A/N: Sorry for my absence. I can offer only a lame excuse. But I don't have one, so I'll forgo that and get on with the chapter.

Time Phantom: Chapter Nineteen

The teeth flew at Danny with unstoppable force, and he had no time to dodge. They were getting closer... Closer...

They where there, plowing through him... but not hurting.

"Oh yeah." Danny chuckled. "I forgot. Solid objects can't hurt me when I'm in ghost form."

"Then what am I to do?" the Tooth Ghost asked.

"You attack me with a phenomenally stupid idea and you don't even have a back-up plan? You're like the second lamest enemy I have ever faced..."

The tooth ghost arched an eyebrow. "Who was the first, lamest enemy that you have ever faced?"

"Um..."

FLASHBACK

Danny looked up at the ghost towering over him. "Um. Who are you? And please say you're benevolent!"

"I am ABE! The perfect ghost! I shall conquer the world of the living and subjugate it's leaders to my will! I am super strong, invulnerable, super fast, and I can shoot laser beams from my eyes! I can inhale and exhale at a capacity no mortal man can match!"

"So much for hoping you'd be a good guy," Danny sighed.

"You think you can beat me!" Abe pistoned a fist out so fast Danny didn't know what hit him until he peeled himself off the brick wall he'd been slammed into.

"Ouch. OK, Mr. Abe... Do you have any weaknesses?" Danny staggered forward, getting dangerously close to him.

"Of course. I am powerless against the letters C and D! But you will never find them fast enough to defeat me, because you will die soon!"

Danny looked down at the emblem on his chest. "I never liked this thing anyway," he said, peeling it off and sticking it on Abe's abdomen.

"What... NO!" Abe began to burst into flames, and then ran off, wailing in agony.

"Wait! Come back!" Danny yelled, taking out the long-range thermos. "It's a good thing my dad built this thing." Danny aimed it at the distant ghost, channeled his energy into it, and fired, stopping Abe in his tracks and sucking him into the thermos.

"No! I cannot be defeated!" Abe yelled as he was sucked in.

"That was easy."

END FLASHBACK

"Wow. Sounds bad," the tooth ghost agreed. "Now, if you will permit me, I will DESTROY YOU!" Suddenly, the ghost pulled a giant phantom toothpick from seemingly nowhere.

"Eh... That looks like it's going to hurt," Danny gulped. He pulled out the Fenton Axe that Sam had given him. It was time to chop some wood! The toothpick and ax clashed, and to Danny's surprise, the toothpick held, and forced the ax backwards. "What gives? This is supposed to cut through ghost stuff."

The Tooth Ghost's eyes glowed red and an equally red aura flashed around him. "Lord Vlad gives us power beyond measure! Puny fugitive, child. You and your imperfect teeth are no match for myself!"

And then, suddenly more teeth surrounded him. But this time, they were ghost teeth. Danny's eyes increased by 3.4 sizes, and he quickly chopped at the Tooth Ghost with his ax, trying to cleave him back to the Ghost Zone before he was full of holes...

The two clashed, toothpick low, and deflected by the ax. Danny swung it high, but the corpulent tooth ghosts blocked that with speed unbecoming to his size.

"Go down already!" Danny yelled, hurling the ax at him. But a wall of ghost molars shot up, surrounding Dr. Bender, and blocking the ax and knocking it from his hands... And if that wasn't bad enough, phantom canine teeth began a quick strike to impale him...

"AAAHH!" Danny screamed again! And again, he was spared when there seemed to be no hope. He opened his eyes, which he hadn't even realized he had closed. And was surprised to see...

"Run, Danny Phantom!" yelled the Box Ghost. "I have forgiven your past transgressions against all that is square and cardboard! I will fight the dentally inclined version of myself!" Danny then noticed that the Box Ghost had a box.. full of teeth.

"You stopped them... for me?"

"Of course. Vlad is my enemy as well! Now go!"

"Right." Danny turned and used a beam of ectoplasm to blow down the wall that had slammed down to lock him in the room, and proceeded down the hallway behind, grabbing the ax as he went.

0000

"Turbo Wind Tunnel!" Timmy yelled, hurling a tornado of destructive power at the ghosts they were fighting. The Chins turned out to be quite helpful, too, as their super Chintastic powers prevented the ghosts from over-shadowing them. And between the eight decades represented along with the standard Red Spandex Chin, the nine were kicking ghost butt. "BANZAI BUBBLE!"

The wind tunnel dissipated, leaving some ghosts stunned, and Maddie followed up with some well-placed cuts with her Soul Saber, reducing them to nothing. "Kaze, thank you for the help." She said through the bubble.

"No problem," replied Timmy. "WHOA! Watch out!"

0000

Maddie glanced to the side in time to see the charging leader of the garrison, bearing down on here with a quartet of Arabic-looking swords in his four hands, "Who dares attack Saladin!" It yelled.

"Halt, ectoplasmic malefactor!" Maddie yelled, dodging the ghosts attacks with his swords, and deflecting where she could with her soul saber, trying to get a clear window to cut. Three arms cut down at her crouched form, and she dive-rolled under a horizontal slash, then shot to her feet and began a flurry of slashes trying to find an open spot and rend the ancient warlord in two...

Then he started twirling his blades, General Grievous-style, forcing Maddie to back away. "I conquered your Middle East during my life, and have been grated far more power in death! Now you die, infidel!"

Maddie rolled out of the way as all four swords came down, the last one cutting inches from the stump of her maimed arm. But Saladin had given her the opening she needed...

Or so she thought.. She tried to set up and stab him, but found her self unable to move... But why?

"Mrs. Fenton!" yelled Qwan. And then the air in front of her distorted as a giant ghost ceased allowing light through it. And she stared into the dagger-like teeth of a werewolf, red eyes glowing above his slobbering maw...

Wulf.

"You!" She hissed. "You tried to eat my son!"

0000

"Darn it, Timmy," the young Turner yelled at himself, after seeing Mrs. Fenton pinned down by the wolf ghost and having her head mere inches from being sheared off by its giant four-armed leader.

A soldier lashed out at him, and he dodge away, frying it with a blast of chi. "I'm coming...!" And he ran towards Maddie. Qwan was trying to get there as well, but he was surrounded...

And suddenly so was Timmy, as a quintet of pirate-looking spirits that the Chins let slip through their advance leaped in front of him. "I don't have time for this! Turbulent Tornado!" Timmy yelled, stealing another attack from Maho-Mushi. A torrent of pink energy surrounded him, twirling the ghosts in front of him into the whirlwind. The magenta energies tore the ghosts to shreds when Timmy willed it, and with a thrust of this arms, he sent the attack towards Saladin and the struggling Maddie.

"Get out of the way!" he yelled at her...

0000

Maddie heard Kaze's cry, but couldn't see what, as she was busy trying to stop Wulf from eating her face off... She took a brief moment to wonder why Saladin hadn't cut her head off, and then...

But she didn't see the whirlwind attack flying at her... And if she didn't get away soon it would be too late... Then she remembered her sword was still in her hand, and flicked it up, cutting into the Wulf's tail. It fell to the ground and Wulf jerked back and let out a howl, Maddie took the opportunity to get away, just as the tornado crashed into the werewolf and Saladin.

BOOM!

An explosion rocked the courtyard as Saladin and Wulf were torn apart by the force of the attack. "Yes!" Maddie whooped as she struggled to her feet, finding her legs aching from the weight Wulf had been exerting on them.

"It looks like we're about done here," Qwan commented, surveying the destruction wrought by the Crimson Chins.

"Good." Maddie looked around. "Where is Marty?"

"I'm here!" he yelled, and Maddie heard the hum of a Specter Speeder behind her, and turned to see it lowering behind them, the Californian man inside.

"I want Kaze and five of those Crimson Chins to go help out in Amity Park. Qwan, myself, and you will stay here and find that Time Machine car of yours, and as soon as Danny settles things with Vlad, we'll send you back to the past to fix this whole mess..."

"Maddie." Marty's mood was somber. "No offense, I mean; Danny's good... but do you really think he can win? He doesn't think he's strong enough to stop this "Vlad" guy..."

"He can win. He has more power than he realizes." With that Maddie restated her orders. And they were followed.

0000

The room at the end of the hallway was large. Very large. And oddly, despite the size of the room, the aesthetics were unmistakably familiar. They reminded Danny of the Fenton Portal, though there was nothing that looked like a gateway in the room.

Danny surveyed the empty white space for a while... and when his eyes adjusted to the brightness, he noticed two closed metallic doors on the other end that looked like something you'd find on the Death Star. Suddenly, a panel he hadn't noticed on the wall opened up, revealing a window... And Valerie Gray. Or at least her body, as the decked-out "Empress Valerie" outfit was so gaudy it could only be the work of Vlad Masters.

"Welcome, Daniel." It said in Valerie's voice but Vlad's mannerisms.
"Vlad!" Danny spat. "Come out and fight me, you monster! You've destroyed everything I care for! Why not hurry up and destroy me too! Or are you to afraid? Are going to hide up there in Valerie's skin forever?"

Danny's fury and sorrow caused his eyes to tear up. No, none of that. I have to be strong now.

"I've been meaning to do just that, unless of course you've broken and are willing to join me now. Otherwise, I assure you you'll be dead shortly. Just like your idiot father."

Danny's voice got low and dangerous, but he spoke loudly and clearly. "I'd rather burn in hell than join you!"

Valerie's lips twisted into an artificial smile. "So you wish it. So shall it be," he said, mockingly, arrogantly.

But rather than Vlad coming down to fight him, the window slid shut quickly, as did the door behind him, and Danny just gasped and so did his ghost sense. And when he turned around, his heart sank as far down as it could go... lower even...

Because the ghost in the middle of the room leering violently at him was wearing a yellow shirt, a red beret, and glasses. It's monstrous green skin, Danny had seen before, and same with the pointed ears of his monstrous face.

The demon in front of Danny, staring at him with glowing red eyes...

...was his best friend...

"I hate you, Vlad," Danny whispered.

0000

"Paulina!" Dora screamed as her cousin was consumed in a blast of fire from one of the ghosts. Chaos reigned on the battlefield Amity Park had become, explosions going off everywhere, and the flash of Soul Sabers cascaded through the alleys and streets.

"Dora." Gyzz said, landing beside her, his mechanical backpack legs taking the impact. "You're needed on the west side down by the Lake Amity Docks..."

"Paulina..." Dora repeated.

"You don't mean..." Gyzz suddenly said in shock.

"No... she's OK... we just... got.. separated..." Dora insisted, shrugging off her tears. "I'll go..."

Taking her flying hover platform, Dora zipped above the chaos, dodging in and out of fire from the ghosts below. And soon enough she made it to Lake Amity. The Lake had been drained during the ten years since the Specter War started... its dry bed covered in burnt-out vehicles and human remains; a grim sight indeed. And in it's middle, the Aaron City group had gathered, fighting off Vlad's flanking forces.

Dora landed her board, briefly exchanged intel with the the officers on the ground, and then set her board to self destruct and jumped off as she hurled it into the throng of spectral soldiers. The explosion left many of them stunned long enough for the Aaron City group to cut them down.

This is it. She thought. This was where she would test her mettle, take her revenge. She fully expected herself to die...

"For you, Boots. Diego... Paulina! AAAHHRGH!" Dora charged in hacking and slicing her way through the ghosts, sending back to the ghost zone, and destroying their equipment wherever she could...

Hack.

Slash.

BOOM. The battle became a blur of motion and sound, as Dora let her instincts take over and acted automatically. Cutting, and hacking through the crowds. A death dance...

Against the dead.

0000

Tucker's ghost charged at Danny, swinging his fists, and lashing with his deformed claws, trying to pry the life out of the young man who used to be his best friend. "RAGH! RAUGH!" Yelled the demon that used to be Tucker Foley.

"Tucker!" Danny yelled, trying futilely to defend himself. "Please! I don't want to hurt you! Stop it! Fight Vlad!"

"You're just jealous! I'm stronger than you now! You get all the cool powers? Not ANY MORE!"

"Ahh!" Danny dropped towards the floor as Tucker lunged at him, and smacked into the wall. Then the fight was on again, Danny doing his best not to hurt Tucker... but what else could he do? He didn't have his thermos with him... He could use the ax, or the sword his mother had given him... But he didn't want to... "There has to be a better way!"

The two clashed, Tucker pressing down against Danny, pinning him to the floor, and pressing his throat, suffocating him. "Now leave... forever!" Tucker growled.

"NO...! COUGH... TUCKER... STOP!" But he wouldn't he continued to press down, suffocating Danny, crushing his throat. "Don't do it, Tuck! Fight him! COUGH" Danny's vision began to swim; he was moments from passing out. "Fight him!"

Nothing changed. Tucker just pressed harder.

Stop! Danny couldn't even say it now, just will. It. And that might have been enough, but for the fact that Danny was merely mortal. He wasn't all-powerful... But was still more than an ordinary man! He couldn't go down like this; worse men deserved better... and he was DANNY PHANTOM!

"STOP IT!" He bellowed, leaping from the ground and flipping over, pinning Tucker to the ground... And Danny began instinctively began to try what he had wanted the whole time: Not Tucker's defeat—his healing. He used the same ecto-healing technique he had used to fix Marty and his mother's soldiers.

But to his horror, rather than taking away the corruption Vlad's amulet wrought on him.Tucker started Vanishing into Danny's ghost-aura... and making it GROW...

"TUCKER NO!" Danny yelled. He tried to stop, he couldn't; it was like an addiction, a chain reaction that he couldn't cease. He just kept absorbing Tucker into himself... "I'm sorry..."

And somewhere deep in his soul he heard a whisper. And it sounded like Don't be... Thank you, Danny.

And then Tucker was just... gone. But not gone, he was IN Danny. Not his mind, though. Tucker's consciousness had vanished, gone on perhaps finally to rest. But Tucker's body and his POWER had united with Danny.

And Danny's heart ached. Because now, not only was Tucker dead; he was also gone.

"It looks like you weren't afraid to destroy your friend after all, Daniel." Vlad's voice echoed through the room, coming from no source other than the speakers in the walls.

"Vlad. You're dead. YOU HEAR ME?" Danny bit his tongue. No... This was no time for hate. He couldn't hate Vlad, lest he become as bad as Vlad could ever be.

"My, my, Daniel. Was that a threat?"

"Come down hear and fight me, coward! Quit hiding behind my father's technology!"

"Ouch, such a stinging remark, child. Let me tell you this. I'll hide as long as I want to. Not because I fear you; far from it. But I fear what you could become if I provoke you. I suppose you'd forgive me if I invited a few friends without your permission?"

Suddenly the large technological constructs in the room began spinning, and the force they generated pushed Danny against the wall. He struggled to movie, but felt like gravity had increased 100 fold. And in the center of the room, more phantoms appeared. Some he recognized. Ember, The Lunch Lady, Walker. Even Klemper showed himself. Other's he didn't recognize were there, but nonetheless, they were under Vlad's control.

No, Tucker was no longer there. But he had left Danny with a gift and knew knowledge. The knowledge he would need to defeat Vlad.

The force pinning Danny against the wall faded, and Danny stood there, channeling his energy and Tucker's. "Thank you, Tuck," he whispered...

The final battle was about to begin.