Danny flew over the city invisibly, scanning the area for any signs of the shadow ghosts; though at the same time, he found himself re-familiarizing himself with the surroundings.

Five years. That was how long Danny had waited to return home. Five years. That was how long he had traveled and explored the Ghost Zone. Five years. That was how long he had to practice his powers to perfection. Five years.

That was how long he had to wait before seeing his family and his friends again, face to face, and hold their hands in his, and hear their voices in his ears.

"Although it's grown, at least most of it still looks the same," Danny noted, looking over his once home-town, now a city. "Why people would want to move here or keep their families here, I have no idea. If not for who I am, I probably would have taken my wife and kids and vamoosed."

Wife and kids. Those words suddenly stuck in his mind. Sam was the only one he wanted to spend his life with, that was for sure. No other woman, even the girls he had had a crush on in high school, were not nearly as precious to him as Sam was. She understood him, always backed him up, knew exactly what to say to bring him down to Earth, and always supported him. Even when she was upset with him, she was always loyal.

The perfect to-be wife.

But then there was Andy. Her son. The boy Danny had just rescued. Confusion filled Danny's mind again, confusion and mystery; how did he come to be? Who was the father? Why did he resemble Danny so much? Had Danny actually seen this boy go intangible, right before his eyes, and evade being crushed by flying debris? Or had his stay in the Ghost Zone made his eyes play tricks on him?

Though his mind told him that Sam had probably gotten tired of waiting for him, his heart said otherwise. And for the time being, Danny just had to trust what the latter told him. It was this part of him that had kept him and his physical body alive and well in the ghost Zone, after all.

I'll… just ask her when everything's over, he thought. For now, I need to save Amity Park, keep that Ghost Portal open, and protect Tucker, Jazz, Sam and her son. If that kid means a lot to her, than he's obviously important.

Deep down inside, in fact, Danny found that the boy meant a lot to him as well.

He flew over the tallest building in the city and was suddenly taken off guard by an attack. He gasped and quickly dodged it, noticing how it had come from above him. When he looked up, he saw at least a dozen shadow ghosts, throwing one attack after another down to the streets that were now crowded with panicking people. Loud sirens whined throughout Amity Park, announcing another Ghost Attack.

Luckily, he was invisible, so no one, not even the attacking ghosts, could see him.

"Geez, you'd think that after all these years, people would understand that standing in the streets during an attack in the middle of the night is a serious no-no," Danny groaned, slapping his forehead.

Another attack flew by him, missing him by a few inches. This one exploded against a giant billboard, which sparked a few times before groaning and beginning to fall, directly over dozens of citizens.

"That's one reason why towns are better than cities!" Danny exclaimed. He turned into a dive and became visible again. "Time for Danny Phantom to make his five-year-waiting entrance!"

The people screamed in fright and tried to evade the falling billboard, all the while covering their heads. Children cried, people ran into each other, but because there were so many citizens, no one would be able to escape being crushed by the billboard…

… That is, if it had not been for Amity Park's hero.

Danny dodged more attacks headed in his direction—the shadows noticed him now and were trying to stop him from rescuing the people. He reached his arms out before him as far as they could go, flew as fast as he could and, just feet before squishing the people, grabbed hold of the billboard and stopped it in its tracks.

The people immediately ceased crying in fear and looked up in shock. Danny groaned and pulled back on the billboard as hard as he could. "Man, five years without a workout like this can really give you back problems!" he said to himself behind his teeth.

The city looked on as the billboard rose itself back upwards, until they noticed the person pulling it back. Immediately, starting with those most familiar with him, the people jumped into the air and cheered.

Danny set the billboard down on the roof of the building it had been standing on and wiped his forehead. "Whoo; after this night's done, I'm taking a long shower, eating fifty hot dogs and sleeping for six weeks," he said. "I seriously need to regain my energy…"

His voice suddenly died away as the cheers in the streets below overpowered his voice. Danny raised his head and then slowly turned around to look over the side of the building at the mass of humans down below. They were all cheering, almost as though they had not expected to see him ever again. People whistled, children jumped, adults threw their hands into the air.

Danny stared at them in silent wonder, before finally cracking a grin and raising a hand to wave back. Although he had never been a fan of standing in front of several people, he was touched to know that, even after five years of absence, his home town had not forgotten its hero.

"DANNY! DANNY! DANNY!" people chanted, in unison.

Danny smiled a little more, but was suddenly taken off guard when a purple ghost ray exploded at his feet, crumbling the side of the building. He gasped and jumped back before looking upwards.

Dozens of Shadow Ghosts were staring down at him, glaring angrily. Among them, several feet larger, was Shade.

Danny got into ready stance as the people down below began panicking again. He bared his teeth. "This town never did anything to you, Shade!" he yelled. "This is between you and me; let's take this fight somewhere else before you hurt innocent people!"

Shade narrowed his eyes. "I'd rather settle matters here," he said. "In your zone."

"You're going to hurt someone!"

"If it means weakening your spirit, then I don't care!" Shade growled back. "Humans are a thorn in every ghost's side. They were the ones who trapped you in the Ghost Zone, Danny Phantom! The Ghost Keeper, remember? He was once a human! This town deserves to perish!"

"I won't let you destroy Amity Park!" Danny shouted. "I may not have been able to protect it in the past five years, but that doesn't mean that I can't still do it!"

"By protecting humans, you forfeit your afterlife, you fool! I will turn this town upside down to find that last gem! I will not stop until I find it! Your powers are as good as mine!"

Danny floated upwards and created two orbs of ecto-plasmic energy around his hands. He glared at the Shadow Ghost before him. "If you want that gem, you'll have to go through me first!" he said. "And just like the other times, I will not be so easily defeated!"

Shade smiled like a wolf. "So be it!" he said. He pointed at Danny. "DESTROY HIM!"

The smaller Shadow Ghosts hissed loudly and began tossing one attack after another at Danny. Danny threw a few back at them and then pulled a ghost shield over his body; unfortunately, he had decided to put it up only a few second too late. A ghost ray slammed into his chest and propelled Danny backwards towards the ground.

People scrambled out of the way as Danny impacted in the paved street and slid a few dozen feet before coming to a stop in front of a street lamp. The lamp creaked and bent over slightly when Danny crashed into it, but luckily, it was not enough to snap it in two.

Danny moaned painfully and slowly sat up while cradling his head. He was just about to raise himself to his feet when he suddenly noticed that his hands became slightly transparent. He gasped in shock and stared at them until they returned to normal.

He sighed of relief until he heard Shade laugh. Danny raised his head and looked upwards.

"You are weakening, Danny," Shade mocked. "With every passing minute that brings us closer to dawn, you are losing your spiritual half. While I am simply growing stronger!" He laughed again.

Danny got to his feet. "Obviously, you haven't noticed that I'm not about to back out of a fight that easily," he said.

"To be honest, I was hoping you wouldn't," Shade said. He transformed into a black dragon again. "Because then, I wouldn't be able to personally vaporize you!"

He took a deep breath and blew out green flames. Danny immediately dashed out of the way as the flames landed where he had once been standing. People cried in fright and jumped to safety.

Danny skidded around a building and then ran as fast as he could down the street. The black dragon overhead roared ferociously and breathed more green fire, tracing it down the path Danny was taking.

Danny looked over his shoulder before jumping onto a car, leaping onto a crashed city bus from there, and diving over an overpass, flipping once, before grabbing a nearby street pole and riding it down to the ground again. All this time, Shade's fire continued to chase him.

"Good thing I'm still a ghost without any human body," he muttered. "I can't get tired when I run."

His hands suddenly turned transparent again before fading back into view. Danny looked at them for a moment, wondering what he could do to stop them from doing that, and then flipped to one side as a shadow ghost tossed a trash can at him.

He slapped his forehead. "Who am I kidding?" Danny scolded himself. "I'm a ghost! I can fly, for Pete's sake!" He jumped onto the wall of a building, Shade's fire once more on his trail, and ran up it until he had reached the top. There, he leaped off, just missing the tips of the green flames, and shot off into the sky.

Shade roared, and immediately, all the other Shadow Ghosts raced after him.

Danny looked over his shoulder and gasped. "Well, at least I've got their attention!" he said, noticing that every single one of Shade's minions were on his tail. He made a sharp turn to his right, tucked his arms at his sides and led the Shadow Ghosts on a chase. From afar, it looked like a figure haloed in a thin white glow was being chased by a long trail of black smoke.

Danny twisted around a radio tower, scaled skyscrapers, phased through vehicles and dove into the lake, trying to gain air between him and the black ghosts. It took a large amount of time for him to achieve the needed distance, and once he had, Danny swooped around, made his fists glow green and charged for the Shadow Ghosts while shouting.

BLAM! He bored straight through the black mass, lighting it with rods of green energy until he had reached its end and flew out of it. The Shadows shrieked in pain and exploded into millions of small dust particles.

Danny panted before shaking the glow off of his hands and staring at them again. Once more, they faded out and back into solid body parts.

He rubbed his hands together and looked about. I need to find out what time it is, he thought. Where's that stupid clock tower when you need it?

A low growl coming from the area he had just come from caused him to look in its direction. There, he saw that, all the particles which had once been part of dozens of Shadow Ghosts, suddenly began to glow green and joined together. They formed a giant black sphere over the very place Danny had destroyed them, and then multiplied into hundreds of small shadows, each with glowing red eyes. They all smiled deviously at Danny.

Danny stared at them in disbelief before slapping his forehead. "Ultimate Control is the only thing that can stop Shade from creating anything more, Danny," he scolded himself behind his teeth. "You're the one who told the others that, for cryin' out loud."

Shade, now in his original form, floated up into the air a few dozen feet away from Danny. "You are running out of time, Daniel," he said. "The sun will be rising soon. If you plan on destroying me, you may as well start now."

Danny bared his teeth and tossed his hand back to throw a ghost ray at them. But to his shock, his entire body went transparent for a moment and began fading away. He gasped and focused all of his energy to bring himself back. Thankfully, it worked.

Shade threw his head back and laughed. "Your deadline draws nearer, Danny Phantom!" he shouted. "Even your energy storing will not be enough to keep you alive!" He held up a fist. "And once you disappear, finding that gem will be all too easy, and gaining your powers will be even easier! I planned on destroying your physical body before your spirit, but this way works all the same!"

"You'll never get neither, Shade," Danny growled. "Just because I'm running out of time, it doesn't mean that I still can't use my powers on you."

"Perhaps not, but you already know that your Ghost Ray has no effect on my minions or me. So why bother to fight?"

"Because I won't go down the loser!" Danny yelled. "And if I do, I refuse to go down as the coward!"

Shade narrowed his eyes. "So be it," he said. "Then you shall go down as the fool."

His shadows growled loudly and raced across the sky until they had reached Danny. They grabbed a hold of him, any way necessary. Danny managed to fight and throw a few back, but they quickly outnumbered him and began forming a black trap around him. He struggled to break free, but the pressure became too over powering. He groaned painfully.

"Once the trap is complete, they will crush you," Shade explained as his minions continued to pile up around Danny. "And not even you will be able to return from that."

Danny tried pulling himself free again before glaring furiously at the Shadow Ghost. "You'll never take me," he hissed, only seconds before the other shadows covered him completely from view.

Shade smiled darkly. "I believe I just did," he said. He raised an arm. "Farewell, Danny Phantom—!"

PTCHOO! PITCHOO!

Shade gasped in shock as two giant blue orbs of ect-plasmic energy soared down towards them and exploded against the giant black egg. Blue streaks of lightning spread over it, making all of the Shadow Ghosts shriek in pain and disperse. Once again free, Danny gasped for air, clutched his right shoulder, and looked about, slightly startled that he had not been harmed by the attack.

"Impossible!" Shade growled, looking about. "Who dares to interrupt my moment of triumph?"

"WE DARE!"

Danny looked upwards, just as Shade did, and raised his eyebrows in surprise. Soaring down from the sky came a speeder-like ship, silver, with three rocket boosters at its rear. It was the size of an SUV. After a moment, Danny suddenly realized that the vehicle even looked like a silver SUV.

The ship swooped down and out from its belly emerged two giant gun barrels. It shot several blue energy orbs at the black ghost, and although Shade was only pushed back a few feet with every impact, it did cause him to groan loudly in pain.

Danny, still holding onto his sore shoulder, looked on until the SUV-like ship floated down beside him. He looked at it as the dark passenger window rolled down.

Sam was sitting on the other side. She smiled at Danny, just as Tucker leaned over from the driver's seat. "Hey, Danny!" the black man said cheerfully as Jazz and Andy stuck their heads into view and waved back.

Danny stared at them in shock. "How the heck did you guys get up here?" he asked.

Sam pointed at Tucker. "Turns out that his SUV is actually a Speeder," she said. "Equipped with the same ghost weapons your parents' RV has."

"Plus, it comes with a bonus GPS feature," Tucker added: "The DP-Finder. Pretty slick, huh?"

Danny grinned wryly. "I'm afraid to admit that you've got way too much free time on your hands, dude," he said with a laugh.

"I had to do something to keep myself busy while not in the office or trying to locate your body."

Shade finally recovered from the blasts fired at him and roared loudly. Danny looked up at him and frowned. "Considering you guys are up here, you might as well continue to back me up," he said. "Are Mom, Dad and Dr. Johnson safe?"

"They were attacked earlier by a few shadow ghosts, but they've been able to keep things under control from their end," Jazz replied.

"As long as the portal's still open. Tucker, this SUV wouldn't happen to have a ghost shield, would it?"

Tucker shook his head. "Haven't had time to add one yet," he said. He grinned slyly. "But it does have something that they don't have, and when I say that, I mean it to your advantage."

Danny looked at his best friend again. "Would that have something to do with the attack you shot at them earlier?" he wondered. "And why it didn't effect me?"

Sam held up a flat device that looked incredibly familiar to Danny. "You remember that Ghost Zapper Tucker designed for the battle against the Ghost Keeper five summers ago?" she said.

Danny stared at the disc and finally cracked a grin. He looked at Tucker again. "You made ghost rays out if too?" he asked, totally enthralled.

"I needed something that no one else had," Tucker replied with a shrug.

"Tucker, that's brilliant!"

"Why, thank you—!"

A purple ghost ray suddenly blasted right passed them, nearly sending the SUV out of control. Everyone shouted in surprise as the car was rocked to one side.

Danny floated back a few feet before staring at Shade again. "Okay, back to business," he said. "We need to weaken him as much as we can until we get near enough to sunrise. So our best bet is to get rid of his minions, but unfortunately, they can't be officially destroyed by anything except Ultimate Control either."

"Then, we'll just have to find a way to slow them down for now," Sam announced. "Let's Get this party started!"