Chapter 01 The Dream
Danny was flying over Amity park, white hair blowing in the wind as he looked down at all the buildings and people as he past. All the people smiled and cheered as he passed by and waved to them, flying right over the Nasty Burger. Danny was off to the hill he agreed to meet Sam at today to watch the sunset, he bought a small bouquet of six black and six red roses for her that he had coddled under his left arm.
He could see the hill coming up in the distance, but as he got closer he saw something that made him stop in mid air: Sam was already there... with Danny Fenton. Danny got closer and screemed "What in the name of the Ghost Zone is going on here?!", But Sam and the other Danny didn't even notice him. Danny got right in Sam's face and said "Sam? Helloooo, your boyfriend is seriously like 4 inches from your face right now", but Sam acted like she didn't even see him.
"I wouldn't bother if I were you Danny" Danny turned around to the other Danny that was sitting and was glaring at him evilly, then in the background Danny saw the Nasty Burger erupt like a volcano and the wave of destruction blinded him. When Danny opened his eyes the sky was red, Amity Park was in ruins and parts of it were on fire, he turned to see a skeleton wearing Sam's tattered cloths laying next to the other Danny who stood up and turned into Danny Phantom.
The other Danny starred at him with a malicious grin and said "You can't save them Danny", The other Danny's white hair caught ablaze as did the area around him, when the flames died Dan Phantom was standing in front of him "You can't even save your self". Danny was about to fire a plasma blast at his evil self when he found his wrists and ankles were bound in chains, the dark specter laughed like a maniac before grabbing his younger self around his neck and shook him violently.
Dan kept saying "Danny, Danny", Danny closed his eyes, not wanting to see anymore of this horrible sight, Dan kept shaking him "Danny, Come on Danny". Dan's tone confused Danny so he opened his eyes to see that Dan's aqua eyes were wide with concern. 'WAIT!' Danny thought, 'Dan's eyes are red, not aqua', Danny blinked a few times and saw not Dan Phantom but his sister Jazz.
Danny was lying in his bed, his sister looking at him with a very worried look on her face, "I got up to get a glass of water when I heard you talking in your sleep really loud" she said to her little brother. Danny sat up and looked at his older sister and said "Sorry Jazz, just... just a bad dream", Jazz put her hand on his shoulder and asked "It was about HIM wasn't it?".
Danny hesitated to say anything, he knew that she was talking about Dan and that he scared his sister just as much as he scared him, and she would worry about him even more if she knew he was having nightmares about him again like he was for the first month after they met. But he felt it would be worse(not to mention hard, considering how smart she is) to lie to her, "Yeah, it was, I haven't had one of him since a month after we met".
Just then a wisp of blue vapor escaped from Danny's mouth, "What's with all the racket at this ungodly hour?", Jazz and Danny turned to see Ember's head phase through the wall. Danny glared at her "Ember! how many times have I told you to stop phasing into my room?!", Ember stared at him, half awake, and said "How should I know, you've said it so many times I lost count", Danny gave her his best look of utter annoyance "If that doesn't tell you something then you're even more dense than Dash".
Jazz looked back at her baby brother and said "Hey, don't put her on the same level as him", she turned back to Ember and said "Just go back to bed, Hun", Ember smiled and said "Should I wait, Babypop?", Jazz shrugged "If you want to, I shouldn't be too much longer", Ember went intangible and phased through the wall she had come out from.
Danny sighed as he said "My mental health probably isn't helped by the fact that my older sister is dating one of my worst enemies", Jazz shot an angry glare at him "Oh save it Danny, Ember is reformed and she's proven it to you, twice now", She continued "And I've been dating Ember for over a year, how are you not used to this by now?".
Danny hung his head guiltfully and said "Sorry, that was out of line, that dream just has me half-cocked", Jazz turned his face to hers and said "It's just a nightmare Danny Everyone gets them", "Like your nightmares of Bearbert Einstein suddenly catching fire from your girlfriends hair?" Danny said snidely. Jazz shot him a glare, "I heard you mutter in your sleep when you snooze on the couch, you sure YOU don't need any help?", "This is not about me, it's about you, Danny," Jazz said stiffly.
Danny's face sunk as he said "He's too powerful Jazz, no matter what I throw at him he can take it and then some, it took everything I had, and I cant stress the EVERYTHING part enough, to get him into that thermos and even then I still couldn't save you guys on my own" Danny wrapped his fingers through his hair and hung his head in anguish "If Clockwork hadn't stepped in when he did You, Mom, Dad, Tucker, Sam, and Lancer would all be dead".
Jazz looked at her little brothers crestfallen face[Hey, I remembered what crestfallen means, sweet] and couldn't believe he'd been holding something like this in for so long, "Danny, you can't change the past, even with Clockworks help it would be tough, but I know you and that side of you isn't even there anymore, and even if it were you aren't alone" she said softly, "You've got me, Mom, Dad, Sam, Tucker, Valerie, Ember, Wulf, Frostbite, Clockwork, and even your little clone cousin who's name I forget", "Danielle" Danny said, "Right, Danielle".
Jazz saw her little brothers face grow a dreary smile, "Just go to sleep, we can talk more about this with sober minds" Jazz got up and opened his room door, before stepping out she turned around and smiled a tender smile at her little brother, "Just remember, no matter what happens, I'll always be here for you, count on that", Danny smiled at his older sister.
"Thanks, Jazz" He then let a small grin cross his face and added, "But don't let that think you can still hover protectively around me, I need my space". Jazz merely smiled and whispered a "good night" before closing the door, leaving Danny alone in the glow of his lava lamp. The ghost teen lay down in his bed and fell asleep again.
Jazz walked into her room to see Ember sitting on the bed, playing some quiet notes on her guitar so as to not wake Jazz's parents, she looked up at Jazz as she walked over and sat down next to her "What was that all about, Babypop?", Jazz stretched and said "Nothing you need concern yourself with, he just had a bad dream is all".
Ember got up and leaned her guitar against the wall and said, "Dreams, man I haven't had one of those for years", Jazz looked at her girlfriend confused "You don't have dreams?". Ember sat back down "Not that uncommon for a ghost, we don't really need to sleep so dreaming doesn't happen to often either", She looked at Jazz and continued "Not that any dream could be better than you, Babypop", Jazz blushed and kissed Embers purple lips "You always know just what buttons to push, don't you", Ember laid back down "I certainly try", Jazz followed suit and laid her head on Embers chest as the two fell asleep mere moments later.
...The next day...
"GHOOOOOOST!", Danny heard his father yelling as a small alarm went off followed by what sounded like ecto-weapons shooting, that woke him instantly. Danny then noticed something odd, he was floating on the celing of the lab and he was Danny Phantom, "Must've phased through the floor in my sleep again" He muttered, this was happening more often lately like it did the first month after the accident that he would fall asleep in his bed and wake up in the lab, the Fenton op center, the kitchen, or just floating on his ceiling.
He phased through the ceiling of the lab into the kitchen and turned solid, only to be met with a "BACK OFF OLD MAN!" and then guitar to his face, Danny hit the floor in a daze as he heard what sounded like his sisters voice saying "Danny, are you all right?", "Aw man, sorry kid" he heard Ember say.
This had become a pretty common morning in the Fenton house since Ember and Jazz started dating, Jack's ghost alarms still hadn't been adapted to ignore Embers ecto-signature(the ones installed in his jumpsuit not the ones in the house, Maddie had already taken care of those) so when ever she passed him they would go off, this would in turn start him going into an instinctual blasting frenzy that is only stopped when Ember whaps him upside the head with her guitar(That Danny had the misfortune of intercepting as he came up through the floor this time), then Jazz would yell at both her father and her lover for being stupid or irrational or anything else she could think to yell at the two.
This morning was proving to be no different and Danny was starting to get use to it, "Are you ok, son?" Jack asked standing over his youngest child, "Yeah dad, I've gotten worse(From you and mom) before" Danny said rubbing the side of his head changing back into Danny Fenton. Maddie turned around from the stove and shook her spatula at everyone "Ok that's enough out of all of you, the Fenton Flapjacks are ready".
Everyone sat down at the table and took some pancakes as Maddie looked at Ember and said "Ember, you're more than welcome to have some, I made plenty", Ember turned back and replied "No thanks Mrs. F, I gotta... get something", Jazz looked up at her "What might this 'something' be, Ember?", She smiled wickedly as she said "You'll see, it's a surprise", this elicited[Hey, I remembered what elicit means too, I'm on a roll] an eye roll from the youngest Fenton.
Ember was just about to turn intangible and leave, but Maddie raised her hand and said "Wait, Before you go I have something to give you", she reached down at her belt and unclipped something that she handed to Ember, Danny looked at the device confused "What's that mom?", Maddie looked back at him "Since Embers been around so much lately, it's pretty much made your ghost sense useless, right sweetie?", Danny replied with "Yeah, she sets it off every time she gets close ", he looked at his father "kinda like the alarms dad keeps forgetting to fix".
Jack scowled "Hey, I have a lot of projects to attend to and I can't remember every little detail", Jazz opened the fridge to get out the milk and was instantly attacked by ghostly pickles, "Projects like these dad?" She said annoyed as she tried to swat the little pests away, Danny raised his hand towards his sister "Hold still Jazz", Doing as her little brother instructed she watched as the ghost pickles were frozen solid one by one and hit the floor.
After the last one was stuffed in the freezer Maddie continued "Well now neither of you need to worry about Ember setting either of those off, this device will block Embers ecto-signature from both ghost detecting equipment and your ghost sense sweetie, I call it: The Maddie Masker, or just The Masker for short", 'Name could use a little work' Jazz thought to herself, Maddie turned to Ember and handed the Masker to her "To make it simpler to use I made it so that it just clips to your belt, so if you'll just leave for a minute and come back invisible so we can't see you".
Ember clipped the Masker to her silver belt then floated intangibly through the ceiling, The Fenton family just sat around for a minute before Ember became visible right behind Jack and yelled "GHOST!", which caused him to jump straight out of his chair and land face first on the floor. This resulted in a chorus of snickering from everyone in the room(save Ember who was flat out laughing) as Jack picked himself up off the floor, Danny settled down and said "Looks like it works mom, my ghost sense didn't even twitch", Maddie took another from her belt and handed it to her son "I made one for you too, they both have tracking beacons in them that only someone that knows it's homing code can track it, so people like the Guys In White or Technus can't hack into them and find you".
"Sweet" Danny said as the white rings appeared and a second later clipped it to his belt, Maddie picked up the Fenton finder and scanned the room, a computerized voice said 'No Ghosts Detected', "Alright now to punch in your homing codes" she said as she typed into the machine, 'Tracking Beacon "Ember" Detected Distance: 2 Feet, Tracking Beckon "Danny" Detected Distance: 5 Centimeters'.
Maddie threw both of her fists in the air in triumph "They work, yes!", Ember looked at the Masker with a mildly impressed look "Cool, thanks Mrs. F, and Jazz don't forget movie night tonight", Jazz swallowed a mouthful of pancakes and said "I won't, don't worry", Ember then turned intangible and flew off through the ceiling.
Everyone finished their food and went about their business, Jazz went to collect her notebooks from her room, Danny grabbed his shoes and jacket and made for the front door, Jack and Maddie went to go to the lab but all four of them stopped dead[Irony] when both the house alarms and Danny's ghost sense went off, 'Two Ghost's Detected' the computerized voice said audibly.
The following few seconds were met with Jack yelling "GHOST'S", Jazz pulled the Fenton Peeler from her purse and flipped the switch encasing the eldest Fenton child in steel armor, Maddie grabbed the Fenton Saber[The thing she used in "Maternal Instinct" for those of you who forgot, it doesn't really have a name so I gave it one] from behind the toaster extended both ends and assumed a battle stance, Jack grabbed the Jack-O-Ninetails from inside his jumpsuit and readied himself for a brawl, Danny summoned the all too familiar white rings changing him into his alter ego.
Two strange looking ghost emerged from the floor both warring the same sleeveless robes that exposed their heavily buff arms and shoulders that were riddled with stitches, they had odd black hats on their heads and a strip of paper strapped to their foreheads[Think like REALLY buff Jiang Shi], they both said in unison "WE SEEK THE ONE KNOWN AS DANNY PHANTOM".
Danny stood... no wait floated in front of the two with his fists charged at the ready "That'd be me", The two said once more in unison "WE ARE ZANG AND LOK, AND WE HAVE COME TO DELIVER YOUR DEATH, PHANTOM", "If I had nickel every time someone told me that I'd make Sam look homeless" Danny mumbled under his breath, Jack chimed in "That'll be the day spooks, don't move" he raised the Jack-O-Ninetails at Zang and fired the projectile at the specter.
Zang simply raised his right arm and caught the Jack-O-Ninetails before it hit him and gave it a small yank that was enough to rip Jack off the floor and threw him through the front window. "JACK!" Maddie yelled as her husband landed on his back in front of the house, she leapt at Zang as her kids shot at Lok, Zang grabbed the blade with his bare hand and ripped the weapon out of Maddie's hands and sent her into the wall with a backhanded smack.
Lok took the blasts with some difficulty and kicked Jazz right in the stomach and through the front door, "JAZZ!" Danny yelled as his sister hit the ground next to their father, she however got back to her feet with some deal of difficulty and said "I'm ok Danny, just focus"(the armor of the Fenton Peeler had been extensively upgraded to compensate with the recent spike in powerful ghosts that had been showing up recently, so Jazz was relatively unharmed).
Danny turned back to face the two ghosts only for both of their boots to make contact with his face HARD, the Fenton family heard a sickening crack as their youngest member was nocked through the wall and several buildings before finally stopping himself a block or two away still a little shaken from the impact, a few seconds later Zang and Lok burst through the building in front of Danny(completely forgetting the fact that they're ghosts and could just intangibly go through the walls), he flew out of their way just in the nick of time before they once again tried to tag team kick him to the ground.
Lok quickly raised his feet above his head while Zang placed his feet to Lok's as they propelled Zang toward the hybrid, this was to fast for Danny to react as Zang's knee came right into his chest then his fist collided with the back of his head sending him flying toward Lok, who's boot then made contact with the side of Danny's head sending him flying into the street on the other side of the building.
Danny laid on the ground in serious pain, he groaned as he felt his everything hurt, the two ghosts landed on the ground in front of Danny with their arms crossed, Danny got to his feet as they said once more in unison "THIS IS THE BEST THE LEGENDARY DANNY PHANTOM CAN DO, WE EXPECTED MORE OF A CHALLENGE", The two lept at him to deliver another blow when they were knocked back by a large sound wave, Danny turned around to see "EMBER!?", she landed next to the half breed and said "I didn't even get two blocks out and I already heard stuff breaking, I swear you are a magnet for disaster".
The ghostly duo began to drag themselves from the dirt "Ember try and keep them away from each other, they seem to excel in team maneuvers so keeping them apart should help a little", Ember nodded as she mounted her guitar and rammed into Lok at full speed, while Danny charged his hands and punch Zang right in the jaw, then he grabbed his arm and vaulted him over his shoulder.
Lok grabbed Embers leg and threw her across the road, she did a mid-air flip to recover scraped the bottom of her guitar against the pavement and cracked it across Lok's thick skull, while he was still dazed she changed the setting and sent a skull beam right at the hulking haunt knocking him back into a van. Danny shot his Phantom Phreeze beam at Zang's right shoulder causing it to freeze instantly, he then took the ice sword he'd just finished making and brought it down on the frozen portion of the towering ghost, it however only shattered against his skin "I really need to work on how hard I can make these" Danny said looking at his busted creation.
Zang punched Danny square in the chest and then kicked him in the side of the head and into the ground, Zang was about to do a volley of punches to Danny's back but he phased into the pavement and vanished, Zang took a stance waiting for him to make a move, he didn't have to wait for long since Danny appeared out of no where and shot him at point blank range with a powerful plasma blast. Lok picked up the van he'd wrecked and threw it at Ember, who smirked as she phased through it, however once she went solid on the other side Lok grabbed her by the neck and threw her at Danny, she collided with him like a cannon ball and the two were dragged backwards by the momentum.
The two rejoined each other and (Once again, seeing a pattern yet?) said in unison "ENOUPH OF THIS NONSENSE", they placed the tips of their fingers together then pulled them apart to reveal a green energy rope, "EIGHTH SPIRIT TECHNIQUE, MANA RESTRAINT" they threw the rope at Ember and Danny and the two became bound together as Ember's guitar fell to the ground. The two struggled to escape their bindings, but could do little more than make them tighter, Zang and Lok then said (you know how) "THIS ENDS NOW" they placed their hand close to each others and in the space between a ball of energy started to form and then started to grow.
Ember looked over at her discarded weapon "Quick if I can get to my guitar and play a power chord with my feet I can blast us out of these", Danny then chimed in "Or since this rope is skin tight you could blow one of our arms off", Ember glared at him "Then you'd better not squirm to much more, huh, Dipstick?". The two clumsily made their way toward the abandoned instrument as the energy orb became larger, Ember tried unsuccessfully to steady her guitar so she could free the two of them but her boots got in the way.
"God! this would be so much easier if at least one of us didn't ware boots!" Ember spat at the both of them. Zang and Lok had their attack at full strength and shouted "TENTH SPIRIT TECHNIQUE, CHAKARA BOMB", they lobbed the sphere of energy at the two hapless specters. Danny only saw one way out, but he really wanted for there to be another way, he would have to use his Ghostly Wail to get rid of that energy ball barreling right at them, but the strain from using such a move would leave him weak against two enemies that were already making him look no better than the freakin Box Ghost, that and Ember was WAY to close for him to just use it without thinking, but as the attack got closer he saw no other way out, Danny stood firm, inhaled deeply, and readied his vocal chords for what he knew was their worst nightmare.
However, Danny heard the Wail before he even let it out, the energy ball dissipated from the sound and energy waves that over took it, the Wail finally made contact with Zang and Lok and the two were thrown backwards by the intense power of this sound attack, the Wail ended and Danny finally noticed that the attack had come from directly above them. Danny looked up and saw, to his horror, a figure with white, flaming hair, a long, flowing cape, and an emblem on his chest that was P inside of a D, "You?!" Danny shouted at the ghost, Dan Phantom smirked as he replied "Me" he raised a hand with a green energy surrounding it "Plasma Blast" he fired the projectile.