Endgame

by pearl84

It's said that every hero needs a final, epic battle. Danny is about to discover his 'perfect ending' was only the 'calm before the storm'. But in chess, the endgame is what matters. And playing against your worst enemy, means relying on your arch-enemy to win. Sequel to Checkmate. One yr. after PP.

26. Chapter 25: Master of Time

Oh Boy… Here we go. You guys ready for the final climax of this story? I wasn't! After this, just two more chapters left. Can you all believe it? Lol! Okay, so take a deep breath, this one is pretty long; and hang on tight!

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. OC characters and plot, however, are my own. Er, my muse's. *glares at muse*

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Chapter 25: Master of Time

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Vlad mentally cursed himself as he barely evaded a direct hit from Evil Phantom. Why had he thought this would even be a remotely good idea? Even with his duplication powers, he wasn't any match for this evil spirit, let alone when the Fright Knight and Spectra were helping this creature. And for all he knew, Serenity was lying in wait somewhere in the falling snow, ready to betray and trick him again.

He needed to tip the scale in his favor and fast. But that extra leverage, who would be Danny, was nowhere to be seen. He was on his own. Unless… the Fright Knight.

Yes, he needed to get through to the Fright Knight. But how could he, when the ghost was set on obliterating him? And Dan was watching their every move. The spirit was not about to let the older hybrid even get a chance to talk to the knight.

Suddenly noticing his duplicate was struggling to keep the Fright Knight's advances at bay, Vlad created yet another copy. He now had five duplicates around. One trying to hold back the knight and Spectra. And the rest… trying to hold back Evil Phantom's own five duplicates.

Plasmius himself was trying to fight—mostly evade—the evil future spirit. But he needed a moment to make his attempt to win back the knight. The man timed his teleportation perfectly with his copy; and so, when the real Vlad vanished and an instant later his copy took his place, Evil Phantom did not notice.

At that same moment, the hybrid's duplicate fighting with the knight and Spectra got shot in the back by the female shadow ghost. And before the duplicate could recover, the Spirit of Halloween came at him.

But just as Fright Knight fired a powerful energy sphere from his sword at the duplicate, the real Vlad appeared in front of the duplicate, quickly created a shield, and blocked the attack.

"Fright Knight, stop!" Vlad demanded. "You have to desist! Do not force me to destroy you!"

The ghost just narrowed his eyes at the man and created a strong energy blast that he knew the man would not be able to block with his shield.

The Fright Knight fired.

Vlad's eyes flared before he fired his own concentrated energy blast. The two attacks collided with a roar and the dark sky ignited in a hue of red and purple.

But the collision created a wave of power that propelled away everything around it. It happened so fast, Spectra had no time to react, and she was thrown back with a cry of pain.

Fright Knight and Plasmius, however, reacted quicker. Without missing a beat, the two enemies teleported at the same time and reappeared past the wave—and right in front of each other.

Fright Knight raised his sword against Plasmius who just as quickly created his own energy sword to block the strike. Their swords clanged and sizzled loudly.

"I'm begging you…," the older hybrid grunted out. "Stop."

But the ghost didn't answer and instead forced more power through the Soul Shredder. It began to burn with purple ecto-fire as it pressed against the older hybrid's own energy-made weapon.

In turn, Vlad's sword began to crack against the legendary spirit sword. But then the man's eyes turned a brighter red, and his white hue also hazed with the color. The cold air in the atmosphere began to hiss and the falling snow melted when electrical energy started to form and intensify around the half-ghost. In turn, fog was forming around Plasmius and the knight as the hot energy continued to contrast with the environment's temperature.

Fright Knight tensed. He knew the man enough to know what was about to happen. But his sword was locked into the man's own. His only hope was that the shredder could break through before the man…

"Fright Knight… last chance," Vlad said, interrupting his thoughts. The man ignored his cracking sword as he focused on his building energy… He had to stop the ghost knight.. one way or another.

"You are not my enemy," Vlad continued in a whisper. "And you are not a slave…. You're the Guardian of Souls. Stop… please."

"…Then, stop me," Fright Knight replied soberly.

Vlad's eyebrows creased with sadness before he suddenly released a sphere of electrical energy from within his core, encasing him and the knight.

Fright Knight howled as high volts of electricity jolted his body. But he was not the only one affected by the expanding attack. The ion particles in the air had shot electricity several yards out and had further reached some of Phantom's clones.

Feeling three of his copies destroyed at once, the real Evil Phantom's attention drew away from the Plasmius he was trying to take out. He sneered when he finally noticed what was happening. The real Vlad was the one closest to the reeling Fright Knight—and not this clone that had now obviously been a distraction so the man could get close to the knight.

Plasmius had tricked him!

"Oh no, you don't," Phantom sneered. And before the Plasmius' clone could react, the spirit teleported away.

Meanwhile, the real Plasmius continued to push out his hot energy. If he couldn't convince the knight to return to his side, then he needed to take him out before…

Plasmius gasped when his expanding electrical sphere suddenly swayed to one side without his consent. It felt like someone was pulling the power away from him—and out of his control.

Before he could figure out what was happening, he felt his exposed power abruptly yanked from him completely. And fearing losing any more energy, Plasmius closed his flow of electrical energy from his core.

At the same time, he whirled around towards where the unknown force was that had just siphoned off his energy. But much to his surprise, he found Evil Phantom suddenly in front of him. He only briefly noticed the spirit's raised right hand alit with the man's stolen electrical energy.

"Always thinking you're so clever… Too bad it doesn't do you any good," Phantom growled before he released the stolen energy right back at his owner.

Plasmius screamed in pain as his body lit up with electricity. But knowing being this close to Evil Phantom was even more dangerous, the man flew back. Luckily, his core protected him from heat-based attacks a bit better than most. And it seemed that the evil spirit had only had enough for one shot at him.

Ignoring his steaming body, Vlad let energy swell in his hands as he readied himself to face the future spirit again. But at that moment, Spectra appeared out of nowhere, claws extended.

He evaded her; but the distraction had been enough for the Fright Knight, who had also recovered, to get close enough to land a hit on him.

Plasmius grunted when he was thrown back by the knight's sudden punch to the face. Now that his enemies were quickly surrounding him, the man teleported. But the moment he appeared at another location, a portal formed out of nowhere right in front of him.

Vlad could only jolt in surprise when he saw Phantom come out of it—and in his hand, another sphere of electrical energy.

"Oh, I'm not done with you… I think this is still yours…," the evil spirit quipped before he hit the man with another round of the electrical energy.

Vlad screamed as the hot energy engulfed him. This time, the power was too strong for even his own hot core to tolerate.

The torture left him floating helplessly and dazed. His eyes burned from the smoke pouring from his body while he fought to not pass out from the pain.

Dan smirked but didn't move from where he was as he watched all the man's duplicates—who had been fighting his own remaining clones—vanish instantly.

"That was easy," the evil spirit remarked. But he then gestured for his duplicates, Spectra, and the knight to encircle the temporarily-stunned hybrid.

"You know, Plasmius," Dan said calmly. "For someone who claims to be clever, you're so predictable. Somehow, it does not surprise me that you would try to win Fright Knight back on your side. I just had to wait for you to make your move, and… well, here we are."

Despite his panting, the man smirked back in challenge. "And how do you know I didn't know you would predict my move? Better yet…. How do you know I didn't win Fright Knight over, after all?"

Dan raised an eyebrow. "Wow… You are an idiot." And wanting to prove him wrong, the spirit called, almost bored, "Fright Knight… take the Soul Shredder and drive it into Plasmius' core. Make him suffer as he dies."

Fright Knight did not hesitate to approach the older hybrid.

"Is that what you also asked him to do to Skulker?" Vlad suddenly questioned.

The knight abruptly halted.

The man took advantage of the ghost's reactions and pressed, "Is that what he made you do? Destroy your own ally. Your own… friend?"

Fright Knight tensed; but then he quickly raised his sword, and struck. But there was no screaming or ectoplasm like the ghost would have expected. Instead, the man just…vanished!

"Not again!" Dan sneered as he whirled around when he realized the older hybrid had somehow swapped out with a copy again. He hated to admit it, but the man was a master at using duplication as a form of deception.

"Show yourself!" Fright Knight demanded as he also looked around, waiting for the older hybrid to make his move.

"What else has he told you to do against your will? Against your own honor?" the man's disemboweled voiced suddenly echoed around them. "How many innocent souls are you willing to strike down for him, Protector of Souls?"

Fright Knight yelled angrily as he sliced his sword around him, trying to find the hybrid.

Dan narrowed his eyes this time. He knew what the man was trying to do, and he didn't hesitate to reply for the knight, "As many as I want. He is a slave. My slave. And not you or anyone will change that. He will do what I want, because he only exists to serve the most powerful being in all Existence—and that is me!"

"Is it really you?" Vlad's voice echoed.

Dan growled but quickly increased his ghost sense to find the man. He was done with his games!

But Plasmius continued, "If you are so powerful, why do you need the knight or a ghost as pathetic as Spectra to fight me? Why don't you fight me yourself?"

Although this whole time she was just quietly floating to the side, Spectra cringed in fear when she could see and feel that her captor was growing angrier.

"Why don't you come out, and I'll give you what you want," Phantom replied darkly.

"Are you saying a creature as powerful as you is incapable of tracking me?" Vlad mocked.

Dan scoffed before he rolled his eyes. "You still think you are going to win, don't you? You think you're still moving the chess pieces, old man….?"

The spirit's eyes turned a brighter red before he teleported and suddenly grabbed the older hybrid around the neck.

Surprised, Vlad lost invisibility and intangibility all at once.

"Think again," Dan said with a grin at him before he pulled the man forward and further whispered in his ear, "I am now the king on the chessboard, Vlad. You know why? Because you taught me yourself… You taught me all your tricks… all your moves… I have long since surpassed my teacher..."

"And yet, you're still as cocky as ever…. Daniel…," Plasmius grunted back before he suddenly dissolved in the evil spirit's grasp.

Dan shouted furiously. But just as he whirled around in search of the older hybrid, the real Plasmius materialized in front of him and shot a bolt of gold energy point-blank at his chest.

But to Dan's surprise, the attack did more than push him back. It hurt him.

Evil Phantom let out a shout of pain as he was thrown back a few feet. But then he quickly righted himself and gripped at his smoking chest.

Dan looked back at the older hybrid in anger and disbelief. "What did you do? You can't…"

"Hurt you?" Vlad finished for him. "Like I said, you are not as powerful as you think!"

Plasmius quickly duplicated again, just as Fright Knight and Spectra jumped into the fray once more. A couple of his copies charged at those two ghosts while the real Plasmius and two more other duplicates went for Phantom.

Dan growled and quickly raised a shield as Vlad and his two copies fired several red energy rays at him.

Dan instantly realized these barely had an impact against him… Not like the gold energy ray the man had just struck him with… But why had that energy blast been different? Unless… Wait…

"He created synchronized energy," Dan realized as he continued to fight off the older hybrid's attacks.

Dan had heard enough of that type of power to know how it so closely resembled spirit energy, that it could harm a spirit like himself. But how was Plasmius wielding it? The man needed to synchronize his own core with another ghost as equally as powerful as him… But who had a compatible but still different core from the older hybrid…?

Phantom internally growled when it didn't take much more thought on who that other person was that was connected to the man. But in all his time with knowing Plasmius in his timeline, that kind of bond never developed between him and his version of Plasmius. So, why now? It made no sense! Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius were forever enemies in all timelines!

Unless… it was the man's sibling's doing.

"She's enhanced his bond with my younger self. It's the only way this is possible," Dan thought angrily.

But what was interesting was that Plasmius was not using this power now to attack him. If he could now create synchronized energy, why not fight him fully with it? Unless… he couldn't sustain it when his power was split among all his duplicates as it was now.

Dan needed to test this…

The spirit glanced over at Fright Knight and Spectra who were now working together to fight off one of Plasmius' copies. The knight had already done away with the other one sent to fight them.

But going with his idea, Dan quickly duplicated and created ten copies—much to Vlad's astonishment.

After that, it took only a moment for Dan's copies to capture Vlad's own copies and destroyed them.

Two of Dan's copies then flew over to where Fright Knight and Spectra were and destroyed the remaining of Vlad's copies.

Plasmius growled as he was once again outnumbered. But now needing to put space between himself and the evil spirit again, he quickly created a sphere of gold energy and fired it at Phantom.

Phantom smirked knowingly, clearly having expected it; and he dodged the attack by flying back and upwards.

"Synchronized energy… Bravo," Dan taunted, applauding the man. "But it seems you cannot use your other powers and use gold energy at the same time… Doesn't do you much good when you're outnumbered, Plasmius."

Vlad narrowed his eyes as he saw Fright Knight and Spectra approach him. "No, it does not… But it's like you said earlier, I'm just the bait…"

Plasmius fired another sphere of gold energy again; but this time, he fired it towards the knight and Spectra. The two had not expected it; so even when Fright Knight created a shield to protect them, it shattered with the impact, and the ray slammed into him and Spectra.

The two were thrown down to the ground. And while Spectra was instantly knocked unconscious, Fright Knight was temporarily stunned.

Dan narrowed his eyes and his copies quickly multiplied around him. "I am still more powerful than you."

Vlad narrowed his eyes at the evil spirit and his copies. He could feel his core swelling with power in anticipation. But like the times before, he controlled it. His combat style had always been to only release enough of his power to get the job done. It was why he didn't easily weaken. He had trained himself to keep control of his hot core to build endurance. But more importantly, if he didn't keep control, he knew his hot core could be dangerous to himself and anyone around him.

But now, ever since he had felt Serenity heal his core, he knew she had done something extra to it… It felt stronger. Wilder. It was harder to continue to keep it contained.

And yet, as he watched the evil spirit's copies continue to multiply around him, he knew he had to take a chance… It was time to willingly let go of his control over his core and let it… evolve.

"You might be more powerful….," the older hybrid darkly whispered as his electrical red energy began to smoke and swell around him while his eyes began to sparkle with the power.

"But I am still Vlad Plasmius… the first ghost-human hybrid… and still dangerous to those that dare challenge me..."

Dan tensed when the dark clouds above them turned red and began to churn. In turn, the snow abruptly stopped falling, and the air around them turned dry and metallic to the taste. Was the man manipulating the actual weather?!

But Phantom quickly pushed back his surprise and his eyes narrowed with deadly intent. "You want to really fight me…? Then, let's fight!"

Phantom and his multiple copies came at Vlad; but at the same instant, the older hybrid let loose his hot core.

The atmosphere around him grew hotter and darker before it exploded.

Red bolts of lightning shot down from the clouds and up from the earth; creating an inescapable field of pain to all those nearby.

Dan hissed as he was forced to a halt when the bolts of power attacked him savagely. His copies, which had multiplied into almost forty by now, were reduced to eight in a matter of a second.

Vlad watched as the lightning bolts continue to snuff away the evil spirit's copies; but knowing that his main target was only being held back by the attack, he pulled more power from within him and released it around him. Suddenly, an electrical forcefield formed around him like a cocoon spun by an unknown power. But then, the cocoon elongated vertically and began to rotate around him. What was even more astonishing was how the atmosphere was somehow feeding it and making it grow and grow.

Phantom barred his fangs as he watched the electrified cyclone engulf the man; but there was nothing the spirit could do.

And with a cry of anger, the older hybrid released the cyclone forward and it came at his enemy.

Phantom attempted to fly out of the way, but the spinning vortex was too strong, and he was sucked in.

Dan cried out in pain; and before he could even try to escape the electrical cyclone it turned into ecto-fire.

What the evil spirit didn't know was that Vlad was using the same attack that the Spirit of Order had used against the man and Danny when they first encounter her. And if he could see himself, Plasmius would see he was encased in a similar sphere of red fire as he continued to unleash his hot core against the evil Phantom.

In the meanwhile, Fright Knight had slowly recovered, but was frozen in disbelief as he watched the older hybrid unleash all his power against his new master.

The power was even reaching the knight, and the only thing protecting him now—and the still unconscious Spectra—was the energy barrier the ghost knight had created to hold off the electrical attacks, and now the ecto-flames.

But the heat was overwhelming. Anything caught in the current attack had either exploded into ashes or had melted.

Fright Knight had known Plasmius for a couple of years now. And he had known he was powerful… But this…

He had never seen this.

The ghost suddenly felt a sense of hope swell within him. Could… Could Vlad Plasmius really defeat his master? If he did…

Fright Knight grunted as his shield suddenly began to crack. He wasn't sure how long he could protect him and the female shadow ghost from this inferno.

But then, at that moment something else happened. Fright Knight's eyes widened when in the distance he saw the ghost shield over Amity Park begin to dissolve away.

The knight had no idea what that meant; but Vlad and Dan were too preoccupied to notice.

All this time, Vlad was trying to keep his attack going for as long as possible. He wanted to destroy this monster! He wanted him to be reduced to ashes for all he had done! He had destroyed George and the rest of his ghost family; and had been partly been responsible for what had happened to Danielle. He had forced the Fright Knight to condemn Skulker to a fate worse than death! And he attempted to kill the young hybrid and had almost killed him!

Plasmius wanted him to suffer! To be annihilated!

With a final scream, the man's hot energy exploded around them, turning almost white from the intensity of the heat. He watched Dan's silhouette encased in the heat shoot down like a comet to the ground, and the earth trembled with the impact.

But even with all his power, the man was still human and he had a limit. Unable to sustain the power any longer, Vlad reigned in his hot core and floated back down.

He didn't see the red clouds above dissipate as quickly as the burning energy around him had. All that was left was the soft hisses of random fire sprouts on the ground and a shower of ashes that rained down around him like snow.

Vlad panted as he shook with his previous effort. It took all his remaining strength to stay on his feet and in ghost form. But he slowly walked closer to the burning crater where Dan had landed.

He paused when he finally noticed Fright Knight—and the now stirring Spectra— not too far from him; but neither dared try to make a move against him, clearly shocked and frightened by what they had witnessed.

Plasmius took a deep breath before he brought pink energy into his fisted hands. He narrowed his eyes as he watched Dan crawl out of the crater. His clothing was in rags and his hair had snuffed out. His skin was blistered and swollen with the damage of the heat.

"Wow…," Dan grunted out as he managed to sit on his back legs after he got out of the hole. He looked back at the blazing crater before looking around him. "Wow indeed. That was something… You didn't even have to use synchronized energy…"

He looked back at Vlad and dared to smirk. "Is this your sister's doing? She juiced you up? Or was it our firebird friend?"

Plasmius didn't answer; but instead, his pink energy turned into gold energy. Still, he was starting to get worried. Where was Daniel? He should have been here by now. He couldn't hold this creature off for much longer. It didn't matter how much he threw at him. The creature was unstoppable.

And Phantom knew it.

"It doesn't matter…," Dan answered for him, as he got to his feet. His clothes and skin began to regenerate and his hair ignited again. "I told you, I am more powerful than you. So, go ahead, throw everything you got at me… I just have to wait until you run out of ideas and energy, don't I?"

Vlad quickly threw two gold energy rays at the spirit, effectively throwing him back into the crater. But though he knew that the attack had to have at least hurt the spirit, Dan just laughed from within the still roaring fire.

His laughter grew louder and more diabolical as it echoed in the older hybrid's ears.

Plasmius realized at that moment that the spirit was just toying with him all this time. He wasn't really putting his full effort to fight him. He was so confident that he was unstoppable, that this was just a game to him.

"Ouch! That one hurt!" Dan taunted as he flew out of the crater this time.

Vlad quickly threw several more gold-energy attacks at him; but Dan quickly dodged most, except for one that hit him in the shoulder, drawing ectoplasm.

Phantom hissed in pain and glanced at his shoulder. But almost instantly, it began to heal.

"Your ego is going to be your downfall. Nothing is invincible!" Plasmius hissed. "And I'll prove it to you even if it I have to tear you apart molecule-by-molecule!"

Plasmius released a wave of gold energy at the spirit; but this time it flickered before it turned pink just as it hit the evil spirit.

The attack pushed Dan back a bit; but this time, it did not harm him.

Phantom smirked. "Looks like your power-up is starting to power-down… or is it that Danny has been apart from you for too long? Isn't that how synchronized energy works…? The two ghosts sharing the bond have to be near one another for the power to last or be at its most powerful?"

And pretending to think about it, Dan added, "Or… could it be that your sibling can't keep up her little spell for very long? Because I highly doubt you and Danny have truly been able to create gold energy together. You two? When we have forever been rivals? No…. Not in this timeline; not in any timeline. You two have no bond, and my existence will forever be proof of it!"

Phantom raised his hands and fired red spheres of power at Vlad.

The man dodged before shooting a sphere of gold energy back at the spirit.

Dan, however, averted it this time by teleporting—right in front of the man.

Vlad jolted in surprise; but couldn't move away now that the spirit had grabbed his suit and yanked him closer. And just as quickly, Dan turned his hand intangible, and gripped the medallion around the man's neck that had been hiding under his clothing.

"No!" Vlad shouted in a panic as he gripped the medallion himself to keep the spirit from yanking it off. If the spirit took it from him, he was done for!

"You think this will save you from me?" Dan asked darkly.

Vlad's hand lit up with electrical energy, and the spirit hissed but didn't let go of the medallion.

"It can't save you from me," Phantom hissed. "Nothing and no one can…"

Vlad jolted when the spirit abruptly let go of the medallion… and instead phased his hand right into his chest and gripped his core.

Vlad screamed. But he mentally cursed himself for being so careless and leaving himself open for this attack. He had just been so panicked that the spirit would take the time medallion which would have exposed him to the spirit's time powers. But now, he had just left himself exposed to the same attack that had almost killed him at Clockwork's tower!

"Not again!" Vlad thought in growing horror. He attempted to use his powers again to push the spirit away; but the pain was quickly overwhelming him like last time.

Dan chuckled before he mocked, "The great Vlad Plasmius. The first human ghost hybrid… So dangerous… So weak. So fragile… So human," he ended with a hiss.

"But you're right about one thing…," Dan continued darkly. "You are definitely the bait. I need Danny here. And I need your troublesome sister here. And you are going to bring them to me… Aren't you?"

Dan squeezed his core even more, and the man screamed louder.

"Who do you think will come to your aid first? Niane or Danny? … I hope it's your sister. I did promise her I would rip out your core in front of her…"

Feeling the ghost actually begin to pull at his ghostly organ, the older hybrid squeezed his eyes closed, and focused on his powers. And with the growing need to protect his core, he felt an odd hot liquid warm around his chest. He didn't hesitate to release whatever it was.

Dan screamed as something began to burn at his hand; and he instantly wrenched his hand out of the older hybrid. The spirit gasped when he saw sizzling gold tar coating his hand which was still eating at his flesh!

"What… What is this?" Phantom cried out as he tried to turn intangible but the liquid would not come off. He screamed some more as he floated back gripping at his hand. A hand that was being melted away by the gold tar.

Meanwhile, Vlad panted as he gripped his chest. He wasn't sure what had just happened but he was glad for it. However, he had not expected to see the evil spirit's hand literally be melted off.

Phantom panted as he stared at where his hand should be; but he could see his arm already glowing, which meant his body would regenerate the limb in short order.

But now he was furious.

"I think I'll just let Danny and your sister pick up your remains!" Phantom growled before his eyes flashed a brighter red, before he added, "My turn."

Vlad gasped as the spirit opened his mouth and unleashed his ghostly wail against him.

---

Not wanting to be sighted by the GiW, Maddie and Jack lowered the speeder within a small gathering of trees just outside of Amity Park. They and their passengers all stayed in the speeder as they assessed the situation.

"How are we going to get into the city without being spotted by all those Guys-in-White?" Jazz asked her mom worriedly.

They had no idea how many hunters there really were. But they could at least detect some of their vehicles at the outskirts of the city. They could also hear the faint hum of helicopter blades in the sky above Amity.

Maddie didn't reply right away. Instead, she slipped on her hazmat suit's mask and activated its built-in binoculars.

She set the binoculars on their highest setting. And spotting several of the government hunters moving about, she answered, "Looks like most of the ones I can see are moving in one direction. They look to be moving deeper into the town, which means they are targeting something with their instruments."

But then without glancing at her husband, she asked, "Jack, sweetie. Can you activate the speeder's ghost detector?"

"Sure thing, Mads," he answered and got to it. The sonar-like instrument came to life and quickly showed several ghost entities some yards away… Actually, there were quite a lot of ghosts around.

"I wasn't expecting to find so many hits… and so close by," Jack commented in surprise. However, as he expanded the instruments radius to its maximum ten miles, he added, "Looks like there's three pretty strong ones further away… Two are closer to the west side. Near the pier, it seems."

"Any of them Danny?" Maddie asked.

"We haven't updated the speeder's ghost detector to lock on any specific ghost signature, Mads," Jack answered with a frown, wondering why he had not done that yet.

"I got you, Mr. and Mrs. F!" Tucker suddenly spoke up, already working his magic on his PDA. "I happen to have borrowed the Fenton boomerang's technology to be able to detect Danny. After how many times we've lost him in the past, I decided to have something on hand to keep him on our radar."

"That-a-boy!" Jack exclaimed.

Everyone else smiled, and Sam said, "Never been happier to have a techno-geek for a friend."

"Darn right!" Tucker replied with a smirk. But then he grinned as his PDA got a tag on Danny before he then pointed on the ghost detector screen. "He's here!"

"Little brother!" Jazz exclaimed with relief. "Tucker, can you locate his exact position?"

Tucker frowned. "Sort of… His signature is moving away pretty quick. We need to get moving because my PDA has a limit on how far it can pick him up."

"But we can't just barge into the town," Maddie said with a frown. "The Guys-in-White will stop us before we can get even halfway into the city, let alone hope to get close to Danny. There's too many of them for us to be able to evade them this time."

"Hey, Mads…?" Jack suddenly said with a frown.

"What…?" she began, but then trailed off when she quickly saw what had his attention.

The speeder's radar was picking up several ghosts approaching the outskirts of Amity Park—and most importantly, approaching their location. Maddie quickly turned her binoculars back out the window and adjusted them to pick up ecto-energies.

She quickly spotted several invisible ghosts flying above the sky…

"What are those ghosts doing?" Maddie asked, confused. They were getting too close to the Guys-in-White in the same vicinity. They would be spotted for sure!

And as she predicted, she saw several of the GiWs pause in their tracks. Then, based on the sudden movements from them and how a group of them changed directions towards the incoming ghosts, she was sure they had detected them.

Unknowingly to the Fentons, the group of ghosts they and the Guys-in-White were now tracking was Ember's crew, as well as Young Blood and a few more ghosts he had brought with him—and whom had joined the fray at Ember's request for help. And they were there with the intent of distracting the GiW hunters. At least, as many as they could, considering the ghosts were vastly outnumbered.

"They wanted to get spotted," Jazz suddenly realized, concluding the only logical explanation of why the ghosts would openly move towards the danger.

"But why?" Tucker asked, confused.

"I think I know…," Maddie suddenly said as she detected more ghost readings several yards away. There were two more ghosts; but these were flying low, clearly not wanting to be spotted—unlike the others.

But what had Maddie's full attention was the… people with them.

"Tucker… Sam… It's your parents," Maddie said in disbelief before a smile grew on her face.

"What?!" the two exclaimed and raced up towards the front.

But neither had binoculars to be able to spot them from how far away they were.

Jazz, however, quickly ran to the back of the speeder; and grabbing something out of their supply bins, she exclaimed, "Found them!" She had located the extra pair of binoculars they had on the speeder.

Too excited and nervous to say thank you, Sam quickly took the binoculars from the older girl and searched for her parents.

"Eleven o'clock, Sam," Maddie directed her.

Sam's breath hitched when she spotted them. Her mom and dad… They were there. They were safe.

"They're okay," she whispered with emotion.

"Lemme see!" Tucker exclaimed, all but snatching the device from his friend. But considering the circumstances, the goth girl didn't mind.

"Where… oh! Oh yeah! I see them! MOM! DAD!" Tucker shouted out happily.

"Uh, Tucker, they can't hear you," Sam commented dryly.

Maddie didn't really pay attention to the girl's comment as something occurred to her; and she said with a bit of worry, "Danielle and Valerie do not appear to be with them…"

"Maybe they're further behind, "Jack suggested. "Still, we gotta help them. It's obvious they are trying to get out of the city. Can't blame them."

Jazz then spoke up with a thoughtful frown. "And what about those ghosts that look to be helping everyone? Maybe they're… Danny's allies…," she realized with a smile.

Maddie nodded in agreement before she said, "Alright, this is what we'll do… The Speeder is too big to keep under radar; but if we can get to them on foot, we could bring them to the speeder. We can start flying people out to the next city."

"We'll have to hurry," Jazz said with a frown. "Those ghosts are not going to be able to distract the GiW forever. And after that, it won't take them long to finally spot the other ghosts and the people."

Of course, no one really thought the government hunters would directly attack the citizens of the town; but they knew these hunters enough to know they would put anyone in danger to get their job done. Plus, they clearly were responsible for the human and ghost shield. They probably had a reason for wanting to keep the town people trapped in the city…"

"Right," Maddie agreed. "Jack. Sam. Tucker. Grab whatever you can. We're moving out there now."

"Wait… what about me?" Jazz asked with a frown, noticing her name absent from the order.

"Jazz, I need you to stay here with the speeder. If we get spotted, we're going to need you to be ready with the speeder."

The girl frowned. But understanding it was necessary, she nodded.

"Let's go save our neighbors!" Jack announced, standing and then pulling down his own hazmat suit's mask.

Danny's parents and Sam and Tucker quickly left the speeder and began to make their way stealthily towards the other people.

The distance, of course, was a lot longer on foot; but they continued to head in the direction they had last spotted the Foley and Manson parents. As they neared, they could hear the sounds of ecto-guns going off.

The GiW were focused on taking down the ghosts flying around them. But as expected, only a group of the GiW stayed behind, while the rest of the hunters continued on in pursuit of their main targets. Unknowingly to the Fenton parents, Sam, and Tucker, the GiW leader already had locked on Vlad, Danny, and evil Phantom's ecto-signatures…

As they came into a clearing, Maddie, Jack, Sam, and Tucker all but ran into the two ghosts that were leading the Amity people out of the city.

Everyone jolted in surprise, and almost shot at the ghosts. But it was Sam and Tucker who recognized the ghosts, and exclaimed, "Wait!"

Everyone froze, including Bennie and Jasper.

"We know you…," Sam said. These ghosts… They had been at Vlad's mansion, hadn't they? They had only seen a glance of them, but… How had they gotten to Amity Park?

"You two are the young halfa's companions," Jasper realized.

But before anyone else could say anything, there was a chorus of battle cries and the Manson and Foley parents came running forward with guns ready to fire at whoever was in their way.

"Leave those poor ghosts alone!" Pamela exclaimed.

"Ghosts can be friends, too!" Jeremy said right after.

"Uuuuh, Mom? Dad?" Sam asked, not sure what to even say.

But at finally noticing who it was—and more importantly that one of the people they had just run into was their daughter—the parents let out a shout of joy!

"Sammikins!"

Sam yelped when her parents dropped their guns and tackled her in a hug.

"Oh, thank goodness! Tucker!" Donna exclaimed right after.

"Mom!" Tucker exclaimed back, and quickly hugged her. Maurice chuckled joyfully and wrapped his strong arms around both his wife and child.

"I knew you'd make it back to us, Son," Mr. Foley said with a warm smile.

Maddie and Jack smiled warmly at the family reunions; but the two knew they had to move.

"We don't have a lot of time…," Maddie began.

The parents reluctantly let go of their kids and nodded.

Pam and Jeremy quickly looked down and picked up their weapons again.

"Maddie. Jack. Never thought I would be so happy to see both of you," Jeremy said with a chuckle.

"Ah shucks, Thurston. We missed you, too!" Jack said, giving him a strong pat on his back.

The man yelped a bit as he stumbled forward. He didn't bother to tell the larger man to call him 'Jeremy' since he knew that Jack never listened.

"We have the speeder just a mile out," Sam said. "Jazz is with it, waiting for us to return so we can get people away to safety."

"I mean, that's what you guys are trying to do, right?" Tucker asked, confused.

Maurice nodded. "That Phantom look-alike has been terrorizing the town. And worse, the Guys-in-White locked down the city. They've been keeping everyone in here trapped with that dangerous creature on the loose. Not sure with what purpose; but when we saw the human-ghost shield finally come down, we knew it was our chance to get as many people out as possible."

"Right," Jeremy quickly jumped in. "Luckily Damon's daughter has been helping us. She rallied some ghosts together to help out, too. In fact, when we all met up at the hospital, your son—"

"You saw Danny?!"

Sam's dad startled when the present Fentons, and even his own daughter and Tucker shouted the same question at once.

Jeremy hesitated. "Uh… Yes. I guess he ran into Valerie, and then he came to the hospital where we had all been bunkering down. But then he flew off with Valerie, and two other ghosts to help… Masters, was it?"

He looked at his wife, who nodded in confirmation.

"He flew off?" Maddie whispered. "He has his ghost powers back!"

"But why would he need to go help Vlad?" Jack asked angrily.

Sam and Tucker's parents looked confused at the Fentons. But it was Donna who spoke up, and asked, "I'm confused. Wasn't Danny with you all in Wisconsin at Mr. Masters' old castle? At least, that is what Tucker briefly explained to me when we last spoke on the phone when this whole mess started…"

"Some things happened…," Sam was the one to reply. "Long story short we got separated from Danny. And Danielle—Wait…. Where's Dani?"

But before anyone could reply, the ground beneath them began to tremble, while an eerily familiar sound echoed through the sky.

A ghostly wail.

"Danny?" Jack and Maddie chorused in alarm.

"Or his evil self…," Tucker added, seriously. "Either way, that is not good."

"Come on! We have to hurry!" Maddie said, and everyone sprinted into action. The sooner they could get everyone out, the sooner they could get to her son…

---

The moment Evil Phantom unleashed his wail, Plasmius created a sphere-like barrier around him. But the force was so strong, he was sent flying back towards some storage buildings in the distance. He was thrown into the buildings, which quickly collapsed over him as the waves tore apart everything in their path.

Vlad cried out in pain as the force of the waves and debris weighed down more and more against the shield keeping him from being crushed alive. Soon, the ghost shield began to crack and give way.

The man realized at that moment he might die here. This wasn't like the wail he had experienced from the young hybrid in the past. The boy's wail had a limit. He had a limit.

This creature… He did not.

Vlad felt his rings begin to flicker around his waist as his body and core gave out. He squeezed his eyes closed as he lost his ghost form in the next instant; and with it, the only thing keeping him from being crushed to death.

And yet, the fatal blow never came.

The man gasped and snapped his eyes open. Although it was almost pitched black, he stared in disbelief at the foreign green barrier protecting him.

Unknowingly to the man, Danny, Niane, Ember, and Valerie had just arrived. And the teen had quickly created a protective barrier around the other half-ghost the instant he felt his location and felt his current predicament.

But at the same time, the teen opened his own mouth and unleashed his ghost wail back at the evil Phantom.

The sonic waves collided, and expanded outward, shaking and destroying everything around them even more.

But the teen knew he would not be able to match his evil-self in power. Still, he had a few tricks up his sleeve that Dan didn't.

Pulling energy from his ice core, the young hybrid's sonic energy rings turned an icy blue, packing a double punch that was enough to startle the evil spirit.

While most of the icy waves resonating out of the teen's mouth were disintegrated by the spirit's more powerful wail, enough penetrated through to reach the evil spirit.

Dan unwillingly hitched in his wail, yelled in pain and reflexively covered his face as the biting ice energy momentarily blinded as well as encased him.

However, Dan recovered quickly and growled at the sight of Danny. The spirit immediately emitted energy around his body, which melted any lingering ice entrapping him.

But Danny was not giving him time to counterattack. He had to take the spirit down now that he had caught him by surprise.

"Get Vlad out of there!" he told Valerie, Niane and Ember, knowing he would not be able to hold the shield protecting the man and fully focus on Dan all at once.

Not waiting for a response, Danny teleported right in front of Dan, and pulled out the weapon he had gotten from his parents' house.

But before he could fire it, Phantom teleported closer and grabbed it. "You and your little toys… They won't work this time, Danny," he sneered.

"You sure?" Danny quipped before pulling out an ecto-bomb from his utility belt; and he quickly threw it right at the spirit's face.

Dan yelled in surprise as the smoke blinded him momentarily and he unconsciously released the gun Danny still had in his hand.

The teen didn't hesitate to fire it.

The green ecto-dejecto gas exploded forward, engulfing the teen and the evil spirit.

Danny knew the gas would not hurt him thanks to his hybrid status; but it definitely had some effect on his evil-self as he watched the spirit's aura begin to flicker. And yet it didn't slow him down.

"Crud, I have to hit him with more!" the teen thought frantically as he attempted to reload the weapon so he could—Too late!

Phantom fired a blast of energy right at him in spite of still being surrounded by the ecto-dejecto fumes.

Danny cried out as it hit him right in the chest and sent him flying back. The teen, of course, lost his grip on the gun.

But the blast had been so strong, he almost lost all his concentration over the shield he was still holding up to keep the older hybrid alive. The teen dropped to the ground, clenching his chest and teeth in pain; in spite of it, he could still feel the older hybrid's panic as the shield protecting him from certain death began to falter.

Where was Ember, Niane, and Valerie?!

But he soon got his answer when he heard Valerie scream as she was blasted away by the Fright Knight. Then, the sound of Ember's guitar followed the knight's attack.

"Niane, hurry!" Danny shouted, when he glanced back enough to see the ghost girl was the only one in the area where the man was.

But the teen yelped when he felt an energy ray come at him. He teleported in time to evade it; but as he flew back into the air, he saw Dan had duplicated and had created five copies.

"Oh crud!" Danny thought. He could only make four. But with his focus split, he could not risk expanding so much power. He duplicated but created two copies.

Dan just smirked evilly as he glanced at where Plasmius was still buried. "Something wrong, Danny?"

The spirit could plainly see that Vlad's sister was out of energy because she was desperately trying to dig him out. And that also must have meant that the girl couldn't have created the green hue glowing from under the debris.

The spirit's grin widened. "Seems you got a bit of a dilemma… Keep the cheesehead from being crushed; or stop me from crushing you. You're about to fail at both."

"We're about to find out!" Danny spat back before he came at his evil-self.

Vlad, meanwhile, was fighting his panic. Not only was he weak from using so much of his energy fighting the evil spirit, but his ghost core hadn't recovered enough from that creature's last blow to get out of this death trap.

"Vlad!" he heard Niane's familiar voice shout as she attempted to reach him.

"My ghost powers are nearly spent… I can't phase you out. You need to pull yourself out, please. Danny can't hold the shield much longer."

"I would love to, except my powers are not responding at the moment!" the older hybrid snapped back, mostly because of how nervous he was with his current dilemma.

"You and boy's energies are connected, remember? Just tap into that bond to create synchronized energy. It will help your core regenerate your lost energy faster!"

Vlad mentally kicked himself for not thinking about that. He quickly concentrated on the link he could feel within him ever since Niane had enhanced it. He had always felt this connection, but it was just easier to grasp now.

Vlad's eyes flashed gold as his core responded to the gold energy being created within his body; and soon he felt his core reawaken.

With a bit of effort, he turned intangible, and pulled himself out of the debris. That was too close.

"Vlad, thank goodness!" Niane exclaimed with a relieved sigh.

Though the older hybrid was panting from the exertion, he still turned to the girl. "Why are your powers fading?" he asked. Her weakened condition could not be due to just her using her powers to enhance his and Daniel's bond.

Niane's eyebrows creased. "I…"

"Look out!" Ember abruptly yelled.

Vlad and Niane tensed. A purple ecto-ray was coming straight at them! In the next moment, however, the ghost diva strummed her guitar and its power pushed the blast to one side.

"Move it, old man!" she yelled back at him before she focused back on Spectra who had been the ghost that had thrown the purple ecto-ray at Vlad and his sister.

"Ember?" Vlad questioned as he watched the ghost attack Spectra. He then quickly looked up, and further blinked at seeing Valerie fighting against the Fright Knight.

"I best not ask," he decided as he stood up, and turned into Plasmius again. He cringed as he felt he was still weakened; but he knew he needed to help Danny.

He looked towards the boy who was trying to hold back the evil Phantom; but he could see the teen was just barely averting attack-after-attack.

"Stay out of sight," Vlad told Niane before he flew up towards the teen and the evil spirit.

Meanwhile, Ember had flown up to Spectra, and quickly questioned, "Spectra? What the heck are you doing here?! Why are you helping this creep?!"

The shadow ghost looked awful. But the fear in her eyes was just as bad when she answered, "I… I …He wants me to take down Plasmius… He'll hurt me if I don't."

Ember raised a shield in front of her when the ghost fired two more blasts at her; but they were pretty weak. Spectra was barely functioning. Her spectral body was fading and her aura was barely glowing. Why was she pushing herself like this?

Ember frowned as she lightly touched her guitar strings. "Look, you clearly don't want to do this. And I really don't want to kick a fellow rebel gal when she's down. We're kinda friends, right? Had a few girls' night out, remember? Why don't you just head home, and we can put this mess behind us?"

"Home…?" Spectra repeated back, her eyes glowing with tears. "I have no home… My brother. Bertrand. Their gone. I'm all alone; and he… No, he'll find me… I can't betray him. He says I'm… his pet now. He'll never let me go."

Ember's eyes widened in disbelief. But then she sighed, "Not sure what he's done to you… But if you're helping him, then you're in my way."

Ember quickly stroked her guitar. Almost instantaneously the shield dissolved and her pink fisted ecto-energy pummeled into Spectra.

The shadow ghost screamed in pain as she was thrown back. And Ember wondered if she had even tried to move out of the way.

Ember frowned at this and flew down to where Spectra had landed.

But at seeing her approach, the female shadow ghost did not even bother to stand.

"Go ahead. You'll do me a favor," Spectra whispered.

Ember blinked. "Wow… You realize I'm the emo girl around here, right?" But shaking her head, she extended a hand at Spectra, and said more gently, "Come on. You don't really want this to be the end. And you're not anyone's pet."

Spectra hesitated as she glanced over at where Dan and Danny were fighting.

"Come on, Spectra… You're stronger than this," Ember said seriously.

The shadow ghost shook in fear but she grabbed Ember's hand and got to her feet. "Go, this is your chance to leave before he sees you. This isn't your fight."

"It… it's not yours, either," Spectra whispered back.

Ember shrugged. "I got my reasons. Now get out of here…"

Spectra nodded; and glancing one last time at evil Phantom, she turned invisible and fled. And though she didn't plan on stopping for a long time, her mind still whispered to her that she would never escape the evil spirit. He would haunt her lonely existence the rest of her after-life.

Suddenly, Ember twisted completely around when she heard a scream. It was Danny! And his copies had just been obliterated!

Luckily, she saw Plasmius had recovered and was now helping the teen fight the evil spirit.

And Valerie…

Darn. Where was the huntress?"

Ember flew up searching and gasped in dread when she saw Fright Knight in the midst of knocking the girl off her hoverboard. The diva gulped when the ghost knight then grabbed the huntress by the arm just before Valerie could plummet downward and raised his sword to strike her.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Ember hitched in another gasp when she caught sight of two rapid missiles that had come out of nowhere heading right to Fright Knight and Valerie!

"Oh Crud!" she groaned, knowing that there was no time to spare.

The ghost girl soared over to Valerie, grabbed her, and quickly yanked her away from the Fright Knight before encasing them both within a green shield. And not a moment too soon, for one of the missiles then hit them and the Fright Knight dead on.

But at the same instant, the second missile twisted toward the hybrids and the evil spirit.

"Daniel!" Vlad shouted when he noticed the deadly arsenal. He pulled the teen out of the way in time to avoid a direct hit; but the force of the explosion sent them slamming into some nearby trees.

Dan, on the other hand, got hit directly and was engulfed in the green explosion.

The smoke and debris briefly obscured all sight of the ghosts and half-ghosts.

The Guys-in-White had finally arrived on the scene, and they had taken no time to surround the squabbling ghosts and target them for destruction.

And yet, for once, the hunters were not just jumping into the fray. They were keeping their distance at the moment. In fact, they were far enough away to be able to use long distance tracking missiles to attempt to destroy their targets.

"Load!" the head-hunter, Agent C, commanded his team, knowing by now one missile would unlikely take any of these powerful specters out.

And he was right, of course.

Dan growled as he stepped out of the smoke and debris like nothing had happened. And yet, oddly, his body was rippling, though it was just barely noticeable.

"Those idiots don't know when to quit!" he remarked, highly annoyed. Too bad they were too far away for him to use time powers to freeze them in time and blow them to bits.

But then, noticing movement in his peripheral vision, he glanced over at Fright Knight as he moved out of the debris, clearly having been able to protect himself enough to avoid being too badly hurt.

Ember and Valerie, on the other hand, were momentarily stunned. Ember had managed to protect them from being destroyed; but it had still taken a lot out of her, and the explosion still had Valerie's ears ringing.

Dan glanced back at where he had last seen Danny and Vlad and smirked when he spotted them. And though conscience and alive, they were struggling to recover from the almost deadly blow.

And Phantom was not about to give them time to recover.

Dan's eyes glowed a brighter red before he raised his hands and created a large red shield, which expanded enough to encompass him, the recovering hybrids, and the Fright Knight. It would do for now so he could deal with his more important targets.

Another missile fired; but instead it slammed into the evil spirit's shield. Its mighty blow hardly sent a ripple through the powerful shield.

"Fright Knight…," Dan called and gestured towards Plasmius.

Meanwhile, Vlad had gotten back on his feet.

"Daniel," he called as he attempted to locate the boy and stay on his feet. The force had split them apart; but the man was relieved when he saw it had not been too far.

He could see the boy groaning as he attempted to get to his own feet.

"Get up, boy… This is not the time to lick our wounds," Vlad said as he pressed his back against a tree and gripped at his burning stomach.

But at that moment, he noticed the red shield that had suddenly formed over them.

The man gasped, "Daniel!"

But it was too late.

Phantom quickly came at Danny, grabbed him by the throat and slammed him up against the broken tree behind him.

But before the man could react, Fright Knight was upon him and his Soul Shredder was at his throat.

Vlad tensed and stared back at the ghost knight's unwavering look. But Plasmius' eyes darted back towards the boy and evil Phantom when he heard the boy cry out.

The creature was going to crush his neck!

"Let him go!" Plasmius demanded furiously before he glared back at Fright Knight when he felt the tip of his blade press more against his throat.

But knowing he was trapped, the man looked around for any sight of Niane, Ember or Valerie. But he didn't see any of them.

He couldn't know that Niane couldn't help right now, though Valerie and Ember had recovered and were at the far end of the shield trying to break through, so far without luck.

Blast, he had to stall this beast!

"You can't destroy him!" Vlad suddenly shouted at Dan.

Phantom finally glanced at Plasmius and rolled his eyes. "Why? Cause you won't let me?"

"You need him!" Vlad snapped back.

Phantom laughed. "To exist? That chapter has long since faded into history. It's really the opposite. If I kill him, I become the Master of Time. I win. All Existence belongs to me. That is how this story ends, Plasmius."

"You think so? You said it yourself. He has something that you need to fulfill your plans!" the man continued.

Dan smirked. "I guess… But I can just take it from him."

"Go ahead and try!" Danny wheezed out as he continued to struggle to escape.

"Clockwork's essence. You need all of it," Vlad continued. "Only he knows where the other half is. And I know for a fact that it's not on him."

Phantom scoffed. "You think I'm an idiot? I can feel it inside him."

The spirit glowed suddenly, and looking back at the teen, added, "All I have to do is pull it out of him… And maybe I should take his ghost half again for the fun of it… What do you think, Danny? Merging has worked so well for us in the past… A part of you will live on. Guess you turn evil after all…"

"No!" Danny grunted as he felt the ghost attempting to siphon off his energy and Clockwork's power inside him.

Vlad attempted to break away, but then grunted when the sword quickly scraped downward until it was pressed against his chest.

"Don't move!" Fright Knight warned darkly.

Now a bit panicked upon hearing more of the team's screams, Vlad desperately said, "Fright Knight, don't do this!" He realized his attempt to buy the teen time had probably just made things worse.

"He is going to destroy all Existence!" the man hissed at the ghost when he would not say a word. "Is that what you want?!"

"What I want does not matter," he finally answered.

"Yes, it does. It always has!" Vlad answered back, before he squeezed his eyes and suddenly raised his hand towards Phantom.

"I said, don't move!" Fright Knight yelled.

As red energy swelled around his hand, Vlad opened his eyes, looked right at the ghost knight and somberly said, "It's time to choose, Fright Knight. You'll have to kill me to stop me."

The ghost knight's eyes widened. "No, do not…," he began.

Plasmius hitched in a gasp when he looked over at Danny. Though the boy was still fighting back, he could barely do so. But at least that meant that the evil ghost hadn't been able to pull out Clockwork's essence out of the teen yet—if that was any relief! He knew the boy couldn't hold on much longer.

"Do not force me into such a position…," Fright Knight said instead in growing panic, knowing if he didn't kill the man, Plasmius would make a direct hit on his master.

"Slave… or, the Protector of Souls… Choose now, Fright Knight!" Vlad answered before he turned his eyes towards Evil Phantom, turned the energy in his hand gold… and fired.

Fright Knight tensed as he saw the attack go right to his master. And… he had let it.

Dan had been so focused on Danny he didn't even see the attack until it was too late.

He cried out as the gold energy slammed into his side and threw him askew. In turn, he dropped Danny.

The boy crumbled to the floor. He had been weakened enough that he was not able to move at the moment.

Fright Knight looked fearfully back at Plasmius. "I should have stopped you…"

"But you didn't….," the man finished for him.

"He…," Fright Knight began, but was cut off by Dan's furious scream.

Getting to his feet, Phantom hissed as he looked at his side and saw the smoking wound. That blasted synchronized energy!

Dan quickly sneered at Fright Knight and Plasmius.

"Did you just let him attack me?!" Phantom growled out at the knight.

"Forgive me, my master… I could not…"

"He is not your master, Fright Knight…," Vlad interrupted the ghost. "He is nothing."

Phantom stared murderously at the older hybrid. And forgetting momentarily about Danny, he moved closer to Fright Knight who in spite of everything, still had his sword aimed at Plasmius.

Dan stared coldly at the man before glaring at the ghost knight, and threateningly commanding, "Run him through. Now. Or it will be you who takes his place!"

"No!" Danny gasped out, seeing what was going on. But though he struggled to his feet, the teen's core was failing him. His evil-self had siphoned off too much energy!

Fright Knight looked back at Plasmius before he replied to the evil spirit. "I will do as you wish…"

Vlad chuckled slightly as the knight's sword began to glow. "Go ahead…," he told the knight. "I can see there's no changing your mind. You cannot help your nature... my friend."

"What are you waiting for?!" Dan hissed as his hands began to glow with deadly red energy.

And yet, Fright Knight didn't look at the spirit this time. Instead, the ghost pressed his sword harder against the man's chest who cringed as it began to cut through his ghost suit.

"You are right. I cannot help my nature…," Fright Knight suddenly said; but he then surprisingly smiled, and added, "It has been an honor, Plasmius."

Fright Knight instantly pulled back the sword as if to run the man through in one thrust. But instead of completing the attack, he unexpectedly flew backwards and slammed his body directly into Phantom.

And in a fraction of a second, the knight turned the Soul Shredder's tip towards himself, and ran it through himself, and in turn, through Phantom directly behind him.

Phantom screamed in pain and alarm as he grabbed the knight's left shoulder in an effort to pry himself away from the ghost and the sword embedded in them both. But instead, the sword seemed to hold onto them both as it began to glow brighter and brighter.

"You traitor!" Dan hissed.

"No!" Fright Knight sneered, "I am the Spirit of Halloween! Protector of Souls! A ghost of honor! That is my true nature! My sword will not reap another innocent soul in your name—instead, it will do this world honor by reaping one last evil soul from its face! Yours, Master!"

"Idiot! You will go with me!" Dan hissed and began to glow as he attempted to escape the sword's swelling power.

"And it will do me honor!" Fright Knight hissed back before glancing back at Plasmius who was staring sadly at him.

"Thank you… for freeing me…" the ghost knight said.

Vlad's eyebrows creased further before he whispered, "I'll find you. Both of you. In this life or the next… I swear it."

Fright Knight shut his eyes when his body turned into green smoke; and in the next instant, he was gone… sword and all.

But Dan was not.

"NO! What the…!" Plasmius gasped out, not believing the evil spirit was still in this realm.

At the least, the Soul Shredder should have transported him into the Realm of Nightmares. Why hadn't the sword's magic worked?!

Phantom panted as his form flickered in and out of Existence, still feeling the effects of the sword—but not even the Soul Shredder had enough spirit magic to overtake him. He clenched his teeth at the pain running through his injured, partially-faded body, but slowly began to feel his form stabilize.

Soon, the gaping hole in his stomach began to slowly close up; and though he had not fully recovered from the Soul Shredder's spirit magic, he knew he would recover completely from it soon enough. He smirked back at the shocked Plasmius.

"Fitting end… The keeper of Souls has reaped his own soul into oblivion… or the Realm of Nightmares. Now that is poetic…. You like poetry, don't you, cheesehead?"

Plasmius' ire instantly reignited; and with a shout of anger, he lunged at the spirit.

But having expected it, Phantom fired an energy blast, throwing the man right back onto the ground.

"Your lucks run out, Plasmius," Dan sneered and he instantly released a massive sphere of power with the clear intention of killing him.

"I don't think so!" Danny's voice suddenly came out of nowhere as he blasted Dan's hand away enough to through his aim off.

Danny then charged at Phantom with the remaining vials of the Ecto-dejecto fisted within his hands. And just as the boy's hands slammed into the older ghost's chest, he turned them intangible, crushed the vials and shoved their contents right into the spirit's core!

Dan cried out in surprise; but it soon turned into a scream of pain as his still-recovering body began to ripple within instability again.

Danny flew back next to Vlad as they watched in shock as the spirit's body fell apart in clumps of ectoplasm. It looked like one of Vlad's past clones dissolving into goop.

Danny turned his eyes away as the spirit's screams turned into gurgles just before he melted completely into a pile of ectoplasm.

Vlad breathed deeply as he placed a hand on Danny's shoulder. "It's over," he told the boy.

Danny looked back; and seeing just a puddle of ectoplasm, sighed himself and nodded.

He watched the red shield that Phantom created flicker out of existence.

"So… am I now the Master of Time? But I didn't get Clockwork's essence from him…"

"We'll think of something," Vlad replied soberly.

"Danny!" Valerie suddenly yelled in relief as she, Ember, and Niane finally made it to them.

"Oh gross!" Ember exclaimed, seeing the goop.

"Is that…?" Niane began.

"Yeah," Danny answered her unfinished question. "He's gone."

"Danny, no…," Niane began in a panic.

But before she could finish, the entire ground began to shake… and then the sky turned blood red as it began to rip open.

---

In order to not draw attention to themselves with trying to move everyone out all at once, the elder Fentons had to make three trips to finally get the citizens of Amity Park out of the city and to the relative safety of the small gathering of trees and the speeder.

Jazz, who had originally stayed behind with the speeder, was relieved to see everyone. Sam and Tucker had stayed with Jazz after the first trip and caught her up to speed with everything.

Of course, Jazz was beyond relieved to hear her little brother appeared to be well and was somewhere in Amity.

Meanwhile, Maddie and Jack were catching their breaths after the arduously slow task of moving back- and-forth those few miles.

The woman was amazed that the ghosts that had been distracting the GiW agents had yet to be caught. In fact, the small group of ghosts had managed to draw the hunters even further away from the area.

Still, the amount of hunters was concerning. Even while a good group of the GiW had gone after the ghosts and then another group had marched on further into the city… there was still a decent amount of them setting up a perimeter around the town.

If only she knew more were on the way since that Agent C had contacted the main branch in Washington D.C. for further support.

Taking a deep breath, Maddie focused back on all the people with them now.

"Is this everyone?" she asked Maurice, who was the person closest to her.

But the man shook his head. "Not everyone. Some could not leave the hospital… including Damon and Danielle."

But the moment he said that, he cringed when Maddie instantly froze and stared at him. She became nervous with the way he had said that.

But Jack, Jazz, Sam and Tucker had also been close enough to hear the comment… and the sad tone in Maurice's voice.

"Wait, Danielle is in the hospital?" Jazz quickly asked, but then added hesitantly, "Did she stay behind to help… or something?"

"You all don't know?" Pamela spoke up sadly.

"What's wrong with squirt?" Jack asked quietly.

Tucker and Sam's parents looked at each other before Tucker's mother spoke up and said compassionately, "We don't know the whole story, but Maurice's daughter, Valerie, shared with us that that poor little girl was out there trying to help. The Guys-in-White were trying to get a hit on Mr. Masters… and she got in the way."

Jazz covered her mouth in horror, while Sam and Tucker's eyes widened with the same emotion.

"Is she okay?" Jack pressed, his voice unusually grave and urgent.

This time, Maurice answered, "The doctors that checked her over… Well, they didn't give her much hope. Whatever those awful men hit her with was meant to really hurt her. I… I am really sorry. But she hasn't woken up, and there's no sign that she ever will…"

"No…" Maddie looked away to swallow down the sudden sob that pushed out of her chest.

Jazz quickly started to cry, and Tucker did his best to console her. Sam just lowered her gaze to hide her own tears as her hands fisted with the onslaught of emotion.

Jack was the only one who didn't react right away. But he was tense, and it showed in his fisted hands. He blinked a few times before looking around at everyone.

He then exhaled sharply before placing a hand on Maddie's shaking shoulder. "Mads… Hey…"

The woman looked sadly back at him.

"We gotta start flying everyone over to the next city. Think you can do that?" he asked her.

Maddie sniffled; but seeing something in his gaze, she asked, "What are you going to do, Jack?"

But instead of answering, Jack just squeezed her shoulder and then headed towards the speeder.

"Jack! Jack, wait!" Maddie exclaimed, suddenly very worried about what her husband was going to do.

"Dad?" Jazz also called.

But the man didn't answer, and quickly got into the speeder, and began to load up on weapons…

Maddie ran after him; and seeing what he was doing, she grabbed one of his arms, and said, "Jack, you need to think about this!"

But the man suddenly jerked from her, only to pause when he saw his wife jump with his sudden anger.

He breathed shakily for a moment before picking up another ghost gun and loading it. But then he looked at her with tear-glazed and angry eyes and finally said, "She was like my own daughter… And those… those monsters… They're going to pay for hurting her, Maddie."

Jack cocked the large gun and repeated, "They're going to pay."

"Jack, sweetie…," Maddie began sadly. "I know this hurts but you can't… Danny needs our help, too. I want so much to make those awful men pay, but there's a lot at stake right now, Jack. The Guys-in-White are not the biggest threat right now."

Jack lowered his gun in response before he shook his head, and said, "I shouldn't have left her here, Maddie. I was supposed to protect the little squirt." He squeezed his eyes close before asking, "Why would she sacrifice herself for Vlad?!"

Maddie sighed deeply. "Because in spite of everything, she still saw him as her father. She still loved him, Jack. I also wish we had never left her here; but she would want us to stop that creature and help Danny. Believe me, though. When this is over, we will make those Guys-in-White pay for hurting our little girl. I swear we will bring them down, Jack, if it's the last thing we do."

Jack looked at her, and nodded. "Alright, Mads… We'll do this the right way. And I agree we need to get to Danny; but what about all these people? It is going to take several trips to get everyone over to the next town, which is about fifteen minutes away if we use the speeder. But we need the speeder to get to Danny. It's going to take at least an hour on foot to make it to where that wail last came from. We would be too late to be of any help if we take that long."

"What if the people wait here for the military to come?" Maddie suggested. "They should be out of danger and far enough to stay away from what's happening while they wait."

"But what if they just send more of these hunters?" Jack asked. "Don't forget that the Guys-in-White are part of the government, Mads. In short, when there are ghost invasions, they sent them! I don't think anyone else is coming… Not anyone that can really help."

Maddie frowned. "I doubt the outside world can ignore for long what is happening in Amity, Jack, especially when Pamela told us they have made several calls to the White House. And we both know Tucker has also been calling. Be what may, he is the mayor; and well, someone has to listen!"

Jack sighed. "Alright, but…"

The man's words melded into a gasp when the ground suddenly began to shake.

"Jack!" Maddie exclaimed as she grabbed onto him to keep on her feet as everything rocked back-and- forth.

But the couple somehow made it out of the speeder, and saw that everything around them was shaking.

"What's happening?!" Pamela screamed as she grabbed her daughter, afraid of losing her.

They all couldn't help but notice when the darkened sky suddenly turned a bright green before the area above the center of the town seemed to explode with some red power.

A loud bam resonated in the sky which only shook the ground further. And then, the sky above Amity Park cracked like partially-shattered glass with bleeding red veins.

Soon a misty dome-shape red shield began to form and drop from the heavens.

Whatever was happening, they were about to get cut off from the town—with Danny trapped inside!

"We have to get in there! Now!" Maddie exclaimed.

"But what about everyone here?" Jack asked fearfully.

But Jeremy quickly said, "Don't worry about us. We'll stay hidden here. Go! Hurry!"

And seeing others nod, the parents smiled thankfully before running into the speeder.

"Wait! I'm going, too!" Jazz exclaimed, and ran after her parents.

Tucker and Sam quickly looked at their own parents to tell them they had to go, too.

But already knowing this, Tucker's mom told her son, "Be careful, sweetie."

Maurice nodded. "Go help your friend. We'll be fine."

Pamela and Jeremy, on the other hand, just hugged their daughter tightly. "Please come back to us," her mom then begged.

"Don't worry, I will," Sam answered warmly, and for once hugged them back. "Thanks."

Hearing the speeder turn on, Sam and Tucker quickly turned and ran to the aircraft.

In a matter of seconds, they got on, the door shut behind them, and the speeder raced back towards Amity Park.

For a moment, they thought they would not make it before the strange red shield locked them out. But they narrowly managed to squeeze past the red energy and took off towards the growing commotion.

They didn't see the Guys-in-White below scrambling to regroup as they were also shocked to see what was happening. In fact, for once they seem to forget all about 'hunting' and began to question their own safety.

Amity was falling apart. Red spheres, like bleeding welts, began to appear all over the city and expanded, consuming everything they touched…

And yet, no one noticed the large vehicles, jets and helicopters approaching in the distance, and one of the passengers was Stephanie Hue….

---

"What's happening?!" Danny exclaimed as a red glow began to tinge the world with its color while cracks appeared on the ground and in the sky and continued to spread. But worse, from the opening in the sky, green energy further seeped out; and as it made contact with the human environment, it turned black, as if the very earth was rotting like a dead limb.

But there was this strange pull that only the ghosts and half-ghosts could feel. Something was literally pulling the human world into what they could only guess was the Ghost Zone, while the zone spilled out like water erupting from a broken dam.

"Existence is falling apart….," Vlad muttered with a lace of horror in his voice.

"Oh my gosh!" Valerie gasped out.

"And there's nothing we can do?" Ember asked, scared.

Niane was just as terrified and shocked; but something was off about this… Something didn't seem right. There was some familiar presence growing around her….

In the next moment, the ghost girl saw the red haze in the air wrapping around the town like another ghost shield… only it was something worst. She instantly knew what was wrong, and what that presence was. She could feel it even more now. The feeling was spirit energy. And not just any spirit energy… It was the presence of primal all-powerful Ancient energy.

She knew it well. After all, she had all but lived her spirit life beside a former Ancient, namely Clockwork.

And as if to confirm it, one-by-one, the Ancients materialized high above the sky and right in front of the biggest bleeding portal. But they were glowing with the same red hue that was encasing and expanding through the atmosphere.

And then, the Observants appeared with the Ancients, also glowing with a red hue.

Instantly, Vlad's spirit sense went off; and it was so strong, he gasped at the sensation that curled around his core.

"The Ancients… They are causing this…," Niane realized. "They… They are ripping apart the natural barrier between the human and ghost world!"

Danny felt his core jolt in his chest at the foreboding presences far up in the distance. If Serenity was anything to go by when it came to the Ancients…

"But…why? I thought the Ancients protected Existence!" Danny asked, shocked. "Wouldn't breaking apart the barrier between here and the zone speed up the destruction of everything?!"

"I agree, Daniel," Vlad quickly said. "These creatures are the Guardians of Existence. They must have a reason to break through the natural human and ghost barrier. They must be after something… something that is worth risking everything, including their own after-life…What is there in this world that can save Existence?"

"That's easy, Plasmius. They are after the same thing I am."

Everyone jolted with the sudden dark voice; but before they could react, several energy blasts came right at them… and struck Valerie, Ember, and… Niane.

Valerie and Ember were thrown across the sky, while Niane's body lit up as the attack seized her in place and drove its damaging power into her.

"No!" Vlad and Danny exclaimed as the three girls then dropped from the sky.

Danny immediately shot towards Valerie, while Vlad flew after Niane.

However, before the teen could get more than a yard in distance, an energy field engulfed him and froze him in place.

Danny gasped when Dan materialized in front of him, his hand glowing with the same energy keeping him trapped.

But the evil spirit's gaze was momentarily focused on something else. He smirked when he watched Plasmius teleport the remaining distance to grab Niane before she could hit the ground.

"Predictable," Dan said, and fired another attack.

"Vlad!" Danny shouted in warning; but it was too late. The blast hit the older hybrid in the back, and pummeled him and Niane into the ground.

Danny's eyes widened in alarm; but then he glanced towards where he had last seen Valerie. He could not see her or Ember!

"You really thought you were going to stop me with your parents' inventions and a bit of gold energy? …You're more stupid than I thought!" Evil Phantom sneered.

Danny quickly glared back at his evil-self. But he now realized what Niane had been trying to warn him about but couldn't in time. The dejecto serum and the gold energy rays had not destroyed Dan. It had just temporarily destabilized him…

It was true, then. You couldn't destroy a spirit.

"Now…" Dan said and his glowing hand fisted tighter. In turn, he heard the boy gasp as the energy holding him constricted around him like the coils of a python.

"… I am going to get what I need from you. One way or another. And since it seems you are out of ideas—or moves, really—then, let's just get it over with."

"I'll never give you Clockwork's essence!" Danny yelled defiantly as he attempted to struggle to break free from his enemy's energy.

Dan abruptly teleported in front of the teen and grabbed him by the neck. "You don't have to," he whispered darkly. "I am just going to take it, even if I have to rip out your core to do so."

Danny squeezed his eyes shut as he felt his evil-self's power swell around him. But it wasn't just his ecto-energy. It was the same absorbing power he possessed. And the teen knew the spirit was about to use it to extract his core energy along with Clockwork's essence.

Dan narrowed his eyes. "No more little weapons or tricks. No more Niane with her little bonding powers. And no more meddling cheesehead arch-enemy. Just you and me, Danny. Like I told you, there cannot be two Danny Phantoms. And there will only be one Master of Time and Existence: me!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Danny grunted, and then quickly reached into his own core. He attempted to find his energy absorption power; but Danny had only used it on Vlad, and it had not been quick or easy… and he had done it in that other dark form. It had been raw instincts and emotions that had driven him; as if that side of him was full-ghost, completely in tune with his powers. Deadly powers, yet still his full powers.

Evil Phantom chuckled, feeling the teen trying to fight back and use the same absorbing power against him. But it was barely there. It was weak, barely a spark.

"This isn't our Ghostly Wail, Danny. You cannot master this power out of sheer luck. You need something you will never have: control."

Danny cried out as his evil-self's power swelled even more around him, and he felt his mind go blank when all that he could think and feel was pain.

Meanwhile, Vlad groaned as he managed to sit back on his legs and grip at his abdomen. But ignoring the pain, he looked around, and quickly found the senseless ghost girl a few feet from him.

"Niane?" he called. With a grunt, he got to his feet, and went over to her. He all but fell back to his knees beside her. "Come on, girl. Wake up."

The man had already felt his enhanced bond with the teen fade out the moment the ghost girl had been knocked out. He knew Danny and his only chance to stop that demented future spirit had just been swiped off the board along with Niane.

He pressed a hand against her chest and let some of his blue energy seep into her. He saddened as he accidently felt her core. She was fading; but more than that… her energy, it somehow felt familiar even when he had never really touched her until now. But he already knew why she felt so comforting to him. As much as he wanted to deny it… He already knew.

Vlad sighed as he tentatively reached for her face with his other hand, before lightly combing the brown locks away. "Come on, Niane. We cannot do this without you…I…I need you to wake up."

At that moment, Niane eyes fluttered open. She stared confused at her brother for a moment; but as if suddenly remembering what happened; she jolted.

"It's alright," Vlad said, but quickly pulled his hand away. Seeing her sit up and cradle her head, he tentatively asked, "Are you well?"

Niane lowered her hands and looked tiredly at him. "No…" she answered truthfully.

Vlad's eyebrows creased but before he could say anything, Valerie and Ember appeared.

Vlad's eyes widened slightly as he quickly remarked, "Are you two…? I saw you both fall…?"

Ember shrugged. "I'm a ghost I can take a few hits…"

But Vlad didn't reply, and just continued to stare at Valerie.

The girl glanced away before muttering her reply, "This is the suit you gave me… And the board it has a rider linkage program. That you know, saves me from… Well, you know! You gave it to me!" she ended in a huff.

Vlad smiled a bit at that; but before he could say anything else, they all heard Danny scream.

"Danny! We gotta help him!" Valerie exclaimed, and quickly activated her jets.

"Wait!" Vlad abruptly said, though for some reason he cringed right after.

"Wait?" Valerie questioned back.

"Yes, that creature attacking Daniel is only one of our current threats! We also have the world breaking apart around us!" Vlad reminded her.

"But there's nothing we can do…," Valerie answered back tiredly.

"Yeah, and not much we can do about the Ancients!" Ember added.

Danny screamed again.

This time, Vlad visibly tensed as he got to his feet and momentarily watched what was happening above.

The teen and his evil-self were pretty high up, but he could see the glow around the boy's frame, and the man had a feeling the evil Phantom was trying to extract Clockwork's essence from out of the teen's core again.

"You are both right. We cannot stop the Ancients, it seems. But…perhaps we can slow them down," Vlad answered, his attention still split.

"How?" Valerie asked skeptically.

Vlad forced himself to look back at the girl and answered, "I have read a lot of books about spirits as well as have had a couple encounters with some of them. The Observants only have the ability to view through Time, not control it. But the Ancients are all but limitless in their powers considering they are known for their unique abilities—abilities which they will combine for a common cause. And while none of them can control Time, who is to say the Ancients cannot bestow the ability to others, especially the Observants who hold some connection to Time!"

He paused, and added with realization, "They must be here for Clockwork's essence, too! And it must be why they are breaking apart the natural barrier between worlds. The Ghost Zone might be within time's grasp, but its power still fuels all spirits and ghosts. By pulling apart the barrier, they can maintain full power and connection to the Ghost Zone once they completely step into the human plane."

"It's like when Pariah Dark invaded," Valerie said fearfully. "He closed off Amity and pulled it into the zone so he could assert his full power even on human territory."

Ember gasped. "That's what the red force-field they are expanding around this place must do! If they turn Amity into an extension of the Ghost Zone, they can freely come through and take what they want!"

Vlad nodded. "Only if they can break the barrier apart… They cannot do that if the barrier remains stable. And only one thing can hold it intact…"

"Ghost energy!" Ember realized. "The Ghost Zone is held together by pure ghost energy; so, if we feed some through the openings, it will help hold the barrier… just not for long."

"You don't have enough ghost energy to counteract the Ancients' power," Niane suddenly interjected tiredly, and everyone looked at her when they realized she had sat up. She still looked very weak, but at least she was speaking again.

"Good thing I have a few friends with me!" Ember beamed before she turned a dial on her guitar and sent a ghostly sonar wave around her… calling to those friends.

"It still will not be enough," Niane answered sadly.

Vlad didn't reply as he was momentarily distracted again by Danny. His anxiety and need to protect the teen were swelling within him. Even without their enhanced bond, he could feel the teen unconsciously calling to him…But something held him back.

"Promise me you'll let me do what needs to be done…"

Vlad swallowed with the echoing and foreboding memory. Still, he said, "Ms. Gray. Can I see one of your plasma guns?"

Valerie frowned with hesitation before she pulled out her most powerful gun and handed it to the man.

Plasmius expertly found the energy source on it and pulled it out.

"What are you…?" Valerie began, but trailed off when she watched the man charge the plasma battery with his own energy.

"I just purified your gun's battery with core energy," he explained as he slipped the gun's energy source back in its place. "We need your help in trying to slow down that barrier's disintegration."

"But Danny needs help," Valerie stressed.

"If that barrier breaks, the world will collapse in a matter of minutes," Vlad answered gravely. "And then we will all be done for, including Daniel! I will help him, but I need you to help Ember… Please."

Valerie stared soberly at the man before answering seriously, "This can't end for Danny like Danielle, Masters…Make sure it doesn't."

Vlad nodded, and answered, "Hurry."

Not saying anything else, Valerie put her helmet back on, looked at Ember, and then the two quickly flew back up towards the worst of the chaos in the sky.

Vlad watched them go, but then looked over at Danny. There was another more powerful reason he had yet to go to the teen's aid…And he had never felt so conflicted.

"Vlad, you and Danny cannot stop him, not like this," Niane softly spoke up. "I… I don't have the energy to enhance your bond with him any longer."

"I know…," Plasmius answered quietly before looking at the girl. "It's over, isn't it?"

"It doesn't have to be," she answered and further stressed, "I told you, your bond with Danny is the key to all this. But you cannot continue to be afraid of unlocking it. Do you understand?"

"He understands. But he won't dare turn that key…"

Plasmius tensed and turned to move almost protectively in front of Niane's weakened form as Serenity—with Annabelle's appearance—materialized in front of them.

"It's time, beautiful shadow," she said in the girl's voice. "And I know you feel it, too. It's time to fulfill your duty as a guardian… by letting your light fulfill his…"

"What are you talking about?" Niane demanded as she struggled to her feet. "And shouldn't you be with the other Ancients?!"

"Stay out of this, Viviane Masters," Serenity said sternly. "Your brother has agreed to my conditions. He knows what he must do."

Niane quickly looked at her brother. "Vlad?"

The man just remained tensed up as he struggled with the sight of Annabelle, and the knowledge of what would happen to the girl if he didn't keep his end of his bargain with Serenity. But he knew Niane was right, he was holding back. He always had been holding back because he was afraid… especially now that he knew why he had this connection with the boy. And yet… there was something about all this that struck him odd. This was the first time Serenity mentioned her knowledge of his being Daniel's guardian. But furthermore, since when did an Ancient act on her own accord?

Unable to help himself, Vlad asked, "If your interest is to control Time, then why is your clan making matters worse by trying to break the supernatural barrier between worlds? Niane is right. Why are you not with them? Why are you not helping them when the Ancients always act as one?"

Annabelle's eyes flashed red as Serenity glanced up in the general area where the other Ancients were. But what was really surprising was when she looked back at the man and angrily answered, "I said I would handle this… They do not seem to remember I always keep my vows."

Vlad slowly nodded when his unspoken suspicions were confirmed at this moment.

"Your vows…Yes…" he answered slowly. "I expect no less. You keep your vows… And I will keep mine. That is what we agreed on."

"VLAD! HELP ME!"

A sudden force hit his core like a wrecking ball and the man slightly stumbled back. Vlad knew no one else but him had heard or felt what he just had. But it only pushed him to finally decide and accept what he needed to do. Vlad briefly closed his eyes as he reached for the familiar feeling that had been pulling at him for so long. And finally embraced it.

He then looked back at Serenity who had been curiously watching him this whole time. But he still added, "As you said… It's time."

Serenity's eyes slightly widened when she saw the man's red eyes flashed gold for a split second before he looked up at the sky. There was nothing there. The boy and his foe were too high up to be seen at this point. And yet… the man was clearly looking at something only he could see.

But suddenly, Vlad glared back at her, and threatened, "Do not dare touch her."

And then he abruptly vanished.

Serenity frowned in slight confusion at what had just happened. But as if dismissing it a moment later, she glanced up at her fellow Ancients in the distance. She realized it wouldn't be long now.

"How could someone as cruel as you have ever been Clockwork's equal?" Niane suddenly asked, angry.

Serenity—still in Annabelle's appearance—regarded the fading spirit-ghost in front of her. "And I wonder how someone who spent so much time with my dear Clockwork knows so very little… I suppose I should not expect any more from an abomination such as you. If I do nothing more, I will be sure to rid this world of you and that other abominable creature."

"Go ahead. There's nothing stopping you now," Niane spat back. "Clockwork isn't here. No one will stop you from doing away with me."

'Annabelle' smiled widely but it looked terrifying on the girl. "Did you not hear your sibling? As I said, I keep my vows. And your brother's wish was for a chance to save his light…. And you. But once he fails—as have all those other shadows whom l have tested before him—he will be mine. His soul will sleep forever under my eternal order. Just another beautiful shadow that will fade into nothingness."

Niane's eyes widened in horror. "Wait! NO!" she cried out; but the spirit vanished in a puff of red fire.

---

Valerie and Ember gasped as they had to twist and turn to avoid the violent portals and energy balls in the sky. Still, they seemed to multiply the closer they got to the largest tear in the ozone—And within the oozing red gap, the two girls could make out the outlines of the spirits causing the rip in the dimensional barrier.

"This is impossible!" Ember gasped out as she barely dodged another opening portal.

"I know… But we gotta try!" Valerie said gravely before she slowed to a stop. And deciding they were close enough, she extended her modified gun and shot a ray of pure ghost energy into the tear.

Ember swallowed nervously but still did the same with her own energy.

As the energy hit some unknown barrier within the rift, it violently hissed, like lava hitting icy ocean water. In fact, at the area the two were directing their fire, the spilling red ecto-energy stopped pouring out, and the space darkened from an angry red to a dull green, like a wound being cauterized. The 'wound' seemed to shrink in those spots, too.

Too bad it wasn't enough. Even when their efforts had a reaction, it was barely slowing down the Ancients' own efforts.

"We need help," Valerie said as she released another ray of energy at the red opening.

"It's on the way," Ember said while using her guitar to intensify the power behind her ghost energy.

"Actually, already here!"

Ember grinned when she saw none other than Young Blood materialize beside her.

"You made it!" Ember said.

"I sure did!" he answered with a grin; and I brought some pals with me!"

Valerie's eyes widened when she saw several ghost dragons being led by Dora coming their way.

"How can we be of service?" Dora asked the moment she came up to the others. "The young ghost here advised me of Danny Phantom's plight. And I am indebted to him. However, I am well aware of the new tyrant causing havoc. Fright Knight warned me of his evil doings, and now it seems… the Ancients are involved somehow…"

"We have to keep the Ancients from tearing the barrier or this world and ours is done for!" Ember exclaimed.

Dora frowned and answered, "My clan and I do not make it a habit to cross paths with spirits; however, this certainly will be an exception."

Taking Ember and Valerie's lead, Dora and her family released their own ghost energy at the ripping barrier."

"There's something you gotta know, Ember!" Youngblood suddenly said. "See, I ran into your music crew before coming here; and while they are on their way to help, too; it looks like the Guys-in-White are coming our way, too—and there's a swarm of them!"

"There's not much we can do now," Valerie answered for the ghost girl. "Those hunters either help us keep the world from collapsing, or we all go—including them!"

Without a choice, Valerie and the ghosts continue to force ecto-energy into the breaking barrier.

Unknowingly to them, there was one more group fast approaching….

---

Danny let out another cry of pain and defiance. His core was caving, and he still could not fully awaken his absorption power! If he wasn't so panicked, he would be frustrated with himself. He hated to think his evil-self could be right, and that he still had barely any control over his ghost-half—not after everything!

Hadn't he defied all odds so many times before? And hadn't he proven his adversaries wrong time-and-time again, including his evil-self? No, it couldn't be different this time! It couldn't be that he would lose this time!

Danny shouted again; but then he pushed his ice powers to the surface in a desperate attempt to get his enemy away from him. But all he heard was a hiss of pain from his evil-self; yet his hold on him didn't lessen!

So much went through the teen's mind at that moment. The thought that he would die. The thought of Clockwork's power going to the hands of the most evil being in the world. Letting down his loved ones and the world… But he also thought of Vlad. Where was he? Why hadn't he intervened yet? Didn't he promise to see this through the end with him?

Did Vlad leave him alone?

Danny gasped as he felt his core give slightly, and he felt himself lose power.

"Just give it up, Danny. It's over."

"No!" he grunted; and quickly renewed his efforts to fight back his evil self's own absorption power. At this point, his panic was as overwhelming as the power attacking him. He screamed again and his time he felt his ghostly wail quickly bubble up through his chest and hit his vocal cords.

But at the instant it would have been released out of his mouth, a hand had grabbed his neck and cut the attempt off before it could do any damage. The boy gasped as his windpipe was all but crushed by his evil-self.

"I said it's over!" Dan sneered darkly.

Danny's eyes snapped open to stare at his enemy in horror.

"Help!" he thought as something strange swelled inside his core. And somehow realizing what it was, and not even caring what it meant, he squeezed his eyes shut and mentally screamed, "Vlad, help me!"

As if having summoned him, Plasmius abruptly appeared behind evil Phantom, and released a powerful energy blast at the spirit. But much to Danny and the evil spirit's surprise, the energy was gold energy.

Dan screamed in pain as the energy overwhelmed him; and he released Danny.

And not waiting to see how long it would take the spirit to recover, Vlad flew at the teen, grabbed him, and teleported again a distance away.

He appeared with Danny behind a broken shed that belonged to what looked like a boat house a few yards away.

"Are you alright?" the man asked quietly as he watched the teen cough roughly and grip at his core.

"I thought he was going to…," he rasped out. "I thought you…" But he broke out into another coughing fit.

Plasmius stared with a mixture of sadness and worry at the boy. "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner, but…"

He sighed. "Daniel…it's over. We can't win this. And you…"

Danny squeezed his eyes closed as a wave of pain almost overwhelmed him. But he then looked back at the older hybrid, and asked, "You hurt him… How? Niane's spell…"

"—has worn off. I know," Vlad cut him off. "And yet… I still used synchronized energy."

"You can use it on your own now?" Danny gasped out. "Then, why are you saying we can't win? Vlad, we still have a chance! You can weaken him enough for me to get a shot to use my absorption power and finally take back Clockwork's essence!"

Vlad stared conflicted at the boy before he lowered his gaze. "Danny…. Look around us. I… Even if you could… I think we're too late."

Danny shook his head as he shakily got to his feet. "No, I told you. I'm not giving up!"

Vlad looked back at him, this time doing nothing to hide his fear. "I know. But… "

The man sighed again. Why was it so hard to tell the teen what he needed to say? After seeing Serenity again, and now… what he just… felt a moment ago when the teen called to him…. Well, the man knew now what he had to do… That is, he had always known, but had been afraid… He was still afraid. He was terrified of embracing his guardianship of the young hybrid because he might end up failing miserably… like with everything else in his life.

Plasmius stared back at the hurt and exhausted boy before he soberly said, "We don't have a lot of time. That creature is going to find us at any moment; but I need to tell you what my deal was with Serenity. She…. She wants me to let you die. And in exchange, she will release Annabelle."

Danny just stared at him in shock. "Is that why you weren't…? Why you took so long to….?"

"No…," Vlad answered truthfully. "I promised you I would not leave you this time. And while my word might not mean much, I intend to keep my promise this time… I just needed her to think I agreed. But it never crossed my mind to actually let you…"

The man smiled sadly at him, and said instead, "I can't watch you die, little badger. Not before. And not now. Not today… But… your fate is not in my hands…"

Vlad raised his hand and a sphere of gold energy appeared in his palm. "But something else is. Something to help you decide your own fate. This energy… I know what creates it. That is why I waited to pull you away from that creature just now because I knew it would be the only way to activate this."

"I don't understand," Danny muttered.

A scream resonated around them, and they tensed when they felt the angry power of their worst enemy fill the atmosphere.

"IT'S OVER! DO YOU MAGGOTS HEAR ME! YOU ARE BOTH DEAD!"

"Vlad, we have to—!" Danny began fearfully…

"Wait!" Vlad quickly cut him off; but he then closed his eyes for a brief moment before looking anxiously back at the teen, and gently grabbing his arm. "I need you to hear this… Danny, this power. I only feel it when you need me," Vlad confessed, staring wistfully at the boy.

"I have always felt it," he continued. "It was a spark at first. When I first met you… But then when you were with me for those months, it started to ignite. To grow… With every situation between us… Saving you from Pariah…Back when Walker tried to harm you… And Dazzler. Those times it would burn strongest. Those times when you needed me most. I just… I never gave into the feeling out of fear for what it meant. And I never thought it meant this… But I realized the moment Niane told us the truth, I didn't need her spell to wield gold energy. I just needed you to unlock it for me… And for me to accept it. That is what Serenity and Niane have been telling me all this time… Serenity said I would never turn the 'key'. The same 'key' Niane keeps emphasizing on…"

The man squeezed his eyes closed again; but when he opened his eyes, they were a soft gold color. But then he let go of the boy's arm and let gold energy return to his hand.

As he showed it to the boy, he added softly, "This power or ability… it's meant for you… to help you. For better or for worse, I have no doubt I am what Serenity calls 'your shadow'… What everyone else calls… your guardian."

By now, the two could feel Dan approaching them. He could probably sense them, especially with Vlad as he was…

And yet, it was as if time had just stopped for these few minutes for the two hybrids.

Danny stared at the man in amazement before he reached forward and placed his hand above the man's own glowing one. He watched as the gold energy grew brighter with his proximity.

"Everything makes sense now…," Danny said quietly. "I always wondered how you would always show up… at the right moment… How you could see from me what others couldn't… Light and Shadow…The closer light is to an obstacle the bigger… stronger the shadow it reflects…"

Danny's eyes widened in further realization; but then he heard his evil-self shouting again; and this time, he sounded just a few yards away.

"I know what we have to do," Danny said as a look of determination came over him. "When does light reflect the brightest?" the teen asked with a growing smile.

Vlad smiled back; and knowing exactly where the teen was going with this, answered, "In the darkest time.

As if to test what he was thinking, he suddenly grabbed the man's hand as if shaking it, and he watched as some of the man's gold energy momentarily transferred—absorbed—into him without him needing to command it.

"He said I needed control…But my control—the balance—of my powers comes from you… They are strongest around you," Danny said in awe and realization. "That's why they evolved so quickly those months back when…."

Suddenly, Dan materialized some feet from them; but the glare on his face melded into shock as he saw the two hybrids joined hand glowing with gold energy.

Danny smirked at his evil-self's alarm before looking back at Vlad. "I know you are afraid of the outcome, but you also know what we gotta do. It's not too late. We can try… one more time. Last time. All or nothing."

Vlad nodded, and his eyes turned a brighter gold as he agreed, "All or nothing."

"Follow your shadow or you will surely die…"

"I trust you," Danny suddenly told him.

And with that, Vlad raised a hand without further hesitation and shot the teen with a gold energy ray in the chest. As a result, a set of gold rings burst to life around the teen's middle and raced in opposite directions…

Evil Phantom could only stare in disbelief.

---

The Fentons, along with Tucker and Sam, finally arrived in the area where Valerie and the ghosts were working to contain the destabilization of the natural barrier between the Ghost Zone and Human Plane.

And while the group—who now included all the ghosts that had come to support Ember and Valerie—had slowed down the Ancients effort, they had not stopped it completely. They knew for all their effort things were going to come to an end pretty soon.

But at that moment, Valerie noticed the Specter Speeder's arrival.

"What are those…?" Maddie asked in shock over the aircraft's amplifier as she stared at the hooded red-eyed entities attempting to cross into the human world. But everyone else with her was just as horrified at the sight…

The entire sky over Amity had now blurred into red… In fact, a good part of Amity now looked like it was part of the Ghost Zone… only instead of green, the Novas, masses and atmosphere were that scary red hue.

"There's no time to explain!" Valerie answered as her gun began to beep an alarm that it was running out of power.

Suddenly, a massive amount of energy lit up the sky in the distance, and Valerie and everyone else glanced that way.

Valerie was pretty sure what it was, and she quickly looked back at Danny's loved ones and said, "There's nothing any of us can do! It's up to Danny and Vlad… Go find them! Maybe… Maybe you guys can help them. Maybe it won't be too late."

Everyone in the speeder glanced fearfully at each other before Maddie looked back at Valerie and answered, "I hope so, too."

Jack frowned deeply as he set the speeder at full-speed in the direction of the bursts of ghost energy near the pier.

No one said anything, and the tension inside and outside the speeder the closer they got to the fighting.

However, the instant that they got close enough to make out the half-ghosts and Evil Phantom, Jack jolted to a stop at the sight of…

"Is that… Danny?" Maddie gasped out what everyone else had also mentally asked themselves.

---

"It… can't be…," Dan muttered as he stared at his transformed former younger-self.

The teen looked like a younger version of himself; except his hair wasn't flaming. Instead, his usual white hair seemed wispier—almost like a cold breeze was gently swaying it. And his eyes… his eyes were an icy blue color but also had this soft gold sheen to them—as did his ghostly aura.

But more importantly, the teen felt different. Something felt very different about him… and about Plasmius.

Dan glanced at the man; and while he looked the same, he could see his white ghost hue had changed to a gold color, too.

"You know what?" Danny said as he floated forward with confidence. "I think you're right. This is over."

Danny quickly shot a blue ice ray that was also coated in gold energy and it struck Dan in the chest. The spirit cried out in pain and surprise when he was partly frozen over.

But with a growl, Dan instantly broke free with a burst of power. And although Danny followed up the attack with several more blasts, Dan was able to avoid them.

"It doesn't matter," the evil spirit hissed as he flew higher into the air, and created five copies. "You can't destroy me. But I can still destroy you both!"

Evil Phantom and his copies came at Vlad and Danny.

Danny, however, did not so much as glance at the copies as he kept his eyes locked on the real evil. He was in sync with his shadow, who reflexively created his own copies to face Dan's own for the both of them.

Vlad and his copies hands burst with gold energy that suddenly turned into electrical energy. The older hybrid grinned darkly at the surprised looked on Dan's copies' faces. But the man and his clones fired all at once.

One of the bolts hit a Dan copy dead on, and it exploded out of existence; but the others evaded the attack and flew at Plasmius and his copies.

The evil copies split into more in hopes of quickly outnumbering Plasmius and his own.

But Plasmius called forward another of his powers, and created shadow clones that began to multiply even quicker than Dan's own copies.

And while Plasmius' copies continued to fight in hand-to-hand combat with Dan's own, the man put his main focus on commanding his shadow army.

"Try as you might, you cannot better me at duplication. See how you like this one…" Plasmius said smugly as his red eyes flashed gold again.

The shadow clones dove right at Dan's copies as if they were projectiles. And they were exactly that when at the moment they collided with the spirit's duplicates, the Plasmius shadow clones exploded into gold smoke. With so many of the shadow ghosts creating the power, it didn't take long for a cloud of gold energy to engulf most of Dan's duplicates.

"Oh, and then there's this power… which you lost along with your humanity when you merged with my ghost-half." Plasmius' hands fisted and electrical energy returned to them. But at that same instant, the gold cloud exploded with the same electrical power.

Dan's copies screamed in pain as most of them were wiped out of existence.

Meanwhile, the real Dan released several spheres of power at Danny. But the teen evaded the attacks with teleportation. He moved just close enough to create his ghost stinger power and fire it at his enemy.

Dan growled as the energy rope coiled around his frame. "You know this is absolutely pointless," he said though he sounded deeply annoyed. "Exactly what are you going to get out of fighting me when I'll just get back up each time? There is nothing you can do to stop me, let alone get out of this alive."

"And you think you will?" Danny retorted before he released a burst of gold energy through the rope.

Dan shouted in pain but he then quickly vanished into green smoke just as he shot the teen with an ecto-blast in the stomach.

The teen double over in mid-air. But then he gasped when his evil-self grabbed him by the hair, and forced him to look at his glaring face.

"You just don't get it, do you?" Dan snarled.

"No," Danny spat back as he panted from pain. "You don't get it! Everything is falling apart! What exactly are you winning here? Nothin', 'cause soon there won't be a world for you to destroy!"

But Dan laughed evilly. "You think so? You think this is the end of all? Is it because of the Observants or Ancients looming presence? Or because the firebird said so? You know nothing!"

Dan's hand charged with wicked energy, ready to pulverize the boy. But suddenly, his other hand—the one still gripping the boy's hair—stung with frostbite now that Danny had recovered enough to send artic air through it. It was enough to jolt the spirit and throw him off-guard.

Danny then quickly released an icy ghost wail; and while it didn't last long, it got the job done. Dan cried out as his whole body froze from his neck down.

"Stupid child!" Dan hissed out. But he was clearly in pain. "Existence might be destroyed, but Time and Order are infinite! And as long as I control both, I will be infinite!"

Surprised by the spirit's words, Danny paused.

"You don't care if the world is destroyed," Danny muttered with realization. "That's why you haven't been doing much of anything since you got released. All this time, you've just been running down the clock."

"Bingo," Dan answered smugly as his body lit up with energy and the ice began to melt off. "If this world goes, I can just create another. Or heck, I'll create and destroy thousands over and over again, because I will be the Master of Everything!"

Dan teleported and attempted to grab the teen; but Danny released a burst of gold energy from his body which threw him back.

Dan halted in mid-flight, and growled back at the teen, "Serenity controls Order, and I control her. All I need now is full control of Time. So, guess what, Danny? Once again, you are the only thing standing in my way! And this time, you are not winning. Tricks or no tricks. You won't win this time! I won't let you!"

Danny gasped as Dan let loose his ghost wail; and knowing there was no way of counteracting that except with the same power, he quickly pulled energy from his core and released his own green ghostly wail. Like all his other attacks, though, it was coated in a gold hue.

But even with that, his enemy's power was too strong. But also, the longer he pushed back, the more energy he would waste.

Plasmius was still fighting off three remaining duplicates when he felt a sudden drain in power. It took him only a moment to realize it wasn't coming from him but the teen. Then again, the sound of two deafening wails was his second clue.

"Peanut Brittle!" the man cursed before he released a burst of gold energy to momentarily throw back the remaining three Dan copies. His own duplicates could deal with them right now.

But his attempt to aid the teen was stopped short when he saw a familiar speeder zooming into the fray.

"It can't be…" Vlad gasped out as he jolted to a stop. "She… undid the spell? But…she hasn't gotten…"

The man trailed off when he saw the speeder's top hatch open before Maddie's upper torso popped out armed and ready. The woman then aimed the familiar ecto-gun—one of the ones Vlad had given them from his castle—right at the evil spirit.

But knowing it would do very little, Vlad quickly shot forward towards them.

Maddie, Jack, and Vlad instantly glanced at each other the moment the older hybrid had arrived; but understanding there were bigger issues, they said nothing to each other and focused back on the bigger threat.

Maddie quickly fired several consecutive blasts at Evil Phantom, and Plasmius followed her attacks with a strong sphere of gold energy.

Dan screamed as the sneak attack both propelled him forward and nipped his ghost wail. Danny's green-and-gold wail then slammed hard into him, further knocking him down to the ground.

The teen's wail soon faltered after that; and he quickly gasped in air as his secondary transformation rings threatened to turn him back into his normal ghost form. But in spite of all that, his eyes were glued to the speeder just a few yards from him.

Plasmius suddenly teleported next to him, and asked, "Are you alright? Confound it, Daniel! You know this wail of yours takes too much energy out of you!"

But the teen didn't answer, and instead asked, "Is it…? Is it really them?"

Vlad's eyebrows creased but before he could answer, the speeder moved closer.

And the teen soon heard his loved ones cry out in relief, "Danny!"

"Mom. Dad. Guys!" Danny exclaimed with his own relief, and he quickly flew faster to them as if renewed by the sight of them. He didn't understand how the spell was broken when he hadn't kept his end of the bargain with Serenity; but… They were here! They were okay!

"We're so happy to see you, little brother!" Jazz said happily.

"Yeah, dude. Although I'm not sure what's up with the evil-self look, but you seem like yourself, so whatever!"

Danny opened his mouth; but he then closed it and glanced at where Dan had fallen.

"Where did he go?"

"I don't know, but we have another problem," Vlad answered as he pointed to the approaching Guys-in-White.

But at the same time, Dan materialized in front of them.

"Guys—" Danny began.

But they cut him off, and his mom said, "We'll hold off the Guys-in White."

Danny didn't have time to answer before Dan lunged at the teen. But Plasmius intercepted him and slammed him back with his own body.

As the speeder flew off to intersect the other hunters, Danny flew after Vlad, who had managed to grab the evil spirit in a bear hug from behind. The man's body was lit with gold energy as he fought to hold the spirit in place.

"Now, Daniel!"

Danny shot forward while firing a pure gold energy blast at Dan's chest. The spirit yelled in defiance and pain but the teen still moved closer and then pressed his hand against the restrained spirit's chest.

Squeezing his eyes closed, the boy concentrated on his absorption power. He was able to activate it instantly now that his connection to Vlad grounded him. And it was easier to do in this alternative form like he had guessed once he had realized that he would have to take on this 'darker' form to do what he needed to do.

And yet, as his powers turned raw and more ghostly, he felt that darkness that had tainted his ghost-half after Dan stole it begin to surface again. It fogged his mind; but unlike before, he didn't lose control of his focus and thoughts. He could control it. Tame it. Like his powers.

Maybe it wasn't even evil at all. But just another part of him. The true raw ghost side of him.

And he wasn't afraid.

Danny narrowed his eyes at his enemy and released the full power of his absorption power. Dan hissed as he felt the teen grab onto his core energy. But not about to let that just happen, he also opened up his own channel to his core energy absorbing power.

And then the tug of war began. But… with both Phantoms trying to pull energy into themselves, Vlad was taking the brunt of it.

Groaning, the man closed his eyes for a moment as he began to quickly lose energy. They were both draining him like a battery!

In the meantime, none of them heard or saw the helicopters that began to circle around them. Unfortunately, while Danny's loved ones were holding back some of the GiW forces, it was impossible for them to hold them all back.

And worst, the helicopters slowed to a hover as they loaded their weapons with a very familiar deadly serum. Of course, among them was the Guy-in-White leader himself.

"Daniel!" Vlad cried out at last to the teen. "I can't hold him much longer!"

Danny grunted back as he tried to pull even harder against the imaginary rope between himself and his evil-self; but they were at a standstill.

"I… I can't! He's too strong!"

At that moment, Danny heard the sound of the helicopter blades moving closer. And seeing them getting into position to fire, the teen gasped in alarm.

"Vlad!"

In an instant, Danny severed the connection with his evil-self's core and shot towards Vlad.

And just in time.

A wave of glowing bullets erupted from an ecto-machine gun on one of the helicopters, sending hundreds of deadly liquid-filled bullets at the hybrids and Evil Phantom.

Taken off-guard with the attack, Dan was hit several times by the bullets. But Danny managed to create a protective ice shield around himself and Vlad. And luckily, the gold energy gave it enough power to hold against all the bullets that came their way.

Plasmius gasped when the drastic drop in temperature from the thick ice sphere around him jolted his core. Danny's icy touch also wasn't helping.

"This is not good," Danny said.

Plasmius shivered in the frosty air within the protective ice shield. He had no doubt how weak he was now that his core was struggling to regenerate its lost power.

"I don't have the energy to try that again," Vlad confessed.

And seeing the man shaking, Danny's eyebrows creased in worry. But then he grunted as another round of bullets came their way.

"Maybe… Maybe I still do… I just… He's too strong. I need to weaken him," Danny said nervously.

"He just recovers soon after," Vlad argued.

"I just need one moment. A second where he's open…"

Vlad felt the teen's fear, and he tentatively asked, "How?"

"I need to borrow some core energy… Directly," Danny answered him nervously. "When I took your core energy before at your castle, I got your hot powers for a moment. But I somehow combined yours and mine both in my core and hit my evil-self with it at your mansion. I almost knocked him out. I could do it again."

"Daniel, your core isn't made to handle hot powers. It could destabilize you or worst destroy your core if you push it too much!" Vlad said worriedly.

"It's our only shot," Danny replied gravely.

"If I let you take my core energy, I don't know if I will be able to help you after… If this doesn't work…" Vlad tried again.

"I don't think we have an 'after' if it doesn't," Danny replied.

Right then, they heard and saw the speeder return and flew in the way of the helicopter firing at them.

It was enough to give the teen a moment to drop his ice shield.

"Do it," Vlad said in a decisive tone.

Danny didn't answer and quickly grabbed one of the man's arms and then pressed his other hand against the man's chest.

Danny's body lit up as he activated his absorption power, and quickly reached into the man's hot core.

Plasmius grunted and shut his eyes as he fought all his instincts to protect his core. He quickly felt the draining effects of the boy's power. But the man did notice that this time, Danny had control over it.

Danny gritted his own teeth when he felt his eyes, chest and mouth burn with the hot power he was siphoning into his own core.

And feeling overwhelmed but also not wanting to take all the man's energy, Danny severed his connection to Vlad's core and pulled away.

Danny panted as he felt he was going to burn up from the inside. Still, he asked the man, "Are you okay?"

Looking completely exhausted, Vlad nodded, "Go… Be careful."

---

The evil spirit's body was rippling again from all anti-ghost serum he had just been hit with. And he couldn't help but notice this one was stronger than the serum the hunters had used before.

Of course, Evil Phantom didn't know the GiW had altered the serum to work against his own spectral DNA.

Dan knew it wouldn't destroy him, but it was a lot harder for his core to clean it out of his system, especially after being hit by several bullets full of it.

Just then, the specter speeder appeared. Dan scoffed when he realized Danny's loved ones were back in the picture.

"Typical…" But then he smiled. "And useful… Actually…" The spirit looked around at the hunters and their helicopters around them. "I can use all of this…"

He watched as the Fentons came in front of the current helicopter that had been firing its machine gun. But what they didn't see—and not like they could do anything about it since there was only one of them against three helicopters—was how all the helicopters were loaded with the same deadly weapon as the first one.

And they all fired at the same time.

"Time out," Dan commanded and waved a hand as he released a large amount of Clockwork's time powers around him.

Instantly all of Amity Park froze in time. It had taken a great deal of power to do it; but Dan still managed to freeze the entire town. But that also meant that the ghosts and Valerie who had been slowing down the Ancients' attempts of destroying the Ghost Zone and Human World barrier some distance away had also been frozen in time.

Now, there was no stopping the Ancients.

At that moment, Danny came shooting up and tackled his evil-self from behind. The two enemies tumbled in mid-air, while they attempted to punch, kick, and do whatever it took to subdue the other.

Unlike everyone else—and Vlad who still had Clockwork's medallion—Danny was unaffected by Evil Phantom's freezing time thanks to the half of Clockwork's essence within him.

Danny cried out when he lost his grip on his enemy from the particularly strong jab to his side. Of course, Evil Phantom took advantage and quickly grabbed Danny by the neck.

Instinctively, the teen's hands tried to wrench it off.

"Back in the same predicament, aren't you?" Dan taunted as his hand around the teen's neck began to glow with his power, while the other pressed against his chest. "Let's finish this."

But Danny's eyes suddenly turned bright red as he combined his core energy with Vlad's own core energy. But his red eyes soon melded into a pupil-less gold hue.

"If you insist…." Danny released the power inside him all at once, creating a sphere of power around himself and Dan.

The energy then burst into electrical gold energy, and Dan screamed in agony as it overtook all his senses.

Knowing this was his last shot, the teen held nothing back.

All or nothing!

With the words resonating in his mind, Danny's core vibrated even more and then his energy absorption power quickly expanded forward, and took hold of his enemy's core…

Meanwhile, Vlad watched from a distance on the ground. He had been a bit alarmed when the spirit had frozen everyone in time. He wasn't sure if Danny had even noticed. But luckily the teen was immune to the time power. And, of course, Vlad still had Clockwork's time medallion.

Vlad watched with growing anxiety when Danny attacked his evil-self, and then further released the combined powers which, naturally, had turned into bright gold energy. But the man could feel the power behind it. It was amazing… and deadly.

He knew the boy's core wouldn't be able to hold the power for long.

"Come on, Daniel… He should be weakened enough," Vlad muttered. The man had noticed that the evil spirit had been hit by the Guys-in-White's deadly serum. It seemed to have affected the spirit in some way.

How ironical those idiot hunters finally did something right.

"Vlad?"

The man jolted a bit, but then, he unknowingly sighed in relief when he realized Niane had appeared beside him. She was clearly still very weak, but she had somehow made it over to him.

"You did it…," Niane said with a small smile. "You awakened your power with the boy! I knew you wouldn't let Danny…"

"No, but Serenity still has Annabelle," Vlad cut her off soberly. "And just like with Daniel, I cannot let anything happen to her, either…

Niane lowered her gaze. "I know…"

At that moment, a hideous tearing sound resounding all over Amity Park as the barrier between the Ghost Zone and Human World fell apart completely.

"No…," Vlad whispered as he realized what had happened… why Evil Phantom had frozen time.

"I have to get to Danny!" the man said in a panic.

But at that same time, Existence began to also fall apart completely. More lines, like open fault lines during an earthquake, began to fill the sky. And then the lines expanded, and began consuming pieces of what could only be described as reality. The 'pieces' fell away into a black abyss that expanded from everywhere. And with everyone frozen in time, no one could see the end.

"It's too late," Niane whispered fearfully.

"No, not yet!" Vlad said, and headed towards Danny.

"No!" Niane said and used what remained of her power to hold her brother back. "Vlad, look. They are using that absorbing power against each other again! You go anywhere near them now, and it will kill you!"

"He's going to kill him!" Vlad shouted back at her.

And unaware of all that was going on around him, Danny just focused on the task at hand. He had released the mixed core energy for as long as he could. And the moment he felt his evil-self's body ripple from weakness, the teen attacked with his absorption power.

Dan hissed and squeezed the teen's neck harder when he felt the boy's power invade his own core. But this time, he had very little energy to counter it. He could not even squeeze the teen's neck enough to subdue him, let alone stop him.

"No!" Dan growled, all the while forcing his absorption power to spark in hopes of countering the teen's own. "You are not winning!"

"You're not!" Danny hissed back.

"Oh, Danny…" Evil Phantom sneered back with a sudden smirk. "When will you learn?"

Danny ignored the jab and gave one last shove from his core; and this time, Dan's remaining resistance shattered. And Danny instantly felt what he was looking for and reached for it.

But just as he metaphorically grabbed onto the other half of Clockwork's essence embedded within his enemy, he heard the evil spirit command…

"Time in."

And Danny's world collapsed.

In that instant, when Vlad saw the ripple of blue time energy expand out of the evil spirit, his worst fear came true.

"No, NO!" Vlad shouted as he jolted again with his need to save the teen. But feeling Niane still holding him back, he looked back at her with despair and begged "Annie, let me go!"

The ghost girl gasped and released her hold on Vlad at not only hearing her brother call her by her old nickname but also hearing the fear in his voice.

But she could say nothing, because Vlad had already shot forward. Unfortunately, everything happened in a matter of a second; and the man jolted in horror to a stop when Dan suddenly spun himself and Danny around…

…And the once time-frozen bullets that had been previously shot at the spirit by the GiW now raced towards the teen.

Danny's breath locked up in his lungs when he felt several bullets rip through his back and then tore open his chest and stomach. And he was unaware that the bullets had barely touched his evil-self or that the other half-ghost all but felt their impact, too.

The evil spirit let go, relishing with the horror-struck expression on his young rival's face as the teen bowled over in pain and grabbed his abdomen. Danny could do nothing but stare in shock at the ectoplasm rapidly seeping between his now translucent, destabilizing hands.

"Time's up, Danny," Evil Phantom said darkly.

"NO, DANIEL!" Vlad cried out as he flew at him again. But just as he was about to wrap his arms around the teen, the boy's body just…. disintegrated.

Vlad's breath stilled as he looked down at his empty hands, only seeing what looked like the tiniest ecto-particles float away in between his fingertips.

"I told you, I am the King of this chess board, Plasmius… And now I am the Master of it!" Dan declared in smug victory.

Plasmius began to breathe heavily as he looked around himself and realized… the boy was gone.

He was… He was gone.

He barely heard when one of the Guys-in-White's helicopters managed to get a hit on the Speeder and it spiraled out of control. He didn't see the Guys-in-White surrounding the area as their numbers swelled. And he didn't perceive the now very present threat of the Ancients in the near distance.

All he could feel was the unbearable pain swelling in his chest with his sudden loss. He had never felt anything like it… The only one like him… The boy he had been destined to protect…His purpose. His son.

He was dead and…

"You….," Plasmius whispered darkly as he turned to face Evil Phantom. "You… YOU BEAST! I'LL RIP YOU APART IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!"

Vlad lunged at the evil spirit with so much force that the two spiraled downward out of control. But the man held onto the evil spirit and doubled their speed. The older hybrid's body then ignited with fire and its flames fully engulfed him and the evil spirit until they looked like a comet zooming fiercely downward.

And then they impacted the ground, and a ball of fire exploded, sending shockwaves that destroyed any structure within yards of the impact zone and damaging who-knew-how-many-more miles out. But the explosion had also billowed upward, high enough to create sonar shockwaves that sent the GiW helicopters spinning out of control.

"VLAD!" Niane screamed, and she quickly flew over to the enormous crater her brother and that evil spirit had created.

She gasped when she found a fire still raging from within the crater. But not thinking about it, she turned intangible; and finding her brother's unconscious human form inside, she grabbed him and pulled him out.

His clothing was burned away in several places; and he had some serious burns—which if it had been anyone else, would have been worst and probably deadly. But she knew he could heal from it. He would be alright. He had to be!

"Vlad! No, Vlad!" Niane called desperately as she extinguished a few flames that had been eating at his pants by patting them out. "Please, wake up! What did you do! Vlad! Brother! Please don't die, too!"

The man suddenly jolted awake; but then turned to his side and moaned in pain.

"Vlad… You… Ahhh! No!"

Niane cried out when a hand suddenly grabbed her by her locks and pulled her away from the man and to her feet.

"Come here," Dan sneered at her darkly as his grip on her hair tightened. "I promised I'd let you watch your brother die… So watch!"

Evil Phantom jolted the girl with his power before throwing her a few feet away. Niane gasped as her ghostly form flickered wildly; yet she looked back at her brother as the horrible creature grabbed him around the neck and lifted him to his height.

"No! Please! Don't hurt him!" she begged in a sob as she attempted to get to her feet; but she could barely hold her form together.

Dan ignored her as he glared murderously at the older hybrid.

"You killed him!" Vlad gasped out in a broken voice as he struggled to breathe against the vice around his neck.

"And you're about to join him in the afterlife," Evil Phantom sneered. "But unlike Danny, you're going to die slowly. Painfully."

Vlad screamed as Dan yanked his left arm back in an odd angle, and he heard his bone snap.

Dan looked completely demented. And yet, he looked just as injured. His suit was in rags. There was a charred blotch of skin on the left side of his face from the man's last attack. His hair had long since snuffed out. And his body didn't seem to be healing as quickly as before. In fact, his body was rippling again with instability.

"I am going to break your bones one-by-one; and then I'll rip out your core!" the deranged spirit vowed as his eyes glowed demonically.

Vlad choked as a fist encased with power slammed into his rib cage, breaking more bones. He dropped to his knees unable to breathe. He felt a fist then collide with his face knocking him on his back.

Wheezing, the man rolled over using his good arm, and instinctively attempted to crawl away. But it was in vain. A choked cry escaped his throat when a foot slammed down in the middle of his back.

The angry weight all but crushed his back before he felt Dan grab and pull the back of his head.

A deadly breath, like that of a black mamba, hissed evilly into his ear, "You failed. Just like you failed my younger self in my timeline. And now you get to die with your failure in this one."

"NO!"

Niane suddenly lunged at Dan in a last-ditch effort to save her brother. And while she managed to get the spirit off him, she was unable to do anything more.

"Ah! You meddlesome little….!"

"No," Vlad rasped out when he saw the evil spirit grab the girl by her neck. But then, Dan threw her on top of him.

Evil Phantom took a step back as he watched Niane embrace her brother protectively. "No, don't kill him. Don't kill him!" she sobbed out.

Dan sneered in disgust at the sight before he took another step back and let dark energy swell in both his hands. "Let's see your love save him, then!" he whispered darkly at the girl.

Dan fired; and Niane screamed and squeezed her eyes shut. Her eyes flashed red, and somehow, she produced a dome around herself and Vlad.

The man would have gasped if he could breathe right as he watched his sibling give everything she had to somehow save him… save him like she always had so many times before.

Feeling his pain fade into the background, Vlad looked sadly at her, watching as her body began to disintegrate. He suddenly grabbed her nearest wrist. And her tear-filled eyes snapped open to look at him.

"Vlad, go! Run! I can hold him off enough for you to… to morph. Get away…"

The man felt more than saw the girl's dome breaking apart much like she was.

"I can't… And it wouldn't make a difference," Vlad finally whispered out.

"No," she sobbed back. "You can't die! I won't let you die here!"

Vlad stared back at her in surrender. And yet, the worry and fear in her eyes… The grief at his approaching demise… It filled his tired and broken heart with a sense of peace.

Only his sister could look at him now with so much love and worry. She was willing to die for him as many times as needed if it meant giving him even the tiniest chance of escape from his fate.

"Annie… Viviane," Vlad said gently to her. "It's okay. It's alright, my sister. Let go…It will be alright."

Niane sobbed more at his simple but heartfelt words. And suddenly, she could feel him again. And she confirmed what she knew was true. He was telling her he forgave her. He was telling her that it was alright for leaving him. And for once, he was assuring her things would be okay. He would be okay. And that meant, so would she.

As if she was suddenly sixteen again, Viviane's form melded back into her spirit form before she hugged him harder.

Vlad's breath shuddered as he held her back just as tightly with his good hand. And though he knew the shield was about to break and he would be killed, he felt at peace.

He had never felt more at peace with the prospect of death in his life. And somehow, that soft peaceful feeling of surrender was coming from his sibling. He felt her in so many ways at that moment. And it only reaffirmed she was his Annie.

He closed his eyes as a single tear fell down his cheek. His only regret was failing Annabelle, Danielle, and… Daniel.

But the thought of perhaps seeing them in a better place pushed that sorrow away.

He heard when the shield shattered; but it was barely noticeable, really. And, oddly, he could see a bright light surrounding him and Annie even when he still had his eyes closed.

"Time out."

With a ripple of blue power, the world around the two hugging siblings froze again—but not them or Dan.

Confused, Dan looked around as he heard the firm but calm command.

Who had just frozen time?

He glanced back at Vlad and Niane; and while the girl's shield had shattered with the last impact of his ecto-energy, there was a second shield surrounding them… A blue shield.

"You're not destroying any more lives," the same voice declared.

Dan's eyes widened when at that moment Danny materialized into full view. He was back in his normal ghost form and looked the same… except his body was glowing with a blue hue, and his irises matched the same soft color.

"No… Impossible. I saw you get hit several times by whatever those hunters fired from their weapons! You dissolved into nothing! You… I saw you die!"

With the evil spirit's shout, Vlad and Niane looked up and gasped at seeing Danny.

"Daniel?" Vlad breathed out. "Danny… you…"

The teen only briefly glanced at the older hybrid before focusing back on his evil-self.

"It's like you said…You can't destroy a spirit," Danny answered.

Dan fired a blast at the teen; but the blue barrier surrounding him flared, protecting him from the attack.

"No! You can't be a spirit! You're human! A stupid human kid with pathetic human emotions!" Evil Phantom sneered at him.

"Maybe…," Danny answered, narrowing his eyes slightly. "But I am also now the Master of Time. And I can control time… and those in it…"

"You can't be! You…." Dan screamed in fury and lunged at his young foe. But the teen's body disappeared, as if not ever there. And then reappeared again, closer to Vlad and Niane.

Hitting nothing but air, Phantom turned around and glared darkly at the young hybrid. But there was now also fear with his sudden realization. The stupid kid must have been able to take Clockwork's essence from him after all before he had been shot. It was the only way he was now the way he was! And Dan then realized that had to be the reason he wasn't healing as fast anymore!

"It doesn't matter. I'm still here! And I will exist forever! You'll never get rid of me!" Dan snarled at him.

Danny glanced at Vlad, who was now sitting up with the help of Niane. But as if feeling from the man the confirmation of what he was going to do next, he looked back at his evil-self with the same confidence and calmness he felt coursing through him.

"You're right," Danny answered. "Except I don't have to destroy you…"

The teen suddenly raised a hand and shot a blast of blue energy directly at the spirit's chest.

Dan jolted expecting pain… But aside from an odd tingle from the power going through him, he had felt nothing.

"What did you do?" he demanded, even as he further realized he had this odd blue hue around himself.

Danny stared at him a brief moment before he suddenly commanded, "Time in."

And the blue hue around the Evil Phantom's body vanished right after.

Dan staggered back as he felt the full weight of time hit him like an anvil.

"No… No!" he gasped out when he could feel the difference in his core and his powers once the teen had pulled him back into the timeline. He was a ghost again! He then frowned…no there was…more.

"I'm sure you can feel that you're back in the timeline," Danny began soberly. "But really, I don't think you've realized what that really means… See, you don't belong in this timeline; but you also don't belong in any timeline anymore…My dark future changed when I chose not to become you. And now that Vlad and I chose a different path, You are not meant to exist at all; and you will never exist again!"

Dan's eyes widened in horror as his form began to fade. "No… No! You… You still turn into me! I saw you! You turned into me!" he shouted in a panic.

Danny frowned before he suddenly morphed again with a set of black rings. "You mean this? No… This isn't you. Like I said, I chose not to turn into you…." He glanced over at Vlad, before confidently adding, "And I can't turn into anything I don't want. That's why you don't exist."

Dan snarled back, "It doesn't matter! I'll still be with you! I will haunt your nightmares forever! You will never be rid of me, Danny!"

"I stopped being afraid of you a long time ago…," Danny muttered to himself as he thought of his time with Vlad.

And with those words, Dan couldn't say anymore as he vanished out of existence forever.

At that moment, there was a flash of white light, and the once-torn atmosphere healed. All traces of the Ghost Zone instantly dissolved away, leaving behind a cool and peaceful star-filled sky over a battle-worn Amity Park.

As if a weight had been lifted off him, Danny exhaled deeply. He then flew over to the older hybrid.

"Vlad, are you…?"

But the man suddenly pulled him into a hug with his good arm. "Oh, thank heavens, little badger! I thought…"

"Yeah, I know," Danny cut him off with a small smile before he pulled away from the man. But looking at the spirit girl beside the man, he further asked, "Niane, are you okay?"

The girl stared at him with relief. "I am now… You did it, Danny."

"No, we did it," Danny corrected her with a warm smile. But seeing her spirit-form completely transparent and flickering, he gently grabbed her shoulder; and with a flash of blue light, the girl turned back into her ghost persona.

"What did you do?" Niane asked, blinking in disbelief with the unexpected change… and though her body was still weak, it had stopped flickering.

"Just temporary…" The teen's eyebrows drew in. "I wish I could do more… But I don't… At least I don't think I can… This… This is still new to me. These time powers feel foreign. It feels like… "

"…..everything is moving in slow motion," a voice finished for him.

Danny turned to face the voice and tensed when he saw Serenity in Annabelle's appearance standing before them.

The human Vlad quickly pulled himself to his feet, though he hunched slightly forward from the pain from his broken ribs. If it wasn't for his being half-ghost, he probably would not be able to even breathe right now. Although it did hurt to do so at the moment.

"Serenity…" Vlad began, but trailed off fearfully.

"Oh, beautiful shadow, look at you…," she said as if she was a helpless mother seeing her son who just ran in after playing in the mud.

She shook her head. "It's alright. I will tend to you shortly… My interest lies with your light. Or, should I say, your former light? The Master of Time has no ties to the mortal and time realms, after all. He exists outside of it… Look around you, young master… It's already begun."

But Danny didn't need to look around. He could feel it. Had already seen it. He could see the waves of time flowing past him, but never touching him. Not like they were touching everyone else in the distance. He could see the time waves surrounding all the GiW agents who were moving—but barely moving—towards them. He could feel his friends and family running on foot towards him. But it was all slowed down. Slowed down by his presence… and that of the Spirit of Order.

The only reason it was moving normally for Vlad was because he still wore Clockwork's time medallion. It caused time to move past him without touching him, either. And, of course, Niane was a spirit… And speaking of spirits. He also knew the Ancients were still around.

"Shame for you to give up your life… so young," she continued.

"I am not giving you Clockwork's essence," Danny suddenly said firmly as his eyes flashed blue. "And you can't make me. Like it or not, Time and Order are connected. We are now, too. I feel that, too."

"Indeed… But we have an agreement, do we not? Your family and friends…." The female spirit suddenly snapped her fingers, and Danny's parents, sister, friend and girlfriend appeared next to the Spirit of Order.

"… for whatever I wanted," she finished. "It seems you have already taken a guess on what I want…."

Danny stared at his loved ones. He knew they could see him. They could perceive what was happening, but being all but suspended in time, they could do nothing but stare back at him.

The teen's eyebrows creased in sadness. He knew what would happen to them if he didn't keep his end of the deal; but… he also knew what could happen to all Existence if he let Serenity…

"I'm sorry," he told them quietly before looking away from them.

He closed his eyes, but when he opened them, he stared back at Serenity with all the defiance in the world. "I said you are not getting Clockwork's essence. I won't let you destroy Existence. You are not meant to be the Master of Time."

Serenity frowned. "I am not," she agreed. "But neither is a half-ghost mortal… Your emotions will cloud your judgement of what is just."

"Your lack of emotion clouds yours," Danny snapped back. "We are done here."

Serenity stared back soberly at the teen. "Are you sure? I might have undone the spell because I knew you could use the help of your mortal kin, but…" She snapped her fingers, and instantly Danny's loved ones' eyes closed and their bodies illuminated as they stayed suspended by Serenity's power.

"They will sleep their life away under my spell… So, I ask you again. Are you sure, young light?"

Danny hesitated this time, and his eyes glistened as tears threaten to spill from them.

"Danny…" Niane suddenly called nervously.

But he knew what she wanted to say, because he already knew the hard truth, too. As much as he loved his family and friends, he couldn't sacrifice all Existence for them. Clockwork trusted his judgment. He had passed on his responsibility to protect Time to him. He couldn't let his sacrifice be in vain now.

"No," he whispered brokenly. "I won't do it…"

Serenity just stared at the boy before looking over at Vlad. "Well… At least you kept your agreement with me. You allowed your light to die."

Vlad's eyebrows creased in slight confusion. Had he? What did she mean?

Serenity flashed and suddenly pulled out of Annabelle. The now unconscious girl instantly stayed suspended with the spirit's power.

"She is free from me."

Serenity looked back at Danny and her eyes flashed red before her form dissolved into her Ancient form. At that instant, the rest of the Ancients appeared beside her.

"Ancients… I present to you… The new Master of Time," Serenity voiced.

The red-eyed spirits looked at Danny for a long moment. But unknowingly to everyone else, they were having a private conversation with each other.

Then suddenly, all the Ancients but Serenity vanished out of the Human Realm without a word or explanation.

"Time to go… Master," Serenity said with the slightest smirk at Danny. "Once we leave this realm, Order will begin to re-adjust the timeline to assure… you are forever removed from it. To watch and protect Time; but never a part of it…Viviane… The Ancients want you back. It's also time for you to go."

Vlad quickly looked at Niane beside him; but the girl just lowered her gaze and nodded at the Spirit of Order.

"As for you, beautiful shadow… In due time," Serenity added with a knowingly look at Vlad. She then looked at Danny again and extended a hand.

Danny stared at the spirit before looking over at his unresponsive loved ones. But then, he lowered his gaze with acceptance and took a step forward—

—only to be stopped by a hand suddenly pressing on his shoulder.

Serenity raised an eyebrow at the older hybrid as an almost amused smile curled her lips.

Danny also turned to look at Vlad, and asked, "What are you doing? You know that…"

"Give her what she wants, Daniel," Vlad cut him off quietly, though he was staring at Serenity.

Danny's eyes widened in shock before he pulled away completely from the man, and answered, "No. Vlad she'll destroy all Existence!"

Vlad finally looked at Danny and answered, "She's right, little badger. You are not meant to be the Master of Time."

"Vlad, I have to do this."

"No, you don't," he quickly answered. "Don't you see? You are being given a choice. You might hold Clockwork's essence now, but you have to accept becoming the Master of Time. If you go with her, it will seal your fate forever."

"I know that!" Danny answered back, though he sounded desperate. The boy's voice broke as he added, "You promised me. You promise you would let me do this. Don't make this any harder for me now. Please."

Vlad's eyebrows creased. "I did promise; but you promised me if I found another way you would trust me to fix this… I need you to trust me now. Give her what she wants."

"This… This isn't another way," Danny whispered back fearfully. "She isn't another way."

"She's the only way," Vlad assured him. "Do it, little badger. Trust me."

Danny stared for a long moment at Vlad before looking back at Serenity, who had her hand still extended towards him.

Niane said nothing. She also didn't understand what her brother was doing; but she trusted him. She trusted them both to make the right choice.

Danny briefly lowered his gaze from Vlad, but when he looked at him again, his decision was clear to the man.

Danny moved away from Vlad and walked over to Serenity. He stopped in front of her; and frowned at her with deep distrust.

"Are we leaving now, young Master?" she asked with actual mirth.

"If you threaten Existence in any way… I'll find a way to stop you. I swear," Danny vowed seriously before he seized her hand before it turned a bright gold.

The teen reached into his core and using his absorption power, he drew out Clockwork's full essence and let Serenity take it.

The moment it was gone, Danny fell to his knees with a gasp, feeling his brief transformation into spirit form meld away as he became ghost again… and with it, all his battle pains returned.

Vlad quickly moved forward and pulled the teen to his feet as he pulled them away from the now glowing female spirit.

Clockwork's blue energy was surrounding her whole body; it briefly expanded and then morphed into the shape of her phoenix form before it was absorbed into her.

Serenity closed her eyes at feeling Clockwork's essence now nestled inside her core, and if she understood bliss, it would be this.

"At last…" she whispered.

Vlad and Danny glanced nervously around them as the atmosphere around them began to blur.

"Vlad… I know you said to trust you, but…"

"I know…" he answered back quietly.

When she finally opened her eyes, they were glowing blue. She reached for her crystal around her neck and phased it off her neck.

"Time and Order…. Together at last," Serenity calmly said. "One Master to command it all."

"Vlad, what's happening?" Danny gasped out when he felt an oppressive force swelling around them. If it wasn't for Vlad still carrying Clockwork's medallion and grabbing onto him, he was sure the power would have crushed them under the immense weight.

Serenity raised her other hand and a sphere of spinning blue light containing Clockwork's essence pulled out of her body. And as her crystal and Clockwork's essence began to float towards each other, the surrounding atmosphere kept bulging and then shrinking unnaturally.

Unable to bear the feeling any longer, the two hybrids collapsed to their knees. But Vlad didn't dare let go of the teen. He had to be right! He refused to believe he had just condemned the whole world again!

Serenity watched when her crystal and Clockwork's power joined into one and with its union, a blue ripple erupted in all directions.

Existence literally became suspended as Time and Order combined. And for a fraction of a second, all the worlds stood still on their axes.

Then, Serenity pulled one last thing from her cloak: a piece of Clockwork's old time-staff. It was the top part, only its clock face was shattered.

Serenity paused and glanced over at Vlad. She actually smiled at him before she released the piece of Clockwork's old time-staff. And the combined power of Serenity's crystal and Clockwork's essence instantly shot into the broken piece.

A powerful bolt of blue light erupted from the impact, which blinded the whole world. Only Serenity could see the staff begin to rebuild itself. Once it was restored, it released a burst of bright light that quickly began to take form.

Danny didn't realize that he had buried his face into Vlad's arm until he suddenly felt the horrible heavy feeling ebb away.

The teen breathed heavily as he dared to look around and saw that all the strangeness was gone. The world returned to normal except…

Danny's mouth opened in shock when he saw none other than Clockwork floating in front of the Spirit of Order.

"Clockwork?" Danny whispered. "I… I don't understand."

"Like she said," Vlad replied back quietly as a small smile grew on his face. "Neither you or she are meant to be the Master of Time… There will always only be one true Master."

Meanwhile, Clockwork had not even noticed the hybrids' presence. He said nothing since he was more aware that he was within Time, and that his thoughts were focused on what he had last remembered. He shouldn't be here. And yet, here he was… and his staff was again intact. He was somehow back again.

No, not somehow…

"Serenity…" he muttered. He slowly glanced at his pulsing blue staff, which was now also glowing with a tinge of gold. He could further feel it didn't just contain his time powers… It contained her own powers over Order.

"What did you do?" he asked her quietly.

Serenity smirked at him. "What is it that you always say?... All is as it should be, my dearest Clockwork."

And suddenly she vanished from the human realm.

Instantly, time and order resumed normally. But then Clockwork whispered, "Time out." And it froze completely this time.

Being that Niane and Vlad still wore the time medallions, they were unaffected by Clockwork's powers. And Danny remained unaffected since he was still holding onto Vlad.

But Clockwork then turned to face the hybrids at last, and fired a time beam at the teen to keep him unaffected by his powers. While his medallions provided the Time Master a means to pull entities out of the grasp of time without having to exert energy himself, he was still able to control the influence of Time over anyone he wanted directly, too.

As the boy stared at his glowing blue hands, Clockwork finally spoke, "I take it you both dealt with that evil version of yourselves…" He then glanced at Niane, and added with a smirk, "You will need to catch me up later."

Niane laughed before she flew over to the spirit and hugged him. But Danny just as quickly flew over and hugged him, too.

"I'm so happy to see you!" Danny exclaimed with relief.

He patted both of them on the back before he pulled away, "And it's always good to see you both…. Now…" He then looked over at Vlad before he reached forward.

The man tensed slightly when he felt Clockwork's medallion suddenly phased off his form—yet a blue hue remained over his form. The man watched as it floated over to the Time Master until it fell into his extended hand.

"Good to see you made good use of this, Vlad Plasmius," the spirit remarked.

"You know I would… Or you wouldn't have given it to me," Vlad answered back with a small smirk.

Clockwork smiled knowingly before looking back at Niane, and saying, "It is time to go."

Niane's eyebrows creased before she glanced back at Vlad. "My brother…"

But Clockwork cut her off, "Time needs to resume. It has been stressed enough. All in due time, Niane. Come…"

Vlad tensed when he watched Clockwork place a hand on the girl's shoulder, and she suddenly vanished.

"Wait, what did you…?" the man began to ask anxiously.

"You must understand," Clockwork interrupted the man. "Good deeds cannot erase the consequences of your decisions… Of both of your decisions."

"Clockwork," Danny began as what the spirit was saying started to sink in.

"I'm sorry, Danny…. "

With a flash of his power, he further suspended both hybrids in time, too.

He frowned slightly as he noticed the scene around the two. But then with a sigh, he said, "Time in."

And the world resumed.

Vlad collapsed as the full weight of his injuries seem to crash down on him suddenly. But while Danny also felt how weak he was himself, there was something more pressing in his mind.

"Vlad, get up! Come on. You have to go," Danny said urgently. "The Guys-in-White are still here, and you—"

"They are after you, too," Vlad cut him off, briefly closing his eyes from pain before looking back at the teen.

"Yeah, but I'll… I'll figure it out. Please, you still have time…"

"No, little badger. There will be no more running for me," he cut him off again with a soft but sad smile. "Remember I told you? There is no scenario where this ends well for me. But I am at peace with it; I need you to be, too."

"Baba?"

Vlad looked over to where Annabelle had been lying unconscious, and found she was sitting up, looking at him in confusion.

"Where am I?" she asked.

But at that moment, Danny's family and friends also stirred.

"Ugh, what happened?" Jack was the first to say, rubbing his head.

Danny's eyes widened. Serenity had removed the spell. She had kept her word!

"Danny?" Maddie then said.

"Danny boy!"

"Danny!"

Before he could do anything, his friends and family ran over to him, and tackled him in hugs and kisses.

"Ow! Wait! Dad, that's too tight!"

Vlad only briefly watched the family reunion and couldn't help but smile sadly. He then forced himself to his feet and walked with difficulty over to Annabelle.

He knelt beside her with a grimace before pulling her into a hug with his good arm. "Oh, my sweet girl. I'm so happy to see you safe."

Annabelle quickly hugged him. And though she was confused, as she could only last remember having been taken by the Spirit of Order, she didn't care about anything else at the moment. She was with her dad again, and it filled her with joy and relief.

"You're okay!" Annabelle said with relief. "I told you the Spirit of Order would help you, baba!"

Vlad smiled. "You did," he agreed. But then his smile fell, and he pulled away, "Annabelle, listen to me…"

"Freeze!"

Vlad frowned as he watched the Guys-in-White running towards him. They then just as quickly surrounded him and Annabelle with their humming guns trained on him.

Vlad raised his good arm. "Fine… just let the girl leave," he answered.

Danny, realizing what was happening, gasped, "No, wait!" But at that instant, more GiWs joined the fray, and they just as quickly trained their guns on him.

"No one move!"

"Now, wait a minute," Maddie said angrily, taking a step forward.

But the same GiW commander cut her off, "I said, no one."

"I would listen, Mrs. Fenton," another voice said; and Maddie instantly glared as the leader of the GiW came into view.

He looked at everyone being detained by his men one-by-one before his eyes fell on Annabelle.

"That one. Let her be on her way."

A GiW agent quickly moved forward and grabbed Annabelle by the arm. "You, girl. Let's go."

"No!" Annabelle screeched and tried to lunge herself back in Vlad's arms; but the agent yanked harder.

"Wait a minute. Do not dare—" Vlad began as he rose to his feet. But the moment he did, Agent C pulled out a gun and trained it right at his head.

"Move another muscle, and it will be the last thing you do," the GiW leader threatened.

Vlad just glared darkly at the hunter but said nothing else.

Annabelle gasped, "No, don't hurt my dad!"

"Restrain that brat and get her out of here already," Agent C snapped at his commander.

And despite her cries, the GiW commander moved Annabelle away from Vlad and away from the area.

"You can't do this," Tucker suddenly spoke up. "Danny has immunity! And you have nothing on the Fentons, Sam or me!"

Agent C smirked over at the teen. "Oh, that's right. The 'wonderful mayor' of Amity Park. You should know by now popularity or a title doesn't put anyone above the law. You are all under arrest. You, your little friend there, and the Fentons all conspired with a wanted criminal and fugitive of the world. Then, you further aided Danny Phantom's escape when we have a warrant for his arrest under suspicion of attempted murder against a Mr. Damon Gray."

"Danny didn't hurt my dad!"

Everyone looked over at the voice, and saw that Valerie had appeared on her hover board.

"Oh yes, you….," Agent C snapped his fingers; and in an instant, Valerie was restrained, too. "You are also being brought in for questioning, especially after interfering in our attempt to capture the other Phantom girl."

"Let go!" Valerie snapped, but it was pointless. "And don't ignore what I just said about Danny! He didn't hurt my dad! It was that other spirit that looked like him! He was set up!"

"That will have to be proven in court."

Agent C made a hand gesture for the Fentons, Sam and Tucker to be restrained, too.

But seeing his family being pulled away from him, Danny gasped before he glared furiously at the GiW agent, "I won't let you do this!"

"Daniel, no!" Vlad exclaimed, though he didn't move. "Don't give him a reason to harm you or anyone else. That's what he wants…" He glared over at the hunter, and added, "He's itching to use his little serum on one of us…"

Danny looked anxious but listened to the man.

The GiW leader chuckled at Vlad's comment. "Don't worry, Masters. I won't let this serum go to waste… one way or another. Sure, there might be a slim chance Phantom gets out of this; but you… We know there's no escape for you. And we all know what the penalty is for a high-level ghost such as yourself who endangers humans…"

He aimed his gun back at the man, and darkly commended, "On your knees, freak." He then glanced over at Danny, and added, "You, too, boy."

But at that moment, Agent C's superior from Washington finally arrived at the scene. The executive commander of the Guy-in-White agency was dressed like the other GiWs, only that she was a very tall, slim African-American woman with a bob haircut. She calmly got out of her vehicle and walked over to Agent C.

After motioning to one of his commanders to take over with keeping an eye on Plasmius, Agent C stepped away, and addressed her with a salute, "General W."

"You are just in time," he continued with a smile once she had saluted back. "We have captured the fugitive of the world, Vlad Plasmius."

General W glanced at Vlad before she looked over at where Danny was being detained.

"And Danny Phantom?" she asked.

"Yes… I have a warrant for his arrest after being accused of several acts of violence against the citizens of Amity Park, especially an innocent citizen by the name of Damon Gray," he answered.

"Danny didn't hurt my dad! He's lying!" Valerie shouted.

"That's right! Our son didn't hurt anyone!" Jack spoke up.

"And he just saved everyone again!" Jazz further said.

"And we haven't done anything either!" Sam snapped. "He just hates Danny!"

"Silence!" General W quietly demanded.

And everyone fell quiet with a frown.

The woman looked at the restrained people before turning her eyes back on Agent C.

"You had a warrant to bring in Danny Phantom for questioning. If you recall, he has immunity, and he would have to be proven guilty of these accusations against him in order to remove that immunity. And yet… It seems you are treating him and those with him as if they were as dangerous as Vlad Plasmius."

Agent C frowned. "A lot has happened here in Amity Park… There's another creature on the loose. He resembled Danny Phantom a bit too much. And they resisted arrest."

"Because you tried to waste us!" Danny snapped.

But seeing the woman frown in disapproval at him, the teen huffed and got quiet again.

"There is one more thing…," General W said before she glanced behind her; and everyone's eyes widened when Stephanie Hui was allowed to step through the GiW agents. At her side was Annabelle.

"There seems to be some troublesome charges against you as well, Agent C. We usually do not deal with such accusations within the public eye; but Mrs. Hui here seems to have friends in high places… On our way here, we were intercepted, and given some new intel on the situation in Amity Park…. Information you did not share with myself or the other high officials when you reached out to us…"

Agent C frowned at Stephanie, who was glaring at him.

"You are going to believe a civilian over me just because she is rich?" he asked angrily.

"Of course not…," General W answered, "But, she is not the only one accusing you. We got several calls to the White House, all accusing you of civilian endangerment and harming of a minor… A minor that is currently in a coma thanks to the unauthorized creation of an anti-hybrid serum."

This time, Agent C tensed with her words, but especially when the Foleys, Mansons, and many of the town's people appeared through the crowd.

"Arrest him!"

They began to shout angrily.

"I… It's not what it seems," Agent C began nervously.

"And you will have the chance to prove that in court," General W cut him off before looking at her team, and nodding at them.

Immediately, Agent C's hands were pulled behind his back and he was cuffed. "You can't do this! I am a respected government official!"

General W raised an eyebrow. "You said it yourself, Agent C. A title or position does not exempt you from the law."

Ignoring his protest as he was taken away, General W walked over to Danny. She looked at his battle- worn ghost form before asking, "Is there a creature that looks like you still on the loose?"

Danny shook his head. "He's gone. He won't be a threat to anyone again."

She didn't answer right away; but then glancing over at Valerie, she further told him, "It seems Mr. Gray's daughter is claiming you are innocent of her father's attack. You have been accused of a few other items but…" She looked back at Danny and added, "… as long as you and those with you are willing to come in on your own to testify and explain the happenings, I see no reason to arrest you at this time… And I definitely see no reason to remove your immunity when you clearly saved the world once more… even if we don't know to what extent."

With a quick command, Danny and his family and friends were all released.

She finally smiled at Danny, and said, "Thank you for your service."

She soon turned away, and commanded, "Let them go. There's lots to do still. Commander Q… start calling in the first-responders and disaster-aid personnel. It should be safe to start assessing the damage and supporting these citizens…."

"And the fugitive, General?" the Commander questioned.

"Secure and load him for transport. He is coming with us."

Danny's eyes widened.

"What, no!" Annabelle suddenly protested, but Stephanie quickly squeezed her shoulder to keep her at her side. The woman knew there was nothing she could do except try to get her friend the best lawyers…

But seeing Vlad get fitted with ecto-cuffs in spite of his broken arm, Danny couldn't keep quiet anymore.

"Wait!" he said, grabbing General W by an arm.

The woman frowned in confusion at him. "Yes?"

Danny glanced and saw the man cringe when they then fit some kind of power-suppressing collar around his neck.

"You said I saved the world," Danny said, looking back at the woman. "But I couldn't have been able to do that without Vlad. He just saved everyone, too. Isn't there a way to…? He made a mistake before… He's changed… He's not evil…"

The woman's expression suddenly shrouded in understanding. She placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, and softly told him, "Those are good things to keep in mind when he faces trial, Danny. But… it's not going to change the fact that we have to take him away right now. It doesn't change what he did before… I'm sorry."

Danny exhaled with slight panic. "But… he's hurt. You're suppressing his powers…."

"We'll take care of him, don't worry," the woman cut him off before she moved away from the teen.

Danny looked back at Vlad, who stared back at him with a small sad smile before he was forced away by the GiW.

"This… I can't let them take him!" Danny said in slight panic. But at that moment, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He looked behind him, and saw his parents beside him, as well as Sam, Jazz, and Tucker.

"Danny, I don't know what happened, but…whatever good Vlad just did…" Jack said soberly. "Well… Son, not everything in our past can just disappear…Actions always have consequences, Danny."

"Come on, sweetie. Let's go home," Maddie said warmly. "We can talk about Vlad and everything else there."

"I…" Danny began but found no words to say as he was led away by his loved ones.

And yet, the sudden feeling of loss in his heart got worst the farther he and Vlad were taken from each other…

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Yes? No? Thoughts? Feelings of wanting to murder my muse? All are welcomed! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year my awesome readers!