PHANTOM FORCE, Goin' Ghost Retold

by DarkShadowGames451

DP AU! Mass X-over! It's been a year since the accident, and Daniel Fenton has found a balance between his teenage life and secret life as a superpowered ghost hunter with the help of his older sister. But he will face new challenges and greater threats with new friends and allies while discovering his destiny as a liminal halfa. But will it all be enough to save the world?

6. Vol 2, Issue 4

Market District, Amity Park

Mason was dropped off at the market district by Pacifica's limo driver after returning from the local mall. This was after he split off from Valerie, who changed into the Ghost Huntress to patrol the city on Phantom's behalf, and Pacifica, who had to go home.

Mason got a call from his father, who checked in weekly to see how he was doing.

"So, I take it that everything's been dandy over at the midwest, right?"

"Yeah, Dad. Grunkle Ford's new job is going well, I've met a good friend and made a new friend, and the school life's overall decent." Mason chirped.

"Good, good. I hope you're getting an allowance." Mr. Pines stated over the phone.

"Dad, I work at his repair store from Friday-Sunday. I'm basically an employee." Mason said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh! Look at you, working man!" Mr. Pines chuckled. "Your mom and I are proud of you, Mason."

A small grin sprouted from Mason's face as he said, "Gee, thanks Dad. Say, how's Mabel doing?"

"She's…" Mr. Pines struggled to answer positively. "...Well, she's still adjusting."

Mason sighed, saying, "But it's been over a year. Mabel should have bounced back by now."

"Son, it hasn't been the same since you left." Mr. Pines tried explaining. "Your sister hasn't been the same. She's come withdrawn from her peers and isn't as confident as before."

"What!? But she's Mabel!" Mason exclaimed. "I know everybody's not going to rub shoulders with her personality, but she's a social butterfly."

"I know, but that changed. I don't know if its because you two are twins or if its a sibling thing in general, but the two of you were always joined at the hip-"

'Understatement of my lifetime,' Mason thought to himself.

"-But your mother and I think that the thought of you two splitting up never crossed her mind. And since she was so used to you being there with her…"

"Mabel's having a hard time without me," Mason groaned, feeling the guilt eating at him. "Dang…"

"Don't beat yourself up about it, Sport. It was going to happen eventually, we just didn't think it would be so soon. On the bright side, Waddles has kept her company." Mr. Pines brought up.

"Still not sure if that constitutes socializing." Mason said with a deadpan expression. "Did she make any friends?"

"There was those girls, Brenda and Candy-"

"I meant friends at high school, Dad. Not her summertime friends." Mason clarified.

Mr. Pines sighed from the other line and said, "It's like I said, Mason. Mabel hasn't been the same."

"...Maybe I should give her a call-"

"NO!" Mr. Pines shouted, causing the boy to wince in pain at the sheer volume which prompted him to move the phone away from his right ear briefly.

"...I mean, it's best to give your sister some time, Son." Mr. Pines advised sagely. "You didn't exactly leave home on the best terms with her."

"I know, Dad." Mason nodded weakly. "I know. …Just let her know that I think about her, and that I love her. Okay?"

"Alright, kiddo. Stay out of trouble, you hear?"

"Yes, Sir. Love you, Dad." Mason said before hanging up and sighing. "I didn't know it got to her that much, but I guess she's still pissed…and depressed. Way to go, Pines."

While surveying her his previous calls, Mason thought aloud, "I hope Danny and Gray are alright."

As Mason went home, the brunette passed Mr. Meat's butchery shop and was about to pass Skulk and Lurk Books, the local goth hangout and book store that held all things weird and dark.

"Oh, cool! Maybe that has some books that I can add to the website and the Phantom Files," Mason said as he approached the building.

Just as he did so, Mason watched Sam Manson exiting Skulk and Lurk Books with a novel titled Goth's Guide to Mythology in her hands. Noticing this, Mason decided to approach her while shoving aside all negative thoughts regarding her past as a means to make a new friend.

"Hey! Is that you, Sam?" Mason spoke, getting Sam's attention.

The goth's head perked up to see one of the new students from her homeroom approaching her. She was conflicted, to say the least. On one hand, she utterly detested that one of Fenton's replacement friends was bothering her, but on the other hand, Mason did give her the chance that awakened her love for ghost hunting.

"I don't know, do you know any other goths named Sam your age that live here?" Sam dryly heckled.

Mason anticipated the standoffish nature of the rich goth, having heard of her personality from Danny already. The boy rubbed the back of his neck and awkwardly laughed.

"...Right, of course," Mason said before noticing her book. "Huh. I didn't peg you for a mythology buff."

Sam peered at Mason from his shoes and to the top of his head with a blank expression.

"How could you? We never interact outside of school." Sam pointed out.

"Well, maybe we can get to know each other better," Mason suggested. "You know, as friends?"

Sam felt her anger flare up at the sentence as the dagger of jealousy pierced deep within her heart. Not only did his supposed girlfriend outed her business to the public which made it hard for her to be left alone by suck-ups, now this guy was offering friendship to her after stealing him away and interfering with their affairs.

The nerve of this guy.

Even so, now was not the time or place to explode. And he certainly wasn't worth Sam's time.

Sam turned away and asked, "Shouldn't you be hanging out with your friends, Pines? Or tend to your girlfriend?"

"I already hung out with some friends after school, but we had to split up for the day." Mason explained.

"...Okay?" Sam snorted. "And? What does that have to do with…this?"

"Well, my Great Uncle's been encouraging me to make new friends, and we appear to have similar interests with all the dark and weird stuff so…" Mason said, trying to get her to think about his request.

Sam sighed, recognizing his points but inwardly cursed the boy's persistence.

"Okay. Let me give you an answer in a way that you can understand." Sam said, wanting the guy to leave her alone. "No. I don't want to know you. And frankly, I don't like you. So fuck off."

Mason would normally be offended by the goth's rudeness, but he at least respected her honesty. So, he shrugged.

"...Fair enough. At least I tried." Mason sighed before walking ahead of the goth girl. "Thanks anyway, I guess."

But before Sam could go back to walking home herself, a thought passed through her mind. Back when Phantom fought Skulker with the Ghost Huntress and Ember McLain. Mason had his hands on Fenton tech.

'...Wait! How the hell did he get his hands on Fenton tech if it's illegal for minors to hunt ghosts!?' Sam pondered.

The curiosity ate her up inside, and the sensation proved to be too much to handle. And so, she called to the boy.

"Hey, Pines!" Sam said, jogging up to him.

Mason turned around and sarcastically asked, "How can I help you, Manson?"

"The anti-ghost tech you lent us that day. Where did you get it?" Sam questioned.

Inwardly, Mason smirked as he thought, '...Ha. She's got that look I had back when I first went to Gravity Falls.'

"Curious, are we?" Mason said while raising an eyebrow. "What's with the sudden interest, my not-friend?"

"Are you going to tell me or not?" Sam inquired with a frown.

"It's really none of your business, Manson." The younger Pines twin frowned. "But if it makes you feel any better, they belong to my Great Uncle."

"You do know that it's illegal to practice ghost hunting, let alone carry equipment as a minor, right?" Sam pointed out.

"Yes, and I know, and as a pot, it's an oxymoron to not call you black, kettle," Mason sarcastically quipped. "And since when do you, of all people, care about the law?"

"Excuse me? What do you mean by me of all people?" Sam retorted, narrowing her eyes and placing a free hand on her hip. "Quit acting like you know everything! You don't know a thing about me!"

"...Sam, I've known Danny for about two years now. So, I've heard, seen, and know enough to understand how you operate." Mason said, blankly staring into Sam's amethyst eyes. "And you're the type to do things based on your moral compass, authority figures be damned."

Sam scoffed at this with a harsh expression and said, "Oh, so he's been keeping secret friends on the side, huh? Some fucking best friend he is! Asshole!"

'...God, is that what I was going to turn out like if I never got over Wendy? Man, she sounds worse than Robbie!' Mason inwardly cringed.

"...Oh. So that's what this is about." Mason said with a tired sigh.

"What are you talking about, Pines?" Sam questioned.

"You know damn well who we're talking about, Manson." Mason stated, taking a stern tone. "This is about you and Danny."

"...I'm not doing this with you." Sam said, refusing to partake in an argument with the new kid of all people.

"Well, too bad! Because I'm making it your problem because you approached me!" Mason exclaimed as he glared at Sam. "Do you have any idea what you're doing to that guy? Everyday, he's hurting because of you and your petty little grudge!"

"Petty!?" Sam screamed, no longer being able to contain her fury as she marched up to Mason. "Who the fuck are you to call my feelings, petty?! I'm not a very social person, Pines! I don't like people and people can't stand me! But do you have any idea what it's like to be that way, and harbor feelings for someone you like!? To throw signals at a clueless moron that you've been friends with for years!? Do you know what it's like to having to hide how you feel about that person, only for them to go for the wrong fucking person who was only using them!? Do you know what it's like to finally muster up the courage to confess in front of everyone, only to get your heart ripped out!? DO YOU!?"

"SHUT UP!" Mason bellowed back, causing Sam to stagger back at the explosive temper of the younger Pines twin.

Now, glaring at Sam with his own fury, Mason said, "I don't feel sorry for you, Manson. And I refuse to. Want to know why? Because you are a self-centered bitch who thinks nobody understands because you're goth, you're edgy! Nobody could possibly understand you! Well, guess what! THIS ISN'T YOUR WORLD! We all go through similar shit!"

"Fuck you! You have a girlfriend, you wouldn't under-"

"-I DO UNDERSTAND!" Mason said, throwing his hands in the air. "I crushed on a girl I met in the summer three years ago and did everything I could to win her over. But that went to shit and I was turned down! Didn't get the chance to confess because she heard me mumbling my feelings! Every. Fucking. Time."

Sam was taken aback by this confession.

"...And it didn't work out?" Sam questioned, genuinely shocked.

"She was fifteen, and I was twelve. It was never going to work out between us and I understood that back then," Mason sighed as he glared at her. "But not once did I hold it against her and to this day, she and another guy I met are still my best friends in the whole world."

"But aren't Fenton and Gray your best friends?" Sam questioned with a frown.

"Their names are Danny and Valerie, Manson!" Mason harshly corrected. "And no. They are not my best friends, they are my new friends while I'm living here. I'm close to them, but I already have best friends. Just as Danny considers you and that Tucker guy as his best friends."

"Like I believe that!" Sam said in denial.

"That's not my problem!" Mason scoffed. "Other than ghost-related stuff and school, you and Tucker are all he ever talks about."

This revelation left Sam silent, unable to process what she's recently learnt.

Mason turned his back on Sam and said, "...You know what, you're right. Maybe we shouldn't be friends. Some parts of you remind me of two guys in Gravity Falls that I can't stand and there are other parts of you that remind me of my past self that I feel like strangling. So let's tolerate each other at school and see each other never."

Just before Mason left, Sam called out to him once more.

"Wait!"

"...What do you want now?" Mason groaned. "If you want to apologize, you know who to go to."

"I need to know something," Sam stated, now with a quieter voice than before. "Where did Phantom get a Fenton Thermos? I know the one that you found couldn't have been yours."

'...Damn, she's smart when wants to be!' Mason groaned.

Outwardly, Mason shrugged off and walked away, saying, "...I don't know. Maybe someone that lives in Fenton Works who has access to their gear gave one to him. You figure it out."

He stopped one last time to face Sam and said, "Oh, Danny doesn't like you that way. Get over it."

With that, Mason left Sam by the bookstore, lost in thought while she desperately trying to push the anger and bitterness deep inside. But from the teenage angst, Sam had received a shocking discovery.

"...Has Jazz and Danny been helping Phantom?" Sam gasped.

---

Final Chamber, Pyramid of Madness

The trio that made up (Danny) Phantom, Carl Tennyson, and Gwen Tennyson did not know what to expect at the top of the so-called Pyramid of Madness Freakshow created. But now, they had a vision as to what Freakshow described as the last stage.

They stood in an Egyptian themed temple amusement park, where behind them were structures of an open theater filled with Egyptian themed freaks and clowns. Behind that was a giant coaster track with perilous twists and turns with the end having a giant Ammit goddess made of stone.

"...Dear God," Carl whispered.

"What is that thing?" Phantom questioned, pointing to the Ammit statue.

"That's a devourer monster in Egyptian myth." Gwen explained. "Bad people's hearts get eaten if they are too wicked to go to the traditional afterlife."

"I don't like the sound of that." Phantom muttered.

Suddenly, magical snakes appeared and constricted themselves around the trio before being levitated and dragged up. When being brought up away from the amusement park and up to an open temple, they were dropped at the throne room where a small stairway led to the throne of Freakshow.

But instead of wearing the garbs of a ringmaster, he was shirtless with a board collared necklace made of beads with his Bezel Charm of Luck at the center, wearing a black linen trousers, golden bands with black ankhs on them, brown sandals, and donned a Set-themed face mask with a dark red headdress while holding the Scarab Scepter.

"Welcome to my ever expanding domain!" The masked humans stated.

"Freakshow?" Phantom called to the man, "Is that you?"

"Freakshow was my name as a mere mortal." The ringmaster stated. "But now, I am a king. A living god amongst all! Pharaoh of the Immortal Chaos! King Khaldun-Set!"

'Geez, the scepter is making him go crazy!' Gwen concluded as the three struggled to free themselves from the magic snakes.

"Congratulations for making it to the top chamber." Freakshow, now as Khaldun-Set, complimented in a mocking manner. "I'm sure it was quite a challenge for you three, but my audience and I enjoyed the entertainment."

With a wave of the Scarab Scepter, Phantom, Carl, and Gwen watched the open theater through a mirror constructed. The conjured freaks were cheering, raving for more content projected by their king with their own larger mirror.

Freakshow, noticing Phantom's Thermos, was reminded of what he lacked. His queen and goddess.

"Now, I shall take back what belongs to me." Khaldun-Set spoke with a regal air to him.

"What?" Phantom uttered in confusion.

"Revenu, mia amata spirito." The masked Freakshow chanted, prompting Lydia to reappear from the Fenton Thermos, shocking the trio.

Lydia, in the image of Set's wife, took her place beside her beloved with all of her tattoos covering her body.

"That's the spell he used when he took the scepter!" Gwen pointed out.

"How did you do that!?" Phantom demanded. "She was already caught in the thermos!"

"This is my domain, Ghost Child. In here, I control all!" Khaldun-Set, or Freakshow, exclaimed.

"I don't care what you can do or whatever you call yourself!" Carl shouted. "Where the hell is my son and the class!?"

With the snap of Freakshow's fingers, a large cage appeared, suspended in mid-air. This carried Ben, Ms. Carol, the remaining fourth graders from Madison Elementary, Tracey, and the rest of the museum staffers.

"Dad! Gwen!" Ben said, holding the bars of the locked cage.

"BEN!" Carl and Gwen shouted, happy to see that their loved ones was safe and sound.

Their joyous reunion was cut short by Freakshow making the cage vanished, crushing the other Tennysons.

"NO! BEN!" Carl screamed, calling for his son to come back.

"Hey! You said if they did what you wanted that they would see their loved one alive!" Phantom reminded Freakshow.

"I did. And there he was, alive…for NOW!" Khaldun-Set cackled before laughing at the other humans' faces.

This angered Phantom as he glowing green eyes radiated. He glared at his foe with a look that could kill.

"Bring them back, now!" Phantom barked.

"You insolent brat!" Khaldun-Set spat as he held the Scarab Scepter toward his direction. "I shall put you in your place!"

With the wave of the magic item, Carl and Gwen disappeared.

"Gwen! Mr. Tennyson!" Phantom cried with urgency and worry before turning to the self-proclaimed pharaoh. "What did you do to them!?"

Lydia directed Phantom's attention to the magic mirror. There, it showed the rollercoaster sign that titled it, "Coaster of Judgement" with a depiction of the "weighing of the heart". It then cut to an empty Scarab Beetle themed cart with everybody in it. This included the kids that were "saved", the rest of the fourth grades, Gwen, a disarmed Carl, Ben, Ms. Carol, the museum staff, and Tracey. They were all locked in and bond to the handlebar as the stone structure of Ammit came to life and awaited to devour them, causing them to shout an terror

Phantom gasped, seeing that all of his hard labor was for nothing.

The snow white haired ghost boy growled and told Freakshow, "...You tricked me!"

"Did you honestly think I'd let my captive audience be freed?" Khaldun-Set mockingly questioned. "My subjects?"

"They are not your playthings! And I won't let you continue with this mess!" Phantom stated, standing on his legs despite the snake binding him.

"...You still don't get it," Freakshow frowned as he held his Scarab Scepter in the air. "Let me show you a taste…of a king's power!"

With the power of the Scarab Scepter, Freakshow fired a light blue beam of mana into space. He purposely targeted a satellite owned by Axion Labs and broadcasted the final stage on every radio and TV in Amity Park.

"Now, that we have a wider audience, let's set the stakes." The so-called Pharaoh eagerly announced.

Then, with a snap of his fingers, Kaldun-Set sent Lydia, sporting the likeness of a gothic Nephthys to pull the lever in the control area. When pulled, she started the dreadful rollercoaster, prompting for the hostages to shout for their lives.

"...And course it wouldn't be much drama without giving you a sporting chance." Freakshow stated, using his Scarab Scepter to free Phantom. "...Now, go on. Do what you do best, you little hero, you!"

With his obsession kicking in at full drive, Phantom flew toward the coaster's direction with determination in his eyes.

"AT LAST! The odds are in my favor!" Freakshow stated as he stood up and flew to the amphitheater with his queen trialing behind them.

---

Downtown Amity Park

The Ghost Huntress, secretly Valerie Gray, had been pretty busy for the last hour and a half.

Throughout her patrol, she had battled and captured the annoying Klemper, Spectra, a spirit of a dire wolf, and several miscellaneous ghosts that was haunting the district with her Axion Labs brand Fenton Thermos.

Of course, she knew that once she was done sweeping out the area of malicious ghosts that she would have to escape the authorities and hide using her cloaking device. That's how it's been since she started her ghost hunting career.

After the huntress was done with her task, the girl began to fly back while reporting her finds to her father.

"Hey, Dad. I got the last ghost. Now downtown is clear," The Ghost Huntress said while using her interface to talk to her father with her voice modulator down.

"That's my girl!" Damon Gray cheered. "Keeping up the good work just like your old man!'

"Daddy…" The black-and-red-suit-wearing girl whined before recalling her reason for calling. "...Hey, did you hear from DJ yet?"

"No, not yet. His cell went down as soon as he entered the pyramid." Damon answered grimly.

The huntress huffed, both frustrated at the situation and worried about her friend.

"...Dammit! I knew I should have gone there with him!" The Ghost Huntress growled.

"Language, Young Lady." The scientist lightly scolded. "And I'm glad you didn't. We don't know how dangerous it is there. But if anybody could handle what lies there, its Phantom."

"I know, Dad. But I'm worried something might happen," The Ghost Huntress confessed. "Half-ghost or not, he's still hu-"

Before the huntress could finish her sentence, she stopped her hoverboard when she noticed a large screen from an advertisement television building projecting the newly dressed Freakshow and Lydia, who had hijacked the broadcast.

"...Ladies and Gentlemen, children and freaks off all ages! Lend me your eyes and ears, for the new, improved, and godly ringmaster is back!"

"...Freakshow?" The daughter of Damon Gray gasped.

---

Fenton Works, Amity Park

Jasmine Colleen Fenton sat against the table, studying for an upcoming test this week while the television was on as white noise. She seemed to be hyper-focused on the task, only for her wandering eyes to find something horrifying when detecting a voice she hadn't heard in a year.

"...Yes! I was once the showman of the Circus Gothica, but now I have ascended to living godhood. And as your future king, you may refer to me as the Immortal Chaos, Khaldun-Set!" The ringmaster stated.

"...You've got to be kidding me!" Jazz groaned. "He's back?"

---

Floody Waters, Amity Park

Within the parking lot of a local aquatic-themed amusement park, an old rusted motor home (RV) was parked.

Max Tennyson was sitting in the kitchen and watching television, wearing his casual clothes. As he tuned in to the local Amity Park channels, he found the broadcast that showed Freakshow, in his Khaldun-Set garb.

The ringmaster morphed the top of the Scarab Scepter into a microphone to speak to it.

"May I direct your attention to the center ring where the controversial vigilante, Danny Phantom, will attempt to rescue the local staffers and a visiting elementary school class from Bellwood, Michigan from a ghastly doom of my own creation!" Khaldun-Set announced like the prideful showman that he was.

The elderly wielder of the Omnitrix felt his heart stop, recalling a field trip that his grandchildren were talking about a couple of days prior to visiting Amity Park.

"...No!" Max whispered.

The man pressed the side but turned his watch's gray face dial green. "Omnitrix, commence Emergency Plumber Family Sweep Protocol. Code 10."

"Protocol, locked. Command Code, required." A youthful but digital male voice from the watch stated.

"Command Code: 0-0-0-Locate-0."

"...Command Code, accepted. Please, specify targets." The watch questioned.

"Member-04, Tennyson Gwendolyn C, Locate. Member-05, Tennyson Benjamin K, Locate. Code 10."

"Command Code, accessed. Locating Members 04-05."

The gray, black, and white watch's green hourglass then projected a hologram of a map that showed Amity Park from his position to the locations of his grandchildren through their biometrics. Both were pinpointed to the same coordinates; the Amity Park Museum.

Max narrowed his eyes and spoke to his watch while accessing vocal command.

"Omnitrix, access Classic Playlist. Transformation Item #4. Codename: Velocity." Max firmly commanded.

Within the inside of the RV, a green light flashed. The RV's front door opened and closed as a black, white, and blue blurry figure ran towards the direction of the Pyramid of Madness, leaving a trail of dust behind.

---

Nasty Burger, Amity Park

After school, the A-Listers decided to go to one of the local hangouts to discuss plans for the upcoming weekend. Since the Casper High's football season had started, the jocks (like Dash, Kwan, and Dale) had plans to celebrate their first victory against a rival school from another district.

The cheerleaders and popular girls (like Star and Paulina) were busy making small talk regarding the latest fashion trends, upcoming parties, and gossip.

However, everybody's attention shifted to the television when they saw Freakshow's broadcast.

When hearing Freakshow for the first time, Kwan asked, "Hey! That guy sounds like the dude from last year! You know, from the creep circus ad?"

"You mean the old freak that the adults were protesting?" Dash recalled.

"That can't be right." Star denied. "Wasn't he, like, locked up for robbing banks and stuff?"

Paulina then hushed her clique as Freakshow continued to prattle on when he mentioned his new name until Phantom was brought up and shown on television.

The latina squealed before saying, " Inviso-bill! Mi vida, mi corazón!"

"I thought he called him Phantom." Dale mentioned.

"I heard the circus reject call him Danny." Star retored.

"Who cares what he's called! Freakshow's finished!" Dash cheered. "If there's anybody that can save the kids and put that nutjob in his place, its the ghost kid!"

"...Now watch as the ghost boy embark on his most perilous trial yet, courtesy of King of Immortal Chaos!" Khaldun-Set exclaimed on TV.

While the rest A-Listers and some of the other young students that were watching the television eagerly for some action and justice to be served, Paulina placed her hands on her face and sighed out of longing.

"Go get 'em, mi heroico Danny Fantasma~." Paulina whispered.

---

Final Chamber, Pyramid Of Madness

The chase to save the civilians was on. And Phantom, now announced as Danny Phantom by Freakshow, was hot in pursuit. Within thirty seconds, the ghost boy managed to catch up to the coaster and tried to stop it by standing on the track itself and stopping it.

However, before he could do that, he was caught by the talons of a gryphon who held him by the shoulders. Suddenly, two more griffins flew in front of him and pelted the ghost boy with fire. After that, he was sent sprawling to the ground, causing the Egyptian-themed audience to cheer at the chaos they witnessed.

"Yes! Rejoice, as your living god king's power can conjure up even the mightiest of beasts!" Khaldun-Set exclaimed. "Including my very own Tesh-tesh!"

The conjured Egyptian freaks gave them a rowdy round of applause, with Freakshow soaking in the praise with a face filled with catharsis and euphoria.

'...Ah~! I could get used to this!' Freakshow stated, holding out his arms and basking

Danny Phantom got up, with the sounds the worrisome cries ringing in his ears. This invigorated the halfa to try again. But instead of working harder, he took the smart approach.

The ghost boy created three clones of themselves to face the Egyptian griffins, or the Tesh-tesh, while the real him continued his pursuit to save the captured kids, adults, and museum staffers.

Within a few well-placed hits of their ectoplasmic charged fists, the Tesh-tesh was taken down and vanished in a matter of seconds by Phantom clones One through Three.

From there, Phantom had to stop two large car-sized hammers from crushing the car. He did so by punching both hammerheads with his bare hands, catching the audience and Madison. The next perilous obstacle Danny had to overcome for the captives was the killer jack in the box with a clown head that spewed fire.

Before everybody could get roasted alive, Phantom flew in front of them and formed a flat circular disk to block out the flames from touching anyone trapped in the car.

Khaldun-Set heard his audience cheer at the thrilling stakes of the spectacle but felt that the Phantom of Amity Park was stealing his thunder.

"I will NOT be upstaged by ghosts! And especially not to the likes of him." Freakshow whispered.

Waving his Scarab Scepter, the self proclaimed Pharaoh summoned a flock of falcon-headed Tesh-tesh to deal with Phantom.

About a horde of eight of them managed to swarm and gang up on Phantom mid air while catching their bodies aflame. This created a sealed barrier that prevented the ghost kid from reaching the cart.

Phantom screamed in pain while also feeling the suffocating sensation of being held down by the Tesh-tesh. He kept repeating the phrase "Get off of me" four times. Seeing the chance of rescuing everybody slip away, a cooling sensation manifested in the form of a light blue aura which was matched by a light blue hue overlaying his glowing green eyes.

"I s-said…get…OFF!" Danny Phantom shouted, subconsciously unleashing a wave of ecto-plasmic ice that froze the entire flock of Tesh-tesh, then shattered it.

With that, Phantom flew toward the scarab themed coaster, which was near the stone beast, Ammit. The beast opened her jaw, revealing to be a black abyss with reddish wisps that screamed in pain and agony as flashes of red fire were shown down the beast's gullet.

The cart was barely within Ammit's reach, when suddenly its movements began to halt. The unwilling passengers within the cart looked around to see what had stopped them, and soon enough they looked underneath the cart, seeing Danny Phantom lifting the cart up from the back, stopping it from driving into the beast's jaws.

"I've gotcha!" Danny Phantom gritted through his teeth, using every ounce of physical strength his spectral body possessed to keep the cart from moving.

Many of the children's minds about the Phantom when they watched him save everybody. This didn't cause the Madison Elementary class to reevaluate their views about Phantom, but the native staffers of the museum, given their nonexistent opinion/negative bias towards Amity Park's most infamous ghost.

Danny Phantom then formed two clones while he gently placed the cart in a safe distance away from the stone Ammit. With the joint power of the clones combined, Phantom formed a gigantic ball of ecto-energy and fired it at the beast before reemerging back to its original. Ammit consumed it, but the sheer mass of this was too much, prompting the beast's stone skin to crack with green light shining through it. In a matter of seconds, the stone Ammit combusted.

It was a good thing Phantom created a ghost shield in the shape of a dome, protecting the rescued humans.

He turned to them and said to them, "Phew! That was a close call."

The ghost boy then noticed that the captive civilians were stuck in their seats, then touched the surface of the coaster, which made everyone there become intangible.

Phantom went to ask if everybody was alright, the kids surrounded him and showered him with praise. For the ghost kid, it was a bit overwhelming as he wasn't used to being praised. But he was met with a round of applause by the workers in the museum and a pat on the back from Carl.

This was when the freaks wearing Egyptian clothing also cheered for the superhero's successful rescue, thoroughly entertained and yearned to see more action from his end.

Phantom smiled and waved at the crowd, which proved to anger the ringmaster.

The snow white haired boy then felt his Ghost Sense go off. Lydia, in her Nephthys getup, immediately swallowed the rescued civilians using her swarm of animated bat tattoos. Phantom watched as they were transported and placed at the lower stands of the arena before they were chained down.

"NO!" Phantom shouted before getting knocked at the back of the head, sprawling onto the dirty.

Phantom turned around only to find Freakshow floating above him, holding the Scarab Scepter with a scowl under his masked face.

"You don't get to leave this place with a smile, Ghost Child!" Khaldun-Set snarled.

Phantom had to dodge a magical blast by rolling away, only crouch and ascend to the air once more. The hero fired an ecto ray as a response, but Freakshow erected a magical force field that reflected the attack and sent it back at Phantom.

The ghost boy reeled back in pain as he and the rest of the witnesses watched as Khaldun-Set was covered in a blue light.

"I've spent years suffering in silence by the ignorance of the common man, and because of the likes of you, my life long ambitions were squandered!" The masked human said before sand with microscopic particles of metal rose from the ground and engulfed.

With the Scarab Scepters power, Freakshow had transformed. In his place was a twenty foot tall avatar composed of sand and pieces of metal. The avatar invoked likeness of the Egyptian deity, Set, while resting on top of the headdress was the Scarab Scepter.

"WITH THIS POWER," Khaldun-Set (Freakshow) spoke, in the newly assumed sand avatar spoke in a booming voice. "I WILL PROVE MY CLAIM TO THE WORLD AND SPIRITS BY BEING THE FIRST HUMAN TO DESTROY A GHOST!"

Everyone, Phantom and Lydia included, were shocked at this declaration, which was followed by a lunge from Freakshow's new avatar.

---

Pyramid Of Madness, Amity Park

In blur, a black, blue, and white anthropomorphic lizard on black wheel-shaped marbles appeared in an alleyway, hiding behind a dumpster while the street he was at was next to the floating pyramid.

This was Max Tennyson, but in a different form entirely.

The form that Max assumed was tall and slender in form with a bit of a muscular build. He had black orbs on his feet, a black tail with three white stripes that was shared with his arms and legs, and bulky claws on his three fingers that could only open and close. He wore a black cone-like helmet with a protective visor that slid over his face. The lizard had long sleeves with pairs of stripes under the shoulders and had an arrow-shaped symbol on his lower torso. At the center of his chest was the coupled faceplate of the Omnitrix.

The Plumbers know of this transformation by its code name, Velocity.

Agent Legion, now Velocity, noticed that the area where the museum used to be located were swarming with police cars and littered with officers all across the premises. However, the barrier made it impossible for anyone to come in close contact with the floating structure.

"A force field?" Velocity verbalized before opening the mask which revealed his green eyes, blue face, and black marked lips. "Omnitrix, could you detect the nature of its energy?"

"Scanning…Scanning complete." The Omnitrix's AI answered. "Conclusion; force field is of magical origin."

"Magic, huh?" Velocity pondered out loud. "This will be tricky…"

Suddenly, above the sky dark clouds gather from the sky, obscuring the sun from everybody's view.

"...On second thought, I may have an idea." Velocity said before he lightly tapped the coupled Omnitrix.

As a green flash filled the alleyway, an invisible figure flew up in the air until he was out of any possible person's sight. When he appeared again, Max revealed himself to be a different being from Velocity.

Instead of being an anthropomorphic lizard, he resembled a ghost-like entity. The spooky form was gray-purple and had black lines across his chest. His head resembled a grey-brown skull turned upside-down, which had uneven teeth, black lips, and one purple eye. He had long black nails, and there were some tears in his skin, which could reveal black and white striped tentacles underneath if opened. On his lower left chest was the Omnitrix faceplated.

This was another one of Agent Legion's transformations of his original set of ten, Séance.

"Let's see if this works…" The ghost-eque Séance stated as he opened up his chest and let his tentacles try and absorb the mana of the force field. "Bon Appetit."

The ghost-like entity started the process of draining the force field Freakshow conjured using the Scarab Scepter. And while it seemed like it was working, Séance was suddenly sent back by a shockwave of mana that injured him.

The being hissed in pain, then said, "NO! NO! I don't understand! What happened!?"

Suddenly, the being heard a sequence of beeping that he hadn't heard in at least fifteen years. It was the warning sound of the Omnitrix timing out. He quickly had to fly back to the alleyway and hid at the same alleyway before he reverted back to human form in a red flash of light.

From there, Max urgently checked his watch and noticed that its green color then turned a bright red, indicating it was on recharge mode.

"DAMN IT!" The man swore as he punched the wall. "Why!? Out of all times, why does it have to time out now!?"

Max sighed as the helpless grandfather prayed for the safety of his grandchildren.

---

Pyramid of Madness, Amity Park

Saying that Phantom had a difficult time would be an understatement. No, he was struggling fighting Freakshow (or Khaldun-Set) as he was right now. The captives knew this to be true as they watched their every movement.

As in his giant sand/metal avatar form and within an area filled with sand as its foundation, he was at a clear disadvantage against Freakshow. On a constant basis, Phantom found himself airborne, dodging and invading spikes of metal laced tendrils of sand being manipulated by the self proclaimed "living god" with his Scarab Scepter.

For each enlarged punch he evaded from the sand avatar, three tendrils for every twenty of them scratched Phantom as he flew around the arena. Of course, the ghost boy tried blasting him with ecto rays to shed as much of the form as possible, it only resulted in him regrowing his mass using the ever present sand from his surroundings.

His latest strategy was received poorly as he was swatted away like a fly by Khaldun-Set's large hand in the shape of a paddle, sending him several yards away skidding to the sandy ground, face first.

The crowd, minus the captives, cheered at the event of their king's triumph while letting out loud praise that stroked his ego.

"LET THIS BE A SAMPLE OF THE POWER OF YOUR NEW KING!" Khaldun-Set stated while Lydia floated beside her love's tall sandy figure.

Phantom slowly pushed up from off the ground, shook his head, then spat out bits of sand.

"Ugh… I'm starting to hate sand!" The ghost boy groaned while rubbing his head. "How Spider-Man pulls this crap off, I'll never know… I'd take the Box Ghost over this, right now."

Phantom quickly jumped into the air and began to think of a new strategy while keeping his distance.

'...Okay, so the King of Freaks became a walking Death Valley. But underneath all of that sand and metal is a guy. Maybe I can use my powers to phase into the sand and pull him out of it.' Phantom devised. 'First, I need to find where he's piloting that thing from.'

Taking a deep breath, Phantom created two clones and said, "Here goes nothing!"

The ghost boy and his two copies flew towards the enemy, with the real Phantom vanishing in sight.

Phantom clones one and two circled around the godly sand avatar in the air, pelting the sand avatar of Freakshow which reduced the mass of the construct and began to expose the light blue orb that housed the self-proclaimed pharaoh. One of them even tried using the construct ability Plasmius showed him, but shaped his ectoplasm into a sticky web like substance to bind the beast's hand to continue wailing on it with more ecto rays.

Of course, the exposed chest was quickly covered.

"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Freakshow shouted before shooting multiple sand tendrils with burning metal tips to impale the clones, causing it to disappear.

"SHOW YOURSELF, PHANTOM!" Khaldun-Set roared.

Suddenly, Lydia pointed toward his left shoulder, causing the construct to look and find Phantom sitting there with a cheeky smile.

"...Hi there!" Phantom smiled while waving at his enemy.

Immediately, he was run through with a small metallic barb, only to disappear like the other clones.

"BLAST! ANOTHER CLONE!" Freakshow growled as he and his beloved searched for the ghost boy.

Using his intangibility, Phantom rose from behind the two and struck Lydia with a well placed ecto-ray, sending her falling to the ground. Freakshow turned around, but was caught off guard by the Phantom's magnified ecto-ray in his hands which he was using to blind him.

"Now's my chance!" Phantom said before using his intangibility to enter the sand avatar.

With the ghost boy successfully reaching the core of the beast, he changed his ectoplasmic power into an Energy Strike. However, when he struck the force field protecting Freakshow, Danny Phantom was met with the same initial result as Agent Legion when using the Omnitrix.

Freakshow was not only safe from the attack with his shield intact, but the ringmaster victoriously smirked as he stared directly at Phantom's eyes, shocking the boy.

"...You should have gone for the head, Fenton." The menacing Freakshow quietly stated before raising his human hand.

In sync with his motion, the force field discharged a pulse of mana at Phantom, shooting him out of the sand avatar and sending him hurtling toward the ground violently as he screamed in pain.

The audience was gone. The ghost boy was down on his luck, and literally down on the floor. The Phantom's clothes were torn with beads of ectoplasm with small traces of blood. His HAZMAT suit and hair were covered in sand particles.

The half-ghost however did not have time to recover as Freakshow launched a right hook at Phantom from his Set avatar, knocking him back into the ground. Then the giant god incarnate landed a left hook, then another right hook before launching Danny Phantom into the air with a geyser of sand. Freakshow within the sand avatar laughed maniacally as he clenched both of his sand and metal clad arms before unleashing a flurry of swipes from each arm in both directions, striking Danny Phantom's spectral body multiple times in quick succession like a whip, tearing more holes and wear into his HAZMAT suit.

"I AM A GOD INCARNATE!" Khaldun-Set exclaimed before reeling the right arm of the Set avatar back and channeling a strong surge of red and black energy that enveloped its fist. "MY POWER IS ABSOLUTE! IT IS LAW! AND A MERE SPIRIT LIKE YOU…"

Freakshow then threw the Set avatar's energy enveloped fist at Danny Phantom before he hit the ground, and upon impact, an explosion of red and black energy was detonated which seared more of Phantom's spectral body while launching him into a nearby Egyptian themed pillar.

"...IS BUT A WORM COMPARED TO MY DIVINITY!" Khaldun-Set proclaimed before a wicked grin formed on his face.

---

Downtown, Amity Park

While it slipped out of the minds of those that were present at the arena, the broadcast of Danny Phantom's beatdown was televised in every television within Amity Park. At the same time, this event was being covered by local news outlet. And while the Phantom's reputation was incredibly split, none can deny that even for a deceased person, the assault on the seemingly adolescent ghost kid was not pretty.

The mere sight of the brutality of Phantom taking lashes of barb sand tendrils awakened a primal urge in the Ghost Huntress to main or possibly kill the so-called king.

"Dad, I gotta go! Danny needs help!" Valerie Gray shouted as the Ghost Huntress positioned her hoverboard to fly. "I should have never let him go by himself!"

"Valerie, don't!" Damon instructed over the voice call. "You don't know what you're getting into!"

"HE'S KILLING HIM, DADDY!" Valerie bellowed emotionally. "I CAN'T SIT HERE AND DO NOTHING!"

"I'm sorry, Valerie, but you don't have a choice." Damon said in a somber yet firm tone. "As I suspected, Showenhower made that field specifically to lure Daniel James in that death trap. Nobody can pass through. And even if you managed to do that, as he is now, you wouldn't have stood a chance."

"What can we do!?" Valerie croaked, looking at the screen in desperation.

The older man softly, "...Pray for a miracle."

---

Fenton Works, Amity Park

When Jack and Maddie entered the kitchen where Jazz had been initially studying, only to be glued to their television screen. The moment they heard that public enemy number one had been involved, they sprung into action.

Jazz seemed to be worried about something, so they assumed that it was the Phantom was involved in allegedly endangering the captives with the immoral and delusional Freakshow. So, Jack assured her that they were going to get involved to rescue the innocent people while hopefully stop Phantom if he's not taken out by Freakshow. Jazz thought their decision waa dangerous and illegal, recounting their Cease and Desist.

However, Jack insisted that they weren't hunting Phantom, but they intended drive him out if he wasn't already destroyed. Maddie mentioned that she was curious if Freakshow could pull it off, but if he couldn't, it was worth the research to see what things other properties could effect spirits.

Of course, the thought of her half-ghost brother dying did not bode well to Jazz. She told them that she couldn't watch and stormed upstairs to her room. This worried the parents, but Maddie and Jack pushed through with their convictions and left the house, driving off in the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle.

Meanwhile, Jazz locked herself in her room and quietly pleaded to whoever listened to save his brother.

---

Pyramid Of Madness, Amity

The moment devolved into madness as the audience (and the entire town) watched Phantom getting tossed around like a ragdoll, taking a barrage of multiple punches from the fist shaped geysers from the ground Freakshow was manipulating.

"Class, close your eyes!" Ms. Carol hoarsely shouted as she covered a random girl's eyes right now.

Many of the children did as they were told, barring Gwen, Ben, JT, and Cash.

"Dad! There's gotta be something we can do!" Ben said out of panic, clenching his fists tightly until his knuckles whitened. "It doesn't look like the ghost guy is going to hold out much longer!"

All Carl could was give his son a comforting hug, which didn't bode well for the boy. He turned to his tear-stricken cousin and as a last-ditch effort to help out, pleaded with Gwen.

"Gwen! Gwen!" Ben called to the ginger, snapping her out of her despair.

"WHAT!?" Gwen retorted harshly, getting Carl's attention.

"...I need your help with something." Ben said in an even tone, not even flinching at his stressed family.

"What could you possibly want at a time like this?" Gwen questioned, already irritated at the situation.

"What I want is what you want," Ben stated in a simple manner. "To help him."

Gwen's eyes widened when Ben pointed to the ghost boy.

"Ben…!" Carl warned in a paternal tone.

"Dad, listen!" Ben said, putting his foot down as he spoke. "You and Mom have always been a by-the-book kind of people, even at the hard times where the rules suck. And that got us here because some whackjob played dirty. But Grandpa always said to follow your gut and do the right thing because you know it's right."

Turning his head to Freakshow's beatdown on Phantom, Ben grimly said, "And my gut is telling me that this is all kinds of wrong. Kids, alive or not, don't deserve this."

Unbeknownst to the Tennysons, some of the classmates who were close by listened in on their conversation and were taken aback by Ben's thoughtful speech. Most notably, Ms. Carol, Julie, Cooper, JT, and Cash. And their respect for Ben increased because of it.

"Son…I know how you feel, but we-"

"-I know that we're powerless by ourselves, Dad," Ben admitted in a bitter manner. "But I got to help him anyway that I can, just like he's helped us. And now that he's in a pinch, it's our turn to all step up and save him."

Gwen was touched by Ben's rousing speech and recognized the importance of Grandpa Max's words. Therefore she responded to Ben kindly.

"I'm in." Gwen said almost immediately. "We're cousins, so we stick together."

The kids turned to Carl for support. Carl turned to the brutal scene in front of them, then turned to his kids with his determination rekindled.

"No. We stick together as a family." Carl stated with finality, receiving hopeful smiles from Gwen and Ben.

Gwen turned to Ben and asked, "Any ideas?"

"Remember the treasure he took?" Ben responded. "That's what started all of this."

"That's what he's using to grant himself power," Carl stated. "It's by touch, I think."

"Right. And I think it's messing with his mind, too." Gwen added.

"Yeah." Ben nodded, taking in the intel his family was giving him. "The goal is to get that thing away from that creep. That'll solve the problem."

"...Wait, isn't that the scepter right there?" Gwen pointed, prompting the male Tennysons to spot the scepter on the headdress of the sand avatar.

"Great, we know where it is," Carl said. "Now it's a matter of separating the staff from Freakshow. …If only I had that weird blaster, I could either damage it or knock it down."

Hearing this lit a spark for an idea Gwen had. She turned to Ben with a mischievous smirk.

"...Hey, do you still have that slingshot on you?" Gwen questioned. "The one that Great Uncle Gordon bought you?"

Ben gave her a mischievous smirk and pulled it out from his pocket which Carl raised an eyebrow to.

"...I thought I told you to leave that thing at home, young man." Carl said with disapproval.

"You can scold me about that later, Dad," Ben said, rolling his eyes before directing his attention to Gwen. "Got a plan, Dweeb?"

"One. But I need you to follow my lead. We may only have one shot at this." Gwen stated.

And just like before with Ben's speech, more of the Madison Elementary class and most of the Amity Park museum staffers.

While Gwen was preparing her cousin with the slingshot, Danny Phantom felt so much pain across his body that he used most of his remaining strength to erect a small but dense ghost shield to meagerly protect himself in mid-air.

His resilience alone kept him from having busted lips or broken bones, but whelps and dark bruises were evident, the upper body of his suit was torn and had cuts across his exposed chest and arms.

Phantom's body shook out of wariness and being tired. He was thoroughly beaten, just as he was on Saturday night, but the worst part about it was that not only was he essentially getting bullied on live television, but the person who was trouncing him was Freakshow of all people. And the thrashing felt nearly as painful as Plasmius' assault.

It was a huge blow to his pride as a superhero.

While Phantom kept himself from taking any more damage, Khaldun-Set merely laughed at him.

"WHAT'S WRONG, GHOST CHILD? CAN'T HANDLE A LITTLE PAIN?" The so-called king mocked through the sand avatar. "IMAGINE SPENDING A YEAR IN A CELL RUBBING SHOULDERS WITH PRISON SCUM!"

Phantom's shield was struck by a lash of metal barbed whip made of one of the avatar's arms. This rattled the shield, but the sphere did not break. Freakshow struck it again, yet nothing happened. This angered the self-proclaimed "living god".

"MY HARD WORK WAS WASTED BECAUSE OF YOU!" Freakshow bellowed as he continuously attacked the shield with his sand constructs.

'...H-He's trying to kill me!' Phantom realized, recognizing that his foe had utterly lost it. 'This isn't Freakshow…this guy is a monster! And if I don't figure something out, he'll not just kill me, but he might destroy my ghost!'

(Danny? Danny!)

'What the-? A voice in my head? Great, now I'm losing it.' Phantom cognitively groaned.

(No, Danny! It's me, Gwen!)

'Gwen, how are you-?'

(Magic. I cast a mind link to talk to you.)

'If I wasn't in the middle of surviving, I'd give you kudos.' Phantom mentally stated.

(Danny, you can't fight him head on-)

'-Kinda too late about that, Gwen.' Phantom cognitively chuckled. 'I barely have enough power to make a shield.

(Don't give up, Danny! There's still a chance, but you're focusing on the wrong thing!) Gwen spoke.

'...What?'

(Freakshow's not the one you should be gunning for!)

'What do you…wait-!' Phantom pondered before recalling the Scarab Scepter and his enemy's words.

...You should have gone for the head-

'The scepter-! Where's the scepter?' Phantom questioned to Gwen.

(He's using it as the monster's headpiece. But it won't be up there for long.) Gwen explained. (My cousin and I are going to give you a chance to grab it since it works by touch. But we only got one shot at this, so we need you to work with us!)

'...Okay, what do I gotta do?'

(Here's the plan…)

After nearly three minutes of attacking the ghost shield, the sand avatar managed to crack and seemingly shatter the ghost shield. Phantom was then grabbed by a tendril formed from the back of the sand avatar with three more emerging from the same areas.

Danny Phantom was eventually held right side up by four sand tendrils.

Initially, Lydia came to finish Phantom off with a ecto ray, only for Freakshow's avatar to backhand here, much to the interal of the ghost boy and the audience, who gasped at the sight.

When Lydia raised her head from the ground, she looked at her beloved in shock and disbelief.

The red eyed giant sand avatar snarled at the female ghost and bellowed, "YOU WILL NOT UPSTAGE ME, FOUL CREATURE! KNOW YOUR PLACE!"

Freakshow turned away at the downtrodden ghost as his sand avatar took out a large metal spike imbued with mana from his mouth and grasped it in his hands. What satisfied the ringmaster was that the ghost boy held his head down, appearing to have accepted his defeat.

A cruel smile formed both on the sand avatar's Set-esque face, and on the human that was within the construct.

He turned to the audience while the mirror projected the zoomed-in appearance of the beaten Phantom of Amity Park.

---

Manson Residence, Amity Park

Normally, the Mansons would try to ignore all that is creepy, moody, and goth. Unfortunately, their daughter had always fancied such things for as long as she could remember. So, they tried to deal with it as best as they could and steer their daughter towards their point of view.

To be grateful for the fortune in their lives and to have an attitude of gratitude.

However, they are prone to be biased towards things that earned their disapproval, especially toward their daughter's choices of friends and some of her interests. And an example of these that intersect was her decision to befriend the youngest child of the former crackpots of the town, Daniel Fenton.

And while their dislike and distrust toward the boy increased with last year's incident, their worry for their daughter's newly reinvigorated interest in ghosts (the infamous Phantom, in particular) was far greater.

This was why they swallowed their dislike for the Fentons to support their newly discovered viable inventions and expertise in order to protect Samantha. And their bias against ghosts started to overlap with the Fentons and the B.O.R.D.'s mindset of spirits being nothing more than nuisances plaguing their town, and due to the Circus Gothica incident, they believed that Phantom was one of, if not, the worst of them all.

But today, watching the ghost boy borderline abuse in the family living room of their mansion sent waves of nausea so great, that they started to feel empathetic towards him. After all, in spite of him being, well, dead, he appeared to be the most human-like spirit shown.

Pamela and Jeremy could subconsciously imagine that being their own daughter, given that she was present in one of Freakshow's rallies. And with Sam presently beside them, both husband and wife held their girl close as her horrible day reached its peak, knowing her that her fondness for the boy was out of naivety.

"IS THIS YOUR HERO?" The ringmaster prostrated on the screen as he held up the ghost boy's figure. "THIS IS YOUR TOWN'S SAVIOR?"

"...This can't be happening," Sam uttered, heartbroken and scared. "He can't be giving up…That's not like him at all!"

"Oh Sammy," Pam Manson whispered, rubbing her daughter's back.

---

Axion Labs, Amity Park

Damon kept a calm exterior, but on the inside, he cringed every time he watched Danny take a blow from the bastard who dared to call himself a god. Somehow, he felt like it was a mixture of his fault and the fault of the police.

If he had anticipated something like this before, he would have developed a better security system that could lock up unpredictable criminals like Freakshow. At the same time, the police should have never been given jurisdiction over Showenhower. No, despite him not being an ecto-based entity, he should have been given over to specialized and higher authorities, like the Bureau of Occult Research and Defense.

Alas, that didn't matter. All that mattered was what he was currently watching on the bigger monitor at the command center. And Damon Gray was barely stomaching what he was witnessing.

"THIS…BRAT IS NO GOD!" Freakshow (as Khaldun-Set) exclaimed on the screen after laughing. "HE IS NOTHING!"

---

Nasty Burger, Amity Park

Many of the students hanging out in the burger joint were watching the horrific scene and couldn't believe what was going on. Some of the customers either had to evacuate to the restroom to empty out their meals or leave the store entirely because of the graphic nature of the broadcast.

Those with stronger stomachs were either shouting for Phantom to rise and beat the sand freak or were bawling their eyes out at the beating her was taking.

Dale kept stating that it was the end for Phantom while watching the sand avatar overwhelming him. Dash threatened to beat him senseless if he didn't shut up. The blond quarterback was too bullheaded and kept insisting that their hero had something up his sleeve. Meanwhile Kwan was dead silent as he wish to see what would happen next. As for Star, she had been busy consuling Paulina, who had been one of the few people crying her eyes out for watching her beloved crush getting thrashed about.

Everybody went silent once Freakshow's sand tendrils held Danny Phantom's nearly broken body for the entire city to see.

Freakshow continued his parade of the defeated ghost boy and his broadcasted speech by saying on television, "THE DAYS OF THE PHANTOM PROTECTING THIS CITY ARE OVER!"

---

Pyramid of Madness, Amity Park

Freakshow let out a sickening cackle that sent sadistic vibes to anyone that listened to it. In his eyes, he had finally won. He, a naturally born hero, has not only beaten one of the most powerful ghosts from recent memory, but the half-ghost vigilante who ruined him.

His life, like Earth, was in the palm of his hand, and nothing could stop him from relishing in the moment.

The sand avatar placed the tip of the sharp metal shrapnel towards Danny Phantom's neck as he asked the people of Amity Park, "NOW, WHAT WILL YOU DO WITHOUT YOUR PRECIOUS HERO?"

When Freakshow reeled and was going to kill Phantom, the avatar was met with…tomatoes? Wait no, rocks?

As it turned out, the crowd began to throw things at the sand avatar. From there, the self-made "god" was given an outcry of verbal negativity and slander.

"BOO!" Most of the kids from Madison Elementary screamed as they threw some rocks that were beside their feet.

"You stink!" Julie shouted as she chucked a rock at the sand creature alongside his classmates.

"Who do you think you are, scaring a bunch of kids!?" Tracey screamed, doing her part in distracting the monster while through a bottle at it.

"Yeah, leave the ghost kid alone!" One male intern from the Amity Park Muesum shouted. "Come see about us right here!"

"You want a fight, we got some for your ass!" A spunky female staffer stated, finding the nearest brick to throw at it.

"ARGH! NO! STOP THIS!" Freakshow shouted. "PHANTOM IS NOT THE STAR! I AM! ME!"

Freakshow's avatar turned to Lydia and said, "LYDIA! MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL AND DEFEND YOUR KING!"

The so-called ringmaster was met with silence, then an ecto ray to the face. The human from inside the sand avatar couldn't believe his eyes.

"...LYDIA?"

The female ghost raised her hood over her head, then started to attack Freakshow, much to his astonishment.

Phantom raised his head silently, shocked at the result of the situation. He, Ben, Gwen, and Carl all knew this wasn't a part of the plan, but this was better than they could have ever anticipated.

Over at the stands Carl smirked and said, "This is perfect! Ben!"

"On it!" Ben stated as he loaded his sling with a sizeable round stone.

Ben took aim where the Scarab Scepter was located and held on to the slinged rock. Gwen saw this and turned to the page of her spellbook with the magical spell that she needed.

She placed her left hand over the rock and said, "Integer amta, hatun kallpa!"

The rock that Ben held glowed a bright blue light.

"You're up Ben!" Gwen stated.

"You got it!" Ben said with determination while looking at the headdress of Khaldun-Set. "This'll teach him to mess with my class!"

He fired the rock with his slingshot while the stone was laced with magic. The rock flew all the way to the headdress while picking up incredible speed. The rock managed to knock the Scarab Scepter off of the sand avatar, shocking Freakshow as he immediately felt the disconnect and the loss of power.

"NO! NOOO!" Khaldun-Set screamed. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"

Because of this, the sand monster crumbled, allowing Phantom to free himself while Freakshow was temporarily buried in his own creation.

(DANNY! THE SCEPTER!) Gwen shouted through her temporary mental link with the ghost boy.

The Phantom immediately flew to grab the Scarab Scepter, shooting his newly discovered Ghostly Teether (elastic ectoplasm) from his gloved fingertips and reeled to his hands.

"...Show's over, Freak!" Phantom quipped before channeling a ball of ecto energy in his left hand and slamming it to the blue jewel, destroying the power source of the scepter.

The destruction of the gem caused everything to flash in a blue light that enveloped the entire building.

---

Amity Park Museum, Amity Park

From outside of the floating building, everybody surrounding the area was met with a blue pillar of light that shot straight through the heavens, clearing the dark clouds that formed in the now blue skies and revealed the shining sun.

When the light died down, the museum returned intact as if nothing happened.

All across the city, many of the kids and the Phantom-supporters flipped out and cheered that the nightmare was over. The threat being neutralized was a reason for many households to party until dawn.

In front of the museum was a fully healed Danny Phantom holding the damaged Scarab Scepter with a powerless Freakshow and Lydia standing beside one another. Nearby was the Madison Elementary fourth grade class, who was standing by the school bus with Carl Tennyson, all wondering what was going on.

The staff of the museum was by the front door of their job, including Tracey.

Action News and other news reporters went to swarm everybody involved in the so-called "Pyramid of Madness", but the police intervened, commencing the crowd control protocol so that they could conduct their own investigation on the matter.

Danny Phantom flew over to the museum staffers and asked, "Is everyone alright, here?"

One young staffer, a female with dark hair and eyes, said, "We're fine, thanks to you."

"Yeah, thanks for the save." A male intern with tan skin said with gratitude.

"No problem." Phantom stated before spotting Tracey and walked over to her. "You're a tour guide, ride?"

"Y-Yes," The older woman said, still weary at the fact that she was talking to a ghost.

Phantom gave her the damaged scepter, saying, "Here. Sorry about the gem. It powered the thing and if I hadn't done something about it-"

Immediately recognizing that the ghost boy spoke like a normal human, Tracey calmed down and said, "-No, I understand. Personally, I think that was the best decision."

"Oh, I feel so much better then." Phantom sighed in relief. "Sorry about the trauma, though. I didn't expect baldy to be that sadistic."

'Are you kidding? He took the beating of a lifetime and he's apologizing for it? I'm quitting this gig and returning to being a mailwoman for this crap alone.' The woman thought to herself, perplexed. 'It's like he's thinking he's still alive.'

"Speaking of Freakshow…" Phantom said, turning towards the man's direction.

"No! NO, NO, NO!" Freakshow shouted, throwing a tantrum as he collapsed to his knees and pounded his fist onto the ground. "I had it all! I had the power of a god! The world was in the palm of my hand!"

"That's too bad." A taunting voice spoke to him.

Freakshow turned to see a triumphant-looking Ben Tennyson holding his slingshot while his cousin Gwen had her arms crossed, not amused at the sight of the pathetic anemic old man.

Noticing the slingshot and recalling the spellbook, Freakshow realized what happened by saying, "You…!"

"Yup!" Gwen mused. "And by the way, thanks for the book!"

"You talked big for a circus reject playing god king," Ben continued mocking. "Turns out that you're all hot air."

A crazed look instantly appeared on Freakshow's face as he rose from the ground. He then tried to lunge at Ben with his fist reeled back.

"YOU LITTLE SH-!"

Freakshow was suddenly knocked to the ground, holding his broken bloody nose as he swore, unknowingly dropping his Bezel Charm of Luck. The older man looked up to find Carl Tennyson standing tall in front of the pale man.

"Paws off my son, Clown!" Carl said in a cold tone, prompting the students of Madison Elementary to cheer for him.

Little did he know, his father, Max Tennyson had been watching nearby and gave him a nod of approval before leaving the area.

Freakshow tried to crawl away from his current situation with an angry family man, only to bump into the legs of Danny Phantom.

"Oh. Um… Hello, Ghost Boy!" Freakshow awkwardly greeted with a small wave. "I take it you won't mind helping an old colleague out, right?"

Phantom's eyes burned green as it projected a stream of ectoplasmic energy while he scowled, scaring Freakshow to near death.

"...EEEP!" The pale man squeaked, understanding that there was nowhere left to run.

Suddenly, he heard multiple door slams as a squad of police officers began to come out with their pistols ready. This sent Freakshow to a near panic as his head faced Lydia.

"L-Lydia, darling! Quickly, we must flee! But, dramatically-" Freakshow said, only for the man to meet her gaze.

But instead of complying with his request, he was met with a slap to the face, making his entire world stand still.

"...Lydia?" The man uttered in disbelief, only to find her glaring at him with contempt, heartbreak, and betrayal.

She turned away from Freakshow while she gave her former foe, Phantom, a nod of gratitude, then raised her hood and flew away.

"W-Wait! Lydia! Don't go! LYDIA!" Freakshow shouted, raising a hand in her direction, but his cries were left ignored.

To some, this moment was pitiful. But to those who watched what occurred beforehand, this

"Why…?" The man softly questioned, feeling that his heart had been ripped out and crushed. "Why did she-"

"Leave you?" Gwen said, finishing the old man's question. "Gee, I don't know. May threatening a ghost's existence in front of her, backhanding her, and calling her a filthy creature might have driven her away. Ever thought of that?"

"B-But…I didn't…that's not-"

"-Freakshow, that scepter has done more harm than good. Especially to you." Phantom said with an impassive tone.

Hindsight hit Freakshow like a truck as he bowed his head in shame. His partner, his other half, the love of his life has left him. He had nobody, and it was all his fault.

"...What have I done?" Showenhower murmured.

From there, the police came and pointed their weapons at the pale-skinned man.

"Frederich Isak Showenhower, you are under arrest!" One officer stated in a professional manner.

No longer having the will to escape, the former ringmaster of Circus Gothica raised his hands in the air along with his body and said, "...I surrender."

While the cops escorted him to one of their cars, Gwen looked at him from where he stood with disappointment, betrayal, and a hint of pity. She could tell that underneath his need for revenge and validation, Mr. Showenhower loved the ghost lady.

She looked on the ground and found his Charm of Luck, thinking to herself, '...What's this?'

Seeing that nobody was paying attention, she picked the charm and went back to her class where they surrounded Danny Phantom, who looked both flustered and sheepish at the positive attention he had been receiving.

"You were so cool out there!"

"How can you turn invisible?"

"Can you fly for us?"

"What's it like being a ghost?"

The Phantom didn't know what to say or think, so he held up his black gloved hands and said, "U-Uh…"

"Ahem! Alright, class! That's enough badgering! Start heading to the bus with your partners!" Ms. Carol instructed, causing the fourth graders to moan and groan out of displeasure.

The students begrudgingly did as the teacher instructed. Ms. Carol walked up to Danny with a grateful smile.

"Can I help you, Miss?" Danny Phantom questioned, glancing at the old female brunette.

"No, young man. You helped me and my kids more than enough," Ms. Carol stated in a humble and grateful tone. "Thank you, Danny Phantom."

'...Danny Phan-? Oh, great! Freakshow outed my first name!' The ghost boy groaned. 'Oh well. I'll take that over Inviso-Bill any day of the week.'

"It's no problem, Miss. I'm glad that everybody made it out safely." The superhero stated. "And Phantom is fine."

While the ghost kid watched the kids board the bus, one of the girls, Julie Yamamoto, snuck in a quick hug and said, "Thank you, Mr. Spirit. I always knew you were a good Yokai."

Phantom awkwardly accepted the hug while pondering the Japanese term.

'I better ask Mason. Maybe he knows what a Yokai is.' Phantom thought as he watched the girl board the bus.

As Carl and Ms. Carol gave the officers their police report, Ben and Gwen approached him.

"Oh, hey Gwen," The ghost boy greeted before turning to the new kid. "I take it that this is your cousin, right?"

"Yeah, this Doofus is Ben. He can be useful when he wants to be." Gwen teased.

Ben glared at her and said, "Stuff it, Dweeb! I'm plenty helpful all the time!"

"Yeah, when it comes to video games and pranks." Gwen playfully jabbed.

The two were gonna continue to argue when Phantom started to chuckle at their antics.

"What's so funny?" Ben questioned with his eyebrows furrowed.

"Sorry, it's your dynamic. It reminds me of when I was growing up with my sister." The fifteen-year-old superhero stated, catching the Tennyson cousins off guard. "You guys act more like siblings than cousins to me."

"Oh," The two kids muttered, not knowing what to say.

"Don't sweat it," Phantom said, shaking his head as he turned to Ben again. "I gotta say, Ben, you got some killer aim. If it wasn't for you and your family's teamwork, I don't think I or anybody would have made it out of there. You two got guts."

"What can we say," Carl said, placing his hands on his son and niece's shoulders. "It runs in the family."

"Yeah, it seems so." Phantom said.

Carl continued, "Besides, if you hadn't come for us, we wouldn't have had the chance to pull our weight."

"Yeah, you were on real hero timing." Ben praised.

"Don't you mean superhero timing, Son?" Carl playfully corrected.

"That's right! You're, like, a real superhero!" Gwen said, recognizing the gravity of Phantom's appearance.

"Me? A superhero?" Phantom said, dumbfounded. "I never thought of it like that… I just fight ghosts and protect my hometown. Superheroes from what I read in comics are mostly loved by all because they save the world and stuff."

"You don't have to save the world to be a hero." Carl stated in a soft paternal manner. "It's the thought of caring for others that counts. Talking to one person that's having a hard time could make a difference. What you do, in spite of your situation, that makes a difference."

Phantom looked away from the Tennysons and bitterly said, "...If only others could see it that way."

Gwen and Ben frowned at the sentence, recalling how the other kids and people in the museum acted towards the ghost boy.

"Who cares what other people think!" Gwen blurted out. "They're stupid!"

Phantom turned around, shocked at Gwen's outburst.

"Yeah!" Ben agreed. "Besides, everything was shown through the airwaves. You can't fake that! If some people here are too brain-dead to take a hint, then that's their damage!"

"And think of it this way. It's not about letting others know that you did the right thing." Carl explained. "It's about you knowing that you did the right thing. And regardless of what others think, you'll be a hero to our family."

Phantom pondered on the family's words, and then smiled, saying, "You know what, you're right. But I guess that doesn't make me the only hero today, doesn't it?"

"...I guess so." Carl said with a smirk, holding out his right hand. "It's been an honor working with you, Danny Phantom."

"Right back at ya, Mr. Tennyson." Phantom said with gratitude as he took the mid aged man's right hand with his own.

Suddenly the Fenton GAV's sirens went off as they were pulling up to the museum, catching everybody's attention. This caused Phantom to panic as he let go of Carl's hand.

"...U-Uh, gotta go!" Danny Phantom blurted out as he took off to the skies while morphing his legs into a single ghostly tail.

Jack and Maddie Fenton got out of the car, only to find that Phantom were escaping.

"DRAT!" Maddie shouted. "He's got away, Jack!"

"Ah, Fudge! At least we don't have to worry about the law. Let's head back." Jack said before the couple jumped back into their vehicle and pursued the ghost child.

Carl, Ben, and Gwen all looked at each other with weird expressions.

"...Did we just see real life Ghostbusters?" Gwen questioned.

"One of them was wearing an orange jumpsuit." Ben said before cringing.

"Let's pretend that we didn't see that and head back to Bellwood," Carl suggested. "I believe we've had more than enough excitement for one day."

"Agreed." Ben and Gwen said.

With that, Carl walked his son and niece to their school bus with Ms. Carol being the last to board it. Then followed the bus back to Bellwood in his vehicle.

Over by the scene, a small black van had been nearby, watching the whole scene. Upon closer inspection, those in the driver's seat happened to be Ford Pines, who had been watching the broadcast from the computer within his van.

'...He is growing stronger.' Ford thought to himself as he rolled up his window and drove away.

-An Hour Later-

News of the Pyrimad of Madness had spread across the media outlets. It was going to be the talk of the town, for better and/or for worse. And with the Ghost Boy's heroics seen in full display, the climate debate regarding spirits' morality continues to shift like the tides of the ocean.

The reputation of Phantom of Amity Park, now dubbed "Danny Phantom", has not only improved from twenty percent of the town's population supporting his cause to fourty percent, but news of Bellwood's residence being rescued through his efforts has caused the Michigan city to deem him as a certified hero in their books.

Thus, the spread of Danny Phantom's heroism had began.

On a negative note, the citizens began to recognize the existence of the supernatural due to the Scarab Scepter being exposed on television. This was brought to the attention of a certain organization, who contacted the museum's chairman, stating that they'll come to pick the damaged item.

Hence, a limousine pulled up to the front of the museum. A middle aged Caucasian man with black short curly hair and a goatee, a scar on the right side of his face and a right blind eye came out of the limousine. Walking behind him were two men in black suits, clearly security for the person of importance.

The black-haired man wore white lab coat, grey trousers, and black shoes, appearing to be a scientist of sorts.

He was Dr. Joseph Chadwick, a Smithsonian researcher and engineer.

Once he entered the lobby, he was met with an employee, Tracey, who was about to ask him to leave.

"Hello, sir. I'm sorry, but the museum is closing until furth-"

She stopped talking when the man pulled out his card and showed the symbol of the Smithsonian Institution's logo.

"I have business with the chairman." Dr. Chadwick stated in an even tone.

She quickly apologized and led the men to a secret room located in the back of the gift shop. Once he entered, he found an aging bald man with two of his own bodyguards sitting on a table with the broken Scarab Scepter wrapped in a cloth.

This was the chairman.

"Dr. Chadwick," The chairman of the museum greeted.

"Chairman," The Smithsonian acknowledged. "I see that your facility has been troubled. I take it that's the real thing?"

One of the chairman's security pushed the scepter to the doctor while the other gave him a briefcase to put it in.

"Yes, this is the item in question. It is not of extraterrestrial origin, but of mystical origin." The chairman stated. "It can no longer be of use due to the Phantom destroying its power source."

"I see…"

Upon inspection, the doctor confirmed its legitimacy and had one of his men place the clothed item into the briefcase.

Before leaving the room with his security guards, Dr. Chadwick stated, "Expect a call from the higher-ups from the institution. They would like to share a few words about this scandal."

With that, the doctor and his security left the nervous man in the secret room as if his soul evacuated from his body.

---

Axion Labs, Amity Park

It was two o'clock in the morning. The moon was full in the sky, and the city was mostly peaceful.

Mostly peaceful due to a situation occurring at Axion Labs. As it turned out, Max's concern for the company came to light as a group of medieval armored people came to break into the facility. The security guards caught wind of this and alerted the personnel, unfortunately…

"Repeat! We have multiple armored hostiles that are now on their way to the th-!" A security guard tried to relay through his walkie-talkie, but he was swiftly decapitated by a waved energy blade.

A voice could still be heard on the other end, desperately trying to get in contact with the now-deceased guard, but it was cut off after Lady Blackstone had crushed the walkie-talkie under her foot.

For the past twenty minutes, the entire facility was under attack from the Forever Knights, with Lady Blackstone taking part in this operation. They had fought through most of the security guards stationed there along with getting rid of the interior defense systems with ease. As the knights moved through each section of the building, they picked up anti-ghost equipment and hauled it along with them.

Currently, they were on their way to the last room of the building, which contained what they needed most; anti-ghost weapons. Upon entering the connector room, a couple of net launchers had deployed from the ceiling, but this wasn't unexpected, as the marksman of the Forever Knights had quickly reduced the turrets to smithereens before they had fired a single shot.

"This is it." Lady Blackstone said. "Prepare to breach the final room."

"Yes, Lady Blackstone!" The Forever Knights said, with five of them going up to the door, starting to carve a hole into it.

"My liege, I've spotted several special teams officers entering the building on my drone!" Another knight warned as he walked up towards her.

"Understood. Red Knight, take charge in the breach of the last room and get only what we need. Me and the rest of our platoon will deal with the local authorities."

Red Knight simply nodded before Lady Blackstone walked back to the hallway they came from, with twenty Forever Knights following behind her. They could hear several footsteps coming from the other end of the hallway. The marksmen stayed further back while the rest of the accompanying knights still had their energy shields and swords at the ready.

Shortly enough, dozens of Amity Park's finest SWAT officers could be seen in front of them, armed with riot shields, rifles, and pistols while wearing heavy body armor. There were six of them in the front row and had their shields lined up together while five men on the right side had begun to aim down the sights of their rifles. But the first ones to make their first move were the Forever Knights. Their marksmen unleashed a volley of laser fire onto the shielded police officers, the energy bolts cleanly piercing through the shields and their bodies entirely.

After the first shot was fired, Lady Blackstone and the other Forever Knights began to run towards the police officers. The officers quickly answered back with gunfire of their own, however, the energy shields of the Forever Knights had disintegrated the bullets immediately upon contact or had bounced off of the knight's armor. What was most unexpected to the police officers was how fast Lady Blackstone was able to close the gap between them, as she was already a mere two steps away from being in melee range. On top of that, she didn't even show signs of slowing down as multiple bullets had hit her.

"Shit! Kill her-!" One officer shouted, desperately trying to shoot the Forever Queen before his forearms were suddenly sliced off, and was stabbed through the chest.

She then immediately pulled her sword out and attacked the officer right next to her, slicing his body in half while leaping forward in one fluid motion. The other knights were able to catch up with her and dealt with their own targets, with combatants on both sides managing to spread out across the hallway. The other knights had also quickly taken out the officers, as their energy weapons were simply too powerful for the body armor and riot shields to handle. The marksmen of the Forever Knights were still holding their positions, but were more careful in firing their energy crossbows, only taking one shot at a time to not hit their comrades.

To call this a slaughter, would be an understatement, as the entire platoon of armored police officers that showed up were wiped out in under two minutes.

"That's all of them, Lady Blackstone." One of the knights said.

"Good." The Forever Queen said while smiling underneath her helmet, lightly kicking one of the officer's decapitated head away from her. "Let's head back to check on Red Knight's progress on the vault.

Meanwhile, back at the weapons vault, the remaining Forever Knights had finally managed to cut the shape of the hole through the door. Seeing as they were finished, the crimson-armored knight took out a pair of explosive shurikens and threw it to the door. The assortment of knights then quickly took several steps back. Within a few seconds, the shurikens detonated, destroying the door which led to the knights securing the weapons vault.

Blackstone motioned her men inside of the vault, then approached Red Knight.

"Fine work, Red Knight. You have your orders," Blackstone stated.

Red Knight walked past his queen and her other subjects to head in the weapons vault. He noticed a myriad of anti-ghost tools and weapons but none of them were his objective. He searched around until he spotted a small box that was labeled "Axion Ghost Shield Generator Prototype".

He walked up to it and placed his hand over it. Once he did so, the man inside of the suit began to draw power, no, the matter from the material of the prototype. As a response, his suit's interface showed a downloading status which almost immediately went from zero percent to one hundred percent.

Once he was done, the Red Knight took his hand off of the generator silently. When he turned around, his queen stood beside him.

"You Osmosians never cease to surprise me," Said Lady Blackstone.

From there, explosions were heard in the distance, causing the ground to shake from the feet of every Forever Knight. This caused the group to stop their movements. Blackstone saw this and ordered six of her lower-ranking men to scout the area, which they did without hesitation.

Within a matter of thirty seconds, one of them was thrown back into the wall while three large shards of crystal were embedded across his chest, killing him.

Fast approaching and heavy footsteps kept the group of burglars on guard. But instead of a large officer or an armored SWAT soldier, the Forever Knights were met with a large male humanoid made of teal crystal and violet stone. On his chest was the Omnitrix's faceplate.

This was Agent Legion's sixth classic transformation, Pryzm.

"...Found you." Pryzm coldly stated in a deep voice. "What is the Organization doing all the way out here?"

Before the lower-ranking knights could fire at the wielder of the Omnitrix, Blackstone gave them a gesture to hold their fire so she could talk to him.

"Well well well… We finally meet, Maxwell Tennyson in my presence." She said.

Agent Legion, as Pryzm, narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"...A woman?" Pryzm noticed while never putting his guard down. "Who are you, and where's Driscoll and Enoch?"

"I am Lady Blackstone, the new Forever Queen." She replied, mockingly bowing towards him before standing back straight, "Sir Driscoll and Enoch, however, are dead."

"...You've usurped them for control over the Forever Knights." Pryzm deduced.

"Correct." Lady Blackstone said casually. "The Forever Knights needed a more capable leader and I was willing to take the wheel by force. To steer us back on our crusade and away from my predecessors' greed, ambitions, and in-fighting."

"Regardless, this equipment doesn't belong to you." Pryzm stated coolly as he held hands in a threatening manner. "If you wish to escape with your lives, drop the weapons and leave."

"We'll pass on that offer." Lady Blackstone said as she waved her hands. "Men, bows ready!"

The knights aimed their energy crossbows at Pryzm, ready to fire on her mark.

"Let us see if the legendary wielder of the Omnitrix is as capable as the rumors say… Agent Legion." Lady Blackstone said, barely containing her deranged excitement. "Fire!"

The marksmen fired their crossbows at the same time, and a volley of energy bolts was unleashed upon the humanoid crystal creature. However, Pryzm took that energy and redirected it at multiple soldiers, injuring some and killing a few others in the process.

"Poleaxes! Maceman! Spearmen!" Lady Blackstone commanded. "Charge!"

On the word of their queen, knights with the melee weapons listed charged at the crystal creature. However, instead of remaining as Pryzm, he transformed into a new form entirely.

This muscular creature was at least eight feet tall with four massive arms, a wide chest and two strong legs. One the center of his chest was the coupled Omnitrix dial pad which had white and black sashes across his chest. Small spikes were protruding from his skin on his forearms, shoulders, and on the crown of his head. He had black markings at the middle of his chin and forehead while he had four small beady yellow eyes. His hair was a dark gray that was wrapped in a ponytail. He had black skin tight pants for bottoms with two white stripes on each leg while had two digits on each foot. On his hands where black fingerless gloves with white accents.

This was the second form on Agent Legion's classic transformation playlist, Argonaut.

The guttural voice of Max as Argonaut stated, "Remember, this was all on you."

"Tetramand, incoming!" One of the lower knights shouted.

And once Argonaut lunged forward, all hell broke loose. Bodies of lower ranking armored knights flew everywhere, with many of them not having the chance to attack due to how fast the juggernaut moved. His fists alone could dent steel, his grip strength could easily crush bone. With such precision and multiple arms, not only could Argonaut disarm the knights, but he grabbed two of them off of their feet and used them to attack their colleagues with their bodies. And whenever a knight managed to get a hit on Argonaut, their weapons had barely scratched the creature, and were swiftly met with a counterhit that sent them flying.

Some of the knights, who were newly fledged members, immediately began to regret their life choices as they watched one of their comrades being thrown out the window and slammed onto the wall. He even took one of their weapons and amputated a few of the knights before killing its original owner.

Agent Legion as Argonaut basically crushed the knights as if they were nothing but tin cans. The armsman of maces, poleaxes, and spears were wiped out in a matter of a single minute, with Argonaut standing with very minimal damage.

There were only ten Forever Knights left standing, including Lady Blackstone and Red Knight, along with four Forever Knights that were wounded by the reflected blaster fire. Some of them had begun to drag their wounded back behind the Forever Queen while others were simply too scared to take a single step forward.

"Hmm…impressive." Lady Blackstone said. "I expected nothing less from you."

"You can't win, Blackstone." Argonaut said in an even tone.

"This is a minor setback. But the loss of a battle has little bearing to the ongoing war." Lady Blackstone stated. "Shieldsman, secure the firearms and flee with our wounded! Swordsman, attack!"

Immediately, the shieldsman grabbed a few ecto-weapons and were about to escape. Argonaut found himself surrounded and pounded the ground, sending a shockwave that made the shieldsman fall. He charged at them with the intent to crush the shieldsman, only for Argonaut to be blasted to the wall by a burst of energy, causing him to revert to his human form in a red flash. But instead of having his casual clothes on, Agent Legion wore his black and gray Earth standard Plumber jumpsuit that was powered by the Omnitrix. The watch also constructed a green helmet with a pair of slitted HUD eyes that moved in sync with his real eyes.

As Agent Legion got up, he found himself face to face with Red Knight, who held out his left hand that surged with energy.

"Red Knight," Agent Legion acknowledged, prompting some of the shieldsmen to scurry away with a few of the stolen ecto-weapons.

The loyal bodyguard of Blackstone said nothing as he took out his cyber sword and took an offensive stance. From there, green energy surged throughout Legion's Omnitrix-powered suit, reinforcing its durability. He then picked up a poleaxe from one of the slain Forever Knights and also took up a fighting stance.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds before Red Knight quickly dashed toward his adversary and raised his sword for an overhead slash, which Agent Legion promptly prepared to block. However, the crimson-armored knight feinted his attack into a stab at the last possible second. This caught Legion off-guard, but he could still react as he stepped off to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack while following up with a wide swing. Red Knight recovered from the missed attack and parried the strike from the poleaxe before moving in to attack once again.

Agent Legion saw that Red Knight was going to aim at a vital part of the body and used the energy from his suit to send a small discharge, pushing Red Knight several feet back. Before Red Knight's feet touched the ground, he threw three shurikens at Agent Legion, which then exploded mid-air about ten feet in front of their target. The blast forced Legion to turn away and shield himself slightly but then saw that Red Knight was about to slash him across the chest as soon as he turned back around. He tried to block the sword with the poleaxe while stepping backward, but then the shaft of the weapon was cut in half, shutting down the energy portion of the poleaxe. Red Knight tried to slash at him again but was pushed back after Agent Legion threw the broken poleaxe parts at him. Legion then quickly rolled to the side of Red Knight and grabbed one of the one-handed cyber swords from fallen knights. Thus, a sword duel commenced between the two.

Red Knight was the first one on the offensive once again, closing the gap between himself and Agent Legion in a short amount of time. He then upped the ante by unleashing a flurry of slashes at the legendary Omnitrix wielder, who managed to keep up with the increased speed of the Red Knight's attacks, able to parry and redirect his incoming sword strikes. Though a few of those attacks had landed on some parts of Legion's arm and chest, albeit they were small grazes that were equivalent to paper cuts.

As the two were about to attack each other at the same time, Lady Blackstone suddenly jumped in the middle and blocked both of their attacks from hitting each other. She stopped Red Knight's blade with her own while she firmly grasped Legion's blade with her hand.

"I think I've seen enough." Lady Blackstone said before pushing both men away.

The Forever Queen turned to Agent Legion and said, "You're every bit of the soldier the rumors claimed you are. Dare I say a super soldier. If only I saw you while in your prime…"

"Flattery will get you nowhere with me, Blackstone." Agent Legion said with an impassive yet cold tone.

"No matter. We've gotten what we wanted." Lady Blackstone said, smirking under her helmet. "'Till we meet again, Soldier."

Before Agent Legion could do anything, Red Knight tossed four special smoke pellets onto the ground, obscuring his vision in spite of wearing his specialized suit. The super soldier tried to pursue the thieves but to no avail. And while the smoke quickly subsided, the Forever Knights, aside from the dead bodies of their fallen members, disappeared.

Before he done anything, Legion contacted his Plumber base regarding the matter. In response, the base told him that they were on their way. This pleased the Magister.

Agent Legion, then accessed his contact list through the Heads-up Display (HUD) feature of his specialized Omnitrix-powered Plumber suit. From there, he contacted Stanford Pines.

"...Pines. Talk to me."

"Paradox, this is Legion." The super soldier stated.

"Was the plan executed?"

"Yes. And Red Knight followed through as well. It'll take some time, but we'll see what the Organization is up to with the ecto-weapons in their possession."

"Good. Who was running the operation? Was it Enoch or Driscoll?"

"Neither. They were killed by the new Forever Queen."

"...Queen? You need to keep an eye on her. The Organization under new leadership is practically a whole new organization."

"Agreed. Did you record the broadcast earlier like I asked?" Legion questioned as he walked toward the computer room with his Omnitrix.

"Indeed. I will send the footage to you shortly. Speaking of which, I'd advise you to alter the tape to remove all footage of that Galvan symbol your forms carry."

The watch then ejected a wire that had a USB plug at the end. When it entered the port, the Omnitrix began to hack and edit out all links to the watch. This was done in a matter of seconds before the wire was taken out and retracted back to the watch.

"Already done." Legion confirmed.

"Good. I'll keep you updated as to what I find, but I expected a favor in return."

"You have my word, old friend." Agent Legion stated before he heard the sirens of police cars and the sound of a helicopter outside.

"Sounds like trouble, eh Tennyson?" Ford snarked over the phone.

"Heh, nothing I can't handle." Agent Legion said with confidence. "I'll catch up with you some other time. I have family dinner tomorrow night."

With that, Legion hung up the call as a flash of green light filled the inside of Axion Labs. Right when the SWAT team entered the weapons vault with their weapons out, they found nothing but the bodies of the slain Forever Knights.

"My God…" One of the officers said, horrified at the display.

Little did they know, the super soldier had fled the scene as Séance. In spite of the stress, Max Tennyson considered this to be a great day.

To Be Continued…