Writer's Block is not fun. I still plan on finishing this before I start University in 2 weeks. I'm hoping for 2-3 more chapters before it's done. But enjoy my friends : )


From the time Maddie was in the Far Frozen, she had never seen the place so lively. Many ghosts were running about either in panic or to secure the land against the Punisher's impending attack. Maddie secured another one of her guns on her Fenton jumpsuit. She and Jack immediately volunteered to help Phantom fight, and even with the boy's protest, he accepted that it was their decision. The only real problem was...

"You're not fighting!" Danny said firmly, for the 8th time, to Sam and Tucker. "It's too dangerous, you guys saw what he did last time. I'm not letting you near it."

"You and I know both know we've faced worse Danny, and you can't do this alone!" Sam argued back, glaring at Danny. The two glared at each other, trying to get the other to concede. Tucker, however, was typing in information into the computer in an attempt to have a warning of when Punisher meets the realm.

"Danny, you know Sam won't give up till she has her way," he said, not looking up from the screen as he typed furiously, "And even if she gives up, you know we'll just come after you anyway without your permission. We've been through almost everything with you, you're not stopping us now."

Danny turned to Tucker, then to Sam and sighed. "I don't like this," he said, looking away as Sam smiled in triumph. "Promise me you guys will be careful?"

Sam looked at him, her expression changing in an instant. "Only if you promise not to get yourself vaporized."

"Deal."

"Wait a minute!" Maddie exclaimed, looking at the trio. They jumped at her harsh tone as they turned to her. "You may consent to this Phantom, but we don't! They're only 14! They may know ghost weaponry and fighting skills, but they're still too young!"

Sam made a move to protest, but Danny stopped her. "You heard them, they'll find a way out of this no matter what. At least this way, we know where they are." Danny then broke out in a smile. "Do you still have the ectoneutronolization blaster with you?"

Jack and Maddie looked at each other. "The ENB? Yes, it's here," Maddie said, surveying Phantom with any hint of his plan. "Why... what are you thinking?"

"It's time to give the Punisher, a taste of his own medicine," Danny said, his smile widening.

:--=--:

Danny looked out of the Far Frozen's health facility window with minimal interest. The plan was set, and all they were waiting for was Punisher's first strike. Danny went over his part of the plan; he was to distract Punisher long enough for everyone else to ambush him.

I don't know how much fight I have in me, but there's no way I'm letting anyone get hurt for me not being able to stand my ground he thought bitterly, I'm not going to let Vlad have the satisfaction of defeating me. I'm going to defeat the Punisher, then go after Vlad. I have to.

"Danny?" a voice asked tenatively, breaking the ghost boy out of his thoughts. Danny turned to see is mother and father looking at him apprehensively. It was still odd for him to hear them refer to him by his first name: he was so accustomed to 'ghost kid', 'spook' and 'Phantom' that he sort of missed it.

"Yeah?"

"Here," Jack held out a small headphone, the Fenton logo gleaming at the side of it. "It's a Fenton Phone, it'll let you communicate with us."

Danny took it, and stared at it. "Thanks," he murmured, his mind going back to his task.

Maddie and Jack looked at him, expecting another other response, but the ghost boy said nothing more.

"Aren't you nervous? Or Worried?" Maddie asked him.

"A bit," he replied. "I've faced powerful ghosts before, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem."

Jack surveyed the boy carefully, and with a shock realized that his words were empty; he was more worried than he let on. What surprised Jack the most was the willingness that Phantom had to give his life-or afterlife- for his friends. And enemies...

"We'll be fine," Maddie assured him, cluing into the same thing Jack had. "You just focus on not straining yourself too much, we don't want you to melt … or whatever ghosts do when they die." Danny didn't take much notice, he just nodded absently. Maddie smiled at his determined behaviour. "Besides," she added, "How are we going to explain to your parents that your human half died when your ghost half dissolved."

Danny jumped in surprise at her words; he had forgotten how much his parents knew about him. He looked up, smiling nervously. "Y-yeah, can't have that," he said, fiddling with the Fenton phone in his hand.

The alarm blared again, causing Danny to jump in surprise once more, and with one look at the Fentons they knew what was going on:

The Punisher had arrived.

:--=--:

Punisher floated in front of a large group of mountains, watching the small village below prepare for battle. "Looks like I'm in the right place," he muttered to himself, surveying the terrain again. "Why did he bring them here of all places? They'd freeze." Punisher became invisible and flew closer to the village, making sure he knew everything he needed to before Phantom faced him. Time to flush him out.

He became visible again and decided to make his mark. Lifting his canon and aiming it at a ridge filled of snow, he fired. He watched the snow rush down the mountain side towards the village, and turned to take aim on the next pressure point.

However, someone blasted him on the side of his head. He whirled around angrily, only to see Danny Phantom smirking at him.

"You know, destroying things isn't the answer for your rage, I'd think some nice yoga would do you good," Danny said, eying Punisher carefully.

"On the contrary," Punisher replied, "All I need is an outlet for my anger. And it looks like I just found one." He sent a blast towards the ghost boy, who dodged it.

"Whatever you and Plasmius are planning, it stops here," Danny said, his eyes glowing menacingly.

Punisher chuckled evilly. "You little runt, you really don't have a clue do you? Plasmius has his own plan now, I meerly have a score to settle with you." Punisher's cold eyes turned to Danny's confused ones. "It's not polite to leave mid battle. You and I shall have to finish ours Danny Phantom, and when it is over, one of us will fall."

Danny scoffed and gathered ecto-energy in his hands. "Dude, you talk way to much. But if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you're going to get."

He lunged forward, punching Punisher's stomach. Punisher grabbed his hand and twisted it, before throwing Danny into a mountain cliff. He unleashed a blast from his canon, but Danny managed to roll out of the line of fire, getting thrown back a little from the shockwaves. Danny tried to push himself up from the ground while the Punisher charged his canon again. Hearing the hum, Danny darted out of the way, before sending a series of ecto-blasts towards Punisher.

Punisher was pushed a few feet in the air as one collided with himand looked at the young ghost boy; he was starting to flicker. Punisher smiled. "It's time to kick things up a notch." He pointed his gun at another ridge and fired, causing an avalanche. Punisher turned back to Danny. "You can let your human friends and the village die, or you can fight."

Danny turned to Punisher, then to the avalanche heading straight for Frostbite's village. With an angry growl, Danny sped towards the avalanche and fired ice beams at it, in an attempt to stop it.

:--=--:

"Hang in there Danny," Tucker said through the Fenton Phones, as he furiously typed away at the keyboard. If Danny's plan is going to work, I've got to finish this encryption faster! "Frostbite, how're you doing?"

"Everything is almost in place," The yeti replied.

"Excellent, Mrs. Fenton?"

"ENB 87 percent operational, as soon as we get the signal we'll move out," Maddie told him.

"Okay, I'll meet you as soon as I'm done this containment shield, all I have to do is finish the modification-" a shrill beeping cut across Tucker's last sentence. Locating the source of the sound, Tucker paled. Danny's energy levels were dropping fast.

"Danny, you got to get out of there and regroup asap!" he exclaimed.

"Easier said than done Tuck," Danny replied bitterly, his voice straining. "Having issues with an avalanche here!"

"That's not his only issue!" Sam exclaimed.

Tucker looked up at the screen and saw the Punisher watching Danny struggle with the shield and charging his canon.

"Damn it!" he exclaimed. Tucker punched in the last few codes into the screen as fast as he could, then jumped out of the chair, Icepaw replacing him as he did so. "Danny, listen to me, Punisher was distracting you, he's charging his canon."

"Young Phantom, you must not get hit with that canon again!" Lysias said urgently, "Anymore damage you take from that canon can seriously disrupt your central core!"

Tucker ran out the facility and saw the tiny image of his friend struggling with the icebeams and the bright light of Punisher's canon taking charge. "Danny, you need to get out of there now!" he yelled. Sam and the Fentons came up behind Tucker and gave him a blaster.

"Tucker, we gotta go!" Jack yelled and the foursome ran towards the fighting.

Come on Danny, get out of there Tucker thought as he watched Maddie and Jack move the ENB into place.

:--=--:

Danny felt the Fenton Phone slipping in his ear as soon as he replied to Tucker. Crap, he thought as he felt it completely slide out. He couldn't catch it if he wanted to keep the avalanche away from the village. He managed to freeze the bottom of the snow, but that would only last so long.

A large blast hit him on his side, knocking him outof the air. Danny felt like he was being ripped apart as the spectral wave flowed through him. He fell straight down and felt the cold snow engulf him as he hit the ground. He blinked back stars and tried to get up, but dropped back down with every try. Punisher landed on the ground and chuckled at the sight.

"You know... you really aren't that bright aren't you? I mean, you're not even putting up much of a fight!" The Punisher sneered, walking closer to the weakened ghost boy. "Sure, you figured out who I work for, but I don't think you'd even know what you're up against."

"I know you're a clone," Danny said, pain laced in his voice as he tried to get up again. He managed to get up and stumble backwards.

"Really? Well it looks like I misjudged you," Punisher said in mock amazement. "Give the ghost boy a prize." Punisher continued to walk towards Danny, who was trying to move farther away from Punisher.

"I know Vlad created you to finish me off," Danny continued as he moved a couple more paces backwards.

"Wrong," Punisher said, smiling. "He wanted your ectoplasmic energy, still wants some as far as I know. This weapon was modified to collect your energy and send it back to Plasmius."

"Fruitloop," Danny muttered angrily, stumbling a little.

Punisher laughed. "You know, I expected a challenge from the Great Danny Phantom, the one that none of these measly ghosts could defeat. And here you are, running away to save yourself."

Danny fell on his knees exhaustedly. He looked up at Punisher, and laughed.

"What's so funny?" Punisher asked.

"Who said I was running away?"

A dome encased Punisher and Danny, sending out ectoplasmic shockwaves through it and attacked Punisher. Punisher fell to the ground in a heap and Danny watched as his parents, Sam, Tucker, Lysias and Frostbite surrounded the evil ghost.

"You see," Danny said as he painfully pushed himself up from the ground, gripping his injured side, "Vlad makes the same mistake with his clones; they're always unstable. It's only a matter of time before they dissolve; whether it's because they used too much energy or because they were destroyed."

Punisher's eyes narrowed as he saw his potential attackers coming closer. He then turned to Danny and smiled. His hand inched towards his canon and calibrated it to the highest setting. Danny tensed as he saw Punisher lift the canon towards him.

"Don't even think about it!" Lysias yelled, his kind yellow eyes hardened with anger. "That blast will backfire on you both."

Punisher merely laughed. "If I have to go down," he aimed his canon and Danny forced ectoplasmic energy to form in his hands. "I'm going to take him down with me!"

It happened in an instant. Punisher fired his canon and Danny fired a strong ecto blast to force the blast towards Punisher. The Fentons fired the ENB, Frosbite let out a strong ice blast, Sam and Tucker fired their weapons and Lysias fired his weapon all towards the Punisher. The shield started to crack under the strain of the blasts and it exploded.

Maddie, Jack, Sam, Tucker, Frostbite and Lysias were thrown backwards. When the smoke cleared they saw that Punisher saw thrown into a ridge, his body depleting into ectoplasm. Maddie watched in fascination as the ghost melted away and left a pool of green ectoplasm in the snow. The scientist in her wanted to run towards the goop and take a sample, but Sam jolted her to her senses.

"Where's Danny?"

The group looked around and realized the Goth girl was right, Phantom has disappeared.

"We need to find him," Tucker said firmly, "The last I checked his energy levels were really low, that last blast could have hurt him."

"Or worse," Lysias stated grimly. The group looked at him. "The blast was contained inside the shield, therefore Phantom and the clone got full blast of it. Phantom's injuries from the past few days are not fully healed and he took at least one other hit from that blaster. You see what happened to the clone..."

Maddie turned back to clone and shivered. She brought her pale and tired face towards the group and with new determination etched on her face said, "Let's find us a Phantom."

:--=--:

"Phantom!" Jack called through the frozen wasteland, Maddie trailing beside him.

"I don't understand it, how can he been thrown so far away? The shield was supposed to prevent that," Maddie mused as she and Jack searched the barren land.

"Tucker said he made sure that Phantom's power levels wouldn't overload the shield in the attack," Jack replied. "Perhaps his power levels spiked when he was facing that spook."

Maddie looked at him, "Jack, Sam and Tucker seem to know more about him than we do. Do you think he would've told them about a power spike AND Tucker would've counted for it? I'm certain Phantom didn't hide his true power from them?"

"Maddie, how much does anyone truly know about Phantom?"Jack asked his wife skeptically. "From what I gather, he doesn't set too much in regards to limits, and seems to keep to himself."

Maddie looked at her husband. "Well, can you blame him? He's a ghost, we're ghost hunters, we aren't really the first people he'd share things with Jack. As for limits, I think he has them-"

"I do too, in fact I think he pushes his limits far beyond his maximum. Which led me to this conclusion," Jack turned and faced his wife. "What if Phantom doesn't know the true extent of his power?"

Maddie pondered Jack's argument as she searched the snow for signs of the ghost boy. "Perhaps," she said after a moment of silence. She called out to Phantom but had no response.

"Maddie, don't get me wrong; I understand that he isn't truly evil and that this probably the best time to be bringing it up, but you've got to admit, as a scientist this is our biggest discovery since we were able to rip through to the Ghost Zone." Jack scanned the horizon for Phantom, waiting for his wife to say something.

"As a scientist this is the biggest discovery we ever made. A human-ghost hybrid? The emotional ranges of ghosts, what they eat, how they live? It's phenomenal," Maddie paused and turned to her husband. "Every one of the conversations that I had with him seem to unravel one of the mysteries that seem to swarm Phantom and every time I figure out something, it brings more mysteries to his being."

The couple walked over a snowy hill and called for the ghost boy again.

"You know," Jack started as the walked down to cover more terrain, "I can't believe Phantom's alone in this. Yes he has Sam and Tucker, but if his parents don't know he's half-dead..."

"I know what you mean," Maddie said knowingly, remembering her first conversation with Phantom.

Phantom looked over Maddie and sighed. "You try telling two people who love half of you that you're something they hate," Phantom said, his dejection colouring his voice.

"Well," Maddie said getting up, "just think about what I said." She started to walk over to her side of the cave when Phantom's next sentence stopped her.

"What if Danny or Jazz was a ghost?" he asked, "Would you accept them for what they were?"

Maddie turned around and studied the ghost's face thoroughly. His green eyes looked at her in expectancy and hung onto the silence, waiting for her answer. "Yes," Maddie answered simply, "Yes I would."

"Maybe he'll trust us with his secret," Maddie said hopefully, "And then together we'll tell his parents. He needs to realize- Did you see that?!?" She pointed to a mist of ectoplasm floating upwards and glowing slightly. Jack merely nodded and together they ran to the source of the mist.

The snow crunched beneath them as they ran, and soon they saw a small pile of snow underneath a large collection of mist. As they got closer, they saw a figure lying underneath the snow, a white glove poking out of the pile, flickering in and out of focus. It was Phantom.

The ghost hunting couple ran faster and quickly tried to brush off the snow. As they got closer to Phantom's body, it started to break apart. Maddie looked up at her husband, distraught.

"How can we help if we can't go near him?"

Jack didn't respond; instead he frantically went through his pockets on his jumpsuit.

"JACK NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR A GHOST WEAPON!?!"

Jack ignored his wife and tossed her an ecto gun as he continued to go through his pockets. "Fenton jerky, Fenton phones, back-up Fenton phones HERE WE GO!" He took large patches with the Fenton logo on them. He quickly put them on the pile covering Phantom's body. He then looked up at his wife. "Remember the Fenton Heat Pads?"

Maddie nodded in acknowledgement and gestured to the ecto gun. "And this?"

Jack smiled. "We need someway to contact the others. The Fenton Phones were fried in that contained explosion."

Maddie looked at the defrosting Phantom and then looked back up to her husband. "Jack. You. Are. A. Genius!" Raising the gun high in the air, she fired, sending a green blast into the sky.

As the blast exploded into sparks high above the couple, Maddie turned her attention back to Phantom. The Fenton heat pads had melted the snow off him, and he laid motionless in the cold snow. His jumpsuit was torn in many places, showing gashes that seemed to bleed ectoplasm that then turned into a mist. His usual lively appearance seemed to fade with every flicker of his body.

"Danny?" Maddie asked. The boy gave no type of response. She slowly moved to brush snow away, but as her hand moved over him, he started to flicker violently and more mist joined the collecting mist above him; she quickly withdrew her hand.

"Now what?" Jack asked helplessly, looking at Phantom pitifully.

As Maddie started to respond, voices called to them. The ghost hunters turned towards the voices and saw Sam and Tucker running as fast as they could towards them, followed by Frostbite and Lysias.

"Danny!" Sam and Tucker cried at the sight of their friend. They pushed past Maddie and Jack and knelt at Danny's side. Sam's eyes looked over Danny's injured body, horrified, while Tucker swallowed a lump of emotion and turned to Lysias.

"Can't we do anything to help him?!?"

Lysias looked at Danny, then at the collecting mist and sighed. "He held on for as long as he could, there's nothing more I can do. It's all up to him."

Tucker looked back at Danny then shook his head. "No, there has to be something we can do! He can't just-just" Tucker said exasperatedly.

Lysias stared at the boy's determined face, then back at Danny. He sighed. "There's one way, but like I said, it's up to him."

All eyes turned to Danny, who was starting flicker violently.

Sam then grabbed what was left of Danny's hand. "Danny, I don't know if you can hear me, but you've gotta keep fighting. You always have, and I know you have more fight left in you. Tucker and I are right here if you need us."

Tucker's eyes lit up in realization and moved to Sam's side. He put his hand on top of Sam's. "Sam's right Danny. You know what you need to do to survive this. We'll be right here, like we always are, to help you through it. We knew it would come someday." Tucker looked up at the Fentons, then looked back to his friend. "Danny it's time, show them who you are. Change back, it's your only chance!"

Maddie looked at the interaction between the kids and was confused. Change back? To human? She didn't have much time to ponder, however, because Phantom's form turned into the blue mist. Sam and Tucker quickly moved away, horrified, as the mist broke apart and started to float upwards.

"No..." Sam managed to whisper as she saw the mist float higher.

Maddie looked at the distraught teens, then at Frostbite and Lysias. They moved to the kids and moved them. Sam and Tucker numbly went with them, not taking their eyes off the sky. Jack followed behind them, also looking at the sky. Maddie sighed as she looked at where Phantom laid minutes ago. It felt as she lost something great, more than the first friendship with a ghost.

"Maddie, you coming?" she heard Jack ask her.

"In a minute."

Maddie turned and was about to leave when she heard a groan. She whirled around, and saw some of the mist coming back down slowly. Odd... She thought as she looked at it curiously. She watched as the mist started to come together and glow as it floated back to where Phantom once lay. Maddie knelt down to where the mist was gather as more of the mist started to the glow.

"Phantom?" Maddie whispered to the glowing mist. The mist let out a small groan and Maddie looked at it. Mists can't groan... can they? More of the mist gathered and started glowing. The glowing mist grew before it answered her question.

"Yes."

Maddie was alarmed and excited all at once. She turned to her retreating comrades and yelled, "Hey! Everyone!" They stopped and looked at her. "Something's going on!" Frostbite, Lysias, Sam, Tucker and Jack ran towards Maddie and the mist. Jack reached her first.

"What's going on?"

Maddie looked back at the mist, "I think it's Phantom."

The figures surrounded the glowing mist and watched as more and more of the regular mist go down to the glowing one.

"Impossible," Lysias whispered in astonishment.

The glowing mist soon grew so large it started to flicker, in the shape of a body. Sam and Tucker gasped as Phantom's body started to come back together. With one last flicker, Phantom's body solidified and he laid limply and gasping in pain.

"Danny!" Sam and Tucker said, relieved. The ghost boy's eyes scrunched in response and a weak groan escaped his lips. Tucker turned around to a shell shocked Lysias.

"Can you do anything?!? He's fighting it!" he exclaimed.

Lysias shook his head. "It's up to him."

Tucker turned back to Danny and was shocked to see pale green eyes looking up disoriented. Danny's eyes rested on Maddie and a spark of determination suddenly lit in them. He raised his arm shakily and gripped Maddie's wrist.

"I'm... sorry..." he breathed painfully as his body started to flicker.

"Sorry?" Maddie asked, confused, "What in the world for?"

Danny looked around and locked eyes with Sam and Tucker. Sam smiled weakly and Tucker nodded. He then looked at Jack, then back at Maddie. "For not.... telling... you... sooner..." He whispered, his eyes closing in pain and his grip slacking.

Maddie looked at Jack, completely confused, before she saw a ring of light form around Phantom's body. They looked in awe as the ring split into two and moving up and down his body. Maddie watched Phantom grit his teeth in pain as the rings moved slowly, changing his jumpsuit into blue jeans and a white t-shirt. The logo on his chest change into a red oval and white boots turn into running shoes. She turned her attention to his head, as the ring was reluctant to continue. Phantom's features relaxed as the ring went up his face, changing his stark white hair to raven black.

Maddie and Jack looked at the transformed Phantom, horrified. They couldn't believe it; Danny Phantom, the ghost they hunted for a year, the ghost that had been persecuted for months, the ghost they now held an alliance with... was none other than their son.


You know, I felt this was a little rushed, but it's your opinions of it that I take on. I think you guys recognize the handy work of Benji, my evil muse. He's very proud of himself. o.O

As well, for those of you who liked EfFI, you probably noticed I uploaded the first chapter of the sequel. I'm looking for a beta of it if anyone's willing. As always, I love when you guys review : P

MATW