Enjoy and don't forget to read outro!

Chapter 24

Amity Park. A nice place to live, or so the sign says. this seemingly sleepy town normally was wrought with ghosts through all hours of the day. Normally. Tonight, Tonight, things seemed to be leaning towards what passed for unusual in this place, i.e. an utter lack of ghosts. Except one.

The Box Ghost swooped down over the tenth warehouse on Amity Park's eighteenth wharf, and proceeded much more cautiously than normal. The memory (and bruises) of his last visit to the docks still too fresh, he dropped his careless attitude after getting a worse whooping from some new guy than Phantom ever had. Descending invisibly between warehouses 10 and 9 with much more stealth than he was used to, he let out a breath he shouldn't have been able to hold as he slipped through to the wall into the expected haven of . . . well, boxes.

Before he could begin whatever he had planned to do, he felt a familiar, sinking, or rather draining sensation. He had a mere moment to look behind him in horror as he was being pulled backward by an unforgettable vortex of blue energy into a green-and-white cylindrical device. He wailed in protest as he feebly attempted to escape the Fenton Thermos' pull before it overcame him and sucked him into its dark depths.

Tucker quickly capped the Thermos and chuckled. "Guess I was right, Jazz."

Jazz's slightly annoyed voice came over his earpiece. "I didn't say he wouldn't show up, I said he might not go to the same one."

"Whatever, how's it going on your end?"

"I saw Johnny 13, but he stopped cold for some reason and turned tail for my house. I wonder why?"

Tucker shrugged. "How far are you? I need to -" he broke off as he noticed the sky suddenly becoming red. In the blink of an eye, the evening firmament had returned to its starry midnight blue. "Did you see that?"

"Yep!" Jazz crackled over the signal. "I'll be right there to pick you up."

All right, I'm gonna call Val."

"Why?"

"I get the feeling we're gonna need back up coming into this."

Jason felt the fatigue begin to overpower him as the portal disappeared. he knew he had overdone it with the sheer massiveness of it as well as the force of its gravity. But at least it worked, he thought, looking over to see Malbenita's prone form amidst the others who had been laying there since they'd returned. Admittedly, it wasn't his best plan ever: bringing the former Prince of the Ghost Zone to Amity Park, but at least he wouldn't be able to siphon energy off of everything. Now, he only had his own to go off of.

The others began to stir and groan, prompting Jason to do likewise as he was reminded of the intense effort he'd just made. Granted, the roof of an apartment building is destined not to be the most comfortable. As they quickly recovered, Sam was the first to get in his face.

"Nice going!" She clearly wasn't impressed with Jason's stunt. "Now he's here. What kind of plan was that?"

"One that got us and him out of a dimension made entirely out of an energy that he could absorb and amplify, or did you miss the part where we were trying to stop him?" Jason didn't mean to get worked up about it, but he was too exhausted to care.

"If you are both quite down," Vlad intervened warningly, pointing over to 'him' as he did so.

Malbenita growled and tossed his staff aside. "You think this changes anything?! I am invincible! I'll take you all, here and now. All will know who is the most worthy to rule!" Suddenly, he was propelled forward, past the others, and over the side of the building.

The five Halfas turned to see Tucker and Jazz, who were each holding a Fenton Bazooka, and Valerie in her Red Huntress guise, complete with hover board and ecto-rifle which was still smoking and aimed towards them.

"Looks like we're a bit late for the party," she commented, lowering her weapon and blowing across its muzzle. "Thanks for the invitation."

Dani was the first to recover (for real this time). "Didn't think you would come."

Danny whistled, earning him the full attention of the others. "WE have a guy who i massively powerful and possibly stronger than anyone we've faced so far running around amity Park. Let's try to keep the banter to a minimum."

Hearing the words come out of Danny's mouth made everyone feel the full gravity of the situation: Danny had nothing to joke about. Looking upon him with a new respect, everyone, including Vlad set their jaws and nodded.

"So what's the plan, 'King' Danny?" Jason inquired.

"Well, you brought Malbenita here, so you must have had a plan."

This time Jason fought down his retort, and tried to think of an actual answer. While doing so, his eyes wandered towards the Fenton Bazookas. Then it hit him.

"Yeah, think we could borrow some of your parent's tech?"

Malbenita gingerly picked himself up out of the full-body imprint he had made after falling off the roof. While he stood up, little black chunks tumbled down the front and back of him, and what didn't, he brushed off quickly. He noticed something wet on his upper lip, and when he took his hand away, he saw sticky green ectoplasm. His vision went red as he unleashed an ungodly roar that took sent nearby cars flying and cracked several walls. He had never taken humiliation well, and now he had been pushed too far.

He propelled himself into the air and landed on the building he'd fallen from. There, he found a worse disgrace: his staff had been taken once again, and by those meddling -! He sighed and calmed himself. Overconfidence had gotten him to this point, but he wouldn't make that mistake again. Now, he was ready to destroy them all.

Valerie glanced from the strange staff to the vial of a green ghost compound baring the name "Ecto-Dejecto" and finally at the green-and-white belt that was the Specter Deflector. She shook her head and turned on her helmet's scanners, immediately alerting her with a scream of Malbenita's proximity. It didn't help that she also noticed blue wisps escape Danny and Danielle's mouth at that moment as well.

"Uh, are you finished with that contraption yet? The big bad guy's almost here!"

Jason managed to suppress his sarcastic retort this time, feeling somewhat better to be working with something normal, something familiar and easy. Sure it was ghost tech, but tech all the same. Sorta.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, or possibly because of it, he couldn't help but realize just how much had changed in the last two weeks. New identity, new powers, new home, new friends, everything had just been flopped. He pushed those thoughts aside, knowing they'd do no good in the situation he was in.

"Almost ready, Val," The nickname still felt strange on his tongue. "If it comes to it, I'll need you guys to cover me and Vlad while we finish this."

"And why can't I help you two, or at least sit and watch?" Tucker complained.

"Because Jason and I are more knowledgeable about ghosts and this kind of technology, but if Skulker shows up, then we'll call upon you." Even amidst a crisis, Vlad never lost his charm.

"Not the time," Jason mumbled warningly as he began to solder a few wires.

They all felt the tremor as it began, much stronger than before. the ceiling began to crumble as the sounds of Jack and Maddie Fenton yelling "Ghost!" rang throughout the structure.

"Looks like we don't have time for this either," Danny replied grimly, clearly worried about his parents. "Jason, do you think you can finish that without Vlad?"

"I guess, maybe -"

"That'll have to be good enough. C'mon, everyone, we gotta help them!"

Whatever Jack and Maddie had been dreaming about (you can bet it had to do with ghosts, and possibly fudge or ham for Jack), they were not happy to be woken from it, and most certainly weren't expecting it to be a massive humanoid ghost in armor and a cloak to be the culprit.

"Ghost!" the two yelled before leaping into action. Maddie pulled her "light staff" from behind her back(?) while Jack retrieved a Fenton Anti-Creep Stick (the bat with the word "Fenton" on it) from among the splinters of the nightstand.

Malbenita clearly hadn't expected such a forward attack and received a few bruises before coming to his senses. He forced them back with a burst of ecto-energy and then formed green ecto-restraints around their arms, legs, and mouths. Finished, he turned intangible and floated down through the floor into the living room to find Tam Phantom (sans Jason) and Vlad waiting for him.

Danny held a snowball in his hand and tossed it up and caught it. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked as nonchalantly as he could muster.

"I know my staff is down there," Malbenita answered, pointing past them to the stairs in the kitchen, which were visible through the doorway they stood in front of. "I can sense its power, and I"ll kill you all if that is what it takes to get it back."

"We'll see about that!" Danny said, chucking the snowball at Malbenita and shooting a burst of ice after it; the others opened fire as well, throwing what they had at him despite their surroundings.

Malbenita immediately shielded against the torrent and formed bindings around his attackers, immediately cutting off their assault. He lowered his defense and strolled past their now prone figures. "Sorry, but I have played your game and I've lost my patience. Now, I am going to go kill your friend who I assume is down there guarding my staff, kill you all and those other humans upstairs." Danny's eyes widened as he realized he meant his parent's. "And then I'll conquer this world along with the Ghost Zone. All because you were too weak to stop me."

"You're about to be the weak one!" Jason shouted as he flew up the stairs , staff repaired and in hand. However, it had a strange machine attached to it.

"What-?!" Malbenita began before being zapped by the modified weapon. He felt the power drain from him, forcing him to realize the staff's function had been reversed!

"Nooooooooooooooo!" was all he could manage as the pain seared through him.

As it stopped, he felt something being put around his waist and when he tried to resist, a high-voltage shock answered. He knew he couldn't hold out much longer and finally succumbed to the darkness' cold embrace.

As he fell into the coma-like state from his impossible fatigue, two halos appeared around his waist and flowed up and down him, much to the shock of Jason and the others.

Okay, so this was a BIG chapter, and the next two will be even bigger. I hope you guys have enjoyed this story because as I said before, it will soon come to an end. I will continue the series after this, but I will be uploading a challenge from t-rex989 first. If you guys have any questions about this story, feel free to PM me, and I hope you enjoyed this one! Please fav, follow, and review, and also please tell others about this story if you think it is amazing. I'll see you all in the next chapter!