Nicktoons Unite!
Chapter 4: Who's afraid of the Big Bad Vlad?
Danny, Jimmy, Timmy and Spongebob had finally arrived at the entrance to Vlad Plasmious's mansion. The front doors stood closed. Once again, Jimmy reached for the handle but Danny stopped him. With a swift kick, the teen knocked the doors open. The four then made their way inside.
The mansion was even scarier than it was on the outside; darkness touched every nook and cranny, with flaming torches providing the only light. Two long, curved stairways led to the second floor and in the middle a dark hallway lead deeper into the mansion.
Spongebob began to shake, but tried to sound brave. "This place doesn't look too scary, ah heh, right, guys... right?"
Timmy didn't seem too afraid. "This is so cool," he awed, "it looks somethin' out of a scary movie."
"I bet Vlad has his ghost portals opened somewhere in his mansion." said Jimmy, changing the subject. "If we have any chance of defeating him, we've got to shut them down."
Danny nodded. "Right. Let's start lookin' then."
The teen thus led the group down the hallway first. As they walked, paintings hung on the walls and knight suits stood upright, as if they were guarding something.
Jimmy looked carefully at the artwork and statues. "Vlad sure has quite the collection." he said.
"Personally, I don't think I would want a metal statue hangin' around my house." Spongebob replied.
Timmy piped up, "I'd think it would be cool, then you can put the suit on and march around and pretend to fight other knights." He then posed, holding an imaginary sword and pointed it at Jimmy.
The genius did the same, smiling. "If we did get some medieval suits, then I would totally beat you, Turner."
"I don't think so, Neutron." the bucktooth kid replied.
"Un garde, then!"
The two boys then began an pretend sword fight, waving their imaginary weapons and making clashing sounds. Danny rolled his eyes while Spongebob watched in awe.
The four soon turned a corner and came upon a spectacular sight; a single room with three enormous generators. They hummed and cracked as ghost energy flickered between their antennae.
"Whoa, this must be Vlad's ghost energy devices." Danny said, turning to the three friends, but Jimmy and Timmy were still pretend-sword fighting with each other and Spongebob was watching intently.
Danny snapped, "Guys!" The two kids stopped fighting and turned to the irked teen.
Jimmy then looked behind Danny and saw the devices. "Oh, you found them?" He then looked at the others. "I mean, yes, we found them! Great job, guys!"
Timmy and Danny gave the genius a dull look. Jimmy then continued, "All we have to do now is shut them down."
Jimmy began walking towards the machines, but suddenly, out of nowhere, a large ghost bear with four arms dropped from above. It was followed by a two-headed ghost beaver and a mountain lion with two pairs of eyes.
The three beasts growled at the intruders, causing Jimmy to step back. Danny's fists began to glow, a poof produced a laser gun in Timmy's hands and Spongebob nervously pulled out his bubble solution.
Danny scowled, "Looks like Vlad has talked these ecto-furballs into guarding his ghost energy plant."
"Then I guess we better sent these guys off to the pound." Timmy finished. "Right, Spongebob?" The kid looked behind him, but the sponge was gone. He turned back and gasped.
Spongebob was cautiously approaching the ravenous specter animals, extending his hand. "Aw, its okay, whittle guys. No one's gonna hurt ya."
Suddenly, the four armed bear lunged at the sponge and pinned him to the ground. As it raised it's right paws to deliver the final blow, Danny shot an ecto beam at the beast and knocked it backwards.
The two headed beaver was next; it charged at Jimmy with its mouth open and screeching. The genius took out a taser like weapon and pointed it at the ghost. With a press of a button, the device crackled and shot out a beam of electricity, zapping the monster into submission.
Finally, the four eyed mountain lion sprang towards Timmy. The bucktooth kid pulled the trigger on his weapon and fired a glowing net, encasing and subduing the beast.
"Jimmy! Now!" yelled Danny. The genius rushed to the energy coils. He opened one of the compartments and began working on the wires.
"Okay, cutting off the power... shutting down the devices and..." With a twist of his wrist, Jimmy wretched away a bundle of power cords.
Their energy gone, the ghost energy devices began to shut down. Soon, the power plant grew dark and silent.
Jimmy joined the others. "Those energy draining machines won't be draining any more ghost energy." he explained. "Now all that's left is to find Vlad."
"Where could he be?" asked Spongebob, still shaken by the specter beasts.
Danny thought for a moment. "My guess is somewhere upstairs. Let's go."
The four heroes thus headed back through the hallway and to the front. Climbing up the stairs, they soon came to another pair of doors. Without hesitating, the ghost teen kicked the door opened.
Inside the main room, it looked just like they had seen it since they first came to Danny's world. And sitting on a throne was the evil ghost himself, Vlad Plasmious. "Well, well, if it isn't Daniel and his little sidekicks." he snarled, getting up from his throne. "I seen you were able to escape from the ghost prison."
"You know, maybe next time you should've sent us to Skulker's island; at least he would've been a better challenge." Danny sneered. "Anyway, it's time to give it up, Vlad! We've destroyed your ghost energy portals. It's all over, just give up."
Vlad laughed. "Do you really think destroying my ghost portals would hinder my goals? I can rebuild them and recover the energy. Besides, we now have enough energy to power our device!"
"Our device?" Danny asked. "The Syndicate is building something?"
"Oh yes," answered Vlad, "and soon you will all bow down to the Syndicate and I will make myself ruler of this world and the Ghost Zone!"
Danny took a step forward. "That's not gonna happen, Vlad!" he growled angrily, "Because we're gonna stop you and the Syndicate!"
The evil ghost man swept his hand over to Danny's parents. "Oh, but what about Maddie and Jack Fenton?" he asked slyly, "Surely you won't risk their lives, hm?"
The teen stiffened a little but then raised his glowing fists and yelled, "I'm not gonna let you treat them like puppets! This ends now!" He then flew towards Vlad with his fists in front of him. The ghost man was able to dodge the attack by flying upwards. Before he hit the wall, Danny twisted up and chased after Vlad. The two of them were now flying above Jimmy, Timmy and Spongebob's heads.
"What should we do now, guys?" asked the nervous sponge.
Jimmy watched the battle with increasing worry. "We have to help Danny, that's what. Even if he has had experience with Vlad, he still puts up a good fight."
But Timmy didn't seem too concerned. "The only thing we have to worry about is if Danny was knocked out. Then we'd be doomed." As if on cue, the ghost teen flew past them and crashed into the wall. The three quickly ran over to their fallen friend, only to realize he was unconscious.
Timmy got a scared look on his face. "Okay, we're doomed." he squeaked. A sudden shadow fell over the three kids. Jimmy, Timmy and Spongebob slowly turned around and yelped when they saw Vlad.
"One kid down, three to go." he sneered, lifting his hand and preparing to fire a ghost ray.
Jimmy was about to back away but instead took another look at the lifeless Danny. A determined expression appeared on the genius's face and he took out his Tornado Blaster. The weapon fired and sent Vlad all the way to the opposing wall.
Timmy let out a sigh of relief. "That was close. Nice hit, Neutron."
Jimmy turned to the bucktooth kid. "Thanks but we're not out of the doghouse yet." he replied looking at Danny. Spongebob had rushed over to the unconscious boy and was slapping his face lightly.
"C'mon, Danny, wake up!" the sponge pleaded. Then he had an idea; concentrating, Spongebob squeezed a glob of water from his forehead and onto his hands. He flung it at Danny's face.
The teen gasped and opened his eyes. "Gah!" he cried, but calmed down when he saw the relieved looks on the three boys' faces.
Spongebob gave Danny a hug. "Buddy, you're awake! I thought that mean old Vlad had you."
The ghost hero gently pushed the sponge away from him and stood up. "Vlad's never had nothin' on me. But it looks like he's too strong for us to handle."
Jimmy looked at the far end of the wall and saw Vlad getting up and walking towards them. "I wonder what your parents would do at a time like this." he said.
"Well, they'd probably yell, "ghost!" and charge him with their weapons..." Danny trailed off as an idea struck him. Smiling, he said to the others, "That's it! Cover me, guys!" and shot off towards his family.
Timmy looked on, confused. "What's he doin'?" Before Jimmy could answer, a beam of ghost energy cut him off. The three watched in horror as Vlad came flying towards them.
"Whatever Danny's planning, we have to trust him." he said, aiming his Tornado Blaster again. Timmy pulled out more Shooting Stars and Spongebob placed his Karate Gloves on his hands. In unison, the three of them charged at Vlad.
Meanwhile, Danny had reached his parents' whereabouts; both of them were still in a daze, obliviously to the action around them. "Sorry about this, Dad." said the teen as he went intangible and disappeared into Jack. The man stiffened at first, with glowing green eyes, but relaxed again, smiling.
BAM! An explosion knocked Jimmy, Timmy and Spongebob off their feet and on their backs. Vlad hovered above them, snarling, "Did you honestly think you could defeat me?"
"Is that a rhetorical question?" asked the shaking Spongebob.
The evil ghost raised both of his hands above his head and formed a purple ball of ghost energy. Just as he was about to launch it at the kids, a pair of metal gauntlets grabbed him by the torso and flung him to the wall. Looking up, the three heroes and Vlad gasped. Towering the four was Jack, with a sneer on his face and his eye's glowing green. "Leave those kids alone!" he roared in Danny's voice and picked up the surprised Vlad.
"Catch, guys!" he yelled and tossed the evil ghost to the others.
Jimmy, Timmy and Spongebob smiled, ready this time. They shot their weapons at the defenseless ghost, attacking him with Shooting Stars, wind and karate chops. When he weakly floated over to Jack, the ghost hunter gave him a devastating uppercut, sending him up into the air and crashing on his throne, destroying it.
The three heroes rushed over to Danny's father. "Mr. Fenton, that was amazing!" Jimmy exclaimed. "But I suppose you need an explanation..."
"It's me, Danny." said Jack. "I took over my dad's body so I could use the Ghost Gauntlets."
Timmy stared at him. "You can control people? That's so cool!"
Jack suddenly stiffened and out flew Danny. The teen landed on the ground and said, "It's called Overshadowing and, yeah, it is pretty cool."
The four gathered Danny's parents and placed them in a corner away from Vlad, who was starting to come to.
"I can't believe it!" he whined.
Danny chuckled and turned to the evil doer. "You better believe it, Vlad, you lost!"
Vlad then pressed a button and a green portal opened next to him. "Maybe," he sneered, "but once our device is completed, the Syndicate will be victorious. This is far from over, child, far, FAR from over!" Before anyone could stop him, Vlad Plasmious disappeared into the portal, closing it.
Spongebob gasped. "Oh no, that mean old Vlad got away!"
"At least the Fentons are safe." Timmy assured.
"That's a relief." Danny said, wiping his forehead. "But we better get outta here before my parents wake up."
Jimmy sounded disappointed. "Ah, but I was looking forward to study their ghost hunting technology."
The ghost teen shook his head. "Trust me, ghost teens and ghost hunters don't mix. Let's just head back to your lab and save the other worlds."
The genius nodded and opened a portal. Once the four stepped through it, the vortex disappeared.