Danny couldn't believe it. It seemed so unreal. He had chained together all the events that had put him in that flaming forest where he almost lost his life, and in a bizarre twist of events, it was his dad's last invention that ended up saving him from the ring of fire closing in on him.

It was ironic that his dad made ghost hunting equipment when he was really hunting down his own son, but even more ironic that it was the equipment that was made to hunt ghosts that ended up saving Danny. His life since he first met Horrick when the Comptons moved in had gotten very complicated, and he hoped it would end soon.

And it looked like it was going to, because after Jack's "last invention" saved Danny from the fire, a clear pathway ahead into the forest was seen. And right at the end of the pathway was a giant, transparent tube that had a black jumpsuit floating in it, surrounded by black, ghostly energy. There was no mistaking it; those were his powers, all right.

Danny broke a huge smile of joy and relief when he saw his powers in that tube. Despite the immense physical stress his body had overcome, Danny quickly made his way over to the tube and found a small door on it. He pounded the door with the side of his fist, and the door gave in.

Once the door was down, Danny reached inside the cylinder-shaped tube and tried to grab at his powers. But as soon as he did, the black jumpsuit turned completely white and started to float. It went right in front of Danny, and then forced itself inside of him. As the white matter poured through him, Danny felt his entire body regain its strength. His legs, which were feeling heavy yet light at the same time, were now feeling strong and stable. His lungs didn't feel pain every single time he tried to breathe in now, and he was able to concentrate on everything around him now.

His eyes squeezed shut, and when he opened them, they were a shade of green.

"Yes!" Danny hissed with excitement. He was happy that he had his powers back now and was guaranteed to get out of the forest alive. "Now all I got to do is fly out of here, and…"

"You're not going anywhere!" said a deep voice.

Danny gasped and stopped himself in mid speech. He hoped he could just fly upwards, past the trees and escape, but he wanted to know who just stopped him right there.

Danny looked around and tried to find where that voice was coming from. He looked forwards, to the side and behind him, but he couldn't see anyone or anything. His question was answered when he heard some rustling.

Danny looked upwards, and in a smoldering tree, a black figure jumped out. The figure looked like he was taller than Danny and he was black as charcoal with a huge amount of red smoke coming from him. Just touching him could give someone a burn that would scar them for the rest of their life.

"Admirable. Truly admirable," said the black figure. "I can't believe it. I fight you three times, and no matter how close I came to winning, you always came out on top!"

"Horrick…" Danny said. He clenched his hands at his side and transformed into his ghost half. He was exhausted, and still being in the hot forest as the other parts of it were still on fire and made the entire area scorching.

"Yes," Horrick said. "I kidnap your friends and family, and just as I was about to win, you beat me in that fight. You set me on fire, inadvertently giving me all these amazing powers over fire! Then I try to roast you when you go into your school's bathroom, and…"

"Wait a minute!" Danny yelled. "You mean when I was going into the bathroom in school the other day, and that giant burst of fire came out of it…that was you, trying to kill me?"

"Yes!" Horrick yelled. "And once again you managed to survive. Then I have Compton take his ghost hunting suit and try to destroy you with it. His suit was better than anything your parents could have concocted, and yet you still defeated him anyway!"

Danny wasn't sure whether or not Horrick was complementing him, but he continued to grind his teeth and keep his fists clenched at his side. Fighting Horrick was the last thing that he wanted. He was still very exhausted after just barely making it through the blazing woods.

"And then I come and take your powers, so you're completely helpless!" Horrick continued. "But you come back in your new battle suit and run into my house, looking for your powers. You inexplicably figure out me having no fire will cause me to lose my strength, and you beat me yet again."

"Is there a point to this?" Danny asked.

"Even after I've set my house on fire, you escape and run into these woods looking for your powers, but now you don't even have your suit to protect you. I set this entire forest on fire, and yet you still find a way to survive. And now you've found your powers. That is truly admirable."

"Thanks," Danny said in a way that made it obvious he didn't care and that he could tell Horrick was being insincere. "The only thing that'll make it more proud is if I fight you now and beat you!"

Horrick started smiling. "I knew you wouldn't last long without saying that. You want a fight to the death? Fine."

Horrick put out his hand, and a sword completely made of fire appeared in it. "If you want to defeat me so badly, then do it!"

Now Danny was sure this was all it had come down to. Everything that he had been through had come down to this very fight.

Horrick started by leaping in the air with more energy than Danny thought he had and he took a vicious swing at Danny with his fiery sword. Danny ducked out of the way just in time and jumped into the air and started floating.

"Too slow!" Danny taunted.

Horrick replied to this by jumping in the air and floating right beside him. He took savage swings at Danny while they both floated, and it took Danny's sharpest reflexes to dodge Horrick's sword every single time.

"Hey, are you going to actually try to hit me, or are you just trying to get your aerobics in?" Danny asked, trying his best to get on Horrick's nerves.

Horrick grunted, and then took a vertical swing, trying to slice Danny at the side of the neck. Danny ducked out of the way and the sword cut off the branch in a tree like it was a laser going through butter.

The branch fell off and plummeted to the ground. Danny stopped floating and dropped to the ground and picked up the long branch. He looked up and saw Horrick charging at him, with his sword ready to strike.

After quickly dodging it, Danny lifted up the giant branch and started making forceful pokes towards Horrick with it. Horrick just took a swipe at the branch and cut off the end of it, though.

Danny's weapon was now drastically shorter, but at least he could still fight with it. Now that the branch he was holding was lighter, he could swing it much faster. But just as he tried stabbing it at Horrick again, Horrick made another slash with his sword. This time, the cut wasn't completely straight, so part of the end was pointed.

But after being cut off twice, the branch now felt relatively light and Danny thought he might be able to throw it now as a spear or something with its more pointed end.

Just as Horrick was ready to make another slash, Danny threw the branch like a spear and it hit Horrick in the arm, and planted itself there.

Horrick let out a scream of pain and dropped his sword on the ground. Danny quickly took this opportunity to make a run for it and to grab it.

But just as his hand came into contact with the sword, he withdrew his hand and let out a loud scream of pain. He looked at his hand, and it now looked relatively black. In fact, Danny could swear he even saw some smoke coming out of it.

Horrick started snickering. "Did you not notice that sword was completely made of fire!" he yelled. "Go ahead, try to pick it up again!"

Instead, Danny jumped in the air again and flew over to Horrick as fast as he could. He delivered a quick kick to Horrick's stomach, but it didn't seem to hurt Horrick too much.

"Come on, Danny," Horrick taunted. "I thought you had more in you than that."

"I do!" Danny insisted. "How about some of this!"

Danny held out his hand and fired a blast of energy at Horrick, but Horrick countered by throwing a ball of fire. The two forms of energy collided, and created a small explosion in mid air.

"It's over, Danny," Horrick said. "Your simple ghost powers are no match for fire powers!"

"You're wrong!" Danny screamed. He flew over to a tree, and Horrick threw some fire at him. Danny ducked, mumbling the words, "Good. I was hoping you'd do that."

The fire severed a branch from the tree, and the branch fell to the ground. Danny flew down to pick it up and started using it as a weapon once again.

Now, it was a standoff scene between the two. Both of them stared at each other without saying a word, until Horrick finally made the first attack. He threw up both of his hands, and two pillars of fire. Danny had to quickly jump out of the way of both of them so he wouldn't get roasted.

"All right, nice try!" Danny said. "My turn!"

Danny took a violent swing at Horrick's head with the heavy piece of wood. The blow hit, and Horrick was knocked onto the ground, clutching the side of his head in pain.

As Horrick moaned, Danny floated down and still clutched the branch in his hand. "It's over, Horrick. You've lost. Time to give in."

Horrick groaned and looked up at Danny. He was still clutching the side of his head, and it looked like it was even dented a little. Maybe Danny had hit Horrick there a little too hard.

"N…never!" Horrick hissed. "I will avenge my daughter…I will avenge Aria!"

After he finished this thought, Horrick jumped up and started fighting even more savagely than he did before. Without using any of his powers, he started violently throwing punches and slamming his fists into Danny in any spots that would register pain.

Danny didn't see this and therefore wasn't able to react to it or defend himself. He got several blows to the face, causing a flow of blood from his nose and losing a lot of breath as he could hits to the stomach.

Finally, Horrick gave Danny one last punch in the stomach and threw him on to the ground. Danny was slugging around on the ground, dropping his weapon. His eyes were squeezed shut, and when he finally opened them, he saw Horrick giving him possibly the coldest stare he had ever gotten.

"You have caused me so much pain and suffering over these past few days, Danny," Horrick said.

"You shouldn't be the one talking," Danny managed to get out.

"Well, you won't be talking anymore in a moment," Horrick said.

The entire forest around them went deadly quiet. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of fire sizzling in trees that were too far away to see, and the faint amount of smoke made it look foggier.

"I still am," Danny moaned. Finally, he clenched up his fist. "…and I don't plan on stopping any time soon!"

Danny rolled out of the way, just as Horrick was ready to deal a finishing blow. He got up off the ground and ran over to the branch that he had been using for defense. He started taking swings at Horrick's head again with it, but in his weakened state, he wasn't able to swing it that fast.

Horrick fired one more fireball at Danny's branch, and it got reduced to a pile of ash. Danny was now unarmed, and Horrick looked like he was ready to fire again. Except this one looked like it was going to be completely disastrous. Horrick charged up a giant fireball that was almost bigger than he was.

Danny's eyes widened at this site, and just as Horrick fired it, he jumped out of the way. It looked exactly the way dodges look in action movies: a jump that seemed to go in slow motion that just barely missed getting caught in a fiery explosion.

The giant fireball completely annihilated the tree behind Danny. The tree started to give in, and it's trunk was now so small it looked like a little kid could snap it in half. The giant tree it was supporting fell down. The burned stump might as well have been trying to support the tree as a piece of hay.

As the tree started collapsing, it leaned in Horrick's direction. Danny had jumped out of the way and was recovering from the quick jump. As he got up, he saw the massive tree falling right towards Horrick.

Horrick let out a loud scream, but it wasn't clear whether it was from fear, shock, or anger. The giant tree fell on top of him and smashed him like a bug.

Danny gasped breathlessly as the giant tree remained on top of Horrick. He didn't say anything, but rather just sat there and stared at the sight of the tree falling on top of his enemy.

The silence was at last broken when Danny got up. He ran over to the tree and looked at it for the longest time, mixed emotions flowing through his mind. "Horrick?...Horrick!"