Nicktoons & Disney Heroes UNITE!

by Dr.Dude

An evil Syndicate spanning four worlds has formed in order to work for the common goal of universal domination, and it is up to four heroes from those worlds to band together and stop them. However, a slight mistake has brought them to a new world entirely, and an even bigger adventure unfolds alongside their own as they join with a boy holding a key.

17. The Liberation of Amity Park

A/N: Story's not dead folks! The fight scenes for this chapter just took way longer than they should have, on top of real life usually just interfering and working with friends on other stuff. Not to mention been watching Bojack Horseman on Netflix, so there was also that timewaster among other things; not to mention some unfortunate personal drama... Anyway, here's the long awaited finale to the Amity Park arc for this fic. Enjoy!

Vlad Plasmius, as he floated in his throne room, knew something was off the moment he felt no more ghost energy flowing into his being. Then he had an idea of what that was when he found his ghost portal had been shut down. Not to mention all the ruckus and damage to his castle happening outside. He really expected that with everything he had provided to the rest of the rogue's gallery that plagued young Daniel when he wasn't there that they could at least manage to be somewhat competent. But no, apparently the ghost boy was still too much for them.

"Though could that also be because of his new friends," Vlad pondered to himself. "I mean, I suppose I could be a little easier on them, taking that into consideration. But then again, we also literally got the Heartless as newer, more competent minions to go with the Grunts and Troopers. Even with Danny's new friends put into the equation, they should have been held in that prison indefinitely. Instead, they broke out not even a few hours after being put in there!"

It just irritated Vlad just how incompetent the others apparently were to even allow Danny and the others to make it this far. Honestly, he had half a nerve to outright put them all in that prison as a means to teach them a lesson! Although his anger seemed to have been a smidge overheated. He didn't notice he was starting to emit a light blue aura and his already blue skin started getting scales… but then he calmed down and his anger and aura receded. There would be time for punishing minions and lackluster villains later. Not when he was already close to what he truly intended on winning.

Looking at the dazed form of the jumpsuit-clad woman, still unconscious and in her cage, he floated over to her and gently caressed her cheek with his hand after deactivating the ectoplasma-bars.

"Oh, beautiful Maddie," he said to her, his face leaning close to hers, "for too long I have waited for the chance that the two of us could be together, as we should have been if not for that incompetent Jack. It would have been easier too if your son was more accepting and could see your husband for the idiot he is. For now, though, this is really all I can do to ensure that our future together becomes certain. But don't worry. Once I've solidified my claim as ruler of Amity Park with you as my queen, you will be the happiest woman in all the world. Jack will be nothing but a distant memory. And the two of us…"

"Hands off the lady, creep!"

He turned with a smirk to see none other than Danny Phantom rushing in with the rest of his friends, all glaring at him and ready for battle. Now this was a familiar scene to the de facto ruler of Amity Park. Back where this debacle started, but this time they appeared to have that ghost princess with them. How cute. No doubt they thought they had a chance against him.

"So Danny, you've escaped from the Ghost Zone, and shut down my portal." Vlad spoke to his nemesis, floating away from the woman and reactivating the cell to again keep her inside. "I must admit, I was not expecting you to have actually managed to get this far. Congratulations for surpassing my expectations for once."

"Give it a rest, Vlad!" Danny told him. "You've lost your power and Amity Park has been saved. Your castle's now in shambles and your cronies and Heartless have been pushed back. It's all over, so how about you do us all a favor and just give up already!"

The vampiric ghost simply rolled his red eyes and shook his head.

"Again, you underestimate me, Danny." He gestured to the inactive ghost portal behind him. "With the help of the Syndicate, I'll soon have it up and running again. Besides, with the power I've already obtained, I can just as easily repair the castle and take over Amity Park again in mere minutes, and we've already harnessed enough ghost energy for our device."

That part got the heroes' attention.

"'Our device'?" Jimmy echoed, his pet dog Goddard making an inquisitive whine.

"The Syndicate is buildin' somethin'?" Goofy noted.

"Yes, and very soon you, along with every other world in this multiverse and the one beyond," the ghost villain held up one gloved fist in triumph, "will all bow down to the might of the Syndicate!" He then lightly chuckled and added, "Honestly, if anything, it should be me insisting that you give up simply because of that."

"Well we're still going to stop it!" Sora pointed the Jungle King at him. "Now, what have you done with Selphie?"

"Ohhhh, so you finally learned about that, haven't you?" Vlad's smirk seemed to grow wider. "Why, she's right here…"

Plasmius snapped his fingers, and the rustling of chains filled the air. Being brought down from the ceiling was yet another cage, but this time hanging from heavy chains. Within it was a young girl that Sora definitely recognized. Her yellow dress, brown hair, and oddly distracting legs were hard to forget. Indeed, this was none other than one of his friends from Destiny Islands.

"Selphie!" Sora and Dorathea called to her.

Selphie, recognizing Sora, reached out towards him from her cage, "Sora! You're here! Please help! This guy's a real fruit loop!"

Vlad groaned at this and responded with, "For the last time, I am NOT a fruit loop!"

"Denial won't change facts!" Danny quipped with a smirk, happy to be proven right.

Sora glared back at him, demanding, "Let her go, Plasmius!"

Regaining his smirk, the villain answered, "Now, why would I go and do that? Miss Tilmitt has been nothing but helpful ever since she was found here on my very doorstep. How else did I manage to learn all about you? Your friends? The destruction of your quaint little island home? The very Keyblade that you now wield? Honestly, if it weren't for her, we would not have learned about your universe in the first place."

"I don't even know what he's talking about!" Selphie told Sora from her cage. "This guy had me in a cell for… I don't even know how long! I mean, at least I had a friend there to make it bearable." She then noticed the ghost princess, waving at her with an excited, genuinely happy smile, "Also, hey Dorathea! Glad you got free!"

"Don't worry, Selphie! We'll free you as well!" Dorathea assured her.

"Glad to see she's still got that knack to find a silver lining," Sora replied amusedly before he glared at Vlad. "We're breaking you out after we kick this creep out of his fake throne!"

"It's cute how you actually think the girl will make it to such a joyous reunion." Plasmius spoke up, getting the heroes to glare at him due to his condescending attitude. "Boys, have you perchance forgotten how our last encounter panned out?"

"You had us surrounded by ghosts and Heartless!" Donald retorted. "Don't think you can claim all the credit just because you took us by surprise!"

"And it doesn't matter what you're planning with your 'device'! We're going to kick your butt, plain and simple!" Timmy readied the Star Flinger.

"Oh, but what about dear Selphie Tilmitt, and Jack and Maddie Fenton?" Vlad's hands began to glow as he gestured to the encaged hostages. "Surely you all wouldn't risk their innocent lives, would you?"

But in response, Danny fired a ghost ray at him and Sora cast a fireball, forcing the villain to block them with pink ectoplasmic barriers. He actually frowned at this act of defiance.

"We're not going to stand here and let you treat them like puppets!" Danny told his arch nemesis.

"We're rescuing them and saving Amity Park once and for all!" Sora added. "Get ready to pay for this!"

Vlad sighed at this. Again, he tried. What was it with so-called heroes never listening to logic and reason when it was staring them right in the face? Oh well, hardly his issue if they chose death and defiance in the face of superiority. He'll clear things up with Maddie over her son's behavior once she accepts being his wife and queen, he told himself.

"Alright then, if you all truly are so confident in your odds…" Plasmius charged up the ectoplasmic energy in his hand before firing pink ghost rays at them, "then let's see if you can stand against the power of a more experienced ghost hybrid!"

Immediately dodging the ghost rays, the heroes made their charge towards Vlad Plasmius. It didn't start out that well, unfortunately. Immediately with the charge, Vlad floated higher so that the fighters who couldn't fly were unable to reach him. Not to mention he also used his intangibility to make it so those who could reach despite their inability to fly ended up missing. He was taken by surprise when he found that magic spells could not only somewhat reach him, but still affected his form even when intangible! Especially fire!

But with no time to question how he could actually be hit by magical fire, the ghost form of Vlad Masters intercepted a few spectral punches from the young Fenton, blocking them with his palms before blasting Danny back with another set of ghost rays. He then charged up more energy and then sent it towards Danny in the form of a large fist! Danny held up his arms to brace for a hit, but then Tarzan cast Wind Armor to protect him with a wind shield. This surprisingly managed to severely lessen the intended damage the attack would have done, and the ghost boy let out a breath of relief.

"Thanks, Tarzan! Just in time!" Danny gave the ape man a thumbs up.

"Danny welcome! Now keep fighting!" Tarzan replied.

Plasmius, watching this, was fascinated… and annoyed. So the ape man could use magic as well? Well, best to get rid of him before he started covering others in shields, he figured. But then Vlad had barely enough time to avoid getting hit by Sora's Keyblade, and the keybearer was not looking too happy with him. He also had to fly quickly to avoid being hit by a point blank fireball. In turn, he threw several pink disks of pink ectoplasmic energy at Sora, and they all exploded when they made contact with his Keyblade as he pulled it up to block, pushing him back.

Sora then proceeded to cast Cure on himself to heal the damage he got… only to suddenly get hit in the face by a gloved fist! He was shocked to see an exact copy of Vlad nearby, alongside a few other Vlads suddenly in the room! They all raised their hands and each shot ghost rays at the same time, forcing Sora to roll away from them.

"He can make clones of himself?" Sora asked Danny as he kept rolling.

"Yeah, it's a ghost thing!" Danny replied, shooting ghost rays back at the Vlad clones. "Don't worry, we still got more of us than he does of himself!"

"Oh," the original Vlad heard that and his eyes seemed to light up, "now that reminds me."

With that, he snapped his fingers, and GZPD guards appeared in the room!

"Oh come on!" Timmy complained, starting to shoot stars at the newly summoned enemies. "You seriously can't take us on yourself now?"

"And put all my resources to waste?" Plasmius and his clones asked back. "That sounds more like a problem for you than it is for me."

"Then here's a problem just for you, Vlahd!"

The villainous ghost blinked along with his clones as he registered what the sponge said.

"Did you just call me 'Vlah'-" They all were about to ask at once, right before all of them got whacked over the head by a foam glove that was moving like a boomerang, dispelling the clones!

A thin yellow arm was attached to the glove, bent at the elbow in a manner akin to the popular Australian weapon to further imitate the throwing stick and help it return to its owner: Spongebob Squarepants. The fry cook then slipped it back on as he gave the villain a grin, the looks of surprise and awe from his friends lasted a brief second as they remembered the sea creature was anything but ordinary, so disassembling and reassembling his limbs like a toy was yet another quirk of his to add to the list.

"You may be strong with super powers, arch villain," the sea sponge told him, "but the righteous justice of kah-rah-tae shall not fall before your fiendish phantasmal wickedry!"

Plasmius simply stared at the sponge's particularly hammy declaration. "Huh," he remarked, "and here I thought Daniel putting on the superhero act was over the top."

Suddenly, Vlad found himself on the receiving end of a blast of wind from Jimmy's Tornado Blaster, knocking him into the wall. He growled and his eyes glowed redder than they were as he got back up. He went to try and blast back with another ghost ray, but then Vlad had to go intangible to avoid being hit with Tarzan's spear, being forced to phase through the jungle man and maneuver past other attacks. But that didn't save him from getting hit by another fireball, this time fired by Donald Duck. With his body returning to tangibility, Plasmius could tell he was starting to get slowly outmatched.

"Fighting sucks when it's with the odds stacked against you, huh?" Timmy taunted.

"Don't jinx us, young man!" Wanda chastised him, but it was too late.

"Hrm… You're all better than I expected…" he grunted as he got up. "Unfortunately for you, I've yet to use the ghost energy I've gained up until now. Let's see you if you can handle this!"

With that, he hovered in the air and let out a shout, suddenly forming a purple barrier of ghostly energy around himself! Our heroes tried to attack it, but the barrier repelled every attack being sent his way. Even fire, which appeared to be doing more damage to him, did nothing against the shield! He then chuckled at the shocked looks on his opponents' faces. Now this was more than amusing.

"Boy, you sure walked into that one, Timmy," Cosmo pointed out.

"Remind me to teach you Murphy's Law," the boy genius told his pink-clad friend.

"Oh dear, it looks as though your magic and powers aren't enough anymore." Plasmius crossed his arms smugly. "Just what do you hope to do now?"

Jimmy Neutron cursed, "Pukin' Plutonium, he's right… though 'magic' is still up for debate. We can't get past his barrier! We have to think of a way around it. But how…?"

It was then that Danny got an idea. He looked towards one of the cages his parents were encased in, his eyes noting the hi-tech gauntlets at his father's feet. The first time they came here, he didn't notice it, but now that he got a better look and they needed a plan, it came to him that Vlad more than likely didn't notice it either.

"I think I know just how…" Danny smirked.

—-

Sam and Tucker took cover with Delilah as Akira and Jazz faced off against the angered Kitty. The ghost girl kept firing ghost rays at them, keeping the teenagers on the move while counter-attacking with his psychic powers and the Fenton Peeler, respectively. Due to her rash fury, Kitty was mostly just firing her ghost rays with abandon and hardly hitting her intended targets. And that only just made her angrier.

"Just hold still already!" She shouted at them. "You said I have to get through you to get to Johnny's killer, and that's just what I'm going to do!"

"Your boyfriend was a ghost– already dead!" Akira retorted. "What could Sora do? Make him double dead?"

"Akira, no offense, but mind showing a little more tact?" Jazz asked him, though she still held up the blaster arm of the Fenton Peeler up, "It's clear that Kitty's grieving here. Maybe if we just talked it over with her–"

"Why the heck should we?" The delinquent asked back at her. "It ain't Sora's fault that her chump boyfriend made himself into a Heartless and put more people in danger! She's just looking for excuses to blame anybody but that idiot!"

Another angered shout reached his ears and he saw Kitty suddenly dash towards him and actually punch him in the face, making him skid back. But Akira quickly got back on his feet and countered by conjuring up the visage of an angel wielding a heavenly sword and hitting back at her before vanishing. Akira then followed up by summoning flames to surround him and make her fly back to avoid getting burnt. Her hands then glowed green and she seemed to grasp at something with them.

It was then some of the stone blocks making up the castle started glowing and floating off before being sent flying towards the two human teenagers! Quickly, Jazz fired upon the blocks to destroy them while Akira rolled out of the way of those she missed. Kitty then moved her hands further upward, and thus more stone blocks seemed to hover behind her before she shot them down at her HATED targets. Jazz had a disturbed look on her face as she tired blasting more of them.

"Okay, so she may be taking this a bit far." She admitted.

"May?" Akira snarked. "What rational person throws a heavy stone with the intent to kill?!"

Sam and Tucker, along with Delilah, just kept back and could only really watch this battle from a distance.

"Ok, is it just me or is Kitty somehow more powerful than normal?" Sam couldn't help but observe.

"Pretty sure anybody gets an adrenaline rush when they're angry." Tucker told his friend. "Kitty's is just a lot more destructive. Possibly a ghost thing. Ghost girl hormones? You may have an idea on how to deal with that, then."

Sam elbowed him for that one, "Focus, it's not just her ghost powers at work here!" The goth replied. "Something's off about this kind of anger!"

Off indeed. For a few quick seconds, Kitty's eyes flashed red and her aura became further black and red. The sight of it was noticed only by Akira, and he could feel the chilling SPITE just coming from it. Not to mention the more stone blocks thrown at them, they began exploding upon impact. Even when trying to read her mind, all the delinquent could hear was HATE. An absolute ODIOUS feeling of raw RAGE. He had to do something or else she would be consumed by her hatred, or worse…

"Die! Just die already!" Kitty kept shouting with absolute venom in her voice. "Feel the pain that Johnny suffered because of your friend!"

"Your boyfriend was put out of his misery because he was a dumb–" Akira noted the pointed look Jazz was giving him, making him roll his eyes with a groan, "because he was being a moron! Let him go already! There's nothing any of us here can do!"

"So get out of my way and let me get to the one person who CAN do something!" The ghost girl retorted. "Pay with his life!"

"Killing Sora is not going to bring your boyfriend back!" The delinquent retorted. "Get over it already!"

"Akira, being harsh with her over her loss is not going to help us out!" Jazz lectured him.

"Pardon me if I'm not feeling sympathetic to the crazy ghost lady trying to kill us!"

All the while, atop the battlements of the castle, Clayton and Skulker were in the midst of recovering from their momentary blindness. Riddled with agitation, the pair could just tell their prey used this opportunity to escape from their range and out of sight, both figuratively and literally. Of all the inconvenient events to happen out of the blue… But when their sight got better, they heard the sounds of fighting nearby.

"Now who could still be causing a scuffle here?" Clayton had to wonder, looking for the source of the noise.

"I believe I've got an idea." Skulker of course looked towards the area near the lowered drawbridge, recognizing the delinquent and the ghost boy's friends and sister, not to mention that accursed purpleback gorilla, currently dealing with someone attacking them. "Hm, it seems Kitty had made it here. And she's angry. Did something happen to her boyfriend?"

"It also seems like this could be a golden opportunity for us." Clayton smirked as he readied his rifle. "What do you say we show our gratitude to the lady by ridding her of these pests?"

"I like the way you think." Skulker smirked back, readying his own wrist laser.

As for the fight itself, Kitty had started manipulating the stone bricks to form larger shapes, such as a giant fist to try and smash the psychic and the armored girl still in her way. In turn, Akira focused on conjuring ice spikes from the ground to break through the fist or even impede its speed. But that didn't help much when she just kept separating the stone bricks and reforming them. If anything, that just made her angrier.

"Would be nice if we could fly." Akira remarked as he then rolled out of the way of another ghost ray. "Then I could just knock her block off all close and personal!"

"Chivalry is not your forte, is it?" Jazz deadpanned as she tried returning fire at Kitty.

"Hard to be chivalrous in the middle of a life-or-death fight!"

Then Delilah froze up, feeling like something was off. She sniffed the air, looking for what could possibly be making her feel this way. In a flash, she remembered feeling this apprehensive a while ago on this very ground. So, putting that into consideration, that could only mean…

Panicking, the purpleback then made several roars and grunts before stomping on the ground, startling Tucker and Sam.

"Woah, what's got her all fussy?" Tucker asked, trying to avoid the gorilla's fists.

"She must feel something is wrong besides Kitty's rampage!" Sam could only guess. "Something bad's gotta be coming!"

"Oh come on," her friend groaned, "how can gorillas even sense something like that? It's not like she's got a Ghost Sense!"

"Or the stupid animal could just sense when a hunter is in its midst!"

Barely avoiding more shots, and getting the attention of the other three currently fighting, Sam, Tucker, and Delilah all saw Skulker floating down towards them, holding onto Clayton while Sabor's ghost also materialized by their side. The two hunters had smirks on their faces as they both had their weapons armed and aimed at them. The leopard simply growled, extending her claws and scratching into the stone.

"I hope you don't mind if we joined in on this little tussle of yours, ma'am." Clayton said to the still furious Kitty. "We still have unfinished business with this whole lot ourselves."

"Well, wait in line!" Kitty retorted, not in the mood to share. "I got dibs on destroying them first!"

While Clayton was mulling over what 'dibs' were, Skulker replied, "Come now, Kitty, we both want the same thing. Besides, wouldn't teaming up with us make destroying them and pursuing your vengeance go faster?"

The enraged ghost girl simply groaned at this, clearly frustrated. However, she was unable to really think of a good counter argument. All she wanted was to get them out of the way so she could pursue the true target of her ire. And honestly, she was only getting more and more annoyed since these people were being too stubborn to die. She wanted her revenge, and she wanted it NOW.

"Alright, fine, you can join in." She was very reluctant about it, however. "But the mouthy, spiky-haired jerk is mine! Just stay out of my way!"

"Duly noted, my fair lady." Clayton replied, readying his shotgun. "With our numbers, taking care of this lot will go much faster."

"And now our chances of surviving just got lower." Sam commented on this situation. "Perfect."

"What do we do now?" Tucker asked as Delilah growled. "We've only got Akira and Jazz to handle all these guys, and they had trouble dealing with just Kitty and her new attitude problem!"

"Uh, we can hear you, you know." Akira snarked, making Danny's tech-wiz friend awkwardly clear his throat.

But Tucker did indeed have a point. It was already difficult facing off against one incredibly angry ghost girl who was close to being consumed by her own hatred. Dealing with two other ghosts with heavy weaponry at the same time was going to be another issue entirely. Akira didn't really count the human, since he dealt with human enemies before and they were hardly an issue, but all the same, he could admit there was a small chance the human hunter could be just as big a threat. Was this it? The point where he'd have to unleash his full power?

Right as they were praying for any answer, Sabor's Ghost barely avoided a blast of energy from above! The sudden attack caused the whole group to look up towards the skies, and there they saw a familiar hoverboard up in the air. Upon that hoverboard was also a familiar red-suited female figure, and with her, apparently hanging onto her waist to keep his balance, was a just-as-familiar blue-suited male figure. The female was clearly holding an ecto-grenade launcher emitting smoke as it was recently fired.

"Four against two? That doesn't seem fair, don't you think?" The woman asked as she prepared for another shot. "Hope you don't mind we even the odds a bit."

"I honestly could use a bit of stress relief after my hoverbike got wrecked." The young man said. "Not that I'm complaining about sharing a hoverboard like this~."

They could practically hear the eyeroll coming alongside the woman chuckling at that.

"Keep your pants on, Clyde." She told him. "We've got a job to do. You help them out on the ground, and I'll take care of things from the air."

"On it, ma'am." The male saluted before jumping off the hoverboard.

He landed on his feet without any issue and took out his glowing chain whip while twirling an ecto-gun in his other hand, coming up near Akira and Jazz. The hoverboard with the female of course hovered over them, and the female ghost hunter readied her ecto-grenade launcher in the villains' direction. The psychic delinquent could just sense the growing HATRED burning from Kitty's being as this event came about, but he was also inwardly relieved for the save. At least, he was until his powers ended up picking up on something else…

"Feels weird, being just about to beat up on Vlad and Maleficent's toadies while working undercover for Plasmius." He could hear the male ghost hunter thinking. "But hey. Great opportunity to show off to Val~."

"Oh great, so not only is this guy not actually helping us," Akira thought, "but he's working for the same guy these chumps work for, too? No way to prove it either… Screw this. We got bigger problems staring at us right in the face. If he decides to get in the way and make things harder for us, I'm kicking his… butt to the curb!"

"Akira, don't get distracted!" Jazz told him. "The fight's still not won yet!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm focused!" Akira rebutted. "I can do this all day!"

But as he got ready, he could hear Jazz thinking, "C'mon, Danny, you've got this. We'll keep these guys off of you as much as we can…!"

Truly, nothing like an older sibling dedicated to protecting their younger one.

—-

The battle against Vlad and his reappearing henchghosts and Heartless continued waging as our heroes fought their seemingly endless numbers. Trying to stay out of the fight, Dorathea flew up towards Selphie's cage in an attempt to help set her free. Of course, the bars only hurt her hands when she tried to pull on them. But she didn't plan on giving up just yet. Trying a trick she heard about from time to time, the ghost princess pulled out a medieval hairpin from her locks and tried picking the lock. Unfortunately, even the lock seemed to ruin her hairpin.

"Sorry, Selphie," she apologized to her one human friend, "it appears I can't do much in the face of this adversity…"

"It's okay, Dorathea." Selphie assured her. "I'm sure Sora will figure out a way to help!"

Dorathea hoped so as well. She just wished that she had her amulet with her right now. That way she'd be of more help in this scenario…

Not that it would matter much, seeing as Vlad's ghost barrier seemed to keep repelling against every other attack our heroes tried throwing at him. Tarzan's spear couldn't pierce through it, Donald's magic couldn't dispel it, Timmy's stars bounced off of it, and not even Sora's keyblade could break it. But in turn, Vlad could easily just fire ecto-blasts at them without a care, forcing them to dodge. He even had the audacity to yawn as he attacked. He truly thought himself invincible with this forcefield.

"Come now, boys," he said to his adversaries, "this is just getting sad now. Sooner or later, you're all going to wear yourselves out and end up ripe for the pickings. Can't you see it's no use trying to beat me with my enhanced power?"

"How about you take down that barrier and we can make it a more interesting fight?" Donald retorted with a squawk and a wave of his staff.

"Yeah, prove you're a man fighting kids without a shield, you overgrown bully," Timmy snarked.

"For shame, even dastardly villains in the rogue gallery of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy have better class than this!" Spongebob added!

"Right!" Goofy agreed cheerfully, even if he didn't know who the sponge was talking about.

"Please, like I'm really going to fall for such base taunts." Vlad rolled his eyes. "I'll offer this just one more time. Surrender yourselves to me and the Syndicate, and you will be spared from being consumed by the Heartless. That's clearly a better deal than falling through futile resistance, don't you think?"

"That's some real confident talk, coming from a fruit loop obsessed over a married woman!"

At that, Vlad growled and turned towards Danny, who of course dodged another ecto-ray sent his way.

"For the last time, stop calling me a fruit loop!" The ghost villain shouted as he fired more.

"No denying the 'obsessed over a married woman' part, then." The ghost boy snarked as he kept dodging. "Though I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Your hopeless desire for mom is hardly even a secret to anyone BUT my dad! You know, the guy that mom MARRIED?"

Vlad began gritting his teeth as his attacks began focusing entirely on his arch enemy, completely neglecting the other heroes and giving them more time to beat the mooks being summoned. At the same time, they had to wonder, what was Danny doing, provoking Vlad at this point? Did he have a plan? Should they ask?

"Daniel, you're walking on VERY thin ice right now…" Vlad warned him.

However, Danny kept going, saying, "Says the creep who probably helped form this Syndicate because he saw an opportunity to get the girl he lost to another man! I mean seriously! You even made a bedroom dedicated to that delusion! What kind of sane person does that, if they are not a fruit loop?"

Vlad's already red eyes seemed to burn more fiercely as he began focusing more rays at his enemy. Danny's friends on the other hand were trying to figure out just what Danny was doing, riling him up so much.

"I. Am. Not. A. FRUIT LOOP!" He shouted and then shot out a particularly large blast of ecto-energy at Danny!

Danny of course flew away, forcing his enemy to keep the blast chasing after him. This also led to a few pillars and even some of the stained glass windows being destroyed, not to mention long trails of scorch marks being left on the walls. Our heroes had to go fast to avoid the rubble falling around them. The henchghosts and Heartless were not so lucky, being crushed underneath. Jimmy Neutron, all the while, carefully observed Danny's path, calculating his flight path towards what would be his intended destination.

"Taking into account the pointed insults Danny is throwing in Vlad's direction," Jimmy muttered, readying his Tornado Blaster, "adding Vlad's expected response, multiply the force added through said responses, divide by the descending angle of Danny's flight pattern, solve for the end destination and… here goes nothing!"

With that, Jimmy jumped out of the way just as Danny flew towards one of the cages, firing a shot of wind just as Danny led Vlad's attack just in front of them! From there, the two blasts appeared to make an impact, causing a massive burst of energy and wind to engulf the area in dust and smoke! It was rather difficult to see what had happened, but the tyrant of Amity Park smirked. There was no doubt that he managed to finally nail the boy.

"Danny!" His friends exclaimed, practically confirming this thought.

He sighed and said, "Really now, Danny, I warned you this was coming and still you went with it. Honestly, if you wanted to step out from being anything like your father, you could have stood to realize just how pointless resisting me was."

"Or maybe you just need to meet dad face-to-fist."

Not expecting the retort, Vlad was shocked to see a gauntlet-covered fist suddenly break through his barrier and grab him by the collar of his suit! He saw that familiar orange latex and then was filled with dread when he saw the face of his old college 'friend' smirking at him… with green eyes. He then suddenly realized what Danny just tricked him into doing at that very moment!

"Hey Vladdy!" Danny's voice came from the man's mouth, imitating the man himself as best as he could before rearing back his free fist.

POW!

One heavy sock to the face sent Vlad flying right into one of the throne room's pillars, making it crack as he held his head in a daze. He shook his head to get back his senses, but this also left him open to getting attacked by Danny's friends once more! Pelted by stars, whacked by a spear, hit in the face with a shield, and even slammed by a large key caught him off guard. He then went to go intangible and phased through the floor to avoid further damage, rising back up on their opposite side while preparing the barrier once again. But then of course, Danny, in his father's body, broke through the shield once again, this time hitting him with a great punch to the gut!

"Wow, who knew dad could throw a punch, huh?" Danny remarked right before hitting his nemesis with an uppercut!

Not only did it leave a heck of a mark on Plasmius' chin, but it actually sent the evil ghost hybrid flying upward before hitting the ceiling with a smash, causing large cracks to form and bits of rubble to fall from it. And with them, so did he. Vlad was so out of it that he completely forgot to hover and thus landed on the ground with a painful-sounding thud. With that, he groaned as he barely managed to get back up. Even then, his legs were wobbling, threatening to basically fail beneath him.

"Had enough yet, Vlad?" Sora taunted, holding his Keyblade and ready for more.

Vlad simply growled as the hand that wasn't holding onto his side was clenched into a fist.

"Do you really think you fools have the upper hand?" He asked as he glared at them. "You think that just because you lucked into getting me winded, you are somehow closer to winning against me, the ruler of Amity Park?"

"Seeing as you're already doing the whole villainous 'you think you've won' speech? Yeah, pretty sure we're at that point." Timmy snarked.

"You're already tired and you just ran out of minions to throw at us." Danny reminded him, still in his father's body. "Plus, getting smacked around by the guy who took the love of your life since you were too busy sulking about your ghost acne has got to be a blow to your ego. So, how about you take your own advice and you surrender instead?"

However, Plasmius only seemed to growl even deeper and his eyes started glowing redder. They even seemed to come out more as volatile hissing. A light blue aura even started to form around him as his body began to tense up. His blue skin seemed to also start developing… scales? This unexpected reaction confused most of the party watching this.

"Uh, Danny?" Spongebob stepped back a bit with the others as they stared. "Is this normal for Vlahd to do?"

Leaving his father's body, and letting the unconscious form fall back to the ground, the ghost boy answered, "Not with his own power… I suggest we step back."

Taking their friend's advice, the party backed away as Vlad's form began to change further. Wings started to protrude from his back, his hand turning into claws, his fangs growing sharper. He was even growing larger, towering over our heroes. Princess Dorathea, as she floated by Selphie to keep her safe, gasped in shock as she saw something was hidden under Vlad's suit and worn around his neck. A golden amulet with a green gem embedded within!

"That's it!" she exclaimed. "That's my amulet!"

"Well, at least that explains where her amulet is. Doesn't really explain what's happenin' here, though…!" Goofy readied his shield as he watched Vlad's form start to contort.

"Actually, it does!" Danny explained, watching Vlad's form start to stretch, one end breaking through the walls and tearing apart more of the throne room. "See, Dorathea's amulet isn't a normal amulet. It turns anyone angry enough into…!"

Vlad's transformation was complete, and everyone in the room tried keeping steady as a loud roar shook the entire room, shattering the glass windows that remained. Everyone who wasn't Danny jumped in shock as they saw what his arch enemy had transformed into. A giant, two-toned light blue ghost dragon! He also had red eyes, sharp teeth, green horns and ears, and atop his back was a flaming green spine. The amulet of course was still there, hanging around his neck.

"I AM THE ONE WHO COMMANDS AMITY PARK! I AM THE ONE WHO DESERVES MADDIE!" his voice boomed. "NO ONE SHALL TAKE EVERYTHING FROM ME AGAIN!"

"...Wow. Certainly wasn't expecting to deal with a dragon this early in the adventure." Cosmo couldn't help but comment.

"I hate being right sometimes," Wanda winced as she remembered some previous comments.

"Be careful, guys!" Gadget warned from Sora's hair. "Danny might have dealt with this before, but with his increased ghost energy, it's bound to be tougher for all of us!"

"Well, here's hoping we don't have to deal with something like this again in the future…" the court wizard grumbled.

—-

Akira and Jazz, having been joined by the ghost hunter duo, had found that their fight against Kitty hadn't gotten any easier with the addition of the hunter ghost, the living hunter, and the ghost leopard. However, the extra assistance was much appreciated. Sabor's ghost was being kept occupied by the female on her hoverboard, returning heavy fire with heavy fire, while on the ground it was a… somewhat honest 3-on-3 matchup. Akira had just used his psychic powers to heal damages that Jazz had sustained against Clayton's shots. He didn't have to worry about normal bullets himself thanks to throwing him off guard a few times with his abilities.

"What blasted witchery does that brat possess?" Clayton asked in frustration as he readied another shot.

"Don't get distracted!" Skulker reminded his ally. "It's more than evident that he can't take much punishment himself. Just focus on taking him out of the picture, and the rest will be easy!"

"Uh, you idiots do realize I can hear you talking out loud, right?" Akira commented. "Whatever. You're still going down!"

He then concentrated and sent ice spikes their way, forcing the three villains to get out of the way. In turn, and with an aggravated shout, Kitty returned fire with ecto-rays, with the delinquent jumping back to dodge those. Jazz returned fire with the Fenton Peeler, forcing Skulker to fire missiles to collide with the beams, creating small explosions from each impact. The hunter ghost then took this opportunity to fire a net from one of his cannons to hold Jazz down, but the male ghost hunter took out a peculiar blade in the shape of a bat wing and cut it down before it could reach her! Akira, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker couldn't help but note how creepy it looked, especially with the eye that appeared to be in the hilt. Didn't really fit with the ghost hunter aesthetic.

"Hey, look sharp!" The male ghost hunter told the psychic and the girl in the ghost-hunting armor. "Getting distracted is a good way to lose!"

"Tell yourself that!" Akira retorted, creating fire around himself to drive Clayton back.

"Must you be so defensive, Akira?" Jazz couldn't help but ask. "He's just trying to help."

Spoken like someone who couldn't tell what others think. Of course, Akira couldn't say that out loud and just shook his head with a click of the tongue.

Up in the air, Sabor's ghost was firing laser beams at the female ghost hunter as she swerved and flipped on her hoverboard with ease to evade them. The deceased alpha leopard of course did not make it easy, though. The weapons system on Sabor's back fired a laser that chased after her while she kept moving, surfing in the air. This was followed by homing missiles that did better at tracking the ghost huntress than the laser.

"Lasers and homing missiles? From a ghost leopard?" The ghost huntress muttered to herself as she readied her ecto-grenade launcher. "Ghosts come up with the weirdest tech, but…"

She turned and fired pink blasts from her weapon, destroying the missiles and making them explode in the air. Sabor's ghost roared at this as she flew through the resulting smoke. The ghost huntress, on the other hand, only smirked as she swerved to avoid getting cut up by the feline's sharp claws.

"Mine's better." She finished.

She fired another blast, and actually hit Sabor's ghost right in the alpha's flight back, making her screech as she careened down to the ground, a trail of green smoke following her. The ghost huntress of course followed on her hoverboard to make certain the spectral beast was truly beaten. She followed the smoke over towards the battlements that were still standing, finding a heap of rubble amidst the smoke still rising from it. But then she barely had to duck back to avoid getting pounced! She turned around fast to see that the alpha leopard wasn't quite down yet, even if the tech on the beast's back was still smoking from the damage it took.

"Stubborn kitty, aren'tcha?" The ghost huntress snarked.

All she got in response was another growl and another pounce to dodge. However, Sabor's ghost did more than just pounce. The alpha leopard whipped her tail and struck the ghost huntress' ecto grenade launcher out of her hands, apparently disarming her. She then turned to slash at the surprised human… only to get a powerful uppercut to the lower jaw! Sabor's ghost tumbled back in pain with a surprised growl and glared at the human. The ghost huntress' fists were suddenly glowing with pink ecto-energy. Under her visor, she smirked.

"Hey, I told you before, you've got good equipment." She said, "But mine's better."

Privately, she mused that her partner would react per chance he learned his suit could do the same thing. That would actually be a bit cute to watch, admittedly. But she had no time to further muse as Sabor's ghost got back up and roared at her, still unwilling to give up. Just like she said. Stubborn kitty.

All the while, the fight of three vs three was still underway, but Akira, Jazz, and the ghost hunter were not having as good luck as the huntress. While Clayton usage of his gun, even as upgraded as it was, was simple enough since the man was but a simple hunter, Skulker and Kitty still proved to be the more difficult of the villainous trio. Skulker's armor had proven immune to the Fenton Ghost Peeler's damaging effects outside of the usual dents and Kitty's abilities were still enhanced by the sheer hatred she was feeling. Akira still held off the worst of Kitty's attacks with his psychic powers, and at the very least was keen on making sure she focused her attacks on him rather than the others. The ghost hunter joining them used his ecto gun in a few attempts to disarm Clayton and Skulker, though the psychic delinquent could tell that on some level, he appeared to be holding back and was simply fighting in a more stylistic manner to appear like he was really fighting them.

"You know, instead of trying to use that gun like you're playing cowboy," Akira snarked, "you could stand to actually use it to help."

"It's called fighting with style!" The ghost hunter retorted. "Don't pretend you haven't thought of doing it yourself with your weird magic!"

That was a peculiar slip of the tongue if there was one. What did this guy know about magic?

"Uh, this ain't magic, dude." He replied. "These are super powers."

"Tomato, tomahto these days." The ghost hunter retorted again. "Just be happy I'm helping!"

Akira couldn't help but groan and roll his eyes. Was this how Matsu saw him when he started out? Jeez, talk about perspective being a b… bump on the log. Seriously, how did Jazz manage to even get him to watch his language even in his own head? But before he could ponder on that more, he was taken by surprise when Kitty just charged in and actually tackled him! He could hear Jazz call out his name as the female ghost pinned him down to the ground, eyes burning red with unrestrained LOATHING.

"You should stay quiet about Johnny!" She shouted at him trying to claw at him with glowing nails. "You don't know what it's like to love someone so deeply! To be held in the arms of your other half! To– ah!"

The delinquent headbutted her off of him, growling before pushing her back after conjuring the image of a heavenly, blonde angel swinging at her with a blade.

"Screw you!" Akira shot back. "I've got a little sister I care for! Don't think your pain is worse just because you had a guy to shack up with!"

With an aggravated roar, Kitty once again resorted to firing ghost rays at the delinquent. He rolled out of the way, conjuring dark, laughing skulls around him before sending them at Kitty, forcing the ghost girl to back off. She tried blasting them away, but the beams only shot through them like they weren't even there. Yet this only angered her further. Just what kind of power did this person hindering her vengeance possess?

All the while, Jazz and the Ghost Hunter were still up against Skulker and Clayton. Clayton's high-tech shotgun did leave dents in Jazz's armor, but he still had to evade the attacks in turn. No, the real threat between the pair was still Skulker. With his more varied arsenal and the fact that he could resist the effects of the Fenton Peeler thanks to his metal body (a fact that took the girl by surprise), he could stand toe-to-toe easily with her. That just left the Ghost Hunter fighting back with his ecto-chain whip.

He let loose another lash which gave Skulker's technological body a scratch emitting sparks, to which the ghost muttered aggravatedly, "Must he try putting on too much of an act?"

But that muttering would prove to be Skulker's detriment, as he then found that ecto-whip just wrapped around his waist before being pulled away and thrown into the ground several times, creating impacts on the ground! The ghost hunter, doing the pulling and continuously slamming the hunter ghost, was actually having quite a bit of fun swinging him about like a rag doll, laughing at the impacts to boot. Sure, his partner might give him a bit of grief for just playing around while she was busy working, but this was just too much fun! After a couple more slams, the ghost hunter then swung the whip and hurled Skulker towards Clayton! The British Hunter quickly avoided being piled on by his ally and took a shot at the ghost hunter! He smirked, thinking he could easily get a direct hit, but the youth leapt backward, avoiding the shot and then kicking forward, knocking the gun out of Clayton's hands and then putting a wrist cannon to his face.

"Still think you can win this?" The ghost hunter's voice was incredibly smug.

Clayton sneered in response, saying, "You're enjoying yourself too much for your own good."

"What can I say? I'm good at what I learn." Clayton could just feel the smirk forming underneath the boy's visor.

"Hey, what did I say about letting things go to your head?"

The British hunter then got slammed onto his back after a captured Sabor's Ghost, entrapped in a glowing net, was thrown right at him. The young ghost hunter looked up to see his partner floating down towards him on her hoverboard, and he at least had the decency to look sheepish after finding she had caught him bragging in the heat of the moment. Clearing his throat, he was about to apologize, but then he sensed something coming and quickly jumped out of the way of another blast! Both ghost hunters looked to see Skulker aiming double cannons at them from his shoulders, a smirk on his face. And he was charging up another shot…

"While I'm disappointed both my pet and my partner have not held up against you two, at the very least I'll be able to take out two meddlesome ghost hunters with one stone." Skulker said. "Best say your prayers, for your heads will look great mounted on my wall…!"

"Uh yeah, not likely."

Jazz's voice, however, distracted him enough to end up deactivating his shoulder cannons. He turned fast and his eyes widened in shock as she had the Fenton Ghost Peeler all charged up and aimed in his direction! It was too late for him to escape, and he was hit by the Peeler's beam. Piece by metal piece, his form had come apart, revealing all manner of circuitry and peculiar tech that made up his form. Soon, naught was left but a tiny green glob with a face, red eyes, and arms and legs. Skulker's true form.

This particular reveal left the ghost hunters speechless while Clayton was surprised to see his partner was actually quite small. Even Sabor's Ghost gave a growl of confusion at the sight of her master being so diminutive.

"You humans will pay for this humiliation!" Even his voice was, admittedly, rather hilarious to hear with how akin to a chipmunk it was. It was so high-pitched, it was bound to make someone laugh, "You may have stripped the Skulker bare for now, but I will remake myself better than ever, without any flaws to speak of, without any way of being dismantled! You will all fear me!"

"Ugh, monologuing? Seriously?" Jazz muttered to herself. "Perfect time to have the thermos, Danny…"

Seeing this as their cue to leave, Clayton concentrated and held out his hand. Calling upon the darkness in his heart, as his new mistress had taught him, he summoned a dark portal into the thin air, surprising most of his foes. He then took the captured ghost leopard and picked up his rifle and the still-ranting ghost before making his way back to the portal. Kitty, even in the midst of fighting Akira, had noticed this and was shocked.

"Hey, where do you think you're going? We're still fighting here!" She called out to them. "It's not over yet! We can still–!"

"Best to accept circumstances as they are, miss." Clayton replied, sticking a foot into the portal. "The battle is already lost."

And with that, he entered completely, the portal vanishing with him. Kitty growled, ready to unleash her fury once more… but then she saw she was surrounded. Outside of that troublesome delinquent, there was that girl her boyfriend once used to try bringing her to this world, and those two other hunters. She didn't count the halfa's friends since they were still behind that purpleback gorilla. She could feel the UNYIELDING FURY burning deep inside her, screaming for vengeance against her boyfriend's murderer… but even she knew that if she was having this much trouble with one punk, how was she to deal with all these meddlers getting in her way?

…The hunter was right. Best she try again without anything getting in her way.

"Sorry, Johnny…" She apologized to the air, a tear running down her cheeks each. "Our revenge can't happen today…"

And with that, Kitty just flew off, parting with one last tear-filled glare of HATE directed at them. The delinquent simply let out a relieved breath as the tension in the air finally seemed to dissipate. Their fight was finally over. Perhaps now they could just relax and wait for Danny, Sora and the others to take care of everything else… Although, why was the castle beginning to rumble?

"So, is everyone else getting a bad feeling," Tucker finally asked, "or is it just me?"

As if to answer Tucker's query, the sound of stone and brick suddenly breaking apart with a loud bang filled the air. The whole group looked up and saw, up in the highest part of the castle, a giant dragon had emerged and began breathing green fire into the sky!

"...You really know how to ask the smart questions, don't you, Tucker?" Sam snarked.

"Danny… Sora… Please be safe." Akira could hear Jazz's thoughts, spying her looking there with concern.

While safety was probably the last thing they were at, the psychic knew full well that the two of them could probably handle it. After all, they were skilled enough to survive this long against foes like this. Plus they had super powers and magic with them, on top of not fighting alone. They'll save the world. After all…

Nothing's impossible when you're too stubborn to surrender.

—-

Vlad's draconic visage roared with seething flames as he tried to claw at our heroes, digging into the floor with his sharp claws. Though they could avoid these attacks and manage to put out the flames with ice magic, as it turned out, fighting such a large enemy did not make defeating it any easier. Despite the immense size, a ghost dragon was still a ghost and was capable of intangibility to avoid getting the lion's share of damage. While fire could still work wonders on the ghost, the dragon's natural resistance to flames had made that easier said than done as well. Vlad had become quite powerful, and they all knew it.

"AMITY PARK IS MINE!" The ghost dragon bellowed. "I WILL SEE YOU TURNED TO CINDERS BEFORE I LET YOU TAKE IT FROM ME!"

"Do crazy people with dragon forms have a bad habit of repeating themselves?" Timmy couldn't help but ask as he hid behind a pillar to avoid the green flames practically coating the room.

"They do if they're wearing that amulet!" Danny too flew around to avoid the emerald embers."That thing turns anybody who wears it into a dragon when they get too angry about anything, like going to some ball or not having the latest fleecy-tee."

"It wasn't just some ball!" Dorathea called out that part as she tried keeping Selphie's cage steady. "It was the princess costume ball!"

"Is that really important to focus on right now?" Selphie couldn't help but ask as she tried keeping herself standing up with her prison shaking.

"Sorry, Selphie!" Sora called to her. "We'll save you, don't you worry! We just gotta beat Vlad for good!"

"But how?" the court wizard asked. "Fire would work on this ghost, but being a dragon makes him more resistant! Any other attacks or spells, he'll just turn intangible! If anything, the only one with a possible chance of getting at him is Danny!"

"If there's any way we can do it, it must have something to do with that amulet!" Jimmy said. "We have to take it off of Vlad and restore him back to normal! Then probably figure out how it even caused this peculiar transformation for something supposedly from the middle ages…"

"Could be magic." Timmy commented, half-lidded.

"Not the time, Timmy!"

"Tail!" Tarzan's voice warned.

At that, our heroes made to jump over the draconic tail as it swung at them. More of the room began to fall apart from its mere swipe. Danny noticed some rubble starting to fall down towards his unconscious parents and so he flew as fast as he could, evading Vlad's claws, and saved them both from harm. He quickly moved them back towards the gate so they would be safe from the battle's chaos, and then growled at the ghost dragon.

"Hey, fruit loop!" He called out. "For someone who claims to love mom so much, you sure don't mind putting her into danger without any fuss!"

That had gotten Vlad's attention and then he made to gnaw at Danny, though the ghost boy flew away before the sharp fangs could bite into his ghostly flesh.

"MADDIE IS MINE!" He bellowed once again.

"And proving my point." The ghost boy deadpanned.

The dragon let out heavy stomps, sending shockwaves that the party had to jump over to avoid. Sora took the opportunity to land a few hits to Vlad's face, but then he had to immediately stop when the dragon was about to breathe more fire. He rolled away more when those flames began to coat the ground as well. He was about to get swiped by one of the dragon's frontal claws, but fortunately for him, Tarzan casted a wind barrier to shield him from taking harm. He thus gave a thumb up to the jungle man in turn, to which he got an attempt of one in return.

As the fight went on, Dorathea continued attempting to try and free Selphie. She tried using a hairpin to try and unlock it, but since she was hardly an expert at picking locks, such efforts were unfortunately in vain. On her last one, she couldn't help but sigh and glance apologetically towards her human friend.

"I'm so terribly sorry, Selphie." She told her. "My brother is right. Without my amulet, I'm truly the most useless ghost around."

"Hold on, is that what your brother tells you?" Selphie knew something was up when the ghost princess was hesitant to bring up her relationship with her brother. "Forget that! You're not useless at all! You've been my friend since I've found myself in this weird place. If it weren't for all this weird tech that this castle has around here, no doubt you could have escaped and kicked butt several times over here! Your brother doesn't know squat about you!"

"But I'm no warrior or valiant knight; I'm naught but a mere princess." The ghost princess wanted to believe otherwise, but… "All I'm good for is doing what I am told and leaving the thinking to him."

Selphie blinked, wondering if she really did hear what she thought she just heard.

"Ok, wow. That's a load and I think you know it." The young Tilmitt said after a moment of stunned silence. "Dorathea, you still managed to get here with friends. Even then, that had to be dangerous, even for a ghost. That took a lot of guts to do! Has your brother ever done that?"

"Well, no," Dorathea admitted, "but that's because he's busy–"

"Sitting on his butt, doing nothing while the world is in danger?" the human girl finished. "Please, Dorathea, you're clearly doing the hard work here! You didn't need your amulet for all of this! You got all the power you need as is!"

"But Selphie, I cannot even set you free!" the ghost princess argued. "My powers cannot open your ghost-proof cage, much less my lack of skills picking locks!"

"Um, about that…"

Selphie cleared her throat, gesturing to the cage she was in. Dorathea blinked. Unlike the other cell they were both imprisoned in, this hanging cage was not attached to any ghost-resistant technology. It was just a normal iron cage. If anything, the ghost princess probably saw similar cages in the dungeons back home.

"I don't think you have to worry about this one." Selphie assured her. "I think that Vlad guy just put me in this cage so he could sound more dramatic."

"...Oh." Her friend blinked twice. "Seems I don't."

With a sheepish cough, Dorathea turned intangible, phased through the cage, and then held Selphie to make her intangible as well. They both went back out of the cage, and the spectral royal gently brought Selphie back down to the floor. Back to being tangible, Selphie and Dorathea hugged each other, happy to be together again. Of course, that didn't last very long since they both went for cover the moment more fire spread near them. Couldn't rightly have a moment when a fight was still going on.

Speaking of which, Spongebob apparently had the idea that, since it worked so well with Cerberus, he could try going from behind and getting up on the dragon's back and keep him at bay. So, while Vlad was being distracted by the others, he circled the giant reptile and made it to the tail. Gently and cautiously he climbed up the spine ridges in an effort to reach the horns. However, the dragon was unfortunately no non-sentient creature and could sense something was on his back. Thus, Vlad flicked the end of his tail at the sea sponge and sent him flying back towards his friends and landing on the floor with a splat.

"Well that didn't work." Was all he could say at that.

"Guys, nothing's working so far!" Goofy held up his shield to block the flames. "How can we beat him?"

"There's only one real weakness that this dragon has," the halfa pointed out to the lovely amulet around the dragon's neck, "and that's it! The Amulet of Aragorn. We have to get that thing off of his neck and he should get back to… well, as normal as someone like Plasmius can be."

"Simply remove the amulet…?" The boy genius considered that statement. "That's a bit of an oxymoron, but no doubt possible! But how? C'mon, think, think, think…!"

Jimmy concentrated hard on a plan, using all of his brain power in order to do so. He could see the image of that amulet form in his mind, alongside Danny's glowing fist, Sora's Keyblade, and finally his own Tornado Blaster. Putting them all together, he could feel a sudden jolt of inspiration strike with a heavy blow!

"Brain Blast!" Jimmy called out, an idea coming to his mind.

"Does he say that every time he gets an idea?" Donald asked Timmy, ducking another burst of fire.

"Probably, I don't question it much." The average kid shrugged.

"Sora, Danny," the boy genius paid them no heed and so explained his plan, "you guys are the key – pun unintended – to beating Vlad once and for all! With your powers combined, you'll be beating at his face head-on while I get into position to charge my Tornado Blaster to blow the amulet off of his neck. Once that's done, we'll win!"

"But Jimmy," Sora asked the boy genius, "what if he goes intangible when we gang up on him?"

"Danny, you said that whoever wears that amulet makes whoever wears it obsessed with whatever has angered them, right?" Jimmy asked Danny, who nodded in confirmation. "Then all you two have to do is keep Vlad angry at you two and you should keep him from going intangible."

"So, basically just turn my usual smack talk up to 11?" The halfa summarized. "Not exactly the greatest idea I could work with, but not like we've got any better ones!"

"C'mon, let's do it!" Sora readied his Keyblade and looked towards the dragon with confidence.

Danny went ahead of Sora, taunting his archnemesis, "Hey Vlad, get it through your head already! Mom's NEVER going to go for you when she already has dad!"

As expected, the dragon growled and roared in anger at the taunt before trying to chomp into the ghost boy, who flew out of the way. This left him open to being hit with a combo from Sora, who added, "Why would she even go for you anyway? You're just another bad guy with a chip on his shoulder! Only uglier if that's even possible!"

"DIIIIIIE!"

Vlad roared again with absolute rage as he tried to claw at Sora and Danny both, agitated by them blocking and evading his attacks. So full of fury was he that he did not notice Jimmy Neutron running from cover to cover, trying to get the perfect view of the amulet around his neck. Finally, he found some rubble that he could sit behind and readied his Tornado Blaster, keeping one eye closed to properly aim. He could barely see Spongebob, Donald, Goofy, Timmy and Tarzan all rushing to find cover as well, getting out of harm's way. He held the trigger tightly, having his blaster charge up a gust of wind. He just hoped that Sora and Danny would manage to give him enough time for a full charge.

The pair kept the dragon's attention on them both, continuing to taunt the would-be tyrant and infuriating him by surviving his attempts at killing them.

"Seriously, you got all the fame and fortune you could ever need," the ghost boy taunted, "and yet you're still obsessed over one lady you knew from back in high school!"

"Bet even then you could have gotten to her if you tried, but you just let your ego get in your way and so you lost her anyhow! Jack Fenton isn't to blame for your self-pity!" The Keybearer taunted as well.

"MINE!" The dragon roared. "MADDIE IS MINE!"

"C'mon, just a little more…" Jimmy muttered.

The boy from Retroville could feel sweat coming down the side of his brow as he aimed straight and true. He waited for the right angle that his friends would give him. The right opening…. Then Danny and Sora hit the dragon with a double uppercut with a glowing fist and the Keyblade, making the dragon's head tilt upward. Jimmy could see the amulet gleaming in the light.

"NOW!" And then he pulled the trigger.

A large gust of wind shot from the Tornado Blaster, blowing towards the amulet at high speeds. It was a direct hit too, sending the amulet flying off of the dragon's neck and landing against the wall before hitting the floor. And with the amulet separated from its wearer, Vlad's transformation began to undo itself. He grew smaller, the scales, tail and wings receded, the fire he created burned out, and his form returned to its prior humanoid shape. Back to his normal self, the would-be ruler of Amity Park was out, laying on the floor as the sun shone brightly through the holes his transformation created.

Our heroes all reunited, cheering for their victory and giving each other high-fives. Even Goddard joined in while enthusiastically barking.

"Alright! We did it!" Spongebob of course cheered, partaking in the high-fives, "We saved Amity Park! We– ow! Easy with the hands, Tarzan…"

"Uh… Sorry?" Tarzan, who tried doing a high-five and didn't know how to hold back his strength a bit, winced apologetically as Spongebob shook his hand to relieve the pain.

"Sora, you did it!"

Sora turned to the voice cheering for him and quickly managed to catch Selphie in a hug when she ran towards him. The two friends laughed happily as they were reunited after such an arduous battle. Dorathea, all the while, floated towards where the amulet landed and picked it up before putting it around her neck. The ghost princess had her amulet back, but at the same time, she didn't feel as though she needed it to be complete and worthy of acknowledgment like she would have before. She remembered Selphie's encouraging words. Perhaps this was what she meant? It was not the amulet that made her a strong person, but herself?

"Oh man, it's such a relief to see you again, Sora!" She heard Selphie talk to the boy with the large key. "I was honestly a little worried nobody would come help us out when I woke up here."

"I'm just glad I did manage to help you, Selphie. But I couldn't have done it without help." Sora began introducing her to the others, "Guys, this is Selphie Tilmitt. She's a friend of mine from Destiny Islands. Selphie, these are new friends of mine from other worlds. Spongebob Squarepants, Jimmy Neutron and his dog Goddard, Timmy Turner with his holograms, Cosmo and Wanda, Danny Phantom, Donald, Goofy, and Tarzan. They've been helping me along multiple worlds already after I was lost since that storm."

A gentle clearing of the throat seemed to get his attention, and so he saw Gadget pop out from his hair and Jiminy Cricket hopping out from Goofy's hat.

"Now don't forget about us, Sora." Jiminy gently reminded him.

"O-Oh, right. This is Gadget Hackwrench," the Keyblade bearer gestured to the fieldmouse who nodded at Selphie, then to the cricket tipping his hat, "and that's Jiminy Cricket."

"Wooooow…" Selphie had to admit, she was definitely in awe at the diverse crowd before her. "You've really been busy, haven't you?"

"Hoo boy, there is just SO much to tell you about once we leave." Sora chuckled, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Seriously, it's amazing! There's just so many worlds out there! This odd place called Wonderland, a city of heroes and gods, and–"

"I don't believe it…"

But as it turned out, Vlad Plasmius had regained consciousness, barely getting back up on one knee and holding his chest, clearly exhausted. He even still looked like he was bound to fall once both of his legs managed to stand him up. He was not in any shape to fight, and everyone knew it. Still, Vlad was in shock. He had everything in the palm of his hand. Power, authority, Maddie, everything under his control!

Even so, Danny Phantom chuckled at his nemesis' denial.

"You better believe it, Vlad. You've lost." He taunted. "Even your last ditch dragon transformation was a complete bust! Now you have nothing left."

He grit his teeth. To think he would be defeated after managing to conquer Amity Park and having the might of the Syndicate and Heartless at his side. No closer to winning his beloved Maddie after so many years. His minions no doubt scattered to other worlds while they all lost before he did too, no doubt. And outnumbered, there was indeed truth to Jack's spawn's words.

…Well, almost.

"For now, maybe." He admitted. "But soon, you will regret standing up to the Syndicate. After all, you were still too late in preventing me from getting all the energy we needed from this world. This is far from over, Daniel. Far, FAR from over!"

With that, Vlad pulled out a remote device and pressed a button, suddenly creating a familiar green portal right next to himself!

"And as for you, Sora," Vlad addressed the glaring Keyblade bearer next, "you may have managed to rescue one of your friends, but let's see if you can manage to rescue the others."

"Hey, wait–!" Sora quickly reached out, trying to ask what he meant.

But the villain spared no mind and quickly hobbled into the portal, making it disappear behind him.

"That mean old Vlahd escaped!" The number one fry cook cursed their luck. "Now, where'd he go?"

"At least he can't cause trouble for Amity Park right now." The average kid brought their attention towards the two adults still unconscious. "And, thankfully, the Fentons are safe. Still not exactly aware of where they are right now, but still, safe."

The ghost boy wiped his brow and let out a held breath he wasn't aware he was holding until hearing that.

"Well, that's a relief." he said. "Anyway, let's see if we can get them back home."

"Um, not to butt in, but…" Selphie spoke up, looking a bit nervous as she seemed to have something on her mind, "how exactly do we get down from this tower? Last I heard, the place was practically falling down while you guys were heading up here."

"Oh, that's right!" Goofy too recalled that detail. "And some of our friends are still waiting for us back down there! We should figure out how to get them home too."

"I don't think they'll have much of a problem, boys." Wanda spoke up, looking out towards the view outside.

And indeed, outside there were a couple white planes heading in the direction of the castle. However, Danny cringed at the sight of the familiar weaponry attached to them. He had a good idea of whom these transports belonged to.

"Oh great, the Guys in White." He groaned.

"'Guys in White'?" Timmy echoed. "Who are they? Like the Men in Black?"

"They're overzealous ghost hunters who don't know what the 'secret' in 'secret government organization' means." The ghost boy explained. "While I don't think we'll need to worry about the others with them, we definitely need to make ourselves scarce, and fast. But I can't carry all of us, obviously…"

With that, Dorathea finally cleared her throat. She had been listening to this conversation for a while now, stewing on what she could do to repay them for helping her get her amulet back, even if it was just a matter of convenience that they did so. She didn't want to end things without helping them in turn. She wanted to help Selphie, too. No doubt her friend would appreciate that.

…No doubt that boy she knew long ago would have appreciated that as well.

"If I may," she told our heroes, "perhaps I can help you leave before those hunters arrive?"

"You can?" Donald asked. "How? No offense, but it's not like you can hold us all, either."

"Actually," Dorathea rebutted, adjusting the amulet, "I believe I can."

Danny eyed the amulet with suspicion, which led to a raised brow in her direction.

"Should we just bully you about not going to the ball so you'd want to kill us or something?" He snarked, only to get elbowed. "Ow!"

"Don't be rude to her!" Selphie told him off with narrowed eyes before smiling at her friend. "Don't worry, Dorathea, we trust you'll get us out safely. Right, boys?"

Something about the way she asked that seemed to carry an air of insistence. Our heroes collectively gulped, unsure they wanted to know how this ominous feeling was coming about. An already aware Sora didn't think twice as he and the others nodded in reluctant confirmation. Either way, Dorathea was happy with Selphie being on her side in spite of everything between her and the ghost child. For her friend, she would do this deed.

"Thank you, Selphie Tilmitt." She told her.

Calmly sinking deeper into her mind to focus, she closed her eyes, concentrating on her own mind. Sure enough, her form began to change. Growing in size, changing in color and gaining scales, in no short time did the ghost princess change into a dragon. But instead of attacking them, she instead laid down, extending her wings for them to climb onto her back from. Selphie went before the others, and they all followed suit, carefully finding seats between the ridges on the dragon's back. After grabbing a hold on said ridges, they felt Dorathea get up and start flapping her wings before turning intangible. And with that, not to mention some more destruction of the room, the ghost princess took flight into the sky and off towards Amity Park.

Eventually they made it back to Danny's home, with Dorathea dropping them off and then shifting back into her normal form so they could all head inside with no one noticing. From there, it was just a matter of getting Danny's parents onto the couch in the living room so they could rest. Danny, Timmy, Spongebob, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Tarzan and Selphie were watching over them while Jimmy was busy in the lab, apparently trying to figure out a way to locate the Gummi Ship and check to see if it was still in the world's orbit. Gadget, for a rare moment, was not in Sora's hair and was busy helping the boy genius while Jiminy Cricket was busy writing down all that happened in his journal. Dorathea? Well, perhaps to keep out of sight, she was with Jimmy down in the lab, waiting for the ghost portal to open.

It was then they heard the door open, and a familiar voice greeted, "Yo."

In came Akira Tadokoro, followed by Jazz, who rushed towards her parents to check on them, and Sam and Tucker who basically closed the door behind them. Danny's sister, after looking over their parents, gave a sigh of relief, glad that they were alright.

"Thank goodness…" She got up to embrace her brother, who hugged her back. "I'm so glad you're okay! When that tower was practically coming apart, I thought…!"

"Hey, it's alright, Jazz. We're all fine." Danny assured her, patting her on the back before they let the hug go. "We beat Vlad. He got away for now, but still, Amity Park's no longer got him running it into the ground. Things should be getting back to normal soon."

"Ghost activity has gone down since the castle basically got reduced to rubble." Tucker said, looking at his PDA. "Since Vlad's influence with the Syndicate basically kept them all in line, they're basically making their way back to the Ghost Zone licking their wounds. Even the Lunch Lady Ghost left the Nasty Burger after Spongebob did."

"She was a pretty nice ghost actually, once she learned of the love put into the Krabby Patty." Spongebob commented.

"The Heartless seem to have disappeared off the streets, too." Sam added. "That basically confirms that without Vlad around to lead them, they probably stopped terrorizing the place."

"Here's hoping that can last." Sora commented. Then he saw Jazz coming up to him and taking his hand in hers. "Uh…?"

"Sora," Jazz looked at him with a smile and a light blush, which of course made Danny's brow twitch, "thank you for keeping your promise, and saving mom and dad. They're really enthusiastic about what they do and tend to be pretty embarrassing, but I couldn't imagine a life without them. And I think Danny feels the same way."

Danny looked more like was keeping a very sharp eye on Sora, which seemed to confuse him. Did this have anything to do with 'decking him if he did anything funny' with Jazz? The keybearer didn't even know what constituted 'funny' by this standard. It was just holding hands.

He could barely hear the annoyed groan coming from his ring when others didn't.

"Hey, a promise is a promise." Sora replied to Jazz, not letting either bother him. "I wasn't planning on breaking one, and I don't plan to either. That's what friends are for."

"Y-Yeah, friends, that's certainly what we are, alright." Jazz nervously chuckled, trying to hide her blush after letting his hand go, though this only confused Sora.

"Well, yeah, why wouldn't we be?" He blinked.

"Clueless." Sam chuckled at that.

"Very." The delinquent sat back in an armchair and relaxed.

"Unfortunately for many," added a certain petite brunette.

Tucker looked around, spying everyone they knew in the room… well, except for the one girl who looked different and whose voice he barely heard.

"Oh, and uh, who's this?" He asked.

"Meet Selphie." Timmy introduced the girl who waved at them. "Turns out she's one of Sora's friends from back at his home. Vlad had her imprisoned in his own throne room the whole time."

"Hey there! Glad to be free." She greeted. "Nice to meet you guys!"

"One of Sora's friends?" Jazz looked to Selphie at that. "How did you end up captive by Vlad?"

"Beats me." Selphie shrugged. "All I recall is just going to bed the night before, then I wake up in some kind of dungeon with Dorathea. I'm still waiting for Sora to explain."

"Look, like I said, it's a long story." The Keyblade bearer sounded sheepish about that. "Once we make our way back to the ship, I'll tell you all about it."

"Your ship?" Akira raised a brow at that.

"Yeah, our very own Gummi ship!" Goofy answered, making Donald give him a look, "How else would we get around and save the worlds? Ahyuck!"

"Okay guys! Connection's finally reached!"

Jimmy's voice called from downstairs, getting everyone's attention. With everyone sure that the Fenton parents were fine where they were, they headed down through the kitchen and saw Jimmy Neutron at work with one of the Fenton Works computers while Goddard panted near him, Gadget stood on the invention table, with most of the gadgets they borrowed having been returned, waving them over, and Dorathea was floating near the portal. Once the group approached them, Gadget leaped onto Sora's shoulder and then climbed up into his hair once more. Selphie had a perplexed look on her face as she saw her friend didn't mind the rodent just making herself at home on his head.

Jimmy turned towards them and said, "It took some doing to properly sync up Fenton Works with the gummi ship through the Spotted Deck, but thankfully, we now have a stable connection again with our ship AND it's fortunately still in orbit. We should be ready to leave at any time."

"I'm just glad that they didn't have the foresight to destroy our ship when we were imprisoned in the Ghost Zone." The gummi ship mechanic mused. "If that happened, it would take forever trying to make a new gummi ship with the few parts we have on us."

"That's fantastic, Jimmy!" Spongebob praised the boy genius for this accomplishment.

"However, we are unfortunately still left with one conundrum keeping us here." Jimmy unfortunately had to state the bad news. "We never found any mysterious keyhole for Sora's Keyblade to interact with. I was so sure we could find something like that in Vlad's castle, but with it destroyed, now we clearly can't find it there."

"What's this about a keyhole?" Akira asked. But before the group could answer, he said, "Wait, let me guess. 'Long story,' right?"

There was a collective response of 'yes' from our heroes to confirm that.

"Well, maybe Danny's world doesn't have one of those?" Cosmo figured. "I mean, since the only few times we saw them were in worlds from the other universe, and the Heartless didn't show up in this world until the Syndicate got involved with said other universe, then maybe these keyholes are only a thing in the other universe."

"...How is it that you act how you do and yet you still have moments of insight?" Wanda had to ask her husband.

"Act like what? Like this?" Cosmo asked before just flying around in circles in the air. "Wheeeeeeeee~!"

"As much as he doesn't appear it, he does have a point." Jimmy sighed. "But unfortunately there's also no way to prove it right or wrong as things are now. I can honestly only hope for the best at the moment. So for now, we just need to wrap everything up before we head out."

"Erm… Perhaps we can start by finally sending me home?" Dorathea shyly asked, having everyone remember she was there.

"Oh, right, yeah. On it." The ghost boy was the first to get on that.

Yet while Danny went to work opening the portal, Dorathea floated over to Selphie and told her, "Selphie Tilmitt, even though the circumstances in which we met should have been better, I am more than happy to have met you. Without your friendship, I was not sure if I could persevere in my imprisonment and would have resigned myself to my fate as a mere helpless princess. But thanks to you, I now see I am worth more than just my amulet and I am indeed stronger than what I am told to be. Once things are better at home, I would happily welcome you there as an honored guest and a beloved friend."

Selphie smiled and held the ghost princess's hands, replying, "I would love to visit you someday, Dorathea. And hey, while I'm there, we could have our own costume ball! I can even provide the music. Just hope everyone there knows how to do a decent Irish jig, you know?"

Both of them giggling at the pleasant thought, and feeling satisfied that this parting would not be a bittersweet one, Dorathea let Selphie's hands go and said, "I would be more than happy to help that happen, Selphie."

"Okay, it's open." Danny's voice called.

With that, Dorathea looked to everyone else and bowed her head before turning away to leave. As she floated towards that swirling portal, her thoughts wandered, picturing that very ball. Selphie handling the music, her people dancing, her brother… well, not there, of course, that would be preferable. Her having a good time for once…

And her darling who charmed her the day that they met so long ago, asking her to dance with him. Once, she was saddened that she never saw him again and believed she never would in her lifetime. But then she considered, as a ghost, that 'never' was hardly as descriptive as it once was. True, it may not have been in her lifetime… but now she had all the time in the world to find him. One day, she would indeed see him again. This was the hope that shined within her heart, even if it stopped beating.

Dorathea went through the portal, and Danny was just about to have it close. But then, to everyone's shock, the portal itself suddenly began shining bright! Sparkles even began sprinkling out as light nearly blinded them all. Then once it dimmed down a bit, they could see some kind of shape forming within. A very recognizable shape.

"A keyhole!" Our heroes exclaimed, and on cue, Sora's Jungle King appeared in his hand, pointed towards it.

And so, like the two times it had before, the tip of the Keyblade gathered stars at the tip and fired a beam of light into the keyhole. The sound of a door locking rang through the lab, and the keyhole then began sparkling out of existence. The light too faded away, eventually becoming nothing more than an empty and depowered ghost portal. Everyone couldn't help but stare with dropped jaws, prolonged when Sora's Keyblade had changed form once again!

It was clearly made of metal, colored black and white, and seemed to emit a white, ethereal glow. The hilt and handle were formed like the symbol on Danny's jumpsuit, with the shaft resembling one of Danny's sleeves up until it appeared the 'hand' was wearing a variant of the Fenton Ghost Gloves, but with sharp claws acting as the teeth. The little token hanging from the black and white chains appeared like a small ghost with red, glaring eyes. All in all, a rather impressive-looking Keyblade.

Donald took a look towards the ghost portal, and sure enough he spotted something on the floor. A shining stone, similar to the few they had seen before back in Wonderland and Deep Jungle. He then picked it up and pocketed it, also noting there didn't seem to be any new gummi blocks either. And a bit annoyed that they were apparently so close to the keyhole to begin with and could have had that taken care of before taking on Vlad. Though this also brought up a rather fearful question.

If these mysterious keyholes really did exist beyond even their universe, just what was their significance?

"Well, I guess that takes care of everything here." Danny said after all was said and done. "Keyhole locked, ghosts and Heartless done, parents are okay. All's good."

"Danny? Jazz? Are you here, kids?"

Just then, the sound of an adult male calling for the pair of siblings made them jump.

"Uh-oh, looks like that's our cue to go!" The halfa said. "Jimmy, get us to the ship before they find us!"

"Wait, already?" Jimmy was surprised by Danny's insistence to head out. "But I was hoping to learn more about their ghost hunting technology…"

"Trust me, ghost hunters and ghost boys don't mix." The ghost boy told him. "Besides, Amity Park is practically back to normal and we have other worlds to save!"

The boy genius of Retroville could only sigh and begin adjusting his Spotted Deck, agreeing, "You're right. Beginning transportation."

"Wait!" Sora just realized something and looked towards Danny's friends and sibling… and Akira. He wasn't sure what his part in this whole thing was yet outside of being an exchange student and basically being under Jazz's thumb when it comes to speech. But all the same, he had to ask, "Guys, you're friends with Danny, right? Why don't you come with us? It'll be great! There's lots of space travel, new people, and–"

"Look, Sora, as much as we want to be there with Danny," Sam cut him off, explaining, "we can't exactly leave here without our parents going bonkers about us going missing."

"Yeah, as much as Danny's parents could probably buy him being elsewhere if they hear it from his sister," Tucker pointed out with Jazz clearing her throat, "our parents wouldn't exactly buy the same story. They're not invested in ghosts like the Fentons."

"Plus, someone's gotta keep those stuck-up 'popular' kids in line instead of trampling over people." Akira put out his two cents. "Plus, Paulina would probably have an easier time dealing with missing out on her favorite heroes if her time is spent dealing with me messing with her, so you don't need to worry about that."

"Oh, right, about that," Sora recalled the Latina girl, though this made Gadget roll her eyes, as did Sam, "can you tell her that I'm sorry that I didn't get to see her after the day was saved? Maybe that would make it easier on you, too."

Akira only smirked and chuckled in reply.

"Aren't you a considerate guy?" He asked in bemusement.

"Maybe a bit too considerate even for shallow girls…" Jazz muttered.

"Oh, and Jazz?" The keybearer looked to her next, making her reposition herself to avoid looking suspicious. "Hopefully we can hang out too without any ghost issues going on."

"I would like that." Jazz smiled at that.

"Hey, remember." The ghost boy reminded him. "Nothing funny."

"How was that funny?" The islander didn't get it.

"Kids, are you down in the lab?"

A mature, female voice that actually reminded Sora of his own mother's voice reminded them that they had to go.

"I'll take care of our parents." Danny's sister told them. "Sora, Danny… good luck."

They both nodded back to her in response, with Sora giving a thumb up. And thus at last, our heroes, including Selphie Tilmitt, had vanished from the lab in pillars of light. The original mission to save Amity Park was finally accomplished, and one of the Syndicate was handily beaten. Not to mention they had rescued a friend that the islander that Sora had not expected to see. Perhaps this was a sign of good things to come.

—-

It hadn't been long since they left that castle, if one would ask Riku. After beating those ghosts (well, more or less trying to keep undercover on his end by fighting alongside Valerie), he, Valerie, and the others were picked up by the Guys in White. From what Valerie explained, they were people in suits that worked for the government and were pretty much an open secret. Vlad Masters had hired them and a bunch of other ghost hunters a while back to try and hunt the ghost boy before, but only the Guys in White seemed to have the most technological competence to consider working with. Either way, they came in with planes the moment Plasmius was apparently defeated, coming in to rescue them from the castle as it was coming apart. He didn't need to get on since he was already hitching a ride on Valerie's hoverboard (not to mention he liked being close to her, he'd admit), but they did make sure to keep an eye on the others at her insistence. Apparently she knew them back at her high school before Plasmius took over. Even the punk who clearly gave the Guys in White dirty looks.

So, after they dropped off the purpleback gorilla back at her home in the local zoo (and ignoring the complaints the goth girl had about it), and with Valerie talking to one of those GIW agents while the kids walked off, he had to wonder. Just how much influence did Vlad have to pull the wool over Valerie's eyes this well? Should he talk to her about it? Maybe drop hints that things aren't what they seemed?

"...Nah, maybe not." Riku shook his head after some thinking. "Vlad, for all this double-identity thing he's got going, got both of us this cool tech so we could be strong. There's nothing wrong with that. Besides, Valerie's smart. She can figure it out herself… right?"

Still, to think Vlad actually lost. For all that big talk, he certainly went down easy, didn't he? Wasn't he supposed to be one of the only guys who actually took over their worlds in comparison to the others who were barely getting started? He thought he had something with all this ghost hunting stuff and being a ghost hybrid to match it. Sure, he was right about all the tools and weapons and skills associated with ghost hunting, but still. Maybe if he relied more on the dark–

But just then, Riku's eyes caught something, stopping his thoughts flat. Just above that one maroon-colored building with an oversized ufo practically attached to its roof, through his helmet's visor, he could see something large heading towards it, flapping its wings to hover down so it didn't damage anything. He could easily tell that thing was some kind of giant ghost dragon, but while that was surprising, it wasn't what caught Riku off guard. Disembarking from that dragon's back, amidst a bunch of oddball characters, along with that ghost boy who gave him and Valerie trouble before, were two teens who looked very familiar. One with spiky brown hair, and the other having distracting legs. Not as eye-catching or thick as Valerie's, but definitely showing off.

…Not that Riku would admit to knowing how Valerie's legs appeared out loud, but that wasn't the point.

"Sora…?" He whispered. "Selphie…? You're here too…?"

"Hey, Riku, kept you waiting?"

He was distracted by Valerie approaching. Apparently she just finished her talk and the Guys in White were already working on just securing the area. Yet they seemed so preoccupied, they didn't bother using their equipment to pick up on the ghost dragon dropping the group riding it off. He looked back to see them again, but to his shock, they were nowhere to be seen. Did the ghost dragon fly off in such a small amount of time and did the people riding it already go inside? Did he imagine things? No, he couldn't have…

"Riku? Helloooo?" Valerie waved her hand in front of his face. "You're zoning out on me."

Shaking his head back to reality, Riku managed to reply, "Uh, y-yeah, I'm good. Just… Just thought I saw a friend of mine."

"You sure?" He could just hear the skepticism in her voice. "You didn't exactly look like it was a pleasant sight."

"Wait, really?" That confused the boy. "Why wouldn't it be? We were just separated for a while, sure, but I wouldn't call it bad if I got to see them again."

"You should really work on your smiles for that, then." She told him. "But really, sorry for the wait back there. I swear, those Guys in White have got to be THE most conceited blowhards I've ever had to deal with while working for Mr. Masters!"

"They do look like complete sticks in the mud," Riku agreed, a natural smile forming on his face.

"Look and act like it." Valerie chuckled. "Anyway, why don't we get ourselves changed out of these and relax for a bit? Considering Amity Park's about to get back to normal, I think we can afford a break and hang out. Wanna try out the Nasty Burger?"

"They actually named a restaurant 'the Nasty Burger'?" The islander asked as they walked along together. "That doesn't sound appetizing."

"Yeah, the food's nothing to worry about either, but nobody really goes there for that." She admitted. "But I did hear it apparently saw an uptake recently, so maybe something different happened."

"Well, I guess I'm intrigued, and I could grab a bite." He shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Who was he to complain when Valerie was offering some more time with her?

After they changed and put their ghost hunting uniforms away, the pair headed over to the Nasty Burger, which still seemed to get an influx of customers… though some also appeared to be leaving a bit after coming in. Judging from the guy Valerie recognized as the owner of the Nasty Burger crying out to the 'fast food gods for taking away the greatest fry cook he ever had', she guessed this sudden quality shift was temporary at best. Still, they got their order and sat together at a table. Riku could agree he had better meals before, but despite the name, the Nasty Burger wasn't actually that bad. But if there was anything he enjoyed more, it was sitting across from his partner, chatting with her.

She was a great person to talk to, and they had plenty of interests in common to talk about that led to them being ghost hunters. Riku's training with a wooden sword leading to some actual use in holding weaponry, Valerie's know-how of tech she got from her scientist dad, his raft-building skills developing his muscles, her exercise routine helping her perfect her balance so she could ride the hoverboard…. The two could talk no doubt for hours at a time. Realistically, this conversation didn't last for such a long duration. But for the most important part of their conversation, it went like this.

"Wait, so that ghost boy actually destroyed where your father worked and got him fired?" Riku was surprised. "That's… legitimately terrible."

"Yeah, my life practically got upended because of him, and there are people around here that treat him as a hero." Valerie scoffed at this. "Can't call him a bad guy, but he's still the one who caused me and my dad the most trouble. Him and all the other ghosts that haunt this town. So, to get payback, I took up ghost hunting after Mr. Masters secretly sent me some equipment to do it. It wasn't until a while later that he actually told me himself that it was him doing that."

"Why'd he do it secretly instead of telling you outright?" The ghost hunter-in training had to ask.

In response, she shrugged and said, "Beats me. He just said he was impressed by my abilities and determination, so he continued supplying me with weapons, so now I basically work for him as a ghost hunter while also doing side jobs. Dad wasn't exactly happy when he found out I was a ghost hunter though, so I had to work to convince him that I was okay doing it. He probably softened up a bit when Vlad got him a job at VladCo. So, we're both doing better, living day by day…"

"...But it doesn't change what you lost, huh?" Riku had a hunch that was the case.

"...Yeah." Valerie took a look at her fries before popping one into her mouth and swallowing it. She then looked back to Riku and asked, "So, how did you get scouted? I don't think you told me that."

"Hm?" He blinked. Then he recalled. He had to come up with a good story to justify himself working for Vlad outside of knowing his ghost identity. "Oh, right. Well, I honestly wasn't into the whole ghost hunting thing at first, but I ended up meeting Vlad and he said he was impressed with my skills and potential, so he basically persuaded me to become one. That part wasn't really a big deal compared to yours, but that's basically how it happened."

"Really? That easy?" She found that a little hard to believe. "What did your parents think?"

That actually drove Riku to silence. Suddenly, memories came back to him. The last time he saw Sora, back on Destiny Island. The storm that would be the end of their days just sitting around dreaming while making a raft to sail out onto sea. The night that he decided he wouldn't let fear stop him. The moment he decided he was not afraid of the darkness, and would chase his dreams of finding other worlds… even if it meant he'd never see his parents again.

…His parents… really were gone, weren't they?

"Hey, Riku?" Valerie's voice reached his ears. "You alright?"

He could see the ghost huntress looking at him, concern plain as day on her face. He must have worried her when he got struck by his memories popping up from what she asked.

Scratching his head, he sheepishly answered, "Er, sorry about that. I'm alright. It's just…"

Riku paused to wonder. What could he say about it?

Deciding, he answered, "It's just that I haven't actually seen my parents in a while. My friends neither. And last I checked, my old home has seen better days. I've just been trying to get by until Vlad found me."

"Oh…"

Now Valerie just felt sympathy for poor Riku. To her, it sounded like her partner was out on his own with no idea where his friends and family were and his home was basically unlivable. Normally she would be skeptical about it since, in the same vein, it would sound like one of those cheesy backstories boys would use to pick up chicks. But she didn't pick up any of that disingenuous vibe from Riku, nor could she see Vlad scouting someone like him if it wasn't true. That just… made it all the sadder.

"Hey, I'm sorry I brought all that up." Valerie apologized. "I didn't mean to–"

"No, it's not your fault." He gently denied. "I just haven't really considered it that much up until now. I've just been focused on everything happening at present to really think about the past."

That was no lie. He hardly ever considered what would happen after he left his home to find other worlds. He was just interested in what would happen after the fact, sure he would succeed. He just didn't expect to land in a world run by some dark fairy in charge of a bunch of odd characters before meeting with Vlad Plasmius for the first time. He certainly didn't expect to meet a girl like Valerie either.

No doubt everything was worth it just to meet someone like her alone.

"...just have to know something. They have to!"

"C'mon, Paulina. You've been fussing about them all day. They got Inviso-Bill with them, remember? They should be fine."

Riku and Valerie looked over towards another table in the restaurant, where two girls were talking with each other. A pretty latina girl and a blonde caucasian girl. Valerie seemed to recognize the pair before refocusing on her meal. This did not go by Riku's notice.

"Friends of yours?" He asked, though he got an idea otherwise.

"Not these days." She scoffed, confirming his suspicions. "Remember when I talked about the ghost boy basically upending my life? Yeah, the moment me and dad lost our higher standing, I was basically booted from the popular clique. Honestly, that's the only perk I can think of when I remember those days. Seriously, to think I'd still be a stuck-up narcissist if I remained on their level. Just try to ignore them. It's not like they got anything important to say."

"Duly noted." He saluted, making her snort in amusement.

And he was truly set on heeding that advice. This was just a date between him and her. Letting anybody else disturb it was just poor thinking anyhow.

…This was a date, right? Riku wondered if it was. Heck, he hoped it was.

However…

"But you saw how that castle came down!" The Latina just kept going. "We only saw Fenton's dork friends make it back along with Tadokoro, and they didn't even bother saying anything about where either of them were! I still have no idea how close they are to Inviso-Bill and Sora!"

Riku froze. He couldn't mistake that name even if he wanted to. But still, it couldn't be…

"Geez, Paulina, you can't seem to get over either of them, can you?" The blonde asked. "I mean, you're even talking about that spiky-haired dork more than the actual superhero."

Spiky-haired dork…? No way…!

"He's not just some dork, Star! Sure, his clothes are the goofiest I've ever seen, with those humongous yellow shoes and those red shorts with the large pockets," Paulina rebutted, "but he's still the strong, handsome, daring hero who saved my life! Not to mention those pure blue eyes~"

"Oh wow, you got it bad…" Star couldn't help but blink.

Riku couldn't deny it anymore. The name. That detailed description. The figure he thought he had seen earlier. There was no one else that matched that image any better in his head.

Sora WAS here! He survived! He survived and he was traversing other worlds just like him!

Traversing other worlds… without him. Or Kairi. Apparently going around acting like a hero and impressing girls. That… didn't sound like the Sora he knew, though. But still, the way this Paulina described him…

"Hey, Riku?" Valerie's voice got his attention. "Are you sure you're alright? You seem to be zoning out again…"

"Ah, uh, it's nothing major, really." He told her quickly, only to stand up. "Excuse me, I need to use the restroom."

He then quickly rushed to the men's room in the restaurant, which was thankfully empty. Left alone with his thoughts, Riku went over to the sink and began washing his face to try and remove any sense of stress he was feeling. When he looked up to his face, watching the streaks of water run down his cheeks and drip from a few of his hair's locks and from his chin, he could see that it didn't help much. He groaned before getting a paper towel and starting to dry his face. He cringed a bit. Why did restaurant paper towels have to feel like drying with cardboard?

But still, he was reeling from the fact that Sora was even here to begin with, and he never even noticed up until then.

"Why didn't I think to ask about Sora?" He thought to himself. "If I just asked if someone matching his description was seen anywhere, surely I could have found him sooner! Then we could have found Kairi by now. But if that's the case, then… why wasn't he looking for us? What's he doing, playing hero? And how…?"

The sound of crackling flames reached his ears. The stench of darkness filled the air. He could see a familiar black-and-purple robe, not to mention the taller height in the reflection. Not to mention the present staff and the sharp nails.

"I trust you've had fun working under Vlad, child?" Her smooth, even-toned voice asked him.

"...It's Riku." He replied. "I told you that before."

"That you did." She acknowledged, unphased by his bluntness. "Do you know why I'm here?"

"You heard about Vlad Plasmius being defeated."

"That I did. Yet he barely managed to escape back, still having accomplished what he set out to do for the Syndicate. All the same, tell me, Riku. Why did you not assist him?"

"I was under cover with his true apprentice, Valerie Gray. She doesn't know the truth of who he is. It's not like I could just leave and betray what she considers to be our common occupation with that in mind. I would like to think he knew that."

The dark fairy seemed to chuckle, bemused.

"It seemed that Skulker, his pet, and Clayton did not." She mused. "If anything, they complained that you enjoyed your role of 'ghost hunter' too well."

"They're just sore they lost to a kid." He dismissed their issues with him. "It's not my fault they weren't strong enough."

"Is that so…?"

He turned to her, asking with narrowed eyes, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." The small smirk on her face said otherwise. "Onto more important matters. I am going to be paying another world a visit soon. A humble place known as Traverse Town. And I would like you, Riku, to accompany me."

"What, so we can hide in the shadows while we wait for another member of the group to plot and scheme?" Riku rolled his eyes and began drying his hands. "No thanks. I'm on a date right now anyway."

"Not even if it is so you could see your dear friend, Sora?"

Finally, the dry wit faded from Riku's voice as he looked upon her in shock. The way she smiled seemed to show that this was the first real time he did such. She had him right where she wanted him. She knew it. He knew it. And he couldn't escape it.

"How do you…?" He trailed off, unable to finish his question.

"It is quite a simple deduction." She told him. "As they have pieces for their vessel, unknowing of the purpose that they bear, they can only go to the one person who has expertise above their level, and he just so happens to be in Traverse Town. There is no other destination for them to take."

Riku was silent for a moment, considering his options.

"You are free to decline to come, if you so desire. Return to your 'date' as you please." The dark fairy told him. "But, if you do wish to join me on this trip to meet your cherished friend, allow me to warn you in advance. He is far from the boy you remember. He has changed."

At that, Riku started gaining back his normal temperament, clicking his tongue at the idea.

"No, I know Sora. Guy like him? He doesn't change. Especially not when it comes to his friends." He denied. "It'll be fine."

The ghost hunter heard a light 'hmph' from Maleficent's voice. Not once did she seem to lose her cool around his dismissing of her words. Not once had she ever. That admittedly did unnerve him from time to time. All the same, he liked to think that he could at least shoot straight with her about things with confidence. He had faith in his friend, after all. Sora wouldn't forget about him and Kairi.

…He felt he wouldn't, anyway.

"Very well, if that is what you believe, I will just let you see for yourself." Maleficent then turned, starting to vanish in the green flames she appeared from. "I shall see you there soon. Do try to make good time."

And with that, the dark fairy was gone. Riku finished drying his hands while thinking about her words. Sora, changing? Like that would ever happen, right? But then again, hearing about him being some kind of hero, saving girls like in those games they used to play as kids? He had to have grown out of that. They stopped playing those games when they became teenagers.

Anyhow, he then exited the restroom, saying, "Sorry I took so long, Valerie, I just–"

But he couldn't finish whatever reason he had to make up on the fly, for he saw Valerie was already up from their table, having paid the bill for their order, and was getting ready to leave. She noticed Riku coming out and looked a tad sheepish about the position he found her in. The two other girls he noticed had long left as well, so it was practically just the two of them in the restaurant then. Riku walked over to his partner, for a moment pondering what was going on before getting a clue.

"Did you get an important call?" He guessed.

"Yeah, Mr. Masters called me just when you went to the restroom." She confirmed, looking apologetic. "He wants me to meet with him and report on the current situation with Amity Park. I asked if you would come along, but apparently you're scheduled to be somewhere else for now. He's probably got you running a big errand or something and should be hearing from somebody."

Well, Vlad wasn't wrong, the islander noted.

"I… just got that call while I was in there, actually. Talk about bad timing." He said, telling that half-truth. "Yeah, looks like I gotta go somewhere for a bit. Sorry…"

"Nah, it's not your fault." His partner basically echoed his words. "Being a ghost hunter isn't all about ghost hunting, unfortunately. Would make things a whole lot easier if it was though."

"Yeah," he chuckled, "I know the feeling. More time for just the both of us, chasing down annoying ghost boys, taking down other specters…"

Valerie giggled, adding, "More time for you flirting with me with so much cheese."

"Hey now, I don't really sound cheesy, do I?" Riku asked, mock-offense clear in his voice.

"Riku, if you were any more cheesy, you'd be the current Dairy King of Wisconsin." She teased him more.

"Then I'd be having a good time with the queen of ghost hunting while smelling of cheddar."

The pair found good humor in each other's harmless barbs. Their prior disappointment about their separation was forgotten. After all, it wasn't like this was going to be the last time they would work together. This was no doubt just a temporary thing before they both were called upon. Both were sure of that.

"Well, anyway, I better get going." Valerie said after letting her laughter go. "So, maybe after we get our jobs done, what do you say we do this again? Maybe go somewhere less… fast-foody?"

"That sounds like a million dollar idea, Valerie." Riku smiled. "Mind if I call you with my mask's communicator when I'm done?"

"Not at all." She was good with that. "Probably easier to work with than a cell phone anyway between us, right?"

"Yeah, totally."

"Yeah. Well, see you later, Riku."

"See you too, Valerie."

With their farewells, Valerie went out the door of the Nasty Burger while leaving Riku with a smile. He smiled back, watching her and all her beauty go, glad that at least that they had another date planned. But then his smile died down as he turned back towards the men's room, walking inside the door and holding his hand forward. Before him, a dark portal appeared, and he stared through its inky, ominous abyss.

This would just be a simple matter of confirming his beliefs. He would meet Sora, the two would reconnect, then team up so they can find Kairi and travel the worlds together. Just like they said they would. After that, he can celebrate being right with that date with Valerie. Certainly, this was a sign of good things to come.

—-

Good GOLLY this one took a while to create, didn't it, but fortunately it's finally here after so many delays and trying to write for mostly original scenes! Hopefully the rest of this story won't have this issue, but for now, it's time I got back to work on my other fic since that needs a well-deserved update as well instead of me just playing games, streaming shows, and dealing with personal drama.

Anyhow, thanks again to Akito the Boxer for beta-reading this chapter and fine-tuning it these last few days to make it the best it could be while dealing with his own schedule and moving into his new house. This couldn't have been possible without him.

Also, shameless plug, but if you haven't heard before, this story has an official TVTropes page! But it's also pretty small at the moment since most of its content doesn't seem to go beyond the first couple of chapters, so why don't we get that expanded upon, shall we~?

Anyway, see you next time as we return to Traverse Town! Hopefully not in half a year like this one. XD