"You should have just led with this," Danny chuckles as he floats.
"Do you ever shut up?" Omega retorts.
Danny growls in response to the sarcastic remark and fires a ghost ray at the younger boy. Like before, the attack just phased through Ben's body.
"That isn't going to work," Ben said with a serious tone.
Ben unleashes his own ghost ray in retaliation. The attack seems to be a luminous shade of azure with tiny electrical arcs bouncing around the interior of the ball. Danny is intrigued by the way the ghost ray is portrayed and wonders what kind of basic power variation it was. Once again, Danny is amazed by the ray's speed as he dodges just in time.
Danny's ghostly senses alert him to impending danger. Looking to his left, the Phantom notices that Ben has successfully teleported into his blind area. He had no time to duck under the kick that was coming at his side. In a matter of seconds, Danny is hurled down to street level; to avoid smashing into the flower shop he just plummeted onto, he turns intangible. Ben appears behind the kneeling adolescent and delivers a powerful kick to the teen's skull. This time, Danny stops the child's foot and gives him a sly smile in return.
"That isn't going to work," Danny mocks.
Ben uses his phasing ability once more, and Danny's hand glides right through the kid's foot. Omega spins into a roundhouse kick aimed at Danny's temple once more. Danny weaves a quick attack and rolls backwards onto one knee, firing a single ghost ray at Omega. This is not a standard ghost ray through; instead, he created a frost ray by employing his ice ability.
A lot of ghost abilities are straightforward science; the ghost ray for example is the result you obtain after honing your Ectoplasm into a small area of your body, providing the density needed for a ghost ray. The process is comparable to that of a star collapsing into a neutron star; for the ghost ray to exit your body, it must be as dense as possible. The denser the ectoplasm, the more powerful your ghost ray will be.
About creating different versions of the ghost ray, that's really fundamental chemistry—combining two separate atoms to cause a reaction. Making a product from one or more substances. All he has to do is conjure up his dense ectoplasm and combine it with his ice power. He now possesses a ghost ray with the characteristics of his ice ability. He'd be lying if he said he learned everything in one night; it took him the greater part of the summer to figure out how to fuse a ghost ray. This previous summer, he gained a greater comprehension of his powers. Not just Jazz was born with the family's intellectual prowess.
As he had intended, Danny sees the frost ray pass straight through Ben. The strike hits a set of glass doors behind the youngster, and the ray's extremely low temperature causes the glass panels to explode, spraying glass fragments everywhere. The blast of glass diverts Ben's attention, causing him to briefly look over his shoulder. Danny seizes the chance to attack, charging forward to tackle the boy with the blue eyes and force him out of the building.
A car swerves to miss the teenage boys as they tumble into the street, filling the ghost's ears with the sound of a horn. Ben smoothly rolls to his feet after kicking the older adolescent off of him. Danny manages to avoid colliding with a brick wall by flipping onto his feet. Danny pulls off a ghost beam from his hip like a character out of a western movie. Ben avoids the attack, leading the attacking beam to collide with a parked car, causing it to burst into flames.
"Smooth move, hero," Ben mocks.
"That was your fault!" Danny snaps.
Danny is becoming more aggravated as the fight progresses. He attributes it to his frustration and stress about the most recent occurrences. He knew in the back of his mind that the adolescent had already coped with difficult weeks, and this one would be no different. Why, then, was he so damn irate? The teenager winces in pain as a familiar headache flares up again. His anger grew as he continued to think about it. He felt as though his life was being squeezed out by an overwhelming sentiment. He was baffled as to the source of these powerful emotions.
Danny was too busy staring at the opponent in front of him to consider the "why" of it. Ben is currently nothing more than a threat to the peace that Danny has battled tooth and nail to attain for nearly four years. Danny experiences a surge of anger similar to what he felt during his battle with Malucard. It's a fury that has been detached from his other feelings.
Danny couldn't believe it was his own thinking that suddenly occurred to him at that very moment. It's a thought distorted by malice and scorn. It was a concept that caused him to rethink his role as a hero. Ben Omega must perish.
Danny's body began moving instinctively before he realized. The Phantom charges at Ben in a blur. Omega's eyes enlarge upon the abrupt acceleration. He narrowly manages to raise his arms in time to deflect Danny's staggering kick to his face, knowing full well that Danny would have easily taken his head off if not for his ghost sense alerting him. His body shakes at the hit, sending shockwaves across his whole body. Ben flinches in agony as the kick sends him hurtling down the street.
In an instant, Danny was above the younger ghost. Ben utilizes his power to shift to dodge Danny's hit to his chest. Where Danny's fist hit the asphalt, there's a crater. Ben soars into the sky after phasing through the furious teenager. It doesn't take Danny long to start after him. They weave around the various structures, traverse under and over bridges, and even zoom past motorists on the highway like a competitive game of tag.
Omega couldn't brush him off his track; Danny followed Ben wherever he went. Ben sails up to the area's highest structure and settles on its rooftop. His face is irritated as he looks up at the floating teenager above him. Ben has no intention of playing hide-and-seek for the rest of the evening. He acknowledges that his initial actions were a tad brazen, but this is getting out of hand. All he wanted to do was protect the older ghost from the problem he had made.
"What's your problem, dude?" Ben calls out to the phantom.
"You."
"Look, I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier."
Danny chuckles darkly, "You think I give a fuck about that?"
"What?" Ben replies with a raised eyebrow.
"You come into my town and wreak havoc upon the people of Amity Park and you think you can just apologize for that?"
Ben is becoming increasingly perplexed by the moment; why is Danny interpreting everything so drastically differently? The details surrounding the incident in the mall are known to him; after all, the ghost boy was there. The phantom's sudden change in behavior, which made Ben feel as though he was speaking to a different person, was unsettling. The guardian of Amity Park had a much darker vibe about him. Ben questions whether he could have offended the adolescent in any way besides picking a fight with him.
"Can we just talk about this for a second?"
"Nah, I'm done talking."
Danny slams down onto the rooftop, instantly collapsing the roof beneath both youths. Ben avoids a piece of debris that Danny threw at him as they started to fall freely. Omega gives the teenager a menacing glance.
"Are you fucking crazy? What if there were people under us?" Ben shouts.
Danny shoots a ghost beam at the younger ghost, "You should be worried about yourself."
Ben clenches his teeth at the purported hero's utter disregard for human life. Danny is tackled out of the building by Omega as he charges ahead, past the ghost beam. A few blocks later, they collide with the street once more. This fight isn't going anywhere, and Danny clearly doesn't want to discuss things. Ben is holding back too, just like Danny. Like a live circuit, electricity starts to flow through Omega's body. Arcs of electricity flash up and down his body, quickly covering him in a blue aura. Even his snowy white hair has a light shade of electric blue.
Danny prepares to punch, but is stopped by Ben, who throws his own punch. Danny screams in agony, feeling lightning coursing through his body for the split second that Ben's fist touched his stomach. Ben dismisses the teenager's cries of agony and delivers another short punch to the stomach. He then follows up with a right hook to the face and a quick but strong uppercut that sends Danny flying down the street and onto his back.
In an attempt to scramble to his feet, Danny chokes on his air—or rather, lack thereof. A moment of lucidity floods his mind, and he looks around to see everyone staring at him in terror. Danny looks up at the brilliant light on the movie theater sign and then back down at the spectators. A familiar redhead among the crowd catches his attention.
"Jazz?" he breathes to himself.
"Had enough yet?" Ben demands as he approaches the teen.
"Wait-"
Ben interrupts Danny with another attack, blowing him away with an electric beam. Danny hits the hood of a parked automobile with a thump after colliding with a lamppost. In order to escape being struck by the electrified ghost ray pointed at the car, Danny rolls off the vehicle and into the street. The lamppost experiences an electrical arc, which leads to the light bulb overheating and blowing apart. As yet another ghost attack on their city occurred, Danny heard the screams of the residents seeking shelter.
Grudgingly, Danny stands up. He couldn't tell if the ringing in his ears was caused by the light exploding or by the raging headache he was experiencing as a result of his attempts to control his emotions. He's engaged in an internal struggle within himself to control this unexplained fury. Even a few minutes earlier seemed far from him; he was having difficulty remembering what had transpired.
"If you won't stop, then I'll make you stop," Ben threatens.
Danny is still experiencing the aftereffects of the electrical attack on his body and finds it difficult to keep his eyes open. As he assumed a defensive position, he could feel his muscles sporadically spasm. His green eyes narrow as Ben gets closer. Omega appeared drastically different from when they first met; Danny wonders if this is a new form or if he is simply seeing things.
"I'll give you credit for taking multiple of my electrified attacks," Ben praises.
Danny sighs, "Gee thanks."
"But I can't guarantee you will take another one."
With a powerful surge of energy, Ben raises his palm to strike Danny, his fingers sizzling with blue electrical lines. The younger adolescent's hand produces a luminous ball that is whirling with lethal current. The shifting magnetism causes Danny's hair to start whipping around, and he can feel his body being somewhat drawn toward the fluorescent blue ball.
"Leave him alone!" a voice calls from behind Ben.
Ben turns to look behind him and notices a gorgeous young woman who oddly resembles Danny Phantom. She also assumes the appearance of a ghost, and Ben clenches his jaw at the thought of yet more danger.
"Dani, no! Stay back!" Danny shouts at the girl. "He's dangerous!"
"I'm not going to let you get hurt again," she retorts with a determined look on her face.
An additional woman, older and with red hair, appears and positions herself in front of Dani, her arms extended. Ben had never been so bewildered in his life. There was nothing ghostly about this new woman. What connection did these individuals have to Danny Phantom, and who were they?
"I'm not going to let you hurt my little siblings!" Jazz calls out to Ben.
"Danny, who are these people?" Ben questions.
"T-they're my family," he huffs with a wince. "Please, I'm begging you, don't hurt them."
Hurt? Why is the person who didn't give a shit about collapsing a rooftop on innocent people pleading him not to hurt these people, as if Ben was ever the bad man in the situation? Ben didn't understand the older teen's change in perspective, but it didn't matter right now—for now, all that matters to him is that Danny appears to have finally softened. The fight is concluded with minimal damage. Ben lowers his hand and fixes Danny with a stern look.
"Stay out of my business," Ben said in all seriousness. "Final warning."
Danny collapses to his knees in relief as he sees the kid vanish into nothingness. Ben's mercy has made him extremely appreciative. Jazz and Dani race to Danny's aid to assist in getting to his feet.
"Thank God, both of you are safe," Danny mumbles before finally slipping into a long awaited and well deserved slumber.