Danny's first glimpse of Scottsdale, Arizona was of desert. The adobe houses had stood against whatever powers Dan had used to attack them, though the roofs were missing. Johnny 13's Shadow slowed his pace, the ghost had been pushing Johnny's wheelchair for the duration of the trip, and lowered his altitude, heading for what appeared to be a graveyard. Danny caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a golden human shaped figure perched on the edge of a tombstone. The shadow parked Johnny 13's wheelchair in front of the ghost without hesitation but Danny hesitated at the edge of the graveyard, studying the unfamiliar ghost.
She looked to be a few years older than Jazz, loose gold curls pushed away from her face with a teal headband that look suspiciously like his older sister's. Her eyes were the same gleaming gold as her hair when she looked over at him and her lips slid up into a knowing smile. She lifted a slim hand from under the cloak draped over her body and beckoned him forward, no animosity in her amused eyes. "Danny Phantom," she said when he was floating next to Johnny. "I've been expecting you."
"You have?" Danny questioned uncertainly and that knowing smile widened into a genuine grin.
"Of course," came the amused reply. "They don't call me Oracle for nothing."
"I,uh, I guess not," the boy admitted, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably and she let out a light laugh. "Johnny said you could help me get back to my time."
"I can," Oracle confirmed easily. "In fact, since Clockwork's death there isn't much I can't do."
"Okay?" Danny replied hesitantly, feeling as if he was missing an important piece of information. Oracle's smile turned into an amused smirk as she took in his confused expression.
"Once Clockwork died my powers increased and I became fully dead to replace him," she said, gliding up off the tombstone and reaching over to pat him on the head like he was some kind of puppy. "Don't worry your little head about it. You'll find out everything to do with that in a couple years if this whole situation goes as planned."
"This whole mess is part of a plan?" Danny asked incredulously but Oracle just grinned at him and shook her head a little.
"It isn't my place to explain Danny," she told him. "Now do you want to get home or not?"
"Yes," Danny said, giving her a pathetic look, and she laughed.
"Okay. I need you to close your eyes and relax then. I'm going to reach inside your ghost form and remove the amulet. Once it is out of you, you should be returned to Amity Park in your own time. You will need to be ready for a fight though, because Dan will be coming for the amulet."
"But can't you destroy it or something?" Danny demanded, feeling a wave of panic rush over him. "Because I can't beat my future self. I've tried!"
"No I can't," Oracle replied, her eyes solemn. "There are some things that simply have to happen. But don't worry, you're stronger than you think. Now close your eyes."
Danny hesitated a moment and then obeyed, gasping when he felt something cool reach through him. For a moment he felt his insides twist and squirm, as if they were shifting out of the way of a questing hand, and then something burned as it was being pulled free. Danny's eyes snapped open and he let out a cry of pain as Oracle's hand emerged from his chest, clutching the amulet tight in her small fist. "Good luck, Danny," she said. Then the world around him blurred and he crashed to the ground next to the still standing Nasty Burger in Amity Park. Almost two thousand miles away and ten years in the future, Oracle turned to look at Johnny 13 and said, "If I were you, I would leave now."
Arizona was one of the last places Dan had expected to track his pathetic past to. Ember had crumbled once his ghostly wail had ruined her vocals cords and managed to get out that she'd sent Danny to Haven, Michigan and Johnny 13. From Haven, Cujo had tracked the so called hero to Scottsdale, Arizona, more specifically to the graveyard he was standing in front of. There was no sign of Danny, but there was a female ghost perched on top of a gravestone humming cheerfully under her breath. "Where is Danny Phantom?" he growled, approaching, but she ignored him. "Tell me," the former hero demanded, voice echoing around them, and then ghost lifted her head to glare at him with piercing gold eyes.
"Why should I?" she said coldly and Dan snarled.
"Tell me where Danny Phantom is and I will refrain from making the end of your after-"
"Shut up and sit down," she ordered, cutting him off mid threat. "Now." Dan hesitated a moment and she grinned wickedly at him, bringing her hands out from underneath the worn brown cloak so she could swing Clockwork's medallion back and forth in front of his eyes. "Or do you not want this?" Dan found himself sitting almost automatically on a nearby gravestone and she smiled smugly at him. "Good. Now perhaps we can speak like civil people instead of you shouting demands like the megalomaniac you want to be."
"What do you want?" he ground out and she smiled at him, gold eyes glimmering mischievously.
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
Dan abruptly decided he'd had enough and lunged forward, intending to snatch the amulet out of her hand. She moved faster than he had expecting and floated a few feet above him, bright laughter spilling across the morning air. "Nice try, ghost boy," she mocked. "But you're going to have to be faster than that if you want to take this." She dangled the amulet playfully just out of his reach, a wide smirk spread across her bright face, and then abruptly vanished. Dan growled and kicked the headstone she'd been sitting on hard enough that it began leaning precariously backwards. Hanna Marie Weiss, read the headstone. Beloved daughter. 1986-2005. Phoenix, Arizona had been one of the first places Dan had destroyed after Vlad had ripped him free from his human half. The ghost wondered if she'd been killed during the first assault, before he'd completely leveled the area several weeks later when he'd finally grown strong enough to cause all the damage necessary to make it a wasteland.
"You've got quite a temper," the ghost's voice announced from behind him. Instead of turning completely around, Dan simply turned his head. That action earned him a disgusted look on a little girl's face. She appeared to be maybe six now, blonde curls turned straight and bangs cut straight across her forehead, hanging down despite the ever present headband. "You should work on that."
"You could give me the amulet and then you wouldn't have to deal with it," Dan replied, allowing the rest of his body to turn around and face him.
"I don't think so," came the reply. "Not yet." Suddenly the girl was an old woman, curls turned snow white and pinned up at the back of her neck. Wrinkles seemed to grow on her face, multiplying when she smirked at him. Sudden realization struck him. There was only one other ghost that had readily changed age and Dan had killed him, along with those pesky observers. Clockwork.
"How?" he demanded and she let out a rough sounding laugh, features drifting back to the young woman he'd first seen.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Tired of this game already, Dan let a bolt of ectoplasm fly, striking her hard in the chest. She flew backwards out of the graveyard, amulet still clutched in her hand, and landed in a cloud of dust.
Dan towered over her in a instant, voice a low growl as he demanded, "Tell me."
"Some ghosts are important enough to need a replacement," she told him, lips pulled into a sardonic smirk. "Lucky me."
"I've already killed Clockwork," Dan mused. "It shouldn't be difficult to eliminate you as well."
"Probably not," she agreed blithely, sitting off and dusting off her cloak. "But I wouldn't try it."
"Why not?"
"Because I have something you want, remember?" the ghost mocked, dangling the amulet in front of Dan for a moment before tucking it away somewhere beneath the cloak. "And you won't get it unless you answer one simple question for me."
"What question?" Dan grated out, eyes blazing with fury. He didn't enjoy being toyed with. Clockwork had tried it before and Dan had ended the older ghost's existence. He would be all too willing to enact a repeat performance with this replacement if she didn't hand over the amulet.
"When you were first ripped away from your humanity, and you looked upon that terrified little boy," she said, eyes gleaming with something he didn't quite understand. "How did you feel?"
A low, furious growl escaped Dan at the question. He tried not to think about that night, mostly because it reminded him that ripping his ghost half from his human half hadn't made the emotions go away. Instead it had made everything he felt more intense. Ghosts obsessed over things, and part of that obsession involved having an emotional attachment to something. Dan had overlooked that aspect when he had requested that Vlad split him apart for good. "Well?" the ghost inquired, eyes narrowing as she stared impatiently at him. "I'm waiting."
"Betrayed," he grated out and she smirked at him.
"Good job," she praised mockingly, reaching under her cloak and pulling out the amulet before tossing it to him. "And good luck. You're gonna need it."
