A/N: Hello everyone, sorry nothing much happens in this chapter. But next chapter will be a start of a short arc suggested by Diablo's Raven.
Thalen hurried to the training hall were Catalina told him to meet her after Sylvia left to her home. He opened the door slowly looking around briefly. He felt the woman's ghost signature without seeing her nearby. Pinpointing her location, he gave a confident grin, "I found you."
The woman's disembodied laugh echoed in the hall before she appeared where Thalen was looking at. "Good job. But that's not why I called you. I was going to teach yo-"
"Teleportation," Thalen interrupted.
"Not quite. I'm not feeling up to showing off my super cool tricks yet. I did want to show you something else. You're pretty good at solidifying your ecto-energy."
"You bet I am," Thalen said raising his head.
"Well, maybe I should explain things this way. Whenever you are in your ghost form, your core is constantly creating ecto-energy and when you're not actively using it, it leaks into the environment around you," Catalina explained starting to pace back and forth in front of the teen.
"Okay, makes sense I guess," Thalen said keeping his eye on her.
"And ecto-energy likes to congregate with itself. So all it needs is a little encouragement to form shapes. Uh, just watch," the woman said standing beside Thalen. She held up one of her blue hands and a shimmering blue rectangle formed on the opposite wall. Another and another rectangle formed until a dome formed around one of the training dummies. "Now imagine if you could form a bunch of your ecto-knives without having to be near them," the woman said.
"I could see how this could be useful," Thalen admitted. The woman smirked before closing her hand causing all the shields to disappear. "How do you do that?"
"A lot of focus. Remember what we did this afternoon and our hide-and-seek game? You know how your core feels like and you should be able to recognize your own energy in this room," Catalina said. "I'm sure you can figure it out from there. Oh, I almost forgot. Vlad wanted to talk to me. Uh, have fun and try not to overexert yourself. And don't go to bed too late-"
"Yes, mom," Thalen said annoyed at the advice.
Catalina smirked, "I think I'm more like the crazy aunt than mom. Good night, Thalen."
DP~DP~DP
Vlad looked up from the ghost gauntlets to see Catalina walk in. "Oh no, I know that look. What's wrong?" Catalina said pulling herself onto one of the lab tables and sitting on it.
"Besides the fact that you're reckless with your abilities?" Vlad said pointing toward one of the monitors in the lab. He knew what was on the screen; he had watched the fight between the woman and the strange ghost. He turned his dark blue gaze to Catalina who actually looked sheepish.
"I wanted to get out of there as soon as I could. Besides, I destroyed the portal and that's the most important bit," Catalina said.
"The ghost nearly destroyed your ecto-shield," Vlad pointed out rewinding the video to show when the ghost punched the woman's shield. "And he almost hit you. With that power-"
"Wow, you actually sound worried. Vlad, I won. Pft, if I wanted to I could have destroyed him," Catalina said inspecting the microscope that was sitting beside her.
"Then why didn't you?" Vlad asked knowing he would have done so in the woman's place. He briefly wished that the woman's and his situation was switched; that he was the one with his ghost half and Catalina lacking it.
The woman was silent which was odd, "I don't know. It's called mercy, Vlad."
"And he would show you none," Vlad said frustrated with the naivety of the woman. Both became quiet realizing that the conversation wasn't about the strange blue-haired ghost anymore and shifted to their enemy.
"So the ghost gauntlets," Catalina broke the silence.
"I can repair them, but I don't have the materials to do so. I'll need to buy them," Vlad explained knowing that he would have to leave the safety of the underground tunnel system. "So I'll be leaving you with the kids."
"Nope," Catalina said popping the 'p'. "We'll all come with you. You can't get away that easily," she said with a smile.
"Of course," Vlad said turning back to the ghost gauntlets.
DP~DP~DP
Abigail sat with perfect posture; Thalen was sinking in the plush couch beside her. Alex was on the love seat with Sylvia. "So what are we doing now?" Thalen asked the two adults in front of the teens.
"We have some important matters to discuss," Vlad answered. Catalina nodded beside him with a smile. "I believe we told you about the ghost gauntlets," Vlad started. The teens nodded that they did hear about the gauntlets.
"You're not planning on separating us from our ghost halves are you?" Alex asked suspicious.
"No, I think we learned our lesson the first time," Catalina said.
"We're planning on using the gauntlets to separate Danny Phantom from Plasmius. We hope that this would help us to weaken Dan," Vlad said before being interrupted.
"It'll also even the odds greatly. With Plasmius and Vlad back together, we'll have the upper hand," Catalina said excitedly. Abigail could tell that the woman was thinking about something.
"But that means you'll have to be really close to the fight," Sylvia said looking at Vlad. Abigail hadn't thought of that and she was concern for the man. Vlad narrowed his eyes at the teens as if he was insulted by their insinuation that he was helpless.
"Don't worry about Vlad. I'll be keeping an eye on him," Catalina said before adding, "Not a word Thalen." The thief chuckled at something unsaid.
"However, there is a good possibility that this plan will not work," Vlad stated getting the group back on track. "In that case, you have to destroy Dan," Vlad said calmly. Catalina clenched her fists beside him, but remained smiling.
"Why don't we contain Dan in the Fenton Thermos?" Abigail asked; she heard about the device from Danny once.
"The thermos would be a temporary solution," Vlad answered, "It won't hold Dan forever."
"And Vlad will still be a boring human if we trap Dan,"Thalen said callously.
"Thalen," Abigail admonished the teen. Like the times before the former thief dropped the subject. Abigail knew that the other teen could be nice, but she wished that he would show some empathy to the two adults.
"Thank you, Abigail. As I was saying whether or not you are planning to fight Dan, it is important for you to know how to destroy a ghost."