Author's Note: Hey, everybody! Been a while since I done something with this anthology of Danny/Ember moments. But an idea recently struck me. I admit that I can be a man of referential humor, flinging references more than Family Guy at times… So I hope you'll pardon the following parody. Then again, I did have Ember accidentally wish Danny into a Love Hina parody, so it wouldn't be the first time… Then again, how many times can I do that before The People find it annoying? But in any case, I would like to let you all know that this particular chapter shall be a "WHAT IF…?" chapter, set in some possible future. It may be in the continuity I established, it may not be… Only Clockwork knows for sure. But since it's obviously a parody, it's probably not the canon future… Still, it's fun to see what could happen. With that said, let's begin, shall we?

Disclaimer: Don't own a thing.

Chapter 13: Son Of Halfa and the Specter May Cry (What If?)

A full decade had passed since the Disasteroid threatened the planet Earth, since the young hero known as Danny Phantom pulled a miracle out of his hat and saved the world, and since the aforementioned hero had gained a time of world fame and gratitude. But that time was finite, as the hero and his friends, allies, and girlfriend was to find out… The Disasteroid, it would seem, ended up having some after-effects that wouldn't be apparent until some time had passed.

It had started after five years of relative peace… At first, it was a couple of isolated incidents in Amity Park. As unusual as they were, it was still relatively normal for 'the Most Haunted Town In America'. Therefore, Team Phantom didn't pay it much heed, other than its face-value oddity… Natural ghost portals had opened up in random spots, spitting out aggressive spirits that soon possessed either corpses or, even worse, unfortunate living humans. Those possessed would end up rampaging through the vicinity, making use of the spirits' inherent powers for destructive purposes. The possessed corpses Danny and company had no trouble throwing down against, as they were already dead anyway. Hell, Ember had made a few wisecracks about how those battles would make for great album cover art for metal. But the living that were possessed…

Much like the victims of a certain book from Hell that was found in a certain cabin, there was no coming back… The living amongst Team Phantom had to seal some tragic fates. Obviously, some in the media didn't take too kindly to the world-saving hero appearing to 'cruelly put down' possessed humans. How could they know that they tried every possible method known to ghost hunters and the Ghost Zone? At best, some exorcisms left the unfortunate victim a husk of their former self, the soul and consciousness there but the body practically useless. Similar to the worst things you hear about survivors of brutal war injuries. It was no way to live at all.

Soon after those unfortunate incidents, reports began to slowly creep in from other parts of the world… More portals opening up out of nowhere, more ghosts and ghouls of mindless malice, more tragic possessions and attacks. Ironically for Team Phantom, the Guys In White had the resources to travel to some of those areas and help out however they could, despite also ending up finding out what the young heroes already did about how these particular damned fatally affected the victims' bodies. Team Phantom handled some of the incidents closer to Amity.

But the occurrences of the hell-bound spirits wreaking havoc grew in frequency, becoming too much for a local band of heroes to travel to and deal with. Danny's hero reputation took a major hit over time, becoming "unreliable" at best. Notably, Ember spat at that, grumbling about how they could only be in so many places at one time. Then again, it wasn't the first time she spoke harshly about the fickleness of the average joe and jane of humanity…

Even so, the band of heroes decided to do some investigating into what's going on. With some exploring of the Ghost Zone, some research, and even asking Clockwork (and then Frostbite, since the temporal being of time had decided to be cryptic, as usual), they found out that the Disasteroid passing through had gradually weakened the world's protective barrier between the human world… and the section of the Ghost Zone reserved for the truly evil souls that departed this world. (It was odd that the GZ had its own Hell, considering that most of Danny's rogue's gallery of villains floated freely around the Zone. Still, some of his villains were less evil than others…)

With the aid of Valerie and Ember, Danny took off into this particular sector of the Ghost Zone, Ember guiding the way. She had never been there. No sane ghost would ever venture there… But she heard of where it was. As soon as they arrived and the normal green 'sky' turned to a sickeningly blood-red, the trio were thrust into battle. For hours, they waged war against the hordes of malicious undead, finally coming up against a massive being that claimed to be some sort of 'Ghostly Emperor'. The trio had to roll their eyes at the being's proclamation, considering the previous existence of Pariah Dark… Even so, the massive apparition was no pushover, taking the trio to their absolute limits in battle.

When Ember had taken an especially fatal hit to the head, Danny saw red… It was then that he felt a new burst of power, which he immediately used to take the so-called 'emperor' to task. He seemed to match the being's power, blow for blow, but the smaller Phantom proved to be quicker, soon breaking through the enemy's onslaught and delivering a series of attacks to its face, the fact that he was a ghost apparently not a factor as his attacks even hit when it tried to go transparent.

After a minute or so of relentless pummeling, Danny took a Fenton Thermos and sucked up the sizable being, trapping him. Without the head, the body falls, so they say. The trio hoped this would be true for this attempted invasion of Earth. Danny took the Thermos to Clockwork, figuring that if the time master could keep Dark Dan under lock and key, he could do the same for another powerful being in a Thermos. As for Ember, it took her a few weeks to fully recover, but recover she did.

Danny's new power boost had turned into an ability of sorts. Channeling his emotions and his power, he could briefly power himself up beyond his current limits. But what had initially disturbed Danny was when he tried it out and caught his reflection in a nearby mirror. Only while that ability was activated, he looked something similar to his alternate evil self…

As the last five years up to the present went by, there always seemed to be a fairly steady stream of supernatural incidents involving some sort of malicious being or another making its way to somewhere on Earth and causing trouble… Not nearly as often as before Team Phantom went to 'Hell' and dealt with the source, but often enough to be a fair concern. And just like when she convinced him to enter the Fenton Portal and fix it so many years ago, it was Sam who came up with just the idea to solve this problem while making a living out of it…

Danny Phantom opened his own ghost-hunter agency. Fenton Works was great for making the weapons for ghost-hunting, but as for actually traveling to trouble spots and doing the deeds? Even Jack and Maddie Fenton had to agree that that's what Specter May Cry was for.

Which brings the story to the present day… A slow day, at that, as evidenced by the agency's frontman himself, Danny Fenton, lounging at his messy desk, feet up on it and hands holding a gaming magazine. The late-20-something never lost his interest in video games, thanks to his two best friends still playing online together with him. The games and consoles may change, but their unity never does. But that was another story. Danny was clearly bored. And maybe a little hungry.

The roomy front office of Specter May Cry, the first room one comes into when one enters the office/apartment building, was a mess. Empty pizza boxes, a few tossed magazines, and some misplaced paperwork littered the office floor, a complete mismatch to the displays of supernatural artifacts, ghostly weaponry, and other trophies of past jobs that lined the walls here and there. There was even a pizza box on Danny's desk, next to where his feet were propped up on. He knew Sam would blow a gasket (yet again) about him and his staff (mostly Danny) leaving such a mess behind. Sam's wife, Danielle, was more lenient, considering that she was a clone of the laid-back leader of the agency. But the younger halfa still had to giggle whenever Sam chided Danny for letting the office become a pigsty. Even though they had gotten along a lot better than the old days, Sam had blamed Ember for being too much of an influence on Danny's living habits. After all, the apartment room that was Ember's realm was just as sloppy…

But currently, neither of the Mansons were here right now. So Danny could relax.

-Riiiing! Riiiing!-

Or so he thought… Setting aside the magazine, he lazily smacked one end of the old-school, landline, corded phone so it went flying up off its handle and fell right into his hand.

"Specter May Cry. How may we help ya?" he said, a greeting he had spoken numerous times into the phone by now. Compared to his high school days, his voice had deepened somewhat, but not by much. His appearance was also familiar yet different. For one thing, his outfits no longer had the signature white shirt with a red oval on it. That routine was definitely a thing of the past. Currently, he was wearing a black Iron Maiden t-shirt with a pair of shorts. The good thing about running your own business was that you were in charge of your own dress code on the job. Besides, his ghost form tended to be what wears his uniform. In his adulthood, his body grew around half a foot in height and he gained some muscle throughout his years of constant ghost and crime fighting, but he was still quite lean. He had the kind of body that had Ember 'appreciating his health' in certain ways, of course… His hair had grown slightly, still somewhat messy. Light stubble had begun to grow on his face. He clearly hadn't shaved in a few days.

A gruff voice answered on the other side of the phone line, identifying himself as the current chief of police in Amity. At least this was going to be a local job… The head cop went on to explain that a poltergeist had taken over an entire convenience store, throwing anything and everything at customers and employees alike. To Danny, it didn't seem like anything too troublesome, which was fortunate. As bored as he was, he didn't particularly feel like a drawn-out slugfest against any entity Class A level or above. (It was Tucker and Valerie's idea to categorize and rank different types of ghouls they've encountered. Along with any other texts and information about the supernatural, the agency felt it was good to have their own first-hand observations as well.)

After a brief moment of wondering if Sam was right about Ember influencing him too much when he realized he was beginning to think like a slacker, Danny agreed to show up and help, providing that the police chief had the funding to pay SMC's service fee. The cop assured him with a clearly annoyed scoff that they did indeed have the money. Whatever remained of Danny Phantom's 'world savior' reputation didn't stop some people from bitching about having to pay at all for the service… Even superheroes had bills to pay and groceries to buy.

With a brief farewell, Danny lightly flung the corded phone receiver in the air and, after a moment's hang time, it landed cleanly on the hook. Perfect toss, as usual. At that moment, a door opened from the overhanging second floor.

"We got work, Baby-Pop?" Ember asked, looking down from the second floor, leaning against the railing. Mostly due to being a ghost (and being stubborn as all hell), Ember didn't change her style all that much. She was still the rockstar babe that rocked the tightest pair of black rocker pants that Danny had ever seen any woman wear. But she did allow herself to 'age up' a little bit, despite being undead. She wanted to see what she'd look like as a 20-something, even though there was a theory among the agency's small staff of friends that she mainly did it so that her Baby-Pop wouldn't eventually get suspicious questions down the line about why he appears to be dating a teenager… One would think that most citizens would remember that Ember, famous rock star, is a ghost.

Her curiosity paid off, as she also grew in height, although not as much as Danny. Her 'natural endowments' became even more… noticeable, a fact that she found to be an advantage whenever she wanted to keep her boyfriend's attention on her and her alone (or to distract him into losing an argument or a bet). Her fiery ponytail's neutral length was somewhat longer, reaching down to her upper back. Her face lost most of the baby fat from her teenage years, maturing into a sensuous visage able to drive most guys crazy. Her usual rebellious makeup only added to it. Along with her usual tight pants was a strapless tank top that went down to just above her navel and showed plenty of cleavage. It was also fairly tight on her. She completed the attire with her signature boots, fingerless gloves, and a spiked choker. On her back, as if she was expecting the phone call to be business-related, was her trusty electric guitar.

She watched as Danny pulled his feet off of his desk and hauled himself up off the chair. "Yeah. Some poltergeist decided to hijack a convenience store downtown. Doesn't sound like anything too major. Wanna come with?" he asked, shifting into his halfa form. The hazmat suit remained mostly the same, with some slight alterations. But what was different was the addition of a long black coat to the halfa attire. Ember had come across it a few years back and thought it'd look good on him. By now, the halfa got used to fighting with the extra layer of clothing on. Besides, most of these encounters always left a chilly feeling in the air…

"You know it, Dipstick." Ember said, hauling her own body up and over the railing, landing gracefully on the first floor. The 'quick way down', she called it. Typical. And so, locking up the shop behind them, they flew off to the scene of the supernatural crime…

Police and SWAT vehicles surrounded the area around the haunted convenience store, although Danny almost had to chuckle at the fact that they gave themselves a noticeable distance between them and the store. He supposed it was fair, since anti-ghost weaponry was still not widely manufactured and distributed as of yet, despite all that happened. Accursed patent laws, bureaucratic red tape, and bickering over the cost and profits… Just another thing about humanity that the ex-superhero-turned-mercenary had to roll his eyes to.

Danny and Ember immediately met with the chief of police, who told them that the situation hadn't changed much, except that they heard a lot of noise as of late. It sounded like a lot of things being tossed and smashed around. The poltergeist must be exceedingly aggressive…

"Well, Commish, don't worry about it. By the time we're done, the only thing it'll be lifting is its own ectoplasmic carcass off the ground." Danny said, confidently. To the police chief, it came across as cockiness. Sure, this kid's been in the game of ghost-busting for years now, but that didn't excuse the attitude, especially after his past failures… But that was then. As long as the job got done, it didn't matter. He just hoped this jaded hero and his lady friend didn't complain about the pay…

Danny and Ember casually crossed the distance between the police blockade and the convenience store, the crashing noises from within growing louder as they got closer. They were almost there when something burst through the heavy automatic doors, breaking them off their tracks. The doors crashed with the shattering of glass as the figure landed painfully on top of them. It turned out to be a very familiar acquaintance of the couple…. A very ANNOYING one as well.

"Ugh…" the figure groaned, pulling himself up off the ground and broken doors. He then turned back to the store itself. "YOU JUST GOT LUCKY THAT I RAN OUT OF THE CUBICAL CONTAINERS MADE OF VARIOUS DIFFERENT MATERIALS TO BASH YOU WITH! THAT'S ALL!"

"Box Ghost." Danny said in a curt greeting, his expression conveying only a hint of the usual aggravation he had toward the overly persistent minor villain. The Box Ghost flinched at the familiar voice before turning around and seeing the halfa and the rock star.

"Uh, hey, Phantom… You're not here to capture me in that not-cubical thermos of yours again, are you? I really hope not… I just came here to get some things. Uh, ya know I've been seeing Ms. Lunch Lady, right? Thought I'd cook her something for a change, so I came here to shop. Legally, this time! But this asshole was already inside, trashing the place! And then it started throwing things at me. So I grabbed whatever boxes I could find to throw back at it! Uhh… My plan didn't work very well. It ended up summoning some friends of his…" The Box Ghost lamented, feeling nervous about the fact that he may have accidentally given the mercenary extra work to deal with.

"Oh, good, it's a regular house party in there now. I'd say that might give us a solid workout, eh Baby-Pop?" Ember said, a devious smirk on her face as she drew her guitar and took a moment to quickly make sure it was tuned right. Danny just shrugged, letting out a sigh. It wouldn't do any good to waste time berating ol' Boxy anyway. His story did sound like the typical luck he would have.

"Yeah, might actually give me a sweat this time. Heh… But let me tell ya something, Box Ghost. Next time, don't pick fights with bargain hunters. You should be glad it's not Black Friday." Danny quipped as he passed by the hapless villain, who felt a little annoyed at the specter hunter's jest.

Eerie shrill moans emanated from the open doorway as the couple casually walked toward the store, as if they were just about to do some mundane shopping. As they approached, the familiar anticipation of battle came across the duo. "Alright, we got this. Ready to see if we can strong-arm some solid discounts?" Danny jokingly asked, punching the air a couple of times to help psych himself up.

"Clockwork help me, I love a good deal." Ember replied, ready to strum her guitar at the first sign of trouble.

The couple walked inside. Straight away, Danny went to the wise-cracks.

"Alright, ass-clowns! Store's closing in 5 minutes! Please bring your final purchases to the last available cashiers: Us!" he said, practically oozing cockiness. Almost immediately, most of the shelves in the store were sent flying toward the pair. Danny did indeed have that effect on other sentient beings…

Fortunately, the ex-superhero was prepared for this. Over the years, he had trained and developed a majority of his available powers. Because of that, he was able to quickly produce a hefty broadsword made of ice and start slashing vertically. His power supporting what would otherwise be a fragile blade, he was able to slice all the incoming shelves in half so that the two pieces simply passed around them and hit the wall behind them, piling up in a wreck that spilled out through the doorway.

Twirling the blade in his hand afterward in a skilled-yet-lackadaisical manner, the Phantom admired his handiwork and observed the area. "I'd say 'Cleanup in all the aisles', but whaddya know? There aren't even any left."

Ember became solid again, having went transparent when the shelves started flying. "Showoff." she said with a smirk.

The two looked around the little store. Sure enough, there were about six or seven hellish entities floating around, all of them snarling and groaning angrily at the hunters' presence. Looking mostly like cloaked figures, with the exception of the arms with long, razor sharp claws for fingers and their heads which was complete with glowing red eyes and a mouth only a shark would love, they weren't exactly the strongest of ghouls but they weren't the weakest either. Especially in groups.

The poltergeist closest to them swooped in and tried slashing at Danny, who blocked the attack with his ice sword. The ghoul was immediately pushed back by a power chord from Ember. With that, the battle was officially engaged.

Ten minutes… Ten minutes of the gathered police hearing nothing but horrible shrieks, guitar riffs, and the occasional heavy thud from the store's interior. The sudden mess of what looked like store shelves piling up around the doorway from the inside didn't ease their concern when the battle began. However, the specter hunters did sound like they were hanging in there. Then, it all went silent. Almost…

If one listened carefully, they could faintly hear the weakened moans of one of the damned….

And then suddenly, leaping through the doorway, over the mess of sliced steel, was Danny… using the last poltergeist as a skateboard while utilizing his sword like an oar for a boat, pushing his 'ride' along. "WOOOOHOOOO!" he ecstatically bellowed, his mastery of his own ghostly power made sure that the enemy he was skateboarding on could feel the friction of the parking lot asphalt. Who knew he could make ghosts go solid as long as he maintained physical contact with them? If it worked for helping humans in danger go intangible, why not the reverse?

He let his torturous joyride end by sliding to a stop in front of the police barricade, letting out a brief whoop of exhilaration. Ember followed, hovering. She was shaking her head at her boyfriend's antics, amused. As Sam had once said, 'Fun Danny' appeared to have more influence since becoming a mercenary.

Danny hopped off his 'skateboard', which immediately started to try and crawl away, weakly groaning in pain over the friction burns it would probably have if it did have a physical body. However, it didn't get very far as Danny's ice sword suddenly found itself lodged in its head.

As it began to evaporate into nothingness, Danny cheekily leaned down toward it and said "Thanks for shopping with us. Remember, shop smart, shop—"

Danny's reference was interrupted. "Baby-Pop, I think that one's been done to death." she said, snickering at the irony of her choice of words. "Besides, I think we have more company." Ember had noticed a familiar figure amongst the authorities…

Seeing that his girlfriend was looking at the police, he turned his attention to them…. and saw the Red Huntress next to the police chief, counting a sizable stack of money. He immediately grew annoyed and walked over.

"Hey! Is that our pay? You better not be thinking of taking that for yourself, Val! We did the job!" Danny gruffly demanded.

Valerie huffed, waving off her friend's annoyance. "Yeah, well, you still owe me money, Phantom! Maybe if you stop losing bets to me back at the office, I wouldn't have to play debt collector like this." she answered in a smug manner, still counting her money. It was true. The group of hunters would occasionally take to placing bets amongst themselves on multiplayer video games, pool, darts, bowling, any sort of fun competition. Despite his ghostly powers, Danny always seemed to lose most of his bets whenever he competed against Valerie. If the Huntress wasn't still in a serious relationship with Tucker, Ember might grow a little concerned that her boy toy was throwing his bets to garner Val's favor, considering that he had briefly dated her before back in their teenage years… But no, Danny's luck just sucked against her. (Ember and Sam both theorized that the Huntress might've hired Johnny and Shadow to 'influence' the outcomes...)

"Aw, come on!" Danny groaned loudly. He turned his attention to the nearby police chief.

"Hey, don't look at me, Phantom. She's your co-worker, so technically, I paid you guys. Now, if the coast is clear, we'll see to checking out what's left in there." the chief said before Danny could say one word to him, shuffling off to gather his forces and examine the aftermath.

"Don't worry, Baby-Pop. There'll be other jobs. Besides, it's not like we have to pay rent on our building or anything." Ember said to reassure the sour halfa.

"Yeah, Danny. You just have to worry about paying ME!" Valerie joked, pocketing her free money. Nothing like getting paid without having to actually do a thing, for once.

"That's it! No more bets! Alright?!" Danny groused, the trio starting their journey back to Specter May Cry, opting to walk instead of fly for a change. It wasn't that far off.

"Wanna bet?" Val smirked.

"You be—HEY! I'm not falling for that one again!"

"Again, Dipstick?" Ember asked, her eyebrow raised. Yep, 'Fun Danny' definitely had more control of his brain…

"Don't you start, Flame…"

The Specter May Cry building was more than just an office. It was fairly sizable and had three full floors, enough for Danny, Ember, Valerie, Tucker, Sam, and Dani to make it their home without feeling crowded by each other. What else helped make the building a comfortable place for everyone in the group was that sometimes there would be a long mission that required that somebody or two be away for a few days. Such was the case with the cell phone call Danny got soon after he, Ember, and Val got home. It was Sam.

"…and we almost got all of 'em, but one got away. So, we followed the wraith back to where it was hiding out. You're not gonna like this..." Sam trailed off.

"What? Where in Wisconsin could a bunch of hellspawn really call home?" Danny asked.

"Vlad's old place."

It had been so long since the former superhero had dealt with the older halfa that he nearly forgot that he made Wisconsin his home state, no thanks to his love for the Green Bay Packers. He still had no clue what Ember had done with him after that incident when he returned from his space exile… "Wow, really? Sounds about right… Although… Didn't a friendly ghost hide out around there too?"

"The Dairy King? Yeah, Dani and I ran into him. He's safe. Said he was chased out by them. I wonder if they're trying to do something with Vlad's old ghost portal. We never did get around to doing anything about it after you guys apparently stopped his comeback. Out of sight, out of mind, I suppose… Still, if those malevolent pricks know it's there and how to work it, we'll be flooded with them in no time." Sam theorized, sounding grim. She and her wife were currently a short distance away from the castle that was Plasmius' home, keeping an eye on the place. It wasn't hard to spot the few scattered ghouls floating around the building as if on patrol…

"Yeesh… They're getting smarter? That's a disturbing revelation…" Danny muttered.

"Ha. Last time you said that, Dash and Paulina actually said something that outsmarted Tucker. Boy, were we surprised." Sam said, briefly reminiscing.

"Yeah, but back then, we really didn't know what 'disturbing' truly was. …Although nobody needed to see their public make-out sessions..." Danny joked with a roll of his eyes as he walked upstairs toward his and Ember's room. Time to pack for a travel mission…

"Ain't that the truth." Sam agreed.

"Want us to make our way out there?" Danny asked. He opened the door to their apartment only to find Ember already putting together some travel bags for the two of them. The rocker did always seem to have a strange sense to when they were summoned to hit the road…

"If it's not too much trouble. If they are getting smarter, I wonder if someone or something's pulling the strings…" the Goth pondered aloud, glaring at the castle from their hidden vantage point.

"Wouldn't surprise me. Another day, another force of evil wanting world domination. And all I want is a vacation…"

"We'll figure something out. Kick ass now, vacation later. See you when you get here?" Sam asked.

"Yep. You two be careful, alright?" Danny said, his joking nature replaced with genuine concern.

"We will. We're thinking about sneaking away to a different hiding spot, a little further away to make sure we don't get jumped by some wraith that decided to venture further out with its patrol…" Sam said, a slight shiver going down her back. It was as if somehow feeling that the hypothetical scenario about her getting caught in enemy territory had actually happened to her in some alternate universe… (1)

"Good thinking. Stay safe, Sam." With that and a brief farewell from Sam, they hung up. Ember took the opportunity to speak up.

"That Wisconsin job go south?"

"Kinda. Sam says it's a pretty big group of them and they seem to actually be plotting something. They're holed up in Vlad's old castle, but the problem for us is that the castle still has his functional ghost portal. The faster we get there, the better chance we can bust some dead-heads before they monkey around with it enough to turn it on." he explained, helping Ember pack up a few necessities for the fly over. Mainly a change of clothes for both of them in case of embarrassing clothing damage (which Ember knows from very personal experience…) and some snacks.

"Another invasion attempt, eh? We shouldn't have forgotten about Vlad's portal… Ah well. You wanna call Val about this or shall I?" she offered, knowing he was still sore at the Huntress about the money thing.

"I'll do it. I know better than to get bitter when there's business. I get witty, annoying, and irritating. But not bitter." he said, again pulling out his cell phone.

"I'd be concerned about the 'witty, annoying, and irritating' part. We don't want her to start hunting YOU again." Ember said with snarky chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah. Better that she hunts my money, I guess." Danny grumbled as the phone rang…

A couple of hours went by as Sam and Dani Manson kept watch over Vlad's former home. Even though they were fairly safe where they were hidden, the view they could see of the luxurious domicile wasn't pleasant. More hellish ghosts had appeared to patrol the area. Dani, being a halfa, began to have a real bad feeling about the place, as if the building itself was being corrupted... After all they'd seen over the years, it wouldn't surprise them.

"Where are they? I'm surprised Ember doesn't just teleport them here with her hair power." the normally cheerful clone grumbled, the evil radiating from Vlad's castle making her feel uneasy.

"I doubt Ember's ever been here before. I'm sure she'd have to have a clear image of where she needs to go in order for that ability to work." Sam answered, looking through her binoculars and seeing a group of what looked like ghostly lizardmen walk out of the castle's front entrance. Just what they needed for an impending mission, a variety of different spooks to fight…

A few moments later, a rush of cool air brushed past them from behind, the low whine of hoverboard engines indicating the arrival of the Red Huntress. Looking behind them, the two women saw the trio of Phantom, Ember, and Huntress. All of them were ready for battle.

"Know if any of those assholes got to Vlad's Packers memorabilia yet?" Danny quipped with a sly grin.

"Not seeing any hellspawn with a foam cheesehead hat on, so I doubt it." Dani answered with a slight giggle, despite the situation.

Danny shook his head, shrugging. "Pity. Alright, then…" Danny took a moment to form his ice sword again. "Who's ready to storm a castle?" he asked, casually tossing his sword upward, catching it with ease after gravity caught up to the spinning blade.

"Never performed in a castle before. But I'm sure those hoity-toity stiffs inside will really love my tunes!" Ember said, guitar in hand in the 'battle axe' position, ready to club whoever gets in her way.

"Remember our deal, Phantom. I get your cut of this mission's pay." Valerie reminded him, making sure all her weapons were optimal.

"Whatever, lady…" Danny muttered, nonplussed by her constant prodding about his debts. Some rivalries never truly die…

"Dani and I are set. We better win this!" Sam said, armed with a pair of Fenton Blasters.

"And I got your back, Sammy!" Dani proclaimed, her own powers being more than suitable for fighting. Sam had long since quit complaining about her wife's choice of nickname for her. The younger halfa was stubborn like that, just like her original tended to be about some things.

Taking Sam's binoculars for a moment, Danny took a look toward the castle entrance. More ghoulish apparitions of various types had shown up than the last time anybody had looked. Either the squad that was sent here was bigger than they thought or Vlad's ghost portal was opened…

But this didn't bother Danny one bit. In fact, he began to anticipate the idea of sending these creeps back to the hell they came from. "This party's gettin' crazy…! Let's rock!"

With that exclamation, the group of ghost hunters charged forward into battle, not knowing the extent of the dangerous adventure that the entirety of Vlad's old castle would provide for them, thanks to its new occupants…

All in a day's work for Specter May Cry.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: There you have it, people. Danny Phantom fused with Devil May Cry. Now again, this is mainly a "what if" side thing of this fanfic. It could be their future, it could just be something that Danny and crew might be watching at Clockwork's lair if they were curious of possible futures and the time-based deity decided to let them watch an alternate universe. In any case, it's an idea that suddenly came to my mind as I was playing the PS4 remaster of Devil May Cry 4. Also, I'm very aware that I could've expanded on this, detailing the gang's harrowing adventure through Vlad's taken over and corrupted castle home, but I figure a peek at this kind of parody potential future might be enough. Besides, DMC fans can picture Team Phantom's adventure as something similar to Dante's fight through Mallet Island in DMC1, since that involved a haunted castle among other locales on that accursed island…

I admit that the beginning part that sets up the story is me throwing something together to justify Team Phantom becoming "I ain't saving people for free!" ass-kickers that hunt malicious ghosts… What better way for a superhero to think a bit like a merc than to have the people kinda turn on him (again) because he can only be in so many places at once when there's multiple ghost problems everywhere. Some gratitude, eh? The heroes are trying, dammit.

Also, this is one of those ideas where I just kept typing and typing AND TYPING because I'm all excited to post this one and see what you guys think. On one hand, I don't think it needs much editing at all (other than the standard look-over for spelling errors, of course), but on the other hand, it probably couldn't hurt. Still, I've looked it over and it seems okay to me. Hmm….

Fun DMC reference facts!

The first part of the chapter title is a play on words about how DMC main character, Dante, is called the Son of Sparda. Son of Halfa? Son of Sparda?

Ember obviously plays the role of Trish, close partner and potential love interest to Dante. Not only that, but both women have a penchant for dressing in tight black outfits… Wink wink, hint hint… And neither are completely human, so there's that too.

Valerie would definitely be the role of Lady from DMC3, the human devil-hunter who hated Dante at first but then became another partner (and potential love interest?) of his. Since then, the all-business Lady took to being the foil to Dante, always busting his chops about money that he somehow always owes her…

The ice sword that Danny uses would look exactly like Dante's signature sword, Rebellion. Normally, Dante would also use a pair of handguns with it, but for Danny, his ecto-beams would be fine enough for projectile weaponry.

The temporary power boost gimmick that Danny gained would be Dante's Devil Trigger ability that the player could temporarily use to make Dante faster, stronger, etc., but only if you have enough power filled up to use it. So, it'd be best if Danny saved that ability for precarious situations in combat, obviously.

Oh, there was one footnote in this chapter…

1) I'm referencing my own work on that one. See my DP fanfic "The War Of The Bands".

I would do the Reader Review Reply segment, but there was only a few this time and they were mostly positive about my "GLORIOUS!" drabble. So to those that did review, I thank you guys! I also thank everyone that has read up to this point and I hope everyone enjoyed this new one. Let me know what you think of this possible future. Good idea or too much of a crack-fic? Should I just stick to this fic's already established continuity? You be the judge! Leave a review, if you'd like.