Disclaimer: I do not, shall not, and cannot own Danny Phantom. It is the creative property of Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon.
Chapter 3: Realization
It was a good day, in Sam Manson's opinion. There was a slaughter-house protest, capturing the box ghost, a date with Danny, followed by capturing the box ghost, than hanging with Danny and Tucker, and finally capturing the box ghost. When would that ghost get the idea to stop coming through to the human world? At least it's fun to suck him into the thermos.
After splitting up from Tucker and Danny, Sam headed back to her house. As much as she wanted to get away from her parents and their cheery dispositions, she wanted to stay with Danny more. Even if it meant having to stay with her parents' addiction to all things yellow and happy.
Happily, though, her room was safe from her parents influence. Her grandma seemed to make sure of that. She kept the walls a dark purple, pretty much the exact opposite of what her parents seemed to like. Her bed had a spider-web panel designs. Her desk sat in the corner of the room, black like many of her things. What was on her desk, however, was something new.
Sam walked up to the desk and picked up the out-of-place item, a necklace with a cog shaped medallion at the end, knowing what it was just by looking at it. She also knew what it meant. She held the time medallion close to her before placing it back on the desk. "Danny, what trouble are you getting in now?" Sam thought before picking up the phone to call Danny's parents.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton?"
- (Clockworks Castle) -
"No, no, no, no, no! I'm not sure if you remember, Clockwork, but Ember is one of my enemies."
Danny had gotten back onto his feet, with a lot of resistance from Cujo on the idea however. He faced Clockwork with a disbelieving look after finding out whom one of his two guides were. Clockwork predicted this, though, speaking calmly to Danny.
"Come now, Daniel, you have my word that you will be alright. Despite troubles in the past, Ember is one of the ghosts with less of a grudge against you."
"Really?" Danny replied, surprised at hearing this. He turned to look at Ember before asking, "After stopping your plans on taking over the world twice?"
Ember shrugged at the question as she replied, "Hey, it's no big. Losing a crowd can happen when you're a rocker. Besides, I wouldn't miss leading you around the ghost zone for a bit. It'll definitely make my ex jealous enough." Ember grinned smugly at the last part.
"You have a boyfriend?" Danny asked his eyes widening. First Aragon tried to kidnap Sam to marry her, then Skulker had a girlfriend, and now Ember had a boyfriend? Was every ghost trying to hook up with someone nowadays?
"Had a boyfriend," She grunted out angrily. "I broke up with him way back when me and some of the girls went to town and got rid of all the boys in Amity Park." Ember looked away, a frown plain on her face.
"You did what with the who now?"
Ember waved off the confused question before continuing. "Never mind. Anyways, don't worry about me attacking you, dipstick. I doubt your little ghost mutt would let me anyways." She looked over at Cujo, who seemed to be occupying himself at the moment by sniffing under the newly old Clockworks tunic. The ghost dog then turned after noticing Ember staring at him and barked.
Danny shook his head at Cujo's display. The small side to the ghost dog just didn't seem to have a threatening side to him. The tiny green dog held a happy expression on its face, its tongue hanging out of its mouth. If he hadn't already seen it, he would never believe the creature could cause as much damage as he did when Danny first found the dog.
When he looked at Clockwork, Danny's expression became serious again. "Thank you, Clockwork. I'll come back when I've made my choice."
Clockwork nodded before changing from an old man to a young adult again. "I know you will choose what's right for you." The older ghost smiled warmly at the boy before turning and going back to work watching the time-stream.
With those words, Danny and Ember walked to the exit of Clockworks castle followed a bit lately by Cujo. At the edge to the castle, the small dog transformed, turning from a small dog lower than Danny's knee, into a hulking giant of a dog. Cujo then jumped from the edge and floated into the ghost zone, hardly waiting for Danny or Ember to follow.
As soon as the boy was gone, Clockwork looked into the future, hoping to see the changes he made were good. What he saw in it, however, was a sea of grey. A look of sadness replaced the warm smile he had before as he watched his portal. It was a very rare thing for him to not be able to see what would happen.
"I hope this will work."
A/N: Here you guys go. Third chapter, with double the cliffhanger taste. I'm just good at makin 'em. Clockwork's plan is in motion, but will it work? Yes, no, maybe so. Updates may take a bit longer than before due to work. Working weekend nights can help, yet hurt, my writing. I get a lot of time to think, but not a lot to write.