Chapter 13: Danny Phantom Returns

Star stirred awake. Her eyes opened to a sight she was unfamiliar with.

"Huh… what?" She blinked a few times before it hit her that she's in one of those cage-like train cars for circuses. "Wait… what's going on?!"

She sat up and soon looked down.

What the heck?

She found something green wrapped around her, keeping her arms trapped. She tried to will herself into intangibility, but nothing happened.

Nothing?

"What's going on?"

"You can't get out of that." Star heard Freakshow talking to her. She turned her head, seeing him outside the cage, smug at her capture. "Those restraints are by Lydia's tattoos, you can't break free."

Star glared at him, that's when she noticed the amulet wasn't around his neck. That's when she smiled.

"Dropped something?" She asked.

Freakshow scowled at her.

"Your boyfriend took it. But, he'll be bringing it to ensure your survival. Meantime… I'm going to be waiting patiently… with some instant ramen."

Star rose a brow.

"Uh… you broke free and have all sorts of powers. Why not steal something… better?"

"I happen to have grown to like it during my time in hiding…" He said proudly. He then scoffed. "He'll be here soon enough. I told him that it would be dramatic and he had until sundown." He looked away. "That's soon…"

Star then took notice of her surroundings. She was at the abandoned train station.

What is with abandoned locations all around Amity Park? She questioned. It's like this place was begging to have ghosts and supervillains…

"Danny is going to make sure you pay!" Star shouted at Freakshow.

He only scoffed.

"Without his powers, which you currently possess, I highly doubt that."

He walked away, laughing off her faith in Danny.

As she glared at his back as he walked away, Star looked away.

"He'll come…"

"You're sure about this?" Danny asked.

Sam and Tucker were informed what happened and came with him. They all rode their scooters together.

"All we need to do is be in the same area as Freakshow and possibly Star when you say it. Make sure you hold it up when you say it." Sam instructed.

"Are you sure we're going in the right direction?" Danny asked.

"As far as I can tell, the Circus Gothica train was brought there a few days ago, but no one could figure out who did it." Tucker said.

"It was probably Lydia." Sam said. "Fortunately, we got some tech to help us out."

"Along with a certain something else…" Danny said.

Freakshow observed the sun setting, even taking his pocket watch out to make sure the deadline was up.

"Well… any minute he'll show up… otherwise you're never going to see him or your family ever again…" Freakshow said to Star.

"Soon as I get the chance, I'm gonna break that comically large nose of yours." Star threatened.

Freakshow rolled his eyes, not feeling threatened by her in the slightest.

That's when the sounds of three small motors could be heard approaching them.

"Ah… right on time." Freakshow said.

Danny, Sam and Tucker arrived on their scooters.

"Okay, we got the amulet, Freakshow!" Danny said, taking it out of his backpack. "Now let Star go!"

Freakshow held his hand out.

"Give it to me, boy." He demanded.

"Not until we-"

That's when a certain ghost flew it, taking the amulet out of his hand.

Lydia landed next to Freakshow, handing it to him.

"Ah, excellent." That's when he noticed something missing and he did not like it. "Where is the sapphire?"

Danny held up the sapphire.

"Star first!" He demanded.

Freakshow was about to answer, that's when he noticed something off. The amulet felt different.

"Wait a minute…" Freakshow then crushed the amulet.

What was in his hand was paper mache.

"Aw nuts…" Sam went as she, Danny and Tucker see Freakshow discover their ruse.

"Did you think you could fool me with a pathetic fake?!" Freakshow questioned.

"PATHETIC?!" Sam shouted, taking great offense. "Do you know how hard and how much skill it took to make that thing in under 2 hours?!"

Freakshow then split into four.

"Where is the real amulet?" Freakshow demanded. That's when he remembered something. "Wait, you held onto the sapphire… that means you must have it." Freakshow said.

Both Sam and Tucker held out their blasters at him.

"You'll have to get past us!" Sam said.

"Okay…" Freakshow said nonchalantly. "You know…" He raised an arm. "I encountered a few ghosts on my way here… including Technus."

His hand began to glow. So did the blasters.

Then they immediately hovered out of their grips.

Before they could make a move, Lydia flew in and grabbed the two, lifting them up.

"Sam! Tucker!" Danny called out to them.

"The amulet, boy!" Freakshow demanded.

Danny backed up.

I won't be able to use it with these two around…

"Run, Danny!" Star called out.

Danny did as she said and turned around ran as Star called out to him.

After that, Freakshow snapped his fingers.

"Get him." He ordered Lydia.

She nodded and, after tossing Sam and Tucker into the cage with intangibility, flew after him.

Danny ran through the trainyard and hide behind one of the trains, looking out to see if he's being followed.

"Okay… something should have come after me…" That's when he reached into the backpack, grabbing a hold of the real amulet and holding it up. "If Sam's right, I can just use it as long as I'm close enough. I need to get in closer so that-"

That's when he noticed a shadow on the ground of something that's in the air.

Uh oh...

He looked up and saw Lydia, creating ghosts with her tattoos for attack.

That's when he reached into his backpack again and pulled out a blaster.

He then fired at the smaller ghosts, but Lydia was all that was left.

"Okay… how do I handle this-" That's when he remembered what he was holding. "Duh!" He placed the sapphire in the amulet and aimed. "Spirit, thyne power be mine!"

Lydia gasped but was too late to get out of the way. She's hit.

Freakshow paced back and forth.

"What's taking her so long?"

"Hey, Freakshow!"

Danny's voice caught his attention. Although, he failed to see in time as Danny flew in and tackled him into the train.

"DANNY?!" All of them in the cage questioned.

"I used the amulet on Lydia." He explained. "This should let me take care of this for now."

"The amulet?!" Freakshow asked, getting off the train wall. "Where is it?!"

"Hid it somewhere you can't find it." Danny said.

He flew to free the others, but Freakshow got in his way.

"Did you forget I have more powers than you?!" He reminded.

"Maybe… but I got more experience with these powers!" Danny stated.

Freakshow fired, but Danny was quick to avoid each attack.

All the while he flew in to the cage via intangibility and pushed everyone out.

Seeing Star being wrapped around by the tattoos, Danny touched them and instantly made them disappear.

"Whoa… how'd you do that?" Star asked.

"I just touched them. Probably has to do with my having Lydia's powers." Danny theorized.

"Does that mean you can make tattoo ghosts?" Tucker asks.

"If I had a tattoo, I might." Danny said. "But for now, you guys find that amulet, Freakshow needs to be taken down. I put it on some crates."

That's when a series of blasts blew a hole in the cage, all by Freakshow.

Sam and Tucker took advantage and ran out through that hole as Danny flew at Freakshow.

However, due to Freakshow having more powers and Danny abilities far weaker than his actual own, Freakshow easily backhanded him and sent him to the ground.

"Your powers will be mine!" Freakshow shouted at Danny as he descended to finish the job.

Before he could do anything, Star made herself known.

"HANDS OFF MY BOYFRIEND!"

Star came tackling Freakshow before he could do anything to hurt Danny.

Danny smirked as he saw her throw a kick that send Freakshow into another train cart.

"What a woman..." He whispered as he admired Star for a moment.

Sam and Tucker looked around the trainyard, trying to find the amulet.

"It would've made more sense for Danny to tell us which crates!" Sam exclaimed.

"OVER THERE!" Tucker shouted as he pointed at some crates. "It's on that one!"

She saw the amulet. Both of them raced towards it, but are cut off by a weakened looking Lydia, holding onto a pipe as a weapon.

"Uh oh…" Sam said as she and Tucker backed up. Then an idea came to her. "Wait… she doesn't have her powers anymore…"

"But we don't have our tech, and she's got that thing!" Tucker pointed out.

"Right…" Sam agreed. "We gotta take care of her."

Lydia swung the pipe wildly to keep them away.

That's when Sam and Tucker nodded.

"Yo, Lydia!" Tucker shouted to get her attention.

Seeing a rock on the ground, he picked it up and threw it at her. She swung to knock it away. Seeing more rocks, Tucker picked them up and threw them at her.

She kept swinging, ignoring Sam. That was a mistake.

"Got it!" Sam said. Lydia saw this and ran to her. "Uh oh… Tucker!"

Sam threw it over her and towards Tucker.

He was able to catch it.

"Now what?!"

"Take it to Danny and Star!" She shouted back.

Tucker was about to argue, but Lydia came running at him with the pipe, making him run.

Having split into two, both versions of Freakshow fired at the two.

In reaction, both Danny and Star flew out of the way. Star fired and made the fake Freakshow disappear, but the last one was angry.

"Once I have have the amulet, I will destroy you both once you're powerless!" He declared.

"GUYS!" Tucker could be heard shouting. "I got it!"

They saw Tucker running for his life from Lydia.

Then he threw the amulet at them.

Before they could grab it, Freakshow used one of his powers to make it levitate towards himself. He laughed evilly as it was in grabbing distance.

Star got angry and decided to give one thing a try.

"Here we go…"

She took a breath. Realizing what she's going, Danny covered his ears.

Star was careful to aim specifically at Freakshow and not the amulet.

She unleashed a Ghost Wail at Freakshow, sending him flying upwards.

Due to his loss of focus, he dropped the amulet.

Danny flew at caught it. Then he saw Star slowly descending. Reacting fast, he flew to catch her.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah…"

Danny set her back on her feet.

"I got you this." He held up the amulet. "I know it's not our anniversary yet, but I think it matches your eyes." He joked.

"Aww… Thank you, Danny-Boo." She jokingly said as she took it.

Freakshow flew back to where he was, and he began to panic as he looked towards the ground.

"MY AMULET?! WHERE IS IT?!".

"Looking for something?!" A girl's voice called.

The evil ringmaster soon saw that said item was in the hands of Starlight Spirit, who was holding hands with a smirking Danny Fenton.

"It's over, Freakshow!" Danny said.

"NO!"

Freakshow flew towards them, but was too late..

"Spirit! Thyne Powers Be Returned!" Danny called out.

No sooner than she said that, the amulet began to glow and Freakshow's eyes widen.

"NO!" He screamed.

"YES!" Danny and Star said in union as the spell commenced

In a flash, Danny's eyes began to glow.

Danny soon changed forms and smiled widely.

"Sweet! I can go ghost again!" Danny exclaimed.

Star gasped happily and then hugged him tightly.

"Yes!" Star shouted happily as she hugged her boyfriend.

However, they quickly noticed something amiss.

Freakshow as still in the air.

"What the heck?!" Danny asked. "How are you still floating?!"

"Not sure…" Freakshow said. "It likely takes time for the powers to return since I absorbed so many… May as well use them!"

Freakshow fired a ball of energy to two jumped out of the way to dodge.

Then Danny aimed a hand to fire, only for a small beam to harmlessly hit Freakshow.

"Uh oh…" Danny said. "My powers aren't entirely back yet…"

"Maybe I still have them?" Star asked.

Then she fired at it shot Freakshow down from the sky and into the ground.

With him there, both of them nod.

Freakshow got up and saw Starlight sending another kick his way. He ducked, but Danny ran in and punched him in the face. Freakshow tried to react, but Starlight kicked him in the leg, making him stand awkwardly and unable to make a move.

With Danny Phantom and Starlight Spirit standing next to each other, they both grin and wink as they raise their fists and threw a punch right into Freakshow's face, knocking him onto the ground.

Once there, Freakshow's ghostly glow faded, indicating he lost it. However, he was still smarting from that punch.

"You broke my nose!" He shouted with his hands on his face.

"Told you!" Starlight said.

Freakshow tried to blast them, but nothing came out of his hand. However, he put the hand back on his face, too injured to keep trying or care.

"Looks like his powers are gone…" Danny said. "Which means Plasmius and everyone else he's taken them from are getting them back."

"And you?" Star asked. "Are your powers completely back?"

Danny held a hand up and tried to create an orb of energy, but it fizzled out.

"It's getting there." Danny looked her in the eye and noticed something. "Your eyes are still green like mine… is it taking its time?"

"Maybe…" Star suggested. She then looked to Freakshow. "What do we do with him?"

Danny smiled.

"I got an idea…"

The police arrived, having seen Danny Phantom and Starlight Spirit flying together from that spot.

They arrived and saw Freakshow with a pipe that was bent around him to act as rope, as well as duct tape on his mouth. He was also looking rather bruised and battered.

He was only thinking one thing.

I hate those kids...

Danny Phantom is back!

But what's this? Star still has some of his powers? What is this?

But at least Freakshow is taken care of.

We got two chapters left. Let's see what happens before Flower princess11, who helped me in this chapter, continues the main story.

61394: Indeed, it wouldn't be drama if Freakshow didn't outsmart him.

Jebest4781 and DJ Rodriguez: Thank you both.

Phantom Fan 21: They technically still have powers together. Gonna be like this for the next chapter.

Invader Johnny: He's a dirty coward...

Luiz4200: He's got a bad habit of underestimating others.