A/N: Okay, firstly, I would like to give a massive apology to you guys for not updating this story sooner. But I've had a really busy and harsh time these last few months, and I haven't really gotten around to writing anything new. Plus, I know that this story has a reasonable following now, so I didn't want to just write it and post it like I usually do for most chapters (I do the same on too), I wanted to put some real thought into it. So that's why I haven't been updating lately. Because I wanted to do this story, characters and storyline justice, and not just finish it when I had an odd few seconds to do so.
Now, on a higher note, a massive thank you to all these people:
S2TeenNovelist: Complimentary or what?!?! And that was the shortest review you've ever given me! Wow! But I'm expecting a long one for this particular chapter!
Beyonce's Angel925: Thanks for all your compliments about my little un-worthy story! Very appreciated!!!
Duchess192: Thanks! You've been there since the beginning, so I owe my continuity to you! Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Horselvr4evr123: Again, been there since the beginning, I owe my continuity to you! Thanks for R&Ring!
Brittney: Born critics are helpful, seriously! Thanks for reviewing, and I finally got around to it! Even though I should be studying!
Lorraine: Thanks bestie! You finally got around to reading my story, all the way from HK! So thanks honey! It's so special to be reviewed by your best friend who got a big, fat, juicy A in Science (LOL!) See ya after 1/2 term dudette! xXx
Arabic Blessing: I don't recall if I ever thanked you for your review, so I'll do it now! Thanks for reading and reviewing, and please don't set your platypus or chainsaw on me! I'm a good author, really I am! I just... have a lot on my plate. My big, fat, juicy school-hating plate... lol
(Just a random comment at this point, I've just realised I have 5 pages of reviews! YAY! THANKEE EVERYONE!)
DPhantomtomboy: Thank you for reviewing and I had a great time on holiday, thanks for wishing that upon me!
dannynsam4eva: Yay for happy families!
Katiesparks: I know you're still out there reading this, and I know I already replied to your review, but thanks for reviewing, even if it was to ask me to explain my English slang.
Rakahn: My first critic, thanks for your review, and thank you for reminding me of all that stuff. I owe you for my continuity as well!
Ghostboy814: Thank you for reviewing, even though it was a long time back, and I hope you're still enjoying the story!
Tokyopop3: Cheers sis! I hope you're still reading this Manu, or I'll come back and hunt you down when we get back to school xXx
Lucy Brooks: You really don't get this website do you!?!? Lol, anyway, thanks music buddy. And... What else... oh yeah, we have to get ourselves a record deal! xXx
Crazyvi: Thank you for your review, even though it was a long time ago!
Jillian Asciolla: Thank you for reviewing, I hope you are still enjoying this story!
Catmedium: Thank you for reading my story and that whole thing where people don't review... it's annoying.
Centuargirl08: Thanks for your review, I'm glad you liked (and hopefully still are liking) The Phantoms!
What a list! And wow, that's nineteen different people who've reviewed, and it comes up to 62 reviews! People are returning to my story! Yahoo! Anyway, thanks to all of you guys, and thanks to all those people who read and don't review for whatever reason. It's thanks to all of you that my hits have gone up to 3657 at time of writing, which I never could have expected when I first posted this story.
Anyway, now that that's over (this is possibly the longest A/N I've ever written!), lets get to it shall we?
Just so you know, the start of the story goes back a few minutes, to just after the family flew out onto the roof after Vlad. I hope you enjoy this, and I'm finally putting you all out of your misery!!!
Chapter Twelve – The Phantoms
Tucker, Valerie and Sam watched on, unable to help, as the five supernatural members of the Fenton family flew through the ceiling and up onto the roof of the building, ready to compete with Vlad and hopefully, to stop him once and for all. It was safe to say that they were scared for the family, Sam especially, as they watched them go. But they knew that there was nothing they could do to save them. Tucker put a hand on Sam's shoulder, wordlessly showing his support and help for her, and she nodded back at him, their conversation silent, but speaking multitudes about how they were feeling. Valerie watched on. She knew that it wasn't her place, at this time, to say or do anything. Tucker and Sam were Danny's best friends and Sam was his wife. She had hated Danny until she had been forced to come to his aid. The only thing she could do was help Danny, somehow, someway, but for now, she could do nothing.
Standing, Sam walked over to one of the few windows in the room and looked up to the sky, watching on as Danny, Sapphire and Roscoe fought with all their might, fighting for their lives; fight for their freedom. She watched as Vlad threw attacks back, all of them trying to hit each other. She watched as Danny called the youngest family members together, and they used their ghostly wails in an attempt to drive Vlad away. But nothing worked. Not strongly. She felt two hands on her shoulder now, and turned to see both Tucker and Valerie.
"Don't worry Sam. They're strong, they'll make it." said Valerie, smiling slightly in an attempt to make Sam feel better. "You have nothing to worry about. Danny's held his own against Vlad before. He can do it again." she said, speaking from the memories that Tucker had told her about. She knew that Danny had fought Vlad Masters before, and she was just hoping that he had managed to get away a few times before.
Nodding ever so slightly, Sam turned away from the window for just a second, before hearing crackling from the outside, seeing a pink light fill the room. She turned around to see a pink ball of energy, growing larger, more powerful, flying through the air at top speed towards her family, none of whom were expecting anything like that. She watched as the ball collided with a silvery white glow of power. A bang. Tears sprung to her eyes as Sam fell to the ground on her knees, feeling her heart break. She knew it, they were gone. All of them. And they were never coming back.
The ball of energy flew towards them at top speed, somehow looking both fast and slow at the same time. It was as if everything was in slow motion, they watched as each member tried to move away, but they were transfixed. They couldn't tear their eyes away from the one thing that would cause their deaths. Lily, however, wasn't staring at the blast, thinking that time was up. She was thinking that time could be stopped. And with the one hope of being able to save her family, use her powers for something worthwhile, she flew over to where the blast was about to hit, and concentrated on stopping it. Concentrated on stopping time for the blast, for Vlad. Her family needed time to move. Stopping it, a tear fell from her eye. She had to let her loved ones move, even if it meant the end of her.
The family opened their eyes, stopping the screaming that was going on internally when they didn't fear the tearing pain of being ripped to shreds by the great ball of energy that had been headed their way. And they saw the youngest member of the family, holding her own against Vlad's strongest attack. Doing her part to save her family. Danny was amazed. His youngest daughter was saving them. All of them. Nervously, not wanting to break her concentration, Danny cautiously flew over to her, motioning for the rest of the children to move out of the way. Complying, Roscoe, Sapphire and Luke watched on as their father approached their youngest sibling.
Watching her, Danny noted that her eyes were closed, yet tears were still falling from her eyes. She was scared. Danny almost cried, seeing this. He had never wanted this to happen. He knew that there was a risk of his children having ghost powers, but he never wanted them to get mixed up into all this. And here was his youngest child, the only person who could save them, crying in fear. "Lily, I..."
Her eyes opened, hearing her father's voice, revealing silver eyes that were blotched with purple. She was losing power, fast. "Dad, don't worry about me. Just... just..." The silver wall separating them from the blast wavered as her tears began falling faster and faster. She couldn't hold on much longer. She was about to fade. The silver began to disappear, the shield shrinking in size. Danny was scared too, he was terrified. But he had to stay strong; he had to think his way out of this situation. And there was only one thing that he could think of. A power-up. Lily needed extra power. So why couldn't her siblings just... lend it to her? Telling his daughter that he would be back, he flew over to his three other children.
"Alright kids, your sister is fading fast. But we need her up there to keep this blast from impacting so it doesn't do any real damage. Sapphire, I want you to stay down here. Roscoe, Luke, I want you to go up and do exactly as I tell you..." Explaining fast, Danny told his children exactly what they had to do. Nodding, understanding, the two boys flew off to join their sister. Meanwhile, Sapphire, not understanding why she was not asked to do the same thing, stayed behind, watching as her brothers performed the task which their father had asked them to do.
Cautiously flying up to their sister, Roscoe leading, they reached her and both began to centre all their ghost powers into the gems that were embedded into their uniforms. Luke, understanding that this was life-or-death for the entire family, including his twin sister, watched as Roscoe went first. He knew that he had to do this right, or something could go terribly wrong. Watching as the ruby on Roscoe's chest began to glow bright red, he watched Roscoe open his eyes, no longer were they blue. Without even a moment's hesitation, he pulled the gem off his chest and put it onto his sister's back, immediately fixing. He then flew, at top speed, back down to his sister and father, before transforming back to his normal self and passing out, on the roof. Luke, scared as his sister was, went through the same process, before passing out beside his brother on the roof. Sapphire watched on, confused. Danny sighed, knowing that he had to explain.
"Your sister needed extra energy to keep the time barrier up." he said, gesturing up to a barrier that had increased in size and was now shimmering more than ever, crackling with energy. "Mainly, she needed mental strength to keep concentration and healing power to continuously heal herself as she used up her energy. That's why I chose your brothers to help her." he then looked across to his daughter, noticing that she was looking at her two brothers with a confused look on her face. "The reason that they passed out was because they, like you and Lily, were born with ghost powers. They have never been without them. That's why, without them, their energy levels are too low and their bodies cannot function."
Looking back up to her father, Sapphire swallowed hard. "So... what do you want me to do Dad?"
Danny smiled. "I'm asking you to go up to the attack from Vlad and neutralise it."
"WHAT?!"
Danny smiled again; his smile was chilling to Sapphire. She had never seen him look so... chilling. Even in his ghost form. "Sapphire, your powers are elemental, correct?" Sapphire nodded slowly. "Energy is an element which has never been explored, but is an element all the same. One of the elements that you have control over. Therefore, if you go up there and use the right power, then you will be able to neutralise it, therefore stopping it from causing us any harm, but leaving Vlad defenceless, meaning that we can round him up and send him to the ghost zone. Where Walker will put him in prison and we'll all be happy!" said Danny, his demeanour changing from chilling, to genuinely happy.
Worried, Sapphire looked down to her hands, where the two Sapphires were. "But Dad, I don't have enough power. I can't do it alone." said the girl, looking up to her father like a lost child as her father lead her down to the roof where her brothers were lying.
(A/N: TOUCHING FAMILY MOMENT STARTS HERE! GET YOUR TISSUES! (I wrote this after writing said family moment, and I'm still crying!))
They were standing opposite each other now, looking into each other's eyes. Smiling softly, Danny took her hands into his. "I'm not asking you to." It was only then she noticed that his hands were glowing with the signature neon-green that his powers were. And it was only then that she noticed the gems in her hands were slowly turning from sapphire blue to aquamarine. Her powers were changing. Looking up, she looked into her father's eyes. They were turning from glowing neon green to sky blue. Familiar white rings had appeared around his body and were slowly transforming him back to his normal self. "I'm giving you my powers."
Sapphire watched, amazed, as her father de-transformed from Danny Phantom to Danny Fenton. His blue eyes were back, his ghostly uniform was gone and had been replaced by the black t-shirt and trousers he had been wearing when this ordeal had all began. As his hair finally turned back to white, he smiled at his daughter, no longer floating, but standing on the roof. "Sapphire, this is all up to you. I'm counting on you..." he said, letting go of her hands as the aura around them disappeared. He was back to being a normal human.
"Now, listen to me and listen good. In a few minutes, I am probably going to pass out too, as I have not been without my ghost powers for twenty years." he said. "When you have neutralised the energy, tell Lily to lift the time barrier and fly as fast as you can out of the way. It will explode, but it will not harm anybody. Then, I want Lily to fly back into the building and alert Valerie, and tell her to get all her ghost equipment prepared to capture Vlad. I want you to keep watch on Vlad and use a ghost shield to stop him going anywhere. Wait for Valerie to come, and then leave Lily to watch on and come back here." Danny started to grow pale as he talked, but he knew he had to finish giving his daughter instructions.
"Come back here and put your hands on my chest and concentrate on my powers. Don't concentrate on the elements; concentrate on strong, straight ghost powers. Concentrate on giving them back to me. As soon as I get my powers back, I want you to go back up and tell Lily to come down here and put the gems back onto the boy's chests. Then tell her to sit down and recuperate. It will be a massive loss of power for her." Sapphire grabbed onto her father's body as he began to waver, and laid him on the roof, taking one of his hands. "Good luck Sapphire. I believe in you..." his voice wavered and then died, his eyes closing.
Looking down at her father was scary; it was as if she had just witnessed the death of her father. Shuddering, she gently laid his hand beside him on the roof, and looked down at his face. "I won't let you down Dad."
(A/N: TOUCHING FAMILY MOMENT OVER. IT WAS SOOOOO SWEET! AND IM STILL CRYING!)
She then looked up to where her sister was and knew that she had a limited amount of time. Flying up to her sister, she approached her and told her to keep the time barrier up until she gave the word. Then, nervously, and hoping she was doing the right think, Sapphire pushed her way through the silver barrier and into the silver, swirling mist that surrounded the energy.
Nervously, she looked around her. The most prominent feature, obviously, was the massive pink ball of energy that would have exploded by now if it hadn't been for Lily's initiative. But, inside the barrier, it was almost like being blind. The ball was almost completely hidden in the dense mist, like an iceberg. Only the tip of it was visible to the young ghost-hybrid. Approaching it with caution, she looked down at her hands. They were glowing with the same bluish-green that they had been glowing with when her father had transferred his powers over. She sighed. She was the only person who could save the family now. She was the only one. The rest of the family were either unconscious, without ghost powers, or using their ghost powers to the limit. Realising that her time was short, Sapphire concentrated.
Her powers had to be purely elemental, with the force of her father's powers behind them. She had to attack with everything she had, but still have enough to get back out afterwards. Somehow, she had to disable the giant ball of explosive energy. Standing right beside it, so that her sightline was filled with the sight of the crackling pink light, Sapphire extended her hands, both glowing. Her eyes were glowing intensely now, summoning all her powers. Silent, yet deadly for Vlad Masters, Sapphire concentrated hard, pushing all her power into one attack and forcing the power out through her hands, into the ball before her. For ten whole seconds, nothing happened. Sapphire was naturally a little worried, but she didn't stop. She trusted her father. It was only then that she noticed the giant ball turning from pink to clear as glass. Its power was draining, being cancelled out by Sapphire's. Smirking, Sapphire pushed as much power into the ball as she could muster, noticing that she could now see the mist on the other side. It was time to make her leave.
Pushing her way out of the time barrier was no mean feat. It took strength, power. All her concentration. But the moment that she breathed the air behind the time barrier, she shouted out to her sister. "Lily! Its time, break the barrier and fly for your life!"
Watching as her sister nodded, they both counted to three mentally before Sapphire flew sideways and Lily flew towards the roof of the building, phasing straight through it. The blast moved at top speed, and was finally absorbed by the light around it. It was gone, the power was gone. The threat had been neutralised. Looking down at Vlad, Sapphire smirked. He was floating in a state of complete shock that none of the family had been injured. That they had all gotten out of the way. Hearing a whoosh, he looked up to see the form of Sapphire Phantom, looking down at him with glowing, neon, aquamarine coloured eyes.
Vlad looked around nervously, not understanding. He saw the shadowy figures of the family inside the building, all of them turned away from the window. He saw Sapphire standing before him… and it was only by looking closely that he saw the three male members of the family lying side-by-side on the opposite roof, looking up, Vlad was angered clearly. "What… how could this happen?!?!"
"Well, lets think about this shall we? We have a ghost-hybrid who has had his powers for forty years. We have another ghost-hybrid who has had his for twenty years. Then we have four other ghost-hybrids who have had their powers for fourteen, thirteen and twelve years. Which adds up to seventy-one. We have seventy-one years of experience between us, and we have specialised powers, one of which includes the ability to stop, go back, or go forward in time. We stopped time, and a lot went down. You just weren't able to see it. You were on the wrong side of the barrier. We neutralised your blast, and now, I'm just waiting for back-up. We're bringing you down Vlad. And there's nothing you can do about it."
Hearing clapping behind her, Sapphire turned to see the form of Valerie, dressed in all red and standing on her hover-board, a large blaster in her hand. Lily was floating behind her. "Thanks Lily." Said Sapphire. "Alright, go down, put the gems back on their owners and take a break, Dad said you're gonna lose a lot of power after this." Sapphire watched as her sister obediently nodded and went down to the roof where her brothers and father were laid. Sapphire then turned to Valerie. "I take it that you can deal with him?"
Valerie raised an eyebrow, raising her blaster in her arms. "It'd be my pleasure."
Danny, groaning, opened his eyes, closing them again as he adjusted to the bright light. All he could see was the blinding light of the sun and the figure of his thirteen year old daughter kneeling above him… wait a minute, his thirteen year old daughter? Immediately, Danny opened his eyes, shielding them from the sun and sat up, looking over himself. He turned to Sapphire, who was sitting next to him, a smile on his face. "Welcome back Dad." She said. "Before you say anything, I'm gonna update you. We got Vlad, and Valerie's dealing with him. Roscoe and Luke have got their powers back, as have you. Mom and Tucker are still in the building and they know that we're alright. Lily is sitting over there with Luke, who's healing her all up, and Roscoe's over there exercising his mental skills." Said the girl, almost laughing.
Interested in what his daughter meant, Danny turned around to see Roscoe standing over Vlad and Valerie, and occasionally he noticed that Vlad glowed a neon red before collapsing to the ground. He was exercising his mental skills alright, that was for sure. He looked back up to his daughter. "Thanks Sapphire for taking charge when I needed you to. You did good kid." He said, pulling her into a hug. "Now, come on, lets go back inside so that your mother actually believes we're alright."
Both standing, Danny transformed into his ghost form, happy to see that his powers were back. He rounded up all the children, even Roscoe (even though it was hard to drag him away from torturing Vlad mentally) and they flew through the wall and into the room where Tucker and Sam were sitting, both of them with smiles on their faces. It was all right now. Everything was back to normal. Vlad was going back into the ghost zone and was no longer a threat.
Danny looked at his children proudly. They had done a good job. And he knew he could trust them. And he was proud to be a member of the family that was going to save everybody from ghost attacks from now on, no matter what the circumstance:
The Phantoms.
END… for now
A/N: OMG! I FINISHED IT! Okay, to be honest with you, I was DEFINITELY not planning to finish at chapter twelve. I was gonna do a thirteenth chapter, but then, ya know, I just realised that most of the action would happen here, and I don't want to anti-climax it. Besides, you guys are getting a sequel/prequel outta me! So I guess, I might as well just end it here.
Anyway, a MASSIVE thank you to everybody who has reviewed or will review this story, a big thanks to all my readers, and I will give specialised answers to each review for the last chapter of this in the first chapter of the sequel. Look out for it! Its gonna be called 'The Phantoms II – The Return' and I've already started working on it in my head! I have my storyline and I know exactly what's going to happen, so it's all good. I hope you guys all go on to read it!
Now, a joyous matter. I have decided that I am going to dedicate this story to one of my personal favourite readers and reviewers. Somebody who has reviewed every chapter, made me think about my characters in more detail than I would have done. This person made me put a lot more detail into this story, and has pretty much prompted me with all her compliments to start working on my sequel for this story. And perhaps, after that, even a prequel of the whole series. Because of this person, I'm thinking about a trilogy for this story. I would like to dedicate 'The Phantoms' to:
S2TeenNovelist
Thank you for all your help!
Anyway, guys, this A/N is really hard to write, cause I know its my last one for this story. But I just wanna say this:
End… for now. And I mean that. 'The Phantoms II – The Return', chapter one, should be up (hopefully, and if you're very lucky) by the end of this week. My updates may be few and far between, but I'll try my hardest to get as much done as possible and as fast as possible for my favourite readers (AKA YOU GUYS!!!).
Anyway, for now, thank you every body, and I'll see you in the sequel!!
Loads of Love, thanks and everything else that goes with it!
xXx X-Roosterrelli-X xXx
