Author's Note: I wonder if the events in this next chapter will surprise any of you. I'm sure you saw it coming a mile off, like Danny will do. Still, I hope you enjoy this second-to-last chapter.


Chapter Thirteen: Judgement of Truth

"G-Go and d-d-die!" roared the Danny Clone, before he fired a plasma bolt straight at Valerie.

The ghost hunter dived out of the way, narrowly avoiding the Clone's attack. Valerie then reached for a small anti-ghost grenades before hurling them at the clone of the ghost that had ruined her life, the Clone that now threatened to ruin the lives of so many other people other than her. She watched as they bounced off a force field the ghost created and then clattered harmlessly away from the Clone before exploding, sending glutinous rice grains flying.

Dr. Spectra's words came back into Valerie's mind, as she aimed her rifle at the ghost.

Spectra was wrong. Valerie knew she was wrong. She did have a purpose in life and that was to prevent this clone of a ghost from taking over the world. Right there, right then, her purpose was to save the world from the Blue Bow Army and its deranged Cloned Leader. She had to fight to stop the ghosts from taking over, to put an end to the Clone's plans, whatever they might have been.

The Clone rushed straight at Valerie and leapt into the air, before performing a quick roundhouse kick that would have connected with her head if she hadn't back-flipped out of the way. He floated towards her, kicking out at her as he hovered at shoulder level. It was as if he was walking on air and with every step, he kicked out at Valerie, whom blocked each blow with her arms.
"M-Miserable human," stuttered the Clone, as his hands began to glow with an eerie green energy. He then kicked at Valerie with all her might, sending her flying backwards, before he fired another blast of energy straight at her.

The energy never hit Valerie.

Jack Fenton had used one of his inventions to suck it up like dirt.
"Ghost boy, meet the Fenton Weasel," he told the Danny Clone, before he flipped a switch on the vacuum-cleaner-like machine. He then aimed the nozzle of the machine at the Clone, sending the energy blast back straight at the Clone.

The Clone became intangible and the energy bolt flew straight through him.
"M-Missed me," said the Clone in an unimpressed voice, with his arms crossed in front of his chest. "Is that the b-best you can d-do, D-Dad?"

"Shut up!" shouted Jazz, before she pulled the trigger on her anti-ghost gun and blasted the Danny Clone in the chest, sending the Clone reeling backwards. "Clone or no clone, you're certainly no family member of ours!" she shouted at the Danny Clone, before firing at O'Donnell's creation once again.

The energy bolt was batted away with one sweep of the Danny Clone's hand.
"J-Jazz, I'm h-hurt," said the Danny Clone sarcastically, before he shook his head. "Don't you know w-what goes around c-comes around?" he asked and then he fired two beams of energy, one at Jack Fenton and the other at Maddie in an attempt to blast both of Jazz's parents out of existance.

Neither let themselves be hit, as both Fenton parents leapt out of the way. They retaliated with some shots of their own, Jack Fenton with his Fenton Weasel set in reverse and Maddie Fenton with her Ghost Peeler. Both managed to score a hit, each of them hitting him with an explosion that made a fireball blossom brightly like a flower.

Valerie saw her chance. She saw that the Danny Clone was stunned by both attacks. If she hit him with a shot of her own, maybe, just maybe she would push the battle in their favour. She raised her own rifle at the Danny Clone, before opening fire. Valerie couldn't see whether her shot had hit either, but she heard it strike something and there was an explosion.

Seconds later, the Danny Clone appeared right in front of Valerie and threw a punch straight at her. His fist never hit Valerie, but instead hit a pair of metallic gloves.
"Huh? W-What is this?" exclaimed the Clone in surprise. "L-Let go, woman!"

"If you insist," was Maddie's reply, before using her Ghost Grabbers, she threw the Danny Clone away from Valerie.

Jack Fenton then swept up Valerie's rifle from the ground and took aim. He then pulled the trigger and blasted the Danny Clone in the chest, sending him crashing into the ground.

"Are you all right?" asked Maddie, as she knelt down beside Valerie.

There was a groan in reply from Valerie, as she lifted herself off the floor slightly and then held a hand against her head, for she had hit it pretty hard when she landed on the metallic floor.
"I'll be fine," she told Maddie, "but I'll be much better when this creep goes down." She then turned over slightly and staggered back on to her feet, before turning to face the Danny Clone, whom had staggered back on to his feet too.

The Danny Clone glared up at them.
"Y-You," he said angrily. He looked down at himself and then noticed that he was standing on the ground. The Clone cried out, before leaping into the air and off the metallic floor. "I'm n-n-not supposed to t-touch the g-g-ground," he told them, as he floated off the floor, clutching at his left arm with a look of intense agony on his face. "You dared… you made me t-touch…" He winced and simultaneously, his head jerked sideways.

"Yeah? Well so what?" was Valerie's reply. She was about to insult him, but that was when she realised that something was indeed very wrong. She was going to tell him how he was getting sloppy, how he wasn't giving her the same fight he did the last time they had truly fought… And that was what made her realise the truth.

Sure, he had been just as tough right there as he had done at the Swimming Pool. However, he certainly hadn't been as tough the first time they fought. In fact, though his punches packed far more power than they used to, their first battle had lasted a much longer time than this. It was almost as if, as if this ghost boy was weaker.

"I don't remember you being so weak," stated Valerie sternly, as she thought about the Danny Clone. "You must be a copy. The original would have given me more of a fight."

"S-Silence!" snapped the Danny Clone angrily. "Y-You… All of y-you! Everyone t-treats me like a f-fool! I won't stand f-for it! I'll show you m-m-my true p-p-power! I'll show you a-all!"

A ring of light enveloped him and rose upwards from his feet. It expanded as it reached his waist until it was about twice the diameter it had once been, and as it rose, the parts of the Clone's body it passed over changed. The Clone's body gradually changed until the ring reached above his head and then shrank to form a silver halo around his white hair.

The hair had become as white as snow and had grown to long proportions, a lot of which dangled over his face to cover his right eye completely. He had grown two extra arms, which were more like huge terrifying claws from some kind of hideous monster. Everything below his waist had become a writhing mass of slimy tentacles that swayed of their own accord. And two great, huge, feathery, white angelic wings had sprouted from his back, making him look like a cross between some hideous monster and an angel.

"N-Now you shall f-face my wrath," announced the Clone, as he clasped his two normal hands together such that the thumb, first and second fingers were pressed together and all pointing upwards. He raised his clasped hands until the pointed fingers were level with his lips.

A sphere of ectoplasmic energy began to form in front of him. Energy flew from his body and clumped together, increasing the size of the energy sphere. It became a huge sphere, a monstrous sphere that was easily the size of Jack Fenton himself. The thing was a hulking great concentration of pure energy that was far more concentrated than it looked.

The Clone smiled, before he unclasped his normal hands and spread his normal arms apart.

The energy sphere burst in response, sending a shower of energy beams flying down towards Valerie and the Fenton Family.

By rights, the energy shower should have killed them. The lasers should have seared through their bodies and at least wounded them badly if not killed them outright. The energy beams would have done all that, were it not for the fact that an energy shield now surrounded Valerie and Danny's parents.

Danny smiled, as he looked up at the Clone.
"I hear there's a clone of me about," he said calmly.

"What? The real Danny Phantom?" exclaimed O'Donnell in disbelief. "Impossible! How did you get back? Lady Meng Po's tea should have made it impossible for you to return and impossible for you to remember who you once were."

"Let's just say that I've got good friends," said Danny with a smile, as he turned back to look at Sam. He then turned to face O'Donnell and his Clone. "O'Donnell, you've really done it this time. No way am I that ugly!"

The Clone smiled in response to Danny's comment.
"Ah, m-my original f-form," he said as calmly as Danny had done. "It's g-g-good of you to have c-come. Dr. O'Donnell assures m-me that I'm p-perfect, that I'm b-better than you in every w-w-way."

"Does he really?" asked Danny nonchalantly.

"Shall w-w-we see if this is true?" suggested the Clone. "Shall w-we see who really is the b-best?"

The real Danny Phantom nodded his head, before he flew straight at the Clone, whose tentacles suddenly lashed out at him. Danny became intangible and flew straight through them. He then charged up his hands before firing a plasma blast straight at his clone that struck the Clone straight in the chest.

A tentacle lashed out at Danny. Several more followed suit. They ensnared him. They wrapped around him. Several wrapped around his wrists. Others wrapped around his legs and torso. One lashed around his neck cruelly, nearly choking him. All of them pulled him in towards the Clone, the monstrous Life Ghost Prototype. Electricity surged through the tentacles suddenly and then through Danny's body, making him cry out in pain.

"W-Weakling," called out the Clone. "You are n-nothing." It pulled harder on Danny, reeling him towards him and then lashed out with its two clawed hands, ripping through Danny's suit and cutting his skin.

"Let go, you freak!" cried Danny, before he concentrated energy into both of his hands and used them to blast the tentacles that held his hands apart. He then quickly fired another blast of energy straight into the Clone's face, making it scream in agony and loosen its grip on him. "The original is always best," he said, before he rushed in and punched the Clone with an uppercut.

Jazz watched as her brother fought against his clone. She couldn't believe what was going on. She couldn't even believe that her brother had been cloned in the first place and what a horrible creature this clone had turned out to be.
"Go, Danny!" she cheered. "Beat that impostor!"

A laser beam flew out from the Clone's eye and nearly hit Danny had he not ducked out of the way.

Danny returned fire with a plasma blast that struck the Clone in the chest. He flew over the tentacles that lashed out at him and then kicked out at the impostor with enough force to knock the Clone's head backwards. Before the Clone could even retaliate, he rushed in to punch and kick the Clone with all he had got. He didn't relent. Danny kept hitting the Clone, knowing that if he gave it a chance, it would annihilate him.

He suddenly cried out as one of the Clone's clawed hands raked across his leg, leaving a horrible gash there. Danny floated backwards quickly, just in time to avoid another swipe at him. Before the Clone could attack him again, Danny quickly fired a ray of energy at the impostor, only for the Clone to create a reflective shield that sent it flying back towards him. He dived out of the way and then saw a clawed hand hurtle towards him out of the corner of his eye, the razor sharp claws cutting through the air towards him viciously.

They went through thin air as Danny became intangible. He flew upwards until he was above the angelic Clone and then fired a ray of energy down at his double. The Clone became intangible, just as Danny thought it would. He dived down towards the impostor just as the Clone had gone intangible and when it became solid again, Danny lashed out with a fist.

A tentacle whipped out and grabbed Danny, ensnaring his wrist and pulling it away from the Clone's face. More tentacles lashed up towards Danny.

Concentrating energy into his right hand he grabbed the tentacle ensnared around his wrist, burning it and making the Clone cry out in pain. The tentacle loosened and he pulled free and flew away from the rising tentacles, just out of their reach. He didn't see the laser that shot out from the Clone's left eye, however, until it was too late, until it struck him in the head and knocked him backwards.

"Hold on!" cried Sam, as she grabbed a Fenton Thermos and tore it out of Tucker's grip. She rushed towards the Clone, hoping that she would somehow capture it in the Ghost Thermos.

O'Donnell rushed over and grabbed Sam by the shoulder and pulled her back. He flung her away from the Clone and threw her on to the metallic floor.
"Do you have a death wish, Ms. Manson?" asked O'Donnell curiously, as he approached her. "I ask you, do you wish to die? Is that why you are so eager to defy me?" He closed in on her.

"Get away from her!" cried Tucker, as he rushed straight at O'Donnell. He slung his backpack off his shoulders and then flung it, with all its heavy technology inside, straight at O'Donnell knocking him backwards. "You okay, Sam?" asked Tucker.

"Yeah, I'm fine," replied Sam, as she got back up onto her feet.

The Clone fired a thin beam of concentrated energy from the tips of its fingers, aiming it at Danny. It missed. The Clone fired another beam at Danny from the index finger of its other hand. It missed again. The Clone cried wordlessly in anger, before clasping its hand together again. A sphere of energy appeared above the tips of its fingers, which then turned into a beam of energy that struck Danny in the shoulder. It then spun round, its tentacles splaying outwards through centripetal force.

Before Danny knew what was going on, the tentacles whipped him one after another. After the first twenty lashes or so, each of which occurred in the first two seconds, Danny became intangible and let the tentacles go through him. The Clone followed suit, becoming intangible too and his tentacles ended up slapping Danny physically, despite them both being both intangible. They hit him with such force that they left nasty welts on his cheeks and across his body, as if he had been whipped with a cat-o-nine-tails.

He saw the Clone stop in mid-spin to face him and then was blasted in the chest by a plasma bolt that he was not prepared to dodge. Danny fell backwards and as he did so, he could hear voices calling out to him. Sam, Tucker, Jazz, his family and his friends… Were they cheering him on? Of course, they were. It wasn't as if they hated him or anything.

"Only I can defeat the Blue Bow Army," murmured Danny in sudden realisation, as he fell towards the ground. He then stopped himself from falling, consciously stopping himself. "You're not going to get the better of me!"

The Clone laughed.

O'Donnell laughed.

"I am p-perfect," announced the Clone, as it clasped its normal hands together. "There is no need for you t-to be here. You are the old m-model. I am the new. Who needs old j-junk like you to protect this world?" The Clone then unclasped it hands and spread them slowly, focusing energy in between the two palms. "The B-Blue Bow Army will r-rule over all. We shall p-protect this world," said the Clone, as it spread its hands to allow more energy to be focused between the hands.

Danny floated back upwards until he was level with the Clone. He had an idea, but he wasn't sure if the Clone would fall for it.
"Says you," he retorted in reply to the Clone's comment, to keep it distracted. He then clapped his hands together and spread them slowly, focusing energy between the palms of his hands, imitating the Clone flawlessly. "You're not perfect. You can't even touch the floor. Why is that? Didn't O'Donnell tell you?"

"He can't touch the floor because he's an imperfect clone," said Suimsalp calmly, after figuring it out for himself. "He is not of this world and cannot stand the touch of this earth. It negates the magic that holds him together."

"Nonsense!" protested the Clone angrily, as its sphere of energy grew to twice the size of Danny's. "I am p-perfect in every w-way. Allow m-me to show you what I'm truly c-capable of." It then closed its eye, pressing its forefinger and thumbs together and raised its arms as if in meditation. It breathed heavily before all its tentacles snapped straight and stiff as they were icicles and its eye snapped open.

Two halos split off from the silver halo around the Clone's head and rose high into the air before falling down and striking the floor in front of Danny. In doing so, each halo created an identical copy of Danny, both of which were nearly identical in every way save for the fact that they both had wings like an angel and both were armed with fiery swords that seemed not as if their blades were on fire but as if their blades were made from fire.

One of the angelic clones rushed straight at Danny, swinging its fiery blade at him. The flames went through thin air as Danny became intangible. The angelic clone slashed violently at him, repeatedly, never relenting in its speed, the blade of flames becoming a terrifying fiery blur and sending off arcs of fire that flew through the air. The second angelic clone raised its fiery blade into the air, only for it to split into several fireballs that hurtled straight at Danny and his friends and family.

None of them hit as the humans scattered. All the fireballs struck the ground to then burn like napalm, blazing away furiously on the ground on which it struck. Suddenly, the flames began to take shape. Some took on the shape of Skulker, others took on the shape of Dr. Spectra and others still took on the shapes of other ghosts that Danny had fought before, but all had one similarity, all seemed to be made out of pure fire, a fire that burned brightly and dyed the room bloody red in its ghastly light.

"See?" exclaimed the Danny Clone with a smug smile on its lips, as it glared down at them with its one eye. "The original c-could never do that. Think of it! An army, of my own creation, at m-my own d-disposal. I w-will never be in need of b-backup again, whereas you…" A sneer spread across the Clone's face. "You n-need to rely on others. Y-You need to rely on f-f-family and f-f-friends. I d-do not. I am s-stronger than you. You are w-weak. F-Fake! You are the one that's the i-impostor." It then lowered down until his writhing tentacles nearly dragged along the metallic floor.

Two fiery Skulker entities rushed at Danny, only to be extinguished by the force of Danny's plasma blasts that acted like breath on a birthday candle. Two more rushed at him and at the last moment rushed away, as the Danny Clone dashed over and ensnared Danny in its tentacles.

"L-Look!" cried the Clone, as it gestured towards his friends and family. "S-See how useless they are t-to you. They c-cannot fend for themselves against m-my army. There is n-no need f-for you, Shou G-Ge Wang, in this w-world. See, this is F-Fate. The G-Gods of Death have d-decreed this."

Jack's inventions were useless against the fiery ghosts, for they were made of pure fire controlled by the magic of the Danny Clone. There was no ghostly energy in them, thus his inventions couldn't harm them. They were useless, absolutely useless. All Jack Fenton could do, all Maddie Fenton could do, all Jazz could do, all Sam and Tucker could do, all Valerie could do, all they could do was dodge the swipes of the fiery copies of ghosts and hope that they would not be hurt. All they could do was survive.

The tentacles that ensnared Danny suddenly began poking away at his skin, as if trying to find some orifice through which they could enter him. They became intangible near their tips and started to probe inwards, bypassing Danny's skin and inserting themselves into him.
"You're old, Shou Ge W-Wang," said the Clone, as its tentacles started to snake their way through Danny's flesh and around his vital organs. "Y-You are the old m-model. You're a hunk of j-junk. Stand aside and m-make way for the n-new Sh-Shou Ge Wang."

"N-Never!" cried Danny in pain, as one by one the tentacles became physical inside of him. "I'll n-never give up!"

"Y-You are weak," protested the Clone sternly, as more of its tentacles became physical inside of Danny and started to push back the flesh around them and squeeze the organs they wrapped around. "You r-rely too m-much on friends and f-family. That's w-what makes you w-weak."

Suddenly there was a whooshing sound and the Clone looked up to see foam lying on the floor. Now only the two angelic clones of himself remained.

"W-What is this?" exclaimed the Clone in disbelief.

"This is you going down," retorted Valerie, as she stood side by side with Sam and Tucker, each with a Fenton Ghost Peeler in their hands.

Sam and Tucker aimed at the two clones that the Clone had made. Valerie aimed at the main Clone itself. They pulled the trigger and hit all three with a ray of energy designed to peel off their outer layers. The two minor clones screamed as they were stripped to pieces by the rays and dissipated into the air, their cries lingering in the air for a few seconds after their demise.

The Clone cried out, its grip loosening on Danny. It gave him enough respite to concentrate. He became intangible and slipped free from the tentacles that would have crushed him to death from within.

"You're wrong," Danny told the Clone, as he floated up until he was level with his doppelganger. "My friends, my family… They're the ones that help give me strength. They're what make me strong, stronger than you." He then cupped two of his hands together and focused ectoplasmic energy between the two of them, creating a mass of energy that he fired at the Clone, striking it in the head.

It cried out and reeled backwards, clutching at his head with one of its normal hands.
"N-No! Impossible!" cried the Clone, as it glared at Danny angrily. "You… y-you are over the h-hill. Old and w-weak. There is n-no need for fourteen-year old j-junk in this w-world. If that is the b-best you can d-do, then this w-world will have n-no hope, if you are to r-remain Shou Ge Wang." It shook its head with a smile, as it clapped its hands together and closed its eye, creating a powerful sphere of energy that built up in front of it and expanded to horrific proportions.

"N-Now that I'm h-here, there is n-no need for you to r-remain," announced the Clone. "You c-can retire now and l-let me be the one to retire y-you!" The Clone crossed its arms, its hands slicing through the sphere of energy and popping it.

Danny saw the energy of sphere fragment into several smaller globules of ectoplasmic energy that turned into pinpoint-sharp lasers that flew straight at him. He quickly spread his arms out and turned the sphere of energy he had been creating into a perfectly flat wall of energy just as planned. Mentally, Danny crossed his fingers as he watched the wall reflect the lasers back at the Clone.

A barrage of lasers flew back through the air and struck the Clone. It shrieked in agony, as the lasers tore at its imperfect body and clipped its wings. The Clone flailed and fell from the air to crash on the metallic floor.
"I d-d-don't understand!" it stuttered, as it writhed on the floor in agony. "I was supposed to b-be, p-p-perfect! P-Perfect!" It then spasmed before it melted into a puddle of green ectoplasmic slime.

"Yeah, supposed to be," retorted Danny. He then turned to face O'Donnell. "Okay, O'Donnell," he said sternly, as he closed in on the scientist. "I've defeated your clone of me and we've practically wrecked your Blue Bow Army. Tell me, what have you done to Alex? Where is he?"

O'Donnell smiled at Danny. He knew exactly what the half-ghost was talking about from the instant Danny mentioned that name.
"Alex?" he exclaimed in mock bemusement. "Who's Alex?" he asked curiously, despite knowing what Danny was talking about. "I'm afraid I don't know who you're talking about. Now… Well… I don't seem to remember any Alex," he said thoughtfully, "but that name does sound very familiar… Now where have I heard it before?"

"Quit it," snapped Danny angrily. "You're in no position to do that. Tell me! Where's Alex?"

"Hm, Alex… Alex," murmured O'Donnell mockingly. "Ah! I remember now! Yes!" He laughed. "I'm Alex," he said and gestured towards himself.

Danny shook his head.
"No, you can't be!" he protested. "You're not Alex!"

"Alex O'Donnell," retorted O'Donnell with a smile on his face. "That's my name. You see, I lied to you in that dream. My first name was never Wolf. It never will be." He laughed at the expression he saw on Danny's face, one of pure bemusement, one that deserved his disdain. "Ah, but if you're talking about that young Alex you saw… The one with the silvery grey hair…" He smiled widely and nearly failed to repress a laugh. "Is that the Alex you were talking about?" he asked curiously.

"You know I am," was Danny's reply.

"Ah, Zeross' Granddaughter," exclaimed O'Donnell in a tone of voice that was usually reserved for fond memories, but seemed to be dripping of bitter spite. "Alexia was her name," he continued. "Such a troublesome girl. Three years ago, she found out about her grandfather's magic experiments and disturbed him. If it hadn't been for her, I would have achieved my goals then and not now." He sighed and shook his head. "If it weren't for her, the school would never have burned down. Foolish brat. Disturbing the ceremony, like that!"

"It was her fault the school burned down!" he continued. "If she hadn't distracted her grandfather, Professor Zeross would never have accidentally unleashed the fire demons that devoured the school and claimed so many lives!" A smile spread across his face. "So when we came back, I punished her, or her ghost at least. I imprisoned her in a purgatory world I created by building an exact replica of the school on top of its ruins. And to make sure she would never escape, I implanted a bit of my own id inside her, a ghost fragment of my personality if you will. That kept her in line." He then stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Had the side effect of turning her into a male, but at least I had control over her."

If O'Donnell was telling the truth, then this man was even worse than Fordyce. Danny just hoped that he wasn't telling the truth.
"You're lying!" he protested in disbelief.

"Am I?" exclaimed O'Donnell in what sounded like surprise but was obviously feigned. "Well, if you don't believe me, why don't you ask her yourself?" He smiled. "It shouldn't be too difficult. After all, in the end I decided to use her ghost as the base for the Life Eater." O'Donnell then pointed towards the machine. "You can find her in there," he told Danny. "Why don't you go in and ask her yourself?"

Suimsalp cried out.
"That's all I need to hear!" he shouted, before firing a bolt of eerie ectoplasmic energy through the air that struck O'Donnell in the chest and flung him backwards, to hit the metal railing and then collapse to the floor.

Danny whirled round.
"What did you do that for?" he asked Suimsalp angrily.

"I only came here for the Life Eater," replied Suimsalp calmly, as he regarded Danny. "You see, if I devour the Life Eater, the Ultimate Ghost, I will become like a God! Nothing will stop me from achieving my dreams!"

"What? Ghost eating?" exclaimed Tucker. "But I thought you Mao Shang hated Ghost Eaters!"

Danny shook his head.
"He's not Mao Shang, Tuck," he told his friend. "Am I right, V-Man?" he then asked Suimsalp.

Suimsalp looked surprised.
"V…" he began and then trailed off. He had only been called that once before and that was when… Suimsalp suddenly realised what that meant and a smile then spread across his lips. "How did you know who I was, Daniel?" he asked Danny curiously.

A sigh was Danny's reply, as he rolled his eyes.
"Please, it was easy!" he exclaimed. "I mean, come on! Suimsalp? Plasmius spelt backwards? Could you have made it any easier to figure out?" He turned back round to look at O'Donnell and then turned back round to look at Suimsalp, or rather, Vlad Plasmius.

The old man laughed, before a ring of light passed over his body and he changed. His stature straightened and his clothes became a white jumpsuit. His face became blue and his hair a pitch black, and his eyes glowed a deep, malevolent red.
"Very good, Daniel," he said to the young half-ghost in a hushed tone of voice. "So, you knew who I was all this time. Tell me, why didn't you expose me when you had the chance?"

"I wanted to know what you were up to," was Danny's reply, "coz, you know what? Frankly, I can't trust you." He then gestured towards O'Donnell. "Is it any wonder why?"

"I don't understand!" protested Sam suddenly. "Does this mean…? So you were using us all this time."

Plasmius turned round to face Sam with a grin on his face.
"That's right, my dear girl," he told her calmly. "When I found out that you were the targets of the Blue Bow Army, that you yourselves were attempting to take them down, I had to grasp the opportunity before me. I couldn't fight against the Blue Bow Army by myself and they had all the goodies I could ever want." He smiled.

"That'd explain how you survived being blasted by the Danny Clone," said Tucker sternly.

"It'd also explain why I couldn't find your body in the pool," said Valerie.

There was suddenly a laugh, but it did not belong to Plasmius. They all turned round.

O'Donnell had staggered back to his feet and as he glared at them, he wiped a trail of blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Well done, Mr. Plasmius," he said sarcastically. "It would seem that you've managed to outfox even me. I had a sneaking suspicion that you were up to something when you left the Executive Committee, but never did I think you'd go to all this trouble to circumvent my plans and take my Life Eater for your own." He straightened and dusted himself off in a haughty manner. "I, however, will still have the last laugh! You will never consume my life's work! My life's work shall consume you!" He turned to face the machine. "Life Eater! Awaken! Awaken and devour this world!"

There was a terrible rumbling.

It came from the Fate Determination Machine that rested in the centre of the Central Instrument Room, that took up all five floors of the grand chamber. The machine started to move. Its 'legs' started to flex and its arms lowered and the spikes on it began to flex. The machine was being possessed and with very passing second, it became more life-like as if it was a living creature made of metal and glass.

A single eye appeared in the concave mirror of the machine before it rotated round to glare at Danny and Plasmius. The machine then lashed out, nearly crushing them underneath its spiked arms.

"That's right!" laughed O'Donnell, as he watched the machine attack Danny and Plasmius. "Crush them both! Tear them limb from limb!"

Danny fired a plasma bolt straight into the glass tubes that made up the machine's torso, shattering a few of them and spilling liquid on to the floor. He was about to go in for the kill, but one of the spiked arms of the machine lashed out at him. It hit him and he was sent flying back to crash into one off the walls with a heavy thud, the impact of which made his teeth jar and his eyes close. He nearly didn't see the same arm hurtle straight at him, but heard Sam cry out. He opened his eyes and saw the spikes hurtling straight at him.

He quickly became intangible and the arm went through him, crashing into the wall with such force that it punched a hole straight through it. Danny flew upwards and then straight at the machine, knowing that he would be able to disable it if he could just get inside. He rushed straight at the glass sphere of the machine and would have gone through it, were it not for the excessive ivy surrounding it that prevented ghosts from penetrating the machine from the outside.

Now Danny knew how a fly felt when it hit a window, as he floated away from the glass sphere. He was dazed from the impact against the glass. He was so dazed, he did not notice the metallic arm rush straight at him before it was too late. The sharp spikes rushed past him and missed him narrowly, cutting him only slightly on their sharp edges. That pain made him focus. The pain of it made his senses sharp again and all of them focused on the impulses that raced through his nerves to register in his mind as pain.

A plasma bolt flew through the air and struck the metallic exterior of the Life Eater, for lack of a better name for it. The machine reared back, even though the shot didn't break the glass. There was a strange roaring noise from the machine, that seemed more machine than animal and then a beam of ectoplasmic energy flew from the concave mirror at Valerie, whom had been the one to open fire on the Life Eater.

Valerie leapt out of the way, the energy beam cutting through the metal where she had been standing like a hot knife through butter. She looked up to glare at the machine and at the old man inside.

"P-Paradise," groaned a voice from the machine, the Life Eater, a feminine voice. "Bow down and d-die!" The Life Eater then thrust one its metallic arms straight at the nearest living thing it could see, crushing O'Donnell underneath its spikes, killing its creator. "G-Give your life to the L-Life Eater. G-Give up your existence for P-Paradise on Earth! Cease t-to exist!" The Life Eater then raised its spiked arms and then flung a punch at Danny, but missed as he flew over the metallic limb.

Danny charged up energy in his right hand and would have fired at the machine, were it not for Plasmius.

At the last moment, Plasmius shoved Danny into the way of the Life Eater's great sweeping spiked arms. He became intangible at the last minute, right before he could hit the sharp pointed spikes that would have skewered him. But the Life Eater had already taken notice of him. It fired a powerful beam of energy from its one eye, the eye that took up the concave mirror, a beam that hit Danny despite him being intangible.

"See you later, Daniel!" laughed Plasmius, before he flew down towards the hole in the tubes that Danny had created earlier. He laughed as he flew through the hole and then disappeared into the machine.

Though in great pain, Danny knew that he had to enter the machine himself and follow Plasmius in before he could consume the main part of the Life Eater, the spiritual side, the ghostly part that made the machine what it was. He flew after Plasmius, dodging the laser beams that flew from the concave mirror of what had once been the Fate Determination Machine. He dodged the metallic arms and then flew straight at the hole, entering it and then…


Ten people sat at the judicial bench, each dressed in yellow, silk Oriental robes. Each one was blindfolded and on the blindfold was painted a few Chinese words in red ink that read, 'Justice is Blind, yet Heaven sees All'. In the place of the white powder wig that judges wear, each one of these men wore a black hat with two pieces of fabric that curved out from its side and a veil of pearls that hung from the top of the hat to end just above his forehead. And all looked identical to one another, with no apparent differences between the ten.

The room seemed to be made of gold, as the walls were of a yellow, golden aura and the room seemed to be filled with a golden light.

Conversely, Chinese lamps hung from the ceiling, each glowing darkly with a black anti-light that seemed to chase away the light as normal light chases away the darkness.

Danny opened his eyes to find that he was standing at one of the two tables set in front of the judges. He turned round and saw a jury full of shapeless forms, each of them missing their right eye and each of them staring at him with their lone, left eye. Danny felt uncomfortable as he stood there, before the jury and the ten blindfolded men that seemed to stare at him sightlessly through their blindfolds.

"Daniel Fenton!" called out one of the blind-folded men, one of the Lords of Death, the Shi Ti'en Yen Wang. "You are hereby charged with violating the Kingdom of Feng Du, the Realm of Death! How do you plead?"

"What?" exclaimed Danny in disbelief.

"Daniel Fenton!" cried out another of the Shi Ti'en Yen Wang and his voice sounded exactly like the voice of the other Judge that had spoken. "You are also here on charges of abandoning your duty as Shou Ge Wang and transgression against the King of Feng Du, Vladimir Masters! How do you plead?"

There was a look of complete disbelief on Danny's face, as he stood there. Had he heard right? He mouthed out Vlad's name in disbelief. It wasn't possible. It couldn't have been possible. Vlad Plasmius was now the King of Feng Du? Then what happened to the old King? Had this something to do with the Life Eater? Had Plasmius consumed the Life Eater?

"Not guilty!" protested Danny angrily.

One of the Judges rose from his seat and spoke, and his voice sounded exactly the same as that of the Judge that had spoken before him.
"I am Qin Guang Wang," announced the Judge, "Judicial King of the First Court of Feng Du." He clapped his hands and a mirror suddenly appeared in front of Danny. "This is the Mirror of Retribution," he announced, "that which replays out your life in every detail, which uncovers all your sins and sinful thoughts. Nothing escapes the knowledge of the Mirror of Retribution. Now we shall see your lies for what they really are. Your Honours, Members of the Jury, please consider the Evidence as shown by the Mirror."

The mirror then changed. No longer did it show Danny's reflection, but it now displayed every single event in his life where he had fought against Plasmius and thwarted his plans. It didn't take much time, though, despite showing every single excruciating detail of every event, as every image was played at quadruple speed. It showed him the time when he first encountered Plasmius and how the older half-ghost had beaten him sorely. It showed him the time later when he used the gadgets in the Fenton Family RV against Plasmius and all the others times he had fought against Plasmius.

"Please may the jury consider this evidence against the defendant," announced Qin Guang Wang, before he sat back down.

"We of the jury find the defendant, Daniel Fenton, guilty," announced the shadowy jury in unison, in a voice that sounded familiar to Danny.

"What?" exclaimed Danny in disbelief. "What about my side of the story?"

One of the Judges then spoke up.
"That was your side of the story," was his reply to Danny's question. "Since the Mirror does not lie, it provides evidence for both prosecution and defence all at once. It is a very efficient system."

"Yes, a very efficient system," agreed one of the other Judges in a voice that was exactly the same as that of the first Judge that had spoken.

That voice! Now Danny recognised it. The jury spoke with the same voice as the Judges and the Judges spoke in a voice that Danny recognised as being a combination of Alex's voice, the Alex he knew from the dream school, and that of Vlad Plasmius.

"Okay, Plasmius, I've figured it out," called out Danny. "I know it's you that's doing this!"

The Judges and the jury laughed as one.
"Oh, really?" they all said in unison. They all chuckled. "So, what do you think of my new position of power?"

"I don't think it's the right job for you," was Danny's reply. "Now let go of them," stated Danny sternly.

"Let go of them?" exclaimed Plasmius. "Never!"

The jury suddenly faded away, as did the Judges. The empty room suddenly began to shake violently and cracks appeared in the ceiling and the floor. The cracks spread, looking like black spider's legs, as dust and small bits of plaster and stone fell from the ceiling and shook loose from the cracks. The rumbling shook and it wasn't long before Danny had to float off the ground to avoid being knocked off his feet by the severe quake that now tore through the room.

Suddenly, the ceiling and wall tore apart, the rubble flying away into the darkness to reveal a clear night sky filled with stars, almost as if they were in space.

Vlad Plasmius appeared in front of Danny and as he did so, the stars died and they were plunged into a darkness that seemed as bright or anti-bright as light itself. It illuminated them darkly, making it possible for them to see as if it was light itself, and it illuminated Vlad's body as it sat inside some strange mechanical device that looked like a tank that covered his body up to his waist.

"Yen Lo Wang, the last King, is gone now," stated Vlad sternly, but though he spoke, his mouth didn't seem to move and neither did his face. "There is only me now. I am the King of Death, the sole King of Death and I command the Fate of All Humanity!"

"Yeah, right," said Danny sarcastically. "Not if I can help it."

"Daniel, Daniel, Daniel," sighed Vlad in a tone of voice that implied he would have shaken his head at the same time. "Who taught you to be so foolish? Your father? If you couldn't defeat me when I was just a half-ghost, what makes you think you have a chance against me now that I'm a God?" He laughed, as he spread his arms, as if inviting Daniel to strike. "Well, if you insist on standing against me, Daniel, go ahead! Take your best shot!"

There was a terrible silence all around them, as they waited there. It was a terrifying silence. It was a momentous silence.

"Okay, but you asked for it," said Danny, as he focused energy in between the palms of his hands, building up a powerful charge that he intended to strike Plasmius with. "Here! Take this!" he cried, before firing a powerful beam of energy straight at Plasmius, the largest and most concentrated beam of energy he had ever fired at Plasmius, one inspired by his rage against the madman.

It struck Plasmius in the chest and he cried out in pain, as the energy seared his body.

"W-What?" exclaimed Plasmius, a look of shock on his face. "My… I never expected you to hit me so hard. You've certainly grown stronger, my Daniel Fenton." A smile slowly spread across Plasmius' lips.

"I'm not yours," protested Danny angrily, as he stared at Plasmius with clenched fists. "I'll never be yours."

Plasmius chuckled.
"I guess that's what made you so fascinating to me," he told Danny. "Just like with your Mother, I couldn't stop thinking about you. There was something about you. You were so unobtainable and I found that so enthralling. I wanted you. I wanted to make you mine and mine alone, just like your mother." He sighed. "O'Donnell settled for a copy of you, but I want the real deal. I could never settle for a clone of you, Daniel. I want you."

"I'm flattered, but I don't think I'm your type," retorted Danny.

There was a laugh from Plasmius, despite the fact that his mouth never opened.
"Still you defy me," he sighed. "Still you try to push yourself away from me, but don't you see…? I am a God now and the offer I made you when we first met is still valid. Become my apprentice, Daniel. Become my prodigy and I shall teach you everything I know and you shall be like a God as well! Become mine!"

Danny didn't say a word, as if he was deep in thought. The expression on his face made it seem as if he was thinking about Plasmius' proposal, as if he was thinking about becoming the Son of a God. Yet what would that make him, to be the Adopted Son of a God of Death? What did that all mean?
"You know what I say to your offer?" asked Danny with a smile on his face, a smile that soon disappeared, to be replaced by a stern look of pure determination. "You can shove it, coz I'm not going to be yours. You can't have my mother, you can't have me and you can't have this world!"

"I'm sorry to hear you say that, Danny," said Plasmius apologetically. "I guess this means that you have to die." He then made choking noises, as if something was constricting his throat or rather, as if something was blocking it. Plasmius grasped at his throat as if to try to take a noose of his neck. "W-What's happening t-to m-me?" he exclaimed in a horrified tone of voice, as his entire body convulsed. He screamed and his scream echoed around him, lingering in the air.

Suddenly, Plasmius glowed with a brilliant golden light that forced Danny to turn away and shield his eyes.

There was suddenly a huge blast of energy that threw Danny straight off his feet. He landed with a heavy thud on his back and felt wave after wave of hot energy, of air that seemed to be hot enough to melt a titanium, pass over his body. Danny couldn't stand it, the great brilliance of light that radiated from Plasmius, the light that made him seem as if he was a Sun or a supernova.

Soon, though, the light began to die away and the heat died away with it too. The air suddenly became cold as ice, as Death itself.

Danny shivered, as he uncovered his eyes. He could feel some kind of moisture condensing on him, but he saw none. It was as if the darkness around him had melted and was now condensing on his body, maybe even solidifying around him. Yet it was nothing like the fear that was even now condensing within him, upon the sight of the new Plasmius.

Yet it couldn't have been Plasmius. The face that stared down at him did not belong to Plasmius.

The creature was pure white with shades of black every now and there. Its chest was lean and gaunt and black ribs curved around it, like some kind of protection for the chest. Its arms were lean and long and ended with hands with viciously sharp claws that looked as if they could rip Danny apart in mere seconds. The thing had no legs, only a skeletal tail that reminded Danny of a spinal cord in its shape. And the head that stared at him from this monstrous body kept rotating to display its four faces, that of Plasmius, that of O'Donnell, that of the Danny Clone and that of Alex, each of them with only one eye, the left eye.

"P-Paradise!" stuttered the monster and though none of the lips moved, it spoke in a voice that sounded like a mix of Alex's voice, Plasmius' voice, Danny's voice and O'Donnell's voice. "B-Bow down before y-your new G-God and d-die!"


To be continued...