Well, the good news is I'm still alive! I apologize for taking so long with updating, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: Yeah, not mine.

Previously in Jimmy's Lab:

"What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?!" Spongebob ran around the lab frantically.

Jimmy rubbed his temples, straight to panic mode, huh, "Don't lose your head!" He shouted as he paced the lab as well, carefully stepping in order to avoid being trampled by his friend. Panic was a no, no in situations such as this, one of the reasons he'd avoided asking the sponge for input on the Nicktoons project. Spongebob was easily swayed.

Jimmy stopped rubbing his temples, but continued to pace. After scanning the contents of his mind, the genius was able to formulate a beginning plan. "All we have to do is find which villain took him and why, and then we can focus on saving him," He said and then his mind began to race again.

"We don't have time for that Neutron!" Timmy jumped up from where he had been sitting on the work table and grabbed his friends shoulder to stop the pacing. "We don't know who that person is, or what they are doing to Danny right now!" Timmy's eyes flashed with fear, "They could be killing him… or at least his living half!"

Jimmy shoved Timmy's hand off of his shoulder, walked over to his computer, and began to insert general information, "Wrong Turner, whoever it was didn't want him dead, not yet anyways." Jimmy finished typing, and five pictures popped up on screen, "If we look at all of the facts surrounding our predicament," He began typing again. "We see there really are only four suspects."

Spongebob stopped running, and Timmy raised an eyebrow. They both walked over to Jimmy's chair and looked at the screen with confused eyes, "Huh?"

Jimmy rolled his eyes, his friends weren't stupid, but they weren't the sharpest tacks either. He hit a button and one picture left the screen, "Four people outside of the four of us Nicktoons and Shelly know how to create and use multiversal portals."

Timmy and Spongebob exchanged wide eyed glances. How could they have missed that, "The Syndicate!"

"That's right," Jimmy nodded in approval as he began to type again. "To which we can then narrow down again according to what the members' motives might be." Jimmy hit a key, and a picture of Plasmius disappeared, "First off, it can't be Vlad, the attack wasn't subtle enough, and he uses ghosts to do his bidding, not robots." Jimmy then paused to rerun the attack in his mind. Vlad was someone who was smart enough to use a backwards strategy, throwing people off kilter was the fruit loop's specialty. The hybrid was truly a terrifying being, so Jimmy had to be extra sure it wasn't that man, "Doesn't mean we should completely cut him out but…"

"Well it can't be Crocker," Timmy cut in as he reached over Jimmy's shoulder and hit the button again causing Crocker's picture to disappear from the choices as well. "He's been locked up since Wednesday for breaking and entering into a government facility." Timmy chuckled evilly, "They gave him some sleep medicine and put him in a crazy house, strait coat and all."

Spongebob choked on a laugh, the boy genius groaned and shrugged off Timmy's arm in annoyance. Timmy knew he hated that, "Don't touch the monitor."

"No promises," Timmy smirked feeling just a tad better at his friends annoyed expression.

Jimmy sighed and ignored the comment as he shifted so Timmy couldn't reach the key board. He had known the buck toothed boy long enough to see through the relaxed mask, so he decided to cut Timmy some slack in gratitude for the boy at least trying to hold himself together, "However, you are right, and if it was him, why would he use a portal to kidnap Danny when he was in the same universe."

Spongebob then took that moment to jump on Jimmy's head and hit the button again causing Plankton's picture to fade away as well, "Yeah and it can't be Plankton. I know he specializes in robots, but pulling that off was too big for him." He jumped back and Jimmy started attempting to fix his mushed up hair while glaring at the sponge. Spongebob remained ever oblivious and looked back to the monitor, "That and he's terrified of Danny, something about being too much like Masters."

Jimmy and Timmy stared at him in confusion.

"What?" Spongebob blushed in embarrassment at the looks he was getting. "Sometimes he opens up at our special therapy sessions."

Jimmy cringed as a shiver went down his back, "I don't want to know."

"Ditto," Timmy winced at the idea of being trapped in a room with Spongebob, or worse, Patrick.

Jimmy turned back to his machine as he attempted to erase the image from his mind, "Well that leaves Calamitous." He growled as the picture of the bald scientist enlarged.

"He specializes in robots," Timmy walked around and put a hand on the back of the chair.

"He loves making a scene," Spongebob built off of Timmy, also leaning on the chair.

"And as of late," Jimmy glared at the picture in disgust. "He's been rather interested in the paranormal, specifically, Danny and Vlad."

Spongebob and Timmy's eyes widened before they both glared at the boy genius.

"What do you mean interested in the paranormal fudge brain?" Timmy's eye's narrowed dangerously, his calm mask slipping as he spun the chair, causing Spongebob to lose balance and fall to the floor with a thump "And why weren't we told about it?"

Jimmy shrugged and pushed his friend back, "I figured it was just a fascination after meeting them." The genius got up from his chair and pulled a big book of paranormal creatures off of his shelf and studied it carefully. "After all, I don't believe in the paranormal, but those two still strike my interest. Their anatomy is very… intriguing."

"Is that all Danny is to you Neutron?!" Stalking forward, Timmy ripped the book out of his friend's hand, "A fascinating item?"

Jimmy looked at his empty hands for a second, his eyes flashed with surprised hurt and before the buck toothed boy knew it, Jimmy had grabbed him by the front of the shirt, and they were nose to nose. "Don't you ever insinuate that I don't care about him, Turner!" He forcefully took the book back, "Don't you dare!" Jimmy released the pink hatted boy, and walked away. Tossing the book on the work table, he returned to Timmy and poked him forcefully in the chest, "He is one of my best friends!"

The stressful weight of the past twenty four hours finally caught up with Timmy, "Then please," Tears made their way into Timmy's. "Stop being such a know it all."

There was a moment of silence beforeSpongebob had peeled himself off of the floor and swung his arms around the two.

"Enough," The sponge said and squeezed. "Your fighting isn't doing anything to help Danny." He released the two and backed away slowly, "Now hug and make up so we can get on with what we were doing."

The two brunettes looked at one another, before gingerly reaching out and shaking each other's hands, not quite ready to fully forgive one another just yet. Timmy couldn't understand why Jimmy kept keeping things from them, and Jimmy felt hurt that Timmy didn't think he cared. Sure, he kept secrets, but didn't they all? Heck, even Spongebob had a dark side, not that it was seen often, but it was still there.

Taking in a shaky breath to steady himself, Jimmy released Timmy's hand and walked back to his computer. Now to put his carefully forming plan into action, "Turner, I need to borrow Wanda and send her to Calamitous' lair to find Danny. Do you mind?"

Timmy stared at the genius for a moment, and then sighed, "Fine by me, but it's not my decision to make."

Jimmy tried to lighten the mood, "Would you rather I send Cosmo?"

Timmy simply raised an unamused eyebrow and looked up at the pink fairy who was watching the situation with her husband from the corner, "Wanda?"

Wanda perked up at the mention of her name. Ghosts and Fairies didn't have the best of relationships after the rule of Pariah Dark when chaos reigned, so both parties normally settled on avoiding one another. When the Syndicate threatened the Multiverse, that fragile peace had been shattered, and Jorgen had reluctantly let the halfa enter Fairy World out of desperation. Granted, Danny seemed to have grown on the military fairy a little while there, but Jorgen stood firm in his opinion of ghosts. Nothing but trouble, and if Danny didn't keep the ghosts out of Fairy World then Jorgen would wage war. There were reasons why the Multiverse was split into many different Universes. Ghosts, Faries, Robots, they just couldn't get along. Still, what Timmy wishes, she grants.

"Hey, why can't I go?" Cosmo complained. Wanda rolled her eyes and held some string in front of his face and he forgot about the situation entirely.

Wanda looked back at Jimmy, "Remember, our magic only works in our world and on Timmy." She gave a troubled frown, "If Danny is there Jimmy, there is nothing I can do to help." Then she vanished in a puff of smoke.

Jimmy eyes were downcast as he nodded in understanding, he'd have to talk to Jorgen about that… maybe… Jorgen wasn't the most reasonable, and he had made his opinion on ghosts clear.

"Okay," Jimmy was back on topic. "Once she gets back, we can assess the situation and form an attack plan."

In a poof, Wanda was back looking too timid for his liking, "Uh Jimmy."

He sighed, "Not there."

Wanda fiddled with her fingers, "Uh, no."

Jimmy banged his head on the computer console, "Every… single… time… this… happens… he moves… and we… loose… our… edge!"

Whoa there Jimmy," Spongebob said grabbing the boy's shoulders and holding him back. "You don't want to lose any brain cells.

"Yeah Neutron," Timmy slapped Jimmy on the back a little too hard and laughed mockingly. "We're going to need them all in order to find that lair."

Jimmy glared at Timmy.

Timmy shrugged uncaringly, "I'm just saying, and once we track down the lair, we can break in, and kick Mr. Moustache's butt."

"That's right guys," Spongebob piped up, "Now let's make up and be friends again so we can get a move on!"

Jimmy and Timmy shared glares before Jimmy turned back to his computer. After a few minutes of awkward silence, he spoke up again, "This will take about an hour. Why don't you two go upstairs and get something to eat, and then look through my weapons vault for anything that will be useful.

"Uh, Jimmy," Wanda said.

"He doesn't want us here Wanda, we might as well give him what he wants." Timmy shrugged as he left the room.

Before walking out, Spongebob turned back to the boy genius who was mumbling under his breath. "Jimmy, what's on your mind?"

Jimmy took a deep breath and sighed, "I think creating the Nicktoons was a mistake."

"What?" Spongebob gasped. "No… Jimmy this group is the best thing…"

"All it's done is cause trouble! We should have cut it off after the syndicate was defeated."

"Yeah, but… Jimmy, is that really how you feel?"

"No? Yes? No, I want to make this work, more than I've ever wanted anything."

"Then let's make it work!"

Jimmy stared silently at his monitor for a moment, fingers dancing across the keys in a hypnotic rhythm, "Go have some food and sleep. None of us have slept much in the last twenty four hours."

"What about you?"

"I won't be able to rest peacefully until he's found, so the sooner we bring him home, the sooner I can rest."

Spongebob nodded and yawned as he walked out of the room, "M'kay Jimmy."

Jimmy Neutron rubbed his eyes and looked back at the machine. If he could trace Danny's ectoplasmic signature, they could trace him down.

He knew keeping viles of his friends' blood would come in handy some day

An Hour Later:

Jimmy walked into the kitchen with a stack of papers, "Okay guys, I've finally narrowed it down to five places."

Wanda sighed and rolled her eyes in annoyance, "You do realize Timmy could have wished to know where he was an hour ago, right.

Jimmy chocked on the sandwich he started eating.

Timmy smirked at his friend's pain, "Yeah Neutron, if you had just listened for once, maybe we could have finished this already."

"Just do it"

"Wanda, I wish we knew where Danny is!"

"You got it Timmy!"

In a poof of magic, a tracker appeared in Timmy's hands and he smirked, "Say you're sorry."

Jimmy growled, "Sorry."

"I'm sensing hostility, but since this is in our best interest, here you go."

"Thank you for your kindness, I'll be sure to return the favor."

Spongebob laughed, "I can't wait to see that!"

"Yeah," Cosmo cut in. "Last time the revenge consisted of glue and the Dimmesdale Tree Cat!"

"I got great pictures!"

"Can we please focus," Jimmy shouted as he set the tracker on the table and then grabbed the picture. "Give me that!"

Timmy picked up the abandoned tracker, "Now let's see". He pushed the button and waited. After a few seconds, the machine beeped. "Okay," Timmy said and looked at the machine. A confused look crossed his face, "Where's this!"

Jimmy grabbed it away from him with his empty hand, looked at it, and groaned, "Remember when we first met?"

"Yeah," Spongebob and Timmy replied in unison.

"He's moved back there."

"Man, when did our villains start getting so predictable?"

"Alright guys, let's move!"

As they got into the hellicarrier, Timmy looked over at Jimmy, "I'm sorry Neutron".

Jimmy smiled at Timmy as he started the beginning sequence, "Actually Turner, I'm the one who should be apologizing."

At Timmy's confused look, Jimmy elaborated, "For last night, I was tired and confused, and while I don't believe in magic it doesn't mean…. I'm just going to have to learn to accept that not everyone believes science is the answer to everything." Jimmy's hands tightened on the steeling gear, "Though I'm not convinced."

Timmy blinked, so that was why Jimmy was at his whit's end. "Eh, good enough," Timmy gave Jimmy a solid wack on the back, "We'll find him Neutron, the three of us together."

Jimmy smiled and nodded in agreement, "Your right Turner."

"Wanda," Timmy looked at his godmother, he was ready to get the ball rolling. "Will you go on ahead and find him."

"Sure thing Timmy," Wanda waved her wand and was off to Danny's side.

He then turned back to Jimmy and Spongebob, "Alright guys, we need to hurry."

"Yeah," Spongebob was quick to agree. "Who knows what tortuous things Calamitous is putting him through!?"

Meanwhile back in Calamitous' lair, Danny had woken and besides the dull ache in his chest, wasn't too bad off at the moment as he belted out 99 bottles of beer on the wall from pure boredom, purposefully off key I might add, knowing he was driving Calamitous nuts.

Cringing, Calamitous decided it was time for another extraction. At least after those the brat was quiet.

Calamitous' Lair:

This way. That ways. This way. That. Dread. Dread. Fear. Fear. Run. Run. NO. Find him… find him. He's here, somewhere. Keep Looking.

Room after Room, Door after Door, it was maddening, but the silence was worse.

Wanda weaved herself through the maze of halls wishing she could pinpoint the boy and get to him sooner so she could know he was safe. It wasn't like SHE cared, no… but Timmy did, and he was her godchild. She didn't care, Danny was a ghost, the same creature that took her mom away from her, and Cosmo's dad away from him. She could never care for a ghost, and yet there was still that annoying tug in her heart. It had to be for Timmy… yeah, that was it, for Timmy.

Coming to an open room, she stopped in her tracks when she saw a glowing green object. Power radiated from it in waves.

Coming to an open room, stopped in her tracks when she saw a glowing green object. Power radiated from it in waves. What was it?

Her recaller buzzed in her pocket, "This is Jimmy calling Wanda, what's your status?"

Pressing the button on her recaller, she slowly entered the room, the door closing behind her as she floated towards the object, "This is Wanda, I'm in some form of a laboratory. Still no sign of Danny or Calamitous, but other than that, everything is…."

"Wanda?"

"... What is…"

"Wanda?"

"It can't be…"

"Wanda?!"

"No…'

"Wanda?!"

"It was locked away with..."

"WANDA!?"

"Jimmy, do not tell anyone about us coming here."

"Wanda, what are you?"

"We don't have much time, I'm going to find Danny, we are going to get out of here, and then Cosmo and I are going to get Jorgen."

"Wanda, I don't understand!"

Of course he wouldn't understand, he wasn't there when it happened. The sting of war, the taste of blood. He'd just have to trust her.

She turned off her recaller and transformed into a mop, just as the door across the room slammed open.

Calamitous walked into the room with a syringe of glowing white fluid.

"Little brat," Calamitous grumbled as he inserted the needle into a machine and the fluid quickly drained. "Bounces back too fast in my opinion."

Wanda's interest peeked, he had to be mumbling about Danny, who else had a head as hard as Timmy's. Moving from her hiding spot to get into a better position, she listened intently.

"Vlad wants this, Vlad wants that," Calamitous continued to mumble. "When will that boy finally realize there is no point in fighting such a powerful man?"

Wanda watched as Calamitous hung up a large metal key and turned and walked out the door. After making sure that the scientist was gone she floated over and took the key off of the hook. The key read dungeon #4 and Wanda instantly recalled passing a door that said dungeon #1 and a hallway that led down a set of stairs. She'd bet her wand that the ghost boy was at the bottom of that staircase. Silently, she left the room and retraced her steps, finally winding her way towards the dungeons.

Approaching the descending staircase, Wanda felt a chill go up her wings. She didn't know why, but the atmosphere was changing throughout the multiverse. If she hadn't been around as long as she had, she would have thought it was just a chill, but every fairy and other immortal creature knew, even Cosmo. A shift was happening, and it was big. Her pace quickened and as she reached the door, she quickly put the key in the lock, but not before she heard mumbling and the sound of feet shuffling down the stairs behind her. Floating behind a pole, she winced at the site of the key she had left in the door.

Calamitous was none the wiser, "Hmm… I could have sworn I took that upstairs." He shrugged and turned the key, "Beautiful must be spying on my work again." He then entered the room.

Danny sluggishly opened his eyes and glared, he was certainly worse for wear, one eye blue, one eye green. His hair way a mess of black and white, and his pants, shirt, and boots had dissolved into his baggy jeans, a black T-shirt with his DP emblem, and tennis shoes. As the man approached him, Danny stirred. "My friends…" Danny drunkenly lifted his head, "Will rip you apart."

The scientist grabbed a handful of Danny's multicolored hair and held his head so they were eye to eye. He lifted up the needled, and when Danny's eye's landed on it he wiggled it. "Well boy, we'll just see," Calamitous then slammed the syringe into Danny's chest for the third time that day and he let out a scream. Wanda flinched from where she had snuck in and hid in the shadows.

Then with the glowing vile, Calamitous laughed and walked out, locking the door behind him.

"Danny!" Wanda was at his side, and holding his head in her arms.

Danny opened his weary eye's and smiled in relief at the sight of the fairy, "Wanda, is that you?

"Yes sweetie, I'm here don't worry." She pulled him closer.

"I knew you'd come," Danny sighed happily then grimaced. "It hurts Wanda, what is he doing to me?"

'Ghosts are evil, ghosts are evil, ghosts are evil, I hate them, hate them, hate them, hate him, hate, hate, hate that I care. Damn it.'

Wanda sighed running her fingers through his hair, crushing her inner turmoil "He took an ectoplasm sample from your core honey so it is going to hurt." She poofed away the chains, and winced as she caught his limp body. "It's similar to having blood taken from your heart, so just stay back and rest and let your body recover. "The others are searching for us."

The relief in Danny's eyes was almost painful for Wanda. What kind of monster puts a fourteen year old through something like this? Even fairies shutter at the thought of having their cores tampered with. There was no worse pain than having your life force sucked out of you.

He whimpered, "Wanda?"

"Yeah?"

"Please don't leave me."

She looked in his eyes, he was scared, "Okay sweetie." She pulled him closer, "Okay."

Danny let his eyes slip closed and he fell into a fitful sleep, as Wanda poofed up a blanket and wrapped it around him.

She raised her wand to poof them away, and nothing happened.

"What?" Wanda shook her wand, trying to get it to work. She tried again.

Nothing happened.

Not good, not good, what was she going to do? She'd just have to wait for the others to come. They could track her position through her recaller. Yes, that would work! They'd be out of here in no time.

Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was going wrong. 'Well,' she thought to herself grimly. 'At least this time it's not Cosmo's fault.'

Upstairs:

Spongebob panted heavily as he sprinted down the hallway, "Don't worry Danny, we're coming."

Timmy blasted a guard before catching up, "Okay Jimmy, what's the plan?"

"Well, first off, we have to get past these robots." He short circuited another guard.

"Easy enough, then what?"

"Then," Jimmy dodged a spear, "We follow Wanda's recaller signal.

"Then?"

"We'll go from there."

Rolling his eyes, Timmy blasted a hole through the last guard, "Great plan."

"Shut it," Jimmy pulled a device out of his backpack, "Okay, follow me."

The four wound their way up the maze like halls, passing a room where Beautiful Gorgeous was talking to someone on her video communicator. Jimmy figured he'd look into that later, couldn't be that important.

Coming up to a door at the end of the hallway, they found that it was locked from the other side.

Not like that was a problem, Timmy turned to his fairy, "Cosmo, I wish we were inside!"

"Sure thing Timmy!" he shouted as he raised his wand.

"Wait! I need to scan the area for-" Jimmy said before the four of them disappeared in a poof.

They reappeared on the opposite side of the door in a similar way, "Guards…" Jimmy squeaked as he came face to face with a sleeping guard bot.

Luckily, there was only one and the four were able to slip quietly around the corner without being noticed.

Jimmy glared at Timmy, "See, this is why you need to think before you act."

Timmy scoffed, "Thinking's for nerds, I bet Cosmo and I can take out that machine in no time flat!"

Jimmy raised an eyebrow in disbelief, "Do you really?"

"Sure do. I'll attack the robot and take it out while you and Spongebob find Danny."

"You're willing to do this correct? I'm not going to spend the next month hearing about how you didn't get to be the one to save Danny, right?"

"It's no problem, I'll take care of the robot, and you guys go find him."

"Are you sure this will work?"

"Don't worry guys, this plan can't possibly fail!"

Ten minutes later:

"I can't believe that plan failed!" Timmy cried as he and Jimmy were chained to the wall of the lab.

"I can, way to go Turner."

"How was I supposed to know the robot would send out an attack signal?"

Jimmy sighed, "At least Spongebob got away, maybe he and Cosmo will find Wanda and Danny."

After a few seconds in silence, Timmy looked at Jimmy, "We're doomed, aren't we?"

"Yep," Jimmy sighed as the robot nodded back off to sleep, job complete. He was sure of one thing, and that was they were going to see Danny very soon.

The stairwell to Danny's dungeon:

Coming to the bottom of the stairs, Spongebob smiled to himself, all of those times picking Squidward's and Mr. Krab's new locks had prepared him for this. Pulling out a pen from his pocket, he began to play with the lock. It took a few minutes, but finally the door clicked open, and Spongebob went in.

At first glance, it seemed as if Danny was just asleep in human form, but as the teen stirred in Wanda's lap and opened his eyes, it became obvious that something was wrong. His eyes were two different colors!

The teen smiled weakly, "Spongebob, hey dude."

Spongebob ran across the room, and knelt down next to the teen and forced one of his signature smiles, "Hey Danny, you ready to get out of here?"

The teen grinned wearily, "I thought you'd never ask."

"Freeze!" a robotic voice sounded throughout the chambers.

Spongebob gulped, he knew he wasn't the strongest fighter on the team, and taking on a Calamabot was a struggle with all of them together, but, he'd do it for Danny.

The others had said he was getting better, but he hadn't really believed them until now. As nuts and bolts went flying at every punch, Spongebob realized just how much Sandy's intensive training had been paying off. 2 robots, 5 robots, soon he was taking on 10 robots on his own. Anyone who saw him fight would never call him a useless member ever again.

However, ten seemed to be his limit as another robot came from behind and grabbed Spongebob by the scruff.

"Hey!" The sponge shouted kicking his legs. "Put me down!"

Hearing a pair of screams behind him, Spongebob turned as well as he could to see Cosmo and Wanda being trapped in a butterfly net.

A final robot then entered and slung a motionless Danny over its shoulder.

The four were then walked off in silence, and Spongebob, for the first time in his life, wanted nothing more than to possess the ability to murder.

Back in the room with the Crown of Fire:

Jimmy and Timmy were forced onto their knees, wrists still red from where they had been hanging on the wall.

"Well," Calamitous walked up behind them with a glowing white vile of liquid. "If it isn't Neutron and Beaver boy.

"Hey," Timmy shouted, "I was born with these, you choose to keep that awful lip fuzz!"

Calamitous rolled his eyes and ignored Timmy's comment, "If I could say this was a surprise I would, but as you can see with your predicament, it's not really all that surprising you're here.

Jimmy glowered at Calamitous, "What could you possibly want with our friend Calamitous. What do you have to gain!?"

"Says the boy genius who was willing to wear ch-chains for him," Calamitous walked up to the two. "You do realize how deep you're in right. Where you're heading with him is a b-b- downward spiral with no end. Once I've done what I've been asked, I'm wiping my hands clean. Of Masters and that boy, it's not worth it."

It was Timmy's turn to respond, "That's what friends do you idiot." Calamitous turned in surprise at the ten year old's voice. "We'd follow him into hell if it meant he'd be okay!"

At that moment, the door to the room opened, and three robots rolled in carrying with them a now chained Spongebob, a netted Cosmo and Wanda, and a barely conscious Danny.

"We'll see how you feel after what you're about to see."

He turned to the robots, "Leave them, you are free to go."

The robots dropped the two heroes and hooked the fairies to the wall before leaving the room.

Calamitous turned to Danny, a sneer on his face, "What was that you said earlier about me being sorry?

Danny spat in his face again.

"Augh!" The Professor yelled wiping the saliva out of his eyes then shared a nasty glaring contest with the one eyed blue and one eyed green boy.

"I believe," he pulled out one last needle. "There is still some e-e- power left in your system. What do you say we take it all out so we can finish this?"

This time when the professor put the needle in, all Danny had energy to do was whimper.

Smiling in satisfaction, Calamitous turned to his machine. "You're about to see history children. Now watch as I combine the crown of fire with young Phantom's ectoplasm, so that Masters may reign.

"No… no you can't," Danny attempted to stand and Jimmy tried to hold up his friend, that however failed due to obvious reasons, and both fell to the ground with a solid thunk.

Calamitous rolled his eyes and walked towards the machine holding the crown.

"No!" Danny attempted to move.

Calamitous held up the needle.

"Stop!" Danny cried desperately, his battle with the ghost king flashing before his eyes.

Calamitous injected the needle and squeezed the trigger. The machine beeped, and the crown was encased by a glass dome. Danny's ectoplasm then flowed into the chamber like snow, and the crown absorbed all of it.

For a moment the room was silent, and Danny swore he saw green eyes staring back at him.

The crown sparked wildly, and began to glow.

"I-I-It worked," Calamitous stared in awe. "I did it! I tapped the crown of fire! I, Professor Calamatous have successfully walked the path of gods, and successfully touched unforeseen power, tapping it with my own invention! My human hands have embraced eternity! Ah haha, Ha hahahahahahaha! Ahhahahaha! Mwahahahaha! YES!"

Danny coughed weakly, honestly, he didn't know how to feel. He hated that stupid crown, he threw it away for a reason. Anything that Pariah found useful, Danny knew he should avoid. But to know that it was merging with his ectoplasm was humbling. Still, he was more overcome with the desire to fill the hole in his chest, he wanted, no, needed Phantom back. Then again, Phantom wasn't a separate entity, but a part of him, if Phantom disappeared, then Fenton would too. Two halves of one whole. Danny wearily shut his eyes, he could feel it, the crown, and the awe inspiring power. The ability to control destinies and bring worlds' to their knees, or give life and peace. A fresh start from beyond the flames.

Phantom opened his eyes.

"That crown, is going to blow. It's a side-affect my parents wrote about in one of their books." Danny shifted, adjusting to a comfortable position. When one type of ectoplasm reacts with another, it creates a force so strong it can wipe out an entire universe if not contained. It's not an issue in the Ghost Zone where there are plenty of energy absorbers and other ghosts to disperse the energy, but here…"

"There's nothing to contain it…" Jimmy stared numbly at the glowing object.

"What?" Calamitous' eyes widened in terror, "Vlad didn't tell me about that!"

The room shook.

Calamitous pulled out his phone and hit a button. A voicemail answered, "You've reached Beautiful Gorgeous, I'm not available, but if you leave a message I might get back to you. Chao!"

The man snapped his phone shut and sighed, "Fine, I'll just escape myself!"

"It won't matter where you go! I've seen my parent's studies and like I said, only a ghost could survive that type of explosion."

The man turned to look at the teen, eyes cold, he hated ghosts. "We'll see boy." Calamitous ran off leaving the chained hero's behind and locking the door.

"We'll see."

After few minutes of struggling and helplessly watching the crown's intensity grow, Danny finally spoke, "I'm sorry guys."

Jimmy sighed as he picked at his locks, "It's not your fault, we…"

"Yeah," Timmy cut in. "How were we supposed to know this was his plan." We've been fighting so much, it had to be easy to split us up and most likely laser proof the room.

"Wait a minute, that's it! Quick Turner, in my left pocket is a laser that will cut through the cuffs!"

"Once we get the device… Yipe!... Tuner I don't have a center pocket!"

"Whoops, sorry dude, got it!"

Jimmy's invention made quick work of the metal cuffs.

"Okay, now what." Timmy rubbed his wrists. "We're free, but the crown is still going to destroy your world."

Spongebob was up and making his way to a motionless Danny as the two brunettes looked for a solution.

"We could try your cube thing!"

"Will that even work?

"I don't know!"

"What if we had Cosmo and Wanda poof it to the Ghost Zone?"

"Their powers won't work on it!"

"What if we blew it up."

"That would just speed things up!"

"I'm just throwing out ideas dude! Don't get mad at me!"

Timmy ran to the door, "It's locked and it looks like he put a ghost shield up!"

"My laser!" Jimmy hit the button and got nothing but a fizzle, "Out of juice!

Timmy tried to scramble up the wall to his godparents, "I can't reach them!"

Spongebob began to panic, "We're going to die"

"We are not going to die!" Danny snapped and the other three turned and looked at him in shock, before joining him on the floor in exhaustion.

Jimmy rested his head on Danny's arm, "I don't know what to do."

They sat there for a moment, huddled together. Jimmy was racking his mind, as Timmy watched his fairies knowing that they should be okay because of their magic. It gave him comfort. Spongebob reached for where his recaller would normally be, only to find the spot empty, after all, they had been confiscated.

But still, it was comfortable. He felt safe.

"Trust me, you'll be okay," Danny mumbled.

It took Jimmy a second to process the sentence before his eye's shot wide open and he fell to the ground as his friends firm body vanished into thin air.

Before any of them could react, Danny was before the crown.

Calamitous had used his ectoplasm to activate it, it was his fault. Powerless or not, he would save them.

The crown cracked, and Danny found himself looking into the eyes of his other half. The half that brought him joy and pain, the half that brought him new friends and enemies, the half that taught him the dangers of power. The half that saved him from himself.

The room faded into slow motion, his friends' movement to reach him and stop. He sure was lucky. He looked up to see the fairies, gentle and happy creatures, they were so different from ghosts who were haunted by who they were, what they had become. And before him stood Phantom, no, before him stood the crown, borrowing the form of whom it chose to bear its gift.

Reaching out its hand, The Crown of fire looked deep into his soul, "Do you accept me?"

Without hesitation, Danny Fenton took the outreached hand in his.

"Yes, now give me back my Phantom."

To be continued…

Story Time!

When I originally started planning this story, it was because it interested me that Dark Dan had fire hair. It didn't make any sense, sure it was cool, but not really in line with the character designs. It also bothered me that we never found out what happened to the Crown of Fire. (There are a lot of gaping DP plot holes that were meant to be filled in season 4.) Originally, these concerns were separate, then the phandom started discussing ghost cores. I'm a believer, that the crown will take on the core of it's master, so when Vlad and Danny merged, their two different cores created a icy fire that is Dark Dan's hair, thus the crown manifesting itself in Dark Dan.

Is it convoluted and confusing? Absolutely! ^_^

So, this ends arc one... I remember when I posted the first chapter a few years ago. It's still so terrible and makes me cry! T-T

That being said, I am thankful to those of you who've stuck with me on these long updates and showing interest and giving me motivation!

The next part will probably end up being more Timmy based and focus on Fairy World's History as well as whatever Vlad is planning.

What is Vlad planning?

:)

8)

See you next time!