PhantomEXE

Pairing: Vlad x Danny

Warnings: Homosexual relationships. Main DP characters of the story are in their senior year of high school and are 18 years of age. Violence. Foul language. AU.

Disclaimer: Danny Phantom is a product of Nickelodeon. All characters in this story are imaginary.

Summary: When a fight with an old enemy lands him in the dreaded under level of the computer NetZone, Danny discovers new secrets about himself.

Originally Written: March 2013-June 2013

Chapter 01

"Fenton," Lancer called as he held out the test paper from their last exam for his student to come collect. His brow was creased, and a frown settled upon his aged face as his green eyes landed upon the young man slowly climbing out of his seat.

Danny gulped nervously, wiping sweaty hands on his pants as he made his way up the row of desks. During the exam last Friday, he didn't feel too confident with his answers. He barely finished reading the chapters that the exam would be on before the start of class that day, and he felt like all the information spilled out of his brain as he struggled to answer all the questions on the exam.

"Good job," Lancer said once Danny made it to his desk to take the test paper. "I hope you continue putting in this much effort for the rest of the year."

Danny stared numbly at the balding man for a few moments before he dropped his gaze to his exam. His mouth dropped open as he gaped at the grade written at the top of the page: a big red A. He passed! Not only did he pass, but he got an A! Lancer was no easy grader, and only a few students actually managed to get an A from him. His sister Jazz was queen of the A's when she was still attending Casper High, but she graduated two years ago and was now off at college.

"Thank you, Sir!" Danny grinned widely, proud of the small achievement. In his four years at Casper High, he worked hard at his studies when he could, but his grades were average, sometimes lower, since the beginning. It wasn't always easy keeping up with his school work when he had other things to deal with in his life. But this year, things seemed to have calmed down, and he was able to focus a lot more of his attention on his studies. It was strange finding how much he enjoyed all the reading and poetry assignments that Lancer gave him, now that he was actually able to get it done.

"You deserve it after the hard work you've been doing." Lancer offered a small smile of pride that one of his students was actually trying when so many of them seemed content to ignore his attempts to encourage them to reach their potential. Danny remembered being one of those students, thinking Lancer a cruel and overbearing teacher that tried too hard to be "hip" with his students. But over the years, he saw that Lancer really did care a lot about his students and he quickly became one of Danny's favorite teachers, though he still found Lancer's work load challenging at times.

The bell rang in the next moment, dismissing everyone from their final class of the day. The other students let a sigh of relief as they gathered up their things and filed out of the classroom. Danny returned to his desk, stuffing his test paper into his bag as he got ready to follow the rest of his class out the door. Slinging his book bag over his shoulder, he left the room then headed down the hallway to find his friends.

The weekend flew by too quickly, and today seemed to drag on too long. It was only Monday, and Danny already wished it was the weekend again. His teachers piled on the homework load, and Danny was convinced there was some sort of conspiracy among the teachers to burden their students with overwhelming amounts of homework. To make it worse, he was stuck doing a group project with Dash, Paulina, and Kwan. How he ended up thrown into the mix with the popular students, he didn't think he would ever know. He wasn't sure about their opinions of his participation in their group. Dash glared at him, as per usual, but Kwan and Paulina didn't seem to show that they cared one way or another about him being included in their group. Unfortunately, they were supposed to meet later that afternoon, after Dash and Kwan finished football practice and Paulina finished cheerleading, to work on the project. Danny sighed at the thought of how well that would go.

A beeping on his watch drew a frown as Danny lifted his arm in front of him. Tapping a button on the side of the watch popped up a rectangular holographic screen. His eyes glowed in the light of the screen, but those around him ignored him as he scanned over what was displayed on the greenish holograph. Danny was a loser at school, and most of the time went virtually unnoticed by the other students. The exceptions were pretty much whenever Dash wanted a punching bag to wail on, though the jock hadn't bothered him in ages, now that Danny thought about it.

A breech in the security at eastern sector of town was not something he could ignore, especially when the reading showed that the virus wasn't contained simply to the NetZone. It was bad enough in the beginning when the viruses popped up all over town, wrecking havoc on the NetZone and even causing damage to the town. In the last year, however, the viruses mutated and found a way to break out of the NetZone and manifest physical forms in the real world. His parents were the leading developers in designing weapons to deal with this threat, but they couldn't handle it by themselves.

Closing the holographic display, Danny hurried down the hallway, seeking a safe spot where he wouldn't be spotted. When he ducked into the boys bathroom, he checked every stall to be certain no other student was present to witness him transform. After four years since the incident, he still wasn't used to that tingle of electricity that ran through him, dancing over his skin, as body shifted from something human to something else entirely. He still couldn't explain exactly what took place the day of the incident when he stepped inside one of his parents' machines to see why it hadn't worked like it was supposed to. He hit some switch by accident, and when he woke next, his body was changed. He panicked that first time when he saw what he looked like in the mirror, resembling the humanoid representation of the viruses infecting the NetZone yet existing outside of it.

When he heard his parents coming, Danny didn't know what to do. He couldn't allow his parents to see him like that, really not wanting to find out what they would do with a virus existing in the real world. He couldn't explain what happened next. One moment his terrified mind was trying to think of escaping somehow, and in the next moment, he felt a surge of energy sucking him into the nearest computer connected to the NetZone. He could enter and exit the NetZone at will if he was near an access point! But after that came the viruses, and Danny decided it was up to him to fight them and stop them from destroying the NetZone as well as the town.

The tingling faded away, and Danny opened his eyes, glancing at the mirror to check his reflection. His eyes glowed green under the white bangs hanging down over his face. A translucent green visor rested atop his head, and he reached up a white gloved hand to pull it down over his eyes. The display brought up a map without him having to think of it, and the blip of activity remained in the eastern part of town.

In this form, he had the ability of flight, though it was limited and he had to use it wisely. Traveling through the NetZone would be the fastest way to reach the virus outbreak. Luckily, almost every room in every building in town had an access point to the NetZone, even the bathrooms. Danny stood before the one to the side of the bathroom door, and in a second, he was yanked forward, drawn into the NetZone with the strange sensation of being broken apart into tiny particles and reassembled within the computer NetZone. The moment his feet touched what was considered the ground of the NetZone, Danny took off running, following the display visor toward the access point nearest the virus.

Inside the NetZone was rather different from the real world. Here, the world seemed blocky with pulses of light passing by him, under his feet, over his head, to the sides. The sky, or ceiling, or whatever it was, was a faded blue with white circuit designs etched all through it. There were areas within the NetZone, he learned on past visits inside, that actually looked similar to the real world with buildings like a little town and programs wandering all around like they were humans. Sometimes, he could even forget that this wasn't the real world when he walked among the programs, even talking to them on occasion. They were friendly and treated him like one of them. He had become somewhat a hero to them after defending them from invading viruses.

Danny hopped atop a block and bounded upward like the series of blocks made up a ladder toward the access point he needed to reach. That was something Danny loved about what happened to him. In this digital virus form, he was able to accomplish feats that he could never dream of as a human. Speed, endurance, strength were all increased. He had various abilities at his disposal that made him seem like some superhero out those comic books he loved to read.

A wide grin spread over his face as Danny leaped through the access point, shooting back out into the real world. The sight that greeted him wasn't unfamiliar to him at this point. His eyes narrowed when he spotted the virus that manifested this time, and he sighed internally at having to fight this one yet again. That was the problem with the viruses. He couldn't destroy them. He could only neutralize them and return them to the system, but eventually they found a way to break free again to cause chaos to the NetZone. It was an endless cycle, and Danny wasn't sure how he could break it when none of his abilities allowed him to put the viruses completely out of commission.

"Hey, tin head!" Danny shouted, raising his hands before him. Green orbs of light formed within his palms as he concentrated on his powers. "This is a no hunting zone." He released the blasts, sending them screaming through the air at the virus decked out in what appeared to be some sort of metal suit.

Hearing Danny's voice, the virus snapped his gaze around, green eyes narrowing as he smirked. A hand raised out before him as a green octagonal shield flickered into existence from his fingers. Danny's blasts slammed into the shield, ricocheting off to the sides and leaving the virus undamaged.

"Ah, my prey finally makes his appearance," the virus said, amusement filling his voice. "I thought you would have arrived much faster."

A shudder ran through Danny at being called prey. It was like that ever since their first meeting when the virus realized that Danny wasn't simply another program from the NetZone. "How did you get out here, Skulker?" Danny demanded as his gaze darted around the area, taking note of the fleeing people. His parents had yet to reach the scene, and Danny hoped to take care of this virus before their arrival.

"That hardly matters." Skulker fired a blast that Danny dodged. But the second attack struck Danny without warning, knocking him to the ground as he grunted in pain.

"Stupid thing," Danny growled at the visor he wore. "You're supposed to warn me about those things." He sat up, rubbing his chest, but he froze when he noticed the shadow cast over him. Raising his head, he gulped as he gazed at the gloating look on Skulker's face.

"I think it's time we finally put this battle to rest, whelp." A weapon rose up from the back of Skulker's suit, aiming at the man at the virus' feet. "This hunt has gone for too long, and at last, I shall have my victory."

Danny narrowed his eyes at Skulker. "Keep dreaming, bucket head." Before the weapon could fire at him, Danny fired another attack.

This time, Skulker was unable to react fast enough to erect a shield to deflect the attack. It struck him in the face, and Skulker released a strangled shout as he pulled at the goopy green substance coating his eyes and blinding him. His weapon fired, but as he stumbled around, it completely missed its target, shooting the glowing net randomly into the air and catching nothing.

Hearing the sounds of his parents' assault RV making its way toward the scene, Danny knew he didn't have time to dally around, playing with his opponent. His parents would try to capture the both of them if possible. Leaping to his feet, Danny charged forward and caught Skulker around the waist. He only had a short opportunity to use his flight, but it was now or never. He powered forward, lifting them both off the ground as he soared toward the access point. When he got near enough, it sucked them both back into the NetZone. They weren't completely safe inside the NetZone, but they were at far less risk than remaining in the real world.

A blast hit his chest after they safely passed through the access point. Danny shouted as he flew backward, releasing his hold on Skulker. His back slammed into the blocks, earning a grunt here and there as he tumbled down the ladder of blocks to the ground level. Once he crashed to the ground, Danny weakly tried to push himself back up, aching all over after the fall. He rubbed at his head, his visor cracked in places and pieces of it broken off. When he heard a noise, his head snapped up, and he spotted Skulker bounding down the blocks, giving chase to his prey.

"He never gives up," Danny grumbled as he hurriedly got to his feet despite the pain.

When he saw the various blasts and missiles firing from Skulker's weapons, Danny managed to erect a feeble shield that protected him from the brunt of the explosion when they all crashed down around him. The damage, however, weakened the structure of the ground. Cracks formed, spreading quickly outward like spider webs, crisscrossing and widening. Danny gulped with fear. He never heard of what lay under the ground level. The other programs refused to speak of it, horror passing through them at the mere mention of something below them. Danny didn't care to find out what had them all scared.

Danny darted forward, desperate to reach solid ground even if it meant running at his enemy. The ground crumbled under his feet with each step. Before him, he watched fearfully as pieces of the ground broke apart, leaving only gaping darkness in its place. Danny leaped for the ground that remained sturdy and solid. The distance was farther than he anticipated, and his flight ability was exhausted. His fingers barely caught hold of the edge of the solid ground. He cried out as the sharp edges cut through his gloves, but his grip wasn't strong enough. He felt his fingers slipping, and he could hear Skulker's footsteps as the virus approached him. Like this, Danny was a sitting duck for the hunter to easily capture him, and perhaps that was his plan by blasting around part of the ground level.

Skulker's face appeared over the ledge, smirking in success, but Danny lost his grip at that point, his fingers slick with blood. Danny's hands grasped desperately at the air around him, praying for something to grab hold of to stop his falling. Maybe once his flight power returned, he would be able to fly out of this darkness. But there was nothing. Only darkness greeted him. The hole in the ground level above slowly grew smaller until eventually it was nothing but a pinprick of light in the enveloping darkness. Danny's eyes slipped shut, abandoning hope that he could somehow live through this. He realized this was probably why the other programs feared what lay below them: because it was a hopeless, endless pit with no escape.

Time passed, but Danny couldn't be certain how much time. It could be seconds or hours or even years, but an echoing noise forced his eyes to open. An eerie glow of green met his blurry eyes as they adjusted after his time in darkness. A gleam of red eyes swam before his eyes.

"So you've come at last, young one."