Rescuing Ten

Danny was now in the Ghost Zone, with a list of following objectives in mind as he flew as fast as possible.

1) Reach Skulker Island and find where Ten is locked up.

2) Get Ten out.

3)Find Skulker and kick his butt even harder than usual for DARING to capture a small child.

4) Take Ten home to Lum before she loses it and risks everything.

"I cannot believe that Skulker has stooped this low. This is WAY worse than the time he took that flour sack...'Danny said as his eyes narrowed, before he felt a pang of concern for Ten.


Sure, he is a brat who tried to attack him after he refused to listen to his side of the story, but he is just a little kid and he didn't deserve what he is going through right now.

And Danny is the only one who can save him now.

And that look in Lum's eyes… I have never seen Lum so scared before… Danny thought, thinking how Lum was when Ten was kidnapped.

It reminded him of how he felt when Danielle had been captured by Vlad, who tried to melt her of all things.

He can't let something like that happen to Ten.

He shook that thought out.

Hang on, Ten...I'm coming... Danny thought as he continued to fly to Skulker Island to both rescue Ten and to teach Skulker a lesson about the wrongness of kidnapping small children.


Meanwhile

With Ten

Ten is many things.

He is a 2 year old oni baby who happens to be very smart for his age, even by his species standards. He is also a fire based oni and he wasn't afraid to use his powers, but he is also just a kid.

And kids are prone to getting themselves in dangerous situations if left unchecked.

This is one of those times.

The 2 year old oni baby found himself locked in a cage, within a strange and really creepy place that looked like something out of a nightmare.

Not only that but the place where this big metal man brought him, is like an island floating in space, surrounded by scattered purple doors. This strange floating island is mostly jungle on top, with one outcropping featuring that has the face of a skull.

"LET ME OUT OF THIS THING, YOU BIG JERK!" Ten yelled for the thousandth time.

'Noisy little brat..." Skulker thought, hearing the baby's shouting from another room. He looked at the devices that the baby had been carrying.

As he held one of them he ran a scan on it and commented,

"These items, they seem more advanced than my armor…"Skulker said with interest and also concern.

He decided to use one for later.

He remembered the accursed PDA that he attached to his armor when he first met the Ghost boy and wondered what new upgrades he would get with these alien devices. Just as he was about to connect them, he heard the sound of fire breathing going on.

It was irritating to him.

Seeing that the child won't stop making noise, Skulker was growling in annoyance, he went to the other room, holding the same device in his hand as he decided to check on his live bait.

With Ten.

Ten hated being in this cage, so he tried to escape.

He felt a zap when he touched the bars, so he tried to use his fire breath on them.

It wasn't working.

Ten didn't like this. He tried busting out. He blew fire at the bars but to his horror, they were undamaged.

"Save your breath, alien child… After studying your cousin since our last battle, I managed to make this cage both lightning proof, as well as fire proof...you can't get out..." Skulker said darkly.

Ten was beginning to feel scared now. His fire powers are his only natural defense and they can't work here and he has no access to any of his alien gadgets now.

He really is trapped here. He thought about biting the bars but the memory of him getting electrocuted came back as he floated in the middle of the cage.

Unable to take it anymore Ten began screaming in frustration as he asked, still screaming.

"What is this place?! Who are you?! What's going on here?! Why did you kidnap me?!" The toddler alien shouted at his captor.

Skulker decided that since he is waiting for Danny to arrive, he could kill time explaining things to the bait.

"Well, since you have no idea what goes on in this world, I will tell you in order. This is the Ghost Zone; I am Skulker, the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter, and now, the reason I captured you is very simple, oni child... you are the bait I need to finally capture the halfa…" Skulker said, grinning evilly.

"The what?" Ten asked, confused, never had he heard that word before in his life, and he learned a lot in school.

That made Skulker face smack himself at the infant's lack of knowledge.

"I am talking about the ghost child..." Skulker said but Ten still looked confused. "The one whom you called Danny Phantom." Skulker said, finding the baby's lack of knowledge annoying.

This confused Ten more for he thought the ghost said the name of Lum's husband

"Danny Phantom?"

"Surely you remember the boy that your cousin had chosen as her mate..." Skulker said as Ten realized who he was talking about.

"Wait… him?!"

"Yes, him!"

"Ugh, not that I care about that jerk, but why are you hunting him?" Ten couldn't help, but ask.

Hoping to find out if he could get this hunter to be an ally and mentally blaming Danny for everything that's happened to him since he heard about Lum taking him as her husband.

"Simple, I am a hunter of all things that are rare and unique. Phantom is both of those things, as well as the most elusive prey that I have ever encountered. I have been hunting him for practically almost a year, but he always somehow manages to get away or defeat me, but not this time." Skulker said.

Wait… what? Ten thought.

Shaking his head out of the stupor, Ten yelled.

"What's so special about that cowardly Danny anyway?" Ten asked in anger.

The fact he didn't know was surprising to Skulker.

Skulker turned and said, "The ghost child is many things, infant, but he is not a coward. Especially when he faced the greatest threat to all of Ghost kind."

"What're you talking about?" Ten asked.

As Skulker shuddered, he began to tell him about the previous King of the Ghost Zone, Pariah Dark, the one who threatened to take dominion over both the Ghost Zone and the Human world with a tyrannical iron fist.

Minutes after explaining this, Ten continued to whine.

"You won't get away with this! My cousin will find me and destroy you, and so will the rest of my family once they hear about this!"

"Let your cousin come, I am prepared for her this time..." Skulker said as he gestured to his new weapons, which had been modified and designed to absorb the electrical energy from Lum and use it against her with ecto-energy.

Hearing that got Ten worried.

This does NOT look good. He thought,


Meanwhile

Danny hid behind one of the doors as he spied everything. He knew from previous experience that Skulker may be a fruitloop, but he's not stupid…

He needed to be careful to look out for any new traps where Skulker must have heard about his new powers.

As he landed Danny said to himself,

"Okay… rule one about facing someone like Skulker is-"

His foot pulled on a wire as Danny saw the same kind of traps rose from the ground and exclaimed.

"Don't set off any traps!"

As soon as the darts started flying, Danny flew using his new ice powers to freeze the traps in place.

He sighed in relief.

"Now to find Ten…" Danny said as he continued to search for Lum's cousin.


Back to Ten

Ten was still trapped in his cage and Skulker was still gloating.

He was actually worried for his fate right now.

"What are you going to do to me?" Ten asked.

"For now, nothing. As I said, I need you existing in order to lure the whelp to my island...still, an alien who can breath fire is rather unique itself… perhaps after I lay Phantom's pelt at the foot of my bed, I could place you in my zoo with my other beasts and hunt you until you are of age." Skulker said as he showed a holographic image of said cage.

Ten gasped in horror, imaging himself in savage like attire and fighting off the numerous ghosts and monsters in Skulker's Zoo.

It made him almost cry in fear.

"I wanna go home…"

As Skulker walked over to Ten, who was sweating bullets at the hulking huge ghost, he felt the need to gloat.

Turning to the baby he added, speaking pleasantly, "I found your species quite a versatile one and hope one day I can hunt them once my business with the ghost child is done." He then showed Ten his trophies, "Perhaps I can add the pelt of either your own or your cousin? Or maybe the leader of your people?' Skulker said.

"You leave me, my cousin and my uncle alone!" Ten yelled.

"As if there is anything you can do… Wait. Uncle, did you say that your uncle is leader?"

"Yes!"

"Ah, so I suppose that makes you alien royalty, which only adds to your value..." Skulker said with interest.

The bad kind.

While Skulker was fantasizing about hunting either the Oni or the ghost versions of them, he did not see Ten's reaction.

"LUM! HELP ME!" Ten cried.

Skulker turned annoyed by this.

"Scream all you want, you little punk but your cousin can't save you now..." Skulker said.

Ten gulped.

Can anyone save me?! He thought.

Skulker heard an alarm.

"Ah. Right on cue." He turned towards Ten. "Now then… time to get everything in place."

Once he went to get his weapons reader, Ten was left alone to cower.

"Lum… help me…" Ten whimpered, feeling, for the first time in his short, little life, truly helpless.


With Danny

Danny easily slid inside Skulker's base, being careful not to set off any booby traps.

Okay… I gotta find Ten and get him out… now if I was Skulker, where would I keep a hostage? Danny thought as he soon got an idea. No way, it'll be that easy… Danny thought as he flew up high enough to see the entire island until he saw something that looked like a box. Squinting his eyes he could make out the familiar shape of a certain infant.

"Of course..." Danny said as he saw that Ten was in a cage in the middle of the island, for all to see.

Makes sense, since to Skulker, Ten is just bait.

And Danny is the real target.

He remained in the shadows and then saw Ten, sitting in a cage, looking so miserable right now. Danny did see that Skulker was nowhere to be seen and he frowned.

Yeah, this so doesn't look like a trap… He thought sarcastically. Still… I gotta get him out, before that chrome head comes back... Danny thought as he floated closer, being careful not to step on anything.

Once close enough, he figured it was safe to say something, albeit quietly.

"I better get him out before Skulker shows his ugly face again..." Danny whispered to himself before he decided to get the little alien boys attention. Going invisible for extra precaution. "Ten... pst..." Danny, still hidden, whispered, being very careful not to get any unwanted attention.

"Huh? Who said that?" Ten asked as he looked around.

Danny made himself visible when he got close enough, inside of the closest bush, and whispered again,

"Over here..." He whispered a little louder, as he remained hidden behind one of Skulker's bushes, showing himself a little.

Ten turned around before gasping

"Wait...it's...it's you..." Ten said in disbelief, only to hear a "shushing" sound from the older boy.

"Yeah, I'm here..." Danny said, crawling out of his hiding place.

"Danny, right?"

"Yeah."

"Danny, what are you doing here?" Ten asked, not understanding this.

"What do you think?" Danny asked.

Danny looked at the cage and hissed when he tried to touch a bar with a finger. Danny then found out why Ten didn't try to force the bars open… It was electrified to keep anyone from getting in or out.

But since the top is not electrified he tried to fiddle with it, trying to power it down and release Ten.

"Hey! What're you doing?" Ten asked, a little louder.

"I'm busting you out..." Danny answered.

This shocked the baby alien, especially given how he treated him yesterday.

"You... You came all the way back here for me?" Ten asked in disbelief.

"Yeah…" Danny said matter of factly.

Ten couldn't believe this. After what he did to him yesterday, he thought for sure that Danny wouldn't have bothered helping save him.

Ten shook his head as he got closer to the bars.

"But...how'd you find this place?" The little alien boy asked, still confused.

Danny kept working as he answered

"This isn't the first time I have been here. Besides, Skulker is as subtle as a flying hammer..." He commented.

A thought occurred to him and he turned to the little oni boy.

"Speaking of which, where is Skulker?" He asked.

Ten pointed to where Skulker left.

"H-He said he was going to get some weapons to greet you with before he was alerted to one of his other traps going off at a far side of the island. He could be back any second..." Ten said in worry, looking around for the metallic ghost

"So… Skulker was getting ready for the worst traps when he sprung that basic trap of his…" Danny let out a sigh of relief as he kept working on disengaging the cage.

I should've brought Tucker… he was a lot better at this high tech stuff than he was, he can't blast it otherwise he'd hurt Ten.

"Hold on, I'll get you out in a second." Danny whispered, while Ten still looked at him in disbelief.

Ten stared and still couldn't believe this.

"Why are you helping me? I tried to burn you down yesterday..." Ten said as Danny didn't stop trying to bust him out.

"Like I said, you might act like how you do, but you're just a kid concerned about his cousin. Besides it's who I am..." Danny said as he kept going before finally getting the cage opened and Ten was freed.

This made Ten blink in disbelief.

Kneeling down Danny looked over the baby, just to make sure that Skulker didn't do anything to hurt him. Ten floated as he was still surprised Danny was making sure that he was unharmed.

"Doesn't look like he did anything." Danny remarked as he picked Ten up and was about to leave before hearing something like missiles flying towards him.

"AH!" Ten screamed at the sight of them while Danny narrowed his eyes in determination.

"I got you..." Danny shouted as he quickly held onto Ten before rolling to the side as the missiles hit and exploded.

Once the smoke cleared, both saw Skulker with one of his missile launchers, he smirked.

"I'm sorry, did I interrupt a brotherly bond?" Skulker taunted.

Ten got scared again as Danny narrowed his eyes at the hunter even more.

"This is a whole new low for you Skulker..." Danny said in disgust.

"I can sink lower if you'd like!" Skulker said.

Danny stood in front of Ten, to protect him from Skulker.

The little alien child saw this and looked in disbelief

"What are-"

"Ten, Stay here..." Danny ordered.

Ten kept staring in disbelief.

Danny then heads off to fight Skulker, knowing unless he beats him, the hunter ghost won't give up. First thing that needed to be done, was getting that weapon out of Skulker's hands.

One Ghost Ray and it was gone.

Growling at that, Skulker shouted.

"Do you know how long it took me to make that thing?!" Skulker shouted.

"Send me the bill..." Danny shot back as the two began to fight hand to hand.

The traded blow for blow until Skulker had a blade extend from his arm and tried to swipe at the halfa, only for Danny to manipulate his body to curve his torso out of reach before slugging Skulker away.

Skulker flew some feet away before he turned in the air and slid to a halt, leaving deep indents to stop himself.

He then fired some ecto-based lasers and fired at Ten. Ten stared, too afraid to move as the beams heading towards him. He closed his eyes thinking this is the end of him, when nothing came except the sound of energy hitting energy. Ten looked up and then saw Danny using his power to make an energy field around them as Danny stood in front of Ten, to protect him from Skulker's attacks.

"Wow.."

The little alien child saw this and looked in disbelief.

Danny glanced at Ten in concern.

"You okay, Ten?" Danny asked.

The little alien only nodded mutely before he went back to fight.

Like a warrior.

"Yeah…"

Finally, it dawned on Ten what Danny was doing.

He's...risking his life to save mine... Ten thought in disbelief.

He thought for sure that Danny was just some perverted moron jerk who took advantage of his cousin's trusting nature to trick her into marrying him and he would have mistreated her.


Meanwhile

In Japan for some reason

Ataru was brushing his teeth as he sneezed twice, making his toothpaste shoot out and hit the mirror.

"Oops…" He went.

In the hall, Ataru's mutter heard this and saw the mess her son made and sighed.

"We never should have had him…" She mumbled as she found herself cleaning up after him, again.

"I heard that!" Ataru went.


Back to the battle

Ten still looked up in stunned silence as he watched Danny duel with Skulker, fighting to protect him.

He's still unable to put it together. He was a brat before but Danny is going out of his way to protect him, even after everything Ten put his through.

Ten stared as Danny fought against the metallic ghost with both his fists and energy blasts. Seeing that it wasn't working, Danny tried to use his Ice powers to freeze Skulker's armor. However, his arm broke out of it.

Danny tried to use his Ghost Stinger on him. However Skulker forced it away.

Both opponents were breathing heavily, mostly Danny as Skulker was in a battle armor.

"You're not escaping this time whelp! I modified my suit to be practically indestructible now. No mere ecto-blast can dent it now! And all your powers are useless against me! You can't freeze it, You can't burn it, and you can't even break it with your strength!" Skulker yelled, as his confidence was on high.

Danny smirked at an idea.

"We'll see about that." Danny said before glancing to Ten. "Ten..." Danny whispered to the baby.

"Y-Yeah?" The little alien let out.

"Cover your ears and stay behind me..." Danny ordered

Why?" Ten asked.

"Just do it!" Danny ordered and for once, Ten didn't argue. For once, he just did as he was Danny was sure that Ten is out of the line of fire, he turned to Skulker, with an enraged look on his face. "This is for threatening to hurt a kid as young as him, no matter how bratty..." Danny stated the last part before he took a stance.

Seeing his prey taking a deep breath, Skulker's eyes widened in fear, knowing what the ghost boy was going to do.

"Oh no..." Skulker muttered in a dead tone as it was too late. Danny then released his ghostly wail and managed to hit Skulker straight on, faster than it usually is. "AAAUUUGGGHHHH!" Skulker yelled as the ghostly wail began to tear his suit and his island to pieces.

As Danny released his wail, Ten looked dumbfounded by the display of raw power. He has never seen anything like this. Not even with the advance weapons made by his people.

He's THIS powerful?!

Skulker kept yelling as his arm up to his elbow blew off, followed by his entire his left arm.

"Oh no…"

Once Skulker's suit was torn to shreds, Danny stopped and took a deep breath. Thankfully, now, his ghostly wail didn't drain himself as much as it used too. He is still pretty winded, but he still had enough power to get himself and Ten home.

"It's safe…" Danny said.

Ten let go of his ears and peaked from behind Danny.

"Is...he..." Ten pointed to the debris where Skulker's body laid.

"You wish… let's get out of here before he comes to..." Danny said.

They soon heard something being shot out before Skulker's metal body began to beep.

"Ten, take cover!" Danny said as he ducked, holding the baby with him.

Soon the beeping sped up before… Skulker's remains exploded, sending pieces everywhere.

Ten covered his eyes from the explosion.

Ten peeked out, wondering if it was over, thinking that since it was not that bad of an explosion it was safe to get out.

However, one of the debris ended up hitting Ten on the head, knocking him out before he could even say anything. Danny looked alarm.

"Oh man… Ten!" Danny cried as he checked the alien baby.

Thankfully, he doesn't look like he had any serious concussion, or other injuries, just knocked out.

Carefully picking the baby up, Danny held Ten better than that floursack assignment with Valerie the last time he was here.

"Come on, let's get you out of here…" Danny said as he picked up the two year old alien and flew off.

The destination was home.


At Fenton Works

Lum was floating around the lab, getting even more impatient and worried with each passing second.

It's been almost two hours since Danny had left to go rescue Ten and they are still not back yet.

"I cannot stand this! I am going in after them!" Lum shouted but Jazz blocked her.

"No, Lum. One, you don't even know where Skulker even is right now and two, if Danny needs help, he'd let us know..." Jazz said, trying to keep the oni princess from doing anything drastic, more so than usual.

"How?" Lum demanded to know.

"He has the Fenton Phones with him..." Tucker said as he gestured to the communication device.

Lum still didn't look convinced.

"What if he can't communicate with us?! What if that awful Skulker person captured him and is doing horrible things to them, even as we speak?!" Lum shouted.

Sam stood up and said in an annoyed tone to the hysteric alien princess who was a rookie here.

"Chill out will you! Just trust Danny to do what he usually does in saving people..." Sam said, before she began to egg her. "Or don't you trust Danny?" Sam asked, hoping that this lack of trust in someone like Danny would make Lum just give up on Danny.

After all, there's no real marriage without trust. Lum turned to her, looking insulted to say the least.

"Excuse me?!" Lum asked, lightning going off around her as she was getting annoyed with the goth girl's words.

Of course she trusted her darling, it's a part of being married.

However, before anyone could say or do anything, Danny came through the portal, with an unconscious Ten in his arms.

Lum gasped in relief and nearly cried tears of joy at the sight of the two of them, the lightning disappearing at the sight of them as well.

"Darling!"

"Welcome back, dude." Tucker said as he and the rest of team Phantom went to greet the returning hero.

"Are you two okay?" Jazz asked in concern.

"What happened?" Sam asked, glad to see Danny, and Ten, safe.

Before Danny got a word out Lum floated down and hugged him to her tightly.

"Darling, you did it! You saved Ten!" Lum said in joy as she was about to kiss him. That's when she saw the unconscious Ten in his arms."What happened to him?" Lum asked as she held her baby cousin in her arms.

"He got hit on the head when Skulker and I fought, but other than that, he is okay. No damage done, he has a tough skull." Danny said, reassuring Lum.

"Mmmm..." Little Ten let out as he began to come too.

Danny carefully set Ten down as everyone in the room watched to see him wake up.

Ten opened his eyes as he looked around, confused.

"W-Where am I?" Ten asked as he groaned, feeling a small headache.

Shush...it's alright Ten. You are saved. Darling saved you.."Lum said.

Just then Ten's memories came back and he soon had a stun look on his face. Danny was concerned by his silence.

"Ten..." Jazz asked, concerned

"D-D-D..." Ten was stuttering now.

"Ten, are you okay?" Danny asked, wondering if that blow on the head did more damage than he thought.

"D-D-D-D…" Ten continued, his body shaking.

Tucker, seeing the alien child for the first time, got worried too.

"What's up, little guy?" Tucker asked, wondering what's wrong with him.

"D-D-Danny...is..." Ten paused and Danny suspected that he was going to blame him for the whole thing and started whining to Lum.

He was VERY surprised to hear this come out of the little alien's mouth.

"SO COOL!" Ten yelled, with an excited look on his face, surprising Danny and the others, sans Lum.


Updated.

Next chapter soon.