Danny Phantom - The Next Chapter

The Darkest Shadow, Part 2

Sam clutched at Danny as he curled in on himself, fighting desperately to stay in control and repel Dan from his mind.

'Please, Danny. You can do this!' she encouraged him, but she had no idea if he could even hear her anymore. He certainly wasn't responding like he could.

'You're stronger than him!' she continued, 'You know you are!'

Around them, the others were frantically trying to find away to expel Dan from Danny without hurting him. They were shouting desperately, at one point Jazz running inside to grab the Fenton Ghost Catcher, but before anyone could come up with a plan, Danny took a shuddering breath and seemed to relax.

'Danny?' Sam asked, but slowly drew her hand away. A cold dread was settling in her stomach as something in her screamed at her to flee.

Danny shuddered again, and it took Sam a moment to realise that he was laughing.

'I haven't been called that in a long time.'

Danny's head finally raised and Sam leapt backwards as Dan's burning red eyes met hers.

'Hello, Samantha,' Dan snarled, 'It's so good to see you again.'

Dan lunged for her but before his hand could make contact, something wrapped around her waist and she was yanked backwards out of his reach. She passed through the ghost shield and slammed into the ground a few feet away from the front steps of Fenton Works. She looked up to see Maddie had activated her grappling hook again, pulling her to safety.

'It's Dan!' Sam gasped.

Maddie nodded grimly, looking past her as Danny... Dan rose to his feet, clenching and unclenching his fists as he looked down at himself.

'Weaker than I remember,' Dan commented.

He raised his hand and a brilliant blue light appeared, forming into the shape of a pristine ice crystal.

'But now there's so many new powers to play with!'

With deadly speed, he spun around and shot a beam of ice towards the RV which slammed into the ghost shield and solidified into a curved wall of ice. It stretched just over halfway its length, halting with blades of ice pointing towards its rear. Inside, Jack looked panicked as he tried to get the treads to break through and regain traction to move.

Dan laughed and turned to glare at those sheltering against Fenton Works.

'A ghost shield won't save you now,' he growled, 'Being half human again does have its benefits.'

'Oh no you don't,' Tucker muttered in reply, 'Out of the way, Damon!'

The sound of his furious typing was loud enough to be heard over the coms.

Before them, the blue rings of light appeared around Danny's waist as he transformed back to his human form, still with the unnerving red eyes.

'Stay back!' Maddie ordered, raising her weapon and stepping in front of the girls. Together, Sam and Jazz did the same, though Sam wasn't sure she had it in her to fire at Danny, overshadowed or not.

Dan grinned and walked leisurely towards them, savouring every moment of his apparent victory.

'Don't worry, I'll drag Danny back out of his little hidey-hole just long enough for him to see what he'll do to you,' Dan explained smoothly.

'Not so fast, psycho,' Tucker declared over the coms.

The ghost shield flared for a moment before it returned to its usual green shimmer and Dan paused, looking up at it. But when nothing else seemed to happen, he appeared to put it out of his mind and continued towards them.