Danny Phantom Fan Fiction ❯ Bittersweet Future ❯ If A Hero Got Fed Up... ( Chapter 1 )

If A Hero Got Fed Up…

Bright emerald flashed across the sky. A thunderous sound, and then the ground shook in agony. Asphalt flew in retreat from the emerald flash; a tinge of pastel pink answered the wavering green. Pink attacked first this time, shaking the wine bottle green dome and shattering it like glass. A grunt of effort and the wielder of the green energy charged a blast in his hand until lime shaded, and fired. It bounced effortlessly off a cherry bomb colored shield, harmlessly absorbed.

A wicked cackle rung through the air, mocking, grating, and confident. He's always calm, the green wielder thought irately. He fired a quick succession of volley shots meant to throw off his attacker's balance. To no avail, they were avoided deftly. The green wielder growled deep in his throat. Was there no shaking this guy? A strong pink blast slammed into him, cutting off his thoughts.

"So my boy," a strong baritone drawled, "Ready to admit defeat? Or must I literally crush you beneath my heel before you yield?" The voice's owner punctuated his last remark by hovering his foot over the top of the green energy wielder's back. In response, he disappeared clean through the concrete only to appear a few feet off.

"Fat chance Vlad! You'd have a better chance curing your insanity. Unless," the boy paused in mock concern, "it's terminal?"

A smug smirk crept across Vlad's face, "The hard way then." A pink blast flew from his hands, and they were back at it again.

The green wielder flew up into the sky to avoid the blast, and gain the high ground.

Vlad quickly followed and sent another more vicious blast in his direction. Using his greater speed, he easily dodged the blast only to find himself running from a slew of them.

He dived down and zipped around near the ground. Dodging around a few parked cars, he used the few solid objects around to throw off Vlad's aim. Despite the younger ghost's spunk, it was quickly becoming obvious who had the upper hand.

"You know this would be much simpler, Daniel, if you just gave up now? I don't see why you persist in starting fights with your superiors." Danny charged and plowed into Vlad.

The two tumbled through the air for a moment before reorienting themselves in the air face to face.

"Superiors? Is that the best you've got today? And I didn't start this you did!"

Vlad responded by firing another ecto-blast.

Danny panted and put up another shield that was quickly destroyed.

"Details my boy. You came over to my home and began this fight."

"Only because you can't seem to keep your spies from out of my house!" Danny screamed back, an ecto-blast fired to punctuate his point.

Vlad calmly raised another shield, and knitted his eyebrows together in annoyance. "Please Daniel, I have to keep an eye on my," Vlad paused to dodge a sloppily thrown punch from Danny. "Favorite and most promising asset."

"Asset?" Danny questioned incredulously. "I'm not one of your investments."

Vlad smiled before continuing, "I beg to differ. I've put a significant amount of time into your education already, even if you don't yet see it." He threw another attack Danny's way, and watched with muted interest as he turned intangible to avoid it.

"Well that was a waste of time on your part." Danny spat back while intangibly flying through a few more blasts. "I'm still nothing like you." He lost intangibility and fired a particularly large blast at Vlad, only to find him no longer there. Danny blinked at the burnt spot where Vlad had last occupied, and swiveled around looking for him. A hand closed around his black jumpsuit and levered him up.

"And that," Vlad stated with a dark chuckle in his tone, "is why you lose Daniel." Vlad held a glowing pink glove to Danny's face.

"Leave him alone!" A voice called from below where they were floating. The two of them snapped out of their personal battle, and focused on the owner of the voice below. A dark haired girl was leveling a large silver and green gun in their direction.

"How cute. And you think you'll be able to hit me, and not him?" Vlad questioned smugly.

"Your ego is big enough to aim for Fruitloop, now let me go!" Danny hissed.

Vlad smiled in dark humor before glancing beneath him again. "Very well Daniel. Girl," he addressed the one aiming with the weapon again, "catch." He tossed Danny directly into her, and watched in amusement as they disentangled themselves from each other. "It seems the time for games is at an end today. Daniel do yourself a favor and remember to actually come prepared next time. Well," he paused to chuckle, "as prepared as you ever manage in any case." And with that Vlad disappeared in a puff of pink smoke.

Danny, who had just managed to get back on his feet, glared up just in time to see the tail end of his teleportation. He fisted his hands in a show of impotent anger, and turned to help the dark-haired girl off the ground. "Sorry Sam." Danny grumbled.

"It's alright. He's the one who threw you, the ass." Danny snickered in response as Sam leaned over and picked up her fallen weapon. She hummed and looked it over for a bit, "at least it isn't broken or scratched."

"Which means I don't have to think of an excuse for why it is, only where it went." Danny replied. He scrunched up his eyebrows and glanced around. "By the way," he started and caught Sam's attention, "where is Tucker?" No sooner had he asked, than his last wayward friend came bounding around the corner.

Sam smirked and responded, "I left him a few blocks back when I started to sprint. You two need to get in better shape."

"Hey I get plenty of exercise! What do you call all of the ghost hunting I do?" Danny retorted.

"It doesn't count if you aren't human at the time, and speaking of which…" Sam trailed off and began looking for a place for Danny to change back.

Danny for his part found a still in one piece parked car perfect cover, and flew over it. In a flash of nearly blinding white light, he transformed back. Danny came from behind the car, just as a nearly exhausted Tucker caught up with the two of them.

"Hey…guys…" He wheezed through big gulps of air. "Where…"

"Vlad disappeared, probably to plot how to marry mom while looking over his spy cams again." Danny shuddered as he answered Tucker's open ended question. He frowned in took in his surroundings. Blasted cars fell apart in half scorched half melted disarray. Chunks of concrete littered the area, and not just on the ground. Plants were singed or outright burning. It was a mess, and more importantly, the appropriate authorities could be heard speeding to the area by the minute.

We need to get out of here. Danny thought morosely, still in a poor mood over the lost fight. He voiced an approximation of his thoughts, "Come on guys, we don't want to be here when the police show up." His friends nodded in agreement, and they started the trek back to his house. It was 11pm, it was past curfew, and he hadn't succeeded and doing much more than be target practice.

And as if this day needed to get any worse, since I'm currently breaking curfew with my friends in tow, I'm going to be grounded forever. Well…I'm just going to have the current grounding extended again. Just my luck. Danny was brought out of his musings when he turned the last corner to his house. "Hey guys, you go home from here, I can walk the rest of the way myself, and I don't need my parents yelling at you too." Danny stated. When they looked like they were going to object out of some friendly solidarity, he held up his hand.

"Come on guys, you're going to be in enough trouble with your parents as it is, just…just do this for me ok?" Tucker shrugged in response, and turned to leave. Sam looked about ready to argue the point, knowing that if they showed up, his parents were less likely to punish Danny as harshly, when Tucker grabbed her by the arm.

"Alright Danny," she said when the tugs got more insistent on her left arm, "but you better talk tomorrow, we want to know what Vlad's problem tonight was."

Danny nodded tiredly; vaguely grateful she hadn't started tonight. He was exhausted. It was the third fight this week, and while he had started this particular one, the other two had been Vlad's and Skulker's doing sequentially. He trudged up the street, barely having the energy to drag his legs up the stairs now that the fight was over and the adrenaline had left his battered frame. Damn. He thought each time he lifted his legs up the next step to the front door of his house. The house was quiet, which he knew was actually a bad thing. His parents were obviously waiting on the other side of the door. If I wasn't so sure sneaking up into my room with my ghost powers would make it worse I would. Danny mentally groused as he slid his key into the lock. He had barely started twisting it when it flew open on its own. Well, that is if I still had the energy to transform.

He amended in his head just as the door opened to reveal his scowling parents. He didn't have to be a mind reader to know what they were thinking. Something to the tune of, 'Danny! Why can't you just come home on time? This is the 5th time this week, are you even trying?' Danny sighed wearily, ready for the onslaught of concerned yelling, and angry condemnation for disobeying again. He wasn't disappointed. His mother and father had spent the better part of the last hour rubbing in his apparently appalling lack of obedience and considerable rebellious nature. He had another two weeks added to his nearly never ending grounding sentence; he had lost count of when he was supposed to actually be no longer grounded.

He was also pretty sure he would never actually stop being grounded in any case. He rolled over in his bed, trying to find a comfortable position. His sore muscles and not air soft mattress were making it quite a bit more difficult than necessary activity. He sighed and tried the 6th position of the last hour, and happily found it free of excessive pain. Didn't have to throw me through that wall. Fruitloop… Just the thought of his face, smug and calm as usual, ruined what little comfort he could get from being in minimal pain. He frowned and decided to concentrate on something much more pleasant. Like…like Paulina at the beach. Yeah that's better. A vague sense of happiness settled over his mind, and he drifted off to sleep.

The next day, Danny was walking, relatively refreshed, next to his two best friends. "I can't believe he bugs my freaking room! Talk about an invasion of privacy. I mean sheesh, I'm not sure what's worse. That he bugged my room, or that he called me an 'asset' of his last night, and he thinks he has some kinda right to bug my room in the first place. It would be different if it was just some kind of evil plot of his, where he needed to know my schedule or something, but no, it's him being entirely creepy and just… I don't know, watching me. No reason, nope, just to do so. Freak." Danny finished his little rant with a huff, and waited for his friends to respond. He didn't have to wait long for them to digest the new weird info.

"So you're telling me, he's been watching you sleep, listening to us hang out and our conversations, and basically being a stalker creep, just because?" Sam was practically screaming by the end of it.

"Yeah that's exactly what I'm saying." Danny agreed angrily. "I don't know, maybe he's gotten crazier since the last time we spoke, because at least he had reasons last time, but now? Geez, maybe he's trying to throw me off my game you know?"

Sam raised an eyebrow at the suggestion.

"Yeah maybe," Tucker started with a shake of his head, "or maybe he's just twisted and bored. Ever think you're his only entertainment?"

"That…is the most disturbing thought I've ever heard. Thank you Tucker, now I'm going to have bored Vlad watching 'Danny T.V.' stuck in my head for the rest of the day."

"Hey man! It's not my fault he's nuts." Tucker hastily replied in his defense.

"Yeah whatever, all I know is, I'm sick of his craziness ruining my life, and good mood. First running for mayor, and now spying, he needs to get a freaking life." Tucker opened his mouth, but Danny cut him off. "One that doesn't revolve around me," Danny paused in thought before adding, "or my parents either." He shook his head and began climbing up the steps to Casper High.

"Look on the bright side dude, at least it's Friday, and you know what that means."

"Sorry Tucker. Still grounded remember, no Nasty Burger for me." Danny griped irritably. "Besides, aren't you two grounded?" Danny asked. He had made it up nearly to the top when a shudder and a light blue wisp alerted him to supernatural company. Oh great. As if I need any more trouble this week. Danny thought miserably while scanning the area.

Sam and Tucker caught onto his reticence, and stopped at the top of the steps.

Before they could ask what was wrong, a terrified scream echoed across the front of the school. Everyone's eyes traveled upward as a trio of familiar ghostly vultures dive bombed the students on the outside of the school. With all of the attention focused upward, it was easy for Danny to find cover to transform. He flew out over Casper High's front lawn, and met the lead vulture mid-dive. With a swift kick to the gut, Danny cut off the lead bird's dive. "Didn't anyone ever tell you vultures only eat road kill? The only things dead around here are you."

"Very funny ghost boy. I'll have you know, we're too old to be eating something already dead."

"Yeah it gives us indigestion." The vultures quipped back. Danny rolled his eyes, and fired a small ecto-blast into the vulture who hadn't responded.

"Yeah well," he started while punching a second bird, "you're going to have to find a meal somewhere else that isn't my hometown." The third bird he hadn't attacked snuck up and grabbed Danny from behind with its talons.

Danny twisted in its grasp trying to free himself.

The vulture dived, and tossed him towards the concrete.

Danny turned intangible and slipped through the ground. "Why don't you guys just give up? It'll save me the trouble of having to clean up your goopy carcasses after I'm done with ya'." Danny floated back up above the front lawn of Casper High and crossed his arms.

"Can't say we can ghost boy."

"Yeah we're on official business." He was quickly surrounded by the ghostly vulture trio. Two of them dived towards Danny again with a battle cry.

Danny for his part rolled his eyes, turned intangible again, and then blasted the third vulture attempting to sneak up from beneath him. The other two vultures landed in a heap on the ground, having run into each other when Danny turned intangible. A loud bell rang through the air, and Danny sighed. Great. Late for first period again. He scrunched his eyebrows in annoyance, and blasted the retreating forms of the vultures.

"And stay gone." He said while looking for a place to transform. He floated behind a large oak tree and was bounding up the front steps moments later. A few minutes after that, he was seated late, and with another detention, in his first period math class. Sam and Tucker passed him sympathetic looks when the teacher wasn't looking to which Danny shrugged his shoulders. The class ended soon enough, and allowed the three of them to catch up in hallway.

"Sorry about the detention dude, that sucks."

"Not like it's your fault Tuck. It's not even Mr. Fallucane's fault, it's those stupid vultures."

"What did they want?" Sam asked.

"I don't know something about official business in town. Whatever. I bet it has something to do with Vlad. Those three work for him."

"Yeah but what does he want Casper High?"

"Nothing." Danny answered hastily. "Well, I have one idea." He grumbled out. When he didn't elaborate, Sam passed him a pointed look. Danny sighed and stopped in front of his locker. "Ok, ok. Vlad's probably just testing me or something. What with him wanting to teach me or something."

"Trying to keep on your toes?" Tucker offered.

"Yeah something like that, but I'm sick of it." Tucker and Sam shared a look, before catching up with Danny in the hallway.

"Yeah I know he's an obnoxious prick," Sam started, "but that doesn't mean you should go starting trouble with him Danny."

"Why not? He starts stuff with me all the time."

"Yeah but dude, you've been in two fights with him already this week. You're exhausted. I mean sure you can handle those vultures and the ecto-pusses, but that doesn't mean you should start another fight with him this week if you can help it." Danny opened his argue the point when Sam interrupted him.

"Come on Danny. Just give yourself some time to recover, and I'm sure you'll kick his butt all over Amity Park." Danny frowned when he realized his friends were right. It didn't make him not want to fight Vlad anymore, but he did need to rest. Besides, as long as those vultures were the only thing he had to deal with today, it wouldn't be so bad.

"Alright guys. You're right. I do need to rest, but he keeps messing with me, if not in person, he gets his lackeys to do it for him." Danny sighed as they neared his second period class. "Look guys, I appreciate the advice, and I'll try to keep it. I promise I'll leave this alone till next week, as long as he and his cronies leave me alone the rest week. Deal?"

Sam frowned, but knowing that was they were going to get out him, nodded her head.

"Deal dude. And you had better keep that promise." Tucker said, as he and Sam walked off towards their classroom a few rooms down. The rest of the day passed uneventfully until lunch. Besides the gurgling lukewarm mess the lunch ladies were attempting to pass off as nacho dip, the cafeteria was in good shape.

Danny set his tray down next to his two best friends and took a seat. "So, how about this bean dip?" Danny said with a chuckle.

Sam scrunched her nose in disgust before turning back to her home made lunch of wheat grass and soy bean salad. "I say it needs more meat." Tucker stuck a spoon into the glop and stirred it forlornly.

"Hey come on Sam, it doesn't even have meat in it. What's the matter?" Danny held a spoon filled with the stuff out towards Sam.

"Ew Danny no. That stuff is not organic. And that juice probably was made with meat. I can smell the suffering from here."

Tucker rolled his eyes, and swallowed down a mouthful of the questionable substance. "Yeah right Sam. The only one suffering here is me. I can promise there was no meat anywhere in the making of this meal. I can taste the vegetables." Tucker stuck his tongue out and wiped it vigorously with his sleeve.

"And what's wrong with vegetables?" Tucker opened his mouth, but Sam cut him off. "Nothing that's what. But I can tell you what's wrong with meat!"

Danny smiled at his friends' antics. They really couldn't go more than a day without arguing the importance or moral failings of those two food groups. Unfortunately, his good mood was ruined by a little light blue smoke. Unbelievable! What it's only been 3 hours. He couldn't leave well enough alone for three freaking hours? Danny thought irately.

A quick scan of the room produced no ghostly entities. Danny frowned as the minutes passed and nothing showed up. He was about to brush the incident off as a passing spirit and mediate between his best friends, when two familiar ghost octopus flew through the ceiling. Danny glared at the two of them, before the cafeteria erupted into chaos. A few swift punches and kicks later, and he had scared the two ecto-pusses out of Casper High.

Sam grumbled as she slid the last of the wasted bean dip from the cafeteria kitchen out of her hair. "Well…that was-"

"Awful is what it was." Tucker supplied.

"I agree; I'll stink like this bean mess for the rest of the day. I don't know if I'll ever get the smell out of my clothes. Nasty." Sam griped and scrubbed at the remaining residue with a napkin. She scowled when it refused to come off her skirt, and only ground deeper into the fabric. "Fan-freaking-tastic." She grumbled.

"NO!" Tucker cried out while cradling something in his arms.

The scream shocked Sam out of her staring trance with her likely ruined skirt. "Tucker what's-"

"This stupid bean juice totally trashed my PDA! I'll have to clean it out before it'll work again. I don't even know how long it's going to take, but I'll be without it for at least the rest of the day, and Sam-" Tucker looked at her with gravity in his gaze. "I left my back-up at home." Tucker finished with an extra hug to his non-working PDA.

Sam shook her head; she knew he'd have it working like new before the weekend was out. He was a techno-wiz, but still being without it for even a few hours was sure to drive him nuts. Which by proxy meant Tucker was going drive her and Danny crazy too. Speaking of which, he's been awfully quiet. Sam walked over to where Danny was sitting in exploded bean muck. "So…" She offered to get him talking. When he didn't take the bait, she squatted into the mess with him. Not like this skirt's ever getting clean anyway. She waited patiently for him to start talking.

Danny clenched and unclenched his teeth and squeezed his eyes even tighter shut. He was so angry he couldn't get them to stop flashing green, and he didn't need more trouble today. "Danny?" Sam poked him in the arm. Danny let out an aggravated hiss and clenched his fists. Damn it.

"Sam," Danny started at length, "I'm going to kill him." Sam rolled her eyes.

"Come on Danny it's not-"

"Not what? That bad? What do you call four-no-five attacks in a week, spying on my life, beating me up, trying to kill me dad, marry my mom, and ruin my social life? What do you call, being covered in bruises, and scrapes and finding concrete dust in all your clothes because you've been thrown through that many walls this week? What do you call never ending detentions, groundings, and punishment? I mean if that's not bad, then hell I must be living the high life!"

"Danny that's not all Vlad's fault."

"Maybe not Sam, but he sure isn't helping, and I'm tired of letting him get away with it."

"So what are you going to do about it dude? I mean you did promise to leave him-"

"Yeah if he left me alone, and he didn't. Well if he wants to fight, I'm bringing the fight to him." Danny's lips formed a thin line as he thought about getting a little retribution.

Tucker sighed, when Danny was like this, there was just no convincing him otherwise. He could be as stubborn as a concrete block sometimes. "Ok man, so what are you planning on doing?"

Danny's determined set faced brightened into a smile. "Tuck, you remember those mini-cameras you made for that science project 7th grade year?"

"Yeah but-"

"Good we are going to need those, and some kinda microphone. Can you like, I don't know, use the ones inside walkie talkies or an old cell phone to transmit or something?"

Tucker grinned ear to ear, getting Danny's drift. "I can do better than that dude; one mini spy set coming up."

Sam couldn't help but smile at the two of their antics, despite the feeling this was going to end badly as usual.

"Adventures of Huck Finn Fenton, what are you and Foley plotting now?" The two of them jumped at Mr. Lancer's voice.

"M-Mr. L-Lancer!" Danny stammered. "Nothing sir, we were just…"

"Just talking about a new science project. Yeah, it's for my electronics class. Danny was just helping me come up with ideas. Right Danny?"

Danny nodded energetically.

Mr. Lancer raised an eyebrow at the duo's cover story, but said no more on the subject. "Well whatever you two are doing, finish your talk somewhere else. Like maybe your afternoon classes? Unless you'd like to do so in detention?"

"No Mr. Lancer!" The two shouted in unison, and took off with Sam out of the cafeteria doors.

Later that evening, Danny, Sam and Tucker huddled over an assortment of electrical equipment in Tucker's bedroom. Tucker's face was drawn in concentration as he moved a few more wires into place in piece of equipment about the size of a dime. A few seconds later, he sat back with a huff, and smiled down at his handy work. An dozen similar devices sat on a make-shift table made of plastic storage containers.

"Ok, so these are audio devices. There are enough to bug the main used parts of his house. They have a 50ft range, and you'll want to place them in the middle of a room, so you get full use out of them, cause they aren't powerful enough to 'hear' through walls." Tucker then picked up another 5 quarter sized devices. "And these are all cameras. If you give me another day I can make some more, but something tells me you want them today. They aren't the best, but they will get decent quality.

All of these devices are remotely transmitting to this baby." He said gesturing to his newly fixed PDA. "They have limited battery life though, and I can't recharge them from here or anything. So even though we'll be able to get live feed and audio, you'll have to go back and get them to change batteries. Besides, the longer they are there, the more likely they are to be discovered." Tucker finished his speech, and turned towards Danny.

"Ok Tuck, now I all I have to do is place these devices. I can think of a few good places. Hey are these things water proof?"

"Of course they are. Just what kind of techno-geek do you take me for?"

"Perfect." Danny purred.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Danny, you aren't going to stick those in a bathroom are you?"

"Of course I am. And in his bedroom, and lab, and that private study of his too. At least those places, and if I have leftovers, anywhere else I can get good embarrassing shots for the internet. I'm sure all of Youtube is dying to know what color boxers Vlad Masters wears to bed." Danny said with an impish grin.

"Hey man, assuming he wears boxers, and not briefs."

"Good point. See Sam? This is important information. Inquiring minds need to know." Sam huffed and threw her hands into the air. Still she was anything but exasperated with them. She wanted a little revenge for Vlad's constant meddling as much as any of them. She still hadn't forgiven him for those dress code, Nasty burger buying, nearly witch burning incidents in the past, and she wasn't about to complain about him getting some kind of embarrassing comeuppance.

Danny began stuffing the various equipment into the pouches of the bag he was bringing for the infiltration.

"Alright, but just be careful. I'm sure he won't be happy to find you in his house, and especially carrying stuff for spying on him. So just-"

"Stay out of sight?" Danny finished while turning invisible. He chuckled before adding, "I think I can handle that part Sam. See you guys tomo-," Danny paused and changed his sentence. "See you guys on Monday, maybe if I'm extra good, my parents will let me use the internet to talk to you two over the weekend." Danny offered with a shrug. He flew through Tucker's bedroom window, and turned visible again for a moment to wave goodbye to Sam and Tucker before heading off to the mayor's house.

A ten minute flight later, Danny Phantom was hovering just out of sight in the tree line of the Mayor's front lawn. Or he would have been just out of sight, if he wasn't still invisible. Danny was contemplating his line of attack. I could just come through the front door. He doesn't have any ghost shields on, so it's not like he can stop me. But then again, I need to be in an out of here fast, and all the good stuff is on the second floor. I should just phase through the roof, but he's more likely to have security on the roof.

Danny shuddered as he remembered the large ecto-guns that popped out of the roof on a misguided flight too close to the house on another occasion. He frowned when he realized he had been floating there for nearly ten minutes in indecision. When a delivery truck pulled up to the front door, Danny knew the decision was made for him. He set off for the roof, making sure to stay as close to the trees as he could for the entire trip. Staying invisible, Danny moved away from the foliage and flew directly over the roof the large imposing manor. He took a deep breath to steel himself and dived directly at the structure below. A few terse seconds later, Danny found himself inside the second floor of Vlad's house.

He took another deep breath, and flew down a hallway to where he thought he remembered Vlad's bedroom being. He found the room without incident, and amazingly even placed a few of the bugs in the bedroom and adjoining bathroom. Danny set off down another hall towards the private study. He phased through the door, and finding no one around, placed the bugs in there and pulled down on the left football player to open the passage to the lab. Danny floated silently down the passage way to the lab below. He stopped a few paces before the end of the narrow hallway that lead to the lab, to peak around the corner.

It was odd that he hadn't encountered any kind of security or personnel, and he wasn't taking any chances in what was typically the most well guarded part of Vlad's house. He glanced carefully around the edge of the corner, and peered into what appeared to be an empty lab. After a few mores seconds of scanning, Danny slipped around the corner, and began looking for the best place to position the spy cameras and audio bugs he had left. He floated over to a spot in the upper corner of the lab to place a camera, when a loud bang emanated from across the lab.

Danny flew for cover, forgetting that he was still invisible, and ducked behind a large computer terminal. Several more large clangs rang throughout the lab, still echoing from somewhere on the opposite end of the room. After a few moments, Danny noticed they had a rhythmic quality to it. Getting more curious by the second, he drifted from his hiding spot and towards the source of the sounds. The banging grew louder and louder until he rounded a massive series of computer storage servers. He managed to stifle a gasp at what he saw next.

Skulker was hammering away at a large machine with his back to where Danny had flown into view. Next time to him was an array of wrenches, hammers, screwdrivers, and other tools strewn with little organization around his feet.

Danny frowned, and slid behind another computer terminal for cover. Darn it! Here was I hoping no one was around. Well if I'm quiet I can finish setting the bugs in the other part of the lab. Maybe…Danny made up his mind and began to head back towards the unoccupied section of the lab.

Just then, Skulker dropped the hammer he had been working with and stood.

Danny froze, half-way to the entrance to this part of the lab, thinking he had been heard.

"Well that's the last of the adjustments. Hopefully, that will be the last upgrade I need to make to the power supply for awhile." Skulker mumbled to himself. He floated over to console covering nearly the entire back wall of the room, and typed a few keystrokes onto the keyboard. It instantly jumped to life, and the screen flickered on an odd translucent green. Skulker hummed in thought, and typed a few seconds longer. Danny started for the door again, hoping Skulker was suitably distracted.

A few breathless seconds later, Danny was out of sight and back in the first section of the lab, holding his bag. He spent several quiet minutes setting up the last of the home-made bugs, before a cracking a grin. He was basically home free, Skulker or no. Danny looked over the lab with its spying devices in place on last time, before making a bee-line for the door. A loud siren went off in the lab, complete with blood colored lights.

"Intruder alert!" A familiar voice warned throughout the lab. A hologram appeared right in front of Danny, blocking the only exit to the lab. "Just what do you think you are doing in here young man?" The hologram cleared into the blue hazmat clad vision of his mother. It crossed its arms and scowled in a perfect replica of Maddie Fenton.

"I-er-" Danny stammered. He had been wondering where the usual security had disappeared to.

"You know you aren't allowed down here." The Maddie hologram said disapprovingly. Wow. I don't know what's weirder; the fact that he can make such a great hologram of my mom, or the fact it can actually make me feel guilty. Danny pondered.

"Listen, I need to get out of here. I know I shouldn't be down here, and, I'm leaving see?" Danny tried to float towards the exit again, only to be hindered by the hologram.

"No can do little mister! You're going to stay here until my pumpkin gets home. I'm sure he'll be able to think of a suit-Wait what's this?" The hologram floated to right over the spot Danny had placed his last bug. Danny barely had time to think 'uh-oh' before another alarm was set off by the system finding his bug. "You've planted spy devices all over my sweetums' house! You are in big trouble young man."

"I'd agree." Skulker said while floating into that part of the lab. He withdrew a huge spectrally charged sword from behind his back, and leveled it at Danny. "So whelp, you're in my employer's house for the second time this week. This time you're planting some pathetic attempt at spying technology. Is it just me, or do you have a death wish this week?" Skulker asked hefting the sword closer to Danny.

For his part, Danny dropped his backpack, and crouched into a fighting stance. He hadn't been planning on another fight, especially after how hectic this week had been, but if Skulker wanted a fight, a fight he would get.

Skulker leered dangerously before diving towards Danny with a yell.

Danny flew up towards the ceiling to avoid the blow, and fired an ecto-blast at Skulker. He reflected the blast off his sword, and back at Danny. The blast slammed into him, tossed him across the room, and into one of the numerous computer terminals in the room.

"Like it pup? It's a nice upgrade Plasmius gave me." Skulker gloated.

Danny grunted as he pulled himself from the dented wreckage of the terminal he landed in. "It is nice Skulker. You would need an upgrade to stand a chance against me." Danny retorted while firing another two blasts at Skulker.

Skulker bounced them back, and Danny quickly dodged. "Need an upgrade? No ghostling, I need no upgrades. I'm the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter. These," he said while summoning up two massive steel and blue toned guns, "are payment for my services. Not handicaps to beat you with. I could do so with my hands-"

Danny cut off his monologue with a roundhouse kick to the jaw. "Yeah? Well if you could do so with your hands, then why don't you instead of using that metal contraption?" Danny turned intangible in time to have two blasts from the blue and sliver ecto-guns to pass harmlessly through.

Skulker growled low and menacingly. He drew out his sword again, and charged Danny with a scream.

Danny stepped to the right to avoid the strike, and turned to catch Skulker's back with a blast. Too bad Skulker had already fired, and the attack flung him inches from Vlad's ghost portal. He slammed into the wall on the left of the portal, and landed in a pained heap on the ground. Danny blinked his eyes open to find a gun pointed directly at his head.

"That, ghost-child, was pure skill. No upgrade needed." And with that, Skulker pushed a button on his suit's arm. The ghost portal next to Danny flashed into life. "So, ready to become a pelt on my-" Skulker stopped short; Danny was nowhere to be seen. He flashed a predatory smile, and began scanning the room for his opponent.

Behind a corner not fifteen feet away, Danny was trying to catch his breath. Ordinarily, a fight with Skulker would be a piece of cake, but after two fights with Vlad, and two fights earlier that day; he was having trouble summoning up the energy to give Skulker a challenge. Oh man, I'm in serious trouble. I have to get out of here, before Skulker can really make good on that 'pelt-on-my-mantle' idea he's always spouting off about.

"Where are you hiding ghost child?" Skulker floated calmly through the room, with the control panel of his suit flipped open.

Danny felt a cold sweat break out on his skin; he'd seen Skulker use that little device before. It made his invisibility completely useless. Not the best feeling when it was the only thing he had at the moment, with no plan forth coming. I was never the best at making plans that don't involve hit it till he gives up. Danny mentally groused. So he decided to go with his usual plan, 'hit it till it gives up'. It hadn't really failed him yet, not counting Vlad. Danny flew around behind Skulker and dropped invisibility as he fired an ecto-blast.

Skulker smiled. He had been waiting for that attack. With surprising deftness, he drew his sword, blocked and reflected the attack back at Danny in one move.

The counter-attack caught Danny off guard, and it flew uninhibited into his gut. It sent him sailing backwards and straight into the now active Ghost Portal. Danny appeared through the other side of the Portal, in the recognizable swirling green and purple atmosphere of the Zone. He tumbled head over heel in the nearly zero gravity space of the spectrally charged atmosphere for a few seconds before gaining control. Danny held his head in his hands, and floated behind a small rocky outcropping of glowing green ghost rock.

"Ok, that did not go as planned. Note to self, destroy that energy bouncing sword." Danny shook his head to clear the rest of the pain induced cobwebs, before taking stock of his surroundings. A small frown marred his features, as he realized he had been thrown into the Zone. "Well this is just perfect, no way I can go back through Vlad's portal, I'll have to travel through the Zone all the way to ours at home."

"I know you're in here ghost-child. I saw you go through the portal. Why don't you save me the trouble of hunting you down, and come out right now." Skulker waited a few moments before adding, "Unless you are too terrified."

Danny clenched his fists and waited a few minutes. As much as he wanted to punch Skulker in the jaw for that, he didn't have the energy for it right now. Not with those new upgrades. Second note to self, kick Vlad's ass for giving him those.

Skulker flew to and fro for a few more minutes in the area, before trying to key into Danny's energy signal with his control pad.

Danny held his breathe, even with all the ambient energy in the zone, his signature was distinct. There weren't many half-ghosts around after all.

Right before he typed in the last command to hone in on Danny's signal, Skulker heard a loud chirp from his communicator. He scowled and started to type in the command again, when it chirped even louder. With a huff of annoyance, Skulker announced to the air in front of him, "You're lucky whelp. It seems my employer has need of me. You escape, for today." With another few glances sparred for the sparse and glowing scenery of this part of the zone, Skulker turned and headed back towards Vlad's portal.

Danny heaved a sigh of relief, of all the times for Vlad to come in handy. "Vlad. Damn it, this is all his fault in the first place. Skulker's his stupid employee, and he's the one who gave him all those new weapons. Hell, I bet he ordered those two attacks on my school earlier, just to 'keep me out of his hair', or something stupid like that." Danny floated from behind his hiding spot. With a sigh, he headed off in the most likely direction of the Fenton portal before abruptly stopping. Danny crossed his arms and growled.

No. I'm not limping home again from another battle. I'm not putting up with this anymore. No more random 'friendly' visits to hang with my dad, otherwise known as attempt to kill him. No more nice 'compliments' or 'gifts' for my mom, otherwise known as flirting for lonely 40-year-old men. No more bruises and surprise attacks. No more stupid plots. None of it! There has to be a way to get Vlad out of my hair. But what? Green translucent rocks drifted past him, as Danny paused in thought in the middle of the Zone. Suddenly, like a thunderbolt, an idea hit him. He nearly slammed his palm into his forehead, the answer was so obvious. With a new destination in mind, Danny soared off farther into the zone.

He only had one shot at this. It's not like just anyone knew where this was. He sighed as he made another pass through an empty section of the Zone. There weren't even the usual drifting rocks, or floating landmasses of the Zone. Only the bright swirling energy vortexes of the Zone were visible, and even they seemed to be high off in the distance, like some invisible barrier was keeping them at bay. He made another pass around the desolate section of the Zone, and growled in frustration.

He knew it was here, he knew it like he knew how to breathe. He'd been here before, several times in fact. It was the finding part that was always so difficult. He glanced at the watch strapped to his wrist again; it still kept meticulous time as usual. He was just about to give up, when the watch suddenly stopped. He smiled in relief; he was getting sick of flying around in circles. With a deep breath, he flew into what looked to be empty space and disappeared. If he had thought about it more, he would have decided against doing this. When he thought about it later, he'd wonder what in the world had possessed him to try something quite this stupid.

When he thought and ached after it all ended, he'd wonder if it could have been avoided after all. Fate was fickle that way; maybe even if he had tried to avoid it, taken the advice given at the beginning of his journey, it would have still happened anyway. But right then, right now, all Danny Phantom was thinking about, was how to sneak into the large dark tower sitting in front of him without notice. Because he had a Medallion to borrow, and some whenelse to be.

…then he might make a visit to the keeper of time.