The next day, Danny wakes up screaming from a nightmare.
"Sam! Tucker! Noooo!" Danny sat up in bed, tears in his eyes.
Kuri peered through the door to his room.
"Even in my dreams I never imagined something like this could happen," thought Danny. "Sam, and even Tucker, taken away in an instant, right before my eyes. The Dominion... Who are they!? What are they after!?"
He turns around. "Who's there?" Kuri's black ball bounced outside her door. Danny stared at it. Water gushes out of the ball's eyes.
"Don't cry, lady," said the ball. "Don't cry, sir."
Danny jumped up, raising her pillow over her head. "What!? It talked!?"
"Don't smash Moggle!" Kuri said.
"Kuri!?" said Danny.
Kuri stood by the door. Danny looked at the ball.
"So, Moggle is... this!?" she said.
"What..." said Kuri. "Since you were crying, I thought you weren't feeling well..." She leaned against the wall, hanging her head.
"What?" thought Danny. "Could she have been... trying to cheer me up...?"
Danny ran into the Crown Game Center.
"Kuri!? Did you follow me!?"
Danny and Kuri play with the UFO catcher at the arcade.
Danny saw Kuri holding an armful of candy.
"What the-!? Kuri!? What happened!?"
"Wow!" she said. "I got all the candy out!"
He pulled her back. "What kind of trick did you pull, come on!" he said.
Moggle sat on the game machine, beeping. "Moggle!?" he thinks. "Did she use this toy!? Could it be, it moved the crane at will!?"
Danny looked at Kuri.
Danny patted her on the head. "Okay, Kuri," he said. "Are you satisfied from playing all these? Shall we be heading back?" He lifted her up in his arms. "Danny and the others have things to do now. And I have to go to prep school, so..." He went and drops her off at Danny's house.
Danny rubbed Kuri's head. "See you later, Kuri," he said as he waved. "Your new uniform is cute."
Xxx
Outside, Kuri looks up as rain starts to fall. She bounces the Moggle ball on the ground, and it changed into an umbrella.
A young girl stared at her, her mouth hanging open.
"Abracadabra!" said Kuri. "Poof!"
She pops open the umbrella, and a flock of birds flew out from it.
The girl ran to her mother. "Mommy! Did you see that!? Doves flew out from that girl's umbrella! It was an amazing trick!"
"Oh, really?" said her mother. "Well, it's getting cold, so let's go home now."
Danny saw Kuri. "Oh, Kuri?"
Kuri looked down. "Abracadabra," she said. "Abracadabra... Poof."
"That is the charm that will always bring fun to you, Fledgling," said Clockwork, standing in the dark next to a tall marble door.
Kuri held the key hanging from her necklace. A bolt of lightning struck in the distance.
Danny approached her. "Kuri?"
She stares ahead.
An explosion ripped through the city of crystal.
Danny took Kuri's hand. His eyes widened.
Kuri screamed and covered her ears.
"DANNY!" she cried.
She grabbed onto Danny.
"Kuri!?" he said.
She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Danny?"
"What is it?" he said. "Did the sound of thunder scare you? It will go away. It's just echoing from a distance."
"I'm sure I saw it now," he thought. "Just as I grasped Kuri's hand, it streamed into me. The image of some explosion. What was that!? The explosion of an enormous city...!?"
Kuri held onto him. "Danny..." she said. Moggle bounced next to them, beeping.
As Danny wondered about the vision he saw holding Kuri.
Xxx
"Pariah," said Dan.
The cloaked figure appeared.
The bodies of Sam and Tucker floated on their backs before them.
"These two are just like that woman," said Dan. "I wonder if they too will continue to live young like this, without aging. Borrowing the Phantom's Power... So that is the infinite power that promises eternity. I want to see that boy's face when I smash it to pieces with my own hand."
"Haste makes waste," said Pariah. "Dan, calm yourself."
"Dan," said Ahri. "We should not look softly upon the Fledgling. We too are suffering unexpected losses. It would be best to proceed with the plan we've put such caution into. But my darling, you always do as you please..."
"Ahri," said Dan. Glass shattered next to Ahri, and a shard cut her cheek. "I am just saying we'll eliminate those who get in the way of our plan," said Dan. "I will not allow interference with my methods."
A woman steps forth from the shadows. "My pretty sisters... I, Ember XT, shall take revenge for Box Lunch and SkulTech. And let us proceed more boldly with the project! We will show them our power.
"Don't be in such a hurry," said Dan. "I wish to be alone. Leave this place." He pressed a button on a pad, and an image of Kuri dressed in a flowing white gown appears. "I will have everything I want. Everything."
Xxx
Danny walks inside, wearing a mask over his mouth and coughing. She was coughing and and collapsed to Kuri's shock. They rushed to the drug store to get medicine for her, taking her with them. Kuri tried to bring our Danny's usual cheer and asked her if he thought the girl behind the pharmacy counter is cute, but he doesn't notice and said he's going home. Kuri insisted that she'd take him home.
"What's wrong?" said Kuri. "You're always in perfect health, Danny."
"Nothing," said Danny. "I just haven't been able to sleep much, and I've had things to investigate, and end up awake all night..."
"Why overexert yourself like that...?" said Kuri. She reached toward her, and cried out as she felt cold.
"Oh, you shouldn't touch me now," said Danny. He smiled weakly. "I have a cold constitution, and it becomes obvious when I get sick. That now was a cold snap." He started swaying back and forth. "You see, since I manipulate ice and snow... Oh, I'm getting kind of dizzy..."
"Danny!? Hold on!" Kuri took him to her apartment, room 201. The room was is full of books and artifacts, and there was a framed photograph of an older looking Danny and Kuri that Danny noticed. Kuri gave him her favorite kind of tea, rose tea. He turns on the television, to see the news speak of strong storms and that more mystery circles were discovered in the city.
Danny looked at Kuri and remarked on the strange events happening, Danny then confronted Kuri, asking:
"Sam and Tucker were taken away...What is your power? We're in trouble!"
Kuri grimaced, then smiled calmly.
"Everything will be alright." She said. "You are my most precious person. I know you care about me with all your heart, and I haven't said a thing. I just dragged you along in this. I wasn't able to treasure you very much. This whole time we've had this objective, and I have forgotten how important you are to me, Danny."
Kuri turned to him.
"There isn't much I can tell you right now. But I need you to protect me for a little longer. If you can do that...then we can save Tucker and Sam."
Kuri put her head in her hands. "I'm just a child after all. If I were stronger...as strong as you perhaps...I'd be able to help you...I'd be able to do more."
Light glowed between them as she takes his hand. "If I had the power," she said, "I would protect you."
Danny kissed her on the forehead and smiled. He looked at her. "I won't tell anyone." He walked outside into the pouring rain.
Danny leaned back. "Oh no, my mind is getting hazy..."
"This is an official weather warning," said the announcer on television. "There is worry of being hit by a large typhoon." The picture and sound faded into static.
"The TV!?" thought Danny. "Is there an electric field?" He looked outside and saw a glowing saucer-shaped object. "What's that!? That light...!? Could it be, a UFO!?" He held his head. "It looks like that ball of fire that took away Sam and Tucker..." He collapsed on the ground.
Xxx
Kuri cradled Danny in her hands. "Danny?" she said. "Help! Danny is being attacked."
Ember stood in front of the glowing disk, with a group of demons behind her. "Letting loose on the wind the malignant virus from this saucer and infecting them," she said. "Soon the seizures should be reaching their peak as well." She faced the demons. "For everyone in this area, their life spans will not last much longer. The time has come for you to replace them. Go forth, ghost army! Infiltrate human society, and change this society to the society of the Dominion!" The demons assumed the form of humans.
"Such pain... I can't breathe!? Ugh...!?" Danny opened his eyes and saw his duplicate standing over him, its hands gripping his neck. "It's me!?" He reached for Kuri.
"I won't let them hurt you!" Kuri ran to him.
Danny lifted the duplicate over his head. "If you're going to become me, you'll have to be better than that!" He threw it against the wall, and it reverted to the form of a ghost. He looked out the window at the flying saucer. "That disk!" He ran outside.
"Oh, you failed to die?" said Ember. "How dare you kill my friends. I am Ember XT, and I shall return it to you a hundredfold."
Danny attacked her with a Ghost Ray.
"You think you're so powerful..." Ember said.. "I'll show you! His power is greater!"
Ember used her guitar and the power reverberated back at Danny.
Danny fell against the wall, and then attacked her again a sound coming from him and scaring Ember.
"NO! That was—" Ember screamed and vanished.
"She was so scared of me..." Danny said.
Ahri looked down at him. "That Danny looks so small," he says. "Dan, too, is one to play a cruel game."
Kuri looked up at the sky. "Sister...why...?"
Xxx
Kuri peered through the doorway. Danny was asleep in bed. She sat beside him, then slowly stood up and went down to the lab, where she took several ghost hunting tools and strapped them on.
Danny groggily opened his eyes. "Wh- who's there...?"
The room was empty. He looked over and saw Kuri was missing. "Kuri?"
Danny chased Kuri down.
Kuri turned around, alarmed, standing at the Fenton Portal. She held the InfiMap.
"I knew you stole it!" Danny said. "Give it back!"
Kuri clutched it against her chest.
"Come on, now!"
Moggle bounced on the ground between them.
A blast hit the ground, and they jump out of the way. "Oh, you're quick," said Ahri, appearing in the air between them. "As should be expected of the Fledgling and the Phantom. But not quick enough to escape!" She raised her arm and a surge of power shot at the two.
"Kuri!" Danny cried.
Danny jumped forward and carried Kuri away from the attack. He turned around and zapped Ahri, injuring her face.
Ahri held his hand to the cut. "You... injured me... I am Ahri, and now I'll show you the true power of my Fox Fire."
"Oh no!" thought Danny.
"He'll defeat us!" thought Kuri.
"Use your power. Only you can protect the two of you!"
"I feel it," Danny thought, as he watched Ahri gathering energy. "Your help..."
"Focus all your strength at him... Then shout!"
"Who is that!?" he thought. "The voice is familiar..." He held up his arms. "My power... in my voice..."
Danny opened his mouth and screamed with his Ghostly Wail.
"Damn!" Ahri said. "It's wiping out my flames!" Ahri disappeared.
"My power..." thought Danny. "That voice..."
"Kuri," Danny said. "Why did you take the InfiMap? Where were you running away to?"
Kuri looked up at Danny. "I know... I had to get the InfiMap... I can't use it... I learned that only the InfiMap of the past could do it. I was planning to steal the Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire from King Pariah before 'he' could do it the future. It's dangerous, but with those two... With that power, I might be able to save it... So I came here." She pulled the Ring of Rage from her pocket. "I already got the Ring of Rage."
Danny gasped. "The past... and the future!? Kuri, what are you saying!?"
"Save it, Danny Phantom! Save the future Earth...save me...save my father...from Dan Phantom—your future self!