CHAPTER 1: DAYS OF FUTURE PRESENT
"Anything that says there's anything after death is ultimately an optimistic story."
-Stanley Kubrick
"Man has, since the Enlightenment, dealt with things he should have ignored."
-Andrei Tarkovsky
In the undead void known as the Ghost Zone, the underverse to the realm of the living known as the universe expands as its counterpart does; occupied by the many souls that migrate to it constantly without end. Both 'verses expand with the passage of one constant that allow both to continue their eternal expansion:
Time.
The flow of time is never too certain; there is always the element of possibility, the chance in which whatever might occur might not occur, and whatever might not occur might occur. There is no certainty in life, and there is no life that is certain. There is only time, flowing like an ocean; wild, unpredictable, and unbridled, completely out of control from any outside forces.
Any forces except one. Time passes through the Ghost Zone as it does in the realm of the living, but there is a space secluded from the rest of the afterlife where it does not pass as the rest of the 'Zone; there residing a fortress that is home to the ghost that exists outside time.
Throughout the age of humankind, he has been called many things. Some have called him Chronos, some have called him Kali, some have called him Mahakala, some have called him the Norns, and they will continue to give him names until their species is eventually replaced, and their successors will continue to name him, but he has a name of his own.
His name is Clockwork.
Unlike other migrants to the Ghost Zone, Clockwork is a spirit not bound by the confines of time and its linear flow, instead existing outside of it as its sole watchman. Within his home, he continues his duties as the watcher of time, watching over the events to come in the future near and far; a view that he has always had with no restraint and no limits.
Observant to time above all angles, conceivable and inconceivable by any one man, his own metaphysical body phasing in and out of ages and time, he has spent much of his existence looking through many possible futures, looking to find one where the betterment of mankind is achieved and peace is found at last for every human on Earth, in harmony with the rest of the universe.
Through every possibility he looks through, he sees that there is no hope for the species he seeks to protect in any timeline; his visions making him bear witness to ends of mankind brought about by famine, a destroyed planet, and nuclear war, if humankind was lucky enough to receive such quick fates compared to the rest.
The images feed him disturbing visions that one man could not take in and remain sane, but Clockwork is not a man, nor susceptible to the fallibilities of man. Pushing through the feed, he tries to find a single future where the people of Earth find a peaceful end, but never has he found one such future that the human race achieves.
None except for one.
Through this one glimpse of this timeline, he finds at last the way to elevate man to its highest state at last, past all problems of mortality and pain that their poor species has had to deal with since its origin from the mindless apes they were born from, and shared the inherent stupidity with.
Seeing his plan for a higher state of mankind, Clockwork smiled, eager to see his plan achieved.
"At last. I have found the way. I have found my plan." Clockwork said.
With much work to be done to achieve his goal, Clockwork moved to a shelf housing a Fenton Thermos. The tool was made use for capturing and containing any paranormal entity, sustaining it in a suspended state for an indefinite amount of time. Inside is the tool in which he requires his plan to be achieved, and all it is required to set him loose is to allow the being within a simple chance to escape.
Moving his staff to the thermos, Clockwork prepared to give the being inside its fighting chance.
"It is time." Clockwork said.
Clockwork tapped his staff against the Fenton Thermos; the gentle tap nowhere enough to harm any single being, but more than enough to give the object damage enough to allow the being trapped inside to gain a means of escape. The gentle tap that it received brought forth a crack from its place, starting to hum softly under the break.
The strange humming noise seemed to be accompanied by a faint laughter; the laughter coming from a being posing a threat to both the living and the dead. The single crack in the thermos began to expand to multiple cracks, all emitting a bright capri glow from the split in the metal.
Clockwork knew that it was far too late to stop the coming threat now, giving him no chance to think about second thoughts or undo what he has done.
"What I do today can never be undone. Your time has come once again. It is time for you to do what you were made to do. It is time for you to fulfill the purpose I need of you." Clockwork said.
The thermos began to shake violently, cracking and stretching, violently expanding, ready to explode at any minute. Clockwork does not brace himself for the coming reaction; instead, he allowed himself to take its blast, preparing a theater to show to the being within, instead kept himself standing up against it, waiting for its explosion.
Within seconds, the thermos finally exploded, sending shrapnel across the room and filling it with ectoplasmic smoke. The blast had sent Clockwork flying back against a wall, left to pick himself up off the ground again. Standing up from the ground, coughing out the smoke that filled the room, he was at last given a view of the creature that was trapped inside for what would pass for years in his realm.
When the smoke cleared from the room, a tall, strong, dark figure is seen forming from the clearing haze, at last displaying the creature in his full form.
This figure is a creature called Dark Danny, an unholy nephilim born of a fusion between the ghosts of Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius. Trapped no longer in his prison of limbo in the timeless domain of Clockwork, he stood tall, his hair flaming more furiously than ever, his eyes flaming with more vengeance than before.
Looking down on his captor, Dark Danny expects a look of fear from the master of time, but he does not receive any emotion from the watchman. Instead, he stood before the fusion ghost with a look that showed no terror or even impression from his freedom, looking back on him with a look of expectation.
"Just a matter of time, I suppose." Clockwork said.
"Clockwork. It's been a while. 10 years, to be exact. It becomes very hard to tell being in your domain. Time seems to flow differently here, if it does at all." Dark Danny said.
"It does not. That much I can answer for you."
"Spare me your patronage. I hated being trapped here all this time. Not to mention being trapped in that infernal Thermos for all this time is a literal hell! Nothing to my form but a vague space of emptiness! It's maddening! How dare you put me in that cursed device all these years!"
"It is the least that a beast like you deserves, no less than the fate you deserved. You had wrought genocide in your native timeline, ending all forms of life in your world. You had brought all time on Earth to an end once before."
"Yes. I have. And you know something? Now that I'm free, I'm more than able to do it once again. Of course, unless you'll make some attempt to stop me. Tell me, what are you going to do to stop me?"
"Nothing."
Clockwork's empty reaction left Dark Danny standing confused at his blunt statement, not understanding the calm and certain answer given.
"What? What do you mean, 'nothing'? Do you have any idea what I'm going to do to you? What I've been dreaming about doing to you?" Dark Danny asked.
"It doesn't matter. I can see all divergences of time, even at this very moment. I have seen what happens if I try to resist you in any way. It all ends the same. I will not fight you, because doing so will make no difference on the outcome. You will still destroy me." Clockwork said.
Dark Danny responded to his rationale with a chuckle, amused by his apparent surrender.
"I don't believe it. I'm giving you the threat of death beyond death itself, threatening to erase you from the cosmos forever and send you to oblivion, and you aren't even trying to put up a fight. I've seen plenty of ghosts in my time, but, now, I think I've finally found a dead man." Dark Danny said.
"You can do many things with time... but you cannot kill time. Time is my domain, and time can never be destroyed. Do what you will." Clockwork replied.
"Time may be your domain, but you have changed time. I no longer exist within time. I am a paradox. I am free of its rules."
Dark Danny looked down upon Clockwork with glowing red eyes and a smile, charging his fist with ectoplasmic energy.
"And I've had 10 years in my own world to become more powerful than you can imagine." Dark Danny said.
Inside Clockwork's chest was a grandfather clock, ticking away the seconds in a monotonous clicking noise. Dark Danny ran his fist into his chest, grabbing hold of the mechanical clock parts inside it, and pulled them out in a firm and sharp yank. In response, Clockwork let out a soft, pained grunt, looking down on his empty chest as ectoplasm bled through it.
"Now, 'master of time', your time is up." Dark Danny said.
Feeling the unlife bleed from his form, the ghost of Clockwork had died once again; his spirit disappearing forever into oblivion, no longer existing in the cosmos. The instant that Clockwork's soul had been destroyed, all of the clocks in home stopped moving, coming to a standstill and leaving a haunting silence throughout the room.
With the obstacle of Clockwork removed from his way, Dark Danny turned away from the bleeding form of the master of time, moving on to his complete his own affairs. Stepping out to the edge of Clockwork's castle, he looked out into the Ghost Zone, observing his new kingdom as he sought to claim it as.
Looking out into the Ghost Zone, however, he cannot see the realm of the afterlife and his plans for the underverse. What he sees instead is an image of his former self, and the one who defeated him once before and continues to stand in opposition of all his goals.
The greatest gripe that exists in his mind is not just the mere existence of Danny Phantom in this timeline, but the very fact that his face brings him offense and disgust. Seeing his own face in a reflection, he cannot help but see the face of his past self where his own, new face should be.
Here, he makes a vow never to go by his name again, taking a truly new identity for himself.
"No. No longer will I be known as Dan Phantom, no longer will I be known as Dark Danny, and no longer will I be called Danny Fenton, as I am no longer you. I am your opposite, your bane, your downfall, your own demon. My name is... Demon Phantom. Now that I am free, the land of the living and the land of the dead are mine to rule." Dark Danny said.
Now calling himself Demon Phantom, he raised his hands up to the outer space of the Ghost Zone, raising his fists as he shouted his declaration of identity.
"I will bring the living world the apocalypse it deserves. I will destroy the child that destroyed me. Danny Phantom... MUST DIE!" Demon Phantom said.
The Demon's shout channeled a massive vibration of sound throughout the Ghost Zone, shaking away at doors, meteors, and other floating objects caught in the void of the 'Zone. Having a goal set in his mind and the will to accomplish hit, walked off the ledge of Clockwork's lair and began floating on the empty space, soon flying off into the Ghost Zone.
"With the apocalypse to come, I will require horsemen to bring it forward, and I know the perfect candidates." Demon Phantom said.
As the creature calling itself Demon Phantom departed, left behind was an empty form of ectoplasm once an undead creature named Clockwork. Taking a brutal blow from the freed beast, he had suffered a fate brought upon only by himself, for reasons known only to himself. Among his final words before his departure were: 'You cannot kill time'.
The form of ectoplasm laying on the floor seemed to disprove that statement, but among his words were also: 'Time is my domain, and time can never be destroyed'.
The clocks all around Clockwork's lair began to turn backwards, reversing the flow of time itself back where it was moments ago. What was slowly becoming a pile of ectoplasm on the floor was quickly beginning to turn into the shape of a body it once constituted, recreating itself into Clockwork once again by undoing what had been done to him moments ago.
Reformed and never having been touched by Demon Phantom, Clockwork looked out to the Ghost Zone, smiling as his plan was set into effect.
"It has begun. Time is as it should be." Clockwork said.
Hi. Welcome to the future. The year is 2027.
With the discovery of the Ghost Zone made nearly a decade ago, venturing into the first unknown territory of the theoretical and metaphysical outside of known science, the world marveled together as it finally had made its first steps into discovering the afterlife and the world beyond the one we know.
Their discoverers, Jack and Maddie Fenton, have become worldwide renowned geniuses for their work, and their company, Fenton Works, is a worldwide corporation renowned for its acclaimed anti-ghost inventions and interventions. becoming more successful and influential than the richest people all combined.
The research they have begun has led to more groundbreaking discoveries and technological breakthroughs, making the United States the leader of the world in science and technology. With countless brilliant minds working under two held as the greatest ones, the biggest questions about the universe are finally getting the answers that they deserve.
What happens when you die? Sometimes you go to Ghost Zone, sometimes not. More research is needed.
Is there a god? We haven't fond any yet, but it's sure not any of the ones we used to worship. We'll get back to you on that.
What is the meaning of life? That's always been up to you to decide, but 'just do your best' always works.
Unfortunately, even with some of the answers found, people still cling onto their old beliefs of gods and religions disproved and falsified, and all the technological breakthroughs that have been made are put into the hands of fanatics intent on making their beliefs mainstream and worshiped once again to hold strong their concept of reality, as well as all political power they still hold.
Such is the case with the Islamic theocracy of Saudi Arabia, under construction of a secret military science operation known as Project Azrael. Being a matter of international security, only a few individuals know that the project even exists. A select few that know are the specialized task force sent to handle the affair; the most qualified people to handle the affair also the favorite family of the world:
The Fentons, consisting of...
Jack Fenton, the father and eccentric side of the Fenton braintrust...
Maddie Fenton, the mother and more rational of the parents...
Jazz Fenton, the firstborn child and self-appointed team planner...
Sam Manson Fenton, the daughter-in-law with a sense of adventure and fun...
...and, last but not least, Danny Fenton, known to the world as the famous superhero named Danny Phantom.
Stepping out of a Specter Speeder outside the supposed location of Project Azrael, the Fenton family found in the distance a small village with armed guards outside of it, with more enemies supposedly inside as well. Tapping into the VR headset installed in her Ghost Peeler suit, Jazz checked the area with her resources, ensuring the location was the one they sought out.
"This is the place. The small, homey village of Raydaswan, home of Project Azrael for the last 4 months. The Saudis got tired of trying to pray to their god for answers, so they tried creating what they understood to be an angel." Jazz said.
"And exactly what's their definition of an angel?" Sam asked.
"In their view, a being with no free will of its own, so it answers directly to Allah. Because this is what passes as logic for the same people who don't let women drive and behead people for being gay. There's rumors online that the Saudi prince has a hidden harem of at least 4 boys."
"And any new details on how exactly they're trying to create their supposed 'angel'?" Maddie asked.
"No clue. Whatever this project is, it's kept at levels above top secret they didn't even have names for until now. Almost all the doctors who supposedly worked on this thing were driven to atheism, depression, and suicide. The ones who tried to leak it wound up getting a French revolution shave."
"Damn, that reminds me, I should've shaved this morning. Honey, you don't think the beard's getting too long, do you?" Jack asked.
"Oh, of course not, Jack. You're look more handsome by the day. Men age like a fine wine." Maddie said.
"Yeah, too bad you can't say the same about women, can't you?"
Jack's attempt at humor drew forth instead a scowl from Maddie, leading her to grip her Anti-Creep Stick, an ectoplasmic-powered bat, tight in anger.
"Oh, uh... Not you, honey! No, sirree, you're just as beautiful as the day I met you!" Jack said.
"Ahem. Guys. You mind focusing a little more on the task at hand, please? Scary doomsday weapon a few yards away from us? We need to go in and stop them?" Danny asked.
"Er, right. Jazz, battle plan?" Maddie asked.
"We're gonna need some better understanding of the opposition on the ground. Danny, get up top and see how many you can spot." Jazz said.
"You got it. I'm going ghost!" Danny said.
Stepping forward and reaching his arms out, two glowing rings split from Danny's midriff; one heading up to his head, the other heading down to his feet. As both rings traveled down his body, his clothing began to alter, changing from his attire of a simple white hoodie to his more well-known look of black, with his hair turning a snow white and his eyes a glowing green...
...becoming the one and only Danny Phantom.
Changed into his ghost form, Danny flew up to the sky, giving himself an aerial position over the village of Raydaswan. Putting on a pair of goggles over his eyes, the view that he gets over the sky is shared with Jazz, feeding images of the ground below into her headset.
Continuing to watch the ground as Danny observed it, she took survey of the ground and the enemies walking it, setting waypoints on each target, as well as one on their primary objective of the centermost building in the village. Pressing the Fenton Phone in his ear, Danny communicated back the numbers on the side of the enemy.
"Looks like a lot. Enemies on all sides, all with pleny of automatic weapons." Danny said.
"I see it, I see it. The only thing we need to worry about is getting inside that building. That's the most likely place for their command center." Jazz said.
"Got it. You want me to provide the usual cover strategy?"
"Whenever you're ready."
"Alright. Here it comes!"
[Soundtrack Cue: KMFDM - Ultra]
Extending his hands out to the ground below, Danny began firing ectoplasmic blasts to the ground below, firing on the soldiers keeping watch over the village. Expecting attacks from the ground, the soldiers had no preparation for an aerial attack, leading them to flee in panic, trying to find cover against the air assault.
The panic had taken away all semblance of thought and rationale from the soldiers, but the quick finding of cover allowed them to find it once again to fight back against the threat. Looking up to find the source of the attack, they soon found the source of their danger, finding Danny Phantom firing on them from above.
"إنه هو! إنه رجس! اقتله!" The guards shouted.
Aiming their rifles to the sky, the guards began firing back on Danny. The distance alone left Danny with little reason to avoid their shots, with his ghost form being intangible from the bullets all the reason to ignore the apparent lack of danger coming his way.
However, when one bullet grazed his arm, he felt pain as it struck him, finding ectoplasm leaking from his wound. The pain had led him to come to the realization that the bullets coming his way were not any normal metal on Earth, but instead the deadly otherworldly element known as...
Ectoranium. What's a bunch of standard guards doing with Ectoranium bullets? Danny pondered.
Moving to evade the bullets, Danny began swerving and dodging away from the bulletstorm sent up to the sky, now gaining a new challenge in the way of his task of firing on the enemy soldiers. Nonetheless, the challenge was ultimately still a minor one. The accuracy of the soldiers mattering not against his elevation; his own higher ground making any counterattack ineffective and his more than effective.
As he continued to fire on the soldiers, Danny took back to his Fenton Phone, informing the rest of his team regarding the new information about the threat.
"Guys. They're using Ectoranium bullets. They must've been expecting us to go the extra mile for it." Danny said.
"Not a problem. We've got this covered." Jazz said.
Moving into the village to enter the battleground, Jazz raised up her blasters, firing at the soldiers while they remained distracted. Taking in white-hot blasts of artificial hellfire, soldier after soldier fell down in defeat; their bodies blasted away with ectoplasmic blasts powerful enough to melt any Earthly substance.
Taking notice of the oncoming enemy, many soldiers turned their attention away from the enemy in the sky, instead firing at the new oncoming threat of Jazz Fenton. Where their ectoranium bullets may have had some degree of effectiveness on Danny Phantom on his ghost form, the ammunition displayed less than this usefulness against the metal armor of her Ghost Peeler suit.
Each bullet that flew her way bounced off her suit, leaving her safe and unharmed inside. Continuing to fire back against the enemy soldiers, Jazz's one-woman assault was not a solo effort for long; soon to come her way was the remainder of the Fenton family/strike team.
Making his own way to the scene, Jack Fenton took another corner of the battleground, arming himself with an ectoplasmic gatling gun.
"Say hello to the 21st century!" Jack shouted.
Aiming his gatling gun at the enemy soldiers, Jack unleashed a maelstrom of undead energy upon them, taking out entire platoons with the ease of a simple trigger pull, reducing their numbers significantly in the blink of an eye. Their attempts to fire back end up little more than an attempt to stop an oncoming train; the father Fenton gunning them down faster than they can fire back.
An eccentric madman with a taste for adventure, the battle is nothing but an outing of fun to Jack Fenton, with a chance to test out his new weaponry against plenty of soldiers to fire on. Trying to take cover against the firestorm of energy sent their way, the soldiers found little hope by ways of finding shelter; what shelter they found was soon obliterated and destroyed in an explosion from the hits taken.
Two such soldiers tried to take shelter behind a piece of wall, hoping that they would gain the means to regroup and make new plans.
"[The Americans are outgunning all of us!]" One soldier said in Arabic.
"[How can they be beating us?! There's only three of them!]" The other soldier said in Arabic.
"[I think you mean four.]" A third voice said in Arabic.
The third voice among the group, this one belonging to a female, quickly caught the attention of the two cowering soldiers as they turned their heads to it. Before their heads were swiftly removed from their necks, they found the woman named Maddie Fenton standing before them, swinging her Anti-Creep Stick to their heads and decapitating both of them in one swift throw.
Jumping over the decapitated bodies of the soldiers, Maddie began bum-rushing against the rest of the soldiers within the village, striking them down with her melee weapon in fast takedowns executed in a one-woman blitzkrieg against the guards and reducing their numbers quickly.
Having the more pressing threat of the Fentons above the air and firing on them from the sides, her attacks gained far less attention than the rest of the family, leaving her to reduce their numbers much faster than the enemy fire. With her attack combined with the family's invasion on both sides of the village, victory seemed all but already within the grasp of the Fentons, the only obstacle in their way time.
Soon, even that obstacle is overcome, and they find victory.
[Soundtrack Cue End]
In mere minutes, the last of the guards in the village fell dead before the hands of the Fentons, allowing the family to regroup after the attack. As the parents and daughter grouped together, the son descended from the sky, softly landing on the ground below as he rejoined the family.
"Well, that was an easy start. The rest from here oughtta be a cakewalk." Danny said.
The instant that Danny Phantom had finished his sentence, one surviving soldier stepped out from his cover, cocking back his rifle and pointing it at the world-famous superhero. Turning to the sound of the cocking weapon, he found himself down the sights of the rifle, too late to save himself from the deadly ectoranium prepared to be sent his way.
However, the attempt to take Danny's life resulted in his own life ending instead. A stray shot of ectoplasmic energy shot towards his head, blasting it off his neck and incinerating all its matter into ash. As his headless body fell to the ground, another walked into the scene to introduce the final Fenton to the fight.
"That's no excuse to get lazy. How many times have I had to watch your back this month?" Sam asked.
"More than I can thank you for. Thanks, Sam." Danny said.
"Hey, don't sweat it. That's the deal I took when I married you."
Danny and Sam embraced each other in a kiss in thankfulness of her save, temporarily pausing the battle to take a moment of relief.
"Alright, now. So, where'd you say that command center was?" Danny asked.
In the centermost building of the village, the many minds behind Project Azrael moved to quickly burn their files and research on the project, attempting to prevent it from landing in the hands of the Fentons or any enemy country. With little time on their hands and less resources to dispose of their findings, the job that they have put themselves on makes them do little more than simply panic in their moment of peril.
Soon, even that is put to an end with the sound of the doors busting open, with Jack Fenton kicking them open with the remainder of the Fentons behind him. Seeing the Fentons all come to their doorsteps with multiple weapons and intent to use them, all workers in the building came to a dead stop, not daring to make a move as to keep their lives a while longer.
"Alright, which one of you ladies is in charge of this project?" Maddie asked.
The scientists all collectively pointed towards one member of the room without hesitation, causing their leader to widen his eyes in fear at whatever punishment he would be subjected to by the Fentons. To surprise, it is not him that receives any attack, but everyone else in the room instead, in some cosmic display of karma backfiring on them.
Stepping forward with her ectoplasmic blasters, Sam gunned down the every member of the room except the leader, letting him stand alive after his colleagues were quickly slain. Watching the Fentons step up to him after the team had killed his group, he looked back on them with a quivering breath and wet pants.
Instead of making any clear threats to him, the surviving scientist was instead asked a simple question by Jack Fenton.
"Hi there, sport! You mind showing us where this super-secret laboratory of yours is?" Jack asked.
The scientist slowly and fearfully led the Fentons to the head laboratory of Project Azrael as ordered, bringing them to a large metal door after a short walk down the building. Pressing a key sequence on the door's controls, he allowed the door to open, leading the group through to the main facility.
When the Fentons arrive inside the laboratory, they are given more than they had bargained to see in the project. The majority of the lab did not include any complex machinery or equipment, but instead a long array of bodies in hospital beds, whether or not they were still alive a subject up for debate.
Taking to a clipboard containing a medical history of one patient, Maddie read the list down, finding content in it that brought her much disgust and offense.
"Jack, look at this. They've taking soldiers as subjects for the project, performing extensive brain surgeries and completely removing all their genitalia." Maddie said.
"Same on this one here. Looks like all of them are male, or at least used to be." Jack said.
"It is not a woman's place to be the servant of Allah. She is to be a servant of man first." The scientist said.
"Less sermon, more science. Explain what exactly your goal was." Jazz said.
"We were instructed to create the perfect servant of Allah. We were instructed to create a man who was no longer a man; free from the vices of sin. The genitals we had removed to free them from the temptations of the flesh, and what parts of the brain we cut out we took to remove free will, and any and all means to think of impurity."
"And exactly what good is that? All you'd end up with is a bunch of sexless zombies that can't think for themselves. How's that supposed to create your new superweapon?" Danny asked.
"You were the answer to that question, Danny Phantom."
The scientist then led them to another part of the laboratory filled with computers and more technological components alongside various medical equipment, appearing to be the primary workzone of the project. Out of all the advanced equipment that the laboratory seemed to hold, it did not catch any major attention from the Fentons, as that belonged to the centerpiece to the lab.
Looking upon it, the Fentons all opened their eyes and mouths wide at its presence, all recognizing it as...
"A Ghost Portal." Danny said.
"Yes. The world has heard of your origin, Mister Fenton. You had stepped through the portal one fateful day, felt the baptism of hellfire wash over you, and reborn you were as Danny Phantom. It is on this which we have founded our research. All the years that the world has looked on you in awe, as if you were a god yourself, taking away the love that belongs to Allah and Allah alone. To bring back the glory of our true god, we were tasked on creating our own." The scientist said.
"So... You've been mutilating your own people, throwing them in the portal, turning them into these... living corpses, just so you could try to make another half-ghost like me? How do you even get them to agree to that?"
"They put their faith in Allah. That was all they needed to follow through with the project."
"It was for nothing. We've seen what happens when you die. There's no 70 virgins waiting for you on the other side. It's just a weird, green mess, if you're lucky enough to come to that. Your god isn't real."
"If our god is not real, then it is our duty to create him. Mankind would have never progressed to its current state without belief. It is gods that we require to live with purpose and reason. It is a god in which our people need to lead them. Without god, we are just animals moving on our own accord without any goals. That is why we were assigned to create him."
As the scientist spoke, he slowly backed towards the Ghost Portal, standing just outside of it.
"Do you know what it means... to feel like god?" The scientist asked.
Before the Fentons could realize what the scientist was planning, he activated the Ghost Portal, subsequently stepping inside as it powered on. Just as he planned, the scientist was instantly hit by concentrated ectoplasmic energy, engulfed in a dimensional rift more than enough to turn any one person apart.
He stepped through the portal with the expectation of becoming a half-ghost entity like Danny Phantom himself, but his effort had ended with a fate similar to the many of the subjects who went through before. His body began to burn and crisp under the otherworldly plasma that it was immersed in, killing him painfully and slowly under the duress of the energy.
The sight of his slow death brought disturbed looks to the Fentons, soon gaining another better sight of the body and the extent of its destruction. Falling out from the portal, a charred, hideous scab of a creature that used to be a human being crawled out from the portal, inching his way to the Fentons.
Sickening as the display was, the Fentons were left unimpressed by it, no longer seeing any threat by the enemy scientist.
"That's never worked for anyone else except for me, and, apparently not for your subjects, either. What was that supposed to do?" Danny asked.
"To give me... a fighting chance..." The scientist groaned.
Without any medical team to see to his wounds like the past subjects, the scientist soon succumbed to the abuse he inflicted on himself, letting out a pained death rattle. His death and final words brought confusion to the Fentons from its intent, but soon found an explanation upon looking back to the Ghost Portal.
Coming out from the portal was the ghost of the scientist, returning with a new form to his name. His new face was not too dissimilar from old one, but the rest of his body was radically different. His body was a muscular and genderless form, with a pair of black wings protruding from his back, giving himself the appearance of an angel as his project has intended.
He spread his wings out in full display to the group, preparing himself to fight the Fentons in his new form.
"Our goal has been to make a half-ghost being like yourself, but to be a pure ghost will serve more than sufficient enough to defeat you, Danny Phantom. You have faced more than enough opposition from beings from the afterlife to be beaten down without no way of winning. But you now face the purest form of an angel. You face a servant of god. There is nothing one can do to face the wrath of god. Right?" The scientist asked.
"Wrong." Danny said.
In response to the scientist's empty threat, Danny detached the Fenton Thermos attached to his belt, aiming it at his ghost and firing on it. A blue blast of energy shot out from the tool, striking the ghost and latching itself onto it, luring it into the pocket universe trapped inside to imprison the enemy as their leisure.
Trying to fly away from the blast of the Fenton Thermos, the scientist was pulled into it in seconds, rendering his attempt to escape futile and pointless. Sucking the ghost into the thermos, Danny placed on its top the cap, trapping the ghost of the scientist inside and keeping him trapped, no longer able to pose any threat.
With the scientist trapped and all members of the project dead, Jazz concluded their mission by shutting off the Ghost Portal, smashing the equipment after.
"Hokey religions are no match for a good Fenton Thermos at your side." Danny said.
"Damn Saudis. First, they buy out the entire sport of golf. Now, they're stealing our technology and trying to make Islamic Danny Phantom." Jack said.
"Never had any chance. There's only been two successful cases of half-ghosts being created. One's our son, and the other one's somewhere in space." Maddie said.
Maddie's mention of the other known half-ghost being existing brought a chuckle to Danny Phantom, remembering the past history he shared with him.
"Yeah. Vlad. Good thing we only have to deal with stuff like this these days and not him anymore." Danny said.
Author's note: All dialogue in brackets [like this] represents when the characters are speaking in the Irken language.
Light-years away from the planet Earth, in a galaxy under the control of the dominating alien army known and feared as the Irken Empire, there exists a planet known as Carcerem, floating slowly in orbit of its solar system as it slowly rotates across its two small suns.
Carcerem is a barren, desolate planet, known for being a complete frozen wasteland; its surface covered with only snow and ice from its suns unable to warm the planet enough to living conditions for most life forms. The one and only feature that makes it significant is that it houses an intergalactic prison, hosting the worst scum of the universe and enemies to the Irken Empire.
With lunch hour arriving for the prisoners, they all met in the prison's canteen, collecting their barely-nutritional meals and meeting with each other at their respective tables. Conversing with one another and playing meaningless games together, they have nothing else to do in this frozen wasteland of a planet, in this hell of a prison, but simply wait to die.
One prisoner, however, quietly sat alone, uninterested in the others or their past lives. This man was once known as the infamous villain named Vlad Masters, better known to the world as Vlad Plasmius, the archenemy of Danny Phantom and the most powerful supervillain to walk the Earth.
Now, he is far from Earth, and further outside of his element. In his time, Vlad was a rich and powerful man who got wherever and whatever he wanted, with the sad and notable exception of the woman he wanted most: Maddie Fenton, his one and only interest was taken from him by his former best friend, Jack Fenton.
For years, he had done whatever he could to win her over, to no luck. Having made an effort to obtain control of the entire Earth for himself as its dictator, revealing his true intentions after all his supposed friendship with Jack, his place on Earth had left him, with his goal further away than before.
Now, in self-exile from Earth, his time has passed him, leaving him to rot in this world.
Sometime many years ago, he wound up in the galaxy's most secure and dangerous prison, soon becoming its de facto ruler over the inmates through his power and Machiavellian viciousness; his greatest and lifelong wish for power finally half-granted in the strangest of places.
Having been in this prison as its leader so long, he has lost so much time to the point that he no longer remembers his own name or past. Here, he is simply known as Vamp due to his ghost form's appearance; never having changed back to human form since his exile from his home planet.
Once, he was a man of status and importance on Earth, before having lost it all with his entire planet rejecting him. Now, he simply sits to rot away in this planet he found himself trapped on without much purpose. Despite his status as ruler of the inmates, deep down he cares nothing for it.
All he wishes for now is freedom or death, whichever comes first.
As Vlad sat and brooded to himself, he was soon approached by an inmate, coming to bring him bad news. No prisoner in the complex carried much courage to speak to him for fear of angering him, but exceptions he has made for breaking news threatening his status, which he takes carefully from his servant.
"[Vamp, Zuul will try to fight you again. He will have your head if he has his way.]" The inmate said.
"[I am aware of his plot. He will not succeed.]" Vlad replied.
Taking action against his usurper, Vlad got up from his seat and approached the aforementioned Zuul at his table, confronting him and his gang.
"[Is there a problem, Vamp?]" Zuul asked.
"[Why, yes, there is. You've been making a lot of talk saying you're going to take me on, try to put me out of power.]" Vlad replied.
"[Yeah? And what are you going to do about it, old man?]"
"[Well, I may be old, but I'm fair. I thought I'd let you get the chance.]"
Unexpectedly to the onlookers, Vlad threw a punch to Zuul's face, knocking him out of his seat and onto the floor. Several of Zuul's gang members began to pile on Vlad in response, but Vlad effortlessly shook them all off; none of them strong enough to pose a threat.
After a recovery period, Zuul rose from the floor to retaliate, landing several punches of his own. Grabbing Vlad by the head, he attempted to draw blood from the self-made king of the prison, but only managed to draw small drops of ectoplasm, all that passed for Vlad for blood, out of his nose.
In response, Vlad threw a headbutt against Zuul, knocking him back to the ground. Climbing on top of him, Vlad began to punch Zuul back in the face, repaying the damage done in full. Zuul responded back by grabbing Vlad by his throat, leading Vlad to do the same and send both tumbling across the floor.
As the fight continued to rage on, the inmates began to surround the two brawlers, with several groups cheering for one fighter or the other, altogether making a crowd with a mixed reaction on who would win. Both sides understood the importance of the fight, and what it would mean for the prison, making both support their sides with large shows of enthusiasm and cheer.
Before the fight could continue any further, however, the guards surrounding the prison began to fire lasers in the air, dispersing the crowd from congregating around the brawl. Heading into the scene of the fight, the guards grabbed Vlad and Zuul away from each other, bringing the two out of the canteen for a selective type of punishment to settle the imbalance of power in the prison.
Intending for this exact consequence to happen, both Vlad and Zuul looked to each other in eager smiles, planning their next attacks on one another.
Minutes later, Vlad and Zuul were dragged to the bottom level of the prison, being brought inside an arena constructed below for prisoner fights. Both fighters were placed on opposite ends, thrown in without care or preparation following their previous fight, instead expected to carry on as before.
Above them were skylights with other inmates on the higher level, cheered on the two to slaughter each other in battle as they did once before in the cafeteria. Zuul looked on his supporters with a smile, returning the cocky look to Vlad as he cracked his neck and knuckles.
"[Was the punch worth the trouble to foolishly surrender your rule to me, Vamp? To commit suicide in front of your kingdom?]" Zuul asked.
Zuul gave a smug laugh as he asked his taunting question, seeking to provoke his opponent and throw off his concentration. Contrary to the effect intended, Vlad stood unfazed by his taunt, giving an amused smile and laugh of his own in response to the question asked.
"[You must have forgotten who you picked a fight with. I've been ruler over the inmates since I've been here, and I've been here for years longer than I care to count. Never underestimate a man who grows old in a place where people die young.]" Vlad replied.
Not getting the flustered reaction that he was hoping for, Zuul's smile quickly disappeared, instead turning to a determined look, ready to fight. With much of the time of the fight being spent with speech rather than action, the guards impatiently called out for the fight to continue.
"[Enough talking! Two men enter, one man leaves! Those are the rules! Now, fight!]" A guard shouted.
The several prisoners surrounding the observation deck went frantic with excitement, waiting for the brawl to happen and hoping for blood be shed. Fights such as this one are the only kind of entertainment that prisoners can get in such a harsh place, and their impatience for excitement for the two to battle.
"[Two men enter, one man leaves! Two men enter, one man leaves! Two men enter, one man leaves!]" The prisoners chanted.
As the prisoners chanted, Vlad and Zuul took defensive stances and stared at each other; each studying the other closely. Each had their own plan of attack for the other, but neither were too eager to waste their shot at once; waiting for just the right moment to make their strike.
The two slowly circled each other, watching another, waiting for the right time to strike. Well aware of the other opponent's strengths and capabilities, there is no room for mistakes in a fight to the death. They each have only one shot to make, and neither can afford to waste it.
Soon, one found his moment.
After staring each other down for long enough, Vlad and Zuul finally began to fight again, with Vlad beginning the fight by throwing a punch to Zuul's face. The impact carried forth a large amount of force, drawing both blood and teeth from Zuul's mouth, giving Vlad a strong start to the fight.
To see Vlad make his strike and establish his place as king once again, the prisoners in support of him cheered loud, bringing the fight to a victorious start.
Vlad followed by punching Zuul once again, following by another punch, and soon beginning a chain of punches that drew all manner of stamina and breath from his opponent. The fight seemed to be more than in his favor from the little resistance put up by Zuul, but time still remained for more events to unfold.
While Vlad put up a strong fight, Zuul showed that he had more than enough of his own to give back. Dodging his next punches, he threw and landed hits from several of his own, retaliating back against his attacker. To see Zuul turn the tide in the match led his supporters to cheer louder, showing power and influence shift from one side to the other.
Following the many hits he took, Vlad began to lose consciousness from his beating, making him fall to the ground in apparent defeat. In a standard boxing match, Vlad would be simply be called out, making Zuul the winner. But this is a fight is not a boxing match, it is a battle to the death, and anything goes here...
...and Vlad was never one to surrender to an enemy.
As Zuul came in to deliver a strike from both of his fists, raising both in the air to bring them back down, Vlad retaliated by kicking him in his kneecaps, temporarily stunning his opponent. Giving himself enough time to rise from the ground, Vlad grabbed Zuul by his head, punching him several times more in his face, past his hardened skull and further into his alien brain.
The beating alone was enough to inflict significant damage on the opponent, but it was not enough for Vlad to give out. With another quick move of his thumb, Vlad gouged out Zuul's left eye, making him scream in immense pain. The sight of the gouging is one that brought both pained screams and excited ones from the audience, showing support to be in Vlad's favor once again.
Zuul, taking a stand against his opponent, began to kick his knee into Vlad's stomach repeatedly, completely knocking all breath out of his undead body. Regardless of having no lungs or any need for air in his ghost form, the beating made Vlad's consciousness slowly began to fade, making him stumble in his step.
No longer able to stand on his feet, Vlad fell to the ground once again, with seemingly no way to get back on his feet. The sight brought forth excited shouts from Vlad's group of support once again, declaring victory for Zuul. Stepping back up to the downed Vlad, Zuul cracked his knuckles once again in preparation of claiming that victory for himself, smiling on the broken man kneeling before him.
"[Any last words before I kill you in front of the entire prison, Vamp?]" Zuul asked.
"[Yeah... I've noticed that alien blood tends to come in three flavors... Peach-mango... strawberry-banana... and cherry-lime. Which one are you?]" Vlad asked.
Not expecting the strange question from his seemingly defeated opponent, Zuul raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"[What?]" Zuul asked.
With the last bit of strength in his body, Vlad leaped up to Zuul and drove his teeth into his neck, biting through the skin and sucking the blood out of his alien body to nourish his own. The prisoners, once cheering, went dead silent and watched in shock as Vlad began drinking all of Zuul's blood for them all to see; the action giving him the less of the appearance of a man and more like a vampire.
As Vlad sucked out the blood from his body, Zuul was given another strong reminder why his name was 'Vamp'; a lesson that he would take to his grave as he slowly walked into it. Feeling the bodily fluid which gave him life being drained out from his veins and arteries, sent straight to the belly of his enemy, he began to lose all strength to keep fighting, hanging limp in Vlad's arms.
Slowly but surely, Vlad drank all of Zuul's blood, killing his opponent as planned, and leaving his body a lifeless shell. With no soul within his body anymore, Zuul's body fell and tumbled onto the ground, proving Vlad as the winner of this fight to the death, and re-establishing him as the ruler of the inmates.
Letting out a belch, Vlad had also found the answer to the question he asked Zuul.
"[...Cherry-lime.]" Vlad said.
The prisoners, now unanimously in support of Vlad, cheered for him once again, beginning to chant his name.
"[Vamp! Vamp! Vamp! Vamp!]" The prisoners shouted.
Established once again as the ruler of the inmates, the king of this nowhere land lost in space, Vlad stood tall to his audience, raising his fists in victory. Hearing the cheers given for him, he smiled as he felt a sense of power maintained in him, proving to himself once again that he was still alive.
With the fight now over, so was the chance at the inmates to have their entertainment. The guards, dispersing tear gas into the observer rings, drove the crowd out, sending the prisoners out of the arena and back to their normal daily lives of boredom and wasting away.
Having next the task of putting Vlad back in his cell, the prison guards entered the ring with riot gear, surrounding him to prepare themselves for any means of an attack. Vlad did not respond to the guards with any hostility, but instead held his hands up in compliance, allowing himself to be taken away.
Two guards approached Vlad from behind and grabbed him by his arms, taking him out of the ring. Rather than leading him back to his normal prison cell, he was instead placed him in solitary confinement in response to the incident, where he would remain for some time to avoid causing any further disturbances within the prison.
But this fact is not a problem to Vlad Plasmius. Now alone once again, Vlad sat in his cell, smiling over his victory, with his rule over his empire still established. Where Earth may no longer have a place for this old, bitter man, this place has become more of a home than he could have ever imagined. How ironic, it seems, that a prison becomes more of a home to a prisoner than his old home.
But the influence of his old home is not completely forgotten. He spoke to himself in a language he barely remembers, saying a short confirmation to himself.
"I am the king." Vlad said.