*Story edited as of 07-27-2015*

Thank you for your reviews, favorite, and follows.

This chapter is very heavy on explanations, but it needed to be done.

~Chapter Two~

I stared blankly at Clockwork for what felt like an hour. Normal!? I don't even know what that means anymore?!

My life was never normal, even before the accident. There was always some new invention exploding or some new ghost theory that I had to sit through for hours. My parents don't even dress normally! The one time they did turned into a disaster.

I should probably not say anything about thinking like that to Sam. She would probably hit me if I said something negative about being unique or whatever she calls it. Her combat boots usually leave a mark.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded.

I got the impression that the Time Master was rolling his eyes at me. Though how I got that was beyond me. He has freaking red pupiless eyes… Is pupiless even a word?

Eh. I got a C- in English. Sue me.

Anyway, seeing as I was in no condition to figure out what this idiot was talking about (my face was still sore, even with my enhanced healing), the aforementioned idiot decided to finally elaborate.

"I am sure you are aware that there are multiple dimensions that exist, correct?"

I continued to stare at him. The twitch in his eye revealed to me that he was starting to get annoyed with me gaping like a fish. Well, excuse me. It wasn't my fault! I was well aware that there were different versions of my life that existed. There was my evil future self that still existed after all, just trapped in a thermos for the rest of eternity. And then there was the little fact that, if one knew how to use those pesky triangular-shaped portals (*cough* Infimap), traversing across time would become a walk in the park.

I had a feeling that Clockwork wasn't talking about any of that. Call it what you want but I learned a long time ago that I needed to put my utmost faith in my instincts. Bad things tended to happen when I did the opposite.

There was also the fact that the ghost mentioned different dimensions. Like, they had nothing to do with each other. Everything I knew about was still technically part of the one I was currently sitting in or part of the Human Realm, but those were connected to each other. I mean, if one was destroyed, then the other would fall with it.

That's kind of morbid. Back to the present conversation.

"What are you talking about?" was my intelligent response.

Clockwork raised a nonexistent eyebrow, his scar moving up slightly as he contemplated my confused expression. After a few moments of the two of us having a staring match, comprehension dawned on his face.

"Oh, my mistake, I was thinking of a different Daniel."

It's too early in the morning for this.

"What are you talking about!?" I once again demanded, completely baffled.

Oh wonderful, Clockwork has made a broken record of me. I think I just said the same thing like three times in a row… or was it four? Ugh. I need to sleep. I think I got like two hours of it last night. Stupid Box Ghost.

Clockwork gave an exasperated sigh and proceeded to finally explain himself.

"There are multiple dimensions that exist, besides the two you already know of. You do not need to know of any of the others except one, the Pokémon World."

"Bless you."

"If you agree, I will transport you to this world," the ghost continued, ignoring my previous blessing. "There are certain conditions that you must agree on for me to do so and I will get to those in a moment."

I frowned, still confused. What did being transported to a different dimension have to do with living like a normal kid? The entire thing sounded pretty abnormal to me.

Oh wait, he's still talking.

"The Pokémon World is nothing like the Ghost Zone and different from the Human Realm that you live in, albeit it is similar. Humans exist in this world, but what makes it different are the creatures that live alongside them. The creatures are called Pokémon. These Pokémon look a bit like the average animals that populate the Human Realm, but the similarities stop after that."

I watched as Clockwork briefly glanced behind him and then went on with his explanation. This Pokémon World sounded a bit interesting, but I will reserve judgment until I learned more about why these Pokémon were so different. It must have been a big deal if Clockwork decided that it was important enough to tell me.

"What truly sets the Pokémon apart from animals are the abilities that they possess. Some can manipulate the elements, such as electricity, water, fire, and so forth. Others possess abilities similar to both your abilities and the many ghosts you have encountered. These Pokémon are categorized into types depending on their strengths, weaknesses, and the energies they are able to manipulate with ease."

Okay, all this talk about Pokémon having abilities like that definitely peaked my interest. I couldn't even imagine a world like that. Animals with the ability to breathe fire or electrocute someone seemed a little farfetched.

"Now, the humans have long ago learned to exploit the abilities of the creatures that live amongst them. In the beginning, many humans regarded the Pokémon with fear and used them as tools. The Pokémon were many times treated wrongly or seen as below the human race. Some of this still occurs in the present, mostly by the wicked of the human race. Nowadays, the Pokémon are seen as friends and partners by the majority of humans. Many Pokémon are caught and trained by humans, who are their Trainers. The Pokémon that are caught work alongside the humans according to whatever profession said human decides to pursue. I know it sounds a little odd that the Pokémon work with the humans that caught them, but, if you agree to go, you will see and understand how that works eventually.

The most important concept that involves the Pokémon is the battling. All Pokémon love to battle, it is in their blood. These creatures are intelligent beings, just as much and sometimes more so than humans. They want to improve their abilities, and to do so, they train with the humans. Yes, the Pokémon could theoretically learn and improve in the wild but… well, I will let you figure out how that works.

Now, humans learned about this love for battle early on and coordinated competitions to bring the best out of the friends that they made."

My head was reeling form information overload. This talk about Pokémon battling was crazy, though I could understand where they were coming from. Sure, it got annoying when I was interrupted every five seconds by a ghost, but I loved getting a good fight out of them. I've spent hours on end trying to improve the abilities I know about and getting a handle on the ones I discovered. No matter how banged up I got, I knew I would never give up my life for anything. The feel of the power running in my veins and that satisfaction I got when I pulled something new off was amazing. Being able to save others with my abilities felt even more amazing though. It didn't matter if not everyone thought I was good news. The grateful smiles I got from those who I helped will always keep me going.

"Alright, I have given you an extremely brief explanation of the Pokémon World, though nothing I will say will give this dimension justice. It is something that you must experience for yourself. The opportunity I mentioned earlier involves you being transported to this dimension to experience its wonders for yourself, as a normal human child of this world."

My mind hit a mental brick wall when I heard that.

"What!? Are you being serious?! Sure this place sounds cool but how do you expect me to just up and leave?! What about Amity? They need me! The ghosts will go crazy once they find out I'm nowhere to be found. The humans won't know what to do. They have no idea how often the ghosts actually run amuck in the city and will be overwhelmed. You know full well that the ghost hunters, including my parents, won't be able to handle it!"

I continued to vent out my frustration to the ghost. Why would he suggest something like this? I mean, I do actually want to see what this place was like, but I can't, in good conscience, go there.

I can't abandon Amity Park.

Clockwork raised his hand in a 'stop talking' gesture and I immediately shut up. He was already annoyed and I didn't think it would be a good idea to raise his ire even further. Memories briefly flashed in front of my eyes, all about repeatedly smashing into a bell.

It would probably be best to not have a repeat of that. My face could not handle that kind of abuse again.

I thought I saw a brief smirk cross the now adult-looking ghost's face. Damn. He probably knew exactly what I was thinking.

"You will not be gone for months on end. It works much more differently, but before that, I need to explain why I am giving you this opportunity."

The first thing that came to my mind was that there was some evil plot going on and the inhabitants of this world needed help with dealing with it, but that didn't make any sense. I would supposedly be living the life of a normal child of this world, so I wouldn't be fighting off some bad dude, unless kids are normally dealing with villains in this world.

"There are many ghosts, as I am sure you have noticed, that did not live a full life. They met their demise at very young ages. You, Danny Phantom, will not be the first ghost, nor the last, to be given this opportunity. The point of this… program I suppose we could call it, is to allow those who died young and became ghosts to have an opportunity to live again in a completely different world.

You are not necessarily dead, but you are not exactly living like a normal sixteen-year-old either, with your ghost abilities and all. You are being given this opportunity so that you have the chance to know what it is like to live like a normal child, and maybe make a few more life-long friends along the way. The lives of the children of the Pokémon World are much more different than the lives of those in the Human Realm, but that is beside the point."

"Wait, hold up." I made the 'time out' symbol with my glove-covered hands. "So there's a chance I might run into another ghost there? If I'm not the first, that means that there are others living there right?"

"At the moment, no, there is no other ghost living in the Pokémon World." Clockwork seemed to give a ghost of a secretive smile before continuing on. I eyed him suspiciously before deciding not to comment. "Whether that changes later depends on many things that you are not allowed to know about. Though part of it does involve making sure that said ghost does not attempt world domination of the Pokémon World like they seem to enjoy trying to do in the Human Realm."

I snorted at that. Well no wonder why there wasn't another ghost there right now.

"Based on what I have told you so far, do you think you would like to give this opportunity a chance?"

I eyed him skeptically. "Well it seems pretty cool and I guess I could give it a shot. But how would I not be gone for long periods of time? I'm guessing I'll be going back and forth somehow if I'm not going to be gone that long? Wouldn't my disappearances in both dimensions raise a few eyebrows?"

"Of course not." Clockwork waved his free hand dismissively. "You will be going back and forth, but no time will pass in the world that you are not in. It involves quite a bit of tampering with time on my part but, as I said, you will not be the first. The amount of manipulation I have to do is not difficult, especially since I have done it many times in the past."

I frowned once again. "So when would I go back and forth? Is there a set time that it happens? Do I have to be in a certain place for it?"

"No," Clockwork replied bluntly. "Your movement from one dimension to the other is completely random. A portal will not open and bring you from one place to the other. Nothing along that line will occur. It will be a bit like your duplication I suppose. You have one version of yourself here, and the other in the Pokémon World. However, you will only be in control and aware of one body.

Now, say you are in the Human Realm, sitting at your desk doing homework. Your vision will go white for about a second, and you will find yourself wherever you were the last time you were in the Pokémon World. When you are transported back to the Human Realm, you will find yourself, once again, sitting at your desk doing homework. Understand?"

I nodded slowly to that, my mind already coming up with ways that that could go wrong. I mean, what if I'm in the middle of a conversation in the Pokémon World and then I get transported back home. Then I get involved in a ghost fight and get transported back to the Pokémon World in the middle of punching whoever was attacking Amity, and finished the punch in the Pokémon World.

I winced. That would really suck.

Judging by the look of amusement on the Time Master's face, I guessed that something along my line of thinking had probably happened plenty of times in the past. Clockwork was probably looking forward to how badly I would mess that up.

With my kind of luck, it was practically guaranteed.

"One last thing, you will not have any access to your ghost powers whenever you are in the Pokémon World but will have the same features that your ghost form has."

Well, it seems we have gone back to me making a fool of myself by gaping like a fish.

"What!?"

"The main reason we do this is to allow for the ghost in question to experience the life of a human, complete with breathing, eating, and everything else that ghosts no longer require. You will essentially be a human version of Phantom. Your appearance will include white hair and green eyes, just without the glowing. You also will not have your jumpsuit, but will be outfitted in something that looks a bit similar. The reason you will be Phantom and not Fenton when it comes to your appearance has to do with the fact that when this is done with a full-ghost, they look like a human version of the ghost they are. This is done to ensure that a full-ghost does not become too attached to being human. Many ghosts envy the living, so keeping a ghost as close as possible to what they were when it comes to their appearance will remind the ghost in question of what they are and that the current situation is temporary. Well, mostly.

I do not believe you need the same reminder that full-ghosts need, but this is how it has been done for centuries and, since it has been a success, it will be continued the same way."

"Hang on a sec. Wouldn't my white hair be, I don't know, kind of suspicious?"

Clockwork smirked and just replied with a, "No, and you will see why if you agree."

I just decided to stay quiet now. This was way too confusing. Couldn't he have waited until I was in a better state of mind to say all this to me?

"So… do you accept?"

I thought about it for a bit. The only reason I wouldn't agree would be because of the potentially embarrassing moments randomly switching between worlds could cause. There's also the fact that my attention wouldn't be as focused−

Oh what the hell.

"Yes."

"Excellent." Clockwork had a full out feral grin now.

What did I get myself into?