Me: I've decided that since this story seems to be so much more popular than Battle of Wills that I'm going to work on this one harder.
Brightshadow: Hence updating it faster in a week than you have in nearly 2 years for Battle of Wills. *Looks warily at the warhammer on Idalia's belt* Uh….Idalia doesn't own Danny Phantom. She also doesn't own Danny's new outfit, which belongs to jadedbluerose.
Me: Good death knight. As well, this chapter is dedicated to my music teacher for the past 4 years, I'm kinda using his computer right now
Danny's PoV
I sat quietly, waiting for one of them to react. I didn't have to wait long, but it wasn't who I expected to speak up.
"Mom, we can't just let him go out there alone to face those…ghosts. Especially not considering you and dad used to hunt ghosts."
I looked at Jason, my curiosity evident. He looked at me again then back to his mother, who looked furious.
"Mom, it's about time someone else knew that secret. You couldn't keep it covered up forever that you fought ghosts in your past."
She sighed and looked at her plate, then looked up again.
"Danny, I can tell when someone isn't telling the truth. If you want to stay you'll have to tell us what you aren't telling us."
I looked at my plate, emotions raging. Can I trust them? I never told mom and dad since they aren't very good at ghost hunting…scratch that, they suck. I sighed, undecided.
"I can only tell you if you promise never to tell a soul, dead or not. If people knew about me, I wouldn't be left alone. I've never told anyone, but I feel as if I can trust you. The ghosts aren't after me to get to my parents. They're after me because of my abilities. Nearly 3 years ago, my parents built a ghost portal. They plugged it in, but it didn't work. I decided I would take a look inside, since I was pretty good at fixing the inventions my parents messed up. I pulled on a spare hazmat suit and walked in. I tripped on a wire or something and put my hand on the wall for support. Let's just say the on button was inside the portal, and it was just my luck that that's where I put my hand. It turned on with me still inside. It was…painful getting shocked by electricity, AND ectoplasm. The electricity was killing me, while the ectoplasm was keeping me alive."
I paused to get my breath, and then began again.
"When I woke up I was…changed. The white hazmat suit had turned black, with a white belt, gloves, boots and bit around my neck. My hair had turned silvery-white, and my eyes had turned a disturbing shade of green…I passed out then. When I woke up, I was back to normal. I had thought it was all a dream until my parents came back, saying the portal was working. They blamed it on a loose wire, said it must have righted itself."
I wasn't done, but I looked up to see how they were reacting. Nicky's mother was deep in thought, glaring at her fork. Nicky had her eyes closed and she looked horrified. Jason was just staring at nothing, thoughts distant.
"Over the next few days, I had…problems, to say the least. It turns out the portal had affected me more than I thought. I thought I was just being clumsy when I dropped stuff or tripped, until I ran into a wall and went through it. Random parts of me kept turning invisible. I decided against going to my parents for help, I didn't quite trust them not to turn the 'figure out what's wrong with Danny' into an experiment. I didn't know what to do, but then…"
I stopped, and grabbed a drink, then continued.
"I was in the lab one night and the portal opened on its own. Nothing came through, so I assumed it was a malfunction. I went to close it, only to be grabbed by what I can best describe as one of those little things that comes out of a cuckoo clock. It pulled me into the ghost zone. Instead of doing the smart thing and trying to escape, I was playing Canadian tourist at the statue of liberty. The ghost zone was…amazing and terrible at the same time.
The….sky, if you can call it that, was a swirling, neon green…the same color my eyes had turned when I first came out of the portal. There were little landmasses floating everywhere. I wasn't paying attention, and all of a sudden we were inside of a tower. There were clocks everywhere. I looked to try to fnd the thing that brought me here, but I saw nothing. Then I heard a voice."
Flashback
"Hello Daniel. Welcome to the ghost zone."
I jumped, and turned as fast as I could. The ghost standing…no, floating, in front of me was strange looking. Then again, most ghosts were. He had blue skin, and a scar vertically across one of his eyes. He was wearing a purple cloak and had what looked like a clock in his chest. All of a sudden, he changed. He now looked more or less the same, just as a baby. As I watched a few seconds more, he changed again, this time looking like an old man. Every few seconds he would keep changing. I mentally shook my head, then finally got up the courage to speak.
"Danny please, not Daniel. Who are you?"
"My name is Clockwork. I am your…self appointed guardian I believe. I had Ticka bring you here so I could explain some things. The accident with your parents did more than give you a few ghost powers. It made you half-ghost. When you woke up you looked different. That is what you look like as your ghost side."
I just stared at him, watching him cycle through his forms. I didn't believe him, I couldn't believe him! It was just too unreal; someone can't be dead and alive at the same time. Yet…it was the only explanation for everything crazy that's been happening lately.
"Alright, I guess that…kinda makes sense. What do you have to explain to me?"
Clockwork just smiled. To be honest, it just looked plain old creepy.
"I am going to teach you how to use your powers, and teach you everything about the Ghost Zone history and rules. Seeing as you are half-ghost, you must know this, seeing as how you are now technically a resident. You will have to work hard, and since you do have human schoolwork to do, you might be overwhelmed."
Clockwork paused when he saw me banging my head on the wall of his tower. I heard him sigh behind me, so I stopped and turned around.
"It's hard enough getting my normal schoolwork done, let alone all this extra stuff you're going to be teaching me."
He smiled again.
"I did not fully explain to you who I am. There is a reason I am called Clockwork and live within this clock filled tower. I am the ghost of time. I know what is, what was, and what could be, along with the many different things that happen according to each choice. We will start tomorrow. I would suggest you don't tell anyone about your powers Danny. You are going to make some powerful enemies."
End flashback
Me: *Collapses on the keyboard* Do you know how many times I restarted the scene with Clockwork? Way to many to count, and it still doesn't sound right!
Brightshadow: That's because you're a horrible writer.
Me: What was that Bright? I couldn't quite hear you.
Brightshadow: Nothing, nothing.
Me: Better not have been. Those of you who have reviewed my story, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. *looks sheepishly at the ground* I really have no idea what to say to people other than that, so sorry if you were expecting individual thank you's, I'm no good at that.
