I do not own Danny Phantom.
Round Two and An Epic Fight
Sam and Tucker jumped from their positions on the roof as the Fenton Works doors and windows exploded off their hinges and bolts as hundreds of Dan's doubles came pouring out. The original hovered above them all, the Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire glowing brightly in the night. Sam pulled Tucker behind a billboard and took a deep breath. "Okay, when Val brings the crown up, I'll cover you. Ditto for when Danny brings the ring up. When that happens, Dan is gonna freak. We'll need to get him up here so he doesn't break through the shield in the attic and go after Lancer and the Fentons."
"But how do we know Dan won't go after them first?"
Sam ducked as an ecto-blast shot through the billboard and burned a hole through it. "Dang. That was close," she breathed. "Dan is more interested in destroying what Pariah started, and that means not only his home, but the spirits that inhabit it. He is positive he will win, so the Fentons and Lancer will be last on his list."
"All right. Are all residents in the area gone?" Tucker asked, strapping the jetpack tighter around his torso and removing the Fenton Blasters from his bag.
"Yeah. They all booked it after Danny told them to." Sam loaded her Blaster up and glanced at her best friend. "So, who's sucking Dark Dan in the thermos?"
She held up the new dent-free silver cylinder. Tucker shrugged. "I think I will. Danny should be on standby. There's no way that jerk is going back in his prison without one heck of a struggle."
"True. Let's get in out positions." Shouldering their weapons, Sam and Tucker moved out.
Total chaos-that was what was happening. Where the sky is dark even though dawn should be breaking. The only sounds were weapons firing and if any human was close they would have gotten blinded by the blasts.
Danny thought he saw chaos before. He thought he saw it when Pariah woke. He thought he saw it when he battled Dark Dan the first time around. No, this isn't chaos, he thought grimly. This is the apocalypse. But I'm going to make sure this apocalypse has a happy ending…um, if that makes sense.
He would ensure Dan did not win. Even if he had to give his life to make it happen.
The second Dan released his doubles, all crap broke loose. Plasma blasts, curses, and screams rang out and Danny found himself in the middle, staring into Dan's eyes with anger and determination. The first thing he did was use his sticky plasma to render the Fright Knight immobile. The last thing he needed was him holding things up. Then he sped up in the air and went to tackle Dan out of the sky but was shot back by a green ecto-disk.
He landed in the concrete and left one heck of a crater. The Fright Knight struggled to break free before turning towards his master.
"Master, if you-"
Dan held up a hand, staring at the pained Danny. "Sorry. But at the moment, it's every man for themselves."
Danny moaned and hauled himself in time to see Dan hurtling towards him. Diving out of the way, he grabbed Dan's ghost tail and swung him into the side of his building. Dan ducked a punch and nailed the teen right in the gut. Danny groaned and doubled over, but managed to use his Ghostly Wail to send Dan flying through the windows of the house two doors down. He avoided a green energy-blast and it went slicing through a billboard on one of the rooftops. Narrowing his eyes, Danny cracked his knuckles and shot after Dan.
Valerie ducked and wobbled on her rocket sled as plasma blasts came from every direction. In all the chaos she lost track of Danny and Dan and was searching desperately for them. Ghosts were sailing in every direction, and she winced when the armoured ghost took a header into the cement below. She blasted his attacker with her ecto-ray and yelped in shock when a double grabbed her ankle and pulled her off her sled. She went flying towards the ground at breakneck speed.
She heard the sound of a guitar note and found herself free-falling. Slapping the button on her watch, she landed on her rocket sled and glanced up to see Ember slamming Double Dan with pink fists. Diving downwards, Valerie spotted Danny. Unfortunately, he was slammed from a building and knocked right into her. With twin groans as they crashed into a clump of bushes, Valerie managed to blindly shoot and hit Dan square in the chest.
Dan stumbled backwards a few feet and growled, floating downwards and picking the girl up by the front of her jumpsuit. "It's been a while, Valerie."
She fumbled for her ray gun and winced in pain when he easily shot it out of her hand. "How do you know my name?" she demanded.
Dan did not get to answer. Danny flew upwards and swung his foot across Dan's jaw. "Okay, I attack his front, you attack his back."
"But he'll just produce more doubles!" exclaimed Valerie.
"Then keep your eye on the originals."
"But these ghosts can't keep them all off us!" Valerie ducked as a double sailed over her head and landed with a groan in the tree behind them. Youngblood whooped loudly before going over to assist Poindexter, who was currently being overwhelmed.
"Nice one, Youngblood!" called Danny. He turned to Valerie with a slight smile. "Don't underestimate them. They know what they're doing. Besides, why do you think Sam and Tucker are in aerial positions?"
Valerie glanced up. Sure enough, whenever Dan was facing away from them, they would lean over the edge and blast the doubles before ducking back. They had pretty good aim.
Dan hauled himself off the ground and went for them. Danny nodded at her and they split up. Dan reached an arm out and caught Danny by the throat. A double appeared to take care of Valerie. Taking a quick breath, she ignored the double and sped towards Dan's back, raising her laser-ring and fired one clean shot. As the pink shot knocked the crown off his head, Sam knocked the double back as it was about to club the ghost huntress across the head.
Swearing loudly, Dan went to make for the crown but Danny sank his teeth into Dan's hand, causing him to drop the teen halfa. Danny tackled Dan to the ground as Valerie scooped the crown up. The doubles were beginning to fade out due to lack of power, but not quick enough. Dozens started to descend upon the Red Huntress as she sped upwards to where Sam and Tucker were.
They got your back. They got your back, she repeated in her head as she got closer to the roof. Sam and Tucker took out as many doubles as they could, but one managed to get a hold of her rocket sled. Valerie yelped and grabbed hold of the roof ledge as her rocket sled crashed to the ground. The small explosion told her pushing the call-back button on her watch wouldn't do much. She felt herself being pulled up and she collapsed on the hard rooftop.
"You okay?" Tucker asked, tossing the crown to Sam, who easily caught it with one hand as the other was busy blasting Dan Doubles back with the Fenton Blaster.
Valerie nodded. "I'm good. But I have no idea how I am supposed to get down."
Tucker removed his jetpack and handed it to her. She was about to protest, but he glared at her. Now was not a time to argue. Slipping it on, she flew back down and Sam took out the last double that followed Valerie to them.
Dan yelled in rage as he watched his doubles start to fizzle out. Slamming a fist into Danny's face, he struggled to find the crown Valerie had stolen. Danny had a firm hold on his leg. Nose bleeding, he reached up and grabbed hold of the hand holding the ring. Dan refused to let up, slamming kicks and punches to Danny's face, chest and stomach. Danny could feel the world going blurry, his brain going fuzzy. With a grunt, he managed to fling Dan over his shoulder. Dan's arm wrapped itself around his neck and Danny gasped for air.
Valerie arrived and nailed Dan's hand and she cried out in pain when he shot an ecto-blast to her shoulder. She crashed off balance and groaned. Her arm was on fire and her head was pounding severely. Danny scowled and knocked his shoulder into Dan's face, locking onto his hand and snagging the ring in the process. Turning to Valerie, he pulled her up. "Get out of here."
"What? Danny, no, I'm-"
"You're in no condition to fight. Get out of here. Now!"
Valerie flinched, but obediently flew off, holding her arm and biting her lip nervously. The tone in Danny's voice scared her more than anything. The doubles now disappeared completely and she noted with mild worry that nearly every ghost in Danny's army was beaten and bloodied. The ones that were only bruised were about to assist Danny when he held them back.
"No. Help the ones who are in need of medical help. I got this," he ordered.
Dan snarled. "No! I will not be beaten again." He did a right-hook and Danny sprawled backwards. Clutching the ring tightly in his fist, he jetted off towards the rooftops. He hoped Sam and Tucker were ready.
Sam winced as Dan caught up to Danny and pulled him back to the ground, knocking him around like a ragdoll. "I feel so helpless." The crown was held tightly in her hand. Tucker's voice came across the Fenton Phones. He was in position one alley across from her. She had lent him her jetpack after he gave his to Valerie.
"I know Sam. But what I don't get is why Danny doesn't just use the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire."
"He doesn't believe he can handle the power. And he wants to have the satisfaction of pummelling Dan with his own powers."
"Good point. All right, they'll be up soon. Are you ready?"
Sam took a deep breath. "Yeah. Be careful, Tucker."
"You too Sam." The Fenton Phones went silent.
Sam watched as Danny managed to get out of Dan's hold and rocket up towards the roof. As Dan grabbed his legs again, he threw the green paranormal object in the air and Sam dove out and caught it. Danny collapsed on the roof. Nodding at Sam, he bolted for the alley and disappeared from sight just as Dan emerged.
Sam grinned at him. "Did you miss me?" She waved his desired objects in the air and danced away from a plasma blast. "Yeah, I thought so. Too bad I didn't miss you."
Dan growled. "You are treading on thin ice, Samantha." He let a curse as Sam blasted him back a few feet, singing his jumpsuit.
"Nobody calls me Samantha." Well, nobody except for Lancer.
She stepped back as Dan advanced. Every time he took a breath, she cut him off with a blast. Sam let out a shriek as he knocked the Fenton Blaster from her hand and got ready for his Ghostly Wail.
Danny and Tucker, where are you?
A green plasma blast sealed itself over Dan's mouth as Tucker and Danny flew from the alley. Tucker raised the Fenton Thermos and pushed the button as Danny bombarded Dan with green disks. Sam retrieved her Blaster and helped in holding Dark Dan down. The green plasma was torn off his face as he was sucked into the mouth of the thermos.
Dan screamed loudly, and released a Ghostly Wail in the process.
Valerie twisted her hands together when she heard the ghostly scream or whatever it was roll across Amity. She could hear the frantic screams of Danny, Sam and Tucker, and there wasn't a thing she could do about it. Her arm was busted, and every able-bodied ghost had taken the injured ones to the abominable snow-ghost dude, who had set up a medical tent.
The stragglers included Youngblood, who had a black eye, his parrot companion, Skulker, who's armour was currently being repaired by Technus. But every ghost stopped what they were doing to look into the direction of the scream.
Skulker cursed. Youngblood whimpered. "They're gonna be okay, right?" he asked frantically.
"They better be," muttered Ember.
The screaming stop and Valerie felt pure fear and terror run through her. Because if the Amity Trio couldn't take that jerk down, she didn't know who could.
Sam flew backwards and managed to latch herself onto to Tucker. Danny held on to Tucker's arm and tried sealing Dan's mouth again. Dan's head was jerking around so much he couldn't get a clear shot. The roof began to crack beneath them and Tucker struggled to keep a hold on the thermos.
"Danny, he isn't going in!" Tucker shouted, watching as Dan dug his nails into the cement and struggled to hold on.
"Thanks Captain Obvious!" Sam and Danny snapped.
Danny shot the blasts and removed Dan's hands from the cement, but missed his mouth again. Swearing, Danny released his hold on Tucker and shoved his way towards Dark Dan. Pinning Dan's head to the ground, he managed to seal his mouth once again.
"Danny, you idiot!" Sam hollered.
Danny winced as he found himself swept into the sucking vortex. Transforming into Fenton, he dropped onto the cracking cement and watched as Dan got pulled into the thermos.
"No! No! Noooo!" Dan screamed in rage as he was completely sucked into the thermos.
Tucker slapped the lid on and watched in dismay as the roof started crumbling and caving in. He held the thermos tightly to him as it started thrashing and jumping.
Danny transformed again and grabbed Sam by the waist and Tucker by the arm, as he was too busy trying to keep Dan contained to turn on his jetpack.
Sam smirked tiredly. "Well. That was easy."
Boom!
Valerie clapped two hands to her mouth as the building Sam, Tucker, Danny and Dark Dan were fighting on caved in. The noise caused the ghosts to limp out of the medical tent, and Frostbite, as she learned his name was, to stand and watch in panic.
She closed her eyes. Please let them be okay. Please let them be okay.
She felt a tugging on her arm and opened her eyes to see Youngblood pointing eagerly to the sky above the now-caved in building. Valerie followed his finger and cheered along with the others as Danny Phantom hovered above, holding Sam and Tucker tightly in his grip. With a sigh of relief, Valerie sunk down into a sitting position and grinned.
They never let her down.
Danny let out a sigh of relief as Dan stopped thrashing about. He flew his friends down and grinned at his army. "Thanks, you guys. You were awesome. Is everyone okay?"
"Yes Great One. All ghosts are in the process of healing," Frostbite assured him. "We give you and your servants our greatest thanks. You have once again defeated the greatest of evils."
Valerie frowned in confusion. "Servants?" she whispered to Sam, who rolled her eyes.
"Yeah. But it's all good. He means well. Hey, Tuck. You wanna get the ghost portal started up again? These guys got to head home."
"Sure." Tucker bounded inside the damaged Fenton Works building.
Danny scratched his head as he regarded the wreck. "Dang. Looks like we got some serious explaining to do to my parents and Lancer."
Valerie gasped. "You mean they know?"
Danny snorted. "Heck no. Not my parents, anyway. Lancer does, though. Not by choice, I can tell you that. By the way, you cannot tell anyone I'm the Phantom, got it? There is no way I'm telling my parents until this whole deal is forgotten. Dan beating them to a pulp did not help my case. Now I have to figure out what to do with Lancer."
Sam shrugged. "We'll think of something."
"You didn't tell Lancer I was the Red Huntress?"
"Nope. A secret for a secret. Although we knew long before this...don't ask how."
Tucker came back outside and addressed the ghost crowd before them. "You guys can go back now. You have a few repairs to do, though. But hey, it's not even close to being as bad as ours." He spotted Pariah Dark emerge from the tent, looking like a ghost with his pride in pieces. "Danny, what are you going to do with the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire?" he whispered.
Danny thought for a moment. There was no doubt in his mind that Pariah's castle was in shambles. Besides, he was so bruised and beaten he was in no condition for another takeover scheme. "Hey, Frostbite? Can you take care of these until the Ghost Zone is close to normal?"
"Of course, Great One."
Danny handed the items over and sighed. Then he had a thought. "Hey, what happened to the Fright Knight after I immobilized him?"
Sam smirked. "I knocked him off the roof and into the alley. I think he's trapped in the dumpster. I didn't want to risk Dan going back and releasing him."
Danny snickered. "Hey, can one of you guys get the Fright Knight out and bring him into the Zone? Thanks." He scratched his head. "Uh…I think that's it. Again, you rock."
"Is that mindset going to keep when we try to blast your butt into next week?" asked Ember.
The teen halfa rolled his eyes. "Funny."
As the ghosts straggled back into the building to get back to the Ghost Zone, Danny tapped his foot and waited for the Master of Time to appear.
"You did a very good job. You three should be proud of yourselves."
Danny jumped and whirled around to find Clockwork smiling at him. Danny scowled. "I am so ticked at you. Would it have killed you to tell us Dan would be back?"
"You know the answer to that."
Sam groaned. "Do you have any idea how much damage control we have to do? Lancer is gonna kill us! After he tells our parents!"
Tucker thought for a moment before a grin split his face. "Actually...I think I have a way we can avoid that bullet." Handing the Fenton Thermos to Clockwork, he frowned. "Please lock this guy in a safe or something, will you?"
Clockwork smirked. "You have no need to worry. Everything will be fine now." He turned to Danny with a teasing expression. "Do I still get a Christmas present?"
The boy could not hide his smile. "You're lucky I like you."
"Congratulations, again. The residents of the Ghost Zone will not forget your bravery anytime soon."
The three followed the crowed into the lab and watched as the last ghost flew back into the Zone. Valerie rushed up to them soon after and hugged them tightly.
"I am so glad you guys are okay."
Sam stiffened before relaxing. "Ah, it was nothing. But you should be getting back home. Your dad's probably freaking. But first, go to the hospital."
Valerie nodded. "Sure. Well, I guess I'll see you guys later."
As she shuffled, she heard Sam, Danny and Tucker call out to her,
"Welcome to Team Phantom!"