Chapter Three: The Darkness Grows

Our heros were running through the streets of Amity Park, not caring who saw them. They had no time to care about that, they had to get to Danny's house. They ran up the stairs of the house and burst through the door.

"Mom! Dad! Jazz! We have a major problem!" shouted Danny.

"What is it son?' said Jack, who was sitting on the couch next to Maddie drinking some soda.

"Dan is back." was all he said, this caused Jack to spit out his soda, spraying everyone.

"Yo..you mean that evil form of you from the future you told us about?" said Jack.

"Yes, and he is working with Vlad and the other ghosts, and they have a army just outside of town." said Danny.

"Oh dear god no, Jack! Quickly, we have to prepare the town's defenses!" said Maddie as they ran to the lab.

Jazz then came running down the stairs after hearing all the noise.

"Danny, what's wrong?" said Jazz, who was back from college for winter break.

"Dan Phantom is back." said Danny.

"No! how? I thought you defeated him and that ghost Clockwork had him." said Jazz.

"That's what I thought too, some how he escaped, and I suspect Vlad might be the cause. He and the other ghosts have a army on the outskirts of town and they are about to attack." said Danny.

"We have to get ready then, I'll gather the weapons and you guys get the combat suits out of the closet..." began Jazz, before Alicia spoke up.

"Uh, I hate to interrupt this moment of panic, but who the hell is Dan Phantom?" said Alicia.

"Yeah, and what was that about a future version of you?" Alex said to Danny.

Danny looked around at his friends for support, and to his sister, who gave him a slight nod of the head to tell him he should tell them.

"Well, you remember that ghost we saw earlier, the one with the flaming white hair, blue skin, and pointy ears, wearing a black and white jump suit?" said Danny.

"The one that freaked you out? Yeah, we remember." said Alicia.

"Well, he is a evil version of me from the future, two years ago, before Vlad's first attempt at world conquest, he came back to try to make me cheat on the C.A.T. so it would ruin my future." said Danny.

"How would that ruin your future?" said Alex.

"Me cheating would have led to a chain of events where all my family and friends would have died. This would have forced me to go to live with Vlad, where I would ask him to remove my ghost half, but my ghost half would rip out Vlad's as well and merge with it, forming the greatest monster the world would ever know. He would go on to destroy the Earth." said Danny, hang his head as he finished.

"Wow." is all they can say.

"So now that you know you must hate me." said Danny.

"Don't be ridiculous, you are our friend, we could never hate you." said Alicia.

"Really?" said Danny.

"Of course, you defeated that evil future version of yourself and saved your friends and family, if that doesn't prove you are a good person, I don't know what could." said Alex.

"Thanks guys." said Danny.

"Don't mention it, now come one we have some ghosts to fight." said Alicia.

"But how are we going to do it? They have all of our enemies on their side, plus a army." said Tucker.

"We'll just have to keep fighting until they are piles of ectoplasmic goo." said Valerie.

"Yeah, we have a ghost boy, three magic users, and a bunch of ghost fighters on our side, we can do this." said Sam.

"But we need time to prepare, and I doubt Vlad or Dan will give us the time we need." said Jazz.

"Danny! Danny's friends! Jazz! Come down here, we have something to show you!" Jack shouted up the stairs from the lab.

The teen heros ran down the stairs, where Danny's parent's and Valerie's dad were waiting.

"Dad? What are you doing here?" said Valerie.

"He's been working with use on our latest invention, the Fenton Town Wide Ghost Shield." said Jack.

"What is that?" said Danny.

"It's a shield that is made specifically to protect the whole town, it is much more powerful then the original ghost shield, and it has the ability to shock ghost that touch it." said Damien, Valerie's Dad.

"It is run by a series of towers on the town line that interact with a ghost shield generator on the top of Amity Park's highest building." said Maddie.

"This will keep V-man's army out of the town long enough for us to prepare a plan to defeat them." said Jack (AN: He still calls Vlad V-man, I guess old habits die hard)

"Cool, this is just what we needed." said Danny. (AN: Yay! Lets hear it for convenient inventions!)

"So that's why you've been in the lab since November." said Sam.

"Yeah, but now we have to activate the shield, and the town ghost warning system." said Damien as he turned on the device.

Suddenly a series of towers rose out of the ground around the town, much like th ones in the Ultimate Enemy, only more primitive. A glowing blue shield began to descend from the highest office building in the town and connected to the towers, forming a ghost proof bubble both under and above the town. The people of Amity Park looked at this strange event, then a air raid siren began to wail, and the giant tv screen in the middle of town turned on, showing the faces of Jack and Maddie Fenton.

"Attention people of Amity Park, this is Jack and Maddie Fenton.." said Jack.

"Hi everybody!" said Maddie.

"Evil ghosts are on the outskirts of our town with a huge army, they are planing to invade our town. We urge everyone to go to their homes and hide anywhere they can. Even though we are all in mortal danger I want you to know this, this is not my fault! I repeat this is not my fault!" said Jack as the TV turned off.

And with the organization you only find in a town that is attacked by ghosts more then once a week, the people of Amity Park went home in a orderly fashion. They ran around screaming and panicking, but it was a orderly panic.

Meanwhile back with Vlad's army just outside if town, they we're in for a shock. As they were preparing to march on the town. Then suddenly a series of towers rose before them and a shield sprang from them.

"What the hell is that thing?" said Ember.

"I don't know, it looks like a ghost..." said Vlad as he was about to touch it

"Vlad! Don't touch the..." said Dan, but it was to late.

Vlad touched the shield and was instantly shocked and thrown back, his hair standing on end, like a giant Afro.

"...shield, I tried to warn him." said Dan.

"Ow, what hit me?" said Vlad.

"Vlad, your all right, I'm so relieved." said Dan in a voice of fake concern.

"What is that thing?" said Ember again.

"It's a ghost shield that is designed to protect the town, most likely from us. It also has the power to shock any ghosts that try to touch it." said Dan.

"How do you know that?" said Vlad.

"Because it looks just like the one that they used to keep me out of Amity Park in the future." said Dan.

"Oh great now how are we going to get into the town." said Skulker.

"I did find a way past the shield in my time." said Dan.

"What could you use to get past a ghost shied?" said Technus.

"My ghostly wail." said Dan.

"How is a big, dead fish going to help us?" said Johnny 13

"Johnny, whales are mammals, not fish." said Kitty.

"I knew she was the smarter of the two." thought Dan, then he continued.

"I didn't mean the ocean dwelling kind of whale, I meant a wail as in a yell or scream." said Dan.

"So what will that do?" said Walker.

"it will destroy the towers keeping the shield together, allowing us to march into the city." said Dan.

"Excellent, this shield will not stop us, and soon Daniel and his friends will fell our wrath." said Vlad.

"Just say when you want to attack, and I'll take care of the shield." said Dan.

"Good, we attack in one hour." said Vlad, as he and the others left.

Dan caught up to Technus and grabbed his shoulder, stopping the technology ghost.

"Did you finish the ray gun's?" said Dan.

"Yes, and I do have to say they are the greatest inventions I have ever made." said Technus as he handed them over.

"I wouldn't expect any less from the master of technology." said Dan to Technus's face "Idiot." he said under his breath.

"What was that?" said Technus.

"I said they are ingenious." said Dan quickly.

'They are aren't they. Well I have to get back to the hunter destroyer robots and make sure they are ready." said Technus as he flew off.

"Excellent, soon all my plans will come to pass, and then I will have all that I want." thought Dan, he then noticed Kitty was looking at him funny.

"What?" said Dan.

"Uh, I was just noticing how handsome you look, you must have to beat the ghost girls off of you with a stick." said Kitty.

"I actually had to do that once, I'm very popular with the ladies." said Dan (AN: Ugh, is this guy full of himself or what.)

"What a interesting story, I have to go find Johnny now." said Kitty as she flew off.

"What is with that girl, I better keep a eye on her." said Dan as he flew back to join the rest of the army.

Meanwhile in Fenton Works, our heros were preparing for battle. It appears that in addition to the new ghost shield, Danny and Valeier's parents had been working on a improved versoin of the Fenton Battle Suit. This version was smaller, so it looked like normal body armor, and had its own power source. They had gotten the idea when Danny had told them about the incident at Vlad's castle with the original Battle Suit. They had used the ectocalibrator, and a energy staff Danny had "borrowed" from Technus to power the suits. They we're also beginning to gather the weapons they needed.

"Ok, Danny and Valerie will be in the first line of defense, they will try to take out all the main ghosts, Alicia and Sam will help them." said Maddie.

"Are you sure we should send Sam and Alicia, they'll just have some weapons and the ghosts have powers" said Damien. (AN: he doesn't know of Sam or Alicia's powers.)

"Don't worry Damien, they will be fine, now for the rest of use, Me, Jack and Damien will use the Fenton RV and the Specter Speeder to take out any ghost soldiers, Jazz, Tucker, and Alex will also help with thining out the army. Once that is done we will face Vlad and Dan and defeat them, does everyone understand?" said Maddie.

Everyone nodded their heads.

"Good, then we wait for the time to attack." said Maddie.

"Do you think we will win?" said Sam to Danny.

"I hope so, I don't want to think of what would happen if we lost." said Danny.

As our heros prepared for the fight ahead, on the outskirts of town Vlad's army was preparing to march into the town.

"Are we ready?" said Dan.

"Yes we are, now destroy that shield." said Vlad.

"With pleasure." said Dan.

He flew up into the air and faced the towers, then he released his ghostly wail. It was a massive sound, unlike anything any of them had heard before, everyone covered their ears. Then sound kept going until it hit the towers. The towers began to shake and finally they started to explode, one by one they blew up, dropping the shield. Soon they were all gone and they shield over the town disappeared.

"Troops! Move into the town, and destory all that lay before you." said Vlad, his army began to march into the town. Dan flew back down to join the rest of the group.

"Excellent work." said Vlad.

"That's's one hell of a voice you got there." said Ember.

"Thank you, I do try my best" said Dan, smiling smugly.

The ghosts followed Vlad's army, ready to visit some pain on Danny and his friends.

Meanwhile the Danny's his parents and friend's and Mr. Grey were still going over the battle plans, Alicia, Sam, and Tucker's family had offered to help, but Maddie said it was too dangerous for inexperienced fighters to tag along, so they were hiding in the Szivos's basement next door. They were just about to do a weapons check when two alarms started to go off.

"What's that noise?" said Sam.

"Its two of our alarms, though I can't remember which ones." said Jack.

"Oh my god! That's the town ghost invasion alarm and the alarm to the ghosts shield!" said Maddie.

She and Damien raced over to the monitors that told them of the status of the shield around the town. What they saw horrified them.

"Oh no! The towers have been destroyed, Vlad and his army are entering Amity Park." said Damien.

"What, how can this happen?" said Jack.

"From the last read out it says they used some kind of powerful sonic ghost energy." said Damien.

"I don't care how they did it, we have to stop them." said Jack.

"But Mr. Fenton, we're not ready yet." said Valerie.

"It does not matter, we have to fight them, whether we're prepared our not." said Jack.

"Ok kids, you heard him, lets go kick Vlad's butt." said Maddie.

The ghost fighter got ready for the fight of their lives, Danny, Valerie, Sam, and Alicia were in the front with everyone following them. They flew down the street and to the edge of town where the ghost army was.

Meanwhile the ghosts were having a wonderful time. They had started to destroy parts of the town in their path and capture any humans they had found. Ember and Skulker were using their powers to knock down the towns important buildings, such as town hall and the police station. Technus was destroying the towns infrastructure, and Walker was driving the humans they captured back to their side of the line. The rest of the ghosts were just randomly causing chaos and anarchy, with the hunter destroyer robots wreaking the pitiful defenses the police were trying to throw up in front of the army, and capturing more humans. The one who was having the most fun was Dan, who was enjoying destroying large swaths of the town.

"I haven't had this much fun in ages!" said Dan as he blew up the mall.

"Well save your strength, we still have Daniel and his friends to deal with." said Vlad.

"Lord Plasmius! I have spotted the ghost child and the other ghost fighters quickly approaching." said the Fright Knight.

"So Daniel and his friends did come to fight, I have to give the boy credit for being brave, its suicidally stupid, but its brave." said Vlad.

"They will be here any minute." said the Fright Knight.

"Good, tell the army to be prepared." said Vlad.

"Yes Lord Plasmius." said the Fright Knight as he left.

"Are you ready for this?" said Vlad.

"I've been waiting for this for a long time." said Dan.

"Good." said Vlad, as the army continued its destruction.

Our heros were quickly approaching the army, and while they were moving they had a few things to say to each other.

"Danny, do you think we will stop them?" said Sam.

"I don't know, but they will not win without a fight." said Danny.

"Danny, if I we don't make it I want you to know that I love you." said Sam.

"I love you too, Sam, don't worry, we'll get through this." said Danny.

Valerie and Alicia decided tot head the hover board back the RV and Specter Speeder to talk to their loved ones.

"Alex, I don't know what will happen, I just want you to know I love you." said Alicia.

"I love you too, don't worry, with our "special fighting abilities", we will win." said Alex.

"Tucker, I don't know if we will get through this all right, so I just want to say I love you on last time." said Valerie.

"I love you too, and don't worry, we'll kick Vlad's butt and save the day like we always do." said Tucker.

"That's my Tucker." said Valerie.

"Valerie, I just want to say that I am proud of you and all the good you've done." said Damien.

"Thanks Dad." said Valerie.

Meanwhile in the Specter Speeder Jack and Maddie were talking.

"Jack, do you think we will win this fight?" said Maddie.

"Of course we will! Because we're Fentons, and no ghost can beat a Fenton." said Jack.

"Ok, if you say so." said Maddie, then she turned to Jazz.

"Jazz sweetie?" said Maddie.

"Yes mom?" said Jazz.

"If I and your father don't make it out of this fight I want you to take care of Danny for us." said Maddie.

"Don't say things like that." said Jazz.

"It still is a possibility, so please promise me." said Maddie.

"Ok mom, I promise." said Jazz. (AN: Woah, the story is getting depressing here.)

The group of ghost fighters drove on in silence after this. In a few minutes they saw the army, and it was huge. It was made up of ghost skeletons and hunter destroyer robots, thousands of them. They had halted the second the our heros arrived on the scene, and standing in front of them were Danny's main enemies, and in front of them all were Vlad and Dan. Our heros jumped out of their vehicles and faced the evil that had invaded their town.

"So Daniel, you and your pathetic band of fighters decided to face us. Personally I thought you would run." said Vlad.

"You owe me five bucks." said Dan.

"That I do." said Vlad.

"Hey Vlad, what do you say we cut out the witty banter and get to the part where we kick your butts." said Danny.

"If that's what you want. Army! Attack!" said Vlad and his army surged forward.

"Charge!" was all that Danny said, and they ran at Vlad's army.

So began the fight to decide the fate of the Earth and all humanity began.

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Me: So the Battle has begun, this should be one hell of a show, but I know Danny will win, because he is the good guy and they always win.

Ember: Yeah, that's why they can get annoying.

Me: Hey if it wasn't for good guys always winning Vlad and Dan would have fried our butts a along time ago.

Ember: Good point.

Me: And now the chapter summery.

Well the fight for the future of the human race has begun, there is no way to tell right now who will win, but my moneys on Danny. The ghosts have invaded the town and Vlad's plan seems to be working for now, but Dan seems to have something behind his back. How will it affect the battle for the planet? Will our heros defeat the ghost army? Or are we all doomed? Just to be safe book passage on the first ship off planet, while you do that read the next chapter of the Return of Dan.

Me: Until next Time Danny Phantom fans, Read and Review!