Chapter 8: Vlad's Vengeance

"Daniel Fenton has humiliated me for the last time." Vlad told his ghost vultures.

"Are you giving up, boss?" One of the ghost vultures (or Ecto-Americans as they prefer to be called) asked, causing the other vultures to laugh.

"No, you stupid ghost vulture." Vlad answered with a frown.

"Boss we already told you we prefer…"

"I don't care!" Vlad shouted and the others were scared into silence. "I will make Danny reveal himself to the world."

"But isn't that the only thing that keeps him from exposing you?" Another ghost vulture asked, fearful of what would happen if Vlad's secret identity were exposed.

"There more than one way to skin a cat." Vlad commented and a desperate 'meow' was heard. "I wasn't talking about you, Maddie."

"Another point, boss." A third ghost vulture said. "Don't you think you'd have more chances of finding a girl who doesn't find you a creep if you didn't have a cat named after your ob…"

"Maddie is my sister's cat and it's just a coincidence she's named after Daniel's mother." Vlad insisted.

"Keep telling yourself that." The first ghost vulture whispered.

"I HEARD THAT!" Vlad shouted.

The next day, Danny was having lunch with his friends at Casper High when Dash Baxter interrupted them. "Fenturd, I've got an F on my math test and you know that that means, right?" Dash asked.

"That you should study more?" Danny asked.

"That Denzel Crocker is teaching math?" Tucker asked.

"That you are a dumb jock?" Sam asked.

"Alright, Fentina, just for those jokes you and your would-be-girlfriend made your punishment for my F will be doubled." Dash said and then turned his attention to Tucker. "Nice Fairly OddParents joke, Foley. You're off the hook. This time."

"Awesome!" Tucker celebrated and then noticed his friends glaring at him. "What?"

"As for you, Fenton…" Dash was interrupted by Mr. Lancer. "Mr. Baxter, whatever plans you have with Mr. Fenton will have to wait. You're in trouble."

"But I'm a star quarterback." Dash pleaded.

"Not without the required grades, Mr. Baxter." Mr. Lancer pointed out. "You must earn back your position in the football team."

"No problem, Mr. Lancer. Just assign me some school project." Dash eagerly said, believing he could just get some nerd to do the work for him.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Baxter, the discrepancy between your test grades and the project grades is making the school board doubt it's really you doing the work so you'll have to do a make-up test." Mr. Lancer explained.

"At last." Danny commented.

"What was that?" Dash asked with a frown.

"Never mind that, Mr. Baxter." Mr. Lancer said. "The test is tomorrow and you'd better study."

"Yes, Mr. Lancer." Dash humbly replied.

"Dash, if you need help studying for the test, ask for Paulina's." Danny suggested. "She must know a lot about make-up." Several students laughed at Danny's joke.

"I still can't believe Cow and Chicken didn't go with that wordplay when Chicken had to do a make-up test." Tucker commented.

"I don't blame the cartoon's makers for thinking the trout split was a better idea, Tucker." Danny argued.

"Me neither." Nathan added.

Danny's ghost sense then manifested itself. "Uh-oh." Before Danny had a chance to come up with an excuse, Skulker phased his way in and readied his missile launcher. "Reveal yourself, whelp, or those around you will soon become ghosts as well." The hunter demanded.

Danny was confused. "Uh, you know my secret is the only leverage your boss has to keep me from revealing his, right?" He asked Skulker.

"He's got another plan, whelp." Skulker answered and Danny, feeling like he had no other choice, went ghost in front of his classmates and Mr. Lancer.

"I can't believe it!" Dash exclaimed in horror. "Danny Fenturd is Danny Phan-turd?"

"And he already has a crush on me, which makes things easier." Paulina added with a dreamy expression. "For me!"

"Shallow girl, don't you remember he's already dating somebody else?" Sam asked with a frown.

"A hillbilly whose taste for clothes is even worse than yours, Manson." Paulina haughtily replied. "Now that he can trade up, she's got no chance."

"Forget it, Paulina." Danny replied, briefly forgetting Skulker.

"You can settle for his good-looking best friend." Tucker suggested while grinning.

"I would if he had one." Paulina replied, causing Tucker to frown.

"Happy now, Skulker?" Danny asked, oblivious to the fact an invisible Vlad Plasmius phased himself in with a Plasmius Maximus until Vlad zapped him, reverting him back to Danny Fenton.

"Excellent work, Skulker." Vlad commented. "Now take him to the hideout."

"Yes, boss." Skulker replied and phased himself and Danny away.

Vlad then noticed Mr. Lancer and the remaining students were too shocked to say or do anything and smirked. "Boo." All of them except for Tucker and Sam ran away. "No wonder some ghosts find it funny." He commented.

"You'll not get away with that, Plasmius." Sam stated.

"I already did, Samantha." Vlad said and turned himself invisible.

Outside school, Tucker and Sam regrouped. "What do we do, Sam?" Tucker asked.

"We can raid Vlad Masters' mansion to rescue Danny." The Red Huntress said as she revealed herself.

"Valerie?" Tucker asked in shock.

"How do you know about Vlad Masters?" Sam asked with a demanding tone.

"I've seen Masters and Plasmius merging together after rescuing that ghost girl." Valerie answered. "And, based on Danny Fenton being Danny Phantom, I presume the both of you knew the truth all along. I'm not sure if Danny's evil or not but I know Plasmius is the bigger evil."

"And, does he know you know?" Sam asked, already trying to think of a way to take advantage of the situation.

Meanwhile, in a secret basement under Vlad's mansion, a seriously crazed up fruitloop was gloating to his enemy. "Daniel, you must be wondering why I invited you here." Vlad said.

"Uh, because you're more of a fruitloop than I thought?" Danny asked.

"Ha ha." Vlad sarcastically replied. "No, Daniel. I've brought you here so we can renegotiate our deal."

"Deal?" Danny asked but then remembered. "Do you mean the deal where I don't expose you in exchange for you not exposing me?"

"Correct, little badger. No wonder you sometimes get better grades than a C." Vlad sarcastically commented. "Unfortunately, certain events that took place this summer made me afraid I'm losing that leverage. I'm surprised the Northwests still haven't bribed or blackmailed you into scaring Fiddleford McGucket into selling Northwest Manor back to them for a fraction of the money he bought it for."

"Then why having Skulker force me to reveal my secret to more people?" Danny asked, trying to understand the fruitloop's level of insanity.

"Because I decided I no longer need that leverage, little badger." Vlad explained. "I've realized that, if you expose me, either people won't believe you or I'll no longer have anything to lose by going after your friends or the oaf you call 'father'."

"You MONSTER!" Danny shouted. "You'll see. As soon as the three hours are up, I'll stuff you into a Fenton Thermos and make sure nobody finds it!"

"And that's why I used the term 'renegotiate', little badger." Vlad maliciously replied. "As sure as I am I'd win such a battle, I'm not willing to take the risk so, here's my proposition: I'll leave your family alone outside occasions they invite me to, and that includes your mother, for as long as my secret identity remains secret. What do you say?"

"What about my secret?" Danny asked.

"For as long as it remains secret, you will never know when I might decide to blackmail or expose you, Daniel." Vlad clarified.

Danny frowned but saw no way out. "Okay, Plasmius." He begrudgingly replied. "You win."

"Pleasure doing business with you, little badger." Vlad casually replied. "Don't let the door hit you on your way out, and Skulker has been instructed to attack you as soon as your powers return."

Meanwhile, the Red Huntress and Tucker and Sam landed near the Mayor's mansion. "You remember the plan." Valerie told the others, I'll distract Plasmius while you look for Danny."

"There he is!" Tucker exclaimed while pointing at the front gate. "How did he escape?"

"I don't know but let's ask." The Red Huntress replied as she changed back into Valerie. The three then approached Danny.

"How did you…" Sam tried to ask but Danny interrupted her.

"Not here, Sam." Danny replied. "Let's talk in a more secluded place.

Later, in a park, Danny told his friends about his 'renegotiation'. "So, now you have no way to prevent Plasmius from exposing you whenever he feels like?" Valerie asked.

"Yes, and you don't seem to be surprised about Vlad Masters being Vlad Plasmius." Danny commented.

"I've seen both Vlads merging together after you took that ghost girl away from them." Valerie explained. "How's she, by the way?"

"She's fine. Thanks for asking." Danny answered.

"You're welcome." Valerie replied.

The next day, Danny and his friends were having lunch when Dash Baxter approached them. "Phantom, guess who will remain king of Casper High?" He asked.

"Kwan?" Danny jokingly asked back.

"Really?" Kwan happily asked.

"No!" Dash shouted as he produced a test with a C+. "I will! Now that I'm back in the game, I'm once again free from scorn."

"But not free from training, Baxter." Coach Tetslaff said. "You and the rest of the team must meet me after lunch."

Mr. Lancer then showed up with a TV. "Attention, students." He said. "Mayor Masters has an announcement to make."

To team Phantom's dismay, Vlad announced a team of ghost hunters known as Masters' Blasters. "Masters' Blasters stop disasters!"

"Don't worry, Phantom." Dash said. "You're still our number one hero."

"Even if the boy blasters look good in those uniforms." Paulina commented.

"I think I'm joining the Blasters." Tucker suggested and then noticed Danny and Sam glaring at him. "So we could spy on Vlad, of course." He quickly added.

"Why do you speak of Mayor Masters as a villain?" Paulina asked in confusion.

"He's a politician, Paulina." Dash said like it explained everything. "Anyway, Phantom, now that your secret is known, you can rejoin the A-List."

"No way!" Danny replied.

"The offer is still available, Phantom." Dash replied. "Think about it."

"Danny must work even more to keep up with the Masters' Blasters." Sam said.

"And I must think of a cool rhyme for 'Phantom'." Tucker added.

"First, why would Phantom see the Masters' Blasters as competition instead of a way to lighten his load and have more time for things like dates, study, and thinking over his chance to rejoin the A-List?" Dash asked.

"Good question." Danny commented, afraid of what Vlad would do if he told the truth.

"Second, is a rhyme really necessary?" Dash asked.

"No!" Danny and Sam answered to Tucker's dismay.

End chapter.

Answer to Djinn (Guest): Thank you.

Answer to Leonardo (Guest): O Danny tem coisa mais importante pra se preocupar.