Jazz didn't know what to do. Vlad had somehow managed to get EVERY world leader to declare war on her little brother. Her little brother was tough, but he couldn't fight the entire world.
How Vlad managed to do it, Jazz had no idea.
Maybe it was a Nighlocks power Jazz went in to check on Sam, who had been camped out in Jazz's room trying to study about the Nighlocks to figure out HOW Vlad was going to raise the Senzu River.
Jazz found Danny's goth best friend looking more like a ghost than her brother propping her head up with her elbow while she looked down at a book muttering in Japanese.
'I honestly forgot she spoke Japanese, ' Jazz thought, walking over. She tapped Sam on the shoulder. The girl fell over "so how's the research" Jazz asked, starting to get concerned. When was the last time she slept or ate something?
Sam muttered something in Japanese, sleepily nearly falling asleep "ok, maybe in English."
"So much about Nighloks, I can't figure out what's real and what's a myth," she answered, "all I know for sure is they rely on fear and need to go back to the Sensu River before they dry out."
So Sam had just figured out what they already knew. "Sam, maybe you should take a nap," Jazz wrinkled her nose, "and a shower."
"This is what I can do until we get to the fighting," Sam answered.
Tucker is doing the tech stuff; Danny's watching over Dani with Vlad's cat. Henry Buzz and Luke discover their self-identities/dealing with the guilt of abducting twenty-something other girls and me, and Vlad's got some supernatural powerup. He's going to do something with demons from Japanese mythology to take over the world."
Jazz had forgotten how talkative Sam could get when she was sleep-deprived "oh, and I'm pretty sure the demons were using my issues with Danny dating Penny as a battery when I came back from France," Sam's stomach rumbled.
Ok ordinarily, Jazz would love that Sam was having a breakthrough, but she looked ready to pass out "ok, come on, let's get you into a bed," Jazz said, prying Sam away from the books putting her into Jazz's bed "you can do more research after you get some sleep."
"Too bad there's no one to actually fact check," Sam muttered.
Yeah, too bad there wasn't someone who saw the Nighlocks in action
Wait, that was it. Jazz did know someone who lived through Nighlock attacks. Her boyfriend was in Panorama City when the Nighlocks had invaded. The only thing better than a witness would be an actual samurai power ranger.
"Sam, you're a genius," Jazz told the goth though she didn't get an answer since she was fast asleep.
Jazz covered Sam with a blanket then left to call her boyfriend.
Maddie dug furiously through Vlad's copied hard drives. There had to be something in here that would prove her son's innocence. Knowing how big of an egomaniac Vlad had become since his lab accident, there had to be something.
Nearby, Jack was standing there silently finding out about what his old roommate and old lab partner had become had hit her husband hard.
Maddie wanted to comfort Jack, but right now, it had to wait until they found something ANYTHING to clear their son's name.
Danny was staying inside, at least as Danny Phantom.
It was like Amorpho all over again, only instead of reporters and fans, it'd be swat teams and maybe superheroes
Danny didn't want to find out how he measured against a Power Ranger or Spiderman in a fight
He could still feel where Superman had nailed him almost a week later, and it still stung.
So far, Danny hadn't heard anything from Ironman or Superman about clearing his name. Instead, Danny had gotten texts from Kitty and Barbara saying people found evidence to prove Danny was innocent.
Danny also had gotten a text from Kara saying certain government organizations were on the case. It didn't exactly fill Danny with confidence since he had nothing but issues with the government, but Kara had promised that these were good people.
So all Danny did was go to school and come home to check on how things were going. That's pretty much how everyone was going
There were more police out, and they were armed with ghost weapons, no doubt wanting to stop him in case he went after another girl like Star or Paulina
Valerie was patrolling the skies and was enough to keep any of Danny's other enemies in line.
Things weren't much better at home.
.
Dani was still in a coma. So Tucker, Luke, and his parents dug through Vlad's files, trying to find something to implicate the cheesehead and clear his name.
Danny remembered Penny mentioning her friend Sticky was pretty good with technology too, but he didn't know his secret so that they couldn't ask him for help.
So far, they hadn't found anything, but they were hopeful there was something.
Vlad's weakness was his ego. It's how Danny had beaten him in the past, and Danny doubted getting powers from Japanese demons had given the cheesehead humility.
Sam had poured through every book she could find on the Senzu river Nighlocks and the Samurai Power Rangers, and thanks to Jazz's boyfriend Antonio, they knew how the Nighloks got their powers, their strengths, and weaknesses, how they fed on negative emotions and some would pick a favorite target.
Like how Vlad's new shark squid friend had been feeding on Sam and her negative emotions riling her up, even more, to tick her off
It explained why she'd been so weird when she came back from Paris.
It was a little suspicious that Jazz's boyfriend knew so much about Nighlocks but right now, they needed one enemy at a time.
Like if they couldn't get something from Vlad's hard drives, maybe they could trick him into confessing.
Danny didn't know what to do. All he could really do was sit there and keep watch on Dani with Vlad's cat.
Well, it was Dani's cat now, considering how the furball refused to leave Dani's side for any longer than to eat or use the litter box.
Danny felt his ghost sense go off and frowned.
If this was Skulker, he was going to turn the hunter's armor into a toaster and give him to Delilah the gorilla to play with
Going ghost for the first time in a week, Danny headed downstairs, flying face-first into Spectra.
The blind date not the worst guidance counselor in the history of ever
"Spectra, hi," Danny said, stepping back rubbing his sore head, "this is kind of a bad time."
"I know," Spectra said. "I heard what happened to you with the Normie governments turning against you" Spectra pulled out her phone that looked like a coffin.
"I did want to show you something," Spectra said, showing Danny her phone on the screen were dozens of posts on social media, all defending him.
Danny read some of them. Some were from his classmates talking about times Danny had saved them. For example, a mail worker talked about how Danny had flown down to help her load packages into a truck.
Danny remembered that it was after meeting the ghostwriter.
There were more stories like that about how Danny had just helped people, not expecting anything in return which he never did.
Except for one time where there was this old lady who, after Danny had helped her change a tire she INSISTED he not move a muscle until he'd had a cup of lemonade
All these stories and all these posts said one thing Danny Phantom was innocent and probably one of the nicest guys in Amity Park.
Then there were the videos from Makoto, the blonde girl who'd been kidnapped with her and some other girls dressed in the same costume with a magician-looking guy saying Danny Phantom was a true hero.
There were more videos like that from Jenny from Batgirl, from April from Diana from Angelica, and that purple-haired kid he'd saved from that bully.
From Timmy, who he met after his disaster of a date with Vicky, to Daria Sabrina holding her cat
There were videos like that from people that Danny had never met superheroes which he never fought alongside, like Kid Danger Spiderman Miss. Marvel to some superheroes he'd never even heard of, like Legionary Snowguard and Janissary
There were videos from four different teams of power rangers and a green lantern.
Celebrities, superheroes, and ordinary people worldwide proclaimed Danny's innocence and tried to convince world leaders to look deeper into this.
"Wow," Danny admitted handing the phone back, "I didn't know there were so many people who thought I wasn't some kind of monster or a criminal."
"Unfortunately, there's plenty of that, but people aliens and monsters around the world believe you're innocent," Spectra said. "I just didn't want you to give up hope."
Danny nodded appreciatively "thanks, Spectra, and I needed that"
Spectra nodded about to leave when Danny's ghost sense went off again
Oh great, now who
And how had his parents not come out here blasting
They must really be focused on that hard drive
In came Danny's other blind date, Phantasma. "Danny, I know how to clear your name," she said with a cackle that turned into a frown when she saw Spectra "oh, it is you."
"I'm not happy to see you either, little ghoul," Spectra said, making Phantasma fume.
Judging by the way those two were glaring at each other, Danny guessed they knew each other.
"Hey, what's going on out here," Buzz said, running a hand through his blonde hair.
Yes, blonde when they weren't acting as bodyguards for either Sam or the tech support team, Jazz had encouraged his clone cousins to find their own identities, starting with their hair.
Henry had shaved off his hair while Buzz had dyed his hair blonde Luke hadn't really done anything with his hair, too focused on Vlad's gear.
Jazz also encouraged them to try things other than what they'd been programmed to like by Danny.
Henry liked reading and liked fudge as much as his dad did while Buzz started listening to classic rock didn't like fish and became a Bears fan, whether it was because he liked the team or just to spite Packers fan Vlad Danny didn't know.
Either way, they were trying things and becoming their own person instead of just his clone.
Spectra and Phanty's eyes widened "whoa, whose the haunting hunk," she said, floating over to Buzz.
.
"For once, I agree," Spectra said on Buzz's other side. "Danny, why didn't you mention you had a brother."
"I don't. this Buzz he's my cousin created by my evil cheesehead to frame me," Danny explained
"Undermind control, ladies under mind control," Buzz promised with a smile looking between the pretty ghouls. "Danny, and you didn't mention we had company over."
"Spectra was just leaving, and Phanty had something important to say, right" Danny prompted, not wanting to see Buzz flirt awkwardly with the two ghouls.
"Huh," Phanty asked, too busy staring at Buzz, who may or may not still have a crush on Gwen "oh right, innocence, I know how to clear your name," Phanty said, flying over to Danny.
"So in the ghost zone, there's this coffee shop," Phanty said, "horrid place with the awful fungus fudge this side of the ghost zone, but the most important thing about it is that's where a lot of your enemies go after you release them from the thermos."
"You mean the loser lounge," Spectra asked, interrupting the story about where Danny's bad guys go after he kicks their butt "how does coffee help Danny clear his name."
"I'm not finished," Phanty shrieked "anyways, I went in there with my dad cause his machine's on the fritz, and in the corner is Skulker, that mechanized freak who always wants your pelt. Ewww."
"Agreed," Danny Buzz and even Spectra said
"So, for once, he's not talking about your pelt. He's talking to this ghost with glasses about updating the cameras in his armor, so they have better definition to capture your last moments when he finally gets your pelt" Phanty stuck her tongue out "ok, he talked about it at the end but do you know what this means if Skulker was around when Plasmius was doing all this evil stuff."
"And he was"
"Then he might have caught it on film," Danny cheered. Now having a way to clear his name Danny looked to Buzz "how do you and the guys feel about a hunting trip."
Buzz transformed green flames passed over his body, and he was wearing a new suit instead of the hazmat suit like Dannys. It looked more like what a firefighter would wear with a long black jacket with glowing white stripes over a black shirt and pants, white boots, belt, and gloves with a white and green fire logo where Danny's DP was on his chest.
"Cuz I've been waiting for something to do," Buzz said with a grin punching his palm.
In the privacy of his Madison, Wisconsin penthouse Vlad Masters looked out over the city for years. Vlad, his honed his ghostly powers to build himself into a man of power and respect, and with his newfound power, soon the world would be his
No one would be able to challenge Vlad as he ruled the world.
Vlad once thought Jasmine and Daniel worthy of being his heirs with Maddie as his queen, but they had made their choice siding with that blubbering idiot Jack Fenton.
No matter the personal setback, he felt his power grow as more people were turned against the little badger.
The greatest nations in the world-building arsenals of anti-ghost tools to fight the little badger while parents of young girls from DC to Sydney feared for their daughters that like the boogeyman Daniel, would come to sweep them away
The negative emotions filled him with great power enough Vlad felt he could prevail against almost any opponent.
Of course, Vlad had felt his increase in power slow slightly just enough to know something was wrong. A quick perusal of the internet revealed the truth to him a social media movement of people young and old hero and civilian speaking in Daniels defense of his morality and good character.'
That there was more to this case than met the eye
Like the heroes of Paris, Ladybug and Chat Noir spoke of Danielle's little mistake and how she had learned to be a true hero from her big brother Danny Phantom.
It seemed little Danielle had built herself quite the reputation on the global stage.
The same with Daniel as the teen Titans and other such heroes, two of which had joined him on the raid in Vlad's amity park address Kim Possible and Ben Tennyson were reaching out to their fans to speak on Daniels behalf.
It is a shame Mr. Foley had rendered the control implants on his cloned pawns null and void, or he would send one of them to eliminate a teen hero to add more fury to the world's populace.
Perhaps Miss. Marvel or Black Canary's young ward
Alas, it was not meant to be, but it was no matter.
Vlad's final weapon of fear would be more than enough.
In the ghost zone, Danny Buzz Henry and Tucker flew in the Spector Speeder towards Skulkers island.
They left Luke back in Fenton's works in case something went wrong.
Tucker had asked if Luke could handle it, but Buzz told Tucker not to worry since he was one of the most dangerous of the three of them in a fight.
That was high praise coming from the cockiest one of the clones.
Tucker stopped the speeder a safe distance away from Skulkers island before putting on his Steel Spector helmet "ok, and we're here."
Danny nodded "we've got to be careful; Skulker has got the whole place b*** trapped," he said, remembering the time he was handcuffed to Valerie.
"And Skulker himself is just as nasty."
"Don't worry, we've got this," Buzz said cockily. Then, opening the door, he flew out. Henry sighed, frustrated.
"I'm going to make sure he doesn't end up dead" Henry transformed like Buzz. His costume had changed too, becoming a white jacket and pants with a black undershirt and shoes that with his buzzed-off hair, he looked pretty intimidating as he flew after Buzz.
Danny and Tucker flew after him, landing on Skulkers island. Danny looked to Tucker "do you have a signal yet" Danny asked, hoping Tucker could just hack Skulkers mainframe and they could go.
Tucker shook his head. "I'm going to need to get closer to him."
Danny nodded, figuring that was the case, and they walked deeper into the island so far. But, unfortunately, all they heard was the sound of grass beneath their feet as they walked through the jungle, with no sign of Buzz or Henry.
"Where did they go," Danny asked, "And where's Skulker."
Danny's ghost sense went off, and he smelt smoke as Buzz and Skulker burst into the clearing. They were grappling, trying to overpower the other Buzz was covered in his ghostly flames again and seemed to be winning.
"I don't know who or what you are, you flaming freak," Skulker said, spraying Buzz with some foam knocking him back and dousing his fire, "but your head will look excellent on my mantle," Skulker said, grinning, pulling out a glowing green machete.
On that disgusting note, Danny flew at Skulker, kicking him away from Buzz while Tucker helped him to his feet.
Skulker recovered, glaring, "oh come on, I'm not even hunting you today whelp why are you here."
"Because today the Hunter becomes the hunted," Danny quipped, firing a ghostly green blast. Skulker activated a shield on his arm, blocking the blast Buzz came at Skulker from the right while Tucker flew at him with-
Wait, was that the Fenton anti-creep stick.
That thing didn't work on ghosts.
Buzz hit Skulker to Tucker, and he swung. There was a shockwave as Skulker was knocked out of the clearing and into the trees; Danny was wide-eyed. "Dude, that was awesome."
"Yeah, but how did you do that" Buzz asked.
"Hallowed the bat and wired it with circuitry from a Spector deflector," Tucker explained, taking his hand off a little button on the handle "it's pressure activated."
No wonder Tucker got a job with Tony Stark. He was a genius "where's Henry" Danny asked buzz, not seeing the more rational clone since he left the Spector speeder.
"Yeah, I may have set off a booby trap, and Henry's dealing with it," Buzz explained sheepishly. But then, there was a loud boom on the other side of the island. A few moments later, Henry appeared with trails of smoke coming from him and an annoyed look on his face while Buzz looked sheepish "where's Skulker."
Answering Henry's question Skulker came back floating up. He pushed a button on his console. A cage came up, trapping the four of them in a glowing blue cage.
Skulker landed, "well, well, well, isn't today a surprise? Not only are there more ghost children, but they come to my door ready to be hunted" Skulker looked at Tucker "as for you with the bat, I don't know who you are beneath that mask, but I'll take your pelt anyways just for that whack to the head."
"Oh, you know him, Skulker," Danny quipped "you get a signal now."
"Oh year," Tucker said before dart launchers fired, hitting Skulker, paralyzing him. He fell to the ground, and the cage dropped.
"Great, now my nose itches again," Skulker said sadly.
"And thank you for having all the footage we need to clear my best buds name," Tucker said happily "it pays to have a techno-geek on your side."
Danny nodded, looking to Henry "you still want to hit him."
Henry nodded. Pulling his fist back, he threw a punch that sent Skulker flying off of his island.
With any luck, he'd land somewhere where they wouldn't have to deal with him for a long, long, long time.
"Come on, let's head back," Danny said, looking at Buzz annoyed, "and watch out for booby traps."
"Lesson learned," buzz said, looking to Henry "sorry, bro."
"Just look before you leap last time," Henry said sternly, not as angry as when he first arrived "literally."
"Promise," buzz promised, holding up a hand. The four of them flew back to the Spector speeder.
With the evidence they needed to clear Danny's name, all that was left to do was stop Vlad and whatever his endgame was
