(Normal speak)
(Thought)
(Techniques, Technus inside Skulker speak)
10 years into the future, a future where a large majority of the world lay in ruins.
Leo flew through the skies of Amity Park, which was now protected by a ghost shield, and he spoke into a communicator on his watch "Alright guys, looks like ghost shield tower 9 is operating at 100% capacity."
On the screen of his communicator appeared Kwan, who had a scar running down the left side of his face, not hitting his eye though, and he had a goatee "Alright good work Leo, just check on the last tower really quick and hurry back-" then the communication shut out.
"Kwan? Kwan come in, do you hear me?"
Instead of Kwan, a pair of sinister crimson eyes appeared on the screen "Hello Leonardo."
"Oh for f*ck's sake, you again? Look I don't care how powerful you think are, we both know that I'm the only one with enough power to break through the ghost shield."
"If this were yesterday then that would be true, but not anymore." this was followed by a furious howl, shaking the entirety of Amity Park and causing the ghost shield towers to short out and explode one by one until the shield itself was destroyed "Well that's just the story of my life isn't it?"
"So you like the new power? I call it the Ghostly Wail."
"Impressive, you still suck but it's still impressive."
"And I have you to thank for it… teacher. Oh and for old times sake, look behind you."
"Way ahead of you." Leo fired an Ecto Ray behind him without looking, dissipating the fireball surging towards him, and looked behind him, his eyes narrowing dangerously "Well that's just typical, you again?"
"Yes, me." and who else appeared before Leo but the Fright Knight "And I serve a new master now."
"Serve this asshole! Sky Dragon's Roar!" Leo breathed out a massive blast of wind, capturing the blast of fire and turning it on the Fright Knight, engulfing him in a massive blast of fire, enhanced by the wind, sending him flying into an abandoned building, which was promptly destroyed by the blast 'Well that was fun, now I've gotta get back to Kwan and Star before he does.' and he took off.
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Soon enough, Leo phased through the walls of the Hunter household and found Kwan and Star working in the lab "Guys we've gotta be ready."
"Is he here?" asked Kwan.
"Well I just had a little run in with the Fright Knight so I'm gonna go out on a whim and say that he can't be very far behind-" this was followed by a furious howling wail "It's too late, he's already here. Kwan take Star and get out of here, I'll hold him off."
"We're not going to just leave you." Star protested "I just…"
"I know, but I'm not going to lose. Even if I don't make it out of this fight I'll make sure he doesn't either no matter what it may take, now run!" he forcibly pushed them both down an escape hatch in the floor, leaving him alone "They're both gone now, it's just us."
"So it is." with a blast of fire, from the floor of the lab burst an older looking form of Danny Phantom, or Dan Phantom now, with a cape, flaming white hair and piercing crimson eyes, a malicious smirk plastered across his face "Hello Leonardo, and now it's time to say goodbye."
"Well one thing is for sure, I'm not letting you walk away this time." lightning charged in one hand, an Ecto Ray in the other, and he slammed them together "This ends today!"
"Is that right?" fire charged in one hand, an Ecto Ray in the other, and he slammed them both together "Well I can assure you that you won't be walking away from this."
"And as long as you don't that's damn fine to me!" Leo fired his blast, with Dan doing the same, the resulting clash destroying the Hunter lab and the entire house.
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From within the Ghost Zone, two ghosts known as Observants showed these events to a ghost known as Clockwork "Now do you understand?"
Clockwork turned to them and scowled "Yes, Danny Phantom grows up to be the most evil ghost on the planet. What do you want me to do about it?"
"You are the master of time Clockwork, is it not obvious? To save the future, Danny Phantom must perish!"
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The present day.
Leo burst out of his bed in a cold sweat, panting heavily 'What the hell… No, get ahold of yourself Leo. It was just a dream, nothing more.' he looked at his clock '5:00 AM. Great, I don't need to get up for school for another hour and yet I still wake up in a cold sweat. I keep having that same dream over and over again every night. What does it mean?"
"Perhaps I can explain."
Leo's head snapped to the right and he saw Clockwork materialize next to him, as well as noticing the clock suddenly freeze "Clockwork, I should've known. Been a long time."
"Not since you were 10 if I recall correctly, and I always do."
"What do you want?"
"For you to come with me." he held out a hand "There is a grave situation to prevent and I will require your help to make sure of this."
"...I want details."
"You will receive further details when we return to my lair."
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An assembly was in session at Casper High.
Mr Lancer spoke to the large audience "Your future is not carved in stone people, but it may be carved with a #2 pencil."
"Oh please." Tucker and Sam grumbled.
"Quiet!" Danny hissed "This stuff is important."
Lancer continued as if they hadn't said anything, since he didn't know that they did "As most of you have most likely forgotten, you will be taking the Career Aptitude Test on Saturday. Do well like Ms Fenton here who got the highest score in the history of the CAT, and a successful future will be assured. However, if you should fail like Irving "Third Degree" Burns here, who got the lowest score in the history of the CAT then you will be doomed to a career at the Nasty Burger."
"Hey, working at the Nasty Burger takes brains you know." Irving protested "I mean if those 42 Nasty secret herbs and spices in our Nasty Sauce are overheated then it could cause an explosion powerful enough to take out a whole city block." he received no reaction from the audience "Oh who am I kidding? My life is over."
"You said it Mr Burns, not me." Lancer held up the answer booklet "These aren't just the answers to the test people, they're the answers to your future. So study." he locked the answers in a briefcase and handcuffed that briefcase to his wrist "Do not forget that this is your future, do you want fries with it?" and he walked off.
Tucker noticed Danny looking spaced out like someone just kicked his puppy "Dude, are you okay? Danny?"
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Clockwork showed this to Leo, who was now wearing a Time Medallion, through one of his view screens "So you see the situation now."
"Yeah, the Observants are lazy f*ckers who won't get off their asses." Leo noted dryly "And that's why you have to do their dirty work.
"Rather vulgar but not inaccurate."
"But if they want you to take Danny out, not that I would let you, then why not just use this chance while I'm not there and he's not suspecting it?"
"Think about it for moment, he turns evil because he's under pressure for some test?"
"Hey to be fair Clockwork, you don't understand the mindset of a 14 year old like I do."
"A fair point. But fine, then I suppose it would be time for me to conduct a test of my own."
"What exactly are you going to do?"
"You'll see soon enough."
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Danny was in the kitchen working on a sample test for the CAT 'Come on…' he reached to mark A for his first answer.
"Uh…" Jazz, who had been hovering over him, quickly covered her mouth.
He reached for B.
"Bu-"
He reached for N.
"Nnn…"
Three strikes and she was out, and Danny finally had enough "Oh for f*ck's sake I get it already, people like you and Leo are brilliant and I'm stupid and I'll never be able to get a score as high as yours was. Seriously, so far I'm not even qualified to scrape the grease off of the Nasty Grill."
"All I want is for you to succeed Danny, and doing well on this test is a big step towards that."
"Oh really?"
"Yes, there are 3 things I've learned in life." this part was mimicked by Danny "Study hard, do your best and-" this is where the mimicking stopped "Duck!"
"What?" then he got hit in the head with a boomerang "Ow! What the hell, a boomerang?" he threw it again.
"Yep!" this was when Jack burst into the kitchen "I call it the Boooooomerang, it locks in on the unique ecto signature of any ghost and seeks it out wherever it goes."
"Good to know." he promptly ducked to avoid it when it came circling back.
"Although why it keeps keying into Danny is way beyond me."
"Why don't you just have mom look into it?"
"Oh she's got a cold." then he looked over "What's that Dan, one of those stupid CAT tests? I failed that and I didn't turn out to be a cat." and he walked off.
"...Oh for- I give-" he suddenly froze, with Jazz doing the same just as she was about to sneeze.
"Time out!" that was when Clockwork showed up with Leo and another ghost "Alright, here we are."
"His dad's gone so now is the perfect opportunity." Leo noted "And remember, his sister knows his secret but he doesn't know that she does."
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." so Clockwork placed one of his time medallions around the other ghost's neck.
That was when the other ghost suddenly came to "Huh? What the-? Where am I?"
"Amity Park before you were born." Clockwork pointed at Danny "That boy over there is part ghost and my employers believe him to be a threat to the world, would you be a dear and dance a little dance for us?"
"As if you'd have to ask."
"I thought so." he was about to hit the button on his staff.
Leo suddenly stopped him "Can I just say one thing about this whole situation?"
"What is it?"
"Just one word. Eww."
"Hey don't blame me, blame the ones who created her. Time in."
"That's just-" then he and Clockwork both disappeared.
"-up!" Danny suddenly felt his ghost sense go off 'A ghost here? Now? I'd better hurry and get rid of Jazz. Now get out of my room!"
"You're in the kitchen-" Jazz paused when she saw the ghost behind him 'Oh, so he's just trying to get rid of me. But if that's your attitude then I don't want to see you or anything you might do in here in the next several minutes!" and she rushed out.
"What the hell is with her?" Danny turned and let out a yelp when he saw the ghost, then promptly flashed into his ghost form "More importantly, what the hell is with you?"
The ghost's voice was incredibly cringey and familiar "I am Box Lunch, the daughter of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady!"
"...Okay first of all, eww to the third power."
"And now you will face the test of my box and lunch faced doom!" she suddenly summoned every single piece of meat from within the kitchen, conveniently contained in different forms of packaging, and formed a sort of meat transformer "And now- And you probably knew this part was gonna come- BEWARE!"
"So then you probably knew this was coming too!" Danny burst forward and tackled her out of the armor.
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Lancer was enjoying lunch at the Nasty Burger and frowned when he saw Tucker and Sam come up to him "Shouldn't you slackers be studying for the CAT's?"
"I've already studied." Tucker told him.
"Is that so?"
"I'm sure we'll do fine." Sam told him.
"Is that so? Well the test answers in this briefcase may indicate otherwise, enjoy your Nasty Burgers while you're still on this side of the counter."
That was when Lancer's burger suddenly flew off of the tray and into the air.
"Fast Food Nation!"
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By this point, Danny was now hovering above the Nasty Burger 'So she's got the powers of both the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady rolled into one, but I guess that just means that I've got twice as much ass to kick.'
"Prepare to taste your defeat, and perhaps a nice side salad with that." Box Lunch summoned all of the food from inside of the Nasty Burger.
"I'll pass."
"Then feast on my empty calories of doom!" she hurled all of the food at him.
Danny nonchalantly phased through them with ease "Oh come on, if you actually are the child of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady, which is still gross by the way, then you know exactly how this is going to end."
"Yes, like this!" Box Lunch slammed Danny through the roof of the Nasty Burger, scaring everyone inside into running away, leaving only the two of them.
Danny looked and saw the Nasty Sauce vat in the kitchen 'Oh yeah that's right, that dead beat guy at the assembly at school today that if this stuff gets too hot then it could take out a whole city block. Idea forming.' he grabbed a small packet of Nasty Sauce and chucked it at Box Lunch's head.
"Prepare for- huh?"
"Hey Box Lunch, guess what? Beware!" he fired a simple Ecto Ray from his finger, overheating the Nasty Sauce and causing a much larger explosion then expected.
Despite turning intangible, Danny was still forced outside by the force of the explosion, also causing him to accidentally phase the CAT answer booklet out of Lancer's briefcase in the process, though he didn't notice it right away "Wow."
"Hey Danny, who exactly was that ghost that you were fighting?" asked Tucker.
"That was Box Lunch, apparently the only daughter of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady."
"Yikes."
"I was thinking more along the lines of eww but I guess that works too, I don't know what's going on but I think this medallion might give us a clue." he picked up Box Lunch's time medallion off of the ground.
"Hey what's that on your back?" asked Sam.
"What are you talking about?" he pulled the CAT answer booklet off his back and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head "Oh my god, the answers to the CAT's."
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"So that was your grand plan." Leo noted "Put him in a position where he's perfectly capable of cheating to make sure he'll make the right decision."
Clockwork nodded "Precisely, the question is whether or not he will make the right decision in the end."
"Oh come on Clockwork this is my protegee we're talking about, he'll make the right choice and the Observants don't have a damn thing to-"
"Hello great future!"
"You're not actually thinking of peeking at the answers are you?"
"Of course I am, how could I not? I mean aren't you?"
"Oy…" Leo slapped his face "So the Quantum Puba, what's your next plan to put him on the right path?"
"I know what I'm doing." Clockwork pulled up another viewing screen, this one of a futuristic looking Skulker "We put the answers to the test right in his hands and he made the wrong decision." he pulled up another screen, revealing Jack, Maddie, Tucker, Sam and Lancer bound to the Nasty Sauce vat, which promptly exploded, leaving Danny to look on in horror and grief at this "His future has been sealed."
"I'll believe that when I see it with my own eyes in person."
"...Always the optimistic one aren't you? Just like your father."
"You should know, you're the one who trained him in the art of ghost hunting."
"I saw great potential in the man, and even more so in you."
"Just like what I see in Danny, and once that future is prevented I'll make sure that he lives up to it."
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The next day of school came.
Sam immediately got down to business "So are you going to return the test answers or not?"
"Calm down, I'm going to." Danny waved her off "I'm just waiting for the right moment to do it."
"Like maybe after the test?" Tucker guessed with a smug grin.
Danny shot him an annoyed scowl.
"Yeah you're right, you definitely aren't thinking about cheating on a test that you're convinced will determined your entire future." he failed to notice Mr Lancer listening in.
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Having listened in on the conversation, Mr Lancer checked his briefcase and realized that the answer sheet was missing, so he asked Jazz to talk to him after school.
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Nightfall came.
Danny led Tucker and Sam up to his room to study the time medallion "Well Tuck, have you got anything?"
Tucker tried to hack into it, but failed "I can't seem to hack into it, whatever this thing is it's really high tech. It's like it's from the future or something."
"Oh well, anyway speaking for the future I think it's time I started preparing for mine."
"You mean to cheat." Sam pointed out.
"I never said cheat."
"You didn't say not cheat." Tucker pointed out.
"Guys come on, I would love to have spent the last month or so studying but I've been busy between training with Leo and beating the crap out of ghosts. Besides, if the two of you think this test is so meaningless then why does it matter to either of you if I cheat? Go ahead and give me one good reason not to open this up and study the answers huh?"
"Maybe because training with Leo would've made you grow up." Sam told him.
"Yeah, the guy that you've been hating on since he showed up 8 months ago for reasons that you refuse to tell me why. Seriously, even during the whole thing with the Ghost King you just gave some crappy excuse."
"..."
"No answer? Well that's all the answer that I need right here."
'Danny…'
"Aren't you going to say something?" asked Tucker.
"I'm his friend not his mother, if he wants to cheat then that's his decision." she shot Danny a dirty look.
"Fine." so Danny slowly and cautiously reached for the seal, but stopped "I can't… I can't do this. Look, if there's one thing Leo taught me is that reaching your goals means nothing if you don't work for it. Not that I have any idea where he is since I haven't seen him since he finished recovering from the whole thing with the Ghost King last week and he still hasn't come back to school."
"So you're not gonna cheat?"
"...No, I'm not. The only problem is, how am I gonna turn this back in without Lancer suspecting me of cheating-" he paused when he felt his ghost sense go off and he saw a ghost appear behind him "Great, another new one." he flashed into his ghost form and charged.
"I wouldn't be too sure ghost brat." the ghost backhanded him into the wall.
Danny quickly rebounded "And just who the hell are you supposed to be?"
"I am Skulktech 9.9, the future Ghost Zone's greatest hunter. With its greatest techno villain as his operating system."
"Skulker and Technus together? Okay I'm not gonna lie, that's a new one. I'm not sure if that's supposed to be eww or yikes. Or both."
Skulktech 9.9 sprung several robotic arms with claws from his back.
"Okay then, yikes it is." he phased through the claws and phased Tucker and Sam through the door, then phased back in "Now then, where were we?" he dodged more of the claws, resulting in his computer and desk being destroyed, but was backhanded into a wall and grabbed by one of the claws.
"Say goodbye ghost child!" he was about to finish Danny off, only to notice a notification on his right gauntlet "Someone's hacking into the system again? I thought we fixed that. We did, we must've accidentally synced up with somebody else's PDA." and then he was sent flying.
"...Well that happened."
This was when Tucker came back in with Sam "Wow, I can still hack into his operating system with my handheld computer. I'm not really sure if that's exciting or depressing."
"I say it's both now come on, follow me!" Danny phased through the roof.
"I think we'll walk." and so they did.
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Jazz was surprised to hear Lancer claim that Danny stole the answers to the CAT, but managed to defend him by claiming that Lancer didn't have any proof of this.
Conceding to this point, Lancer decided to give Danny until the day of the test to return the answers, but if he cheated then Lancer wouldn't just fail him, he would destroy his entire future.
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Skulktech 9.9 was sent spiralling through the skies of Amity Park out of control "What are you waiting for? Activate the Purple Back Gorilla override! Don't tell me how to do my job!"
"Come on Golden Girls!" Danny fired an Ecto Ray at him, hitting him dead on and sending him crashing into the Nasty Burger, unknowingly causing the Nasty Sauce to heat up further.
Skulktech 9.9 burst back up into the air "Activating the Phantom Palm Pummeler!" he fired a blast from his hand at Danny, shorting out his ghost powers for a few seconds.
Danny was able to quickly recover "You're shorting out my ghost powers?"
"Indeed we are, the Phantom Palm Pummeler might not work on you in the future but we had a feeling it would work on you here."
"The future? What the hell are you talking about?"
"Oh man I love this, you're so much weaker than that other wretched Phantom that we always have to deal with." he hit Danny with another blast.
"What are you two talking about?" then he started screaming and falling towards the ground, but he managed to catch himself on a flagpole "Wow, that flagpole thing really works? I thought it was just a thing used in cartoons and it would- BREAK!" yeah, it broke and he bounced off an awning into a pile of trash bags in an alley "Well I guess I don't have any sort of future as an olympic gymnast."
"Wrong!" this was when Skulktech 9.9 grabbed Danny with his Phantom Palm Pummeler "You don't have a future period, not anymore that is!"
"I wouldn't bet on that!" this was when Tucker showed up with Sam and shorted out used his PDA to short out Skulktech 9.9's suit, causing him to fall.
"Oh crap." lucky for him, he grabbed onto a flagpole "Wow, that flagpole thing-" it broke and he landed doubled over on a lamppost.
Danny gave a triumphant grin "Way to go guys, you really do come through. Now if you could see about getting this thing off of me?"
That was when Skulktech 9.9's time medallion fell off, teleporting him, along with Danny, Tucker and Sam, all of whom were attacked to his cuff, away.
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Danny and the others found themselves slammed into a wall, the cuff breaking off "What the hell?"
"Where are we?" asked Tucker.
"I don't really know, it looks like the Ghost Zone to me but it's not like any part of the Ghost Zone I've ever seen before. I think we were transported here right after that Skulktech guy's medallion fell off.
"Then I think I know how to get us back to Earth." Tucker took one of the time medallions hanging on the wall and put it on, only for nothing to happen "Nothing huh?"
"That's because we're already in our own time period."
Danny looked and saw Leo step out from the shadows "Leo?"
"Hey guys, been a week hasn't it?"
"Is this where you've been for the past week? Why the hell didn't you say anything?"
"Take a look through here." Leo pointed to a view screen.
"What the hell is this?"
"This is Amity Park, 10 years in the future." he pointed to where Dan was going on a rampage of destruction "Yeah that's how you turn out in the future, and to be honest you're kind of a douche."
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Future.
"Leave them alone!" that was when future Leo showed up in his ghost form "Our battle isn't over yet, I told you that I was going to finish you and that's what I'm going to do."
"We'll see about that." Dan promptly unleashed his Ghostly Wail, sending Leo staggering backwards despite his efforts.
However, Leo managed to force himself forward, lightning gathering in his fist "Wail on this one! Roaring Thunder!" he fired a blast of lightning from his fist, the blast pushing its way through the Ghostly Wail and engulfing Dan, electrocuting him just as Leo was sent flying back from the force.
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Present.
"Okay, you're actually a total douche." Leo corrected.
Danny was in awe at the sight of the battle "Wow, what is that? I mean I know about Leo and his lightning powers but I get some kind of Ghostly Wail? What a cool power?" he received a glare from Sam "If it weren't being used for evil."
"No you're right, it's still pretty kickass."
"Right? But seriously though, I become evil and you and I fight to the death? There's no way I'm going to let that happen."
"Which is why I'm here. Oh and by the by, duck." he force them to duck right as Skulktech 9.9 was flung through the view screen back to his own time "Just for the sake of being clear, I wasn't the one who did that."
"Leonardo speaks the truth." that was when Clockwork made himself known "I was the one who sent him back to his own time, or I suppose I should rather say forward to his own time. You see for me, time moves backwards and forwards and-"
"Clockwork give it a rest, they're underachieving 14 year olds."
"...Oh right."
"Who are you, where are we?" asked Danny.
"You want introductions? Very well then. I am Clockwork the master of time, I've been charged with the task of eliminating your future so that never happens." he pointed to the view screen showing the future where Dan and Future Leo continued their epic battle.
"You've gotta be kidding me, name one evil thing I've done in my life!"
He showed an image of Jazz finding the CAT answers in his backpack.
"...I bet you can't find two."
"I can find 1,200 but if I list them all then we'll reach that point in time before I get through with you, if it wasn't for the future Leonardo then it would be up to 2,000."
"I don't have to stand here and explain myself to you, I'm going ghost!" he flashed into his ghost form and charged.
"Time out." Clockwork froze time and rewinded it to right before Danny transformed.
"I'm going ghost- Holy crap, serious deja vu." and yet he still went ghost and charged.
"Time out." this time he slowed down time so he could dodge the lunge "Time in." he put time back to normal, causing Danny to slam into a gigantic bell, and then had him ram into it over and over again.
"Looks to me like you're having way too much fun with this." Leo noted, unaffected due to the time medallion around his neck.
"Well to be fair I could do this all day, but I do have a schedule to keep." he unfroze time, causing Danny to fall to the ground, then picked up a scythe and charged at him.
Danny quickly regained his sense of awareness in time to avoid being hacked into bits by the scythe.
Clockwork then promptly stopped time again with his staff.
Tucker was taken by surprise, but quickly noticed something "Hey hold on a minute, how is it that he can freeze time for Danny but not us?" he looked and noticed Sam was frozen too.
"It's the time medallions." Leo told him "They make the people who wear it immune to Clockwork's powers, it's basically a get out of time free card."
"Alright, that gives me an idea." Tucker grabbed two more time medallions.
"Time's up ghost boy." Clockwork prepared to bring down his scythe.
"Nope." Leo promptly grabbed the scythe and stuck a time medallion around Danny's neck, snapping him out of it while Tucker did the same with Sam "Sorry Quantum Puba, but there's no sudden death overtime in this game."
"What the hell- What happened?" asked Danny.
"Simple, Tucker and I helped level the playing field. Let's just kick his ass."
Clockwork's eyes narrowed dangerously "The 4 of you have seen too much, you must be eliminated before you permanently alter the time stream." he summoned his counterparts from various different eras "Nowhere to run children."
"Nowhere in the present, but what about the future?" Leo pushed Danny, Tucker and Sam through the view screen, transporting them 10 years into the future.
"The question is, do they have what it takes to face that future?"
"If you want proof then how about I go myself and get that proof." without bothering to wait for a reply, Leo jumped in after them.
"We shall see soon enough."
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Danny looked around the future ruins of Amity Park right when Leo showed up "Woah…"
"Damn." Tucker muttered "If this is what we have to look forward to then I'm definitely not taking the CAT test."
"Don't remind me."
"How do you think this all happened?" asked Sam.
"I don't know, but based on what Leo showed up back at Clockwork's place, I have a horrible feeling that I'm the one responsible for all of this."
"You got that right mother f*cker!" that was when Future Leo burst out from the rubble, his pupils crackling with electricity, and he fired a Lightning Dragon's Roar.
Danny quickly dodged the blast of lightning "Leo? Look Leo, I need you to listen to me."
"Forget it Phantom, you tried that trick and played on my emotions once but I'm not going to make the same mistake twice!" he fired a furious barrage of Ecto Rays.
Danny managed to maneuver around them, though one of them grazed his shoulder "I need you to-"
"-to trap you like the wild animal you are? Fine! Thunder Dragon's Prison!" he quickly trapped Danny in a prison made of fire and lightning, burning him across his body "And now after 10 years, this nightmare ends! Goodbye and good-"
"Leo stop!" Sam and Tucker got in the way "Don't shoot!"
"Sam? Tucker? Alright, what the hell is-"
"Hold it." Leo stepped forward "You would recognize yourself don't you?"
"...Let me take a wild guess, Clockwork?"
"Yep."
"Figures, seeing Tucker and Sam alive is kind of rare nowadays. It's been a damn long time since I saw that."
"We're not alive?" asked Tucker "That's our future? Now I'm definitely not taking the CAT."
"The CAT, son of a bitch that brings back bad memories. That was actually the last time I saw you alive. Then there was that big explosion at the Nasty Burger, you guys and Danny's family, Mr Lancer… Oh crap, bad memories there."
"Is that right?" a green wall of flames appeared between them, courtesy of Dan, looking considerably beat up from his long and dragged out battle with Future Leo "Well they actually happen to be rather amusing, to me at least. And to you eventually." he unleashed a blast of fire, slamming the weakened Future Leo and floated down to the ground "Sam and Tucker, it's been a long time. 10 years to be accurate." he unleashed a blast with a sweep of his hand, freezing them in place even though Leo leapt out of the way "So to what do I owe this little blast from the past?"
"Take a look at their necks." Leo told him.
"What do you-" he noticed the time medallions around their necks "Of course, it's nothing but Clockwork meddling like always."
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" a blast of fire sent Dan slamming into a building, destroying it upon impact, courtesy of Future Leo, though he promptly fell to one knee.
Dan blitzed in front of him and slammed him to the ground "I suppose out of respect for our past and for you being my former teacher I really should let you live, but as I'm sure you know by now that's not how I work. Fire Dragon's-"
"-ROAR!" Danny broke free and unleashed a massive blast of fire as strong as he was able to muster, sending Dan tumbling back "Leo get your future self out of here, I'll hold him off."
"Sure thing." so Leo grabbed Future Leo and started flying off.
"So Clockwork sent you guys from the past…" Future Leo's voice was soft, barely a whisper to be heard "I should've figured… I was still good looking…" and he passed out.
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Dan backhanded Danny into a building and leered down at Tucker and Sam "You know, if I had even a single ounce of humanity left in me then this would be a very touching little reunion. But of course, I surrendered my human half a long time ago."
"HEY!" that was when Danny burst back up behind him, alerting Dan through his still present ghost sense.
"Oh please." Dan fired an Ecto Ray.
Danny fired an Ecto Cannon, both blasts hitting each other at the same time "Tucker! Sam! Run as fast as you can and let me deal with this guy!" this was met with Tucker and Sam running towards the abandoned Fenton Works.
"Run? Where are they going to go?" so Dan promptly unleashed his Ghostly Wail, causing the Fenton Works to start to come down on them.
"For the record Sam, I blame you." Tucker told her dryly.
"No!" Danny tried to rush towards them to get them to safety.
However, Dan caught him by the leg and smirked maliciously "I wouldn't if I were you."
Danny could only watch in horror as the building fell on them, and was electrocuted by Dan's Ghost Stinger, forcing him back into his human form, but once he was thrown to the ground he saw Tucker and Sam's time medallions "They took off their time medallions, that must've sent them back to our own time period just like with Box Lunch and Skulktech 9.9. Thank god, that means Tucker and Sam both made it back alive. That means that Leo and I can-"
"You and Leo can what?" Dan grabbed him by the arm "You can go back with those two? The both of them are doomed anyway, and if you can't remove your time medallion then that means that you can't go anywhere too." he promptly phased the time medallion into Danny's chest, causing him to scream in pain and lost consciousness "As a matter of fact, you aren't going anywhere at all.
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Sam and Tucker both materialized in the present outside the Nasty Burger 'Oh thank god, it worked.'
Tucker stopped screaming when he realized they were safe "You got the time medallions off of us didn't you?"
"I'm not the kind of person who accessorize well, but the problem is that Danny and Leo are still stuck in the future fighting that horrible evil version of Danny."
"With the good version of Leo don't forget."
"Yeah but we've gotta help them somehow!"
"Tucker, Sam, you guys got a second?" this was when Jazz showed up "Let me answer that for you, yes you do. I'm gonna be blunt here, I know Danny stole the answers to the CAT, that he's going to cheat."
"Actually Jazz the thing is that Danny actually chose not to-"
"Enough is enough Sam, I know more than you think I do and I mean a lot more so I suggest that when you see Danny you tell him I want to talk to him tonight because if I don't then I will be talking to our parents and Mr Lancer tomorrow." and he walked off.
"Wait a second, Lancer knows Danny has the answers?"
"Oh man is he in trouble." Tucker muttered.
"That has to be it, Lancer accusing Danny of cheating is what leads to that horrible future!"
"Wait let me get this straight real quick, Danny gets accused of cheating on a test and we have to pay for that with our lives? How the hell is that fair?"
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Future Leo bolted upright "Wha- Where-?"
"It's alright, you're safe."
Future Leo looked and saw Star, now with her hair in a ponytail and in a white blouse, sitting next to him "Star… Oh thank god, you're safe."
"It's you I'm worried about." she put a gentle hand on his shoulder "I saw your younger self, he's the one who brought you here."
"Oh… I guess I really was all about helping people back then wasn't I?"
"You were?"
"...Okay I concede, you're right just like always. Where is my younger self anyway?"
"Right here." that was when Leo came in, now in his human form "I never knew Star would turn out to be such a good cook."
"I haven't been able to eat in almost a month, my ghost form was all that kept me alive for a good long portion of these past 10 years. Not since Dan started rampaging across the world."
"Yeah, about that… What the hell happened? I mean what caused Danny to become evil, what made him rampage across the world for 10 years, how did everything turn out like this?"
"...Star could you give us a minute?"
"Take all the time you need." and Star walked out, leaving Leo and Future Leo alone in the room.
"Tell me, how much do you know already?"
Leo let out a sigh "Only what Clockwork showed me and he only showed me about half of what I need to know."
"...The CAT actually went pretty well for me, I ended up getting the 3rd highest score in the history of the test. I left Danny to his own devices that night and went out to celebrate with Kwan, Star and my brother, and I even ended up asking Star out, and we've been together ever since. All in all, it was a damn great night for me. I didn't learn until the next morning what had happened. Danny ended up getting the 7th highest and he did it without cheating, but the problem is that he forgot to turn in the answer sheet so Lancer was still suspicious of him. He called Danny and his parents down to the Nasty Burger to reveal his suspicions, and Jazz, Tucker and Sam went down there to defend him, but that was when it happened. The vat containing the Nasty Sauce overheated and exploded, and Danny was the only one to survive."
"So then-"
"3 days passed and Danny came by the house to say goodbye, since he was going to live with his godfather."
"Vlad?"
"Vlad. He said he was sorry for having me waste his time with such a sorry excuse for a protegee and he was sorry for letting me down, and then he left. That was the last time I saw Danny Fenton, and that was 10 years ago."
"But then, how did Danny turn into that guy?"
"...About 6 months passed, I started my junior year and me and Star were going steady, and the two of us, along with Raphael and Kwan, had become the sole protectors of Amity Park. Then came the day when he showed himself."
"Dan Phantom."
"Yeah. He made it pretty damn clear he wasn't the same person he was the last time that I saw him, that was obvious when his first act was to brutally murder Valerie and her dad. It was a hard fought battle and in the end I was able to fight him off, but that battle broke pretty much every bone in my body. Everyone in the city saw me transform back but they saw me as a hero for protecting them. It didn't mean anything to me though, not when the guy who used to be my best friend and protegee would turn out to be my worst enemy. He showed up again about a year later after terrorizing a large portion of the rest of the world. I was preoccupied fighting the Fright Knight, so Raphael…"
Leo froze at that "You mean he…"
"He took out the Ecto Skeleton and tried to fight Dan off himself, to spare me the pain of having to put him down. He fought Dan with everything he had and he almost took him out, but he never perfected the neural receptors and the suit drained him like a battery. The Ecto Skeleton didn't come back from that fight, and neither did he. I've been fighting him alone ever since, and that was almost 7 years ago. I don't know what happened to Danny Fenton, I don't know if he's dead or alive or if the same could be said with Vlad for that matter but it really doesn't matter anymore. I have to keep fighting on my own for the sake of Kwan and Star, they're all I have left now and I can't lose them too. I just can't." he proceeded to bury his face in his hands, tears streaming down his face, and he gave bitter smirk "I must look pathetic to you, seeing your future self crying like this don't I?"
"...A wise man once said that when a man sheds tears it's not because they're weak, it's because they've been strong for too long." Leo let out a long sigh "Do you have any way to get me into the Ghost Zone?"
"You're thinking of going to Clockwork aren't you?"
"Isn't that obvious?"
"...Here." Future Leo held out a device on his wrist, and a green light shot out from it, opening a portal to the Ghost Zone "Whatever you have to do just do it and make sure this nightmare never becomes reality."
"I will." he stopped, but didn't look back "And no matter what happens, I'll make sure that my bond with Danny stays intact too." and with that, he leapt into the portal to the Ghost Zone.
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Danny slowly opened his eyes, realizing that he was bound by a glowing green rope, and saw a statue of Tucker, Sam, Jazz, Jack and Maddie sitting in front of him "Mom? Dad? All of them…" he read the plague "Gone but not forgotten." he looked to the right and saw a statue of Mr Lancer "Gone… Poor guy, he really does deserve better. But then what about the Nasty Burger?" he looked back and saw the remains of the Nasty Burger.
"It's strange isn't it?" that was when Dan emerged from the ruins "Strange how one massive fireball of highly combustible condiments is so easily able to ruin your whole future."
"The time medallion?"
"Fused inside of your body, it's neat isn't it? Intangible and unreachable whether you're a ghost or a human, which means you can't go back to your time." he opened a portal to the Ghost Zone with one hand.
"I don't care if I can go back or not, no matter what happens I will never turn into you!"
"Of course you will." Dan reverted back to his human form at the same age as when he lost his humanity, a perfect clone so to speak "It's only a matter of time." he grabbed Danny and threw him into the portal "I need you out of my way and out of my hair while I make sure nothing happens to change my past, lucky for me this is all I need to make sure of that and to get to where and when I need to be." he held up a time medallion and disappeared back into the past.
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Clockwork received another annoying visit from the Observers and told them that everything was the way it was supposed to be.
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Dan materialized in the present time period and look at the Nasty Burger, or what was left of it, and smirked maliciously "The Nasty Burger, still standing, for now anyway."
"Danny!" this was when Tucker and Sam found him and hugged him "You made it back! Did you beat that evil, jerky, pus packed alternative version of yourself?"
Dan let out a chuckle "Always with the quips Tucker, in my weaker moments I sometimes find myself missing your droll sense of humor."
"I'm sorry?"
"I'm just kidding, as a matter of fact I beat my other self quite easily. I really had you guys going there for a second didn't I?"
"Well we should probably do what we can to stop the Nasty Burger from blowing up right?"
"No need, I already took care of it. Now then, who's up for- What did we used to do together? Oh yeah- playing some video games and raging against the machine?"
"We're in!"
'Suckers.'
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Clockwork didn't bother looking back to see who was there "I expected you to come Leonardo."
Sure enough, Leo stood behind him "So what did I miss?"
"Daniel has been cast into the Ghost Zone and his future self has used one of the time medallions to take himself to the present time in order to ensure his existence. Danny's sister is about to confront him."
"So we're gonna wait and see how this plays out?"
"I am, but you have another part to play in this. Look in your pocket."
"Clockwork this is a jumpsuit, I don't have pockets-" he reached into the side of his jumpsuit and got a surprise "Holy crap, when did I get pockets?" he pulled out a note "I know the future you which means I also know the past you, use this wisely- Kwan and Star." he pulled out what looked like a stopwatch "The Quantum Stopper, I read about it in one of my dad's journals. How did I my future self get this- Clockwork."
"Guilty."
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Danny floated helplessly through the future Ghost Zone "Come on Danny think, you've gotta find a way out of this. I'm going ghost!" he flashed into his ghost form but found that still couldn't free himself of his bonds "Well it was worth a shot I guess."
"Well well well." a malicious chuckle could be heard behind him "All this time we've been planning on how we were gonna take the fight to you and now here you are wrapped up like a present."
Danny looked back and saw the future version of the Box Ghost, the one with whom he was currently on a collision course "Box Ghost?"
"Beware…" with a menacing tone of voice, Box Ghost hit Danny with an Ecto Ray, sending him flying backwards towards another future ghost.
Danny's jaw dropped at who he saw "Ember? Wow, you look-"
"I know." Ember snarled "I look like I went to seed right after you destroyed my vocal chords with that damned Ghostly Wail of yours?"
"Well I was actually gonna say statuesque but-" he was sent flying by a blast from her guitar and sent flying into the future version of Johnny 13, now stuck in a wheelchair "Johnny 13? Okay look, whatever happened to you I swear I had nothing to do with-"
"Save it, I've been waiting a long time for this punk." Johnny 13 promptly summoned his shadow.
"Oh crap, wait a second!"
They all surrounded him.
"No no no no no!"
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The present day.
Dan phased into his old room and looked around "My old room…" he peeked a look into his mirror "And my old face."
"Danny, we need to walk." that was when Jazz poked her head into the room.
'And my old sister Jazz. What do you want Jazz? I'm busy."
"Yeah I know, busy cheating." Jazz held up the answer sheet from his backpack "Lancer was right, you did steal the answers. Don't you understand?"
"Understand what, that I'll be destroying my future? You don't know the half of it."
"...Danny listen, I know more than you think I do."
"What are you talking about? Seriously, what is she talking about?'
Jazz let out a sigh as she picked up the boomerang "I know all about it, about everything you're hiding. I know that you're part ghost, that you were always doing the right thing with your powers, at least until now."
'...Okay, I wasn't expecting that. You knew?"
"I know, and I've been helping mom cover for you with Dad because I'm proud of you and all of the good that you've been doing, like with Leo and with everything else, but not anymore."
"Wait a second, Leo knew about this? He told you?"
"No, I figured it out on my own and he confirmed it."
"...You know you always were smarter than I gave you credit for." Dan promptly abandoned his disguise and revealed himself, shocking Jazz to the core.
"You're- You're not danny. That's why the boomerang wasn't homing in on your ecto signature, you're not Danny!"
"Well I used to be but I grew out of it, the Danny that you know is floating helplessly in the Ghost Zone 10 years in the future."
"He'll escape, he'll find a way to get back here and he'll beat you."
"Oh really, and just how will he do that? Is the answer A, the Fenton portal or the Hunter portals? Destroyed both of them, that was a good weekend. B, the only remaining portal, as in the one belonging to my idiot cheesehead archenemy has? Well forget it, as soon as I find it that's going too."
"Wait a second, cheesehead? Vlad Masters? You mean he's your archenemy?"
"Is it C, you? No I don't think so, you can't stop me from cheating on the CAT and solidifying my future. So then I suppose that would leave D, none of the above!" he hit Jazz with a weak blast, knocking her out cold "D it is then." he broke the seal on the answer packet and looked at the answers "Well what do you know, the answer to the first question is D." he let out a malicious laugh.
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Morning came.
"Danny no don't!" Jazz bolted up and found herself in her bed "What the-?"
That was when Jack burst into the room "What's up princess, are you okay?"
"Wait a second, I'm in my bed and I'm alive?"
This was when Maddie came in and kicked Jack into the wall "Well of course you're in your bed and you're alive sweetie, Danny said you fell asleep helping him study and that he tucked you in."
"Danny?"
"He even woke up bright and early to make sure that nothing would happen to make him late for the big test."
"Oh no, the test! Come on mom, we've gotta move!" she rushed out of the room dragging Maddie and the boomerang with her.
Jack poked his head up from where he was embedded in the wall "What's with them?"
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"Jazz honey what's going on?" Maddie freed her hand from Jazz's grip while they made their way down to the lab.
"No time!" Jazz pulled off her headband and used it to tie a note to the boomerang "I need you to find Danny, 14 year old Danny, 10 years from now!" and she hurled it into the portal to the Ghost Zone.
"Jazz what is the matter with you?"
"Mom listen carefully, Danny is in seriously deep trouble and-" she was cut off by the stopwatch appearing on the ground in front of them "What the-?"
That was when it displayed a holographic image of Leo "Hey Jazz, Mrs Fenton."
"Leo? Okay what is going on?" asked Maddie.
"I need the two of you to listen very carefully to what I'm about to tell you. I'm sending you guys a message from the future, this is actually the present me but I was sent 10 years into the future with the help of a ghost named Clockwork. I need your help because I can't go back yet, Danny is stuck in the Ghost Zone of the future and his evil future self is about to cheat on the CAT and then kill you two, Tucker, Sam, Mr Fenton and Mr Lancer so that he can solidify his own future."
"Well I already sent a message to Danny in the future, it oughta tell him how to get back to this time."
"Okay good, that saves us a step. Next I need the two of you to go to my house and find my brother, tell him about the situation and ask him about the Mark II and Mark III ghost hunting combat suits."
"And then go down to destroy him at the school?"
"No! He's not planning to do anything he doesn't have to, at least not yet. Don't do anything until he gets called to the Nasty Burger by Lancer. That's when you have to expose him, not a minute before."
"Alright, we understand Leo."
"Alright good, now go. And good luck, both of you." and the holograph disappeared.
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Danny was still being toyed with by all of the future counterparts of the ghosts, and was horrified to see them charging attacks to finish it "Please listen to me, I didn't do any of those horrible things to all of you. I swear it wasn't me."
Skulktech 9.9 let out a scoff "Oh just stop it, you're the one responsible for all of the horrible things that happened to your world and ours! To everybody you've ever come into contact with! Your family, your friends and most importantly all of us!"
"But I didn't do any of that!"
They all just ignored him and prepared to finish him with all of their strongest attacks, intent on finishing him off for good.
"Get away! Get away! GET AWAY!" that last desperate scream suddenly turned into a Ghostly Wail, sending all of the other ghosts flying back and vaporizing his bonds, as well as causing him to partially revert back to his base form "What the…" he transformed back "Oh that's just great, now my voice is changing? This day just keeps on getting better, now I'm going through evil puberty. Everywhere I turn my stupid future is bitch slapping me upside the head." guess what happened to him "Ow, dammit- Wait, is this the boomerang? A note?" he took off the note attached to the boomerang "Wait, this is Jazz's handwriting… Wisconsin? Plasmius, of course. I should've figured he'd be involved in this somehow."
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The present day, and the CAT was in full effect.
Dan was hiding the answers underneath his desk as he filled in the test 'And who says cheaters never prosper?'
Tucker and Sam were horrified when they saw this "Danny don't, if you cheat on the test then we're gonna-"
"Mr Foley, Mr Fenton." Lancer cut off their conversation "Is there a problem?"
Dan let out a sinister chuckle, his eyes flashing crimson for a brief second "No problem at all."
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Danny let out a sigh as he stared at the gigantic purple football in front of him "Well I guess that's Vlad for you, about as subtle as a flying mallet. Well either way he's my only chance of getting back home in time to stop my evil self." and he rushed through the portal.
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Soon enough, Danny found himself in a cave packed with equipment "Woah…"
"Come to kick a defenseless failure while he's down?" asked a hollow voice, void of any emotion.
"Defenseless failure? What are you-" Danny turned around he froze at who he saw "You're… me?"
Sure enough, before Danny stood Future Danny, though now with a prosthetic left arm and right leg "Let me take a wild guess, some kind of time travel stunt like in Doctor Who?"
"You're me… What happened to you- me- us?"
"I guess I could ask you the exact same question, but right now I guess it would be better to ask you what hasn't happened to you. At least not yet."
"First I want you to tell me, did we cheat on the CAT?"
"...No, we didn't. I didn't. I pulled an all night cram session with Tucker, Sam and Leo and I ended up getting the 4th highest score in the history of the CAT, behind Leo and Tucker. But I made one fatal mistake that ruined everything, I forgot to return the answers so Mr Lancer thought I cheated and everything fell apart from there." a single tear fell from his cheek.
"You mean they…"
"Yeah. If it's any consolation they went really fast, none of them felt any pain. But unfortunately the same couldn't be said for me, I couldn't bare to face Leo after that seeing how badly I let them down. I left Amity Park, and with nowhere else to go I came here to the one person left in this entire world who could possibly hope to understand my situation. All I wanted was to make the pain go away, and I was so overcome with grief and misery I asked Vlad to get rid of my human half so that I wouldn't have any more painful human emotions to drag me down. Vlad honored my wishes and used his new and improved Ghost Gauntlets to rip my ghost half out of my body. Unfortunately, my ghost half went berserk and stole the Ghost Gauntlets, then used them to rip Vlad's ghost half out of his own body. Then for reasons I don't know and don't want to know, he tried to merge with Vlad's ghost half but was overwhelmed by the evil in it, creating the abomination I'm sure you've already encountered."
"So that's how it happened… But what happened to Vlad?"
"...Leo once told me that in life some things are better left unsaid, but he also said that just as many things need to be said. The new evil Phantom's first act was to try and murder me, but then something happened, something I would never have expected. Vlad jumped in front of me and sacrificed himself to save my life, and Phantom thought he had killed the both of us so he just destroyed Vlad's mansion and ran off to destroy the world for the next 10 years." Future Danny let out a long regretful sigh "If any good came out of this then I guess it would be that I found out exactly what happened to Vlad."
"What?"
"He told me with his dying breath that he was never evil, and that the accident my dad caused when they were in college that gave him his ghost powers almost 30 years ago also gave him some sort of split personality, with his ghost half becoming corrupted in the process." he buried his face in his hands, tears falling from his eyes "If I could do everything over then I would, I just wish I could've gotten the chance."
"Maybe that's all anyone needs, a second chance. But I need your help though, by any chance do you still have Vlad's Ghost Gauntlets?"
Future Danny's eyes widened.
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Dan slammed his test down onto Lancer's desk in front of him "Here."
Lancer's eyes narrowed suspiciously "Finished so soon Mr Fenton?"
"Is that a problem?"
"How should I know? I don't have all the answers. The question is, do you?"
Dan shot him a smirk and walked out of the room.
Lancer let out a sigh and dialed a number on his phone "Mr Fenton? It's Mr Lancer, could you meet me at the Nasty Burger at say 5:00 tonight? And bring Danny with you."
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Future Danny frowned as he put on the Ghost Gauntlets "So you're saying that there's some kind of medallion lodged inside of you body keeping you trapped in this time period?"
Danny nodded "That's right and I can't reach it myself, but I'm guessing that if Vlad was able to reach into me and rip out my humanity- which sounds totally disgusting by the way-"
"Oh please, try having it happen to you."
"Fair point, but anyway if Vlad was able to do that then you should be able to get the time medallion out of my body too and then I'll be able to pop back to my own time period just like Tucker and Sam did."
"Or I could just destroy you now and prevent this future, that thought never occurred to you did it?" and Future Danny brought the claws down, drawing screams from Danny in the process.
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Raphael heard the doorbell ring and made his way up from the lab "It has been 32 minutes, that pizza is free and those mozzarella sticks had better be-" he opened the door and his tone subsided considerably "Oh hello Mrs Fenton, Jazz, what brings you two here?"
"Raphael quick, are the Mark II and Mark III suits ready yet?" asked Jazz urgently.
"Well the Mark II is up and running but the Mark III won't be ready until at least next week, why?"
"We just got a message from Leo, it's urgent. I guess we'll have to go with this." she held out the Fenton Peeler Suit and handed it to Maddie.
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Jack pulled up with Dan in front of the wreckage of the Nasty Burger in the Fenton RV "Mr Lancer sounded serious on the phone, Danny is there anything wrong?"
Dan just smirked "Not yet." and they stepped out.
Mr Lancer was waiting for them outside of the building "Mr Fenton, Daniel, this is the Nasty Burger. When people fail the CAT this is where they end up, whether they fail because they don't study or because they cheated." he held up Dan's test.
"What?" Jack turned to look at Danny in disbelief "Danny is this true, did you cheat?"
"You have to get out of here!" this was when Tucker and Sam showed up "The Nasty Burger is about to and we're all 3 feet from the place!"
Mr Lancer let out a groan of exasperated frustration "South Beach Diet people, what in the world is going on here?"
"We'll tell you what's going on."
Dan whipped around with the others and saw Jazz and Maddie step up behind them, clad in suits of armor 'Dammit, those two?!'
"Or better yet, I'll show you!" Maddie quickly used the peeler effect of the Fenton Peeler Suit to peel off Dan's disguise and revealing his true form to everyone, leaving them speechless "That's not Danny."
"What?!" surprise turning into anger, Jack pulled out a weapon and aimed it at Dan "Start talking ghost, who are you and what have you done with my son?!"
Dan barked out a malicious laugh "You really don't get it do you you fat old fool? I am your son!"
"What?!"
Dan rose into the air "What kind of father are you anyway? One of the world's leading experts in ghost hunting and you couldn't even figure out your own son was half ghost."
"For the record Maddie, I blame you." Jack told her dryly.
"Oh for crying out loud! Danny Fenton, Danny Phantom? Did you really never notice the similarity? Jazz did."
Tucker and Sam shared a surprise glance "She did?"
"I was surprised too."
"LIAR!" Jack roared "Don't move!"
"Actually nobody's going anywhere, at least not until it's time for you to be blown everywhere that is." he fired a strand of ectoplasm that bound Jack, Tucker, Sam and Lancer to the Nasty Sauce vat, as well as gagging them.
"Leave my family alone!" Maddie tried to strike him from behind.
Dan created a hole in his body, causing her fist to go through it "Points for effort mother, but not much else. But you see me…" he created 4 duplicates of himself "My future…" they took off her helmet and gagged her like the others "I'm inevitable." he bound her to the Nasty Sauce vat alongside the others "And then there was one."
"You leave my family alone!" Jazz fired a barrage Ecto Rays at him.
Dan phased through all of them with ease and grabbed onto the power orb on Jazz's chest, but was electrocuted by the blast, causing him to fall to one knee, but he almost immediately got back up and smirked maliciously "Of course, using an Ecto-Ranium ore as a power source, a typical trademark Hunter move. So you got a little toy from Raphael did you?" so instead he ripped the armor off of her using his telekinesis "Well if I can't have the Nasty Sauce do the dirty work then I guess I'll just have to kill you myself." fire began gathering in his hands and in his mouth "Fire Dragon's Roar!" he fired a Fire Dragon's Roar blast towards Jazz at nearly point blank range, leaving him laughing maniacally.
However, that was when a silhouette appeared within, a single stray yet clearly powerful Ecto Ray striking Dan straight in the face, sending him tumbling back.
"What the-"
"That was for hurling me into the Ghost Zone 10 years into the future." from within the green flames emerged none other than Danny, holding Jazz in his arms bridal style "And the beating within an inch of your afterlife that I'm about to give you is for trying to hurt the people that I care about."
"Danny…" from within Danny's arms, Jazz lost consciousness.
"I know Jazz, you did a good job. But leave the rest to me, I'll take it from here." he gently laid her on the ground to the side so she wouldn't be caught in the crossfire, then quickly flew over to the others tied to the Nasty Sauce vat "You don't have to worry guys, no matter what happens I will never turn into that. I promise." he then turned to Lancer "I'm guessing this sort of explains my periodic absences right?"
That was when an annoyed Dan caught Danny in his ecto rope and grabbed him by the collar of his jumpsuit "You really know how to get under my skin don't you?"
"Well what are you gonna do to me then, kill me? Well if you do that then what's gonna happen to you?"
"You still don't get it do you? I'm still here, I still exist and that means you're still going to turn into me." he dealt Danny an ecto punch, sending him crashing into a light post "I don't have to waste you, all I have to do is run out the clock until your entire life falls apart right in front of your eyes." and he lunged at Danny full speed.
Danny phased through the ground and reappeared behind Dan "Well maybe if you had bothered to remember a little bit more about your family then you'd actually remember the important things like the Specter Deflector!" he dove under a lunge and snapped the belt around Dan's waist, causing him to cry out in pain "Or the Ghost Gauntlets!" he dealt Dan a hard uppercut to the jaw and smashed him down towards the ground, leaving him to crash into an oil truck that sat nearby "Or the things we learned from Leo, like this! Fire Dragon's Roar!" he fired a Fire Dragon's Roar, igniting the oil truck in a massive explosion that took out three of the buildings surrounding them, then went back to free the others.
However, Dan emerged from the flames, now sporting a few scorch marks, and ripped off the Specter Deflector, then grabbed Danny by the shoulder and threw him to the ground "Your time is up Danny, it's been up for 10 years. Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon's Fist!" he dealt a swift yet powerful punch to Danny's chest, sending him tumbling back in a fiery explosion.
Danny stumbled out of the flames, his jumpsuit now in shambles as he fell to his knees and coughed up several amounts of ectoplasm "Dammit…"
"You really are a fool." Dan mockingly stepped forward "Tell me something, what makes you think you have any sort of chance of changing my past to begin with?"
"Simple…" Danny staggered back to his feet and spat out some more ectoplasm "I made… a promise… to my friends… and to my family…"
Dan barked out a malicious mocking laugh "Oh you are such a child, you made a promise?"
"Yes… I made a promise." Danny stumbled forward "And if you do… anything to my friends and family… if you lay so much as one finger on them…. I swear to you… I will… MAKE YOU SUFFER!" he let out a Ghostly Wail, the force sending Dan tumbling back into a divot in the street.
"That power… It can't be, that's not possible! I don't get that power until 10 years from now!"
"Well then… I guess the future isn't as set in stone as you make it out to be." with blue energy gathering in his eyes and hands without him noticing, Danny let out one final Ghostly Wail that sent Dan tumbling down the street and crashing into a building, which was promptly destroyed when he made impact with it, the wreckage freezing in the process, and Danny fell to his knees in exhaustion as he reverted back to his human form 'Was that… some kind of ice power combined with my Ghostly Wail? Wow 2 new powers in one day, go figure.'
A blast of fire destroyed the ice and Dan burst out from the rubble, now considerably scorched and bruised all over his body "Well that's it then isn't it?"
"Not until you tell me something."
"What could you possibly want to know now?"
"Why did you fuse with Vlad's ghost half after you were separated from me? You could literally have done anything else."
"Is that it?" Dan shot him a malicious smirk "Without your humanity holding me back I could easily absorb the powers and experience Vlad had gained from having his ghost powers for about 20 years, granted I never actually planned on my skin turning green, my hair being set on fire or any of this other stuff that I inherited from that fusion but I personally think the things that I've gained far outweigh the things that I've lost."
"Well agree to disagree, and guess what? Your time is up." and with that, Danny promptly sucked him into the Fenton Thermos.
"Too weak to escape, and you're too late to save them!" those were Dan's last words before he was sucked into the thermos.
Danny capped the thermos and smiled, only for the realization to hit him "Oh no." he started running as fast as he could, but found that he wasn't able to transform "I can't go ghost!" he tripped on some rubble and fell to the ground, right next to where Jazz lay unconscious, and he took her into his arms, tears falling from his eyes 'I'm sorry everyone… I did my best but it wasn't good enough… I failed…' then the explosion went off, with brother and sister being hurled back by the shockwave, only for everything to freeze.
That was when Leo appeared on the scene with the Quantum Stopper in his hand, two time medallions in the other "Alright, time for senpai to make the save." he placed one of the time medallions around Danny's neck, the other around Jazz's neck.
Danny quickly came to, with Jazz following suite, both incredibly confused "Wait a second, Leo? I don't- What's going on?"
"Take a look for yourself." Leo pointed.
Danny looked and to his surprise and joy, he saw Jack, Maddie, Tucker, Sam and Mr Lancer all floating in a nimbus cloud unharmed "You saved them?"
"Well duh, you guys didn't think I was just gonna leave you high and dry at a time like this did you?"
"What- I- I don't understand." Jazz stammered out.
Danny nodded "Seriously Leo, not that I'm not grateful but what the hell is going on?"
Leo shrugged nonchalantly and shot them a grin "From what Clockwork has told me the Observants look at time like they're watching a parade, sitting on their asses and not doing a damn thing as one thing after another passes them by in sequence. Clockwork is the one who sees the parade from above, and that includes all of the twists and turns that it might or might not end up taking."
For once, Danny was the first one to figure it out "You knew all of this was going to happen, all of it! Even this part, and that's what you've been doing for the past week?"
"Everything is fine Danny, everything is the way it's supposed to be. That brings us to here and now with you, a 14 year old young man with incredible potential risking anything and everything to protect the people you care about."
"So what happens now?" asked Jazz.
"This is what happens." he tapped the button on the Quantum Stopper "Time in."
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Danny and Jazz looked around at their new surroundings "This is…"
"Yeah that's right, the CAT test about 2 hours ago." Leo held the CAT answer sheet booklet out to Danny "You've given everyone else in your life a second chance, the way I see it it's only right that you get one too." he wrapped his arm around Jazz's waist "Come on Jazz, let's give him the second chance he deserves." and they both disappeared, and time restarted once more.
Danny locked eyes with Tucker and Sam and shot them a gentle smile 'This is your second chance Danny, a chance to do things right.'
"Mr Fenton, is there a problem?" asked Mr Lancer.
"...Actually Mr Lancer, yes there is." taking a long deep breath, Danny slowly walked up to Mr Lancer and put the answer sheet on his desk "I found this the other day, outside the Nasty Burger after the explosion."
"I see." Lancer examined the answer sheet and his frown deepened "The seal is broken."
"Yeah I know, and I'm sorry. I couldn't stop myself from looking at the answers. But let me just say this, I'm not a cheater and I never will be no matter what happens."
"Is that right? Well you'll have your chance to prove that when you take the make up CAT test next week, now won't you?"
Danny's face lit up "Really?"
"You'll have plenty of time to study for your makeup test in detention, but for now I am still conducting the CAT test so if you wouldn't mind?"
"Oh yeah right, but before I go about Leo-"
"When you see Mr Hunter tell him I expect him to be there to take the make up test next week as well, and in detention for missing the last week of school."
"Sure thing. Oh, and if you could give this to you know who when you're done." he gestured towards Sam and placed a note on Mr Lancer's desk, then walked out of the room with a smile on his face.
Lancer looked down at the note 'Meet me outside when you're done, we have to talk about something important.' he shot a look at Sam.
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Danny sat on a bench outside the school and let out a sigh 'At least I know the people I care about are safe for now.'
"So you made the right choice?"
Danny looked and saw Leo sit down next to him, holding a large box and a paper bag "Yeah, for once I did. You know I really gotta thank you Leo, if it wasn't for you then I don't even wanna think about what would happen."
"Don't worry about it, that's what friends and the master and student bond are for." he put the box down and opened the bag "I figured we'd celebrate you conquering your evil self with some pizza and mozzarella sticks, I think you and I have both had more than enough burgers for a good long while."
"Yeah… you know to be honest, I can't even imagine my life without you anymore. I see you are more than just a friend Leo, now you're like a brother to me."
"And that's what brothers are for right?" cue the bro hug.
"Yeah, and us half ghosts stick together too."
"Danny?" a new voice cut in.
Leo looked back and saw Sam approach them "Oh my crap, I forgot the drinks. I'll be right back and leave you guys alone." and he flashed into his ghost form and blasted off.
Sam let out a sigh "Hey."
"Hey." Danny didn't look up from the pizza.
"So you wanted to talk to me?"
"Yeah." he looked her in the eye "Why do you hate Leo as much as you do, what did he ever do to you? And don't give me that crappy excuse you gave me before I left to fight the Ghost King, I want a real genuine answer."
"...You really don't know do you?"
"I don't have a clue."
Sam let out a sigh "Do you remember that time you and Leo went to that Humpty Dumpty concert?"
"Yeah, after that whole thing with Valerie. Look if this is about not inviting you-"
"No no, that's not it." she looked him sadly in the eye "That was my birthday."
Danny felt the horrible realization slam into him like a flying mallet "And Leo and I have been doing pretty much everything together and snuffing you and Tucker out. Sam that must've been horrible for you."
"Yeah, it was."
"I can't imagine how you felt. Sam I am so sorry, if there's anything at all I can do to make it up to you then just say the word and I'll do it."
"Just get over here you idiot." she caught him in a hug.
"So did Leo know?"
"Yeah but he promised not to say anything to you because he thought it would be better if you hear it from me."
"Yeah apparently he makes a lot of promises like that, he even promised not to say anything to me when he found out that Jazz knows my secret."
"Wait what?"
"Yeah I found it in her note." he held up the note "To be honest I'm glad she found out, if she didn't then I probably wouldn't have made it back."
"Danny?" a new voice asked.
Danny looked and saw Jazz approach them "Hey Sam, you mind getting us some napkins real quick?"
"Sure." getting the memo, Sam walked inside, leaving Danny and Jazz alone.
"So how long have you known?"
Jazz let out a sigh and smiled "About the test? I've known about that for days, but I'm really proud of you for not cheating and I guess I owe you an apology for thinking you would in the first place."
"Not that." he held up the note "I found your headband with your note in your handwriting."
"What, that? Oh I didn't write that, and there must be dozens of headbands-"
"Jazz give it a rest, you were there and you saw that entire fight. I know you were just pretending to be unconscious to try and get the jump on him."
"...Okay fine, I've known since that whole thing with Spectra. I didn't want to tell you until you wanted to tell me and Leo promised not to say anything, it's your secret."
"Well it's our secret now." and they hugged.
"But don't think this means I'm going to stop being meddling and overprotective."
"Oh I wouldn't have it any other way, I get enough of that from mom as it is though." then he frowned "The only question is, how am I gonna tell dad?"
"You'll know when the time is right."
"Yeah I guess I-" he paused when his Ghost Sense went off and he looked to see a gigantic tentacle monster chasing a cop car "Oh boy."
"Go ahead."
"Thanks, and keep the food warm. I'm starving. Going ghost!" he flashed into his ghost form and flew up to the tentacle monster "Hey gigant green and gruesome, guess who's back and better than ever?" he dealt a single punch, accidentally covering Jazz in goo.
"...This is gonna take some getting used to."
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Leo stopped by Clockwork's lair in the Ghost Zone and handed him the Quantum Stopper "Here, I think it's best if you hold onto this. So how did the Observants take it?"
Clockwork let out a sigh "Well they accused me of cheating by having you manipulate Daniel and influence his choice, which happens to be a direct violation of the protocol of temporal displacement."
"Well I don't really think it matters, Danny's choice was his own in the end."
"As I told them."
"Still though, this means that now Danny is technically your responsibility along with mine, the same going with his future ball of sunshine self now that he exists outside of time thanks to that little stunt."
"I know, but then again I know everything." he placed the Fenton Thermos down.
Leo noticed the thermos bulging on the sides "Well I've still got an extra bag of mozzarella sticks, you want a few?"
"Don't mind if I do." he took one from the bag.
"You realize he could escape at some point."
"I do."
"But Danny is gonna keep getting stronger and if he does escape then he'll be ready."
"I know, and like I said I know everything."
A/N:
Danny combining the Ghostly Wail with his Ice Dragon's Roar against Dan at the end of the battle is a nod to him getting his ice powers, which he will get earlier than in canon because I thought they had more potential than what we saw.
I know I said before that last chapter would end the animosity between Sam and Leo, but I wanted to give it at least a little bit better of an ending.
