Danny Phantom Fan Fiction ❯ The Phantom Boy ❯ Chapter Seven ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

A/N: So it's been almost a year since my last update I think. Sorry about that. But I'm back and I'm going to try to finish this. I'll try to update as regularly as possible. Anyway…. Here you go:

Chapter 7

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“Afterwards, he started training me. Jazz had no idea what we were doing, but she was happy that “Uncle” Vlad and I were getting along. She practically worshipped him. The two of them were on equal ground when it came to academics and it had pleased her to find that the man who had taken us in was as smart as she was. Our training mostly consisted of how to control my powers and manifesting it in different forms, such as plasma blasts and shields. He never taught me how to fight though. He did promise to show me other techniques, like splitting myself in two, when I became more advanced. When I had mastered most of the basic techniques, Valerie showed up. At the time Jazz and I thought that she was just another orphan that Vlad had kindly taken into his home.

Val and I hit it off pretty well when we met, we were both the same age and had many of the same interests. Then Vlad told me that Val was going to start training me using my ghost powers. She was a black belt in several types of martial arts and proficient in many other types of fighting. When I asked her how she knew so much of fighting with ghosts, she replied vaguely about being a ghost hunter. She was a tough teacher but I learned to fight pretty quickly. At first Vlad would come in several times a week to watch us as we sparred and she corrected my techniques. After awhile he quit coming and sometimes Val and I would just sit and talk. The only subject we never touched was our parents, she only told me once that her father had died.

As Valerie and I trained, Vlad had Jazz working on plans for different ghost fighting technology. She showed a genius that rivaled that of our parents. The only time the two of us saw each other was at meals. Sometimes Vlad and Valerie would go on trips all of the sudden. They would tell us the day before they left and be gone before we woke up. There seemed to be nothing strange about Vlad's coming and going, after all he was a successful business man. Valerie's excuses were usually about some martial arts tournament or something similar. It was during one of these times that I discovered Vlad's true nature.

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Flashback

The library at night was pretty eerie. Shadows from the statues around the room looked a little too much like people lurking there in the dark. Looking around I wondered again about why I was wake. There was just something that was keeping me up. Glancing around the room, I noticed a sliver of light that didn't seem to have a source. I walked up to the light near the bookcases next to the mantle. It was like there was some secret passage way. Leaning up against the shelf, I pressed just the right book that opened a hidden staircase. Curious I went down, wondering what could be hidden below. At the bottom of the stairs was a door that was open, leading to what almost seemed to be a lab. Vlad was eccentric but he didn't seem the type to need an underground lair. No not a lair. A lab. What was I thinking? He had plenty of lab space upstairs. Perhaps this was left over from a previous owner. I hoped so, something about this whole room made me nervous. Especially since the large portal on the far wall, looked suspiciously like the Ghost Portal my parents had been working on when they died. There was a large set of computer monitors on the wall to my right. I walked over and sat in the chair, still wondering what I was doing down here.

Looking around at what was on the computer, I found plans for weapons like the ones that Vlad was working with Vlad to create. Except these included what looked a lot like battle plans. I found lists of troops and even some correspondents between Vlad and his other commanders. What had I gotten myself into? Who was Vlad really? Then I saw the orders for killing my parents. There in front of me were all of the plans for setting up my parents murder to look like an accident. I went numb. We had unknowingly been living with our parents' murderer. I swung my fist towards the monitor intending to break it. An inch from the screen I stopped, finding some of the self-control that had come with my new fighting skills. If he found out that I knew, he could kill me and my sister. And no one would ever know.

End Flashback

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When I found out that Vlad was not the man I thought he was I didn't confront him. I reset his lab to the way it was when I came down. There was only a brief moment of panic when I considered that he probably had cameras all around his house, watching our every move. I erased my presence from the videos the best I could, but I'm still not sure that he didn't find out. I never confronted him about it. He was too powerful for that. I started to become more reclusive. Questioning things that I didn't question before. I would rebel and not work on lessons. I never came to eat meals, instead I took them in my room. The house was my prison, I saw video cameras everywhere and did my best to stay out of their sight. I spent time sneaking out and going to town, trying to find a way out or at least a way to survive living there without losing my mind. Unfortunately, all this was brought unwanted attention from Vlad. He started attending my training lessons again, like he had when I first started them. I tried my hardest to do my worse and got many bruises from Valerie. If she noticed my change in behavior, she didn't say anything or take it easy on me. Then once when Valerie was away, Vlad did something that he had never done before, he wanted to spar with me.”

I paused in my story, thinking back to that day.

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Flashback

I stepped into the training room, hoping not to see Vlad. Hoping that there would only be me and Valerie. Hoping that I could endure this another day.

“Hello Daniel.” I turned around, knowing who it was but still hoping that it wasn't.

“Hey… Vlad. Where's Valerie?” I tried to keep my voice steady, my anger was rising again. But today there was something about his manner, that set me on edge.

“Oh. She's not going to be coming today,” He smiled as he said this, changing into his ghost form, “Today your opponent will be me. Get ready, boy.”

He lunged toward me and I barely changed form in time.

“Vlad? What is with you?” I wondered if he had found out that I had been in his lab. I dodged as he attacked again.

“Why nothing my dear boy. What would make you think that something was wrong?” He attacked relentlessly, this time punching me in the stomach.

I yelled, flying backwards. He was stronger than I ever imagined. How could I ever defeat this man?”

End Flashback

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Shaking off the memory of that day, I continued on with my story.

“I was beaten badly. I was barely able to defend myself, let alone attack. Although I had improved and had gotten pretty good at fighting, I was nothing compared to him. I probably still don't compare. I broke three ribs, cracked a few other bones, and sustained burns and bruises on almost all of my body. Although I was in ghost form at the time of the fight, they showed even worse in my normal form. I was unconscious for a week. I heal much faster than most people do, Vlad beat me bad enough that I still felt it, longer after the visible bruises were healed. I have no idea how he kept all of my injuries from Jazz but she never seemed to know anything about it. I suppose he told her I was in some kind of car accident. I had tried telling Jazz about Vlad and what he had done, but she would have none of it. My sister had been brainwashed, taken in by this man who had killed our parents. Unknowingly she was even helping him to make weapons by recreating our parents' work.

It was the day I woke up that I knew that I had to risk it all to break out of this house and away from Vlad. My first ally in my plan was Johnny. Johnny and I had met once in town, before I ever knew about Vlad`s true nature. He did odd jobs around town. He was normally the type I would avoid, but there was something so open about him. I knew he was a ghost from the ghost sense that I had developed upon obtaining my powers. He was as surprised to find another ghost as I was. Although he is a ghost he maintains a solid human form. His ghost is manifested in Shadow. At first Johnny was wary, which he later explained to me was because I lived with Vlad. But once he opened up to me he told be of many things about being a ghost that I had never known, mostly about the Ghost Zone. Once I found out about Vlad he told me who he really was. Johnny was part of The Alliance, a secret group fighting against Vlad and his army. He was in the town to keep a permanent watch on Vlad's house. I had no reason to join the Allies and I still don't . I want revenge on Vlad, not to save people. But Johnny understood my feelings and offered to help me escape.

After making plans with Johnny, continued being a bit reclusive but I stopped rebelling. I would do as told and accept it. It was the perfect plan to make Vlad stop watching me. At the time, Johnny work for a shipping company and helped me to move my stuff out. For about two months, we moved all my things out little by little. During that time, Valerie was still gone and Vlad continued to be my training partner. Although I still got beat pretty badly it never escalated near the point where I broke anything. Then my chance came when Vlad announced that he would be going out of town for the weekend. That night I went to Vlad's secret lab. This time I didn't even bother to conceal my presence in the lab. I knew Vlad had cameras hidden all around the house, but when he found out that I had left he would have no idea where I had gone. I went over to the desk that held the computer where I learned of all Vlad's plans and picked the lock on the safe to steal some money. Then I took a handheld ghost portal and went straight into the Ghost Zone using the Specter Speeder.

When in the Ghost Zone, I punched in the coordinates Johnny had given me onto the onboard computer and inserted a flash drive for the rest of the directions. I was going to be with the Alliance for awhile, and the flash drive was to keep me from knowing exactly where I was going and to keep Vlad from tracking us. Obviously, someone in the Alliance was very good with technology. I had never been there before but the swirling green space seemed quieter than I would have imagined. This was a result of Vlad's take over. The once lively Zone was filled with fear. I spent a few days at the hideout of the Alliance to confuse my trail. A few days later I headed out again. I encountered no one on my way to the place where I would use my hand-held portal to enter the basement on my new house. The next day, I started school and met you guys. That day when Johnny was outside of the school he came to warn me of an attack that was coming and that Valerie was coming to town. The attack he was warning me about was Skulker.”

With this I finished my story, wondering how they would react. So far they had been quiet, I had been so wrapped up in my own past that I hadn't even heard if they had gasped or had any other reactions. I had avoided looking at them to much during my story. I was afraid of their reactions. It had been so long since I had had any friends that had nothing to do with my past. I swept some of the stray hair out of my face and looked up.

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A/N: I hope you liked the chapter and I thank everyone who commented or decided to follow me for updates. I hate when authors leave stories unfinished so I will finish this if I can. Let me know what you think! Sorry there isn't much dialogue….