenario where the bullet would come out painlessly. "So you're helping me now?"
The ghost hunter shrugged. "I guess so. After all, you did free me from Vlad's jail then took a bullet for me." She looked a bit awkward.
Danny gave her a small, appreciative smile. Then he put a hand over the wound and froze it. "It numbs the pain," he shrugged when he saw her looked back at him. "So, did Plasmius capture you?"
He saw her go tense. "Yeah."
"Why?"
"I found his hidden layer. I thought it was yours, but then I saw Vlad sitting there and knew how much you hated him, so you probably weren't involved. Anyways he caught me. I made him angry when I told him I knew his secret. He got really mad and thought you told me about him. Then threw me in his prison."
"Yeah that's what I figured."
Valerie rose an eyebrow. "So, you realized I was missing?"
"Well, yeah. Your class was making a big deal about finding so I-" He stopped as he realized Valerie didn't seem to be listening to him anymore, instead she was focused on something in the distance. "What are you looking at?" he asked as he turned to find what she was so interested in.
"I think I see a boat," she said. "It is! Look!" She pointed to a tall, old fashioned sailboat.
Danny stood up and peered towards the ocean. Underneath dark clouds sat a large pirate ship. He slumped when he realized whose boat it was. "It's Youngblood's ship."
"The ghost who took all the parents?"
"Yeah." He looked back up at it with renewed hope. "Wait a minute. We took out all the ghosts on that ship before! We could do it again!"
"We? You mean me and my friends? All you did was come at the end and fly us back down."
"Oh, right. That's besides the point. The same kids who helped last time are on the island now. We could totally do it again!" he said as he smiled widely.
Valerie hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah, I actually think that could work."
"It's the best chance we have," Danny shrugged.
"Could be the only chance we have," Valerie corrected. "Let's go find my class, tell them the plan. For some reason they really believe in you, so that will help. Oh, and we can get Danny Fenton's help again. He was the one who lead it the last time."
"Val?"
"I think he brought weapons with him. Oh, and-"
"Val!" Danny shouted. She stopped and stared at him. Danny felt like a rock was in his stomach. "Before we go find everybody, there's something I need to tell you. I want you to find out from me, and not from them," he said awkwardly.
"What is it?" she asked, suspicion clear in her voice.
Danny looked down at the long drop below them. "Actually, could we land?" He started to rub his neck. "I'd rather tell you on the ground, just incase you wanna shoot me or something." She crossed her arms. "That probably wasn't the best thing to say," he muttered.
"Okaaay, now you have my attention. What's this all about, ghost?"
Danny winced, he knew he was probably about to break the newfound trust. "Just, please, land so I can show you. It's much better you find out from me than our class."
"Hold up. Our class?"
"Uh, no. Your class." She still looked skeptical. "Valerie please let me show you. It's important."
"What are you not telling me?"
"I'm trying to tell you, Val!"
"Don't tell me you are going to betray me now. Were you just faking this nice guy act again? After all-"
"I'm a halfa," Danny bluttered out before he could actually think about it.
"that just- What?" she shouted, aghast. "You're a- a human?"
Danny gave an ironic smile. "Yup."
"Danny Phantom is a human?" she said, as if the idea was too far-fetched. "Just like Vlad and Danielle." Danny nodded. Valerie stared in confusion.
It took all Danny's willpower to not fly off right then. "Danielle looks just like you... So you must look just like her human form too."
She took off her helmet and studied his face. Danny eyed her worriedly.
"You would have black hair and blue...eyes." Her face went from confusion to shock. "Danny?"
All Danny could think to do is give her a sorry smile.