A/N: Well here we are, on my one year anniversary of posting this story. Yes, one year ago this very day I first posted this chapter, having no clue that it would ever grow to be so long or so popular. If you were to ask me when I first posted this chapter if I expected that this story would even break 500 reviews or if I'd be looking back in a year and still be writing it I definitely would have said no XD. I always knew it would be long, but never this long. And while I know a lot of the time was probably spent waiting for me to update (let's not go there…) it still shocks and amazes me.

So, here's a huge thank you for sticking through this with me, especially everyone who's been here from the beginning. I really really appreciate it! And as a reward for being so great and awesome and just totally amazing…here's an update! XD I know, it's kinda a lame gift, but I really busted my back for the past few weeks to get it up today (for the record I hate battle scenes…I think I've already said that multiple times but I'm just enforcing it. I hate battle scenes . ) so I hope you enjoy it and realize how much I appreciate all of you!

And before I forget, I changed the rating to Teen. I figured what with Massey's death and this chapter plus what will be following in the next one it's kinda necessary…

And on that note, just a warning, this chapter is very violent. I mean, it's a battle and it's with the wonderfully sadistic Dan, so it's going to be violent. If it's not really your cup of tea just send me a note and I'll be happy to summarize what you need to get out of the battle so you don't have to read it.

Oh, and a special dedication to EsmeKaliPhantom and SG-Phantom who helped me through this as my sounding board for my organizational troubles…

So here's to a year of ASU! Hope you enjoy the anniversary post! XD

Chapter Twenty-Two
The Quartet

Dan laughed maliciously, smirking in triumph at Danny's fleeing silhouette, watching in great pleasure until he could no longer see the tiny speck that was a representation of his disgraceful past. He'd be back, he knew he would be. He'd manage to pull himself together and fly back, ready for the actual battle just as before. But just knowing that he made him fly off, that he made him suffer so much that he needed to leave to deal with the pain he caused formed a sadistic light in his merciless red eyes.

He turned around, facing the surrounding crowd, the light of the streetlamps gleaming off his pointed fangs as he smirked at them, their fearful looks feeding his deranged delight. He knew exactly how he was going to pass the time until the younger version of himself arrived.

Dan's destruction of the city block was ironically very methodical. It was perfected, like an art. He would slowly and joyously demolish everything immediately surrounding him, taking his time so he could enjoy every sound of breaking glass, every deafening collapse of the foundation, every scream of pain or fear, before moving on to the next set of buildings, repeating the slow and enjoyable process.

Finally he made his way down the street, reaching Massey's discarded body, a wide smile crossing his face, fangs gleaming. "Oh this is going to be enjoyable," he mused, reaching towards the corpse. If Danny didn't want to desecrate him, he had no problems carrying out the enjoyable task in his place.

"Don't even think about touching that body again!" came the cry from above as red mist poured out of Dan's nostrils as he grinned. His fun had arrived.

"Why should I? What do you plan on--" he started to taunt as he turned around, only to be hit with an unexpected ecto-blast to the chest, sending him backwards a couple steps. He looked up, the smoke emanating from the burn on his chest framing his amused face as Danny floated down in front of his emerging arsenal of assistance.

Dan chuckled at the assemblage. "So you've returned to face me, despite your rather disgraceful flight? And you've even brought an army, how quaint. To think that you need their assistance to even touch me is quite amusing."

"Save it Dan, I'm not in the mood," Danny snapped. "So let's just get to the part where I beat you and trap you back in the thermos where you belong."

Dan smiled in amusement. "Well, this is rare indeed. You, the great and clever Danny Phantom, wish to cease the crafty exchange of witty banter and proceed right to the exchange of blows. A change in pace perhaps, but certainly not an unwelcome one. I have long since wanted the chance to cause you pain."

"Doesn't matter, because everything you throw at me I'll throw right back," he promised, his face etched in determination as he took his battle stance.

"Somehow, I highly doubt that," he smirked in response. "You will never have enough power to defeat me."

"Enough power or not, this ends tonight."

"Only in your dreams, or once I'm through with you, your nightmares." He took his battle stance, red eyes gleaming in fierce loathing as he split himself, four menacing Dans standing in the place of the one. As a single entity they charged into the small army like lightening, snatching their choice foes and separating down the street, each throwing their prey into the hard concrete in the wall and glaring at them, ready and willing to strike, to massacre, to murder.

Danny slammed hard against the wall, feeling the hard concrete shudder as Valerie smashed in next to him. His head was spinning from the harsh contact with the wall, but in his blurred vision he saw a Dan clone leering at him, a glowing fist prepped and ready to strike. He immediately turned intangible as Dan's fist swung down, crashing through the concrete of the wall behind him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw another blur and on instinct he grabbed Valerie's arm, turning her intangible as well as a second fist came crashing through the concrete where her head was.

She looked over at Danny in shock as he pulled her into the wall with him, rising up from behind Dan with guns and ecto-blasts blazing. Unfortunately Dan was already waiting for them, blasting them both with carefully timed ecto-blasts, knocking them both back in the air from the force.

Valerie kicked her jet glider to life, flying out of Danny's hold and towards Dan, ecto-blasts discharging from her glider as she charged at him. Danny flew around, charging at Dan from the side, his own green ecto-blasts heading towards Dan along with the purple. Dan simply grinned in response, creating a glowing shield in front of him that sent the blasts back at the attacking duo. Both saw the reflecting blasts and immediately moved out of harms way, ready to charge back at their enemy only to find he wasn't there.

"Where'd he go?" Valerie asked, knowing that he'd appear out of nowhere and have perfect targets.

"I don't know, but we've got to find him," Danny answered, trying to feel out for Dan with his ghost sense but Vlad's presence continued to mess him up.

"Or maybe he'll find you," Dan's voice echoed from behind them as he materialized, the two of them turning around only to be met with Dan's menacing face as he grabbed their arms. He sent a charge of electricity through them, smiling gleefully at the sound of their pained screams. He finally stopped the surge, using his hold on them to throw them to the ground below where they crashed into the pavement, leaving cracks underneath their sore backs. This was not going well.

Jack and Maddie too felt the harsh crash of their bodies against the concrete of the wall, feeling slightly dazed as Dan prepared for a blow. But Maddie got the jump on him, taking a step forward and side-kicking him powerfully in the stomach, sending him flying backwards, nursing the unexpected blow to his gut. The Fenton parents took the opportunity to pull out their weapons, taking their battle stance before charging.

Jack ran at him, fists gloved in the Fenton Ghost Gauntlets as he made to punch Dan's face in. But Dan slid smoothly out of the way and cracked Jack in the back with a mighty punch before turning to Maddie who was coming up on the other side, deflecting the blasts she was shooting. He pushed the shield off towards Maddie, smacking her in the face and dropping her to the floor. But Jack took the opportunity to jump on Dan, taking him down to the floor and holding his neck with one hand, using the other to repeatedly pound him in the back.

The malicious ghost concentrated, pushing past the pain as he waited for Jack to wind back for the next punch. Once he did he shoved his elbow into the portly man's abdomen, loosening his grip so he could throw him off. He floated back up, grabbing Jack and holding him up to take the blasts that Maddie had just shot in retaliation. She ceased, refusing to shoot her husband, only to find that her husband was being thrown towards her, taking her to the ground, crushed under his weight.

Jack scrambled off his wife as she jumped up, catching her breath as she turned to face their enemy. Dan floated, looking like he had no intention to move as he wiped the trickle of ectoplasm from his mouth, shooting an infuriated glare at the two adults that were once his parents, promising them pain for actually drawing ectoplasm. Jack and Maddie stood alert, weapons ready and on hand for when he attacked, ready to release more teamed attacks against the ghost that had tried to ruin their son's life.

The wall shook, cracking as Vlad Plasmius was thrown against it. His world went black as he tried to stave off the concussion forming. Thankfully his vision started to return fairly quickly as green light began to replace the black. Cheese logs, he knew what that meant. He immediately split himself so the incoming ecto-blast hit the wall instead of his face.

Now with his complete vision returned to him Vlad split himself again, three Vlads now staring at the single Dan. But still the murderous ghost didn't wipe the amused smirk off his face as he stared at the three duplicates of what was once his arch enemy but was now just a mere annoyance, one that thought he actually stood a chance due to his cocky manner.

The Vlads charged, armed with ecto-blasts and fists, all converging on Dan. Their movements were quick, blasting, punching, and kicking with a single consciousness at their enemy, an enemy who was unfortunately quicker than he was, and also far more creative. He somehow was able to find ways to dodge blasts or punches that resulted in another Vlad being hit instead or placing him in a perfect position for an attack of his own which was generally like nothing Vlad had ever combated in all his twenty years as a half ghost. And yet, Vlad was able to get a decent amount of hits on him due to his numerical advantage, but it wasn't enough to leave a dent.

Time to step things up a notch, be a little more daring. All three Vlads charged at their target, but one of them turned invisible during the charge, pulling back for a surprise attack while Dan was distracted with the attacks of the other two. And sure enough, Dan focused on the other immediate threats, wrapping his whip-like projection of ectoplasmic energy around one of them and slamming him into the other, sending them crashing towards a building. That was when he felt the burn of an ecto-blast against his back. He held back a disgraceful wince, turning to face Vlad, a powerful ecto-blast gunning for his cocky figure.

Vlad held his glowing hand out, intent to absorb the blast and shoot it back, like he had done to Danny on so many occasions. But when the blast hit his hand he failed to absorb it, instead feeling the searing burn as the blast hit.

Dan chuckled evilly at Vlad's surprised expression. "I'm far too powerful for your pathetic tricks old man," he jeered. "You can't handle my ecto-blasts."

"And you can't handle that I'm actually damaging you," Vlad spat back, his other two duplicates flying up on either side of him. "Admit it, you've overspent your power. There is no way you can keep up with me; I outnumber you."

"For now," he seethed, red eyes flaring dangerously.

Vlad glared in return, each Vlads' hands glowing as they formed glowing pink ectoplasmic swords. Time to show what advantage numbers really can bring.

Dan smirked, his own glowing sword forming in his hand, taking his battle stance, daring Vlad to attack. And attack he did.

Stars danced around Tucker, Sam, and Jazz's vision from their contact with the firm wall, none of them coming out of their near concussions soon enough to prevent Dan from grabbing them by the collar and slamming them into the wall again. The only person saved from the attack was Sam who was protected by the Specter Deflector. Using this to her advantage she ran around Dan, sucking up her revulsion and jumping on his back, the contact and the deflector sending shock waves through Dan, forcing him to release Tucker and Jazz, giving them time to equip themselves. Jazz pulled out the Fenton Peeler, suiting up as the metallic armor encased her. Tucker pulled out an ecto-gun looking vaguely like a lipstick container.

"I appreciate the hug," he jeered as he started dodging the blasts from the other two.

Sam growled. "In your dreams psycho," she snarled, wrapping a leg around him and slamming her foot where she knew it would hurt, ghost or not. Dan cringed, taking a few shots in his moment of weakness before recovering. He turned, flying backwards into the wall and ramming Sam into it, flying away as she lost her grip, her and her Specter Deflector falling to the floor and off of him.

He flew at Jazz and Tucker from above, shooting ecto-blasts at them as they retaliated, both trying to dodge the shots from the other. One powerful blast caught Tucker in the chest, sending him flying, skidding to a stop next to Danny and Valerie who were picking themselves off the ground.

"That does it. Time for the big guns."

"The big guns?" Danny asked, confused. He couldn't remember any big guns in their plan, unfortunately.

Tucker smirked, pulling out the Boo-Merang. He held it back and gave it a swift toss towards Dan, ignoring Danny's protesting screams.

"Tucker! Are you a complete idiot?" he yelled at him as the Boo-Merang came back around, smacking Danny smartly upside his head.

"Tucker, what was the point of that?" Danny chided, massaging his head and leaving Valerie to take on the charging Dan until the bright stars ceased flashing across his vision. Then the Boo-Merang turned and instead of heading back to Tucker it spun off, hitting each Dan in succession as it made its arc, finally ending up back to Tucker who was smirking proudly. "Okay, never mind, but just…don't do it again."

"Danny!" Valerie called, trying to catch his attention as she furiously attacked the now slightly concussed Dan. All four groups took this break to completely wail on their specific Dan duplicate, doing quite a bit of damage in his weakness. But all too soon the throbbing pain cleared and each duplicate attacked with a vengeance, especially the one dealing with Tucker. He growled, charging up an ecto-blast and launching it at Tucker while his three attackers were still recovering from his last vengeful attack.

The blast caught Tucker straight in the chest, taking him down to the ground from its power. He flew over to him, slamming his head with his fist to be sure to finish the job. He carelessly disregarded him, his stationary body still smoking from the ecto-blast.

"No!" Jazz and Sam shouted, both of them starting to shoot as many blasts as they could at him, trying to avenge their friend.

Danny heard their scream, turning to face them and saw Tucker's smoking body lying on the floor. "No! Tucker!" he cried. He couldn't tell if he was alive or dead, but he hoped, he prayed, that he was still alive. He couldn't lose anyone. They had all promised they would be okay, which was why he had let them fight, and while they had told him they were willing to sacrifice themselves for him, he refused to let it happen. They were all coming out of this okay. They had to, for his sake, they had to.

He turned towards Dan, fury blazing in his green eyes as he shot at his Dan copy, slamming his fist into him with such speed and ferocity that Dan couldn't dodge it, another one coming in right after it. Unfortunately Dan caught the third one, starting to bend Danny's fist back as he screamed out in pain from the pressure on his wrist, his eyes watering as his mind filled with only thoughts of the pain as he felt his wrist bones grind on each other, threatening to snap. But his hand was released as Dan was blasted away, an angry Valerie streaking after him, her Ecto-Grenade Launcher propped on her shoulder as three purple cubes hovered around her, freely shooting powerful laser blasts at Dan along with the grenades.

Immediately the battle became airborne as Dan shot off, trying to avoid all the blasts through careful aerial maneuvers while Valerie and now Danny shot after him, sending blast after blast at him. But Dan would also shoot his own back, aiming for the cubes, trying to take them out but failing due to his awkward angle and lack of complete vision. He changed his tactic, turning invisible before flying under Valerie, grabbing her ankles and yanking her off her glider before regaining visibility. While she fell he took careful aim, destroying two of the cubes before her glider landed under her, taking her back up to the battle. He took quite a few hits from the cubes as well as Danny but it was worth it in the end to be rid of two of those annoying weapons. Now to just get rid of the third…

He rocketed through the air, Danny and Valerie streaking after him to keep up, their barrage continuing after him. Once he had lead them on enough, tricking them into a well established pattern for them to concentrate on, he teleported, reappearing behind Valerie in surprise as he took out the last of her cubes while blasting a surprised Danny away as well. He waved a glowing hand over the huntress, her immobile body encased in a green glow.

"Well well well, if it isn't Valerie Gray, the little huntress that could," he mocked, floating into her field of vision. "Always trying to play with the big dogs and yet always falling short."

Valerie's blood boiled, itching to shoot him, to maim him, but her body remained completely paralyzed due to the green glow surrounding her.

"You've never had what it takes to play with me, and you never will. No matter how many friends or shields you put up to block me, you always will fall short," he growled, an ecto-blast glowing to life in his hand, aimed for her head. "Good-bye Valerie. I can't say I won't miss you."

He was about to shoot when a blast hit him from the side, Danny charging in, his hands glowing. "You keep away from her," he threatened.

Dan laughed. "Or what? You'll shoot me? Hardly threatening." He shot the charged blast instead at Danny sending him flying backwards before getting thrown backwards himself. He looked over at the smirking Valerie, back on her jet glider with the barrel of her ecto-gun smoking.

"What were you saying about falling short?" she smirked before her face hardened, charging towards him yet again as Danny came in from the other side, green and purple blasts raining down upon the nimble Dan.

Jack and Maddie both jumped out of the way as an ecto-blast took out the sidewalk between them. Maddie fell into a graceful roll, coming out on her knees with ecto-gun drawn, blasting at Dan before the gun was shot out of her hands. She narrowed her eyes, standing up and pulling out the Fenton Machete, activating both ends of the glowing light sword and charging at her enemy. Jack too elected for a change of weapon, pulling out the Jack o' Nine Tails and following after his wife.

Dan dodged the first few strikes from the machete, too distracted to notice that Jack had sent his signature weapon towards him, coiling him up in the tendrils of the weapon as tiny electrical shocks ran through his body. Meanwhile Maddie attacked, machete in one hand and an ecto-gun in the other, taking as many shots as she could before he broke free.

And break free he did, his body glowing as he threw his powerful arms outward, snapping the tendrils of the invention and rounding on Jack, grabbing him and throwing him to the ground before turning his murderous gaze towards Maddie. She had drawn ectoplasm, actually slicing his skin with that ectoplasmic sword of hers, and now she needed to pay. He shot a series of decoy blasts, easily dodged by the expert martial artist while he charged up a large ball of ectoplasmic energy in his other hand.

Jack saw the ball, his eyes widening as he knew what he was going to do. Without a second's hesitation he ran towards his wife as Dan released the ball, shooting it right to Maddie's chest.

"Maddie!" Jack screamed, taking a running jump and shoving her out of the way as the blast hit him in the chest, sending him into a wall, the concrete cracking beneath his head. He slid down the wall, slumping on the floor as a red trail of blood marked where his head had slid before starting to trickle onto the pavement.

"Jack! No!" Maddie cried as she propped herself up on her elbow, her gaze turning towards Dan, her expression dangerous and clear even through her goggles. The now incensed Maddie ran towards him, her machete swirling around her as she laid attack in the name of her husband, slicing him as many times as she could. She was too enraged to even consider the fatality of his injury, her mind filling with the overpowering feeling of revenge. Nobody did that to her husband. Nobody.

Jazz and Sam weren't doing so well. This was far beyond their level of expertise. Once they were separated from the group they knew things were going downhill fast, especially after they lost Tucker. All they could do was keep shooting at him, shots that he easily dodged. Occasionally he'd take one from Sam to avoid the dangerous peeler expertly handled by Jazz, but they were merely ecto-blasts and hardly tickled let alone left lasting injuries.

But soon Dan grew tired of the game, preferring to use his energy fighting the more threatening opponents. Time to finish this.

He flew at Jazz, dodging all the shots from the peeler as he flew right up next to her, grabbing the barrel of the peeler and crushing it along with her hand in his powerful grip. Jazz screamed from the shooting pain in her hand as he ripped the hood off the armor.

He grinned at her. "As annoying as ever, aren't you?" he asked, pressing harder into her already mutilated hand. "The world should thank me from ridding it of you and your psychological nonsense. Good-bye, my dear sister," he growled, fisting his other hand and slamming it hard into her head, feeling the skull give way. He dropped her to the ground, the metallic armor on her body making a loud crash that reverberated around the street. He turned, grinning maliciously at the wide-eyed Sam.

He flew at her, grabbing her hands and suffering through the shock of the Specter Deflector around her waist as he sent his own electric charge through her. Protected by the deflector Sam felt nothing, curious as to the point of the attack until the deflector started to smoke. He was short-circuiting the Specter Deflector.

Finally the glow of the deflector died and Sam screamed as the shocks now coursed through her body as well. Dan released her hands, grabbing instead her neck as he pressed his fingers onto her windpipe, her violet eyes wide and panicked as her air flow was restricted, her legs kicking out beneath her, her hands on his as she tried to pull them away but it was no use.

"Ah Sam, how I've long imagined this image, me with my hands around your neck, easily able to give and take away your life with just the simplest move of my thumb. It's delicious," he taunted viciously as he pressed harder, choking gasps emerging from her constricted throat.

"Sam!" Danny screamed, trying to leave his duplicate to charge after her, as he had been since he heard Jazz fall to the ground moments before Sam was lifted up, but he was still held fast, forced to watch as the light from Sam's eyes slowly started to fade as she received less and less air.

"No!" he cried. He wasn't going to lose another, he couldn't. Seeing his sister go had been bad enough, but not Sam too. He was losing too many people, too many members of his family. He had to stop, had to do something. He wouldn't let him take another person from him.

His eyes glowed fiercely as he blasted Dan away, sending out his Ghostly Stinger and wrapping it around him, summing up his strength and launching him at Valerie who started raining blasts down at him with pleasure while Danny took off towards the other Dan. He flew towards Sam but felt something wrap around his ankle, the now free Dan sending out his own stinger. Danny growled, taking careful aim and shooting an ecto-blast at the Dan murdering Sam, causing him to arch his back and drop her. But she remained on the floor, unmoving and still, ripping a cry of agony from Danny. He smiled down at his work, looking at the prone bodies of Team Phantom and smiled before he disappeared, the other three Dans gaining an increase in power now that there were less of them.

Meanwhile a massive sword fight was raging in another corner of the street as three Vlads fenced with Dan. Both were refined sword fighters, quickly and gracefully striking and deflecting the parries of the other as they were both experienced sword fighters: Vlad because it was a hobby, and Dan because he wasn't satisfied until he learned how to successfully murder someone in every method known to mankind. And they were pretty well matched, both striking even amounts of blows and blocking most of them, until the other Dan disappeared. He grinned as he attacked with more veracity, his moves getting quicker, more unexpected as Vlad was hard pressed to keep up, even with three of him.

And then in one swift movement Dan ducked under a slice, cutting upward on one of the Vlads and slashing him across the abdomen, the duplicate quickly disappearing. Then immediately after he turned around, lacerating another duplicate across the throat as he disappeared. He leveled his glare at the now single remaining Vlad, holding the sword out and charging, their duel to the death continuing.

Maddie too felt the pain from Dan's increase in power. She started to feel overwhelmed from taking him on by herself. She spent more time dodging his attacks than giving out her own. And even then it was harder and harder to dodge his attacks and when she did get shot it hurt more than it did at the beginning. Even she, in her unlimited optimism, was starting to feel discouraged. As the battle raged on they started getting more tired, less nimble, while Dan got more powerful due to the decrease in duplicates, widening the gap between their power levels dramatically.

During a monstrous bombardment of ecto-blasts Maddie kept her cool, using her instincts and martial arts to dance around the fiery blasts. But she wasn't quick enough, getting shot by one that threw off her groove. A barrage of blasts reamed into her before Dan scooped her up, lifting her smoking body into the air by the arm, raising her up so his feral, red eyes looked right into hers.

"I've been waiting a long time to do this…mother. There's just something enjoyable and satisfying about murdering your own mother, especially one like you." He spun around in the air to build up momentum before letting her go, chucking her into a building across the street as her body crushed into the wall, sliding down and crumpling into a heap on the ground far below, the sick cracks of her bones resounding through the street, blood pooling around her as a grinning Dan disappeared in victory.

Vlad heard the crack, seeing Maddie fall in his peripheral vision. He gasped as she didn't get up, didn't move. The woman he'd loved since he'd met her so many years ago was unmoving, was injured, was possibly dead. But a sharp slice across his arm jerked him out of his thoughts as Dan smirked at the blow.

"Don't disappoint me now old man. I want to kill you in my own right, not while you look longingly at my victories."

Vlad growled, flying at Dan with a renewed vigor, slicing and parrying with furious passion.

"There! Now that's what I like to see. You fighting hard, trying to avenge her death. It makes it so much more dramatic when I do this." He made a slice which Vlad blocked before blasting him in the face, using the minute distraction to shove the blade through the halfa's stomach. Vlad choked out a wet cry of pain as Dan grinned in sadistic pleasure, shoving the sword in further and twisting it, enjoying the renewed screams from his enemy as ectoplasm pooled in his mouth. He yanked the sword out before discarding both Vlad and the sword to the ground, letting him bleed out as he too disappeared, all his energy now contained within the single Dan fighting the teenage duo.

Danny continued to fight strong, despite how lost and numb he felt. It was just him and Valerie now. Everyone else lay still on the floor, a majority of them lying in pools of blood. But he refused to think about what it meant, he couldn't. To him, they were all just unconscious. None of the wounds were explicitly classified as fatal. There was still hope. He had to believe there was still hope, he had to believe that when he was done they would all be revived and be okay. He had to keep up the delusion, no matter what. It's what kept his fist swinging, his blasts coming, and his mind sharp enough to dodge attacks. Because if he let himself for even a second believe one of them was dead he'd lose it and he'd lose the battle and all would be in vain.

But his resolve started to shatter as he heard the visceral snap of bone followed by Valerie's pained scream, her arm bending with another joint as Dan held her, her guns falling to the ground as she could no longer hold them. He was going after her too, taking away the last person fighting with him. That's what he'd been trying to do, the entire fight. He sectioned them off, taking each one of them out so he would be left alone, just the two of them, with no support or family around to help him. He couldn't let that happen. He shot at him, tears clouding his vision but he didn't care. He couldn't be left alone. He refused to be left alone.

Dan saw him coming, turning his head and shooting rays of ectoplasmic energy from his eyes at Danny's chest, sending him flying backwards in the air before turning his attention back to Valerie.

He leered at Valerie, his fanged teeth edged in ectoplasm from their blows at him. "You always thought you could defeat me, always thought you were on top of me and you obviously never changed. Even in your future you still thought your measly human body invincible, but you were wrong. You've always been wrong. And now you'll see why."

He moved further up her arm, cracking her bone to create another unnatural joint before shooting a blast at the incoming Danny, sending him flying back again before he charged yet again, mindless in his attempts to get at Valerie before he kicked her out of the fight as well.

Valerie shook as she was slammed into the wall, her arm on fire and tears pouring out of her eyes. Yet still her expression remained defiant, not giving in to his sadistic pleasures.

"I was waiting for this Valerie," he told her, pulling his fist back and smacking her hard across the face, this time the blow making painful contact as there was no Danny to turn her intangible this time. "I was hoping, when I returned to this time frame, I would have a chance to fight you, to get you back for everything you tried to do in the future." Another fist slammed into her face before shooting Danny back again. "I never got the chance to kill you there, but I can now, and I have to say that robbing you of your life now, while you are so much younger, is far more pleasing."

He continued to beat into her, punching her, slamming her into the wall, kicking her, each blow like stone upon her, each kick like a powerful mule as blood collected in her mouth. During the beating he constantly remembered to shoot Danny back, his chest sore and pained from being shot away so many times, but still he charged. He couldn't let him do this. He had to try.

Finally Danny got close enough to Dan, actually getting a shot in, but it was too late. Valerie's body already lay limp within Dan's hands, his smile wide in pleasure and enjoyment. He dropped her as she slumped to the ground, the silence of the street ringing in Danny's ears. No sounds of blasts, of weapons discharging, even the sounds of screams were absent. Everything was silent and still as Danny came to a horrifying realization.

He was alone.

A/N: Phew! Sorry it's so jumpy and chaotic but I had a lot I wanted to do and a lot that needed to be done to end up where it needed to and…yeah. I tried to make it as clear and ordered as possible…heck I have a five page outline on the flow of battle, what moves went where, when and how each member gets taken out…(faint) Yeah, I'm crazy, I know. But maybe now you'll see why it was taking me so long?

And yes, I'm proud to say I'm evil and here is yet another example of why. I refuse to give any hints over who's dead and who isn't. You all know me, I'm not above character death (I just killed Massey for crying out loud XD). All I'm going to say that each one of their injuries can be fatal or it can be a state of unconsciousness, and I won't tell you which is which, so you may ask, but my lips are sealed. Just like Danny, you'll have to wait until it's all over to know for sure XD

And, please remember that battle scenes are so not my forte. I'm still not entirely proud with it and it still seems really convoluted to me and I keep thinking there's too much going on but…oh well. Maybe when my brain isn't spinning with ecto-blasts and possible murders I'll be able to touch it up a bit.

Also, just a fun note (I know, author's notes abound in this chapter) in the next few days I'll be posting something relating to this chapter on my deviantART account (the link can be found in my profile). It's basically going to be a spoof of this battle scene that all started when SG-Phantom and I were talking about how to take Dan out and we came up with a fun and yet very anti-climactic method. So, I'm turning it into a spoof! XD When it's up the link will be posted in here and on my profile so feel free to look at it! XD

Anywho, here's hoping you enjoyed it anyways! XD