It's finally coming down to the wire, people! Been a while since I updated, as usual. Granted, it's been quite a while for some of my other fics…. but I digress. I just hope everyone enjoys what I'm posting.

Disclaimer: As if I really need to say anything at this point.

Chapter 6: To Live And Die For Rock And Roll

To say that Vlad Masters was worried was an understatement. This long and he still had yet to hear of the death of that repugnant halfa nemesis of his, either from the news or his new 'comrades'. He knew of young Daniel's track record first hand. The halfa wasn't weak, by any means. But he had felt the 5 sinister beings' power when he accidentally summoned them. There was no way that brat could beat them all up, even with help. Could he? Did he?

If Daniel won, Vlad knew he would be in quite the quandary. Ever since his grudge against Daniel began, there was one fortunate thing that always seemed to happen, no matter what evil tactics Vlad used: Nobody had died. At all. By sheer luck or by Daniel's skill, every conflict never seemed to garner a body count. All well and good for Vlad, since he preferred to have subjects to rule over. Besides, no deaths meant less loose ends to tie up and evidence to dispose of. So much tedious work…

But now people had been killed. By his new associates, no less. Daniel would be angry about that, Vlad knew. He could appeal to the halfa's heroic tendencies to ensure that the young man wouldn't resort to killing him. But that wouldn't stop him from trying to beat him up. Trying being the key word, as Vlad's mind rationed that Daniel and his rapscallion friends would already be worn down by his new minions by the time they catch up to him. It might leave a chance for Vlad Plasmius to pick off the scraps.

Still, it would be best to prepare for the worst, just in case his own powers somehow weren't enough. He thought this as he stockpiled all his acquired ghost weaponry from the lab he had set up in City Hall when he moved in. Just as he finished checking the final gun in his arsenal as the local news continued blaring as mere background noise, a presence made itself known to Vlad by appearing in front of him, phasing down from the roof.

"Your bounty seems more talented than we had anticipated, boss man. All four of my fellow greasers are no more… I would say that I'm a little concerned here, but I'd be lyin' through my teeth. Given time, they should be rollin' along here. By the time I'm through with them, they'll be wishing they showed us some respect…" the final Dark Purveyor chortled, his voice as slick as his greasy hair, done up in a pompadour style.

"Damn him… Well, what have you planned for him?" Vlad demanded, crossing his arms in a frustrated manner. As he feared, the young hero was winning.

"Just a little something special. All I need is a good amount of space to rock and roll. As for you, however… Just in case these twerps actually manage to wreck me, I think you had better read some more of the book you brought us out of, friend." the leader said, raising a hand. When he did, an old book appeared in his hand out of thin air. Vlad recognized it. "There's some… interesting information you probably should know about what else the incantation you said does."

"You mean… there's more?" Vlad asked, a little surprised. On one hand, it was nice to know that he could still have one ace up his sleeve in case those obnoxious brats win yet again. But on the other… No. He mustn't think like that. Nobody can establish their own dominion without stepping on a few toes. Or rather, breaking a few necks, he supposed. No turning back now… He took the book from the leather jacket clad warrior. Said warrior grinned darkly.

"When isn't there more, am I right? Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a rumble to prepare for. Be there, be square, doesn't matter which you do today. Either way, rock and roll is here to stay!" he chuckled before disappearing in what seemed to be a sentient wave of darkness. Vlad just stood there, book in one hand, gun in the other, contemplating on what just happened.

There truly was no turning back from this now.

Setting the weapon down, he flipped open the dark book and began reading….

After flying from the Amityville Scorer, Team Phantom landed a few houses away from Fenton Works and started to walk the rest of the way. The six do-gooders looked like they had just come back from major military warfare, if the army let them wear whatever they wanted to, whether it was Ember's makeshift casual wear or Valerie's Huntress armor. For Danny and Ember, the analogy would seem perfect as they took the brunt of Vlad's latest scheme. Danny definitely could stand to change uniforms, as his current hazmat suit had rips and tears all over, revealing his numerous cuts and bruises. Their collective mood was mostly sour, despite their relief at having defeated the 80's-obsessed Josey.

"Man, it's gonna take a while for the city to recover from this, huh?" Tucker asked as he remembered the zombies, the murder victims, the mall's new 'rooftop decoration', and the reports of battered buildings and neighborhoods.

"The cleanup, the paperwork, identifying the deceased, locating and terminating any remaining undead, funerals, possibly memorials, psychiatric therapy and grief counseling for survivors, formally impeaching Vlad if we somehow fail to kick his ass out of town… Yeah, I'd say there's a lot to do, Tuck." Sam answered, noticing a random citizen across the street managing to defeat a lone lost zombie in his panic. The group kept walking, although they were unnerved that some zombies seem to be exploring the town away from the defeated Dark Purveyors' siege points. As if the emergency news bulletins weren't enough to get people to leave town for now…

As they approached the front door of Fenton Works, the loud engine of the Fenton Family Assault Vehicle abruptly roared as the hulking vehicle rounded the street corner, having just came out of its garage. The FFAV skidded to a stop a little ways away from the group and the door opened, revealing a battle-ready Maddie, clad in her usual blue jumpsuit.

"Danny! Oh, thank goodness you're alright! I was just leaving to try and track you and Ember down with these terrible attacks going on. You and Ember weren't caught up in any of that, were you?" Maddie asked as she ran up and gave her son a hug that only a frightened mother could give. Danny cringed as the hug's pressure pressed upon some of his wounds.

"Mom! I'll be fine…! Can you please let me go?" Danny groaned, partially out of pain and partially because Sam and Tucker were snickering a little at the prospect of the town's big superhero being babied by his own mom. Maddie let her son go, but it was at that point when she noticed the condition of his Phantom uniform and, in turn, his body.

"My goodness, you ARE hurt! My poor baby! Here, get in the Assault Vehicle and we can use our built-in infirmary to help you. Jazz and Jack are inside waiting." Maddie said, gently pulling Danny toward the vehicle. To the others, it seemed kind of funny that this was the same woman that wanted to annihilate Phantom before she knew his true identity.

"Alright, Mom, we'll go. We were coming back for treatment anyway… Sigh… Yeah, we got ambushed on the way to breakfast… It's… It's been a long morning…" With that, the six heroes entered the large armored vehicle and Danny proceeded to tell his parents and sister all that transpired. It was during this explanation when Danny revealed to his parents the one ace in the hole he had kept for a special occasion: Vlad's secret identity and his true motives. Truthfully, since he had been accepted by his family, Danny was saving that for if one of Vlad's schemes went public and an opportunity arose to ruin his 'good mayor' reputation and at least force him into hiding. Certain superheroes did have a point about always having a strategy ready for certain people…

Needless to say, Maddie was not happy. "Why that no-good, rat-haired, no-class son of a bitch! Hurt MY family, will he?! Innocent citizens as well?! And all because he won't accept rejection?! Ugh, that's so… immature!" Her grip on Danny's arm, which she had been looking at, tightened exponentially to the point where the halfa grunted in pain and Ember had to try and pry the mother's hand away.

"Wait 'til ya hear that he made his lab's A.I. program look and sound like you, Mom… Very disturbing…" Danny groaned. Maddie's eyes bugged out and her grip slackened.

"You're kidding…" was all the matriarch responded with. She knew Vlad Masters was a bit pretentious and some of his behavior had been questionable at best and completely untrustworthy at worst (such as a certain mother-son trip that Vlad had tricked them into), but Maddie never thought she'd be the target of stalker behavior like this.

"Trust me, I wish I was…" Danny muttered back.

"Uhh… Curious question, but what do you think's worse? Walking in on your parents 'doing it' or finding out that somebody's obsessed with your mom?" Ember asked in an attempt to lighten the mood a little with her blue humor as Jazz examined her slowly-healing wounds. Everyone (except Jack, who was driving) looked at Ember like the diva had grown a second head.

"Honestly? Considering Vlad, I'd say both are equally traumatic. After unleashing this zombie apocalypse, he'd better not go into another rant about taking mom and making me his 'new son'." Danny answered, shuddering at the memory of the arch-villain's arrogant ramblings. It was then that the Assault Vehicle jostled somewhat as, apparently, Jack had just driven right over a pair of zombies.

"This bad guy you mentioned must be near. There seems to be more zombies as we keep going…" Jack announced as he carefully avoided another undead minion. Too many zombie guts was probably not the best thing for a vehicle's wheels or breaks…

"Oh, just mow 'em down, Jack." Maddie commanded, still feeling righteous fury over the complete truth of her former friend. "This is the Assault Vehicle, not our usual car. A few ghouls aren't going to damage it."

"You're still mad, aren't you…?" Jack asked, now trying to turn as many undead into roadkill without deviating from their course. Maddie simply muttered an 'uh huh' as she resumed patching up Danny, a part of her relishing the bumpy ride toward City Hall.

"Uh, Baby-Pop? Remind me never to get your mama mad at me…" Ember said, pretty sure that the Fenton matriarch was mentally picturing what she'd do to ol' Plasmius. Not that she felt sorry for the evil mayor, of course.

"Noted." Danny answered, already starting to feel better. He still had the uncomfortable feeling that the upcoming battle would probably be easier if he at least had one day to rest and recover… But the universe was sometimes quite unkind to superheroes.

The Assault Vehicle slid to a stop in front of City Hall, having just grinded about five zombies into gore-flavored mulch beneath its wheels. Sam and Danielle could tell something was wrong since the last time they were here. There definitely wasn't a strange aura emanating from the building before… Nor was the sky above them covered in a 3-block radius with pitch-black clouds (yet the rest of Amity had normal weather), considerably dimming the lighting of the area… Nor were there a crowd of zombies milling about, as if waiting. Waiting for them…

"Anybody else's bullshit detector go off about now?" Tucker asked, earning himself a slap upside his head and a retort of "Language, young man!" from Mrs. Fenton (despite the fact that she herself had called Vlad a 'son of a bitch' minutes ago).

"Tucker's right, though. I think Vlad penciled us in for an 'appointment'…" Danny said, standing up and testing out his limbs. Thankfully, his mom's treatment helped, the agony he had bulled through up to this point reduced down to some sore muscles that hurt if they were stretched too far. Amazing what the Fentons could invent when they actually want to help ghosts for a change…

A bolt of lightning burst forth overhead, shedding some brief light upon the darkened area. As if Vlad or perhaps this last minion was taunting them, the light revealed something painted in giant letters across the entire front of the building. Just one word….

'DECAY!'

"Cheery…" Valerie remarked, cocking her rifle. "Lock and load, people."

"Should we all charge in there?" Danny pondered, suddenly concerned for the growing band of heroes. Considering the four devils he had dealt with all morning, he had reason to worry about those that didn't have superpowers…

"Danny, it's just slow, dimwitted zombies out there and we got each other, our weapons, and our powers. If Vlad or his last guard dog shows himself or themselves, we'll stay out of the way. Promise." Jazz said, arming herself with a Jack-O-Nine-Tails whip. Danny knew that tone his sister used. She wasn't going to take no for an answer. On the bright side, her skill with fighting ghosts had increased quite a bit since that unfortunate time she tried being his sidekick and unwittingly put him in a small losing streak…

Naturally, the Red Huntress didn't wait. Throwing open the hatch, she blasted the first few zombies in front of her before stepping out and activating her hoverboard to take to the air. Naturally, being airborne would make it easy for Valerie to rain death upon the mass of rotting ex-humanity. That was until moments later when a squadron of the flying zombies Danny and Ember had encountered earlier flew in to intercept her…

"No time like the present, I suppose. Everybody ready?" Danny asked the group.

"Hell yeah!" Ember replied, raising her guitar, all cleaned up and ready to smash and slice.

"Ready as we'll ever be, son!" Jack bellowed as he and Maddie locked and loaded their Fenton rifles.

"Totally." Sam answered, somehow finding a chainsaw amongst the Fenton weaponry. She revved it to give an added effect. For some reason, the group didn't question her choice nor how it got there. It just seemed right somehow. Almost… groovy. (1)

"We got your back, Danny." Tucker said, his weapons of choice being a pair of small Fenton energy pistols. Small and easy to handle, just like his PDA…

Dani clung to Sam's back in a full-body hug, taking advantage of her short stature. "And I got Sammy's back. Defense, baby!" the little clone whooped, her nervousness of the army shuffling about having been overridden by sheer adrenaline. Sam's presence might have also had something to do with it…

"Alright then…" Danny turned to face the open hatch, a couple of hungry zombies shuffling toward it. "Hello, misplaced aggression!"

If anybody on Team Phantom ever wanted to know what it felt like to reenact that scene from Lord Of The Rings: Two Towers where the heroes defended Helm's Deep against a massive army of tough evil minions, they certainly seemed to have gotten their wish with this messy brawl, no Desiree needed. Danny and Ember just kept punching, guitar-swinging, and firing ecto-beams at any ghoul that came within an arm's reach, not taking any chances of getting even one scratch or bite. Sam used her chainsaw with surprising skill, cutting down one zombie after another while Dani fires ecto-beams at those Sam wasn't paying attention to.

Tucker put his energy pistols to good use, pressing his way forward as he shot zombie after zombie in the chest and/or head. His aim was pretty good, considering his in-field "practice" from the day's earlier troubles. Jazz was right behind him, occasionally using her whip on any zombie that tried to attack Tucker from the sides whenever she wasn't dealing with attackers of her own. Nearby, the Fenton parents were making their own path through the mass of undead.

Basically, it was the kind of battle where one of an off-kilter mindset would call for a montage. A zombie-killing montage… (2)

But while a lot of things were happening at once, a figure sat near the occupied City Hall. Upon a motorcycle, he did sit. But not just any old motorcycle. No, this one was special, as Team Phantom would soon find out. A few clicks were heard as he adjusted something in the darkness, watching the pathetic lost souls fail to even make a dent in the living scum that plotted against him. A predictable outcome. But the masses did serve one purpose. A tired enemy is a defeated enemy… or something like that.

After what felt like an eternity of watching the curtain-jerkers warm up his audience, it was showtime. With a loud rev of his motorcycle, the last Dark Purveyor launched himself forward…

Danny wasn't sure if the constant noise of zombie groans, the squishy splatter of blood and gore, and energy blasts were messing with his hearing, but for a good ten seconds he could swear he was hearing the roar of a vehicle… Unfortunately for him, his senses weren't playing tricks on him as he caught sight of zombies being rammed and pushed aside by what appeared to be a motorcycle. He reached behind, grabbed onto Ember, and made the both of them intangible at the last second before the bike could run them over as well. The good news was that everyone else that was in the path of the renegade biker managed to evade it as well.

"Danny, did you piss off Johnny 13 recently? Because he totally picked the worst time to crash a party!" Ember complained, smashing the head off another zombie right when she became solid again.

"That bike definitely wasn't his, unless he completely overhauled it. I've gotten to the point where I know his bike anywhere…" Danny answered, also resuming the fight. It was then that the sound of electric guitar added itself to the din of zombie and motorcycle noises. Only Valerie could see for sure that the newcomer was definitely circling around for another pass.

"Huntress to everyone! He's coming around again!" Valerie immediately radioed out, thankful that the team had Fenton Phones equipped. Amazing that somebody could play a guitar and drive a motorcycle at the same time…

The biker's blatant showing off became deadly, however, when he suddenly stopped playing music and adjusted his guitar as if he was aiming the neck at the mess of zombies and the living… The guitar also doubled as a machine gun! The members of Team Phantom rolled aside and stayed low, the spray of bullets and the bike itself only hitting zombies as a result.

"Out of all the things to try and kill us with, they're resorting to normal bullets now?" Tucker quipped, daring to fire a round or two at the biker after he passed him.

"At least it's a new take on the mobster 'tommy gun in a guitar case' gag…" Danny added.

"Anybody bring any cement, then? I say we give this jackass some new 'riverbed footwear'." Sam muttered.

"At this point, that plan would be an offer I couldn't refuse." Tucker said with a slight snicker.

"Whenever you're done mocking the mafia…!" Valerie scolded, her topside view showing that the gun-toting biker had turned around again, but stopped when he faced the scattered-out group of heroes. "Duck!" the Huntress called as the enemy fired his machine gun again. Just like before, the evasive action caused the bullets to either miss or help lower the zombie count some more. Soon enough, the crowd of zombies was thinned out enough to where everyone could clearly see what's going on and who they're dealing with.

The biker was clearly a rebel. The large pompadour hairstyle and all-leather outfit were dead giveaways, were it not for the motorcycle and the black guitar/gun that had spikes all over the bottom of its body, topped with a silver decoration of a devilish skull with horns, just below where the strings began. His skin had the familiar undead-pale shade, but that was the only indicator that he wasn't alive.

"Well now… Doesn't this picture just rock?" the biker snickered. "A decaying empty city, unnatural storm clouds about to unleash hell, zombie parts everywhere, and the ragtag group of defiant weaklings, clinging to their ideals of existence in the face of extinction… Definitely a swingin' party, chumps."

"I take it you're the last jerk we have to beat?" Danny said, fed up already. What is it with villains and monologues anyway?

"Skipping to the chorus, eh? Ugh… Such is your generation lately. No time to appreciate the full scope of the concert, you just want the hook. I gotta tell ya… That's not the best way to impress…" he trailed off to strike his electric guitar, causing a loud chord to bellow out. "… LEWIS LEGEND! Thank you, thank you, I'll be here for all eternity."

"Pfft, don't kid yourself, Louie." Danny spat. "You're probably a one-hit wonder anyway."

"Oh, I have many hits. Allow me to demonstrate!" Lewis growled, suddenly revving up his motorcycle and charging toward Danny and Ember with it, the bike somehow spewing fire from the numerous exhaust pipes, making the bike look like a wide meteor on wheels. As he was driving, he held up his guitar like a club, preparing to swing it at any hero he happened to pass by. Danny and Ember dived away from each other, the charging rocker speeding through the gap where the two heroes were and barreling into a few hapless zombies. Danny felt the intense heat from the exhaust fire as Lewis passed, thankful that those flames didn't shoot outward any further than they do. Ember, of course, was unaffected by the heat, but annoyed nonetheless.

Danny looked back just in time to notice the enemy try to club and/or run over the rest of his friends and family with little luck. (Jazz's pants did catch on fire briefly, but she herself suffered no burns. Jack's massive girth almost prevented him from successfully tumbling aside.)

"We gotta do something before he nails somebody. We can't just dodge that bike forever." Danny stated, dusting himself off and punching another unfortunate zombie's head off. He noticed Lewis circling around for another charge…

"How good are you at shooting at really fast targets?" Ember asked, preparing her guitar.

"I get by… Johnny provided good practice." Danny replied with a smirk, remembering when the shadow-controlling biker would occasionally feud with him.

"Heh. Bikers always seem to get a bad first impression of you, dipstick." quipped the rock diva as Lewis swung his bike in a sharp turn and began his second charge.

"Not my fault they think my law-abiding ways are not just soft but—"

"If you're thinking of being funny and using that popular misspelled version of 'Soft' (3), I'm clubbing you with this guitar after this is done." Ember interrupted, her face scrunched up in a sour expression as she struck a chord and sent a few blasts of energy toward the incoming Lewis. Danny, making sure to keep a distance away so Lewis can't possibly try running them both down at the same time, fired ecto-beams. Some of their attacks managed to hit, but not doing a lot of damage. Ember had to turn intangible as the biker zombie had chosen to try and run her down.

Danny was glad that the others seemed to have gotten the idea of spreading out so that Lewis couldn't attempt to run them all over in one go. After his second pass, Valerie fired at him from above, the flying undead having been dealt with. However, her attacks didn't even cause him to lose his focus on driving. "Dammit! 'Evil Kinevel's a freakin' tank!" the Huntress growled.

Danny then had an idea and radioed back. "Yeah? Well, even fast tanks are useless without one important thing."

"What's that?" Valerie huffed. Danny didn't respond. He waited, watching as Lewis circled around again. There! The sharp turn toward him! The increase in speed… He grinned. Monotony will get one nowhere fast…

"Traction!" the halfa finally answered as he fired a familiar beam of blue energy in Lewis' direction. The beam hit the ground and Danny lowered his aim, the cryokenetic energy freezing the ground until he created a long streak of ice that Lewis couldn't avoid. Lewis skidded and slid, losing control of his bike, the exhaust flames not melting the ice in time to prevent the halfa's plan from working.

"Oh, NOT cool, you squares! Agh!" Lewis grunted, his bike overturning to one side while sliding on the icy path. Danny went intangible and the bike simply slid through him. Lewis had gained enough momentum that he was still sliding on the ground, despite no longer being on the icy trap the sneaky halfa had set. Unfortunately for Team Phantom, he just happened to be sliding right at Sam and Dani.

"SAM! Look out!" Jazz cried in warning, seeing the problem.

Surprisingly, the Goth and the Clone didn't panic. Instead, with a little help from Dani, Sam leaped over the bike, taking the chance to swing her chainsaw at the enemy while she was at it. Her wild slash of the saw managed to cut off some of the exhaust pipes. Sam landed on her feet, chainsaw still revving as the damaged bike eventually skidded to a stop behind them.

"That's… one good chainsaw." Dani remarked, still clinging tightly to her Sam.

"Rrrrraaahhh! You hurt my Ellyphant!" Lewis screamed as he pulled his leg out from underneath his toppled bike and started getting up.

"Uh, your what-now?" said Danny.

Lewis got to his feet and grabbed his bike by the handlebars, pulling up on it until he got it upright again. The motorcycle now only had exhaust pipes on one side. "So… You guys can rock after all. Heh! All you've done is make this gig more fun!" Lewis declared, hopping back onto his bike and flipping a couple of switches.

Immediately, the bike revved up, but instead of accelerating, the bike began to… transform. Lewis, despite being seated, shot upward as his machine began to take on a more vertical form of some sort. The wheels became wheeled feet. Flexible arms sprouted out, one of the 'hands' apparently being a buzzsaw. Two twin curved steel tusks grew out from the front of the bike as it became the machine's "head"/chestplate. Gatling gun turret was placed on the left side of the chestplate head. Lewis Legend completed his vehicle's transformation with a loud battle cry of "ELEPHANT ROCK!".

"What the hell?! Nobody told me we'd be dealing with a mammoth-style Megatron today!" Tucker whined, feeling his own odds of defeating Lewis sinking. The nerd felt vulnerable having his little pistols compared to Lewis having his own mechanical suit full of potential whup-ass.

"Dammit… Once again, Vlad proves he certainly knows how to pick 'em…" grumbled Danny, powering up his fists with ectoplasmic energy.

"Any of you squares feel like buzzing off now? Too bad. The exits to this concert, which were there, there, and there, are conveniently inaccessible by way of me gunning your asses down. I do enjoy a captive audience… so LET'S ROCK!" Lewis declared, just before the mecha-mammoth launched forward, gatling gun blazing and his electric guitar blaring music of questionable quality.

Everyone sprang into action as the destructive machine started a rampage of gunfire and buzzsaws. Unlike its original motorcycle form, the mech moved around somewhat slower. Sadly, all the gunfire and ecto-beams that the Ellyphant was taking a barrage of didn't seem to be doing much of anything to it. A couple of dings and dents here and there. Valerie, however, didn't have the same luck when the machine's saw blade fist managed to land a glancing blow, managing to sever her hoverboard in half and send her crashing to the ground, her suit malfunctioning. Lewis, seeing an opportunity, stomped toward the fallen Huntress.

The metal pachyderm's journey was halted briefly when Tucker stepped in front of the fallen Valerie. "Kicking someone when they're down!? You ain't nothing but a hound dog!" he snapped, firing a couple of rounds toward Lewis' exposed head. The shots only glanced the machine. The nearby Jack easily picked up Valerie and moved her away from the battle so she could try to get her suit functional again.

"Ouch. Elvis puns. I'm so hurt…" Lewis' sarcasm mixing well with his malice as he revved up his sawblade again for another punch. Tucker whipped out his PDA.

"If this can work on Skulker, it'll work on you!" Tucker yelped as he frantically pressed buttons, only stopping enough to dive to the side to avoid the buzzsaw. This battle would be over just like that if he could get control of the Ellyphant. Maybe without the usual 'trip to the zoo' stipulation that Tucker always seemed to forget to take out of his 'Standard Skulker Hack Protocol'…

His PDA blinked off. He tried turning it back on, but got no response. "Baby…? What happened?" he nervously asked his favorite piece of technology. Lewis guffawed.

"Did you seriously try to take over MY Ellyphant with your new-age techno-trash, nerd? I'm from an era where that didn't exist! Hahahaha!" Lewis bragged, his sawblades spinning again.

Danny groaned. "It's like that news article I heard about people setting their phone's date back to a certain year in the past! Lewis totally bricked Tuck's PDA! Talk about being deleted…"

"I think Lewis might be rendered obsolete soon…" Sam remarked with a smirk. While she didn't like seeing one of her best friends' prized possessions rendered useless like that, she and Danny remembered one thing about Tucker and his PDA…

"You… killed my PDA… YOU SONOVA BITCH!" Tucker screamed as loud as possible. He pocketed his dead PDA and ran at Lewis. With a leap, he climbed up over the tusks, out of the way of the gatling gun, and clung to the elephant-head chestplate. With some awkward footing and a few pushes, he got himself up so that he was just about face to face with Lewis, who already had his guitar gun aimed at him.

"Great musicians anticipate the next chords of the song, little dude." Lewis' finger was on the trigger, ready to fire upon savoring the moment with his one-liner. However, he suddenly found a glowing green fist placed next to his head. On the other side of his head was a guitar glowing with pink energy.

"You probably should have seen this one coming then, Louie." Danny replied.

"Let the nerd shoot you in the face or we'll shoot you in the face. Either way…. you're getting shot in the face." Ember said, the irritatingly-smug smirk of hers doing its best to piss off the old-school rocker.

Lewis' response was that his Ellyphant suddenly launched forward, dislodging the ghostly couple from their advantageous position. Just as sudden did the machine stop a few seconds later, sending poor Tucker flying forward, crashing into the two closely-positioned tusks. The tech junkie slid down until he fell through the wider gap between the tusks and hit the ground.

"The fans don't run the show!" Lewis declared, turning his machine around to aim his gatling gun at Danny and Ember, the duo just starting to fly toward him. Tucker barely rolled himself out of the way of the mecha-mammoth's feet during its turnaround. The gatling gun spewed more bullets, the duo of ghosts turning intangible just in time. When the two ghosts got close, Lewis tried swatting them away with his mecha's fist and buzzsaw-hand. But the heroes remained intangible, merely taunting him with hand gestures as they hovered around him.

"What's the matter, Louie? Can't seem to connect with the audience?" Danny quipped, giving him the 'L is for Loser' gesture.

"And he swings… and another miss! And he misses again! Oh look, nothing but air!" Ember teased in a sarcastically-happy tone. "Kinda looks like your love life, chump. You just keep striking out! Haha, can't touch this!" Ember then turned around and bent over, daring him to literally kick her actual ass. The buzzsaw came at her…and went through her, her ass as unharmed as the rest of her.

"Now I'm glad I picked the right time to die… I knew this world was already going to Hell naturally, but for it to produce a generation as annoying as you… It sickens me!" Lewis snarled, enraged by the enemy rubbing their ghostly advantage over the zombie's always-solid existence in his face. Danny and Ember floated away, laughing at Lewis' bad luck. The couple seemed glad that this particular enemy had no way around their intangibility, unlike the others. Lewis, defiant, revved up his Ellyphant and charged forward.

The machine suddenly met incredible resistance after going about two feet, the upper half of the machine pitching forward until it was in a fall that Lewis couldn't stop. The mechanical elephant crashed face-first into the pavement hard enough for everyone on the ground nearby to feel the earth quiver. Lewis was tossed out of his machine upon landing, tumbling on the ground for a moment. His outfit was scuffed and dirty, his pompadour was a wreck, and his face was busted wide open, old blood slowly leaking out. The rocker from another time slowly got to his feet, looking over at his precious vehicle. He was surprised to see something tied to the legs of the machine.

"Holy American Graffiti, Danny…." Ember asked, surprised that one of the oldest gags in the book actually worked.

"It's the Jack O Nine Tails…! Jazz must've tied up its legs when we were busy wearing him out!" Danny exclaimed, immensely proud of the redhead. She's finally coming into her own…

"And look! No wonder she was able to yank him down. She somehow tied the other end to the Fenton Assault Vehicle!" Ember pointed out. It was definitely reminiscent of that old-timey movie she referenced a moment ago with the scene where the punk kids attach a chain to the axel of a cop car…

"With the weight of that thing, yeah, that'll do it alright." Danny smirked, for once glad that his parents actually have something that cumbersomely big and bulky.

Their commentary was interrupted by incoherent growling. Not surprisingly, it was an absolutely enraged Lewis Legend, gun-guitar in hand and the look of a ghoul with nothing to lose on his face. "Nobody… wrecks… my… Ellyphant…. NOBODY!"

He stalked his way toward the hovering couple, the two glaring in response, unafraid. "When I get my hands on you all, you will rue the day you squares trashed my concert…!" Spit and blood flew from his mouth as he raged. Before he could do anything more, a series of clicks was heard from behind. Almost like… guns being cocked?

Turning away from the ghostly couple's smug looks, Lewis came face to faces with all three human Fentons, the Red Huntress, Tucker, Sam, and Dani. The Fentons had ectoplasmic assault rifles, even Jazz had one as backup in case the whip wasn't enough. Tucker had his pistols. Valerie got her suit functioning well enough to access her weaponry again. Little Dani had one fist aimed at him, glowing with power and ready to fire a beam. At that point, Sam revved up her chainsaw again. They were all standing a couple feet from him, his rage having deafened him to their approach.

"This isn't the movies where the greaser outwits the authorities, Louie. How about you do what your friends failed to do and actually surrender? You all had your 'fun'." Danny spat, his own fists ready to blast an ecto-beam or two.

Lewis seemed to realize the situation he was in. "…Outwitted by a bunch of lame-ass squares who won't mean nothin' in twenty years… I suppose there's worse ways to be booed out of a gig…" Lewis sighed, his head slumping in defeat.

Suddenly, he aimed his gun-guitar randomly, picking Sam with a cry of "Rock this!". And that's when everyone fired. Lewis was battered with energy bullets and beams as the firing squad carried out his self-induced death sentence. He dropped his guitar as he was being shot full of holes. Danny managed to quickly grab the dark instrument in the chaos.

"Hey, Em. Let's finish this concert off with a guitar duet." Danny suggested, holding Lewis' guitar like a battle axe.

"Oh, Dipstick. What a lovely idea." Ember replied with a grin, adjusting her hold on her own guitar. When the shots died down, Lewis was somehow still standing. And alive, if the twitching of his arms and fingers were anything to go by. Not to mention the groaning… Danny approached his left side, Ember his right.

"A one… A two…" Danny counted, readying himself.

"A one, two, three, FOUR!" Ember finished. With that, both ghosts swung their guitars toward each other, the meeting point for their collision being Lewis' head. With a mighty "KABONG!" of a thud and a sour musical note, Lewis' head was crushed, the remains being nothing but gore, splattered brain, and greasy hair. …And was that an eyeball…?

"Ugh! MAN, that was messier than I thought it'd be…! Wow! Sorry, Mom, Dad, Jazz…!" Danny said, not expecting this result. Apparently, he thought it might've turned out a little less disgusting and a little more stylish. The idea seemed stylish enough…

Jazz felt the need to hurl, as did Maddie. Jack, however, managed to hold together. "It's ok, son. You… did what you had to do."

"We slaughter zombies by the boatload today and somehow THIS is what gets us…" Tucker groaned, admittedly feeling a little queasy from the sight of the crunched-in head.

"And to think, that's pretty much made of meat." Sam quipped, deciding to bring up a favorite argument between the two.

"Oh, don't you dare use this to start that up again!" the techie snapped, raising his hands in some gesture of aggravation.

"I'm just going to assume that the reason is partly because this Lewis Legend was a sentient zombie with human-like intellect. It's almost like executing a live human, which is a hard thing for any decent person to do. Of course, the other reason is because that's just disgusting…" Jazz theorized, deliberately looking away from the mess.

"Good thing some of us aren't decent people then." answered Ember with a chuckle, unaffected by the sight of Lewis' squashed-in head. Danny groaned, casually firing an ecto-beam at the remains of Lewis' head, setting it ablaze in a green fire. The body finally fell over backward, landing with an unceremonious plop.

Danny silently stormed toward City Hall, determined to make his longtime archenemy pay for who knows how many deaths throughout the day. He had only taken five steps when a yellow vortex appeared in the sky above. Danny kept going with Ember following, but everyone else watched as Lewis' corpse was pulled upward toward the vortex as if caught in a UFO's tractor beam. Despite his head being nothing more than smoldering embers, he somehow made one final statement before disappearing…

"Meus vita, Rege, pro nefario coepto…!"

With that, the corpse was pulled through and the vortex disappeared into nothingness. Out of the whole group, Jazz looked perplexed.

"Why would he say that…?" the redhead asked aloud.

"Who cares? We heard one of those other assholes say that too." Ember scoffed, pausing her stride and turning around to face the others.

"It's just that… Well… That's Latin. If I remember correctly, I think that was something like… 'My life, King, for your evil plan'. Were they talking about how they originally died? Or about now? What King? What plan?" Jazz explained, her extracurricular education coming in handy for once.

"Why do I suddenly get the feeling that we're walking into an even bigger trap…?" Tucker asked, the scenario that they were suddenly presented with sounding so familiar to him with his years of watching movies, playing video games, and being one of Danny's sidekicks in ghost hunting.

"All we need to do is kick Vlad's ass. What more does he have anyway?" was all that Ember could get out before the front doors of City Hall were kicked open from inside before Danny could get there. Out walked the vampire-like ghost form of the very man responsible for all this. In his hands, he carried what looked like an old book.

"What a surprise... You survived. I probably should have known that even supposedly-immortal zombie warriors would fall to you, Little Badger. The daring hero, overcoming all odds to save the day." Vlad Plasmius drawled sarcastically, annoyance made abundantly obvious by his sarcasm. The corrupt mayor surveyed the situation with a turn of the head. "And you brought the family along… Tsk, tsk… Couldn't resist making this a family affair, could you? It matters little. All that does is provide an appropriate audience for your eventual slaughter."

"What, you graduated to full-blown murder, you psycho fruit loop?!" Danny said, firing an ecto-beam at him. As the halfa probably figured anyway, Vlad merely knocked the beam of energy aside with nothing but a backhand.

"At this point? I have nothing more to lose. Not since I read from this book and, later, realized the full consequences of my actions. I give them one job and they turn Amity Park into zombie-infested shambles… I'm no longer sure if most of these zombies currently roaming about were long since dead and brought in from the underworld or our fair citizens turned by the underworld ones. One silver lining is that the police's order of evacuation was relatively successful, give or take a few stragglers. The benefits of living in a town where attacks from superpowered beings are a casual occurrence. I'm not completely heartless, you know. Just…. picky about who I want to remain living." At this point, Vlad's eyes narrowed and he opened his book, which began to glow a dark purple. "And you lot are not on that particular list! Not even you, Maddie, my dear. Hard-to-get is only sexy for so long before the chase becomes borderline pointless."

"Oh God, shut up! Even when you're quitting the obsession, you're still making me want to vomit!" yelled Danny, firing another ecto-beam. This time, the ecto-energy harmlessly bounced off of Vlad, the dark book somehow providing a sort of protective aura around Plasmius. The evil halfa sneered.

"Me, in bed, with your mom!" chortled Vlad.

"NOT HEARING IT!" Danny, Dani, and Jazz shouted in unison, hands covering their ears as they try to keep the mental picture from forming in their heads. The others scowled, readying their weapons.

"Ah, the simple joys in life…" Vlad mused to himself. "Moving on. I bet this is where you think your story reaches a happy conclusion. You get mad, we fight, you lot outnumber me and send me to the Emergency Room, followed by a long stay in Amity Penitentiary while you resume your pointless lives, ever the conquering heroes of glory. A nice dream… It's just too bad that you've all merely been puppets for my own amusement." Vlad began to hover in midair, rising up slowly as the dark aura began glowing a little brighter.

"As if. Knowing your lying ass, that's just another bluff." Ember scoffed, readying her guitar.

"You can't really blame us for thinking that, Vlad. Your entire M.O., from what we gather from our previous encounters, has usually been that of deception. Fool us once, shame on us. Fool us twice, shame on you." Jazz pointed out, her brainy tone put to good use of annoying someone other than her brother.

"Uhh… Yeah! What they said!" Jack bellowed, clearly having believed his former old pal, Vladdy. Maddie took a second to facepalm herself.

"Nice to see you're cautious…" Vlad remarked, unamused before his vicious grin returned. "But I'm afraid you're quite up a river this time. The river Styx, that is. You see, the warriors that I've set upon Amity Park were meant to be destroyed. For upon the destruction of all five of these chosen warriors by a chosen pawn, the ultimate being of destruction shall arise to finally take care of the biggest thorn in my side since the NFL refusing to let me buy my dear Packers! And you, Little Badger, are the foolish pawn, dancing to the beat of my drum under the guise of saving humanity." Vlad's ascension stopped near the roof of City Hall as the dark clouds around the area started to swirl into something like a vortex.

"Zed, Vikke, Mariska, Josey, and Lewis Legend were the warriors…" Vlad recalled, five different-colored orbs appearing, one at a time as each name was called. "And now that the prophecy has been fulfilled…" Plasmius lifted the open book toward the vortex, as if invoking. "Arise, whatever dark being you are! Arise and do my bidding! ARISE AND DESTROY DANNY PHANTOM!" he called to the vortex before bursting out into insane laughter. Lightning began to strike out from the swirling clouds. The wind picked up. The sheer amount of butchered zombie parts that practically layered the ground around the front courtyard were blown away and up into the vortex. Oddly enough, nothing else was affected by the wind…

Before any of the heroes could do anything, the five orbs that were apparently the leftover essences of the Dark Purveyors, converged upon Vlad, whose laughter was immediately cut short. "Hey! What's the big idea?! Get off of me, you dead fools! You're supposed to be bringing my weapon here! Wha?!" Plasmius' indignant rant came to an end as the orbs rose upward, bringing Vlad with him up to the glowing vortex.

"OH BUTTER BISCUIIIIIITSSSSS!" was the last thing that Team Phantom heard before the orbs and Vlad disappeared into the vortex.

And then, everything stopped. Everything. The swirling of the clouds, the lightning, the wind, even the noise involved. All of it.

"Anybody else guess that Vlad's sorcery would betray him?" Valerie mused aloud. The grim situation at hand kept her from smirking in satisfaction at seeing her former 'employer' get his just comeuppance.

"Well, that's what he gets for dabbling in the dark arts, dear." Maddie said, comically nonchalant as if she were merely talking about the weather.

"Did it backfire….? Please tell me his plan backfired!" Tucker whined, already dreading what was to come after having been proven correct about the group walking into a trap.

"Tucker, don't jinx it!" chided Sam.

"Yeah! We better hope it's not a—" Dani was interrupted by what sounded like a loud, guttural growl, coming from the vortex. "…dramatic pause…!" the clingy little clone whimpered, burying her face into Sam's back and making herself look more like a human backpack than ever.

"Are you kidding?! There's ALWAYS a dramatic pause before things like this!" Tucker screamed as the unnatural noise started to grow louder and the vortex started to quiver. Something was about to come through it…

The writhing vortex became more and more unstable by the second until it suddenly shattered like glass in a burst of dark purple energy, the sky returning to a dreary but normal grey of clouds. But the sky was barely noticeable compared to what took the vortex's place, falling rapidly to Earth and immediately crushing City Hall upon landing. The force of the landing sent Danny and Ember flying back, tumbling to the ground and rejoining the others, who protected themselves from flying debris the best they could.

It was massive, not unlike the giants of fairy tales or the Megazords of Power Rangers fame. It was also clearly undead, judging from the rotting flesh and the barely tolerable stench of death. But, when it finally stood up to its full height, what stood out was the being's look…

"You mean to tell me… that Mayor Vampire-Wannabe's ultimate weapon is a giant Elvis!? The hell is this shit?!" Ember shrieked, more indignant than terrified.

"I…. AM…. KILLABILLY!" the giant bellowed in a pained, loud, echoing voice. "UH-HUH-HUH! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" Indeed, the world's largest zombie did resemble the famed musical King from decades ago. If the vintage outfit and shades didn't give it away, the giant's pompadour hairstyle sure did. And his girth was also reminiscent of how the legendary musician might have let himself go in his later years... or a joke against the idea of fat Elvis impersonators. Considering the situation, none of the heroes really cared at the moment.

"Uh, Maddie? We don't have any experience fighting giant ghosts, do we…?" Jack asked, feeling incredibly small for the first time in his XXXL-sized life.

The Fenton matriarch gulped. "No, dear… Nothing this huge."

"Uh, Clockwork? If you can hear me, now would be a real good time to show up and, I dunno, correct this timeline!" Danny called out, not having the slightest clue of how to even make a dent in Killabilly without the fight at least flattening a chunk of the city.

Meanwhile…

"I am sorry, my apprentice. I'm afraid this is the correct path of history." Clockwork said aloud to himself as he watched the conflict from his ancient lair. He sighed as he shifted forms to his elderly self. He knew the Observants had it in for him for not being completely impartial to everything as they believe a deity of time should, but he didn't care. As long as the timeline was correct, Clockwork didn't think it was such a bad thing to root for the young hero.

Unfortunately for his own sanity, he wasn't alone this hour…

"Yeah! Besides, we got ourselves a final boss fight here. It's like a free pay-per-view! Woooo! Ain't that right, sugar-tits!?" bragged one Wade Wilson, better known as Deadpool. "Damn right, I'm Deadpool, Mr. Author!"

"Yes, my dear Wade." Death answered, a smile upon her heavily-tattooed face as her black cloak billowed around her. "It is rather unfortunate that so many innocent souls had to perish this day, but I cannot deny that it satisfies my hunger."

"Aw, you're always hungry. Bet'cha that giant hunka-hunka burning zombie there is ripe full of rotten souls to munch on. Almost like a giant chimichanga! Hey, Clock Guy! Can ya conjure up a giant chimichanga? Now I want one…" Deadpool yapped, like a hyperactive kid.

"I control Time, not Reality, Mr. Deadpool…" Clockwork groused. Why his fellow powerful deity had to bring her alleged 'boyfriend' along was beyond him. He could be so aggravating… And she could do a lot better, in his opinion.

"Hey, I read that, Clockwork! And stop with the Mister stuff! Makes me feel like my dad or something." Deadpool grumped, sitting down on a director's chair that had somehow popped up out of nowhere.

"I suppose you're here because of your previous interaction with my apprentice and the situation he's found himself in?" Clockwork asked Death, pointedly ignoring her insane lover.

"Yes. I do fear that I may have an entire world in my grasp if young Danny and his lady friend fail. The five corrupt souls your apprentice has unwittingly sent to me were tasty, but I recognized these souls from somewhere before… And then, the souls were gone again. I came to your dominion to observe and, alas, my suspicions were correct. Also… as Wade pointed out, this conflict can provide some entertainment. I was growing bored anyway with no one to talk to."

"Hey, I'm here, ain't I?" Deadpool griped.

"Not all the time, my dear immortal Deadpool…" Death quipped back, pointing out the fact that the two cannot be together all the time due to Deadpool being pretty much unable to die. And he had his own life to live. Missions to do, enemies to kill, other women to bang… "Got that right." Deadpool chuckled. Death wasn't sure how to take that, believing that Deadpool was talking to her.

"Let us observe then…" Clockwork answered, his growing annoyance toward the mercenary in red put on hold for more important matters…

Back in Amity Park….

"Nothing… Either Clocky didn't hear ya or this is how history's supposed to go!" Ember said after a few moments of waiting as Killabilly took a look around to get his bearings and decide what to do.

"That shouldn't be surprising. If Clockwork stepped in every time something went horribly wrong, we probably wouldn't even have such a thing as World Wars or other tragic events." Jazz theorized, slowly backing up as she really didn't want to get stepped on.

"Shit. And us with no giant of our own to fight with…" Danny grumbled, preparing whatever remained of his power for yet another battle.

"PAAAACKERRRRS! GIVE ME PAAACKERRRS!" Killabilly bellowed randomly.

"That freak definitely inherited some of Vlad's personality…" Sam said with a roll of her eyes, revving up her chainsaw again. She wasn't too sure how much her weapon could do against something of that size, but it had to be better than being completely unarmed…

Killabilly lifted one of its gigantic feet and took a step forward, covering a lot of ground. Fortunately, it didn't step on any of the heroes. But unfortunately, that was because it decided to head toward the downtown area. The way things were going, those that managed to evacuate won't have a city to come back to. And as for those that are still around…. Danny's hero complex didn't want to even think about it.

"TIME FOR THE…. PACKER-HOUSE ROCK…!" yowled the oversized Elvis demon, not unlike a bumbling oaf slurring words as it took another step toward downtown Amity. As if things couldn't get any worse, Killabilly suddenly shot powerful laser beams from his shades, not particularly aiming at anything. The large beams of red energy cut through a couple of the taller buildings downtown, sending them crumbling to the ground. "UH-HUH-HUH!"

Amid the exclamations of shock and horror from the others at the sudden display of power, Danny couldn't help but sum the situation up in one thought…

'After all the dangerous situations I've ever been through… I'm going to be killed by Elvis? Ain't that a shame….'

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, that's that. All five Dark Purveyors defeated and all we got was a giant zombie Elvis. Now the question that even I have to figure out is how Team Phantom can defeat the giant known as Killabilly. Do I have them go all Shadow Of The Colossus on it and have to climb up the behemoth to try and find a weak spot? Try and play out how the actual boss fight in Lollipop Chainsaw goes? Have Danny and Ember try the ol' "Freeze and Shatter" tactic, freeze the enemy and then shatter him into ice cubes? I'm gonna have a bit of a challenge on this one.

Also, I hope you guys like that I decided to give Deadpool and Death another cameo. Thought this story could use a little more 4th-wall-breaking antics.

Reference Footnotes: 1) Of course, the chainsaw is mostly a direct reference to the fact that Lollipop Chainsaw's main character, Juliet, uses a chainsaw as her main hack-n-slash weapon. But I couldn't help but throw in a hint of Evil Dead somewhere as well. LC and Evil Dead, two of the best uses of chainsaws as weapons!

2) I dare you to imagine a zombie battle like this with the South Park "Montage" song playing in the background. "We're gonna need a montage! A sports-training montaaaaage!"

3) Fans of current WWE will know that I'm referring to S-A-W-F-T ("SAAAWWWFT!"). Blame Enzo Amore for that one.

Reader Review Replies: Hmm… Not much in the mailbag today, but it'll do.

Invader Johnny – Well, Tucker is indeed the techie of the group that would probably appreciate Transformers more than Danny, but on the other hand, Danny would be the "Optimus Prime" of the group, as they're both leaders.

ARega1s – Glad you're digging the story, dude. I still hope you decide to give Lollipop Chainsaw a chance. Such a fun game… Anyways, here's the final boss. And then the REAL final boss! Lol. You wondered, I delivered.

Next time: Feel like Nothing But A Hellhound Dog as we take a trip to the Bone-Break Hotel!