WIZARDS IN PHANTOM CITY

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: CAPTURED PIECES

"Why the hell was Max dangling from a giant ghost eagle in the first place?" Alex shouted at Justin.

They had been flashing to keep pace with the large bird of prey for fifteen minutes before Jazz finally suggested flashing ahead of the bird and to set a trap which works pretty well with magic from Justin and a blast of the Phantom Wrist Ray Jazz had and Alex who made a trampoline-like object for the wizard boy to fall on.

Currently, birdbrain was locked in Sam's thermos and they were all walking through the town together on the lookout for anymore attacking ghost animals except Danielle who flew off dramatically after Max's rescue in favor of helping Tucker and Harper.

"It took him it wasn't my fault." Justin argued, irritated that she was insinuating it was his fault.

"Then how is it my fault Vlad locked me inside the Ghost Zone?" Alex shot back.

Justin visible flinched at that one, knowing he walked right into it.

"That's different." Justin insisted.

"How?" She asked expectantly.

"Because he's more responsible." Sam cut in angrily. "And we got him back."

"Well we got out." Alex retorted simply.

"Well I haven't seen Danny so I wouldn't be to sure!" Sam yelled at the brunette.

"He came out with us! He went to go fight the ghosts and told us to get you!" Alex yelled back, angry.

"Enough! Both of you! Right now we need to try and find any more ghosts around and send them back." Jazz cut in, pushing the two in separate directions.

"How are we going to send them back?" Alex asked, confused.

"The Portal. Duh." Sam said, as a matter-of-factly.

"How are you going to open it." Alex asked, but it was more of a statement than an actual question. "Duh." She said at the Goth's silence.

"Then we'll just capture them and worry about that later." Jazz supplied.

"Wait. If the Portal is still locked how did you guys get out?" Justin asked his sister.

"Danny took us to some yeti ghost named Frostbite and got what he called an 'Infi-map'. It look us through a natural portal." Alex replied, smiling at the memory of the kindness of the yeti ghosts.

"He showed you the Infi-map! I'm going to kill him!" Sam shouted at the air, trying to storm off.

"Sam, where are you going?" Jazz shouted, yanking her back.

"Going to find Danny!" She replied, as if it were obvious.

"We need you here. Danny is out taking down ghost after ghost-

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"Left! No your other left!" Phantom called to Wulf.

A circle of animals that were continuously launching at them surrounded the two, causing them to fight back-to-back. They were actually fairing pretty well considering the sheer amount of animals.

Wulf swatted away anything smaller than himself with ease repeatedly; alternating between paws while Phantom punched and kicked them all away with his Ecto-infused hands and feet.

"Haven't had this much fun in years!" Wulf told his friend, clawing away a weirdly large seagull.

"Tell me about it!" Phantom agreed, "Now that that ghost tiger is taken care of this is easy!" He continued, Ecto-punching a large glowing bullfrog that hopped at him.

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"-And we've caught seven. We'll find Danny after we got them all." Jazz instructed, much to the Goth's dismay.

She scowled in aggravation but didn't make another move to leave.

"Now if you were a ghost animal where would you go?"

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"Cujo! I said 'Find Danny' not 'drag us senselessly through the streets until you can't run anymore'!" Tucker shouted, holding onto the ghost dog's collar.

So far Cujo had ran through an office building, movie theater, supermarket and Casper High in addition to running through multiple street signs and fire hydrants. And maybe one or two intersections.

"Wait, Tucker! Over there!" Harper said, using her hand that wasn't holding onto the Techno-Geek to point to her right.

Tucker looked and saw several people backed into an ally by a large ghost snake.

"Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes? Cujo, right!" Tucker commanded.

Of course Cujo doesn't listen to anyone but Danny, sometimes not even him, and went left. But he turned around right after and stopped right behind the large serpent.

"What do we do? All our weapons are dead!" Tucker asked, now standing next to Cujo with Harper. She shrugged.

"Use Cujo?" She supplied.

"Um, Cujo, attack!" Tucker tried to order but Cujo just tilted his head in confusion and sat down with a happy bark. Tucker smacked his forehead.

"Should've seen that coming." He muttered.

Without warning the snake was shot by an Ecto-blast and sucked straight into a thermos. The two teens that were cornered immediately fled while Tucker and Harper looked up in confusion.

Their questions were answered as they saw Dani floating there as she capped the thermos with a smirk.

"Knew I made the right move coming after you two." Dani bragged, landing.

"We could've handled it!" Tucker insisted, giving an indigent huff.

"Yeah Cujo looked real intimidating." Dani mocked with an eye roll, jabbing an index finger at Cujo, who was still sitting and panting innocently.

Tucker and Harper face palmed at the dog, before sighing together.

"Thanks for coming." Harper spoke before Tucker could, likely saving him from saying something stupid.

"How'd you find Cujo?" Dani asked the teens.

"He found us. He took out a giant ghost turtle a minute ago. Now we're trying to find Danny." Tucker informed the youngest halfa.

"Well that's more of a chore than cleaning up these ghosts! He's harder to find than a needle in a haystack!" Dani told them jokingly.

"Just burn the hay." Harper supplied simply.

"How'd you come up with that?" Dani asked her.

"Bet you couldn't find a hay in a needle-stack." Tucker said confidently.

"Two words; big magnet." Harper stated, just as confident.

"You know you could do some great things if we weren't worrying about what Vlad was doing." Dani complimented her.

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Phantom capped his new thermos. He would've used the one from before but he was actually afraid for the safety of any ghost that entered the thermos with that tiger in it so he had used a separate thermos for the bear onwards.

"Thanks for your help, Wulf. I doubt I could've finished that quick without you." Phantom thanked the ghostly-wolf for his help.

"My pleasure, friend Phantom. We are just lucky I managed to claw my way here before things got bad." Wulf told the halfa, who nodded.

Wulf clawed open a portal and allowed Phantom to dump the thermos full of ghosts into it. But he didn't empty the tiger yet; something told him the big cat would find another way out anyway.

"Come on. Let's go this way and see if there's anymore." Phantom said, pointing towards his right once again but a scream came from the left. "Of course." Phantom sighed, his flight plan having been once again interrupted.

Wulf growled as he ran on all fours towards the direction the scream came from, his friend flying above him.

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"A pet store? Really?" Justin asked annoyed as he and the others stood outside, looking up at the sign just above the door.

"Yeah! Who's idea was this?" Max yelled, equally upset.

"Yours!" Sam reminded simply, glaring at the youngest wizard.

"Oh yeah." Max said, shrinking back in fear of the Goth.

"Forget it. We're here now we might as well take a look." Jazz told them, showing a bit of disappointment at the thought of staking out a pet store.

"Yeah. We could've ended up at the zoo." –

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"You have got to be kidding me." Phantom moaned, looking up at the zoo gates.

He could've sworn he heard a growl of annoyance from his furry friend next to him.

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-Alex reasoned, though she was disappointed with the anti climactic-ness of the idea of fighting evil ghost animals inside a pet store.

Justin, Alex, Max, Sam and Jazz all sighed and made their way into the seemingly empty store.

Not noticing the pair of red eyes watching them from the other side of the street.

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"So. Now where do we go?" Tucker asked as he, Harper, Dani and Cujo stood around out front of an animal shelter they had just cleared of ghost dogs.

"Well I don't care where we end up as long as it isn't some place like a pet store." Harper told them, petting the shrunken down Cujo.

Danielle was about to speak but was interrupted by a cry of "Harper!" The kids turned to see Jerry walking up to them. Harper immediately hugged him.

"I'm so glad your okay!" The redhead said as she stepped back.

Tucker, who had guessed this was Alex's dad, narrowed his eyes for a second before smiling at him.

"Mr. Russo, this is Tucker, Danielle Phantom and her dog Cujo." Harper introduced.

After exchanging pleasantries, Jerry spoke in a grave tone.

"Justin came back to the house just a minute ago. I think he said something about a ghost before he fainted. He wanted me to find you and bring you back. Said you'd know what to do." Jerry told them, looking at the ground.

"Justin's hurt? What are we waiting for, lets go!" Harper said, following Jerry immediately.

Dani floated behind and Cujo after her. But Tucker couldn't help but feel suspicious. He could've easily texted Jazz or Sam who were with Justin to see if this story checked out, but he felt like he would end up at the Russo's either way. So instead he pulled out his phone, texted Danny a message that said his group would be at Alex's house just so someone knew their whereabouts.

Satisfied, Tucker tucked his phone away as he followed his friends.

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"And that takes care of that." Danny said, flopping down on the road, his ghostly friend following shortly.

Danny groaned in annoyance as his phone went off, forcing him to get up and check it. He went paler than Walker, however, when he received a one-worded message from Jazz. One word that scared him the rest of the way to death. It read, "Help."

Danny took off at a blinding speed, leaving his furry friend struggling to keep pace after the sharp movement. But he didn't care; he had to help his sister.

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Shit. Double shit. Triple shit.

They'd just been getting done doing a sweep of the pet store, nothing too major was in there but they did manage to wrangle a few low-level ghosts, when they were greeted with an unexpected sight; Teresa Russo running up from nowhere almost in tears.

She had come and immediately told them that Harper had come back to the house, injured and tired, muttering about ghosts and to come find them. Sam and Jazz went almost immediately but the Russo's stopped them. The whole scene just didn't fit right with their mother. She hadn't even pulled them into a hug and said that although she was glad they were okay they were in heaps of trouble.

After she had been accused of being an imposter, the Vlad clone had promptly released his control over her and chose to bring them in himself.

Max had been the first to fall, his magic shield not being enough to fend off Plasmius' Ecto-blasts. He'd tried the best he could but was pushed into a wall and dropped his shield right after and wizard or not, nobody could handle Ecto-blasts like ghosts.

"Really? A Magical Barrier is the best you can do?" Plasmius taunted the already-unconscious boy. He erected a shield of his own to stop Sam's wrist ray shot.

"Come on Samantha I thought you could handle me. Even Daniel faired better when he first faced me." He commented sending the shield at the eldest Russo.

Sam had to use all the energy in the wrist ray to hold off the attack and they both fizzled out of existence, leaving an impressed Vlad.

"I didn't think Jack and Maddie had acquired that much power to build something to hold off even one of my weaker attacks." The elder halfa said, sending another Ecto-beam at Alex who barely dodged.

"They didn't," Jazz admitted backing up. "Danny charged those."

Vlad scoffed.

"Of course. I should have known you'd need Daniel's help." Vlad taunted again.

This time he got to Sam as she charged him angrily and ready to punch with the wrist ray when Plasmius caught her wrist.

"Ah, ah, ah. Can't have that, now can we?" He said, shocking her as he had done to Danny multiple times in the past.

"Leave her alone!" Alex demanded, shooting more magic at the halfa.

Vlad was caught off guard at the sudden blast and was sent back a few meters, dropping Sam into an unconscious heap in the process. Justin went to go check on her but was stopped when an Ecto-blast hit right in front of his feet, causing him to stop and look up into Plasmius' red eyes.

"I wouldn't do that." Vlad reprimanded, backhanding Justin with ghostly strength to send him stumbling back.

"What are you up to, Vlad? I thought you would've been after Danny." Jazz questioned, placing the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick between her and her brothers archenemy for good measure.

She had the idea to keep him busy until Danny got here; she had already messaged him for help.

"Wouldn't you like to know, girl?" Vlad asked harshly.

"I would!" Alex said, blasting at Vlad again.

This time Vlad managed to move out of the way but was struck by Justin's magic. He was forced back a bit but otherwise was fine and he scowled at the magic boy.

"You'll regret that." He said charging at Justin with glowing pink fists.

Before he could hit Justin, Alex shot at him again, this time in the back using his forward momentum to send him flying. Justin took the moment to run to Jazz to see if she was okay, as she was the only other one standing. Alex turned to see if Sam was okay, but Plasmius' voice stopped her.

"You'll pay dearly for that, girl."

Was what she heard before Plasmius sent an Ecto-beam so powerful it was majority white with little spots of pink at her. She erected a magic barrier as quick as she could but it was shattered instantly and the brunette was pushed to the ground where she looked up to see Plasmius charging another attack.

She closed her eyes and attempted to shield herself with her arms and waited for the pain. She heard two gasps and an explosion but she felt no pain. She opened her eyes slowly to see a familiar white-haired figure standing over her, a green barrier in front of him.

"Danny!" She shouted in surprise and relief. Danny turned and gave her a pained half-smile before turned to Vlad and lowering his shield.

"You shouldn't have tried me." Was all he said before Danny fired an Ecto-blast at Vlad's chest.

Danny's attack sent Vlad back significantly further than any of Alex or Justin's magic had, making him crash back into a building with so much force that the building came down on him. Danny turned to Alex.

"Are you okay?" He asked urgently. All she could do was nod as she stood up.

"Alex, get over here!" Justin shouted pointing his wand at where Vlad crashed.

"No," Danny objected. "You guys get Sam and Max out of here. I'll hold him off." He finished his fists already glowing green.

"I'm afraid it's already too late for that, Daniel." Vlad's voice echoed.

Danny spun around and came face-to-face with Vlad. Vlad took advantage of Danny's confusion and punched his chest, sending him flying into the parked car across the street and shooting twin Ecto-blasts for good measure.

"Danny!" Alex, Jazz and Justin shouted at the same time, worried.

Vlad used the distraction to create two duplicates that went to pick up Sam and Max. They were a good fifty feet in the air and flying away when the dust cloud dissipated. Danny stood up and shook his head a bit then glared at Vlad.

"Danny!" Justin yelled.

"Yes! My name is Danny! Sheesh its not that hard to remember do you have to say it out loud every five minutes?" Danny asked sarcastically but turned to Justin non-the-less.

He saw the older teen pointing up at the sky. He turned to where he was pointing, confused. But confusion turned to anger as he saw the clones making off with his friends.

"No!" He shouted, rocketing away. He was charging Ecto-energy in his palm when he heard Vlad.

"Ah, ah, ah. Can't leave your girlfriend unprotected, can we?" Vlad taunted, holding an Ecto-infused hand at the back of Alex's head.

"Alex!" Justin and Jazz yelled in concern. Justin pointed his wand at Vlad in an attempt to frighten him away but Vlad scoffed.

"You know as well as I do, boy, that your magic won't effect me enough to release your sister. In fact, it will seal her fate." Vlad threatened, his hand glowing more.

Danny stopped in mid-air and turned back to see the position Vlad had Alex in. His eyes glowed an even brighter green as he growled at Vlad.

"Let. Her. Go." He demanded. His hands glowed almost white with Ecto-energy as he floated closer to Vlad, almost immediately forgetting the clones.

Everyone's attention was turned to the human Teresa Russo, who had begun to wake up with a groan as she pushed into a sitting position.

"Oh, what hit me?" She muttered, opening her eyes and looking around.

Justin and Jazz waved innocently, Alex gave the most innocent smile she could but Danny and Vlad went right back to glaring at each other.

"Alex! What did you do?" Teresa yelled as she walked towards them.

"For once, nothing." Alex muttered back.

"Not one step closer, Mrs. Russo or this Ecto-blast will go through your daughters head." Vlad said, turning to glare at Teresa. That was his fatal mistake; taking his eyes off Danny.

Not two seconds later did Danny's gloved fist slam into the side of Vlad's face sending him into another building. This time Danny followed, his hands still blazing green.

Meanwhile everybody else ran up to Alex.

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"You just crossed the line, Vlad. Big time. You shouldn't have tried me this time." Danny said, firing at Vlad again.

Vlad blocked the first and second Ecto-beams but was again hit by the younger halfas fist.

"Its just chess, Daniel. Don't take it so personally." Vlad said before he fizzled out of existence.

Danny shot at the place Vlad had just been, hitting the wall behind it just like he thought. Danny glared at nothing.

"A clone. He sent a clone to come get Jazz's group. But the clone was in Teresa if her confusion was anything to go by. But why not the father?" Danny asked himself before his phone beeped. Tucker.

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"Jazz!" Danny's voice came.

Everyone turned to see Phantom float up to Jazz, looking worriedly at her.

"That was a Vlad clone. What did Vlad make Teresa say or do when you first saw her?" He questioned worriedly, ignoring Teresa's questions.

"That Harper was hurt at the house and to come back with her. Why?" She responded, ignoring Teresa's "What?!"

They watched as Phantom closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Damnit. Damnit!" He cursed, pulling out his phone. He showed everyone the text from Tucker.

"It was all a setup, wasn't it?" Justin asked, although it was more of a statement.

"Vlad had clones overshadow Jerry and Teresa to bring you all back to the house. He wasn't counting on me showing up yet." Phantom deduced.

"But how'd he even know we were back from the Ghost Zone?" Alex asked.

"We?!" Teresa shouted. They ignored her again.

"He probably bugged our house again." Jazz said, as if it were normal.

"Now he has Sam and Max along with Tucker, Harper and Danielle. We have to do something." Justin insisted.

"Dani?!/Max?!" Phantom and Teresa yelled together. Phantom's eyes shined brighter.

"I'll kill him. So help me if my daughter has one white hair out of place on her head Plasmius' head will spin so damn fast he'll have to become the Top Ghost."

So! That happened.

Sorry for the long delay guys but I've had really bad writers block. I actually finished this chapter, restarted it, got halfway through it and restarted again it was so bad. But at least I'm somewhat happy with this chapter more-so than the others.

Okay loyal readers bear with me. I've decided to put this story on hold, seeing as it is my least story while I get further into The Phantom's Realm. But don't worry it will be back. I just don't know when. I reached this decision a while ago but I did promise another update and that wouldn't be fair to you all so chew on these 13 chapters until I return!

Until then, be patient and maybe check out my other stories!