Hi! (Wave!)

Glad to see everybody:D Whew. I've been busy online today. I finished my holiday bit, called "A Spirit with Spirit" (plug), and got it up here and on DeviantArt. And it rhymes:D

Love to reviewers! Thanks to: acosta parez jose ramiro, chaotic.calm, The Fluff Ghost (o.O big review...drool...), Meagainsttheworld, Warrior of winds, Nikky Phantom of the Opera, egyptianqueen777, "Linda", Arabic Blessing, ShiroAndFubuki, Sasia93, Unrealistic, AirGirl Phantom, "Quacked Lurker", "NNF", Queen S of Randomness 016, Tornada Silverwind, hermie-the-frog, and bluename. You guys are great. :)

Right, well here is 'Battles', wherein there are...battles. Yeah...(creative name:P ) If Danny seems a bit...violent...at the beginning, please bare in mind that Vlad did just blow up his house with his father inside. And Vlad is right in front of him. Anywho, this is about HALF of the big, climactic battle. Needless to say, it's a LOOONNNGGGG battle. The other half is in chapter 15 - Actions. That one will be up sometime this weekend. Possibly soonish. Then I can wrap up this story by late Sunday. :D Then it's off to the next big thing. Also, just so I have an idea, there are author's notes at the end of this chapter, too, with my two biggest plot bunnies, freshly hatched from plot bunny eggs. (My bunnies come from eggs, it tends to explain Easter better.)

Well, here ya go.

HiddenAuthor

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Chapter 14 – Battles

"Let me resolve this Gregory." Clockwork said coolly as the two ancient ghosts watched the screen.

"No!" His 'boss' shouted. "You're too dangerous, Clockwork. Your powers are not to be used." Clockwork scoffed.

"Without them, how would you have held Pariah still long enough to take his crown and ring?" He challenged. "I laid waste to his castle for you. I locked him away. I turned his near-infinite armies to dust! How would you have won without me?" Greg fell silent. "No answer? Much pain and suffering was avoided because you let me act then. Much pain and suffering can be avoided if you let me act now!"

"No." Greg insisted again. "Not unless you are needed."

"Fine." Clockwork stated in a tone that would freeze rivers. "I'm going to the study. If you need me, you know where to find me." As the powerful spirit floated off, he whispered sadly. "I'm sorry Danny. For now, you will have to face this alone."

Greg's eyes were once again locked on the great viewing window, where a huge group of now blatantly weapon-heavy vehicles was rolling towards the center of town, and a certain party.

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"Move in!" Agent S shouted over the hum of his vehicle's engine. "Remember, we have Phantom trapped. He can't attack our agents without proving our 'Spook' articles true. Whatever you do, do not attack him first! We need him to instigate the fight, if there is one!"

"Sir! Still nothing from M sir!" Came the call of a technician in the back. Smith groaned.

"We must assume the worst. If the towers don't activate, Phantom could escape. Everyone be ready."

At that moment, the perimeter towers flared to life, and all of Amity Park was surrounded by a blue glowing wall. Ragged cheers could be heard over the Guys in White intercom.

"Maybe he made it after all." S said, smiling. "Something must be wrong with his COM link. Everybody, M has succeeded; the towers are in GIW control. Let's go get Phantom!"

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Val slumped against the back wall of her cell, resting. To be completely honest with herself, she had no idea how to get out of this mess. Her suit was gone; she was in a ghost-proof fortress, she-

A tapping on her foot drew her attention down. The green puddle that was Bertrand was flailing at her shoe desperately with a crude arm, already trembling with the effort.

"Oh, gross!" Val groaned. "Not only am I trapped in some psycho's basement, now I'm being attacked by a booger! I-" Valerie cut off mid-complaint as she watched the moving goo. It seemed to be using the arm to gesture towards the cell bars. "What?" It gestured more emphatically.

"You can understand me?" The appendage moved up and down. An idea forming, Val bent lower.

"Listen, I don't know who or what you were, but I know Smith did this to you. I can pay him back, but I need your help." The appendage 'nodded' more violently. Picking it up gently, Val moved over to the bars.

"Can you still phase through things?"

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Danny stood absolutely still, eyes wide and horrified, as the sound of the explosion reached his ears. Several of the upper crusts were walking over to the windows to see what had happened. Vlad gave him a dark, wicked smile.

"How sad. If it's any consolation, Daniel, I know that at least dear Maddie wasn't home." The ghost boy started to shake.

"You…" He stuttered. "I…I…" His eyes blazed violent green. "I'll kill you!" Powers forgotten for the moment, Danny launched himself at Vlad, managing to knock the older man to the floor and began punching at his face. He managed to land one solid blow before Vlad phased out, rendering his hits useless.

Sam gasped from nearby, trying to think quickly. She didn't know what that explosion was, but with Danny's reaction, it had to be bad. But if she didn't do something fast, he'd expose himself.

"Everybody out! There's a ghost in here, and it's possessed that boy!"

Pandemonium broke out. Everyone scrambled for the doors except Sam Danny and Vlad. Sam's mouth dropped as she turned to see who had shouted.

"Grandma?" Sam ran over to the elderly woman, who was busy waving her hands in theatrical panic. "Get out of here, it's not safe…what are you doing?" The elderly woman snorted.

"Clearing the room." She said shortly. "I saw the boy's eyes flash, like in those pamphlets the Fentons hand out. There's a ghost in him, dear. Now how about you go take care of it like you do with that Phantom character?" Sam stared. "I told you. I'm old, not stupid. You've only been caught on film near that ghost a few dozen times. And all that training with Fenton's mother? Your parents can be blind if they want, but I'm not!" Sam didn't say anything for a moment. Danny was shouting incoherently across the room, still punching the floor through Vlad's intangible head. Why wasn't he fighting back?

"Get going, grandma, and thanks." Sam said shortly. Her granny nodded and started off.

"But after, we're having a talk about all of this." She called out as she left. Her eyes briefly flicked to the struggling boy on the floor. "About you ghost hunting, and about the way you look at Phantom."

Slightly shell-shocked from her grandmother's actions, Sam hurried across the now empty room to help. Not seeing what else she could do, Sam rushed over to her psychotic boyfriend and backhanded him across the face. Eyes widening in surprise at her actions, Danny flew halfway across the floor and landed against a nearby wall, panting.

"Wh-what?" Danny mumbled dazedly, wincing at the ache in his head.

"Not now, Danny!" Sam shouted as Vlad got up, quietly brushed himself off, and slowly started walking away. "What's going on?" Danny shook his head.

"Vlad…pushed a button…" he started, the story coming back again. "And…and then…" His eyes widened. "He killed dad!" White rings immediately flew up and down his length, and Phantom flew towards Vlad. This time, Masters quickly changed forms and parried. Ectoblasts flew back and forth, disintegrating tables and chairs. Danny shouted in rage and shot beams from his fists and eyes at his arch foe, then teleported under him and blasted the ghost at full strength from beneath. The force of the blow sent Danny crashing to the floor on his back. Vlad rocketed up to the ceiling, first colliding and then breaking through. Energy discharge rocketed up, blasting off the roof.

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The sounds of screaming made S pull over and step out of the van. Hundreds of people in very expensive clothes were stampeding down the road.

"Ghost! At the Manson House!" One gentleman managed to shout as they thundered past. Smith quickly jumped back into the driver's seat and hit the gas.

"We've got our target! Move!"

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The wreckage of Sam's roof rained down around the two ghosts, floating in midair apart from one another beneath a glowing blue dome. Danny panted heavily, eyes understandably wet. He couldn't understand why he felt so tired. Gulping, he took a few steadying breaths and exerted all his willpower to not go into another berserk rage on the creature that had killed his father. This wasn't the time to fight with rage; he didn't have the energy. He'd have to fight smart and play this out until he got his strength back.

"Why?" He shouted at the monster in front of him "Why dad? Why me? Why couldn't you leave us alone?" Vlad laughed loudly, a slightly manic edge to his mirth.

"I've dreamt of this day for years." Vlad shouted, looking almost as surprised as Danny that he'd actually killed his old friend. "That buffoon was never good enough for Maddie, even he knew that! I was always her perfect match. But then I got hospitalized and they got wedding rings!" He shouted, eyes burning a red so dark it was almost black, his face taking on the burden of maddening inner pain. "I was a monster! A freak! You had those ridiculous little sidekicks, you couldn't understand. I was totally alone! But I knew Maddie would understand me, accept me, love me! Instead of a monster, I could have been a god! But she chose him! He was my friend, and he took her from me!" Panting, Vlad chuckled darkly. "But she's mine now, and with the portal gone, you'll be trapped in this town until you die of ectoplasm starvation!"

Determination crossing his features, Danny closed his eyes and prepared to teleport. Plasmius had…taken…his father, but he wouldn't let him have his mom. As much as he wanted to hurt this monster, protecting her was more important. A moment later, he screamed, clasping his head between his hands as the mother of all headaches wracked his skull. Wherever she was, Maddie was surrounded by a shield, or Ethren. He couldn't reach her. Vlad laughed again.

"You understand now, do you? Why you feel so tired? I feel it too." Vlad confided, almost giddy. Apparently he thought Danny had tried to escape. "Ectoconverters, wired into the shield." He pointed up. "They're quite literally sucking the life out of us." He said cheerfully, grinning. "My plan almost came undone when I saw you shift into the ghost zone without a portal. An extraordinary power. But luckily," he held up a finger, beaming insanely, "Skulktech had the answer. You fought him, you see, and from that, I found the answer. Your little trick didn't work then. And after running a test or three, I found out why. You can't switch planes inside a working ghost shield!" Laughing, Vlad floated up and scanned the horizon.

Danny was nonplussed, even through his anger and roaring headache. He'd never seen Vlad act this way. It was like actually killing Jack had made him snap. Granted, it had done it to him, and it took everything in him not to snap again, but Vlad?

"If that's true, then we'll both die!" He shouted as he flew up to engage Vlad once again. The madman lifted a finger.

"Oh, no!" He said. "You see, my bo…no, not my boy, my enemy. You see, I control the towers!" He beamed. "I'll just head on over there and slip through. They'll drop part of the shield for me to get out, and leave you here to die. Checkmate!"

Laughing, Vlad took off. Danny teleported above him and swung his joined fists down as hard as he could. A huge CRACK filled the air as he connected with Vlad's skill, and a temporarily stunned Plasmius flew towards the concrete below, forming a very large crater. Coughing, Vlad stood up in the gloom as Danny flew downward, the blow working for him as it had for Danny. His eyes were clear again, if filled with pain from the blow.

"Fine!" He shouted. "Attack me! Drain your energy! So long as I hold myself back, you'll run out of energy long before me, and I'll just walk out! Then you'll die faster!"

A violent blue blast took him in the back, slamming him back down. Danny narrowly avoided another.

"These ghosts are attacking the city of Amity Park!" Agent S shouted as the small army of militarized vans rolled to a stop. "Take them both down!"

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Damon and Maddie stood outside Tower 22's shield barrier, at a loss for what to do. Motion to the side of the door drew their attention. A familiar figure plugged a small device into the security panel on the wall.

"Tucker!" Damon and Maddie shouted. The boy gave a brusque nod of the head and kept working at a furious pace. Given his attitude, he'd probably heard every word Smith said. "How did you find us?"

"I found Valerie." Tucker answered shortly, still furiously typing away. "She never showed up at the Manson party, so I took off to find her. I hid a tracking chip in her suit when she wasn't looking." The boy paused in his work and threw Damon a brief, pleading look that reminded the man much more of his usual self. "Please don't tell her?" Damon chuckled in spite of the situation as Tucker went back to work.

"I followed the signal to this tower, saw that Smith guy stepping out to meet that agent and you two, and decided to hide behind the tower, close to the wall. The shield must have popped up half an inch in front of my nose." He shuddered briefly at the visual of what might have happened if he hadn't been so close to the tower. "And now, I'm off to save my girlfriend!" He jabbed a few final keys on his PDA, and the tower's private shield died. Moments later, the doors popped open. Maddie hurried forward, dragging a nonplussed Damon with her.

"You shut off the shield and hacked the door at the same time?" He asked, staring. Tucker shrugged, only blushing slightly.

"I was motivated." Came the brief response as the trio ran inside and down a flight of stairs. All three pulled up short at the sight.

Smith was lying on the ground, unconscious. There was an indented boot mark across his face and he was covered head to toe in bruises. Valerie was sitting at the console, negligently rubbing her fist.

"Hey. What took you guys so long?" She asked nonchalantly. Tucker stormed over, turning bright red.

"What took?...What…you!!!" He sputtered. His arm flew back and cocked at the elbow, and for a moment it looked like he was going to deck her. A second later, that same hand flew forward.

And wrapped around a very surprised huntress's back, pulling her forward into a kiss. A second later, Tucker let go and hugged her as tight as he could. Damon coughed in the background. Tucker immediately dropped the man's daughter and backed up, blushing slightly. Val looked a bit red herself.

"I'm just glad…you're…okay." He mumbled lamely.

"Right." Damon said, visibly suppressing the memory. "Now that we're here, let's try and shut down that ghost shield. I don't know why they wanted it up, but it can't be good."

"They're after Danny." Val said. Damon raised an eyebrow.

"Phantom!" Tucker finished. "Danny Phantom. They're trying to trap him. I got it all over this." He pointed at the Fenton phone in his ear. "It was Plasmius." A second later he winced.

"What?" Maddie asked, concerned. Tucker turned pale.

"D-, uh, Phantom…screamed." He said quietly.

"Go!" Maddie shouted, pushing Damon into the console chair. His fingers flew over the keyboard. A few moments later, a large schematic came up. The man pounded his head against the controls.

"I can't turn off the shield." He said dully. "Each tower has to be manually deactivated, and they're inaccessible through those shields." Maddie sat down hard.

"But what about attacking them?" She asked. Damon shrugged.

"Most of the energy would be absorbed into the shield and run back through the generators to feed the shields, making them stronger." He said at last. "It would take a massive attack to overload the circuits. Something incredibly powerful. And even if we did that, we'd have to take out almost half of the towers before the shield died. Most of the generators are redundant." After a second look at the plans, the man brightened. "But maybe there's something we can do."

"What?" All three of the others asked anxiously.

"All of the ectoconverters are in this tower!" He said. "With me running the program for so long, they must not have had time to distribute them. We can stop the shield from sucking up Phantom's energy!"

"How long?" Maddie asked. Damon was already typing.

"An hour." He said at last, sinking. "There are almost fifty of them, and each one has an individual code lock on it. If I mess up once on any of them, I'll get locked out of the system, the ones I shut down will reset, and I'll have to start over."

"Right." Said Val, picking up her confiscated weapons. "In that case, I'm going to help Phantom."

"No way Val." Tucker said, grabbing the guns. "You've already been through who-knows-what, there's no way you're going out there now." The huntress smiled and ripped the weapons from her boyfriend's hands.

"Tucker, playing the knight in shining armor for me was very sweet, but Phantom needs us, and I don't have time to argue." She said, slipping on the mask. "Who's the better shot?"

"You are." Tucker said grudgingly.

"Who's better with the weaponry?" Val asked, strapping on a blaster.

"You are." He responded, glaring at her.

"Who's a ninth degree black belt?" Defeated, Tucker sighed and sat down. Smith stirred slightly. Tucker kicked him in the head. The man fell back down.

"I'll be back." Val said in determination, and flew off. A few seconds later, Tucker stood up, grabbed his PDA, and started off after her. Maddie grabbed his hand.

"Tucker, you don't have a weapon." The boy shook his head.

"Doesn't matter. I left enough for a small army with Jazz; I'll pick some up there. No way she fights out there on her own." Tearing free, Tucker ran up the stairs after Valerie. Maddie gave Damon a small smile.

"I know, Mads. Believe me, I know."

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Shouting in rage at the meddling agents, Vlad duplicated himself and launched a volley of attacks against the GIW vans. Two exploded in a roar of green, ecto-charged flames, and one narrowly avoided the same fate. Taking the opportunity, Danny flew down and aimed an ectoblast at the back of one of the Vlad's' heads. A shield popped up, and another Vlad became visible in front of him, leering up. The next GIW blast took Danny in the side of the head.

"AHH!" He shouted flying to the side and grabbing the side of his head. The blast had been weaker than that demonstration his parents gave, he was sure of that, but the skin wasn't closing. He really was losing energy to the shield!

"Hey!" He shouted down at the agents. "I'm not attacking you. Back off!"

"You can't fool us, Phantom!" S shouted as he stood up, an ecto-bazooka strapped to each arm. "There's never been a benevolent ghost as powerful as you! You can't survive on earth without pain and suffering to keep you alive! And we won't let you win! For K!" Shouting a battle cry, S launched a dual blast at the ghost boy, who quickly teleported a way, panting with the unusual effort. He hadn't felt this powerless for a long time. Watching Vlad's moderate success, he tried to duplicate himself. He wasn't really surprised to find he couldn't.

"Geez, at this rate I'll be back to year one powers in a few minutes!" He groaned, flying back towards the battle, focusing his efforts on Vlad. "Try not to hit the agents." He said to himself, determined. "They may be jerks, but they really do think they're fighting a bad guy. Like Valerie did." Grunting in pain at another GIW blast, he landed a solid punch, taking out two Vlad clones at once.

"Although." He said to himself, wincing. "That might get a little hard to remember if this keeps up."

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Jazz stared down at the wreckage, numb inside. The last several minutes were a blur to her. Hearing Vlad on the headphones, seeing the explosion, abandoning the weapons and running to her car, driving…

Home. It was gone. All gone. Rubble littered the street all around. The entire building was missing, empty air where her room used to be. And the lab…

"Daddy." She whispered in a small voice, walking forward slowly and ripping rocks and rubble up off the ground. A small rational part of her mind knew that this was pointless, but the rest of her wasn't listening. On the far side of the disaster area, a mound of debris collapsed and fell inward, a large plume of dust rising up from beneath. Jazz let out a strangled sob.

"Sorry about that." The older girl's head whipped around.

"I had to drop the shield when I phased us out." Dani looked over at the rubble with wide eyes. Jack was lying on the ground behind her, unconscious.

"D-Dani?" Jazz asked desperately. The girl's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

"Huh. That sounds right. That's…my name?" Jazz nodded mutely. The girl's eyes widened.

"You're Jazz!" She said loudly, clearly pleased to remember. Jazz nodded again. "And this is Jack. And…where's Danny?" She asked suddenly.

"That way, with Vlad." Jazz pointed. Dani's eyes flared deadly green.

"Vlad." She hissed angrily. "I remember that name, too."

A second later, she was gone.

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Danny groaned from under a makeshift shield of concrete. Being a good guy really had its drawbacks. After seeing that Danny wouldn't attack the Guys in White, Vlad had changed his strategy. He was floating overhead somewhere, invisible, dealing Danny the occasional blast while the well-intentioned military agents moved in for the kill. Between the constant blasts and the life-draining shield, he didn't know how much longer he could last.

"It would be so easy." A voice whispered in his ear. Danny whipped around and blasted energy from his eyes. A chuckle filled the void around him.

"I read your journal, Danny." Vlad's voice continued, taunting. "I know that deep down, you're like me. I know what you were meant to be. I read about the power, the fear, the strength you shall have! These agents are nothing, mere puppets in a much larger scheme. I know that, and you know that. They think they're saving this town, but the only way you'll survive this is to kill them."

"I won't!' Danny snarled, wincing as a heavy hit jammed the shield down on top of him. "I'm not like you, murderer!" There was a long pause.

"Then die." Came the answer, followed by a rush of wind. Plasmius was running!

"Ahh!" A shout rang out an instant later. All shots stopped. Curiosity overpowering caution, Danny shoved the slab away and stood up, squinting past the rising dust. Vlad was sprawled on the ground with a bloody lip. Above him…

"Dani?" He called incredulously, eyes going wide. "You're alive?" Dani shot him an amused glance, dodging all the redirected GIW fire.

"No more than usual." She shouted down. "Just had to drop Mr. Fenton off somewhere safe before I showed up!" Danny froze, eyes lighting up for the first time in half an hour.

"He's alive?" He shouted up, floating towards the girl he hadn't seen in months. Dani nodded smugly, relief flooding her face when the agents started shooting at her cousin too.

Unseen by either of them, a red-eyed ghost furiously rose up in Amity Park's newest crater, glowering. As his eyes took in a nearby spectator, his mouth twisted once more into a vicious grin.

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Valerie flew toward Fenton Works, mouth agape. It looked like nothing was left! Coming in closer, she spotted two familiar figures huddled in the debris.

"Jazz! Mr. Fenton!" She called out, landing and retracting her suit. Seeing his unmoving form, the huntress rushed up to the older hunter.

"Is he okay?" She asked breathlessly. Jazz shook her head.

"He's breathing." She said finally, but that's about it. I can't get him to wake up. He needs to get to a hospital, but I couldn't leave him alone! Where are the ambulances? Where are the people?" She looked around desperately.

"I saw a bunch of them near the Manson house." Val answered. "A bunch of people got trampled over there in a ghost panic. A few have burns from stray ectoblasts. There'll be one soon."

"There's no time!" Jazz shouted, looking down at her father. "Val, he was inside when it happened. He could be bleeding internally! He needs a doctor now!" Val bit her lip, momentarily indecisive.

"I'll take him." She said at last, clicking out her hover board. Jazz looked at it warily. "It's stronger than it looks, okay?" Val said in exasperation. "We need to fix up a carrying pouch for him and tie it under the board. I can fly him to the hospital in a minute flat, and I can go right over all the Guys in White vans instead of getting stuck." Finally nodding agreement, Jazz ran up to a nearby house and broke the window. A few minutes later she came back with some blankets.

"We can always explain later." She said, and the two got to work.

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Sam watched as Danny and his cousin were reunited amid violent blue energy rays. She'd never been so grateful for anything in her entire life. Not only had Dani survived, but Jack had too! Satisfied that the ghost boy was at least momentarily safe, relatively speaking, Sam decided to head for the park and that stockpile of ghost weapons.

A clawed hand grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Well if it isn't the girlfriend." Vlad hissed as she struggled in his grip, hand firmly over her mouth. "You'll make a perfect shield, my dear." Grinning victoriously, Vlad dragged her off towards the charred remains of her house's west wing. "Let's get under cover first, though. No sense risking that pretty face."

Sam struggled in his grip every step of the way, but the ghostly strength of her captor seemed unbreakable. She tried anyway.

They were well away from the fighting and out of sight when she finally managed to free her hand for a punch. She made it count.

Vlad dropped her in a split second, gasping. As Sam fell into a fighting stance, Vlad recovered and fixed her with a glare that promised death. Black belt or not, there was no way she could take on Plasmius alone.

"Danny!" She shouted, holding her defensive stance and dodging an eyebeam with a side flip. "Anybody! Help!"

Danny didn't appear. But someone did.

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Agent S watched with wide eyes as the blue, Vampire-like ghost backed away with the Manson girl in tow. The rash, stupid part of his mind screamed for him to shout a warning, but his discipline caught up and he clamped down on his tongue. Shout one word and the ghost would fly away in a blink. As long as it was sneaking along, he might be able to catch it.

Handing his mic to a very confused agent, S jumped from the van and followed as quickly and silently as he could, careful not to draw attention from Phantom. One ghost was bad enough. As he approached the ruins of the Manson home, he watched as Sam delivered a very illegal fighting move. He smiled approvingly as she backed up into a fighting stance, and started edging forward, ectogun charged.

"Danny! Anybody! Help!" S groaned, looking up to see if Phantom heard. Why on earth would the girl call a ghost? But there was no more time to worry if she was heard, he needed to take this ghost out now, or she was as good as dead.

A blur in a red hat rushed out behind the ghost.

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"Danny!" Danny froze midair and turned towards the mansion. That was Sam's voice! Where was she? Where was Vlad?

"Oh my gosh! Sam!" He shouted, flying as fast as he could, oblivious to the dozens of free hits the agents were getting in. He desperately wished he knew if she was surrounded by Ethren but was unwilling to risk the time to find out. As it was, he'd be there in only two seconds, but who knows what could happen by then?

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Tucker panted as he ran back from the weapons trove, a handful of different gadgets in tow. He didn't know where the girls were, but Danny was ahead, so they probably were too. And he was going to help.

Halfway along, he heard scuffling. Turning, he watched horrified as Vlad dragged Sam into the ruins of her house. He took off as fast as he could.

Tucker made it to the edge of the ruined ballroom just as Sam wiggled free and dealt Vlad a savage blow. Despite the situation, Tuck had to smile at that one. So Sam.

"Danny!" She shouted. "Anybody! Help!" Tucker looked down desperately at his choices in weapons. Whatever he picked, it had to take Vlad out fast. Eyes finally resting on his only hope, he swallowed and prayed nobody was around. Vision locked on his target, Tucker ran up to Plasmius.

And hit him with the Maximus.

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MORE NOTES:

Hey, long one, huh:P

Anywho, here are my two favorite plot bunnies. Let me know which of them, if any, you like. I'll probably follow one of these next.

1. Future fic, after Hopes or after Canon. Danny and Sammy have a kiddie. It's been done, I know, but I think I can do something new with it. The kid is partially inspired by the Pixar short film "Jack-Jack Attack." In other words, funny and scary at the same time.

2. Present/Imminent Future fic. After Hopes or after Canon. Danny has ice powers. Neat. They were always a part of him. Again, neat. But why do they surface so powerfully now, and manifest when he's human? Genetics can be funny, and some changes take time. What happens if Danny's ghost half starts taking over his human half? Not mentally. Physically.

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I personally like the second one more, but I want to know what you guys think. I'll be listening. And please remember, Anonymous Reviewers are now allowed. :D