A/N: Let me explain my absence last week. Since my computer was going slow, I emailed myself this chapter (which took a half and hour) so I could work on it on my mom's computer. After it was finished that Friday morning, I left for a few hours to watch something on TV before spell checking it. When I came back, the last half the chapter I had spent days on had vanished. Yeah, I wanted to cry! On Saturday I got my computer fixed, so I had to start all over on the second half of the chapter. That's my luck. Sorry you readers had to be at the end of it. Anywho, here is my chapter!

Disclaimer: This never gets old. I don't own Danny Phantom or its characters!

Chapter 15 Three Rounds Till Death

Danny woke up from a three hour nap late that night to some harsh whispering. He saw Theo wasn't sleeping beside him. This forced Danny fully awake with distress on his face as he looked over to where he was hearing the whispering, flinging himself up into a sitting position. The flash of panic quickly went away as he saw that Theo was the one making all the ruckus.

Theo was thigh deep in the freezing cold Mediterranean Sea waters. The water and waves rushing around the teen was steaming slightly, this mist making Theo look like an aggravated apparition to Danny. The demigod growled as he tried to control his new fire powers. At times they didn't work at all to his flustered emotions. Other times, his hands would explode with fire, causing the boy to shout in alarm and shove them into the water to try and repeat the process.

"You ever had a power before?" Danny asked as he got to his feet in the sand. He transformed into a ghost with a flash of bright light. Theo looked up from his practice and shook his head no. Danny chuckled. The teen joined the other in the water, shivering at the shock of the cold liquid as it washed over his knees. He waded out to where Theo was while saying, "I thought so. You look clueless about controlling your power."

"I just got this fire power a day ago," Theo stated to defend his pride. "How should I know how to use it so soon? How long did it take you to master your powers?"

"Months," Danny answered truthfully, "But that was me juggling at least three at a time."

"But you had them since birth," Theo said with the roll of his brown eyes.

"I got them only a year and a half ago," Danny corrected quickly. Theo raised an eyebrow in surprise and skepticism, but he kept silent. He and Danny had gone through a lot over the past week. The demigod was done arguing and disagreeing with the other teen.

Danny raised his right hand to their eye level and let the hidden ectoplasm in him smoothly flow through that hand for both of them to see. The green illumination from his hand tinted the mist to make it even more eerie than what it had been before. With the combination of the half moon shining off the swirling sea waters and the green energy between them, Danny could now clearly see his friend's face. It was then that he saw how much Theo had changed. The worry and bitterness was gone from his eyes. It was like a weight had been lifted off the demigod's shoulders.

"Now, I've never taught somehow how to use their powers, but I'll say you are a special case," Danny said with a grin. Theo pretended to be offended and crossed his arms in front of him with a scowl. "It seems like you don't understand the flow of your powers," Danny stated. "I had the same problem. Just think of it this way. Your arms are like a river system. There are different dams holding the river back, the river being your power. In your mind, open one of the dams."

Theo held up his right hand and closed his eyes to concentrate. A few moments later his hand ignited into a small, whimsy flame that fought the air currents to stay alive. "Who would have guessed," Theo said with a smile. "You are a good teacher."

"Now, open another dam," Danny ordered.

The next one took a few minutes to get down. But Theo quickly picked up on the river and dam trick. He was still novice with his power, but he was glad to know how to use it when he needed to. Danny told him that emotions could be a factor to controlling the power as well, and that it would take a few months to master the connection between the two.

When they were done with the small lesson, the boys sat back on the beach. They had spent the whole day either sleeping or sitting there silently. Danny was beginning to get restless again. He noticed that Theo was the same. The half sphinx's ears were twisting to catch any sound it could with his tail swooshing wildly behind him. Those were the obvious signs the feline boy was back to his normal paranoid self again.

"When do we leave?" Danny asked suddenly, his voice louder and more urgent than he meant it to. Theo jumped at the rude sound and spun his head away from the moon to look at Danny. "I mean," Danny explained himself in a rush of words, "These are my friends that are in danger. I don't like sitting here doing nothing when I can be out there rescuing them."

"We will make one minor detour so we can have you prepared to fight Ares," Theo said calmly.

"I'm not going to fight that god," Danny protested. "Battling the god of war is not on my to-do list."

Theo smirked back at him, that wild look in his eyes again. Danny frowned. He didn't like that look. It usually meant the demigod had some crazy scheme or plan plotted crudely out in his head. Seriously, the teen didn't know the meaning of careful planning.

"I don't like that look, Theo," Danny warned his friend in a firm voice. "I am not doing something stupid again like hanging out in a pyramid all day. Look where that one got us. I got attacked by a sphinx while you almost got killed by Ra."

"Calm down, ghost boy," Theo said smoothly, that evil glint never leaving his eyes. "You and your friends will be fine if you just stick to my new plan."

"Yep," Danny said with a sigh, "We're all going to die."

-The Day Before-

Keeping the thick straw hat tilted to keep his eyes in the shadows, Rhodes walked briskly down a grassy hill toward the forest. He was going on a walk, that's what the small boy had told his substitute uncle. The young boy was very thin and short, like most his age. But other than that, Rhodes was different than the others. With a soft, angel-like face with piercing violet eyes and long lashes, the boy looked more pretty than manly.

The wind rushed past the small boy of maybe ten or eleven, and Rhodes quickly held onto his straw hat and wrapped the other arm around his wind blown toga to prevent it from revealing any more skin than what it did already. The breeze made the tall grass on the hill swirl in mock ocean waves, creating a green sea for Rhodes to walk through. The bugs on that late spring day were buzzing and chirping with happiness of the clear weather.

Looking wearily over his shoulder, Rhodes made sure no one was watching him as he started to run toward the forest a few yards away. There was no way he was going to stay as his uncle's performing assistant! The day had come for him to dare to make his great escape and leave the traveling performers behind. Maybe then it would be the time to drop his disguise and be normal for once. But in these times, it was better to put on this comforting mask.

The little boy plunged into the forest without hesitation. Heart pounding, Rhodes ran through the jumble of tree trunks and over twigs and fallen leaves with hopes flying high along with fear threatening to ruin the free feeling experience. Sweat started to pour down his forehead and his breaths were becoming shallow, but the boy refused to take off the straw hat and leave it behind.

Suddenly a bright light flashed in front of Rhodes. The kid screamed like a girl as he tried to skid to a stop a little too late. He bumped right into someone as the person appeared from the portal of light. The person Rhodes slammed into was strong enough to keep from falling down. The force of the hit sent Rhodes to his butt, though.

"What's this?" the person asked in a snide voice as he bent down to examine the kid who had knocked into him. Rhodes was terror stricken with wide, violet eyes of fright. He gasped in fear as the mystery man stuck his face into his. The man looked pure evil, with pale skin, fangs, wild black hair, and blood red eyes. He looked like a ghost! A god maybe!

Panic had gripped Rhodes's heart in its relentless, cold hand, incasing it in ice from the second his eyes met Vlad's narrowed red ones. Smiling wickedly back at the boy, Vlad looked Rhodes up and down as if sizing him up for a pig contest at the local fair. By the looks of things, the ghost man liked what he saw.

"You will do perfectly as a hostage, my dear child," Vlad told Rhodes. "Daniel's stupid little friends are sure to be following me. They won't dare interfere if I have a little insurance." Standing up sharply, Vlad grabbed the boy's right wrist and yanked him to his feet. With a loud scream, Rhodes tried to pull free and run away.

"Calm down, you little brat!" Vlad ordered the child. To prevent another scream, Vlad pulled Rhodes close to him and slapped a green slab of ectoplasm goo across the boy's mouth. Rhodes screamed into it, but only muffled incoherent words came out. Vlad chuckled at the sight.

"You know, violet eyes had always meant the person was born with magical powers in these days," Vlad scoffed into Rhodes's face, noticing the color of his eyes for the first time. Vlad, being a history buff and all, found some interest in this. "Good thing you're only a little boy and wouldn't know the first thing about magic," Vlad muttered. He cruelly laughed again as Rhodes continued to shriek into his gag.

-Theo and Danny-

Danny could feel his pulse quicken and his stomach twist into a bitter knot as he watched Ares wildly swing a double bladed axe through the air from where he and Theo were hiding behind a small hill yards away. The battle yell that came from the god echoed out from his place in the middle of the field, making birds and small animals run, avoiding the meadow next to the woods completely. It only took the quick second to see that the man with the axe was an excellent and brutal fighter. That only put a stale taste in the ghost boy's dry mouth.

"No way, dude!" Danny whispered with the shake of his head. "No way."

Theo's ears flattened against his head. "Its not like you have to beat or kill him," Theo whispered urgently back. "Hey, I didn't get Hephaestus to give me his best sword for free just for you to chicken out on me," Theo said. "Now, distract the god while I go find and rescue your friends."

"Why can't you fight him?" Danny asked for the hundredth time that day.

"I have no time for this, Danny!" Theo hissed back. "He doesn't want to fight me. He wants you, get it? And he will only fight you with a sword or other weapon because it is the traditional way. If you go out there all fists-a-blazing, he's gonna just kill you off because he'll see you as a threat. Play his game till your friends are safe."

"What if he gets in a lucky swing and slices my head off?" Danny asked with wide eyes of horror.

Theo grabbed the front of Danny's toga and yanked him close so that they were face to face, their noses close to touching. "No more games, Danny," Theo whispered harshly into Danny's face. His tone was rough and cruel, clearly indicating that the feline teen was irritated. "I'm not arguing with you anymore," Theo continued. "Now go out and fight with Ares before I get angry enough to set you on fire! Now!"

"You don't have very much patience, do you, sphinxy?" Danny asked with a wicked grin, knowing the reaction Theo would give him before the cat boy heard the words. Just as Theo's fiery fist collided with Danny's palm, the ghost boy turned on his ice powers. The boys glared dangerously at each other as their opposite powers pushed against each other for dominance.

"This is stupid!" Theo hissed at Danny as he gave up on the stare down and took his hand away. He looked at his freezing cold hand for a second; resisting the urge to light it back on fire to get rid of the frost that Danny had created on it.

It was clear that Danny didn't trust Theo enough to go put his life fully on the line. Theo knew no words of his own would convince or deceive Danny into fighting Ares for only a few minutes. And there was no way Theo could physically force Danny onto that grassy playing field. Danny was just too strong. Theo never liked changing his plan because someone didn't like it. It was like admitting defeat. And the boy hated to lose.

"Fine, ghost boy," Theo said with a tight smile. He snatched the magical sack away from Danny, pulled out Ares' spear, and then tied the end of the sack to his own toga's new belt that held a pouch and a scabbard for his dagger. Danny watched him in confusion and suspicion. His eyes lit up when he saw Theo pull out a handful of metal sticks from the pouch.

"I didn't know this time period had sparklers," Danny said once he recognized the objects.

"It doesn't," Theo said with a cruel smile.

"Wait…what…how?" Danny asked, now even more confused about what Theo was doing.

"You're gonna hate me for this, dude," Theo said, moving and talking quickly so Danny couldn't guess his secret motive. He took the spear, raised it up, and shoved it deeply into the earth. "But you kind of brought it upon your stupid self," he said while holding up one of the sparklers so Danny could see it. The demigod snapped his fingers, setting America's Fourth of July's greatest past time off into wild sparks. He put the non burning end of the sparkler into the ground at the top of the hill.

"That's gonna alert Ares over to us!" Danny whispered his alarm loudly. His hand tightened around his sword hilt as his slow burning fear rose slightly. He had a new belt too. It only had a scabbard for his new sword from Hephaestus.

"Remember, don't do any funky ghost powered stuff while I'm gone," Theo said quietly before taking off in a sprint down the hill and into the depths of the forest. Danny scrambled to his feet to follow him, not ready to fight Ares anytime soon. But somehow he just couldn't get to his feet. Something was keeping him back. Danny looked down and saw that the spear in the ground went straight through the end of his toga. He was stuck!

"I hate him!" Danny hissed in pure anger.

A large, dark shadow consuming his own hinted to Danny that he needed to get over his anger and move. He spun around with a small gasp to see the god standing on top of the hill. The man was huge, covered from head to foot with bulging and toned muscles. He had a square-like head with a short, dark brown beard. His same colored hair was fit neatly into the man's metal helmet. The god also had on light battle armor.

But what really stood out with the god were his black eyes. They reminded him of Ra's eyes. They were set on a scar laden face with a sick grin. They bore down into Danny, instantly sizing up its caught prey with an evil delight in them. Ares was ready to fight and kill.

"I hate him!" Danny said to himself again as he pulled on his toga where it was stuck. The moment he was free, Ares had an axe blade cutting air. Danny rolled out of the way at the last second. The battle would have ended right then and there if Danny hadn't brought his sword up just in time to block the next swing from Ares. The hit was so hard it sent Danny rolling down the hill.

Hissing in pain, Danny landed roughly on his back at the bottom of the hill. He gave a sharp yell of fright when seeing Ares coming in for another swipe of his axe. The teen jumped to his feet, closely avoiding the downward swing of the axe. Fear for his life clouded the boy's usually clear thoughts in mid battle. He needed to get his head together. If only he had a small break to catch his breath.

Ares' moves were strong and fast for his size. Danny barely had time to see an attack coming and block it. It seemed like they were fighting for hours when finally Ares brought up a leg after a simple swing and shoved it into Danny's exposed chest. The boy was soon on his butt with an axe's sharp blade placed under his chin.

The god swung his head back and laughed at Danny's fearful expression. Ares took the blade away and stepped back from Danny with that evil grin never leaving his face. Danny stared back up at the god, breathing hard and sweating from the hard work, but besides that, in perfectly good shape.

"You lose round one, pathetic demigod," Ares barked down at Danny. The god's voice was naturally rough and demanding. "After three rounds, I will kill you by slicing off your weak head. And then I will spill your blood all over this hill as a reminder to the humans who the god of war is. Victory will soon be mine!"

"Round one?" Danny asked, still back on the part that saved his life.

"Yes," Ares said quickly. "I delayed your death. That is all. It just makes the battle sweeter when I spill your blood at the end."

"Ah…ew," Danny pointed out. "Seriously, that's just gross. And I thought Skulker and his whole you-will-be-a-pelt-on-my-wall thing was sick."

"That is a great idea!" Ares said with excitement. "But I don't think you will deserve to be displayed."

Danny got to his feet, thoroughly disgusted at this point. Now that the fear had been pushed back enough to let him think, Danny felt like he could keep his head on for the next few minutes. So far he hadn't even been wounded, so that meant he was fast enough to dodge most attacks. And the sword Hephaestus had given him as a gift for returning the god his symbol was working beautiful. He guessed he should have expected that from the blacksmith god.

"I'm gonna barf if you don't stop talking," Danny told the god, half seriously. "When does round two start?"

"Don't be so urgent, pitiable one," Ares said highly. "Don't you want to live for a few more minutes?"

Danny's eyes narrowed in anger. "Don't mock me!" he snapped back.

Ares threw his head back again and roared with laughter. Danny took up a fighting stance, his rage for this god steadily boiling inside of him at an unnaturally high rate. Ares leaned forward and asked Danny, "Is the pathetic little demigod mad that he can't beat me? I would feel pity if I actually had some." He then spat a good sized ball of spit at Danny's feet.

Danny growled. Then suddenly he was running at Ares. This new found anger blinded him. The next few seconds were just a blur to the boy. He attacked, no hesitation, he missed, and then there was pain. When the anger finally died away, Danny found himself dropping to his knees and gripping his left arm.

When he took his hand away from the painful wound on his arm, Danny saw his hand covered with his own warm blood. The teen bit his lower lip to keep in a scream. In all his life of ghost fighting, he'd never gotten a wound this bloody or painful. His whole left arm felt like it was on fire as blood quickly flowed down it and stained the grassy field.

"I win round two," Ares said from where he was standing in front of Danny. The boy looked up from where he was dizzily watching his blood flow down his arm. Ares smiled cruelly back down at him before saying, "That was a technique of mine, pathetic boy. I find something that angers you and I make it explode. It's part of my powers of being the god of war. So when that anger explodes, you are blinded by it till you feel pain, sometimes that's not even enough to stop some people. You must be under a lot of pain then."

Danny looked back down at the stained grass under him. He wasn't ready for this fight. Theo had told him he was, but his friend was wrong. He only had one more round and then he would be killed. It didn't help that he was seriously wounded too. Right now he had very little options, most of them ending in death. What was he going to do?

"Let's make this a fair fight for the last round," Danny said as he glared up at Ares. With difficulty, the teen got to his feet, his left arm limp from pain. Ares watched with curiousness as Danny swiftly morphed into his ghost form in a flash of light. His ghost powers took most of the pain in his arm away. With a bitter smile, Danny flexed his bloody arm.

"No…no use of powers," Ares growled back at Danny. He lifted his axe up to cut Danny down right then and there, true to what Theo had predicted. So at least the half sphinx was somewhat honest.

"But you used your power when you made me angry," Danny quickly countered. Ares shook his head no and slowly started to come closer. Danny snatched up his sword and held it steady in front of him as he hastily said, "But don't you want a hard battle? I'm sure you've had centuries with no one who comes near to you. Don't you want to work to kill me?"

Ares stopped when hearing this. "I guess I am in need of a small challenge," he said after a minute of thought. He, like a few other gods and goddesses, were not great on the gray matter. He smiled darkly before saying, "This will be fun…but sadly painful for you."

Danny took a deep breath, readying himself for the battle to come. He then grinned up at Ares and said confidently, "Bring it on, meat head."

A/N: I like my new ending better than the one that has somehow vanished. Next chapter will finally hold Sam, Tucker, Aphrodite…and the new character, Rhodes. Theo's first interaction with them will be…interesting. I can't give too much away.

And before I forget, I'm going on vacation for all of next week. My family of six will drive for 13 whole freaking hours down to Atlanta, Georgia where my aunt and uncle are. Ug. But ya for the vacation part! I'll write as much as I can while I'm there. Hopefully I'll have enough for a good sized chapter, but I might not. So I'm sorry if next week I can't update. But most likely I'll have a chapter. Thanks for reading! With any luck, I'll be here next week!