Hi, guys! Everything alright with you? I was actually a little disappointed with the amount of reviews for this chapter, since I felt I did an amazing job with the action scenes. But I guess you can't have everything.

Here we go, guys! The conclusion to "A World he Never Knew" is here at last!

A World he Never Knew

Chapter Thirteen: Solving and Scheming

Danny Fenton sat on the bed of his room. The sun shined outside, but it seemed to mock Danny's gloomy attitude. The attitude that inflicted him for the last three days now.

He had taken quite a beating from his fierce battle with Slade. Courtesy of the Titans, Raven especially, he had been patched up pretty good, although he would still need to wear bandages for a week or so. They could only utter a quick good-bye to him after that, not wanting to let Slade out of their sights for too long.

Now that he was alone after being watched around the clock since Thursday night, Danny had some time to think.

I was so stupid, Danny thought to himself, Why was I so dense to join someone like Slade? Sure, the people here may think I'm evil, but why should I have cared? I should have been strong through that. Instead, I gave up and broke down just like that.

But man, who'd have thought that Vlad would actually have been trying to help me? Strange, but it makes sense. He wants me for himself, so he obviously wouldn't be happy that someone else got to me first.

The young man was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't hear the door open behind him.

"Danny?" said a gentle voice from the doorway.

Danny looked surprised as he spotted his sister standing there. Sam and Tucker were behind him, and to his bewilderment, Vlad was out in the hall.

"Hi, guys," Danny said simply, "And Plasmius."

Vlad scowled but said nothing back.

Tucker asked the ghost boy, "Is there anything you want to talk about, man?"

Danny sighed as he hung his head, "I just want to start by saying how sorry I am. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm too sorry for words."

Jazz stated, "Sometimes silence speaks the loudest volumes, Danny."

From behind them, Vlad said, "Very profound, Jasmine."

The others ignored him, with Sam saying, "Danny…what ever made you think that we didn't care about you?"

Danny sighed and responded, "Slade gave me a tape recorder last week, along with a polygraph machine. The recorder showed you and Tuck talking, saying…that the only reason you hung out with me was because I could protect you. And the polygraph machine said that it was true."

The four of them looked quite aghast as well as confused at hearing this.

Sam argued, "We never said anything like that!"

"It was through a polygraph machine. A lie detector. Detecting no lie. He said you said that when you were at the Power Plant."

Tucker replied, "Danny, we had that stuff over our mouths. We couldn't say anything at all!"

Danny sighed in frustration, "It doesn't even matter. I still heard it. Don't you remember every saying it?"

"No!" Sam cried.

Tucker added, "The only thing I don't remember was how we got outside the Nasty Burger last Sunday."

Sam scratched her chin for a minute. Then she pointed to Danny and asked him, "Danny, didn't you tell us on Friday that you fought Johnny 13 before running into Slade last week?"

Wondering where she was going with this, Danny nodded, "Yes."

"Well, where was Kitty?"

He shrugged, "I don't know. She wasn't with him."

Jazz began to scratch her chin as well. Then she said, "And Tucker and Sam claim to have never said those things, right?"

"Yes," Danny answered, still not getting it.

Sam then asked him, "Danny, do you remember when Kitty overshadowed Paulina?"

Now very confused, Danny responded, "Uh huh."

"When she was overshadowing her, were you ever able to sense her?"

Danny's eyes shot up as he suddenly began putting the pieces together, "No."

Jazz snapped her fingers and cried, "That means Kitty and someone else must have been overshadowing Sam and Tucker to make them say all that stuff!"

Danny gasped in shock. It made perfect sense. He had never been able to sense a ghost when they were overshadowing somebody.

For another minute, Danny didn't say a word. Then slowly, his face began to change into one of extreme hatred and rage.

"I'm gonna kill him," Danny said slowly and quietly.

"Danny…" Sam started, but Danny wasn't listening.

"That low-down rat! He tricked me! He lied to me! He made me believe no one cared about me! When I see that snake, I am gonna tear him to pieces and…"

"DANNY!"

Danny stopped his yelling and calmed down as they all stared at him, looking quite worried.

Tucker said, "Dude, you don't have to get back at him anymore."

Jazz continued, "And you probably shouldn't anyway. It's too risky."

Vlad picked up, "You may have defeated him, but it was by the skin of your teeth, and you took quite a beating."

Sam finished, "If you continue to go after him, more trouble may be coming. He knows too much about you, Danny. You can stop with him now. It's over."

Danny sighed as he sat back down.

He then put on a small smile as he said, "So you guys aren't worried you may get hurt because of what I do?"

Jazz smiled, "We're here for you, Danny."

Tucker then said to him, "We've always got your back."

Sam finished for him, mimicking what she said those weeks back after Danny had first met Slade, "Through the best of times and the worst of times."

Sam then went on as she put her hands on his shoulders and hugged him, "And no matter how bad things may be for you, or any of us, we'll always be there to help you, whenever you need it."

Danny's smile grew as he hugged the Goth girl back. Then he went over to hug Tucker, then Jazz.

Danny then went over to Vlad, stopping in front of him.

He sighed, "I guess I should thank you as well. You helped me see the error of my ways as well, despite your usual being of a froot-loop."

"I'll take that as a compliment, my boy." He then held out his hand, "Truce?"

Danny stared at the hand for a few seconds, considering the options. Then he slowly shook the fellow hybrid's hand, "For now."

Danny let go rather quickly and then stared Vlad straight in the eye and said, "But this doesn't change anything, Plasmius. The next time I see you…"

Vlad quickly put one hand up, "Daniel, I wouldn't have it any other way." He then walked out.

Danny nodded and then turned to the other three, "I don't know what I did to deserve people like you in my life."

"You were born," Tucker said with a smile.

"Thanks, guys," Danny said, "For everything."

With his heart at peace, Danny simply sat back down on his bed as everyone else left the room.

---

"Finally," a deep voice said with a smirk, "Today is the day I capture my prey."

A ghost with green eyes, green hair, and high-tech body armor stared at a large open arch with a series of controls next to it.

"Using this dimension twister, I can travel to any point in the world, or the Ghost Zone. And using the ghost boy's ectoplasmic signature, I can use it to transport myself right next to him and strike with his guard down!"

"I'm afraid that will have to wait," said a cold voice from behind him.

In surprise, Skulker looked up and saw a masked man with gray armor standing up one of the many trees in his lair, standing still as if a statue.

Skulker asked him, "Aren't you the ghost boy's master that I was assigned to help Vlad spy on?"

Slade responded, "Former, unfortunately. But now I have other plans for him."

He then jumped down and said simply, "I'll be taking that."

"No one commands Skulker!" Skulker shouted as he started firing rockets at him. Slade simply jumped around them, dodging them with ease as he landed back on the ground.

"I am not 'no one'. Now hand it over."

"I don't think so, human!"

"Very well. You force me to try other methods."

He then reached down onto the ground and picked up a small laser, which was tied to the ground. Immediately after he dropped down to the ground.

Skulker was caught off-guard as a bunch of darts flew out of nowhere and straight at him. He screamed as a bunch of them hit him. He tried to pull them off, but his muscles suddenly seized up.

Skulker grumbled as he fell over, "I knew I should've gotten rid of that trap."

Slade sneered behind his mask, "No need to get up. I know where to find what I'm looking for." He then walked calmly over to the machine, and then began to push a few buttons on it.

"What are you doing?" asked Skulker, confused, "Why are you changing the ghost boy's coordinates? I thought you wanted to destroy him!"

"Eventually, Skulker," Slade answered as a shining light appeared in the arch, revealing a swirling portal, "But for now, I'll be needing this. It should prove quite useful."

Skulker watched with a scowl as to seeing his invention being snatched away from him. The dimension twister went with the person after transporting them.

Slade nodded to him, "Good day to you."

Then he slowly walked through.

To Be Continued

Ha ha ha! I'm not done yet, folks! The third and final part to "The Phantom Apprentice" trilogy is on the way! What could Slade be up to this time now that Danny has left him? You will have to wait for "Never Easy", coming soon! So long for now!