"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
It was almost like watching a caterpillar cocooning itself before their eyes. The many ghost of the Ghost Zone had gathered to watch a fight between Pariah Dark, the former Ghost King and Danny Phantom, hero of both worlds but an enemy to the vast majority of the ghosts that routinely invaded Amity Park. When he slipped the Ring of Rage on, combining with the Crown of Fire there was an immediate blast of fire around him and everyone though his body would burn away with his core following not long after.
Only he didn't.
First he survived the first two seconds of wearing both the Crown and the Ring.
Then he survived the next two seconds.
Then three.
Then more.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
He was still screaming as the combined power of the Ring and the Crown attempted to overwhelm him but he was still standing.
Screaming as he tried to contain the power.
But he was still alive.
It was almost fascinating to watch.
No one ever believed this would happen but the Ghost Boy, who has now grown into a man as many, especially Ember, Kitty, Desiree and Spectra would notice, was actually attempting to become the next Ghost King.
No, not the Ghost King.
Something else.
Everyone almost expected him to perish.
But after over five minutes of none stop screaming, at last the flames parted and something rose up.
"No way…" Ember whispered in pure shock.
"That punk really did it…" Walker seemed to look even paler than he usually was, if that was even possible.
In the center of the flaming crater, a new Ghost King was standing.
Xxx
"NEPTUNE'S BEARD!"
Casper High had been the battleground for many battles in the early years when Danny Phantom had first appeared and even after his identity had been revealed to the world.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Today was no exception.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
Dark Danny hovered down from the sky, watching with undisguised glee as the students fled for their lives.
Why was he attacking Casper High?
There could be a number of reasons why. Perhaps it because seeing the place had brought back fond memories and that had motivated him enough to want to burn it to the ground.
Or perhaps there was another reason.
Just as Principal Lancer rushed out the door he let out a scream as Dark Danny appeared in front of him.
"Well, if it isn't my former, favorite teacher." Dark Danny grabbed Lancer by the neck and lifted him off the ground. "Though, it is a bit of a stretch to say you ever actually were a teacher."
Lancer struggled and gasped for air in the evil ghost's grip.
"Always allowing the bullies like Dash to run the place, beating on the smaller and weaker ones, including my weaker past self." Dark Danny lifted the former teacher above his head. "I even recall you sitting in the teacher's lounge, relaxing as one student was held up at the top of the flagpole by his underwear and fell, breaking his arm and nothing was done to those responsible. Do you remember who that student was?"
"I-Gah!" Lancer choked as evil ghost tightened his grip around the man's neck.
"Let me save you the trouble. It was me or rather past me. Truthfully, while I feel nothing towards my weak past there is still the slightest bit of satisfaction I feel to watching you squirm like the rat you are." Dark Danny grinned. "After all, no one mourned your death in my time. And why would they? Why would they mourn the passing of one teacher, let alone the dozen who never truly cared about nurturing their students? Those who the so-called strong get free run of the place, making the lives of the others miserable to feel superior? I took a great joy in wrecking this place once…"
Dark Danny held up his other hand and fired a ghost beam at point blank range, blasting Lancer's clothes off of him and burning away at his skin which caused him to cream in agony.
"I think I will take even more pleasure destroying it and you again." Dark Danny grinned as he dropped Lancer and raised his fists.
With great pleasure, Dark Danny started beating Principal Lancer within an inch of his life. First he broke the man's arms and legs.
His fingers were next.
Then he broke the man's nose.
Kicked several of his teeth out and then pulled the rest out by hand.
Next were the Principal's jaws.
Then he broke the man's back.
Mr. Lancer was already reaching his golden years and after the beating he was left in pure and utter agony, unable to even scream as Dark Danny laughed while throwing him away.
"That was beyond satisfying." Dark Danny grinned as he took a deep breath and released his Ghostly Wail on Casper High.
The entire school crumbled in a matter of seconds and anyone who not lucky enough to flee in time were crushed by the debris, sent flying into the air where they would hit the ground hard enough all the bones in their bodies broke, or died from the sound of the Wail blowing their eardrums along with their brains and eyes.
Dark Danny could only look on in pleasure to see all the bodies surrounding the destroyed school.
Curiously Lancer had survived since he was thrown out of the way of the blast.
Dark Danny looked at the beaten man, contemplating killing him…
And then decided it was better to just let the man suffer the last few minutes of his life, assuming no one would come to help him.
Even if someone did he was going to be heavily crippled and disfigured to the point killing him would a kindness.
And last he checked, he stopped being nice.
"Well, time to check and see if the parents have returned." Dark Danny said, floating up into the air to take one last satisfying look at the destruction of Casper High before flying off towards Fenton Works.
Mr. Lancer could only stare up at the sky before he blacked out from the pain.
Xxx
"So, the former crackpots of the town got themselves a tower to live in now."
To Dark Danny the new Fenton Works was a complete eyesore. Standing up above the rest of the neighborhood as if to shout to the rest of the world 'Hey, look at me!'.
Then again it's not surprising.
The Fentons were all attention seekers right down to the very bones, with little to no regard to who they bothered or humiliated.
"I suppose I should ring the doorbell like a good son…" Dark Danny contemplated before laughing it off. "Nah!"
BLAST!
He simply fired a single ecto-beam and blasted the top of the building open, floating down in a big and expensive looking living room.
"And I thought cheese head's place was big and expensive. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the family who saved the world would be given such nice perks as gratitude." Dark Danny took a step forward and stopped as an alarm went off.
Warning!
Warning!
Intruder Ghost Detected!
Activating Defense System
Dark Danny raised an eyebrow as small ecto-blasters were deployed from every imaginable hiding place in the room.
Even the couch cushions.
"Well…" He grinned. "This should be a good warm up."
Xxx
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Jack and Maddie had moved Jazz back to their home when they realized the hospital would not be safe for her. Their fears had been proven correct when there was a news recording of Dark Danny destroying Amity Hospital.
Now he was here.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
And he was blasting through the floors of Fenton Works, making his way down to the basement. When the Fentons began expanding their business they had Fenton Works rebuilt into the tower that became well known across the world. The original Fenton home was heavily remodeled and actually moved underground, becoming three sub-basement floors with the bedrooms on the first basement floor, the kitchen and living room being the second floor and the Fenton lab being the third and final sub-basement.
To protect Jazz, they moved her into the laboratory sub-basement and placed her behind a ghost shield that would hopefully keep her safe.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Hopefully.
The ceiling was blasted open and down came Dark Danny, grinning at them as he landed before them. "Mother, Father, want a fine reunion."
"You're no son of ours." Maddie aimed the Fenton Bazooka at the evil ghost and fired. "You're just a monster!"
"A monster, am I?" Dark Danny chuckled as he smacked away the blast. "Well, a monster you and your fat lardo of a husband helped create, first when you birthed me and second when your portal made me into a ghost and finally when you died. Everything I am today, I owe to the two of you and your incompetent attempts studying the supernatural."
Jack growled as he aimed his own blaster at the ghost. "No calls me 'lardo' and gets away with it!"
Before they could fire, Dark Danny teleported in front of them and grabbed the blasters, smashing them in his hands.
"Lardo, wide-load, fatty, it's all the same to me. Just an idiotic excuse of a man child who somehow married the love of his life…which is not surprising when she is just as idiotic as you." Dark Danny rolled his eyes as with a single swipe of his hand, he knocked them both down. "A fat blob who gorges on fudge every second he gets. It's a wonder you haven't died from diabetes yet."
He then picked Maddie up by the collar, holding her over his head.
"And you, I would feel the slightest bit of joy seeing you alive again but I removed such weakness a long time ago. It gave me a certain clarity to see you as big an imbecile as the fatso. Why cheese head was so in love with you, I'll never understand." Dark Danny said, gripping Maddie's throat tightly. "I mean, really. How you spend every Christmas arguing with Tubs over Santa being real or not and how stupid you were to never notice your own son was a ghost the whole time you were hunting him? And the fact you consider yourself an 'expert' in ghost science when you haven't even begun to scratch the surface."
He dropped back on the ground and kicked her into Jack.
"Pathetic sacks of meat. You're only use in life was creating me." Dark Danny looked over a shield dome and saw Jazz inside. "Ah, the dear sister. You know, she was always smarter than I gave her credit for. She was the first to figure out who I was and I had no clue until I traveled back in time and heard from her myself."
He took a step to the shield dome.
"Perhaps I should make her end quick and painless for being able to surprise me so." Dark Danny chuckled. "But I never really got into that."
He raised a hand and gathered energy into it, not even concerned for the ghost shield as he had enough power to bring down the entire tower on Jazz and the two idiots.
"This is goodbye." Dark Danny chuckled. "Now I am free to exist outside of time, I will destroy this world as I did before. And maybe I'll work on finding a way to travel through time just so I can do it again, again and again."
The sheer thought of casting infinite destruction on the entire timeline made the evil ghost grin in anticipation as he prepared to fire…
ZAP!
"GAH!"
From the ghost portal came a beam of bright green light that slammed into Dark Danny's back, scorching him before it ended. From the portal stepped out Danny Phantom…
Or what looked like Danny Phantom.
Maddie and Jack's eyes widened as they stared at the new form of their son. "Danny?"
Dark Danny looked over his shoulder, gritting his teeth in both pain and anger. "And where were you…?"
Danny wore his black and white jumpsuit with the green D symbol on the chest but it had been heavily modified. Only now, a white cape with a black interior was clapped over his shoulders by spiked shoulder armor with metal gauntlets covering his hands and steel boots replacing his normal white ones. A metallic belt with armor replaced his normal one and above his head was the Crown of Fire while on the index finger of his right hand was the Ring of Rage.
He stepped forward with a look of pure authority and judgment as he stared Dark Danny down.
"The Crown of Fire…And the Ring of Rage…" Dark Danny chuckled that soon grew into full blown laughter. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! So are you the new Ghost King now? Is that what you went off to do? You expect me to bow, 'Your Majesty'? To bend the knee now that you are king?"
Dark Danny slapped his knee as he kept on laughing. "I didn't think you could be any more pathetic. I obey no one. I take what I want and I kill anyone I want, when I want. I don't need some pathetic trinkets to become the strongest."
Danny appeared in front of his dark counterpart, grabbing him by the neck and flew them both up from the basement until they were right above Fenton Tower before Dark Danny broke free, managing fly a few feet back to gain some space.
"So this is it? Our climatic battle between good and evil?" Dark Danny asked, rubbing his neck.
"It ends…tonight." Danny said in 'that's final' tone.
Dark Danny scoffed but grinned. "Fine by me. Once I kill you, I'll have the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage. I'll become so mighty, that I'll take over this pathetic planet, the Ghost Zone and maybe even more. All the planets out there in this dimension and all the Infinite Realms the Ghost Zone is connected to…It will be fun."
Danny said nothing as his eyes flared with green fire, matching the Crown of Fire's own flames.
(It Has to Be This Way by Plantinum Max Starts)
Dark Danny lashed out, slamming into Danny who quickly blocked, creating a shockwave that knocked away any nearby clouds and caused countless windows to shatter below. Danny immediately brought his elbow down on Dark Danny's neck, sending him crashing down into the road below. The evil ghost crashed into the road but rolled out of the way as Danny came down, aiming to crash his feet down on his counterpart's back. Dark Danny then slammed Danny into a nearby building with enough force he crashed through the other side and causing the building to start to fall.
Dark Danny laughed mockingly before a fist shot of the pile of debris and Danny came out, wiping some dust off his cape. "Taking a breather?"
"Waiting for you to drop your guard?"
Dark Danny raised an eyebrow. "And how will I do that?"
"You just did."
Danny, the real Danny appeared right in front of his enemy and launched a haymaker right into his dark counterpart's stomach. Dark Danny actually gagged from the hit, actually looking like he might puke. Danny dispelled his duplicate as he grabbed his darker self's collar, flew up and then threw him back down onto the road. Danny flew back down and grabbed his former future self again before giving him a glowing punch right to the face that sent him flying into what used to be Sam's favorite book store, turning into a pile of rubble and dust.
Dark Danny emerged, growling at his enemy. "So that's how you want to play it?"
Danny said nothing as he slowly walked towards the evil ghost.
"You might not become me but my work is still done." Dark Danny suddenly grinned. "You're alone. No friends to stick by you. Your sister will be crippled for life and will have you as a living reminder of what she had lost. Your parents will never be able to look you in the eye again."
"…" Danny stopped, just staring at the evil ghost.
"Think about it. Even if you win, you're bound to serve as ruler of the Ghost Zone. Why do you think I never wanted the Crown and the Ring? Aside from being strong enough without them?" Dark Danny chuckled. "The Ghost Zone is alive in its own way, created from so many so-called afterlives which is why its known as the Infinite Realm, born from the remnants and fragments of countless deities and even borders these afterlives so much that the essence of those deities leaked over and created it. That's how ghosts as powerful as Pariah Dark, Clockwork, and other ghosts like them came into existence. Ghosts so powerful they can alter time and reality. The Ghost Zone needed a ruler to handle the chaos and that's where the laws concerning the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage come in. If a ghost is powerful enough to wield them, they are granted absolute authority in the laws of the Ghost Zone and thus are bound t the it. You can feel it, can't you?"
Danny said nothing.
"You feel the energy of the Ghost Zone surging through you. It's connected to you now, meaning you can't escape. You'll have to be ruler until the day someone else finally defeats and takes the Crown and Ring from you. Or if you try to refuse and the Ring and Crown burn you from the inside out." Dark Danny finished with a laugh. "And that's why I never thought of taking them until now. I learned the price and decided I would be bound to nothing. I choose to be free do to what I please, thinking of nothing and no one standing my way."
Danny just continued staring.
"Well?" Dark Danny scowled. "Aren't you going to say something?"
"…So what?"
Dark Danny's eyes widened in surprise. "So…what?"
"There's nothing for me in this world anymore." Danny said simply. "Everything I've done up to now, trying to live a normal life that even my friends and family denied me has been for nothing. Just wanting me to keep on being a hero no matter how dangerous it was for me. No matter how much I suffered, no matter what pain I went through, no matter what I thought or wanted…Even my own family was too selfish to understand except for maybe one…"
Jazz's smiling face…
"I am not the hero Danny Phantom anymore. I am not Danny Fenton, son of two so-called ghost hunters. I am not you, who tore his humanity away in an attempt to escape the pain. I am just…Phantom." Danny said, holding his hand and looking at the Ring of Rage. "King…That has a ring to it. The Phantom King. That is who I am now."
Dark Danny rolled his eyes. "Pardon me if I don't bow."
"You won't have to. In fact, in few seconds," Danny's fists burst into flames. "You won't exist anymore."
Danny grabbed Dark Danny by the neck, burning at the skin before he threw him back down at the battered street. Dark Danny rolled out of the Danny smashed his fist down where he had been. Dark Danny shot back up and flew at Danny with an enraged roar…
SPLAT!
Dark Danny looked down in shock as Danny's flaming fist pierced his chest and reached in. "Wh-What are you doing?!"
"Removing a bad dream." Danny answered as he pulled his hand out.
And in the hand was the Time Medallion Dark Danny had used to travel back in time and allowed him to exist outside of time.
Dark Danny stared at the medallion in mute shock as his form started to break apart and vanish right before Danny's eyes.
(It Has to Be This Way by Plantinum Max Ends)
Dark Danny then looked at Danny who just stared back stoically.
"No…No…NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Dark Danny screamed in hysteria as he began to vanish.
The Time Medallion was what allowed him to exist outside of normal time.
Now that it had been removed Dark Danny would be returned to his original timeline.
Only that timeline no longer existed.
"Oblivion awaits." Danny said simply.
First his vision became blurry.
This his movements became sluggish, as if he was trying to swim through Jell-O.
"THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!"
Meanwhile his legs vanished, followed by his lower torso.
"NO!"
Then his hands were gone.
"I AM THE REAL DANNY PHANTOM!"
His arms were next.
"THIS WASN'T HOW IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE!"
His torso was following very quickly.
"THIS WORLD WAS TO BE MINE TO DO WHAT I PLEASE!"
Just as his neck vanished he glared hatefully at the Phantom King.
"YOU'RE STILL A PRISONER! STILL WEAK! AT LEAST I AM FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
With that final scream Dark Danny was erased from existence forever, his voice echoing through the desolated neighborhood.
"…Hmph. So you are." Was all the Phantom King had to say.