In one of my last reviews, I got asked the question on why Horrick didn't just set the tree on fire or anything that could have saved him. It's not going to be explained in the story, so let me try to explain now. Ever see a movie where something big is about to crush somebody, but instead of running away, the camera just shows them screaming as the giant object is about to crush them? (or something similar to that) It's the same basic thing. Horrick was just in shock and didn't know what to do, and he simply took too long to get out of the way.

Anyway, thank you guys so much for those reviews last chapter. I don't usually get four reviews for the same story for a few chapters in a row, so thank you very much for that. Please keep reviewing, because reviews mean a lot to me!

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Danny stared at the tree that had collapsed on Horrick. He screamed Horrick's name a few times, but he didn't get any response. After not being able to take the painful silence any longer, (aside from the sound of fire burning in the trees off in the distance) Danny ran over to the giant tree that was on top of Horrick.

Danny put his hands against the tree and tried his best to push the tree off of him, but it was no use. The tree was too heavy; it barely budged.

Without even saying anything, Danny put out his hands and started firing some of his ectoplasmic energy at the tree. He cut two lines straight down the vertical middle of it, with Horrick in between those two lines. That way, Danny could easily just push away the part that was on top of his enemy.

After doing so, Danny pushed the stub of the tree he had cut off of Horrick and rolled it to the side.

There was a gruesome sight left for Danny after the log was pushed off of Horrick, because Horrick was now smashed. He looked very flat, like a bug after you squash it.

Horrick was lying on his stomach, so Danny turned him over to see what his front side looked like. His face looked very badly smashed in, and some of his teeth were knocked out or out of place.

Danny tried not to show any signs of disturbance looking at Horrick's crushed figure, but it was hard. After all, it wasn't everyday you saw someone right after a giant tree fell on top of them.

Danny slowly bent downwards and tried to pick up Horrick's remains, until Danny got the shock of his life. As he lifted up Horrick's corpse, Horrick's eyes twitched and focused on him. Danny's heart skipped a beat.

"What…do you…think…you're doing?" Horrick managed to croak out. His face had no emotions on it, and his voice sounded drier than someone after being stuck out in the desert for weeks.

Danny gasped and he didn't have any words to say for a while. He just stared open-mouthed in disbelief at the fact Horrick was still alive. Even though Horrick could clearly no longer fight, Danny was still afraid of him for some reason.

Finally, Danny got some of his determination back and looked Horrick in the eye. "I'm doing what I should have done a long time ago!" Danny snapped.

After he said this, Danny seemed to inexplicably get stronger. He lifted Horrick up onto his shoulders and started flying out of the burning forest. After he was a safe distance away from it, he turned around and saw nothing but a burnt structure for Horrick's mansion and once green trees that were now smoldering, were on fire, or were completely gone.

"My…home…" Horrick hissed when he saw what he had done to it.

"Yeah, it could have still been yours if you had just minded your own business!" Danny scolded. He turned around and started flying away from Horrick's house. That would be the last time Horrick would ever see it.

Danny flied through the entire Ghost Zone back to the portal to his house. He passed though the swirling green gate and found himself back in his basement, victorious.

"Whew," Danny said, exhaling. "It's over."

"It's…not…over," Horrick said.

Danny had almost forgotten Horrick was still slumped over his shoulder. In fact, Danny had forgotten entirely why he brought Horrick back with him. But, after seeing Horrick's completely black body that looked nothing more than a human mold of charcoal, Danny remembered what he was doing.

"No, trust me on this one," Danny replied. "It. Is. OVER!"

Danny instantly went intangible and flew both him and Horrick out of their house and outside. Danny became visible again and started flying high above the streets, looking obsessively for something.

Then, Danny found it. After a short, but loud, "Aha!", Danny started descending down into a small area between two patches of trees. The sound of running water could be heard as he planted his feet on the ground.

"Why…have you tak…en…me here?" Horrick managed to break out and somehow finding the strength to talk.

"Horrick, you're not doing yourself any favors by holding on like this," Danny said, looking his nemesis in the eyes. "You're only causing more suffering for yourself."

"I…will…not…die," Horrick croaked.

"Oh, really?" Danny asked. He then looked ahead of him, and non-verbally gestured for Horrick to do the same. Horrick painstakingly turned his head and gasped on his breath at what he saw.

In front of them was the stream that Danny had spent the night when he ran away from home on the day Aria died. The running water looked peaceful, but knowing what he was about to do, Danny thought the water actually looked rather treacherous.

Horrick's eyes widened. He, too, saw what Danny was planning on doing. Slowly, Danny walked over to the water and took a few steps into it, just enough for his feet to be submerged.

"Horrick, you've been a real pain these past few weeks, you know?" Danny asked. "I tried to reason with you, but you wouldn't listen. And now…well, this is what you're getting because of it."

"Ha!" Horrick yelled. "This…can't be what…you consid…er…vengeance?"

"Trust me," Danny said, giving Horrick a gentle and almost caring look, "I'm doing this for your own good, not mine."

Horrick didn't know what to say. He wanted to try to wiggle his way out of Danny's arms, but he was too weak.

"Horrick, you're nothing except one giant pile of walking ash now," Danny said. "And your home is now burned down. Where the heck do you think you're going to live now?"

Horrick didn't say anything. Instead, he only grumbled at what Danny was saying. He simply didn't have any way to respond to the comments Danny was making.

"Fine…" Horrick choked. "If…you…dare…"

"For the last time!" Danny yelled, "I don't want to do this either, but guess what? I'm doing it so you won't suffer any longer!"

Horrick still wouldn't admit defeat. He looked at Danny with those cold eyes that Danny had grown resistant to. "Aria…my daughter…I will…avenge…her…"

Danny could no longer take it. At that moment, he let go of everything Horrick said and all his emotions. In one swift motion, Danny pulled his arms out from under Horrick, so now nothing was supporting Horrick. Gravity did the work as Horrick fell and landed with a hard splash in the water.

The birds stopped singing and the wind seemed to freeze at that moment. Danny watched with unbelieving eyes as he saw Horrick in the water. Horrick slowly began to break apart. Danny was right: Horrick was nothing more than a pile of ash now, and putting him in the water caused his body to break down like ash.

In just seconds, the ash that made up Horrick's body had begun disintegrating. The small black particles began disappearing and vaporized in the water. After what seemed like forever, any remaining trace of Horrick was gone in the water.

Danny's heart was thumping, with a completely neutral face. He seriously did it so Horrick wouldn't have to suffer through life anymore, not only in physical pain, but inside pains knowing that he failed to avenge Aria. Danny really thought Horrick was doing himself no favors by clinging on to life by a thread.

After just staring at the river that proved to be Horrick's final resting place, Danny transformed back into his human self. He was exhausted after that decisive fight, but he insisted on walking home anyway.

"It's kind of funny," Danny thought to himself. "The place where I spent the night turned out to be the spot where Horrick's remains would spend the rest of eternity. Wow, it's kind of disturbing, actually…"

Danny turned around and walked away from the stream and back to the main road. He made that walk to his house, and he looked in through a window when he finally made it.

Inside, both of his parents were sitting on the couch and wringing their hands together, looking more nervous by the second. It was a scary thought for them to know that their son was out there, alone, fighting a ghost with power to control fire.

Danny walked over to the front of his house and pushed open the door with a large smile on his face. "Mom! Dad!" he cried.

"Danny!" they both yelled. Jack and Maddie jumped up from the sofa and ran over to Danny, giving him one of the biggest hugs he had ever gotten.

The hug lasted for quite a while until Danny's parents finally let him go. All three of them looked like they were very happy.

"So my ghost suit actually helped you win the fight!" Jack asked excitedly.

"Uh…yeah, I guess you could say that," Danny casually replied.

Danny proceeded to tell his parents all about the fight that he had just been involved in. Everything, from fighting Horrick inside his burning mansion to running through the flaring jungle to the decisive moment when Horrick accidentally caused the tree to fall on top of himself. But for some reason, Danny had a hard time telling his parents about Horrick's ultimate fate.

"So, he's sitting at the bottom of the river now?" Jack asked, making sure he understood everything.

"Yup," Danny clarified. "In very small pieces."

"Well son, I don't know how else to say it," Jack started, "but you've made us proud."

"Thanks, guys," Danny warmly said. "But I there's just one thing I want you to do, dad."

"Right now, Danny, I'll do anything for you."

Danny kept the smile on his face as he looked at his dad for a moment or two. "Dad…can you please go back to making ghost hunting equipment? I think it'll come in very handy for me, especially after how your Fenton-Gasser thingamabob saved my life."

Jack didn't say anything for a while. After looking like he took a surprising amount of thought to decide, he finally said, "Of course I will."

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No, it's not the end in case you guys were wondering. There will be another chapter after this one, which will be posted on the same day as the first chapter of my Tales of Symphonia fanfic, Tales of Tiberia. (just in case any of you besides Leppers have any interest interest in read it)