The return of Dan Phantom!
Yes, inspired a bit by slifertheskydragon I just HAD to bring in good ol' Dan ;) That Dan stamp posted today just got me in a write-Dan mood!
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"No, there isn't," Frostbite said sadly. "But the Infimap is special, it has been known to return to us without being sought out."
"Yeah but with the Infimap... and the Thermos... we need to find him before he pulls something," Len said. "I just wish there was some way to track him down... too bad we don't have the Enterprise's sensor banks, eh?" she sasid, winking at Danny.
"Yeah but with the Infimap he can travel in time and space, the Enterprise wouldn't exactly do us much good!" Danny said. "I guess we better go back to Clockwork's lair."
"I shall accompany you," Frostbite said. "Perhaps I can be of some help."
Frostbite followed the two halfas across the snowy path until they reached the window that led back to Clockwork's lair. When they stepped through, the Doctor and Clockwork were seated together, bending over a table in deep discussioin.
"So, any new ideas here?" Danny asked, looking over Clockwork's shoulder. "Because our idea kind of bombed, Vlad stole the Infimap too."
"That is very disturbing," Clockwork said. "But we may have a way to track him down, provided he doesn't move around too much."
"We will need another thermos, identical in composition to the one Plasmius took," the Doctor said.
"We've got plenty of those with," Len said.
"Yeah but Dad's improved the design since I fought... him..." Danny said. "I don't think they're identical."
"Great," Len grumbled. "So you don't have any that are, you know, original? That thermos dates back to, what, your first year or two of having ghost powers, right?"
"Right. Wait, maybe I do have an old one, not working anymore but made the same time as that Thermos, back home in Amity Park. I'll be back!" Danny said, taking to the air.
"Hey, wait for me!" Len said, reluctantly taking to the air as well.
"What, I can go back to Fenton Works on my own," Danny griped.
"Yeah, but what if Vlad is waiting for you there? Just in case, I think it's better if we stick together. The Doctor's got backup in the form of Clockwork and Frostbite, I just want to make sure you've got backup too." Len shuddered as they passed a creepy looking beast.
"You're right, darn it," Danny said. "Oh come here, slow poke!" He backtracked a bit, grabbing Len's arm and pulling her along at his faster pace.
"Sheesh, why do we have to fly so fast?" Len complained. "Woah, is that your home portal?"
"Yep, that's what it looks like from inside the Ghost Zone," Danny said. He barreled through the open doorway and landed gently on the lab floor. Len, however, didn't manage to land quite as gracefully, sending Danny into a fit of giggles. Len glared at him and kicked at his ankle, but Danny saw it coming and jumped just in time. "Come on, cut it out," he said. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it, you just looked so funny the way you landed!" He helped her stand.
"Apology accepted. Now where's that thermos?" Len asked.
"Should be in the cabinet here," Danny said. He opened a large cabinet and started rustling through it. "Wait... oh I remember now! Dad moved it up to the Ops center a couple years ago. Come on, I guess you'll finally get to see the cool part of the house."
"You mean there's a part cooler than the lab and the portal?" Len said as they walked upstairs.
"Yeah, the Ops center. I couldn't show you last time you were here because, well, mom and dad would have gotten suspicious, no one outside the family is supposed to know about the ops center and they didn't know about my ghost powers yet," Danny said. "Oh hi mom!"
"Hi Danny, what brings you home?" Maddie said, turning from the stove where she was cooking dinner.
"Oh, just need some ghost hunting equipment, came in from the Ghost Zone," Danny said.
"Do you have time to stay for dinner? It'll be ready in a few minutes," Maddie asked.
"I don't know..." Danny said. Len and Maddie both gave him puppy dog eyes. "Oh I guess we could have some dinner..." As if in agreement his stomach grumbled loudly.
"I didn't know ghosts could get hungry!" Maddie said.
"Well I'm only half ghost," Danny said. "We need to get some stuff from the Ops center, and then we'll be right back down."
"All right sweetie, wash up before you come downstairs, okay?" Maddie said.
"Will do!" Danny said, leading Len up another flight of stairs. He led Len into his parents' bedroom, sliding aside a rug and pulling Len to stand next to him on the metallic circle that was revealed. "Two to the Ops center!"
A transparent column descended and then air pressure sucked them upwards. The transport let them out into a fridge, which smelled of rotten meat. They burst out of the fridge and slammed the door shut. "Oh my goodness, what died in there?" Len gasped.
"I think Dad really needs to learn how to replace the emergency ham more often," Danny said. "Hold on... and hold your breath." He opened the door and with a well aimed beam of ghost energy, vaporized the rotting side of ham inside the fridge. "I'll have to tell him to decontaminate the fridge later. Now, where was the thermos....?"
Len had already begun peering into cabinets. "Is this what you were thinking of? This semi-smushed thermos?" she asked, pulling out a thermos that had a big dent in the middle.
"That's the one!" Danny said. "I almost got flattened by a telephone pole the first time I fought Johnny Thirteen and his stupid bad-luck shadow." He took the thermos from Len. "Wow, there's a lot of old damaged equipment in here..."
"Kids! Dinner!" came Maddie's voice over the inter-house intercom.
"I am not walking through that fridge again," Len said.
"Did I even suggest it?" Danny said. "I don't want to go in there either!"
"So, phase and head straight down?" Len asked.
"Yeah, but... right here." Danny pointed to a spot in the middle of the floor. He took Len's hand and guided her down through the floor of the Ops center into his bedroom. "Let's wash up," he said, placing the thermos on his bed and heading down the hall into the bathroom, transforming as he did so.
When they got downstairs, Maddie had filled the kitchen table with heaping amounts of food. Jack and Jazz were already seated when Danny and Len walked into the kitchen. "Ah there you are, did you get what you needed?" Maddie asked, piling a plate high with food and handing it to Danny. "What would you like Lenora dear?"
Len looked at the spread on the table. "Oh just some pasta, and salad," she said. "I'm not that hungry."
"Nonsense, you're a growing girl, won't you have some hot dogs?" Maddie asked.
"Um, no thanks Maddie, I can't eat hot dogs," Len said. "I'm fine, I really don't eat much." She scooped up some salad, carefully avoiding the cherry tomatoes, and picked at it.
"Oh well more for the rest of us!" Jack boomed.
"Dad!!" Jazz admonished.
Maddie filled a plate high with pasta. "Are you sure you don't want anything else?" she asked.
"I'm sure! This will be plenty!" Len insisted. Maddie shook her head but finally sat down.
Danny and Len ate quickly, then excused themselves. Danny flew upstairs and grabbed the thermos and then met Len down in the basement. Maddie ran downstairs with a large cooler in her arms. "Here sweetie, some more food in case you get hungry later," she said, handing Len the cooler. "Are you sure you're finished eating?"
"MOM!" Danny whined.
Len laughed. "You sound like my family, except they just say 'You too skinny, mangia mangia!' I'm fine, Maddie, I really don't eat that much anymore. Besides, gotta keep my girlish figure."
"Okay, well be careful you two," Maddie said. She kissed Danny on the forehead. Len pretended not to see Danny's disgusted face, turning away and transforming instead. Maddie came over and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek, "Take care Lenora dear."
"Bye Mom, thanks for dinner!" Danny said, transforming and shooting into the portal. Len groaned and flew after him.
Once they were both inside the Ghost Zone, Danny grabbed Len's wrist and pulled her along, making a beeline for Clockwork's lair. The two ghosts and the Doctor were still seated around the table when they landed.
"Sorry we took so long, my mom insisted on feeding us," Danny apologized. "But here, this is one of the original design thermoses." He handed the thermos to the Doctor.
"Oh good, this should help. And what is that?" he asked, seeing the cooler in Len's arms.
"Dinner. I didn't eat enough so Maddie sent a ton of extra food along," Len said. "Oof, I'll just put this in the TARDIS." She walked over to where the big blue box stood and phased through the wall rather than try to open the door with her arms full. She set the cooler down over at one end of the control room and turned to head back out, but then the Doctor walked in.
"Okay, now to hook this up to my scanners..." he said, setting the thermos down on the floor near the control console and crawling around the floor, pulling up wires and circuit boards. "If I'm right, we can scan for the particular components of this device's construction and hopefully use it to find this Plasmius."
Danny walked in, with Clockwork and Frostbite right behind him. They all watched quietly as the Doctor worked. Just then they heard an explosion right outside the TARDIS. "What was that!?" Danny gasped.
"That didn't sound good..." Len said. She stuck her head out the wall of the TARDIS and gasped. "Um, Clockwork, I'm very sorry-" she started to say, but the ghost of time had already flown out of the TARDIS into what remained of his lair.
"I will remain here, go find the culprit Danny Phantom," Frostbite said. Danny nodded and he and Len both flew out of the TARDIS.
"Which direction did that explosion come from?" Danny asked.
"By the directoin of the way things fell, I'd say it came from either that way or that way," Len said, pointing.
"You take that way I'll take this way," Danny said, flying off out into the Ghost Zone.
"I hate when he makes me fly," Len muttered to herself, taking off in the second direction she'd indicated. Looking around she didn't see anything out of the ordinary, at least out of the Ghost Zone ordinary, but then she caught a glimpse of a red cape out of the corner of her eye. "Plasmius," she spat, taking off after the retreating halfa.
After a short flight she caught up to the pointy-haired villain. "Plasmius! Come back here you moron! I still haven't finished showing you how I feel about the way you treated me back at Northeastern!"
"Oh, dear, a bitter ex-girlfriend, let me run right back for my punishment!" Plasmius mocked.
"Tell you what, hand over the Thermos and the Infimap and I don't shred you apart with my bare hands," Len said.
"Still miffed?" Plasmius teased.
"I'm an Italian Scorpio. It takes a lot of work to really get me mad but once you do, don't expect me to forgive you for a very VERY long time," Len sneered. She made a fist and started to concentrate ecto energy in her hand, trying to channel her anger into a devestating blow.
"Unfortunately I cannot hand over the thermos to you," Vlad said. "It is already destroyed. Nor can I hand you the Infimap because I don't have it."
"Oh well, darn, I guess I'll just have to blast you for the other stupid stuff you did," Len said. She took aim and fired, one of her most powerful ecto blasts ever, amazingly hitting Vlad square on the chest and sending him somersaulting through the air.
"Wha-? How did you-? You're not that powerful!" Vlad protested, clutching his chest.
"Guess I just needed the right motivation, eh?" Len retorted. "Now where is the Infimap?" she demanded, charging up her other fist.
"My partner has it," Vlad said. "I'm afraid you'll have to find him."
Len glared daggers at him and fired again, but this time Vlad was expecting it and put up an energy shield, yawning. Len had anticipated his reaction, though, and flew closer to Vlad, whipping out her thermos as soon as he let his shield down and sucking him in. "Don't know who your partner is Plasmius, but until then you're coming with me!" She flew back toward the TARDIS.
Clockwork was floating sadly in the middle of his ruined home. "Is that the thermos?"
Len shook her head. "No, sorry, this is Plasmius. Did Danny come back yet?"
Clockwork shook his head. "No, and the Doctor still hasn't located the other thermos."
"He may not, Vlad claimed it was already destroyed," Len said. "I better go see if Danny needs help, I'll leave Plasmius with you." She tossed the thermos to Clockwork and flew off in the direction Danny had gone.
It took just a few short miutes of flying for her to spot Danny and what looked like an adult version of Danny, locked in heated battle. As they turned around, locked in combat, Len spotted the Infimap sticking out of the older ghost's pocket. She went invisible, trying to sneak up behind him but felt herself being held back.
"I don't think so girl," sneered a second copy of the ghost. "You won't get that map that easily."
"I don't know who you are ghost, but that map doesn't belong to you!" Len snapped, pulling out of the ghost's grip and returning to visibility.
"They call me Dan. Dan Phantom," he said. "And who are you?"
"Lenora MacKenzie, but you can just call me the woman who's going to destroy you!" she said, charging up her fist again.
The ghost chuckled. "Oh that is funny! You? Destroy me? You and what army?" he asked.
"I don't need an army!" Len said. "Just my training!" She pulled out her ecto sword and activated it.
"You can't beat me," Dan sneered, and with a flash there were two more of him. The three Dans surrounded Len and started reaching for her.
"Oh no you don't!" Len said. She started spinning in place, holding her sword out as she twirled faster and faster, aiming to slice through all three Dans at once but they just phased right through her sword. "Huh?"
"Len get out of here before he hurts you!" Danny cried.
"I'm not leaving you alone!" Len said. "But how do we beat him?"
"There's only one way and I don't want to hurt you too!" Danny said.
Len realized what he meant, and tried to figure out a way to get out of the way. She twirled even faster, switching the sword from hand to hand and shooting ecto blasts with her free hand, finally knocking the duplicate Dans away from her. She flew over to Danny and hovered behind him. "What can I do to help you?" she asked.
"If you're not going to leave then lend me some of your power!" Danny said, struggling in hand to hand combat with the remaining Dan. He shot an icy blast from his eyes at Dan, who merely responded with a firey blast.
"Lend... oh yeah, that move," Len said. She went intangible and jumped into Danny's body, not so much overshadowing him as combining her power with his. With their combined power Danny was able to shove Dan away from him.
"Thanks Len, and now..." Danny took a deep breath and hit Dan full on with his Ghostly Wail.
"Nice try Danny, but you can't get me with that move twice," Dan chuckled.
"I'm a lot more powerful than I was last time we met," Danny said. He took another deep breath and, this time in addition to the Ghostly Wail, he also fired a powerful blast of ice energy. This time it caught Dan unawares and he tumbled head over heels across the emptiness of the Ghost Zone. "It's time you returned to the thermos," Danny said. He pulled out his Thermos and started sucking Dan in. "Len, get that map!"
Len lept out of Danny, transforming as she neared Dan and reached into the cone of suction that was pulling him into the thermos, grabbing the Infimap from his pocket just as he slid all the way into the Thermos. Danny replaced the lid on the thermos and Len transformed back into ghost form. "Good job, Danny!" she said. "But who exactly was that?"
"A version of me that will never ever come true," Danny muttered. At Len's expectant look, he continued, "When I first met Clockwork, he'd been asked to destroy me, to keep me from turning into that. I was under pressure from a career test, and the future Clockwork originally saw had my parents, sister, and best friends killed in an explosion, and then I had Vlad seperate my human and ghost halves... my ghost half then seperated his two halves and took over his ghost half, and became evil. Became Dan."
"So that was you? From an alternate future?" Len asked as they floated back toward Clockwork's lair.
"Yeah, but I stopped that future from happening," Danny said. "Locked him away in the thermos, I thought I'd never have to deal with that future again."
"Well you stopped him again," Len said, putting an arm around Danny's shoulders. "And I know you'll never turn into that. You are too much of a hero. Besides, you know I'll kick your butt if you ever start to act like that!"
Danny laughed. "Yeah that's for sure. So did you find anything in your direction?"
"Plasmius. Clockwork is watching over the thermos he's trapped in. I managed a pretty respectable ecto energy blast too, by channeling my anger at him."
"Good job!" Danny said. "See, I told you that you'd get better, you just needed the right motivation!"
"Thanks! Come on, let's get back to Clockwork, and we can tell the Doctor he can stop looking for that thermos," Len said. "Maybe we should put some kind of lock, or homing device on this."
"Good idea." They flew into Clockwork's lair and Danny approached Clockwork with the thermos. "Here he is, all packaged up for you."
Len walked into the TARDIS. "You can stop looking Doctor, we found them. Here's the Infimap back, Frostbite, safe and sound."
"Thank you so very much Miss Lenora," Frostbite said, taking the Infimap. "You and Danny Phantom have done well this day!"
Danny walked in holding the other Thermos. "So, where should we put Plasmius?"
"In irons? In chains? Go back to Rome and feed him to the lions? Leave him stranded on Mars? Toss him into a black hole?" Len suggested.
"Geez, I know you're mad at him, but that mad?" Danny said.
"He lied to me! Until you got there I had no clue he was a halfa, or your arch enemy, or even that he knew *of* you! He acted all innocent! Of course I'm that mad!" Len spat.
"Well I think he needs punishment but not that much... why don't we leave him in the thermos and maybe we'll find a good place to leave him on our travels," Danny said. He set the thermos down in a corner by his backpack.
"Well I will be returning to the land of the far frozen, but I thank you both again for retrieving the Infimap. Best of luck on your travels Danny Phantom and Lenora MacKenzie!" Frostbite said, exiting the TARDIS.
"I guess, random destination again?" Len said.
"No, wait, I... well I want to make sure, can you bring us to Amity Park, the year 2015?" Danny asked.
"Certainly!" the Doctor said. He took the randomizer off the console and set it on the floor next to the smashed thermos, then punched in the coordinates.
"You want to make sure you really don't turn into him, huh?" Len asked.
"Yeah. Battling him again made me a little worried, that's all," Danny said. Len pulled him into a big hug.
With a lurch the TARDIS jumped into the future, materializing in an alley just across from Fenton Works. "Here we are!" the Doctor declared.
"Um... right. Here goes," Danny said. He stood up straight and faced the door, then stopped.
"Want me to come with you?" Len asked quietly.
Danny looked at her for a long moment, then finally nodded. "Yeah. I think I would like it if you came with me. But, let's go invisible, okay? I don't want to be seen."
"No problemo." Len turned invisible and then took Danny's hand. He, too, went invisible, and they walked out of the TARDIS.
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And now I really need to get some sleep, my three day weekend o' fun is over and it's time to go to work in about nine hours, pooh :( But I did catch up to where I should be! I'm past 34K now! :D That's like...gee that's about 10K in two days, not bad!!
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"No, there isn't," Frostbite said sadly. "But the Infimap is special, it has been known to return to us without being sought out."
"Yeah but with the Infimap... and the Thermos... we need to find him before he pulls something," Len said. "I just wish there was some way to track him down... too bad we don't have the Enterprise's sensor banks, eh?" she sasid, winking at Danny.
"Yeah but with the Infimap he can travel in time and space, the Enterprise wouldn't exactly do us much good!" Danny said. "I guess we better go back to Clockwork's lair."
"I shall accompany you," Frostbite said. "Perhaps I can be of some help."
Frostbite followed the two halfas across the snowy path until they reached the window that led back to Clockwork's lair. When they stepped through, the Doctor and Clockwork were seated together, bending over a table in deep discussioin.
"So, any new ideas here?" Danny asked, looking over Clockwork's shoulder. "Because our idea kind of bombed, Vlad stole the Infimap too."
"That is very disturbing," Clockwork said. "But we may have a way to track him down, provided he doesn't move around too much."
"We will need another thermos, identical in composition to the one Plasmius took," the Doctor said.
"We've got plenty of those with," Len said.
"Yeah but Dad's improved the design since I fought... him..." Danny said. "I don't think they're identical."
"Great," Len grumbled. "So you don't have any that are, you know, original? That thermos dates back to, what, your first year or two of having ghost powers, right?"
"Right. Wait, maybe I do have an old one, not working anymore but made the same time as that Thermos, back home in Amity Park. I'll be back!" Danny said, taking to the air.
"Hey, wait for me!" Len said, reluctantly taking to the air as well.
"What, I can go back to Fenton Works on my own," Danny griped.
"Yeah, but what if Vlad is waiting for you there? Just in case, I think it's better if we stick together. The Doctor's got backup in the form of Clockwork and Frostbite, I just want to make sure you've got backup too." Len shuddered as they passed a creepy looking beast.
"You're right, darn it," Danny said. "Oh come here, slow poke!" He backtracked a bit, grabbing Len's arm and pulling her along at his faster pace.
"Sheesh, why do we have to fly so fast?" Len complained. "Woah, is that your home portal?"
"Yep, that's what it looks like from inside the Ghost Zone," Danny said. He barreled through the open doorway and landed gently on the lab floor. Len, however, didn't manage to land quite as gracefully, sending Danny into a fit of giggles. Len glared at him and kicked at his ankle, but Danny saw it coming and jumped just in time. "Come on, cut it out," he said. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it, you just looked so funny the way you landed!" He helped her stand.
"Apology accepted. Now where's that thermos?" Len asked.
"Should be in the cabinet here," Danny said. He opened a large cabinet and started rustling through it. "Wait... oh I remember now! Dad moved it up to the Ops center a couple years ago. Come on, I guess you'll finally get to see the cool part of the house."
"You mean there's a part cooler than the lab and the portal?" Len said as they walked upstairs.
"Yeah, the Ops center. I couldn't show you last time you were here because, well, mom and dad would have gotten suspicious, no one outside the family is supposed to know about the ops center and they didn't know about my ghost powers yet," Danny said. "Oh hi mom!"
"Hi Danny, what brings you home?" Maddie said, turning from the stove where she was cooking dinner.
"Oh, just need some ghost hunting equipment, came in from the Ghost Zone," Danny said.
"Do you have time to stay for dinner? It'll be ready in a few minutes," Maddie asked.
"I don't know..." Danny said. Len and Maddie both gave him puppy dog eyes. "Oh I guess we could have some dinner..." As if in agreement his stomach grumbled loudly.
"I didn't know ghosts could get hungry!" Maddie said.
"Well I'm only half ghost," Danny said. "We need to get some stuff from the Ops center, and then we'll be right back down."
"All right sweetie, wash up before you come downstairs, okay?" Maddie said.
"Will do!" Danny said, leading Len up another flight of stairs. He led Len into his parents' bedroom, sliding aside a rug and pulling Len to stand next to him on the metallic circle that was revealed. "Two to the Ops center!"
A transparent column descended and then air pressure sucked them upwards. The transport let them out into a fridge, which smelled of rotten meat. They burst out of the fridge and slammed the door shut. "Oh my goodness, what died in there?" Len gasped.
"I think Dad really needs to learn how to replace the emergency ham more often," Danny said. "Hold on... and hold your breath." He opened the door and with a well aimed beam of ghost energy, vaporized the rotting side of ham inside the fridge. "I'll have to tell him to decontaminate the fridge later. Now, where was the thermos....?"
Len had already begun peering into cabinets. "Is this what you were thinking of? This semi-smushed thermos?" she asked, pulling out a thermos that had a big dent in the middle.
"That's the one!" Danny said. "I almost got flattened by a telephone pole the first time I fought Johnny Thirteen and his stupid bad-luck shadow." He took the thermos from Len. "Wow, there's a lot of old damaged equipment in here..."
"Kids! Dinner!" came Maddie's voice over the inter-house intercom.
"I am not walking through that fridge again," Len said.
"Did I even suggest it?" Danny said. "I don't want to go in there either!"
"So, phase and head straight down?" Len asked.
"Yeah, but... right here." Danny pointed to a spot in the middle of the floor. He took Len's hand and guided her down through the floor of the Ops center into his bedroom. "Let's wash up," he said, placing the thermos on his bed and heading down the hall into the bathroom, transforming as he did so.
When they got downstairs, Maddie had filled the kitchen table with heaping amounts of food. Jack and Jazz were already seated when Danny and Len walked into the kitchen. "Ah there you are, did you get what you needed?" Maddie asked, piling a plate high with food and handing it to Danny. "What would you like Lenora dear?"
Len looked at the spread on the table. "Oh just some pasta, and salad," she said. "I'm not that hungry."
"Nonsense, you're a growing girl, won't you have some hot dogs?" Maddie asked.
"Um, no thanks Maddie, I can't eat hot dogs," Len said. "I'm fine, I really don't eat much." She scooped up some salad, carefully avoiding the cherry tomatoes, and picked at it.
"Oh well more for the rest of us!" Jack boomed.
"Dad!!" Jazz admonished.
Maddie filled a plate high with pasta. "Are you sure you don't want anything else?" she asked.
"I'm sure! This will be plenty!" Len insisted. Maddie shook her head but finally sat down.
Danny and Len ate quickly, then excused themselves. Danny flew upstairs and grabbed the thermos and then met Len down in the basement. Maddie ran downstairs with a large cooler in her arms. "Here sweetie, some more food in case you get hungry later," she said, handing Len the cooler. "Are you sure you're finished eating?"
"MOM!" Danny whined.
Len laughed. "You sound like my family, except they just say 'You too skinny, mangia mangia!' I'm fine, Maddie, I really don't eat that much anymore. Besides, gotta keep my girlish figure."
"Okay, well be careful you two," Maddie said. She kissed Danny on the forehead. Len pretended not to see Danny's disgusted face, turning away and transforming instead. Maddie came over and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek, "Take care Lenora dear."
"Bye Mom, thanks for dinner!" Danny said, transforming and shooting into the portal. Len groaned and flew after him.
Once they were both inside the Ghost Zone, Danny grabbed Len's wrist and pulled her along, making a beeline for Clockwork's lair. The two ghosts and the Doctor were still seated around the table when they landed.
"Sorry we took so long, my mom insisted on feeding us," Danny apologized. "But here, this is one of the original design thermoses." He handed the thermos to the Doctor.
"Oh good, this should help. And what is that?" he asked, seeing the cooler in Len's arms.
"Dinner. I didn't eat enough so Maddie sent a ton of extra food along," Len said. "Oof, I'll just put this in the TARDIS." She walked over to where the big blue box stood and phased through the wall rather than try to open the door with her arms full. She set the cooler down over at one end of the control room and turned to head back out, but then the Doctor walked in.
"Okay, now to hook this up to my scanners..." he said, setting the thermos down on the floor near the control console and crawling around the floor, pulling up wires and circuit boards. "If I'm right, we can scan for the particular components of this device's construction and hopefully use it to find this Plasmius."
Danny walked in, with Clockwork and Frostbite right behind him. They all watched quietly as the Doctor worked. Just then they heard an explosion right outside the TARDIS. "What was that!?" Danny gasped.
"That didn't sound good..." Len said. She stuck her head out the wall of the TARDIS and gasped. "Um, Clockwork, I'm very sorry-" she started to say, but the ghost of time had already flown out of the TARDIS into what remained of his lair.
"I will remain here, go find the culprit Danny Phantom," Frostbite said. Danny nodded and he and Len both flew out of the TARDIS.
"Which direction did that explosion come from?" Danny asked.
"By the directoin of the way things fell, I'd say it came from either that way or that way," Len said, pointing.
"You take that way I'll take this way," Danny said, flying off out into the Ghost Zone.
"I hate when he makes me fly," Len muttered to herself, taking off in the second direction she'd indicated. Looking around she didn't see anything out of the ordinary, at least out of the Ghost Zone ordinary, but then she caught a glimpse of a red cape out of the corner of her eye. "Plasmius," she spat, taking off after the retreating halfa.
After a short flight she caught up to the pointy-haired villain. "Plasmius! Come back here you moron! I still haven't finished showing you how I feel about the way you treated me back at Northeastern!"
"Oh, dear, a bitter ex-girlfriend, let me run right back for my punishment!" Plasmius mocked.
"Tell you what, hand over the Thermos and the Infimap and I don't shred you apart with my bare hands," Len said.
"Still miffed?" Plasmius teased.
"I'm an Italian Scorpio. It takes a lot of work to really get me mad but once you do, don't expect me to forgive you for a very VERY long time," Len sneered. She made a fist and started to concentrate ecto energy in her hand, trying to channel her anger into a devestating blow.
"Unfortunately I cannot hand over the thermos to you," Vlad said. "It is already destroyed. Nor can I hand you the Infimap because I don't have it."
"Oh well, darn, I guess I'll just have to blast you for the other stupid stuff you did," Len said. She took aim and fired, one of her most powerful ecto blasts ever, amazingly hitting Vlad square on the chest and sending him somersaulting through the air.
"Wha-? How did you-? You're not that powerful!" Vlad protested, clutching his chest.
"Guess I just needed the right motivation, eh?" Len retorted. "Now where is the Infimap?" she demanded, charging up her other fist.
"My partner has it," Vlad said. "I'm afraid you'll have to find him."
Len glared daggers at him and fired again, but this time Vlad was expecting it and put up an energy shield, yawning. Len had anticipated his reaction, though, and flew closer to Vlad, whipping out her thermos as soon as he let his shield down and sucking him in. "Don't know who your partner is Plasmius, but until then you're coming with me!" She flew back toward the TARDIS.
Clockwork was floating sadly in the middle of his ruined home. "Is that the thermos?"
Len shook her head. "No, sorry, this is Plasmius. Did Danny come back yet?"
Clockwork shook his head. "No, and the Doctor still hasn't located the other thermos."
"He may not, Vlad claimed it was already destroyed," Len said. "I better go see if Danny needs help, I'll leave Plasmius with you." She tossed the thermos to Clockwork and flew off in the direction Danny had gone.
It took just a few short miutes of flying for her to spot Danny and what looked like an adult version of Danny, locked in heated battle. As they turned around, locked in combat, Len spotted the Infimap sticking out of the older ghost's pocket. She went invisible, trying to sneak up behind him but felt herself being held back.
"I don't think so girl," sneered a second copy of the ghost. "You won't get that map that easily."
"I don't know who you are ghost, but that map doesn't belong to you!" Len snapped, pulling out of the ghost's grip and returning to visibility.
"They call me Dan. Dan Phantom," he said. "And who are you?"
"Lenora MacKenzie, but you can just call me the woman who's going to destroy you!" she said, charging up her fist again.
The ghost chuckled. "Oh that is funny! You? Destroy me? You and what army?" he asked.
"I don't need an army!" Len said. "Just my training!" She pulled out her ecto sword and activated it.
"You can't beat me," Dan sneered, and with a flash there were two more of him. The three Dans surrounded Len and started reaching for her.
"Oh no you don't!" Len said. She started spinning in place, holding her sword out as she twirled faster and faster, aiming to slice through all three Dans at once but they just phased right through her sword. "Huh?"
"Len get out of here before he hurts you!" Danny cried.
"I'm not leaving you alone!" Len said. "But how do we beat him?"
"There's only one way and I don't want to hurt you too!" Danny said.
Len realized what he meant, and tried to figure out a way to get out of the way. She twirled even faster, switching the sword from hand to hand and shooting ecto blasts with her free hand, finally knocking the duplicate Dans away from her. She flew over to Danny and hovered behind him. "What can I do to help you?" she asked.
"If you're not going to leave then lend me some of your power!" Danny said, struggling in hand to hand combat with the remaining Dan. He shot an icy blast from his eyes at Dan, who merely responded with a firey blast.
"Lend... oh yeah, that move," Len said. She went intangible and jumped into Danny's body, not so much overshadowing him as combining her power with his. With their combined power Danny was able to shove Dan away from him.
"Thanks Len, and now..." Danny took a deep breath and hit Dan full on with his Ghostly Wail.
"Nice try Danny, but you can't get me with that move twice," Dan chuckled.
"I'm a lot more powerful than I was last time we met," Danny said. He took another deep breath and, this time in addition to the Ghostly Wail, he also fired a powerful blast of ice energy. This time it caught Dan unawares and he tumbled head over heels across the emptiness of the Ghost Zone. "It's time you returned to the thermos," Danny said. He pulled out his Thermos and started sucking Dan in. "Len, get that map!"
Len lept out of Danny, transforming as she neared Dan and reached into the cone of suction that was pulling him into the thermos, grabbing the Infimap from his pocket just as he slid all the way into the Thermos. Danny replaced the lid on the thermos and Len transformed back into ghost form. "Good job, Danny!" she said. "But who exactly was that?"
"A version of me that will never ever come true," Danny muttered. At Len's expectant look, he continued, "When I first met Clockwork, he'd been asked to destroy me, to keep me from turning into that. I was under pressure from a career test, and the future Clockwork originally saw had my parents, sister, and best friends killed in an explosion, and then I had Vlad seperate my human and ghost halves... my ghost half then seperated his two halves and took over his ghost half, and became evil. Became Dan."
"So that was you? From an alternate future?" Len asked as they floated back toward Clockwork's lair.
"Yeah, but I stopped that future from happening," Danny said. "Locked him away in the thermos, I thought I'd never have to deal with that future again."
"Well you stopped him again," Len said, putting an arm around Danny's shoulders. "And I know you'll never turn into that. You are too much of a hero. Besides, you know I'll kick your butt if you ever start to act like that!"
Danny laughed. "Yeah that's for sure. So did you find anything in your direction?"
"Plasmius. Clockwork is watching over the thermos he's trapped in. I managed a pretty respectable ecto energy blast too, by channeling my anger at him."
"Good job!" Danny said. "See, I told you that you'd get better, you just needed the right motivation!"
"Thanks! Come on, let's get back to Clockwork, and we can tell the Doctor he can stop looking for that thermos," Len said. "Maybe we should put some kind of lock, or homing device on this."
"Good idea." They flew into Clockwork's lair and Danny approached Clockwork with the thermos. "Here he is, all packaged up for you."
Len walked into the TARDIS. "You can stop looking Doctor, we found them. Here's the Infimap back, Frostbite, safe and sound."
"Thank you so very much Miss Lenora," Frostbite said, taking the Infimap. "You and Danny Phantom have done well this day!"
Danny walked in holding the other Thermos. "So, where should we put Plasmius?"
"In irons? In chains? Go back to Rome and feed him to the lions? Leave him stranded on Mars? Toss him into a black hole?" Len suggested.
"Geez, I know you're mad at him, but that mad?" Danny said.
"He lied to me! Until you got there I had no clue he was a halfa, or your arch enemy, or even that he knew *of* you! He acted all innocent! Of course I'm that mad!" Len spat.
"Well I think he needs punishment but not that much... why don't we leave him in the thermos and maybe we'll find a good place to leave him on our travels," Danny said. He set the thermos down in a corner by his backpack.
"Well I will be returning to the land of the far frozen, but I thank you both again for retrieving the Infimap. Best of luck on your travels Danny Phantom and Lenora MacKenzie!" Frostbite said, exiting the TARDIS.
"I guess, random destination again?" Len said.
"No, wait, I... well I want to make sure, can you bring us to Amity Park, the year 2015?" Danny asked.
"Certainly!" the Doctor said. He took the randomizer off the console and set it on the floor next to the smashed thermos, then punched in the coordinates.
"You want to make sure you really don't turn into him, huh?" Len asked.
"Yeah. Battling him again made me a little worried, that's all," Danny said. Len pulled him into a big hug.
With a lurch the TARDIS jumped into the future, materializing in an alley just across from Fenton Works. "Here we are!" the Doctor declared.
"Um... right. Here goes," Danny said. He stood up straight and faced the door, then stopped.
"Want me to come with you?" Len asked quietly.
Danny looked at her for a long moment, then finally nodded. "Yeah. I think I would like it if you came with me. But, let's go invisible, okay? I don't want to be seen."
"No problemo." Len turned invisible and then took Danny's hand. He, too, went invisible, and they walked out of the TARDIS.
~~~~
And now I really need to get some sleep, my three day weekend o' fun is over and it's time to go to work in about nine hours, pooh :( But I did catch up to where I should be! I'm past 34K now! :D That's like...gee that's about 10K in two days, not bad!!