Chapter 16: Meet the Mentor

"This is bullshit Tucker, and you know it!" Tucker sighed in annoyance for what must have been the fifth time in the last hour. So she was pissed that Danny wasn't here to hang out with them. Big deal.

"Sam, just chill." He gets up and puts the controller down, then turns to his friend. "How often does Danny visit family? Like once or twice a year, if that?"

Sam loses some of her anger, "Well, if you put it like that…"

Seeing the end in sight, Tucker jumps at the chance to end this conversation. "What are you mad for anyway? He's only gone for two weeks, and he should be back a couple days before school starts. We can still hang out with him then."

She sighs in defeat, something that doesn't happen often when it comes to arguments with her friends. "I don't know why I'm mad, okay? Maybe because this was a good chance for us to patch up our friendship? And it's gone because of a sudden trip by his parents!" She threw her arms up in frustration, but it's clear to Tucker that there's a distinct lack of anger in it compared to earlier.

Her anger was understandable to a certain extent, but the last hour has been gaining in annoyance like a snowball effect, and her argument was getting weaker and weaker in the same way. That he could even win a verbal debate was proof enough. "I get it Sam, you're frustrated and that's fine. Just don't take it out on me, and especially don't take it out on Danny. That's the last thing we need right now."

Uncomfortable silence lingers in the room, and it's not just because Sam's room is sound-proofed. Tucker groaned in discomfort at the next topic. He'd been putting it off for a few days, but now was a better time than ever.

A defeated Sam is a Sam that's easier to talk to.

And Tucker can tell that it's not the only thing bothering her.

"So… do you wanna talk about what happened at school?" The gothic girl flinches at the memories of the ghost. The ghost that she caused to come back from wherever it came from. The ghost that she caused to attack the school. The ghost attack that was her fault. God, she felt so guilty about it.

The whole goth thing wasn't just a look, she really did enjoy the spiritual side of it. Horror movies always were her favorite, and the occult had called to her multiple times in her life. There was even a phase in middle school where she thought she was psychic, and it's one of the most embarrassing times of her life. Sam is thankful for every day where she doesn't remember that awful semester of school. Luckily Tucker and Danny stopped teasing her about it, but it was still a part of her childhood that mortified her.

And a spirit of the dead coming back, because of her… wasn't something she took pride in. It scared her. There's too many stories that tell of vengeful spirits of the dead coming back for payback, no matter how petty the reason. Like the school lunch menu! Okay, that was a stupid reason to come back as a ghost, but she wouldn't say that out loud. Unless she was seriously pissed.

But she felt guilty nonetheless; the school was damaged extensively, people were injured from flying objects, broken glass, and a few had burns. Paulina was covered in meat… that was actually pretty funny. And Sam just felt like she had wronged that white haired boy- ghost- she didn't know what he was. Asking the Fentons seemed like a bad idea, if only because she always thought that Danny's parents were almost extremists in their views on ghosts.

Sam sighed and laid back into her chair, "No, I don't really want to talk about it… but I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't at least share some of it." She readjusted her position a little and looked back at Tucker. He had paused the game and set the controller down, not sitting anymore, but leaning on the desk.

"Go on."

Frowning at the memories, she begins to recall the attack. "So, do you know why the ghost attacked?"

Tucker looks up in contemplation, but ultimately comes to the conclusion, "No, not really. I was recording a decent chunk of the fight, but I definitely missed the initiative."

Looking down in what was obviously shame, Sam orates her shame. "I think it was my fault. Actually, I was told that it was my fault."

Now that was news, but it wasn't hard to reach that conclusion if someone paid attention to some of the videos posted online. But her point is pushed further as she elaborates, "The white haired guy that was fighting the meat monster? Yeah, he kind of chewed me out and, very blatantly, told me it was my fault."

Groaning in exasperation, Tucker slaps his head, "All because you changed the menu, wow. What a dumb reason." He looks back at his friend, Sam, who's obviously not enjoying being the cause of so much violence.

"Yeah. It is a dumb reason, but it's a reason I caused nonetheless. Even though the meat monster was disturbing, to me especially, it wasn't really scary or traumatizing. It just… makes me feel guilty." Phantom's words echo in her head, that he hadn't had a peaceful encounter yet. With his own kind, he'd been attacked, if his words were anything to go by, dozens of times and every time he fought them back.

And she ruined the only peaceful encounter he's had.

Giving what feels like a rather spot on guess, Tucker continues with this little session they have going. "You don't like that, do you? That you're actually to blame for something that could have gone so wrong?" He could see why Jazz likes psychology so much, even if it wasn't his cup of tea, it helped to find what was wrong so easily.

Sam snaps her eyes up, glaring at her bespectacled friend, "Of course I don't like it! Someone could have gotten seriously hurt! Someone… could have died, and it would have been my fault." She's quiet at the end, her yell turned into barely a whisper.

Moving towards his friend, Tucker places a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. My dad once told me to not worry about the 'what if' and put more thought into the now." Sam looks up at Tucker, frowning at the casual dismissal, but accepting the words for what they are.

Continuing on, "Sam, no one died or what seriously hurt. Just never change the menu again and it'll be right as rain." He smiles at her, and tosses a controller into her hands.

Seemingly done with that specific conversation, he moves onto another point. "So you were near the superpowered guy right? Did he say anything to you?" He grabbed his own controller in the meantime, plopping back down onto the chair and swiveling back towards his friend.

Sam tapped the controller on her hand, leaning back and getting comfy. "He chewed me out. Told me I was being a dumbass, pretty much. Looking back on it, he was kinda right."

Laughing at her scowl, it takes a few moments for him to regain his composure. "So you're telling me, you actually met the guy? And he insulted you? That's rich!"

"Hey!" She snaps, "I had it coming, yeah, but he did the standard hero thing. Rescued me, asked if I was alright, then he let me have it. He seems like a decent guy, but…"

Tucker raises an eyebrow, "but?"

She hesitates to say it, but knowing who their best friend is, decides that there's stranger things to say. "But, I think he's dead."

"Uh…" He didn't really know what to say to that, the guy was moving and talking just fine. He didn't look dead. "I give. What the hell do you mean?"

Thinking of the best way to explain it to her friend, it takes a few seconds for her to respond. "What do Danny's parents do?"

Not sure where the change in topic is coming from, he goes along with it anyway, knowing that there's a point to it. "They're researchers and inventors, right?"

Sam nods along, "And they research what exactly?"

His face scrunches in thought, before his eyes go wide. "Are you telling me you think the new hero our town has is a ghost? Like dead and came back as a spirit, ghost?"

Looking at his face full of disbelief, it's Sam's turn to laugh at him. "Yeah, he even confirmed it. He said 'I got it in one'. I'm still not too sure though."

The game starts, and both of their attention is drawn back to the screen. Not before she grabs an easy point on Tucker, and the game continues on in silence.

Minutes pass, before Tucker finally asks, "So we should ask Danny about that when he comes back, right?"

"Definitely."

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"Well… where do we start?" Danny asked. The twitch in his hands and darting eyes made it clear to the older Halfa that his nephew was nervous. Vlad frowns, disliking that he would make him uncomfortable.

"Let's start with… when did this happen to you?"

Danny shifts on his feet, shuffling them nervously. Looking up, he takes a deep breath and starts his story. "At the beginning of summer. June 18th, to be exact."

Deciding that standing isn't doing anything good for his nerves, Danny moves to the chair in front of Vlad. "Everyone was out of the house, including my parents. Curiosity got the best of me and I went down stairs. I don't normally go down into the lab, but with no one to distract me or push annoying ghost lectures onto me, free reign made my decision."

Vlad frowns at the hidden messages Daniel doesn't even realize he's sending out. Subtle annoyance at his parents, discomfort with their line of work. Now that Daniel's a Halfa like him, he can see why he'd be even more uncomfortable with their profession. It's almost funny that the son of ghost hunters was a half-ghost hybrid; or it would be funny if the older Halfa hadn't seen just how brutal his friends could be with a member of the dead. It was the primary reason he had been distancing himself from Jack and Maddie, as a half-ghost himself, close proximity with them isn't entirely good for his health. They treat the dead as if they feel nothing but malice, and it's far too easy to see how that could impact a young man, much less one who's gone through such… harrowing events.

Seeing the hesitance, Vlad gives his nephew another push. "Go on, Daniel." He encourages, "I'm not angry or disappointed, I just want to know how you came to be this way."

Feeling a little more comfortable, Danny continues with his tale. "Well, I started looking around. I hadn't been down in a while, but somehow it looked the same as always. They had a bunch of weapons and equipment laying around. Tons of ectoplasm all over the place, but the large door on the opposite side of the room was new."

Thinking of his own portal, Vlad glances over at its direction. Seeing his line of sight, his nephew nods in confirmation. "Yeah, the portal was new. I saw the schematics of it on a table and read it over. The notes said it didn't work and wondering why, I went searching."

Danny palms his hands, feeling more and more uncomfortable actually telling someone how he… died. All he's done is talk about his death in passing glances, casual mentions. It bothered him, sure, but nothing like actually telling the whole thing.

Before Vlad can say anything, Danny continues on, "The notes said something about an 'ON' switch, and it was inside the portal. With a two way authorization built into it, I figured it wouldn't hurt to turn it on and try out the portal. You know, see if I could get it to work." It's not hard to see where this is going, especially since his own accident involved a portal, albeit a small one.

Vlad's eyes widen as Danny continues his tale, "So I suited up into a hazmat suit," His ghost form flickers on, showing off the black and white suit he now dons as hero uniform, "went inside and started looking. I found the switch, pressed it, and had, like, maybe a second or two to realize that it was actually turning on."

Ectoplasm fades away, leaving Danny with full recollection. Now as Fenton, his shaky breaths alert Vlad to just how uncomfortable this is for him, but knowing he needs to hear it and Daniel needs to say it, the billionaire lets his nephew continue. "It hurt."

It's silent in the lab, and when he gulps, Danny's positive that it's the loudest thing in the world. "The portal turned on with me in it. It hurt so much. Taking some words from my dad, I could feel it… molecule by molecule I could fucking feel it. I don't really know how else to describe it." He looks down in thought, as if wanting to describe literally the most painful thing he's ever felt, but coming up empty.

Seeing just how hurt Daniel is, Vlad is furious. No, that's putting it lightly. Enraged beyond anything he's felt since he woke up from the coma that gave him his powers. It's one thing for this to happen to him, especially since he's benefited from the accident far more than most would think.

"Later, after I woke up in a mess… of my own blood and ectoplasm, I cleaned up and found out why it had started. My dad left the key in the second authorization factor. Not only that, he left that on too." The sudden sound of breaking metal makes Danny look up at Vlad, and he's startled to see his uncle looking far angrier than the younger Halfa had ever seen him before. The armrest was easily bent and broken under the elder half-ghosts enhanced strength, and his fangs are bared into a full snarl.

Livid felt accurate. Seething, boiling, both felt apt. His fire core was raring to go, wanting to unleash scalding fury onto someone, something, anything. Vlad couldn't believe how careless, how irresponsible, how absolutely stupid his friend had been! As if his accident hadn't been bad enough, for his own son to fall victim to bumbling idiocy like this was almost maddening. He had forgiven Jack for what he did years ago, especially when he found out about his powers. But for this to happen to Daniel, because of such a small mistake…

Vlad took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. Now's not the time or the place to unleash his anger. "Sorry about that, it brought up some old memories and feelings." He rolls his wrist, adjusting the cuff on his sleepwear.

Slightly startled, he continues with caution, "From there, I trained. The portal didn't initially work after that, probably because part of the machine actually blew up when I was in it. When it did start working though… the ghosts started showing up. They just kept coming, and I've just kept fighting them."

With wide eyes, Vlad honestly can't help it when he asks, "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you fight them?" He elaborates, "Why are you fighting ghosts Daniel? I've seen some of the videos, you get hurt, quite badly sometimes. So, why?"

With the conversation from Desiree still in his mind, Danny confidently answers, "Someone's gotta. I have the power, I have the means, and so I just feel like if I'm not using these powers for something… then what do I have them for?" His bare feet tap on the floor, recognizing that it's cold, but comfortably so. "I don't know what else I'd use them for, honestly. Sure I could steal money or something, but I don't really need money right now. And I'm not so far up my own ass as to think that I could rule the world; so I help people, I fight ghosts." He shrugs his shoulders at the end, seemingly satisfied with his answer.

Vlad is silent the whole time, thinking in deep contemplation. He didn't like the idea of Daniel getting hurt, and some of those videos had shown him taking rather brutal hits. But his cause was noble, and it honestly furthered his plans down the road, even if he was doing it unintentionally. Daniel fighting other ghosts would only strengthen him, and the more fights he had under his belt, the stronger he would become. And he would need every bit of strength he can get for the coming years.

He hums in thought, picking up his cup of tea and using his own abilities to warm the cup up. Pyrokinesis is far more than just throwing fire around, it's always baffled the man when he sees such… uninspired use for the ability. Like that Volcana woman that his sources had found, it's not just throwing around fire, and her use of the power is so unimaginative.

Danny's nerves are getting ready to overload, it's never good when Vlad is silent for so long. And after several minutes of silence, Vlad finally takes a sip of his tea, which is practically boiling now. His mouth opened in shock as the scolding tea was downed like cold water, "How did you just do that? Wasn't it hot?"

He chuckles in amusement, finding this a rather rare event. He's never had someone who knew of his powers, much less of both halves of his complicated existence, and Vlad finds it rather liberating, if not odd. "It's my core, Daniel. I have a fire core, I rather enjoy my meals and drinks practically burning." He swirls the tea in the cup around after refilling it, following the small waves before it heats up again and he takes smaller sips.

Not entirely sure what to say to that, Danny just asks, "What's a fire core?"

Vlad squints at him, unsure of how to respond, but then he remembers that Daniel most likely hasn't had anyone to explain the ins and outs of ghosts to him. "I have a fire core Daniel. While most ghosts have energy cores, mainly the mindless monsters and animals, some are spawned with specialty cores, like me. I'm assuming that you don't know what type of core you have?" That's not all there is to ghost cores, there's far more information needed to have an apt understanding, and that doubles for Halfa cores, but now is not the time or place.

Danny can only shake his head no, "I've kinda been going on my own here, figuring things out as I go. I took an x-ray with the machine in my parents lab, so I know I have one, but nothing outside of that." Danny picks up the cup of tea, finding it a little above lukewarm, and the slightly bittersweet taste is calming.

Getting up from his chair, Vlad makes his way over to his nephew. "Different cores provide different abilities and weaknesses for normal ghosts."

Now within close proximity, Danny has to look up at the taller man as they talk. "Normal ghosts? I'm assuming there's a 'but' there considering our… condition."

Vlad chuckles as he kneels down, now eye to eye with the younger of his kind. "You'd be correct, but that's for another time. I'll check your core first, and then we'll continue with our conversation."

"Check my core?" Vlad doesn't respond, instead he places his hand on the center of Danny's chest. Ectoplasm flows through the older man's veins, and Danny can just make out the feeling of a tingling sensation on his chest. Looking down, Danny is slightly disturbed to see organs, muscle fibers, and bones now visible through his skin. It's easy to figure out what he's doing though, and Danny's kicking himself for not trying earlier. It's such an obvious facet of invisibility, that it makes him feel stupid for not trying it before.

But the sight just behind those rather gory viewings is nothing compared to what he sees now. Vlad is obviously stunned too, if the gasp of astonishment is anything to go by. "An ice core!" Danny didn't know how rare they were, but the crystalline sphere is breathtaking to the young man. Blue as the sky above, with lines of white here and there, his core is one of the most beautiful things he's ever seen. Every so often, like a heartbeat, a pulse of green erupts in a wave to go through his body.

Finally breaking his line of sight away from the gem-like organ, Danny can't help but ask, "What's an ice core? Is it something special?"

The hand leaves Danny's chest, returning to Vlad's side while his other cups his chin. "I'm not terribly knowledgeable of all the abilities of an ice core, and I've heard they vary too, but they are rather rare; at least, more unique than my fire core."

"I always knew I was awesome." There's a tad of smugness with his self praise, and Vlad waves it off. "Don't be in such a rush, you won't be able to access a majority of your core powers until it's completely formed."

Danny groans, "What do you mean 'until it's completely formed'? It's there isn't it?" He points to his chest, as if to add to his point.

"Yes it's there," Vlad begins with an eye roll, "but with Halfas like us, it takes a year after death for our core to fully form. When that happens, your growth will escalate more than it already is, and you'll gain access to dormant powers and your lair will form in the zone."

There's so much new information it's almost intimidating, but he's getting answers to questions he didn't even know he had, and Danny can barely believe his luck. This is what he was looking for. Someone to teach him, to show him what he should know, and what he should and shouldn't do.

Before Danny can ask anymore questions, Vlad begins again, "We got sidetracked there for a moment, but let's get back on track."

Vlad makes his way over to the computer with nimble grace, bringing up several of the files he had opened earlier. Turning around, he lifts his arms up to draw his nephews attention to the screen. "This is the portal prototype that your parents and I constructed in college. This was almost twenty years ago."

Danny didn't know what to say exactly, his parents had told him about the accident in sparse details. He knew it was his father's fault, and that Jack felt so guilty about it that he not only paid for the medical bills and the hospice stay, but he paid off the student loans as well. Had Jack not been born into a rather wealthy family, no doubt he would have gone into debt. It was one of the few times Danny could say his father was being a decent human being, and not a spontaneous jackass.

"Is that what gave you- er, turned you into a Halfa?" Danny asked.

Vlad nods curtly, then continues, "It was a mistake on your fathers part, but he more than rectified it. A bumbling oaf he may be, but he's a friend you want when in need."

Vlad leaned over to touch the screen, flipping away several windows before finding the desired photos. "It gave me a rather horrible case of ecto-acne. It was mind-numbingly painful, and eventually I slipped into a coma for two years." One of the photos showed Vlad comatose in a hospital, with bandages covering his entire face and upper body. Another showed the condition he was inflicted with, presumably right after the accident, large painful looking green zits covering his face and neck, disappearing further down into his shirt.

"Yikes."

Unfazed, Vlad scrolls to the next page. "Yes, 'yikes' indeed. While I was awake for it, the condition was far from comfortable. But after two years, eventually my core began forming, like yours, and I woke up."

"Wow. I… didn't know you were in a coma for two years." Danny muttered.

Enhanced hearing may as well have had him say it louder though. "Yes, two long years. I won't say that I'm still not mad about missing out on two years of the what's supposed to be the best years of our lives, but I would say this," Pink and green fire forms in his hands, fluttering wildly and giving off intense heat, "more than makes up for it, and as you know, we have more abilities than this." Vlad snuffs out the fire by closing his hand, grinning like a madman.

Danny nods, bringing his own hands up. Electricity sparks along his fingers, "Oh yeah, I'd say so. Dying may have sucked, and those afterlife attacks blow, but the powers are too awesome to pass up." He gives a matching grin to his uncles.

Raising an eyebrow, Vlad asks, "What's an 'afterlife attack'?" Pausing for a moment, Vlad shortly comes to an understanding before Daniel can respond. "Do you mean stabilization?"

"Stabilization?" Danny asks, "Is that what it's called? I'll admit it sounds better than what I was calling it."

"Yes, quite." Vlad dryly responds.

Moving on, Danny hesitantly asks: "So when did you die?"

Without flinching, Vlad responds, "Yes. When my heart stopped, the ectoplasm formed my core, similar to what yours did in the… portal. Mine was just more over time. "

"Do you know the specific date?" He asked.

Vlad looked at his nephew curiously, wondering why that mattered.

Seeing the look he's getting, Danny is quick to say, "I'm just curious."

Vlad shrugs his shoulders, it's not like he wasn't going to tell him anyway. "I died on April, 29th, 1996. A little more than two years after I awoke from comatose, and now twenty-two years later, we meet." Vlad looks over to Daniel, and his tone changes to a more serious one, "The only of our kind, created by the same person."

The odds of it happening are slim to none, but yet it did, and here they stand. Danny's eyes dart around, looking over the whole room before they land on Vlad again. Coming to a decision, Danny asks, "Uncle Vlad… will you teach me? I don't know what I'm doing a lot of the time. I've picked up on fighting, gotten pretty good at it too, but there's so much of this that I don't understand…" He trails off at the end, no longer able to look at Vlad.

It takes the older Halfa less than a second to answer. Putting his hand on Daniels shoulder, Vlad says with a smile, "Of course. That was the plan."

Relief floods his body, and on instinct alone he hugs Vlad. The older man is surprised for a moment, and awkwardly pats Danny's back. It's a little difficult to do with his arms restrained like this, but he makes do.

"Thank you." Danny mumbles.

Danny backs up, feeling psyched and more relaxed than in a while. He's excited for the future, for what he can do now that there's someone who can coach him along the way. "What's first?" He asks.

Chuckling, Vlad responds with, "Bedtime is first."

Sure enough, when Danny looks over to the clock on the computer screen, it displays a late 1 A.M.

Yawning into his hand, Danny only now realizes how tired he is. It's been a long day, and a lot has happened. Looking back at his uncle, Danny says, "Okay. I'm gonna hit the hay. We'll continue this tomorrow, right?"

The older man nods in agreement, "I have some things to do in the morning, but we can begin after lunch. How does that sound?"

Danny beams a dazzling smile at him, fangs and all, "Sounds good!" Phantom overcomes Fenton, and before he takes off into the ceiling, he asks, "Uh… this is the basement, right? I don't really know where you took us."

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"Yes Daniel, this is the basement. Just go up and you'll be in the main foyer. I trust you know where to go from there?" He hoped his nephew didn't have that bad of memory.

Sticking a thumbs up, he begins to float up towards the ceiling. "Nope, I'm good. G'night!"

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When Daniel finally leaves the lab, Vlad drops down into his expensive and comfortable office chair. He sighs into his hands, still attempting to process the recent discovery. In his whole half-life, he honestly never thought he'd come across another Halfa. The odds of it happening were just so minuscule, so close to impossible, that he figured the only way he'd see another half-ghost would be when he cloned himself or had a child.

And to find out that his own nephew had become something like him made him both happy beyond belief… and infuriated beyond measure. Even though Jack's mistake had cost him two years of his life, with everything that came with being a Halfa, Vlad couldn't complain. His abilities allowed him to obtain a sizable start-up fund for his business, and his own abilities in the business world had snowballed it from there. It took less than a year to earn his first million, and in seven years, he had become a billionaire. With almost thirteen more years to add to that, there were few who could match his wealth.

So in a way, thanks to Jack's folly, he had become a billionaire. Harnessing the elements, possible immortality, flying, enhanced strength, intangibility, keener senses, superior stamina and much more. And the ladies certainly never complained, they always loved his stamina too, and he had found himself almost always enjoying his half-life.

But for Daniel to become like him meant a lot of things. It means that he's been exposed to ridiculous amounts of ectoplasm for a while, and based on just how quickly his body adapted and even formed a core in seconds… whereas his took two years to form. In college, five years of constant exposure without much protective equipment left him with high levels of the undead energy in his system. He wouldn't have come to any adverse side effects for years, but the portal accident that should have killed him forced a coma onto him that would eventually leave him half-dead.

For Daniel to become a Halfa, and for it to happen so quickly… The sheer level of residual ectoplasm that was in his body at the time would have been enormous. Easily five times the amount in his own body at the time of his own accident. And that leaves the question of how. How did Daniel have so much ectoplasm in his system?

Vlad always worried over the children, especially with how scatterbrained both of their parents could be. Jack was a goof with a one track mind that could get distracted entirely too easy. He had a brilliant brain under all that buffoon, but it doesn't change the fact that he was an airhead. Maddie was a little better than Jack, her brain was always on overdrive; thinking up new inventions or finishing calculations to her newest project.

But her bigotry for ghosts had been off-putting in college, and it seemed to only grow as time went on. It's suffice to say that it's practically zealous racism at this point, and Vlad fears that a lot of that bled over to Jack after so many years together. And with Daniel in the same house as them… it would be good to have the boy stay in contact with him. As much as Vlad would like to believe that some of his only friends wouldn't do anything to Daniel, should they find out… he had seen some of the recordings they had.

It was… disturbing.

And it was that whole-hearted focus they have towards their goals that was pissing him off right now. They had forgotten about safety. Not for themselves, but for the children that lived in their house. Such simple measures as… "Locking a door!"

His fist slammed into the table, denting the metal under the extreme pressure and heat. Actual fire huffed out of his nose, like a bull blowing steam. He raised his hand up again, slamming it down with even more force. Fingers dig into the desk, easily tearing the hardy material. "A DAMN LOCK!" His voice is booming, and had his lab not been soundproofed, no doubt the whole castle would have heard.

It takes several minutes of shaky breaths and furious finger tapping to calm himself. Getting up from his chair, Vlad walked over to the screen and quickly ordered a new desk. Better now than later.

Vlad hadn't been this angry in years. While he was furious after waking from the coma, at the time he calmed quickly when his friends burst into the room. After they explained everything, and Jack had literally begged on his hands and knees for forgiveness, he found it difficult to stay truly angry at them. Frustrated and a little jaded, yes, but not at all hateful.

But this… it wouldn't do any good to keep on this track of thought. That an 'ON' switch was placed inside the portal was infuriating. That a two-way authorization factor was installed, but left on was rage inducing. But his nephew being left in a similar state of being as his own came with mixed feelings.

Angry that this even happened. Happy that of all the people for this to happen to, it was to one of the few people Vlad could honestly say he cared for. He was empathetic to the boy, having spent twenty years as a Halfa, Vlad knew what was in store for the boy. Years of stabilizing that could leave the strongest broken. His first death day would be difficult and tax his sanity, no doubt.

But now there was another. Another of his kind. He wasn't alone, and it gave the billionaire a sense of calm he'd never experienced before. There were still too many things he had to do, but now there was a new path that could get things going much faster.

And his plans could be pushed up by decades. With Daniel at his side, what was difficult before was far easier now. Especially since Daniel's growth would only increase. It would still take decades for the final plans to come to fruition, but now it was all practically assured that they would succeed.

"Computer." Vlad calls out. Seconds later a monotonous neutral voice filled the silent air, "Yes, Mr. Masters?"

Gazing up at screens, Vlad calmly said, "Bring up the files for the coming future. The next two years, to be exact. Also, create a new file called H02."

Immediately after Vlad stopped talking the voice accepted the command. "At once, Mr. Masters." Seconds later, the virtual intelligence asked, "How do you want file H02 to interact with the other projects?"

With a savage grin, Vlad proclaims, "Everything. Daniel is going to be an integral piece to almost all projects."

"Everything sir?" The machine asks.

With visions of the future, the older Halfa confidently said, "Yes. Everything."

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Vague recollection tells him that he's back in his dream. As the grand rune covered cyan doors slip open with silence, Danny's greeted by more bright pale blue light momentarily blinding him. When his vision returns, what greets him is more ice and another set of doors. The doors he just opened close when he walks through, and runes along the walls begin to glow, startling the young man. He calms down when he remembers this is a dream.

A slight pressure on his body notifies him that something has changed. The runes dim, and the doors in front of him swing open automatically. The hissing of air opens up to the inner hall of the castle, green flaming torches line the walls, and with sudden realization, Danny pivots on his feet to turn to the doors he just came from. "An airlock!" An airlock that uses magic… what a fantastical dream! He's never seen that in a book or comic before, so points to his own imagination for thinking this up.

Like the exterior, the interior is made of ice, and just like the cold vacuum of space, Danny feels even more comfortable in here. Being surrounded by the cold doesn't even faze him, and if anything, it's calming. Deciding to get a move on, Danny lazily floats forward down the hall.

The entrance hall, while beautiful, is a little boring to the fourteen year old. Sure, he liked art, but the statues along the walls were pretty to look at, and that's all. Giant crystals of ice floating above hover above black pedestals, all the same, yet all are different. Just ice floating in the air. The only strange thing about them is that the ice seemed to move, like water. As if the solid was still a liquid, it confused him, but that was the only thing that seemed interesting about them.

This continues for minutes, and Danny quickly finds himself humming a tune to follow along with his exploration. Eventually the long hallway gives way to an impressive foyer. Two large staircases split off on the sides, going up towards a higher floor. A middle staircase goes down, going who knows where.

"An impasse." Which way to go? The last time Danny decided to go down, he was turned into a half-ghost, so maybe going up is the better option. He drops onto the ground, wanting to use the staircase the way it's supposed to be used, instead of just floating up.

The split staircases reconnect at the top balcony, and enter into another hallway. Danny huffs in annoyance, not wanting another boring long hall. This one is different from the last however, and the young Halfa can only mutter out a quiet, "Awesome."

Instead of blank statues of ice lining the walls, now there are four-armed knights made of ice. They're tall, maybe ten or eleven feet in height, and armed with two swords and two shields each. Impressive and artistic, the creator of these sculptures should be proud.

The ceiling is a different story. Instead of chandeliers, there're more statues going down the entire length. Hanging by their tales, monstrous gargoyles stare down at him with intimidating glares and stares. Four glowing eyes, three horns, and with the heads of lions, these ice creatures are some of the most impressive things he's seen yet. Danny flies up to get a better look, and with closer inspection, finds the things have spikes lining their backs like a certain kaiju. "Cool, but creepy. Sam would love this place."

Ignoring the large amounts of spiked gates that sections the halls, Danny flies with a little more speed than before. Not to say the ice statues weren't cool to look at, but once he's seen one, he's seen them all. Eventually the long hallway gives way to a cross section. A large rune covered door directly in front of him with two large statues for guards is the first thing in his sight, and the splitting halls that go left and right are noticed seconds later.

These new ice guards, towering easily over twenty feet in height, are the most impressive ones yet. Black ice for skin, their durability looks even more formidable than any he's seen so far. Gothic armor with red runes covering the entirety of the set, the two gate guards look like last bosses rather than the mini's before the final fight. A long draconic snout with many sharp looking teeth is in place of a normal head, and their four glowing green and red eyes would make a normal person soil themselves. Large shields that can cover their massive height adorn one long arm, tower shields maybe? The other arm holds an impressive executioner sword.

Danny looks right, down one of the halls. He can see some doors down there, and the long walkway eventually curves around out of sight. To the left is a similar scene, more doors, all symmetrical to the hall on the right, and the curve matches the bend on the other side. "Which way to go~"

He scratches his head in thought, unable to choose where to explore next. Shrugging his shoulders, Danny decides to save what is most likely the throne room for last. That's obviously where the coup de grâce is, and since this is his dream, there's no need to rush it for now.

With the decision narrowed down to two, Danny forms ectoplasm into the shape of a small coin. Small precision like this is normally more difficult, but perhaps because he's in a dream, it's never been easier. Now armed with a perfect replica of a quarter, Danny flips it into the air. Enhanced reflexes make it easy to easily catch the coin. Silently, the Halfa mutters, "Heads for right, tails for left."

Opening his hands shows him heads, "Well, right it is." He tosses the coin behind him, allowing it to dissipate into the air. Humming another tune, Danny begins his trek. It doesn't take long to reach the first door, it's smaller than a lot of the other grandiose ones he's seen so far, being of actual normal height.

Danny pushes the doors open with ease, giving sight to what looks like a… "Dining room?" A large table of ice, easily able to seat thirty or more people sets in the middle. The respective chairs have purple and black cushions on them, and even though the chairs themselves are made of ice, they still look really comfortable. Large frozen chandeliers follow along the table in symmetry on the ceiling, glowing green crystals dangle down instead of hanging torches. It gives the room a comfortable ambiance, but it's all really extravagant nonetheless. Across the room, rests another door. A quick peek shows him that it's a kitchen of some kind, though his interest is immediately lost.

Another door on the side reveals bathrooms, next to it a custodial closet, and on the other wall a storage room. More tables, chairs, table clothes, dishes and glasses. "What is this? The event room?"

Utterly bored with the room, Danny quickly floats back to the door he came in from. When he pushes it open, he hears a voice instead of the quiet swing of the door.

"Wake up little badger." The world is gone, and soon replaced with black. Almost painfully, Danny cracks his eyes open in confusion and annoyance. Looking up, his eyes land on the blue skinned figure that woke him. "Uncle Vlad? What are you doing here? What time is it?"

With an eerie grin, the older Halfa responds with, "Why, it's five in the morning Daniel. The perfect time for training!" The only response the man got was a groan of annoyance from his younger charge.

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Early in the morning, and Jazz Fenton is already up and about. She was surprised to see her brother up before her, but he's been an early riser recently. Although she wanted to find her uncle, he was gone as well, so now she's forced to have breakfast with her parents.

Alone.

God, she really didn't want to do that.

If she wasn't so hungry, she'd just skip breakfast for the library. But she wasn't Jack's daughter for nothing, and one of the few things she's inherited from his genes would be her appetite. Nothing quite as close to his own, but she can still pack away quite a bit.

As her stomach rumbled, the oldest Fenton sibling looked around the lavish castle mansion. "I really need to have a talk with Uncle Vlad. It can't be healthy to have this much green and gold around."

The walls, the floors, the ceiling, and even the windows were a forest green and gold yellow. "Ugh." As someone who's always been more of an academic, Jazz has never been able to understand the fascination with sports. Much less football, and with a majority of the school bullies who pick on Danny being from the football team, a sense of dislike has cropped up for the sport in general. Vlad would call blasphemy, but the experiences in life is what shapes a person's personality.

The dining room comes into sight shortly after, and upon opening it, she's greeted to the sight of her parents. Jack is working on some new invention at the table, while her mother is practically nodding off, and for the life of her, Jazz feels like she's going to blow a gasket.

How many times were they going to do this? They promised it wouldn't happen again, and look what happens! Sure, it wasn't their house or their dining room table, but seriously? Doing this in their uncle's house? Around far more expensive things than halfway decent wallpaper?

Looking up, her mother calls out, "Good morning sweetie. Did you sleep well?"

With a frown on her face, Jazz nods. Before she can say anything about their poorly timed innovations, her father speaks up. "Jazzie-pants! Come over and take a look at this baby!" Jack holds up what looks like a belt, wires run all along the thing, and there are several vials of ectoplasm going through the whole thing.

Jazzes face scrunches up in anger, what the hell were her parents thinking doing this now? This wasn't the time, nor the place. "I call it the Fenton Specter Deflector!"

Ignoring her steadily declining mood, Jack slings his hand over her shoulder. Dangling the incomplete invention in front of her, he waves it across her field of vision. "It came to me in a dream, and I just had to build it. It'll be so cool! Once it's complete, you and Dann-o will never have to worry about those disgusting ghosts coming after you again!"

Having had enough, Jazz slaps the thing away from her father's hand. Maddie moves to get up, already seeing the upcoming argument, and walks over to her husband. "Get that away from me! What the hell do you guys think you're doing?!"

Confused, Jack asks, "What's wrong? You don't like the name?"

Maddie puts a hand on his shoulder, "No Jack, she's mad because you're working on inventions at the dining room table again." The mother of the family turns to her daughter, and apologizes. "I'm sorry sweetie, it completely slipped my mind."

She wasn't going to let this drop though. "We're on vacation! I mean, come on! You broke your promise to me, again, and you're doing it in someone else's home!" How could they not see this? These were dangerous chemicals or elements or whatever they were, and they're working with them where people eat. It's a miracle her and Danny survived this long.

Sighing into her hand, Maddie rubbed her face in annoyance. It was too early for this. She was too tired, and without her coffee, she was barely awake. A quick look at her watch told her that it wasn't even seven yet, a little later than the parents normally wake up, but like Jazz said, they were on vacation. They could afford to sleep in for at least an hour.

"Jasmine, ignoring your use of crass language and rude behavior towards your parents, you are right." Jack looks over at his wife in panic, inventing things is their shtick. Their thing. It's his own hobby and job, and it's one of the most fun things to do. This is his way of relaxing.

Seeing the look her husband is giving her, she decides to put her foot down. "Jack, she's right. I'm barely awake and I can tell you that this is our mistake. We especially shouldn't be doing this in Vlad's house. What if we damaged it?" Her gaze returns to her daughter, "Jazz, could we move on from this for now? I'll try and keep a tighter leash on him, so for now, please?"

Jazz keeps her glare up, directing it at her father now. Jack looks back at his wife, then to his daughter. He sighs and slumps his shoulders, it wasn't like there weren't other things he could do here. "Fine, you win. I promise I won't tinker with any more of my to- I mean inventions! I won't do it for the rest of the trip, sound good princess?"

Not at all satisfied, Jazz wants to keep arguing, but anymore than this and it'll be pointless. She's already got what she wanted, the only thing left to see is if they break this promise too. She scratches her head and huffs in frustration, "Whatever." She bites out, "But if you break your promise again! I'll never call you mom or dad again. For the rest of our lives, you'll be Jack and Maddie Fenton me, and I promise you I'll get Danny on board with this as well."

The threat seems to have had the desired effect, if the looks of fear on Jack and Maddies face are anything to go by. Feeling a little bit better, Jazz takes her seat away from her kooky parents and opens up her book. Flipping through the pages, she finds where she left off and dives back into the world of psychology. Specifically, Forensic Psychology, the new edition that Amity Parks library won't be getting for another six months.

Seeing her daughter going off to do her own thing, Maddie turns to her husband and slaps his shoulder. "Hey! What was that for?"

Maddie rolls her eyes, "No more inventions or tinkering until the vacation ends, got it?" Jack shakes his head in disbelief, unable to believe what he's hearing.

"But- but- Maaaaadz! Come o-" The Fenton matriarch cuts her husband off with a no-nonsense tone. "But nothing Jack. She's right, and if you want to whine about it anymore, then I'm taking away your fudge and ham." There was no way she would have her daughter addressing her on a first name basis, it's mom and dad or bust.

Jack gasps in horror, only now realizing just how serious the situation is. "Not the ham." He whispers weakly. His wife ignores him and chooses instead to sit back down and wait for her coffee.

He had lost this argument and had barely been able to say anything in his defense. Begrudgingly, he picked up his equipment, tools and all, and walked back to put it away in the FRV. Through the empty halls, Jack mumbles under his breath, "And the morning started out so well too."

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With panicked practice that he didn't really have, a green energy shield forms around him. Fire roars over the energy dome, and in an effort to capitalize on the lack of vision from his teacher, Danny explodes forward. Electricity covers both arms, flowing into the ecto-blast forming in both hands.

"Smart tactic, my boy." A voice from behind calls out. Although he wasn't expecting it to work according to plan, Danny at least thought he'd get a hit in this time. A blast flies backwards into the duplicate before it can raise a shield, "But you'll have to try better than that." This time Vlad's voice comes from the front.

A whip of fire cleaves through the electrified blast the second it's fired, taking a majority of the energy with, but a resounding explosion forces Danny to the side through sheer concussive force. Now facing against the real Plasmius, Danny springs forward once again, ecto-claws forming in an instant. He extends the claws, making them as long as a Bowie knife. Pushing more power into the attack, the younger Halfa swiped early, sending a wave of five claws at Vlad. The attack slams into an ecto-constructed sword, pushing the older man back, but still not actually landing a hit on him.

"You told me you're more of a hands on learner, little badger." Vlad taunted. The way his nephew grit his teeth in frustration was amusing, but the whip of ecto energy flung at him suddenly was not. But that was all it was, and after ducking under it with a casual adjustment in mid-air, Vlad had to pull up an emergency shield when another whip came upon him. This one made of electricity, it crackled through the air and left sporadic scorch marks on the white floors of the training room.

Vlad grinned in excitement, "Good! Good! You were telling the truth Daniel. You really do excel on the fly." The older man waved his hand in front of him, and eight balls of ectoplasm formed and expanded at great speeds. Having a bad feeling about those, Danny took off away from him. Ecto-rays, far more powerful than what Danny could do in that small amount of time fired off all at once. The energy beams weaved in random pathways, all leading and tracking the young man's moving form.

Danny's eyes widened in surprise, "What the hell?!" Two rays speed up, and he turns intangible, letting the beams fly through. His energy whips dissipate to save energy. The rays crash into the wall, burning it, but the material holds strong. "How did you do that?!" Three more beams descended upon him, and he used an ecto-shield to block the strikes, the raw energy behind the attacks pushing him back.

Plasmius laughs, as if in good fun, "Practice my boy. Years and years of practice. You will find that you don't need to just use your hands for ecto-manipulation." As if to prove his point, the remaining rays bob and weave towards the ghost child. "Thought alone will do."

The first hit breaks the shield, dissipating immediately after. The second is barely dodged, and Danny can feel the heat radiating from the pink energy attack. "Argh!" The third slams into his side, mid roll, and he's sent tumbling down into the ground. The resounding thud is loud, especially in the oddly quiet moment of the spar.

With his back to Vlad, Danny doesn't move, startling the older man. Vlad lands and quickly kneels next to Danny's prone form, "Daniel? Are you okay?" His hand reached forward and grabbed the younger Halfa's shoulder, "Daniel?"

Going with the momentum, Danny opens his mouth wide and faces his uncle. In between his fangs is a small ball of unstable ectoplasm, crackling wildly and making his tongue ridiculously uncomfortable. Vlad has no time to react when the attack is released point blank, throwing him back to the other side of the wall. The attack fizzles out, leaving a cloud of green smoke from the impact on the older half-ghost. Despite the pain and discomfort, Danny has a shit-eating grin plastered onto his face, all too happy to finally land a hit. The last two hours of taunting was bitingly annoying, and it felt way too good to finally get a small victory.

Vlad walks out of the smoke, completely unharmed and clapping with glee. "Marvelous. I had no idea you could harness unstable energy already. You're even further along than I thought."

Danny falls onto his back, but gives the man a thumbs up. "Learned it from watching the more mindless ghosts do it. It took a while, and taking the hits hurt when they landed, but I've gotten better at it recently."

As Plasmius floats closer, he can't hide his surprise. "Watching? You learned how to do that from watching other creatures do it?" If that was true, then Daniel was a completely different kind of genius than his parents.

"Yeah," Danny starts, "actually, that's how I learned how to use an ecto-shield. Saw you do it, and I finally figured out what I was doing wrong." He sits up and lightly rubs his side, hissing at the biting sting he feels.

Left astounded, he can only admit his true thoughts, "Fascinating." Daniel was indeed a prodigy, but not in the human mind like his sister. Not a formula and calculation whiz like his mother, and as far as he could see, not an engineering genius like his father. No, Daniel had something a far more different type of genius than his family.

"You're a combat prodigy." Vlad states. Learning from watching, copying down skills on the very first sight of seeing it done… what would his nephew be able to achieve in the years to come? Although he himself was quite apt at the art of war, it had taken him years to be completely comfortable in a fight, and yet Daniel has adapted in months.

And he was flourishing. The boy didn't even know just how well he was doing.

"I'm a what?"

Vlad straightens his back, using telekinesis to levitate his nephew back to a standing position. "Your family is full of geniuses, son. Can you deny that?"

Danny paused and looked up at the only other of his kind. His face scrunched in thought, and after a solid minute hesitantly responds. "Well, my dad might be debatable, but my mom and sister for sure."

"And what about you?" Plasmius asked.

Confused, Phantom responded, "What about me? I'm not super smart like them, I get A's and B's, not just A's."

Vlad chuckled in amusement, "You are smart Daniel, never sell yourself short on that." He kneeled down and put his hand onto his nephew's wound.

Danny hisses in pain, but before he can protest, Vlad's hand glows pink and the pain begins to fade. Looking down, the young man is shocked to see his burn rapidly healing.

"You, Daniel, are not an intellectual genius like your mother or sibling. Nor are you a technical genius like either of your parents. Incredibly smart yes, but no genius." Danny frowns at what seems like blatant insults.

"Gee, thanks. Appreciate the vote of confidence there." He sarcastically replies.

The pain is fully gone, and looking down Danny can see a small scar where the initial impact landed. 'Wow. That's quick.'

Ignoring the sarcasm, Vlad continues. "You're a hands on learner Daniel, like you said. But I don't think you know just how true that statement is." Seeing that he has his full attention, he keeps going. "You're a combative genius Daniel. Not just anyone can copy a move by watching. It's almost impossible to do otherwise. Sure, ecto-shields aren't the most advanced technique, but it's still difficult to learn without instruction. Trust me, I would know. And handling, harnessing, and actually using unstable ectoplasm as an attack so soon after you died is nothing short of astounding."

Danny takes a step back in shock, having never been praised so much. His face begins to tinge a shade of green, but Vlad wasn't done yet. "When it comes to fighting, you just get it. All on your own, you've figured out how to use your powers. Flight, invisibility, intangibility, spectral manipulation, ecto-manipulation, electrokinesis, and you have even been showing signs of developing even more new powers."

Perking up at the mention of even more powers, Danny can't help it when he eagerly asks, "What powers?"

Vlad chuckles at the tone his nephew uses. "I've been watching some of your fights that have been recorded." He starts walking off towards the doors, and beckons his apprentice to follow. "In that fight with the meat monster, you displayed the beginnings of several powers. From what I saw, in your anger and frustration, you exploded with energy, yes?"

Danny rubs the back of his neck sheepishly, "Well, I was kinda fed up at that point. The fight was stupid to begin with, and fighting an old lady-turned meat monster was dumb as well. The whole fight just wasn't very appealing, and the reason behind it was asinine."

Out of curiosity, Vlad asks, "What was it about?"

Frowning at the memory, the young man bitterly responds, "Over the damn lunch menu." Seeing the look he was getting, Danny quickly adds, "Seriously, over a change in the lunch menu. I'm not kidding you."

"… Uh-huh. Definitely out there for one of the more preposterous reasons."

Shaking his head, the billionaire focuses his mind to get back on topic. "Moving on, I saw the early stages of two powers." The doors automatically open, allowing the two Halfa's entry into the lab. A remote flies to Vlad's hand and he turns one of the many screens on with it.

Danny recognizes the video on screen, "Hey, Tucker recorded this."

"Tucker?"

"My friend. Come on, you don't remember him? I thought you saw him the last time you visited?" Danny complained.

Plasmius fades from view and returns to Masters, "Please Daniel, I have a lot going on in my half-life, far too much to remember a boy I met once."

Danny had to give the man that, as a business man of Vlad's stature, it's understandable. "But I do remember the boy. The african-american boy that always wore the ugly beret, right?"

Chuckling a bit at his friends expense, Danny answered, "Yeah, that's the one."

Silence fills the room momentarily, and before Danny can say anything, Vlad directs his attention to the video on screen. "Watch here Daniel, see if you notice anything."

Looking closer, the younger Halfa sees himself being thrashed by the meat monster. Annoyance surfaces momentarily at the memory, but it's gone when the Danny on screen explodes in anger. There's a bright flash for a moment, but when it fades quickly Danny quickly sees one of the powers. On his shoulders and back, small licks of green and white fire momentarily appear on his body, but that's all he sees. "Okay, I see a little fire on my body, so pyrokinesis?"

Masters nods his head, "There's one, can you guess the next?"

Rewatching the clip didn't really help figuring it out, the only thing that seemed to be different from his usual use of powers is the flash. "Okay, I give. Is it the flash of light?"

Again, Vlad nods in affirmation. "You would be correct, but can you figure out what manifestation of power that is?"

Danny shakes his head in response, "No, I don't get it. What's it supposed to be?"

Sighing in annoyance, Vlad moves on to explain. "Photokinesis Daniel. The ability to manipulate light." He raises a hand to the young man, "Even now, you're passively releasing light. It's a very rare ability, but a powerful one."

Happy and a little confused, Danny voices his thoughts, "How is it a powerful ability? It's just light right?"

"Are you sure you get A's and B's?" Vlad asked.

Feeling insulted, Danny heatedly snaps back. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Vlad ignores his nephews glare, "It's manipulating light Daniel. How do you not get it? High powered lasers, wide-ranged invisibility, illusions, 'light speed' possibilities? It's a far more exciting power than pyrokinesis, though that may be a more personal opinion."

He hadn't thought of that. Now explained, the power sounded amazing. Particularly the light speed part. Danny's head tilts down in thought, his mind going through everything he could do with the powers. His dream of space exploration was looking even brighter, and his newfound ability to manipulate light was the reason. "Okay. You win. It's a badass power."

The older man frowned, "Language son. There's no reason to curse."

Moving on, Danny flexes his hands a little, attempting to bring the power out. After a minute and no success, "What gives?" He said.

"Haha! Daniel, I said that you're developing these powers, not that you have them currently." Vlad waves his hand and several more screens turn on, each displaying a list of sorts. It's only now that Danny sees that the entire wall is lined with screens. "Your ability to manipulate fire is surprising, especially considering you have an ice core. It will most likely be the most difficult power to improve upon, mainly because it contradicts your core."

The seat a few feet away glows green and rolls across the floor. Vlad takes his seat behind his desk and types away on his keyboard. "These are ways you can harness and practice the powers. It's not like there's a guide for these, but honestly, fan websites for superpowers actually have rather great suggestions."

"Hold on." Danny raised his hand up, "You're telling me you got these from google?"

It's a struggle not to smirk at the look he's getting, but the billionaire manages, "Yes. I do not have photokinesis myself, and while I can manipulate fire, it's entirely natural for me with my core. You're going to struggle Daniel, and while I can instruct and guide you with things like duplication and teleportation, I will be of no real help with Photo and cryokinesis. I'll help where I can, show you some tips and tricks with pyrokinesis, but I can only go so far in unfamiliar territory."

The seat spins around suddenly, and Vlad is now facing his nephew. "Well, we've had our spar, and I can see how this training is going to go, somewhat. Is there anything that you wish to learn specifically?"

It's all a bit of an information overload, there's so much to think about at once. Still, Danny knew what to ask. "How long do you think duplication will take? It seems like the most useful power."

"Oh, it is." Vlad smugly responds. "Personally I can split into over one-hundred copies, but that would leave me incredibly weak. As for how long… at your rate, maybe a year or two. It's a difficult power to grasp."

Danny hums in thought, before asking, "What will take the least amount of time?"

An eyebrow rose in interest, and it doesn't take Vlad long to answer. "At your level… I would say ocular application of ecto-manipulation."

A blank stare is all the older man gets. "What?"

Masters sighed in annoyance, "Eye beams, little badger. Eye beams."

Feeling a little embarrassed, Danny sheepishly responds, "Oh! Well, why didn't you say so?"

"I did." The elder Halfa rolled his eyes, but moved onto the next topic. "Well, we have a goal for now. But at the moment, I want to run some tests if that's alright with you?"

Although hesitant, Danny has trusted his uncle for years, and now wasn't a reason to start. "Sure, I guess… but why?"

Standing up, he motioned for Daniel to follow him. "Because, while we are both Halfa's, the way we came to this unusual state of being is different. I want to see exactly how different we are."

Vlad lifts his hand towards a seat, prompting Danny to take it. He hops on the stool and turns back to Fenton. "Okay. That makes sense, sorta."

"Good. There are quite a few tests to do, but it should be over by lunch." Vlad said.

Danny quickly stood up, "What?! Lunch?!" Vlad just waves it off by laughing, "Yes Daniel, by lunch. It's better now, than later. The more we know, the better we can focus on your development."

Begrudgingly, Danny sits down. "Fine." He said, but adds on, "Can we at least get something to eat? We kinda skipped breakfast."

As if just remembering, Vlad snaps his fingers. "I knew I was forgetting something." A duplicate split from him while he was still in human form, and flew up to the ceiling.

"There we go… now, where were we?" The smile Vlad put on didn't comfort Danny at all.