I really struggled with this chapter and I still think it could use a bit of work. Probably mostly because I had so many ideas of how to play things out, I still can't decide which one is best. Maybe I'll get to it later. I ended up writing in a whole additional scene that ended up making it long enough for me to want to split this into two chapters. (Meaning the next update won't be so far behind this time.) But now, I'm sure you've waited long enough. So here's chapter 25.

Disclaimer: Danny Phantom is created by Butch Hartman. I do not own the show not any of its original characters. Just of the design of the older version of Danielle you can view on other websites.

Chapter 25: Back to Square One

The flight to the Realm of the Far Frozen was only a bit dodgy for the Phantoms. Danielle had been right about Walker's forces not wanting to give up finding them. There were several ghostly police that Danny had to duck himself and Danielle out of sight from while trying to make their way to the realm where they knew they would receive the helped they needed.

Nevertheless, it was certainly doable. Danielle may not have been able to provide an extra pair of eyes for a lookout, but the police were always barking orders at each other and traveled in large bands: A huge mistake on the part of the enemy. The young blind girl could always hear those obnoxious guards coming from quite a distance away and alert her cousin of them long before they were even within his sight, much less themselves being within the guards'. Danny would take care of the rest as far as the traveling and finding a good place to hide until the danger had passed.

Finally, the two Phantoms made it to the frozen tunnel: The main landmark in the Ghost Zone that lead directly to the Far Frozen. It also served as a good place for both of the cousins to rest and stay hidden for just a while longer.

By this time, the frost Danny had applied to help ease the pain of his cousin's wounds had thawed out, so he also took this time to make another layer over the cuts on Danielle's shoulder and forearm. Once the two of them were prepared, they preceded down the remaining length of the tunnel. Danny soon saw the largest peak of the sought-out realm through the tunnel exit.

"We're nearly there, Dani." He said to the teenage girl he carried in his arms.

"I know." Danielle smiled, with slowly drooping eyes. "I can see that the peak is within your line of vision."

Danny scoffed, shaking his head. He should have known Danielle would be using his eyes to see at least once in a while on this journey. She had been waiting to see through her own eyes again for weeks. Now she knew that they were getting closer and closer to that goal on this expedition.

The Ghost Hero carried his cousin around the top of the peak to finally see the frozen valley below. Even though the village still looked to be in repairs from his evil self's attack, it was such a relief to see a sight Danny knew was full of specters who respected and admired him for the things he had done. Much better than the dark, gloomy prison that was Walker's jail where he was despised for the very same things.

As Danny made his way down to the village with his cousin, he noticed that the rebuilding seemed to be going pretty well considering all the damage Dark Phantom had caused. Several of the Far Frozen citizens saw the teenage hybrid passing up ahead and waved up at him.

As he was using both his hands to carry Danielle, all the young hero was originally going to do was smile with a friendly nod in response, but when he noticed that he couldn't see Frostbite anywhere, he decided to make the greeting more personal. He glided down and landed in the snow in front of the first furry ghost who had waved to him.

"Welcome, Great One." The citizen greeted with a bow. Many who were nearby followed suite as soon as they turned from their work and saw that Danny Phantom was among them.

Danny barely stopped himself from shaking his head with a sigh. He was still slightly embarrassed when they did that.

"Hi guys." Danny greeted as pleasantly as possible as the first beast was getting back to his feet.

"We thought it would be you this time." The creature remarked.

Danny cocked an eyebrow from the rather strange choice of words. "You were expecting someone else?" He asked.

The Far Frozen ghost shrugged. "Well, after the surprise attack we received from that ghost whom we had mistaken, we've been attempting to take a few extra precautions."

"Ah. I see." Danny responded with a realizing nod, remembering how they had said that his evil self looked like him from a distance before he ambushed them. "Well, is Frostbite around?" The teenage boy asked, trying to cut to the chase as soon as possible.

The beast nodded looking very happy to have been asked by the beloved celebrity for assistance. "Yes. He's in the medical facility. The physicians are checking over his leg."

Danny looked in the direction the beast had nodded his head towards before turning back to him. "Thanks." He said with another smile to all of the Far Frozen citizens present before lifting off the ground to head in the very familiar direction he had come to learn so well by now.

Frostbite was just coming out of the cave mouth as Danny was approaching. A few doctors were following the head creature, looking reassuringly at him. Mostly likely about his leg. Frostbite seemed to still have a cast on, but he was no longer using the crutch. Nor was he limping nearly as badly as he was when Danny had last seen him after the attack had taken place. Danny had always noticed that even though ghosts were more likely to get hurt in the Ghost Zone than humans, they could certainly heal faster. Sometimes the paranormal sciences in this world could make the high school graduate's head spin. But at least it worked and he still knew enough about it to use it to his advantage at times.

Frostbite shortly turned to see that Danny had returned to the Far Frozen and looked very overjoyed to see him. "Ah. It is good to see you again, Danny Phantom." He said with a toothy and still friendly-looking smile.

Danny smiled back sheepishly. That was before Frostbite suddenly set widened eyes on the blind cousin who The Savior of the Ghost Zone was carrying.

"Good heavens, Great One, what's happened?" Frostbite asked Danny concerned when he saw Danielle's sleeve of her forearm (that was clearly visible within his sight) was stained with blood. Was she even conscious if her older cousin had to carry her here?

Danny looked down at his cousin, wondering why she wasn't answering for him when he realized that her eyes were closed and her breathing was in a slow and steady rate. Her body also felt much more relaxed as he held her. Danielle had had a long and trying day with using her Plasma Rocket for a quick escape from Walker's prison, carrying him all that time. Not to mention that fight in the arena with the wildcat before that happened. Additionally, after all the chaos that had happened at the jail alone, Danny could imagine that she must have been fighting to stay awake this whole time so she could provide additional radar for danger while they were making their way here to make sure they weren't caught again. Danny couldn't blame her if she just couldn't keep herself awake any longer once she saw that a safe haven was finally within Danny's sight.

"It's okay. I think she's just sleeping." Danny quickly said to reassure Frostbite, reading his mind of his friend's visual interpretation of the situation being much more fatal than it actually was.

Frostbite and the physicians looked so relieved after Danny had said this. They must have been remembering the time he had been injected with the Blood Blossom poison that nearly took his life.

"We could still use your help though." Danny stated. "Again." He added with a sigh, remembering how many times he and Danielle had been here to receive medical assistance.

"But, of course." Frostbite said without hesitation. He waved over a physician who carefully took the teenage girl from Danny's care.

Danielle stirred only slightly as she was being transferred to the large, furry paws of the Far Frozen doctor, but she also visibly cringed from the cuts on her back being touched.

"Careful." Danny quickly said. "She's got a really bad one on her shoulder."

After seeing what the young hero was talking about, the physician nodded, carefully replacing his giant furry hand to a more secure position before carrying Danielle inside.

Frostbite looked between the young boy and the direction in which the younger Phantom had been taken with a perplexed look on his face. Why young Danielle Phantom was in the Ghost Zone in the first place was beyond him, but what confused the furry specter even more was how she could have gotten such severe looking injuries. He turned to the eldest of the Phantom cousins and was about to ask the questions he had in mind when he noticed him pinching the bridge of his nose in apparent weariness. That's when Frostbite thought that perhaps the time for questions would be best for later. If the cousin was in such a state, who knew what the eldest of them had also been through? So instead, the realm leader walked up to the young man and offered, "You look quite exhausted yourself, Great One. Perhaps you should also come inside and rest."

Danny accepted gratefully. "I can't think of anything else I would like right now." Then he remembered something. "Oh. But here." He reached inside his pocket and pulled out Danielle's blindness cure, showing it to the Far Frozen leader.

Frostbite looked astonished when he saw it before he smiled at what it meant. "You retrieved it from your future self? Excellent." He said happily. "Then your cousin will be able to obtain her sight again after all."

"Yeah. But Danielle brought to my attention that since it's been through the hands of a lot of our enemies before I was able to get it, it could have become contaminated in some way." Danny pointed out. "Do you think you could find out?"

Frostbite took the cure and held it at eyelevel as he considered this matter before nodding. "I'll see to it personally, Great One." Then Frostbite put6 his huge, clawed hand around Danny's shoulders and started escorting him inside the cave, saying, "And after you've rested, I would like to know what has happened that you would have allowed your cousin to even be in the Ghost Zone, much less receive such injuries as those."

Danny felt too tired and sore from the torture sessions Walker had put him through to even care to think about that future moment. He just remained silent as he was shown to a room and onto a flat boulder that served as a bed. Even though the surface was hard (not particularly helpful to his aching muscles) and the only pillow available was an angular stone that merely elevated his head, it was probably only a few seconds after laying down on it that he instantly felt his eyelids go heavy and his limbs turn to lead.

Was he really that tired? Danny knew he hadn't slept at all the night he snuck away from Fenton Works to trade The Crown of Fire. Unless one could count passing out from an electric shock as any type of sleep. How much sleep had he really gotten in between all the torture sessions Walker had with him? Was he even able to at all since getting the chills from his trapped ice power?

Danny didn't even have a minute to figure it out before he was fast asleep.

0000000

As soon as his naïve younger self had fallen for the obvious trap that had landed him in the ghost slammer, Dark Phantom was immediately anxious to try out this new power on the worthless humans of his old town of residence. After making a memorable reappearance with no feeble attempts of his past self to stop him this time, Dark Phantom had placed the Crown on his head, already feeling its energy course through his figure.

The next thing he knew, he had felt such a great force blow him back, making him smash into a wall of a building that completely collapsed from the impact seconds later. Humans were frantically scurrying in panic from such a massive display of destruction that had set several nearby buildings in bright green flames.

Seeing how such devastation had suddenly come about without him even trying, Dark Phantom was completely awestruck and excited to have one of the most powerful artifacts to do it with. Several more times he had repeated this. It was incredible. Simply trying to grab a hold the power he felt coursing inside him from the Crown triggered so much chaos and panic among the weak and helpless human race.

Of course, it also meant getting blown into another wall every time it happened and a bit of a headache from such a power-surge afterwards, but in a way that actually made it fun. All the more public damage by his doing after all, Dark Phantom had thought.

Well, at least for a short time. Before even the fifth time he had unleashed the power of The Crown of Fire and toppled a lamppost by accident after doing so, Dark Phantom began to get bored with instant destruction happening without him even realizing how. The reactions were so spontaneous and so fast, he couldn't even register that the green flames that suddenly appeared to have ignited the surrounding buildings were even coming from him, much less the crown. He felt like he was simply the backseat passenger of a crazy car chase, or some theme park thrill ride. Just on for the observance of someone, (or in this case, something) else taking the wheel and having all the fun controlling the situation and where the passengers were going.

Before long, Dark Phantom made himself another portal to the Ghost Zone to see if he could find some way of controlling the energy within The Crown of Fire better so he could be the one driving and having the fun the next time he returned. With this Crown, whose magnitude that could rival that of even his Ghostly Wail…Oh what surprises he could cause in both worlds if he was able to actively direct the shots himself.

That was some time ago. Now the alternative future of Danny Phantom drifted through the realms of the Ghost Zone trying to think of what he could do to fully harness the power of The Crown of Fire. He had already left the warehouse in ruins and Johnny 13's motorcycle in a wreck: unfortunately without the bonus of maiming Johnny himself like he was able to do in his own timeline, but it was simply a test run and he'd get back to Johnny later. He also left prince Aragon to shame when the arrogant royal tried to reclaim the crown he had proclaimed had been stolen from him.

Although even with a few new ways of channeling the energy aside from just trying to grab it and let it blow up in his face, Dark Phantom still got the unsatisfactory result of not being able to know what exactly was happening as he released The Crown's power. With such a massive blast that happened every time, he couldn't see Johnny's look of astonished panic before the punk ran for his afterlife, abandoning his favored bike to be blown to smithereens an instant later. He couldn't laugh in seeing the Box Ghost duck in cover with a panicking yelp as the green flames smote his box storage facility. He didn't even see what had happened to Prince Aragon after he had morphed into his dragon form in an attempt to fight back his 'inheritance,' as he had called it. Perhaps he was able to at least wipe that nuisance off the board entirely. He always had been annoying.

Little did he know that as much as the selfish prince had been hit by a massive heat wave from the Crown, his sister, princess Dora had come to his rescue in her own dragon appearance and pulled him out of danger of another destructive blow just in time. Her brother had been left unconscious, but otherwise unharmed, before she was able to remove his dragon's eye amulet and return to her own humanoid form to avoid detection before Dark Phantom had even gotten his awareness back.

Before long, the malevolent specter's fun experiments started turning into frustrating and tiresome failures. He couldn't have been that much weaker than the Ghost King. His power had grown exponentially over the years since fusing with Plasmius' ghost half. But then again, that time when he had fought the Ghost King he had been wearing that ecto-suit that gave him the power of one hundred specters. Even then, it had been a close match.

On the other hand, the King had The Ring of Rage back by the time Dark Phantom had come around to fighting him. His opponent had both artifacts to give him his maximum strength while he himself only had less than half his power left from having to fight off the King's forces prior to facing him. He still walked away as the victor. Surely he didn't have to be that much more powerful in order to control just one of the relics, especially if he was able to defeat the ghost who was supposed to be the only one powerful enough to control them. Said Skulker all those years ago.

With that factor in mind, Dark Phantom's confusion in his lack of control over The Crown only grew. His ever-persistent attempts and still resulting failures were getting very discouraging.

Dark Phantom growled at himself after a while of aimless drifting to nowhere in particular. "I can't believe I hadn't thought of this problem before taking it from that desperate and gullible past self of mine."That's when a thought struck him. "Or was the kid being gullible after all?" He thought aloud to himself.

Dark Phantom looked at the blazing crown in his hands as he considered this possibility. It was only a short time before he came up with a logical conclusion.

"That sneaky little brat!" He cursed loudly as he suddenly stopped in mid-flight. Danny must have always known he wouldn't even attempt to resist the thought of having this kind of power to refuse an exchange with that worthless bottle that was only valuable to the boy. For whatever reason that might have been.

"Well. I'll show him." Dark Phantom said, suddenly finding a new drive within himself to get control of The Crown of Fire in his hands. Danny may have been desperate enough to land himself in Walker's custody, but Dark Phantom wasn't going to let his younger self know he had still outsmarted him. He wasn't going to let a teenager show him up. He was going to make sure he knew that willingly giving him this artifact was the biggest mistake he had ever made. And perhaps seeing what power he's been able to command will serve as an additional motivator for his younger self to give up his pathetic human half he continues to cling to after he sets his past straight again in regards to the Fenton's, Sam and Tucker. Mr. Lancer could probably be left alone this time, but if he ever did end up being in the wrong place at the wrong time, he wouldn't mind at least having a bit of fun with him.

However, that still presented the problem of how he was going to keep The Crown of Fire more under control. Dark Phantom found a lone asteroid to sit on and ponder this problem for a long time, thinking on events of his past that could probably help him figure it out. He had to admit that as much as the memory of his sympathetic past bored him, it did have some advantages in figuring out how to deal with certain enemies.

Dark Phantom thought for a long time before a certain memory did clique in his head. He smiled at his own intelligence as an idea started coming to him.

I know it's pretty short, but I'll be making up for that in the next chapter.

Now. Some of you had asked about when Dark Phantom would make a reappearance, so I decided to give you one. I hope you enjoyed. The next chapter was originally part of this one, which works out because I was able to end it the way I wanted it to without making it too long. I just want to make sure of a few things firts before putting it up. At least you won't have to wait as long this time. In the meantime, I would like to know your thoughts about this chapter. If you're still reading it after such a long wait.