Unfortunately, as Danny had predicted, what Ember had seen WASN'T king Karsh, but was darn near close!
What it actually was, was an image of him. Little did any of them know, King Karsh had the power to send images of himself to other dimensions. But he couldn't teleport himself all together.
"DAMN IT ALL!" the mighty being exclaimed, slamming his fist onto the armrest of his throne.
He had successfully conquered the ghost zone, but like most tyrants, one place wasn't enough.
"How am I going to destroy them, if I can't even get to them?!" he said aloud to himself. Even if he could find a portal, he couldn't enter the human world; since he was such an ancient ghost, he hadn't evolved to survive in the human realm.
But he could send someone else.
"SERVANTS!" he exclaimed.
The door to his lair opened, and a few ghosts entered. The ghosts who hadn't resisted him and had surrendered, he allowed to live as his slaves.
"I need to send a few of you to the human world" he said.
"Why would this be, master?" Skulker asked, saying the last word grudgedly.
"I need to claim the destruction of Team independence" he answered.
"And I need the most powerful ghosts under my control" he said.
He looked amongst the group.
"Spectra" he said.
She stepped forward.
"Skulker" he said.
He stepped forward.
"Desiree" he said.
She floated forward."And…" he said.
He looked into the shadows.
"Daniel" he said.
A pair of glowing red eyes appeared. Out of the shadows stepped someone none of them had never seen.
"Yes, master" it said, with a wicked smile.
"Wh-who are you?" asked one of the servants.
The being smiled.
"I am the alternate version of Daniel Phantom, I am a being of pure evil." he said "When I was freed by the mighty King Karsh, I swore my allegiance to him, and told him I would help him slay his enemies."
King Karsh nodded, and then turned to the team he had selected.
"He shall be overlooking the group" he said "If any of you are to try and help the group I am sending you after, then he shall kill you, personally!"
The group nodded in acceptance, unable to resist King Karsh.
But what was unaware to any of them, was that Dark Danny had his own plan; kill the group he was overlooking, kill the group he was going after, and then kill King Karsh!
At this moment, a certain other group was on the watch. The ghosts King Karsh hadn't managed to kill, kidnap, or find had started a renegade group. It was a small group, but a resistance nonetheless.
At this moment, they were over listening in on the conversation.
"This isn't good!" said Box Ghost as he listened in through the telecommunications device.
"We need to send warning to friends!" said Klemper, clutching a teddy bear.
They knew out of all of them, there was only one that would be able to fly fast enough. Unfortunately, he was also the weakest and scrawniest.
"Sidney Poindexter, front and center!" the Warden shouted.
Sidney stepped out of his lean-to.
"Yes, sir" he said, standing at attention.
"At ease" the Warden said "You are to be going on the most dangerous mission of your afterlife!"
"And that is, sir?" Sidney asked.
"We are sending you to give a warning to Team Independence" he answered.
Sidney nodded, not needing to think. He knew the consequences, and knew he had nothing to lose.
"I accept sir!" he said.
"Then FLY, damn it!" the Warden said.
Sidney flew off.
Danny was sleeping peacefully, and over time, so did Ember. She soon realized, if that was King Karsh, he wouldn't have just looked at her; he would have killed them.
The next morning they went down to breakfast. Danny ignored Sam's glare as he slid out Ember's chair, and had her sit down. Ember blushed at this; even after 7 years, Danny was such a gentleman.
When Ember saw Sam glare at them, she did the same back, her face saying 'remember what I said!' Sam instantly looked down at her plate.
Danny smiled at this.
"Nice job, honey" he whispered.
Ember smiled.
Jack, Johnny, and Maddie were all working on the bikes, and were just taking a break. They were about to continue, But before they could, they heard a noise that they hadn't heard in years.
It came from the ghost portal. Though they had given up ghosts, Maddie and Jack kept the ghost portal open all those years, hoping that Danny would return. But, what came out of the portal only surprised Johnny.
"Sidney?" he said, seeing the ghost who came out.
The ghost fell to his knees. Johnny ran to his side.
"They're coming…" Sidney said to him quietly, clearly tired.
"Who?" Johnny asked.
"Agents…" he said, weakly "of King Karsh."
Johnny's eyes went wide.
"Uh-oh" Johnny said.
"Who all did you say was coming?" Danny asked later on in the basement lab. Team Independence had met there, after Sidney was treated for his exhaustion.
"Skulker, Desiree, Spectra, and some guy who said he was you from the future" Sidney told Danny.
"And these guys are working for King Karsh?" Danny asked.
Sidney nodded. Danny took this in.
"This is worse than I thought" Danny said "King Karsh isn't our biggest fear now; it's me" he said.
"What?" Ember asked, confused.
Danny took a deep breathe.
"This guy who says he's me is from an alternate future, where I have combined myself with Vlad, and am pure evil." he said "and I know exactly what he is thinking."
"And that is?" Kitty asked.
"He is going to kill us, kill the group he's working with, and then kill King Karsh." Danny answered "and he has enough power to do that without even thinking."
"So what should we do now?" Johnny asked.
Danny walked over, and closed the portal. Then he shot a large ecto-beam at the portal, destroying it.
"That was just to buy us some time." he said, noticing the surprised looks on the other ghosts faces.
"Dark Daniel would know I'd come here, but since the portal's gone, he and his team may not be able to make it here for a while."
Danny turned to Sidney.
"Is there any other portals to get out near here?" he asked.
Sidney shook his head "Barely, when Clockwork was killed, his staff lost his power, and he's the only one to be able to conjure up more portals, and other portals are in very far parts of the ghost zone."
"Good, so that buys us some time." Danny said.
He turned to Johnny.
"How long did Jack say until the bikes would be fixed?" he asked.
"About a week" Johnny said.
"Well, we just need to prepare for the inevitable." Danny said.
He then sighed; he had to do one other thing.
"Amy, remember when you and Youngblood attacked the town in that pirate ship?" Danny asked his wife.
"I try not to; you know I've changed." she said, crossing her arms over her stomach.
"I know that" Danny said "I'm only saying that because there's something I need to do."
"And that is?" Kitty asked.
"I need to get the town together, have them all get prepared." he said.
He looked at the walls of the basement.
"My parents seem to have enough weapons for everyone" he stated "so I'm gonna have to get the town ready, ASAP."
They all nodded, but Ember managed to point something out.
"Hey, you finally called them your parents!" she said.
Danny smiled.
"They want me back in their lives now, so I guess its high time I forgave them." he said.
"About time, dipstick" she said, flicking him on the ear.
Danny winced at this, and then said "we need to get started.