It happened slowly at first.
There was very little indication that anything had changed. Yes, the ghosts had gotten a bit more ferocious than usual, but it wasn't too noticeable-for a while, at least.
Another, more personal indication that something was wrong was that Plasmius' moves on Danny's mom were becoming slightly more aggressive. However, with the added aggressiveness, his smarts seemed to diminish, and he was captured and stopped fairly quickly. This was a fairly small occurrence, and he paid it no mind, though a voice nagged at him in his mind, telling him that something was very, very wrong. Something nefarious was happening. He shook his head, thinking that nothing could possibly happen.
Things got worse.
They had gotten indefinitely worse, Danny thought as he flinched, hearing a sickening squelch and horrid snap as the Box Ghost folded another citizen of Amity into a box fleshy monstrosity of a box. Ember cackled as she led her gang of humans around on a coarse rope leash, forcing them to chant her name. If one stopped to catch their breath, she would turn her fiery eyes upon them and watch as they burned as a lesson to all the other. As she went, she steadily picked up more followers and more piles of ash lay in her wake. Skulker flew around and pierced anything that he wished to grab, dragging them home to his lair to make into another pelt. Technus had found nearly every electronic in the city and was attempting to mold them together in a horrible Frankenstein's monster. Nameless ghosts ran amuck, wreaking senseless havoc everywhere they went.
The Fentons, Valerie, Sam, and Tucker tried desperately to pull others from danger and into safety but could barely keep themselves safe.
Danny...was not in any suitable condition to help at the moment. He could barely keep down the primal instinct that was spreading through his body, desperately trying to take over the halfa's body.
"Danny!" came the cry from the ground, and he clasped his head desperately, fingernails digging into his scalp, to ignore the Obsession, the Hunger, that rose through him. He growled, screamed, Wailed, suspended between the need to Protect and the need to run far, far away where he couldn't "help" anybody.
His head snapped towards the scream just in time to see Skulker fire a bloody harpoon at his dear, precious sister. He froze. He dove forwards with the burning need to protect.
The weapon whipped back at its master and Danny plunged it into Skulker's head, piercing not only his metal helmet but the small ectoplasmic entity as well. It's scream lingered in the air far longer than the being itself did, and Danny dropped the metal shell to the ground with a loud thunk. He softly touched down onto the mangled road as well and stared at the empty shell with dead eyes.
"D-Danny?" came a small voice behind him, and he turned around fast enough to give himself whiplash. His pure, ectoplasmic green eyes burned with intensity as he watched the tiny human. His human. He realized, heard the piercing cries and yelps for help and faced the destruction reigning down around him.
Phantom sped towards the ghosts and he ripped them apart.
His long, sharp fingernails pierced flesh and splattered his gloves with green goop as he tore through his enemies, the ones hurting His humans. A growl tore through his throat so he tore through their throats, too, the sparkling white tainted with the blood of his enemies. He lost himself in the heat of the battle, wrought with only the need to Protect.
Not a minute later, Phantom stood alone on the battlefield with thick green blood staining the world around him. He looked for his Special humans, and he found them, cowering against a house in fear of enemies that would never hurt them ever again.
Phantom stumbled towards them, and they looked forwards with fearful eyes. He came to one with black hair and amethyst eyes and reached out. She flinched away from his claw but he did not stop and laid his hand upon her cheek, cradling it gently.
"Protect," he whispered softly. The others gave slightly confused expressions. "I will Protect," came the statement once again, louder, and the fear drained from the fragile human's eyes.
He smiled a broken, bloody smile, and leaned forwards.
"Nothing will ever hurt you again. I promise." And I never break my promises.
Sam closed her eyes as trust flooded through her.
She heard a crack, felt a sharp pain in her neck and saw nothing but black. Cries rose around them, but they were soon silenced in a similar fashion as the first. Phantom smiled at her body and the ones that surrounded him. Danny screamed in his mind, tearing through mental walls to get to his dead family that lay prone on the ground, but Phantom paid no attention. He drifted towards the portal, ready to meet his new family. They were now safe.
His mission had been accomplished.
"Never again."