Amity Park, a 'nice place to live' wasn't so nice to live in now as the whole town was consumed in a green dome, the members that fought the forces on the football field confused to the sudden green before Danny soared up and slammed into the shield, unable to pass it as Valerie wheeled, about to hit the Fright Knight, but he backhanded her away as she tried to keep on her feet before toppling to the ground, her armor retracting as Danny exclaimed. "Valerie!"
"My pawn!" Danny, Talia, and Cedric gave him a odd look as Vlad corrected himself. "I mean, that poor girl." The four of them rushed over to her as the Fright went into a warning and demand.
"The sword has sunk, your die now cast, The sword removed shall signal fast. Make reappear, The Ring thou hast, or your next day shall be your last." With a single gesture of pointed finger, he disappeared into a swarm of bats that flew over the frozen legions before Danny questioned to what Fright Knight meant.
"'The Ring thou hast'?" Vlad shrugged to Danny's narrowed brow as Talia spoke with lifting Valerie up with Cedric.
"I have been across the world of the mortals, the Infinite Realms is nothing I am too familiar with."
"Which means that something else could have been done beforehand." Cedric glanced to Vlad as he chuckled nervously before Maddie's voice bellowed from a loudspeaker.
"Children of Amity Park! Report to the safe bosom of the Fenton Family Assault Vehicle!" The vehicle drove through the frozen ranks as Vlad and Danny gasped.
"Mom!/Maddie! I can't let her see me like this!" Both people supporting Valerie facepalmed as Danny took off and Vlad teleported away, the armor receded and the transformation reverted as Danny ran from behind a tree and approached the duo as the GAV drove up and the two parents glared before Cedric spoke.
"She was like this when we found her. Danny was going to find you, but came back to meet up." They quickly got Valerie back to Fentonworks as everyone grouped together in various places to hide out the sudden emergence of the dome as Sam and Tucker watched it happen on the TV, worried of the sudden change in place and environment.
"Welcome back to Big Scary Dome Watch. I'm Tiffany Snow. We are in our fourth hour of captivity. And Amity Park remains cut off from the outside world." The broadcast continued as it pulled up a screen for Lance Thunder behind several crews trying in vain to bust through the dome. "With more on that, outside the safety of our studio, is our own Lance Thunder. Lance?" Lance was going into a rant from the sound if it from the start.
"Why the heck do I have to do this? I'm a weatherman, for the love uhh..." He trailed off before making the report. "Tiffany, despite the odd circumstances, an eerie calm has fallen over Amity Park, emergency teams still having no luck in piercing the dome." Drills by the dozens continued their operation, whether mobile or stationary as Lance Thunder closed it off. "Wishing he had taken that job in Chicago, this is Lance Thunder, Action News." The set turned off as Valerie, Talia, Danny, and Cedric turned away to the massive suit of armor that was being worked on and Danny rather surprised to see Vlad in more comfortable clothes to work with the machine as Maddie spoke to Vlad wiping his brow.
"This suit is the only hope we have to punch through that dome." She shook her head, however, as several cords were sparking on the back as she finished. "But I still don't think we'll be able to perfect the neural receptors." At that point, Jack spoke up with a cold ice pack on his head, slightly in a daze as he spoke it.
"Which is why I'll wear the suit. If anyone's gonna beat that ghost back into the Ghost Zone, it's me." He had stood up, but swayed a bit as Maddie exclaimed otherwise.
"No, Jack, look at you! You're still wiped out from the last time!" Vlad slipped on his suit as Danny leaned over as he commented.
"It kind of kills ya, doesn't it? How much they love each other at times?"
"I have other things to worry about and so do you." But Vlad still found the time to trip Jack, deeply considered for his friend, but didn't want to show it in the face of adversity here. "And yet, I will always have time for that." Valerie trekked up the stairs as she groaned to the injures she got, Talia and Cedric helping her along before they sat down with Sam and Tucker as Tucker questioned.
"You feeling any better?"
"A little. Though I'm surprised you care..." Valerie spoke as she asked. "You guys don't like me very much, do you?"
"We don't know you very much. And honestly, you used to be pretty mean to us." Valerie bobbed her head in agreement as Sam continued. "You think we're just gonna start hanging out with you without wondering what you want? And... where you got that ring?" All glanced to the green ring that was on her finger before she replied.
"That officially falls under the category of none of your business." She blinked a few times before she spoke again. "Well, I am not sure about it myself, Vlad said that was passed down from ghost hunter to ghost hunter." Cedric nodded with Talia as Tucker and Sam still looked miffed about it.
"A believable answer, but if the Fright Knight is looking for a ring, and you just suddenly have a ring, then clearly, more must be said."
"As it is, the official meeting of Team Phantom is now in order." Sam's and Tucker's eyes widened with Valerie as Danny came up.
Hey guys." He walked over before sitting down. "Cedric is right, we need to talk about this and we are going to do it as a team, not alone, we need to expand our circle."
"We have our circle, Danny; You, me, Tucker, and Cedric, that's who we can trust!" Sam exclaimed as Talia huffed in disbelief before Danny slammed a fist, all jumping to the small shake that was caused.
"I GET that Valerie is a ghost hunter and ONE DAY, she will stab me in the back because you are making her distrust us." She looked down as Danny continued to glare at his friends. "But at least, Cedric and Talia are WILLING to give her a chance, I still can't believe that you are more willing to keep us undermanned about this instead of TRYING to figure out a way to stop this." Both looked down in shame as Danny continued. "I don't hate either of you, we have been together since Pre-K and First Grade, our friendship isn't that easy to break, but it can be fragmented honestly." With that, he breathed as he spoke again. "Now, riddle me this. 'The sword has sunk, your die now cast, The sword removed shall signal fast. Make reappear, The Ring thou hast or your next day shall be your last'. Those were the final words of the Fright Knight, spirit of Halloween and fear, before he disappeared into bats and left the Soul Shredder in the field."
"The Ring thou hast?" Valerie questioned as she glanced down to the Ring. "Why would some ghost, a VERY powerful one from the sound of it, want with a ring?"
"That is the question and I think we need to consult with someone who would be familiar with the Ghost Zone in the end." All started to think about it before Sam spoke up.
"Skulker... He may be a goof to us, but he is claimed to be the 'Ghost Zone's greatest hunter', I bet that he has traveled a great amount of distance throughout the Zone and has..."
"Enough..." Talia spoke up as she rubbed her temples. "I understand your naming of the world that is intertwined with your own, but to us, the 'Ghost Zone' is known as the Infinite Realms." Cedric raised a brow to her as he spoke.
"Been keeping that hidden until now, Talia?"
"The naming was bothering me, but I made no effort to correct Manson about it, or Foley... or anyone for that matter." They all nodded as Danny spoke.
"Vlad must have given you that ring to keep it out of the Fright Knight's hands, maybe Skulker CAN tell us what we need to know, but it wouldn't be easy."
"Nope, it is not going to be easy as he has sworn to take your pelt."
"Eww..." Valerie moaned and the members glanced to her as she looked a bit green and turned to Danny as he spoke.
"I told her when our flour sack was captured and we were forced into a book situation of the 'Most Dangerous Game' with Skulker."
"Well, that explains the flour sack and your increased trust in her greatly, actually." Sam spoke as they formed up, the humans taking the Specter Speeder and the Demis taking to the air as they searched for Skulker before getting some feedback that there was some robot terrorizing the hunting game store and they headed over there, the two phasing into the store with Thermos in hand before Talia stopped Danny from using it.
"Don't you think it... odd how flat he looks?" Danny looked and spoke.
"Whoa, when did he make this? They must be expecting us then." He spoke with lifting the cut board cutout of Skulker up before the Scepter Speeder came in and they looked around. "Skulker, we know that something else is going on, can we please just talk it out here?" The shadows played tricks as Danny spoke. "Talia, can you please light the room up?"
"Of course." She generate a orb of flames before raising it high, it turning bright as all closed their eyes as the dark room was lit up before opening them again, the ghosts that had assembling blinking the light away before Talia floated over and took Topaz's ear. "Again? This is becoming an issue of being rebel right now.
"Oh, leave me alone, Talia, you were not being hit on every second of waiting when that ghost barrier came up."
"No, but you could been more understanding than just running away." Cedric answered as the humans stepped out before Danny spoke.
"Skulker, you have traveled the Realms, what is the Fright Knight's goal?"
"It's not the Fright Knight's, it's his lord's goal and, right now, that king has returned to rule over all, but if a tale is what you seek, then I will give it to you..." While it could have been a mess before Poindexter cut in, it was calm before they gathered around a plug-in fire as Skulker started, having heard the tale across the Realms themselves. "It was many years ago. Before you. Before me. Before most of us. His name was Pariah Dark." The fire started to feel like it was highlight the behemoth of a ghost, likely of Scottish or Viking origins with a single eye, much like the legends of Odin, the All-Father as Skulker continued. "And he ruled the Ghost Zone." Crownless, but given the crown by the hand of the Fright Knight as he smiled with evil intent as Skulker pressed on. "He was a ghost of such power and magnitude, only he could control the entities contained within the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage." The party looked to the Ring as if it was alive in some way with Skulker continuing story. "When wearing both - he could do anything." Danny and Talia felt that energy from the story, clearly, he was strong enough to see the notion of terror through them by the mention of it when both objects were on his being.
Skulker didn't leave it off as he explained once more to what brought the King down. "Until a group of powerful ancient ghosts banded together in a last ditch effort to defeat the King." They succeeded in victory as the ancient king toppled and both the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire were removed before they sealed him away in a coffin or a sarcophagus. "By locking him within the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep..." The ghosts, their duties complete, departed with destroying the ground where the castle rested, causing it to depart among the Realms for all time as Skulker finished. "Or so we thought." Topaz spoke, taking to the side of the humans and Demi as she spoke, resting her chin on her hand there.
"He's only been freed for a day and he's already destroyed our homes." Cedric hummed as he asked to all of them.
"If he could do all that without the Ring, then the Ring is a conduit for his power to focus through, but what of the Crown of Fire? You said that both were taken away from Pariah in his defeat, how has he been able to even hold on to the Crown or obtain it..."
"The ultimate key..." All turned to Danny as he spoke. "Vlad told me that he wanted to take away both tools to study them, I didn't believe him fully, but if he had returned to our world with the Ring, then it is clear that somehow, the Crown of Fire returned to Pariah in some way and was trapped with him in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep." Danny hummed as the mystery developed. "But even so, we have to stop him..." He stood up and spoke. "We can't let Pariah Dark rule again, we need to shut him down and fast before he has the chance to take away more of our homes."
He hung his arms down as he spoke. "I get that it will be dangerous, it may be a doomed mission, the destruction could be fatal, but we can't just wait for him to hit us, we NEED to hit him back." He turned to the ghosts as he asked. "Who is willing to join me in this fight...?" Most of them paused before laughing out loud and flying elsewhere as Tucker answered.
"You should probably take that as a 'no'."
"I guess even ghosts are afraid of a dictator..." But Danny was just worried before they returned to the house, Danny finally getting the nerve to speak up as he asked for Vlad to met him at the Specter Speeder as the well-dressed man asked.
"You wanted to talk to me?"
"You're putting innocent people in danger. It stops. Now." But Vlad didn't take to the warning at all as he spoke back.
"Really?" He laughed as he continued. "You know what I'm up to? Your tiny teen mind has pieced together the rest of my plot?"
"That you stole the Ring, woke the Ghost King, gave it to Valerie to hide it, and now you're waiting for your chance to steal it back?"
"That's pretty good. It's almost as though I barely consider you a threat." Danny groaned as his eyes flashed to Vlad 'shaking' as he mused. "Oh, there's that temper of yours again. What ARE you going to do?" He leaned in close as he continued. "What if Valerie sees us, hm?" Valerie was listening on the other side of the door as Vlad just made reference to their unique status.
But Danny was not in the mood for games as he knocked out the light, binding them in darkness to Vlad's remark. "Oh, sugar cookie." Danny blasted once more as he knocked Vlad out of the shield and chased after him as Phantom outside the shield before slamming him into a billboard as Vlad commented. "Sneak attack, very good, Daniel." He transformed as he mused to get under Danny's skin. "You're getting more like me with every battle." Danny growled back as he ranted.
"I AM NOTHING LIKE YOU!" He tackled Vlad and slammed into the football field as Vlad remarked.
"Oh, you're not? Using your powers to get back at people you don't like? Throwing the first punch? You're more like me than you know." He backhanded Danny and grimaced as Danny found the sword and pulled himself up as Danny clenched his fist as he spoke.
"The only thing you and I shared here is that we are too scared to make the first move of fixing this mess." He gripped the handle of the Soul Shredder and continued. "This sword serves more than just a barrier, doesn't it?" Vlad growled back before he looked down to his hands and back up as he answered.
"Yes, the sword is a signal of surrender, the Fright Knight's sword is able to send people to their worse nightmare, but by royal decree of the Dark Lineage, it can teleport all of us into the Ghost Zone, so that Pariah himself can claim Amity Park as his own." Danny held it tight, but made no move to pull it free as Vlad spoke. "All I sought to do was obtain the two relics and store them away from the eyes of the ghosts that fill the Ghost Zone, but how my luck and fortune of doing so was in vain, as the Crown of Fire had long before returned to Pariah in his slumber, no one knowing how it was done, and I was too brash in trying to take it away from the most powerful ghost I have ever encountered in my life." He extended out his hand to Danny as he spoke. "Yes, I am afraid and I don't want you to draw that sword for, if you do, you throw us all into the Ghost Zone." Danny hummed before he spoke.
"Thanks, Uncle Vlad, I just wanted an answer out of you and I was so angry to hear nothing from you, but heard the tale of Pariah from Skulker of all ghosts..." The grip tightened as he continued. "But... deep down, I know what I want to do, I want to save all of Amity Park from this threat and we can't do that under a dome decreed by a king... So..." Danny breathed as he rested both hands on the blade. "I want to give him a fight, to show him that I will rebel against his oath and creed." The sword shook and trembled as Danny just focused on not pulling the blade, but fragmenting it. "This is a war and I have not surrendered, he has no power over me here or you, we are free to choose this fight and win..." Vlad hummed before he rushed over, hand gripping the hilt as well and stopping the fragmenting.
"You're right, I have been a coward, I always didn't believe that I could do good in the world when my hatred for Jack fueled me, but I now noticed that I could have been more, a man on the edge rising more to be strong and more resistant to the creed of a fallen king..." As one, they pulled the sword free and watched as the dome shattered to pieces like glass falling from the sky before the dome eroded to the dark-green of the Ghost Zone, the skeletons awaking once more to fight and attack as the Soul Shredder shook in their gripped hands before flying into the hands of the Fright Knight as Pariah bellowed.
"You have chosen to surrender!" Pariah Dark fired a red ecto-beam at them, but both dodged as Danny shouted.
"We don't care about your rules here, Pariah!"
"You are of a bygone age, the time for your reign has faded away long ago!"
"And yet, I still stand..." A public monitor came alive as Jack and Maddie called out.
"Citizens of Amity Park! This is Jack and Maddie Fenton!"
"Hi everybody!" Maddie waved with a smile as she got serious again and Jack exclaimed with the two of them broadcasting from the lab.
"Malevolent spirits have pulled our entire town into a dimension known to us humans as - the Ghost Zone." Damian worked the security terminal in the Fenton Lab as Valerie watched it happen before he worked with the tools and devices.
"I'm launching the Ghost Zone probe now." A probe was launched as he worked with the shield. "I'm also increasing the Ghost Shield's radius to protect the city." He cranked it to the max and pushed the skeletons out of Amity completely while getting the people inside the expanding shield as Jack called out.
"The fact that we are currently in an alternate form of reality would be a lot cooler if it weren't for the fact that we are all in mortal danger." Sadly, it only hit most of the city as Damian continued his calculations.
"The Ghost Shield's cranked to capacity, and our probe of the Ghost Zone is operational." Valerie frowned before she made to get going, doubling in pain for a moment but kept going, no way was she leaving Danny or Vlad out there for those ghosts to destroy as the shield protected the town from the skeletons that serve Pariah's army.
"For your own safety, please run under the Fenton Anti-Ghost Shield where our daughter Jazz will be serving tea and cookies!" Maddie really didn't seem to know tact as she continued in pulling Jazz into the sight. "And boys, she's single!"
"Mom!" Jack came back on screen as he kept the blame off him as Valerie took flight.
"But more than anything, know this: This is not my fault! I repeat, this is not my fault!" Pariah destroyed the monitor as he exclaimed to the pair of Danny and Vlad.
"These two are ghosts AND humans!" He readied his blast to their distraction. "Is there no end to this day's surprises?" Valerie had that in mind as she exclaimed.
"Hey Stoneface! Surprise!" She blinded the titan form blasting as she soared in before he cleared it away to fire a beam from his single eye and she dodged, just to hit a post and groan before she pointed a rocket at him which misfired and she ripped off the glove to stop it from burning her as Fright Knight's eyes zoomed in on the prize sought as he exclaimed.
"The Ring! Give that to the King NOW! "Valerie glanced down and loaded the Ring on a missile that she exclaimed with.
"If you want it, then go get it!" She fired and the missile flew to Pariah quickly leaving to take it as Valerie rushed for her board and snatched the pair of Demis off the ground and away from the Fright Knight, they tiring out in reverting back to human as the Knight gave chase, chasing the trio and moving to fire a beam before he was surprised by another.
"Not so fast, Knight of Fear!" Cedric soared in and bashed Fright off Nightmare as he joined Valerie. "Talia is waiting for us on the edge." The hidden eyes took in the burned tissue as he spoke. "Get that wound checked out with us, I get the feeling that this battle is far from done."
"If Danny and Vlad wanted us to fight, then that is exactly what we are going to do, but we need a plan."
"I got one, but that is for later, none of the Dark Army, nor the ghosts or humans know about the place, we just need to bide time for now..." A blast busted Valerie's engine as she came to skidding on the ground before Cedric blasted the Fright Knight back again before diving into the shield behind Valerie as he lifted her up to the Fright Knight's anger of hacking in vain at the shield as the three conscious there lifted the Demis up and helped Valerie limp away as the spirit of fear shouted.
"This... Is... Not... Over!"
"Actually, my loyal servant, it is!" Pariah answered as he had returned with ring in hand, slipping it on as his full power came to bare and the Fright Knight bowed before the full glory of Pariah before the King turned. "Come. We have plans to make." He stomped away as the asphalt melted in a pool of fire as Pariah continued with the Fright Knight following. "For soon this... Human world... Will also be mine!" Indeed, the threat of Pariah had grown and it may be too late for the Human World to resist this tyrant of such abnormal power...
Jazz did bring out cookies, but Valerie, Cedric, and Talia quickly returned with Danny and Vlad onto a bed and chair in Danny's room before Valerie disengaged the suit and mumbled form her battered form.
"Maybe I'll just rest... for a second." She fainted against the wall as Talia made sure that she didn't any more hurt while treating the burn as Vlad stirred and gasped.
"The Ring! It's gone!"
"We were lucky, for the moment, Pariah went after it when Val launched that sucker, but the Fright Knight made chase to finish the three of you off." Cedric answered as his armor receded and Talia had reverted back in a swift change, the shield expanded out couldn't be concentrated on them and thus, they could freely shift between forms. "We bought time, but who knows how much we did make in the long run..." The hefty foot steps came up and Vlad were invisible as the door opened to only the four there as Jack mused.
"Ah, y'see? I told you they were up here! What do the kids call it... Hanging out!" They closed the door as Danny stirred and gasped to the state of Valerie as Cedric spoke.
"Bye, Vlad." Danny turned to where Vlad must have been before he got up and helped get Valerie into... his bed, Valerie and Cedric must have carried them into his room before they stopped to patch them up as Sam and Tucker conversed in the lab.
"I'm getting worried." Both were heedless of Vlad passing through the floor as Sam continued with a tea cup in hand. "We haven't seen Danny or Valerie in hours."
"Ah, they're fine." Jack answered from the stairway as he commented. "They've been up in Danny's room. Alone. For hours." That shocked Sam into action as she dropped the tea cup and rushed upstairs with Tucker behind her as Jack shrugged, the pair bursting in as Sam exclaimed.
"Danny! You're okay!" Talia glanced to the goth as she remarked to the battered look Valerie now had. "Whoa. What happened to her?"
"You name it. Fright Knight, Ghost King, Vlad-" He rested a hand on her forehead in concern as Talia nodded that she was going to pull through as Danny beat himself up about it. "All of my enemies. Everything I thought I could handle, but couldn't." He removed his hand as Sam and Tucker came closer in Tucker trying to tell Danny otherwise.
"Dude, you can't blame yourself for this. It's not your fault." Danny didn't change the fact as he grew angry at the King for doing this to one of his friends.
"Maybe not. But it is my responsibility." He stood up and transformed as Cedric spoke.
"I got some work that needs completing and I'll see if I can help in the fight, just find something that can stand against the King himself, even with his powers at full." Danny nodded as he took the two friends downward while Cedric and Talia nodded and headed out, Valerie stirring to do something as well. The trio arrived as Maddie revealed the weapon that could just that, the same thing they were working on during this whole craziness.
"And while the Ecto-Skeleton can enhance your natural abilities one-hundred fold-" She pulled it away to the humanoid machine that much have towered at ten or twelve feet. "-Using it could be fatal." Jack stepped up to the plate as he answered.
"Which is exactly why I'll be using it. Because if the suit's going to be killing anyone, it's gonna be me." Amazingly of a woman and half Jack's size, Maddie was certainly capable as she brought down her husband with a chop to the head as she exclaimed as the team watched the sudden chain of events.
"You're already weak from the first time you used the suit. I'll be going in." Jazz must have take the same classes as she brought her mother down in the same strike.
"Forget it, Mom. Danny needs both of you. I'm doing this." Jazz was, sadly, brought down by Jeremy as he exclaimed.
"I'll do it!" Strike from Pamela ended her husband as she exclaimed.
"I'll do it!" Honestly, they could have sold showings of how each and every parent and member of authority was suddenly brought down with a chop as Danny chuckled as he answered, the invisibility slipping away to no one's notice.
"I thought I was going to have to blast everybody with a ecto-ray, but this is much more efficient."
"What? Danny, no, you can't!" Sam exclaimed as Danny landed with his friends as he answered, his will of being the hero greater than his interest of standing to the side.
"I'm the only one who has a chance to save our lives."
"Somebody oughta tell her that." Tucker's point made Sam and Danny turned to Valerie, gripping the mayor's collar while the floor was littered with knocked out figures before Danny shouted to the Red Huntress.
"I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you to step away from the suit, Huntress!" Valerie let the mayor drop as she countered.
"Back off, Danny. I don't know how you were able to change in the Fenton's Ghost Shield - But this is my fight."
"No, it's not. Not anymore." Danny flew over to her as Damian came down and exclaimed to the sight.
"Hey! What's going on in here?" Sam and Tucker sneaked upstairs as Valerie exclaimed to Danny.
"You're not the boss of me!" Danny narrowed his brow as he spoke.
"You are already injured right now, the fact you are willing to toss your life away is not okay in my books!"
"You are not taking this chance in tossing..." Danny shouted at her as he felt his own hidden resentment boil over.
"I HAVE NO LIFE TO GIVE IF YOU ARE INSISTING ON SAYING THAT I AM NOT GIVING MY ALL AS A HERO!" He pushed her away as he spoke, to her shock. "What do you think I am anymore, I am NOT human and who knows how many people are going to believe that I am an abomination to put down. You were just like them, that I deserved no chance to exist, because I am not human, I am some malefactor to destroy!"
"N-No, Danny, I-I didn't...!"
"Yeah..." Danny's gaze hardened to her as he finished. "Because I feel like it all the time when there is suddenly nothing I can do and I am left with my own resentment, I want to finish this fight for everyone, but I am not sure if anyone will redeem me when the word goes out..." He breathed as he gazed back to them. "I... had a lot of energy from that, I had ghosts and people putting me down and no one was fixing the damages as they are just as transparent as my own powers, you can just see through them at times." Valerie collapsed as Danny took the suit without a word, taking it up to the roof as Damian made to speak.
"It's okay..."
"NO, IT IS NOT OKAY!" Valerie howled as she ripped off her mask and hurled it at the ground as she wailed, tears dripping down in regret. "I messed up, I am suppose to be his friend, his ally, and I..." She gripped a fist to her face as she just sobbed. "I messed up... I am no hero, I'm no great ghost hunter, I am just a terrified girl trying to fight back against a world that is so different to me... I just created holes when I should have been fixing them in the first place..." She just sobbed before Damian bend down and and gave her a hug.
"You are not in trouble, Valerie, there is no reason to hold back..." She finally broke down in his arms as she ranted, becoming the Red Huntress and doing what she could to give them a life back, but she had learned to be better and be part of a team... and its leader was someone she didn't even see hurting as he was a self-sacrificing type of guy, he would always put his life ahead of everyone else when it came down to it. Danny breathed as he landed the Ecto-Skeleton and reverted back to Fenton in popping the dome open and getting seated in as he went through the check up.
"Activate neural receptors..." The receptors lined his back and linked him to the Skeleton as he continued. "Initiate power-up sequence..." He pulled back on the controls as the suit started to charge and move with his actions as the battery continued to climb, not draining like how his dad looked as he commented. "Yeah, there we go." He paused as the door to the roof opened and he commented. "I can see you over there, you know." Both came out as Sam pleaded with him to change his mind.
"Danny, please."
"C'mon, guys. You didn't think it was always going to be as easy as shoving the Box Ghost into the Fenton Thermos, did you? I'll be back."
"Your mom used the word 'fatal'." They looked helpless to the matter as the Skeleton moved with Danny's own movements.
"Guys, I'll be back." They looked up to him downtrodden as he realized that... he was overplaying it too much, this could be the final battle of Danny, period. So, it was best that he get any emotions out of the way, to have a final word given for when it was indeed over as he bent down on one knee and asked, his piece was already given to Valerie, so it was fair that he hears what the other two had to say. "But... If there's anything you wanted to say to me... Now might be an excellent time to do it." Sam looked up as she stammered for her words.
"Uhh... I-" She couldn't even get the chance as the sky stormed and raged with red clouds before forming Pariah's face as he bellowed.
"Humans! Hear my decree!" Danny didn't let it go as he spoke with standing up.
"Well, that's my cue. Tuck, I'll need you to drop the Ghost Shield on my way out, okay?" Tucker nodded as he answered.
"Okay. Be careful, dude." He ran to do so as Sam lingered, Danny glancing a smile to her, but she didn't return the gesture as she fled as well. Danny breathed before he transformed, the Ecto-Skeleton shifting as well as he was clad in the now Phantom Skeleton as He beamed to his two friends as Sam glanced a smile back before he took off with a blue trail, soaring high and blowing the duo back some as the people cheered, Paulina cheering out his 'name'.
"Go get 'im, Inviso-Bill!"
"It's not Inviso-Bill!" Danny shouted with annoyance and to get his name across the town. "It's Phantom! DANNY PHANTOM!" He soared off as Tucker shortly dropped the shield for Phantom to go into the Zone, charging headlong into the fray, glancing once to the town before focusing on the... He gasped as the armies of Pariah were vast, amazingly so as he grimaced of how much he could do to such a dense force. "Maybe if I tried to pick these guys off one at a time..." He popped out a small ecto-marble and it landed before a small space before erupted with such power that it actually miffed the skeletons as he laughed as the battery was at full capacity. "One hundred fold, huh? THAT doesn't reek!" He generated the power and fired a ecto-blast worthy of its strength, but staggered as the battery dropped two percent, but refilled in no time as he remarked.
"Whoa. Okay. Gotta be smart about how much of my own power I use at once." He glanced down to the archers before putting up a shield and exclaimed. "STILL NOT REEKING!" He cheered before blowing more of the skeletons away, landing on the ground for the skeletons to swarm him, but they were nothing as he erupted them off, but he staggered even more as their numbers seemed endless before another blast came, giving pause to them as the Specter Speeder had arrived with Sam and Tucker at the helm as she commented.
"In general, I'm pretty opposed to violence, but I'm willing to make an exception in this case." Danny exclaimed to them as he inquired.
"Get out of here, guys! It's too dangerous for you to be here!"
"We're not staying. We're just making a delivery." The Speeder then dumped several of Danny's known ghosts and some unknowns to the fray before they sped off as Danny questioned it.
"How did they cram all of you into the Specter Speeder?"
"Hey! Ever been inside your Thermos? Compared to that, it was the Taj Mahal in there!" One of the ghosts answered before Skulker added to it.
"Less talking, more FIGHTING!" Weapons were primed form the hunter as the Box Ghost... just made use of a new tool that he took.
"Beware! For my place of employment has given me a new weapon! The Bubble Wrap- OF DEATH!" Klemper and Box Ghost actually took out a few as both said their catchphrases, which was not the best time to do.
"Now, will you be my friend?"
"NEVER!" The Dragon Ghost, that Danny could only assume as Dora, torched the lot of the bony figures while Poindexter rode as the front gate was barred by bone dragons as Skulker crushed one, but before the other could take him, a chord rang out and destroyed it as a voice called out.
"Let me just inspire some good spirits, these guys don't have a rallying cry." Topaz spoke as she started to play and somehow the rebel forces were invigorated before another appeared.
"Somebody call for the heavy firepower?" A titan, like the Ecto-Skeleton, slammed into the ground as the blue eyes were the only piece to give the guy away as a aviator mask covered his face, but it was the stockpile of weapons in both arms and the shoulder-mounted arsenal that made the whole force of bones under-powered as it tore through the ranks with repeater fire and barrages. Skulker took the chance to exclaim to Danny.
"Now, go! Defeat him! So I will be free to hunt you another day!"
"Guy really knows how to motivate ya." Danny commented with sarcasm, but he took off into the castle as he stood before the doors to the throne room. "Well, this is it." He busted down the doors to Pariah Dark waiting with a mace in hand as he mused to the angry growl from Danny.
"A little ragged round the edges, eh, child?" Danny didn't find the interest of fighting with banter as he exclaimed with sliding fully into the room.
"Whaddya say... We ditch the snappy patter and get right to the part where I kick your butt!"
"Very well, I accept your challenge!" Pariah charged and slamming his mace into the shield that Danny threw up before blasting Pariah away with a powerful clap and destroying the throne with Pariah before Danny staggered again as Pariah got back up and mused.
"Having that much power, it's a burden, isn't it, child?" He hurled the mace and Danny dodged it before it slammed into his back and returning to Pariah's hand before he delivered a kick to Danny as he exclaimed with sweating to the poor use of his own powers he had been using.
"The power isn't the burden." He shook himself up and stood up for another round. "The burden is in how I use it. And I've been using it poorly lately." He focused once more before he doubled his able number making six Dannys for the fight before jumping back into the battle at twenty five percent as Pariah was sharply overwhelming, managing to get one of the duplicates, but leaving him up to another in knocking him over as the five closed in with a shout.
"Now leave my town ALONE!" They all punched him at once as the effect was seen on Amity, the sky switching from Ghost Zone to normal as Tucker exclaimed in amaze.
"Whoa." Another copy bit the dust as four remained as Pariah remained sure of his victory.
"Surrender, child! You can't possibly win!"
"I don't have to win." The second answered as he blasted the wall, straight to the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep as he finished with the original soaring over and opening the tomb, Pariah so surprised that the Crown of Fire was knocked right off his head and into the second Danny's hands as Pariah exclaimed in denial.
"No! NO!" The Crown was tossed as two Dannys worked on pushing Pariah into his tomb, the third stealing the ring right off Pariah's finger and stashing it in the suit of the first as the cover was closed and the three returned to give all of their power to Danny as he struggled to keep it shut, but Pariah didn't go quietly as he struggled to even keep awake before he faltered, his strength giving out with the battery before a black glove extended out and locked the tomb with the Skeleton Key. Pariah was back in his tomb as he yelled, his voice echoing to his prison. "No! Nooo!" With that, the sky for Amity reverted back to normal as the skeleton collapsed to dust as Danny looked behind him to the mech supporting him and the horde of ghosts that came to aid him, Plasmius standing there with the Crown of Fire and the Skeleton key in hand as he questioned.
"I don't understand..." His vision faltered as Vlad took to explaining it lightly.
"What? That I used two 14-year-old pawns to turn a knight, and topple a king?" Vlad chuckled to the victory. "It's chess, Daniel. Of course you don't understand, but- but then you never really did." He lost focus as the world faded to black, only a few helped him away, but that was for their own interest and belief...
"Danny?" Danny stirred to Sam looming over him as she repeated. "Danny?" His eyes opened wider as he tried to focus his thoughts.
"Huh, huh... what?" He looked around form his bed to see so many familiar faces as it had his family, his friends, Damian, and Vlad as well as Vlad spoke to Danny.
"You gave us quite a scare there, little badger." Danny didn't dare narrow his brow as Jack cut in.
"Vladdie said he'd found you just outside the dome after the town flickered back to reality. He saved your life."
"Things might have been weird there for a while, but if Vlad saved your life then I say, 'bygones'." Jack added to it as he explained.
"And you will always be welcome in our home, V-man. You can stay in Danny's room!" Vlad walked over as he remarked.
"Too bad you lost your Ecto-suit, Jack."
"That's okay, V-man. Those pants made me look fat." Danny tried to get up, but Sam lightly forced him back down with a smile as he beamed back a smile as well as the following saw the clearing of the rubble and trouble of what the Ghost King had left behind.
"Well, the worst ghost crisis in the history of Amity Park is over. Cleanup continues and a sense of normalcy has returned. And while we may never know exactly what happened..." That was questionable for a number of people who suffered a bit of thefts across town, it was still good to know that they were safe from the threat now. "...One thing's for sure. Inviso-Bill or should I say, 'Danny Phantom' has gone from villain to hero in the eyes of many in our town-" A pink ray blasted the TV as Valerie grimaced.
"Oh, come on, I know I'm clumsy right now, but that was uncalled for, I was enjoying that too, they said they had a special report for the Huntress."
"Valerie? Was that the Ecto-Gun?" Valerie called back in apology to her father.
"Yes! I fumbled with it and blasted the TV, and I was hoping to hear the report!" Over at Casper High, Danny was fuming as Tucker spoke.
"Dude, you have to let it go."
"I can't!" Danny exclaimed with standing in front of his closed locker. "What was that all about? The ghosts are all off rebuilding their homes, but the Ecto-Skeleton is gone! And what about Vlad? Did he make some sort of pact with the Fright Knight? I-I-I-" He pandered off as Sam rested a hand to his mouth as she spoke.
"Danny, you beat the big bad guy, and you saved the town. That's enough for one day, dontcha think?" Danny beamed before he spotted Dash, he looking angry as Danny spoke.
"Almost." He walked up to the storming Dash as the football player exclaimed.
"You've got a lotta nerve just walkin' up to me in broad daylight, Fenton!"
"Actually, I wanted to say... I was sorry. I pulled some pranks on you, and-" Dash was surprised to hear that Danny went on. "Well, with all the weirdness in the last few days...I'm sorta thinkin' that just because I can do something doesn't mean I... should." Danny asked as he looked to Dash. "So... Apology accepted?" Dash smirked at how Danny could take the apology, they were still bully and geek in school.
"Apology accepted." Honestly, hanging Danny from the flagpole at the Nasty Burger was kind of an interesting experience, but Cedric didn't move to stop it as it was an honest choice on Danny's part as the trio watched him while the duo did the same as Valerie approached them.
"Looks like everything's back to normal."
"Looks like." Tucker and Sam replied as Valerie trailed up to a point.
"Although... Y'know how I said I didn't really like Fenton? I kinda like him now." Suddenly, the dynamic had changed once more as Sam made to stand her stand against the new rival.
"Yeah, well I- I mean, we like him too. And we're watching you." She hissed as Valerie just accepted the challenge without doubt.
"I accept your challenge!"
"Then you leave us no choice." Then Tucker and Sam did the unthinkable as they called out.
"NATHAN!" Valerie ran for it as the nerd came barreling over with exclaiming his want with flowers and chocolates.
"Valerie! Come back! Why won't you say yes?" And with that, the beginning and end of the Ghost King's reign came to an end in only a few short days...
Cedric didn't say anything as he headed back to the place where most of his tools and weapons were kept, opening a lock box and putting a single green ring inside, locking it back up as he spoke. "The Ring of Rage, if only Vlad had given up the Crown of Fire as well, I can't really trust him to keep the power contained right now."
"He may try to siphon it off..."
"Perhaps..." He answered to the resting Talia as he scaled the machine used in the big battle, opening four ports on its body and pulling out the left-bottom core, it a glowing green as he spoke. "But I have better things to take care of, I can't believe that the Iron Martyr busted a core, I guess the runoff of a filtrator is a bit too strong for the capsules." He inserted it back in and pulled out the left-top and nodded as it was slightly cracked. "Found it, a large crack fractured it."
"Would you like to wish it away?"
"No, that will not refine my skills with the machine or otherwise, I need to figure out the right composition for the capsules to be to use the full power, but still, I am shocked that I only used up a decent ten percent, though that is saying a lot for the Ecto-Skeleton, what a energy guzzler right there..."
"What do you think it's going to be used for?"
"Who knows, but I can't judge, not yet, I have some devices to fix, some weapons to adapt, and some students to terrify." He chuckled as the work ahead was rather simple to a full blown exodus...
