Disclaimer: Danny Phantom belongs to Nickelodeon and Butch Hartman.
Chapter 13: The Final Showdown
Danny had trained for the remaining few weeks with Dan, Clockworth, Frostbite, Pandora, and Sam, setting his powers loose in the hope of strengthening them. He had only taken a day off once, during the second week. He had taken his girls out to enjoy their first Valentine's Day as a family. He would fight to make it to the prank war he had promised Dani.
It seemed like a silly thing to fight for, but he couldn't help but use it to motivate himself. His daughter believed in him to get himself and her through whatever it was that was coming.
Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Valerie planned to be in the zone while the trip was going on but in the for of their alternate identities. Since he couldn't make a clone of his human self, and he needed to be at full strength anyway, Danny had been pretending to be sick for the past few days. Sam had believable lied her way out, saying her grandmother couldn't be let without help for the three days the trip would last. Tucker had asked his parents to refuse to sign the permission slip. Valerie had simply waited until they all had a reasonable excuse not to go and told the Fentons she didn't want to go. Since the trip was completely voluntary, the Fentons had let her stay. Danny hated that none of them had thought about that.
Danny watched from the kitchen door as the fifty teenagers who not only got permission, but wanted to go, excitedly loaded onto the newest version of the Fenton bus. This one was bigger and more protective with a closed circuit electric system that was located inside the bus in the hopes of preventing any ghost related incidents. Once everyone was into the lab, Danny pathetically hobbled down the stairs and watched the bus hover, knock over a few things, and drift into the widened portal.
Once they were gone, Danny transformed and flew through the ceiling into his room. He opened his closet door and walked in. He phased through the wall toward the center and walked into the manufactured ghost portal he had opened there. It lead straight to the castle and luckily Sam, Tucker, Valerie, and all their allies were already there.
"They just left. It shouldn't be long now," Danny proclaimed.
*With the students*
Dani watched with a smile as the high school students took in the Zone for the first time. While the Fentons and other chaperones tried to hide it they were just as amazed. The Fentons had seen it once already, but Dani knew the Zone took some getting used to. She looked at it in the eyes of her fellow students. The unnatural green that completely made up the background of the void, the purple land formations, and the purple, floating doors. Yep, she could understand their amazement.
"Wait, you're about to miss it, make a right turn there."
Dani had forgotten her father had entrusted her to lead the group to the castle. As she guided them she gave a bright smile and a wave to every ghost they past. The ghost returned her smile and the more formal bowed. Some even reverentially called her Princess. It made her slightly uncomfortable to have them act like that in front of the kids from school, but she couldn't change the way they deferred to her.
"Okay one more turn and you should start to see it."
Sure enough as soon as the bus was facing the right direction the outline of the castle came into view. Dani heard some of her classmates gossiping about how large it was. Dani went back to her seat near one of the few real friends she had made at Casper, Lana.
"They realize that if the castle appears large far away it's going to tower over us when we get there right," Lana asked.
"Yeah, it's pretty big, but it's not even the biggest one in the zone. Daddy had to have it rebuilt because of the previous king and he decided he didn't need that much space."
"You mean it used to be bigger," Lana gapped.
Youngblood appeared beside her, "Bigger! It use to be so big it seemed to tower over the entire zone, you could see it no matter where in the zone you were. At least that's what the older ghost say."
Lana jumped. She hated it when Youngblood and Dani would appear out of thin air.By the time the bus reached the gates, the castle towered over them. All the students were pressed against windows trying to get a good look at the details, when the gate opened and Danny and Sam Phantom floated out. Following closely behind were Tekno, Red Huntress, Ember, and a new ghost no one recognized. Dani and Youngblood knew this was Jazz wearing boots that allowed her to float and incase a demonstration was necessary well hidden wrist blasters. They still hadn't figured out how to make her appear intangible, but they were working on it. She wore the same outfit from the meeting with the leaders.
Dani phased out of the bus and raced into her father's arms. Danny and Sam both embraced her. Youngblood was slower with his approach, but he too eagerly attached himself to his parents. He hugged Jazz extra tight. He had seen her rarest of all because of her dedication to her work. In fact the same dedication meant today was the only day of the trip he would see her.
Once Danny had talked a bit with Dani, he sent her back to the bus. Youngblood reluctantly followed.
"Welcome," Danny exclaimed, "to Phantom Manor. You will have a quick tour of this castle, then we will be visiting allies and places of interest in the Zone. I hoped you remembered to pack both summer and winter clothing as the slip said. We will spend one night with my mother in Greece and another with a family friend in the frigid winter."
Danny then turned and walked back into the castle with the bus following carefully behind. The bus stopped in the open courtyard and the teens scrambled out. They stretched and grouped up with their friends. Lana stayed close to Dani and Youngblood, most of their friends had opted out of the trip and the ones who were on it weren't close friends. Danny led them to a large library.
"This is the library that my sister and my wife have been filling and expanding, so I'll let them explain it to you."
After a brief silent conversation, the unknown ghost now identified as Danny Phantom's sister explained that the library was made up of works that many people thought were lost and forgotten even some works from the Great Library of Alexandria.
The next areas they visited were the labs, dining rooms and meeting rooms. After that Dani begged her father to show them the playroom and so he lead them there. The playroom was a large collection of rooms filled with every modern convenience specifically tailored to the enjoyment of everyone who lived in the castle. In one of them there was even a Zen area. Dani explained that basically her father loved to spoil his family. When Sam complained she had no place to relax, and Dani complained she had no place to play in peace this room was made. As everyone grew to need some place to relax new rooms were added. In one of the rooms Uncle Dan was playing chess seemingly all by himself until one of the pieces moved. Dani hugged her uncle then bounce to the other side and whispered in the ear of the ghost they couldn't see.
As they started to leave Dani whispered to Lana, "Focus on your childhood and you should see a flicker of him."
Lana did as her friend told her and she caught a glance of a cute ghost boy with light green hair and a devious smile.
Danny glanced at his watch, "It doesn't look like I have time to take you all to see the dungeons. Not if we want to stay on schedule. Not like there is much too see only one person there now. Alright load onto the bus and I'll lead you to the next stop."
They visited Walker's prison next. The humans were shocked to see many of the ghost who often visited Amity Park lock in cells. After that they went to Princess Dorathea's Middle Ages kingdom. It was amusing for Dani to watch everyone struggle trying to understand Old English. The last person they saw before heading to Pandora's was Clockwork. It was hard for them to wrap their heads around the fact that one person knew when they would all die.
Once they arrived at Pandora's everyone was exhausted. They had left the bus at every stop to look around, meaning infinite amount of walking. They rested for an hour, then Pandora threw a feast and sport festival in their honor. As Dani later explained Pandora loved festivals and took any chance to throw one. The teens were okay with this, likely because they were all drinking age in old Greece.
The next morning everyone had a quick breakfast and a strong hangover cure before they left.
That day was spent finding what dimension Wulf was in and show off his unique power, visiting Undergrowth (one word: unpleasant), and showing how a ghost could survive in the human world by introducing Dairy King.
When they arrived at Far Frozen, the children were much more hyper and eagerly threw themselves into the games that Frostbite had prepared. It was fun watching them learn to ice skate and properly pack snow for snowball fights. Frostbite even taught the kids to make perfect snow forts and igloos. Danny had a few good laughs.
They sleep in two rooms separated by gender at Frostbite's place, snuggled together for warmth.
The next morning everyone was still in high spirits and chatting eagerly about what they were going to write the trip paper on. Danny was paying so much attention to everyone else's conversations that it took him a second to notice. Jazz, Valerie, and Ember were all still at the castle, Sam was just as occupied as he was, and Tucker was following behind them clearly lost in thought, so it shouldn't surprise no one noticed until too late.
"What's that Mister Phantom," a random student asked.
Danny looked to where they were pointing and paled when he saw the Void.
The Void somehow seemed even more sinister than it had the last time he'd seen it and Danny could feel the dark pull on his conscious. The Zone anchored him. Danny turned and saw Dani with a glazed expression walking toward the zone with Youngblood following after. Sam grabbed Dani and Danny grabbed Youngblood. He ushered the bus away in complete silence until the pull stopped.
"That," Danny said slowly, "was the Void, it has a pull on any ghost that gets near it, but that pull is especially strong for children and the lost. It's where ghost go to existentially die."
"King Danny, the signal is approaching," Tucker said as he threw Danny the ghost goggles.
"Thank you Teckno, my Queen and you need to get the innocents away from here."
Danny scanned the area looking for the ghost. He saw a swarm of insects creeping past him heading for the children. Danny flew as quickly as he could and put himself between the children and the ghost. He took a deep breath, then wailed as loud as he could. His ghostly wail sent the insects hurling back, but it also cracked the goggles he had been wearing.
Not that he need them anymore. The insects had formed back together in a humanoid silhouette, no longer intangible. Danny flew closer to the ghost, keeping the kids at his back. Danny attempted to blast the ghost, but the insects that made up its body simply pulled apart to allow the blast to go through it. The ghost held out a hand and a spear formed. Oddly enough the spear appeared to be made of pure energy. Danny didn't want to know what would happen if he was hit with one of those spears. He inhaled and used his wail again. The ghost flew back and Danny flew with it, attempting to minimize the space between them. Danny went to punch the ghost. Suddenly though it was Sam he saw in front of him and he hesitated. The ghost capitalized and punched him instead. When Danny was sent back, the ghost sent a spear to Sam's unprotected back.
"Sam," Danny called.
He forced his body to block the spear. It shattered against his body much to his confusion. Then he felt a radiating pain. It felt like he had flown into the sun. He understood then. The spear wasn't a piercing attack, it was meant to disorientate and distract. Danny's head snapped up as he channeled energy for a large ray attack. Dimly in the back of his mind, he registered the gathering crowd of ghost watching him fight, and he knew this had become a fight for the throne. He sent the attack soaring at the ghost. He'd like him to use his insects to dodge that attack. Danny was panting when the attack finally died down. He saw the insects on the ground. While some were burned and there were fewer of them, they still reformed into the ghost he'd previously seen. Now he was smaller almost the same size as Dani. Danny could also hear a compelling hum coming off it's body. It confused him though because it didn't feel like it was compelling him. He saw movement from the corner of his eye. Dani was walking toward the ghost with a glazed expression. Danny flew to stop her, but at the same time a few energy spears shot from the ghost toward the group of humans Sam was still trying to protect. Danny produced a clone to grabbed Dani while he shot energy rays at the spears. It seemed to only energize them. Danny stood in front of the students and wailed. The spears slowed, but didn't stop. Danny forced himself to push more energy into it. All but one spear was redirected.
The spear hit him in the chest and Danny screamed. It felt like he was in that portal again. Electricity coursing through his veins. Danny forced his eyes open and saw the ghost rushing toward him with a sword. He threw his arms out to protect his body and only had a moment to think of how much this was going to hurt. He heard a clang but didn't feel any pain.
He let his eyes open slowly and was soon staring at the back of a green ectoplasmic shield. He felt like he had drunk a Red Bull. He looked down at himself and saw the muscles on his body had increased ever so slightly to allow him to use the heavy shield. If he could see himself he also would have seen the peach fuzz beginning to develop on his chin. Danny grinned and pushed the shield with all his new strength. The ghost slid back and a spear replaced the sword. Danny deflected it and shot a ray at the ghost. Since his arms were hidden by the shield, the ghost didn't see it coming. Danny was excited to see a few insects fall to the ground dead. He and the ghost fought like this for awhile with Danny getting increasingly confident in his ability to win.
Then once while they were locked, Danny's shield protecting him from the ghost's sword, the ghost stepped back. Danny stumbled but recovered quickly expecting another attack. Instead he saw the ghost send a large amount of spears to the spectators. Danny couldn't use his wail anymore, he didn't have the energy and he was too sore. He had to fly to deflect them all with the help of his ectoplasma clones. He used ice to slow down the ones he wouldn't get to in time, but the ice was too weak to stop them. The ghost snuck up on him while he was protecting his family from the last spear and stabbed him. The sword went through his back and Danny was sure it pierced a lung. Danny fell forward. The ghost pulled the sword out and went to stab him again, but Danny had one more trick up his sleeve. He used his ice to freeze ghost, then he flipped over and blasted it with his rays.
He smiled as the ice broke and the pieces melted and the insects inside were destroyed. He noticed the sword wasn't destroyed and was horrified to see it was still coming toward him. He wanted to move to make a shield, but his body began to seize. He heard a cling, but didn't feel any pain. The last thing he saw before his eyes closed was a head of flaming green hair. Pariah.
Sorry this is late I wanted it to be perfect. This is my first fight scene so please be gentle. Did anyone see the ending coming? I put a clue at the end of the last chapter. Danny put his full strength into hitting a table in Tucker's lab hut instead of breaking it cracked. I was using it to signify him being too weak. Be on the lookout for an epilogue.