Titanwolf: I'm glad to see you enjoyed the latest episode of LTF... this one, as you can guess from the summary, isn't going to be as fuzzy (no pun) as the previous.
Riverfox237: I appreciate your blow by blow commentary, and thank you for the pizzas. I hope you continue to enjoy LTF (the acronym for the fic).
Charizardag: Thanks for the awesome. This episode isn't going to be funny, though.
CherrySparklez: Thanks, I try. :-)
Kraven the Hunter: Yes, this was probably my silliest one yet. As for an LTF version of TUE, here's your chance to see if it's cool.
GhostsRule: LTF will last until either demand decreases or I get bored with it, whatever comes first. As for the cat thing... eh, Danny and Sam needed to be something cuddly. :D
D: This is what happens next. And yes, Vlad will be back, but I'm still working out the plotline of that episode. Check back in a few.
Okay, guys... usually, I frown upon fics that copy episodes. But, I think this one was too earth shaking to ignore, and some of you asked about how I'd treat the events of TUE. With that in mind, I tried to make it as original as I could from the main idea out. That, and the fact I also had memories of my own apocalyptic sophomore year dredged up (including nearly losing my own father and an explosion devastating something important to me) is why this is ep is so late. Also, I wanna warn you that like its canon counterpart, this is going to get a bit morbid and dark.
And now, the ultimate enemies.
Amity Park, 2015 C.E.
"Jazz, hurry!"
"I'm going as fast I can with a broken, arm, Tucker!"
Jazz Fenton, now twenty six and scarred with burns and other wounds, quickly pushed at a few buttons on the Fenton Portal. It was a miracle the thing still worked, as far as she was concerned. It was also a miracle it could be switched around from entering the Ghost Zone to the past...
"It's not fast enough!" Tucker cried, charging his weapon.
"Well, I'm sorry!"
"Oh, you will be..." a voice called mockingly. Jazz and Tucker stiffened.
"Jazz..." Tucker whimpered.
"I got it! It's charging now. We only need a minute m--" Before Jazz could finish, the roof of the old Fenton Lab exploded, and a cloud of debris flew downwards upon the young adults. Coughing, they looked up to see two tall, pale blue figures hovering above them. The "D" and "S" on their caped, white and black jumpsuits were more mocking than the smirks on their faces.
"Oh, guys..." Jazz breathed sadly.
"'Oh, guys,'" the female mocked. "You haven't changed at all."
"Speak for yourselves," Tucker growled.
"What a witty comeback," the male sighed as the two landed. "I have to hand it to you, Tucker, you managed to out do yourself in stupidity here."
"Oh, give it a rest, Danny, your taunts are terrible!" the man replied.
"'Danny?' I haven't been called that goofy name in ages. I prefer 'Phantom' myself, it's much more... forceful."
"Same with 'Sam.' I have no idea what my human half was thinking. 'Spectre,' though, has some power to it," the female added.
"You're still 'Danny' and 'Sam' to me, no matter what," Jazz said.
"Remind me again why you didn't take up corn farming..." Phantom yawned with an eye roll. "Anyway... what are you doing this time."
"It's a surprise," Tucker replied, keeping an eye on the portal. It was spinning faster now... just a little longer...
"Is it," Spectre asked with a note of annoyance.
"Yes," Jazz nodded.
"Look, why do you bother. We've already destroyed just about every city on the planet, and whoever survived is in fear of us... why bother fighting?" Phantom asked.
"Because we're gonna undo it..." Tucker snarled.
"Are you," Spectre asked. "And, you propose to do that... how?"
"Yes, the only to make sure my darling and I never happen is for your little friends to be, well..."
"Danny and Sam would have rather died than become you monsters!" Jazz cried, her eyes full of angry pain.
"Well, technically... they did both," Phantom shrugged. "And you're about to do the first, to be frank," he continued, aiming a glowing hand.
"You're going to kill your own sister?" Tucker asked, aghast. Without a word, Phantom fired, vaporizing Jazz to a small pile of ash. Tucker gaped; his eyes began to fill with angry tears.
"You tell me," Phantom smirked. Tucker threw a piece of debris in rage; it harmlessly phased through the spectral monster.
"Cute, Tuck," Spectre sneered. "Your turn now," she added as she also took aim with a charged hand. A buzzer suddenly started to sound around them. "What the devil!" Spectre snapped, looking around.
"That's my cue," Tucker smiled as he grabbed a book bag and dove for the portal. As he left, he hurled a small ball at the two. Before either could react, it exploded, destroying the portal and much of the machinery in the room. Phantom and Spectre, unharmed, frowned as the dust settled.
"This is most unfortunate," Spectre commented.
"Yes, for them..." Phantom observed as he looked at the table beside them, with its contents somehow intact from the blast. "It seems that our little friends don't know how to cover their tracks very well..." he continued, holding up a notebook. A quick look showed Spectre it was full of notes in Jazz's handwriting, detailing the process used to convert the Fenton Portal. Unfortunately for them, it had been destroyed.
"Oh, wonderful, it's been destroyed..." Phantom groused.
"Yes, but it wasn't the only one," Spectre replied. A wry smile crossed her fellow ghost's lips.
"Are you suggesting what I'm thinking?" Phantom smirked.
"I think it's time to visit an old... friend," Spectre smiled.
Amity Park, the Present
"I dunno, Tuck... isn't it a bit too early in the day for slasher flick?"
"Ah, it's okay, Sam... I understand if you're... chicken."
"Chicken?" Sam snapped, sitting up in the booth. "Tucker, I'm tacking licks from ghosts every other hour. It has nothing to do with guts for movies."
"Oh, sure it doesn't..." Tucker smirked.
"Leave off, Tuck," Danny admonished before sipping his soda.
"I just can't have any fun with you two, can I. 'Leave off, Tuck.' 'Toss me the Thermos, Tuck.' 'For cryin' out loud, Tuck, he's aiming a weapon at us'..."
"That... last one was actually bad," Sam commented.
"Oh, you would have gotten out of that no problem," Tucker dismissed.
"Yes, we would have gotten away from a multi-bazooka carrying Skulker bound from head to toe back to back," Danny sighed.
"While this has been insightful, guys," Sam said as she placed some money on the table, "we should get going. We're supposed to meet Jazz in a few minutes, and besides... the meat is giving me a headache."
"I told you, Sam. Chick. En."
"Oh, be quiet, Tucker," Sam groaned as the trio got up and left the restaurant.
"I don't wanna," Tucker huffed.
"Whatever," Sam groused, stepping into the fresh air. She breathed a deep breath, filling her lungs with clean air. "Much better," she added.
"Yeah, it does feel a bit cleaner," Danny nodded.
"I miss the marinade," Tucker sighed. Sam opened her mouth to scold Tucker when a sudden blast of wind slammed into the three teenagers with a flash of light, sending them backwards and wincing from the glare. As they rubbed their eyes, they blinked at what stood before them. It was a man, African American, about twenty four, looking like he had been through his worst nightmare and back. He adjusted his taped glasses and soiled beret, staring at Danny and Sam.
"Where'd he come from?" Tucker asked.
"Maybe he just got back from the war," Danny shrugged. "I don't know why he's giving us the evil eye, though..."
"This is for your own good," the man suddenly said.
"Um, what is?" Sam asked. Without a word, the man unclipped a huge weapon from his side and aimed it at her and Danny. The two froze, stunned. The invader was just starting to squeeze the trigger when a rock hit him upside the head, knocking him off balance and sending his volley harmlessly between his targets.
"Run, guys! Get out of here!" Tucker cried.
"Uh, right, right!" Danny gulped, taking Sam's hand and bolting down an alley with her. The man growled, staring daggers into Tucker.
"Why? Why did you do that? I had them perfectly!" he yelled.
"You're not gonna kill my friends in cold blood, pal!" Tucker snapped back. The man's eyes blinked with stunned recognition, then hardened.
"If you knew your 'friends' the way I knew them... you wouldn't be crying foul like that, kid." Before Tucker could ask what he meant, the man shoved past him and ran after the fleeing Danny and Sam. The boy jumped to his feet and barreled after him, barely noticing the voice to his left.
"Tucker! Where's Danny and Sam?" Jazz asked, pulling up.
"Being chased by some madman that wants to kill them!" he snapped back. That was all Jazz needed to know before diving out of her car in pursuit.
A few blocks away, Danny and Sam dove behind a dumpster, panting.
"Who is that guy?" Sam sputtered between pants.
"I dunno... some Terminator wannabe?"
"Yeah, well, I wannabe as far as I can from him," Sam shot back.
"Then perhaps you should have gone farther," a voice snarled behind them. Whirling, they found the mystery man bearing down on them, weapon at the ready. The teenagers yelped and phased through a wall, running through the building to the next alley over. They found their assailant waiting for them.
"You two aren't very good at this, are you?" he smirked.
"We try," Sam muttered. "And we're gonna defend ourselves if we have to." The man fired again, nearly taking Sam's head off.
"I'd say we have to," Danny observed. The two transformed and assumed fighting stances, opening fire. The man dove for cover behind a corner, growling.
"You're only delaying it, you little brats!" he screamed.
"That's fine, we prefer being at least half alive!" Sam shot back, firing another ectoplasmic barrage. The man ducked again, barely avoiding the blast.
"I'm not going to let you do it again!" he yelled.
"Do what again...?" Danny asked, confounded.
"Wouldn't you like to know," the man snarled, reaching into a pocket. He pulled a small ball free, clicked a button, and hurled it. Danny and Sam, not liking the ominous beeping sound, took off and just escaped the large explosion that followed.
"Why are you doing this!" Sam snapped.
"For the good of the future!" he shot back.
"Good of the..." Danny trailed off. He was too distracted by the confusing statement to see his attacker aiming another weapon at him. Sam, however, saw it and was trying to push him out of the way. The reaction came too late; the blast struck the small teenagers in the chest, flinging them against a wall. They cried out before crumbling to the ground, reverting to humans. The man strode over, arming his first gun.
"And now," he smirked, "you'll never harm anyone again." His taunt went unfulfilled, however, as a blunt object hit him from behind, sending him face first to the ground in a shower of stars.
The man came to several minutes later to four annoyed faces.
"All right, pal," Jazz groused. "Why were you chasing my little brother?"
"Ahem."
"Oh, right, and his girlfriend."
"Jazz? You're alive!" the man cried happily.
"...yeah, I'm pretty sure I am," Jazz answered, eyebrow raised. "That still doesn't tell me why you want to kill Danny and Sam."
"Because the little creeps need to die."
"Uh, what'd we do to you again...?" Danny asked.
"It's not what you did as much as what you'll do," the man replied. "And I intend to not let you do it." He lunged for the two, but it was at this moment he discovered he was well bound, and he flopped back to the ground.
"What we'll do?" Sam asked. "Are you from the future or something?"
"Yes. I from ten years from now," the man replied.
"And now that that's out of the way," Tucker asked, "who are you?"
"Take a good look, kid... see anything familiar?" Tucker squinted at the man before him, then widened his eyes as he finally noticed the glasses and beret.
"Are you...?" he boggled.
"Yep. I'm you, Tucker." the man nodded.
"Why are you try to kill my... our friends, uh, me?"
"Because I've lost all love and respect for them."
"Why?" Danny and Sam asked as one.
"You took all of it away," old Tucker replied.
"'It?'" his younger self asked.
"My family, my future... and something else," he said calmly, casting a mournful look at Jazz. The girl raised a confused eyebrow.
."Um, did we crash a car or something?" Sam asked.
"No. You murdered them."
"...murdered?" Danny asked.
"You destroyed the world. All of it. And you terrorize what little is left"
"We... did?" Sam gaped.
"You heard me. Starting tomorrow. Maybe even today, for all I know."
"You're lying," Danny shot back.
"Am I," old Tucker replied. "Take out my PDA. Left hip pocket." The younger Tucker turned the man over and fished the small, battered device out. "Now, open file 8HJ." The boy complied, and boggled at what he saw.
"What is it, Tuck?" Jazz asked.
"See for yourself," he replied numbly. Sam took the PDA and showed it to herself and the Fentons. The small computer was playing a video of New York City under attack by two creatures that were systematically destroying the great metropolis. Before switching to the collapsing Empire State Building, the camera zoomed in on the attackers. The letters on their chests, as well as the maniacal pleasure they were having, stuck out like sore thumbs.
"...no," Sam croaked.
"Um, yes," older Tucker replied.
"How did this happen..." Danny managed.
"It all started a few hours from now," the man said. "Some sort of rift opens up, and ghosts come out. They're a handful for you, they ravage the city. You try to beat them, but they''re just too powerful. They finally knock you out, right in front of everyone in town. Your cover gets blown."
"That doesn't explain why we're making Hitler look like a schoolyard bully," Sam replied as her future self destroyed Times Square.
"Well, you were being chased by the town after waking up. You managed to escape them after a little phasing and luck. You apparently rushed home, while Jazz and I tried to buy time for your escape. In your weak defense, you didn't ask for what happened next, but it still happened..."
"Oh jeez, oh jeez, oh jeez," Danny repeated over and over as he and Sam ran downstairs to the Fenton family lab.
"Danny, calm down!" Sam cried.
"Calm down? Calm down! How? We're about to be strung up by our intestines by our neighbors."
"That's... just gross," Sam winced. She looked around, struggling to think. "We need to undo what happened... if we go through the Portal again, do you think we'll get unglued from our ghost halves?"
"Worth a shot, I guess," Danny shrugged. "I don't have any other ideas."
"Then let's try it," Sam replied. She paused. "I'm... not gonna die, right?"
"I think you're okay now," Danny said with a shake of his head.
"Well, uh, good," she nodded. The two raced into the Portal. "Ready?" she asked. Danny nodded and hit the button. The familiar flash and searing pain tore through them, and with a concussive blast they were thrown free of the Portal. As the smoke cleared, Danny Phantom and Sammy Spectre floated there, confused.
"Why'd you do that?" Sammy asked.
"Yeah, what's the big deal?" Danny's ghostly counterpart asked.
"You're too much trouble for us now," Sam said curtly.
"What do you mean, too much trouble? Sam, you're alive because of me, remember?" Sammy insisted.
"Yeah, well, our cover has been blown. We gotta send you back to the Ghost Zone," Danny said. The ghosts blinked.
"You can't do that!" Danny Phantom cried. "We'll be torn to shreds!"
"I thought you liked us!" Sammy added.
"Well, I kinda did..." Sam admitted. "But the game's over, I'm afraid." With that, Sam pressed the button to clear the Portal. However, sparks suddenly shot from the control breakers. "What's happening?" she asked Danny.
"I dunno, shoddy inverted wiring?" he replied. The sudden burst of screaming made them whirl around to see their ghostly selves contorting in agony, clearly in pain. "Shut it off!" Danny cried. Sam hit the button, and the Portal shut down. The two ghosts hovered there, eyes closed and head hanging. The only notable change was their hair, now blazing purple and blue ectoplasmic flame.
"Uh, are you okay?" Sam asked. There was a pause, then the two ghosts jerked their heads up. Their eyes were blood red.
"You traitors," Sammy growled.
"Beg pardon?" Sam asked.
"We give you the abilities to fly and be linked in heart and mind... and you try to kill us!" Danny Phantom snarled. "Well... why don't we see how you like it?"
"What?" Danny managed before the ghost swooped upon them like avenging demons. The two teenagers were hurled against a wall, landing hard and tumbling against a table full of tools. Blood began to trickle from rends in their flesh.
"What are you doing!" Sam yelped. The ghosts refused to answer, instead picking them up and hurling them again across the room.
"Stop!" Danny pleaded.
"Why should we?" Danny Phantom asked. His teeth and ears were now tapered, his skin a pale greenish blue. Sammy also displayed the sudden transformation.
"Look, we'll take you back, just, just stop!" Sam sputtered. The two ghosts looked at each other, and a cold sneer spread across their faces.
"...if you insist," they snarled as the two dove into their former hosts. Crippling, searing pain tore through Danny and Sam, who flailed in agony. They strained for the other, but they were too far apart and in too much agony. Their skin seemed to tear, bright blue cracking through their tattered clothes. With a bright flash, the two seemed to vaporize, leaving their ghostly halves on the floor, in the positions they themselves were last in. They relaxed, grinning.
"Much better," Sammy smirked.
"What say we have a little fun with our... unappreciative neighbors," Danny Phantom suggested.
"Don't have to ask me twice," Sammy replied. The two blasted through the house, laughing maniacally in anticipation.
"We know they're in there!" Dash snapped.
"You're not getting in!" Jazz shot back. "It's our house!"
"Oh yeah?" Kwan replied. "We'll just see about th--" His threat was cut off by the shattering of wood and metal. The mob looked up to see a set of blurs tear out of the house and hove above the hole they had made.
"It's them!" a man yelled.
"What do you have to say for yourselves, okay?" Paulina sniffed. "I totally used to like you, Inviso-Bill!" The two hovered for a moment, then aimed their glowing fists at the Latino. Before she could even register this, the two opened fire, incinerating her. Uncomprehending horror tore through the mob, which ran screaming in all directions. Grinning, the monsters mowed the fleeing mobs down, vaporizing swaths of people. Cars and buildings exploded as flammable objects reacted with plasma fire.
"Holy crud!" Tucker cried. Jazz grabbed his arm and ran. Around her, buildings crumbled, cars blazed, and people vanished in puffs of ectoplasm and ash. As another row of houses exploded behind them, Tucker and Jazz dove behind a brick wall before risking a look. Their loved ones regarded their rampage with a contented smile for a moment, then slowly flew for downtown. For a moment, the pink shape of Valerie Gray appeared, but the creature that used to be Samantha Manson obliterated her effortlessly before she could fire a single shot. Jazz's eyes widened in terror as she saw her battered parents jump into the RV and speed after them. The terror grew as she saw the thing that was her former little brother turn and fire with a grin into the street; a molten tread flew out of the smoldering roadway. They then flew off, laughing.
"What... happened?" Tucker managed. Jazz, tearing, couldn't respond.
Danny and Sam stared at old Tucker, tears in their eyes and hands over their mouths in terror.
"And it just went from there," he continued. "You killed just about everyone in Amity Park. Even your own respective parents."
"No," Sam croaked.
"And you didn't stop with Amity Park. You annihilated every city on the planet. New York, Paris, Sydney, Tokyo, Cairo, London... all destroyed."
"How many people are left?" Danny managed.
"At best? Half a billion," Tucker shrugged. His former friends collapsed into a sitting position, shell shocked.
"Now I see why you wanted to kill us," Sam whispered.
"Well, good. It's not too late," old Tucker urged.
"He's right," Danny said suddenly. "He has to do it."
"What!" Jazz snapped. "That's insane!"
"You heard him!" Sam shot back. "We're gonna wipe out the human race!"
"YOU aren't," young Tucker corrected.
"Well, we will!" Danny sputtered. "He needs to do it!"
"Just untie me, and I promise it'll be quick."
"No, we'll untie you, and you'll help us prevent my little brother and his girlfriend from turning into inhuman killing machines," Jazz replied.
"Why should I? Those monsters took my life and crushed it."
"Because those monsters used to be your friends, who aren't those monsters yet. The future isn't set in stone, you know, Star Trek says so!" She froze. "Not that I watch it, of course..."
"All right, fine," old Tucker sighed. "But, understand this... I'm going to stop Phantom and Spectre from existing by any means necessary."
"We understand," Danny and Sam nodded glumly.
"Good. Now, we can untie you," Jazz said. "And I assure you, we can do this... what's going to stop us?"
Plasmius Castle, 2015 C.E.
"That was fun," Phantom smirked as he dropped Vlad's broken body.
"I bet, the foolish old man," Spectre replied as she keyed in the last few settings on the portal. "We're ready to go over here, by the way."
"Good," Phantom said as he strode over to his fellow ghost. "Now, one little problem... after we make sure our cuddly young selves grow up to be big and strong, how do we get back to our proper time?"
"We'll take these," Spectre replied, holding up two coins from Vlad's pocket. "I figure if we drop these things, we'll come back automatically."
"That's not very foolproof," Phantom frowned. "It wouldn't take much to drop a coin, you know..."
"Phase them in, you idiot," Spectre spat as she demonstrated by fusing the coin into her chest.
"You always were the smart one," Phantom smirked. "Now, let's go destroy poor little Danny and Sam, shall we?"
"With pleasure," Spectre replied.
With that, the two walked forward and vanished into the swirling vortex. Neither noticed the portal's control panel suddenly starting to eject sparks, and they were already gone by the time the warning klaxons sounded...
TO BE CONCLUDED