[Third Person's PoV]
Danny closed his eyes and took a slow, controlled breath, centering himself. His eyes remained closed as he said with clear irritation, "Robin… just for the record, you could've snuck up to the dragon and snatched the damn necklace instead of shouting and giving away your position."
Robin blinked, the realization hitting him like a brick. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "My bad—"
Before he could say more, a deafening roar erupted from the dragon, shaking the very ground beneath them. Robin had to grab the edge of the crumbling ledge to stop himself from falling. Meanwhile, Danny's eyes snapped open, glowing with intensity, and without hesitation, he launched himself into the air.
A streak of ectoplasmic energy trailed behind him as he charged forward, teeth clenched and one fist extended, crackling with spectral power.
The dragon, apparently deeming Robin a non-threat, ignored him completely. Its focus shifted entirely to Danny—the one it perceived as the greater danger. With a mighty flap of its wings, it surged forward to meet him head-on.
Straight ahead, Dinah's dragon form curled her mouth in a sneer, flames flickering at the corners. In an instant, she unleashed a torrent of emerald fire, the magical blaze roaring forth like a living inferno.
Danny was swallowed whole by the flames, vanishing behind the wall of heat and energy. Robin's eyes widened in horror. "Danny!!" he shouted, worry lacing his voice.
As the firestorm faded, glowing embers and soot drifted through the air like dying stars. Dinah's lips curled into a smug, victorious smirk—only to falter as a furious cry echoed from below.
With a burst of green light, Danny erupted from the ground. He had phased through it just in time to escape the flames, though not unscathed. His body was covered in burns, scrapes, and glowing green blood, but his resolve was unwavering.
He surged upward with renewed fury, leaving behind a streak of blinding neon as he moved. In a fluid motion, he wrapped both arms around the dragon's tail and hauled it over his shoulder with a shout.
"AHHHHHHH!!!" Danny roared, every muscle in his body straining. His grip was iron. Despite the dragon's superior size and strength, Danny's momentum—and sheer willpower—dragged her higher and higher, past the towering skyscrapers, beyond the reach of the city lights.
Dinah shrieked in surprise and fury, her wings thrashing wildly. But before she could react, Danny began to spin—fast. Each rotation amplified by his ghostly speed, creating a whirlwind of force that sent her spiraling.
With one final mighty heave, Danny hurled her through the sky.
He paused only for a heartbeat, catching his breath and closing his eyes to regain orientation. Then he rocketed upward once again. 'Faster!' he urged himself, pushing his limits. His glowing green eyes narrowed in focus. 'I have to go even faster!'
He blurred into motion, slicing through the night sky like a comet. Dinah managed to stabilize herself with her wings, slowing her uncontrolled flight—but it was too late.
Danny collided into her midsection like a missile, the impact reverberating through the air. She let out a cry of pain as the force knocked her back again. Danny didn't let up—he pursued relentlessly, his fists now glowing with concentrated energy.
He pressed his fists together, then thrust them forward, unleashing a colossal beam of ectoplasmic power. The blast engulfed Dinah, the city below becoming a streak of blurred lights as their battle tore through the sky.
With a roar of her own, Dinah steadied herself mid-air. She opened her maw and released a barrage of flaming projectiles, each one pulsing with volatile energy.
Danny gritted his teeth. Dodging wasn't an option—there were still civilians below. With unwavering determination, he fired volley after volley of ghost rays, intercepting the fireballs mid-air. Each collision exploded in bursts of green and red, illuminating the skies in a dazzling, destructive lightshow.
Then, breaking through the haze of smoke, Danny surged forward again, his chest swelling with energy.
He unleashed a Ghostly Wail—sharper, more focused than ever before. The sonic wave tore through the air, slicing through fireballs and detonating them on impact. Dinah took the full brunt of it, the sheer force propelling her backward as smoke and energy were blasted from the sky.
They had left the city far behind. As they neared the outskirts, Dinah crashed into the ground with a thunderous impact, her claws carving deep trenches into the earth as she skidded to a halt, blood sliding from her cracked scales.
As Danny dove toward Dinah, he focused his ectoplasmic energy, shaping it into a glowing green whip. With a sharp flick of his wrist, he lashed the energy forward in a quick, desperate attempt to snatch the enchanted necklace from around her neck. But Dinah, in her dragon form, reacted with terrifying speed—her jaw snapped up and caught the whip mid-strike. With a snarl, she twisted her massive head violently and used the captured whip like a tether, swinging Danny through the air and slamming him into the ground with bone-crunching force.
A wheeze escaped Danny's lips as his back collided with the ground. Pain shot through his chest, and he coughed violently, blood splattering into his palm. Gasping, he rolled onto his side, one hand clutching his ribs. "How the hell am I even still alive…?" he muttered hoarsely, his vision blurry, his ears ringing.
'I need a plan…' he thought bitterly. Charging her head-on is suicide. 'I have to be smarter.'
As he tried to push himself up, the emerald flames around Dinah's mouth shimmered and began to shift—mutating into a spectral, chilling blue. Danny's eyes widened in horror. That wasn't just a color change—it was a power escalation.
"Damn it" he muttered.
Without hesitation, Danny blasted himself into the sky, narrowly dodging the incoming inferno. A beam of blue fire engulfed the area where he'd just stood, superheating the ground until it bubbled into molten lava. The sheer intensity of it left scorched trails in the air.
Danny weaved and spun around Dinah's form, avoiding bursts of deadly fire that chased after him. Magma bubbled around Dinah, forming a hellish moat. She floated within her fortress of heat and death like a queen of destruction.
But Danny wasn't done.
He dove underground with a flash of light, phasing through the molten earth like a ghost through smoke. Suddenly, the ground beneath Dinah rumbled. Cracks spread like spiderwebs, and with a roar of effort, a massive chunk of earth began to rise. Veins bulged across Danny's temples as he lifted the platform—Dinah and all—into the air, streams of lava pouring from the broken circle below.
Dinah flared her wings and took to the air, separating herself from the crumbling platform. She hovered, her throat glowing once again—this time with a concentrated ball of volatile blue flame.
Danny gritted his teeth, every muscle in his body screaming in protest. "ARGHHHHHH!!!" he bellowed, hurling the platform like a meteor toward the airborne dragon. The ball of flames met the incoming landmass mid-air, exploding it in a colossal burst of rubble and smoke.
But that was exactly what Danny needed and aimed for from the beginning.
He burst from the cloud of debris at blinding speed, catching Dinah off guard. She didn't have time to breathe fire—he was already too close.
Dinah's claws shot out, grabbing Danny's extended hands. The two were locked in a desperate grapple in midair, locked hand-to-hand, muscle against muscle.
But Danny wasn't trying to overpower her.
He knew he couldn't win a strength contest against a dragon—especially not in his battered, broken state. He only needed one second. One moment to act.
'Come on… I don't need a full clone, he thought. Just… one hand. One shot.'
"ALL I NEED IS A SINGLE HAND!!" Danny shouted, his neon green eyes blazing with spectral fire.
His body shimmered and glowed as he manipulated his ectoplasmic form. His chest expanded unnaturally—like something inside him was clawing its way out. A third hand, glowing and semi-transparent, burst forth from his torso like an astral phantom.
With a snarl of defiance, Danny held Dinah's claws in place as the ectoplasmic hand reached upward. The fingers curled around the edge of the golden necklace. Then—with a mighty pull—it snapped free.
The moment the necklace came loose, the ghostly hand retracted like a rubber band snapping back, smacking Danny in the chest and pushing him back midair.
The necklace dropped into his trembling hands.
Danny let out a ragged laugh. "Hah… Haha! Hell yeah!!" he gasped, lifting the necklace like a wrestling champion hoisting a title belt.
Then, something began to change.
In front of him, Dinah's monstrous form began to glow—pulsing with a bright, blinding green light. Her wings shrank. Her horns retracted. Claws turned into fingers. Scales faded into smooth skin. Her entire body convulsed, shrinking and warping until the monstrous dragon was gone.
Blonde hair reappeared. Pale human skin returned. Her spectral glow flickered out like a dying ember.
Dinah—fully human again—started falling through the air.
Danny's eyes widened. "Oh shot!"
With a burst of speed, he shot downward, catching her limp body mid-fall. His movements were shaky, sluggish. His ghost tail flickered before disappearing entirely, his legs reforming. He barely held them aloft.
Dinah groaned, her eyes fluttering open. "Ughh… My head…"
Danny slowly descended, setting her down on the cracked earth. He stood over her with swaying posture, his suit torn to shreds, his body covered in cuts, bruises, and dried green blood. His hair was a tangled mess, matted with ectoplasmic fluid.
He gave her a small, tired smile. "Welcome back to us…"
His eyelids drooped. "Maybe someday… I'll win a big fight without passing out afterward…" He let out a dry laugh. "But today's… not that day…"
"What?" Dinah murmured, confused.
A glowing white ring appeared around Danny's waist, flashing with light as his transformation undid itself. His ghost form vanished. He collapsed forward, unconscious.
"Whoa—!" Dinah shouted, catching him just in time.
She looked down and saw Danny still clinging to the necklace with trembling fingers. His lips moved, whispering something faint—so quiet she had to lean in.
"I'm… sorry…"
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