A/N Hello everyone, I'm back with the next chapter of Danny's Eternal Blue Flame. I'm settling into fatherhood pretty nicely and now that my daughter is a couple months old my wife and I have been able to develop a pretty natural routine. I'm doing the late night feedings and swaddling so my wife can go to bed for some extra rest, so after I feed her I lay her down and am able to do some writing while waiting for her to fall asleep. I'm happy to be posting this chapter much sooner than the gap was between the last couple, 3 months each I think, lol. Anyway I hope you all love it, I'm excited to post it, so without further ado please read, enjoy, and remember to leave a REVIEW!
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Ember was staring at the ground at the moment where her guitar was now scattered all over the place in several broken pieces. She had the choice of continuing to fight a brainwashed Danny, or destroy her guitar with the hopes it would break him from the mind control. Everything was still happening pretty fast and there wasn't time for her to examine the guitar to try to figure out what Plasmius had done to tamper with it so she could reverse it. Plus she was still pretty dizzy after spontaneously discovering and using her new ghostly wail power. She'd managed to concentrate her thoughts long enough to increase her power and destroy the guitar, but now her head was again spinning a bit and her hair was more like a flickering campfire than a roaring wildfire.
A large dent was left in the ground where the guitar had been slammed, but Ember had done it. She'd shattered her guitar causing smoke to flow all around it. Looking over at Danny she met his eyes as he was now standing completely still. She pleaded to everything in existence for them to change back to his natural blue color from red. It was actually a bit of a relief that he was in his human form right now rather than his ghost form since it seemed far less likely he'd try to fight without transforming again.
Danny closed his eyes as both of his hands reached up to grip his hair, his own mind feeling fuzzy as he shook his head back and forth. Clutching his hair tightly in both of his hands he slowly opened them back up while looking straight down, Ember unable to see if they had changed.
"Ugh, what...what's happening?" he asked in confusion as he felt like he was waking up from a coma after being wacked by a wrecking ball.
Ember started at him hopefully as a small smile started to form on her face.
"Danny, is it you, are you back?" Ember asked desperately.
Danny's head suddenly looked up and his eyes met hers, his natural bright blue eyes looking right at her and looking more beautiful than she'd ever thought before.
"Ember, what's going on? How did we get here? What happened to your guitar?" asked Danny looking down in shock, seeing her weapon shattered into several pieces.
Tears started to flow freely from Ember's face as she dropped the neck of her shattered guitar and rushed to Danny, throwing her arms around him tight and crushing her lips against his in pure happiness.
"It's you, you're back, thank everything," said Ember as she kissed him deeply.
Danny kissed her back, not sure what was going on but always happy to kiss the girl he loved, wrapping his own arms around her waist.
"How did we both get here, my memory is pretty fuzzy right now, I can't really remember much," said Danny who looked like he had quite the headache at the moment. He hadn't noticed Vlad on the ground off to the side yet. "Where are we exactly?"
Ember still stayed silent for a few moments so she could just look into his eyes, several tears of happiness falling down her cheek as she savored the thought of not having to fight him anymore.
"Well there's a lot that has happened in the last few hours Baby Pop, and it's been one hell of a crazy roller coaster," said Ember stroking his cheek gently.
Vlad was looking at the two of them with disgust and fury, having a hard time processing a thought of his own as he tried to plan his next action. Daniel had his mind back, everyone present was pretty low on energy, the guitar was gone, and no doubt their friends would be here soon. He'd been so close to victory, getting rid of both Daniel and Ember then using the guitar to claim Maddie. Now all of that was gone in a huge puff of smoke. Those insignificant little brats had ruined everything for him.
'I gotta get out of here and regroup,' thought Vlad to himself as he prepared to transform again and flee the scene.
Ember however hadn't forgotten he was still there and was not about to let him go anywhere. She peeked towards him and saw that he was very squirmy, looking like he was most likely about to run. Turning to face him she raised both of her arms.
"Don't even think you're going anywhere," she shouted as she shot her pink vortex ability at him, making a clean hit and trapping him where he stood. "What kind of host leaves his own party so early?"
Danny now noticed that his arch enemy was there and seemed pretty banged up. Looking down at both himself and Ember he also noticed that they were pretty damaged too, as if they'd been taking a lot of punches. At that moment a lot of things started to flash through his mind, and all of them terrified him. He'd been fighting with Ember, and tried to destroy her. His eyes shot open in horror at this realization, hugging his girlfriend tightly again.
"Ember I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," said Danny quickly, feeling so ashamed at what he'd tried to do, even though he'd been brainwashed at the time. "Please forgive me for everything, I could never want to destroy you, I love you."
Ember hugged him back as she turned to face him again, so happy to hear those words come out of his mouth. He truly was back to his normal self.
"It's okay Baby Pop, I know it wasn't really you," said Ember smiling lightly. "It was all because of him, and he's about to experience a whole galaxy worth of pain."
Ember was about to march over to him and mercilessly pound on Vlad, but before she could the door to the room suddenly burst open, and there stood Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Kitty, and Stripes all looking at the two of them. Everyone looked worried at first since they hadn't seen anything that had happened in the room, but both of them smiling was very reassuring.
"Danny, are you okay, is it you again?" asked Sam taking a step forward.
Danny smiled back at everyone and nodded his head lightly.
"Yeah, it's me. Pretty dizzy right now and my head is killing me, but it's the real me," said Danny with his arm around Ember's waist.
Everyone smiled really big at his words and rushed to him, a big group hug forming where Danny and Ember stood. Sam had a few tears fall from her eyes as well, Tucker and Danny bumped their fists together, Kitty apologized for shooting him in the rear end, and Jazz awkwardly smiled at her little brother now that he finally realized she was there.
"So I take it you must know about my little secret if you're here with everyone," said Danny with a light chuckle. Jazz returned the smile.
"Oh I know so much more than you realize little brother, and we're going to have a lot to talk about once we get out of here," said Jazz smiling knowingly about so many things. "But for now let's just say I've known about your little double life for quite some time and you're long overdue for some nosy sibling talk."
Danny blushed a little bit at Jazz words, wondering how much she actually knows about. Being the genius he knew her to be, probably more than he preferred. That was going to be one long awkward discussion later that would most likely get way more personal than he was comfortable with. Ember saw the awkward smile on his face and smirked while looking at Jazz.
"I can't wait to have my own talk with you about my Baby Pop so I can learn all the dirty little secrets you have from when he was younger," said Ember happily while winking. Jazz winked back knowing it would drive Danny crazy.
Danny looked back and forth between the two of them and was about to protest what was being planned right in front of him, but before he could Stripes had jumped up into Tucker's arms. Now that Danny could actually see that the tiger cub ghost was here he couldn't look away from him.
"Um, Tucker, I'm not hallucinating from this headache am I?" said Danny pointing at Stripes in disbelief. "There is a tiger cub ghost in your arms at this very moment right?"
Tucker gave Stripes a nice scratch on her head which made her purr happily while smiling.
"There is indeed, this is my new partner Stripes," said Tucker while moving his hand to scratch under Stripes' chin. "There was a lot of crazy stuff that happened before we all ended up here, and one of the things was I made a new friend. She was actually very helpful in all this."
Danny couldn't tear his eyes away from Stripes for a few moments as he just stared at her, trying to imagine what possible crazy stuff must have happened that resulted in this of all things. It seems there was way more for him to be filled in on than just what Ember had to say.
"I think I'm going to need a very long nap before I can listen to the story I'm sure you all have to tell me," said Danny while rubbing his head again a bit.
Ember looked at Tucker and Stripes as they snuggled together happily, then back to Danny who seemed to be having trouble collecting his thoughts. She slipped her hand into his as she stood by his side.
"No worries Baby Pop, you'll be home resting before you know it," said Ember kissing his cheek with a smile, then turning to Vlad with a frown. "But first we need to make sure this bastard learns his lesson once and for all."
Ember let go of Danny's hand with her eyes burning. Everyone else also looked at Vlad as he was stuck in the pink vortex still in his human form. With all six of them plus Stripes now glaring daggers into his soul, he looked quite terrified.
'Crap, I can't let this happen, I have to get out of here right now,' thought Vlad while glancing all around, looking for something that could possibly help him.
He'd slowly been catching his breathe while all of them were hugging and soaking in the moment, and felt like he was ready to transform back. But in his weakened state with a 7 vs 1 matchup against very infuriated opponents, he was in a no win scenario. And Ember was advancing on him with her fists clenched at that very moment, pounding one of them into her other open palm.
'What do I do? I can't get to my lab, I'm too weak, my plan is ruined, the clone isn't functional and stable yet,' thought Vlad as he rapidly tried to think of a plan, precious seconds ticking away.
Last time Ember only stopped pounding his face because Daniel urged her to, but he couldn't be sure that would happen again, or that Ember would listen if he did urge her not to. He looked down at Ember's shattered guitar all over the ground, resembling his shattered plan to getting Maddie. Suddenly a little light bulb went off in his head, a desperate one but it seemed like it might be his only chance to get out of this with his head still attached.
'She destroyed her guitar, fine. I can destroy stuff important to me too, and what's better is I can just replace it when I get out of here,' thought Vlad to himself as Ember stopped right in front of him. He didn't have time to try to think of anything else, he'd have to just go with it and hope for the best.
"Time to take your lumps rich boy, and you're going to have an awful lot of them," said Ember as she raised her hands to release him from the pink vortex, her hair slowly starting to flare up again little by little as she glared at him.
Vlad smirked up into her eyes and went into action, knowing he was weakened but not about to just roll over and lose.
"Guess again girl, you won't take down Vlad Plasmius like this, I'll destroy my own mansion before I let that happen," said Vlad as he quickly repositioned himself onto one knee with one hand on the ground.
Ember had expected him to try something when she lowered her vortex, so she braced for whatever he was going to try to throw at her. He transformed back into Vlad Plasmius and didn't waste any time duplicating himself so there were now three of him.
"You might want to focus a little less on me, and a little more on those that can't turn intangible," said Plasmius as all three of them raised their open palms to point in different directions.
"What are you doing?" demanded Ember in confusion, not expecting this to be his move.
Before anyone else could say or do anything, the three Plasmius figures started firing ecto beams rapidly in every direction, blasting as much of the room a they could. This caused all kinds of large degree to fly all over the room and crash everywhere.
Everyone's eyes suddenly shot open as they realized what was going on. Of the seven of them in the room three of them weren't ghosts and were not able to safely avoid all the large chunks of flying debris. Everyone looked up at the large stone falling towards them, causing Sam, Tucker, and Jazz to scatter to avoid getting their heads cracked open. Danny quickly transformed himself back into Danny Phantom and looked at the three humans, Tucker being the closest. Ember looked back and saw Sam was the closest to her, while Kitty was pretty close to Jazz.
"Danny, Ember, we gotta help them," said Kitty in a panic as she lunged toward Jazz, putting her hands on her hips to turn her intangible right before a giant piece of stone could crush her head.
Ember glanced over her shoulder with a frown at Plasmius who was still firing rapidly before lunging for Sam, grabbing her to do the same thing as a huge pillar was falling in her direction.
Danny also lunged for Tucker but wasn't moving as fast as he normally would due to his mind still being really dizzy. Tucker was barely dodging flying debris before he tripped over a stone that landed right beside his feet, falling onto his back. Looking up he saw another stone falling towards his face, reaching up instinctively to shield it.
"NO, TUCKER," shouted Danny desperately reaching for his best friend as he tried to get to him. He wasn't going to make it.
But at that moment, seemingly out of nowhere, Stripes ran right up behind Tucker and used her head to scoop Tucker into the air onto her back, going intangible herself to protect her new friend. Even though it seemed Tucker was way too big to ride on the cub's back it didn't seem to bother Stripes in the slightest. The stone ended up falling right through them harmlessly as Stripes moved away towards the center of the room with everyone else. Each ghost was holding onto their respective human to keep them safe from all the falling debris.
Plasmius kept firing in every direction to cause as much danger as possible. The damage already caused from Ember's wail making it even easier with all the cracks in the walls and ceiling. After a few more moments of firing all over he stopped he went intangible himself, gave a mocking bow to everyone else before phasing out of the room to who knows where. Plenty of debris was still falling all over from the next floor up as well as the room they were in.
"Okay this isn't safe, we need to get everyone out of here right now," said Kitty looking around as another huge piece of stone fell through her head.
Danny however just couldn't take his eyes off of Tucker and Stripes, dying to know how all of this happened because it was quite the sight to behold since he hadn't seen anything that had happened earlier.
"Yes, um, get everyone out of here," said Danny slowly, also a bit ashamed that he hadn't gotten to Tucker first. If not for Stripes Tucker might have just been crushed. "Tucker, I don't know what your intensions are with that tiger, but she doesn't seem like she's in any hurry to leave your side."
Tucker smiled happily down at Stripes acted like he was scratching her ears despite being intangible, seeing both the concern and confusion in Danny's eyes.
"Don't worry buddy, I'll tell you everything. And I definitely feel a long term bond being formed with this adorable kitten," said Tucker thinking it was so cool how they all looked as basically white lines rather than their normal selves.
Ember however was looking where Plasmius had been and how he was no longer there, causing her anger to flare up again as she unintentionally gripped Sam's arm tightly.
"That fruit loop ran off like the coward he is, damn it," said Ember fiercely. "Let's get you three out of here then we'll catch up with him."
Ember then turned away from the spot, picking Sam up and flew away, expecting everyone else to follow her out. Stripes also leapt into the air with Tucker, looking like the most out of this world cowboy ever. Jazz looked over at Danny who was still looking pretty ashamed about something as Kitty carried her out. Danny did actually have a lot on his mind as he was preparing to fly out too, looking where Ember's shattered guitar currently lay.
He floated over to it with sadness in his eyes, the debris starting to slow down now that Plasmius wasn't firing all over anymore.
'I almost destroyed the girl I love, and now her guitar is gone as a result,' thought Danny softly as he looked down, making himself solid again to pick up the broken neck.
His eyes started to water up a little bit as the thought kept repeating itself in his head. He tried to shake it from his thoughts but it was no use. He loved Ember more than anything, and even though it wasn't actually him trying to do it, at the end of the day his body really had been so determined to destroy Ember. How was he ever going to forgive himself for this? The fact that it wasn't him didn't ease his mind on this one, because all he could see in his head right now was an image of him blasting Ember to dust, and there was a huge grin on his face as he did it.
"That was almost a real thing," said Danny out loud softly as he ran his thumb over the guitar neck. "Maybe, maybe I can find a way fix it? If I can gather all the pieces?"
Danny was so absorbed in his thoughts at that moment he wasn't paying any attention to what was going on around him. He almost got hit by a few smaller pieces of still falling debris due to his lack of focus. And that was about to cause him so much more trouble.
"Worrying about a shattered guitar? You should really worry more about what's going to happen to you," came the angry voice of Plasmius once again from above him.
Danny looked up and didn't even have time to react. Plamius charged right at him with pure evil in his eyes, grabbing Danny and without slowing down, phased them both down through the floor. Danny tried to shake free but his mind was still in shock from what was happening along with the thoughts he'd been having right before this. Plasmius took full advantage of the situation and kept flying straight down towards. He went through what must have been at least three floors before entering the lab, a different part of it than the one Danny had fought Ember in earlier.
"No more playing around Daniel, I've toyed with you far longer than I should have," said Plasmius angrily as he threw Danny hard towards the ground.
Danny crashed hard and rubbed his still dizzy head while slowly trying to get to his feet. Looking around a bit he realized he'd been brought to the section of the lab that had his clone. It was sitting in it's pod about twenty feet from where he was. But before he could get himself back up, Plasmius had thrown a small cube at him. It landed right in front of him and made his eyes shoot open once he saw it. He recognized the device from the first time he met his rival at his parents college reunion.
"Oh crap," said Danny as he made to move away, but not fast enough. The cube quickly engulfed him into a solid box and made it impossible for him to move at all, trapping him in place. Danny tried anyway to do anything but it was all in vain. He couldn't move at all, and he couldn't go intangible to phase out of it.
Plasmius landed in front of him and looked angrier than Danny had ever seen him. It didn't seem like he was going to be his usual overconfident self that mocked him for being so much younger and weaker. He looked like he was out for blood as he clenched his fists tightly.
"You're going to pay for everything Daniel, and so will your girlfriend once I get rid of you," said Plasmius raising his fist aggressively.
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Ember phased through the outer walls of the mansion and now found herself back outside. While still holding Sam she flew her down to the ground next to the Speeder by the fountain in the driveway before letting go, making them both solid again.
"You okay?" she asked casually, feeling a bit weird that she was asking Sam such a question. Despite their recent breakthrough on understanding each other it still felt pretty bizarre to be communicating without throwing fists at each other.
"Yeah I'm okay, thanks for that back there," said Sam looking herself over to make sure she wasn't hurt, removing the gauntlets for the first time in hours to let her hands get some air as well.
Sam took a seat on the edge of the fountain to catch her breathe while Ember was watching for the others. Moments later Stripes phased outside with Tucker on her back, followed moments later by Kitty carrying Jazz. Everyone landed next to each other looking okay but pretty tired. Ember kept watching for Danny but for some reason he wasn't coming.
"Where's Danny?" asked Ember, her tone growing more concerned as she looked at Kitty and Jazz. "Wasn't he right behind you?"
Both Jazz and Kitty looked towards the mansion and also looked concerned when they didn't see him. They looked at each other, their eyes silently saying they thought the other had noticed him coming.
"I could have sworn he was right behind us, how can he not be?" asked Jazz, her breathing starting to rise again out of concern for her brother.
Everyone that wasn't still on their feet suddenly hopped back up and stared at the mansion, expecting Danny to suddenly emerge from the walls to join them. But nothing was coming, and the mansion was still crumbling pretty badly from all the blasting that had happened throughout it.
"He's still in there for some reason, we have to go back," said Sam taking a few steps closer to the mansion.
"What if Plasmius got him before he could fly out?" suggested Tucker.
Everyone now snapped their heads to look at Tucker, realizing he could be right. None of them had actually seen Danny leave or where Plasmius had fled too. What if he had got the jump on Danny once he was alone.
"Shit, DANNY," shouted Ember as she took off back towards the mansion without even waiting for anyone else.
"Ember wait, we should go together," shouted Jazz urgently, but Ember wasn't waiting for anyone. She had taken off as fast as she could move and already phased back into the mansion.
Ember retraced her flight path back to the room they had all just been in, but there wasn't anyone there anymore. And she didn't believe for a second that Danny had just gone off somewhere. This had to be Plasmius.
"That son of a bitch, I will not show any mercy once I get my hands on him," said Ember aggressively to herself. "I'm coming Baby Pop."
Ember flew off again, phasing through the walls without slowing down and checking every room there was, making her way down towards the lab. She was so raging mad she was ready to end Plasmius once and for all. After all she's not a hero, why shouldn't she just end him?
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Plasmius punched Danny in the face again, and he was not holding back. He was so furious at his ruined plans he was throwing all caution to the wind. One way or another he was determined to make sure Daniel and his friends never interfered with his schemes again.
"I was going to have everything I deserved, and now it's all ruined," said Plasmius furiously as he swung another punch, blood starting to fly from Danny's lip as he couldn't defend himself in the cube.
"Ughhhhhh," groaned Danny, feeling like his face was about to split from the pain he was experiencing. He couldn't even bring himself to form the simplest of words right now.
"Oh I'm sorry Daniel, am I hurting you a little too much?" asked Plasmius in a mocking tone. "GOOD."
He swung another punch and connected right with Danny's nose. If he wasn't in his ghost form he would have already been dead from blunt force trauma. But he wasn't sure how much more of this he could take even in his ghost form.
"And don't think you'll be able to get out of this cube as easily as you did the last time," said Plasmius with his eyes narrowed, looking at the speaker where the release button used to be. "After that damn Dairy King interfered at my class reunion I made sure to have Skulker give this one several upgrades. First of all it won't force you back to human form because I want you to feel the pain you deserve for all the trouble you've caused me. There's also no button on the side to simply open it anymore. The bottom is super magnetized, you'd practically need Superman's strength to lift it off. The metal is made of a ghost alloy stronger than titanium and is completely impervious to ghost attacks. Plain and simple, unless I want to let you out, you're not getting out. Only I know the password to unlock it."
Plasmius stood back up with his fists clenched, but this time he put his hand on top of Danny's head.
"Hope you enjoyed your brief reunion with your girlfriend Daniel, because it's the last time you're ever going to see her," said Plasmius as he charged up his ghost stinger through his fingers. This sent painful electric shocks throughout Danny's entire body.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH," shouted Danny in agony, his whole body twitching like a madman but unable to do anything to stop it.
Plasmius ignored his cries of pain and just let the electricity do it's thing.
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Ember had made it back to the main floor and was zooming back through the private study. The only place she hadn't checked yet was back in the lab in the basement. And now that it dawned on her, she realized that's probably where she should have gone in the first place. She mentally smacked herself in the head for not thinking her tactics through better when she rushed back into the mansion.
"They've gotta be down there, it's the only place left," said Ember quietly to herself as she phased through the fireplace, speeding down the stairs and towards the lab again.
As she was nearing the bottom of the stairs she suddenly stopped when she heard a loud scream of someone in pain.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH," came the voice in a distant part of the lab. Ember didn't need to see it to recognize who it was.
"DANNY," shouted Ember in a panic, realizing that Plasmius must be hurting him in some way and she had to stop him.
Ember took off again even faster than she'd been moving moments ago. She flew through the doorway and back into the area she and Danny had been fighting earlier. Not seeing anyone here she kept moving through the lab, not sure where to go but following the loud screams of her boyfriend.
"I'm coming Baby Pop, I'm coming, please hang on," she said desperately as she zoomed through another doorway, the screaming getting louder.
As she rounded a corner and saw a closed door up ahead, the screaming was still getting louder and it sounded like it was coming from just inside. Clenching her fists and not wasting another second, Ember charged right for it ready to slam Plasmius with all her might without hesitation. Once she phased through the door her eyes shot open when she saw what was in front of her. Danny was stuck in some cube and Plasmius was mercilessly torturing him.
"YOU BASTARD," shouted Ember charging right at him without any concern for her own safety.
Plasmius took his hand off Danny's head and looked over to see Ember charging right at him. He figured she'd show up and he'd be ready. But he'd gotten carried away with what he was doing, not realizing he'd lingered for too long in his rage. Once he saw Ember his instinct was to produce a duplicate to take the hit for him. But before he could properly focus his thoughts to do so, Ember had already reached him and tackled him with so much force that the whole lab started to shake. He was slammed into the wall and he swore he could see skulls in the ghost rocker's eyes.
"I'LL KILL YOU, I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU YOU MONSTER," shouted Ember hysterically as she started punching his face without hesitation.
Ember's rage combined with her concern for seeing Danny had taken her emotions to a level she'd never experienced before. It was unknown if ghosts could feel adrenaline, but Ember certainly seemed like she was duped up on it right now. She wasn't even sure she could feel her arm as she punched Plasmius's face again and again and again without letting up, aiming for every single inch of it. Her mind kept hoping his face would cave in like a mold of soft putty.
"If you somehow do survive by the time I'm done with you you're going to wish I had killed you," said Ember as she stopped punching his face and aimed for the center of his gut instead, putting every last bit of force she could into her swing.
"UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH," groaned Plasmius as the wind was completely knocked out of him. He was gasping as he body went completely limp, about to pass out from all the pain he was feeling all over his body.
Ember stopped punching and picked up the completely limber adult halfa by his throat, lifting him up to her eye level and glaring daggers into him. Her hair was once again raging out of control and she seemed to have gotten all her energy back from her overwhelming emotions.
"Any last words before I make you a full ghost, assuming you even become a full ghost afterwards," said Ember squeezing his throat a bit tighter, making him squirm in her clutches.
Plasmius was opening his eyes weakly, barely able to see Ember's face right in front of him. Ember had also knocked out several of his teeth which was very noticeable as he opened his mouth to try to talk. Suddenly the simple task of speaking was incredibly difficult for him.
"I would actually like to say something," said Plasmius looking a bit to his left and smirking a bit again. "Oh Maddie, activate self destruct sequence."
Ember's eyes shot open as she looked where Plasmius was, where out of nowhere a hologram of Danny's mom appeared. This shocked Ember and made her forget what she was doing for a moment since she had no idea something like that was about to appear.
"Of course my sweet hunk of cheese, activating now," said the Maddie program in an affectionate voice with her hands together. "The cube will blow in exactly two minutes."
"WHAT," shouted Ember as she looked behind her at Danny. And sure enough, on the side of the cube where the speaker was, a countdown was now being displayed and started at two minutes. "STOP THAT NOW, STOP THAT TIMER."
Plasmius just smirked into her face weakly with his body feeling broken.
"You better say your goodbyes to your boyfriend princess, because if I go I'm taking him with me," said Plasmius joyfully. "It may not be able to destroy you since you can just go intangible, but little Daniel won't be so lucky. He can't get out of that cube or use his powers in it so once that timer runs out, no more Danny Phantom. You've got about a minute forty five seconds so I suggest you treasure them."
Ember looked over at Danny in a complete panic, no idea whatsoever on what to do. She dropped Plasmius on instinct and rushed to Danny, which is exactly what Plasmius hoped she would do. He actually didn't plan on going down with the explosion as he glanced over to the opposite side the Maddie program had just appeared at. His ghost portal was right there closed at the moment, and all he had to do was go through it to escape. The portal would be destroyed in the blast and he'd be stuck in the ghost zone, but he'd still get away and be able to recover before making his way to the Fenton portal. He started crawling across the room while Ember was distracted trying to save Danny, unable to move very well with all the pain he was in. He was very scared to see what his face must look like right now.
Ember meanwhile was frantically trying anything she could think of to get Danny free.
"Come on come on," said Ember as she tried to lift it. "Ugh, I can't pick it up, it's stuck to the ground."
Danny looked at her eyes, in a great deal of pain himself but wanting to see her clearly right now while he braced for what felt like the end.
"Ember, it's no use, this cube is too strong," said Danny looking down at it. "I can't go intangible, it's impervious to ghost powers, and the metal is too durable."
Ember looked at the timer, which showed that she only had one minute fifteen seconds to figure out what seemed like an impossible task.
"No, no Danny don't you dare say your goodbyes," said Ember angrily as she tried blasting the cube anyway, but her ecto rays didn't have any affect.
All of a sudden at that moment, Kitty phased herself into the room while holding both Sam and Jazz. Tucker also phased into the room on Stripes' back and all of them looked horrified once they saw Danny stuck in the cube.
"What happened, where's Plasmius?" shouted Sam as they all were rushing to Danny and Ember.
Ember had momentarily forgotten about Plasmius as she looked over to where he was, but then saw he wasn't there anymore. She glanced around quickly and spotted him crawling to the other side of the room towards what looked like a portal. She quickly put two and two together and realized he was trying to escape.
"There, he's trying to flee to the ghost zone," she shouted pointing at him.
Plasmius had stood up enough to pull a lever that opened the portal, the green swirling light mere feet in front of him. He heard Ember shout out what he was doing and tried to move quicker to escape.
"Oh no you don't," shouted Ember quickly positioning herself, not wanting to leave Danny's side as the countdown reached one minute. "Everyone brace yourself, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO."
Ember made sure her back was to everyone else as she once again let out he new ghostly wail power. The first time it was spontaneous and erratic, this time she was actually trying to focus it and aim it at Plasmius specifically. Plasmius immediately felt his body and ears cringing uncomfortably as he reached up to cover them, wincing on the ground mere feet from the portal.
Ember kept wailing for a few seconds to subdue him before stopping, pointing towards him while looking at Sam and Tucker.
"Stop him before he gets away," said Ember urgently.
Sam, Tucker, and Kitty all dashed for Plasmius before he could get through the portal. Plasmius had his hand outstretched as he tried to dive for it, but once one of his hands went through he felt something grab his leg preventing him from making it. He looked back and realized Sam had grabbed onto him with her gauntlets and was holding him in place.
"You're not going anywhere you crazed fruit loop," said Sam as she pulled him back and slammed him into the ground. Looking over her shoulder she saw Tucker drawing his rod and held it up like a baseball bat. "Here Tucker, batter up."
Sam flung Plasmius right towards Tucker who was smirking excitedly. Winding up with all his might, he swung the rod as hard as he could and smacked Plasmius right in the back. He was sent flying across the room as if Babe Ruth himself had just clobbered him.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH," shouted Plasmius as he flew across the lab uncontrollably.
He couldn't even see what he was heading towards since it was happening so fast. Unable to even brace himself, he crashed hard into something that was made of glass, causing shards to fly everywhere. But he also felt himself being doused in some kind of liquid that was showering all over him as he hit the ground groaning.
"Uhhhh, what was that," he said weakly looking up, and when he saw what it was his eyes found new strength and shot all the way open. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO."
He had been slammed right into the glass pod that was holding his clone of Daniel. The clone had fallen to the floor and was now melting right before his eyes. The clone opened it's eyes once it hit and looked up at him, raising it's hand in desperation as it started to melt. Since it wasn't fully perfected it wasn't capable of surviving outside the pod yet, and now that it was broken it was melting into a puddle of ecto goo. Plasmius crawled over the melting clone and couldn't do anything at all as his masterpiece faded away into nothing. As he helplessly watched it melt he was forced back to his human form again from taking so much damage, his face looking completely disfigured now from Ember's fist.
Everyone saw the clone melt and froze on the spot. Danny and Ember knew of the clone but hadn't seen it, and the rest of them didn't even know the clone was a thing. Now that they were all seeing it they were a complete mixture of disturbed and horrified. It took a few seconds and the sound of the ticking clock to remind them of the dire situation at hand.
"Crap crap crap, everyone we only have thirty seconds, this cube is about to blow and I can't get Danny out of it," shouted Ember as everyone rushed back to him again.
Danny quickly looked around and was even more worried now that everyone was here.
"No, all of you forget me, you have to get out of here or you'll get caught in the blast," said Danny weakly while looking at both Sam and Tucker.
"Are you kidding me, no way are we leaving you, there's got to be a way," said Tucker looking around for anything, but not seeing anything helpful.
"Please, just leave me, there's only seconds left and I can't get out without knowing whatever the password is," said Danny nodding to the side that had the speaker in it.
Ember and Jazz both looked at the side where the speaker was. All Ember could think of in the moment was maybe she should try to just smash it with her fist instead. She only had about twenty seconds so it was time to go for broke. She raised her fist and was about to punch as hard as she could hoping it would work. But before she could Jazz suddenly grabbed it.
"Wait don't, let me try," said Jazz quickly stepping in front of Ember and leaning down close to the speaker. She was quickly recapping something she saw earlier in the mansion, and how absolutely disturbing it was. "I think I know what it might be and unfortunately it makes me want to vomit."
Jazz took a big gulp and as much as it pained her to say these words, she was hoping to everything that existed she was right. It definitely would line up with the kind of narcissistic psycho that Vlad Masters was.
"Please please please work," said Jazz quietly to herself before opening her eyes wide. "Password, Maddie Masters."
'Password accepted'
Everyone's eyes shot open wide as the computer voice spread throughout the whole room. Everyone besides Vlad looked completely ecstatic as the cube started to retract into it's much smaller state when Plasmius threw it. Danny fell onto his knees once he was free, his face falling flat onto the ground and in so much pain from the beating he'd just taken moments ago, transforming back into his human form. Ember was about to fall down and hug him so happily before she heard another voice that stopped her in place
'Ten seconds remaining', came the voice from the little cube, signaling that it was still about to blow and everyone needed to act fast right away.
Everyone snapped back to look at the cube, their thoughts all racing around like crazy as they quickly tried to recompose themselves.
"Shit, every ghost grab the nearest human and go intangible," said Ember hastily as she picked up the cube, her instincts still kicking in.
She looked towards the hallway that lead away from where they were and chucked it as hard as she could to try to put as much distance between it and all of them as possible. She again looked down and saw that Danny wasn't going intangible, he was barely even conscious and moving. With the cube about to blow everyone quickly grabbed onto each other where they were. Stripes jumped into Tucker's arms, Kitty grabbed Sam's arm, and Ember took hold of both Danny and Jazz. Vlad was still kneeling over the puddle of ecto goo from his melted clone but made himself intangible as well. With everyone now safely protected from the ensuring blast, every eye in the room pinched shut and put their heads down.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
A huge explosion could be heard down the hall as a bright wave of flames came rushing right at them, causing all kinds of equipment to blow or shatter as well once it was hit by the impact. Thanks to the super thick concrete walls of the basement, the entire explosion was completely contained in the lab, but nothing in the lab was going to be functional after this. Nobody was feeling anything thanks to being intangible, but they were still braced for impact anyway and keeping their eyes closed from the bright flash spreading throughout the whole area. After a handful of seconds passed and it seemed like the bright flash had faded, everyone slowly started to open their eyes and look around. There were little fires all over the place and shards of glass spread out on the floor. It was quite a scene of destruction, but thanks to all the ghosts nobody was harmed in any way as they all made themselves solid again.
Ember glanced around and also noticed that the portal had been damaged, but was still mostly intact and working. She then looked down at Danny and saw that he wasn't moving, his face covered in blood and bruises.
"Danny, Baby Pop, please look at me," said Ember as she let go of Jazz to use both her arms to sit him up to face her. All she got in response was a groan.
"Little brother, I swear if you leave me like this I will never forgive you," said Jazz hysterically. "I did not cover for you and keep your secret for so long only to lose you right before we could even talk about it."
Everyone was rushing over to Danny now, careful to avoid the little flames that were all over the place. Sam and Tucker both kneeled down beside Ember to look at his bruised up face for the first time. Kitty was keeping an eye on Plasmius to make sure he didn't try to run again. He looked like he wanted to, but like Danny he could barely move from being in so much pain.
"Danny, look at me, this has been without a doubt the most absurd 24 hours of my entire existence, and I am not about to let you leave me after we got through it still intact," said Ember cupping Danny's face gently. She put a hand against his chest and could feel his heart still beating and that he was still breathing, but both were pretty weak.
"I think he's going to be okay, but he is in really bad shape," said Sam looking him over but still sounding really concerned. "We just need to get him to a hospital as fast as possible so he can get proper medical attention."
Ember nodded her hand in agreement.
"Fine, just give me about two minutes to kill the fruit loop and we'll get going," said Ember as she looked over her shoulder and glared at Vlad again, ready to finish what she was about to do a few minutes ago.
She gently let Jazz take hold of Danny so he wouldn't fall before standing up to do the deed. But before she could she felt something grab her hand. She looked back and saw that it was Danny. His eyes had slightly opened and he was looking at her as if he was pleading.
"Please Ember don't do it, don't be like him," said Danny hopefully.
Ember looked down at him in disbelief. She understood that he was the hero and that wasn't the kind of thing he did, but how could he still possibly want to stop her from doing it after everything Vlad had put them through. Not just today but also in Alabama and back in Amity Park. She looked around the room at everyone else expecting them to side with her, but all their faces actually matched Danny's, indicating they also didn't want her to kill Vlad.
"Oh come on, you're not seriously going to try to stop me from killing him are you?" said Ember loudly with her hands flying wide. "What do you suggest we do? Call the police and have him arrested? What good will that do? He's half ghost, no prison will hold him. If we call the authorities he'll just evade punishment and once he's healed up he'll come back again for revenge. No way, I've had enough of his shit, I'm not bound by hero morals, I'm killing him right now."
Ember turned back towards Vlad after gently pulling her hand out of Danny's and started walking to him. But before she got to him she was once again stopped as two hands suddenly landed on her shoulders. She looked back and saw that Sam and Tucker had each put a hand on her to stop her.
"Ember please listen, you're not the evil ghost that you used to be, please don't do this," said Tucker seriously. "We understand you don't want to be a hero, but you still can't do this, there's always a better way."
"For so long I never thought I'd say anything like this, but you are better than this," said Sam honestly. "I never thought you'd be able to change, but you've proven me wrong already in so many ways today. You're better than him, don't go back to what you were. You're so much better this way."
Ember gritted her teeth as she looked over to Kitty, expecting her of all of them to be on her side. After all they were both ghosts and Kitty had always been the only one to stand by her through all the hard times she'd gone through. But even Kitty had a look on her face that said she agreed with them.
"You've changed Ember, in so many good ways," said Kitty softly. "Don't revert back to the Ember you used to be, the one that loves and listens to Danny is infinitely better."
Ember felt her ghost blood boiling in her body as she contemplated what they were all saying. She looked over at Vlad again who was looking at her with anger, but too weak to transform and fight again. She could see it in his eyes. If she didn't kill him he would be back. How was she supposed to just let that happen?
"Well then what do all of you suggest we do then? Because unless you know of a prison that can hold someone as both a human and ghost I don't see any other option," said Ember with a growl. "And I'm pretty sure if we turn him over to ghost hunting authorities he'll tell everyone about Danny's secret which will have him on the run too."
Everyone looked all over the room at each other, each of them trying to think of a solution that could hold Vlad without killing him. Danny wanted to stand up but was still in too much pain, so instead he just had Jazz help him sit up against the wall. Every inch of his face stung right now and he wished he actually was unconscious so he wouldn't feel it. But he was just going to have to deal with it to make sure his girlfriend didn't do something she couldn't come back from.
"I don't know what we can do, but there is a solution, we just have to really put our heads together to find it," said Danny smiling at Ember.
Ember looked back and forth from Vlad to Danny, her face so conflicted with emotions right now. Her instincts wanted to kill Vlad, but her feelings wanted to listen to Danny because she loved him.
"Ugh this is so annoying, why can't it just be simple for once," said Ember groaning.
Suddenly they all got a big shock as something appeared out of thin air in the middle of the lab. Everyone froze on the spot and stared at it. It looked like some kind of arrow pointing straight up.
"What...what the hell is that thing?" asked Jazz stepping a bit closer to it out of curiosity.
Just as she spoke the arrow started winding in a circle, going all the way around until it was pointing straight up again, forming some kind of blue ghost portal. Everyone leaned a bit closer wondering what was happening and whether something was coming. Everyone out of instinct drew their weapons again and braced for whatever was about to happen, not knowing if this was a good thing or a bad thing. A few seconds passed before they got their answer. Through the portal came a large figure holding some kind of staff. He was wearing a purple cloak of some kind and appeared to have a blue face and a chest that had clock like gears in it. He was definitely a ghost but nobody seemed to recognize him. Everyone looked at each other silently asking if anyone knew who this was, but all anyone could do is shrug.
"Hello humans and ghosts, I think it is time I stepped in and settled this conflict for you. Time does happen to be my specialty after all," said the mysterious figure in a deep voice and smile that screamed authority.
"Who...who are you?" asked Tucker in awe, Stripes right by his feet with her claws exposed ready to attack.
"I am Clockwork, master of time and overseer of the time stream," said Clockwork suddenly changing from a normal age looking ghost to an elderly one with a knee length beard. "I have been observing all of you throughout all of this and it was time for me to step in and finish the matter. There is a plot that has been in motion for quite some time, and I am here now to finish it. And unlike my superiors, I don't just observe, I act."
Everyone's mouths dropped as they just stared at this new ghost in shock, all of them at a loss for words and having about a thousand questions each.
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A/N And that's a wrap on yet another chapter with a new twist thrown in at the end. Clockwork has arrived, but what could he possibly be there for? We only got to see him twice in the show and he was arguably the most unique ghost we ever saw. I knew all along I wanted to bring him into this story, but it had to be at the right time and for the right reasons. I hope everyone will enjoy what I have in store next, I'm definitely going to be getting creative and hoping my ideas are enjoyed by you readers, lol. Only time will tell I guess (wink). Anyway I went through numerous versions of this chapter because I ended up realizing my original idea clashed with stuff I had already done earlier without realizing it, and could also affect my potential sequel idea that I've mapped out. I was originally going to have this be the point where Ember gets her increased power due to her love and feelings for Danny and she'd be able to break Danny out of the cube with her bare hands. But I'd already had that happen both at Skulker's lair and when they were fighting so I couldn't do it again, it would be too repetitive at that point and not nearly as impactfu as the other times. So I had to scrap my original notes and completely redo what happened in the lab with everyone, some of it I just ended up improvising on the spot. I really did consider letting Ember kill Plasmius and did write a version where she did do it. But in the end I decided to not let it happen because I thought what I have in store now works much better. I'm really excited for what's to come with the whole group and Clockwork, and I feel confident I'll be able to have it written and posted in the next couple weeks. Until then I love all of you, I appreciate the support more than I can say, and please remember to REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!