Author's Note: Wow. 4 chapters. Amazing for somebody who's inspirations are currently running low on fuel… I think I'm pulling something out of my you-know-what on this one, so if you think this one isn't exactly my best work, I hope you'll forgive me for trying to come up with something on the fly. I hope this works.

Speaking of ideas, I had a couple of them for this little series but I'm not sure which one I should use. Therefore, since I'm actually getting reviews and story followers, I will put up a poll for you, The People, to decide which direction I should go after this one. Please vote!

Disclaimer: Do I seem like I own any intellectual properties? I can't even keep the creative juices flowing all the time. Lol.

Part 4: The Future Begins Now

If Danny Fenton learned one thing from such comic book sagas as Marvel's "Civil War", it's that publicly revealing your secret identity will leave you open for certain things to happen. Almost like mixing business with pleasure, only without the pleasure… No, perhaps it's like mixing your home life with your work responsibilities. At least for the average joe, the work responsibilities don't try to murder him and/or take over the city/world on a daily basis…

It started with a simple, brief email he had gotten one Friday afternoon after school.

"Phantom,

Your time is soon, as the vultures will soon feast on your remains. You will be deleted like last week's spam! Heed my warning well! -S.T. #FaceDeletion"

Danny didn't know who "S.T." was but he couldn't help but roll his eyes. Negative emails weren't new to the halfa since the Disasteroid incident, namely ones from Mr. and Mrs. Manson telling him to, quote, "go exorcize yourself". The young Fenton didn't need to be a rocket scientist to tell what expletive word they really wanted to use there… Danny and Sam's time as a couple only lasted a couple of months before they decided they were better off as best friends, due to a combination of attacking Manson parents and interfering ghosts.

Or was it "interfering Manson parents and attacking ghosts"? It was pretty much the same difference, much to Danny and Sam's chagrin… But that was then. Their friendship is strong as ever and Danny has Ember now, despite the "Batman/Catwoman" nature of their relationship. Things worked out.

Back to the matter at hand, Danny wondered if he should ask Tucker to find the source of this email. Despite the public knowledge of his superhero identity, Danny's personal email was only known to family, friends, Ember, and a few schoolmates. Some crackpot asshole getting his email address was concerning. Perhaps a fame-seeker trying to claim that he 'hacked the legendary halfa's email'? Maybe a two-bit vigilante trying to make a name for himself? Or maybe an enemy trying to issue a challenge?

He gave Tucker a call…

Later…

"Odd, dude. This guy covered his tracks. Anonymous email address, untraceable with a bunch of decoy trails. Strange thing about that is the decoy trails lead to old-time companies like Atari and IBM… Wonder if that's a gimmick or something. Either way, this isn't some common jackass. He's got tech, man." The African-American, tech-obsessed Mayor of Amity assessed, after looking at the report on his laptop, which was hooked up to multiple high-tech portable devices that the Government probably used to track people.

Some things never change. Tucker's knack for tech-smarts certainly didn't. "So I guess I should keep looking over my shoulder now, huh?" asked Danny calmly. Being a superhero, the idea of being hunted down didn't faze him anymore. The only thing that bothered him was the fact that he didn't know who the hunter was this time.

"Looks like it. Might wanna let ol' Blue know. It's good to have an extra pair of eyes, man." Tucker said, passively starting to disassemble his high-tech setup. Danny couldn't help but chuckle. "What's so funny?"

"It's just funny how things change. I still remember how surprised you were when I told you about our relationship last month. And now, she's just a regular here on Team Phantom to ya. Hell, you call her by nickname." Danny mused, a smirk on his face. The sight of a wide-eyed, jaw-dropped Tucker when Ember had appeared and kissed Danny on his cheek would be one of those priceless hilarious moments.

Tucker grinned back. "Good point, Danny. I guess she earned our trust. Hmm… Are you ever going to tell your parents about her? I mean, it shouldn't be too difficult, since they know about your powers."

"Eventually. I know I should. But I'm… I'm just nervous, ya know…? They accept me, but what if they don't like it because she's a full ghost? Not to mention, well… You know how she is." Danny trailed off.

"Yeah. A regular loose cannon. Hey, least she cares about you, right? If it's important to you, she might behave. Well…behave as much as a wild rock diva can behave, anyway." Tucker said as he packed up his tech into designated cases.

"She'd probably want to do the same thing she did to you: pop in at the right time. She did say she loves surprising people sometimes. Probably part of her wild side…" Danny said, an amused look on his face as he mentioned Ember's personality. Tucker noticed.

"Eh, you love it." Tucker said, briefly showing a taunting smirk. "I bet she's wild in other ways as well."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Tuck, you want me to start talking about Valerie? You remember that I briefly dated her too." he warned, crossing his arms.

Tucker raised his hands. "Alright, I give. Jeez, sensitive much?" he said, somewhat amused.

"Eh, I dunno." Danny shrugged, standing up and began stretching, as if preparing for something physical. "All I know is that I should probably start my patrol. Thanks for checking out this email, man."

"No prob, Danny. Guess I should head back to the office myself." Tucker said, backpack set to go. "Running a town is tough work sometimes."

"So is protecting it." replied the halfa, raising his hand for a high-five, which Tucker obliged.

"Give me a shout if you run into serious trouble. You know I always got some heat on me" the mayor said, indicating his backpack. Most likely he had a small-yet-powerful Fenton weapon of some kind hidden away.

"What are friends for, right? Later, Tuck" Danny said with a grin before flying through the wall and into the open air.

The evening came on and so far, Danny hadn't found a single crime or ghostly disturbance. A pleasant surprise so far. But he had to maintain vigilance, for who knows what kind of opportunity evil might take. And so, he decided at least one more pass through the town, just to be sure.

A sudden noise of light static interrupted him, somebody was communicating via the Fenton Phones. "Rock Star 1 to Clueless 1, do you read?"

"Sigh… Can't I get a better call sign by now?"

"Nope, Baby-Pop." Ember giggled. "It still suits you well." Danny began regretting giving her an earpiece…until he remembered her other method of calling him when she needed assistance: loudly playing an electric guitar rendition of the Ghostbusters theme until he showed up. By the time he got there, the trio of armed bank robbers and any nearby citizens begged Danny to shut her up. It certainly wasn't a good day to get any positive feedback on Ember's performance as a reformed ex-villainess.

"Argh… What's the problem, Ember?" he grumbled, knowing that he'll never live the whole 'clueless' thing down.

"You might want to fly on over here to Amity Museum of Somewhat-Priceless Not-So-Rare Artifacts Of Some Sort. I'm in the middle of a four-sided fight between myself, some thugs, Penelope Spectra, and the city's SWAT team. By the way, your nerdy mayor friend better rename this place. Seriously…" she explained. Oddly enough, she was completely calm about it. Danny had a hunch about that.

"Well, we're not exactly a big-time city like Chicago, so…Yeah, we get the not-so-important stuff to display. Anyways, you make it sound like a walk in the park. What's the status?" he asked, already changing his direction to fly toward the museum.

"Well, it's kind of a Mexican standoff right now. The thugs have plenty of ammo and got a huge wild west display for cover. The SWAT naturally has plenty of ammo too. Couple of columns for cover. Spectra's hovering around the area, trying to zap whoever sticks their head out. I think one copper has an anti-ghost weapon. He keeps taking a potshot at Spectra every so often. I'm sticking to the ceiling in the rafters. The others drew Spectra's attention away from me, but I know it's going to be a real shitstorm soon. I'd try something, but…" she trailed off.

"You think somebody might hurt the cops by accident? I get it. On my way. Do I even want to know how you got into that situation?" he asked. There was a pause.

"Uh, I don't think it'd be that interesting a story…" Ember could not sound more innocent if she tried. Did Danny really need to know that she was curious if there were any valuable music-related items she could pilfer? Not really. It's not like they were married. Her business was her business. Besides, as long as she's not hurting anybody, right?

"Never mind… I'll take on Spectra. When I get her attention, help deal with the gunmen." He ordered before going silent. Time to go to work.

"Copy that, Clueless 1" answered Ember, just as serious. Danny sighed… At least Ember was showing restraint in battle, knowing how sound-based powers can be when dealing with multiple threats.

The battle went easily enough. Danny had phased through the roof invisibly and surprised Spectra by tackling her from behind. The ensuing fistfight was enough of a cue for the "banditos" hiding in the wild west display to open fire on the hiding SWAT members. As the bullets flew, Ember floated down behind the thieves and surprised them by smashing the closest one's head with her guitar, rendering him unconscious. The ambush drew enough attention away from the authorities for them to start firing back.

A couple of the bandits got clipped by a bullet or two. Fortunately for them, it was merely suppressing fire. A third got knocked aside from a stray ecto-beam from Danny when Spectra dodged an attack. The last two remaining were flanked by Ember, who was lightly strumming her guitar in some random western-sounding melody, and the approaching cops.

"Freeze! We got you surrounded!" one cop called, typically. Couldn't they come up with other things to bellow to criminals? The crooks looked at each other, then looked behind them.

"Wanna try your luck, 'pardners'? It's the showdown at the ol' corral and you seem to be a few cowpokes short of a posse. I recon you're quite lucky, really." Ember mused, her strumming seemed to pick up, the country-western melody seemed to become more upbeat as if building up to something. "Yonder hero has taken care of one of your problems. So it could've been much worse for you. Spectra ain't exactly a merciful outlaw of these lands, that's for sure."

The criminals became nervous, wondering what the monologue-spewing songstress was up to. Was she trying to calm them down? Lulling them into a false sense of security? The music was certainly charming, despite the groans of the wounded, and it did fit the setting of their chosen makeshift battlefront. But no, she was Ember McLain, undead upstart vigilante! They had heard about her.

If you get in her way, you head will get rocked, so they say. It was also said that if you cross her, beware the wrath of her mate, the infamous superhero Danny Phantom. They knew this well from the local underground criminal community. They should run. Or at least turn themselves in to the cops.

Somehow, they didn't feel like it. Something about the music, the swinging tempo and the country vibe… It sounded peaceful. Fun, even. They couldn't understand it, but they suddenly had the urge to…

Square dance. And so they did. Even the SWAT team joined in, seemingly caught up in a moment of spontaneity, cutting loose from all the serious drama from moments ago. After all, everybody needs to cut loose once in a while.

Or so they were thinking. Danny knew better as he passively observed the scene while wrestling with an angry Spectra. Ember's music powers at work, almost like a subtle suggestion during hypnosis. It was harmless, really, when it was something like this. Not like the blatant mind-control of her old days as a villain. A rake of sharp fingernails across his face drew his attention back to the vile psychiatrist in front of him.

"My eyes are up here, Phantom. Stop looking elsewhere." the devil-horn-haired redhead sneered, swinging her other hand around to claw his face again. He intercepted the claw by grabbing her wrist.

"Sorry, Spectra, but I was looking at someone far more interesting." Danny shot back, turning himself around and pulling her wrist so that he flipped her over him and onto her back. Spectra growled, infuriated at the counterattack. She kicked up, hoping for her foot to catch Danny's head while he was still relatively in range. No such luck. He leaned back, grabbing his Thermos at the same time. He uncapped it as he leaned back forward and then aimed it at her.

He glared at her, giving her a chance to surrender peacefully before he activated it. "You'll pay for this…" she spat out. Oh my, where, oh where has he heard that one before?

"Sorry, looks like our session's over. Same time next week?" Danny asked in a fake-caring voice as he sucked Spectra up into the Fenton Thermos. Another victorious battle. He sighed in relief as he took in the sounds of electric guitar and people dancing. He turned to float over to his girlfriend and wrap things up.

"Hey, cowgirl! All set here! How's the dance-off?" he asked, hovering across the spacious room.

"Ah do declare the cops are winning. These rascals are looking pretty worn already, sugah." Ember answered, adding a Southern drawl to her voice. Danny made a mental note to have her use the Southern accent more often. Everybody has their kinks, right?

"Well, that's all good then. Time to wrap—" BOOM!

Danny was sent flying across the room by an explosive making contact with his back. Ember shrieked, ceasing her guitar-playing. The cops (and even the criminals, out of curiosity and the need to survive) aimed their weapons at the direction where the explosive might have come from, opposite of where Danny was sent.

"Who the hell's there?!" Ember yelled, setting the power knob on her guitar from "stun" to "kill". Nobody blows up her man. Nobody but her, anyway. But that was a more private matter…

A voice answered, sounding both high and low at the same time. A fusion of two voices, perhaps… "Oh nobody, really. Just a new twist on a couple of old favorites, my dear…"

Danny, his back bruised and burned, managed to get back to his feet and looked toward where the voice(s) came from. He saw someone vaguely familiar and definitely not in a good way. He hadn't seen something like that since…the dark future?

It was Skulker and yet, it wasn't. His fiery hair was now white instead of green, his armor seemed even more technological than usual, his eye sockets now looked like they were wearing shades, and he had a grey cape over his shoulders and back. "We are SkulkTech 1.1 and we will delete all but your pelts!"

It suddenly made sense, that email… "S.T." was SkulkTech, the fusion of Skulker and Technus. But Danny had eliminated Dark Danny from the timeline. So… why fuse anyway? And why 1.1? Wasn't it 9.9?

"Skulk…Tech?" Ember asked, raising an eyebrow at what seemed to be her former boyfriend. The being did also look a little like that technology creep, Nicholai Technus, but that didn't make much sense to her.

"Yes, our dear. We have grown tired of losing again and again and AGAIN to that inferior whelp! Therefore, we have agreed to merge our powers into one vastly superior being! We are SkulkTech and we are the future!" rumbled the hulking machine, raising his arms in a fighting gesture, seemingly arming himself for combat.

"Not this again…" muttered Danny as he floated over to Ember. He couldn't believe it. SkulkTech was here, in the present, currently existing. Perhaps some things of that dark alternate timeline were meant to happen anyway. Either way, this would be an uphill climb for the duo, considering Danny had just fought Spectra.

Danny glanced at the few humans that were still around. "Guys, I'd advise getting out of here and taking care of the whole arresting thing outside. This guy's not going to spare anybody if he gets a hold of you."

The cops and criminals agreed and panicked, hauling up their fallen and wounded and heading for the exit as quickly as possible. Skulker aimed an arm cannon toward the exit. "What if we wanted a captive audience?!" he asked as he fired toward the wall above the exit doors, hoping to cut them off or bury them in rubble. Danny quickly sped over and intercepted the energy blast, taking another hit in the process. SkulkTech guffawed in amusement.

"You heroes crack us up! Sacrificing your bodies for these mortal worms! They're all going to be food for our pets anyway!" he proclaimed as the humans scurried their way out the door. Danny started the painful process of getting back to his feet, noticing Ember hitting a riff on her guitar sending an energy fist toward SkulkTech. Unfortunately, the pink energy just washed across the mecha, having no effect whatsoever.

Shit… Danny's only real chance was the Ghostly Wail, if SkulkTech 1.1 was anything like the assumedly-more-improved SkulkTech 9.9. However, when he intercepted the blast meant to trap the humans inside, he took it pretty hard to the chest, which left him short on breath since it now hurt to breathe in a lot of air. Of all the rotten luck. Why did those two idiots have to fuse together like the two ghosts that they…

Wait… Two ghosts…? Hmm…

"Ember!" He called as loudly as he could manage, stumbling over in her direction. The songstress floated back, dodging a giant fist from the fused ghost. "What, Baby-Pop. Kinda busy here!" she said, leaping over another fist.

"I got an idea… Come here." he said, throwing an ecto-beam or two at SkulkTech to distract him from Ember. She floated over until she stood next to him. They both fired away, hoping to at least drain the bot's power somewhat.

"How do ghosts fuse?"

"What? Jeez, is this the right time to be asking 'how-to' questions, dipstick?"

"I'm just thinking of the sense that two can play this game… or is it four? I dunno! You know what I mean." he stammered, feeling frustrated. Ember blushed. Fusion? With him? Sure, Skulker and Technus fused and it was probably a business decision. So its not like love between two ghosts was required to fuse. But she couldn't help but think of that kind of sentiment.

Could one really blame her? Not really. She knew of fusion but thought of it as a bunch of nonsense only used by clingy weaklings that needed others to even survive. She was the Queen of Rock music. She didn't need anyone's power to survive but her own. But suddenly, here's Danny in the middle of a crisis just putting the idea out there… And sure, it was a pretty big crisis, the opponent being as strong as he is… But the idea just seemed… right somehow.

She then realized that she must never tell Danny of these thoughts! He'd finally get to bust on HER for being cliché and unoriginal! Love him or not, she'd never want him to have that chance. That's supposed to be her gimmick on him! So, she just spoke…

"Well, not a lot to it if you can focus. We concentrate our powers, focus on each other, bring our bodies together, and…Wham, we're one."

"Really?" Danny smirked, blushing. Of all the times to use entendres… Luckily for the duo, a couple of random ecto-beams hit SkulkTech in his shades-covered eyes, blinding him for a moment or two. They couldn't afford to get sloppy now.

"Baby-Pop, I'm serious. If you wanna do this… well… then fine! Better hope this ain't permanent, though. Some fusions end up sticking…" she warned, working the hell out of her guitar.

Danny knew this was insanely short-notice. But it couldn't be helped. If they ran, SkulkTech might rampage through a good chunk of Amity by the time his lungs were allowed to support a Ghostly Wail. If they fought like they're doing now, surely they would either run out of power or get slaughtered, whichever came first.

Besides, it would be fun to see what a singer's voice could do with the Ghostly Wail ability!

"Let's do it, Ember!" he said, causing her to blush again. Damn double-puns!

"Blind him again! We'll need a little time!" she replied, now trying to send as many energy blasts to the head as possible. Danny complied and fired some more ecto-beams at his head. The combination of so much blinding light from the energy worked to cause SkulkTech to completely stop his advance and swipe his hands over his eye sockets like he wasn't wearing cybernetic shades. Apparently, the "shades" were his eyes after all… And yet the light still blinded him for a few moments. Perhaps that explained one reason for the future improvements…

Ember began to channel her energy, her flaming ponytail flickering wildly, growing. A light-blue aura formed around her body. Danny tried channeling his power. He guessed that it was like powering up an ecto-beam, but letting the power flow through his body instead of just his hand. Sure enough, a green aura could be seen emanating around his body. It took ten seconds. SkulkTech was still fumbling with his eye-shades, grumbling about prey that took cheap shots. Served him right…

He looked at his girlfriend and caught her staring at him. The smile on her face told him that she was in 'Step 2', focusing on him. He couldn't help but smile back, she was probably thinking of happy moments. Or perhaps just the moments where she'd make fun of him… Yeah, most likely the latter… He sometimes couldn't believe how much she…

His thoughts were interrupted by a hug from Ember. 'Step 3: Contact'. It was followed immediately by feeling a burst of power, Ember's power. But instead of the old days where that power was punching the hell out of him, that power was spreading inside of him. He could feel 'her' from his arms to his feet to his head. It sort of felt like his soul was being tackled out of its boots, yet it felt so welcoming.

He embraced it. He embraced her.

Some might think that this display of power would be one of those action scenes where the whole area would be bathed in blinding light while the stunned opponent dropped his jaw and said something to the effect of "What the hell is this?!". But no, this was much more low-key than that. All there seemed to be was two bodies slowly molding into one being behind a blue-green aura. No flashy displays, which was abnormal for one of the two personalities involved…

Danny awoke. The first thing he noticed was that he was standing. The second thing was SkulkTech finally shaking off the blindness only to look at him and drop his jaw. Danny raised an eyebrow. The third thing he noticed was that he felt…different. Sort of…feminine. Then it all hit him. He and Ember were one and the same! He still felt male. He looked down. Sure enough, a flat male chest. But he knew he felt like a woman too. He reached back and drew Ember's guitar from his back. He instinctively placed his fingers on a chord and struck a few riffs, expertly riffing the intro to Black Sabbath's "Iron Man". He understood the guitar, like he'd always known it for years! 'Enough, Baby-Pop! We got work to do, remember?' his mind told him.

But that wasn't his mind. That was Ember! It was strange. Enjoyable because it was Ember, but strange nonetheless. Was this how Peter Parker felt like when he wore the symbiote known as Venom? Couldn't be… Ember doesn't have the brutally-savage, animalistic tendencies… Not to mention, also unlike the infamous symbiote, he didn't feel like he had a large, demonic mouth…

Ember suddenly made his body weave out of the way of a pair of rockets that SkulkTech had launched at the halfa. The rockets blew up a display of Revolutionary War knock-off props. It seems the mecha's shock wore off faster than Danny's. 'Parker! Get your ass in gear or I swear I WILL bite you like Venom does!' his now-female brain scolded. Danny gulped, leaping over a couple of laser blasts before firing off a hard guitar riff, which shot a blue-green fireball at SkulkTech.

The fireball seemed to do some damage as it hit his right arm, burning some of his circuits. The techno-hunter growled, raising his other arm and firing his arm cannon. "Dan-ber" ducked the blast and then stuck his/her tongue out at him. "Firing at me before I even gave my performance? How rude." he/she said, the voice coming out as both male and female at the same time. He/she cartwheeled away from several more wild shots from the increasingly-frustrated enemy.

The fused hero then stopped and gave a light cough, as if preparing. SkulkTech's chest cavity opened, revealing a compact missile. But before he could even fire it, "Dan-ber" let loose with a loud, shrill wail of a rock-star shout. The sheer force of the Ghostly Diva Wail sent everything within "Dan-ber"s field of vision that wasn't nailed down flying back until it all hit the wall. Hell, the wall was even pushed back, indented by the Wail's power!

SkulkTech's circuits were overloading. It almost felt like being overwhelmed by the power of newer technology, which infuriated the Technus half of the mecha. The sheer power… It was raw, forceful, like…a power ballad. Technus couldn't believe he made a music reference. Skulker couldn't believe he had to agree with Technus. Their systems were critical... Did their arm just fly off into the distance? Couldn't have been… Error…Error…Error…

And so, in pieces, SkulkTech was thrown backward and scattered among the ground, fell by the combination of a talent for singing and a particular yelling ability. "Dan-ber" surveyed the damage. "Holy crap" the duality of voices said. 'Who the hell's gonna pay for this?' Danny's newfound femininity asked. 'I dunno. Mayor Tucker?' his masculine side answered. 'You know he's not going to like this…' warned the female brain. Who knew Ember didn't want to just dump problems on somebody else? Maybe Danny was a good influence on her. 'Don't push your luck, Baby-Pop. I just don't want you to die just yet. The guy does have a lot on his plate, running this town and all.' the brain snapped. Good point. Even so… He knew what he had to do. Get to Tucker and explain things before he hears about it from the cops!

But first, he/she aimed his/her Fenton Thermos at the remains of SkulkTech and collected them.

"Who the hell are you?!" was Tucker's immediate reaction upon seeing Danny phase into the Mayoral Office. Didn't he recognize him? "What's wrong, Tucker? It's us!" the fused voices said. Tucker looked confused. "Danny? What the…? Have you seen yourself?" asked the world's youngest mayor, indicating a tall mirror nearby.

Danny moved his body over to look and realized why his friend freaked out. He was still fused with Ember and completely forgot about the idea of splitting back apart! It felt so…natural. Was that what love does? 'We can discuss relationships later. Look at us.' suggested Ember. Apparently, she was kinda enjoying the idea of being Danny's brain. Or did she feel like she was the body and Danny was the brain?

The couple looked upon itself in the mirror. Their body looked like Danny Fenton (not Phantom), with semi-long black hair featuring streaks of light-blue, a black leather jacket with Danny's Phantom insignia embossed on the back, black jean-shorts, and combat boots. His body, while all male, seemed a little more lean than usual, probably from Ember's female influence. His face contained her green eyes, her usual eye makeup pattern, and her nose, while the rest was Danny. She wasn't kidding about fusion.

"Damn. We look good!" said 'Dan-ber' appraisingly. Tucker stammered again. "Dude! What the hell happened?!"

"Oh. Yeah. That. We have some bad news, Tuck…"

A few minutes later, Tucker was on the floor laughing. Dan-ber was confused. "Aren't you mad about the property damage?" he/she asked. Since when was major property damage funny?

"I should be. But holy crap, man! When a singer brings the house down, you really bring the house down!" he said, still laughing. He rolled to his hands and knees, trying to calm himself. "Besides… That place didn't have anything major in it anyway. Any relics in it were just fake replicas anyway since we are just a small town. Also, the council was thinking of taking it down anyway, since many people consider it an eyesore with a stupid name. If anything, you just made the demolition job a little easier!"

Dan-ber just stared, his/her eyes wide open. This had to reek of "comic book coincidence". A battle that leaves massive damage just happened to be in a building that would've been taken down anyway? Out of ANY building in town that fight could've taken place in? How much good luck can one hero have, anyway?

Either way, the couple will take it. "So, we're in the clear?" the duo asked.

"Yeah. Like I'm going to issue a warrant for you two over something Skulker and Technus did anyway… You should know me better than that, Danny… umm, and Ember."

"Thanks, Tuck." Dan-ber smiled. Tucker was oddly disturbed by the fact that Danny had Ember's smile…

"No problem… Umm… So what about… you know… this?" he said, gesturing his hands to indicate Dan-ber's body.

"Well, hopefully we can figure this out. Shouldn't be too hard to pull out."

"That's what she said!" Tucker exclaimed. Suddenly, Tucker was grabbed by his shirt collar and pulled in close to a frowning Dan-ber. This time, only Ember's voice spoke. "Say that again and I won't care that you're Baby-Pop's best friend, I will punish you."

"Eep… Yes, ma'am!" gulped Tucker, struggling to get out of her grasp. Dan-ber released her grip. "Huh? What'd we miss? Oh, yeah… Tucker, bad choice of words." The duality of voices resumed itself, as if Danny's mind had to catch up. It was worth noting that the individual halves could still assert themselves when needed. Just like a relationship, if one thinks about it in that sense…

It was an hour later in Ember's realm and Dan-ber was focusing on splitting up. There had to be a way that the two could be individuals again. The duo tried focusing energies in two opposite directions. They tried thinking of hateful things about each other, mostly of the old days, hoping that it'll trick the fused body into coughing up their own selves. They tried just thinking about their own bodies. Nothing worked. They were still one, man and woman, symbiote and host. It sighed…

"What do we do? … I don't know. What should we do? … How should we know? We asked you?" Dan-ber said, as if Danny and Ember were conversing with each other.

"Well… We tried everything. All that's left is crazy ideas like using Desiree's wishing powers or trying to guess some sort of deactivation phrase like 'I'm pulling out'."

As soon as those last three words left his/her mouth, a blue/green aura burst from Dan-ber's being, blinding the combined body. Moments later, Danny regained his vision and looked around. The first thing in the messy apartment he noticed was Ember sprawled on the bed nearby. Something worked! But what surprised him was…

"Wait, wait… That's what splits us up? 'I'm pulling out'? What kinda code-phrase is that?!" he said, blushing. Perhaps it would be a good thing that fusion won't happen on an often basis.

"It's one that you get when you combine two hormone-driven minds, dipstick. Oh, don't give me that look. You're not exactly Mr. Innocent, we both know that." snickered Ember, sitting up and giving him an amused look.

"So… How was that for you?" Danny asked, curious. He sat down on the bed next to Ember. She stared at him, smirk still on her face.

"Wasn't bad, really. Too bad you wouldn't stop chattering when you were my brain…" she said.

"Wait. You were the brain."

"Huh? No, you were. I had the body."

"Huh…" Danny paused, mulling over it. "Maybe that's a part of it. In a sense, we're both the brain and body, working together."

"Mm… Sounds about right, I guess. Next time, stop yammering so much, ok?" she said, lightly slapping him upside the head. Danny grunted.

"Alright, flame…

"Think we'll see the last of that combined effort from the Reject Geek Squad there?" Ember asked, lying down and spreading herself out across the bed in true slacker fashion.

Danny frowned. He knew the answer to that one. "Hmm… Remember that story I told you around a month ago…? The one about my dark side?"

"The one about going to the future and finding out it sucked?"

"Yeah. SkulkTech was one of the future's 'bright' outcomes… Although in that time period he called himself SkulkTech 9.9. So, I'm sure we'll face an upgraded version at some point…" Danny said, a serious foreboding look on his face, the kind of dramatic look superheroes get when they know a dark fate is coming. Ember noticed and grabbed him by the back of his hazmat top, pulling back so that he fell back on the bed to lay next to her.

"Chill, Baby-Pop. So he'll return. We'll just get stronger too. It's what everyone does in this competition we call life, right?" Ember said, smiling at him. It was one of those rarely-seen caring smiles she saved for moments like this, now that she had someone that actually cared about her.

"The more things change…" Danny started, smiling back at her.

"The more things stay the same." Ember finished. And then bopped him on the head. "Unoriginal as usual." she said before drawing Danny in for a kiss before he could gripe about it. Kissing, the ultimate silencer…

Soon enough, Danny put his concerns on the back burner. So what if certain aspects of that rejected future would still come to pass? As long as he continues doing what he does best, things won't turn out nearly as bad as Dark Dan's future. That's what Danny believed to be true. At one moment, he realized that another aspect of the dark future sort of came true after all: Phantom would indeed fuse together with another ghost. And that realization made him believe that the future is already brighter, considering who he fused with this time around.

And so, one day at a time, time moves to the future… But that seems a little too cheesy of an ending, really. The next morning, Ember woke up and slowly loosened herself from her sleeping boyfriend's grasp. Gathering together her clothes from the previous night, she noticed something sticking out of her pants pocket. She couldn't believe she forgot that in that whole struggle yesterday. She pulled the item in question out.

Replica or not, she had to respect the fact that the crappy soon-to-be-destroyed failed museum had sheet music of Metallica's first album on display. Definitely a great steal for her music collection, even if monetarily worthless. Little did she know that Danny was sometimes a light sleeper. He had stayed still with one eye open to watch the show that was his girlfriend wandering around bare-assed. When he noticed her pull out what looked like papers and saw a familiar look in her eye, the look of successful mischief, he couldn't help but smirk…

'Stealing again, 'Catwoman'? Should've known.' he thought. Some things will truly never change.

Author's Note: There you have it. The fourth part, done. I hope the ending wasn't TOO fluffy, considering how rowdy Ember's attitude usually is.

As I said before, I will have a Poll about the next part. I will have a couple of possible plot ideas and even an option of "This is good enough. Consider this complete.", in case anybody thinks I'm beginning to 'jump the shark'. Lol. Along with reviews, please take the time to vote. Thank you.