Desperate

Chapter 14

Finally.

After a tortuous nine months of fighting his new fear, Plasmius was ready; he was ready to reenter the Ghost Zone.

Of course, he was nervous. The last time he entered the Ghost Zone, he ended up finding another Ghost Portal and murdering the inventor of it.

He glared and clenched his fists. No, he didn't murder her; it was self-defense. He knew it was, and she knew it was too. In no way did he murder her.

He exhaled deeply, letting his frustration with his inner battles on that particular subject out. He had to keep reminding himself that he wasn't a murderer. It was a difficult battle to fight with, but he had to fight. After all, if he couldn't do it for himself, he had to do it for his daughter. He widened his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, ashamed that he forgot that he was also doing it for Maddie.

He took a deep breath then grabbed onto the lever to the portal and pulled it down. Quickly, the doors slid open, revealing the ectoplasm swirling entrance to the Ghost Zone. "Alright, Plasmius, you can do this," he encouraged himself, shaking his hands out when his palms started to sweat.

"On the count of three." He levitated in the air. "One." Slowly, he started levitating towards the portal. "Two." He stopped in front of it, taking in another deep breath as he tried to calm his nerves. His eyes narrowed, and he scowled, trying to appear fearless. "Three."

True to his word, he flew in, hoping he could get rid of his ridiculous fear.

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He had to be honest; he was a little relieved to be back in the Ghost Zone. Most likely because he felt as if he belonged there. The strange Ghost Zone was completely opposite from his side of the dimension. All the ghosts were dead so there were no news reports on murders and no one to accidentally kill.

Why didn't he reenter the Ghost Zone earlier? He could have felt better with using his powers already. He could have trained himself harder to be in better control. He wouldn't have to worry about killing anyone. He should have gone there sooner!

He sighed in relief, relieved that the guilt that had been eating it's way through his stomach was finally dissipating. He was at peace-

He screamed suddenly when he felt a sharp electrifying pain shoot through his back and spread to the rest of his body. He clenched his fists as his body hunched over, attempting to move away from the pain. The surges of electricity intensified as another wave of them shot through his body, paying close attention to his back. Overcome by excruciating pain, he fell downwards and grunted as soon as he landed on one of the many rock formations floating around in the Ghost Zone. He clutched onto his stomach then hesitantly glanced up, squinting to see through his blurred vision, when he heard a deep chuckle.

"Well, well, well," a deep gruff voice taunted as a smirk spread across his lips, "look what I caught."

Plasmius let go of his stomach and wiped at his eyes, wiping away the tears fogging his vision, then stared back up to find another ghost towering above him with piercing green eyes and flaming green hair. He attempted to stand once the surges of electricity stopped but ended up falling back onto his knees, feeling too weak from the unexpected attack.

The ghost chuckled deeply and knelt down to be at eye level with him. "Sorry, but you're not going anywhere for a while, halfa."

"'H-Halfa?'" he questioned, holding his head as he tried to stop his vision from spinning. He looked back up at the ghost. "Why are you doing this? I have done nothing to provoke you!"

"You don't have to do anything to 'provoke' me, halfa." The ghost's smirk widened. "I am the greatest hunter in all of the Ghost Zone. I can hunt whatever I please. And seeing that you're a one of a kind specimen, you'd make an excellent addition to my collection."

Vlad glared at the ghost. "And may I ask who exactly is hunting me?"

The hunter's smirk widened, and he stood up then placed a hand on his chest. "I am Skulker, the Ghost Zone's greatest-"

"The Ghost Zone's greatest hunter. Yes, I know." He narrowed his eyes. "Listen, Skulker, as much as I appreciate your interest in what I am, I don't have time for this. I have a life outside of the Ghost World, and I would appreciate it if you let me go and perhaps we can continue this another day."

The hunter blinked down at him, disbelief clear in his eyes, before belting out a large and grating laugh as he bent over and clutched onto his stomach. Plasmius rolled his eyes in annoyance and charged up a pink energy blast, preparing to fight off the ghost if need be.

Once the hunter recovered, he wiped a stray tear from his eye and smirked. "Me? Let you go?" he scoffed. "Oh please. I would never let something so rare, so valuable, leave my sight."

Plasmius' eyes glowed a darker red. "Well, because I am so 'rare', I bet you don't know that much about my kind."

He shrugged. "True but that won't matter once I hang your pelt above my bed."

His energy blast intensified, feeding from his anger. "Now that is just disturbing."

Before the hunter could utter another word, Vlad shot his ghost ray at him, hitting him square in the nose. Skulker flew back from the force of the impact then growled and aimed an unidentified gun at him. "You will pay for that, halfa!"

"The name is Plasmius!" Vlad shot another ray at him then dodged to the left as Skulker's weapon fired a green energy beam at him.

"That doesn't matter!" Skulker continued shooting, causing the halfa to continue dodging. "Once I put your pelt above my bed, your name would have never mattered in the first place!"

The halfa growled and turned invisible, causing Skulker to stop shooting as he attempted to find him. He flew at rapid speed towards the ghost hunter then turned visible and rammed into him. The hunter flew forward from the impact and collided with the ground face-first, sliding a few feet forward before hitting a rock and stopping. He turned around then widened his eyes in fear when he saw the halfa towering above him and aiming a pink energy blast at him.

"Now, I wonder." Vlad lifted his hand back, intensifying his energy blast. "What would you look like as a pelt above my bed?"

Plasmius' eyes glowed fiercely as the feeling of his ghost power increased within him. His energy blast turned to a much darker shade of pink as it continued to swirl in the palm of his hand. The anger and hatred for the hunter burned intensely within him as it powered him up.

Right as he was about to fire and possibly end the ghost hunter for good, his eyes widened as the haunting image of the widow he killed came to mind. He blinked a few times then softened his glare, his beating dark red eyes returning to their natural light red color. He powered down his blast and dropped his hand to his side.

He couldn't do it again; he couldn't kill. He couldn't carry another burden of deep guilt on his shoulders. He couldn't bear to spend another nine months battling with himself on the subject of killing. But most importantly, he couldn't bear to feel even more guilty and regretful with his actions every time he looked at his daughter. It wasn't the right thing to do.

Plasmius levitated downwards until he was standing on the rock formation. He glanced down at the panic-stricken ghost then glared menacingly at him. "Consider this a warning, Skulker. Next time, I won't be so merciful."

Before the hunter could say anything more, Vlad took to the air, flying rapidly away from the hunter and off to find some place to use as target practice.

Author's note: Hey, beautiful people! What did you think? I thought I'd introduce Skulker a bit 'cause he is kind of like a pawn to Vlad in the show, so I thought I'd introduce how they met (this came purely from my imagination; I actually don't know how they met). :) Let me know what you thought through review! As always, constructive criticism is welcomed and appreciated. :)

Fun Fact: The reason why I mentioned that Vlad was remorseful whenever he saw Elizabeth was because it brought back painful memories of what he did to the widow and that reminded him that he wouldn't become a good father. :)