A/N: I do not own Danny Phantom, the amazing Butch Hartman does!

A beam of ectoplasm. That's all it took, that's all it took to mold Vlad into the man he was now. Well, that and a load of unpayable debt.

Vlad stood in his lab, staring at the photo of him and his now ex-friend, Jack. A man who stole Maddie from him, a man he use to trust, a man...that Vlad thought was his friend.

Looking back, Vlad could remember the whole incident like it was yesterday. The accident, the betrayal, the weeks, months, and years in the hospital trying to cure his ecto-acne. It all flooded back to him like a torrent.

But then it came to him. Maybe he did need to look back on all this, after all, it's what made him the man he is now.

Yes, he remembered it all like it was yesterday...

1984...

A young Vlad was helping his friends, Jack and Maddie, two college students who dedicated themselves to paranormal research and dreamt of being scientists someday. Sure, people thought they were crazy, but Vlad didn't mind, he supported his friends. Even he believed in ghosts after all, just not portals that could lead to a world beyond the human plain.

"I'm telling you, Jack, it won't work!" Vlad warned him.

"Bogus, V-Man! It totally will!" Jack said in excitement. "This proto-portal is guranteed to bust open the wall into the ghostly dimension!"

Jack and Maddie quickly ran over to the table where their papers and controllers were. Maddie looked at the papers and then went through them with concern.

"Jack, these calculations aren't right" Maddie said worriedly.

'BONZAI!" Jack exclaimed as he started up the miniture-sized portal.

The engine shook and the portal sparked. Neither students noticed their friend standing too close to the portal. At least, not til it was too late late. A ray of ecto-energy had shot out of the portal and was followed by a scream of pain and agony.

"AHHHHHHHH!" screamed Vlad.

Jack and Maddie looked at the portal and Vlad in shock. They gasped. Vlad was confused for a second and then felt his face, it was no longer soft and smoothm, but rash and bumpy. Vlad knew this familiar feeling from his early teen years, it was acne, but this wasn't just regular acne, it was ecto-acne. His life was ruined! He covered his face in shame and ran off.

This was the start of his demise, the villain that would someday be sculpted in full.

Thanks for reading! I honestly don't know why this story came to me, I was drawing and out of nowhere I just started typing, so it basically wrote itself. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy it, I'm back now and do intend to update my stories soon and bring you guys new ones as well. Again, enjoy and leave me reviews on what you think and what you'd like to happen next!