"Oh, look." Dan taunted as the X-Men all entered the arena. "The heroes have come to save the day." He then noticed their equipment. "And they've been prepared for quite some time. You think those toys are gonna save you?"
The X-Men merely glared at Dan, who noticed Vlad was with them.
"Cheesehead, is that you?" Dan said to his former archenemy. "I thought you would be running away as fast as you could, not coming out to fight. It's not your style, or is this a duplicate you sent, huh? You got any minions or stooges to do your dirty work? Or are you gonna hide behind the X-Men for the entirety of this fight?"
"I'm not hiding." Vlad stated. "That Vlad is gone. And I'm here to protect my home from you."
"Even if your home knows who you truly are?" Dan made the screen change to show more footage of his memories.
Danny was trapped in a cube-like prison as Skulker was about to slit his throat with a blade when Vlad walked out of the shadows.
"Enough!" He commanded. "I didn't free you to kill the boy, Skulker! Your work is done."
"Yes, well, I..." Skulker stopped as his PDA beeped. "I gotta go check out a book on a gorilla. Again!" He bemoaned as his jetpack activated and took him away.
Danny looked at Vlad with confusion on his face. "Skulker, the Ectopuses? I don't understand."
"Of course not." Vlad scolded. "You're what, fourteen? Too young to drive and not in college yet? I sent those ghosts and others to test your father's skills. Imagine my surprise when I find you, the second ghost hybrid his foolishness created."
"Second?" Danny questioned him before he saw Vlad transform into his ghost form. "You!" He cried. "I'm going ghost!" He tried to transform, but nothing happened. "Why can't I go ghost?"
Vlad was amused. "You have a battle cry, hilarious. I, on the other hand, have this." He patted the cube. "A spectral energy neutralizer, designed by Skulker, paid for by me. And as long as you're contained within that box, you're as human as your idiot father."
"Let me out of here!" Danny demanded.
"Why?" Vlad asked. "So you can go back to stumbling through your adolescence, desperately trying to get control of your powers? Powers, by the way, that I've had for twenty years. I have experience, my child. And the money and power attained through using those powers for personal gain, you see." He split himself into three Vlads. "I can train you, teach you everything I know." They then merged back into one. "And all you have to do is renounce your idiot father."
The entire world was shocked to learn that there was another hybrid and that it was a person as influential as Vlad Masters.
"Now how did you use those powers for personal gain?" Dan asked him. "Oh, right, you overshadowed billionaires and made them give their fortunes to you. You committed burglaries and countless thefts. And now the world knows and will hunt you down if you get through this alive. Is that still a life worth living for?"
Vlad looked down in shame as he realized all he had done. He was nothing but a selfish old man, but Callisto seemed to see something good in him, and even Daniel managed to forgive him for everything. Despite it all, he still had them. Who cares if the world won't accept him? He had people who truly cared about him, and he wasn't going to let this monster destroy it all.
"I'm not backing down, Dan." Vlad stated. "You of all people should know that no inconvenience can stop me."
Dan merely guffawed at Vlad's reply. "You're starting to sound like my past self. I guess he rubbed off on you. Ah, well, I'll take great pleasure in beating you down, along with the rest of you." He turned to the rest of the X-Men. "You mutants have been a thorn in my side for far too long."
"Cut the crap, Dan!" Wolverine cried as he unleashed his claws. "We're not scared of you anymore."
"Really?" Dan raised an eyebrow. "You're not scared? Are you sure? Should I bring in Proteus to put that to the test? I do recall how terrified of him you were." He turned to Morph. "Or what about Sentinels, hmm? I remember when I was stuck in that thermos and how Sinister told me he found you after they ambushed you."
"Leave him alone!" Cyclops defended his friend.
"Or what, soldier boy?" Dan challenged.
"We're gonna put you down!" Jubilee cried as she aimed her gun at Dan.
"Is that how you speak to your brother?" Dan teased.
"You're not my brother!" Jubilee insisted.
"Whatever you say." Dan said. "Not like any of you have a chance at stopping me. Not even Plasmius can." He smirked at Vlad. "I remember how I always managed to kick your ass. Despite you being the elder hybrid, I always got the best of you. Speaking of hybrids, where's that clone? I want to wipe it out!"
"Don't you dare threaten my daughter like that!" Rogue glared angrily at Dan. "I won't let you lay one finger on my girl!"
Dan turned his attention to Rogue as he noticed her outfit, specifically the Danny Phantom symbol. "Nice outfit. Trying to convince yourself that you're part of a family?"
"I am part of a family." Rogue declared. "And I'm not gonna let some no-good, oily piece of trash like you harm them."
"You can't stop me." Dan stated. "You're no Danny Phantom. But go ahead. I'll let you have the first attack. Go on. Give me your best shot."
Instantly, the X-Men and Vlad all fired on Dan, pushing him back, which surprised the malevolent ghost.
"Now!" Vlad ordered as they all charged at Dan, with Vlad in the lead as he fired ecto-blasts at Dan, who teleported out of the way. He appeared next to Vlad and grabbed him by the throat.
"Good attack." Dan praised. "Too bad it's your last." He was about to crush Vlad's throat when Rogue charged into him, pushing him into a wall and forcing him to let go of Vlad.
Rogue smirked as she put a hand on her hip. "What's wrong, Dan? Can't handle a brawl with a good old southern gal?"
Dan merely growled as he tried to blast Rogue with his eyes, but she flew out of the way and into the sky. The dark phantom followed her, eager to rip her apart for all the trouble she'd caused him over the years.
He fired his ecto-blasts at Rogue, who maneuvered around them.
"Come on, is that the best you got?" Rogue teased. "No wonder my husband could kick your ass when he was only fourteen."
The red eyes on Dan only grew more fiery as he was about to increase his speed when Vlad tackled him to the ground. The vampiric-looking ghost shot up into the air and let out a massive ghost ray at Dan.
The evil ghost groaned in pain before Xavier grabbed him with the ecto-skeleton's hands and started to electrocute him. As he was crying in pain, Jubilee pulled out her thermos and was about to suck Dan up when he turned around, forcing the beam to hit Xavier's back. He then pushed Xavier off of him and into Jubilee.
He formed a shield as Cyclops fired an optic blast at him. A sudden swipe from Gambit's new staff sent Dan to his knees.
"Sorry, Dan, but Gambit see no future for you." Gambit quipped.
Dan was then blasted by Vlad, with Xavier giving him a strong kick.
"Lightning, strike at this most evil creature!" Storm commanded as the clouds darkened and lightning struck all over the arena, with Dan phasing through it when Rogue grabbed him from behind, preventing him from phasing through her because of her Spector Deflector. She threw Dan into the path of an upcoming lightning bolt, electrocuting the ghoul.
Vlad then formed three duplicates around Dan and unleashed a ghost ray, which Dan blocked with a shield. He then let out a pulse of energy, pushing the Vlads back. He dodged Wolverine as the feral mutant tried to make several swipes at him with the ghost gauntlets before Jean shot him. Xavier ran at Dan and gave him a strong enough punch to launch him into the air, where Storm summoned a whirlwind to blow him around.
Dan brought his fists together, letting out a wave that neutralized the whirlwind, before summoning some copies to deal with the X-Men one-on-one.
"I'll crush you!" Dan vowed.
"Your highness, the cure has been administered." A medic informed Lilandra. "But something's wrong. His condition isn't improving at all. His body seems unable to process the cure at all."
"How?" Lilandra questioned as she looked over the unconscious Danny. He seemed so frail, compared to the legendary phoenix that he appeared as when he confronted her brother.
"I don't know, your majesty." The medic replied. "I know nothing about his biology or how it works. It's like he's out of this world."
"You don't know how right you are." Lilandra said to the medic, who was unaware of what Danny truly was.
Danny had been wandering the confines of his mind for who knows how long. There was no indication of how much time had passed. He could only hope that he could get back before Dan did some serious damage.
As he explored the blank white space, he stumbled across two floating objects. Getting closer, he managed to make them out.
One of them was a human heart still beating despite having no body to pump any blood into. The other was some floating orb that looked like it was made of some kind of liquid metal.
"What the hell?" Danny said as he wondered why they were here and what their purpose was. "Whose heart is this?"
"Yours."
Turning around, Danny was greeted by Clockwork, who floated towards him. "Clockwork, what did you mean this is my heart?"
"Exactly what I said, Danny. Your heart." Clockwork elaborated. "Your human heart. More specifically, your human half."
"My human half?" Danny repeated as he looked closer at what was supposed to be his heart. He then looked at the other object. "What's that thing, then?"
"Your ghostly core, or you can say your ghost half." Clockwork explained.
"I understand. They represent my human and ghost halves." Danny realized.
Clockwork nodded. "Yes, two halves that make up a whole. Each holds a piece of the power that lays inside you. The power of the Ghost Zone itself."
"What are you talking about?" Danny questioned.
"Danny, when you had your accident, you were electrocuted by the entire Ghost Zone itself. Unlike Vlad, who was only shot with a small blast of ectoplasm. Because of these circumstances, you have always had greater power and potential than Vlad ever could. How else did you think you were able to master the Ghostly Wail when Vlad, who had more years of experience, failed? That power has always been within you, always coming out in short bursts, and now you must access it all if you hope to stop Dan."
Danny gazed at the two objects that represented his dual identity. "How do I do that?"
"You must make the two halves one." Clockwork said before he disappeared.
The X-Men and Vlad were now each having to deal with a copy of Dan on their own.
"You think you can lead your team to victory?" Dan stated as he was avoiding all of Cyclops's optic blasts. "You're only leading them to their deaths, Summers!"
He managed to wrap his hand around Scott's throat as he aimed his head away from him. "You'll be with your mother soon enough."
That got Scott's attention. "How did you know about her?"
"I've been watching you all for quite some time." Dan answered. "Entering your minds while you sleep as I learned all that I could. Like how you were always returned to the orphanage because no one wanted you burning down their house." He then grinned cruelly at Cyclops. "You failed Xavier, you failed your team, and you even failed your own wife. But don't worry, you'll meet each other in the afterlife; you can introduce her to dear old mom when you find her."
Another copy of Dan was dueling Gambit with a staff he formed of ectoplasm.
"Never thought some petty thief from the bayou would be standing before me." Dan said to Gambit. "My suit has no pockets so if you're hoping to pick pocket me be prepared to be disappointed."
"Trust me." Gambit retorted. "You got nothing that Gambit wants." The two continued to duel.
Dan knocked Jean to the floor as he glared at the telepath. "Such a weakling. I honestly don't know how you survived this long. Hiding behind your husband's back, maybe? Either way, this is the end for you." Dan then entered her mind and started to attack her psychically as Jean screamed.
"Xavier never prepared you for the total hell that is my mind." Dan said as he watched Jean squirm on the ground.
"What's wrong, Storm?" Dan taunted the weather witch as he trapped her in a bubble made of ectoplasm. "Feeling claustrophobic?"
As the bubble started to close in, Storm used the power of her suit to phase through the ectoplasmic construct. "I suggest you rethink your strategy." She blasted the copy with lightning, making it disappear.
"I'm gonna rip you to shreds!" Wolverine cried as he tried to stab Dan with his claws, who kept moving out of the way.
"A stupid, rabid animal." Dan stated as he gave the mutant an uppercut that launched him into the air before Dan flew up and elbowed him hard, creating a crater where he landed. "How Danny managed to see something else in you, I'll never know."
Logan growled. "At least I have a purpose. What about you, bub? You're more of an animal than I ever was."
"Well, I can remember where I came from; what about you, Logan?" Dan asked, making Wolverine let out a cry of rage as he tried to tackle Dan, but the ghost simply used his telekinesis to keep him in the air.
Dan would've done worse if he wasn't blasted by Storm's lightning, defeating the copy as Logan fell to the ground.
"I didn't need your help." Logan said. "I had it under control."
Storm shook her head at her friend's stubbornness. "Sure you did, Logan."
Beast was somersaulting out of the way of Dan's ecto-blasts.
"I'm gonna make a carpet out of your fur." Dan threatened the blue-furred mutant before he was stabbed by Wolverine, making him disappear.
"Appreciations." Beast thanked Wolverine.
"He thinks he can beat us by separating us, but he doesn't understand just how deadly we can be on our own." Wolverine said.
"Quick, we must help the others!" Storm cried as they went to deal with the other duplicates. The three managed to get the drop on another duplicate who was threatening Morph as Xavier managed to defeat his copy before stopping the ones that were fighting Rogue and Jubilee. Now that they were no longer divided, the X-Men all joined together with Vlad, who was fighting the real Dan.
Morph threw the Booomerang at Dan, distracting him as Wolverine slipped on a spare Spector Deflector on Dan, electrocuting him before punching him into a wall.
Jean then used her powers to make the part of the arena around Dan crumble, burying him in even more debris.
The X-Men all threw their ecto-grenades as the explosions blew away the wreckage and weakened Dan. Scott fired his optic blast, Jean used the gun of the Fenton Peeler, Xavier and Vlad shot out ecto-blasts from their hands, Beast used the Fenton Bazooka, and all the others used their ecto guns to bombard Dan.
The audience was getting ecstatic as they realized that they may be saved.
Danny grabbed both the heart and the core as he tried to put them together. What would be an easy task soon became complicated as some force was trying to keep the two apart. It was like trying to push magnets with the same charge together; they kept pushing away.
Gritting his teeth in annoyance, he applied more strength as he tried to combine the two, but a spark of green lightning appeared between them and pushed them apart as Danny was thrown back.
"Come on!" He shouted as he tried once again to merge his two halves together.
"Get behind me!" Vlad ordered the X-Men, who complied. Vlad inhaled some air before he unleashed his Ghostly Wail on Dan as he was pushed further into the wall. Finally, Vlad stopped. If he kept going, he would've been out of power and vulnerable.
Dan groaned as he got to his feet. There were cuts all over his costume, and some of the flames on his head died out, revealing his bald head.
"Not quite sure you can pull off the bald look." Morph joked, making the others snicker.
"Time's up, Dan." Rogue pulled out a thermos and fired it at Dan, who struggled as he refused to go back into that infernal device again.
"No!" Dan cried as he fought against the beam.
"He's not going in!" Rogue cried.
Jubilee pulled out her thermos and shot it at Dan, who still kept fighting against it. All the others did the same, as Dan felt himself being pulled by several different beams.
"That's enough! That's enough!" Dan let out a pulse of energy that pushed them all back, knocking the thermoses out of their hands. He used his telekinesis to lift them all in the air and crush them, rendering them all useless.
Dan then glowed with energy as his costume repaired itself along with his wounds. He pulled off the Spector Deflector as his hair ignited back to its former self.
His opponents gasped as they saw that Dan had healed himself from all the damage.
"What do we do now?" Jubilee asked in fear.
"You die." Dan answered as he pushed them aside with a wave of his hand. He charged up a massive ghost ray and fired it, only for Vlad to put a shield over them. He then charged at Dan as the two ghosts fought in the air.
Vlad threw several punches that Dan dodged before Danny's future counterpart backslapped him into the ground.
Dan then landed on Vlad, making the hybrid cough up blood as Dan started to punch him repeatedly before Jean used her telekinesis to push him off.
Having had enough of this, Vlad decided that there was only one way to get rid of Dan.
"Behind me!" Vlad ordered.
"Why?" Wolverine questioned, knowing Vlad was going to use the Ghostly Wail again. "It didn't work last time; what's so different this time?"
"This time, I'm gonna put all my power into this!" Vlad cried as he unleashed his Ghostly Wail at its ultimate potential.
Dan screamed as he felt himself get shredded apart before his cape blew off as it faded away into smithereens.
"It's working!" Jubilee cheered.
The Dark Phantom tried to inch his way forward as he felt his molecules pull apart. His entire being was becoming undone thanks to Vlad's attack.
"No!" Dan cried. "NO!"
"Keep going, Vlad!" Rogue encouraged. "He's almost gone!"
Dan raised his hand to blast it, but it soon disintegrated.
"No!" Dan wailed in despair as the same happened to his other hand before he was finally ripped to shreds.
Vlad turned human as he fell to the ground, completely passed out.
All the X-Men looked shocked to see Dan defeated as they stood in silence. The entire world was quiet as they processed this.
No one made a sound. Except Mojo.
"There, there, sir." Domo comforted his boss as Mojo fell into tears.
"All the sponsor deals, wasted!" Mojo bemoaned. "What am I gonna do now?"
"Is it over?" Jubilee asked her friends before they heard the sound of clapping. Turning around, the X-Men saw Dan giving them a smirk as he clapped.
"Nice try." Dan told them. "But that was a duplicate, and now Vlad can't protect you from me." He charged at them, but Xavier caught his fist and punched Dan, knocking him into the seats as all the aliens in the audience ran away in a panic, not wanting to get injured.
"Hey! Knock it off!" Mojo scolded them. "I don't need a lawsuit on my hands!"
Sadly for Mojo, they ignored him as the X-Men got up into the seats to fight Dan, who turned invisible.
Scott pointed to his right. "He's over there!" The X-Men fired at where Scott was pointing, forcing Dan to fall back into the arena as the heroes followed him.
Xavier was able to use the ecto-skeleton's speed to dodge all of Dan's attacks as he managed to lay hit upon hit on his enemy. Dan growled as he tried to lay a hit on the professor, but the psychic was too fast for him. It didn't help that the others kept him from concentrating on Xavier.
Danny was thrown back for what felt like the millionth time. He had been at it for hours, or however long it was here. He didn't know how time worked in his mind. For all he knew, it could be only a few seconds in real time, but that still didn't distract from his frustration at being unable to combine his two halves.
"Why can't I do this?" He cried out. "How come I can't merge my two selves together?"
"Because something is holding you back." Clockwork's voice said in his head.
"Holding me back?" Danny said. "What's holding me back? I've accepted who I am. I know I'm not a freak, and I refuse to become like Dan, so what else is holding me back?"
"Your regrets." Clockwork answered.
"Regrets?" Danny was skeptical. "What regrets?" He then stopped as he thought back on his life and realized his major regret.
The deaths of his friends and family.
"That's right." Danny said to himself. "How could I do this when I failed to save the people I cared about? All my powers and I couldn't stop Dan from killing them." He fell to his knees as the guilt poured in like a river, drowning him in self-hatred.
The dread and horror in their eyes as they realized they were about to die were etched into his memory. No matter how many people he saved afterward, disasters he averted, or villains he defeated, he could still never live with the fact that he failed his loved ones.
"I saved the galaxy, and yet I couldn't stop one fucking explosion." Danny criticized himself. "Some hero I am."
"I know." A familiar voice said. "Saving the galaxy is really a big task, but I always knew if anyone could do it, it was you."
Danny turned around in a flash and gasped. Standing before him was the ghost of Sam, his old friend.
"Sam?" Danny whispered, almost feeling like it was a hallucination. "No. It can't be."
"Hi, Danny." Sam said as she gave him a beautiful grin.
"Is it really you?" Danny asked. "Are you really real? Or is this just my mind playing tricks on me?"
Sam smiled and nodded. "I'm real, Danny."
At this confirmation, Danny ran to her and embraced her. It was strange. He was much older than the last time he saw her, and she was still the same teenager she was before she died, but Danny didn't care. He was happy just to see his friend again.
"I missed you, Sam." Danny said as he let the tears flow. "Ever since that day, I never forgot how scared you looked before the explosion went off."
"It's okay, Danny." Sam assured him. "I'm here."
Danny held her, fearing that she would disappear if he let her go. The two were silent as they held on to each other for what seemed like hours when a flash went off. Danny looked in the direction of where it came from and grinned happily.
"Your majesty, the cure has flushed the Ecto-Ranium out of his system." A medic told Lilandra as he informed her about Danny's condition. He then gestured to a screen that displayed Danny's brain waves. "But according to his brain waves, he seems to be in some kind of trance." The medic gave Danny an intrigued look. "It's very strange, really."
Lilandra nodded when Gladiator came in.
"Your highness, you need to see this!" He cried. He led Lilandra over to a monitor, which showed a ball of energy hovering above the Earth.
"My goodness." Lilandra exclaimed. "What could be responsible for this?"
"Not what, who?" Gladiator said as he pressed a button. The monitor changed to show Dan fighting the X-Men.
"Charles!" Lilandra showed worry over her love being in danger. She looked closer at the perpetrator. He was more frightening than the Dark Phantom Phoenix. She also saw that he had the same symbol as Danny.
"I don't think even I could defeat a being as strong as him." Gladiator observed.
"There's only one man who can stop him, and I don't have to tell you who." Lilandra said. "Get Oracle here immediately. I require her assistance."
"Right away, your majesty." Gladiator went off to find the psychic.
"Tucker!" Danny shouted in joy at the ghost of the techno geek, who grinned cockily.
"Nothing can keep Tucker Foley down." Tucker bragged as Danny hugged him.
"I missed you, Tuck." Danny told him. "I missed you so much."
Tucker's smile turned from cocky to genuine as he returned the hug. "I missed you too, dude."
"Don't I get a hug too?" Another voice asked, amused.
Danny turned and saw his sister grinning.
"Jazz!" He then gave his sister a hug as well. "You're here too!"
"Of course I am, little brother." Jazz then looked over at Danny. "No matter how old you get, I'll still be your big sister."
"I can't believe you're all here!" Danny said in excitement as he took in the sight of the three people who had his back. "What are you doing here? Why are you here?"
"We never left." Jazz said as she rubbed her brother's cheek. "You've been so brave, Danny."
"You've been through a lot." Sam added. "Giant robots, evil mutants, aliens, cosmic entities, time traveling, and clones."
"Man, it's so cool what you've been doing. I saw the Danger Room and Cerebro. What'd I give to plug my PDA into it."
"PDA." Danny murmured before he realized something. "It was you. Your PDA was the one that we found back at Skull Mesa."
"Of course, dude." Tucker confirmed. "You'd think I'd leave you empty-handed against Skulker?"
Danny then turned to Sam. "And you appeared in your dad's dreams."
Sam nodded as she glared at the memory of her father. "I can't believe he would do that. Still, I couldn't let you think I didn't care about you, Danny."
"And you possessed that lady at the club Rogue and I were at." Danny said to his sister.
"Hey, I just wanted to get to know my sister-in-law." Jazz said. "Which, by the way, I totally approve of."
"Right?" Tucker said in agreement. "She's hotter than Paulina or Star." This earned him a smack from Sam.
"There's more to somebody than shallow appearances, Tucker." Sam scolded him before giving her attention back to Danny. "Still, I like her. Personally, I wish you'd date a goth, but she's pretty cool. I'm glad you have someone who accepts you for who you are. She's perfect for you, Danny."
"Also, she seems great in bed." Tucker added, resulting in him getting smacked by Jazz this time.
"Wait, you weren't there for that, were you?" Danny asked hesitantly.
The three shook their heads.
"Tucker wanted to see it." Sam said, giving her friend a disgusted look. "But Jazz and I kept him away."
"Can you blame me?" Tucker asked. "I lived my life without seeing a girl's breasts; do you expect me to suffer through that in death as well?"
"I appreciate it if you didn't perve on my wife." Danny said as he glared at the teen.
"Sorry, man." Tucker apologized sheepishly. "But you got to admit she's pretty cool. Remember what she did to Dash?"
The four laughed at the memory.
"I always knew he would end up as a failure." Sam said. "Remember when you found out he had that weird collection of those teddy bears?"
They laughed again as Danny enjoyed spending time with them and reliving those precious memories. Danny then looked solemn as he realized they could've had more if he had been able to save them.
"Guys, I want to apologize for not being able to save you." Danny said to them. "I should've been stronger."
"Dude, don't worry about it." Tucker said. "It's not your fault."
"Yes, it was." Danny said. "Dan killed you. You know, my future self."
"He's not you, Danny." Sam declared. "He never was and never will be."
"You shouldn't blame yourself for what he did. It's not your fault, and we don't blame you in the slightest." Jazz said.
"You don't?" Danny asked with tears in his eyes.
"No." The three said in unison, making Danny sob in joy as he had that burden lifted.
"Thank you." Danny said as he hugged them. "Thank you all for everything. You always had my back, no matter what. Sam, Tucker, and even you, Jazz." He gave his sister a curious look. "How did you even know about my powers in the first place?"
"I saw you transform in an alley during the Spectra incident." Jazz answered. "I didn't confront you about it because I wanted you to tell me when you were ready."
Danny shook his head as he smiled brightly at them. "I love you guys."
Dan phased through the ground to avoid the X-Men as he resurfaced a few feet away from them and blasted the back of Xavier's ecto-skeleton, destroying the new nanobots that Vlad equipped it with. Without them, the suit started to suck Xavier drive as he noticed one of the screens displayed how much power he had.
100%
The X-Men kept on fighting as Xavier felt himself start to feel the suit draining him as his energy went down.
80%
Smirking at Xavier's uneasy look, Dan had two duplicates appear behind the X-Men. One managed to fire at Storm's Spector Deflector, rendering it useless before the copy was defeated.
The other one snuck up behind Storm, grabbed hold of her, and shorted out her new suit, ruining it, meaning she couldn't phase through anything anymore. The duplicate would've hurt Storm even further if the X-Men hadn't gotten rid of that one as well.
With them distracted, Dan grabbed Xavier and summoned a shield around the two, with the X-Men trying to break it apart to no avail.
Xavier tried to fight Dan as sweat poured down on his face as his energy kept going down.
60%
"Draining on you, isn't it, Xavier?" Dan mocked. "I should know. I wore that thing once, and let me tell you, it nearly made me full ghost."
The two kept on fighting as the X-Men, in vain, tried to get to their mentor.
"What makes you think you can stop me?" Dan asked him. "You can't even keep a stable relationship. You failed at finding love, you failed at your dream, and you failed at helping Magneto. That's what your legacy is. Failure."
"Your right, maybe it is." Xavier agreed. "But there is one thing I won't fail at, and that is my X-Men."
40%
Ignoring his pain, Xavier powered through as he put up a good fight against Dan, but the dark phantom was able to play the long game as Xavier was slowly killing himself.
20%
Xavier started breathing rapidly as he could feel himself getting exhausted.
10%
Dan managed to catch both of the ecto-skeleton's fists as Xavier tried to push him back.
5%
"It's over, Xavier. You failed." Dan said.
4%
Xavier was looking around, trying to figure out a way to save himself and stop Dan.
3%
Looking at the controls, he found a button that was labeled escape.
2%
"You're gonna die." Dan vowed.
1%
With no other choice, Xavier pressed the button as the dome opened up and launched him out of the ecto-skeleton; he would've collided with the shield if the X-Men hadn't managed to finally break through as he soared through the sky before crashing down in the audience.
"Professor!" They all cried in worry, with Magneto feeling apprehension for his old friend as he watched what was happening back at Amity Park.
Xavier moaned as he passed out.
"Your professor is out." Dan said to the X-Men. "You're on your own now."
Morph wrapped the Nine Tails around Dan as it electrocuted him before Dan let out a pulse of electricity back, which shocked Morph as he fell to the ground unconscious.
"Morph!" His friends shouted.
"And now the shapeshifter is out too, but he was always useless." Dan said. "Now come on, fight me. Destroy me just like you vowed you would."
The X-Men fired on Dan as he moved out of the way and fired a blast at Scott's Spector Deflector, destroying it. He then teleported behind Cyclops, grabbed him as he ripped off his visor, and aimed the blast at the others who got out of the way to avoid the dangerous laser.
"Let go of me!" Cyclops demanded as Dan kept a grip on his forehand, preventing him from closing his eyes.
"And ruin the fun? Are you kidding?" Dan replied as he watched the X-Men scatter like rats.
Jean grabbed an ecto grenade and threw it at Dan as the explosion forced him to let go of Cyclops, who fell to the ground unconscious, as the grenade had also hurt him.
Dan landed on the ground as he confronted the rest of the X-Men.
"Now your precious leader is out." Dan stated. "Still think you can win?"
Jean fired a blast from the Fenton Peeler at Dan, who raised a shield as it reflected back and knocked the telepath out. Beast fired a shot from the Fenton Bazooka, but Dan smacked it back at him, knocking the scholar out as well.
"Only five left." Dan said as the remaining X-Men still tried to land a hit on him as he avoided them. Gambit was swinging the staff wildly as Wolverine tried to stab him with the ghost gauntlets.
The ladies stood as they kept firing shots at Dan, who threw up another shield, leaving him alone with Gambit and Wolverine. He dodged a swing from Gambit, which caused the Cajun's staff to end up smashing Wolverine's Spector Deflector.
"What the hell, Gumbo?" Wolverine protested.
"Sorry, mon ami, but he's quick." Gambit apologized.
Dan dropped the shield as he grabbed Wolverine in a telekinetic hold and threw him at the women as he made his own staff with ecto energy.
The two dueled before Dan managed to knock the staff out of Gambit's hands and then knocked him out with a blow to the head.
He then saw Wolverine about to tackle him when he grabbed the mutant by the gauntlets and squeezed them, wrecking them beyond belief before he brought Wolverine closer, headbutted him, and threw his unconscious body to the ground.
"Only the ladies are left now." Dan said as he grinned viciously.
"I've had enough!" Storm's eyes glowed with power as she ascended to the skies. "I call upon all the forces of nature to wipe this wicked creature from the face of all existence!"
Dan was hit with wind, hail, and lightning as the sky thundered in anger at Dan's continued existence.
"I will put an end to your evil!" Storm vowed as she unleashed more lightning.
Dan shook his head, as he was now intangible, making him immune to Storm's attacks.
"Nature is powerless when it's up against one of the freaks of its own creation." Dan let loose a low-powered Ghost Wail at Storm, which made her fall to the ground.
Jubilee and Rogue were wary as Dan turned his attention to them.
"Now it's just two X-Men. And just my luck, they're the ones Danny cares for the most." Dan cracked his knuckles. "This is gonna be fun."
The two ladies kept on firing at Dan, who merely teleported out of the way. Eventually, Jubilee realized she was out of ammo, and Dan appeared behind her.
"Nice try, kid." Dan then hit her neck with a karate chop, taking Jubilee out of the fight. Dan then turned to Rogue, who stared daggers at him.
"And now only one remains." Dan announced. "The one who's been a constant pain for several years. The one who knocked me into the Astral Plane and married my counterpart. I'm gonna take great pleasure in putting an end to you."
Rogue raised her fists. "Come on, Dan! I'm not afraid of you! I'm gonna make you pay for everything you've done if it's the last thing I do."
The two combatants stared at each other as the audience was at the edge of their seats, waiting for what would happen next.