So it might have taken awhile, but I'm telling you, I was trying to perfect this thing and I think I've done the best I can. I was struggling for a while, but suddenly I knew exactly how to get it all down and the way to do it.

Also this chapters really good to read while listening to the Princess Mononoke soundtrack (which I don't own) if anyone wanted to intensify this experience.

Let's just say we're getting to the end now and I'd really like to tell you how much I've appreciated you guys taking the time to read this, and even some of you going as far as to tell me you've read it and give me the best feedback! So thank you so much. This has been brilliant and I'm really gonna miss it when it's done. I'm just gonna go off and cry now.

So to The-Amazing-Gracie (and everyone else of course) this is for you.

I don't own the following things: Danny Phantom, Mulan, Tablets, PDA's, gym, Trojan codes, computers, touch screens roundhouse kicks and anything else I mention that is not mine.

Warning: This chapter is totes emosh.

Best Served Cold

Kelly's POV

Now out of Pariah's grasp, I roundhouse kicked the skeleton guard that was holding my mother and ripped the weapon he had taken custody of out of his hands.

I then started to shoot at the other guards and set the rest of Team Phantom free. They grabbed their weapons and started to surround Pariah Dark and hold of the rest of the guards in their place. While they dealt with them, I took the opportunity to set the prisoners free. However this thing wasn't your standard lock, it was gonna take some technology to get into this thing.

'Tucker! The tablet!' I yelled at him. He threw the advance piece of machinery and I caught it easily. Good, my reflexes are in full working order. Shame it couldn't be like that in gym class.

Jeff had run up to the front of the cell, ready to instruct me in how to get them out of there. 'Try to hack the system. Use a Trojan code.'

'Okay.' I frantically tried to do as he said and steal the vital information. But I was getting nothing. 'It won't work!' I hissed in frustration.

'Let me look at it.' I couldn't pass the tablet through the cell because it was a little more heavily shielded then it seemed. He looked over the data, a sighed in defeat. 'Looks like this operating system is 20 years old. You would need the oldest hardware out there to hack into this thing.'

'I knew this baby would come in handy some day. Leave to me Kelly!' Tucker came running up to us, with what looked like the most outdated piece of metal I'd ever seen. He then with the utmost concentration began to manoeuvre his way into the lock's security system while I grabbed his gun and watched his back.

A robotic voice suddenly emerged, 'Password accepted.' The lock to the prison opened, allowing the prisoners freedom.

'Huh, who knew a PDA could do the job.' Jeff commented, impressed that something so long gone had come in handy. 'Guess old dogs can learn new tricks.'

My dad was untied by Jeff's dad and quickly took the opportunity to join the fight blasting his neon green ecto-rays but not without thanking me and Uncle Tuck first. However Agents Ivory and Vanilla still needed to steady themselves somewhat when regaining consciousness.

I reduced my ecto-shot into a thin laser and manage to get Jeff out of the goo that had his hands bound. 'Aww, and it was bringing me so much nostalgia!' Jeff complained. I raised an eyebrow having no idea what he was going on about. 'I'll explain later.'

I had bigger things to worry about, but I was happy to see him safe, especially as I'd got him into this mess. So I just threw my arms around him, which seemed to surprise him as I felt his body jolt.

I let him go, and gave him the Fenton thermos and wrist ray. 'You're needed at the front line, Robin.' He laughed slightly.

I moved next to my dad ready to have his back and deal with the ones that were floating, using my powers to their full advantage.

'We have to go after him!' My dad insisted while shooting rays at the ghosts chasing us, attempting to escape Pariah's lair.

'Someone's got to deal with Pariah first. All that could happen is that the power is taken away from Daniel and falls into the hands of him.' We needed to know who our real enemies were. 'When we got here it was clear to me that the clone was powerless without Pariah's Ring of Rage or Crown of Fire. 'The Fright Knight was now attempting to prevent us leaving, suddenly materialising in front of me and Dad.

'Anyone would be powerless without them.' My dad didn't know where I was going with this.

'But what I'm saying is that I don't even think your clone has any real ghost powers!'

My dad stared at me in slight confusion, trying to comprehend what I was saying, turning into sudden understanding. His thought process was abruptly interrupted by a ray of energy shot by the Fright Knight.

He swiftly dodged it, even though he had only a few seconds prior been distracted. 'I don't get it! This kingdom was destroyed! The artefacts lost! How can any of this be catching up to us?' My dad screeched in confusion, forming a large ball of neon energy that he hurled at the Fright Knight.

'The King of Ghosts can never truly be defeated, Phantom. But he can be undermined.' The Fright Knight decided to add.

'Then why are you stopping us from getting to this guy and bringing back what belongs to your masters?' He tried to reason, his tone frustrated.

'Perhaps such powers are better used by the wrong person, than not used at all.' He swung his sword at my father who narrowly missed the blade.

'If it's causing this much trouble, I highly doubt it.' I mocked. I began to distract Fright Knight by launching my own purple rays and calling out, 'Freeze him Dad!' I hadn't quite got the hang of the freezing thing yet, myself. I think there is a time and a place for that though.

My dad nodded, surprised by my sudden distraction method. He blasted a stream of ice at him, encasing his horse at first and causing a wave of panic to spread over the medieval kiss-ass. He then found himself frozen in a position where he had clasped fist, indicating a shattering defeat and a horrible demise.

My dad placed his hands on his hips (in a manly manner) and puffed out his chest, admiring our teamwork. 'Not bad. You've got the hang of this, haven't you?' He smiled.

'I'm not the only one.' I gestured to Jeff who was rather effectively holding off the attacking guards, even being able to put Walker in his place by hitting him unexpectedly with a swift ecto-shot and tricking him into the Fenton Thermos.

With our superior viewing point, we could see the King of Ghosts try and make his way to the nearest ghost portal, which turned out to be the one leading to the GIW headquarters (what a coincidence). Dad and I raced to follow him but upon arrival, found that Pariah was being chased back by those guarding the portal.

'Wow, I guess he doesn't really think things through without the right accessories.' My dad observed.

'What a girl…' I shook my head.

'Why bother puny spirits? Even without the crown I can easily defeat all of you!' Pariah taunted at the collection of those trying to stop him.

We joined the struggle. 'But can you defeat this?' My dad jeered, suddenly creating an army of clones all ready for action.

'God I'm getting sick of that face!' Pariah sighed. With the multiple ghosts he pissed off, the several copies of my dad and being without his precious ring and crown, for once Pariah Dark was officially pwned.

'This is what you get for trying to takeover our lives multiple times you jerk!' Ember shrieked as she and a number of disgruntled ghosts chased Pariah back to his lair. 'We've defeated you once, we can do it again!' Pariah seemed fearful of this, perhaps remembering what happened last time he saw all these faces.

But he faced them and began charging a vast amount of energy in his hands and fired them at the army, then grabbing his sword and shielding himself from the energy that was being hurled at him. But Ember was able to hold him off by striking a chord, hurling him backwards, and Skulker creating a ball of energy, disabling him for a short amount of time.

Then I realised, I had thought to bring the Fenton fisher with me, throwing the rope around the ghost King and having him completely in my grasp. Though we figured it would pretty easy for him to get out of it, so my dad got my mom to toss him one of the GIW's power disabling guns. This left him completely vulnerable and pretty powered down.

Each taking hold of the King, we threw him violently into the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep. 'Sweet dreams, asshole.' Ember stated satisfactorily, clapping her hands together and high fiving her team.

'Cover your ears, Kelly.'

'How old do you think I am?' I raised an eyebrow. I hated it when I was patronised, especially when I had just helped us get the most powerful ghost in existence down and dusted. Geez…

'Oh yeah, sorry I forgot. Clearly you're much more mature than I've ever really given you credit for. I know how hard it is to have something like this hanging over your head and still managing to conceal it. I'm sorry I never listened to you.' He came down to my level (while we were floating) and hugged me. I wrapped my arms around him, smiling, almost holding back tears.

'Don't worry. It wasn't that bad.' I faced him, happy to finally have my father's approval.

'I'm sorry to break this puketastic family moment, but your home world is kinda perishing.' Ember pointed out.

'Oh yeah.' I said, realising the fight we just had was probably going to be the easiest fight tonight.

I looked down to see the whole group wrestling the GZPD and the remainder of the ghost guards. Somehow they were still managing to be effective despite their small numbers. I guess I never really gave them credit.

'We've gotta go! Everybody move!' My dad shouted down with authority, and with all their battles faced, I saw the rest running into the Specter Speeder.

'Looks like it isn't over yet.' I sighed.

When we reached the headquarters, it was utter chaos. A news report being played showed that the invasion wasn't only happening in Amity, but all over the planet, or at least wherever there was a naturally occurring portal (which is pretty much everywhere). The news team were alerting the public with a 'code red' flashing at the bottom of the screen and recommending that people 'run around screaming pointlessly.' Fantastic.

'He has to be here. He's not gonna get a better insight into the mechanics of this world's anti-ghost procedures anywhere else.' I insisted.

'You're right. Tucker, check our security system.' My dad ordered.

'On it!' He shouted back, stepping out of the Specter Speeder and running over to the centre where there were a number of touch screens and one giant computer.

The Fed suddenly ran up to us, 'Phantom! It's worse than we thought. We've lost contact with bases in Paris and London. This guy isn't going down easily.' He was pretty breathless and couldn't seem to get anymore out.

'I know Sir, but we'll find a way. Permission to go against protocol?'

'Granted.' He smiled. My dad smiled back. 'Vanilla, Ivory! You come with me!' The Fed bellowed assertively.

We attempted to fight off the invading armies, the room alighting with flashes of fluorescent green, purple, pink and blue. It was like a rave… you know… if they got really dangerous. That was when I saw Technus trying to flee the scene, but then getting pummelled by Pariah's army, now under the influence of my dad's clone.

I moved to attempt to free him, but if he was trying to fight off these guys, that means he wasn't protecting the security system.

'Why are you leaving?!' I screeched as I blast shots at his captors.

'There's no hope puny girl! He's…too…strong…' he insisted in his struggle.

'Tucker! Any luck?' My mom shouted while holding off a number of invaders.

'Just… a… second…' he was frantically typing as he tried to intercept the infected system, the likes of which protected not only the safety of Amity Park, but the world. 'Got it!' he declared.

'Great! Sam, Steve you take the west wing, I'm going into town…' My dad's instructions were suddenly cut-short, as all power seemed to be cut-off, and it even went as far as having the main computer smoke and spark, causing Tucker to shield himself.

We heard the noise of all the guns powering down and circuits shutting off. Looks like our weapons would be nothing against the almighty Daniel. The room remained eerily silent and still. Aw crap.

Suddenly the main antagonist's big ugly face appeared on the screen (well… my dad's face anyway) but because he was possessed by the infinite power of the Ring of rage and Crown of fire, his eyes were a vibrant, evil red and his skin was luminous. In the background, you could see the city he was currently destroying. After a second look, I realised it was Amity. SHIT! Greg… Lottie… They were all gonna get mixed up in this too.

Ohcrapohcrapohcrap.

He remained cackling hysterically like your classic wacko nutjob. I moved down to my family (Tucker included) and gathered with them, each of us holding hands and embracing each other to settle the brewing fear. In the corner of my eye, I saw Jeff embracing his father. Yet, Daniel just continued to laugh. It made me grateful not to have underlying daddy issues (at least anymore).

'I'm very impressed with all of you. I was sure you wouldn't be able to get out but I guess I never really gave you enough credit. But I have to ask, did you really think you could defeat me? 20 years I have been dreaming of this day… 20 years I've been trying to prove that I am greater than any of the mutant hybrids you call Phantoms and their troublesome offspring! There's nothing you can do to stop me now!' He insisted, his voice starting deep and sinister, and growing into a frantic bellowing of suppressed emotions.

We held each other tighter, now joining with Jeff and his dad, fearful of perishing, but willing to go together. But just as we were all collecting and squeezing together, Jeff's wrist ray set off and shot at the ground, forming a burn on the tiled floor and smoke to rise up.

We were all silent for a moment, eyes wide in astonishment. 'Oops.' Jeff muttered.

'Is that the Fenton wrist ray…?' My dad asked.

'I haven't seen that in years! At camp, remember?' my mom cooed with nostalgia.

'I couldn't forget.' My dad smiled at her.

My mom started rummaging around in the Specter Speeder. 'Quick, everybody grab something. Courtesy of Fenton Works!' She started throwing out weapons. She grabbed a giant torpedo for herself and seemed to know how to handle it pretty well, standing tall and confident. 'Time to go old school.' She grinned.

'Good call Jeff! Where did you get that stuff?' his dad questioned, but his tone indicated he was impressed. Jeff kinda ruined it though by being truthful and pointing at me. 'Figures.' His dad laughed.

'Quick! We've gotta find Daniel!' I called, preparing to move out.

Dad and I were out of there first, looking over the town that was being brutally destroyed from the roof of GIW HQ. The town where I grew up. The town where my family and friends were. How could my dad stand this so much?

'He could be anywhere right now, so if you think you can handle it, we may need to split up. I know you're a good resource, but as my only child it's kind of a challenge that to let you go gallivanting on your own.' He tried to explain himself, still sounding like the Dad I always knew and loved, despite the strategy he was trying to devise. It was good to see that side of him again.

I nodded in agreement.

But there was no need to split up. A voice emerged from behind us without warning.

'I'm so glad you came to see me! It doesn't feel right when you're talking through a screen.' We turned around to see a much darker picture of Danny Phantom, his eyes red (including the whites), his cloak blowing in the fierce wind, his white skin and hair contrasted with the orange lighting of distant explosions. And for once he was actually… floating. This was the way for him to get the ghost powers that he always desired.

The rest of the group appeared from the stairs, suddenly taking in the image of the powerful overlord that was trying to possess our universe and destroy our lives.

He observed the weapons they were clutching, 'I'd have thought you would have learned by now? I single-handily disabled all your weapons. They are nothing now, like you redundant, ridiculous pair of aggravating show offs! You really think you're heroes? Well if you're heroes, then why would you let your precious town perish like this,' he violently threw his arm back and pointed to the rubble, 'under your own influence and with your bare hands?!'

A realisation dawned on my dad, 'They thought it was me. That's how he took over… he tricked them. The whole world thinks it's me.' His eyes suddenly filling with pain.

'And so Danny Phantom will die hated by all those he tried to protect. Life's a beach isn't it Danny? I hate how I've had to pretend to be your sorry ass and not got any of the real credit. Though I have to say, I didn't mind kissing your wife. ' He winked at her, but she responded by getting her torpedo prepared.

'You…!' My dad bellowed, suddenly enraged. But he got control of himself and simply hissed at him, 'I won't go down without you first.'

Daniel ignored his threats, 'You see had your idiot daughter been smart enough to conceal her identity from you, she could have taken your place as this towns saviour, well… as far as we would let her anyway...' He began to trail off.

'Whose 'we'?' I shook my head in confusion, my voice taking on the tone of speaking to a mental patient.

'Why Jeff of course!' He said simply, as if I were the mental one.

'We would never join you.' I scoffed.

'Oh dear, Kelly. And I thought we could have so much fun. You, me and your beau, that is.' He gestured to Jeff, but for some reason neither of us made an effort to contradict him.

'I don't know what kind of people you think Jeff and I are. Yes, we've had a rough time adjusting to this world. All teenagers do at some point. And I would agree that we've had more on our plates than most. But we haven't lost enough faith in the world to agree to what you consider a better place.' I said defiantly.

'I see. You had to go all self-righteous and stand by your father, didn't you? Well… as long as you stand by your father… you die by your father.'

His hands alone seemed to make fire suddenly spark either side of him and blaze furiously, as he clenched his fists and began laughing manically. His ring began to glow and his crown flamed feverishly.

Every one of us began to charge up some form of resistance. Then my dad and I nodded at each other. We all fired at once, causing even the most powerful ghost in existence (now Pariah was out the way) to be forced backwards, and spin unsteadily in the air, surprised by the impact.

'But I don't get it… what are those? How did they resist my disablement?!' His eyes blazed with an increasing wrath.

'There's no school like the old school Daniel, these weapons were made by the greatest ghost hunters in the universe. The Fentons.' My dad stated.

My mom fired the torpedo shot at Daniel's head.

He was quivering in fear, shaking at the impact of torpedo. I don't think he ever truly comprehended how much power the Crown of Fire and Ring of Rage could give him, because with them he could easily hold back the torpedo. But there was clearly some human still left in him, something still there that was holding him back and preventing him using his powers to their fullest potential. He still had fear.

He laughed in triumph when the torpedo passed him. 'Ha! You missed!' He bellowed with what sounded like relief.

'No we didn't.' I shook my head, a smile slowly forming on my face.

One of my dad's legitimate clones floated up beside us, in his hand the Crown of Fire.

Daniel fumbled at his head in disbelief and as soon as he realised his powers were gone, was hit by a wave of terror as he began plummeting down, smacking on the roof of the GIW headquarters.

It was over.

We floated down and stood on the roof, overlooking the rest of the team. We smiled and all quickly embraced, cheering at our success.

'I'm so proud of you.' My dad kissed the top of my head and hugged me with the tightest grip imaginable. My mom then came and joined us in the sweet family moment.

When they finally let me go, they went and hugged each other in relief, resulting in me moving over to Jeff.

I looked into his eyes, happy that he was pretty much unscathed. We laughed nervously as we realised we hadn't been saying anything.

'You fight good.' He laughed.

'Is that from Mulan?' I couldn't help but notice.

'Maybe…' he said sheepishly.

I just continued to laugh. 'Yeah… you too.' I smiled at him, and he returned it. The eye contact and facial expressions seemed to be all the communication we needed.

'We better get him back to the Ghost zone Kel!' My dad called to me.

I turned back, and saw my Dad slap him, 'Way to ruin a major moment, Danny!' My mom complained.

'No moment!' Jeff and I shouted in unison. 'I'm on it!' I called and moved over Daniel's unconscious form.

We loomed over the twitching body and prepared to hoist it up and take it back. But before I knew it, Daniel had swivelled his leg under my dad's and mine in a sharp kick and grabbed a power reducing gun, shooting at the both of us and bringing us down completely.

'NO!' the rest of our company seemed to scream in unison, my mom's voice being the most hysterical.

Both of us reverted to our human forms.

'Damn! Why aren't they dead!' Daniel hissed in anger.

My mom shot him with a wrist ray in her fury, but the ghost weapons no longer had any impact. Jeff's dad attempted to physically wrestle Daniel, but in their struggle he punched him in the nose and sent him flying back a small distance. Tucker wasn't all that effective either. My mom was frantically trying to organise some sort of antidote for us. I don't really know how I know this, because my dad and I were both rolling around on the floor in excruciating pain, holding the area on our bodies that had been wounded. We were almost completely disabled.

Daniel pulled himself up and began limping towards me, grabbing Jeff by the hair on his way, but never taking his eyes off of me. 'Fine! I'll just have to do it here!' he groaned as he dragged the poor guy. Jeff was hissing in pain and struggling against the psychopath's firm grip. Then he violently threw him next to me, (as far as to let his face smash against the ground and break his nose). He got out some sort of syringe, ready to pierce it in my skin.

'STOP!' Jeff screeched, his face fierce, 'Nothing you can do can make me like her or her dad or anyone else who happens to have supernatural powers! You wanna know why Fruit Loop?'

Daniel paused and smiled, humouring Jeff. 'Enlighten me boy! I'd love to know what you have to say in your final moments as a foolish human.'

He breathed heavily, the blood trickling down his face. 'Because… because they have something that you and I don't. They will always have the best and right intentions from the very beginning, and only,' he shouted this word, 'they can be trusted to use such powers for the good of man. They're the only ones with the endurance level and the only ones that care about other people enough. Heck I bet they're the only ones who wouldn't go clinically insane, unlike you I see. I can't join you. I'm… I'm sorry…' He held his head down and stared at the floor appearing to be feeling guilty. We all stared in shock as we saw that Jeff might actually be getting through to him. His speech also made me realise my own personal self-worth in this whole fiasco.

He dropped the syringe, and began to weep. His lamenting shaking his whole form and his screams could be heard from the furthest distances. From his cries, it was like no one had ever apologized to him before…

He paused for a moment.

However what happened next was so quick I could never truly comprehend it.

Without warning, he had one of his infamous mood swings. He grabbed one of the Fenton blasters and pointed it at me, pulling the trigger.

This was it.

My life wasn't flashing before my eyes as such, but I did see all the faces of the people I care about, and all of the best times. I did also have one final peaceful thought. All this time I had felt like a burden, a nuisance, something that couldn't help anybody in anyway. But I was still trying to be the best I could be and what everybody seemed to need anyway. But what Jeff had said had shown me that there was a reason that it was me and my dad who had these powers. It wasn't just because we got lucky. It wasn't just because we were responsible, but it was because we could have the weight of the world on our shoulders and still make it out alive… and mentally strong.

So I could die peacefully.

But Jeff wouldn't let it happen.

In that second, he jumped in front of me, taking the blast in full throttle. Logically, it shouldn't have too much of an effect on him, because he's human. But it did…

Jeff screamed in agony as the blast hit him directly in the chest and suddenly collapsed in front of me, completely lifeless.

His father shrieked from the other side of the roof. I stared in horror, unable to move, tears forming in my eyes.

Daniel seemed rather taken aback, realising he'd just destroyed his protégé. He dropped his gun in his shock, 'It's over. I have no son.' He began to weep also, falling to his knees.

Jeff's dad in his rage tackled the perpetrator of Jeff's demise and began to violently pound him with all his might. He was a pretty heavy set guy, causing Daniel to suddenly snap into unconsciousness when his head was smashed against the concrete. In the instant he became not much more than teeth and blood.

'Steve! STEVE!' My dad shouted. Tucker and my mom held him back. He finally let go of the psychopath and curled into a ball, shaking with silent tears.

The adrenaline of my shock had made me regain some of my strength, and I moved over to the body to check he was still breathing, my faced washed with tears.

Please don't do this to me. Please don't do this to me.

Please… Jeff…

Please…