Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom and I never have nor will I ever. And I am only saying this once so I will not repeat it in later chapters.

. . .

. . .

Heralds of Destruction

. . .

. . .

"Their story began at the dawn of time.

They were imprisoned and silenced,

raging with mute fury as their desire

for vengeance grew stronger

as the years went by.

They writhed and struggled

against their chains,

fighting for freedom

to wreck their pain

upon the worlds,

to thrust them

into destructive chaos.

The one hidden by shadows,

the one in plain sight;

the mastermind and the disciple.

They are the Heralds of Destruction."

—Prelude to The Tale of the Heralds by Cerin Shadow

. . .

. . .

1

The Day Summer Begins

It isn't every day that Danny manages to make it to school on time.

Usually, he was up at early hours fighting ghosts who didn't seem to care about his sleep or the fact that he had school the next day. Ghosts attacked whenever they wanted to and, being the protector of Amity Park, it was Danny's job to keep the city safe, even if it meant going to school exhausted, late or, usually, both.

Today was an odd day but Danny welcomed it. There hadn't been a ghost attack all night nor in the morning. Not even the Box Ghost had shown up and he always seemed to pop up at random hours during the day. The quiet was nice for the time being but Danny couldn't help but wonder just where everyone was.

He decided it didn't matter as he made his way into Casper High. Today was the last day of school before summer vacation and Danny was looking forward to vacation. He had somehow managed to pass all of his classes—even Lancer's, though that was the class he was almost always late for, or falling asleep in. He supposed Jazz's tutoring to help him catch up when he was behind due to ghost attacks definitely helped—and was looking forward to relaxing and have a peaceful summer hanging out with his best friends.

Speaking of them, Danny smiled as he joined his two best friends, Sam and Tucker, by his locker. Sam was dressed in her usual Goth attire with her purple spider backpack on her back while Tucker, with his traditional red beret on his head, was typing away on a PDA in his hand. "Morning, guys," Danny said.

"You're actually here early? Has the apocalypse begun?" Tucker teased.

"Haha," Danny said. "Nah, there weren't any ghost attacks last night or this morning."

"Not even the Box Ghost," Sam asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope."

"Odd."

"Ah, don't worry 'bout it, Sam," Tucker said with a grin. "They must've gotten tired of having their butts handed to 'em by Mr. Hero over here."

"Well, I don't mind at all. I could use the break," Danny said.

"Hopefully, the ghosts won't bother ya during the summer," Tucker said brightly.

"Tucker! Don't jinx it," Sam scolded.

"I wouldn't jinx it," Tucker complained just as a cold blue mist suddenly escaped from Danny's lips. Noticing the glare Sam was giving him, Tucker quickly said, "Hey, it ain't summer yet so that didn't count."

"Guys," Danny said and his two best friends exchanged glances before moving side by side to block Danny from sight as he called forth his other self, with a quiet "I'm going ghost", and transformed into his ghostly alter ego; his black hair went stark white like snow and his ice-blue eyes were now glowing neon green. He was also dressed in a black jumpsuit with a DP logo on the front with white gloves, white boots and a white belt.

"Here," Sam said, reaching into her backpack and tossing Danny, who had turned invisible as soon as he had transformed, a Fenton Thermos.

"You keep one on your backpack?" Tucker said.

"You keep like three PDAs in yours," Sam deadpanned as Danny went intangible and flew away in search of the ghost that had triggered his ghost sense.

"I do not. No one can ever replace Hannah!" Tucker cried, hugging the PDA in his hand.

"Isn't that like your second one this month?"

"Hey, it's not my fault Skulker vaporized Sarah," Tucker huffed.

Sam rolled her eyes.

"Do you think Danny'll need any help?" Tucker wondered.

"Dunno. Depends on which ghost it is."

Meanwhile, Danny was currently flying intangibly through a tree by an ectoblast that came out of nowhere as soon as he left the school. Flying into the air, Danny folded his arms across his chest. "Skulker, I see you upgraded again," he said.

The robotic ghost with the flaming Mohawk was currently aiming the long slender barrel of a gun at the Halfa. "Of course, ghost child, and I look forward to using my new upgrades to get your pelt for my lair," he stated.

"Dude, that is still gross," Danny said with a grimace, dodging to the side to avoid an ectoplasmic blast and firing a series of his own back at Skulker, forcing the robotic ghost to dodge almost all of them. The last one clipped at his wing, sending him spinning before he managed to right himself and send another blast at Danny.

Danny again dodged but was unprepared for the next blast that slammed into him sending him flying into the school building. He went intangible to avoid damage to both his body and the school building. Property damage was one of the reasons why some people didn't exactly like them, though, after the Pariah Dark incident earlier that year, the majority of Amity Park were on Danny's side.

Skulker followed him into the school and Danny, using his intangibility, flew through the walls and out toward the football field. There was more space there and, since everyone was in class, it was less likely that someone would get hurt.

Whirling around in the center of the football field, Danny unleashed another blast of ectoplasm that struck Skulker's chest, sending him flying into the stands. "You're the first ghost I've seen all day," Danny noted as Skulker flew intangibly out of the wreckage he had caused because he hadn't gone intangible in time. "What? Did everyone else decide to take the day off but you got stuck working?"

"I never take a day off," Skulker declared.

"You should. It might actually help your skills," Danny quipped, stepping to the side to avoid another ectoblast from Skulker's new gun. "I think your aim's gotten worse."

"Shut up, ghost child," Skulker growled, flying toward Danny and firing off a glowing green net that Danny quickly flew up to dodge and tossed a few balls of ectoplasm at Skulker, all of which he dodged, though he wasn't able to dodge the ectoray that Danny fired at him, sending it fly into the bleachers again.

Danny flew up to Skulker, unslinging the Fenton Thermos from his back, just as a blue mist escaped his lips right before a blast of red ectoplasmic energy slammed into his back. He yelped as he was sent flying to crash into the bleachers above the dazed Skulker, and the thermos was knocked out of his hand. Phasing out of the bleachers, Danny looked around for the newcomer to find a dark-cloaked figure floating nearby, glowing red eyes peering out from beneath the hood.

"Who are you?" Danny asked, readying an ectoblast in one hand while keeping an eye on Skulker.

The dark-cloaked figure withdrew his hood to reveal hair the color of flames framing its pale blue face, its crimson eyes were fixed on Danny. "My name is of no concern to you," he said. His voice was quiet, like a whisper, but Danny could still hear it easily. His hand glowed red and he released another red ectoblast at Danny, forcing him to quickly dodge out of the way.

Never seen red ectoblasts before, pink yeah from the fruitloop but never red, Danny mused as he spun out of the way to avoid another blast and released another back at the figure.

"Get lost! He's my prey!" Skulker shouted, firing an ecto-missile at the red-haired ghost who vanished in a burst of black mist and the missile crashed into the ground, creating a large crater. The new ghost reappeared a few feet above where he had been previously, unleashing two red ectorays that surged toward but Danny and Skulker who both quickly dodged.

"Your prey, you say?" the figure whispered.

"Yeah, so get lost," Skulker growled. "I won't have you taking my prey from me."

"I assure you that is not my goal," the figure said with a cool smirk. "I am simply…testing the boy."

"Testing me?" Danny repeated.

"Indeed. You are one of only two Halfas in the world after all and my masters are most curious about you," the figure said. He suddenly turned his attention to Casper High as a bell rang, causing Danny to groan in protest. Great, I get to school early and I'm still late, he thought irritably.

"I suppose I shall have to continue my test later. Catch, Halfa!" The figure suddenly tossed something at Danny who caught it, frowning when he realized it was the Fenton Thermos. He glanced toward the figure in time to watch it vanish in a burst of black mist.

"Who in the world was that?" Danny wondered aloud and then yelped when an ectoray shot past his ear. He turned to find Skulker aiming his newest weapon at Danny and sighed. Well, might as well finish this quickly. I sure hope Lancer's in a good mood, he thought.

. . .

"You're late, Mr. Fenton," Mr. Lancer said as Danny, Fenton Thermos tucked into his backpack and his back hurting from having been tossed into the bleachers during his fight against both Skulker and that newcomer, entered the classroom. After the new ghost had left, the fight against Skulker had taken no time at all.

"Sorry, sir," Danny said. He was thankful he managed to get there only a few minutes late. He made his way to his seat next to Sam and in front of Tucker who both glanced at him in concern. He pulled out a notebook from his backpack and, opening to an empty sheet, wrote, 'Skulker again and a new guy. Tell you everything after school' before folding it and tossing it onto Sam's desk.

She read it and handed it off to Tucker who nodded and stuffed the note away.

The last class of the day came quickly and Danny, Sam and Tucker found themselves back in Lancer's class, since they had him as both their homeroom teacher at the beginning of the day and as their English teacher at the end. Lancer didn't talk much though. As it was the last day of school, he was like the other students; wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. He did talk about the project they had worked on for their final and told them that they would get it back at the end of class.

Sam was the first to notice when Danny stopped paying attention to Lancer. She had glanced at him to check on him, only to find him gazing at Lancer with an almost glazed expression on his face, the pen in his hand was doodling something on the notebook page. If it wasn't for that, Sam would have thought her best friend had fallen asleep with his eyes open, which has happened before.

She leaned over. "Danny?" she whispered, hoping to not attract the attention of Lancer, though he wasn't looking toward them yet. That was the advantage of sitting close to the windows at the back of the classroom; Lancer didn't always pay attention to them.

"Dude, you okay?" Tucker asked, also noticing that Danny seemed to be spacing out but was doodling at the same time, something Sam has never seen him do before. What was even more confusing was the fact that the hand that was drawing was glowing green. She peered at the drawing, frowning. Danny wasn't an artist but he was including small details in the drawing. It was at the bottom of the page. There were a group of crudely drawn people, two of whom vaguely resembled Sam and Tucker, with Sam's purple spider backpack and Tucker's red beret, covering their heads with their arms as debris from the building that was being hit with a beam of something fell toward them.

"Danny?" Tucker nudged Danny again but the half-ghost remained silent.

Sam caught sight of movement out of the corner of her eye and immediately grabbed Danny's hand before thrusting it under the desk as Lancer walked over to join them. Tucker sat back into his seat as did Sam, casting a worried glance at Danny who was no longer moving his hand but his eyes were still glazed.

"Mr. Fenton!" Lancer called sharply.

Danny suddenly jumped, eyes wide and he glanced around widely. Sam grabbed his arm. "Hey, hey, calm down," she said quickly, not sure what had caused Danny to jump like that but trying to get him to calm down, especially since his eyes had gone neon green.

Danny glanced at her and blinked a few times. He slowly relaxed and his eyes reverted back to ice-blue. "Sam?"

"Are you okay, Mr. Fenton?" Lancer asked before Sam could reply.

Danny glanced toward the teacher in confusion until he registered the question. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine, just fine, Mr. Lancer," he said, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.

Lancer continued to observe him but said nothing and nodded before walking back to the front of the classroom.

Danny relaxed against his seat and Sam glanced at him. "You okay?" she asked, not believing he was really fine after what she saw.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Danny said and then froze when he saw the drawing on his notebook page, his eyes wide as he studied it.

"What's the…?" Tucker began but a firm reprimand from Lancer quieted him.

"Tell you after class," Danny mouthed to his two best friends who nodded and returned their attention to Lancer.

. . .

"Okay, now spill, what happened?" Sam asked as the three of them walked down the street later that day, heading toward FentonWorks.

"I don't know exactly," Danny admitted. "But…that drawing…I saw it happen."

"What?" They both looked at him in confusion.

"That scene I drew, I saw it happen during Lancer's class," Danny said. "I mean I was just listening to Lancer and then I'm suddenly witnessing that scene I drew."

"Dude, that's weird," Tucker said.

"As weird as having a half-ghost friend," Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Meh, maybe not that weird but still weird," Tucker said with a shrug.

"It was like a dream," Danny said. "I couldn't really do anything but watch, no matter how much I wanted to."

"There's something else," Sam said, remembering what else she had seen while they were trying to get Danny's attention. "When you were drawing, your hand was glowing."

"It was?"

"Yeah."

"Weird."

They rounded the corner as a group of the A-Listers were walking in a clump in front of them. Dash was the first one to spot them and smirked as he swaggered over. "Hey, look, it's the Fenturd, his freaky girlfriend and the geek," he said.

"She's not my girlfriend," Danny exclaimed.

"I'm not his girlfriend," Sam exclaimed at the same time.

Tucker snickered and yelped in pain when Sam slammed her combat boot down on his foot.

"What do you want, Dash?" Danny asked.

"Oh, just remembering I didn't get a chance to wail on ya at school today," Dash said, cracking his knuckles and advancing on Danny who stood his ground, glaring at Dash.

Just then, Danny gasped, releasing a burst of cool blue mist and a blast of bright red light flew toward them. Danny quickly jumped back as did Dash and the beam slammed into the window of the building they were standing beside, causing it to shatter.

Danny whirled around just as the red-haired dark-cloaked figure floated toward them, hand glowing red and a smirk on his face. "I do believe now is a good time to restart the test," he whispered.

"Ghost!" Dash shouted.

"Phantom will show up and save me," Paulina gushed.

Danny, noticing Dash and the others were distracted by the ghost's appearance, darted into a slim alleyway and immediately transformed into his ghost half. Flying into the air, Danny shot an ectoray at the dark-cloaked figure, sending it flying into a building. "Yo, new guy, stay away from Da…I mean that civilian," he shouted.

The dark-cloaked ghost floated out of the building he had landed in, a smirk on his face. "Oh, I had no intention of harming the human…Phantom, was it? I simply wished to get your attention so as to restart my test," he whispered.

"I so do not like taking tests," Danny muttered and flew out of the way to avoid a blast of red ectoplasm. "Test anxiety and all that."

"I assure you, you will not be getting 'test anxiety' during this test," the figure said and vanished in a burst of black mist. Danny quickly looked around, his ghost sense alerting him to the ghost being nearby but he was invisible. A blast of red ectoplasm slammed into him, sending him flying into a car across from where Sam, Tucker and the A-Listers were standing around, the latter group watching with eyes wide.

"You should get to safety," Danny said, flying intangibly out of the car with a wince. I am going to feel that tomorrow, he thought as he released another ectoray that the dark-cloaked ghost caught with a red shield he had conjured up with one hand in front of him. The ease with which he did that, and the smug expression on his face, reminded Danny of Vlad and he scowled.

"Yeah, like I need another fruitloop in my life," he muttered and dove toward the dark-cloaked figure.

Meanwhile, Sam and Tucker were watching, helpless to help since they didn't have any weapons on them. They only had the Fenton Thermos. "Who is this ghost?" Sam whispered to Tucker.

"Don't know. It must be the new one that Danny was talking about," Tucker whispered back. He winced as, with a yelp, Danny was sent flying into a lamppost so swiftly that he wasn't able to go intangible in time. "Ouch. That had to hurt. This guy is fast."

"Danny isn't fighting like he usually does. There isn't even any banter like he usually does," Sam murmured.

"You think he's distracted? Maybe 'bout that daydream thing earlier?" Tucker asked.

"Might be."

The dark-cloaked figure swooped toward Danny, dodging an ectoray, and grabbed Danny's arm, throwing him into a car. He then flew toward the halfa as he, wincing, flew up. "You are distracted," the dark-cloaked figure whispered. "Something is bothering you and it is affecting your fighting ability."

"What're you talking about?" Danny asked.

"You aren't fighting as you usually do. Oh, yes, Phantom, I have watched your previous fights, thus I decided to test your fighting prowess but I feel rather underwhelmed. Perhaps I will continue this test at a later time, when you are not distracted. But I do have another test that I can start now." The dark-cloaked figure floated away from Danny and his hand began glowing red and then he unleashed a beam of red ectoplasm but not at Danny.

Instead, it crashed into the building that Sam, Tucker and the A-Listers were still standing next to, the latter group too scared to move. Danny's eyes widened, his mind going back to that scene he saw in his 'daydream'; the beam of red light crashing into the building, the debris falling toward Sam, Tucker and the A-Listers.

What he was seeing now was exactly what he had seen during that 'daydream' in Lancer's class.

"No!" Danny broke out of his shock and shot forward, hands turned upward to create a dome of green energy that the debris crashed into before sliding off the sides to land in a heap of rubble on either side of the group.

The dark-cloaked figure watched the scene with a small smile playing on his face. "Hmm, so you truly are a protector," he murmured to himself. "A protector and a manipulator. Interesting." Without another word, the ghost vanished from the scene in a swirl of black mist.

. . .

To Be Continued

. . .

A/n what do you think?

Blaze: and that was the first chapter. This is the rewritten version of Night Visions

Sam: seems interesting. Who's that new ghost that Danny was fighting?

Blaze: you will see. You will see. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.