It was nighttime as Danny and his two friends were walking back home from the movies.
"So your parents actually built a portal to the spirit world?" Sam asked him interestedly.
"Well, they call it the Ghost Zone, but yes." Danny answered.
"Cool, do you think you could show us tomorrow after school?" Sam asked.
Danny shrugged. "Sure, but it doesn't work. Mom and Dad have been kinda depressed ever since."
A bright light shone on the trio as they shielded their eyes.
"Hi, kids!" Maddie waved from the top of the Fenton Works building. "Had fun at the movies?"
"Mom, what is this?" Danny asked.
"This son is the Fenton Searchlight." Jack answered in a booming voice. As he patted the searchlight that was next to him. "This baby shines a light as bright as the sun, exposing any ghost to its vulnerable weakness."
"Isn't sunlight the weakness of vampires?" Sam said.
Jack just smacked his face as he realized that she was right.
"Oh, forget it." He turned the light off. "I can't build a portal to a ghost's home dimension or remember the difference between ghosts and vampires. Some hunter I am." Jack started walking downstairs. "Tomorrow I'm taking that stupid searchlight apart."
"Don't give up, Jack." Maddie said as she followed him. "All geniuses have their stumps before they achieve greatness."
"So, you still showing us that portal tomorrow?" Sam asked.
Danny rolled his eyes.
In the present time, Danny and Rogue were holding hands as they were looking at the moon.
"It's very beautiful." Rogue said.
"Not as beautiful as you." Danny replied as he brought his girlfriend in for a kiss.
"Come on, let's go explore some more." Rogue said as they continued their date.
Rogue had the idea of the two visiting Transylvania. She thought it would be fun for the two of them.
"No offense, Rogue, but I never saw you as the type of gal into this." Danny said as they joined a tour.
"What can I say?" Rogue smirked. "Having you as a boyfriend has sparked my interest in the supernatural."
"Interesting, then again, I wouldn't have taken horseback riding if it weren't for you." Danny said.
"And I wouldn't know that the Earth is the densest planet in the solar system if it weren't for you either." Rogue said.
The two ended up with the rest of the tour group as they were standing in front of an exhibit.
There was a sign that read, See the Corpse of Dracula!
"Come all!" The showman said as he stood next to a coffin. "This was a discovery I found buried deep under an abandoned cabin that was destroyed in a forest fire."
He opened it, showing a skeleton with a steak through it.
"Gotta give him props for the skeleton." Danny whispered to Rogue. "At least it doesn't look like some Halloween prop he bought from the dollar store."
Rogue giggled as the man kept up his speech.
"You ever fought vampires before?" She asked her boyfriend.
"Only thing close enough was Vlad." Danny answered.
"This here is what is left of Count Dracula, the immortal Vampire that plagued the world for centuries." The man announced as he tried to keep the bored crowd interested.
"Hey, was Dracula born a vampire or was he bit by a vampire?" Rogue asked Danny.
"No idea, but if he was bit, I wonder who was the one who did it. You think that guy would be remembered the same way Dr. Frankenstein was for being the creator of the monster."
The performer heard this exchange and decided to show his knowledge in order to impress everyone.
"He was neither born nor bitten." The man claimed. "He was once a man who desired immortality, and so he made a deal with the King of the Dead, Pariah Dark."
Danny and Rogue looked at each other before giving the man their full attention. How could he know about Pariah Dark?
"In exchange for serving him, Dracula would become an immortal creature of the night." The man proclaimed.
"How do you know this?" Danny interrogated.
The man smirked as he pulled out an old-looking journal. "It was written in his journal, which I found in his coffin."
"Yeah, right." A man scoffed. "You probably wrote that yourself."
The rest of the group started to leave, not believing his claim.
"It's real, I tell you! It's real!" In his anger, he ended up accidentally pulling the stake out of the skeleton. Before their eyes, Danny and Rogue watched as organs and blood vessels appeared before flesh ended up covering it all. Shadows soon consumed the figure, giving him his traditional cape and robes. In a matter of seconds, the skeleton in the coffin was replaced by an undead monster.
"Holy shit!" Danny exclaimed as the man ran off in fear as everyone else did, leaving Danny and Rogue alone with the creature of the night.
"He's real!" Rogue looked in awe and terror as Dracula opened his eyes.
The vampire blinked as he started to slowly grasp the fact that he was back. Taking in his surroundings, he locked eyes with Danny, and they widened in recognition.
"You!" He pointed at Danny. "You are the one who staked me while I was resting in my coffin. It is you, Simon Fenton!"
"Actually, my name is Danny." The ghostly superhero stated.
Dracula took this in as he looked around. "How long have I been gone?"
"Probably a couple of centuries." Danny guessed.
"You're Dracula." Rogue said in shock. "You're really him."
Dracula nodded. "And now." He glared at Danny. "I will make sure my return isn't cut short by another one of you Fentons."
He tried to make a move at Danny when the hybrid sent an ecto-blast at him. Pushing him back into his coffin and knocking it over.
Dracula crawled out as he inspected his wounds. Danny had left a hole in his stomach. He gave his enemy a look that would've sent shivers down anyone else's spine, but Danny had seen scarier. Dracula had nothing on Dan.
"I will get my revenge on you, Fenton." He made a portal to the Ghost Zone as he limped through it. "If it's the last thing I ever do."
Danny and Rogue watched as the portal closed, leaving them in silence.
"Sugar, you sure know how to keep things exciting." Rogue praised as she grabbed his hand. "Come on, let's get something to eat."
Dracula was satisfied that his wound had healed. He had been traveling through the Ghost Zone for three weeks since his encounter with Danny.
"It seems that he is stronger than any ordinary mortal." Dracula said. "I must kill him, but how? He is too strong."
In his musings, he didn't notice the random ghost portal that opened up, a thing that constantly happened in the Ghost Zone. He screamed as he fell through.
He fell into an alleyway and groaned as he got up. Glancing around, he could see he was back in the mortal world at night. As he began to try and figure out where he was, he heard voices.
"So your parents actually built a portal to the spirit world?" The voice of a teenage girl asked.
"Well, they call it the Ghost Zone, but yes." A boy answered.
Dracula turned his eyes to the person who was speaking and saw three teenagers walking. He looked at the one in the middle and gasped. It was a Fenton.
Smirking at being given the opportunity to take revenge against the Fenton clan, he moved with inhuman speed toward the boy and, with one hand, ripped out his throat.
The other two children cried out in fear, but it was too late to help their friend.
Dracula laughed maniacally at maiming one of his enemies, but this celebration was cut short as a bright light was shined down on him, turning him into ashes.
"Hi, kids!" Maddie waved from the top of the Fenton Works building. "Had fun..." She stopped as she saw her son laying on the pavement with blood pouring from his throat.
"Danny!" Maddie and Jack raced down to the aid of their son.
"Somebody call 911!" Jack cried, but it was too late.
"Danny! Don't leave us!" Sam pleaded.
"Don't die on us!" Tucker begged.
Danny took one last look at his friends and parents before the light left his eyes.
Danny Fenton was gone.
Danny sighed as he stirred in his sleep. He turned on his side to cuddle with Rogue when he felt that she was gone. Opening his eyes, Danny found that he wasn't in his bed, his room, or the institute at all. He found himself in a crater.
"What the hell?" Danny said as he looked around. "Where's the institute? Where is everybody?" He also noticed that he was wearing the time medallion that he got from Dani. How did this get on me? I put this in my drawer."
With no choice, he turned ghost as he started looking around. He found himself in a barren area devoid of any life whatsoever. Glancing into the sky, he stopped in midair as what he saw shook him to his very core.
The sky was gone; instead, he was seeing the green void that was the Ghost Zone.
"Where am I?" Danny asked himself. He started looking around until his ghost sense went off. Turning to his right, he saw a group of skeletons marching towards them.
"Pariah's soldiers!" Danny exclaimed. "Oh no, he must have gotten out of his sarcophagus." The skeletons opened fire on Danny as he dodged their shots, he shot back a couple of ecto-blasts, knocking them into pieces."
Danny inspected the remains before looking up into the sky. "Yep, this is Pariah's work, alright." He remembered the time that he transported his town into the Ghost Zone."
'I guess he decided to one-up it by bringing this place into the Ghost Zone. Whatever this place is.'
He kept flying around as he wondered how this could've happened.
"I went to sleep and woke up to find the whole world had ended." He said to himself. "What could've happened to the X-Men? Jubilee. Rogue."
At that moment, he felt dread as he realized that maybe they were gone.
"No." Danny refused to accept that possibility. "That can't be true."
Continuing to explore, he stumbled upon more of Pariah's troops. Only this time, it was an entire army. They were fighting a group of people.
Deciding to help out, Danny joined the battlefield as he fired his ghost ray at the skeletons. Taking a few glances at the people, he recognized some of them. There was Wolverine decked out in a more militaristic outfit as he was shredding his opponents apart.
"Wolverine!" Danny called out as he moved to fight beside him.
"Who the hell are you?" Wolverine asked as he threw one skeleton into another.
"It's me, Danny." Danny told him.
"I don't know anyone named Danny, bub." Wolverine said before he noticed Danny's ghostly aura. "You're one of them." He snarled. Logan charged at Danny, but only fell through him, as Danny had gone intangible.
"What's wrong with you?" Danny asked him. Why was Logan attacking him out of nowhere?
"You're a ghost; you have to be destroyed!" Wolverine tried to slash him again, but Danny moved out of the way.
"I'd expect this from my parents, Logan, but not you." Danny said.
"Storm!" Logan shouted to Storm. "Fry him!"
Danny saw Storm, who was decked out in a military uniform with hair much shorter than before. She unleashed her lightning at him as Danny moved out of the way.
"Why are you attacking me?" Danny demanded.
"You're in league with Pariah Dark." Wolverine said as Gambit showed up and threw some cards at him. Danny froze the cards, muffling the explosion when they went off.
"Eh tu, Gambit?" Danny said.
"That's enough!" Danny blasted them with his ghost ray. With his friends taken care of for now. He saw several more mutants fighting the skeleton army.
Deciding to show that he was on their side, Danny got in front of the army and unleashed his Ghostly Wail, decimating them all.
The mutants all looked on in awe and amazement at what this single ghost could do.
Danny caught his breath as he saw the mutants start to approach them slowly; thankfully, he could see that they weren't being hostile, but they were still cautious.
A familiar mutant walked up to him. Danny recognized him as Magneto, except he looked much older and sported a beard.
"Who are you?" Magneto demanded. "Why would a ghost like yourself fight against Pariah's army?"
"Because I'm more than a ghost." Danny explained. "I'm an X-Man."
"What is an X-Man?" Magneto asked, making Danny look at him in confusion.
"You know a member of the X-Men. The team of mutants formed by Charles Xavier." Danny answered.
"Charles Xavier has been dead for a long time." Magneto said bluntly.
"What!" Danny couldn't believe it. He just spoke with the man before heading to bed. How could he be dead?
Danny then looked at his time medallion and realized what was going on.
"I think I know what's going on, but my answer is so unbelievable, you'll think I'm lying." Danny said. "Do you have someone who can prove I'm not lying."
"Our telepath, Jean Grey, will be able to prove if your claims are unfounded or not." Magneto said as Jean stepped forward.
Danny was taken aback by the dead and broken look in Jean's eyes, but he allowed her to access his mind.
Jean saw several images. Images of another life. She saw herself with Scott, leading a team of mutants to fight for peace between humans and mutants. Scott was a handsome man, not the boy she saw dead in her time.
She could see moments of friendship between the X-Men as they bonded through their adventures. She saw Danny fighting alongside them as well. She had to stop her tears at seeing Xavier alive and well.
Finally, she saw Danny go to bed before waking up to find himself in a different world. Having seen enough, she exited his mind and turned to the others.
"He is trustworthy." Jean confirmed for them all.
"Who are you then?" Beast asked.
Danny looked at the group of mutants. He could recognize his fellow X-Men: Beast, Jean, Storm, Wolverine, Morph, and Gambit. There was no Cyclops or Jubilee.
'They probably died.' Danny thought. At this point, he had to hold back the despair at learning that Jubilee was gone. Steve and Martha were probably dead as well.
'I'll bring them back.' Danny promised himself. 'I won't let them die.'
Continuing to observe the group, he recognized other friends, such as Nightcrawler and Colossus, were also there with them. Other mutants such as Polaris, Banshee, Angel, and Sunfire as well. It wasn't just allies, but foes as well. Pyro and Blob were part of the group, along with Sinister and Sabretooth.
'It must be hard times if they have to work with those two.' Danny thought.
He recognized some Morlocks along with one of Cortez's acolytes. There were also several mutants that Danny had never met before, but the one that caught his eye was Rogue.
She looked the same as when he last saw her, only her hair was less bushy and was wrapped in a ponytail. Her outfit was missing the X logos on it, and she also wore a trench coat.
Danny could see that she had a tense look on her face, not the carefree one that his girlfriend had. Danny wished that he could just take away all her hardships so he could see her smile again.
Danny turned to Jean. "You think you can transfer some of my memories to the others?"
Jean nodded. "I can."
One by one, he gave his memories to his friends.
Beast saw images of him and Danny working on stuff in a lab.
Storm saw Danny helping her with gardening.
Wolverine saw him and Danny sitting on a couch and drinking beer.
Gambit saw himself and Danny playing cards as the two laughed.
Morph experienced a memory of him and Danny playing a prank on Wolverine.
Rogue saw so much. She saw herself and Danny meeting each other for the first time. Joking around with each other. Confessing their feelings for each other. Their first kiss. Their first date. Going to the planetarium. Horseback riding. All the gifts they gave each other. Sharing a room together. All the numerous times they had sex, which made her blush madly. And she felt it all. The love that Danny had for her and the love that she had for him.
The X-Men were all giving Danny unreadable looks as they didn't know what to think of the memories that they had seen.
"Who are you?" Rogue was the one who asked the question that was on all their minds.
"I'm Danny Phantom. I'm half ghost, and I was part of the X-Men along with you. Something happened. I went to bed, and when I woke up, the world had changed. I think something altered the timestream that caused this future. I mean, what happened?"
"Pariah Dark happened." Magneto answered. "One day he appeared with his army and has since been trying to conquer this planet. We are one of the few rebellions that are still willing to fight against his tyranny."
"How long has this place been in the Ghost Zone?" Danny asked.
"A few days." Magneto explained. "He transported the entire planet to his home dimension.
That caught Danny off guard. Pariah Dark took the entire planet to the Ghost Zone. How? Then Danny remembered the story Skulker told him. With the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage, Pariah Dark could do anything.
"Something must have happened to me in this timeline." Danny told them. "Something that prevented me from sealing Pariah Dark back up."
"You defeated Pariah Dark?" Wolverine scoffed.
"Jean, show them all my memories." Danny requested.
Jean showed them all the images of Danny in the Ecto-Skeleton fighting Pariah Dark and ultimately placing him back in his prison.
The mutants all looked at Danny in awe.
"You beat him?" Magneto asked. "When you were just a boy."
Danny nodded in confirmation. "We need to find out what happened to me in this timeline so we can undo it."
Danny was taken to their lair as he stood next to Magneto as he was typing on his computer, going through several files.
"Here's a newspaper article I found about you." Magneto said. "It says that you were murdered by some unknown individual; a friend of yours claimed it to be some kind of vampire, but this was blamed on hysteria."
Danny looked at the article as he tried to process this information. He died. But who would kill him? He then took in what Magneto said. A friend of his claimed that he was killed by a vampire.
'Dracula.' Danny realized. 'He must have found a way to travel back in time, and then he killed me.' Danny took a look at the date he died and saw that it was the day before he got his powers.
'Danny Phantom never existed.' He thought. 'And with no Danny Phantom, Pariah Dark was able to conquer the Earth.'
"I was wiped from existence." Danny said. "I was killed before I went through the accident that gave me my powers, leaving me in a world where I never became Danny Phantom."
"If you don't exist, then how are you still here?" Wolverine asked.
Danny looked at the time medallion. "This thing here is what's keeping me from fading out of existence. It's made by a ghost who's the master of time."
"Master of Time?" Beast repeated. "A ghost has such abilities?"
"Yeah." Danny said. "And if I can get to him, then I can undo all this." Danny then remembered how he put the time medallion in his drawer only to wake up wearing it.
'Clockwork must have placed it on me.' Danny figured. 'So that I could set everything right. If I can get to his lair, then I can put everything back to normal.'
"You can undo this?" Magneto asked. "You can erase all the pain and suffering that has occurred? You can stop that monster?"
"I can and I will." Danny replied.
"This is ridiculous!" Logan said. "Are we really going to trust this guy's word?"
"Logan, you saw his memories." Jean reminded him. "He's telling the truth."
"Could be a trick." Logan suggested.
"No, it's not." Jean declared. "I can feel that he is being honest with us."
Rogue went up to Danny. "Am I really your girlfriend?"
Danny held a photo he had of him and Rogue standing in front of a ranch after horseback riding. Rogue inspected the photo and observed the appearance of her alternate self. She looked happy without a care in the world, as she had an arm wrapped around Danny.
Rogue couldn't help, but wish that she had this life. A life where she had a man that she could touch and go on dates with, and seeing him have sex with her filled her with lust and all those feelings that she had spent years repressing.
Rogue was now giving Danny a scrutinizing look as she inspected the man that her alternate self had a relationship with. He was very good-looking, and those blue eyes he had were driving her wild.
They then heard an explosion as one mutant came up to them.
"Sir, the Avengers are attacking!" He cried.
"The Avengers?" Danny said. "Why are they attacking us?"
"They're not the Avengers anymore." Magneto said. "They are now possessed by Pariah's men and serve him."
The mutant rebellion headed further into the base, where they confronted the Avengers.
Danny could recognize them all. Captain America. Spider-Man. Ant-Man. Wasp. Black Widow. Iron Man.
The rebels were putting up a good fight against the Avengers, but they were still outmatched.
Danny was about to jump in and lend a hand when Magneto pulled him back.
"No." He told him. "Your battle isn't here. It's in the past. Go! Go and prevent this future from ever happening!"
The supernatural X-Man nodded as he flew off into the sky. Magneto turned to Rogue. "Rogue, follow him. Make sure he succeeds in his mission."
"Got it." Rogue took to the sky as she caught up with Danny.
Danny noticed Rogue flying next to him. "Joining me?" He asked her.
"Yep." Rogue answered. "So how do we travel back in time?"
"We have to reach the Ghost Zone." Danny pointed to the sky. "That's where Clockwork is, and he can help us fix this timeline." He held his hand out to Rogue. "Hold my hand."
Rogue held it, relishing the opportunity to touch another person after so long. "You don't have to tell me twice."
Danny then flew ever faster through the atmosphere and into the Ghost Zone as he made his way to Clockwork's lair. Unknown to him, Danny had given off a source of energy that was detected by the last person he wanted to run into.
Pariah Dark was in his castle, overseeing his troops, when he sensed a wave of power. Something he had never felt before. Deciding that this power shouldn't go unchecked, he vanished from his castle and teleported himself to the source of the power.
"Man, this place is pretty creepy but cool at the same time." Rogue said as she looked around the Ghost Zone. "You know what I mean?"
Danny chuckled. "I can agree."
"So, uh..." Rogue tried to come up with the right words. "What made you decide to take me as a girlfriend?"
"Well, other than being extremely beautiful, I admire your refusal to let your powers keep you from doing the right thing in the end." Danny explained. "The fact that you use your pain to help others is inspiring and has motivated me to not let my own doubts get to me. Also, you're a really fun person to hang around with."
Rogue was blushing heavily at the compliments Danny was giving her. Their little moment was interrupted, however, by red smoke appearing in their path. It soon grew and took on the form of Pariah Dark.
"Oh no." Danny muttered.
"Shit." Rogue was fearful of being this close to the King of all Ghosts.
"You are the one whose power I sensed." Pariah stated. "Kneel to me and declare yourself as my servant, and I may let you continue your existence."
Danny glared. "That's never happening. I'd rather die than to serve you."
"If that is what you desire." Pariah shot out a powerful red ghost ray that Danny got out of the way of. He then gave the corrupt ruler an uppercut, causing Pariah to stumble around the Ghost Zone for a bit.
"You have a lot of fire in you." Pariah said. "I can respect that."
"And I can't respect a coward who hides behind his minions and his little trinkets." Danny insulted.
This lack of respect enraged Pariah, who tried to swipe at Danny with his mace but missed.
"I am no coward!" Pariah shouted. "I am true strength! Only someone as strong as I am can withstand the combined power of the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire! For others, this power is a burden, but not for me."
"The power is not the burden." Danny said wisely. "It's how you use it, and you've been using it poorly. You don't deserve that power."
"And you think you deserve it, impudent ghost?" Pariah asked. "Only the King of all Ghosts can control this power! You think you can be king like me?"
"You're king of nothing!" Danny retorted. "Just another dictator who wants to force his will on others. And like all others before you, you will fall."
"Well, you certainly have a strong will." Pariah said. "If you think you can be king, then I challenge you to a right to the throne. If you beat me, you will be king and have the power of these artifacts. If you lose, well, I think you know what will happen. What will it be?"
"I don't want to fight you." Danny said. "I have better things to do."
This only incensed Pariah further, as he was brushed off as insignificant. "You challenged me the moment you existed. Fight me or face oblivion!"
Danny sighed. He couldn't get out of this. "Fine, I'll fight you."
"Sugar, are you sure?" Rogue asked. She saw memories of Danny sealing Pariah up, but she was still worried.
"There's no other choice." Danny answered. "Alright, Pariah, let's do this."
Immediately, Pariah charged at Danny, and the two ended up flying across the Ghost Zone.
"Danny!" Rogue began to chase the two.
Pariah and Danny ended up crashing back on Earth in an abandoned city. Landing on the streets, Pariah threw Danny into a nearby building.
"I cannot decide whether you are brave or foolish." Pariah said. He pulled out a dagger. "But I feel we shall see soon enough."
The king slashed at the building, but Danny got out of the way as he evaded several more attacks before firing an ecto-blast at Pariah's eye, causing him to trip and fall into another building.
Danny then created three more duplicates as he attacked Pariah, just like he did when he faced him before. Pariah groaned in pain at the attacks before he pummeled a duplicate with his mace and shot a ghost ray out of his eye at another.
"Your mere parlor tricks are not a match for me!" Pariah declared as he stomped on the final duplicate, leaving Danny alone. "What makes you think you can overthrow me?"
"Because I beat you once!" Danny retorted. "And if I did it before, then I can do it again!" He then let loose his Ghostly Wail on Pariah as he screamed in pain.
"How can you have such power?" Pariah tried to ask over the ungodly noise. Only when his opponent relented did Pariah find that he could not move, he was weakened and exhausted. Ectoplasm was dripping from his mouth.
"It's over, Pariah." Danny said to him. "I win."
Rogue managed to catch up and gasped at seeing Danny stand in front of a defeated Pariah Dark.
"You beat him." Rogue whispered. "You did it."
Danny smirked at Pariah. "I guess this makes me king, then?"
Pariah was too weak to nod, but he knew that Danny was right. He had won the throne and his artifacts. Pariah could see himself fading away, and he wondered why before he realized the answer. His obsession was to have ultimate power, and nothing was more ultimate than being the King of all Ghosts. With his title of power taken from him, he could no longer fulfill his obsession.
And so Pariah faded away, his obsession not fulfilled but rejected. He left no trace except for his ring and crown.
Danny placed the artifacts on.
"What are you gonna do with them?" Rogue asked him.
"I'm gonna fix this place." Danny answered. He glowed with energy as the Earth was teleported back to his place.
The remaining citizens cheered at seeing their blue sky once again.
Danny then used his powers to get rid of all of Pariah's minions on Earth. The people would finally be left in peace.
"You did it!" Rogue hugged him. "You saved the world. And you're also king; how cool is that?"
Danny gave a small smile. "It's pretty cool, but not everything is fixed." He used his powers to open a portal to the Ghost Zone, and then he used it to erase the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage from existence.
"Why did you do that?" Rogue asked. How could someone get rid of such a source of power?
"I don't want to end up becoming like Pariah Dark." Danny replied. "Besides, I don't want to be king. I just want my life back."
Rogue felt her respect for Danny increase tenfold. She couldn't believe that he would throw that power away. It was incredibly admirable.
"Time to go; goodbye, Rogue." Danny was about to step into the portal when Rogue grabbed his hand.
"Wait!" She said. "I'm coming with you."
"You are?" Danny asked.
"You helped us." Rogue said. "It's only fair that I help you."
There was the fact that she wanted to spend more time with him, but she was too shy to admit it.
"Well, let's go." Danny said as they entered the portal to save the future.