"I knew you would show up." Dan stated as he got to his feet. "It's in your naive nature to protect the innocent, especially the ones you care for the most."
Danny gave a hard stare at his ultimate enemy. This was it. The final battle, where he'd either fully die to Dan or finally put this nightmare to rest.
Dan smirked at Danny's silence. "What's wrong, Danny? Scared I'm gonna hurt your wife?"
"I won't let you touch her!" Danny roared. "Or any of my family, for that matter! I've grown a lot since I first met you, Dan. I've fought Sentinels, the Brotherhood, Apocalypse and his four horsemen, stopped multiple ruined futures, gone into the great unknown and bonded with a cosmic being, saved the galaxy, and helped prevent the erasing of all time. And most importantly, I found a new family, and I'd rather die than let you hurt them."
"Too late." Dan chuckled as he gestured to the unconscious Vlad and X-Men. "Face it, Danny. It's over. I'm at full power, and there's no thermos or army of psychics that you can use to seal me away. If you want me gone, you're going to have to put me down."
"It'll be my pleasure." Danny said as he punched Dan, who grabbed his fist and punched him back, sending his past self into a wall. This didn't deter the X-Man, as he got right back up and threw several ecto-blasts at Dan, who raised a shield.
"Is that the best you can do?" Dan taunted, making Danny smirk as a duplicate of him phased through the ground and punched Dan upward.
With Dan distracted, Danny called out to Mojo, knowing that he could hear him.
"Mojo, open a portal!" He ordered.
Mojo snorted, making Danny lose his temper.
"Mojo, I swear to God, don't fuck with me right now! I am really pissed off!" Danny shouted, making Mojo hastily open a portal. Danny nodded in thanks as he used his telekinesis to move his unconscious friends through the portal and back to Amity Park, where the medics went to check on them.
The only ones left in the arena were Danny and Dan as they faced each other.
Dan gave a glance at the empty seats, which were vacated by the aliens who ran away when the action was starting to reach them.
"You know, I think this deserves a bit more, don't you think?" Dan asked. "After all, this will be our final battle. Let's make it presentable, shall we?" He snapped his fingers, and the seats were filled to their capacity by several dangerous, angry-looking ghosts who cheered at the site of Dan.
"Who would have thought I'd ever have someone cheer for me?" Dan chuckled as he and Danny saw the group had brought snacks, like they were watching a wrestling match.
Danny had to hold his stomach in when he saw that the ghosts were eating what appeared to be the remains of several GIW members.
"So that's where these guys came from." Danny said to himself as he put it together that these were the ghosts that were set free earlier from Dan's attack on the GIW's bases.
The X-Men regained consciousness as they were having their wounds tended to.
"What happened?" Wolverine asked.
Rogue looked up at the screen and gasped. "Danny's back!"
All the X-Men shot up as they took in that statement.
"He's back!" Storm said in awe as everyone smiled in relief that their friend was okay.
"Well, Gambit guesses Dan's taken care of then." Gambit quipped.
"Don't relax now, Gambit." Scott warned him. "I feel like it's only the beginning."
"How right you are." A new voice said.
Everyone in Amity Park looked up, and a good chunk of the townspeople screamed at the sight of several more dangerous ghosts looming over them. They all floated down to the ground to confront them.
These spirits were all covered from head to toe in stitches, as if they had been cut apart and sewed back together. They all glared at the mortals as they got closer to them.
The remaining superheroes and villains tried to put up a fight, but the ghosts were much stronger as they placed power-dampening collars on all of them.
"What the hell is going on?" Scott demanded as he and the rest of his X-Men were restrained and had collars put on them as well.
"The beginning of a new age." One ghost informed them all. "The beginning of Dan Phantom's reign." The ghosts all sneered at everyone, as if they weren't fit to be in their presence.
"You're working for Dan?" Rogue asked in disbelief. "Why?"
"He freed us from the hell you bastards subjected us to." Another ghost said. "We were stuck in a never-ending torment until he freed us. Now we have come to fulfill our debt to him."
"Debt?" Jubilee said in trepidation at whatever these ghosts were planning to do.
"We will make sure no one interferes with the final battle." The first ghost said, as they surrounded everyone, to make sure no one tried to help Danny.
One ghost went over to Spiral to make sure she didn't let anyone in.
"Back off!" Spiral commanded, not liking this ghost getting in her face. Her response was the ghost letting out a growl that petrified the poor woman.
Now, with everyone restrained, the ghosts in Amity Park joined everyone else in watching the final battle unfold on the screen.
"Here it is, folks!" Mojo announced. "The final battle between good and evil. The phantoms of fate will battle over what happens to the planet Earth and the universe at large. The present and future will wage war. Freak against freak, ghost vs. ghost, night and day, black and white..."
"Shut up, Mojo!" Both phantoms yelled at the alien.
Mojo sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Wow, you two really are the same." This made Danny glare at the grotesque creature before turning his sights back to Dan.
"I'll never be you." Danny told Dan.
"And I'll never go back to being you." Dan replied. "So let's see whose statement has more weight to it."
In a flash, the two phantoms began to fight as they traded punches and kicks in order to destroy each other. Ecto-blasts were thrown all over the arena as the audience vacated their seats in a panic.
"Why save this world?" Dan questioned him as they continued to fight. "You know that even if you beat me, they'll turn their attention to you." Seeing Danny snarl in response, Dan smirked. "What's wrong? Scared that I'm right? You may think you're some hero, but to them, you're nothing but a freak. Just like me. They'll lock you up in a cage, dissect you, and use your ectoplasm to power whatever weapon they think of next to use against another hapless ghost."
Danny was thrown to the ground as Dan summoned several duplicates that surrounded him.
"You must realize now that you can't hope to stop me with your limited power." All the copies of Dan said in unison.
"Shows what you know." Danny replied.
"It's futile." The real Dan proclaimed. "The world will betray you. Why fight at all? Why risk your life for those who will persecute you later?"
Danny glowed with energy as he glared at Dan. "If the world chooses to become my enemy, I will fight like I always have."
Dan snapped his fingers as the copies all charged at Danny, who charged back as his aura formed a shield that was making them dissipate on contact.
With no copies left, Dan threw a powerful ecto-blast at Danny that knocked him to the ground as Dan grabbed him by the throat.
"You're an abomination." Dan insulted. "A being that can never relate to anyone and will always be alone. The X-Men merely used you as a weapon. Deep down, they see you as a freak. Even your wife thinks that. She only hides it because you bring her the pleasure of the flesh."
The X-Men were all held captive as they watched the battle go on.
Rogue was ready to head back and put Dan twenty feet under. "When I get my hands on that ghoul." Her growl made the ghost watching her pull her back.
"He's right to some extent." Storm said. "The world will continue to fear Danny, even if he beats Dan."
"Yeah, well, he won't face it alone." Cyclops said passionately.
"Cyke's right." Wolverine agreed. "Bub has always had our backs and helped us help mutants. We'll have his back when the world decides to mess with him."
"The whole world is going to have to go through me if they want my husband." Rogue stated.
"Your husband?" Paulina said from the crowd. "He's mine."
Before a fight could go down between the two, a ghost grabbed a dagger and shoved it down Paulina's throat.
The crowd screamed at the violent death before one ghost let out a roar that silenced them.
"Be quiet, or you will go out the same way as her." The ghost warned them.
No one made a sound in fear except for Dash, who sneezed.
"Seize him!" The ghost cried as several more grabbed hold of Dash and ripped him apart slowly as he screamed in pain.
When they were done, Dash was nothing but a pile of blood and organs on the ground.
"You have no family. You are alone." Dan said.
"There are other hybrids." Danny reminded him.
"What, like Vlad?" Dan guffawed. "You say that as if Cheesehead is worthy company."
"There's also me!" Dani roared as she appeared and threw an ecto-blast at Dan, making him release her father.
"Dani, what are you doing here?" Danny shouted, angry that his daughter was here. Dan would kill her.
"I'm not letting him take you away from me." Dani replied.
"How did you even get here?" Danny asked.
"Oh, I remember that story about the Infi-Map you told me and used it to take me here." Dani answered shyly as she pulled out the map.
The X-Men were all shocked to see Dani there.
"Dani!" Rogue was obviously terrified of her daughter being in the vicinity of Dan.
Vlad was also worried when he got a call on his communicator. "Yes?"
"Vlad, it's Dani." Callisto answered. "She's..."
"Escaped? I can see that." Vlad replied dryly.
"I got to get her out of there!" Rogue tried to get to where Spiral was when a ghost pulled her back. "Let me go!" She protested. "I need to help my daughter!"
"Be quiet, human!" The ghost ordered her.
Rogue would've beaten this ghoul to oblivion for daring to stop her from helping her family, but alas, she had a power-dampening collar on her, and her ghost weapons had been destroyed by Dan.
Even though she was outmatched, she was fighting tooth and nail to get out of this ghost's grip.
"Give up, woman!" The ghost berated her. "You can't beat me."
"No, but I can." Came Wulf's voice as he appeared and tackled the ghost to the ground. As the ghosts were trying to get Wulf under control, Rogue took this opportunity to race over to where Spiral was and aimed a kick at the ghost guarding her, taking it out before it had the chance to go intangible.
She then turned to Spiral. "Take me back there, right now!"
Spiral, not wanting to deal with a mother's wrath, opened the portal as Rogue raced in.
Snarling at her disobedience, the ghost ripped off Spiral's head.
"Rogue!" Jubilee cried out as she tried to help her friend, but the ghosts held her back as they managed to return order. Wulf lay beaten on the ground as the spirits wrapped him up in chains, with no way to escape either.
"What do we do?" Jubilee asked the others.
"Don't worry, kid." Wolverine reassured her. "She'll be all right. Honestly, with her mama-bear attitude, I'm more worried for Dan than her."
Meanwhile, Mojo was excited to see Dani join the battle.
"Now we have three phantoms to duke it out!" He chortled. "I expect our ratings to double, no triple!"
"They are indeed increasing, your grotesqueness." Domo reported. "They passed the infinity mark."
"Yes!" Mojo pumped his fist in the air.
Back at the arena, Danny was scolding his daughter for her stupid decision.
"Get out of here now!" Danny ordered her.
Dani wouldn't back down. "No, Dad. I'm staying here."
"Dani!" Came Rogue's voice as she marched right over to her. "What in tarnation is wrong with you? I told you you're not fighting him!" She grabbed her daughter's arm. "You're coming with me!"
"Ahh!" Mojo cried in rage at seeing the family argue. "Parental groups! They always ruin everything!" His attitude then changed as he observed the family dynamic and got an idea. "Wait a minute! We can use this!" He turned to Domo. "After this, we'll have a sitcom about Danny and Rogue and their kid. We'll call it Mr. and Mrs. Phantom." He turned to Domo. "Domo, get the writers on this! We are sitting on a gold mine of franchise potential!"
Dani phased out of her mother's grip. "I'm not leaving!" She cried as she gave a serious stare to her parents. "You were there for me when I needed someone. I can't leave you alone against that monster. I'm helping you fight him!"
"Absolutely not!" Danny and Rogue yelled. As the argument was about to continue, an ecto-blast hit the ground, knocking the three onto their backs, which also damaged Rogue's collar, allowing her to take it off. The trio turned to see Dan smirking down at them.
"Well, what do we have here?" Dan asked. "Matching uniforms?" He laughed. "It's a whole family of freaks. Oh, this is too good."
Danny and Dani both blasted Dan with their ghost rays. The two then punched him, each one of their fists colliding with his cheeks. Danny then grabbed Dani and yanked her back to Rogue.
"Stay out of this!" Danny told her as he froze Dan, who was motionless momentarily before he broke out. He grabbed Danny by his collar and threw him away as he made his way over to Dani.
"Get away from my daughter!" Rogue cried as she kicked Dan in the neck, sending him to the ground.
"How sweet." Dan mocked as he got up. "You gonna do the same to her as Mystique did to you? Gonna manipulate her? Turn her into a terrorist? Have her put a superhero in a coma?"
"Shut up!" Rogue snarled as she gave Dan another punch before he grabbed her by the throat.
"Bitch, you're gonna die slowly and painfully for all the headaches you've given me." Dan promised. He then saw Danny charging at him and grabbed him by the throat as well. He gave Rogue's neck a squeeze as she groaned in pain.
"Looks like my ghost sense is tingling." Dan joked as he looked upon Rogue struggling. He turned to Danny and waggled his eyebrows. "If you know what I mean?"
He then shouted in pain as he was hit by Dani's ghost ray, making him let go of Rogue and Danny.
"Get away from my mom and dad!" Dani shouted.
This ended up getting Dan's attention.
"You're Dani, right? The clone?" Dan questioned.
Dani glared. "I'm more than a clone."
Dan merely laughed. "You may have a different gender, but that will never change the fact that you're just some freak made from some spare goop of your father's that was scooped up by a scientist with delusions of grandeur."
"You're wrong!" Dani blasted him across the arena. She was about to go over and make him pay for his remark when Danny appeared in front of her.
"Don't even think about it!" Danny scolded her. "Stay with your mother." When Dani didn't respond, he lost his temper. "NOW!"
Dan blasted Danny in the back as Dani ignored her father to fight his evil counterpart. The two fought as Danny got up and joined in.
The three phantoms dodged their opponent's attacks as they tried to bring their foe down. Or, in Dan's case, foes. Dan managed to gain the upper hand as he gripped their throats in his hands.
"It's time to end this!" Dan announced before Rogue kicked him in the back.
"Get your hands off my family!" Rogue insulted.
The family then fought together against Dan as they covered each other's backs. The three managed to keep Dan on his toes before he finally had enough and grabbed them all in a telekinetic hold.
"I've had enough of you all!" Dan cried. "Your journey ends here, Danny. I'm gonna kill you. You're gonna die here with all the members of your family. Your wife and your daughter."
"You forgot about me!" Another voice cried as Dan was blasted in the back, making him let go of Danny and his family. The three heroes and villain then turned around to see who the newcomer was, and they all gasped in disbelief.
Standing before them was what looked like an identical copy of Danny's ghost form when he was younger. But instead of the suit being black and white, it was cyan and white. His hair was all white, but there was a streak of auburn in it. He also wore a brown bomber jacket, like Rogue did.
The newcomer smiled when he made eye contact with Danny.
"Hi, Dad." He greeted him.
"Dad?" Danny, Rogue, Dani, and even Dan said in disbelief.
Vlad and the X-Men had their mouths hanging open at this revelation.
"Did I just hear that kid say what I thought he said?" Wolverine asked.
"That boy is Danny and Rogue's son." Cyclops whispered.
"Sweet!" Jubilee cheered. "I have a nephew!"
Vlad was also delighted about the fact, despite his powers being restrained and being held captive. "Another hybrid."
"How did he get here?" Jean asked.
Gambit noticed that the new guy was wearing something. "Look at what's hanging from his neck."
"Who the hell are you?" Dan interrogated as he looked over the appearance of the newcomer. He noticed he was wearing a time medallion.
"Clockwork!" Dan raged. "That bastard can't stop meddling in affairs that don't concern him."
"Who are you?" The fourth hybrid asked as he looked over Dan's appearance. "And why are you wearing the same outfit as Dad?"
Danny and Rogue were just in awe at seeing their child standing before them.
"He's ours, sugar." Rogue said to her husband. "He's really our son." She smiled tearfully and turned to Danny. "He looks just like you."
Danny smiled back, forgetting the fact that he was fighting Dan a moment ago. "He has your hair as well."
"I have a brother." Dani said happily.
The tender moment was ruined when Dan opened his mouth.
"Your father never told you about me?" Dan smirked. "I'm an old friend of the family." He then narrowed his eyes. "What's your name anyway?"
"Tucker." The kid answered. "Tucker Fenton."
Despite the deadly situation, Danny couldn't help but break down laughing. In all his life, he'd never imagined he would encounter a second Tucker with ghost powers. How funny life can be sometimes.
Dan sneered at the mention of Tucker as he raised his hand as energy glowed. "Nice knowing you, kid, but this is where it ends for you."
The husband-and-wife duo tackled Dan from the back to keep him from hurting their son. Danny grabbed onto Dan's cape and tossed him away.
The couple then turned to their son, who grinned back.
"Hi, Mom." He greeted. "Hi, Dad."
The two had smiles on their faces as they took in the sight of their child.
Rogue placed an ungloved hand on her son's cheek. "You're as handsome as your father." She smirked as Tucker blushed. "I'm sure you drive all the girls crazy with your good looks."
Tucker started mumbling awkwardly before he was interrupted by another new voice.
"He's trying to catch the eye of this one girl that he's interested in."
Danny and Rogue gasped as a college-aged boy came up to them. He was wearing a black and green jumpsuit. He sported one blue eye and one green eye. His hair was black with white at the tips.
"Shut up, Charlie." Tucker murmured quietly, but his parents heard him.
"Charlie?" Danny and Rogue questioned as they took in their other son.
Charlie smiled. "My full name is Charles Fenton. Glad to see you, Mom and Dad."
Despite how serious the situation was getting, Xavier couldn't help but smile that two of his students would name one of their kids after him, while Vlad was even more ecstatic to see another hybrid.
"I can't believe it." Rogue said breathlessly. "You're here. You're really here." She brought the two boys into a hug as she was taking them in. Although she had just met them, she immediately felt love for her newly revealed sons.
Danny joined the hug before noticing Dani standing aside, feeling a bit left out. He nudged Rogue and pointed over to Dani. Nodding, Rogue smiled at her daughter.
"Dani, come over here and meet your brothers." Rogue called out, making Dani smile as the family embraced as one.
"It's so heartwarming." Mojo wiped a tear from his eye before his mood became impatient. "But it's not exciting! We need violence and drama, people!" He looked out for the arena, trying to find some trace of Dan, who could put things back on track. "Where's Dan? We need him to get this program running!"
From the corner of his eye, Danny could see an ecto-blast coming towards them, and he pushed them all out of the way as the ecto-blast left a crater when it made contact with the ground.
The family of five got into fighting stances as Dan landed in front of them and observed them.
"Why the hell are you two here?" Dan asked Danny's sons. "Come back in time to save dear old Dad?"
"Actually, we don't know why we were brought here." Charlie admitted. "Also, who are you, and why does your outfit look like Dad's?"
Danny sighed. "He's me from an alternate timeline."
Tucker whistled. "Cool."
"Yeah, well, fighting him is anything but." Dani shot back.
Together, the five teamed up as they fought Dan. Danny and Dani would combine their ghost rays together with Charles and Tucker using their cryokinesis and pyrokinesis, respectively. Rogue would look for any opening she could find to either punch or kick Dan.
Although, despite the phantasmal family giving it their all, Dan still wouldn't go down as he fought back with all his hate.
Dan smirked as he saw how tired Tucker and Charles looked. "Is this all Clockwork could bring? Two little shits who don't even know who I am?"
"I didn't just bring them."
Everyone looked up to see Clockwork in the air.
"I brought more than just those two." Clockwork raised his hand, and before their eyes, several flashes blinded everyone, and as the light faded, their eyes all widened.
Before them were thousands upon thousands of several hybrids floating in the air. There were some that sported Danny's traits, like the blue eyes and raven hair, along with others that had Rogue's features. There were also others down the line that came from various different races and backgrounds, but the one thing they all had in common was that they sported the Danny Phantom logo, which united them as a family.
"You see this, Dan?" Clockwork taunted him. "These are all the descendants of Danny. All of them hybrids. You may have a legacy of destruction and death. But Danny's legacy of heroism will override yours, as what he does will live on in them. A legacy that you could've had if you hadn't given up on your humanity."
Dan merely blasted Clockwork, knocking him to the ground as the injured ghost narrowed his eyes at Dan.
"You can't run from your past, Dan." Clockwork told him before he vanished.
"Well, go on, then." Dan taunted the entire Fenton family. "I killed my family once; I can do it again."
"This isn't your family, Dan." Danny shot back. "You're not a Fenton. Not anymore."
The unholy behemoth snorted at Danny's claim. "Do I look like I care about the filthy human name my parents gave me?" He shook his head as memories of his parents came up and filled him with rage. "And why do you care? Those two idiots are the reason you are here today. I'm sure you spent years blaming yourselves for their deaths and tearing your family apart. But the truth is, they were the ones who killed themselves."
Danny and his family simply stood as Dan continued to insult and berate his parents.
"Their entire obsession with ghosts had not only ruined the life of their old friend but yours as well. It's only fitting that one of the monsters they created from their ignorance, me, was the one to finally end them." His eyes narrowed at Danny. "Don't you feel a sense of hatred swell in your heart as you remember the many times your parents talked about ripping you apart? Or how they called you evil simply for existing? Wasn't there a time when you just wanted to fight back? To throw them on the dissection table and take a scalpel to their eyes? Just to see how they would like it."
Danny thought about it as he realized that deep down he always had some resentment for his parents for always believing in the worst of him. For making him fearful in his own home and wanting him to carry on in their footsteps as another hunter to join in their pointless war on the dead.
"Maybe I do harbor a grudge against them. But I keep my last name, not for them but for my sister. And I may have had to hide myself from my family, but now I have a new family. One that I never have to hide from." He smiled at Rogue, Dani, Tucker, Charles, and all of his descendants. "And they'll never have to hide from me."
Dan chuckled. "If there's one thing I regret about them, it's how they died." He raised his hand as, beside him, illusions of his parents appeared on his left and right. They were all cut up in the middle, with their organs spilling out. Their eyeballs had been removed, leaving a hollow darkness where they once were.
"I wish their deaths were drawn out in excruciating detail." Dan admitted. "But alas, there's just some things we can never have." He then smirked. "Just like how you can never have a family."
Immediately, Dan made a beeline for Tucker, but Danny blasted him out of his son's path as all the Fentons turned ghost.
"We're not just Fentons, Dan." Danny taunted him. "We're Phantoms as well."
All the Phantoms converged on Dan as they all started to battle him. Some were throwing ecto-blasts, others were unleashing their Ghostly Wails, and there were a couple that used duplication to make their numbers even larger.
Everyone watching, which was the entire planet, could only gaze in awe as Danny's entire family line worked together to put a stop to Dan.
"Incredible." Jubilee whispered.
"Yes, I believe that this will be enough to stop Dan once and for all." Beast replied.
"Let us pray that it is enough." Magneto said.
It was a tough and long battle, but Danny couldn't help but feel a certain thrill about it. Here he was with thousands of other hybrids, no hiding or shame of what they were. And they were all his family.
The superhero felt hopeful that he would one day be able to provide a better home for his kids. One that wouldn't have them afraid and force them to hide who they are, but a home that would give them acceptance and love. To praise them for their abilities and never make them feel like a freak.
And what abilities they had. Danny saw several members of his family use powers that he didn't think he had or would ever have in his lifetime. One was able to stretch their limbs supernaturally, like Mr. Fantastic. Another turned into a wolf that was currently biting Dan's neck. There was even one that controlled the weather.
'I'm so proud of my family.' Danny thought as he fought beside Rogue.
Unfortunately, that good feeling was interrupted as he noticed Dan blast one of his descendants into the wall, knocking her out. The whole tide of the battle turned in Dan's favor, as he was able to put up a good fight against his opponents.
One phantom tried to wrap a whip made of ectoplasm around Dan, only for him to get electrocuted by Dan's ghost stinger. Another was thrown into his sibling, while Dan was dealing with a whole good chunk of them with his Ghostly Wail.
"What's wrong, Danny?" Dan said as he started to fight his past self while dealing with the others who were trying to land an attack on him and failing. "Scared I'm gonna kill your family again?"
"I won't let you hurt anyone ever again!" Danny promised as he unleashed his Ghostly Wail.
Everyone was now feeling dread at seeing Dan slowly take back control over the fight.
"What will it take to destroy him?" Wolverine asked.
"It will take a lot of power in order to truly match Dan." Beast observed. "If the calculations I've done in my head are right, it would take a tremendous force to stop him."
"How tremendous are we talking about?" Scott asked.
"Likely the equivalent of the Big Bang." Beast answered.
"Oh, that's just great." Wolverine said sarcastically. "Just let me lure Dan into my time machine and send him back to the beginning of time."
"Wait, we do have a time machine." Cyclops reminded them, making the other X-Men give him strange looks. "Clockwork, remember?"
"Yeah, he could help us." Jubilee said.
"That's great and all, but how do we get past the guard?" Gambit pointed to the ghosts that were holding them and everyone else hostage.
"If only this collar wasn't on me, I would beat them all to a bloody pulp." Vlad vowed.
As if Vlad had politely asked someone or something to help, a click sounded as his collar fell to the ground. The same thing repeated for all the X-Men. Before they could question what just happened, Vlad started to fight all the ghosts who turned their attention to him.
"You go on!" Vlad said to the X-Men. "I'll hold them off!"
"Let's go!" Cyclops threw Xavier over his shoulder as they took off running to Fenton Works. They kicked the front door down, made their way to the basement, and crossed through the portal to the Ghost Zone.
They flew through the skies of the Ghost Zone and found Clockwork's lair, barging in as the time master was tending to their wounds.
"Clockwork, we have an idea to stop Dan!" Xavier said to the spirit.
"We can teleport Dan to the beginning of time and have him destroyed by the Big Bang." Beast explained.
Clockwork nodded as he thought about it. "That does seem like the only thing that will destroy him."
"Seem?" Jubilee questioned. "Aren't you supposed to know everything?"
"Dan's presence has disrupted my senses." Clockwork answered. "I truly do not know how this will all end. But I will help you." He pressed a button on his staff as he, the X-Men, and his time window vanished.
"Die!" Dan demanded as he was choking Danny. "Die like your friends and family!"
Danny kicked him off as he started to strangle Dan in return. "They were your friends and family too."
The two phantoms began to wrestle before Danny noticed Dan's symbol and ripped it off.
"You don't deserve this!" Danny told him as he burned it to ashes in his hand. "You perverted this symbol. The one Sam made for you. She believed in you. Believed in us, and you let her down."
Dan pushed Danny off with a growl as he went on to fight the thousands of hybrids in the arena. Danny was on his knees, trying to catch his breath. Beside him, Rogue was doing the same.
"He's really strong." Rogue said. "I don't know if we can beat him."
"We gotta try." Danny said as he got up to rejoin the fight before he saw Clockwork, the X-Men, and Clockwork's window appear in the arena.
The X-Men immediately raced over to Danny.
"Danny!" Cyclops called. "We have a plan to get rid of Dan." He pointed to the time window. "We need you to knock him through there."
"It will teleport him to the Big Bang." Beast elaborated. "The force of the explosion should end him."
Danny nodded as he thought that this could work. He flew into the middle of the arena, pushing through his family to get to Dan. Once he located his evil counterpart, he grabbed him by the cape and threw him in the direction of the time window.
Sadly, it wouldn't be that easy, as Dan caught himself in midflight as he stared at Danny with a smirk.
"You really think you could get rid of me that easily?" Dan asked.
Danny shook his head as his hands glowed with energy. "Nothing worth doing is ever easy." He turned to his family and nodded as they all charged up their energy. Simultaneously, they all blasted Dan with their ghost rays.
The beams of light collided with Dan's own ghost ray as they were all in a beam lock.
"Give it everything you have!" Danny ordered his family as they put all their energy into this attack. "This is our one shot to stop him!"
Fueled by Danny's declaration, more and more power was placed into the ghost rays as they started to push Dan's back inch by inch.
"No." Dan said as he put more energy into his attack. "You won't win."
Despite his declaration, Dan could see that Danny and his family were slowly winning.
"Come on, y'all." Rogue cheered next to the X-Men as she saw her family was almost there. "Push! You can do it!"
Dan was shaking as he was failing to keep the energy back.
"No, I can't let it end like this." Dan said to himself. Not after everything he's been through. He wasn't going to be destroyed. Not like this. But destiny was not on Dan's side today, as finally his ghost ray gave out and he was bombarded by the Fenton family's attack, which pushed him through the window.
Everyone in the arena gathered around the window, while the people back home were watching through their screens at the edge of their seats, wondering if Danny had won.
Back at Amity Park, Vlad was standing over the beaten remains of the ghosts as the town was freed and was currently watching what was happening when he looked up into the sky and noticed Dan's energy blast was slowly falling.
"Oh, no!" Vlad panicked.
Back with Mojo, the alien was biting on his flippers at seeing Dan be pushed through the time window.
"No, it can't end like this!" Mojo cried as he watched his hopes and dreams slowly die. He grabbed Domo and shook him. "It can't!"
The footage showed Dan floating through an empty void before a massive explosion engulfed him. There was a deafening cheer as they all realized that they had won. Dan was gone.
"NOOOO!" Mojo moaned as he burst into tears. "I don't want him to be gone!"
Domo patted Mojo on the back.
"There, there, O grotesque one, there's always other actors." He comforted Mojo.
"I don't want other actors!" Mojo bemoaned. He picked up an action figure of Dan and looked at it sadly. "I want Dan!"
"We did it." Danny said quietly before the footage on the time window changed to show Dan's energy blast falling to the Earth.
"Oh shit!" He cried as he turned to Clockwork, who nodded and pressed a button, teleporting everyone back to Amity Park.
Danny gazed at the blast falling as he came up with an idea to save the Earth.
"What do we do?" Rogue asked him, fearing that this was the end.
With a determined look, Danny turned to his family.
"We'll turn the Earth intangible together." He placed his hands on the ground. "Now!"
All the hybrids copied Danny's action along with Vlad, and the ghosts that were formerly occupying the town also joined in as they didn't want to perish either. Even Kitty Pryde pitched in.
"Together!" Danny ordered as they all turned intangible, and slowly but surely their combined powers were able to turn the entire planet intangible as everyone looked at themselves in awe as they were see-through.
The hybrids, ghosts, and mutant were all straining as they tried to keep their home safe. Everyone screamed as the blast came towards them and passed through them as if it were nothing but a hologram. It sank through the planet before finally leaving, taking with it the terror that it brought.
With their home saved, they all turned the Earth tangible as they all groaned in exhaustion at the energy that they just used, with all the hybrids turning back human, having used it all up.
Danny was on his hands and knees as he took it all in. The world was safe now. It was all over.
Until his ghost sense went off.
At the sound of screams, Danny turned around to see Dan standing among the crowd.
But he was severely injured. His hair was all but gone, leaving nothing but a bald head that rivaled Xavier's. The upper half of his outfit was missing, leaving his bare chest and abs exposed. One of his boots was absent, along with the glove on his right hand. Ectoplasm was dripping from his mouth, with a bit of the top of one of his ears missing. His cape was completely incinerated by the blast, and he moved along with an obvious limp.
"He's back!" Mojo cheered at seeing Dan still kicking. The producer started to do a little dance as he sang. "He's back. He's back. He's back." He grabbed Domo and hugged him.
"Our careers are saved, Domo!" Mojo yelled. "We can still make this happen!" He dropped Domo as he looked at the computers. "Where are the ratings? How are they doing?" He looked at them and let out a high-pitched scream of excitement. "These are the highest I've ever seen! It's a miracle!"
"Indeed, it is." Domo said.
"Quiet, Domo!" Mojo berated. "I need to see how this ends. If there's anything that truly determines the success of a show, it's how it ends."
He peered at the screen to see what would happen next.
"I can take it." Dan said as he approached Danny, shoving several people out of the way as he marched onto his most hated enemy. "I can take anything you throw at me."
Danny, fighting the exhaustion of his body, climbed to his feet and tried to go ghost, but the ring refused to separate as it faded away. He paled as he realized that he was too weak to go ghost. He was stuck in human form, with Dan right in front of him.
Dan smiled maliciously at seeing Danny weakened. "You can't beat me. I'm going to win this. I'm gonna rip you apart for all the world to see."
The X-Men went to Danny's side, but Danny held up his hand to stop them.
"Don't worry." Danny assured his friends. "I got this." He turned to glare at Dan, who smirked at him.
"Ready for the next round?" Dan taunted.
Danny noticed that on Dan's torn belt was his time medallion, the very thing keeping his existence in tact. If he could rip that off, then Dan would be gone forever, but he wouldn't be able to get close enough without Dan killing him.
He then concentrated as he felt a bit of his energy return to him. Not enough to turn ghost, but enough that he could use his telekinesis.
"Always." Danny answered. "I'll never let you win. Never."
With a cocky smile, Danny outstretched his hand as the time medallion detached from Dan's belt.
It would've landed in his hand if Dan hadn't grabbed it with both of his hands in time. Despite this, Danny still put his all into trying to rip it out of Dan's grip.
Rogue looked at the medallion, and suddenly she realized why Dan still existed. She remembered the time that Danny told her he woke up in a world where he never became Danny Phantom, and the only reason he still existed was because he had one of Clockwork's medallions on him.
She turned to her fellow X-Men. "The medallion. That's what's keeping him from fading from existence. We get rid of it; we get rid of that old ghoul forever."
The X-Men took this in as Wolverine smirked.
"So we rip off that nice necklace, and Dan goes bye-bye." Wolverine said.
"Let's go!" Cyclops ordered as the X-Men all attacked Dan to get him to let go of the medallion.
Cyclops fired his optic blasts, Jean threw a mailbox at him, Storm unleashed her lightning, Gambit threw his cards, Morph and Beast fired ecto-blasters, and Rogue and Wolverine tried to pry Dan's hands off of it.
In the end, they only managed to get Dan to let go of it with one of his hands, as Wolverine and Rogue were both holding one arm back as Dan held the medallion in his free arm as Danny tried to get it out with his telekinesis.
He endured all the attacks as he tried to latch on to the one thing that was keeping him from being erased. The X-Men were making it hard, though, but Dan wouldn't give up; nothing would stop him.
That was until one of Jubilee's pyrotechnics burned his hand as he finally released his grip on the medallion as it flew into Danny's hand.
At this, the X-Men all backed away from Dan as he fell to his knees.
Danny calmly walked up to his ultimate enemy and looked down at him. Not with hate or any glee, but with total indifference. As if Dan were nothing.
"It's too late, Dan." Danny told him. "I know the secret now. You're not my future. You never were. You're just a reminder of why I should never go down that path. This medallion is what allowed you to exist outside of time, and now that I have it, the only way you can exist is through me."
Dan merely growled as he looked down to see himself start to fade away.
"I take back every bit of energy I gave you." Danny said. "You're nothing. You're shit." And just like that, Danny turned his back on Dan and walked away. He wasn't afraid anymore.
The cruel ghost felt himself steaming with rage and anger at being beaten. All of his dreams and desires were just that. There will be no universe gripped in fear by his presence. Because of Danny, it will never come to be. But what angered him the most was how his counterpart looked down on him like he was a bug and how he turned his back on him like he was nothing.
He felt himself start to be erased from existence. In one last decision, he decided that if he was gonna go out, then he was taking Danny with him.
With a final scream, Dan charged at Danny but only passed through him as he faded away into nothingness.
Danny turned around and was pleased to see that Dan was no longer there.
The nightmare was finally over.
