EDIT 8/18/17: fixed any grammar/spelling mistakes, made sure names weren't repeated too many times, changed conversations a bit to make them flow better
Hey, I'm back with another installment of: If Vlad Wasn't a Fruitloop! :D
Welcome all! I can't believe it… I actually got reviews and follows and favorites OH MY! Thanks to everyone who reviewed and even read this at all.
To Mistress Soul: Thanks for reading and reviewing! It is a good change from most of the fanfics on here… Not to say they're bad or anything. I just kinda wish more people considered this idea… Anyway, thanks for being the first to review! Hope you like this chapter!
To The Overlord of Fiction: Thanks for reading and enjoying my attempt at this, lol! I hope you like this chapter too!
To DannyPhantomPhantom: Thanks for reviewing! And about your question, I thought it would be funny to have them both refer to each other by their respective nicknames, despite Vlad's un-Fruitloopy-ness. I'm sorry if that seems strange… If it doesn't work out in the end I can always go back and change it. Also, it is very refreshing to know that Clockwork approves of my alternate timeline! xD Thanks again and I hope you like this chapter also!
To Invader Johnny: Haha, I love that closing thing! Thanks so much for reading and reviewing! I have too; I've always loved reading stories like this one, but sadly there aren't many, and the ones I found didn't end or go the way I wanted them to… So I made this! Sometimes if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself, right? Haha, thanks again and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
To Guest (You probably know who you are!): Thanks for R&Ring! Haha, yeah I'd love to write about Dani too, but I just have to think of a way to get Vlad to make her, like, by accident or something… Hopefully I'll come up with a believable idea before then. I wish Vlad wasn't so cruel to her in the actual series. Anyway, thanks for offering! If you have any ideas about how to write the chapters after Maternal Instincts, I'd love to hear it! I already have a phantom (haha) of a plot for that one, but I haven't thought much about after that. Thanks again! :)
Also, thanks to Sockenmonster01, RangerHorseTug, Force Smuggler, Mistress Soul, FanfictionAddict13, DannyPhantomPhandom, Slaycer, Invader Johnny, EmeraldTooth, Professor Cuddles, and rachelapril1006 for following and/or favoriting this! I almost DROWNED in alert emails yesterday and this morning! Thanks so much guys!
Special thanks to Professor Cuddles for faving and following me as an author, too! It's just the first chapter and someone already chose to do that! SQUEEEE! Like seriously, this stuff never happened (at least this quickly) on my last account…
ANYWAY, that's all for my gigantic Author's Note (though probably not the longest you've ever seen…). Props to anyone who actually read it all the way through.
Get ready for the first filler chapter before the rewrite of Blazes of Grey next chapter! J Don't worry, they will both be posted today. I hope you can stand this much of Vlad's un-Fruitloopy-ness!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Danny Phantom, but I do own this entire plot.
Meeting Masters
"Danny, I'm not sure this is such a good idea..."
"Yeah dude, I mean this Vlad guy-"
"You guys don't understand," Danny argued to his friends, Sam and Tucker. It was a few days after the reunion, and the boy was just now telling about his experience at Vlad's mansion. The three were at the Nasty Burger at a corner table, trying to talk quietly so no one would overhear.
Sam frowned, "Danny, rich guys are almost never on the good side. I'm not sure it's wise to put this much trust in him after such a small amount of time-"
"You don't understand, Sam!" The teenage half-ghost raised his voice a little and then glanced around nervously. Seeing no one watching them, he continued, "Vlad may be the only other person like me in the entire world! He's the only one that understands what I'm going through-"
"Oh and we don't understand?" The purple-eyed girl snapped, slapping a hand down on the table. "Danny we've been with you since the very beginning, and we've been the ones helping you all along, and now you go and say that we don't understand?!"
The halfa's eyes glowed radioactive green for a moment, startling the two humans in front of him. Danny was about to argue more when he took a deep breath, and his eyes turned back to their normal light blue.
He looked down in regret, "Ugh, I'm sorry guys... It's just that, it's sorta hard adjusting to having these powers, and Vlad has had them for 20 years now! Think of all the things he could teach me!"
"We know dude," Tucker said, "But still, you should probably be on guard for the first few months, at least, just so you know you can trust him."
"Sure I will Tuck!" The youngest Fenton smiled, "But seriously, he saved me from Skulker. How bad could he be?"
"We just want you to be careful, dude." Tucker warned with a shrug, pulling out his PDA, Veronica, to do something geeky on it (as usual).
"I still think you're being over-dramatic." The ghost boy muttered before getting up and walking toward the entrance. "Well, I'm headin' off to Vlad's."
"Wait, wait, you're going now?" Sam asked, startled.
"Well he told me to come every Tuesday after school, so-"
The goth girl interrupted, "We could come with, just to meet Vlad and be there if anything happens-"
"Nothing will happen," Danny said with a smile, "but fine, come on!" And the trio went on their way to FentonWorks, with Sam dragging a whining Tucker behind her.
Within about 30 minutes, they had gone through the Ghost Zone to Vlad's football-shaped-portal (at that point, Danny had told them that Vlad was a major Cheese-Head, and to get ready for the green and yellow themed-rooms, much to Sam and Tuck's dismay).
They went through the portal and emerged into Vlad's lab. The older halfa was nowhere to be seen.
"Hello?" Danny called.
All of the sudden, low, evil cackling came from the corner. A dark figure with a pink glow and glowing red eyes came forward slowly and dramatically.
The trio jumped and gaped at the dark figure. Then, it flew forward laughing in a lighter tone, "Haha, you fell for that, didn't you?" He shook his head smiling, "Just because I'm an old man doesn't mean I can't play a few tricks every once in a while!" Sam and Tucker stared at the ghost's vampire-like appearance in surprise, from the blue skin to the black, spiked hair to the red and grey cape flowing behind him.
"Vlad!" Phantom shook his head, "That was creepy, man. You know I'm always up for pranks, but that was just plain wrong..." The two half-ghosts looked at each other before smiling a little at the exchange.
The ghost sent a suspicious look to the two humans beside the younger half-ghost, "Who-?"
"Oh they're my friends Sam and Tucker," Danny explained, motioning to each as he said their names. "Sorry, I completely forgot to ask you if they could come... But they can definitely keep a secret, I promise."
"Hey Mr. Masters, can I have an autograph? Or some cash maybe?" Tucker asked, wiggling his eyebrows in a way that Sam and Danny never wanted to witness again. The Goth girl kicked Tucker in the shin, bringing on a quite unmanly yelp.
"And, uh, they kind of already know... sorry, again." Phantom rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
The man shrugged, "No worries, I expected as much. It's a pleasure to meet you two." Vlad smiled a little and turned around. "Now, come along to my training room and we can start!"
After taking a short tour of the main part of Vlad's Mansion, the black-haired ghost had brought his guests to a room beside the lab, otherwise known as the old "training room" (which hadn't been used for years).
"No, Daniel, hold your arm like this!" Vlad gently adjusted his student's posture, once they had started training. So far, they had started at the beginning with aiming and posture.
Sam and Tucker stood off to the side, watching the exchange in amusement.
"Right..." The ghost boy blushed at Tucker's snicker and tried again. This time, his ghost ray hit only slightly off the center of the target, instead of on the edge.
After the halfa had successfully hit each of the dozen targets in Vlad's training room, the blasted circles lowered into the floor.
"Good job Little Badger." The older half-ghost praised, causing both of Danny's friends to laugh at the nickname, "You seem to have aiming down. Now, we'll start on power levels." A new set of targets rose up from the floor.
"What?" Danny frowned and crossed his arms. "Vlad, not to burst your ghost shield-bubble, but I kinda learned this weeks ago. When're we gonna get to the cool things, like duplication and teleportation and other stuff like that?" The younger halfa asked excitedly.
"Young Daniel, the best way to take hold of your full potential is to start at the basic skills and work your way up." The billionaire explained. "I guarantee this training will make you a better fighter even if you haven't learned the more advanced stuff yet. All of these skills will definitely come in handy at some point."
"Okay, fine, Fruitloop," Phantom rolled his eyes good-naturedly, and Vlad did the same at the nickname, "Let's try it then."
"You need to be able to use different power levels in your ghost rays, because there are some instances that you wouldn't want to harm a ghost or enemy," The red-eyed ghost explained, "For example, if a human or a "good" ghost was overshadowed by an evil ghost, you would want to use just enough force to push the enemy back or knock them off balance, so you could rush in and punch the ghost out."
Danny nodded, "That makes sense…" and he turned to the first target and blew it to bits with the strongest ray he could muster. Then he aimed at the one beside it, and sent a small, thin ray that gently knocked it over, causing no damage at all.
"Well, that was easier than I thought," He grinned proudly.
"Hold on for a second," the mentor piped in. "The hard part is not controlling your blasts, but knowing when to control them, and doing it without pausing or doubt."
And the lesson continued. By the evening, both halfas were tuckered out (but the reason wasn't only that Tucker was present… however, that did have an effect) and ready to stop for the day.
At first, Danny had thought that starting at the very beginning was unnecessary, but he didn't realize how much he could get better at even those basic skills. Of course, knowing what to do and how to do it instead of improvising (which was the ghost boy's specialty) helped, too… But overall, the raven-haired boy was pleasantly surprised about how much he had improved on.
After meeting Vlad and watching the session, Sam and Tuck both agreed that they still didn't entirely trust the man, much to Danny's annoyance. However, the trio all agreed that having another, more experienced half-ghost there for support and assistance would definitely not be a bad idea. From that day, Vlad was officially an honorary member of Team Phantom.
The goth and techno-geek just hoped that the older halfa didn't betray their trust in the future.
That night, Vlad Masters settled down in his bed earlier than usual. He couldn't take his mind off his second meeting with Danny multiple hours before; his first experience teaching had gone surprisingly well. Despite Danny's inexperience and stubbornness, at times, he was actually a great student with loads of potential.
At that moment, the billionaire felt more content than ever before, when he spent his time scheming against Jack and lusting (for appearance and personality, though… Vlad wasn't that kind of person…) for Madeline. The man began to wonder if it was possible for a ghost to change its obsession…
A ghost without its obsession would soon fade away, the man knew, which was the equivalent of dying. Even halfas had obsessions that were imperative to their survival. The first half-ghost had a feeling that his student's obsession was protecting his family, and by extent Amity Park. But, he wasn't so sure about his own obsession now…
As Vlad started drifting off, he seemed to hear a silent voice saying, "Only time will tell…"
Welp, that's the end of the filler chapter. I hope you liked it, despite it being a little shorter and without a main plot. I just needed to set a few things up for the next chapter, which is already written BTW. So, you'll get two updates today. :)
How you y'all like the Clockwork references? xD I'm not sure why I keep doing that, but having Clockwork say something wise about time is a good way to end a chapter...
Another thing: I'm sorry if I didn't reply to your review, if you didn't get a response. I only got 5 alert emails for reviews, but the description says there's 7. So, I'll reply next chapter if they come through by then.
Anyway, R&R please, and watch out for Blazes of Grey, coming soon to fanfiction near you! (excuse my stupid jokes, lol)