Out of all his enemies, Danny's most vicious and personal enemy (not counting Dark Danny) was absent from his life recently. A man who was a part of his parents' lives, a man who wanted to steal Danny's mom away from his dad, a man who was one of the rare few to know Danny's secret.
That man was Vlad Masters, aka Vlad Plasmius.
Danny wasn't sure what Vlad was up to, but he knew Vlad was planning something. There had to be a reason as to why Vlad wasn't annoying him because Danny knew Vlad LOVED making Danny's life more difficult. Because there clearly weren't enough people doing that already. Plus, Vlad would never pass the opportunity to visit his mom and be a total creep around her, while also trying to eliminate his dad from the equation.
"Just what the hell is that Fruit Loop's plan?" Danny thought to himself.
Turns out, Vlad did have a plan. A plan he had been working on for a long while and was about to execute very soon. He was going to enter the world of politics and run for mayor of Amity Park. Not because he wanted to improve Amity Park, but instead to have political power and truly make Danny's life a living hell. Vlad knew he had the funds to create a massive campaign and the natural charisma to convince citizens to vote for him. Sure, he was a rich asshole who made his fortune via not-so-ethical methods but considering how low the bar is in the political world, his flaws wouldn't hinder him in the slightest. It also helped that he could just overshadow voters to vote for him if the polls weren't in his favor.
And the best part of all was that he had the element of surprise, as Danny was left in the dark and had no clue about what Vlad was up to. He would only find out at the same time everyone else did. It was truly the perfect plan.
But recently, Vlad had been hearing…things about Danny from various ghosts, namely Skulker. Things that concerned him a little bit. It seemed that Danny was having some anger issues and was using that aggression against his enemies. Now, Danny's anger wasn't too surprising to Vlad as he completely understood why Danny might be upset. The child put the whole world on his shoulders, and he was starting to break down. That didn't set off any red flags. What set off red flags was how Danny was becoming more violent and cold-blooded. It was like he forgot he was a hero.
He remembered Skulker telling him about his experience with Danny several weeks ago.
"Plasmius, something's up with that Phantom kid. I don't know what it is but it's bad." said Skulker.
"Bad? What could he have possibly done for you to believe such a thing?" asked Vlad.
"I mentioned how I was going to go after the Red Huntress girl, and he suddenly snapped. He destroyed my battlesuit with his Ghostly Wail and when I looked into his eyes, all I saw was anger and rage." said Skulker.
"Hmm. That doesn't sound like the Daniel I know." Vlad thought to himself.
"Whatever's going on with the kid, I want nothing to do with it." said Skulker.
"You don't want to deal with Phantom? Fine. I'll deal with him myself. Phantom doesn't scare me one bit. He may be powerful, but I've been a ghost long before he even existed. I can handle him." said Vlad.
"Your funeral, Plasmius." said Skulker.
And since that conversation with Skulker, things have increasingly gotten worse. But it didn't matter. Vlad was going through with his plan, and no one was going to stop him.
Two Days Later
Danny, Sam, and Tucker were hanging out at the Nasty Burger and while eating, Sam and Tucker took the opportunity to talk to Danny, as they too were very concerned with Danny's recent attitude change.
"Danny?" asked Sam.
"Yeah?" replied Danny.
"We really need to talk." said Tucker.
"About what?" asked Danny.
"You. Danny, we're not liking what you've become recently." said Sam.
"Oh boy, here we go." Danny said while rolling his eyes.
"Danny, we're being serious. You're distant all the time, you rarely call us, and you don't even invite us to do ghost patrols anymore." said Tucker.
"I don't see how that's a big problem. Maybe I like working solo when it comes to ghost patrols." said Danny.
"Or maybe you don't want us there because you're doing things you don't want us to see." said Sam.
"Wow. What friends you two are, automatically assuming I'm doing bad shit behind your backs." said Danny.
"We never said that." said Tucker.
"You don't need to. Besides, there's nothing you should be worried about. There are less ghosts to deal with, I have more time to have a social life, and even Vlad's decided to leave me alone. Everything's fine." said Danny.
"Okay, Danny. Whatever you say." Sam said, not believing Danny's words but wanting to avoid escalation.
"Thank you, Sam. Tucker?" said Danny.
"I mean…if you're so sure things are fine then there's no point in arguing against you. But still, if you DO have problems, please talk to us. We got you through your first week as a ghost and your sexuality crisis. We can handle anything you throw at us." said Tucker.
"Thanks, Tuck. I'll keep that in mind." said Danny.
Honestly, out of his two best friends, Danny would rather explain his problems to Tucker than Sam. To him, Tucker was just easier to talk to and he was more understanding than Sam. Although he doesn't dislike Sam, Danny did find her to be pretty annoying at times, especially when she has her environmental rants. Not to mention, he wasn't a fan of her hypocrisy, with her saying she hates forcing beliefs onto others, yet she did exactly that when she forced the school to eat garbage she called "recyclable organic matter".
So, if Danny was going to dump his problems on anyone, it was going to be Tucker. Or Jazz. Or Lancer. Everyone else was out of the question.
And while the trio was eating, a 'Breaking News' alert appeared on the restaurant's TV and it was about the upcoming mayoral election. Now usually, Danny couldn't give less of a shit about politics. He simply viewed it as a waste of time.
But what he heard on that TV may have broken him completely.
"We have just received word that Vlad Masters has entered himself into Amity Park's upcoming mayoral election, as a write-in candidate." The TV Anchorman reported.
"THE FUCK?!" Danny yelled as he was in total shock. Danny knew Vlad was plotting something, but he didn't expect this.
"Wow, I never thought Vlad was political." said Tucker.
"I…I have to go." Danny said before getting out of his chair and walking out of the restaurant.
Sam and Tucker tried going after him, but Danny stopped them in their tracks and said, "DON'T try to follow me.", before leaving. Once there was enough distance between him and the restaurant, Danny went intangible and flew back to his house.
When he got to his room, he took out his anger on everything near him. Nothing was unscathed. And by the time Danny stopped being an anger tornado, his room looked about as well as his mental state.
Standing in the middle of the room, Danny fell to his knees and let out a sad, angry, desperate, and brutal scream that would give anyone nightmares. Thankfully, neither his parents nor Jazz were in the house to hear him.
When he finally calmed down and collected himself, there was only one thing on his mind.
Stop Vlad by any means necessary.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Although I did say I was going to ignore Season 3, I've ultimately decided to cherry-pick some ideas from that season, mainly the 'Vlad becomes mayor' plot because I do legitimately like the concept. Obviously, it's going to be quite different here than it was in the show, as it will be more serious in tone. In addition, Vlad's character will be less goofy and more douchey. The next chapter will be about Vlad becoming mayor and making Danny more miserable than he already is. Also, I'm working on tons of stories right now, so stay tuned for more updates. Other than that, I hope you all have a wonderful day. Bye for now and stay safe.