Author's Note: Thought or Emphasis; Flashback; Thought or Emphasis in Flashback.
I don't own Danny Phantom.
Danny Phantom: Not All Bad
Part VIII
"Are we there yet?"
"Not yet."
Dani Phantom sighed. This was the third time she had asked the question since she entered the Ghost Zone with Danny and Sam. Tucker had opted not to go, certain that their destination didn't suit him.
This was her first time, however, in the Specter Speeder, the Fenton Family's custom-made vehicle for traversing the parallel dimension. It was a small ship, built only for three. Its weapons weren't fully operational, but the trio hopefully wouldn't need them where they were going.
Dani stared wistfully at all the buttons and levers in the cockpit. Over the course of the trip, her eager fingers had managed to start the wipers twice, send out flares in three directions, and turn on the newly installed coffee machine.
When she activated the rocket boosters and nearly launched the trio into the Carnivorous Canyon, however, all button privileges were firmly revoked.
This unfortunately left the ghost girl quite bored, which is why she felt the need to ask, "Are we there now?"
"As a matter of fact," Danny proclaimed, "we are."
The Speeder made its way to a massive castle gate of dark stone. At its top displayed the likeness of a dragon's head, its nostrils still eliciting smoke.
"Woah…" Dani stared at the beastly entrance in awe. "Creepy."
"Yeah," Danny noted, "You think she'd have changed that by now."
"No, I kinda like it," she explained. "It's creepy, but cool too."
"My thoughts exactly." Sam smirked in approval.
Danny was outnumbered, but he took it in stride. "I think your tastes are rubbing off on her, Sam."
Indeed, since Danielle made the Manson manor her home, she had taken after Sam in different ways. Dani discovered a love of horror films; while Sam liked Nightmerica the most, Terminatra was Dani's favorite. The tomboyish tween also shared Sam's hate for the color pink; just two days ago, Dani joined Sam in mutilating Mrs. Manson's poufy, frilly vacation present.
Sam smiled at the happy memories. "I'm calling that a good thing."
"You still haven't told me who we're seeing." Dani tried to comb through the stories Danny and Sam had told her over the summer, but it seemed that her guardians had more enemies than friends.
"I wanted to keep it a surprise, but-"
"You won't need to, Sam." Danny pointed ahead. "It looks like your surprise is coming to us."
A lone figure floated patiently in front of the Speeder. The ghost woman had green skin and red eyes, wearing a modest blue long-sleeved dress with a light green band wrapped around her waist. Her hair was surprisingly normal, gathered into a blonde French braid.
Atop her head was a gleaming green crown.
"Your Majesty!" An attendant, his white face gaunt and his eyes sunken, rushed to her side. "Your retainer was to guide all visitors to the throne room."
"We are doing things differently," she told him. "As ruler, am I not allowed to meet visitors how I wish?"
"I-I-I meant no disrespect, Your Grace!" He raised his arms in defense, fearful of the royal's wrath. "Please, I-"
"Calm down. I won't hurt you." She smiled. "I'm nothing like him, remember?"
He sighed in relief. "Of course."
"Besides, there is only one person who would ride in such a machine!"
Giddy, Dora guided the Speeder to the forest at the edge of her kingdom. The visitors exited the vehicle, stepping onto the castle grounds, where the princess waited with open arms.
"Danny Phantom! Sam Manson! It's been so long. What brings you to my land?"
Sam answered for the group. "Danny and I have been talking lately about some of the people we've helped, and all our adventures, and we wanted to show Dani some of the friends we've made."
Dora blinked, confused. "But Danny's right here."
"What? Oh, right." Sam had been around the Phantoms so long, she had stopped getting confused. "There's someone I want you to meet." She called out to the girl staring up at the castle towers. "Danielle!"
"Huh? Oh, sorry, I was-" She gasped, recognizing her picture. "Hey, you're Princess Dora!"
Dora outstretched a hand that Dani quickly shook. "And you, Danielle, must be the ghost girl I've been hearing about."
"Just call me Dani," she posed, her logo presented proudly, "with an I."
"The Ghost Zone is abuzz with rumors about you, a ghost child born in the living world. Some are still curious of your parentage." She looked to the couple. "But perhaps I've answered that question?"
"We're not her parents!" Danny and Sam shared their words, then a blush.
Their 'child,' hearing this, simply fidgeted where she stood.
"I'll leave it a mystery then!" Dora giggled. "Let's talk inside, shall we?"
"Let's." Sam followed her. "Danny? Aren't you coming?"
"Sorry, Sam." He stretched, but soon followed along. "Driving the Specter Speeder did a number on my legs."
The monarch and guests entered the castle, only to be swarmed by not only Dora's staff, but a more recent annoyance in Danny's life:
Fans.
"SIR DANNY PHANTOM!"
A gaggle of ghouls surrounded Danny, begging him for attention.
"He has returned."
"Quickly, brave knight, tell us of the world beyond!"
"Woah, easy!" He put up his hands, telling himself, "I guess I'll be on my feet after all."
"I see you've met the nobility," Dora remarked with a giggle. "They've been anxious to see you ever since I regaled them with stories of your battles. Your victory over the former Ghost King is legendary here."
The battle against Pariah Dark's horde was more personal for Dora. She may have fought on her brother's orders, but it was one of the few times in her life she felt truly powerful.
That black-and-white ghost who fought at her side—Sidney Poindexter, she recalled—was surprisingly charming as well…
"Take your time with them, Danny," Sam assured, breaking Dora's train of thought. "We'll be right here."
As if to respond for him, the crowd whisked him away.
"Sir Danny Phantom?" Sam asked. "What's with the title?"
"Oh, of course, I haven't mentioned." Dora explained, "I couldn't engage in the ceremony due to your absences, but you and Sir Danny were honorarily knighted months ago by royal decree. I'm surprised that the royal court didn't sweep you up as well, Dame Sam."
"Dame Sam…"
"Oh, dear." Dora feared her reaction. "Do you prefer 'Lady Phantom' instead? I can inform the court-"
"NO!" She blushed, knowing what that meant. "It's just… wow, I wasn't ready."
"Believe me, Sam, you both have earned your titles."
"So, Dora," Dani had to ask, "how do you turn into a dragon again?"
Sam was set to chastise the girl's bluntness, but Dora spoke first. "I use this."
The princess pulled out a golden necklace. On it hung a green jewel resembling a dragon's slit eye. "The Amulet of Aragon grants me the dragon's power. But only members of my family can truly wield it."
"That makes sense," Sam figured. "That's why everyone else transforms the second they get angry."
"Like you, Sam!" Dani noted.
"Er, yes," she felt a little smaller, "like me."
Thinking back, Sam was still a little embarrassed about facing her best friend as a monster. Danielle, on the other hand, thought it was "cool" that Sam was willing to eat someone to stand up for Danny. After hearing the tale, she decided she didn't like "whoever this Paulina girl was."
It was yet another thing on which Dani and Sam agreed.
"Even in our family, however," Dora explained, "such power can corrupt. Like it did my brother." She shook her head. "Though honestly, even when we were younger, he was always…" She sighed.
Sam asked, "What happened to him anyway?"
"I was going to have him imprisoned for the rest of his afterlife, but I could not forget our family bond. I showed him leniency and exiled him. After much, much effort, his Amulet was destroyed. Mine is the only one that remains."
"Hey, Sam?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think I could walk around a little too, like Danny?" Dani's eyes filled with wonder. "That Speeder was cramped, and this place looks huge!"
Sam hesitated, turning to Dora. "Is it okay?"
"My subjects know that you and your family are privileged guests within the kingdom and within these walls." She smiled to the child. "You have nothing to fear."
Sam exhaled, then implored to Dani. "Be careful."
"I will!" The ghost girl dashed off, leaving her elders to talk alone.
"She just can't keep still." Sam shook her head, a hint of a smile on her lips.
Dora felt a similar way. "She has an energy this place lacked for so long."
"Speaking of this place," Sam took a moment to look out the window, "it looks so different now."
She was right. When Sam had first stepped foot in the kingdom, clouds darkened the skies and bare, petrified trees filled the forest surrounding the land's border. Now, light washed over the homes of the subjects past the castle moat, and the bordering woods had thickened with life (or, rather, afterlife). Even the castle's stonework looked bright and clean, as if rebuilt from foundation to spire.
"As it should!" The princess smiled with pride. "Due to the actions of you and your beloved, this realm has progressed into a new era!"
Sam tried to ignore the 'beloved' comment. "How so?"
"We're experimenting with a different form of government," Dora explained. "Just imagine: a council of wise men and women, like royal advisors, but chosen to represent the kingdom's subjects, handling their day to day affairs by vote. Meanwhile, the princess—that's me—presides over more traditional affairs, giving the final vote where the council is unable to choose."
"Dora…" Sam was gobsmacked, "you invented a parliamentary monarchy!"
"A… what?"
"We have those on Earth. That council you're talking about? It's called a parliament."
"Parliament." Dora grasped the word with both hands. "It sounds impressive. I must learn more about this!" She forgot her friend as her thirst for knowledge carried her to the door, until a thought halted her flight. "But… a journey to the living world risks separating me from my royal duties."
"Maybe the next time I come, I can bring you some books to read."
"I'd like that." The smile on Dora's face was the largest it had been since her brother's defeat. "You are honored as a knight in my court, but I am glad to have you as a friend."
"You too, Dora."
Sam never had a friend like Dora in the Ghost Zone before. Technically, there was Ember, but Dora hadn't threatened to set her aflame in her own bedroom. If she had to put a label on their relationship, it would probably be "mutual respect," not friendship.
Dora was different. She didn't wish to do harm to her when they met; she was only a good ghost in a bad situation. Sam felt they could talk without any tension between them, even if Dora ruled a kingdom.
"Now then, there is still that mystery to solve." The princess asked, "If Danielle is not of your blood, then how did you come to know each other?"
"It's a bit of a crazy story, and Danny can fill you in on the details I don't know." Sam began. "I'd say it all started when-"
The peace shattered, like the nearby window, when an object crashed through it.
"What is that?" Sam got a closer look at the object…
…an arrow, its attachment a bomb set to blow.
"GET DOWN!"
In a distant hallway, Dani stared at a wall adorned with images of the kingdom's heroes. The wall's contents were sparse due to the land's once-stagnant history, but a few recent faces made their mark.
In one painting, Danny Phantom stood as a knight in white armor, valiantly battling a goliath figure, with a flaming crown and patch over his left eye, surrounded by skeletons. Danny's hands were filled with green hopeful light.
"You're creepy," she said to the evil cyclops man, "and not in a good way."
In another, Sam Manson faced a fearsome black and purple dragon. Her hair was in wild pigtails and she wore armor on her left arm and legs, the uncovered arm raised in defiance even as blue flames surrounded her.
"Wicked armor!"
Dani felt small before these pictures, the courage of her caretakers in full display. "You two took down guys like these? They look a million times worse than Vlad!" She looked at her hands, let them glow like Danny's in the picture. "Could I do that?"
She stared at Danny.
"Could I be like you?"
Then she heard the BOOM.
She gasped. "SAM!"
Sam awakened next to Dora, who too was thrown to the wall in the explosion. A male ghost emerged from the clearing smoke.
"If it isn't my lovely human bride."
Her blood chilled. "No."
"You sound so upset? There's no need to worry…"
The man had light blue skin, red eyes, and long gray hair falling over his shoulders. Unlike Dora's youthful face, wear and anger coalesced in the bags around his eyes. Above a prominent chin, he sported a fanged smile. The once luxurious attire he was now rags hanging from his body, but his struggles did nothing to quell his hubris.
"YOUR PRINCE HAS RETURNED!"
"Aragon!" Dora gasped. "How are you here?"
"I once ruled this kingdom, this very castle. Did you think I would not know its secrets? I only needed to find the keys to the dungeon and free my most loyal subjects."
The Archer entered from the shattered window, still wearing his red hood and tunic. He had an arrow notched back to fire at either human or ghost, keeping them in place.
"Speaking of which, my Executioner should be making short work of that court of traitors in the other room." As if on cue, screams and destruction could be heard through the door.
Sam stepped forward, despite the danger. "Those 'traitors' simply saw you as the tyrant you are, Aragon!"
"That's Prince Aragon to you, my bride."
"The name is Sam Manson, and I'm nothing of yours!"
"Defiant as ever." He turned his gaze, "Although, not nearly as insolent as my own sister."
He walked closer.
"To cast me out into the wilds like an animal! To take the throne, my birthright!"
His red eyes bored into hers.
"I should execute you where you stand."
Dora stared back.
"And yet you do not cower before my eyes? Did your time as usurper change you?"
"I am different, Aragon. Your threats are nothing to me." She held her head high. "Besides, you forget yourself. Even with your minions, you're outmatched, for I hold the power of-" She reached up to her neck and gasped.
"The Amulet?" He pulled off his rags to reveal the powerful relic, stolen while she was unconscious. "You must keep a better eye on this." He stepped back, to allow them to bear witness. "Now, behold your prince, in all his glory!"
The Amulet glowed, its power awakened. Aragon transformed into a black-scaled dragon with a purple underbelly and wings, his claws the same green as the jewel.
"Keep her there, Archer. I want Dorathea to witness her new kingdom in ruins!" Aragon grinned, then looked at Sam. "And as for you, my bride…"
He readied his claws to strike…
"Consider our bond annulled!"
Someone annulled his attack instead, ramming into Aragon's face fist-first. Landing in front of Sam was Danielle Phantom.
"Get away from them!"
"A ghost child?" Reptilian eyes bulged in surprise at the rarity, then squinted as Aragon rubbed his scaly jaw. "You look familiar…"
Danny bashed through the door, slamming the Executioner into the Archer head-first and knocking them out.
"It's about time you got here," Sam joked.
"Not my fault, Sam. He really sharpened his skills since our last fight." Danny chuckled. "Huh. I guess I had one more axe pun in me after all."
"Of course, that lowborn Phantom!" He pointed a claw in accusation. "You would sire a daughter… with my human bride!?"
Sam started, "I'm not your bride!"
Danny followed up, "And Dani's not exactly my-"
"ENOUGH! The only remedy for this outrage is clear." Aragon took flight, bursting through the wall into the ghostly skies. "This entire land will burn!"
"He's on the move. We've gotta-" Danny turned to his partner. "Dani?"
"That's the one from the painting…" She was in shock, only now realizing who she crashed into out of protective instinct. "I just hit a dragon!"
"Dani, focus!"
"Right," she shook her head clear, "let's go."
The Phantoms pursued. Aragon was already making short work of the forests, the fire cutting Sam off from the Speeder hidden within the woods. Trees turned to their former state; blackened burnt branches reached out, gnarled like the hands of the oppressed peasants before their old leader's wrath.
He inhaled, ready to set the village market ablaze, before two Phantom Freeze rays struck his wings and sent him to the ground on all fours.
But Aragon would not be stopped. He knew his wings would thaw quickly, courtesy of the Amulet's power. He chose to simply shift his aim, exhaling flame in a wave behind him. The Phantoms blocked his attack with a shared ecto-shield, which cracked on impact but still managed to hold.
Danny huffed in relief. "Didn't even know we could do that!"
"Me neither," Danielle noted, before her eyes widened. "LOOK OUT!"
Aragon leaped and came down with a furious swipe, finally shattering their shield. His landing created a dust cloud obscuring him from sight.
Danny didn't like this. "Where is he?"
Dani shrugged. "Maybe he got tired?"
"I have power to spare!" The dragon ascended through the cloud, blowing the duo back from the draft and splitting them up once more. Aragon took the chance to unleash a quick fireball, but Danny acted just as fast, countering with a Freeze ray and canceling out the attacks. A cloud of cool vapor remained in their wake.
"A new power?" Aragon's eyes glowed with jealousy. "It will not save you!" He dove at his prey. Danny was nearly unprepared for his speed.
Fortunately, his partner wasn't. Dani struck from the side with an ecto-ray into his left eye. "AGH!" Blinded, Aragon was wide open for Danny to slam both fists down onto his snout. Once again, he crashed into the ground, the whole of the kingdom feeling the rumble.
"Nice move!" Taking a moment to breathe (and flexing his cramping hands), Danny was relieved. "A few more hits like those and-"
But Dani's last attack made her cocky. "I've got him!" She charged her fists with ecto-energy.
Now's my chance to be just like Danny!
"DANI, WAIT!"
The little Phantom dove right in, unaware that Aragon's eye was already healing… and that it spotted her.
"You mongrel." His claws extended, and he struck.
Dani just managed to weave out of the deadly path. The slash still caught her left arm and shoulder, making her spin out of control. Aragon caught her in his scaly hand.
He pulled his arm back…
"Get out of my sight!"
…and faster than Danny could see, pitched Danielle into the castle keep.
"…elle!"
Where am I? Danielle struggled to shake off the curtain of blackness over her mind.
"Dan… -ake up!"
Eventually, her eyes managed to open, and she saw a green sky.
Oh yeah, the Ghost Zone… the Princess… she's cool.
"Danielle!"
Is that…
"Sam?" Finally, her ears were working again, just in time for the headache to kick in. "Ow!"
"Dani!" Sam wiped away her tears. "Thank goodness you're okay!"
"What happened?" Wait, I was with- "DANNY! I've got to-"
"Oh, no, you don't," Sam held her down, "not with your arm like that!"
Dani followed her eyes to the blood and ectoplasm dripping from three gashes near her shoulder. The pain, only dull at first, seemed to magnify with her awareness of her wounds. Through gritting teeth, she managed, "I'm fine."
"No, you're not," Sam proclaimed, "you can barely stand up!"
"It doesn't matter." Dani shoved her back. "I'm helping Danny."
"Helping him by getting yourself killed?"
"Helping him any way I can!" She pleaded, "I'm strong too, just like you and Danny!"
"You're not strong enough!" Sam was just as desperate, holding onto the child's good shoulder. "Please, Dani, you've got nothing to prove, not to me or-"
"JUST LET ME DO THIS, MOM!"
"…what?" Sam's hands went slack, freeing Dani from her grasp. "What did you call me?"
"I… I didn't mean…" She saw her chance. "I gotta go!"
She took off, leaving Sam with her mouth agape.
Dora tried to wake her up. "Are you alright?"
She could only gawk at the little girl flying back into the fight.
"She called me… mom."
"You're going to pay for that!" Danny unleashed an ecto-ray as large as his fury. The force struck Aragon off his feet. A volley of green rays fell upon the beast, and an ecto-ball exploded. The flash of light obscured Danny's sight of his opponent, but he didn't care, knowing they hit home when he heard the screams of pain.
Danny prepared to use his weapon of last resort. He wanted to make sure the message got through. He took a deep breath…
…one knocked out of him by a speedy dragon tail. He hit the ground, but Aragon gave no mercy, a clawed fist slamming down to pin him, then continuing with more fists.
At last, Aragon looked down upon his work. Danny's exhausted form lay inside the crater, his dissolving ecto-shield the only thing that kept his body intact. Aragon raised his arm again, when-
"HEY, SCALY!"
Dani floated forth, a hand over her bleeding arm.
"I'm not done!"
"You stand before me? HAHAHAHAHA!" Aragon's laugh shook castle stone. "Your father has fallen, and he was the strongest among you!" His slit pupils devoured the sight of what he assumed was fear, a tremble in her clenched fists. "What will you do, whelp?"
She responded by ascending beyond even Aragon's height. She turned upside down, staring him in the eye. A blue aura surrounded her form.
"Dani?" From his place of pain, Danny wondered the same as his opponent did. "What are you doing?"
She gulped, steeling herself. Her hand stopped quaking.
"Something crazy!"
Green ecto-energy pooled at her feet, then fired, a black and white rocket blasting down into Aragon's range.
"Fine, mongrel! Join the kingdom in ash!"
Aragon unleashed his fire, but the girl refused to hesitate, her blue glow only willed brighter.
Danny could only watch in horror as Danielle was consumed by blue flame.
"DANIELLE! NO!"
He couldn't shut his eyes, nor could he turn away.
A familiar hurt blossomed in his chest.
He nearly failed her once, and now it happened for real. He wasn't strong enough or fast enough to defeat Aragon, so she felt the need to take his place.
Now she was gone.
It's all my fault.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Aragon drank in the victory. "With that half-breed urchin out of the way, I'll-urk!"
His words suddenly stopped, along with the rest of him. His limbs felt numb, a foreign feeling spreading all over.
"What… is… this?"
The feeling was new. It was-
"Cold…"
Aragon struggled to lift his right arm, watching it turn from black to blue with the rest of him. His eyes widened, the lids stiffening in place.
"No! Dor-" Frost trapped his speech in his throat. Icicles formed on his claws as he reached for his sister, silently crying for help.
Even at her distance, she could see the fear, the weakness in his eyes. It was the same weakness he made her feel for centuries.
With a fleeting pain in her core, she turned away.
Soon, the ice sculpture that was once the dragon prince collapsed onto its belly, wings frozen and fused to the back. Not even smoke left his nostrils, only a chilling vapor.
For a moment, silence.
Then, the crack of breaking ice.
Aragon's frozen teeth exploded in jagged shards as a heroine emerged from his maw. She rolled to a stop, turning back to human form.
Danielle sat up, hoping to shake the frozen dragon spit out of her hair.
"I am not doing that again."
She saw Danny, who wordlessly got to his feet with widened eyes. She grew worried as he continued to stare. "Danny, are you okay—eep!"
Danielle found herself lifted off the ground, enveloped in Danny's arms.
"I almost lost you."
"I'm fine…" She winced. "Except for my arm."
He gasped at the blood on his suit. "Oh, Dani…"
"It's my fault. I should have listened to you." She stared at her arm and shoulder. "I hope it won't scar too bad."
"If you're anything like me, you'll barely have a mark left," he assured. "You'll definitely remember it, though, won't you?"
"Oh, yeah."
Sam sprinted to the Phantoms as soon as she could. "Dani!"
"Hey, um… Sam." She didn't want to call her that word again. She could tell they'd have to talk about it.
But it seemed that conversation would have to wait. "That was the most foolish, reckless… insane plan I've ever seen! From you or Danny!" Sam's head swiveled, her angry glare like a gun turret's aim. "Did you put her up to that?"
"Hey, I'm just as surprised as you are, Sam." He looked to the child between them. "We're lucky that worked, or you could have been killed!"
"It was either me, or everyone else!" Dani stood her ground, turning to Sam. "You saw it, right? He was all alone out there. I had to help him!"
Sam tried to argue, "But Dani-"
"I had to!"
For an instant, Sam saw herself, a twelve-year-old in boots too big, defying a certain woman who never seemed to understand.
At the sight of Dani's restrained tears, Sam's anger faded away.
"You really did, didn't you?"
She pulled Dani into her embrace.
"Oh, Ellie, I'm sorry." Sam stroked her fingers through Dani's hair, not caring about the mess. "Ever since you came to my home, I've done what I could to take care of you." She held her cheek. "I worried so much, I almost forgot that you're not just a kid, you're a hero too."
"And she's proven it!" Dora exclaimed. She returned to the group with the Amulet of Aragon, which shrank once it left her brother's cold shoulders. Placing it back on her neck, she bowed in respect. "Dani Phantom, and… er, Danny Phantom, thank you both for saving my kingdom!"
"You're welcome," Danny replied.
"She is certainly your child, Sir Danny." Dora remarked. "Only one born of your ectoplasm could accomplish such a feat!"
Dani nodded, proud. "It's a Phantom thing."
"You know it!" He raised his hand, which she met with a high five.
"Although," Dora mused, "It appears Danielle inherited more than Danny's strength. To face my brother without retreat at such a young age…" She turned to Sam. "She harbors an iron will like yours as well!"
Sam considered her words. Danielle's arrival brought responsibilities and a few stresses, but she was also the source of Sam's most recent joys. She was someone with whom Sam could share her passions, and to whom she could tell her stories.
Even today, while a part of her was once angry with Dani's reckless act, she somehow felt… proud too.
Is this what being a parent feels like?
Perhaps Dora's suspicion was right after all.
Perhaps Danielle was right to call her that.
Maybe… maybe Ellie really is my dau-
"Hey, Dora, I was wondering," Danielle asked, breaking Sam from her thought. "Since you're a princess and all…"
"Yes, child?"
"Could you make me a knight?" Ideas flew as quickly as she did. "I could get black and white armor too!"
"Danielle…" Sam called.
"It'll have the DP symbol on it, and… spikes, maybe? Nah, too much."
"Danielle."
"I bet if I tried, I could make a sword out of-"
"DANIELLE!"
"What?" She pouted. "You had cool armor too!"
"Gotta admit, you did look awesome," Danny agreed.
"Okay, fine…" Sam heard the girl gasp hopefully, "…when you're older."
"Aww." She folded her arms.
"Cheer up, young Dani." Dora proposed, "Perhaps there is something we can do, both for you and your family."
A ghost stood before the wall of Castle Aragon depicting the kingdom's heroes, the half-ghost hero and his human beloved included.
"Sir Danny, Dame Sam, I get the feeling you're not done filling this wall."
The newest addition, once displayed to the public, had the masses scouring the marketplace for replicas of their own.
"Nor are you."
Unlike the other pictures, Sir Danny and Dame Sam did not struggle in battle. Instead, they stood in contentment and pride at either side of the kingdom's newest savior:
Danielle, blue light emanating from her hands, her angelic smile bearing confidence and peace.
"You and your family will do great things for both our worlds, Danielle Phantom."
Princess Dorathea, undisputed ruler of the Kingdom of Aragon, took one last look at the painting, before continuing down the hall.
"Great things indeed."
To be continued...
I had the idea for this chapter upon realizing three things I hadn't done yet. First, I wanted an adventure with the Phantom Family together in it. Then, it occurred to me that Team Phantom has a lot of enemies, but fewer ghostly friends, and I wanted to show more of them. Lastly, I wanted Dani to face a real challenge, one she couldn't talk down or be saved from. The next thing you know, the chapter's nearly double the length I expected, approximately 4900 words (excluding this part here). Hopefully, the length and content make up for the wait, which came about partly due to my longtime trouble with writing fight scenes. I've been writing for 10 years on Fanfiction Dot Net as of January 2019.
Next chapter includes Ember. Hmm, Dani chapter, Ember chapter, Dani chapter... Is it just me, or is there a pattern forming?