!Disclaimer: No soy dueño de Danny Phantom. Yo no hablo españgol bien.

Two-On-One

Vladmius' blasts connected with two large boulders, decimating them much to his confusion and frustration. How had he ended up near the coast of Lake Michigan? Turning, he dropped from the air to see the Violet Huntress from his notes and observations standing strong in defiance. "Well, this is unexpected."

Damn it. She had hoped he would be distracted for longer, but at least the bracelet had worked, having honed in on the largest gathering of ecto-energy—Vladmius—and transporting it away from the battle with her person. "Good to know," she replied, her smirk barely visible near the bottom edge of her helmet. Even as a small bead of sweat dropped from her temple, she couldn't help but feel relieved that her timing had been perfect. She had saved Dan and Danny from death this time around.

"Don't count on it again, girl. I am not easily surprised," Vladmius promised as his eyes began to glow, ready to attack when he deemed necessary.

"Neither am I," Vi said as she crouched, ready to fly through the air and engage her opponent.

But both jumped, proving themselves wrong, at hearing a third voice holler, "Boo!" Turning, they were met with what looked to be a ninja—Sam. "I call bullshit," she remarked with a slick smirk even as Vi could see she was confused and surprised just as much as Vi was at her being there. This was not part of the plan. It didn't make sense that she was able to follow them because..because…

Shit. The bracelet honed in on Vi's DNA, which is exactly the same as Sam's DNA.

Chuckling at seeing the one person who could bring young Daniel to his knees before him, without any protection, Vladmius commented, "O please, this will be too easy," and then he attacked to prove his statement so.

The team took a deep breath and sighed in relief even as they worried for Vi's safety. Maddie and Jazz rushed forward to inspect the Phantom's injuries, giving them each a shot of Ecto-Dejecto to try bringing their energy reserves up and forward. It was only when Danny turned to his other side to find empty space did he face the group and ask, "Where's Sam?" A small part of him hoped she had joined the medical staff like he'd been insisting, but he knew it was false hope as a much larger jolt in his core alerted him that something was wrong.

"Mom was right here a second ago," Lil echoed their confused thoughts as they searched around their area for a few seconds.

"She wasn't touching Vi at all, so where did she go?" Ellie questioned, the two girls slower at catching on than the older adults, who looked at each other with mounting dread.

"Jack, how could we not have seen this coming?" Maddie questioned, furious that the obvious had been right in front of her and she hadn't seen it—yet again.

"Um, care to enlighten the rest of us?" Dan asked, one of the few others needing to hear it out loud.

"The bracelet was DNA receptive," Maddie began.

"Which means because it honed in on Vi's DNA—" Tucker added, catching on quickly.

"And Vi and Sam are the same person—" Val dreadfully continued.

"Sam was transported too," Red glumly finished.

The air was stale and tense as everyone slowly, cautiously turned towards Danny. He seemed to be frozen from fear as it all registered within his denial that Sam was fighting Vladmius with Vi. His Sam was fighting Vladmius without his protection. His Sam was fighting Vladmius.

…

"GET HER BACK NOW!"

"Danny, honey, we can't," Maddie sadly informed him, unsure of how she could comfort her baby boy when she herself felt unstable.

"We have to wait for the five minutes to end," Tucker sympathetically informed. He didn't like the twist in events either, as Sam was the younger sister he never knew he wanted, but he realized there was nothing that could be done at the moment.

"Six," Dan regretfully corrected. "We have to wait for six minutes to end."

"What do you mean?" Nathan questioned, distinctly remembering that the group would be given five minutes of breathing room from Plan C.

"There was a small glitch in the bracelet. An extra minute was added on, probably because the bracelet knew ahead of time that the DNA structure it was to transport was a duplicate. It needed more time to ensure it would have enough time to power back up in order to bring them both back," Dan explained, having overheard the earlier conversation between his mother and Vi.

"No, this cannot be happening! Tell me you're kidding me," Danny practically begged as his body twitched from the feeling of helplessness that washed over his weakened body—now from both his earlier fighting and the stress from Sam's situation.

"I am not, so I suggest you accept the fact that you are as helpless as I am and get ready for their return. They have each other, and we're going to have to trust that they can hold their own a little longer. We're going to have to trust them," Dan repeated, the second time as if to ensure himself as well.

Danny didn't like it—hell, that was the understatement of his life!—but he knew Dan was right. So instead of pouting he helped prepare everyone for Vladmius' return as they waited. If Sam trusted him, he supposed he could trust her too. He did trust her. "I trust them."

They'd only been fighting for two minutes, and the first thirty seconds had been introductions, meaning they still had over three minutes to hold him off. And Vi was having doubts...

"Sam, watch out!" Vi shouted as she lunged for her other self, saving them both from a fatal blast. Any distant hope she'd had that he would go easy on them in favor of toying with them was crushed and quickly dismissed as she watched the ground disintegrate in the exact place they had been standing seconds before.

"Vi, what are we going to do?" Sam shouted as they lunged for any type of cover in order to whip out their blasters so they could run and shoot at the same time instead of settling for dodging only.

"Try not to die!" Vi hollered back, relishing in a short-lived victory where her blast connected to the side of Vladmius' head. He looked none too happy and grew even more irritated when Sam's blast connected on the other side of his face. They were trying to make it harder on him by staying away from each other so he couldn't attack both at the same time. At least, that was the theory which was proved wrong as he held both his arms out at his sides and unleashed an all-encompassing wave of electricity they were barely able to cancel out with two well-aimed and simultaneous lucky shots.

"You two are fools for thinking I could not defeat you on your own, though I assume we will be rejoining the others shortly," Vladmius said as he continued to attack, shielding himself only once from their smaller and weak attacks. "In fact, you're fools for volunteering. When I return with your dead bodies, Dan and Danny will be crushed making it that much easier for me to conquer them. Though, I do wonder as to why you mean so much to Dan, dearie," Vladmius commented as he turned his attention more towards Vi. It seems he had yet to figure it out, which was good for her even if it actually didn't matter much anymore. Or so she thought. "Tell me, what is your name girl? And what is your relation to Dan Phantom?"

"Ha, you wish you fruit loop!" Sam called, a mistake as he immediately turned and shot her down to where she could not immediately stand back up. He would not tolerate that ridiculous name from these two humans!

As Sam dealt with a coughing fit on the ground on the opposite side of Vladmius, Vi began to step backwards as he began to slowly approach her. How long was six minutes anyways?! "Tell me, or I will be forced to find out for myself," he threatened.

Not long enough, Vi decided as she not-so-politely told him to fuck off. It was little use though as he launched himself forward and slammed her against another large boulder. Luckily, this type of rock had been smoothed over so she had not been stabbed. Not so luckily, Vladmius was able to remove her helmet as she fought in a dazed haze for naught.

"Ooo," Vladmius cackled after his initial shock wore off. She was Dan's Samantha, and she was supposed to be dead. He didn't know how she was alive, but no matter. He would use her to his advantage and finally claim victory. "This is just too easy."

They were all standing in a line, shoulder to shoulder and ready to blast Vladmius as soon as he returned to his original location in front of them. Of course, they were all cautioned to avoid hitting Sam and Vi, but as the seconds wound down their fingers pulled back on the trigger enough to be ready as the halfas and Dan powered up their fists. But no one shot as Vladmius reappeared before them with an almost unconscious Vi lying close to his feet, without her helmet, and a completely unconscious Sam, trying on the inside to wake up, in his arms. As Vi struggled for breath—the only sound heard within the thick atmosphere—Vladmius narrowed his eyes and smirked at his opponents.

"You see what you have forced me to do?" he questioned the Phantoms as he motioned towards the two women. "They are going to die all because you two had to remain the heroes," he sneered, showing no sign of shutting up any time soon. Danny understood he was baiting them and as much as it pained him, he knew he had to wait. For what, he wasn't sure, but he knew this feeling from experience and if it was telling him to wait, he was going to listen to it. Even though he really didn't want to.

Dan, on the other hand, wasn't thinking at all. All he saw was Sam in Vladmius' arms just like he had when he'd peeked into Clockwork's mirrors after he first escaped. He was losing touch with reality as his core pulsed and burned within him, begging for him to act. He searched in desperation for something to stabilize him, because if he made the wrong move he would be toast, and once he was gone so was Danny, and then everyone else, and then Vladmius would win.

Vladmius dropped Sam on top of Vi abruptly, causing both women to moan in discomfort and pain, and Dan's eyes immediately fell to Vi's. She was trying to tell him something, he could understand that much. She was instructing him to do something but he couldn't quite figure it out. He saw a bit of pleading within her beautiful amethyst orbs, so it must not be something he would like. No! Wait! His new power; his telepathy…

"Well, you most certainly failed to be their heroes now, didn't you?!" Vladmius jested, powering up in the blink of an eye to unleash his attack on the two humans in order to kill them. Dan, however, moved just a split second before him and as fast as he could after he and Vi connected and she told him what he needed to do.

He needed to trust her.

Another roar as Dan launched himself forward as Vladmius let loose with his power and—

"Time out." Clockwork appeared in the midst of the chaotic scene with the two Observants who constantly badgered him about his choices.

"Now! We should kill all three of them now before it is too late!" One demanded, the other agreeing and echoing his fear of 'before it was too late!'

Clockwork hovered closer to Dan's now still form, facing him as a young adult before aging into his elderly form upon closer inspection. Though all parties involved wore time medallions, including Vladmius, they were not the ones specifically designed to evade his time powers. Sending a smirk towards his colleagues after taking a moment to fully absorb all the information around him, Clockwork asked, "Now, why would I do that?"

"Dan Phantom is going to make the wrong decision! We heard his disagreeing thoughts!" they answered, furious at the time keeper for asking stupid questions when they all knew the answers.

"O, come now. Have a little faith," Clockwork advised.

"Faith!" one Observant shouted in outrage as the other screamed, "Fate does not exist!"

Becoming serious again, Clockwork sighed. "Gentlemen, you have entrusted the responsibility of these two beings," Clockwork recalled as he pointed his staff towards Danny and then Dan, "with me, have you not?"

"Obviously we should not have," they unhappily muttered as they crossed their arms before them in resentment.

"Yet you still did, and I am telling you that I know Dan Phantom better than you. In fact," Clockwork chuckled, "I know him better than himself. And I am telling you to have some faith."

The Observants turned to each other to debate their next move, annoying Clockwork with their nitpicking and fussing before finally submitting to his request. "Fine, we shall not intervene if you think it is not best for this situation. We will wait as we had originally agreed."

"Thank you," Clockwork tersely replied before returning them to the safety of his tower to watch what was most likely to pursue. "Time in."

Dan almost didn't want to open his eyes as he held Sam tight enough against his chest to protect her without risk of letting her slip, but loose enough that she could breathe. He could hear everyone shouting somewhere behind him as if life was passing in slow motion, but were they howling in victory or in horror?

Vi had asked Dan to phase Sam out from on top of her so she could use a new device on her updated suit, one which repelled the full strength of an attack. She had yet to use it because she wasn't exactly sure if it would work, but she believed that it was their last chance and so she asked him to believe in her. For the first time in his existence he hadn't wanted to believe in her, but he had, hating himself the whole single second it took him to grab Sam, phase through Vi, and wait. But he couldn't wait any longer as someone's hand grabbed his shoulder and shook him. Life seemed to catch back up to him as he turned to find that it was Danny, and he was crying.

Dan felt his heart—which he did not have—drop as he released his hold on Sam. But as he fully turned around he did not see a victorious Vladmius. Nor did he see a horrendously murdered Vi as she was actually trying to stand with assistance from his dad. Slowly he came to realize that Danny was not crying in grief but in relief, reaching for Sam because it was done and she was finally safe again. And the dead person on the ground was actually Vladmius', or whatever was the equivalent of dead for a ghost.

He rose from his kneeled position in a daze and made his way towards Vi, slowly at first but then snatching her as soon as she was within arms' length. Everyone around them embraced their loved ones and they could hear the victorious cries from their allies a couple miles away as the robots began to collapse and crumble around them now that their life source was no more. They had won. They had won!

"O, thank goodness," Dan breathed against Vi's forehead as she squeezed back in their hug. He felt another pair of arms wrap themselves around them and he wasn't even surprised to see that they belonged to Ellie. But the moment of peace lasted only that long: a moment. A soft groan soon sliced through the air causing all to turn and stare down at Vladmius. He was still alive?! Dan moved away from his embrace with Vi and Ellie in order to walk closer to the now chuckling Vladmius, raising a fist as a first move of summoning the power needed to finish the enemy, but he wasn't given the chance as Vladmius' body suddenly began to spasm uncontrollably. Before anyone could fathom a guess at what was to happen, a duplicate escaped the still down Vladmius. Yet again before anyone could do anything else, a ring of piercing white light erupted from his midsection, transforming the clone into another Danny Phantom.

But this copy was extremely young—only sixteen years old. However, he carried himself with wisdom beyond his age as his blinding aura flared even more as he announced, "O no, I told you I would not allow you to win this time. You have no more chances left."

"You?!" Vladmius heaved as he struggled to raise his body from the dirt. Of all the outcomes he had imagined, this had never once seemed plausible! "I defeated you! I forced you to pass on into the next life where it is impossible to come back!"

"And yet, here I am," replied the glowing Phantom, the two ignoring everyone else as this didn't necessarily concern them.

"How?!" Vladmius snarled.

"When you tried forcing me out of our body, do you remember how you bribed me?" this Danny asked instead.

"Of course! As soon as you saw Samantha beckon to you, you lost all fight and easily submitted to my influence," he answered as he regained some strength, though nowhere near the level he needed if he ever hoped to sit up, let alone stand and fight.

"Ya, well, if you knew Sam at all you would know she wouldn't want for me to give up to join her. She helped hide me within you. She became my motivation to fight smarter," Danny answered with a glare of disgust at the pitiful Plasmius' spirit. Now split in from his Phantom side, his skin shaded a darker blue hue, and his face morphed into harder edges. He shrank in size only slightly, but it was enough to easily identify the change.

"No! She was your ultimate obsession. You should not have been able to deny following her!" Vladmius could not take it. He could not handle that he had lost and now he was faced with the reality that he had never had a chance of winning in the first place? Not with a part of him being Phantom all this time. He couldn't accept this. He wouldn't accept this!

"No, what I wasn't able to deny was her request to be the hero I know I am, and her wish to wait for me," Danny corrected, his aura flaring even more than it should have been possible. "And you know something? I've kept her waiting for too long. Your game has finally come to its end. You, the King, have no more pawns left to protect you." He raised his hands, which glowed the brightest and purest green anyone had even seen as it mixed with his already blinding aura, and with a final growl shot his ecto-blast at Vladmius leaving all around to turn from its shine as it made contact. When everyone turned back they were greeted with a fully unconscious, as-close-to-being-obliviated-as-one-could-come-without-actually-being-decimated Vladmius, looking much more worse for wear. "Checkmate."

If everyone thought they'd been confused before, they were even more lost at what was happening before them, which only escalated as this new Danny turned his head space bound as the sun began it's slow descent, sliding that cocky grin of his across his lips as he asked the thin air around them, "Can I come home now?"

Within the blink of an eye another version of Sam, this one also glowing and at the young age of sixteen, appeared beside him. That Danny raised his left had to stroke her barely tangible cheek with his thumb as she answered with her trademark smirk, "Of course," taking his free hand and leading him to an unseen portal where they disappeared forever. They never acknowledged the others, content within their own world until they truly were in their own world.

Minutes silently passed by as they wondered if anything else would happen before Danny spoke up, ending the silence that would soon drive him mad. "Well, that was…" Danny uncertainly trailed.

"Unexpected?" Vi suggested.

"Beautiful," Sam commented as she rest her head on Danny's shoulder, her chin on top of lil' Dani's head since she was still holding her daughter.

"Cheesy," Dan dryly stated, scoffing as annoyed team members turned his way. As Dan shrugged in response, Clockwork made his presence known as he appeared above Vladmius, lifting him with the power of his staff and causing the villain's almost extinguished aura to glow blue as he rose into the air. Clockwork didn't say anything, only turning towards their prisoner while holding his staff out to tap him on top of his head. Then they were gone, all of them transported to the Observants' domain.

Vladmius floated in his blue energy field of a prison in the middle of all the Observants as the team stood on a platform overlooking the proceedings. He was missing hair—a multitude of bald spots covering his head—and all color had drained from his body leaving him a watery blue. He was beaten badly, especially after that final blow, but he was awakened to hear his sentencing. "Vladmius: you are charged with tyrannical treacheries, defying the universal law of time separation, committing atrocious acts against humans and ghosts and halfas, and conspiracy against the protectors of Time. Observant High Council, what say you?"

"Guilty!" The Observants, numerous in their full attendance, immediately rose from their chairs and took aim. Vladmius could do nothing to stop them, as he had been warned. This was his punishment; his consequence; his risk for taking the trade-offs that had been lended to him early in the game.

He had lost, something he had mistakenly believed would not happen if he cheated enough.

And now he was no more.

Author's Note

I'm guessing nobody saw this coming?

Sorry the update is so late, but I had a full day of writing papers! Otherwise, I don't have much to say for this chapter other then it came to me as a dream one night and I knew this was a way better ending than my original idea. This way, none of the Danny's would be stained with Vladmius' blood. I had been having lots of trouble trying to decide who would ultimately kill him, so this way I didn't have to choose! And the short Observant scene was taken from the episode with Vortex, so it is an accurate description of what would happen (which I do not own)! So ya, see ya tomorrow!