DANNY PHANTOM: THE ULTIMATE RETURN

Chapter 9: the Explanation.

Danny, Dani, Sam, Tucker and Valerie arrived back at Fenton Works after Danny's fight with Dan. After tending to his injuries, Danny called his parents, Jazz and Steve over to the living room. Everyone listened in as Danny starts to tell what happen.

"Okay, before I explain what happen. I might as well answer Dani's and Valerie's questions first." Danny said. "The only people that knows about this are Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Clockwork and the Avengers. I never told anyone else this because I didn't want to worry you all."

"Danny, what's going on?" Dani asked, which Danny sighed.

"Before I answer that, let me ask Steve this. Steve, remember that time I told you about Dan Phantom?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, I remember, why?" Steve replied.

"Honey, who's that?" Maddie asked.

"Dani, Valerie. That powerful ghost I was fighting against... is me, or what could have been me. He's my alternate future evil self, or once future evil self now that I'm older." Danny said.

"WHAT?!" Dani, Maddie, Jack and Valerie said in shock.

"What do you mean that ghost is you, or could have been you?" Dani asked.

"And how is he an alternate evil future version of you?" Valerie asked.

"How could you become evil?" Maddie asked.

"It started back 8 years ago, when the C.A.T.s were about to take place. You see, Mr. Lancer got suspicious of me cheating on the test. So, he called mom and dad for a meeting at the Nasty Burger. Along with myself were Tucker and Sam. Unfortunately, the Nasty Burger's vat of condiments exploded at that time and caused the deaths of mom, dad, Jazz, Sam and Tucker. I was the sole survivor. As a result of the deaths, I lost everything. With nowhere else to go, I was forced to move in with my arch enemy, Vlad Masters, aka Vlad Plasmius." Danny said, which Dani frown upon hearing that name. "Completely fill with grief, I ask Vlad to get rid of my Human emotions, in other words, get rid of my Human half. Vlad successfully managed to separated my Human half from my ghost half, but this had... very fatal consequences. Now that my ghost half was free from my Human half, my ghost half saw a chance to get rid of of his arch enemy. Phantom separated Vlad's ghost half from his Human half and tried to overshadow it. Unfortunately, when Plasmius' evil ghost half mixed with mine, it overwhelmed him and the power overloaded my ghost self, resulting in the birth of my most hated, dangerous, and personal enemy: Dan Phantom, or Dark Danny. His first act of malice was the murder of his Human half and destroying Vlad's entire mansion, before unleashing ten years of pain and destruction on both the Earth and the Ghost Zone. However, thanks to Clockwork, I was able to overcome it. I traveled to the future, the year 2019 of that timeline, got defeated by him first and got send to the Ghost Zone, but thanks to an old enemy, I managed to get back to my timeline where I defeated him, saved my loved ones and alter the timeline, but I never knew that Clockwork took the thermos with Dan, meaning he now exists out of time. Now he's back, and worst, he has a gauntlet that I've never heard about called the Universal Gauntlet." Danny explained, which Dani, Valerie, Maddie and Jack couldn't believe it.

"This is a lot to take in." Maddie said.

"So let me get this straight. We are dealing with an evil twisted alternate once future version of you, who is a combination of you and Vlad? You managed to beat him on some crazy ghost adventure and made a choice that avoid catastrophe and you from becoming him. But somehow, he exist out of time despite his timeline has been erased." Valerie said.

"Yeah." Danny said.

"Now this Dan Phantom now has possession of a ghostly mystical artifact you never heard about call the Universal Gauntlet?" Dani asked.

"Yeah." Danny said.

"Found it." Tucker said, looking through his PDA.

"What you got, Tucker?" Danny asked.

"The Universal Gauntlet. It is a ancient ghostly artifact and a ghostly twin to the Human world's Reality Gauntlet. It uses the power of the Reality Gems. However, unlike the Reality Gauntlet, which is powered by four gems, the Universal Gauntlet is powered by six, two of them which we never heard about are called the Gem of Time and the Gem of Infinity. And there's no defense mechanism for the gems. Just like the Reality Gauntlet, the Universal Gauntlet gives the user the power to control reality. Legend has it that if someone had possession of both the Reality and Universal Gauntlet and all ten Reality Gems, depending on the situation, it could either be good or catastrophic. We won't know cause the Reality Gauntlet and its four gems are destroyed." Tucker said.

"This is getting worst than I imagined. I never thought I would see him again." Danny said before he sat down and covered his head.

"Same here, little brother. I can't believed he has returned." Jazz said.

Sam walked to Danny and put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"Don't give up, Danny. If you can beat him before, you can beat him again." Sam said as she comforts her boyfriend.

"But the last time I fought Dan, he needed me alive in order for me to become him. I beat him because I surprised him with a new power. He won't be surprise by the Ghostly Wail this time, or go easy on me." Danny said.

"Unless it's me. I don't have that power yet." Dani said.

"True." Danny said.

"Don't worry, Danny. Even if he's ready for you this time, you're not alone. You have your friends and family to stop him." Steve said.

"But Steve, you may have heard about Dan, but you never fought him before. You have no idea what you're up against." Danny said.

"Doesn't matter. You won't fight alone. We'll fight him together." Steve said.

"All of us. No ghost, powerful or not, can't take down Team Phantom and the Fenton family." Jack said.

"If this so called future you thinks he can go out and harm my loved ones and this world, then he has another thing coming for him." Maddie said.

"We can take him on." Dani said.

"We all got your back." Tucker said.

"Same here." Valerie said.

"See, Danny. No matter what happens, we're in this together." Jazz said, which Danny smiled.

"Thank you. All of you." Danny said.

"I don't get it though." Sam said.

"What do you don't get, Sam?" Danny asked.

"During the fight, Dan said that you and Dani will do something for him, and he said something about Dani's future. What did he mean by that?" Sam asked.

"I don't know, but Dani and I will NEVER, EVER, do anything for Dan. As for the second part, I don't think Dan means Dani will become like him. I mean, there's no way Dani would turn evil. Dani is to... Dani." Danny said.

"As long she doesn't cheat on the C.A.T.s, she's good." Tucker said.

"Why would I cheat on the C.A.T.s? I've been studying really hard for that test all week." Dani said.

"Well, let's not think about that at the moment. Right now, we need to figure out where Dan is and how to stop him." Danny said.

"Say, Tucker, what did you say those two Reality Gems we never heard about called?" Sam asked.

"Gem of Time and Gem of Infinity, why?" Tucker replied.

"Uh oh." Dani said.

"What?" Tucker said.

"If one gem is call the Gem of Time, then where do you think that gem would be at?" Dani said, which Danny went wide eyed.

"He must have had a duel with Clockwork before coming here. He must be at Clockwork's. Okay, Team Phantom, let's suit up and head to Clockwork's!" Danny ordered.