Chpt 11: The Final Battle

Everyone was becoming restless when Plasmius returned in the late afternoon. He stood beside Sam, Tucker, and Jasmine's cage as he faced the rest of the town with a smile.

"People, I believe it is time to get back to what I was trying to say before," he smiled. " Like I said, these children must be punished because they did not reveal The Halfa's true identity to you."

Sam, Tuck, and Jazz glared daggers at Plasmius, but the ghost didn't seem to notice.

"Who was it?" someone asked.

Plasmius looked to the children beside him and smirked. " Go on. Tell them who it was."

Silence.

"Even now you still protect him?" gawked Plasmius.

The teens continued to glare at the ghost, not saying a word.

"Hm. Interesting. The boy is dead yet you still want to protect him. Why is that?"

"Because he's our friend," Tuck hissed at him.

"Well, did you three ever stop to think that maybe he was deceiving you?"

"No, but I think that everyone should start realizing that you're deceiving them," Sam snapped.

"Now why would I be doing that?" asked Plasmius innocently.

"Because you're a crooked, evil ghost," Jazz answered him.

Plasmius frowned at her, "Be careful what you say, my dear. You may end up regretting it later."

"I'm not afraid of you, Plasmius," Jasmine hissed darkly.

"We'll just see about that," he smirked.

"Plasmius," Jack piped up from the crowd. " Do you know who it was?"

The evil halfa turned around and merely nodded at the man.

"Well, who was it?" asked Tucker's mother. " Can't you tell us?"

"Do you all really want to know?"

The crowd cheered out "yes" and Plasmius smirked once more.

"Well, if you'd really like to know, I'll tell you," he paused, " the halfa is..."

"Right here," a strange voice cut him off.

Everyone turned their heads to see who it was. Plasmius saw him walking towards them and was at a loss of words.

"Y-you?...But how?" Plasmius stammered.

Danny walked almost stiff-legged towards everyone. His eyes were a shade of red and he had dark rings around his eyes, making him appear to be evil. When the boy spoke, it wasn't with just one voice it was with three. There was a high-pitched almost monotonal voice, a deep and darker sounding voice, and then his own voice which seemed to be the quietest of the three.

Everyone stared in shock as Danny came to a halt inbetween the two cages and stared at Plasmius.

"Danny? He's who we've been looking for?" asked Maddie in disbelief.

"D-Danny...it's so good to see you again..." said Plasmius apprehensively.

Danny continued to glare at his nemesis coldly which made the older ghost take a step backwards.

"Where are you going? You look like you're afraid," laughed Danny. " It's almost like you consider me a threat."

"Hm. Hardly," said Plasmius with false confidence.

With a smirk, Danny transformed into a ghost and fired a ghost-ray at Plasmius. The attack hit him directly in the chest and sent him flying backwards and landing with a thud onto the ground.

"How about now?"

Plasmius sat up slowly, clearly in pain.

"TELL THEM THE TRUTH!" bellowed Danny. Plasmius remained silent. " Tell them! Tell them why you formulated this evil plan to get rid of me! Tell them how I was really the good halfa and that I was trying to protect these people from the evil ghosts! Tell them!"

"Well...it's all very comlicated, you see," Plasmius smiled nervously.

"After I woke up, I found a prophecy in your floating fortress. It said how I would become the most powerful halfa. You did all this to destroy me before that happened. Unfortunately, you're the one who made me this way."

"Danny, what are you talking about?" asked Jazz.

"DON'T INTERRUPT!" Danny exploded, causing Jazz to jump backwards, then he turned his attention back to his nemesis. "Before you attacked me, I turned back into a ghost and somehow absorbed your attack. It caused me to pass out and I turned back into a human. When I woke up I was like this!"

"Wow," Tuck whispered to himself.

"QUIET!" Danny shouted at him, then saw the hurt look on his friend's face. It seemed like Danny's tough expression seemed to soften a bit. He looked back at Plasmius who was cautiously standing up. " You see what your negative power has done to me? I snap at my own friends. The only people who knew for a fact you were lying!"

"Well, Danny, it seems as though that's your fault if you can't control your temper," said Plasmius darkly.

"You'll pay," Danny said simply.

Plasmius stood, ready to attack.

"But this isn't really a fair fight," Danny remarked while transforming back into a human.

"What are you doing, boy? You can't possibly do anything as a mere human," chuckled Plasmius.

Danny bent over and held his stomach as if it hurt. He had a look on his face that showed both concentration and what looked like pain. Suddenly, he came back up and puffed out his chest as his ghost flew out of his body and floated in the air just above him. Everyone watching gasped. Danny turned and smirked at his foe before pointing to him.

"Sick him," Danny ordered.

His ghost smirked and obediantly flew towards Plasmius. The older ghost tried to attack in an attempt that Danny's ghost would retreat, but it dodged everything that Plasmius could dish out. Before Plasmius could do anything else, the ghost flew inside him and then out the back , dragging along Vlad's ghost with him. Danny stood proudly while Plasmius was finally unmasked.

"Vladdie?" asked Jack, surprised. " You're a ghost too?"

Vlad looked to the crowd's shocked faces, to his and Danny's ghosts, to his bare hands, then back to Danny.

"Not so tough now that everyone knows who you really are, are you?" Danny asked cynically.

"Do you really think I care that everyone knows I am half-ghost as well?" asked Vlad.

"No. I don't think you care. Infact, I know you don't. You were going to tell everyone I was dead, and since I couldn't help them, you'd take over this town and make their lives miserable," Danny smirked at him. "I'm sure you would have revealed yourself to them sometime after that."

Everyone's gaze turned back to Vlad. Each expression saying " Is this true?," but Vlad only kept his eyes locked on Danny.

"Go ahead, Danny. Tell them all about my evil intentions. They and you won't be able to do a thing about it once my ghost and I become one again."

"Which by the looks of it, won't be anytime soon," Danny pointed towards their fighting ghosts. Everyone looked as Danny's ghost seemed to be winning. " Enough stalling. Let's fight."

Everyone turned their attention back to Danny and he began to float in the air and charge up a ghost-ray.

"N-no way! Even without your ghost...y-you can still use your ghost powers?" Vlad stammered.

Danny merely smirked before unleashing his attack.

Jazz, Tuck, and Sam watched in horror at the fights that were going on right before them.

"This...this isn't like Danny. That...that can't be him out there!" exclaimed Tucker.

"I know how you feel," Jazz spoke tranquilly. " But if what Danny said was true, then he can't help the way he's acting."

"I can't take this. Vlad may be a creep, but we can't just let Danny destroy him! The man may deserve it, but he's another human being!" cried Sam. " We have to do something!"

"But what? Even if we could get out of here, we'd be no match for Danny. With the way he's acting, he could turn around and attack us," said Jazz.

They watched as Danny pummeled Vlad with more ghost attacks. Horror was on everyone's faces. Maddie couldn't bare to watch the scene infront of her and had her face buried in her husband's chest. The sight was almost too much for anyone to watch.

"Sir, do you want us to do anything?" asked Skulker, alarmed.

"Y.." Vlad's order was cut short by a punch to the face.

Sam couldn't take anymore.

"Danny! You have to stop this! He can't fight you without his ghost powers! You have an unfair advantage!" she screamed.

Danny stopped his attack and landed gently on the ground and faced his goth-friend.

"You're right," he said. Everyone was shocked to see he would stop so easily.

The boy calmly turned back towards Vlad and seemed to glare up at his ghost. Danny's ghost instantly stopped fighting and it flew back into its host's body, transforming him back into a ghost.

"What are you going to do to me now, Daniel?" Vlad asked through his clenched teeth.

"Nothing."

Surprised looks began appearing on everyone's faces.

"I'll save you and your ghost for last," Danny smirked.

With those words, Vlad's stray ghost made a beeline for its host, but Danny calmly raised his hand and unleashed a gooey net from his palm. The net flew to the ghost and wrapped itself around it, entrapping it within its sticky confines. After that was taken care of, Danny smirked at the rest of the ghosts. He scanned the vast sea of ghostly faces until he laid eyes on Skulker.

"Now, I'm going to set everyone free," said Danny. He raised his hand and unleashed a powerful ghost-ray that hit Skulker dead on, giving him no time to react.

The attack shorted out the suit, and when it hit the ground the cages around everyone disappeared.

"Now, who's next?" Danny asked mischievously.

None of the other ghosts wanted to stick around to answer him. They all turned and quickly began flying in the other direction. Danny remained calm and simply opened his arms out wide. With a smirk he clapped his hands together as hard as he could. Suddenly, all the escaping ghosts were thrown together and came crashing to the ground.

"Did...did what Danny do actually happen to them?" asked Tuck, astonished. " I mean, was it like Danny smashed them together when he clapped?"

"I-I think so, Tuck," Sam answered.

"You'll all pay for everything you've done to me," Danny said darkly.

Danny pointed towards the ghosts who were cringing in pain on the ground and let out a small ball of energy that bounced like a tiny pebble towards them. It landed a few feet infront of them.

"Ha. What do you expect to do to us with that!" laughed Ember.

She got her answer when the tiny pebble-sized bomb exploded and sent them flying back up into the air. Danny watched with amusement then raised his right arm out infront of him and grasped the air like he caught a fly in the palm of his hand. The ghosts were brought together by Danny's gesture.

"What do you think you're doing?" cried one of the ghosts.

"Having fun," Danny answered.

Danny raised his right arm over his head - the ghosts in the air raising up as well - then quickly brought it down as if he slammed them onto a block of cement. This slammed all the ghosts against the ground. Danny repeated this action many times before finally letting them go.

"What should I do next?"

"Danny, stop!" cried Sam. " This isn't you! You're giving into all that negative energy! Don't let it control you!"

"None of this concerns you, Sam. SO STAY OUT OF THIS!" Danny ordered.

"Just who do you think you're talking to?" Sam demanded.

"Sam, just do what he says," said Tuck.

"Now I think it's time to go back to Vlad," announced Danny.

"Wh-what? Danny, you wouldn't actually harm me, would you? I mean, I...I was only kidding; it was all just a huge and horrible practical joke," Vlad babbled.

Danny pointed his finger towards the net that held Vlad's ghost and shot a green laser at it. Once the laser snapped the net apart, the ghost flew into the air. It looked frantically around before spotting its host. Then, it began to fly towards him.

"I don't think so," said Danny.

Danny attacked Vlad's ghost, dazing it. Next, Danny stood up straight , his arms stretched out beside him with the palms of his hands facing up.

"What's going on?" asked Tuck, afraid of what his best friend could be doing now.

Tuck didn't get an answer. Instead he watched as two, giant, red balls of energy began forming in each of Danny's hands. Eventually, Danny put the two seperate balls together to create one gargantuan ball of energy. Danny smirked and looked at Vlad. All the color completely drained from Vlad's already pale skin as Danny raised his right hand to throw the massive amount of energy. He closed his eyes and waited for the final blow, but when Danny threw the ball of energy, it didn't hit Vlad; it hit his ghost.

Everyone watched as the ghost cried out in pain. A few seconds later, a giant red flash of light blinded everyone for a few moments; when they opened their eyes, Vlad's ghost was gone. Everyone's eyes were averted back to Danny as they heard the boy begin to speak. His head was down and he was in his normal human mode.

"And that," Danny raised his head, "takes care of that."

Danny was back to normal. He spoke with just his voice, and the dark rings around his eyes were gone! His appearance now didn't even suggest that five seconds before he had been filled with evil, negative energies.

"But there's still one thing I need to take care of," said Danny. He transformed back into a ghost and began walking towards Vlad. "You still need to pay for all the pain you put me through!"

Sam ran after Danny, "Wait!"

He stopped and turned to her.

"Danny, don't do anything! You've already done enough! You win, Vlad can't do anything anymore. Don't do anything you'll regret!" Sam cried.

Danny thought about her words. She was right. This wasn't him at all. He turned around again to face Vlad.

"Go," he instructed. "I don't ever want to see you here again."

Vlad didn't need to be told twice. He quickly fled from the park and out of sight. Danny smirked and transformed back to a human. When he turned, he faced the terrified town. That's when he realized what he'd done. He didn't know what to do or what to think; neither did everyone else. Danny backed away from them, then ran out of sight and down the street toward his home with his friends following close behind him.


DGG: One chpt. left!