Time Fixers: Nicktoons of the Future

Episode 17: The Terror Within

Plot: Darry begins to feel haunted by the events of "Shadow of the Past" and feels he needs to learn control of his Ghost Rage to overcome it. So he sneaks off to Vlad Masters, hoping the former half-ghost can help train him. However, there have been attacks on Danny's closest friends and all clues lean to the culprit being a ghost…and a human.

Part 2

The next morning, Darry woke up on the couch as Vlad placed a wet cloth on his forehead. He groaned, "Ugh... What happened?" Darry turned to Vlad to see some cuts and bruises on his face. He realized in horror, "I...I did it again, huh?"

"I'm afraid so, Darrel." Vlad answered solemnly, "Evidently, you were not able to control yourself like you so proudly claimed."

Darry held a shaky finger at him, "But last night, you were saying..."

"Oh relax, Darrel. I didn't actually mean anything I said. I was just seeing if you'd react well enough to activate your Ghost Rage. Turned out my hunch was correct." Vlad laughed in amusement. "Just ask your father, I used to do stuff like that to him all the time."

Darry frowned and pressed the cloth against his forehead. "I thought this would be easy. Why can't I do this? Don't you know anything about this Ghost Rage power? I thought you knew enough to help me control it?"

"I do, Darrel, I do." Vlad answered, "But controlling it is not an easy task. I'm sure you remember when I told you that power is brought upon by your hidden anger and powers up your ghostly abilities. It also unlocks the remaining 75% of your ghost abilities and, I don't know if you noticed, also makes your hair as white as your father's. That much power can put a lot of strain on your body as I'm sure you recall."

"Which is why I have to control it." Darry responded, sitting up.

"But are you really controlling it? Or are you letting it control you?"

Darry pondered over this, wondering what he meant when his Recaller beeped. "SpongeTron, what's up? Have you been cov-" Darry's face froze in shock, "He's WHAT?!"

At the Bikini Bottom Hospital, Jimmy was walking down the halls with a serious expression until he made his way to a room. He opened the door to see SpongeBob lying unconsciously in a bed, beaten and bandaged with his glasses missing. Standing at his bedsides were Tak and Timmy and the two SpongeTron-Units. Jimmy became uneasy. "So it's true. What happened?" he asked.

636 and 363 held each other as they cried, "We don't know. We were cleaning the dumpster at the Krusty Krab last night and we went back inside once we finished." 363 explained through sobs.

"That's when we found him like this!" 636 finished with a loud cry.

Danny arrived to the room and explained, "I just finished looking around the Krusty Krab. There's not a lot of damage, but it doesn't look like there was a struggle."

Jimmy and Tak look at each other. "Could it be the same attacker?" Tak asked.

"Could be," Danny said seriously, "The money and safe are left untouched." He sighed, "First Tucker and now SpongeBob... What's going on?"

Jimmy went over to SpongeBob and placed a gentle hand on his square head, "I don't know. But what I'm more concerned about is that if there was really no sign of a struggle between SpongeBob and the attacker, it would mean SpongeBob didn't fight back. We all know he's soft- figuratively and physically- but SpongeBob's never one to go down without putting up a fight."

"Who on earth would wanna attack SpongeBob?" Timmy demanded to know. "And why wouldn't SpongeBob wanna fight back?"

Suddenly, the door was kicked down and they turn to see Sandy standing there with her foot out. "SpongeBob! Are ya okay?!" she immediately rushed to his side, but he still wouldn't wake up. "What happened to you?"

"Sandy, where's the rest of your clan?" Tak asked, noticing their kids not with her.

"Patrick, is watchin' 'em." Sandy answered, holding SpongeBob. "I had to come see SpongeBob for myself." but she still talked to her husband, distressed, "Oh, sweetie, who'd do this to you?"

"We know who did this." SpongeTron said as he, Tammy, and Tommy walk into the room. "I ran a DNA scanner around the Krusty Krab. It's the same one that matches the one in Mayor Foley's office.

"So it was the same attacker." Tak realized. "The one with human and ghost DNA."

"How's the data?" Jimmy asked.

"I still won't get a full analysis for another 12 hours," SpongeTron informed.

"Wait a minute...human AND ghost DNA?" Sandy questioned until she growled viciously directly at Danny, "You had somethin' to do with this, didn't you?!"

"What? No!" Danny asked, offended, "SpongeBob is one of my best friends! Why would I hurt him?"

"Sandy, calm down. Whoever it is, we'll find out soon enough." Jimmy said calmly. "But we can now confirm the pattern of the reason why Tucker and SpongeBob were targeted specifically."

"They're both my best friends." Danny realized. "Whoever it is, it's me they're trying to get to. I better call Valerie, Jazz, and my parents and warn them to be safe." he then turned to the Nicktoons, "Where's Darry? He needs to come home."

Tammy, Tommy, and SpongeTron fell silent and stammered, "Uhhh..." since they haven't heard from Darry since they called him over an hour ago.

"I'm right here." Darry Fenton said as he came inside the room.

"Great! Darry's here!" Tammy smiled and whispered to him, "Nice job on the voice. Been working on your Darry impression last night, huh Poof?"

Then Poof appeared, rubbing his eyes from a long sleep, "Poof?" He asked, hearing his name.

"Darry?" Tommy asked in surprise, seeing the ghost boy. "Is that really you?"

Darry was about to respond, but the three suddenly hug him in joy. "It is you!" SpongeTron said happily, "You're back...from the bathroom, cuz you've been with us the past two days."

Darry then glanced over to the injured sponge and walked over to him to check on his well-being. "SpongeBob..." he said in concern, "Is he gonna be okay? What about Tucker?"

"They'll both be fine, Darry." Danny assured as he held his shoulder. "But until this matter is taken care of, you and Yuki will have to stay home with Mom."

Jimmy cleared his throat, deciding to make a decision, "Danny, can I have a word with you...in private?"

Danny nodded as he followed Jimmy to an empty hallway. With the two gone, Tommy whispered, "So...were you able to...you-know-what?"

Darry sighed and answered, "Afraid not. The past few days were a waste of time. I should have been here to prevent all this."

"Even if you had been here, it wouldn't have made a difference." Tammy explained, "This assassin has taken us all by surprise. We can't figure out who it is and why he's attacking everyone your dad knows."

"Well, even if my dad tries to lock me in my house all day, I won't let this happen again." Darry said in determination. "I'll stop whoever's doing this, with or without Ghost Rage."

Out in the hallway, Jimmy was talking with Danny about everything he knew so far. "So what does all of this have to do with this prophecy?" Danny asked, skeptical.

"I don't know, but suppose this is true, you can probably guess who the possible culprit is..." Jimmy added.

Danny's eyes widen in horror, realizing the truth as Jimmy continued, "I mean, think about it. It started after Dani was kidnapped by the Syndicate, who claimed his return. We know about his personal grudge against you, so it makes sense he'd attack those close to you."

"Just what are you saying, Neutron?"

"What if it's really HIM?"

"If it is, how is that possible?" Danny wanted an explanation, "We split him apart atom by atom, remember?"

"True, but I have a theory. Remember the time you tried to get rid of your ghost powers for good?"

"I remember. The only thing that remained of my ghost DNA was this white streak in my hair."

"Exactly," Jimmy confirmed, "And your ghost powers came back when you were hit with a high surge of ectoplasm, right?"

"Yes, that's what happened. It felt no different than being zapped with a ghost portal. So can you get to the point?"

"What if...theologically...an atom, a molecule maybe, or even the smallest fragment of him is ALIVE somehow..." Danny felt his spine shiver at the thought of it. Jimmy continued, "It's been months, Danny, which is enough for this fragment to gain enough strength and consciousness to come into form."

"Now you're being absurd..." Danny denied, "Jimmy, you're talking about a molecule or something smaller than a brain cell. Say your theory is correct, how is a part of him able to survive?"

"I...don't know." Jimmy said shamefully. "I've never been an expert when it comes to paranormal science. But even if it were him, it still doesn't explain the human DNA."

"We all know he doesn't have ANY human part of him left." Danny remarked, narrowing his eyes. "So we know for sure it can't possibly be him. Nice theory though, Jim. I'll wait with you until SpongeTron finishes analyzing that DNA."

Jimmy turned around with his arms crossed as he frowned, "If he's not the one the prophecy depicts, then who is? And which one of US is a part of it?" Jimmy wondered to himself.

When nighttime came in Amity Park, Darry was laying upside-down on the living room couch since his dad made him stay home with Sam and Yuki while he helped Jimmy uncover the mystery of who was attacking their friends. Darry had his eyes closed and was deep asleep. But he suddenly grunted and his eyes twitched as he was having another dream, and it was not a pleasant one.

Darry ran for his life across the street as multiple ghost rays hit at his feet. He looked back and saw his attacker was his ghost form locked in Ghost Rage mode, floating across the ground, growling as he fired ghost rays at him. "Leave me alone!" Darry yelled and stopped when he spots his dad up ahead. Darry smiled and ran into his arms. "Dad!" he cried in joy as he hugged him tightly. "Thank goodness you're here!"

Danny held him as he gently responded, "It's okay, Darry." but then, Darry hears his voice suddenly change, "It'll all be over soon..."

Darry's eyes widen and he looks up to see he was no longer hugging his dad, but Dark Dan, who smirked sadistically. He suddenly held Darry up by the neck and pointed him at the berserk Darry Phantom. "...Very soon." Dark Dan finished. Darry cringed in terror as he stared at his ghost form power up his ghost rays and fire directly at him.

"Darry? Darry!"

Darry's eyes shot open and he fell off the couch, panting and sweating as he sat on the floor. Yuki stood next to him, staring at his behavior after waking him up. "What happened to you?" Yuki asked. "Is everything okay?"

Darry looked at him and quickly said, "Yeah, everything's fine."

"Well, that's good for you." Yuki responded, "But I feel bad for Crash, Twitchy, and Junior. Their dad's in the hospital and they're really upset about it. The same thing happened to Tucker. Do you know anything that's going on?"

"Nope, not a clue." Darry answered with a sigh. "Is Dad still out?"

"Yeah, and Mom wants us to go to bed now."

Darry frowned, not wanting to sleep and have nightmares again, "Uh...wouldn't it be better if we stay up several more minutes? Maybe watch the classics?"

Yuki was perplexed by his behavior, but replied, "Okay, I guess I can use a good movie after a day like today. I have all the good ones downloaded on my tappad."

"Yes!" Darry cheered. "I mean...let's watch in my room."

Meanwhile upstairs, Sam was in her bedroom hanging clothes in the closet, not noticing a strange-cloaked figure phasing into the room through the wall.

In Darry's bedroom, the two siblings are on Darry's bed, watching a ghost movie. On screen, the woman was looking around as if checking if someone is watching her. She gasped and turned her head to see strange static from the old computer. Yuki giggled in excitement, "This is my favorite part."

Darry smiled as he watched, but had a strange feeling in his gut that he couldn't tell if it was from watching a horror movie or something else.

Unbeknownst to the two, the figure stood in the parents' bedroom as he spoke, getting Sam's attention, "Sam...It's been a while."

Sam turned to him in surprise, but despite what he said, didn't recognize him due to the cloak covering his body. "Who are you? How did you get in here?"

"How do you think I did?" The figure asked.

"This place is surrounded by a ghost shield, so no specter should be able to get in," Sam explained while reaching for something in her closet. "But even if you are one or not..."

Sam takes out the Ecto-Foamer and aims, "You chose the wrong place to be reckoned with." But before she can fire, she gasped when she saw the stranger's face...

In the movie, Darry and Yuki watch as the woman screamed in terror, seeing a horrifying specter crawling out of the computer screen. They were watching intently at what would happen next until they heard a loud thud from down the hall that almost shook the bed. "What was that?" Yuki wondered.

Realizing what might be happening after recalling what he had heard that was going on, Darry cried in horror, "Mom!"

Sam had been blasted against the bedroom wall and slid onto the bed. Luckily, she wasn't hurt badly. But before she could get up, the figure grabbed her arms and pinned her down on the mattress. "I can see now what Danny sees in you." the figure spoke sadistically, "I look forward to seeing the look on that overgrown brat's face once he sees what I've done with his pretty little wife."

Sam lied there below him helplessly since she couldn't get out of his strong grip, watching in terror at what he might do. But suddenly, Darry Phantom charged through the door, yelling, "Get away from my mom, you creep!" and fired a ghost ray, knocking him away from Sam.

Meanwhile, at Nicktoon HQ, Jimmy and Danny were sitting at a table, playing chess, while waiting patiently as SpongeTron stood in front of the computer he was plugged to. They heard a "ding" sound and were alerted when SpongeTron yells, "Finished! The DNA analysis is complete!"

Danny and Jimmy immediately rushed to his side as SpongeTron explained, "We can now identify who the human DNA of the attacker belongs to."

"Excellent." Jimmy said with a smile. "Pull it up already."

"You got it." SpongeTron said as he clicked the mouse and a picture of the attacker's identity appeared on screen. But upon seeing it, their smiles drop and they look at the screen in complete and utter shock.

At this very moment, Darry lowered his glowing blue fists as he wore the same expression, seeing his attack tore off the attacker's cloak and he can now see his exposed body and identity.

"Tak?" he asked in a shaken voice.

It was indeed Tak that was sitting on the ground after being hit by Darry's ghost rays. He opens his eyes that are now red instead of their normal light green color and glares straight at the ghost boy.

Unexpectedly, Darry is shot by a green ghost ray from Tak, who chuckled and spoke in a different voice, "You're both wrong...and right. However..." Tak grabs him by the neck and pins him to the wall, "Tak's not here now."

Darry did nothing as he was still in shock by what he was seeing. Just as Tak was about to fire a ghost ray at him, he was hit with green ectoplasm and stumbled back, dropping Darry. Sam was holding the Ecto-Foamer and rushed to Darry's side. "Stay away from him!" she yelled at the shaman.

Once he had wiped the ectoplasm off, Tak glared at the two and charged more ecto-energy in his hands, but it suddenly faded and he grunts while cringing. "I wasn't planning on staying here more than five minutes" he said coldly. "Guess you both get off easy. But I'll be back for what I'm really after." he turns intangible and flies out of the room.

Later that night, Jimmy, Danny, and SpongeTron heard what had happened at Fenton Works, and they and the Turners rushed over there to check what had happened. Danny held Sam as the two embrace, "Thank goodness you three are alright." he said thankfully. "We got here as fast as we could."

"Daddy, I'm confused." Yuki said in distress. "Why would Tak do this?"

"That's because it wasn't Tak," Jimmy explained.

"But you said it was." Tammy reminded. "You said the DNA you found in Amity Park and Bikini Bottom matched Tak's DNA."

"I did. That was physically Tak there both times and tonight, but mentally it wasn't him."

Tommy raised an eyebrow, "I don't get it."

"Tak is being possessed!" they all turn to Darry after he shouted out, but he now had a look of distress, "Isn't he?"

Danny lowered his head in sadness as he answered, "Yes..." after a pause, he continued, "He's been possessed by my evil self. It all makes sense now. First Tucker, then SpongeBob, and now Sam. He was going after me specifically, targeting all the people I care about until I caught on."

"But how is this possible?" Timmy asked. "I thought we destroyed him. And why would he be in Tak?"

"I don't know." Jimmy answered. "But I'll talk with Jeera and see if she noticed anything strange about Tak lately. Maybe we can also find him and figure out what happened."

"What can we do?" SpongeTron asked, signaling to him and his team.

"You kids will have to stay out of this." Danny answered. "It's obvious Dark Dan is planning to go after the rest of you in order to break me, so I can't let him try to hurt anyone else."

"Oh, come on!" Tommy cried in annoyance.

"We can totally handle it!" Tammy added.

"We have to help you stop Dark Dan and rescue Tak." SpongeTron retorted.

"Okay Dad," Darry said calmly. "Whatever you say."

Everyone suddenly turns to Darry, surprised to see the normally high-strung ghost boy actually listening when told to stay out of a battle or mission. "You're serious?" Yuki asked, baffled.

"Yeah," Darry replied with a shrug. "I mean, if Jimmy, Timmy, and Dad say they will handle it, I'm sure they can."

"Are you feeling alright?" SpongeTron asked in concern as he stuck an old fashion thermometer into Darry's mouth.

Though Danny was even surprised by his son actually obeying orders, Jimmy spoke up, "Darry is right. You should follow his example and stay somewhere safe until this is all over."

"Yes, sir." Darry promptly said as he walked upstairs.

Yuki, however, turned to the adults and complained, "But Dad, Jimmy; my Nicktoon Cadets team can handle this as well. He hurt Tucker; Crash, Twitchy, and Junior's dad was hurt by him; and Kida's dad is being used as a meat puppet by him!"

"Yuki, that's enough. I'd expect this kind of thing from Darry- actually I'd totally expect this kind of thing from Darry," Danny stated in a stern voice, "But I want you to stay here until it's safe."

"He's right," Jimmy nodded, "Especially if you remember WHO we're dealing with here. It's best all of you stay put and alert us if he comes back."

"Tak is part of our Nicktoons team, so it's our job to deal with him." Danny reminded.

"We're only doing this for your own safety." Timmy mentioned.

The three Nicktoons silently agree to follow orders. Though they wanted to help, they were unable to since their leader was the only one who was willing to follow the adults' orders.

The next day at the Bikini Bottom Hospital, SpongeBob had his family visiting him while he was still recovering. Junior was laying in the bed with SpongeBob while Crash kept asking his father, "So who was this nasty varmint who dun did this to you? I'll show him what he gets for crossin' us!" Twitchy chimed in with a vicious hiss as he agreed with Crash.

"Boys, boys," SpongeBob said calmly. "I appreciate the enthusiasm, but let's not do anything dangerous. I'm sure that criminal is long gone, so you don't have to worry about it."

"Still, it's best you be cautious." Sandy warned, "I don't want anything like that happenin' again." she held SpongeBob's hand and put her head close to him, "Y'all had me worried sick."

"I was more worried that you would be worried about me." SpongeBob said flirtatiously. "At least I still get to be here with you, sweetums."

Sandy just chuckled, "Just don't ask me to do a sponge bath."

Suddenly, there's a small beeping. Crash checked his pockets when he realized what it was and grabs his shell phone from inside his helmet. "Hello?" Crash answered and informed Twitchy, "It's Yuki." then Crash gasped in awe, "Yuki is callin' me!" With Crash in a love-struck daze, Twitchy groaned and grabbed his phone to answer it.

"Hello,thisisTwitchySquarePants." Twitchy said rapidly into the phone.

Yuki's voice said from the phone, "Twitchy, I need you, Crash, and Junior to come over right away for an emergency Nicktoon Cadet meeting. And don't be late."

"Yuki wants us with her?!" Crash asked excitedly. "Let's hurry and get over there!" he grabbed Twitchy and Junior by their arms and yanked them away.

"But I wanna spend more time with Daddy!" Junior yelled, but was already dragged out of the room by his brother.

Afterwards, SpongeTron came in holding a bouquet of flowers and knocked on the door. "Knock knock." SpongeTron said as he came in.

"SpongeTron, there you are!" SpongeBob greeted.

"Did y'all find the varmint behind all this?" Sandy asked, preparing a knuckle sandwich.

SpongeTron stammered a bit, not sure if he should explain who the real culprit behind this is and worry them. "Uh...well, we...sorta did."

But suddenly, SpongeBob interrupted, "H-Hey, Sandy, why don't you take Buster and the girls to the Krusty Krab? I can really use a krabby patty right about now."

Sandy didn't see anything weird by this and happily obliged to her husband's request, "Okay, we won't be long." She gave him a quick kiss, turned to the door, and began walking out. "Let's go, kids." Sally, Dolly, and Allie all giggled and followed their mother. Buster sighs as he stopped texting on his phone and did the same.

Once the two were alone, SpongeBob looked at SpongeTron and asked in a serious tone, "You found out it was Tak, didn't you?

SpongeTron gasped, but silenced his mouth to prevent making any loud noise, "How did you-"

"While I was recovering, I started to remember the incident when I realized it was him," SpongeBob explained, but frowned, "But I don't understand why he would do such a thing..."

"Creator, you got it all wrong." SpongeTron assured. "It wasn't Tak. Well, it was, but he wasn't himself. He's been possessed by Mr. Fenton's evil self."

SpongeBob's eyes widen in surprise. "What? But...But how? I thought he was destroyed."

"We don't know how, but once we find Tak, we'll find a way to help him." SpongeTron said boldly, but stopped once he remembered, "Or at least Commander Neutron and his team will. They won't let us help out and Darry thinks we should listen to him."

"Darry said that?" SpongeBob asked in surprise.

"Yeah. It's weird though; we thought Darry would wanna save Tak from that horrible monster."

SpongeBob thought it over and came to a conclusion. "Gee, you don't think maybe it's because...Darry might be afraid?"

"I'm terrified..." Darry cried in a fetal position on his bed, covering himself with his bed sheets.

"We're all scared too," Tammy added with her, Tommy, and Poof watching.

"Which is why we have to confront our fears to end this!" Tommy pointed out and whispered, "So can we use your powers to sneak out and deal with that evil ultimate friend-possessing alternate self of your dad?"

Darry peeks out from under the blanket and responds, "But Neutron wants us to stay here while he and the others handle it. We should respect his wishes."

"Dar, what happened during your training?" Tammy wondered.

Darry sighs as he covers himself up with the blanket again. "I did it again. I lost control of myself and hurt Vlad. It probably wouldn't have happened if he'd actually trained me to learn how to control it."

"But you beat him before with that Ghost Rage ability." Tommy reminded. "If you use it again, we'll be able to win."

"It's not that easy!" Darry yelled, springing up from the bed, "If I use that power again, I'll just end up hurting everybody! Or worse...he'll end up killing me." He stops when he notices how upset and disturbed his friends are by his behavior. He takes a deep breath and calmly explains, "So I'm just gonna sit this one out. Let's just do what we're told for once and let our parents handle this."

They were unaware that Yuki was listening to them from outside the room and quickly left. Tammy then told Darry, "Okay Darry, we know how you feel so we'll go along with whatever you think is right. Plus Jimmy is really smart and he probably already has this figured out."

But at Nicktoon HQ, Jimmy's head was lying face down on a desk and he was snoring heavily as he sat at one of the desks in his lab. A hand places down a fresh cup of coffee next to him, waking him up. He looks up to see Cindy. She crosses her arms, sarcastically saying, "Nice to see you're so hard at work."

Jimmy looks at his watch to see how late it was and answers with a tired expression, "I was up all night trying to locate Tak. But his family has no knowledge of his whereabouts and it seems that the signal to his Recaller has been disconnected."

"Don't you think Tak will come back on his own?" Cindy asked with shrug. "He's a big boy. For someone who grew up in the jungle, I'm sure he can handle himself."

"You don't understand, Cindy." Jimmy said irritably. "Tak is being used as a puppet by an evil spirit." he gets up and pulls off the whiteboard with words written on it. "And it all has to do with this prophecy." in frustration, he bangs it against his head, "How could I not consider the possibility that Tak may be the subject of the prophecy?"

Cindy takes the board away from him. "Cool your big head, Neutron. I'm sure, or I know, there are things even you can't figure out. But does Tak even know what's happening to him?"

"I doubt it," Jimmy assumed. "From what Danny told me, most people who are overshadowed by ghosts have trouble remembering what happened to them during that period. The only question is how he even got overshadowed in the first place."

"Yeah, Danny told me earlier about your absurd theory," Cindy mentioned when she pondered, "Hmmm, I recalled that you told me everyone was there witnessing Dark Dan's disintegration, right?"

Jimmy's eyes widen. "Pukin' Pluto, you're right. Everyone was there, including Tak. A part of him must have latched onto him like some form of parasite. With a vessel, he must have slowly recovered and it'll make sense for him to regain some of his strength within several months."

Cindy closed her eyes and added with a smile, "Just like a molecule."

Hearing this, Jimmy smiled at Cindy. "I love you." he told her, but then he looked at the whiteboard. "Wait...It says here that the subject has "raven hair". But Tak doesn't have that hair color."

"What are you getting at?" Cindy asked suspiciously.

"What if...Tak isn't the one who will bring darkness to our worlds?"

"Then, if it isn't Tak, who would it be?" Cindy wondered, "More importantly, why would Dark Dan take over Tak? If I were in his shoes, I wouldn't pick him as my vessel."

Before Jimmy could consider this, his Recaller suddenly rang and he answered it, "Hello? Oh Jeera, have you found out anything?" suddenly, his eyes widen in surprise as he listens, "Wait, how did he..."

Meanwhile, at Fenton Works, Yuki met with Crash, Twitchy, Junior, and Kida in the backyard. She stood in front of her friends and began saying in a serious tone, "Thank you for coming, gentlemen and lady. I think you know what we have to do."

"Are we gonna get ice-cream?" Junior asked hopefully with Twitchy excitedly nodding in agreement.

"No!" Yuki shouted, "We're gonna go after Tak! He's in trouble and since the Nicktoons aren't doing anything to help him, it means we have to."

"Yeah!" Twitchy and Crash cheer, though Junior trembled in fright.

"So Kida, when was the last time you saw your dad?" Yuki asked her.

"It was really early in the morning." Kida explained, "He came home, looking upset about something, but he wouldn't tell Mommy why. He just grabbed a few things and went away."

"Alright, now we just need to figure out where he would go." Yuki said, turning to her friends, "Any ideas?"

"But wait!" Junior cried out. "Why should we do this? We might get hurt, or worse!"

"Oh, come on," Yuki yelled, "You can't honestly say you don't wanna get revenge for what's happened." she pointed at Junior, Crash, and Twitchy, "He attacked your dad." she then pointed at a tearful Kida, "He's using your dad as a puppet, he attacked Mayor Foley, and he almost got my mom. What peeves me more is my brother and his friends aren't doing anything about it!" Yuki cried out.

"I hate to admit it, but Junior could be right," Twitchy pointed out, "What if this Dark Phantom fella is just as dangerous as our dad's evil alternate self?"

Yuki felt uncertain until she clears her throats, "Yes, that's true, but the night he attacked Mom, I felt his energy is somehow weak, not as strong as last time. So that gives us the advantage to take him down! Again, who's with me?"

They all stayed silent until Crash spoke up, "Will you think I'm cool if I come with?" Yuki shrugged and hummed in response. "Then I'm in!" Crash shouted.

Kida wiped her tears and spoke, "I want my daddy back, so I'm in too."

"I'll go with you." Twitchy said as he sucked on a soda, only to realize it's empty. "But I'll need more soda in case it's my last...I mean, since it's my last one for today."

Junior shook a bit until he answered, "Okay, I'll go too."

"Great." Yuki said with a determined smile, "Now we just gotta figure out how we can find Tak."

"He could still be in my world," Kida suggested, "Now that I think about it, he's been spending a lot of time in the hut looking at scrolls."

"That means he must be himself at the moment." Yuki realized. "Now let's go save Tak." she created a portal with a Recaller she "borrowed" and she walked through with the Cadets following. From in the bushes, Ringo was watching the whole thing until his eyes widen and he rushes in another direction.

SpongeTron was walking towards Fenton Works until he was stopped when Ringo ran over to him. He bent down and picked up the kitten. "Well, hello Ringo. What are you doing out here?" he asked in a friendly tone as he pet the kitten.

"Meow," Ringo said to him. Hearing him, and apparently understanding him, SpongeTron's eyes widen in shock.

Immediately afterwards, SpongeTron barged into Darry's bedroom where the other three Nicktoons still are. "The Nicktoon Cadets went after Tak!" SpongeTron hollered, "I mean they went after Dark Dan! Or they went after Tak- or maybe Dark...Oh whatever, they're in trouble!"

The twins gasp. "What are they thinking?" Tammy asked in alarm.

"We gotta go after them." Tommy insisted, and then turned to the ghost boy. "Well, Darry? Don't you think we should?"

Darry takes a deep breath, stands tall from his bed with chest forward, "I think..." He points up until he takes out his Recaller to dial, "We should call my dad and his team and let them handle it."

The twins frowned, "You can't be serious, right?" Tommy asked.

"What?" Darry asked. "I always tell on Yuki when she does something she's not supposed to."

He held the Recaller to his ear, but Tammy snatched it away. "Darry! We have to go after them ourselves! We can't let the Cadets get themselves killed if Dark Dan makes Tak kill them!"

"Are you just gonna let him annihilate your one and only sister?" SpongeTron asked, narrowing his eyes. "I guess the Creator was right when he thought you were scared."

"SpongeBob said that?" Darry asked in surprise. "No way! I'm not really scared. I just think we should let Dad and the adults handle it. They are experienced." He tried to get the Recaller back from Tammy. "Now give that back already!"

"Forget it, Tammy." Tommy retorted, "Let's just go rescue the Nicktoon Cadets ourselves. We'll leave Scaredy Phantom here to cower under the bed."

The three were about to walk out the door until Darry called out to them, "Look, I'll come with you guys, but only to talk to Yuki in order to get her and the other Cadets to come home."

"Now that's the Darry we know." Tammy said with smile. "Let's go, Nicktoons." As they left the room, however, Darry followed from behind and took out his cell phone, sending a text message to his dad without the others' knowledge.

Better safe than sorry, am I right? Though how good is that in this case? Please review what you think and stick around for Part 3.