#aikoiya had inspired Dan's words to Vlad.

[asjjohnson]

Part 4 of my poll adventure fic. Links: the beginning, part 2, part 3.

Hmm... I think I'll split this part up and add an extra poll. I'll have another post/poll Saturday.

I added a Read More thing but there is a poll under there, okay?

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Vlad's eyes moved back and forth across Dan's face, his mouth open slightly in a stunned expression.

And then Vlad knelt before him. "My boy, what's happened to you?"

Dan didn't know what to think. He closely watched Vlad with suspicion and anger and uncertainty.

Rather than vocally deny Vlad's endearment, he focused what energy he had on recovery. The electric shock had left behind locked up nerves and muscles, like the first time around, and the sooner he could absorb the lingering electricity and heal the minor damage, the sooner he could move.

"I saw you yesterday— But you were locked away before yesterday... But why? And why would Clockwork—" Vlad scanned his face again, eyebrows furrowing in thought. "Of course... You're from the future. ...Oh. You'll follow in my footsteps?"

Vlad raised the small device in his hand, again pushing a button. Dan tensed—another shock already?

"Forget the plan," Vlad said as the collar instead clicked and fell off. "Tell me everything. I want to know all—"

Vlad cut off as Dan, grinning, locked the collar around his neck. "What?!"

Dan grabbed the small device from Vlad's hand. With a glance, he saw which button was which, and pushed the one to activate the collar.

Vlad screamed and collapsed to the floor. Then he lay still, other than ragged breaths and an occasional unconscious twitch. He stared up at Dan with an expression of surprise and betrayed sadness.

Dan stood and looked down at him. "That's your problem—you don't follow through with your plans."

Dan opened and closed a fist, and focused ectoplasm into his hand, trying to judge how much power he currently had at his disposal. "You're a coward. Easily swayed by human emotions." He looked back to Vlad. "Your heart has ruled you for decades, but did you ever act on it when you had a chance? Ask her out?" Dan sneered in disgust. "No. You were too afraid."

Vlad continued to stare with that pathetic expression.

"You wanted revenge on Jack Fenton. But you never did it. Always sending weak ghosts in your stead, always thinking up fallible plans—as though you couldn't bring yourself to kill him with your own hands.

"You want power, you want to rule the ghost zone and the human world. But you don't want to do the work yourself. You run into a little speed bump, and what do you do? Give up. Relinquish all responsibility."

Dan glared at Vlad, feeling his eyes glow brighter with his increasing anger. "You give up on everything. You can't even do one thing right!"

After Vlad had repeatedly tried to gain him as a son, he'd gone to Vlad willingly—but Vlad couldn't handle it. Vlad couldn't deal with it. Vlad had to take the easy way out. The shortcut. Vlad couldn't stick with it. Vlad couldn't live with him as he'd been.

Dan said calmly, "You're a coward, Vladimir Masters. A coward shackled by his weak human emotions."

And then Dan rocketed into the air. He swung his arms, sending a wave of ectoplasm toward the ceiling and walls, the house caving in as he punched through the roof.

He could finish what he started.

He would've broken out of that thermos himself, eventually. Just like he had eventually broken through Valerie's shield.

He didn't give up once setting his mind to something. He didn't let emotion change his mind.

He was Vlad's antithesis—his opposite. His mirror image.

Dan hovered in the sky for a moment, realizing he wasn't in Wisconsin.

That was why he hadn't recognized the room he'd been in—it hadn't been part of Vlad's castle.

He was in Amity Park.

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#danny phantom #dan phantom #vlad plasmius #poll adventure #choose your own adventure #asj post #asj writing #aikoiya had inspired Dan's words to Vlad. #...why can I not tag whydouwantmyname? They don't pop up as an account option.