Ahh! I am sorry it took me so long to update this. If you actually want to know why it took me so long, you can ask. But I think you've waited long enough for this chapter, so without any more wait (but one more apology, SORRY!) here's chapter 18.
(Although I do suggest rereading at least the very last part of the previous chapter.)
Danny promised himself he would stay calm, especially now that he finally had an advantage; he knew his opponent respected him, no…
Feared him.
Hope started to return to Danny and he began to look around calmly, floating through the dark hallways in the very stomach of his archenemies home.
"Come out, come out, where ever you are, Vlad." He grinned as he said this, trying to imagine Vlad cowering in fear in some corner. Ok, so maybe that wouldn't happen, but he could dream, right?
No haughty voice answered him. Danny frowned, wondering what to do. Well, if Vlad wasn't going to come out and fight him, he might as well take advantage of that. Danny grimaced, just wanting to get this over with and get back to his family and friends. He quickly turned around and headed towards where he thought Vlad's lab was.
While he wandered the dark passages of Vlad's dungeons, he couldn't shake the persistent feeling that someone was watching him.
One guess as to who that would be.
Shaking off the annoying feeling, he continued on down the hall, trying hard to fight the need to look around the dark hallways nervously. Ahh, where is Vlad hiding himself? He ran a nervous hand over his eyes before calming himself.
He'd draw Vlad out…
When Danny finally found the lab, he couldn't help the grin that spread across his face when his eyes landed on all of the fragile equipment. His gaze stopped on the portal. He'd have to save that for the return trip.
Soon, crashes echoed around the millionaire's mansion.
"It seems I have underestimated you once again, young Daniel." Danny spun around, a big and very intricate gizmo held over his head. (Danny thought it looked like a washing machine that had about 20 too many buttons.) A corny grin spread across his face when he saw Vlad glaring at him from a dark corner, his arms crossed over his chest and his jumpsuit still tattered.
"It's about time you showed your face Vlad…" Danny's eyes wandered down to Vlad's crossed arms, "Trying to hide your yellow belly?" He asked with the same grin.
Vlad scowled, letting his arms drop to his sides.
"You know, I rather liked my lab the way it was," He said with an ever suffering sigh.
"My dad's lab is so much better." Danny taunted, watching Vlad's expression sour. Danny's arms were starting to shake, still holding the giant …thing over his head. "My mom definitely loves it, she's down there with him all the time." Danny finished with a cheeky grin at Vlad.
It was just too much, Vlad couldn't take any more. With a yell, he was suddenly rushing at Danny.
Danny waited with the device still over his head, measuring the distance until…
CLANG! The metallic sound resounded around the lab as Vlad slide down the side of the gizmo, clutching his nose. Danny, now intangible, hid inside, trying to figure out what to do next. His plan had worked, Vlad was here, stunned at the moment, but now what? His head popped up out of the top, his gaze finding his opponent.
One more second and I could have caught him underneath this. Danny realized nervously. It's not like he wanted to kill Vlad, he thought with a shudder. Besides, he had something else in mind for his arch enemy.
Danny's eyes widened, searching for a clock. He found one, luckily unharmed, hanging near the portal. Good, Danny sighed, he still had time to pull off his plan.
He glared down at Vlad just as the millionaire looked hatefully up at him.
"Ever heard of karma, Vlad?" Danny asked before swinging his leg out of the metal gizmo and into Vlad's stomach. As Vlad doubled over, Danny flew out and searched for that oh-so familiar sinister device he had spotted earlier.
Vlad finally caught his breath and looked up just in time to see two white boots float over and stop right above him. Danny held the prototype sinister weapon that had been used against him by his dad, and now turned it towards Vlad as he looked up.
"Pay back time." Danny muttered, and pulled the trigger.
Vlad didn't even flinch when the black lightning raced across his body, but instead held up his arms in defeat. Now, once he turned human again, he wouldn't be able to turn back. Danny hoped that it also shut down most of Vlad's ghost powers.
"I surrender, Daniel, you win." He sighed, as if he had just seen a bothersome stain on the carpet, "I will stay out of your life from here on."
Danny did a double-take, the gun still held loosely in his hand.
"…really?" He stared at Vlad, who was still in his ghost form. How many of Vlad's powers still worked? Since he withstood the Specter Deflector belt and could still fight Danny, did that mean he could stand a blast from this new weapon?
"Why of course." Vlad shrugged. "You are obviously stronger then me," he seemed to flinch while saying this, his face darkening in displeasure. "And if I am without ghost powers…" He shrugged.
Danny stared at Vlad, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. He may be stronger then Vlad, but his older counterpart still had his wits about him. Vlad was calculating, he was smart, and he had an ego to match Jack Fenton's. There was no way he would lay down and surrender without fighting until every last possibility was tried and failed.
Danny kept the gun pointed at Vlad, although he had no idea what good it would do now.
"You have something planned." Danny accused.
Vlad's cunning eyes turned innocent.
"Me?" He asked, his voice sickly sweet.
Danny frowned; he should have seen that coming.
He kept his face unreadable, hopefully the perfect picture of calmness while on the inside his panicking mind was running a million miles an hour. What was Vlad planning? Danny's muscles strongly reminded him that he wasn't prepared for another fight; his eyelids were getting heavier by the second and nothing sounded better right now then a soft, fluffy pillow. He knew with dread that he wouldn't be able to fight Vlad off if his arch-enemy did manage to pull something. He swallowed hard.
His mind finally slowed down, two options remaining; go along with Vlad's surrender and stay on guard, or stick to his earlier plan.
His eyes darted around. Could he really pull this off? Or should he trust Vlad. Danny looked at Vlad's expression, his eyes wide in innocence but a small smirk twisting his face.
He'd stick to his earlier plan.
Danny tensed for a second, solidifying his plan in his mind, and then dropped the gun and shot towards Vlad, his muscles complaining as he swung his fist forward.
Vlad backed up and easily dodged Danny's fist, as usual.
Good. Danny thought, trying to hide his grin.
"I won't fall for your tricks anymore!" He shouted, his fist sweeping towards Vlad's calm face. His enemy stepped backwards, his eyes calculating.
This might just work. Danny took another wide swing, forcing Vlad back again. Vlad's eyebrow swept up at Danny's aim.
Crap, I have to keep him distracted so he doesn't get suspicious. Danny scrambled for something to say.
"You felonious fiend…!" Wait, no. That'll make him even more suspicious… …where did that come from anyway? Danny shook his head, pulling his thoughts together while Vlad regarded him with a curious look. Probably wondering if I'm going insane. Danny thought with a sinking feeling.
"Why did you do all of this, Vlad?" Danny quickly jumped subjects. "You know I would never join you." Danny took another wild swing and Vlad, surprised, took another step back, phasing through the wall of the lab.
Danny stared at the wall for a second, a warning going off in the back of his head. With dawning realization, he put up a shield and walked through the wall.
Before he made it out of the wall he felt something collide with his shield.
Fully stepping out, Danny saw Vlad shuffling back, rubbing his bruised hand.
"Very well, Daniel." Vlad seemed a little put out. Danny hid his grin, proud of himself for guessing Vlad's next move.
"You want to know why I did all of this? It's quite simple, really." Vlad grinned at Danny. Feeling uneasy, he took another swing at Vlad, forcing him backwards and giving himself more room. Vlad surveyed Danny with an air of annoyance before continuing:
"After your friends abandoned you," Danny grimaced, taking another swing which Vlad easily dodged. "Your family left you, and the entire town turned against you, all thanks to Einzel, as your only remaining ally I would have made you an offer you wouldn't be able to refuse-"
"Lemme guess… join you?" Danny interrupted, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Vlad grinned. "Exactly. Either that or endure painful experiments under governmental supervision, after Einzel had convinced them that you were not to be trusted, with some help by you, of course."
"You were going to frame me, in front of the entire world?" Danny shuddered at the thought; the whole world against him, his only ally being Vlad…
"And once I had won you over," Vlad continued, his voice triumphant, "your mom would have been easily swayed," Vlad took another step back, Danny's furious swing ripping through the air where Vlad used to stand. "And then… Then I would have had the perfect family." Vlad stopped, a far off look on his face.
Danny snorted. "You really should try for that cat, it would do you good."
Vlad's face darkened. Danny took the opportunity and charged up both of his hands, combining the energy into a gigantic green ball and throwing it towards Vlad.
As Vlad flew down the hallway, Danny doubled over, panting. His entire body ached, and he knew with dire certainty that he wouldn't be able to maintain his ghost form for much longer. He had to be more careful with what little energy he had left, and he had to hurry.
Finally catching his breath, he picked up his tired legs and stumbled towards the smoking green lump that was Vlad.
The millionaire struggled to stand up just as Danny approached him, his green eyes lighting on the beaten older halfa.
"What, no minions to call on to do your dirty work?" Danny asked sarcastically.
"No," Vlad sighed remorsefully. "They're all posted in Amity Park." A quick feeling of panic sank into his stomach when he realized what Vlad had said. Tucker! He almost turned around, ready to fly back and help his friend. After a short internal struggle, he brushed his panic away; Sam and his dad would take care of it. Tucker would be alright.
Right now he had to focus on Vlad.
Vlad's red eyes narrowed in concentration as he shakily stood up. He must be struggling to stay in ghost mode, I'll have to be more careful if I want to pull this off. Danny thought nervously, his eyes studying Vlad as he reached his full height.
"What are you going to do to me, Daniel?" Vlad finally seemed to regain his composure, and he turned his full attention towards Danny. "Or are we just going to keep talking while you throw horribly aimed punches at me?"
Danny hid his surprise with a grin. Vlad had no clue what was going on.
"My aim's getting better." He avoided the subject while he tried to create a mental map of the dungeons. If he was correct (Oh please let me be right!) then the wall behind him should-
"Even without ghost powers, I really have nothing to fear from you, Daniel. I'm quite disappointed." Vlad's smug voice interrupted Danny's thoughts.
Oh, that's it. Danny clenched his fist, his eyes glowing green. I'll just hit him and hope this is the right wall!
Danny charged forward and tackled a surprised Vlad. Both of their bodies tingled, intangibility washing over both of them and easily phasing them through the wall. Danny held onto Vlad's torn shirt and flew through the wall up through the ground, finally breaking through dirt into the front lawn.
An explosion of sound met their ears, and they both looked around blindly, trying to adjust to the bright sunlight.
"Danny Phantom!"
"It seems that Danny Phantom is currently battling some other ghost-"
"This is Channel Nine News, bringing you all the ghost action!"
Danny looked over at the confused Vlad, his eyes still stinging slightly from the light. They were surrounded by cameras and reporters in fancy suits rushing towards them, mikes held out in front as questions fell from their mouths.
All Vlad could do was gape at Danny, the front of his jumpsuit still held in his hand.
"See, I had a plan, too, Vlad." Danny let himself smile in satisfaction. "I called several news crews before I got here, telling them to be on Vlad Master's property at 5:00 if they wanted an interview with the halfa." Vlad's eyes narrowed in anger, a slight hint of admiration on his features.
"Say cheese for the cameras, Vlad Masters." Danny took out the Plasmius Maximus he had stolen and jammed it into Vlad's chest. All the reporters stopped in their tracks, their jobs forgotten, and watched as red sparks flew from Vlad's body. Satisfied, Danny pocketed the device and stepped back.
A giant hush washed through the crowd as two black rings appeared, slowly traveling up and down the stunned millionaires body. Whispers raced across the crowd as Vlad's human face appeared, his features frozen in shock.
It was all caught on tape. Almost every local and some international news crews had caught Vlad Plasmius turn into Vlad Masters. It was undeniable proof that half human half ghost hybrids existed.
And the wealthy Vlad Masters was one of them.
Vlad silently turned around, his white tux torn and beaten, his eyes wide, and stared at all of the cameras that were pointed at him. He backed up, feeling the solid wall behind him, easily trapping him. Some of the reporters began to regain their wits, approaching the millionaire and holding out their mike.
"Vlad… Masters?" A wide eyed reported asked timidly, trusty camera peeking around her shoulder.
Vlad stuttered, then turned angrily around to where Danny had been standing.
From above, Danny watched Vlad look around for him nervously before slowly turning back to the reporters. After he had been sure Vlad was human, he had turned invisible so that he wouldn't steal any of Vlad's attention. The assault of noise was back, and the crowd of cameras had already swallowed up Vlad.
He grinned, watching the scene from above, and let himself savor the thought for a while.
He, Danny Phantom, had finally defeated Vlad. Not just come to a standstill, hadn't retreated, he had won.
He had beaten Vlad.
With a smile on his lips, he flew back towards the portal, imagining his friends and his family waiting for him back home.
Now, for the first time in a long while, the future looked bright for Danny Phantom.
A/N: First of all, trivia! If you didn't remember, the Plasmius Maximus is from Maternal Instincts, and it forces them out of ghost mode for, uh, three hours? Or something like that… And the Specter Deflectorbelt thing, which is from the same episode,does sortof the same thing...except it hurts.Oh, and yes, I know, Einzel is still out there, but I still have one chapter left to finish up. And I probably can't apologize enough for my way delayed chapter, but I'm going to apologize again anyway. I'M SOOOOO SORRYYYYYY! I knew it would take longer, but I didn't think it'd take this long!
But, behold! I now have a computer that ALWAYS works! I didn't lose very many files in the process, and, heh, well I hung out with a lot of my friends for maybe the last time before I move away. So at least I'M happy, right! (dodges thrown fruit)
Anyway, I still can't get my e-mail account to work on my new computer, and my internet is still acting funky, so I hope you don't mind if I skip the replies this time. (Most of you probably won't remember what you wrote, anyway!) I will try to update sooner, but I can't promise, as I still have yet to move and be introduced to college life (and one of the biggest cities in the U.S. …eep!)
I hope the chapter was at least somewhat worth the wait! (feels guilty)
Yes, well, now I think I'm done rambling. Til' next time!