Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

Note (12/4/2017): For story purposes I made another ghost oc for this chapter, and trust me when I say there's going to be a few of them sprinkled here and there but this one is probably never going to be mentioned after this since I kinda made them up on the spot. I didn't want to make Owen's escape too easy and the Ghost Zone IS a dangerous place if you're caught unprepared. Other then that I just really want to write about Vlad showing off his own dangerous side for the first time in ages. And the fun part is he's being his old scary evil self to protect Owen! Naw! Anyways, I wouldn't complain if someone liked this random ghost enough to draw. I was kinda inspired by the teenpunk Vlad au fanart I've seen. And sorry this is another short chapter but I had a long day and didn't manage to write as much as I hoped to. Don't worry though, we'll get back to Vlad soon enough and oh boy there's going to be hell to pay once Vlad meets this Nocturne face to face.

~Chapter 5~

Unprovoked

Pick a direction and go, sounds simple right? But in reality, at least in this realm, it only made Owen more lost then he already was and no closer to finding help then he was an hour and half ago. The only good news about all this was when his appearance slowly faded back to normal, well, HIS normal anyway in regards to his necromancer form. That meant Owen was regaining some control over himself at least. Not that it mattered, because holding himself together was getting increasingly difficult...

"Vlad..." Owen muttered like a prayer, stopping to rest on a floating piece of land. With a sigh, Owen rubbed his arms and looked around, feeling lost because that's exactly what he was.

He was startled out of his reverie when something hit him squarely in the back, knocking him forward into the empty air where he floundered a moment, recovering from the blow. Then an angry voice sneered down at him and said, "Yo, pipsqueak, who said you could hang out on my turf?"

Wincing slightly, Owen turned and saw the ghost of some punk sporting a spiked leather jacket and way too many belts hanging over his pants like thick spiderwebs crisscrossing over his hips. His skin was a grayish lavender while his eyes were a poisonous purple and his hair was oily black just like his jacket. Frowning, Owen mustered the energy to reply grumpily, "Well how was I supposed to know that? I don't see your name anywhere. And the pickings must be slim if your turf composes of a single floating rock."

"What'd you say to me?!" the punk ghost snarled, charging another attack of purple energy into his hands.

"Look," Owen huffed, jerking as the pain in his back made his vision go white for a second as his form blurred again and he put up both hands as a peaceful gesture. "Next time someone wanders into your turf, if you'd be so kind as to tell them to leave rather then shooting them first, they'd be more inclined to spread the word not to do it again." Feeling annoyed though, Owen dropped his arms added in a very tired and angry tone of his own, "God, I was just...catching my breath alright?! I'm not staying here in this sad little corner so if you want it, be my guest."

Knowing better then to turn his back on the obviously hostile ghost, Owen began slowly retreating backwards when the ghost rushed at him, grabbing him by the collar then lifting him up so Owen had no choice but to dangle there as the ghost replied haughtily, "You must be new around here if you don't know what that 'sad little corner is' it's the cornerstone marking the beginning of my turf. See that carving you decided to sit your wimpy little butt on? The spider web with the fangs laced into it? It means this is Venom's territory. And if you think I'm going to let you get away with trespassing then insulting me on top of that completely scot-free then you've got another thing-"

Gripping his arm tightly, Owen felt the echoes of this guy's human past rush through him and he muttered tiredly, "I guess you died as you lived, with poison in your veins didn't you? When you turned 18 you ran away from home to get away from your abusive parents and joined a gang. And one day, you were poisoned by a rival member that wasn't happy with how quickly you were raising in rank and how impressed your boss was with your nimble fingers. It was a slow, painful death and it felt like your blood and the air in your lungs had turned into ice while white hot needles were being driven into every inch of your skin. But even so, you always tried to emulate your boss even in death because he was a much better man then your father had ever been and for once there was someone in your life who actually gave a damn about you. I know the feeling...painfully well..." coughing, Owen shivered again and asked, "You don't have to prove anything to me, Venom. I'm just trying to get home to the man I want to call my father some day too. Please! I have to get back to him before I'm caught again!"

Loosening his grip only slightly, Venom stared at Owen with wide eyes. How in the hell did he know any of that?! Was this freak a mind reader? And what was that about being caught 'again?' Could this kid seriously be another one of Walker's escapees or something? If so then any enemy of that stupid warden was a friend of his...

But first things first, Venom could at least hear the kid out to make up for shooting him in the back like that. They'd had way too many trespassers around here lately and to tell the truth he was so done with it and took his frustration out on the next ghost he saw. There was something odd about this kid and it wasn't just his looks, but Venom wasn't interested in any of that. First, he wanted answers. Then he wanted Owen gone.

"Ok fine," Venom sighed, letting go of Owen who coughed and gripped his throat, still shivering and flickering in and out of focus. Geez, was this brat a newly-dead or what? It looked like he was having a hard time controlling his invisibility properly. Shrugging his shoulders though, Venom stuck his hands into his pockets and bent over, breathing in a low menacing voice, "Because I'm such a forgiving guy I'll let it slide this time. But first you're gonna tell me who's out to get you and who the hell you are. You've got five minutes."

"I...I don't think I have five minutes," Owen explained, his eyes starting to roll slightly. "My name is Owen and I was kidnapped by a ghost named Nocturne. He's holding my body hostage in his keep and I need to...I need to tell Vlad what happened and where I am before I can't keep myself separate anymore. I managed to escape but-please, if you could just get a message to him somehow-"

"Hold up!" Venom asked, his eyes wide with realization, "By Vlad you can't mean Vlad PLASMIUS can you?"

Owen nodded, although he was confused about why that should matter. "Yes. W-why?"

Running a hand through his hair and letting out a nervous chuckle, Venom's face went -if possible- deathly pale and he hastily helped Owen to his feet then brushed him off while apologizing in rapid fire which only confused him more. "Why didn't you tell me sooner that you were that necromancer kid he's taking care of? I thought you looked strange even for a ghost but that explains why. Man oh man, I do NOT want to get on Plasmius's bad side. So uh, yeah, I can send one of my boys to pass the message but are you sure you can't get back to him by yourself? Then again, you do kinda look like crap right now. Hmm, well I guess I can help you keep Nocturne off your back if that'll help and you can wait here for him. Oh and...can we just forget about the whole shooting you in the back thing...? It was an accident I swear! I had no idea you were someone that important!"

"Knock it off!" Owen shouted, backing away from Venom and glaring at him suspiciously. "How did you know I'm a necromancer? And how-no, wait, of course you'd know Vlad. But that's-!"

Grabbing Owen by the arm, Venom suddenly pulled Owen behind him and smirked, "No more time to chat pipsqueak, looks like we've got company."

Glancing over his shoulder Owen saw at least a dozen Sleepwalkers heading their way. Great. Looks like Venom had delayed him long enough for Nocturne to finally catch on and send someone after him. But there was no way he was going back quietly. At the same time though, Owen knew he was too weak to fight back especially after that direct hit he took from Venom's last attack.

"Get out of here kid! What're you standing there gawking for? Isn't your old man waiting for you?" Venom snapped shoving Owen away again. "I still don't know how you knew all that stuff about me but one thing is for sure, I'm ALREADY a better man then my pops ever was so now I'm gonna prove it. Sorry I lashed out at ya kid. Now get going!"

Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, Owen nodded and took off again, forgetting to turn invisible which resulted in a few of the Sleepwalker's breaking off from the rest of the group to give chase. Meanwhile, Venom got to have some fun and use these pitiful sacks of dream dust as punching bags to properly vent his anger on rather then some innocent bystander. Then again, if Owen was under the care of Plasmius, he could only wonder how 'innocent' he actually was...