Prologue
Silence rang in the empty halls, only interrupted by the everpresent sound of ticking filling the tower. Eerie green glow surrounded the walls, creating an ominous yet compelling atmosphere. Meanwhile, a small ghost in a purple hood floated around absentmindedly, tinkering with a mysterious staff in his hand. The harmless-looking creature was not as helpless as it seemed - he was in fact Clockwork, the Master of Time, the tower's creator and only resident... well, at least for the time being.
Clockwork glanced in the direction of the corner where a hideous old table resided. Why was there a useless furniture article like that in the first place? Because one day, the ghost knew that the table would not be so useless anymore. In twenty years, it would have the dubious honor of holding one of the most - of not the most - dangerous being in existence. Otherwise, the Time Master would have never bothered to put such an ugly piece of wood in his home. Sometimes the power of foresight was really useful for home-decorating, the specter mused.
Sensing an important event taking place, Clockwork stopped working on his staff and flew towards one of the many round screens in the tower. With a wave, an image of a slim figure revealed itself. The young man had dark-grey hair, divided by a lighter color in the middle, and a sour expression. The ghost watched intensely, his form changing from a little child to a full-grown adult.
"It has begun," he said in a deep voice, devoid of any emotion.
The young man on the screen stood in front of a strange machine - it looked quite impressive. However as he examined it, his face seemed skeptical at best.
"I'm telling you Jack, it won't work!" he spoke exasperatedly, his eyes lifting to the ceiling.
The other male, with black-hair and huge stature, just grinned at him. He was clearly used to the first one's attitude. "Bogus, V-man, it totally will! This proto-portal is guaranteed to bust over the wall into the ghost dimension!" he reassured with enthusiasm.
A red-haired girl picked up some notes, frowning at the content. "Jack, these calculations aren't right..." she said, but her enthusiastic companion paid no mind to her words.
"BANZAAAI!" he exclaimed, pushing a button on his remote, starting the machine.
The machine buzzed loudly... then suddenly, it exploded, bright green light shooting out of it and hitting the closest person in range as the result.
"AAAUUUGRH!" the slim man screamed in pain, the light consuming his face.
Clockwork watched calmly until the image faded completely, leaving a bright empty screen. The ghost smiled mirthlessly to himself.
"Welcome to the world, Vlad Plasmius."
Just as the words left his lips, a loud bang resounded in the tower.
"CLOCKWORK!"
The Time Master sighed, changing to a very, very old form. He knew too well who dared to barge into his home like this. The Observants weren't renown for subtlety, that's for sure.
"You could have at least knocked," Clockwork remarked with a deadpanned expression as four Observants furiously stormed in.
"You knew of us coming anyway," one of the eyeball-headed specters brushed him off. Clockwork smiled wryly in response. For beings who were supposed to have a great awareness of everything of the world, the Observants didn't show much confidence in the Time Master's judgement nor skills, only pointing them out when they deemed it relevant. Which was always when they wanted something from him, now not being very different. "Clockwork, something disturbing has just taken place in the Human Realm. Something that was never supposed to happen!"
"Oh?" Clockwork replied innocently, feigning ignorance.
"A human just fused with a ghost! And what's worse, both of them survived!"
"This abomination cannot be allowed to exist. Something has to be done."
"That thing is a danger to the entire time-stream!"
"You must erase them both from the timeline before the merging process is complete!"
"Enough."
The Observants were silenced, waiting for the Time Master's response.
"Why is the Council so concerned about something as trivial as a new... species?" Clockwork asked reasonably.
"Trivial?! You cannot be serious."
"But I am. This... creature... is nothing more than a new type of ghost."
"A human-ghost hybrid!" the lead Observant screeched.
"First time for everything. This is a rare event," Clockwork shifted into a child, smiling. He decided not to mention that in mere twenty years, another hybrid would come to exist... well, what Observants didn't know couldn't hurt them.
"Do you have any idea how powerful it will become? A creature composed of two souls?!"
Clockwork was quite offended at the insinuation that he was the ignorant one.
"I am well aware. However, that's no reason to erase it from the time-stream."
"But-!"
"Relax," the Master of Time said calmly, radiating confidence. "Everything is the way it's supposed to be."
"But it will soon become a Merger, Clockwork. Permanently," one last Observant argued. "Which side will dominate? The ghost, or the human?"
Clockwork paused. "In this case..." he said slowly "...there is little chance for the human to dominate, so when the process is done... in most probability, the Merger will be controlled by the soul of its ghost."
Only then the Observants finally relaxed. A human with the powers of a ghost - that was a frightening concept for them, but a ghost with a couple of human qualities? That was for the Council much easier to swallow.
"Now," Clockwork changed form again, this time to adult, "Would you please go observe the door? I have work to do."
Finally, the four ghosts complied, leaving the Time Master alone. Clockwork turned back to the screen, an image of a man in a hospital gown appearing. Previously dark-grey hair on his head was now almost white, and his face was covered in horrible acne. Little did the young man know that it was the least of his troubles.
"I am sorry for your predicament, Vlad Masters," Clockwork said quietly, "But there is nothing I can do to prevent this. You make your own choices, I'm afraid..."
The image changed abruptly, a face of a young boy taking its place.
"...Thanks to you, same mistakes will not be repeated."
Author's Note:
This is it! My first fiction for "Danny Phantom" (not counting one parody cross-over). I know this plot had been done many times over, but I have a slightly different concept than others I've seen, you'll see. I hope you'll enjoy it.
Just so you know, there will be little to zero romance. If anything, I will only hint at cannon parrings (such as Danny and Sam), but this fic is going to focus on the idea of brotherhood and friendship, which means platonic relationships. Got it? Don't ask for romance because it just doesn't fit in this plot.
Also, please be aware that keeping the characters in... character, faithfully to the show, will be very hard if not completely impossible. Not because of my inability, but because the show is just so freaking ridiculous. I don't mean that as a bad thing though :) The show is very funny and even clever at times, but the characters most of the time are just... dumb! It's part of the charm, I know, but I'm trying to make this story at least a little bit realistic. That means, my characters won't be total morons all the time. Especially the adults. Because seriously, the parents and teachers are so stupidly oblivious, not to mention incompetent, it's just painful to watch. I get the impression that they don't care, and I want to like them. Especially in my story.
The picture belongs to "Polterrgeist".
Thank you so much for reading, please review and favorite and follow (if you can ;) but most importantly - read on and enjoy!