AN: I hope you enjoy the new chappie. Please read and review.

AN2: The Pieling made a good point and I wanted to address it. I don't plan on having the gods be a large part of the story. The fact that I included them is kind of significant, but possibly only to me. If my muse doesn't hijack my story, then they should only be mentioned in the same way that they have already be mentioned. I don't plan on making this a religious fic, or having religious themes except as far as it has been taken. There won't be any active praying or going to temples. Feel free to review if anybody has any other concerns.

Disclaimer: Neither Danny Phantom nor Sky High belong to me.

Warning: Spoiler/mentions for "Fright Before Christmas" and "Lucky in Love".

Summary: Some things just shouldn't be changed, and some things can't be changed. If they are it must be set to rights. This is a crossover with Sky High. Eventual slash… but not anytime soon.

Redemption: (noun) 1. An act of redeeming or the state of being redeemed. 2. Deliverance; rescue. 3. Recovery by payment, as of something pledged. 4. Paying off, as of a mortgage, bond, or note. 5. Atonement for guilt.

Chapter 3: Hindsight is 20/20

Danny sighed, contemplating his past lessons with Clockwork while flying absentmindedly through the Ghost Zone, or the Otherworld as Danny began to think of it. "After all, it doesn't only hold ghosts," mumbled Danny to himself.

He was eager to get to Clockwork's lair as they were supposed to be doing something different that day.

Over the past month, Clockwork lectured, drilled, and otherwise forced Danny to learn about the Otherworld. He had to learn about the different parts of the Otherworld and what kind of beings that lived in each part. They were not nearly done, but they covered enough to let Danny know that the Otherworld was huge, and if he had tried to continue to create a map of the "Ghost Zone" with Sam and Tucker, it would have been as futile as attempting to map the starry expanse… in three dimensions and in scale. Not technically impossible, but not really accomplishable in a mortal lifetime.

Considering how vast the Otherworld was and how relatively small the ghost portion of it was, it was pure serendipitous luck that Danny's parents' Fenton Ghost Portal actually opened up to the part where ghosts resided.

Danny's mind wandered out to the other part of his lessons with Clockwork. He visibly cringed, unconsciously tightening his hands into fists. It wouldn't have been so bad if Clockwork had kept that part of the lessons to only going over his parents' inventions, how they worked and what they did. It was bad enough to listen to his dad blather on about ghosts and the various ghost inventions the one time, but to be forced to listen to it over and over and over again, on top of watching them design and build them, being forced to understand what they did and how they worked was just over the top in Danny's opinion.

Because this part was so intensive they had only gone over the two of his parent's inventions, the most basic of inventions and the most useful: the Fenton Thermos, and the Fenton Ectogun. Clockwork said he was saving the more difficult ones until Danny had the basics down.

But still, if the lessons had stopped at that, they would have been bearable; mildly irritating, but bearable. The part that Danny hated the most about his lessons with Clockwork was the way Clockwork made him go each and every ghost fight he had ever been in and critique his performance before during and after each fight. If he didn't critique to Clockwork's exacting standards, he had to repeat each fight until he could. He didn't stop at the fights with the humanoid ghosts either, he had to critique his performance with the animal ghosts too!

At first Danny thought that they were starting from the present and continuing on, but he soon realized he was wrong. He should have figured it out just from the fact that Clockwork was so thorough with having Danny critique both humanoid and animal ghosts, but when they had time, they also would go over his past ghost fights to do the same, starting with his first fight with the Lunch Lady.

A month had already passed and they still hadn't caught up!

Danny knew if he were honest with himself, he would admit that the part that he really hated about those lessons was the way he had all of his faults and flaws shoved into his face on a nearly constant basis. Clockwork said that watching his pre and post fight performance helped him with his cover identity—and Danny could admit to himself that it did help, but he also had a sneaking suspicion that Clockwork was trying to warn him to behave better toward his friends. There was nothing he could point at and say, "there, that is what gives me that feeling" but Danny had been learning to trust his instincts, and the klaxons were going off on this one.

It shamed Danny to see how he would treat his friends after a fight, especially whenever Paulina showed up. Clockwork was persistent about getting him to see that, though in his own Clockwork-ey way.

Danny sometimes wondered if he would have fallen for Kitty's trick when she overshadowed Paulina if he had already been taking lessons from Clockwork at that time.

With that thought came the end of Danny's woolgathering as he spotted Clockwork's time-oriented lair. Dreading the coming conversation and critique about Danny's latest ghost fight, he steeled himself and went into the other ghost's domain.

The fight with the Ghost Writer was in its own way brutal, yet at the same time one of the least truly malicious fights Danny had ever been in. It was because of this fact, perhaps, that made this critique so hard for Danny.

During the critiques Danny had a certain cliché pop into his head, and was beginning to hate the phrase, especially whenever one of his more… spectacular moments showed on the screen: hindsight is 20/20.

Of course he shouldn't have let his anger run away with him. Of course he shouldn't have assumed that any part of the Ghost Zone was uninhabited just because he couldn't see anyone. Of course he shouldn't have assumed that destroying the Ghost Writer's keyboard would have stopped the story—if there was nothing he had learned it was that a ghost's powers are unique and if they can they will try to surprise you.

Squirming in guilt, he tried to explain his actions to Clockwork, "Well, you see my parents always have this huge fight around Christmas time…" Danny trailed off as he tried, and failed, to explain his actions without making himself look like a selfish moron. Thinking quickly, he burst out, "Well, why didn't you warn me about the whole ghosts-have-a-permanent-truce-on-Christmas deal?"

"Why have you not taken the initiative to ask about traditions of the Otherworld last lesson when I let you have extra time to do as you whished?" questioned Clockwork with an enigmatic smile as he floated closer. "As I recall you took the time to leave early instead of learning as much as you could about your new world." Danny's expression became dumbfounded. "Take this as a lesson to always use your resources wisely and completely—"

"I know, I know. 'Waste not, want not'," groaned Danny. "I'm getting really tired of these clichés. Why is everything a lesson with you?" cried out Danny in frustration and leftover embarrassment from his behavior toward the Ghost Writer. "You could have warned me!"

"I allowed you to have your run in with the Ghost Writer because you seem to learn best from personal experience. I thought that embarrassment would help be an incentive to pay closer attention to my lessons…. And, the Ghost Writer is vengeful, not vindictive. Perhaps this experience will further teach you to not let you emotions take control and to be a little more cautious. The entire situation was not truly threatening to you except perhaps to your pride."

"I can't believe you! Just because you are the ghost of time you think you can do whatever you want to everybody else. We aren't your puppets! Maybe we should call you Puppet-Master or Shadow King, since you try to rule everybody's life from the shadows!" A dam had broken in Danny. For the past month he had taken whatever Clockwork dished out to him. He might not have been gracious about it, but he still did not complain.

"Maybe I wouldn't have had to manipulate you if you would put more effort into our lessons and actually try." Clockwork's own frustration became more evident as he continued speaking, though his expression still held that carefully controlled expression. "You are self-serving and selfish! You would come here only grudgingly and put forth a minimal amount of effort. You are wasting our time!"

"Time!" exclaimed Danny, getting up into Clockwork's face, "You are made of time! What do you have to worry about?!"

There was a moment of embarrassed silence. Both had been on their best behavior during their lessons and this was the breaking point. What they said wasn't as bad as it could have been, but neither did they mean to start yelling at each other. "Perhaps we should give ourselves distance from each other to calm down. Your lesson is postponed until next time."

"Yeah," mumbled Danny, "next time." He fled.

If Danny didn't have the self-consciousness of a teenager he would have been bouncing along the walls of Clockwork's lair in his eagerness, probably even literally. They had been training together for months and the week before Clockwork said that Danny was ready to form his own lair. After the Ghost Writer incident Danny began to take his lessons with Clockwork more seriously. Their relationship had been rocky for weeks afterward, but now their relationship was better than Danny's relationship with his extended family. All this meant, though, for Danny's training was that it had been progressing better as Danny was no longer unconsciously grudging his visits to Clockwork.

Lairs were supposed to represent something about the ghosts that owned them, especially when the ghosts were new and unable to manipulate the energies as consciously as they would learn to do later. Typically a ghost's first lair was the best representation of their current character or personality than in later years. It was only later that an established ghost learned to manipulate the lair's energies to shape it, and thus the lairs of older ghosts usually reflected the obsessions of their owners instead of their personalities.

Hint: Reviews help drive an author's muse.

I'm sorry about the lateness of this chapter. I had finals, moved and started a new job. Not really good excuses, but not bad ones either. I also revised the previous chapters. No changes to the story. The chapters were just edited to have more showing instead of telling.

In the next chapter is the invitation. What did you think about that fight between Danny and Clockwork? That came out of nowhere, but when you think about it, it makes sense. Its gotta be tough having a mentor that can see into the future and can change things so they go the way he wants.

The closest person to guess what Danny's lair would look like will get a preview of the next chapter before it is posted.